April 2 (UPI) — A Colorado appeals court on Thursday threw out the sentence of Tina Peters, a former elections clerk, who was convicted in an election data case.

Peters was sentenced to nine years in prison in August 2024 on seven of the 10 counts for which she was charged.

She allowed an unauthorized person to make copies of voting machine hard drives that included classified information. The data from those drives was then leaked online by conspiracy theorists who falsely said it proved President Donald Trump correct in his assertion that the 2020 election was “stolen.”

Trump later pardoned Peters, but Colorado officials said he has no power to do so because she was convicted by the state. He has since pressured Colorado Gov. Jared Polis to pardon her.

The judges of the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that District Judge Matthew Barrett wrongfully used Peters’ beliefs and promotion of election fraud conspiracy theories in his sentencing.

“We reverse her sentence because it was based in part on improper consideration of her exercise of her right to free speech,” the court wrote, sending her case back to the trial judge. Now Barrett must re-sentence Peters without using her beliefs to make the decision, the appeals judges said.

At the sentencing, Barrett said Peters had no remorse and called her a “charlatan” who abused her position to “peddle snake oil.”

“I am convinced you would do it all over again if you could,” The Hill reported Barrett said. “You’re as defiant as any defendant this court has ever seen.”

In its decision, the appeals court said her beliefs shouldn’t color the sentencing.

“Her offense was not her belief, however misguided the trial court deemed it to be, in the existence of such election fraud; it was her deceitful actions in her attempt to gather evidence of such fraud. Indeed, under these circumstances, just as her purported beliefs underlying her motive for her actions were not relevant to her defense, the trial court should not have considered those beliefs relevant when imposing sentence.”

The appeals court did not overturn Peters’ conviction and formally said Trump doesn’t have the power to pardon a person for state law offenses.

“The crux of Peters’ argument is that the phrase ‘Offences against the United States’ includes an offense against any of the states in the union,” the court wrote. “We join what appears to us to be every other appellate court that has addressed the issue and reject such an expansive reading of the phrase.”

Peters served as a clerk in Mesa County, Colo., whose county seat is Grand Junction, in western Colorado.

She was convicted on three counts of attempting to influence a public servant and one count each of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, first-degree misconduct, violation of duty and failure to comply with the requirements of the secretary of state.

UN experts say Israel ’emboldened by impunity’ for previous journalist killings in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank.

Three United Nations experts have called for an independent and thorough investigation into Israel’s recent killing of three journalists in Lebanon, denouncing the deadly incident as “another egregious attack on press freedom by Israeli forces”.

UN special rapporteurs Irene Khan, Morris Tidball-Binz and Ben Saul on Thursday noted that “journalists carrying out their professional duties in armed conflict are civilians and must not be targeted or made the object of attack”.

“The deliberate killing of journalists not directly participating in hostilities constitutes a serious violation of international human rights and humanitarian law and a war crime,” they said in a statement.

The Israeli military killed Al Mayadeen journalist Fatima Ftouni, her brother, freelance photojournalist Mohamad Ftouni, and Al-Manar’s Ali Shoaib in a targeted strike on their car in southern Lebanon on March 28.

Al Mayadeen and Al-Manar are pro-Hezbollah media outlets, and Israel accused Shoaib – without presenting any evidence – of being a fighter with the Lebanese armed group.

That claim was rejected by Shoaib’s colleagues as well as by the UN experts, who on Thursday also stressed that working for media outlets affiliated with an armed group does not mean journalists are directly participating in hostilities under international law.

“Israeli officials know this, yet they choose to ignore it – emboldened by impunity for their previous killings of journalists in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank,” they said.

In February, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported that Israel was responsible for two-thirds of all killings of journalists in 2024 and 2025.

More than 60 percent of the 86 members of the press killed by Israeli fire last year were Palestinian journalists reporting from the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s genocidal war in the coastal enclave, the advocacy group found.

After the killings in southern Lebanon last week, CPJ’s Middle East director Sara Qudah also warned that Lebanon is becoming “an increasingly deadly zone for journalists, despite their status as civilians who must not be targeted”.

“We have seen a disturbing pattern in this war and in the decades prior of Israel accusing journalists of being active combatants and terrorists without providing credible evidence,” Qudah said in a statement.

“Journalists are not legitimate targets, regardless of the outlet they work for.”

The UN experts also warned that Israel’s killing of Lebanese journalists is part of “an abominable push … to silence reporting on Israel’s current military action in Lebanon, and shut down news coverage of war crimes committed, just as it did in Gaza”.

At least 1,345 people have been killed and 4,040 wounded in intensified Israeli attacks across Lebanon since early March, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

I went to the Santa Monica Mountains on the hunt for wildflowers.

I was nervous. What if I found absolutely nothing? I’d used data collected by plant lovers during previous blooms and checked on iNaturalist, a citizen science app, about where wildflowers had recently been noticed to discern where I’d be most likely to find blooms.

But, even then, I knew the unusual spring heat wave that prompted some wildflowers to bloom early could have also killed them. I knew the heat had already zapped the bright orange beauties at the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve. What if I’d already missed this annual springtime magic?

