future

Elen Rhys has opened up about the future of Cleddau, admitting she feels there is still plenty left to explore with DI Ffion Lloyd

Elen Rhys believes there is still plenty more to uncover about her character in Welsh crime series Cleddau.

The actress is back on screen as DI Ffion Lloyd for the second series of the gripping S4C drama – but she admits she feels viewers have only seen the beginning of the detective’s story.

Elen has become closely associated with the role since Cleddau first hit screens, earning a BAFTA Cymru nomination for Best Actress following her performance in the first series.

And while there has been no confirmation of a third series, Elen believes the nature of Ffion’s job means there could be plenty of stories left to explore.

“I love playing Ffion,” she said. “It’s not an easy job with the two languages, but it is a gift of a role and, yeah, I feel like we’ve just touched the surface.”

However, the actress was quick to point out that the future of the drama isn’t her decision.

“But obviously it’s not my decision, is it?” she added. “I don’t know what Kath wants to do. You don’t know what S4C and beyond want to do. So I’m just lucky we got to do it for a second time, really.”

The comments come as Cleddau returns following a hugely successful first series. The drama became the third most popular S4C drama since 2016, behind Craith (Hidden) and Y Gwyll (Hinterland), while it also recorded the highest number of iPlayer sessions for an S4C drama series.

Its success was further recognised when it picked up Best Drama at the RTS Cymru Wales Awards, with Elen also receiving her BAFTA Cymru nomination.

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Elsewhere, Elen admitted that filming some of the show’s dramatic night-time scenes during the depths of winter was particularly challenging, with the cast and crew battling rain and cold temperatures.

She said the production filmed a night shoot throughout January, adding that it seemed to rain every day.

“Because of the genre, they want to film over the winter months,” Elen said. “But we did a night shoot running all through January, and I think it rained every day, January this year.

“So that’s hard, because obviously you want the nighttime for the atmosphere and the nuance of the piece, but it was really tough because we were battling the elements.”

She added: “It was just not good. I’d say that was probably the most challenging night shoots in the bleak, bleak January.”

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

Chip giants stock price falls more than 8 percent amid speculation over co-founder’s position.

Chip giant Nvidia’s stock price has tumbled amid reports that its board of directors is meeting to consider the future of CEO Jensen Huang.

Nvidia shares fell more than 8 percent in after-hours trading on Wednesday as questions swirled over Huang’s position at the top of the $4.2 trillion company.

The plunge comes after The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times reported that Nvidia’s board of directors would discuss Huang’s position amid controversy over his personal life.

Nvidia did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s requests for comment.

The reported meeting comes amid reports that Huang engaged in an extramarital relationship with an Nvidia employee, in addition to an affair with a woman accused of working the Chinese intelligence services.

This is a developing story.

The election of Nithya Raman, a democratic socialist, as the next mayor of Los Angeles promises to have a profound impact on the city’s police force — although perhaps not right away.

Among the most important and widely watched decisions facing the city’s next mayor is about what to do with LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell. Raman repeatedly said prior to her election that she would replace him as chief.

Raman frequently criticized McDonnell throughout her campaign, particularly over how he handled the LAPD’s response to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement blitz last year.

She has taken issue with the LAPD’s aggressive tactics under McDonnell toward demonstrators, which have included firing tear gas and less-lethal weapons into crowds, officers mounted on horseback swinging batons and accusations of journalists being targeted.

She has questioned whether the LAPD should continue to work closely with the Trump administration on non-immigration matters that require data-sharing, potentially affecting investigations into cargo theft and human trafficking, which involve local collaboration with federal law enforcement.

The events of the last year, she said, have shattered public trust.

In a since-deleted video with a progressive influencer that went viral, Raman said she would work to ensure the LAPD “is actually protecting people, instead of protecting ICE on our streets as we saw happen.”

“I think that starts with a culture shift at the top and new leadership in the department. I don’t believe that Chief McDonnell has met the moment,” she said in the video.

Asked about her plans for the LAPD chief at her inaugural news conference Thursday night, Raman said she had already spoken to McDonnell and believed that public safety was the “most important service” the city can provide. She did not directly say whether his days leading the department are numbered.

“I wanna make sure that whatever happens over this transition that we are prepared to deliver that service at the levels that Angelenos expect,” she told reporters. “And I know Chief McDonnell’s committed to that, I’m committed to that and we’ll continue those discussions.”

During one sit-down with CNN, she was asked to name a police chief whom she admires or respects. “I don’t know … I don’t know,” she stammered in reply.

Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell speaks at a news conference in August.

(Arwen Clemans / Los Angeles Times)

In a brief statement, McDonnell said he respected the outcome of the election and congratulated Raman on her victory. He added that while politicians change, the LAPD’s mission public safety “remains constant.”

“As Chief of Police, I remain committed to leading a department that delivers professional, constitutional, and compassionate policing to all Angelenos,” the statement read.

McDonnell has called Raman’s comments disappointing in news interviews, but has otherwise steered clear of directly criticizing Raman in public. The department has released a series of public service announcements featuring the chief on its official Instagram account in recent days to address what officials said was “misinformation” about the LAPD’s operations — saying that the department is barred by Special Order 40 and state and city laws from assisting federal immigration agencies.

If Raman were to replace the chief, when and how it would happen are unclear.

L.A.’s mayor cannot unilaterally fire the police chief. Only the City Council and the Board of Police Commissioners, whose five civilian members are handpicked by the mayor, have that authority. Under the city charter, the council can initiate removal proceedings, but only by a two-thirds vote. It’s unclear whether Raman could muster enough support to make a change right away, since none of the City Council members endorsed her candidacy.

New mayors typically replace current police commissioners with their own appointees — sometimes, leaving one or two in place for continuity — but the process can take weeks since each commissioner has to be confirmed by the council.

A spokesperson for Raman’s mayoral campaign did not respond to a request for an interview about her plans for the LAPD.

Outgoing Mayor Karen Bass has publicly backed the chief she hired two years ago, saying the LAPD could be thrown into disarray if McDonnell is removed before the 2028 Olympic Games.

The question of who might replace McDonnell has been the subject of feverish speculation. One of the most talked about candidates for the top job is Emada Tingirides, an assistant chief who was a finalist in the last chief search, which ended with Bass’ selection of McDonnell. Although questions were previously raised about her perceived lack of leadership experience, Tingirides has been in charge of the department’s Office of Operations, which oversees virtually all patrol personnel, for more than a year.

Other names have been bandied around — including top former LAPD official Bill Scott, the chief of the new Metro police force, and former Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón.

But department insiders have dismissed certain reports — namely any mentioning Gascón — as nothing more than rumors. Gascón told The Times that he has not communicated with the Raman campaign, and said he does not want to be chief. Scott did not respond to a message seeking comment.

LAPD insiders have also discussed Art Acevedo, who has served as police chief in Houston and Miami, and Robert Arcos, a former LAPD assistant chief who works for the county Probation Department, as potential candidates for the job. Both also interviewed for the job during the last chief search; Arcos was a finalist.

Arcos said he has had no conversations with Raman’s team. Asked whether he has been approached about working with Raman, Acevedo replied, “No, absolutely not.”

The guessing game about who will lead the department in the near future has been fueled at least in part by Raman’s seeming indecisiveness on the matter. In interviews and debates, she has struggled to offer a clear vision of where she wants to take the LAPD.

Members of Raman’s progressive base expect major changes from Day 1 — and without swift action, she risks angering them, some political experts say.

Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles co-founder Melina Abdullah, who endorsed Raman in the final days of the campaign, said in a text message with The Times that she is counting on the new mayor to follow through on her “commitment to remove Chief McDonnell.”

Beyond that, though, she said Raman needs to increase funding for violence prevention and intervention groups and to “block the mass surveillance of Angelenos” by companies such as Flock Safety and Axon.

Picking a new chief is considered one of the most important decisions any mayor will make, with legacy-defining implications. The conventional wisdom holds that a new mayor means a change of leadership at the LAPD, and potentially new policies.

But that hasn’t always been the case. At least not recently.

Bass oversaw the reappointment of McDonnell’s predecessor, Michel Moore, shortly after her election and stood by him for a year through numerous controversies before Moore’s abrupt resignation in early 2024. Bass’ predecessor, Eric Garcetti, stuck with Charlie Beck, the chief he inherited when he was elected in 2013; Beck was then reappointed to a second five-year term, also under Garcetti. In the early 2000s, then-Mayor James Hahn — with the support of the police union — infamously opposed Police Chief Bernard Parks’ bid for reappointment.

Beyond replacing the chief, a mayor can influence the LAPD’s operations and policies in other ways, including through executive directives. Raman’s election could, for instance, prompt the City Council to take a second look at Special Order 40, a 1979 policy that prohibits officers from stopping people for the sole purpose of determining their immigration status. Critics say the policy — aimed at reassuring the city’s immigrants that they could safely report a crime or serve as a witness without fear of deportation — doesn’t prevent the LAPD from working with federal immigration agencies.

As part of her agenda for her first 100 days, Raman has said she will seek an audit of the LAPD’s efforts to follow L.A.’s sanctuary city law, which requires that city agencies treat information that can be used to trace a person’s citizenship or immigration status as confidential.

Even McDonnell’s critics acknowledge the difficulty of replacing him. Doing so would probably involve a national search, outside consultants and pitched debates about whether to appoint an experienced outsider with top leadership experience — or promote an insider with a firm grasp of where the LAPD has come from historically and an understanding of the political and labor landscape.

McDonnell is popular with the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union for rank-and-file officers, which remains a powerful force in city politics — although its influence has waned in recent elections, with mayoral candidates who have received the union’s endorsement failing to win in the last two election cycles. The union poured millions of dollars into attack ads against Raman.

