Month: October 2026

When it comes to top individual performances from Friday night football, few can challenge Santa Barbara High’s secret weapon, Cade Mault, a junior soccer player committed to Cal Poly who taught himself how to kick and punt.

Against Westlake, Mault accounted for all of Santa Barbara’s points in a 13-10 win over Westlake. He had an 85-yard touchdown reception. He made field goals from 49 and 43 yards. He made the PAT. He even picked up a first down on a fake punt.

“We believe in him,” coach Nathan Mendoza said.

He’s four for four on field goals this season, has not missed a PAT, is booming punts and still plays club soccer on weekends while practicing soccer four times a week from 6 to 9 p.m.

Soccer is his sport, but he’s progressing so well in football, options could be opening up for someone who insists no one taught him how to kick or punt.

His family is all about competing in sports. He has an older brother, Kai, who was an All-Southern Section receiver for Santa Barbara and now plays baseball for UC Davis. A younger brothers plays football and lacrosse.

He has a 3.9 grade-point average, so all options are open. Mendoza hopes he keeps playing football for at least one more year.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

RHIAN Sugden looked utterly sensational in her latest Instagram snaps, combining sexiness and sequins.

The former glamour model, 40, stripped down to a barely-there set of purple lingerie and posed up a storm for the camera.

Rhian looked over her shoulder in the set, which featured hot pink straps and a thong-style panty.

Her brunette hair fell beautifully down her back in soft waves, with her face framing pieces drawing attention to her pink pout.

The star finished the look off with a sparkly silver sequin bolero shrugged off down to her elbows.

Fans of Rhian’s gushed all about her beauty in the post’s comments section.

‘IT’S HARD’

Rhian Sugden admits marriage is under strain and she sleeps apart from husband

RED HOT

Rhian Sugden looks hotter than hell in sexy red lingerie after celebrating her 40th

One user said in utter awe: “Just wow”.

A second shared: “Absolutely gorgeous.”

Meanwhile a third added: “What a stunner.”

The post comes shortly after Rhian opened up about her marriage being under strain, admitting that she sleeps in a separate bed to her husband.

Speaking on the Private Parts podcast, Rhian explained: “The thing that’s changed our marriage is having [a] child.

“Like, we’re like strangers at the minute. It’s hard. Even when we go on holiday, we’re not really getting much time alone.

“George just didn’t sleep as a baby, and I was like, I can’t do this. Just get him in bed.

“So we’ve just bought him a double bed and now I’m in George’s bedroom.”

Rhian and Oliver began dating in 2013 and tied the knot in Turkey in 2018.

They welcomed their son George together back in 2024 after a five-year long journey with IVF.

AstraZeneca (AZN) said its experimental stomach cancer treatment doubled survival time in a late-stage clinical trial, strengthening prospects for a medicine the British drugmaker estimates could generate as much as $5 billion in annual sales.

The drug, sonesitatug vedotin, also known as

As Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy came under fire for releasing an attack ad featuring his Democratic competitor’s estranged mother, a mysterious news site was running a Facebook ad boosting the controversial video.

The Buckeye Bulletin, which bills itself as an Ohio-based news platform committed to “reliable journalism” and “strong editorial standards,” popped up suddenly this spring and began pumping out a steady stream of pro-Ramaswamy content.

The publication’s articles have no bylines. There is no list of staff. The website does not feature digital advertisements, nor does it prompt readers to subscribe, but there is also no disclosure of who is funding it.

A closer look at the Buckeye Bulletin’s Meta advertising data shows that its Facebook and Instagram accounts are managed by the Lincoln Media Foundation, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Orange County-based Lincoln Club — the oldest and largest conservative donor organization in California. IRS documents show that the club and foundation are associated organizations and share at least two key executives.

Meta’s advertising data shows that the Lincoln Media Foundation manages the Instagram and Facebook accounts for the Buckeye Bulletin.

(Meta)

The Buckeye Bulletin, Lincoln Club and Lincoln Media Foundation did not respond to requests for comment.

The Bulletin appears to be a partisan site posing as a local news outlet ahead of the midterm elections, a strategy political scientists refer to as “pink-slime” journalism.

This is not the first time a “pink-slime” outlet has been linked to the Lincoln Media Foundation. In 2024 Max Read, director of civic innovation for the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, identified seven such alleged outlets.

With the exception of one Los Angeles-focused site, those outlets all targeted critical states for the 2024 presidential election such as Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Read reported that the media group had spent more than $63,000 on Facebook and Instagram ads, resulting in up to 18 million impressions during the last election cycle.

“[The sites were] very clearly designed to try to influence the information environment ahead of the presidential election,” Read told The Times. “They had all been started early in the year and used advertising on Meta platforms to juice their engagement numbers.”

When asked by The Times to take a look at the Buckeye Bulletin, Read said it appeared to be “pretty much copy and paste the same tactic that they used in 2024, even down to the aesthetics of the Facebook page and Instagram account.”

“It seems like they realized this worked at some level in 2024 and is worth doing again this year,” he said.

Earlier this year, CalMatters identified another outlet tied to the Lincoln Media Foundation called the California Courier, which had been circulating Facebook advertisements criticizing Gov. Gavin Newsom and the statewide redistricting ballot measure Proposition 50.

Since the Buckeye Bulletin’s Facebook and Instagram pages launched in March, the outlet has shared posts touting endorsements of Ramaswamy — a biotech billionaire and former presidential candidate — as well as his platform for addressing Ohio’s healthcare crisis and his stance on religious freedom in schools.

Simultaneously, the outlet’s social media posts have highlighted the refusal of his opponent — Amy Acton, Ohio’s former public health director — to debate, comments on how she “shut down” the state’s economy during the COVID-19 pandemic and a video with a watermark from right-wing political activist Laura Loomer.

This week, the outlet turned attention to Ramaswamy’s controversial campaign ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur. In the ad, Arthur calls her daughter a liar and urges voters not to support her.

However, the ad did not acknowledge that Arthur lost custody of her children after their stepfather, Arthur’s husband, was indicted for raping Acton when she was a child — an omission that drew fierce condemnation from Democrats and some Republicans, including Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. Others, including President Trump and Vice President JD Vance, an Ohioan, have defended the ad.

Arthur and her husband fled to Pennsylvania after his 1978 indictment where he died in 2004 without having been brought back to Ohio to face the charge.

Peppered in between political content on the Bulletin’s social media feeds is a smattering of reels related to non-political news, often featuring videos lifted directly from local TV stations. These other posts are used to create a “veneer of genuine local journalism,” Read said.

