Month: July 2025

Washington, DC – Palestinian rights advocates are hailing the growing number of lawmakers in the United States showing willingness to restrict weapons to Israel over the atrocities in Gaza after a Senate vote on the issue.

The majority of Democrats in the Senate voted late on Wednesday in favour of a resolution to block a weapons sale to Israel in what rights advocates have hailed as a major blow to the bipartisan support that Israel has traditionally enjoyed in Congress.

The measure, introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders, ultimately failed in a 27-70 vote, but a record number of lawmakers backed it compared to similar bills in the past.

“It was incredibly significant. We’re seeing a fundamental shift in the Democratic Party on Israel,” said Yasmine Taeb, legislative and political director for the advocacy group MPower Change Action Fund.

All Republican Senators voted against the measure. But within the Democratic caucus, the tally was 27-17. The bill aimed to block the transfer of assault rifles to Israel.

Another bill that targeted bomb shipments also failed, in a 24-73 vote, with three senators who backed the first bill defecting.

The vote came amid domestic and international anger at Israel’s atrocities in Gaza, where leading rights groups have accused the Israeli military of carrying out a genocide against Palestinians.

‘We just need to continue to fight’

Taeb said Palestinian rights advocates are making progress on the issue, noting that only 15 Senators backed Sanders’ measure to block weapons to Israel in April.

“It’s frustrating, but we just need to continue to fight,” she told Al Jazeera.

“We need to continue to do everything we possibly can to pressure our leaders in the House and Senate to stop funding these atrocities. We’re absolutely seeing a shift, and these bills show that. So, it shows that the pressure is working.”

Israel, which receives billions of dollars in US military aid annually, largely relies on US weaponry to carry out its wars on Palestinians and neighbouring countries.

For decades, support for Israel on Capitol Hill seemed unshakable. But restricting the flow of US weapons is steadily becoming a mainstream proposal, especially among Democrats.

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) expressed gratitude for the senators who backed the bills, calling the vote a “historic sign of progress”.

“Although last night’s Senate vote should have been 100–0 in favor of these resolutions, the fact that a majority of Senate Democrats voted yes is a historic moment and a sign that sentiments in Congress are gradually catching up to the American people,” CAIR government affairs director Robert McCaw said in a statement.

Some key Democrats supported Sanders’s bill – well beyond the small group of progressive lawmakers who have been vocally supportive of Palestinian rights for years.

They included Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee; Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee; and Amy Klobuchar, a prominent centrist.

‘Enough is enough’

Senator Tammy Duckworth, who has been a strong Israel supporter throughout most of her career, also voted in favour of the measure.

“Enough is enough,” Duckworth said in a statement.

She highlighted the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where Israeli-imposed starvation has killed more than 150 people.

“Israel’s unacceptable choice to restrict humanitarian and food aid from entering Gaza – for months – is now causing innocent civilians, including young children, to starve to death,” Duckworth said.

“Ending this famine is not only a moral imperative, it is also in the best interests of both Israel’s and our own country’s long-term national security.”

Four out of the six new Democratic senators, elected last year, voted in favour of blocking arms to Israel, highlighting the generational shift on the issue. The other two freshman senators were not present for the vote.

Public opinion polls show that young Americans, especially Democrats, are increasingly opposing Israel’s abuses against Palestinians.

Only 9 percent of respondents under the age of 35 in a recent Gallup survey said they approve of Israel’s military action in Gaza and 6 percent said they had a favourable opinion of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Sanders said after Wednesday’s vote that the increased support from Democratic lawmakers for restricting arms to Israel shows that the “tide is turning”.

“The American people do not want to spend billions to starve children in Gaza,” the senator said in a statement.

“The Democrats are moving forward on this issue, and I look forward to Republican support in the near future.”

AIPAC responds

IfNotNow, a youth-led progressive Jewish group, also lauded the vote as a “historic moment”.

“As Israel’s blockade forces virtually all Palestinians in Gaza to the brink of starvation, we must use every tool at our disposal to end the blockade and push for a ceasefire and hostage exchange,” the group’s executive director, Morriah Kaplan, said in a statement.

“It is shameful that a shrinking minority of the Democratic caucus, 17 senators, sided with Republicans to continue the flow of deadly weapons to the Israeli military.”

Some senior Democrats, including the party’s top senator, Chuck Schumer, voted against the resolutions.

Taeb said Schumer’s vote shows that he is “simply out of touch with the vast majority of Democratic voters and, incredibly, his own caucus”.

She added that Republicans will soon start to pay an electoral price for their unflinching support for Israel as Americans’ opinions continue to turn against the US ally.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which has spent millions of dollars to help defeat Israel’s critics in Congress, welcomed the defeat of Sanders’ bills, but it said that the vote “highlights the growing attempts to advance anti-Israel policies in Congress”.

“We know our detractors are working to take the battle from the floor of the Senate and the House to the ballot box next year, seeking to elect more candidates who want to undermine the US-Israel alliance,” the group said in an email to supporters.

“With the midterm elections rapidly approaching, we must ensure we have the political strength and resources to help our friends win and help defeat our detractors.”

A LOVE Island star furiously hit back at claims Megan was flirting with Tommy outside the villa.

The Irish star returned to the ITV2 dating show after previously being dumped.

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While she initially coupled up with Tommy, she later moved on to hunky rugby player Conor.

However, fellow returnee Blu introduced new drama into the couple’s dynamic.

He told Conor how Megan had been flirting with Tommy during her time away from the villa.

In addition, how she had allegedly been annoyed seeing Tommy move on with Casa bombshell Lucy.

Taking to TikTok, former Love Island star Jessy Potts has hit back at the claims.

She said in a video: “Why is Blu getting involved about the outside and Megan being annoyed about Tommy.

“I went on that trip with Irish Meg and she was talking about Conor the entire time.

“Blu, why are you in here babe? Go home.”

Meanwhile, Jessy soon got her wish – as Blu and Helena were axed in a brutal dumping.

Their exits immediately followed the Love Island talent show – which saw all Islanders take part.

Helena won for her air hostess-inspired “No Good Airlines” routine, which took playful jabs at her co-stars.

One viewer wrote on X: “Helena being dumped right after winning the talent show ?? …. these producers.”

Another penned: “Producers making Meg read out that Helena was dumped.”

A third chimed in: “helena and blu being dumped looks like i’m going to be watching aftersun tor the first time this season.”

Love Island airs on ITV2 and ITVX.

WASHINGTON — Appellate court judges expressed broad skepticism Thursday over President Trump’s legal rationale for his most expansive round of tariffs.

Members of the 11-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington appeared unconvinced by the Trump administration’s insistence that the president could impose tariffs without congressional approval, and it hammered its invocation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to do so.

“IEEPA doesn’t even mention the word ‘tariffs’ anywhere,” Circuit Judge Jimmie Reyna said in a sign of the panel’s incredulity at a government attorney’s arguments.

Brett Schumate, the attorney representing the Trump administration, acknowledged in the 99-minute hearing “no president has ever read IEEPA this way” but contended it was nonetheless lawful.

The 1977 law, signed by President Carter, allows the president to seize assets and block transactions during a national emergency. It was first used during the Iran hostage crisis and has since been invoked for a range of global unrest, from the 9/11 attacks to the Syrian civil war.

Trump says the country’s trade deficit is so serious that it likewise qualifies for the law’s protection.

In sharp exchanges with Schumate, appellate judges questioned that contention, asking whether the law extended to tariffs at all and, if so, whether the levies matched the threat the administration identified.

“If the president says there’s a problem with our military readiness,” Chief Circuit Judge Kimberly Moore posited, “and he puts a 20% tax on coffee, that doesn’t seem to necessarily deal with [it].”

Schumate said Congress’ passage of IEEPA gave the president “broad and flexible” power to respond to an emergency, but that “the president is not asking for unbounded authority.”

But an attorney for the plaintiffs, Neal Katyal, characterized Trump’s maneuver as a “breathtaking” power grab that amounted to saying “the president can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, for as long as he wants so long as he declares an emergency.”

No ruling was issued from the bench. Regardless of what decision the judges’ deliberations bring, the case is widely expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

Trump weighed in on the case on his Truth Social platform, posting: “To all of my great lawyers who have fought so hard to save our Country, good luck in America’s big case today. If our Country was not able to protect itself by using TARIFFS AGAINST TARIFFS, WE WOULD BE “DEAD,” WITH NO CHANCE OF SURVIVAL OR SUCCESS. Thank you for your attention to this matter!’’

In filings in the case, the Trump administration insists that “a national emergency exists” necessitating its trade policy. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade, a specialized federal court in New York, was unconvinced, ruling in May that Trump exceeded his powers.

The issue now rests with the appeals judges.

The challenge strikes at just one batch of import taxes from an administration that has unleashed a bevy of them and could be poised to unveil more on Friday.

