Pressure

WASHINGTON — Elections this week that energized Democrats and angered President Trump have cast a chill over efforts to end the record-breaking government shutdown, raising fresh doubts about the possibility of a breakthrough despite the punishing toll of federal closures on the country.

Trump has increased pressure on Senate Republicans to end the shutdown — now at 37 days, the longest in U.S. history — calling it a “big factor, negative” in the poor GOP showings across the country. Democrats saw Trump’s comments as a reason to hold firm, believing his involvement in talks could lead to a deal on extending health care subsidies, a key sticking point to win their support.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune opened what’s seen as a pivotal day in efforts to end the government shutdown by saying the next step hinges on a response from Democrats to an offer on the table.

“It’s in their court. It’s up to them,” Thune told reporters Thursday.

But Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer held firm in opening remarks Thursday, saying voters “fired a political torpedo at Trump and Republicans” in Tuesday’s election.

“Donald Trump clearly is feeling pressure to bring this shutdown to an end. Well, I have good news for the president: Meet with Democrats, reopen the government,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.

Trump is refusing to meet with Democrats, insisting they must open the government first. But complicating the GOP’s strategy, Trump is increasingly fixated instead on pushing Republicans to scrap the Senate filibuster to speed reopening — a step many GOP senators reject out of hand. He kept up the pressure in a video Wednesday, saying the Senate’s 60-vote threshold to pass legislation should be “terminated.”

“This is much bigger than the shutdown,” Trump said. “This is the survival of our country.”

Senate Democrats face pressures of their own, both from unions eager for the shutdown to end and from allied groups that want them to hold firm. Many see the Democrats’ decisive gubernatorial wins in Virginia and New Jersey as validation of their strategy to hold the government closed until expiring health care subsidies are addressed.

“It would be very strange for the American people to have weighed in, in support of Democrats standing up and fighting for them, and within days for us to surrender without having achieved any of the things that we’ve been fighting for,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.

Meanwhile, talks grind on, but the shutdown’s toll deepens. On Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration announced plans to reduce air traffic by 10% across 40 high-volume markets beginning Friday to maintain safety amid staffing shortages. Millions of people have already been affected by halted government programs and missed federal paychecks — with more expected as another round of paydays approaches next week.

Progressives see election wins as reason to fight

Grassroots Democratic groups nationwide touted Tuesday’s election results as voter approval of the shutdown strategy — and warned lawmakers against cutting a deal too soon.

“Moderate Senate Democrats who are looking for an off-ramp right now are completely missing the moment,” said Katie Bethell, political director of MoveOn, a progressive group. “Voters have sent a resounding message: We want leaders who fight for us, and we want solutions that make life more affordable.”

Some Senate Democrats echoed that sentiment. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats and a leading voice in the progressive movement, said Democrats “have got to remain strong” and should secure assurances on extending health care subsidies — including “a commitment from the speaker of the House that he will support the legislation and that the president will sign.”

Still, how firmly the party remains dug in remains to be seen. Some Democrats have been working with Republicans to find a way out of the standoff, and they held firm after the election that it had not impacted their approach.

“I don’t feel that the elections changed where I was,” said Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo. “I still feel I want to get out of the shutdown.”

Some Republicans also shared in Trump’s concerns that the shutdown is becoming a drag on the party.

“Polls show that most voters blame Republicans more than Democrats,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican. “That’s understandable given who controls the levers of power.”

Trump sets another shutdown record

While some Democrats saw Trump’s comments on the shutdown Wednesday as evidence he’d soon get more involved, he’s largely stayed out of the fray. Instead, the talks have intensified among a loose coalition of centrist senators trying to negotiate an end to the shutdown.

Trump has refused to negotiate with Democrats over their demands to salvage expiring health insurance subsidies until they agree to reopen the government. But skeptical Democrats question whether the Republican president will keep his word, particularly after his administration restricted SNAP food aid despite court orders to ensure funds are available to prevent hunger.

Trump’s approach to the shutdown stands in marked contrast to his first term, when the government was partially closed for 35 days over his demands for money to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall. At that time, he met publicly and negotiated with congressional leaders. Unable to secure the money, he relented in 2019.

This time, it’s not just Trump declining to engage in talks. The congressional leaders are at a standoff, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sent lawmakers home in September after they approved their own funding bill, refusing further negotiations.

Johnson dismissed the party’s election losses and said he’s looking forward to a midterm election in 2026 that’ll more reflect Trump’s tenure.

In the meantime, food aid, child care money and countless other government services are being seriously interrupted. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been furloughed or are expected to work without pay.

Senators search for potential deal

Central to any resolution will be a series of agreements that would need to be upheld not only by the Senate but also by the House and the White House, which is not at all certain in Washington.

Asked if the House would guarantee a vote on extending health care subsidies if the Senate struck a deal, Johnson said Thursday, “I’m not promising anybody anything.”

Senators from both major parties, particularly the members of the powerful Appropriations Committee, are pushing to ensure the normal government funding process in Congress can be put back on track. Among the goals is guaranteeing upcoming votes on a smaller package of bills to fund various aspects of government such as agricultural programs and military construction projects at bases.

More difficult, a substantial number of senators also want some resolution to the standoff over the funding for the Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at year’s end.

With insurance premium notices being sent, millions of people are experiencing sticker shock on skyrocketing prices. The loss of enhanced federal subsidies, which were put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic and come in the form of tax credits, are expected to leave many people unable to buy health insurance.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has promised Democrats at least a vote on their preferred health care proposal, on a date certain, as part of any deal to reopen government. But that’s not enough for some senators, who see the health care deadlock as part of their broader concerns with Trump’s direction for the country.

Cappelletti, Mascaro and Jalonick write for the Associated Press.

Airports in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago along with hubs across the U.S. are among the 40 that will see flights cut starting Friday due to the government shutdown, according to a list distributed to the airlines and obtained by The Associated Press.

The Federal Aviation Administration announced Wednesday that it would reduce air traffic by 10% across 40 “high-volume” markets to maintain travel safety as air traffic controllers exhibit signs of strain during the ongoing government shutdown.

The airports impacted cover the busiest across the U.S. — including Atlanta, Denver, Dallas, Orlando, Miami, and San Francisco. In some of the biggest cities — such as New York, Houston and Chicago — multiple airports will be affected.

The FAA is imposing the flight reductions to relieve pressure on air traffic controllers who are working without pay during the government shutdown and have been increasingly calling off work.

Controllers already have missed one paycheck and are scheduled to again receive nothing next week as as the shutdown drags on and the financial pressure on them mounts.

The FAA has already been delaying flights at times when airports or its other facilities are short on controllers.

Airlines said they would try to minimize the impact on travelers. United Airlines said it would focus the cuts on smaller regional routes that use smaller planes like 737s.

Passengers should start to be notified about cancellations Thursday. The AAA recommended that travelers download their airline’s app and turn on notifications. United Airlines and Delta Air Lines both said they will offer refunds to passengers who opt not to fly — even if they purchased tickets that aren’t normally refundable.

Experts predict hundreds if not thousands of flights could be canceled. The cuts could represent as many as 1,800 flights and upwards of 268,000 seats combined, according to an estimate by aviation analytics firm Cirium.

“I’m not aware in my 35-year history in the aviation market where we’ve had a situation where we’re taking these kinds of measures,” Bedford said Wednesday. “We’re in new territory in terms of government shutdowns.”

Air traffic controllers have been working unpaid since the shutdown began Oct. 1. Most work mandatory overtime six days a week, leaving little time for side jobs to help cover bills and other expenses unless they call out.

Mounting staffing pressures are forcing the agency to act, Bedford said.

“We can’t ignore it,” he said, adding that even if the shutdown ends before Friday, the FAA wouldn’t automatically resume normal operations until staffing improves and stabilizes.

Bedford and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Wednesday that they would meet with airline executives to figure out how to safely implement the reductions.

Major airlines, aviation unions and the broader travel industry have been urging Congress to end the shutdown, which on Wednesday became the longest on record.

The shutdown is putting unnecessary strain on the system and “forcing difficult operational decisions that disrupt travel and damage confidence in the U.S. air travel experience,” said U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman in a statement.

Duffy warned on Tuesday that there could be chaos in the skies if the shutdown drags on long enough for air traffic controllers to miss their second full paycheck next week.

Duffy said some controllers can get by missing one paycheck, but not two or more. And he has said some controllers are even struggling to pay for transportation to work.

Staffing can run short both in regional control centers that manage multiple airports and in individual airport towers, but they don’t always lead to flight disruptions. Throughout October, flight delays caused by staffing problems had been largely isolated and temporary.

But the past weekend brought some of the worst staffing issues since the start of the shutdown.

From Friday to Sunday evening, at least 39 air traffic control facilities reported potential staffing limits, according to an Associated Press analysis of operations plans shared through the Air Traffic Control System Command Center system. The figure, which is likely an undercount, is well above the average for weekends before the shutdown.

