Britain is seeking a closer economic relationship with the European Union by asking to participate in the bloc’s “Made in Europe” industrial strategy, as Prime Minister Andy Burnham argues that the UK and EU face many of the same economic and industrial challenges.

Travelling to New York for his first United Nations General Assembly as prime minister, Burnham said Britain would seek to become a “trusted partner” in the initiative, which is intended to strengthen European production and reduce dependence on Chinese components.

“Europe’s argument is not with us,” Burnham told reporters on Monday. He said Britain and the EU faced similar pressures, particularly in industries such as steel, and argued that the UK should not face unintended consequences from a policy aimed at addressing dependence on China.

The British government has warned that excluding UK companies could disrupt established supply chains and create additional trade barriers between Britain and EU member states.

Why Britain wants access

The EU’s Made in Europe initiative is part of a broader effort to increase domestic industrial capacity and reduce reliance on overseas supply chains, particularly those involving China.

For Britain, exclusion could have consequences for sectors that remain closely integrated with European markets. The automotive industry, for example, relies on supply chains that cross the English Channel in both directions. Industry representatives have warned that excluding British manufacturers from European incentives and procurement opportunities could affect the competitiveness of both British and European companies.

British officials therefore want the EU to treat the UK as a partner in the initiative rather than as an external supplier.

Burnham has argued that British participation would reflect the practical connections that remain between the UK and European economies despite Brexit.

A wider attempt to rebuild UK EU ties

The dispute over Made in Europe is taking place as Burnham’s government seeks to deepen Britain’s relationship with the EU.

The UK government has already been pursuing closer cooperation with European countries in areas including defence, technology and manufacturing. Finance Minister John Healey recently urged EU counterparts not to exclude Britain from the bloc’s industrial strategy.

The government has also been seeking greater cooperation on European security. However, negotiations over British participation in the EU’s SAFE defence fund broke down, creating another obstacle to the government’s efforts to expand cooperation with Brussels.

Burnham has said he wants to move further and faster in rebuilding ties with the EU. His government has also been working toward a UK EU summit that was delayed following the change in prime minister.

The challenge inside Europe

Britain’s request for access is not simply a matter of negotiating with EU institutions. Member states also have different interests in how far the bloc’s industrial policies should extend to non member countries.

The proposed policy is intended to direct European economic activity toward European production and strengthen industrial resilience. Extending its benefits to British companies could therefore raise questions about what obligations Britain would have in return and how EU based businesses would compete with UK firms.

There are also broader questions about the meaning of the UK’s post Brexit relationship with the bloc. The British government is seeking closer economic and security cooperation without reversing the country’s decision to leave the EU.

That creates a difficult balance. London wants greater access to European programmes and markets, while Brussels must determine the conditions under which a non member state can participate in policies designed partly to strengthen the EU’s own industrial base.

What comes next?

Burnham’s immediate objective is to secure British participation in the Made in Europe framework while avoiding new barriers for industries whose supply chains remain closely connected to the continent.

The issue could become part of wider negotiations over the future of UK EU relations. Burnham has said his focus is on a renewed summit with European leaders, which he hopes can take place before the end of the year.

The outcome will indicate how far Britain and the EU can move toward closer economic cooperation without reopening the fundamental question of Britain’s membership.

For London, the argument is that Britain and Europe face shared challenges from global supply chain disruption and dependence on foreign production. For the EU, the question is how to strengthen European industrial capacity while determining the appropriate role for a neighbouring non member economy.

The debate over Made in Europe therefore reflects a broader post Brexit question: how closely can Britain integrate with European economic and security structures while remaining outside the bloc?

With information from Reuters.

Coronation Street’s Sally Metcalfe may need to watch out as Lucy Parkinson attacked her on the ITV soap, before Lucy made a sinister comment about her murdered mother Rachel

Did Lucy Parkinson have something to do with her mum Rachel’s death on Coronation Street?

Fans fear it’s the case, and that her next victim may be lined up. Troubled teen Lucy has been lashing out ever since her mum Rachel’s death, and her father Richie’s imprisonment for the crime.

Tim Metcalfe’s cousin Richie had been charged, while he claimed it was self-defence, and that Rachel was abusive. Lucy backed this up and since then, private conversations have revealed Richie has asked Lucy to stick to his story.

Lucy’s been having nightmares though, with it clear she is struggling. With her making weird comments at times and displaying confusing behaviour, it was the latest comment, and her attacking Tim’s wife Sally Metcalfe, that has now rung alarm bells.

Sally had found a worrying drawing by Lucy, of a woman clutching her head. Sally asked if it was meant to be her mum and as Lucy grabbed it, it ripped and she blamed Sally.

Lucy started throwing things into her bag and was quite frantic, as Sally tried to calm her down. Suddenly, Lucy launched her phont at Sally, with it hitting her at speed, right in Sally’s face.

Sally was horrified, and the incident also left her with bruises. Lucy rushed off before being confronted by Tim, while he and Sally also discussed the situation.

With Sally and Tim taking Lucy in after Richie’s arrest, Sally is concerned Lucy needs more help than they can offer her. But perhaps Sally needs to watch out, as Lucy made a worrying admission to her dad Richie in a secret phone call.

As Tim slept on the sofa, a troubled Lucy told her dad how “it happened again”, before suggesting she had done something to her mum Rachel. Whether it was linked to Rachel’s death was not made clear, but Richie’s comments certainly teased the pair were hiding something.

Lucy said to him: “Dad, it’s happened again. I lost it this morning. I threw a phone at Sally. There’s something bad inside of me. What if I done to her what I done to mum.”

Richie replied: “It was your mum’s fault that happened, not yours. Just remember that. I’ll keep doing everything I can to protect you.” So what is Lucy talking about, and will Sally need to be careful?

Coronation Street airs weeknights at 8:30pm on ITV1 and ITV X. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas and law professor Anita Faye Hill gave sworn testimony Friday so starkly irreconcilable that members of the Senate–and millions of other Americans–could not avoid a simple but devastatingly difficult question: Who is lying?

Thomas, eloquent in his injured defiance, “categorically denied” that he ever had asked Hill for a date or talked to her about sex. “I cannot imagine anything that I said or did to Anita Hill that could have been mistaken for sexual harassment,” he said.

An hour later, Hill delivered a prepared statement that was staggering in its specificity. Among other things, she said, Thomas “spoke about acts that he had seen in pornographic films involving such matters as women having sex with animals and films showing group sex or rape scenes.”

After such testimony, there seemed no way to finesse the allegations with a compromise. This could not be put down to differing interpretations of events or a regrettable misunderstanding. Thomas’ nomination could survive only if Hill’s seeming credibility did not.

As a result, members of the committee–almost all of them lawyers–quickly turned the hearing into the highly adversarial “trial” that they had vowed to avoid.

