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Israel is holding captive 95 Palestinian healthcare workers in its prisons. They include doctors, nurses and paramedics detained without charge. Healthcare Workers Watch recorded 80 medical workers taken from Gaza and 15 from the occupied West Bank.

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters rallied in the Malaysian capital against the visit of US President Donald Trump. They accuse him of complicity in genocide over the Gaza war.

The body of a Thai farm worker killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack was returned home to Thailand. Sonthaya Oakkharasri’s body had been held in the Gaza Strip. Thai officials say 45 nationals have died in the conflict — the highest foreign toll among Israel’s foreign workers.

SACRAMENTO — State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who has emerged as one of California’s most vocal critics of President Trump, will run next year for the congressional seat held by former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi.

A formal announcement from Wiener is expected next week, the San Francisco Standard reported.

Erik Mebust, a spokesperson for Wiener, declined to comment.

Wiener, 55, has already declared his intention to eventually run for the seat held by Pelosi and has raised $1 million through an exploratory committee. But he previously indicated that he would wait until Pelosi, who was first elected in 1987, stepped down.

That calculus changed, according to the Standard, when Saikat Chakrabarti, a progressive candidate, entered the race for Pelosi’s seat.

Ian Krager, spokesperson for Pelosi, released a statement saying Pelosi was focused on Proposition 50, which will be on the ballot in California’s Nov. 4 special election. The measure would redraw California’s congressional districts in favor of Democrats and was pushed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Democratic leaders after President Trump urged Texas to reconfigure the state’s district to elect five more Republicans to Congress, part of an effort to keep the GOP in control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Speaker Pelosi is fully focused on her mission to win the Yes on 50 special election in California on November 4th. She urges all Californians to join in that mission on the path to taking back the House for the Democrats.”

Pelosi, 85, hasn’t indicated whether will she run again. If she does seek another term, her age could be a factor at a time when younger Democrats are eager to see a new wave of leaders.

Pelosi was among several top politicians who persuaded then-President Biden to forgo a second term after widespread concerns about his age.

Wiener, elected to the state Senate in 2016, is best-known for his work pushing local governments to add more housing density.

He is a member of the California LGBTQ+ Caucus and has been a leading advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. If elected, Wiener would be the first openly gay person to represent San Francisco in Congress.

Before his election to the state Legislature, Wiener served as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and worked as a deputy city attorney in the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office.

Newsom last week signed Wiener’s Senate Bill 79, one the most ambitious state-imposed housing efforts in recent memory. The bill upzones areas across California, overriding local zoning laws to allow taller, denser projects near public transit.

The bill was fiercely opposed by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and other L.A. leaders who want to retain power over housing decisions.

Wiener has repeatedly criticized the Trump administration, sparring on social media with the president’s supporters. Another one of his recent bills, to prohibit on-duty law enforcement officers from masking their faces during immigration raids, was signed into law by Newsom.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared in court to testify in his corruption trial, days after U.S. President Trump called for him to be pardoned. Protesters outside the court demanded the trial continue as a test of Israel’s democracy. Netanyahu denies all charges.

It’s set to be a heavy week in EastEnders next week, with one resident in hospital and another held captive as a number of storylines are set to take a dark turn

The aftermath of Joel Marshall’s attack on his stepmother Vicki Fowler is set to play out in next week’s EastEnders, as tensions begin to rise between Vicki and Joel.

At the end of this week, the BBC soap will take an extremely dark turn, when he Joel his stepmother following an argument.

The week starts off with Ross apologising to Joel for their earlier argument unaware of his actions, as Vicki heads to The Vic for help. Of course, he’s left absolutely horrified to learn of Vicki’s attack, and he shuts down rumours that Joel is the one responsible.

Elsewhere, Joel enlists the help of best mate Tommy while playing down the extent of his attack on Vicki. Helping his friend, Tommy agrees to hide Joel in the Slaters garage – although Zoe senses something is up…

READ MORE: BBC EastEnders sparks backlash as soap ‘quietly’ changes name of iconic characterREAD MORE: EastEnders fans spot ‘huge clue’ Stacey will return as Lacey Turner departs after 21 years

Things get so bad, that Vicki is taken to hospital, but Ross is relieved to find out that she will recover. But tensions continue to rise between the pair as they discuss Joel.

Later in the week, we’re set to see Vicki stunned as things develop, but what has happened and what will the consequences be?

Unfortunately, Vicki isn’t the only one in danger next week. There’s fears for Harry Mitchell as his father Teddy struggles to locate him.

Unbeknownst to Teddy and Gina, he’s held captive by Okie and refuse to release him until he reveals where the hidden camera is linked too. However, no one suspects any trouble, as Okie and Ravi force Harry to make a call to Teddy.

Despite Harry later giving them the information on the cameras, the pair refuse to let him go. Things get worse for Harry when Gina leaves him a scathing voicemail, and later gives Okie her number when he bumps into her on the way to retrieve Harry’s laptop.

He’s later instructed to let Harry go but he continues to keep him locked up, taunting him by going on dates with Gina. Later, a broken Harry takes drugs to escape his current reality as Okie continues to toy with his emotions…

There’s happy news for two other couples however, as Jasmine finally accepts a date with Oscar, and Julie is delighted when Nigel reveals that he’s taking her to India.

