gap

LUKE LITTLER is a whisker away from becoming world No.1 for the first time.

The teen sensation battered Luke Humphries in Sunday’s World Grand Prix final to slash the buffer ‘Cool Hand’ enjoyed at the top of the PDC Order of Merit.

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Darts world rankings are determined by the amount of prize money a player has won in ranking tournaments over a rolling two-year period.

Littler was 16 years old and barely even on the radar two years ago.

He has racked up virtually all of his staggering £1,665,500 haul since bursting onto the scene at the 2024 World Darts Championship.

And that doesn’t even include the cash he’s banked at non-ranking events.

Humphries has been untouchable at the top of the standings for nigh on two years.

But the hiding he got from Littler in Leicester has cut the gap to just over £70,000.

Humphries will need a heroic effort to remain on top as he’s defending maximum winnings at the Grand Slam of Darts and the Players Championship Finals next month.

Josh Rock and Danny Noppert are two of the other big winners from the World Grand Prix.

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Rock, 24, is up from ninth to eighth in the world, having started the year 16th.

And Noppert has jumped from 13th to 10th after losing to Humphries in the semi-finals.

Damon Heta, Dave Chisnall and Peter Wright have all slipped further down the pecking order.

And there is more misery for 2023 world champion Michael Smith – who didn’t even qualify for the World Grand Prix – as he has dropped two places to 27th.

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Gap (GAP -0.18%), the well-known apparel retailer behind the Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta brands, posted its second quarter fiscal 2025 results on Thursday, Aug. 28. The company reported flat revenue at $3.7 billion. Earnings per share came in at $0.57, outpacing the $0.55 consensus. Comparable sales, which measure sales at stores open at least a year, rose 1%, extending a string of positive results. Gross margins (GAAP) and operating profits (GAAP) slipped, with pressures from higher tariffs and last year’s one-time revenue boost falling away.

Overall, the quarter matched forecasts, with GAAP profits a bit higher than Wall Street expected, but growth was modest and margins tightened.

Source: Gap. Note: Fiscal 2025 second quarter ended on Aug. 2, 2025, and fiscal 2024 second quarter ended on Aug. 3, 2024.

Gap’s Business and Key Focus Areas

Gap operates four major apparel brands: Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta. Each targets a different segment of the clothing market, from value and casual basics to athletic wear and modern business fashion. The company relies on both brick-and-mortar stores and online platforms, aiming to offer a seamless shopping experience across channels.

Recently, Gap has focused on strengthening its brand identity for each label, improving the efficiency of its supply chain, and investing in technology and digital sales capabilities. Management considers brand relevance, omni-channel retail strength, supply chain adaptability, and inventory discipline as key to success. Sustainability and talent development remain priorities, with ongoing work to foster a responsible and inclusive business culture.

Quarterly Highlights: Financial and Operational Review

GAAP net sales held steady year over year at $3.7 billion, closely aligning with company guidance and analyst forecasts. Comparable sales increased 1%, compared to a 3% increase in the same quarter last year. Sales at Old Navy, the company’s largest brand, ticked up 1% and comparable sales rose 2%. The Gap brand also delivered 1% higher sales, with comps up 4%, shrugging off the maturity headwinds typical among legacy brands. Banana Republic’s revenue dipped 1%, but comparable sales moved to a positive 4%, suggesting signs of stabilization in the brand’s repositioning efforts.

In contrast, Athleta, the company’s athletics and lifestyle brand, remains a weak spot. Sales sank 11%, and comparable sales dropped 9%. The segment continues to undergo a strategic reset, with management stating that further improvements will “take time.” Store sales overall declined 1%, while online sales increased 3%, now accounting for 34% of total revenue, highlighting the ongoing shift toward digital retailing.

Profitability was affected by cost and margin pressures. Operating income was $292 million, flat from the prior year. The operating margin edged down to 7.8%. Gross margin, which is the share of revenue left after paying for goods sold, narrowed by 1.4 percentage points year over year to 41.2% (GAAP). Management attributed this to a combination of higher input costs from increased tariffs, and the absence of a positive impact from a previous year’s credit card partner agreement. Merchandise margin, which isolates the profitability of actual product sold, also decreased by 1.5 percentage points year over year. Rent, occupancy, and depreciation costs were slightly improved as a percentage of sales, providing a modest offset.

Inventory levels climbed 9% to $2.3 billion. This increase stemmed from faster receipts and higher costs per item due to tariffs, rather than excess inventory. Nonetheless, With sales pacing flat, elevated inventory levels could pose a risk of future markdowns if consumer demand softens. Free cash flow (non-GAAP) slowed dramatically to $127 million for the first half (26 weeks) of FY2025, reflecting a drop from $397 million in the same period of FY2024. The company’s cash position improved, with $2.4 billion available in cash and short‑term investments at quarter-end, up 13% year over year.

Gap continued to return capital to shareholders, distributing $62 million in dividends and repurchasing $82 million in stock. The quarterly dividend was $0.165 per share. The company ended the quarter with 2,486 company-operated stores, down by 20 for the year to date, as it continued to optimize its store footprint. Franchise stores held steady at approximately 1,000 locations worldwide as of August 2.