They bombarded Hill with the kinds of questions lawyers use to impeach, confuse and trip up witnesses in criminal trials. And, like the complaining witness in a rape trial, she became a defendant–called on to explain and justify her motives and her conduct in minute detail.

The Republicans, serving as the defense attorneys for Thomas, tried to shake Hill’s testimony by suggesting that she had “fantasies” about a more personal relationship with the fast-rising chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

They suggested that she had had such fantasies before, about at least one other associate.

Why did she wait so long to go public with her accusations? Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) asked. Why did she follow Thomas from the Department of Education to the EEOC? she was asked again and again in different ways?

Because she feared retaliation, Hill said in response to the first question. And because, as a special assistant to Thomas, she might not have been kept on by his successor at the Education Department, she replied to the second.

Did she not understand that, under civil service rules, she was protected? No, she said, and President Reagan at that time was trying to abolish the entire Education Department.

Why did she maintain a “cordial” relationship with Thomas after years of allegedly abusive treatment? Because she was afraid he would retaliate, she answered.

Back and forth, through the day and into the evening, the interrogation and the answers continued. The Democrats, apparently afraid of appearing partisan, only occasionally rose to Hill’s defense.

As an explosive face-to-face clash over who was telling the truth, the scene recalled the 1948 hearing in which Whittaker Chambers charged ex-State Department official Alger Hiss with being a closet communist.

But times have certainly changed. If a person’s communist sympathies were the most personal of secrets in the politics of the late 1940s, even sex was not entirely private in the politics of the 1990s.

Later Friday night, it was Thomas’ turn to answer questions, and he immediately went on the offensive, calling the hearing a “travesty” that “should never occur in America.” And he suggested that his attackers were motivated by racism. “From my standpoint as a black American, as far as I’m concerned, it is a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks,” he said.

Under solicitous questioning by Republican Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, Thomas repeated his unqualified denial of Hill’s allegations. And, although professing himself baffled as to her motives, he gently suggested that she may have been disgruntled at failing to win a promotion while on his staff, that she sometimes had temper tantrums and that an aide had once warned him she was his “enemy”–a suggestion that, he said, he had loyally dismissed out of hand.

Faced with such testimony, how could the senators, or the millions watching on television, decide who was telling the truth?

Congressional committees rarely face such directly contradictory testimony, but judges and jurors do in courtrooms every day. And criminal law experts say that jurors rely on three means of judging the truth: the demeanor of the witnesses, the detail of their testimony and their motivations for telling the truth.

Both Thomas and Hill spoke with the demeanor of truthful witnesses. Both described themselves as the real victims of the bitter controversy.

During his five days of testimony in mid-September, Thomas often seemed hesitant and uncertain as he discussed his legal views. But, in his opening statement Friday, he spoke with force and emotion as he angrily denied Hill’s allegations.

“I have been racking my brains and eating my insides out trying to think of what I could have said or done to Anita Hill to lead her to allege . . . that I talked with her about pornographic or X-rated films,” he declared.

Thomas noted that he had written his own statement without the help of political handlers or advisers and said that he was “shocked, surprised, hurt and enormously saddened” by Hill’s accusations. “I have not been the same person since. I am a victim of this process.”

Hill, a 35-year-old University of Oklahoma law professor, seemed to be nervous and reluctant as the hearing began. But, as she testified, her confidence seemed to grow. She spoke in the quiet but firm manner of a person forced to recount painful incidents in her past.

“It is only after a great deal of agonizing consideration and a great number of sleepless nights that I am able to talk of these unpleasant matters to anyone but my close friends,” she said.

Hill gave far more detail than Thomas. She spoke of lunches in government cafeterias and meetings in Thomas’ office. She said that he once spoke of a pornographic film actor named “Long Dong Silver” and that he talked of his own anatomy. The explicit details surprised committee Republicans, because her account of Thomas’ sexual comments went beyond what FBI agents reported after interviewing her.

She recounted in some detail her humiliation and dismay at Thomas’ behavior. In 1983, she said, she entered a hospital for an acute stomach pain that she blamed on stress over sexual harassment.

Thomas spoke more generally, explaining how he hired Hill and how they had worked together. In his opening statement, Thomas said that he would not enter into specific discussions of strictly “private” matters.

Who had a motivation for not telling the truth?

Committee Republicans tried with increasing force as the hearing wore on to suggest that Hill might have reason for concocting a “fantasy” about Thomas. Specter, a former Philadelphia prosecutor, tried with little visible success to suggest that she came forward with her 11th-hour accusations because she wanted to derail Thomas’ confirmation to the Supreme Court.

“Are you a scorned woman?” asked Sen. Howard Heflin (D-Ala.) “Are you a zealot (sic) civil rights believer? Do you have a martyr complex? Are you interested in writing a book?”

Heflin’s questions, nominally critical, were a friendly ploy. They gave Hill an opportunity to attempt to convince her audience that she had no reason to lie and nothing to gain from making up such a story.

“I’m not given to fantasy,” Hill said. “I can only tell you what happened.”

Hill’s sexual harassment charges were especially powerful because her supervisor, Thomas, was then EEOC chairman. As such, he was the nation’s chief official with responsibility for enforcing federal laws against sex discrimination and sexual harassment.

By nightfall, Heflin, a former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, summed up the day’s proceedings–and how the contradictions might be resolved.

“I, and I suppose every member of this committee, have to come down to the ultimate question of who’s telling the truth,” Heflin said.

“My experience as a lawyer, a judge, is that you listen to all the testimony and then you try to determine the motivation for the one that is not telling the truth.”

England maintained their excellent one-day form as they eased to a comfortable victory against Sri Lanka, as Will Jacks’ stars with bat and ball to help the home side to an 89-run win at Chester-le-Street in the first ODI.

READ MORE: Jacks stars as England grind out win over Sri Lanka

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Despite decades of peace deals and ceasefires, armed groups in Ethiopia have continued to battle each other, as well as the military. Now, some of these former rivals have formed an alliance to push out the government in Addis Ababa.

They warn Ethiopia is on the brink of disintegration, and blame Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Abiy says the country can defend itself, but Ethiopians fear they could be on the verge of another civil war.

So, could these former rivals, with deep political and ideological divides, achieve their common objective?

Presenter:

Rob Matheson

Guests:

Samuel Getachew – Political commentator who specialises in Ethiopian affairs

Ngala Chome – Horn of Africa analyst

Kjetil Tronvoll – Professor of peace and conflict studies at Oslo New University College

There’s an alternate universe where Taylor Tomlinson is a young adult fantasy author holed up in a cabin miles from civilization.

“ I don’t know if you have some sort of backup career or backup life that you go to in your head when you’re overwhelmed or fed up with your career or whatever process you’re in,” she asks in the lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel Denver ahead of a two-show night. “That was in the back of my head, [I was] like, ‘Well, I could just move to the woods and write books.’”

In this world, she’s a 32-year-old comedian with four Netflix stand-up specials and a two-season stint as the host of late-night game show “After Midnight.”

