Al Jazeera’s Teresa Bo reports from Buenos Aires, where police fired tear gas as thousands protested against a private property bill. Opponents fear it will lead to foreigners owning too much land, while the Milei government says the law would attract investment.
Mayor Karen Bass said Thursday that the LAPD should stop working with Flock Safety, warning that the company, which operates AI-enabled license plate readers that allow authorities to monitor vehicles around the city, had lost public trust.
In her most forceful comments to date on the topic, Bass said while she supports license plate reading technology generally as a tool for law enforcement, Flock had “lost the trust of Angelenos and residents across the country, especially in immigrant communities targeted by the federal administration.”
“There are many companies that provide this technology to cities nationwide,” Bass said in a statement. “The LAPD needs to identify another company that doesn’t share data.”
LAPD officials have said Flock’s technology enables investigators to solve crimes, helping to find vehicles that have been reported stolen or linked to suspects. Last month, the department announced it was pausing its relationship with Flock, but police officials later said they were in the process of negotiating a new deal with the company that would include more data sharing and collection safeguards.
Dozens of mostly smaller cities have deactivated their Flock cameras or ended their contracts with the company over concerns that it provides data to the Trump administration that can be used to track down immigrants for deportation.
Bass joined the chorus of activists and local officials calling for the LAPD to end its relationship with the company outright.
Her opponent in the November mayoral election, Nithya Raman, said last week on the social media platform X that the city should “cut ties with Flock Safety.”
“Cities across the country are canceling their Flock contracts over the risks its license plate readers pose to privacy, civil liberties, and immigrant communities,” Raman’s post read.
Last month, Bass signed an ordinance that prohibits city personnel from providing anyone outside local government access to data that can be used to determine someone’s immigration status.
A recent Washington Post report uncovered at least 50 instances nationwide in which law enforcement officials were accused of misusing their access to the cameras, largely to stalk former romantic partners or citizens.
A report issued last month by the LAPD inspector general’s office found numerous “limitations” in the department’s existing agreements with its three plate reader vendors — Flock, Axon and Motorola — including a lack of clear language about how long the data are retained and how they are shared with third parties or other law enforcement agencies.
The inspector general recommended that the department update its current license plate reader contracts to address data security and privacy concerns, conduct regular audits and develop standardized rules for traffic stops based on plate reader hits.
Flock has said its customers decide who can access data from their cameras. The company said it doesn’t have contracts with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, adding that has taken other steps to assuage public concern, such as barring federal agencies from its lookup tools and restricting immigration-related searches to ensure compliance with laws in California, Washington and other states.
In an interview with ABC7 last month, Flock CEO Garrett Langley said the company had to “tighten up the police and make sure everyone’s aligned and then turn it back on. He said the company retains the data from its plate readers for only 30 days and denied that its cameras employ facial recognition software as some of its critics have suggested.
During a virtual listening session hosted last week by the inspector general’s office, dozens of people sounded off on the department’s use of Flock cameras.
Some speakers, mostly from the fire-ravaged community of Pacific Palisades, supported the use of cameras to deter burglars who have repeatedly hit homes and construction sites in the area.
Jennifer Wolfe, who identified herself as a teacher in Altadena, another community devastated by the 2025 wildfires, urged Flock’s supporters to consider how “surveillance systems can grow far beyond their intended purpose.”
Locating stolen cars is important, she said, but people should be more concerned by this newfound and unchecked ability for the government to collect “vastly more information, with far less effort.”
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has suffered a major electoral defeat after Dr Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, crushing pro-Israel congresswoman Haley Stevens despite an unprecedented spending campaign on her behalf.
AIPAC’s super political action committee, the United Democracy Project, spent more than $30 million promoting Stevens and attacking El-Sayed, according to Federal Election Commission filings analysed by the New York Times. NBC News projected El-Sayed as the winner on Wednesday, dealing a major blow to the pro-Israel lobby’s efforts to determine the outcome of one of the most closely watched Democratic contests in the country.
El-Sayed campaigned against US military assistance to Israel and repeatedly highlighted AIPAC’s intervention in the race. Stevens, by contrast, received the backing of AIPAC and the Democratic Party establishment.
The result is seen as providing some of the clearest evidence yet that association with Israel and its powerful lobby groups is becoming a political liability among Democratic voters as opposition grows to Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the unconditional support it receives from Washington.
A New York Times investigation published before the primary result was announced revealed the scale of AIPAC’s transformation from a traditional lobbying organisation into one of the largest spenders in US elections.
Spending by AIPAC-affiliated political action committees on campaign advertising and voter outreach has more than doubled in less than five years, rising from $29.3 million to $67.2 million. Much of the money has been directed towards Democratic primaries, where the lobby has sought to defeat candidates who criticise Israel or question US military assistance to the occupation state.
However, the investigation uncovered a striking feature of AIPAC’s campaign strategy: it rarely reveals its connection to Israel.
Between April 2022 and the end of July, AIPAC-funded groups produced 109 television and digital adverts. Only six mentioned Israel. Instead, the adverts focused on issues such as abortion rights, the economy and the cost of living, despite being financed specifically to elect politicians who support Israel.
AIPAC’s reluctance to mention Israel is seen as a reflection of a deeper political problem: open association with the Israeli government has become increasingly toxic following the mass killing, displacement and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.
The lobby is effectively asking voters to support Israel’s preferred candidates without making Israel itself part of the public argument.
AIPAC has also channelled approximately $22 million into five smaller super PACs with innocuous names that make no reference to Israel. These include Elect Chicago Women, Affordable Chicago Now!, Voters for Responsive Government and Blue Wave Action.
The Michigan contest became the lobby’s largest gamble. United Democracy Project spent more than $10 million promoting Stevens and over $20 million attacking El-Sayed through advertising and voter outreach.
Nevertheless, El-Sayed prevailed.
El-Sayed’s victory is thought to be particularly significant because Michigan is home to one of the largest Arab-American populations in the US and became the centre of the “Uncommitted” movement, which challenged former President Joe Biden’s support for Israel’s assault on Gaza.
Signs of the political backlash were already visible in April when Stevens and another AIPAC-backed politician were booed during the Michigan Democratic Party Convention. El-Sayed and his former primary rival, Mallory McMorrow, had both pledged to reject AIPAC funding.
AIPAC has previously succeeded in removing several prominent critics of Israel, spending millions of dollars to defeat former Democratic representatives Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush. It has also targeted Republicans who questioned US military support for Israel.
However, the lobby has faced a growing number of defeats. Summer Lee survived repeated AIPAC-funded attempts to remove her, while candidates in Illinois and New Jersey successfully used their opponents’ links to the lobby against them.
Polls have also documented a rapid decline in support for Israel. A majority of Americans now oppose providing economic and military assistance to Israel, while Democratic voters have become increasingly critical of both Israel’s conduct in Gaza and the influence of pro-Israel lobbying organisations.
Footage shows some of the more than 200 Bolivian police and military officers patrolling its border with Brazil. A wave of violence linked to clashes between Brazilian criminal groups fighting to control drug routes has left at least nine dead.
Reform U.K. leader Nigel Farage (L) and his Home Affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf (R) at the launch Monday of the party’s “Operation Fortress” policy to stop the influx of migrants to the country arriving on small boats by deploying the Royal Navy. Photo by Tolga Akmen/EPA
Aug. 3 (UPI) — Britain’s Reform U.K. party vowed Monday that if elected it would use the Royal Navy to turn back small boats bringing migrants across from France and Belgium, in what it said would be the largest military operation in the English Channel since World War II.
The policy launched at a news conference in London calls for the military to “intercept” the boats and return them to France or Belgium, with the party claiming “Operation Fortress” had the backing of former senior military brass and that it was in line with international law because its purpose was humanitarian.
Reform U.K. Home Affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf told the BBC that it would be possible for Britain to return the migrants without agreement from France, arguing that international law required they dealt with migrants on their territory and not let them continue onto Britain.
States are permitted to pull people from the sea but can only bring them to another country with the agreement of that country.
Yusuf acknowledged the move could spark a “diplomatic argument” between Paris and London.
Under agreements with the United Kingdom, authorities on the continent prevent thousands of migrants from setting sail for England, but those that do manage it are met by U.K. Border Force and Coast Guard vessels which take the migrants aboard and bring them ashore to ports in the south of England.
The announcement came hours after new Labour Prime Minister Andy Burnham vowed he would be “relentless” in combatting small boat crossings after some 60,000 migrants overwhelmed the border of the Spanish territory of Ceuta on the north African coast on Thursday and Friday.
