Liberal Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen has confirmed that he will challenge longtime Democratic leader Chuck Schumer for the position of Senate Majority Leader.

Although Schumer helped orchestrate the Democrats’ “blue tsunami” in the midterm elections, he remains unpopular with the party’s left-wing base.

During an interview with Jen Psaki on MS NOW on Thursday night, Van Hollen formally confirmed that he would seek to unseat Schumer.

“The call was really to reject the status quo and to reject business as usual. And to do that, I think we need new leadership,” Van Hollen said.

Van Hollen rose to national prominence after he infamously met with alleged gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador during a wave of liberal protests against ICE.

Psaki pressed him on how many Democratic senators would support his campaign, which requires a simple majority in a closed-door vote.

“We have a lot of people,” Van Hollen replied. When asked whether he had more than 10 supporters, he confirmed that he did.

Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who caucuses with the Democrats, has publicly endorsed Van Hollen’s bid.

Liberal Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen has confirmed that he will challenge longtime Democratic leader Chuck Schumer for Senate Majority Leader

Schumer helped deliver the Democrats’ “blue tsunami” in the midterm elections but remains unpopular with the party’s left-wing base

Van Hollen told Psaki that he objected to Schumer using his influence to sway competitive Democratic primaries.

“We shouldn’t have a leader who is getting involved in picking sides in open Democratic primaries, and we should be focused on defeating Republicans,” he said.

Schumer notably supported eventual turncoat Haley Stevens over Abdul El-Sayed and initially backed Janet Mills over Graham Platner in Maine.

Platner later withdrew amid sexual misconduct allegations and was replaced by Troy Jackson, who ultimately won.

Schumer was also reportedly believed to have privately endorsed Angie Craig over Minnesota winner Peggy Flanagan.

“We have two senators right now in the Senate who wouldn’t be there if the current majority leader had his way. He supported establishment candidates in the primaries,” Van Hollen said.

Asked how his leadership would differ from Schumer’s, Van Hollen said the Democratic Party needed to act with far greater urgency.

“One is, I believe that we should use our full power in the Senate to respond to the calls of the American people. So, for example, the war in Iran. This is an illegal and senseless war,” he said.

Van Hollen gained national attention after meeting with alleged gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador during liberal protests against ICE

Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, has publicly backed Van Hollen’s leadership campaign

“I believe we need to end it now, immediately, and use all our power to do that. That means not one more penny spent on this war so that we can bring prices down right away,” Van Hollen added.

Despite his reputation as the more progressive contender, Van Hollen did not necessarily frame his challenge as an effort to move the Democrats further to the left.

“This is a generational opportunity for the Senate to respond to the call of the American people for change,” he said.

“While voters have rejected the Trump policies, they’ve not yet hired Democrats. They’ve given us a chance. We have to earn their trust. And my view is that you can’t earn that trust with old leadership. You need to move on to new leadership.”

Van Hollen’s announcement came after he said he was weighing a challenge and after Schumer had declared that he possessed enough support to prevail.

The secret-ballot election is scheduled to take place behind closed doors in early December.

The contest will be the first election for Democratic leader to feature a challenger in decades. The question of whether Schumer should be reelected has already divided the caucus, while many senators have declined to publicly reveal how they intend to vote.

Democratic senators have privately debated what message they should take from the election. Schumer recruited many of the party’s successful candidates and raised money on their behalf.

Several senators have announced their support for Schumer, including incoming Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown

Since the election, Schumer has been speaking with Democratic senators and developing an agenda for 2027. During private caucus meetings this week, he outlined a broad plan for the majority’s first 100 days in power.

“I’m going to win it,” Schumer told The Associated Press in an interview last week.

Contacted by The Daily Mail after Van Hollen’s announcement, Schumer said he welcomed a discussion about the future direction of the caucus.

“I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together — 55 seats and counting is an amazing result — and I have the votes to continue serving as Democratic Leader,” Schumer said.

“I look forward to leading our new Democratic majority and delivering for the American people.”

Schumer remains the favorite to win, but Van Hollen’s challenge highlights a growing rift within the party. Schumer has faced pressure since siding with Republicans on a spending vote in March 2025.

Although he has since rebuilt support within the caucus — leading Democrats through a government shutdown last year and helping orchestrate major election victories — much of the Democratic base continues to demand generational change.

