Month: March 2026

WASHINGTON — Billions fewer birds are flying through North American skies than decades ago and their numbers are shrinking ever faster, mostly due to the combination of intensive agriculture and warming temperatures, a new study finds.

Nearly half of the 261 species studied showed losses important enough to be statistically significant, and more than half of those in decline have seen losses accelerate since 1987, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science. The study is the first to look at trends in their decrease, where they are shrinking the most and what the declines are connected to, rather than total population.

“Not only are we losing birds, we are losing them faster and faster from year to year,” said study co-author Marta Jarzyna, an ecologist at Ohio State University. “Except for forest birds, almost every group is doing poorly. So we need to ask ourselves a question. How do we protect these groups of birds?”

The only consolation is that the birds that are shrinking in numbers the fastest are species — such as the European starling, American crow, grackle and house sparrow — that aren’t yet at risk of going extinct, said study lead author Francois Leroy, also an Ohio State ecologist.

“The thing is that species extinction, they start with a decline in abundance,” Leroy said, adding that “the decline is somehow maybe giving a preview of what it could lead to in terms of species extinction.”

Cornell University conservation scientist Kenneth Rosenberg, who wasn’t part of the study, said the species declining fastest in the new research “are often considered pests or ‘trash birds,’ but if our environment cannot support healthy populations of these extreme generalists and extremely adaptable species that are tolerant of humans, then that is a very strong indicator that the environment is also toxic to humans and all other life.”

A 2019 study by Rosenberg of the same bird species found North America had 3 billion fewer birds than in 1970, but didn’t look at changes in the rate of loss or causes.

Biggest bird losses in areas warming most

The biggest locations for acceleration of bird loss were in the Mid-Atlantic, the Midwest and California, the study found. And geography proved important when Leroy and Jarzyna looked for reasons why so many bird species are shrinking ever faster.

When it came to population declines — not the acceleration — the scientists noticed bigger losses farther south. When they did a deeper analysis, they statistically connected those losses to warmer temperatures from human-caused climate change.

“In regions where temperatures increase the most, we are seeing strongest declines in populations,” Jarzyna said. “On the other hand, the acceleration of those declines, that’s mostly driven by agricultural practices.”

Farmland issues speed up bird declines

The scientists found statistical correlations between accelerating decline and high fertilizer and pesticide use and the amount of cropland, Leroy said. He said they couldn’t say any of those caused the acceleration of losses, but it indicates agriculture in general is a factor.

“The stronger the agriculture, the faster we will lose birds,” Leroy said.

Jarzyna said there is a “strong interaction” between climate change and agriculture in their effect on bird populations.

“We found that agricultural intensification causes stronger accelerations of decline in regions where climate warmed the most,” Jarzyna said.

McGill University wildlife biologist David Bird, who wasn’t part of the study, said it was done well and that its conclusions made sense. With a growing human population, agriculture practices are intensified, more bird habitats are being converted to cropland, modern machinery often grind up nests and eggs, and single crop plantings offer less possibilities for birds to find food and nests, said Bird, the editor of “Birds of Canada.”

“The biggest impact of agricultural intensity though is our war on insects. Numerous recent studies have shown that insect populations in many places throughout the world, including the U.S., have crashed by well over 40 percent,” Bird said in an email. “Many of the birds in this new study showing population declines depend heavily on insects for food.”

Birds do a lot for humans

This study is both “alarming” and “sobering” because of the sheer numbers of losses and the patterns in those accelerating declines, said Richard Gregory, head of monitoring conservation science at University College London. He was not part of the research.

The paper shows that people need to change the way they live to reduce human-caused warming, reduce agricultural intensity, monoculture of crops and broad application of chemicals, said Cornell University ornithologist Andrew Farnsworth, who wasn’t part of the study.

“Here is why this study is especially important. Birds do a lot for humans,’’ McGill biologist Bird said in an email. ”They feed us, clothe us, eat pests, pollinate our plants and crops, and warn us about impending environmental disasters. With their songs, colors, and variety, birds enrich our lives … and recent studies show that their immediate presence actually increases our well-being and happiness and can even prolong our lives! To me, a world without birds is simply unfathomable.”

Borenstein writes for the Associated Press.

French President Emmanuel Macron has warned Israel against invading Lebanon, after the Israeli military said its troops had begun operating in the south of the country following Hezbollah attacks.

A cause of death has been determined for Martin Short’s daughter Katherine, who took her own life in February.

She died Feb. 23 from a gunshot wound to the head, according to the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s database, which listed her case under her legal name, Katherine Hartley.

Her death was confirmed by her family in a statement to The Times two days later.

“It is with profound grief that we confirm the passing of Katherine Hartley Short,” the family said. “The Short family is devastated by this loss and asks for privacy at this time. Katherine was beloved by all and will be remembered for the light and joy she brought into the world.”

The 42-year-old was the eldest of three children adopted by the “Only Murders in the Building” star and his wife, actor Nancy Dolman. Dolman died of ovarian cancer in 2010, 30 years after marrying her husband. Martin Short’s sons are Oliver and Henry.

Hartley, whose body was found at her Hollywood Hills home by L.A. County Fire Department paramedics, legally applied for a name change in 2012 because of her famous father’s public persona.

“My father is a public figure. I am a social worker. I am concerned about potential harassment from future patients resulting from my association with my father,” she wrote in her name-change application, which was filed in October 2012 and approved Jan. 25, 2013.

After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in psychology and gender studies from NYU in 2006, she followed up with a master’s in social work from USC in 2010, People reported. In addition to having a private practice, she worked part time at Amae Health, a Los Angeles clinic providing mental health and psychiatric care, the outlet said. Suicide attempts and ideation are among the conditions the clinic says it specializes in treating.

The death certificate for Katherine Elizabeth Hartley, which was obtained by TMZ, includes a field denoting how the injury occurred. It reads, “shot herself.” According to the outlet, a note was found at the scene.

Martin Short has been hit with horrible news multiple times in recent months. In addition to his daughter, Short’s longtime pal Catherine O’Hara died Jan. 30 after battling rectal cancer and friends Rob and Michelle Reiner were killed in December.

Times staff writer Malia Mendez contributed to this report.

NEW YORK — U.S. and Israeli officials are privately casting doubt on projections from the Trump administration that the war with Iran could end within a matter of weeks — instead warning that a months-long campaign may be required to destroy the country’s ballistic missile capabilities and install a pliant government, multiple sources told The Times.

The prospect of extended combat creates new political risks and uncertainties for President Trump, whose penchant for dramatic, short-term military operations has suddenly given way to a full-scale assault on the Islamic Republic, shocking a MAGA base that for years supported his calls to end forever wars in the Middle East.

One Israeli official told The Times — despite internal guidance among Israeli officials to adhere to the U.S. president’s stated time frame — that the war “definitely could be longer” than the four-week window that Trump repeatedly offered to reporters.

A U.S. official said that in private conversations, top administration officials presume the campaign will require a longer runway now that remnants of Iran’s government have chosen to resist rather than acquiesce to Washington.