Brand and Channel Performance in Detail

Old Navy remains Gap’s largest and most consistent brand. Its product mix focuses on family casual apparel, activewear, and denim. Comparable sales increased by 2%, offsetting some softness elsewhere, though the year-over-year growth rate slowed from recent quarters. Strategic efforts to reinvigorate the brand and focus on active and denim categories are ongoing.

The Gap brand, known for its modern essentials and collaborations, posted a 4% comparable sales increase, delivering its seventh consecutive quarter with positive comps. Marketing initiatives and new partnerships helped drive renewed relevance, which management described as part of a systematic brand “reinvigoration playbook.”

Banana Republic, which aims for modern business and elevated casual wear, reported a 1% drop in total sales but a 4% comp sales increase, suggesting better performance at well-established locations. Ongoing brand repositioning, with a focus on storytelling and marketing, may be starting to have a positive effect, though leadership continues to watch this segment closely.

Athleta, specializing in performance-driven women’s apparel and lifestyle products, struggled as its “reset” continues. With a double-digit sales decline and comparable sales down 9%, further improvements are expected to take time. Management has flagged the need to bolster both product and marketing efforts for this segment. Elsewhere, online sales remain a bright spot, up 3% from a year prior and now accounting for 34% of total revenue. Physical store closures continue, a legacy of ongoing store optimization and an attempt to focus on more productive square footage.

Looking Forward: Management Guidance and Key Watchpoints

Management reaffirmed its financial outlook for fiscal 2025. It expects overall net sales to grow 1%–2% and forecasts a full-year operating margin in the range of 6.7%–7%, lowered from last year due to an expected 1.0–1.1 percentage point negative impact from tariffs. Leadership projected net sales to rise by 1.5%–2.5% year over year in Q3 FY2025 and guides for a notable decrease in gross margin from the prior year, driven largely by increased tariff costs and timing of certain investments.

Investors should watch for developments related to inventory management, margin trends as tariff impacts lift costs, and the pacing of the Athleta turnaround. Digital sales growth and continued omni-channel investments also remain key themes as the apparel market continues to evolve.

Revenue and net income are presented using U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) unless otherwise noted.

In January, just before Donald Trump resumed command of the United States on a bevy of sociopathic promises, incoming US border czar Tom Homan announced that the new administration would be “shutting down the Darien Gap” in the interests of “national security”.

The Darien Gap, of course, is the notorious 106km (66-mile) stretch of roadless territory and treacherous jungle that straddles Panama and Colombia at the crossroads of the Americas. For the past several years, it has served as one of the only available pathways to potential refuge for hundreds of thousands of global have-nots who are essentially criminalised by virtue of their poverty and denied the opportunity to engage in “legal” migration to the US.

In 2023 alone, about 520,000 people crossed the Darien Gap, which left them with thousands of kilometres still to go to the border of the US – the very country responsible for wreaking much of the international political and economic havoc that forces folks to flee their homes in the first place.

In a testament to the inherent deadliness of borders – not to mention of existence in general for the impoverished of the world – countless refuge seekers have ended up unburied corpses in the jungle, denied dignity in death as in life. Lethal obstacles abound, ranging from fierce river currents to steep ravines to attacks by armed assailants to the sheer physical exhaustion that attends days or weeks of trekking through hostile terrain without adequate food or water.

And while literally “shutting down” the Darien Gap is about as feasible as shutting down the Mediterranean Sea or the Sahara Desert, the jungle has become drastically less trafficked in the aftermath of the Trump administration’s machinations to shut down the US border itself, essentially scrapping the whole right to asylum in violation of both international and domestic law.

In March, two months into Trump’s term, Panama’s immigration service registered a mere 194 arrivals from Colombia via the Darien Gap – compared with 36,841 arrivals in March of the previous year. This is no doubt music to the xenophobic ears of the US establishment, whose members delight in eternally bleating about the “immigration crisis”.

However, it does not remotely constitute any sort of solution to the real crisis – which is that, thanks in large part to decades of pernicious US foreign policy, life is simply unliveable in a whole lot of places. And “shutting down” the Darien Gap won’t deter desperate people with nothing to lose from pursuing other perilous paths in the direction of perceived physical and economic safety.

Nor can the enduring psychological impact of the Darien trajectory on the survivors of its horrors be understated. While conducting research for my book The Darien Gap: A Reporter’s Journey through the Deadly Crossroads of the Americas, published this month by Rutgers University Press, I found it next to impossible to speak with anyone who had made the journey without receiving a rundown of all of the bodies they had encountered en route.

In Panama in February 2023, for example, I spoke with a young Venezuelan woman named Guailis, who had spent 10 days crossing the jungle in the rain with her husband and two-year-old son. Among the numerous corpses they stumbled upon was an elderly man curled up under a tree “like he was cold”. Guailis said she had also made the acquaintance of a bereaved Haitian woman whose six-month-old baby had just drowned right before her eyes.

Guailis’s husband, Jesus, meanwhile, had experienced a more intimate interaction with a lifeless body when, tumbling down a formidable hill, he had grabbed onto what he thought was a tree root but turned out to be a human hand protruding from the mud. Recounting the incident to me, Jesus reasoned: “That hand saved my life.”