The language on the Bulletin’s About Us page displays markers of artificial intelligence such as generic mission statements, polished but repetitive phrasing and vague claims about journalistic standards with no details about the publication’s staff.

Of the last 30 posts shared on the Bulletin’s Facebook as of 5 p.m. Friday, 21 were about state or national politics and 10 were about the gubernatorial race. Engagement on the posts dealing with Ramaswamy and Acton is consistently strong for a page with around 5,600 followers.

For example, a Wednesday post on Ohio State Medical Assn.’s PAC endorsing Ramaswamy received more than 770 likes, 260 comments and 150 shares. Another video posted Wednesday with the label “Amy Acton refuses to debate, says mother is lying about her” received more than 4,800 likes, 1,500 comments and 500 shares.

Meanwhile, a non-political Wednesday post on a chemical explosion in Toledo received two likes, no comments and no shares.

The unassuming social media scroller or person who clicked onto the website would have no clue of the Buckeye Bulletin’s apparent connection to a group of wealthy Southern California Republications.

The Lincoln Media Foundation was started by leaders of the historic Lincoln Club, which was founded in 1962 and once counted John Wayne and former President Richard Nixon as members.

Today, the club describes itself as being home to “the most prominent business and thought leaders” in California and says it offers members the opportunity to meet world leaders and “experience their hobbies come to life through a combination of extravagance and leisure.”

The foundation notes that it uses a digital approach to reach communities left out of the national conversation, but its website does not disclose providing funding to any news outlets.

IRS records show that the nonprofit’s financial activities kicked up dramatically in 2024, the latest year for which data are available. The Lincoln Media Foundation reported $3.88 million in revenue in 2024, compared with $738,000 in 2023, $453,000 in 2022 and $415,000 in 2021.

The Buckeye Bulletin’s Facebook and Instagram accounts have spent just over $10,000 boosting posts this year, according to Meta’s ad library.

That’s barely a drop in the bucket in Ohio, where hotly contested races for governor and U.S. Senate have drawn hundreds of millions in spending. But presenting a slanted political view under the guise of local news tends to offer more bang for your buck than traditional advertisements, said Georgia Kernell, an associate professor in the departments of communications and political science at UCLA.

“Voters are so sick of ads; they’re getting tons of clear paid advertisements on the radio, on the television and on their social media feeds now,” she said. “Anything that can kind of look different is going to be more likely to keep their attention.”

Presenting as a traditional news source also increases the likelihood of viewers believing that the information presented is well-researched, she said.

Nik Usher, associate professor of communications at the University of San Diego, said it’s unclear how much influence pink-slime journalism is having on voting behavior, but political strategists are willing to try any new approach to possibly make a difference in tight races.

“This is one strategic effort to throw more spaghetti at the wall, hoping it’ll stick,” Usher said.

Creators of these partisan sites further stand to benefit from the fact that artificial intelligence tools are constantly scraping content from news websites without paywalls.

Researchers at NewsGuard recently found that leading AI chat bots are citing pink-slime websites nearly half the time when users ask questions about candidates and issues in the midterm elections.

Democrats and Republicans have increasingly leveraged pink-slime journalism to influence voters in the past few election cycles.

In 2020, the New York Times identified a network of 1,300 news sites that paid freelance writers to produce biased content for Republican groups and corporate public relations firms. In 2024, the left-leaning Star Spangled Media group used a site called the Morning Mirror to promote down-ballot Democratic candidates, according to research from Columbia Journalism School’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism.

More recently, the evolution of AI has increased the ease with which these websites can be populated with content, eliminating the need to pay writers and automating the production of social media posts.

Usher described pink-slime websites as “explosive bombs for public trust” that take advantage of the gap created by the loss of independent local papers and further diminish expectations for news to be fairly reported.

“Once these sorts of sites are pointed out to the public it further undermines distrust in political institutions, political parties, the news media,” Usher said, “especially when AI is associated with this kind of stuff.”

Jake Jarman becomes the first British male gymnast to win two individual medals in the World Gymnastics Championships, after winning silver in a thrilling men’s vault final in Rotterdam.

WATCH MORE: Gymnastics World Championships BBC iPlayer

Available to UK users only.

Jordan’s prime minister represents king at funeral for eight of the church attack victims as hunt for gunmen continues.

Thousands of mourners have gathered for the funerals of eight of the victims of a deadly attack on a church in southern Jordan, with Prime Minister Jafar Hassan also in attendance.

The burials on Sunday were beside St George’s Greek Orthodox Church in the village of Hamoud, southwest of the capital, Amman, two days after attackers opened fire during another funeral there.

Nine people were killed and dozens wounded in a rare attack on Jordan’s Christian minority, prompting three days of national mourning.

The ninth victim, Mohammed al-Qasous, is due to be buried on Monday, his family told the AFP news agency.

Coffins wrapped in Jordanian flags were carried through crowds gathered around the church in Karak province, as priests led prayers and security personnel stood guard.

Prime Minister Hassan attended the service alongside government ministers and senior military and civilian officials, according to Jordan’s state news agency, Petra.

Thousands of citizens also participated in the funeral procession, Petra said.

Among those caught in Friday’s shooting was Sahar al-Halsa, who told the Reuters news agency from her nearby home that she sheltered behind a pillar as gunfire erupted and people screamed.

When she rushed outside, she found her cousin Assem lying wounded.

“Assem, Assem, my darling, answer me,” she recalled calling to him. He briefly opened his eyes before dying, she said.

Father Yohanna Hamati told AFP that about 170 to 200 people were at the church for Friday’s funeral when firing began outside.

The mourners initially struggled to understand what was happening, he said, before people began rushing into the church to escape.

By Saturday, bullet holes remained in the walls and wooden pews, and windows had been shattered.

Church workers were cleaning away blood as villagers prepared to bury the dead. Jordanian authorities have described the attack as “extremist terrorism”.

King Abdullah, who visited some of the wounded in hospital on Friday, has promised a forceful response and the assailants are still being sought.

Officials say they have not established whether the attackers were connected to an armed group and no organisation has claimed responsibility.

The violence has also drawn expressions of solidarity across religious lines. Christians account for about 3 percent of Jordan’s largely Muslim population and AFP reported that Muslims were among those wounded.

Young volunteers visited a hospital in Karak with flowers and a message reading, “Our loss is one”.

The mourning reached Washington, DC, on Sunday, where members of the Jordanian community lit candles outside their country’s embassy.