And in more lighter news, Elaine tells Yolande she wants to turn No.5 into a boutique hotel…

Elsewhere, Johnny panics when he realises, he drunkenly sent a business proposal to all of his clients, including his boss, and later tells Callum he’s been fired…

EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

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TEHRAN, Iran — The United States will deport hundreds of Iranians back to Iran in the coming weeks, with the first 120 deportees being prepared for a flight in the next day or two, Iran said Tuesday.

The deportation of Iranians, not yet publicly acknowledged by the U.S. government, comes as tensions remain high between the two countries following the American bombings of Iranian nuclear sites in June.

Meanwhile, the United Nations reimposed sanctions on Iran this past week over its nuclear program, putting new pressure on the Islamic Republic’s ailing economy.

The deportations also represent a collision of a top priority of President Trump — targeting illegal immigration — against a decadeslong practice by the U.S. of welcoming Iranian dissidents, exiles and others since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

As many as 400 Iranians would be returning to Iran as part of the deal with the U.S., Iranian state television said, citing Hossein Noushabadi, director-general for parliamentary affairs at Iran’s Foreign Ministry. He said the majority of those people had crossed into the U.S. from Mexico illegally, while some faced other immigration issues.

Noushabadi said the first planeload of Iranians would arrive in a day or two, after stopping over in Qatar on the way. Authorities in Qatar have not confirmed that.

The U.S. State Department referred questions to the Department of Homeland Security, which did not immediately respond. The New York Times first reported the deportations.

In the lead up to and after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, a large number of Iranians fled to the U.S. In the decades since, the U.S. had been sensitive in allowing those fleeing from Iran over religious, sexual or political persecution to seek residency.

In the 2024 fiscal year, for instance, the U.S. deported only 20 Iranians, according to statistics from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Iran has criticized Washington for hosting dissidents and others in the past. U.S. federal prosecutors have accused Iran of hiring hitmen to target dissidents as well in America.

It’s unclear exactly what has changed now in American policy. However, since returning to the White House, Trump has cracked down on those living in the U.S. illegally.

Noushabadi said that American authorities unilaterally made the decision without consultations with Iran.

But The New York Times said Tuesday, citing anonymous Iranian officials, that the deportations were “the culmination of months of discussions between the two countries.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, as well as President Masoud Pezeshkian, both attended the U.N. General Assembly in New York last week as a last-ditch effort to stop the reimposed sanctions. However, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei boxed in their efforts by describing diplomacy with the U.S. as a “sheer dead end.”

Speaking to state TV in footage aired Tuesday, Araghchi acknowledged that direct communication from Iran went to the U.S. government during the U.N. visit — something he had been careful not to highlight during five rounds of nuclear negotiations with the Americans earlier this year.

“With Americans, both directly and indirectly, messages were exchanged, and eventually, we are relieved that we did whatever it was necessary,” Araghchi said. “It was clear and evident to us after the interpretation the Supreme Leader made that negotiations with Americans is an obvious dead-end.”

Vahdat writes for the Associated Press.

A PASTOR’S son held four people captive in his “basement of horrors” with no access to food or water for up to 10 years, police say.

Donnie Birchfield Jr., 36, is accused of keeping a vulnerable married couple and two women in his terrifying basement in South Carolina.

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The two women who were allegedly held hostage were reportedly romantically involved with Birchfield before the relationship spiralled.

He was arrested on August 1 after cops raided his Lancaster home on Churchill Drive following reports a woman had died in the property.

Authorities discovered that the woman, who died one day before they arrived at the scene, had faced neglect and abuse.

Police probed the dead woman and the three other victims – before revealing one of them had been inside the basement for 10 years.

They were all held against their will and denied access to food, water, medication and the outside world, police say.

Birchfield even oversaw what times each alleged hostage ate at, and controlled when they were allowed to use the bathroom.

One of the women he was romantically involved with had a “relationship” with him for one year, with the other lasting nearly 10 years.

Birchfield allegedly assaulted the victims routinely – controlling their movements and trapping them in the basement.

The accused captor also regularly policed their phone use.

One woman said Birchfield told her he was “going to kill her” and boasted how he “knows how to get rid of a body from past experience”, WBTV reported.

From September 2022, Birchfield made a slew of purchases for himself using the credit cards owned by the victims.

He even paying off his own debt with their money, police said.

Birchfield’s laywer told WBTV he is currently investigating the matter.

He said: “My client maintains his innocence in the case and it is important to remember that he is presumed innocent of these allegations.

“We look forward to litigating this case in the court system where facts, evidence, and the rule of law matter.”

Birchfield faces charges including but not limited to exploitation of a vulnerable adult, false imprisonment, domestic violence and financial identity fraud.

He was placed under a $150,000 bond.

Local police said more charges were possible as the case continues to be investigated.

Israel and the US are boycotting the UN-hosted event, but other countries are building on an earlier declaration.

France and Saudi Arabia are preparing to host a one-day summit at the United Nations, a day ahead of the start of the General Assembly, both of which will be heavily focused on Israel’s war on Gaza and the elusive two-state solution.

At the UN headquarters in New York, world leaders will convene Monday to revive the long-stalled notion amid warnings that a contiguous Palestinian state could “vanish altogether” as a result of Israel’s hegemonic moves in both Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

France is expected to announce its official recognition of a Palestinian state, and others like Belgium are considering doing the same. It will come one day after the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Portugal all recognised Palestinian statehood in historic moves despite vehement opposition from Israel and the United States.