Her manager told her that people would probably be more interested in her memoir before a series centering on magic and dragons, so she started writing her own story two years ago.

A self-diagnosed workaholic, Tomlinson spent 10 years constantly moving. From a combination of mold exposure and severe burnout from filming “After Midnight” on weekdays and performing in different cities on weekends, she fell ill for months and was forced to take a break.

In that time, she wrote “Actually, Nevermind.” Coming out Tuesday, the autobiographical essay collection delves into the aspects of life that she changed her mind about since her mother died when she was 8 years old.

“Actually, Nevermind” opens with an eclectic mix of three quotes from “Anne of Green Gables” by Lucy Maud Montgomery, celebrated writer Joan Didion, and the 2001 Anne Hathaway-led comedy film “The Princess Diaries.” Tomlinson wanted a combination of funny and serious excerpts capturing grief, but also a quote about evolving as a person.

In the classic coming of age novel “Anne of Green Gables,” a young Anne Shirley states, “I’m not a bit changed — not really. I’m only just pruned down and branched out. The real me — back here — is just the same.”

That’s the essence of Tomlinson’s realizations in her book — she’s growing into herself but that girl who started performing stand-up shows on the church circuit at 16 is still in there.

Tomlinson has a bit from her first Netflix special “Quarter-Life Crisis” about your 20s being a period to “fish trash out of the lake before it freezes over.” She asks how I’m enjoying my 20s, to which I bluntly reply, “It’s a nightmare.”

“ My 20s were a nightmare, too, and I was waiting to be 30, and I was like, ‘When I turn 30, I’m going to be solidified and great.’ And then I turned 30, and it was like the last two years I have probably changed just as much, if not more, than I did in my 20s,” she says. “It’s been much rockier than I anticipated.”

In speaking with her friends, she realized they also felt a disconnect between the lives they envisioned for themselves and their realities. Tomlinson channeled that uncertainty into a jumping-off point for her book.

She reflected on when she began questioning the trajectory of her life and traced it back to her mother’s death.

“ I didn’t know if I was even going to write about my mom at all when I first got the book [deal] because I was like, ‘Well, I talked about it in ‘Look At You,’ and I’ve talked about it in interviews,’ but that’s the thing about losing a parent or any big traumatic grief event is you’re always getting hit by waves of it, and then you’re always untangling it,” she says.

In creating “Actually, Nevermind,” Tomlinson pored through her mother’s diary, deciding to include a few excerpts in the finished book. For most of Tomlinson’s life, she regarded her mother as a flawless, devout Christian whom she desperately yearned to impress.

Drawing on her mother’s diary, estrangement from her father and complex sibling bonds, Tomlinson confronts impossible standards, relinquishes parentified guilt and reframes what family means after loss.

(Sela Shiloni)

Her mother married young, so she tried to hit that milestone, too.

“I didn’t manage it and self-sabotaged a lot,” she says. “Now, I’m grateful that I didn’t get married young, but at the time it was all I wanted because I wanted to fit in and I wanted to be someone she would’ve liked, someone she had things in common with.”

Through reading her mother’s diary entries, Tomlinson began to heal from the impossible standards she set for herself to follow in her mother’s footsteps.

“ She was sort of this perfect, infallible character in my brain for so much of my childhood, so it was helpful to read about her being like, ‘I’m nervous about getting married. We got pregnant on accident,’” Tomlinson says. “There’s stuff I didn’t include about arguments she had with my dad in college. It was just very human, and it was very encouraging to go, ‘Oh, it wasn’t like this perfect frictionless decision for her.’ It’s not like she just nailed it and did everything perfectly.”

One of Tomlinson’s largest shifts in perspective was no longer feeling parental responsibility toward her three younger siblings.

“ I went from their sister to a weird half parent figure when I was still a kid,” she says. “And I made all these missteps because I was also a kid. And then young adulthood was confusing because I had been waiting for everyone to get old enough to be friends with me.”

Now, Tomlinson’s siblings all take care of each other in their own ways. She refers to them as her “soul mates” and feels guilty wishing for a romantic partner when she already has three lifelong best friends.

While Tomlinson remains close with some of her mother’s relatives, she has been estranged from her father for five years. She writes about the sadness of not speaking to someone you feel so alike, but she doesn’t go into extreme detail about cutting ties.

“ There’s some things you just want to keep for yourself, you know?” she says. “You don’t want every painful private detail about who you are and what’s happened to you available to Google because it just makes you feel like you’re a raw nerve walking around, and you can’t get it back once you’ve shared it.”

“And you want something to say on a fifth date,” she jokes.

After processing the heartache of losing another parent in a different way, Tomlinson allowed herself to miss the good memories with her father and assuage any longing for revenge.

In her essay “I’m Gay Now,” Tomlinson explores her bisexuality and the transition from chasing male validation to feeling comfortable in herself. She came out at around 28 years old. Part of what took her until then was feeling the need to prove that she deserved to identify as queer.

In essays on sexuality, faith and ambition, she trades the pursuit of perfection for hard-won self-acceptance, exposing a more vulnerable offstage self still learning to do her best.

(Sela Shiloni)

“ I think that’s just a theme throughout my entire life,” she says. “I felt like I needed to earn the label of comedian. I felt like I needed to earn the label of queer. I needed to earn love.”

Her brother helped her understand that she didn’t have to achieve the title — she’s always been gay.

With all of her adulthood realizations, Tomlinson also reflects on what she wishes she could tell her younger self.  Talking to a 16-year-old Taylor, she writes, “The most valuable thing about us cannot be all the things we haven’t done.”

“ So much of my childhood was like, ‘Don’t drink, don’t do drugs, don’t have sex. Don’t step out of line,’” she says. “I wanted to experience things more than I wanted to be this pure version of myself that was performing for the Lord.”

“Actually, Nevermind” is a reflection of Tomlinson when she puts down the microphone, and she is nervous for readers to see that side of her.

“ I feel pretty good about me on stage. Me in the room, I feel really insecure about,” she says. “I’ve gotten to a place where I feel pretty confident about taking up like 45 minutes to an hour and a half of your time. Eight hours, I think, is what the audiobook is. I’m like, ‘Eight hours is a lot more than that.’ So it’s been a real test of confidence.”

After years of chasing perfection, Tomlinson says she finds comfort in knowing that she may never be the world’s greatest anything.

“ In my 20s, I think I was always trying to be the best,” she says. “And now I’m like, ‘I’m going to do my best.’”

Sept. 22, 2026 10:20 AM PT

DETROIT — Michigan U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed said Tuesday that he wants Kamala Harris’ midterm campaign stop in Detroit to unify Democrats in the key swing state where their party’s factions were on full display in a hotly contested primary earlier this year — and in Harris’ 2024 presidential defeat.

“We’re building an electoral coalition here,” El-Sayed said, speaking about the economy hours ahead of a planned appearance with the former vice president.

