RHIAN Sugden looked red hot in a plunging bodysuit as fans branded her ‘so gorgeous’.

The model, 40, almost burst out of her lingerie as she posed up a storm in front of the camera.

Rhian left little to the imagination in the red polka dot mesh one-piece with a frill edge.

The star opted for a glam face of make-up and loose curls.

Rhian shared the stunning picture on her Instagram and fans rushed to the comments section to share the love.

One said: “Gorgeous as always.”

PURR-FECT

Rhian Sugden, 40, goes wild in daring leopard print corset & thigh high PVC boots

SEXY SUGDEN

Rhian Sugden shows off her stunning figure in purple lingerie and sequins

Another wrote: “Stunning.”

“Wow,” a third simply added.

A fourth commented: “I think red may be your colour.”

A fifth said: “Unbelievable.”

It comes just days after Rhian went wild in a VERY daring leopard print corset and thigh high PVC boots.

The former glamour model, who recently celebrated her 40th birthday, looked incredible in the sizzling clothes.

She took to social media and shared the snap on Instagram, with the caption: “Happy Hour.”

The stakes in Tuesday’s midterm elections are so high that Shane Dunn voted for the first time in his life, at age 65.

After a career as a cook up and down the East Coast, Dunn moved to the Philadelphia suburbs and voted last week in Levittown. “I was always a busy man,” he said outside his polling place. But now, “I’m learning what’s going on within our country, and this is actually what brought me out.”

Democrats got his vote. “It feels great, to put my word in,” he said, patting the “I Voted” sticker on his black hoodie.

Voters across the United States are getting their word in, too, as they determine which party controls the Senate and the House and takes charge of governors’ offices, legislatures and state leadership posts in the final two years of Republican Trump’s presidency.

What many of them see is that the America they’ve known is slipping away.

They see lawlessness coming from those who create the laws. They see hate stirred by politicians among neighbors, corruption at every turn, billionaires ruling the roost and a culture that doesn’t speak to how they live — in short, American bedrock at risk of crumbling. Not to mention those crazy gas prices.

In dozens of Associated Press interviews with people who cast ballots at advance polling places or drop boxes across the country, the angst was palpable, most sharply from those who oppose Trump but also from many who support him.

A vote is cast to stop the ‘madness’

“I saw my vote today as trying to put the brakes on just the madness,” said Arthur Horner, 59, who runs a food importing and marketing company that has been hurt by tariffs, after dropping his mail ballot at Dauphin County’s election bureau in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He voted for Democrats.

In Sioux City, Iowa, cattle rancher Elizabeth Marlett, 61, voted in Woodbury County’s historic Prairie-style courthouse and walked out stewing about a variety of things — the chemicals in processed food, her son’s struggles to get his veterans’ benefits and, perhaps most of all, what she sees as society’s leftward lurch. Things seem broken to her, too.

“Family values are going by the wayside, and they need to be brought back,” she said. “Our liberties have been stomped all over. Religion has been stomped all over. And I believe we in the majority need to step up and stop being silent.” She voted Republican.

Voters despair at the stoking of anger by Trump and allies

The anger in the air, stirred by a cursing president who abides no slights, is too much for some people.

“He’s just destroying us,” Democrat Linda Markle, 72, said of the president. She spoke outside the Warminster Township library in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

“I am so afraid for this country,” she said. “People used to look out for each other. Not anymore.”

“All people do now is just hate each other,” she said, and Trump “seems to have given them the courage to go ahead and be like that. … The division is horrible, absolutely horrible, and I can’t wait to see the back of him.”

Republican Chris Smith, 27, a Harrisburg software engineer who voted for Trump in 2024, sympathizes with Markle’s sentiment, to a point.

“A lot of people hate him for various reasons, and I can understand why,” he said, noting that ”I think he’s kind of going a bit crazy on a lot of things.” But he likes Trump’s effort to return manufacturing to the U.S. along with the goals of his tariffs, and he voted Republican because he still thinks that party is more fiscally responsible than Democrats.

In Ohio, Lori Wilkinson, a retired home health worker from New Pittsburg, and her husband, David, a janitor, consider themselves independents. David recently wrote to their Republican governor, Mike DeWine, to tell him what a good job he’s doing, and they voted for Republican George W. Bush for president in the past.

Trump? “He’s the worst president in United States history,” David said from the Wayne County election center. “You get up every day, and you’re like, ‘What’s he going to do now?’” Said Lori: “He’s got the hate just so bad, it’s just out of hand. It’s just out of control.” She fears that if Democrats win widely Tuesday, Trump will “go fricking berserk.”

Trump supporter Therese Mennell gets it. “There’s that kind of arrogant vibe about him that people don’t like, and sometimes I shut him off because of the way he talks,” the retiree said from the Wayne County center. “But, I mean, he’s doing the right thing. He is saving our country.”

Some pretend Trump is on the ballot

Despite his striking unpopularity in polls, Trump repeatedly asked supporters to pretend he’s on the midterm ballot, betting that would motivate fans to vote who otherwise might not. But that cuts both ways.

Samontae Mwangi, 20, and his brother, Gathenya Mwangi, 19, voted for the first time, casting early ballots Tuesday at their election center in Topeka, Kansas. Both work at a plant that manufactures trackside buildings for railroads.

They went with their grandfather, Lynn Henderson, 68, a retired Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. worker and a former Marine lance corporal who wore a Marine’s cap. Henderson said he took his grandsons to vote because his own mother died recently and he wanted them to have an event to remember him when he’s gone.

