Gaza will not forget

The suffocating smoke still hangs over her ruins, thick with the acrid stench of explosives powder and dust carrying the scent of betrayal and the mark of courage. Her streets, once filled with children’s laughter, became Israeli fields of slaughter. Now they echo with the names and memories of martyrs.

The mass graves, the broken concrete, and the twisted steel are not just evidence of Zionist hatred. They are witnesses to those who stood with her, and to those who failed her. Today, Gaza’s rubble holds more memories than all the nation’s libraries.

Palestine will remember

She will remember the selfless sacrifices of doctors and healthcare workers who refused to abandon their sick patients as bombs rained on their hospitals; the journalists who became the news, targeted for daring to expose the truth; the mothers who wrapped their children in the red, black, green, and white flag of a nation Israel is desperate to erase.

These are not tales of despair, but of defiance, insisting on its right to breathe life amid death.

Gaza will not forget

She will not forget the silence of Western democracies. In a tragic inversion, most European nations, shackled by the ghosts of their past, traded morality for absolution. The self-proclaimed champions of human rights offered Palestinians on the altar of yesterday’s victims to atone for Europe’s sins.

Gaza will not forget the Biden administration, which vetoed every U.N. Security Council resolution calling to end the genocide. Nor Donald Trump, who poured fuel on the fire, then demanded recognition for dousing his own flames.

This week, Arab, Muslim, and world leaders gather like moths around the American arsonist-turned-firefighter, “celebrating” the ashes of Gaza.

Palestine will remember

She will remember the people who rose for Gaza, from Yemen to Dublin, from Cape Town to London and Madrid, while Arab capitals from Cairo to Riyadh slept. Ireland and Spain led the boycott, while Arab countries from the Gulf to Jordan opened their ports and highways to provide alternative routes for Israeli goods, even as Yemen imposed a sea blockade in the Red Sea.

Gaza will not forget — nor forgive — the Arab governments that opened their ports when shipyard workers in Italy refused, delivering American weapons used to annihilate her children and destroy her hospitals.

Palestine will remember

She will remember South Africa — not an Arab or Muslim nation — that led her case before the International Court of Justice, charging Israel with genocide. A country once scarred by apartheid became the moral conscience of a world too timid to speak. In that act of solidarity, South Africa rekindled the universal truth that justice knows no borders.

Palestine will remember the Lebanese resistance that gave its leaders for Gaza’s defense; Yemen, poor in wealth but rich in dignity, whose solidarity never wavered; and Iran, steadfast against Israeli hubris. She will remember Ireland and Spain, who did not turn away when Arabs did, proving that true solidarity transcends borders, faith, and kinship, resting only on shared humanity.

She will remember the heroes of the flotillas who braved waves of hatred and siege to carry messages of compassion; the nameless volunteers who left the safety of their countries to heal the wounded and feed the hungry; the American students who turned campuses into encampments of resistance; the artists, actors, and musicians who risked careers for justice; the employees who lost their jobs protesting the complicity of Google, Microsoft, and other tech giants in Israel’s crimes.

Gaza will not forget those who betrayed her

Palestine will forever be grateful to those who dared to speak the truth when it was dangerous, who marched when it was forbidden, who grieved when it was unfashionable.

Palestine will remember. History will remember. Justice will remember.

For nearly two years, Gaza has endured a genocide so relentless it defies descriptive language. Israel’s war machine has turned hospitals into morgues, UN schools into mass graves, and refugee camps into craters. Yet Gaza refuses to die.

Each time she is bombed “back to the Stone Age,” she rises — like the phoenix — to rebuild, not only her structures but her indomitable will. In that defiance lies the occupier’s greatest fear: memory.

Israel can destroy buildings but not erase remembrance. The siege may starve Gaza’s body, but it nourishes Palestine’s collective soul.

Gaza’s children will grow up with memories no child should bear. But they will also inherit something indestructible: dignity. In every demolished home and every shattered family lives a story that refuses burial.

Gaza’s memory will not fade. For the mind, unlike stone, cannot be occupied. It is the eternal archive of a people’s resilience, passed from one generation to the next, weaving the indelible tapestry of Palestine today.

The ruins of Gaza stand not only as testimony to Israel’s genocide but to the moral collapse of those who enabled it.

Gaza will rise again, brick by brick.

But what will never be resurrected is the Israeli lie, which, for eight decades, cloaked the Zionist project in the guise of victimhood, occupying Western narratives and manufacturing consent.

Gaza will rise — and the Israeli myth will remain buried beneath her rubble, forever.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

Good Morning Britain paid tribute to Jules Fielder, an inspirational lung cancer campaigner who appeared on the ITV show to raise awareness

Good Morning Britain honoured a campaigner who had featured on the programme multiple times following her tragic passing this month. Jules Fielder, a lung cancer advocate who channelled her own diagnosis into raising public consciousness.

She was recognised for her tireless efforts surrounding the condition. And following her death, the programme delivered a heartfelt tribute.

Jules’ constituency MP, Helena Dollimore, appeared on the show to discuss preserving her work. The GMB Twitter/X account posted a moving message, saying: “Jules Fielder was an inspirational lung cancer campaigner who used her own experience of being diagnosed as a motivator to raise awareness around the symptoms of the disease.

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“Sadly, she passed away earlier this month. Jules appeared twice previously on Good Morning Britain, speaking about her advocacy work.”

During the broadcast, Dollimore stated: “The thing about Jules is she made whoever she spoke to sit up and listen, whether it was the audience here on Good Morning Britain, whether it was politicians, and I raised her case in parliament.

“She met the health secretary, the prime minister, and she also made companies like Boots sit up and listen. And she had this vision that actually companies like Boots had a big role to play in raising awareness of these symptoms.”

She went on: “She won that campaign by getting them to roll out on-shelf awareness labels in 200 stores. So now, when people go into the Boots in Hastings, they see these signs saying, have you had this ough for longer?

“But actually, if Jules were here, she would be saying, okay, what next? Where do we take this next? And is that your job now? And I feel very much that she lit the torch and it’s up to those of us still here to carry that torch forward. There is so much more that could be done.”

Heartfelt tributes flooded in, with one supporter writing: “What a pity she died.” Another shared their own painful experience, posting: “Lung Cancer: my friend was 46 and was diagnosed with lung, liver and bowel cancer. She never smoked or vaped. Started her treatment in August 2023. Passed away January 2023.”

Jules had recently been praised by Prime Minister Keir Starmer. In the letter he sent her on March 30, the PM said he was ‘moved’ by Jules’ campaigning.

She had stage 4 lung cancer, the most advanced stage, and was diagnosed with the disease in November 2021. She was aged just 37 and had found a lump in her neck.

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Dodgers defeat the Brewers

From Maddie Lee: Looking back, Alex Vesia can say that when was traded from the Miami Marlins to the Dodgers with fellow pitching prospect Kyle Hurt in 2021, he had “no idea” what it actually meant to trust the process.

Sure, it’s a cliche, and one most strongly associated with the Philadelphia 76ers’ rebuild in the NBA a decade ago. But it’s had staying power in the sports lexicon for a reason.

The mantra clicked for Vesia in his first season with the Dodgers.

“When I first heard of it, it was just like, OK, I know what a process is,” he said before the Dodgers’ 5-1 win against the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday. “But then watching it over the course of the year — where fastballs need to be placed, where sliders need to go, just trusting the information. That when a guy swings a lot at sliders and misses them, trusting that when you throw yours, he will miss it.

“And then over the course of a few outings, when you see those results, it’s like, ‘OK, I can do this’ more and more and more.”

Vesia is now one of the veteran leaders in a Dodgers bullpen that set a franchise record Saturday with 36 consecutive scoreless innings, surpassing the mark of 33 set in 1998. The Dodgers extended the streak to 38 on Sunday.

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Dodgers box score

MLB standings

Some Angels fans are fed up with Arte

From Joaquin Ruiz: Lifelong Angels fan Johnny Gonzalez has reached his boiling point as the team sits at the bottom of the standings, but he’s not giving up. And he’s not alone.

The Angels completed a surprise sweep of the Rangers Sunday, but the team still is tied for the worst record in Major League Baseball with a 20-34. Their fans spent the holiday weekend pushing back against the idea that the franchise would never be more than a bargain option amid rising prices all around them.

Frustrated fans have gone shirtless during the Angels’ homestand and chanted for owner Arte Moreno to “sell the team.” And about 75 fans heeded Gonzalez’s call for a protest, gathering in front of the Angel Stadium State College Boulevard entrance on Saturday chanting “sell the team,” “we want playoffs” and “winning matters.” Drivers passing the spectacle honked their horns in support.

“They’re not doing much for us fans,” said Gonzalez, who organized the protest using the Instagram account @AngelsBoycott. “It seems like every other team is just doing a lot more than us, despite us having a huge following [and] having some of the best players to ever play the game. I mean, it’s just like a lack of commitment, to say the least, and that’s why we’re here today.”

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Angels sweep the Rangers

From Joaquin Ruiz: Reid Detmers had a career-high 14 strikeouts and pinch runner Donovan Walton touched home on an errant throw in the ninth to give the Angels a walk-off 2-1 win at Angel Stadium and their first three-game sweep of the season.

With one out and runners on first and second in the ninth, third baseman Oswald Peraza grounded into a fielder’s choice at second. Rangers second baseman Justin Foscue bobbled the ball and first baseman Jake Burger couldn’t cleanly field his throw, allowing Walton to advance from second to score the game-winning run.

The Angels’ dugout erupted as Walton scored.

“That was amazing,” Peraza said. “I went up there and just put the ball in play, and not trying too much. I’m happy for the sweep. And yeah, amazing.”

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Angels box score

MLB standings

Big win for UCLA baseball

The UCLA comeback kings are Big Ten tournament champions.

A clutch hit by Aidan Espinoza and two reviews fueled the No. 1 Bruins’ rally for a dramatic 3-2 win over Oregon in 11 innings in the Big Ten tournament title game Sunday in Omaha, Neb.

UCLA rallied for wins during all three of its Big Ten tournament games and has earned 28 comeback wins this season.

“I’m just glad we won,” UCLA junior Mulivai Levu said during a postgame interview on the Big Ten Network. “It was a team effort today. Everyone did their job. Once again, we came from behind and did it.”

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UCLA’s Megan Grant is making history

From Mirjam Swanson: The power of power, you know?

The power of friendship, the power of persuasion. Power of positive thinking, power at the plate.

Megan Grant’s power.

If there’s one thing in American sports that’s going to get people to sit up, lean forward and engage, it’s the home run. We all dig the long ball.

If anything can get someone to run home and turn on a softball game, it’s a big-time slugger from a big-time school mashing homers like nobody before.

Heard about Grant? She’s the UCLA softball player who’s hit an NCAA-record 40 home runs (so far) this season.

Forty! In 147 at-bats! That’s a home run every 3.68 at-bats!

If you’re wondering, Mark McGwire hit a home run every 7.3 at-bats in 1998, the year he finished with 70. And Barry Bonds went deep every 6.52 at-bats in 2001, when he hit his MLB-record 73 home runs.

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LAFC shuts out Seattle

Timothy Tillman scored in the 86th minute, his first goal in more than two years, Thomas Hasal had five saves, and LAFC beat the Seattle Sounders 1-0 on Sunday night in the final MLS match before the 2026 World Cup break.

LAFC (7-5-3) ended a three-game losing streak and a four-game winless stretch.

LAFC has won six straight and is 9-0-1 at home against the Sounders in the regular season. Seattle has two wins at BMO Stadium in the MLS Cup playoffs, most recently a 2-1 victory in extra time to advance to the 2024 Western Conference final.

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LAFC coach Marc Dos Santos hopes to restore attacking identity after World Cup

LAFC summary

MLS standings

This day in sports history

1935 — Legendary American athlete Jesse Owens equals or breaks four world records in 45 minutes at a Big Ten meet at Ferry Field in Ann Arbor, Michigan; remembered as “the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport”.

1948 — Ben Hogan wins the PGA championship, beating Mike Turnesa in the final round, 7 and 6.

1965 — Muhammad Ali knocks out Sonny Liston a minute into the first round in the controversial rematch for Ali’s heavyweight title. Listed as the fastest knockout in a heavyweight title bout, Liston goes down on a short right-hand punch.

1967 — European Cup Final, Estádio Nacional, Lisbon: Glasgow Celtic beats Internazionale, 2-1; first British team to win the Cup.

1972 — Heavyweight Joe Frazier KOs Ron Stander.

1975 — The Golden State Warriors become the third team to sweep the NBA finals, beating the Washington Bullets 96-95 on Butch Beard’s foul shot with 9 seconds remaining.

1977 — 21st European Cup: Liverpool beats Borussia Monchengladbach 3-1 at Rome.

1978 — The Montreal Canadiens defeat the Boston Bruins 4-1 in Game 6 for their third straight Stanley Cup.

1980 — Johnny Rutherford wins his third Indianapolis 500 in seven years and becomes the first driver to win twice from the pole position.

1983 — 27th European Cup: Hamburg beats Juventus 1-0 at Athens.

1987 — Herve Filion becomes the first harness racing driver to win 10,000 races. Filion reaches the milestone driving Commander Bond to victory in the third race at Yonkers Raceway.

1988 — 32nd European Cup: PSV Eindhoven beats Benfica (0-0, 6-5 on penalties) at Stuttgart.

1989 — Stanley Cup Final, Montreal Forum, Montreal, Quebec: Calgary Flames beat Montreal Canadiens, 4-2 to win series 4 games to 2; Flames’ first SC title.

1991 — The Pittsburgh Penguins, led by Mario Lemieux, win the Stanley Cup for the first time with an 8-0 rout of the Minnesota North Stars.