An unapologetic progressive, El-Sayed downplayed his differences with Harris over the Biden administration’s support for U.S. military aid to Israel. El-Sayed has called Israel’s military actions in Gaza a genocide against Palestinians. Israel rejects that position, but it aligns El-Sayed with many voters in Michigan’s large Arab American community and with progressives who withheld their votes from Harris in 2024, when the state tipped narrowly to Republican Donald Trump.

That election “ended where it did because we could not find the places of agreement to be able to bring people together or move in the direction that we need to move,” El-Sayed said, emphasizing that he and Harris both want to help voters who are struggling economically.

Harris, the first Black vice president, remains popular among Black voters who anchor the Democratic base in Detroit and who leaned in favor of El-Sayed’s primary opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens, in the August primary. El-Sayed said Harris, who will attend a roundtable on Black maternal health with him and separately join an event hosted by the Detroit chapter of the NAACP, is a critical advocate in helping him close ranks as he tries to defeat Republican Mike Rogers.

“Her presence here speaking to communities that were really empowered by her voice throughout her political career, I think will help us to continue to bring our coalition together,” El-Sayed said.

El-Sayed vs. Rogers is a critical contest for Senate control

The Democrat’s matchup against Rogers, a former congressman, will help determine control of the Senate for the final two years of Trump’s presidency. If Democrats hold the seat, which was opened by Sen. Gary Peters’ announced retirement, they’d still need to win at least four more currently held by Republicans to flip the chamber. A Rogers victory would narrow Democrats’ path to a majority.

Rogers’ campaign framed Harris’ visit as a sign of weakness for both Democrats.

“Abdul is so desperate that he’s parachuting Kamala Harris into Michigan to save his flailing campaign,” said Alyssa Brouillet, Rogers’ spokesperson.

Rogers has been campaigning in Detroit, a predominantly Black city where his campaign is optimistic he can pick up support from voters hesitant to support El-Sayed.

Black voters could prove especially critical as El-Sayed also faces pressure among white Jewish voters who typically back Democrats.

“Jews in Michigan are currently scared” by their Senate options, said Barry Goodman, a Democratic National Committee member and major Michigan fundraiser in the party. Goodman backed Stevens in the primary.

The race is also seen as another referendum on progressives’ viability in battleground races. El-Sayed is running to the left of the Democratic Party establishment, including advocating for universal healthcare.

Goodman described himself and many other Jewish Democrats as “holding our noses and voting for Abdul” because they “believe in the Democratic ticket and they believe that one man can help win the Senate but can’t destroy the Senate.” Other moderates, Goodman said, are still deciding whether to back Rogers or sit out the Senate race.

El-Sayed has attempted to soften his approach on Israel and Gaza. He has apologized for some past controversial comments and said he is committed to Jewish safety.

Michigan will also be a key state for the 2028 Democratic presidential primary

For Harris, the trip comes as questions swirl about her intentions to run for president again. Under the Democratic National Committee’s recently revised nominating calendar, Michigan now will hold the fifth presidential preference primary in 2028.

It’s unclear whether Harris will use the trip to restate or recalibrate her past statements on Israel. But campaigning with El-Sayed is notable, nonetheless, given her past tensions with Democrats’ left flank.

“She probably figures she won’t lose her establishment folks, so maybe she makes gains to her left,” Goodman said.

Harris has said she’s in no rush to announce whether she will run in 2028. But ahead of Election Day this November, she also has campaign stops planned in Nevada and Georgia, two other important states on the political map.

Ganun and Barrow write for the Associated Press. Barrow reported from Atlanta.

In April 2022, Moore tested positive for nandrolone and boldenone at a WTA 250 event in Bogota, with an independent tribunal ruling in December 2023 that contaminated meat was the source.

Moore, who was Britain’s leading women’s doubles player at the time of the failed test, was found to bear “no fault or negligence”, but the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) appealed against the decision.

Last year, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) ruled in favour of the ITIA and Moore was banned until 2028.

Moore then initiated proceedings with the American Arbitration Association, in which she claimed the WTA’s “failure to warn against eating meat in Colombia was a direct cause of her positive test result and the harm that followed”.

The arbitrator supported the ruling made by Cas and dismissed the case against the WTA.

In response, Moore filed a motion against the decision at the United States District Court in New York.

Moore, who was ranked a career-high 77th in the world in 2022, claimed she was denied a fair hearing by the arbitrator.

The motion detailed how Moore was seeking “no less than $20m in compensatory damages” after claiming the WTA “stayed silent in the face of a known and specific danger and then shifted the blame for its own negligence” to the player.

On Friday, United States district judge Andrew Carter found Moore’s challenge was “not justified” on a legal basis.

The WTA and ITIA have been approached for comment.

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

⁠US ⁠President Donald Trump has told reporters ⁠at the ⁠United Nations that US officials ‌had a “very good” three-hour meeting with the ⁠Iranian delegation.

“They had a very good meeting, a very productive meeting,” Trump said, adding that the meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York lasted about three hours.

“They have another one scheduled in the very near future.”

More to come…

Sudan’s collective memory has long carried stories of famine-induced tragedies. Now, as war pushes the country deeper into a catastrophic food crisis, historians and humanitarian activists fear that some of those horrors are being repeated.

The ongoing war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which erupted in April 2023, has plunged the country into one of its worst modern food crises, with conditions deteriorating sharply since 2024.

Sudan has endured severe famines before, often triggered or made worse by drought and other environmental shocks. However, the current hunger crisis, which has triggered famines in Sudan in 2024 and 2025, has been brought on by a man-made factor: war.

Past starvation

One of the earliest recorded major food crises in what is now Sudan occurred in 1684, during the Funj Sultanate. The crisis, which lasted several years, brought severe grain shortages across central Sudan. Historical accounts describe people driven to desperation, and in some cases forced to eat dog meat. The hunger triggered mass displacement, as well as a deadly smallpox outbreak.

Similar climate-driven crises were recorded in 1750 and again between 1835 and 1838 during a period of Ottoman-Egyptian rule, exacerbated by severe drought and low water levels in the River Nile.

The famine most deeply embedded in Sudanese popular memory occurred between 1888 and 1889, during the rule of Khalifa Abdullahi al-Taashi.

Drought, locust infestations and conflict combined to cause widespread hunger and death. Some historical estimates put the death toll at more than one million people, although precise figures from the period are difficult to establish. The crisis was reported to have been so severe that some families shut themselves inside their homes to die rather than going out to beg for food.

Sudan experienced more periods of food shortages during the 20th century. Droughts and poor harvests during the colonial period of the first half of the century forced the authorities at times to import grain from abroad.

Then, in 1984, during the rule of President Jaafar Nimeiri, a devastating drought hit western Sudan, including Darfur and Kordofan, where there were widespread crop and livestock losses, displacing hundreds of thousands of people from rural areas to the capital, Khartoum.

