CHARLESTON, S.C. — Barack Obama romped to victory Saturday in the South Carolina Democratic primary, a landslide powered by African American voters energized by a chance to elect the nation’s first black president.

The win, the most lopsided of the campaign, gives the Illinois senator a big lift heading into the coast-to-coast balloting Feb. 5. He once more demonstrated strong support among young and change-minded voters, who helped set another record turnout.

“The choice in this election is not between regions or religions or genders,” Obama told a boisterous crowd in Columbia that repeatedly interrupted his remarks with cheers. “It’s not about rich versus poor, young versus old, and it is not about black versus white. This election is about the past versus the future.”

The outcome of the Democratic contest, after a week of racially charged campaigning, also suggested divisions that flew in the face of Obama’s message of unity. The Illinois senator won 4 out of 5 black votes in the state Saturday versus 1 out of 4 white votes, according to exit polls.

Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards, who split most of the white vote, finished second and third, respectively. Clinton and Edwards ran even among white women; Edwards, a former North Carolina senator and a South Carolina native, carried a plurality of white men.

Obama made significant inroads with one group of white voters: He carried half those younger than 30.

He also fared well on issues. Half of voters cited the economy as the major problem facing the country; Obama was that bloc’s clear favorite. He enjoyed an even bigger edge among voters naming healthcare or the war in Iraq as the country’s biggest problem.

Clinton left the state about the time the polls closed at 7 p.m., but called Obama from her plane to congratulate him before taking off. Nearly final returns showed Obama with 55% of the vote, Clinton with 27% and Edwards with 18%.

Appearing hours later in Nashville, Clinton thanked South Carolina residents, then talked about the landslide of votes coming Feb. 5, when voters in more than 20 states — including California — will go to the polls.

“I want to tell you how excited I am that the eyes of the country turn to Tennessee and the other states that vote on Feb. 5,” the New York senator told a crowd of several hundred at Tennessee State University. “Millions and millions of Americans will have the chance to have their voices heard and their votes counted.”

Edwards, who carried South Carolina in his 2004 bid, vowed Saturday night to stay in the race “to give voice to millions of Americans who have absolutely no voice in this democracy.” He planned to campaign today in several states with Feb. 5 contests.

For months, Clinton was the leader in South Carolina polls, but that began to change as Obama’s campaign gathered strength. His support among black voters exploded after his Jan. 3 victory in the Iowa Democratic caucuses, and his win Saturday was bigger than many analysts had expected.

Speaking at a victory rally at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, Obama declared: “After four great contests in every corner of this country, we have the most votes, we have the most delegates and the most diverse coalition of Americans that we’ve seen in a long, long time.”

Sounding themes similar to the speech delivered after his Iowa triumph, Obama decried a politics that foments division. “I did not travel around this state over the last year and see a white South Carolina or a black South Carolina,” he said. “I saw South Carolina.”

Giddy, the crowd chanted, “Yes, we can!” and “Race doesn’t matter!”

But at the same time, Obama took veiled swipes at Clinton and her husband, the former president, over the acrimony of the last week, saying, “We are up against the idea that it is acceptable to say anything and do anything to win an election.”

South Carolina, which was given the privilege of an early-voting slot to promote diversity in the Democratic race, was the first contested state with a large black population. Exit polls indicated that more than half of those who turned out Saturday were African American, up slightly from four years ago, and many had an eye on history.

About noon Saturday, 17 consecutive African Americans leaving a polling place in working-class Orangeburg said they had voted for Obama.

“It tells me that people and times are changing,” said Sarah Favors, who has taught for 25 years at historically black South Carolina State University. “And to see it happening here in South Carolina tells me that things are really changing, because people here like things to stay the same.”

There were 45 pledged national delegates at stake in Saturday’s voting, with Obama projected to win the most. But more significant was the momentum that comes with victory, which has gone back and forth between Obama and Clinton on virtually a weekly basis since his strong opening win in Iowa’s caucuses.

The two can now claim a pair of victories.

“This was a big win for Obama,” said John Anzalone, a Democratic pollster who is not affiliated with a campaign. “It shows this is going to be competitive all the way to the end.”

It could be ugly, too. South Carolina, a state with a history of incendiary elections, is where an already nasty contest turned raw and racial.

Obama and Clinton clashed in the harshest debate of the campaign: He derided her service “as a corporate lawyer sitting on the board of Wal-Mart,” she accused him of doing the legal bidding of a Chicago slumlord. Their venom carried over to the airwaves.

The Clinton campaign broadcast a radio spot suggesting Obama was at heart a Reagan Republican. Obama responded with an assertion that Clinton would “say anything to get elected.”

Clinton left the state for two days midweek and placed her campaign in the formidable hands of her husband, who won South Carolina in his 1992 White House run. Critics accused the former president of injecting race into the contest through a series of veiled remarks; he angrily denied the assertion, and campaign strategists said they were pleased with his prominent role.

But interviews with voters leaving their polling places Saturday suggested a backlash. About 6 in 10 said the former president’s campaigning was important in shaping their decision; of those, nearly half went for Obama, according to the survey conducted for television networks and the Associated Press.

Moreover, Obama handily defeated Clinton among those who made their minds up in the final three days of the campaign, when coverage of the former president dominated the news.

“It was a choice between old and new, and people wanted new,” said Dick Harpootlian, an Obama supporter and former state Democratic Party chairman.

But aides to candidate Clinton said Saturday that the former president would continue to campaign on his wife’s behalf as the race shifts to what is in effect a national presidential primary.

Up to now, the nominating fight has been a series of single-state battles in discrete regions: Iowa in the Midwest, New Hampshire in the Northeast, Nevada in the West and South Carolina below the Mason-Dixon line.

Florida Democrats vote Tuesday, but that contest has been diminished by a candidate boycott stemming from its violation of party rules forbidding such an early vote. The focus from here out is Feb. 5, when more than 20 states hold nominating contests. At stake will be nearly 1,700 national convention delegates, well over half the number needed to secure the nomination.

Despite cloudy, chilly weather, South Carolina Democrats posted a record turnout Saturday — more than 532,000 voters — continuing a pattern in this election season.

Unlike the race in Iowa, a mostly positive contest that buoyed many Democrats, South Carolina left a sour tang.

“A tough competition is good,” said Jenny Backus, a Democratic consultant watching from the sidelines. “But we have to come together in the general election. There are three qualified candidates. We would be better off debating their different leadership styles than ripping each other’s faces off.”

—

mark.barabak@latimes.com

—

Times staff writers Maria L. LaGanga in Columbia, S.C., James Rainey in Orangeburg, S.C., and Peter Nicholas in Nashville contributed to this report.

—

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

S. Carolina results

Democrats

Barack Obama … 55%

Hillary Rodham Clinton … 27%

John Edwards … 18%

99% of precincts reporting

Worcestershire appeared to be cruising towards victory when Hampshire, chasing 308, needed 48 runs to win with 21 balls remaining and one wicket in hand.