During weekends from Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, the average number of airport towers, regional control centers and facilities monitoring traffic at higher altitudes that announced potential staffing issues was 8.3, according to the AP analysis. But during the five weekend periods since the shutdown began, the average more than tripled to 26.2 facilities.

Funk and Yamat write for the Associated Press. AP journalist Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque, N.M., contributed to this report.

British political commentator and journalist Sami Hamdi has been detained by federal authorities in the United States in what a US Muslim civil rights group has called an “abduction”.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned Hamdi’s detention at San Francisco airport on Sunday as “a blatant affront to free speech”, attributing his arrest to his criticism of Israel’s war on Gaza.

Hamdi, a frequent critic of US and Israeli policy, had addressed a CAIR gala in Sacramento on Saturday evening and was due to speak at another CAIR event in Florida the next day before his detention by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

CAIR said he was stopped at the airport following a coordinated “far-right, Israel First campaign”.

“Our nation must stop abducting critics of the Israeli government at the behest of unhinged Israel First bigots,” it said in a statement. “This is an Israel First policy, not an America First policy, and it must end.”

In a statement seen by Al Jazeera, friends of Hamdi called his arrest “a deeply troubling precedent for freedom of expression and the safety of British citizens abroad”.

The statement called for the United Kingdom Foreign Office to “demand urgent clarification from the US authorities regarding the grounds for Mr Hamdi’s detention”.

Al Jazeera was told that he remains in US custody and has not been deported.

“The detention of a British citizen for expressing political opinions sets a dangerous precedent that no democracy should tolerate,” the statement added.

Hamdi’s father, Mohamed El-Hachmi Hamdi, said in a post on X that his son “has no affiliation” with any political or religious group.

“His stance on Palestine is not aligned with any faction there, but rather with the people’s right to security, peace, freedom and dignity. He is, quite simply, one of the young dreamers of this generation, yearning for a world with more compassion, justice, and solidarity,” he added.

Earlier this morning, ICE agents abducted British Muslim journalist and political commentator Sami Hamdi at San Francisco Airport, apparently in response to his vocal criticism of the Israeli government during his ongoing speaking tour.

We can confirm that Mr. Hamdi has not been… https://t.co/dfcVGvz6UX

— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) October 26, 2025

‘Proud Islamophobe’

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin confirmed Hamdi’s detention on Sunday, claiming without evidence that he posed a national security threat. “This individual’s visa was revoked, and he is in ICE custody pending removal,” she wrote on X.

Hamdi has been outspoken in accusing US politicians of actively enabling Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and has been widely quoted, challenging Western governments directly over arms transfers and diplomatic cover for Israeli war crimes.

His detention comes amid a wider pattern of US authorities blocking entry to Palestinian and pro-Palestine voices.

In June, two Palestinian men, Awdah Hathaleen and his cousin, Eid Hathaleen, were denied entry at the same airport and deported to Qatar. Weeks later, Awdah was reportedly killed by an Israeli settler in the occupied West Bank.

Far-right activist and ally of US President Donald Trump, Laura Loomer, who has publicly described herself as a “proud Islamophobe” and “white advocate”, immediately celebrated online for playing a part in Hamdi’s detention.

“You’re lucky his only fate is being arrested and deported,” she wrote, falsely branding him “a supporter of HAMAS and the Muslim Brotherhood”.

Loomer has previously pushed conspiracy theories, including the claim that the September 11 attacks in the US were an inside job.

Loomer and others credited the escalation against Hamdi to the RAIR Foundation, a pro-Israel pressure network whose stated mission is to oppose “Islamic supremacy”. RAIR recently accused Hamdi of trying to “expand a foreign political network hostile to American interests” and urged authorities to expel him from the country.

On Sunday, Shaun Maguire, a partner at the tech investment firm Sequoia and a vocal defender of Israel, alleged without evidence that Hamdi had tried to get him fired through an AI-generated email campaign, claiming: “There are jihadists in America whose full time job is to silence us.”

Hamdi’s supporters and civil rights advocates say the opposite is true, and that this detention is yet another case of political retaliation against critics of Israel, enforced at the border level before a single public word is uttered.

CAIR says it intends to fight the deportation order, warning that the US is sending a chilling message to Muslim and Palestinian speakers across the country.

Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine have killed at least four people and wounded several others, local officials say, as Kyiv’s allies push sweeping measures against Moscow as the war nears its four-year mark.

Two people were killed in a ballistic missile attack on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and nine were wounded in the overnight attacks, Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration, said on Saturday.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said a blaze erupted in a non-residential building in one location as a result of the attacks, while debris from intercepted missiles fell in an open area at another site, damaging windows in nearby buildings.

“Explosions in the capital. The city is under ballistic attack,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a social media post.

In the central-east Dnipropetrovsk region, acting Governor Vladyslav Haivanenko said two people were killed and seven wounded in a Russian attack. He added apartment buildings, private homes, an outbuilding, a shop and at least one vehicle were damaged in the strikes.

One of the victims was an emergency worker, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. “One rescuer was killed and another wounded as a result of a repeated missile strike on the Petropavlivska community in the Dnipropetrovsk region,” the ministry said on social media.

The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia fired nine Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 62 attack drones. Four ballistic missiles and 50 drones were downed, it added.

There was no immediate comment by Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022.

For its part, Russia blamed Ukraine on Saturday for striking a dam on a local reservoir. In a statement on Telegram, Belgorod region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said repeated strikes on the dam had increased a risk of flooding and advised residents in Shebekino and Bezlyudovka to leave their homes for temporary accommodation.

Belgorod region borders Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region and has previously come under attack by Ukrainian forces.

Overall, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its air defences had shot down 121 Ukrainian drones over Russia overnight.

Pressuring Putin to end war

The attacks come as Kyiv’s Western allies ratchet up pressure on Russia as the war enters its fourth winter.

The United States and the European Union announced new sweeping sanctions this week on Russian energy aimed at crippling Moscow’s war economy.

US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Russia’s top oil firms, Rosneft and Lukoil, on Wednesday in an effort to pressure Moscow to reach a ceasefire. The EU adopted a new round of sanctions against Russian energy exports on Thursday, banning liquefied natural gas imports.

At a joint news conference in London on Friday after a meeting of the so-called “Coalition of the Willing”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the sanctions and called for additional pressure on all Russian oil companies, as well as military aid to bolster Ukraine’s long-range missile capabilities.

On Saturday, Zelenskyy said the overnight attacks intensified his country’s need for air defence systems. “It is precisely because of such attacks that we pay special attention to Patriot systems – to be able to protect our cities from this horror. It is critical that partners who possess relevant capability implement what we have discussed in recent days,” he wrote on social media.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would not bend to pressure from the West. “No self-respecting country and no self-respecting people ever decides anything under pressure,” he said, calling the US sanctions an “unfriendly act.”

Putin has called for the complete disarmament of Ukraine and for Russia to keep any territory it has seized during the war. That position seems to be non-negotiable for Ukraine. Trump, who before his return to the White House in January, had boasted of being able to end the war in 24 hours if re-elected – has been unable to make any headway between the two positions.

Plans for an in-person meeting between Trump and Putin fell apart this week after the US president proposed “freezing” the war with a ceasefire along the current front lines.

Despite ongoing disagreements, Putin’s special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev, on Friday said he believed a diplomatic solution was close.

LONDON — He won’t call himself a duke anymore, but that is not enough for many of Prince Andrew’s critics.

Buckingham Palace and the British government were under pressure Monday to formally strip Prince Andrew of his princely title and sumptuous home after new revelations about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

After discussions with his elder brother King Charles III, Andrew agreed on Friday to stop using titles including Duke of York. It was the latest effort to insulate the monarchy from years of tawdry headlines about Andrew’s suspicious business deals, inappropriate behavior and controversial friendships.

But he still technically holds the title of duke, bestowed by his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II. And as the son of a monarch, he remains a prince.

Andrew’s statement relinquishing some of his royal titles came after emails emerged showing he had remained in contact with Epstein longer than he previously admitted, and days before publication of a posthumous memoir by Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who alleged she had sex with Andrew when she was 17.

Giuffre’s brother, Sky Roberts, urged the king to go further and “remove the title of prince, too.

“He shouldn’t be able to call himself one,” Roberts told The Times of London newspaper.

Civil suit

Andrew, 65, has long denied Giuffre’s claims, but stepped down from royal duties after a disastrous November 2019 BBC interview in which he attempted to rebut her allegations.

Many viewers saw an entitled prince who failed to show empathy for Epstein’s victims and offered unbelievable explanations for his friendship with the late sex offender.

Andrew paid millions in an out-of-court settlement in 2022 after Giuffre filed a civil suit against him in New York.

While he didn’t admit wrongdoing, he acknowledged Giuffre’s suffering as a victim of sex trafficking.

