Month: July 2026

Pundits at this World Cup have had plenty to enjoy given the performances of all the big names, with Haaland and Kane no exception.

Speaking after the win over Brazil, ex-England goalkeeper Joe Hart described Haaland as “an absolute monster”.

“He’s taken all the stress out of everything,” Hart added. “He is so relaxed, is taking care of business on the pitch and enjoying every minute at the World Cup.”

Former England captain Wayne Rooney agreed, saying: “Haaland has given his whole country the belief they can go really far in the competition.”

When describing Kane’s winner against DR Congo, the pair were equally glowing.

“It’s sublime,” Rooney said. “Like all great centre-forwards, he doesn’t even have to look at the goalkeeper – it’s instinctive.”

Hart added: “He trusts his technique and from the moment the ball left his foot, he would have been celebrating.”

Haaland and Kane have actually only played each other twice, and both in the space of three weeks in early 2023. Haaland claimed the first, scoring the equaliser as City came from two goals down to win 4-2 at Etihad Stadium.

Kane got his revenge at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium shortly after as he grabbed the only goal in a 1-0 victory, becoming Spurs’ all-time leading scorer in the process.

The gloves are off with a World Cup semi-final on the line.

Police arrested pro-Palestine activists for blockading a UK facility operated by UAV Engines Ltd, a subsidiary of Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems, and one of the world’s largest drone engine manufacturers. Activists say Elbit’s weapons are used in Israel’s war on Gaza.

Anti-drone nets and cages are rapidly becoming as ubiquitous as the drones they are meant to stop, appearing on today’s battlefields, over roads, around buildings, atop armored vehicles, and even protecting naval vessels. One recent example comes from Taiwan, where anti-aircraft guns have been enclosed in netting to help defend against the growing threat of drone attacks from Chinese forces .

An image, heavily edited, that began to circulate recently shows a pair of Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) Skyguard towed twin-barreled 35mm anti-aircraft cannons with geodesic, dome-like latice structures over them, covered with anti-drone netting. The twin guns protrude out into the open to provide clearance. The design appears intended mainly to defeat small first-person-view (FPV) type drones attempting to dive directly onto the guns.

The ROCAF operates around 24 of these Swiss-made systems, specifically the GDF-006 version. They are frequently deployed to protect Taiwanese airbases, which may well be the case here, too.

That the ROCAF is going to the trouble of shielding the Skyguard from drones (at least smaller, FPV types) is significant.

Despite being a legacy Cold War-era design, the Swiss-made system remains one of Taiwan’s most effective point-defense weapons against exactly the kinds of aerial threats that have proliferated in recent years, including drones and cruise missiles.

The ROCAF operates around 24 of these systems, specifically the GDF-006 version. They are frequently deployed to protect Taiwanese airbases, which may well be the case in this instance. Keeping them operational during a conflict would be critical, making them logical candidates for additional physical protection against drone attacks.

Rheinmetall Air Defence – Oerlikon Skyguard 3 air defence system

In particular, the radar-guided Skyguard can engage drones using Advanced Hit Efficiency and Destruction (AHEAD) ammunition. These programmable airburst rounds release a cloud of sub-projectiles just ahead of the target, greatly increasing the probability of a kill against small, slow, and maneuvering aerial threats. They are also effective against cruise missiles, rockets, and mortar projectiles. Besides improving lethality and speeding engagements, the airburst effect also reduces the risk of collateral damage on the ground.

Rheinmetall Air Defence: Ahead – Highly effective, programmable ammunition

As such, the Skyguard remains in ROCAF service alongside more modern air-defense systems as part of Taiwan’s layered integrated air-defense network. Other ground-based systems fielded by the air force include the U.S.-made Patriot and the indigenous Tien Kung (Sky Bow) family for long-range air and ballistic missile defense. At the lower end, Sparrow surface-to-air missile launchers can be integrated with the Skyguard’s radar and fire-control system to provide another layer of protection. Taiwan formally retired the last of its HAWK surface-to-air missile systems in 2023, later donating some of these to Ukraine.

As we reported in the past, Taiwan is also set to procure the combat-proven National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) after the United States approved its sale to the country in 2024. As we previously examined, the medium-range system is particularly well suited to defeating cruise missiles and standoff one-way attack drones. It also has the significant benefit of being fed from the common stockpile of AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) that already arm many of the ROCAF’s fighter jets.

Meanwhile, the Republic of China Army fields an even wider array of ground-based air defense systems, including more mobile equipment and man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS). Republic of China Army anti-aircraft units are also equipped with anti-aircraft guns, namely the locally made T-82T towed twin-barreled 20mm anti-aircraft cannon, based on the M39 developed for the U.S. Air Force in the late 1940s.

Taiwan’s multi-layered integrated air-defense system is a critical component of the island’s ability to withstand any aerial assault from China, should Beijing ever go on the offensive against the island. As China rapidly expands both the quantity and sophistication of its unmanned capabilities, however, even air-defense assets themselves are increasingly vulnerable to drone attack.

Protecting the Skyguard with netting reflects this evolving threat. Chinese drones of all types would be employed not only for one-way attack missions, but also for intelligence gathering, target acquisition for standoff strikes, communications relay, and electronic warfare. Swarms of inexpensive drones could also be used to saturate Taiwan’s defenses, exposing key air-defense assets to attack while forcing them to expend valuable ammunition.

A video showing a Chinese drone swarm experiment involving loitering munitions launched from a light tactical vehicle:

中国电科陆空协同固定翼无人机“蜂群”系统

Taiwan’s airbases would rank among Beijing’s highest-priority targets in any conflict. The ROCAF already prepares for this possibility by routinely exercising from secondary airfields and highway strips. Wherever ROCAF aircraft are deployed, however, air-defense systems like the Skyguard would be essential to protecting these locations.

Even during peacetime, Taiwan faces a drone threat, especially over islands situated extremely close to the Chinese mainland. In 2022, multiple incursions led to the Taiwanese military announcing that it would shoot down uncrewed aerial vehicles that don’t respond to its warnings, a threat that it soon carried out. These moves came after Taiwanese authorities said they would deploy undisclosed domestically developed drone defense systems across its territory, and following a highly public encounter between a Chinese drone and two Taiwanese soldiers, as you can read about more here.

Imagery filmed from a Chinese drone, showing Taiwanese sentries throw rocks or other objects at the UAV:

陸無人機闖入大膽島 我官兵「丟石頭」反擊｜TVBS新聞

At this point, it is also worth recalling other considerable efforts that Taiwan makes to ensure its military assets might survive a potential invasion from the Chinese mainland. In the past, we have looked at how Taiwanese tanks and other armored vehicles have been hidden in urban environments using some ingenious camouflage methods, including hiding them under junk and making them look like civilian construction equipment.

Meanwhile, whether draped over roads, tanks, artillery positions, or warships, anti-drone nets have become a defining visual feature of the drone age. Their adoption by the ROCAF to protect its Skyguard guns shows that even dedicated air-defense systems that are suited to down small drones are far from immune from attack by those threats.

Thanks to Taepodong for alerting us to this story.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

Ricky Gervais today marked the 25th anniversary of the hit BBC sitcom with a countdown of his favourite 25 David Brent moments.

Ricky Gervais has crowned David Brent’s dance his favourite moment of The Office – but admitted it could have left him needing hospital treatment.

The co-creator of the show, along with Stephen Merchant, has marked the 25th anniversary of the hit BBC sitcom with a countdown of his favourite 25 David Brent moments.