Man-made catastrophe

Unlike many of those historical crises, the current famine is distinctly man-made.

War has disrupted agricultural production and trade, forced farmers to leave their land, and made it difficult to move food and humanitarian aid across the country.

Abdullah al-Tijani, a social historian and humanitarian activist, noted the unprecedented scale of the current disaster.

“Most previous famines were often confined to specific regions, as happened in 1984, or areas in southern Sudan before its secession in [2011], while the capital and major cities continued to have the necessities of life and services,” al-Tijani told Al Jazeera.

This time, he said, hunger and the collapse of basic services have spread across the entire country.

“A comprehensive food crisis has struck the heart of major urban and agricultural centres in the states of Khartoum, Gezira, Sennar, Darfur, and Kordofan, causing millions of citizens to be displaced inside and outside the country,” al-Tijani added.

He pointed to what he described as the “systematic destruction of infrastructure, disruption of large agricultural projects, and targeting of markets, bakeries, and crops, along with disrupting the banking system and communication networks, which isolated entire regions”.

Al-Tijani also cited the “restrictions on humanitarian access and delays in granting transit permits for relief workers”. He accused the warring parties of using control over food supplies as a tool of war, while warning that international funding has fallen short of the size of the crisis.

Lost agricultural potential

The scale of the crisis is stark because of Sudan’s agricultural potential. The country has immense resources, including roughly 200 million acres (81 million hectares) of arable land, abundant water from the Nile, and extensive livestock resources, but Sudan’s potential as a global breadbasket remains unfulfilled.

Mohammed Abdul Rahman, an economic researcher, explained that the current food security crisis reflects a clear development gap, and a longstanding weakness in Sudan’s agricultural sector compounded by war.

“Wars and armed conflicts are among the most influential factors on food production,” Abdul Rahman said, “along with the displacement of farmers from their lands, the absence of political stability and agricultural policies, weak funding and government guarantees, and reliance on traditional farming methods.”

EXCLUSIVE: Strictly Come Dancing legends Vincent Simone and Brendan Cole have had their say on the divisive new presenting trio of Josh Widdicombe, Emma Willis and Johannes Radebe.

Strictly legend Vincent Simone has branded one new host of the hit dance show ‘lost and nervous’ after their debut showing on Saturday. He didn’t hold back as he laid bare his thoughts – but he did hold special praise for another, admitting they pleasantly surprised him.

All eyes were on the new trio of presenters on Saturday night prime time as Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe took centre stage after the exit of Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly. But Josh felt the wrath of Vincent, who labelled him a “lost lamb” before saying he hopes it’s just first show nerves.

Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, Vincent went on: “Emma, professional as always. But I’m sure she was probably as nervous as everybody else. There’s a huge amount of pressure on their shoulders to hold a show together which is essentially new but old.”

And he admitted Johannes’ style shocked him. “Johannes surprised me in a good way,” he said. “I thought he was going to be all flamboyant, running around, talking about himself.

“I don’t know the guy, I’ve met him a couple of times but I thought he seemed really professional and seemed like he was doing a really good job as a host. I heard he was just going to be roaming around, talking to the couples and what have you.

“He would have been as nervous as hell. They all would have been. Given that, I think he did a good job.”

The opinion was matched by Brendan Cole, who also had his say on the new hosts, admitting he would have hoped for a Bruce Forsyth vibe to take the hot seat. He said: “I wanted the old-school class of the likes of Brucey [Bruce Forsyth].

“There aren’t many around that good that you could choose from, but it’s a big world out there. I’m sure they could be found. I want somebody old school. I want somebody triple threat – actor, singer, dancer. Somebody who, when they’re at the helm like Brucey was, absolutely knows showbiz like the back of their hand.”

But despite his disappointment, he held out praise for Johannes too. “I liked Johannes, actually. He did really well for the first show. I didn’t know what his role was going to be, and I think he held himself very, very well.”

Fans also had their say shortly after the launch show on Saturday and were divided in their opinions. Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, one fan said: “I know it’s only the first few minutes, but I just cannot gel to there being three hosts #strictly.”

Another defended the line-up, adding: “3 presenters was an interesting choice by producers but Emma, Johannes and Josh really do work together. Natural already.” And it was also backed by no-nonsense judge, Craig Revel-Horwood who branded the new trio “fabulous”.

Vincent and Brendan were talking to the Mirror on behalf of Sky Vegas.

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Normally when a telephone rings inside a bar, it’s the duty of the staff to pick it up. But when an old-timey rotary dial phone suddenly springs to life at the Last Canteen, it’s up to guests to decide what to do next.

Answer it — or attempt to make a call from it — and you’ll encounter one of dozens of pre-recorded messages. They’re calls from an imagined future, one when a war-torn America is on the mend from some sort of apocalyptic catastrophe. They’re messages, perhaps, for the bar’s fictional founder, a shotgun-carrying mysterious woman known for her mean bartering skills, or maybe if you’re lucky, you will dial into what sounds like an early 20th century party line and hear from those looking for a date in the Valley, now a neutral zone among warring factions.

The Last Canteen, situated on a stretch of Ventura Boulevard that’s just a short walk from the Universal City metro and minutes from Universal Studios Hollywood, is a new restaurant and bar that looks lifted from a theme park. It also feels like a throwback to an earlier time, when Los Angeles was an epicenter of the themed restaurant.

Southern California has a storied history when it comes to themed establishments. There’s our penchant for food-shaped eateries, of course — see our giant doughnuts or the Tail o’ the Pup — but dinner with a side of story is a Los Angeles-area staple that predates any corporate chains such as Rainforest Cafe or Chuck E. Cheese. From the long-forgotten Jail Cafe in the 1920s to our region’s birth of the tiki bar to the themed restaurant explosion of the ‘80s and ‘90s, when even Steven Spielberg got into the action with the submarine-focused DIVE! in Century City, the themed restaurant has long found a receptive audience in Southern California.

And the Last Canteen feels especially built for our moment.

The Last Canteen’s three founders were going for a lived-in feel.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Taking influence from the likes of “Mad Max,” “Fallout” and a host of other dystopian, postapocalyptic media, the Last Canteen is a bar for an era — and a city — when the future seems especially uncertain. Whether it’s AI, corporate consolidation, inflation or the struggles of Hollywood that’s got you down, the Last Canteen wants to be your “Cheers” of sorts.

“It’s not the brightest of times, I would say for most of the world, but certainly younger generations are feeling like we got the rug pulled over us — the state of the economy and corporate overreach,” says Jimmy Clements, 32, who founded the Last Canteen with two other friends from the hospitality industry.

“We always joke that the world is ending, but there’s some charm in fully embodying what that would mean, and realizing there’s something on the other side,” he adds. “That’s what attracts me to the genre. OK, the worst thing possible happened, but there’s still people on the other side. We still need community and a place to eat and drink.”

