Republican governors in several US states have placed National Guard troops on standby in preparation for a nationwide protest to oppose Donald Trump and his policies.
The organisers of the "No Kings" protests say that gatherings will take place at more than 2,500 locations around the US. Trump allies have accused the protesters of being allied with the far-left Antifa movement.
Governors in Texas and Virginia have activated their state's National Guard troops, however it is unclear how visible the military presence will be.
Organisers say that at the last No Kings protest, held in June, more than five million people took to the streets to denounce Trump's political agenda.
The protest organisers say the protest will challenge Trump's "authoritarianism".
"The president thinks his rule is absolute," they say on their website.
"But in America, we don't have kings and we won't back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty."
Some Republicans have dubbed the protests "Hate America" rallies.
"We'll have to get the National Guard out," Kansas Senator Roger Marshall said ahead of the rallies, according to CNN.
"Hopefully it'll be peaceful. I doubt it."
Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday activated the state's National Guard ahead of a protest scheduled in Austin, the state's capital.
He said the troops would be needed due to the "planned antifa-linked demonstration".
Democrats denounced the move, including the state's top Democrat Gene Wu, who argued: "Sending armed soldiers to suppress peaceful protests is what kings and dictators do — and Greg Abbott just proved he's one of them."
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin also ordered the state National Guard to be activated.
After serving 43 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, Subramanyam "Subu" Vedam was finally free.
New evidence had exonerated him earlier this month of the murder of his former roommate.
But before he could reach his family's arms, Mr Vedam was taken into custody by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who want to deport him to India - a country he has not lived in since he was a baby.
Now, Mr Vedam's legal team is fighting a deportation order and his family is determined to get him out of custody, for good.
His family are now working to navigate a new and "very different" situation, his sister Saraswathi Vedam told the BBC.
Her brother has gone from a facility where he knew inmates and guards alike, where he mentored fellow inmates, and where he had his own cell, to a facility where he shares a room with 60 men and where his history of good behaviour and mentorship is unknown.
Mr Vedam has been repeating one message to his sister and other family members in the wake of the new situation: "I want us to focus on the win."
"My name has been cleared, I'm no longer a prisoner, I'm a detainee."
The 1980 murder
More than 40 years ago, Mr Vedam was convicted of murdering his once-roommate Tom Kinser, a 19-year-old college student.
Kinser's body was found nine months after he went missing in a wooded area with a bullet wound in his skull.
On the day of Kinser's disappearance, Mr Vedam had asked him for a ride. While the vehicle Kinser drove was returned to its usual spot, no one saw it being returned.
Mr Vedam was charged with Kinser's murder. He was denied bail, had his passport and green card seized by authorities and was labelled a "foreigner likely to flee".
Two years later he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. In 1984, he was sentenced to a separate two-and-a-half to five years for a drug offence, as part of a plea agreement. That sentence was to be served simultaneously with his life sentence.
Throughout that time, Mr Vedam maintained his innocence on the murder charges.
His supporters and family members stressed there was no physical evidence tying him to the crime.
Getty Images
Mr Vedam's exoneration
Mr Vedam repeatedly appealed the murder conviction and a few years ago new evidence in the case surfaced which exonerated.
Earlier this month, Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna said he would not pursue a new trial against Mr Vedam.
But Mr Vedam's family knew there was one hurdle left before he was free: he still had a 1988 deportation order, based on his convictions for murder and a drug offence.
The family expected they would have to file a motion to have his immigration case reopened, Ms Vedam said.
The facts of the case are different now, she stressed.
But when they arrested him, ICE cited the immigration order as their reasoning for quickly detaining him in a different Pennsylvania facility.
While he was exonerated for the murder charge, his drug conviction still stands, they have said. The immigration agency said it acted on a lawfully issued order.
ICE did not respond to the BBC's request for comment, but told other US outlets that Mr Vedam will remain in custody pending his deportation.
Mr Vedam's family has said his decades of good behaviour, completion of three degrees and community service while behind bars should be considered when the immigration court examines his case.
"What was deeply disappointing was that we didn't even have a moment to hold him in our arms," Ms Vedam said. "He was held wrongly and one would think that he conducted himself with such honour and purpose and integrity that that should mean something."
Potential deportation to India
The family has stressed Mr Vedam's ties to India - where ICE has said they would like to deport him to - are weak at best.
While he was born there, he moved to the US at nine months old. What relatives are still alive, are distant ones, Ms Vedam told the BBC.