In a specially curated retrospective on his YouTube channel Gervais had a training role play scene, Brent’s song Freelove Freeway and the dance by Brent as his top three.

Speaking about the crazy dance and how the scene was made, Gervais revealed: “It probably is the most famous single thing I’ve ever done, and when we had to do that, that’s three takes cut together, the first time they laughed, the second time I laughed, and then the third one we got to the end, and and then just cut it together in the edit using people looking like bewildered, but it sort of looked like one take.

“I sort of knew the type of thing I was gonna do. It’s totally improvised, obviously. I quite like the fact that it looked nearly real. Some of them looked a bit like dance moves, and I can’t believe how low I got when I did the crab, I couldn’t do that now.”

And anymore takes might have been dangerous. He added: “I remember after I filmed it, I was sat in a corner on a chair and they were fanning me.

“I was, I think I was the blobbiest I’ve ever been. I think I was like 14 stone, no muscles to speak of, just a blob, and you know, there was a small chance of heart failure.

“So, I think people were genuinely worried the way I was breathing afterwards. Tom Cruise jumps off buildings. Do I want to do a little dance? I’ll have go. It would f***ing kill me now. I’m glad I recorded it to show I did it once.”

The Gervais special is not the only celebration of the show, as the BBC also aired a programme called Remember… The Office.

On the second show Martin Freeman and Mackenzie Crook reflected on their time on the TV show. The pair spoke about how some of the scenes features small bits of improvisation which helped make them even more magical.

Freeman said: “The writing on it that they did was brilliant. But you only need to know us a little bit or know the process of it. We’re also in there, you know? It doesn’t mean it’s a co-credit. Doesn’t mean it’s improvised, but it’s nicely loose.”

Freeman, who played Tim, also said he had a good feeling about the show from the beginning.

He explained: “At the read-through, I remember thinking, ‘This script is really good, it’s brilliant’.”Despite huge success The Office was just two series long along with several Christmas specials. It inspired the award-winning US version, which ran for nine ­seasons

* The full countdown of David Brent moments is available to watch on Ricky Gervais’ YouTube channel.

With the 2026-27 season premiere of “60 Minutes” just two months away, CBS News leadership is getting closer to deciding who will fill the recent departures of longtime correspondents Scott Pelley, Sharon Alfonsi, Cecilia Vega and Anderson Cooper.

Seth Doane, a longtime correspondent based in Italy who is often seen on “CBS Sunday Morning,” is under consideration, along with chief investigative correspondent Jim Axelrod, who currently has a lead role in the “Eye On America” series featured on the “CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil.”

Trevor Phillips, a British journalist and former politician who recently joined CBS News as senior global affairs correspondent, is expected to have a role on the program, according to people briefed on the plan. Phillips had a long career in the U.K., producing and writing documentaries and most recently hosted the Sky News program “Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips.”

Phillips received a knighthood in 2022 for his service to equality and human rights for the U.K. But he also generated controversy over his career for comments about the British Muslim community, which led to a yearlong suspension from the Labor Party in 2020.

A CBS News representative declined comment beyond saying the division is looking at a number of internal and external candidates.

Dokoupil is expected to deliver four “60 Minutes” pieces a season. Major Garrett, the network’s chief Washington correspondent, will also have a contributor role.

Matt Gutman, hired from ABC News last year as national correspondent, is under strong consideration. He is being put in front of test audiences, according to several people at the network.

Holly Williams, a foreign correspondent working out of Istanbul for CBS News since 2012, and Mariana van Zeller, a journalist for National Geographic Channel, are both said to remain in contention.

The newcomers will join Bill Whitaker, Lesley Stahl, Jon Wertheim and Norah O’Donnell, who are all returning as correspondents. O’Donnell will also continue in her role as senior correspondent for the network, occasionally anchoring specials.

The rebuild of the talent lineup comes after the upheaval at the program that has occurred since Bari Weiss joined CBS News as editor in chief in October.

Pelley was fired last month after confronting management about the May 28 dismissal of his colleagues Alfonsi and Vega along with the program’s executive producer Tanya Simon and her second-in-command Draggan Mihailovich.

In February, Cooper decided not to sign a new deal as a “60 Minutes” contributor, as the CNN anchor cited a desire to spend more time with his family. But Cooper has reportedly told colleagues that he does not want to work for Weiss.

The internal disruption at “60 Minutes” followed a highly successful season. In its 57th season, “60 Minutes” was the most watched news program on television with an average of 9.1 million viewers a week, according to Nielsen data. The program bucked the overall decline in traditional TV viewing by growing 9% over the previous season.

After the dismissal of his “60 Minutes” colleagues, Pelley accused Weiss of trying to “murder” the program and claimed she was putting “her thumb on the scale” for more favorable coverage of the Trump administration. He was fired with cause after confronting management at a June 1 meeting.

Weiss came to CBS when parent company Paramount acquired her digital website The Free Press, known for its criticism of progressive policies and its strong support of Israel.

Weiss was hired by Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison with a mandate to move the news division to the political center. The pronouncement has created the perception that CBS News is looking to placate the Trump administration as Paramount sought regulatory approval for its $111-billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, which will also give the company ownership of CNN.

The noise surrounding Weiss has hurt CBS News despite strong reporting that is often far from being pro-MAGA. This past weekend’s “CBS Sunday Morning” featured a segment from national security correspondent David Martin about the Department of Defense interfering with the editorial independence of Stars & Stripes, the military newspaper.

Trump complained vehemently about his last interview with O’Donnell on “60 Minutes,” — conducted the day after a gunman tried to enter the White House Correspondents Assn. dinner in Washington on April 25.

The prime minister has given a heavy hint that there will be an extra bank holiday if England win the World Cup.

Thomas Tuchel’s team will play Norway in the quarter-finals on Saturday night.

The final will take place a week on Sunday, on 19 July.

It is widely expected Sir Keir Starmer will step down as prime minister the day after, to be replaced by Andy Burnham.

Should England make the final, it would be likely the prime minister would go to the game, which could briefly delay the handover of power.

As for the idea of an extra day off for people in England were the team to win the World Cup, Sir Keir said: “On the question of a bank holiday, I think I don’t want to jinx it, but ask me again if we get to the final.”

It is understood the extra bank holiday would be on the Friday following England’s triumph – 24 July.

There is, though, the not insignificant matter of England winning a quarter-final, semi-final and final first.

Trump’s name was removed from the centre’s facade and signage last month, after a judge ordered its removal.

A US appeals court has ruled that President Donald Trump’s name must remain off the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, while the organisation appeals an earlier ruling that found a name change illegal.

Trump’s name was removed from the centre’s facade and signage last month after US District Judge Christopher Cooper ordered the removal and blocked Trump’s plans to close the centre for renovations. An appeal against this ruling was struck down by a three-judge panel on Wednesday.

It is another setback for the centre’s board of trustees, of which Trump is chairman, in a saga that began earlier this year when the Kennedy Center became: “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”

The conspicuous addition, and ensuing legal battle, became symbolic of Trump’s broader push to imprint his legacy – and, in this case, his actual name – on the nation’s capital in his final term.

The decision by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied the Trump administration’s request to pause the lower court order in a lawsuit brought by Democratic Representative Joyce Beatty, a Kennedy Center board member.

“Today’s ruling again affirms that this administration’s efforts to rename the Kennedy Center were unlawful,” Beatty said in a statement.

“His name no longer desecrates this sacred memorial, which belongs to the American people.”