As it became clear that Raman would win the race, longtime police union director Jamie McBride was quoted in a news story saying that her mayorship would spell “Armageddon” for the city.

Ruben Lopez, a former LAPD lieutenant, said he has read or heard similarly alarmist comments by plenty of other current and former LAPD officers. But the reality is, he said, he expects Raman and LAPD officials to eventually find common ground — and in the meantime most officers will keep working.

“The true professionals, they’ll keep doing their job just like we saw in New York when [Zohran] Mamdani got elected, said Lopez, who was in charge of SWAT before leaving the department.

Near record-low crime numbers could provide Raman with enough political cover to begin pushing through LAPD reforms while juggling the myriad other issues confronting the city, such as homelessness, housing affordability and crumbling infrastructure.

As mayor, Raman may also be called on to solve the problem of the LAPD’s dwindling ranks.

As of this week, the department had 8,504 sworn personnel — the lowest total since October 1995 — roughly a tenth of whom are not on full duty status, officials say. Even after efforts under Bass to streamline hiring and boost recruitment, some officials are concerned there won’t be enough new officers to replace those projected to leave or retire in the coming years.

Also on her to-do list will be overseeing the negotiations of the next police contract.

The mayor-elect has denounced the raises for rank-and-file officers negotiated by Bass in 2023, which Raman said has deepened the city’s financial problems. Sold as a way to boost recruitment, the pay increases are among the reasons the police union endorsed Bass’ reelection.

Some political experts say Raman enters office unburdened by an indebtedness to the police union. At the same time, she has said she doesn’t want to see the LAPD get any smaller and will need to work with the union to hammer out a new contract, after the current one expires in December.

In a statement released after her election victory, the Police Protective League’s board of directors said it shares a common goal with Raman of shoring up the department’s recruitment of new officers.

“Los Angeles police officers and others are filled with uncertainty and angst at the prospect of major cuts to the LAPD that will reverse the progress made in reducing crime,” the statement said. “Mayor-elect Raman has stated that she does not want staffing levels to decrease from current levels, we share that goal and are committed to ensuring enough officers remain to keep our residents, the Olympics, and our officers safe.”

Negotiations for the next contract are expected to ramp up in January.

Times staff writers David Zahniser and James Queally contributed to this report.

The assumption is yes.

If Ratcliffe was to decide otherwise, it would raise serious questions over the future of Berrada and Wilcox.

How could they work with Carrick again in that scenario?

The pair have been the subject of intense and frequent fan discontent. But sources are adamant that Ratcliffe still retains faith in the pair, even though United are heading towards sacking a manager in mid-season for the third successive year, having backed them in the summer and spend millions on new players.

Ratcliffe is a ruthless operator, and has clear opinions of his own. He also has form, spending £5m hiring Dan Ashworth as sporting director from Newcastle in 2024, then waiting for the 55-year-old to spend five months on gardening leave before he could start work.

Five months later, Ashworth was sacked due to a divergence of opinion over who should replace Ten Hag. Ashworth felt someone with Premier League experience was a better fit for United’s squad. Ratcliffe wanted a more modern alternative. Berrada suggested Amorim. Wilcox, after initial reservations, also got on board. Amorim was dismissed after 14 months.

The other unknown element is the Glazer family. They will need to sign off any decision.

At the time of the Ratcliffe purchase, United confirmed the club’s ‘board’ had handed over responsibility for the football side. But United’s articles of association state that responsibilities delegated by directors can also be “revoked or altered”.

Crucially, of the 12 current directors, six are members of the Glazer family, including co-chairs Joel and Avi Glazer. United’s rules state that if required, the chairman of any meeting will have a second and casting vote.

Although there have been media reports of Glazer dissatisfaction at United’s current plight, there has been no public statement on the matter.

In late October, two non-Equity touring musicals opened on the same night at two of L.A.’s largest theaters: “Tommy” at the Hollywood Pantages and “The Music Man” at Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson. The shows — which operate outside of the Actors’ Equity Assn., the union that represents more than 51,000 professional stage actors and managers nationwide — reignited a contentious debate about whether a major regional nonprofit like CTG should host nonunion shows.

Critics questioned whether these productions threaten CTG’s artistic mission and if Angelenos should pay top dollar for nonunion shows. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, what should matter more, a theater’s bottom line or its core values? The underlying implication in much of the criticism was that non-Equity shows are subpar and that hosting them implies a tacit acceptance of the mistreatment of actors.

Savannah Stevenson, who plays Mrs. Paroo in the national tour of “The Music Man,” would like to banish those concerns.

“We should completely dispel the notion that because we’re a non-Equity tour, we’re somehow put through the wringer,” Stevenson said during a phone interview from the Airbnb she was sharing with three cast members. It was a few hours before curtain during the final days of the show’s nearly two-week run in downtown L.A., before it departed for the Capitol Theatre in Yakima, Wash.

Touring small towns like Yakima is a big part of why non-Equity shows exist. The tours began popping up in the 1990s after the rise of the Broadway megamusical, to bring shows to places that would otherwise go without. Before its arrival in L.A., “The Music Man” was in Senatobia, Miss., with a population of about 8,500. A major union show like “The Lion King” will never stop in Senatobia, but the people there can enjoy a bit of River City thanks to Stevenson and the rest of “The Music Man” cast.

“The biggest difference in my mind is, frankly, the schedule. As a non-Equity tour, we do significantly more one-nighters or short engagements,” Stevenson said. “But we also all knew that when we signed up for it. And that is what allows us to share this particular piece of musical theater and musical theater history with such a wide swath of the country.”

Many professional actors choose to remain non-Equity for a variety of reasons, Stevenson said. Jobs are more plentiful for non-Equity actors, she noted, especially if you make a living working at regional houses outside of major cities, which often book only a handful of Equity actors per show. Stevenson recently shared a dressing room and top billing with an Equity actor in a Connecticut show — and other than the fact that the Equity actor was paid more, their treatment was the same, she said.

“We worked side by side every single day, had equally large parts, and I don’t think that anyone coming to that show would have said, ‘Oh, well, gosh, the Equity girl was the real standout in that show,’” Stevenson said gamely.

Elizabeth D’Aiuto, left, Addie Jaymes and Savannah Stevenson in the touring production of Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man.”

(Marshall Meadows)

Stevenson spoke in the wake of a review by Times theater critic Charles McNulty, which called “The Music Man” a “community-theater-level production,” and slammed CTG for “damaging its stature as a nonprofit theater leader by offering such an important showcase to this second-tier touring production.”

The public reception for “The Music Man” was quite warmer. The show ranked above “Amélie, A New Musical,” “Latin History for Morons” and “Paranormal Activity” in audience surveys, according to CTG, and late last week it was on track to outsell “Parade,” “Life of Pi” and “Paranormal Activity.” CTG’s Artistic Director Snehal Desai said each year fans ask for a classic musical and this season only two such shows were on tour: “The Sound of Music” and “The Music Man.” The former (an Equity tour) went to the Pantages, which is run by the for-profit Nederlander organization. That left the latter available to CTG.

The uproar resulting from the non-Equity “The Music Man’s” arrival at the Ahmanson ties directly into the ongoing — and at times overheated — conversation about the future of the American nonprofit theater movement that erupted in late July when the Public Theater’s Artistic Director Oskar Eustis announced his intention to step down after 23 years, declaring the movement “over” and “not coming back.” Since then, theater leaders, including Desai, have been casting around for a brand new way of building a sustainable future. In Desai’s case, that meant attempting to stay in the black — a course of action that is not always looked upon kindly.

Equity vs. non-Equity

The decision to book non-Equity shows was less about saving money than it was about the Tetris-like planning required to keep the Ahmanson gainfully booked, Desai said. The cost of hosting an Equity versus a non-Equity show is about the same for CTG. Non-Equity shows get paid a flat-rate guarantee that is less than what Equity shows seek, but that’s just one piece of the pie, Desai said. CTG also must factor in overhead and local labor costs, production and marketing expenses, and more. This year there are 25 touring Equity shows and 24 non-Equity shows (a number that has stayed fairly steady for the last eight years, with the exception of the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when Equity tours shut down completely). More than 20 available Equity shows went to the Pantages — along with at least five non-Equity shows. This left only a few Equity shows for CTG to choose from, and Desai had to make sure those fit into the schedule.

Aliya Grace in the North American tour of “Boop!,” which is coming next year to the Ahmanson Theatre.

(Matthew Murphy)

This season will see three non-Equity shows: “Clue,” “The Music Man” and Boop!,” which is the rare show to go straight from Broadway to a non-Equity tour.

“The three [non-Equity shows] that we programmed were what was available to us,” Desai said, adding that the shows came from producers CTG had worked with before so he was confident that “they’re maintaining a certain quality. That they’re taking care of the companies. That they’re adhering to standards.”

Daniel Sher, the president of Big League Productions, which is producing “The Music Man” tour, said the organization does its best to follow union rules that are “reasonable.” Big League has produced mostly non-Equity touring shows for about 35 years, and Sher noted that the show’s crew is union, so the production adheres to many union rules by proxy. The Ahmanson is a union house, with its own union crew — so those rules also apply. Sher wishes he could provide health insurance for his actors, but that is cost-prohibitive, so he gives a small health stipend instead.

“I think there’s just a lot of non-Equity work now,” Sher said. “So it’s kind of like it’s a natural market force. As long as there remains this kind of vast amount of work, there are actors who will choose to remain non-Equity.”

Broadway hits will almost always start as Equity tours, he said, but once they stop being money-making juggernauts, they often go nonunion by necessity. That’s the case with “The Music Man,” he said, noting that a show of its size and scope would be financially impossible to stage as an Equity tour in the current marketplace. He would love for the union to consider allowing a mix of union and nonunion actors on national tours — like it does for regional theaters: “There’s a world where the producers and Equity could try to find a way, but the economics just have to work.”

