Two federal judges told the U.S. Department of Agriculture in separate rulings Friday that it must begin using billions of dollars in contingency funding to provide federal food assistance to poor American families despite the federal shutdown, but gave the agency until Monday to decide how to do so.
Both Obama-appointed judges rejected Trump administration arguments that more than $5 billion in USDA contingency funds could not legally be tapped to continue Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for nearly 42 million Americans while the federal government remains closed. But both also left unclear how exactly the relief should be provided, or when it will arrive for millions of families set to lose benefits starting Saturday.
The two rulings came almost simultaneously Friday.
In Massachusetts, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani stopped short of granting California and a coalition of 24 other Democrat-led states a temporary restraining order they had requested. But she ruled that the states were likely to succeed in their arguments that the USDA’s total shutoff of SNAP benefits — despite having billions in emergency contingency funds on hand — was unlawful.
Talwani gave USDA until Monday to tell her whether they would authorize “only reduced SNAP benefits” using the contingency funding — which would not cover the total $8.5 billion to $9 billion needed for all November benefits, according to the USDA — or would authorize “full SNAP benefits using both the Contingency Funds and additional available funds.”
Separately, in Rhode Island, U.S. District Judge John McConnell granted a temporary restraining order requested by nonprofit organizations, ruling from the bench that SNAP must be funded with at least the contingency funds, and requesting an update on progress by Monday.
The White House referred questions about the ruling to the Office of Management and Budget, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It was not immediately clear if the administration would appeal the rulings.
The Massachusetts order was a win for California and the other Democrat-led states, which sued over the interruption to SNAP benefits — which were previously known as food stamps — as Republicans and Democrats continue to squabble over reopening the government in Washington.
However, it will not mean that all of the nation’s SNAP recipients — including 5.5 million Californians — will be spared a lapse in their food aid, state officials stressed, as state and local food banks continued scrambling to prepare for a deluge of need starting Saturday.
Asked Thursday if a ruling in the states’ favor would mean SNAP funds would be immediately loaded onto CalFresh and other benefits cards, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta — whose office helped bring the states’ lawsuit — said “the answer is no, unfortunately.”
“Our best estimates are that [SNAP benefit] cards could be loaded and used in about a week,” he said, calling that lag “problematic.”
“There could be about a week where people are hungry and need food,” he said. For new applicants to the program, he said, it could take even longer.
The rulings came as the now monthlong shutdown continued Friday with no immediate end in sight. The Senate adjourned Thursday with no plans to meet again until Monday.
It also came after President Trump called Thursday for the Senate to end the shutdown by first ending the filibuster, a longstanding rule that requires 60 votes to overcome objections to legislation. The rule has traditionally been favored by lawmakers as a means of blocking particularly partisan measures, and is currently being used by Democrats to resist the will of the current 53-seat Republican majority.
“It is now time for the Republicans to play their ‘TRUMP CARD,’ and go for what is called the Nuclear Option — Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Los Angeles Regional Food Bank Chief Executive Michael Flood, standing alongside Bonta as members of the California National Guard worked behind them stuffing food boxes, said his organization was preparing for massive lines come Saturday, the first of the month.
He said he expected long lines of families in need of food appearing outside food distribution locations throughout the region, just as they did during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is a disaster type of situation for us here in Los Angeles County, throughout the state of California and throughout the country,” Flood said.
“5.5 million Californians, 1.5 million children and adults in L.A. County alone, will be left high and dry — illegally so, unnecessarily so, in a way that is morally bankrupt,” Bonta said.
Bonta blamed the shutdown on Trump and his administration, and said the USDA has billions of dollars in contingency funds designed to ensure SNAP benefits continue during emergencies and broke the law by not tapping those funds in the current situation.
Bonta said SNAP benefits have never been disrupted during previous federal government shutdowns, and should never have been disrupted during this shutdown, either.
“That was avoidable,” he said. “Trump created this problem.”
The Trump administration has blamed the shutdown and the looming disruption to SNAP benefits entirely on Democrats in Congress, who have blocked short-term spending measures to restart the government and fund SNAP. Democrats are holding out to pressure Republicans into rescinding massive cuts to subsidies that help millions of Americans afford health insurance.
Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, previously told The Times that Democrats should be the ones getting asked “when the shutdown will end,” because “they are the ones who have decided to shut down the government so they can use working Americans and SNAP benefits as ‘leverage’ to pursue their radical left wing agenda.”
“Americans are suffering because of Democrats,” Jackson said.
In their opposition to the states’ request for a temporary restraining order requiring the disbursement of funds, attorneys for the USDA argued that using emergency funds to cover November SNAP benefits would deplete funds meant to provide “critical support in the event of natural disasters and other uncontrollable catastrophes,” and could actually cause more disruption to benefits down the line.
They wrote that SNAP requires between $8.5 billion and $9 billion each month, and the USDA’s contingency fund has only about $5.25 billion, meaning it could not fully fund November benefits even if it did release contingency funding. Meanwhile, “a partial payment has never been made — and for good reason,” because it would force every state to recalculate benefits for recipients and then recalibrate their systems to provide the new amounts, they wrote.
That “would take weeks, if it can be done at all,” and would then have to be undone in order to issue December benefits at normal levels, assuming the shutdown would have lifted by then, they wrote. “The disruption this would entail, with each State required to repeatedly reprogram its systems, would lead to chaos and uncertainty for the following months, even after a lapse concludes,” they wrote.
Simply pausing the benefits to immediately be reissued whenever the shutdown ends is the smarter and less disruptive course of action, they argued.
During a Thursday hearing in the states’ case, Talwani had suggested that existing rules required action by the government to prevent the sort of suffering that a total disruption to food assistance would cause, regardless of whatever political showdown is occurring between the parties in Washington.
“If you don’t have money, you tighten your belt,” she said in court. “You are not going to make everyone drop dead because it’s a political game someplace.”
In addition to suing the administration, California and its leaders have been rushing to ensure that hungry families have something to eat in coming days. Gov. Gavin Newsom directed $80 million to food banks to stock up on provisions, and activated the National Guard to help package food for those who need it.
Counties have also been working to offset the need, including by directing additional funding to food banks and other resource centers and asking partners in the private sector to assist.
Dozens of organizations in California have written to Newsom calling on him to use state funds to fully cover the missing federal benefits, in order to prevent “a crisis of unthinkable magnitude,” but Newsom has suggested that is not possible given the scale of funding withheld.
According to the USDA, about 41.7 million Americans were served through SNAP per month in fiscal 2024, at an annual cost of nearly $100 billion. Of the 5.5 million Californian recipients, children and older people account for more than 63%.
This article includes reporting by the Associated Press.
Advocates say new rules let Education Department to politically punish groups working on immigration, transgender care.
The United States Department of Education has finalised new rules that could bar nonprofits deemed to have undertaken work with a “substantial illegal purpose” from a special student loan forgiveness programme.
Those rules, finalised on Thursday, appear to single out certain organisations that do work in areas that President Donald Trump politically opposes, including immigration advocacy and transgender rights.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Under the new rules, set to take effect in July 2026, the education secretary has the power to exclude groups if they engage in activities like the “chemical castration” of children, using a politically charged term for gender-affirming healthcare, including puberty-delaying medication.
It also allows the education secretary to bar groups accused of supporting undocumented immigration or “terrorist” organisations.
The Trump administration has said its decisions “will not be made based on the political views or policy preferences of the organization”.
But advocates fear the move is the administration’s latest effort to target left-leaning and liberal organisations.
Trump has already threatened to crack down on several liberal nonprofits, which the White House has broadly accused of being part of “domestic terror networks”.
Thursday’s rules concern the Public Service Loan Forgiveness programme, created by an act of Congress in 2007.
In an effort to direct more graduates into public service jobs, the programme promises to cancel federal student loans for government employees and many nonprofit workers after they have made 10 years of payments.
Workers in the public sector, including teachers, medical professionals, firefighters, social service professionals and lawyers, are among those who can benefit.
