Archer, Tongue and Atkinson are all capable of high speed, while Robinson often operates below 80mph with the wicketkeeper standing up. His accuracy and ability to extract movement have seen him take 23 wickets this summer at a remarkable average of 8.3.

“We’ve got a good contrast in what we’re trying to do at the moment,” said former opener Trescothick.

“What we do have is three guys bowling at 92 miles an hour, which is really nice to have in your armoury and to have the potency in what you’re trying to do.

“And the more that they play together and the more experience that everyone gets together, then it fits into place to how you want it to be.”

Writing for the Telegraph on Monday, England’s captain in 2005 Michael Vaughan said the current attack can only be compared to his bowlers when they win a major series.

But Vaughan added: “They are certainly capable of doing something really special, and winning back the Ashes for England next summer.”

England will aim for a 3-0 clean sweep of Pakistan in the third Test at Edgbaston, beginning on 9 September.

The home side will confirm a squad for the series finale in Birmingham in the coming days.

There were seven pace bowlers in the squad for Lord’s. Brydon Carse was originally included, only to be removed following an incident outside a nightclub in Derby. He is not expected to be considered for England again until the conclusion of investigations by the police and Cricket Regulator.

In Carse’s absence, England’s back-up seamers are Sam Cook, Sonny Baker and Matthew Fisher.

The trio have only four Test caps between them, yet Trescothick hinted England are likely to resist the temptation to give the reserves more Test experience.

“First and foremost I want to win the series 3-0, and I think if you’re going to do that you want to play the most consistent team possible,” said the 50-year-old.

“We’ve got to see how they all pull up from this game, and they’ve got four or five days now of break which they’ve not had for a good period of time because the schedule has been so busy.

“Once we know that then we’ll be able to make that decision, but emphasis massively on winning the series 3-0.”

KYLIE Jenner revealed who her favourite sister is in a brand new Q&A video – before seemingly taking a swipe at Kim Kardashian.

The Kylie Cosmetics entrepreneur recently returned to YouTube and posted a video with her kids, answering questions asked by her daughter, Stormi.

At one point in the video Stormi boldly asked Kylie to declare who her favourite sister is out of Kourtney Kardashian, Kim, Khloe Kardashian, and Kendall Jenner.

Answering the question while keeping things light, Kylie began by saying that she “doesn’t like to pick favourites.”

The star then said if she had to choose she’d say her “favourite of the day” would be Kendall.

Later on in the video, Kylie appeared to roast Kim, deeming her as the member of the Kardashian-Jenner family with the “worst dance moves”.

STYLIE JENNER

Busty Kylie Jenner goes braless in low-cut see through top in sexy photoshoot

OH MY, KY!

Kylie Jenner announces she’s getting ‘even BIGGER’ breast implants

She shared: “Probably your auntie Kiki [Kim’s nickname]. I think she’d be okay with me saying that.”

The Q&A video comes as Kylie announced that she’s getting even bigger breast implants.

“I do want them bigger,” she confessed on her best pal Stassie’s Better Half podcast.

She went on to add: “I say it every day. I’m like, ‘They need to be bigger and more out there. I want my tits to walk in before I do’.”

Kylie previously opened up about getting a breast augmentation at age 19 and expressed deep regret.

Speaking on Hulu’s The Kardashians in 2023, Kylie said: “You know I got my breasts done before Stormi, within six months of having Stormi, not thinking I would have a child when I was 20.

“They were still healing,” she explained, adding: “I had beautiful breasts. Just gorgeous, perfect size.

“I just wish I never got them done, to begin with.”

WASHINGTON — In firing up a trade war with Canada, President Trump turned to a 96-year-old statute so obscure that many trade lawyers didn’t even know it was still on the books.

Trump invoked Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 on Aug. 24 to slap a 50% tax on $20 billion worth of Canadian imports. The move prompted dollar-for-dollar retaliation from Ottawa and strained already-tense relations between the neighbors and longtime allies.

The president’s Section 338 tariff authority has never been used, let alone tested in court. “This law is literally a blank canvas because it’s never been litigated,’’ said Ryan Majerus, a partner at law firm King & Spalding and a former U.S. trade official.

So it’s unclear whether Trump’s latest Canada tariffs could survive a legal challenge, and some lawyers argue that the Depression-era law has been rendered obsolete by more recent trade laws.

Trump raises Section 338 from the dead

To sanction Canada allegedly for discriminating against U.S. dairy, auto and alcoholic beverage exports this summer, the Trump administration reached back to the Great Depression.

The 1930 tariff legislation is known as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act after its congressional sponsors. With the U.S. and world economies in collapse, Congress raised tariffs on hundreds of imports in an attempt to protect American farmers and manufacturers.

The tariffs are notorious among economists and historians for shutting down world commerce and making the Great Depression worse. (Trump, who proudly calls himself “Tariff Man,” has a different view, arguing that the Smoot-Hawley levies simply came too late to rescue the American economy.)

In addition to raising tariffs themselves, lawmakers in 1930 gave the president new power to impose them himself: Section 338 authorizes presidential tariffs of up to 50% on imports from countries that have discriminated against U.S. businesses.

Before Trump, no president had actually used the statute.

“Until Trump’s second term, few trade lawyers were aware that Section 338 remained on the books or understood what it did,” legal scholars Peter Harrell and Jennifer Hillman of Georgetown University wrote this month in the libertarian magazine Reason.

Harrell and Hillman cite State Department records to show that the U.S. considered using Section 338 in trade disputes — against Spain in 1932 and against newly communist China in 1949 — but never did. After the Depression, U.S. policy focused more on using negotiations — rather than sanctions — to open foreign markets.

So Section 338 sat moldering in the law books.

Other laws take hold

As the years went by, the United States passed new trade laws. Some of them ceded to the president tariff power, which the Constitution originally granted to Congress. But the new laws also limited the president’s authority to certain circumstances — including dealing with national security threats and foreign currency crises — and required the government to carry out investigations and meet other procedural requirements beforehand.

“There is a very strong argument that [Section 338] was superseded,” said Sara Albrecht, chief executive of the Liberty Justice Center, a libertarian advocacy group that represented businesses that successfully challenged the earlier Trump tariffs with the Supreme Court.

If Congress wanted the president to retain Section 338 power, Albrecht asks, why did lawmakers pass the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which allowed for national security tariffs? And the Trade Act of 1974, which gives the president power to go after other countries’ unfair trade practices?

Battling over Canada’s dairy market

Legal experts see other weaknesses in the Section 338 tariffs.

Harrell and Hillman, for instance, write in Reason that Section 338 authorizes only tariffs that “offset” the harm that a foreign country’s trade practices do to American companies. But in targeting Canada, they note, the Trump administration made no attempt to calculate the dollar amount of damage arising from discrimination against U.S. farmers, automakers and marketers of alcoholic beverages. And the U.S. went after Canadian imports unconnected to those trouble spots, including hockey sticks and cement.

Harrell and Hillman also say that Canada’s protection of its dairy market does not single out U.S. farmers for discrimination; the rules apply to many other Canadian trading partners as well.

Moreover, the United States agreed to the Canadian system — in which Canada imposes stiff tariffs on dairy imports that exceed a quota — in a North America trade pact Trump himself negotiated with Canada and Mexico in his first term. Harrell and Hillman write that it is “incongruous, to say the least, for the United States to denounce as discriminatory the very terms it agreed to.”

But John Veroneau, former general counsel for the U.S. Trade Representative, said the Section 338 tariffs are straightforward: They are justified when another country discriminates against U.S. imports by taxing them more than it taxes imports from other countries.

And in a “perverse irony,” Veroneau said, Canada did just that when it responded to tariffs Trump imposed on Canadian products last year with its own retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports. “Courts will rightly feel obliged in the face of any challenge [to decide]: Are the statutory requirements met or are they not met, however ludicrous the broader context might be,” said Veroneau, adjunct professor at the University of Maine School of Law.

Plaintiffs are so far hard to find

Trump’s other tools to impose his protectionist agenda already have floundered in court. The Supreme Court in February threw out his boldest gambit: invoking a 1977 national security law to hit almost every country on Earth last year with double-digit tariffs.