Stevenson’s goal is to keep performing. She was an Equity member at the beginning of her career, then took 18 years off to practice law before returning to acting — this time without an Equity card.

“Whether you are a presenter or a producer or an actor or a member of the crew, or an audience member, we are all aligned around the notion of ensuring that the theater industry does not continue to contract in the way that it has, particularly since the pandemic,” she said. “So if we can ensure that we’re keeping a variety of shows alive and reaching more corners of the country, then we have to make room for both Equity and non-Equity tours.”

The 2025 North American tour of “Clue,” which played at the Ahmanson Theatre during a non-Equity tour.

(Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)

Even Actors’ Equity has changed its approach to non-Equity shows. In 2001 the union picketed a previous non-Equity tour of “The Music Man” and in 2014 it ran an ad campaign urging theatergoers to “Ask if it’s Equity,” before buying tickets. That campaign, along with more demanding rules around how an actor could join the union, were scrapped in 2023 out of concern for “small ‘e’ equity and justice, and who should have the decision to join the union,” said Actors’ Equity Assn. sopkesperson David Levy.

Prior rules relied on the employer to decide whether an actor was worthy of joining the union, “and we wanted to put that power back in the hands of the actual members themselves,” Levy said. Actors’ Equity currently has an “open access” policy that allows anyone who has worked in any kind of professional theater in the U.S. to join.

“The quality of the talent in these tours is not any less than the quality of talent on any union stage,” Levy said. “What’s at issue is how that talent is treated, how they’re paid, what the workplace safety rules are, what accommodations they’re given as they travel, whether they get appropriate rest time.”

While the union would prefer that every theater show operate under an Equity contract, it’s aware that this may not be financially feasible in all situations, Levy said, noting that nonunion shows might be the only viable option for smaller towns across the country without rich and diverse theater ecosystems.

“We would never want to deprive those audiences of having that transformational opportunity of seeing singers and dancers and actors and musicians do their thing,” Levy said, adding that L.A., unlike less populous cities, doesn’t have a dearth of theater offerings. “Now, in a perfect world, that job would come with both standardized wages and work rules and benefits, as well as the safety guarantees of a union contract.” He paused, “We do not live in a perfect world.”

The future of nonprofit theater

CTG came perilously close to financially bottoming out in 2023 when it closed the Mark Taper Forum for almost a year and a half. This happened just before Desai took over from Michael Ritchie as the third artistic director in CTG’s history, arriving just in time to pick up the pieces following the COVID-19 pandemic. When CTG finally reopened its theater doors after an astonishing 56 weeks, its staff was decimated, tickets sales had plunged and the cost of putting on productions had skyrocketed. CTG’s staffing still remains more than 20% down from its pre-pandemic high, although its subscriptions are on the rise — up 226% over last year.

“We used to talk to donors about how CTG valued union-only productions, even though they are more expensive, because CTG valued more than just the bottom-line,” former CTG board chair Kiki Ramos Gindler wrote on Facebook in response to McNulty’s review. “Unlike the Nederlander Organization, a for-profit theatre business keenly focused on profits. … The mission is to support our community, not to find ways to keep from going out of business. If this is a path to staying in business, it’s a wrong path and maybe time to take a final bow rather than completely throw away core values.” (Nederlander declined a request for comment on the issue.)

In late September the DeVos Institute of Arts and Nonprofit Management, which was founded at the Kennedy Center in 2001 and supports arts groups nationwide, hosted a nearly two-hour Zoom forum called “Is the American Nonprofit Theater Movement Over?” About 17 major theater leaders spoke on the call that had 800 participants, including Eustis and Desai, all seeking to examine what elements of “a historical model for producing and presenting nonprofit theater in America” have ended, and which remain relevant.

Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum in 2019, four years before it was temporarily closed due to a financial crisis.

(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

“When I first became an artistic director, there were two words that I had never heard before that became my mantra for years: cash flow. These days, a lot of my conversations seem to be focused on three words: minding the gap,” Desai said. “There are so many gaps confronting our field right now. There is the gap between what a production costs and the revenue it can generate. The gap between the impact of the work we make and the value we assign it. The gap between the origin stories of our institutions and the communities we serve. And perhaps, most importantly, there is the gap between the models we inherited and the world we actually live in.”

For CTG, that means keeping the 2,000-seat Ahmanson Theatre booked with revenue-generating shows in order to afford to continue producing work the company does at the Taper and at Culver City’s Kirk Douglas Theatre. “Phantom of the Opera” ran for 4½ years straight at the Ahmanson from 1989 to 1993, a commercial success that enabled a golden age at CTG under founding Artistic Director Gordon Davidson that included the 1992 premiere of Tony Kushner’s groundbreaking two-part play “Angels in America.”

The Ahmanson needs to be that commercial vehicle again, if CTG is to continue pushing artistic boundaries, Desai said. CTG-produced shows are always Equity, while major touring shows arriving at the Ahmanson sometimes aren’t.

“When a show doesn’t meet its goal, it is a huge swing. It is millions of dollars. And so we have to be super careful about what we’re programming,” Desai said. “And I’m also trying to take care of the audience that I’m building in line with the artistic vision.”

Anjali Sud, most recently the chief executive officer of the ad-supported streaming service Tubi, is taking the top job at the subscription audio entertainment company SiriusXM.

SiriusXM announced Monday that Sud will succeed current chief executive Jennifer Witz, who is stepping down Dec. 31 and will remain in an advisory role through next year.

Sud, 43, has been an independent director of SiriusXM since 2025. In a statement, the company cited her extensive experience in digital media and streaming businesses. She has led Tubi since 2023. The platform has grown to 110 million monthly users and is now a profit center for Fox Corp., which acquired the company in 2020.

Tubi was recently absorbed into Fox Digital Platforms, a new unit created following Fox Corp.‘s $22 billion acquisition of the streaming platform Roku. The deal was closed on Friday.

Sud previously served as chief executive of the video platform Vimeo.

“I am honored to lead SiriusXM in its next chapter,” said Sud. “Premium audio experiences will be more important than ever to the future of entertainment, and I believe SiriusXM can evolve to lead that future.”

Witz, 57, has been with SiriusXM for 25 years, including nearly six years as chief executive.

SiriusXM offers live and on-demand programming across music, talk, news, sports, and podcasts, and the company reaches around 255 million monthly listeners across its platforms.

Best known as the satellite radio platform for morning personality Howard Stern, SiriusXM has moved aggressively into podcasting and specialty channels built around personalities with passionate followings including Conan O’Brien’s “Team Coco,” and Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy.” The service also offers shows or channels from such personalities as Trevor Noah, Kevin Hart, Stephen A. Smith, and former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly. Last month, SiriusXM reported having 33 million total subscribers.

In the third quarter of 2026, the company reported revenue of $1.6 billion for its flagship SiriusXM segment, flat with its year-ago performance. Gross profit increased slightly to $963 million.

Lee Westwood is worried about the future of the Europe-based DP World Tour following the collapse of LIV Golf.

The 53-year-old Englishman was among the high-profile players lured to LIV when the controversial Saudi-backed breakaway tour began in 2022.

LIV this week confirmed its intention to wind down operations after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) withdrew its financial support and potential new investors pulled out of a deal to back LIV continuing in a new form.

LIV’s collapse is a boost for the USA’s PGA Tour and Westwood’s former Ryder Cup team-mate Rory McIlroy agrees with DP World Tour chief executive Guy Kinnings’ assertion that LIV aimed to “destroy” their European rivals.

However, Westwood questions how strong a position the DP World Tour now finds itself in.

The former world number one expects the PGA Tour boss to “play hardball” with its European counterparts and suggested that Europe’s top players may be better off playing on the Korn Ferry Tour, the US feeder circuit to the PGA Tour.

“LIV going out of business, some people will be disappointed and it might not be people that you immediately think of,” Westwood told BBC Sport.

“The European tour, I’m not sure it’s such a big win for them.”

Although LIV players were banned from the PGA Tour, they could still play in some DP World Tour events, which Westwood felt gave them some “leverage” but “now LIV’s out [of] the way, they’ve lost that”.

However, in July the American and European tours extended their strategic alliance, which includes Annual Investment Payments (AIPs). Last year that figure was £59m.

The PGA Tour also gives tour cards to the top 10 finishers on the DP World Tour who are not already members, but Westwood believes “there are a lot of questions still to be answered” regarding the new terms of their alliance.

“If [the DP World Tour] want to continue having the PGA Tour bankrolling them, there are going to be some big asks from the PGA Tour,” Westwood added.

“If I was [chief executive] Brian Rolapp running the PGA Tour, I would be playing hardball and making a lot of demands of the European tour if they expected me to finance it going forward.”

Westwood did not commit to LIV 2.0, as it was known, and is currently “unemployed” as he considers his future but may have to serve a suspension before returning to either the PGA or DP World Tours.

The PGA Tour describes the Korn Ferry Tour as its “premier pathway”, with 20 cards on offer, and announced a new competitive structure in June with a Championship Series and a lower-tier Challenger Series.

The Championship Series will feature a “limited series” of events co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour, which has so far announced the prize fund for just one event in 2027 – the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January.

“The PGA Tour put this ‘plan for the future’ in place and the DP World Tour is not mentioned a whole lot in that,” said Westwood.

“[Rolapp has] already said that the Korn Ferry Tour is going to be the main route into the PGA Tour, which makes me think ‘what’s going to happen to the DP World Tour?’

“I don’t think the DP World Tour has announced any prize funds for next year, which is slightly worrying, and what will prize funds look like from 2028 onwards? There are a lot of questions still to be answered in that strategic alliance partnership.”