His community - Ms Vedam, her four daughters and other cousins - are in the US and Canada.
"He will again be robbed and miss out on the lives of the people closet to him, by being half way across the world," she said. "It's almost like having his life stolen twice."
Mr Vedam, who is a legal permanent resident, had his citizenship application accepted before he was arrested. Both of his parents were also both US citizens.
"We believe deportation from the United States now, to send him to a country where he has few connections, would represent another terrible wrong done to a man who has already endured a record-setting injustice," his lawyer, Ava Benach said in a statement to the BBC.
Trump says he has faith in Putin, but Zelensky does not
One word sticks out in the Ukrainian leader's description of his latest high-stakes foray into the nerve-centre of American power.
His White House conversation with President Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X, was "pointed".
But we don't need to parse his semantic description of the exchange to know that this was not the meeting that the Ukrainian side had been expecting.
If the old British adage holds true that a week is a long time in politics, then Zelensky appears to have set a new record.
A short transatlantic flight, it seems, is now an age.
As they set off for Washington on Thursday, the Ukrainian side was in high spirits.
Listen to the words of Ruslan Stefanchuk, the speaker of Ukraine's parliament – effectively the country's second in command – and a politician fiercely loyal to Zelensky.
In an interview with the BBC shortly before the president's plane took off, Stefanchuk described the trip as a "very important historical moment".
The meeting, he said, would leave the world in no doubt that Trump "finally understands that Putin is a liar, he can't be trusted, and actions are needed to stop the war".
And, he appeared to suggest, the crucial question for Ukraine – whether Trump would agree to its use of American long-range Tomahawk missiles - was close to being "solved".
But it was as Zelensky's flight was in the air that news of the two-and-a-half-hour Trump-Putin phone call began to emerge and, before its wheels were even on the Washington tarmac, we had the announcement that another summit between the two was in the offing.
The Ukrainians descended the steps, to be met with a low-key American greeting, and with their optimism, like a piece of waylaid luggage, lost somewhere en route.
Trump tells BBC Putin 'wants to make a deal', cites threat of Tomahawks
Just a few weeks ago, the US president appeared to be running out of patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin, suggesting he thought he might be stringing him along, that his continuing attacks on Ukraine were "crazy" and that he was growing "very angry" with him.
But Friday's meeting confirmed that the sense of frustration was gone.
"I think he wants to make a deal," Trump said, and then proceeded to repeat some of his old talking points, framing the conflict as, in essence, a personal gripe between two leaders.
"There's a lot of bad blood," he said.
Zelensky has learned from bitter experience that there are great risks in being seen to challenge Trump inside the walls of the White House.
And so, the underlying tension was - once again - palpable as Trump, his secretary of state, the war secretary and treasury secretary looked on sternly, while prominent members of the MAGA (Make America Great Again)-leaning media clustered around the back of his chair.
As expected, Zelensky was careful to offer effusive praise for the host's prowess as a peacemaker and to repeatedly express his gratitude.
Flattery is the currency of diplomacy in Washington nowadays.
But Zelensky also made it clear he did not share Trump's apparent confidence that Russia is acting in good faith.
"We understand that Putin is not ready," he said.
The outcome, though, appears to have been a foregone conclusion.
Trump ended the day insisting that the war should simply be frozen on the existing battle lines and both sides should simply "go home to their families".
For Ukraine and its allies, the conflict is not a personal dispute but a war of aggression being fought by an authoritarian state, with imperial ambitions, against a European democracy.
Ukraine wants the US Tomahawk missiles to help it pressure Putin into genuine negotiations, and it wants US security guarantees to make sure he is forced to abide with any future peace settlement.
Zelensky left the White House without either of those things.
Watch: How might Tomahawk missiles change the Ukraine-Russia war?
What do Ukrainians think of it all?
In a suburb of Kyiv, recently hit by two Russian missiles, I spoke to some of the residents still working to repair the damage to their homes and businesses.
I asked Volodymyr Tsepovatenko - still busy fixing windows that were blown out of the small shop he owns – for his views on where Ukraine stands after the latest White House meeting.
Volodymyr Tsepovatenko has been fixing windows at a shop he owns after Russian missiles struck a suburb in Kyiv
"If we make a peace deal now," he told me, "Russia will start to prepare a new more professional war against Ukraine, or maybe other countries."
