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SITTING in her ex-fiance’s car, Sydney Sweeney looked a far cry from her usual glamourous self as she screamed during a very heated row.

And now we can reveal that the secret meeting with Jonathan Davino sparked a huge row with her new boyfriend Scooter Braun, who was left feeling “furious” and “disrespected” – and the fallout could have grave consequences.

The 28-year-old Hollywood star had been enjoying dinner with friends and her ex in Santa Monica over the weekend when things appeared to turn sour.

She was later seen in Jonathan’s car and, according to reports from TMZ, she could be heard screaming and telling him: “I don’t believe you. Please leave, leave me alone.”

The unlikely scene raised eyebrows, even more so when just days later Sydney headed out for dinner again – this time with Scooter, putting on a united front after the pair held crisis talks.

“He’s made it clear that he wants her 100%, that she needs to compromise on some things, and that seeing her ex like that crossed a line.”

Scooter Braun insider

An insider close to the couple told us how Scooter, 44, made it clear to the actress that she had ‘crossed a line’.

They explained: “Scooter got really mad. He doesn’t like that kind of behaviour at all, especially knowing the history between her and Jonathan.

“He knows they had a serious relationship, were together for a long time, and even got engaged. So, seeing her with him again — and getting caught on camera getting into his car — really set him off.”

Scooter’s upset is said to stem from just how much he loves the Euphoria star, who we previously revealed he is planning to move in with.

The insider continued: “He’s not controlling, but he wants her to know that he truly cares about her and that his feelings are real.

“He’s deeply in love and serious about building a future together. Scooter’s a man with strong values and morals — and for him, it’s not acceptable for his partner to be seen with other men, especially exes.

“He thought what she did with Jonathan was disrespectful and not cool, and he didn’t want to stay silent about it.

“He was hurt and wanted her to know. What he wants is full transparency between them — and for her to be the same way, but also to act like someone who’s in a committed relationship, not single anymore.

“He’s made it clear that he wants her 100%, that she needs to compromise on some things, and that seeing her ex like that crossed a line.”

Scooter is said to be aware that, given their age difference, he could be considered “old fashioned”.

Our insider says he “does a lot” for the star, stating he’s “present, supportive, and fully committed”.

‘Public humiliation’

Sydney was due to marry businessman Jonathan, 41, earlier this year but called off their engagement after mounting speculation over the state of their relationship.

The pair met in 2018 and got engaged in February 2022.

At the time, the actress spoke at length about their wedding and future before things came to an end.

Our insider added: “It has to be a blow for Jonathan that she has moved on so publicly and seems really ready to settle down this time.

“He feels like he was a huge part of her career to start with, really building up her confidence but now she’s flying without him. It’s painful to see.”

At the time it was reported that they split so she could concentrate on her career.

“He thought what she did with Jonathan was disrespectful and not cool, and he didn’t want to stay silent about it.

Scooter Braun insider

She certainly did that – she’s currently promoting Christy – her new biopic about the female boxing trailblazer Christy Martin – and there’s already been some Oscar buzz round her role.

It hasn’t just been work and no play though… over the summer she was first linked to Scooter – the billionaire businessman and record executive who became public enemy number one for Swifties worldwide in 2019 after he bought pop megastar Taylor Swift’s master recordings.

They started dating back in August after being seen spending time together at Jeff Bezos’s wedding in Italy two months before.

In August they were seen together in public for the first time on a date after having dinner at Jon & Vinny’s restaurant in Los Angeles.

The romance has proved to be more than just a summer fling, and Scooter seems to have well and truly fallen for her charms, even after the public humiliation of her arguing with her ex.

Get the look: Expert tips to swoon like Sweeney

Looking to create that doe-eyed look at home? Here, pro make-up artist Sarah-Jane Froom shares her exclusive top tips on how to achieve Sydney’s signature eyes…

TOP TIPS

• Start with a good primer: This ensures the eye shadow stays in place all day and gives a smooth base for blending.
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• Smoky eyes: Sydney often favours a smoky eye, typically with dark eyeliner along the lash line. I recommend blending a dark brown or black shadow into the liner to soften it and create that sultry, lived-in look.
• Lashes are essential: To get Sydney’s eye-popping lashes, I always recommend a volumising mascara. For a more dramatic effect, you can add some natural-looking false lashes that provide length and lift, but without being too over-the-top.
• Highlight the inner corners: This little trick instantly brightens the eyes, making them look more awake and larger – perfect for achieving Sydney’s signature bright-eyed gaze.

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For a historian who writes about war, Rick Atkinson is surprisingly optimistic. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former journalist — who recently released the second volume in a trilogy of books about the American Revolution — believes that the bedrock of American democracy is solid enough to withstand any assaults on its founding principles.

As the guest of honor at a Sunday night dinner sponsored by the Library Foundation of Los Angeles as part of its biennial Literary Feasts fundraiser, Atkinson was the most upbeat person at the event, which took place just before Election Day. Speaking to about 18 guests gathered around two circular tables carefully laid out on the back patio at the home of fellow writers and hosts Meenakshi and Liaquat Ahamed, Atkinson buoyed the flagging spirits of those certain that the country was currently dangling on the precipice of disaster at the hands of the Trump administration.

Book lovers attend a Literary Feast dinner featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Rick Atkinson at the home of writers Meenakshi and Liaquat Ahamed.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

“We’re the beneficiaries of an enlightened political heritage handed down to us from that founding generation, and it includes strictures on how to divide power and keep it from concentrating in the hands of authoritarians who think primarily of themselves,” Atkinson said with the cheery aplomb of a man who has spent the bulk of his time burrowing deep inside archives filled with harrowing stories of the darkest days the world has ever seen. “We can’t let that slip away. We can’t allow it to be taken away, and we can’t allow ourselves to forget the hundreds of thousands who’ve given their lives to affirm and sustain it over the past 250 years.”

The questions and conversation that followed Atkinson’s rousing speech about the history of the Revolution — including riveting details about key players like George Washington who Atkinson noted had “remarkably dead eyes” in order to not give away a scintilla of his inner life to curious onlookers — was what the evening’s book-loving guests had come for.

“We’re the beneficiaries of an enlightened political heritage handed down to us from that founding generation,” said Rick Atkinson.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

A total of 40 authors are hosted at salon-style events at 40 houses with more than 750 guests over the course of a single evening, raising more than $2 million for the Library Foundation, which is a separate entity from the public library. Founded in 1992 in the wake of the devastating 1986 fire at downtown’s Central Library, which destroyed more than 400,000 books, the foundation seeks to continue the community-driven mission of the library when funding runs short, including supporting adult education, early literacy programs for children, and services for immigrants and the unhoused.

“I often describe it as the dream-fueling work, the life-changing work,” said Stacy Lieberman, the Library Foundation’s president and chief executive. “Because it’s a lot of the one-on-one support that people will get.”

The Foundation typically raises about $7 million to $8 million a year, with an operating budget of nearly $11 million, so money raised through the Literary Feasts is a significant slice of the funding pie. The feasts began in 1997 and have continued apace every other year since then, featuring a who’s who of literary accomplishment across every genre. Writers past and present include Sue Grafton, Jane Fonda, Ann Patchett, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Abraham Verghese, Scott Turow and Michael Connelly.

Dinner hosts fund the events themselves — no small outlay considering the lavish offerings.

Guests were served steak with roasted carrots, turnips and potatoes.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

The Ahameds delighted guests with a tangy grapefruit and greens salad, followed by tender steak with roasted carrots, turnips and potatoes; a dessert of hot apple tart à la mode drizzled with caramel sauce; and plenty of crisp red and white wine. Both hosts are literary luminaries in their own right: Liaquat, a former investment manager, won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for history for his book “Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World” and Meenakshi recently published “Indian Genius: The Meteoric Rise of Indians in America.”

The couple travels in bookish circles and enjoys hosting salons at their home, including one earlier this year in support of New Yorker political columnist Susan Glasser and her husband, New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker. As friends of Atkinson, the Ahameds did their part to introduce him, and later tried their best to entice him to stop taking questions and eat his dinner.

The guest of honor could not be persuaded. There was too much to say. “The Fate of the Day,” which explores the bloody middle years of the Revolution from 1777 to 1780, was released in April, and Atkinson has spent the past eight months touring and speaking on panels with documentarian Ken Burns to promote Burns’ six-part documentary series “The American Revolution,” which premieres Nov. 16 on PBS.

Atkinson is a featured speaker in the series and has been involved with it for about four years.

The dinner featuring Rick Atkinson was one of 40 taking place across town that evening. The events raised $2 million for the Library Foundation of Los Angeles.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

The week before the Literary Feast, Atkinson and Burns spoke to members of Congress in Washington, D.C., and also screened a 40-minute clip at Mount Vernon where Atkinson discussed Washington’s unique talents as a general.

“I’ve seen the whole thing several times and it’s fantastic,” Atkinson said of the 12-hour film. “It’s as you would expect: beautifully filmed, wonderfully told, great narrative.”

The country is now more than four months into its semiquincentennial, which Atkinson joked “sounds like a medical procedure,” but is actually the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. It’s well known that Trump is planning a splashy party, with festivities and commemorations intensifying over the next eight months, culminating in a grand celebration in Washington, D.C., on July 4, 2026.