Protracted war was always a possibility. Trump was presented with U.S. intelligence assessments gaming out the potential conflict that emphasized how highly unpredictable the results of an attack would be — an analysis the intelligence community believes has borne out on the ground in the chaotic early days of the conflict.

A longer conflict could create diplomatic space between Trump and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has advocated for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic for over 30 years.

The Israeli leader has succeeded in convincing Trump to take military actions in Iran that American presidents have rejected for decades, from bombing its nuclear facilities to assassinating its leadership, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an opening strike over the weekend.

Goal of regime change fades

Yet, mere days into the war, White House officials have all but ceased references to a democratic spring that could sweep Iran’s government aside.

A set of four U.S. goals for the mission no longer calls for changing the regime itself. Still, Netanyahu’s government remains keen on replacing the government, and the nation’s longest-serving premier sees the current war as his best opportunity to do so, one official said.

Speaking with reporters Tuesday, Trump rejected reports that the Israelis had convinced him to launch the attack.

“No, I might have forced their hand,” Trump said. “Based on the way the negotiations were going, I think they were going to attack first, and I didn’t want that to happen. So if anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand, but Israel was ready, and we were ready, and we’ve had a very, very powerful impact because virtually everything they have had been knocked out.”

In a series of interviews this week, Trump said he had been given projections of a four- or five-week war, while noting he is prepared to go longer if necessary.

Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon official who is Iran expert at the American Enterprise Institute, said that projecting a deadline to the conflict at its start would be a strategic mistake for the Trump administration, as it would in effect give Iran’s remaining leadership an end date to wait out the fighting.

“Successive presidents have shown that America has strategic attention deficit disorder,” Rubin said. “If that was the case in Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s especially true under Trump. He imposed a ceasefire on Gaza that let Hamas survive to fight another day; they still haven’t disarmed.”

The duration of the war will depend, in part, on Iran’s ability to resist and defend its remaining capabilities — but also on the president’s willingness to accept an outcome that leaves the Islamic Republic in place.

That decision has not yet been made by Trump, who has vacillated between calls for a democratic uprising across Iran — and U.S. military options to support resistance groups inside the country — as opposed to a shorter campaign that cripples Iran’s political leadership and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“I can go long and take over the whole thing, or end it in two or three days and tell the Iranians, ‘See you again in a few years if you start rebuilding,” Trump told Axios.

One of Israel’s primary goals is to effectively eliminate the country’s ballistic missile program, and progress on that score is ahead of schedule, another source familiar with the operation said. “Things are going very well at the moment,” the source added. “Great pace.”

An Israeli military source noted to The Times that the stated goal of the mission is to significantly degrade, but not necessarily destroy, Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities, a goal the source said could be accomplished within Trump’s preferred time frame.

“Israel was quite unhappy Trump ordered the [June 2025] 12-day war ended when it did,” said Patrick Clawson, director of the Iran program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He said he expected the current war would “take time” to comprehensively set back Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities, after a series of Israeli missions in 2024 against the missile program failed to set them back by more than a matter of months.

“Some Israelis think before the recent strikes, Iranian production was fully restored,” Clawson said. “So a really comprehensive attack on Iranian missiles is an important Israeli objective.”

The Maduro model

But no one inside the Islamic Republic system has emerged so far to serve in a supplicant role to Trump in the way that Delcy Rodríguez has stepped in as acting president of Venezuela, after U.S. forces captured that country’s strongman president, Nicolás Maduro, in an audacious overnight raid in January.

Since then, the Stars and Stripes have flown alongside the Venezuelan tricolor at government buildings in Caracas, where senior Trump administration officials have been welcomed to discuss lucrative opportunities in Venezuela’s oil industry.

Trump is now looking for an Iranian counterpart to Rodríguez, he said Tuesday, suggesting he is willing to keep the Islamic Republic in place despite encouraging its citizens to rise up against their government.

“Most of the people we had in mind are dead,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “We had some in mind from that group that is dead. And now we have another group. They may be dead also. Pretty soon we’re not gonna know anybody.”

“I mean, Venezuela was so incredible because we did the attack and we kept the government totally intact,” he added.

Dennis Ross, a veteran diplomat on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict who served in the George H.W. Bush, Clinton and Obama administrations, expressed doubt that Trump would be willing to proceed with a months-long campaign, regardless of Israel’s aspirational objectives.

“I believe President Trump doesn’t define clear objectives so he can decide to end the war at a time of his choosing, and declare the objective at that point, announcing we have achieved what we sought to do,” said Ross, noting that finding a figurehead in Iran as he did in Venezuela was always “a long shot.”

“Unilaterally, he could declare we made the regime pay a price for killing its citizens, and we have weakened Iran to the point that it is not any longer a threat to its neighbors,” Ross added. “He could then say, if Iran continues the war, we will hit them even harder.”

League One strugglers Port Vale cause a cup upset as they beat Championship side Bristol City 1-0 in extra time at Vale Park to book their place in the FA Cup fifth round for the first time in 30 years.

MATCH REPORT: Port Vale 1-0 Bristol City

Available to UK users only.

US officials confirmed the US didn’t attack Iran because of an ‘imminent threat’ but because Israel was planning to strike anyway. Al Jazeera’s Nada Qaddourah breaks down the Trump administration’s justifications for starting the war and examines whether they hold up.

POTTERHEADS can get their robes and wands ready as a major Harry Potter store will be opening in the UK this year.

Warner Bros. Global Experiences has announced that it will be opening its first premier flagship shop in London – the first of its kind in Europe.

Harry Potter Oxford Street will open in autumn of this year and will be located at The Ribbon, at 134-140 Oxford Street.

In total, the store will sprawl across just under 2,000sqm (1,950sqm) and be on two floors – making it the joint biggest Harry Potter store in the world alongside New York.

Designs are currently underway to transform the inside of the building on the UK’s most famous street to “a wizarding emporium celebrating the beloved locations featured in the books and films”.

Whether you’re a fan of Hermione or can’t wait to ‘swish-and-flick’ your own wand, there will be plenty of photo opportunities throughout the store.

Read more on travel inspo

CHEAP BREAKS

UK’s best 100 cheap stays – our pick of the top hotels, holiday parks and pubs

ALL IN

I found the best value all inclusive London hotel… just £55pp with free food & booze

There will be a number of activities to complete as well and fans better get saving as there will be exclusive merchandise on sale too.

Little details are known about other features of the store, but if it is anything like the one in New York, fans can expect props from the films and potentially a Honeydukes corner.

The store will join the King’s Cross Shop as the only official Harry Potter retail destinations in the UK.

Karl Durrant, WB’s SVP Worldwide Retail said: “Harry Potter is deeply rooted in British storytelling, and this will give fans an exciting new way to experience this magical world in the city that features so prominently in the stories. 

“Offering a completely new retail experience for Harry Potter fans which will delight and entertain, it’s going to be very special.”

There are a number of other official Harry Potter Shops around the world including in New York, Chicago in the USA and Harajuku and Akasaka in Japan.

Warner Bros Studio Tour London, near Watford, also recently launched a costume-making workshop.