Some big hitting from Andrew Neal took Hampshire to the brink of an astonishing success but, requiring five more off the final three balls, he edged spinner Fateh Singh behind to fall for 48 off 22 balls.

The late drama at New Road was in sharp contrast to events earlier in the day at Radlett, where Middlesex made short work of Glamorgan’s batting line-up.

Naavya Sharma (4-29), Toby Roland-Jones (3-35) and Noah Cornwell (3-1) were the only three bowlers used as Glamorgan, who were 44-1, lost their final nine wickets for 22 runs.

Josh de Caires hit 10 fours in his 45 not out as the hosts completed victory within three hours of the match starting.

At Hove, an early rain shower meant a slightly reduced match of 48 overs per side.

Opener Will Luxton made 117 in Yorkshire’s 325-7 and Coad’s four wickets with the new ball left Sussex on 21-5 as they chased a revised target of 325.

Coad ended with 5-12 from seven overs as Sussex were bowled out for 140 to lose by 184 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis (DLS) method.

Essex beat Derbyshire by nine runs at Chelmsford in the other match in Group B, with both captains leading their sides’ respective batting causes.

Westley, making his 500th career appearance in all formats, scored 102 off 97 balls in the hosts’ 257-7.

Harry Came (97) shared an opening stand of 113 with Martin Andersson but the match looked in the balance when Derbyshire needed 100 more with five wickets in hand.

Charlie Bennett (3-32) broke a seventh-wicket partnership worth 45 between Ross Whiteley and Nick Potts, which proved crucial.

The island has weathered a US oil embargo since January and is enduring one of its worst economic crises ever.

Cuba’s president has accused the United States of carrying out “genocide” against his people and seeking to seize the Caribbean island nation.

President Miguel Diaz-Canel lashed out during a rally on Sunday commemorating the start of the Cuban Revolution in 1953. His anger was a reaction to Washington’s continued pressure, which has included a crippling oil embargo that has produced regular blackouts and economic hardship.

“I denounce that Cuba is the victim of a cold-bloodedly calculated genocide,” Diaz-Canel said in Pinar del Rio at the event marking the 73rd anniversary of the uprising against former dictator Fulgencio Batista.

US relations with the communist-led island have long been tense, but have deteriorated further under US President Donald Trump.

Washington imposed an oil embargo on Cuba on January 29, causing daily blackouts of more than 20 hours.

The US, Diaz-Canel said on Sunday, was engaged in “economic strangulation” through its actions.

Employers have been forced to reduce workdays, industrial production has stopped, and water and medicine shortages are hitting a country already suffering from previous US sanctions and financial reforms that caused inflation.

Payment companies Visa and Mastercard, Spain’s Melia hotel chain, and Air Canada and Air France have all exited the country amid the crisis.

“Cuba is today waging a historic battle … against the walls of a genocidal policy whose objective is to suffocate an entire people in order to appropriate the country,” Diaz-Canel said.

Trump said he would “take over” Cuba, following the US abduction of former Venezuelan president and Cuban ally Nicolas Maduro in January.

Last week, a US State Department report accused Cuba’s government of running an espionage and influence network against Washington and Latin American neighbours.

In May, the US indicted former president and revolution leader Raul Castro – brother of Fidel – of murder and other crimes for his alleged part in the downing of two civilian airplanes operated by Miami-based exiles off the Cuban coast in 1996.

Cuba’s government has rejected the accusations and denounced Trump’s rhetoric. Talks between the two countries have largely stalled, Cuban officials said in June.

The Cuban Revolution, led by brothers and later leaders Fidel and Raul Castro, culminated in the Batista government’s fall in 1959. Former President Raul, 95, was unusually absent at Sunday’s rally.

During a recent tour TWZ took of the RTX-owned Pratt & Whitney’s jet engine assembly plant in Middletown, Connecticut, nearly everything was quiet on the line following a major push to complete outstanding deliveries by the end of the second quarter on July 1. But the Bearing Automation Robotic Builder – known familiarly as BARB – remained calmly at work, completing assembly processes for the #2, #5, and #6 bearings on the company’s commercial 1100G – one of the company’s GTFs, or geared turbofan engines, powering several Airbus and Embraer fleets.

While robotic assembly machines are a commonplace sight on factory floors building everything from cars to electronics, Pratt & Whitney’s assembly lines are still largely human-dependent. That’s a function, in part, of the exacting and unforgiving work of building jet engines, which require a carefully policed logbook of production steps executed to keep the process error-free. Throughout the factory floor, “Foreign Object Debris” bins remind workers to keep areas clear of any loose materials, from stray threads to gum wrappers. Even small pieces of detritus can become deadly if they end up in a jet intake. Company staff stressed that ensuring a machine could operate error-free in a range of conditions was a time-consuming and critical prerequisite for embracing automation.

BARB, which fits the mold of a factory robot out of central casting with its upright stance and long yellow arms, is the product of a $20 million investment the company has made into automation. It’s a modest first step at integrating automation more fully throughout jet engine assembly – both on the civilian side and in the somewhat more complex military engine business on a parallel production line in the same facility.

According to Ted Sluis, vice president and manager of Product Delivery Centers at Pratt & Whitney, BARB arrived in Middletown around late 2024, but only came online this spring after extensive testing that ensured the robot’s cameras and sensors could reliably identify parts and consistently perform the correct operations.

“There is a visual inspection aspect of it, and when we were doing the initial trials of the parts, we were using scrap parts,” Sluis said. “But the scrap parts were old, and we went to make production parts on it, those were new and shiny. The vision system started having issues because it wasn’t used to shiny parts; it was used to like the old parts … little things like that, that we had not anticipated. And so a lot of learning meant that it took us all the way through last year, into the beginning of this year to get it to where it could repeatedly get through the entire cycle without a person intervening to do something.”

According to public production and training manuals, the 1100 engine, which is assembled in a horizontal position, has seven total bearings requiring assembly. The #2 bearing is a ball bearing that supports the front of the low-pressure (LP) rotor, which extracts energy to power the engine fan and reaches maximum speeds above 10,000 RPM. The #5 and #6 bearings are rear roller bearings.

Sluis said engine assembly involves bearing sub-assembly, including the bearing, housing components, and affiliated seals and covers. 

“So it’s a handful of parts that you have to get put together into a sub-assembly,” he said. “With the types of operations that we’re doing, different parts have different clearances. And so to get them to go together, you have to heat one part and cool another part, and you have to orient those in the right way, press them together, let it normalize, inspect it to make sure that it actually meets the right dimensional requirements.”

In the traditional engine assembly process, he said, a mechanic would sign a record at every stage verifying the prescribed action had been completed in the correct order. Integrating the assembly robot into the record-keeping process has been another deliberate effort, Sluis said.

