Supreme Court rejects GOP’s third effort to capture Democratic House seat in Missouri

2026-09-25T22:00:45.410Z / CNN

The third time was not the charm.

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected an effort to use a congressional map in Missouri for the November midterm elections that would have given Republicans an opportunity to pick up an extra House of Representatives seat, siding with opponents of the proposed districts for the third time in as many weeks.

The court’s unsigned decision, the second of the day to deal with the midterms, seemed likely to put to rest a whirlwind legal saga that has bounced through state and federal courts for much of September. The order was a loss for Republicans and President Donald Trump, who had urged Missouri to redraw its congressional maps last year as part of unusual mid-decade redistricting designed to retain GOP control of the House next year.

There were no noted dissents.

“Ballots using the 2022 map have been printed and mailed. Absentee voting has already begun, as has military and overseas voting,” the court wrote. “At this late date, ordering reversion to the 2025 map midst of an ongoing election would usher in electoral chaos.”

While the case affected only a single seat, it raised questions about the interplay between state and federal courts heading into this year’s pivotal midterms, and once again underscored a tension between lower courts and often unexplained Supreme Court orders on the emergency docket.

“We are done with corrupt politicians trying to force their map into effect outside the process outlined in the Missouri constitution,” said Richard von Glahn, executive director of People Not Politicians Missouri, the group that challenged the map and filed the emergency appeal at the Supreme Court.

Making clear for the first time that the court simply thought it was too late for the changes, the opinion made abundantly clear that the fight is over and the earlier maps will be used.

“The District Court and Court of Appeals should not order or otherwise require Missouri to use the 2025 map in the 2026 congressional election in Missouri,” the court wrote in the decision.

The opinion repeatedly cited a judicial doctrine known as the “Purcell principle.” Rooted in a 2006 Supreme Court decision, the principle warns federal courts at all levels against making last-minute changes to voting rules.

“The election is not merely upcoming; it has already started,” the court wrote.

On Friday, however, the court handed the Trump administration a win in its push to use a controversial database to help state election officials identify non-citizens. Over the dissent of the three liberal justices, the court rejected arguments that the administration broke the law by making it easier for officials to use the data system to vet voters’ citizenship status.

Both sides seemed to agree that the legal whiplash had created confusion for Missouri voters, though the parties differed sharply on who was to blame. County election officials, meanwhile, told a federal appeals court more than a week ago that it was already too late then to switch back to the Republican-friendly map and warned federal courts against inflicting “additional vertigo on local election authorities.”

A group opposed to the state’s 7-1 Republican map filed the emergency case at the Supreme Court on Tuesday after a federal appeals court effectively ordered the state to use that map because voters had already selected nominees for those districts in the primary election. That decision conflicted with a ruling from the state’s highest court, which ordered Missouri to revert to an earlier map, used in the 2022 election, so that voters could decide which map to use in a referendum.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative, declined an effort by Missouri Republicans to pause that state court decision.

But minutes after Kavanaugh’s brief order, a federal district court stepped in with a ruling in favor of the GOP map. That case was once again appealed to the US Supreme Court, which once again sided against reviving the GOP map.

The conservative 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals then took up the case again, concluding that “the Constitution does not permit Missouri to use a different congressional district map in the November 2026 general election than it used in the August 2026 primary election.” The appeals court decision effectively required the state to once again move forward with the 7-1 Republican map.

Missouri’s new map targeted the 5th Congressional District, held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, by breaking up its Kansas City base and stretching it into rural and Republican-leaning parts of the state. Under that new map, there would have been seven conservative-leaning districts and one Democratic-leaning, a change from the current 6-2 split.

The back-and-forth over the map was reminiscent of a controversy that erupted last year when Justice Neil Gorsuch admonished lower courts for repeatedly siding against Trump in similar cases after the Supreme Court had already weighed in on its emergency docket. In that case, the court allowed the Trump administration to halt nearly $800 million in research grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health. That came weeks after the court similarly permitted the administration to block millions of dollars in grants to states intended to address teacher shortages.

“Lower court judges may sometimes disagree with this court’s decisions, but they are never free to defy them,” Gorsuch wrote in an opinion joined by Kavanaugh.

This story has been updated with additional details.

刘柳：中国男乒亚运失利

2026年9月26日 05:00 / 联合早报

中国男乒在亚运会罕见失金，舆论焦点却未止步于赛场。新老交替的阵痛背后，职业化转型与举国体制间的深层张力正浮出水面。

由王楚钦、温瑞博和林诗栋组成的卫冕冠军中国队，星期四以2比3的比分不敌东道主日本队，获得男团亚军。 （中新社）

中国男子乒乓队星期四（9月24日）在亚洲运动会男团决赛中以2比3负于东道主日本队，36年以来首次失守亚运会这枚分量不轻的金牌。

对于习惯了中国乒乓在国际赛场长期占据优势的观众来说，输掉这枚金牌无疑格外扎心；但中国乒乓近年来围绕人员调整、新老交替，以及职业化进程中与运动员利益相关的摩擦和争议，又让这场失利并非完全出人意料。

此次征战的五名中国男乒选手中，除了王楚钦有亚运会经验外，林诗栋、温瑞博等其他四名队员均是亚运首秀。这套被中国媒体形容为“一老带四新”的阵容，也在赛后成为外界矛头指向的焦点。

US Supreme Court bars Republican-drawn map in Missouri for third time

2026-09-25 22:02:06 UTC / Reuters

By Andrew Chung

September 25, 2026 10:02 PM UTC Updated 1 min ago

The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 25, 2026. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary

• At issue is disputed map of Missouri US House districts
• Republican-drawn map erased a Democratic-held district
• Missouri’s top court blocked new map pending referendum
• Dispute comes weeks before November midterm elections

Sept 25 (Reuters) – The US Supreme Court, acting for a third time in a fierce ​battle over the makeup of Missouri’s congressional districts, barred the state on Friday from using a redrawn map designed to favor Republicans in November’s ‌elections, a setback for President Donald Trump’s party as it fights to keep control of Congress.