At 67, Van Hollen is only eight years younger than the 75-year-old Schumer. Still, he has presented himself as a fresh face for the party and has said he is considering a presidential campaign.

Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed, who won a competitive election last week, said the incoming majority would need “bold leadership”

Most Democratic senators have either declared their support for Schumer or remained undecided, but Van Hollen has secured at least one supporter among next year’s caucus.

Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed, who won a competitive election in his state last week, wrote on X on Thursday night that the Democratic majority would need “bold leadership.”

“I called on Sen. @ChrisVanHollen to lead our caucus as a candidate back in April because he leads with courage and experience,” El-Sayed wrote. “We need both right now. Which is why I’m proud to stand with him in his bid to lead our Senate majority.”

Several senators have said they support Schumer, including incoming Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, who defeated Republican Senator Jon Husted last week.

Maine Senator Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats and will vote in the leadership election, issued a statement after Van Hollen’s announcement: “Why would you fire the manager when you just won the World Series?”

“Chuck Schumer is one of the principal architects of the most successful election in modern history, and I see no reason to change the leadership that helped make that success possible,” King wrote.

A Muslim teenager is suing his Southern California school district after a teacher allegedly called him a terrorist and administrators reportedly dismissed the comment as a joke.

In February 2025, 14-year-old Yousef Abdullah approached his teacher at Cypress High School after he was denied admission to the Advanced Placement English program.

“I don’t negotiate with terrorists — that is people under the age of 18,” the English teacher allegedly told Abdullah, a Palestinian-American freshman.

A school counselor allegedly repeated the remark several times, while an assistant principal reportedly brushed it off as merely a phrase.

Now 16, Abdullah is suing the Anaheim Union High School District, accusing officials of discrimination and failing to protect him.

“Clearly, the school’s not taking it seriously,” attorney Samer Habbas, who represents Abdullah, told The Orange County Register.

The district’s own investigation found evidence that a derogatory comment had been made in violation of its policy prohibiting abusive language toward students, according to a March 2025 letter from Human Resources Director Amie Maya.

The district said the matter would be addressed through its confidential personnel process.

Habbas said no meaningful disciplinary action followed.

The lawsuit also alleges that school employees disclosed Abdullah’s ADHD diagnosis to classmates, who then mocked him by calling him “SpEd.”

According to the complaint, the alleged treatment left Abdullah so ashamed of his Palestinian and Muslim identity that he tried to avoid growing facial hair and being seen in public with his parents.

He has since transferred to another Orange County high school.

“When you’re calling a Palestinian child of Muslim descent a terrorist … it is completely inappropriate. It dehumanizes a kid,” Habbas said.

The case is pending in Orange County Superior Court before Judge Kimberly A. Knill, who rejected the district’s attempt to have the lawsuit dismissed.

A South Texas man convicted in the 2003 murders of three young children he helped raise was executed Thursday evening, bringing an end to nearly 23 years of legal proceedings.

John Allen Rubio, 46, of Brownsville, was put to death by lethal injection at a state prison in Huntsville, according to The Associated Press (AP).

Rubio was convicted of stabbing and beheading Julissa Quezada, 3; John Esteban Rubio, 1; and Mary Jane Rubio, 2 months old. He was prosecuted alongside his common-law wife, Angela Camacho.

The AP reported that Rubio was pronounced dead at 6:47 p.m., 21 minutes after the lethal injection began.

A Texas prison is shown behind a fence and barbed wire on Jan. 22, 2025. John Allen Rubio was executed in Texas on Nov. 12, 2026. (Cecile Clocheret/AFP via Getty Images; Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)

The execution was scheduled for 6 p.m. and proceeded without complications.

In his final statement, Rubio thanked his friends and family for their “love and understanding.” He also said he was “not the same person I once was” and expressed his love for his wife, the AP reported.

“I want to say I’m sorry to my wife’s family,” Rubio said. “I can’t change the past, but I can tell you my life is going to be over. But that’s not going to make you happy.

“I’m going to be with my kids in a little bit,” he continued. “I’m ready to go to heaven to be with my lord and savior.”

John Allen Rubio was convicted of killing three young children in 2003 and sentenced to death. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice )

Rubio’s execution closed a case that began on March 11, 2003, when he and Camacho killed the three children inside a windowless apartment.

Court records indicate Rubio was not the biological father of the two older children, but he had assumed a parental role in their lives, the outlet reported.