The panel of judges wrote on Wednesday that the board of trustees’ request “failed to show how they will be irreparably injured” if Trump’s name remains off the building through the appeal process.

The board had argued that the removal “threatens to impede” fundraising efforts, but the judges found that claim came without the support of “specific facts or evidence”.

The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from the Associated Press news agency.

When Trump first took office in 2025, he replaced the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees, who then named him chairman. His name was quickly added to the building, but a federal judge then ruled that the name change was illegal, prompting the ensuing legal battle.

STORAGE Wars legend Darrell Sheets left behind a chilling suicide note blaming online bullying before taking his own life.

Newly released police documents have shed shocking new light on the 66-year-old’s death as police records reveal his final days.

Darrell died at 67 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, the US Sun confirmed in April.

Officials responded to reports of a deceased person at Darrell’s home at 2am on April 22, according to a statement from Lake Havasu City Police Department obtained by The U.S. Sun.

He was pronounced dead at the scene after his girlfriend called 911 reporting she had heard a gunshot

Investigators have found a handwritten note hidden inside a black basket in a bathroom closet near where he was found dead.

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According to the report, obtained by TMZ, detectives said the note appeared to reference the online abuse Darrell had been facing

Police summarised the message as reading: “I could not take anymore the Facebook bulling, f*** you [redacted]”.

Investigators also noted the handwriting appeared shaky.

The heartbreaking discovery came as cops pieced together Darrell’s final hours, revealing a disturbing picture of stress, sleepless nights and family turmoil before the fatal gunshot.

Darrell’s girlfriend told investigators he had struggled to sleep on the night he died and got out of bed in the early hours before walking into the doorway of his office

She said he told her to “go back to bed” – before moments later a single gunshot rang out.

Police records also reveal growing family tension in the days before his death.

Darrell’s girlfriend said his son had recently visited and the pair became embroiled in a heated argument over “family drama” before he left.

She claimed the situation worsened after Darrell received text messages from his daughter-in-law accusing her of being suspicious and stealing money from him.

The messages allegedly left the reality star visibly upset.

In a follow-up interview, his girlfriend told detectives the arguments between Darrell and his son became so intense she left the house after the son was yelling at him.

She claimed Darrell later told her he did not want to be alone with his son and had been “sad as hell” following the confrontation, believing he had let him down.

Investigators also revealed Darrell had been battling severe insomnia for months and was under huge pressure in the run-up to his death.

His girlfriend said he often struggled to sleep and was dealing with overwhelming stress – but insisted he had never spoken about harming himself and that their relationship remained strong.

The medical examiner later ruled his death a suicide.

Following the tragedy, his son Brandon Sheets broke his silence with an emotional tribute, calling Darrell “the best dad a son could ask for”.

He also revealed plans to reopen his father’s Arizona store, Show Me Your Junk, to continue the family legacy.

The mention of Facebook bullying in Darrell’s final note has also raised fresh questions, after fellow Storage Wars star Rene Nezhoda previously claimed Darrell had been facing relentless online harassment before his death.

Police investigated the bullying claims as they worked to understand what led to the TV star’s devastating final moments.

Darrell appeared on Storage Wars as a main castmember from 2010 to 2021 and was known as “The Gambler” for his high-risk purchases.

He continued to make appearances on seasons 14 and 15 as a guest buyer before leaving the show for good.

Darrell was joined by his son, Brandon, for nine seasons on Storage Wars.

Darrell also made appearances on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and on Rachael Ray’s cooking show.

After retiring from Storage Wars, he moved to Lake Havasu, Arizona, where he operated an antique shop called Show Me Your Junk.

He previously had health issues, including a heart attack in 2019 that he had surgery to recover from.

UK: For help and support, call the Samaritans for free from a UK phone, completely anonymously, on 116 123 or go to samaritans.org. 

US: If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org. 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — She refused to ban books, many of them about racism and the experiences of LGBTQ+ people. And for that, Suzette Baker was fired as a library director in a rural county in central Texas.

“I’m kind of persona non grata around here,” said Baker, who had headed the Kingsland, Texas, library system until she refused to take down a prominent display of several books people had sought to ban over the years.

Now, Baker is fighting back. She and two other librarians who were similarly fired have filed workplace discrimination claims with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. And as culture war battles to keep certain books from children and teens put public and school libraries increasingly under pressure, their goal is redemption and, where possible, eventual reinstatement.

So far, it’s a wait-and-see whether the claims will succeed — and set new precedent — in the struggle between teachers and librarians around the country who oppose book bans and conservative activists who say some books are inappropriate for young minds.

The fight has involved a record number of book-banning efforts, some libraries cutting ties with the American Library Assn. — which opposes book bans — and even attempts to prosecute librarians for allowing children to access books some consider too graphic.

At least one terminated librarian has gained a measure of success.

Brooky Parks, who was fired for defending programs on anti-racism and LGBTQ+ stories she organized for teens at the Erie Community Library north of Denver, won a $250,000 settlement in September. Reached through the Colorado Civil Rights Division, the settlement requires her former employer to give librarians more say in decisions involving library programs.

Parks’ settlement with the High Plains Library District capped a stressful eight-month period without work, when community donations helped her avoid losing her home. And it will probably resolve Parks’ claim with the EEOC, said attorney Iris Halpern, who represents Parks and the other two librarians.

“I just wasn’t going to back down from it. It was just the right thing to do,” said Parks, now a librarian at the University of Denver.

After her firing in 2022, Baker filed an EEOC claim against her employer, the Llano County Library System in Kingsland. And in September 2023, Terri Lesley filed a claim over her firing last summer as executive director of the Campbell County Public Library System in Gillette, Wyo.

Halpern, with the Denver firm Rathod Mohamedbhai, compared the wrongful-termination claims to civil rights-era legal battles.

“It is honestly sad that we’ve gotten to this point. But history is a constant struggle, and we have to learn from our past,” she said.

The 1964 Civil Rights Act established the EEOC to enforce laws against workplace discrimination. One legal expert thinks the librarians might be able to prevail on the grounds that, under those laws, employees may not be discriminated against for associating with certain classes of people.

“With any case, the devil can be in the details in terms of how the facts come out and what they can present. But these are definitely actionable claims,” said Rutgers University law professor David Lopez, a former EEOC general counsel.

An EEOC investigation can take more than a year. After that, the EEOC may attempt to reach a settlement with the employer out of court, sue on the employee’s behalf or issue a letter saying the employee has grounds to sue on their own.

The librarians haven’t yet received an EEOC response and none is expected before the end of next year.

“I would love to be optimistic,” Baker said. “I know there are a lot of people in this community who are just absolutely behind the library being open and free and equal for all. And there’s a lot of people who aren’t. So it’s a hard, hard situation.”

EEOC spokesperson Victor Chen declined to comment on specific filings, saying, “We can’t even confirm or deny we have these complaints.”

The county attorney offices and other representatives of the government officials who fired Parks, Baker and Lesley did not return phone and email messages seeking comment, or declined to comment.

At her Texas library, Baker displayed several books that have been targeted in recent book bans and a sign that read: “We put the ‘lit’ in literature” — a reference to a Tennessee pastor’s recent burning of books.

Baker was fired after refusing to take down the display and signs — considered the last straw after she resisted book banning in her library.

In March, a federal judge ordered 17 books returned to Kingsland library shelves while a citizen lawsuit against book banning proceeded. The works ranged from children’s books to award-winning nonfiction, including “They Called Themselves the K.K.K: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group,” by Susan Campbell Bartoletti; and “It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health,” by Robie Harris.