The justices granted a request by the map’s challengers, including a group called People Not Politicians, to suspend lower court decisions that had required the reconfigured US House of Representatives district boundaries to be used in the November 3 midterm elections.

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The dispute, waged in both state and federal courts, has led to multiple ​conflicting court rulings, leaving Missouri’s House districts in limbo as the legal wrangling raced back and forth to the top US judicial body. Absentee voting is ​already underway in Missouri.

“At this late date, ordering reversion to the 2025 map in the midst of an ongoing election would usher ⁠in electoral chaos,” the court said in an unsigned, four-page ruling.

Given its two prior interventions, the latest order should “come as no surprise,” the ruling added. No justice publicly ​dissented from the decision.

The Supreme Court’s latest action came after the St. Louis-based 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday ruled that the Republican-drawn map must be used — ​even though the Supreme Court had blocked it on September 10, a decision thought to have settled the matter.

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The 8th Circuit upheld a temporary order by US District Judge Stephen Clark in St. Louis favoring the Republican map. But in doing so, the 8th Circuit ordered Clark, a Trump appointee, to make his temporary order permanent — a move that appeared to require renewed Supreme Court intervention.

The challengers told ​the Supreme Court that the 8th Circuit panel that made the ruling, which included two judges appointed by Trump and one appointed by another Republican president, has undermined a ​September 10 decision by the justices, and urged quick correction.

Richard von Glahn, the executive director of People Not Politicians Missouri, praised Friday’s ruling.

“We are done with corrupt politicians trying to force their ‌map into ⁠effect outside the process outlined in the Missouri constitution. We have said from the beginning, people, not politicians will be the final deciders on this DC power grab,” von Glahn said in a statement.

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https://www.reuters.com/world/us-supreme-court-bars-republican-drawn-map-missouri-third-time-2026-09-25/

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-supreme-court-bars-republican-drawn-map-missouri-third-time-2026-09-25/

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-supreme-court-bars-republican-drawn-map-missouri-third-time-2026-09-25/

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-supreme-court-bars-republican-drawn-map-missouri-third-time-2026-09-25/

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-supreme-court-bars-republican-drawn-map-missouri-third-time-2026-09-25/

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-supreme-court-bars-republican-drawn-map-missouri-third-time-2026-09-25/

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-supreme-court-bars-republican-drawn-map-missouri-third-time-2026-09-25/

Abha Khanna, a lawyer for the group, said: “Three times now, the United States Supreme Court has told Missouri state officials that they cannot override their own state’s highest court and force an unlawful gerrymander on voters.”

Trump last year urged Republican-governed states to redraw the boundaries of their House districts to favor Republican candidates in order ​to boost the party’s chances of maintaining ​its narrow majority in the House.

Missouri Republicans ⁠in 2025 adopted their new map, which dismantled a Kansas City-based House district held by longtime Democratic Representative Emanuel Cleaver.

The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously ruled on September 3 that under state law the Republican-drawn map could not be used in the midterms until it is ​first put to a voter referendum.

Missouri officials asked the US Supreme Court to intervene to allow the map, but were rebuffed ​on September 8 in a ⁠decision made by conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

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Clark later that day issued his order barring any map except for the redrawn 2025 one because those congressional district lines were already used in Missouri’s August 4 party primary elections. Clark acted in a lawsuit by Republican US Representative Bob Onder of Missouri and other plaintiffs after the unfavorable ruling by the state’s top court.

The ⁠US Supreme ​Court in turn blocked the redrawn map on September 10. No justice publicly dissented from that brief ​order, which was unsigned and gave no explanation.

Following that action, Republican officials said the midterms would be held using the state’s previous congressional map, passed in 2022. But the 8th Circuit proceeded with an appeal of ​Clark’s temporary order, and on Monday it upheld Clark’s decision, paving the way for the Supreme Court to act again.

Adds details from ruling in paragraphs 4-5, comments from challengers to Republican-drawn map in paragraphs 9-11

Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham and Stephen Coates

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Ready or not, here come the AI gadgets, from “charms” to smart speakers

September 25, 2026 / 4:13 PM EDT / CBS News

Technology companies are bringing a slew of artificial intelligence-powered gadgets to market — never mind the apocalyptic risks.

The advent of generative AI, ushered in by the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, is now spawning a range of “intelligent” consumer products, from bag charms and smart speakers to digital work badges, that companies say will make people’s lives easier.

“The consumer AI revolution is just beginning,” Dan Ives, partner and senior managing director of boutique investment bank Yorkville Ives, told CBS News.

“Trillions of dollars being spent — that’s why you’re going to see more and more AI gadgets,” he added.