I heard about bloated corpses floating in the river, about a dead woman sprawled in a tent with her two dead newborn twins and about another dead woman with two dead children and a man who had hanged himself nearby – presumably the children’s father.

A Venezuelan woman named Yurbis, part of an extended family of 10 that I spent a good deal of time with in Mexico in late 2023, offered the following calculation regarding the prevalence of bodies in the jungle: “I can say that we have all stepped on dead people.”

For pretty much every step of the way, then, refuge seekers transiting the Darien Gap were reminded of the disconcerting proximity of death – and the negligible value assigned to their own lives in a US-led world order.

Add to that the surge in rapes and other forms of sexual violence with The New York Times reporting in April 2024 that the “sexual assault of migrants” on the Panamanian side of the jungle had risen to a “level rarely seen outside war” – and it becomes painfully clear that the individual and collective trauma signified by the Darien Gap is not something that will be summarily resolved by its ostensible “shutting-down”.

That said, the Darien Gap has also served as a venue for the display of incredible solidarity in the face of structural dehumanisation. I met a young Colombian man who had personally saved an infant from being swept away in a river. I was also told of a Venezuelan man who had carried an ailing one-year-old Ecuadorean girl through the jungle when her mother, too weak to move at a rapid pace, feared she wouldn’t make it out in time to seek medical help.

When I myself staged an incursion into the Darien Gap in January 2024, two refuge seekers from Yemen complimented me on my Palestine football shirt and did their best to assuage my apparently visible terror at entering the jungle: “If you need anything, we are here.” This from folks who had for more than two decades been on the receiving end of quite literal terror, courtesy of my own country, as successive US administrations went about waging covert war on Yemen.

The Darien Gap, too, has functioned as a de facto warzone in its own right where punitive US policy plays out on vulnerable human bodies in the interests of maintaining systemic inequality. Widely referred to in Spanish as “el infierno verde”, or The Green Hell, the gap has certainly lived up to its nickname.

And while the heyday of the Darien Gap may be at least temporarily over, the territory remains an enduring symbol of one of the defining crises of the modern era in which the global poor must risk their lives to live and are criminalised for doing so. In that sense, then, the Darien Gap is the world.

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

Taxes must rise in the autumn if Chancellor Rachel Reeves is to meet her self-imposed borrowing rules, according to an economic think tank.

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr) said the government was on track to miss the target it has set itself by £41.2bn.

It recommended “a moderate but sustained increase in taxes” including reform of the council tax system to make up the shortfall.

The government said “the best way to strengthen public finances is by growing the economy”, but the Conservatives said Labour “always reaches for the tax rise lever”.

When she became chancellor, Reeves set out two rules for government borrowing, which is the difference between public spending and tax income.

The first rule was that day-to-day spending would be paid for with government revenue, which is mainly taxes. Borrowing can only be for investment.

The second rule was that debt must be falling as a share of national income by the end of a five-year period.

Reeves has repeatedly said these rules are “non-negotiable”.

The chancellor originally promised not to raise taxes further, but recently refused to rule it out after disappointing data on economic growth.

Stephen Millard, deputy director for macroeconomics at Niesr, said Reeves “will need to either raise taxes or reduce spending or both in the October Budget if she is to meet her fiscal rules”.

Niesr argues that raising taxes would help build a “buffer” that would reassure investors about the stability of the UK’s public finances.

That in turn “may reduce borrowing costs” for the government, it said.

Niesr said the £41bn shortfall in the government’s budget was in part due to weakening growth over the past few months, resulting in a lower tax take and higher government borrowing.

But the reversal of welfare cuts, which were originally designed to save £5.5bn a year by 2030, had also had an impact, it said.

The welfare cuts were watered down, following opposition from within the Labour Party, and are now expected to save less than half the original amount.

As a result the chancellor now faced a “trilemma”, the thinktank said, over which of her pledges to fulfill: meeting her spending commitments, her manifesto promises to avoid tax rises on working people, or meeting the limits she has set on borrowing.

One of these commitments will need to be dropped, Niesr concluded, but it said the government should prioritise protecting public expenditure that supports the most vulnerable, while also safeguarding public investment which supports future growth.

Niesr said the government’s other priority should be policies to promote growth and productivity, to boost living standards across the UK.

It said that the living standards of the poorest 10% of the population were now 10% lower than pre-Covid levels.

When Labour came to power a year ago, it said it wanted to make the UK the fastest growing country in the G7 group of nations.

However, the UK had faced trade policy uncertainty and geopolitical risk, as well as domestic challenges, the thinktank said.

Niesr said its analysis suggested the economy would grow “modestly” at 1.3% in 2025 and 1.2% in 2026, placing the UK in the middle of the G7 economies.

The IMF recently said it thought the UK was set to be the third fastest growing economy out the world’s so-called most advanced economies this year and the next, after US and Canada.

Niesr said inflation, the rate at which prices are rising, remained “stubborn” and would be 3.5% this year and 3% next year.

The think tank, which is not affiliated to any political party or movement, did not suggest which taxes should rise or by how much.