‘Angry and aghast’

Some opposition politicians said Andrew should formally be stripped of his dukedom through an act of Parliament.

Scottish National Party lawmaker Stephen Flynn said the government should use legislation to remove titles from both Andrew and Peter Mandelson, a member of the House of Lords who was fired as British ambassador to Washington in September over his past friendship with Epstein.

“The family of Virginia Giuffre, whose life was destroyed, are angry and aghast,” Flynn said. “The public across these isles are angry and aghast and they both deserve to know that some (members of Parliament) share their outrage.”

The government said it supported the palace’s decision over Andrew’s titles but should not act unilaterally. Under the U.K.’s constitutional monarchy, the crown does not interfere in politics and politicians stay clear of issues related to the royal family.

“Our thoughts have to be with the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, those who suffered and continue to suffer because of the abuse that they experienced at his hands, but these are matters for the royal family,” Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told the BBC.

Some also want Andrew evicted from Royal Lodge, the 30-room mansion near Windsor Castle where he lives alongside his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, who will no longer be known as the Duchess of York.

Questions have been raised about how Andrew pays for the house, which he rents on a long lease from the Crown Estate, a portfolio of properties that is nominally owned, but not controlled, by the monarch.

Royals brace for more revelations

The palace is bracing for more embarrassing revelations, just as the king prepares for a state visit to the Vatican this week where he is due to pray beside Pope Leo XIV.

Giuffre’s book, “Nobody’s Girl,” is published on Tuesday and details three alleged sexual encounters with Andrew. She died by suicide in April at the age of 41.

In an extract published in advance, Giuffre says the prince acted as if he believed “having sex with me was his birthright.”

Giuffre also claims in the book that Andrew’s team tried “to hire internet trolls to hassle me.” She said that Andrew insisted the lawsuit settlement include a one-year gag order to prevent allegations from tarnishing the late queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022.

Meanwhile, London’s Metropolitan Police force says it is “actively looking into” media reports that Andrew in 2011 sought information to smear Giuffre by asking one of his police bodyguards to find out whether she had a criminal record.

Lawless writes for the Associated Press.

The statistics of the last four races over the past month and a half are quite remarkable.

After the Dutch Grand Prix, Verstappen was 104 points behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in the championship, and 70 adrift of Lando Norris. Now, he is 40 points behind the Australian, whose lead over his team-mate has been cut to just 14 points.

Verstappen expressed his own incredulity at what he had achieved. If someone had told him after Zandvoort this would happen, he said, “I would have told him he was an idiot.

“But we found a good way with the car. It’s simple as that. Of course, we put some upgrades on the car, but we just understood our car a bit better, where we wanted it to perform better.”

A 64-point gain in four races tells its own story, but how it has come about is just as remarkable.

McLaren trounced Red Bull through the summer races in Europe – until the Italian Grand Prix in early September, when an upgraded floor and front wing finally gave Verstappen the balance he had been craving all year.

Since then, the Red Bull has been the fastest car. Until this weekend in Austin, that could have been explained away through circuit characteristics – Monza, Baku and Singapore are all short, slow corners, and require good braking and traction.

The McLaren’s strengths are not in this area – they are in long-duration, medium-speed corners, where they crush everyone else.

But Austin is a “normal” circuit, a road course not a street circuit, not a high-speed outlier like Monza, with a good range of corners. And Verstappen won again.

There are five races left, two of them sprint events. If he keeps closing on the McLaren drivers at the rate he has been, he will win a fifth consecutive title, it’s as stark and simple as that.

State Sen. Scott Wiener is a strategic and effective legislator who rarely lets emotion make his decisions — much like Nancy Pelosi, whose congressional seat he would like to take.

It has been a wide-open secret for years that Wiener wanted to make a run for federal office when or if Pelosi retired, but he’s also been deferential to the elder stateswoman of California politics and has made it equally clear that he would wait his turn in the brutal and parochial machine of San Francisco politics.

Until now.

The San Francisco Standard broke the news Thursday that Wiener is running on the 2026 ballot, though he has yet to formally announce.

It is news that shocked even those deep in the dog-eat-dog world of S.F. politics and ignited the inevitable news cycle about whether Pelosi (who was instrumental in removing President Biden from the 2024 race for age-related issues) is being Bidened herself. It also ensures a contentious race that will be nationally watched by both MAGA and the progressive left, both of which take issue with Wiener.

Oh, the drama.

Take it for what you will, but a few months after having hip replacement surgery, Pelosi is (literally) back in her stiletto heels and raising beaucoup dollars for Proposition 50, the ballot initiative meant to gerrymander California voting maps to counteract a GOP cheat-fest in Texas.

Yes, she’s 85, but she’s no Joe. She is also, however, no spring chicken. So the national debate on whether Democrats need not just fresh but younger candidates has officially landed in the City by the Bay, though Wiener remains both practical and polite enough to not frame it that way.

He’ll leave that to the journalists, who have hounded Pelosi for months to announce whether she will seek another term, a question she has declined to directly answer. Instead, her team has focused on the looming election for Proposition 50 and said any announcement on her future has to wait after the ballots are counted.

To be fair to Pelosi, she’s gone all-in to both fundraise and campaign for the redistricting effort, and its passage is essential to Democrats having even a shot at winning back any power in the midterms.

If Prop. 50 fails, there is no non-miracle path, except perhaps an unexpected blue wave, through which Democrats can retake a chamber. So Nov. 4 isn’t an arbitrary date. It will determine if there is any possibility of checking Trump’s power grab, and preserving democracy. Personally, I don’t fault Pelosi for being engaged in that fight.

To also be fair to Wiener, his decision to announce now was probably driven more by money and political momentum than by Pelosi’s age.

That’s because Pelosi already has a challenger — the ultra-wealthy progressive Saikat Chakrabarti, a startup millionaire who served as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign manager during her first upset win for Congress in 2018. Chakrabarti has long been an antagonist to Pelosi, and recently announced his candidacy, positioning himself as a disrupter.

In 2019, before the House impeached Trump over his questionable actions involving Ukraine, Chakrabarti tweeted, “Pelosi claims we can’t focus on impeachment because it’s a distraction from kitchen table issues. But I’d challenge you to find voters that can name a single thing House Democrats have done for their kitchen table this year. What is this legislative mastermind doing?”

Chakrabarti, who was born the year before Pelosi was first elected to Congress in 1987, has self-funded his campaign with $700,000 and has the financial ability to spend much more. Wiener, in his on-the-down-low shadow campaign, has raised a bit over $1 million, not nearly enough. The primary will be in June and it will be expensive.

Though we have yet to reach Halloween, a stroll down the aisles of any big box store can tell you that Christmas is neigh, a season when fundraising becomes harder — putting pressure on Wiener to raise money as quickly as possible before the winter freeze.

Add to that pressure the fact that Chakrabarti has political skills and growing popularity. He was the tech architect behind a successful push to activate volunteers for both AOC and Bernie Sanders.

An internal poll released a few months ago (and any internal poll must be viewed skeptically) showed Chakrabarti drawing 34% of voters to Pelosi’s 47%. His numbers increased as voters learned more about him — a few have even compared him to New York’s socialist wonder-kid Zohran Mamdani, currently running for mayor against Andrew Cuomo.

The problem with that is that Wiener is not Cuomo. He’s a progressive himself, and one with an established track record of getting stuff done, often progressive stuff.

I’ve watched him for years push ambitious agendas through the statehouse, including bills where I would have bet against him.

Most recently, he wrote the state’s ban on cops, including ICE, wearing masks. Although the feds have said they will ignore the new law, recently signed by Newsom, and it will almost certainly end up in court, it is a worthy message to send about secret police in America.

Wiener also this term passed a controversial housing bill that will increase density around transit hubs, and spearheaded a bill to regulate artificial intelligence.

In past terms, he has successfully forced insurance companies to cover mental health the same way they cover physical health; pushed large companies to disclose their climate impact; and been one of the major proponents of “YIMBY” policies that make it easier to build housing.

He has also passed numerous laws protecting immigrant and LGBTQ+ rights, which has made him a favorite target of the far right. He has received death threats on a regular basis for years, including one from an anti-vaxxer who was convicted on seven counts in 2022 after threatening Wiener and being found in possession of weapons. Wiener doesn’t have Pelosi’s charisma, but he has receipts for getting the job done and handling the vicious vitriol of modern politics.

Unlike Chakrabarti, Wiener has also been a part of San Francisco’s insular community for decades, and has his own base of support — though he is considered a moderate to Chakrabarti’s progressiveness. This is where San Francisco gets wonderfully weird. In nearly any other place, Wiener would be solidly left. But some of his constituents view him as too developer-friendly for his housing policies and have criticized his past policies around expanding conservatorships for mentally ill people.

