Formula 1 driver Liam Lawson said he narrowly avoided a fatal accident during Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix after two marshals ran across the track in front of him.

The incident happened in the third lap when marshals were seen on the circuit as Lawson rejoined the race after an early pitstop to replace a front wing.

Shortly afterwards, Racing Bulls driver Lawson said on team radio to his race engineer: “Are you kidding me? Did you just see that? I could have… killed them.”

After the race, he added: “I honestly couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

“[I] came out on a new set of hards [tyres], and then I got to Turn One and there were just two dudes running across the track.

“I nearly hit one of them, honestly, it was so dangerous.

“Obviously there’s been a miscommunication somewhere but I’ve never experienced that before, and I haven’t really seen that in the past. It’s pretty unacceptable.

“We can’t understand how on a live track marshals can be allowed to just run across the track like that. I have no idea why, I’m sure we’ll get some sort of explanation, but it really can’t happen again.”

Formula 1’s governing body, the International Automobile Federation (FIA), is investigating the circumstances.

“Following a turn one incident, race control was informed that debris was present on the track at the apex of that corner,” said the FIA.

“On lap three, marshals were alerted and placed on standby to enter the track and recover the debris once all cars had passed.

“As soon as it became apparent that Lawson had pitted, the instructions to dispatch marshals were rescinded and a double yellow flag was shown in that area.

“We are still investigating what occurred after that point.”

Oct. 26 (UPI) — Two U.S. Navy aircraft went down in the South China Sea in two incidents separated by half an hour on Sunday, according to U.S. Pacific Fleet, which said all service members were rescued.

In a statement, the U.S. Pacific Fleet said a U.S. Navy MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter crashed while conducting routine operations at about 2:45 p.m. local time.

It had deployed from aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and was assigned to “Battle Cats” of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 73.

All three crew members were rescued.

The second incident involved a F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet assigned to the “Fighting Redcocks” of Strike Fighter Squadron 22.

According to the Navy, it went down at 3:15 p.m. while also conducting routine operations.

“Both crew members successfully ejected and were also safely recovered by search-and-rescue assets assigned to Carrier Strike Group 11,” it said.

“All personnel involved are safe and in stable condition.”

The incidents are under investigation.

Commissioned in 1975, the USS Nimitz is on its final deployment, which began late March, USNI News reported. It had operated in the Middle East this summer as part of U.S. military plans to thwart Houthi attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea and had entered the South China Sea on Oct. 17.

Argentinian President Javier Milei’s party has pulled off a stunning win in the country’s legislative elections, according to early results, boosting his ability to push forward with his radical overhaul of the economy, including free-market reforms and deep austerity measures.

Milei’s party, La Libertad Avanza, scored 40.84 percent of the votes cast for members of Congress on Sunday, compared with 31.64 percent for the opposition Peronist coalition, early results showed.

The results were based on a count of more than 90 percent of ballots cast.

The midterm elections were the first national test of Milei’s support since he won office two years ago, and will help him maintain the support of United States President Donald Trump, whose administration recently provided Argentina with a hefty financial bailout but has threatened to pull away if the libertarian leader did not do well.

At La Libertad Avanza’s headquarters on Sunday, Milei hailed the party’s victory as a “turning point” for the country and promised to charge ahead with his reforms.

Beaming as his supporters cheered, he seized on the results as evidence that Argentina had turned the page on decades of Peronism that had brought the country infamy for repeatedly defaulting on its sovereign debt.

“The Argentinian people left decadence behind and opted for progress,” Milei said, thanking “all those who supported the ideas of freedom to make Argentina great again”.

Milei’s party triples seat count

In Sunday’s elections, half of the seats in the lower Chamber of Deputies, or 127 seats, and one-third of the upper Senate, or 24 seats, were up for grabs.

Milei said his party has now tripled its seat count, winning 101 seats in the lower house, up from 37, and 20 seats in the Senate, up from six.

The most surprising results of Sunday’s election were in Buenos Aires province, where Milei’s party clawed its way back from defeat in last month’s local elections to run neck-and-neck with the Peronists.

The province has long been a political stronghold for the Peronists, and the win for Milei’s party marked a dramatic political shift.

The strong showing in Sunday’s election ensures Milei will have enough support in Congress to uphold presidential vetoes, prevent an impeachment effort, and see through his ambitious plans for tax and labour reforms in the coming months.

To support Milei, the Trump administration offered a bailout potentially worth $40bn, including a $20bn currency swap, which is already signed, and a proposed $20bn debt investment facility.

Trump has threatened to pull away if his populist ally performed poorly, warning that “if he doesn’t win, we’re not going to waste our time, because you have somebody whose philosophy has no chance of making Argentina great again”.

There was no immediate comment from the White House on Milei’s win.

‘Unobjectionable, unquestionable’

Al Jazeera’s Teresa Bo, reporting from Buenos Aires, said that Trump’s interest in Milei may have influenced the decisions of some of the voters.

“Certainly, the United States played a crucial role in the last stage leading to this election,” she said. “People here listened, and in a way, it may have convinced many to vote for Javier Milei’s party.”

The results were a surprise, she said, “after the president’s party lost by 14 points in the province of Buenos Aires last month to the Peronist opposition after one of the harshest austerity plans in this country’s history”.

Analysts said the stronger-than-expected showing could reflect fear of renewed economic turmoil if the country abandoned Milei’s policies, which, while painful at times, have succeeded in drastically slowing inflation.

Gustavo Cordoba, the director of the Zuban Cordoba polling firm, told the Reuters news agency that he was shocked by the results and thought they reflected public wariness over a possible return to the economic crises of past governments.

“Many people were willing to give the government another chance,” he said. “We’ll see how much time Argentine society gives the Argentine government. But the triumph is unobjectionable, unquestionable.”

Milei, a key ideological ally of Trump who has slashed state spending and liberalised Argentina’s economy after decades of budget deficits and protectionism, had a lot riding on Sunday’s elections.

Milei’s government has been scrambling to avert a currency crisis ever since the defeat by the Peronist opposition in a provincial election last month panicked markets and prompted a selloff in the peso – a move that led to the US Treasury’s extraordinary intervention.

A series of scandals – including bribery allegations against Milei’s powerful sister, Karina Milei – hurt the president’s image as an anticorruption crusader and hit a nerve among voters reeling from his harsh austerity measures.

Although the budget cuts have significantly driven down inflation, from an annual high of 289 percent in April 2024 to just 32 percent last month, many Argentinians are still struggling to make ends meet.

Price rises have outpaced salaries and pensions since Milei cut cost-of-living increases. Households pay more for electricity and public transport since Milei cut subsidies. The unemployment rate is now higher than when the libertarian president took office.

LILY Allen and David Harbour are selling their Brooklyn townhouse just days after her new album and are set to make millions in profit.

