process

Warner Bros. Discovery reported a $148 million loss in the third quarter, hitting a sour note as the company began fielding interest from would-be buyers as Hollywood braces for a transforming deal.

Earnings for the entertainment company that includes HBO, CNN and the Warner Bros. film and TV studios fell short of analyst expectations. A year ago, the company reported profit of $135 million for the third quarter.

Revenue of $9.05 billion declined 6% from the year-ago period. The company swung to a loss of 6 cents a share, compared to last year’s earnings of 5 cents a share.

Still, Chief Executive David Zaslav spent much of Thursday’s call with analysts touting his company’s underlying strengths — while avoided giving details about the company’s sale.

“It’s fair to say that we have an active process underway,” Zaslav said.

Warner Bros. Discovery on Thursday reiterated it is forging ahead with previously announced plans to split into two separate entities by next spring. However, the Warner board acknowledged last month that it was also entertaining offers for the entire company — or its parts — after David Ellison’s Paramount expressed its interest with formal bids.

Paramount has made three offers, including a $58 billion in cash and stock for all of Warner Bros. Discovery. That bid would pay Warner stockholders $23.50 a share.

The Ellison family appears determined to win one of Hollywood’s most storied entertainment companies to pair with Paramount, which the Ellisons and RedBird Capital Partners acquired in August.

But Warner Bros. Discovery’s board, including Zaslav, voted unanimously to reject Paramount’s offers and instead opened the auction to other bidders, which is expected to lead to the firm changing hands for the third time in a decade.

Board members are betting the company, which has shown flickers of a turnaround, is worth more than the offers on the table. Despite its rocky third-quarter results, Warner’s stock held its ground in early morning trading at around $22.60 a share.

“Overall we are very bullish,” Zaslav said of the company’s business prospects.

“When you look at our films like ‘Superman,’ ‘Weapons’ and ‘One Battle After Another,’ the global reach of HBO Max and the diversity of our network’s offerings, we’ve managed to bring the best, most treasured traditions of Warner Bros. forward into a new era of entertainment and [a] new media landscape,” he said.

But the company’s results underscored its business challenges.

The studio witnessed a major decline in advertising revenue in the third quarter, reporting $1.41 billion, down 16% from the previous year, which executives attributed to declines in the audience for its domestic linear channels, including CNN, TNT and TLC.

Distribution revenue also took a hit, as the company reported sales of $4.7 billion, a decrease of 4% compared to last year.

Studio revenue increased 24% to $3.3 billion, powered by the success of DC Studios’ “Superman,” horror flick “Weapons” and the latest installment of “The Conjuring.” But even those box office wins couldn’t totally offset shortfalls in other areas of its content business.

Last year, the company was able to sub-license its rights to broadcast the Olympics in Europe, which pushed content revenue to $2.72 billion. But this year, revenue was down 3% to $2.65 billion.

Burbank-based Warner Bros. has had a string of success in theaters, with nine films opening at the top spot globally at the box office. The studio recently surpassed $4 billion in worldwide box office revenue, making it the first studio to do so this year. Warner Bros. last achieved that milestone in 2019.

Zaslav would like to continue with Warner’s break-up plans, which were announced last June.

The move would allow him to stay on to manage a smaller Hollywood-focused entity made up of the Warner Bros. studios, HBO, streaming service HBO Max and the company’s vast library, which includes Harry Potter movies and award-winning television shows such as “The Pitt.”

The company’s large portfolio of cable channels, including HGTV, Food Network and Cartoon Network, would become Discovery Global and operate independently.

Beyond Paramount, Philadelphia-based Comcast, Netflix and Amazon have expressed interest in considering buying parts of the company.

The company said its third quarter loss of $148 million was the result of a $1.3 billion expense, including restructuring costs.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed into law a deal that will allow hundreds of thousands of rideshare drivers to unionize and bargain collectively while still being classified as independent contractors.

The legislation — a rare compromise between labor groups and Silicon Valley gig economy companies — grants collective bargaining rights to Uber and Lyft drivers, and follows years of political and legal battles over the job status of rideshare and delivery drivers.

The new law does not apply to other types of gig workers, including those who deliver food through apps like DoorDash.

Besides the collective bargaining deal, Newsom is also expected to sign a law backed by Uber and Lyft that would significantly reduce the companies’ insurance requirements.

Newsom, with his signing of the deal, drew a contrast with Trump’s posture towards workers and labor unions, with his administration banning collective bargaining at half a dozen federal agencies earlier this year.

“Donald Trump is holding the government hostage and stripping away worker protections. In California, we’re doing the opposite: proving government can deliver,” Newsom said in a statement. “That’s the difference between chaos and competence.”

Labor leaders from Service Employees International Union California, a powerful union that has been working for years to organize app-based drivers, say the deal is one of the largest expansions of private sector unions in 90 years, allowing hundreds of thousands of California gig drivers to gain a seat at the bargaining table.

It does so by exempting workers from the state and federal antitrust laws that normally prohibit collective action by independent contractors.

“The gig economy isn’t going away, but worker exploitation doesn’t have to be part of it.” David Green, SEIU 721 President and Executive Director.

Ramona Prieto, Uber’s Head of Public Policy for California, said in an emailed statement that the compromise “lowers costs for riders while creating stronger voices for drivers — demonstrating how industry, labor, and lawmakers can work together to deliver real solutions.”

Experts say the prospect of a union gives some gig workers their first-ever outlet to vent frustrations about workplace conditions. But how exactly does it work? And what are rideshare companies getting in return?

Here’s what you need to know:

What would it take for drivers to form a union?

Under federal law, employees in the U.S. can unionize by holding an election or reaching a voluntary agreement with their employers for a specific union to represent them.

The process for California Uber and Lyft drivers under the collective bargaining law, called Assembly Bill 1340, would be somewhat different.

A group can seek to be the bargaining representative for active drivers by collecting signatures from at least 10% of them. At that point, a group would be able to petition for access to names and contact information for all active drivers in California from the state’s Public Employment Relations Board, which is designated to oversee the unionization process.

With that contact list, the process of organizing drivers would in theory become easier. Once a group signs up 30% of active drivers, they could petition the board for union certification. If more than one organization is in the process of gathering signatures, an election would be held to determine which would represent drivers.

Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), who co-authored the bill with Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park), said the new process means drivers will be able to”bargain for better pay and protections, and help build a future where the gig economy works for the people behind the wheel.”

The law outlines a formula as to which drivers qualify as “active” based on a median number of rides they completed during the prior six month period, which determines who would be eligible to vote in the election.

It’s unclear at this point how many active drivers California has, as the number fluctuates, and rideshare companies do not release the information. Uber and Lyft will be required to submit data on active drivers to the state labor board on a regular basis under the new law.

That path to collective bargaining mirrors a ballot initiative approved by Massachusetts voters last fall that was also backed by SEIU, which allows drivers to form a union after collecting signatures from at least 25% of active drivers in the state.

Drivers affiliated with SEIU who supported the California bill said they spend long hours on the road, as many as 10 to 12 a day, but are not given the same protections as other workers. They say the law gives them an opportunity to negotiate their pay and other terms of their agreements with the companies.

“Drivers have had no way to fight back against the gig companies taking more and more of the passenger fare, or to challenge unfair deactivations that cost us our livelihoods,” said Ana Barragan, a gig driver from Los Angeles in a statement. “We’ve worked long hours, faced disrespect, and had no voice, just silence on the other end of the app.”

Some driver advocates have worried the law may not be strong enough to ensure that drivers can reach a fair contract.

Veena Dubal, a law professor at UC Irvine who studies the effect of technology on workers, had said the legislation does not clarify whether drivers would be protected if they collectively protested or went on strike, and doesn’t require that the companies provide data about wages.

“These are the crux of what makes a union strong and the very, very bottom line of what members need and want,” Dubal said. “That they couldn’t achieve those things — that’s a win for Uber.”

Michael Reich, a professor of economics and co-chair of the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics at the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at UC Berkeley who has closely studied the gig economy and advised on driver-related legislation, called a potential driver union “a golden opportunity” and the pair of laws “a good deal for both sides.”

What did gig economy companies get out of the deal?

The insurance bill, backed by Uber and Lyft and introduced by state Sen. Christopher Cabaldon (D-Yolo), would reduce the amount of insurance that companies like Uber and Lyft are required to provide for rides.