“If a person is doing that work, they would be signing with their badge all the different sequences to say ‘I completed this work..’ In this case, the mechanic is basically signing, saying, ‘I provided the parts to the machine, the machine is tracking, I did this, I did this, I did this,’ and that’s going to be part of the engine build record. The mechanic signs, saying, ‘I received the assembly from the automation machine, and I’m going back to the normal process.’”

While the approach to integrating automation into an exacting assembly process has been small-scale to start, Sluis said the benefits in efficiency have been immediately clear, with an 80% reduction in ‘touch time.’ When reporters visited the production line July 1, the robot appeared still, but it was in reality actively supervising the heating of parts in an oven while standing by to complete the next assembly steps. But the biggest benefit to bringing BARB online, Sluis said, has been the proven error-free repeatability.

“If you look at the yield of that sub-assembly, it’s essentially 100%,” he said. “I think that, of all the ones that we’ve made since we went into serial production with it, we had one that had an issue and it was something that had to do with the part going in, as opposed to what the machine was doing with the parts.”

That deliberate work has taken place in parallel with Pratt & Whitney’s efforts to integrate AI into engine production. It recently debuted an AI-assisted borescope inspection software for its powerful commercial V2500 engine and has already completed pilot test cycles on both the GTF commercial engines and the F135 engine, which powers all variants of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. 

The AI support tool purports to help human inspectors by applying trained analysis to video of the borescopes to identify any variations more quickly and consistently. 

“Broadening the integration of AI-assisted inspection capability strengthens our ability to detect issues earlier, improve turnaround times, increase time on wing and reduce operational disruption for our customers,” Rob Griffiths, senior vice president of Commercial Engines Operations, said in a released statement. “It will fundamentally reshape how engines and components are inspected, maintained and supported throughout their lifecycle, as we increase its application across Pratt & Whitney.”

The notion behind both technology applications is that a meticulously trained robot will beat even a seasoned human inspector for accuracy and consistency.

“I think our biggest benefit will actually be in the quality signature,” Sluis said.

The multi-year plan for automation will gradually branch out to more complex automation applications, Sluis said, moving next to “small modules that do not have rotating parts” before moving to those that do have moving components.

The next spot for an automation machine has already been chosen: it will be the 1100G’s central diffuser module that has fuel nozzles mounted to it and is positioned in front of the high-pressure turbine. Pratt & Whitney is currently building a 2,600-square-foot site where the robotic assembly can take place, Sluis said, with a robot six times as large as the roughly human-sized BARB. The company expects it to be up and running on the line a lot sooner after delivery than its first robot.

“Our lead time from when it arrives to when we’re making modules off of it should be much, much shorter than we experienced with BARB,” Sluis said.

Military customers, company execs said, have already expressed “tremendous interest” in building automation into their engine assembly plans. Sluis and Chris Olivo, the Middletown product delivery center customer and event manager who led the production line tour, said the long-term goal saw every line benefiting from BARB-like robots. 

One hurdle is the way the engines are assembled. While the 1100G and F139 engines, the latter used for the Air Force’s KC-46 Pegasus, both tip horizontally for assembly, the F135 is assembled vertically in pits on the floor. This makes it more difficult for a non-human operator to isolate and access some assembly processes. 

Then, Sluis said, the higher dexterity needed for a lot of engine assembly processes required additional testing and development. He cited, in particular, fixing nuts and bolts onto assemblies as processes conducive to human dexterity. Once those issues are solved, dissemination of jet-assembly automation technology could move quickly.

“From there, it all depends on volume, business case or interest,” Sluis said. “But at least the capability will be foundationally established.”

Contact the editor: Tyler@twz.com

Tax incentives for film and television productions have not been enough to counter a still-sluggish environment for filming in the greater Los Angeles region, according to a new report.

For the three-month period that ended June 30, there were a total of 4,711 shoot days in the greater L.A. area, a nearly 13% decline from the same time last year, according to second-quarter data from FilmLA, a nonprofit that tracks local filming.

Compared to the five-year average, that second-quarter figure is a drop of about 36%.

Feature film shoots were down 20% in the second quarter compared to last year, while TV production decreased by 30%.

Incentivized productions are, however, making up a growing number of shoot days. For instance, 33% of the 443 total shoot days for feature films in the second quarter came from productions that received a tax credit. For the TV category, roughly 28% of the 1,607 shoot days last quarter were for projects that benefited from the tax incentive, particularly for dramas and comedies.

“While there is still much work to do, FilmLA’s quarterly report is proof that incentives are working: local incentivized productions are on the rise,” said L.A. Mayor Karen Bass in a statement.

Shoot days for TV dramas were down 6.4% to 732 days this past quarter, with just over 38% of those days coming from incentivized projects. TV comedy production saw a 43% decline to 57 days, with 21 of them coming from projects that received a tax credit. FilmLA noted that many local comedy productions are based on stage and not accounted for in the latest research.

“Because scripted television production supports more industry jobs than any other production category, helping to attract these types of productions is an important step towards bringing filming back to the region, restoring jobs and strengthening our local production economy,” said FilmLA Chief Executive Denise Gutches in a statement.

But any boost from the incentives was offset by serious declines for productions that are not eligible for the state’s film and TV tax credit program.

Shoot days for reality TV, for instance, were down 40% to 676 days compared to the second quarter of 2025. While large-scale competition shows are eligible for the state’s tax credit, such as Jimmy Kimmel’s “Schooled!” science experiment series for kids, other kinds of popular reality TV shows cannot apply for production incentives.

Filming for commercials in the second quarter was down nearly 22% from last year to 543 days. That total marked a 46% decline compared to the five-year average.

In a bright spot, FilmLA’s “other” category, which captures shoot days for student productions, still photography, documentaries and music videos, climbed 10% in the second quarter to 2,118 days.

That boost came largely from online content shoots, which rose by 47%. Filming for short films and documentaries were also higher in the second quarter, though those two segments had much smaller numbers of shoot days, FilmLA said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing to eliminate a foundational safety principle that has for 50 years minimized the radiation people in the United States are exposed to and that has been adopted around the world.

Currently, facilities such as nuclear plants, hospitals or academic institutions that use radioactive materials must ensure radiation exposures are kept “as low as reasonably achievable” — the ALARA principle. The NRC proposal would abandon that philosophy while keeping a separate standard on maximum radiation exposure.

The two standards have worked together in radiation safety. Dose limits set the maximum amount of radiation the public and radiation workers can be exposed to, while ALARA kept radiation exposure as low as practical under those limits. Research shows radiation exposure increases a person’s chance of getting cancer, a risk that increases as the dose increases.

The dose limits are not changing. But the NRC, which regulates civilian nuclear energy technologies and radioactive materials, now wants to replace ALARA with a “graded approach” that includes several actions facilities must take depending on the potential dose of radiation to workers. More rigorous radiation protection measures would be required when approaching dose limits to ensure they aren’t exceeded.