The case centers on Trump’s so-called Liberation Day tariffs of April 2 that imposed new levies on nearly every country. But it doesn’t cover other tariffs, including those on foreign steel, aluminum and autos, nor ones imposed on China during Trump’s first term and continued by President Biden.

The case is one of at least seven lawsuits charging that Trump overstepped his authority through the use of tariffs on other nations. The plaintiffs include 12 U.S. states and five businesses, including a wine importer, a company selling pipes and plumbing goods, and a maker of fishing gear.

The U.S. Constitution gives the Congress the authority to impose taxes — including tariffs — but over decades lawmakers have ceded power over trade policy to the White House.

Trump has made the most of the power vacuum, raising the average U.S. tariff to more than 18%, the highest rate since 1934, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University.

Wiseman and Sedensky write for the Associated Press. Sedensky reported from New York.

A newly unsealed court document alleges that Richard Tillman admitted to police officers that he drove a vehicle into a Northern California post office and set the building on fire, “trying to make a statement to the United States Government.”

It’s unclear what the statement was intended to be. According to the document, Tillman also told San Jose Police officers at the scene that he was responsible for spray-painting “Viva La Me” on the building as it was burning but was unable to finish writing because of the heat.

The youngest brother of late NFL star and U.S. Army Ranger Pat Tillman has been charged with the federal crime of malicious destruction of government property by fire in connection with the incident at Almaden Valley Station Post Office on July 20 at around 3 a.m. Sunday.

The 44-year-old San Jose resident was arrested at the scene. The criminal complaint against Tillman was filed July 23 but remained sealed until Wednesday when Tillman made his initial appearance in federal district court in San Jose. KRON-TV in San Francisco reports that Tillman did not enter a plea.

Tillman is in federal custody and has a status conference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins scheduled for Aug. 6, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a press release.

The criminal complaint includes a statement of probable cause by U.S. Postal Inspector Shannon Roark. According to the statement, Tillman told officers on the scene that he had placed “instalogs” throughout his vehicle and doused them with lighter fluid. He then backed the vehicle into the post office, exited the vehicle and used a match to set the car ablaze.

The building was “partially destroyed by the fire,” the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

Roark also stated that Tillman told officers at the scene that he had livestreamed the incident on YouTube. Tillman’s channel has since been removed from the site.

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Pat Tillman famously walked away from a three-year, $3.6-million contract offer from the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the Army, along with his younger brother, Kevin.

On April 22, 2004, Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire in the province of Khost, Afghanistan. He was 27.

The day after the post office fire, Kevin Tillman released a statement.

“Our family is aware that my brother Richard has been arrested. First and foremost, we are relieved that no one was physically harmed,” Kevin Tillman stated. “ … To be clear, it’s no secret that Richard has been battling severe mental health issues for many years. He has been livestreaming, what I’ll call, his altered self on social media for anyone to witness.

“Unfortunately, securing the proper care and support for him has proven incredibly difficult — or rather, impossible. As a result, none of this is as shocking as it should be.”

India close day one of the fifth and final Test of their tour of England on 204-6 with skipper Shubman Gill was run out.

England gained the upper hand after a rain-hit first day of the final Test against India at The Oval as the tourists, needing victory to square the series, battled to 204-6, with all their big guns dismissed cheaply.

England had to work hard for their breakthroughs on Thursday and will be delighted to have got rid of KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja and Shubman Gill, the men who have tormented them recently, though captain Gill gifted his wicket with a suicidal run-out.

Even though there are four days remaining, India’s chances of fighting their way into a position where they could force a victory already look extremely slim.

The overcast morning conditions had looked ideal for England’s all-seam attack, even without injured captain Ben Stokes, but they lacked a cutting edge.

Recalled Gus Atkinson trapped Yashasvi Jaiswal lbw for two as stand-in captain Ollie Pope finally got on the right side of a DRS review after 14 unsuccessful appeals last year.

Rahul, with more than 500 runs to his name from the first four matches, looked relatively untroubled before playing on to Chris Woakes for 14 as India reached lunch on 72-2.

Gill, averaging more than 90 and with four centuries to his name in the series, then inexplicably set off for a non-existent single and was run out by four yards as bowler Atkinson had time to transfer the ball to his right hand before throwing down the stumps.

Gill had started the day with all sorts of records in his sights but, by adding only 21, he achieved only a couple as his tally of 743 took him beyond West Indies’ Garfield Sobers (722 in 1966) as the highest-scoring visiting captain and also moved him into the top nine for the most runs scored in a series in England – either for or against the hosts.

After a rain-delayed restart, a wayward Josh Tongue, whose first over lasted nine balls and went for 12 runs, finally found his line to nip the edge of Sai Sudharsan’s bat to dismiss him for 38.

Tongue repeated the feat soon afterwards to remove Jadeja – who scored a superb unbeaten century in his team’s rearguard action in the fourth test – for nine and India were reeling on 123-5 with their big-hitters all gone, or in the case of Rishabh Pant, absent through injury.

Dhruv Jurel, a ball after overturning an lbw decision against him, then got tucked up by Atkinson and was caught neatly at second slip by Harry Brook for 19.

Karun Nair batted calmly to finish on 52 not out, and Washington Sundar, another centurion last Sunday, was on 19 at the close as the impressive Atkinson finished the day with figures of two for 31 off 19 overs.

It was a less enjoyable day for Woakes, who suffered a serious-looking shoulder injury after falling heavily as he dived to try to prevent a boundary in the final overs.

Tennessee’s Supreme Court says Byron Black’s execution can proceed amid worries that a medical device may prolong his death.

A court in the United States has ruled that the southern US state of Tennessee can move forward with the execution of a man with an implanted defibrillator, despite concerns that the device could result in a botched execution.

The case before the Tennessee Supreme Court on Thursday concerned Byron Black, currently on death row after his conviction in a 1988 triple murder.

Black’s execution has been delayed multiple times, but a date was set on August 5 for him to receive a lethal injection.

However, in July, his defence team argued the execution could not proceed without first deactivating Black’s defibrillator, for fear it would continuously shock his heart as he passed away, resulting in an unnecessarily painful and prolonged death.

Davidson County Chancery Court Judge Russell Perkins previously ruled that Black’s defibrillator would have to be removed prior to execution.

But the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned that decision, arguing that removing the defibrillator in advance would amount to a “stay of execution”.

The state justices added that the lower court’s order was invalid because it had exceeded its authority.

Kelley Henry, one of Black’s attorneys, said that she is looking at the opinion before making a decision about next steps.

Lawyers for the state said on Wednesday that healthcare workers, many of whom view participation in the execution process as a violation of medical ethics, were not willing to facilitate the defibrillator’s removal.

The court did not address concerns over whether possible complications to the execution caused by the device could violate Black’s constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment. It also left open the possibility that Black could still win a reprieve against his execution.

Botched executions have been a subject of debate for years in the US, one of the few Western countries that still uses capital punishment.

Capital punishment carried out through methods such as lethal injection and electrocution can be frequently error-prone, sometimes resulting in painful, drawn-out deaths for prisoners.

A 2022 report by the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) found that seven out of 22 attempted executions in the US were “visibly problematic” and included “executioner incompetence, failures to follow protocols, or defects in the protocols themselves”.

According to Amnesty International, the US executed 24 people in 2023, the third-highest number of confirmed executions in the world after Iran and Saudi Arabia. The US also had the fifth-highest number of death sentences, after China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Somalia.

A 2024 Gallup poll found that 53 percent of people in the US still support the death penalty, while 43 percent disapprove. Those figures, however, represent some of the lowest levels of support on record, with favour dropping sharply over the last several decades.

The family of Virginia Giuffre, a woman who accused financier Jeffrey Epstein of sex-trafficking and assault, has expressed surprise at recent statements from United States President Donald Trump, alleging that Epstein “stole” her from his spa.

In a statement released late on Wednesday, the family called for more information to be released about the Epstein case.

“It was shocking to hear President Trump invoke our sister and say that he was aware that Virginia had been ‘stolen’ from Mar-a-Lago,” the family’s statement said.

“We and the public are asking for answers; survivors deserve this.”

Questions about Trump’s relationship with Epstein have dogged the president in recent weeks, with critics calling on him to release further documents the US government may have.

Trump himself has weighed in on the controversy, most recently while returning from his trip to Scotland this week.

A fallout over employee poaching?

As he flew on Air Force One, Trump brought up Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most high-profile accusers.

Giuffre died by suicide in April at her farm in western Australia. Previously, as a teenager, she had worked as a spa attendant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where her father was also employed in maintenance.

Trump accused Epstein, a convicted sex offender, of poaching employees like Giuffre.

“People were taken out of the spa, hired by him. In other words, gone,” Trump said. “When I heard about it, I told him, I said, ‘Listen, we don’t want you taking our people.’”