The stunning property has hit the market for a whopping $8 million (around £6m) after the pair bought it for just $3.3 million (£2.5m) in 2020.

The 19th-century townhouse only went on sale yesterday – two days after Lily, 40, released her breakup album which has been branded her “revenge” album by fans.

Lily and Stranger Things star David, 50, split in December and it was later reported he’d had a three-year affair. 

David had even made a shock “cheating” joke while doing a tour of their New York City home two years prior.

Lily and David bought the property under two separate trusts as co-owners, according to documents seen by The U.S. Sun, and made several renovations worth thousands.

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Lying at the heart of Brooklyn and spread across four levels, the house has five bedrooms and four bathrooms interspersed throughout.

The property listing eloquently describes the home as a “layered narrative of traditional English charm, modern Brooklyn sensibilities and rich Italian influence”.

The main level opens out into an exotic living room wrapped in high-end Zuber wallpaper and “detailed crown mouldings”.

With a fireplace at its centre, the room is framed by glass doors that lead to a private backyard with a sauna and cold plunge at the owner’s disposal.

The kitchen is described as spacious with “plain English cabinetry” and houses a huge island as well as a custom-built banquette beneath is windows with natural light flooding the room.

Walk upstairs and you’ll find another sitting area with a fireplace as well as dual walk-in closets alongside the main bedroom.

There are two well-equipped guest bedrooms on the third floor as well as a skylit lounge and a home office.

There’s an additional guest suite on the garden level too with a powder room and casual living room, another fireplace and access to the backyard.

And a fully-furnished basement see’s a gym, ample storage and closet areas as well as a laundry room.

The pair took out a big mortgage on the house which they first purchased on November 16 2020 for $3.35 million.

The loan is listed for $2,512,500 with City National Bank in 2021, and they had until February 1, 2051 to pay it back.

They made extensive renovation on the property filing several building permits, many for tens of thousands, with the most expensive being for $282,600 and $265,600 for general construction.

Lily had moved to New York to start a new life with the US actor, who she wed in 2020 a year after meeting on celebrity dating app Raya.

But five years later, one local resident said: “It appears no one has been home for quite some time”

“Every house on the street has Halloween decorations, but not Lily and David’s”

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“It’s a very family-friendly neighbourhood, Lily was very active in the community when she lived here with David.”

The Smile singer has now moved back to London with her two daughters from her first marriage.

CHICAGO — Alex Laferriere and Kevin Fiala scored in a 1:25 span early in the second period, Anton Forsberg stopped 22 shots and the Kings beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 on Sunday night.

Coming off a 5-4 shootout loss Saturday night in Nashville, the Kings ended a string of four extra-time games to improve to 4-3-3. They have a game left on a five-game trip that opened with overtime victories in St. Louis and Dallas.

Laferriere tied it 1-1 at 3:29 of the second with a wrist shot off a two-on-one break, and Fiala scored at 4:54 on a wraparound off a breakaway. Joel Armia added a short-handed empty-netter with 1:08 left.

Connor Bedard scored for rested Chicago, and Arvid Soderblom made 19 saves. The Blackhawks dropped to 4-3-2. They had won two in a row and had a five-game points streak.

Bedard opened the scoring on a tip at 7:04 of the first period, with the puck hitting the post and going in off Forsberg’s skate.

Up next for the Kings: at San José on Tuesday night.

McLaren’s Lando Norris avoided early mayhem to cruise to a dominant Mexico City Grand Prix win and retake the Formula One championship lead by a single point from teammate Oscar Piastri on Sunday.

Australia’s Piastri, who started the race seventh and 14 points clear of the Briton, finished fifth after a virtual safety car in the last two laps denied him a shot at fourth after a thrilling chase.

Charles Leclerc was runner-up for Ferrari, a hefty 30.3 seconds adrift of Norris, while Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen took third – just 0.7 behind the Monegasque driver.

Norris, who started from pole position and led every lap, now has 357 points to Piastri’s 356, with Verstappen on 321 and four rounds remaining.

“What a race. I could just keep my eyes focused and forward and focus on what I was doing,” said Norris, who was booed by the home crowd for reasons that remained unclear.

“A pretty straightforward race for me, which is just what I was after. A good start, a good launch, a good first lap, and I could go from there.”

Norris turns championship frontrunner

Norris last led the drivers’ standings in April, a gap of 189 days, and had not won a race since Hungary in early August. Sunday was his sixth victory of the season, one less than Piastri, and his 10th career win.

“I felt like the whole race I was right behind someone and struggling with the dirty air. That was pretty difficult,” said Piastri.

“Today was about trying to limit the damage, but also trying to learn some things about that. If I’ve made some progress with that, I’ll be happy.”

Oliver Bearman was fourth for Haas, a best result for the Briton and also the US-owned team, and was 1.1 seconds clear of Piastri at a chequered flag waved by former heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield.

“I held off Max in the first stint, I held off the Mercs in the second, and I held off the McLaren in the third one,” the rookie said.

“I spent more time looking in my rearview mirrors than in front. But that’s sometimes how it has to be.”

Kimi Antonelli was sixth for Mercedes, with teammate George Russell seventh and Lewis Hamilton eighth for Ferrari after a 10-second penalty dropped him from third and dashed his hopes of a first podium for the team he joined in January.

Esteban Ocon was ninth, making a double points finish for Haas, and Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto took the final point.

Ferrari moves back into second place

The top three all completed the race on a one-stop strategy, while Bearman, Piastri and the Mercedes drivers all pitted twice.

Ferrari moved back into second place, a point ahead of Mercedes, in a constructors’ championship already won by McLaren but with a tight scrap for the runner-up slot.

Norris made a clean start from pole when the lights went out, but was caught in a four-way tussle down the long run to turn one, with Verstappen cutting the corner and bumping over the grass.

Leclerc then cut turn two, giving the place back to Norris, who emerged from the chaos ahead, while Verstappen gained a place in fourth to the intense irritation of Russell.

“I got squeezed like crazy,” said Verstappen over the team radio as Russell, who started fourth, called in vain for the four-time world champion to hand the place back.

A scary incident saw Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson, who came in for a new front wing on lap three, accelerate out of the pits as two marshals ran across the track in front of him.

Verstappen and third-placed Hamilton made contact on lap six as they went side by side with the Red Bull driver trying to go past at turn one, but ending up cutting the next corner.

Hamilton went off at turn four, cutting back across the grass, and was handed a penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

Bearman, meanwhile, climbed to fourth, from ninth at the start, and looked on for a podium once Hamilton took his penalty on lap 24, only to be reeled in by Verstappen.

While Norris enjoyed a calm afternoon in the sunshine, Piastri had to fight back from a low of 11th after his first stop, passing Antonelli in the pits and Russell on track.

The virtual safety car was deployed after Williams’s Carlos Sainz, last year’s winner for Ferrari, spun and stopped on track on the penultimate lap with smoke coming from it.

