A recent UC Irvine poll found that residents, by a 2-to-1 margin, believe California is headed on the wrong track, a mood consistent with other gauges of Golden State grumpiness.
Why the sad faces?
“We are so divided as a country that people feel like there’s no common purpose and the other guys are out there about to do mayhem to the things that they believe in,” said Jon Gould, dean of UC Irvine’s School of Social Ecology. “Number two, there is a substantial portion of people who feel that their economic situation is worse than it was four years ago, two years ago, one year ago.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom also gets some credit, er, blame for the state’s darkened disposition.
A poll conducted by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies found California voters have little faith in their chief executive as he rounds the turn toward his final year in office. (Which may be one reason Newsom would rather spend time laying the groundwork for a 2028 White House bid.)
Only 14% of voters surveyed had “a lot” of trust in Newsom to act in the best interests of the California public, while another 28% trusted him “somewhat.” Fifty-three percent had no trust in the governor, or only “a little.”
Not a strong foundation for a presidential campaign, but Potomac fever is a powerful thing.
The Democratic-run Legislature fared about the same in the Berkeley survey.
Forty-four percent of respondents had either a lot or some degree of trust in Sacramento lawmakers — not a great look, but a number that positively shines compared to attitudes toward California’s tech companies and their leaders as they increasingly try to spread their overweening influence to politics. Only 4% had a lot of trust in the companies acting in the best interest of the California public; nearly six in 10 did not trust them at all. (There was similarly little faith in business groups.)
But it’s not just the state’s leaders and institutions that fail to engender much trust or goodwill.
A survey by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found residents have also soured on the three branches of the federal government.
Some of that is colored by partisan attitudes. Registered Democrats make up the largest portion of the electorate and, obviously, most aren’t happy with the GOP stranglehold on Washington. But that distrust transcended red and blue loyalties.
Overall, 8 in 10 adults said they do not fully trust the federal government to do what is right. A nearly identical percentage said they trust the government to do what is right only some of the time.
That, too, is part of a long-standing pattern.
“It’s a concern, but it’s not a new concern,” said Mark Baldassare, who directs research for the Public Policy Institute. “It’s been around in some form for decades.”
Back in 1958, when the National Election Study first asked, about three-quarters of Americans trusted the federal government to do the right thing almost always or most of the time — a level of faith that, today, sounds like it comes from people in another galaxy.
Starting in the 1960s, with the escalation of the Vietnam War, and continuing through the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, that trust has steadily eroded. The last time the Pew Research Center asked the question, in the spring of 2024, just 35% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents nationwide said they trusted the federal government just about always or most of the time. That compared to just 11% of Republicans and Republican leaners.
What’s new — and perhaps most troubling — in the recent batch of opinion surveys are growing fears for the state of our democracy.
Nearly two-thirds of those sampled in the Berkeley poll felt that “American democracy is under attack” and another 26% described it as “being tested.” Only 1 in 10 said our democracy is in “no danger.”
America has had some knock-down political fights in recent decades. But it’s only in the Trump era, with his incessant lying about the 2020 election and assault on the rule of law, that the durability of our democracy has become a widespread concern.
Pollsters didn’t even ask that question “10 years ago, 20 years ago, because it was just inconceivable,” said Eric Schickler, who co-directs Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies.
“Even in moments when people were mad, say after [Hurricane] Katrina, Iraq with Bush, or amid the Lewinsky scandal or various other moments of trouble and conflict you would never have seen… 64% say American democracy is under attack and only 10% saying democracy is not in danger,” Schickler said. “That’s just a pretty stunning number … and I think it suggests something really different is going on now.”
“In the short to medium term, I’m not optimistic,” Schickler said. “I think that the problems that we have, the challenges, have just been growing over a period of time. Starting before the Trump era, for sure, but then accelerating in recent years. I think we’re heading more toward a politics where there just aren’t limits on what a party in power is going to do or try to accomplish, and the other party is an enemy and that’s a really bad dynamic.”
Oh, well.
There’s always the mountains, beach and desert offering Californians an escape.
A home run contest without baseball’s two most famous home-run hitters?
What’s the point?
Ohtani pointed to the contest’s physical demands as to why he didn’t compete. Judge said he would only consider participating if the event was staged in New York.
How unfortunate for baseball, which has the perfect stage to showcase its two most popular players but can’t persuade them to perform on it.
Here’s one potential remedy: Let Ohtani and Judge write the rules.
That might not change Judge’s position, but it could change Ohtani’s. Ohtani has certainly pondered modifications that could be made to the Derby to make him more inclined to participate, some of which he shared at All-Star media day.
“That’s not for me to decide,” Ohtani said in Japanese. “However, personally, I think there could be limits on the number of pitches, the number of swings, and a focus on flight distance.”
The commissioner’s office should listen.
As profitable as baseball is, its cultural relevance in this country is diminishing. The most popular athletes in the United States are football and basketball players. Outside of Ohtani, and maybe Judge, no baseball player transcends his sport.
In Ohtani, baseball finally has its long-awaited face of the game, and the sport would be negligent to not maximize his stardom, both domestically and abroad.
Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners might be the major league leader in home runs, but he’s a nobody as far as the general public is concerned. The same is true of everyone else in the eight-player Derby field — Matt Olson of the Atlanta Braves, James Wood of the Washington Nationals, Junior Caminero of the Tampa Bay Rays, Jazz Chisholm Jr. of the New York Yankees, Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins, Oneil Cruz of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Brent Rooker of the Wandering Athletics.
Shohei Ohtani runs the bases after hitting his 30th homer of the season against the Chicago White Sox on July 1.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
By participating in the Derby, Ohtani wouldn’t just draw attention to the event. He would also elevate his competitors, giving them chances to introduce themselves to audiences that would otherwise remain ignorant of their existences.
If baseball has to reduce the number of swings taken by Derby participants to gain that kind of exposure for its players, it should reduce the number of swings taken by Derby participants.
For that matter, if Ohtani says he would participate only if he’s allowed to hit soccer balls, let him hit soccer balls.
Why not?
What would be compromised, the integrity of a barely-watchable made-for-television event?
Ohtani’s reticence is based on history. When Ohtani made his only Derby appearance in 2021, the format was similar to what it is now. In the first round, Ohtani had three minutes to hit as many homers as possible, as would be the case today. The Derby has since added a 40-pitch limit.