He added that Epstein’s actions caused a rupture in their relationship: “Not too long after that, he did it again. And I said, ‘Out of here.’”

His statements sparked a flurry of new media coverage. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has since defended Trump’s actions.

“The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club for being a creep to his female employees,” she said.

Upon taking office for a second term, Trump and his officials pledged to release government documents related to high-profile cases, including the assassinations of figures like civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr and US President John F Kennedy.

Many of the files in question have been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories.

In the case of Epstein, conspiracy theories have swirled about the circumstances of his 2019 jailhouse death and the potential influence he wielded over powerful acquaintances.

Figures in Trump’s current administration, like Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director Kash Patel and his deputy director Dan Bongino, openly speculated whether Epstein had a “black book” or “client list” that he used to coerce government and industry leaders.

Attorney General Pam Bondi fuelled those rumours when she appeared on Fox News in February and said such a list was “sitting on my desk right now”.

Family calls for Maxwell to ‘rot’

Thus far, the Trump administration’s document releases have failed to produce major revelations about the Epstein scandal.

In July, the FBI and the Department of Justice issued a joint statement also affirming that their review revealed no client list and no evidence that Epstein blackmailed figures of power.

That review, however, did little to abate speculation among those who have been following the Epstein conspiracy theories, including members of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) base.

Reports have since emerged that the Justice Department briefed Trump about his name appearing in the Epstein files, and Democrats have sought to leverage the controversy to dent Trump’s popularity.

Trump, meanwhile, has called for federal grand jury records to be released, though experts point out that those are unlikely to contain the full scope of evidence in the Epstein case.

Justice Department officials also met last week with Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted sex offender and former girlfriend of Epstein who is accused of sex-trafficking and grooming victims on his behalf.

Attorney General Bondi has said some Epstein materials cannot be released, as they contain sensitive information about victims.

Maxwell, meanwhile, has offered to testify before Congress in exchange for a pardon and has petitioned the Supreme Court to review her case. She is serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison.

In Wednesday’s message, Giuffre’s relatives urged the government not to pardon Maxwell for her crimes.

“Ghislaine Maxwell is a monster who deserves to rot in prison for the rest of her life,” their statement read.

The family of Virginia Giuffre, who was among Jeffrey Epstein’s most well-known sex trafficking accusers, said that it was shocking to hear President Trump say the disgraced financier “stole” Giuffre from him and urged that Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell remain in prison.

Giuffre, who had accused Britain’s Prince Andrew and other influential men of sexually exploiting her as a teenager trafficked by Epstein, has been a central figure in conspiracy theories tied to the case. She died by suicide this year.

Her family’s statement is the latest development involving Epstein, who took his own life in a New York jail in 2019 while facing federal sex trafficking charges, and the Republican president, who was his one-time friend. Trump denied prior knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and said he cut off their relationship years ago, but he still faces questions about the case.

Trump, responding to a reporter’s question on Tuesday, said that he got upset with Epstein over his poaching of workers and that Epstein had stolen Giuffre from his Palm Beach, Fla., club.

“It was shocking to hear President Trump invoke our sister and say that he was aware that Virginia had been ‘stolen’ from Mar-a-Lago,” the family’s statement said.

“We and the public are asking for answers; survivors deserve this,” it continued.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt noted the president was responding to a reporter’s question and didn’t bring up Giuffre himself.

“The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club for being a creep to his female employees,” she said.

The family’s statement comes shortly after the Justice Department interviewed Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 on sex trafficking and other charges and is serving a 20-year sentence in Tallahassee, Fla. Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche interviewed Maxwell in a Florida courthouse, though details about what she said haven’t become public.

Maxwell’s lawyers have said she testified truthfully and answered questions “about 100 different people.” They have said she’s willing to answer more questions from Congress if she is granted immunity from future prosecution for her testimony and if lawmakers agree to satisfy other conditions.

A message seeking comment about the Giuffre family’s statement was sent to Maxwell’s attorney Thursday.

A Trump administration official said the president is not currently considering clemency action for Maxwell.

Giuffre said she was approached by Maxwell in 2000 and eventually was hired by her as a masseuse for Epstein. But the couple effectively made her a sexual servant, she said, pressuring her into gratifying not only Epstein but his friends and associates.

Giuffre said she was flown around the world for appointments with men including Prince Andrew while she was 17 and 18 years old.

The men, including Andrew, denied it and assailed Giuffre’s credibility. She acknowledged changing some key details of her account.

The prince settled with Giuffre in 2022 for an undisclosed sum, agreeing to make a “substantial donation” to her survivors’ organization.

The American-born Giuffre lived in Australia for years and became an advocate for sex trafficking survivors after emerging as a central figure in Epstein’s prolonged downfall.

Her family’s statement said she endured death threats and financial ruin over her cooperation with authorities against Epstein and Maxwell.

Catalini writes for the Associated Press.

Karun Nair leads India’s fightback on day one of the fifth and final Test against England as they close on 204-6 at stumps, on a day where England’s efforts are overshadowed by a shoulder injury to Chris Woakes just before the close of play at The Oval.

MATCH REPORT: England v India fifth Test – day one

Available to UK users only.

July 31 (UPI) — Collaborative design firm Figma Inc. raised $1.2 billion with an initial public offering on Thursday, with shares trading for $33, which increased its market share to $19.3 billion.

The IPO is one of the most closely watched by Wall Street analysts, who say it is a predictor of how much value investors place on tech firms.

The shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the FIG symbol.

The IPO followed a failed Adobe and Figma merger effort that ended when U.S. antitrust regulators denied the merger at the end of 2023.

Adobe had offered to pay $20 billion to acquire Figma.

If the Figma shares price to rise by 4%, the IPO will give Figma more market value than it would have received from Adobe.

Dylan Field and Evan Wallace founded Figma in 2012 to create online design tools that are easy to use with a web browser.

Field is Figma’s chief executive officer and in a prospectus said artificial intelligence is in its infancy and will enable Figma to continue its growth by supporting designers well into the future.

“We’re already investing heavily in AI, and we plan to double down even more in this area,” Field said in the prospectus.

“AI spend will potentially be a drag on our efficiency for several years,” Field said, “but AI is also core to how design workflows will evolve going forward.”

He said there are “many possibilities for how AI can help designers and bring more people into the design process,” and “the impact of AI will extend far beyond the Figma platform.”

“Design is bigger than design,” Field added, “and the world needs more designers in charge.”

He told investors that Figma will acquire other firms and continually improve internally through more investment.

Figma’s collaborative design tools are used by 78% of Forbes 2000 companies and more than 95% of Fortune 500 firms, according to its registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Figma reported more $228 million in revenue during the first quarter of 2025 and $749 million in 2024.

It claims more than 13 million active users every month, about two-thirds of whom are not designers.

A WOMAN who thought she was going on a romantic cruise with her partner was left stunned after she realised what was really going on.

Robyn-Jay was looking forward to her 10-day cruise, but that excitement quickly faded when she realised many of the holiday makers were swingers.

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Taking to TikTok to share her story, she explained that she and her partner went to the ship’s nightclub on the first night as they tried to settle in and get their bearings.

That’s when things began to take a turn and as they decided to sit in a booth and people watch when a man came up to them to ask if they “wanted a third”, Robyn-Jay claimed.

But the strange encounters didn’t end there, as on the second night Robyn-Jay claimed a woman called their room and tried to hook up with the couple, despite having never met them before.

According to Robyn-Jay, the woman needed to know their room number, which they didn’t share, to be able to call, which made the couple feel uneasy.

The pair said they could also hear couples from other rooms on the ship shouting at each other from their balconies.

“It’s not that they were friends, they were trying to arrange hook ups,” she said in the viral video.

But it was what allegedly happened next that drew the line for the holidaymaker.

She explained that one night she got all dressed up to enjoy some of the entertainment the cruise put on.

After finding a quiet place to sit with her partner, Robyn-Jay claimed she noticed a man sat at another tabled was staring at her.

“This was something different, this was a whole other level. I felt so uncomfortable in my skin, it really gives you that horrible feeling inside,” she said.

That’s when the man, who was sat with his wife, allegedly bent down to try and look up Robyn-Jay’s skirt.

She went on to explain that her partner, William, soon noticed and called the man out on his behaviour before he got up and left with his wife.

The holidaymaker went on to claim that she even saw an older man act inappropriately towards a young girl on the ship and he was overly touchy with her.

“I just really think [cruises are] a place for a bit of lawlessness and I think people go there knowing that and I honestly dread to think what goes on in the eyes of other people,” she said.

After sharing her experience, people chimed in to share their experiences on cruise ships, and many thought Robyn-Jay got unlucky.

“I’ve just been on a Marella Cruise and never experienced anything like this,” one person said.

And a second agreed: “Been on a few cruises – not my experience,” they commented on the video.