A grenade fashioned out of a baseball is one of the items hidden in the Last Canteen.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Or as Clements’ partner TJ Lewis says, “Who doesn’t watch ‘Mad Max’ and dream of riding on top of a crazy car with a spike in your hand?”

Despite a potentially bleak concept, the Last Canteen is open and welcoming. The color palette is soft, leaning heavily on dust-like sandy vibes, the cocktail menu takes influence from the fruity, complex world of tiki bars, and a sense of humor permeates the main dining room.

Yes, a demolition bomb, which is actually a movie prop from Angelina Jolie’s “Unbroken,” hangs from the ceiling, but take a moment to explore the venue and you’ll find grenades colorfully fashioned out of baseballs, or rewritten maps of the Valley in its new “Wasteland” era. Universal Studios’ famed minion still stands, but the Ikea is now a “hall of justice.”

Newspapers dot the walls. They’re filled with fiction that tell of the bar’s new reality, giving the place a sense of history and lore. One article, for instance, speaks of a battle that broke out near the remnants of US-101 next to the old “sidewalk stars site.” Another tells of how the bar’s founder took over the land where the establishment now stands. By force, of course. And don’t miss the beer taps, fashioned out of bullets, guns and baseball bats.

The Last Canteen is a themed bar that feels ripe for our era, one in which the future is filled with uncertainty.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

“It’s the difference for us between immersive and themed,” says Lewis. “Like the Hard Rock Cafe is themed. It’s got music on the wall, but you don’t feel like you’re at a concert when you’re there. It’s not immersive. What we were really going for is a lived-in space. We didn’t cover this in ‘Max Max’ posters. It is in the world of. It’s really open-ended. All the details on the wall help paint a picture.”

Of course there were limits. The team jokes that if they really wanted to exploit the dystopian theme, then drinks should likely be served in red plastic cups. Instead, the Last Canteen has proper drinkware, but each type of glass does come from a different set, as the owners wanted to give it a found materials vibe. The menu doesn’t stray too heavily from bar fare, and there are bowls of bison chili ($18), a burger ($18), a charcuterie plate ($21) and, of course, a “Last Meal,” which is a half grilled cheese, a cup of chili and a glass of sarsaparilla ($25).

The cocktail program, however, is extensive. The blackberry-infused Blackthumb or the spiced A Torch or Rosemary feel like darker twists on brighter, lively tiki fare. For those craving the latter, there is currently a frozen version of a Zombie. Bar founders Clements, Lewis and Drew Aloe say the menu, both cocktails and food, will change seasonally.

The Last Canteen founders Jimmy Clements, from left, TJ Lewis and Drew Aloe.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

And the tiki influence is no accident. The three cite the Disneyland Hotel’s Trader Sam’s as the Last Canteen’s primary influence. Also an inspiration? Oga’s Cantina at Disneyland’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Theme parks were on their mind as much as the apocalypse.

“What they do so well is they feel really lived in,” Clements says of Trader Sam’s and Oga’s. “It doesn’t feel like a cute homage. You walk in the door and you’re somewhere else.”

And guests are noticing.

“We had someone opening weekend tell me that this feels like an end-of-the-world Trader Sam’s. Thank you. That’s all we want,” Lewis says.

This week in SoCal theme parks

Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift is now in daily operations at Universal Studios Hollywood.

(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)

• New coaster. New accolades. New noise complaints. Universal Studios Hollywood officially opened its Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift last week after months of running the thrill ride in a soft open phase. Fans were happy, with some even calling it the “best” coaster in SoCal. But nearby neighbors in Toluca Lake still want change, arguing that the sound of rider screams from the coaster is disrupting their lives.
• Calling all Disney film buffs. Starting this Sunday, Santa Ana’s Frida Cinema will begin hosting a weekly “Walt Disney Studios” film series hosted by historian/educator Jeff Kurtti. First up is “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” which will also feature a presentation from artist/designer Kevin Kidney, who over the years has contributed to many a Disney parks project. Other Sunday screenings will include “Alice in Wonderland,” “Disneyland Handcrafted,” “Swiss Family Robinson” and more. Check out the full series here.
• And speaking of “Disneyland Handcrafted.” It’s the last call for tickets to a stellar Disneyland history and charity event at Santa Ana’s Bowers Museum, which on Sunday will screen the Leslie Iwerks documentary as well as host a reception and panel. Historian and author Tim O’Day will moderate a talk that includes the film’s producer, Mark Catalena, former Imagineer-turned-historian Tom Morris and current Imagineer Emily “Emo” O’Brien, who oversees creative at Disneyland and is leading the team behind the just-announced makeover of Tomorrowland. Tickets start at $125 and are on sale now.

Ride report

The concluding, trippy scene in Inked, a new maze from Knott’s Scary Farm.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

As we get deeper into Halloween season, I wanted to highlight another haunted maze, this one being the best one at this year’s Knott’s Scary Farm event. Inked is the maze, and it’s set in a 1930s cartoon studio. While of course having the requisite number of scare actors who will pounce on guests after they turn any corner, the maze also charms as it features original animation in the style of Disney’s classic “Silly Symphony” cartoons. Nearly every room in the haunted house boasts a cartoon scene starring a cutesy ghost, a little cat and an often sad pumpkin man.

The story is the drawn figures have come to life and are now murderous, but you’ll wish you could stop and watch a graveyard short or hang with a jazzy skeleton band. Giant pumpkin heads are animated with cartoon eyes and a mirror-heavy psychedelic scene, pictured above, brings the maze to a fiery conclusion. Knott’s is perhaps relying too heavily on returning mazes of late, but Inked is a winner.

Tell us your stories. Ask us your questions.

Have a theme park tale to share? Whether it was a good day or less-than-perfect day, I would love to hear about it. Have a question? A tip? A fun photo from the parks to share? Email me at todd.martens@latimes.com. I may feature your note in an upcoming newsletter.

Ride on,

Todd Martens

P.S.

Magic Mountain’s currently shuttered X2 coaster has been in the news of late.

The X2 ride has for years been the Valencia park’s crown jewel, the first roller coaster in the world that spun riders 360 degrees in their seats. It even topped my ranking of thrill rides at the park. I wrote that it was a risky choice, as the coaster is not for the faint of heart. Its seats extend off the track, giving you a sensation of flight at its most chaotic, with an assortment of loops that suddenly shift direction and segue into drops. Due to the constantly changing direction of its seats, the path of the track can be hard to discern.

But X2 has come under close inspection after several lawsuits allege people were injured on the ride. Six Flags shut down X2 in July amid a state investigation into the coaster. The Times’ Fedor Zarkhin has the story.

WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance and other Trump administration officials said Tuesday they plan to remove 760,000 Affordable Care Act enrollees from public healthcare exchanges, alleging that the individuals were fraudulently enrolled in the program, or simply do not exist.

Vance said the discovery and canceled subsidy payments for hundreds of thousands of people from the exchanges would result in $2.2 billion in cost savings.

