Published on •Updated
The European Commission unveiled on Wednesday a legislative proposal allowing EU public authorities to favour European companies in public procurement for key public services such as energy, water, railways, ports, airports and postal services.
The move comes as European policymakers seek to shield the bloc’s market from China amid heated trade negotiations, as the EU grapples with a trade deficit with Beijing of roughly €1 billion a day.
Public procurement markets in Europe represent €2 trillion every year — 15% of Europe’s GDP.
“Public money must serve our collective interests,” Commission Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné said on Wednesday. “A public buyer will be able to organise his European preference and to exclude operators coming from countries with which we do not agree on public markets, both on the basis of the nationality of the company or on the base of the origin of the products.”
Under the Commission’s proposal, EU public authorities will be able to exclude non-European companies from public contracts when they come from countries that do not allow Europeans access to their own public procurement markets.
“A municipality will be very clearly able to exclude a Chinese company or a European company that offers Chinese products,” Séjourné added. “It will also be able to give more points and more visibility in his offer to European offers compared to competition offers.”
The Commission proposes that at least 30% of the evaluation of supplies for public procurement rely on quality criteria and not only on price, which will also hit low-cost Chinese products.
“The new standard is the best quality-price ratio, and not just the price,” Séjourné said. “Our choices must also be able to meet social and environmental demands, but also sovereignty.”
The legislation, which still has to be adopted by the EU co-legislators — the European Parliament and the EU Council — prompted a swift reaction from China. In a statement released after the commission’s announcement, China’s Chamber of Commerce to the EU said that such a European preference could “distort a level playing field” for Chinese companies participating in the European public procurement market.
“Public procurement should not discriminate against suppliers or goods on the basis of the supplier’s nationality or the country of origin of the goods.”
In March, another proposal creating a European preference in EU strategic sectors such as green tech, cars and energy-intensive industries also prompted Chinese ire, with Beijing threatening to retaliate.
EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič will travel to China in early October, hoping to reach a political deal with Beijing to rebalance the trade relationship with the EU.
Published on •Updated
The European Commission unveiled on Wednesday a legislative proposal allowing EU public authorities to favour European companies in public procurement for key public services such as energy, water, railways, ports, airports and postal services.
The move comes as European policymakers seek to shield the bloc’s market from China amid heated trade negotiations, as the EU grapples with a trade deficit with Beijing of roughly €1 billion a day.
Public procurement markets in Europe represent €2 trillion every year — 15% of Europe’s GDP.
“Public money must serve our collective interests,” Commission Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné said on Wednesday. “A public buyer will be able to organise his European preference and to exclude operators coming from countries with which we do not agree on public markets, both on the basis of the nationality of the company or on the base of the origin of the products.”
Under the Commission’s proposal, EU public authorities will be able to exclude non-European companies from public contracts when they come from countries that do not allow Europeans access to their own public procurement markets.
“A municipality will be very clearly able to exclude a Chinese company or a European company that offers Chinese products,” Séjourné added. “It will also be able to give more points and more visibility in his offer to European offers compared to competition offers.”
The Commission proposes that at least 30% of the evaluation of supplies for public procurement rely on quality criteria and not only on price, which will also hit low-cost Chinese products.
“The new standard is the best quality-price ratio, and not just the price,” Séjourné said. “Our choices must also be able to meet social and environmental demands, but also sovereignty.”
The legislation, which still has to be adopted by the EU co-legislators — the European Parliament and the EU Council — prompted a swift reaction from China. In a statement released after the commission’s announcement, China’s Chamber of Commerce to the EU said that such a European preference could “distort a level playing field” for Chinese companies participating in the European public procurement market.
“Public procurement should not discriminate against suppliers or goods on the basis of the supplier’s nationality or the country of origin of the goods.”
In March, another proposal creating a European preference in EU strategic sectors such as green tech, cars and energy-intensive industries also prompted Chinese ire, with Beijing threatening to retaliate.
EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič will travel to China in early October, hoping to reach a political deal with Beijing to rebalance the trade relationship with the EU.
THE Great British Bake Off is back in a matter of weeks with a new horde of amateur bakers wanting to prove their skills to the judges.
But did you know that the Channel 4 series films on the grounds of a stunning manor house and you can visit the estate for yourself next month?
Welford Park, a country house in Berkshire, has been GBBO’s filming location since 2014 – and members of the public usually aren’t allowed inside.
For the majority of the year, the 17th century estate is a private family home and working farm.
However, it does open for seasonal events and will open its doors to the public in October for its Spectacle of Light trail.
It will see the grounds, woods and gardens is lit up with lanterns and beautiful light displays for families to explore.
New for this year is its Alice’s Amazing Adventures in Wonderland where you’ll spot the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat – and even the Queen of Hearts.
There’s food and drink too from hot chocolates to toasted marshmallows and plenty more at Food Truck Village where there’s also a Tipi Bar.