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday signed a proclamation that he said will prevent future changes to the Oval Office and Cabinet Room as he has redesigned them.

“We’re making it a national monument and it will not be allowed to be touched by anybody,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Trump’s proclamation signing comes two days after voters, dissatisfied with his economic policies, threw dozens of Republicans out of office, delivering control of Congress to Democrats.

It’s also the third day this week in which the president, a real estate mogul, delivered remarks fixated on his pet projects in Washington, D.C., including an opulent ballroom and the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Since returning to the White House, Trump has overseen numerous design changes to various rooms, including the Oval Office, where he has filled the wall space with portraits, a copy of the Declaration of Independence and numerous golden accents.

Superville writes for the Associated Press.

WASHINGTON — Democrats heralded a new era in American politics Wednesday after voters broke Republicans’ control of government and delivered a pivotal rebuke of President Trump.

Victories that handed Democrats control of the House and Senate on Tuesday night came in historic form, with margins outstripping expectations, posting double-digit shifts to the left by nearly every voting bloc. In some of the reddest states in the union, even Republican redistricting efforts designed to shield districts from competition were not enough to prevent Democratic inroads.

The sweeping wins were driven by a rare coalition of voters across nearly all walks of American life, in cities and countryside, from the rural Midwest and Deep South to a traditionally conservative mid-Atlantic. Not since voters were repulsed by President Nixon after the Watergate scandal half a century ago has the popular vote swung so decisively in a single election cycle.

The wave was so comprehensive that it handed Democrats wins that for decades have been unthinkable — flipping Senate seats in Kansas, South Carolina and Texas — and gained a majority of governor’s seats for the first time in a generation. How large their House majority would be remained to be seen as states continued counting votes.

Statehouses in Arizona, Georgia, Minnesota, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania flipped for Democrats — and, as ballots were counted, Texas hung in the balance — while the party wrested at least five gubernatorial seats from Republican control.

“The only thing unusual here is scale,” said Andrew Sinclair, an assistant professor of government at Claremont McKenna College. “It is not at all unusual in American political history to see a poorly led party lose badly in the next election.”

“To build anything enduring out of this election,” he added, “Democrats are going to have to do the hard work of having honest conversations with each other about how such a diverse group of people can cooperate and deliver results.”

The seismic routing appeared to validate the populist messages Democrats — in many cases, both progressives and moderates — ran on, from lowering costs to addressing healthcare and housing issues to confronting the power of corporations in American society.

Party leaders vowed the morning after to respond to voters’ mandate on affordability and to check executive power, as members of both parties predicted the results would reshape politics for years into the future.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called it “a generational remake of the Senate map that is going to change America not only now but on into the future.”

He pledged Democratic senators would be intent on working for their constituents and delivering on promises to relieve Americans’ economic “anguish” and clean up government corruption. He also nodded to the responsibility the party now shoulders.

“With this majority, Americans have given we Democrats the opportunity to prove ourselves worthy of their trust, and that’s our most important job,” Schumer said.

In every demographic, whether cut by gender, race, age, education or region, voters shifted to the left compared to 2024, in most cases by double digits, according to New York Times data. Men 18 to 44 moved to the left by 31 points, Latinos by 28 points, voters under 30 by 32 points.

The nation also elected several historic “firsts,” including the first Muslim senator, the first openly gay male senator and the first Black female governor, in spite of Republican campaign attacks around identity. And Democrats defied Republican redistricting efforts in at least 11 districts, including four in Florida,four in Texas,one each in Ohio, Alabama and North Carolina.

The results showed the success of economic populist messages, said Alex Jacquez, a Democratic consultant and former policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

“The throughline for all the Democrats [who won] is the corporate-friendliness era of moderation is over and we are much more squarely in the prairie populism of the 80s and 90s,” Jacquez said. “You saw a real resurgence of that.”

The unambiguous nature of the victory helped repel the notion that Republicans might attempt to challenge election results, as Trump had telegraphed as a possibility before the election.

Republicans swiftly began trading blame as they parsed the results.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a likely 2028 presidential contender, predicted the results could “reverberate for the next decade or most,” saying the routing was worse than anticipated.

It was “close to an extinction-level event for Republicans across the country,” DeSantis told reporters Wednesday.

Republicans will now face questions about the party’s future direction, and how they prevent a repeat of Tuesday’s wave in 2028. President Trump signaled his willingness to accept the election results and work with Democrats, while evading blame for himself.

“For Republicans, it is clear that President Trump has led the party to disaster — again,” Sinclair said. “Looking to the future, Republicans should reconsider following his style of governance and his policy agenda.”

Democrats will now have to deliver on the affordability and accountability agenda. With full control of Congress, they will be able to send legislation to Trump’s desk, and could force him to sign bills or make unpopular vetoes. Schumer told reporters Wednesday that the party would work to lower costs “with the president or without him, period.”

“It is critically important now that Democrats, now that we’ve been given the keys to the car here, we’re able to drive it,” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who won reelection Tuesday, said on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe.”

Shapiro, a likely presidential contender, projected confidence in the new majorities and said Democrats would need to show that they “can legislate, bring down costs, end these wars.”

The mood among Democrats was quickly turning to “resolute” amid the jubilation, said consultant Andrew DeStefano. Party operatives want to build lasting power, he said, not become just another swing in the electoral pendulum.

“Folks don’t want this to be the latest ping-pong volley,” DeStefano said. “Laser focused on how we can deliver on some achievable concrete policy.”

Bruno Fernandes says Manchester United’s players “don’t need to save anyone’s job” after their improbable comeback win against Roma in the Champions League.

The Red Devils produced a remarkable second-half fightback to come from 2-0 down to win 3-2 and end a run of nine games without a victory.

Fernandes was speaking to the media for the first time since being dropped to the bench after publicly criticising manager Michael Carrick’s tactics in the wake of their 4-1 loss at Como.

Restored to the team for the Premier League defeat by Chelsea, the 32-year-old’s penalty on 58 minutes sparked an incredible revival to ease some of the pressure on Carrick.

But when asked if the result would save his job, United captain Fernandes told Amazon Prime: “We don’t need to save anyone’s job.”

He continued: “The club needed that win, the players needed that win. We have been working so hard to get out of this situation all together.

“It’s been tough, there’s been a lot of speculation in the media. A lot of lies around many things that have happened between me and the manager, that we have cleared the air, then after that the manager took the decision to put me on the bench because I’m not performing.

“Everyone thought that was a punishment for the words that I had. If it was, it was right. The manager is the one who makes the decisions.

“It doesn’t change the belief I have of the manager and the staff and every player in this club. It doesn’t change my aim to win every game that I have ahead of me.”

More to follow.

France’s Naval Group has unveiled the SCX26, a future warship concept exploring how large surface combatants could evolve to meet the demands of naval warfare in the coming decades. Heavily influenced by lessons from recent conflicts and emerging technologies, Naval Group describes it as a platform for testing ideas about future naval combat, rather than a design intended for immediate construction. However, it provides an interesting case study into what the next generation of destroyers could look like.

In terms of the destroyer as a floating base for multiple types of drones, the potential of even smaller and cheaper drones to vastly increase the combat flexibility and overall capabilities of an advanced warship — especially when the drones can be employed in swarms — is something that TWZ has addressed in detail in the past.

Key features of the new design include a stealth-focused hull, distributed sensors, a substantial missile arsenal, and a large internal mission bay for uncrewed systems. Its most distinctive features are two widely separated superstructures that also act as sensor towers and extensive facilities for operating, maintaining, and potentially even manufacturing drones.

The SCX26 measures approximately 558 feet long and 79 feet wide, with a reported full-load displacement of around 8,000 metric tons. That makes it considerably larger than Naval Group’s FDI frigates. These innovative vessels, which you can read more about here, have a displacement of around 4,460 metric tons. These warships are 400 feet long and are 59 feet wide.

Unveiled today at the Euronaval 2026 exhibition, taking place this week in Paris, the new ship is designed for a maximum speed of 30 knots and a range of up to 8,000 nautical miles. Its proposed propulsion system is CODLAG, or combined diesel-electric and gas turbine propulsion. In contrast, the French Navy’s FDIs are capable of speeds of 27 knots, driven by a combined diesel and diesel (CODAD) propulsion arrangement. 

The concept artwork shows a long, low hull with smooth sides and minimal external clutter. Its angular superstructures reflect an emphasis on reducing radar signatures, while its wave-piercing, knife-like bow recalls that of the FDI design.

Naval Group also says the design considers detection from above, including by radar satellites, with particular attention to the upper surfaces of its superstructures.

The SCX26’s most distinctive external feature is its split-superstructure arrangement.

Twin-island superstructures remain a highly unusual arrangement in which a ship’s functions are divided between two separate deckhouses rather than concentrated in one. On aviation-focused vessels such as the U.K. Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth class carriers, this allows navigation and flight operations to be managed separately. The same configuration was also studied for France’s future carrier, before it settled on a more conventional design.

On the SCX26, the arrangement also distributes sensors and bridges between two structures.

The forward tower is broad, with large square radar panels integrated into its faceted sides. Mer et Marine reports that the largest panels are intended for a new-generation UHF radar, complemented by a multifunction active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar derived from the Sea Fire family used on the FDI frigate.

The aft tower is taller and narrower, topped by a pole mast.

Separating the sensor installations could provide wider coverage, reduce blind arcs, and improve resilience by distributing critical equipment across two structures. The arrangement also supports Naval Group’s emphasis on redundancy and survivability.

The choice of a UHF radar system reflects the requirement to improve long-range detection of demanding targets, including ballistic and hypersonic threats. Anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBMs) and hypersonic weapons present some of the most demanding challenges for naval air defenses, and these types of threats are only set to proliferate. Their extreme speeds, combined in some cases with the ability to maneuver unpredictably during flight, compress the time available to detect, track, and intercept them.