Israel and its top allies are boycotting the summit, with Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, describing the major multilateral event as a “circus” and sticking to Israel’s common refrain that such moves “reward terrorism”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under heavy domestic political pressure amid the surge in recognitions for a state of Palestine. Israeli media reports his far-right government is considering partial or full annexation of the occupied West Bank in response, but that Netanyahu needs US support and cover, which he will seek while in New York for the UNGA.

The UN has expressed hope that the summit could “inject new momentum into efforts to establish a UN roadmap towards two states”.

Monday’s summit is expected to expand on the “New York Declaration” that was adopted by the General Assembly earlier this month after a July conference also co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia. Israel and the US boycotted those international gatherings as well.

The seven-page declaration that was endorsed outlined “tangible, timebound, and irreversible steps” towards a two-state solution, while also condemning Hamas and calling it to surrender, disarm, and release all captives held in Gaza. It further called for an immediate ceasefire and unimpeded entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza as Israel continues to starve the famine-stricken Palestinian people.

French President Emmanuel Macron will be a leading figure in the summit on Monday, but Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is expected to attend via video link despite being a co-host.

In response to the growing global consensus against its genocidal war in Gaza and its occupation of the West Bank, Israel has been advancing plans to annex parts of the West Bank with the explicit aim of ending the prospects of a future Palestinian state.

Israeli diplomats have also teased possible measures specifically against France and Macron, telling Israeli media that they might close down the French consulate in Jerusalem, possibly expel French diplomats or limit intelligence cooperation.

Netanyahu has also lashed out at Macron, claiming that he is fueling “the anti-Semitic fire” in France.

Qatar, which has been mediating between Israel and Hamas but was bombed by Israel earlier this month, on Monday welcomed the announcements by the UK, Canada, Australia and Portugal,

Israel has also only intensified its genocidal war in Gaza in response to the limited international mobilisation, particularly ramping up its ground invasion of Gaza City and deadly air and naval strikes across the besieged enclave.

The Israeli army killed at least 25 members of a Palestinian family in strikes on homes in Gaza City’s Sabra neighbourhood on Sunday while pushing forward with its tanks and claiming all attacks were hitting “terrorist” targets.

AN ELDERLY Brit couple wrongfully jailed by the Taliban for eight months have finally been freed.

Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife Barbie, 76, were snatched by Taliban thugs and tossed into Afghanistan’s most notorious prison.

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The parents-of-four had lived in Afghanistan for 18 years managing training projects – but were kidnapped on February 1 with no explanation.

They were locked up separately at the maximum security Pul-e-Charkhi in Kabul, and later moved to an underground cell beneath the Taliban‘s intelligence HQ.

More to follow… For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online

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Between 100,000 and 150,000 people have demonstrated in London against immigration, with arrests made after violent clashes with police.

The rally was organised by Tommy Robinson – a far-right activist with criminal convictions – backed by billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk.

What are the implications?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests:

Peter Geoghegan – Editor of the investigative news site Democracy for Sale

Jennifer Nadel – Director and co-founder of cross-party UK think tank Compassion in Politics

Tariq Ali – Political writer and historian

For the 79th year, mariachi musicians, waving Mexican flags and shouts of “Viva Mexico,” flooded Cesar Chavez Avenue in East Los Angeles on Sunday for the annual Mexican Independence Day parade and celebration.

But this year, in the face of the Trump administration’s relentless immigration crackdown — recently bolstered by the Supreme Court decision that allows federal agents to restart their controversial “roving patrols” across Southern California — there was a renewed sense of defiance, and of pride.

For many, it was even more important to show up. To stand tall.

“We’re here and we’re going to continue fighting for our rights and for others who cannot fight for themselves,” Samantha Robles, 21, said as she watched the parade roll by. “I’m happy that many people are here so they can raise their flags — just not the Mexican flag, but also the American flag, because we’re both Mexican American.”

Members of the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles hold a Mexican flag at the East L.A. Mexican Independence Day Parade & Festival on Cesar Chavez Avenue on Sunday in Los Angeles.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

But the parade was also a bittersweet moment for Robles. This year, her grandmother opted to stay home, given ongoing sweeping immigration raids across the region. A new Supreme Court ruling authorized U.S. immigration agents to stop and detain anyone they might suspect is in the U.S. illegally, even if based on little more than their job at a car wash, speaking Spanish or having brown skin. Immigration rights attorneys and local leaders have denounced that as discriminatory and dangerous, and it has stoked fears in Robles, who describes herself as an East L.A. native.

“I have my brown skin, I have my Indigenous features,” Robles said. “I’m afraid not just for myself, [but] for my friends who are also from Mexico and they came here for more opportunities, for a higher education. … I’m afraid for those who are getting taken away from their families.”

The Comité Mexicano Civico Patriotico Inc., which organized Sunday’s parade and celebration, addressed those fears in a press conference on Friday, but decided to move ahead with its celebration of Mexican independence from Spain, as it has done so in September for decades.

That decision seemed to drive a sense of proud resistance on Sunday.

“Aqui estamos y no nos vamos!” (“We are here and we are not leaving!”) yelled Rosario Marín, the former mayor of Huntington Park and the parade’s madrina, or godmother.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass holds TJ’s parrot Pepe Hermon at the East L.A. Mexican Independence Day Parade & Festival on Sunday in Los Angeles.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

When Mayor Karen Bass rode by the crowd, she read aloud a sign from the sidewalk that said: “Trump Must Go!”