It’s received high praise by families too with one visitor called it a “a magical winter event”.
They added: “The lights at this event were spectacular and the children were in awe of them, as were the adults. The formal gardens in particular were stunning. Hot chocolates were some of the best we’ve had.”
The light trail will be on at Welford Park between October 22 and November 7.
Tickets start from £24 per adult and £14.50 per child (3-15) – infants between 0-2 go free.
For those who want to see the grounds in all their glory, they will reopen to the public for snowdrop season.
Between January 27 and February 28 will be its Winter Gardens & Snowdrops event that has been a tradition for the last 50 years.
The snowdrops flood the grounds of the woods and sit along the riverbanks of the River Lambourn and the gardens.
The gates open at 11am and last entry is 4pm (it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays).
Tickets start from £12 per adult and £8 per child (4-15) – under 4’s go free.
Stella Parton has released a public plea as the family continues to mourn her sister Dolly Parton’s death last month at the age of 80.
Late last week in an Instagram statement, Stella Parton thanked fans for the “genuine” support, urging them to use her sister’s life as an “example for tolerance and respect towards others.”
At the same time, she asked them to “show more compassion and wisdom.”
The 77-year-old singer-songwriter says the family has been subjected to “pressure” and “insensitivity” from strangers following the death of Dolly, who died on Aug. 25 after a private battle with cancer.
“There is a tremendous amount of [artificial intelligence] and endless garbage being posted everyday and it’s been challenging to absorb and or ignore,” Stella wrote in her Sept. 4 statement. “As time passes, those who are in the business of exploiting the loss and tragedies of others on a daily basis will move on to the next stampede of endless misinformation.”
While it is not clear what AI content Stella was referring to, AI-generated images of Dolly surged online following her death.
On Aug. 27, President Trump uploaded a fake image on Truth Social of the two walking around the White House . Another online user created an AI song that has amassed over 1.5 million views since its upload on Aug. 25. The song was falsely credited to pop singer Miley Cyrus, Dolly’s goddaughter..
“She loved her fans and the public in general. That is the reason she chose not to express her opinions on a lot of things like politics, religion and individuals in the public eye,” Stella wrote in the Instagram post. “She knew as well as anyone what a negative vortex that could turn into which is nothing but a huge waste of positive energy.”
Last year, Dolly critiqued AI content when clearing rumors surrounding her health, which swirled online after sister Freida Parton asked the public for prayers in a Facebook post on Oct. 7, 2025, in which she stated that the singer “hasn’t been feeling her best lately.”
“Did you see that AI picture of Reba and me? Oh lordy, I mean, they had Reba at my death bed and we both looked like we need to be buried,” Dolly said on Instagram on Oct. 8, 2025.
Toward the end of her Instagram statement, Stella said her plea is less about the “fake AI garbage” or “snarky tweets,” and more about encouraging the community to look within: “How will you feel about yourself? It’s not about what other individuals you will never meet think of you!”
Stella Parton is best known for her 1975 hit “I Want to Hold You in My Dreams Tonight” and a country and gospel discography that spans 21 studio albums. Also known for her acting in “The Dukes of Hazzard” and “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” Stella made the distinction between her and her older sister clear at the end of her statement: “I’ve always embraced my own personality and will continue to be myself and express my opinions as I deem appropriate regardless of what anyone thinks of me.”
“Dolly loved the world and everyone in it,” Stella wrote on Aug. 27 on Instagram in her first statement after her sister’s death. “I would criticize and complain about it and she would laugh and say; ‘shoot Tedda, we’ve got more important things to do than worry about their silly a—.’ She was right, and she proved it every day.”
The Los Angeles federal public defender’s office on Friday joined a renewed effort to oust Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Southern California, accusing the government of “playing shadow games with the most consequential powers a government can wield against its population.”
Citing a recent order from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in United States v. Jackson, the public defender’s office renewed a motion seeking to disqualify Essayli from participating in or supervising the prosecution of their client, Jaime Ramirez.
The federal appellate court ruled last month that the Department of Justice cannot keep an official who has not been confirmed by the Senate in charge of a U.S. attorney’s office simply by giving that person a different title and the full powers of the job.
In their motion filed Friday, James Anglin Flynn and Ayah A. Sarsour, deputy federal public defenders, accused the government of asking them “to trust that there are some undisclosed limits on Essayli’s authority that render it valid.”
“The buck should stop here, and it should stop now,” they wrote.
The U.S. attorney’s office in L.A. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
H. Dean Steward, a defense attorney, first kicked off the renewed effort last week, filing a motion asking Senior U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright to reconsider his prior ruling. Steward argued that Essayli should not be allowed to continue leading the office.
Seabright previously disqualified Essayli as acting U.S. attorney in October, finding he was “not lawfully serving” in the top role. But Seabright — who was appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush — said the court had “no basis to preclude Essayli from performing the lawful duties” of first assistant U.S. attorney, which left the door open for him to remain in charge.