A large open deck area separates the two towers. Naval Group describes this as a flexible central zone for additional mission equipment, including modular weapons and remotely operated systems. In a video also released today, the company presented mass-launcher boxes for drones. While these are shown in the video installed on an FDI frigate, they could equally occupy this central zone on the destroyer design.

The proposed weapons fit includes 12 Sylver vertical-launch installations: eight forward and four aft. Depending on launcher configuration, these could accommodate up to 96 missiles, including Aster 30 surface-to-air missiles and MdCN land-attack cruise missiles.

Launch of an Aster 30 surface-to-air missile from an Italian warship:

Lancio Aster 30

Naval Group also identifies options for increasing the missile capacity beyond 100, including quad-packed CAMM missiles and future Sylver NG launchers.

Modern destroyers increasingly rely on large vertical launch system (VLS) arrays to carry a mixture of long- and short-range air-defense missiles, as well as other weapons. This capacity is particularly important in an era of massed missile and drone attacks, since ships have limited opportunities to replenish their missile stocks at sea and can quickly expend expensive interceptors defending against successive waves of threats.

In addition to the missiles loaded in the VLS cells, the ship would also carry two multifunctional Rampart launchers for short-range missiles, guided rockets, and decoys. On the model of the SCX26 shown at Euronaval, Rampart launchers are seen on either side of the rear of the ship, just forward of the flight deck.

Tirs réussis du Rampart à Canjuers / Successful live-fire trials at camp Canjuers for Rampart

The SCX26 concept includes several weapons that remain developmental or conceptual.

Its primary gun is described as a large-caliber electromagnetic weapon capable of firing rapid salvos. A conventional 57mm gun is also included. Both these guns are housed in shrouded cupolas, helping preserve the low-observable characteristics of the warship.

Electromagnetic railguns use powerful electrical currents and magnetic fields to accelerate projectiles to extremely high velocities, rather than relying on conventional gunpowder propellants. They promise long ranges, high rates of fire, and relatively inexpensive ammunition, potentially giving warships another way to engage air, surface, and land targets without consuming valuable missile stocks. So far, however, these systems have been dogged by significant technical challenges, especially when it comes to power generation and sustained operation, including barrel wear.

Another novel weapon system for the SCX26 is a proposed 100-kilowatt laser that would be mounted high on the forward superstructure, providing an elevated field of engagement against drones, missiles, and other threats.

High-energy lasers offer warships a potentially economical way to engage drones, small boats, and other relatively inexpensive threats without expending costly conventional missiles. They can engage targets at the speed of light and, provided sufficient electrical power and cooling are available, offer a virtually inexhaustible magazine compared with conventional weapons. On the other hand, their effectiveness is constrained by atmospheric conditions, range, and the need to maintain a sustained beam on the target. As a result, the SCX26 design considers the laser weapon as a supplement, rather than a replacement for traditional missiles.

With an output in the 100-kilowatt class, the laser would be comparable to the U.S. Navy Laser Weapon System Demonstrator (LWSD) Mk 2 Mod 0 that was installed in the San Antonio class amphibious warfare ship USS Portland in 2019, as seen in the video below:

USS Portland (LPD 27) tests LWSD laser system

The SCX26’s aviation facilities occupy a substantial portion of the stern. A large internal mission bay beneath the flight deck would accommodate helicopters and other uncrewed aerial, surface, and underwater vehicles.

A large elevator connects the mission bay to the flight deck, allowing systems to be moved between the two. As seen in the model displayed at Euronaval, the flight deck has spots for a single medium (NH90-sized) helicopter and two smaller spots for vertical takeoff and landing drones.

Naval Group describes the mission bay as a small onboard drone factory, with potential additive manufacturing capabilities alongside maintenance and repair facilities and spare-parts storage.

The arrangement would allow the SCX26 to carry and support a varied drone complement for intelligence gathering, surveillance, electronic warfare, strike, and other missions.

The drone-centric design of the SCX26 reflects the fact that warships are increasingly being conceived as motherships for uncrewed aerial, surface, and underwater vehicles, and not just simply platforms that can be adapted to support a handful of remotely operated systems. Drones can extend a vessel’s surveillance and targeting reach, conduct electronic warfare, support anti-submarine operations, and deliver weapons, while keeping crewed ships farther from danger. The kind of asymmetric advantage that drones can provide in a maritime context is something that Ukraine has employed with notable success against the Russian Navy in the Black Sea.

Ukraine sea drone attack on Russian ship | Raw video

Naval Group ultimately envisions the SCX26 operating as a command and connectivity hub within a wider naval force, coordinating crewed vessels, aircraft, and autonomous platforms.

Its proposed combat system would use a data-centric architecture, advanced processing, and artificial intelligence to manage information and coordinate unmanned systems.

The ship would have a crew of approximately 150, with accommodation for another 100 personnel. The additional capacity could support an embarked command staff, drone operators, and special mission personnel.

Naval Group sees automation as a way to augment the crew while enabling the ship to manage a much larger network of systems.

At this point, the company considers the SCX26 as a research project rather than a production design. Already, however, its architecture has undergone substantial design work and reportedly includes model testing in a towing tank.

The concept provides an indication of the company’s thinking about future surface combatants: large, stealthy platforms with distributed sensors, layered defenses, flexible mission spaces, and extensive uncrewed systems. All of these factors will be addressed as France looks toward fielding a replacement for its current Horizon class air-defense destroyers.

Whether these ideas eventually inform a future French or export warship remains to be seen. However, the SCX26 underscores the pace of change that naval warfare is undergoing, with future destroyers expected to not just be heavily armed, but to have the facilities to operate and support a large family of uncrewed systems, too.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

Everton boss David Moyes says there is a way back for Jack Grealish at the club – but does not know when he will return to the team.

The former England midfielder missed both of the Toffees’ wins over Newcastle in the past week after a disciplinary issue.

The 31-year-old Manchester City loanee was left out of Thursday’s 3-1 victory in the Carabao Cup – a decision made by the club – after what was thought to be an unauthorised absence from training.

And again on Monday for their Premier League meeting – which Everton won 1-0 at St James’ Park with Thierno Barry scoring the only goal – Grealish was absent.

The Toffees said it was because of a lack of fitness – but Moyes was very coy at full-time.

“He’s unavailable at the moment and we will make a decision with the club when we think that availability comes back,” he told BBC Sport.

When asked whether it was indeed related to fitness, he added: “All I’m giving out is that he is unavailable at the moment.”

And when pressed over whether the disciplinary issue is over with, Moyes said: “No, I can’t comment on that.”

It’s one of Africa’s longest-running conflicts.

The dispute over the territory of Western Sahara started more than 50 years ago. It began with the end of Spanish colonial rule in the region.

Since then, both Morocco and the Polisario Front have claimed the Western Sahara.

In the 1990s, the United Nations tried to reach a settlement, and deployed a peacekeeping mission to the region.

Last week, that effort ended when Russia and the United States blocked proposals to extend the mission’s mandate.

So, could this development lead to renewed fighting?

Presenter: Imran Khan

Guests:

Samir Bennis – Political analyst and author of the book The Self-Determination Delusion: How Activist Scholars and Journalists Have Hijacked the Western Sahara Case

Irene Fernandez-Molina – Senior lecturer in International Relations at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom and author of the book Moroccan Foreign Policy under Mohammed VI, 1999-2014

Mahjoub Mleiha –  Advocacy head of Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA)

ILULISSAT, Greenland — Greenland has opened a new international airport, seeking to lure visitors from around the world as the Arctic island looks toward eventual independence from Denmark.

The inaugural international flight between Copenhagen, Denmark, and Ilulissat, Greenland Thursday was part of the island government’s efforts to grow its tourism industry to boost and diversify an economy still reliant on fishing.

Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen described the new airport as “one of the biggest investments” in the island’s history. Nielsen was one of 169 passengers on Thursday’s 4.5-hour flight on an Airbus A330neo. An Associated Press journalist also took the flight, operated by government-owned Air Greenland, as part of a trip organized by tourism agency Visit Greenland, for this story.

“If Greenland wants to be independent, we need to have a strong foundation, both economically and in terms of industry and business,” Nielsen told the AP before the plane departed.

The strategic island, home to roughly 56,000 people, has been a focus of President Trump since his first term, when he initially expressed his desire to acquire Greenland. His repeated threats to seize the territory from Denmark, a NATO ally, during his second term prompted months of tensions with other NATO allies. In September, Trump signed an agreement with the leaders of Denmark and Greenland to strengthen security in the Arctic and North Atlantic.

“There’s no doubt that it has been a shadow over the entire Kingdom of Denmark, but especially Greenland,” said Danish Finance Minister Peter Hummelgaard, who also took the inaugural flight. “The opening of this new international airport marks, I think, hope and optimism.”

New international airports seek to lure new visitors

Ilulissat, known as the “City of Icebergs,” sits along the island’s western coast and is home to some 5,000 people. Greenland’s third-largest city is also one of the island’s most-visited destinations. More than 342 miles north of the capital, Nuuk, its tourism offerings range from sled dog tours to icefjord cruises in picturesque Disko Bay, known for its towering icebergs.

Previously, travelers reaching Ilulissat had to arrive by cruise ship, take a small plane from Iceland or fly to one of Greenland’s international hubs and connect to smaller aircraft. There are no road connections from other big towns.

For decades, Greenland’s main international aviation gateways were former U.S. military air bases, distant echoes of World War II, in Kangerlussuaq and Narsarsuaq. Locals and international visitors had to land there before catching smaller aircraft to the island’s major towns, including Ilulissat and Nuuk. That changed in late 2024, when an international airport opened in Nuuk.