The race is on. Meta, with the metaverse seemingly in the rearview mirror, announced this week a handheld device powered by its Muse personal AI agent, while tech giants including Microsoft, OpenAI and Samsung have also introduced AI-powered products aimed at consumers.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed the Muse Charm device during the Meta Connect event in Menlo Park, California, on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. Minh Connors / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Read on to learn about just some of the AI gadgets that are either already commercially available or soon heading to a store near you.

Plaud NotePin

The Plaud NotePin is a wearable device designed to record and transcribe meetings. The device, less than 2 inches long and less than 1 inch wide, can be pinned to clothing or worn as a necklace or wristband, according to the product description. The developer, San Francisco-based startup Plaud, unveiled an upgraded version of the product this year.

Microsoft’s “access badge”

Microsoft launched its “access badge” this June, a portable device modeled after the conventional work badge. Equipped with a touchscreen, camera and audio recorder, the badge uses AI to help people with a range of workplace tasks, according to the company.

The wearable device, equipped with fingerprint-based security, a side-facing camera, and audio-optimizing microphones, gives workers always-on access to their preferred AI agents, Microsoft says.

Meta’s Muse charm

Meta unveiled the Muse Charm on Wednesday, a pocket-sized keychain with a 2-inch display and two cameras. Some say the product resembles a Tamagotchi handheld digital pet.

The device is powered by Meta’s popular new Muse AI personal assistant, which can handle a variety of tasks, from decluttering your inbox to making a dinner reservation, according to Meta. Muse Charm is “always available to talk to you,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in promoting the product at a company tech showcase.

Ives, the tech analyst, said he expects Muse to be a “game changer,” pointing to the millions of consumers who have downloaded the AI agent.

Meta AI glasses

Meta is also incorporating Muse into its line of AI-enhanced eyewear.

“Ask about a product on a shelf, a flier on a wall, or a long list of school supplies, and Muse can take action,” Meta said in a blog post describing the new AI glasses.

The company says it will offer more than 100 styles of AI glasses by year-end.

Meta’s specs, which include styles from popular sunglasses brands Ray-Ban and Oakley, have recently come under scrutiny after complaints that some owners were using the built-in cameras to film others without their consent. Meta has since announced that it will introduce camera-free AI sunglasses.

OpenAI speaker

Bloomberg reported last month that OpenAI is launching a $300 smart speaker. Citing people familiar with the matter, the media outlet said the device will be “shaped like a doughnut that’s roughly the size of a hockey puck.” The product will enter a market dominated by Amazon Alexa and Google Home, two other AI-enabled voice assistants.

Snap SPECS

Snap, the company behind the photo-messaging app Snapchat, recently hopped on the AI wearables trend with its SPECS augmented-reality glasses.

The AI-powered glasses can pull up a city map, restaurant recommendations and other content directly in the lens, according to the company. Snap said the display system is like looking at a large computer monitor while you’re working.

中国下星期一起在南中国海部分海域实弹射击

2026年9月26日 07:35 / 联合早报

中菲海上争端持续之际，中国官方通报，下星期一（9月28日）和星期三（30日），在南中国海部分海域进行实弹射击。

据中国海事局网站消息，珠海海事局发布航行警告，9月28日和30日每天上午8时至下午5时，南中国海部分海域进行实弹射击，禁止驶入。

公告的禁航区经纬度显示，实弹射击区域大致位于珠江口外、万山群岛南侧的海域。

中国和菲律宾围绕南中国海主权的争议持续不断。最新一起争端是菲律宾星期五（25日）指责中国船只阻挠菲方向仁爱礁（菲称阿云津礁）驻军运送补给，导致任务未能完成。北京则指菲方背信违约，不顾劝告向“非法坐滩”军舰运送补给。

As Singham faces federal probe, wife marches in anti-Israel protest led by groups he funded

2026-09-25T16:19:32-04:00 / Fox News

NEW YORK — A network funded by Neville Roy Singham, a communist tech tycoon living in Shanghai, mounted a coordinated anti-Israel protest through Midtown Manhattan Thursday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations, deploying field marshals, pre-made signs, banners, megaphones, drums, portable sound equipment and a stage for a four-hour demonstration.

At 3:40 p.m. Thursday, field marshals and foot soldiers from the People’s Forum Inc. connected to their “comrades” in the Singham network at the steps of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue. Fox News Digital watched the operation unfold from setup to breakdown.

At the center of the protest was Jodie Evans, Singham’s wife, a longtime leader at the People’s Forum and the co-founder of CodePink — a nonprofit that has operated within the broader pro-communist activist network funded by her husband. As Fox News Digital first reported, the Justice Department’s U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York opened a grand jury investigation into alleged money laundering, bank fraud and wire fraud by Singham and his network. Singham and the organizations he has funded haven’t been charged with any crimes.

As the march moved through Manhattan, self-declared “comrades” of the Revolutionary Communists of America chanted, “Long live the intifada,” while Evans and activists from other organizations within the Singham network marched alongside members of the Democratic Socialists of America.

“Intifada! Intifada! Long live the intifada!” the crowd shouted, chanting the term used by Palestinian militants to violently oppose the existence of the state of Israel.