Officials signal that trade deal is close as Trump and Xi prepare to meet for the first time since 2019.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – The United States and China have hailed the outcome of trade talks in Malaysia, raising expectations that Donald Trump and Xi Jinping will seal a deal to de-escalate their trade war at their first meeting since 2019.

US and Chinese officials on Sunday said the sides had made significant progress towards a deal as they wrapped a weekend of negotiations on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur.

Trump and Xi are set to meet on Thursday on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, marking their first face-to-face talks since the US president returned to the White House and embarked on a radical shake-up of global trade.

US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent told reporters in Kuala Lumpur that the sides had come up with a “framework” for Trump and Xi to discuss in South Korea.

Bessent said in a subsequent interview with NBC News that he expected the sides to reach a deal that would defer China’s threatened export controls on rare earths and avoid a 100 percent tariff that Trump has threatened to impose on Chinese goods.

Bessent also said in an interview with ABC News that Beijing had agreed to make “substantial” purchases of US agricultural products, which the treasury secretary said would make US soya bean farmers “feel very good”.

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, Beijing’s top trade negotiator, said the sides had reached “a basic consensus” on “arrangements to address each side’s concerns”.

He said they agreed to “finalise specific details” and “proceed with domestic approval processes”, according to a readout from China’s Ministry of Commerce.

Asian stock markets surged on Monday on hopes of easing US-China tensions.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s KOSPI both hit record highs, with the benchmark indexes up about 2.1 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively, shortly after midday, local time.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also saw strong gains, rising about 0.85 percent.

After attending the ASEAN summit, Trump on Monday departed for Japan, where he will meet newly sworn-in Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

The US president is scheduled to then travel on to South Korea on Wednesday.

While Trump has imposed significant tariffs on almost all US trade partners, he has threatened to hit China with higher levies than anywhere else.

Countries have been anxiously anticipating a breakthrough in the tensions, hoping Washington and Beijing can avoid a full-blown trade war that could do catastrophic damage to the global economy.

In a major escalation in US-China tensions earlier this month, Beijing announced that it would require companies everywhere to acquire a licence to export rare-earth magnets and some semiconductor materials that contain even trace amounts of minerals sourced from China or are produced using Chinese technology.

The proposed rules, which are set to take effect on December 1, have raised fears of substantial disruption to global supply chains.

Rare earths, a group of 17 minerals including holmium, cerium and dysprosium, are critical to the manufacture of countless high-tech products, including smartphones, electric cars and fighter jets.

Trump responded to Beijing’s move by threatening to impose a 100 percent tariff on Chinese goods from November 1.

Analysts have cast the tit-for-tat moves as efforts by the Chinese and US sides to gain leverage in their negotiations ahead of the Trump-Xi summit.

“Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc,” the Japanese anime from Crunchyroll and Sony, claimed the top spot at the domestic box office this weekend, taking in an estimated $17.25 million, according to Comscore.

The R-rated movie, based on Tatsuki Fujimoto’s popular manga series, follows teen demon hunter Denji, who is betrayed by the yakuza and killed as he attempts to pay off the debts he inherited from his parents. His beloved chainsaw-powered dog Pochita makes a deal and sacrifices his life, fusing with Denji who is reborn with the ability to transform parts of his body into chainsaws.

“Chainsaw Man,” already a global hit, delivered a blow to Disney and 20th Century’s biopic “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,” starring Jeremy Allen White, which came in a disappointing fourth place with an estimated $9.1 million.

Based on the 2023 Warren Zanes book of the same name, the film plumbs Springsteen’s life and career through the creative process, during the making of his 1982 acoustic album “Nebraska.”

The Times described the movie as a “thoughtful exploration of the creative process” that runs out of steam by the end, “meandering aimlessly into a depressive period of Springsteen’s, and it never quite regains its footing.”

In its second week out, the horror sequel “Black Phone 2” took the No. 2 slot, earning an estimated $13 million over the weekend, giving the Universal and Blumhouse movie a domestic total of $49.1 million.

Rounding out the third spot is Paramount’s romantic drama “Regretting You,” the latest film adaptation of novelist Colleen Hoover (“It Ends With Us”). Starring Allison Williams and Dave Franco, it opened to an estimated $12.5 million domestically.

Norris admitted after the race in Mexico that there had been times earlier this year when he “certainly did” doubt himself.

“When the car was winning and Oscar was winning,” he said, “the last thing I could do was use the excuse that my car wasn’t good enough.

“I wasn’t getting to grips and finding a way to make it work and I’m finding a better way to make it work now, so it’s as simple as that.”

It is now Piastri facing that feeling, after two difficult weekends during which he has been a fair bit off the pace.

“For some reason, the last couple of weekends has required a very different way of driving,” said Piastri.

“What’s worked well for me in the last 19 races, I’ve needed something very different the last couple of weekends. Trying to wrap my head around why has been a bit of a struggle.”

After qualifying 0.588 seconds and seven places behind Norris in Mexico, Piastri spent Saturday night deep in the data with his engineers, trying to come up with some answers.

The race was about trying to apply them – even if he was not able to get a definitive answer as to whether they had worked, given he spent most of it stuck behind other cars on his way to a fifth place that will have felt painful, but in reality amounted to a solid recovery and exercise in damage limitation.

“Ultimately today was about trying to experiment with some of those things,” continued Piastri. “Because driving the way I’ve had to drive these last couple of weekends is not particularly natural for me.

Team boss Andrea Stella had an explanation for Piastri’s struggles.

He said that Norris excels in low-grip conditions, whereas Piastri’s driving style tends more towards high-grip levels, and he pointed out that, in only his third season, Piastri still has things to learn about adapting to different conditions.

“In the final four races, no reason to think that one may favour one driver or the other,” said Stella, pointing to Las Vegas as the most problematic potentially for the team.

“For Lando and Oscar, there’s no problem in terms of track layout coming in the next four races. If anything, we need to make sure that from a McLaren point of view, we are in condition to extract the full performance that is available in the car, like we have been able to do here in Mexico.

“The confidence in terms of the championship is increased. It’s increased because we have proven that we have a car that can win races and in some conditions can dominate races. This is the most important factor to put Lando and Oscar in condition to pursue the drivers’ championship.”

Oct. 26 (UPI) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said the country has tested a new, nuclear-capable missile and is preparing to deploy it.

Putin’s military maneuver comes just after a planned meeting with President Donald Trump collapsed.

The weapon runs on nuclear power, which makes it capable of flying much further than other missiles, according to the Kremlin, and is able to evade missile detection and defense systems.

“This is a unique product that no one in the world has, Putin, dressed in military fatigues, said during a meeting with military commanders, according to a video posted by the Kremlin. “We need to identify potential uses and begin preparing the infrastructure for deploying this weapon in our armed forces.”