When Trump tried to replace the revenue lost to the Supreme Court defeat with a new set of tariffs, a specialized trade court in New York rejected those too — though the government was allowed to continue collecting the import taxes while the case works its way through the court system.

No one has filed a lawsuit challenging the Section 338 tariffs. The Liberty Justice Center has been looking for businesses willing to sue the government over the levies.

“I haven’t had a lot of response from plaintiffs,” Albrecht said. “Anytime you want to sue the government, it’s a hard proposition.” The Section 338 tariffs on Canada are also far smaller — just 5% of Canadian imports — than Trump’s 2025 worldwide tariffs, meaning that fewer companies have to pay them and can claim to have been injured by them.

There’s also a chance, Albrecht said, that the two countries will resume the talks they broke off Aug. 21 and reach a compromise to end a standoff neither country wants. “I’m hopeful that somebody blinks, that they come to some agreement and it all goes away,” she said.

SEATTLE — Nneka Ogwumike had 23 points and 12 rebounds, Rae Burrell scored 22 points, and the visiting Sparks beat the Seattle Storm 90-74 on Sunday in their final game before the FIBA World Cup break.

The Sparks scored the first 13 points in an opening 18-2 run and Dearica Hamby’s layup with 5:45 left in the first half capped an 11-0 spurt that gave them a 39-20 lead. Seattle shot 32% (12 of 38) from the field and two of 11 (18%) from behind the arc before going into halftime trailing by 19. The Storm were just as bad from three-point range in the second half, finishing four of 22.

Cameron Brink had 11 points on three-of-15 shooting for the Sparks (15-25).

Flau’jae Johnson scored 11 of her 19 points in the fourth quarter and Dominique Malonga had 17 points, on eight-of-21 shooting, and 15 rebounds for the Storm (8-32). Zia Cooke made six of 17 from the field for 14 points.

Seattle is 1-18 against Western Conference teams this season, its only win coming at the Sparks, 82-64, on July 6.

The Storm’s Jordan Horston fell awkwardly midway through the third quarter, limped to the locker room and did not return.

Awa Fam and Natisha Hiedeman did not play for the Storm.

Up next for the Sparks: at Dallas on Sept. 17.

SEOUL, Aug. 31 (UPI) — North Korea on Monday condemned what it called the United States’ continued “hostile policy” and vowed to keep bolstering its nuclear arsenal despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent overtures to Pyongyang.

In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry accused Washington of maintaining a confrontational stance toward North Korea in both “rhetoric and behavior.”

“The Trump administration has thus fully reconfirmed its invariable hostile policy to wantonly violate the sovereignty, political system and security interests of the DPRK through the ‘denuclearization’ racket, ‘human rights’ smear campaign and military threat,” the statement said, using the official acronym for North Korea.

“It is pointless to expect any detente in the region,” it added.

The statement comes amid a push from Trump to restart direct diplomacy with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with whom the U.S. president has touted a “very good relationship.”

Earlier this month, Trump ordered Seoul and Washington to curtail their joint Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercise, citing its cost and saying the drills sent an “inappropriate and hostile” signal to Pyongyang. The exercise was subsequently shortened by almost a week.

Despite the move, the U.S. State Department last week reaffirmed its commitment to the “complete denuclearization” of North Korea in a statement to Yonhap News Agency.

The United States, South Korea and Japan also confirmed last week that their annual Freedom Edge trilateral military exercise will be held Sept. 7-11 in international waters east and south of South Korea’s Jeju Island.

The Foreign Ministry spokesperson called the multi-domain exercise a “threat to the DPRK and regional countries.”

North Korea routinely denounces joint military drills as rehearsals for an invasion and has carried out weapons tests around major allied exercises.

The spokesperson said North Korea’s nuclear status, which has been enshrined in its constitution, could not be “weakened nor diluted” by repeated U.S. calls for denuclearization.

“Our nukes serve as an absolute guarantee for defending its sovereignty and the nuclear weapons in possession of the DPRK and their sustained bolstering are the most responsible and correct option for ensuring regional peace and security,” the statement said.

“There is no change in our policy toward the U.S. to respond to its invariable hostile policy with the toughest stand to the last,” it added.

American wildcard Sofia Kenin beat 46-year-old compatriot Venus Williams 6-2, 7-6(6) in a ⁠⁠US Open first-round match ⁠⁠that began past midnight in New York, the latest start in women’s tournament history.

The match at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday got under way after Novak Djokovic’s loss to Mariano Navone in five sets, with a sizable contingent of fans staying on well past midnight for one more look at Williams, who was playing as a wildcard in her 96th career Grand ⁠⁠Slam main draw appearance.

“It was extremely late,” Williams told reporters. “I’ve never played a match that late before, and I was happy to see that so many people stuck around for that. It was a real honour to play in front of them.”

Kenin broke serve in the opening game and never trailed ‌‌in the first set, racing to a 3-0 lead as both players struggled to find their rhythm, combining for nine double faults.

Williams, cheered on by chants of “Let’s go Venus”, broke back to love to trim the deficit to 3-1 but dropped serve again as Kenin pulled away to close out the set.

Kenin reeled off three straight games to lead 3-1 in the second set, and while Williams showed flashes of the form that earned her seven ⁠⁠Grand Slam titles, she struggled to string points together, with her second ⁠⁠serve proving especially costly.

Kenin saved four break points to level at 5-5, leaving Williams screaming in frustration at handing her opponent another game with unforced errors. However, Williams still found a way to hold for 6-5 before Kenin forced ⁠⁠a tiebreak.

Williams appeared to have the upper hand in the tiebreak but could not convert any of her seven set points, as Kenin dug ⁠⁠in to close out the win.

“It’s not ideal,” Williams said. “I ⁠⁠would have preferred something else, definitely. It wasn’t great for either of us, so I think we both tried our best.

“I just don’t know any other sport where you have to start that late. I definitely think there’s room for improvement there.

“It’s ‌‌not easy to do in the first round. It’s not easy to do it at 1 or 2 in the morning to try to find your rhythm and play your best, ‌‌but ‌‌I tried my best.”

Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion, will next face top-ranked American Jessica Pegula.

Medvedev out, Paolini through

Meanwhile, former champion Daniil Medvedev and Pegula ⁠⁠advanced with little fuss earlier in the day, as players began their campaigns to grab a slice of the record prize purse of $108m up for grabs.

Russian Medvedev had crashed out in a chaotic first-round defeat a year ago but was all business on Sunday at Arthur Ashe Stadium, downing French qualifier Hugo Gaston 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 to quieten doubts after a frustrating run-up to the tournament.

“The last couple of weeks were not easy,” said Medvedev, who exited the Cincinnati and Montreal tournaments early. “I’m happy that today ⁠⁠I managed to produce high-level tennis.”

Dozens of ticketholders were lined up long before the action kicked off, and the home crowd was rewarded as world number three Pegula beat Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3, 6-2 in the first match ⁠⁠at the showpiece stadium.

Twice Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova earlier became the first seeded player to exit the tournament, saving six match points before succumbing to Kamilla Rakhimova 7-6(4), 6-2 on the outer courts.

Italian Jasmine Paolini survived a scare to beat Slovenia’s Veronika ‌‌Erjavec 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the opener at Louis Armstrong Stadium to set up a meeting with compatriot Lucrezia Stefanini.

Czech Jiri Lehecka kicked off the action on the Grandstand with a 6-1, 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-2 win over Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta before Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk swatted aside Australian Storm Hunter 6-4, ‌‌6-1 ‌‌at the same stadium.

Kostyuk was joined in the next round by compatriot Elina Svitolina, who eased past Solana Sierra 6-1, 6-2.

Former champion Marin Cilic and 2022 runner-up Casper Ruud pulled out due to injuries shortly after the tournament got under way.

Brits already mourning summer holiday season can ditch the cold for the sun-soaked beaches of Barbados, Antigua, St Lucia and more

The summer holiday season is officially at its end – but for those already dreading the return to the daily grind after their sun-soaked getaways, jetting off for a Caribbean cruise is sure to lift the spirits. And one cruise line has slashed prices on its autumn trips for the bank holiday weekend, with just hours left to save.

