An explosion at a training facility on Friday morning claimed the lives of three Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officers. According to sheriff Robert Luna, this was the department’s biggest life loss since 1857. The issue is being looked into.
The government claims that it wants to modernize the UK democracy by lowering the voting age.
The electoral system in the United Kingdom is set to undergo a historic change.
The government has proposed a lower voting age, which will be 18 instead of 16. The move is said to modernize and advance British democracy.
However, some claim that this is more than just democratic reform.
What’s the real reason for this choice, then? Is it about political expediency or democrat renewal? Has lowering the voting age been successful elsewhere?
Presenter: Adrian Finighan
Guests:
Afzal Khan, a UK Labour member, is a member of Parliament.
Analyst for European affairs, Yannis Koutsomitis
Three members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department were killed in an explosion at one of its southern California training facilities, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Friday at the Biscailuz Training Facility in East Los Angeles, the explosion occurred shortly after 7:30 am local time (14:30 GMT).
There were three Department member fatalities, historically. The department posted a statement on social media stating that sheriff’s homicide detectives are on the scene.
The explosion was referred to as a “critical workplace incident” by the organization. Although the sheriff’s department reassured locals that the explosion had no immediate impact on the neighborhood, it had closed some roads.
Sheriff Robert Luna declined to name the three victims and held a press conference in the middle of the day close to the blast site. However, he did claim that one had served in the military for 19 years, another 22 for, and a third 33 for.
The LA County Sheriff’s Department has lost the most lives, according to the department’s director, sadly, since 1857. They had proudly served our community for 74 years, according to Luna, the third sworn member.
The three victims were reportedly members of a special enforcement agency that was in charge of bringing in explosives and arson, according to the sheriff.
Prior to the incident, US Attorney General Pam Bondi stated on social media that members of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were stationed to investigate what occurred.
On social media, Bondi wrote, “I just spoke to]US Attorney Bill Essayli] about what appears to be a horrific incident that left at least three people dead. Please pray for the victims’ families, sheriff’s deputies.
Sheriff Luna stated at his press conference that the explosion was unavoidable because the investigation was still in its infancy.
We are still unsure as to what caused the explosion, Luna said. This community is safe from harm. This is a singular incident.
Luna added that prioritizing releasing additional information to the public is notifying the victims’ families.
He claimed to have already met two of the three families. Those conversations, as you can imagine, were incredibly difficult.
The Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad also gave thanks for assisting in the bombing site’s security, according to the sheriff.
After this explosion occurred, they immediately intervened to make sure the devices were safe, he said. They were just rendered safe within the final moments, just before we left, so it was still a busy scene, just so you all know. It was undoubtedly very active, and it wasn’t stable.
He explained that investigators can only visit the site once there is no longer a risk of explosions.
He continued, “There is a lot more that we don’t know than what we do know.”
Luna, however, made adamantly upholding the special enforcement agency’s professionalism and hailed its staff as “the best of the best.”
The employees of our arsenal-explosives detail have years of training, Luna said.
International public opinion continues to turn against Israel for its war on Gaza, with more governments slowly beginning to reflect those voices and increase their own condemnation of the country.
In the last few weeks, Israeli government ministers have been sanctioned by several Western countries, with the United Kingdom, France and Canada issuing a joint statement condemning the “intolerable” level of “human suffering” in Gaza.
Earlier this week, a number of countries from the Global South, “The Hague Group”, collectively agreed on a number of measures that they say will “restrain Israel’s assault on the Occupied Palestinian Territories”.
Across the world, and in increasing numbers, the public, politicians and, following an Israeli strike on a Catholic church in Gaza, religious leaders are speaking out against Israel’s killings in Gaza.
So, are world powers getting any closer to putting enough pressure on Israel for it to stop?
Here’s what we know.
According to its website, the Hague Group is a global bloc of states committed to “coordinated legal and diplomatic measures” in defence of international law and solidarity with the people of Palestine.
Made up of eight nations; South Africa, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Malaysia, Namibia and Senegal, the group has set itself the mission of upholding international law, and safeguarding the principles set out in the Charter of the United Nations, principally “the responsibility of all nations to uphold the inalienable rights, including the right to self-determination, that it enshrines for all peoples”.
Earlier this week, the Hague Group hosted a meeting of some 30 nations, including China, Spain and Qatar, in the Colombian capital of Bogota. Also attending the meeting was UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, who characterised the meeting as “the most significant political development in the past 20 months”.
Albanese was recently sanctioned by the United States for her criticism of its ally, Israel.