Uber said in a blog posted to its website, that the law helps to address “one of the biggest hidden costs impacting rideshare passengers and drivers in California.”

Currently, the companies must carry $1 million in coverage per rideshare driver for accidents caused by other drivers who are uninsured or underinsured. The companies have argued that current insurance requirements are so high that they encourage litigation for insurance payouts and create higher costs for passengers.

But beginning next year, passenger trips will instead be covered by $60,000 in uninsured motorist coverage per rideshare driver and $300,000 per accident.

Uber said it will maintain $1 million in liability insurance to cover injuries or property damage in accidents caused by their rideshare drivers, as well as insurance that covers the cost to repair the driver’s car, regardless of who is at fault for the damage.

The companies are also required to maintain $1 million in occupational accident coverage under gig economy law Proposition 22, which is supposed to help drivers with medical bills if they’re injured while driving, no matter who is at fault, Uber said.

What led to this point and how does Prop. 22 factor in?

After the California Legislature in 2019 rewrote employment law in 2019, clarifying and limiting when businesses can classify workers as independent contractors, Uber and Lyft went to the ballot in California, bankrolling an initiative to exempt their drivers.

When California voters passed Proposition 22, the ballot measure the companies funded in 2020, drivers were classified as independent contractors who, under federal law, do not have the right to organize. Proposition 22 had language that explicitly barred drivers from collectively bargaining over their compensation, benefits and working conditions.

But SEIU California argued that court decisions over Prop. 22 left an opening for the state Legislature to create a process for drivers to unionize, setting the state for lawmakers to introduce the collective bargaining bill. Uber and Lyft initially opposed the bill, until a deal was hammered out and announced in August.

Times staff writer Laura Nelson contributed to this report.

The new plan follows a proclamation on Friday requiring a $100,000 fee for new H-1B applications.

The White House has released a proposal that would rework the H-1B visa selection process to favour higher-skilled and better-paid workers, according to a Federal Register notice.

The new proposal released on Tuesday followed a White House proclamation on Friday introducing a $100,000 fee for the visas.

The new process, if finalised, would give heavier weight to applications by employers who pay high wages if annual requests for the visas exceed the statutory limit of 85,000, the notice said. The move aims to better protect US workers from unfair wage competition from foreign workers, it said.

United States President Donald Trump launched a wide-ranging immigration crackdown after taking office in January, including a push for mass deportations and trying to block citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants born in the US. In recent days, his administration has intensified its focus on the H-1B programme, popular with technology and outsourcing companies for hiring skilled foreign workers.

The administration said on Friday that it would ask companies to pay $100,000 per year for each H-1B visa. Some big tech companies warned visa holders to stay in the US or quickly return, sparking a chaotic scramble to get back to the US. The White House later clarified the fee would apply only to new visas.

On Wall Street, tech company stocks have not responded well to the looming changes. Shares in Amazon, which sponsors the most H-1B visas of any company, have tumbled by almost 5 percent over the past five days.

The planned regulation posted on Tuesday would change an existing lottery process to obtain the visas if demand surpasses supply in a given year, creating wage tiers through which higher-paying jobs would have a better chance of being selected.

The process to finalise a regulation can take months or even years. The notice suggested that the new rules could be in place for the 2026 lottery, meaning before a March registration period.

The total wages paid to H-1B workers were expected to increase to $502m in fiscal year 2026, which begins on October 1, the notice said, citing US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimates.

Those wages would increase by $1bn in fiscal 2027, $1.5bn in fiscal 2028 and $2bn in fiscal 2029-2035, it said.

An estimated 5,200 small businesses that currently receive H-1B visas would suffer a significant economic impact due to loss of labour, DHS said.

US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which issued the proposal, will give the public 30 days to comment starting on Wednesday, the notice said.

Slowing job market

The heightened requirements were proposed as a new AP-NORC poll was released that suggested about six in 10 US adults think companies see a major benefit from immigrants entering the US workforce, up from four in 10 in March 2024.

According to the poll, 51 percent of US adults said a “major” benefit of legal immigration is that US companies get the expertise of skilled workers in fields like science and technology.

The new proposal comes as job growth stalls in the US.

In August, the economy added only 22,000 jobs, according to the most recent jobs report released by the Department of Labor.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell cited Trump’s hardline immigration policy as a reason for a slowdown in the jobs market and part of the central bank’s rationale for cutting interest rates by 25 basis points last week, the first cut since December.

The Trump administration moved again Wednesday to make it harder to gain U.S. citizenship, announcing a slate of changes to the core civics test that immigrants must pass to be naturalized.

The changes would expand the number of questions immigrants need to be prepared to answer, and increase the number of questions they must answer correctly in order to pass.

The changes, announced as pending in the Federal Register, would largely revert the test to a similarly longer and harder version that was introduced in 2020 during President Trump’s first term, but was swiftly rolled back under President Biden in 2021.

The shift follows other Trump administration changes to the process by which U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials determine whether prospective citizens are qualified, including enhanced assessments of their “moral character” and whether they ascribe to any “anti-American” beliefs, and intense checks into their community ties and social media networks.

It also comes amid a broader crackdown on undocumented immigration, and what Trump has said will be the largest “mass deportation” in U.S. history. That effort has been heavily centered in the Los Angeles region, to the consternation of many Democratic leaders and immigration advocacy organizations.

The new naturalization test, like the short-lived 2020 version, would draw from 128 possible questions and require prospective citizens to answer 12 out of 20 questions correctly in order to pass. Under the current test, which dates to 2008, there are 100 possible questions, and prospective citizens must answer six out of 10 correctly.

Trump administration officials said the new test “will better assess an alien’s understanding of U.S. history, government, and English language,” and is part of a “multi-step overhaul” of the citizenship process that will ensure traditional American culture and values are protected.

“We are doing everything in our power to make sure that anyone who is offered the privilege of becoming an American citizen fulfills their obligation to their new country,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

Immigration advocates cast the change as an attempt by the administration to further impede the legal pathway to citizenship for hardworking immigrants already deeply rooted in the U.S. They say it is part of a broader, authoritarian campaign by Trump and his administration to vet potential new citizens and other legal immigrants for conservative ideology and loyalty to him — all while the administration aggressively targets people for deportation based on little more than the color of their skin and the work that they do.

“The Trump administration lauding the privileges of becoming a U.S. citizen — while making it harder to obtain it — rings hollow when you consider that it is also arguing before the Supreme Court that law enforcement can racially profile Latines,” said Jennifer Ibañez Whitlock, senior policy counsel at the National Immigration Law Center. “All this does is make it harder for longtime residents who contribute to this country every day to finally achieve the permanent protections that only U.S. citizenship can offer.”

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled in a case challenging immigration raids in California that immigration agents may stop and detain people they suspect are in the U.S. illegally based on little more than the color of their skin, their speaking Spanish and their working in fields or locations with large immigrant workforces.

Last month, USCIS announced that it was ramping up its vetting of immigrants’ social media activity and looking for “anti-American ideologies or activities,” including “antisemitic ideologies.” That announcement followed months of enforcement against pro-Palestinian student activists and other U.S. visa and green card holders that raised alarms among constitutional scholars and free speech advocates.

Trump administration officials have rejected such concerns, and others about raids sweeping up people without criminal records and racial profiling being used to target them, as part of a misguided effort by liberals and progressives to protect even dangerous, undocumented immigrants for political reasons.

In announcing the latest change to the naturalization test, Homeland Security said it would make the test more difficult, and in the process ensure that “only those who are truly committed to the American way of life are admitted as citizens.”

The department also lauded its recent moves to more deeply vet prospective citizens, saying the new process “includes reinstating neighborhood interviews of potential new citizens, considering whether aliens have made positive contributions to their communities, determining good moral character, and verifying they have never unlawfully registered to vote or unlawfully attempted to vote in an American election.”

In rolling back the first Trump administration’s test — which is very similar to the newly proposed one — USCIS officials under the Biden administration said that it “may inadvertently create potential barriers to the naturalization process.”

By contrast, the agency under Biden said the 2008 test — the one Trump is now replacing again — was “thoroughly developed over a multi-year period with the input of more than 150 organizations, which included English as a second language experts, educators, and historians, and was piloted before its implementation.”

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s president said Thursday that Korean companies probably will hesitate to make further investments in the United States unless Washington improves its visa system for their employees, as U.S. authorities released hundreds of workers who were detained at a Georgia factory site last week.