Ambassador is offering 5% off all of its remaining Caribbean cruise holidays in 2026, with prices including return flights from either Heathrow or Manchester Airport, to escape the dreary UK autumn/winter weather for golden sands and warm waters. Customers just need to book by midnight on August 31 using the discount code BANKHOL5.

First up is the Atlantic Horizons and Caribbean Discovery voyage, an epic 24-night journey sets sail from London Tilbury on October 29 and calls in France, Portugal and the Azores before crossing the Atlantic towards the islands of the West Indies. Priced from £1,709 per person for an ocean view room using the discount code – working out at just £71 per night – highlights of this trip include Antigua, Martinique, St Lucia and more, with a return flight from Barbados back to the UK included at the end.

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Next is the Tropical Treasures cruise holiday from November 22, a 14-night adventure sailing from Bridgetown, Barbados to visit the vibrant streets of Curaçao, the lush hills of Dominica, the coral reefs of Bonaire and the iconic peaks of St Lucia. Available to book from £1,614 per person using the August bank holiday discount code, there’s also the option to secure a half price premium drinks package and save on flight upgrades too.

Sailing at the start of December is the Island Rhythms and Blue Horizons trip, another 14-night holiday beginning in Barbados before heading to the likes of the lively port town of Pointe-à-Pitre, the colourful streets and bustling markets of Fort de France, and Kralendijk, Bonaire’s capital with calm beaches and rich marine life. The cheapest of Ambassador’s 2026 Caribbean cruises from £1,519 per person using the BANKHOL5 code, this voyage has eight ports of call in total to swap the depths of British winter for tropical island-hopping.

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From £71 a night

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Ambassador is offering 5% off its 2026 Caribbean voyages to customers who book by midnight on August 31 using the discount code BANKHOL5.

Rounding off Ambassador’s Caribbean cruise offers is the Christmas & New Year Caribbean Celebration, giving holidaymakers the chance to ditch the chaos of Christmas at home for a festive season with a difference. Priced from £2,469 per person with the discount and beginning a 14-night voyage on December 20, this trip will see passengers spend Christmas Day on warm sands and welcome the New Year with music, dancing and celebration at sea, exploring Grenada, Curaçao, Tobago, St Lucia and St Kitts.

Ambassador writes of its autumn/winter Caribbean cruise offering: “It’s a time of year when the Caribbean truly shines, with warm breezes, long daylight hours and a slower rhythm that invites you to breathe deeply. Whether you’re wandering colourful markets or unwinding on deck, each day brings something new.”

Ambassador isn’t the only cruise line offering Caribbean getaways as the UK weather begins to trend cooler and wetter. Fred. Olsen still has spots left for its Caribbean Christmas Island-Hopping holiday, a 31-night winter sun trip with Christmas Day at sea and New Year’s Eve in Antigua, priced from £5,799 per person with a special offer of £150 on board credit to spend.

Or for holidaymakers seeking a more budget-friendly option, TUI’s Marella has also slashed prices on some of its Caribbean cruise offers. One of the earliest deals sailing at the start of November is the Passage To Paradise trip travelling from Malaga to visit Antigua, Dominica and Barbados, now priced from £1,209 per person with a £776 discount.

Back at Ambassador, the price of each cruise includes return flights and transfers between the airport and ship, as well as full board dining while on board. Passengers will also have plenty to keep them entertained in between stops, including the use of the ship’s gym, swimming pool and hot tubs as well as a range of daily shows and activities from fitness classes, quizzes and crafting to plays, cabaret, music and dance.

Ambassador has earned an average rating of 3.9 out of five stars on Trustpilot. One passenger wrote in their review: “Fabulous Caribbean Cruise. Good food, excellent staff, great entertainment and lectures and a fantastic itinerary meant this was a fabulous holiday.”

Another fed back: “Our 45-day adventure on board Ambassador’s MV Ambition exceeded all our expectations! Sailing from Tilbury to the Caribbean via the Azores, calling at many beautiful islands. Escaping the winter weather and enjoying the beautiful Caribbean while being pampered and entertained.

“Our daily routine was very enjoyable, lectures, daily choir practice sessions leading to two shows towards the end of the cruise! Plenty of socialising, exercising on deck in the sunshine or relaxing in the spa, working out in the gymnasium with fellow athletes and trainers.”

They added: “MV Ambition is a comfortable ship with pleasant bars and restaurants, friendly and attentive staff that worked hard to make sure we had all that we required. The entertainment team were excellent, such great shows, musicals and fabulous performances!”

Not everyone gave their experience five stars, however, with one person commenting: “We were on a 46-day cruise to Cuba and the Caribbean and found the staff to be excellent, the cabins comfortable and facilities ok. I have marked the experience down due to the fact that despite saying that they cater for vegetarians we were disappointed with the food on offer.”

DID you know that Buckingham Palace has its own cinema, post office and even a mini bank?

I didn’t. Nor did the handful of punters and their kids behind me, who were now all gawping with fascination at the extravagant building from their shiny bus seats.

Claim 25% off children’s tickets for the The Original London Kids Tour

The royal premises is certainly a spectacular sight to behold with its grand curved arches and towering bronze statue.

And we’ve got one of the best views in town: from the upper deck of an open-roofed London bus.

The Original’s London Kids Bus Tour may be aimed at youngsters, but there are enough juicy facts in there to keep adults hooked on their guide’s every word as they tour the capital’s most recognisable landmarks.

And right now Sun readers can save 25% on children’s tickets by clicking here, with ages two and under going free.

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13 London hotels we love for UNDER £100- all-inclusives & bargain suites

SAIL ON

I tried the Thames dining cruise with two courses & London’s top landmarks for £38

In just under an hour, my niece and I had ticked off Big Ben, Downing Street, the London Eye, and of course the residence of King Charles. 

His Majesty wasn’t at home, though. “You can tell from the flag’s position,” our guide explains. “If it’s flying high, he’s in the building.”

That’s one fact I did know.

We also learned the stories behind the four grand lion statues in Trafalgar square and how Nelson’s Column was built to commemorate the Battle of Trafalgar, hundreds of years ago.

Facts were cleverly sandwiched between fun sightseeing tasks for kids, like spotting the golden pineapples on top of Lambeth Bridge.

Kids had to use their noggins, too, to answer age-appropriate quiz questions such as: “What’s the name of that big clock over there?”

Claim 25% off children’s tickets for the The Original London Kids Tour

I’ll give you one guess as to where our guide was pointing. 

And just as we were gazing up at the mighty Big Ben he roared into action, bellowing his tuneful chime. 

That’s the other brilliant thing about these tours, each one is perfectly-timed to include key moments like this.

On top of Big Ben’s gong, we heard the merry jingle from Fortnum & Mason’s grand clock on Piccadilly and watched from a distance as visitors piled into pods on the mighty London Eye.

“That is SO high,” my niece squealed, pointing excitedly at the big wheel.

This monument is actually taller than Big Ben, our guide highlights. Those trivia facts just keep on coming.

When we clamber off after an exhilarating hour, a free activity booklet will keep kids faces from going sour.

It’s loaded with mini tasks like spot the difference, word searches and dot-to-dots, all leaning on their new-found knowledge of the capital.

Something to keep them busy while parents grab a coffee.

I can’t think of a better way to see the sights, either, than from the comfort of a classic red double-decker (don’t panic, the upper deck is partially roofed for when the weather takes a turn).

There’s plenty of space on board, too.

We were visiting on a maximum-capacity day and there were still lots of free seats scattered around.

At £24pp it’s cracking value, too. And now you can bag yourself an even bigger discount, with 25% off children’s tickets.

The best part? You can also claim seven other freebies as part of the offer.

Your ticket for The Original Tour also includes a Hop-On Hop-Off River Thames cruise, where you can soak up the sights from the water.

Plus you’ll get access to six self-guided walking tours via The Original Tour’s partner app.

That’s three ways to see London for the price of one – all of which are child-friendly, hassle-free and put together by experts.

Claim 25% off children’s tickets for the The Original London Kids Tour

Prices correct at the time of publication.