This comes as President Trump attempts to quadruple domestic nuclear energy production because of surging electricity demand amid a data center and artificial intelligence boom. Reforming the NRC is one way Trump is trying to speed up nuclear reactor development. He instructed the federal agency in an executive order last year to “adopt science-based radiation limits.”

The Energy Department, which oversees national energy policies, has already stopped using ALARA. The NRC expects to finalize its radiation protection regulations in the coming months.

NRC Chairman Ho Nieh said the commission is not lowering the bar on safety.

“We’re just removing the ambiguity,” he said in a call with reporters. “But the standard for exposure to workers and the public, those are not changing. We’re just putting in place greater clarification.”

Nieh doesn’t expect major changes within the nation’s existing fleet of large, traditional reactors. But companies designing and building new, smaller reactors could move faster with a clearer picture of the radiation protection requirements, he said.

Could radiation doses creep higher?

The NRC said radiation exposure limits are set well below levels associated with health effects, and it expects remaining standards and industry practices to keep radiation doses far below the limits. There’s incentive to do so — it’s more expensive and time-consuming to work in areas with higher radiation because access must be restricted and more surveys are required.

The nuclear industry’s trade association agrees with the NRC.

“We will always continue to look at what can we do to reduce the dose to workers, and maintain our doses to the off-site public as low as possible,” said Doug True, chief nuclear officer at the Nuclear Energy Institute. “It’s not like we’re just going to throw open the doors and let everything run up to the limits.”

ALARA created a “moving target” for regulation, said Justin Friedman, a nuclear energy consultant who previously spent three decades at the U.S. Department of State. Getting rid of the rule would allow NRC scientists to make more rational decisions about appropriate levels of manageable risk, he added.

Some experts question cutting ALARA

Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, cautions that some parts of the NRC proposal could raise permissible radiation doses in certain cases, while still staying below the cap. Lyman highlighted a proposed revision to radionuclide emissions standards, in particular.

Radiation exposure to the general public is limited to 100 millirem per year. A typical dose of radiation from a chest X-ray is 10 millirem.

The NRC wants to increase its radionuclide emissions standards from a conservative, 10 millirem per year dose to 25 millirem per year, based on a hypothetical person living in a house at the property line for a nuclear plant.

The NRC says actual doses to the public would remain far lower because, in reality, people live farther from nuclear sites and benefit from dispersion in air and water.

The NRC should improve, rather than eliminate, ALARA, Lyman said, to protect the public and workers. ALARA has become a political target because some people mistakenly believe radiation exposures have to be as low as possible no matter the cost, Lyman said. In reality, it allows trade-offs.

Katy Huff, a former U.S. assistant secretary for nuclear energy, said in some cases, the requirement may be challenging to regulate. Additional clarity would improve the regulatory environment without harming the public, added Huff, a professor and department chair at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

However, Huff said, she thought the NRC was going to clarify what “reasonably” means in ALARA without scrapping it. She said she’s open to being convinced the graded approach will be just as effective.

One expert sees a mixed bag

The National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, chartered by Congress to provide independent scientific guidance, has not formally weighed in yet. Council President Kathryn Higley said she likes some things in the 180-page document but thinks others are problematic.

The NRC should look at the whole picture for managing risk, she said. For instance, if a worker at a nuclear power plant were to enter an area where airborne radioactive materials are present, in keeping with ALARA, they might wear full personal protective equipment with respirators, said Higley, professor emeritus at Oregon State University. That makes them move slower, potentially subjecting them to heat stress that could hurt them more than a low dose of radioactivity, she said.

A concern with the proposal, Higley said, is that it maintains the current occupational dose limit for adult radiation workers at 5 rem, or 5,000 millirem, per year. With ALARA in place, the average dose to workers has been well below that cap.

The International Commission on Radiological Protection recommends an occupational dose of 2 rem per year on average. The NRC previously found it wasn’t justified to match that, because workers were exposed to less than that and changing regulations is costly.

Higley said the U.S. may need to align with the international community if ALARA is going away.

McDermott writes for the Associated Press.

Nadine de Klerk hits an unbeaten 41 to guide London Spirit to a thrilling five-wicket victory over Trent Rockets with three balls to spare. The win at Trent Bridge secures Spirit’s first win of their 2026 women’s Hundred campaign and marks the highest successful run chase in the team’s history.

READ MORE: De Klerk holds nerve as Spirit edge past Rockets

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The UN’s Guterres condemned violations of Syria’s sovereignty as he visited and called for sanctions to be lifted.

The head of the United Nations has condemned the persistent violation of Syria’s sovereignty, as Israel’s forces reportedly carried out new incursions into its neighbour’s territory.

Israeli soldiers advanced towards villages in southwestern Syria on Sunday, setting up a checkpoint at Al-Ardah, while shelling was also heard nearby, Syria’s state news agency SANA reported. Leaflets were dropped warning residents against attempting to obstruct the advance of Israeli vehicles.

The incursion came as United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, on a visit to Syria, condemned Israel’s violations.

“Syria’s sovereignty, independence, unity & territorial integrity must be fully respected,” he wrote in a social media post. “Violations by Israel of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement are unacceptable & must stop.”

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, he said that the UN is set to submit a comprehensive report to the UN Security Council on the issue at the end of the month.

‘Security zone’

Israel has conducted increasingly regular incursions into Syrian territory since the fall of the regime of ousted President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

In the immediate aftermath, it seized control of the UN-controlled buffer zone separating the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria, saying the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria had collapsed.

Since then, Israel has carried out regular attacks, raids and searches, and established military checkpoints further within Syria.

Israeli officials say they intend to remain in southern Syria, in what they call a “security zone”.

Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani called for Israel’s withdrawal from the buffer zone on Saturday, saying its continued military operations and occupation are a “direct threat to the security of the region”.

In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera’s Al Muqabala, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said Damascus was working to reach a security agreement with Israel, involving a group of countries.

“If the security agreement with Israel succeeds, it will pave the way for comprehensive peace without conceding Syria’s right to the occupied Golan [Heights],” he said.

He said that Syria has “no interest” in entering a confrontation with Israel.

Guterres’s visit to Syria is the first by a UN chief to the country since 2009. He is expected to visit the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), which has been deployed to the buffer zone since 1974.

On Sunday, he described the country as being at a “moment of opportunity” to recover from its 13-year war, and build a more stable, inclusive and prosperous future.

The UN chief urged the removal of all sanctions imposed on the country during the era of al-Assad, who was deposed by forces led by al-Sharaa in 2024 after over a decade of civil war.

“I welcome steps that have eased sanctions, and opening new possibilities for economic recovery, but all these sanctions must be removed immediately,” Guterres said.

Western countries including the United States have begun lifting economic sanctions, but investors remain cautious. The World Bank has estimated the country’s post-war reconstruction could cost $216bn.

