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WASHINGTON — President- elect Donald Trump on Thursday named Pam Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida, to be U.S. attorney general just hours after his other choice, Matt Gaetz , withdrew his name from consideration. Bondi is a longtime Trump ally and was one of his lawyers during his first impeachment trial, when he was accused — but not convicted — of abusing his power as he tried to condition U.S. military assistance to Ukraine on that country investigating then-former Vice President Joe Biden. Bondi was among a group of Republicans who showed up to support Trump at his hush money criminal trial in New York that ended in May with a conviction on 34 felony counts. She's been a chair at the America First Policy Institute, a think tank set up by former Trump administration staffers. “For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans - Not anymore,” Trump said in a social media post. “Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again.” Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. told Fox Business on Sunday that the transition team had backups in mind for his controversial nominees should they fail to get confirmed. The swift selection of Bondi came about six hours after Gaetz withdrew. Gaetz stepped aside amid continued fallout over a federal sex trafficking investigation that cast doubt on his ability to be confirmed as the nation's chief federal law enforcement officer. That announcement capped a turbulent eight-day period in which Trump sought to capitalize on his decisive election win to force Senate Republicans to accept provocative selections like Gaetz, who had been investigated by the Justice Department before being tapped last week to lead it. The decision could heighten scrutiny on other controversial Trump nominees, including Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth , who faces sexual assault allegations that he denies. “While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” Gaetz, a Florida Republican who one day earlier met with senators in an effort to win their support, said in a statement. “There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1," he added. Hours later, Gaetz posted on social media that he looks “forward to continuing the fight to save our country,” adding, “Just maybe from a different post.” Trump, in a social media post, said: “I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be Attorney General. He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the Administration, for which he has much respect. Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!” Last week, Trump named personal lawyers Todd Blanche, Emil Bove and D. John Sauer to senior roles in the department. Another possible attorney general contender, Matt Whitaker, was announced Wednesday as the U.S. ambassador to NATO. Bondi, too, is a longtime loyalist. She has been a vocal critic of the criminal cases against Trump as well as Jack Smith, the special counsel who charged Trump in two federal cases. In one radio appearance, she blasted Smith and other prosecutors who have charged Trump as “horrible” people she said were trying to make names for themselves by “going after Donald Trump and weaponizing our legal system.” If confirmed by the Republican-led Senate, Bondi would instantly become one of the most closely watched members of Trump’s Cabinet given the Republican’s threat to pursue retribution against perceived adversaries and concern among Democrats that he will look to bend the Justice Department to his will. A recent Supreme Court opinion not only conferred broad immunity on former presidents but also affirmed a president’s exclusive authority over the Justice Department’s investigative functions. Bondi would inherit a Justice Department expected to pivot sharply on civil rights, corporate enforcement and the prosecutions of hundreds of Trump supporters charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol — defendants whom Trump has pledged to pardon . It’s unlikely that Bondi would be confirmed in time to overlap with Smith, who brought two federal indictments against Trump that are both expected to wind down before the incoming president takes office. Special counsels are expected to produce reports on their work that historically are made public, but it remains unclear when such a document might be released. In 2013, while serving as Florida attorney general, Bondi publicly apologized for asking that the execution of a man convicted of murder be delayed because it conflicted with a campaign fundraiser. Bondi said she was wrong and sorry for requesting then-Gov. Rick Scott push back the execution of Marshall Lee Gore by three weeks. Before she ran for state attorney general in 2010, Bondi worked for the Hillsborough County state attorney. _____ Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Michelle L. Price, Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jalonick and Adriana Gomez Licon contributed to this report.