In a news conference marking 100 days in office, Lee Jae Myung called for improvements in the U.S. visa system as he spoke about the Sept. 4 immigration raid that resulted in the arrest of more than 300 South Korean workers at a battery factory under construction at Hyundai’s sprawling auto plant west of Savannah.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry later confirmed that U.S. authorities had released the 330 detainees — 316 of them South Koreans — and that they were being transported by buses to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport, where they will board a charter flight scheduled to arrive in South Korea on Friday afternoon. The group also includes 10 Chinese nationals, three Japanese nationals and one Indonesian.

The massive roundup and U.S. authorities’ release of video showing some workers being chained and taken away sparked widespread anger and a sense of betrayal in South Korea. The raid came less than two weeks after a summit between President Trump and Lee, and just weeks after the countries reached a July agreement that spared South Korea from the Trump administration’s highest tariffs — but only after Seoul pledged $350 billion in new U.S. investments, against the backdrop of a decaying job market at home.

Lawmakers from both Lee’s Liberal Democratic Party and the conservative opposition decried the detentions as outrageous and heavy-handed, while South Korea’s biggest newspaper compared the raid to a “rabbit hunt” executed by U.S. immigration authorities in a zeal to meet an alleged White House goal of 3,000 arrests a day.

During the news conference, Lee said South Korean and U.S. officials are discussing a possible improvement to the U.S. visa system, adding that under the current system South Korean companies “can’t help hesitating a lot” about making direct investments in the U.S.

Lee: ‘It’s not like these are long-term workers’

U.S. authorities said some of the detained workers had illegally crossed the U.S. border, while others entered legally but had expired visas or entered on visa waivers that prohibited them from working.

But South Korean officials expressed frustration that Washington has yet to act on Seoul’s years-long demand to ensure a visa system to accommodate skilled Korean workers, though it has been pressing South Korea to expand U.S. industrial investments.

South Korean companies have been mostly relying on short-term visitor visas or Electronic System for Travel Authorization to send workers who are needed to launch manufacturing sites and handle other setup tasks, a practice that had been largely tolerated for years.

Lee said that whether Washington establishes a visa system allowing South Korean companies to send skilled workers to industrial sites will have a “major impact” on future South Korean investments in America.

“It’s not like these are long-term workers. When you build a factory or install equipment at a factory, you need technicians, but the United States doesn’t have that workforce and yet they won’t issue visas to let our people stay and do the work,” he said.

“If that’s not possible, then establishing a local factory in the United States will either come with severe disadvantages or become very difficult for our companies. They will wonder whether they should even do it,” Lee added.

Lee said the raid showed a “cultural difference” between the two countries in how they handle immigration issues.

“In South Korea, we see Americans coming on tourist visas to teach English at private cram schools — they do it all the time, and we don’t think much of it, it’s just something you accept,” Lee said.

“But the United States clearly doesn’t see things that way. On top of that, U.S. immigration authorities pledge to strictly forbid illegal immigration and employment and carry out deportations in various aggressive ways, and our people happened to be caught in one of those cases,” he added.

South Korea, U.S. agree on working group to settle visa issues

After a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said Wednesday that U.S. officials have agreed to allow the workers detained in Georgia to later return to finish their work at the site. He added that the countries agreed to set up a joint working group for discussions on creating a new visa category to make it easier for South Korean companies to send their staff to work in the United States.

Before leaving for the U.S. on Monday, Cho said more South Korean workers in the U.S. could be vulnerable to future crackdowns if the visa issue isn’t resolved, but said Seoul does not yet have an estimate of how many might be at risk.

The State Department announced Thursday that Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau would visit Seoul this weekend as part of a three-nation Asia-Pacific trip that will also include Papua New Guinea and the Marshall Islands.

The Georgia battery plant is one of more than 20 major industrial sites that South Korean companies are building in the United States. They include other battery factories in Georgia and several other states, a semiconductor plant in Texas and a shipbuilding project in Philadelphia, a sector that Trump has frequently highlighted in relation to South Korea.

Min Jeonghun, a professor at South Korea’s National Diplomatic Academy, said it’s chiefly up to the United States to resolve the issue, either through legislation or by taking administrative steps to expand short-term work visas for training purposes.

Without an update in U.S. visa policies, Min said, “Korean companies will no longer be able to send their workers to the United States, causing inevitable delays in the expansion of facilities and other production activities, and the harm will boomerang back to the U.S. economy.”

Hyung-jin and Tong-Hyung write for the Associated Press. Tong-Hyung reported from Seoul.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Five men deported by the United States to Eswatini in July have been held in a maximum-security prison in the African nation for seven weeks without charge or explanation and with no access to legal counsel, their lawyers said Tuesday.

They accused the Trump administration’s third-country deportation program of denying their clients due process.

The New York-based Legal Aid Society said that it was representing one of the men, Jamaican national Orville Etoria, and that he had been “inexplicably and illegally” sent to Eswatini when his home country was willing to accept him back.

That contradicted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which said when it deported the five men with criminal records that they were being sent to Eswatini because their home countries refused to take them. Jamaica’s foreign minister has also said that the Caribbean country didn’t refuse to take back deportees.

Etoria was the first of at least 20 deportees sent by the U.S. to various African nations in the last two months to be identified publicly.

Expanding deportation program

The deportations are part of the Trump administration’s expanding third-country program to send migrants to countries in Africa that they have no ties with to get them off U.S. soil.

Since July, the U.S. has deported migrants to South Sudan, Eswatini and Rwanda, while a fourth African nation, Uganda, says it has agreed to a deal in principle with the U.S. to accept deportees.

Washington has said it wants to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose case has been a flashpoint over President Trump’s hard-line immigration policies, to Uganda after he was wrongly deported to his native El Salvador in March.

Etoria served a 25-year prison sentence and was granted parole in 2021, the Legal Aid Society said, but was now being held in Eswatini’s main maximum-security prison for an undetermined period of time despite completing that sentence.

The U.S. Homeland Security Department said that he was convicted of murder. The agency posted on X in reference to a New York Times report on Etoria, saying that it “will continue enforcing the law at full speed — without apology.”

It didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from the Associated Press.

The Legal Aid Society said that an Eswatini lawyer acting on behalf of all five men being held in prison there has been repeatedly denied access to them by prison officials since they arrived in the tiny southern African nation bordering South Africa in mid-July.

The other four men are citizens of Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen.

‘Indefinite detention’

A separate lawyer representing the two men from Laos and Vietnam said that his clients also served their criminal sentences in the U.S. and had “been released into the community.”

“Then, without warning and explanation from either the U.S. or Eswatini governments, they were arbitrarily arrested and sent to a country to which they have never ever been,” the lawyer, Tin Thanh Nguyen, said in a statement. “They are now being punished indefinitely for a sentence they already served.”

He said that the U.S. government was “orchestrating secretive third-country transfers with no meaningful legal process, resulting in indefinite detention.”

U.S. Homeland Security said those two men had been convicted of charges including child rape and second-degree murder.

A third lawyer, Alma David, said that she represented the two men from Yemen and Cuba who are also being held in the same prison and denied access to lawyers. She said she had been told by the head of the Eswatini prison that only the U.S. Embassy could grant access to the men.

“Since when does the U.S. Embassy have jurisdiction over Eswatini’s national prisons?” she said in a statement, adding the men weren’t told a reason for their detention, and “no lawyer has been permitted to visit them.” David said all five were being held at U.S. taxpayers’ expense.

Secretive deals

The deportation deals the U.S. has struck in Africa have been secretive, and with countries with questionable rights records.

Authorities in South Sudan have given little information on where eight men sent there in early July are being held or what their fate might be. They were also described by U.S. authorities as dangerous criminals from South Sudan, Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar and Vietnam.

The five men in Eswatini are being held at the Matsapha Correctional Complex. It’s the same prison where Eswatini, which is ruled by a king as Africa’s last absolute monarchy, has imprisoned pro-democracy campaigners amid reports of abuse that includes beatings and the denial of food to inmates.

Eswatini authorities said when the five men arrived that they were being held in solitary confinement.

Another seven migrants were deported by the U.S. to Rwanda in mid-August, Rwandan authorities said. They didn’t say where they are being held or give any information on their identities.

The deportations to Rwanda were kept secret at the time and only announced last week.