United Airlines last year began a new seasonal route between Nuuk and Newark, New Jersey. The inaugural flight was the first direct from the U.S. to Greenland by an American airline.

The Ilulissat airport, meanwhile, has a 53,820 square feet terminal and a new 1.37-mile runway, long enough to accommodate larger passenger aircraft. Air Greenland has committed to as many as six weekly flights between Copenhagen and Ilulissat during next year’s peak summer months, and Icelandair will also fly large jets from its Keflavik hub. Jens R. Lauridsen, CEO of Greenland Airports, said the company is also hoping to lure airlines in the U.S. and mainland Europe to serve Ilulissat.

“It’s quite wonderful that you can go directly right now,” said Kirsten Berthelsen, a 35-year-old Ilulissat resident and student who booked a ticket for Thursday’s flight without realizing it was the inaugural service. “Sometimes it’s quite difficult to travel from Nuuk and to other countries.”

Tourism boom remains elusive

While the number of international visitors to Greenland has grown by at least 65% since 2018, reaching almost 150,000 in 2024, the expected travel boom has yet to materialize. In 2024, tourism accounted for less than 5% of the territory’s GDP. Infrastructure, including hotel capacity, remains limited.

Aalborg University associate professor Carina Ren, who specializes in Arctic tourism, said some U.S. tourists were even deterred from visiting the island because of the recent Trump standoff, with a few canceling their flights.

“I’ve heard of people canceling their bookings, but also others canceling because they were afraid that perhaps they would not be welcomed,” she said, adding that many Americans still visit, particularly on cruise ships.

Even so, there are some local concerns about mass tourism and potential damage to Greenland’s fragile nature.

Palle Jerimiassen, a former regional mayor, said he fears the city’s environment, population and infrastructure may be overwhelmed by too many visitors.

“How many can we invite?” he said. “We are welcoming all the tourists, it’s a possibility to earn some new money.”

He added: “But we have to be careful.”

Brooks writes for the Associated Press.

Michael Carrick says Manchester United players remain comitted to the cause despite worst run in 38 years.

Under-fire Manchester United boss Michael Carrick says speculation about his future will not impact their Champions League game against Roma.

United are winless in nine matches, their worst run in 38 years, and sit outside the Premier League relegation zone on goal difference with just one win and seven points from their opening nine fixtures.

Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Chelsea increased speculation that Tuesday night’s visit of Roma in their fourth Champions League league phase match might be his last, given the Giallorossi’s unbeaten start in Serie A and 16 goals across their past four matches, with their only defeat of the season coming in Real Madrid’s dramatic 4-3 win in the Stadio Olimpico on October 14 .

Speaking at his pre-match media conference, Carrick said: “(Speculation) has no influence on how we prepare or on the game. We cannot wait for it. That is all I am focused on. What happens after, happens. Whatever direction it goes in.”

Carrick said he believes the players remain committed to the cause, despite the manner of their defeat at Stamford Bridge, with Lisandro Martinez’s quickfire sending-off and penalty concession ending their hopes of a comeback.

“I know what we are capable of. We have shown it in bursts, (including) the other day. We are close but need to act on it quickly.

“I have no concerns about (Martinez’s) commitment. Things happen in football. Sometimes you make mistakes. The commitment is not an issue.

“The dressing room is in a good place. The commitment of the players to the club, to me, to each other – do not question it at all. We need to play better, we can make better decisions, but the commitment is not a thing at all.

“We have to find a way out of this moment. We have done a lot of good things, we just couldn’t capitalise on it, but we will do. We have to keep doing the right things.

“A lot of people could do my job when you are winning games. It is about finding solutions, finding answers, staying strong, leading right and getting the best out of the players and we have to keep pushing for that.

“I love being here, I love working with the players. The struggles, the challenges, that just drives you on to want even more,” Carrick said.

United’s only win since August came in the 4-0 success against Sabah at Old Trafford on September 10 but another against Roma would keep United’s hopes of progressing to the knockout stages alive, said Carrick.

“We are looking for the win. There is the bigger picture and it is about getting through to the later stages.

“One or two (defeats) you can get away with… as long as you make amends for that. There are times, like tomorrow, that are going to dictate that for us. We’re certainly still in it. We’ve a great chance of progressing and that has to be the focus from now.”

Midfielder Kobbie Mainoo also gave his backing to the head coach and said the players have to fight as one to get through this ‘bump in the road’.

“I have been at this club for a long time and I know there’s always going to be ups and downs, it’s never going to be plain sailing to the top so you expect bumps and the best thing about it is that you’re able to bounce back from them.”

“I feel like our way to repay the manager is to be behind him on and off the pitch and fight as a team.

“I’m grateful to the boss for putting trust in me as soon as he came in and giving me all the advice that he has, knowing that he’s been a player and knows the history of this club and what it takes to win.

“I take those words to heart and try to apply them every day.”

In the October 27 Israeli elections, 38 parties ran for office. Of these, only two supported peace, equality and an end to the occupation of Palestinian territories. Both were “Arab parties” – made up of Palestinian citizens of Israel.

These two parties earned a historic result, securing 19 seats in the Knesset, after some 80 percent of Palestinian citizens cast a vote.

This unprecedented turnout contributed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s failure to secure a majority.  His bloc won 53 seats, while the Jewish-led opposition won 48.

The electoral mobilisation of Palestinians was immediately spun as a threat and Palestinian communities now face intensified incitement by members of Netanyahu’s camp. The pro-Netanyahu camp has alleged that the election was “stolen” and is now calling for restrictions on the “Arab vote”.

Thus, Palestinian electoral success exposed an uncomfortable question for Israeli politics: what happens when citizens who are informally isolated on the political scene but whose vote is formally equal become powerful enough to determine who governs?

Palestinian citizens face a fundamental question: Can they truly determine the political outcome and if they can, does that make them equal citizens?

Formal inclusion, informal exclusion

Palestinian citizens of Israel have long faced a dilemma over voting. If they do not mobilise to vote, the risk is that the Jewish right would come to power is high. If they do vote, there is no guarantee that their participation would translate into policies that protect or benefit their communities.

In 1999, Arab turnout reached approximately 75 percent in the elections and Palestinian citizens overwhelmingly supported Ehud Barak of the Labour Party against Netanyahu. A year later, after Ariel Sharon’s visit to Al-Aqsa compound and the outbreak of the second Intifada, Israeli police killed 13 Palestinian citizens. Outrage and disillusionment contributed to an Arab boycott of the 2001 election, when turnout fell to about 19 percent. Sharon won.

Today, Palestinian electoral participation still retains its sway. Higher turnout among Palestinians means fewer seats for two main blocs – the pro- and anti-Netanyahu camps – which could tip the balance in the Knesset. This is what happened on October 27 .

But this potentially powerful position of the Palestinian parties has been diminished by the refusal of Jewish-led parties to work with them on government formation.

The logic of this exclusion was made clear in April 2021, when far-right politician Bezalel Smotrich rejected Netanyahu’s attempt to establish a government supported by one of the Palestinian parties, Ra’am. Smotrich argued that doing so would encourage greater Palestinian turnout which would allow the Palestinian community to enable the return of the left to power in Israel. Accepting Palestinian parties would therefore challenge the Jewish right’s political dominance.

Ra’am eventually joined the short-lived coalition government formed by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, without making any national demands, but its participation came at the cost of significant concessions on national issues. For the first time, Palestinian political leaders recognised Israel as a Jewish state and were even willing to set aside the national question in favour of addressing civil and socioeconomic issues.

Despite these concessions, the Bennett–Lapid government ultimately collapsed following the resignation of two coalition members who opposed sitting in a government alongside Palestinian representatives.

Netanyahu then realised that to prevent the formation of any future government of change, he needed to delegitimise the Palestinian parties and limit their political representation.

Following October 7, 2023, Palestinian citizens experienced a sharp contraction of political space. Students faced disciplinary proceedings over social-media posts; employees lost jobs; antiwar speech prompted police investigations and arrests.

The electoral process itself reflected this climate. Israel’s Central Elections Committee voted to disqualify both Palestinian electoral lists, along with lawmaker Ofer Cassif and Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh. The Supreme Court eventually reversed the bans on the lists.

Meanwhile, attacking Palestinians, including Palestinian citizens of Israel, became a political staple. Ahead of this election, media outlet Arabic Post conducted an analysis of more than 10,000 election-related social-media items. It reported that 40 percent of posts by candidates from Netanyahu’s camp concerned Arabs or Palestinians, and that 94 percent of those were hostile.

More troubling were the police raids on the homes of Ra’am activists in the Negev, following suspicions of electoral bribery which led to the arrest of three men.

Police acknowledged searches without warrants and later reports questioned the strength of the evidence. All three men were released. But the ripple effect of those allegations helped shape a narrative of suspicion against the Palestinian community.

Attacks on the Palestinian vote

In this election, after years of repression and incitement, Palestinian citizens did not retreat. They organised, voted in unprecedented numbers and achieved a remarkable result. They took a gamble by taking their citizenship seriously and by asserting their right to full political equality and a meaningful say in shaping the country’s future.

However, the parties they voted for face isolation unless they fulfil the conditions set by the Jewish-led opposition: namely, recognising Israel as exclusively Jewish, labelling Hamas a “terrorist” organisation and accepting compulsory military or national service, from which Palestinian citizens are now exempt.

In other words, Palestinians can access the political power they should have only if they fully capitulate on the Palestinian question, embrace Zionism and accept their own status as unequal citizens.

In parallel, the Palestinian community also faces intensified incitement, particularly by the pro-Netanyahu camp. Politicians and public figures are throwing claims of electoral manipulation, insisting “the Arabs stole the election”.