But still, a recent poll done by EMC research but not released publicly found that 61% of likely primary voters have a favorable opinion of Wiener. That vastly outpaces the 21% that said the same about Chakrabarti or even the 21% who liked Pelosi’s daughter, Christine Pelosi, who has also been mentioned as a possible successor.

Which is all to say that Wiener is in a now-or-never moment. He has popularity but needs momentum and cash. The Democratic Party is in a mess, and the old rules are out the window, even in San Francisco.

So waiting for Pelosi had become a little bit like waiting for Godot, a self-imposed limbo that was more likely to lead to frustration than victory.

WASHINGTON — The White House budget office said Friday that mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers in the ongoing government shutdown.

Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said on the social media site X that the “RIFs have begun,” referring to reduction-in-force plans aimed at reducing the size of the federal government.

A spokesperson for the budget office said the reductions are “substantial” but did not offer more immediate details.

The Education Department is among the agencies hit by new layoffs, a department spokesperson said Friday without providing more details. The department had about 4,100 employees when Trump took office in January, but its workforce was nearly halved amid mass layoffs in the Republican administration’s first months. At the start of the shutdown, it had about 2,500 employees.

The White House previewed that it would pursue the aggressive layoff tactic shortly before the government shutdown began on Oct. 1, telling all federal agencies to submit their reduction-in-force plans to the budget office for its review. It said reduction-in-force plans could apply for federal programs whose funding would lapse in a government shutdown, are otherwise not funded and are “not consistent with the President’s priorities.”

This goes far beyond what usually happens in a government shutdown, which is that federal workers are furloughed but restored to their jobs once the shutdown ends.

Democrats have tried to call the administration’s bluff, arguing the firings could be illegal, and seemed bolstered by the fact the White House had yet to carry out the firings.

But President Trump had said earlier this week that he would soon have more information about how many federal jobs would be eliminated.

“I’ll be able to tell you that in four or five days if this keeps going on,” he said Tuesday in the Oval Office as he met with Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney. “If this keeps going on, it’ll be substantial, and a lot of those jobs will never come back.”

Meanwhile, the halls of the Capitol were quiet on Friday, then 10th day of the shutdown, with both the House and the Senate out of Washington and both sides digging in for a protracted shutdown fight. Senate Republicans have tried repeatedly to cajole Democratic holdouts to vote for a stopgap bill to reopen the government, but Democrats have refused as they hold out for a firm commitment to extend health care benefits.

There was no sign that the top Democratic and Republican Senate leaders were even talking about a way to solve the impasse. Instead, Senate Majority Leader John Thune continued to try to peel away centrist Democrats who may be willing to cross party lines as the shutdown pain dragged on.

“It’s time for them to get a backbone,” Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said during a news conference.

Kim and Groves write for the Associated Press. AP writer Collin Binkley contributed to this report.

All Odafe Oweh had known was Baltimore. The 2021 first-round selection had made a home there as part of the perennial AFC title contender’s edge rush.

A year ago, Oweh posted career highs for sacks (10), tackles for loss (nine) and quarterback hits (23). But a contract extension didn’t come his way, raising uncertainties about his future with the Ravens.

“I was really trying to get an opportunity to be in a new system and prove what I can to people that are really trying to see that,” Oweh said Wednesday, “so I have a little animosity on my back.”

The 6-foot-5, 265-pound outside linebacker got his wish Tuesday when the Chargers acquired him and a 2027 draft pick in exchange for safety Alohi Gilman and 2026 draft selection.

Entering the season in prove-yourself territory after the Ravens picked up his fifth-year option, Oweh has 12 games to show the Chargers he deserves to stay. His season has been mixed so far — he has yet to record a sack despite ranking 42nd in the NFL with 12 pressures.

With Khalil Mack on injured reserve, the Chargers were boasting a one-man show on the edge — Tuli Tuipulotu leading the team in pressures with 27. Odeh likely will slot into the rotation against Miami on Sunday, coach Jim Harbaugh told reporters earlier this week.

“I expect him to be a really good player who gets the run and a really good player who gets the pass, and super excited about, you know, his pass rush ability,” defensive coordinator Jesse Minter said. “The ability to run people down, run quarterbacks down. It’s something that, you know, we’ve struggled with at times.”

Minter pointed to Oweh’s higher pressure rate — which ranks second on the Chargers behind Tuipulotu — as a reason to be excited, even comparing him to Tuipulout as a player who could “all of a sudden” strike for multiple sacks.

Oweh said he believes that the results will come, especially with increased playing opportunities in Los Angeles.

“I don’t attribute it to me not having the moves — [or] me not winning. I was winning,” Oweh said. “I know that the fact that I have a lot of pressures, that’s going to translate at some point. … Production is going to come.”

Oweh said the Chargers have a reputation for being the “L.A. Ravens,” and he’s not far off.

Harbaugh’s brother, John Harbaugh, leads the operation in Baltimore. Greg Roman, the Chargers’ offensive coordinator, held the same position with the Ravens from 2019 to 2022. Minter spent time in Charm City, holding numerous coaching roles from 2017 to 2020.

Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz was involved in the Ravens’ decision to draft Oweh during his time as Baltimore’s director of player personnel. Hortiz even attended Oweh’s pro day at Penn State.

Safety Derwin James Jr., who had the same agent as Oweh, got the chance to train with him during the offseason.

“A lot of speed,” James said when asked about what Oweh adds to the defense. “I know what he can bring to the table.”

His familiarity with multiple people in the Chargers’ organization, Oweh said, makes the “fresh start” easier to handle despite the “shocking” end to his tenure with the Ravens.

“This is a perfect place for me to have a different experience but at the same time have some similarities,” Oweh said.

NEW YORK — When a black teen-ager was killed in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn last summer after a run-in with a gang of whites, mayoral candidate David N. Dinkins made it clear what New York should expect from its top leader: “The tone and climate of the city does get set at City Hall.”

The perception that Dinkins could soothe racial tensions was probably the single biggest force behind his election as New York’s first black mayor. The last few weeks have brought a series of racial problems that have put the mayor under intense pressure to deliver on the expectations that he built.

“Though we cannot eliminate racial and ethnic friction overnight, we must take the first steps. Our beginning will, of course, be marked by small–sometimes indirect–steps. But even a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” Dinkins said Monday.

But the mayor who exults in his city as a multi-ethnic “gorgeous mosaic” is feeling the cut of its sharp edges.

Each day seems to bring worse turmoil. Dinkins appears besieged, encircled by his detractors and undercut by the expectations that he himself raised. Some black leaders have gone so far as to publicly call him a traitor.

Dinkins faces two potentially explosive controversies in Brooklyn: As two juries have deliberated almost a week in the Bensonhurst slaying of Yusuf Hawkins, angry demonstrators have rallied each day outside the Brooklyn courthouse, and some of their leaders warn that violence is inevitable if the panels return anything less than a guilty verdict.

Meanwhile, blacks in Flatbush continue a four-month boycott of two Korean grocers that started with a dispute between one of the grocers and a black woman customer. While it is far from clear who was at fault in the original incident–the woman claims to have been beaten and the grocer contends that he merely pushed her to prevent her from shoplifting–it unmistakably tapped long-festering bitterness. Demonstrators have chanted such epithets as “Korean bloodsuckers” outside the stores, and have spat at customers who try to shop there.

A few blocks from the store, a group of more than a dozen blacks on Sunday beat three Vietnamese whom they apparently mistook for Korean.

Elsewhere in the city, smaller disputes add to the tension. A black City University professor is preaching black supremacy, while a white faculty member at the same school is saying that blacks are less intelligent and more prone to commit crime than whites. A group of white students at St. John’s University in Queens stands accused of raping a black woman. And Jimmy Breslin, one of the city’s most prominent columnists, has been suspended by New York Newsday after making racial comments about another staff member.

Dinkins’ low-key and cautious approach, which had initially seemed a soothing balm to the abrasion of former Mayor Edward I. Koch, now is being criticized as weakness and indecisiveness.

Roy Innis, national chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality, said in an interview Monday: “We’ve got to have a commitment to telling the hard truth. David Dinkins is not strong enough to do it.”

Innis accused Dinkins of “reverse racism” for failing to denounce the grocery store boycott that is “reeking with raw and naked, palpable racism.” He attributed Dinkins’ reluctance to the mayor’s association with Sonny Carson, the self-proclaimed “anti-white” leader of the boycott, who worked for the Dinkins campaign before being dismissed for anti-Semitic remarks.

Other blacks, however, have accused Dinkins of pandering to whites, particularly after the mayor made a rare foray onto prime-time live television last Friday to appeal for tolerance. “We must repress our rage,” the mayor said.

“He is a lover of white people and the system. And last night, he bashed black people,” said C. Vernon Mason, a lawyer who has been involved in a number of racial cases. “He ain’t got no African left in him. He’s got too many yarmulkes on his head.”

