This article outlines the historical significance of Unification Day in Bulgaria, a holiday celebrating the 1885 merger of the country with Eastern Rumelia. The source explains that after centuries of Ottoman rule, a peace treaty briefly established a large Bulgarian state before international powers divided the territory once again. This partition led to years of civil unrest and organized resistance against the decision to keep the southern region under foreign influence. The narrative culminates in the successful revolutionary actions in Plovdiv that joined the two regions together. Ultimately, the text highlights how this pivotal event remains a cornerstone of Bulgarian national identity and history.

Tatuy TV is celebrating its 19th anniversary at a very difficult time in our history as an independent nation. With a people engulfed in daily hardship and our sovereignty compromised on several fronts, the outlook is clearly bleak.

In this editorial, we take a close look at the situation in Venezuela, not to sink us further into despair, but to reject the normalization of the current course.

We refuse to accept this neocolonialism as inevitable or even desirable. Gaining clarity on the current context is essential for us to regroup and rebuild our future.

The Pessimism of the Intellect

Although this story did not begin on January 3 (and we must analyze how we reached that point), recent months have been marked by a dizzying political shift in favor of the bourgeoisie – both domestic and foreign – and US imperialism. Our current condition as a country is one of completely compromised sovereignty.

If oil revenues go into an account at the US Treasury Department, and the national government has to submit a budget in order to have its own resources (partially) released, if judicial and electoral bodies are appointed under US tutelage, if the most important laws are drafted in consultation with the White House and Chevron executives, if the imperial army can come and go as it pleases and bomb whatever it wants on national soil, what is truly left of an independent nation?

In what world can a country that maintains criminal sanctions against our people, that bombed Venezuela and kidnapped its president, be an “ally”? The US ambassador struts around “inspecting” infrastructure and hospitals as if he were the overseer on a plantation, escorted by the adeco [anti-Chavista opposition] deputy foreign minister [Oliver Blanco], who smiles like a good little Yankee lapdog.

We could dwell on the battle of numbers surrounding the recent “historic” oil agreement with the Trump administration. However, the analysis is quite clear. The Rodríguez government has already rolled back national control and participation in the oil industry to disastrous levels, and this deal will offer even less favorable terms for the country.

Plain and simple, Venezuela’s oil reserves, even if they formally remain its property, have been placed at the service of an empire seeking to halt its decline. That gringo monster that sows death and destruction throughout the world now runs on Venezuelan fuel.

Selling Snakeoil and Hoping it Trickles Down

If in recent years there was any gap between a policy of class reconciliation in the face of economic blockade and a discourse that retained certain key elements of the Bolivarian project, that gap has now closed completely.

Gone are any notions that PDVSA can produce oil, that housing is a right and not a commodity, that land should belong to those who work it, and so on, not to mention terms like “socialism” or “anti-imperialism,” which have disappeared entirely.

Instead, today the goal is exclusively to create the best possible conditions for capital. Laws must be reformed, assets denationalized and privatized, evictions carried out in both rural and urban areas, foreign currency handed out to the bourgeoisie without restraint, and labor regulations made more flexible – whatever it takes so that the wealthy can feel confident they will earn even more money.

And then the trickle-down effect will follow. All the key tenets of the neoliberal discourse of the past 40 years are now commonplace in the national government’s rhetoric: that we must attract investment because that is the only way to create jobs, and that the only way to have schools and hospitals is by subordinating the energy industry to the United States and its corporations.

There is no better example of this surrender to foreign capitalist interests than the fact that half the country is permanently in the dark so that corporations can continue to extract their profits from our subsoil.

Nor is the avalanche of reversals anywhere near over. Still to come are the government’s plan to privatize state assets, the labor reform tailored to [business lobby] FEDECÁMARAS’ interests, the downsizing of the state in the name of “efficiency,” and the restructuring of a debt as massive as it is illegitimate, all aimed at deepening Venezuela’s dependence even further.

Tragedy and Farce at the Same Time

For years, internal debate was suppressed and repressed because we were under siege by imperialism and the fascist international. It did not matter that the discussion was about the best way to resist without sacrificing the project. We had to remain silent in the face of all kinds of abuses, since if the right-wing opposition came to power, it would dismantle all the gains of the revolution and hand over the oil on a silver platter to the United States.

And now the official propagandists want to prove that you can square the circle, that what has all the hallmarks of colonial surrender and submission is in fact a “win-win” strategic advance.

There is no mistake more serious and outrageous than taking the people for fools. For months we heard that we had to prepare for people’s war, that the U.S. would face its own “Vietnam 2.0” and would not receive a single drop of oil if it were to attack Venezuela. No one wanted a bloodbath, but it was asserted that we had to asymmetrically resist against imperialist aggression. Then after January 3 we were told that we didn’t have enough weapons and that being a vassal of the empire is not so bad.

Another central argument was internationalism. We were told that despite all the setbacks and internal contradictions, Venezuela was still on the “good side,” the side of multipolarity. And that was not a lie. Venezuela maintained relations with Cuba and sent oil there – albeit less than in the past –, supported Iran, fiercely defended the Palestinian cause, and denounced imperialism in multilateral forums.

Today, Venezuela’s foreign policy is no different from that of any other country subordinate to Washington. Not a drop of oil for Cuba, zero support for Iran, an alliance with the Gulf monarchies, silence on Palestine, and restored ties with Israel. Strategic relations with Russia and China are being sidelined, and their companies are gradually being displaced to make way for those authorized by Trump.

Those who adapt and justify any scenario are opportunists who lack principles. The sole objective is to remain in power, even if it means implementing the exact opposite of what was previously proclaimed. The current leadership simply concluded that the best bet for staying in power was to be as useful as possible to imperialism.

History Is Not Over

In the not-so-distant past, the Venezuelan people reclaimed their dignity, which had been stripped away by one group or another for centuries, and emerged as the protagonists of their own history. They did so under the leadership of Comandante Chávez. Grassroots struggles propelled Chávez to Miraflores presidential palace, and he, as an “outsider,” changed the rules of a game that had until then been reserved exclusively for the elites.

This phenomenon was no historical accident. It was not the result of oil at $120 a barrel. It was a heroic creation, born of struggle, critical thinking, and a clear vision: socialism. Along the way, mistakes were made; old vices were ignored, and new ones were created. We must be willing to debate all of this with humility and honesty.

However, we will not renounce Chávez simply because his legacy was trampled upon by those who represent the very opposite of the Bolivarian project, yet cling to the image of the Comandante to inherit a legitimacy they never deserved.

Revolution does not happen through shortcuts. The struggle is also for historical memory. And here, those who want to be the Titanic’s orchestra just to hold onto their positions or small fiefdoms are free to do so. But they should at least have the dignity not to pretend that this course has anything to do with Chávez and Bolívar.

The empire is making plans for Venezuela’s future while different factions fight to become the lackey government of the moment. The challenge, both in our nation and across the continent, is to reorganize our equals, the working people who have nothing to lose but their chains. Starting over does not mean starting from scratch.

From our media front, as well as in the political spaces where we participate, we will do our part to bring these struggles to light and sharpen our collective consciousness. Imperialism and its lackeys will not have the final say. The Venezuelan people will once again become protagonists and set the wheels of their history in motion.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Venezuelanalysis editorial staff.

Translated by Venezuelanalysis.

Source: Tatuy Tv

It’s been a remarkable year for Bad Bunny, one of pop music’s biggest stars. After winning multiple trophies earlier this year at the Grammys, including album of the year for “Débi Tirar Más Fotos,” he can add another accolade: Emmy winner.

The Puerto Rican rapper and singer, also known as Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, won his first Emmy for variety special (live) on Saturday for his historic Super Bowl halftime show. It was the first Spanish-language halftime show, a 13-minute spectacle that transformed a football field into a variety of scenes including a sugar cane field, bodega, wedding party and casita, like the one in his 2025 San Juan residency. It also featured performances by Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin. Mikael Wood, The Times’ pop music critic, called it “a busy and colorful performance that drew lines between the traditional folk forms of his native island and the throbbing reggaeton beats that have made him an icon to young people around the globe.”

Bad Bunny served as a producer on the show. It won seven Emmys overall, including for directing for a variety special and music direction.

Also honored at Saturday’s ceremony was Mariska Hargitay for her documentary “My Mom Jayne,” about her mother Jayne Mansfield, a Hollywood actor who died in a car accident when Hargitay was 3 years old. Hargitay also received an Emmy for directing the film and Tony Hardmon won for cinematography. The movie, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year, had a limited theatrical run before being released on HBO in June 2025. Hargitay won an Emmy in 2006 for lead actress in a drama for playing Det. Olivia Benson in “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”

In an interview with The Times last year, Hargitay said, “Making this film has been so extraordinary to me and totally reframed the narrative for me,” about Mansfield and the struggles she encountered over her brief but celebrated career. The film also revealed that Hargitay’s biological father was Nelson Sardelli, a former entertainer, and not Mickey Hargitay, the man who raised her and Mansfield’s second husband.

Mariska Hargitay will host the Primetime Emmy Awards on Sept. 14 in Los Angeles.

The first pair of Emmy ceremonies, formerly called the Creative Arts Emmys, are held over two nights, two weekends before the Primetime Emmy Awards, and honor many of the behind-the-scenes workers and craftspeople in television. An abridged version of the ceremonies will be broadcast Sept. 12 on FXX and stream on Hulu the following day.

Here is a list of winners from Saturday’s ceremony:

Variety special (live)
“The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny”

Variety special (pre-recorded)
“The Muppet Show”

Documentary or nonfiction series
“Mr. Scorsese”

Documentary or nonfiction special
“My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay”

Unstructured reality program
“Love on the Spectrum”

Structured reality program
“Antiques Roadshow”

Host for a reality of reality competition program
Alan Cumming, “The Traitors”

Game show
“Jeopardy!”

Game show host
Jimmy Kimmel, “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”

The complete list of winners for Saturday’s ceremony can be found at televisionacademy.com.

While her trophy cabinet is overflowing with gold medals and world title belts, perhaps her greatest legacy is leaving women’s boxing in a vastly better place than she found it – that Serrano trilogy lifting women’s boxing to new heights.

Taylor broke through the barriers with a grace which belied the obstacles she faced yet her quiet determination and humble nature will serve as an example of what can be achieved by belief, hard work and a refusal to accept her lot as young girls can now walk the path she laid.

Fierce inside the ring yet unassuming outside of it – even factoring in an impulse-buy speedboat, since sold – superlatives such as trailblazer, icon and Ireland’s greatest sportsperson are not hyperbolic, for Taylor’s status as a legend is in no way cliched.

She has indicated she will remain in the sport, but for now, there is time to savour an extraordinary career, with her place among boxing’s greats set in stone.

Irish boxing is going to be a lesser place.

“I’m retired now so I can eat what I want, but I’m just going to enjoy a nice celebration and look back on a dream ending to a dream career.

“My story is the story of everyone in this room: we all have our ups and downs. I think people resonate with your vulnerabilities and your successes – saw me cope with the heartbreak of Rio, the Chantelle Cameron loss and personal difficulties.

“My story is the story of everyone in this room.”

Upon arrival at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, Infantino remained tightlipped on his re-election as FIFA president.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino is staying mum on the leadership challenge he faces as a result of his failed plan to sell rights to private investors in the World Cup, and he declined to answer questions about his re-election upon arrival at the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland.

Infantino, who faces continuing pressure and the prospect of a criminal case, was in the stands speaking with Polish football federation president Cezary Kulesza as hosts Poland faced Argentina on the opening day of the tournament on Saturday.