FROM AUSTIN TO NEW YORK, PRO-CHINA NETWORK FUELS WEEK OF ANTI-US PROTESTS AS XI MEETS TRUMP

CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans marches at an anti-Israel protest in New York City alongside a file photo of her husband, Shanghai-based tech entrepreneur Neville Roy Singham.(Left: Asra Q. Nomani/Fox News Digital; Right: Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for V-Day)

Earlier, police arrested actress Susan Sarandon, a regular speaker at People’s Forum events and protests, after demonstrators blocked First Avenue in an anti-Israel sit-in. CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin and actress Cynthia Nixon were also among the protesters. The demonstration included activists from Jewish Voice for Peace, another partner of the Singham network whose leaders have advocated replacing Israel with a state called “Palestine.”

By the end of the evening, at 8:08 p.m., Fox News Digital observed the protesters rolling their carts back to the People’s Forum Inc., the network’s Midtown headquarters on W. 37th Street and a key organizing hub for the Singham network’s street demonstrations on issues from Israel to anti-American tech. Congressional lawmakers, the Justice Department and federal, state and local policymakers have criticized the groups as antisemitic, anti-American and “Trojan horses” for the Chinese Communist Party.

WATCH: Revolutionary Communists of America march at anti-Netanyahu protest in NYC

The protest machine

The day’s events, documented in real time by a Fox News Digital investigative team, provided a rare, on-the-ground view of the infrastructure behind the network’s protests. The operation involved assigned marshals, paid nonprofit staff, pre-made signs, portable sound equipment, rolling wagons, a stage, coordinated slogans and a media team producing content for online distribution.

While not every group participating in the demonstration was directly funded by Singham, the personnel and logistics showed how organizations with overlapping leadership, funding and messaging can operate together to turn a political flashpoint into a professionally-managed street campaign.

WATCH: Singham-linked Party for Socialism and Liberation activists roll in stacks of protest signs at Bryant Park

SOCIALIST, COMMUNIST GROUPS COORDINATE, PROMOTE ‘SPONTANEOUS’ ANTI-ICE PROTESTS IN AUSTIN

The appearance of Singham’s wife alongside leaders and activists from the People’s Forum, BreakThrough News, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Palestinian Youth Movement and a “Shut It Down for Palestine” campaign provides visible evidence of the Singham network’s central role in organizing and promoting anti-Israel protests, particularly in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.

The coordinated signage and equipment revealed an organizing and logistics infrastructure that moved people, messaging and materials through the city for three hours. Fox News Digital has observed the same materials at a number of separate protests, targeting not only Israel but rallying support for the Islamic Republic of Iran, the communist regimes of Venezuela and Cuba, and fighting data centers and American AI. That infrastructure helps explain how the same network has repeatedly transformed breaking news and political flashpoints into large, highly-coordinated anti-Israel protests across the country.

The protest’s visible organization reflected the scale of the financial network behind some of its leading participants. After his wedding to Evans in 2017 and the sale of ThoughtWorks, the technology company he founded, Singham directed $285 million to nonprofits and media organizations, according to a Fox News Digital investigation. The People’s Forum received $22.4 million from Singham, while CodePink received $1.33 million. BreakThrough BT Media Inc., which operates BreakThrough News, received $1.098 million, according to tax filings.

POWER COUPLE OF CHAOS: HOW A TYCOON AND ACTIVIST BUILT A ‘REVOLUTIONARY BASE’ AT THE HOUSE OF SINGHAM

On Feb. 14, 2018, Jodie Evans, co-founder of CodePink, and Neville Roy Singham, founder of Thoughtworks, attend V20: The Red Party, a 20th anniversary celebration of V-Day and The Vagina Monologues, featuring a performance by playwright Eve Ensler and an after-party at Carnegie Hall in New York City.(Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images)

DOJ LAUNCHES GRAND JURY PROBE INTO MARXIST MOGUL NEVILLE ROY SINGHAM’S FUNDING OF LEFTIST GROUPS

In his United Nations address, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the demonstrators “phony human rights protesters” who have been silent in speaking out against atrocities by the Islamic Republic of Iran against its citizens.

Evans’ presence also offered an unusually direct view of the people behind the anti-Israel protest machine that has mobilized repeatedly across New York and other American cities against Israel.

The Singham network

At about 4 p.m., Manolo De Los Santos, executive director at the People’s Forum, arrived and moved near the anti-Israel signs his foot soldiers had rolled onto the steps of the New York Public Library. A lieutenant handed out signs calling for sanctions against Israel and declaring, “WAR CRIMINALS NOT WELCOME” and “NEW YORK REJECTS ZIONISM.” At the bottom, the signs carried the branding of a communist group that the People’s Forum works with closely: the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which doesn’t publicly disclose its finances.

Beside De Los Santos stood Layan Fuleihan, a controversial fixture in anti-Israel protests. Fuleihan, a Palestinian American, spoke at an Oct. 8, 2023, protest that the People’s Forum organized, supporting the Hamas attack on Israel and saying, “Yesterday, the world woke up to incredible news. The media will tell you that yesterday, terrorists invaded Israel. But we know that actually what happened is that the oppressed people of Palestine broke out of the open-air prison they have been subjected to.”

People’s Forum posted the video on its own X account. In the same video, De Los Santos declared, “If you listen to the media in this country, you will think the war started 48 hours ago. We know this war started 75 years ago,” with the birth of the state of Israel. Fuleihan didn’t reply to questions from Fox News Digital.