Rick Atkinson’s book “The Fate of the Day,” which explores the bloody middle years of the Revolution from 1777 to 1780, was released in April.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

“My hope is that as a country, we use the opportunity to reflect on those basic questions of who we are, where we came from, what our forebears believed and what they were willing to die for,” said Atkinson. “I’m optimistic because I’m a historian, because I know our history. No matter how grim things seem in 2025, we have faced grimmer times in the past, existential threats of the first order, starting with the Revolution.”

The politically deflated might also consider World War II — the subject of Atkinson’s Liberation Trilogy — the second volume of which won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for history. The writer knows his stuff. Guests — and readers — take heart.

CONAKRY, Guinea — It was the middle of the day when Omar Diaw, known by his artist name “Chimere” — French for chimera — approached a blank wall off the main thoroughfare in Guinea’s capital and started spray-painting.

“They know who I am,” he said confidently. Though it wasn’t clear who ”they” were, civilians and police didn’t bat an eye as Diaw’s fellow artists unloaded dozens of paint cans onto the roadside in Conakry.

Graffiti has thrived for years in Diaw’s native Senegal, where the modern urban street art first took off in West Africa. But when he moved to Guinea in 2018 to explore a new place, he said such art was nearly nonexistent.

“It was thought that graffiti was vandalism,” he said.

To win over the public, Diaw took a gentle approach, using graffiti for public awareness campaigns. One of his first was to raise awareness about COVID-19 preventive measures.

“We had to seduce the population,” he said.

The port city of Conakry faces rapid urbanization. Diaw’s graffiti has become an undeniable part of its crowded, concrete-heavy landscape.

His larger-than-life images of famous Guinean musicians and African independence leaders now dwarf the overloaded trucks that drive by. Drying laundry hung over the portrait of the West African resistance fighter Samory Toure.

The tag of Diaw’s graffiti collective, Guinea Ghetto Graff, is on murals all over the city.

Graffiti as it’s known today began in the 1960s and ’70s in the United States. It arrived in West Africa via Dakar, Senegal, in 1988, when the region’s first graffiti artist, Amadou Lamine Ngom, started painting on the city’s walls.

Known by his artist name, “Docta,” Ngom and a group of fellow artists were commissioned the following year to paint murals for an awareness campaign aimed at cleaning up Dakar’s streets.

Ngom, 51, said that at the beginning, aside from such campaigns, he did graffiti mostly at night. He later changed his approach.

“I decided to do it in broad daylight,” he said. “So as not to copy what’s happening in the United States, Europe or elsewhere. To create graffiti that resembles the African reality, taking into account our reality, our values.”

Ngom, who later mentored the teenage Diaw, said communities grew to respect the public artwork since it reflected their lives and experiences.

With the public’s backing, “the authorities didn’t have a choice,” Ngom said.

These days, graffiti has grown more assertive in Senegal, becoming part of the political messaging around antigovernment protests. In Guinea, Diaw’s graffiti has addressed issues such as migration.

Diaw said Conakry’s governor supports much of his work and has given him carte blanche to do it wherever he wants.

As his latest work beside the thoroughfare took shape, passersby began to stop and admire the portrait of Guinea’s military leader, Gen. Mamadi Doumbouya, who took power in a 2021 coup.

A 22-year-old driver, Ousmane Sylla, said he was familiar with Diaw’s gigantic paintings near Conakry’s airport.

“It reminds us of old Guinean musicians. It reminds us of history,” he said. “Graffiti is good for Africa, it’s good for this country, it’s good for everyone. I like it, and it changed the face of our city.”

The next step might be bringing in a wider range of artists.

“I would really like to see more women become a part of this, because they say that [graffiti] is for men,” said Mama Aissata Camara, a rare female artist on Guinea’s graffiti scene.

Risemberg writes for the Associated Press.

For Scott Smith, the cuts to the Corporation For Public Broadcasting are existential.

He is the general manager of Allegheny Mountain Radio, which he runs alongside programme manager Heather Nidly. The funds were slashed as part of United States President Donald Trump’s vast tax cut and spending bill that was signed into law in July. As a result, the station, which has been on air for more than four decades, lost 65 percent of its funding.

“We are here to serve our communities and to fulfill our mission of giving them news, giving them entertainment, giving them emergency alerts and giving them school closings. We do lost and found pet notices. We do funeral announcements. We have a listing of community events that is read multiple times a day. We do weather forecasts. We’re a critical part of the community,” Smith told Al Jazeera.

The rescissions bill that Trump signed allows the US Congress to claw back funding that had been approved and pulls back $9bn in funding, including $1bn from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CFB). At the end of September, those funds officially dried up.

The money had already been allocated by the previous Congress to fund public media for 2026 and 2027. Now stations are scrambling to find ways to fill the holes.

The Trump administration has gone after news organisations that have presented any critical coverage of him, including the Wall Street Journal, after its coverage of a suggestive letter purportedly written by Trump to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein for his birthday. In September, he tried to sue The New York Times for allegedly being a “virtual mouthpiece” for the Democratic Party.

His leverage over public media is significant because that is partially funded by federal tax dollars. The White House first signed an executive order to defund public media in May. That was quickly blocked because funding decisions are made by Congress, not the White House.

Next, Trump pressured Congressional Republicans to put forth the rescissions bill that fulfilled the mission of his previous executive order. To justify his call for cuts, in May, the White House released a list of segments from NPR and PBS programmes that it says had liberal bias, as it included many segments about the experience of the trans community.

The White House also cited a report alleging PBS favoured Democrats. That report was from the openly partisan Media Research Center, which has a stated goal to promote conservative values.

A key, but overlooked, problem with the cuts is that they overwhelmingly harm stations that do not even cover the White House or much national politics at all.

Allegheny Mountain Radio (AMR) is one of those stations. Comprising three affiliates for three counties straddling the West Virginia and Virginia border, on their airwaves, listeners will find gospel, folk and country music, as well as coverage of local football games and town hall meetings.

AMR carries NPR’s national newscast and, more importantly, serves as the on-the-ground voice when severe weather hits.

Unlike in other regions of the county, there is no other alternative to get real-time local news. The nearest local news station is several hours away, separated by winding country roads. When there’s severe weather, AMR is the only way locals get vital information like road closure announcements because of floodwaters.

“Just a few years ago, we had a deluge of rain coming down and flooding parts of the county. At that point, when something like that happens, the radio station really is the only way to get that information out quickly to our listeners and let them know where it’s happening,” AMR programme manager Nidly told Al Jazeera.

AMR is in a part of the country where cellphone signal and wireless access are sparse because of its proximity to what is called the National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ) near the Green Bank Observatory, which limits the use of radio frequency and other signal methods so that they do not interfere with their equipment. This requires special equipment to point radio signals away from the observatory.

With the region’s low population density, there’s a limited business case for a station. But there is a case for public service. The community depends on AMR for emergency alerts – even on a personal level. During major storms, Smith said, people have shown up at their stations when their phones stopped working, asking if AMR could broadcast a message to let their family and friends know they were safe.

Despite their strong community focus, these stations may not benefit from the same level of donor support seen by larger public stations across the country, due to limited local enterprise and resources.

It is trying. In order to stay afloat, the station is actively soliciting donations on its website.

While small community stations – like those serving Bath and Pocahontas Counties in West Virginia, and Highland County, Virginia, through AMR – don’t produce national newscasts or air segments that ruffle feathers in Washington, they are still the ones that are most at risk of being hit hardest.

“Small stations like ours are the ones who will suffer because of these cuts. We feel like we are the baby that got thrown out with the bathwater because there’s so much emphasis on the talking points around NPR and PBS. It’s like the rest of us, the small community stations, have absolutely been forgotten in this equation,” Smith told Al Jazeera.

The cuts, however, hit stations across the US in big markets too. WNYC in New York City lost 4 percent of its funding. WBUR in Boston, San Francisco’s KLAW, and KERA in Dallas, Texas, all saw 5 percent cuts.

Stations like these have large donor bases or “listeners like you”, as their hosts say during pledge drives. Big market stations might be able to make up the difference, says Alex Curley, a former product manager at NPR who recently launched a platform called Adopt A Station, which shows which public media stations are at most risk of losing funding.

“When you think about stations that rely on federal funding for 50 percent or more of their revenue, it’s not because they’re asking for a handout. It’s a literal public service for those stations,” Curley told Al Jazeera.

But in counties where the population is sparse and industry is limited, that donor base is not as plentiful. That’s the case with AMR.

“We are in a very rural area. We are an area where there are not a whole lot of businesses. So that amount of income simply cannot be made up through extra donations or extra underwriting,” Smith added.

In a July Substack post, Curley, who was involved in NPR station finances until he left the network in 2024 amid layoffs, said that 15 percent of stations are at risk of closure. His website has provided some reprieve.

“I only expected maybe a few dozen people to visit the site. My biggest hope was to get a couple of donations that went towards a station at risk. It’s [the website] been shared thousands of times. I’ve even heard from stations that were identified as being at risk of closing. They told me they’re getting an influx of donations from out of state through the site. It’s been an incredible response,” Curley said.

However, he argues, this is a temporary fix.

“The real danger will be in six months, a year, two years, when people have forgotten about public media. These stations basically are losing federal funding forever. Donations in the short term are really great, but in the long term, they’re going to have to figure out ways to keep donors engaged and to keep donations flowing to them, or they might close,” Curley added.

