State senators in Texas launched a public hearing Sunday on a bill to redraw congressional voting districts in the state, a move that could win Republicans five more seats in the House if the GOP plan works perfectly.
The public hearing is a required step before a bill can advance for a vote on the state Senate floor, Nexstar’s KXAN reported.
Democrats fled the state earlier this summer to prevent Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Republicans from having the legislative quorum necessary to pass legislation.
But Democrats are expected to attend the new special session after garnering attention with their walkout, and triggering more redistricting efforts around the country.
“We did exactly what we said we needed to do, and that is bringing a spotlight on this issue,” State Rep. Josey Garcia (D) said in an interview with KXAN one day before Abbott called the second special session.
Most notably, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is spearheading an effort to change district lines in his state to make up for any potential losses for Democrats in Texas. Democrats released their proposed map on Friday evening.
Newsom is vying to hold a special election this fall on a ballot measure that would suspend the state’s independent redistricting commission until the end of the decade in an effort to keep up with Republican gerrymandering.
Newsom has stressed that bypassing the commission, which Californians approved back in 2008 and 2010, would be temporary, and that redrawing the lines would only be triggered by redistricting in red states.
“They do five seats, we do five seats,” Newsom said.
KXAN reported that Texas House leaders expect the House will have enough members present Monday to conduct legislative business.
GOP state Sen. Phil King told KXAN that the new maps would be legal and will perform better for Republicans in the state.
“We heard a lot of testimony that the current map had a number of districts that were not compact, were not close together, were not tight, in their design, and in this map, listening to that testimony, we applied it, and this map also is much more compact than the current congressional redistricting map.”
The proposed changes target five districts in areas around Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, creating Republican-leaning seats.
The Texas push was directed by President Trump, who has also been pushing other states where Republicans are in control of government to look at redistricting to gain Republicans seats. The states considering such options include Missouri and Indiana.
Trump was impeached twice in his first term after Democrats regained control of the House.
Because the GOP has a very narrow majority in the House and the president’s party typically loses seats in the midterm elections, the possibility of Democrats regaining the House majority is a real possibility in 2026.
We came across a bullish thesis on Danaos Corporation on The Skeptical Optimist’s Substack by Dheeraj Namburu. In this article, we will summarize the bulls’ thesis on DAC. Danaos Corporation’s share was trading at $94.30 as of August 7th. DAC’s trailing P/E was 3.87 according to Yahoo Finance.
Danaos Corporation (DAC) enters 2025 in exceptionally strong financial shape. The company has aggressively deleveraged, reducing gross debt to $745M (from over $1.5B) with net debt of only ~$292M—resulting in a remarkably low Net Debt/EBITDA of ~0.4×. Liquidity stands at ~$825M, exceeding net debt. Interest costs remain modest at $46M despite rising rates, thanks to a largely fixed-rate debt profile.
Profitability is robust, with 2024 EBITDA margin at 71% and net margin at 52%. ROE was ~16%, while the EV/EBITDA multiple is just 2.6×—highlighting deep value. Danaos operates in two segments: its core container shipping generated $519.8M in adjusted net income, while dry bulk contributed modestly at $2.3M. Utilization remained high, and cost control remains a strength, with daily operating costs 9% below the industry average.
Looking ahead, visibility is strong: ~$3.7B of contracted backlog secures revenue through 2026, supporting 2025 EPS in the ~$22–$25 range. While earnings may taper as high-rate charters expire, staggered expirations and newbuilds with attached charters help smooth the transition. Management’s proactive charter strategy and likely scrapping of older vessels will also mitigate downside.
Capital returns remain disciplined. Danaos pays a $3.40 annual dividend (~4% yield) with a 12% payout ratio, and has retired 14% of shares via buybacks. With no equity dilution expected, strong FCF ($594M in 2024), and newbuilds fully financed, the company retains flexibility for opportunistic fleet expansion. Valuation remains compelling: shares trade at ~3× earnings and ~0.5× tangible book, with base case upside to $110 and bull case potential to $150.
Previously, we covered a bullish thesis on Danaos Corporation by Inflexio Research in May 2025, which highlighted its undervaluation, large backlog, and aggressive buybacks. The company’s stock has appreciated ~9.8% since the thesis played out. The thesis still stands given continued earnings strength. Dheeraj Namburu shares a similar view but emphasizes Danaos’s strong balance sheet and cost discipline.
Danaos Corporation is not on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 16 hedge fund portfolios held DAC at the end of the first quarter which was 13 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of DAC as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you’re looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.