Britain is separated from Ceuta by the channel, several European countries and more than a thousand miles, but Burnham said his concern was with “the broader issue of the Schengen [free travel] Area and our relationship with it,” saying he would seek regular dialogue with the European Union on the matter.
The Schengen Convention of 1990 abolished border controls across 29 mostly EU member European countries. Migrants arriving in Europe are supposed to be processed in the first safe country they reach but in practice they’re often allowed to move on, via several countries, to their desired destination. Migrants wanting to get to Britain end up in northern France, or the Belgian coast.
Burnham stressed that in order to defeat people trafficking gangs organizing the boat crossings refugees needed “safe routes” of reaching Britain. Currently, people must get to Britain before they can claim asylum, an almost impossible hurdle for nationals of countries from which most migrants hail without resorting to traffickers.
The number of people crossing the English Channel in small boats fell 43% in the first seven months of this year, compared with the same period in 2025, according to Home Office data. However, numbers have fallen in all of the past four years after peaking in 2022.
The three part documentary has finally been released in the UK
Don’t Date Brandon has finally been released in the UK (Image: Paramount Plus/Channel 4)
True crime fans cannot stop talking about a brand new documentary that has been dubbed a “disturbing” watch.
Don’t Date Brandon has this week been released on Channel 4, with all three episodes airing last night (July 30) as it explores two chilling relationships.
Amber Rasmussen and Athena Klingerman bravely open up on how they were manipulated by con man Brandon Johnson as the three part series exposes his elaborate web of lies and past abuse.
A Channel 4 synopsis reads: “True crime series. When Amber finds out that her husband’s a liar, she starts a podcast with his ex-wife. But as more women come forward, they discover that Brandon isn’t just a cheat; he’s dangerous.”
First airing on Paramount+ last year, Don’t Date Brandon has just been released on Channel 4, with all three episodes available to stream online for free. Despite its release in 2025, viewers are only just discovering the harrowing watch now as they say it is a must watch for everyone.
Taking to TikTok, one true crime fan said in a video: “I promise you definitely won’t want to miss this one because it is an absolutely wild ride.”
They went on to say: “As you’re watching this documentary it becomes more and more dark and more and more terrifying. What unfolds at the end of it is truly quite chilling and there are actually some very disturbing scenes in this so be aware of that.”
In another video, another viewer said: “It’s quite good.” One person commented: “Just finished Don’t Date Brandon. Started it last night – had horrible nightmares about my ex last night.”
Taking to their own video, one person admitted they were not “prepared for this documentary” as they captioned their post: “Craziest one in a while”.
Another stated they have been “waiting for the longest time” for the UK release, adding: “I cannot wait to watch this, I’ve heard great things from those of you who have already seen it.”
One person replied: “Don’t Date Brandon is amazing I watched it on YouTube crazy.”
When it was released in the USA last year, one viewer said it was one of the “most horrifying” documentaries they had watched, adding on TikTok: “Episode 3 is incredibly hard to watch.”
Don’t Date Brandon can be streamed for free on Channel 4
Yordan Alvarez homered and hit a go-ahead RBI single with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Houston Astros to a 3-2 win over the Angels on Tuesday night.
Christian Walker added a solo homer while Houston relievers Enyel De Los Santos, Bryan Abreu, Steven Okert and Josh Hader combined for four hitless innings. Okert (4-1) threw a scoreless eighth to earn the win and Hader threw a four-pitch ninth for his 14th save.
The Astros won for the seventh time in eight games to remain two games behind Texas in the American League West. The last-place Angels have lost 17 of 22 games.
Nick Allen started the winning rally with a pinch-hit double off Angels left-hander Mitch Farris (0-2). Christian Vázquez flared a one-out single to shallow right, advancing Allen to third. After Jeremy Peña struck out, Alvarez lined a single to right-center.
Angels left-hander Reid Detmers gave up two runs and four hits in five innings, striking out nine and walking none. Astros right-hander Peter Lambert gave up two runs and seven hits in five innings, striking out six and walking one.
Alvarez drove a first-pitch fastball from Detmers 427 feet to right for his major league-leading 35th homer in the first.
The Angels tied it in the third on Vaughn Grissom’s RBI single to left.
Walker’s 21st homer, a 411-foot shot to left, gave Houston a 2-1 lead in the fourth. But the Angels tied it 2-2 in the fifth when Mike Trout singled and scored from first on Jorge Soler’s double down the left-field line.
Grissom singled to put runners on first and third, but Lambert struck out Wade Meckler to end the inning.
A Welsh crime drama series has been hailed as ‘thrilling’ and ‘addictive’ is available to stream now
The latest series of a ‘gripping’ thriller is now on ITVX(Image: ITV screengrab)
A crime drama with a big twist has been added to ITVX and it’s perfect for your next binge.
Welsh series 35 Diwrnod started in 2014 and has gone down a storm with viewers, who have posted messages on social media admitting they are racing through its first four series. Its eagerly anticipated fifth run is now available on the platform, and its writer has said it’s a “compelling” watch.
Titled 35 Diwrnod: Parti Plu, or 35 Days: Hen Party, the new series – which stars Gwenllian Higginson and Geraint Todd – follows a couple who are preparing for their nuptials and have everything arranged for their special day. It follows the same pattern as previous seasons, with a body being discovered on the 35th day, then the action tracking back so viewers get to piece together what went on.
The show opens with a young couple preparing for their wedding day, but things quickly take a dark turn as in the first few minutes viewers get an ominous glimpse of what appears to be a woman in a wedding dress and veil floating face down in the sea.
Meanwhile, the groom is in the church looking anxious as he waits for his bride to appear.
Teasing some details on her website, writer Fflur Dafydd said: “We know from the outset that there has been a murder and we work back from there – as we do with every other series of 35.
“But despite the whodunnit element – I think with this particular series that the characters and their secrets become far more compelling.”
The series has proved a hit with audiences, with many saying they have been bingeing the episodes.
“I just finished bingeing all four seasons,” one person posted on IMDb.com as another said: “Last couple miniseries I watched have left me cold. This did not!
“Once you get into that different stories being told simultaneously it is a great binge!”
Someone else remarked: “This noir series, at least in the first season, almost becomes a black comedy in its over-the-top willingness to leave death and destruction everywhere. But I liked it. I binge-watched.”
Critics have also been impressed, with one reviewer calling it “gripping” and another saying it keeps you “on the edge of your seat”.
If I see one more person saying that the only way to truly experience Christopher Nolan’s vision of “The Odyssey” is to see it in Imax 70mm, I am going to start turning cinephiles into swine.
I understand that this is a technically true statement. As we all know by now, Nolan went on his own hero’s journey with this film, using an unwieldy and extremely loud Imax camera to shoot it (a feat only he and perhaps a few other directors would be given the finances to do). Like many, I applaud his efforts and those that were made to increase the number of theaters capable of projecting Imax 70mm (and 70mm in general).
There is an undisputed cultural magnificence to reimagining a nearly 3,000-year-old tale in the most artistically immersive format currently available to filmmakers. Unfortunately, the vast majority of filmgoers will never be able to see this master vision; only 25 theaters in the country are capable of showing the film in Imax 70mm — eight in California (including four in the L.A. area); two in Colorado, New York, Texas and Tennessee; and one in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
So a little more than twice the number of U.S. World Cup venues this year. But then, you could watch the World Cup on TV.
Not that you’ll be able to watch “The Odyssey” on TV anytime soon. As a rigorous defender of the theatrical experience, Nolan requires that his films stay in cinemas and off streamers for much longer than the average movie — “The Odyssey” will likely not be available on NBCUniversal’s Peacock until early 2027.
It is a noble mission; movie theaters need all the help they can get and heading into its second weekend, “The Odyssey” has already more than recouped its $250 million production budget. It will need to make between $625 million to $750 million to break even, which seems more than doable. “The Odyssey” could well become the third-ever R-rated movie to gross $1 billion.
Film snobbery notwithstanding, however, much of that will be accomplished via non-Imax 70mm screenings, which come in a near-Homeric list of types. On top of reacquainting the populace with a story that most of us have not thought much about since that middle-school project or college classics class, “The Odyssey” is offering a lesson in “premium formats.”
On the film’s website, one can view the trailer in Imax 70mm, regular Imax, regular 70mm, Dolby Vision and large format. Given the limitation of personal screens, this only reveals the varying frame dimensions, but it’s pretty fun to flick through them.