“Content-based restrictions on speech are presumptively unconstitutional and subject to strict scrutiny,” Texas U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman wrote in his March 30 ruling. He cited a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that barred communities from banning signs because of what they say.

The Llano County Commissioners Court decided against closing the county’s three libraries in response to the ruling. Closing the libraries would have echoed the history across the U.S. of closing swimming pools rather than desegregating them, Halpern said.

Like Baker, Lesley had trouble finding work after being fired from the library system she directed in Gillette, Wyo. Her dismissal followed two years of turmoil over challenges to the books available and library programs.

Some of the same county officials who opposed a transgender magician’s plans to perform at the library went on to join local residents in seeking to ban books, according to Lesley’s EEOC filing.

Baker and Lesley both were fired after local officials appointed new library board members willing to be more aggressive about pulling books.

“Our county commissioners appointed board members who were sympathetic to the people who wanted to remove the books. And it was a long dance to try to get it there. And in the end they had to fire me, I think, in order to be able to meet their goal,” Lesley said.

The Campbell County Commission skirted a deputy county attorney’s recommendation not to appoint past applicants for the board without reinterviewing them along with new candidates, according to Lesley’s EEOC claim.

“I saw this as a well-executed attack on the library by a group of citizens and elected officials. It was an attack on the LGBTQ+ community as well,” she said. “And it was an attack on the books.”

It has taken two years, but the parents of the late Calvin “CJ” Dickey Jr. have finally been able to express appreciation for the efforts of authorities in the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office. Still, they are a long way from what they might consider a satisfactory resolution.

Dickey died after collapsing during the first day of Bucknell University football training camp in July 2024. The freshman lineman was put through rigorous drills by strength and conditioning coach Mark Kulbis, according to the attorney general’s office, even though Kulbis knew Dickey had sickle cell trait. The medical condition can increase the risk of serious injury or death following extreme exertion.

Dickey, 18, was taken to the hospital and died two days later.

Kulbis, who left Bucknell in January 2025, has been charged with felony aggravated hazing and misdemeanor counts of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and hazing, according to the attorney general’s office. Bail was set at $10,000.

“The facts show this was an intentional, deliberate hazing perpetrated by a coach who knew CJ’s health condition made him vulnerable to extreme workouts,” Atty. Gen. Dave Sunday said in a statement. “The facts show this defendant received information about CJ’s health condition, along with training about NCAA anti-hazing standards, and disregarded that information. This is an extraordinary tragedy, worsened by the fact that CJ’s death was preventable.”

Reached by the Associated Press on Tuesday, Dickey’s father, Calvin Sr., said that he and his wife, Nicole, are “at the point where we’re just glad that someone is being held responsible for our son’s death. We just want to see the process through, and we’re going to leave it to the attorney general to continue following the evidence.”

Dickey’s parents filed a lawsuit in April 2025 against Bucknell and its athletic staff, alleging that CJ’s death was the result of a hazing ritual for freshmen players.

“While the University will not comment on pending litigation, we again extend heartfelt sympathies to CJ’s family, and we will continue to focus on our most important priority — the health and safety of all Bucknell students,” Bucknell told ESPN in a statement.

According to an autopsy report issued by Montour County, Dickey was diagnosed with “exercise collapse associated with sickle cell trait,” rhabdomyolysis and acute renal failure.

With rhabdomyolysis, kidneys become strained when proteins and electrolytes from damaged muscle tissue are released into the bloodstream. Studies have shown that sickle cell trait can be fatal when coupled with rhabdomyolysis.

In the lawsuit, Dickey’s parents alleged that Bucknell athletic trainers and coaches knew their son had sickle cell trait and failed to take steps to ensure precautions were in place.

“We have asked repeatedly for not just a high-level overview of what happened that day, but for the details, the specific fully transparent details,” Nicole Dickey told NPR shortly after the lawsuit was filed. “We’ve reached the point with Bucknell where we do not feel that we’re going to get that. The only path for us to get that truth is to file the civil lawsuit.”

More than a year later, the charges brought against Kulbis created another path that Dickey’s parents hope lead to a resolution.

“We do this for CJ, for every young man on that team, and anyone who comes after him, and anyone at any university,” Nicole Dickey told ESPN. “This is a longer, harder path, and I am ready for it. My boy is worth it.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

July 8 (UPI) — Graham Platner dropped out of the Maine Senate race on Wednesday evening, two days after allegations arose that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2021.

In a video, Platner said that “we believe that for the movement to continue, it can’t be me — and for that reason we are suspending campaign operations.”

“It’s not the false allegations, though, that have brought us to where we are,” he said. “It’s the fact that they’re being used by the political establishment to put structural pressure on us. We live in a political system that is not built for normal people. It is a system built structurally to make sure movements like ours cannot flourish.”

The decision allows Democrats to choose a new candidate for the race against Republican Susan Collins, the five-term incumbent. Platner had until Monday to drop out; Democrats now have two weeks to pick a contender for the race.

On Monday, a woman who once dated Platner said he forced her to have sex with him about five years ago, Politico reported. Jenny Racicot said Platner was intoxicated when he entered her home one night in 2021 andassaulted her while she told him repeatedly to stop. Others have also made claims about Platner and abuse.

Platner has steadily denied the allegations, calling them “categorically untrue.”

Earlier Wednesday, the Maine Democratic Party approved a plan to hold a nominating convention if Platner suspended his campaign.

Valli Geiger, a Maine state representative, told WMTW-TV of Portland, Maine, that Platner called her and encouraged her to try to take his place on the ballot.

“He said, ‘Valli, you are a fighter; you have been with this movement since the beginning,’ ” Geiger said. She said she was “heartbroken” by the accusations against Platner but agreed that he needed to suspend his campaign. She also said he was encouraging others to put their names forward.

CNN reported that candidates to replace Platner include three Democrats who ran for governor: Nirav Shah, former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control; Secretary of State Shenna Bellows; and former state Sen. Troy Jackson.

Since the allegations broke, a rising tide of Democrats called on Platner to suspend his campaign, including former supporters Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Many groups rescinded endorsements of the candidate.

Platner has also been involved in other controversies, including over a tattoo with Nazi connotations that he said he was unaware of.

She is concerned, however, that it will be difficult for voters to coalesce around any new candidate in just three months.

“The thing I’m the most worried about is we run somebody and he or she loses, and then we spend the next four years pointing fingers at whose fault that was,” she said.

In primary contests across the country this year, Democrats regularly opted for outsider congressional candidates offering a vivid vision for what the party should stand for and promising to fight for their beliefs in the face of Republican resistance.

Platner was one of the earliest and most prominent examples of this trend. With his gravelly voice, scruffy appearance and working-class back story, he gained a passionate following both in Maine and nationally.

He presented himself as a candidate who could advocate for liberal policies – like universal healthcare, wealth taxes, and low-cost housing – in a way that appealed to the kind of rural voters who have moved away from Democrats recently.

A win in November would have given Democratic progressives a chance to see blue-collar liberalism triumphing in battleground states like Maine.

And that, in turn, could have become a compelling argument for nominating a left-wing presidential candidate in 2028.

Now, that opportunity is likely dashed.

That Platner survived the series of scandals as long as he did was in part a testament to Democrats’ hunger for a different kind of candidate. It also, however, underlined the risks of opting for charismatic political neophytes who haven’t received close scrutiny before they run for higher office.