It was with this level of eagerness and anxiety I recently entered the Santa Monica Mountains. I feel more than lucky to have discovered a resplendent rainbow of native plant blooms.

I hope you also witness this abundance on the three trails below. L.A. is forecast to have more springtime rain, and you know what they say about April showers!

If not, though, I want to underscore that regardless of their foliage, each hike offers its own unique adventure, one I’d take in any season.

Chaparral bird’s-foot trefoil blooms in thick patches throughout the Saddle Peak Trail.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

1. Saddle Peak via Backbone Trail

Distance: 3.3 miles out and back
Elevation gained: About 860 feet
Difficulty: Moderate
Dogs allowed? No
Accessible alternative: Inspiration Loop Loop ADA Trail at Will Rogers State Historic Park

This 3.3-mile route to Saddle Peak takes hikers up a lush hillside with sweeping views of the nearby Calabasas Peak, the San Fernando Valley and, toward the top, the Pacific Ocean. Visitors will observe a landscape that features not only a diversity of wildflower species but also ancient sandstone formations.

You’ll start your hike by parking on the side of Stunt Road, a winding paved street with sharp turns popular among cyclists and drivers of very fast sports cars. There is limited parking here, so it’s good to either arrive early or hike this trail on a weekday. Additionally, the parking area on the side opposite the trailhead is near a steep drop-off so take good care if parking there.

The Saddle Peak Trail features multiple stretches where wildflowers grow close to the trail.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

The trailhead sits just south of the road and is well-marked with large signs, including one that warns you that smoking, bicycles and dogs are prohibited on the trail. (Apologies to your cigar-loving circus canine.)

You will first take the short Stunt Road connector trail about 0.2 miles before bearing left, or east, onto the Backbone Trail to Saddle Peak. You’ll immediately start noticing wildflowers.

Chaparral bird’s-foot trefoil, clockwise, mini lupine, purple nightshade, showy penstemon, golden yarrow and large-flowered phacelia.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

I have dubbed myself a “lupine freak” because of my obsession with this genus of plants — not because I enjoy howling at the moon once a month — and I paused just a third of a mile into this trail. “You look like a tiny little lupine,” I said to the short plant with purplish blue petals near my right foot. Turns out it was indeed a miniature lupine!

This would be the first of many delights. Within a half mile on the trail, I’d already spotted golden yarrow, bush poppy, purple nightshade and black sage abundant with purple blooms. And canyon sunflower covers substantial portions of this trail. This suggests the trail burned in recent years, as canyon sunflower is a fire follower.

There’s also a fair amount of California sagebrush, which you can run your fingers along and smell its delicious aroma (which I think smells like spicy Italian salad dressing).

The view from a bench at a lookout point near the Saddle Peak Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

As I hiked onward, I started to feel like Julie Andrews in “The Sound of Music” because the hills really were alive! I squinted at one plant I had no memory of seeing, a pink and green plant with bright pink and lemon chiffon-colored petals. Had I finally stumbled upon one of California’s rare, threatened or endangered plants?

I was so eager to Google this floral mystery. Later, I learned it’s a not-so-rare (but oh-so-beautiful) chaparral birdsfoot trefoil. It grew thick throughout the second leg of this trail, a real visual feast!

I briefly hiked through a lull where the trail was beautiful but not bursting with colors outside green and brown. Then, I came around another corner to find more trefoil, large-leaf phacelia and showy penstemon, which would be a great native plants-inspired drag performer name.

A massive sandstone rock wall along the Saddle Peak trail.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

Very suddenly, after staring at plants for more than an hour, I looked up and realized I’d reached the massive ancient boulders. I watched as white-throated swifts dived in and out of the rock’s pockets where it might be considered tafoni (maybe!). Fun fact: These birds use “their saliva to glue a little cup of twigs and moss to the vertical wall” to build their nests, according to Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

You’ll take a few well-maintained sets of rock steps up, also navigating some rocky and, at times, somewhat washed-out portions of the trail. Take good care to look before you reach toward a rock for leverage so you don’t end up grabbing a danger noodle (read: snake).

About 1.3 miles in, you will crest a hill and be greeted with gorgeous views of the deep-blue ocean. From here, you can continue up to Saddle Peak, which features more massive rock formations.

I hiked over to a bench at an overlook point just past a few (invasive but pretty) Spanish broom plants. Here, I took stock of the day, savoring both the burrito I packed and the good day I’d had. I don’t know whether anyone would label it “super,” but I found myself chuckling over simply calling it a superb bloom.

The Musch Trail in Topanga State Park.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

2. Backbone Trail to Musch Trail Camp

Distance: 2 miles out and back (with option to extend via a loop back)
Elevation gained: About 200 feet
Difficulty: Easier end of moderate
Dogs allowed? No
Accessible alternative: Musch Trail road, a 0.6-mile out-and-back trek on a paved path from the parking lot

This two-mile, out-and-back jaunt through Topanga State Park takes you through lush meadows and chaparral where you’ll be near destined to spot wildflowers and wildlife.

To begin your hike, you’ll park at Trippet Ranch and pay to park before heading out. The Musch Trail starts in the northeast corner of the lot. You’ll take the paved path just 1/10 of a mile before turning east onto the dirt path, the Backbone Trail.