Imray writes for the Associated Press.

Burrows, who represented Northern Ireland at the 2022 Euros, said she was “relieved and appreciative” that Cliftonville’s challenge was successful.

“The original sanction was not only going to affect my ability to play the sport I love, but it also took a significant toll on my mental and social well-being,” added the former Blackburn and Linfield player.

“The stress of being accused of something I knew I didn’t do was incredibly emotionally difficult, and it placed strain on my relationships both on and off the pitch.

“I’m proud to represent both Cliftonville and Northern Ireland, and I’ve always tried to conduct myself with professionalism and respect for the game.

“I’m thankful the challenge process acknowledged the full context of the incident, and I now look forward to moving on and continuing to give everything for my club and country.”

With red welts scattered like landmarks of the war she’d just waged, Kelsey Plum let the microphone have it.

“I drive more than anyone in the league,” the Sparks guard said, voice taut. “So to shoot six free throws is f— absurd. And I got scratches on my face, I got scratches on my body, and these guards on the other teams get these ticky-tack fouls, and I’m sick of it.”

Plum played 41 minutes during an overtime loss to the Golden State Valkyries, during which she was awarded those six free throws. She is one of many WNBA players, coaches and fans who have vented frustration over what they see as inconsistent and unreliable officiating this season.

Yet, within the walls of the league’s officiating office, there is steadfast belief that referees are doing their jobs well.

Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon questions a referee’s call during the game against the Sparks at Crypto.com Arena on July 29.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

“Overall, I’m very pleased with the work this year,” said Monty McCutchen, the head of referee training and development for all NBA leagues.

But McCutchen and Sue Blauch, who oversees WNBA referee performance and development, aren’t blind to the backlash — acknowledging “some high-profile misses that we need to own on our end.”

To do so, they pointed to an officiating analysis program through which 95% of games are watched live, with every play graded by internal and independent reviewers. Those evaluations are used to chart each referee’s performance over time.

Teams can flag up to 30 plays for review per game through a league portal — including isolated calls or themes spanning multiple games. League officials respond with rulings on each clip and compile curated playlists by call type, delivering them directly to the referees.

“There’s no shortage of feedback,” McCutchen said.

But the WNBA’s structural backbone of officiating differs from the NBA in significant ways. With just 35 referees, all of whom moonlight calling NCAA or G League games, the WNBA relies on part-timers earning $1,538 per game as rookies, with each official calling 20 to 34 contests per season.

“You’re working three very different kinds of basketball,” said Jacob Tingle, director of sport management at Trinity University who has conducted research on officiating networks and pathways. “The reason the NBA or MLB works is because that’s all you do — you’re working the same kind of game only.”

The WNBA lacks a centralized replay center, a developmental league to groom talent and shuffles crew combinations from game to game — a patchwork system that can strain referees expected to deliver consistency.

Sparks guard Kelsey Plum questions the official’s out-of-bounds call during a game against the Las Vegas Aces at Crypto.com Arena on July 29.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

“When you don’t have group cohesion, you don’t have the same level of trust in your partners,” said David Hancock, a professor who studies the psychology of sports officiating. “We’ve done one study — when referees felt more connected to their group, they also felt they performed better.”

McCutchen said teams get a verdict on the calls they send for review. But beyond that, there’s no insight into grading or transparency about patterns the league has researched. So when it seems a whistle has been swallowed during a game, players and coaches are left searching for consistency.

“You don’t know in the WNBA anymore,” said Joshua Jackson, a Louisiana State University professor who studies media and athlete perception. “I can’t tell when I’m watching a game exactly what this foul call is going to be. I’ll hear the whistle and think, ‘OK, maybe it’s a reach-in and then suddenly it’s a view for a flagrant one instead? Wait, how did we get here?’”

The whistle has become one of the WNBA’s biggest wild cards. Angel Reese called it “diabolical.” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said after a fourth-quarter letdown led to a loss that the game was “stolen from us.” Belgian guard Julie Allemand told The Times she felt more “protected” playing in EuroBasket. And Napheesa Collier, one of the stars of the 2025 season, warned “it’s getting worse.”

The whistle, or lack thereof, might echo louder in 2026, when the WNBA begins a $2.2-billion, 11-year media rights deal with Disney, Amazon and NBCUniversal — each of whom will air more than 125 games a year across TV and streaming networks.

Nicole LaVoi, who helms the Tucker Center — a research hub focused on advocating for girls and women in sports — said the narrative surrounding female athletes forces them to walk a tightrope: speak up and risk being dismissed as an emotional woman or stay quiet and let the league’s image unravel.

“This is a broader, contextual, systemic issue,” LaVoi said. “It’s not just about bad refs making bad calls. This is a much larger problem within a system where women’s sport has been undervalued and underappreciated for decades.”

Many players have ignored concerns about the perception they whine too much about officiating, arguing the inconsistency in calls is dangerous.

Lucas Seehafer, a professor and kinesiologist at Medical University of South Carolina who tracks WNBA injuries, said players have suffered 173 injuries this season and missed 789 games, entering Saturday’s games.

Sparks forward Cameron Brink reacts toward an official after no foul was called after the ball was stripped from her as she was driving to the basket at Crypto.com Arena on July 29.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Injuries are undoubtedly multifactorial, Seehafer said. Still, inconsistent whistles can leave players unsure of how much contact to expect — forcing them into unfamiliar movements or hesitation. And that can lend itself to awkward landings, a key contributor in lower-extremity injuries.

“The athletes strive on consistency and mechanical efficiency,” said Nirav Pandya, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist at UC San Francisco. “When you don’t know how much contact’s going to be allowed, it does throw off that rhythm, which increases your injury risk.”

When Caitlin Clark suffered a groin injury in mid-July, her brother — in a now-deleted X post — blamed the officials for letting too much contact slide.

“People go watch the WNBA because of the talent,” LaVoi said, “and when the talent is sitting on the bench, that’s not very exciting to fans.”

While critics are quick to call out officiating, referees are navigating a structure stretched thin.

Brenda Hilton, founder of Officially Human — an organization dedicated to improving the treatment of sports officials — said 70%-80% of officials quit within their first three years, largely due to online abuse.

“The people that are doing the work are people, they are fallible,” LaVoi said. “The players are fallible as well, so are the coaches. So can we get back some compassion for the humanity of the people doing it, and appreciate the fact that they love what they do? They’re not doing it because they’re getting huge NIL deals and branding opportunities.”

NBA and WNBA officiating leaders have not announced any plans for changes to their system, so the stress will probably continue among players, coaches, fans and those who control the whistles.

We compare and contrast how Donald Trump stayed silent when Brazil’s leftist leader Lula da Silva was jailed in 2018, but has been loudly condemning the current prosecution of his far-right ally, former president Jair Bolsonaro, as a “witch hunt”.

Football governing body says ticket sales for tournament in North America will be released in phases, with the process kicking off on September 10.

FIFA has announced that the process to purchase tickets for the 2026 World Cup in Mexico, the United States, and Canada will launch on September 10, urging fans looking to attend games to formally register their interest on its website.

The announcement on Tuesday came a day after the FIFA Club World Cup concluded in the US, a tournament that the international governing body for football hailed as a “rousing success”.

“We’re looking forward to welcoming the world back to North America, as Canada, Mexico and the United States host what will be the biggest and greatest sporting event ever,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement.

“We encourage fans everywhere to get ready to secure their place – these will be the most coveted seats in world sport.”

FIFA did not provide details for how the tickets will be released, but it said on September 10, pre-registered fans will be able to “apply for their first chance to buy tickets”.

“There will be several distinct ticket sales phases from the start of sales on 10 September 2025, through to the final match on Sunday, 19 July 2026,” FIFA said.

“Each phase may differ in purchasing processes, payment methods and ticket products, and full details on each phase will be released in the coming months.”

The World Cup will kick off in Mexico City on June 11 next year and conclude in New Jersey on July 19.

Canada, Mexico host 13 World Cup games each

With the tournament expanded to 48 teams, it will see 104 games, with Canada and Mexico hosting 13 matches each.

The rest of the games will take place in the US, including all the fixtures from the quarterfinal onwards.

The US had a de facto test run for the big tournament with the Club World Cup that kicked off last month, with mixed results.

While the final at MetLife Stadium, which saw Premier League giants Chelsea beat European champions Paris Saint-Germain 3-0, attracted a sold-out crowd of over 81,000 people, some games saw an abysmally low turnout.