1998 — Princeton punctuates its claim as one of college lacrosse’s great programs by beating Maryland 15-5 for its third straight NCAA Division I title and fifth in seven years.

2002 — Boston sets an NBA record, overcoming a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit in a 94-90 win over New Jersey. The Celtics outscore the Nets 41-16 in the quarter.

2003 — Juli Inkster shoots a 10-under 62 — tying the lowest final-round score by a winner in LPGA Tour history — to beat Lorie Kane by four strokes in the LPGA Corning Classic.

2005 — 13th UEFA Champions League Final: Liverpool beats Milan (3-3, 3-2 on penalties).

2007 — Bjarne Riis is the first Tour de France winner to admit using performance-enhancing drugs to win the sport’s premier race, further eroding cycling’s credibility after a series of doping confessions. His admission means the top three finishers in the 1996 Tour are linked to doping — with two admitting to cheating.

2008 — Seven crashes and spinouts mar the first Indianapolis 500 since the two warring open-wheel series (CART and IRL) came together under the IndyCar banner. Scott Dixon stays ahead of the trouble to win the race.

2008 — Senior PGA Championship, Oak Hill CC: Jay Haas wins his second title in the event by 1 stroke from Germany’s Bernhard Langer.

2009 — Syracuse rallies from a three-goal deficit in the final 3:37 of regulation to beat Cornell 10-9 and win its second straight and unprecedented 11th NCAA lacrosse title.

2013 — UEFA Champions League Final, London: Arjen Robben scores twice as Bayern Munich beats Borussia Dortmund, 2-1 in first all-German final.

2014 — Senior PGA Championship, GC at Shore Harbor: Colin Montgomerie of Scotland wins first of 3 Champions Tour majors by 4 strokes from Tom Watson.

Compiled by the Associated Press

This day in baseball history

1906 — Jesse Tannehill’s 3-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox snapped a 20-game losing streak — 19 at home — for the Boston Red Sox.

1935 — Babe Ruth, winding up his career with the Boston Braves, hit three homers and a single at Pittsburgh, but the Pirates won 11-7. Ruth connected once off Red Lucas and twice off Guy Bush.

1941 — Boston’s Ted Williams raised his batting average over .400 for the first time during the season. Williams finished the season batting. 406.

1951 — Willie Mays, a highly touted rookie for the Giants, went 0-for-5 in his debut against the Philadelphia Phillies.

1982 — Ferguson Jenkins became the seventh pitcher to strike out 3,000 batters in the Chicago Cubs’ 2-1 loss at San Diego. Jenkins reached the milestone by striking out Garry Templeton in the third inning.

2001 — Kerry Wood of the Chicago Cubs gave up one hit and struck out 14 in a 1-0 win over the Brewers. Wood took a no-hit bid into the seventh before giving up a leadoff single to Mark Loretta.

2001 — Hideo Nomo of the Boston Red Sox tossed a one-hitter and struck out 14 in a 4-0 win over Toronto. Nomo faced one batter over the minimum of 27, giving up a leadoff double in the fourth to Shannon Stewart.

2002 — Shawn Green of the Dodgers homered twice in a 10-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, setting a major league record with seven homers in his last three games.

2005 — The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1, in 12 innings, as manager Tony La Russa wins his 823rd game with the Cardinals, passing Whitey Herzog for second place on the franchise list. La Russa is 218 victories behind Cardinals leader Red Schoendienst.

2009 — Jim Thome passes Mike Schmidt for 13th on the all-time home run list, as the White Sox thump the Angels, 17-3.

2009 — Cleveland rallied from a 10-0 deficit in the fourth as Victor Martinez’s two-out, two-run single in the ninth capped a seven-run inning and lifted the Indians to an 11-10 victory over Tampa Bay. The Indians became the first team in the majors to win after trailing by 10 runs since the Texas Rangers rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 16-15 on May 8, 2004.

2011 — Andruw Jones hit a pair of two-run homers, Mark Teixeira also hit a two-run shot and Mariano Rivera made a milestone appearance in New York’s 7-3 victory over Toronto. Rivera pitched the ninth inning in a non-save situation, the 1,000th game he’s played for the Yankees. The 11-time All-Star closer became the first player in major league history to reach the plateau for one team and the 15th to make it overall. Jones homered in the second inning and Teixeira in the third off Jo-Jo Reyes, who matched a major league record by making his 28th consecutive start without a win.

2011 — Infielder Wilson Valdez wound up as the winning pitcher when the Philadelphia Phillies needed 19 innings to outlast the Cincinnati Reds 5-4. Valdez threw a hitless 19th inning in his first pro pitching appearance. He became the first position player to become a winning pitcher since Colorado catcher Brent Mayne on Aug. 22, 2000.

2012 — Nelson Cruz hit a grand slam and tied his career high with eight RBIs, Josh Hamilton hit his 19th home run of the season and the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 14-3. Cruz’s grand slam came in the seventh inning and gave Texas a 14-1 lead. He also had a three-run double in the first and an RBI single in the sixth.

2013 — Angel Pagan became the first San Francisco player to end a game with an inside-the-park homer, connecting with a runner aboard in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Giants a 6-5 victory over Colorado. The last major leaguer to hit an inside-the-park home run that ended a game was Rey Sanchez for Tampa Bay on June 11, 2004 — also in a 10-inning victory over Colorado.

2014 — Josh Beckett of the Dodgers records the first no-hitter of the year by blanking the Phillies, 6-0. It is the first no-hitter by a Dodgers pitcher since Hideo Nomo pitched one in 1996, and the first nine-inning no-hitter by an opposing pitcher in Philadelphia since Bill Stoneman of the Montreal Expos back in 1969.

2019 — The Padres set a franchise record with seven homers in a 19-4 win over the Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre. Wil Myers and Hunter Renfroe hit two each while Austin Hedges blasts a grand slam off Edwin Jackson. Cal Quantrill is the beneficiary of this power display as he records his first career victory a short distance from his hometown of Port Hope, Canada, while another local boy, Josh Naylor from Mississauga, Canada, collects his first three big league hits for the Padres in the game.

2021 — By working home plate in a game between the Cardinals and White Sox, Joe West sets a new career record with 5,376 games as an umpire, passing Bill Klem, whose last game was in 1941.

2022 — Anaheim City Council votes unanimously to cancel the sale of Angel Stadium and surrounding land to Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno, after the resignation of Mayor Bill Sidhu on corruption charges a few days earlier. The $350-million sale had been agreed in December 2019 but not yet finalized, and was at the center of an FBI investigation that led to accusations that Sidhu had provided insider information to the team and in return demanded kickbacks in the form of campaign contributions. The city council members are now no longer convinced that the proposed deal reflects the city’s best interests, and are willing to risk a breach of contract lawsuit from Moreno in order to examine a potential deal again, starting from scratch.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has announced that her country will host the Iranian national football team during the upcoming FIFA World Cup, due to tensions with the United States.

On Monday, Sheinbaum said that FIFA, the global football governing body, had approached Mexico about hosting Iran, after the US said it did not wish to do so.

“We have no reason to deny them the possibility of staying in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said during her daily media conference.

Previously, Iran had been scheduled to play all three of its group matches in the US.

But the administration of US President Donald Trump has previously said it is not “appropriate” for Iranian team members to be in the country, “for their own life and safety”.

It has yet to grant the Iranian team the necessary visas to travel to the US, despite Trump’s assertion that players and staff would be “welcome”.

Since February 28, the US and Israel have been at war with Iran, and peace negotiations are tense but ongoing.

The head of Iran’s football federation, Mehdi Taj, confirmed on Sunday that the team planned to move its training base from Tucson, Arizona, to the Mexican border city of Tijuana.

Taj explained that team leaders got approval for the move after meeting with FIFA officials in Istanbul, as well as holding an online conference with FIFA’s Secretary General, Mattias Grafstrom.

Switching the team’s base to Mexico, Taj said, would help avoid visa complications, with the team able to travel directly to Mexico aboard Iran Air flights.

But the US-Israeli war against Iran has cast a pall over the World Cup, making the Iranian team’s participation uncertain.

Roughly 3,468 people have been killed in Iran since February’s war began, and more than 26,500 have been injured. Further fatalities have been reported across the region.

The war has also thrown the global economy into turmoil, driving up the costs of fuel and agricultural fertiliser, among other goods.

Iran’s football team has long been a top squad in its region: It currently ranks near the top of the Asian Football Confederation. Its participation in the 2026 tournament marks its fourth straight World Cup qualification.

Trump, however, has sent mixed messages about Iran’s presence at the World Cup, suggesting at times that Iran should sit out the tournament. At other moments, he has expressed ambivalence.

In March, for instance, Politico asked Trump about Iran’s presence at the World Cup. Trump reportedly responded, “I really don’t care”, before calling Iran a “badly defeated country”.

The US, Mexico and Canada are co-hosting the games, with 78 matches in the US alone, including the final. Kick off is on June 11.

Iran is set to play its first two Group G matches in Los Angeles against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium on June 21, before facing off against Egypt in Seattle on June 26.

The Trump administration’s hardline approach to immigration has raised additional concerns about whether the US will be a welcoming host for fans from around the world.

Already, Trump has moved to suspend visa processing for applicants from nearly 75 countries, including Iran, Brazil, Colombia, Ivory Coast and Senegal, which have teams at the World Cup.

Residents from some of those countries, however, are not required to receive visas to enter the US for short-term visits.

On Monday, Sheinbaum explained that she had been approached by the Iranian team and FIFA officials for help hosting players and staff.

“The United States doesn’t want the Iranian team to spend the night,” Sheinbaum said. “So they asked us, ‘Can we stay the night in Mexico?’ We said sure, no problem.’”

The U.S. Air Force plans to send a new version of the glider-like Unmanned Long-endurance Tactical Reconnaissance Aircraft (ULTRA) drone with a turbocharged engine to the Middle East for an operational evaluation. The ULTRA Turbo can fly faster and higher than the original design, while still being able to stay aloft for multiple days at a time.

Earlier examples of the ULTRA drone, developed by DZYNE Technologies, have conducted at least one previous operational evaluation in the Middle East, back in 2024. Run by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the ULTRA program is one of several avenues the service has pursued in recent years to find ways to provide additional persistent aerial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) coverage and do so at relatively low cost. The importance of this added capacity in the Middle East, in particular, has only been underscored by recent active combat operations against Iran and the ongoing blockade of Iranian ports. These capabilities that would be valuable elsewhere globally, too, including during operations across the broad expanses of the Pacific.

The Air Force’s 2027 Fiscal Year budget request includes details about the new planned operational evaluation and other plans for the ULTRA program. In April, DZYNE announced that it had secured a new contract to supply additional ULTRA Turbo aircraft to AFRL.

“FY26 [Fiscal Year 2026] funding will support an OCONUS OA [operational assessment outside of the continental United States] in CENTCOM’s [U.S. Central Command] Area of Responsibility (AOR), which is the next step (operational testing and evaluation) in developing the ULTRA system,” according to the Air Force’s budget documents. “This assessment will begin with the OCONUS OA in FY26. FY27 funding will continue the OA and fund needed capability improvements to meet user requirements.”

The Air Force’s ULTRA drones have a so-called “Multi-INT” configuration, according to the service’s budget documents, but no further specifics are provided. This term is generally used to refer to a mixture of sensors that could include electro-optical, infrared, or hyperspectral cameras; radars with synthetic aperture imaging and ground moving-target indicator modes; and/or signals intelligence suites. ULTRA drones have been seen previously at least with sensor turrets under their fuselages.

The budget documents also note that the new version of the drone is powered by a Rotax 916, a four-cylinder piston aircraft engine. The Rotax 916 is also used on a number of civilian ultralight aircraft, as well as other drones designed for military use, including the Hermes 900 from Elbit in Israel.

“The new engine unlocks power and operational capability at altitudes above 25,000 feet which enhances ULTRA’s mission flexibility and improves resilience in adverse weather,” DZYNE said in a press release announcing the new version’s first flight last year.

In February, DZYNE announced that the ULTRA Turbo had “completed a mission-representative flight achieving 60 hours at 25,000 feet altitude and 100 knots true airspeed (KTAS).”

At the time of writing, the company’s website says the baseline ULTRA design can stay in the air for more than 70 hours, fly at altitudes up to 25,000 feet and speeds up to 96 knots, and carry a payload weighing 450 pounds. ULTRA Turbo looks to trade some endurance (maximum flight time stated to be more than 60 hours) for increased speed and operational ceiling (120 knots and up to 30,000 feet).

A boost in speed would reduce the time needed to get to and from a designated operating area, especially one that is very far from the point of launch. This could also increase on-station time.

Especially for a glide-like design, being able to fly at higher altitudes can offer benefits when it comes to fuel economy. It also expands the available field of view for sensors, including when using a slanted flight pattern to peer deeper into a target area from a stand-off distance. As DYZNE has noted in past press releases, being able to operate at a higher ceiling offers benefits when it comes to getting above bad weather, as well.

DYZNE has also described the ULTRA family, the core design of which is based on a commercial sport glider, as being relatively cheap to acquire and operate, though the exact unit cost and cost per hour to fly are unclear. The drones are also said to have a small deployed footprint. The Air Force is currently asking for $16.57 million to continue work on the entire ULTRA program in the 2027 Fiscal Year.

What we know about the 2024 operational evaluation provides a more practical sense of the capabilities the ULTRA design offered even before getting a new turbocharged engine. There were indications that it involved drones flying sorties from Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates to Afghanistan, thousands of miles away, and back again. At the time, the Air Force was also using MQ-9 Reapers for these missions, but those drones offered only limited time on station after transiting from the Persian Gulf via the Arabian Sea and Pakistan.