Valery V. Gerasimov, general staff of the Russian armed forces, said the missile had remained in flight for 15 hours and traveled 8,700 miles during testing.

“It is a tiny flying Chernobyl,” Gerasimov said during a briefing, referring to a nuclear power plant in Ukraine that became widely known for a catastrophic explosion in 1986.

The missile, known as the SSC-X-9, has been in development for years, and while Putin’s announcement was not a surprise, nuclear experts say it is a bad turn of events.

“This is a bad development,” said Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear nonproliferation expert at Middlebury College. “It is one more science fiction weapon that is going to be destabilizing and hard to address in arms control.”

Putin’s announcement of the missile revives the back and forth between the United States and Russia over nuclear arms, but the first action since President Donald Trump took office in January.

It is the latest in a long series of volleys over nuclear arms between the two countries stretching back decades.

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West Horsley Place has been used as a filming location for several shows, such as Enola Holmes, Howards End, Vanity Fair and Ghosts, and one resident claims she’s being thrown out

BBC’s Ghosts was filmed at West Horsley Place in Surrey, which is where Baschea Walsh has been living for nearly 20 years. However, she has now claimed that she is being thrown out of her home so fans can rent it out instead.

The 71-year-old has said that she was told in July that she has until the middle of November to leave, so it can be turned into a short-term let. Baschea is gutted at having to move out and says the property will be aimed at watchers of Ghosts.

Ghosts is a show about a haunted house that was filmed at Grade I-listed West Horsley Place. The trust that manages the estate confirmed the mum-of-one has been asked to leave and that the property will be rented out.

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However, it has been denied that it is specifically for TV fans. Baschea said: “They came to my house and said, ‘Your home is being turned into a holiday cottage, you have four months to go’. I was stunned as you can imagine. I am 71. I am going to be homeless.

“It is not about me, it is about the injustice of throwing a 71-year-old out. It is about anybody who is getting these section 21s out of nowhere because of greedy landlords.

“I was in shock for two months. For the first week, all I could eat was potatoes; I couldn’t even cook. I just felt completely lost. I didn’t know what to do. It came out of nowhere undeservedly in everyone’s opinion, and I really don’t know what is going to happen to me.”

West Horsley Place dates back to 15th century and was once owned by Henry VIII. It was last inherited by Bamber Gascoigne, who is the former host of University Challenge, who then decided to hand over the manor house and its assets to a charitable trust, which was aimed at restoring the building.

It has been used as a location for film and television productions, including Enola Holmes, Howards End, Vanity Fair and Ghosts, where the building was renamed Button House.

Baschea first moved into the house back in 2006 and said that it was instantly her dream home. She said: “This has been my life and absolutely the place for me to be. I fell in love with it the first time I came here. I knew this was the place I wanted to be. I had dreamt about it.

“It was just perfect for me. It was a really harmonious place to be, and we all got on with each other really well. It was a privilege to live here. Bamber and Christina said I could live here forever, and we never thought to put it in writing. We never thought they would sink so low.”

Baschea said that the Ghosts film crew were on set for five months every year for five years straight and that filming could be very disruptive.

She said: “It is disruptive when they film, especially at night with all the extra lights on really bright and the generators, extra mud, and people wandering around. But I embraced it because I wanted to support the house. It needed all sorts of things doing to it.

“Now I feel that I should have asked for a rent reduction for all the disruption, but I didn’t because I thought it was for the good of the house.”

Ghosts followed the adventures of a living couple sharing a house with a group of spirits, and it was a ratings hit for the BBC with 6.2 million people watching the final episode in 2023.

A friend of the pensioner has started a petition to stop her eviction from the home, which has received more than 2,000 signatures. Baschea said that she has started looking for a new home, but that she will not leave her cottage until a suitable replacement is found.

The West Horsley Trust said: “West Horsley Place Trust is an independent charity caring for a fragile heritage estate. To secure its future and continue our public mission, we are creating increased, diversified and sustainable income through carefully considered changes, including updating and converting two historic cottages into short-term lets.

“The cottages will allow people to stay on the estate to access and enjoy it, our heritage, our cultural activities and those of the wider region. The short-term lets will also support our wider business activities, such as weddings and events.

“We fully appreciate how significant an upheaval this is for the tenant. We have not taken the decision to end this tenancy lightly. We have provided an extended notice period and offered personalised support, including assistance in exploring alternative housing options.”

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HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

WEEK 10

(All games at 7 p.m. unless noted)

THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE

CITY SECTION

Central League

Belmont at Bernstein

Mendez at Hollywood

Roybal at Contreras

Coliseum League

Dorsey at Fremont

Washington at King-Drew

East Valley League

Chavez at Monroe

Grant at Verdugo Hills

North Hollywood at Fulton, 3 p.m.

Sun Valley Poly at Arleta, 3 p.m.

Eastern League

Bell at LA Roosevelt

Legacy at Huntington Park

South Gate at South East

Exposition League

Jefferson at Manual Arts

Marine League

Carson at San Pedro, 7:30 p.m.

Northern League

Franklin at Lincoln

LA Marshall at LA Wilson

Southern League

Maywood CES at Los Angeles, 2 p.m.

Valley Mission League

Granada Hills Kennedy at Reseda

San Fernando at Canoga Park

Sylmar at Panorama

West Valley League

Birmingham at Chatsworth

El Camino Real at Taft

Granada Hills at Cleveland

Western League

Fairfax vs. Palisades at SoFi Stadium, 6 p.m.

Venice at LA Hamilton

Westchester at LA University

Nonleague

Eagle Rock at Garfield

Hawkins at West Adams

SOUTHERN SECTION

605 League

Artesia at Pioneer

Glenn at Cerritos

Almont League

Montebello at San Gabriel

Alpha League

Mission Viejo at Los Alamitos

Baseline League

Chino Hills at Rancho Cucamonga

Damien at Ayala

Etiwanda at Upland

Bay League

Leuzinger at Lawndale

Big West Lower League

Great Oak at Riverside King, 7:30 p.m.

Murrieta Mesa at Corona Santiago, 7:30 p.m.

Corona at Temecula Valley, 7:30 p.m.

Big West Upper League

Norco at Vista Murrieta, 7:30 p.m.

Eastvale Roosevelt at Murrieta Valley, 7:30 p.m.

Bravo League

Corona del Mar at Yorba Linda

Tesoro at San Juan Hills

Channel League

Buena at Moorpark

Royal at Oak Park

Citrus Belt League

Beaumont at Redlands East Valley, 7:30 p.m.