With Platner’s exit, a group of more traditional candidates are already expressing interest in stepping in – including a handful who unsuccessfully ran for governor and one of the state’s open House seats last month. They have recent campaign experience and some name recognition.

Troy Jackson, a former Maine Senate leader, campaigned side-by-side with Platner during his bid for governor, and came in third.

Nirav Shah, a state epidemiologist who gained prominence through regular public appearances during the Covid pandemic, finished a close second.

Shenna Bellows, the Maine secretary of state, is known for her lawsuit to block Trump administration attempts to gain access to state voter data. She was the party’s nominee in 2014 but was soundly beaten by Collins.

According to Melcher, many Platner supporters will be hit hard because of the connection they made with their unconventional candidate. He believes they will ultimately back his replacement, however, because of the high stakes in this race.

Many Maine Democrats supported Platner with some reluctance because of his past scandals, he added, and this latest twist might end up a blessing in disguise for the party.

“If they play their cards right, I think that they will be fine and, with some voters, even better than they would have been before,” he said, “as long as the party doesn’t handle this in a way they see as disrespectful or a cabal taking things over.”

The clock is ticking, however, and Collins awaits whoever emerges from whatever process Democrats ultimately follow. She has proven a formidable adversary for Democrats for 30 years, most recently defeating a better-funded opponent in 2020 despite polls showing her trailing right up to election day.

“It’s not as though it was going to be easy before, and now it’s hard,” said Melcher. “Beating Collins was always going to be hard.”

Taylor Swift has yet another new thing to celebrate.

Now in her newlywed era, the pop superstar’s concert film, “The Eras Tour: The Final Show,” earned five Emmy nominations Wednesday. This includes nods for variety special (pre-recorded), sound mixing for a variety series or special, directing for a variety special, picture editing for variety programming, and technical direction and camerawork for a special.

The nomination for variety special (pre-recorded) means Swift herself is a nominee as the performer and a producer of the concert film, which showcased the final performance of her record-breaking tour. This marks the “The Life of a Showgirl” singer-songwriter’s second career Emmy nomination. She previously won in 2015 in the category of creative achievement in interactive media — original interactive program, as the executive producer of the mobile app AMEX Unstaged: Taylor Swift Experience.

The accolades come just five days after Swift married beau Travis Kelce in an extravagant — yet secretive — Manhattan affair at Madison Square Garden. The Kansas City Chiefs tight end has spoken about his failed attempt to slide Swift his phone number (via friendship bracelet) when he attended an Eras tour concert in 2023.

The Emmy nominations follow her latest legal win. On Monday, a federal judge in Florida dismissed with prejudice a copyright lawsuit that accused Swift of plagiarizing a self-published poet.

In February 2025, Kimberly Marasco, representing herself, filed a lawsuit that alleged Swift copied “unique expressions” such as short phrases and specific words from her poetry in numerous songs, including “The Man,” “Down Bad,” “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” “Hoax,” “Guilty as Sin?” and “It’s Time to Go.” A similar lawsuit Marasco filed against Swift and other named defendants was dismissed by the same judge last September.

Swift’s lawyers called the lawsuit “absurd and legally baseless” in their filings. “For instance, the concept of betrayal or the words ‘fire’ or ‘love’ cannot be owned by one person, as basic themes or words are not protectable by copyright law,” reads the motion to dismiss submitted by attorneys James Douglas Baldridge and Katherine Wright Morrone, who also represented co-defendants Republic Records and Universal Music Group.

In her order granting Swift and her record label’s motion, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon agreed, reiterating that “the allegedly infringed material — basic ideas, themes, metaphors, isolated words, and short phrases — is not protected expression and cannot be infringed.”

Cannon mentioned these allegedly plagiarized words and phrases included “tears,” “running,” “fire,” “rain,” “sky,” “love,” “invisible,” “caged me,” “flesh and blood” and “it’s time to go.”

Even if they were protected expressions, “the works are not even substantially similar — a point Plaintiff effectively concedes by characterizing the alleged copying as ‘paraphrase[s],’ ‘rephrase[s],’ and copying with ‘minor word substitutions,’” Cannon wrote.

But it appears Swift has not completely shaken off Marasco’s copyright lawsuit. The Florida poet has already filed an appeal.

In 2023, California regulators levied more than $100,000 in fines against the private operator of a federal immigration facility, kicking off a three-year battle over whether detainees who do work at the facilities should be considered employees.

The question went beyond semantics: If considered employees, the detainees would be subject to state worker protection laws.

A legal settlement announced this week now affirms that private immigrant detention facilities are subject to California’s workplace safety and health requirements.

“Every worker deserves a safe and healthy workplace and should be able to report workplace hazards without fear of retaliation,” said Denisse Gómez, spokesperson for the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health or Cal/OSHA.

“Individuals who perform work in these facilities are entitled to workplace safety protections, and this settlement reinforces Cal/OSHA’s commitment to enforcing those protections and safeguarding vulnerable workers,” she added.

Under the settlement between California and the GEO Group, a Florida-based private prison company, the company recently withdrew its legal challenges and agreed to pay more than $100,000 in the fines.

The GEO Group did not respond to requests for comment.

Back in 2023, Cal/OSHA issued $104,510 in fines against the GEO Group. The agency had found six violations of state code by the company after detainees complained about a lack of protective equipment and proper training while cleaning the facility for $1 per day.

Detainees alleged they routinely wiped black mold off shower walls at the facility, saw black dust spew from air vents and used cleaning solutions that lacked instructions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The biggest fine levied against the GEO Group was for failure to establish and maintain “effective written procedures to reduce employee risk of exposure to aerosol transmissible disease.”

Advocates viewed Cal/OSHA’S recognition of the detainees as workers as a victory that could pave the way for future labor rights fights at other detention centers in the state.

But the GEO Group appealed, arguing that detainees participating in ICE’s voluntary work program make their own schedules and aren’t employees, so hazard exposure couldn’t be “as a result of assigned duties,” as California law states. Plus, the company argued, there wasn’t enough evidence that detainees were exposed to any hazard.

Early last year, the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board rejected the GEO Group’s argument and found that detainees should be considered “affected employees.”

The GEO Group sued, but three days before a California Superior Court hearing in May, the company and Cal/OSHA reached the settlement.

Along with paying the fines, the GEO Group agreed to draft plans for avoiding aerosol transmissions at 12 secure and reentry facilities in California, including five detention centers that hold immigrants.

“GEO ensures detainees are afforded the necessary tools, equipment, and personal protective equipment … to safely and effectively perform any necessary tasks,” the settlement states.

Gómez said the settlement also leaves intact the appeals board’s ruling that civil immigration detainees who participate in work programs can participate in proceedings anonymously, “acknowledging the potential for retaliation when individuals raise workplace safety concerns.”

But the question of whether detainees are employees and deserve certain protections isn’t entirely resolved — at least not for the federal government.

Last month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released new standards for detention facilities across the country. The revised guidelines “emphasize that detainee volunteers participating in the voluntary work program are not considered facility and/or government employees” and thus not entitled to labor regulations.

Attorney Mariel Villarreal said the timing of the new detention standards made her question whether the GEO Group had asked ICE to specify in its standards that detainees are not workers in response to its battle with Cal/OSHA.

“To me, it’s a reaction to this very settlement,” she said. Villarreal works for the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, which filed the original complaint on behalf of detainees who said they worked in unsafe conditions.