Caterpillar scorpionweed with southern bush monkeyflower nearby, clockwise, purple owl’s clover, canyon sunflower, dodder over black sage, California poppy and western blue-eyed grass.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

The ranch was originally called Rancho Las Lomas Celestiales by its owner Cora Larimore Trippet, which translates to “Ranch of Heavenly Hills.” You’ll find, as you hike through those hills covered in oak trees, black sage, ceanothus and more, that the name still rings true today.

I also spied significant blooms of orange-yellow southern bush monkeyflower, canyon sunflower, golden yarrow, a species of Clarkia, light purple caterpillar scorpionweed and exactly one blooming California poppy plant (just past the pond).

A mile in, you’ll arrive at Musch Trail Camp, a small campground with picnic tables and log benches. As you pause, listen to the songs of the birds. California quail, Anna’s hummingbird and yellow-rumped warbler are commonly spotted. Stay quiet enough, and you might just spot a mule deer, desert cottontail or gray fox. On a recent visit, I went to refill my water bottle at a spigot next to the camp, only to discover a Southern alligator lizard lounging in the path.

From the trail camp, you can either turn around or continue northeast to Eagle Rock, which will provide panoramic views of the park. From Eagle Rock, many hikers take Eagle Springs Fire Road to turn this trek into a loop. Regardless of which path you take, please make sure to download a map beforehand.

As the sun sets, golden light blankets the hillsides in Leo Carrillo State Park.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

3. The Willow Creek and Nicholas Flats Trails

Distance: 1.9 miles with an option to extend
Elevation gained: About 630 feet (excluding extension)
Difficulty: Moderate
Dogs allowed? No
Accessible alternative: Sycamore Canyon Road

This 1.9-mile loop is a mostly moderate jaunt connecting two popular routes in Leo Carrillo State Park. As a bonus, you can head over to the beach after your hike, either to cool down, explore the tide pools or both!

To begin, you’ll park at Leo Carrillo State Park. An all-day pass is $12, payable to the ranger at the gate or via the machine in the parking lot. Once parked, you’ll head northeast to the trailhead. You’ll quickly come to a crossroads. Take the Willow Creek Trail east to officially start your hike.

You’ll gain about 575 feet in a mile as you traverse the Willow Creek Trail. I took breaks along the way to gaze at the ocean, watching surfers bobbing on their boards and a kite surfer trying to gain traction. You might spot coast paintbrush and California brittlebush, a flowering shrub that features yellow daisy-like flowers, on the path, along with several lizards.

California poppies growing amid invasive weeds, left, Coulter’s lupine and longleaf bush lupine observed in Leo Carrillo State Park last May.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

A mile in, you’ll come to a junction in the trail where you have three-ish options. You can continue west to a branch of the Nicholas Flat Trail that will take you a mile back down to the parking lot. You can head south onto an ocean vista lookout point (which, though steep, I highly recommend). Or you can turn north onto another branch of the Nicholas Flat Trail.

I did a combination, hiking 235 feet up the lookout path, where I had one of those “Wow, I get to live here” moments. The ocean was varying shades of blue, from turquoise to cerulean to cobalt. I could clearly see in all directions, including about eight miles to the east to Point Dume. I was, once again, amazed to be alone in a beautiful place in a county of 10 million people.

Once I finished at this awe-inspiring point, I headed north onto the Nicholas Flat Trail, taking it about 2.3 miles — and about 1,100 feet up 🥵 — through laurel sumac and other coast sage scrub vegetation into the Nicholas Flat Natural Preserve. Along the way, keep an eye out for deerweed covered in its orange and yellow flowers along with scarlet bugler (which hummingbirds love). Other common sights here include Coulter’s lupine and small patches of California poppies.

If you start this hike early enough in the day, you can simply trek back to your car and change into your swimsuit for an afternoon at the beach. And if the tide is out, you might also be able to walk around the tide pools. You could hang out in the same day with both lizards and starfish, and even spy an endangered bumblebee on the trail and an octopus at the beach.

Please, go have yourself a remarkable Southern California day!

3 things to do

A person takes in the sunset on the beach in Venice.

(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)

1. Watch the sunset with new friends in Venice
Sunset Club L.A. will host a free community gathering at 6:15 p.m. Thursday at Venice Beach. Guests will meet in front of Fig Tree (431 Ocean Front Walk #2402) before setting up camp on the nearby beach to watch the sunset together. Learn more at the club’s Instagram page.

2. Take a peaceful jaunt in L.A.
L.A. for the Culture Hiking Club will host an adventure at 10:30 a.m. Saturday through Griffith Park. The group will take a 2.6-mile hike that includes the Ferndell Nature Trail. Afterward, guests will hang out at the Trails Cafe near the trailhead. Register at eventbrite.com.

3. Find a new kind of ‘dume’ scrolling in Malibu
California State Parks needs volunteers to help remove invasive plants from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at Point Dume. Park workers will guide participants on removing weeds while cultural resource staff will teach volunteers about the ecological and cultural importance of the site. Register at eventbrite.com.