Citrus Valley at Cajon

Yucaipa at Redlands

Citrus Coast League

Channel Islands at Carpinteria

Conejo Coast League

Westlake at Calabasas

Cottonwood League

Riverside Prep at Temecula Prep

Santa Rosa Academy at Trinity Classical

Del Rio League

Whittier at California

Delta League

El Modena at Cypress

Tustin at Capistrano Valley

Desert Empire League

La Quinta at Palm Desert

Rancho Mirage at Palm Springs

Xavier Prep at Shadow Hills

Desert Sky League

Granite Hills at Silverado

Epsilon League

Crean Lutheran at Laguna Hills

La Habra at Foothill

Foxtrot League

Dana Hills at Northwood

Fountain Valley at Aliso Niguel

Gateway League

Downey at Dominguez

Mayfair at La Mirada

Golden League

Lancaster at Antelope Valley

Littlerock at Quartz Hill

Hacienda League

Diamond Bar at Chino

Los Altos at Walnut

South Hills at Covina

Inland Valley League

Heritage at Perris

Iota League

Santa Ana at Anaheim Canyon

Ironwood League

Cerritos Valley Christian at Ontario Christian

Ivy League

Paloma Valley at Liberty, 6 p.m.

Riverside North at Vista del Lago

Kappa League

Garden Grove at Segerstrom

St. Margaret’s at Westminster

Lambda League

La Palma Kennedy at Sunny Hills

Placentia Valencia at Fullerton

Marmonte League

Camarillo at St. Bonaventure

Mid-Cities League

Compton Early College at Lynwood

Norwalk at Bellflower

Miramonte League

Ganesha at Duarte

Garey at Bassett

La Puente at Workman

Mission Valley League

El Monte at Gabrielino

Mountain View at Arroyo

Rosemead at Pasadena Marshall

Mojave River League

Oak Hills at Hesperia

Serrano at Ridgecrest Burroughs

Montview League

Azusa at Pomona

Ontario at Nogales

Sierra Vista at Hacienda Heights Wilson

Moore League

Compton vs. Long Beach Poly at Veterans Stadium

Long Breach Cabrillo at Long Beach Jordan

Long Beach Wilson at Lakewood

Mountain Pass League

Tahquitz at West Valley

Temescal Canyon at San Jacinto

Mountain Valley League

San Bernardino at Miller, 7:30 p.m.

Ocean League

West Torrance at El Segundo

Omicron League

Buena Park at Woodbridge

Garden Grove Pacifica at Portola

Pacific League

Arcadia at Crescenta Valley

Burbank Burroughs at Burbank

Hoover at Glendale

Pioneer League

North Torrance at Torrance

Redondo at South Torrance

Rio Hondo League

Monrovia at Temple City

River Valley League

La Sierra at Norte Vista

Patriot at Jurupa Valley

Ramona at Rubidoux

Sierra League

Charter Oak at Bonita

Claremont at Colony

Los Osos at Glendora

Sigma League

Estancia at Santa Ana Valley

Ocean View at Rancho Alamitos

Santa Ana Calvary Chapel at Los Amigos

Skyline League

Carter at Arroyo Valley

Sun Valley League

Banning at Desert Mirage, 4 p.m.

Sunbelt League

Hemet at Rancho Christian

Tango League

Loara at Costa Mesa

Westminster La Quinta ar Anaheim

Tri County League

Dos Pueblos at San Marcos

Valle Vista League

Alta Loma at San Dimas

Diamond Ranch at Baldwin Park

Northview at West Covina

Zeta League

Godinez at Century

INTERSECTIONAL

Santee at Rio Hondo Prep

8-MAN

CITY SECTION

Valley League

East Valley at Sherman Oaks CES

South LA College Prep at Valley Oaks CES

SOUTHERN SECTION

Coast Valley League

Coast Union at San Luis Obispo Classical Academy, 5 p.m.

Maricopa at Valley Christian Academy

Heritage League

Lancaster Desert Christian at Lancaster Baptist, 6 p.m.

Majestic League

Public Safety Academy at Calvary Baptist, 3 p.m.

Tri-Valley League

Cate Flintridge Prep

Fillmore vs. Santa Paula at Ventura

Sage Hill at Chadwick, 3 p.m.

Nonleague

CSDR at California Lutheran, 3 p.m.

Mojave at Milken

FRIDAY’S SCHEDULE

CITY SECTION

Exposition League

Angelou at Marquez

Marine League

Narbonne at Banning, 7:30 p.m.

Nonleague

Diego Rivera at Rancho Dominguez

SOUTHERN SECTION

Almont League

Keppel at Alhambra

Bell Gardens at Schurr

Alpha League

San Clemente at Edison

Angelus League

Alemany at St. Pius X-St. Matthias

Cathedral at St. Francis

Paraclete at St. Paul

Bay League

Culver City at Inglewood

Palos Verdes at Mira Costa

Big West Upper League

Chaparral at Corona Centennial

Bravo League

Villa Park at Newport Harbor

Camino Real League

Mary Star at St. Bernard

St. Genevieve at St. Monica

Channel League

Ventura at Oxnard

Citrus Coast League

Del Sol at Nordhoff

Santa Clara at Grace

Conejo Coast League

Rio Mesa at Newbury Park

Thousand Oaks at Santa Barbara

Cottonwood League

Webb at Silver Valley

Del Rey League

Crespi at Cantwell-Sacred Heart

Salesian at La Salle

St. Anthony at Harvard-Westlake

Del Rio League

El Rancho at Santa Fe

Delta League

Western at Trabuco Hills

Desert Sky League

Barstow at Adelanto

Desert Valley League

Coachella Valley at Indio

Twentynine Palms at Yucca Valley

Epsilon League

Huntington Beach at El Dorado

Foothill League

Golden Valley vs. Saugus at College of the Canyons

Valencia at Castaic

West Ranch at Canyon Country Canyon

Foxtrot League

Laguna Beach at Orange

Gano League

Chaffey at Montclair

Don Lugo at Rowland

Gateway League

Warren at Paramount

Gold Coast League

Viewpoint at Brentwood

Golden League

Eastside at Knight

Highland at Palmdale

Inland Valley League

Canyon Springs at Moreno Valley

Lakeside at Citrus Hill

Iota League

El Toro at Troy

Sonora at Irvine

Ironwood League

Heritage Christian at Capistrano Valley Christian

Village Christian at Aquinas

Ivy League

Rancho Verde at Orange Vista

Kappa League

Brea Olinda at Esperanza

Lambda League

La Palma Kennedy at Sunny Hills

Marina at Beckman

Manzanita League

Desert Chapel at Anza Hamilton

San Jacinto Valley Academy at California Military Institute

Vasquez at Desert Christian Academy

Marmonte League

Oaks Christian at Simi Valley

Oxnard Pacifica at Bishop Diego

Mesquite League

Big Bear at Arrowhead Christian

Western Christian at Linfield Christian

Whittier Christian at Maranatha

Mid-Cities League

Gahr at Firebaugh

Mission League

Chaminade at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame

Gardena Serra at Bishop Amat

Sierra Canyon at Loyola

Mission Valley League

El Monte at Gabrielino

Mojave River League

Sultana at Apple Valley

Mountain Valley League

Indian Springs at Pacific

San Bernardino at Miller

Ocean League

Hawthorne at Compton Centennial

Omicron League

Katella at Irvine University

Pacific League

Pasadena at Muir

Pioneer League

Santa Monica at Peninsula, 3 p.m.