Perhaps best of all, on that little fishing pier often half hidden by anglers and eager diners, stands Fathom Bistro, Bait and Tackle. Fathom has a far more ambitious menu that your average bait merchant, including lots of craft bees and sausages, kimchi and beignets made in house. I loved my Baja Dog there (onions and pico de gallo are involved), but bolder eaters may opt for the Explodo Dog, which brings a Vienna Beef hot dog, bacon, pepper jack cheese, kimchi and mustard together at last.

Given all these assets, I’m ready to forgive Shelter Island for not really being an island. This mini-peninsula is connected to the mainland by Shelter Island Drive. It was created in the 1950s, when the San Diego Port District dredged the bay, built up a peninsula and zoned it for tourist businesses with a tiki/Polynesian theme.

From the Bali Hai restaurant (since 1954) at the north end of the mile-long isthmus to the Kona Kai resort at the other end, that theme survives. The hotels include Humphrey’s Half Moon Inn, whose annual summer Concerts by the Bay series runs from April into November and brings acts like Tower of Power, Pat Metheny, Judy Collins, Robert Plant and Rodrigo y Gabriela to an amphitheater at water’s edge. Savvy kayakers paddle up nearby and listen for free.

Also found on Shelter Island: several yacht brokers and boat repair operations, a Tunaman’s Memorial Sculpture, a Friendship Bell from Yokohama, a longstanding osprey nest atop a light pole by the friendship bell, a boat ramp and the kid-friendly Grace Beach (which gets no waves).

By the way, back when San Diego’s Port District was creating almost-islands (and the California Coastal Commission didn’t exist), it also made nearby Harbor Island, which has a few more marinas and hotels, along with a closely grouped trio of restaurants with perhaps the best downtown skyline views in the city: Coasterra (modern Mexican), Island Prime (steakhouse) and C Level (seafood).

If you have a first-time California visitor on your hands, take them to one of those. Suddenly, our real estate prices will make a little more sense.

This week we want to know all about your favourite (non-ski) holidays in Europe’s mountains. It could include hiking, via ferrata or cycling routes, activity or spa breaks, regional food, wonderful vistas and places to stay, such as a mountain refuge or cabin.

The best tip, chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet wins a £200 voucher to stay at a Coolstays property – the company has more than 3,000 worldwide. The best tips will appear in Saturday magazine and on the Travel website.

Keep your tip to about 100 words

If you have a relevant photo, do send it in – but it’s your words we will be judging for the competition.

We’re sorry, but for legal reasons you must be a UK resident to enter this competition.

The competition closes on Monday 7 September at 10am BST

Have a look at our past winners and other tips

Read the terms and conditions here

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Crime rates, long-term unemployment and poor health outcomes have long plagued a town that is now under threat from rising sea levels and has attracted “dark tourists”

“On a sunny afternoon, it feels like a ghost town. I feel like I am in a film about a lost time,” explains Christopher Moss, having visited what is probably the UK’s most maligned seaside town.

The travel writer has spent decades exploring the UK in an effort to unearth parts of the country that most either miss or ignore altogether, to then put a spotlight on those places. The results have been turned into a newly published book, Where Tourists Seldom Tread.

Among the two dozen towns featured in the book is Jaywick, a seaside spot in Essex that regularly comes in for a real kicking. It has been officially ranked as England’s most deprived neighbourhood four times running (2010, 2015, 2019, and again in 2025) by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Crime rates, long-term unemployment and poor health outcomes have long plagued a town that is now under threat from rising sea levels. The town has become something of a punching bag, with YouTube “dark tourists” regularly turning their cameras on Jaywick and even a US Republican congressional candidate using a photo of neglected housing and potholed roads in an election ad warning American voters about economic decline.

In his 1983 classic travelogue, The Kingdom by the Sea, Paul Theroux dismissed Jaywick as being like an “Argentinian shanty town”. The Channel 5 documentary series Benefits by the Sea was filmed here in 2015.

Chris does not sugarcoat what he found on his trip to Jaywick, but instead lifts up the intriguing, unique and beautiful parts of the town that are easy to miss amidst the damning headlines.

“I was taken by how beautiful it is to be on the waterside there,” Chris told the Mirror. “It has this golden beach and this feeling of being in a foreign country. It was very calm and warm. Sedate even.”

The feeling of being somewhere other than England is added to by the chalets that make up most of the housing stock in Jaywick. The town was founded about 100 years ago when property developer Frank Stedman bought 24 acres of flood-prone marshland near the popular resort of Clacton, and flogged it in small parcels to Londoners looking to escape the city for the weekend. They were encouraged to build their own homes from kits, with suggested models costing just £52, although these were made of “rough cast asbestos” bricks.

The promise of a lake and sports centre never materialised, but what did was a curious housing estate in the shape of a car radiator grille with roads named after old vehicle manufacturers.

The destruction of East London during WW2 led many to move into their Jaywick homes full-time, not just for the holidays. “Eighty years later, materials and decor and fixtures have changed, but they are still weekend-sized and vulnerable to floods, time and family budgets,” writes Chris. While some of the homes are “stoved in”, others are well looked after and kept looking fresh.

As well as the strong Essex/London hybrid accent, what remains in Jaywick are the Martello Towers. The squat structures were built in large numbers along the coasts of Britain and other parts of the former British Empire, mostly during the early 19th century, primarily to provide a defensive base should Napoleon launch a land invasion.

The design was inspired by a round fortification at Mortella Point in Corsica, which British forces attacked in 1794. A small garrison there put up unexpectedly stiff resistance against Royal Navy ships, inspiring the Brits to steal the idea.

Jaywick’s tower is still intact and now plays host to an arts, heritage and community centre. It was saved earlier this year when an Essex County Council plan to cut £90,000 of funding prompted a local backlash. Part of it is given over to residents’ poems that both sing Jaywick’s praises and reckon with its challenges.

One from Anna Mae reads: “Sirens blazing, blue lights flashing, drunkards fighting, eau de weed pervading, boom boxes blaring, foxes screaming way into the night. Seagulls screeching their morning calling, school kids running, mums beckoning, voices straining, muted threatening, coaches arriving, mobility scooters racing, cars parking, buckets and spades unloading, excited cries, tired of eye spying, children clamouring eager to see the sea, new land dredged from marshes keep on sinking, sea will continue claiming what is hers.”

It is this constant and growing risk of inundation that adds to the place’s strange atmosphere, as does the feeling of a community bonded by a world that is against them.

“Put-downs can spread the shame, but not here; people defend the right to be proud of their homes,” Chris concludes.

“All I’m saying to readers is it’s okay to accept the headlines, but go and see and say hello. Most of these places are not as bad as the press presents.”

Where Tourists Seldom Tread is available in hardback for £19 and ebook for £12.99 on bookshop.org.

VICKY Pattison looked incredible in a tiny yellow bikini as she enjoyed a sunny trip to Montenegro with husband Ercan Ramadan.

Reality TV legend Vicky, 38, took to Instagram to share stunning photos from the couple’s holiday.

She captioned her post: “Chasing the summer…

“Montenegro has absolutely blown us away so far… the most beautiful country and people!!!!

“Also I will be coming back the size of a small semi detached as the food is INSANE!!!!”

Among the snaps were a smiling Vicky in a tiny yellow bikini, while another saw her posed while sitting on rocks.

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One person commented: “The most gorgeous ever!!!!!!!”

Another added: “Wow so gorgeous hope your having the best time girlie.”

A third wrote: “Wowzaaaaa!! So beautiful!! Love these pictures.”

While a fourth penned: “Amazing photos! So many beautiful memories.”

Vicky and Ercan began dating in 2019, with the couple becoming engaged in 2022.

They went on to tie the knot in 2024, in front of 150 guests including Vicky’s close pal Pete Wicks.

Richarlison is one of three players who De Zerbi says have asked to leave Tottenham.

He, Kevin Danso and Pape Matar Sarr have all been linked with moves away from Spurs and none were included in De Zerbi’s match squad as Tottenham lost 2-0 at home to Newcastle on Saturday.

Asked about their status after the loss, De Zerbi said: “Richarlison, I don’t know. He said too many times he wants to leave.

“Danso came to me two days ago and he said wants to leave and Pape Sarr the same, but he suffered a small injury, but he is almost ready to train.

“I have very good relationships but if they want to leave, they have to bring the solution, the economic solution, to the club, and they can go.”