What is less fun is trying to figure out on which, and where and when, you can actually see the damn thing. While not on par with battling carnivorous Cyclops or world-weary witches, getting a ticket to “The Odyssey,” even after opening weekend, is a voyage filled with many obstacles.
Including but not limited to the recent crash of the AMC app.
I may or may not have contributed to this crisis, having recently spent well over an hour trying to get a measly two tickets.
Though it went against all my anti-elitist beliefs, I did try to leverage my L.A. privilege and see “The Odyssey” as Christopher Nolan intended — in Imax 70mm. Alas, the only seats available for days, even in standard Imax and 70mm, were in the first row. I was forced to “downgrade” to Dolby Vision at the Burbank 16, where, by the grace of Athena, I found two non-front-row seats, albeit in the middle of a weekday. (Mercifully, this actually counts as work for me.)
I am not equipped to argue saturation levels or whatever else differentiates one format from the other, but the Dolby experience was quite immersive, both in cinematic detail (The storms! The slaughter! The suitors’ slopping wine!) and cardiac-disruptive bass notes.
Certainly, I felt a bit like Odysseus as I crept — drained, disoriented and trailing popcorn crumbs like Ithican sand — out into the sun. It was an experience like no other (seriously, to survive Imax 70mm, I might have to go into training).
So I am a bit bewildered as pundits declare that the success of “The Odyssey” reflects some larger theme about what film audiences want. Beyond, you know, a very powerful movie.
This is one of the most singular films made in recent years. So singular that it all but defies any kind of tea-leaf-reading or, heaven forbid, attempts at replication. I don’t see a future in Homeric spinoffs (unless someone wants to do a limited series on Circe, starring Samantha Morton), and while it is vital to celebrate the craft of Imax 70mm filmmaking and projection, the theatrical experience cannot afford to put all, or even many, of its eggs into that basket.
An increased reliance on “premium formats” may seem like an obvious weapon in the increasingly one-sided war between at-home and theatrical viewing, but it is not the answer. Or at least not the only answer. (For one thing, there aren’t enough Imax 70mm cameras or projectors to go around.)
Like sports fans, many cinephiles are happy to spend hours, and dollars, to have the ultimate experience — tales of folks driving across state lines and/or paying thousands to see “The Odyssey” in Imax 70mm echoed the recent stories of international visitors saving up for a year to see their team play in the World Cup.
Though marvelously affirming for film fans, this is not a sustainable business plan. Movies are supposed to be for everyone. Not just those with a neighborhood Imax 70mm theater or the ability to pay $30 for a regular Imax seat. Going to the movies should not require hours of research to choose a theater, negotiating with a scalper or finding AI-aided plots to game the system. And there shouldn’t be such an obvious and geographically rigged hierarchy.
Before you know it, Live Nation will be involved and then where will we be?
Christopher Nolan’s non-CGI visions of the Trojan Horse, the Cyclops, the sacking of Troy, the transformation of men into pigs do not require an “ultimate” aspect ratio to be remarkable.
(Melinda Sue Gordon / Universal Pictures)
“The Odyssey” is a legitimate phenomenon and that’s terrific; more power to Nolan and the theaters that benefit. As a solution to flagging box office, well, if Hollywood does not want to go the way of — as Timothée Chalamet famously said — ballet and opera, it cannot afford to become dependent on premium experiences that are accessible only to a small percentage of the audience.
Of course it’s great that “The Odyssey” was shot, and is being shown, in Imax 70mm and regular 70mm, especially in a year when stories that originated on YouTube are also burning up the big screen. Art should never be an equation of replacement. Supporting all manner of work is always the best way of preserving and celebrating the splendid diversity of filmmaking.
No matter how unparalleled the form, it still must follow function. “The Odyssey,” in whatever format it is seen, is an epic adventure with emotional undertones beyond the original story and an existential message that resonates far more than its smattering of modern language. Nolan’s non-CGI visions of the Trojan Horse, the Cyclops, the sacking of Troy, the transformation of men into pigs do not require an “ultimate” aspect ratio to be remarkable.
All the various formats have their proponents and the conversations about them have been entertaining and informative, but no matter the film or screen size, it’s a very good movie.
And that’s the only template Hollywood needs to follow.
It pains me to say that most of us are missing the point when it comes to President Trump’s rambling election fraud speech. Which is exactly what he wants.
Within minutes of its airing Thursday night, the internet and pundits were abuzz debating whether voting machines were secure and whether the federal government has a right, or even a duty, to oversee voter rolls (it has neither). Long posts were written condemning voter identification efforts, and more posts written attacking those condemnations.
This, friends, is exactly what the speech was meant to accomplish — myopic bickering.
To be specific, myopic bickering about the past, as a dark future creeps ever closer — like, say, Nov. 3.
The question is will we allow Trump to sow just enough doubt in the minds of average Americans that what comes next seems inevitable and even necessary?
Trump falsely claimed that he was revealing “an election system so broken and so vulnerable that no one can possibly defend it.”
“This cannot be allowed to continue,” he said.
Those are ominous words, ones we should take seriously.
“This is a very sad thing to be able to say about the president of the United States, but I think it’s quite clear,” said Mindy Romero, director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy, a nonpartisan research facility. “This is about a certain set of political goals, and using this misinformation to achieve those political goals.”
Trump knows that the midterms present a threat to his power and he, and those around him, have been working for years to create a strategy to invalidate our election results just in case they don’t fall in his direction. Whether the overall outcome favors Democrats or Republicans in the midterms, the wins and losses are going to be close, giving him the chance to attack Democratic wins.
On Jan. 6, 2021, Trump learned from the unlikely teacher Mike Pence the difficult lesson that plans work only when people are in place to implement them. As vice president, Pence, you may recall, refused to stop the election certification process that legally, rightfully, fairly allowed Joe Biden to take office.
Since then, Trump has purged dissenters from top roles, instead putting in flat-out sycophants, election deniers and conspiracy theorists — more than one of whom has been associated with the racist Great Replacement theory that Democrats are secretly helping Black and brown people to illegally cross the border in exchange for these folks illegally voting for Democrats, thereby replacing the “true” America of conservative white people.
So the apparatchiks are in place, Soviet-style. There will be no Penceian savior on the inside this time around.
More than one election expert I have spoken to in recent months fear that because there is no one left on the inside to object, we could see post-election turmoil like this: Republicans lose one or both houses of Congress. Trump calls fraud. The Department of Justice or outside lawyers, or both, sue to overturn results. Congress, the Republican one still in place, refuses to seat newly elected Democrats until the court cases are resolved.
A constitutional crisis is at hand. Democrats say they were elected. Republicans won’t let them serve. No one is clear who is in Congress and who isn’t. In effect, the body is frozen and it’s legitimacy undermined. Into that vacuum, Trump pushes his already great power even further.
As movie-terrible as that sounds, that internal structure is in place and this scenario is far less impossible or even improbable than we could hope.
“What we’re talking about is just misinformation and what could be used as a justification for potentially interfering with seating of elected officials,” Romero said. “Particularly Congress.”
Now, with the internal stuff squared away, Trump’s focus is neutralizing outside dissent. That’s you and me, and that’s what this speech was about. Sowing doubt, tossing seeds of chaos into the soil to see what grows. Letting us know it’s coming, so we as Americans have time to bicker, argue, and tear away at our trust in elections so that by the time we vote, we expect the worst to happen.
“Unfortunately, there are some members of the public that are going to believe what they’re being told and when they hear election results, question it,” said Chad Dunn, legal director of the UCLA Voting Rights Project. “This kind of communication misleads Americans and does a disservice to our democracy.”
Dunn told me he’s “as worried as I’ve been in my life” about the next election.
Trump’s far right is wasting no time on this effort. After Trump’s speech, the Department of Homeland Security sent out a letter to California and three other states claiming California has more than 190,000 non-citizens registered to vote, and demanding the state “confirm their intentions to collaborate with DHS in order to ensure free, fair, and honest elections.”
This is a misleading, erroneous count and does not include the obvious fact that there is no evidence that undocumented people actually voted in any California election in any noticeable numbers.
But it creates that chaos and doubt. California isn’t going to share its voter rolls willingly with the federal government because elections — according to the Constitution — are state affairs. And there is no evidence that the federal government has a better way of vetting citizenship than California does. So it becomes one more point of bickering.
But what Dunn, Romero and other honest elections experts want Americans to know is that our elections are free and fair and all is not lost. Far from it.