"I see one way for our safety and it's to destroy the possibility of Russia occupying or fighting any country in Europe."
Ukraine needs to keep fighting, he said.
Oleksandr Vilko's car was destroyed by the blast wave when the missiles struck. He is not too worried, he says, about the decision on the Tomahawks.
"The only power who decides what's going to be next is our army," he told me.
Oleksandr Vilko's car was damaged by the blast wave when the missiles struck
While Ukraine is grateful for any assistance provided so far, he said, it was Washington's sovereign right whether or not to give Ukraine its own long-range missiles to fight back.
But with or without them, Ukrainians would fight on, he said.
"It's almost the fourth year of the war with the biggest country in the whole world," he said.
Republican governors in several US states have placed National Guard troops on standby in preparation for a nationwide protest to oppose Donald Trump and his policies.
The organisers of the "No Kings" protests say that gatherings will take place at more than 2,500 locations around the US. Trump allies have accused the protesters of being allied with the far-left Antifa movement.
Governors in Texas and Virginia have activated their state's National Guard troops, however it is unclear how visible the military presence will be.
Organisers say that at the last No Kings protest, held in June, more than five million people took to the streets to denounce Trump's political agenda.
The protest organisers say the protest will challenge Trump's "authoritarianism".
"The president thinks his rule is absolute," they say on their website.
"But in America, we don't have kings and we won't back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty."
Some Republicans have dubbed the protests "Hate America" rallies.
"We'll have to get the National Guard out," Kansas Senator Roger Marshall said ahead of the rallies, according to CNN.
"Hopefully it'll be peaceful. I doubt it."
Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday activated the state's National Guard ahead of a protest scheduled in Austin, the state's capital.
He said the troops would be needed due to the "planned antifa-linked demonstration".
Democrats denounced the move, including the state's top Democrat Gene Wu, who argued: "Sending armed soldiers to suppress peaceful protests is what kings and dictators do — and Greg Abbott just proved he's one of them."
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin also ordered the state National Guard to be activated.
So, what does life after the royal shake up look like for the women of the York Family?
For Ferguson, 66, the change will be the most visible.
For all these years, she has kept the courtesy royal divorcee title Sarah, Duchess of York. Now, she reverts to her maiden name of Ferguson.
And while arguably we've always referred to her as "Fergie", royal commentator Richard Palmer said that will "no doubt" have an impact.
"She will have lost a bit of cachet over this," he said. "She certainly does use the title – even her Twitter bio is @SarahTheDuchess."
But the loss of her title may impact her much less than the scandal she's facing separately about her own links with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Last month, several charities dropped her as patron or ambassador after an email from 2011 revealed that she called Epstein her "supreme friend" and seemed to apologise for her public criticism of him.
"I think as far as Sarah is concerned, her own recent controversy involving the email she is said to have sent Epstein is what has had the biggest impact for her of late," said royal commentator Victoria Murphy.
"Prior to that, she had sidestepped the firing line of the controversy around Epstein and I think may have continued to do so, albeit without calling herself Duchess of York, had that not happened."
Away from her philanthropy, Ferguson also has various business ventures.
And these, too, are more likely to be affected by the Epstein controversy than any change in title, says Murphy.
"I would say it's likely they will be impacted by the revaluations of her own contact with Epstein, in the same way her charity work was and the fact that charities didn't want to be associated with her."
But Ferguson has been a great survivor in royal circles. She's kept bouncing back.
Even though she split from Prince Andrew more than three decades ago, she has remained his strong supporter and still lives in his Windsor estate.
The Christmas before last, she was back in the royal fold, joining a royal Christmas gathering in Sandringham the first time in decades. That was despite she and her ex-husband not being working royals or allowed to be part of official royal events.
That ability to bounce back may help her this time too.
"She's the ultimate survivor and master of reinvention," said royal author Katie Nicholls.
"Not only has she been reaccepted by the public, but the late Queen Elizabeth II brought her back into the fold, and Charles is also very fond of her."
Nicholls argues that Ferguson, over the years, has been through "much worse", and won't be too impacted by the loss of her title.
"Having been a royal outcast for all these decades, she's learnt not to attach too much weight to things like that."
Getty Images
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie pictured at a Coronation Big Lunch in Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire in 2023
For the couple's two daughters, Beatrice, 37, and Eugenie, 35, there's no formal change.
They will still be known as princesses, which they have been entitled to since birth.
There is also no change to the line of succession.