Mason made his comments at a rally Saturday, where he called the mayor “a traitor,” and some people in a crowd of hundreds chanted, “Judas, Judas.”

Many of Dinkins’ critics seem to suggest that as a black, he should automatically hold sway over New York’s black community–a view that does not recognize the diversity of opinion and outlook among blacks in the city.

One source in Dinkins’ Administration noted that the mayor has alienated some factions, who say they are disappointed in the number of blacks he has appointed to key posts at City Hall. Others have not forgiven Dinkins’ denunciation of the Rev. Louis Farrakhan, the black Muslim leader who once described Judaism as a “gutter” religion.

Dinkins’ Friday night address won high marks from many quarters, however. Former Mayor John V. Lindsay described it as “superb.”

Nonetheless, any hopes that it might have turned the tide were dashed less than 36 hours later, when the three Vietnamese were beaten by the group of blacks who thought they were Korean. Police on Monday arrested two people in connection with the assault, which Police Commissioner Lee Brown said was not related to the boycott.

Dinkins and several state legislators Monday held a news conference to announce state legislation aimed at crimes committed by groups, and to make a new push for a bill to stiffen penalties for crimes that are motivated by bias.

US president Donald Trump’s order to halt fire in Gaza has forced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ban his ministers from media interviews to avoid confrontation with the US president. Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh breaks it down.

Conservatives like billionaire Elon Musk had criticised the Southern Poverty Law Center for its criticism of Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States has announced that the bureau will end its partnership with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), as it seeks to distance itself from organisations it accuses of political bias.

On Friday, FBI Director Kash Patel posted on social media that “all ties with the SPLC have officially been terminated”.

“The Southern Poverty Law Center long ago abandoned civil rights work and turned into a partisan smear machine,” Patel wrote.

He reserved criticism for the centre’s interactive “hate map”, which identifies groups associated with hate and antigovernment activity and maps their bases of operation.

“Their so-called ‘hate map’ has been used to defame mainstream Americans and even inspired violence. That disgraceful record makes them unfit for any FBI partnership,” Patel said.

Patel’s announcement marks the second time this week the FBI has severed ties with a group that seeks to track threats to civil rights.

On Thursday, the FBI also cut ties with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), accusing the Jewish advocacy group and anti-Semitism watchdog of spying on conservatives.

The announcements amount to a dramatic rethinking of longstanding FBI partnerships with prominent civil rights groups, at a time when Patel is moving rapidly to reshape the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency.

Over the years, both organisations have provided research on hate crime and domestic extremism; law enforcement training; and other services. But they have also been criticised by some conservatives for what they claim is an unfair maligning of their viewpoints.

That criticism escalated after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Outrage after Kirk’s shooting brought renewed attention to the SPLC’s characterisation of the group Kirk founded, Turning Point USA.

For instance, the SPLC included a section on Turning Point in a report titled “The Year in Hate and Extremism 2024” that described the group as a “case study in the hard right”.

Prominent figures including Elon Musk lambasted the SPLC this week about its descriptions of Kirk and the organisation.

“Incitement to violence by evil propaganda organisations like SPLC is unacceptable,” Musk wrote. He added, “This is getting innocent people killed,” without elaborating further.

A spokesperson for the SPLC, a legal and advocacy group founded in 1971, did not directly address Patel’s comments in a statement Friday.

But the spokesperson said the organisation has shared data with the public for decades and remains “committed to exposing hate and extremism as we work to equip communities with knowledge and defend the rights and safety of marginalised people”.

Criticism from the far-right of the SPLC stretches back well before Patel’s announcement.

Republican lawmakers have long accused the SPLC of unfairly targeting conservatives. In October 2023, Senators James Lankford and Chuck Grassley urged the FBI to cut ties with the group, calling it biased and unreliable for labelling faith-based and conservative organisations as “hate groups”.

They argued that the SPLC was not a neutral civil-rights watchdog, but a partisan actor whose data must be banned from official use.

Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets across Italy as part of a general strike in solidarity with the Global Sumud Flotilla that was intercepted by Israel this week while trying to bring aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

More than two million people attended Friday’s protests after the strike was called by a number of trade unions “in defence of the flotilla”, which was carrying a total of 40 Italians, and to “stop the genocide”, the CGIL (Italian General Confederation of Labour) wrote on X.

Turin-based daily La Stampa reported that the mobilisation involved the public and private sectors, “halting rail, air, metro, and bus transport, healthcare and schools. Among the many acts of dissent, protesters blocked highways near Pisa, Pescara, Bologna and Milan and shut down access to the port of Livorno, said the newspaper.

Police told the news agency AFP that more than 80,000 people demonstrated in Milan, where a sea of people clapped and waved the Palestinian flag as they made their way through the streets, carrying a massive banner reading: “Free Palestine, Stop the War Machine”.

“This is not just any strike. We’re here today to defend brotherhood among individuals, among peoples, to put humanity back at the centre, to say no to genocide, to a policy of rearmament,” CGIL leader Maurizio Landini was cited by the Reuters news agency as saying.

Reporting from Rome, Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic said the turnout across the country included “so many people from various walks of life. You’ve got students, you’ve got retired people, many people with their small children also coming out”.

Major turnout expected in Rome on Saturday

Massive protests are planned for tomorrow in Rome, where the CGIL reported 300,000 participants on Friday, with crowds set to depart from the town square, Piazzale Ostiense, at 2:30pm (12:30 GMT).

“Today, we were hundreds of thousands. Tomorrow for Palestine we must be a million,” said Maya Issa, leader of the Palestinian Student Movement, cited by Rome-based daily La Repubblica.

Andrea Dessi, an assistant professor of international relations and global politics at the American University of Rome, told Al Jazeera that the Italian government had been “caught on its back foot”.

While Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni this week announced Italy would recognise a Palestinian state if Israeli captives were freed and Hamas was shut out of future governance, protesters believed Meloni’s support for a Palestinian state should have been unconditional, Dessi said.

“I believe that the pressure will continue to mount,” said Dessi. “We expect a major, major march tomorrow, Saturday, here in Rome, with activists and members, citizens coming to Rome from all of Italy,” he said.

Their demands include the release of remaining Italians from the Sumud Flotilla, unconditional support for a Palestinian state and “more serious sanctions” on Israel over its war on Gaza, he said.

Al Jazeera’s Veselinovic said that Italy’s right-wing government was unlikely to succumb to pressure. “That is probably unlikely to happen, considering that Italy is a major ally of Israel in the European Union. However, in the past few months, the government did adopt a slightly harsher tone towards Israeli officials, specifically because of actions like this protest,” she said.

The Italian government has criticised the strike, with Meloni suggesting that people were using the protests as an excuse to have a longer weekend break.

As the protests took place, Italy’s foreign ministry announced that Israel had released four Italian parliamentarians out of the 40 Italians detained from the flotilla. The two members of parliament and two members of the European Parliament were due to arrive back in Rome on Friday, the ministry said.

Worldwide reaction

Protests in solidarity with the humanitarian convoy, which included prominent figures like climate activist Greta Thunberg and a number of politicians, spread across continents on Thursday, from Europe to Australia and South America.

In Barcelona, where the flotilla began its voyage, about 15,000 demonstrators marched, chanting “Gaza, you are not alone,” “Boycott Israel,” and “Freedom for Palestine”. Former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau was among those intercepted at sea and now faces potential deportation along with fellow activists, including Nelson Mandela’s grandson.

The flotilla organisers said on Telegram on Friday that Israeli naval forces had “illegally intercepted all 42 of our vessels – each carrying humanitarian aid, volunteers, and the determination to break Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza”. Marinette, the last remaining boat, was intercepted at 10:29am (07:29 GMT) that morning, they said.

More than 470 flotilla participants were “taken into custody by the military police, subjected to rigorous screening, and transferred to the prison administration”, according to Israeli police cited by AFP.

Among those detained from the flotilla were more than 20 journalists, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF), including reporters from Al Jazeera, Spain’s El Pais and Italy’s public broadcaster RAI.

Israel’s military applauded its naval forces for intercepting the flotilla, claiming the humanitarian mission attempted to breach its “maritime security blockade”.

“During Yom Kippur, in an operation that lasted approximately 12 hours, Israeli Navy personnel foiled a large-scale incursion attempt by hundreds of individuals aboard 42 naval vessels that declared their intention to break the lawful maritime security blockade adjacent to the Gaza Strip,” the military statement said.

Rights groups, several politicians and the UN’s Francesca Albanese have suggested Israel’s interception of the flotilla’s boats was illegal.

Protests in Israel

In Israel on Friday, protesters blocked a route into Gaza, staging a sit-in demanding that aid seized from the flotilla be allowed to enter the Palestinian territory. Dozens of protesters also tried to stop soldiers from entering the Strip, some carrying banners calling for an end to the genocide and for sanctions to be imposed on Israel.