The video opens with some white cliffs and a politician standing on a beach. This isn’t Dover, and it’s not Nigel Farage (although the echoes with Reform UK are deliberate). Rather, it’s a campaign video for the Green Party’s leadership hopeful, Zack Polanski.
Amid slick filming and a moody orchestral soundtrack, he delivers an animated and uncompromising message.
Small boats, he declares, are an “obsession that has gripped the country,” blamed for a “crumbling” NHS and “obscene” rents, while people are told there’s no money left.
“Well,” he says, looking into the camera, “I call bullshit.”
The real problem, he continues, are the “super-rich and their yachts”.
Zack Polanski
Zack Polanski, a former actor who is the party’s deputy leader, has turbo-charged the race
The Green Party is on the brink of choosing its new leader. It usually does it once every two years and the contest can go fairly unnoticed.
Not this year.
Polanski, a former actor who is the party’s deputy leader, has turbo-charged the race, the result of which will be announced on 2 September.
He calls his approach “eco-populism” and says it’s about being “bolder” and more clearly anti-elite in communicating social and economic issues, as well as environmental ones.
This, he argues, is the style of messaging that the Green party needs to embrace.
He wants to “connect with people’s anger” and then offer solutions, something the Greens are, in his view, often “too nice” to do.
He worries it leaves them looking “out of touch”.
“I think far too often in the past we’ve equivocated or we’ve been too worried to challenge wealth and power in as blunt a way as possible. This isn’t about shouting, it isn’t about being louder, it’s about being more effective.”
Tried and tested vs a radical approach
The Greens had record success at the General Election last summer, going from one to four seats in Parliament and overturning large Labour and Conservative majorities.
Together with the Scottish Greens and the Green Party of Northern Ireland, they won 6.7% of the vote.
Now, the party is at a crossroads: does it stick with what it knows has worked or pick something more radical?
And, given the candidates don’t really differ on policy, just how big a difference could new leadership make to the party’s national chances?
Polanski, who is a member of the London Assembly, wants the Greens to replace Labour as the “party of the left”.
But his opponents, the current co-leader Adrian Ramsay and new MP Ellie Chowns, who are running on a joint-ticket, believe Polanski would explode a winning formula that has brought them their greatest ever electoral success.
Ramsay and Chowns were elected to Parliament in last year’s general election.
Their style is, mostly, less combative – they believe it’s important that the Greens have broad appeal and that the party is seen to be at the heart of Westminster if it wants to bring about change.
Ellie and Adrian 2025/PA Wire
The current co-leader Adrian Ramsay and new MP Ellie Chowns are running on a joint-ticket
Chowns says many voters already have a “generalised warm feeling” towards the Greens, they just need convincing they’re a credible option.
“It’s really the difference between populism and popularity,” she says.
“What they need to know is that if they put their vote in the Green box on the ballot paper that’s got a really, really good chance of electing somebody.”
Time to capitalise on discontent?
Plenty of analysts, and Green party members themselves, have questioned why the party hasn’t already capitalised more on left-wing discontent with Labour, or why it hasn’t pitched itself more effectively as an alternative to the traditional parties, in the way Reform UK has.
Matt Zarb-Cousin, a former spokesperson for Jeremy Corbyn who joined the Greens in 2022, is a founding member of Greens Organise, a group that wants the party to take a more socialist stance.
He argues that it is “inexcusable” that the party hasn’t made a breakthrough in the polls since the election.
Like Polanski, he believes that voters understand the party’s environmental credentials and so it needs to highlight its policies on the cost of living, inequality and taxing wealth over work.
“It’s not just about saying we support those things, it’s about how you frame that argument: who are the enemies? Whose side are you on?”
Ian Forsyth/Getty Images
Ramsay and Chowns have secured endorsement from the former Green MP Caroline Lucas
Former Green party councillor Rupert Read, who is an environmental philosopher and a co-director of the campaign group Climate Majority Project, says a lot of Green party policy is left-wing, but adds that this is often the result of “making green policies that work for ordinary people”.
“You need to come from a starting point that is not dogmatically and self-avowedly left. If you do there’ll be a strict ceiling on the level of support which is possible.”
Ramsay and Chowns make a similar argument. Ramsay says that Polanski is “about appealing to a narrow base of activists,” which he and Chowns argue isn’t enough to win in the UK’s first past the past electoral system.
Chowns also believes that Polanski’s approach is too similar to strategies that have failed in the past.
“We spent years as the Green party engaging in the sort of politics where we stood on street corners and told people why we were very passionate about things…
“It’s all well and good but it’s not the way to win people over.”
Return of the ‘Green surge’?