Ring of Honor TV live results: International Women’s Cup qualifierThere was a moment during the August publicity tour for the movie It Ends With Us when the mood online seemed to dramatically change. For months, fans had noticed something was amiss between the film's main stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, who also directed the movie. For one thing, Lively's husband, fellow actor Ryan Reynolds, blocked Baldoni on Instagram — the ultimate snub in 2024. And it soon became apparent that Lively and Baldoni were not posing on red carpets together or doing joint interviews, despite being the movie's leads. But online speculation about a possible feud between the actors suddenly morphed into an internet pile-on, with TikTok, Reddit and X users blaming Lively for the drama surrounding the publicity tour. The 37-year-old was slammed for encouraging movie goers to "grab your friends, wear your florals and head out to see" It Ends With Us — a film about a domestic violence survivor named Lily Bloom. "Wear your florals? WTF? This isn't another Barbie movie type film. So damn tone deaf. This is why we need Justin to do the marketing," one Instagram user posted. "Mean girl vibes, Justin deserves better," said another. Lively was also criticised for spruiking her new hair care line, discussing her red carpet looks, and claiming credit for the final edit of the movie. Baldoni, meanwhile, was lauded online for raising awareness about domestic violence during the movie's publicity campaign. "If a Lily Bloom in real life can sit in this theatre, and make a different choice for herself than the one that was made for her, maybe she sees herself on that screen and chooses something different for herself," he said. Online, fans said Lively and her team had "bullied" Baldoni, and wrestled away creative control of the movie he directed, many using remarkably similar language in the comments. "Justin Baldoni, the man that you are, you deserve better," wrote one TikTok user. "Justin Baldoni, the man that you are, still such a caring and compassionate person after everything that's happened," said another. "Oh Justin Baldoni, the man that you are," wrote a third, along with a heart and crying emoji. Then old clips began to circulate online , in which social media users claimed Lively was being snippy or hostile to reporters during interviews. "Is Blake Lively set to be CANCELLED? String of 'hard to watch' videos that have surfaced following 'tone deaf' Q&A," the Daily Mail wrote in August. But Lively has now alleged in a legal complaint filed against Baldoni that the wild events of the It Ends With US promo tour were not just the internet taking sides in a Hollywood feud. The actress instead claims her co-star hired a crisis public relations expert to orchestrate a smear campaign against her. "Millions of people (including many reporters and influencers) who saw these planted stories, social media posts, and other online content had no idea they were unwitting consumers of a crisis PR, astroturfing, and digital retaliation campaign created and funded by Mr Baldoni and [his production company] Wayfarer to hurt Ms Lively," she said in her court filing. "That is precisely the goal of an astroturfing campaign — to light the fire and continue to stoke conversations secretly, blurring the line between authentic and manufactured content, and creating viral public take-downs." A lawyer for Baldoni's production company, Wayfarer, has vigorously denied the allegations , saying they are Lively's "desperate attempt to 'fix' her negative reputation". But the furore has raised questions about the role of astroturfing in manipulating public opinion. In a social media ecosystem already rife with misogyny, racism and aggression, experts say it's remarkably easy to shape the narrative around a public figure. Lively is not the only female celebrity to claim to have been the victim of online smear campaigns. Actor Amber Heard says she was the target of the same PR firm hired by Baldoni when she was sued for defamation by her ex-husband Johnny Depp. And the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, who once described herself as "most trolled person" in the world, appears to have also been the centre of a coordinated hate campaign of mysterious origins. 'Astroturf' is all around you Astroturfing is a deceptive tactic to fake a grassroots movement with the aim of influencing public opinion. It predates the internet — and the practice is not just limited to Hollywood. For example, in the 90s, the tobacco industry was facing increased restrictions and higher taxes as governments tried to dissuade people from smoking. To combat this, Philip Morris hired a PR firm that created a group called the National Smokers Alliance, a collection of thousands of apparently disgruntled tobacco users willing to fight for their right to smoke. But the group had quietly paid hundreds of people to recruit members in bars and bowling alleys across the United States, according to UK anti-smoking group, Tobacco Tactics. The rise of social media has only made it easier for political organisations and companies to engage in astroturfing without detection. Russia's attempts to influence the outcome of the US election in 2016 by hiring troll factories to sow discord online was an astroturfing campaign. Even social media influencers who spruik a product to their