“The United Nations stands with the people of Syria at this pivotal moment. And I came carrying the strongest possible appeal to the international community, an appeal to spare no effort to support the Syrian people and to support the Syrian government,” Guterres said.

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

German police have shot dead the suspect wanted for the car ramming attack on Berlin’s Pride march.

Abdul Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots, was killed as he attacked officers with a bladed weapon, police reported late on Sunday. Officials have reported that all indications point to a “Islamic terror attack”.

Ballout was shot following a search that lasted nearly 24 hours. He was the main suspect in the attack that took place on Saturday evening, in which a van drove into a crowd at the Berlin Pride LGBT event.

The confrontation occurred in the German capital’s Spandau district. Police said that he died despite efforts to resuscitate him.

“Around 6 p.m. (1600 GMT), the suspect involved in yesterday’s attack in Tiergarten was located at an allotment garden complex in Spandau,” Berlin police wrote social media.

“According to initial findings, he ran towards officers while armed with a bladed weapon; police… subsequently opened fire. Despite immediate resuscitation efforts by the Berlin Fire Department, he died at the scene.”

More to come…

Comedian Chris Ramsey, who previously competed on Strictly Come Dancing, has reportedly signed up for the upcoming celebrity edition of BBC hit series Gladiators

Chris Ramsey has reportedly signed up for Celebrity Gladiators. The comedian, 39, could be about to join the star-studded lineup of an upcoming special of the BBC hit.

All hosted by father-and-son duo Bradley and Barney Walsh, the celebrity edition of their Saturday night series has previously other big names from the comedy world and now it’s thought that Chris, who around his stand up career has competed on Strictly Come Dancing and previously hosted The Chris and Rosie Ramsey show with his wife, is about to enter the strength-endurance game.

A source said: “They love having a comedian on Celebrity Gladiators to ramp up the fun factor, which is why they’ve always tried to sign someone like Chris.

Speaking to The Sun, the source added: “Previous names have included stand up stars Rob Beckett and Joel Dommett who were on the first ever series of the spin-off show in 2024, and they certainly delivered on laughs.”

The outlet previously reported that YouTube star George Clarke, who reached the final of Strictly Come Dancing last year, had also signed up to appear on the programme, along with Big Brother host AJ Odudu.

Both the celebrity edition and the non-celebrity edition will commence production at Sheffield sometime soon, although whilst the regular edition of is expected to air in 2027, the star-studded special is normally broadcast over the festive period.

It’s thought that Bradley and Barney will be back to front the next series as well as the special edition of their programme, which serves as a revival of the 1990s classic, just like they did last year when fitness coach Joe Wicks and I’m A Celebrity… star Vogue Williams reigned supreme when the episode aired on Christmas Day.

The pair succeeded after facing off against other celebrities, Made in Chelsea star Sam Thompson and boxing champ Nicola Adams. After winning, Joe, 40, explained that he was truly challenged by the physicality of the special.

He said: “Even though I had a bit of a breather, I still found that travelator hard. It’s much harder doing it in real life than watching it on TV. I’m really chuffed that I won but I have to say Sam has been an amazing partner.”

In defeat, Sam remained gracious and laughed about the self appointed Gladiators name he had awarded himself. He told the Utilita Arena in Sheffield: “El Cockroacho, baby – you can’t stamp him out!”

Meanwhile, Vogue, who won after only being two-hundredths of a second ahead of her opponent Nicola, gushed: “I honestly cannot believe it, I’ve had the best day ever. The crowd when I was doing so badly were so nice to me so thank you.”

And the Olympic gold medallist said in defeat: “I came down on the zipline and landed funny on my ankle and I just couldn’t get it going again. This is the first silver medal I’ve had!”

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling that in nearly half of U.S. states halted President Trump’s executive order to create a federal list of eligible voters and limit delivery of mail ballots only to people on that list.

The ruling Saturday by judges of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Trump administration’s effort to move forward with the mail-in voting restrictions in 23 U.S. states that sued ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Trump issued an executive order in March for the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the commissioner of the Social Security Administration to create a “state citizenship list” of eligible voters. It also ordered the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to people on that list.

Trump has claimed the proposed changes are necessary safeguards to keep non-U.S. citizens from voting, but state election officials argued they were ripe for abuse and could cause chaos.

Democratic officials in 23 states and the District of Columbia challenged Trump’s order in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Boston. They argued that Trump’s order was unconstitutional because the states and Congress, not the president, have the authority to set election rules.

U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani agreed and halted Trump’s order from being implemented for the Nov. 3 elections, but only in the states that have sued.

Trump’s executive order is part of his ongoing campaign to restrict voting access and raise doubts about the integrity of the election system before the November midterms.

The White House and the Justice Department did not immediately return an email seeking comment Sunday about the court ruling.

Bynum writes for the Associated Press.

Jos Buttler stars with 90 off 50 balls as Manchester Super Giants ease past Birmingham Phoenix at Old Trafford – with the home side winning by 87 runs to make it two wins from two in the men’s Hundred.

READ MORE: Buttler brilliance as Super Giants thump Phoenix

Available to UK users only.

This episode examines how mass violence in Darfur has been constructed over time and why many activists, governments and courts have labelled it genocide, even as that term remains politically contested. It traces how environmental stress, neglect of the peripheries and competition over land fed grievances between communities. It shows how Khartoum armed and mobilised militias, how racialised language framed “Arabs” and “Africans” as enemies and how aerial bombing, burning of villages and mass displacement became tools of policy. Through survivors’ testimony and legal analysis, the film follows the path from counterinsurgency to crimes against humanity and alleged genocide and asks what justice has – and has not – been delivered for Darfur.

Extreme heat and strong winds are fuelling a wave of wildfires across North Africa, with major fires burning in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Tunisia has called in international firefighting aircraft as crews battle fires threatening forests, farmland and nearby communities.

ACTRESS Emma Roberts has tied the knot with her fiancee Cody John in a lavish Idaho wedding.

The American Horror Story star, 36, said “I Do” in front of close friends and family including the “Nerve” actress’s A-list aunt, Julia Roberts.

A source told Page Six that the ceremony took place in 95-degree weather and lasted about 45 minutes.

Emma looked gorgeous in a white chiffon wedding gown that featured a high slit as she held onto her son Rhodes’ hand as they walked down the aisle.

Cody, 29, looked stylish in a black tuxedo as he stood at the altar reading his vows to his new wife.

The couple got engaged back in July 2024, after nearly two years together.

At the time, Emma shared a photo of herself and Cody with the caption, “putting this here before my mom tells everyone.”

In the selfie, she was shown hugging her new husband while showing off her engagement ring on her finger.

Emma shares a son, Rhodes, with her ex-boyfriend, actor Garrett Hedlund.

The pair have co-parented Rhodes since the news of their breakup came out in January 2022.

“It’s been easy for Emma to co-parent with Garrett in a healthy way because she is so happy,” a source told Entertainment Tonight in October 2022.