However, it added that the government should also consider reducing welfare spending by speeding up plans to help people relying on benefits get into work.

The chancellor should also consider reforming council tax or even replacing it altogether with a land value tax, Niesr suggested.

A Treasury spokesperson said: “As set out in the plan for change, the best way to strengthen public finances is by growing the economy – which is our focus.”

However, shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride accused Labour of not understanding the economy.

“Experts are warning Labour’s economic mismanagement has blown a black hole in the nation’s finances which will have to be filled with more tax rises – despite Rachel Reeves saying she wouldn’t be back for more taxes,” he added.

The spate of insecurity in Nigeria is turning many local communities into ungovernable spaces. As the secular government withdraws from these communities, terrorist groups expand their influence, consolidate authority, and accumulate illicit wealth. Traditional leaders—once the primary link between the people and governance—now operate under the coercive control of armed factions, which have established parallel administrations and seized the reins of the local economy.

North East

The government’s absence is nearly absolute in northeastern Nigeria, around the Lake Chad basin. Here, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and remnants of Boko Haram terrorists operate not as fugitives but as rulers. Their authority is layered, structured, and chillingly effective.

ISWAP has organised its territory into mantikas (localities), which are regional districts aligned with Nigeria’s federal structure. These mantikas oversee taxation, zakat (alms-giving), farm levies, education (Qur’anic schools and ideological reprogramming), security, courts, and patrols.

Several communities in Abadam, Guzamala, Kukawa, Marte, and Mobbar no longer wait for state forces; they negotiate directly with insurgent-appointed administrators. The group’s brutality is, for many, accompanied by a disturbing sense of order within a context devoid of hope.

North West

While ISWAP’s rule is ideological, in North West Nigeria, it encompasses a chaotic mix of economic, ethnic, and religious factors. In Zamfara, armed groups now operate like proto-states. The forests of Maru, Bakura, and Anka are home to well-defended camps with command hierarchies, blood-draining tax systems, and armouries supplied via Sahelian trafficking routes and after raids on military positions.

HumAngle investigations found that communities like Tungar Doruwa, Maitoshshi, Chabi, and Kwankelai—once protected under the Dankurmi Police Outpost—are now under the firm control of Kachalla Black and Kachalla Gemu. Further south, Kungurmi, Galeji, and Yarwutsiya are governed by Kachalla Soja and Kachalla Madagwal. Up north, Kango Village and Madafa Mountain serve as fortresses for terrorists like Wudille and Ado Aleru, who command loyalty through a combination of fear and patronage.

Here, terrorism is no longer sporadic. It is systemic. It is territorial governance without borders, aided by the region’s gold trade, deep forests, and a broken justice system. Entire LGAs now function as autonomous war zones where Nigerian laws hold no sway.

The little-known Lakurawa terror network is enforcing a form of stealth insurgency in the areas of Isa, Sabon Birni, and Rabah in Sokoto State. Schools are shuttered, roads are mined, and civilians pay levies for survival. The group’s cross-border tactics, using the Niger Republic as a tactical fallback, make them elusive and resilient.

Many villages with large populations, like Galadima, Kamarawa, and Dankari in Sokoto, now survive on whispered warnings and ritual bribes. Lakurawa’s governance is less visible but equally firm, with taxation, curfews, and brutal retribution. Residents say sporadic military raids offer little relief; the terrorists return hours later, more vengeful than before.

The fractures in Kaduna State mirror the broader problems in Nigeria. In Chikun, Giwa, and Birnin Gwari, attacks by Ansaru factions and criminal warbands have pushed out state institutions. Southern Kaduna adds another layer, with ethnic violence fused with terror raids, leaving villages like Jika da Kolo and Tudun Biri in ruins.

Katari, once a symbol of Kaduna’s transport link to Abuja, is now a ghost zone, haunted by the memory of the 2022 train attack. Trains now pass, but the residents remain missing, displaced or dead.

North Central

In Niger State, rural districts like Shiroro, Mashegu, and Borgu are steadily slipping from state and federal control. After attacks such as the 2021 Mazakuka mosque massacre, entire villages fled, leaving behind ghost towns. ISWAP and affiliated terror cells have since moved in, using dense forests to launch ambushes and collect tribute.

In Rafi, Allawa, Bassa, and Zazzaga, residents speak of “government by gun”, which is enforced through nighttime raids and extortion rackets. What began as raids has metastasised into permanent displacement. Farming has ceased. Children grow up never having seen a police officer.

Niger State is next to Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital territory.

South East

The secessionist group known as the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has transformed parts of Imo and Anambra States into shadow states. What began as ideological agitation has evolved into fragmented shadow governance, particularly in Orsu, Oguta, and Nnewi South, where IPOB’s Eastern Security Network (ESN) now operates checkpoints, enforces lockdowns, and levies informal taxes. Police presence is almost nonexistent; courts are shuttered; schools function sporadically.

This pattern is not isolated. As Mgbeodinma Nwankwo reports for HumAngle in Onitsha, “Southeast Nigeria has greatly changed from a region with historical landmarks and trade centres to areas of gunfire that make life deadly for civilians and law enforcement officers.” States like Anambra, Imo, Abia, and Ebonyi have become centres for violence. Non-state armed groups routinely block roads and attack police stations. Businesses close early, travel routes are avoided, and fear governs daily life.