Villarreal pointed to a Washington Post report that GEO Group executives privately asked ICE to specify that detainees are not employees of the facilities where they work. Two top Trump administration officials, border czar Tom Homan and acting ICE director David Venturella, previously worked for the GEO Group.

New versions of ICE detention standards take effect as contracts are established or modified, so this year’s rules won’t immediately apply to every facility.

An ICE spokesperson did not comment about the settlement. The spokesperson, who did not provide their name in an emailed statement Wednesday, said the agency has begun transitioning detention facilities to meet the 2026 standards, “building on its longstanding commitment to safe, secure, and professional detention operations.”

“ICE has consistently implemented many of these best practices independently, reinforcing its role as the leader in detention operations,” the spokesperson added.

The GEO Group and other immigrant detention center operators have faced other legal battles over workers’ rights, including lawsuits in Washington, Colorado and California over the $1-per-day payment.

Villarreal said she’s confident that the Cal/OSHA settlement would continue to hold even if California facilities incorporated the new standards. But she said she believes the statements are an attempt by the GEO Group to “sidestep responsibility” and avoid the possibility of being fined under similar circumstances in other states.

“These statements in the new standards are a way for them to try and preserve profits as much as possible,” she said. “GEO and ICE are so intertwined at this point that they have the same motives.”

The LAPD is considering whether to shut down its police academy for part of 2028 in order to put hundreds of officers back to work on the streets in time for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, according to four department sources.

The sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss internal matters, said the proposal was floated at a senior staff meeting last week. The idea has sparked debate, the sources said, with some officials worried that a pause would set back the department’s efforts to hire more police officers and replenish its dwindling ranks.

The LAPD declined to make any official available for an interview about the proposal. In response to an inquiry from The Times, the department released a short statement that said: “The Olympic Games are two years away. The LAPD will be prepared as always to keep the citizens and visitors of Los Angeles safe. We look forward to a memorable event.”

Much could still change between now and the start of the Olympics. The size of recruit classes are dictated by the department’s annual budget, which is approved by the City Council before each fiscal year.

Recently, the council signed off on a $15-billion city budget for 2026-27, preserving Mayor Karen Bass’ plan to hire 510 officers — only enough cops to replace those who are expected to leave over the next fiscal year.

It’s not uncommon during large events for the department to mobilize officers from specialized units and others who don’t normally work in the field. But the potential cancellation of more than half of the 13 academy classes that the LAPD typically graduates in a given year came as a surprise to some.

Under the proposal, the academy could cease operations for roughly seven months after the January 2028 class, which would let the department temporarily reassign more than 300 officers from its training division. These include instructors who would normally be spending their days teaching the basics of how to handle firearms, pull over speeding motorists, collect evidence at a crime scene and interview victims and suspects.

Sources said the proposed plan calls for increasing academy class sizes before and after the Olympics and Paralympics in order to offset resignations and retirements.

The plan has still been met with deep skepticism in some quarters, with officials pointing to the department’s well-documented recruitment struggles in recent years. Any interruptions in recruiting officers could set the department back, the skeptics argue.

L.A. City Councilmember Tim McOsker said he understood the need for the department to continue its recruitment efforts, but said that putting training officers back to the field felt like a necessary “sacrifice to be able to host the Olympics.”

Late last month, L.A. officials reached a tentative deal with Olympic organizers laying out the process for reimbursing the city for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars for public services, ranging from traffic control to trash pickup. But the question of how the city will pay for police protection remains largely unsettled.

The costs could theoretically be covered by the $1 billion in funding the federal government has allocated for the Games’ costs. However, some elected officials have expressed concern that the money might not materialize once the Games are over. Another funding option is a $270-million contingency fund maintained by LA28 that can be distributed as a surplus if the Games make money or be used to cover any losses in the event of a shortfall.

For months, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell has warned that public safety will suffer if the city doesn’t hire more officers to not only safeguard Olympic venues, but also continue normal operations over the 66 days between the July 14 start of the Olympic Games and the end of the Paralympic Games. At a budget hearing last year, McDonnell called on the council to fund new hires — while arguing against creating any delays in recruiting and on-boarding more officers.

Some City Council members have pushed back, saying overspending at the LAPD could force city leaders to contemplate cuts to other city jobs, which they oppose.

The Olympics will also be staffed by thousands of officers from agencies from across the state. A bill currently under consideration in the California Legislature would pave the way for the hundreds of officers from other states to help police the 2028 Games. The proposed legislation is opposed by the Peace Officers Research Association of California, the state’s largest law enforcement labor organization, which has argued that bringing in officers who don’t meet statewide training standards could spell disaster.

The number of deaths comes as healthcare workers threaten to walk off the job over a delay in payments.

At least 600 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have died from Ebola, as the number of confirmed cases of the illness rose to 1,759, according to government data.

The total numbers, released on Wednesday, were confirmed as of Tuesday, while 51 new cases and 20 deaths were recorded in the previous 24 hours.

The total of those infected does not include two cases of illness reported in Kisangani, the capital of the Tshopo province and one of the DRC’s biggest cities, as the test results were being validated, the government’s report said. They will be included in the official case total once confirmed.

One of those two cases is linked to the village of Nia-Nia in the Ituri province, where the first illnesses were reported. But the second illness “does not appear to have a geographic link” beyond Kisangani, according to the government.

As the situation worsens, healthcare workers in the Ituri province, the hardest-hit of the country’s three eastern regions affected by the outbreak, are walking off their jobs to protest against delay in payments.

In an official notice to national and provincial authorities over the weekend, front-line workers in Ituri threatened to strike if they were not paid in 24 hours. By Tuesday, some had already stopped working, although no official strike has been declared, The Associated Press news agency reported.

Some of the health professionals and other front-line workers told AP they had not been paid wages or bonuses since the Ebola outbreak was declared on May 15. They also said they were working with limited gear and treated unfairly by authorities and response teams.

“Since the Ebola virus disease outbreak was declared, we’ve been demanding payment for our work,” Dr Biensi Kano, a member of the epidemiological surveillance committee in Ituri’s capital, Bunia, told AP.

The strike comes at the start of the enrolment for clinical trials for the treatment of the Bundibugyo virus, which is responsible for this outbreak. The Bundibugyo strain of Ebola is generally considered less deadly than some others, but there is no approved vaccine.

By the time the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in May, the virus had already been spreading undetected for weeks through the mining towns of Mongbwalu, Rwampara and Bunia, before reaching neighbouring provinces, Al Jazeera’s Catherine Wambua-Soi reported from the DRC earlier this month.

Two days after Ukraine said it couldn’t down any Russian ballistic missiles because of a dearth of Patriot surface-to-air missile (SAM) interceptors, President Donald Trump on Wednesday told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that he would provide Kyiv with a license to build its own. 

The vow, made during a bilateral meeting at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey, was a rare feel-good moment between two world leaders who have frequently butted heads. However, turning that offer into a reality that can help Ukraine in the near-term isn’t realistic. It would take many months, at least, for the first missiles to roll off the production line for a whole host of reasons we will delve into later in this story.

“That’s pretty cool,” Trump told Zelensky after making his license offer. “This way, you can’t complain that we’re not giving them enough. I said, ‘Make them yourself.’”

Trump added a telling caveat.

“We haven’t informed the company of that yet, but that’ll work out all right,” he said. We’ve reached out to Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, which make variants of these weapons, for more details.

“We don’t have an immediate comment on the president’s announcement,” a spokesperson for RTX, Raytheon’s parent company told us. However, the spokesperson noted that RTX “has a long history of co-producing critical defense systems in Europe, with major suppliers in Poland, Germany, Switzerland and Greece to name a few.”