All three are hoping that the election produces Democratic victories and political change. Gathenya said the economy and discontent with Trump could motivate people who’ve voted in the past to show up, as well as those who never have. “It really could change, make a difference, I feel, if a lot of people vote,” he said.

Denise Wunder, a retired sandwich shop manager, pulled up to the center in a van featuring a decorative license plate with an American eagle. The strong Trump supporter is the daughter of Democrats. Illegal immigration is her top issue.

“I think Trump is kind of our last hope, because otherwise this world’s going to go to hell in a handbasket,” she said. “Yeah, he says stupid stuff, but, you know, so do we.”

In the Richmond, Virginia, suburb of Henrico County, voters arrived at a steady clip on a crisp fall afternoon a week from Election Day. The moment of decision found one conservative couple, Joan and Frank Bark, lamenting the country’s direction.

“I’m afraid Trump has gotten so egotistical, it’s affecting his ability to make intelligent or more favorable decisions,” Frank said. But, he said, “I don’t want the decisions that would be generated from that far left side, either.”

Joan, a retiree like her husband, said of Democrats: “I haven’t found very much that they want to change or work with. It’s just mostly, ‘I hate Trump.’” But Trump really isn’t on the ballot. They voted for Republican candidates.

In Nanuet, New York, people streamed into the small room of a community center to vote; some were in Halloween costumes. Primrose D. Sullivan, a nurse, is an independent. She scoffed at Trump’s wish that voters act as if he’s running.

“No, because he’s not,” she said. “When a patient comes into the hospital, you want me dealing in facts, not in, ‘Hmm, let me act like you might have cancer.’ No. Do you or do you not have cancer? We need to proceed based on facts.” She voted for Democrats.

Yet some see a cancer on politics, if not the presidency

Sullivan was among a number of voters who singled out the billionaires Trump has made common cause with and how that might feed into American decline.

“I don’t begrudge any of our wealthy people, Jeff Bezos or, you know, Elon Musk,” she said. “But I do have a certain problem with them wanting more and more and doing things that really don’t help humanity.”

“If we keep going the way these guys are going,” she went on, meaning both the political and CEO classes, “we’re not going to have anything like what we had in the past.” Theirs is a “self-destructive attitude,” she added, “because, honestly, if the whole planet destroys itself, the wealthy go with us.”

Outside the polling station at the YMCA in Fort Mill, South Carolina, Benjamin Updegraft offered a piercing denunciation of the elite as he traced his evolution from a “full-throated young Republican” who voted for Trump as a young man in 2016 to a “lifetime Democrat,” after casting his ballot in the Senate race.

He cited Musk’s throttling of his Starlink satellite internet service in Ukraine, which disrupted a key defense against Russian attacks, and Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s ad in the Ohio governor’s race featuring the estranged mother of Democratic rival Amy Acton among the reasons powerful men must be brought to heel.

“That needs to be cut out from this country like a cancer,” Updegraft said. “We have an incredible responsibility to take back the stranglehold that the worst people in this country have on the reins of power and to inflict punishment on them for their actions.”

In Scottsdale, Arizona, David Lee described his conservative upbringing, his past voting for Republicans and now his decision to turn against that party and vote Democratic in the contested races for governors and the House. He considers Trump’s heavy-handed immigration enforcement to be lawless.

“Nobody wants open borders, but you’re treating these people without due process, sending people to countries they don’t even belong to,” said Lee, 63. “There’s no more rules.”

Then there are those prices. And that war

The Trump supporters interviewed by the AP at the polls signaled their tolerance of the surge of gas prices from the Iran war, in some cases blaming factors other than the actual cause. Nor did they break with him on the war itself.

Among them was David Stouffer, 59, branch manager for a mortgage bank and three-time Trump voter, who spoke outside the Harrisburg elections office. “Iran has been killing Americans for 50 freaking years,” he said. “Yeah, I’ll suffer with some higher gas prices in the interim until they get that nonsense figured out.”

Does that put a crunch on your household budget, Stouffer was asked. “Of course it does.” How to cope with that? “I just keep driving.”

“He’s made the tax cuts real,” Stouffer said. “He has secured the borders. That, to me, is a very, very big deal.”

By the dozens, Democrats, independents and Republicans outside the core of Trump’s support differed with that assessment, even as some of them granted the president his achievements on taxes and immigration.

Horner, the food importer, is going “bonkers” with the tariffs and all the other moves bouncing between the Trump administration and the courts while a “feckless” and now electorally endangered Republican Congress largely stands aside.

“You can’t do business when every month you have to readjust your pricing because the president gets a wild hair on something that he’s not even constitutionally allowed to do,” Horner said. He added, “He’s just playing out the clock on all of this stuff — where you just know he knows it’s wrong.

“And what do we have? Higher healthcare, higher food, higher gas, a business environment that is complete chaos.”

But Jerry Casner, 74, of Mechanicsburg, a suburb of Harrisburg, wants as much of Trump as he can get. Alas, “he can’t run again,” Casner noted.

“Well, technically,” Casner said, “he can’t run again.”

Levy, Catalini, Hanna and Woodward write for the Associated Press. Hanna reported from Topeka, Kan.; Levy from Harrisburg, Pa.; Catalini from Levittown, Pa.; and Woodward from Washington. AP journalists Julie Carr Smyth in Wooster, Ohio; Erik Verduzco in Fort Mill, S.C.; Thomas Beaumont in Sioux City, Iowa; Joseph Frederick in Nanuet, N.Y.; Tassanee Vejpongsa in Warminster, Pa.; Mikella Schuettler in Scottsdale, Ariz.; and Sarah Rankin in Henrico, Va., contributed to this report.