Seabright scheduled a hearing for Oct. 13 on the latest motion. At a Zoom hearing on Aug. 28, Seabright appeared to signal which way he is leaning.
“I’m not sure if the government is just saying my decision was different from Jackson and therefore it stands. I’m not sure that passes muster given how the 9th Circuit ruled in Jackson,” Seabright said. “I think there’s going to have to be more in-depth briefing than the government has given me to date.”
The federal appellate court ruling stemmed from a challenge to the authority of Nevada’s top federal prosecutor, Sigal Chattah, whom the Justice Department had designated “first assistant” U.S. attorney. With no one above her in the office, Chattah has seemingly been calling the shots on federal prosecutions in the state, handling cases referred by the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and other law enforcement agencies.
The Justice Department previously said it disagreed with the 9th Circuit’s decision and plans to appeal it to the Supreme Court. The agency did not respond to questions about what effect the ruling could have on Essayli.
The Trump administration has used a similar workaround to keep Essayli running the U.S. attorney’s office in L.A. without going through the Senate confirmation process, where he likely would have faced strong opposition from California’s elected representatives.
Essayli, 40, has continued leading the federal prosecutor’s office in the Central District of California as “first assistant” despite a federal judge’s ruling last year that said he was unlawfully serving as the acting U.S. attorney. The Justice Department did not appeal that ruling.
Instead, Essayli’s office has maintained that he can prosecute and supervise cases as first assistant. He also was appointed as a “special attorney” by the Trump administration, a title similarly held by Chattah in Nevada.
“To be sure, First Assistant Essayli may be the highest-ranking DOJ lawyer in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and (like many in the office) he supervises others,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Alexander P. Robbins said in a filing last month. “But that cannot make him a “de facto” U.S. Attorney, and he does not purport to exercise “all of the functions of [that] office.”
Flynn and Sarsour pushed back on that claim in their motion, arguing that the government “is asking this Court to accept a theory that the Ninth Circuit rejected, nearly verbatim less than three weeks ago.” The government, they wrote, “appears to be asking this Court to consider and approve a hypothetical delegation to Essayli of some subset of the U.S. Attorney powers.”
“For over a year, this illegal exercise of prosecutorial powers has violated Mr. Ramirez’s constitutional rights and undermined the legitimacy of the criminal justice system in this district,” Flynn and Sarsour wrote. “In line with Jackson, two other Courts of Appeals have now affirmed the common-sense remedy that this illegality should be stopped.”
The deputy federal public defenders said a defense analysis identified invalid service as acting or de facto U.S. Attorneys in at least 16 districts across the country.
A former Republican member of the California state Assembly from Riverside, Essayli has used his position to act as one of Trump’s fiercest legal foot soldiers. He has pursued criminal charges against protesters, activists and immigrants while dropping cases involving administration allies and supporting lawsuits challenging transgender and environmental policies in California.
Essayli was sworn in as interim U.S. attorney in April 2025. Around the time he hit that role’s 120-day limit, he resigned from his interim role and was allowed to continue under his current titles by then-Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi.
Challenges to Essayli’s position were brought in several criminal cases, with defense lawyers arguing that charges filed under his watch are invalid and should be dismissed. The federal public defender’s office in L.A. had asked the judge to disqualify Essayli from participating in and supervising criminal prosecutions.
The Quintanilla family is taking their personal disputes to the public.
On Tuesday, A.B. Quintanilla III — brother of the late Tejana singer Selena Quintanilla — uploaded a statement to Instagram claiming that there is a lawsuit involving Suzette Quintanilla Arriaga, as well as “facts and circumstances” related to their father, Abraham Quintanilla Jr.
According to the Latin Grammy-winning producer and songwriter, the lawsuit began a “few months ago,” but he shared that the circumstances surrounding the case have been simmering for years.
“What led me to this point did not start a few months ago. It comes from years,” stated A.B. “Years of accumulated situations, decisions and circumstances that for a long time I chose to keep silent out of respect, out of loyalty, and above all, because it involved my own family.”
While no clear wrongdoing was presented in his statement, the Kumbia Kings musician shared that, when the time is right, he will disclose his side of the story. “I was never the type to wait for the paycheck from someone else’s hard work to come to my door,” he added.
After his post, Suzette and Marcella Quintanilla, their mother, published a joint statement Wednesday morning on the official Selena Instagram account, claiming that the parties involved were not served a lawsuit, nor have they been able to locate the alleged lawsuit in public records.
“[Suzette] has received no court-filed complaint, summons, petition, or other legal pleading concerning the allegations A.B. is describing,” read their statement. “So, we ask a simple question: What lawsuit? Where was it filed? What is the case number?”
In a subsequent Instagram post uploaded Wednesday by A.B., he alleged that Suzette and her lawyers were notified with the corresponding documents via mail and electronic mail; the carousel also contained a letter by Manatt, Phelps & Phillips addressed to Michael A. Trauben, Esq., of Sign, Sign & Trauben.