In a statement, the Trump administration defended the updated rules, calling them a necessary bulwark to protect taxpayer funds.
The programme “was meant to support Americans who dedicate their careers to public service – not to subsidize organizations that violate the law, whether by harboring illegal immigrants or performing prohibited medical procedures that attempt to transition children away from their biological sex”, said Education Undersecretary Nicholas Kent.
Critics, however, have denounced the administration for using false claims of “terrorism” or criminal behaviour to silence opposing views and restrict civil liberties.
Michael Lukens, executive director of the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, said the new rules weaponised loan forgiveness.
Lukens explained that many of the lawyers, social workers and paralegals who work at his organisation handle cases to stop deportations and other immigration litigation.
They count on public service loan forgiveness to take jobs that pay significantly less than the private sector, he said.
“All of a sudden, that’s going away,” Lukens told The Associated Press news agency. “The younger generation, I hope, will be able to wait this out for the next couple of years to see if it gets better, but if it doesn’t, we’re going to see a lot of people leave the field to go and work in a for-profit space.”
Organisations have raised concerns over the education secretary’s broad power to determine if a group should be barred. Short of a legal finding, the secretary can decide based on a “preponderance of the evidence” whether an employer is in violation.
The National Council of Nonprofits was among the associations criticising the change.
It said the rules would allow future administrations from any political party to change eligibility rules “based on their own priorities or ideology”.
Manager Eddie Howe says it was a “relief” that forward William Osula did not leave Newcastle United on transfer deadline day because he now looks like the “complete package”.
The 22-year-old was close to joining Eintracht Frankfurt last month, only for the move to fall through.
Osula has since gone on to make an impact for Newcastle in the Premier League, Carabao Cup and Champions League, and played a key role in Bruno Guimaraes’ 90th-minute winner against Fulham on Saturday.
Although record signing Nick Woltemade remains first-choice striker, Osula’s contributions have been welcomed by Howe after Yoane Wissa suffered a knee injury while on international duty with DR Congo.
“The next step was for Will to try and play regularly, so that was the aim [with the Frankfurt move], especially with us bringing two strikers in,” Howe said.
Exactly a year after the Eaton fire broke out, musicians are banding together once more for an upcoming benefit show, called A Concert for Altadena.
As a way to both raise funds and bring the community together, the night is set to include performances from musicians like Jackson Browne, Dawes & Friends, Aloe Blacc, Jenny Lewis, Everclear, Stephen Stills, Mandy Moore, Judith Hill, Brad Paisley, Ozomatli, Brandon Flowers of the Killers and more.
Many of the featured acts have ties to Los Angeles and Altadena specifically, like Dawes, an indie band from Altadena who notably sang a lively rendition of “I Love L.A.” at this year’s Grammys ceremony. Moore, who is also performing, similarly lost their homes in the fire.
“I’ve seen firsthand how music can mobilize people for good. This concert brings together artists, fans, and neighbors for something bigger than all of us — recovery, hope, and rebuilding lives,” said Grammy winner Eric Krasno. The guitarist, who also lived in Altadena, helped organize the event and is set to perform.
Even behind the scenes, people like Kevin Lyman, who founded the Vans Warped Tour and is a longtime Altadena resident, is working as the event’s lead producer.
“Music has always been a force for community. With this event, we’re not just putting on a show — we’re helping Altadena rebuild homes, restore businesses, and heal hearts. This night is about unity and purpose,” said Lyman.
All of the proceeds from the show will go to the Pasadena Community Foundation’s Eaton Fire Relief & Recovery Fund, which helps provide resources to families impacted, and the Altadena Builds Back Foundation, which focuses on the long-term recovery of housing in the neighborhood.
UN Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher has inspected damage in Gaza City as the agency plans to ramp up its humanitarian relief efforts. He visited a destroyed water treatment plant and emphasised the enormity of the response needed.
Thirty-two African nations now spend more servicing external debt than funding healthcare
Published On 13 Oct 202513 Oct 2025
Share
More than 30 leading economists, former finance ministers and a central banker have called for immediate debt relief for low- and middle-income countries, warning that loan repayments are preventing governments from funding basic services.
In a letter released on Sunday, in advance of next month’s World Bank and IMF annual meetings, the group says countries are “defaulting on development” even when they keep up with debt payments.
Recommended Stories
list of 2 itemsend of list
“Countries around the world are paying exorbitant debt servicing costs instead of paying for schools, hospitals, climate action or other essential services,” the letter said.
Among the signatories are Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, former Central Bank of Colombia Governor Jose Antonio Ocampo, and former South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel.
The economists say African governments now spend an average of 17 percent of state revenue on debt servicing. Thirty-two African nations spend more servicing external debt than funding healthcare, while 25 allocate more to debt than to education.
The letter says capping the average ratio of state revenue used on debt servicing at 10 percent could provide clean water to about 10 million people across 21 countries, and prevent approximately 23,000 deaths of children below five years of age each year.
The call comes as healthcare systems across Africa show signs of severe strain.
According to an ActionAid report published earlier this year, 97 percent of health workers in six African countries said their wages were insufficient to cover basic costs. Almost nine in 10 reported shortages of medicines and equipment due to budget cuts.
The public sector funding crisis is exacerbated by shrinking aid budgets. The United States, previously the world’s largest donor, has cut funding this year as the administration of President Donald Trump has shifted priorities away from aid.
The International Rescue Committee said 10 of the 13 countries hit hardest by the US aid cuts are African.
Economists warn that current debt relief efforts have failed. A framework under the auspices of the Group of 20 has so far relieved just 7 percent of the total external debt owed by at-risk countries.
They are calling on leaders to urgently reduce debt burdens, reform how the World Bank and IMF assess debt sustainability, and support a “Borrowers’ Club” so countries can negotiate from a position of strength.
“Bold action on debt means more children in classrooms, more nurses in hospitals, more action on climate change,” the letter concludes.
Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters have marched in London, expressing scepticism and cautious hope as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has entered its second day.
“We’re … sharing the relief of the Palestinian people,” said Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which has organised mass monthly pro-Palestinian rallies in London since the start of the war on October 7, 2023.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
“But we also come here sharing their trepidation that this ceasefire will not hold, rooted in the knowledge that Israel has violated every ceasefire agreement it’s ever signed,” Jamal told the AFP news agency on Saturday.
Despite concerns about United States President Donald Trump’s proposed plan to end the war on Gaza, which calls for a transitional authority ultimately headed by the US leader, Jamal said there was an “immense sense of relief”.
A sea of red and green, the colours of the Palestinian flag, formed along the embankment of the River Thames in central London, where the largely peaceful march began.
Police officers remove pro-Israel protesters from a London rally in support of Palestinians [Jaimi Joy/Reuters]
Protesters donned black and white keffiyeh scarves, carried signs saying “Stop Starving Gaza” and “Stop the genocide”, and chanted “Free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Police removed several pro-Israel protesters from the crowd.
Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands, reporting from the rally in London, said there has been “no cease to the demonstrations … in the UK expressing solidarity with Palestine”.
Challands said that while 32 such protests have been held so far, Saturday’s was a “huge one” as protesters came from all over the country.
People travelled to the capital on buses and trains from cities including Bristol, Cambridge and Sheffield.
The government in the UK has been making it increasingly difficult for pro-Palestine demonstrations to take place and wants the police to have more power to restrict such gatherings, Challands noted.
Last weekend, London police arrested at least 442 people at a rally in support of the proscribed group Palestine Action in central London.
Israel’s two-year war on Gaza has killed more than 67,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, and caused a humanitarian crisis. Famine conditions were declared in some parts of the besieged territory last month, and a UN commission has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
Challands said people were sceptical that the latest ceasefire would hold for a “significant amount of time”.
“They are worried about the perseverance of US President Donald Trump,” he said.
Katrina Scales, a 23-year-old sociology and psychology student attending the rally, said the ceasefire was “not enough” and she planned to keep attending marches.