Ireland cricketer Rebecca Stokell said she will “fully accept” responsibility for an inadvertent breach of reporting requirements regarding the use of prescription medication and has begun a “voluntary suspension”.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed the 26-year-old was drug tested and “returned an adverse finding for a specified substance” after her side’s defeat by Sri Lanka at the 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup in June.

Although the substance was not performance-enhancing, Stokell has acknowledged she did not adhere to reporting requirements over the use of prescription medication and has started a voluntary period of suspension while waiting for the outcome of an ICC investigation.

“I fully accept my mistake and have voluntarily entered into a period of suspension ahead of the findings being returned,” said Stokell in a statement.

“While this was not performance-related in any way, I understand that I am responsible for following the anti-doping guidelines and I hope that I can be back playing for Ireland as soon as possible.”

Graeme West, the director of high performance at Cricket Ireland, added: “While we feel very sorry for Rebecca and have provided the level of support appropriate in these circumstances, this incident does serve as a reminder to all our international players that the anti-doping rules are in place to protect both the sport and the athletes themselves.

“All players must adhere to the standards and responsibilities expected, and we will continue to educate our players regularly on these matters and why they are important.”

Stokell made her international debut in 2017 and has featured 109 times for Ireland across all formats.

Michael Carrick says Manchester United players remain comitted to the cause despite worst run in 38 years.

Under-fire Manchester United boss Michael Carrick says speculation about his future will not impact their Champions League game against Roma.

United are winless in nine matches, their worst run in 38 years, and sit outside the Premier League relegation zone on goal difference with just one win and seven points from their opening nine fixtures.

Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Chelsea increased speculation that Tuesday night’s visit of Roma in their fourth Champions League league phase match might be his last, given the Giallorossi’s unbeaten start in Serie A and 16 goals across their past four matches, with their only defeat of the season coming in Real Madrid’s dramatic 4-3 win in the Stadio Olimpico on October 14 .

Speaking at his pre-match media conference, Carrick said: “(Speculation) has no influence on how we prepare or on the game. We cannot wait for it. That is all I am focused on. What happens after, happens. Whatever direction it goes in.”

Carrick said he believes the players remain committed to the cause, despite the manner of their defeat at Stamford Bridge, with Lisandro Martinez’s quickfire sending-off and penalty concession ending their hopes of a comeback.

“I know what we are capable of. We have shown it in bursts, (including) the other day. We are close but need to act on it quickly.

“I have no concerns about (Martinez’s) commitment. Things happen in football. Sometimes you make mistakes. The commitment is not an issue.

“The dressing room is in a good place. The commitment of the players to the club, to me, to each other – do not question it at all. We need to play better, we can make better decisions, but the commitment is not a thing at all.

“We have to find a way out of this moment. We have done a lot of good things, we just couldn’t capitalise on it, but we will do. We have to keep doing the right things.

“A lot of people could do my job when you are winning games. It is about finding solutions, finding answers, staying strong, leading right and getting the best out of the players and we have to keep pushing for that.

“I love being here, I love working with the players. The struggles, the challenges, that just drives you on to want even more,” Carrick said.

United’s only win since August came in the 4-0 success against Sabah at Old Trafford on September 10 but another against Roma would keep United’s hopes of progressing to the knockout stages alive, said Carrick.

“We are looking for the win. There is the bigger picture and it is about getting through to the later stages.

“One or two (defeats) you can get away with… as long as you make amends for that. There are times, like tomorrow, that are going to dictate that for us. We’re certainly still in it. We’ve a great chance of progressing and that has to be the focus from now.”

Midfielder Kobbie Mainoo also gave his backing to the head coach and said the players have to fight as one to get through this ‘bump in the road’.

“I have been at this club for a long time and I know there’s always going to be ups and downs, it’s never going to be plain sailing to the top so you expect bumps and the best thing about it is that you’re able to bounce back from them.”

“I feel like our way to repay the manager is to be behind him on and off the pitch and fight as a team.

“I’m grateful to the boss for putting trust in me as soon as he came in and giving me all the advice that he has, knowing that he’s been a player and knows the history of this club and what it takes to win.

“I take those words to heart and try to apply them every day.”

Hebron, occupied West Bank – Nour al-Natsha knew there was a chance his home wouldn’t be in the best condition upon his return after 10 days of displacement.

Israeli forces had taken over Hebron’s al-Jalada neighbourhood on October 24, a day after Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli soldiers nearby. Al-Natsha’s family were given 20 minutes to leave, taking only their money, gold and important documents, and leaving behind most of their clothes, everyday belongings and family photographs.

After hearing that Israeli forces had withdrawn, al-Natsha tentatively returned to check on the house on Monday.

He found the doors wide open, and the house turned upside down. Belongings were missing, as well as his young daughter’s pet bird.

“When we entered the house, it was a mixture of emotions,” the 35-year-old orthopaedic surgeon said. “You couldn’t tell whether you were happy to be back home or heartbroken by what had happened to it.”

The Israeli military operation in Hebron appears to be over – but al-Natsha and his family, and thousands of others in the city, are left to pick up the pieces.

Anxious return

Al-Natsha explained that families and neighbours had gathered on Sunday evening in the nearby Wadi al-Karm area, close to their homes, waiting until around midnight after reports emerged that the military operation had ended. But seeing no signs of a withdrawal, they returned to their temporary accommodation, despite holding on to the hope of going home soon.

Then, in the early hours of the morning, it was confirmed that the military had withdrawn. Al-Natsha decided to head towards the neighbourhood at around 6am. There, he found several neighbours making their way home and waited for relatives to arrive before entering the area and inspecting their houses.

