One of Republicans’ most respected pollsters has identified an emerging group of swing voters who could help decide the 2026 midterms: Call them the weighted vest women.
They’re already flooding your social media feeds and neighborhoods — all while donning weighted vests, the latest fitness influencer fad of 2025. You don’t have to look far to find them. They’re covered on the pages of Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop and can be seen in plenty of TikTok videos.
Christine Matthews — the pollster for former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s reelection campaign, former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels’ two campaigns and the president of Bellwether Research — first saw women wearing weighted vests all over her upscale neighborhood in Alexandria.
Matthews’ wanted answers to two simple questions: How many women were wearing weighted vests? And what were their politics? So she commissioned a poll of 1,000 women across the U.S., the results of which she shared exclusively with POLITICO.
Matthews found that about one in six women wear this year’s hottest wellness accessory. But more importantly, the weighted vest women broke for President Donald Trump by three points in 2024.
Going into 2026, though, this group backs Republicans and Democrats equally at 47 percent in a generic congressional ballot. Among all women surveyed, 48 percent would vote for Democrats compared to 35 percent for Republicans.
“The people who swing elections, it always sort of comes down — in particular in midterms — to suburban women,” Matthews said in an interview with POLITICO. “This, to me, is just a particularly interesting cohort that is a subset of that group that could swing these elections because they’re so engaged. They look like they’re definite midterm voters.”
These voters are “under age 45, have kids at home, and live in urban/suburban neighborhoods, [are] well-educated, higher-income and highly engaged with politics,” according to Matthews’ poll deck.
“While much more likely to ‘do their own research’ on health matters, they generally trust mainstream medicine and media,” according to the poll deck. “They aren’t vaccine skeptics or seed oil opponents. They are likely to be listening to a podcast while walking with a weighted vest. They are politically split.”
Matthews acknowledges that the weighted vest women comprise a small cohort, which could lead to a higher margin of error. “So we want to track them and get more data going forward,” she said.
More broadly, the poll found that 31 percent of Gen Z women disagree that vaccines are “generally safe,” and are turning to social media, influencers, podcasts and self-research over doctors and institutions for information. Gen Z women are twice as likely as Boomer women to be vaccine skeptics.
The survey also identified “a worrisome trend” among younger moms: 47 percent of moms to kids under 18 “primarily turn to doctors and the medical establishment for advice,” 32 percent “say they do their own research,” 15 percent “follow natural or holistic approaches” and 11 percent “rely on advice from friends/family.”
Some 71 percent of women say vaccines are safe. Democratic women are more confident about vaccine safety than Republican and independent women. Only 24 percent of Republican women strongly agree that vaccines administered in the U.S. are generally safe, while 49 percent of Democratic women strongly agree and 23 percent of independent women strongly agree. Meanwhile, 20 percent of GOP women and 16 percent of Democratic women say seed oils are unhealthy. And women who say seed oils are unhealthy are more likely to be vaccine skeptics.
It’s not yet clear what the defining issues for the weighted vest wearers in the midterms will be, and Matthews plans to commission more research about them in the coming weeks and months. But they appear to lean more conservative than the median voter.
“They have a modern diet of information that is heavily influenced by new media, social streams and podcasts,” Matthews said. “But it doesn't cause them to go down weird fringe rabbit holes. It encourages them to adopt something like a weighted vest, but not, like, oppose vaccines.”
Agnes Gund in 2014. Her long relationship with the Museum of Modern Art began in 1967, when she joined the museum’s international council. She steadily ascended the administrative ranks and eventually became president in 1991.
A British couple who were detained for nearly eight months by the Taliban in Afghanistan have been released, an official with knowledge of the case has said.
Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife Barbie, 76, who have lived in the country for nearly two decades, were held after being stopped while travelling home on 1 February.
The couple were freed through Qatari mediation, after they were transferred from Kabul's central prison to a larger prison during the final phase of negotiations, the official said.
It follows months of public lobbying by their family for their release.
Just six days ago, an American woman who was detained with them and subsequently released told the BBC they were "literally dying" in prison and that "time is running out".
Faye Hall, who was let go two months into her detention, highlighted that the elderly couple's health had deteriorated rapidly while in prison.
The UK military is focused on defending the nation rather than stopping asylum seekers from crossing the Channel, a cabinet minister has said.
US President Donald Trump sugested that military intervention could be used to deal with illegal migration to the UK during his state visit this week.
But Trade Secretary Peter Kyle has rejected that call, telling BBC Breakfast the UK Border Force has specific responsibility for policing UK borders.