The crowd cheered.

“I was just reading the sign,” she said, with a smile on her face. But Bass reiterated her support for her Latino constituents, and her opposition to the ongoing immigration raids, calling them horrible.

“Our city stands united,” Bass told the crowd. “We are a city of immigrants. We understand that 50% of our city is Latino, and the idea that Latinos would be targeted is abhorrent.”

The Trump administration has insisted its immigration actions are merely an attempt to enforce the law, and has blasted Bass and other city leaders for stoking resistance. But many Latino leaders say the administration’s use of force is an abuse of power, stoking fears that have hurt people and the region’s economy.

Alfonso Fox Orozco wears traditional Mexican dress at the East L.A. Parade & Festival on Sunday in Los Angeles.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

Such concerns may have affected Sunday’s parade, which seemed less attended than prior years. Anti-Trump and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE signs, lined the street. Organizations such as the United Teachers Los Angeles yelled out “La migra no, la escuela si.” (“No immigration enforcement, yes schools!”)

Jenny Hernandez, a fifth-generation East L.A. resident, held up a homemade sign that read “Crush ICE.” The 51-year-old has been disturbed by the recent raids, many of which have targeted individuals in the workplace.

“What they’re doing is wrong,” she said. “We are not criminals. We’re Mexican, Hispanic, Latino, Chicano, whatever you want to call it…. We do not deserve this treatment.… There needs to be a change.”

La Catrina Andante sits atop a car in traditional face paint at the parade Sunday in Los Angeles.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

But mostly, the day emanated Latino joy, unseen in recent months. Burnt sage filled the air at one intersection, courtesy of a Danza Azteca group, while attendees — some in traditional embroidered dresses and shirts — relished the cumbia song blasting from a nearby radio.

A young girl, no more than 5 years old, belted out a call for “fresas” alongside her mother, a street vendor. A grandmother sat with her lap covered in a blanket, knitted with the colors of the Mexican flag. Politicians, teenagers, dancers and charros, or men riding dancing horses, shouted, “Viva Mexico!”

Girls dressed as vendors from Patzcuaro, Michoacan, balance on pots at the East L.A. Parade & Festival Sunday in Los Angeles.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

Other ethnic groups joined the popular celebration, including waves of Puerto Ricans, Bolivians and Salvadorans. Notable faces included Snow Tha Product and Real 92.3 FM radio host Big Boy, who at one point took the reins as an elotero vendor. Space shuttle astronaut José M. Hernández led the parade as grand marshal. , His journey from migrant farmworker to NASA astronaut was detailed in the Amazon Prime film “A Million Miles Away.”

Giselle Salgado, also an East L.A. native, said it was important to see a good turnout from her community, as well as from public officials, though she noticed a smaller crowd this year.

“We’re not afraid,” she said. “This is our tradition, we’ve always come out here. … I’m sure a lot of people are scared, but they’re still here. We’re not going to let fear and intimidation work against us.”

Mourners gathered in Qatar’s capital Doha to pray for six victims of Israel’s attack, including a 22-year-old policeman. The strike has been described as unprecedented for the Gulf.

The Syrian government has blamed Israel for a series of attacks around the country.

The attacks early on Tuesday targeted sites in and around the city of Homs in western Syria and the coastal city of Latakia.

The Syrian government called the attacks “a blatant violation of the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic”, according to Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates.

Israel has attacked Syria hundreds of times since the regime of President Bashar al-Assad fell on December 8 and also conducted a land grab in the chaotic early hours after al-Assad fled to Moscow. Under the al-Assad regime, Israel waged a secretive campaign of aerial bombardment against Syria’s military infrastructure, but attacks have intensified since the war on Gaza began nearly two years ago and even more so since the fall of al-Assad.

In the first days after the fall of the al-Assad regime, Israel launched a devastating series of attacks that destroyed much of Syria’s military infrastructure in an attempt to create a “sterile zone” in southern Syria.

Israel and Syria have held direct talks in recent months, and while Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has ruled out normalisation, the talks are aimed at halting Israel’s aggressive actions towards Syria and reaching some kind of security deal.

So why then has Israel decided to reinitiate attacks? Here’s what you need to know:

What exactly happened?

The United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Israeli warplanes attacked a Syrian air force base in Homs, causing huge explosions. No casualties were reported.

Israeli fighter jets also attacked a military barracks in Latakia although there were no reports of casualties there either.

These strikes came on the back of Israeli attacks near Damascus in late August that killed six Syrian soldiers.

The Saudi Arabian news channel Al-Arabiya reported that the site targeted in Homs held Turkish-made rockets and aerial defence equipment. Turkiye has been one of the biggest allies of the new Syrian government and has reportedly agreed to provide Syria with Turkish weapons systems and logistical tools in a military cooperation accord signed in mid-August.

But as relations between Turkiye and Syria grow stronger, tension has been building between Turkiye and Israel. As Israel continues its war on Gaza, which international scholars have called a genocide, Turkiye closed its airspace to Israel and banned Israeli ships from Turkish ports in protest against the war on Gaza.

What is going on between Turkiye and Israel?

Turkiye’s good relations with the new government in Damascus have drawn a reaction from Israel.