Al-Natsha was initially accompanied by his father and two brothers as they inspected the property, looking for suspicious objects or potential hazards after finding the doors open.

Once they were satisfied that the house was safe, family members began cleaning and putting things back in order, removing belongings they feared might have been damaged or contaminated, in an effort to make the house habitable again and resume their daily lives.

But the family’s return was not without anxiety, particularly for al-Natsha’s four-year-old daughter, Ilya. Her biggest concern was the fate of her pet bird, “Natosh”, which she had left inside the house when the family was forced to leave.

Al-Natsha has no idea where the bird is, whether it is dead, or whether the Israeli soldiers released it. Ilya, meanwhile, keeps asking about her pet.

‘Our paradise on earth’

The return of families to al-Jalada came after 10 days of military restrictions and evacuations affecting several neighbourhoods in Hebron.

During the operation, hundreds of families were forced to leave their homes, while shops and institutions in the areas were closed.

According to previously released figures from the Hebron Governorate’s Support and Relief Committee, 537 families, comprising approximately 3,300 people, were displaced.

With residents now returning, the extent of the damage to homes and belongings, and the lasting effects of the days spent away, remain part of the experience of families trying to rebuild their lives.

For 68-year-old Khaled Shawer, who also lives in the neighbourhood, the damage to homes and the debris and destruction left behind by the military operation could be dealt with. What mattered most was that residents had returned and could begin to regain a sense of stability.

“Everything can be replaced: the destruction, the damage, the dirt, everything,” Shawer said. “But the most important thing is that we have returned to our homes, our paradise on earth, the place where we find our psychological and physical stability.”

CORONATION Street star Will Mellor broke down in tears as he came clean on his alcohol and gambling battles.

Actor Will, who shot to fame as Jambo Bolton in the Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks in 1995, previously told how he turned to booze following his dad’s tragic death from cancer.

The soap star, who also lost sister Joanne to a heart attack in 2012, aged 44, bravely told the Happy Place podcast how he “slipped into a dark place” and “wasn’t a good person” after her passing.

Will, 50, said he “didn’t want to get out of bed” and he “hated himself” for turning to his demons.

He apologised to anchor Fearne Cotton as he wiped tears from his eyes and confessed: “I struggle with my emotions, they are on the surface all the time and when I talk about these things its because I care and I can’t help it”.

Will detailed the struggles that led to his harmful life choices and said: “I never thought I would find myself in that cloud and not see colour any more.

WILLING TO HELP

Will Mellor fights for justice in new hard-hitting documentary

STREET ATTACK

Will Mellor reveals moment he was SLAPPED in the face by angry soap fan

“Because I couldn’t protect her [his late sister] any more, I couldn’t change it.

“And that’s what the killer is, because I always thought I could fix things, I will do anything to help people if I can – and I couldn’t help her”.

He added: “I just did the wrong thing drinking, gambling, trying to find a high in life, which sent me further down the hole.

“I hated myself for it.

“But I got through it, my wife got me through it”.

Will is married to dancer and dance school owner Michelle McSween.

Coronation Street Spoilers: News & Cast Updates

The beloved British soap has been captivating audiences for decades.

The show follows the lives of the residents as they navigate love, loss, family drama, and community struggles.

Here’s the latest on:

Will – who played drugs lord Harvey Gaskell in ITV soap Corrie – previously opened up on his poor mental health in the rough patch.

He said: “I had to stop feeling guilty about things, that I couldn’t do any more for my sister, you put things onto yourself – it was a vicious cycle and I had to get out of it. 

“When my dad passed I saw the signs and didn’t go that deep. Obviously lockdown didn’t help, when you don’t have to be up in the morning there’s no excuse not to have a few drinks. 

“You have a word with yourself, I was sick of feeling rubbish and now I feel great.”

The Two Pints star added: “My mindset is better. You can’t change a situation but you can change yourself, the repetition of what you’re doing and keep an eye out for those little triggers”.

As well as Hollyoaks and Corrie, Will has also appeared in EastEnders, Casualty, Broadchurch and – more recently – Mr Bates vs The Post Office.

SACRAMENTO —  Xavier Becerra hasn’t even been elected yet — officially, anyway — and I am already bored.

The Democrat merely seemed to be going through the motions in a plodding gubernatorial campaign he couldn’t possibly lose.

That said, it isn’t a governor’s job to excite any journalist or to entertain the public.

It’s OK for a governor to be boring — Pete Wilson and George Deukmejian, for example — if they can produce results that improve the state and lives of its residents.

California needs a governor who gets stuff done. Boring is acceptable, even in this fast-paced polarized world. But a do-nothing governor who’s just moseying along is intolerable.

We’ve had a showboat governor for nearly eight years. Gavin Newsom and Californians would have been better off if he’d spent more time governing hands-on and less chasing national media and the presidency.

We can’t know yet what kind of governor Becerra will be — except rather boring, most likely. No Jerry Brown or Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Will this 68-year-old career politician with the yardlong resume have the resolve and courage to stand up to special interests — labor as well as business, immigration rights activists and rich techies alike — and make timely decisions they won’t like?

Decisions such as whether the state should continue rolling back Medi-Cal healthcare benefits for undocumented immigrants.

Newsom and the Democrat-dominated Legislature began providing free Medi-Cal for all low-income Californians regardless of their immigration status. But reality quickly smacked them in the face. The state couldn’t afford the generosity. So the governor and lawmakers began retreating.

Becerra, who will be California’s first elected Latino governor, is the proud son of Mexican immigrants. Will he make the prudent decision to chop more Medi-Cal benefits for undocumented noncitizens, especially in the wake of President Trump’s huge cutbacks in federal healthcare funds?