“She was notified of a lawsuit related to her fiduciary duties, that is, her legal obligations to act with loyalty, transparency and in the best interests of those she was responsible to,” read the statement uploaded by A.B. “She responded, but did not provide what was being requested: contracts, documentation and financial information.”
The Times attempted to locate the lawsuit in Nueces County, Texas, court — headquarters for Q-Productions, an entertainment company founded by Abraham, as well as the Selena Museum — but was unable to locate any case filings related to “Suzette Quintanilla” or “Suzette Arriaga.”
The only available case involving Suzette is a California lawsuit she filed against clothing company Shein in March over unauthorized merchandise that featured her late sister.
In their Sept. 2 Instagram post, Suzette and Marcella claimed that A.B.’s insinuations concerning Suzette, Abraham and the overall Quintanilla family were false.
The pair also addressed rumors that Suzette is selling personal belongings related to Selena, stating that “any potential sale of an ownership interest in a company is entirely separate and should not be mischaracterized as the sale of Selena’s personal items.”
“There was no theft by Suzette. Suzette has not stolen, misappropriated, or improperly taken money or property belonging to A.B., Abraham, Chris, Selena’s estate or any family-owned or jointly owned business,” read the statement. “If A.B. has evidence that Suzette stole or misappropriated anything, he should present it.”
This online dispute comes almost nine months after Abraham’s death on Dec. 13, 2025. The patriarch played a crucial role in the development of his daughter Selena’s career, establishing his family-led band Selena y Los Dinos in the 1980s as a way to meet financial needs. With A.B. on bass, Suzette on drums and Selena as the tender vocalist, the group would eventually sign their first recording contract with Freddie Records in 1984.
In 1995, after Selena’s tragic death at the hands of Yolanda Saldivar, the former president of her fan club, Abraham dedicated his life to safeguarding her legacy and overseeing primary control over her estate. This included managing the rights to her image, name and likeness — at times, to controversial ends.
“If he is alleging wrongdoing by Abraham, he should clearly state what he is alleging rather than leaving the public to speculate about a man that is no longer here to respond for himself,” stated Suzette and Marcella jointly.
A.B. and Suzette’s representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In his Wednesday Instagram statement, A.B affirmed that more information will be shared via his lawyer on Friday.
A new three-part documentary series on Netflix will explore the life and struggles of Matthew Perry and feature an interview with his sister Mia Perry Bowick, along with unreleased photos and videos from the private archive of the Perry family.
“The One About Matthew Perry” will premiere on the streaming platform Oct. 27, according to an announcement by Netflix on Tuesday. The docuseries, directed and executive produced by award-winning director Mary Robertson (“Quiet on Set”), will tell the story of Perry and his journey from rising comedic star to the man behind the Emmy-nominated role of Chandler Bing on “Friends.”
“Through his many films, TV and stage performances, and his unforgettable portrayal of Chandler Bing, he made millions of us laugh, connect, and feel a little less alone,” Robertson said in a statement. “He also gave us so much more by bravely speaking about addiction. Yet the public only knew part of his story. That’s why we set out to make this series: to let the people who knew and loved Matthew reveal the person behind the public figure.”
The documentary will explore new details about Perry’s private struggles with prescription painkillers and alcohol through firsthand memories from his family and collaborators. The actor died in 2023 from acute effects of ketamine, according to the Los Angeles County medical examiner. Five people were sentenced to prison for supplying Perry with the drug, including his assistant, two doctors, a former drug counselor and a drug dealer known as the “Ketamine queen.”
Perry Bowick hopes the series gives everyone who loved him an appreciation of who he truly was and the legacy he leaves behind.
“It’s taken time for me to feel ready to share these memories and what it was like to love Matthew through all the complexity of his life — to see him as a whole person, not just as Chandler, and not just as someone who struggled with addiction,” she said in a statement.
“The One About Matthew Perry” is the latest documentary about the late actor; “Matthew Perry: An American Tragedy” was released on Peacock last year. The Netflix docuseries is produced by Maxine Productions, a part of Sony Pictures Television. Lisa Kalikow, Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman are executive producers along with Robertson, Lora Moftah is co-executive producer and Jessica Call is producer.
California lawmakers have passed legislation that will make it easier for government agencies to protect themselves from the rising use of artificial intelligence for public comment, records requests and other forms of civic engagement.
Senate Bill 1159 from Sen. Christopher Cabaldon (D-West Sacramento) prohibits anyone from knowingly using AI to falsely represent that a real person engaged with a government agency. It also specifies that agencies are not required to treat engagement from AI or bots as if they were real humans.
“What we have seen with the result of the advent of artificial intelligence and other similar technologies is the capability for these systems to flood the zone — to drown local governments, and potentially state agencies as well, in inauthentic, non-human engagement” Cabaldon said during a March meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The legislation was introduced shortly after a February report from The Times about a campaign to sway a vote on gas-powered appliances at the South Coast Air Quality Management District. A Southern California based public affairs consultant named Matt Klink took credit for the campaign, stating that he used a platform called CiviClick to flood the district with 20,000 public comments opposing the rule ahead of the air board’s vote.