Jordan’s ambassador to the US, Dina Kawar, told those gathered that efforts to stir religious division were “bound to fail”. Back in Hamoud, Father Hamati appealed for unity, stressing that Muslims had also suffered in the attack.

“We make no distinction between Muslim and Christian,” he told AFP.

Instead of running for office themselves, student-led assemblies at the country’s university faculties have chosen 250 candidates to stand in the parliamentary election, with Ilija Srdanović, professor at Novi Sad University, heading the list.

The Student List of candidates for parliament also includes doctors, actors, academics and sports personalities

“These are people that don’t know each other, you have no idea what their political beliefs are, and we now expect them to create a functioning government. So it’s anybody’s guess what happens after they win,” Korać says.

“On the other hand, if Vučić declares victory this evening, probably late in the evening, I don’t think the students will accept that.”

Korać suggests that many former Vučić loyalists in high office could change sides at the last moment, if the students win. A close result, however, with both sides claiming victory, could result in weeks or months of political instability.

The electorate is 6.45 million in a population of 6.53 million, raising concerns about the reliability of the electoral register. Serbs from Kosovo, and dual Serbian citizens from neighbouring Bosnia also have the right to vote.

Additional reporting by André Rhoden-Paul

SCARLETTE Douglas has revealed she’s expecting her first child with her fitness instructor fiancé Kyle Murray.

The A Place In The Sun host, 39, took to Instagram on Sunday afternoon to share the sweet news – alongside a picture of her blossoming bump.

The TV personality – who froze her eggs back in 2024 – shared a snap of herself and Kyle in front of a balloon arch and teddy bear display which read: ‘We can Bearly wait’.

In the snap, Scarlette donned a crop top to show off her bump, which Kyle cradled from behind.

Scarlette wrote underneath the post: “The exciting news is finally here!

“We’re over the moon to announce… We’re having a baby!!!!!!”

HEY BABY!

Gaz Beadle’s ex Emma shows off her growing baby bump after announcing pregnancy

FLOG IT

Helen Flanagan stuns in corset dress as she flogs her old clothes on Vinted

The star’s celeb pals flocked to the comments to share their congratulations – with Frankie Essex writing: “Yayyyyyyuuu love it!! Congratulations ❤️❤️❤️❤️”.

Scarlette did not share in the post how far along in the pregnancy she is, or whether the couple know the gender of their little one.

The TV star met her boyfriend in May last year, with Scarlette attending one of his fitness classes.

In March this year, Kyle popped the question and the pair are now engaged.

The expectant parents attended The Baby Show – a parenting exhibition – in London on Friday.

Snaps show the duo testing out prams and cots as they got their practice in ahead of the baby’s arrival.

Halloween candy sales are declining as financially strained Americans cut back on discretionary purchases, with higher chocolate prices and rising household expenses weighing on demand ahead of the holiday.

U.S. candy sales fell 6.7% in the four weeks ended Oct. 17 from a

OUR Spotlight On column gives you the lowdown on what to see and do in popular holiday spots and off-the-beaten-track destinations.

This week we’re shining a light on Limassol in Cyprus, home to gorgeous beaches and luxury marinas littered with quality restaurants.

Cyprus is one of the best Med destinations for some late winter sun, with it remaining one of the warmest European destinations in winter.

By that, I mean expect temperatures of 23C – not hot, but definitely t-shirt weather.

British Airways, Wizz Air and Ryanair all have direct flights to both airports which are around an jour from Limassol (with Ryanair offering them for as little as £14.99)

Here are some of our other top tips for a visit to the island city.

BOOK IT

20 ultra cheap girly hols – UK trips, city breaks & all inclusive stays from £59

SIP IT

Beachfront city with 300 sunshine days, wild sea lions & champagne vending machines

MUST SEE/DO

Limassol is so much more than a fly-and-flop destination – the second-largest city in Cyprus is rich in culture and fascinating history.

And you can unearth some of its magic at the Limassol Castle & Medieval Museum, which dates back to around 1590 (although it was demolished and has been rebuilt with several additions throughout the years).

Here you can take a detailed look at medieval pottery, old weapons and plates from the Byzantine era.

HIDDEN GEM

While most holidaymakers will spend their trip flopped on the beach, those with a more adventurous streak can take advantage of some gorgeous hiking trails, leading them to a couple of hidden waterfalls.

A little off the beaten track, at the foot of the Troodos Mountain, the tumbling Kaledonia and Millomeris falls are a magnificent sight – and great spot for a photo.

The stroll takes around an hour and is just shy of 3km from Pano Platres – you can reward your efforts with a refreshing dip in the waters.

BEST VIEW

Perched on a mighty hill, the ancient theatre of Kourion offers the most breathtaking view, with the Mediterranean ocean laid out below.

The horse-show-shaped archaeological site is pretty spectacular anyway, regardless of the sea views.

It was constructed at the end of the 2nd century BC, from local limestone and has seen many renovations over the years.

It’s no longer used for wild animal fights, understandably.

Instead, visitors today can expect regular theatre performances during the summer months.

RATED RESTAURANT

There’s no end to excellent restaurants in Limassol, but if you’re a meat-eater you can’t go wrong with a slap-up dinner at Prime Steakhouse.

Located within the City of Dreams resort, close to Limassol Bay and Salt Lake, the sophisticated restaurant has been nominated in the Hotel/Resort Luxury Dining category for this year’s Cyprus Eating Awards.

Properly juicy steaks are cooked inside a Mibrasa charcoal oven and can be paired with stilton, chimichurri or morel mushroom sauces.

Make sure to wash it down with one of the whisky-based cocktails.

For dinner with a view, right on the marina is Pyxida (another nominee in the Cyprus Eating Awards) which cooks up top notch, fresh seafood.

BEST BAR

Few bars serve better cocktails than stylish Catrinas Cyprus, a Mexican-restaurant-cum-bar close to the marina.

The classic menu features all the favourites from the zesty pornstar martini to aperol spritz

Travellers come for the fruity drinks in a laidback atmosphere, but stay for the lively music – sometimes as late as 2am.

HOTEL PICK

The sprawling City of Dreams Mediterranean sits right on the coast and is bursting with fun for families and adults alike, from its grand casino and late-night shows, to tennis coaching sessions and an adventure park with a zipline coaster and climbing wall.

The five-star setting is a great place to relax with several outdoor and indoor pools, a spa and even a hair salon for those wanting a holiday zhuzh.

Rooms cost from €340 in winter, on bed and breakfast basis. See cityofdreamsmed.com.cy.

On television, ads for UCLA Health show up behind the Dodgers’ home plate and in the background when Justin Herbert, the Chargers’ quarterback, speaks after a game.