The new governor will need to act fast on all things involving money. He must send his first state budget proposal to the Legislature by Jan. 10, six days after taking office. For practical reasons, he has to decide by mid-December.

He could kick the can down the road until the annual May budget revision, using the excuse of revenue uncertainty and needing more time for study. But that would be seen by many as a sign of indecisiveness and weakness. Not a good start.

During the campaign, Becerra talked vaguely about the lofty goal of universal healthcare coverage, but never was specific about how he’d achieve it.

He has long advocated “Medicare for all.” But that’s not the same as government-run “single payer,” the dream of Democratic progressives. Medicare for all is, well, just that. And Medicare is not single-payer because it allows for supplemental private insurance. The issue of universal coverage is horrendously complicated and the goal is massively expensive.

Another contentious budget decision Becerra must make soon is what to do about the sputtering bullet train. Scrap it or keep throwing tax money at the failed project that’s decades behind schedule and $100 billion over budget. No tracks have even been laid.

One immediate problem: High-speed rail’s anticipated $1-billion annual funding source from the state’s Cap-and-Invest program is drying up. That’s because industrial polluters aren’t buying permits to emit greenhouse gas like they were. It’s a long story that means short revenue for rail construction.

“We’re going to build the bullet train, but not this bullet train,” Becerra told me in April. “It’s too expensive. Sit everybody down and come out with a position.”

Lately, he has been promising to “clean shop” at the High-Speed Rail Authority and “get this done the right way. We’re not gonna have this overspending.”

OK, but based on his campaigning, Becerra still doesn’t know “the right way.” That’s understandable. No one else seems to either. Take your time, Xavier, but not a lot — or you’ll be seen as part of the problem, like Newsom is.

There’s a long list of nagging state dilemmas we didn’t hear specific solutions for during Becerra’s sleepwalk campaign. He spoke mostly in generalities. Did he not know the fixes? Or was he too risk-averse to speak out? Probably both.

Becerra adhered to the old playbook taught to young political consultants in campaign management 101:

If you’re ahead, hide. When you do emerge from under the bed, avoid risky provocation. It could cost you poll points and potentially the election.

Becerra did get out and jog round the track — never a sprint and always stepping cautiously.

He missed a golden opportunity.

Becerra had nothing to lose. He was a Democrat running against a Trump-embraced Republican in a deep blue state angry at the GOP president. He could have created some excitement by making bold pronouncements about, for example, what he’d do “first thing on Day One.”

He certainly should have participated in more than one general election debate, especially after initially declaring that he would. He performed well in his one debate — coming across as calm, likable and capable.

Becerra should have held more — and more meaty — news conferences with reporters. The few he engaged in were relatively brief and unenlightening, I’m told by colleagues.

He missed a chance to build a solid statewide support base that could help when the postinaugural honeymoon quickly ends.

But that‘s not his natural style. And, anyway, when all the votes are counted, he’ll be a landslide winner.

One smart move at the end: helping Democratic candidates in hot House races by campaigning with them.

Becerra could be just the governor California needs: an experienced pol knowledgeable on most issues — a longtime U.S. House member, state attorney general and U.S. Health secretary.

Importantly, he’s not someone who craves national attention. He’ll be focused on the job he was elected to.

He’ll just need to be bolder, more decisive and move faster than what we saw during the campaign — while having the guts to tell allies “no.”

That wouldn’t be boring. It could be exciting.

What else you should be reading

The must-read: Support dwindles for wealth tax, voter ID ballot measures, new poll shows
CA vs. Trump: Justice Dept. sent subpoenas to L.A. election officials. What that means and what happens next
The L.A. Times Special: Voter guide to the 2026 California general election

Until next week,
George Skelton

—
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Cast your mind back to a game between Sunderland and Fulham in February.

Harry Wilson swings a free-kick into the penalty area. The ball flies through to Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs, who punches it to safety.

But on the ground is Calvin Bassey, who immediately gets up and appeals to referee Craig Pawson, arms outstretched. The Fulham player wants a spot-kick for a shirt pull by Brian Brobbey.

Nothing is picked up on-field but the VAR, Tony Harrington, identifies a tug on the shirt and sends the referee to the monitor to give a penalty.

There are striking similarities to Timber on Isak.

One resulted in a VAR penalty, but the other did not.

One player went to ground, but the other did not.

Rather than to dive, perhaps there is a better description of what Isak had to do: give the referee and the VAR a decision to make.

“Arsenal got lucky,” Danny Murphy said on Match of the Day. “If Isak maybe makes a bit more of it. I hate to see players exaggerate, but he’s going to score. It’s a big moment in the game.”

Shirt pulling is not in itself an automatic foul. The determination is always about how it affects the opponent.

As the law says: “A holding offence occurs only when a player’s contact with an opponent’s body or equipment impedes the opponent’s movement.”

Indeed, the ‘coat hanger effect’, when a player’s shirt is pulled well away from the body, is more likely to be penalised.

Still, impact is crucial. And if Isak gives the impression there has been no impact, that is going to be a factor.

Former Premier League assistant referee Darren Cann told BBC Sport: “It has to be sustained holding – some will say it was sustained, some will say it wasn’t. But it’s interesting that Isak didn’t even appeal.”

There is some annoyance in refereeing circles that the goalposts keep being moved when analysing decisions.

One moment video officials are being told that the VAR should not use slow-motion replays. And then, as was the case with Isak, slow-motion replays are used as the case for the prosecution.

There seems to be far less in the incident at full speed, that the hold of the shirt is more fleeting with minimal impact.