Israel has also been accused of trying to undermine Syrian stability by voicing support for Kurdish and Druze autonomy.

This has led to a growing war of words between Turkiye and Israel with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the “biggest obstacle to regional peace” in June, shortly after Israel attacked Iran.

Meanwhile, regional newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported that Netanyahu has been holding security meetings over concerns of Turkiye’s growing influence in Syria and Netanyahu is leaning on Israeli media to portray a confrontation with Ankara as inevitable.

What is Syria saying?

The official Syrian Arab News Agency quoted Syria’s Foreign Ministry as calling the attacks “a direct threat” to Syrian security and regional stability.

Israel’s continuing and unprovoked attacks on Syria are “part of a series of aggressive escalations pursued by Israel against Syrian territory”, and the government rejects “any attempts to undermine its sovereignty or harm its national security”, the ministry said.

The ministry called on the United Nations to take a “clear and firm stand to put an end” to Israel’s attacks, which it called a “flagrant violation” of international law.

What about Israel?

Israel has not commented yet.

But Israeli forces have been busy with attacks in Syria, Qatar, Gaza and Lebanon, and have been conducting raids on the occupied West Bank. There was also an attack in Tunisia on one of the boats in the aid-carrying Global Sumud flotilla heading towards Gaza that volunteers on board suspect Israel of perpetrating.

Are the peace talks between Israel and Syria dead?

Not necessarily.

Syrian officials have said many times that they do not want a war with Israel. Syria has enough internal troubles going on along its coast, in the south and with the Syrian Democratic Forces in the northeast, not to mention clashes along the border with Lebanon. Syrian authorities are also painfully aware that Israel is technologically and militarily stronger and backed by a global superpower in the United States, which has been crucial to removing sanctions on Syria and giving the country a chance to revive its economy.

As for Israel, ceasefires or other such agreements with other countries haven’t held it back from launching attacks on them.

Charlie Sheen wants to free himself from feeling like he’s being held hostage by his private life.

To shed that sensation, the “Wall Street” star decided to talk about his sexual past in his memoir, “The Book of Sheen,” which comes out Tuesday.

People from his past “had video things or whatever and had stuff over me,” the actor told Michael Strahan on “Good Morning America.” “So I was kind of held hostage, you know, and that’s just a bad feeling.”

Sheen talked Friday on the morning show about how his drug addiction led him to have sex with men — he called it “the other side of the menu” — and how he was forced to pay people to keep those sexual encounters out of the public eye.

Cherlie Sheen on his sexual encounters with men and feeling hostage by his private life.

He also hit on less salacious revelations like the connection between his stutter and his drinking. In the book, Sheen writes about masking his inability to pronounce certain words and sounds with drinking alcohol. “Drinking soften the edges,” he told Strahan. “It gave me freedom of speech.”

After joining the ABC show “Spin City” in 2000 and reading the script, he said, Sheen stopped hiding his speech impediment and asked for help.

“When in doubt, just be human enough to be vulnerable,” he told “GMA.”

Sheen also reveals in the book that some folks wanted to expose his HIV-positive diagnosis before he went public with it in 2015, according to People. Sheen said on “GMA” that finally revealing his diagnosis was a “tremendous relief.”

The “Two and a Half Men” actor — whose paycheck for the sitcom was estimated at as much as $2 million per episode — infamously landed in rehab in 2010 after threatening his ex-wife Brooke Mueller with a knife, trashed his room at the Plaza Hotel in New York and in 2011 was fired from his CBS sitcom amid a meltdown of epic proportions.

During the “GMA” interview, Strahan asked the actor if he had any regrets.

“I do,” Sheen said, “but there’s no value in them.”

A documentary about the actor’s life, “aka Charlie Sheen,” will premiere Wednesday on Netflix. Sheen, who has been sober for eight years, told People he decided to be vulnerable about his past because he wants to own his truth and his stories.

“The stories I can remember anyway,” he said.

As the Labor Day holidays get under way, tens of thousands of protesters have gathered at rallies across the United States to call for stronger worker protections and attack a range of policies undertaken by the administration of US President Donald Trump.

More than 1,000 demonstrations are expected on Monday to span all 50 states, under the banner “Workers Over Billionaires.”

Protesters are demanding stronger worker protections, fully funded schools, healthcare and housing for all, and an end to corporate corruption, attacks on marginalised communities, and federal overreach under the Trump administration.

In New York, hundreds of people gathered outside the Trump Tower, chanting for Trump to step down and calling the president a fascist. As a brass band played, workers held up signs demanding a living wage and universal healthcare.

‘Subminimum’ wage

Giovanni Uribe, with the restaurant worker advocacy organisation One Fair Wage, told Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey he had come out to protest against billionaires whittling away the rights of workers.

“Service workers in New York City are the backbone of this city,” he said. “The National Restaurant Association is our number one opponent that’s fighting to keep subminimum wage intact so they don’t have to pay their workers their full minimum wage to survive. So we’re just asking for a livable wage.”

The federally set minimum wage in the US is $7.25 an hour – a figure that has not been raised since 2009 due in part to the successful lobbying of industry groups. Tipped workers, like wait staff, have a federally mandated “subminimum” wage of $2.13, a figure set in 1991 that is legally required to be offset to reach the $7.25 minimum – but which advocates say often results in wage theft.