He added the Navy has a "working relationship" with the border force and can be called up on when needed, but was focused on "national defence".
A second migrant has been returned to France after losing an eleventh hour legal challenge against his removal, in a sign the courts are growing colder on such legal challenges under new government guidance.
However, rather than the Labour government's approach of diplomatic negotiations agreeing returns and toughening up court guidance, Trump suggested military force was a better deterrent.
Speaking alongside Sir Keir Starmer at a press conference at the PM's country residence Chequers on Thursday, Trump suggested such force was needed as illegal migration "destroys countries from within".
He said: "You have people coming in and I told the prime minister I would stop it, and it doesn't matter if you call out the military, it doesn't matter what means you use."
Asked about the US president's claims, Kyle told BBC Breakfast: "Well, what he suggested was the military are used, but we have the UK Border Force that is now established and has been reinforced and bolstered and have new powers under this Government.
"The Navy actually does have a working relationship with the UK Border Force, and the Navy can be called upon if needed, so we do have the functional relationship that we need between our military and keeping our borders safe and secure.
"But what we really need at the moment is our military focused on all of those really key issues around the world, directly relating to our national defence."
The new home secretary Shabana Mahmood has vowed to fight what she called "vexatious, last-minute claims" and Kyle described her as "straining at the bit" to make sure the pilot one-in-one-out scheme for migrant returns was a success.
"We're making sure we get as many people as don't have the right to be here returned as swiftly as possible," he said, adding there are "a lot of cases" going through court.
Asked whether there was any target figure for the number of returns, Kyle said: "Our target is to make sure that everybody who comes to our shore and doesn't have the right to stay is removed from the country, that is our target.
"We want to get a full grip on the systm, we want to make sure people see a fuctioning system that's delivering so rapidly, efficiently and swiftly that people don't come here in the first place, that's the deterrent that we need."
About 100 men who arrived in the UK by small boat are currently in immigration removal centres near Heathrow and may be removed to France under the scheme.
The Home Office said more deportation flights are planned into next week and a government appeal has been launched, aimed at limiting the time migrants have to provide evidence to challenge their removal.
More than 5,500 migrants have reached the UK since the scheme came into effect at the start of August but the government is hoping continuing removal flights will act as a deterrent.
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Human remains, believed to be of a man wanted on suspicion of murdering his three daughters, aged nine, eight and five, have been found in the US state of Washington.
Police had been searching for Travis Decker since officers found his phone and the bodies of his girls Paityn, Evelyn and Olivia in a remote campground on 2 June. His truck was also found nearby.
"While positive identification has not yet been confirmed, preliminary findings suggest the remains belong to Travis Decker," Chelan County Sheriff's Office said on Thursday in a statement.
The remains were discovered in a remote wooded area south of the town of Leavenworth, in Washington state, officials said.
Decker, 32, was wanted on kidnapping and first-degree murder charges, according to Washington's Wenatchee Police Department, and officials believed he had been hiding in a remote part of the mountainous and wooded state.
The girls' mother reported them missing on 30 May, after Decker failed to return his daughters to her home in Wenatchee, Washington, following a visit. He also did not take her phone calls.
Decker was an ex-solider and may have gone to mountain survival school as part of his military training, officials said.
Wenatchee Police Department
Travis Decker seen in an image released by police in Washington state
"It sounds like at times he would go out and would be off-grid for sometimes up to two and a half months," Sheriff Morrison said after speaking to Decker's family.
The remains were found on Thursday on Grindstone Mountain, a few miles from where Decker's daughters' bodies were found in June, reports CBS' local news partner KIRO-TV.
A $20,000 (£14,812) reward had been announced by the US Marshals Service for information leading to Decker's capture.
The search had caused widespread closures of national forests popular among hikers in the area.
An Afghan stands outside Bagram airbase, once the epicentre of US operations in Afghanistan
A Taliban official has rejected the idea that the US could retake a key airbase in Afghanistan after President Donald Trump told reporters he wanted it back.
Zakir Jalal, who works in the Taliban's foreign ministry, said the idea of the US maintaining any military presence in Afghanistan was "completely" rejected during talks between the two sides before the Taliban returned to power.
It came after the US president hinted retaking Bagram airbase - the epicentre of Nato forces in Afghanistan for two decades - might be possible "because they need things from us".
The base was handed to the Afghan military shortly before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.
Trump said at a press conference in the UK on Thursday the US "gave it to them for nothing".