As an aside, lower-flying MQ-9s have continued to be a key element of the U.S. military aerial ISR ecosystem in the Middle East since the ULTRA operational evaluation in 2024. At a hearing last week, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach said the Reaper had been “perhaps the most valuable player” in the latest conflict with Iran, despite dozens of reported losses. The continued demand for MQ-9 coverage, but also the growing vulnerability of those drones, had already been highlighted during previous operations targeting Houthi militants in Yemen.

As noted, active combat operations against Iran and the continued blockade of the country’s ports have only underscored the U.S. military’s immense appetite for persistent ISR coverage. In April, TWZ explored these demands in great detail in the context of the emergence of a very stealthy, extremely long-endurance, very high-altitude ISR drone commonly (but unofficially) referred to as the RQ-180, or an evolution thereof, in Greece. The RQ-180 and related designs are, of course, in an entirely different class from the ULTRA family.

As mentioned, ULTRA is also not the only effort the Air Force and other branches of the U.S. military have pursued in recent years to help provide more persistent ISR coverage in environments that do not require a highly exquisite asset like the RQ-180. Drones and balloons designed to operate in the stratosphere have also been major areas of interest, including for use in and around the Middle East and the Pacific. These are platforms that can be used as high-altitude communications nodes and even potentially for launching smaller payloads, including drones or munitions.

The continued work on ULTRA comes at a time when the Air Force is looking again at what might succeed the MQ-9. The requirements the service has put forward publicly so far, including a range of up to 932 miles and a 20-hour endurance, point to a design that would have less reach than ULTRA or ULTRA Turbo. The service also wants the Reaper replacement to be lower-cost and readily producible, allowing for greater “mass” to be committed more freely in higher-risk environments. This might leave open an operational space that an enlarged fleet of ULTRA drones could slot into as part of a larger mix of capabilities.

Altogether, though the ULTRA program is still relatively small, it does continue to expand in scale and scope, with the drones now heading back to the Middle East with new turbocharged engines.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

The idea grew as organically as the purple cauliflower at Erewhon. One day, I walked from my place in Los Feliz to the beach. I stopped at two Erewhon locations on the way to refuel. I made a reel about my journey and posted it to Instagram. My friend Fish saw it and said, “You should walk to all the Erewhons.”

I thought: I don’t have time to do that. I’m a very serious person who needs to write her novel.

But later I found myself mapping out an 89-mile hike in my Notes App, starting in Pasadena and ending in Calabasas, stopping at all 10 Erewhon locations on the way. (My route did not include the Palisades, which is closed because of the fires; nor did it include LACMA or the new Glendale locale.)

“I need to write my novel” is a thought I have a lot. I usually heed this thought and sit at the desk like a soldier, imagining the wonderful day when I’ll sell said novel — for an amount that would probably be comparable to a fraction of an Erewhon employee’s yearly salary.

Erewhon Trail map illustration by Swan Huntley.

(Erewhon Trail map illustration by Swan Huntley. )

I really wasn’t in the mood to write the novel, though. When I imagined myself pecking away at the keyboard, I felt bad. When I imagined myself walking around L.A. in my Home Depot gardening hat, I felt good. So, I put on my hat, got into an Uber headed for Pasadena, and texted my sister, “Carpe diem, bitch.” Or at least that was my intention. What I actually sent was, “Carpet diem hitch.”

Over the summer, I hiked a little bit of the Pacific Crest Trail. A few years ago, I biked the Camino in Spain. I’ve walked from Los Feliz to the beach a handful of times. I’ve traversed the length of Manhattan thrice. Before that, when I was a teenager, I used to trek from La Jolla to Del Mar while drinking beer (I carried a cooler; yes, I’m sober now) and listening to Sarah McLachlan on my Discman. I’ve always been drawn to activities that many people find tedious. Like walking forever. Or writing a novel.

Starting in the fourth century, pilgrimages were served up by the church as a way for Christians to pay penance for their sins. They were hard and dangerous and a lot of people died. Fast-forward to now: Such treks have taken on an “Eat, Pray, Love” aura. Or a “Wild “ aura. They live in the realm of self-help and of sport. They’re a way to create friction in an increasingly frictionless world. By walking from Mexico to Canada, or from Erewhon to Erewhon, I wonder whether we’re trying to get back to the part of ourselves that wants to try harder.

Or we just want to become more valuable dinner party guests.

What do you do?

I do really long walks.

I ordered a Goddess Smoothie in Pasadena, and then I repeated this tradition at every store thereafter. The smoothie costs $19, tastes like heaven, and it’s green, which my brain reads as “good for me.”

It took me a little over three hours to walk 11 miles to Silver Lake. I got a Vegan Avocado Sandwich for lunch, took an Uber home and posted a reel on Instagram about my first day on the trail. A lot of people liked it. Some of them called me a genius.

In the last 10 years, I’ve published four novels and two illustrated books for adults. I was naïve and just totally blindly happy about the publishing process in the beginning. People wanted to buy my work? Other people wanted to read it? Cool.

The first book, “We Could Be Beautiful,” did well because the publisher put real money into the marketing of it. Then that stopped happening. At a certain point, I realized that expecting too much was unwise. It was up to me to market my books myself. Which meant: social media.

They say you have to see a book cover six times before you buy the book — or consider buying it. There are a lot of book covers on Instagram. Actually, there’s a lot of everything on Instagram, and out of all the everything, is a book cover that exciting?

No.

My second reel, which depicted my journey from Silver Lake to Studio City, went a little bit viral. To date, almost 10,000 people have shared it with their friends. Why? I think the answer has something to do with a desire for levity.

If the atmosphere of the world could be depicted by an Erewhon beverage, it wouldn’t be a vibrant, cheerful one, like the bright magenta Pitaya Smoothie. It would be the dark and brooding Germ Warfare Shot. I find it perplexing that people talk about the apocalypse as if it’s happening later. It’s happening now. If we were really thinking about how climate change is affecting us, we’d be out in the streets screaming. All the time. But we’re not doing that. We’re carrying on with our usual lives. Apparently, for me, that includes walking to Erewhons.

Any long-distance trek is as much an internal journey as it is external. As I continued the trail, I started to think that maybe my endeavor was a reaction to my feeling of total powerlessness. I can’t save the polar bears. I can’t force the president to go to therapy. But I can add some levity to the brooding atmosphere.

Recently, someone commented on one of the reels, “Transplants make LA locals look bad.” This person, and many others, hear the name Erewhon and assume I’m poking fun at it. Erewhon has become a joke about L.A. — a joke that was amplified after Hailey Bieber invented her smoothie in 2022 that Erewhon dubs the “Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie.” I’ve never had it, but I can tell you that it looks like a sky full of strawberry clouds. According to an Erewhon employee I spoke to, this smoothie was a turning point. It aligned the brand with wealth and power. Now, Erewhon evokes the image of smooth-skinned, health-conscious Angelenos with money to burn.

The Erewhon Trail, then, inevitably becomes a conversation about privilege, my own included. Instagram hid my two favorite comments, because it was worried they’d be too rude to show, but I think they’re the funniest ones.

This is what white people do on Prozac.

This is what happens when a liberal arts teacher gets fired.

To both of these comments, I say: Yes.

I’m not on Prozac yet, but maybe after I get fired, I will be.

In order to get fired, though, I’d have to get an actual job, which might never happen.

The most intense leg of the trail was from Santa Monica to Calabasas. My friend Fish joined me. Google said it would take 27 miles. After marching through the mountains, I decided to use my own intelligence to make the route shorter. This cut out four miles, bringing the total to 23. For long stretches, Fish and I walked in the bike lane, or in the bramble by the side of the road. That’s the penalty for straying from Google. Your sidewalks disappear and your chances of getting hit by a car go way up.

My legs were noodles by the time we got to Calabasas. I crawled across the parking lot to show my viewers how weak they’d become. The employee at the door smiled at me and handed me a basket, and I thought about the pain of my legs, which no one could see, and about all the secret battles people are fighting all the time, and I wished that we cared about each other as much as Erewhon cares about us. Multiple employees were perfecting the already-perfect plateaus of bell peppers and apples in the produce section. Their thoughtfulness was the opposite of the vibe I encounter in most public restrooms, which is that the strangers who were there before me didn’t have many thoughts about my experience. As lame as the fact that an Erewhon smoothie costs $19 is that so many of us need to be paid to be nice to each other.

When I tell people about my love for Erewhon, they either say, “Duh, I know,” or something along the lines of, “That place is ridiculous, right?” This is almost always followed by the mention of a food item and some amount of money. Like, “Doesn’t a carrot cost $12,000?”

Actually, I tell them, no. Although sometimes, yes. There is a Japanese strawberry that’s famously expensive ($20), but that’s avoidable. I then explain that contrary to popular thought, there is a way to shop at Erewhon on a budget. A jar of soup, for example, costs $15.50. If you return the bottle, you get $3 back. In my opinion, the soup can be two meals, so that’s $6.25 per meal. A lot of the produce is either the same price or only a little bit more expensive than at other health food stores, and it’s in consistently better shape. The most important piece of making Erewhon more affordable, though, is becoming a member. You get 10% off, a free drink of the month and discounts on a bunch of items.

You might be wondering: How many Erewhon memberships has she personally sold?

She’s lost count.

The other reason to go to Erewhon is the environment. It’s visually appealing and the employee-to-customer ratio is notable, and the result is that you feel like you’re at a resort. And frankly, these simple things — a nice environment, high quality food — should be available to everyone.

Back to the question of whether or not Erewhon is ridiculous — yes, of course it is. If you sit at any of the locations and listen to the conversations around you, you’ll probably feel like you’re an extra in a satirical movie. At Studio City, I overheard two moms in white pants and cashmere sweaters talking about how, based on their Instagram recon, they figured out that so-and-so was sitting next to so-and-so at a benefit dinner. Another snippet I overheard in Studio City: “You gotta make music from the heart, man, and the label will feel it.”

It didn’t occur to me to ask for free merch until after I’d finished the trail. Armando at the Santa Monica location was the lucky recipient of my request. I explained my uniquely heroic feat to him, and then wondered aloud if perhaps I could get a sweatshirt, or at least a hat.

Sadly, Armando was unauthorized to give me merch, but he did offer me a gift card in a tiny envelope. I was very grateful. I assumed the card was worth $50 at least.

After we parted ways, I opened the envelope.

Ten dollars.

Enough to put a down payment on a smoothie.

My dreams now are so different from when I was younger. Back in grad school, I imagined that maybe I’d write a bestselling novel, and maybe it would be adapted for the screen, and maybe my tombstone would read: She contributed very serious literature to civilization.

What I never accounted for was, of course, the unknown. Maybe one day, over a decade after school ended, I’d get a lot of attention for making performance art about walking to grocery stores.

Huntley’s novels include “I Want You More,” “Getting Clean With Stevie Green,” “The Goddesses” and “We Could Be Beautiful.” She’s also the writer/illustrator of the darkly humorous “The Bad Mood Book” and “You’re Grounded: An Anti-Self-Help Book to Calm You the F— Down.” She lives in Los Angeles.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. The greatest day in high school baseball for City Section players is when you make it to the Open Division or Division I championship game and get to play on Dodger Stadium. Another memorable day happened on Saturday.

The Field of Dreams

Verdugo Hills players celebrate a 3-1 win over Taft in the City Section Division I final on Saturday at Dodger Stadium.

(Craig Weston / For The Times)

For Birmingham and Verdugo Hills, there was a celebration at Dodger Stadium after winning the City Open Division and Division I championships, respectively. But runner-ups Taft and El Camino Real got their moment of appreciation and memories, too.

It’s become clear to win the Open Division, the key requirement is having three pitchers. Birmingham’s two starters, Carlos Acuna and Nathan Soto, did their job. Acuna (11-0) had complete games in the first round and semifinals. Closer Aidan Martinez was waiting to be called upon and delivered at Dodger Stadium in support of Soto with four strikeouts in two innings.

Even with its pitching, Birmingham still needed someone to deliver a clutch hit in a 4-2 win. It was the improbable that happened. Masen Ruiz, who hadn’t come to the plate since May 7 while stuck on the bench, hit a three-run triple to break open the game after being put in as a defensive replacement. Here’s the report.

Verdugo Hills was the biggest surprise. The Dons entered the playoffs at 10-18 after finishing fourth in the Valley Mission League and defeated Taft 3-1. Anthony Velasquez threw a complete game, but the story was the Dons’ defense, from the infielders to the outfielders. Here’s the report.

Baseball

Lachlan Clark of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame will be on the mound against Norco. He threw a shutout the last time he faced the Cougars.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

The Southern Section Division 1 semifinals are set for Tuesday, and no one knows who’s going to make it to Cal State Fullerton. The games could go either way, with Harvard-Westlake at St. John Bosco and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame at Norco.

The last time Lachlan Clark faced Norco two weeks ago, he threw a shutout. He’s expected to face left-hander Landon Hovermale. It’s Notre Dame’’s first road game of the playoffs. Harvard-Westlake is also facing its first road game against the defending Division 1 champions.

Norco received a tremendous performance from Jordan Ayala in a 3-0 win over Orange Lutheran. He struck out 10 with no walks and also hit a home run. James Clark hit two home runs and Julian Garcia struck out 14 in St. John Bosco’s 5-2 win over La Mirada.

Here’s a report from Friday’s semifinals.

Newport Harbor and Laguna Beach are surging in the playoffs. Here’s a report.

Birmingham and El Camino Real have chosen to opt out of the state baseball playoffs. Pairings will be announced Sunday. It’s likely the final time that teams decide they don’t want to play in state playoffs because next season the first state championship games will take place, motivating schools to participate.