While some states have higher minimum wages – New York City’s currently stands at $16.50 – the figure is often far below a living wage.

According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, a single adult without children would need an hourly wage of nearly $33 in NYC to cover average basic expenses. Mississippi, which has one of the lowest costs of living in the country and has no state minimum wage, has a living wage of $20.75 – nearly three times the minimum wage.

Chicago protests target National Guard

In downtown Chicago, thousands turned out to demonstrate against Trump’s promise to target Chicago next in a deployment similar to those under way in Los Angeles and Washington, DC, two other Democrat-run cities.

Mayor Brandon Johnson, speaking to the crowd, vowed that Chicago would resist federal encroachment.

“This is the city that will defend the country,” he said, receiving loud cheers from protesters waving blue-striped Chicago flags.

As the crowd wove through the city, some marchers walking dogs and carrying children on their shoulders, diners sitting outside at local restaurants and cafes pumped their fists and cars honked in support.

Protesters said they were concerned by Trump’s threat to send out the National Guard and additional agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Filiberto Ramirez, 72, feared violence if additional ICE agents came to the city. “Do we feel there’s gonna be trouble? Yes,” Ramirez said. “I hope nobody gets hurt.”

Trump has singled out Chicago in recent weeks over violent crime, calling the city “a mess”, “a hellhole”, and a “killing field”. But on Monday, Chicagoans at the protest said they did not feel the National Guard was a solution to crime in the city.

“There is a crime problem,” said Yvonne Spears, 67, “but the National Guard is supposed to fight for us, not against us.”

Homicide rates in the nation’s third-largest city have plunged in recent years, according to city crime data. And though a 2025 University of Chicago survey reported roughly half of Chicagoans feel unsafe in their neighbourhoods at night, many protesters said on Monday that they felt largely safe in the city.

City and state leaders have already readied measures to shield Chicago from federal troops and would likely launch a slew of lawsuits challenging a deployment, which legal experts said would violate the US Constitution and a 19th-century law prohibiting the military from enforcing domestic laws.

‘Workers Over Billionaires’

Matt Duss, executive vice-president at the Center for International Policy and a former adviser to US Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, told Al Jazeera that while protesters in different locales may be attending rallies for a range of reasons, many of their financial concerns are likely to overlap.

“I think there are a set of shared concerns: the cost of living, the cost of housing, the cost of basic goods, groceries, the cost of education, the overall sense that people in the United States have lost control of their economic and political lives and their futures,” he said.

Trump, a real estate scion who came to power on a platform that in part tapped into popular economic frustration, is a billionaire himself and has loaded his administration with billionaires.

The most famous of them – Elon Musk – served as Trump’s top adviser before stepping down amid a falling-out.

In the name of improving government efficiency, Musk oversaw the gutting of a number of federal agencies, at a cost of nearly $22bn, according to a congressional investigation carried out by Democratic US Senator Richard Blumenthal in July.

ASHLEY Roberts has risked multiple wardrobe blunders while sunbathing in an undone bikini.

Not only did she almost go topless while on the beach, but in another snap from her summer photo dump, the Pussycat Doll posed in a dress held up by luck alone.

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In the caption of the multiple sizzling snaps, Ashley, 43, penned, “Summer on film.”

The first snap saw Ashley walking across the sand while donning a green silk minidress as she beamed for the camera.

Next up, Ashley grinned while wearing a black dress that had blue embellishments.

Going braless for the display, Ashley risked her first wardrobe blunder as she posed up a storm.

She then sqautted down while on a yacht as she wore a blue dress with a thigh-high split.

Ashley posed with her artist boyfriend George Rollinson in the next photo.

And in the next, she risked it all as she sunbathed on the beach.

Lying on her stomach as she sunned herself, Ashley wore a tiny pink bikini which she had unfastened, risking her second wardrobe blunder.

She posed in the black and blue dress again, before enjoying a night out in the green dress she also wore in an earlier photo.

The next offering then saw Ashley beaming while donning a plunging berry-colored bikini top.

Ashley also posed, seemingly braless, in a strapless dress that was held up by luck alone.

Fans were instantly stunned by the sizzling displays, with one writing, “Stunning outfits. You look amazing Ashley.”

“Always glowing and looking beautiful Ashley,” penned a second.

A third person swooned over Ashley’s “sexy figure”, while a fourth said, “What a woman!”.

“STUNNINGLY GORGEOUS,” added a fifth.

And a sixth gushed, “Omg you’re glowing.”

American girl Ashley is all loved up with British artist George Rollinson, who is 17 years her junior.

The couple have been loved up since November 2023.

Ashley previously gushed over how much she loves British men.

Speaking to MailOnline last year she said, “Yes, George is British. It’s funny because I have been here so long that when I go back to the States, I’m much more aware of the differences… 

“American men are, I feel bad saying this, but they’re overwhelming, they are too much. I’m like, you need to calm down.

“I think because I grew up in that culture, I didn’t necessarily think anything different but now I’ve lived here for so long and I’ve dated in the past, many years ago, European men… 

“But I don’t even imagine myself dating an American guy now. They have a different approach. Even in places like Vegas it’s all around you that kind of testosterone.”

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WASHINGTON — Mattresses on the floor, next to bunk beds, in meeting rooms and gymnasiums. No access to a bathroom or drinking water. Hourlong lines to buy food at the commissary or to make a phone call.

