October

Polls indicate a close race between Dutch far-right PVV party and the Labour/Green Left alliance.

Dutch voters will head to the polls on October 29 in snap elections triggered by the dramatic collapse of the right-wing ruling coalition.

Interior Minister Judith Uitermark announced the election date on Friday and said she would coordinate with municipalities to ensure a smooth voting process.

Polls indicate a close race between the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV), led by firebrand Geert Wilders, and the Labour/Green Left alliance, headed by former European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans.

The centre-right VVD is trailing slightly behind, suggesting a tightly contested vote.

The election was called after Wilders withdrew the PVV from the governing coalition in a dispute over immigration policy, pushing Prime Minister Dick Schoof and his cabinet to resign.

Wilders had accused the government of dragging its feet on implementing what was intended to be the “strictest-ever” immigration policy agreed by the four-way coalition.

His decision to bring down the coalition prompted a backlash from partners, who accused him of acting out of self-interest.

“We had a right-wing majority and he’s let it all go for the sake of his ego,” said Dilan Yesilgoz, leader of the VVD, which was a coalition member.

“It is irresponsible to take down the government at this point,” added Nicolien van Vroonhoven, leader of the NSC, another member of the collapsed alliance.

Wilders’s PVV stunned the political establishment in November 2023 by winning 37 of the 150 seats in parliament – emerging as the largest party by a strong margin.

To govern, he assembled a four-party coalition with the VVD, the farmers’ BBB party and the anticorruption NSC – but the price was to give up his ambition to become prime minister.

Polling as of May 31 shows the PVV’s support has dipped slightly – from 23 percent at the time of the 2023 election to 20 percent. The Labour/Green Left alliance follows closely with 19 percent and currently holds 25 seats in the lower house of parliament, second only to the PVV.

The fragmented political landscape makes the outcome difficult to predict.

In the meantime, Schoof has said he and his cabinet will continue in a caretaker role until a new government is formed.

Paramount Global chairwoman and controlling shareholder Shari Redstone is battling cancer as she tries to steer the media company through a turbulent sales process.

“Shari Redstone was diagnosed with thyroid cancer earlier this spring,” her spokeswoman Molly Morse said late Thursday. “While it has been a challenging period, she is maintaining all professional and philanthropic activities throughout her treatment, which is ongoing.

“She and her family are grateful that her prognosis is excellent,” Morse said.

The news comes nearly 11 months after Redstone agreed to sell Paramount to David Ellison’s Skydance Media in a deal that would end the family’s tenure as major Hollywood moguls after four decades.

However, the government’s review of the sale to Skydance hit a snag amid President Trump’s $20-billion lawsuit against Paramount and its subsidiary CBS over edits to an October “60 Minutes” broadcast.

Redstone, 71, told the New York Times that she underwent surgery last month after receiving the diagnosis about two months ago. Surgeons removed her thyroid gland but did not fully eradicate the cancer, which had spread to her vocal cords, the paper said.

She continues to be treated with radiation, the paper reported.

The Redstone family controls 77% of the voting shares of Paramount. Since Bob Bakish was ousted as chief executive last year, the company has been managed by a trio of executives who share the title of co-chief executive.

Her father, the late Sumner Redstone, built the company into a juggernaut but it has seen its standing slip in recent years. There have been management missteps and pressures brought on by consumers’ shift to streaming. The trend has crimped revenue to companies that own cable channels, including Paramount.

The COVID-19 pandemic followed by the 2023 writers and actors strikes also took a toll on Paramount and the Redstone family’s private firm, National Amusements Inc., which owns movie theaters.

Paramount cut its dividend to shareholders two years ago, leaving the family in a financial bind.

Financial pressures contributed to Redstone’s decision to entertain offers for Paramount and National Amusements, which holds the Paramount shares.

Nearly two years ago, Ellison and Redstone began talks that culminated last July with an agreement on a multi-phased $8-billion deal that would pass the torch to Ellison.

Redstone wants to close the deal. National Amusements would receive $2.4 billion, which would pay its debts and leave the family with more than $1.7 billion.

She has urged the company to settle the lawsuit Trump filed in October, weeks after “60 Minutes” interviewed then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump accused CBS of deceptively editing the interview to make Harris look smarter and improve her election chances, a charge that CBS has denied.

The dispute over the edits has sparked unrest within the company, prompted high-level departures and triggered a Federal Communications Commission examination of alleged news distortion.

The FCC’s review of the Skydance deal has become bogged down. If the agency does not approve the transfer of CBS television station licenses to the Ellison family, the deal could collapse.

The two companies must complete the merger by early October. If not, Paramount will owe a $400-million breakup fee to Skydance.

Redstone, through National Amusements, also owes nearly $400 million to a Chicago banker who loaned the family money in 2023 and tech titan Larry Ellison, who is helping bankroll the buyout of Paramount and National Amusements.