Spurs have spent more than £300m this summer in an effort to restore their competitive edge following back-to-back 17th-place Premier League finishes.

But Tottenham are bottom of the table, having lost their first two games to Brentford and Newcastle and failing to score a goal.

With 11 goals, Richarlison was Tottenham’s top scorer last season and a key figure during their struggle for Premier League survival, which was secured on the final day.

Earlier in August, De Zerbi said that the Brazilian was uncertain about his future, noting that “it’s not easy to find another striker like Richarlison”.

Last week, Manchester City striker Omar Marmoush joined Spurs on loan and he replaced Richarlison in De Zerbi’s starting XI against Newcastle.

Danso’s first-team opportunities may be limited this season as Marcos Senesi and Jan Paul van Hecke arrive to challenge for his place in central defence, where Micky van de Ven’s spot was secured by the signing of a new contract and the award of the captaincy.

Sunderland made an offer to take Danso, who has 36 Austria caps, on a season-long loan – but Spurs rejected it.

In midfield, Sarr’s chance to play has been impacted by the arrivals of Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali early in the window, as Tottenham kicked off their a statement summer of transfers by breaking their club record fee twice in one week.

The Senegal international, 23, has attracted interest from a number of clubs, including several in the Premier League and Turkish side Besiktas.

However, Juventus are understood to be confident of winning the race for his signature on a loan deal that includes a conditional obligation to buy.

Leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), including Chinese President Xi Jinping, his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are set to gather in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek for an annual summit.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is also attending the summit, which marks 25 years of its existence.

The two-day summit, starting on Monday, comes at a time when the world is grappling with the aftermath of the US-Israel war on Iran, which has upended global energy and financial markets, and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

So, what will be the main agenda of the summit, and will the SCO leaders try to use the gathering to push for a multipolar world and Global South cooperation on trade and security issues, as United States President Donald Trump’s unilateral foreign policy has eroded the global rules-based order?

Here’s what we know:

Who is attending the SCO summit and where is it being held?

This year’s summit is taking place in Bishkek under the motto: Together for Sustainable Peace, Development and Prosperity.

Xi, Putin and Modi will be joined by the Iranian president and leaders of Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, among others.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn are also expected to attend the summit.

William Yang, senior analyst for Northeast Asia at the International Crisis Group, noted that the ongoing wars are putting more strain on the rules-based international order, and against this backdrop, the summit serves as an important occasion for several of the world’s rising great powers, including China and India, to elevate their global influence and deepen their engagement and cooperation with other countries in the Global South.

“For years, SCO has been viewed as one of the avenues for China to promote the multipolar world order and form its own bloc with other developing countries. Despite its narrow scope of cooperation at the beginning, SCO member states have sought to expand the scope of their mandate and the number of member states,” Yang told Al Jazeera.

Amid the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Europe, Yang said, “China could use this year’s summit to present itself as a great power that advocates for a peaceful resolution of the conflicts, thereby sharpening the contrast with the US.”

“However, these efforts are likely to be limited to rhetoric rather than any substantive proposal for conflict resolution,” he said.

Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for Asia Pacific at French investment bank Natixis, said the summit is particularly significant because it marks the grouping’s 25th anniversary and offers the first chance to turn last year’s Tianjin strategy, which called for a multipolar world order that fosters mutually beneficial international cooperation, into action. Last year’s summit took place in China’s Tianjin region.

“Putting Modi, Putin and Xi in the same room, with India-China border talks still live and a scheduled Modi-Putin bilateral, is a visible test of how far the recent thaw goes and how Eurasia wants to organise security, connectivity and trade without defaulting to Western institutions,” she told Al Jazeera, referring to the recent India-China talks amid the warming up of New Delhi-Beijing ties.

What is the SCO?

The SCO started in 1996 as a security bloc, dubbed the “Shanghai Five”. It was formed by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to settle their border disputes following the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

But in June 2001, the grouping evolved into the SCO, and expanded to include Uzbekistan, with headquarters in Beijing. In 2017, the bloc expanded to include India and Pakistan. Iran and Belarus were also added as full members in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

In addition, the organisation has 14 key dialogue partners, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Turkiye, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Cambodia.

SCO member states account for 43 percent of the world’s population and 23 percent – or almost a quarter – of the global economy.

Analysts have pointed out that while the SCO emerged with a focus on regional security, the expansion of its mandate to include trade and other Global South concerns means it is difficult to understand what sets the grouping apart from other Global South organisations like the BRICS, which is an acronym derived from the initials of the founding member countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Alejandro Reyes, adjunct professor in the department of politics and public administration at the University of Hong Kong, said the SCO has grown into a “counterbalance” to the US-led Asia Pacific alliance aimed at countering China’s rise. India is part of both groupings. “Interestingly, India is part of the SCO, and the US appears to have dropped the Indo-Pacific nomenclature,” he said.

Reyes emphasised that “the SCO is not a coherent anti-US, anti-Western alliance”. “It is better understood as a forum in which countries with very different interests can demonstrate that they have alternatives and strategic room for manoeuvre – agency in this more volatile geopolitical order, dominated by China and the US. It is less an anti-American alliance than a venue for countries hedging against and hinging away from American power,” he told Al Jazeera.

“The significance this year is that current US policies, especially with regard to Iran and continuing US tariff and sanctions action, may be making that hedging more attractive and necessary,” he added.

What is on this year’s agenda?

The US-Israel war on Iran, the Russia-Ukraine war and the economic and social situation in Afghanistan are key issues leaders are expected to discuss this year, according to the SCO Secretariat.

Relations between India and China – Asia’s two major economies – are also expected to be discussed. Last year, Beijing and New Delhi began a rapprochement after five years of tensions over a 2020 deadly border skirmish. Trump’s tariff war on Indian goods last year forced New Delhi to mend ties with Beijing. For the first time since 2018, Modi visited China last year for the SCO summit.

Border tensions between India and Pakistan also persist, and the issue is expected to be discussed at this summit.

Manoj Kewalramani, chairperson of Bengaluru-based think tank Takshashila Institution’s Geostrategy Programme, told Al Jazeera that apart from the traditional security agenda, this year’s summit might include any forward movement on issues of economic integration or financial cooperation architecture.

“In Tianjin, we had the agreement on establishing the SCO Development Bank,” Kewalramani said.

“The Kyrgyz leadership has said that its priority will be to move the needle on the bank, the SCO Development Fund and SCO Investment Fund,” he said, adding that while talks have reportedly been taking place in this direction, there is no clarity on whether any agreements will be announced at this year’s summit.

According to the SCO Secretariat, economic connectivity will be a key topic the group will discuss as the US and Israel’s war on Iran continues to paralyse key maritime routes like the Strait of Hormuz, which has upended global supply chains, the energy market and financial markets.

The group is expected to discuss new trade and transport corridors, such as the 7,200km (4,474-mile) International North-South Transport Corridor, which links the Russian port city of St Petersburg with India’s financial capital, Mumbai, through Iran and ports on the Gulf.

Herrero pointed out that with Modi and Putin scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting, discussions on the Northern Sea Route, which runs through the Arctic coast, are also expected. China last month announced a new shipping route through the Arctic Ocean, aimed at easing global trade amid the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks in the Bab al-Mandeb in the Red Sea, which will pass through the Northern Sea Route.

According to Indian media reports, Moscow and New Delhi could negotiate the use of the Northern Sea Route by India as the crisis in West Asia continues to affect trade routes.

The SCO will also seek to establish a network of Silk Road stations to support international freight traffic across Eurasia.

Can the SCO agree on all issues?

The Eurasian grouping has often been unable to agree on global geopolitical issues.

For instance, Russia has been able to get most SCO members to align with its interests when it comes to its war in Ukraine, but India has attempted to play a more balanced role – seeking peace and stronger ties with Ukraine, while also buying record levels of oil from Russia.

But this year, Ukraine is expected to feature in discussions, with Turkiye’s Erdogan and Russia’s Putin holding bilateral talks on the matter, according to a Kremlin aide. Europe’s deadliest war since World War II is in its fifth year.

Yury Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser, said the meeting would take place on the sidelines of the SCO summit.