Emma hails from New Jersey and is an American singer and actress.

She is the niece of Hollywood actress, Julia Roberts, and spent time on the sets of her aunt’s films when she was growing up, which inspired her to pursue a career in acting.

Her Hollywood debut was in the 2001 film, Blow, a role that gained her recognition and landed her an opportunity in Nickelodeon’s series, Unfabulous.

Emma has appeared in numerous films since her debut including Aquamarine, Nerve, Nancy Drew, and Hotel For Dogs and has starred in American Horror Story since 2013.

Walking down a hallway at UCLA’s Wasserman Football Center earlier this week, I became a believer.

Bouncing hurriedly in my direction was a bright-eyed kid with a huge smile. I didn’t know him. He didn’t know me.

Yet as he passed, he suddenly stuck out his hand for a fist bump, which I was too stunned to ignore, and so I pounded back while wondering.

What just happened?

Then it hit me.

Bob Chesney just happened.

New UCLA football coach Bob Chesney has won over cynics with his unflinching optimism and attention to detail.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

The new football coach has infused the completely rebuilt program into a place so energetic, his players run around sharing their inspiration to complete strangers.

“Yeah, we’re gonna win here,” Chesney says.

This shared spirit starts every morning in this building, in the team meeting room, where Chesney orders his players to stand and sing the school fight song as if they are standing on the field after a victory.

The words to the song are displayed on a giant screen, which increasingly isn’t used because most of his players have now learned the song by heart. Those who fail to sing get tagged with a red laser pointer, so pretty much everyone croons.

“I’m not gonna let people put limits on us,” Chesney says. “I’m not gonna let them tell us what we can and can’t do.”

This shared spirit continues deep into the night, as some of his players recently had a pool party at the home of Cori Close, the Bruins national championship women’s basketball coach. She was not teaching them how to swim. She was teaching them how to win.

“People say why here?” Chesney says. “I say, why not here?”

He shows up for my early afternoon visit last week dressed uniquely for a $33.75 million coach of a Big Ten school on the outskirts of Hollywood.

He is dressed like a player. Black shirt, black shorts, thin sheen of sweat adorning his expressive forehead.

“Been lifting weights,” he says.

Are weight machines set aside for the coaches?

“Lifting with the players,” he says. “These guys are telling me what to do.”

UCLA coach Bob Chesney stands on the field in between players and shouts instructions during a spring practice.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Full disclosure: I arranged my visit full of skepticism about this guy that has UCLA fans swooning.

C’mon. Seriously? He’s ready for this? How can he be ready for this?

The son of a small-town high school football coach in Pennsylvania coal country, Chesney had risen from obscurity to … more obscurity. He had previously coached at four different small schools you couldn’t find on a map. Salve Regina? Assumption? What?

This will be Chesney’s first shot under the bright lights. And he is taking that shot with a program whose best shots couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.

The Bruins have not been to the Rose Bowl game in 28 years, and he is going to fix that? They have not won a Rose Bowl game in 41 years, and he was going to change that culture?

The celebrated Chip Kelly couldn’t do it. The emotional Jim Mora Jr. couldn’t do it. The cheerleading Rick Neuheisel couldn’t do it. The cerebral Karl Dorrell couldn’t do it. The affable Bob Toledo thought he had done it until his team inexplicably quit on him just 60 minutes from a berth in the national championship game.

I had covered all of these coaches, hearing their annual promises, seeing their annual collapses, realizing USC had a stranglehold on the college football money and attention in this town, and I had come up with an inescapable conclusion.

What Chesney is trying to do with UCLA football can’t be done.

Then I met him.

The best word to describe initial impressions of the 48-year-old former college safety would be, wow.

He talks fast. He oozes belief. He sells UCLA. He sells himself. He doesn’t shrink from his giant task. He doesn’t rationalize or equivocate his team’s sordid history.

He’s like one of those charming smart kids who never takes no for an answer.

“I feel it,” he says.”I feel it.”

No wonder his recruiting has been phenomenal, ranked seventh nationwide for the class of 2027, a trend that began this summer with 42 transfers, many of whom will start. No wonder he has been recognized by fans while hanging out in West Hollywood or Griffith Observatory or Dodger Stadium, where he’s already sat wide-eyed in a meeting with Dodger manager and UCLA grad Dave Roberts and Sandy Koufax.

He feels it, and the Bruin Nation feels it with him.

“Everybody’s included,” he says. “You wanna be included? C’mon, you’re included.”

As the self-proclaimed driver of the Bruin bandwagon in recent years — only to be derailed by midseason every time — I’ll pass on the inclusion. I’ve got to see it before buying it. But right now, Chesney has worked me up into such a lather that, yeah, I’m believing.

First, Chesney points to his resume, a litany of small schools who accumulated big victories, a dossier that includes only one losing season and none in the last seven years.

His head coaching career started at Division III Salve Regina (Rhode Island), where he turned eight consecutive losing seasons into three straight winning seasons.

“‘You can’t win there, nobody can win there’ is what they said,” Chesney says. “We won there.”

James Madison coach Bob Chesney and running back Wayne Knight celebrate after winning the Sun Belt championship on Dec. 5 in Harrisonburg, Va.

(Robert Simmons / Associated Press)

Then there was Division II Assumption in Massachusetts, where he took a team that had two winning records in 17 years and led them to five consecutive winning records and three straight playoff appearances.

“They said, ‘You can’t do it, nobody can do it,’’’ Chesney says. “We did it.”

Then there was Holy Cross, also in Massachusetts, where he took the team to a record five straight Patriot League championships while advancing as deep as the FCS quarterfinals.

“They told us, ‘The academics are too tough, the tuition is too high, you can’t win there,’’’ Chesney recounts. “We won there.”

Finally there was James Madison in Virginia, where he took a team whose stars had all followed Curt Cignetti to Indiana and still triumphed, leading them to a Cinderella appearance in the College Football Playoff.

“A lot of people doubted it, a lot of people didn’t believe it could work,” Chesney says. “We’ve proved a lot of people wrong throughout the years.”

After his resume, Chesney points to his surroundings. He is more awed by UCLA’s gravitas than any other football coach I can remember. It’s clear he can sell the school because he has such respect for the school.

“Here you’re a handshake away from changing your life … the school has an 8% acceptance rate, you’re walking around this campus with valedictorians and future CEOs and doctors and lawyers,” he says. “You’re surrounded by greatness, you have a chance to breathe this rare air that very few people get a chance to breathe.”

But for Chesney to fill this air with a football championship requires a price. It is a price that, so far, many potential donors have been reluctant to pay. But in today’s college football world, it is the cost of doing business.

Face it, Cignetti couldn’t have changed Indiana’s fortunes so rapidly if it wasn’t for Mark Cuban money. Chesney believes he can do the same thing here … with a little push.