Andrew remains eighth in line to the crown, followed by his daughters Beatrice and Eugenie, in ninth and twelfth place respectively.
But in reality their positions are "low down" and will likely become much further down as time goes on, says Murphy.
"So practically, their positions have little meaning for the future," she says.
Beatrice and Eugenie are also currently non-working royals, and while they do sometimes take on roles – Princess Eugenie was recently announced as a mentor for the King's Foundation's 35 under 35 network for example - Murphy also says she "can't see a world" in which they would step up into royal duties in any official way.
"I don't think that was ever really on the cards, and I certainly don't see it as an option," she said.
They have also benefited from all of the contacts their parents have made over the years, says Palmer. And while Andrew still remains a prince, losing the dukedom could have a knock-on impact there.
Prince Andrew will also no longer join the King and the rest of the royal family at Christmas at Sandringham, but it's possible his daughters will still attend, says Palmer.
"As far as Beatrice and Eugenie go, I think there's an appreciation of the fact that this scandal doesn't involve them, and it's not fair for it to impact them directly in the independent lives they are carving out for themselves," says Murphy.
"Their daughters are most unfortunate victims, they've had to suffer in silence and have been dignified in their silence," adds Nicholls.
"It can't be easy to see their parents dragged through something like this, and they remain very much loved nieces for the King. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see them at Christmas occasions in the future. They're largely untarnished."
Ultimately, there seems to be little doubt that the person who will be most affected by all of this will be Prince Andrew himself.
For a man who always liked the trappings of royalty, the pomp and the ceremony, the loss of his titles is deeply humiliating.
So to not have those, on a personal level, will really matter.
George Santos, the disgraced former Republican congressman, was freed from prison on Friday after President Trump commuted his sentence. On Long Island, in his former district, some people called the decision an outrage.
George Santos, the disgraced former congressman who was released from federal prison on Friday, has been a columnist for a Long Island paper, including from behind bars.
George Santos, the former congressman, wrote numerous columns for The South Shore Press before and during his time in prison. Many were in praise of President Trump.
Prince Andrew will stop using his title, the Duke of York, another step in a long march of shame after accusations about his ties to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Bailey Alexander, center, speaks alongside Willis Small IV, left, and Yekalo Wedewihet at a news conference in 2023. They were three of six bystanders injured during a police shooting in Denver in 2022. Christ Whitney, a lawyer, is at the center rear.
CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker turned heads this week when his campaign disclosed he won $1.4 million gambling last year. Though the billionaire Democrat doesn’t frequent Las Vegas casinos as much as he once did, the windfall is a reminder of his high-stakes past.
Pritzker has been a blackjack player for more than two decades, long before he entered public office. “He’s a whale in Vegas,” said a businessperson who’s known Pritzker for years and was granted anonymity to speak freely.
“I was incredibly lucky,” Pritzker told reporters Thursday when asked about the big win. “You have to be, to end up ahead, frankly, going to a casino anywhere.”
Luck might be underselling it.
In Chicago’s business community, Pritzker has long been known for his affinity for cards. A poker book has been seen on the shelf of his Chicago office, and he’s been spotted sidling up to a table while traveling.
That interest in poker goes beyond the personal. Pritzker teamed up with Jim Gray, who founded OptionsXpress, to start the Chicago Poker Challenge, a high-profile charity tournament that raised millions for the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, which Pritzker also helped establish.
Though Pritzker no longer plays in the event, its reputation is legendary. It was once held at the exclusive Casino Club that sits in the shadow of the John Hancock Building, not far from Pritzker’s residence.
The guest list has included an impressive roster of Chicago’s elite, including Citadel’s Ken Griffin, billionaire entrepreneur and ComPsych founder Rich Chaifetz, and OptionsXpress Holdings founder Gray. Even poker pro Phil Hellmuth Jr. has been a regular attendee.
“He is a very thoughtful player,” Ariel Capital Management founder and Democratic donor John Rogers Jr. said of Pritzker. “He has a very good understanding of the game’s nuances. He is really comfortable around a poker table. He’s always one of the better players at these tournaments.”
According to the joint federal return filed with first lady MK Pritzker, the couple reported nearly $10.7 million in adjusted gross income for 2024 — more than triple the $2.8 million they reported the previous year. The haul included $4.2 million in capital gains, nearly $3.9 million in dividends, more than $800,000 in interest income — and the $1.425 million windfall from gambling.