The searing hot weather also proved to be a challenge for players and fans, especially during midday games. However, many matches drew large crowds and a festive atmosphere, as well as some notable footballing upsets.

US President Donald Trump appeared to take a strong interest in the tournament. He hosted Italian club Juventus at the White House when the team was in Washington, DC, for a group stage game last month.

He attended the final in New Jersey and joined Chelsea players on stage for the trophy presentation.

However, Trump’s restrictive immigration policies have sparked concerns about the ability of international fans to visit the US next year.

In June, the US president imposed travel bans and restrictions on citizens of 19 countries, including Iran, whose national team has already qualified for the 2026 World Cup.

While football is known as the world’s game, the sport has been behind American football, baseball and basketball in popularity in the US. Still, football has been steadily gaining interest in the country over the past decade, a trend accelerated by Argentinian great Lionel Messi’s move to Inter Miami in 2023.

Qatar hosted the last World Cup in 2022, with Argentina lifting the trophy for the third time in their history, cementing the status of Messi as one of the greatest players of all time.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has begun the first steps towards disarmament, closing a chapter on a four-decade armed campaign against the Turkish state in a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people.

A small ceremony was being held on Friday in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region, where 20 to 30 PKK fighters were destroying their weapons rather than surrendering them to any government or authority. The symbolic process is being conducted under tight security and is expected to unfold throughout the summer.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has welcomed the development, declaring it as “totally ripping off and throwing away the bloody shackles that were put on our country’s legs”. Erdogan also said the move would benefit the entire region.

The move follows an announcement in May by the PKK that it would abandon its armed struggle.

For most of its history, the PKK has been labelled a “terrorist” group by Turkiye, the European Union and the United States.

More than 40,000 people were killed between 1984 and 2024, with thousands of Kurds fleeing the violence in southeastern Turkiye into cities further north.

In a video aired earlier this week but recorded in June by the PKK-linked Firat News Agency, the group’s imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan described the moment as “a voluntary transition from the phase of armed conflict to the phase of democratic politics and law”, calling it a “historic gain”.

Ocalan has been held in solitary confinement on Imrali Island in Turkiye since his capture in 1999. Despite his imprisonment, he remains a symbolic figure for the group and broader PKK offshoots across the region.

The disarmament is being closely monitored by members of Turkiye’s Kurdish DEM party, as well as Turkish media. Further phases will take place at designated locations involving coordination between Turkiye, Iraq and the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq.

The effect of the conflict has been deeply felt not only in Turkiye but across neighbouring countries, particularly Iraq, Syria and Iran, where the PKK and its affiliates have maintained a presence.

‘There’s a long way to go’

Reporting from Sulaimaniyah, Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed described the event as “highly symbolic”, with senior figures from both the federal Iraqi government and the semi-autonomous Kurdish regional government in attendance.

Abdelwahed noted that while this marks a significant moment, the road ahead remains uncertain. “This is just the beginning and it seems there’s a long way to go,” he explained. “The PKK also have demands, including the release of their leader Abdullah Ocalan. They want him to come here to northern Iraq and lead, as they say, the democratic process.”

Abdelwahed added that the development signals a major shift for Iraq, where the PKK was officially designated a banned organisation in April last year, following a high-level security meeting between Iraqi and Turkish officials.

Speaking from Istanbul, Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu said Ankara views developments in Sulaimaniyah as a major step forward in ending the conflict that has dragged on for decades. “What is happening in Sulaimaniyah is being seen by Ankara as a critical breakthrough in the decade-long conflict that cost tens of thousands of lives, both from the Turkish side and the Kurdish side,” she said.

The move follows months of direct talks between Turkish officials and Ocalan.

Koseoglu highlighted the political significance of this moment within Turkiye. “This is an important step that Turkish President Erdogan approved this process,” she said, noting that even traditionally hardline groups have shifted position.

“The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which once denounced peace efforts as ‘treason’, now supports the process.”

The pro-Kurdish DEM Party is playing a key facilitation role, and the main opposition CHP – once highly critical of earlier peace attempts – now says it supports efforts to achieve peace, noted Koseoglu.

‘If the PKK leaves, there won’t be any shelling’

In northern Iraq, where the fighting has often spilled over, civilians are cautiously hopeful.

Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed visited communities in the mountainous district of Amedi, near the Turkish border, where villages have been caught in the crossfire.

“Here in northern Iraq, the PKK controls hundreds of villages spread across the semi-autonomous Kurdish region,” said Abdelwahed. “Some have been turned into battlefields, severely limiting access to farmland and making life even more difficult for displaced families who are desperate to return home.”

Shirwan Sirkli, a local farmer, told Al Jazeera that the conflict destroyed his family’s livelihood. “My farm was burned down by shelling as Turkish forces and the PKK brought their conflict to our lands. My brother also lost his $300,000 worth of sheep ranches. Many of our neighbours have left the village – only 35 out of about 100 families remain.”

Turkish military operations in the area have intensified in recent years, with Ankara establishing outposts across the border and frequently attacking PKK positions.

“The presence of PKK fighters in the area has only brought disaster to us,” said Ahmad Saadullah, a local community leader, speaking to Al Jazeera. “If they leave, there won’t be any shelling. We would like to see the peace deal implemented on the ground so we can reclaim our land and live in peace.”

More than 800 homeowners in Pacific Palisades, Altadena and other areas affected by January’s wildfires have applied for rebuilding permits, according to a Times analysis of local government permitting data.

Of those, at least 145 have received approval to start construction on major repairs or replacement of their homes in the cities of Los Angeles, Malibu and Pasadena and in Altadena and other unincorporated areas of L.A. County, the analysis found.

At events this week commemorating the fires’ six-month mark, state and local leaders have celebrated the pace of cleanup efforts, touting their completion months ahead of schedule. Nearly 13,000 households were displaced by the Palisades and Eaton fires, which ripped through the communities Jan. 7 and 8.

“Now we turn the page to rebuilding, and we’re doing it with a clear plan, strong partnerships and the urgency this moment demands,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.

Weekly data analyzed by The Times show an increasing pace of permit applications submitted to local authorities. Homeowners, architects and contractors working on approved projects praised the process as speedy and efficient. But some residents said that despite official promises of removing barriers and rapid turnarounds, they’ve been mired in delays.

At many sites, construction is already underway. Five years ago, while pregnant with her second child, Alexis Le Guier and her husband, Andrew, moved into a newly constructed five-bedroom home in the Palisades’ Alphabet Streets area. A lifelong Angeleno, Le Guier wanted to take advantage of the neighborhood‘s schools and walkability, as well as live closer to her parents in Brentwood. The day after the fire, they started making calls to rebuild their home.

“The thought of moving was unfathomable,” said Le Guier, 41. “Of course I’m coming back. I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”

The Le Guiers, who were underinsured, benefited from having recent architectural plans, which saved them significant time and money. They made minor changes before submitting them to the city and received their permit 40 days later in early June. Their foundation was poured last week and lumber was delivered to the site soon after.

“The thought of moving was unfathomable,” said Alexis Le Guier, 41. “Of course I’m coming back. I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Many of the homeowners who have secured permits similarly had recent plans to work from or other advantages, such as quick insurance payouts, according to several architects and contractors. State and local officials have attempted to streamline the permitting process, especially for those who want to build homes comparable to the ones destroyed, by waiving some development rules and fees and opening “one-stop” centers that centralize planning and building reviews.

Jason Somers, president of Crest Real Estate, a development firm, said the efforts have helped city plan checkers respond to applications with urgency.

“They are getting us permits quicker than we’ve ever seen before,” Somers said.

Somers’ firm is working on nearly 100 fire rebuilding projects, primarily in Pacific Palisades. Most of its clients, Somers said, aren’t ready to submit plans because they’re designing custom homes different from what they had previously. Somers said the city’s response so far encouraged him, but the test would come as the volume of applications increased.

“We shall see what the workflow looks like when we see 1,000 projects,” he said.

As of July 6, 389 homeowners had submitted applications to rebuild in the Palisades, roughly 8% of the 4,700 residential properties destroyed or majorly damaged by the fire, according to The Times’ analysis.