At the Lakers’ training facility, the health system’s logo appears on the court and throughout the building, under a marketing partnership that cost the university tens of millions of dollars.

The ads are part of the public university health system’s strategy to increase the number of Southern Californians using its providers at its fast-growing number of clinics and hospitals.

University officials say its expansion to five hospitals and 300 clinics — up from 150 locations a decade ago — has given more Southern Californians access to its academic medicine.

Lakers championship banners hang from the rafters and trophies are on display in an office overlooking the news conference as Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, left, speaks while Lakers coach JJ Redick listens at the UCLA Health Training Center in El Segundo.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Last year, the system’s clinics and hospitals recorded 4.2 million outpatient visits — more than five times the number in 2015.

“As a public institution, we’re trying to make sure that patients within our community have access to care,” said Dr. Robert Cherry, UCLA Health’s chief medical and quality officer. “That’s the primary and overriding concern, because there’s an acute demand for our services.”

Yet healthcare economists point to repeated studies showing that hospital consolidation — where health systems expand, take over competitors and hire more of a region’s physicians — has become a leading driver of escalating health costs and insurance premiums, while doing little to raise the quality of care.

Glenn Melnick, a USC professor of healthcare finance, has documented how hospital consolidation in Northern California caused health costs to escalate. He said the mergers and acquisitions have continued, including with UCLA Health and other hospital systems in Southern California. UCI Health acquired four community hospitals in 2024.

One consequence, Melnick said, is surging insurance premiums for employers, which leave companies with little money for wage increases, while employees end up paying more for their health insurance and out-of-pocket medical costs.

“We’re now, I think, at a breaking point,” he said.

UCLA executives said the aim of the expansion was not to increase revenues the health system receives from commercial insurers. And they say they don’t believe UCLA Health is large enough to influence health costs.

“We actually represent only a small fraction of the inpatient capacity, physicians, clinics and resources available across the large and complex healthcare market in L.A.,” said Johnese Spisso, UCLA Health’s president, in an interview.

Nonetheless, the system’s expansion and its other recent financial decisions have led to protests by some of the university’s own staff and faculty, who point out the new clinics have been added mostly in wealthier neighborhoods, including Malibu and Montecito, where the majority of families have commercial insurance.

None of its clinics are in South or East Los Angeles, where more residents are covered by Medi-Cal, the state program for low-income people.

Cameron Carr during a news conference at the UCLA Health Training Center in El Segundo.

(Arwen Clemans/Los Angeles Times)

University of California system officials say Medi-Cal’s reimbursements are so low that they don’t cover the cost of care at the state’s five UC medical centers. Those losses, they say, must be covered by charges to those with commercial insurance.

Last month, dozens of medical residents and interns protested outside a UC Regents board meeting after UCLA Health failed to renew a Medi-Cal contract that had covered thousands of low-income patients. The doctors waved signs with slogans “Corporate Greed” and “Keep UCLA Health public.”

Dr. David Schriger, UCLA professor emeritus of emergency medicine, said that given the mission of the state’s public university, he questioned why the expansion had not included neighborhoods such as South Central L.A.

“The public should be making these decisions,” Schriger said. “It should not be at the whim of some executives.”

Santiago Munoz, UCLA Health’s chief strategy officer, said officials don’t consider neighborhood income levels when deciding where to open clinics. Instead, he said, the system has been adding clinics along freeways running north and south.

“We’re staying close to the 405 and the 101 because driving to locations in Los Angeles is inevitable, and it’s very difficult to get to Westwood,” he said.

Munoz noted that UCLA had recently leased a 20,000-square-foot space for a clinic in Inglewood, has locations in downtown Los Angeles, and provides physician services at two of L.A. County’s public hospitals.

“We are trying to go to where patients are,” Munoz said.

Worries about crowding

Nurses at the university’s flagship hospital Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood say the expansion has created crowding that has caused what they describe as an ongoing, daily crisis in the emergency room.

Patients coming from the 300 clinics for hip replacements, heart surgeries and other procedures at Ronald Reagan often wait one or two days in the emergency department until beds become available upstairs in the hospital, according to UCLA officials.

To accommodate those patients who’ve been admitted but don’t have a room, the hospital has installed dozens of beds in what was once the emergency department’s waiting room and in adjacent spaces. That has forced people waiting for emergency care into a large white tent outside, which was put up during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“How do you do a good exam in a tent? It just doesn’t work,” said Dianne Sposito, a nurse who works in the emergency department. “I feel patients are in grave danger right now. Accidents are bound to happen.”

LeBron James has fun with his daughter, Zhuri, as son, Bronny, looks on during a G League game at UCLA Health Training Center in El Segundo.

(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)

A university spokesperson said the system has “extensive strategies to keep patients safe and decompress our emergency departments.”

At the September Regents committee meeting, Spisso, UCLA Health’s president, told board members that the system needs to add as many as another 400 hospital beds so that newly-admitted patients no longer have to wait.

For months, rumors have circulated that UCLA will soon buy Providence St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, which would make the university the only hospital operator in that city. UCLA bought the city’s other hospital in 1995.

UCLA officials declined to say whether they were talking about acquiring the hospital. “We’ve found it’s best not to talk about discussions we may or may not be having unless or until we have something to announce,” Phil Hampton, a university spokesperson, said in a statement.

Consolidation hikes costs

The California Health Care Foundation found in a 2021 study that hospital markets were reaching “monopoly levels” in many of the state’s counties. The consolidation was increasing prices with “little to no improvement in quality” of care, the report said.

The study also detailed how physicians often change their referral and prescribing patterns after their practices are acquired by hospitals, sometimes requesting imaging or other procedures that are not needed.

Melnick, the USC professor, noted that when UCLA acquires physician practices and “re-designates them as hospital-outpatient departments,” the clinics can begin billing insurers for an additional “hospital facility fee” for routine office visits, imaging and minor procedures.

He added that insurers often consider UCLA as a “must-have” network, allowing it to negotiate higher reimbursement rates. When the insurer folds UCLA’s new hospitals and clinics into their plan, he said, it often agrees to raise rates at the newly-acquired providers to match what UCLA is receiving as an academic system. Patients get the same care, he said, “but there is a new name on the door.”

Munoz said that UCLA Health was adding facility fees to some bills, including for imaging, but not for physician care. “We’re running a fairly lean operation in the community when it comes to physician services and not collecting the facility fees that others are,” he said.

More income from patient charges

UCLA is not the only hospital system expanding in the L.A. region. For example, Cedars Sinai has also been adding clinics and buying hospitals.