Fans are allowed to go behind the scenes of the movies and explore costumes that were actually used in the films.

Assistant Travel Editor, Sophie Swietochowski recently went to the workshop and said: “Unlike the main tour, where guests just wander freely around the attraction, Mastering The Magic: Costume Creation is a 45-minute workshop that allows muggles to even create their own Potter-themed outfit.

“My small group learns that a school-aged Harry, for example, is first seen by viewers in his battered shirt and threadbare trousers, which conveys how poorly treated he is by his aunt and uncle.

“After learning tricks of the trade, we’re talked through the lengthy process of costume creation, from initial concept, taken from scripts, through to mood boards with fabric samples and right down to the final sketches.

“Then it’s time to get stuck in – sketching our own designs and pinning scraps of fabric left over from the costumes featured in the actual films.

“I choose a ruby red and black patch of fur, pairing it with a gold satin – more Malfoy territory than Potter.

“And for a brief moment, I’ve played my part as a Harry Potter costume designer.”

Just last month, it was also announced that there will be a new experience based on the Hogwarts Express later this year.

Partnering with Rail Events Inc., Warner Bros. Discovery will launch Harry Potter: A Hogwarts Express Adventure later this year.

The magical experience will be an immersive train journey, where Potterheads can be witches and wizards heading to Hogwarts.

There will be character interactions, themed dining and even a pre-boarding experience that “nods to Platform 9 and three quarters”.

Most of the experience will actually be on a moving train as well.

The route and launch locations are yet to be confirmed.

In other Harry Potter destination news, Legoland is set to open a Harry Potter land with rides and wizard-themed hotel rooms.

Plus, here’s a look inside the real life Hogwarts where Harry Potter fans can stay this summer – and it’s surprisingly cheap.

US President Donald Trump has said he “does not care” if Iran take part in this summer’s 2026 World Cup.

Trump’s comments come amid US and Israeli strikes on Iran, which has responded by launching attacks on US-allied states in the Gulf in an escalating conflict.

The US is co-hosting the World Cup which takes place between 11 June and 19 July, along with Canada and Mexico.

“I really don’t care,” Trump told Politico, external about Iran playing in the tournament.

“I think Iran is a very badly defeated country. They’re running on fumes.”

BBC Sport has approached Fifa for comment.

Silent Witness star David Caves has hinted at the BBC crime drama’s future after the latest series concluded

Silent Witness star David Caves has dropped a hint about the future of the show as the current series concluded.

The 29th series of the BBC crime drama, which centres on a team of pathologists probing mysterious deaths, finished on Tuesday night (March 3) with a nail-biting episode where Dr Nikki Alexander (Emilia Fox) found herself in peril after being drugged.

The programme has been a huge success with audiences and has been airing since 1996, so fans are hopeful for a 30th instalment, reports the Express.

As the final episode aired, David – who portrays Nikki’s spouse and colleague Jack Hodgson – gave a clue on X (formerly Twitter), posting: “Can’t believe that’s it for another series. To everyone who has watched and supported – thank you!”

“Here’s to the stories we’ve told – and to those still to come…” he added, tagging co-stars Emilia, Francesca Mills and Maggie Steed.

The latest series of the show kicked off in February and has featured several gripping tales including two-part finale Shame, which began on Monday (March 2).

It saw the team investigating what seemed to be the suicide of a British-Chinese pro-democracy activist, whose body was found floating in a lake.

However, as Nikki and Harriet Maven (Maggie Steed) delved deeper into the woman’s fate, evidence started to suggest something far more sinister had transpired and it became evident that things were not as they appeared.

There has already been a hint that Silent Witness is poised for a 30th series, after a photo emerged last month showing some cast and crew seemingly on location.

The image was posted on Instagram by Bodenham Arboretum in Worcestershire, accompanied by a caption which read: “For those of you who have visited Bodenham in the last two weeks you may have wondered what was going on… cryptic signage, trailers, security etc, occupying two of our car parks… well now all can be revealed..

“Bodenham had the privilege of being chosen as the BBC drama’s Silent Witness base camp whilst filming locally for the 30th series.”

For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new **Everything Gossip** website.

Ensure our latest headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source.** Click here to activate**** or add us as your Preferred Source in your Google search settings.**

Silent Witness airs on BBC One and is available on BBC iPlayer

Even if we aren’t yet in a place where we can say that a democratic transition has begun, election talk is back, and with it, the activity of political parties, as many political prisoners are being released and some being granted full freedom. The old reflexes of electoral politics, that constitute the backbone of all political forces in Venezuela, are kindling again after the long, hard night of brutal repression that came with the steal of the July 2024 presidential election. The unsaid assumption is that Edmundo González Urrutia already did his historical role, and that fresh elections with a new CNE and a new TSJ must come to effectively start a democratic transition and put in place an essential component that has been missing for years, and is still missing after January 3: the people’s will.

A recent poll by Gold Glove Consulting, based on 1,000 in-person interviews on the ground, found that María Corina Machado would capture 67% of the vote against Delcy Rodríguez in a hypothetical head-to-head, although the latter’s tenure in office isn’t met with complete rejection by many respondents. The idea of that matchup remains a cherished possibility among Machado’s staunch supporters, who would love to see her being allowed to run in a presidential election against PSUV for the first time. But with the opposition leader still in Washington DC, and a domestic political ban still in place, others have emerged from the opposition dugout to stir up the yearning for change that the 2024 electoral campaign awakened.

People have seen how presidential pre-candidate Delsa Solórzano and Primero Justicia leader Juan Pablo Guanipa, visible members of Machado’s campaign entourage in 2024, have come back to give press conferences and even stir the pot, challenging the newly enacted amnesty law and demanding more releases (which initially earned Guanipa a few days in house arrest). In a new effort to embody a non-aligned or centrist lane, former presidential candidate Enrique Márquez showed up at the US Congress in a seemingly staged TV moment meant to let Trump boast about the success of his Venezuela operation. There has been speculation about whether Márquez was being considered as the White House’s favorite for a transition, and the Zuliano politician started to speak like a man with a mission, even if he got only a tiny fraction of the vote in 2024 (minor runners including Márquez, Antonio Ecarri, and the faux AD candidate Luis Eduardo el Burro Martínez together garnered 2%).

The most coherent voice in the Trump administration, Secretary Marco Rubio, said last week during a summit in St. Kitts and Nevis that “ultimately, in order for them [us Venezuelans] to take the next step to truly develop that country and to truly benefit from that country’s riches for the benefit of their people, they will need the legitimacy of fair, democratic elections.” Other US officials had mentioned that the US expects to see elections taking place in Venezuela around 2027. They know that a legitimate government—and Delcy Rodríguez’s local management is not one—would not only give more confidence to foreign investors, especially if such a government is not burdened with a history of expropriations as chavismo is. It would be free of sanctions and have access to multilateral organizations, financial aid, international arbitrage, commercial treaties, and diplomatic and commercial relations with everyone. Machado’s message last weekend, announcing plans to return to Venezuela in the coming weeks, revitalized electoral spirits in parts of the country and gave opposition parties fodder to build suspense on social media.