Softball

Liliana Escobar of JSerra threw a shutout in 1-0 win over Garden Grove Pacifica.

(Dylan Stewart)

The Southern Section Division 1 final in softball will take place probably Saturday with JSerra facing La Mirada at Bill Barber Park in Irvine.

The playoffs have been about the dominant performances of JSerra pitcher Liliana Escobar, who struck out 14 in eliminating defending champion Norco 2-0 last week.

The Southern Section will release final dates and times for its championships Monday.

In the City Section, Carson and Granada Hills could be headed for fourth straight final. First they each have to win their Wednesday semifinal games. Granada Hills hosts San Pedro and Carson hosts Birmingham. The championship game is expected to be Saturday in Long Beach.

Track

The moment Lawrence Kensinger of Venice broke a 53-year-old City Section record in the shotput with a mark of 65-11.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Things couldn’t have been more exciting at the City Section track and field finals when Lawrence Kensinger of Venice broke the second-longest held record in the shotput. It was set in 1973 and he obliterated it with a staggering mark of 65-11 putting him squarely in the competetion for a state title at the CIF state championships Friday and Saturday at Buchanan High School in Clovis.

Here’s a story on Kensinger’s massive accomplishment.

At the Southern Section Masters Meet, there were plenty of outstanding marks in the girls’ competition, and sprinter Benjamin Harris of Servite set himself up to win multiple state titles. Here’s a look at top qualifiers.

Volleyball

Mira Costa has proven itself to be the No. 1 boys volleyball team in the state and the Mustangs are one win away from a Division I title. They face Northern California champion Northgate on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at Fresno City College.

They’ve already accomplished what few teams have done — beat rival Loyola in three matches this season. They won the Southern California regional title with a five-set win over the Cubs.

Golf

The Southern California Regional championships are set for Thursday.

Austin Downing of San Marcos won the individual championship.

Notes . . .

Richard Simms has resigned after 21 years as girls’ soccer coach at Harvard-Westlake. His teams won four CIF championships and 18 Mission League titles. He coached the Thompson sisters, Alyssa and Gisele. Another Thompson sister is arriving in the fall….

In tennis, Harvard-Westlake continued its success by winning the Southern California Regional championship….

Steve Kennedy has resigned as softball coach at Newbury Park….

Loyola track star Ejam Yohannes has committed to Stanford….

Ernest Baskerville has resigned after seven years as basketball coach at South Pasadena….

Hurdler Peyton Brown from Trabuco Hills has committed to Cal Poly….

Terrence Worthy is the new basketball coach at West Covina….

Orange Lutheran announced that the Orange Police Department is investigating “a serious allegation” made against a former staff member believed to have worked with the football program….

Sage Hill has promoted Jethro Julian to girls basketball coach after being the interim coach last season….

Dezi Delgado, who was all-Mission League as a sophomore baseball player at Sierra Canyon, said he is transferring to Sherman Oaks Notre Dame for his senior year….

From the archives: Trent Grindlinger

Former Huntington Beach catcher Trent Grindlinger.

(Nick Koza)

After a terrific high school career playing catcher for Huntington Beach, Trent Grindlinger has been equally impressive as a freshman for Tennessee.

He led the team going into last week’s SEC tournament action with a .357 batting average, eight home runs and 28 RBIs.

His younger brother, Jared, is expected to be a first-round pick in this summer’s amateur draft.

Here’s a story from 2024 on the Grindlinger family of baseball players.

Recommendations

From the Los Angeles Times, a look at former Gardena Serra receiver Marqise Lee going back to earn his degree at USC.

From Philadelphiabaseballreview, a story on a youth pitcher throwing 160 pitches.

From the Los Angeles Times, a story on three-year JV player JJ Saffie of El Camino Real taking advantage of his opportunity to finally play varsity. He had two hits at Dodger Stadium.

Tweets you might have missed

Until next time….

Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.

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May 25 (UPI) — With the United States and Iran reportedly nearing a peace deal, oil prices fell slightly below $100 per barrel early Monday, suggesting optimism from traders to start the week.

Gas prices also declined slightly in the United States in the last week, but remain above $4.50 per gallon for regular on Memorial Day.

President Donald Trump has indicated that negotiations are “proceeding nicely,” and Iran acknowledged that talks have progressed but that a deal has not been reached, The BBC reported.

In European trading, Brent crude dropped to $95.04 per barrel and WTI futures dropped dropped to $91.02 per barrel — both declines of more than 5% — the Wall Street Journal reported.

Even with gas prices high, The Hill reported that more than 39 million people were projected to travel the roads during Memorial Day weekend, even as gas prices have remained consistently high since the start of the war in Iran.

Regular gas on Monday averaged $4.50 per gallon, which is down $0.01 from one week ago, but still $0.40 higher than one month ago, AAA reported.

Similar, diesel averaged $5.59 per gallon on Monday, which is down $0.03 from one week ago, and $0.40 more than one month ago.

“Memorial Day travel is still reaching record levels, but with the smallest year-over-year increase in more than a decade,” said Tiffany Wright, spokesperson for AAA’s The Auto Club.

“Although travel demand remains strong, higher fuel prices and persistent inflation may cause some travelers to shorten trips, delay plans or stay closer to home.”

The longer that the United States and Iran take to agree on a peace plan and the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, gas prices are unlikely to decrease significantly and energy markets will take a while to get back to normal, Axios reported.

“Gas prices are currently falling, but until we see an agreement signed and a significant amount of ships transit the Strait, the national average prices of gasoline will likely remain well above $4.00 per gallon,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for Gas Buddy.

Two years ago, Bashir Muhammad received an invitation to attend a journalism summit in Niamey but declined. That decision, and the argument it provoked, told him everything he needed to know.

He runs one of the growing number of Hausa-language digital news platforms that have emerged across northern Nigeria in the past decade, serving local audiences that legacy English-language media have largely ignored. That profile made him a target. In 2024, Bashir was approached by Mariam Laouali – a woman known across West African Hausa media circles as Sarkin Abzin. She is a prominent Nigerien broadcaster and, as he would come to understand, a committed supporter of the military regime that had seized power in Niamey the previous year.

In July 2023, the military junta, led by General Abdurrahman Tchiani, overthrew the democratically elected President Muhammad Bazoum. The coup met with strong resistance from the international community, particularly the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), under the leadership of Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu. This led to severe diplomatic tensions between ECOWAS and the new military regime in Niger, culminating in threats of invasion from Nigerian leaders and ultimately the division of ECOWAS and the formation of the Alliance of the Sahel States (AES). While some diplomatic efforts have been restored, tensions remain, and the Niger Republic, supported by Russia and its AES allies, has been engaged in information efforts to attack ECOWAS countries, particularly Nigeria and Benin Republic. Bashir felt this approach could be part of the recruitment efforts. 

The pitch sounded professional. Sarkin Abzin told him of a pan-African summit of Hausa-language journalists to be convened in Niamey. It was the first of its kind, according to her. She described it as an exercise in cross-border media cooperation and a chance for journalists from across the continent’s Hausa-speaking belt to build something together. 

Bashir had questions, but he did not like the answers, so he declined.

Sarkin Abzin pushed back, insisting that he should consider it, but he became more suspicious. The conversation escalated. By the end, she was visibly frustrated. It ended there. 

“She didn’t take it well,” Bashir told HumAngle, sitting in his home office while casually scrolling on his computer, searching for her Facebook page. “The way she reacted told you this wasn’t just about journalism.”

He was right. It was not all about journalism. The summit in Niamey was just bait. What Sarkin Abzin and her sponsors in the Niger Republic seemed to want was access to northern Nigeria’s forty million Hausa speakers and to exploit their grievances and distrust of Nigerian leaders.

Many Nigerians were consumed by anxiety and bitterness over the country’s dire economic pressures. Many also harboured deep anger toward their leaders – particularly President Bola Tinubu, against whom protests erupted in August 2024, during which some demonstrators raised Russian flags and called for a coup. For that reason, this was a country where recruiting the discontented would come easily, because the grievances were already there, waiting.

Pro-junta actors and AES-aligned influence networks have been weaponising TikTok’s virality to erode confidence in Nigerian democratic leadership, particularly targeting President Tinubu and the broader ECOWAS establishment.

Online influencers and sympathetic media outlets, including some based within Nigeria itself, have circulated claims accusing Nigerian politicians of backing insurgent networks and conspiring with foreign powers to destabilise the AES states.

The recruitment drive

Sarkin Abzin’s tour of northern Nigerian newsrooms and radio stations in 2024 was, in retrospect, the visible edge of something much larger. She moved through Kano, through the northwest, knocking on the doors of editors and station managers, carrying the same pitch: come to Niamey, meet your counterparts, and build solidarity. Several journalists, like Bashir, declined quietly. A general manager at a prominent radio station in Kano, who pleaded anonymity, told HumAngle that Sarkin Abzin had reached him, but that he had turned her down.

“Looking at the timing when there was a diplomatic rift between Nigeria and Niger, and the suspicion of foreign influence, I felt it was unwise to join,” he said.

However, not everyone had the luxury of that suspicion, or the will to act on it. Musa Abba (not real name), a journalist at a private radio station in Kebbi State, saw a conference invitation and a chance to connect with Hausa journalists beyond Nigeria’s borders. His station was invited and the managers nominated him. Accommodation and food were covered by the organisers. The journey, according to him, was arranged through the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), in a vehicle shared with other attendees and, notably, with some politicians and government officials who had also been invited.

What he found in Niamey, however, upended the premise of the invitation entirely.

He concluded that “it was a sophisticated plan to form Hausa journalists who will be promoting the Nigerien junta and anti-West sentiment across Hausa-speaking countries.”

On her TikTok page, Sarkin Abzin does not hide her bias. She promotes Sahel juntas and specifically asks her followers to promote Tchiani. 

In a social media exchange with Fati Niger, a Kannywood musician originally from the Niger Republic who had called for a return to democratic rule, Sarkin Abzin’s response betrayed her sentiments. “We don’t care about entertainment,” she mentioned in a TikTok video. What mattered, she said, was building their country and confronting those she described as “hypocrites and oppressors within the West,” as well as “hypocrites among us here, those in exile in every country in the world, including Nigeria, and those Nigerians who support the old system [of democracy] and do not stand behind these soldiers under Abdourahamane Tchiani.”

The summit Sarkin Abzin organised had state backing, institutional cover, and a well-hosted programme. It had everything, in other words, that a genuine journalism conference would have – except genuine journalism at its centre.

The irony is that the junta in Niger has been repressing and arresting journalists in the country. Moussa Ngom, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)’s Francophone Africa representative, explained that “arrest and detention have become tools of choice for Nigerien authorities to try to control information they find undesirable.”

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that in October 2025 six journalists were arrested in Niamey – Moussa Kaka and Abdoul Aziz of Saraounia TV; Ibro Chaibou and Souleymane Brah from the online publication Voice of the People; Youssouf Seriba of Les Échos du Niger; and Oumarou Kané, founder of the magazine Le Hérisson – over their alleged role in circulating a government press briefing invitation on social media, criticising the introduction of the mandatory payment for “Solidarity Fund for the Safeguarding of the Homeland”, a form of security levy in Niger. 

The conference that wasn’t

The organisation behind the summit, Kungiyar Yan Jarida Na Afrika Masu Magana Da Harshen Hausa or, in French, Résegu Africain des journalistes en langue Haoussa (Association of Hausa-speaking Journalists in Africa), was founded by Sarkin Abzin herself. She held a senior position at RTN, the Nigerien state broadcaster. Her organisation, she told prospective attendees, had the backing of the Nigerien government institutions. 

Inside the hall at the Centre International de Conférences Mahatma Gandhi in Niamey, when the summit was opened on Aug. 24, 2024, the keynote speakers were not press freedom advocates, editors or media economists. They were politicians. Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine appeared as Tchiani’s representative, delivering a speech whose original French had been translated into Hausa. He spoke about Niger’s exit from ECOWAS as a show of sovereignty.

The junta had, by this point, accused ECOWAS countries, particularly Nigeria and Benin, of colluding with France to destabilise Niger and sabotage its economy- allegations that, according to independent fact-checkers, had no credible evidentiary basis but which had proven effective at consolidating domestic support by replacing accountability with external threat. The Niamey summit was the moment that the narrative was offered to Nigerian voices who could carry it home.

Among those who spoke was Hamza Almustafa, a Nigerian retired general and a politician who used the platform to denounce the West. Najaatu Muhammad, a prominent northern Nigerian political figure, delivered what several attendees described as the most incendiary address of the proceedings. She told her audience that the Nigerian federal government was conspiring to sever Niger from Nigeria – to cut through bonds of religion and culture that no colonial border had ever truly divided. Abuja, she suggested, served Paris and Washington before it served Kano or Sokoto.

“It was not really a journalists’ meeting,” Musa told HumAngle, “By the time the politicians started speaking, those of us who understood what was happening knew we had made a mistake.”

Sarkin Abzin’s organisation had achieved, in a single day, what overt propaganda rarely manages: it had placed legitimate reporters in a room and given the junta’s narratives the texture of a press conference. The journalists went to Niamey to cover something. They came back as part of it. 

HumAngle reached out to Sarkin Abzin for comment. She did not respond. 

The Hausa messages 

The Niamey summit was not the opening move in this campaign. 

On Christmas Day of 2024, General Tchiani sat before the cameras of Radio-Télévision du Niger and delivered what a casual viewer might have mistaken for a holiday address. Although French had been Niger’s official language, he spoke in Hausa – a lingua franca in both Niger and most of northern Nigeria, spoken by millions across West Africa. 