Price data shows that insurers and patients often pay more for care at UCLA Health and Cedars.

Anthem, Southern California’s largest commercial insurer, this year is paying $20,265 to UCLA for a total knee replacement at Ronald Reagan, according to data gathered by Serif Health, a San Francisco firm that collects data from hospitals and insurers. That price is 9% higher than last year and doesn’t include physician fees, the implanted device or anesthesia.

Anthem pays Cedars more than twice as much for a knee replacement, according to Serif’s data, while it pays Providence St. John’s 22% less. Cedars’ current negotiated reimbursement is $42,559 — an increase of almost 17% over last year.

University executives said that because UCLA Health is an academic health system it provides a high volume of complex care that is more costly than care at non-academic hospitals.

UCLA’s expansion strategy has been financially successful, according to the health system’s annual report.

Last year, UCLA Health operating revenues grew by nearly 20% to more than $5 billion. After paying for expenses, its operating income was $793 million, a margin of almost 16%. That compares to the median operating margin of 1.5% for 45 academic medical centers across the country, according to a 2024 study by McKinsey & Company.

UCLA officials said the operating margin was not a good comparative measure because it doesn’t include a $496-million transfer to the university’s medical school to cover other operations including the training of physicians.

“Education, research, and clinical care are all part of our mission and our responsibilities to really train that next generation of healthcare professionals,” Spisso said.

Expansion continues

The university is now spending nearly $300 million to renovate a 170,000-square-foot building that sits on nine acres near Los Angeles International Airport. Purchased in 2024, the campus’ many offerings will include a sports medicine institute with physical therapy and advanced imaging, as well as an ambulatory surgery center with 10 operating rooms.

The university also plans to soon open a new 119-bed psychiatric hospital in L.A.’s Mid-Wilshire neighborhood. The facility was once the 204-bed Olympia Medical Center, where most patients were Black, Latino and underinsured. Olympia shut down after the university purchased it in December 2020.

The renovated hospital allows UCLA to relocate and expand the 74-bed Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital, which is currently on the fourth floor of Ronald Reagan Medical Center.

“We have patients waiting for mental healthcare so we made a $650-million investment in this new facility,” Spisso said. “We will probably lose around $50 million a year just operating it, but we saw it as one of the most underserved areas.”

UCLA then plans to add 103 beds to Ronald Reagan by renovating its fourth floor, increasing the medical center’s capacity by 23% to ease the overcrowding.

In 2024, the university bought the 260-bed West Hills Hospital and Medical Center in the San Fernando Valley from HCA Healthcare.

Last month, Spisso told the Regents committee that the hospital, now known as UCLA West Valley Medical Center, and its surrounding clinics, were making more money than officials had expected.

Moscow will host the 2030 World Weightlifting Championships – the first time an Olympic federation has chosen to stage a global event in Russia since the country’s invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.

The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) announced its decision on Sunday, four months after confirming Russian athletes would again be eligible to compete in its events.

In July, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) provisionally lifted a suspension on the Russian Olympic Committee.

That suspension had been imposed following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

The IOC’s subsequent decision potentially opened the way for Russian athletes to compete for their country at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

The IWF announced the host cities of four world championships at junior, youth and senior levels, awarding the 2029 senior event to Ahmedabad in India.

“All the bids we received were excellent and we are sure that the championships in your respective countries will be a huge success,” said IWF general secretary Jose Quinones.

No world championships in an Olympic sport, summer or winter, have been held in Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine.

The 2025 World Aquatics Championships, initially awarded to the Russian city of Kazan, were instead moved to Singapore.

Moscow has not held the World Weightlifting Championships since 1983.

The Russian Weightlifting Federation said: “[We are] the first Olympic sports federation to succeed in bringing a top-level official competition back to the country in many years.”

Federation president Aleksandr Vinokurov thanked the IWF in a post on Telegram “for their trust”, with the championships also serving as a qualifying event for the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane, Australia.

“Russia has all the necessary experience and capabilities to host competitions of the highest level,” he said.

“Moscow has repeatedly staged major international sporting events and has modern infrastructure.”

In announcing its decision in July to provisionally lift Russia’s suspension, the IOC said that no decision had been taken on whether Russia could display their flag, colours and anthem at the Olympic ‌Games.

The IOC said it would continue to “not organise IOC events in Russia or invite Russian government or state officials to its events”.

Some Russian athletes competed at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and this year’s Winter Olympics in Milan as neutrals.

Ukraine filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) requesting that the IOC decision to lift its suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee be annulled.

The IOC’s move decision came after the International Paralympic Committee had already ended Russia’s exile from global sports events, with the country’s athletes allowed to compete under their national flag at the Winter Paralympics.

Five Ukrainian athletes are listed to compete in the 2026 IWF World Championships in Ningbo, China, which are scheduled to take place from 27 October to 8 November.

When Altayeb Alhadi was just six years old, his father died after a well collapsed in his village in White Nile state, south-central Sudan. Two months later, and his mother also died, leaving the five children in the family as orphans. As the eldest of the siblings, it was Altayeb’s responsibility to find work and help the family survive.

At 14, he travelled hundreds of kilometres from his home in Galli village to seek work in the north, where gold mines dot the landscape, so he could feed his siblings and keep them in school.

“We warned him about the dangers, but he was ambitious. Some relatives were already working in the area although they had found jobs in restaurants and other services rather than underground extraction,” Ayateb’s uncle Alhadi Hamid told Al Jazeera.

The boy initially worked in transport and other jobs, but when he heard lucrative stories from miners in the area, he began to search for gold in the surrounding mountains.

Altayeb died in an air strike attributed to the Egyptian military at a gold-mining site near Jabal Al-Aigdat in Sudan’s Red Sea region on October 10, which killed at least 72 miners, a few months after he began working at the site.

“It was less than 30 minutes since we separated, and he said he was going to the mine. We suddenly heard a loud sound of bombardment, and we ran. It was too chaotic with people running in all directions and many attacks taking place within a few minutes,” a fellow miner told Al Jazeera, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“We found Altayeb with his hand and leg [blown off] and a severe injury to his abdomen [which] was open. We tried to help him and took him to a safer place near a mountain. We were terrified. He died within hours. … We couldn’t believe how quickly things could happen.”

Altayeb worked alongside about 15 young men and children, using basic tools to extract gold from the rocks. The miners worked night and day, taking the material they gathered to nearby mills for processing.