Could Vente be Venezuela’s largest movement? Potentially. Machado remains undisputed as the country’s dominant political leader.

As calls for the release of political prisoners evolve into a broader push for a true democratic transition, the country’s political heat map is beginning to warm up. Let’s examine how party movements are re-emerging: who the opposition is coalescing around, the numbers that might back each group, and which players are positioned to exert influence.

Vente Venezuela

Machado’s party was founded in 2012, and after a decade being a marginal group in the anti-Maduro coalition, it managed to exploit María Corina’s 2023-2024 electoral marathon by catching a wave of new recruits, which is not uncommon when a party with a suddenly popular leader takes the reins of the opposition. But this transformation is not just a product of public disaffection with the mainstream G4 parties (the interim government of Guaidó being the latest, crucial example). The Machado phenomenon and her connection with deprived Venezuelans produced the country’s most formidable electoral force since Hugo Chávez, and its performance in 2024 can put Vente among the strongest parties in the country. Except for a minor detail: the CNE has never allowed it to register as a political party—if elections were held in Venezuela tomorrow, its candidates would need to use the MUD slot to run (unless the likes of Capriles and Rosales also decided to support them).

Could Vente be Venezuela’s largest movement? Potentially. Machado remains undisputed as the country’s dominant political leader (with a 52% approval rating according to the Gold Glove Consulting survey) and her party saw significant growth two years ago. Of course, these organizations don’t disclose their actual membership numbers, and if they did so (even before an internal audience) they would almost certainly inflate the figures. Whatever the scale of the actual growth, Machado is faced with two realities. Number one: Vente’s human capital is unable to cover the country’s 30 thousand polling stations, and as in 2024, it would need help from other experienced parties and regional platforms to attempt a repeat of the 28J feat. And number two: Venezuelan politics is waking up from a calamitous hangover lasting from the last presidential vote to the US intervention on January 3rd, a period where Machado’s party bore the brunt of State terror.

Around 150 members were arrested soon after the CNE declared Maduro the elected president, while Machado had to hide and her top aides were besieged in the Argentinean Embassy in Caracas. Since Delcy took power, however, Vente Venezuela and other parties have turned the release of political prisoners into a public celebration, which is both a challenge to the security apparatus still in place, and a recognition for much-needed activists (and their families) after months of despair, where it was natural for many of them to question whether being in politics was worth the risk. Reassured by the level of American surveillance on the interim post-Maduro management, Vente activists have started to meet again, and you can see how they are summoning small groups in places like Margarita municipality Antolin del Campo, Guama in Yaracuy or Monay in Trujillo. In Portuguesa, María Oropeza, the local leader who became famous when she broadcasted her detention in Acarigua, has openly spoken about how to rebuild a true democracy. In Mérida, they gathered an even larger crowd, while Machado summoned party supporters in the US for a meeting in Washington DC. She has insisted she is ready to lead a genuine transition, offering her own timeframe and reform goals to challenge other stakeholders in the current political process. On February 5, she told Politico that elections could be organized within nine to ten months, not with the existing electronic machines, but by shifting to a manual voting system that for over a decade she has claimed would make domestic elections more effective and transparent.

Acción Democrática, Primero Justicia & Voluntad Popular

Acción Democrática is a historical party in a permanent state of survival-through-maneuvering; the other two (Primero Justicia and Voluntrad Popular) were once led by charismatic young figures meant to be a new generation of politicians that would lead the country into a new era and failed because dictatorship. Today, they all seem to be placing their cadres at the service of a Machado-led democratic transition. Two days ago in Valencia, AD’s Henry Ramos Allup said in front of his national leadership board that the party would endorse Machado in a presidential election—“with a dedicated and generous campaign”—if that’s what it took to get rid of the Delcy Rodríguez regime. Party Vice President Édgar Zambrano didn’t look too happy and didn’t applaud, but Ramos Allup is the boss, one that knows very well that AD could again fall to irrelevance if Maria Corina gave him the Capriles treatment (bear in mind that Acción Democratica was the last mainstream party that decided to boycott the May 2025 regional vote, where Capriles and Un Nuevo Tiempo formed an ephemeral alliance that could not win a single governorship while Machado called for abstention, something she later labelled an outright victory).

It’s no wonder that Primero Justicia members are relieved to know they have a national leader that has the charisma to be a presidential contender at some point.

The other two parties were also hit hard during the post-election crackdown, with leaders from recent years like María Beatriz Martínez and Paola Bautista from PJ still in hiding or exiled, or Freddy Superlano as an emblematic victim of forced disappearance and abuse. But these organizations will benefit from having Juan Pablo Guanipa and now Superlano roaming the streets again. In the case of Guanipa, who María Corina considers a dear friend (not just an ally), he has the potential to be more than a supporting actor in a democratic transition. Many opposition supporters see him as a brave, honorable figure that never bent the knee before chavismo, with tons of energy to address crowds and journalists whenever he has a chance, even instants after setting foot outside El Helicoide for the first time in eight months.

The re-arrest episode a few weeks ago only showed he’s still a man eager to talk truth to power sin medias tintas, like demanding the release of all political prisoners and the return of fellow politicians in exile. It’s no wonder that PJ members are relieved to know they have a national leader that has the charisma to be a presidential contender at some point—somewhere Julio Borges couldn’t get to, and a position a now-ostracized Henrique Capriles couldn’t cement—but we’ll see where that leaves him as long as María Corina tries to land in Miraflores. Machado will require the organizational structures these leaders command once an electoral process begins to unfold. In turn, these leaders recognize that Machado represents their best chance to be part of (or at least influence) a democratic national government that would allow them to capitalize on decades of anti-chavista struggle and serve as core components of a new era’s party system.

Bancada Libertad: the Capriles-UNT faction

Capriles and Tomás Guanipa finally broke away from Primero Justicia last year, having negotiated with the regime to lift their individual political bans. This allowed them to run in the parliamentary elections and secure an official CNE slot for their fledgling platform, Unión y Cambio. The former PJ figures are not the loudest voices in the National Assembly presided over by Jorge Rodríguez; that role has been assumed by their Un Nuevo Tiempo partners—Stalin González, Nora Bracho, and Luis Florido—alongside occasional interjections from former presidential candidate Antonio Ecarri, whom Rodríguez silences from time to time.

In terms of numbers, none of these figures know their true vote count from 2025. While CNE Rector Carlos Quintero claimed they got 5% of the total (roughly 300,000 votes), they did not demand the physical tally sheets as the Edmundo González coalition had done in 2024 (which both Capriles and Stalin were part of). That silence has to do with the fact that Jorge Rodríguez granted them approximately ten more seats than a correct application of the seat-allocation method would have yielded, but that’s that.

Delcy fares better in terms of popularity than security chiefs like Cabello and Vladimir Padrino, or even Capriles.