“Public radio is also a lifeline, connecting rural communities to the rest of the nation, and providing life-saving emergency broadcasting and weather alerts. Nearly 3-in-4 Americans say they rely on their public radio stations for alerts and news for their public safety,” NPR’s Katherine Maher said in a statement on July 18 following the Senate vote.

“In fact, while the Senate considered amendments, a 7.3 earthquake struck off the coast of Alaska, prompting three coastal stations to start broadcasting live tsunami warnings, urging their communities to head to high ground,” Maher said.

Maher declined Al Jazeera’s request for an interview

PBS faces similar pressures, and many of its stations are also at risk of closure, according to Adopt A Station’s data.

“These cuts will significantly impact all of our stations, but will be especially devastating to smaller stations and those serving large rural areas. Many of our stations, which provide access to free, unique local programming and emergency alerts, will now be forced to make hard decisions in the weeks and months ahead,” PBS president and CEO Paula Kerger said in a statement after the Senate vote.

Kerger did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for additional comment.

The push to defund public media isn’t a new one for the GOP. Republicans have long argued that the media is not a core function of government. In 2012, GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney said he would eliminate subsidies to PBS – during a debate moderated, ironically, by then PBS NewsHour anchor Jim Lehrer.

In the 1990s, then House Speaker Newt Gingrich promised to “zero out” funding for CPB, arguing it should be privatised. And in the 1980s, Ronald Reagan attempted to slash $80m from public media – roughly $283m today – though Congress blocked the move.

Following global cuts

Cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are the latest wave of the White House cutting back on government-funded media arms, including reductions to the US Agency for Global Media, led in part by senior adviser Kari Lake.

Lake is a former Phoenix, Arizona, news anchor known for denying the 2020 election results in which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden for the presidency. She is also known for promoting baseless conspiracy theories and for refusing to accept her own defeat for governor and senator bids in Arizona in 2022 and 2024, respectively.

She has been behind the agency effectively shuttering Voice of America (VOA), which has not published any new stories or uploaded new videos to its YouTube page since mid-March.

Last month, a federal judge in Washington blocked the firing of workers at VOA, which affected more than 500 staffers. The Trump administration called the decision “outrageous” and vowed to appeal.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which broadcasts in 27 languages across 23 countries, faced challenges similar to VOA. However, the European Union has helped keep the network up and running with $6.2m in emergency funding.

Representatives for the US Agency for Global Media did not respond to our request for comment.

Looming threats to free expression

These cuts come alongside other threats to freedom of expression in the private sector. Soon after the funding cuts were signed into law, Paramount announced the cancellation of The Late Show. The host, comedian Stephen Colbert – a longtime critic of the president – had only days earlier called out Paramount, the show’s parent company, for settling a lawsuit with Trump.

The suit stemmed from Trump’s claim that an interview with his 2024 presidential rival Kamala Harris was doctored. Although the network had initially called the lawsuit meritless, it ultimately settled for $16m. Colbert called the settlement a “big fat bribe”, noting that Paramount had a then-pending merger with Skydance Media – owned by David Ellison, son of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, a key Trump ally. The merger has since been approved. Paramount has said that the decision is purely financial in nature.

Months later, following stand-up comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s comments on Charlie Kirk’s death, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr appeared on a right-wing podcast to criticise the remarks and urged Disney – the parent company of ABC, where Jimmy Kimmel Live airs – to cancel the show.

Nexstar Media Group – one of the largest TV station operators in the US, and which is waiting on an FCC approval of its merger with Tegna – announced it would no longer carry the programme. Disney subsequently suspended the show, though the decision was short-lived, as it returned to the airwaves within a week.

The White House did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

A group of Democratic state governors has launched a new alliance aimed at coordinating their public health efforts.

They’re framing it as a way to share data, messages about threats, emergency preparedness and public health policy — and as a rebuke to President Trump’s administration, which they say isn’t doing its job in public health.

“At a time when the federal government is telling the states, ‘you’re on your own,’ governors are banding together,” Maryland Governor Wes Moore said in a statement.

The formation of the group touches off a new chapter in a partisan battle over public health measures that has been heightened by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s advisers declining to recommend COVID-19 vaccinations, instead leaving the choice to the individual.

Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said in an email that Democratic governors who imposed school closures and mask mandates, including for toddlers, at the height of the pandemic, are the ones who “destroyed public trust in public health.”

“The Trump Administration and Secretary Kennedy are rebuilding that trust by grounding every policy in rigorous evidence and Gold Standard Science – not the failed politics of the pandemic,” Nixon said.

The initial members are all Democrats

The Governors Public Health Alliance bills itself as a “nonpartisan coordinating hub,” but the initial members are all Democrats — the governors of 14 states plus Guam.

Among them are governors of the most populous blue states, California and New York, and several governors who are considered possible 2028 presidential candidates, including California’s Gavin Newsom, Illinois’ JB Pritzker and Maryland’s Moore.

The idea of banding together for public health isn’t new for Democratic governors. They formed regional groups to address the pandemic during Trump’s first term and launched new ones in recent months amid uncertainty on federal vaccine policy. States have also taken steps to preserve access to COVID-19 vaccines.

The new alliance isn’t intended to supplant those efforts, or the coordination already done by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, its organizers say.

A former CDC director is among the advisers

Dr. Mandy Cohen, who was CDC director under former President Biden and before that the head of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, is part of a bipartisan group of advisers to the alliance.

“The CDC did provide an important backstop for expertise and support,” she said. “And I think now with some of that gone, it’s important for states to make sure that they are sharing best practices, and that they are coordinating, because the problems have not gone away. The health threats have not gone away.”

Other efforts have also sprung up to try to fill roles that the CDC performed before the ouster of a director, along with other restructuring and downsizing.

The Governors Public Health Alliance has support from GovAct, a nonprofit, nonpartisan donor-funded initiative that also has projects aimed at protecting democracy and another partisan hot-button issue, reproductive freedom.

Mulvihill and Stobbe write for the Associated Press.

Thirty-two African nations now spend more servicing external debt than funding healthcare

More than 30 leading economists, former finance ministers and a central banker have called for immediate debt relief for low- and middle-income countries, warning that loan repayments are preventing governments from funding basic services.

In a letter released on Sunday, in advance of next month’s World Bank and IMF annual meetings, the group says countries are “defaulting on development” even when they keep up with debt payments.

“Countries around the world are paying exorbitant debt servicing costs instead of paying for schools, hospitals, climate action or other essential services,” the letter said.

Among the signatories are Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, former Central Bank of Colombia Governor Jose Antonio Ocampo, and former South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel.

The economists say African governments now spend an average of 17 percent of state revenue on debt servicing. Thirty-two African nations spend more servicing external debt than funding healthcare, while 25 allocate more to debt than to education.

The letter says capping the average ratio of state revenue used on debt servicing at 10 percent could provide clean water to about 10 million people across 21 countries, and prevent approximately 23,000 deaths of children below five years of age each year.

The call comes as healthcare systems across Africa show signs of severe strain.

According to an ActionAid report published earlier this year, 97 percent of health workers in six African countries said their wages were insufficient to cover basic costs. Almost nine in 10 reported shortages of medicines and equipment due to budget cuts.

The public sector funding crisis is exacerbated by shrinking aid budgets. The United States, previously the world’s largest donor, has cut funding this year as the administration of President Donald Trump has shifted priorities away from aid.

The International Rescue Committee said 10 of the 13 countries hit hardest by the US aid cuts are African.

Economists warn that current debt relief efforts have failed. A framework under the auspices of the Group of 20 has so far relieved just 7 percent of the total external debt owed by at-risk countries.

They are calling on leaders to urgently reduce debt burdens, reform how the World Bank and IMF assess debt sustainability, and support a “Borrowers’ Club” so countries can negotiate from a position of strength.

“Bold action on debt means more children in classrooms, more nurses in hospitals, more action on climate change,” the letter concludes.

WASHINGTON — Sidelined by political appointees, targeted over deep state conspiracies and derided by the president, career public servants have grown used to life in Washington under a constant state of assault.

But President Trump’s latest threat, to withhold back pay due to workers furloughed by an ongoing government shutdown, is adding fresh uncertainty to the beleaguered workforce.

Whether federal workers will ultimately receive retroactive paychecks after the government reopens, Trump told reporters on Tuesday, “really depends on who you’re talking about.” The law requires federal employees receive their expected compensation in the event of a shutdown.

“For the most part, we’re going to take care of our people,” the president said, while adding: “There are some people that really don’t deserve to be taken care of, and we’ll take care of them in a different way.”

It is yet another peril facing public servants, who, according to Trump’s Office of Management and Budget director, Russ Vought, may also be the target of mass layoffs if the shutdown continues.

The government has been shut since Oct. 1, when Republican and Democratic lawmakers came to an impasse over whether to extend government funding at existing levels, or account for a significant increase in healthcare premiums facing millions of Americans at the start of next year.

White House officials say that, on the one hand, Democrats are to blame for extending a shutdown that will give the administration no other choice but to initiate firings of agency employees working on “nonessential” projects. On the other hand, the president has referred to the moment as an opportunity to root out Democrats working in career roles throughout the federal system.

Legal scholars and public policy experts have roundly dismissed Trump’s latest efforts — both to use the shutdown as a predicate to cut the workforce, and to withhold back pay — as plainly illegal.