CiviClick describes itself on its website as “the first and best AI-powered grassroots advocacy platform.” Company officials maintain that AI was not used in the AQMD campaign, but said it is a tool they offer and use in other campaigns. Chief executive Chazz Clevinger said he could not share how the 20,000 comments to the air board were generated or how constituents were identified and contacted.
Agency insiders said the onslaught of emails almost certainly influenced the air board’s decision to reject the proposed rules, which would have imposed fees on new gas-powered furnaces and water heaters for some 10 million appliances across the South Coast region.
Cabaldon cited The Times story when he introduced the legislation, noting that at least three people contacted by the air district said they had not submitted the public comments attached to their names.
He also cited a report from the San Francisco Chronicle about a similar campaign to sway a different rule at the Bay Area Management District, which was run through a platform called Speak4 that advertises its ability to produce custom AI-powered letters.
The business advocacy group that ran the campaign also denied that AI was used. However, 10 people contacted by The Chronicle said they had not written the letters attributed to them. “This was forged,” one person said.
Reached by phone, Cabaldon said the legislation will help public agencies navigate how to respond to the deployment of AI, which is increasingly being used in a way that “swamps our civic engagement process, but also disables our state and local governments altogether.”
For example, the California Public Records Act requires government agencies to respond to requests for public records within 10 days, while the Brown Act and the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act guarantee the right to participate in public meetings and provide public comment.
“The point of the bill is to say that these laws are about humans, and just because it comes in the form that a human would write it, does not mean you have to treat each of these communications as if it’s a human being, and therefore, AI is not entitled to 10 days, AI is not entitled to three minutes at the school board meeting,” he said.
Experts said the use of AI for “astroturfing,” or faking, civic engagement is a growing trend. In the United Kingdom, a service called Objector.ai is using AI to identify and generate formal objections to local planning applications, garnering the concern of experts, The Guardian reported.
Public officials in California are worried, too. Vacaville vice mayor Michael Silva said the city has been receiving AI-generated public records requests, which are slowing its ability to respond to other legitimate requests submitted by residents.
Dylan Plummer, deputy director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Heat Campaign, said many AI campaigns have benefited the fossil fuel industry and pose an “existential threat to public participation in our democracy.”
“The passage of Senate Bill 1159 is an important step to clarify the law and discourage the use of emerging technologies to falsify public records and mislead regulators in California,” he said. “That said, much work still needs to be done to understand how widespread this practice is, and to hold bad actors accountable for laws that may have already been broken.”
Lawmakers acknowledged that the legislation is just a start, and that it is increasingly difficult for public officials to detect bespoke letters, deepfake videos or other kinds of engagement powered by AI. The bill authorizes government agencies to use disclosure verification tools to determine if AI is present — something the Bay Area Air District already indicated it may do by replacing its email system with a website for public comment submissions instead.
The legislation does not preclude real people from using AI to facilitate genuine public engagement, such as someone using ChatGPT or Perplexity to improve the text of a letter, so long as the volume and frequency of their engagement are consistent with ordinary participation from a real person.
For its part, CiviClick notes on its website that it supports SB 1159, and said its platform already complies with what the bill proposes.
Some lawmakers said the use of AI in a civic capacity represents a new frontier.
“If I’d have read this bill back when I was on the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, I would have wondered what you were smoking,” Sen. Roger Niello (R-Fair Oaks) said during the March meeting of the Judiciary Committee.
“But that’s how things have progressed, and the development of technology will always outpace the development of defenses against the undesirable effects of technology,” he said.
SB 1159 passed the legislature this month and will head to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk for signature in September.
Falling Republican support, rising gas prices, and fears of a long conflict drive a decline in backing for the Iran war.
Published On 24 Aug 202624 Aug 2026
Support in the United States for the war on Iran has fallen as President Donald Trump’s approval remains at a record low, a Reuters/Ipsos poll suggests.
Public backing for the war has dropped to its lowest level since the early stages of the conflict, with declining Republican support contributing to the shift, according to the poll released on Monday.
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Just 31 percent of Americans surveyed said they support US military action against Iran, down from 37 percent in March and 34 percent earlier this month. Support among Republican respondents fell to 69 percent, compared with 77 percent in March.
The war is also continuing to weigh on Trump’s standing with the public, the poll suggests. For the second consecutive Reuters/Ipsos survey, 33 percent of respondents said they approved of Trump’s performance as president, matching the lowest approval rating recorded in the polling series across his first and second terms.
Trump has defended the military campaign as necessary to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. The conflict began on February 28 with US and Israeli attacks on Iran.
But the economic effects of the war remain a concern for Americans. Iran has maintained a de facto blockade of oil exports from the region, contributing to a rise in US petrol prices to near record highs.