followers without disclosing the fact that they've been paid by a company to do so are technically engaging in astroturfing. No matter the strategy of an astroturfing campaign, the goal is always the same: to make an illusion feel like reality. At the heart of Lively's dispute with Baldoni is a debate over whether the damage to her reputation this year was his fault or hers. What we know for sure is that Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment during the production of It Ends With Us in 2023 — an allegation he denied. Then, during the film's publicity campaign, Baldoni feared Lively might leak damaging stories against him, so he engaged the services of crisis management expert Melissa Nathan to safeguard his reputation. Texts and emails obtained by Lively's legal team appear to show Ms Nathan, Baldoni, and his publicist Jennifer Abel, discussing the possibility of using astroturfing techniques. In one exchange between Baldoni and Ms Abel, he sent her a screenshot of a thread on X which claims to outline the bullying behaviour of a female celebrity. "This is what we would need," he allegedly wrote, according to Lively's complaint. The subpoenaed communications make references to "social manipulation" and "proactive fan posting," as well as celebrating that they were "crushing it on Reddit". "Socials are really, really ramping up. In his favour, she must be furious. It's actually sad because it just shows you have people really want to hate on women," Ms Nathan allegedly wrote to Ms Abel. But all of those allegedly involved in the smear campaign deny engaging in astroturfing, instead saying that the backlash against Lively was entirely her fault due to her own missteps. "No negative press was ever facilitated, no social combat plan, although we were prepared for it as it's our job to be ready for any scenario," Ms Abel wrote on Facebook. "But we didn't have to implement anything because the internet was doing the work for us. "Sure we talked about it, contemplated if we needed certain things, flagged accounts that we needed to monitor, worked with a social team to help us stay on top of the narrative so we could act quickly if needed, and yes, we rejoiced and joked in the fact that fans were recognising our client's heart and work without us having to do anything but keep our heads down and focus on positive interviews for our client." Lively is not the first high-profile woman to be smeared The crisis management team that represented Baldoni amid his alleged smear campaign against Lively is linked to several other embattled Hollywood stars. Ms Nathan and her firm, The Agency Group PR (TAG PR), have reportedly represented the rapper Drake, who was this year accused of having sex with underage girls — a claim he denies. The firm also reportedly worked with rapper Travis Scott after a crowd crush at his concert in 2021 resulted in 10 deaths and hundreds of injuries. On its website, the agency says it "redefines the rules of reputation management," with "years of success behind some of the most noteworthy, high-profile crisis and litigation events in recent history". TAG PR was also hired by Depp in 2022 when he sued his ex-wife Heard for defamation after she described herself as "a public figure representing domestic abuse". The jury may have found that both Depp and Heard defamed each other. But in the court of public opinion, she was deemed a psychopathic manipulator who sought to destroy her ex-husband by accusing him of domestic violence and sexual assault. After the trial, investigative reporter Alexi Mostrous spent a year looking into the origins of the online hate against Heard. In his podcast , Mostrous presents evidence that much of it was manufactured. An analysis of 1 million anti-Amber tweets found that more than half of them were "inauthentic", much of them spewed out by bot networks in Thailand and Spain. The source of the alleged smear campaign was never clear, but days after Lively filed her complaint against the firm, Heard released a statement of support. "Social media is the absolute personification of the classic saying 'A lie travels halfway around the world before truth can get its boots on'," Amber Heard said in a statement to NBC News. "I saw this firsthand and up close. It's as horrifying as it is destructive." The PR firm hit back at Heard's statement through Baldoni's lawyer. "TAG PR must be the most powerful group of publicists the world has ever seen for it to be able to completely change the perception of both Amber Heard and Blake Lively," Bryan Freedman said. "The only correlation between both individuals was that for decades every move they have made has been out there for everyone to see, widely filmed and documented for the public to make up their own minds — which they did, organically." The real emotional cost of online smear campaigns Sometimes, an astroturfing campaign's sole intent is not to sell a product, or help a celebrity's cause, but simply to harm its high-profile target. In 2020, the Duchess of Sussex described the level of online trolling she received as "almost unsurvivable". In the same year, she and her husband, Prince Harry, "stepped back" as working members of the British royal family, instead choosing to settle in California. Their reasons for doing so were complex, but the couple told Oprah Winfrey they felt unsupported in the face of so much racist