The must-read

The Griffith Park Pool has remained fenced in and closed for six years, but there are plans now to renovate and reopen the pool.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Who is ready to take a dip at the Griffith Park historic swimming pool? That might become a reality by July 2029. Times staff writer Christopher Reynolds wrote that city officials aim to give the facility at Riverside Drive and Los Feliz Boulevard, which dates to 1927, a three-year, $40-million facelift. The new design will feature two new pools and rehabilitate the site’s pool house. Officials closed the pool in early 2020 amid COVID-19 shutdowns and later discovered when they tried to refill it that the pool wouldn’t hold water.

I cannot wait to take a hike and then a swim at the same public park!

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

Are you ready to transition from hiking around native wildflowers to planting them? Come meet experts from the Theodore Payne Foundation and the California Native Plant Society at the L.A. Times Plants Booth during The Times’ Festival of Books at USC on April 18 and 19. If you sign up for the L.A. Times Plants newsletter, you’ll receive Jeanette’s Mix, a special packet of sunflower and California poppy seeds named for our beloved L.A. Times plants writer Jeanette Marantos, who died in February. I am volunteering at the booth on April 18 and would love to meet you!

For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.

Last One Laughing fans have been waiting weeks to see who will be the last comedian standing.

Last One Laughing season two has continued to leave Prime Video subscribers in stitches but now a winner has been crowned at last.

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Last One Laughing.

The hilarious competition returned for a second outing last month, starting off with 10 comedians doing all they can to stop themselves from cracking up.

But in the final episode, there were just four comics remaining: Mel Giedroyc, Sam Campbell, David Mitchell and reigning champ Bob Mortimer.

Who won Last One Laughing season 2?

Last One Laughing season two’s final episode was an intense watch but in the end, it was none other than Peep Show legend David Mitchell who was crowned this year’s winner.

Giedroyc was awarded fourth place after she couldn’t help but laugh during a head-to-head with Mortimer and his impersonation of a randy dolphin.

But the first ever Last One Laughing champion got kicked out when he giggled at Mitchell exclaiming: “I was just chadwicking!”

So it all came down to Mitchell and Sam Campbell but with just one minute left and no one cracking a smile, host Jimmy Carr announced there would be a tiebreaker.

Carr shared that the player who had made the most people laugh would be named as the season two winner which turned out to be David Mitchell.

Opening up after his win, Mitchell shared: “That was quite insane because I think we disappeared into a place where there was no laughter.

“I have to say, for all the bleakness at the end, I am delighted to win and I think that shows a want of character in me, but I was very pleased.”

Thankfully, Prime Video has already announced there will be plenty more to come from Last One Laughing in the not-so distant future.

It’s been revealed that, for the first time, there will be a Halloween special of the hilarious competition, which is expected to drop sometime in October.

Furthermore, there is going to be a third season of Last One Laughing released in 2027.

Jimmy Carr will return to host both the Halloween special and season three with Roisin Conaty acting as his deputy to challenge a new line-up of comedians to keep a straight face.

Last One Laughing is available to watch on Prime Video.

WASHINGTON — President Trump has privately discussed the possibility of firing Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi and replacing her with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, three people familiar with the matter told the Associated Press on Thursday.

In those conversations, Trump has discussed his ongoing frustration with Bondi over her handing of the Jeffrey Epstein files and hurdles the Justice Department has encountered in investigations into Trump’s perceived enemies, the people said. The Republican president has mentioned other candidates but has raised Zeldin’s name as recently as this week, the people said.

The people were not authorized to publicly discuss the private conversations and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.

No decision has been announced, and Trump has been known to change his mind on personnel decisions.

“Attorney General Pam Bondi is a wonderful person and she is doing a good job,” Trump said in a statement produced by the White House.

Zeldin, a former Republican congressman from New York, has been publicly and privately praised by Trump, who at an event in February described him as “our secret weapon.”

Bondi, a former state attorney general in Florida and a Trump loyalist who was part of his legal team during his first impeachment case, has been in her position for more than a year. She came into office pledging that she would not play politics with the Justice Department, but she quickly started investigations of Trump foes, sparking an outcry that the law enforcement agency was being wielded as a tool of revenge to advance the president’s political and personal agenda.

She has also endured months of scrutiny over the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files that made her the target of angry conservatives even with her close relationship with Trump.

Under Bondi’s leadership, the department opened investigations into a string of Trump foes, including Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James, former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan.

The high-profile prosecutions of Comey and James were quickly thrown out by a judge who ruled that the prosecutor who brought the cases was illegally appointed. Other politically charged investigations have either been rejected by grand juries or failed to result in criminal charges.

Richer, Tucker, Balsamo and Price write for the Associated Press.

Every football program needs a Jessie Christensen on their staff. She’s the MacGyver of St. John Bosco High‘s program.

Before colleges had general managers or people in charge of operations, St. John Bosco hired Christensen in 2013 to be director of football operations. That means everything and anything is within her purview, from travel arrangements to parental and player communication to finances to dealing with college coaches.

“She was first the first of her kind. Now everybody has one,” coach Jason Negro said.

A former parent in the program, Taliuta Viliamu-Asa, said of Christensen, “She wears so many hats and ensures each year that the whole operations, academics study halls, grade checks, player feeding, banquet, games, media visitors, ball boys, volunteers, tailgate, middle school camps, and etc. are well planned out. She has a hand in it all to make sure every event, trip, fundraiser, football game and practically everything involving the football program results in being ran with careful planning for successful results.”