Ohtani was eliminated by Juan Soto in the opening round, after which he said with a simile, “It was more tiring than the regular season.”
Ohtani went on to win his first most valuable player award that year, but the Derby marked a turning point in his season. In 84 games before the All-Star break, Ohtani batted .279 with 33 homers and 70 runs batted in. In his 71 games after, he hit just .229 with 13 homers and 30 RBIs.
He implied that experience was why he was unlikely to return any time soon.
“With the current rules, it’s pretty difficult,” Ohtani said last month, “so for now, I don’t think there’s much of a chance.”
For baseball, that translates to limited viewership.
Viewership for the Derby was at its highest in the first decade of the 2000s. Of the five most-viewed Derbys, only one was staged in the last 15 years: The 2017 Derby, which Judge won as a rookie. Judge has not competed since.
The Derby doesn’t make the players. The players make the Derby. And if the sport’s only superstar is open to taking part, the league should facilitate it.
Faletau has been involved in certain aspects of Wales’ preparations for the second match in the two Test series.
When asked whether missing a training session could affect his selection, Jones said: “With him, no. He has played more than 100 internationals and been a Test match player since 2011.
“If you don’t look after those older players they will break so we are just looking after him which is a key thing.
“If I was a 34-year-old player for Wales and someone offered me a session off, I would bite their hand off. “
Cardiff number eight Faletau has played 109 internationals for Wales and is the tourists’ most experienced performer.
He was one of Wales’ leading players in Kitakyushu but could still not help his side suffer an 18th successive international loss.
“He is a brilliant player,” said Jones, who played with Faletau for both Wales and the Lions.
“I remember when he came through. He has not really changed much with his movement, the rugby IQ.
“He is not massively vocal but he has a brilliant follow-me characteristic which the boys see in him and get behind him.
“He has been excellent for us and we just need the boys to back him up a little bit at times.”
It is the positive manner of her defeat that sets Raducanu up for what comes next in her career.
The qualifier who stunned the world with her triumph in New York four years ago has proven that she thrives on the biggest stages.
She was not overawed by this occasion, carrying the weight of the British number one tag at Wimbledon amid an electric atmosphere, with the crowd eager to celebrate her every success.
She did not shrink when the tough moments inevitably arrived, withstanding seven set points in the first set and showing the resolve to go again in the second, each further proof that she is moving in the right direction.
In the years since her fairytale US Open triumph, she has had wrist and ankle operations, endured injury setbacks, contended with increased expectations and tried to compete despite consistent changes to her coaching set up.
This time last year, she was ranked 135th as she continued to rebuild her career, climbing back from outside the top 300 to return to the top 50.
Ultimately, the next step on her road back to the top of the sport is competing with, and overcoming, opponents like Sabalenka.
Raducanu fell to former world number one Iga Swiatek at both the Australian Open and French Open earlier this year – winning just four games across as many sets – to highlight the gulf that exists.
But this was the acid test of Raducanu 2.0’s progress – and the results were encouraging.
“I think when I look back at my career, I’m really going to remember that match because you play for those moments, to really be competing toe-to-toe with anyone, but especially with the very best,” Raducanu said.
“I think I did make good progress in the last few months, 100%, with the consistency and the work I’ve been doing.
Before the tournament started, Raducanu said she did not “truthfully expect much” from herself over the next fortnight.
After losing in Eastbourne last week to Australian teenager Maya Joint, Raducanu admitted she needed to get her “head in the game” for the start of Wimbledon.
She explained she had received some “pretty bad” personal news which she wished to keep private and, on the tennis side of her life, has been coping with ongoing back spasms since the off season.
But the 2021 US Open champion came through her opening match – a tricky occasion against British teenager Mimi Xu – without a major scare and upped her level again in a dominant victory over Vondrousova.
“That’s quite a statement that Emma has put out,” said former British number one Annabel Croft, who was analysing the match for BBC Radio 5 Live.
“I don’t think she could be hitting the ball any better, I really don’t. She was absolutely middling it.
“I would think that would be quite worrying for Sabalenka actually because she’ll be facing Raducanu at her best.
“If Raducanu can play anything close to that level again, although she may not be allowed to because Sabalenka will bring a lot of power, she will give the world number one a run for her money.”
“The general public was admitted to new Los Angeles County Museum of Art for the first time on Friday night — not to look at art but to listen to music,” wrote Times music critic Albert Goldberg in 1965. Exactly 70 years and three months later, history repeated itself.
Thursday night was the first time the public was allowed into LACMA’s David Geffen Galleries. The occasion was a massive sonic event led by jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington. More than a hundred musicians spread out in nine groups along 900-foot serpentine route of Peter Zumthor’s new building, still empty of art.
The celebration, which drew arts and civic leaders for the first of three preview nights, was far grander than the concert on March 26,1965, that opened LACMA’s Leo S. Bing Theatre the night before the doors opened to the museum’s original galleries. That occasion, a program by the legendary Monday Evening Concerts in which Pierre Boulez conducted the premiere of his “Éclat,” helped symbolize an exuberant L.A. coming of age, with the Music Center having opened three months earlier.
Monday Evening Concerts had been a true L.A. event drawing local musical celebrities including Igor Stravinsky and showing off L.A.’s exceptional musicians. The mandolinist in “Éclat,” for instance, was Sol Babitz, the father of the late, quintessential L.A. writer Eve Babitz. Boulez, an explosive composer, eventually turned the 10-minute “‘Éclat,’ for 15 instruments” into a 25-minute orchestral masterpiece, “Éclat/Multiples,” and left unfinished sketches behind to extend that to a full hour.
Kamasi Washington performing Thursday night.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Washington turned out to be the ideal radical expansionist to follow in Boulez’s footsteps for the new LACMA, with a resplendent enlargement of his 2018 half-hour EP, “Harmony of Difference.” The short tracks — “Desire,” “Knowledge,” “Perspective,” “Humility,” “Integrity” and “Truth” — employ nearly three dozen musicians in bursts of effusive wonder.
For LACMA, Washington tripled the number of musicians and the length. What some critics thought were bursts of bluster, however enthralling, became outright splendor. Introducing the program, LACMA Director Michael Govan called it an event that has never happened before and may never happen again. I got little sense of what this building will be like as a museum with art on the walls, but it’s a great space for thinking big musically and, in the process, for finding hope in an L.A. this year beset by fires and fear-inducing troops on our streets.