Rio Hondo League

La Canada at San Marino

San Andreas League

Colton at San Gorgonio

Kaiser at Rim of the World

Sierra League

Charter Oak at Bonita

Skyline League

Bloomington at Fontana

Rialto at Riverside Notre Dame

Sun Valley League

Desert Hot Springs at Cathedral City

Sunbelt League

Hillcrest at Valley View

Riverside Poly at Arlington

Sunkist League

Eisenhower at Summit

Jurupa Hills at Grand Terrace

Tango League

Garden Grove Santiago at Bolsa Grande

Tri County League

Hueneme at Agoura

Trinity League

Mater Dei at St. John Bosco

Orange Lutheran vs. Servite at Orange Coast College

Santa Margarita at JSerra

Zeta League

Saddleback at Magnolia

8-MAN

CITY SECTION

City League

Animo Robinson at USC Hybrid

New Designs Watts at Stella

SOUTHERN SECTION

Agape League

Academy for Careers & Exploration at Hesperia Christian

Freelance League

Villanova Prep at Malibu, 3 p.m.

Majestic League

Highland Entrepreneur at United Christian

Nonleague

Lighthouse Christian at Thousand Oaks Hillcrest Christian, 6:30 p.m.

INTERSECTIONAL

Pasadena Poly at New Designs University Park

SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE

8-MAN

SOUTHERN SECTION

Coast Valley League

Cuyama Valley at Coastal Christian, 6 p.m.

Express League

Downey Calvary Chapel at Legacy College Prep

Frontier League

Thacher at Laguna Blanca, 1 p.m.

Heritage League

Faith Baptist at Santa Clarita Christian

Nonleague

Avalon at Southlands Christian, 12 p.m.

Country awaits final presidential election result that could see 83-year-old Alassane Ouattara sworn in for fourth term.

Former Ivory Coast commerce minister Jean-Louis Billon has conceded defeat to incumbent Alassane Ouattara in the country’s presidential election, as early partial results show the latter with a strong lead nationwide.

“The initial results place the incumbent President, Mr Alassane Ouattara, in the lead, designating him the winner of this presidential election,” Billon said in a statement, congratulating the president on Sunday.

Billon was among four opposition candidates running against Ouattara, the 83-year-old former International Monetary Fund executive who is seeking a fourth term in office.

Billon failed to secure the endorsement of the opposition PDCI party, led by Tidjane Thiam – the ex-Credit Suisse chief who was barred from the ballot.

Earlier in the day, the country’s Independent Electoral Commission began announcing partial results from Saturday’s polls on national television.

“The results of 20 departments or divisions are being read out,” and 10 or 11 departments remain, Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris said, reporting from the economic capital, Abidjan on Sunday. This included diaspora votes from six countries.

“This is the most critical stage of this election, where results from various polling booths and centres are being collated and announced,” Idris said.

“From the initial results, it’s clear the incumbent is leading by a wide margin in many of the areas so far.”

Nearly nine million Ivorians were eligible to vote in an election marked by a divided opposition further hobbled by the barring of two leading candidates.

“Ivorians are watching closely what happens here,” said Idris. “And the result of this election will determine whether or not the streets will remain calm.”

So far, the streets of Abidjan have remained quiet and calm, Idris reported, “apart from reports of scattered violence in other parts of the country that has led to two deaths”.

“Security patrols are all over the place; at least 44,000 security personnel have been deployed for this election before, during, and after, in case trouble breaks out,” he added.

Ouattara’s leading rivals – former President Laurent Gbagbo and Thiam – were barred from standing, Gbagbo for a criminal conviction and Thiam for acquiring French citizenship.

This led to pre-election protests and calls from some quarters for a boycott of the polls.

While an official voter turnout is not yet known, the president of the election commission, Ibrahime Coulibaly-Kuibiert, earlier put the figure at about 50 percent.

Polling stations in Abidjan and historically pro-opposition areas in the south and west were nearly empty, the AFP news agency reported. Meanwhile, it said voters turned out in large numbers in the north, where Ouattara had most of his support.

With key contenders out of the race, Ouattara was the overwhelming favourite.

Saturday’s vote was reminiscent of the last election in 2020, in which he obtained 94 percent of the ballots with a turnout slightly above 50 percent in an election then boycotted by the main opposition.

None of the four candidates who faced Ouattara represented a major party or had the reach of the ruling Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace.

In recent months, a series of videos surfaced on Donald Trump’s social-media platform, showing what appeared to be drone footage of small vessels exploding somewhere in the Caribbean. The clips were accompanied by triumphant statements from the former president, who claimed that U.S. forces had struck “drug boats” operated by Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua cartel as they ferried narcotics toward the American coastline. Within hours of the first announcement, officials confirmed that “multiple interdictions” had taken place, that several suspected traffickers were dead, and that survivors were in custody.

For Washington, the operation was presented as a new frontier in counter-narcotics self-defense. For much of Latin America, it looked alarmingly like extrajudicial warfare. Colombia’s president protested that one of the destroyed boats had been Colombian, carrying his own citizens. Caracas called the attacks “acts of piracy.” And legal scholars, both in the United States and abroad, began to question not only the strikes’ legitimacy under international law but also who, exactly, had carried them out.

The Law of the Sea Meets the War on Drugs

The United States is not a signatory to the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, yet successive administrations have claimed to act “in a manner consistent” with its provisions. Under that framework, ships on the high seas enjoy freedom of navigation. Interference is allowed only in narrow cases such as piracy, slavery, or “hot pursuit” when a vessel flees territorial waters after violating a state’s laws. The deliberate destruction of a boat on the open ocean—without proof of an immediate threat—sits uneasily within those boundaries.

“Force can be used to stop a boat,” observed Luke Moffett of Queen’s University Belfast, “but it must be reasonable and necessary in self-defense where there is an immediate threat of serious injury or loss of life.” Nothing in the public record suggests the crews of these vessels fired upon U.S. assets. The claim of self-defense, therefore, stretches maritime law close to breaking point.

International law’s broader prohibition on the use of force, codified in Article 2(4) of the U.N. Charter, is equally uncompromising. Only an armed attack, or an imminent threat of one, allows a state to respond with force in self-defense. Trump’s officials insist that Tren de Aragua constitutes a transnational terrorist organization waging “irregular warfare” against the United States. Yet, as Michael Becker of Trinity College Dublin argues, “Labelling traffickers ‘narco-terrorists’ does not transform them into lawful military targets. The United States is not engaged in an armed conflict with Venezuela or with this criminal organization.”