At the end of the two-day meeting, 12 of the countries in attendance agreed to six measures to limit Israel’s actions in Gaza. Included in those measures were blocks on supplying arms to Israel, a ban on ships transporting weapons and a review of public contracts for any possible links to companies benefiting from Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
More and more.
On Wednesday, Slovenia barred far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and ultranationalist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering its territory after the wider European Union failed to agree on measures to address charges of widespread human rights abuses against Israel.
Slovenia’s ban on the two government ministers builds upon earlier sanctions imposed upon Smotrich and Ben-Gvir in June by Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK and Norway over their “incitement to violence”. The two men have been among the most vocal Israeli ministers in rejecting any compromise in negotiations with Palestinians, and pushing for the Jewish settlement of Gaza, as well as the increased building of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
In May, the UK, France, and Canada issued a joint statement describing Israel’s escalation of its campaign against Gaza as “wholly disproportionate” and promising “concrete actions” against Israel if it did not halt its offensive.
Later that month, the UK followed through on its warning, announcing sanctions on a handful of settler organisations and announcing a “pause” in free trade negotiations with Israel.
Also in May, Turkiye announced that it would block all trade with Israel until the humanitarian situation in Gaza was resolved.
South Africa first launched a case for genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice in late December 2023, and has since been supported by other countries, including Colombia, Chile, Spain, Ireland, and Turkiye.
In January of 2024, the ICJ issued its provisional ruling, finding what it termed a “plausible” case for genocide and instructing Israel to undertake emergency measures, including the provision of the aid that its government has effectively blocked since March of this year.
Israel’s bombing on Thursday of the Holy Family Church in Gaza City, killing three people, drew a rare rebuke from Israel’s most stalwart ally, the United States.
Following what was reported to be an “angry” phone call from US President Trump after the bombing, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement expressing its “deep regret” over the attack.
To date, Israel has killed more than 58,000 people in Gaza, the majority women and children.
Mass public protests against Israel’s war on Gaza have continued around the world throughout its duration.
And there are clear signs of growing anger over the brutality of the war and the toll it is taking on Palestinians in Gaza.
In Western Europe, a survey carried out by the polling company YouGov in June found that net favourability towards Israel had reached its lowest ebb since tracking began.
A similar poll produced by CNN this week found similar results among the American public, with only 23 percent of respondents agreeing Israel’s actions in Gaza were fully justified, down from 50 percent in October 2023.
Public anger has also found voice at high-profile public events, including music festivals such as Germany’s Fusion Festival, Poland’s Open’er Festival and the UK’s Glastonbury festival, where both artists and their supporters used their platforms to denounce the war on Gaza.
Protests against the war remain small but are growing, with organisations, such as Standing Together, bringing together Israeli and Palestinian activists to protest the war.
There has also been a growing number of reservists refusing to show up for duty. In April, the Israeli magazine +972 reported that more than 100,000 reservists had refused to show up for duty, with open letters from within the military protesting the war growing in number since.
Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition has been pursuing its war on Gaza despite its domestic and international unpopularity for some time.
The government’s most recent proposal, that all of Gaza’s population be confined into what it calls a “humanitarian city”, but has been likened to a concentration camp and has been taken by many of its critics as evidence that it no longer cares about either international law or global opinion.
Internationally, despite its recent criticism of Israel for its bombing of Gaza’s one Catholic church, US support for Israel remains resolute. For many in Israel, the continued support of the US, and President Donald Trump in particular, remains the one diplomatic absolute they can rely upon to weather whatever diplomatic storms their actions in Gaza may provoke.
In addition to that support, which includes diplomatic guarantees through the use of the US veto in the United Nations Security Council and military support via its extensive arsenal, is the US use of sanctions against Israel’s critics, such as the International Criminal Court, whose members were sanctioned in June after it issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on war crimes charges.
The UN refugee agency estimates that a “dramatic” funding crisis poses a risk of preventing access to humanitarian aid for more than 11 million refugees.
UNHCR’s funding situation was revealed in a report released on Friday, which claimed it had only received 23 percent of the $10.6 billion goal for the year so far and that it had projected an end-of-year budget of only $3.5 billion.
Our funding situation is troubling, according to Dominique Hyde, UNHCR’s director of external relations.
“We worry that UNHCR’s humanitarian assistance is being withdrawn from the hands of up to 11.6 million refugees and people who have fled.”
Countries with slashed contributions were not named in the report, but a significant decrease in funding from the United States, which made up more than $ 2 billion of the organization’s overall donations last year.
President Donald Trump’s administration, which it claims is a part of its wider plan to eliminate wasteful spending, has cut funding for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and its aid programs around the world since taking office in January.