The Trump administration has also announced recent pledges to increase economic pressure on Iran. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said on Monday that the US would target all of Iran’s sources of revenue, including oil, with the aim of preventing other countries and companies from doing business with Tehran. The campaign is dubbed “Operation Economic Outcast”.
A growing majority of Americans expect the war to continue for some time, the poll suggests. Eighty-three percent of respondents said they believe the conflict will last for an extended period, up from 80 percent earlier this month.
The prospect of a lengthy war presents a challenge for Trump, who campaigned for the presidency in 2024 on promises to bring down inflation and to adopt an “America First” strategy of avoiding foreign military engagements.
Six months into the conflict, petrol prices are more than $1 per gallon (3.8 litres) higher than they were before the war, adding to economic pressure ahead of November’s midterm elections.
The higher fuel costs could also create difficulties for Republicans defending narrow congressional majorities.
The poll suggests that independent voters favour Democrats over Republicans when asked which party they would support in a congressional election held today. Among independents, 33 percent said they would vote for a Democrat, compared with 19 percent who said they would choose a Republican.
The Reuters/Ipsos survey questioned 1,215 adults across the United States over four days and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points in either direction.
AVROTROS says escalating international conflicts are undermining the event’s neutrality and fuelling divisions.
Published On 24 Aug 202624 Aug 2026
The public broadcaster in the Netherlands has announced it will not participate in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest because the event can “no longer be considered neutral” due to ongoing divisions over the war in Gaza.
“It is undeniable that international conflicts are increasingly affecting the Contest, undermining its neutral character. The Eurovision Song Contest has therefore become a platform for division,” said Taco Zimmerman, Director-General of AVROTROS, in a statement on Monday.
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The widely-watched show has recently faced a series of boycotts over Israel’s participation. Organisers announced earlier this month that they would exclude any country involved in an armed conflict from hosting the competition.
“However, the recently announced changes… do not provide sufficient confidence that the independent and neutral character of the Eurovision Song Contest has been restored,” the AVROTROS statement added.
Israel finished second in the competition – the world’s largest live televised music event – in both 2025 and 2026.
Next year’s Eurovision is due to be held in Bulgaria’s Black Sea city of Burgas, after Bulgarian singer Darina Yotova, known as Dara, won this year’s contest in Vienna, Austria, with her catchy floor-filler ‘Bangaranga’. The contest on May 15 will be the first time the Balkan nation has hosted.
Since its launch in 1955, Eurovision has become the ultimate pop platform, catapulting Swedish icons ABBA to worldwide fame, while also boosting the careers of artists such as Celine Dion, Cliff Richard and Olivia Newton-John.
However, this year’s competition pulled in 131 million viewers, 35 million fewer than last year, after five countries boycotted over Israel’s participation. The Netherlands, Iceland, Spain, Ireland, and Slovenia all pulled out, with the latter three refusing to broadcast the show at all.
AN abandoned UK village will open to the public for a limited time at the end of the month.
The town, which has been frozen in time since World War II, remains cut off from the world for most of the year.
For just 12 days out of the year, history fans and nature lovers travel to the village of Imber in Wiltshire, which has not been occupied since 1943.
During the second World War, the town’s 150 residents were given 47 days to evacuate their homes so the village could be turned into a military training area for American troops preparing for D-Day.
While they were promised they would be able to return after the war, the village is still occupied by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to this day.
Once every few months, the public is invited to visit the town for free, with roads opening through Imber until 6pm during the August Bank Holiday weekend.
Public access has been granted to the village as well as the Grade I-listed St Giles Church, which will be open from 11am to 4pm daily.
The original surviving building is free to visit during open days with any donations going towards the Churches Conservation Trust (CCT) for maintenance and restoration.
Along with an old pub, the church is one of the few remaining original structures in the village.
Most of the larger stone buildings were damaged during military training, and were subsequently demolished.
Meanwhile, houses in the village are either hollowed-out shells or have been converted into windowless buildings to simulate urban environments for military training.
Those who once lived in the village have the right to be buried on the church grounds, with undisturbed wildlife now the only living residents.
Imber also holds open days during the Christmas and New Year period as well as at Easter, with all visitors required to adhere to the public rights of way and designated areas, and comply with signposting.
When Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass amplified the results last week of a favorable political poll that turned out to be fake, she was inadvertently following in the footsteps of conservative Detroit singer Kid Rock.
In 2017, as Rock — real name Robert Ritchie — publicly contemplated a run for U.S. Senate is his home state of Michigan, he posted on social media the results of a poll conducted by a firm calling itself Delphi Analytica that showed him leading Democratic incumbent Debbie Stabenow.
But those results were bogus. The people behind Delphi Analytica took down their website and refused to be identified, telling a local reporter: “Thanks again and go kid rock.”