And Democrats in Congress, who continue to vote against reopening the government, are counting on them being right, hoping that courts will reject the administration’s moves while they attempt to secure an extension of healthcare tax credits in the shutdown negotiations.

If the experts are wrong, thousands of government workers could face a profound cost.

“Senior leaders of the Trump administration promised to put federal employees in trauma, and they certainly seem intent on keeping that promise,” said Don Moynihan, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy.

“According to a law that Trump himself has signed, furloughed employees are entitled to back pay,” Moynihan said. “There is no real ambiguity about this, and the idea only some employees in agencies that Trump likes would receive back pay is an illegal abuse of presidential power.”

A day after the shutdown began, Trump wrote on social media that he planned on meeting with Vought, “of Project 2025 fame,” to discuss what he called the “unprecedented opportunity” of making “permanent” cuts to agencies during the ongoing funding lapse.

A lawsuit brought in California against Vought and the OMB, by a coalition of labor unions representing over 2 million federal workers, is challenging the premise of that claim, arguing the government is “deviating from historic practice and violating applicable laws” by using government employees “as a pawn in congressional deliberations.” But whether courts can or will stop the effort is unclear.

Sen. John Thune, the majority leader and a Republican from South Dakota, said last week that Democrats should have known the risk they were running by “shutting down the government and handing the keys to Russ Vought.”

“We don’t control what he’s going to do,” he told Politico.

The White House has sent mixed messages on its willingness to negotiate with Democrats since the shutdown began. Within a matter of hours earlier this week, the president’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told reporters that there was nothing to negotiate, before Trump said that dialogue had opened with Democratic leadership over a potential agreement on healthcare.

Donald Kettl, professor emeritus and former dean at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, taught and trained prospective public servants for 45 years.

“What is happening is profoundly discouraging for young students seeking careers in the federal public service,” he said. “Many of the students are going to state and local governments, nonprofits, and think tanks, but increasingly don’t see the federal government as a place where they can make a difference or make a career.”

“All of us depend on the government, and the government depends on a pipeline of skilled workers,” Kettl added. “The administration’s efforts have blown up the pipeline, and the costs will continue for years — probably decades — to come.”

A ‘KNIFEMAN’ has been arrested by police following a knife attack as two people have been rushed to hospital.

Cops rushed to the scene after reports a man armed with what appeared to be a knife on Great Horton Road in Bradford.

He was detained by college security staff and arrested by attending West Yorkshire Police officers.

A man in his 30s has been arrested on suspicion of assaulting two members of the public and assaulting two emergency workers.

He was also arrested for a racially-aggravated public order offence and causing damage to a police vehicle.

The two injured members of the public have been taken to hospital for treatment for non-life-threatening injuries.

A small gardening tool was seized by police at the scene, police say.

Detective Inspector Ailis Coates said: “We know that this incident will understandably cause some concern in the community.

“I would like to reassure people that the suspect was quickly detained by security staff and arrested by the police.

“We understand that this incident has been witnessed by a large number of people and that some people may have filmed bits of it.

“We would ask them to please share this footage with the police as it could greatly assist us in our ongoing investigation.

“We currently have a police scene in place on Great Horton Road and people can expect to see our neighbourhood policing colleagues in the area providing reassurance to college staff and students and the wider community.”

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ROBERT Jenrick should stop lecturing the public on integration, Sir Keir Starmer has blasted.

The PM hit out at the Shadow Justice Secretary after he claimed he “didn’t see another white face” during a visit to Birmingham.

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Sir Keir slammed the comment on Thursday night, saying “it’s quite hard to take anything that Robert Jenrick says seriously.”

He accused the senior Tory of “running a leadership campaign” instead of making serious political arguments.

Speaking on a flight to Mumbai, where he will meet Indian President Narendra Modi, Sir Keir said: “We’re working hard on questions of integration, but we need no lessons or lectures from Robert Jenrick on any of this.

“He’s clearly just engaging in a leadership campaign.”

The row erupted after senior Conservatives rallied behind Mr Jenrick’s claim that Britain must confront “ghettoised communities” and a “dangerous” lack of social cohesion.

Labour figures branded the comments “racist”, but Tory leader Kemi Badenoch defended her colleague, saying there was “nothing wrong with making observations.”

Shadow Cabinet Minister Claire Coutinho also backed him, saying: “If you walk through an area and don’t see a single white face, it is a sign that integration has failed.”

The controversy broke out during the Tory party conference in Manchester after The Guardian obtained a secret recording of Mr Jenrick describing a 90-minute visit to Handsworth earlier this year.

He told members at an Aldridge-Brownhills dinner: “I went to Handsworth in Birmingham the other day to do a video on Twitter and it was absolutely appalling.

“It’s as close as I’ve come to a slum in this country.

“But the other thing I noticed there was that it was one of the worst integrated places I’ve ever been to.

“In fact, in the hour and a half I was filming news there I didn’t see another white face.”

Just nine per cent of Handsworth’s population is white, with most residents of Pakistani, Indian, and Bangladeshi heritage, official data shows.

Asked if he regretted his comments, Mr Jenrick told the BBC: “No, not at all and I won’t shy away from these issues.”

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He said he mentioned skin colour “because it’s incredibly important that we have a fully integrated society regardless of the colour of their skin or the faith that they abide by.”

He also linked the terror attack in north Manchester last week to a lack of integration.

Ms Badenoch again backed her shadow minister, saying she would take The Guardian report “with a pinch of salt.”

The Tory leader said: “What he and I both agree with is that there are not enough people integrating.

“There are many people who are creating separate communities.”

Labour last night pounced on the remarks, saying Mr Jenrick had “crossed a red line.”

HEINZ has revealed three new flavours of its iconic beans after letting tens of thousands of Brits have their say.

The saucy creations were selected after the beloved firm received more than 26,000 entries from eager fans.

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The latest trio of tinned goods are anything but traditional, featuring inspiration from across the globe.

With more than 1,000 votes, the winning flavour was Pizza Beanz.

The twist on the iconic Italian dish includes beans with rich tomato, creamy cheese and a hint of basil.

Heinz urged its fans to enjoy the latest flavour with the classic accompaniment of garlic bread.

Crossing over to the north of Africa, another flavour which has tongues wagging is Tagine Beanz.

A Moroccan-inspired mix, it is packed with typical flavours including cumin, harissa and cinnamon.

Brits looking to make this into meal have been told to switch out the classic toast for couscous or flatbread.

Also landing on supermarket shelves will be Sweet & Sour Beanz.

For those of us looking for a Chinese takeaway in a can, these beans are packed with zingy, punchy flavour.

The fakeaway can be completed with a decent serving of rice and some crispy chicken.

Shoppers can find these in stores from October 8.

Aside from seeing their flavours come to life, the competition winners took home £5000 and secured a lifetime supply of beans.

Alessandra de Dreuille, Director of Meals & Infant UK at Heinz said: “We love seeing the creativity of our fans.

“The entries from our Beanz of your Dreamz competition show just how much fun mealtimes can be.

“The flavour combinations they’ve dreamed up are inspired by cuisines from all over the world.

“And our three new flavours, chosen by the public, bring the same great taste and quality of Heinz Beanz…

“… proving once again that Beanz really do go with anything.”

The latest flavours will join the popular flavours range, which includes BBQ, Chilli, and Cheesy Beanz.

Heinz has also confirmed the return of fan-favourite Monster Munch flavour mayonnaise.

The limited edition bottles of pickled onion-flavoured sauce has landed in selected stores for the second-year running.

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Last month, the beloved brand launched a brand new range of “beans based meals” for the first time in UK supermarkets.

The bean and pulse based meal pouches are available to buy across all Sainsbury’s stores and online with Ocado.

Among the flavours on offer are Chilli Black Beanz, Curry Chickpeaz and Tomato Cannellini Beanz.

Each 250g pouch is made from natural ingredients and provides at least one of your five a day.

Last year, the can connoisseurs teamed up with cheese maker Cathedral City to recreate one of Britain’s favourite combos.

The odd tins featured cheese already mixed into the bean sauce, and they’ll be available in stores from February 21.

Research released by Heinz said Brits eat baked beans more than once a week, with a quarter of Brits eating them more than that.

Two-thirds of baked bean fans like to put cheese on top.

Heinz also sells Beanz Filled Hash Browns and Heinz Beanz Pizza.

The firm previously created a step-by-step guide to making beans on toast — because one in five people have no idea how to do it.

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Oct. 2 (UPI) — Federal prosecutors on Thursday charged the now former head of De Moines Public Schools on weapons and immigration offenses.

Ian Andre Roberts, 54, a citizen of the South American nation of Guyana, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Friday following a short chase in Des Moines, prompting his resignation.

According to the indictment made public Thursday, Roberts was in the country illegally.

The document states that Roberts entered the United States in 1999 on a student visa that expired in 2004.

In 2001 and thrice in 2018, Roberts filed for permanent residency, applications which were all rejected. In 2018 and 2020, he also applied for an adjustment to his status in the country based on his marriage to U.S. citizen Lenisha Roberts but was denied over his failure to respond to a request for additional information.

Starting in December 2019, Roberts had lawful authorization to work in the United States, but not after December 2020.

The document states he was ordered removed from the country on May 22, 2024. In late April of this year, a judge denied his motion to reopen his case.