Property owners often need multiple permits. In addition to one for the main structure, the process might involve permits for demolition, electrical infrastructure, swimming pools, if included, and more. The Times’ analysis counts one application for each address no matter how many supplemental permits may be required. Additionally, the L.A. County data are limited to submissions that already have cleared an initial review by county planners.

Generally, applications at both the city and county level have been rising every week. The week of June 22 had the largest number for both the city and county with 36 and 34 submissions, respectively.

The city has approved nearly a quarter of those it’s received. L.A. County has issued permits for 15% of its 352 applications as of July 6, covering Altadena and unincorporated areas affected by the Palisades fire. In Pasadena, 20 property owners have submitted with two approved. For Malibu, 77 homeowners have submitted applications with none approved.

On average, it’s taken 55 days for the city of L.A. to issue a permit, including time it’s waited for applicants to respond to corrections, The Times’ analysis shows. The county process is slower. Once an application has been cleared by county planners, it’s been another 60 days on average for a building permit to be issued, according to the analysis.

Newsom and others, notably former L.A. mayoral candidate Rick Caruso, have criticized the pace of permitting, saying that recovery should be further along. On social media, fire survivors have lamented the red tape they’ve encountered.

Roberto Covarrubias, who has lived with his family in Altadena for a decade, said county officials haven’t delivered on their promises to make the process as fast as possible. His home was built in 2009 and he went to various offices seeking the original architectural plans — his paper copies burned in the fire — only to be told they didn’t exist. Weeks later, after Covarrubias hired a new architect, the county said it had located electronic plans for his old house.

Covarrubias wants to add a cellar to his new home to house the water heater and other machinery. County officials told him doing so would require additional soil testing, which he estimated would take a month and cost another $7,000. After three weeks of back-and-forth with his architect, Covarrubias said the county relented.

Any delay matters, he said. He wants to get ahead of the rush for workers and materials. And his insurance company will not release his payout until his rebuild permits are approved.

“It’s like a waterfall effect,” said Covarrubias, 50, an IT engineer.

His project remains in the permitting pipeline.

City and county officials have had to work through growing pains as they’ve attempted to implement the flurry of executive orders and programs designed to speed rebuilding.

Property owners had waited weeks in the spring, for instance, for guidelines on accessory dwelling unit construction. Last month, after sustained pressure from homeowners, the county agreed to waive permitting fees and refund those who already have paid. (The city waived its fees in April.) Both the city and the county continue testing ballyhooed artificial intelligence software to offer instant corrections to initial permit applications, with activation scheduled for this month.

The city has no immediate plans to hire additional staff or contractors to review permits because its staff is meeting its benchmarks for reviews, according to Gail Gaddi, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety.

“However, we will continue to assess the needs of the department and will consider any adjustments as needed,” Gaddi said.

By contrast, County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents areas affected by the Eaton fire, believes the county will need to add to its workforce to meet the demand.

“There needs to be additional staffing whether it’s contractors or permanent staffing,” said Helen Chavez Garcia, a spokesperson for the supervisor.

One of the more promising ways to expedite permitting is through preapproved architectural designs. The idea is that property owners could pick a model home that local governments already have signed off on, meaning the only further review needed was for issues specific to individual sites. The process has been credited for helping rapid recovery in Santa Rosa after the 2017 Tubbs fire.

Here, Somers’ firm is developing a suite of 50 plans called Case Study 2.0, named after the mid-20th century showcase of Southern California architecture. A newly formed San Gabriel Valley nonprofit, the Foothill Catalog Foundation, separately is hoping to design 50 model homes by the end of the year, said Alex Athenson, an architect and co-founder of the initiative. The catalog has had one design, a three-bedroom bungalow called “The Lewis,” approved by L.A. County. Athenson expects to submit nine more by the end of the month.

If a homeowner chooses a preapproved home, Athenson said, the entire permitting process could take two weeks or less.

“It would be incredible if homeowners can have that ease of access to starting construction,” Athenson said.

The House Oversight Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services held a hearing recently about diversity, equity and inclusion. Fewer than five of the 90 minutes were spent talking about healthcare or anything related to money. Instead, conservative lawmakers wasted time and taxpayers’ dollars advancing an anti-DEI agenda with which they have become obsessed. Anecdotes were more interesting to them than were evidence-based truths about the Americans whom discrimination most harms.

Because the GOP comprises the majority in the House, all but one of the four expert witnesses in the hearing were theirs. Like the three other times I had testified on Capitol Hill, I was the lone Democrat. The Republicans’ strategy was familiar: ask a series of yes/no questions that would require contextualization to answer adequately, then interrupt as the witness attempts to provide a nuanced response.

One question for me from Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas): “Should people be treated differently based on their race?” As I had done in my written testimony, I tried to explain to him that Black, Indigenous, Asian American and Latino American people have long been mistreated because of their race, which has led to persistent and pervasive racial inequities that disadvantage them relative to white people. But he apparently did not want to hear any of those facts, because he kept cutting me off, repeatedly declaring that this was a yes or no question.

Gill posed another question to which he did not allow an informative answer: “Do you believe that race should be considered in employer hiring practices?” For centuries, racism and white supremacy have been powerful determinants of who works where, what they are paid, and their opportunities for advancement to leadership in workplaces across industries. Race should not influence employment outcomes, but it too often has and still does.

Because of both implicit and explicit biases, race influences hiring processes across industries. Research makes painstakingly clear, though, that it is white applicants who most often and most lucratively benefit from preferential treatment. People of color and job seekers with ethnic-sounding last names have long been and continue to be routinely discriminated against, a highly cited University of Chicago study shows.

I do not believe that the remedy for discrimination is more discrimination. Instead, strategy and intentionality are both necessary and required to right past and present wrongs in hiring processes. Because the inequities are racialized and gendered, programs and practices ought to deliberately address the mindsets, structures and systems that have routinely locked irrefutably qualified people of color and women out of well-deserved opportunities. Perhaps had I been allowed to answer fully, Gill and I would have found common ground in our opposition to unlawful workplace discrimination.

Corporations, universities and other organizations need high-quality professional learning experiences that help employees who are involved in hiring processes understand how and why white job applicants are typically presumed to be smarter and more qualified than applicants of color. Gill and other opponents of diversity programs need to learn about these particular manifestations of white supremacy too. They also could benefit from exposure to research that shows how workplace racial stratification systems cyclically route the majority of employees of color into the lowest-paid, lowest-authority jobs and lock them out of leadership positions.

Federal statistics show that 77% of managers across all industries are white. Furthermore, 84% of executive-level leaders at Fortune 100 companies are white, according to a Heidrick & Struggles report. If our positions had been reversed and I were the one posing questions, I would have asked Gill about those statistics: Is it that most white people are just that much more talented and deserving than people of color, or could it be something else? In the midst of our chaotic crosstalk, I was able to make the point that I do not believe that white candidates are the only qualified people for jobs.

“I didn’t say that, nobody said that,” Gill replied. “And you’re not going to intimidate me by slandering me as a racist.” I did not say or imply that he was. However, his mistaken presumption is revealing and unsurprising. It sometimes happens — especially among white people — when simplistic or otherwise problematic positions on race are challenged. I was able to make this clear: “And you’re not going to intimidate me by insisting that I called you a racist.” I reminded him that a hearing transcript confirming what I actually said would be made publicly available.

Gill was in search of yes/no responses to his questions. Racism and racial inequities in employment, university admissions and other processes are far more complicated than that. But if he was indeed only interested in simple truths, there are at least two. First, professionals of color and women are systematically passed over for job opportunities and promotions because of their race and gender considerably more often than are their white male counterparts. Second, diversity policies and programs aim to redress such inequities accrued to employees because of their skin color, nationality, ethnicity, sex, gender, disability, weight, accent, sexual orientation and other traits.

Shaun Harper is a professor of education, business and public policy at the University of Southern California and the author of “Let’s Talk About DEI: Productive Disagreements About America’s Most Polarizing Topics.”

From Jack Harris: For so long, the biggest question surrounding Shohei Ohtani’s future as a pitcher was simple.

When, after a second career Tommy John surgery, would he finally get back on the mound? When, after a year and a half of exclusively hitting, would he be able to resume two-way duties?

Over the last week, that answer finally arrived.

Twice in seven days, Ohtani climbed the bump as the Dodgers’ starter, throwing one inning in each outing in his long-awaited return to pitching.

Both times, he left his teammates and coaches in astonished amazement, giving them their first up-close glimpse of his dual-role skill set.