The answer to the propaganda and lies is to remain aware of it, remain above it. Spread truth and refute falsehoods.
Dunn said that Americans should demand that any voter fraud be taken to the courts — where it belongs, and where we can determine the validity of the evidence.
“If you’re concerned about this, if you’re inclined to believe the president, demand proof, demand resolution in court at trial with the the showing of evidence,” he said. “And reserve judgment until you see that.”
Romero has her own advice — never underestimate the power of the vote.
“Show up and to participate,” she said. “Regardless of how [you’re] going to vote — Democrat, Republican, otherwise — just to show up and participate.”
Because in the end, we only lose democracy if we willingly let it go.
The industry saw immediately just how lucrative fear could be. More than a century later, there is always someone in the entertainment media willing to trade in racist tropes for money, as well as an audience ready to receive them.
Two new films, “Citizen Vigilante” and “Run, Fight, Hide: Infidels,” demonstrate that streaming platforms and social media no longer simply distribute controversial content but in fact thrive on content that provokes, polarizes and sustains attention, regardless of the social cost.
Both of these xenophobic and Islamophobic films are being pushed as “anti-woke” vehicles, deliberately engineered to bypass traditional critical reception and capitalize on a fractured media ecosystem. “Citizen Vigilante,” which features an American protagonist killing dark-skinned immigrants and Muslims in an unnamed European setting, was denied a rating certificate by the German government for inciting violence. Yet despite that determination, the film secured global reach through decentralized digital distribution and high-profile promotion from Elon Musk.
Similarly, “Run, Fight, Hide: Infidels” — a campus siege narrative evoking 1980s action film nostalgia that leans heavily into outdated, post-9/11 anxieties — relies on a built-in conservative media apparatus to guarantee financial returns. The film is produced by the conservative media figure Ben Shapiro and the Daily Wire, which he co-founded. It is a sequel to a 2020 film that was their film company’s premiere.
But while promoters of such films frame their work as a brave rebellion, the reality is much more sinister: rehashing 40-year-old tropes while invoking conspiracy theories of Muslims bringing sharia law to America, because outrage is cheap to produce and easy to monetize.
Stories matter. Stories shape how we see one another. They influence what we love, what we celebrate, whom we trust, whom we understand and whom we fear.
Since January, the Muslim Public Affairs Council has documented a sharp escalation in threats and attacks targeting Muslims and Islamic institutions across the United States, including vandalism, shootings, bomb threats, attempted assassinations and physical assaults. These are not isolated incidents. They reflect a broader climate in which dehumanizing representation increasingly manifests as real-world violence.
Entertainment and politics increasingly employ the same tactic as one another, recycling narratives of fear and “otherness” to mobilize audiences, voters and consumers. When political leaders encourage those narratives, as President Trump recently did by amplifying and commenting on a photo of young Muslim American students in hijab, they further normalize the same stereotypes that entertainment companies have learned to monetize.
Yet while the social costs continue to mount, the economic incentives remain firmly intact. “Citizen Vigilante” earned a 93% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes despite receiving just a 6% critics’ score. More tellingly, it quickly climbed to the top of Amazon’s and Apple TV’s paid video-on-demand charts.
And this isn’t just a Muslim and immigrant issue — and it’s not only about who is portrayed on screens, but also who is not. Representation has been backsliding, and audiences are left with fewer opportunities to see the reality and humanity of diverse communities, making them more vulnerable to fear-based narratives.
According to a 2026 report from the nonprofit Define American, which tracks representation across television and film, Latinos account for only 23% of immigrant characters represented on screen, even though they make up more than 40% of the immigrant population in the United States. In 2020, 50% of immigrants on screen were Latino.
The industry’s defense is that whitewashed and xenophobic films reflect audience demand. But the recent research by Define American challenges this assumption. Data show that nuanced, multidimensional storytelling, in which immigrants and minority characters are woven into the fabric of everyday narratives rather than tokenized or villainized, actually leads to greater audience engagement and deeper systemic understanding.
Entertainment doesn’t simply reflect culture; it teaches us who belongs within it. Studios, distributors, streaming platforms and filmmakers all have a responsibility to reject narratives that portray immigrants as enemies and instead embrace stories that reflect the diversity and complexity of our world. At the same time — as with voters — the power ultimately rests with consumers. The choice to demand storytelling that challenges prejudice rather than profits from it belongs to all of us.
Budget airline Ryanair has shared an ‘important’ announcement on Facebook telling people to stop wearing jeans on flights – and passengers have plenty to say about it
Ryanair has issued an ‘important’ announcement for passengers travelling in jeans (stock image)(Image: Getty Images)
Ryanair has issued an ‘important’ message to passengers who choose to wear jeans on their flights, having previously threatened to introduce a ‘denim fee’ for travellers not adhering to this guidance.
Staying warm and comfortable during a flight can prove more challenging than expected, especially when you’re confined to your seat with limited movement for hours at a time. Fortunately, selecting the appropriate travel attire could dramatically improve your comfort levels while in the air.
For many, this means tracksuit bottoms or leggings, while others continue to wear less comfortable garments, such as jeans, on their journeys.
But now, Irish budget airline Ryanair has posted an announcement on its Facebook page addressing all passengers regarding their clothing choices on flights.
“Important Travel Announcement,” the company posted, accompanied by three images of a Ryanair aircraft in the sky, zoomed in to reveal various details.
The first two images showed a Ryanair plane soaring through the air, with a brilliant blue sky visible in the background. However, the third image displayed a banner trailing from the rear of the aircraft.
The message was short and sweet. It read: “Stop travelling in jeans.”
While there’s no real cause for concern here, the joke simply comes from most travellers preferring to dress comfortably on flights, as jeans are well known for being rather restrictive when sitting for extended periods of time.
But this didn’t deter passengers from joining in with the banter. Scores of people quickly headed to the comments section to share their views, with many insisting they had no intention of ditching their beloved denim on flights.
“I’m always flying in jeans because they are 200g heavier than sweats and you would just love to charge me for those 200g in my suitcase,” one person said. Another went on to say: “It’s how many layers we have under our jeans that you should be worrying about.”
“Noted. I’ll fly in pyjamas… unless that’s a €12 add-on too,” a third person said.
Someone else wondered: “What, should I just travel in a t-shirt and my pants to save weight?”
Another person went on to share the safety reasoning of flying in jeans, explaining: “Better jeans than shorts… much safer in case of an emergency evacuation (same applies to closed shoes vs flip flop by the way).”
Meanwhile, a delegation from Qatar travelled to Iran on Friday for talks aimed at defusing tensions and easing navigation through the Strait of Hormuz – the vital waterway where some 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes.
Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social earlier on Friday: “The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue ‘talks.’
“We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!”
It is not clear when those talks will be held. Vice-President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as special US envoys Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, are expected to oversee negotiations for the US.
According to Iranian media, Araghchi is in Oman for talks with Omani officials.
A US official said American technical teams would not be present in Oman, but would be in touch with the Omanis and Qataris as developments occurred.
In the early hours of Saturday, Trump also responded to reports that Iran had plans to assassinate him.
The US would “completely decimate and destroy all areas” of the country in retaliation to such an attack, he said.
The Wall Street Journal and other US media reported this week that Israel had shared intelligence with Washington that Iran had recently devised a plan to assassinate the US president.
However, Trump denied that Tehran had made a fresh plan or that Israel was the source of any intelligence. He told the New York Post in an interview that he had been “No. 1 [on Iran’s kill list] for a long time”.
On Saturday, his son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, released a written message that said vengeance for his father’s killing was “inevitable”.
The “matter depends neither on my personal existence nor on that of other officials. Whether we are present or not, it will come to pass,” Khamenei said.
It is easy to see why people love the Northumberland village so much. The centre is quaint and pretty, the beach sandy and impressive, and the castle perfectly preserved and towering
Bamburgh has won, yet again(Image: TimMcGuinness/ChronicleLive)
Has there been a run as dominant as this in the history of British seasides?
Once again, Bamburgh has been named the best coastal town or village the UK has to offer, bringing the run of victory to six in a row in the Which? annual survey.
It is easy to see why people love the Northumberland village so much. The centre is quaint and pretty, the beach sandy and impressive, and the castle perfectly preserved and towering.
In a gushing show, 5,320 Which? readers handed Bamburgh perfect marks for its seafront, scenery and beach. “It is a wonderful historic village with miles of sand and glorious views,” one happy visitor enthused.