Nonetheless, a leaked memorandum reportedly informed Congress that the administration had determined the U.S. to be in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels—a remarkable claim that effectively militarizes the war on drugs. If accurate, it would mean Washington has unilaterally extended the legal geography of war to the Caribbean, with traffickers recast as enemy combatants rather than criminals.

Domestic Authority and the Elastic Presidency

The constitutional footing for these operations is no clearer. The power to declare war resides with Congress, but Article II designates the president commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Since 2001, successive presidents have leaned on the Authorization for Use of Military Force—passed in the wake of 9/11—to justify counter-terror operations across the globe. That statute, intended to target al-Qaeda and its affiliates, has been stretched from Yemen to the Sahel. Extending it to Venezuelan cartels represents another act of legal contortion.

Rumen Cholakov, a constitutional scholar at King’s College London, suggests that rebranding cartels as “narco-terrorists” may be a deliberate attempt to fold them into the AUMF’s reach. But it remains uncertain whether Congress ever envisaged such an interpretation. Nor has the White House explained whether the War Powers Resolution’s requirement of prior consultation with lawmakers was honored before the first missile struck.

The Pentagon, asked to disclose its legal rationale, declined. The opacity has fuelled speculation that the operations were not conducted solely by uniformed military forces at all, but by an entirely different arm of the American state—one that operates in deeper shadows.

The “Third Option”: Covert Power and the CIA’s Ground Branch

In October, Trump confirmed that he had authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to “conduct covert operations in Venezuela.” The statement was brief, but within the intelligence world it carried enormous significance. For decades, the CIA’s Special Activities Center—once known as the Special Activities Division—has been Washington’s chosen instrument for deniable action. Its paramilitary component, the Ground Branch, recruits largely from elite special-operations units and specializes in missions that the U.S. government cannot publicly own: sabotage, targeted strikes, and the training of proxy forces.

These operations fall under Title 50 of the U.S. Code, which governs intelligence activities rather than military ones. By law, the president must issue a classified “finding” declaring that the action is necessary to advance foreign-policy objectives and must notify congressional intelligence leaders. Crucially, Title 50 operations are designed so that “the role of the United States Government will not be apparent or acknowledged publicly.”

That distinction—between covert and merely secret—sets Title 50 apart from the military’s Title 10 authority. Traditional special-operations forces under the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) operate as uniformed combatants in overt or clandestine missions authorized under defense law. Their actions are governed by the law of armed conflict, subject to military oversight, and, at least in theory, open to public accountability. CIA paramilitaries, by contrast, function outside those rules. They wear no uniforms, deny official affiliation, and are overseen not by the Pentagon but by the White House and select members of Congress.

Since 9/11, the line separating the two worlds has blurred. Joint task forces have fused intelligence officers and military commandos under hybrid authorities, allowing presidents to act quickly and quietly without triggering the political friction of formal war powers. The “drug boat” strikes appear to be the latest iteration of that model: part counter-narcotics, part counter-terrorism, and part covert action.

A Legal Twilight Zone

If CIA paramilitary officers were indeed involved, the implications are profound. A covert maritime campaign authorized under Title 50 would have required a presidential finding and congressional notification, but those documents remain classified. Conducting lethal operations at sea through the intelligence apparatus—rather than under military or law-enforcement authority—creates a twilight zone of accountability.

The law of armed conflict applies only when a genuine armed conflict exists; human rights law governs peacetime use of force. Covert paramilitary strikes sit uneasily between the two. They may infringe the sovereignty of other states without ever triggering a formal act of war, and they obscure responsibility by design. Survivors of the October strike—a Colombian and an Ecuadorian now detained by U.S. authorities—exist in a legal limbo, neither civilian nor combatant.

Mary Ellen O’Connell, professor at Notre Dame Law School, calls the rationale “utterly unconvincing.” No credible facts, she argues, justify treating these actions as lawful self-defense. “The only relevant law for peace is international law—that is, the law of treaties, human rights, and statehood.”

The Price of Secrecy

Covert action was conceived as a tool for influence and sabotage during the Cold War, not as an instrument of maritime interdiction. Applying it to counter-narcotics missions risks collapsing the boundary between espionage and war. Oversight mechanisms designed for covert influence operations struggle to accommodate lethal paramilitary campaigns. Only a handful of legislators—the so-called “Gang of Eight”—receive full briefings, and judicial review is virtually nonexistent. In practice, the president’s signature on a secret finding becomes the sole check on executive power.

The “drug boat” operations thus reveal how the United States’ shadow-war architecture has evolved since 9/11. The Special Activities Center, once reserved for coups and clandestine support to insurgents, now appears to function as an offshore strike arm for missions the military cannot legally or politically conduct. The public framing—protecting Americans from narcotics smuggling—masks a far broader assertion of authority: the right to employ lethal force anywhere, against anyone, without declaration or disclosure.

War Without War

Trump’s supporters hail the strikes as decisive. His critics see a dangerous precedent—a campaign that bypasses Congress, ignores international law, and blurs the line between defense and vigilantism. The tension runs deeper than partisanship. It touches the central question of modern U.S. power: who decides when America is at war?

The CIA’s motto for its paramilitary wing, Tertia Optio—the “third option”—was meant to describe a choice between diplomacy and open war. Yet as that option expands into an instrument of regular policy, it threatens to eclipse both. When covert action becomes a substitute for law, secrecy replaces accountability, and deniability becomes the new face of sovereignty.

Whether these “drug boats” carried cocaine or simply unlucky sailors may never be known. What is certain is that the legal boundaries of America’s global operations are eroding at sea. The United States may claim it is defending itself; international law may call it aggression. In that unresolved space—the realm of the third option—the world’s most powerful democracy is waging a war it will not name.

MICHELLE Keegan gushed over Hollywood superstar, Reese Witherspoon, at a glitzy event in London.

The Brassic actress posed with the Academy Award winning star and they were seen getting on very well as they chatted excitedly.

She met Reese at an event for her new book, Gone Before Goodbye, which she co-authored with best selling crime author, Harlen Coben.

Michelle recently starred in Fool Me Once, one of Harlen’s many adapted series on Netflix.

She shared a series of photos of her posing closely with Reese and another video of her chatting with Reese as Harlen watched on happily.

“When two genuises collide.. ‘Gone Before Goodbye’ is made! 📖 (I can confirm Reese Witherspoon is everything you’d imagined her to be, what a woman),” Michelle captioned the post on Instagram.

SCRATCH FURY

Michelle Keegan left furious after vandals target her £100k Range Rover

proud mum

Michelle Keegan shares very rare pic of daughter Palma – after TV show cancelled

Reese later responded to her post writing, “So wonderful to meet you .. finally!”

Gone Before Goodbye is Reese’s debut novel and tells the story of surgeon Maggie who after a series of personal tragedies is offered an intriguing opportunity by a former colleague.

Michelle also shared a series of her posing at the Southbank Centre in London where the event was held.