“I’m here with my friends to help show that there is continuously eyes on Gaza, even considering the current ceasefire,” she said.
Trade unionist Steve Headley, in his 50s, said he is also unconvinced.
“Hopefully now we’ve got the first steps towards peace, but we’ve been here before,” Headley told AFP. He questioned Trump’s “plans for a ‘Riviera’ in Gaza” that the US president touted this year.
Many of the demonstrators in London are sceptical US President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza will hold [Jaimi Joy/Reuters]
For 74-year-old Miranda Finch, part of a group marching under the banner “descendants of Holocaust survivors against Gaza genocide”, the ceasefire was “very little”.
“The Palestinians are not going back to nothing. They’re going back to less than nothing. Rubble on top of bodies on top of sewage.”
Fabio Capogreco, 42, who was attending his fifth demonstration with his two children and wife, said the ceasefire was “too little, too late”, adding that those complicit in the war need to be held accountable.
“Hopefully it’s one of the last times we need to come here to manifest,” the bar manager said. “But I think it’s too early to say everything is OK.”
Protests were also planned later on Saturday in other European cities, including Berlin. A march is also expected on Sunday in Sydney, Australia, where pro-Palestine demonstrations have filled streets in recent weeks.
During a press conference in India, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the new Gaza ceasefire deal marks “a moment of profound relief that will be felt around the world”.
I hear they are soon releasing the movie “Groundhog Day II” in which Bill Murray portrays a Dodgers relief pitcher named “Tanner Treinen.” Every day he comes into a game in the seventh inning after the starter has pitched six innings of brilliant shutout ball and every day he gives up a combination of a bunch of walks with a couple timely hits to lose the game while his manager sits silently in the dugout with a blank look on his face. Don’t miss it!
Alan Abajian Alta Loma
If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, then Dave Roberts is clearly certifiable. His continued reliance on Blake Treinen in late-inning pressure situations is truly head-scratching.
George Pisano Rancho Palos Verdes
And just like that Roki Sasaki could become the Dodgers’ post season MVP.
Fred Wallin Westlake Village
Talking to reporters about his bullpen, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “Our starters can’t go nine every night.” Fact is, the Dodgers starters haven’t gone nine innings any night. To date, they have ZERO complete games in 2025.
PHOENIX — The Dodgers might’ve finally found an answer to their long-maddening bullpen problems.
Just use some starters.
In a 5-4 extra-innings win over the Arizona Diamondbacks that lowered their magic number to clinch the National League West to one, the Dodgers again squandered a late-game lead when their traditional relievers faltered. They still didn’t make winning look as simple as it should have.
But win, they did on this night — thanks in large part to two scoreless innings of relief from Roki Sasaki and Clayton Kershaw.
The game wasn’t decided until the 11th inning, when Tommy Edman gave the Dodgers a lead they finally wouldn’t relinquish.
It never would’ve gotten there, however, without the contributions of Sasaki and Kershaw out of the bullpen.
Activated from the injured list shortly before the game, and making his first appearance in the majors since suffering a shoulder injury in early May, Sasaki flashed promising signs with a scoreless frame in the bottom of the seventh, protecting a 3-1 lead the team had been staked to by Blake Snell’s six-inning, one-run start, and an early offensive outburst that included a two-run homer from Andy Pages.
Sasaki’s fastball averaged 98-99 mph, was located with precision on the corners of the strike zone, and even induced a couple of swing-and-misses, things he never did consistently while posting a 4.72 ERA in eight starts at the beginning of the season.
He paired it with a trademark splitter that was also commanded with more precision than at any point in his initial MLB stint.
Sasaki needed only 13 pitches to retire the side in order, punctuating his outing with a pair of strikeouts on 99-mph four-seamers. As he walked back to the dugout, he glanced toward his teammates with a stoic glare. Just about all of them, including Shohei Ohtani, applauded in approval.
Disaster did strike in the eighth, after the Dodgers extended their lead to 4-1 on Teoscar Hernández’s RBI double in the top half of the inning.
The bullpen’s one season-long stalwart, Alex Vesia, ran into trouble by giving up a single to Ketel Marte, a walk to Geraldo Perdomo, and an RBI double to Corbin Carroll — all with one out.
Hard-throwing rookie righty Edgardo Henriquez couldn’t put out the fire from there, giving up one run on a swinging bunt from Gabriel Moreno in front of the plate that spun away from catcher Ben Rortvedt, then another when pinch-hitter Adrian Del Castillo stayed alive on a generous two-strike call (which was no doubt impacted by Rortvedt dropping the pitch behind the plate) before lifting a sacrifice fly to center.
For the second straight night, a late-game three-run lead had evaporated into thin air.
This time, however, manager Dave Roberts had a new card to play. A night after Kershaw volunteered to pitch in relief, the future Hall of Fame left-hander was summoned for the ninth inning.
In what was his first relief appearance since the infamous fifth game of the 2019 NL Division Series, Kershaw was effective. He retired the side in order with the help of a diving catch from Tommy Edman in center. He looked comfortable in the kind of high-leverage relief role the Dodgers might need him to fill come October.
In extras, the rest of the bullpen finally held up. Blake Treinen inherited a bases-loaded jam with two out in the 10th, but got James McCann to fly out to shallow right field. Justin Wrobleski (another pitcher who began this season as a starter) was handed a save situation in the 11th, after Edman singled home a run with his third hit of the night, and retired all three batters he faced.
Dave Roberts often refers to his bullpen hierarchy as something of a “trust tree,” with branches of relievers he can trust in leverage spots.
Right now, however, it’s been more like a shriveled-up houseplant. Barren, depleted and long-shunned from the sun.
On the season, the Dodgers’ 4.33 bullpen ERA ranks 21st in the majors. Since the start of September, that number has climbed to a stunning 5.69 mark. Closer Tanner Scott has converted less than one-third of his save opportunities, his ERA rising to 4.91 after his latest meltdown on Tuesday. Top right-hander Blake Treinen had been the losing pitcher in each of the Dodgers’ five defeats before that, sending his ERA to a career-worst 5.55.
Plenty of others have been responsible for the Dodgers’ late-game incompetence. Kirby Yates has flopped as a veteran offseason signing. Michael Kopech has struggled through injuries and a lack of reliable command. Rookies like Jack Dreyer, Edgardo Henriquez and the since-demoted Ben Casparius have regressed after promising flashes earlier this summer. And the lone reinforcement the front office acquired at what now feels like a regrettably quiet trade deadline, Brock Stewart, is uncertain to return from a bothersome shoulder problem.
It leaves the Dodgers with only one full-time relief arm sporting an ERA under 3.00 this season — Alex Vesia, who has a 2.62 mark in 66 appearances.
It has turned the final days of the regular season into an all-out manhunt for even the slightest of trustworthy playoff options.
“What does that mean?” manager Dave Roberts said, when asked what qualifies as “trust” right now. “It means guys that are gonna take the mound with conviction. That are gonna be on the attack. That are gonna throw strikes, quality strikes, and compete. And be willing to live with whatever result.”
On Wednesday, that’s the backdrop against which Roki Sasaki rejoined the Dodgers’ active roster — the raw and developing 23-year-old rookie pitcher, coming off a five-month absence because of a shoulder injury, returning in hopes of supplying Roberts’ crippling trust tree with an unexpected limb.
Sasaki’s return was not supposed to be this important. Up until a couple weeks ago, his disappointing debut season seemed likely to end with a stint in the minors.
Yet over the last 15 days, circumstances have changed. Sasaki rediscovered 100-mph life on his fastball. He excelled in two relief appearances with triple-A Oklahoma City. And suddenly, he seemed like a potentially better alternative to the slumping names that have repeatedly failed on the Dodgers’ big-league roster.
Thus, the Japanese phenom is back again, activated from the IL before Wednesday’s game as Yates, who has a 5.23 ERA this year and was slipping out of the Dodgers’ postseason plans, was placed on the IL with a hamstring strain.