However, when he arrived at the Arena Katowice, the 56-year-old avoided questions about his future at the global governing body for football.

“There will be a lot to say, but there will be a right place and a right time to say this. It’s not today, it’s not here, but here and today, we are enjoying football,” Infantino told British broadcaster Sky News outside the venue.

“We are continuing at FIFA, of course, to work to give every corner of the world a chance, an opportunity, a dignity, to find ways and means for them to become better and to participate and to celebrate football, which we all love.”

Infantino did not answer when asked if he had considered resigning or whether he still intends to stand for a fourth term next year.

Infantino had mostly kept out of the spotlight in the weeks since his World Cup sell-off plan fell apart amid opposition from many FIFA member nations and some of his own officials.

The European nations — a quarter of the 24-team field — backed down on a boycott threat last week, citing assurances from FIFA that the plan would not be revived.

Legal action over the original attempt continues, and Europe has a leading role in efforts to oust Infantino ahead of next year’s FIFA election.

A court filing by FIFA on Thursday accused UEFA of running a “smear campaign against FIFA and its leadership” as the European football body seeks discovery of evidence related to the FIFA Forward Enterprise plan.

Infantino infuriated football leaders worldwide in July, shortly after the World Cup ended, when his plan for a $20bn subsidiary controlling FIFA commercial rights, including the World Cup, was revealed by British daily The Times.

The spinoff was to be 20 percent owned by investors led by a New York fund created by Joshua Kushner, whose initial money was to pay offers of $20m to each of FIFA’s 211 member federations. They were given a mid-September deadline to accept.

The FIFA president dropped his proposal within four days. UEFA had support from the Asian Football Confederation and North American football body CONCACAF, and there was criticism of the plan and of Infantino from senior FIFA officials.

Nantes, France

As dilemmas go, it’s an unusual one: saddle up a giant squid or board a submersible for a voyage to the bottom of the ocean. In the end, I find myself drawn to a fierce-looking merhorse and tentatively take the reins. High above, my daughter glides by on a flying fish, metallic fins flapping, while her Dad is battling stormy seas at the helm of a huge conch shell. A ride on the Carrousel des Mondes Marins (marine worlds carousel) – a three-storey steampunk merry-go-round inspired by Jules Verne’s novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea – is one of the highlights of a visit to Nantes. A surreal fairground ride, a work of art and a homage to the city’s most famous son. It’s also a lot of fun.

On the banks of the Loire, 30 miles from the Atlantic ocean, Nantes is a city whose fortunes were built on the sea. As a young boy growing up near the docks in the 1830s, Verne dreamed of being a ship’s captain, but it wasn’t to be. Instead, he embarked on a series of journeys of the imagination, channelling his wanderlust into novels such as Around the World in 80 Days and Journey to the Centre of the Earth. The last of Nantes’ shipyards closed in the 1980s, but Verne’s unique vision provided the inspiration for a radical art and regeneration project, Les Machines de l’Île, that has breathed life into the abandoned quays and warehouses of the Île de Nantes, the river island that was home to the city’s docks.

This is now the stomping ground of the Grand Éléphant, a 12m-high mechanical pachyderm that carries passengers on tours of the island, spraying bystanders with water from its trunk. I’d seen photos but nothing prepares you for the thrill of turning a corner and seeing the real thing lumbering towards you. You can learn about the magic behind the machinery at the nearby Galerie des Machines, where the creators bring a mechanical menagerie of strange creatures to life.

The Verne connection also inspired the name of the city’s summer arts festival, Le Voyage à Nantes, which transforms streets, parks and public spaces into an open-air art gallery from July to September. Our visit coincides with the festival’s opening weekend, and the squares and avenues of the elegant Graslin district are busy with DJ sets, food stalls and people checking out the new artworks. In the Place Graslin, a beautiful square built – like much of Nantes – from chalky-white tuffeau stone from the Loire valley, some kind of cataclysmic eruption has been conjured up in front of the opera house. Huge ammonites appear to have been forced up from beneath the earth, engulfing cars in a mountain of rubble, their doors wide open, radios playing, as though abandoned in haste.

Just yards away, children are playing in the dancing water fountains of the square, while the white-aproned waiters of art nouveau brasserie La Cigale weave through the pavement tables delivering seafood platters to diners unfazed by the apocalyptic scene before them. Titled Fossil Opera, the artwork is a commentary on consumerism and the fleeting nature of human endeavour, and is one of about a dozen site-specific installations that have appeared in the city, as if by magic.

Even outside the summer months, there is plenty to discover in France’s sixth largest city. Each year, a handful of the festival installations are selected to become permanent fixtures, which has resulted in an impressive collection of contemporary public art, from Les Anneaux, a series of 18 giant steel rings on the Quai des Antilles, which frame views of the Loire and light up at night, to Tadashi Kawamata’s Belvédère de l’Hermitage, a viewing platform inspired by a swallow’s nest, which juts over a sheer cliff.

All of these cultural highlights, old and new, are linked by the Ligne Verte, a 12-mile (20km) green line painted on the pavement. We follow the trail through the Passage Pommeraye, an exquisite 19th century glass-roofed shopping arcade; past the imposing Château des ducs de Bretagne, a moated 15th-century castle; stop off at the excellent Musée d’arts de Nantes, which houses an impressive collection of international art spanning seven centuries; and finish up at the peaceful Jardin des Plantes, a charming (and free) botanical garden which is home to a handful of modern art installations and a good cafe. From here it’s a short stroll to the Lieu Unique, a cultural space and concert venue in the factory that once produced the city’s beloved buttery LU biscuits.

And there’s more to come. The Jardin Extraordinaire is a newly created garden and climbing wall in a disused granite quarry in the Bas‑Chantenay district. The exotic planting, waterfall and paddling pools were inspired by descriptions in Verne’s novel, The Mysterious Island. The nearby Chantenay docks have been colonised by studios, music spaces and the Little Atlantique Brewery, housed in a 19th-century former oil mill. Opposite the quarry, a derelict industrial building is being transformed into a new riverside cultural hub, the Cité des Imaginaires, which will eventually provide a home for an expanded Jules Verne museum. It’s an ambitious project: creative, unconventional and looking to the future. I’m sure Jules Verne would approve.
Joanne O’Connor

The trip was supported by Le Voyage à Nantes. Oceania Hôtel de France, just off the Place Graslin, has air‑conditioned doubles from €101 room-only

Winter’s Journey, a seasonal festival of concerts, temporary light installations, artworks and gastronomic events, runs from 21 November to 3 January.

Basel, Switzerland

Unless you’re a professional who makes their way to the Art Basel fair every year, chances are Switzerland’s third largest city will have passed you by – or rather you will have passed it by. Basel is one stop before Zurich on the fast train from Paris, but to whiz through would be a mistake. For art and design lovers, it is the perfect city to explore on a long weekend.

Basel bills itself as “the city of art and culture on the Rhine”, and it lives up to its boast. Stroll around the charming old town and marvel at the cathedral before enjoying a cold beer at one of the many cafes. If temperatures soar, you might want to join local people with a dip in the Rhine.

Once you’ve done all that, you need to engage with the area’s art offerings. Within the city, the Kunstmuseum holds more than 300,000 works spanning eight centuries, with big hitters such as Monet, Van Gogh and Warhol, while Museum Tinguely is home to the work of the idiosyncratic Swiss sculptor Jean Tinguely and his dada-esque machines.

But the two real draws are on the outskirts of the city. Fondation Beyeler in the suburb of Riehen is home to an impressive collection of modern and contemporary art, and always has a blockbuster exhibition (currently Pierre Huyghe) to check out. A short bus or train ride across the German border in Weil am Rhein is the Vitra Design Museum, home to one of the world’s largest permanent exhibitions of modern furniture design.

Before you admire the furniture collection, take a walk around the campus, where you can marvel at the main museum building designed by Frank Gehry; the Vitra Schaudepot – which houses the furniture collection – designed by Herzog & de Meuron; Zaha Hadid’s former fire station; and Tadao Ando’s conference centre. There is a beautiful garden by the Dutch designer Piet Oudolf, and the recently added Doshi Retreat for a moment of quiet reflection designed by the Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi, his first completed project outside India and the last he worked on before he died in 2023.

That’s half the day gone, so time to head inside. In lots of ways, exploring the Schaudepot is like walking through a giant doll’s house, with the rooms filled with instantly recognisable furniture icons from the 19th century to today, including works by Verner Panton, Le Corbusier, Alvar Aalto and Charles and Ray Eames. The museum also puts on temporary exhibitions. And if all of that has exhausted you, head to the VitraHaus Café, which serves a delicious lunch.
Max Benato

The Volkshaus, a boutique hotel in the old town, has doubles from 152 swiss francs (£138) room-only

Lübeck, Germany

Unless you’ve read Buddenbrooks, Thomas Mann’s epic family saga, you may not have heard of Lübeck. But in the middle ages, this port city in Germany, 70km north-east of Hamburg, was one of the richest and most powerful places on Earth. Today, despite the best efforts of the RAF to destroy it in 1942, it remains a beautifully intact medieval gem.

The old town is a Unesco world heritage site. It sits on an island in the centre of the city, encircled by the rivers Trave and Wakenitz, and the water is a good place to start exploring. My boyfriend and I hired an electric boat (€49 for up to six people) and spent an hour circumnavigating and gazing at its distinctive seven church spires.

Back on dry land, we set off on a guided walking tour, starting at the imposing – if wonky – Holsten Gate. We took in the five red brick churches the spires belong to (two have doubles), and climbed one of them, St Petri’s viewing tower, for a panoramic view. We also stopped at the 800-year-old town hall on the marketplace.

But just as fascinating was what lies behind the gothic splendour. At one time, there were 180 hidden alleyways and courtyards threaded through the old town, and about 80 remain. These labyrinthine lanes were built behind wealthy merchants’ mansions to house the poor. Today, the restored cottages are sought-after and the flower-filled, cobbled alleys are charming to explore.

To better understand Lübeck’s past, we visited the European Hansemuseum in the old castle monastery. It tells the story of the Hanseatic League, the powerful trade network that stretched from England to Russia and gave Lübeck (“the Queen of the League”) its wealth in the middle ages and its status as a free city state right up to 1937.

In a nearby palace, the Museum Behnhaus Drägerhaus displays 19th- and early 20th-century German and European art, including work by Edvard Munch, who visited Lübeck and painted its salt warehouses. Just round the corner is the Günter Grass-Haus, where the writer regularly stayed (he died in Lübeck in 2015).

We visited in June during the HanseKulturFestival, when the quarter around St Jakob’s church was full of live music stages, food stalls and outdoor bars. The next festival isn’t until 2028, but there are annual museum, theatre and literature nights, and popup live music in the summer.

Lübeck has three natural open-air swimming areas, one on the island. And the seaside isn’t far away – we had a day trip to Travemünde, a historic resort town with miles of sandy beach, taking a scenic river ferry there (90 minutes) and a 20-minute train back.

In town, the medieval Schiffergesellschaft (Seafarers’ Guild) is now a traditional Hanseatic restaurant, with long communal tables. Alongside North Sea fish and Holstein meat dishes are vegetarian versions of labskaus, a sort of hash.