The complete withdrawal of US troops was part of a deal signed during Trump's first administration in 2020, and finished under Joe Biden's in 2021.
But Trump said in March he had planned to keep Bagram airbase "not because of Afghanistan but because of China".
Trump reiterated the importance of its location on Thursday, saying one reason to take Bagram back was because "it's an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons".
It is unclear exactly what he is referring to: a BBC Verify investigation in July noted there is a nuclear testing site about 2,000km (1,243 miles) away, in north-western China.
Trump has also repeatedly said that China has since established a presence at the base, which is north of the capital, Kabul. The Taliban have denied the claim.
But a BBC investigation - which examined 30 satellite images from late 2020 to 2025 - found very little activity at the base since the Taliban returned, and no evidence to support China's presence at the base.
On Friday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said "China respects Afghanistan's territorial integrity and sovereignty", adding that "the future of Afghanistan should be in the hands of Afghan people".
The Taliban's Zakir Jalal, meanwhile, wrote on social media platform X: "Throughout history, Afghans have not accepted a military presence, and this possibility was completely rejected during the Doha talks and agreement, but the doors are open to other engagement."
The US and the Taliban have been involved in talks recently, although a meeting on Saturday with the Taliban's foreign minister focused on Americans held in Afghanistan, news agency Reuters reported.
MI6 is launching its own dedicated portal on the dark web in the hope of attracting new spies online, notably from Russia.
Secure messaging platform Silent Courier aims to strengthen national security by making it easier for the intelligence agency to recruit, the Foreign Office said.
Potential agents in Russia and around the world will be targeted by the UK, it adds.
The announcement is expected to be confirmed in a speech in Istanbul by the outgoing MI6 chief Sir Richard Moore on Friday morning.
Ahead of Friday's announcement about the new dedicated portal, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "National security is the first duty of any government and the bedrock of the prime minister's Plan for Change.
"As the world changes, and the threats we're facing multiply, we must ensure the UK is always one step ahead of our adversaries.
"Our world-class intelligence agencies are at the coalface of this challenge, working behind the scenes to keep British people safe.
"Now we're bolstering their efforts with cutting-edge tech so MI6 can recruit new spies for the UK - in Russia and around the world."
Anyone who wants to securely contact the UK with sensitive information relating to terrorism or hostile intelligence activity will be able to access the portal from Friday.
Instructions on how to use the portal will be publicly available on MI6's verified YouTube channel.
Users are recommended to access it through trustworthy VPNs and devices not linked to themselves.
The launch follows a similar approach by the US's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which published videos on social media channels to target potential Russian spies in 2023.
The CIA previously suffered a disastrous loss of its agents in China after their connections to the Dark Web were breached by Beijing's Ministry of State Security.
Four doctors are among the students arriving in the first cohort from Gaza to the UK
A group of 34 students in Gaza with places at British universities have been evacuated and are due to arrive in the UK within days.
It is the first time since the conflict began that people have been helped to leave the Strip in order to study in the UK.
They are now in a third country in the region for visa biometric checks before completing their journey to the UK.
All 34 have fully funded scholarships and have received support from the UK government to leave Gaza.
The group, which includes at least four medical doctors, were assisted in leaving the Strip on Wednesday.
They are expected to be brought to the UK early next week to take up their university places.
One of the students who has been evacuated told the BBC that they are tired but well. They described the last 48 hours as "very intense" and said that it had been "challenging" to leave behind family members and other students still awaiting evacuation.
The group includes scholars under the Chevening Scholarship, a mostly government-funded scheme for international students to study a one-year master's degree in the UK.
The evacuation follows months of campaigning by politicians, academics, and others on behalf of more than 100 Palestinian students holding offers from UK universities this year.
It remains unclear when the next group of eligible students might be evacuated.
"We remain hopeful that the UK government will support all eligible students to be evacuated and are aware of at least 35 students with full scholarships who are still trapped in Gaza," Dr Nora Parr, a University of Birmingham researcher who has been coordinating efforts to support the students, told the BBC.
She added: "We are concerned about students with dependents. Four mothers and one father had to decline their places on this week's evacuation as they would not leave their children behind."
The BBC has approached the Foreign Office for comment.
Earlier this week, a group of severely ill children arrived in the UK from Gaza for urgent NHS specialist medical care.
Israel's foreign ministry said it categorically rejected the report, denouncing it as "distorted and false".
Israel launched its war in Gaza in response to an attack led by Hamas militants on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 65,141 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.