Last week, Paramount nominated three new directors to serve on the company’s board following its July 2 investor meeting.

In a proxy filing, Paramount asked shareholders to expand the board to seven directors, including Redstone and three recruits: attorney Mary Boies (a member of the firm led by her husband David Boies); Silicon Valley venture capital executive Charles E. Ryan; and former Massachusetts trial court judge Roanne Sragow Licht.

They would join longtime board members Linda M. Griego, Susan Schuman and Barbara M. Byrne.

The Electoral Commission head has said no revision of the electoral register will take place before the poll.

Four prominent opposition figures in the Ivory Coast have been excluded from the final electoral list, according to the Electoral Commission, leaving them ineligible to contest pivotal October presidential elections in a nation with not-too-distant memories of civil war and coup attempts.

“My elimination from the electoral list by the Independent Electoral Commission [CEI] is a sad but eloquent example of Ivory Coast’s drift towards a total absence of democracy,” Tidjane Thiam, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI), said in a statement on Wednesday.

Thiam’s statement came two days after CEI head Ibrahime Kuibiert Coulibaly announced that no revision of the electoral register would take place before the vote.

Thiam, who was widely seen as the main challenger to President Alassane Ouattara, was struck from the voter roll in April after a court ruled that he was not eligible to run for president because of his dual Ivorian-French nationality. Thiam, who was born in Ivory Coast, received French nationality in 1987 but renounced it in March.

Other major Ivorian candidates excluded from the vote include former President Laurent Gbagbo and his close ally Charles Ble Goude, who was charged with crimes against humanity related to the civil war.

The former prime minister and rebel leader Guillaume Soro is also barred. He was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for organising a coup.

None of the four will be able to run in the October 25 presidential race or vote.

Ouattara, who has been in power since 2011, is included on the electoral register but has yet to announce if he will seek a fourth term.

In 2015 and 2020, Ouattara won with more than 80 percent of the vote.

Thiam has appealed to the UN Human Rights Committee, his party said.

His lawyer Mathias Chichportich said in a statement sent to the AFP news agency that depriving the opposition leader of “his political rights” was “a serious violation of Ivory Coast’s international commitments”.

Gbagbo’s African Peoples’ Party-Ivory Coast (PPA-CI) complained that the authorities “did not choose to listen to the advice, the calls for discussion, for reason”, its Secretary-General Jean-Gervais Tcheide told AFP.

“It’s a shame they chose to force their way through,” he said, adding: “We’re not going to let them do it.”

Other opposition figures who announced their plans to run for the presidency are featured on the final electoral list.

They include former First Lady Simone Ehivet Gbagbo, who, speaking on behalf of an opposition coalition, said that the conditions were not met for a “peaceful, calm election”.

During the 2020 presidential election, a revision of the electoral list took place in June ahead of the October polling day.

The final electoral register for this year’s ballot includes the names of 8.7 million voters, in a country with a high immigrant population and where nearly half of the 30 million inhabitants are under the age of 18.

Authorities deny any political interference in the electoral process, insisting that they respect decisions made by an independent judiciary.

With its sale to Skydance Media still beyond its reach, Paramount Global has nominated three new directors to bolster its small board, which has been racked with drama and churn since early last year.

The debt-laden New York-based company currently has only five board members, including controlling shareholder Shari Redstone, who serves as chairwoman. The Redstone family holds nearly 77% of Paramount’s voting shares, giving the heiress tremendous sway.

In a proxy filing Monday, Paramount asked shareholders to elect seven directors at its July 2 annual meeting. The slate includes Redstone and three recruits: attorney Mary Boies (a member of the firm led by her husband David Boies); Silicon Valley venture capital executive Charles E. Ryan ; and former Massachusetts trial court judge Roanne Sragow Licht.

In addition to Redstone, three longtime board members — Linda M. Griego, Susan Schuman and Barbara M. Byrne — will stand for reelection.

Board member Judith A. McHale has decided to step down.

The company has grappled with a series of setbacks since it announced its sale to tech scion David Ellison’s Skydance Media last July.

The company took a $6-billion write-down on its cable television networks business, in yet another sign that Hollywood is reckoning with the ongoing deterioration of the traditional television business.

Leading independent director Charles Phillips left the board in October. His exit came six months after three other directors — Rob Klieger, Nicole Seligman and Dawn Ostroff — abruptly departed as the panel was struggling over terms of Redstone’s planned Paramount sale.

In late October, President Trump filed a lawsuit in Texas over his dismay with edits of a “60 Minutes” interview of then-Vice President Kamala Harris in the closing weeks of the election. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, opened an inquiry to determine whether the edits rose to the level of news distortion.

Trump doubled the amount of damages he was seeking to $20 billion.

Paramount has been defending against the lawsuit. In a court filing last week, Trump’s lawyers asserted the president suffered “mental anguish” due to the “60 Minutes” broadcast.

Redstone’s desire to settle Trump’s suit over the “60 Minutes” edits has carved deep divides within the company.