Washington is one of our rare musicians who thrives on excess. He has long been encouraged to aim toward concision, especially in his longer numbers, in which his untiring improvisations can become exhausting in their many climaxes. But that misses the point. I’ve never heard him play anything, short or long, that couldn’t have been three times longer. His vision is vast, and he needs space.
In the David Geffen Galleries, he got it. The nine ensembles included a large mixed band that he headed, along with ensembles of strings, brass, woodwinds and choruses. Each played unique arrangements of the songs, not quite synchronized, but if you ambled the long walkways, you heard the material in different contexts as though this were sonic surrealism.
A crowd gathers to watch Washington on Thursday.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Acoustically, the Geffen is a weird combination. The large glass windows and angled concrete walls reflect sound in very different ways. Dozens of spaces vary in shape, size and acoustical properties. During a media tour earlier in the day, I found less echo than might be expected, though each space had its own peculiarities.
Washington’s ensembles were all carefully amplified and sounded surprisingly liquid, which made walking a delight as the sounds of different ensembles came in and out of focus. A chorus’ effusiveness gradually morphed into an ecstatic Washington saxophone solo down the way that then became a woodwind choir that had an organ-like quality. The whole building felt alive.
There was also the visual element. The concert took place at sunset, the light through the large windows ever changing, the “Harmony of Difference” becoming the differences of the bubbling tar pits nearby or the street life on Wilshire or LACMA’s Pavilion for Japanese Art, which looks lovely from the new galleries.
Govan’s vision is of a place where art of all kinds from all over comes together, turning the galleries into a promenade of discovery.
LACMA Director Michael Govan addressing the crowd Thursday night before Kamasi Washington performs.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Musically, this falls more in line with John Cage’s “Musicircus,” in which any number of musical ensembles perform at chance-derived times as a carnival of musical difference — something for which the Geffen Galleries is all but tailor-made. Nevertheless, Washington brilliantly demonstrated the new building’s potential for dance, opera, even theater.
The museum may not have made performance a priority in recent years, but Washington also reminded us that the premiere of Boulez’ “Éclat” put music in LACMA’s DNA. Seven decades on, Zumthor, whether he intended it or not, now challenges LACMA to become LACMAP: Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Performance.
ADELANTO, Calif. — As federal immigration agents conduct mass raids across Southern California, the Adelanto ICE Processing Center is filling so rapidly it is reigniting longtime concerns about safety conditions inside the facility.
In less than two months, the number of detainees in the sprawling complex about 85 miles northeast of Los Angeles has surged from around 300 near the end of April to more than 1,200 as of Wednesday, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.
The largest detention center in California, Adelanto has for years been the focus of complaints from detainees, attorneys and state and federal inspectors about inadequate medical care, overly restrictive segregation and lax mental health services.
But now, critics — including some staff who work inside — warn that conditions inside have become increasingly unsafe and unsanitary. The facility, they say, is woefully unprepared to handle a massive increase in the number of detainees.
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“It’s dangerous,” a longtime Adelanto detention center staff member told The Times, speaking on condition of anonymity because they did not want to lose their job. “We have no staffing for this and not enough experienced staff. They’re just cutting way too many corners, and it affects the safety of everybody in there.”
On Tuesday, U.S. Rep Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park), toured Adelanto with four other Democratic members of Congress from California amid growing concern over the rapidly increasing number of detainees and deteriorating conditions inside the facility.
The facility’s manager “has to clearly improve its treatment of these detainees,” Chu said at a news conference after inspecting the facility for nearly two hours.
Some detainees told lawmakers they were held inside Adelanto for 10 days without a change of clothes, underwear or towels, Chu said. Others said they had been denied access to a telephone to speak to loved ones and lawyers, even after repeatedly filling out forms.
“I was just really shocked to hear that they couldn’t get a change of underwear, they couldn’t get socks for 10 days,” Chu told The Times. “They can’t get the PIN number for a telephone call. What about their legal rights? What about the ability to be in contact with their families? That is inhumane.”
Immigration Customs and Enforcement and GEO Group, the Florida-based private prison corporation that manages the Adelanto detention center, did not answer The Times’ questions about staffing or conditions inside the facility. The Times also sent questions to Homeland Security assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin, but they were not answered.
Lucero Garcia, third from left, gave an emotional account about her uncle who was taken from his work at an Orange County car wash. She and others were outside the Adelanto ICE Processing Center on Tuesday.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Over the last two weeks, new detainees have been forced to sleep on the floors of common areas without blankets and pillows and have spent days in the facility before they were provided with clean clothes and underwear, according to interviews with current detention center staff, immigration attorneys, and members of Congress who toured the facility. Some detainees have complained about lack of access to medication, lack of access to drinking water for four hours, and being served dinner as late as 10 p.m.
One detainee was not allowed his high blood pressure pills when family tried to bring it in, said Jennifer Norris, a staff attorney at Immigrant Defenders Law Center. In some cases, she said, lax medical care has led to emergencies: a Vietnamese man passed out last week because staff didn’t provide him with his necessary medication.
“It’s clear that with the ramp up enforcement, Adelanto just does not have the staff to keep pace with the aggressive enforcement that’s happening now,” Norris said. “It is bizarre. We spend millions of dollars on ICE detention and they’re not even able to provide basic necessities for the new arrivals.”
Long before Trump administration officials announced in May they were setting a new national goal of arresting 3,000 unauthorized immigrants a day, Adelanto workers worried about understaffing and unsafe conditions as the center processed new detainees.
At the end of last year, the facility held only three people. As of Wednesday, the number had swelled to 1,218, according to the ACLU of Southern California.
The climb is only partly due to the ICE agents’ recent escalation of immigrant raids.
The 1,940-bed Adelanto facility has been operating at a dramatically reduced capacity since 2020 when civil rights groups filed a class-action lawsuit demanding a drastic reduction in the number of people detained at Adelanto on the basis that they faced severe risk of contracting COVID-19. A federal judge forced the detention center to release detainees and prohibit new intakes and transfers.
But a series of federal court orders this year — the most recent in early June — has allowed the facility to fully reopen just as federal immigration agents fan out into neighborhoods and workplaces.
“As soon as the judge lifted the order, they just started slamming people in there,” an Adelanto staffer told The Times.
Eva Bitrán, director of immigrant rights at the ACLU of Southern California, said “almost everybody” held in the Adelanto facility had no criminal record before they arrived in the detention center.