Always be nice to Christensen, for she has the keys to open any door.

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

April 2 (UPI) — The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights urged authorities in El Salvador to reconsider recent constitutional and legal changes that allow life sentences for minors as young as 12.

The agency warned Wednesday that the measure contradicts international human rights standards and obligations.

El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly approved the reform March 26, amending the country’s juvenile criminal law to permit life imprisonment for minors linked to criminal groups.

The change is part of broader constitutional changes promoted by President Nayib Bukele, and it expands the use of life sentences, previously authorized for adults, to include adolescents.

The reform accompanying a constitutional amendment promoted by the government of Nayib Bukele alters the juvenile justice system by removing previous maximum detention limits for crimes such as terrorism and organized crime, digital outlet Lexis reported.

The move is part of a broader tightening of criminal policy after ratification of a constitutional reform that authorizes life sentences for adults and now extends them to adolescents, with the stated goal of combating criminal networks and gangs.

Until now, Salvadoran law established that in severe cases, minors under 12 could face up to 10 years in detention, while those older than 16 could receive sentences of up to 15 years.

The new legal framework establishes life imprisonment as the only possible sentence for crimes such as homicide, femicide, rape and gang membership for those between ages 12 and 18, representing a major shift in the country’s juvenile justice model, Infobae reported.

The proposed measure was ratified with 57 votes in favor, marking a significant shift in the Central American country’s criminal policy.

In response to the U.N. statement, Bukele pointed to historical precedents. He recalled the implementation of the Juvenile Offender Law in 1994, adopted following U.N. recommendations, which he said contributed to conditions that enabled the growth of gangs in the country.

In a message on X, Bukele said past decisions, along with processes such as the deportation of Salvadorans during the administration of Bill Clinton, helped strengthen criminal structures that shaped decades of violence in El Salvador.

“So, no, thank you very much. Take your social experiments to other countries that have not suffered what we have suffered; maybe they will believe you (hopefully not). We are not going back to the past,” Bukele wrote.

The office of high commissioner said the reform conflicts with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which requires that children in conflict with the law be treated in a way that prioritizes rehabilitation and reintegration, and that detention be used only as a last resort and for the shortest possible time.

“Prolonged detention is deeply harmful to children, violates several of their rights and affects their development and well-being throughout life, reducing their chances of successful reintegration into society,” spokesperson Marta Hurtado said in a statement.

The agency added that improving prison conditions and ensuring full compliance with human rights standards for all detainees remain essential.

Salvadoran magistrates defended the reform, saying it is consistent with the Convention on the Rights of the Child because it does not impose a sentence without the possibility of release, the newspaper La Nación reported.

The government created a mechanism that allowed those sentenced to life imprisonment to seek a review of their sentence. Under certain criteria, this could allow them to regain their freedom in a controlled manner after 25 years in prison.

If a minor is convicted of more than one crime, the sentence review would take place after 35 years in prison. If the conviction involves an aggravated or extremely serious offense, the sentence may not be reviewed until 40 years have been served.

On March 27, El Salvador marked four years under a state of emergency aimed at combating gangs, which authorities blame for the majority of homicides in the country.

HE IS the working class boy from Wales who conquered Hollywood as Sir Elton John in Rocketman.

She’s the Louisiana-born Baywatch actress whose reality TV family want to be the next Kardashians.

Together, Taron Egerton and Brooks Nader have become showbusiness’s hottest couple with their very public displays of affection.

But behind the steamy snogs, Taron’s inner circle is sounding the alarm.

For I can reveal, that the 36-year-old Kingsman heartthrob’s prestige acting career could be spectacularly derailed by the chaotic circus of Brooks’s life, and her ferociously protective, camera-hungry family.

As my insider warned: “This could all end in disaster. He doesn’t know what he has gotten himself into. She will eat him alive.”

Ambitious Brooks, 29, who grew up in America’s deep south, moved to New York in 2016 and rose to fame after winning the Sports Illustrated’s Swim Search model casting call.

She has since gone through a divorce, had a sizzling romance – and messy breakup – with her partner on Dancing with the Stars, and scored her own reality television show Love Thy Nader.

But it is not just one Nader Taron has to contend with.

She also has a brood of high-flying sisters who all live together in Manhattan and keep a watchful eye on their big sis.

Dubbed the “Wannabe Kardashians”, Brooks and her photogenic sisters – Sarah Jane, Grace Ann, and Mary Holland – became smash hit reality stars when their show launched last year on Disney+.

If his relationship with Brooks hits a speedbump, Taron won’t just be dealing with a private heartbreak – he’ll be dealing with the wrath of the sisters and a Hulu camera crew capturing every excruciating detail.

As one insider summarised the situation: “Who knows if this is happily ever after. But it could spectacularly backfire for Taron if things get messy. The Nader sisters are brutal and unafraid to play dirty to protect their own.”

The Louisiana-raised siblings swapped the country for the bright lights of New York and Los Angeles, and they absolutely do not take prisoners.

In the first season of their show, which quickly became a guilty pleasure for millions of viewers, the sisters famously tore shreds into Brooks’s exes.