On Friday morning, ICE officers surveilled Robert’s residence on Saint Andrews Circle in Des Moines. According to the indictment, those officers spotted a man who looked like Roberts in a white Jeep Cherokee, which they followed. The suspect vehicle drove at “a high rate of speed” into a mobile home park, it said.

The ICE agents located the vehicle abandoned and conducted a search for Roberts, who was found about 200 yards south of the Jeep, hiding in brush, according to the indictment.

As search of his vehicle revealed a 9mm Glock wrapped in a towel under the driver’s seat, purchased by his wife in October 2019, as well as his Guyana passport, renewed in April 2024 with a 2029 expiration.

Three additional firearms, including rifle and a 20-gauge shotgun, were discovered in his residence, along with multiple firearm magazines.

Roberts was being held at the Woodbury County jail, but has since been taken into custody by the Justice Department on a federal warrant, the county’s sheriff’s office said in a statement.

Following his arrest, Roberts resigned as superintendent. His lawyer, Alfredo Parrish, announced Roberts’ resignation during a press conference his on Tuesday.

“We want you to know that Dr. Roberts’ greatest concern is about his students who he actually loves and the students who love him back and the staff,” Parrish said.

Des Moines Public Schools said in a statement that Matt Smith, associate superintendent, would fill in as interim superintended until further notice.

“Our priority is to provide a safe, secure and outstanding education for all students and to support our students, families and employees,” the school board said.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (UPI) — The federal government shutdown leaves thousands of federal workers without pay, and an array of public facilities, such as Smithsonian museums and national parks, cite the challenges staying open without much staff.

Smithsonian museums announced on their combined website they have funding set aside to stay open until Oct. 6. The situation with national parks, though, is up in the air. If they don’t close, visitors would not have adequate protection without adequate staffing.

The Library of Congress, another symbol of Washington, announced it will lock its doors to visitors and cancel all events.

Moreover, congressional offices said, the National Institutes of Health will be unable to see new patients to its research hospital, and the Food and Drug Administration will be unable to process applications for new drugs or medical devices.

For those who lived through past shutdowns — the last one came during the first Trump administration in December 2018 and lasted 34 days — the fallout is all too familiar.

David Barna, who served as chief spokesman for the National Park Service from 1995 to 2015, worked during the 34-day shutdown in 2018 and recalled its emotional toll. With roughly 1 million visits to national parks each day, he said closures are “devastating to our visitors.”

“It was heartbreaking for our park visitors,” Barna said. “People who had waited years to visit parks had their plans canceled. I remember talking with a young woman who planned to get married in Yellowstone, and she cried on the phone as she told me about canceling her wedding.”

This time, Barna warned, the situation is likely to be worse. “Rumor is that the parks will be open without staff,” he said. “Last time this happened, the parks were vandalized and trash accumulated everywhere. We need NPS employees to take care of the natural and cultural resources in the parks.”

He added, “Without staff, they are unprotected. The parks are gifts from our grandparents to our grandchildren. Our job is the preserve and protect them,” he said.

Just as Barna fears national treasures will go unprotected without park staff, union leaders representing VA employees warn that the shutdown threatens the people caring for the nation’s veterans.

Robert Malosh, president of a local chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees, said his members fear that a prolonged gridlock will be used to justify further cuts to staff who provide critical care to veterans.

“Since this administration appears to be hell bent on eliminating staff at all costs, there’s plenty of fear that this administration will abuse these emergency powers to further wage war against the heroes who provide care to our veterans,” Malosh said.

“As we speak, some of the best and most qualified personnel are looking for jobs to replace the stability and security they’ve lost in the last eight months,” he said.

While many other federal employees anticipated the shutdown, staffers were already preparing for what has become the reality — working without pay. A spokesperson for Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., said House employees have been declared essential and will report to work regardless of whether funding lapses.

“That means we will be working unpaid for the duration of a shutdown,” the spokesperson said, noting that House staff members are paid on the 30th of each month, providing a brief cushion before the paycheck gap becomes real.

In the 2018 government shutdown, 800,000 federal workers were furloughed and cost the U.S. economy an estimated $11 billion. It was the longest of the 20 shutdowns throughout history, occurring during the first Trump administration.

Each time, political stalemates in Congress continue to leave federal workers, service members and the public caught in the middle.

Uncertainty has also hit the National Guard deployed in Washington. The D.C. National Guard State Public Affairs Office told UPI it had no information on whether troops will continue their deployment or if they will be paid, referring questions to the White House.

That ambiguity underscores how even roles deemed essential by the Trump administration are clouded during a funding lapse.

From Hill staffers to the thousands of others across Washington, the question is how long they can go unpaid. For tourists, consumers, veterans and patients across the country, it remains to be seen what remains open and for how long should the shutdown persist.

WASHINGTON — Washington is hours away from another federal government shutdown, with prospects looking bleak for a last-minute compromise in Congress to avoid closures beginning at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

Republicans have crafted a short-term measure to fund the government through Nov. 21, but Democrats have insisted the measure address their concerns on health care. They want to reverse the Medicaid cuts in President Donald Trump’s mega-bill passed this summer and extend tax credits that make health insurance premiums more affordable for millions of people who purchase through the marketplaces established by the Affordable Care Act. Republicans call the Democratic proposal a nonstarter.

Neither side shows any signs of budging, with the House not even expected to have votes this week.

Here’s a look at how a shutdown would occur:

What happens in a shutdown?

When a lapse in funding occurs, the law requires agencies to cease activity and furlough “non-excepted” employees. Excepted employees include those who work to protect life and property. They stay on the job but don’t get paid until after the shutdown ends.

During the 35-day partial shutdown in Trump’s first term, 340,000 of the 800,000 federal workers at affected agencies were furloughed. The remainder were “excepted” and required to work.

What government work continues during a shutdown?

A great deal, actually.

FBI investigators, CIA officers, air traffic controllers and agents operating airport checkpoints keep working. So do members of the Armed Forces.

Those programs that rely on mandatory spending also generally continue during a shutdown. Social Security payments continue going out. Seniors relying on Medicare coverage can still see their doctors and health care providers and submit claims for payment and be reimbursed.

Veteran health care also continues during a shutdown. Veterans Affairs medical centers and outpatient clinics will be open, and VA benefits will continue to be processed and delivered. Burials will continue at VA national cemeteries.

Will furloughed federal workers get paid?

Yes. In 2019, Congress passed a bill enshrining into law the requirement that furloughed employees get retroactive pay once operations resume.

While they’ll eventually get paid, the furloughed workers and those who remain on the job may have to go without one or more of their regular paychecks, depending upon how long the shutdown lasts, creating financial stress for many families.

Service members would also receive back pay for any missed paychecks once federal funding resumes.

Will I still get mail?

Yes. The U.S. Postal Service is unaffected by a government shutdown. It’s an independent entity funded through the sale of its products and services, not by tax dollars.

What closes during a shutdown?

All administrations get some leeway to choose which services to freeze and which to maintain in a shutdown.

The first Trump administration worked to blunt the impact of what became the country’s longest partial shutdown in 2018 and 2019. But in the selective reopening of offices, experts say they saw a willingness to cut corners, scrap prior plans and wade into legally dubious territory to mitigate the pain.

Each federal agency develops its own shutdown plan. The plans outline which agency workers would stay on the job during a shutdown and which would be furloughed.

In a provocative move, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget has threatened the mass firing of federal workers in a shutdown. An OMB memo said those programs that didn’t get funding through Trump’s mega-bill this summer would bear the brunt of a shutdown.

Agencies should consider issuing reduction-in-force notices for those programs whose funding expires Wednesday, that don’t have alternative funding sources and are “not consistent with the President’s priorities,” the memo said.

That’d be a much more aggressive step than in previous shutdowns, when furloughed federal workers returned to their jobs once Congress approved government spending. A reduction in force would not only lay off employees but eliminate their positions, which would trigger another massive upheaval in a federal workforce that’s already faced major rounds of cuts this year due to efforts from the Department of Government Efficiency and elsewhere in Trump’s Republican administration.

Shutdown practices in the past

Some agencies have recently updated plans on their websites. Others still have plans that were last updated months or years ago, providing an indication of past precedent that could guide the Trump administration.

Here are some excerpts from those plans:

— Health and Human Services will furlough about 41% of its staff out of nearly 80,000 employees, according to a contingency plan posted on its website. The remaining employees will keep up activities needed to protect human life and property.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will continue monitoring for disease outbreaks. Direct medical services through the Indian Health Service and the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center will remain available. However, the CDC communications to the public will be hampered and NIH will not admit new patients to the Clinical Center, except those for whom it’s medically necessary.

At the Food and Drug Administration, its “ability to protect and promote public health and safety would be significantly impacted, with many activities delayed or paused.” For example, the agency would not accept new drug applications or medical device submissions that require payment of a user fee.

— The Education Department will furlough about 1,500 of 1,700 employees, excluding federal student aid workers. The department will continue to disburse student aid such as Pell Grants and Federal Direct Student Loans. Student loan borrowers will still be required to make payments on their outstanding debt.

— National Park Service: As a general rule if a facility or area is inaccessible during nonbusiness hours, it’ll be locked for the duration of the lapse in funding, said a March 2024 plan. At parks where it’s impractical or impossible to restrict public access, staffing will vary by park: “Generally, where parks have accessible park areas, including park roads, lookouts, trails, campgrounds, and open-air memorials, these areas will remain physically accessible to the public.”