Little is known about who was responsible for a poll supposedly conducted by an outfit calling itself Median Strategies showing Bass with a wide lead in the L.A. mayoral race over Councilmember Nithya Raman.
The group told The Times on Monday that its results were also fake.
But the episode has revived questions about whether political polling can be trusted, particularly in light of several recent high-profile primary races in which the polls seemed to have gotten the results wrong.
In the Michigan Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, a number of preelection polls showed progressive Abdul El-Sayed holding a commanding, double-digit lead over Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), but on election night, El-Sayed eked out a one-point victory.
In Wisconsin, numerous polls showed progressive state Rep. Francesca Hong leading Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley in the Democratic primary for governor. Crowley narrowly defeated Hong in the primary.
Median Strategies — the entity behind the fake Los Angeles poll — claimed on social media that it had also conducted polling in the Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial race and that it had also gotten it wrong about Hong.
Polling in primary elections can be particularly difficult, because it can be hard to know who will actually show up on election day, said Christian Grose, a USC political science professor. Both Michigan and Wisconsin also hold open primaries, meaning that any voter can cast a ballot in a race, regardless of party affiliation, making it harder for pollsters to predict exactly who will cast a ballot on election day.
Experts say fake polls are exceedingly rare but that these recent election results highlight the differences between high- and low-quality polls and how much easier it has become to conduct less rigorous polling.
“The barriers to entry are a lot lower now than they were 20 to 30 years ago,” said Charles Franklin, a professor of law and public policy at Marquette Law School who conducts the Marquette Law School Poll.
Put simply, a poll is a series of questions asked of a sample of people in a given locality, state or country whose opinions are supposed to represent the attitudes of everyone in the coverage area of the poll. Pollsters typically weigh the responses they receive — sometimes amplifying the voices of respondents from a particular ethnic group, for example — to ensure that the results are representative of the population they are surveying.
For decades, survey respondents were typically contacted by phone.
That work was expensive, Franklin said.
“You needed a call center, you needed to hire interviewers and you needed some sort of data processing,” he said.
But now as modes of communication have changed — many people have ditched landlines and are hesitant to answer calls from unknown numbers on their cellphone — polling operations have adopted a wide variety of methods to try to contact survey respondents, including e-mail, text-messages and online surveys, which sometimes offer incentives to encourage participation.
Online polls can be conducted much more cheaply than polling using other modes of communication, but the quality can also vary widely.
Historically, most polls randomly contacted survey respondents, backed by research showing that a random sample of the population — adjusted appropriately by demographics and other factors — would give a more accurate picture of the public’s attitude on a particular question.
But not all online polling relies on a randomly selected group of respondents, and when respondents are offered an incentive — such as cash — to complete an online survey, it can lead to inaccurate results.
The Pew Research Center released a report in 2024 showing that these so-called opt-in surveys did a particularly bad job of capturing the attitudes of adults under 30 and Latino adults. Researchers at Pew, for example, asked respondents in one survey if they were licensed to operate a type of nuclear submarine. In the survey, 12% of respondents under 30 said yes. In reality, the share of people under 30 holding such a license “rounds to zero,” the report said.
While even legitimate pollsters can get election results wrong — a poll represents public opinion at the time it was taken, and that can change — experts say there are a few key things to look out for when vetting the quality of a survey.
“The more transparent a poll is — in terms of its data and methods — the more you should believe it,” said Grose, who also conducts the California Elections and Policy Poll.
Franklin said that pollsters with a track record are typically more trustworthy, as their future business and reputation relies on their accuracy.
He said that polling conducted by upstart organizations is not necessarily bad, but that the people conducting it don’t necessarily have the training or expertise of more established outfits.
Inaccurate polling can misinform voters and lead to election night surprises, but it can also have a corrosive effect on elections themselves.
“Polling can drive outcomes,” Grose said. “Favorable polls lead to more fundraising. There’s a bandwagon effect.”
WASHINGTON — Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to buy thousands of special gloves that would allow agents to administer electronic shocks — a tactic the gloves’ manufacturer describes as a non-lethal “soft empty hand” for controlling people.
But videos posted by the manufacturer, Compliant Technologies of Richmond, Ky., show that the effects of the gloves are anything but soft.
In one video, the CTG-5 G.L.O.V.E — an acronym for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter — easily brings a strapping man in military fatigues down to his knees in less than a second.
The glove caused another man’s leg muscles to spasm, although the shock, applied on a forearm, was advertised as being strictly localized.
The videos were taken at defensive weapon exhibitions all around the U.S. Frequently, the volunteers who get zapped will yelp as they collapse limply down on a soft mat.
“That sucked! That was terrible,” one man said after going through a demonstration.
“It does suck. But, it sucks a lot less than other options,” the caption from Compliant Technologies reads.
Civil rights organizations say they fear that ICE agents — who have been widely criticized for harsh tactics and fatal shootings — are being given yet another weapon for their already packed arsenal to intimidate the public.