"Was it worth it?" - BBC correspondents assess Trump's state visit
There is little doubt that Donald Trump was more enthused about the day he spent at Windsor Castle than his talks with Sir Keir Starmer at Chequers.
And that is no slight on the UK prime minister's hospitality during this state visit, which Trump and his team have been eager to praise.
Starmer's country residence is undoubtedly an impressive meeting place, and there was even an aerial display by the British Army's Red Devils who flew enormous British and American flags to welcome the US leader to the Buckinghamshire countryside.
But as much as Trump appears to genuinely like Starmer, with their warm relationship on display at a joint news conference on Thursday, the president was totally beguiled by being hosted by the King and Queen on Wednesday.
According to his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, his definitive highlight of the trip was the elaborate evening banquet for 160 guests in Windsor Castle's St George's Hall that evening.
For Trump, who has a deep and longstanding admiration for the Royals, it is hard to compete with being toasted by the King. No matter how many jets are laid on for you in the skies above Chequers.
EPA
The Red Devils performed for the UK and US leaders above the skies of Chequers
State visits like these allow presidents and prime ministers to connect with one other on a more personal level, and offer a chance for their respective staff to build working relationships. They are also an opportunity to demonstrate the closeness of relations on a big stage.
In this sense, it was smooth sailing for both sides.
There was no real awkwardness during the joint news conference, which had the potential to expose areas of disagreements.
When the two men were asked about one of those issues, the UK's plan to recognise Palestinian statehood, Trump said he disagreed but also gave Starmer a big smile and a warm slap on the back as the prime minister condemned Hamas.
And on another potentially tricky topic, the sacking of Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, Trump was unusually taciturn. He said very little and immediately deferred to Starmer.
The two leaders did discuss Gaza and Ukraine when they spent almost an hour talking alone without any of their staff in the room. And while they were very amicable during the news conference, it also quickly became clear that neither had changed their positions on the key issues where they disagree.
Watch: Pomp, pageantry and protests as Trump gets the royal treatment in Windsor
There are limits to how much influence any leader can have on Trump, regardless of the success of a trip such as this.
Inside Chequers, I asked Wiles, the president's chief-of-staff, how much difference the visit will make to Britain's ability to influence US policy on trade, tariffs and international affairs. Her response was frank – none at all.
However much Trump enjoyed this state visit, he is not going to alter his positions on important global matters because of a memorable night spent at Windsor Castle.
But after all the pomp and pageantry, Starmer appears to have at least earned the right to respectfully disagree with Trump without paying a diplomatic penalty.
It can be costly to get on the wrong side of the US president, but by carefully navigating the relationship the UK has managed to avoid the punishingly high trade tariffs that have been imposed on other nations. Starmer, meanwhile, has not been subjected to a humiliating dressing down or given a derogatory nickname.
While this was never going to descend into the kind of awkward clash we've seen at times in the Oval Office this year - not just with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky but with other leaders too - it is notable that a more relaxed Trump approached the questions during the concluding news conference in a far less combative way than he often does back in Washington.
Did the UK prime minister play his "trump" card by arranging this lavish state visit? It was choreographed flawlessly and clearly delighted Trump and the first lady.
And while Starmer may not have won the ability to change the president's mind, a falling out now feels further away than ever before.
Americans didn't even come together in the face of a global pandemic. In fact, Covid made divisions worse.
OLIVIER TOURON/AFP via Getty Images
Within days of Charlie Kirk's death, the country's political camps had already retreated to opposing narratives
The reason is simple, yet hard to change. The incentives that fuel American political life reward the people and platforms that turn up the heat, not those who dial tensions down.
Around the country, you're more likely to get elected to political office if you run on policies and rhetoric that appeal to your political base, rather than the political middle (it's the depressing byproduct of gerrymandering - the original sin behind America's dysfunctional, divided politics).
Equally, in the media, people who opine about politics are rewarded for being more extreme and stoking outrage — that's the way to get more eyeballs and, ultimately, more advertising dollars.
This incentive structure is what makes Utah Governor Spencer Cox something of an American exception.
REUTERS/Cheney Orr
Utah Governor Spencer Cox has tried to turn down the political temperature
After Charlie Kirk was killed, he urged Americans to "log off, turn off, touch grass, hug a family member, go out and do good in the community".
He sounded so sane, so wholesome - an effort, in a sea of division, at reconciliation.
The 1960s and 70s versus today
Division and political violence are not new phenomena in America. Some 160 years ago, the country went to war with itself and it has never really stopped.