Are Capriles et al a significant political force? Not in the slightest. Their relevance is derived from being the only non-chavista group currently permitted to participate in elections, opposite to Vente Venezuela and others. They serve as a useful ‘legitimate’ counterpart for Delcy Rodríguez when sanctioning laws or naming new public officials, like we just saw with the appointment of Larry Devoe as Chief Prosecutor and the passage of the amnesty law (the latter featured a poor simulation of a debate with the Libertad fraction, while the critical fine print was being negotiated exclusively among chavistas who control the National Assembly). María Corina Machado views this group as irrelevant to any effort to influence the Rodríguez siblings’ agenda. However, political calculus shifts when elections appear on the horizon. A pivotal reform to the Organic Law of Electoral Processes, now in preliminary stages, may be enough to set old political gears back in motion.

Delcy Rodríguez and the chavista amalgam

The unpopular Diosdado Cabello continues to represent the eternal revolution (even if his characteristic aggressiveness has toned down after the capture of his boss), taking part in PSUV events or attempting to lead a lacking PSUV youth. The Rodríguez tribe might be looking for an electoral rebrand that creates some distance between a discredited PSUV and the technocratic style they want to project.

They know that their status is being reassessed by an electorate that wants quick economic reforms and sees compliance with the United States as favorable. As both the Gold Glove Consulting poll and a February study from Latam Pulse show, Delcy fares better in terms of popularity than security chiefs like Cabello and Vladimir Padrino, or even Capriles. The obvious strategy for the Rodríguez siblings is to capitalize on their time in power by tethering their image to potential improvements in the economy and quality of life, pressing concerns that (they hope) would cushion demands for democratic elections. In other words, they would reasonably try to rule long enough for the public to associate them to a limited recovery, and not the horrors they were part of, eventually running in future elections under banners no longer synonymous with devastation. Delcy may have some of that infrastructure: eight years ago, she founded a progressive political party under the revolutionary umbrella, Movimiento Somos Venezuela, and the Héctor Rodríguez-led Movimiento Futuro (the Chávez-era golden boy, unrelated to Delcy and Jorge) waits in the wings to finally break through with a sanitized version of chavismo claiming to foster youth sports and cultural activities within the framework of the Communal State.

We might see old-school, Siberia-based chavistas like Miguel Rodríguez Torres joining this camp. Old supporters of the former interior minister and political prisoner (2018-2023) are already promoting him as a reasonable acquisition for the Delcy cabinet. And he seems to have a tailwind compared to folks like Cabello, who look condemned, with no place in the future. Tensions that became evident during the amnesty bill’s saga might be early signs: the alliance we have known as the Gran Polo Patriótico could split, sooner or later.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot says the late 2-1 defeat by Wolves followed a pattern he has seen “many times this season” with his team dominating possession and conceding from “not even a chance”.

MATCH REPORT: Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 Liverpool

Available to UK users only.

‌Diego Simeone’s side reach ⁠Copa ⁠del Rey final for the first time since 2013 with 4-3 aggregate semifinal victory.

Atletico Madrid struggled through a 3-0 Copa del Rey semifinal second leg defeat at Barcelona, but scraped into the final 4-3 on aggregate.

The Spanish champions almost produced a comeback for the ages on Tuesday after their 4-0 first-leg defeat in early February, but fell just short at Camp Nou.

Eighteen-year-old Marc Bernal netted twice for the record 32-time winners, and Raphinha scored a penalty, as Barcelona tried in vain to claw back the lead for Diego Simeone’s side.

Atletico, who clung on desperately in the final stages, returned to the final for the first time since 2013.

They will face Real Sociedad or Athletic Bilbao, who meet on Wednesday in the second semifinal leg.

Barcelona came out flying, and Fermin Lopez’s long-range effort just over the bar set the tone, as Hansi Flick’s side threw everything they had at a potential comeback.

They were dealt an early setback when Jules Kounde went off injured in the opening stages. Antoine Griezmann came close against his former side, as Atletico threatened on the counterattack.

Ferran Torres fired wide and had a shot saved low at the near post by Atletico goalkeeper Juan Musso before Barcelona took the lead.

Teenage player Lamine Yamal drilled across the face of the goal for Bernal to finish from close range, with one 18-year-old setting up another.

Ademola Lookman headed narrowly off-target for Atletico and came to rue the miss as Barca doubled their advantage before the interval.

Spain midfielder Pedri was tripped in the box by Marc Pubill, and Raphinha sent Musso the wrong way from the spot.

Joao Cancelo almost grabbed the third, but his shot was beaten away by Musso at full stretch, with Diego Simeone’s team on the ropes.

Bernal set up a frantic finale when he volleyed home Cancelo’s swirling cross to take Barca within one goal of the crumbling Rojiblancos.

Flick put centre-back Ronald Araujo up front for the final stages, in search of a fourth goal to “make the impossible possible”, as he called on his team to do before the game.

Gerard Martin hammered narrowly over the bar as Barca turned the screw, with fans roaring the team on through six minutes of stoppage time.

The Rojiblancos fended off Barca and booked their place in the Seville final on April 18.

Musso said getting through to the final was the most important thing.

“Barcelona are one of the best teams in the world, but we got through,” he said after the game.

“We are going to the final; we will give our everything, and get the Copa del Rey.”

Meanwhile, Raphinha said he was proud of his teammates, even if they just fell short.

“The fans could see we gave everything we had. You have to understand, we were up against a side who were defending [well] and doing what they needed to do… We did everything possible, but lacked a little bit,” he said.

“What happened today is in the past. We wanted to get in the final, but it happens … For now, we will go for the La Liga and Champions League [titles].”

RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus was hit by a drone, which has threatened the safety of British military personnel, and now the Foreign Office has issued a warning to tourists there

British tourists on Cyprus should follow five key steps to ensure their safety, the Foreign Office says.

Visitors on the island in the Mediterranean Sea have been ordered to keep their departure plans under review and ensure their travel documents are up to date amid the conflict in the Middle East. RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus was hit by a drone on Monday, after which 60 flights to and from Cypriot airports were cancelled.

The UK will send HMS Dragon, one of the Royal Navy’s six Type 45 air defence destroyers, but tourists should also take action. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)’s website reads: “Regional escalation poses significant security risks and has led to travel disruption.”

READ MORE: Iran war LIVE as Ali Khamenei’s son Mojtaba named as new Supreme LeaderREAD MORE: US commander tells troops Trump was ‘chosen by Jesus to unleash Iran Armageddon’

As Birmingham Live reports, the FCDO’s full five tips are;

• read guidance on “how to prepare for a crisis” on the FCDO website, with suggestions on what you might include in your emergency supplies and “what to do in a crisis”

• sign up to FCDO Travel Advice email alerts

• monitor local and international media

• sign up to local information alerts/resources AND follow the advice of local authorities

• keep your departure plans under review AND ensure your travel documents are up to date

The conflict and tension in the Middle East and Gulf states continues. Donald Trump, though, has said he is “not happy” with the UK after it did not initially allow the US to use its bases for strikes on Iran, and added that Keir Starmer is “not Winston Churchill”.

It is the latest in a series of broadsides from the US president over the UK’s position on the Middle East war. Meanwhile, the Foreign Secretary confirmed that a Government charter flight will take off from Muscat, Oman, “in the coming days” to bring vulnerable British nationals back.