Longtime UCLA donor Angelo Mazzone chipped in $10 million recently, and more such gifts are needed for UCLA to be able to pay the players that bring them a championship.

”There’s a major financial commitment that comes with getting those four- and five-star kids, but we can really turn the tables with that kind of help,” Chesney says. “Every single thing that is needed is here, we just have to make sure we get the support from the people on the outside that we need to actualize our dream.”

UCLA coach Bob Chesney shares his vision for the program during his introductory news conference on Dec. 9.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

He’s doing all the right things while chasing that dream.

Even as his bosses are pushing to move the team out of the Rose Bowl to SoFi Stadium, he loves the Rose Bowl, and took his team there for its spring game on a weekend that began with him standing outside the brightly lit marquee with his father and his son in the dark.

“It was one of those moments, I was like, man, the history of this place … to me to play in the Rose Bowl, what an honor and a privilege,” he says.

The game actually drew a decent spring crowd of 10,000-12,000, partially because Chesney had worked so hard at banging the drum. He and his players even brought pizzas to various campus groups in hopes of enlisting support.

“You want to be around this program, you can be around this program,” he says.

Then there’s his opinion of USC. He doesn’t have one. He never mentions them. For a UCLA coach, this is a good thing.

“I guess we’re perceived to be in their shadow, and for whatever reasons we weren’t an option the last couple of years, but look at our recruiting, I know we’re becoming an option for L.A. again,” Chesney says. “I think you can change a lot of people’s opinions on who they want to be rooting for.”

As in all levels of football, it all comes down to the quarterback, and Chesney had his first win by convincing budding star Nico Iamaleava. The kid was roundly criticized in this space for holding out and then walking out on his Tennessee team last year, but he has since grown up, and could be the sort of game-changer that Chesney requires.

“Watching Nico with his athletic ability, his arm, creating plays after the play with his legs, I have very high hopes,” says Chesney.

There are potentially outstanding transfers at half of the positions, and, with some solid returning players — this is a team that beat seventh-ranked Penn State, remember — the Bruins have a decent foundation.

UCLA coach Bob Chesney pats running back Anthony Woods on the helmet during the team’s spring game at the Rose Bowl on May 2.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Throw in a favorable 2026 schedule that doesn’t include Ohio State or Penn State or Washington or Iowa, and one thinks they might even have a chance at making some miracles.

“You’re going to see a different brand of football, one that is united, that is passionate, that is physical, that is tough, that has a lot of fun playing together,” he said.

You’re also going to hear a sound that died in the brief DeShaun Foster era, a sound that has never lasted more than a couple of weeks in the last 30 years.

That rumble is the Bruin football bandwagon. It’s revving up again. The inimitable force that is Bob Chesney wants to include you on the start of its journey.

Let him.

July 26 (UPI) — After nearly two weeks of nightly bombing, the United States and Iran entered their second day of no new attacks Sunday, U.S. defense officials said.

Pentagon officials told CNN that U.S. attacks on Iran were “on a hold” after 13 consecutive nights of bombing the country. U.S. allies in the war on Iran have also reported no new strikes out of Tehran.

Iranian army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia confirmed the pause by his country in a statement carried by The Guardian.

“These [U.S.] attacks continued until two nights ago, but over the past two nights the Americans have stopped their attacks,” he said. “Our strategy has essentially been retaliatory, we have also halted our retaliatory operations.”

U.S. officials told The New York Times that President Donald Trump had delayed his plans to escalate fighting if talks didn’t continue. They said he was motivated by dwindling stockpiles of missile interceptors.

Iranian officials, meanwhile, have portrayed the U.S. pause on strategic fatigue, CNN reported.

Amid the lull in violence, Iran’s foreign ministry said there had been some movement in negotiations regarding the control of the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran had essentially closed the strait to traffic after the United States and Israel began its strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.

The action put strain on the world’s energy markets because about one-fifth of the world’s oil transits the strait. The resulting spike on oil and gas prices has put strain on the Trump administration to end the war.

A new hybrid-electric heavy-lift cargo drone has been unveiled by the defense arm of U.S. company BETA Technologies. The MV250 debuted in the static display at the Farnborough International Airshow 2026, taking place in England this week. The vehicle shown at the airshow hasn’t flown, BETA Technologies confirmed, although it is described as being built using “all-flyable components.”

The new drone is a military adaptation of BETA Technologies’ Alia 250 electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, which can carry five passengers or an equivalent load of cargo, plus the pilot. TWZ and other journalists today spoke to officials from BETA Technologies at Farnborough.

“The basic physics of the MV250 enable significantly longer range, higher speed, and a lower cost of operations when compared to tiltrotor and legacy platforms,” said Kyle Clark, founder and CEO of BETA Technologies. However, the claim that the MV250 exceeds the performance of a tiltrotor doesn’t stack up, based on published figures. “I believe we should be offering our military the most robust and best equipment in the world to maintain superiority and thus deterrence,” Clark added.

The uncrewed MV250 is primarily intended for cargo transport, with freight loaded and unloaded through an upward-opening nose visor. It can also deploy air-launched effects (ALEs) from a set of side-mounted launch tubes. A similar concept is currently being pitched by Sikorsky, with its uncrewed version of the Black Hawk helicopter, dubbed the U-Hawk, which is also intended to be able to fire dozens of ALEs, such as surveillance and reconnaissance drones and loitering munitions.

Other roles include casualty and medical evacuation, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR).

BETA Technologies has also proposed that the drone can be used as a forward-located tactical power source, providing up to 500 kilowatts to troops on the ground for command and control, counter-drone, electronic warfare, or directed energy weapon applications.

In terms of cargo capacity, the MV250 has a cabin volume of 250 cubic feet for a payload of 2,000 pounds.

Published performance specifications include an operational radius of more than 250 nautical miles, a cruising speed in excess of 170 knots, and a ferry endurance of 12 hours at 20,000 feet.

The propulsion system involves four fixed-pitch propellers which provide for the VTOL capability. These are mounted on long booms that connect the 50-foot-span wings with the V-shaped tail.

Meanwhile, forward propulsion is provided by a single variable-pitch pusher propeller mounted in the rear of the fuselage.

Since it has a hybrid-electric drive, the turbine engine — mounted above the rear fuselage — doesn’t directly power the various propellers. Instead, it directly feeds a high-voltage bus, recharging the batteries, and powering the electric motors that spin the propellers. The engine can also be stopped, and the battery can provide power, which is highly reliable.

The MV250’s turbogenerator has been developed with GE Aerospace and is compatible with a range of NATO-compatible fuels.

Proving hybrid-electric concepts in military aviation has long been a goal, as operators seek to harness the benefits promised by the combination of fuel efficiency, reduced emissions, and enhanced operational flexibility. The last of these points is reinforced by the reduction in the number of moving parts compared to more conventional configuration, including losing the traditional drive train, reducing the risk of component failure and easing the burden on spare parts and maintenance man-hours.