Sadly, we couldn’t visit Buddenbrookhaus, the museum dedicated to the novel, as it is being renovated. It is expected to reopen in 2030 – which gives you plenty of time to read Mann’s 864-page doorstopper. Like Lübeck itself, it is worth the effort.
Rachel Dixon

The trip was provided by germany.travel and luebeck-tourismus.de. Accommodation was provided by Liho Lübeck, doubles from £73 room-only

Parma, Italy

Parma is just far enough off Italy’s main travel routes to discourage the huge crowds of tourists that flood the likes of Venice and Florence. Most travellers reach this tranquil Italian gem by flying into Milan or Bologna, followed by an hour’s train ride. It is definitely worth that extra effort, as I discover a city that ticks every box for a weekend getaway: fabulous museums and frescoed churches without long queues or the need to book a timeslot in advance; friendly, affordable trattorie and osterie showcasing a feast of local food and wines; and, if you time it right, the chance to catch an opera composed by locally born Giuseppe Verdi in the intimate Teatro Regio.

The historic centre of Parma is small and easily explored on foot, taking me past an array of architectural masterpieces. I kick off at the grand Piazza Duomo, dominated by the imposing 900-year-old romanesque cathedral. Everyone’s eyes are drawn up to the ornate cupola, decorated with a captivating illusionist fresco by local Renaissance artist Antonio da Correggio. Next to the cathedral stands the early gothic Battistero, an octagonal baptistery whose bare, minimalist exterior contrasts with an incredible explosion of colours from the 13th- and 14th-century paintings that cover the interior. Then, tucked away behind the Duomo, I come upon the entrance of the medieval Monastero di San Giovanni Evangelista, whose cloisters and garden are a peaceful oasis. Entry to the monastery and cathedral is free.

Parma’s big must-see is the monumental Palazzo della Pilotta, a baroque complex of palatial museums, a library and remarkable 400-year-old theatre, all included in a single €18 entry ticket. Just by the Parma river that slices the city into two, the palazzo was built by the Farnese family, whose patronage created most of the city’s Renaissance monuments. The Teatro Farnese, made almost entirely of wood, is rarely used as a venue today, but a visit remains an incredible experience. I leave most sightseeing time, though, for the Pilotta’s landmark Galleria Nazionale di Parma, a treasure trove of old master paintings. It may not quite rival the collection of the Uffizi, but I enjoy the chance to just turn up without booking in advance and quietly appreciate works by Leonardo da Vinci, Fra Angelico, Canaletto and Tintoretto without being surrounded by crowds.

Sightseeing is only part of Parma’s attraction, however, as this is one of Italy’s food capitals. I walk into the rustic, raucous OsteMagno bar, where everyone is tucking into tagliere – wooden boards piled with razor-thin slices of cured ham, the famous prosciutto crudo di Parma, artisan salami and crumbly aged parmigiano reggiano cheese, accompanied by a glass of the local’s favourite tipple, fizzy red Lambrusco wine, which is a lot more drinkable than I expect.

This is not a city to seek out chic, gourmet restaurants, but rather one of the many traditional trattorie such as Da Antonia, whose eponymous owner has overseen the cucina for more than 50 years, or the 120-year-old Trattoria Corrieri, serving up generous plates of homemade pasta for less than €15.
John Brunton

Palazzo Dalla Rosa Prati has doubles from €80 room-only

Santander, Spain

Often dismissed as little more than a ferry terminal – somewhere to stop overnight if you want to take your dog to Europe or lower your carbon footprint – the port city of Santander is undergoing something of a cultural renaissance. It’s already blessed with a spectacular bay facing the Cantabrian mountains, wide sandy beaches, grand, colonnaded plazas and superb food, but the opening of new art spaces and museums in the coming months will put the Cantabrian capital firmly on the weekend-break map.

Leading the way on 8 September is Faro Santander – a new cultural centre in a grand historical building housing a 1,000-piece art collection belonging to Banco Santander, including works by Velázquez, Goya, Titian, Rubens and Picasso. Different parts of the collection will be shown at different times.

With its ornate white facade facing the bay, the Pereda building was previously the bank’s headquarters, but has been transformed into a striking, 21st-century museum space by Pritzker prize-winning British architect David Chipperfield.

Santander’s moment in the spotlight will extend into 2027 when Madrid’s Reina Sofia Museum opens its first outpost, set in a similarly grand neo-Renaissance building just a few metres away from Faro Santander. The museum will house the Archivo Lafuente, with paintings, sculptures and manuscripts, including major collections on dadaism and the Spanish civil war, as well as art from Spain, North America and Latin America.

Faro Santander and Archivo Lafuente will form two points on a kind of “art triangle”, along with architect Renzo Piano’s 2017 Centro Botín contemporary art centre just over the road. With a bijou but impressive permanent collection, including works by Matisse, Juan Gris, Joaquín Sorolla and Mark Rothko, the Centro Botín sits on the waterfront like a giant, stilt-mounted, 60s alarm clock sawn in half.

Spaniards cottoned on to Santander’s charms long ago, and the seafront is lined with elegant fin-de-siècle villas built when well-heeled Madrileños discovered that the city’s Atlantic breezes were the perfect respite from the Spanish capital’s infernal summer. More than 100 years later, while Britain was experiencing its own heatwave, I followed their lead. Temperatures were in the balmy high 20s as I ambled past toddlers building sand castles and teenagers frolicking in the surf on El Sardinero beach, just 15 minutes by bus from the city centre.

The centre itself is wonderfully walkable and there’s an unhurried, laid-back vibe in the streets, grand plazas and narrow alleys near the gothic cathedral, lined with bars serving pinchos – the Cantabrian equivalent to tapas.

After tucking into tender, grilled squid, laced with gutsy garlic and olive oil, at Mesón Rampalay on a leafy square, I spent a fascinating couple of hours at Mupac – the Museum of Prehistory and Archaeology of Cantabria, just a few minutes’ walk away from Faro Santander.

The museum, which is home to one of Spain’s most important prehistoric collections, features excellent interactive displays, and in 2027 it is moving to a brand new, multimillion-euro building. By next year, it seems, Santander will be not just the capital of Cantabria, but a capital of culture too.
Eddi Fiegel

The trip was provided by Faro Santander. Abba Santander, near the Centro Botín, has stylish doubles from €66 room-only

Michelle Keegan has reportedly quit a drama just weeks before she was set to begin filming and now a former Doctor Who star has is said to have taken over the role

Michelle Keegan has quit a drama just weeks before she was set to begin filming.

The actress, 39, is said to have been gearing to take on the part of a working class barrister in a new series that has been penned by Sherlock creator Steve Thompson, with cameras set to roll from November.

But it’s now thought that Michelle, who has to Palma, 18 months, with husband Mark Wright, has pulled out of the project in what is being called a “huge blow” for the production.

A source said: “Michelle was really keen to take on the meaty role, but the heavy filming schedule would take her away from daughter Palma for too long.

According to reports, former Doctor Who actress Jodie Whittaker has been drafted into the role instead but fans of Michelle will soon be able to see her in in Netflix drama The Woods, which is based on the Harlan Coben thriller of the same name.

Speaking to The Sun, the source added: “The hours were quite intense and the project was starting straight after her Netflix drama The Woods and she just couldn’t commit. She is dedicated to her acting career, but like all working mums has to prioritise being there for her family, juggling work, parenting and being present for Palma.”

Michelle shot to fame when in 2008 when she was cast as Tina McIntyre on Coronation Street, and stayed with the soap for seven years before making a permanent exit when the much-loved Rovers barmaid was killed off as part of a whodunnit plot. Since then, she has Michelle has become one of the most famous actresses in Britain, starring in top-rated programmes like Brassic and Ten Pound Poms.

Michelle previously starred in Fool Me Once for Netflix, which was based on Coben’s 2016 thriller, but this time round, she will play Lucy Silverfield, who helps her former partner, played by Tom Bateman. In

When the latest adaptation of The Woods was first announced, Coben said in a statement: “The Woods is a haunting and very personal story. It has everything you expect from us – twisty, turning, gasp-inducing – but at the core is a story of old love and yearning.

“Working with a cast led by Tom Bateman, Michelle Keegan, Mandeep Dhillon, Pearce Quigley, James Buckley, Tom Allen – it’s an embarrassment of riches.”

Penned by Danny Brocklehurst, the upcoming eight-part thriller begins with a mysterious disappearance 20 years ago that leaves a family devastated.

When new evidence comes to light that convinces barrister Paul ‘Cope’ Copeland (played by Bateman) his missing sister could be alive after all, he begins a relentless investigation to unearth the truth.

The Mirror has contacted Michelle’s representatives for comment

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If there’s one thing Jed Wheeler and Marcus Ruiz Evans agree on, it’s that things in California need to change.

The state sends too much money to Washington, they say, and is both politically and culturally out of step with a country that lacks its openness and vitality.

“We can solve our own problems and don’t need to wait on a government 3,000 miles away,” said Wheeler, echoing Evans’ suggestion that Democratic-leaning California would be far better off going it alone as a separate country.

They sharply disagree, though, on the matter of how and precisely when California should seek a divorce from the other 49 states.

Evans is pushing a ballot measure that would put the question of secession before voters in 2018, believing the time has never been so ripe to form a breakaway nation. Wheeler is working to create a pro-secession political party, looking a dozen or more years down the road when its candidates hold office, and fears that a premature vote would undermine the effort.

In short, the effort to cleave California faces a crackup of its own.

At least four proposals are floating about to reshape the state in some fashion, including two that would split up California along different axes. All work at cross-purposes, and the result is varied degrees of hostility among proponents; none of the plans seems likely to reach fruition anytime soon, if ever.

That is something they have in common.

Since 1849, when the state was remade in a rush of greed and ambition, there have been more than 200 efforts to split apart, pull away or otherwise reimagine the vast empire known as California. Not one has succeeded.

The latest, most conspicuous attempt, a proposed ballot initiative fueled by anti-Trump sentiments and titillated national media coverage (those wacky Californians!) seems destined to fall short of qualifying for the ballot, barring a sudden change in fortune.

Supporters of the measure, led by Evans, have until July 25 to collect nearly 600,000 valid signatures to place an independence measure before voters in November 2018. The group, which received the go-ahead to collect signatures at the end of January, has yet to reach a quarter of that number, according to the California secretary of state’s office.

The group has also not reported raising any campaign contributions, according to the secretary’s office, which oversees elections.

Evans, 40, a former government affairs consultant now working full-time on the “Calexit” campaign, insisted a robust signature-gathering process was underway, engaging thousands of volunteers in 82 chapters across the state. However, the precise number collected was unknown, he said, because of the loose structure of his pro-secession group, Yes California.

“Some are mailing them in. Some are holding them. Some are taking them directly to their county registrar of voters,” he said. Asked to assess the odds of making the ballot, Evans responded, “Good. I won’t say great.”

The effort, uphill from the start, has not been helped, he said, by reports linking the Calexit movement to Russia, which Evans called preposterous and unfair. The co-leader of Yes California is Louis Marinelli, a former San Diego-area Assembly candidate now teaching English in Russia, where, among promotional activities, he appeared last fall at a Kremlin-backed pro-secession conference in Moscow.

“It has definitely been damaging to us getting big donors and hurting our ability to bring on new members because of clouding the issue without accurately reporting all the facts,” Evans said, citing the organization’s 44,000 “likes” on Facebook as just one example.

Nor, he said, was it beneficial when Nigel Farage, a leading proponent of Britain’s exit from the European Union and prominent Trump supporter, recently flitted into California to talk up a vague plan to split the state down the middle, creating a coastal “West California” and interior “East California.”

“They’re trying to confuse people,” Evans huffed. “Classic Trump.”

It seems Evans and his pro-secession movement might have found an ally in Wheeler and others working to form a political party dedicated to achieving state independence. Many tenets of the left-leaning California National Party — the state needs to keep more of the money it sends to Washington and establish home-grown policies on issues such as immigration and healthcare — echo those propounded by Yes California.