“But even if they had a criminal record, even if they had served their time in criminal custody and then been brought to the ICE facility, nobody deserves 10 days in the same underwear,” Bitrán said. “Nobody deserves dirty showers, nobody deserves moldy food.”
The Adelanto ICE Processing Center.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Mario Romero, an Indigenous worker from Mexico who was detained June 6 at the Ambiance Apparel warehouse in downtown L.A., was one of dozens who ended up in Adelanto.
His daughter, Yurien Contreras, said she and her family were traumatized after her father was “chained by the hands, feet and waist,” taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center downtown and then “held hostage” in a van from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. with no access to water, food or a restroom.
“Little did we know,” she said, “it was only the beginning of the inhumane treatment our families would endure.”
At Adelanto, she said, officials try to force her father to sign documents without due process or legal representation. The medical care was “less than minimal,” she said, the food was unsustainable and the water tasted like Clorox.
Yurien Contreras’ father was taken by ICE agents from his workplace at Ambiance Apparel in Los Angeles.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Lucero Garcia told The Times she was concerned about her 61-year-old uncle, Candido, who was detained June 9 as he worked at his job at Magnolia Car Wash in Fountain Valley.
But when she visited him Saturday, “he didn’t want to share much,” she said. “He’s worried more about us.”
This is not the first time the Adelanto detention center has faced scrutiny.
In 2018, federal inspectors issued a report finding “serious violations” at the facility, including overly restrictive detainee segregation and guards failing to stop detainees from hanging braided bed sheet “nooses.”
But two staffers who spoke to The Times said they had never experienced such unsafe conditions at Adelanto.
As the prison population has increased over the last few months, they said, staff are working long hours without breaks, some even falling asleep driving home after their shifts and having car accidents. Shift duty officers with no security experience were being asked to make decisions in the middle of the night about whether to put detainees who felt threatened in protective custody. Officers, including people from food service, were being sent to the hospital to check on detainees with tuberculosis and hepatitis.
“Everyone’s just overwhelmed,” a staffer said.
Officers working over their allotted schedules were often tired when they were on duty, another staffer said.
In May, a detainee went into anaphylactic shock and ended up intubated in the hospital, the staffer said, because an officer wasn’t paying attention or was new and gave the detainee, who’s allergic to seafood, a tray that contained tuna.
At a May meeting, the warden told all executive staff that they needed to come to work dressed down on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the staffer said, because they would have to start doing janitorial work.
On June 2, a detainee at the Annex facility made his way from a medical holding area, through four locked doors, all the way back to his dorm unescorted, the staffer said — a major security breach.
“If he would’ve wanted to escape he would’ve been gone,” the staffer said. “All he did is push the buttons to access the doors and they were open for him, no questions. Apparently, whoever was in central control was too tired to check or too inexperienced.”
The detention center was becoming unsanitary, the staffer said, with trash bins not promptly emptied, bathrooms not cleaned and floors not mopped as they should be.
As new waves of detainees flooded into the facility over the last two weeks, the staffer said, the facility was chaotic and lacking basic supplies.
“We didn’t have enough to provide right away,” they said, “so we’re scrambling to get clothes and mattresses.”
Mark Ferretiz, who worked as a cook supervisor at Adelanto for 14 years until April, said former colleagues told him officers were working 16- to 20-hour shifts multiple days in a row without breaks, officers were slow to respond to physical fights between detainees, and food was limited for detainees.
“They had five years to prepare,” Ferretiz, who had served as a union steward, said of his former supervisors. “I don’t know the reason why they weren’t prepared.”
While the supply shortages appeared to ease some in recent days — a shipment of clothes and mattresses had arrived by Tuesday, when members of Congress toured — the detention center was still understaffed, the current staffer said.
Detainees were being served food on paper clam-shell to-go boxes, rather than regular trays, a staffer said, because the facility lacked employees to wash up at the end of mealtimes.
“Trash pickup’s not coming fast enough, ” a staffer said, noting that piles of trash sat outside, bagged up, beside the dumpsters.
In a statement last week, GEO Group Executive Chairman George C. Zoley said fully opening the Adelanto facility would allow his company to generate about $31 million in additional annualized revenues.
“We are proud of our approximately 350 employees at the Adelanto Center, whose dedication and professionalism have allowed GEO to establish a long-standing record of providing high-quality support services on behalf of ICE in the state of California,” Zoley said.
But after touring the facility, members of Congress said officials did not provide answers to basic questions.
When Chu asked officials about whether California immigrants were being taken to other states, she said, they said, “We don’t know.”
British sympathy for the Palestinian cause – and criticism of Israel – is surging, according to a new survey.
London, United Kingdom – Most Britons who oppose Israel’s war on Gaza believe the onslaught, which has to date killed more than 55,000 people, amounts to genocide, according to a new poll.
The survey, carried out by YouGov and commissioned by the Action for Humanity charity and the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) advocacy group, found that 55 percent of Britons are against Israel’s aggression. A significant number of those opponents – 82 percent – said Israel’s actions amount to genocide.
“This translates to 45 percent of adults in the UK who view Israel’s actions as genocidal,” said Action for Humanity and ICJP.
Details of the poll, which 2,010 people responded to in early June, were released on Wednesday.
Sixty-five percent said the UK should enforce the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he were to visit Britain.
“It is clear that a majority of the public here are disgusted with Israel’s conduct, and a growing number agree that this is clearly a genocide,” said Othman Moqbel, head of Action for Humanity.
He added that all but a few believe the UK should do “everything in its power to stop Israel and seek justice against those responsible”.
“The government’s failure to recognise the scale of the crimes being inflicted upon Gaza is not just putting them on the wrong side of history, it’s putting them on the wrong side of the present day.”
Tens of thousands of Britons have taken to the streets over the past 20 months to protest against Israel’s war on Gaza.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government has in recent weeks adopted harsher tones on Israel and sanctioned top officials. In 2024, the UK suspended 30 arms export licences to Israel for use in Gaza amid concerns Israel was violating international humanitarian laws.
But critics have lamented the pace and power of the UK’s response, calling for tougher sanctions and measures that would prevent Israel from receiving F-35 components made in Britain.
The survey also highlighted the positions of Britons who voted for the Labour Party in the 2024 general election.
Of the 68 percent of Labour voters who are against Israel’s actions in Gaza, 87 percent believe they amount to genocide. Seventy-eight percent of Labour voters said the UK should enforce the ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu.
The UK has suggested it would comply with the ICC warrant.