With the high bar for intervention this season, this may go down as an on-field error but not to the threshold for a VAR intervention.

Tehran, Iran – Iran’s military is warning that if all-out war breaks out again with the United States and Israel, it will be longer and more costly than their rivals expect.

Iran’s armed forces could deploy new weapons and tactics against the US, Israel and other countries, which would be the third major conflict between the countries since June last year.

There have been increasing signs that the US and Israel’s war on Iran, which began on February 28, could restart after the US midterm elections. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the war with Iran will end “very soon one way or the other” and Tehran should agree a deal or “the hammer” will come down.

Hossein Kanani Moghaddam, a former senior IRGC commander, told Al Jazeera that despite extensive blows to the Iranian armed forces during US and Israeli strikes earlier this year, they are now in better operational shape compared with previous conflicts.

“In terms of offence, our target database has significantly expanded, the range, accuracy and warheads of our missiles have improved and our drone capabilities have increased,” he said.

New enemy assets were being identified and operations in additional geographical areas were being planned, he added. Arkaminia said that previously undisclosed capabilities and targets would be revealed – and used – if Iran is attacked again.

Commanders from Iran’s General Staff of Armed Forces, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Islamic Republic of Iran Army are reported to have recently met Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei to discuss what steps will be taken if attacked again. The response will be immediate and could go beyond the West Asia region, they said.

The IRGC was “100 percent ready” to confront another attack, spokesman Hossein Mohebbi said on Sunday evening, describing “maximum deterrence” as a goal Iran would reach in the near future.

Army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia said the commanders would rely on “asymmetric warfare” tactics that would compensate for the superiority of US military equipment.

He added that “some weaponry was renovated and new equipment was added along with new tactics” during the brief ceasefire period that came after the June memorandum of understanding between Iran and the US.

Last month, state television showed an underground drone production line. The authorities also showcased an upgraded version of the Arash attack drone and claimed that its warhead had doubled to 100kg with improved guidance.

According to a Reuters investigation published last week, numerous military agencies linked with Iran’s defence establishment have evaded sanctions and funnelled billions into military imports to replenish the IRGC. The imports between January 2025 and June this year from China, Russia and Germany to fuel missile and drone production included rocket propellants, explosives, detonators, titanium and heavy-duty trucks that could be used as launchers.

Many Iranian missile defence systems, radars and other equipment were hit during the war. But Kanani Moghaddam said remaining and newly developed systems were becoming more accurate, pointing to the targeting of a US-built F-35 and other warplanes and drones as successes that can be replicated and expanded upon.

“At sea, we have shown that we can easily target supertankers,” he said regarding transit through the Strait of Hormuz that is deemed “unauthorised” by Iranian authorities. He said Iranian attacks on US Navy vessels in September prompted them to stop venturing into the critical waterway since. But the US has continued its naval blockade on southern Iranian ports, while Iran’s civilian population and infrastructure remain largely exposed if the war resumes.

Tehran and other cities across the country lack shelters or early warning systems to protect civilians. Authorities have not reported any progress regarding the promised shelters and gaps in public warning arrangements.

Iran’s electricity grid, as well as oil and gas facilities, petrochemical and steel manufacturers and roads and railways could also be attacked again, making life even more difficult amid the economic crisis.

‘Intelligence weakness’

During both wars, many senior political and military figures of the Islamic Republic were killed by US and Israeli strikes.

The new supreme leader has not been seen or heard from since replacing his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in early March, ostensibly for security reasons.

This has led to tighter domestic security controls, and prompted some voices from within the establishment to raise concerns and demand accountability for intelligence failures and protection of leadership.

“We have been hit and hit hard,” state-linked analyst Hamzeh Rahim Safavi said during a televised debate on Saturday. “The main cause is intelligence weakness, but no one talks about it or is held accountable”.

The analyst is the son of Yahya Rahim Safavi, a former commander-in-chief of the IRGC who currently serves as a senior military adviser to the supreme leader. The analyst said calls by hardliners to acquire a nuclear bomb would not repair intelligence and security weaknesses.

But Esmaeil Kowsari, a former IRGC division commander now a parliamentary national-security commission member, told local media last week that even though the supreme leader and others were assassinated, “the enemies did not reach their main goals”. He said the goals were to overthrow the Islamic Republic and fragment Iran.

“On the eve of their elections, the Americans are trying to pretend that they have achieved victory by causing a ruckus and launching psychological operations, but that is not the truth,” Kowsari said.

United States oil companies have earned more than $130bn in profits during the war on Iran, even as consumers pay much higher prices for key commodities, amid fears that US President Donald Trump may renew fighting after midterm elections.

The estimate, released by The New York Times, is a conservative evaluation based on the performance of 51 large US oil and gas companies in the six months from April through September. By contrast, in the same period in 2025 – when the prices of oil were lower prior to the launch of the US-Israel war on Iran – they collectively earned less than $47bn.

But the gains come as burgeoning living costs are crushing consumers. Americans have spent an extra $150bn on petrol and diesel since the war on Iran began on February 28, according to an analysis by Brown University’s Climate Solutions Lab, which amounts to more than $1,150 per household.

The disparity has fuelled a political debate over who gains and who pays the price for the war. Responding to Trump, Democratic Representative Jim McGovern wrote on X: “We’re not making a ‘freaking fortune,’ we’re PAYING a ‘freaking fortune’.”

US Big Oil in position to profit where others lose

Naser al-Tamimi, a fellow at the Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI) in Milan, Italy, said US energy companies have benefitted from the war in different ways. “Crude producers gain from higher oil prices, while refiners capture exceptional margins as diesel and other fuel supplies tighten,” he said.