The Green Peer Baroness Bennett, who led the party between 2012 and 2016, said there had been “a level of excitement and interest around this leadership election more than I’ve ever seen before by a very large scale”.
It is reporting a “significant increase” in members in the past few months, although it won’t yet give an exact figure. (The cut-off date to join and be able to vote in the leadership contest was July 31.)
Baroness Bennett also points to “organic growth in the grassroots” since the general election.
The party has held 12 seats in council by-elections since 4 July 2024, and won another 14 – mostly at the expense of Labour, while losing four to the Conservatives.
This all marks a significant change from the past – the so-called “Green Surge” in 2015, under Baroness Bennett’s leadership, saw the party’s membership and vote share grow but still only returned Caroline Lucas to Parliament.
Jonathan Brady/PA Wire
Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns with Sian Berry and current co-leader Carla Denyer (second left)
Prof Neil Carter from the University of York, a long-time observer of environmental politics, says he can see an argument for following Polanski’s strategy, as the Greens have traditionally had the greatest success with “metropolitan, liberal-minded, young, professionals”.
The sort of voters who are key to Chowns and Ramsay’s approach could be harder to win over, he argues.
“The trouble is you can reach out to a sort of middle-class Tory rural voter to some extent, if you just talk Green, but as soon as you start to talk about all of those other issues that the Greens like to talk about, you’re going to alienate those voters.”
But Chowns, who, like Ramsay, won a formerly Conservative seat, says that’s not her experience. “People across the political spectrum find a lot to like in what we stand for.”
Attracting ‘anti-system’ voters
Getting noticed is often a struggle for smaller political parties. For that reason, Luke Tryl, who is UK director of the political research organisation More in Common, believes that Polanski’s approach might be the Greens’ quickest route to boosting its numbers.
“If you are trying to get 10 to 15%, it’s probably what gets you noticed.” But he argues it would net the party far fewer seats than the 40 that Polanski believes he can win.
Mark Kerrison via Getty Images
Polanski calls his approach “eco-populism” and says it’s about being “bolder”
He says that the party is rarely brought up in the focus groups which he runs outside of Green areas and that a charismatic leader could help the party cut through.
There is a segment of the population that is “anti-system”, he says, to whom a more radical pitch from the Greens might appeal.
Mr Tryl, however, believes that while eco-populism could be a good way of getting known, the Greens would then need to “moderate” to become a “genuine mass movement party with potential for power”.
On getting into government, he says: “The Adrian and Ellie approach is right because you need to win over more of the North Herefordshires and Waveney Valleys (Chowns’ and Ramsay’s seats) and actually places like the Isle of Wight – but they are a long way from that”.
Where Corbyn’s new party fits in
There is another challenge facing all candidates: the new party that will soon be launched by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, a former Labour MP.
Both Prof Carter and Mr Tryl warn that Polanski’s strategy could be crowded out by this new party that has yet to be named but which, according to Corbyn, had 600,000 people sign up by early August.
Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
A new party is set to be launched by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, a former Labour MP
Ramsay goes further. He believes the new Corbyn party would blow Polanski’s pitch “out of the water”.
Research carried out in June by More in Common suggested that the establishment of a Corbyn led-party could cut the Green’s nationwide vote share from 9% to 5%. (This did not take into account who would be leading the Greens).
Polanski has signalled he would be willing to co-operate with a possible Corbyn-led project and believes the Greens’ position as an already established party will mean he can succeed.
It is Ramsay and Chowns who have secured what could be considered the “OG” of Green endorsements: the former MP Caroline Lucas.
The strategy they propose sticking with is based on the one she used to get elected as the first ever Green MP in 2010, and focuses on intensive local campaigning.
The question of who to target
Both leadership pitches include carrying on with local targeting but Polanski believes it can’t be scaled up sufficiently to get large numbers of seats on its own.
Chowns dismisses this idea: “My vision at the next general election is that we will have multiple large numbers of target seats and definitely more than one in every region.”
Dan Kitwood / Cameron Smith, Getty
During the election period, the Green Party raised just £160,000 compared with more than £1.6m for Reform UK
With either approach, the Greens face other obstacles, such as funding.
The party’s principle of not being funded by large donors means they lack the financial resources of other political parties.
During the election period, the party raised just £160,000, compared with more than £1.6m for both Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats, and £9.5m by Labour.
The Green leader has also little direct control over policy, as it is set by the members – not that there is much difference between the candidates.
Polanski has gone further than current party policy by suggesting the UK should leave Nato, but there are only a few differences between the candidates’ public positions.