Reporting from Amman, Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said, “These are Israeli peace activists who say that they are not part of any larger organisation, but from branches of different organisations coming from all walks of life in solidarity with the … flotilla.”

Salhut reported that “more than 40 vessels” seized by the Israeli Navy were now sitting in the port of Ashdod, just north of the Gaza Strip.

“What these demonstrators are saying is that this flotilla should have been allowed to go to the Gaza Strip, but that the siege on the Palestinian territory needs to end and there needs to be other ways of ensuring that happens, whether it’s by air, land, or sea,” she said.

The technology giant Apple has confirmed the removal of ICEBlock, a crowdsourcing app that collects sightings of US immigration officers, and similar software from its App Store, following pressure from the administration of United States President Donald Trump.

As of Friday, ICEBlock was no longer available on the App Store, where users can download software.

“We just received a message from Apple’s App Review that #ICEBlock has been removed from the App Store due to ‘objectionable content’,” the app’s social media team said in a post on the platform BlueSky. “The only thing we can imagine is this is due to pressure from the Trump Admin. We have responded and we’ll fight this!”

The move marks a rare instance of an app being taken down due to demands from the US government, raising concerns about pressure on private companies and limits to free speech.

ICEBlock is a free iPhone-only app that allows users to anonymously report and track Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity.

It was developed in April in response to President Trump’s hardline immigration agenda and the recent increase in ICE arrests.

ICE has been a central part of Trump’s push for mass deportation since he took office for a second term. Its agents have regularly raided workplaces, homes and courthouses to arrest migrants, and rights advocates say free speech and due process are often being infringed upon in the government’s deportation drive.

Apple’s decision to remove the ICEBlock app from its platform has also shed light on the growing ties between major tech firms and the Trump administration. Many companies, including the iPhone maker, have sought to avoid clashes with a White House that has not been shy about issuing threats — particularly around tariffs — against specific firms.

“Based on information we’ve received from law enforcement about the safety risks associated with ICEBlock, we have removed it and similar apps from the App Store,” Apple said in an emailed statement.

Fox Business first reported the app’s removal on Thursday, citing a statement from US Attorney General Pam Bondi, who said the Department of Justice contacted Apple and that the company complied with its request to pull the app.

“ICEBlock is designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs, and violence against law enforcement is an intolerable red line that cannot be crossed,” Bondi told Fox Business.

Joshua Aaron, the Texas-based creator of ICEBlock, disputed that characterisation and criticised Apple’s decision.

“I am incredibly disappointed by Apple’s actions today. Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never the right move,” Aaron told the Reuters news agency.

David Greene, the civil liberties director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a digital rights group, said the move underscored a pattern of government overreach.

“It is not surprising — they have been threatening this for a while and we do expect to see more of this and other blatantly unconstitutional actions going forward,” Greene told Al Jazeera.

The Trump administration has shown “little to no regard” for the rule of law, Greene explained, pointing out that the app’s activities are protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution, which enshrines the right to free speech.

He also argued that the public should know how its government is operating, particularly when it comes to sensitive issues like immigration. But, Greene added, the Trump administration has “never sincerely cared about the free flow of information”.

“Publishing truthful information about matters of public interest is worthy of the highest level of First Amendment protection, and the operations of government, and the identities of who the operators are, is certainly a matter of high public interest,” Greene said.

‘Watch out’

Bondi, however, has previously argued that Aaron is “not protected” under the Constitution and that they are looking at prosecuting him, warning him to “watch out”.

Civilian surveillance of federal immigration agents has become more assertive in recent months, as activists try to protect their communities from aggressive enforcement by ICE agents.

Since Trump returned to office, ICE has ramped up its enforcement efforts, and a bill passed in July has assured the agency of $75bn in new funding through 2029.

The agency has also arrested visa holders and permanent US residents targeted by the Trump administration over pro-Palestinian advocacy.

In one high-profile case, Mahmoud Khalil, a US resident of Palestinian origin, was arrested after serving as a spokesperson for the antiwar protests at Columbia University, a move that rights groups condemned as intimidation.

While Khalil was released from detention in June, he continues to face deportation proceedings. In September, an immigration judge in Louisiana ordered his deportation, though Khalil has 30 days to appeal.

Legal experts have said that civilian surveillance of ICE is largely protected under the US Constitution, as long as observers do not try to obstruct law enforcement activities.

Apple removed more than 1,700 apps from its App Store in 2024 in response to government demands, but the vast majority of those requests — more than 1,300 — came from China.

Russia filed the second-highest number of demands, at 171, followed by South Korea with 79.

Over the last three years, the US was typically not among the countries where apps were removed due to government demands, according to company transparency reports.

A majority of Apple’s iPhones are manufactured in China, making the company particularly sensitive to tariff policies.

In recent months, the White House has floated potential taxes on the import of chips used in Apple devices like iPhones and Mac computers.

Apple removes thousands of apps from its app store every year, including more than 82,500 in 2024, for other reasons, including design-related issues, fraud or intellectual property infringement. Apple shares were down fractionally on Friday.

Reflecting back on Van Bronckhorst’s demise, a large part of the support wanted him gone too, just not with the same ferocity Martin is experiencing.

How many might welcome him back now, or wish to go back to a time when European finals seemed achievable?

The Dutchman’s credentials clearly are valued by English Premier League-winning Liverpool boss Arne Slot, no less, who appointed him as assistant manager at Anfield this summer after a short-lived tenure at Besiktas.

High points under him, though, were balanced by uninspiring domestic displays and a failure to retain the long-awaited Scottish title that Steven Gerrard delivered.

A bruising Champions League campaign added to their woes, but, in truth, Rangers were ill-equipped to compete on that stage at that time and the financial boost was most welcome.

Former Heart of Midlothian and Dundee United head coach Robbie Neilson suggested on the Scottish Football Podcast: “Things start to spiral and we’re getting to that point now where the negativity towards the manager is definitely having an effect on the players – there’s no doubt about that.

“The only way to turn that is to win football matches. I don’t know if they’ve got the squad to win six, seven, eight in a row, but that’s the only way they’ll turn it.

“It looks like Russell Martin has taken as much pressure as he can on himself to try and get it away from the players.

“But I think at the moment it’s coming back on the players as well now because it’s got to quite an extreme stage.”

What Martin and the board are contending with are previously unseen levels of negativity, though. There’s an all-consuming crescendo of ill will stretching far and wide across the support.

Until now, those in charge have held firm, although the growing sentiment over the past weeks is that even an extended run of favourable results will not influence a support seemingly not for turning.

Might McCoist’s point add weight to the idea that sticking with Martin may bear longer-term fruits, despite the lack of evidence to support that right now?

We’ll soon find out.

Chelsea have had an average starting XI age in the Premier League of just 24.1 years, tied with Sunderland as the youngest, according to Transfermarkt.

The Blues have deliberately built a young squad, the only one in the Premier League not to have featured a player over 30 in a matchday squad.

However, this youth could be linked to both mistakes and indiscipline, and Chelsea have also faced criticism for the quality of their defence and goalkeepers.

After a defeat at Manchester United, Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher said: “You can’t turn up at Old Trafford with the goalkeeper and centre-backs you’ve got. That just can’t win you the league.”

Sanchez has made a league-high 10 mistakes leading to shots and five leading to goals since the start of last season yet his deputy, Filip Jorgensen, also underperformed against Lincoln last week.

Chelsea are understood to remain content about a decision to not sign AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan for £25m, with Sanchez retaining the backing of the hierarchy and his manager.

Maresca requested a new central defender after Levi Colwill required surgery for a serious knee injury in August, but Chelsea wanted him to use the squad’s existing options.

Chelsea had already explored the market for central defenders but signed only Ajax’s Jorrel Hato – ahead of Piero Hincapie, who was also considered but now plays for Arsenal.

Chelsea also admired Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi but watched on as Liverpool’s deal for the defender collapsed on deadline day and believe they didn’t miss any game-changing options signed by league rivals.

Additionally, Chelsea want to maintain pathways for players out on loan such as Strasbourg goalkeeper Mike Penders and defender Mamadou Sarr, along with Dortmund defender Aaron Anselmino.

Nevertheless, it remains debatable whether Chelsea’s youthful squad is strong enough to win the league while meeting the increased demands of competing in the Champions League for the first time in two and a half years.

The federal Office for Victims of Crime announced in the summer that millions of dollars approved for domestic violence survivors and other crime victims would be withheld from states that don’t comply with the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

California, 19 other states and the District of Columbia sued, alleging that such preconditions are illegal and would undermine public safety.

The administration then took a different tack, announcing that community organizations that receive such funding from the states — and use it to help people escape violence, access shelter and file for restraining orders against their abusers — generally may not use it to provide services to undocumented immigrants.

California and other states sued again, arguing that the requirements — which the administration says the states must enforce — are similarly illegal and dangerous. Advocates agreed, saying screening immigrant women out of such programs would be cruel.