Over a period of five years in the 1960s, a US president was killed and then his brother was killed while campaigning to become president. In that same period, two of the nation's most prominent civil rights leaders were assassinated too.
In the 1970s, President Gerald Ford was shot at on two separate occasions. In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan was struck by a bullet while walking to his limousine.
Heritage Space/Heritage Images via Getty Images
President John F Kennedy was shot during a visit to Dallas, Texas in November 1963 - the case still inspires conspiracy theories
And of course, just last year Trump was the victim of a failed attempt on his life by a gunman in Pennsylvania — and a second alleged attempt by a gunman in Florida, whose trial began the week Kirk was killed.
What makes this era so different from the 1960s and 70s, though, is what Governor Cox is worried about.
While he has carefully steered away from saying things that would further divide Americans, he hasn't been so gentle with the social media companies that he clearly blames for this tragedy.
"I believe that social media has played a direct role in every single assassination and assassination attempt that we have seen over the last five, six years," Cox said in an interview on Sunday.
He went on to say that "cancer" was likely too weak a word for what it has done to American society.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Trump was the victim of a failed attempt on his life by a gunman in Pennsylvania
Most tech companies have stayed quiet in their official capacities. However, Elon Musk, billionaire boss of X, has weighed in, claiming that the "radical left celebrated the cold-blooded murder of Charlie Kirk," and adding, "unity is impossible with evil fanatics who celebrate murder".
He has also posted about the impact of social media, arguing: "While at times the discussion on X can become negative, it's still good that there is a discussion happening."
'This is like a bad marriage'
The pitfalls of this system that blends social media with politics concerns even those who are the most passionate about politics, regardless of who they support.
Earlier this week, Kaitlin Griffiths, a 19-year-old who is the president of Utah State University's chapter of Charlie Kirk's organisation, Turning Point USA, put it plainly: "Social media is definitely a really difficult thing for our society.
"You can't even hold a conversation with somebody who doesn't agree with your political beliefs — and I just think that's honestly tragic."
Tragic and ironic, since Kirk saw himself as a champion of free speech, even as his critics often disagreed with that framing. His death though may push the country further from civil discourse.
Kaitlin Griffiths: 'You can't even hold a conversation with somebody who doesn't agree with your political beliefs... that's honestly tragic'
Within days of Kirk's death, the country's political camps had already retreated to opposing narratives.
Many on the left are eager to explore the ways that Kirk's killer might have been radicalised by internet subcultures and group chats. Many on the right prefer to unpack whether the suspect was part of a left-wing conspiracy.
Neither group seems particularly keen to prioritise reconciliation or healing.
The reality is that those who study extremism believe that left-right may not even be the most helpful way to look at the division of this current moment.
Samuel Corum/Getty Images
Charlie Kirk and and his wife Erika pictured in January at the Turning Point USA Inaugural-Eve Ball in Washington DC
"It's better to look at what's causing people to be ungovernable," says Rachel Kleinfeld, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who specialises in polarised democracies.
"It does take a desire to turn down the temperature… [and] requires people to have a little more courage than they're showing.
"I think it is more useful to focus on how we as a society turn a page and open a new chapter, because this is like a bad marriage. And like a bad marriage, you can only lose by pointing fingers."
What reconciliation would take
As for the question of whether America can break the hold of the algorithms that stoke the divisions, that would take a leader of enormous strength with an equally enormous commitment to reconciliation.
"I'm not sure how we pull out of this," the politics writer David Drucker told me. "It would help if both parties - and by parties I mean 'parties' not just political figures - agree to stop the recriminations and just say 'stop'."
"Usually only a president can facilitate that. Absent both sides agreeing there are certain lines that shouldn't be crossed, or absent the next president doing so, I'm not sure how we get there."
SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
Trump has said: 'The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don't want to see crime... The radicals on the left are the problem'
Trump is not that type of president. He often seems at his strongest, politically, when he has an adversary to fight against.
My understanding is that Trump does believe that people on the left want to destroy his Maga movement. And since Kirk's death, he has taken a very different tone from the governor of Utah.
"I'll tell you something that's going to get me in trouble, but I couldn't care less," he said, when asked how the nation can be fixed. "The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don't want to see crime... The radicals on the left are the problem."
And he went further in his Oval Office remarks following Kirk's killing: "Radical left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives."
The framing by the president - that this was not just the deed of a twisted individual but of the radical left more broadly - is being echoed by other White House officials.