Pritzker, who said he is donating his winnings to charity, said the casino payout came during a vacation in Las Vegas with his wife. He didn’t say the game or the venue he played, nor could he recall what hand he played to get the big win.
While the governor’s casino winnings have generated headlines, they’re just a sliver of a much larger financial picture. Pritzker is an heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune and has an estimated net worth of $3.9 billion, according to Forbes. Pritzker does not take a salary as governor and has placed his assets in a blind trust to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
A person close to Pritzker says the governor hasn’t frequented Vegas much since he was elected governor. And given 2024 is the first noted filing of any gambling winnings — the law says you don’t have to report losses — that seems true.
Pritzker no longer holds any direct casino investments. Before his first election in 2018, he had a small stake in Elgin’s Grand Victoria Casino through a company he had invested in.
Meanwhile, gambling options in Illinois have expanded under his administration. In 2019, he approved legislation legalizing sports betting, allowed for construction of six new casinos and increased the number of slot machines available in bars and restaurants — all aimed at generating revenue to support a $45 billion infrastructure improvement initiative.
Now seeking a third term as governor, Pritzker’s political ambitions may extend even further, with speculation about a potential 2028 presidential run.
Asked whether his love of gambling could be a liability in running for office, Pritzker said, “I think people know when I got elected, and have known for some time, that I've been very fortunate in my life.”
George Freeman denounced the video as fake, saying he has no intention of leaving the Conservative party
A Tory MP says he has reported a deepfake video depicting him announcing he had joined Reform UK to the police.
George Freeman said he remained "the Conservative MP for Mid Norfolk and have no intention of joining Reform or any other party", denouncing the video circulating on social media as "an AI-generated deepfake".
Freeman said he reported the video to the authorities. Norfolk Police and Facebook have been approached for comment.
"This sort of political disinformation has the potential to seriously distort, disrupt and corrupt our democracy," he added.
Facebook
Freeman is calling for robust action to tackle the growing issue of "fake news", including on social media platforms
In the widely-circulated video, the MP appeared to say "the time for half measures is over" and that the "Conservative party had lost its way" after announcing he had joined Reform, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
In response, Freeman said: "The video is a fabrication, created without my knowledge or consent, and uses my image and voice without permission."
"Regardless of my position as an MP, that should be an offence."
Freeman has been a Conservative MP since 2010 and served in various ministerial capacities in the previous government.
Most recently, he was Minister of State in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
He said: "I do not know whether this incident was a politically motivated attack by political opponents or just a dangerous prank, but it is clear that in recent months there has been a huge increase in political disinformation, disruption and extremism – on both the left and the right, by religious extremists, by dangerous influencers like Andrew Tate, and anti-democratic disrupters.
"I have reported this matter to the relevant authorities, and I urge anyone who sees the video to report it immediately rather than share it further."
Republican governors in several US states have placed National Guard troops on standby in preparation for a nationwide protest to oppose Donald Trump and his policies.
The organisers of the "No Kings" protests say that gatherings will take place at more than 2,500 locations around the US. Trump allies have accused the protesters of being allied with the far-left Antifa movement.
Governors in Texas and Virginia have activated their state's National Guard troops, however it is unclear how visible the military presence will be.
Organisers say that at the last No Kings protest, held in June, more than five million people took to the streets to denounce Trump's political agenda.
The protest organisers say the protest will challenge Trump's "authoritarianism".
"The president thinks his rule is absolute," they say on their website.
"But in America, we don't have kings and we won't back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty."
Some Republicans have dubbed the protests "Hate America" rallies.
"We'll have to get the National Guard out," Kansas Senator Roger Marshall said ahead of the rallies, according to CNN.
"Hopefully it'll be peaceful. I doubt it."
Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday activated the state's National Guard ahead of a protest scheduled in Austin, the state's capital.
He said the troops would be needed due to the "planned antifa-linked demonstration".
Democrats denounced the move, including the state's top Democrat Gene Wu, who argued: "Sending armed soldiers to suppress peaceful protests is what kings and dictators do — and Greg Abbott just proved he's one of them."
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin also ordered the state National Guard to be activated.
President Nicolás Maduro this week called on civilians to help the country defend itself, while his defense minister warned citizens to “prepare for the worst.”
The conflict over compulsory service for the nation’s ultra-Orthodox has become a stand-in for a larger struggle over the country’s right-wing, religious turn — and could determine its future.
Login
Getty Images