The HMS Dragon, due to be sent from Portsmouth in Hampshire and crewed by more than 200 people, is designed for air defence, it is equipped with a Sea Viper anti-air missile system. Defence Secretary John Healey said: “We are moving quickly to further reinforce our defensive presence in the Eastern Mediterranean.

“HMS Dragon brings world-class air defence capability, and our Wildcat helicopters are armed with Martlet missiles to counter the growing drone threat.

“I am deeply proud of the professionalism and bravery of our Armed Forces personnel who have in recent days, successfully taken action across the region to protect our allies and defend British interests.”

Dozens of countries remain on a list, compiled by FCDO, which Brits should not visit due to the ongoing conflict. These include holiday hotspots, such as Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

Oman had been mediating talks between Iran and the US before Washington attacked Tehran.

Omani Minister of Foreign Affairs Badr al-Busaidi, who mediated the US-Iran talks before the war, has said that diplomatic options are still “available” to de-escalate the situation in the Middle East.

“Oman reaffirms its call for an immediate ceasefire and a return to responsible regional diplomacy. There are off ramps available. Let’s use them,” he said on X on Tuesday.

Al-Busaidi did not provide details on what the options to end the ongoing conflict between Iran and joint Israeli and US forces could be.

Oman had been mediating talks between Iran and the US and said that peace was “within reach” hours before the US-Israeli air strikes began on Saturday, plunging the region into a crisis.

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump told journalists in Washington, DC, that the US had attacked Iran because “he had a feeling” that Iran would strike first, as negotiations over its nuclear programme stalled.

However, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said on Monday that the US attacked Iran because it knew Israel was about to bomb the country, and because the Trump administration believed that Tehran would then strike US facilities in the region.

But Oman’s foreign minister pushed back on the Trump administration’s characterisation that Iran was an “imminent threat” to the US. He maintained that “significant progress” had been made in the nuclear talks before the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran.

In its retaliatory strikes, Iran has attacked Israel and US forces across the Gulf region. While Oman does not host any US forces, it has also been struck and dragged into the conflict.

The Oman News Agency reported on Sunday that the Duqm commercial port, located in Al Wusta Governorate in central Oman, was struck by two drones. It said that an expatriate worker was injured in the attack.

A fuel tank at Duqm Port was also hit in a drone attack on Tuesday, but there were no casualties.

Majed al-Ansari, a spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the strike on Oman was “an attack on the very principle of mediation”.

Trump expressed solidarity with Gulf countries on Tuesday, saying, “Iran is hitting countries that had nothing to do with what is going on.”

The blood of the dragon is headed to the big screen.

A “Game of Thrones” movie is in development at Warner Bros. written by “House of Cards” showrunner Beau Willimon, The Times has confirmed. According to Page Six, which first reported Willimon’s involvement, the “Andor” alum has already submitted a first draft.

While details of the plot have yet to be confirmed, the film will reportedly center Aegon the Conqueror, who was the first Targaryen monarch to sit atop the Iron Throne in the world of George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series. According to the Hollywood Reporter, HBO is also developing the story of Aegon’s conquest of Westeros as a potential drama series.

King Aegon I is the Targaryen who started it all. Around 300 years before the events of “Game of Thrones,” the dragonlord led a campaign, with his sister-wives Visenya and Rhaenys, to conquer six of the seven kingdoms of Westeros. He was the first ruler of the unified realm and launched the Targaryen dynasty.

His descendants revere Aegon the Conqueror so highly that he has numerous prominent namesakes. King Aegon II, whose controversial coronation is what sparked the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of Dragons, is a key character in the “Game of Thrones” prequel series “House of the Dragon” (portrayed by Tom Glynn-Carney). In “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” adapted from Martin’s “Tales of Dunk and Egg” novellas, young Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) is revealed to be the missing prince Aegon Targaryen. Even “Game of Thrones” eventually revealed that the show’s beloved Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) was a Targaryen named Aegon.

Other previously reported “Game of Thrones” spinoffs in the works include an animated project about “House of the Dragons” character Corlys Velaryon, also known as the Sea Snake.

The third season of “House of the Dragon” will premiere in June.

Los Angeles County leaders are demanding the Sheriff’s Department ramp up safety measures within the jail system as inmate deaths continue to mount.

Ten people died inside L.A. County jails in the first two months of this year, putting the county on track for another record-setting year of in-custody deaths. Autopsies to determine causes for all the deaths are still pending.

County supervisors voted 4 to 0 on Tuesday on a motion, crafted by Supervisor Janice Hahn, requiring the Sheriff Department take a series of steps to reduce inmate deaths, including increasing access to the overdose reversal drug Naloxone, more closely monitoring cameras and beefing up safety checks.

“If we don’t address this now, we will see another record year of deaths in the County jails — a record we do not want to repeat,” the motion stated.

The death rate has eclipsed the pace of 2025, which saw nine deaths by the end of February. The year ended with 46 in-custody deaths, a jump from the 32 reported deaths in 2024.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger abstained from the vote, arguing the county could not address the death rate without building a new facility.

“We must be honest about the limitations of facilities that were never designed to house today’s population,” she said in a statement. “I have consistently called for a modern replacement facility focused on treatment and rehabilitation because that is where the real solution lies.”

Sheriff Robert Luna conceded this month that 2026 was “not off to a good start.” He framed the challenge as due partially to the fact that the county was booking people who were older and sicker than prior populations and needed more intensive care than could be offered by the jail system. Four in 5 people face a mental or physical health issue, the department said.

“Every time I get notified that someone in my care has passed away, it’s like a kick in the groin,” Luna said.

The department said in a statement that it has “taken aggressive action to prevent overdoses and violence,” but believes “no jail system can eliminate all risks when people enter custody already critically ill.”

The supervisors voted more than four years ago to shut down Men’s Central Jail, a downtown facility notorious for dangerous and deteriorating conditions, without building a replacement. Since then, inspectors continued to find a litany of problems inside the jail, including mildew and lack of food.

“The fact is that we need to close down Men’s Central,” said Peggy Lee Kennedy, one of several callers to the board meeting who urged the county to speed up the closure. “Why are all these people living there with major mental health issues instead of getting the help they really truly need?”

The county continues to face intense scrutiny from the state over the conditions inside the jail. California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta sued the Sheriff’s Department in September alleging that inmates “are forced to live in filthy cells with broken and overflowing toilets, infestations of rats and roaches, and no clean water for drinking or bathing.”

Bonta alleged inmates were barred from mental and medical care, leading to a “shocking rate of deaths inside the jails, many of which are caused by preventable circumstances, such as overdoses, suicides, or violence among incarcerated persons.”

Times staff writer Salvador Hernandez contributed reporting.

Brazil’s Real Madrid forward Rodrygo called it “one of the worst days of my life” after he was ruled out for the rest of the season and 2026 World Cup with a serious knee injury.

The 25-year-old’s club said, external he had “been diagnosed with a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament and a rupture of the lateral meniscus of his right leg”.