IPOB’s camps, hidden in forest belts, serve as training grounds and operational bases – funded by diaspora networks and sustained by black-market arms. The state’s coercive apparatus has collapsed in these ungoverned interiors, like Ihiala and stretches of rural Imo. Local vigilante outfits like Ebube Agu and Operation Udo Ga Chi strive to maintain a fragile order, often overwhelmed by better-armed non-state actors.

As Nwankwo describes, uniforms have become “magnets for attacks.” Police and military personnel are hunted, ambushed, kidnapped, or executed. One soldier, attending a party in Imo while off duty, was identified and found dead the next morning. 

“Wearing a uniform here is like painting a target on your back,” said a police officer in Imo, speaking anonymously. “We go to work in mufti and only change when necessary. Even then, we operate in groups, as solo patrols pose a significant risk.”

The psychological toll is immense. Morale among security forces is at an all-time low. Many seek transfers, and while some still consider the southeastern region postings financially rewarding, the life-threatening risks overshadow any incentives.

The violence is driven by a volatile mix: separatist agitation, criminal opportunism, and state withdrawal. IPOB and ESN are often suspected to be responsible for many of the terror attacks, though they frequently deny involvement. Criminal gangs, exploiting the chaos, further destabilise the region.

State response has focused on increasing highway checkpoints, leaving interior communities exposed. Critics argue this reactive approach exacerbates tensions. “Deploying more soldiers is not enough,” warns Dr Chioma Emenike, a conflict resolution expert based in the southeast. “There must be dialogue, economic empowerment, and trust-building between security agencies and local communities.”

Ultimately, the region faces a dual crisis of security and legitimacy. As uniforms vanish from the rural southeast, so does any semblance of state authority. What remains is a precarious state of fear and survival—residents trapped between hostile non-state actors and a disengaged state, teetering on the edge of anarchy.

Nigeria’s unseen frontlines

Nigeria’s forests have become its most telling metaphor. Once tourist destinations and biodiversity treasures, they are now frontlines of insurgency. No-go zones include Kamuku, Kainji, Falgore, and Sambisa. Dumburum and Kagara are insurgent capitals.

Even southern states are not spared. In Ondo, Edo, and Lagos, the forests harbour kidnappers and traffickers. In the Niger Delta, mangroves shelter oil theft rings bleeding billions from the national treasury.

These green belts mark the outer limit of Nigeria’s practical sovereignty. Beyond them lies another Nigeria: unrecognised, ungoverned, and rapidly growing.

Kabir Adamu, a seasoned security analyst and the CEO of Beacon Security and Intelligence Limited–a security risk management and consulting firm– expressed concerns over the scarce presence of governance and secular leadership in territories overrun by terrorists.

“Where they exist, they typically include poorly staffed and under-resourced police posts, non-functional or abandoned local government offices, dilapidated schools, and health and medical centres with little to no medical personnel or supplies,” he told HumAngle, noting that, in some locations, especially in northern Borno and remote areas of Zamfara and Katsina, such structures have been destroyed or taken over by terrorists, further eroding state presence.

Adamu added that, as the state recedes, communities have been forced to adapt in ways that challenge conventional notions of governance. He said many communities have resorted to local self-help mechanisms, including forming or reviving armed vigilante groups, with support from traditional rulers or local elites in some cases.

“These groups often serve as the first and only line of defence against armed groups, conducting patrols, manning checkpoints, and gathering intelligence. Unfortunately, the formation of the vigilantes continues not to reflect the communities’ diverse residents,” the security analyst noted.

Forest guard corps

The federal government’s response to these problems offers a glimmer of optimism, as it established the new Forest Guard Corps to reclaim these wild spaces. Trained in guerrilla warfare and intelligence, these units, drawn from local populations, are tasked with intercepting armed groups and restoring order.

However, without systemic reforms such as real policing, honest governance, and economic renewal, the corps risks becoming merely a temporary solution to a persistent problem. These affected communities nationwide need more than just soldiers; they need schools, courts, trust, and opportunities.

Although Adamu admitted that the Nigerian government has taken various actions in and around ungoverned spaces to reduce the influence of armed groups, he insisted that these approaches remain fragmented and often lack the institutional follow-through needed to fill the broader governance vacuum.

“There are clear signs that the ungoverned spaces in Nigeria are expanding, consolidating, and in some cases, connecting across local government and state boundaries in mostly the northern regions but also affecting some of the southern areas,” he said, adding that although military operations have resulted in the arrest or killing of militants, and recovery of weapons, the gains are often temporary in the absence of sustained civilian governance.

The rise of an economy of fear

As formal taxation collapses, ransoms rise in northwestern Nigeria. In Dansadau, HumAngle found that farmers trade goats and sorghum to retrieve kidnapped relatives. In Zugu and Gaude, families pay monthly levies to criminals to avoid attacks. Pay tribute is the only way to ensure public safety in some places.