The repeated lawsuits reflect an increasingly familiar pattern in the growing mountain of litigation between the Trump administration, California and other blue states.

Since President Trump took office in January, his administration has tried to force the states into submission on a host of policy fronts by cutting off federal funding, part of a drive to bypass Congress and vastly expand executive power. Repeatedly when those cuts have been challenged in court, the administration has shifted its approach to go after the same or similar funding from a slightly different angle — prompting more litigation.

The repeated lawsuits have added complexity and volume to an already monumental legal war between the administration and states such as California, one that began almost immediately after Trump took office and is ongoing, as the administration once again threatens major cuts amid the government shutdown.

The White House has previously dismissed California’s lawsuits as baseless and defended Trump’s right to enact his policy agenda, including by withholding funds. Asked about its shifting strategies in some of those cases, Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said the administration “has won numerous cases regarding spending cuts at the Supreme Court and will continue to cut wasteful spending across the government in a lawful manner.”

Other administration officials have also defended its legal tactics. During a fight over frozen federal funding earlier this year, for instance, Vice President JD Vance wrote on social media that judges “aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power” — sparking concerns about a constitutional crisis.

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said the pattern is a result of Trump overstating his power to control federal funding and use it as a weapon against his political opponents, but also of his dangerous disregard for the rule of law and the authority of both Congress and federal judges. His office has sued the administration more than 40 times since January, many times over funding.

“It is not something that you should have to see, that a federal government, a president of the United States, is so contemptuous of the rule of law and is willing to break it and break it again, get told by a court that they’re violating the law, and then have to be told by a court again,” Bonta said.

And yet, such examples abound, he said. For example, the Justice Department’s repeated attempts to strip California of crime victim funding echoed the Department of Homeland Security’s repeated attempts recently to deny the state disaster relief and anti-terrorism funding, Bonta said.

Homeland Security officials first told states that such funding would be conditioned on their complying with immigration enforcement efforts. California and other states sued, and a federal judge rejected such preconditions as unconstitutional.

The administration then notified the states that refused to comply, including California, that they would simply receive less money — to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars — while states that cooperate with immigration enforcement would receive more.

California and other Democratic-led states sued again, arguing this week that the shifting of funds was nothing more than the administration circumventing the court’s earlier ruling against the conditioning of funds outright.

Bonta’s office cited a similar pattern in announcing Thursday that the Trump administration had backed off major cuts to AmeriCorps funding. The win came only after successive rounds of litigation by the state and others, Bonta’s office noted, including an amended complaint accusing the administration of continuing to withhold the funding despite an earlier court order barring it from doing so.

Bonta said such shifting strategies were the work of a “consistently and brazenly lawless and lawbreaking federal administration,” and that his office was “duty-bound” to fight back and will — as many times as it takes.

“It can’t be that you take an action, are held accountable, a court finds that you’ve acted unlawfully, and then you just take another unlawful action to try to restrict or withhold that same funding,” he said.

Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC Berkeley Law, said he agreed with Bonta that there is “a pattern of ignoring court orders or trying to circumvent them” on the part of the Trump administration.

And he provided another example: a case in which he represents University of California faculty and researchers challenging Trump administration cuts to National Science Foundation funding.

Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought talks to reporters outside the White House on Monday, accompanied by House Speaker Mike Johnson, left, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Vice President JD Vance.

(Alex Brandon / Associated Press)

After a judge blocked the administration from terminating that funding, the Trump administration responded by declaring that the funds were “suspended” instead, Chemerinsky said.

The judge then ruled the administration was violating her order against termination, he said, as “calling them suspensions rather than terminations changed nothing.”

Mitchel Sollenberger, a political science professor at University of Michigan-Dearborn and author of several books on executive powers, said Trump aggressively flexing those powers was expected. Conservative leaders have been trying to restore executive authority ever since Congress reined in the presidency after Watergate, and Trump took an aggressive approach in his first term, too, Sollenberger said.

However, what Trump has done this term has nonetheless been stunning, Sollenberger said — the result of a sophisticated and well-planned strategy that has been given a clear runway by a Supreme Court that clearly shares a belief in an empowered executive branch.

“It’s like watching water run down, and it tries to find cracks,” Sollenberger said. “That’s what the Trump administration is doing. It’s trying to find those cracks where it can widen the gap and exercise more and more executive power.”

Bonta noted that the administration’s targeting of blue state funding began almost immediately after Trump took office, when the Office of Management and Budget issued a memo asserting that vast sums of federal funding for all sorts of programs were being frozen as the administration assessed whether the spending aligned with Trump’s policy goals.

California and other states sued to block that move and won, but the administration wasn’t swayed from the strategy, Bonta said — as evidenced by more recent events.

On Wednesday, as the government shutdown over Congress’ inability to pass a funding measure set in, Russell Vought — head of the Office of Management and Budget and architect of the Trump administration’s purse-string policies — announced on X that $8 billion in funding “to fuel the Left’s climate agenda” was being canceled. He then listed 16 blue states where projects will be cut.

Vought had broadly outlined his ideas for slashing government in Project 2025, the right-wing playbook for Trump’s second term, which Trump vigorously denied any connection to during his campaign but has since broadly implemented.

On Thursday, Trump seemed to relish the opportunity, amid the shutdown, to implement more of the plan.

“I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent,” Trump posted online. “I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity.”

Bonta said Wednesday that his office had no plans to get involved in the shutdown, which he said was caused by Trump and “for Trump to figure out.” But he said he was watching the battle closely.

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) chalked Vought’s latest cuts up to more illegal targeting of blue states such as California that oppose Trump politically, writing, “Our democracy is badly broken when a president can illegally suspend projects for Blue states in order to punish his political enemies.”

Cities and towns have also been pushing back against Trump’s use of federal funding as political leverage. On Wednesday, Los Angeles and other cities announced a lawsuit challenging the cuts to disaster funding.

L.A. City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto said the cuts were part of an “unprecedented weaponization” of federal funding by the Trump administration, and that she was proud to be fighting to “preserve constitutional limits on executive overreach.”

At this time last year, the pressure was palpable.

Up until last October, the Dodgers had a reputation as postseason failures.

It wasn’t an unwarranted distinction. In each of the previous two seasons, the team had been upset in the National League Division Series by lesser opponents in the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks. The fall before that, their title defense flamed out against the underdog Atlanta Braves in the NL Championship Series. Yes, they won a World Series in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. But outside of that, it’d been more than three decades since they last triumphed under typical circumstances.

That checkered history weighed on them. Their urgency to change it in last year’s playoffs was fervent.

“That kind of sour taste that you have when you make an early exit from the postseason, our guys are tired of it,” manager Dave Roberts said on the eve of last year’s postseason. “So this is another opportunity. I do sense that edge.”

This week, of course, the Dodgers face a different kind of dynamic.

After their memorable run to a championship last year, the team has gotten the monkey of its full-season title drought off its back. And while expectations are still high, with the Dodgers and their record-setting $400-million roster set to begin the playoffs with a best-of-three wild-card round starting Tuesday against the Cincinnati Reds, the questions about past October disappointments have dissipated.

So, does the pressure of this postseason feel different?

“You would think,” veteran third baseman Max Muncy said. “But the pressure’s always going to be there. Especially when you’re this team, when you’re the Los Angeles Dodgers, there’s a lot of expectations around you. There’s a lot of pressure.”

Indeed, after an underwhelming regular season that saw the Dodgers win the NL West for the 12th time in the last 13 years, but fail to secure a first-round bye as one of the NL’s top two playoff seeds, the Dodgers have a new task before them.

Erase the frustrations of their 93-win campaign. Maintain the momentum they built with a 15-5 regular-season finish. And recreate the desperation that carried them to the promised land last fall, as they try to become MLB’s first repeat champion in 25 years.

“For us, the challenge is not letting that pressure get to you and finding our rhythm, finding what’s going to work for us this year,” Muncy said. “Each year the team has to find their identity when they get to this point. You have an identity during the regular season, and you have to find a whole ‘nother identity in the postseason.”

The Dodgers’ preferred identity for this year’s team figures to be the opposite of what worked last October.

Unlike last year, the team has a healthy and star-studded starting rotation entering the playoffs. Also unlike last year, the bullpen is a major question mark despite an encouraging end to the regular season.

For the wild-card series, it means the team will need big innings out of Game 1 starter Blake Snell, Game 2 starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto and (if necessary) Game 3 starter Shohei Ohtani — who is being saved for the potential winner-take-all contest in part to help manage his two-way workload.

Ideally, their production should ease the burden on a relief corps that ranked 21st in the majors in ERA during the regular season, and has no clear-cut hierarchy for its most trusted arms.

“The starting pitching is considerably better” than it was last year, Roberts said Monday. “That’s probably the biggest difference between last year’s team.”