The nascent party has taken no official position on the 2018 secession drive. But Wheeler, the party’s vice chairman, believes the initiative would lose, damaging the independence movement. Better, he said, to elect sympathetic lawmakers under the National Party banner who could then work to bring about California’s eventual departure.

“We’re trying to be very pragmatic and realistic where we are as a movement,” said Wheeler, 36, who works for a digital media company in San Francisco.

While “the idea of having a ballot initiative is seductive and appeals to a lot of people,” he said, “you can’t harvest the crop without the work of planting the seeds, then tilling the soil and all that stuff first.”

In California’s far north, a determined group of dissenters have done that labor for decades — so far to no avail.

Efforts have been underway since before World War II to break off more than a dozen rural counties and combine them with a chunk of southern Oregon to form Jefferson, the nation’s 51^st state.

The impetus is the same that drives backers of secession: the notion of a far-off government (in this case, Sacramento) ignoring local sentiments and a sense of being outnumbered and outvoted by a population whose social and political views are at odds with the prevailing (in this instance, conservative) culture. The proposed flag — a pair of Xs, or double cross — captures the animating sentiment.

“We really don’t have fair representation,” said Terry Rapoza, 67, a leader of the Jefferson movement in Shasta County, where he sells T-shirts and other souvenir clothing in Redding.

He cited recent passage of a 10-year, $52-billion road repair and transportation bill; the hike in gas taxes, he said, will have much less impact in urban California than in rural stretches, where people might drive 20 miles to the grocery store, or a dozen miles to pick up their mail.

But he has little use for secession, which strikes him as bizarre — would the new California nation have its own nuclear arsenal and U.N. representative, he wonders — and fruitless in ending the urban-rural divide he blames for persistently short-changing his part of the state.

There’s something wrong and even vaguely un-American, he suggested, about trying to break the country apart. “We want to add a star to the flag,” Rapoza said. “Not take one off.”

mark.barabak@latimes.com

@markzbarabak on Twitter

ALSO

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Keys appeared on course for a first fourth-round appearance at her home slam since 2023 after taking a commanding third set lead against Olympic champion Zheng.

But the 2025 Australian Open winner would miss a match point and lose each of the final seven games in a 1-6 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 loss that stunned the crowd.

The 31-year-old Keys said she felt as though she “couldn’t play tennis anymore” in the final set.

“I obviously got off to a really good lead, and then I got really scared, like I couldn’t swing [the racquet],” Keys said.

“I felt like I couldn’t play tennis anymore. It just felt like it was a much bigger deal than just playing a tennis match all of a sudden.”

Keys, who lost the 2017 US Open final to fellow American Sloane Stephens, went out in the fourth round at the other three majors in 2026.

“I feel like I’ve been struggling for a while now. I’m going to have to make some sort of changes,” Keys said.

“I just kind of keep putting it off because that’s how the tennis world works. It’s just to the point where I actually need to do something about it.”

Anisimova, beaten by world number one Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s US Open final, lost in straight sets to Russian-born Austrian 24th seed Anastasia Potapova.

The 25-year-old was visibly frustrated with herself throughout the contest, losing her serve twice in the first set and four times in a topsy-turvy second.

Meanwhile, two-time champion Naomi Osaka fought back from a break down in the decider to see off Belgian 23rd seed Elise Mertens.

Osaka, seeded 13th, won 6-3 3-6 7-5 to set up a last-16 match against second seed Elena Rybakina.

Kazakhstan’s Rybakina, who knows she will be guaranteed to become the new world number one if she reaches the semi-finals, demonstrated her quality in a 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 victory over Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva.

The latest flare-up of fighting between the U.S. and Iran has seen American forces strike two Iranian oil tankers in retaliation for Tehran’s attacks on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz. This new “tanker-for-tanker” targeting policy, first reported by Axios, marks a change from previous incidents where ships were only attacked for running the ongoing U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports.

The two nations have resumed hostilities after a month-long pause in kinetic strikes against each other. The two Iranian tankers were struck in a round of attacks U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said it carried out Tuesday in response to “recent attempted attacks by the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members.”

Iran, claiming several civilians were killed in the U.S. strikes, quickly followed those attacks by launching missile and drone barrages against U.S. facilities in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan and Kuwait.

The new U.S. “tanker-for-tanker” policy of carrying out retaliation strikes on Iran’s fleet of oil transport vessels, was approved by Trump, Axios noted. The policy was designed to “further deter Iranian attacks on tankers that move through the strait.

“The Iranian government tankers were anchored off Iran’s coast north of the U.S. naval blockade line,” the outlet stated, citing anonymous U.S. officials. “U.S. drones launched missiles that hit their engine rooms.”

The attacks on the Iranian tankers were “part of a plan Trump and his senior aides have been considering in recent days to prevent Iran from rebuilding the radar and missile capabilities it needs to attack ships crossing the strait,” the outlet stated. “One U.S. official said the idea is to reduce the risk of Iranian attacks on oil tankers, U.S. Navy ships and Air Force aircraft — to ‘mow the lawn,’ as this person put it. A U.S. official told Axios on Tuesday that the new strikes degraded Iran’s attack capabilities in the strait and ‘bought at least a month’ of lowered threat levels for commercial ships.”

CENTCOM released a video after the conclusion of its Sept. 1 strikes that included what appears to be strikes on two separate vessels. One can be seen at about the 39-second mark of the video and another about 10 seconds later.  It’s not exactly clear from the video what kind of munitions were used, however, you can read more about how CENTCOM disabled ships trying to run the blockade here.

A CENTCOM spokesman declined to say if those ships were struck under a new policy and referred that question to “policymakers.” We have reached out to the White House for comment.

The CENTCOM statement about those strikes makes no mention of oil tankers.

“U.S. forces struck Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets including air defense sites, radar systems, maritime assets and facilities, mine laying capabilities, and communications sites,” the command stated on X. “The strikes follow recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members.”

Talking to Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who runs the Lt. Dan podcast, President Donald Trump on Wednesday claimed that more than two dozen Iranian ships were destroyed in the U.S. attack; however he did not specify what kind or how.

“We now control the Strait of Hormuz. We control it,” Trump claimed. “Last night we took out 28 boats, 28 ships. We control it, they get nothing, and we took out ships.”

We reached out to the White House for clarification about what kind of ships Trump says were destroyed.

Trump also took to Truth Social to suggest the Strait be named in his honor.

“Now that we have it under U.S.A. control, should we change the name Hormuz Strait to TRUMP STRAIT??? Like America itself, it would be ‘hotter’ than ever before!” the president proclaimed.

TELLURIDE, Colo. — Do you believe in ghosts?

Andrew Scott considers the question and looks at me with a mischievous grin, retreating to a corner of the restaurant booth where we’re catching up a few hours before his new movie, “Elsinore,” the most personal film he has ever made, premieres at the Telluride Film Festival.

Scott turns over the question again. “Do I believe in ghosts?”

It feels like a reasonable thing to ask. Three years ago at Telluride, the yearning romantic fantasy “All of Us Strangers” memorably premiered, featuring Scott playing a character who worked through unresolved trauma by talking to the dead. Ghosts are elsewhere in his work, metaphorical (“Vanya”) and literal (“Hamlet”).

“If I had a gun put to my head — which you don’t have to — I would say that I don’t believe in them,” Scott says. “But the idea of the afterlife and where we will go is still really fascinating to me. Dreams and the subconscious, too. I don’t know what went on consciously in the world outside my hotel room here last night. I was perfectly content to be asleep. And I like the idea of thinking about death that way. I’ll just be asleep. It’ll be OK. It’s the undiscovered country.”

“The movie for me is about time,” says Andrew Scott. “What are you going to do with your time? Ian decided to to live and to be a light and to be around people for the glory of the theater.”

(Anthony Dickenson / Focus Features)

Dropping a line from Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy in this context feels unavoidable. In the powerfully moving “Elsinore,” Scott plays the real-life actor Ian Charleson, who, as he was secretly dying from AIDS, played Hamlet in a 1989 Royal National Theatre production, still considered one of the great performances in London theater history. Charleson was 40 at the time, known for playing Scottish Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell in “Chariots of Fire.” He died eight weeks after leaving the National Theatre stage. “Elsinore” captures that journey in all of its glories and taxing challenges.

“That he would go for treatment in the morning and then play this Olympian role is just endlessly moving,” Scott says. “I don’t know how he did it.”

With our pint glasses filled with water as we adjust to Telluride’s altitude, we try to figure it out.

Charleson playing Hamlet, scaling the Everest for actors, reminded me of David Bowie making “Blackstar” as he was dying. As an artist, you’re not often given the chance to shape the narrative of your own end.

Being offered Hamlet doesn’t happen to every actor. To take it and turn it into something generous and useful — useful is a word I love about acting, that it’s useful to people.

When people are feeling down, they can watch a movie they love.

And see themselves. That can’t be underestimated.

What’s your go-to movie?

I will always watch “Bridesmaids” when it comes on TV. Comedy is precious to me. Laughing is precious to me. I don’t see it as the antithesis of tragedy. I think they’re one and the same.

The last time we talked, around the time of “Ripley,” you wanted to put out into the universe the idea of starring in a musical or a comedy. That hasn’t happened by the strictest definition. But you seem to be saying that genre labels don’t matter.

The reason, hopefully, that “Elsinore” is moving is that we approach some of the stuff with quite a bit of lightness. The effect is tragic and there are some heavy things in it. But my job, what I prioritized, is keeping it light.

You are seen dancing to Ethel Merman’s disco album. It doesn’t get much lighter than that.

My favorite actors are the ones that are funny. I worked with Lisa Kudrow last year on “The Comeback,” and yes, of course, she’s very funny. But if you look at that performance she gives toward the end, it’s so moving. People come away from things that are labeled comedies and go, “I just laughed at that.” Or people come away from things that maybe were really sad and say, “I was just devastated by that.” I think the job is to get rid of categorizing and make it more fluid.

Like life. Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes, the bear, he eats you.

Exactly! I don’t love things that are overly serious. One of my big dreams for this film — and I do wish so much for this film because it’s so personal — is that people don’t feel like that they’re going to see something that’s depressing. I didn’t want to fetishize Ian’s death.

What do you hope audiences take away from watching it?

That they see themselves in it. You know, it doesn’t end well for any of us. The movie for me is about time. What are you going to do with your time? Ian decided to to live and to be a light and to be around people for the glory of the theater.

Speaking of time, next month you’re going to be celebrating a milestone, turning 50. Or not celebrating. I don’t know how you feel about birthdays.

I don’t love my birthday.

Any year?

My friends have said to me, “You gotta make some plans.” I love a party. Which is to say, I love other people’s parties. What I usually do is I leave it to the last minute and send texts around, saying, “I understand if you don’t want to come, but I might do this.” And then you do something small. I read something yesterday where you should go to your own parties like you’re a guest. I think that’s a very good way to to do it.

What about just being around for half a century? Is that in your head? You’re the one who just said it doesn’t end well for any of us.

I’ve definitely thought about it more. Sometimes in the middle of the night, I’ve thought, “Jesus, what?” I’m sure that’s because of my mom dying and that I’m approaching my mortality. Again, how am I going to use my time? One of the reasons I was so ferocious about getting “Elsinore” made was that I would put all of myself into this and then maybe I can chill out a bit more.

Andrew Scott in the movie “Elsinore.”

(Anthony Dickenson / Focus Features)

The personal aspects of this movie are striking. In addition to producing “Elsinore,” you yourself have played Hamlet on stage. You’re also a gay actor portraying someone who, at the time, would have torpedoed his career by coming out.