“I just think [he needs to focus on] giving everything he has for an inning or two at a time, and let the performance play out,” Roberts said of Sasaki. “Just go after guys, and be on the attack.”
Sasaki’s revival began earlier this month, when he went to Arizona after four poor starts in a minor-league rehab assignment to work with the organization’s pitching development coaches.
At that point, Sasaki had lost his tantalizing velocity, hardly even threatening 100 mph since his adrenaline-fueled debut in Tokyo back in March. His command was just as shaky, averaging more than 5 ½ walks per nine innings in his first season stateside. Even his pitch mix required an examination, after his predominantly fastball/splitter arsenal was hammered in both the majors (where he had a 4.72 ERA in eight starts to begin the season) and the minors (where he had a 7.07 ERA in his first four rehab starts) by hitters who could too easily differentiate his stuff.
“Me, him and his translators went in the lab and sat down and watched video for a few hours, and just talked,” said Rob Hill, the Dodgers’ director of pitching who worked with Sasaki at the club’s Arizona facility. “It wasn’t as much solving this like, master plan or whatever. It was moreso helping him actualize the things that he was seeing.”
In Hill’s view, Sasaki’s mechanics had suffered from a shoulder injury that, even before this year, had plagued him since his final season in Japan.
While the two watched film, Hill said they found discrepancies between things Sasaki “still almost thought he was doing” in his delivery, but weren’t translating in how he actually threw the ball.
“I think a lot of it just came from his body changing, the way he was throwing due to throwing hurt for probably a couple years,” Hill said. “He knew what he wanted to do, but he couldn’t quite tap into the way to do it.”
What followed was a series of mechanical tweaks that got Sasaki’s fastball back around 100 and his trademark splitter to more closely mirror his four-seamer when it left his hand. Sasaki also added a cutter-like slider, giving him another weapon with which to confuse hitters and induce more soft contact.
When the right-hander returned to the minors, he struck out eight batters over a solid 4 ⅔-inning, three-run start on Sept. 9. He then impressed with two scoreless appearances in relief last week, after club executives asked Sasaki to experiment in the bullpen.
Now, he is rejoining the Dodgers for the final five games of the season. The team is hopeful that his small sample size of recent success has made him a legitimate postseason relief option.
“I guess it’s fair to say I’m just going to throw him in on the deep end,” Roberts said of how he will use Sasaki going forward, noting there aren’t many “low-leverage” opportunities in an end-of-season division race.
“If we’re expecting him to potentially pitch for us in the postseason, they’re all leverage innings. So I don’t think we’re going to run from putting him in any spot.”
Odds are that Sasaki won’t be a cure-all for the Dodgers’ late-game woes. A pitcher of such little experience and developmental uncertainties is anything but a lock to post zeroes in the playoffs.
Still, the team will take whatever bullpen help it can get. Already, Clayton Kershaw has made himself available for relief appearances and could pitch in late-inning leverage spots in October. Emmet Sheehan also will join the bullpen mix come the playoffs, likely as a multi-inning option to piggyback with starters.
In the meantime, the club is searching for even a couple more reliable arms — just one or two branches on the bullpen’s hierarchy tree for Roberts to trust.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. The Dodgers’ sudden need for someone like Sasaki is a reflection of the roster’s underlying flaws. But he will try taking on a potentially critical role in a rookie season that once seemed lost.
“He’s been in the ‘pen for the triple-A team, and he’s been really good,” Roberts said. “So I’m looking forward to seeing it with our club.”
Four countries vote to stop sanctions from being reintroduced, while nine vote against sanctions relief.
Published On 19 Sep 202519 Sep 2025
Share
The United Nations Security Council has voted not to permanently lift economic sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, delivering a major economic blow that Tehran claims is “politically biased”.
A resolution on Friday to block the sanctions fell in the Security Council by a vote of four to nine, meaning European sanctions will return by September 28 if no significant deal is reached beforehand.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Russia, China, Pakistan and Algeria voted to stop the sanctions from being reintroduced, while nine UNSC members voted against sanctions relief. Two countries abstained.
The vote follows a 30-day process launched in late August by Britain, France and Germany – known as the E3 – to reinstate sanctions unless Tehran meets their demands.
Iran says Europeans ‘misusing JCPOA mechanism’
Iranian officials have accused the European trio of abusing the dispute mechanism contained in the 2015 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which allows for the application of sanctions under a “snapback mechanism”.
“What Europeans are doing is politically biased and politically motivated … They are wrong on different levels by trying to misuse the mechanism embedded in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA),” Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said.
The Europeans offered to delay the snapback for up to six months if Iran restored access for UN nuclear inspectors and engaged in talks with the US.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed that Tehran had presented a “reasonable and actionable plan” and insisted Iran remains committed to the NPT.
But the E3 accuse Tehran of breaching their nuclear commitments, including by building up a uranium stockpile of more than 40 times the level permitted under the JCPOA. The UN’s nuclear watchdog board also ruled back in June that Iran was not respecting international nuclear safeguards.
‘Clock is ticking for high-level diplomacy’
The UNSC vote allowing sanctions to snap back is not the complete “end of negotiations,” as the parties have just over a week to come up with a last-ditch deal, said Al Jazeera’s Diplomatic Editor James Bays, reporting from the UN.
“It’s the week where world leaders are all here in New York for the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly, so it sets the stage for high-level diplomacy between Iran and particularly the three European countries,” said Bays. But “we’re reaching the end of this high-stakes diplomacy, and the clock really is ticking.”
Under the JCPOA – signed by Iran, the United States, China, Russia and the EU – Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief. But the agreement unravelled in 2018 after then-US President Donald Trump pulled out and reimposed unilateral sanctions.
Tensions escalated further earlier this summer, when Israel launched a 12-day war on Iran, with Israeli and US forces striking several nuclear facilities.
Iran has repeatedly denied pursuing nuclear weapons but affirmed its right to peacefully pursue nuclear energy.
The prime minister and his team are delighted – and relieved.
State visits are far from a new tool in the British armoury of soft power, but they are frequently a useful one – and particularly with an unpredictable ally with an abiding love for the UK in general and its monarchy in particular.
That was why, back in February and brandished with a flourish, Sir Keir Starmer delivered the King’s invitation to US President Donald Trump for a second such visit.
Gratefully received as it was, his British hosts still needed to pull it off, and the prime minister still needed to make it through the potential rollercoaster of a news conference with his guest.
And that is what Sir Keir managed and so hence his team’s relief.
They have now – on several occasions – managed to tame Trump during their joint public appearances.
It is not that the two men agree on everything, far from it.
Their instincts, communication styles and politics are wildly different, but Trump’s disagreements with Sir Keir were somehow channelled past him, rather than at him.
The UK is expected to recognise a Palestinian state in the coming days – when, from Downing Street’s perspective, the president is safely back on his own side of the Atlantic. The president acknowledged to me he disagrees with the prime minister on this.
He said so explicitly, but gently, and only at the end of a lengthy answer which the Starmer would have agreed with the thrust of.
Even his remarks about illegal immigration, while headline making, seem to have less impact in this the second half of the first year of his second term. The president’s willingness to comment on the internal politics of an ally feels more priced in, and so carries less shock value for many.
In advance of the news conference, there had been much speculation about the potential for his mood to sour instantly on the mention of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
But, confronted by it and asked in particular about Epstein’s friendship with the former British Ambassador to the United States Lord Mandelson, he instantly smothered it as if with a fire blanket.
His answer was curious, claiming he didn’t know Lord Mandelson – despite them meeting in the White House last week, for a start.
Downing Street may allow themselves to hope theirs is a relationship with the Trump administration that is normalising and – whisper it – at least some of the time bordering on the conventional, and so less demanding on the bandwidth and mental energy devoted to it in its early months.
The caveat, of course, with Donald Trump, is you never know.
This state visit provided the UK with invaluable face time with the president – and so the opportunity to both set out the UK’s position and attempt to persuade.
The prime minister has been successful in the former, but the persuasion bit? That’s rather more tricky.