“The UK government is totally out of touch with the British public they are supposed to represent, and the Labour Party are even more out of touch with their own voters,” said Jonathan Purcell of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians.
“UK policymaking should be based on complying with international law obligations, regardless, but this poll just goes to show the level of popular support for such policies too. There is absolutely no appetite to drag our national reputation through the mud by continuing to stand with a rogue, pariah state.”
Fuengirola Beach in Fuengirola, south west of Malaga, Spain was the scene of an unpleasant cat-sized-rat situation earlier this week, with the hefty rodents filmed scampering across the sand
William McGee and Milo Boyd Digital Travel Reporter
12:30, 18 Jun 2025Updated 12:31, 18 Jun 2025
The rats have arrived (Image: Jam Press/@fuengirolasequeja)
One of the huge rodents was seen scurrying across the sand of Fuengirola Beach in Fuengirola, south west of Malaga, Spain. An onlooker filmed the hefty rodent on their mobile phone and could be heard shrieking in fright as a second giant rat darted out from underneath a walkway.
The startling scenes unfolded on Tuesday. Local woman Susan claimed that the rats were not a new feature of the beach resort, and can often be seen moving between shops.
“Yes, it’s incredible how many there are – and not just on the beach at night, where I see loads of them. During the day, they stroll from shop to shop right in the town centre,” she said.
Equally perturbed, local Joha added: “And those ones are small – at dawn, some come out that are way bigger. That’s nothing compared to the ones I’ve seen.”
This is far from the only rat related beach incident to befall Spain in recent weeks. Sunseekers were left horrified when dozens of dead rats ended up floating in the sea in May.
Following a heavy downpour, the bloated rodents began to bob off a beach in Spain’s Costa Blanca. The overburdened local sewage system has been blamed for the disgusting scenes facing beachgoers near Alicante’s Coco and Urbanova beaches.
Rats were pictured lying dead on the sand at Urbanova beach, three miles south of Alicante City Centre. Others were filmed floating lifeless in the water. Dead rats were also spotted near the sailing school at Alicante’s Real Club de Regatas.
The ugly scenes provoked the anger of an opposition councillor for the popular holiday resort, who worries that mixing tourists and dead rats is not a good idea. Trini Amoros, deputy spokesperson for Alicante City Council’s socialist group, said: “Alicante cannot allow rats floating off our beaches.”
A few days later, the sea off another popular Costa del Sol holiday resort turned an alarming brown colour, leaving tourists aghast.
A Spanish-speaking tourist watching from a beachfront balcony was seen pointing out the bubbles emerging from the centre of the discoloured water to a companion.
Council chiefs confirmed overnight that yellow warning flags had been raised when the sea started turning brown, attributing the discolouration to a broken water pipe and assuring the public that there was no danger to public health.
Great Little Escapes, based in Berkshire, used to specialise in a variety of different holidays, but now it has ceased trading as an ATOL holder, meaning its holiday bookings are in doubt
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca says he has no doubt new striker Liam Delap will become a “future England number nine” as he prepares to make his Blues debut at the Club World Cup.
The 22-year-old forward joined in a £30m deal from Ipswich earlier in June to reunite with his former Manchester City academy manager.
Delap, who signed a six-year contract at Stamford Bridge, scored 12 goals in 37 Premier League appearances last term.
Chelsea face Los Angeles FC in their Club World Cup opener on Monday (20:00 BST) in Atlanta.
When asked about Delap, who pulled out of England duty for the European Under-21 Championship to join Chelsea in the United States, Maresca said: “I said Liam can be England’s number nine when we faced Ipswich.
“Now he is a Chelsea player, I’m going to say again, I don’t have any doubt that he can be in the future England number nine.
“We won with Manchester City’s Under-23s – he scored 24, 25 goals that season – so he knows exactly what we can give him, I know what Liam can give us. It’s a win-win. We like Liam, Liam likes us, so it was an easy conversation.”
Delap is among four new players in Chelsea’s squad, along with returning loanee Andrey Santos and new teenage signings Dario Essugo, Mamadou Sarr and Mike Penders.
But Maresca explained Delap will have to compete with fellow striker Nicolas Jackson to earn a starting place and refused to say whether he will start at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
He also explained, without directly being asked about it, that the club needs a new left winger after Chelsea paid a £5m penalty fee not to sign Manchester United loanee Jadon Sancho, adding: “Jadon is not with us. So for sure that is a position that probably we need to do something.
“Also because, Misha [Mudryk] is not with us. At this moment we have Noni [Madueke], Pedro [Neto] and Ty [George] as proper wingers. So for sure something is going to happen.”
The Blues are expected to rekindle their interest in Dortmund winger Jamie Gittens as the transfer window re-opens on Monday, having had a £42m bid rejected for the 20-year-old just before the Club World Cup.
They also made an approach for AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan, but Maresca insists he still has faith in the likes of Robert Sanchez. He explained: “Robert is the number one, we have Filip as number two.
“Penders joins us in the next few weeks to analyse, judge him and take a final decision. Then for Maignan or different players, I don’t think it’s worth talking about them.”
Hollywood’s workforce just needed to “survive ’til ’25.” That was last year’s hopeful mantra for entertainment industry pros battered by layoffs and limited film and TV production.
But now as the year approaches its halfway point, a bleaker saying seems apt: “Exist ’til ’26.”
Rosy projections of a robust recovery this year have not materialized. If anything, the downturn, at least in terms of employment at the studios, has continued.
It is yet another sign that the industry is still recovering from the effects of the pandemic and the dual writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023, while also trying to navigate the changing media landscape.
As people continue to cut the cord and viewership of traditional broadcast television declines — taking with it valuable ad dollars — companies are reallocating resources to their streaming platforms. They’re cutting back on spending after massive investments during the so-called streaming wars. And now, economic uncertainty from President Trump’s tariffs has rattled the markets, creating a difficult overall business environment.
“We’re going through this squeezing of our ecosystem in Hollywood,” said J. Christopher Hamilton, a practicing entertainment attorney and a professor at Syracuse University who focuses on the business of media. Companies are “trying to find a new normal, adjust to the financial pressures that the global economy is under and also figure out what is the smartest business model and path forward.”
It’s a far cry from the hints of optimism some in the industry had toward the end of last year. With the strikes finally in the rearview mirror, and delayed films debuting in theaters and production slowly coming back, the thought was “we’re out of the strikes, we’ll be able to go back to the market, sell and buy,” Hamilton said.