“There is a trust in law enforcement with extreme power over human life, because you believe the people you’re entrusting are trained and they’re careful,” said Naureen Shah, director of policy and government affairs in immigration with the American Civil Liberties Union. “ICE has broken that trust with the public… the mission is simply to scare.”
According to a notice published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security, there is a plan to purchase $10 million to $20 million worth of shock gloves. The plan was first reported by the Associated Press.
John Sandweg, a former acting ICE director under the Obama administration, questioned the wisdom of equipping agents with the shock glove because the agency has seen a decline in training and oversights during the second Trump administration. (The administration has often said training of agents has not declined.)
“Given the struggles the agency’s having with use of force, to deploy a less-lethal tool, especially when you see the administration really shift their focus to the side of the non-criminal population, it raises massive concerns,” Sandweg said.
Sandweg estimates ICE could purchase 10,000 to 15,000 pairs of gloves.
When sent a list of questions about the devices, which resemble thick work gloves, Compliant Technologies declined to comment. Its website says the gloves are used by law enforcement agencies around the country.
The shock gloves deliver 380 volts, far less than the 1,200 volts typically delivered by traditional tasers, studies say. According to the company website, the glove is designed to disrupt sensory nerves without puncturing or burning the skin.
In a statement, Homeland Security defended the plan to purchase the gloves.
“Every decision is made with careful consideration and appropriately reviewed to make sure that any technology ICE utilizes is consistent with all applicable law enforcement policies and standards,” the department said. “Our officers are highly trained in de-escalation techniques.”
Equipping an agency embroiled in controversy over its occasionally fatal enforcement practices with “sci-fi” technology will likely cause the public to make further efforts to evade ICE agents, instead of becoming more compliant, said Bryanna Fox, criminology professor at the University of South Florida and former FBI agent.
“If the public doesn’t understand it and they don’t trust it, they’re not going to view it as procedurally just,” Fox said. “What they’ll have is fear; they’ll think ‘Am I going to stand there and wait for the ICE to shock me, or am I going to run?’”
On its website, Complaint Technologies says it has tested the G.L.O.V.E on people with cardiovascular problems and pacemakers with no issues. It added that the technology does not interfere at all with heart activity.
However, some civil rights advocates note that Compliant Technologies has advised against using shock gloves on pregnant women, children and people with heart issues.
Shah said she believes that intimidation played a key role in the decision to adopt G.L.O.V.E technologies, adding that their use is meant to dissuade citizens from confronting or even recording ICE agents.
“At a time like this, ICE should be trying to do everything it can to rebuild public trust, to reconstruct itself as a credible law enforcement agency,” Shah said.
Referring to Trump aid Stephen Miller, the administration’s main architect of its immigration crackdown, she added, “Instead, it is spending as many taxpayer dollars as it can, as quickly as it can, to acquire technology to make good on Stephen Miller’s dystopian vision of the United States.”
ARIANA Grande has hard-launched her romance with her on-again-off-again ex Ricky Alvarez just days after announcing plans for a “public break.”
The hitmaker shared two snaps in her latest Instagram round-up with her former beau.
She told fans recently that she would be withdrawing from the spotlight once she finished her current run of gigs on September 1.
In her most recent post, the American singer gave fans a glimpse into her busy life on her Eternal Sunshine Tour.
She shared a series of mirror selfies, pictured work days, nights out with her friends and the times she spent cuddling with her pooches.
But, amid the chaos Ariana dropped two cosy photos with her ex Ricky, 35.
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Her former backup dancer could be seen with one of his arms wrapped around her as they got ready to leave the house.
While their faces were cropped out of this snap, she posted another where he can be spotted despite it’s blurry aesthetic.
Ariana, 33, can be seen clinging on to her man and cuddling up to him as they posed in the mirror.
She and Ricky previously dated 2015 and 2016 but it now seems the pair are officially back on after years apart.
Ariana soft-launched their rekindled romance back in July as she changed a line in her famous breakup song Thank U, Next.
The song lyrics read: “Wrote some songs about Ricky, now I listen and laugh,.”
Making some tweaks to the words, Ariana sang the second half as: “We always find our way back.”
This comes after Ariana announced she’d be taking a “step back from visibility” following growing fears for her health.
The Dangerous Woman singer’s dramatic new look has left fans concerned for her wellbeing over the past few months.
Online speculation only grew with the unveiling of her Petal music video, which was released last week.
In the clip, she plays a rising young star battling the highs and lows of the showbiz world.
The video became a huge topic of conversation all over the world – and it wasn’t because of her song.
Soon after the Petal video went live a representative for Ariana confirmed she would be “taking a step back from visibility after she completes the Eternal Sunshine Tour,” via People.
Despite insisting onstage that her break from the spotlight was planned “a long time ago” she axed plans to star in the West End revival of the classic Stephen Sondheim musical Sunday in the Park with George.
It’s also been rumoured that she’ll no longer be taking part in the press tour for her upcoming movie release Focker-In-Law.