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Here’s a bonus edition of the newsletter as we continue to look at the top 10 Dodgers at each position.
Newsletter
Are you a true-blue fan?
Get our Dodgers Dugout newsletter for insights, news and much more.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
Top 10 relief pitchers
Here are my picks for the top 10 relief pitchers in Dodgers history, followed by how all of you voted. Numbers listed are with the Dodgers only. Click on the player’s name to be taken to the baseball-reference.com page with all their stats.
Really, it’s hard to find anyone else who should be named the best Dodgers reliever. Let’s look at his 2017 season: 68.1 innings, 41 saves, 5-0, 44 hits, only seven walks, 109 strikeouts. He finished fifth in Cy Young voting and 15th in MVP voting. He pitched in 701 games in relief for the Dodgers; the next closest is 250 games behind him.
I wrote a lot about Jansen when he was with the Dodgers. Suffice to say he had an incredible career with the team and it’s nice to see him having a good season with the Angels this season. He has pitched in 928 games and has 473 career saves, Hall of Fame numbers.
For all the praise (much deserved as it is), Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale get for pitching the Dodgers to three World Series appearances and two titles in the 1960s, people sometimes overlook the fact that waiting in the wings in case one of them, or some other starter, faltered late was Perranoski. He finished fourth in MVP voting in 1963 after going 16-3 with a 1.67 ERA and 21 saves in a league-leading 69 games and led the league in games pitched three times, often pitching more than 100 innings. When the Dodgers swept the Yankees in the 1963 World Series, they used only four pitchers: starters Koufax, Drysdale and Johnny Podres, and Perranoski in relief.
He later served as Dodger pitching coach from 1981-94. He died in 2020 at 84.
3. Jim Brewer (1964-75, 61-51, 2.62 ERA, 126 saves, 127 ERA+, 1-time All Star)
Brewer became the closer in 1968 and remained in the job through the 1973 season.
Brewer had four terrible seasons for the Cubs before the Dodgers acquired him before the 1964 season. He wasn’t expected to make the team, but had such a good spring training that the Dodgers traded reliever Larry Sherry to make room for him
He had a good season, but didn’t pitch in too many games where the Dodgers were leading. He had two pitches, a fastball and curve, neither of which set the world on fire. In spring training in 1965, he was experimenting with a screwball, but couldn’t make it work. The Dodgers played the Braves in an exhibition game, and Brewer asked legendary Braves left-hander Warren Spahn how he threw the screwball.
“I had been working on a screwball but never felt confident enough to use it in a game. I approached Spahn and asked him for some advice,” Brewer told the Sporting News in 1968. “He never said a word. He just took a baseball out of his pocket, showed me his grip and how he released it. I had been releasing the ball off my middle finger, but he showed me how he let the ball go off his index finger which gave much more velocity to the pitch.”
Elbow pain, perhaps from his new pitch, limited him in 1965 and 1966, but in 1967 he was a new pitcher. Used as a setup man, he pitched 100 innings and had a 2.68 ERA. The next season he became the closer and had sub-two ERAs in 1971 and 1972.
Despite a strong 1973 season, when he made the All-Star team, injuries were beginning to pile up for Brewer. So, before the 1974 season the Dodgers acquired Mike Marshall and named him the new closer. After the season, Brewer asked to be traded. In July 1975 the Dodgers sent him to the Angels for reliever Dave Sells. He retired after the 1976 season because of a torn elbow ligament.
Brewer died two days after his 50th birthday, when, on Nov. 14, 1987, he was killed in a head-on collision.
4. Eric Gagné (1999-2006, 25-21, 3.27 ERA, 161 saves, 125 ERA+, 3-time All Star, 2003 Cy Young Award)
The numbers above are a little misleading, because they include his time as a poor starting pitcher. If you limit it to just his seasons as a reliever, his ERA drops to an amazing 1.82, a 221 ERA+.
In 1999, Gagné was the top pitching prospect in the Dodgers organization as a starting pitcher. He looked like he would be a solid No. 2 or 3 man in the rotation for many years. However, he struggled in the majors, going 4-6 with a 5.15 ERA in 19 starts in 2000 and 6-7 with a 4.75 ERA in 24 starts in 2001. He gave up a hit an inning and his strikeout rate was 7.7 per nine innings. A far cry from what he eventually would do.
Jeff Shaw retired before the 2002 season, leaving the Dodgers without a closer. Manager Jim Tracy had an idea: What about Gagné? People often forget what a controversial move it was at the time. Take one of your top starting pitcher prospects and make him the closer?
Then Gagné immediately became the best closer in the game. He dominated in spring training. He started the season with 10 consecutive saves. He was named to the All-Star team. He finished the year with 52 saves.
And he captured the imagination of Dodgers fans, because he was the first closer the team ever had who could come in and just dominate batters, blowing the ball by them. He struck out 114 in 82 1/3 innings.
When Gagné was in his prime, no one left the game early because they wanted to see him close it out. If the Dodgers had a narrow lead, people would stand as soon as the eighth inning ended, anticipating his arrival. As soon as Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” started playing, the stadium would erupt in cheers and whistles. Very few Dodgers in history received that type of reception every time. Gagné became known as “Game Over,” with Game Over T-shirts worn throughout the stadium.
In 2003, Gagné finished with a 1.20 ERA, 55 saves (no blown saves), 137 strikeouts and only 20 walks in 82.2 innings. He gave up only 37 hits. He was named the NL Cy Young winner. It is still the greatest season by a closer in history. From 2002-04, Gagné had 84 consecutive saves, still the record.
Gagné’s career quickly unraveled though. He hurt a knee in spring training before the 2005 season. He came back, hurt his arm and had season-ending Tommy John surgery. He pitched in only two games in 2006 and then hurt his back, needing season-ending surgery for two herniated disks.
After the season he became a free agent and bounced around to three teams. His last season was in 2008 with Milwaukee. He made a comeback attempt with the Dodgers in 2010, but after six runs in two spring training innings, he retired.
Some shine of the streak was dulled when he was named in the Mitchell Report as a player who had used performance-enhancing drugs. He said he used human growth hormone and apologized to the fans, saying he started using it when he was injured in 2005, after the streak. Gagné talked about it in 2010.
“It changed it a lot for a couple of years,’’ Gagné said. “But now, you come to grips, where you know what, it is what it is. You have to accept it and just go on. You have to keep going and enjoy baseball, get people out and get back to basics. There are a lot of regrets. But the whole time I was with the Dodgers, it was an unbelievable time. The Mitchell Report and everything is negative. It’s always going to be on my resume for the rest of my life.”
It’s hard to compare relievers before the modern era of closer to relievers since that era began. Back then, saves weren’t even a stat (they were rewarded retroactively) and relievers would regularly pitch multiple innings.
Which brings us to Casey, who was the first real “closer” in Dodger history. He led the NL with 13 saves in 1942 before losing three seasons to World War II. He came back to go 11-5 with five saves in 1946 and then led the NL with 18 saves in 1946. Casey was a starter until manager Leo Durocher switched him to relief midway through the 1941 season. It made all the difference in the world for Casey, who thrived in the role. In 1942, the Dodgers were training in Cuba and author Ernest Hemingway was there. Some team members and Hemingway were having some drinks when Hemingway challenged Casey to a fight. Casey refused, so Hemingway sucker punched him. Casey then pretty much beat up Hemingway until the author punched Casey in the groin and declared the fight a draw.
Casey had a difficult life after baseball, and died at 37 in 1951. For a great bio of Casey, click here.
6. Jay Howell (1988-92, 22-19, 2.07 ERA, 85 saves, 170 ERA+, 1-time All Star)
Howell, who had been Oakland’s closer for two seasons, had a terrible 1987, going 3-4 with a 5.89 ERA. After the season, he was part of the three-team deal in which the Dodgers traded Bob Welch, Matt Young and Jack Savage and received Howell, Alfredo Griffin and Jesse Orosco.