People’s Forum executive director Manolo De Los Santos, left, and Layan Fuleihan, right, attend an anti-Netanyahu protest at Bryant Park in New York City on Sept. 24, 2026.(Asra Q. Nomani/Fox News Digital)

Taher Dahleh, center, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement, takes a cigarette from a Winston Blue box while speaking with activists outside the New York Public Library ahead of an anti-Israel protest in New York City on Sept. 24, 2026. At left is People’s Forum Education Director Layan Fuleihan.(Asra Q. Nomani/Fox News Digital)

REPORT: CHINESE PROPAGANDA, SINGHAM NETWORK, FOREIGN DARK MONEY LINKED TO CAMPAIGNS AGAINST DATA CENTERS

The demonstration also showed the role of paid personnel in the network’s street protest operations. Fuleihan was paid $78,649 as the People’s Forum’s education director, while David Chung, the organization’s organizing director, earned $76,249, according to the nonprofit’s latest IRS filings. Their presence alongside field marshals, volunteer coordinators and campaign organizers showed an operation with designated personnel responsible for recruitment, messaging, crowd movement and event logistics.

Nearby, towering over many of the protesters, Taher Dahleh, an organizer with another partner of the People’s Forum — the Palestinian Youth Movement — moved through the crowd, grabbing a Winstone Blue cigarette from another activist, directing demonstrators and coordinating the march. He has been a familiar presence at anti-Israel demonstrations since Oct. 7, 2023, regularly hosting volunteer meetings on Monday nights at the People’s Forum for a campaign called “Shut It Down For Palestine.” During the “March on Washington to Let Gaza Live!” that People’s Forum co-organized in November 2025, Dahleh slammed “tech companies” for allegedly contributing to the “slaughter” of Palestinians by selling services to the government of Israel.

Between late 2023 and late 2024, far-left nonprofit WesPac Foundation Inc. gave Palestinian Youth Movement $1 million through its nonprofit fiscal sponsor, Honor the Earth, according to tax filings. Records show it’s received funds from several other sources over the years. The Palestinian Youth Movement still shares a post on its Facebook page from years ago, quoting a young Palestinian killed after murdering three Israelis: “You who possess arms and bullets, remember that there is an enemy so that you may put your bullets in their bodies, not the bodies of your own people.” Dahleh didn’t respond to a request for comment.

HOUSE PANEL SUBPOENAS 3 LEFT-WING GROUPS IN PROBE OF $39M TIED TO MARXIST TYCOON NEVILLE SINGHAM

The protest followed a familiar playbook that Evans, De Los Santos, Fuleihan, Dahleh, Chung, the People’s Forum and the Singham network have used since Oct. 7, 2023, to mobilize students at Columbia University, launch a campus encampment and storm Grand Central Terminal. Since then, the same constellation of communist, socialist and anti-war groups has repeatedly turned out for protests over Israel, ICE, the Trump administration, the war against the Islamic Republic of Iran, the arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and other political flashpoints — including protests against U.S. data centers, American AI, and U.S. technology companies like Palantir Technologies, Microsoft and Google.

This time, Dahleh and People’s Forum field marshals led the activists from the steps of the public library on Fifth Avenue to E. 42nd Street, where they headed eastbound toward the United Nations past Grand Central Station. Inside the crowd, the network’s social media operation made the march seem like a spontaneous display of mass public anger. At 5:20 p.m., with the march still in force, People’s Forum posted a tightly-cropped video on X, showing demonstrators streaming below flapping American flags with a caption celebrating a “massive crowd of protesters taking to the streets demanding war criminal Netanyahu be brought to justice! Free Palestine!”

However, outside the limited mile-long path of the march, New Yorkers went about their ordinary days. The repeated appearance of the same organizations, leaders, signs, sound systems, wagons and protest infrastructure rolling through the streets of New York City revealed the professional organizing system operating behind the scenes, not a “massive crowd.”

WATCH: Neville Roy Singham’s wife Jodie Evans appears at anti-Israel protest, denies he funds protest efforts

Jodie Evans takes center stage

On E. 42nd Street, Evans — Singham’s wife and a central figure in the network surrounding the People’s Forum and other Singham-funded organizations — smiled widely as she kept step with the activists, marching behind the bright yellow-and-black signs marked “Party for Socialism and Liberation.”

Evans marched with CodePink activists behind a large “STOP ARMING ISRAEL” banner and carried a poster depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “WANTED” for “GENOCIDE.”

Evans stood out in trademark CodePink colors, wearing an oversized fuchsia hat, pink peace-sign earrings, dark glasses, a pink-and-white keffiyeh and a shirt reading “I ♥ Palestinian Human Rights.”

Her appearance placed a member of the financier’s immediate family directly in the middle of the protest activity his money has helped sustain.

When Fox News Digital asked her about her husband’s funding for nonprofits leading anti-Israel protests, she didn’t answer the question directly and responded, “He’s not been in the United States for six-and-a-half years.”

When asked about his position on the protests, she answered: “He supports stopping a genocide, you bet.”

Evans laughed off questions about Singham backing the Chinese Communist Party. In a video that Fox News Digital unearthed, Singham stood at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Shanghai during a November 2025 conference and expressed support for “a new world order that is based on multilateralism that President Xi and the CPC [Communist Party of China] and China have proposed.”