“This could have happened absolutely anywhere, it’s not because you were on a cruise. It’s also completely common knowledge that cruises are swinger’s paradise,” someone else wrote.

And someone who claimed to work for a cruise company added: “This is a well known thing on some cruise ships.

“Unfortunately you have experienced some awful behaviour and some people should understand that not everyone’s a swinger. Not all cruise lines behave like this.”

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US nonprofit backed by the US and Israel, was set up earlier this year to provide humanitarian aid in Gaza. Its aid distribution got under way in May, following a prolonged halt in supply deliveries to the enclave. But according to the UN, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed trying to access food at the GHF aid hubs.

Starving and beleaguered Palestinians in Gaza have no choice but to walk several miles to collect much-needed food packages from the four heavily militarised hubs. Palestinian medics and civilians told Al Jazeera that GHF and Israeli troops have routinely opened fire on the aid seekers, killing dozens at a time.

Harrowing accounts have been corroborated by video evidence, whistleblowers and Israeli soldiers, and the killings have fuelled international outcry – including condemnations from heads of state, UN agencies and human rights groups.

Who is responsible for the killings?

Mainly Israeli troops, but mercenaries working for the GHF are also implicated, according to Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, which documents atrocities against Palestinians.

Euro-Med also alleges that Israeli forces have enabled Palestinian gangs to loot aid convoys and terrorise civilians.

A retired United States special forces officer, Anthony Aguilar, who was formerly employed by the GHF, recently disclosed some of the brutal treatment Palestinians face at aid sites.

“Without question, I witnessed war crimes by the [Israeli military],” Aguilar told the BBC in an exclusive interview.

How are the Palestinians being killed?

Doctors and survivors in Gaza say that Israel often uses snipers to aim directly at Palestinian aid seekers.

Dr Fadel Naeem said he frequently treats survivors in the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City and that most of the gunshot wounds he sees are to the “head, chest and abdomen”.

He noted that Israel also appears to fire indiscriminately at starving Palestinians, sometimes firing tear gas, explosives or artillery shells at large crowds. These attacks often cause serious burns, as well as flesh and shrapnel wounds.

“There is often severe tissue tearing … and many [of the injured] end up with amputated limbs,” said Dr Naeem.

Other Palestinians sustain fractures and broken bones, typically by being trampled in the mad rush to flee Israeli gunfire or obtain a bag of food aid.

Dr Hassan al-Shaer, who works in al-Shifa Hospital, also says many of the injuries are serious.

“Many of the [injured] victims that come to us also have life-threatening wounds, and they are taken to the operating room immediately,” he told Al Jazeera.

What excuse does Israel give for these killings?

Israel officially denies firing at Palestinians and frequently claims that its troops only fire “warning shots” outside GHF distribution hubs to prevent overcrowding.

The Israeli army also says “chaos” at the sites poses an “immediate threat” to army soldiers.

Yet, according to a news report published by the Israeli daily Haaretz on June 27, Israeli troops pose the real threat.

Many soldiers who served in Gaza admitted that they were “ordered to shoot” directly at Palestinian aid seekers by their superiors.

“Where I was stationed, between one and five people were killed every day. They’re treated like a hostile force – no crowd-control measures, no tear gas – just live fire with everything imaginable: heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars,” one soldier told Haaretz.

“It’s a killing field,” he added.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Katz both deny the allegations and claim that they amount to “blood libel” against Israel, meaning they equate it to a false and anti-Semitic accusation that Jewish people murder Christian children to use their blood in religious rituals.

Does medical evidence on the ground support Israel’s official narrative?

No, accounts from doctors in Gaza hospitals and clinics do not support Israel’s claim.

Dr Shaer, from al-Shifa, noted that many of the injured people started coming into the hospital when the GHF began aid distribution in late May.

Injuries are often compounded with illnesses and weak immune systems, effects brought on by starvation in Gaza.

Hakeem Yahiya Mansour, a 30-year-old Palestinian emergency medic in Gaza, added “death always happens” at GHF sites.

“Most of the calls we get are from the surroundings [of the distribution zones],” he told Al Jazeera.

What do the GHF sites look like?

Footage of the sites shows thousands of starving Palestinians crowded onto a strip of land roughly the size of a football field, according to Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF.

Aid seekers are surrounded by guard towers and are often forced to fight for food parcels that are tossed to hungry crowds at poorly arranged and chaotic distribution points.

Tanks are often stationed nearby, and aid seekers can hear the terrifying buzzing of drones above them.

According to satellite imagery obtained by Al Jazeera’s verification unit, Sanad, Palestinians have little space to manoeuvre or receive aid.

Despite the dangers, Palestinians face an impossible choice: die from gunfire or starvation. Many chose to accept the risk and go for aid in the hope of obtaining food for their families and small children.

Mohanad Shaaban said he did not eat for three days, pushing him to head to the GHF site on July 30. He remembers seeing two tanks at the site – one on the right and a second on the left.

“The [Israelis] then opened fire on us,” he recalled solemnly.

“Please tell the world to end this famine,” Shaaban said.

How is the world responding?

Harrowing scenes and images of Palestinians dying of hunger and being killed at GHF aid sites have compelled some of Israel’s allies to issue stern condemnations and ultimatums.

France, Germany and the United Kingdom recently issued a statement urging Israel to scale up life-saving aid.

What’s more, France has taken the symbolic step of recognising a Palestinian state, which the UK also threatened to do, unless Israel ends the “appalling situation” in Gaza and commits to the “two-state” solution. Canada has also said it will recognise a Palestinian state in September.

FOR a housewife who started out charging ten pence for after-school drama lessons, Sylvia Young had an incredible ability to spot raw talent.

The 85-year-old, who died on Wednesday, helped hone the skills of a who’s who of the ­British entertainment industry.

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Among those to have passed the audition to join her theatre school in London were singers Amy Winehouse, Leona Lewis, Dua Lipa, Rita Ora and three-quarters of All Saints.

Dua, who has won seven Brit awards and three Grammys, said that she did not know she could sing until a teacher at the Sylvia Young Theatre School told her how good she was.

Actors who attended her classes include Keeley Hawes, Doctor Who’s Matt Smith, Nicholas Hoult, who is in the latest Superman blockbuster, and Emmy-nominated Adolescence and Top Boy star Ashley Walters.

The school was also a conveyor belt for EastEnders stars, with Nick Berry, Letitia Dean, Adam Woodyatt and Dean Gaffney all passing through its doors.

Stage fright

But there were problems along the way. In 1998 one of the drama ­masters was arrested for indecent assault, and the company struggled to survive the Covid shutdown.

The pressures of fame also proved too much for some former pupils, including the late Winehouse and EastEnders’ original Mark Fowler, David Scarboro, who was found at the bottom of cliffs as Beachy Head in East Sussex in 1988.

Sylvia, though, was loved by her former pupils, many of whom paid tribute to the “backstage ­matriarch”.

Keeley Hawes wrote: “I wouldn’t have the career I have today without her help”.

And All Saints singer Nicole ­Appleton commented: “This is going to really affect us all who were lucky enough to be part of her amazing world growing up. What a time, the best memories.”

DJ Tony Blackburn added: “She was a very lovely lady who I had the privilege of knowing for many years. She will be sadly missed.”

Actress Sadie Frost commented online: “What a woman, what a family, what a legacy! Sending everyone so much love and support. She was always so lovely to me.”

And TV and radio presenter Kate Thornton said she “meant so much to so many”.

Sylvia did not boast about the ­success of her students and the school’s website does not mention its incredible roster of ex-pupils.

But it is hard to imagine a single drama teacher ever having as much impact as her. Sylvia’s two daughters, Alison and Frances Ruffelle, who are directors of the theatre school, said: “Our mum was a true visionary.

“She gave young people from all walks of life the chance to pursue their performing arts skills to the highest standard.

“Her rare ability to recognise raw talent and encourage all her students contributed to the richness of today’s theatre and music world, even ­winning herself an Olivier Award along the way.”

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Sylvia made it to the top of the British entertainment industry the hard way.

She was the eldest of nine children born to Abraham Bakal, a tailor’s presser, and housewife Sophie in London’s East End. Born in 1939 just after the outbreak of World War Two she remembered the air raid sirens during the Blitz of the capital.

She was evacuated to a village near Barnsley during the war, only returning home once it was over.

At the local library she was gripped by reading plays and would meet up with friends to perform them.

While still at school she joined a theatre group in North London, but her dreams of treading the boards in the West End were dashed by stage fright.

She said: “I used to lose my voice before every production. When I think about it, they were sort of panic attacks.”

Instead, she married telephone engineer Norman Ruffell in 1961 and stayed at home to look after their two daughters.

When Alison and Frances attended primary school, Sylvia started teaching drama to their fellow pupils. It cost just ten pence and the kids also got a cup of orange squash and a biscuit.