“There are many issues to discuss. Of course, these include the situation in the Black Sea and the Ukraine issue in general,” he told reporters, referring to the rise in attacks in the Black Sea.

The SCO has, however, taken a more collective position on the US-Israel war on Iran and Israel’s genocidal actions in Palestine.

In March, the SCO condemned the US-Israel war on Iran. “The SCO member states considered the use of force as unacceptable and advocate for the resolution of existing differences exclusively by peaceful means, based on dialogue, mutual respect, and taking into account the legitimate interests of all parties, in accordance with the norms of international law and the principles of the UN Charter,” it said in a statement.

India, which has strong ties with Israel, had refused to endorse an SCO joint statement condemning Israel for its attack on Iran in June 2025.

Iranian President Pezeshkian is also scheduled to meet Putin on the sidelines of the summit, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency. Russia is a close ally of Iran and the two countries cooperate on defence issues. China has emerged as Iran’s biggest economic lifeline as it buys more than 80 percent of its crude oil. Moscow and Beijing have also lent diplomatic cover to Tehran at the UN.

Frictions also exist on how the group views border tensions between India and Pakistan. New Delhi has repeatedly called on the organisation to condemn “cross-border terrorism”, for which it blames Islamabad, a close economic and defence ally of China.

Last July, India demanded that the grouping condemn the April 2025 attack by armed men in Indian-administered Kashmir, in which 26 people were killed. Pakistan has also blamed India for armed attacks inside its territory.

During the Tianjin summit, the bloc condemned “terror” attacks in both India and Pakistan, taking a more balanced position on the issue.

What are Russia, China and India going to gain at the summit?

Reyes from the University of Hong Kong pointed out that all eyes will also be on Russia, China and India.

“For China, the SCO is partly about institution-building. Beijing wants to demonstrate that it can convene a large part of Eurasia around an agenda of security, connectivity, trade and development, while promoting a more multipolar, agentic international order. It also reinforces China’s increasingly important economic position in Central Asia, a strategically key region of the Eurasia landmass,” he said.

“For Russia, the summit is an opportunity to show that it is not isolated internationally. Maintaining strong relationships with China, India, Iran and Central Asia is economically and diplomatically important, given the Ukraine war and Western and other sanctions. But Moscow also has an interest in preserving its own influence in Eurasia rather than simply becoming more and more dependent on China.

“India is in an intriguing position. Modi’s participation is not an indication that India is joining the China-Russia axis, such as it is. India itself describes its SCO priorities as ‘security, connectivity and opportunity’. That is much more consistent with India’s longstanding pursuit of strategic autonomy – its agency amid the great-power rivalry,” Reyes explained.

He added that New Delhi wants “access and influence in Central Asia, continued relations with Russia [from which it buys the bulk of its defence equipment], and a mechanism for managing its difficult but gradually stabilising relationship with China”.

“At the same time, New Delhi maintains important relations with Washington, including through the Quad security arrangement.

“So China and Russia may see the SCO partly as an instrument for building a less US-dominated international order. India, meanwhile, sees it more as one of several overlapping platforms through which it can maximise its own agency.”

What does all this mean to the US?

As part of his unilateral foreign policy vision, Trump has undermined the Western-led international order and lashed out at Global South blocs, such as BRICS, which he sees as a threat to the US’s economic dominance. He has called the grouping “anti-American”.

However, Kewalramani noted that the Trump administration has continued some of its predecessors’ approaches and deepened engagement with countries in the region where this year’s SCO is being hosted, especially with the C5 or Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

“Joe Biden had established a leader-level meeting mechanism with C5 countries in 2023. Trump also hosted them in DC in November 2025. [US Secretary of State] Marco Rubio and subsequently Trump are expected to visit the region later [this] year. Kazakhstan has announced accession to the Abraham Accords, becoming the first Central Asian state to join [the Trump-led diplomatic efforts to cajole Muslim countries to recognise Israel]. The US has been engaged with the region on critical minerals and other business deals,” he said.

“In other words, C5 members are also adopting a diversified diplomatic approach, seeking to balance China and Russia’s dominance,” he noted.

“But the fact that you are witnessing these countries meeting with far more purpose to think about alternative financial and energy architectures is a reflection of the limitations of the US’s disruptive foreign policy,” Kewalramani added.

Herrero said for the US, the SCO summit is a reminder that countries like India will keep practising strategic autonomy: it will sit in the Quad and buy US defence equipment while also talking to Moscow and Beijing in a China-heavy forum.

The Quad or Quadrilateral Security Dialogue was established by India, Japan, Australia and the US in 2007 to counter China’s growing influence in the Asia Pacific region. Over the past quarter-century, India has grown closer to the US and its allies, amid shared concerns over Beijing’s rise.

Reyes warned that Washington should be careful not to read the SCO as a consolidated anti-US coalition, even though China, Russia and Iran are members.

“The differences among China, Russia and India are far too substantial to substantiate that label. The more important message is that American economic and geopolitical pressure can sometimes produce convergence among countries that otherwise might disagree with one another more,” he said.

“The SCO’s criticism of unilateral economic measures is significant in that respect. China and Russia explicitly want a less US-dominated international order. India does not necessarily share that objective, but it does want a world in which Washington cannot dictate its foreign-policy choices.”

Caracas, August 30, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez has defended an oil agreement that US President Donald Trump called “the biggest in history.”

“The historic agreement with the United States will have a great impact on Venezuelans’ lives in the long term,” she said in a televised broadcast on Saturday evening. “It is useless to have oil reserves underground. They should be turned into welfare and prosperity for our country.”

The acting president pledged that the deal would lead to “education and healthcare” improvements and contribute to “energy security” in the Western Hemisphere. She reiterated gratitude to Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the agreement.

According to Rodríguez, the joint initiative will see undisclosed private operators take over 17 oilfields for 25 years. The fields in question contain 65 billion barrels of crude, a little over 20 percent of the country’s reserves.

She added that the project had a 1.5 million barrel per day (bpd) target. With prices estimated at $65, Venezuela would collect US $19 per barrel, totaling $209 billion over the course of the agreement.

However, the price estimates stand markedly below present and projected market values, while the state’s take is likewise significantly reduced. Under previous legislation, enacted by former President Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan state collected over $0.75 for every dollar of oil extracted in the form of royalties, taxes, and dividends from state oil company PDVSA.

Furthermore, an average of $8.4 billion in yearly revenue for 1.5 million bpd produced also amounts to a much reduced share for the Caribbean nation. In 2025, with lower market prices and Venezuela forced to sell at a discount to circumvent US sanctions, the country collected a reported $18.4 billion from an average of 941,000 bpd produced.

Unofficial sources have published the 17 oilfields in question, with nine being extra-heavy crude projects, eight of them in the Orinoco Oil Belt. The remaining eight are reportedly mature light and medium crude fields in Western Venezuela.

For his part, Trump presented the agreement as a major foreign policy victory that would boost US energy security for decades. In a social media message on Sunday, Trump claimed he would use Venezuelan oil to “fill up the Strategic National Reserves,” calling the supply “a gift from Venezuela.”

Details on the US role in the agreement have yet to be disclosed, with Trump Energy Secretary Chris Wright expected in Caracas in the coming days.

According to AP, the US government will have an ownership stake in a company receiving 100-year rights to drill in the assigned oilfields. Washington would reportedly secure 55 percent of the output and be able to purchase oil at cost.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration plans to secure a 35 percent stake in North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), a firm owned by Venezuelan oil mogul Alejandro Betancourt that currently operates multiple oil projects. The operation would be conducted by the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital through penny warrants that minimize capital investment.

Venezuelan and US officials have stated that the deal will attract $100 billion in private sector investment. Nevertheless, there has been no information released about the private actors involved.

Since the January 3 US military strikes and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores, the Trump administration has seized control over Venezuela’s energy sector. Washington has maintained wide-reaching sanctions in place while issuing licenses for select Western corporations. The US Treasury likewise manages Venezuela’s crude sale revenues, with the amounts and timings of the disbursements to Caracas left at the White House’s discretion.

The acting Rodríguez government has pushed a pro-business overhaul of its hydrocarbon law and regulations in coordination with US officials and corporate executives. In recent months, companies such as Chevron, BP, and Shell have struck new long-term oil and natural gas deals or renegotiated existing ones.