Before the killings, Rubio reportedly claimed the children were possessed and described himself as the “chosen one” who was destined to save the world.

Rubio pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity at one point. Defense experts diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia, while experts for the prosecution disputed that assessment.

His lawyers also described a severely troubled childhood, pointing to violence, dysfunctional parents, drug use and prostitution as experiences that hindered his development, the AP reported.

Camacho pleaded guilty and is serving a life sentence for her role in the killings, according to reports.

The apartment building where the children died was later demolished. The site has since been converted into a community park and garden, according to the AP.

This image from the Oklahoma Department of Corrections shows James Pavatt in February 2023. Pavatt was executed several hours before Rubio received a lethal injection. (Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman/USA Today Network; Oklahoma Department of Corrections via AP)

Rubio’s death was the second of two executions carried out in the United States on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Oklahoma executed James Pavatt, 73, by lethal injection. Pavatt was convicted of planning and carrying out the 2001 murder of his partner’s estranged husband.

CHICAGO — Pete Crow-Armstrong was unanimously named National League MVP on Thursday after the Chicago Cubs center fielder delivered a spectacular, all-around season.

Crow-Armstrong joined Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez as a first-time MVP. Alvarez was the unanimous American League selection after making a run at the Triple Crown, batting a career-best .316 with 42 home runs and 106 RBIs for the AL West champions.

Crow-Armstrong established career highs with a .280 batting average, 45 homers, 107 RBIs and 41 stolen bases across 162 games. He tied Kyle Schwarber for the major league home run lead while topping the NL in runs scored (119), slugging percentage (.570) and OPS (.942).

His impact extended well beyond the batter’s box. The Southern California native won his second Gold Glove and led all major leaguers with 26 Outs Above Average and 23 Runs Prevented, according to Baseball Savant.

“You spend your whole life in baseball and you just don’t see this happen on a baseball field,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said after Crow-Armstrong hit two home runs in an 8-4 victory over Atlanta on Sept. 16. “You’re grateful to be a part of it. You’re grateful to see things like this and then you’re grateful that the fans get to see a season like this.”

Crow-Armstrong collected all 30 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, a four-time MVP, finished second, followed by Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Brice Turang.

PCA’s MVP win sparks celebrations, giveaways and deals across Chicago

New Balance will hold an “MVPCA” fan event Friday evening outside Wrigley Field to celebrate Crow-Armstrong’s award. The gathering, which will include a custom “MVP” hat giveaway and a photo opportunity, runs from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. next to the new Founders’ Clock. More information can be found here.

Other brands, including Corona, are joining the celebration with special offers for fans throughout the Chicago area. More information can be found here.

Astros star Yordan Alvarez earns unanimous AL MVP honor

Alvarez led the majors in batting average and tied for second in the AL in home runs. He ranked second outright in RBIs, behind Baltimore’s Pete Alonso, who finished with 43 homers and 113 RBIs.

Although Alvarez served primarily as Houston’s designated hitter, his offensive production outweighed his limited defensive role. The four-time All-Star also paced the majors in walks (109), on-base percentage (.432) and slugging percentage (.601).

The 29-year-old Alvarez became Houston’s first AL MVP since Jose Altuve won the award in 2017. Tampa Bay third baseman Junior Caminero, who hit .276 with 42 homers and 101 RBIs, placed second in the AL voting. Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. was third.

Alvarez reached the majors with Houston in 2019 and immediately made an impact, batting .313 with 27 homers and 78 RBIs in only 87 games. He went on to win AL Rookie of the Year honors.

He was named ALCS MVP in 2021 and helped the Astros win the 2022 World Series. Over eight major league seasons, Alvarez has hit .300 with 212 home runs and 599 RBIs.

Crow-Armstrong builds on breakout 2025 season

Crow-Armstrong, 24, agreed to a six-year, $115 million contract in March. He is the Cubs’ first NL MVP since Kris Bryant won the award in 2016.

The young outfielder broke out last season while helping Chicago reach the playoffs for the first time since 2020. He batted .247 with 31 home runs, 95 RBIs and 35 stolen bases in 157 games.

The left-handed hitter took another major step forward at the plate in his fourth season, particularly against left-handed pitchers. Crow-Armstrong hit .280 against southpaws in 2026, up sharply from .188 the previous year.