“I’ve seen [him throw] bullpens and lives and simulated games, or whatever,” manager Dave Roberts said Sunday. “But to kind of watch it in real time, to go from the mound to the on-deck circle and then go to the batter’s box, it’s pretty remarkable. And he’s just handling it the right way. He’s just unflappable.”

What comes next, however, remains shrouded in some uncertainty.

Now that Ohtani is again pitching in live-game action, new questions are lingering about where his buildup will go from here.

“It’s going to be a gradual process,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton on Sunday. “I want to see improvements with the quality of the pitches that I’m throwing, and then also increasing the amount of pitches. So it’s going to be gradual.”

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ANGELS

Zach Neto hit a leadoff homer and rookie Christian Moore had a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in a four-run eighth inning that sent the Angels to a 9-5 win over the Boston Red Sox on Monday night.

LaMonte Wade Jr. opened the eighth with a single off reliever Garret Whitlock (5-1). Wade stole second and went to third when catcher Connor Wong’s throw bounced into center field for an error.

Luis Rengifo walked, and Moore hit a sacrifice fly for a 6-5 lead. A single by Neto, who had three hits, and an intentional walk to Mike Trout loaded the bases with two outs. Taylor Ward walked to force in a run, and Travis d’Arnaud’s two-run single made it 9-5.

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Angels box score

MLB scores

MLB standings

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: Darrell Doucette didn’t mean any disrespect. All the U.S. flag football star wanted to do in an interview that went more viral than any of his numerous highlights was to fight for his sport.

So when he told TMZ in 2024 that he is “better than Patrick Mahomes” at flag football for his IQ of the sport, the generally soft-spoken Doucette wasn’t trying to issue any challenges. Watch the two-time world champion throw touchdowns, catch them, snap the ball and play defense all in the same game and it’s clear he prefers to let his game speak.

“It wasn’t about me vs. them,” said Doucette, who is known in the flag football world by his nickname “Housh.” “It was about flag football, putting eyes on this game.”

With preparations ramping up for the 2028 Olympics, flag football just wants its respect.

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SPARKS

From Anthony De Leon: Well before fans stream into Crypto.com Arena for the Sparks’ rematch against the Phoenix Mercury, Sarah Ashlee Barker is on the court two and a half hours early. The first out of the tunnel, as she’s been all season, she fires off jump shots with a stone-faced expression.

Thrown unexpectedly into a starting role as a rookie, Barker’s rise in the WNBA has outpaced even her own expectations. Amid a season riddled with injuries, the Sparks have leaned on their first-round pick.

On this day, Barker was trying to adjust to a new role coming off the bench after forcing some plays that hindered the team’s success.

Life for a rookie in the WNBA demands adaptability.

An uncommon sight across the league, the Sparks kept all three of their recent draft picks on the roster. They are former college standouts who earned conference honors, with one winning a national championship. But they face far greater physicality, speed and overall grit in the WNBA.

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BOXING

From Jad El Reda: Raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement have sparked fear, protests and the cancellation of several public events throughout the Los Angeles area. Amid the tense climate, more than 100 people recently gathered at the Maywood Boxing Club to watch Julio César Chávez Jr. train as he prepares to face Jake Paul on June 28 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

Chávez, visibly surprised by the turnout, confessed that he did not expect to see so many people given the circumstances.

“I thought there wouldn’t be people here, because of everything happening, but I’m glad they made the time to come,” the Mexican boxing star told L.A. Times en Español moments before beginning his training session.

While they were drawn to the chance to watch a boxing star train, the event also united a community and showed its resilience in the face of adversity.

The last few weeks have been particularly difficult in Los Angeles. Testimonials and videos on social media have documented arrests of immigrants in the middle of public streets, generating a generalized state of fear. Chávez, who has lived in the city for more than a decade, reflected on the impact of the raids.

“It even scared me, to tell you the truth, it is very ugly,” he said. “I don’t understand the situation, why so much violence. There are many good people and you are setting an example of violence to the community.”

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HORSE RACING

From John Cherwa: D. Wayne Lukas, 89, who has been a staple in horse racing since 1968 when he was training quarter horses at Los Alamitos, is leaving the game after contracting a potentially life-ending illness.

In a note to owners and friends on Sunday, Lukas Enterprises announced: “We regret to inform you that D. Wayne Lukas will not be returning to racing. A severe MRSA blood infection has caused significant damage to his heart, digestive system, and worsened pre-existing chronic conditions. The doctors proposed an aggressive treatment plan, involving multiple surgeries and procedures over several months. Even with the best-case scenario, Wayne would require 24/7 assistance to manage daily activities.”

The note goes on to say that Lukas declined the aggressive treatment plan and would “return home to spend his remaining time with his wife, Laurie, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”

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DUCKS

The Ducks traded Trevor Zegras to the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday, ending the exciting forward’s inconsistent half-decade in Orange County.

The Ducks get forward Ryan Poehling and the 45th overall pick in the upcoming draft that initially belonged to Columbus, along with a fourth-round pick next season.

Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said he dealt away the Ducks’ charismatic former leading scorer in part because Zegras no longer fit the Ducks’ roster as they attempt to end their seven-year playoff drought.

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THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1910 — James Braid wins his fifth British Open with a four-stroke victory over Sandy Herd.

1911 — John McDermott becomes the first American-born winner of the U.S. Open when he beats Michael Brady and George Simpson in a playoff. McDermott finishes two strokes better than Brady and five strokes better than Simpson.

1913 — John Henry Taylor wins his fifth and final British Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club at Hoylake, England.

1922 — American Professional Football Association renamed the National Football League.

1922 — Charter NFL club Chicago Staleys renamed Chicago Bears by team founder, owner and head coach George Halas.

1928 — John Farrell beats Bobby Jones by one stroke in a 36-hole playoff to win the U.S. Open.

1947 — Jim Ferrier wins the PGA championship by defeating Chick Harbert 2 and 1 in the final round.

1958 — Brazil, led by 17-year-old Pele, beats France 5-2 in a semifinal of the World Cup. With Brazil up 2-1 in the second half, Pele scores three consecutive goals.

1968 — Joe Frazier stops Mexican challenger Manuel Ramos in 2nd round TKO at NYC’s Madison Square Garden in his first heavyweight boxing title defense.

1968 — Canada’s Sandra Post beats Kathy Whitworth by seven strokes in a playoff to become the first non-U.S. player and rookie to win the LPGA championship.

1980 — The Atlanta Flames relocate to Calgary, Alberta. The NHL team keeps the name “Flames.”

1990 — Criminal Type becomes the first horse to win consecutive $1 million races after capturing the Hollywood Gold Cup. He had previously won the $1 million Pimlico Special on May 12.

1991 — The NHL’s Board of Governors adopts instant replay.

1992 — NBA Draft: LSU center Shaquille O’Neal first pick by Orlando Magic.

1995 — Stanley Cup Final, Meadowlands Arena, East Rutherford, NJ: New Jersey Devils beat Detroit Red Wings, 5-2 for a 4-0 series sweep; Devils’ first Stanley Cup finals appearance.

1998 — NBA Draft: Pacific center Michael Olowokandi first pick by the Clippers.

2000 — Rick DiPietro is the first goalie drafted No. 1 when the New York Islanders select the 18-year-old star from Boston University at the NHL Draft.

2001 — Karrie Webb, 26, captures the LPGA Championship by two strokes to become the youngest woman to complete the Grand Slam.

2004 — NBA Draft: Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy power forward Dwight Howard first pick by Orlando Magic.

2010 — John Isner outlasts Nicolas Mahut in the longest match in tennis history. Isner hits a backhand winner to win the last of the match’s 980 points, and takes the fifth set against Mahut 70-68. The first-round match took 11 hours, 5 minutes over three days, lasting so long it was suspended because of darkness — two nights in a row. Play resumed at 59-all and continued for more than an hour before Isner won 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68.

2010 — John Wall is selected as the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft by the Washington Wizards, and a record number of Kentucky teammates follow him. Four more Wildcats are among the top 30 selections, making them the first school ever to put five players in the first round.

2011 — NHL Draft: Red Deer Rebels (WHL) center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins first pick by Edmonton Oilers.

2013 — Bryan Bickell and Dave Bolland score 17 seconds apart in the final 1:16 of the third period and the Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup with a stunning 3-2 comeback victory in Game 6 over the Boston Bruins.