Hybrid-electric propulsion offers inherent advantages when it comes to reducing infrared and acoustic signatures.

The drone relies on Sikorsky’s MATRIX system to provide full autonomy. At a minimum, the MV250 should be capable of autonomously navigating along predetermined routes using programmed waypoints, establishing a practical baseline for uncrewed logistics operations. Beyond this, more advanced autonomous capabilities — such as dynamically replanning flight paths and responding in real time to emerging threats, obstacles, or changing mission conditions — would significantly enhance operational effectiveness, particularly during resupply missions in contested or high-risk environments.

BETA x Sikorsky

Like other disruptors in the defense sector, BETA Technologies is looking to leverage its experience in the commercial realm to shake up the development cycles that the U.S. Army, Marines, and Air Force have previously relied on.

“Those organizations would wait years for external defense government funding to then build a very complicated and expensive, bespoke defense-only project,” Larry Smith of BETA Technologies said. “That typically will result in it being over schedule and over budget. Well, alternatively, what BETA is doing is using internal funding to rapidly create viable prototypes, not mockups, based on our commercial core technologies.”

Also speaking today, Kyle Clark emphasized how BETA Technologies can use advanced design and manufacturing techniques to influence the speed and scalability of production. He described “a really thoughtful composites integration,” in which all the components are bonded using something much like “a big panini press.” Clark continued: “There are no fasteners in that fuselage, so we can make it inexpensively and meet the demands of the military. When the call comes and says, ‘Can you give us 600 of these aircraft?’ The answer is yes, and the cycle time is graduated in hours and not months.”

As an example of how the design and manufacturing process has been refined, Clark noted how the company went from 14,000 fasteners and 580 parts in the wing, to fewer than 300 parts and zero fasteners. Consequently, the manufacturing time was cut from six weeks to a matter of hours.

Although distinguished by its hybrid-electric propulsion system, the MV250 enters an increasingly crowded market for VTOL-capable cargo drones.

Established helicopter manufacturers also have a stake here, with conversions of existing crewed rotorcraft.

These include the MQ-72C Lakota Connector, which is stated to carry a maximum payload of around 4,000 pounds, including slung loads, and the Airbus U145, adapted from the H145 light helicopter, with a payload of up to 2,600 pounds. You can read more about the MQ-72C in our previous coverage of that aircraft, here and here.

At the smaller end of the scale is the R66 Turbinetruck, based on the proven Robinson R66 airframe, which can carry a load of 1,300 pounds internally, or external loads supported via a cargo hook. The Turbinetruck uses the same MATRIX autonomy system as used in the MV250 and others. In a similar category to the Turbinetruck is the Uncrewed 505, a development of the Bell 505. Both those aircraft are set to be tested by the U.S. Marine Corps as that service seeks to field platforms that can rapidly resupply Marines in contested environments.

Robinson Unmanned | The Future of Autonomous Rotorcraft is Here

Based on published figures, the MV250 would seem to fall between the Lakota Connector and the U145 at one end of the scale, and the Turbinetruck and Uncrewed 505 at the other.

As for the Marines, they have been very much at the forefront of exploring the potential of uncrewed rotary-wing aircraft for use in future fleets of autonomous cargo drones. The Marine Corps considers uncrewed aerial and seagoing logistics “connectors” to be critical enablers of future expeditionary and distributed operations, particularly in a potential high-end conflict with China in the Indo-Pacific.

The U.S. Army is also looking at similar concepts, albeit currently at the larger end of the scale. Work includes optionally crewed and uncrewed versions of the H-60 Black Hawk series. The U-Hawk demonstrator, a fully uncrewed version of the Black Hawk helicopter, is intended to carry cargo and deliver launched effects and features clamshell doors in the nose. At the heavier end of the scale, Boeing has said its future plans for the H-47 Chinook include creating a path toward an uncrewed version of the aircraft.

Introducing the S-70UAS™ U-Hawk™

However, these capabilities are also attracting growing interest from military services around the world.

Based on a commercial design, the MV250 — or a version of it — also has significant potential in the civilian space. Missions here could include disaster response and firefighting, but it would be equally well suited to cargo transport, particularly for remote resupply operations and logistics support to offshore platforms and isolated inland locations.

Overall, this is another example of emerging eVTOL capabilities bleeding into traditional rotary-wing defense segments, and we are likely to see much more of it in the future.

While the MV250 remains in the prototype stage, it reflects a broader shift in military aviation toward autonomous logistics platforms derived from commercial technology. As armed forces seek faster, more flexible ways to sustain distributed operations, aircraft like the MV250 could help redefine how cargo, supplies, and even combat capabilities are delivered on future battlefields, but it will also be entering an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

FREDDY Brazier’s ex-girlfriend Holly Swinburn has issued a statement after his dog mauled him – claiming the canine was “mistreated” before the attack.

Freddy, 21, spoke exclusively to The Sun on Sunday about his terror after pocket bully Pablo attacked him and ripped a hole in his arm.

His gran Jackiey, 68, was also savagely attacked by Pablo twice in four days before the dog turned on Freddy.

On Sunday, Holly – who shares daughter Isla with Freddy – took to Instagram and penned an emotional message.

Sharing a photo of the pocket bully, she captioned: “This is Pablo.

“I had to give him to someone as I was struggling with a baby and a dog, he has been mistreated there and attacked them to protect himself.

Read more on Freddy Brazier

‘HE’S LIKE MY SON’

Emotional Freddy Brazier breaks silence after being mauled by his dog

dog days

Freddy Brazier’s nan Jackiey struggles to control her own dog after being attacked

“He’s the nicest dog and this is totally out of character for him. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Freddy previously revealed he had received a formal letter from the police that his dog would be put down after seven days if he could not find a suitable place for it to live. He has until Tuesday to do that.

With this in mind, Holly added: “Please if anyone has a good home for Pablo message me!

“I don’t want to see him being put down and I can’t look after him and a baby by myself :(.”

The alarm was first raised during an attack on July 16 by a concerned neighbour who heard screams of agony as Pablo gripped onto Jackiey, leaving her requiring medical treatment.

In addition to this, Freddy spent around eight hours in hospital getting stitches after he collected the dog from Jackiey’s property following the attack.

He later told The Sun on Sunday about the mauling, saying: “I’m scratching his back, but then he hooked on to my arm. The dog was hanging off me.

“I couldn’t feel anything in my right arm. But then I saw blood coming out of my tracksuit.

“I opened it to see a 3cm hole in my arm. It was terrifying.”

Pablo was living with Jackiey’s two female dogs — an Italian spinone and a pitbull crossed with an XL bully, called Echo, at her home in Bermondsey, South London.

Freddy said: “He’s always had a good relationship with the other two dogs. I’ve never known Pablo to attack.”

The Sun has reached out to Freddy’s reps for comment relating to Holly’s post.