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with the movies and would read Premiere and Empire magazine. Around 16 or 17, I started to realize that maybe if you’re gay, you wouldn’t be invited to movies. And I wasn’t wrong in thinking that, because there weren’t many examples. So I would omit things in interviews. I wouldn’t lie, but I really understood that about Ian’s generation.

There’s a melancholy moment in the movie where he says, “I wanted to be in the movies. I didn’t scale the heights.”

What a gorgeous little dream. A young boy goes, “I want to be in the movies.” And then to have that knocked out of you bit by bit. You’re not even going to be seen for the audition. Or, “Are you being a little fruity there?”

Did people tell you not to talk about being gay?

Very well-meaning people said to me, “Just keep that [private] because you’re not obviously gay,” which I often think is such an insult to say to people. “So maybe you can get away with it.” And I was like, OK. And I did that for awhile. But it was so insidious. When audiences think of acting, they think of actors pretending, like you’re putting yourself in somebody else’s shoes. So the fact that there was this whole section of gay actors who weren’t allowed to do that is awful. I’m so grateful that I get to do that.

What do you remember about the late ’80s and early ’90s in terms of navigating the AIDS epidemic?

It makes me emotional. It was extraordinary just to to have lived through that time and to be completely abandoned by your government, who wouldn’t even say the name of the illness. When I was a young adult, that’s what I was scared of. If you go for a sexual health screening, you go, “My God, am I going to die?” I remember going into those situations, and with no cause for such concern, feeling like I’m going to be punished for expressing myself in that way, because that’s the way the world was set up.

Let’s get back to Ethel Merman.

Please! [Laughs]

There’s that stanza in “There’s No Business Like Show Business” that goes: “There’s no people like show people / They smile when they are low.” Would you say that sums up the spirit of “Elsinore” about as well as any couplet could?

Yes, it’s so much about the power of community and show people. It’s about show people and smiling and getting on with the show.

When did you first feel that power of community?

Putting on “The Wizard of Oz” in a school play when I was about 10.

What part did you play?

Guess.

Dorothy?

[Laughs] No, a friend of Dorothy. Oh, come on. One more guess.

The Cowardly Lion?

No. The Tin Man. My mom sprayed me silver, in my hair and everything. We had a probably bit of aluminum foil and I had a funnel. I loved it so much. And I remember having a really extraordinary feeling of surprise, knowing the audience was there. For such a shy boy, when I had to do the big number, “If I Only Had a Heart,” it went to another level, better than rehearsal. I suppose the little showman, the little 10-year-old silver showman, came out.

WASHINGTON — Elizabeth Hanford Dole, a former Cabinet secretary and the wife of Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, received speaking fees from 1991 through 1994 in excess of $875,000–much of it from groups with a stake in policy matters pending before Congress, records show.

The fees have enhanced substantially the couple’s joint income, which totaled about $600,000 in 1994, according to income-tax returns and annual financial disclosure statements. Mrs. Dole, a national figure in her own right, last fall took a temporary leave as president of the American Red Cross to support her husband’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

Sen. Dole has filed income-disclosure statements with the Senate for the last four years saying that all of Mrs. Dole’s speaking fees were contributed to a Red Cross charity account–except for “taxes, a contribution to a retirement fund and speech-writing expenses.”

However, a Times analysis of the records shows that the Doles have retained a substantial part of Mrs. Dole’s speaking fees:

From 1991 through 1994, the Doles kept $147,663 in cash from Mrs. Dole’s fees–after speech-writing costs and federal income taxes were paid.

An additional $243,830 was placed in Mrs. Dole’s retirement account, as the senator stated in his financial disclosure forms. The couple contributed $405,513, or 46%, of the fees to the Red Cross charity account for troubled youths during 1991 through 1994. But only in 1993 did Mrs. Dole donate all of her speaking fees to the charity–minus taxes, expenses and a contribution to her private retirement fund.

In 1994, the most recent year for which financial records are available, the Doles kept $47,421 in cash from Mrs. Dole’s $184,775 in speaking fees and placed $63,505 into Mrs. Dole’s retirement account.

Dole Comment

Asked for comment, aides to Dole did not dispute The Times’ findings. Reading from a prepared response Thursday night, Dole campaign spokeswoman Christina Martin said:

“We are not aware of a reason to amend the senator’s [financial disclosure] statements at this time. Sen. Dole has filed amendments in the past and would do so again, should a review prove such a step is necessary. The senator is a firm believer in full disclosure, as is demonstrated by his release [last week] of tax returns dating back 29 years.”

The annual disclosure forms signed by Sen. Dole warn that civil and criminal sanctions can be imposed if a senator “knowingly and willfully” makes a false statement.

Nelson Warfield, Dole’s chief spokesman, said the senator is not influenced by Elizabeth Dole’s acceptance of speaking fees from groups with business pending before Congress.

“No one gains Bob Dole’s favor by hiring his wife,” Warfield said. “In the senator’s words, he hasn’t the foggiest idea who she speaks to.”

Clearly, Mrs. Dole’s career in Washington makes her a sought-after guest speaker. Before joining the Red Cross in 1991, she was an appointee of five presidents–serving as a member of the Federal Trade Commission in the 1970s and as secretary of labor and secretary of transportation in the 1980s. Mrs. Dole, a lawyer, has won praise for her leadership of the Red Cross–and she did not accept the $200,000 salary paid by the organization during her first year as president.

Business Dealings

Yet in an election year when the past transactions of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton continue to loom as a problem for the president, attention also is focusing on the business dealings of the wife of the senator from Kansas, who polls show is the front-runner for the Republican nomination.

Mrs. Dole referred questions posed by The Times to Warfield, the presidential campaign spokesman.

“Mrs. Dole has an extraordinary record of public service which spans over 20 years,” Warfield said. “This is in itself the reason so many people request her as a speaker.”

Mrs. Dole, who married the senator in 1975, typically has accepted speaking engagements for fees ranging from $12,000 to $35,000. Now 59, she employs the services of a booking agency and often speaks on the need for volunteerism or the shape of America’s labor force.

As a member of the executive branch during the ‘70s and ‘80s, Mrs. Dole did not accept speaking fees. She did receive $100,026 of the payments in 1988–when she temporarily left federal office to assist Sen. Dole’s presidential campaign. Sen. Dole, meanwhile, accepted fees totaling $1.4 million from 1981-91. In addition to his Senate compensation, tax records show that Sen. Dole during those years contributed $337,328 to a private pension plan–a nest egg paid for by his speaking fees.

Moreover, although Sen. Dole professes no knowledge of the groups to which his wife has spoken–many of them should be familiar to him.

At least 16 of the groups that retained Mrs. Dole to speak from 1991 through 1994 maintain lobbying offices in or near Washington and have business pending before the federal government. Records also show that four of the groups that paid to hear her earlier had hired Sen. Dole–before congressional rules in 1993 began cracking down on the controversial practice of senators and House members accepting such payments.

One of the biggest groups is the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Assn.–a Washington trade group that represents the largest makers of prescription-brand drugs. The organization lobbies Congress on a range of issues related to drugs and medical devices–and worked to defeat President and Mrs. Clinton’s proposed overhaul of the nation’s health care system.

Both of the Doles have accepted speaking fees from the drug manufacturers’ group. In 1992 the group paid for all travel expenses, including three nights of winter lodging in South Florida, for Sen. and Mrs. Dole. On that trip the senator accepted a $2,000 fee–the maximum then allowed under Senate rules.

In 1993 the drug makers invited Mrs. Dole back to Florida–and paid her a speaking fee of $20,000 plus travel expenses. Her appearance came at the same time the pharmaceutical group was working against parts of the Clintons’ health care proposal.

On the same weekend that Mrs. Dole addressed the group’s board of directors, the executives approved “an immediate, comprehensive mobilization of company employees, retirees, shareholders and suppliers to operate telephone banks” to challenge one aspect of the Clintons’ health care reform proposal, according to an executive summary prepared by the association.

“The effort,” said the summary, “was to encourage people to call or write members of Congress with the message that government price controls on prescription drugs would chill the development of new lifesaving, cost-effective medicines.”

Warfield, the Dole campaign spokesman, declined to comment specifically on Mrs. Dole’s speaking fee from the pharmaceutical association or other groups. Jeffrey C. Warren, spokesman for the pharmaceutical group, said Mrs. Dole “was an attraction on her own, because of her own achievements.” Warren said that the group hired Sen. Dole to speak in 1992 because of his knowledge of politics and “where things are going.”

Representatives of most of the groups that hired Mrs. Dole said that they chose her because of her experience. Some, however, also said that they retained Mrs. Dole because of her connection to one of the most powerful figures in Washington–her husband.

“That certainly makes her a little more interesting, definitely,” said Pat Areno, an executive for the Building Owners & Managers Assn., which paid Mrs. Dole $20,000, plus expenses, to speak at a conference in San Diego in June 1994. “You can’t ignore that it’s a factor. That is certainly part of her draw and her appeal.”

A spokeswoman for the American Health Care Assn., which lobbies Congress on behalf of nursing-home owners, said that the group paid Mrs. Dole $20,000 to speak in 1991, irrespective of Sen. Dole’s status.

“I suppose her connection with the senator helps create a visibility and makes her attractive, in that sense,” said the spokeswoman, Linda Keegan. “It really isn’t what motivated us to bring her in as a speaker.” The association in 1988 paid Sen. Dole $2,000 to speak.

Other Groups’ Fees

Fees from other groups with business before Congress that have retained Mrs. Dole to speak include:

* The National Electrical Contractors Assn.–$20,000, plus all of Mrs. Dole’s expenses for attending the group’s May 1993 event at a coastal Georgia resort. The group is lobbying to loosen worker safety and health requirements and to abolish the Davis-Bacon Act, which forces contractors on public projects to hire more expensive, union labor. Mrs. Dole’s speech “focused more on her Red Cross activities,” according to John M. Grau, chief executive of the contractors group.

* The accounting firm of Ernst & Young–$16,000, plus Mrs. Dole’s expenses for attending a 1991 gathering in Chicago. Ernst & Young at the time was facing congressional scrutiny and criminal investigations related to its auditing of some savings and loans, including Lincoln Savings & Loan, that failed in the 1980s at a cost to taxpayers of millions of dollars. Without admitting wrongdoing, Ernst & Young in 1992 settled charges of inadequate auditing at the S&Ls; by paying the government $400 million.

The firm since 1992 has lobbied for legislation that would limit the liability of accounting firms in their work for corporations and financial institutions. The legislation was enacted recently when the Senate and House overrode a veto by President Clinton. Sen. Dole was among those who supported the legislation, which was part of the congressional Republicans’ “contract with America.”

The Ernst & Young executive who arranged Mrs. Dole’s 1991 appearance has left the firm, according to Patrice Yngracia, a spokeswoman, who would not identify the former employee. Yngracia said that Mrs. Dole spoke to a group of “hospitality” industry executives who were clients of Ernst & Young.

* The American Logistics Assn.–$20,000 in 1993. The Washington-based association represents Fortune 500 companies and smaller firms that sell food and recreation facilities for the U.S. military. “Our goal is to defend this military resale system as it exists,” said Donald E. Ledwig, the group’s president. Ledwig said that Mrs. Dole spoke on the need for volunteerism. Arrangements for her speech, he said, were made before he joined the organization.

Travel Agent Speech

Another example of how the interests of Mrs. Dole’s speaking-fee clients can intersect her husband’s role as a senator involves a dispute between the nation’s major airlines and the travel-agent industry.