A breakdown of ransom payments made in Nigeria between May 2023 and April 2024, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Infographics: Damilola Lawal/HumAngle>

Reporting from Sacramento — When California updated its equal pay law in 2015, there was no shortage of fanfare. Women’s rights groups called it one of the toughest in the country. Gov. Jerry Brown, in a symbolic flourish, signed the new measure at a Richmond park named after feminist icon Rosie the Riveter.

But a state report released last fall underscored how far California has to go before its rhetoric matches reality when it comes to paying state workers. According to its findings, there is a 20.5% disparity in pay between female and male state employees — a wider gap than in the federal civil service and the private sector in California and nationwide.

The focus on the public sector pay gap is just one way the equal pay debate continues to reverberate through the state Capitol. Several measures this year offer new approaches to bring women’s earnings to parity with wages earned by male counterparts — in state government and the workforce as a whole.

“We are frankly at an ‘equal pay 2.0’ moment,” said state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), author of the 2015 law.

As lawmakers plumb deeper into the pay gap debate, the challenge before them becomes more daunting. While the mantra “equal pay for equal work” sounds straightforward, experts say lagging female earnings are rooted in unconscious bias and persistent undervaluing of jobs held by women — phenomena not easily solved by legislation.

The effort to shrink the pay gap for California state workers illustrates how thorny the issue can be.

At a February legislative hearing on the gender pay gap in civil service, Richard Gillihan, the director of the California Department of Human Resources, offered a blunt assessment.

“We know we have work to do; we know we need to do a better job,” Gillihan said, adding, “20.5% is unacceptable to all of us.”

The report by California’sDepartment of Human Resources, which surveyed state worker pay in 2014, estimated that California wouldn’t close its gender pay gap until 2044.

Assemblyman Jim Cooper (D-Elk Grove) has offered one solution: Make sure California’s equal pay laws apply to the public sector. He’s pushing a bill that would make public employers subject to existing law, including a 2015 update that expanded its purview to “substantially similar” work, not just identical jobs.

“If it’s good enough for the private sector, it should also be good enough for the public sector,” Cooper said.

Cooper’s measure was inspired by pay discrepancies he saw working in the Legislature, which is exempt from the rigid salary classifications that apply in most state work. A Sacramento Bee investigation in 2015 found women working in the state Assembly made 92 cents for every dollar men made; in the state Senate, it was 94 cents on the dollar. The findings prompted the Senate to give raises to more than 70 employees last year to close the gap.

“Female chiefs of staff make less than their male counterparts — that’s just plain wrong,” Cooper said.

It’s not entirely clear whether Cooper’s proposal is necessary; the state labor commissioner is currently reviewing claims filed by government employees under the Equal Pay Act. Supporters nonetheless cheer the proposal as eliminating any doubt that public sector jobs will be covered.

But for state workers outside the Capitol, the problems run deeper than men and women being paid unequally for doing the same job. State government jobs are classified into more than 3,500 positions, which strictly spell out salary.

“The issue that presents itself here is not as much one of disparate pay, but an unequal distribution of gender throughout the classification system,” said Joe DeAnda, spokesman for the California Department of Human Resources.

Women tend to work in sectors with lower salary ranges, such as administrative support or social work, while men tend to hold jobs with higher pay — particularly public safety jobs such as California Highway Patrol officer or firefighter. More than 61% of men in state government make more than $70,000, according to the Human Resources Department, while just 39% of women do.

Maia Downs, who works in Monterey Park as a state adoption specialist finding homes for neglected or abused children, said the salary range for her profession, which requires a graduate degree and is dominated by women, is significantly lower than those for jobs predominantly held by men.

“It’s sanctioned discrimination,” said Downs of the low salary ranges for female-dominated positions.

DeAnda said negotiations related to salary and benefits are hashed out during the collective bargaining process. Downs said attempts by her union, AFSCME Local 2620, to use gender as a reason for higher salary ranges were unsuccessful.

“California should be leading by example. And they are imposing these equal pay laws on private industry, all the while hiding behind the excuse of collective bargaining,” Downs said. “And then they wonder why their gender pay gap is so high.”

To close the gap, the state says it’s focused on recruiting women into higher-paid jobs and encouraging upward mobility to help women scale the salary rungs.

But overhauling the pay classifications to ensure women’s work is better compensated is a thornier matter. It means reexamining long-held customs that place a greater value on certain professions — particularly high-risk public safety jobs.

“Getting there is not just a matter of legislation,” said Lauri Damrell, an employment lawyer and the co-chair of the state’s Commission on the Status of Women and Girls. “It’s a matter of getting our cultural norms to catch up.”

That hasn’t stopped lawmakers from trying to tackle the pay gap issue — in both the public and private sectors. One bill this year by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego) would require large employers to make aggregate pay data publicly available, such as the differential between the mean salaries paid to men and women by job classification.

Another, by Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton), would bar employers from seeking salary history from job applicants. Proponents argue that women often enter the workforce with lower salaries and are disproportionately hurt when prior compensation is used to determine their next job’s pay.

“One thing that bakes in inequity is when we base somebody’s salary on what they previously made,” she said.

Eggman, who was among the legislators who convened the hearing on state worker pay this year, said she hopes to tackle the lingering pay gap affecting jobs predominately held by women.