Her brush with Hollywood royalty comes after The Sun was first to reveal how Michelle’s BBC series Ten Pound Poms had been scrapped after two series.

The show’s axe comes as the ex-Coronation Street star waves goodbye to hit comedy Brassic on Sky, just as she’s returning to work after becoming a first time mum, to daughter Palma Elizabeth.

Period drama Ten Pound Poms followed a group of British citizens who emigrated from post-war Britain to Australia in the 1950s, with Michelle playing nurse Kate Thorne.

A BBC spokesperson said: “It’s been a joy to bring the story of the Ten Pound Poms to life for BBC viewers and we are really grateful to Danny Brocklehurst, Eleven and all the cast and crew who have worked on the series.”

The gentle drama made a splash when it first aired in May 2023, with 6.37million viewers but that had halved to 3.15million by the end of series two in April this year.

She is busy on a new thriller called The Blame for ITV, though, after time off to have baby Palma with husband Mark Wright.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Democratic presidential nominee Michael S. Dukakis stepped up his attacks on the ethical standards of the Reagan Administration on Saturday, offering his harshest criticism yet of the President’s role in the Pentagon procurement scandal.

Asked if he blamed President Reagan and Vice President George Bush, the presumed Republican nominee, personally for the corruption, Dukakis responded: “There’s an old Greek saying . . . The fish rots from the head first. It starts at the top.”

Dukakis said that misconduct and scandal have become “almost an epidemic” under Reagan. “It’s the guy at the top who has to be held accountable,” he added.

“If an Administration comes to Washington with a contempt for public service,” the Massachusetts governor said, “we shouldn’t be surprised if people it attracts to the government share that contempt.”

Dukakis’ acid comments at a press conference here capped a seven-state campaign swing in the industrial Midwest and Deep South targeted at Reagan Democrats–or “Bubba Democrats” as some here in Kentucky call themselves–the 18% of the electorate whose defection helped Reagan win landslide elections in 1980 and 1984.

The strategy holds the risk of alienating supporters of the still-popular President. Until now, Dukakis usually has avoided direct criticism of Reagan, aiming his sharpest barbs at outgoing Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III.

In his three-day campaign swing, his second since the convention, Dukakis repeatedly mocked Bush’s promise to put an ethics office in the White House. “In the Dukakis White House, the ethics office will be in the Oval Office, not somewhere down the hall,” he said.

He also cited testimony last week by David Packard, former head of the Reagan Commission on Defense Management and a former deputy secretary of defense, before the Senate Armed Services Committee investigating the Pentagon scandal.

Packard “testified that this Administration has helped create an environment in which, and I quote, ‘honest and efficient military acquisition is impossible,’ ” Dukakis told more than 5,000 people at an outdoor rally in this steamy Ohio River city.

“My friends, in a Dukakis Administration we’re not going to surrender our national security to greed and corruption,” he added. “We’re not going to use our defense dollars to line the pockets of Washington consultants. We’re going to pay for the tanks and equipment and training the men and women of our armed forces need and deserve.”

Dukakis has called for sharp spending cuts for Reagan’s “Star Wars” missile defense system. He opposes further deployment of the MX missile, as well as further spending on the mobile Midgetman missile system. He also would forgo two proposed Navy aircraft carrier task forces.

Dukakis focused mostly on economic development and education in his campaign visits to Secaucus, N.J.; Cleveland; Flint, Mich.; Racine, Wis.; Springfield, Ill.; Louisville, and Raleigh, N.C.

Despite sweltering weather at every stop, Dukakis encountered sizable crowds and palpable enthusiasm almost everywhere. His rally here, for example, was a sharp contrast with the visit in 1984 by then-Democratic nominee Walter F. Mondale.

Only a few hundred lonely voters showed up then. Even state Democratic leaders “mostly ducked it,” recalled Mayor Jerry E. Abramson. On election day, Kentucky, a state with twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans, gave 69% of its votes to Reagan.

This time, every top elected Democrat in the state crowded the platform in sweat-soaked shirts, waving flags and grinning for the cameras. State Chairman Jerry Lundergan happily held the candidate’s coat. A plane circled overhead, towing a banner: “Our Choice: President Dukakis!”

“He’s what America needs,” said Dale Robinson, 25, a law clerk who clutched two Instamatic cameras and a tiny U.S. flag. “He stands for what America is all about.”

“I think we need a change,” agreed Mike Johnson, 34, a high school teacher. “And I think he’ll do a better job of handling the deficit than Bush.”

Later, at an indoor state fairground hall in Raleigh, aides tried to re-create the excitement of Dukakis’ victory speech in Atlanta.

First came the now-familiar thumping beat of Neil Diamond’s “America” to warm up the crowd. Then in came the candidate, marching like a prize fighter under TV lights as the crowd roared to its feet. A singer belted out the National Anthem, the crowd faced a giant flag to chant the Pledge of Allegiance and Dukakis used a TelePrompTer to speak of an America that “cares for each other and, yes, loves one another.”

“He’s inspiring us to be Americans again,” said Janice Brady, who held her 9-year-old daughter, Amanda. “Just like Reagan.”

Match of the Day pundits Theo Walcott and Danny Murphy discuss how Tottenham Hotspur’s set pieces led to their win against Everton and that they will become more creative when some of their injured players return.

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Oct. 26 (UPI) — Petroleum giant Exxon Mobil has filed a federal lawsuit challenging a pair of California laws that would require the company to report greenhouse gas emissions tied to the worldwide use of its products.

The complaint, Filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, argues that the California statutes violate the company’s free speech rights by compelling it to “trumpet California’s preferred message even though Exxon Mobil believes the speech is misleading and misguided.”

Calif. SB 253, known as the Climate Corporate Data Act, requires the state’s Air Resources Board to adopt regulations that mandate private companies with more than $1billion in annual revenue to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions, indirect emissions, such as the electricity purchased by the company and emissions from the company’s supply chain, including water, water usage, business travel and employee commutes. The indirect emissions account for about two-thirds of a company’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The legislation does not require Exxon to change anything about its production process or limit what consumers can use, only that the company provide data on its emissions.

Michael Gerrard, a climate change researcher at Columbia University, said the oil giant has a long history of resisting making such information public, and said the suit reflects “Exxon’s pattern of aggressively pushing back” on any climate change-related regulation.

Supporters of the law say it discourages “corporate greenwashing,” such as marketing efforts that falsely depict a company’s efforts to reduce climate-warming emissions.

“We need the full picture to make the deep emissions cuts that scientists tell us are necessary to avert the world’s impacts of climate change,” said Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, the bill’s author.

In its lawsuit, Exxon said SB 253 and a companion measure, SB 261, would require the company to “engage in granular conjecture about unknowable future developments and to publicly disseminate that speculation on its website.”

SB 261 requires companies with revenue in excess of $500 million to disclose their climate-related financial risks.