Another said: “Bamburgh Castle, a stunning building, is the core of the village and leads through the sand dunes to an extraordinary beach, which never fails to captivate us.”
And a third agreed: “It’s just gorgeous and is as good now as it was years ago; it’s not been spoiled by commercialisation. What made it successful then has been retained.”
But amid all of the enthusiasm for the settlement of 300 people, not everyone is convinced by its dominance of the Which? survey. In fact, a number of locals are fed up with the limelight that is being cast on Bamburgh.
“I wish they wouldn’t do things like this. All it does is make rich southerners read it and then decide to buy a holiday house there, pushing up house prices and pushing out actual locals,” one irked person wrote online.
Another chimed in: “Peace and quiet?! Not on a sunny summer’s day. The village (it is not a Town) is rammed with vehicles and visitors.”
The gripes are consistent. Back in 2022, when Bamburgh’s reputation as the best of the best was still being forged, resident John Graham shared his frustrations. He said: “When the sun is out the place can be overrun. In the day, you get the ice-cream brigade leaving their rubbish everywhere and in the evenings the drunken louts have their fun.
“On an average morning in the summer, I pick up five or six burnt-out disposable barbecues and half a dozen or so bin bags full of bottles and cans.”
One business owner said it is really sad to see a big increase in litter being dumped in the sand dunes below the castle. They added: “A friend of mine summed up the problem quite well the other day when he said it’s like over-fishing.
“Pubs and hotel owners might be enjoying the money rolling in, but the more people who come here, the more damage is done to the environment.”
I visited last summer and was not overly impressed by what I found. One major issue was the cars. On a hot June day, the stream of traffic on the arterial road that runs through Bamburgh’s centre is relentless. The closest train station is seven miles away in Chathill, and the buses are sporadic, so any hopes of embarking on a relaxing, car-free day trip will prove difficult.
For me, the real issue with Bamburgh is its vibe. Central to the charm of Britain’s great seaside towns is a slightly edgy, salty quality in some way connected to large quantities of sailors. Bamburgh, with its Farrow and Ball doors and memorial benches, has none of this.
The stars of the show in Bamburgh are the beach and the castle. It is undeniable that the combination of the two — how the 1,400-year-old fort hangs above the broad, sandy shore — is magnificent. You won’t find me criticising Bamburgh Castle.
The beach, however, is arguably a little one-note. Once you’ve waded out half a mile to get to a patch of water deep enough to paddle in, you’ll be frozen by a North Sea that rarely swells itself into anything remotely as interesting as what you’d find on the UK’s Atlantic coast.
If you’re in search of a very long beach, Camber Sands near Rye in East Sussex not only enjoys a lot more sunshine — as one of the sunniest places in the country — it also has superior sand dunes, particularly so if you’re a teenager interested in launching yourself off their summits.
Chunky platform sandals, fitted baby tees, butterfly clips on perfectly crimped hair, brightly patterned skirts and tons of sparkles. Pure Y2K-fueled nostalgia filled the Kia Forum on Wednesday night in celebration of all things Hilary Duff.
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Duff graced the stage at the Inglewood venue as part of her Lucky Me tour, her first global headlining tour in nearly two decades. And her fans couldn’t have been more thrilled. The pop singer and actor, who released her sixth studio album “Luck… or Something” in February, performed two back-to-back sold-out shows.
Before the final L.A. show, we caught up with fans to talk about their outfits (many of which were inspired by Duff’s most famous roles such as Sam in “A Cinderella Story” and the title role in “The Lizzie McGuire Movie”), the memories her music brings up for them and why her work still resonates with them. Here’s what they had to say.
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
Tristan Hallam, 36, of Chicago
Tell us about your outfit.
This is my wedding dress that I had stuffed in a suitcase. She’s been in a suitcase for 10 years, and I still fit into her, which is nice. People ask me why I keep stuff and this is exactly why: You might get divorced and use it as a costume. My outfit is inspired by “A Cinderella Story.” It’s my favorite Hilary Duff movie. She plays diner girl Cinderella. She disguises herself with a mask and a L.A. Dodgers cap. I did have a tiara, but I didn’t bring it because I didn’t want to be too much. So I figured, you know what, why not buy an apron and a little black crop top, and rep L.A.
I have a tattoo of her signature. It’s a little faded because it’s like 10 years old, maybe older than that now. It was at a book signing at Barnes and Noble at like the Grove or something. I asked her if she would initial my wrist, and I got it tattooed the same night. I literally drove to the tattoo shop on Hollywood Boulevard with my arm out the window because I’m so clumsy and I didn’t want to smudge it. Then the next time I saw her, she asked me, what did your parents say? I said, “My mom asked me how long I kept the Sharpie on so long.”
How long have you been a fan?
I think I was like 8 or 9 years old when I saw “Casper Meets Wendy” for the first time. My grandma took me to like a K-Mart or something, and told me that I could get any movie that I wanted. Then I was into “Lizzie McGuire,” but as soon as Hilary started doing all her like movies and independent work, obviously the music is great. I used to live in L.A., so I went to a bunch of her book signings. I’ve done a lot of meet and greets for her concerts, and right now I’m traveling around. I’m going to 18, technically 19 shows now, and I’m gonna see her in New Zealand, Australia and some other places. I’m actually really excited because one of my friends, I met her in a Hilary Duff fan club chat room in 2005 on MSN Messenger, and we are still friends, so we are going to a ton of shows together.
Why does her work still resonate with you today?
The fact that we’re around the same age, there’s been a lot of relationship similarities. I don’t have any kids, but the struggles with family, with your dad, with your siblings. She’s got some songs that are more mature and relatable for people our age. People who have gone through ups and downs in relationships, struggles with family and figuring out who your real family is, not just by blood but who your chosen family is. I think that’s really important.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
Leilanie Martinez, 30, of South Gate
Tell us about your outfit and the inspiration behind it?
It’s my quinceañera dress. It’s supposedly very traditional to wear a white dress, like young women coming of age. For mine, I wanted to wear something that I didn’t see a lot of people wearing and I was very firm that if I didn’t find the love of my life, I was going to wear a white dress and this was my moment. My quinceañera was such a precious time. It really was a labor of love, and I think it’s one those memories I hold very near and dear. I think it’s an ode to her history, her legacy.
How long have you been a fan?
I remember I was 5 and I was running around in my neighborhood, playing with Barbies and watching “Lizzie McGuire.” I’m here today with my neighborhood and childhood friends. We used to watch it together and now we’re reliving our nostalgia and childhood.
Thinking back on when you first fell in love with her work, why does it still resonate with you today?
There’s a lot of power in her being a woman and she’s going through so many milestones that a lot of people my age are going through like having children and growing her career. Sometimes I think people “wash out” and I think it’s wonderful how she’s combating that narrative in so many ways, and that people are out here supporting her. I think there’s a lot of beauty in being able to be together as young women and relive some of these memories, but also cheer her on as she continues developing further.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
Crystal Chesher, 33, of Mar Vista and Isabella Sanchez, 33, of Culver City
Tell us about your outfit.
Sanchez: We’re channeling “The Lizzie McGuire Movie.” My actual name is Isabella. She gives more Lizzie vibes and I give more Isabella vibes. It’s funny because I’ve literally saved [looks] of Isabella and Lizzie on my Pinterest board and I’ve always wanted to dress up like this. It’s not 100% of what I wanted, but it’s giving what it’s supposed to.
How long have you been a fan?
Chesher: Since I was little. I remember watching “Lizzie McGuire” since the age of 10 at the very least so I’ve been growing up with her movies and shows. She’s definitely my idol.
Sanchez: Same. Growing up, I was bullied so she was a very big part of me being more positive about myself. I can relate to her and she really helped me. It just feels full circle to be able to see her at 33 when I wanted to see her when I was like 10.
Thinking back on when you first fell in love with her work, why does it still resonate with you today?
Chesher: She has a heavy influence in the LGBT community as well especially with the [anti-gay speech campaign]. I loved that. With her movies and her music, it’s all relatable and it resonates with you, the lyrics, the storyline and even her new album that just came out.
Sanchez: She’s just that girl. I’ve never even met her, but I feel like she’s so genuine and real and she’s always stayed consistent with who she is. She’s not like your typical celebrity. She’s just awesome. I’m literally probably going to tear up seeing her on stage.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
Lucca Petrucci, 33, of Santa Monica
Tell us about your outfit.