UNHCR reported that in many nations, including Sudan, Myanmar, and Afghanistan, aid programs that were halted or suspended had to be stopped or suspended.
According to the report, “On the Brink: The devastating toll of aid cuts on people forced to flee,” critical areas like medical aid, education, shelter, nutrition, and protection are among the services that are suffering severe cuts.
Some 230 000 children in Bangladesh are at risk of losing their education because they have spent years living in overcrowded camps as a result of Rohingya refugees.
Women and girls are disproportionately impacted by UNHCR funding cuts, with the organization having to reduce gender-based violence programs by a quarter.
According to the report, Afghanistan’s women and girls are the hardest hit by cuts.
Over 50% of protection activities have been cut, putting pressure on programs for women’s empowerment, mental health, prevention, and gender-based violence, according to Hyde.
UNHCR is reducing 3,500 staff positions at its Geneva headquarters and regional offices by a third overall.
In May 2026, Stephen Colbert, the president of the United States, approved of the comedian’s decision to stop airing The Late Show.
The show’s cancellation was announced by CBS on Thursday in preparation for a looming merger between its parent company Paramount and Skydance Media.
The comedian also made the comment after Paramount apologized for their $ 16 million settlement with Trump. Trump claimed in a lawsuit that Kamala Harris, Trump’s Democratic challenger, and CBS’s flagship news program, 60 Minutes, had a doctored interview during the presidential campaign in 2024.
Due to the pending merger, which requires approval from the Department of Justice and is valued at $8 billion, Colbert, a long-time critic of the president, described the decision to settle as “a big fat bribe.”
The president wrote in a post on Truth Social, which read, “I absolutely love that Colbert was fired.”
Before going after Colbert’s other two rivals Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon, saying they are next, without any supporting evidence, he continued, “His talent was even less than his ratings”.
Contrary to what the president claims, Colbert is performing well, earning 2.42 million viewers in the second quarter of 2025, making his show the highest rated late-night program in the industry.
The long-running late-night series, which replaced Pat Sajak on television in 1993 and was first hosted by David Letterman, was also terminated by the cancellation.
“This is purely a financial choice against a challenging late-night setting.” According to a statement from CBS to Al Jazeera, the show’s performance, content, or other issues happening at Paramount are unrelated.
After a two-year run, CBS previously ended its late-night program After Midnight, which was hosted by comedian Taylor Tomlinson.
Experts think that assertion has merit.
The reality is that the late-night entertainment industry does not have any viable alternatives to the exorbitant salaries this talent earns and the costs associated with these productions. In the end, late-night production will largely be consumed on YouTube, according to Andrew Rosen, the founder of the media strategy firm Parqor.
According to reports from the outlet Puck, the show reportedly costs $100 million to produce each year and loses about $40 million in revenue.
Rosen continued, citing Paramount’s efforts to cut costs as it focuses on merging with Skydance, saying, “They’ve just maxed out the model for as long as they can and for a variety of reasons that I think probably have more to do with the economics of the merger with Skydance than they do with Trump.”
As of 1 p.m. in New York (17:00 GMT), Paramount’s stock is up 0.2%.
The Department of Justice is considering the merger as the news of the show’s cancellation comes. Despite having economics in mind, the decision is also perceived as being political.
Its timing raises a lot of questions. Rodney Benson, professor in the New York University’s Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, told Al Jazeera that the politics surround it, especially for broadcast legacy media.
The administration claims that the coverage is biased, including the $ 16 million lawsuit that Paramount settled with Trump, and the administration has pursued news organizations and their parent media companies. Disney-owned ABC News settled a defamation lawsuit in December by paying for Trump’s library with a $ 15 million settlement and apologizing for inaccurate on-air remarks. The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) use and cuts to the public media also pose a threat to their broadcasting licenses’ future.
The FCC regulates broadcast networks, according to the FCC. The government can pursue them for what they perceive as news distortion if they need their licenses renewed, which they can be. They have already raised that, Benson continued.
Democrats have criticized the network for its alleged political justification for the show’s cancellation.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren claimed on the social media platform X, which was formerly known as Twitter, that CBS canceled Colbert’s show just THREE DAYS after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its $ 16 million settlement with Trump, which appears to be bribery.
The timing suggests that if it were just financial, they would have wanted to wait a little, Benson continued. The optics are simply terrible, so there must have been some pressure, according to Benson.
David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle and a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, is in charge of Skydance, the company that is preparing to buy Paramount.
David Ellison, former confidante Elon Musk, health and human services secretary Robert F. Kennedy, and Ted Cruz, among others, fought for the UFC in April.