Word spread and when her ­students got the nickname the ­Young-uns, Sylvia decided to adopt the surname Young for business ­purposes.

The first Sylvia Young Theatre School was set up in 1981 in Drury Lane in the heart of London’s theatre district.

Two years later, it moved to a ­former church school in Marylebone in central London, where most of its famous pupils got their start.

Even though it is fee-paying, everyone has to pass an audition — and only one in 25 applicants are successful.

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It costs up to £7,000 per term for full-time students and only has places for 250 pupils aged ten to 16.

There are bursaries and fee reductions for pupils from less well-off backgrounds, plus a Saturday school and part-time classes.

Sylvia was always keen to avoid it being a school for rich kids.

When she took an assembly she would ask pupils, “What mustn’t we be?”, and they would shout back, “Stage school brats”.

Keeping kids level-headed when stardom beckoned was also important for the teacher.

She said: “I offer good training and like to keep the students as individual as possible.

“We develop a lot of confidence and communication skills. Of course they want immediate stardom, but they’re not expecting it. You don’t find notices up here about who’s doing what. It is actually played down tremendously.”

‘Baby Spice was lovely’

A need for discipline even applied to Sylvia’s daughter Frances, who she expelled from the school.

Frances clearly got over it, going on to have a career in musical theatre and representing the United Kingdom in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing tenth.

Those genes were strong, with Frances’ daughter, stage name Eliza Doolittle, having a Top Five hit with Pack Up in 2010.

The ever-rebellious Amy Winehouse, who died in 2011 aged 27 from accidental alcohol poisoning, claimed to have been kicked out, too.

She said: “I was just being a brat and being disruptive and so on. I loved it there, I didn’t have a problem, I just didn’t want to conform.

“And they didn’t like me wearing a nose piercing.”

But Sylvia did not want Amy to leave. She said: “She would upset the academic teachers, except the English teacher who thought she’d be a novelist. She seemed to be just loved. But she was naughty.”

Other singers were clearly inspired by their time at the school, which moved to new premises in Westminster in 2010.

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Dua Lipa, who went to the ­Saturday school from the age of nine, was asked to sing in front of other pupils shortly after joining.

She said, “I was terrified”, but that the vocal coach “was the first person to tell me I could sing”.

Talent scouts and casting agents would put up requests on the notice board at the school. One such ­posting led to Emma Bunton ­joining the Spice Girls.

Of Baby Spice, Sylvia said: “She got away with whatever she could. But she was a lovely, happy-go-lucky individual with a sweet ­singing voice.”

Groups were also formed by ­Sylvia’s ex-pupils.

All Saints singer Melanie Blatt became best friends with Nicole Appleton at Sylvia Young’s and brought her in when her band needed new singers in 1996.

But Melanie was not complimentary about the school, once saying: “I just found the whole thing really up its own arse.”

Casting agents did, however, hold the classes in very high regard.

The professionalism instilled in the students meant that producers from major British TV shows such as EastEnders and Grange Hill kept coming back for more.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of less well-known performers treading the boards of Britain’s stages also have the school’s ethos to thank for their success.

Those achievements were recognised in the 2005 Honours List when Sylvia was awarded an OBE for services to the arts.

Sir Cameron Mackintosh, who has produced shows including Les Miserables and Cats, said: “The show that provided the greatest showcase for the young actors she discovered and nurtured is undoubtedly Oliver! which has featured hundreds of her students over the years.

“Sylvia was a pioneer who became a caring but formidable children’s agent.”

Nearly two months after President Trump took the extraordinary step of deploying the National Guard to Los Angeles to quell public unrest over immigration raids, the Pentagon on Wednesday announced that it was withdrawing more than a thousand troops.

The departure of about 1,350 members of the National Guard, ordered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, represents just the latest rollback of troops from L.A. this month since more than 5,000 National Guard members and Marines were deployed to the city in June.

Sean Parnell, chief spokesman for the Pentagon, said that approximately 250 California Guard members would remain in L.A. to protect federal agents and buildings.

“We greatly appreciate the support of the more than 5,000 Guardsmen and Marines who mobilized to Los Angeles to defend Federal functions against the rampant lawlessness occurring in the city,” Parnell said in a statement.

Mayor Karen Bass, who had dubbed the deployment an “armed occupation,” was quick to celebrate the troops’ departure.

“Another win for Los Angeles,” Bass said on X on Wednesday night. “We will continue this pressure until ALL troops are out of L.A.”

The troops’ presence in Los Angeles — and their role of protecting federal agents conducting immigration raids — was fiercely contested. President Trump said the troops were necessary to maintain order as the administration ramped up its immigration raids and protesters covered downtown buildings in graffiti, set Waymos on fire and clashed with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

But many of California’s key Democratic leaders said there was no need for federal troops in the city: Local law enforcement could handle the protesters, they said, and the presence of federal troops in highly militarized gear only inflamed tension in the region. They also argued that federal officials had deployed the troops illegally.

Just a day after the first convoys of National Guard troops rumbled into to L.A. on June 8, Gov. Gavin Newsom sued federal officials, saying that the deployment exceeded federal authority and violated the 10th Amendment in an “unprecedented usurpation” of state power. Newsom also complained that the deployment had diverted the California National Guard from critical duties such as combating wildfires and interrupting the drug trade at the U.S.-Mexico border and across California.

His office released a statement responding to the latest drawdown Thursday.

“President Trump is realizing that his political theater backfired. This militarization was always unnecessary and deeply unpopular,” the statement said. “The President must do the right thing to end this illegal militarization now because the economic and societal impacts are dire. The women and men of our military deserve more than to be used as props in the federal government’s propaganda machine.”

Over the weeks, as the L.A. protests subsided, the troops did not appear to have a clear role and many appeared to be bored. By July, a source within Newsom’s office with knowledge of the military operation told The Times that only about 3% of the troops were taking part in daily missions.

“There’s not much to do,” one Marine told The Times as he stood guard earlier this month outside the Wilshire Federal Building in Westwood.

The majority of National Guard members were left largely milling about the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos in an operation that the Pentagon had estimated would cost about $134 million.

On July 15, the Pentagon withdrew nearly 2,000 California National Guard soldiers from L.A. and on July 21 it withdrew 700 active-duty Marines.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. We’ll recap trade deadline deals on Monday. In the meantime, a palate cleanser.

Top 10 second basemen

Here are my picks for the top 10 second basemen in Dodgers history, followed by how all of you voted. Numbers listed are with the Dodgers only. Click on the player’s name to be taken to the baseball-reference.com page with all their stats.

1. Jackie Robinson (1947-56, .311/.409/.474, 133 OPS+, 6-time All-Star, 1 NL MVP award, 1 ML Rookie of the Year award

I have written a lot about Robinson over the years, so I won’t repeat myself here. He was a great, great player.

2. Jim Gilliam (1953-66, .266/.360/.355. 93 OPS+, 2-time All-Star, 1 NL Rookie of the Year award)

It seemed that every season Jim Gilliam would be on the bench, squeezed out of the lineup by a hot rookie or flashy newcomer, then by the end of April, either the new player would be a bust or an injury would open a spot and Gilliam would end the season as the starting second baseman. Or starting third baseman. Or starting left fielder.

Let’s recount a story Vin Scully told me about Gilliam for my book: “I was introducing the team, and I would introduce, ‘So and so is the shortstop’ and so on, and I introduced Jim as ‘Jim Gilliam, baseball player.’ He was one of the smartest players. I remember Walter Alston saying that Jim never missed a sign. Never. Like anyone else, you are going to drop a ball, you are going to make an error, but Jim never made a mental mistake. And on the base paths, he’d go from first to third all the time. He always did the right thing. He was very quiet and not at all ‘on,’ but he was a consummate baseball player. He was married in St. Louis, and the team bus stopped at the reception while the photographer was taking pictures. Jim said to the photographer, ‘One more.’ The photographer took it and Jim got on the bus and we went to Busch Stadium.”

On Sept. 15, 1978, Gilliam suffered a cerebral hemorrhage at home and went into a coma. He died on Oct. 8, only 49 years old. He died the day after the Dodgers defeated the Philadelphia Phillies to win the NL pennant. His number, 19, was retired, and until the Dodgers finally retired Fernando Valenzuela’s number, he was the only Dodger not in the Hall of Fame to have his number retired.

3. Davey Lopes (1972-81, .262/.349/.388, 105 OPS+, 4-time All-Star, 1 Gold Glove)

Here’s what I best remember about Lopes. Not only was he a great base stealer, he was the best at the lost art of the leadoff man stalling after the pitcher makes an out, giving the pitcher more time to rest in the dugout.

It usually happened like this: Someone such as Don Sutton would hit a slow roller to second and would hustle up the line. The second baseman would throw him out, but Sutton would have used a lot of energy in the process.