The American leader also suggested that Ukraine would not need much time before it is able to place domestically produced Patriot interceptors into launchers.

“I think they can produce them pretty quickly,” Trump posited. “They have a great ability to produce weapons.”

As we noted earlier in this piece, that’s unlikely at best, even though Ukraine has been at the forefront of weapons production dating back to when it was part of the Soviet Union.

First of all, such a deal could face bureaucratic and regulatory hurdles, like getting Congressional approval. That’s the least of the issues, however.

For instance, even Lockheed Martin, one of the world’s biggest arms makers, currently produces only about 650 PAC-3 MSE interceptors a year, or just shy of two per day. However, under a contract with the Pentagon inked in January, Lockheed is committed to boosting Patriot annual production to 2,000 in the years to come.

Lockheed Martin Receives Contract to Accelerate PAC-3® MSE Production

“Every PAC-3 MSE interceptor carries a production lead time of 24 months for the missile and 30 months for the solid rocket motor,” the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) explained in a recent analysis. “Such timelines are due to physical industrial constraints, such as the lengthy curing time required for solid rocket motors and the complex, multi-year process of qualifying any new component supplier.”

The primary bottleneck “sits one level below the prime contractor,” FPRI added. “Boeing produces the active radar seeker for every PAC-3 MSE from a single facility in Huntsville, Alabama, and in 2025 it delivered only around 650 to 700 seekers. Recognizing this choke point, the Pentagon signed a framework in April 2026 to triple seeker production, an admission that final assembly capacity is irrelevant if the sub-tier cannot keep up. The same logic applies to the missile’s solid rocket motor, manufactured by L3Harris’s Aerojet Rocketdyne.”

Leaders celebrate groundbreaking of Boeing’s PAC-3 Seeker Factory

Given those issues, whether Ukraine can obtain these components even if it does have a license to build the interceptors is a huge question. It is one that Kyiv is trying to answer for the line of interceptors it is trying to produce at home. 

Fire Point, the Ukrainian company that makes several drones as well as the FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile, is working on a domestically designed and produced “anti-ballistic shield.” The backbone of this system is the company’s FP-7.x interceptor missile. In February, the company demonstrated tests of the weapon, which is based on its FP-7 ballistic missile.

That shield “is aerodynamically ready, but still not combat-capable without full integration,” the Kyiv Post noted earlier this month. “Chief designer Denys Shtilerman said the system depends on radars, command centers, a secure data link, and a European-developed seeker head. The company is working with partners to combine these elements into a functioning missile defense network.”

You can see the FP-7 missile in the following video.

As we have previously noted, between U.S. usage in recent Middle East conflicts, sustained consumption by Ukraine and commitments to nearly 20 other nations that are facing increasing threats, the supply of Patriot interceptors is a major problem. Even before Ukraine gained the system and the multiple flare-ups in the Middle East, the depth of the global Patriot missile arsenal and the ability to build enough interceptors in a crisis was concerning. Now demand has exploded and rationing is occurring, with some customers being told their orders are going to be diverted to replenish U.S. stocks. This practice even predates the second Trump administration, with the Biden White House telling allies their orders will be diverted to Taiwan and Ukraine.

All of these interceptors for various buyers will need the same long-lead, highly specialized components that Ukraine would need for domestic production of these weapons.

Even if Ukraine can round up all the components, it still needs a place to put them all together into a workable weapon. Given that it faces constant missile and drone barrages from Russia, Ukraine disperses a lot of its weapons production to avoid having one point of failure in the event of a devastating attack. However, that might not be optimal for the production of enough Patriot interceptors to provide an adequate defense against these threats. Any large facility purpose-built or converted for this effort — which could take years — would be a prime target and likely attacked very quickly.

Should Ukraine find a suitable, secure location, perhaps underground, it still needs people to do the work. That raises another level of concern, according to David Shank, a retired Army colonel who served as Commandant of the Air Defense Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and as the 10th Army Air Missile Defense Commander in Europe.

“From my perspective, I am absolutely 100% concerned about the Ukrainians and anyone they let in those facilities,” Shank noted. “And of course that brings into play how much information and capability we are willing to share for the Ukrainians to build Patriot interceptors.”

Shank’s concerns are well-founded. Security around these weapons and their components is very high. The chances that data or hardware could find its way into enemy hands is a problem in a country at war with its neighbor, and those risks are greater with the more advanced variants of these weapons like the PAC-3 family.

As Raytheon noted in its response to our inquiry, licensed production of Patriot interceptors is a concept not without precedent. Japan also has a contract with Lockheed Martin to produce about 30 Patriot interceptors per year. Plans to boost that number hit a snag in 2024 over supply chain issues, Reuters reported at the time. Meanwhile, a new MBDA-Raytheon facility in Europe built to make GEM-T Patriot missiles is due to open later this year, according to the Financial Times.

In addition to that, plans were announced during the NATO Summit to build a European Patriot PAC-3 maintenance facility.

Also unknown is how Ukraine will pay for all this, though it is likely European nations will help foot the bill.

All things considered, it will be a while before Ukraine can defend its skies with homegrown Patriot interceptors.

“I do think there will be bureaucratic hurdles to get over,” Shank surmised. “But ultimately I believe the tech transfer and supply chain will drive the pace. I am sure Ukraine has already identified the big ticket items needed to make this happen. I believe the supply chain of the intricate components, chips, and circuit cards could slow the process.”

In addition to promising he would give Ukraine a license to build Patriot, Trump also said he would provide an undisclosed number of additional ones from existing U.S. stocks.

There’s a long way to go before Ukraine can procure the Patriot interceptors it needs.

According to Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR), “Russia’s military-industrial complex plans to deliver up to 700 9M723 ballistic missiles for the Iskander operational-tactical missile system in 2026, the same number as last year,” Ukrainska Pravda reported. “Monthly production rates remain at 55-60 missiles.”

In addition, “the Russians have more than doubled production of RM-48U missiles for S-300PM and S-400 air defense systems, which they use to strike ground targets,” the publication added. “Over 480 such missiles are planned to be delivered in 2026, compared with more than 200 in 2025. The current monthly production rate is up to 50 missiles.”

The number of ballistic missiles Russia builds per year exceeds the current pace of high-end Patriot interceptor production, which is telling when it comes to how many interceptors the U.S. can supply Ukraine on a sustained basis under the current production rates.

So, Trump’s offer, if it comes through, won’t solve Ukraine’s urgent need for interceptors. However, becoming a Patriot producer, even after the war, would be a huge win for Kyiv. Developing its own stockpile would give Ukraine a level of security it does not currently enjoy. Being able to potentially co-export some of the interceptors it assembles would also add a boost to its economy that Ukraine badly needs. In addition, it would cement Ukraine further as a high-end weapons manufacturer. Considering the voracious global appetite for these weapons, there would be no shortage of customers.

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

OASIS classic Wonderwall is on course to hit No 1 thanks to Three Lions supporters and The Sun. 

Their 1995 mega-hit Wonderwall has rocketed up the charts following England’s victory against Mexico. 

It’s currently No2 on UK Spotify and No15 on Global Spotify—a leap of 27 places. 

The track was streamed 2.8 million times on Monday following The Sun’s campaign to make it the England World Cup anthem. 

It is due to enter the official Top 20 this Friday and is expected to finally reach No1 next week if England beat Norway on Saturday. 