Jodie Evans, co-founder of CodePink and wife of Neville Roy Singham, was seen helping lead a coordinated anti-Israel protest in Manhattan as Fox News Digital tracked the demonstration from start to finish.(John Taggart for Fox News Digital)

CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans marches during an anti-Israel protest in New York City on Sept. 24, 2026, alongside members of the Revolutionary Communists of America and a hammer-and-sickle flag.(John Taggart/Fox News Digital)

On Sept. 24, 2026, over about four hours, professional protest organizers from the People’s Forum, headquartered on W. 34th Street in midtown Manhattan, led anti-Israel activists along a one-mile route from the New York Public Library on E. 42nd Street to the United Nations to protest Israel. At the protest’s end, they backtracked and moved to a rally in Time Square before wheeling their signs back to their headquarters on W. 34th Street.(Fox News Digital)

LAWMAKERS THROW OUT ‘TROJAN HORSE’ ACTIVISTS THEY SAY ARE ENGAGED IN AMERICAN SUBVERSION

Evans denied allegations from lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the Singham network acts as a “Trojan horse” for the Chinese Communist Party, calling them “a lot of lies.”

“We’re not doing anything wrong. So it’s a lot of ‘alleging,’ and we’re very honest about what we do: protesting every day,” she said. “That’s what we do. And that’s what I’ve done for 55 years.”

She got visibly agitated on the topic of China. “China is not our enemy!” she said. “That’s the message. You know what? I’ve been going to China for six and a half years. I can’t talk about China. It’s complex. I don’t understand it. I’m just trying to learn about it. So it’s not about China. It’s about the United States not using our tax dollars to go to war on China. There’s never an excuse to go to war on people.”

The protest was also packaged for online amplification. During the march, Zoe Alexandra, news editor of BreakThrough News, moved through the crowd conducting interviews, pulling Danaka Katovich, national co-director of CodePink, away from Evans’ CodePink contingent for a chat. BreakThrough later posted a branded one-minute, 21-second video on X under the headline: “Thousands protest…” Singham gave $1.098 million to Breakthrough BT Media Inc., which operates BreakThrough News, according to tax filings.

SINGHAM-LINKED NONPROFITS FIGHT HOUSE SUBPOENAS, ACCUSE LAWMAKERS OF MCCARTHY-ERA ‘WITCH HUNT’

The protest featured black-and-white keffiyehs, a torched effigy of Netanyahu, bloodied cardboard imagery of Netanyahu and Arabic chants declaring that “Israel will be Arab.” Critics say the slogans and imagery go beyond criticism of Israeli policy, invoking violent resistance and portraying the elimination of Israel as a political objective.

To close out the protest near the United Nations, a leader from the Singham network manned the pop-up stage with a black-and-white keffiyeh over his shoulders, his arms tightly crossed, as speakers blasted the U.S. and Israel. As their last speaker, organizers returned to another leader from the People’s Forum, Tajee Bounds, who serves as membership, events and volunteer coordinator.

A graduate of Columbia University, Bounds was in the middle of the campus’s first encampment in April 2024 with People’s Forum organizers when he stood, holding a banner and yelling along with a chant: “Up, up with liberation! Down, down with occupation!” The Columbia Spectator posted a video with his proclamation.

People’s Forum Membership, Events and Volunteer Coordinator Tajee Bounds speaks during an anti-Israel protest in New York City on Sept. 24, 2026.(Asra Q. Nomani/Fox News Digital)

Packing up the protest

“Glory, glory to our martyrs,” an activist chanted, before Bounds took the microphone at 6:31 p.m. to lead the crowd in a chant: “Gaza! Gaza! You will rise!”

At 7:01 p.m., People’s Forum activists began rolling away their wagon full of yellow-and-black signs, set upside down, declaring, “ARREST WAR CRIMINAL BENJAMIN NETANYAHU!” Bounds and others began breaking down their stage and speaker system.

HOW CODEPINK CO-FOUNDER MEDEA BENJAMIN’S FAMILY FOUNDATION BECAME A MAJOR FUNDER OF LEFT-WING ACTIVIST GROUPS

For a dramatic backdrop, the protest moved west on 42nd Street to Times Square, like so many protests have ended before. There, CodePink’s Benjamin, Evans’ fellow co-founder and a guest at Singham and Evans’ wedding in 2017, created a video for Instagram with herself standing in front of the protesters wearing a black-and-white keffiyeh scarf and narrating to the camera the day’s events: “These protests against Netanyahu and the Israeli regime have been going on since 10 a.m. All day long! Now it’s nighttime!”

CodePink’s message throughout the video repeated the mantra of the day’s protest: “FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA PALESTINE WILL BE FREE.”

The videos presented the demonstration as a spontaneous eruption of grassroots anger. But the footage was the product of the same operation it portrayed: professional organizers supplied the signs, sound equipment, rolling carts, stage and coordinated messaging, while BreakThrough News, People’s Forum and CodePink activists recorded and distributed footage from the event. The sequence created a feedback loop in which organizers built the spectacle, captured it on video and circulated the images as evidence of the movement’s scale and momentum.

Protesters display signs from the Maoist Communist Union and Spartacist League during an anti-Israel demonstration in New York City on Sept. 24, 2026. One sign reads “Ansar Allah Don’t Miss” and “Victory to the people! From Maoist Communist Union,” while another criticizes the Democratic Socialists of America and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.(Asra Q. Nomani/Fox News Digital)

After the Times Square theater, foot soldiers for the People’s Forum rolled their wagon back onto W. 42nd Street, past the Port Authority and a McDonald’s on Eighth Avenue, with their trademark bright yellow-and-black signs. Others carried the bloodied cardboard imagery of Netanyahu and other protest paraphernalia.