His choice of language was deliberate. The message was not addressed to Niamey alone. It was addressed to Kano and other Hausa-speaking states, particularly in Northern Nigeria, where there is an already visible pro-Russian and anti-West sentiment, as reflected in 2024 when Russian flags were raised during a nationwide protest against insecurity and economic hardship.

The claims Tchiani made were engineered to sound verified. He alleged that France had paid Nigerian authorities to establish a military base in Borno State with the sole aim of destabilising Niger and its Sahel Alliance partners. He also accused France of supplying Boko Haram fighters in the Lake Chad basin with anti-aircraft weapons. He claimed that France and ISWAP had struck an agreement to establish a Lakurawa training camp in the Gaba forest near Sokoto, and that Nigerian leaders were aware. He named Nigerian security officials by name. He cited dates and operational specifics to express the grammar of verified intelligence, though deployed in the service of disinformation.

The hook embedded in the allegations was not entirely invented, which is precisely what made it effective. Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters had classified Lakurawa as a terrorist organisation with jihadist affiliations just weeks earlier, in November 2024. HumAngle’s own investigations had revealed the group had operated in the northwest for around six years, with local security authorities having previously and dangerously dismissed it as a harmless faction of herders from across the border. The name was already known. The fear was already settled. Tchiani simply attached a culprit to both.

In Sokoto and Zamafara, where communities had been facing terrorist violence for years, the allegation did not sound outlandish.

“People said, ‘We always knew France was behind this,’” a civil society worker in Kano who monitors social media, Muhammad Hamza, told HumAngle. “Tchiani just confirmed what they already believed.”

When BBC Hausa published testimonies refuting Tchiani’s claims, the reaction was contemptuous. “We know you won’t agree because you’re all on the same side,” one commenter wrote. “But we believe what he said. We have seen the signs.”

A survey conducted by HumAngle in Kano State found that 50 per cent of the respondents believed Tchiani’s claims, 30 per cent were undecided, and only 20 per cent rejected them outright. Many pointed to President Tinubu’s perceived closeness to France as a reason for suspicion. 

One respondent, Abubakar Saidu, explained his reasoning, “President Tinubu has been close to France since he assumed power, and we all know that France can create terrorists to attack Niger due to their diplomatic fallout.”

Nuhu Ribadu, Nigeria’s National Security Advisor, had attempted to refute the claim, but it was unsuccessful. According to him, “Nigeria has never given its land to any foreign troops—not even Britain. When the [United States] requested a military base, we denied them, but Niger gave them.”

In a country with an audience that receives official rebuttals as confirmation of the original charge, its psyche could easily be captured. Nigerians didn’t believe Ribadu. 

“This is the new reality of information warfare. It is no longer just about truth versus falsehood. It is about who controls the language in which truth is told. It is about who defines the enemy—and, ultimately, who is believed,” Kano-based security analyst Balarabe Ismail told HumAngle in April 2025.

Tchiani returned to the theme in June 2025, this time in a three-hour televised address delivered in Hausa, Zarma, and French, in which he again accused Nigeria of conspiring with France and the United States to sponsor terrorism, alleging a covert meeting in Abuja in December 2024 attended by CIA agents and Nigerian security officials who discussed arming groups targeting Niger. 

The headquarters of disinformation 

Analysts had already identified increased activity from disinformation networks affiliated with Russia in Niger following the coup in Niger. 

According to a report by Al Jazeera, since the July 2023 coup, Niger had become the latest hotbed of disinformation in the Sahel, with social media inundated by false rumours, misleading videos, and manipulated audio clips. The template, according to the report, was borrowed from Mali and Burkina Faso, where Wagner-linked networks had deployed online assets, locally cultivated contacts, and Russian state media to produce a sustained information environment that preceded, accelerated, and then legitimised military takeovers. In Niger, the same playbook ran faster because the infrastructure was already warm.

Following the death of Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin in 2023, these operations were absorbed into two successor structures: the Russian Africa Corps, which provides military presence on the ground, and the Africa Initiative news agency, connected to Russian intelligence services and overseen from Moscow. Africa Initiative is an upgrade and institutional legitimacy that Wagner never possessed. With press credentials, cultural programming, and regional language capacity, it successfully dressed influence as media development.

The three Alliance of Sahel States junta leaders — in Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso — have converged around a shared political project. They launched a joint television channel to promote a unified narrative across their territories, a regional media infrastructure whose audience mandate extends explicitly beyond their borders — into the Hausa-speaking communities of northern Nigeria, who share language, faith, and enough legitimate frustration to make the narratives land without the need for fabrication in every detail. 

Sarkin Abzin’s journalist recruitment initiative sits within this structure. The goal may not have been to turn Nigerian journalists into salaried agents but to create a class of northern Nigerian media voices who feel a degree of solidarity with the junta’s framing. 

A security analyst who works on influence operations in West Africa and spoke to HumAngle on condition of anonymity offered some insight. “What Niger and Russia are doing is not complicated,” he said. “They are creating the conditions under which Nigerian citizens begin to see their own government as the enemy.”

The operation has not yet achieved its full objective. Bashir Muhammad’s refusal was one of the resistance points among others. Some journalists who attended the Niamey summit have since spoken, cautiously, about the gap between what they were promised and what they found. The WhatsApp group formed after the summit, according to Musa Abba, the journalist who attended, had almost collapsed. 

“They promised to continue communicating via WhatsApp and to organise more summits in other countries, but more than a year later they said nothing and group members didn’t say anything either,” he said. Even Sarkin Abzin’s Facebook page is no longer active.  

This article was produced by HumAngle with support from the African Academy for Open Source Investigations (AAOSI) and the African Digital Democracy Observatory (ADDO) as part of an initiative by Code for Africa (CfA). Visit https://disinfo.africa/ for more information.

In 1951, not long after her breakthrough appearances in “All About Eve” and “The Asphalt Jungle,” Marilyn Monroe went to college: She enrolled in a pair of 10-week classes at UCLA’s adult-extension program, both covering literature. Looky-loos peeked through the windows. Some likely assumed a publicity stunt. But Monroe’s passion for books was sincere. An orphan who bounced around upward of a dozen foster homes and orphanages regretted that she’d never graduated high school, she moved often in her life but always made sure her books came wherever she went.

Gail Crowther’s “Marilyn and Her Books” is the story of that library, though more precisely it’s about what we’ve projected upon Monroe when we’re asked to consider that she had one. Our prevailing cultural reflex, then and now, is skepticism larded with misogyny. A famous 1955 photo of her sitting in a Long Island playground reading James Joyce’s “Ulysses” — one of 50 known photos of her reading — is routinely scoffed at whenever it’s posted online. (Crowther gathers up a sampling of misogynistic comments.)

But Crowther’s sleuthing determines that Joyce’s novel was a regular companion of hers, and she was particularly enchanted with Molly Bloom’s closing soliloquy. As an actor who had to be exceedingly smart to play dumb blondes, she used the shoot to make “a profound statement about her social positioning.”

Marilyn Monroe reads the book “To the Actor: On the Technique of Acting” by Michael Chekhov in a quiet moment at the Ambassador Hotel in New York.

(Ed Feingersh / Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images)

Writing about Monroe’s reading habits demands a lot of speculation on the part of Crowther, who’s written engaging books on Dorothy Parker, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. We know a lot about the star’s library — when she died in 1962, she owned more than 400 books, diligently cataloged and auctioned in 1999. There’s documented marginalia and scribblings that suggest a serious reader, and anecdotes about her reciting poems at parties, reading Proust on set, and expounding on Whitman, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. She had strong opinions about Hemingway: “Those big tough guys are so sick, they aren’t even all that tough. … They always want to kill something to prove themselves.”

And Crowther literally has the receipts from Los Angeles and Beverly Hills stores like the Pickwick Book Shop, Martindale’s Book Store and Hunter’s Books, where she purchased titles that were practical (“How to Live With a Cat”), relatable (“Sister Carrie”) and weighty (a three-volume life of Sigmund Freud).

Her third husband, playwright Arthur Miller, suggests the purchases were largely a pose: In his memoir, he wrote that aside from some short stories and Colette’s “Cheri” she likely never read anything start to finish. It would be nice to know more, but as Crowther pointedly observes multiple times, journalists never thought to ask her about her reading. When the subject of literature came up, Monroe seemed compelled to play to ditzy expectations. After telling interviewers she wanted to play Grushenka in an adaptation of “The Brothers Karamazov,” they asked her if she could spell the character’s name. She demurred.

A clearer historical record might have blunted the sexist comments that have stalked her, and given Crowther an opportunity to do less guesswork. “Marilyn and Her Books” is scaffolded with 15 chapters, each dedicated to a question that usually can’t be answered in full: “Did Marilyn read all her books?” (probably not, who does?), “Did Marilyn suffer from imposter syndrome?” (probably, who doesn’t?). Some questions feel like attempts to pad the pages (“Are there any surprising omissions from Marilyn’s personal library?” “How did Marilyn’s reading compare to that of her contemporaries?”). The elegiac opening and closing chapters, in which Crowther imagines visiting Monroe’s home and scanning her shelves, also add to the feeling that too much is being extrapolated out of not enough information.

Curiously, the book also dwells little on Monroe’s own literary ambitions. Crowther shares a few scraps of despairing, Plathian verse, but almost entirely neglects her unfinished posthumous memoir, published in 1974 as “My Story.” Its relative shapelessness, along with its use of a ghostwriter, doesn’t bolster her literary credentials, but its existence points to Monroe’s ambition to have them.

And there’s plenty to say about the literary work that Monroe herself has inspired, including Joyce Carol Oates’ 2000 masterpiece, “Blonde,” or Sharon Olds’ poem “The Death of Marilyn Monroe,” in which a man who carted away her body is shocked into the reality of “a woman breathing, just an ordinary woman breathing.” Writers have afforded Monroe the grace and status in death that she was rarely afforded in life.

But the core question that drives the book, the subject of a central chapter, is valuable: “Why is Marilyn Monroe’s reading ability doubted?” Among other things, Crowther argues, Monroe suffered from a “poisonous cocktail of patriarchy, industry decisions, cultural stereotypes, social expectations, Marilyn’s unwitting complicity,” and more. Crowther keeps her focus narrowly on Monroe, but it doesn’t require a substantial mental leap to see how Monroe is just one example of a cover-model-worthy woman artist being told she’s a try-hard for demonstrating intelligence. (To pick just one example, the pop star Dua Lipa’s book club has a demonstrated high-literary bent, selecting Tommy Orange, Olga Tokarczuk and Percival Everett, which got her mocked as “an alien spaceship touching down in a medieval peasant village.”)

“Marilyn’s reading formed a concerted effort to overcome any inadequacies she perceived in herself,” Crowther writes. That, too, made her a lot like anybody who goes to books to satisfy gaps in our knowledge. We can do that in private, to avoid embarrassment. For Monroe, though, the effort was always public and always suspect — the culture was attuned to see any book in her hand as a prop. For most people, reading is an escape route. For Monroe it only led to one more cul-de-sac.

Athitakis is a writer in Phoenix and author of “The New Midwest.”

The U.S. dollar edged lower, as investors tracked shifting developments around a potential Iran deal and the resulting moves in oil prices, which influenced inflation expectations and safe-haven demand.

The dollar index (DXY), which measures the greenback against a

CONCORD, N.C. — When Daniel Suarez was struggling to make his name in auto racing, he would often get phone calls from Kyle Busch offering words of encouragement and urging him to keep working.

That made his crown jewel Cup Series victory Sunday night all the more special.

Suarez benefited from a crucial pit call, then caught a break from Mother Nature to win the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600, capping an emotional day in which the racing world remembered the late Busch.

Suarez became the first Mexican-born driver to win the Coke 600. It was his third Cup Series win and first since 2024.

The victory was especially emotional for Suarez, who previously raced for Kyle Busch Motorsports.

“Kyle, he was special,” Saurez said as he teared up. “I was doing this for Kyle, for [his wife] Samatha, for [his children] Brexton and Lennix and for all of his family.”

A non-factor for most of the race, Suarez gambled and took two tires during a late pit stop, then held off Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin on restarts before the race was called when the sky opened up and rain drenched the track shortly before midnight Eastern time.

NASCAR quickly made the decision to call the race with 27 laps remaining.

Bell finished second; Hamlin was third.

The two Joe Gibbs Racing teammates had a chance to catch Suarez on the two restarts, but couldn’t clear his No. 7 Chevrolet.

“It’s a bummer,” Bell said, who won the rain-shortened 2024 Coca-Cola 600. “It wasn’t meant to be today. That’s 2026 for us.”

Hamlin said he was “just a little unlucky.”

“The 20 car (Bell) and us were just really battling because we knew whoever could clear him (would win the race),” Hamlin said. “We were really good all day. We just didn’t get to see it through.”

The race came just three days after Busch’s death sent shockwaves throughout the motorsports world and beyond. The 41-year-old Busch died after severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis, resulting in rapid and overwhelming complications, according to a statement released by his family.

The two-time Cup Series champion and winner of a record 234 races across NASCAR’s three national series had become unresponsive while practicing in a Chevrolet simulator Wednesday, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no details were released by the family.

Busch’s family attended the race and NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell told them they are part of the NASCAR community and “we got you.”

NASCAR and CMS honored Busch with his No. 8 and signature on the frontstretch grass and a highway billboard near the main entrance of the track. The U.S. Army Golden Knights carried a Busch flag prior to the race and each of the 39 cars in field carried a small, black No. 8 decal.

Kyle Larson won the first stage race. Hamlin won the second stage and Bell the third.

Crashing out

Defending champion Ross Chastain crashed out when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. clipped his car in Turn 2 with 81 laps remaining in the race.

Connor Zilisch and Austin Cindric only made it 52 laps before getting caught up in a crash. Cindric got turned around and Zilisch came crashing in to the side of his No. 2 Ford, ending both drivers’ day.