Popular movements call for ‘anti-imperialist resistance’

The announced agreement with the Trump administration has drawn significant criticism over its lack of transparency and implications for Venezuelan sovereignty.

Economist Francisco Rodríguez questioned whether the deal would require parliamentary approval as established by the Venezuelan Constitution. He likewise called for an explanation on whether the announced revenue figures are at current prices or adjusted for inflation. “19 dollars per barrel in 2051, when the project ends, correspond to a real value of 9 dollars today,” he wrote.

Venezuelan social movements also took to the streets of Caracas on Saturday to protest against “neocolonialism and imperialist attacks.” The mobilization was organized by the Popular Anti-Imperialist Front, a coalition of grassroots collectives that has staged regular demonstrations in recent weeks.

“The Popular Anti-Imperialist Front aims to bring together revolutionary movements to resist the imperialist aggression our country is facing,” activist Fernando Berroterán told Venezuelanalysis. “We are staging protests in different communities to raise popular consciousness.”

Berroterán stated that he was “completely opposed” to the announced deal, adding that the Popular Anti-Imperialist Front would meet and establish a joint position in the coming days.

Fellow organizer Orlando Vega argued that the Venezuelan government has “stumbled” in its response following the January 3 US attacks. He urged a firmer stance, demanding the release of Maduro and Flores and a review of legislation approved “under US coercion.”

“Our call is for the people to organize pockets of resistance against imperialism and Zionism,” Vega concluded.

Edited by Lucas Koerner in Philadelphia, USA.

HAVE you ever struggled to get to sleep on a plane? Well, what if the plane was actually a hotel?

A new hotel has just opened in Malaysia where you can stay on two planes.

In Johor Bahru – the third-largest city in Malaysia – you’ll find the new 1975 Avenue & Hotel formed of two Boeing 747 planes once used by Pan Am and Japan Airlines.

The planes – nicknamed Bove and Bey – form part of the new hotel, which has 38 rooms in total.

To get on each plane, guests will have to board via a jet bridge from the main hotel.

Each plane then has nine suites onboard designed around different countries including Indonesia, China, England and Thailand.

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In the Premium Suites, guests will be able to enjoy two levels of accommodation including a king-sized bed, a freestanding bath, a rain shower and a separate lounge area.

Even the cockpit on each plane has been transformed into a lounge area, complete with original details.

The suites cost from 1,706 Malaysian Ringgits (£267.36) per night.

The two planes sit in the middle of the wider hotel complex where you can book into regular rooms – many of which have views of the two orange-painted planes.

And below the wings of the planes is where you will find a man-made beach pool, a kid’s waterpark and bar.

The hotel also boasts a rooftop pool, sunken hot tub, a fully equipped gym and a spa as well.

When it comes to grabbing something to eat, the hotel has an all-day dining restaurant as well.

The hotel isn’t too far from Singapore either, as well as just 20 minutes from Senai International Airport.

MAYA Jama cheekily vowed to ‘shake her money maker’ as she stunned in a racy red dress at Notting Hill Carnival on Sunday.

The Love Island presenter, 32, shared what she got up to at the world-famous street party on her social media.

Maya headed out to the streets of Notting Hill in west London in a taxi with her pals before busting some moves on an elevated platform.

She was captured holding a sign that said ‘shake my money maker’ by a fan and she reposted the picture to her Instagram story.

The star was in high spirits showing off her moves in a red and black striped dress and sunglasses.

In another repost, Maya was all smiles as she waved to a fan on the ground and made a love heart sign with her fingers.

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Before the party, Maya told her 3.3 million followers: “Merry carnival to those who celebrate.”

Notting Hill Carnival takes place every year from the 29th to 31st of August after it first took place in 1966.

It is one of the largest festival celebrations of its kind in Europe, celebrating Caribbean culture.

It comes after Maya stripped down to a bikini and let off steam on a wild holiday with pals.

She took to Instagram on Wednesday evening to share a series of pictures from her fun holiday.

In one snap, the ITV favourite showed off her sexy body in a blue two piece.

The Chargers’ backup quarterback competition is over — for now.

Despite DJ Uiagalelei outperforming Trey Lance in Thursday’s preseason finale against the Rams, the incumbent was named QB2 once again, as the Chargers announced their initial 53-man roster Sunday evening.

“My mindset has just been stacking days,” Lance said. “As many days as I can have; good days that I could feel good about. Good reps [or] bad reps, I learn from them all.”

Choosing Lance, who is familiar with the role and offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel’s system from their shared time with the San Francisco 49ers, was one of several interesting roster moves the Chargers made on cut-down day.

Most notably, punter and nine-year veteran JK Scott was released alongside running back Jaret Patterson.

It wouldn’t be surprising if the Chargers brought Scott back this week. However, he had a rough preseason, in which he showed abysmal tackling effort and shanked a punt.

“As competitors, yeah, I don’t like seeing that on tape,” special teams coordinator Ryan Ficken said.

Patterson, meanwhile, couldn’t crack a crowded running back room led by Omarion Hampton. Greg Desrosiers Jr. and Amar Johnson also didn’t make the roster despite promising showings during the preseason.

“I feel like I did everything I needed to do to kind of put all the teams on notice [and] put the front office here on notice,” Desrosiers said after rushing for 118 yards and a touchdown against the Rams.

Other intriguing players, such as wideout Dalevon Campbell, outside linebacker Kyle Kennard and linebacker Junior Colson, a third-round pick in 2024, were waived.

Some “bubble” players, though, did make the cut; cornerback Rodney Shelley is one of them.

The undrafted rookie put a bow on a strong camp by earning five tackles and a pretty pass breakup against the Rams. Plus, the Chargers made room for him by trading cornerback Avery Smith to the Seattle Seahawks for a 2027 sixth-round pick. The Chargers also traded defensive lineman TeRah Ewards to the Carolina Panthers for a 2028 sixth-round draft pick.

Jacob Spomer is another undrafted rookie who will remain in Los Angeles.

The offensive lineman impressed during training camp and adds depth after the Chargers assigned offensive lineman Branson Taylor to injury reserve alongside two-way trenches trooper Scott Matlock.

Of course, some waived players could see extended opportunities with the Chargers through the practice squad.

“I can’t really think of anybody that I’m going to tell their football lives are over to,” Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said Thursday. “I can’t think of one guy I’d say that to. I just don’t believe that.

“I’m probably going to put myself in their shoes and hopefully give them some great advice [on] what to do next. It’s going to be said with encouragement and love, because I truly believe in them.”

Kyiv, Ukraine – The 2022 destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines, whose construction cost $19bn, epitomised the failure of “change through trade”, Berlin’s policy of softening Moscow’s hardline leadership through mercantile ties, according to some analysts.

Pressurised gas was pumped from Yamal, Russia’s Arctic peninsula of deer herders and treeless tundra, to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany’s Baltic region of chalk cliffs and medieval castles.

But on September 26, 2022, several underwater blasts created a kilometre-wide (0.6-mile) bubbling geyser of natural gas that became history’s worst release of methane and screeched the pipeline flows to a halt.

Dubbed an act of sabotage, the apparent operation has drawn the attention of Hollywood director Doug Liman, known for blockbusters such as The Bourne Identity and Mr & Mrs Smith.

Oscar-winning actors Sean Penn and Adrien Brody star in Liman’s upcoming drama, titled Snake Island, about Ukrainian divers who plunge into the Baltic’s blue waters from a sleek rented yacht to blow up the world’s longest undersea pipelines.

Back in the real world, one of the suspected divers, Volodymyr Zhuravlev, a 46-year-old father of three with more than two decades of free-diving experience, was a consultant on Liman’s film set in Croatia. He was arrested in the Croatian city of Pula on August 19 and is to be extradited to Germany.

Last year, another accused member of the sabotage team, Serhii Kuznetsov, was arrested in Italy and extradited to Germany.

The 49-year-old reportedly worked for Ukrainian intelligence and complained that he had been “abandoned by his country and president”.

Their arrests and upcoming trials have highlighted how the sabotage shocked Germany’s economy, overhauled its energy exports and consumption – and still affects ties between Berlin and Kyiv.