“I would say, like, what contributed to making myself a consistent quality at-bat and all that stuff is just, like, getting to know the strike zone just that much better,” Crow-Armstrong said before the playoffs began. “I definitely missed less pitches in the zone, in the heart of the zone, that I should be hitting this year.”

Mariska Hargitay has given fans another reason to talk after reports revealed the extraordinary salary she receives for her long-running role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

The 62-year-old Emmy winner has portrayed Olivia Benson—who has since risen from detective to captain—since the crime drama premiered in September 1999. She has remained at the center of the series for 27 years.

Hargitay expanded her role behind the scenes in 2014, becoming an executive producer beginning with season 15. That additional responsibility also helped boost her compensation.

A new report from Variety claims the actress now earns an eye-catching $850,000 for every episode of the hit NBC police procedural.

With the exception of the shortened 25th season, which was affected by the 2023 Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes, SVU has typically produced between 21 and 22 episodes annually over the past five years. Based on that schedule, Hargitay could earn approximately $17.85 million to $18.7 million during the show’s current 28th season.

The reported figure comes as NBC prepares to broadcast the landmark 600th episode of Law & Order: SVU on Thursday evening.

Mariska Hargitay’s reported Law & Order: Special Victims Unit salary has attracted attention (Above, on the SVU set on October 26 in NYC)

Variety reports that Hargitay, 62, earns $850,000 per episode, potentially bringing her seasonal total to between $17.85 million and $18.7 million (Above, on Law & Order: SVU)

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Hargitay and NBC seeking comment, but neither had responded at the time of publication.

The size of Hargitay’s reported payday stands out because SVU continues to produce the kind of 20-plus-episode seasons associated with traditional broadcast television. By contrast, many of today’s biggest streaming and prestige-cable shows release considerably shorter seasons, often consisting of only six to 12 episodes.

For comparison, Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon are both reportedly paid $2 million per episode for Apple TV+’s drama The Morning Show. With 10 episodes per season, that would amount to roughly $20 million each for a full season.

Page Six has also reported that Zendaya earned $2 million per episode for the third season of Euphoria, according to Page Six.

Meanwhile, Only Murders in the Building stars Selena Gomez, Steve Martin and Martin Short are each said to make $1 million per episode. The Hulu comedy has so far released 10 episodes in each of its five seasons.

A closer broadcast-TV comparison is Ellen Pompeo, who spent more than two decades leading ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy through numerous cast changes.

Pompeo has reportedly earned $20 million per season, with more recent installments of the medical drama running for about 18 episodes—putting her compensation in a similar range to Hargitay’s reported earnings.

Following the taping of SVU’s 600th episode, Hargitay attended a special dinner celebrating the milestone and her longtime colleagues. She later revisited the speech she delivered while speaking with Variety.

Hargitay’s reported earnings would place her among television’s highest-paid female performers and actors overall. The news comes as SVU reaches its 600th episode on Thursday night (Above, on October 27 in NYC)

Hargitay recalled telling former ER star Julianna Margulies in 2024 that she feared staying on SVU could make audiences view her as a “one-trick pony.” Margulies replied, “Sweetheart, that ship’s sailed” (Above, on October 25 in NYC)

She was joined by former co-star Christopher Meloni, who played Detective Elliot Stabler until leaving the show in 2011. He is set to make another guest appearance in the 600th episode

“Here we are at episode 600, and it really doesn’t feel totally real—which, in a way, is exactly how it should feel, because it’s as if we all get to live in this dream of what you thought might be possible someday,” Hargitay said, becoming emotional. “And you’ve shown that it’s not only possible, but it’s so much better than anyone could have imagined.”

Even with such a major achievement to celebrate, Hargitay admitted that she initially had little desire to attend the gathering.

“I wanted to go home and go to bed,” she said. Still, she made the effort to attend and ended up sharing a table with creator Dick Wolf and Christopher Meloni, her former co-star and the original Elliot Stabler.

Meloni has returned to SVU several times since departing in 2011, and he will once again reunite with Benson in the 600th episode.

The evening ultimately exceeded Hargitay’s expectations, becoming, she said, “one of the most extraordinary, meaningful nights, and unexpectedly so to me.”

“Dick got up and said, ‘This has never happened, and it will never happen again.’ And everything just landed that night,” she recalled.