Dan Kitwood /Getty Images
All three candidates back a wealth tax, which has been the Greens’ major campaigning issue for several years
Ultimately, whoever is chosen to lead the party this time will likely face re-election again before the next general election. The political landscape may have changed further but there is certainly an opportunity for the Greens if they land on the right strategy.
As Mr Tryl puts it, “In the age of very fragmented multi party politics, small vote shares can deliver outsized results”.
Top picture credit: Dan Kitwood / Leon Neal via Getty
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Restaurant attendance in the nation’s capital has taken a dive in the wake of President Trump’s Washington, D.C., crackdown on crime, according to data from OpenTable.
Last Monday, Trump announced he was taking federal control of D.C.’s police department and deploying the National Guard in the city in an effort to fight crime.
Beginning that Monday, seated diners at Washington restaurants, according to online reservation numbers, started to drop dramatically in comparison to the prior year, dipping 16 percent. On Wednesday, the amount of seated diners at restaurants with reservations fell 31 percent, slightly recovering to down by 20 percent on Saturday.
D.C. residents have expressed their outrage toward the president’s recent actions in their city via protests. On Wednesday, federal law enforcement officers were heckled in a relatively busy area in Washington’s northwestern quadrant.
Trump’s crime crackdown has also reignited calls for D.C. statehood, with the District also not having its own voting member of Congress.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Sunday that authorities arrested 68 people overnight in D.C.
“Over 300 arrests in D.C. — and counting: Just last night, our federal and DC law enforcement partners made 68 arrests and seized 15 illegal firearms,” Bondi said in a post on the social platform X. ”Homicide suspects, drug traffickers, and more are being charged. I’ll continue to stand with you as we make DC safe again!”
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Sunday dismissed Trump’s recent crackdown on the nation’s capitol as a “stunt.”
“What’s happening here in Washington, D.C., is just a stunt. Donald Trump didn’t like the fact that the walls were closing in on him, that his own base was questioning why he wouldn’t release the Epstein files, why he was protecting very powerful people,” Murphy told NBC News’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press.”
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Klook, a travel booking services company, has hired investment banks to help arrange a potential initial public offering in the U.S., according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
The Hong Kong-based company, backed by investors including SoftBank Group and Goldman Sachs Group, is working with bankers at Goldman, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan on the planned first-time share sale, said the people, asking not to be identified as the process is private.
The deal could come as early as this year and raise around $500 million, they said, cautioning that the timing and deal size are subject to market conditions.
U.S. IPO activity has gained momentum, bolstered by strong tech earnings and signs of progress in trade negotiations that have restored investor confidence.
Recent listings, including cryptocurrency exchange operator Bullish, and design software company Figma, underscore the uptick in market debuts, reversing a period in the year when uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s tariff policies weighed on new offerings.
Klook, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan declined to comment. Morgan Stanley did not respond to a request for comment.
It was not immediately clear whether Klook will be selling a stake in the IPO, or whether it will be an investor sell-down or a combination of both.
Bloomberg News reported earlier the company was exploring a U.S. IPO.
Founded in 2014, Klook turned profitable in 2023. It provides various booking services to travelers across a range of locations globally and competes with other global travel booking sites such as Booking.com and TripAdvisor, as well as China’s Trip.com and South Korea’s Yanolja.
The company said in February it had raised $100 million in a funding round led by European investment firm Vitruvian Partners, but did not disclose its valuation at the time. Other investors in Klook include HSG, formerly known as Sequoia Capital China.
(Reporting by Echo Wang in New York, Julie Zhu in Hong Kong; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
World number three Iga Swiatek powered to a straight-set win over Elena Rybakina to reach the final of the Cincinnati Open where she will face Jasmine Paolini.
Their meeting will be a repeat of last year’s French Open final – won by Poland’s Swiatek in dominant fashion.
Swiatek, the reigning Wimbledon champion, swept past Kazakhstan’s Rybakina 7-5 6-3 on Sunday to reach her first Cincinnati showpiece.
Rybakina – who beat world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter-finals – started brightly but failed to exploit an early break in the first set before Swiatek took control.
“That was a tough match,” said Swiatek. “At the beginning it was pretty crazy, we played so fast that sometimes we couldn’t even run to the second ball.
“I was there to play with intensity and good quality and I am super happy with the performance.
“It will be super tough in the final. I will have to prepare tactically but I will focus on myself and try to continue the work I have been doing.”
Italy’s Paolini battled past Russian Veronika Kudermetova in her semi-final 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 6-3.
Paolini served for the match in the second set only to see her advantage slip away, but the story of the encounter was Kudermetova’s tally of 75 unforced errors.