“The Nord Stream sabotage reinforced a key lesson from the 2022 energy crisis – Germany had become far too dependent on Russian fossil gas,” Claudia Kemfert, a professor with the Institute for Economic Research in Berlin, told Al Jazeera.

The pipelines were designed to deliver 110 billion cubic metres (3.9 trillion cubic ft) of natural gas a year and made Germany “captive to Russia”, United States President Donald Trump said in 2022.

Nord Stream 2 never became operational but did contain pressurised gas at the time of the explosions. Nord Stream 1 along with other Russian pipelines provided 55 percent of Germany’s natural gas.

It heated homes, generated energy and fuelled the economic pillars of Europe’s largest, export-oriented economy, the chemical and steelmaking industries.

The alleged sabotage “changed the debate on energy security fundamentally”, Kemfert said. “Today, security means reducing fossil import dependence through diversification, renewables, efficiency, grids and storage.”

The crisis also prompted a major, rapid expansion of infrastructure for liquefied natural gas. The latter proved to be a silver lining.

“The central lesson is clear: The less Germany depends on imported fossil fuels, the more resilient its economy and energy system become,” Kemfert said.

‘Politically sensitive’ questions

Meanwhile, the unresolved questions surrounding Nord Stream “remain politically sensitive” in Berlin-Kyiv ties, she said.

After Trump removed Washington from the political chessboard of the Russia-Ukraine war, Berlin became Kyiv’s largest and staunchest Western backer.

But Germany seems adamant about prosecuting the sabotage team.

“It’s a matter of principle for the German government, but it’s also a matter of the rule of law,” Cristian Vlas, an expert with ACLED (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data), an international think tank, told Al Jazeera.

And Ukraine’s most coveted post-war dream – integration into NATO and membership in the European Union – could be thwarted if the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party comes to power.

AfD opposes military and financial aid to Ukraine, wants to block its EU and NATO membership, lift Western sanctions slapped on Moscow for invading Ukraine and resume Russian energy imports.

“We can certainly see the rejection of Ukraine’s application as one of the key points on AfD’s agenda,” Vlas said. “It rejects delivering further military support to Ukraine with the purported pretence that it extends the war.”

EU and NATO integration could be “further in time”, Kyiv-based analyst Aleksey Kushch told Al Jazeera, but the suspected act of sabotage still succeeded in severing the “umbilical cord” of the Berlin-Moscow alliance that hurt Ukraine economically and politically.

In 2008, Berlin and Paris blocked a NATO membership invitation to Ukraine, insisting it would “provoke” Russia.

After Nord Stream 1 was launched in 2011, Kyiv lost half of its annual $3bn in transit fees for Russian gas pumped westwards through Ukrainian pipelines.

Berlin also denied arms deliveries to Kyiv after Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022, Berlin admitted it was wrong about the “change through trade” approach to Moscow’s belligerence.

“We failed on many points,” German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the ZDF broadcaster in 2022. “It’s true that we should’ve taken the warnings of our Eastern European partners more seriously, particularly regarding the time after 2014.”

After the pipeline blasts, no country or group claimed responsibility, and pundits pointed fingers at Washington, which was opposed to the pipeline’s construction, and Moscow, which some believed would benefit from higher natural gas prices and chaos in Europe’s energy markets.

In turn, Moscow accused “Anglo-Saxon powers” of masterminding the explosions.

It took German prosecutors almost two years to zero in on the sabotage team and accuse Kyiv of organising the bombing.

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly denied Kyiv’s involvement.

Germany “knows very well that Ukraine wasn’t behind the implementation and the very conception to carry out this particular operation”, he recently said at a news conference.

So far, the upcoming trials of Zhuravlev and Kuznetsov are not affecting aid from Berlin.

“Germany still has a huge credit of trust towards Ukraine, which, however, won’t prevent prosecutors from doing their job and finishing the case and courts from convicting average executioners,” Nikolay Mitrokhin of Germany’s Bremen University told Al Jazeera.

But aside from the pipeline blasts, tensions have been seen before between the German political establishment and Ukrainian politicians.

In 2022, Andrii Melnyk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Berlin at the time, lambasted Germany’s then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz for not providing enough lethal weapons, calling him an “offended liver sausage”.

Also in 2022, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s then-foreign minister, bristled at Berlin’s slow arms deliveries, calling them “disappointing signals”.

“For Ukraine’s future, things are bad because [Ukrainian] elites are confident that that’s the way to get things done and this style, not this individual case [with the sabotage], can cost them membership in the European Union,” Mitrokhin said.

“Germany remembers everything, and after [German Chancellor Friedrich] Merz, who is kind to Ukraine, somebody else who is not that kind could come to power,” he said.

Nepal’s rescue teams, aided by Chinese and Indian experts, are racing to save more than 900 workers believed to be trapped underground at hydropower projects hit by devastating flash floods.

Nepali officials said on Monday that the focus was on reaching the workers in about a dozen hydropower project tunnels blocked by mud and rock debris.

The unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud and debris on the Nepal-Tibet border on Wednesday – caused by a glacier collapse – has killed 903 people with 4,247 missing in Nepal, its disaster authority said.

The flood also wreaked havoc across the border in China’s Tibet region, where at least 16 people died and 546 are missing, said Chinese authorities.

‘Big challenge’

Pictures and videos shared by rescue teams in Nepal showed earth-moving equipment digging and shovelling mud and rocks under lights in the dark of the night as workers watched. Soldiers used torchlights in a big pit they had created to look for space to get into one tunnel.

“A large amount of debris has been deposited and that is posing us a big challenge to open the tunnels,” Nepal army spokesperson, Raja Ram Basnet, told the Reuters news agency.

“Our main focus is on opening the tunnels.”

Hundreds of bodies, many unidentified, have been buried in shallow graves as they began decomposing in the humid weather after being swept down the mountains by the torrent.

At a hospital in the capital of Kathmandu, morgues have reached capacity and families are flocking to other hospitals in hopes of finding missing loved ones, reported Al Jazeera’s Minelle Fernandez.

In addition to the 933 missing hydropower workers, some 500 workers from the Truck and Container Association are also missing, said Fernandez.

The Red Cross has estimated that more than 90,000 people are likely to have been affected by the disaster, which China has linked to the effects of climate change.

Prime Minister Balendra Shah said the flood was an “unprecedented and devastating natural disaster” and it remained challenging to compile a complete assessment of the damage.

“Despite the adverse weather, difficult terrain and continuing risks, we are moving forward with determination to save the lives of our citizens,” he said in a Facebook post late on Sunday, adding that nearly 21,000 security personnel were involved in rescue operations, besides civilian workers and volunteers.

While accessibility has been restored on many roads and highways, almost “40 kilometres of roads have been absolutely swept away”, Al Jazeera’s Fernandez said.

“So there are challenges on the ground in getting this aid to communities, but the authorities, as well as the agencies and their networks are working their way through it.”

China sends experts, aid

China’s state-run CCTV said the government has mobilised more than 2,100 rescue workers and allocated at least 220 million yuan ($33mn) to support relief efforts. Equipment and supplies have been airdropped to frontline rescuers, while Chinese soldiers used life-detection equipment to look for the missing.

Beijing said 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries were unaccounted for in Tibet.

“President Xi Jinping, according to state media, has called for all out efforts to rescue those missing in the mudslide, and this is the second time that the president has made such a call,” said Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu, reporting from Beijing.

“So this seems to be the Chinese leader’s effort to call on people, not only to continue their efforts, but redouble their efforts even as things are looking grimmer and grimmer.”

China has sent nine tunnel rescue experts to Nepal and shared satellite information with Nepalese authorities, said Yu.

Although Nepal has said it does not need foreign help in general search and rescue efforts, it has accepted help from giant neighbours India and China for their expertise in tunnel rescue.

Rescue operations have been suspended several times since Friday because of bad weather and concerns that a lake, formed across the Nepal-China border by the disaster, could trigger new flooding after it began overflowing into Nepal’s rivers.

The weather was good on Monday and rescue work continued to pick up pace, said Narendra Pariyar, the district administrator of Rasuwa, one of the two hard-hit districts.