This could all end in disaster. He doesn’t know what he has gotten himself into. She will eat him alive

Insider

They had choice, cutting words for her former husband, advertising executive Billy Haire, whom she divorced in 2024, with Brook herself saying she married him “for rent purposes”.

When she was asked on a chat show what she thought about her ex remarrying, Brooks remarked: “Which ex?”

But the sisters saved their unfiltered venom for her Dancing With the Stars partner and ex-boyfriend, Gleb Savchenko.

The pair met when they were partnered on the dance show, and sister Grace Ann revealed they hit it right from the off.

‘Highly dangerous tightrope’

She explained in eye-watering detail: “I can tell you firsthand, every time I visited Brooks’ trailer, the trailer was shaking — every single time.”

But Brooks’s whirlwind fling with the Russian dancer imploded months later, but made great reality television.

The sisters discovered he had left his phone in their flat and quickly went about searching the device while being filmed for the series.

Brooks said they were “shocked” by what they found. She said on the episode: “All these screenshots of my boobs. What the f— is this? There’s like a million girls in here. This is a week ago.”

She then found a contact labeled “Threesome girl, Joshua Tree,” and broke down in tears.

Gleb vehemently denied the allegations, but the truth hardly mattered once the Nader sisters went to war.

They cornered him both on-screen and off, acting as Brooks’s personal attack dogs.

Brooks later admitted that watching herself “crying on the bathroom floor” over the split was the hardest part of filming the show,

But she also issued a chilling warning to anyone who might doubt her family’s investigative skills, proudly claiming: “My sisters are my sources.”

With these glamorous private investigators, any misstep Taron makes is guaranteed to end up in the next season.

Reality television thrives on conflict, and the Nader sisters know exactly how to deliver it

Insider

This is exactly why Hollywood insiders are so nervous for the Welsh actor. A-list directors and prestige studios often shy away from actors embroiled in reality TV circus acts.

My insider added: “By aligning himself with a star whose life, heartbreak, and family drama are filmed for public consumption, Taron is stepping onto a highly dangerous tightrope. Reality television thrives on conflict, and the Nader sisters know exactly how to deliver it.”

But he does not seem deterred. The pair have been painting California red over the last week, looking thoroughly besotted with one another.

Since The Sun revealed earlier this week that they were dating, they’ve been spotted holding hands outside luxury steakhouses and grabbing intimate drinks at Shutters on the Beach.

Yet, as the romance heats up, there are dark whispers in Hollywood, with some questioning the authenticity of the sudden pairing.

A more cynical insider even suggested that the highly photographed romance might be a well-orchestrated PR stunt designed to mutually boost their profiles.

‘Extremely ambitious’

Taron, despite his undeniable talent, has slipped off the radar slightly since his meteoric run with Rocketman and the Apple TV+ prison drama Black Bird.

Meanwhile, Brooks is “extremely ambitious” and “desperate” to cement her burgeoning reality TV empire.

Still a source told The Sun, Taron is “very keen” on the swimwear model, but this highly public romance is a stark departure from his roots.

Born in Birkenhead but raised in the quiet seaside town of Aberystwyth, small-town boy Taron has until now kept his private life discreet.

When he burst onto the scene as a council estate rebel turned superspy in Kingsman: The Secret Service, he was praised for his grounded nature.

He dated assistant director Emily Thomas for six years, keeping the romance strictly low-key and away from red carpets before they quietly parted ways.

He later had a brief, under-the-radar Hollywood romance with actress Chloe Bennet that quietly fizzled out in 2025.

However, the famously cheeky star hasn’t been entirely mute about his romantic preferences or his prowess as a boyfriend in past interviews.

Speaking to Andy Cohen, Taron confessed he wasn’t looking for a specific body type, laughing as he admitted his actual preference.

He joked “I’m probably more of an a** man… I’ve got a big butt. Quite a big round butt. When we’re walking away hand-in-hand as a couple, it’s not going to look right [if she doesn’t]. It won’t work.”

He even doubled down while reading thirsty fan tweets online during a promotional tour, cheekily declaring to the camera, “I’m quite proud of my a**, actually.”

And when he does fall for someone, he falls incredibly hard.

Recalling a romantic gesture for his ex, Emily, he once revealed, “When my girlfriend and I first got together, I took her to Claridge’s hotel in London, and I had them deliver a necklace to the room.”

He has confidently described himself in the past as an “attentive, thorough, enthusiastic” lover.

But all the attentive enthusiasm in the world might not be enough to shield him from the Nader family.

This text details the significance of Malvinas Day, a national holiday in Argentina observed annually on April 2nd. The date serves as a solemn tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives during the 1982 conflict with the United Kingdom over the islands. Established in 2001, this observance replaced a previous holiday to focus specifically on the humanitarian efforts and the memory of the 649 fallen Argentine troops. Modern commemorations involve high-ranking officials and emphasize the ongoing mission to identify the remains of those killed in action. Overall, the source highlights how the nation honors its military history and maintains its claim to the territory through public remembrance.

LONDON — President Trump and his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have been damning of the U.K.’s naval capabilities. Their jibes may have stung in a country with a long and proud maritime history, but they do carry some substance.