Proceeds from any gold found were shared, but earnings depended on the amount of gold recovered and individual agreements. On productive days, the group could earn more than $100, the miner said.

“We used to dig for two to three weeks until we found a gram or less. If the gold percentage in the well wasn’t good, we would change locations. When we found a gram or less, we sold it and shared the profit, which was about $100,” Altayeb’s former colleague said.

For young people supporting relatives, even irregular earnings in these dangerous gold mines can seem preferable to unemployment.

Altayeb told his siblings 10 days before his death that he would soon return home, his sister Rogaia Alhadi told local media.

Friends told the family that Altayeb visited them at a restaurant near the mining site on the morning of the attack, his uncle said. They shared a cup of tea before heading towards the mine for the final time. Minutes later, the air strike hit the area.

Authorities in Egypt have accused Sudanese miners of crossing its border and reportedly linked some to gold smuggling, drugs and human trafficking. The Sudanese side did not respond to these allegations.

Since a civil war between Sudan’s military and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group broke out in 2023, the economy has tanked and forced thousands with no other source of income to find work in the artisanal gold mines of northern Sudan.

This can vary from independent prospecting to working in investor-owned pits for a share of the proceeds. Earnings depend on the amount of gold found, equipment and fuel costs, and profit percentages agreed with financiers.

Although some miners strike gold, they still face an array of dangers, ranging from collapsing shafts and unstable ground to air strikes. Limited medical care makes mining, particularly in remote areas, especially hazardous.

Living conditions are also extremely hard. Mohamed Awadalkarim, who was a miner in River Nile state for 10 years, said workers often shelter in makeshift huts made from burlap sacks and plastic sheeting. Their diet consists mainly of lentils and sorghum porridge.

But for families without reliable incomes, mining offers a possible source of immediate earnings. Miners may spend hours searching for gold and not find enough to cover their expenses. Others share proceeds with investors or equipment owners, leaving them with limited money left.

Artisanal and small-scale mining accounted for 53.71 tonnes, or about 83 per cent, of Sudan’s declared gold production in 2024, but this was just in areas under government control, according to research by the Chatham House think tank. About one million people were involved in artisanal mining across Sudan’s 18 states, generating $1bn annually for the country.

Artisanal mines, while generally viewed as being outside the main war-funding networks, have still been exposed to violence.

On June 16, several people were reportedly killed and injured in attacks on mining sites near the Egyptian border, according to local sources and miners.

The repeated air strikes near Sudan’s border with Egypt have raised concerns about civilian protection, territorial sovereignty and accountability.

Egyptian authorities have accused Sudanese prospectors of crossing the border to mine near a concession managed by an Egyptian company, but there is little independent evidence to back these claims.

Sudanese military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan reportedly ordered a fact-finding committee involving prosecutors, judicial representatives and security agencies to investigate the attack. Findings from an inquiry into a similar incident announced in June have not been made public.

Altayeb paid the highest price in this regional conflict and the hunt for gold, which provides huge profits for some and meagre incomes for many.

Altayeb’s siblings are now living with their extended family, including uncles, aunts and cousins. People who know them are trying to help his brothers and sisters and are carrying out community initiatives in Galli to keep his memory alive.

“We will raise the children and care for them as he would have wanted. He was young, caring and brave, and he will always be remembered,” Altayeb said.

Shaun Wright-Phillips on Instagram: “Last night was a challenge, but as always, we dance, we smile, and we keep going! Thank you to all those who voted and supported as always 🙌🏾🕺🏾 #strictly”

5,020 likes, 64 comments – shaunwp98 on October 25, 2026: “Last night was a challenge, but as always, we dance, we smile, and we keep going! Thank you to all those who voted and supported as always 🙌🏾🕺🏾 #strictly”.

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LAS VEGAS — Five days after settling back into the White House, President Trump embarked on a political victory lap that took him to a rally in downtown Las Vegas.

Joined by Nevada’s Republican governor, Joe Lombardo, Trump told boisterous supporters that, as a first order of business, he’d directed every member of his Cabinet “to marshal all powers at their disposal to defeat inflation and bring down the cost of daily life.”

That hasn’t happened — not even close — and that failure is one big reason that Nevada’s governor is fighting for his political life.

Democrats, still smarting from their loss four years ago, have made Lombardo their No. 1 gubernatorial target this election season. Republicans are battling to keep their top-of-the-ticket foothold in a state that will, once more, stand at the center of the presidential campaign.

With just over a week to go — and with more than 335,000 ballots already cast — the contest could go either way.

After a career in law enforcement and eight years as sheriff of Clark County — home to Las Vegas — Lombardo made the leap to governor in 2022 in a pandemic-fueled backlash against Democratic incumbent Steve Sisolak.

Reserved by nature and a political civilian most of his life, Lombardo has spent the last four years focused on the basics — crime, education, job growth, economic development — and largely steered clear of the country’s incendiary culture wars.

Unlike other Republican lawmakers, Lombardo has also shied away from the provocations and flamboyant pugilism of the MAGA movement.

Still, Trump hangs like an anvil around Lombardo’s neck — a fact his Democratic opponent, Aaron Ford, exploits at every turn.

Appearing last week at a gas station two miles off the Las Vegas Strip, Ford cited record-high fuel prices — and the knock-on effects they’ve had on tourism, groceries and online shopping — and said Nevadans were suffering for no other reason than Trump’s “war of choice” against Iran.

“And where,” Ford asked rhetorically, as traffic whooshed past, “is our current governor? As usual, he’s at Trump’s feet, serving as his doormat.”

Nevada Democratic gubernatorial candidate and current Nevada Atty. Gen. Aaron D. Ford arrives at a get-out-the-vote event on Oct. 7 in Las Vegas.

(Ethan Miller / Getty Images)

Ford, who’s bidding to become Nevada’s first Black governor, has one of those up-by-the-bootstraps biographies that campaign consultants see as spun gold.

He grew up in Dallas in a family that struggled to stay above water and, as a single father in his early 20s, relied on Medicaid and food stamps to get by. He worked as a waiter and a teacher to pay for law school and a Ph.D. in education before moving to Nevada in 2007. After six years in the state Senate, Ford was elected in 2018 to the first of two terms as the state’s attorney general.

Like Democratic candidates everywhere, Ford has made affordability a key component of his campaign.

Standing on the sidewalk outside a Circle K — where regular was going for $5.35 a gallon — Ford squatted to sign a blown-up copy of a “letter” to Trump demanding a $2,000 “pain-at-the-pump” rebate for every Nevada household. A line was provided, obligingly but obviously unnecessarily, for Lombardo’s signature.