Chase Elliott, a two-time winner this year, hit the outside wall and ping-ponged into the inside wall on Lap 90. That car was beyond repair and he finished 37th.

“I was trying to make something happen and I stepped over the line,” Elliott said.

Replacing Busch

Austin Hill, a regular driver in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series for Richard Childress Racing, took Busch’s spot in the race and finished 26th. He drove the No. 33 car after RCR temporarily retired the No. 8 until Busch’s 11-year-old son Brexton is ready to drive.

Austin Dillon, went behind the wall with damage to the front of his car with 56 laps to go, ending any hope of an emotional win for RCR. He finished 32nd.

Reed writes for the Associated Press.

At least 24 people were killed and more than 50 injured when a suicide car bomb detonated on a train carrying soldiers in Quetta, capital of the southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan, on Sunday.

The attack came amid Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s four-day visit to China, and the day before his meeting in Beijing with China’s President Xi Jinping, marking 75 years of diplomatic ties between the two nations.

Pakistan is among an exclusive group of countries China regards as an “all-weather strategic partner”, with ties featuring close economic, trade and security cooperation.

Responsibility for the train attack was claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), an armed Baloch separatist group which, apart from calling for an independent state, also strongly objects to large-scale Chinese investment in the region.

While the BLA has long carried out attacks that have killed civilians and members of the security forces in Balochistan and beyond, there has been a recent uptick in such incidents.

We examine what is behind this increase in attacks:

What happened in Sunday’s attack?

Reporting from the scene, Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder said several houses and buildings adjacent to the railway line were severely damaged in the blast, which caused train carriages to overturn and catch fire.

According to local media reports, a state of emergency was declared at public hospitals in Quetta, with doctors and other medical staff ordered to remain on duty.

Footage shared online showed charred vehicles and train carriages lying on their sides, with thick plumes of black smoke rising into the sky.

Pakistan has experienced several attacks by separatist groups in recent months. The attacks have increased in ferocity and have also targeted Chinese workers amid protests over Beijing-backed infrastructural projects in Balochistan.

As part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project – one of the main arms of China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” designed to improve trading routes – China’s Xinjiang region has been connected to Pakistan’s deep-sea Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea in Balochistan.

Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif condemned Sunday’s train attack in Quetta in a post on X.

“Such cowardly acts of terrorism cannot weaken the resolve of the people of Pakistan. We remain steadfast in our determination to eliminate terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” he said.

He added that while initial reports indicated a suicide bombing, this has not been officially confirmed. If it is, Yunas Samad, an emeritus professor of South Asian Studies at the University of Bradford in the UK, told Al Jazeera, “this would reflect tactics that insurgent organisations in the region have increasingly adopted over recent years”.

“There are also persistent claims regarding the circulation of sophisticated weaponry originating from stockpiles left behind after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan,” he said.

Are we seeing a new phase of armed separatist attacks in Balochistan?

According to research gathered by the independent, Islamabad-based think tank Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, Balochistan recorded at least 254 attacks in 2025 – roughly 26 percent more than in 2024.

A December 2025 report published by independent conflict monitor Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) found that separatists had also intensified attacks and pressure on security forces. The report said the number of attacks using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and grenades, mainly targeting convoys and police stations, grew by more than 65 percent in the first 11 months of 2025, compared to the same time period in 2024.

The Global Terrorism Index (GTI) report this year found that there has been more Baloch armed group activity in Pakistan in 2025 as well. The GTI is an annual report published by the Australia-based independent think tank Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).

Its 2026 report states that the BLA was responsible for Pakistan’s largest terror attack of 2025 – when the Jaffar Express, a train travelling from Quetta to Peshawar, was hijacked in March.

The BLA claimed responsibility and reported that six military personnel had been killed. Hundreds of people were taken hostage from the train, which was carrying 400 passengers.

“What can reasonably be said is that, following the earlier coordinated attack on the Jaffar Express, the Pakistani authorities appear to have intensified security measures around transport infrastructure, military personnel and key lines of communication,” Samad, of Bradford University, told Al Jazeera.

“The fact that this latest incident nevertheless occurred may suggest that militant groups retain a significant operational capability despite those efforts,” he noted.

The group stunned Pakistan’s security establishment in 2022 when it ‌stormed army and navy bases. In August 2024, militants carried out coordinated ⁠attacks across Balochistan, including highway assaults in which passengers were pulled from buses and shot after identity checks.

“While statistics in such conflicts are always contested and should be treated cautiously, they do indicate that the intensity of the conflict has not significantly diminished,” Samad said.

“Whether this constitutes an entirely ‘new phase’ is perhaps too strong a conclusion at present. However, it does appear to indicate a degree of resurgence in militant capability and confidence among sections of the Baloch insurgency.”

Who are the BLA and major Baloch armed groups?

The BLA, which has a suicide squad called the Majeed Brigade, says it is fighting for the independence of Balochistan, a province located in Pakistan’s southwest and bordering Afghanistan to the north and ⁠Iran to the west.

It is the largest of several ethnic separatist groups that have been fighting the federal government for decades. Balochistan’s mountainous border region serves as a safe haven and training ground for both Baloch separatist fighters and Islamist armed groups.

The BLA often targets infrastructure and security forces in Balochistan, but has also struck in other areas – most notably the southern port city of Karachi.

The BLA has deployed women suicide bombers, including in an attack on Chinese nationals in Karachi, and was designated a “foreign terrorist organisation” by the United States in August 2025 in a move welcomed by the Pakistani government. Analysts say BLA is particularly known for its ability to recruit young, often well-educated fighters.

The group, separately, was at the centre of tit-for-tat strikes in 2024 between Iran and Pakistan over what each said were armed group bases on each other’s territory, which brought the neighbours to the brink of war.

What is the Baloch cause?

Home to about 15 million of Pakistan’s roughly 240 million people, according to the 2023 census, Balochistan is the country’s poorest region despite its wealth of natural resources, including coal, gold, copper and gas.

These resources generate significant revenue for the federal government – unfairly, according to the BLA, which wants Balochistan’s natural wealth to belong to its people and rejects federal control over resource extraction and security.

The province is Pakistan’s largest by area, but smallest by population. It has a long Arabian Sea coastline, not far from the Gulf’s Strait of Hormuz oil shipping lane.

Balochistan is also home to one of Pakistan’s major deep-sea ports at Gwadar, a crucial trade corridor for China’s $65bn investment in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a wing of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road initiative.

The province is home to key mining projects, including Reko Diq, which is operated by Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold and is believed to be one of the world’s largest gold and copper mines.

China also operates a gold and copper mine in Balochistan.

The province – which was annexed by Pakistan in 1948, six months after partition from India in August 1947 – has a long history of marginalisation. It has since experienced at least five separatist uprisings.

Separatist sentiment was particularly high in the 2000s, around the time the BLA emerged. Analysts of Baloch resistance movements say it was led by Balach Marri, the son of veteran Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri.

After the government of military ruler Pervez Musharraf killed prominent Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti in 2006, the separatist movement escalated.

Rebel fighters have targeted Pakistan’s army and Chinese interests, in particular the strategic port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea, accusing Beijing of helping Islamabad to exploit the province. Fighters have killed Chinese citizens working in the region and attacked Beijing’s consulate and language centre in Karachi.

More recently, the BLA has also attacked civilians and migrant labourers from other provinces, a shift that officials say marks an escalation in tactics.

Pakistan accuses India and Afghanistan of backing Baloch armed fighters, an allegation both countries deny.

“Baloch separatist groups themselves have, at times, sought to internationalise their cause and last year publicly appealed for diplomatic recognition by India,” Samad said.

“However, establishing clear evidence of direct state support is considerably more difficult, and much of the discussion in this area remains politically contested.”

Hundreds of Baloch activists, many of them women, have protested in Islamabad and Balochistan over alleged abuses by security forces – accusations the government denies.

Over time, the BLA has set itself apart as a group explicitly committed to Balochistan’s full independence from Pakistan. Unlike more moderate Baloch nationalist parties, which press politically for greater provincial autonomy, the BLA has consistently rejected compromise.

Why is this significant now?

Regional stability and international investment

The attack comes as Prime Minister Sharif meets with China’s President Xi in Beijing to discuss economic and security cooperation – something the BLA is strongly opposed to.

The movement could pose a challenge to Pakistan’s attempts to retain Chinese and American investment, experts say, if it reveals a deeper instability.

The Baloch separatist movement is one of the major unresolved questions over Pakistan’s statehood. It is a constant reminder of the challenges of the Pakistani state to stay united, they say.

“More broadly, the persistence of insurgency has had implications for Pakistan’s wider political system,” Samad explained. “Security concerns in Balochistan have increasingly shaped governance and political discourse, strengthening the role of the military and security establishment in national affairs and undermining the democratisation process.”

“Internationally, the issue matters because Pakistan remains a nuclear-armed state of enormous strategic importance,” Samad told Al Jazeera.

“While speculation about state fragmentation is highly premature, any significant escalation in internal instability in a country with nuclear capabilities inevitably attracts international concern. For that reason alone, developments in Balochistan are likely to remain closely watched both regionally and globally.”

Rare-earth metals

Another major issue is that geological assessments suggest Balochistan contains 12 of the 17 rare-earth minerals on the periodic table. Rare earths are critical minerals used to manufacture a vast array of modern items, including batteries, clocks, wiring, military hardware, smartphones and semiconductors, among other technological products.

Since the start of his second term, US President Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed plans to diversify Washington’s stockpile of critical minerals in order to reduce reliance on China, which currently dominates the supply and processing of the world’s rare-earth minerals.

When Pakistan’s Prime Minister Sharif met with Trump at the White House in September 2025, he offered the US access to critical minerals and rare earths.

Then, in December 2025, the US announced a $1.25bn investment in critical minerals mining at Reko Diq to drive “economic growth in Balochistan”.

CHRISTINE McGuinness looked stunning as she soaked up the Bank Holiday sun in a tiny black bikini.

The model, 38, had fun and cooled down in a paddling pool filled with plastic balls.

In a video posted to Instagram, the media personality took to the water in a skimpy black bikini with thong bottoms.

She grinned widely as her daughter jumped into the pool making a big splash.

The star wrote over the reel that she felt her problems were melting away as she spent time with her kids, with the clip first starting at “99 problems” and then ending with “0 problems” at the end of the clip.

Christine finished the look off with a pair of chunky sunglasses and kept her hair loosely falling down over her shoulders.

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Captioning the post, Christine wrote: “My mummy magic medicine, always. Life is just better with them.

“Wishing you all a Gawjus bank holiday, half term, heatwave!”

The star added in brackets: Stay hydrated and wear protection always!
sorry to be that mum!”

Fans of Christine thought she looked stunning and dropped compliments in the post’s comment’s section.

One user said: “Stunning as always Christine, hope you’re having a lovely bank holiday x”

A second shared: “Beautiful mummy.”

A third added: “If I had your body I would wear that to Tesco. Just saying.”

The sexy video comes just weeks after Christine was spotted locking lips with DJ Roxxxan in her Land Rover Defender.

They were first linked when we revealed they flew to Ibiza together in 2024.

The DJ — real name Roxanne Conway — is also a model and describes herself as “masculine”.

Christine was recently also linked to former boxing champ Nicola Adams, 43, after saying she would “love to have a wife one day”.

She added: “Not like a legalised marriage, but like a blessing, a celebration of love.”

Christine has also been growing close to Olympic boxer Nicola Adams, who has confessed that she’s “crazy” about the blonde bombshell.

While neither of the two women have directly addressed the speculation, Nicola took to social media to confess she’s head over heels right now. 

She shared a clip of herself dancing with her eyes closed with the caption: “Them – you’re not that crazy about that woman”

Nicola added: “Who me? [laughing emoji].”

Christine and Nicola attended The DIVA Awards 2026 recently, which is an event which celebrates the achievements of LGBTQIA women and non-binary people.

And an onlooker told the Daily Mail: “They were inseparable and looked like they were a couple.”

Christine and Take Me Out host Paddy McGuinness, 52, divorced in 2024 but still live together in Cheshire with their three children.

SOMETIMES it feels like every hidden gem in Devon has already been discovered.

But one of the prettiest villages in the UK is hiding in plain sight, and it’s even minutes from the beach.

Follow The Sun’s award-winning travel team on Instagram and Tiktok for top holiday tips and inspiration @thesuntravel.

The South Devon village of Cockington in Torquay has just been named one of the prettiest places for a day trip or staycation in the UK this summer.

Named by The Independent as the fourth prettiest village in the UK, the publication commented that Cockington is a “chocolate-box village” and the “old thatched cottages, rural countryside and Cockington Court manor house are sure to charm”.

Having grown up nearby and popping down to the village most summer weekends, I couldn’t agree more.

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If you are driving from Torquay seafront, it takes around five minutes to reach the main car park – though, due to being a small village, the small car parks can get extremely busy in the summer months.

Instead, do what my family always did to avoid nightmare parking by walking from the seafront, which to the entrance to the village’s woodland walking trails, takes about 10 to 15 minutes from the beach.

The trails lead directly to the village, which takes about 20 minutes to reach through shady woodland and across small streams.

And trust me, you’ll know when you have reached the village as you see houses change to cottages, all with thatched roofs.

Each cottage has its own character too, including Rose Cottage, painted in a dark pink shade with sprawling, pristine gardens (this used to be a restaurant with someone always playing the piano in the garden, and while it is now sadly closed, the building is still stunning to see).

In the centre of the village, you’ll find a crossroads and from here whatever direction you go in you can expect pretty walks.

Sat on the crossroads is one low-roof thatched cottage that is actually a souvenir shop with a ton of horse brasses for sale – an item that links to Cockington’s long history as a blacksmith’s forge.