An ACL injury often leads to footballers missing most – and sometimes all – of a season and recovery can sometimes take even longer.

Rodrygo appeared as a second-half substitute for Real in their defeat by Getafe on Monday, completing the game after coming on in the 55th minute.

It was his first appearance since a late substitute outing for the La Liga club at the start of February.

“One of the worst days of my life, how much I always feared this injury,” Rodrygo wrote in a social media post., external

“Maybe life has been a little cruel to me lately, I don’t know if I deserve this, but what can I complain about? How many wonderful things I’ve experienced that I didn’t deserve either.”

Rodrygo made five appearances for Brazil at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

He added: “A major obstacle has arisen in my life, in my career, which prevents me from doing what I love most for a certain period of time.

“I’m out of the rest of the season with my club and out of the World Cup with my country, a dream that everyone knows how much it means to me. And all I can do is be strong as always, this is nothing new.

“Even though it’s a very difficult time, I promise not to stop here, I believe I still have many incredible things to experience and bring joy to everyone who trusts me.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran, saying “the world will be safer” if Tehran doesn’t have access to nuclear weapons. He says President Trump made the decision to strike because Iran was ‘playing’ the US in negotiations.

Four days into Operation Epic Fury, the joint American-Israeli attack on Iran, the U.S. is moving more tactical jets to the Middle East. On Tuesday, additional F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters and F-15E Strike Eagle multirole fighters took off from Lakenheath Air Base in the U.K, according to flight trackers and spotters. The jets are joining the large number of fighters already engaged in the war effort. The aircraft will be a welcome sight for CENTCOM, which just lost three F-15E Strike Eagles to friendly fire.

You can catch up with our latest coverage of Epic Fury here.

These movements come in the wake of statements made by Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that the U.S. is plussing up its Middle East aviation force.

In his opening remarks during a Monday morning press conference at the Pentagon, Caine said that the commander of U.S. Central Command, Adm. Brad Cooper, “will receive additional forces.”

“Even today, this rapid buildup of forces demonstrated the joint forces’ ability to adapt and project power at the time and place of our nation’s choosing,” Caine said, declining to provide many additional details.

“I don’t want to talk specifics, because that would tip the enemy off,” Caine explained. “We have more tactical aviation flowing into theater just based on the time it took to get it out there. I think we’re just about where we want to be in terms of total combat capacity and total combat power.”

That could change depending on what happens in the fight against Iran.

“For Admiral Cooper…he’ll consistently assess the trajectory of the campaign is the ON or OFF trajectory, and then make an ask of the joint force, which will then develop options for consideration by the secretary and the president to either increase or, in some cases, decrease the amount of combat capabilities that we have over there.”

The open-source intelligence (OSINT) @DefenceGeek X account tracked a dozen F-35As, originally from Hill Air Force Base in Utah, heading to the Middle East.

Hill AFB F-35As on the move from Lakenheath #FreeIran‌
— Operation EPIC FURY —

The F-35As from Hill AFB that arrived at RAF Lakenheath (EGUL) the other week are now heading forward! Aircraft on the move are:

KC-135R “BOBBY01” 61-0324 #AE0263
KC-135R “BOBBY02” 62-3559… pic.twitter.com/W6SlbgrI6F

— DefenceGeek 🇬🇧 (@DefenceGeek) March 3, 2026

Aviation photographer Eugenia Golding, who lives under the RAF Lakenheath’s airbase flight path, shared some photos with us of F-35As after taking off from Lakenheath.

She also provided photos of the F-35As accompanied by a KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling jet.

Aviation photographer Paul Field, who lives near RAF Lakenheath, also shared images of F-35As.

The @ArmchairAdml X account tracked additional F-15Es heading to the Middle East.

Golding also shared a photo of three F-15Es heading out of Lakenheath accompanied by a KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling jet.

The fighters leaving Lakenheath today join a wide array of fighters, electronic warfare aircraft, surveillance aircraft, communications planes, maritime patrol jets and tankers deployed to the region.

In addition, CENTCOM confirms that in addition to B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, B-1 Lancer and B-52 Stratofortress bombers have also taken part in Epic Fury, flying from the U.S. to strike targets in Iran. There have also been scores of transport jets hauling air defense systems and other war materiel transiting to the region on a daily basis.

In the first three days of the operation, CENTCOM has hit more than 1,700 targets, including command and control centers, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps facilities, air defense systems, ballistic and anti-ship missile sites and naval bases. In addition to attacks from manned aircraft, these strikes have come from drones, ground base rocket artillery systems as well as from the sea with Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise missiles launched from Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers.

As we have noted in the past, a large number of these aircraft have flown to Muwaffaq Salti, in central Jordan, which has become a central hub for U.S. tactical jets and other aircraft.

The war, as we noted earlier in this story, has already taken a toll on U.S. fighters. As we previously reported, three Strike Eagles were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses on March 1. All six crew members survived, but the incident showed that the battlespace is extremely complex. Given how many missiles and drones Iran is firing and all the tactical aircraft coming and going, the threat of friendly fire incidents like this is very real.

The U.S. is not alone in providing airpower. Israel has the largest and most advanced Air Force in the Middle East and has been hitting hundreds of targets, including a major new wave of Israeli strikes going after leadership targets in Tehran today.

🎯STRUCK: The Iranian Regime’s Leadership Compound — the central headquarters have been dismantled

This command headquarters was one of the most heavily secured assets in Iran. The compound that housed the regime’s most senior forum was struck by the IAF overnight using precise… pic.twitter.com/4iW2xd71bC

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 3, 2026

Meanwhile, aircraft from the U.K. and France have been deployed to the Middle East as well, while Greek fighters have been sent to Cyprus to protect facilities on the island.

On Tuesday, the British Defense Ministry (MoD) confirmed that one of its F-35Bs downed an Iranian drone over Jordan.

The UK’s F-35 fleet has scored its first kill, shooting down an Iranian attack drone over Jordan.

British fighters are now conducting combat air patrols over Jordan, Qatar, and the Eastern Mediterranean. pic.twitter.com/EDxQbONjTZ

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) March 3, 2026

France deployed Rafale fighters to the United Arab Emirates for protection of “its naval and air bases against Iranian attacks, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Tuesday,” according to Le Monde. “France has hundreds of navy, air force and army personnel based in the United Arab Emirates. Its Rafale aircraft are stationed at the Dhafra base near Abu Dhabi.”

It remains unknown how long Epic Fury will last. U.S. President Donald Trump has offered various timelines, the most recent being an operation that could last “four to five weeks.”

As we have reported in the past, though a large number of aircraft have been pushed to the Middle East, that still might not be enough for a sustained campaign lasting more than a month. As the war drags on, we will very likely see more allied aviation assets pouring into the region, something we will continue to monitor.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com

After years of ticketing complaints and frustrations, the trial for the Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation is officially underway.

As part of its case, the DOJ has accused Live Nation of requiring artists to use its promotional services when they play a Live Nation-owned venue. Because so many venues are owned by the company, the government claims Live Nation’s alleged practices are anti-competitive.