This is a last-minute choice. It’s very like ’70s or retro. I feel like I’ve seen her wear something like this. I’m wearing wide-legged pants, Doc Martens, platform, new haircut, facial. The inspiration for this fit was elegant pop star like confidence, grounded, a baddie. I’m a baddie who knows my worth and that’s what I wanted to embrace. I feel like she’s like doing that. She has a lyric that’s like ‘I look in the mirror, like I’m a bad b—.”
How long have you been a fan?
Since third grade. I thought she was my crush, but I think I just wanted to be her. So many of my core childhood memories are with her.
Why was tonight a non-negotiable for you?
I wanted to experience with my bestie and her sister. I feel like as a kid I didn’t allow myself to fully embrace it because it would be too girly, too much, too gay. So I feel like as a 33-year-old, I’m reclaiming that experience. I’m so excited just to hear everybody in the Forum sing “So Yesterday” and “Come Clean.” She has always been my number one pop star, to this day, and I’ve never seen her perform.
Why does her work still resonate with you today?
I feel like, especially when she was on “Lizzie McGuire,” she was figuring out who she was, but was open to being her authentic self. So I think that just like hit me when I was like in third and fourth grade, like figuring out myself. I felt so seen by her, and her music just brings back like such good feelings. Younger version of me, life wasn’t always great, but, I don’t know, she made things better.
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
Liv Guardado, 8, Priscilla Cruz, 38, Ava Guardado, 10 and Jezelle Velasco of Costa Mesa
Tell us about your outfit.
Cruz: We went thrifting for the first time for this. I’m plus-size, so thrifting is not easy in my size, so we did what we could. We got some overalls from Goodwill. And then we got some cowboy boots because we just wanted to be comfy.
Velasco: I probably stressed the most. I ordered so many pieces and it just kind of came together. I think the nails took the longest. One of my friends did my nails. It took some time but we got it done.
How long have you been a fan?
Velasco: Probably since I was their age. I never got to go to a concert, so this is my first time seeing her live.
Cruz: I definitely got inspired around middle school. I had a friend who was like Lizzie, and I was the best friend, Miranda. People would always say I was Miranda. I was a little older than [my girls], but I definitely have kept tabs on her life, and we love her.
Why does her work still resonate with you today?
Cruz: It definitely feels like memories and home when you think of her music from back then. And now she’s obviously stepped into a different phase of her life, and it matches where we’re at in our phase too so it’s nice.
Velasco: It just brings back the nostalgia from back when we were younger and now being parents, and being able to relate to her and her new music.
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
Paige Beard, 34, and Tayler Nelson, 27, of Bakersfield
Tell us about your outfits.
Beard: I was supposed to be wearing purple and she was going to wear green, and we were going to do the Isabella and Lizzie look at the end of “The Lizzie McGuire Movie.” It turned out more pink, but we ran with it.
Nelson: I was all about that performance, so I was like green. Gotta go green. We’ve been planning for a while, like two months.
How long have you been a fan?
Beard: I’ve been a fan for a long, long time, probably since “Casper Meets Wendy.” I was also a really big “Lizzie McGuire” fan, so I got into her acting as well as her music.
Nelson: Same. I was all about the Cinderella movie though, so it’s probably been 10 years for me.
Why does her work still resonate with you today?
Beard: I was telling my sister that I really liked “Lizzie McGuire” because it was one of the first times I saw somebody’s inner dialogue acted out in cartoon form. It showed me that I’m not too much. She’s a little bit older than me and I see her crying on stage and I’m like “OK, it’s OK.”
Nelson: “The Lizzie McGuire Movie” was a big turning point for me. I just loved how she expressed herself with what she wore and how she acted. I feel like I understood her in different ways. I enjoyed the dancing and the singing for sure. She felt free and I’m like, “Dang, I want that.”
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
Freddy Lopez, 38, and Raymond Lockwood, 36, of San Bernardino
Tell us about your outfits.
Lopez: Just a ’90s vibe. I guess a little old-school.
Lockwood: The outfits are a little last-minute because we were like we should’ve done diner girl [from “A Cinderella Story”] or one of her other movies, but we chose the little cartoon character from the show.
How long have you been a fan?
Lopez: I’ve been a fan since “Lizzie McGuire” and her movies.
Lockwood: For the past 20 something years. We grew up watching “Lizzie McGuire” and got introduced to Hilary Duff when she started singing.
Why was tonight a non-negotiable for you?
Lopez: We don’t know if she’s going to come back after this, so you’ve gotta take every opportunity. There’s other artists who cannot come back to perform right now. So when she said I’m coming back, we had to.
Lockwood: We’re healing our inner child. As a kid, we didn’t know she was having tours or we couldn’t afford to come out. Now, we’re like we don’t have to ask our mom and dad for anything.
Why does her work still resonate with you today?
Lockwood: For me, it’s being a teenager, watching the “Lizzie McGuire” show and watching the movie and then learning her songs. My favorite song is from the movie, “What Dreams Are Made Of.” It’s just us getting to live back in the past and kind of understanding it a little bit more. As a kid, our dreams are not what they realistically are today. I ended up becoming a nurse. As a kid, I didn’t sit on the couch like “Oh, I’m going to be a nurse,” but that’s what my dream ended up being.
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
Stephanie Rodriguez, 32, High Desert
Tell us about your outfit.
If you ask my fiancé, I was hunting for outfits and last-minute I was like, “I’m just gonna order something on Amazon.” When I saw this, I was like, “That’s it.” Total nostalgia with “13 Going on 30.” We went shoe shopping at the South Coast Plaza over the weekend. The metallic is pulling it all together and the butterfly clips.
How long have you been a fan?
Probably since I was like 8 or younger, pretty much very much obsessed. All of my holiday gifts were Hilary Duff. I had her K-Mart home products. Any magazines she was in, I got. Any outfits that I could try and replicate, I would. My first Hilary show was either Wango Tango or a Jingle Ball with KIIS-FM, so it was just a festival with a bunch of different artists but I went specifically for her.
Why does her work still resonate with you today?
I think a lot of us feel like we grew up with Hilary, so all of her music resonated with us then, and now, now that we’re older, through relationships or divorces or motherhood. It’s pretty cool to see just how we’re all kind of growing up together. The first time I think I found out about her was at the Glendale Galleria. I was recently telling my fiancé that my dad had me on his shoulders because she did a meet and greet and the entire mall was packed.
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
Kelsie Wagner, 35, of Temecula and Tyler Walsh, 35, of Long Beach
Tell us about your outfit.
Wagner: I’m channeling Lizzie McGuire. My favorite part is the butterfly clips.
Walsh: This is from Company D, which is a discount store for Disneyland. I was like let me get the biggest shirt and make it into a dress, but I’m wearing shorts — it’s still appropriate. I have like six authentic Disney pins here. This is about $200 on my hat. I was like I have to do something that represents. It’s a big hobby, pin trading, that I picked up in 2023. Then I wore my Lisa Franks. I figured I would channel everything from the ’90s and 2000s.
How long have you been a fan?
Wagner: Whenever the “Lizzie McGuire” show came out.
Walsh: I remember going to sleepovers with all of my friends and we would do Lizzie nights. I was on a soccer team and on Saturday nights, we’d go watch the newest episode. It was just so fun because I feel like I had a little clan that loved Lizzie. We went to her concert at the Grove together and it was back when you paid $50 to get in. We were front row and we like smelled her. It was wonderful.
Why does her work still resonate with you today?
Wagner: For me, especially her new album, she talks about marriage, relationships, motherhood, so it’s still relatable in that sense of that stage of life that we’re in.
Walsh: For me, it’s just nostalgia, because I’m not married, I have no kids, like I’m that fun aunt. And I will say, like, because she goes to Disneyland a lot, so I luckily got to meet her too. I asked her for a picture, and she’s like “Yeah, of course, honey.” It’s the most embarrassing photo of me ever though.
Wagner: I told her she should get it printed and wear it to the concert.
Andy Burnham, who is expected to become the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, took to social media to apologise for the Labour Party’s initial stance on Israeli attacks in Gaza. He’s now calling for accountability of the Netanyahu government.
A worker dumps towels and bags into a hotel trolley
Holidaymakers battling for poolside loungers may have finally met their match after a hotel worker was filmed removing towels and bags from reserved sunbeds while guests were at breakfast. The footage, filmed by Lucie Hewes, 19, from the UK, shows a member of staff making his morning rounds at a hotel in Rhodes, Greece, clearing unattended loungers despite personal belongings being left on them.