Former Deputy Knesset Speaker Moshe Feiglin went as far as declaring that the Palestinian electoral mobilisation was the “October 7” of Israeli politics. Yair Netanyahu, the prime minister’s son, called Palestinian citizens of Israel “the greatest danger to the survival of the State of Israel—aside from the Iranian nuclear threat”.

Many Palestinian citizens now fear that political success could bring further intimidation, restrictions or violence rather than recognition.

Thus, the high voter turnout among Palestinian citizens has forced Israeli society and its political establishment to confront the inherent contradiction between Israel’s identity as a Jewish state and its claim to be a democracy.

This fundamental dilemma may ultimately be resolved in favour of Jewish political dominance, leading to legislation that further undermines Palestinian civil rights and expands the system of apartheid and Jewish supremacy.

It would not be surprising if a bill were introduced in the next Knesset aimed solely at restricting Palestinians’ voting rights. There are already calls on social media for such a move.

A July survey by Israel Democracy Institute found that only 46 percent of respondents in the right-wing Jewish camp supported Palestinian citizens’ right to vote.

In the current reality, following the genocide in Gaza, there is a growing sense among Jewish Israelis that there are no longer any limits to what they can do, pushing the state to act with virtually no restraint towards Palestinian citizens.

If Israeli society does not change direction, its pretence of democracy may soon no longer hold.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

WASHINGTON — The specter of a Democratic wave on Tuesday and retreat of Republican power has quietly sparked conversations within GOP circles about President Trump’s eventual exit from the political stage — and the future of a party that has revolved around him for the past decade.

Heading into the vote, Trump faces the lowest job approval ratings of his career. Factions of the Republican Party long loyal to his brand are beginning to break ranks. Candidates who have aligned themselves most closely to the president are among the most imperiled. From the shores of Lake Ontario to rural Kansas, signs point to a voter coalition under strain, as Republicans grappling with a troubled economy question the party’s direction.

Recent polls show that 67% of Trump’s 2024 voters approve of his job performance, down from 95% early in his second term. The steepest drops are among younger voters and Latino support, according to a Pew Research Center poll.

While a majority of Republicans still want to see the next leader of the party follow Trump on most issues, a third want to see the next GOP presidential nominee take a different approach, according to a New York Times/Siena poll in May.

President Trump throws MAGA hats to supporters during a midterm campaign rally at Lubbock Memorial Civic Center in Lubbock, Texas, on Oct. 27.

(Kent Nishimura / AFP via Getty Images)

Marc Short, who served as Trump’s first White House director for legislative affairs, said that Republicans were “essentially in triage mode” entering the midterms, citing “inflation challenges” and an “avalanche of corruption stories.” Bryan Lanza, a former communications director for Trump, expressed concern last week that Republican enthusiasm has reached such lows that races in Mississippi and Texas are genuine toss-ups.

The Republican reckoning tests a party infrastructure reshaped around the president since his insurgent rise in 2015 transformed the GOP.

At the top of the party, warning signs of a splintering coalition have not changed the view that Trump still maintains the grip on the GOP’s future — and that any future decisions should take that into account.

“I think he’ll help decide who the next president is going to be,” Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters said. “I think he’ll be super involved with not only the party but the process, and I welcome that as the chairman.”

Gruters called Trump “the single most important person in the Republican Party” and said he doubts the movement will reshape itself into a different kind of coalition based on the outcome of Tuesday’s election.

“I think it will continue to be Trump’s movement for as long as he’s alive,” he said. “It will be Trump’s movement.”

Others in Trump’s inner circle are making the same bet. His team is still staking Trump’s movement on the same thing that has defined it in the past: Trump himself.

“We’ve been with him for 10 years,” the official said. “Do you think he’s going away after the next two? No.”

What comes after that, the official wouldn’t say.

A person wears a sequined jacket as President Trump speaks on stage during an election rally on Oct. 9 at the Oncenter in Syracuse, N.Y.

(Alex Wong / Getty Images)

“Everyone wants to jump ahead and ask what 2028 looks like and what does beyond look like,” the official said. “I think the really smart thing about the president, and he’s even admitted it about himself, he’s always focused on the now, and he just works his a— off at the task at hand.”

The question of who inherits the movement is already taking shape, but Trump has avoided saying much when asked who he thinks should be the heir apparent.

Asked in the Oval Office last month whether he would endorse Vice President JD Vance — who had said a day earlier that he expected Trump’s backing if he decides to run for president in 2028 — Trump called Vance a “very talented person” and a “very good person,” but would not commit.

“I don’t think we’ve ever talked about it,” Trump said. “It’s early, very early right now. We have to get through the midterms.”

A New York Times/Siena poll released last week found that Republican primary voters favor Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio to be the party’s next nominee. Underscoring Trump’s grip on the party, the poll found, 8% said they want it to be Trump, who cannot run because of term limits.

The challenge for Republicans in the future will be to figure out a way to capture the MAGA base without isolating themselves from more mainstream Republican voters, said a GOP lobbyist with ties to Trump speaking on condition of anonymity to speak candidly.

“I think it would be foolish to ignore the MAGA base for any future candidate,” the lobbyist said. “The movement can evolve, but you need those voters to come out and vote.”

People wait for President Trump to arrive at a political rally at Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio on Oct. 7.

(Sam Owens / San Antonio Express-News via Getty Images)

Mike Madrid, a longtime Republican political strategist and co-founder of the Lincoln Project, which staunchly opposes Trump, argued that the future of the GOP will be influenced more by right-wing media personalities than policy because Trump consciously upended the party’s ideology over the last decade.

“The Republican Party is far, far more likely to balkanize than split along ideological lines because there is no ideological glue holding the GOP together anymore,” he said. “That’s gone.”

Madrid doubts Trump will change course even if Republicans suffer big losses on Tuesday night.

“Donald Trump is not going to adjust. He’s not capable of that. He never has. He never will,” Madrid said. “It doesn’t even occur to him. And even if it did, he wouldn’t know how to do it.”

If Democrats win a majority in Congress, history shows that it can be an opening for a president to pivot.

“What often happens in the last two years [of a term] is presidents bounce back,” said Christopher Warshaw, a Georgetown University public policy professor.

Presidents who “lose control of Congress and get shellacked in the midterms” often pivot to the political center, and tell voters “we’re going to try a new approach,” Warshaw said.

“MAGA” merchandise is for sale as supporters listen to President Trump speak at a midterm campaign rally at Guardian Centers of Georgia in Perry, Ga., on Oct. 24.

(Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images)

President Clinton did that after Republicans swept Congress in 1994, Warshaw said. President Biden did not after the 2022 midterms, a choice Warshaw said probably hurt Democrats in 2024, when Trump was elected. If Democrats win on Tuesday, Trump has signaled that he would be open to working with them to get things done.

“I hope that won’t be the case, but if it is, that has happened before with many presidents,” he told reporters. “You have strong veto and you end up working out deals.”

However Trump might deal with a divided Washington, the coalition he built is unlikely to dissipate when he leaves office, said Lynn Vavreck, a political science professor at UCLA.

“They want to build a very specific kind of world,” Vavreck said. “Those desires are not going to go away next Wednesday, or in 2028.”

Times staff writer Justine McDaniel contributed to this report.

Former Chancellor Rachel Reeves has argued the UK’s future should be inside the EU, and that Brexit has made the country “poorer, weaker and less secure”.

In her first major intervention since leaving the Treasury, Reeves said she welcomed debate around the UK’s relationship with Europe.

At the last election, Labour’s manifesto said a Labour government would stay outside the EU and make Brexit work.

But Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said there needs to be an honest discussion about what the future relationship looks like.

The Conservatives have said there is no desire to rerun the Brexit debate and Reform UK’s Nigel Farage has said there is no mandate to pursue closer EU ties.

Labour’s 2024 election manifesto ruled out a return of free movement, single market membership or a customs union.

Burnham has said that any changes would require a mandate at a general election, which is next due by 2029.

In the Sunday Times, external, Reeves wrote: “No-one in the Treasury ever doubted where my instincts were. I do believe Britain’s future lies in the European Union.”

She said supporters of rejoining the EU had to “make the argument, demonstrate tangible benefits and to get the next steps right”.

Reeves added that at the forthcoming UK-EU summit, she hoped for confirmation of the youth mobility scheme she has been pushing for since she was in office.

She also said she was hoping for “progress towards entry” into the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) scheme.

Announced last March, SAFE is part of an EU-wide effort to rearm after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

A defence pact agreed with the EU last May paved the way for UK-based defence companies to be part of projects funded by SAFE.

In her piece for the Sunday Times, Reeves also sought to defend her record in office.

She wrote about the need for governments to be “braver” in building big infrastructure projects and “clear eyed” about the risks and benefits AI would drive in advanced economies.

TO some, Tiffany Pollard is the ultimate reality queen, gracing Celebrity Big Brother and many other shows with her own explosive brand of drama.

But it is less well-known that she is now a recording artist as well, thanks to a cheeky sample on Zara Larsson‘s track Hot & Sexy.

Tiff — who dubs herself the Head Bitch In Charge, or HBIC — speaks the refrain “beautiful, fly, hot and sexy” on the pop princess’s empowering song.

Speaking for the first time about the collab, Tiffany said: “Zara is multi- talented, and for her to come for the HBIC to honour a track blows my mind.

“I was in that studio. It was like I was Beethoven because I wanted to get it right and iconic just for her.

“I was dedicated to the piece and a lot of people dance to it, so we’re happy.”

Read more on Tiffany Pollard

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The track from Zara’s multi-platinum album Midnight Sun was even played during last week’s Victoria’s Secret catwalk.

But we’re not going to see Tiff on tour with Zara any time soon.