1st Amendment experts have called Trump’s lawsuit frivolous; CBS News executives and other journalists believe it is a shakedown to exploit the vulnerable company that is desperate to have the FCC approve the sale to Skydance.

The ruckus over the edits contributed to the departure of two top CBS News executives. Wendy McMahon, the president of CBS News and Stations, stepped down under pressure last month. In April, “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens departed.

Redstone has expressed her dissatisfaction with CBS News’ coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.

Last month, three Democrat U.S. senators warned Redstone that the company could face allegations of bribery if they write a big check to mollify Trump in an effort to facilitate the FCC’s review of the Skydance takeover. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Paramount offered Trump $15 million to make the lawsuit go away, but he declined.

It’s been nearly 11 months since Paramount agreed to be sold to Skydance in an $8-billion deal that would inject $1.5 billion in capital into Paramount’s battered balance sheet.

Paramount has not revised its guidance on when it expects the deal to close — but the contractual deadline is early October.

As part of its proxy statement, the company again detailed the compensation packages — totaling $148 million to the top three executives and ousted Chief Executive Bob Bakish, who received compensation valued at $87 million. Co-CEO George Cheeks was paid $22.2 million. His counterparts Brian Robbins and Chris McCarthy were paid $19.6 million and $19.5 million, respectively, according to the filing.

They don’t know what their rotation will look like in October, and they don’t know how worn down their bullpen will look like.

What the Dodgers know is this: They have Shohei Ohtani.

Ohtani will give them a chance in October regardless of what their roster looks like, just as he did on Friday night in an 8-5 victory over the New York Yankees.

How can a player who takes four or five at-bats on most nights have such an oversized influence on games? How can a player who bats once only two or three innings bring opponents to their knees? How can a three-time MVP be a better offensive player than he was in his historic 50-homer, 50-steal season last year?

“I have no words for it,” outfielder Michael Conforto said.

When Aaron Judge homered in the top of the first, Ohtani answered with a homer of his own in the bottom half of the inning.

When the Dodgers were down by three runs, Ohtani led off the sixth inning with another homer, this one making Yankees starter Max Fried strike the Kershaw Pose, back to the plate, hands on knees, head down. The blast one ignited a four-run surge by the Dodgers that produced their first lead of the night.

This was on a night in which Mookie Betts was sidelined with a broken toe, Evan Phillips was ruled out for the remainder of the season because of an upcoming elbow reconstruction, and the Dodgers had no choice but to start the unreliable Tony Gonsolin because three pitchers of their opening-day rotation were on the injured list.

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, left, watches his solo home run leave Dodger Stadium as New York Yankees starting pitcher Max Fried, center, reacts and catcher Austin Wells watches during the sixth inning Friday.

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

Playing with a diminished roster, manager Dave Roberts did what he could before the game to downplay the significance of the World Series rematch against the Yankees, but Ohtani recognized the contest for what it was.

This was a statement game, and Ohtani made a statement.

“We try to win each and every game, of course, but I think it’s a special atmosphere [against the Yankees,]” Ohtani said in Japanese. “I think it was huge to have taken the [first game] of the series.”

The homers were Ohtani’s 14th and 15th of May, which tied a single-month franchise record previously shared by only Pedro Guerrero and Duke Snider. The homers were Ohtani’s 21st and 22nd of the season, meaning Ohtani is on pace for a career-high 63 bombs.

The value of Ohtani’s homers extend beyond the numbers, however.

They inspire awe.

“You don’t want to miss any of his at-bats,” Conforto said. “You want to be in the dugout. You want to see it in person. That’s kind of what it is being his teammate. You want to be there.”

They inspire confidence.

“Every time he comes up to the plate, we’re expecting something awesome to happen,” Gonsolin said. “And he doesn’t let us down a lot of the time. Really cool to have someone like that on our team.”

They inspire a contagious form of courage.

“He would probably say it’s like any other game, but I do think when you see the reigning MVP [Judge] on the other side going out there and performing, that brings out even more of a competitor in Shohei,” Roberts said.

They inspire victories — the Dodgers are 14-6 when Ohtani homers.

“We always seem to play really well when Shohei’s playing well,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “I heard the chants for MVP and he’s really well on his way to doing that again.”

This is what the Dodgers will need in October, especially in a season in which little has gone according to plan. At this point, they can’t count on Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow to both be healthy for the remainder of the year. They can’t expect their bullpen to be as spectacular as it was last year. But they can rely on Ohtani to make up for their shortcomings.

He will soon be able to affect the game from the mound, as the Dodgers expect him to return to pitching after the All-Star break. Rather than revel in the victory Friday night, Ohtani said in an on-field postgame interview with Apple TV that he was already looking ahead to his next day’s assignment.

“Live bullpen is scheduled for tomorrow,” Ohtani said. “The game is over now and I’d like to get my body in order for the live BP.”