Lucie said the hotel has a clear policy banning guests from reserving sunbeds, but many holidaymakers ignored the rule by laying out towels, hats and bags before heading off to breakfast – or even back to bed. She said: “The pool man comes round at around 8 every morning and removes towels and belongings from the beds with no one sitting on them.”
According to Lucie, some guests returned looking confused when they discovered their belongings had vanished, while others were unhappy to find fellow holidaymakers already sitting on what they considered “their” sunbeds. She added: “It was funny and entertaining to watch and good to see, as the rule of no sunbed reservation is fair.”
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One woman reportedly confronted a member of the pool staff, complaining that her belongings should not have been moved because she now had nowhere to sit. Lucie said staff calmly explained the hotel’s policy, telling her sunbeds could not be reserved so that all guests had a fair chance of getting one.
“She did not agree despite getting all her stuff back,” Lucie said. The clip has reignited the annual sunbed wars debate, which has become a familiar feature of British holidays abroad.
Lucie’s video was viewed 538,000 times, had 23,000 likes and had 294 comments. One user said: “Well done wish all hotel done this.”
Another person said: “All hotels should do this.” Someone else added: “If you don’t like this, all skip breakfast and stay on your loungers.”
Jay said: “Every hotel should do this! Well done.”
Another user added: “Not all heroes wear capes.”
It comes just days after another UK holidaymaker made headlines for taking a far more controversial approach to the problem. Tom Caunce admitted secretly sprinkling itching powder onto towels left on reserved loungers during a holiday in Majorca, saying he was fed up with guests claiming the best poolside spots before sunrise and then disappearing for hours.
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida speaks during a roundtable event in March in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. On Tuesday, a U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the De-Santis-championed Stop WOKE Act violates free speech. File Photo by Aaron Schwartz/UPI | License Photo
July 7 (UPI) — A federal panel of appeals court judges ruled Tuesday that the Stop WOKE Act championed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis violates the free speech of professors and is a “breathtaking assertion of power.”
The Florida law restricted how professors can teach, especially when speaking about gender and race, in colleges and universities. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled 2-1 to support a 2022 decision that called the law “positively dystopian,” Politico reported.
The court Tuesday went further, saying the act is a “breathtaking assertion of power to ban unpopular ideas from public discourse in the very places the state’s own statutes recognize as centers of inquiry — classrooms where students are trusted to puzzle through ideas that are good and bad, easy and hard, ideally getting ever closer to the truth.”
“If the First Amendment offers any boundary of protection at all for public university classrooms, this statute crosses it,” the ruling said.
Judge Britt C. Grant wrote the opinion, joined by Judge Charles R. Wilson. Judge Barbara Lagoa, however, wrote a dissent saying the First Amendment “does not compel all viewpoints to be worthy of state-sponsored endorsement.”
The Florida Legislature approved the act, also called the Individual Freedom Act, in 2022. The state has been fighting it in court ever since.
The lawsuits that led to the ruling Tuesday were brought by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a student free-speech group, and the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Florida and Legal Defense Fund.
FIRE senior attorney Greg Greubel said the decision “means that college remains a place where professors and students are allowed to debate controversial topics — even if politicians disagree with them.”
DeSantis’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday, Politico said. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier praised Lagoa on social media, saying she “may be the best jurist in our country” and should be on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Based on chilling true story all episodes are streaming for free
The series is inspired by a chilling true story(Image: AMC)
A ‘phenomenal’ series that blends period drama with spine-chilling horror has been hailed by devoted fans as a ‘televisual masterpiece’.
Remarkably, the show is also rooted in a genuinely unsettling true story — and even better, it can be streamed right now at no additional cost.
At the time of writing, The Terror is currently available on both ITVX and Channel 5. The former additionally hosts its second season, though that particular instalment follows an entirely different storyline.
A third season was released in the US earlier this year, subtitled Devil In Silver. However, this chapter was adapted from a novel and has yet to reach UK audiences.
In the meantime, viewers can revisit the series from the very beginning. The Terror is a historical anthology drama, with its first two seasons drawing upon real-life events, though both remain fictionalised interpretations, reports OK!
Legendary director Ridley Scott serves as executive producer across both seasons. The opening season charts the journey of Royal Navy polar expedition vessels HMS Erebus and HMS Terror as they venture into uncharted waters, resolute in their mission to locate and confirm the existence of the fabled Northwest Passage.
The ships soon become trapped in ice, leaving the crew to endure savage conditions and mounting internal tensions, all while being stalked by a terrifying and mysterious presence. It draws inspiration from the actual 1845 Franklin Expedition, where those two vessels genuinely became trapped in ice within the Arctic while seeking the Northwest Passage.
However, the programme dramatises the potential terrors they might have encountered.
Meanwhile, the second series, titled Infamy, takes place along America’s western coastline during the Second World War, delving into Japanese bakemono folklore – a malevolent phantom that torments a Japanese American community from Southern California through to internment camps and Pacific battlefields.
Audiences have heaped praise upon the series, particularly its opening instalment. One enthusiast proclaimed: “It’s such a masterpiece that I watched it twice, back to back.”
Another added: “I binge-watched season one, couldn’t stop. Amazing performances.”
A fellow admirer wrote online: “I have watched a lot of horror shows and movies…but nothing makes me feel dread and unease like this one. The pacing is perfect, the atmosphere bleak, the music beautifully haunting, the dialogue is fantastic, and the story is amazing. Best horror show of all time for me.”
Meanwhile, one viewer declared: “Quite simply, a televisual masterpiece, mixing true-life tragedy, fictional horror and majestic period thriller. A magnificent accomplishment.”
Another viewer chimed in: “This is a remarkable series, which takes on a journey of suspicion, disaster, tragedy and terror. The first episode didn’t exactly captivate me, but by episode three I was obsessed, and subsequently had to binge watch the whole series.”
The embattled Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority sued the Trump administration on Monday to stop it from depriving the region of hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, saying the effort is unwarranted and violates federal laws.
The authority, better known as LAHSA, said in its Monday filing that cutting off the funds would put more than 11,000 people — 1,900 of them children — at risk of losing housing or other services.
LAHSA, a joint city-county agency overseen by political appointees, is seeking a temporary restraining order to bar the federal Housing and Urban Development Department from suspending the funds.
“The people who will be harmed by this decision are not bureaucrats,” said Gita O’Neill, LAHSA’s interim chief executive officer, in a statement Monday. “They are families, veterans, seniors, and formerly homeless Angelenos who rely on these resources to remain housed.”
The filing in federal court comes nearly three weeks after HUD officials said they were suspending LAHSA from applying for or receiving federal funds, citing financial mismanagement, fraud and a lack of safeguards to prevent conflicts of interest.
In its 46-page lawsuit, LAHSA pushed back on HUD’s allegations, saying they were not supported by the evidence. Lawyers for LAHSA portrayed HUD’s actions as part of a larger political agenda — elimination of the federally approved “Continuum of Care” system, which makes LAHSA the overarching applicant for most federal homelessness funding across Los Angeles County.
The Trump administration “has made clear it wants to scrap the program entirely in favor of a homelessness policy favoring criminal enforcement, drug treatment, institutionalization and civil commitment of the mentally ill,” the lawsuit states.
HUD officials have said they are barring LAHSA from applying for funds on behalf of the Continuum of Care, which covers 85 cities, including Los Angeles. LAHSA secured $220 million in federal funds for various agencies in 2024 and $944 million since 2021, according to the June 11 letter from HUD Deputy Secretary Andrew D. Hughes.
HUD did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the letter, Hughes said his agency had received information that LAHSA “may have committed violations of federal law” while carrying out its obligations as part of its HUD grant agreements.
“HUD has evidence that LAHSA’s repeated false statements and its irresponsible actions and failures, including its lack of financial management, internal controls, and safeguards against conflicts of interest, pose a threat to HUD, the public, and those living on the streets of Los Angeles,” he wrote.
In the letter, Hughes said that HUD’s inspector general had opened an investigation. Depending on the outcome, the money could be restored or LAHSA could be permanently barred from receiving funds.
LAHSA, in its lawsuit, said HUD has not provided any investigative findings to show violations of the funding agreements. Instead, agency lawyers said, federal officials relied on “a mash-up of old news articles, comments from public officials taken out of context, and findings from routine public audits that included recommendations that were all appropriately actioned.”
Lawyers for LAHSA contend that HUD’s actions violate the U.S. Constitution and override the dictates of Congress, which established many of the processes for distributing federal homeless funds.