“We’re actually making sure that the people receiving Obamacare subsidies are actually entitled to receive them,” Vance, who leads a government-wide task force to eliminate fraud, said in a public address at the White House, Tuesday. He was flanked by Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and other administration officials.

The Trump administration also announced a six-month suspension on new brokers who sign up enrollees for healthcare coverage, who officials say commit a disproportionate amount of the fraud they uncovered.

Tuesday’s announcement is the latest in an administration-wide initiative to address fraud around the country, including in federal healthcare programs, which officials say is needed to rein in runaway spending and protect taxpayers.

The announcement comes as inflation and rising healthcare costs pressure the Trump administration to come up with a plan to bring down costs for Americans heading into the midterms.

The price of ACA insurance has skyrocketed for many Americans during Trump’s second term, after Republicans opposed extending COVID-era subsidies that had helped offset the costs of health insurance for most enrollees during Biden’s term.

Premiums doubled or tripled for many enrollees, prompting millions to downgrade their plans or exit the program entirely after the Republican-led Congress allowed the subsidies to expire this year.

Roughly 19.2 million Americans are actively enrolled in ACA marketplace health plans as of early 2026, according to the HHS website.

The White House referred The Associated Press to the Vice President’s team for additional comment on bigger plans to address healthcare affordability.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the news of the Trump administration’s plan to remove ACA enrollees from public exchanges.

Hussein writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Michelle Price contributed to this report.

New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart appears to have avoided a “devastating outcome” after leaving Monday night’s game against the Rams with a left knee injury, coach John Harbaugh told reporters following his team’s 28-6 loss at SoFi Stadium.

Harbaugh stopped short of confirming the multiple media reports that Dart suffered a sprained MCL when his leg bent in an unnatural manner after he was hit hard by Rams linebackers Byron Young and Josaiah Stewart early in the first quarter.

“That’s in the neighborhood of it, I would say,” Harbaugh said of those reports after the his team’s 28-6 loss. “We’ll get an MRI tomorrow and have a real good feel for it, and give you more information from there.”

SNY Giants reports that Dart could miss two to four weeks with the injury. Still, it could have been much worse. A torn ACL could have ended the season for the second-year quarterback who missed two games last year after sustaining a concussion.

“Never play to hurt anybody,” Young, a fourth-year player and 2025 Pro Bowl selection for the Rams, posted in an Instagram Story after the game. “I pray for a healthy recovery.”

Former NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning seemed to fear the worst while watching the situation unfold live on their alternative broadcast of the game on ESPN2.

“Oh no. Oh no. No, no, no, no, no,” Peyton Manning said as he watched Dart writhe on the ground while holding his knee. “That is not what we want to see. Gosh!”

“Tough to watch,” Eli Manning said as a replay aired. “Hate to see that. Hope he’s OK.”

Dart was able walk off the field and into the locker room gingerly but under his own power. ESPN’s Jordan Raanan reported that the former USC and Mississippi quarterback actually wanted to return to the game but was not allowed to do so by his team.

Instead, Dart watched the second half from the sideline in street clothes, with video appearing to show him telling someone, “They wouldn’t let me come back out.”

Veteran quarterback Jameis Winston filled in for Dart and completed 11 of 27 passes for 111 yards with one interception.

Dart was one of several key Giants (1-1) players to suffer injuries during the loss. Top pass rusher Brian Burns sprained his left ankle and left tackle Andrew Thomas sustained an apparent lower-body injury, with neither player returning to the game.

Wide receiver Malik Nabers had to pop his right shoulder into place after dislocating it during the first quarter. He stayed in the game but indicated afterward he would undergo X-rays the next day.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Former The Great British Bake Off host Mel Giedroyc opened up about past moments of jealousy in a candid insight into her friendship with a co-star

The Great British Bake Off returns for its 17th series, with hosts Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding at the helm alongside judges Paul Hollywood and Nigella Lawson, who makes her debut on the show. Before the programme moved to Channel 4, presenters Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins fronted the series for six years.

The gig was one of many the pair took on together during their long-running friendship, which Mel has now revealed hasn’t always been smooth sailing. The broadcaster said their relationship has gone through “phases”, with periods when they’re inseparable and other times when they’ve been “off” with each other.

Speaking on the Dig It podcast with Jo Whiley and Zoe Ball, Mel explained that she and Sue are currently in one of their closer spells, chatting and seeing each other frequently. At the time of recording, the pair were also preparing to reunite at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

“There’s a real friendship there, you’ve known each other for ages and you know you’ve got each other’s backs and I think that is such a lovely thing,” she shared. Though keen not to be “disingenuous”, Mel admitted there had been moments of jealousy.

“There’s been times over the last 39 years or whatever that I’ve known Sue, I’m sure that we’ve had moments of a little bit of jealously and, sort of, off with each other but, you know, at base you’ve got each other and it’s everything,” she shared.

“It really is everything and the older I get the more I realise that you have to cling to the real proper quality.”

Mel and Sue released a statement in 2016 when the show left the BBC, saying they were “very shocked and saddened” by the news. In the statement at the time, they praised the BBC for helping shape the programme’s tone and for growing its audience from two million to nearly 15 million.

They also confirmed they were “not going with the dough”, while wishing the future bakers well.

After their departure, the hosting role passed to Sandi Toksvig, who left in 2020, and Noel Fielding, who now presents the show alongside Alison Hammond.

The current judging panel consists of Paul Hollywood, who has been part of the programme since it began, and Nigella Lawson, who makes her debut after stepping into Prue Leith’s shoes.

The new series returns tonight, with 12 amateur bakers entering the tent in the hope of impressing the judges and being crowned this year’s champion.

Away from Bake Off, Mel and Sue have also returned to screens with their Saturday night gameshow Win Win with Postcode Lottery.

The Great British Bake Off airs tonight at 8pm on Channel 4

LAS VEGAS — Susan Gonzalez plans to pay off her credit card now that she no longer needs to pay taxes on the dollar bills that she stashes away at the end of long shifts pouring beers and mixing cocktails in a smoky sports bar.

Thanks to President Trump, “there’s more money in our pockets,” the registered Republican said. The Iran war might have spiked gas prices, but Gonzalez is still confident that the U.S. economy is getting stronger.

The Jackpot Bar & Grill, located about 4 miles from the Las Vegas Strip, is in the heart of Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District, where Democratic Rep. Susie Lee is trying to fend off a challenge from Republican candidate Marty O’Donnell. The state has the highest concentration of tipped workers in the country because its economy is driven by the hospitality and tourism industries, making Trump’s “no tax on tips” policy a critical part of his party’s midterm pitch here.

The question for Nevada voters is whether they’re seeing more benefit from lower taxes or more pain from the country’s economic troubles, such as energy costs and declining tourism.

Lee’s district is a top target for the Republican Party in its fight to maintain control of the House. With a mix of working-class and high-income neighborhoods, it’s the most competitive of Nevada’s four congressional seats. In 2024, both Lee and Trump won the district.