"With God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have... to identify, disrupt, dismantle and destroy these networks," said Stephen Miller, Trump's deputy chief of staff.
"It will happen, and we will do it in Charlie's name."
However, a number of studies into politically-motivated killings and violence in the US - over several decades - suggest that more cases were carried out by people with "right-wing" ideologies than with "left-wing" ones, though more data is likely necessary to draw a firm conclusion.
'People say history repeats itself - it never has'
Some people I've spoken to point to bleak times in US history as a source of comfort.
"Few periods in America have been more politically bleak or violent than the years [in the 1960s and early 1970s] shaped by Vietnam and Watergate," former Republican congressman, turned influential TV host, Joe Scarborough told me.
"But the country moved forward, celebrated its bicentennial, and moved beyond its violent divides. It will do so again."
CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Image
This moment of tension feels like it rhymes with so many other periods of discord in American history - but it isn't quite repeating them
Also among the optimists I spoke to was Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, one of the country's most senior black officials. He condemned political violence as the most "anti-democratic" act, but also reminded me of the progress America has made on issues like race.
"The story of any family is always more complicated than the stories we tell ourselves at the family reunion," he told me.
"My father had to give up his seat [on a bus] while wearing his soldier's uniform to a teenager, but I now sit in a Senate seat."
Their hope is heartening - but I still don't see a clear path out.
Lately, I've been thinking a lot about a conversation I had earlier this year with historian and filmmaker Ken Burns, as America prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its founding.
"People say history repeats itself," Burns told me. "It never has."
Burns instead prefers a quote that many have attributed to the writer Mark Twain: "History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes." In other words, even if the present looks like the past — things never happen the same way twice.
This moment of tension feels like it rhymes with so many other periods of discord in American history, but it isn't quite repeating them.
Yes, American history is full of anger and conflict — but I'm not sure this country's social and political systems were always so quick to reward the companies and people who stoke those emotions.
Meanwhile the United States will get weaker, not greater.
Former Defence Secretary Bob Gates once told me that the three greatest threats to America's national security were a rising China, a declining Russia and the country's own internal divisions.
America's adversaries certainly know how much its divisions damage this superpower. They work hard online to drive people further apart. And Americans make it easy for them.
Top picture credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images and Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images
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A British couple who were detained for nearly eight months by the Taliban in Afghanistan have been released, an official with knowledge of the case has said.
Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife Barbie, 76, who have lived in the country for nearly two decades, were held after being stopped while travelling home on 1 February.
The couple were freed through Qatari mediation, after they were transferred from Kabul's central prison to a larger prison during the final phase of negotiations, the official said.
It follows months of public lobbying by their family for their release.
Just six days ago, an American woman who was detained with them and subsequently released told the BBC they were "literally dying" in prison and that "time is running out".
Faye Hall, who was let go two months into her detention, highlighted that the elderly couple's health had deteriorated rapidly while in prison.
Watch: Jimmy Fallon among US talk show hosts sharing on-air reactions to Kimmel's exit
America's late-night TV hosts have rallied behind fellow comedian Jimmy Kimmel after he was suspended by ABC in a row over comments he made about the killing of Charlie Kirk.
Stephen Colbert began his show by saying "we are all Jimmy Kimmel", and said the star's removal was a "blatant assault on freedom of speech".
Seth Meyers declared it was "a privilege and honour to call Jimmy Kimmel my friend", while Jon Stewart and Jimmy Fallon tackled the free speech issue by doing satirical sketches in which they were apparently forced to praise Donald Trump.
Their broadcasts came shortly after the US president said the main networks were overwhelmingly negative about him and could have their licences "taken away".
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Placards supporting Jimmy Kimmel have been left outside his studio in Los Angeles
The row started after Kimmel said in his monologue on Monday that the "Maga gang" were "desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them" and trying to "score political points from it".
He also likened Trump's reaction to the conservative political activist's death to "how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish".
Meyers, the host of NBC's Late Night, began his show on Thursday by saying Trump's administration was "pursuing a crackdown on free speech", before adding sarcastically: "And completely unrelated, I just want to say before we get started here that I've always admired and respected Mr Trump."
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Seth Meyers has been hosting NBC's Late Night since 2014
To audience laughter, Meyers continued: "I've always believed he was a visionary, an innovator, a great president and an even better golfer."
The host went on to play a succession of clips of Trump declaring he had banned government censorship and brought back free speech in America.