Granted, the Dodgers do feel better about their bullpen right now, thanks to the return of Roki Sasaki, the reallocation (at least for this series) of Emmet Sheehan and Tyler Glasnow from the rotation to relief roles, and recent improvements from Blake Treinen and Tanner Scott.

“[We have] much more confidence than we had a couple weeks ago,” Roberts said of the bullpen. “I think that it’s because those guys have shown the confidence in themselves, where they’re throwing the baseball. I think last week we saw guys more on the attack setting the tone, versus pitching behind or pitching too careful.”

Dodgers reliever Tanner Scott delivers against the San Francisco Giants on Sept. 19.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Still, it’s anyone’s guess as to who will pitch in the ninth inning, or be called upon in the highest-leverage moments.

Close, late contests would be best for the Dodgers to avoid.

To that end, the continuation of the Dodgers’ recent uptick at the plate would also help. During a dismal 22-32 stretch from July 4 to Sept. 6, the Dodgers ranked 27th in scoring, struggling to overcome injuries to several key pieces, slumps from some of their biggest stars, and a general lack of consistent execution in situational opportunities. Over their closing 20 games, however, the lineup averaged an NL-best 5.55 runs per game behind late-season surges from Ohtani and Mookie Betts, plus team-wide improvements while hitting with runners in scoring position.

“The team is starting to fire on all cylinders, finally,” Muncy said. “It’s something that we haven’t really felt all year.”

The Dodgers had good news on the injury front during Monday’s team workout at Dodger Stadium. Muncy, who missed the last four games of the regular season while battling leg bruises and what Roberts has described as other “overall body” issues, is expected to be in the lineup. So too is Tommy Edman, who hasn’t played in the field since last Wednesday because of a lingering ankle injury.

The big question remains catcher Will Smith, who has been out since Sept. 9 with a right hand fracture.

Roberts said Monday the team has been “encouraged” with Smith’s recent progress. The slugger was even able to take live at-bats Monday night.

“If he can get through today and feel good,” Roberts said, “then it’s a viable thought” that he could be on the final 26-man roster the Dodgers will have to submit ahead of Tuesday’s game for the wild-card series.

Either way, the Dodgers’ biggest concern remains on maintaining their recent level of play. Erasing past October failures might no longer be a motivation. But, like Muncy, Roberts said the urgency to win another World Series remains the same.

“I don’t know if it’s easier or harder that we won last year,” Roberts said. “But, honestly, all we care about is winning this year.”

California lawmakers want Gov. Gavin Newsom to approve bills they passed that aim to make artificial intelligence chatbots safer. But as the governor weighs whether to sign the legislation into law, he faces a familiar hurdle: objections from tech companies that say new restrictions would hinder innovation.

Californian companies are world leaders in AI and have spent hundreds of billions of dollars to stay ahead in the race to create the most powerful chatbots. The rapid pace has alarmed parents and lawmakers worried that chatbots are harming the mental health of children by exposing them to self-harm content and other risks.

Parents who allege chatbots encouraged their teens to harm themselves before they died by suicide have sued tech companies such as OpenAI, Character Technologies and Google. They’ve also pushed for more guardrails.

Calls for more AI regulation have reverberated throughout the nation’s capital and various states. Even as the Trump administration’s “AI Action Plan” proposes to cut red tape to encourage AI development, lawmakers and regulators from both parties are tackling child safety concerns surrounding chatbots that answer questions or act as digital companions.

California lawmakers this month passed two AI chatbot safety bills that the tech industry lobbied against. Newsom has until mid-October to approve or reject them.

The high-stakes decision puts the governor in a tricky spot. Politicians and tech companies alike want to assure the public they’re protecting young people. At the same time, tech companies are trying to expand the use of chatbots in classrooms and have opposed new restrictions they say go too far.

Meanwhile, if Newsom runs for president in 2028, he might need more financial support from wealthy tech entrepreneurs. On Sept. 22, Newsom promoted the state’s partnerships with tech companies on AI efforts and touted how the tech industry has fueled California’s economy, calling the state the “epicenter of American innovation.”

He has vetoed AI safety legislation in the past, including a bill last year that divided Silicon Valley’s tech industry because the governor thought it gave the public a “false sense of security.” But he also signaled that he’s trying to strike a balance between addressing safety concerns and ensuring California tech companies continue to dominate in AI.

“We have a sense of responsibility and accountability to lead, so we support risk-taking, but not recklessness,” Newsom said at a discussion with former President Clinton at a Clinton Global Initiative event on Wednesday.

Two bills sent to the governor — Assembly Bill 1064 and Senate Bill 243 — aim to make AI chatbots safer but face stiff opposition from the tech industry. It’s unclear if the governor will sign both bills. His office declined to comment.

AB 1064 bars a person, business and other entity from making companion chatbots available to a California resident under the age of 18 unless the chatbot isn’t “foreseeably capable” of harmful conduct such as encouraging a child to engage in self-harm, violence or disordered eating.

SB 243 requires operators of companion chatbots to notify certain users that the virtual assistants aren’t human.

Under the bill, chatbot operators would have to have procedures to prevent the production of suicide or self-harm content and put in guardrails, such as referring users to a suicide hotline or crisis text line.

They would be required to notify minor users at least every three hours to take a break, and that the chatbot is not human. Operators would also be required to implement “reasonable measures” to prevent companion chatbots from generating sexually explicit content.

Tech lobbying group TechNet, whose members include OpenAI, Meta, Google and others, said in a statement that it “agrees with the intent of the bills” but remains opposed to them.

AB 1064 “imposes vague and unworkable restrictions that create sweeping legal risks, while cutting students off from valuable AI learning tools,” said Robert Boykin, TechNet’s executive director for California and the Southwest, in a statement. “SB 243 establishes clearer rules without blocking access, but we continue to have concerns with its approach.”

A spokesperson for Meta said the company has “concerns about the unintended consequences that measures like AB 1064 would have.” The tech company launched a new Super PAC to combat state AI regulation that the company thinks is too burdensome, and is pushing for more parental control over how kids use AI, Axios reported on Tuesday.

Opponents led by the Computer & Communications Industry Assn. lobbied aggressively against AB 1064, stating it would threaten innovation and disadvantage California companies that would face more lawsuits and have to decide if they wanted to continue operating in the state.

Advocacy groups, including Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that sponsored AB 1064 and recommends that minors shouldn’t use AI companions, are urging Newsom to sign the bill into law. California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta also supports the bill.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation said SB 243 is too broad and would run into free-speech issues.

Several groups, including Common Sense Media and Tech Oversight California, removed their support for SB 243 after changes were made to the bill, which they said weakened protections. Some of the changes limited who receives certain notifications and included exemptions for certain chatbots in video games and virtual assistants used in smart speakers.

Lawmakers who introduced chatbot safety legislation want the governor to sign both bills, arguing that they can both “work in harmony.”

Sen. Steve Padilla (D-Chula Vista), who introduced SB 243, said that even with the changes he still thinks the new rules will make AI safer.

“We’ve got a technology that has great potential for good, is incredibly powerful, but is evolving incredibly rapidly, and we can’t miss a window to provide commonsense guardrails here to protect folks,” he said. “I’m happy with where the bill is at.”

Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda), who co-wrote AB 1064, said her bill balances the benefits of AI while safeguarding against the dangers.

“We want to make sure that when kids are engaging with any chatbot that it is not creating an unhealthy emotional attachment, guiding them towards suicide, disordered eating, any of the things that we know are harmful for children,” she said.

During the legislative session, lawmakers heard from grieving parents who lost their children. AB 1064 highlights two high-profile lawsuits: one against San Francisco ChatGPT maker OpenAI and another against Character Technologies, the developer of chatbot platform Character.AI.

Character.AI is a platform where people can create and interact with digital characters that mimic real and fictional people. Last year, Florida mom Megan Garcia alleged in a federal lawsuit that Character.AI’s chatbots harmed the mental health of her son Sewell Setzer III and accused the company of failing to notify her or offer help when he expressed suicidal thoughts to virtual characters.

More families sued the company this year. A Character.AI spokesperson said they care very deeply about user safety and “encourage lawmakers to appropriately craft laws that promote user safety while also allowing sufficient space for innovation and free expression.”

In August, the California parents of Adam Raine sued OpenAI, alleging that ChatGPT provided the teen information about suicide methods, including the one the teen used to kill himself.

OpenAI said it’s strengthening safeguards and plans to release parental controls. Its chief executive, Sam Altman, wrote in a September blog post that the company believes minors need “significant protections” and the company prioritizes “safety ahead of privacy and freedom for teens.” The company declined to comment on the California AI chatbot bills.

To California lawmakers, the clock is ticking.

“We’re doing our best,” Bauer-Kahan said. “The fact that we’ve already seen kids lose their lives to AI tells me we’re not moving fast enough.”