Lee has held the seat since 2019, campaigning as a moderate and highlighting her bipartisan record. O’Donnell, a composer known for his work on the “Halo” video game series, became his party’s nominee this year with help from Trump and a $3 million personal loan.

The race has caught the attention of Trump-aligned super PACs. Safety and Affordability, an offshoot of MAGA Inc., committed this month to spending almost $3.2 million on advertising to help O’Donnell, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. The total effectively matches the $3.1 million O’Donnell’s campaign has already spent on advertising reservations through November.

The heavy commitment puts pro-O’Donnell forces ahead by more than $1 million in the ad spending race in the district, where Lee’s campaign has spent $2.9 million and the Democratic House leadership super PAC House Majority Fund has put in $2.3 million.

Nevada is the birthplace of ‘no tax on tips’

Trump first announced his policy proposal at a June 2024 campaign event in Nevada, and he has repeatedly said that he was inspired by a Las Vegas server who suggested the idea.

“So we’re eating, and this beautiful young lady walks over, and I said, ‘How are you doing, everything good?’” Trump said in August. “‘Sir, they’re taxing me to death.’ I said, ‘Really? What are they taxing?’ ‘They’re taxing my tips. Sir, they should have no tax on tips.’”

The proposal was included in a sweeping package of tax breaks, social-services cuts and immigration enforcement that Trump signed into law last year.

O’Donnell has centered his attack against Lee for her vote against that bill.

“When she had an opportunity to vote for things that would actually help the people of the district, she said no,” O’Donnell told The Associated Press.

Lee attributed her vote to what she says were harmful and unpopular policies in the package. She also noted that the “no tax on tips” part of the legislation expires at the end of 2028.

“More importantly, they came at the cost of cutting Medicaid and SNAP and healthcare,” Lee told the AP at a recent canvassing launch in Las Vegas.

She and other Nevada Democrats support a separate proposal that would make permanent “no tax on tips” while also fixing what they say are issues with the current policy.

Slump in tourism lessens ‘no tax on tips’ impact

Lee said the tax cut isn’t helping because tourism is falling off.

“When people are feeling the pinch at home all across this country, the first thing they cut is their trip to Vegas,” Lee said.

Nevada’s tourism fell 7.5% from 2024 to 2025, according to Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority CEO and President Steve Hill. Las Vegas hosted the Super Bowl and the second annual Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2024.

At a recent economic forum, Hill said high rollers are continuing to visit the city but lower-income visitors are not. The number of international visitors has also dropped significantly, especially Canadians who watched Trump feud with their country over trade and other issues.

O’Donnell said Las Vegas tourism is on the “comeback.” He said Trump’s tariffs served as a necessary way to negotiate with countries “that have been absolutely ripping us off.”

The composer blames the high cost of living on Democrats. He recently told a crowd at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas that one good job used to be enough to raise a family, buy a house and “live a comfortable, fulfilling life while getting ahead.”

“Somewhere along the way, that deal got broken,” he said. “Now many need two incomes just to tread water, and we’re still digging our way out of Biden’s inflation crisis.”

Nevada’s powerful labor unions are backing Lee

While O’Donnell has help from Republicans’ national war chest, Lee has the support of the political powerhouse that is the Culinary Workers Union, representing 60,000 hospitality workers in Nevada.

Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge said the current “no tax on tips” policy brings some relief but is “deeply flawed.” A married couple filing jointly can deduct only up to $25,000 of their tipped income, Pappageorge said. The policy also does not apply to automatic gratuities that are charged to large parties, he said. Lee and other Nevada Democrats want to fix that, he said.

“There’s a history of our Democrats here fighting for fair taxation,” Pappageorge said.

On a recent weekend in Lee’s district about 50 days before the election, members from the Culinary Union, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations knocked on voters’ doors, hoping to sway those still undecided.

Paul Peterman, president of the local chapter of the National Association of Letter Carriers, wearing a blue union T-shirt, a lanyard and shorts, walked to union households, carrying flyers supporting Lee and other Democrats. He asked a resident who he planned to vote for. “All Republican,” said the man, hidden behind his screen door. Peterman asked if he could leave a non-Republican flyer, and the man said, “No.”

“Sorry to bother you,” Peterman said as the door closed.

At the next door, the voter identified as an independent but said he’d vote for Lee. A voter at another house said who he plans to vote for was private. Nobody answered at the next few doors.

Peterman has been canvassing these neighborhoods for years, describing it as important union work.

“It sends a message that we’re all united, and you also need every hand on deck, too, to be successful in what you want to achieve,” Peterman said.

Hill and Beaumont write for the Associated Press.

Every footballer has a story, but not many are quite as trippy as the one Luis Binks tells while sitting among the palm trees of La Manga, Scotland’s training headquarters for a few days this week.

At 25, the Brondby centre-half and captain is pushing hard for a Scotland debut against Slovenia on Saturday, a spot in the heart of Sebastien Pocognoli’s defence having opened up since Grant Hanley and John Souttar were jettisoned once the Belgian took over from Steve Clarke.

Binks, with a grandparent from Dunbar, is among the eight uncapped players in the new manager’s squad.

That’s a lot of new faces and a lot of new stories.

Binks talks about the early weeks of his time at Montreal Impact in the MLS; February to March, 2020. He was 18 and recalls: “I’d been at Tottenham since I was very young, but I just wanted to go and play first-team football.

“That was my biggest thing, to not get caught up in the whole youth system. I feel that if you get caught in that, it’s not real football. I wanted to test myself.”

Which brought him to Montreal where his manager was the great Thierry Henry.

“I’d signed in February and then we went into Covid lockdown in March,” Binks explains. “I hadn’t yet found an apartment. I was in one hotel and Thierry was in another. The one I was in was then shut down.

“He was staying at the Ritz on his own. They wanted to move me to a hotel by the airport and I didn’t want to go because there was nothing there. It felt like prison, almost. One day I get a call from him, saying: ‘Do you want to move to where I am? You can go on the other floor’.”

The Ritz-Carlton is a five-star retreat with 129 rooms. Henry and Binks were the only residents.

“I’d go for runs in the morning and he’d be sat in the reception on his own. When I’d get back from the run, he’d still be sat there. I’d spend a few hours with him, just trying to pick his brains.

“I remember one night I was sat in my room just playing PlayStation and he rings me and goes, ‘do you want to get a pizza?’. There’s me and him driving around Montreal looking for a pizza. It’s a bit surreal, but that was how it was.

“I’m saying it now like it’s just anybody, but there’s a big aura around him. I was nervous at the time, but I asked him who’s the best defender he’s played with and against and why and it was a good time.

“It’s a bit of a blur now, but I always remember him talking about Sol Campbell and just saying what made him great and how I could improve as a defender.

“I owe a lot to him because he gave me my first chance in senior football.”