These are some of the conditions described by lawyers and the people held at immigrant detention facilities around the country over the last few months. The number of detained immigrants surpassed a record 60,000 this month. A Los Angeles Times analysis of public data shows that more than a third of ICE detainees have spent time in an overcapacity dedicated detention center this year.

In the first half of the year, at least 19 out of 49 dedicated detention facilities exceeded their rated bed capacity and many more holding facilities and local jails exceeded their agreed-upon immigrant detainee capacity. During the height of arrest activity in June, facilities that were used to operating with plenty of available beds suddenly found themselves responsible for the meals, medical attention, safety and sleeping space for four times as many detainees as they had the previous year.

“There are so many things we’ve seen before — poor food quality, abuse by guards, not having clean clothes or underwear, not getting hygiene products,” said Silky Shah, executive director of Detention Watch Network, a coalition that aims to abolish immigrant detention. “But the scale at which it’s happening feels greater, because it’s happening everywhere and people are sleeping on floors.”

Shah said there’s no semblance of dignity now. “I’ve been doing this for many years; I don’t think I even had the imagination of it getting this bad,” she added.

Shah said conditions have deteriorated in part because of how quickly this administration scaled up arrests. It took the first Trump administration more than two years to reach its peak of about 55,0000 detainees in 2019.

Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called the allegations about inhumane detention conditions false and a “hoax.” She said the agency has significantly expanded detention space in places such as Indiana and Nebraska and is working to rapidly remove detainees from those facilities to their countries of origin.

McLaughlin emphasized that the department provides comprehensive medical care, but did not respond to questions about other conditions.

Detainees do stretches outdoors as a helicopter flies overhead at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Krome detention center in Miami on July 4, 2025.

(Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press)

At the Krome North Service Processing Center in Miami, the maximum number of detainees in a day in 2024 was 615, four more than the rated bed capacity of 611. In late June of this year, the detainee population reached 1,961, more than three times the capacity. The facility, which is near the Everglades, spent 161 days in the beginning of the year with more people to house than beds.

Miami attorney Katie Blankenship of the legal aid organization Sanctuary of the South represents people detained at Krome. Last month, she saw nine Black men piled into a visitation room, surrounded with glass windows, that holds a small table and four chairs. They had pushed the table against the wall and spread a cardboard box flat across the floor, where they were taking turns sleeping.

The men had no access to a bathroom or drinking water. They stood because there was no room to sit.

Blankenship said three of the men put their documents up to the window so she could better understand their cases. All had overstayed their visas and were detained as part of an immigration enforcement action, not criminal proceedings.

Another time, Blankenship said, she saw an elderly man cramped up in pain, unable to move, on the floor of a bigger room. Other men put chairs together and lifted him so he could rest more comfortably while guards looked on, she said.

Blankenship visits often enough that people held in the visitation and holding rooms recognize her as a lawyer whenever she walks by. They bang on the glass, yell out their identification numbers and plead for help, she said.

“These are images that won’t leave me,” Blankenship said. “It’s dystopian.”

Krome is unique in the dramatic fluctuation of its detainee population. On Feb. 18, the facility saw its biggest single-day increase. A total of 521 individuals were booked in, most transferred from hold rooms across the state, including Orlando and Tampa. Hold rooms are temporary spaces for detainees to await further processing for transfers, medical treatment or other movement into or out of a facility. They are to be used to hold individuals for no more than 12 hours.

On the day after its huge influx, Krome received a waiver exempting the facility from the requirement to log hold room activity. But it never resumed the logs. Homeland Security did not respond to a request for an explanation of the exception.

After reaching their first peak of 1,764 on March 16, the trend reversed.

Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) visited Krome on April 24. In the weeks before the visit, hundreds of detainees were transferred out. Most were moved to other facilities in Florida, some to Texas and Louisiana.

“When those lawmakers came around, they got rid of a whole bunch of detainees,” said Blankenship’s client Mopvens Louisdor.

The 30-year-old man from Haiti said conditions started to deteriorate around March as hundreds of extra people were packed into the facility.

Staffers are so overwhelmed that for detainees who can’t leave their cells for meals, he said, “by the time food gets to us, it’s cold.”

Also during this time, from April 29 through May 1, the facility underwent a compliance inspection conducted by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Detention Oversight. Despite the dramatic reduction in the population, the inspection found several issues with crowding and meals. Some rooms exceeded the 25-person capacity for each and some hold times were nearly double the 12-hour limit. Inspectors observed detainees sleeping on the hold room floors without pillows or blankets. Staffers had not recorded offering a meal to the detainees in the hold rooms for more than six hours.

Hold rooms are not designed for long waits

ICE detention standards require just 7 square feet of unencumbered space for each detainee. Seating must provide 18 inches of space per detainee.

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Sanitary and medical attention were also areas of concern noted in the inspection. In most units, there were too many detainees for the number of toilets, showers and sinks. Some medical records showed that staffers failed to complete required mental and medical health screenings for new arrivals, and failed to complete tuberculosis screenings.

Detainees have tested positive for tuberculosis at facilities such as the Anchorage Correctional Complex in Alaska and the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California. McLaughlin, the Homeland Security assistant secretary, said that detainees are screened for tuberculosis within 12 hours of arrival and that anyone who refuses a test is isolated as a precaution.

“It is a long-standing practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody,” she said. “This includes medical, dental, and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arrival at a facility, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care.”