Instead, many of the recent conversations he’s had with clients and media executives have been centered on fear and uncertainty. People will tell him that it’s hard to sell a TV show, or that they don’t know if their job will be around in two weeks. The international market has also become more favorable to local content, meaning U.S.-made shows are now heavily competing with homegrown series.
“It’s a horrible time in the business from the content creation, content production standpoint,” Hamilton said. “People don’t want to take risks. They’re fearful of losing their jobs.”
The idea of “survive ’til ’25” was always a myth, said Stephen Galloway, dean of Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. The issues the industry is facing are long term and disruptive.
“The industry is retrenching,” he said. “And there’s going to be a shake-up that lasts for quite a while.”
The continued decline of linear TV is one issue nearly all studios are grappling with. Though viewership is down and can drag on a company’s stock price, traditional broadcast TV still makes money, making it important to manage costs and generate profit for as long as possible.
That also means job cuts in those areas.
Disney’s layoffs hit its film and television marketing teams, television publicity, casting and development as well as corporate financial operations. Warner Bros. cut employees from its cable TV channels. While Paramount did not disclose the departments affected by the layoffs, its co-chief executives acknowledged in a note to staff that the decision came as the company navigates “continued industry-wide linear declines.”
Linear TV’s struggles have led media companies to spin off their traditional television assets, including cable networks, into separate entities. Santa Monica-based Lionsgate got the ball rolling in 2023 when it said it would sever its film and TV studio business from its pay cable unit Starz, a transaction that was completed this year.
The Warner Bros. split is “an acknowledgment that the idea of building something big enough to compete in the streaming war didn’t work,” said Peter Murrieta, a writer and deputy director of the Sidney Poitier New American Film School at Arizona State University. Moreover, Netflix’s dominance in the streaming space has made many companies reevaluate their plans.
“There were already signs pointing to the unsustainability of the number of shows and the number of streamers,” he said. “It’s the aftereffects of trying to compete at the streaming level and thinking that’s the future. Resources were put there, and now they have to retrench.”
Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger has said as much in comments to Wall Street, acknowledging that the House of Mouse pumped out too many shows and movies to compete against Netflix.
The company has since pulled back amid Iger’s call to focus on quality over quantity and to reach profitability in its streaming services, which it achieved last year. The company’s latest job postings now include a number of openings for software engineers.
The larger economic environment, too, is of concern to those in Hollywood. In addition to industry-specific concerns about artificial intelligence and the decline of traditional TV and cable, the entertainment business is also grappling with domestic and global financial uncertainty. Paramount’s executives cited the “dynamic macro-economic environment” in its note to employees.
“Right now, there is an absolute sense of terror among people in the business that they’ll be out of a job, that the old models aren’t working, that they won’t earn what they once did,” said Galloway of Chapman. “They’re not wrong to be afraid. I think they’re wrong to be as afraid as they are because it’s a retrenchment, and it’s a retrenchment following a gigantic expansion.”
White-collar jobs in other industries are also being threatened by technological change, greater investment in AI and retrenchments after pandemic-era hiring sprees. Earlier this year, tech companies such as payment firm Square, Meta, Google and Workday said they would lay off employees.
But Hollywood has always been a boom-and-bust industry, Galloway said, noting that in times of change, new opportunities always arise. Jobs in virtual production or AI are becoming more numerous. As studios cut back on their staff, they will still need producers to shepherd shows and films, said Susan Sprung, chief executive of the Producers Guild of America trade group.
“These companies aren’t getting out of the business of producing great programming, movies and television,” she said. “If you don’t have as large of an executive team that can help supplement that, it makes it even more important that you have good producers working on every one of your projects.”
While the current environment is tough, the industry has always been difficult, and people in this business are resourceful and intentional about their work, said Murrieta of Arizona State.
Though it is a trying time, he said, “there’s got to be hope.”
As many of us look at jetting away for some sunshine on our summer holidays, it’s important to check our passports have the necessary time left on them before we travel
Travellers are being urged to check their passport before heading to the airport (Image: Getty Images/Stock Image)
Holidaymakers planning a trip abroad are being urged to check a specific detail on their passports or risk being turned away at the airport. Neglecting this crucial step could potentially throw a huge spanner in their travel plans.
There are many things to keep in mind when gearing up for a trip. From packing clothes and toiletries to sorting out travel insurance and visas, it can feel like a daunting checklist of tasks to tick off.
In addition, it’s important to note that different countries have unique rules regarding passport validity. The Post Office advises on its website: “Some countries might ask that your passport’s valid for your whole time away and even a bit longer, sometimes up to six months.
“If you don’t check these rules, you could run into problems, like not being able to board your flight or being denied entry when you land.”
Catching a flight can be stressful, don’t let your passport hold you up(Image: Erlon Silva – TRI Digital via Getty Images)
To play it safe, make sure your passport has at least an extra six months left from the date of your holiday, as many destinations require at least half a year’s leeway, the Daily Record reports.
To find your passport expiry date, look at the document’s data page, which also includes your photo, date of birth, and passport number.
Passport validity rules
Before setting off on your journey, confirm the requirements for the destination you’re heading to. Here are some examples of the rules in different countries:
For those planning to travel to the United States, it’s crucial that your passport remains valid for the entire duration of your stay, although having an extra six months’ validity is advised to avoid potential complications
If you’re bound for Australia, ensure your passport is valid for at least six months from the date you enter the country
For travel to New Zealand, passports must be valid for at least three months beyond your planned departure date
Europe
In most European countries, your passport must be valid for at least three months. But for British citizens visiting the EU and Schengen countries, there’s an extra rule: your passport mustn’t be more than 10 years old.
The Post Office clarifies: “Passports issued after 2018 are valid for exactly 10 years. But if your passport was issued before September 2018, it might be valid for up to 10 years and nine months.
“This is because, before 2018, the passport office would add up to nine extra months from your old passport to your new one. This means some people have passports that haven’t officially expired and are still valid for travel worldwide.
“The exception is travel in Europe, where passports must be less than 10 years old.”
To travel to Europe and Schengen countries, your passport must meet the following conditions:
Issued less than 10 years before your departure date
Valid for at least three months after your planned return date
All the relevant information for travel to the EU and Schengen countries can be found on the GOV.UK website.