Those who followed the pitchers and “sticky substances” controversy a couple of season ago and were fans of the 1988 Dodgers had to be reminded of Howell, who was suspended during the NLCS for using pine tar on his glove. It had been cold and rainy in New York, and Howell did it to get a better grip on the ball. He was suspended for three games (it was reduced to two the next day), an event that seemed to anger the team rather than make them fall apart. He had 21 saves that season. He pitched in Game 3 of the World Series in Oakland, and after retiring the first batter in the bottom of the ninth, gave up the game-winning homer to Mark McGwire. Afterward, some of the A’s said how happy they were to see Howell and his “Little League curveball” come into the game. That was bulletin board material from Tommy Lasorda, who didn’t hesitate to bring in Howell the next day. He was brought in with the Dodgers leading, 4-3 with two out in the seventh inning. The A’s had runners on first and second. Griffin made an error on a ball hit to short, loading the bases, bringing up McGwire, who popped to first on the first pitch. Howell finished out the 2-1/3 inning save. Can you imagine a closer pitching that long today?
Howell put together five good-to-great seasons with the Dodgers, then pitched a season with Atlanta and a season with Texas before retiring.
Labine relied on a sinker as his main pitch, telling Peter Golenbock in the book “Bums,” “They go to swing at it, and it drops on you, and you get the top of the ball. So, you’re not gonna hit a lot of line drives off of me, just a lot of groundballs. And don’t forget who we had scooping them up: Gilly, Robinson, Reese and Cox.” Labine pitched in four games in the 1955 World Series, winning one and saving one.
Sadness seemed to be a constant in Labine’s life after he retired. He once told Roger Kahn, “You heard about Jay? My son Clement Walter Labine Jr. He stepped on a mine in Vietnam and blew his leg off. The Marines sent a car to our house. Barbara [Clem Sr.’s wife] was away. I was out playing golf. My brother-in-law saw this Marine car and went over and said, ‘Is this about Jay, Clem Labine, Jr.?’ The Marine officer was very polite. He asked who was he talking to and my brother-in-law said he was Jay’s uncle and the Marine said that under the rules he couldn’t say anything. Next of kin only. So when they came and got me off the golf course, the first thing they said was, ‘Jay’s been hurt, but he’s alive’. He wrote me a letter from the hospital. It was so calm and matter-of-fact. If I hadn’t been a ballplayer, I wouldn’t have been away all the time. But the traveling cost me all of it, Jay growing up. If I hadn’t been a ballplayer, I could have developed a real relationship with my son. The years, the headlines, the victories, they’re not worth what they cost us. Jay’s leg.”
“Clem Labine was one of the main reasons the Dodgers won it all in 1955,” Vin Scully said after Labine died at age 80 in 2007. “He had the heart of a lion and the intelligence of a wily fox. And he was a nice guy, too.”
Some Dodger fans just remember Niedenfuer as the guy who gave up that home run to Jack Clark. But they are missing the big picture. Niedenfuer was a quality relief pitcher and threw 106 innings that year. He also gave up a game-winning homer to Ozzie Smith earlier in the series. “Looking back on it,” Niedenfuer said in a 2010 interview, “it’s a very proud feeling that your manager had enough confidence in you to be the guy he put in that situation. I wouldn’t trade that for anything in the world because I loved being out there. But when it happened, all I can remember is … you let the team down.”
Niedenfuer was also a key reliever on the 1981 World Series champs, pitching five innings in the World Series, giving up three hits and no earned runs. Niedenfuer lives in Florida with his wife, actress Judy Landers. They have two daughters.
The one thing I remember most about Niedenfuer: After he gave up Clark’s homer, he answered every question from the media after the game. He didn’t hide or go home before reporters arrived. As he said, “Just because I didn’t do my job doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to do yours.”
The Dodgers traded Niedenfuer to the Baltimore Orioles on May 22, 1987, for outfielder John Shelby and pitcher Brad Havens.
9. Mike Marshall (1974-76, 28-29, 3.01 ERA, 42 saves, 114 ERA+, 2-time All Star, 1974 Cy Young Award)
Marshall was a man of strong opinions. He felt he could pitch pretty much every day, but most of his managers thought he was a nut. Until he hooked up with Walter Alston, who trusted Marshall and told him to just tell him if he couldn’t pitch, otherwise he’d use him as much as possible. And that set the stage for an incredible 1974 season, where Marshall appeared in 106 games, pitching an amazing 208.1 innings in relief, going 15-12 with a 2.42 ERA and 31 saves. He won the Cy Young Award, becoming the first reliever to do so. But because Marshall was so outspoken, and a big proponent for the burgeoning union, he was usually sent packing quickly by teams. The Dodgers traded him in 1976. In all, Marshall spent 14 seasons in the majors, playing for nine teams. He is also a key background character in Jim Bouton’s book, “Ball Four.”
10. Steve Howe (1980-85, 2.35 ERA, 59 saves, 150 ERA+, 1-time All Star, 1980 NL Rookie of the Year)
The tragic story of Steve Howe in 10 sentences:
1. Won Rookie of the Year award in 1980, then developed a major drug problem when given cocaine at the new conference to announce his award. 2. Was on the mound for the final out of the Dodgers’ 1981 World Series title. 3. Had his best season in 1983, when he had 18 saves and a 1.44 ERA in 68.2 innings. 4. Was suspended for the entire 1984 season. 5. Dodgers finally gave up on him midway through the 1985 season. 6. He bounced in and out of baseball for the rest of the 80s before finally appearing to clean himself up. 7. Pitched for six seasons for the Yankees from 1991-96. 8. Was suspended seven times in his career for substance abuse. 9. In 2006, he was killed in a single-car accident when his truck rolled over in Coachella. 10. An autopsy report found meth in his system.
The next 10: Takashi Saito, Larry Sherry, Phil Regan, Joe Black, Alejandro Peña, Jonathan Broxton, Jeff Shaw, Todd Worrell, Ed Roebuck, Vito Tamulis.
The readers’ top 10
There were 2,302 ballots sent in. Thirty-six relievers received at least one vote, the most diverse ballot of all the positions. First place received 12 points, second place nine, all the way down to one point for 10th place. For those of you who were wondering, I make my choices before I tally your results. Here are your choices:
1. Kenley Jansen, 1,088 first-place votes, 22,027 points 2. Eric Gagné, 953 first-place votes, 21,575 points 3. Ron Perranoski, 153 first-place votes, 14,579 points 4. Mike Marshall, 90 first-place votes, 12,052 points 5. Jim Brewer, 9,659 points 6. Steve Howe, 5,868 points 7. Larry Sherry, 10 first-place votes, 5,732 points 8. Clem Labine, 4,017 points 9. Charlie Hough, 3,972 points 10. Jay Howell, 5 first-place votes, 3,965 points
The next 10: Phil Regan, Tom Niedenfuer, Blake Treinen, Todd Worrell, Jeff Shaw, Jonathan Broxton, Takashi Saito, Alejandro Peña, Joe Black, Evan Phillips.
Top 5 managers
Who are your top five Dodgers managers of all time (including Brooklyn)? Email your list, in order from 1 (your selection as the best) to 5 (the fifth best) to houston.mitchell@latimes.com and let me know. Remember, we are considering only what they did with the Dodgers.
Many of you have asked for a list of people to consider for each position. Here is every person who managed the Dodgers for at least 81 games:
Walter Alston, Billy Barnie, Charlie Byrne, Max Carey, Bill Dahlen, Chuck Dressen, Patsy Donovan, Leo Durocher, Charlie Ebbets, Dave Foutz, Burleigh Grimes, Ned Hanlon, Glenn Hoffman, Davey Johnson, Tommy Lasorda, Grady Little, Harry Lumley, Don Mattingly, Bill McGunnigle, Dave Roberts, Wilbert Robinson, Bill Russell, Burt Shotton, Casey Stengel, George Taylor, Joe Torre, Jim Tracy, John Ward.
Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Alison Hammond has expressed her ‘relief’ at This Morning’s win at the NTAs last night after Dermot O’Leary said the show has been ‘through the mill’
Alison Hammond is ‘relieved’ at This Morning’s big win (Image: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
Alison Hammond has expressed her ‘relief’ at This Morning’s big win at the National Television Awards last night. The presenter, 50, provides cover on ITV’s flagship magazine show alongside Dermot O’Leary on Fridays and phoned into the programme after the big win to tell regular hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard just how grateful she felt that they had emerged victorious from the public vote.
The programme, which has aired on ITV since 1989, won in the Daytime category, having fought off competition from Scam Interceptors, Loose Women and James Martin’s Saturday Kitchen. The show managed to claim the title back after two years of losing out to The Repair Shop and The Chase.
Alison said: “I’m still buzzing from last night, what a brilliant night. It was just lovely. We hadn’t had it for two years running now and what’s so incredible is when our audience vote for us, we know we’re doing okay. It was just such a relief and we’re just so grateful that everyone picked up the phone and voted for us.”
The former Big Brother star has also made a name for herself interviewing A-List celebrity guests on the programme and has chatted to superstars like Britney Spears, Ryan Gosling and once ‘married’ The Rock on the show. But just before hanging up, she teased that she was off to interview Barbie star Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell.
Over the last few years, the show has been through numerous lineup changes following the departure of long-serving hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield. The duo, who began presenting together in 2009, first came under fire when they were alleged to have jumped the queue to file past Queen Elizabeth’s coffin in September 2022.
Then, Phillip, who first appeared on the programme in 2002 and initially presented alongside Fern Britton, admitted to an ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair with a younger colleague, and subsequently stepped down from the show and ITV altogether. Holly followed suit soon after security guard Gavin Plumb was charged in connection with a scheme to abduct and kill her.
The programme, which has aired on ITV since 1989, won in the Daytime category, having fought off competition from Scam Interceptors, Loose Women and James Martin’s Saturday Kitchen(Image: Getty Images for the NTA’s)
He was found guilty and last year was sentenced to a minimum of 16 years behind bars.
A litany of hosts like Josie Gibson, Craig Doyle, Rochelle Humes and Andi Peters took their place over a period of weeks before Cat and Ben were given the top jobs.
But speaking in the winners room after their victory, former X Factor host Dermot, 52, acknowledged that the show had been ‘through the mill’ over the last few years, reports Manchester Evening News.
He said: “There’s a team that have worked on the show since I’ve started who have had to endure an awful lot of s**t.
The former Big Brother star admitted she was ‘still buzzing’ at the win(Image: Getty Images for the NTA’s)
“And they have turned up to work every day with the greatest grace and professionalism and uncertainty, and they’ve never done anything but put their hearts and souls into this job.
“Two and a half hours of live telly every day is quite something, but to endure it under the spotlight of being on the front page of the news. This show holds a mirror up to Britain and it also tries to entertain.”
He also noted that the team was thrilled to win, as he added: “There’s never an arrogance about this. We’re genuinely humbled by it. It means an awful lot, especially for those people who have been through the mill.”
Royce Lewis homered twice and drove in four runs as the Minnesota Twins beat the sloppy Angels 12-3 on Monday night.
James Outman also went deep as the Twins moved to 4-0 against the Angels this season, outscoring them 33-7.
Los Angeles committed four errors, including two by third baseman Yoan Moncada.
Lewis’ first homer grazed off the tip of Bryce Teodosio’s glove at the center field wall in the second.
Simeon Woods Richardson (6-4) allowed three runs and struck out six in five innings. Travis Adams struck out four in 1 2/3 innings of relief.
Luke Keaschall had an RBI single, Matt Wallner had a two-run double, and Austin Martin doubled and scored three runs. The Twins were still 4 for 18 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10.
Angels starter Caden Dana (0-1) struck out a career-high nine, walked five and allowed five runs in 4 2/3 innings. Sebastián Rivero had an RBI double in his first major league game in almost three years.
Key moment: Lewis’ second home run made it 5-3 in the fifth and gave the Twins the lead for good as the Orange County native put on a show in his homecoming.
Key stat: It was Lewis’ third career multi-homer game. He did it on July 20 at Colorado and in Game 1 of a 2023 American League wild card playoff series against Toronto.
Up next: RHP Zebby Matthews (4-4, 4.73 ERA) starts for the Twins and RHP Kyle Hendricks (6-9, 4.81) takes the mound for the Angels as the series continues on Tuesday night.
WASHINGTON — Uproar over the Trump administration’s handling of files from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation continues to grip Washington, prompting the Justice Department on Tuesday to schedule an unusual meeting with Epstein’s top confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell, and the House Oversight Committee to move to subpoena her testimony amid bipartisan calls for transparency in the case.
The renewed focus on Maxwell comes amid persistent questions over Trump’s years-long friendship with Epstein, the late and disgraced financier whose sprawling sex-trafficking ring victimized more than 200 women and girls.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison for her role in perpetuating one of the most expansive sex-trafficking rings in modern U.S. history.
It is the first time the Justice Department has approached Maxwell’s counsel for a meeting, according to the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, who wrote in a statement that he would take the meeting himself “to ask: What do you know?”
“No one is above the law — and no lead is off-limits,” said Blanche, formerly one of Trump’s personal attorneys.
And yet, Republicans and Democrats alike are expressing suspicion over the Justice Department’s moves, questioning whether its outreach to Maxwell could be an effort to cut a cooperation agreement with a figure holding unique insights on the president’s friendship with Epstein.
Maxwell’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, called Trump “the ultimate dealmaker” earlier this month, and said this week that Maxwell’s team is “grateful to President Trump for his commitment to uncovering the truth in this case.”
“Ghislaine Maxwell is a federal prisoner right now. Obviously, she wants a pardon, so she will probably sing from whatever hymnal Donald Trump tells her to sing from,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, told CNN this week.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced a binding resolution that would compel the release of FBI files related to the Epstein investigation, drawing a rebuke from Trump on social media Tuesday. And Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), a longtime ally of the president, told reporters that he did not trust what the Justice Department was telling the public about the case.
“No, I don’t. I don’t. I don’t trust them,” he said. “I’m big on clarity and transparency, and that’s a good reason people don’t trust government in either party.”
Burchett motioned in the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday to have the panel proceed with a subpoena for Maxwell to appear for public testimony, a move that was adopted by voice vote.
But to prevent a bipartisan vote on releasing the files from moving on the House floor, House Speaker Mike Johnson planned to send the chamber home for summer recess a day early, telling reporters that there was no purpose in Congress pushing the administration “to do something they’re already doing.”
Epstein, a wealthy financier with a deep bench of powerful friends, died in a New York City prison in August 2019 facing federal charges over a child sex-trafficking conspiracy.
The New York City medical examiner and the inspector general of the Justice Department both ruled Epstein’s death was a suicide. But suspicions of conspiracy have surrounded his case and his untimely death due to his known association with some of the country’s most powerful men.
Photos of Trump, Epstein and Maxwell are widely available, and Trump has acknowledged their friendship in the past.
“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” Trump told New York magazine in 2002. “He’s a lot of fun to be with.”
“It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side,” he said. “No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump sent a raunchy 50th birthday card to Epstein that included a sketch of a naked woman, featuring breasts and a squiggly “Donald” signature mimicking pubic hair. The sketch also included a note that read, “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.” Maxwell compiled the album, according to the report.
Trump has begged and scolded his supporters to move on from the controversy, despite stoking conspiracies around the existence of a list of Epstein’s clients throughout the 2024 presidential election.
“I would say these files were made up by [former FBI Director James] Comey and [former President] Obama, made up by the Biden” administration, Trump now says, “and we went through years of that with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax.”
Marcus Semien went four for five and Corey Seager hit a two-run single in a seven-run third inning to help the Texas Rangers rout the Angels 11-4 on Thursday night for a split of their four-game series.