— Transportation Department: Air traffic controller hiring and field training would cease, as would routine personnel security background checks and air traffic performance analysis, a March 2025 update says.

— Smithsonian Institution: “The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, like all Smithsonian museums, receives federal funding. Thus, during a government shutdown, the Zoo — and the rest of the Smithsonian museums — must close to the public.”

Impact on the economy

Phillip Swagel, director of the Congressional Budget Office, said a short shutdown doesn’t have a huge impact on the economy, especially since federal workers, by law, are paid retroactively. But “if a shutdown continues, then that can give rise to uncertainties about what is the role of government in our society, and what’s the financial impact on all the programs that the government funds.”

“The impact is not immediate, but over time, there is a negative impact of a shutdown on the economy,” he added.

Markets haven’t reacted strongly to past shutdowns, according to Goldman Sachs Research. At the close of the three prolonged shutdowns since the early 1990s, equity markets finished flat or up even after dipping initially.

A governmentwide shutdown would directly reduce growth by around 0.15 percentage points for each week it lasted, or about 0.2 percentage points per week once private-sector effects were included, and growth would rise by the same cumulative amount in the quarter following reopening, writes Alec Phillips, chief U.S. political economist at Goldman Sachs.

Freking writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Ali Swenson contributed to this report.

For much of the last 16 years, the stock market has been unstoppable. With the exception of the five-week COVID-19 crash in February-March 2020, and the roughly nine-month bear market in 2022, the bulls have been in firm control on Wall Street.

The catalyst for this ongoing outperformance primarily rests with Wall Street’s trillion-dollar businesses. Think Nvidia (NVDA 0.27%) and Apple, as well as newer trillion-dollar club members Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, which is also known as TSMC.

All told, just 11 publicly traded companies have ever reached a $1 trillion market cap, not accounting for the effects of inflation, and 10 trade on U.S. exchanges. This includes all members of the “Magnificent Seven,” along with Broadcom, TSMC, and billionaire Warren Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway.

Image source: Getty Images.

While Nvidia appears to have the inside path to retaining its current title as Wall Street’s most valuable public company by the turn of the decade, another Mag Seven member is ideally positioned to dethrone Nvidia and leapfrog the likes of Apple and Microsoft along the way.

Despite its AI dominance, Nvidia’s spot atop the trillion-dollar pedestal is far from secure

As of the closing bell on Sept. 24, artificial intelligence (AI) titan Nvidia clocked in with a market cap north of $4.3 trillion. It’s the first public company to have reached the $4 trillion mark, and is believed to have a chance to surpass a $6 trillion valuation, based on the price targets of Wall Street’s most optimistic analysts.

This optimism stems from Nvidia’s dominant position as the leader in AI graphics processing units (GPUs) deployed in enterprise data centers. Three generations of advanced AI chips — Hopper (H100), Blackwell, and now Blackwell Ultra — have enjoyed insatiable demand and extensive order backlogs.

Aside from clear-cut compute advantages, Nvidia’s AI hardware benefits from a persistent lack of AI GPU supply. As long as enterprise demand overwhelms available hardware, Nvidia is going to have no trouble charging a premium for its GPUs and netting a gross margin in excess of 70%.

While these competitive edges would imply that Nvidia’s spot atop the trillion-dollar pedestal is secure, historical precedent would beg to differ.

One of the prime threats to Wall Street’s largest public company is that every next-big-thing trend dating back more than three decades has eventually navigated its way through a bubble-bursting event early in its expansion. This is to say that investors consistently overestimate the early adoption and real-world utility of next-big-thing innovations. Though AI has undeniable long-term applications, most businesses are nowhere close to optimizing these solutions at present, or have yet to net a positive return on their AI investments.

Competition is something that can’t be ignored, either. Even with external competitors lagging Nvidia in compute ability, there’s a very real possibility of Wall Street’s AI darling losing out on valuable data center real estate and/or being undermined by delayed AI GPU upgrade cycles.

Many of Nvidia’s largest customers by net sales are developing AI GPUs to deploy in their data centers. Though these chips won’t be competing with Nvidia’s hardware externally, they’re considerably cheaper to build and more readily accessible. It’s a recipe for Nvidia’s competitive edge to dwindle in the coming years, and for Wall Street’s AI kingpin to cede its title as the most valuable public company.

Image source: Amazon.

This will be Wall Street’s most valuable public company come 2030

Although Apple or Microsoft would seem to be logical choices to reclaim the top spot that both companies have previously held, dual-industry leader Amazon (AMZN 0.78%) is the trillion-dollar stock that looks to have the best chance to become Wall Street’s most valuable company by 2030.

The operating segment that typically introduces consumers to Amazon is its online marketplace. According to estimates from Analyzify, Amazon’s e-commerce segment accounts for a 37.6% share of U.S. online retail sales. Amazon’s spot as the leading e-commerce giant isn’t threatened — although its operating margin associated with online retail sales tends to be razor thin.

While Amazon’s retail operations provide a face for the company, it’s a trio of considerably higher-margin ancillary segments that’ll be responsible for bulking up the company’s operating cash flow in the years to come.

Nothing has more bearing on Amazon’s long-term success than cloud infrastructure platform Amazon Web Services (AWS). Tech analysis firm Canalys pegged its share of worldwide cloud infrastructure spend at 32% during the second quarter, which is nearly as much as Microsoft’s Azure and Alphabet‘s Google Cloud on a combined basis.

AWS has been growing by a high-teens percentage on a year-over-year basis, excluding currency movements. The thinking here is that the inclusion of generative AI solutions and large language model capabilities for AWS clients will only enhance the growth rate for AWS.

As of the June-ended quarter, AWS was pacing more than $123 billion in annual run-rate revenue. Most importantly, AWS is responsible for almost 58% of Amazon’s operating income through the first half of 2025 despite accounting for less than 19% of net sales. Even if an AI bubble forms and bursts, application providers like AWS can weather the storm.

The other pieces of the puzzle for Amazon are advertising services and subscription services. When you’re drawing billions of people to your site monthly, it’s not difficult to command exceptional ad-pricing power.

It also doesn’t hurt that Amazon has landed exclusive streaming partnerships with the National Football League and National Basketball Association. When coupled with e-commerce shipping perks and exclusive shopping events, Amazon has plenty of pricing power with its Prime subscription.

Finally, Amazon is historically inexpensive. From 2010 to 2019, Amazon closed out each year between 23 and 37 times trailing-12-month cash flow. Based on Wall Street’s consensus, Amazon’s cash flow per share is forecast to grow from a reported $11.04 in 2024 to $27.52 in 2029.

In other words, Amazon is valued at only 8 times projected cash flow in 2029, which means it can reasonably add $2.5 trillion to $4 trillion in market value from here and still be trading at a significant discount to its average cash flow multiple during the 2010s.

Sept. 26 (UPI) — United Kingdom citizens and permanent residents will get digital ID cards that will make it easier to access health care, welfare, child care and other public services, the government said.

U.K Prime Minister Keir Starmer introduced the plan. But ID cards have been a contentious issue in the U.K. since the end of World War II. Civil rights campaigners argue it infringes personal liberty and puts people’s information at risk.

An online petition on the parliamentary website saying the government should not introduce digital ID cards has gained nearly 900,000 signatures, The Guardian reported. More than 600,000 of them have been added since Thursday.

Petitions with more than 100,000 names get a debate in parliament, but it almost never changes the government’s decisions.

The ID will make it easier to hire workers, according to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s Neil Carberry.

“We use digital ID every day, from paying on our phones to travel and event tickets,” The Guardian reported Carberry said in a statement. “There is no reason that the state should fall behind.

“By providing ID documents it already supplies digitally, the government can unlock faster job starts, and lower administration burdens in our labor market — as well as a faster, more accurate benefits system. This gives us a more fluent and dynamic job market — just what you need to achieve economic growth.”

One U.K. official said using the ID cards isn’t mandatory, but, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said, “It will be compulsory if you want to work in this country, so you’ll have to show that to be able to prove that you have the right to work.”

She said it will help prevent people from working illegally.

“The problem with national insurance numbers is that they’re not linked to anything else. So they’re not linked, for example, to photo ID, so you can’t verify that the person in front of you is actually the person whose national insurance number that you’re looking at, and we’ve seen a real rise in the amount of identity theft and people losing documents and then finding that their identity has been stolen,” Nandy said.

Tory leader Kemi Badenock said that the IDs announcement is a desperate gimmick that will do nothing to stop the [immigration] boats. There are arguments for and against digital ID, but mandating its use would be a very serious step that requires a proper national debate.”

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair tried to create biometric ID cards, but strong opposition made him abandon the idea.

“The Brady Bunch” superfans better hold onto their bell bottoms: The TV family’s retro home in Studio City will finally be accessible to the public for the first time.

The double doors to the midcentury Studio City home — made famous with its appearance in the beloved 1970s sitcom — will open to fans for three days in November thanks to a limited event by pop culture historian Alison Martino and her Vintage Los Angeles. Martino, an on-air host and producer for Spectrum news and the daughter of singer-actor Al Martino, unveiled the “Brady Experience” on Monday on Facebook.

“It’s like stepping back into our childhood! IT IS ASTONISHING and you will see every single room,” she announced. “I will personally be taking each and every one of you throughout the house.”