2016 — NHL Draft: ZSC Lions (NLA) center Auston Matthews first pick by Toronto Maple Leafs.

2018 — Harry Kane scores a hat trick to propel England to its most emphatic World Cup victory and into the knockout stage. With John Stones heading in twice and Jesse Lingard curling in a shot, England beats Panama 6-1 and scores its most goals ever in a World Cup game.

2022 — American Katie Ledecky wins the 800m gold medal in 8:08.04 at the World Swimming Championships in Budapest; completes 400/800/1500m treble for unprecedented 4th time at a single worlds.

2024 — The Florida Panthers win their first title in franchise history defeating the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in Game 7. MVP: Connor McDavid (Oilers C).

THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

1936 — Rookie Joe DiMaggio hit two homers in the fifth inning and added two doubles in the New York Yankees’ 18-4 victory over the St. Louis Browns.

1950 — Wes Westrum of the New York Giants hit three home runs and a triple in a 12-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

1955 — Harmon Killebrew hit his first major league homer, off Billy Hoeft at Griffith Stadium, but the Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators 18-7.

1962 — Jack Reed, a substitute outfielder, hit a homer off Phil Regan in the 22nd inning to give the New York Yankees a 9-7 win over the Detroit Tigers in a game that lasted 7 hours, 22 minutes. It was the only homer Reed hit in the majors.

1968 — Jim Northrup tied a major league record by hitting two grand slams in one game as the Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians 14-3.

1983 — Don Sutton of the Milwaukee Brewers became the eighth pitcher in major league history to strike out 3,000 batters. Sutton’s 3,000th victim was Cleveland’s Alan Bannister in a 3-2 win over the Indians.

1984 — Oakland’s Joe Morgan hit his 265th home run as a second baseman, breaking Roger Hornsby’s career home run record for that position. Morgan’s homer off Frank Tanana was the 267th of his career and led the A’s to a 4-2 win over Texas.

1993 — Carlton Fisk of the White Sox, plays his 2,226th and final major league game, surpassing Bob Boone’s record of 2,225 for most games caught.

1993 — The Marlins obtain OF Gary Sheffield and P Rich Rodriguez from the Padres for P Trevor Hoffman, Andres Berumen and Jose Martinez. The Fish will give Sheffield a four-year contract extension in September.

1994 — Jeff Bagwell hit three homers, two in one inning to tie a major league record, as the Houston Astros beat the Dodgers 16-4.

1997 — Randy Johnson of the Seattle Mariners struck out 19 batters — one short of Roger Clemens’ major league record for a nine-inning game. He became the first AL left-hander to fan 19, but the Oakland Athletics won 4-1.

2002 — Both starters in the first game of the Angels-Texas doubleheader — Joaquin Benoit and Aaron Sele — threw 96 pitches, 53 strikes and 43 balls. Benoit and the Rangers won 8-5.

2003 — Brad Wilkerson hit for the cycle, going 4-for-4 with four RBIs, in Montreal’s 6-4 win over Pittsburgh. It was the first cycle in the majors this season and was performed in sequence — single, double, triple and homer.

2014 — Brothers B.J. and Justin Upton tied the major league record for brothers homering in the same game as teammates, accomplishing the feat for the fourth time, in Atlanta’s 3-2 win over Houston. Other brothers who had homered in the same game four times were Jeremy and Jason Giambi for the Oakland A’s and Vladimir and Wilton Guerrero for the Montreal Expos.

2015 — Pavin Smith homered and drove in three runs and Brandon Waddell turned in another strong College World Series pitching performance, leading Virginia over Vanderbilt 4-2 for the school’s first baseball national championship.

2017 — Three Oakland A’s players, Matt Olson, Jaycob Brugmand and Franklin Baretto, hit their first career home run in a 10-2 win over the White Sox.

2019 — The Yankees tie a record belonging to the 2002 Rangers by homering in their 27th straight game on their way to defeating the Blue Jays.

2018 — The Dodgers set a National League record with seven solo home runs in an 8-7 win over the Mets.

2021 — The Chicago Cubs throw the first combined no-hitter in franchise history beating the Dodgers 4-0. It was the seventh no-hitter of the season.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

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Doctor Who aired its latest season finale on Saturday night, in which the likes of Ncuti Gatwa, Varada Sethu and Millie Gibson appeared to bid farewell to the BBC show

Cast member Varada Sethu has now broken her silence following the season finale of Doctor Who on the weekend. The episode, which featured the departure of her co-star Ncuti Gatwa, is thought to mark her exit from the show.

Varada, 33, played companion Belinda Chandra in the latest season of the BBC show. The character made her debut in the first episode, which aired in April, and then bid farewell to the Doctor – played by Ncuti, 32 – in Saturday’s finale.

The actor has since addressed her apparent departure from Doctor Who in a lengthy post shared on Instagram today. Varada wrote about her experience as a cast member alongside various photos, including several of her and Ncuti.

She wrote in the caption: “Wow wow wow wow wow. I’m sooo late to the party (as always), but needed to take a few days to process this show, this finale and everything & everyone it has brought into my life, what it all means.

“My heart has doubled in size. I have felt so so full of gratitude and love, I still feel I haven’t found the words to express it. It has been a true gift to know a woman like Belinda, I will never forget our journey together.”

Praising her co-stars, she continued by writing: “Thank you [Ncuti] for being my partner in crime, my beloved Doctor. You are unending, pure magic, what a privilege it’s been to bear witness to it. Mom & Dad forever. My sweet angel [Millie Gibson], thank you for your kindness, for always lifting me up, you have stolen everyone’s hearts!! I cannot wait to see what life has in store for you.”

Varada then expressed gratitude for some colleagues who worked behind-the-scenes. She wrote: “For teaching me and showing me love & support like I’ve never known before.” She added in the post this week: “Thank you to every beautiful soul involved in this madness.”

She concluded: “And of course to the beautiful fans, thank you soooo much for embracing Belinda, for all the kind words, all the joy! I think I finally understand what you meant [Russell T. Davies] when you said my life would never be the same. I feel transformed. Thank you thank you thank you.”

The post has amassed more than 16,000 likes and former colleagues reacted in the comments section. Ncuti wrote: “MOM AND DAD FOREVER. Love you endlessly.” Whilst co-star Millie said in her reply to Varada: “I LOVE YOU.”

Varada’s post comes after lead Ncuti addressed his own departure from Doctor Who. Last week’s season finale, the Reality War, on Saturday night saw his Fifteenth Doctor regenerate – showing Billie Piper in his place – in a bid to save Poppy (played by Sienna-Robyn Mavanga-Phipps), who in one reality was the child of the Doctor and Belinda.

In a video message shared by the BBC, Ncuti said: “It’s a role that demands a lot of you physically and emotionally and mentally. The actors playing the Doctor are only actors playing the Doctor. Unfortunately, we are mere mortals.”

Ncuti, who also reflected on the experience elsewhere in the video, released on Saturday, added: “I would love to have the energy and the youth to be able to do this full time for the rest of my life, but my knees are telling me it’s time.”

And in a statement, he said: “You know when you get cast, at some point you are going to have to hand back that sonic screwdriver and it is all going to come to an end, but nothing quite prepares you for it. This journey has been one that I will never forget and a role that will be part of me forever.”

Ncuti said elsewhere in the statement: “The fans are truly the final character and beating heart of this show and I can’t thank the Whoniverse, and the Whovians, enough for welcoming me in, and making this such a touching experience. I’ve loved every minute of it, but now is the time to hand over the keys to that beloved blue box.”

There had been speculation over his potential departure in recent months. It came after Ncuti, who starred in two seasons of Doctor Who, reportedly revealed in an unaired moment on the Graham Norton Show in October last year that he would be “filming the third series next year”.

Amid recent speculation, just days prior to the finale’s broadcast, the BBC confirmed to the Mirror that Ncuti had not been “axed”. A spokesperson told us at the time: “Whilst we never comment on the future of the Doctor, any suggestion that Ncuti Gatwa has been ‘axed’ is pure fiction.”

Addressing the future of the show, they added: “As we have previously stated, the decision on season 3 will be made after season 2 airs and any other claims are just pure speculation. The deal with Disney+ was for 26 episodes – and we still have an entire spin off, The War Between the Land and the Sea, to air. And as for the rest, we never comment on the Doctor and future storylines.”

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