“We are certainly looking at if there is some way that we can get to a root of that,” Eggman said. “Clearly we have a lot more work to do.”

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Pay gap between men and women in California is nearly $79 billion a year

California now has one of the toughest equal pay laws in the country

Updates from Sacramento

Doctor Who star Billie Piper has had an eventful and dramatic life off screen – including teen pop success followed by death threats and two controversial marriages

It’s fair to say Billie Piper has had a very rocky road to achieving stardom as a critically acclaimed actress, and her love life hasn’t been easy either. But she’s also amassed an impressive net worth and has welcomed three children.

The 42-year-old, who hails from Swindon, first became famous almost thirty years ago – as a mid-teens pop sensation. She then reinvented herself as an actor, playing companion Rose Tyler to Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor in the 2005 reboot of Doctor Who. Surprising critics and viewers with her screen talent, she continues to do so today.

And now, 20 years later, she has shocked us again. In this series finale, Ncuti Gatwa’s current Dr Who was regenerated to reveal Billie, thought to be the new doc. It’s a stunning return to the series that first made her acting name.

But off screen, Billie has endured some tough times. Here, the Mirror looks back at her life so far, from her difficult teenage years, popstar fame, turbulent romances and impressive net worth…

READ MORE: David Tennant’s wife breaks silence on Billie Piper’s bombshell Doctor Who news

School friends with Amy Wineh

Billie’s gifts were evident at a young age, and at 12 years old she made the move from Swindon to London to attend the prestigious Sylvia Young Theatre School. Aimed at nurturing future talent, the institution has produced many household names, but not all pupils had an easy time of it – including Billie’s childhood friend Amy Winehouse.

During a recent episode of Jessie Ware’s Table Manners podcast, Billie offered some insight into what Amy was really like as a young girl. Remembering her as ‘super clever, super bright’, Billie revealed: “She was always cheeky. She was always like that, you know. She would do abstract stuff, and I really loved it.”

Sadly, Amy’s differences didn’t always go down well with her fellow pupils, and Billie remembers the iconic singer being badly bullied. She continued: “She got bullied quite a lot at school because she was doing her own thing, and she liked to push buttons, and do weird stuff. And I had a lot of space for that, but not many of the girls did. It wasn’t the easiest ride.”

Teenage fame struggles

Billie skyrocketed to pop stardom at the age of just 15 with her infectiously catchy 1998 anthem ‘Because We Want To’. She became the youngest artist to debut at number one in the UK Chart with the hit, and singles ‘Honey to The Bee’ and ‘Girlfriend’ followed.

Although many ’90s teens would have been green with envy, topping the singles chart at such a young age came with its challenges.

During a 2021 episode of Desert Island Discs, she recalled how strange it felt moving to her own flat before her 16th birthday, all while dealing with the surrealness of overnight fame. Speaking of her regrets, Billie told Lauren Laverne: “At the time, it felt really exciting and liberating and satisfied me with this quest to be a grown-up. It also felt extremely desperate and lonely sometimes.

“I was seeing and experiencing a lot of life at a very young age. Now, when I look back at it now that I have my own children, it seems unbelievably unsafe and plays in unhealthily to my parenting.”

Death threats

Billie also endured a horrific campaign of harassment in her younger years as a star. In 2001, a woman penned abuse-laden messages which she then read down the phone to Billie’s record company, Blackfriars Crown Court was told in 2001.

She called the teenage chart-topper a “whore” and warned of decapitation, dismemberment, burning, flogging and shooting. The abuse reportedly began because the woman thought the performer had given her a “dirty look” during a recording of a TV show, which she attended as an audience member.

Boyband heartache

Billie met Five singer Ritchie Neville when they were teenagers, having just been thrust into the spotlight with their respective pop careers. They were love’s young dream until Ritchie broke Billie’s heart when he cheated.

Ritchie said he was full of “regret” over his betrayal with a Russian beauty while on tour in the country – who subsequently sold her story to a British newspaper in 2000.

Speaking on the BBC documentary Boybands Forever he said: “It massively hurt somebody that I loved. I regret any pain I caused but equally I was 19 you know? I made a mistake. It ended a relationship.”

Wild age gap marriage

Billie married her first husband, Chris Evans, in 2001 when she was just 18 years old, a mere five months after their first date. Given that Chris was 16 years her senior, the age gap romance raised eyebrows at the time, but Billie looks back on their time together as a period of fun and healing.

Opening up with her former Doctor Who co-star on David Tennant Does A Podcast With…, Billie reflected: “I went and got completely hammered for three years with Chris Evans. So much fun – just living very hard. But with a lot of love and a big dose of curiosity and just, yeah – amazing time.

“It’s funny because everyone framed that period in my life as these sort of horribly debauched, irresponsible, me falling apart looking like s***, putting on weight. That was really important to me, that period of my life. I needed that. Me not looking perfect every day in a tabloid was the best way for me to heal.

“Every time there would be a picture of me looking completely groomed and manicured within an inch of my life, I can tell you I was completely unhappy and starving and dark on the inside. And I haven’t brushed my hair since!”