Check your passport before jetting away(Image: clubfoto via Getty Images)
If your passport is nearing its expiry date
Head over to GOV.UK to apply for a new passport if yours has run out or won’t last as long as you need it to. Renewing or replacing your passport online will cost £94.50, or £107 if you opt for the paper form route.
Usually, you’ll have your new passport within two weeks, but if you’re in a rush, faster services are available for an additional fee.
If your passport is deemed damaged, it will also require replacement. The HM Passport Office will classify your passport as damaged if:
You cannot read any of your details
Any of the pages are ripped, cut or missing
There are holes, cuts or rips in the cover
The cover is coming away
There are stains on the pages (for example, ink or water damage)
Boulter may have sat at the top of British women’s tennis for two years but, with Raducanu looking back to somewhere near her best, we could see the two battling for the top spot in British women’s tennis on a regular basis.
Boulter is looking forward to the challenge.
“It’s going to be fun for me to chase her now, and I think she’s been doing that for a while. Now it’s kind of my turn,” she said.
“I’m very happy for her to be British number one.”
Boulter, who won the title in Nottingham this time last year, had been trying to reach a seventh quarter-final on grass.
There were plenty of positives to take in a first set which she said featured “some of the best grass court tennis” she has played.
She continually caused problems behind her first serve – something she had suggested she would be working on in the build-up to this match after struggles earlier this week – and went a double break up on her way to taking the first set.
But by the time the umpire suspended play because of a downpour, Boulter was down a break at 4-1 in the second set and in trouble on serve again.
After a 20-minute rain delay, she returned to have her serve broken for a second time and, despite recovering one break, she could not prevent Shnaider from forcing a deciding set.
Boulter once again came under pressure in the opening game, wiping out three break points to secure the hold as problems on serve returned with a vengeance.
She saved more break points in her next service game, only to double-fault and concede the break.
From there, Boulter struggled to regroup and went down a double break.
She could not find a way back as Shnaider set up a meeting with American second seed, and Australian Open champion, Madison Keys.
The Television Academy first embraced Sterling K. Brown nine years ago and has kept him in a loose side hug ever since. Brown’s a contender for lead actor in a drama for his role as a Secret Service agent in “Paradise,” a Hulu thriller that reunites Brown with “This Is Us” creator Dan Fogelman.
10
Emmy nominations Brown has received across …
6
Different projects, including for narrator (“Lincoln: Divided We Stand”) and character voice-over (“Invincible”).
2
Brown’s first two wins came in back-to-back years — for supporting actor in a limited series in 2016, as prosecutor Christopher Darden in “The People v. O.J. Simpson,” and lead actor in a drama series in 2017 for his performance as Randall in NBC’s big-feelings family saga “This Is Us.”
3 x 2
Brown has received two nominations in a single year three times: 2018, 2020, 2021.
4
The Screen Actors Guild Awards also love Brown, who has won four times from 11 nominations, including …
2019
Twice in one year as part of both the winning film (“Black Panther”) and TV drama (“This Is Us”) ensembles.
1
Brown received his first Oscar nomination in 2024 for his supporting role as the hedonistic, hurting brother of Jeffrey Wright’s novelist in “American Fiction.”
IT looks like it should be easy when you first look at it.
But it might be harder than you think to distinguish the odd mistake in this number jumble.
2
Can you spot the odd number out in this sea of 4502s?Credit: Piktochart
The chart features a sea of identical numbers, each reading 4502.
However, there one different number, hiding in plain sight.
And it takes someone with eyes as sharp as a hawk to spot the odd one out – especially if you manage to do it in less than 20 seconds.
Ai Ching Goh, co-founder of Piktochart, said of the brainteaser: “This campaign is a fun reminder of how easy it is to miss small details, especially in data-heavy designs.
Try out more Brainteasers
“Imagine you’re at work and your boss asks you to check over the latest numbers.
“Would you be able to spot the mistake?”
If you’re struggling, it’s a good idea to take the puzzle column by column.
Scroll down through the rows as you flit your eyes up and down, trying to spot the number that doesn’t fit.
If things aren’t getting any easier, try splitting the box of numbers into quarters – taking one at a time.
And if your frustration is getting the better of you, you can find the answer below.
What you see first reveals a lot about your personality – are you motivated or socially awkward?
Brainteasers are excellent for your noggin because they stimulate cognitive function, improve problem-solving skills and enhance overall mental agility.
So what’s the benefit exactly? Improved neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s ability to adapt and form new neural connections.
As well as this, activities like brainteasers, puzzles and riddles require you to think critically, which also sharpens your analytical and reasoning skills.
If you want to continue to challenge your brain further, you can find a range of optical illusions on our website.
Different images can test different parts of your brain.
How can optical illusions and brainteasers help me?
Engaging in activities like solving optical illusions and brainteasers can have many cognitive benefits as it can stimulate various brain regions.
Some benefits include:
Cognitive stimulation: Engaging in these activities challenges the brain, promoting mental agility and flexibility.
Problem-solving skills: Regular practice enhances analytical thinking and problem-solving abilities.
Memory improvement: These challenges often require memory recall and can contribute to better memory function.
Creativity: They encourage thinking outside the box, fostering creativity and innovative thought processes.
Focus and attention: Working on optical illusions and brainteasers requires concentration, contributing to improved focus.
Stress relief: The enjoyable nature of these puzzles can act as a form of relaxation and stress relief.
This image of pearls might be a good way to test your eyesight, while this maths puzzle helps improve your critical thinking.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has reached an agreement with City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson to find the money to reverse the cuts to police hiring made last month by the council.
On Friday, Bass signed the 2025-26 budget approved by the council, which reworked much of her plan for closing a $1-billion shortfall. Among the council’s changes to the mayor’s spending plan was a reduction in the number of police officers hired in the coming fiscal year, which would drop from 480 to 240.
The following day, as part of her signing announcement, the mayor highlighted the separate deal with Harris-Dawson to ensure that “council leadership will identify funds for an additional 240 recruits within 90 days.” The budget year begins July 1.
The money for the additional officers would be allocated within the 90-day deadline, said Bass spokesperson Zach Seidl.
“No one got everything they wanted,” Harris-Dawson said in a statement. “There is still more work ahead, especially our commitment to work with the Mayor to identify the funds for an additional 240 recruits within 90 days.”
Restoring the 240 police recruits would require the council to free up an additional $13.3 million for the coming year. In 2026-27, the cost of those officers — who would be working their first full year — would grow to about $60 million, according to a city estimate.