In November 1994, the American Society of Travel Agents arranged to have Mrs. Dole address the group’s international conference, in Lisbon, Portugal. The group paid a speaking fee of $35,000 and covered all of Mrs. Dole’s air fare and lodging.

In February 1995, several major airlines struck a blow to the travel-agent industry by announcing that they would strictly cap commissions paid to agents for booking domestic flights. American Society of Travel Agents lobbyists reacted immediately–seeking support in Congress and enforcement of antitrust law by the Justice Department.

On Feb. 22, 1995, Sen. Dole called for the Justice Department to examine the matter.

“There are more than 350,000 travel agents in the United States who will be adversely affected by the airlines’ decision. . . ,” Dole wrote in a letter to Assistant Atty. Gen. Anne K. Bingaman. “It is clear that the timing and substance of the airlines’ decision deserve a careful review by the antitrust division.”

Dole’s letter, obtained by The Times, was co-signed by Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), chairman of the antitrust subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Gina Talamona, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said that the antitrust division is monitoring the dispute.

A spokesman for the travel agents’ association, Steve Loucks, said that Mrs. Dole spoke for about 20 minutes in Lisbon. He said that her services were “sponsored” by a member of the association, MasterCard.

Loucks said that Mrs. Dole was retained because of her background in federal policy, adding:

“Certainly, being the wife of, at that time, the minority leader of the Senate made her a very attractive property to bring in to Lisbon.”

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani has not played since Wednesday, when he struck out four times and winced noticeably at the plate.

On Saturday, the Dodgers held him out of the lineup for the third consecutive game because of pain in his right biceps.

Manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani’s path back to the field is predicated on how he responds to hitting in the cage, which he planned to do before Saturday night’s game against the Washington Nationals at Dodger Stadium.

“My expectation is that he’s going to hit today in the cage,” Roberts told reporters. “Once he hits and how he comes out of it, that’ll be telling for tomorrow.”

The injured list becomes a consideration if Ohtani is not trending in a positive direction Sunday, Roberts said.

Ohtani falls under the 15-day category for the IL, which covers pitchers and two-way players, as opposed to the 10-day list for position players. The Dodgers can backdate the move up to three days, akin to time served. So a 15-day window would be reduced to 12 days.

Although Roberts said he has not spoken to Ohtani about how he feels physically, the manager said he can get a hint from the player’s demeanor.

“When he doesn’t feel well physically, he gets more short and he’s not the same personality,” Roberts said, adding that Ohtani has seemed looser and more easygoing the past couple of days.

Israeli PM says money he facilitated Qatar in sending to Gaza was recommended by Israeli security agencies for humanitarian purposes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has boasted about bombing Qatar, while dismissing domestic accusations that funds sent to Gaza were used for anything other than aid.

In an interview with Israel’s i24NEWS that he shared on social media on Saturday, Netanyahu said Qatar was a “hostile” state that did not dictate Israeli policy during its genocidal war on Gaza.

“I attacked Qatar, I also bombed it and attacked them during the war, and they attacked me,” Netanyahu boasted.

The interview comes just days before the one-year anniversary of Israel’s September 9, 2025, strike on Doha. The bombing killed five Hamas members and a Qatari security officer during a meeting to discuss the United States-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal.

Qatar, which has long served as a mediator in Middle East conflicts and beyond, has hosted Hamas’s political office since 2012, after what it says were requests from the US.

Doha condemned the strike as a “blatant violation of all international laws and norms”, with Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Majed al-Ansari calling it a “cowardly” assault.

Several countries in the region, including Iran and Pakistan, also condemned the attack, with leaders from Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia visiting Qatar shortly afterwards in a show of solidarity.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the strikes a “flagrant violation” of Qatar’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

During a meeting later that month at the White House, Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump called Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani to apologise for the strike.

During the i24NEWS interview, Netanyahu also defended the transfer of millions of dollars in Qatari funds to Gaza that Israel had facilitated, saying the funds were intended for humanitarian purposes and had been transferred on the recommendation of Israeli security agencies Mossad and Shin Bet.

“All this money is worth 2 percent – 2 percent of all the money that entered the Strip,” the prime minister said.

Some of Netanyahu’s detractors have alleged that the funds were used to help Hamas prepare its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which precipitated its genocidal war on Gaza.

Qatar denies such allegations, saying any claims that it funds Hamas are unfounded and pointing to the strict oversight governing its aid transfers.

“Today, when they [Israel] are claiming that this is the financing of Qatar to Hamas, it has no basis,” Sheikh Mohammed said during last year’s Doha Forum.

“All our aid … went to Gaza, went to the people, and was under a very transparent process that the United States is fully aware about.”

Netanyahu made the remarks weeks before Israelis head to the polls on October 27, in the country’s first general election since its war on Gaza began in 2023.

With the October vote approaching, Netanyahu faces mounting pressure at home over his government’s handling of the Gaza war, the economy and the war with Iran — all shaping up as central issues in the campaign.

Critics and analysts have long accused Netanyahu of stoking tensions with foreign states ahead of elections to rally nationalist support.

The United Kingdom is moving toward adding a flying-boom aerial refueling capability to the Royal Air Force (RAF), a requirement being driven in large part by the future Tempest combat jet, being developed under the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP) initiative.

In a written response to opposition MP Ben Obese-Jecty, U.K. Defense Minister Luke Pollard confirmed that the RAF’s existing probe-and-drogue aerial refueling capability will eventually be complemented by a boom system. The move would give Britain a sovereign capability to refuel aircraft equipped with the U.S.-standard boom receptacle, including the Tempest, while also improving interoperability with other NATO and allied air forces.

“The Royal Air Force currently operates a probe and drogue air-to-air refueling system and will complement this with the development of a boom system,” Pollard said. “This will ensure we have a sovereign air-to-air refueling capability for the future Royal Air Force fleet that enhances interoperability with NATO allies and partners.”

The decision follows comments by a senior RAF official in July indicating that the service was already examining how to meet the requirement.

“We currently do not have boom [-equipped tankers] in the UK. We have a requirement for a boom from GCAP, so we have to resolve that requirement and that is what we are now looking at,” the official said at the Air Power Association Global Air and Space Chiefs’ Conference in London, according to Janes. “I [am] certain that at some point we are going to have to work out how we deliver a sovereign boom capability for our own combat aircraft.”

The requirement is particularly significant because GCAP’s Tempest is being designed with a fuselage-mounted receptacle for boom refueling. Unlike the probe-and-drogue arrangement used by the RAF’s existing Voyager tankers, a flying boom uses a rigid, telescoping refueling tube that is maneuvered by an operator aboard the tanker into the receiver aircraft’s receptacle.

One of the major advantages of the boom system is its higher fuel-transfer rate. That makes it especially useful for large aircraft and combat aircraft that need to take on substantial quantities of fuel quickly, reducing the time spent on the tanker.

Tempest is not, however, the only RAF aircraft that depends on the boom standard. The RAF already operates several boom-equipped receiver aircraft, including P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, RC-135W Rivet Joint intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft, and C-17A Globemaster III airlifters. The E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning aircraft also uses a boom receptacle, while the forthcoming RAF F-35A fleet will add another major boom receiver to the service.

Currently, the RAF has no boom-equipped tanker to support them.

Its principal tanker fleet consists of Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) Voyager aircraft operated by the AirTanker consortium and leased to the RAF under a private finance initiative. Unlike many A330 MRTT operators around the world, which acquired the aircraft with a flying boom, the British Voyagers were configured exclusively around hose-and-drogue refueling.

The Voyager K2 is equipped with two wing-mounted Cobham 905E hose-and-drogue refueling units. The K3 adds a third refueling point in the form of a Cobham 805E fuselage refueling unit, or FRU, located at the rear of the aircraft. The latter provides a higher fuel-transfer rate than the wing-mounted units.

Since the fuel is stored in existing tanks, the Voyager’s cabin is still available to accommodate up to 291 passengers and the cargo hold for freight. One Voyager, serial ZZ336, nicknamed Vespina, is modified for long-range VIP transport but still functions as a fully capable tanker.

A video showing Voyager ZZ336 refueling RAF and German Eurofighter Typhoons during the enhanced Air Policing mission in Romania:

RAF Voyager refuels German Eurofighters and RAF Typhoons

Up to 14 Voyagers are available to the RAF under the current arrangement.

The future of those aircraft is now one of the key questions surrounding Britain’s planned boom capability.

One possibility would be to modify some of the existing Voyagers, installing a boom system in the rear fuselage. The baseline Airbus’ A330 MRTT design already incorporates a provision for a flying boom. At the time the United Kingdom ordered its Voyagers, boom refueling was not considered essential, so the capability was deleted to save weight, complexity, and cost — a decision which was to prove very shortsighted.

Such a conversion, however, would involve engineering, certification, ownership, and contractual considerations, particularly given that the RAF does not directly own the Voyager fleet.

Britain could also decide that modifying the existing aircraft is not worthwhile. The current Voyager private-finance arrangement runs until 2035, by which point the airframes will be considerably older. Rather than investing heavily in aircraft approaching the end of their contracted service period, the government could opt to acquire new A330 MRTTs or another tanker type equipped with a boom from the outset.

Another, more remote possibility could involve a podded boom arrangement, a concept that has been around for a while now, but which is gaining traction with the U.S. Air Force as it weighs options for future tanker capabilities. 

It remains unclear, however, whether a podded boom would offer the performance and integration characteristics required for Tempest and the RAF’s wider fleet. There is also a question about what platform it could be installed on.

At the same time, TWZ has previously highlighted how drones equipped with buddy stores could operate in a hub-and-spoke model, ferrying fuel from tankers positioned outside the threat envelope to aircraft operating at the tactical edge. This could be another option that might gain traction as the U.K. Ministry of Defense increasingly looks to unlock the potential of uncrewed capabilities, but must also be considered less likely, especially as a primary solution.

There is also a potential requirement for the tankers themselves to be capable of receiving fuel. Equipping a tanker with a receiver system would allow tanker-to-tanker refueling, extending the flexibility and reach of the RAF’s future air-to-air refueling force during long-range operations. Other A330 MRTT operators already benefit from this feature.

While Tempest is providing the immediate catalyst, a refueling boom capability would also close an increasingly conspicuous gap in the RAF’s tanker force. The service is acquiring and operating an increasing number of aircraft built around the boom standard while relying on a tanker fleet configured around the alternative hose-and-drogue system.

Whether Britain modifies its existing Voyagers, replaces them, or adopts another solution entirely could become an important part of the RAF’s long-term force structure as the Tempest program advances.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

THE home of fiery Sichuan dishes and giant pandas, China’s Chengdu is an adventure you’ll never forget, says writer Qin Xie.

I’m watching a clumsy brawl between two sulky teens. They keep lunging at each other with gusto, but neither manages to land a single punch.

Instead, both end up rolling on the floor covered in leaves.

If these were human teenagers, I might not be laughing, but, thankfully, it’s a pair of juvenile pandas.

They can barely stand up without a wobble, but still seem totally serious about winning, so have been chasing each other around their huge open-air enclosure for the last 10 minutes, dodging behind trees and somersaulting down ramps.

Eventually, one gives up and runs off – but not before making a loud, protesting squeal that triggers a burst of laughter from the crowd.

WAIL OF A TIME

I drove Irish Route 66 with deserted golden beaches and pirate-like islands

TEMPTED?

Tiny ‘Bali of Europe’ town with stunning beaches, €3 cocktails and £20 flights

The scrappy pair are residents of Panda Base in Chengdu, a sprawling conservation park in south-west China that’s credited with bringing the bears back from the brink of extinction.