From Nov. 7 to 9, Martino will guide fans who have shelled out $275 each through the iconic Dilling Street property. The event is now sold out. Though the home’s facade appeared throughout the run of the family sitcom, its interior at the time bore no resemblance to the colorful rooms shown on screen. The interiors of the Brady residence were constructed on sets at Paramount Studios in Hollywood.

The famous abode, originally built in 1959 with late modernist architecture, was renovated decades after “The Brady Bunch” ended in 1974.

HGTV purchased the home in 2018 for $3.5 million (more than twice the asking price) and renovated the interior to match what “Brady Bunch” audiences saw onscreen. The home renovation network documented that process in “A Very Brady Renovation,” which featured the stars who portrayed the Brady children.

As part of the renovations, HGTV reproduced the groovy spaces from the set in the home, adding a second floor to accommodate the additional rooms. The network sold the home in 2023 for $3.2 million to Tina Trahan, a historic-home enthusiast and wife to former HBO executive Chris Albrecht.

The home, in all its “Brady Bunch” glory, has become “even more groovy with more remarkable vintage decor added,” Martino added in her announcement. She said nothing in the home would be off limits, allowing fans to “see every detail up close.”

Proceeds for the three-day event will benefit animal rescue Wags and Walks, a cause that Martino said Brady family dog “Tiger would definitely approve!”

STRICTLY star Anita Rani looks all loved up with her new boyfriend as the pair step out in public at a Burberry London Fashion Week show.

The British radio and television presenter – who starred on the iconic BBC dancing competition in 2015 – split from her husband Bhupi Rehal in 2023 after 14 years of marriage.

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Earlier this month, The Sun exclusively reported how the broadcaster had fallen in love with Alex Lavery.

Countryfile anchor Anita, 47, has now been seen with her new man as the pair attended a London Fashion Week show.

The couple looked smitten as they held hands and wandered through the streets of the capital city.

Anita wore a copper-coloured jumpsuit, which appeared to be loosely fitted and boasted of a plunging neckline.

She completed the look with a classic Burberry trench, some green pointed boots that had a stiletto heel, and a tan-coloured shoulder bag.

Anita wore her brunette bob in a sleek style which was straight and glossy.

Meanwhile, her hunky man could be seen in a pair of dark grey jeans, with a black top, a grey jacket and a pair of brown boots.

The smitten pair walked hand in hand as they smiled at one another, with them even bursting out in laughter in one snap.

Earlier this month, the couple were spotted running errands at homeware store B&Q.

As the pair were papped at the start of September, Alex was seen with a tote bag slung over his shoulder and carrying some soil.

At the time, Anita walked closely alongside her man as they made their way to his car.

The pair were also all smiles in a selfie posted from the Green Man festival in August, with Anita and Alex seen posing with her pals.

Anita, who tagged Alex’s work account and also follows his personal page on Instagram, is clearly embracing her next life chapter.

Her man is in charge of an immersive sonic experience company called Frqncy Ldn.

The company “explores the effects of sound and mind on the body.”

He recently focused on the gong instrument, composing and writing the score for the instrument on new release, The White Edition.

Anita proved the supportive partner as she wrote underneath: “It’s a stunner.”

Meanwhile, Alex’s brand has also performed sound meditations as part of Glastonbury Festival’s wellness programme.

Previously, Anita and Alex were seen watching Lankum and Mogwai at South Facing Festival in Crystal Palace park.

At the time, a source told The Sun: “Anita and this bloke were clearly very close and more than just friends – she was wrapped around him in the VIP area then they walked off into the crowd together looking really happy.”

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The Zionist narrative has been a dominating force in the United States for more than seven decades. Promoted by powerful lobbies, nurtured by Christian evangelicals, and echoed by mainstream media, it remained largely unchallenged until the outbreak of the genocide in Gaza.

In nearly two years, the unyielding images of horror, the scale of devastation, and the shocking loss of human lives have created an indomitable record of horror that has challenged the Zionist narrative. Poll after poll is registering a shift in public opinion vis-a-vis Israel. On both sides of the political divide, Americans are growing less enthusiastic about blanket support for the longstanding US ally. So what does this mean for US-Israeli relations?

In the short and medium term, not much. US arms, aid, security cooperation, and diplomatic backing for Israel will barely be affected. The support structure built up over almost eight decades cannot be expected to evaporate overnight.

But in the long term, US backing will be reduced. This means Israel will be forced to reconsider its aggressive posture in the region and roll back its plans to rule over all of historic Palestine.

What the polls say

Polls started picking up a shift in US public opinion, especially among young Democrats, even before the October 7, 2023 attacks. But afterwards, this change appeared to accelerate dramatically.

A poll conducted by Pew Research in March this year suggests that negative attitudes towards Israel have risen from 42 percent to 53 percent of all US adults since 2022. The shift is more pronounced among Democrats, from 53 percent to 69 percent for the same period.

What is remarkable about this change is that it is cross-generational. Among Democrats 50 and older – people who are usually moderate on foreign policy issues – negative attitudes towards Israel increased from 43 percent to 66 percent.

Expressions of sympathy have also changed. According to an August poll (PDF) by The Economist and YouGov, 44 percent of Democrats sympathise more with Palestinians, compared with 15 percent with Israelis; among Independents, these figures are 30 and 21 percent.

The same poll suggests that a plurality of Americans now believes Israel’s continuing bombing of Gaza is unwarranted, and some 78 percent want an immediate ceasefire, including 75 percent of Republicans. The percentage of respondents who said Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians was 43 percent; those who disagreed were just 28 percent.

More significantly, a plurality – 42 percent – favour decreasing support for Israel; among Republicans this number stands at 24 percent.

A Harvard-Harris poll (PDF) from July reveals perhaps the most concerning trend for Israel’s advocates: 40 percent of young Americans now favour Hamas, not Israel. While this is likely a reflection of general sympathy for the Palestinians, it shows significant cracks in the dominance of Israel’s “Palestinian terrorism” narrative among the American youth.

The same poll suggested that only 27 percent support Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a disastrous vote of no confidence that is far removed from the welcome he has enjoyed at the White House and Congress.

How policy may change

As older voters – Israel’s last electoral stronghold – make way for younger voters more sympathetic to the cause of Palestinian rights, the political math will shift towards profound political change. The question is no longer if the US will rethink its special relationship with Israel, but when.

The special relationship with Israel is one of those rare issues for which there is bipartisan support. Changing that would take a long time.

Of course, in the short term, there are some possible changes. If there is a sudden rift between Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump – perhaps even on a personal level – the latter will have the polls to justify a move away from Israel. The clear shift in public opinion would provide him with the political cover that he is listening to the American people. However, such a dramatic change is not likely.

What is more likely is that, under pressure from the public, members of Congress will increasingly start shifting on Israel-Palestine. Those who stubbornly refuse may be challenged by younger, more energetic candidates who rebuff funding by pro-Israel organisations like AIPAC.

The shift in Congress, however, would take a lot of time, not least because there will be stiff resistance to it. Pro-Israel lobby groups regard this as a pivotal moment in US-Israeli history. They will employ their vast resources to eliminate any candidate expressing sympathy for the Palestinians or questioning automatic support for Israel.

Furthermore, other issues, such as the economy and various social ills, will continue to dominate political agendas; foreign policy rarely shapes US elections.

The transition will not be bipartisan in the near term. Republican support for Israel is more consistent. The Democratic establishment has been under mounting pressure from its base since Joe Biden’s presidency. As younger members gain political ascendancy – as exemplified by the spectacular victory of New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primary – the Democratic leadership will be forced to change tack.

With more pro-Palestinian officials elected into office, especially in Congress, the progressive bloc will grow and intensify the pressure to change policy from within.

This process, however, will not be quick enough to immediately improve the situation in Palestine or even stop the looming ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Relief is more likely to come due to international pressure and developments on the ground rather than a change in US policy.

Nevertheless, in the longer term, lessened support for Israel from Congress or even a US president would mean the Israeli government would have to change its overly aggressive posture in the region and rein in its adventurous militarism. It will likely also be forced to make concessions on the Palestinian question. Whether this would be enough to establish a Palestinian state remains to be seen.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

At the same time that federal immigration enforcement ramped up across the Los Angeles area this summer, calls for help to local police plummeted.

Emergency dispatch data reviewed by The Times show a major decrease in LAPD calls for service in June, during the weeks when sweeps by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies were met by large street protests in downtown Los Angeles.

In a city where roughly a third of the population is foreign-born, the steep decline in calls adds to long-standing concerns from advocates that aggressive immigration enforcement leads to domestic abuse and other crimes going unreported because victims fear triggering deportations.

In the two weeks after June 6, when the immigration raids kicked off, LAPD calls for service fell 28% compared with the same period last year — an average of roughly 1,200 fewer calls per day.

LAPD officers responded to roughly 44,000 calls for service in that two-week span — versus nearly 61,000 calls during the same days in June 2024.

The calls include reports of serious crimes, such as home break-ins and domestic disputes, along with instances when the public has sought help with noisy neighbors, loud parties and other routine matters.

The data analyzed by The Times do not include all 911 calls — only LAPD calls for service, which are typically registered when a squad car is dispatched. Though multiple people may call 911 in connection with a single incident, in most cases only one LAPD call for service is recorded.

The decrease was especially noticeable for LAPD calls responding to suspected domestic violence and other incidents related to family disputes, which fell this year by 7% and 16%, respectively, after the ICE activity increased. Although family-related calls later began to creep back to 2024 levels, those for domestic incidents kept declining.