Facility administrators built a tented area outside the main building to process arriving detainees, but it wasn’t enough to alleviate the overcrowding, Louisdor said. Earlier this month, areas with space for around 65 detainees were holding more than 100, with cots spread across the floor between bunk beds.

Over-capacity facilities can feel extremely cramped

Bed capacity ratings are based on facility design. Guidelines require 50 square feet of space for each individual. When buildings designed to those specifications go over their rated capacity, there is not enough room to house additional detainees safely and comfortably.

American Correctional Association and Immigration and Customs Enforcement

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Louisdor said a young man who uses a wheelchair had resorted to relieving himself in a water bottle because staffers weren’t available to escort him to the restroom.

During the daily hour that detainees are allowed outside for recreation, 300 people stood shoulder to shoulder, he said, making it difficult to get enough exercise. When fights occasionally broke out, guards could do little to stop them, he said.

The line to buy food or hygiene products at the commissary was so long that sometimes detainees left empty-handed.

Louisdor said he has bipolar disorder, for which he takes medication. The day he had a court hearing, the staff mistakenly gave him double the dosage, leaving him unable to stand.

Since then, Louisdor said, conditions have slightly improved, though dormitories are still substantially overcrowded.

In California, detainees and lawyers similarly reported that medical care has deteriorated.

Tracy Crowley, a staff attorney at Immigrant Defenders Law Center, said clients with serious conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and cancer don’t receive their medication some days.

Cells that house up to eight people are packed with 11. With air conditioning blasting all night, detainees have told her the floor is cold and they have gotten sick. Another common complaint, she said, is that clothes and bedding are so dirty that some clients are getting rashes all over their bodies, making it difficult to sleep.

Luis at Chicano Park in San Diego on Aug. 23, 2025.

(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)

One such client is Luis, a 40-year-old from Colombia who was arrested in May at the immigration court in San Diego after a hearing over his pending asylum petition. Luis asked to be identified by his middle name out of concern over his legal case.

When he first arrived at Otay Mesa Detention Center, Luis said, the facility was already filled to the maximum capacity. By the time he left June 30, it was overcrowded. Rooms that slept six suddenly had 10 people. Mattresses were placed in a mixed-use room and in the gym.

Luis developed a rash, but at the medical clinic he was given allergy medication and sleeping pills. The infection continued until finally he showed it over a video call to his mother, who had worked in public health, and she told him to request an anti-fungal cream.

Luis was held at Otay Mesa Detention Center after his May arrest. It was at capacity when he arrived but by the time he left in June, it was overcrowded, he said.

(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)

Other detainees often complained to Luis that their medication doses were incomplete or missing, including two men in his dorm who took anti-psychotic medication.

“They would get stressed out, start to fight — everything irritated them,” he said. “That affected all of us.”

Crowley said the facility doesn’t have the infrastructure or staff to hold as many people as are there now. The legal system also can’t process them in a timely manner, she said, forcing people to wait months for a hearing.

The administration’s push to detain more people is only compounding existing issues, Crowley said.

“They’re self-imposing the limit, and most of the people involved in that decision-making are financially incentivized to house more and more people,” she said. “Where is the limit with this administration?”

Members of the California National Guard load a truck outside the ICE Processing Center in Adelanto, Calif., on July 11, 2025.

(Patrick T. Fallon / AFP/Getty Images)

Other facilities in California faced similar challenges. At the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, the number of detainees soared to 1,000 from 300 over a week in June, prompting an outcry over deteriorated conditions.

As of July 29, Adelanto held 1,640 detainees. The Desert View Annex, an adjacent facility also operated by the GEO Group, held 451.

Disability Rights California toured the facility and interviewed staffers and 18 people held there. The advocacy organization released a report last month detailing its findings, including substantial delays in meal distribution, a shortage of drinking water, and laundry washing delays, leading many detainees to remain in soiled clothing for long periods.

In a letter released last month, 85 Adelanto detainees wrote, “They always serve the food cold … sometimes we don’t have water for 2 to 7 hours and they said to us to drink from the sink.”

At the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Ga., Rodney Taylor, a double amputee, was rendered nearly immobile.

Taylor, who was born in Liberia, uses electronic prosthetic legs that must be charged and can’t get wet. The outlets in his dormitory were inoperable, and because of the overcrowding and short-staffing, guards couldn’t take him to another area to plug them in, said his fiancee, Mildred Pierre.

“When they’re not charged they’re super heavy, like dead weight,” she said. It becomes difficult to balance without falling.

Pierre said the air conditioning in his unit didn’t work for two months, causing water to puddle on the floor. Taylor feared he would slip while walking and fall — which happened once in May — and damage the expensive prosthetics.

Last month, Taylor refused to participate in the daily detainee count, telling guards he wouldn’t leave his cell unless they agreed to leave the cell doors open to let the air circulate.

“They didn’t take him to charge his legs and now they wanted him to walk through water and go in a hot room,” Pierre recalled. “He said no — he stood his ground.”

Several guards surrounded him, yelling, Pierre said. They placed him in solitary confinement for three days as punishment, she said.

Mourners in Italy held a funeral for 19-year-old Marah Abu Zuhri, who had been evacuated from Gaza for urgent medical care. Doctors tried to save her but she died two days after her arrival, severely malnourished, as a result of Israel’s deliberate starvation of Palestinians.