Patrick Corbin (6-7) allowed two runs and seven hits with six strikeouts in five innings to win his second consecutive start. Jacob Latz allowed a run over 3 1/3 innings of relief with six strikeouts.
Semien had three hits with an RBI and two runs scored in the first three innings. Seager went two for three as seven of nine starters drove in at least one run for Texas during a 13-hit outburst.
Adolis García launched his 11th homer — a two-run shot off Carson Fulmer in the eighth for the Rangers’ final runs.
Jack Kochanowicz (3-9) lasted just 2 2/3 innings for the Angels, allowing eight runs. Fulmer gave up three runs in 5 1/3 innings of relief.
Seager, Semien, García and Jonah Heim had four straight singles for a 2-0 lead in the first.
Wyatt Langford and Evan Carter had RBI singles and Jake Burger added an RBI double in Texas’ big inning.
Zach Neto doubled off Corbin and scored on Taylor Ward’s 21st homer to cut it to 9-2 after five. Lamonte Wade Jr. had an RBI single in the sixth and Neto hit his 14th homer — a solo shot off Dane Dunning in the ninth.
Key moment: Corbin gave up three first-inning singles, but the Angels failed to score when Mike Trout hit into a double play and Ward was thrown out at home by García on Jo Adell’s single to right field.
Key stat: The Rangers’ 3.30 ERA leads the majors, while the Angels’ 4.59 ERA ranks 24th among 30 teams.
Up next: The Angels host the Diamondbacks beginning Friday. Neither team had announced a scheduled starter.
July 1 (UPI) — The Trump administration has approved California Gov. Gavin Newsom‘s request for disaster relief following last month’s riots in downtown Los Angeles, the Small Business Administration announced Tuesday.
President Donald Trump and SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler approved the state’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan declaration that will allow small businesses to apply for up to $2 million in low-interest EIDL loans.
“Gavin Newsom let the migrant mob torch Los Angeles,” Loeffler wrote Tuesday in a post on X.
“Now he’s asking SBA for disaster relief to fix an estimated $1 billion in damage. It’s another Newsom crisis that POTUS is cleaning up for law-abiding citizens and small businesses.”
Gavin Newsom let the migrant mob torch Los Angeles.
Now he’s asking SBA for disaster relief to fix an est. $1 BILLION in damage.
SBA disaster assistance teams are also providing on-the-ground support to those impacted, according to Loeffler.
Hundreds were arrested last month for looting and vandalism at dozens of businesses after days of protests directed at Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.
During the riots, the Trump administration deployed thousands of National Guard troops to help law enforcement officers, who called the “unlawful and dangerous behavior” a “concerning escalation” after demonstrators flooded LA streets and freeways.
Newsom blamed Trump’s decision to call up the National Guard for creating the escalation, calling it a “breach of state sovereignty.”
“We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved,” Newsom said on June 8. “This is a serious breach of state sovereignty — inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed.”
Days later, Trump accused Newsom of failing to protect communities and said without the intervention, Los Angeles “would be burning to the ground right now.”
Newsom has not commented on California’s disaster relief approval.
“Gov. Newsom allowed a mob to rampage Los Angeles — standing with violent rioters, paid protesters and criminal illegal aliens over law-abiding citizens. Despite an estimated $1 billion in damage, he refused federal relief for weeks, insisting that the riots were peaceful even as small business owners stood in the rubble,” said Loeffler.
“Although the SBA has approved California’s disaster relief request and will begin delivering immediate aid to the innocent victims, Gov. Newsom must take accountability for his state-sanctioned crisis.”
WASHINGTON — The legal battle over President Trump’s move to end birthright citizenship is far from over despite his major Supreme Court victory Friday limiting nationwide injunctions.
Immigrant advocates are vowing to fight to ensure birthright citizenship remains the law as the Republican president tries to do away with a more than century-old constitutional precedent.
The high court’s ruling sends cases challenging the president’s birthright citizenship executive order back to the lower courts. But the ultimate fate of Trump’s policy remains uncertain.
Here’s what to know about birthright citizenship, the Supreme Court’s ruling and what happens next.
What does birthright citizenship mean?
Birthright citizenship makes anyone born in the United States an American citizen, including children born to mothers in the country illegally.
The practice goes back to soon after the Civil War, when Congress ratified the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, in part to ensure that Black people, including formerly enslaved Americans, had citizenship.
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States,” the amendment states.
Thirty years later, Wong Kim Ark, a man born in the U.S. to Chinese parents, was refused reentry into the U.S. after traveling overseas. His suit led to the Supreme Court explicitly ruling that the amendment gives citizenship to anyone born in the United States, no matter their parents’ legal status.
It has been seen since then as an intrinsic part of U.S. law, with only a few exceptions, such as for children born in the U.S. to foreign diplomats.
Trump’s longtime goal
Trump signed an executive order upon assuming office in January that seeks to deny citizenship to children born to parents who are living in the U.S. illegally or temporarily. The order is part of the president’s hard-line anti-immigration agenda, and he has called birthright citizenship a “magnet for illegal immigration.”
Trump and his supporters focus on one phrase in the amendment — “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” — which they contend means the U.S. can deny citizenship to babies born to women in the country illegally.
A series of federal judges have said that’s not true and issued nationwide injunctions stopping his order from taking effect.
“I’ve been on the bench for over four decades. I can’t remember another case where the question presented was as clear as this one is. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” U.S. District Judge John Coughenour said at a hearing this year in his Seattle courtroom.
In Greenbelt, Md., a Washington suburb, U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman wrote that “the Supreme Court has resoundingly rejected and no court in the country has ever endorsed” Trump’s interpretation of birthright citizenship.
Is Trump’s order constitutional?
The high court’s ruling was a major victory for the Trump administration in that it limited an individual judge’s authority in granting nationwide injunctions. The administration hailed the ruling as a monumental check on the powers of individual district court judges, whom Trump supporters have argued are usurping the president’s authority with rulings blocking his priorities on immigration and other matters.
But the Supreme Court did not address the merits of Trump’s bid to enforce his birthright citizenship executive order.
“The Trump administration made a strategic decision, which I think quite clearly paid off, that they were going to challenge not the judges’ decisions on the merits, but on the scope of relief,” said Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Law School professor.
Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi told reporters at the White House that the administration is “very confident” that the high court will ultimately side with the administration on the merits of the case.
Uncertainty ahead
The justices kicked the cases challenging the birthright citizenship policy back down to the lower courts, where judges will have to decide how to tailor their orders to comply with the new ruling. The executive order remains blocked for at least 30 days, giving lower courts and the parties time to sort out the next steps.
The Supreme Court’s ruling leaves open the possibility that groups challenging the policy could still get nationwide relief through class-action lawsuits and seek certification as a nationwide class. Within hours after the ruling, two class-action suits had been filed in Maryland and New Hampshire seeking to block Trump’s order.
But obtaining nationwide relief through a class action is difficult as courts have put up hurdles to doing so over the years, said Suzette Malveaux, a Washington and Lee University law school professor.
“It’s not the case that a class action is a sort of easy, breezy way of getting around this problem of not having nationwide relief,” said Malveaux, who had urged the high court not to eliminate the nationwide injunctions.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who penned the court’s dissenting opinion, urged the lower courts to “act swiftly on such requests for relief and to adjudicate the cases as quickly as they can so as to enable this Court’s prompt review” in cases “challenging policies as blatantly unlawful and harmful as the Citizenship Order.”
Opponents of Trump’s order warned there would be a patchwork of policies across the states, leading to chaos and confusion without nationwide relief.
“Birthright citizenship has been settled constitutional law for more than a century,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and chief executive of Global Refuge, a nonprofit that supports refugees and migrants. “By denying lower courts the ability to enforce that right uniformly, the Court has invited chaos, inequality, and fear.”
Sullivan and Richer write for the Associated Press. AP writers Mark Sherman and Lindsay Whitehurst in Washington and Mike Catalini in Trenton, N.J., contributed to this report.