Additionally, “damage to Middle Eastern and Russian refineries, disrupted Strait of Hormuz shipments, and sanctions-related trade frictions have intensified shortages”, while “relatively secure US facilities and access to discounted crude strengthen these gains”.

ExxonMobil and Chevron, the biggest US oil companies, on Friday reported profits of between $10bn and $15bn. While the gains are considerable, The New York Times found they generally remained below 2022 levels, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused oil prices to soar to roughly $100 a barrel and raised natural gas prices, compared with the current average of $90 from April through September.

American refining companies also reaped greater profits as global fuel supplies tightened and inventories depleted due to heavy damage to infrastructure in the Middle East and Russia. Valero Energy’s third-quarter profit increased more than sixfold, reaching $6.83bn. Phillips 66 announced its highest quarterly profit on record, with net income jumping to $5.62bn from $133m a year earlier.

Geoffrey Miller, geopolitical analyst and editor of the Gulf States Insights newsletter, said the US-Israel war with Iran “created the largest supply-side shock to global oil and refined products markets in years”.

Miller added that the war “created a risk premium that US-based operators are structurally well placed to monetise”. By contrast, Gulf producers were “hit hard by both higher costs and risks, along with physical damage, which makes their ability to benefit from the higher prices much more difficult”.

Tehran retaliated against the US-Israeli attack by launching missiles and drones at the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), a US-registered independent conflict monitor, found Iran and Iran-backed groups in the region have carried out at least 172 attacks on nonmilitary infrastructure across the six GCC member states. Despite claims by Iranian officials that they were targeting US military facilities, they also hit energy infrastructure.

Iran also effectively blocked passage of most vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. In retaliation, the US imposed a naval blockade on Iranian oil and gas – the tit-for-tat steps raising the risks of transporting energy out of the crucial passageway.

Continued pressure over cost of living

Analysts warned of continued volatility until a durable political settlement between the US and Iran is reached. Oil prices dropped briefly in the summer after a memorandum of understanding was signed in June, but prices quickly soared again when talks broke down.

A more recent escalation in fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis has further compounded the crisis: the Bab al-Mandeb strait that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, which Saudi Arabia uses to export oil, is now also a theatre of war.

“In the short term, windfall profits will only strengthen oil company balance sheets and shareholder returns,” Miller said. “However, the big profits come with a major caveat. That’s because over the longer term, high oil prices risk harming economic growth prospects and could even contribute towards the outbreak of a recession, which would in turn be likely to lead to reduced demand for oil” and accelerate the transition to renewable energy.

Florence Schmit, senior energy strategist at Rabobank’s global economics and markets team in London, said it was likely that the prices of key energy products would remain high given the uncertainty about the duration of the war in Iran.

“Prices in all markets that have an exposure to this global supply shock – which includes the US – will face high prices also next year, and consumers will continue to feel this price pressure unless governments step in,” Schmit told Al Jazeera.

The US-led war on Iran has raised costs for oil, transport fuels, gas, electricity and food. According to the World Bank Group’s latest Commodity Markets Outlook, commodity prices are set to rise 23 percent this year, as disrupted grain shipments and the El Nino weather phenomenon also threaten harvests and food affordability.

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization said on October 2 that world food commodity prices rose a further 1.5 percent in September, after reaching their highest level since late 2022 in August, amid adverse weather and trade disruptions in the Black Sea and Strait of Hormuz.

Trump has sought to blame high global fuel prices on Ukraine and pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to halt strikes on Russian refineries, even as Moscow continued to wage attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. The US president has argued that a deal with Russia reversing years of sanctions would help lower diesel prices.

In the Gulf, analysts said higher oil prices will benefit exporters that can maintain shipments, but prolonged insecurity will continue to threaten supply reliability and investment.

“Gulf producers face years of reconstruction and pressure to diversify export routes,” ISPI’s al-Tamimi said. “A diplomatic settlement could ease prices, whereas renewed US-Israeli attacks on Iran risk triggering another regional war, further disrupting Hormuz and prolonging shortages.”

BIG Brother star Liam McGough has revealed he’s set to become a dad for the first time just months after tying the knot in New Orleans. 

Tree surgeon Liam, 42, shot to fame on the eighth series of the reality show in 2007 and had a seven-month romance with actress Emily Atack in 2022. 

Now he and wife Sloane Coe have shared the exciting news they’re expecting their first child together – telling fans they’re having a baby girl. 

Liam took to social media to share a sweet snap of him cradling Sloane’s bump as he embraced her from behind. 

He wrote: “Huge news!! Biggest ever tbh. Me and Sloane are going to have a baby girl. 

“It’s been so hard to keep it quiet. Even harder for my dad who hasn’t managed haha. I found out on day 3 of the fringe. Never felt prouder in my life.”

‘SO ROMANTIC’

Big Brother legend marries fiancée in bash with brass band and police escort

In August Liam opened up to The Sun about their incredible wedding in the Deep South, confessing he’d “never experienced anything like it”. 

He said: “The wedding was amazing — small and intimate, with only close friends and family. We got married right in the heart of New Orleans, Louisiana, and it was incredible. I’ve never experienced anything like it.

The celebration was so romantic and personal, and then, for the party afterwards, we were marched around the area by a full brass band in what’s called a Second Line.

“We had a police escort blocking the roads as we danced through the streets, with four huge motorbikes and two massive police trucks accompanying us.

“The contrast between the intimate ceremony and this unique, extravagant spectacle left all of our heads spinning in the most amazing way.”

Liam previously dated Inbetweeners star Emily for seven months, with The Sun revealing their split in October 2022. 