The U.K. has been at the forefront of Trump’s ire since the onset of the Iran war on Feb. 28, when British Prime Minister Keir Starmer refused to grant the U.S. military access to British bases.

Though that decision has been partly reversed with the decision to permit the U.S. to use the bases, including that of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, for so-called defensive purposes, Trump is adamant he was let down.

He has repeatedly lashed out at Starmer and branded the Royal Navy’s two new aircraft carriers as “toys.”

“You don’t even have a navy,” he told Britain’s Daily Telegraph in comments published Wednesday. “You’re too old and had aircraft carriers that didn’t work.”

The HMS Queen Elizabeth and the HMS Prince of Wales are the largest and most powerful vessels ever constructed for the Royal Navy, though smaller and less capable than the U.S. Navy’s main fleet carriers. However, they are widely considered to be highly capable, especially for coalition warfare, despite some technical issues that have afflicted them in their first years of service.

Hegseth, meanwhile, said sarcastically that the “big, bad Royal Navy” should get involved in making the Strait of Hormuz safe for commercial shipping.

For numerous reasons, the Royal Navy is not as big and bad as it used it to be when Britannia ruled the waves. But it’s not as feeble as Trump and Hegseth imply and is largely similar with the French navy, with which it is often compared.

“On the negative side, there is a grain of truth, with the Royal Navy being smaller than it has been in hundreds of years,” said Professor Kevin Rowlands, editor of the Royal United Services Institute Journal. “On the positive side, the Royal Navy would say that it’s entering its first period of growth since World War II, with more ships set to be built than in decades.”

Capabilities and preparedness

It’s not that long ago that Britain could muster a task force of 127 ships, including two aircraft carriers, to sail to the south Atlantic after Argentina’s invasion of the Falkland Islands, a British overseas territory. That 1982 campaign, which then-U. S. President Reagan was lukewarm about, marked the final hurrah of Britain’s naval pedigree.

Nothing on that scale, or even remotely, could be accomplished now. Since World War II, Britain’s combat-ready fleet has declined substantially, much of it linked to changing military and technological advances and the end of empire. But not all.

The number of vessels in the Royal Navy fleet, including aircraft carriers, destroyers frigates and submarines has fallen from 166 in 1975 to 66 in 2025, according to the Associated Press’ analysis of figures from the Ministry of Defense and the House of Commons Library.

Though the Royal Navy has two aircraft carriers at its command, there was a seven-year period in the 2010s when it had none. And the number of destroyers has halved to six while the frigate fleet has been slashed from 60 to just 11.

Diminished state

The Royal Navy faced criticism for the time it took to send the HMS Dragon destroyer to the Middle East after the war with Iran broke out. Though naval officials worked night and day to get it shipshape for a different mission than the one it was readying for, to many it symbolized the extent to which Britain’s military has been gutted since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

For much of the Cold War, Britain was spending between 4% and 8% of its annual national income on its military. After the Cold War, that proportion steadily dropped to a low of 1.9% of GDP in 2018, fuel to Trump’s fire.

Like other countries, Britain, largely under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, sought to use the so-called “peace dividend” following the collapse of the Soviet Union to divert money earmarked for defense to other priorities, such as health and education.

And the austerity measures imposed by the Conservative-led government in the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008-09 prevented any pickup in defense spending despite the clear signs of a resurgent Russia, especially after its annexation of Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine.

No quick fix

In the wake of Russia’s full-blown invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and with another Middle East war underway, there’s a growing understanding across the political divide that the cuts have gone too far.

Following the Ukraine invasion, the Conservatives started to turn the military spending tide around. Since the Labour Party returned to power in 2024, Starmer is seeking to ramp up British defense spending, partly at the cost of cutting the country’s long-vaunted aid spending.

Starmer has promised to raise U.K. defense spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product by 2027, and the updated goal is now for it to rise to 3.5% of GDP by 2035, as part of a NATO agreement pushed by Trump. That, in plain terms, will mean tens of billions pounds more being spent — a lot more equipment for the armed forces.

The pressure is on for the government to speed that schedule up. But with the public finances further imperiled by the economic consequences of the Iran war, it’s not clear where any additional money will come.

The jibes will likely keep coming even though the critiques are unfair and far from the truth, said RUSI’s Rowlands, who was a captain in the Royal Navy.

“We are dealing with an administration that doesn’t do nuance,” he said.

Pylas writes for the Associated Press.

Gabriele Gravina has resigned as the head of Italy’s football association (FIGC) following their failure to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup.

The four-time world champions suffered another play-off final defeat when they were beaten 4-1 on penalties by Bosnia-Herzegovina on Tuesday.

No previous winner of the tournament has missed three World Cups in a row, which Italy now have after missing out on Russia in 2018 and Qatar 2022.

Also on Thursday, former goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who was working closely with the men’s national team, resigned as delegation head via Instagram., external

Buffon, who was part of Italy’s 2006 World Cup-winning side, wrote that with Gravina’s decision to go, he felt, “as an act of responsibility”, he should do the same.

“The main objective was to bring Italy back to the World Cup. And we didn’t succeed,” Buffon, 48, added.

“It’s fair to leave it to those who will come after the freedom to choose the figure they think is best to play my role.”