Of the 2,700 or so pandas alive today, around 80% live in Sichuan (the province of which Chengdu is the capital), and about 10% are at Panda Base, so there’s no better place to see them. Plus, tickets are a bargain £6.

I was born in Chengdu, so I’ve been coming to the park for years, but only learned recently that if you want to see the bears at their most active, you have to get there early – it’s why the park is open by 8am every day (Panda.org.cn).

Go Green

Still relatively unknown compared to the likes of Beijing and Shanghai, Chengdu is actually a mega-city, home to more than 21 million people.

But unlike other cities of its size, it doesn’t feel hectic, as there’s greenery everywhere.

In fact, Chengdu is currently building a 10,000-mile cycle network to connect its green spaces.

Several sections are already open, like the 62-mile Tianfu Greenway, which wraps around the city centre.

I borrow a dockless bike for 30p per hour to explore a stretch in the south, and as I cycle past fields and a lake dotted with egrets, I spot the New Century Global Center – the world’s largest building.

Day trips in the mountains are easy, too. I head for Mount Qingcheng, which is just half an hour on the fast train, with fares from £2 return.

This UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the sacred mountains of Taoism, a philosophical religion that predates Buddhism in China, and it’s split into two visitor areas.

The front mountain is easier to get to, with paved paths leading up to several incense-filled temples where monks still live. Entry costs £9.

But I prefer the quieter back mountain – it’s wilder and more scenic, with several small waterfalls, and entry is £7 cheaper!

Both offer several hours of serious hiking, so booking a stay at a hot spring hotel to soak tired muscles is a smart move, and the Howard Johnson Conference Resort Chengdu is only a short walk from the train station.

Double rooms cost from £52 B&B (Howardjohnsonchengdu.cn).

Spice up your life

Chengdu is also known for its food. It’s one of UNESCO’s Cities of Gastronomy, and those addictively hot and numbing Sichuan dishes you find in Chinese restaurants around the world are all from here.

Pick a place where there’s a queue and you can’t go wrong, but I always make time for a hot pot, where you order a selection of meats and veggies to cook yourself in a pot of bubbling broth.

I’ve done everything from big buffets to solo dinners in cubby holes, but my go-to is HaiDiLao.

This chain is pricier – meals cost about £15 per person – but there are branches everywhere, and they put on live TikTok-style dance performances while you eat.

At bigger outposts, like the one on Chunxi Road, you can even get a free manicure during your meal (Haidilao.com).

For classic street food, I hit Zhong Shui Jiao (Zhong’s Dumplings) in People’s Park for its namesake garlicky pork dumplings, £1.50, the plain Long’s wontons, £1.40, and spicy dan dan noodles, £1.

Next door, the century-old He Ming Tea House is great for people-watching.

Green tea starts from £1.60, and you can stay all day and bring your own snacks.

All Night Long

One of my favourite things about Chengdu is that there’s so much to do after dark.

Most locals go for post-dinner strolls or take speakers to public squares to dance to C-pop.

Midnight snacks are routine, and there are even 24-hour spas, like FuFu Tang near Renmin North Road station.

Spa entry costs from £30 per person. It’s also an unbeatable time for shopping.

Most malls are open until 11pm and some, like the subterranean SKP Chengdu, even have huge light installations that are attractions in their own right (Skp-beijing.com).

Unlike the UK, there isn’t a big drinking culture. Beers tend to be a watery 2.5% ABV and tea houses easily outnumber bars.

The one main strip, Jiuyanqiao, has around 100 competing bars clustered along the Jinjiang River, each one trying to outdo the next with its club beats. But even here is pretty sedate.

By my 11pm bedtime, the music has already been turned down, although I can still spot the lasers and strobe lights from my hotel across the river – the luxe but surprisingly affordable Shangri-La.

That said, it only takes a wedding or banquet for locals to break out the baijiu, China’s grain-based national spirit.

And in Chengdu, you can try it at Shui Jing Fang’s distillery museum, where the £5 entry fee includes a tour plus a guided tasting of three throat-burning spirits, each delivering a fiery 52% ABV, meant to be sipped neat.

It’s fascinating to see distilling as it was done 600 years ago (Shuijingfang.com).

That’s the most incredible thing about this city: futuristic skyscrapers and boundary-pushing architecture surround you wherever you look, but you only need to turn a corner to spot fascinating cultural relics dating back centuries.

Two thousand years ago, people called Chengdu the land of abundance – it’s as true then as it is now.

A contestant on The Voice UK shared the inspirational support he’d received behind the scenes.

A coach on The Voice UK was left in tears moments before Saturday’s episode came to an end.

The ITV competition has returned, with Kelly Rowland joining will.i.am, Sir Tom Jones and duo Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones. During the third round of the blind auditions on Saturday (September 5), viewers saw a show-first, as a Scottish singer made history, becoming the first contestant to be given the Rewind. ITV had earlier teased the game-changing format, saying: “If a coach realises they have made a mistake, they can hit Rewind, bring the act back, and offer them a place on their team.

“However, with only one Rewind available to each coach, they must choose their moment wisely. For an act who thought their journey was over, it could change everything…”

Elsewhere during the show, an emotional final audition left Kelly wiping back tears. 24-year-old Aaren was the last performer that day, hoping to impress the coaches.

Before taking to the stage, the ambulance care assistant, from Warrington, opened up about the support he’d received behind-the-scenes. He shared: “I live with my nan, she means the absolute world to me, she’s like a second mum.”

He went on to reveal that his nan had been diagnosed with breast cancer, adding: “There was a level of uncertainty there, whether we would have to say goodbye, when that would be, so I moved over to look after her.”

Aaren’s nan went on to praise him as “such a lovely person, inside and out”. “This is all you’ve wanted to do,” she added, talking about his audition.

Aaren shared: “This is one of the most nerve-wracking things I’ve done, and probably ever will do. But the amount of times my nan will say, I wish I’d have done this when I was younger. I don’t ever want to get older and have any regrets, I want to be able to say that I’ve tried.”

After his performance, both Kelly and Sir Tom turned around, hoping to win Aaren onto their team. Kelly shared: “I turned around because I love a male soulful voice, that wants to croon. Like nobody sings from their gut, heart and soul anymore… it’s a talent.”

As she heard about Aaren’s nan, she broke down in tears. She said: “That was sweet, to watch him love his grandmother like that, I love that.” She added: “You always want them to have this really sweet space for a woman who is a rock in their life.”

After the auditions came to an end, Kelly added: “Aaren had me moved to tears, he just makes me kind of putty. He’s so honest, he was a really special guy so I’m really excited.”

The Voice UK is available to watch on ITVX

America, the Land of Immigrants, has always been ambivalent about just what that mantle should mean, but that ambivalence has taken on an edge. The middle ground has shifted, decidedly to the right.

And California, characteristically, is ahead of the trend.

Now, when liberal Sen. Barbara Boxer suggests that National Guard troops be stationed along the southern border, only immigrant-rights activists are publicly aghast. When Gov. Pete Wilson says the Constitution should be changed to deny citizenship to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants, a Field poll shows that half of all Californians like the idea.

“This is a state of siege in California,” says an observer from Washington, immigration expert Demetrios Papademetriou of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“There is an enormous bombardment out there. There is always something new about immigration. One’s senses get bombarded every day, which is the worst possible moment for trying to make fundamental decisions regarding immigration. I am delighted that they will be made in Washington, rather than California.”

Yet California is where the Immigration and Naturalization Service estimates 52% of all illegal immigrants live, where dueling studies constantly argue the benefits and costs of the immigrant mix, and where, increasingly, many see an immigration apocalypse born of neglect.

Even the membership of the Sierra Club is in the midst of an emotional debate about whether to take a public stand on the hot button topic of the day.

“It’s not as simple as clean air, or like pollution, where less is better,” said Executive Director Carl Pope.

But millions of other Americans seem to have made up their minds. The polls say most Americans believe illegal immigration is out of control, that the country has too many immigrants, illegal or otherwise, and that this is very bad news for the economy and for our national quality of life.

Every day, Americans are clamoring that something should be done. So everyone from the President of the United States to the president of the local homeowners association is offering suggestions.

Hire more Border Patrol agents and get them equipment that works. Issue tamper-proof identity cards. End taxpayer-funded medical care and schooling for anyone in the country illegally. Seize the assets of employers who hire illegal immigrants. And get serious, finally, about welfare fraud. The list goes on.

“Under bold, centrist political leadership, California could have been avoided,” said Dan Stein, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, the grandfather of a growing family of groups calling for a moratorium on immigration.

“What is happening in California is the direct result of the isolated and removed nature of immigration policy decisions in Washington.”

Many call this brouhaha a backlash against immigrants, scapegoating during an economic recession and a shortsighted repudiation of the principles that made America great.

Others call it unadorned common sense.

“If you set your table for five people in your home and then 15 people show up unexpectedly, you aren’t prepared, and you’ve got problems,” said Fred Vines, a retired state policeman who lives with his wife, a teacher, on Los Angeles’ Westside.

“We’re billions in the hole,” he said. “This has never happened before. It’s got to be overpopulation. You’ve got people coming here who shouldn’t be here.

“Put up a Berlin Wall!” cried Vines, an African-American who denies that racism has anything to do with his get-tough stand. He says that any fool can see it: Immigration is bringing this country down.

*

The organizers of this night meeting of Citizens for Action Now, an 18-month-old immigration reform group in Orange County, have called for more folding chairs to accommodate an overflow crowd of about 60 mostly middle-aged, mostly white citizens or legal immigrants.

Barbara Coe, a police records clerk and co-director of the group, has made a point of emphasizing the legal immigrant component to the newcomers in the room.

It is not immigrants the group is against, she says, but illegal immigrants. She stressed that racism has no place here.

“We decided that the only way we are literally going to save our heritage is to put the focus on the illegal alien problem,” she said.

Early arrivals at the meeting talk among themselves. A middle-aged woman tells of the “marauders” who take over the streets at night. A man who lives and works in Santa Ana, the county seat that is now 70% Latino, says of the city: “It’s gone! It’s gone!”

Before everyone stands to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, sheets of blue cards are passed around. Citizens for Action Now, part of the 15-member California Coalition for Immigration Reform, asks its members to carry the cards with them and leave them in businesses such as restaurants, “where it seems fairly apparent” that illegal immigrants are employed.

“Stop the Invasion! Close our Borders NOW! Deny benefits to ILLEGAL ALIENS NOW! Defeat GATT/NAFTA NOW!” read the cards, which leave a space for the sender’s name and address.

The evening’s guest speaker, William E. Dannemeyer, the former Orange County congressman considering another U.S. Senate bid, arrives to detail his controversial, and unsuccessful, legislative efforts to stem the immigrant flow.

But during the question and answer session after his remarks, members of Citizens for Action Now intimate that Dannemeyer, who was one of the most conservative lawmakers on Capitol Hill, hadn’t been tough enough.

One woman told Dannemeyer: “I feel desperate that the battle is lost.” Another man detailed his inspection of Israel’s border defense system, praising that country’s swift actions to thwart enemy incursions.

“If we can go to the moon, are you going to tell me we don’t have the technology to do what this little country Israel can? That’s baloney!”

The room erupts in applause.

*

Immigrant rights groups say they have heard such sentiments before, only they are hardly blase.

They are afraid that the angry, frustrated public mood might translate into laws that will codify discrimination and divert attention from more onerous economic problems in favor of an easy target: the illegal immigrant without a vote. They warn of a rise in hate crimes.

“We in the immigrant rights community are on the defensive right now,” concedes Roberto Lovato, who heads the Central American Refugee Center in Los Angeles. “We are not being sought out for solutions.”