Four years ago, Ford noted, when gas was around $4.68 a gallon, his Republican rival wrote on social media that hard-pressed Nevadans needed “leadership that ensures our families and businesses are protected from these disastrous policies.”

“But once he got in office,” Ford said, Lombardo “stopped fighting for us in Nevada and he started working for Trump full time.”

A few hours later, at a country-themed nightclub in northwest Las Vegas, the governor took to the stage to extol his performance these last four years.

Small-business creation and job growth are up, he told a crowd of supporters gathered on the dance floor. Teachers are better paid and more people are working in Nevada than ever before. “Kicking butt,” he said, referring to either himself, Nevada or both; it wasn’t clear which. “Kicking butt.”

Also, Lombardo added, Nevada’s crime rate has fallen for both violent and property crimes — “without any help from the attorney general.”

The words “Donald” and “Trump” never passed the governor’s lips.

Lombardo has had a somewhat mixed relationship with the president.

He kept his distance during the 2024 campaign and has occasionally, selectively, taken issue with the administration since Trump returned to office. The governor, for instance, spoke out against cuts to Medicaid as well as the shuttering of wind and solar projects in Nevada.
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But Lombardo didn’t help himself in the least when Trump came to town in August for another rally, this one at the Red Rock Casino. He heaped praise on the president and defended, of all things, the care and feeding of Trump’s plutocratic pals.

“Quite often when the press and the media runs him down, they think about, you know, he’s taking care of his billionaire friends,” Lombardo said. “Those billionaire friends provide jobs. Unless you take care of them, those jobs are absent.”

Naturally, the moment showed up in a campaign ad, showing the grinning governor alongside a smirking Trump and ending with the tagline: “Joe Lombardo. For Trump, Not Nevada.”

For his part, the governor has portrayed Ford as feckless and borderline corrupt.

He’s seized on the attorney general’s abundant out-of-state travel — for official business, Ford says — to portray him as a high-flier beholden to the special interests that financed his jaunts.

Lombardo has also accused Ford of being weak on crime, citing, in particular, the case of a Nevada inmate convicted of manslaughter in the killing of a pregnant woman. Ford placed the inmate’s bid for clemency on the agenda of the state pardons board — an example, Lombardo claims, of the way Ford treats criminals.

The Democrat said he was merely following procedure and would have opposed the clemency request had he not missed the board’s meeting due to an unspecified family emergency.

With a big financial advantage and the benefit of a highly practiced campaign team, Lombardo has kept the race close despite the rough political climate. But to a considerable degree, his fate is beyond anything that Lombardo can control. The key question is how big the Democratic wave is on Nov. 3 and how strong the Trump undertow.

Those forces of red and blue — more than anything either candidate says or does — will determine the winner in this most purple of states.

Quarterback Ryan Rakowski of Palos Verdes High was rolling right while being chased. Two defensive backs faced a quick decision. Stick with their receiver or come up to confront Rakowski if he decided to run.

Jalen Flowers was being covered, then saw Rakowski motion with his non-throwing hand to keep going. Soon Rakowski was firing the ball to a wide-open Flowers for a 43-yard touchdown as two helpless Mira Costa defenders gave pursuit.

The roar of Palos Verdes’ Jalen Flowers, a receiver and defensive back.

(Nick Koza / For The Times)

It was a perfect example showing the importance of chemistry between quarterback and receiver. Of course, talent helps lead to touchdowns, but chemistry beats talent like rock beats scissors.

“I think it’s kind of easy to have chemistry with him,” Rakowski said. “He understands the game so well, understands what coverages are.”

Jalen Flowers of Palos Verdes shows off his catching skills.

(Nick Koza / For The Times)

When quarterbacks and receivers are thinking alike, magic happens.

“At the end of the day, it boils down to trust,” said Westlake coach Rick Clausen, who played quarterback as did brothers Casey and Jimmy. “Is the receiver going to be where you need him to be? Is he going to make plays for you? It’s such a reliant position. You could be gifted as a thrower, gifted as a receiver, but one without the other is pretty useless.”

The best passing duos look like they have telepathic powers with the ability to anticipate each other’s next move. That’s why quarterbacks throwing to receivers in offseason practices are valuable as each learns about the other.

“When adversity hits and the finger-pointing begins, it’s your chemistry that saves you,” Mission Viejo coach Chad Johnson said.

When St. Bernard coach Dean Herrington was throwing passes to his No. 1 target, Dale Frack, in 1981 at Hart High, the chemistry between the two was legendary.

“You know where the guy is going to be. You’re on the same page,” Herrington said.

Even though the game has evolved, with sometimes four and five receivers going out for passes instead of two, Herrington said, “Chemistry is just as important, if not more so.”

“Chemistry is higher,” Hart coach Jake Goossen said. “If you have talent but it’s not complementary , it’s not going to be fruitful. I want some talent, too, but you have to have the chemistry.”

Here are duos this season showing off talent and chemistry:

Ryan Rakowski and Jalen Flowers, Palos Verdes. Whether praying together before a game or giving high-fives after touchdowns, the Palos Verdes duo keeps producing on short slants or deep posts.

Jaden Jefferson and Quentin Hale, Corona Centennial. This duo grew up together, lived together and played together for years. Jefferson definitely knows what Hale is thinking and vice versa.

Star Thomas III and KJ Woodbury, Orange. They have combined for 16 touchdowns in nine games as juniors.

Jered Smith and Aiden Mejia, Verdugo Hills. Mejia could probably close his eyes and know exactly where Smith would be passing the ball. They have nine touchdowns together.

Grady Long and Landon Armenta, La Serna. Long trusts Armenta like he’s his brother. They’ve combined for 10 touchdowns, with Armenta surpassing 1,000 yards in receiving. They’ve been best friends since kindergarten.

Dane Weber and Chase Bonta, Chaparral. An injury left Weber on the sideline to start the season, but he’s back. Weber and Bonta have known each other since kindergarten.

Brady Edmunds and Dylin Bruce, Huntington Beach. In less than two seasons, they’ve combined for 12 touchdown passes.

Koa Malau’ulu and Kuika Moaalii, St. John Bosco. They are cousins who have been playing together since they were 10. Moaalii has nine touchdown receptions and is having a breakout sophomore season.

Corona Del Mar reciever JJ Haley (1) leaps for a touchdown catch.

(Don Leach/Daily Pilot)

John David Annett and JJ Haley, Corona del Mar. Annett sometimes throws the ball up knowing Haley will find a way to catch it. Both are juniors with complete trust in each other.