Directly opposite, you’ll see two more cottages.

One is Sanctuary Coffee – a small coffee shop that also sells gifts and doggy items, from adorable bandanas to handcrafted toys.

The shop has a wonderful story of starting out not too far from where I now live in London, before moving to the 11th- century village last year to open their first shop.

The other cottage is the Weavers Cottage Tea Garden, which is a must- visit for afternoon tea lovers (after all, you are in Devon).

I’ve lost count of the number of warm, fluffy scones I’ve polished off in their sunny stone-walled garden over the years.

And what’s better is that it costs under a tenner – a cream tea costs £7.95 for a fruit or plain scone, with strawberry or handmade raspberry jam and a pot of tea, or without the tea just £5.

Then if you want a cheese tea, this costs £8.45 and you get a choice of cheddar or cream cheese to go with it, as well as either chilli jam or red onion chutney – and again you can get it without the tea for £5.50.

Sitting in their garden is a treat in itself, with large umbrellas to make it more shady in the heat, their resident 16-year-old spaniel called Dolly and roses climbing up the stone walls.

Just remember the golden rule of a Devonshire cream tea is to pop the cream on the scone first, then the jam.

When leaving Weavers Cottage, make sure to leave via the back entrance which leads to a gravelled courtyard where you’ll find the visitor centre.

Inside you can learn all about Cockington, as well as see historic postcards from the English Riviera and browse locally made items, such as jewellery, books and artwork.

If you need a drink after exploring, the village pub is another go-to of mine – The Drum Inn.

The sprawling pub garden is my favourite place to sit at the pub, whilst soaking up the sunshine and sinking a £5.70 pint and perhaps a portion of fish and chips, pie of the day or pizza from £15.25.

Near the pub there is a gateway which you can walk through to head to Cockington Green, where you will find Cockington Court – a 16th-century manor house – and the cricket green.

Inside Cockington Court, you can explore the craft centre, full of work by local artists.

The large open field is the perfect spot for picnics, but you can also grab some food and drink from the Seven Dials Cafe inside Cockington Court.

The field makes up just a small part of the sprawling 450 acre estate which visitors can explore.

Other parts of the estate include scenic walking trails, lakes, a Tudor rose garden and the Walled Art Garden.

One of my favourite parts about Cockington can be found just behind the manor house – the craft studios.

Spread across several units and also the former stables, I often enjoy perusing the local makers which include everything from florists and bakers to jewellery makers and lamp designers.

I have a lot of childhood memories eagerly watching sparks fly as blacksmiths worked and makers blew glass into different shapes – both of which you can still see take place today.

In the old stables, you can even see glass being blown and blacksmiths at work.

History lovers can visit a church that’s next to the manor house as well, and there’s also The Gamekeeper’s Cottage, which is a Grade II-listed building used by the estate’s gamekeeper in the 19th and early 20th century to breed and raise birds.

If visiting the village with little kids, by the craft studios there is also a play park to let off steam.

And to make your visit even better, Cockington is set just behind England‘s very own riviera, formed of the beach towns Torquay, Paignton and Brixham.

May 24 (UPI) — Tens of thousands of Orange County, Calif., residents remained evacuated Sunday as officials nervously watched the condition of a failing, 34,000-gallon tank containing dangerous chemicals.

Orange County fire officials said a visual inspection of the overheated tank in Garden Grove, Calif., late Saturday showed it has potentially developed a crack, which could reduce the possibility of a catastrophic explosion but increase the likelihood of a massive spill of liquid methyl metacrylate.

“Right now, we’re vetting and validating that information,” Orange County Fire Authority Interim Chief T.J. McGovern said in a video update of the tense situation at the GKN Aerospace facility, located about 33 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

The discovery of a potential crack in the tank “could change the trajectory and our strategy for this event,” he said.

A crack in the tank “may avoid the two concerns that we all had,” Calif. State Sen. Tom Umberg told KCBS-TV. “One was an explosion, the other was a leak of liquid material vaporizing into a toxic fume, a toxic plume.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday transmitted a request to President Donald Trump to declare a federal emergency in support ongoing response operations in Orange County.

The request came a day after the governor’s proclamation of a state of emergency as officials raised the alarm about the possibility of a catastrophic explosion and a major release of toxins.

“California doesn’t wait for disaster to unfold, we act early to protect lives and communities,” Newsom said. “Working together with our local and federal partners, we’re strengthening our ability to respond quickly and effectively in Garden Grove and across the surrounding communities and ensuring that first responders have the resources they need to keep people safe.”

The state says it has already activated its emergency operations center, deployed mutual aid resources and has pre-positioned emergency personnel — including fire, law enforcement and medical teams — in the area around the GKN Aerospace facility, which is just 7 miles west of the Disneyland amusement park.

Nearly 50,000 Orange County residents remained under mandatory evacuation orders on Sunday as an interagency response team eyed the malfunctioning tank, which holds methyl methacrylate, or MMA, a flammable, toxic and highly volatile substance used in the production of acrylic plastics.

Residents were evacuated Friday after a chemical vapor leak was spotted coming from the tank, which has a malfunctioning valve and is unable to be neutralized. Officials say the valve has seized due to a chemical reaction with the MMA.

Water cooling by firefighters has so far kept the tank’s temperature stable and no injuries have been reported.

No unusual readings of toxic material have yet been detected in the area.

The evacuation zone is in a densely populated area of Orange County and has multiple public facilities including schools, hospitals, nursing homes, fire and law enforcement stations.

A unified command has been established between Orange County Fire Authority, Garden Grove Police Department and Orange County Health Care Agency to deal with the emergency.

Few résumés encompass everything from The Benny Hill Show to Grantchester. Even fewer actresses have the range and longevity of Paula Wilcox, who has appeared in more than 60 shows

Paula Wilcox set hearts racing as flirtatious Chrissy Plummer, alongside Sally Thomsett as Jo and Richard O’Sullivan as Robin Tripp, in the 1970s sitcom Man About the House, which shot her to fame.

And, now 76, Paula, who joined the National Youth Theatre, aged 17, will be back on screen on June 5 in a four part psychological drama, The Fortune, on Channel 5. But, despite it ending 50 years ago, after three years and six series, she still gets recognised from Man About the House – a risque comedy about a man sharing a flat with two attractive women.

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She says: “Now, all these years later, I’d love to do a proper sitcom again.” At the time, however, she found the fanmania difficult to cope with.

Just 23 when she was cast as Chrissy, she says: “I’ve never been very good at handling all that stuff. Richard was wonderful at it. He could be so nice to people. He’d been a child star and so he’d learned how to be very polite to fans. I just never did. You don’t know what to do, you’re scared and then you say, ‘just leave me alone!’ It doesn’t endear you to people. You’d find yourself being a bit rude, rather than just being nice and natural.”

Professionally, Paula got sick of talking about Man About the House. She says: “There was I, playing Juliet or in a Stoppard play. You take yourself a bit seriously and all people wanted to talk about was Man About the House. I was in my 30s and getting on with stuff and I used to get really annoyed and change the subject.”

Paula is now the only member of the cast still working. Richard O’Sullivan, 81, who played Robin, has lived in a retirement home for entertainers since suffering a stroke in 2003 and Sally Thomsett, 70, who played Jo, has retired. Brian Murphy and Yootha Joyce, who played neighbours George and Mildred Roper, are now dead, as is Doug Fisher, who played Robin’s best friend Larry.

Paula says: “I’m in touch with Brian Murphy’s widow, Linda. I still see Richard from time to time and we miss Yootha, Brian and Dougie. We were very close mates.”

Surprisingly, despite playing best friends on screen, the one former cast mate she rarely sees is Sally Thomsett. She says: “I saw her a few years ago, when we all went to see Richard. I’m hardly in touch with her now. Sally has moved and she’s very naughty, because she doesn’t necessarily let you know what her phone number is. So, if she reads this – get in touch!”

When Man About the House ended in 1976, Paula became a screen and stage staple. Alongside an illustrious theatre career, her TV work included the comedies Boomers, Mount Pleasant and Upstart Crow. She also played Laurel Thomas’s mother Hilary Potts in Emmerdale and more recently spent three years in Coronation Street as Elaine Jones, the mum of taxi boss Tim Metcalfe and ex-wife of abusive hospital radio DJ Geoff Metcalfe.

She says: “If there’s a terrific storyline I’d love to go back. I loved working with Joe [Duttine] and Sally [Dynevor]. They were so good, so much fun and so clever. There’s no reason why Eliane couldn’t come back. She’s still Tim’s mother after all. He can’t get rid of her.”

Paula attributes her 57-year career to “being up for things,” explaining: “I like being challenged; I always have a go. I’ve done some weird and wacky things, so I think people have been aware of me in different genres and spaces. I’ve done one-woman plays; I’m not just on telly or in the West End.”

The Fortune, which has four episodes, tells the story of happily married mum Amanda Blakefield, whose life is turned upside down when she inherits a large amount of money from a man she’s never met or even heard of. While his shocked family is determined to get to the truth, the surprise inheritance turns sour, leading Amanda into a mystery that leaves her questioning everything she thought she knew.

The stellar cast includes Poldark star Eleanor Tomlinson as Amanda, alongside Stephen Tompkinson, Denis Lawson, Rebecca Front and former EastEnders actress Nina Wadia. Paula plays Amanda’s mother Linda, the one person who has the keys to the past.

She says: “She’s an important part of the story, because she knows what happened. She has dementia and is in a care home. She kind of knows everything, but she doesn’t know that she knows. It’s to do with something that went on in her past. She can remember highlights, but, because of the dementia, she goes off into talking about something else, completely unconnected.”

But Paula had doubts about taking on the role. She says: “It’s something that I was a bit wary of. My mum had dementia and it’s absolutely awful. I’ve been asked to play someone with dementia before and I felt it was a bit too close to it. But actually, this part is very different, because she’s a very different woman with a very different story and also, it’s about 15 years ago now, so it’s time to move on.”

Paula, who lives in London with her husband of 35 years, business consultant Nelson Riddle, grew up in Manchester. She began her TV career in 1969, aged 20, playing teenage delinquent Janice Langton in Coronation Street. She recalls: “She was the sister of Ray Langton. I was supposed to be 15 and I’d escaped from Borstal. I came in, laid the law down, nicked some money and then disappeared again.”

Three years later, in 1972, she appeared in an episode of The Benny Hill Show – known for its saucy slapstick humour and sketches featuring scantily clad young women. In its heyday, it attracted audiences of more than 21 million, but Paula quickly realised it wasn’t for her.

She laughs: “I remember thinking: ‘gosh, what am I doing? It just wasn’t my scene really. I think I played his [Benny’s] neighbour in one of the sketches. I remember at one point he asked me to bend over the sofa and I said, ‘ooh, no, I don’t do things like that!’ I think he was trying to sauce it up a bit and I was having none of it. When you’re young you can be quite straightforward like that.”

While declining ratings meant The Benny Hill Show was cancelled in 1989, Paula’s career went from strength to strength. Even now, she has plenty left on her bucket list. She says: “I’ve never worked with the RSC or at the National Theatre, so those are two things that I’d still really like to do. I still get as much pleasure from acting as I ever did and since I’ve passed the age of 50, the parts have got more and more interesting and more fun. You’re not just being cast because you’re cute and because of the way you look. You’re given more challenging things and if you can rise to the challenge, then you get offered them again and that’s very gratifying.”

*Paula Wilcox appears in The Fortune on 5 in June

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FOR years, I’ve had a personal vendetta against bed runners in hotel rooms.

Upon entering the room, I’d have whipped it off and stuffed it in the wardrobe faster than you could say ‘late check out.’

Because while I love a crisp, white, freshly-laundered hotel bed, I am fully aware that the runners at the end of the bed see the inside of a washing machine far less than the sheets.

And I really don’t want to think about how many sweaty, bare bottoms have been pressed up against them before I checked in.

But… it turns out the random, possibly quite dirty piece of fabric actually has an important use – it’s to protect the bed sheets while you unpack.

So your bags, which have scraped the underbellies of aircraft, been dragged along airport floors and left to stand on grubby pavements, usually get spread across the duvet once you’ve checked in, so you can unpack.

The bed runner is there to stop any of that suitcase grime coming off onto the sheets.

Once you’ve hung up all your clothes, the runner can then take its rightful place at the back of the wardrobe.

The humble bed runner isn’t the only little-known travel hack provided by hotels, planes and attractions either – here are nine more that have the power to transform your holiday.

Find out which rows get served first

Different airlines start their in-flight trolleys at different rows on the plane.

Ryanair’s in-flight trolley service usually starts at row 1 and works its way towards the back of the plane.

EasyJet usually starts at row 1 and row 30, at the back of the plane. They work towards each other, with rows 17 and 18 being served last.

British Airways usually starts at the front of each cabin, then works towards the back.

So, if you’re hoping to be the first to get served, keep this in mind when reserving your seats.

Request a ‘special meal’ to get served first on a long-haul flight

Speaking from experience, if you opt for one of the speciality meals when making your flight booking, you’ll almost definitely get served first at mealtimes.

You can usually opt for a whole range of food, from veggie and vegan to religious restrictions.

Reserving sun loungers

We’ve all been there. You’ve enjoyed a lie-in and a leisurely breakfast, as is your right on holiday, then you get to the pool, for a perfectly respectable 10.30 am… and all of the sun loungers have been bagged.

But there are some unicorn hotels where they will actually let you reserve your sun loungers for the week, so that you can skip the early morning race for the beds.

Cyprus is leading the charge on this front, with the Sunrise chain in Protaras and the Kanika Hotels group both offering the service.