Sydney Sweeney’s new movie took a tumble at the box office in the wake of backlash stemming from the actress’s recent ad campaign with retailer American Eagle.
“Americana,” which Sweeney stars in alongside Paul Walter Hauser and Halsey, opened to an estimated $500,000 at the box office after debuting in 1,100 nationwide, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In comparison, current blockbusters “Weapons,” “Freakier Friday” and “Nobody 2” recently reeled in an estimated $25 million, $14.5 million and $9.3 million, respectively.
The “Euphoria” star came under fire last month after her new ad campaign, “Sydney Has Great Jeans,” a play on “good genes,” debuted for the popular clothing retailer.
Some criticized the jeans campaign, featuring the blond-haired, blue-eyed actress, as having racist undertones.
“Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality, and even eye color,” Sweeney says in one video. “My jeans are blue.”
President Trump eventually waded into the discourse in defense of Sweeney.
“Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the ‘HOTTEST’ ad out there. It’s for American Eagle, and the jeans are ‘flying off the shelves.’ Go get ‘em Sydney!” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
Did Sweeney’s controversial ads play a role in the film’s less-than-stellar opening?
Deadline notes that while it may have had an impact, the film was never projected to be a major blockbuster hit and is still expected to be profitable for Lionsgate.
Hundreds of thousands of people have gathered in Israel to call for an end to the Gaza war and a deal to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas.
The largest crowd was seen in Tel Aviv’s “Hostages Square” on Sunday, with the organisers saying the government’s plans to seize control of Gaza City risked the lives of around 20 hostages still being held by Hamas.
A one-day national strike – part of wider protests – closed roads, offices and universities in some areas. Nearly 40 people were arrested during the day.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticised the protests, saying they would “harden Hamas’s stance” and would only slow down the release of the hostages.
Watch: Protesters block Israeli road demanding hostage deal and war end
Far-right Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich also denounced the protests, describing them as a “harmful campaign that plays into the hands of Hamas”.
The national strike was demanded by the families of hostages and others opposed to the expansion of the war.
Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan and a leading figure in the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, said the group demanded “a comprehensive and achievable agreement and an end to the war”.
“We demand what is rightfully ours – our children,” she told the crowd in Tel Aviv. “The Israeli government has transformed a just war into a pointless war.”
She was speaking after a video was released of her son.
“My heart burns with longing. My whole heart is scorched because of my Matan. Matan, I, an entire nation, we are doing everything we can for you, for all the hostages,” she said.
The protests came a week after Israel’s war cabinet voted to occupy Gaza City, the territory’s largest city, and displace its population, in a move condemned by the UN Security Council.
Thousands of residents have since fled Gaza City’s southern Zeitoun neighbourhood, where days of continuous Israeli bombardment have created a “catastrophic” situation, the city’s Hamas-run municipality told the BBC.
Reuters
Protesters filled main roads on the way to Hostages Square in Tel Aviv
At least 40 people were killed by Israeli attacks across the territory on Saturday, Gaza’s civil defence agency said.
Hamas said in a statement that Israeli forces had been carrying out a “sustained offensive in the eastern and southern neighbourhoods of Gaza City, particularly in Zeitoun”.
The Israeli military said it would begin allowing tents to be brought into Gaza by aid agencies again.
“As part of the preparations to move the population from combat zones to the southern Gaza Strip for their protection, the supply of tents and shelter equipment to Gaza will resume,” the Israeli military body Cogat said.
Getty Images
Protesters block a road in Tel Aviv
Israel plans to forcibly displace a million people from Gaza City to camps in the south but it has not provided an exact timetable of when its forces would enter Gaza City.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reported to want the entire city under Israeli occupation from 7 October.
At least 1.9 million people in Gaza – or about 90% of the population – have already been displaced, according to the UN.
The international body has indicated there is widespread malnutrition in Gaza, with experts backed by the organisation warning last month in a report that the “worst-case scenario” of famine is playing out in the Strip.
The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 others taken hostage.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to figures from the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, which the UN considers reliable.
“In general, [marriage has] taught me a lot of patience and communication,” he told Us Weekly earlier this month. “Obviously, that’s the cliché, that people say communication is key, but it really is. It’s also just understanding you’re both human and you both do things.”
“For most people’s lives, until they’re in a really serious relationship, they’re used to being in survival mode, which is, ‘How do I survive independently and live?’” he continued. “And then when you are in a committed relationship and you’re married, you have to rewire yourself to be like, ‘Oh, I’m fighting for two people. And everything I think of now is what we do together.’”
For more of Barbara and Dylan’s sweet romance, keep reading…