Lopes was a magician at wasting time to give Sutton a chance to towel off and cool down a bit. Especially if there were two out. Lopes would spend a moment or two extra in the on-deck circle. Then he would have trouble getting the round weight off his bat. Then he would slowly walk to the batter’s box.

Once there, he would return to the on-deck circle to rub a little more pine tar on the handle. Then he would return to the batter’s box and take his time digging in. Then he would take a pitch or two.

Of course, this can’t happen anymore because pitchers don’t hit (except for Shohei Ohtani) and there’s a pitch clock. It was really fun to watch.

More than that though, Lopes was a key member of four Dodgers World Series team, in 1974, 1977, 1978 and 1981.

An argument can be made that Lopes is the best base stealer of all time. He finished his career with 557 steals, which is 26th all-time. Of the 36 players with at least 400 stolen bases and for whom we have caught stealing totals available, Lopes ranks third all-time in stolen-base percentage, at 83%, trailing Tim Raines (84.7%) and Willie Wilson (83.3%). In 1985, when Lopes was 40 years old and playing for the Chicago Cubs, he stole 47 bases and was caught only four times.

Lopes is second all-time in Dodgers history, with 418 steals, trailing only Maury Wills, who had 490.

4. Tom Daly (1890-1901, .294/.382/.412, 119 OPS+)

There isn’t a lot known about the personal life of Daly, and it’s hard to compare players who competed more than 120 years ago to players of today, but Daly had a good reputation. In 1890, “Sporting Life” magazine said, “During the fall of 1889 he entered into negotiations with the Brooklyn Club and finally signed with it at the largest salary, it is said, ever paid a catcher. He is a sure catch, wonderfully accurate thrower and a good batsman.”

Of course, Brooklyn moved him to second base, which is why he appears here.

According to SABR.org, Daly was involved in a number of bizarre incidents during his baseball career. During a baseball world tour of 1888, Daly was sharing a room with teammate Mark Baldwin when Baldwin blew out a gas lamp, causing both him and Daly to faint. In 1893, in between games of a doubleheader, Daly fell asleep in the outfield. Teammate Oyster Burns pulled out a small knife and poked Daly with it to wake him up, which resulted in a rather nasty injury, severing Daly’s tendon. In 1901, Daly encountered fellow major leaguer Ned Garvin at a saloon. The two men got into an argument which resulted in Garvin pushing Daly to the ground, putting a glass cup on his face and stomping on it.

Despite all that, Daly lived until 1938, when he died at the age of 72 in Brooklyn.

5. Eddie Stanky (1944-47, .263/.405/.336, 105 OPS+, 3-time All-Star)

The Dodgers acquired Stanky from the Cubs in 1944 because their regular second baseman, Billy Herman, was drafted by the Navy. Stanky didn’t have a lot of power, but he drew a lot of walks (his 148 walks in 1945 was an NL record at the time) and played a hard-nosed style that quickly endeared him to Brooklyn fans.

It has been written in a couple of books that Stanky was unhappy when Jackie Robinson joined the team and told him so, a belief that persists to this day. However, Jonathan Eig, in his book on Robinson, says that was wrong and Jackie and found accounts from 1947 where Robinson said Stanky was one of his earliest backers. And, as memorably recreated in the movie “42,” when Phillies manager Ben Chapman hurled racial slurs toward Robinson during a game, Stanky was the first to defend him.

Stanky’s son, Mike, talked to Eig about the relationship, saying “Dad talked about that first game and Jackie a lot. He was so impressed by Jackie’s raw ability and the way he dealt with everything he had to handle, that, despite what’s been written over the years, they became really close. I think they both discovered that, despite their obvious differences, they were alike, very much alike.”

6. Steve Sax (1981-88, .282/.339/.356, 97 OPS+, 3-time All-Star, NL Rookie of the Year)

Sax replaced Lopes as the starting second baseman and quickly became a fan favorite due to his constant hustle.

Sax usually hit for a decent average but didn’t draw that many walks, so he had relatively low on-base percentages for a leadoff hitter. So, he never scored 100 runs in a season and scored more than 90 runs just twice. He stole 56 bases in 1983 but was caught stealing 30 times. I’m being a little hard on him probably. He did hit .332 in 1986 and it is unfair that he is mostly remembered now for the case of the yips he developed for a while, unable to throw the ball to first base. He committed 30 errors in 1983, most of them throwing errors.

Here’s a well-known story: the Dodgers were trying to convert Pedro Guerrero to third base, and he just wasn’t getting the hang of it. He had all the physical tools, and the team was convinced the problem was mental. So Tommy Lasorda went for a walk with Guerrero before a game. “When I was playing,” Lasorda said, “I wanted every ball hit to me. That’s the mentality you need to have out there. Two outs, bases loaded, we’re leading by one, you’re playing third base. Pedro, what are you thinking.” Pedro answers “I’m thinking, ‘Please don’t hit the ball to me.’ ” An unhappy Lasorda begins to scold him “Is that all you are thinking out there?” Pedro answers “No, I’m also thinking, ‘Please don’t hit the ball to Sax.’ ”

7. Jim Lefebvre (1965-72, .251/.323/.378, 104 OPS+, 1-time All-Star, NL Rookie of the Year)

In 1965, Lefebvre joined with first baseman Wes Parker, shortstop Maury Wills and third baseman Jim Gilliam to form the first all switch-hitting infield in major league history. Lefebvre went four for 10 in the World Series, where the Dodgers defeated the Minnesota Twins, and was named NL Rookie of the Year after the season. How different was the game in the 1960s, when pitching dominated? Lefebvre and Lou Johnson led the Dodgers in homers in 1965, with 12 each. The Dodgers hit 78 as a team.

Lefebvre’s best season was 1966, when he hit 24 homers, the Dodger record for a second baseman until Lopes broke it in 1979 with 28. A series of injuries derailed his career after that, but Lefebvre was well-known enough to appear in several TV shows, including “Gilligan’s Island” and “Batman.” The Dodgers released him after the 1972 season and he spent four seasons as a player in Japan, before returning to become a longtime coach and manager in the majors and minors. He was a coach with the Dodgers until he got into a fistfight with Lasorda before the 1980 season, putting an end to his Dodger career. He last coached for the Padres in 2009, and retired after the Padres fired him.

8. Billy Herman (1941-43, 1946, .292/.367/.376, 112 OPS+, 2-time All-Star)

The Dodgers acquired Herman, who was considered the best second baseman in the league, from the Chicago Cubs, who thought they had someone better (and cheaper) in the minors by the name of Lou Stringer, who ended up not panning out (to be fair, three of his seasons were lost when he was drafted for World War II).

Herman provided immediate dividends, hitting .291 for Brooklyn and leading them to the World Series. He hit .256 in 1952, but rebounded to .330 in 1943, finishing fourth in MVP voting, before his career was interrupted by the war. He enlisted in the Navy.

He returned to the Dodgers in 1946, but was blocked by Stanky. The Dodgers traded him to the Boston Braves in June.

Herman later coached for the Angels, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1975. He died of cancer in 1992.

9. Jeff Kent (2005-08, .291/.367/.479, 119 OPS+, 1-time All-Star)

It’s a mystery why Kent has drawn such little support for the Hall of Fame. He compares favorably to other second basemen there. Perhaps it was because he had a reputation for being a bit prickly.

Kent spent the final four seasons of his career with the Dodgers, driving in 105 runs his first season with the team. He was solid offensively and defensively and was a clutch hitter.

After he retired, he began the Jeff Kent Women Driven Scholarship Endowment for the University of California, his alma mater. It has raised more than $600,000 for scholarships for female walk-on athletes at Cal. “Having the opportunity to get an education at Cal can make a profound difference in life. I know how much I benefited,” Kent said. “Everybody should have a shot, and this is my chance to ensure others have their shot.”

10. Lee Lacy (1972-78, .270/.324/.390, 101 OPS+)

When injuries depleted the Dodger infield during the 1972 season, the Dodgers bypassed Lopes in triple-A and brought Lacy up from double-A, where he was hitting .389. He hit .407 his first two weeks, was named NL player of the week, and became the starting second baseman. He cooled off considerably after that, hitting .259 for the season.

He lost the starting second baseman job to Lopes in 1973 after hitting only .226 with no power in 16 games. He became a super utility player after that, mostly spelling Lopes at second base. He played great defense everywhere and was a solid pinch-hitter. The Dodgers traded him before the 1976 season to Atlanta along with Jim Wynn, Tom Paciorek and Jerry Royster for Dusty Baker and Ed Goodson. The Dodgers missed Lacy’s versatility and bat and sent reliever Mike Marshall to Atlanta midway through the 1976 season to reacquire Lacy (along with reliever Elias Sosa).

Lacy is probably best remembered by Dodgers fans for hitting home runs in three consecutive pinch-hit at bats (May 2, 6 and 17) in 1978, setting a major-league record.