The vast majority of the federal funds secured by LAHSA as a grant applicant goes toward permanent housing, agency officials said.
LAHSA, created in 1993, is overseen by a 10-member commission, half from the city and half from the county. Among those commissioners is L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, who has made homelessness a central part of her agenda. Each of the five county supervisors has an appointee.
At stake in the battle between HUD and LAHSA is an array of services affecting some of the region’s most vulnerable residents.
LAHSA oversees the Homeless Management Information System, the federally-mandated software that tracks homeless people across the county. It has 8,000 individual users and is used by more than 300 agencies, according to the lawsuit.
HUD’s plan to suspend the funding would prevent LAHSA from using the system to match Angelenos — those on the street and in shelters — with housing and services, the lawsuit said.
LAHSA also oversees the annual “point in time” homelessness count across the county. Agency officials have pointed to the results from those counts as evidence that they have been making steady headway, with homelessness decreasing 4.3% countywide and 5.5% within Los Angeles between 2023 and 2025.
Unsheltered homelessness, which tallies the people living outside or in their vehicles, fell by a larger margin, declining 14% across the county and 17.5% within L.A. during that period.
Despite those numbers, LAHSA’s reputation has been battered by some highly critical assessments.
Last year, a global consulting firm retained as part of a federal lawsuit over the city of L.A.’s response to homelessness found that homeless services provided by LAHSA and the city lacked adequate financial controls, leaving the system vulnerable to waste and fraud.
Several months earlier, county auditors identified lax accounting procedures that resulted in LAHSA’s failure to pay its contractors on time. Even after that report was issued, nonprofit groups with LAHSA contracts continued to report that payments were behind schedule.
Last year, the county Board of Supervisors reached a breaking point, pulling more than $300 million — the vast majority of its funds — out of LAHSA and creating its own homelessness department. City officials have been weighing a similar move in recent months.
The Dodgers won the World Series last year, and the year before that. Their lead is the largest in any division this year. That success, and the money that nourishes it, has battalions of fans beyond Los Angeles all but marching outside ballparks with picket signs reading “SALARY CAP NOW.”
It’s a reasonable thought: The Dodgers can’t possibly keep winning if they can’t keep outspending the competition.
Or can they?
“There are a lot of little things that happen behind the scenes that people don’t see,” pitcher Will Klein said. “I understand where people are coming from. It’s easy to be a fan of a smaller team and get mad at other teams outspending you.
“But I think there’s a level of care here, and wanting to win, that exceeds other groups.”
The obvious disclaimer: Any team would be better with Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, at a combined price of $1.6 billion. The counter argument: The Angels had Ohtani and Mike Trout and, well, you know.
It takes a roster. In Klein and pitcher Eric Lauer, the Dodgers have done something they do well besides spend: develop valuable contributors out of players discarded by other teams.
The Dodgers grabbed Lauer last month, desperate to fill a hole in their starting rotation. The Toronto Blue Jays had cut him, and he would be joining his seventh major league organization. The logical thought: The Dodgers had found a healthy arm to eat up some innings until they could find someone better.
That still might happen. But Lauer, who is set to pitch Monday, has put up a 3.22 earned-run average in four starts with the Dodgers. Four starts is a small sample size, but in that time, Lauer is a career league-average pitcher performing 28% above league average.
“They got me immediately,” Lauer said. “They figured me out right away, and they knew exactly what was going to help me.”
For Lauer, the changes affected his delivery, but the specifics were not as important as finding a kindred spirit in Connor McGuiness, the Dodgers’ assistant pitching coach.
“I’ve always had a really hard time explaining myself and what I do, because I think a little differently,” Lauer said.
“When I was with the Brewers, it was running joke that it was ‘the language of Lauer,’ because I would describe things so differently and feel things so differently that, if you weren’t close to me and you didn’t know how I operate, it was very hard to understand what I was trying to do.
“Connor just immediately got it. It was like he’s been speaking it forever.”
At one point in his career, Lauer said, he struggled to explain the sensation of catching his heel on the mound as he completed his delivery toward home plate.
“I would describe it as, ‘I was falling backwards and I would catch myself,’ and it’s a really weird concept to think somebody was falling backwards when it doesn’t look like you’re falling at all,” he said. “It looks like you’re just moving forward.
“So they were like, ‘That’s not what you’re doing’ and I was like, ‘That’s what I’m feeling.’ We have to make the connection between the feel and the real so that we can understand each other.”
“I have a hard time saying anybody has done a better or faster job of helping me than the Dodgers.”
— Eric Lauer, Dodgers pitcher, on his development with the team
Klein, who joined his fourth organization when the Dodgers acquired him in a minor league trade last June, is in his first full major league season. He has a 2.37 ERA, and his 0.7 wins above replacement is better than any Dodgers reliever besides veteran closer Tanner Scott.
Klein said other teams had made suggestions on how to improve his game, and with the Dodgers, he has added a sweeper and dumped a slider. But what he needed to do most was throw more strikes, trusting that his lively fastball and curve were good enough to beat the best players in the world.
In the minors, Klein issued 6.9 walks per nine innings. This season, he has issued 3.6 walks per nine innings.
The credit, he said, should be shared with the Dodgers’ mental skills coaches.
“It’s easy to see the guys in the batter’s box — especially when you come up watching baseball and being fans of these guys, it’s easy to see them being above yourself,” Klein said.
“But you’re on the mound with them, so you have to see that too. There’s a lot on the mental side that’s helped me here.”
Dodgers pitcher Will Klein delivers against the Tampa Bay Rays at Dodger Stadium on June 16.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
The Dodgers did not include Klein on their postseason roster for the first three rounds last year, but he said coaches at all levels — in the majors, at triple-A and at the Arizona training complex — never stopped checking in on him, during the season and throughout October.
“When you’re down there, they don’t forget about you up here,” he said. “That kind of commitment and care was levels above what I had experienced.”
When the Dodgers added him to the World Series roster, Klein saved the season, with four scoreless innings to close out an 18-inning victory in Game 3.
Lauer called the communication in the Dodgers’ organization “miles ahead” of any other organization in which he has played.
“The training room, the weight room, the coaching staff, the players to each other,” he said. “Every form of communication is so seamless. Everybody knows what’s going on all the time. There’s no gray area.
“It’s all: ‘This is the plan, this is what we want to happen, this is how we’re going to make it happen,’ instead of: ‘This is the plan, this is what we want to happen, figure out a way to make it happen.’”
Klein raved about how the Dodgers treat player families, and about a high-tech pitching machine so lifelike that he could see what it would be like to bat against him. Lauer reflected on his experience as a first-round pick turned journeyman who went to South Korea to revive his career.
“I have a hard time saying anybody has done a better or faster job of helping me than the Dodgers,” Lauer said.
What Lauer and Klein say substantially echoes what Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said at last year’s World Series about turning the team into a preferred destination for players, and not just because the team wins and spends.
“Communication, being honest, having a really strong player development group in place at the major-league level, and how you treat families and treat the players,” Friedman said then, “I think matters a lot in that.”
To be clear: There is no indication the players’ union is willing to consider, let alone approve, a salary cap.
But, if that were to happen, Klein believes the Dodgers would be just fine.
“Our owners want to win, so they want to get the best product on the field, so they go and spend money,” he said, “and then everyone is mad that they want to win.
“I think they’ll find ways to win more if they can’t spend as much money. Friedman was with the Rays when they weren’t spending as much money and still had success there.
“I think they’re just better at wanting to win than some other people.”
THERE’S enough going on this summer with EES checks and extreme heat – and your passport could cause problems as well.
Affecting millions, we’ve explained the two things you need to check before your next holiday.
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Don’t get caught out by these two passport rules this summerCredit: Getty
Expiry Dates
You might think that expiry dates have been spoken about enough – but it is still catching people out.
Old rules let passports have more than 10 years on them, but these rules have since been scrapped.
To find the true expiry date, you need to check the start date rather than the expiry listed in the passport.
If your passport was issued in April 2016, but has an expiry of December 2026, your passport is out of date as it’s over 10 years old. The REAL expiry date is actually April 2026.
Colette and her two children were unable to fly from the UK to Copenhagen
Colette Bjorn-Alderson has lived in the UK for 28 years, but was trying to return to the UK with her two young children – both of which only had Danish passports.
She told The Times that she felt “unwelcome in my own country” after being turned away from the flight.
She added that her only two options were getting a new UK passport from Denmark – which can take three months – or the certificates, which can take up to eight weeks.