National experts said the findings reflect a crisis of public confidence that has followed other controversial incidents. Similar downturns in calls to local police occurred during the first Trump administration, after the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and following the fatal shooting six years earlier of Michael Brown, a Black 18-year-old, in Ferguson, Mo.

It’s hardly surprising that the same thing could happen even in a city where the police force is majority Latino and whose leaders have reaffirmed the city as a sanctuary for immigrants, said Vida Johnson, an associate law professor at Georgetown University.

“You’re going to see fear of law enforcement that is going to last generations,” Johnson said. “And that has the biggest impact on women, because women often are more likely to be victimized, and then more afraid to call for help than men.”

At least some of the decline during the initial two-week period can be explained in part by LAPD going on citywide tactical alert, which allowed the department to have more officers and resources at the ready to deploy to the front lines of the protests. During that time, the department prioritized responding to serious crimes such as shootings and robberies, leading to many other less urgent calls going unanswered.

But that doesn’t explain why calls for service remained down after the department returned to its normal operations. While police call levels began to rise again later in June and early July, they still remained down roughly 5% from the same period in 2024.

The decrease in calls was less pronounced in the nine police districts in South L.A., the San Fernando Valley and the Eastside where Latinos make up the majority of residents, but the data show a persistent dip in domestic violence calls in those areas that remained in the weeks after the immigration enforcement campaign began.

Police calls for service have been on a slow decline for years, a phenomenon that has coincided with a drop in overall crime. LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell and other leaders have tried to emphasize in public remarks that local cops are not allowed to enforce civil immigration laws and only work with federal agents to arrest criminal suspects or quell unrest that threatens public safety.

But Carlos Montes, a longtime organizer with the Boyle Heights-based immigrant advocacy group Centro Community Service Organization, said the sight of LAPD officers standing alongside the feds during recent operations has ensured that even more Angelenos will think twice about calling the police for help.

“In general, in the neighborhood we don’t want to call the cops because they’re not going to solve anything or they’re going to arrest someone, or beat someone or shoot someone,” he said.

LAPD Assistant Chief German Hurtado, the department’s immigration coordinator, acknowledged that it has been a struggle to reassure the public it’s safe to call the police.

“Police are also the most visible form of government, and right now people are not trusting the government,” Hurtado said in an interview last month. “People [are] scared to be deported, and that’s totally understandable. That’s something that we’re going to have to deal with and figure out a way to heal with the community.”

In response to what he called “negative publicity” around the LAPD’s actions in recent weeks, he said the department was stepping up its outreach efforts in various immigrant neighborhoods, with a series of planned listening sessions and other events aimed at educating the public.

The department recently launched a citizens academy for Spanish speakers, and senior lead officers have been out meeting with faith and community leaders trying to get them to reinforce the message that police need victims to cooperate in order to solve crimes.

Marielle Coronel, 24, co-owner of a boxing gym in Sylmar, said she worries about being profiled while being out and about, which has also made her think twice about calling police.

Even though she believes that at least some police officers are trying to help, she said the last few months have been unnerving. She recalled how her parents recently gave her a version of “the talk” that many parents of color have with their children about how to deal with police. Their fears have grown to include unidentified masked men posing as ICE agents, Coronel said.

Her parents insisted that she start carrying her passport with her everywhere she goes and that she not lower her window to anyone unless they clearly identify themselves. Tending to her gym’s front desk one recent afternoon, she said she has taken the advice to heart.

“Even if I am a U.S. citizen, you just don’t know,” she said. “We don’t feel like we have backup from the government.”

Venezuelan model, influencer and businesswoman Isabella Ladera is suing her former boyfriend, Brandon De Jesus Lopez Orozco, more famously known as Colombian singer Beéle, after a private sex video shared between the two was leaked to the public.

Ladera filed her lawsuit in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court on Sept. 15, alleging invasion of privacy, sexual cyberharassment under Florida Statute §784.049, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligence.

In a press release issued Thursday, Ladera stated: “No one should take advantage of another’s vulnerability to make money or create content. This is not entertainment; it is a crime, and the only thing it leaves behind are scars.”

According to court documents obtained by The Times, Ladera and Beéle began a romantic relationship after connecting on Instagram in December 2023. At Beéle’s request, the couple recorded intimate videos on their personal phones. Ladera deleted her copies and urged Beéle to delete his as far back as May 2024, but he allegedly refused. The couple eventually broke up, and in June 2025, Ladera began hearing that screenshots of their videos were circulating.

The leak was confirmed Sept. 7, when one video went viral via WhatsApp and was later uploaded to social media platforms like X, exposing Ladera to public humiliation, reputational damage and harassment, according to her suit.

Celebrity sex tape scandals are nothing new to the public. The first huge and infamous one was Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson’s honeymoon video, which shocked audiences when it surfaced in 1995 and arguably helped cement the notion of private content as highly exploitable public fodder.

Later cases, like “Celebgate” — in which hackers leaked intimate content from A-list celebrities in 2014 — highlighted how vulnerable people could be online, no matter how rich or famous. Over time, these incidents prompted lawmakers to strengthen protections for victims, moving away from the informal term “revenge porn” and toward the framework better known now as image-based sexual abuse.

In May, President Trump — alongside the first lady — signed the “Take It Down Act” into law, making it a federal crime to “knowingly publish” or threaten to publish intimate images without a person’s consent, including AI-generated “deepfakes.” Websites and social media companies are required to remove such material, including duplicate content, within 48 hours after a victim makes the request.

Under Florida law, victims of nonconsensual sharing of sexually explicit material have specific rights. Florida Statute §784.049 criminalizes the distribution of sexual images without consent, allowing victims to pursue criminal charges against the offender. Additionally, victims can file civil claims for invasion of privacy, emotional distress, or negligence if the offender failed to protect or delete intimate content. Remedies may include statutory or compensatory damages, as well as attorneys’ fees and costs.

Though Florida provides these protections, they are generally more narrow than in states like California, particularly in terms of civil recourse and the ability to hold online platforms accountable.

Experts say states such as California offer more comprehensive protections for victims of IBSA. Roxanne Rimonte of C.A. Goldberg, a California-based law firm specializing in harassment cases, explained that California provides both criminal and civil remedies, making it easier for victims to hold offenders accountable.

“California is one of the states that provides a civil cause of action for victims of nonconsensual pornography, in addition to criminal statutes,” Rimonte said. “Victims have the right to pursue both legal and monetary remedies, and the law even accounts for AI-generated images or online platforms that knowingly promote illegal content.”

Rimonte also highlighted a key difference in legal frameworks: the intent requirement. While some states require proof that the offender intended to cause emotional distress — a difficult burden for victims — California focuses on intent to distribute.

“As long as someone intended to distribute or publish intimate content, that satisfies the intent element,” Rimonte said. “This makes it much more straightforward for victims to seek justice.” By comparison, Florida’s statutes can leave victims with fewer avenues, particularly for civil recourse, leaving them reliant on criminal prosecution that may be slow or inconsistent.

The public nature of Ladera’s case only amplifies the harm. Celebrities and public figures often face more severe consequences when private content is leaked, Rimonte noted.

“Unlike private individuals, celebrities tend to experience more severe harms from the wider exposure of their content,” she said. “Media outlets tend to sensationalize IBSA cases involving public figures, which re-traumatizes victims and magnifies the social and reputational consequences.”

In Ladera’s case, false narratives have circulated online suggesting she leaked the videos herself, further complicating her emotional and public ordeal.

Ladera’s lawsuit also highlights broader gaps in protections for victims nationwide. In many cases, enforcement is inconsistent, civil remedies can be expensive and time-consuming, and tech platforms often evade accountability under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields websites from liability for user-generated content. Experts suggest that reforms should include clearer federal guidance, improved civil remedies and stronger requirements for platforms to act when illegal content is shared.

“Victims deserve a legal system that doesn’t re-traumatize them while seeking justice,” Rimonte said. “Focusing on the intent to distribute rather than intent to cause harm is one example of how legislation can better support survivors.”

As for Beéle, he has denied any involvement in the dissemination of the video. On Sept. 9, his legal team issued a statement asserting that he did not leak or distribute the material and is himself a victim of nonconsensual exposure. His representatives also announced that legal actions have been initiated in both Colombia and the United States to identify and prosecute those responsible for sharing the video.

Beéle has not commented personally, instead sharing the statement via his official Instagram account and urging media outlets and social media users to refrain from sharing the material.

As Ladera’s case unfolds, it underscores the continued tension between technology, privacy and accountability. While social media has made it easier for people to connect, it has also made personal content more vulnerable to exploitation. For Ladera, the legal battle is about reclaiming control over her personal life and sending a message that privacy violations have consequences.

In a statement to The Times, Ladera’s legal team underscored that her case is not just about one individual, but about a wider epidemic of digital exploitation. They noted that while Ladera is a public figure, countless women across Florida and beyond suffer similar violations of privacy at the hands of malicious actors.

The lawsuit, they emphasized, seeks not only to secure justice for Ladera — but to send a strong message that the unauthorized dissemination of intimate content will face serious legal consequences.

“Let it be absolutely clear,” said lead attorney Pierre Hachar, Jr., “that any past, present, or future acts of this nature, whether by these defendants or others, will be met with the same unwavering resolve and addressed to the fullest extent of the law.”