Bass proposed a budget in April that called for laying off about 1,600 civilian city workers, one-fourth of them at the LAPD. The council voted last month to reduce the layoff number to around 700, in part by scaling back the mayor’s hiring plans at the LAPD and the Los Angeles Fire Department.
During their deliberations, council members said a slowdown in the hiring of police officers would protect the jobs of other workers at the LAPD, including civilian specialists who handle DNA rape kits, fingerprint analysis and other investigative tasks.
Bass, in her statement, thanked the council for “coming together on this deal as we work together to make Los Angeles safer for all.” She said the budget invests in emergency response, homeless services, street repairs, parks, libraries and other programs.
“This budget has been delivered under extremely difficult conditions — uncertainty from Washington, the explosion of liability payments, unexpected rising costs and lower than expected revenues,” she said.
During the budget deliberations, Bass voiced dismay about slowing down recruitment at the LAPD. In recent days, she had weighed whether to veto all or a portion of the budget, which could have led to a messy showdown with the council.
The council voted 12 to 3 to approve the reworked budget proposal last month. Because only 10 votes are needed to override a veto, Bass would have had to secure at least three additional votes in support of her position on police hiring.
Whether Harris-Dawson has the support of his colleagues to find the money — and then spend it on police hiring — is unclear. Unless the city’s labor unions make financial concessions, the council would likely need to either tap the city’s reserve fund or pull money from other spending obligations, such as legal payouts or existing city programs.
The budget provides funding for six classes with up to 40 recruits each at the Police Academy over the coming fiscal year. Bass had originally sought double that number, providing the department with 480 recruits.
Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, who chairs the council’s budget committee, said she shares the mayor’s goal of restoring LAPD recruit classes — and looks forward to “working with her to make it happen.”
“The question has always been how to do it in a way that is fiscally responsible and sustainable,” Yaroslavsky said.
To increase police hiring and eliminate the remaining 700 layoffs, the council will need to turn to the city’s labor unions for additional savings, Yaroslavsky said.
The council’s budget provided enough funding to ensure the LAPD has 8,399 officers by June 30, 2026, the end of the next fiscal year. The $13.3 million sought by Bass would bring the number of officers to more than 8,600.
The LAPD had 8,746 officers in mid-May, down from about 10,000 in 2020, according to department figures.
Arsenal defender Gabriel vowed that it’s time to win trophies after penning a new four-year contract.
The Brazilian said: “I arrived here as a young player and after almost five years I’m so happy and I’ve learned a lot.
“I’m so proud of myself, it’s an amazing journey, and I’m so happy to continue it. I hope I win some trophies with this club, because I love this club and my family loves the club, too.
“Arsenal is an amazing club and I’m so proud to sign a new contract. I love this club, I love the supporters, my team-mates, I love this stadium. I’m so proud and thank you for all the support. We continue together for the future.”
Arsenal chase Real star
Rodrygo has emerged as one of Arsenal’s top targets this summer.
The Gunners are aiming to bolster their attack, with the disgruntled Real Madrid ace fitting the bill.
Per Sky Sports, a deal could move forward following the international break.
Isak tipped for Arsenal
Jamie O’Hara has claimed that Arsenal should sign Newcastle star Aleksander Isak over Viktor Gyokeres or Benjamin Sesko.
He toldGrosvenor Sport: “The obvious position to strengthen for Arsenal is a striker – they need to get one in.
“They need someone big and strong who can get them 20 goals a season. For me, Kai Havertz just isn’t the man for the job.
“Alexander Isak, Viktor Gyokeres or Benjamin Sesko are the obvious choices in the striker department for them. However, the trouble with strikers who come over from other leagues is that they fail to hit the ground running – particularly players from the Bundesliga and Liga Portugal. There’s a massive difference between playing there and in the Premier League.
“I think clubs should be buying Premier League proven players who have been doing it week in, week out already. That’s why I think Manchester United have been quite clever by signing Bryan Mbuemo and Matheus Cunha – we all know they’re going to work for them.
“With that in mind, if I were Arsenal, I’d go and get Isak. I know it will be hard because Newcastle are in the Champions League, but Arsenal are a bigger club than Newcastle and could definitely tempt him.”
World number one Scottie Scheffler has confirmed he will play in this year’s Scottish Open at The Rennaisance Club in East Lothian from 10-13 July.
It means the top five players in the world rankings – and seven of the top 10 – will all be using the tournament as final preparation for The Open Championship, which takes place at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland the following week.
American Scheffler, who continued an impressive season when he successfully defended his title at the Memorial Tournament on Sunday, will now be included in one of the strongest ever Scottish Open fields.
The 28-year-old returns to the Scottish Open after a tied third-place finish on his last appearance at the Renaissance Club in 2023.
Scheffler said he is looking forward to playing “in such a strong field”, adding: “It’s an event and a course I enjoy playing given we only get to play links golf a couple of times a year.”
June 3 (UPI) — At 7.4 million, the number of job openings was little changed in April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday.
During the month, both hires and what the bureau called “total separations” were little changed at 5.6 million and 5.3 million, respectively, experts said.
Also, within separations, quits (at 3.2 million) and layoffs and discharges (at 1.8 million), recorded little change, bureau experts said.
The bureau’s update included estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires and separations for the total nonfarm sector. Job openings include all the positions that are open on the last business day of the month.
Hires and separations include all changes to the payroll during the entire month, as well.
In their Tuesday release on the numbers, bureau officials said the April statistics and rate of job openings were little changed at 7.4 million and 4.4 percent.
Experts noted that the number of job openings decreased in accommodation and food services (-135,000) and in state and local government, education (-51,000). Meanwhile, the number of job openings increased in arts, entertainment, and recreation (+43,000) and in mining and logging (+10,000), they said.
Additionally, the number of hires was little changed in all industries in April, they said.
The number of total separations in April was little changed at 5.3 million while the total separations rate remained unchanged at 3.3 percent. Total separations increased in federal government (+9,000).
In April, the number and rate of quits were little changed at 3.2 million and 2.0 percent, respectively. The number of quits was down by 220,000 over the year, bureau officials said. In April, the number and rate of layoffs and discharges were little changed at 1.8 million and 1.1 percent, respectively.
According to April numbers, layoffs and discharges increased in health care and social assistance (+52,000) but decreased in state and local government, excluding education (-14,000) and in federal government (-4,000).
May’s numbers are scheduled for release next month, the bureau said.