Speaking to Andover Town’s website,, external Skeates said: “I’ve been involved in football a long time and I’ve genuinely never seen anything like what happened today from an opposition side.

“All 11 of their players walked off perfectly fine at half-time with us 7-0 up.

“They eventually came back out with seven, so apparently four must have managed to get injured in the changing room.

“We scored pretty much straight away to make it 8-0 and from there it became a complete farce.”

BBC Sport has asked the league for Paulsgrove FC’s contact details but that request was declined.

However, several posts on X appearing to come from Paulsgrove’s official account claimed the players were all genuinely injured.

One reply to a post from Skeates read: “Sadly can’t make injured player [sic] continue”.

Skeates said Andover Town would submit a report to the league.

A spokesperson for the Hampshire Premier Football League said: “As is standard for any abandoned game, an investigation is under way and until that process has been completed, we cannot make any comment.”

Andover Town are mid-table in the 16-team league, which is in the 12th tier of the English football pyramid.

Paulsgrove are bottom, having lost all 10 games this season, including three completed games where they were beaten by eight goals or more.

King tells parliament attackers ‘are not of us’ and warns that Israeli expansionism is greatest threat to the region.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II says the kingdom would not be shaken by a deadly attack on a church in the southern city of Karak last month.

Opening a new session of parliament in the capital, Amman, on Monday, Abdullah said “the treacherous hand of terrorism” had reached out “to test the resilience of our state and the resolve of our people”.

“They are not of us,” he said of the attackers. “There is no place for them among us, not today and not tomorrow.”

The attack about two weeks ago killed nine people and wounded dozens. The king asked lawmakers to stand for a minute of silence for the victims, whose relatives attended the session.

Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Jarrar, reporting from Amman, said Abdullah made clear that Jordan would confront “terrorism and extremism” by relying first on national unity and public awareness, backed by the army and security services, which would strike “with an iron fist”.

Abdullah also addressed regional tensions, warning that Israeli expansionism is the greatest threat to the Middle East.

“Israeli expansionist ambitions are the greatest threat to the future of the region and its security,” he said, adding: “The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza continues, and successive assaults persist in the West Bank and Jerusalem.”

The king also pledged to protect Jordan’s scarce water supplies, Jarrar said.

“We will not allow the thirst of Jordanians to be held hostage by any party,” he said. Jarrar said this reflected concerns that Israeli projects threaten the kingdom’s water security.

Jordan, a close United States ally, signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, and millions of its citizens are of Palestinian origin.

Jarrar said the king’s third message was directed at lawmakers as he stressed that the nation is the source of authority and debate in parliament is healthy as long as it serves the national interest.

“Your differences of opinion are a strength so long as Jordan’s interest is the goal,” Abdullah said, urging the government to improve living conditions.

He also warned officials against abusing their positions. “The law knows no name, no position and no influence,” he said.

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A Strictly Come Dancing legend has aired viewers’ complaints about a major shake-up, revealing a jaw-dropping amount of fans said the show’s attempts at comedy did not work for them

Former Strictly Come Dancing professional Oti Mabuse, 36, who won the Glitterball trophy twice with Kelvin Fletcher and Bill Bailey before leaving the BBC show in 2022, has pointed out an issue she has with the 2026 series, which many viewers have picked up on too.

Oti, whose older sister is judge Motsi Mabuse, discusses Strictly every weekend on her vodcast, The Fifth Judge, alongside husband Marius Iepure, who is also a professional dancer. The pair regularly invite their viewers to get involved in polls to share their thoughts on the latest episode.

On Saturday’s livestream, Oti and Marius asked their YouTube audience about the introduction of comedic skits between the dances. Oti wondered: “Do all the skits work for you? Do you like the jokes? Do you like when the judges are involved? Do you like when the pros are reading the social stuff, and they’re doing the ‘Emma and Joshy’ thing? Are you laughing?”.

The topic was brought up in response to last weekend’s Halloween Special, during which hosts Josh Widdicombe, 43, Emma Willis, 50, and Johannes Radebe, 39, featured in multiple comedy sketches throughout the programme.

These segments saw Josh and Emma attempting to frighten famously stern judge Craig Revel Horwood, 61, before the comedian let down his co-presenters by declining to wear fancy dress for trick-or-treating, while the contestants mimicked Johannes’ distinctive “Emma and Joshy” handover to his fellow hosts.

Following the chat vote, Oti disclosed that an overwhelming 75 per cent responded “no, they do not work, they do not find them funny”, while just 25 per cent answered “yes, they are hilarious”.

Oti observed in response: “Well, that’s very telling! It says that people, at this point, just want to get on with the dancing.”

The former Strictly champion and her husband echoed the sentiment from their audience, with Oti revealing that Marius believes “it’s a completely different show”.

Expanding on this point, Marius stated that elements of Strictly’s Halloween Special resembled “a comedy show that I didn’t ask for”, acknowledging he “laughed a little bit” at Josh, Emma and Johannes’ trick-or-treating sketch, though he also felt that it “was so long”.

Oti mentioned that one of their viewers, named Kate, had commented: “I don’t tend to laugh, but I think it’s part of the charm.”

The former Strictly pro proceeded to suggest that if BBC bosses have incorporated the sketches to pad out the programme, they could alternatively “cut the show shorter”, or integrate the Results Show into Saturday night’s broadcast, rather than screening it separately on Sundays, with Oti declaring: “That would be a great change.”

Viewers also took to X to have their say on the skits over the weekend, with one typing: “Stop trying to make every link funny! Especially when you involve the judges who fluff their lines. #Strictly.”