Alternatively, if you’re willing to tip the pool staff on the first day, in destinations like Hurghada in Egypt, many of them will get your sunbeds ready every day.

Some of them even bring your drink over as soon as you’ve arrived and settled in.

Free toothbrushes, razors and other bathroom items

Fancy hotels often come with bathroom amenity kits as standard, with everything from razors and toothbrushes to shower caps and toothpaste included.

But many lower-tier hotels also keep these items stocked behind reception, in case guests have forgotten something.

So next time you’ve left your toothbrush at home by mistake, have a friendly word with the receptionist before you pop out to the shops, as they may already have what you’re looking for, free of charge.

Free magazines at the airport

One of the most common items to buy at the airport is magazines and newspapers, especially when you have to kill time.

However, this can quickly rack up in price when many of the glossy mags cost as much as £4.99.

But did you know that many airports have free magazine stands?

They can often be found in the corridors when you are travelling to your gate, or even after you have gone through the gate agent and are waiting to board.

But the best are often found near the posh airport lounge exit.

They vary depending on which ones they have, so you can’t always be fussy.

On flights from London Gatwick, we’ve managed to pick up Wallpaper* magazine, as well as Escapism, Conde Nast Traveller and Stylist.

Freebies at Duty Free

Duty Free shops at airports are like Marmite – you either love them and spend a good half hour browsing, or dash through as quickly as possible.

But by skipping it, you could be missing out on some great freebies.

Many of the counters have samples of products to give away – everything from face serums and perfume to hand cream.

A lot of the larger airports often offer mini makeovers at certain high-end makeup counters, too.

Free airport lounge

If you’ve ever wandered past the easyJet Lounge before a flight after spending a small fortune on Pret, more fool you.

EasyJet passengers who book an Inclusive Plus fare automatically receive up to three hours of access to several airport lounges across the UK.

They include lounges at the following airports: Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Jersey, Gatwick, Luton, Manchester and Stansted.

Visitors can get tea, coffee and soft drinks, as well as beer and alcohol, plus hot and cold food.  

The Inclusive Plus fare is more expensive than the standard fare, but it comes with a bunch of extras like fast track security and free meal deals onboard.

Max out the free hot water

This one might seem trivial, but you could save at least £15 on a flight by asking cabin crew for hot water fill-ups.

Bring your reusable cup and some teabags on a flight and have tea for the whole journey.

Alternatively, you can also bring an instant noodle cup and ask them to fill it with hot water for a very affordable and hot in-flight meal.

Loyalty perks

Plenty of hotel chains offer free perks for customers who sign up to their loyalty programmes – and many of those programmes are either free or cost very little to join.

Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott Bonvoy and IHG all have loyalty schemes that give you little extras like late check-outs, free wifi, booking discounts and even ‘extra night free’ offers.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell and my doctor told me to walk a mile every day. Now I’m 30 miles from home and don’t know what to do.

Time to hear from a different voice about the Dodgers, and colleague and columnist Mirjam Swanson was kind enough to answer a few questions about the team.

Q. We are almost a third of the way through the season. How would you assess the Dodgers so far?

Swanson: Exactly where I thought they’d be! And where they thought they’d be, too, I imagine.
Even without overexerting themselves (or Shohei Ohtani), forever keeping the main thing, the main thing, they’re one of baseball’s best teams.

As I write this, at 31-19, they have the third-best winning percentage in baseball and, even more tellingly, they have the second-best run differential: plus-98. Only the Atlanta Braves’ plus-104 is better.

They’re cruising along, weathering the expected injuries, deep enough to not have to rush anyone back, hopeful that all their most important pieces will be primed for postseason play.

In other words: Another year in the life of the Dodgers.

Q. The Dodgers are still the favorites to win the World Series. Which NL team would you say has the best chance to unseat them in the postseason, and which AL team would you say is best right now?

Swanson: Whomever the Dodgers face in the NLDS.

Because that club — be it the Padres, Cubs, Cardinals, Phillies or whoever — will have to beat the Dodgers only three times. There’s much more variance in a best-of-five series than in a traditional seven-game set.

But beating this team four times? Good luck.

As far as the American League? Does it matter? The AL is to MLB what the Eastern Conference is to the NBA: Meh.

The Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees are the only teams that have consistently played good ball all season. The Cleveland Guardians have gotten hot, so now they’re in the same proverbial ballpark standings-wise, at 30-22.

But after that: The A’s and the Chicago White Sox, who are barely .500, won’t intimidate anyone come playoff time.

And those are the only five teams in the AL that are above .500. Woof.

Q. I get emails from readers who say the Padres are now the Dodgers’ biggest rival, not the Giants? Your thoughts?

Swanson: When I was schooling at the University of Oregon, fans there thought of UCLA as our rival (the football teams were both good or getting good at the time).

I’m pretty certain UCLA didn’t think much about Oregon. Because obviously … USC.

That’s kind of how it seems with the Padres-Dodgers situation.

The Padres and their people really might have it in for the Dodgers.

But the Dodgers have an already established historical rival that overshadows any tug-of-war of the moment. They have the Giants.

I posed this question to a Dodger fan in my life to see what he’d say, reminding him that the Giants have stunk lately.

His response: “Good.”

Q. At some point, the window will close on this team and they won’t make the postseason. I don’t think the window closes this season, but do you think that time is coming soon?

Swanson: What’s soon? Five seasons? Four? I think as long as this ownership group is involved and this front office is calling the shots, they can play the game — on the field and off, salary cap or no. The Dodgers are going to be able to keep that window propped open.

They spend big, but they also build smartly, so they’ve got prospects lined up, just waiting for a crack at the regular big league opportunity. (See: Dalton Rushing, River Ryan, Hyeseong Kim, who would be regulars by now on almost any other team.)

Especially with a dozen teams getting in every season, I’d be shocked if they didn’t put some distance on the Braves’ 14-consecutive-playoff-appearance record, which the Dodgers should tie this season.

But, no, I suppose they won’t go on winning at this clip for the next 50 years.

What about that bullpen!

The Dodger bullpen has pitched 38 consecutive scoreless innings. breaking the team mark of 33 set by the 1998 bullpen.

Dave Roberts: “They’re on a heater. It’s one of those things where when it doesn’t go well, they get the blame. And when it does go well, they don’t get a lot of credit. But they are getting the credit now, and it’s earned. Really happy for those guys. We spread those innings pretty well with a lot of different arms.”

The last time the bullpen gave up a run was in the seventh inning of a loss to the Giants on May 12. Blake Treinen gave up a run that inning. The Dodgers were 24-18 after that game. Since then:

Dodgers record: 9-2
Charlie Barnes, 2 IP, 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 K
Jack Dreyer, 2 IP, 1 hit, 1 walk, 4 K’s
Paul Gervase, 2 IP, 1 hit, 1 walk
Edgardo Henriquez, 1-0, 5 1/3 IP, 1 hit, 1 walk, 6 K’s
Jonathan Hernández, 2 IP, 1 K
Kyle Hurt, 5 IP, 4 hits, 3 walks, 4 K’s
Will Klein, 1 save, 3 IP, 4 K’s
Chayce McDermott, 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 K
Wyatt Mills, 2 IP, 3 walks, 2 K
Tanner Scott, 1-0, 1 save, 5 1/3 IP, 2 hits, 1 walk, 10 K’s
Blake Treinen, 3 2/3 IP, 1 hit, 2 walks, 3 K’s
Alex Vesia, 4 2/3 IP, 1 hit, 2 walks, 8 K’s
Total, 38 IP, 13 hits, 15 walks, 44 K’s

And that doesn’t include the two scoreless innings Klein threw as an opener the day Blake Snell was put on the IL.

Catcher Dalton Rushing: “They’re pretty relentless. “Everyone wants the ball, regardless of who you are, regardless of the situation. They want to go out there, they want to succeed, they want to show out of the team. I don’t think it’s really in their head, what they’re doing right now — I don’t think they’re aware of it. But that’s the good thing about it. They just go out there, throw the ball and good results come.”

This is the fifth-longest streak in history. The top four (according the baseball-reference.com):

45.2 innings: 1962 Detroit Tigers
44 innings: 1966 Kansas City Athletics
41 innings: 2016 Kansas City Royals
38.2 innings: 2017 Cleveland Indians

If you are having trouble remember the 1998 Dodgers bullpen, which had the previous team record, the main arms were: Jeff Shaw, Antonio Osuna, Scott Radinsky, Mark Guthrie and Jim Bruske.

And you know no one in the current bullpen wants to be the one to break the streak.

Best bullpen ERA in the majors:

Dodgers, 2.87
Boston, 3.00
Texas, 3.01
Seattle, 3.01
Atlanta, 3.08

Worst: Houston (no relation), 5.62

Chris Taylor retires

Former Dodger Chris Taylor broke his left forearm while playing for the Angels’ triple-A Salt Lake team last week. On Friday, his name appeared on the retirement list, prompting “Chris Taylor has retired” stories throughout baseball media. On Saturday, it was removed from the list, prompting, “Chris Taylor has unretired” stories throughout baseball media. On Sunday, he finally, officially, definitely retired, stating on his Instagram page,

“Clearing up any confusion. I’ve officially decided to retire from the game I’ve dedicated my entire life towards. I’m beyond grateful to all of my coaches and teammates, and the organizations who allowed me to live out my childhood dream. I’ll forever cherish the memories along the way and most of all, the friendships that will last a lifetime. Thank you to the loyal fans who have supported me through my success and stuck with me through the struggles. Thank you to my parents and family who have been with me from the very beginning. My baseball journey would have never begun if it weren’t for you guys. Most of all, thank you to my wife Mary who has been my number one. You stepped up for our family and allowed me to see my dream through all the way to the end and then some. I cant wait to start our next chapter in life together with our boys.”

We will have a newsletter dedicated to Taylor in the next week or two. In the meantime, we thank him for all the wonderful moments he provided and wish him the best in retirement.

These names seem familiar

How notable players who were with the Dodgers the last couple of seasons are doing with their new teams. Click on the player’s name to be taken to their full stats page:

Anthony Banda, Twins: 1-0, 5.96 ERA, 22.2 IP, 19 hits, 8 walks, 19 K’s, 72 ERA+

Austin Barnes, out of baseball (released by Mets in spring training)

Cody Bellinger, Yankees: .274/.381/.473, 223 PA’s, 13 doubles, 3 triples, 6 homers, 32 RBIs, 144 OPS+

Walker Buehler, Padres: 3-2, 5.05 ERA, 46.1 IP, 47 hits, 18 walks, 41 K’s, 80 ERA+

Mike Busch, Cubs: .230/.360/.380, 238 PA’s, 11 doubles, 1 triple, 5 homers, 29 RBIs, 118 OPS+

Michael Conforto, Cubs: .284/.388/.537, 80 PA’s, 8 doubles, 3 homers, 11 RBIs, 168 OPS+

Justin Dean, Cubs: in the minors

Caleb Ferguson, Reds: just off the IL, hasn’t pitched yet

Jack Flaherty, Tigers: 0-6, 5.94 ERA, 47 IP, 49 hits, 29 walks, 55 K’s, 70 ERA+

Tony Gonsolin: out of baseball

Kenley Jansen, Tigers: 1-3, 5.02 ERA, 7 saves, 14.1 IP, 9 hits, 5 walks, 19 K’s, 84 ERA+

Craig Kimbrel, Mets: designated for assignment

Michael Kopech: out of baseball

Gavin Lux, Rays: on the IL

Dustin May, Cardinals: 3-5, 5.00 ERA, 54 IP, 60 hits, 17 walks, 42 K’s, 77 ERA+

Zach McKinstry, Tigers: .177/.240/.240, 104 PA’s, 3 doubles, 1 homer, 7 RBIs, 36 OPS+

James Outman, Twins: .179/.258/.286, 62 PA’s, 4 doubles, 1 triple, 3 RBIs, 53 OPS+

Luke Raley, Mariners: .265/.326/.545, 140 PA’s, 5 doubles, 1 triple, 10 homers, 27 RBIs, 151 OPS+

Ben Rortvedt, Mets: in the minors

Corey Seager, Rangers: .179/.286/.353, 182 PA’s, 6 doubles, 7 homers, 20 RBIs, 91 OPS+, on the IL

Chris Taylor: retired

Justin Turner, Tijuana (Mexican League): .298/.412/.536, 81 PA’s, 8 doubles, 4 homers, 17 RBIs

Trea Turner, Phillies: .225/.281/.338, 231 PA’s, 9 doubles, 5 homers, 16 RBIs, 72 OPS+

Miguel Vargas, White Sox: .244/.376/.500, 221 PA’s, 8 doubles, 1 triple, 12 homers, 31 RBIs, 146 OPS+

Alex Verdugo: Out of baseball, had season-ending shoulder surgery

Kirby Yates, Angels: 0-0, 4.26 ERA, 6.1 IP, 4 hits, 3 walks, 9 K’s, 102 ERA+

Up next

Monday: Colorado (*Kyle Freeland, 1-5, 7.04 ERA) at Dodgers (Emmet Sheehan, 3-1, 4.93 ERA), 6:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Tuesday: Colorado (TBA) at Dodgers (*Eric Lauer, 1-5, 6.69 ERA, first start with Dodgers), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Wednesday: Colorado (Tomoyuki Sugano, 4-3, 3.86 ERA) at Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani, 4-2, 0.73 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

All times Pacific

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

How Eric Lauer is trying to return to a better version of himself with the Dodgers

Shaikin: Do the Dodgers need a “Will he hit?” drama every time Shohei Ohtani pitches?

And finally

Chris Taylor makes an incredible catch against the Brewers in Game 7 of the 2018 NLCS. Watch and listen here.

Until next time…

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.