Despite being Oasis’ most iconic track, the song originally peaked at No2, famously kept off the top spot by Robson & Jerome’s I Believe / Up On The Roof. 

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Speaking to The Sun last month, Noel Gallagher backed calls for Wonderwall to become the unofficial England anthem.  

The footy-mad Manchester City fan, 59, said: “Wonderwall belongs to the people, and it was a magical moment between the people and the players.

“Best of luck to everyone who’s made the trip out there.” 

The movement was initially started by England fans who belted out the track alongside Jude Bellingham after their 4-2 triumph over Croatia at the AT&T Stadium in Dallas. 

Ahead of the World Cup starting, every nation was asked to submit a playlist of songs to be played before and after games.

England submitted three songs, with one of them being Oasis‘ Wonderwall.

The Three Lions are currently bidding to end 60 years of heartbreak and win a second World Cup title – and they are that one step closer after booking their spot in the quarter-finals.

The provided text describes the history and significance of the National Day of Prayer, Reflection and Thanksgiving in Montserrat, which commemorates the island’s resilience following catastrophic volcanic activity. Starting in 1995, the Soufrière Hills Volcano began a series of eruptions that eventually destroyed the capital city of Plymouth and the island’s primary airport. Because of this devastation, Plymouth remains the only abandoned capital in the world with no residents, while administrative functions have shifted to Brades. This annual observance serves as a time for the community to honor those lost and express gratitude for the nation’s survival. The source also contextualizes this history within a broader news digest  … 

WASHINGTON — A tentative armistice between the United States and Iran reached less than a month ago appeared all but dead Wednesday after the two sides traded fresh military strikes, and as President Trump directed further attacks on the Islamic Republic.

The escalation marked a dramatic turn after the Trump administration spent weeks selling a diplomatic breakthrough with Tehran that proved controversial across the political aisle, lifting oil sanctions and a naval blockade on Iran in exchange for the promise of talks over the status of the Strait of Hormuz and its decades-old nuclear program.

Now, speaking to reporters at the NATO summit in Turkey, Trump said he believed the truce — which diplomats describe as a memorandum of understanding — was “over” and that it was a “waste of time” dealing with Iranian leadership.

“They’re scum. They’re sick people,” Trump said of Iranian leaders, whom he had characterized last month as “very rational people” and “very nice to deal with.”

The president’s dim views of the ceasefire agreement’s fate were shared by Iran’s foreign ministry, which issued a statement on Wednesday saying the American attacks, the reinstatement of a U.S. naval blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, and Israel’s continuing attacks in Lebanon rendered “important and fundamental” parts of the deal “ineffective.”

The truce’s unraveling was underscored by Trump ordering the U.S. military to launch a series of strikes against Iran on Wednesday afternoon to “further degrade their ability to threaten” the commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

“The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement on social media.

Earlier in the day, Trump signaled that the United States planned to “hit them hard” and floated the possibility of taking over Kharg Island, which is vital to Iran’s economy. His remarks quickly prompted oil prices to rise and global stock markets to fall, a worry that Trump acknowledged but which did not seem to sway his decision-making in relation to Iran.

“If we hit Iran, oil goes up a little bit, it is all right,” Trump said. He later added that the United States may “do some other thing that could lift it a little bit, but I don’t think it’s gonna lift it a lot at all.”

As Trump signals the continuation of fighting, his administration has been seeking more than $67 billion in funding to cover expenses related to the Iran war, a request that Congress has not yet approved as lawmakers have been split over the president’s handling of the conflict.

“The American people are paying the price for Trump’s total failure in Iran,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement Wednesday. “Our troops are back in harm’s way and high gas costs are continuing to punish working families.”

The president’s stance on the war marked the latest setback to a fragile truce that has barely held since the 14-page agreement was signed June 17, as the U.S. and Iran engaged over the last few weeks in cycles of attacks and counterattacks.

Trump was noticeably angrier at Iran on Wednesday as he cast doubt over the deal. Last month, Trump had complimented Iranian leadership for trying to reach a peace deal and celebrated the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route for the world’s oil and gas. But based on his remarks, it was clear he was out of patience.

“I am not happy with them,” Trump said. “They’re cuckoo. There’s something wrong with these people. For 47 years, they’ve been the bully of the Middle East and they are not the bully anymore. They are not the bully anymore.”

Trump expressed frustration with Iran’s negotiators and their resistance to abiding by U.S. demands to reopen the strait. When asked if he intended to send troops to Iran, the president dismissed the idea.

“Why would I go in now?” Trump said. “I’d go in when they’re completely eliminated or an agreement is made.”

Still, the president kept the door open for negotiations, saying that his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner “want to negotiate.”

“They’re good people, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, but they have to come back to me,” Trump said. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with [the Iranians]. They’re liars.”

The latest breakdown to the ceasefire followed a now-familiar chain reaction of tit-for-tat attacks, starting with a series of strikes on three oil tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, including a Qatari vessel carrying natural gas, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center.

The Qatari tanker was off the coast of Oman when it was hit and caught fire, the maritime monitor said, in what experts say was a move to thwart ships attempting to use an alternate transit route to the one Iran specified. Iran did not claim responsibility, but a report on Iranian state television said the Qatari tanker came under attack after ignoring warnings to turn back.

The two other vessels were damaged but were able to continue to their destination, according to the U.K. group.

Qatar, which has played a vital role in facilitating negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, condemned the attack on its tanker as “unacceptable.”

The U.S. responded with a wave of strikes against more than 80 Iranian targets aimed at “impos[ing] heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway,” according to a statement from U.S. Central Command. That tally included roughly 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps small boats in the strait.

Iranian state media said U.S. strikes targeted Sirik, Qeshm Island and Bushehr and Bandar Abbas, while a U.S. drone strike on the port city of Mahshahr killed one Revolutionary Guard member.

Ahead of the strikes, the White House revoked the 60-day temporary license given to Tehran to sell and deliver oil during the truce.

Iran’s military countered with its own strikes on 85 U.S. military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait; it also shot down an MQ-9 drone, according to a statement on Wednesday.

Kuwait said its military intercepted two ballistic missiles and 13 drones, but that none had resulted in material damage or casualties.

Global oil prices surged 6% on news of Trump’s reversal on the deal, rising to more than $78 a barrel, down from the peak during the war but still above prewar levels.

The renewed violence appeared to have little effect on the funeral for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli strike on Feb. 28, in the war’s opening hours.

The funeral, a days-long period of mourning, is set to end on Thursday, when Khamenei’s body will return from Iraq to be buried in the city of Mashhad, his birthplace. Negotiations were to begin once more.

In his remarks Wednesday, Trump said Iranian leaders had asked for a “timeout” to attend the funeral, and that he had promised not to kill them.

“And I said give it to them, and they start shooting missiles,” Trump said.

Whether those talks — which were meant to deal with the thorniest issues between the two countries, including the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear program — will go ahead remains unclear. Iran, for its part, maintained a defiant attitude.

“The era of bullying and extortion is over,” wrote Mohammad Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliamentary speaker. “It leads nowhere. We don’t fold.”

Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to the supreme leader, posted on X that Trump’s policy had “driven the region towards fire.”

“We had previously warned that the region is not a place for the political gambling of small countries, and we have repeatedly proven that adventures are met with an immediate response,” he wrote.

He added that the Axis of Resistance — a reference to Iran’s network of allied groups in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen — would not be “silent against humiliation and adventurism” and has “its finger on the trigger.”

Bulos reported from Beirut and Ceballos from Washington.