Wanting to play every day, Lacy left the Dodgers as a free agent, signing a six-year, $1.05-million deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates after the 1978 season.

The readers’ top 10

1,111 ballots were sent in. First place received 12 points, second place nine, all the way down to one point for 10th place. Here are your choices:

1. Jackie Robinson, 1,003 first-place votes, 12,988 points
2. Davey Lopes, 103 first-place votes, 9,637 points
3. Jim Gilliam, 2 first-place votes, 7,622 points
4. Steve Sax, 6,407 points
5. Jeff Kent, 1 first-place vote, 3,859 points
6. Jim Lefebvre, 1 first-place vote, 3,798 points
7. Billy Herman, 1 first-place vote, 2,613 points
8. Eddie Stanky, 2,319 points
9. Chase Utley, 2,090 points
10. Charlie Neal, 1,852 points

The next five: Ted Sizemore, Gavin Lux, Lee Lacy, Juan Samuel, Orlando Hudson.

Top 10 third basemen

Who are your top 10 Dodgers third basemen of all time (including Brooklyn)? Email your list to [email protected] and let me know.

Many of you have asked for a list of players to consider for each position. Here are the strongest third baseman candidates, in alphabetical order.

Adrian Beltré, Casey Blake, James Casey, Ron Cey, Billy Cox, Blake DeWitt, Wally Gilbert, Billy Grabarkewitz, Pedro Guerrero, Dave Hansen, Lenny Harris, Mickey Hatcher, Don Hoak, Spider Jorgensen, Cookie Lavagetto, Bill Madlock, Ken McMullen, Bobby Morgan, Max Muncy, George Pinkney, Mike Sharperson, Billy Shindle, Red Smith, Joe Stripp, Bill Sudakis, Justin Turner, Juan Uribe, Arky Vaughan, Tim Wallach, Todd Zeile.

A reminder that players are listed at the position in which they played the most games for the Dodgers, which is why Pedro Guerrero and Mickey Hatcher, for example, are listed here and not at other positions they played.

Notes

The Dodgers seemed to avert disaster when Shohei Ohtani had to leave Wednesday’s start early. Leg cramps were the issue on a very humid evening in Cincinnati and he stayed in the game at DH. I probably would have just taken him out of the game entirely.

The Dodgers put Hyeseong Kim on the IL with an injured shoulder and brought infielder Alex Freeland up from triple-A. The injury probably explains why Kim was just five for his last 32 with no extra-base hits.

Freeland is the Dodgers’ No. 3 prospect and was hitting .253/.377/.421 at triple-A Oklahoma City. He was drafted out of Central Florida in the third round of the 2022 draft. Before the season began, Baseball America listed him as the 46th-ranked prospect in all of baseball. He has decent home run power, draws a lot of walks and is a stolen-base threat. He can play second, third and short.

Max Muncy began a rehab assignment on Tuesday, playing six innings for Oklahoma City. If all goes well, he could be back with the Dodgers next week, a remarkable recovery from his knee injury. Hopefully, he hasn’t lost his swing while he was hurt.

Blake Snell has made four starts in the minors, giving up two runs in 13.2 innings, and is on schedule to start for the Dodgers this weekend, probably Saturday.

Kiké Hernández is still sidelined with an elbow injury and isn’t doing any baseball activities, so his return is unknown.

Tony Gonsolin still hasn’t begun throwing, making his return this season more doubtful by the day.

Up next

Friday: Dodgers (*Clayton Kershaw, 4-2, 3.62 ERA) at Tampa Bay (Shane Baz, 8-7, 4.61 ERA), 4:35 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Saturday: Dodgers (*TBD) at Tampa Bay (Drew Rasmussen, 8-5, 2.96 ERA), 10:10 a.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Sunday: Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 9-7, 2.63 ERA) at Tampa Bay (TBD), 10:10 a.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Dodgers begin deadline with minor trade, while still seeking upgrades in bullpen and outfield

With Dodgers battling more injuries, prospect Alex Freeland called up for MLB debut

As Dodgers look to upgrade outfield, Harrison Bader could be a trade deadline fit

Orel Hershiser puts a bounty on his Topps one-of-one signed chrome card

Shaikin: Home again? Why Kenley Jansen could be a good trade match for Dodgers

And finally

Davey Lopes appears on “The Baseball Bunch.” Watch and listen here.

Until next time…

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at [email protected], and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Oral arguments over United States President Donald Trump’s power to impose tariffs have kicked off before a US appeals court after a lower court ruled he had exceeded his authority by imposing sweeping new levies on imported goods.

The appeals court judges on Thursday sharply questioned whether what Trump calls his “reciprocal” tariffs, announced in April, were justified by the president’s claim of emergency powers.

A panel of all the court’s active judges – eight appointed by Democratic presidents and three appointed by Republican presidents – is hearing arguments in two cases brought by five small US businesses and 12 Democratic-led US states.

The judges on the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, DC, pressed government lawyer Brett Shumate to explain how the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a 1977 law historically used for sanctioning enemies or freezing their assets, gave Trump the power to impose tariffs.

Trump is the first president to use IEEPA to impose tariffs.

The judges frequently interrupted Shumate, peppering him with a flurry of challenges to his arguments.

“IEEPA doesn’t even say tariffs, doesn’t even mention them,” one of the judges said.

Shumate said the law allows for “extraordinary” authority in an emergency, including the ability to stop imports completely. He said IEEPA authorises tariffs because it allows a president to “regulate” imports in a crisis.

The states and businesses challenging the tariffs argued they are not permissible under IEEPA and the US Constitution grants Congress, and not the president, authority over tariffs and other taxes.

Neal Katyal, a lawyer for the businesses, said the government’s argument that the word “regulate” includes the power to tax would be a vast expansion of presidential power.

Tariffs are starting to build into a significant revenue source for the federal government as customs duties in June quadrupled to about $27bn, a record, and through June have topped $100bn for the current fiscal year, which ends on September 30. That income could be crucial to offset lost revenue from extended tax cuts in a Trump-supported bill that passed and became law this month.

“Tariffs are making America GREAT & RICH Again,” Trump wrote in a social media post on Thursday. “To all of my great lawyers who have fought so hard to save our Country, good luck in America’s big case today.”

But economists said the duties threaten to raise prices for US consumers and reduce corporate profits. Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff threats have roiled financial markets and disrupted US companies’ ability to manage supply chains, production, staffing and prices.

Dan Rayfield, the attorney general of Oregon, one of the states challenging the levies, said the tariffs are a “regressive tax” that is making household items more expensive.

Since Trump began imposing his wave of tariffs, companies ranging from carmaker Stellantis to American Airlines, temporarily suspended financial guidance for investors, which has since started again but has been revised down. Companies across multiple industries, including Procter and Gamble, the world’s largest consumer goods brand, announced this week that it would need to raise prices on a quarter of its goods.

The president has made tariffs a central instrument of his foreign policy, wielding them aggressively in his second term as leverage in trade negotiations and to push back against what he has called unfair practices.

Pressure outside trade

Trump has said the April tariffs, which he placed on most countries, are a response to persistent US trade imbalances and declining US manufacturing power. However, in recent weeks, he’s used them to increase pressure on nontrade issues.

He hit Brazil with 50 percent tariffs over the prosecution of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a key Trump ally who is on trial for an alleged coup attempt after he lost the 2022 presidential election.

Trump also threatened Canada over its move to recognise a Palestinian state, saying a trade deal will now be “very hard”.

He said tariffs against China, Canada and Mexico were appropriate because those countries were not doing enough to stop fentanyl from crossing US  borders. The countries have denied that claim.

On May 28, a three-judge panel of the US Court of International Trade sided with the Democratic states and small businesses that are challenging Trump.

It said IEEPA, a law intended to address “unusual and extraordinary” threats during national emergencies, did not authorise tariffs related to longstanding trade deficits. The appeals court has allowed the tariffs to remain in place while it considers the administration’s appeal. The timing of the court’s decision is uncertain, and the losing side will likely appeal quickly to the US Supreme Court.

The case will have no impact on tariffs levied under more traditional legal authorities, such as duties on steel and aluminium. The president recently announced trade deals that set tariff rates on goods from the European Union and Japan after smaller trade agreements with Britain, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Trump’s Department of Justice has argued that limiting the president’s tariff authority could undermine ongoing trade negotiations while other Trump officials have said negotiations have continued with little change after the initial setback in court. Trump has set a deadline of Friday for higher tariffs on countries that don’t negotiate new trade deals.

There are at least seven other lawsuits challenging Trump’s invocation of IEEPA, including cases brought by other small businesses and California.

On The Crisis Room, we’re following insecurity trends across Nigeria.

Nigeria’s security landscape is a complex and multifaceted one. The dynamics differ according to each region. In Borno State, there is the Boko Haram and ISWAP insurgency, and complications resulting from the government’s resettlement efforts.