At a recent news conference in Downtown Los Angeles, Latino community leaders displayed enlarged copies of stories that appeared in the Los Angeles Times from the 1930s to the present. The idea was to trigger a public deja vu .

“Ousting of Aliens Will Be Speeded,” read a headline from 1931. “Government Maps War on Wetbacks,” said another from 1954, and in 1971: “Illegal Alien Growing Peril to U.S. Worker.”

The last offering, “Wilson Urges Stiff Penalties to Deter Illegal Immigrants,” was from the week before.

“We know well in our community that this is a historical cycle,” says Arturo Vargas, vice president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Indeed, during the 19th Century, the state Legislature imposed special taxes on Mexican miners, and the state’s Workingmen’s Party rallied around the slogan, “The Chinese Must Go.” During the Great Depression, and again in 1954, hundreds of thousands of Mexicans were sent home.

Yet, cyclical or not, the country’s anti-immigrant mood seems unlikely to cool on its own. Based on a mix of fact, myth and fear, feelings run deep. Ambivalence–and contradictions–thread through it all.

The restaurant busboy might be admired for his willingness to work hard for little pay. But the faceless mass of illegal immigrants is threatening our way of life.

Although it is true that, as a percentage of the population, immigration levels today are a third of what they were during the peak years of 1900-20, the numbers are about the same. And those numbers–about 10 million legal and 3 million to 5 million illegal immigrants over the past decade–seem huge.

This is especially true during economic hard times, or perhaps, as immigrant rights group suggest, when people consider who the new immigrants are. Unlike the immigration boom at the turn of the century, more than 90% of the latest immigrant tide comes from the Third World.

Bottom line: The United States takes in more immigrants than the rest of the world combined. And people here are wondering out loud if America has not done enough.

Consider this reaction from homemaker and mother Ellie Kiefer, who recently moved from her Burbank home of 11 years to Simi Valley: “They are just letting them come in. If it was something very positive, starting nice businesses, or really trying or something, that might be different.

“But the crime is getting worse, there are more gangs. The killings. It’s ridiculous. That’s one of the reasons I’m so sick of it.”

Or this from a middle-aged African-American woman who works as a teaching assistant in the Los Angeles Unified School District: “We have to go back to school to speak their language. That’s not fair. And I have to pay for it out of my own pocket. If you are born here in the United States, and you speak English, you have to adjust to them. I don’t think that’s fair.”

Lucy Bermudez, a Philippine-born nurse who just left heavily immigrant Panorama City for Ventura County, says: “I waited for 15 years to become a citizen. It’s unfair of the illegal ones. They are just popping in.”

For Spanish-speaking shopkeeper Maria Elba Miranda, who emigrated illegally from El Salvador 13 years ago, the burning issue is security, and fear. “I’ve noticed a change in the type of people coming, even from my own country,” she said.

“There are just too many people here. . . . I remember when I came, I was really scared, timid, just looking for work, but now they come here looking for trouble.”

On the same Los Angeles street where Miranda lives and works, immigrants openly hawk fake green cards for $50. If you want a phony Social Security card, they can arrange that too. And to the untrained eye, all the documents look good.

“What we do is help people work, not like those guys, they’re the ones who should be deported,” says a 17-year-old nicknamed Orejas, or Ears, who arrived illegally from Mexico six months ago.

Orejas points across the street at the “bad immigrants” to distinguish himself and his friends from their ilk. Go to them, he says, if you want to buy drugs.

*

The INS estimates, conservatively, that about 3.2 million illegal immigrants now live in the United States. Most of these migrants–up to 70% of them from Mexico–arrived after the estimated 3.7 million others who have taken advantage of the amnesty provision of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act.

Although that law is widely acknowledged to have ended life in the shadows for many immigrants, it has failed to stop the illegal flow. To wit: the control part of the act has become a joke:

Thousands of mandated Border Patrol jobs remain unfilled. Employer sanctions are rarely enforced. And states such as California complain bitterly that Washington does not reimburse them for services to illegal immigrants whose entry the federal government should have blocked.

Such a situation has led many to believe that no sooner do illegal immigrants cross the border than they end up on the dole. In fact, undocumented immigrants are legally ineligible for almost all public benefits other than maternity and emergency medical care under Medi-Cal or Medicaid, and some prenatal care.

But because of the thriving market in counterfeit documents, fraud appears to be widespread.

Moreover, U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants are also entitled to all citizenship benefits, such as the fast-growing Aid to Families With Dependent Children program, and like foreign-born children, free education through the 12th grade.

And beyond the costs vs. revenue debate that is the subject of academic debate, residents of areas with large immigrant populations say they feel the impact of the newcomers in more personal ways.

An African-American police officer married to a Mexican immigrant says the couple’s two children are enrolled in a Los Angeles public school that is 90% Latino, “so my kids have a hard time.”

“The teachers are spending all this time on the Spanish,” he said. “So it slows down my kids. So I’m moving mine to a private school.”

Puerto Rican Miguel Rodriguez, 35, of Carson recently recovered from a car accident and went back to reclaim his welding job.

“They told me they didn’t have anything,” he said. “They hired a couple of guys, Latinos who don’t speak any English, who will take less. They’re making $8 an hour. I was making $13. . . . It kind of pisses me off.”

And from Lanie Wong, 65, a mother of five grown children and a daughter of Chinese immigrants, there is this: “It bothers me that the illegals think they can outsmart our system. They brag. It doesn’t affect me, personally. But it’s the principle.”

*

Felix Martinez, a 43-year-old father of four, and his friend, Milton Monterosa, 41, a father of two, have arrived hours early for an appointment at a Los Angeles office of the state Economic Development Department. They have gone months without work and are hoping for a lead on a job.

Like hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of others, Martinez, of Mexico City, and Monterosa, from San Salvador, overstayed their entry visas and slipped unnoticed into the underground economy that traditionally welcomed illegal immigrants with abundant, low-paying jobs.

Under the amnesty granted to illegal immigrants residing in the country before 1982, both men legalized their status, but the American dream escapes them still.

“My friend and I were just talking,” Martinez says. “Los Angeles has fallen down so much. Before, there used to be a lot of work. Things were good. Now the situation is desperate. There is no work. There is nothing.”

Monterosa just nods.

“On the one hand, I think it’s good that immigrants come to this country,” Martinez goes on. “But, you know, I’m in this position. I can’t condone more people coming. I tell my brothers, everybody. They say, ‘Oh, the streets are paved with gold there. There is a lot of work. I’m coming.’ I tell them: ‘There is no work. Why should you come to suffer? Don’t come.’ ”

Inside the unemployment office, Los Angeles-born Lawrence Cush, 31, is also waiting for a lead. He says he has prepared himself for a good job with a college education and experience as a PBX operator at the Ambassador Hotel.

But he has been out of work since 1985.

“I feel in competition with the immigrants,” he says. “Everyone should speak English, but they don’t. . . . I applied for a job at Continental Cable and they told me that I had all the qualifications but that I didn’t get hired because I didn’t speak Spanish.”

Cush is on welfare. He is looking for a job that pays at least $8 an hour “so that I could make $17,000-$20,000 a year, and that’s not that much. That way I could do my part to support my family.

“I’m not going to take the minimum wage,” he said.

Outside, Martinez speaks in Spanish: “I have these desperate nights where I hug my knees together in bed and pray to God for a miracle, to send me a job, any job, a gardener, a cook, whatever. I’m not talking about some fancy job in an office, a secretary.

“I’ll take anything.”

The crux to defeating California is clear.

At least, UCLA coach Bob Chesney made it so on Monday.

“We have a chance to put it together against another opponent, a really good opponent, very well-coached, phenomenal talent on this team, but it all starts with No. 3,” Chesney said.

And while No. 3, Cal quarterback Jaron Keawe-Sagapolutele, may be familiar with UCLA’s defensive scheme and personnel — telling reporters Tuesday that the offense has been studying film from James Madison’s 2025 unit for the past few weeks — he may not be as accustomed with the defense’s new identity.

Defensive lineman Sahir West, who transferred to from James Madison to UCLA, says the Bruins have embraced their coach’s emphasis on toughness and attention to detail.

(Robert Simmons / Associated Press)

UCLA defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler, who has made stops as defensive coordinator and safeties coach at JMU, Alabama, Wisconsin and Cincinnati during the past six years, wanted his defense to enter 2026 with a brand — a reputation to describe the team’s play.

And after presenting his team with different options, the defense settled on the “Bruin Bullies,” a name based on the 1970s Philadelphia Flyers “Broad Street Bullies” — an homage to Hitschler’s home city.

“It’s a lifestyle, it’s a mentality more than anything,” Hitschler said. “It’s what we need to do to win the next play. That toughness, that internal belief. That’s what it’s about.”

Since arriving in Westwood, Hitschler has consistently been touted for his toughness and encouraging his players to compete with an unwavering belief — values he developed as a wrestler.

Hitschler, who won a national prep championship at William Penn Charter School and then wrestled at the University of Pennsylvania from 2005 to 2010, grew up in Philadelphia surrounded by the sport, with his older brother, father and grandfather all lettering at his alma mater, and his father working as a longtime football and wrestling coach at his high school.

“Wrestling is a unique sport in that it’s an individual sport, and you walk out on a mat and you win or lose, and it’s all about just you,” Hitschler said. “It’s a glorified fight with rules. Winning your individual battle in football is what leads to team success, and when those guys really buy into that toughness that it takes to beat the guy across from you, then you’re going to have a really good defense.”

Beyond toughness, Hitschler wanted the Bruins to show intensity and relentless attention to detail, emphasizing the importance of “being intentional in everything you do.”

“The first fundamental is effort and attitude, which is four to six, A to B, and nasty intentions,” UCLA sophomore linebacker Scott Taylor said. “He won’t tolerate low effort or low intensity, and it could be on any play. … We might do all the things we want to do, and then we’re going to come back to meeting that night, and he’s going to pull up the three bad clips from practice and go, ‘This is unacceptable. We better fix it tomorrow.’”

Hitschler’s emphasis on attacking extends to the secondary.

“All 11 guys want to tackle the ball. We have some really tough kids playing [defensive back.] … Those guys love hitting,” Hitschler said.

Hitschler’s track record developing elite defensive backs — such as the Indianapolis Colts’ Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner, Chicago Bears’ Coby Bryant and San Francisco 49ers’ Darrick Forest — drew players such as Derrick Barksdale to UCLA.

“His intensity level, the way he approaches the game, is something that inspires a player to even play even harder, play with even more technique, or play with more detail,” Barksdale said.

James Madison’s Derrick Barksdale said UCLA defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler’s history of developing players inspired him to join the Bruins.

(Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)

Hitschler’s revitalized defense will have to create splash plays — something the Bruins lacked last season, finishing last in the nation in sacks and tying for third worst in interceptions — if it wants to stop the potent Cal offense.

“Takeaways are all about playing longer and harder than the offense does, and our job doesn’t stop till somebody or the ball is on the ground,” Taylor said. “Personnel aside, the way we’re going to attack offenses, and the way we’re going to play on defense, is going to create stress and chaos for every team we play. Inherently, with how we play, there’s going to be a lot of big plays, and we’re not going to sit back and hope that the offense messes up.”

Junior defensive lineman Sahir West said the UCLA defense has fully embraced the challenge of being “Bruin Bullies” all season.

“That’s who we truly want to be. That’s not just a moniker. That’s what we live by. That’s basically the brand of football that we want to play,” West said. “Be bullies on the field. Be dominant. Take play by play. Just play hard. That’s who we are.”