She added: “We really had a really amazing time together. I imagine it’s what your uni years feel like – sort of reckless, but you’re learning a lot. It was an incredible time and, not to undermine our relationship because we also had a very loving relationship. It wasn’t just ‘oh, we’re going out and getting f*****’ – we had a very caring and loving relationship.”

Their whirlwind marriage came to an end in 2004, amid rumours of ‘screaming rows’, but Billie and Chris are said to remain close friends to this day.

Kids and splits

In 2006, Billie entered into a relationship with Lewis actor turned right-wing activist Laurence Fox, with the couple tying the knot one year later. They went on to welcome two sons, Winston and Eugene before calling time on their marriage in 2016.

In a recent interview with British Vogue the mother-of-two said of her controversial ex: “I’ve had to make some choices and a divorce speaks for itself. Or at least it should.” Laurence is often in the spotlight for his much-criticised views.

In the interview, she added: “I close everything down and keep a very strict routine with the kids so that there’s consistency.

“I keep them close. That’s all I can do. I try to keep people from telling me stuff but it’s really, really hard. I don’t read it but everyone wants to talk about it. Sometimes I have to say to people, ‘Please don’t bring this to me, now or ever’.”

She went on to have a relationship with former Tribes frontman Johnny Lloyd, and they welcomed their daughter, Tallulah, who they welcomed in 2019. After eight years together, they split in 2023, citing that their ‘relationship ran its course’.

In a candid chat aired on Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast in 2021, Billie spoke about the difficulties of juggling motherhood with a hectic career. Billie shared: “Striking a balance is unachievable and as soon as you let go and just accept that, there are useful changes… I cry at the end of every day and spend an hour in bed saying, ‘I’ll be better tomorrow, I swear. I’m going to read my parenting manual tonight and everything will be better tomorrow.'”

In an open letter to Tallulah, published in Stylist, Billie reflected that she’d been so fearful of having a daughter, anguished by all she didn’t want her to experience, that she didn’t realise just how overjoyed she’d be by her arrival.

She wrote: “You have restored – without knowing it – all my faith in strong female energy. I want to learn from you and revel in your beauty. You are not just female, you are other. And from listing all of my anxieties above (there are many and I promise to always work on myself), I’m at my most calm and able around you. You are powerful.”

Huge net worth

After her time on Doctor Who in 2005, Billie picked up leading roles in Secret Diary of a Call Girl and I Hate Suzie, which she co-created alongside playwright Lucy Prebble, as well as starring in the Netflix drama, Scoop.

Not to mention her glittering stage career – winning Best Theatre Actress for Great Britain in 2014 and being honoured with a Laurence Olivier Award among countless other accolades for her lead performance in Yerma in 2017.

Following her impressive career, she has amassed an impressive net worth. The actress is estimated to have a net worth of $12 million (around £9 million), according to Celebrity Net Worth.

READ MORE: Chelsea Flower Show sees a ‘bouquet’ of Boden’s bright and bold must-have pieces for spring

Lando Norris wins at Monte Carlo for first time, leading home Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and current drivers’ standings leader and McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri.

Lando Norris celebrated his first Monaco Grand Prix win from pole position and slashed McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri’s Formula One drivers’ championship lead to just three points in a race more about strategy than speed.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished runner-up in the home race he won last year, with Piastri third and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen fourth – all four finishing in the order they started.

The Sunday afternoon race featured two mandatory pit stops for the first time, but hopes of more action around the cramped harbourside circuit fell short.

Drivers through the field played a waiting game, with Verstappen holding off his final stop until the penultimate lap and those behind biding their time while keeping out of trouble. Norris ultimately lapped all but four cars.

The win was the Briton’s second in eight races and first since the Australian GP season opener in March, as well as McLaren’s first at Monaco since 2008.

“Monaco baby!” Norris shouted over the radio as the chequered flag finally fell.

“The last quarter was stressful with Leclerc behind and Max ahead, but we won in Monaco,” he said.

“This is what I dreamed of when I was a kid, so I achieved one of my dreams.”

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was fifth, with Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar sixth and Haas’s Esteban Ocon seventh.

Liam Lawson scored his first points of the season for Racing Bulls in eighth place, and Williams completed the top 10 with Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz.

Mercedes had a dismal afternoon in the Mediterranean sunshine, after a nightmare in qualifying, with George Russell 11th and Italian rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli 18th and the last car still running.

The virtual safety car was deployed on the opening lap when Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto went into the tyre wall at Portier, the turn before the tunnel, as Antonelli passed on the inside.

Bortoleto made it back to the pits and continued.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was the first retirement, the Frenchman crashing into the back of Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull car at the tunnel exit on lap nine and limping back to the pits with the front left wheel hanging off.

“Is he an idiot? What is he doing?” exclaimed Tsunoda.

Gasly, who said he had no brakes, almost took out Argentine rookie teammate Franco Colapinto as he careered through the Nouvelle Chicane.

Aston Martin’s double world champion Fernando Alonso was the second retirement, pulling off on lap 38 with a smoking car to continue his scoreless run for the season.

The Spanish Grand Prix is the next race on the F1 calendar and will take place on Sunday, June 1.