and misogynistic bullying online. In 2021, an investigation by Bot Sentinel, a crowdfunded site that tracks disinformation and targeted harassment online, concluded that most of the online hate faced by Meghan began as astroturfing. "Our research found that a relatively small number of single-purpose anti-Meghan and Harry accounts created and disseminated most of the hateful content on Twitter," Bot Sentinel wrote in their report. "However, the primary accounts had assistance that allowed their content to be repackaged and shared by accounts with a considerable following." An analysis of 114,000 tweets found that 70 per cent of them were driven by the same 83 accounts, which coordinated their campaign with a level of sophistication unlike anything Bot Sentinel had seen before. "There's no motive," Bot Sentinel CEO Christopher Bouzy told BuzzFeed News. "Are these people who hate her? Is it racism? Are they trying to hurt [Harry and Meghan's] credibility? Your guess is as good as ours." For those who believe they are victims of astroturfing, it may come as cold comfort that much of the vitriol they experienced was fuelled by bots or bad-faith actors. In the end, those fake posts still enter the feeds of genuine social media users, and may influence the way they see the world. Heard has given up on acting and moved to Spain, while Meghan said her ordeal had a severe impact on her mental health. In her court filing, Lively said her experiences caused "severe emotional distress" to her family, and cost her business opportunities. "I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted," she said. ABC

Israeli police set to probe Netanyahu’s wife over ‘harassment of witnesses’None

New speed limits may be viewed as a 'revenue maker' by drivers, councillor saysWomen are more likely to need walking sticks, wheelchairs and other mobility aids compared to men, but they are less likely to use them, according to a study. And single people are more likely to use mobility tools compared to those who are married, according to researchers from University College London (UCL) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). Researchers looked at information from a group of more than 12,000 adults in England aged 50 to 89 who were tracked over a 13-year period. At the start of the study, 8,225 adults had no mobility difficulty and did not use mobility assistive products (MAPs). Some 2,480 were deemed to have “unmet need” and 1,375 were using mobility aids. During the follow-up period, there were 2,313 “transitions” where people went from having no mobility issues to needing some help with getting around. And 1,274 people started to use mobility aids. Compared with men, women were 49% more likely to transition from not needing mobility aids to needing to use them, according to the study which has been published in The Lancet Public Health. But were 21% less likely to go on to use mobility aids when they needed them. The authors said their study showed “barriers to access” for women. For both men and women, with every year that passed during the study period the need for mobility aids increased. People who were older, less educated, less wealthy or reported being disabled were more likely to “transition from no need to unmet need, and from unmet need to use”, the authors said, with this indicating a “higher prevalence of mobility limitations and MAP need overall among these groups”. They added: “Finally, marital or partnership status was not associated with transitioning to unmet need; however, single people were more likely to transition from unmet need to use compared with married or partnered people.” Jamie Danemayer, first author of the study from UCL Computer Science and UCL’s Global Disability Innovation Hub, said: “Our analysis suggests that there is a clear gender gap in access to mobility aids. “Though our data didn’t ascertain the reason why participants weren’t using mobility aids, other research tells us that women are often more likely than men to face obstacles such as cost barriers as a result of well-documented income disparities between genders. “Many mobility aids are designed for men rather than women, which we think may be a factor. “Using mobility aids can also make a disability visible, which can impact the safety and stigma experienced by women, in particular. “There’s a critical need for further research to identify and break down the barriers preventing women from accessing mobility aids that would improve their quality of life.” Professor Cathy Holloway, also from UCL, added: “Not having access to mobility aids when a person needs one can have a big impact on their independence, well-being and quality of life. “Our analysis suggests that women, in particular, regardless of other factors such as education and employment status, are not getting the support that they need.” Professor Shereen Hussein, senior author of the study and lead of the social care group at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: “The research provides compelling evidence of gender disparities in accessing assistive technology, suggesting that cost, design bias, and social stigma are likely to disproportionally affect women. “This underscores the need for inclusive, gender-sensitive approaches in the design, production and inclusivity of assistive technologies.”

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