In this episode, we will be hearing the voices of some HumAngle reporters as they offer insight from their respective regions of coverage.

Hosts: Salma and Salim

Guests: Usman Abba Zanna, Saduwo Banyawa, Labbo Abdullahi, Damilola Ayeni

Audio producer: Anthony Asemota

Executive producer: Ahmad Salkida

My friend Bob and I had stopped to rest during a hike in Icehouse Canyon near Mt. Baldy and were having an uncharacteristically quiet moment when we heard rocks tumbling nearby.

We scanned the steep canyon walls and quickly spotted movement. “What do you think it is? Is it deer?” Bob asked.

“Are those rams?” I asked. “Are those mountain goats?”

Bob vowed that this would be the last time we didn’t pack binoculars. (Dear reader, it wasn’t. We always forget them.)

After watching my shaky video several times, I concluded that Bob and I were lucky enough to spot bighorn sheep. It was the first and only time I’ve caught a glimpse of these cloven-footed critters in the wild. I’ve been wondering, though: What do hikers need to know to increase our chances of spotting these elusive ungulates?

I spoke to John D. Wehausen, an applied population ecologist who has studied bighorn sheep for 51 years. “More than half a century,” he pointed out during our call.

Wehausen likes to ask people, “How many populations of bighorn sheep do you think we have in California?”

I guessed seven.

“Just in the desert alone, we have 60 populations of bighorn sheep,” he answered, “and then we have another bunch in the Sierra. … It’s not easy to see them.”

Visitors to the Borrego Palm Canyon trail capture photos of desert bighorn sheep in Borrego Springs. The five females and four males spent a few minutes eating and drinking before taking off into the local mountains.

(Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times)

I felt somewhat validated that California’s premier expert on the species noted how tricky sheep are to spot. Before we dive into Wehausen’s tips, I wanted to share a few other things I learned from our conversation.

• California has two subspecies of bighorn sheep: desert bighorns and Sierra Nevada bighorns.
• That’s essentially because, about 600,000 years ago, Sierra bighorn diverged from desert bighorn and became specialists at living above the tree line in alpine zones; yes, bighorn sheep have lived in the land we now call California for thousands of years.
• Bighorn sheep can live months without drinking water, surviving off moisture they get from the plants they eat.
• Wehausen’s niece, also a scientist, recently discovered a population of bighorn sheep in the Great Western Divide that were previously thought to be extinct. Scientists had thought they’d all been killed in the 2022-23 winter season, which dumped huge amounts of snow on the mountains.
• Outside of the indie rock band that formed in Claremont, Southern California doesn’t have native mountain goats.

I developed a new appreciation for these resilient animals after talking to Wehausen, and I hope you do too. Let’s dive into how to see them.

Understand where sheep live

Desert bighorn often live below the lowest tree line (although there are exceptions), while Sierra bighorn sheep live above the highest tree line. They live in these landscapes because it’s easier to detect predators, mountain lions included, in wide open spaces.

The sheep in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains — which can sometimes be found among the trees — depend on wildfire to clear the land of thick brush, so they can avoid predators.

Desert bighorn sheep at Lake Mead in Nevada.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Locally, sheep hot spots can be found in areas like Icehouse Canyon and the Mt. Baldy area, north of Piru, along the Pacific Crest Trail near the Little Jimmy Trail Camp and around the Devil’s Punchbowl Natural Area.

Try to be quiet

Bighorns have keen eyesight, thought to be “like us with binoculars,” Wehausen told me.

“Commonly when you find a group of bighorn, they’ve already busted you. They’re watching you,” he said. (Perhaps watching us from their perch on a steep hillside while we shout about whether we are looking at deer or goats?)

Look for water sources

The easiest time to see desert bighorn sheep is, unfortunately for us, in the summer, specifically near water sources.

“If you can break through [the heat], you can go to water sources and just set up a nice little place to sit up on a slope above water. You’ll watch sheep coming and going to water,” Wehausen said. “Very few people do that.”

That includes in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, where visitors frequently see sheep in Palm Canyon, he said.

Lytle Creek, east of the Mt. Baldy area in the San Gabriel Mountains, also used to be a “very predictable” place to spot sheep, Wehausen said. The group has experienced significant population shifts, though, and it might be harder to find them there.

After talking to Wehausen, I looked at iNaturalist and was pleased to see users had documented sheep near the Bonita Falls Trail that runs parallel to the South Fork of Lytle Creek as recently as April.

Scan the shady spots 💤

During the day, desert bighorn will lie under shade trees where they’re easier to spot.

“The sheep will shade up for a considerable time period in the middle of the day,” Wehausen said. “When we’re working out there in the summertime, we would do the same thing,” finding some shade to take a nap.

Learn how to use binoculars 👀

Wehausen regularly hosts field seminars in the Sierra where he teaches participants about spotting bighorn sheep.

First, he finds sheep with binoculars and sets up a spotting scope for students to see them. And then he encourages them to stand back and notice how, if they look closely enough, they can see the sheep with their naked eye.

Wehausen points out that once you develop a “search image,” i.e. understand what sheep look like through a magnified lens, it’s easier to start noticing them by just scanning the terrain.

A desert bighorn sheep sits atop a rocky ledge in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

You’ll start looking for the sheep’s bright white rump patch along with the shape of horns. “What you’re looking for is rocks with legs on them,” he said.

And if the rock with legs moves, congrats. That’s probably a sheep!

“I do find bighorn with my naked eye,” Wehausen said. “I’ve driven across the desert going to meetings and just looked over at mountain ranges on I-40 and see them.” (Goals!)

Listen for the bleats or rock falls

Sierra sheep rarely vocalize, but during the spring when they’re rearing lambs, desert bighorn ewes and lambs talk to each other a lot, Wehausen said.

“And the mothers and the lambs know each other’s individual vocalizations,” he said.

In the Sierra, if you hear repeated rock falls in the same area, or sometimes even “little jiggles of rocks,” you might be near sheep, he said.

I hope these tips empower you to respectfully observe these fascinating animals. Please share your photos if you do. I’d love to see them.

3 things to do

Attendees of the 2024 River Fest, hosted by Friends of the L.A. River, hula hoop at L.A. State Historic Park.

(Friends of the L.A. River)

1. Celebrate the L.A. River near downtown L.A.
Friends of the L.A. River will host the organization’s annual RiverFest from 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday at L.A. State Historic Park (1245 N. Spring St.). Local artists will sell their work, while others offer live performances. Guests can also participate in educational environmental activities and snag food from local vendors. Register for a free ticket at folar.org.

2. Restore wetlands habitat in L.A.
Volunteers are needed from 9:30 a.m. to noon Saturday to clean the Ballona Wetlands freshwater marsh. Participants age 12 and older will remove invasive plants from the wetlands. Volunteers who arrive early will be provided coffee and snacks by nonprofit Breathe Southern California, which is co-hosting the event with Friends of Ballona Wetlands. Register at ballonafriends.org.

3. Learn about giant trees in Claremont
The California Botanic Garden will host a screening of “Giants Rising,” a film about redwoods, at 7 p.m. Aug. 7. Guests attending this outdoor film screening will be treated to native plant popcorn and pre-film crafts and trivia. General admission for adults is $19, $14 for students and seniors and $5 for children ages 3 to 12. Buy tickets at calbg.org.

The must-read

Anya Štajner, a PhD student at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, recently spotted this rare species of pelagic sea snail known as Janthina janthina washed up on the beach in La Jolla. These snails are known for their vibrant purple shells and their ability to float at the surface of the ocean thanks to their the bubble rafts they create.

(Anya Štajner)

Oceanographer Anya Štajner was walking along the La Jolla Shores beach when she noticed something astonishing in the sand: a rare species of sea snail, Janthina janthina. “These creatures, more commonly known as violet snails, are distinguished by their striking purple shell and the delicate bubble raft they secrete to stay afloat in the open ocean,” Times staff writer Clara Harter wrote. “They are not known for their presence on Southern California beaches.” So what’s the deal? J. janthina are usually found in toasty subtropical to tropical seas, washing up along Australia’s southern shores. They are found in Southern California usually when warmer offshore waters are flowing toward the shore. “The day that I found my specimens, the water was notably warm,” Štajner said. “I remember when it washed up on my feet, I was like, ‘Whoa, this is hot.’”

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

One of the biggest complaints of outdoorsy Californians is how hard it can be to find a campsite without registering six months in advance. Good news! According to Times staff writer Christopher Reynolds, California State Parks has updated its system to better display campground availability and provide almost real-time data about open sites. The state is also expanding its campground lottery system to include Malibu Creek State Park starting this month, with Morro Bay State Park and McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park coming later this summer. I hope this helps more Californians make memories in our beautiful state!

For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.