Hargitay also spoke about doubts she experienced in 2024, during SVU season 25, when she questioned whether it was time to leave the series. She had shared those concerns during a conversation with former ER star Julianna Margulies.

“I said, ‘I’ve got to leave the show too. I don’t want people to think I’m a one-trick pony.’”

Margulies answered: “Sweetheart, that ship’s sailed.”

Federal authorities have exposed the sophisticated tactics North Korean hackers use to steal hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency, as the government announced the seizure of more than $1.2 billion in stolen digital assets.

The disclosure follows the theft of $6.3 billion from Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. The attack has been described as “the largest bank heist in human history.”

The Department of Justice also said it had frozen more than $2.7 billion connected to the stolen funds.

Federal prosecutors separately uncovered an 18-month campaign in which North Korean hackers stole more than $400 million in cryptocurrency through fake video calls, deepfakes and a bogus “audio error.”

On Thursday, the Justice Department said federal authorities had seized the cloud servers used in the social-engineering operation, which investigators call “FaceStealer.”

In the scheme, cybercriminals send a video-conference invitation from an account taken over from someone the victim knows—often a person who had already been targeted by the hackers.

After the new target joins the meeting, the hackers covertly record the victim’s webcam feed. To make the call seem authentic, they play a prerecorded video of the previous victim or another person known to the target, creating the impression that trusted contacts are participating.

During the conversation, the hackers manufacture a technical problem, such as claiming they cannot hear the victim, then provide a link or prompt supposedly designed to resolve it.

That so-called solution secretly installs malware on the victim’s computer. Once the device is compromised, the hackers can access its contents, steal cryptocurrency and exploit the victim’s credentials to enter other systems.

The DOJ said the hackers also use “super intelligence” to create deepfake videos featuring prominent figures, particularly people in the cryptocurrency and web3 industries. Investigators said the fabricated footage makes the calls appear more credible.

Acting under a federal warrant, the FBI seized more than 900 webcam videos belonging to FaceStealer victims.

“Cryptocurrency unfortunately has become fertile ground for North Korea to defraud victims and fund its malign activities,” said Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California.

Authorities said that in multiple cases, the theft or account takeover occurred months—and sometimes more than a year—after the original infection.

Investigators said the hackers also extracted contact lists, social-media accounts and messaging applications from each newly compromised victim, providing a fresh pool of potential targets.

The hackers have increasingly expanded their efforts beyond cryptocurrency users to people who develop and maintain open-source software, according to the DOJ. Their aim is to compromise those individuals’ devices and the repository accounts they control.

Federal prosecutors said the targeting “appears calculated to enable software supply-chain attacks,” allowing malicious code to reach a much broader network of downstream users.

“North Korea’s FaceStealer is a highly effective social engineering scheme capable of deceiving even the most experienced technical and security-conscious computer user,” said Patrick Grandy, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.

Grandy said the operation exploits people’s trust in widely used video-conferencing platforms as well as their personal relationships.

“If you can’t imagine a scenario where you might fall prey to it, you are not thinking creatively enough,” Grandy said.

Brett Leatherman, operations director of the FBI’s Cyber Branch, said North Korean hackers have used the operation to aggressively pursue targets in the cryptocurrency and web3 industries.

The DOJ said the hackers operate under numerous names, including Sapphire Sleet, UNC1069, Dangerous Password, CryptoCore, APT38, BlueNoroff and Stardust Chollima.

“North Korea’s government bankrolls its rogue regime and illicit weapons program through cryptocurrency theft,” said M. Scott Proctor, principal deputy assistant attorney general for national security.

On Oct. 29, a North Korean group known as TraderTraitor carried out the record-setting $6.3 billion theft from Binance wallets in just 20 minutes, beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET.

The group targeted the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange in a rapid attack that an insider described as “the largest bank heist in human history.” Investigators said the hackers gained entry by compromising an engineer’s laptop.

In an update last Friday, Binance co-CEO Richard Teng said the company’s security team had “uncovered additional points of breach,” indicating that the complex operation may have involved multiple people.

Authorities said efforts to trace and recover the funds remain underway as the hackers move the stolen cryptocurrency through bridges, mixers and exchanges.

TraderTraitor, the North Korean cybercrime group suspected in the Binance attack, was also linked to a $1.5 billion theft from crypto exchange Bybit last year. At the time, that was considered the largest cryptocurrency attack in history.