Jury selection began Monday in a New York federal court and opening statements are expected Tuesday for the complaint first filed in 2024. Since then, the antitrust case against the Beverly Hills-based company has been streamlined — examining whether Live Nation uses illegal anti-competitive practices and whether the company and Ticketmaster should be broken up.

The legal proceeding is expected to last around a month, with Judge Arun Subramanian, who also presided over Sean Combs’ sentencing last year, at the helm.

Live Nation’s presidents Michael Rapino and Joe Berchtold, executives from competing companies like Anschutz Entertainment Group and Irving Azoff, the former Ticketmaster CEO, are expected to testify. Musicians like Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons and entertainer Kid Rock could also take the stand.

Key claims in the lawsuit

The original lawsuit led by a cadre of interested parties including the federal government, 39 states and the District of Columbia alleged that Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster have monopolies in various aspects of the live music industry, such as concert promotion, venue operations, artist management and ticketing services.

The lawsuit states that Live Nation manages over 400 artists and controls more than 265 venues in North America. Ticketmaster simultaneously controls around 80% of the primary ticket marketplace and is also increasing its involvement in the resale market.

Many of the large monopoly claims were thrown out during a pretrial hearing with Judge Subramanian last month, including an allegation that Live Nation’s industry power raises ticket prices and harms consumers.

The claim with arguably the greatest potential impact centers on whether Live Nation should own Ticketmaster. The two companies merged in 2010, a move that has frequently been considered controversial. Beyond the ownership of Ticketmaster, the DOJ claims Live Nation forces venues to sign exclusive contracts with Ticketmaster, barring the inclusion of other ticket vendors.

“For over a decade, Ticketmaster and Live Nation have promised reform, but meaningful competition has remained out of reach. The industry now stands at an inflection point: restore a competitive marketplace that supports innovation, or allow the status quo to continue narrowing options for American consumers,” Dustin Brighton of the Coalition for Ticket Fairness said in a statement.

“Yet the very competitors that could check this monopoly and restore balance are routinely boxed out by restrictive practices that limit innovation and reduce consumer options,” Brighton added.

Live Nation did not respond to a request for comment. When the complaint was first filed, the company called the claims “baseless.”

“Calling Ticketmaster a monopoly may be a PR win for the DOJ in the short term, but it will lose in court because it ignores the basic economics of live entertainment,” wrote Live Nation in a previous statement.

Next steps after the trial

If Live Nation loses the trial, the judge will decide how the company should be restructured, which could mean selling Ticketmaster to a competitor. Live Nation maintains the right to appeal such a decision, if it materializes, and take the matter to a higher court.

“If the court finds Live Nation violated the law, monetary penalties and behavioral commitments alone will not be sufficient,” Stephen Parker, executive director of the Independent Venue Association, said in a statement.

“The relief must be proportionate to the harm,” Parker added, “and that means structural separation of primary ticketing, resale ticketing, venue operation, national tours, advertising/sponsorship, and artist management must be seriously considered.”

Beyond the current DOJ trial, Live Nation is also facing a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission and a handful of class action lawsuits from groups of concertgoers.

It was a new-look England as Wiegman is managing the return of several key players from injury, while rewarding those in form.

Manchester City’s Laura Blindkilde Brown was handed a rare start, while London City Lionesses defender Poppy Pattinson made her debut in the second half.

The back four in the starting XI had fewer than 100 caps combined – with captain Leah Williamson earning 65 of them – as Maya Le Tissier was at right-back over Lucy Bronze, while Taylor Hinds started her third game in four matches at left-back.

In-form Jess Park was playing out wide, as she has done for Manchester United so impressively this season, rather than in midfield where Wiegman has often used her.

It was uncharacteristically experimental from Wiegman considering this was their first competitive fixture since Euro 2025 and it took time to take shape.

England had 40 touches in the opposition box and 85% of the possession in the first half, but failed to score from their 15 efforts on goal.

The tempo had dropped, Ukraine were defending well and England’s hopes of flying out of the blocks had not materialised.

“They didn’t quite figure it out in the first half. They were a little bit stunned about what to do,” ex-England midfielder Fran Kirby told BBC Radio 5 Live Extra.

“Ukraine defended really well. They were really tight between the lines and they made it very difficult for England.

“They needed to have a little bit more composure in the box instead of crossing it for the sake of crossing it.

“The second half showed that they learned from the first half in terms of what wasn’t working.”

With a side stacked full of quality, the two-time European champions responded in the second half.

Arsenal striker Alessia Russo netted two goals in four minutes to put England in control, before a double from Georgia Stanway took them out of Ukraine’s reach.

Wiegman’s “clear win” was confirmed when Park also scored twice later on.

“I think it took us the first half to break them down. We were still very good in the first half. They were defensively solid,” said Russo afterwards.

“When the spaces opened, we took our chances. I wouldn’t say it was relief [when we scored]. We knew we had the quality in us and it was just executing it.

“It was finding the final moment, the final pass and the final shot. You saw that in the second half.”

US Navy ‘will begin escorting’ oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway, if necessary, US President Trump says.

President Donald Trump has announced that the United States government will offer insurance to ships in the Gulf after Iran largely succeeded in shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil prices soaring.

The US president added that the US military will accompany ships through Hormuz if necessary.

“Effective IMMEDIATELY, I have ordered the United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to provide, at a very reasonable price, political risk insurance and guarantees for the Financial Security of ALL Maritime Trade, especially Energy, traveling through the Gulf,” Trump wrote in a social media post on Tuesday.

DFC is the US government’s development finance agency. Its mission is to “advance US foreign policy and strengthen national security by mobilising private capital” across the world.

Trump added that the discounted risk insurance will be available for all shipping lanes.

“If necessary, the United States Navy will begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, as soon as possible,” he wrote.

“No matter what, the United States will ensure the FREE FLOW of ENERGY to the WORLD.”

The Strait of Hormuz is a vital trade artery that connects the Gulf to the Indian Ocean. Around 20 percent of the world’s oil flows through it.

The price of oil has shot up by more than 15 percent since the US and Israel launched strikes on Tehran that started a war with Iran three days ago.

Costs are expected to rise even higher as oil supplies decrease as a result of Iran’s closure of the strait, as well as attacks on energy instalments in the Gulf.

Some insurance companies were reported to have cut back coverage amid the Iranian attacks.

Although the US is largely self-sufficient with its oil production, an uptick in prices globally could hike the cost for Americans at the gas or petrol pump, and could boost inflation.

The average price of one gallon of gas (3.8 liter) in the US jumped more than 11 cents overnight to $3.11 on Tuesday, according to the AAA Gas Prices website.

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump stressed that the attack on Iran “had to happen” despite its human cost and the strain it is putting on the energy market.

“We have a little high oil prices for a little while, but as soon as this ends, those prices are going to drop – I believe – lower than even before,” he told reporters.

Opinion polls show that the attack on Iran is unpopular among the US public. Increasing economic costs from the war could further diminish support for the war, months ahead of the US midterm elecitons.