They ended up at the hub of the anti-Israel activist, the headquarters of the People’s Forum on W. 34th Street, carrying signs past books by communist leader Karl Marx and other ideologues.

Inside the People’s Forum’s large meeting hall, Chung, organizing director of the People’s Forum, awaited the returning protesters.

De Los Santos greeted them at the door, stepping outside to tell Fox News Digital that he was proud of the group’s work leading the anti-Israel protests for the past three years.

“We organize protests. What is wrong or illegal about that?” De Los Santos said, as his workers drew the shades on the People’s Forum.

He also declared proudly, “Yeah, I am a communist.”

How GLP-1 weight-loss drugs are changing fast-food menus

September 25, 2026 / 5:15 PM EDT / CBS News
By Mary Cunningham

Fast-food chains are packing their menus with protein and low-calorie options to win over customers on GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.

McDonald’s announced this week that it will introduce healthier, high-protein options, including grilled chicken sandwiches and wraps, as well as egg bites. The changes are part of an $8.5 billion overhaul that includes a major refresh of its restaurants around the globe.

“When people do go on GLP-1s, they still crave our food,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said during an interview with CNBC. “We’re going to evolve our menu to make sure it reflects where we think that consumer is going to be looking for in the future.”

Skye Anderson, president of McDonald’s USA, said during a call with Wall Street analysts on Wednesday that McDonald’s is changing its menu as millions of GLP-1s users and other Americans look to increase their protein intake.

“We don’t need to win a new base of customers into McDonald’s. Instead, we need to keep giving them more reasons to make McDonald’s their first choice as their eating habits evolve,” she said during the call. “They want more protein, greater portion flexibility and food that leaves them feeling satisfied without feeling like too much.”

Other restaurant chains are also touting menu changes they say will help people stay on track with their weight goals.

In December, Shake Shack introduced the “Good Fit Menu,” which includes gluten-free, vegetarian and “GLP-1-friendly choices.” All the listed burgers except one are served in lettuce wraps rather than buns.

blob:https://www.cbsnews.com/a2be4ca6-8286-47e1-bc59-bc35cda4d3be

Chipotle has a page on its website with options it says will help people on their “GLP-1 journey.” Those choices include a “low-calorie” chicken bowl with lettuce and a “high fiber” chicken bowl served with rice.

Research from the Journal of Marketing Research shows that households with at least one GLP-1 user cut spending at fast-food chains, coffee shops and other restaurants by 8% within the first six months of starting the drugs.

“It is important to have things on the menu that are relevant to that audience,” David Portalatin, the senior vice president at market research company Circana, told CBS News. “I think what you’re going to see is more diversity across the menu.”

Edited by Alain Sherter

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

KFile: GOP nominee who praised Iran war now says it should ‘end quickly’

2026-09-25 7:58 PM EDT / CNN Politics

KFile: GOP nominee who praised Iran war now says it should ‘end quickly’

Erin Burnett Out Front

Michigan Senate nominee and former Congressman Mike Rogers is out with a new ad calling for an end to the Iran war. Andrew Kaczynski and the KFILE team did a deep dive on Rogers’ record on Iran, which makes this call to end the war even more notable.

4:39 • Source: CNN

Trump’s disruption to TV coverage during Xi visit frustrates Chinese officials

2026-09-25T23:04:53.553Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/25/politics/trump-media-ban-xi-visit

President Donald Trump spent months plotting ways to impress Xi Jinping.

But even after enlisting two military bands, ordering up a flyover, speeding construction of his new helipad and rolling out a literal red carpet, Trump ended up directly undercutting what the Chinese leader craved most: Network television cameras.

Trump’s abrupt ban on three news outlets — including CNN — disrupted months of careful planning for Xi’s state visit, frustrating both US and Chinese officials over the limited coverage of a summit meant to showcase the two men together in front of a global audience, according to multiple people familiar with the dynamic.

The suspension of pooled TV coverage for the entirety of Xi’s first day at the White House caused consternation among the Chinese leader’s allies, who had hoped the trip would broadcast him widely as a peer of the president of the world’s most powerful nation.

For Trump, who had waited months to show off in front of Xi, it simply marked the latest indignity amid a particularly turbulent stretch for his ailing presidency.

“The event was magnificent — Actually made for Television but, because they’re Fake News, and because they knew how good it would be, they didn’t want credit to be given to ‘TRUMP,’ they refused to be there,” Trump vented Thursday on his social media platform.

The episode amounted to a self-inflicted wound during what Trump otherwise envisioned as a multiday spectacular welcoming of China’s authoritarian leader, complete with ceremonial events showing off his White House renovations and a tour of the US’ most treasured founding documents.

It also served as an example of the wider repercussions of Trump’s personal feud with the press, threatening to inject fresh tension into a diplomatic relationship with China that the administration has worked to keep stable ahead of November’s midterm elections.

After Trump barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House last week, the Chinese embassy contacted several US television networks to discuss how the move would affect coverage of Xi’s visit, two sources familiar with the discussions told CNN.

And despite China’s state media outlets dispatching more than 100 staffers to cover the summit, Chinese foreign ministry adviser Wu Xinbo told CNN Friday that it had been “regrettable” that more footage hadn’t made it to the American public.