Hendrix Tucker and Charles Davis, Westlake. Filling in because of an injury, Tucker, a freshman, has discovered the importance of getting the ball to Davis, who has 11 touchdown receptions.

Jordan Spigarelli and Shane McKibbin, Newport Harbor. They’ve been throwing and catching passes from each other since fifth grade and have connected for eight touchdowns this season.

Officers baton-charge demonstrators in overnight operation as activists demand government action on soaring rents and home shortages.

Police in Portugal have cleared a camp in central Lisbon set up to protest against the country’s deepening housing crisis, baton-charging demonstrators and making 25 arrests.

Dozens of officers, some with police dogs, moved in on the camp in Rossio Square shortly after 2am (02:00 GMT) on Sunday.

They had warned protesters that their tents would be dismantled if they were not removed, threatening disobedience charges for those who resisted.

Protesters had pitched more than 100 tents after Saturday’s protest march by thousands along one of Lisbon’s main avenues.

A smaller camp of about 50 tents was also dismantled in Porto’s Praca D Joao I public square, where police made six arrests.

Police said the operation was “proportionate” and that the 25 people arrested in Lisbon were later released and are due in court on Monday.

While police reported seven minor injuries among officers and protesters in the two operations, the activist group Casa para Viver (Homes to Live) said 60 people were hurt and called for a fresh protest outside parliament on Tuesday.

“Choosing the early hours of the morning to unleash dogs and baton-charge peaceful protesters is a political decision. It shows this government would rather repress those denouncing the housing crisis than address it,” the group said.

Home affordability crises

Portugal is grappling with one of Europe’s most acute home affordability crises, as prices have more than doubled since 2017 while rents for new leases have nearly doubled, with young people among the hardest hit.

Protesters say soaring rents and higher living costs are squeezing households and turning housing into a growing source of discontent.

The Bank of Portugal estimates a shortfall of 300,000 homes nationwide, equivalent to Lisbon’s entire housing stock.

The protesters are demanding that the government scrap a bill to make evictions easier and end rent caps on new leases, which passed a first parliamentary reading, although the far-right Chega party abstained.

The protests in Portugal echo recent demonstrations in Spain over home shortages and surging rents.

There have also been protests in cities including Paris, where small student demonstrations over school conditions broadened into wider protests against government economic policies.

The victory helped the Kazakh take a big step towards securing the year-end number one ranking.

Elena Rybakina blazed past unseeded Canadian Leylah Fernandez 6-2 6-2 in the Ningbo Open final to retain her title and lift her first trophy as the world number one ahead of the WTA Finals next month.

The victory on Sunday also helped the Kazakh take a big step towards securing the year-end number one ranking, further burnishing a spectacular season in which she won the Australian Open title before adding the US Open crown to reach the summit.

Top seed Rybakina made the breakthrough with her trademark power in the fifth game and then unleashed a searing crosscourt backhand winner to go 4-2 up, before the 27-year-old wrapped up the opening set in only 38 minutes.

World number 30 Fernandez made a bright start to the next set but Rybakina absorbed the pressure and raised her level to force an error and break for 2-1, with the three-time Grand Slam champion breezing to victory from there.

Rybakina’s latest triumph is a timely lift after setbacks in Beijing and Wuhan, as she turns her attention to the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo this week before launching her title defence at the season finale in Indian Wells from November 8.

PRINCESS Andre may be a household name here in the UK, but the aspiring beauty mogul is set to conquer the US next year.

Insiders tell us she is taking her cosmetics brand By Princess to the States in a bid to give Kylie Jenner a run for her money.

The daughter of Peter Andre and Katie Price has been cropping up on red carpets and celeb-filled events over recent years as she carves out a career for herself in showbiz.

As well as her ITV show The Princess Diaries, the star has is working on her own cosmetics line, By Princess.

And a source close to Princess’s camp says has big aspirations for the brand, as they share: “Princess is a smart cookie and her goal is global domination, make no mistake about it.

“She is going to America next summer, that’s already planned and she will be spending a fair bit of time over there. It’s a big country and takes real commitment and time to crack, but Princess isn’t afraid of hard work and it’s always been her dream to break America.

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“The blueprint for her and her team is to make her Britain’s answer to Kylie Jenner, and she is laser focused on making that a reality. The plan is to go over there in 2027 to do some media appearances and meet beauty retailers, and then launch her range in US stores the following year.”

And she has a secret weapon in her arsenal.

Our source explains: “She has a powerhouse team behind her as the company making her products are the same team behind Made By Mitchell, the massively successful brand launched by make up artist Mitchell Halliday.

“Made By Mitchell recently broke America and is now stocked in Ulta Beauty, the largest speciality beauty retailer in America, so the team behind that will hopefully help Princess follow in the same footsteps in the US as they have so many connections over there.

Our mole adds: “It’s a notoriously tricky market to crack but Princess has taken her time and worked on this brand for two years. Her goal was always great products at affordable prices, and there is a real gap in the market for that, both here and Stateside.”

The Sun understands that America has already come calling for Princess, and she was recently offered a huge US show.

Our insider reveals: “Princess was approached to appear on a massive American TV show recently, but she turned it down. It wasn’t because it wasn’t an amazing opportunity, it’s more that it’s all about the timing and the timing wasn’t quite right at the moment. It might be the right move for her in a year or two though, so watch this space.”

The source adds that the programme was not Love Island USA or the upcoming US version I’m A Celebrity.

“It’s not the kind of show people would expect,” they teased.

In the meantime, Princess – who is appearing on Celebrity Race Across The World with her brother Junior – is extremely busy on this side of the pond before she jets overseas next year.

Sources tell us the products will soon launch in high street store Boots too.

“Getting into Boots is huge,” spills our insider. “It’s the biggest beauty retailer in Britain and they don’t just take any celebrity beauty range, so it’s a huge coup for Princess and her team and will take the brand to the next level.”

And while it has not been officially announced yet, we understand she has also scored another series of The Princess Diaries.

“Cameras were following Princess on the red carpet at the Pride of Britain awards earlier this week, and they were shooting scenes for the next series,” our insider confirms. “It’s been a massive success for ITV and ITVX, so it’s no surprise they want more.”

The fashion world is also snapping at Princess’s heels and she wore her first couture dress to Pride of Britain earlier this week, being dressed by designer Tabja.

“Couture houses are taking note of Princess and want to dress her,” says a source close to the young mogul. “She was voted second best dressed teenager last year by Tatler magazine and that really made fashion circles sit up and take notice.”

The Sun has approached a rep for Princess for comment.