After playing further clips about the Kimmel situation, Meyers said: "It is a privilege and honour to call Jimmy Kimmel my friend, in the same way it's a privilege and honour to do this show every night.
"I wake up every day and I count my blessings to live in a country that at least purports to value freedom of speech.
"And we're going to keep doing our show the way we've always done it - with enthusiasm and integrity..." That was followed by a fart noise, calling back to a previous joke about a horse defecating in front of Trump during his state visit to the UK.
Returning to his point, Meyers continued: "This is a pivotal... this is a big moment in our democracy and we must all stand up for freedom of expression.
"There is a reason free speech is in the very First Amendment. It stands above all others."
Watch: Ros Atkins on… What Jimmy Kimmel being taken off air means for free speech in the US
He said Kimmel's suspension was "blatant censorship" and the "latest and boldest action in a long campaign against media critics".
Colbert has had his own show cancelled, which CBS said in July was "purely a financial decision", but which some observers have linked to a looming federal decision on a merger involving CBS's parent company Paramount.
Kimmel's removal came after Nexstar Media, one of America's largest TV station owners, said it would not air Kimmel's show "for the foreseeable future" because his remarks had been "offensive and insensitive". Nexstar is also currently awaiting federal approval for a separate takeover deal.
"So a company apparently capitulating to the whims of the president in order to ensure their merger goes through - has that ever happened before?" Colbert joked.
"Everything is about corporate relationships."
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Stephen Colbert won the Emmy Award for outstanding talk series last weekend
Following his state visit, Trump told reporters of late night shows and networks: "All they do is hit Trump... They are licensed. They are not allowed to do that."
Colbert responded: "Yes they are! Since the beginning... these shows have always talked about the current president, and that happens to be you."
He added: "So no matter what they claim, this is not entirely about what Jimmy said on Monday, this was part of a plan. How do I know that? Two months ago, when the president was tastefully celebrating my cancellation, he posted 'Jimmy Kimmel is next to go'."
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A voiceover cut in during Jimmy Fallon's opening monologue to make him appear to praise Trump
On NBC's The Tonight Show, Fallon told viewers: "I don't know what's going on and no-one does. But I do know Jimmy Kimmel and he's a decent, funny and loving guy and I hope he comes back."
He continued: "A lot of people are worried that we won't keep saying what we want to say or that we'll be censored. But I'm going to cover the president's trip to the UK just like I normally would.
"Here we go. Well guys, President Trump just wrapped up his three-day trip to the UK and he..."
A voiceover then cut in to dub Kimmel with the words: "...looked incredibly handsome."
He reluctantly lavished praise on the "perfectly-tinted Trump", known for his "charm, elegance and an undeniable sexual charisma".
Stewart later asked the show's seven correspondents if the "naysayers and critics" were right. "Is Donald Trump stifling free speech?"
"Of course not Jon," they replied in unison in robotic voices. "Americans are free to express any opinion we want. To suggest otherwise is laughable. Ha ha ha."
Meanwhile, Former long-serving late-night host David Letterman spoke about Kimmel's suspension at The Atlantic Festival in New York on Thursday.
"I feel bad about this, because we all see where see this is going, correct?" he said. "It's managed media. It's no good. It's silly. It's ridiculous."
Limits to free speech
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Greg Gutfeld is Fox News's late-night host
But not all late-night hosts were in agreement.
Fox News's Greg Gutfeld said: "People come up to me and go, 'If you're a comedian and you're on TV, you should be upset by this'. I'm not really."
Gutfeld's panel of guests criticised Kimmel's comments and argued there were limits to free speech on network TV.
The host also said people who are now defending Kimmel had previously tried to silence right-wing outlets and commentators. "The only way they were going to stop that is if they know it can happen to them," Gutfeld said. "But is that actually fair thinking? I don't know."
Elsewhere, former CNN presenter Piers Morgan said Kimmel had caused "understandable outrage all over America", adding: "Why is he being heralded as some kind of free speech martyr?"
An Afghan stands outside Bagram airbase, once the epicentre of US operations in Afghanistan
A Taliban official has rejected the idea that the US could retake a key airbase in Afghanistan after President Donald Trump told reporters he wanted it back.
Zakir Jalal, who works in the Taliban's foreign ministry, said the idea of the US maintaining any military presence in Afghanistan was "completely" rejected during talks between the two sides before the Taliban returned to power.
It came after the US president hinted retaking Bagram airbase - the epicentre of Nato forces in Afghanistan for two decades - might be possible "because they need things from us".
The base was handed to the Afghan military shortly before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.