“It could have helped improve the atmosphere in US-China relations,” Wu said.

Every aspect of Xi’s overseas trips, especially any summit with a US president, is meticulously planned and media coverage is seen as a critical component to highlight China’s stature and influence around the world.

Chinese officials, of course, can dictate their own state media coverage to the slightest detail — but they also want host countries and international media coverage to add legitimacy and reinforce their narrative, with quotes and video clips from US and international media often used in the past for that purpose.

In a statement, White House communications director Steven Cheung dismissed concerns about the lack of pooled TV coverage.

“The television pool had the opportunity and access to broadcast the state visit to the American people. They chose not to honor that vital responsibility,” he said. “Instead, many other media outlets, including new media, stepped up to fill that void, and tens of millions of views were achieved, in spite of the pool’s juvenile boycott.”

Still, Trump on Thursday had privately indicated his unhappiness with the extent of the coverage and desire to have the TV pool back, one source familiar with his comments said. That coverage was jointly suspended by the networks after the president banned CNN, which is one of five networks in that pool rotation. It meant video coverage during Thursday’s events was incredibly limited. Some print outlets also chose to delay publishing still photographs taken as part of the pool, in a gesture of solidarity.

The TV pool resumed its coverage Friday after CNN’s access to the White House was restored, allowing the broadcast networks to capture and widely distribute Trump and Xi’s tea meeting at the White House and subsequent visit to the National Archives.

The two leaders made only limited remarks on Friday, though Trump noted at one point that he appreciated the coverage: “It’s been very fair.”

Yet for a visit heavy on pageantry, much of the White House’s theatrics came earlier in the week. After a visit to Beijing in May that Trump praised as “an amazing period of time,” the president had quickly sought to return the favor, ultimately agreeing to host Xi for a formal state visit — the highest tier of diplomatic reception. It marked the first state visit for a Chinese leader in 11 years.

More unusual, according to foreign policy experts, was the limited expectation on either side that the summit would produce any major agreements or progress on a host of key economic and political issues.

Trump instead sought to use the visit largely as a showcase, granting Xi a rare tarmac greeting that included a cannon salute and an array of fighter jets, and on Thursday holding two military reviews on the White House grounds before concluding with a state dinner attended by high-profile business executives.

“The deliverable was a good time had by all, or something,” said one former Trump State Department official, summing up the overall view of the summit.

Even by those limited expectations, though, Trump’s sudden decision days earlier to ban news outlets from the White House and spark a First Amendment showdown left allies and some officials confounded. Across their time together, Trump did not publicly address the media ban and its fallout with Xi, who repeatedly lauded the visit in his own brief remarks.

While the Xi visit still received some coverage, including from the White House’s own live stream, a Trump adviser told CNN early Thursday that the timing of the ban was particularly inopportune.

“To have kicked this fight right before the Xi visit and then basically stepped on their own coverage just doesn’t suggest great planning,” said Edgard Kagan, a former senior State Department official on East Asia issues during the Biden and Trump administrations.

“You have the Chinese coming in with momentum because they’re showing their international standing — and the US looking very clearly like internationally we have growing friction, and domestically like we can’t even get media coverage.”

特朗普政府拟期限前发放剩余乌克兰安全援助款

2026-09-26 07:18 / 联合早报

“乌克兰安全援助倡议”项目由五角大楼负责。 （路透社）

三名知情人士透露，美国政府已作出具有法律约束力的承诺，将拨付去年底国会批准的4亿美元（约5亿1120万新元）对乌克兰军事援助剩余资金，以确保这笔资金不会在9月30日到期后失效。

路透社引述匿名消息人士报道，截至本周初，“乌克兰安全援助倡议”（USAI）项下的4亿美元资金中，已有3亿零700万美元落实。特朗普政府计划在9月30日本财政年度结束前，落实剩余9300万美元的拨款承诺。

这9300万美元虽无须在今年年底前全部支出，但如果届时未正式签署合同，这笔资金将会失效。

负责监管“乌克兰安全援助倡议”项目的五角大楼拒绝对此置评。

“乌克兰安全援助倡议”的资金拨付一直是国会争论的焦点。民主党人以及部分共和党人批评五角大楼迟迟未向乌克兰发放这笔援助，尽管国会早在去年12月已投票通过相关拨款。

延伸阅读

俄军空袭乌克兰首都致五死近30伤
泽连斯基：美国提议在阿联酋举行新一轮美俄乌三方会谈

近几个月来，特朗普对乌克兰的态度转趋积极，不仅批准了一项授权乌克兰生产“爱国者”拦截导弹的提案，还签署了一项针对俄罗斯的制裁法案。

本周，特朗普在纽约联合国总部会见乌克兰总统泽连斯基。会后，泽连斯基说，双方讨论了结束俄乌战争的努力，包括实施能源相关目标双边停火的可能性。

消息人士称，首批物资已于本月开始交付，其中包括进攻性武器及装甲车辆备件等装备。其余物资预计将在2029年10月之前交付。特朗普的总统任期将于2029年1月结束。

其中一名消息人士说，尽管俄罗斯正利用无人机和弹道导弹轰炸乌克兰城市，但这批军事装备并不包括“爱国者”导弹。

美伊战争和乌克兰战争已导致全球“爱国者”导弹库存见底，基辅方面一直在极力争取获得更多此类导弹。