She revealed: “I don’t want to crush dreams or anything like that, but our girl is going to handle it. I’m not gonna be on tour — I got bad knees, honey.”

Tiffany’s back on the reality beat as she begins a stint on ITV’s Celebrity Big Brother — a decade on from her career-defining appearance.

Fans will remember her spats with Gemma Collins and the “David’s dead” misunderstanding when housemate Angie Bowie was told her ex-husband had died, but Tiffany thought it was David Gest who had passed away — until others found him asleep in bed.

Today Tiffany heads into a divided house, with the self-proclaimed “hierarchy” of Rochelle Rackham and Philip Regan facing accusations of bullying — but she is ready to take them on.

The outspoken American said: “It’s Halloween week and I’m gonna put the whore in horror.

“I’m gonna listen to people, I’m gonna have an authentic experience but I don’t want to be on my best behaviour.

“It’s called the hierarchy? The king and the queen of the house? Oh, please. It’s time for me to knock down the bricks.

“I only go around this life one good time and I want to make sure I’m living it authentically.

“I don’t want to quiet a voice of something that should have been said.

“I have a lot of people who are betting on me to be real and to just say what it is.”

Tiffany will also make time while staying in the UK for some of her favourite British pastimes — including watching Towie, Hollyoaks and tucking into our good old fish and chips.

Just hours before heading on to Big Brother, she said: “Bring all that vinegar. People are so nice here.”

We’ll see if she feels the same following her stint in the spy-on-the-wall house.

• Big Brother continues tonight at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX.

As questions swirl this week about his future at USC and his potential fit elsewhere, Lincoln Riley didn’t mince words about where he wants to be coaching when asked Tuesday.

“I love it here,” the fifth-year coach said.

“Listen if I didn’t want to be at this place, I wouldn’t have come here in the first place. If I didn’t want to be at this place, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to leave. This is where I want to be. This is the right place for me. I’m the right person to be here. And that’s as honest and transparent as I can be with you guys.”

Whether Riley will actually have a say in that decision remains to be seen. After falling 24-7 to Wisconsin in one of the worst defeats of Riley’s tenure on Saturday, USC can’t afford another loss this season if it hopes to make the College Football Playoff for the first time.

That was the bar all parties at USC appeared to agree on ahead of Riley’s fifth season with the program. The coach himself said in August that expectations should be “through the roof.”

“We do expect to make the playoff,” USC athletic director Jennifer Cohen said in May. “We do expect to have a championship run. We do expect to be competing for championships every single year. I think that’s what’s awesome about USC, is that that’s what we all expect of it.”

That looks unlikely now, with three of USC’s final four games coming against top-10 teams, beginning with No. 2 Ohio State on Saturday. It has led to speculation that USC is bound for a breakup with its football coach.

A recent report from USA Today described the relationship between USC and Riley as “an unhappy marriage.”

But when asked about Cohen on Tuesday, Riley heaped praise on the athletic director. He said they had “an incredible working relationship.”

“She’s a tremendous AD,” Riley said. “Even though she’s not the AD I came here with, and I’m not the head coach she hired, [we have a] fantastic relationship. She’s been a huge part of the progress that we’ve made and has been incredibly supportive.”

It’s unclear how long Riley will hold on to that support if USC’s season starts to slip away. A person familiar with discussions around the coach’s future told The Times after USC’s loss to Oregon that “all options are on the table” with Riley. The trajectory of the Trojans’ season has turned downward since.

That’s led to further speculation that Riley and USC could potentially agree to a mutual parting of ways after this season. And that Riley could land at a program like Baylor, which just fired its coach.

Riley still has six years remaining on his contract at USC, according to a person familiar with the deal, due to an automatic one-year extension he accrued after the Trojans earned a New Year’s Six bowl bid in 2022. Buying Riley out of his deal would mean forking over upwards of $70 million, plus more for his assistants.

If Riley were to find another landing spot, though, it would allow the Trojans to offset the otherwise astronomical cost of his departure.

USC coach Lincoln Riley talks with quarterback Jayden Maiava during the team’s win at Penn Sate on Oct. 10.

(Barry Reeger / Associated Press)

Riley said Tuesday that was nowhere near his mind.

“Like I told you guys a lot of times, there’s not a lot of people in college football history that gave up what I gave up to come here,” Riley said. “I came here because this is where I want to be. I came here because I believe in this place. And none of that has changed whatsoever.”

The question is whether USC still believes in Riley.

Inside the locker room, at least, there seems to be no doubt whether Riley should be USC’s coach.

“I know he’s the right guy,” said left tackle Elijah Paige. “I believe there’s not a better leader in the country.”

“He’s the greatest coach I’ve been around,” added freshman wideout Trent Mosley. “We’re all right there with him.”

WASHINGTON — N’nanba (Robin Rue Simmons) has spent years trying to answer a question that has vexed the United States since the abolition of slavery: What would it actually look like to repair the damage?

In Evanston, Ill., she helped turn that question into a $25,000 housing grant for Black residents whose families were harmed by discriminatory housing policies. Now, Rue Simmons is spreading the nation’s first municipal reparations program to more than 100 communities across the country.

But as America celebrates its 250th anniversary, there is a formidable hurdle: President Trump’s administration.

The administration’s campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and its broader efforts to curtail federal support for race-based initiatives and Black history, have prompted some institutions to reconsider or quietly scale back reparations work.

Those reversals come while at least part of the world community is reexamining the past. In March the U.N. General Assembly issued a resolution declaring the trafficking of millions of enslaved Africans “the gravest crime against humanity” and calling for reparations. More than 120 countries supported the resolution — only three voted against it — Argentina, Israel and the U.S. Fifty-two, including England and 27 members of the European Union, abstained.

“Under this administration, of course, there are many barriers to achieving that, but we still stand on federal redress as our collective north star,” Rue Simmons, the chairman of Evanston’s Reparations Committee and a former city councilwoman, told the Associated Press.

For more than 3½ centuries, the transatlantic slave trade forced an estimated 12.5 million Africans aboard ships bound for the Americas; some 1.8 million didn’t survive the journey.

Roughly 388,000 enslaved people were taken to what is now the U.S. and their enslavers maintained a system of chattel slavery, treating the enslaved and their children as property, until abolition in 1865.

Enslavement deprived generations of Black Americans their freedom and any meaningful share of the fruits of their labor. Jim Crow segregation, discrimination and systemic racism further depressed the Black population’s ability to build wealth that is still largely concentrated among white families.

From the unfulfilled promise of 40 acres and a mule, to modern-day reparations proposals, initiatives to address the legacy of slavery are entering a new era of political uncertainty.

“I don’t think that there’s been any president who’s been supportive of comprehensive Black reparations — for a long time it was just taboo to even speak the word,” said William Darity, who wrote a book on reparations with A. Kirsten Mullen.

“Now, Trump will speak the word, but with hostility,” he added.

“They want to steal your money for reparations,” Trump told his supporters during a speech in September. “Our country doesn’t have that kind of money. … The people that hate our country are asking for it, but it’s going nowhere.”

Marcus Anthony Hunter, a sociologist in African American studies at UCLA, said reparations are about atoning for the past crime of chattel slavery, even if some programs come in the form of housing grants or college scholarships instead of direct cash payments.

“It’s not even a lot of money that they are given. But it comes back to the recognition, the acknowledgment, responsibility and remedy,” he said.

The Trump administration disagrees and has entered the legal fight in Evanston to stop it from happening.

The Republican administration’s attacks on modern-day repayment efforts include a lawsuit in Evanston, which was initially filed by Judicial Watch.

Michael Bekesha, who represents the plaintiffs, says the Evanston program distributes funds based on race without specific harm identification. He argues the city’s program is unlike historical reparations programs.

“The Constitution prohibits governments from picking winners and losers based entirely on race,” Beshka told the AP.

The Justice Department this month received a federal judge’s permission to intervene in the case, alleging that the city’s actions violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and the Fair Housing Act.

Last year, the Justice Department sent a letter of warning to leaders in Asheville and Buncombe County, N.C., contemplating creating their own programs.

Kiersten Pels, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, said in a statement to the AP that “race-based government benefit programs are both unconstitutional and often violate federal civil rights laws.”

“Those implementing these programs do so in violation of federal law and the federal government has an obligation to stop them,” she said.

The White House referred questions to the Justice Department.

Georgetown University was one of the leaders, offering admission consideration for the descendants of enslaved people tied to the campus’ past, an effort that has continued despite Trump’s crackdown on campus DEI efforts.

But across higher education, new efforts have come to a standstill, said Richard Cellini, who previously led a Harvard University project to identify descendants of people enslaved by Harvard’s past leaders.

“People don’t want to talk about it, they don’t want to hear about it, they’re not hiring for it,” Cellini said.

Some Virginia universities have quietly been taking steps to provide scholarships to descendants, as required under a 2021 state law. But otherwise there has been no sign of new scholarship programs being started since Trump returned to office, said Kirt von Daacke, a University of Virginia historian who leads a consortium of colleges studying slavery.

The Georgetown initiative focuses on descendants of slaves sold by Georgetown’s Jesuit priests to slaveholders in Louisiana.

The Virginia Theological Seminary makes annual cash payments to the descendants whose family members labored on its campus during slavery and Jim Crow eras. The private institution’s program is funded by an endowment started in 2019 that has grown from $1.7 million to $2.8 million. Payments to individuals vary based on the closest lineage to the family members and continue into perpetuity.

“We believe we’re the only educational institution in the United States which makes annual cash reparations payments” with no strings attached, said Nicky Burridge, the seminary’s spokeswoman.

“The moral repair, the healing aspect is as great as the monetary one,” said Ebonee Davis-Hayes, its director of reparations.

Hussein, Fields and Binkley write for the Associated Press.