Trump said at a press conference in the UK on Thursday the US "gave it to them for nothing".
The complete withdrawal of US troops was part of a deal signed during Trump's first administration in 2020, and finished under Joe Biden's in 2021.
But Trump said in March he had planned to keep Bagram airbase "not because of Afghanistan but because of China".
Trump reiterated the importance of its location on Thursday, saying one reason to take Bagram back was because "it's an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons".
It is unclear exactly what he is referring to: a BBC Verify investigation in July noted there is a nuclear testing site about 2,000km (1,243 miles) away, in north-western China.
Trump has also repeatedly said that China has since established a presence at the base, which is north of the capital, Kabul. The Taliban have denied the claim.
But a BBC investigation - which examined 30 satellite images from late 2020 to 2025 - found very little activity at the base since the Taliban returned, and no evidence to support China's presence at the base.
On Friday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said "China respects Afghanistan's territorial integrity and sovereignty", adding that "the future of Afghanistan should be in the hands of Afghan people".
The Taliban's Zakir Jalal, meanwhile, wrote on social media platform X: "Throughout history, Afghans have not accepted a military presence, and this possibility was completely rejected during the Doha talks and agreement, but the doors are open to other engagement."
The US and the Taliban have been involved in talks recently, although a meeting on Saturday with the Taliban's foreign minister focused on Americans held in Afghanistan, news agency Reuters reported.
More than 3,500 people lost their lives during the 30-year conflict in Northern Ireland
The Republic of Ireland has committed to new legislation that will ensure full co-operation with a reformed UK legacy body dealing with cases related to the Northern Ireland Troubles.
It is part of a "new framework" agreed between the British and Irish governments, to be unveiled on Friday.
It also involves a legacy unit being set-up within An Garda Síochána (the Irish police force) and a €25m (£22m) support fund for victims.
Victims' groups and political parties have been briefed on the agreement, which will require new legislation to be passed in both the UK and Ireland in the months ahead.
Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn and the Tánaiste (Irish deputy PM) Simon Harris will jointly launch the agreement.
Harris is expected to describe it as "an imperfect opportunity" to deal with the legacy issue.
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Hilary Benn (left) and Simon Harris, pictured here at the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference in April, will jointly launch the new agreement on Friday
The two governments have been seeking a reset on legacy issues since the UK general election last year.
A core part of the deal involves significant changes to the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).
It will be renamed the Legacy Commission, with a new oversight board established.
Irish state bodies, such as the gardaí (Irish police), which do not currently assist ICRIR investigations, will begin co-operating once the changes come into effect.
The new gardaí legacy unit will be a single-point of contact on Troubles-related cases for victims and bereaved families.
A separate body will also be created to accept information about Troubles-related murders.
London and Dublin believe the two bodies reflect what was agreed, but never implemented, under the Stormont House Agreement in 2014.
What is the Legacy Act?
The current Legacy Act, passed by the last UK government in 2023, was widely opposed by Labour, all Northern Ireland parties, several victims' groups and the Irish government.
It created a new legacy body known as the ICRIR to take over all Troubles-era cases from 1 May 2024, including those on the desk of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
The act shut down all historical inquests.
The act's most controversial element, the offer of conditional immunity to suspects, was disapplied following legal action by bereaved families.
This is unlikely to be withdrawn until after the UK passes new legacy legislation, which will include the overhaul of the ICRIR.
'This could be doomed to fail'
Emmett McConomy, whose 11-year-old brother Stephen was killed by a soldier in Londonderry in 1982, said any long-awaited new framework to address the legacy of the Troubles must "meet the needs of all victims."
Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme ahead of Friday's announcement, Mr McConomy said he hopes the new framework will bring "positive change" and be "a step in the right direction" for the many people affected by the conflict in Northern Ireland.
Emmett McConomy says any new framework must 'meet the needs of all victims'
However, he expressed concern about the level of engagement both governments had undertaken with victims regarding the framework.
"Without proper buy-in from victims," he said, "this could sadly be doomed to fail."
"The most important people in all of this are the victims.
"What input have we had into these proposals? For me, I don't believe there has been much consultation - at least none that I am aware of.
"If the people this is designed for are not consulted or brought in at the early stages of developing these mechanisms, then surely they are doomed to fail.
"Transparency, integrity, independence, and a genuine desire to get to the truth and acknowledge families must be at the centre of whatever is being done."
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, last week. “It is time to turn off the tap,” she said on Friday, referring to Russian sanctions.
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