Gravina, 72, who is the Uefa first vice-president, announced his resignation following a meeting held at the FIGC’s headquarters in Rome.

He took the job in October 2018, with his predecessor Carlo Tavecchio having stepped down following Italy’s failure to beat Sweden in a World Cup play-off the previous year.

April 2 (UPI) — The Artemis II astronauts have completed their perigee raise burn as part of a planned orbital adjustment and are headed back into a four-hour rest period, NASA said.

After an earlier rest period, the astronauts were awakened at 7:06 a.m. EDT for the perigee burn. NASA played the song “Sleepyhead” by Young and Sick to wake them up.

In the perigee burn, the spacecraft lit its main engine for 43 seconds, which raised the lowest point of its orbit. This helps prevent the craft from re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere. It also refines the trajectory of the craft as it circles Earth. It put Orion into a stable high-Earth orbit, which aligns with its path to the moon.

The crew will now have another four-and-a-half-hour rest period, then they will be awakened to start their first full day in space.

Later today, the mission management team will have its first meeting of the mission to assess the spacecraft’s systems and will give its approval for the upcoming translunar injection burn. That burn will send astronauts out of Earth’s orbit and toward the Moon for the first time in 50 years. It will last just over six minutes and will speed the craft to escape Earth’s gravitational pull.

The launch on Wednesday evening began at 6:35 p.m. EDT from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Soon after launch, Wiseman told operators on the ground, “We have a beautiful moonrise, we’re headed right at it.”

There was a small glitch in the craft’s space toilet, Space.com reported.

“The toilet fan is reported to be jammed,” NASA spokesperson Gary Jordan said during live mission commentary. “Now the ground teams are coming up with instructions on how to get into the fan and clear that area to revive the toilet for the mission.”

NASA Director of Flight Operations Norm Knight told reporters that the problem was a controller issue on the toilet in urine collection. The astronauts were able to use a backup system until the engineers fixed the problem before their first rest period.

About 9 minutes after the launch, the crew entered Earth’s orbit, traveling about 15,000 mph. They are expected to enter the moon’s orbit in about six days, travel around it and then return to Earth.

The four-person crew are: NASA’s Commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen.

FAMILIES have been left gutted after Center Parcs confirmed they were scrapping a popular service at the resorts.

The company previously offered a creche service for kids between three months and three years, for up to three hours.

Costing around £30 a session, it has since confirmed that this will no longer be offered at any of the resorts by the end of next month.

Customers with upcoming bookings have discovered they can no longer book their kids in if their holiday is after the end of May, with the option removed across all of Center Parcs’ UK sites.

One frustrated parent said on a Facebook Center Parcs group: “I had planned to book a much needed child free trip to the spa with my husband and planned to put the children in the kids clubs and our 2 year old in the crèche so we could go together. 

“However the crèche is unavailable for booking? I could cry.”

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Others explained why they had found the creche so helpful.

One said: “We used the crèche for my youngest who wasn’t old enough for any activities so us parents and the older two could do the treetop adventure together.”

Another added: ” We used the crèche whilst my husband and I did a couples hour in the spa.

“If we have the money for the holiday, we can choose to spend it on the crèche and have an hour to ourselves.”

A third said: “It’s only three hours and provides the adults of the holiday with maybe just a lunch of hot uninterrupted food together as it’s their holiday too. 

“We all need a break sometimes.”

The creche was the only activity where parents could leave children aged under three, although they had to stay on-site.

Activities for older children that do not require a parent to accompany them are still on offer, such as Wizard Academy (3+) and Chocolate Chef’s Academy (3+).

Center Parcs said it is developing new activities for children of all ages to be enjoyed by families together.

A spokesperson told The Sun: “At Center Parcs, we’re always looking to review and evolve the guest experience. 

“We have made the decision to remove the crèche activity from our breaks, to reflect guest feedback and limited demand for this particular activity. 

“Crèche sessions are one of more than 20 activities available within our Activity Den and our other activities will continue to run as normal. 

“We’re developing new activities for children of all ages, with the aim of creating even more engaging experiences for families to enjoy together at Center Parcs.”

It’s not the only changes at the parks in recent years.

Last summer, changes to the pools revealed opening times were 9am instead of 10am, as well as new Quiet hours on select days.

However, it also confirmed that the pools would be closing at 8pm rather than 10pm.

And in September 2025, they introduced new staggered check in times.

Treehouse access guests can check in from 1pm, while Forest Lodges, Hotels and Apartments check in is from 3pm.

Exclusive Lodges check in times stay at 2pm, as well as Woodland Lodges from 4pm.

And here is everything to know about the new £450million Center Parcs resort opening in the UK.

5 Star’s gripping documentary series A+E After Dark returns for its seventh series at a time when new figures reveal a stark and troubling reality for frontline NHS workers

Gripping documentary series A+E After Dark returns for its seventh series on Thursday night on 5 Star.

The new season is filmed inside the A+E departments of Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, Newham Hospital in East London, and Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

The show offers unprecedented access to the night shifts where staff pressure, violent attacks and life-or-death decisions collide.

The first episode shows shocking racist abuse towards an A+E nurse in Newham, attempts to save a stabbing victim and their attacker in Norwich and two injured young men involved in a 70mph collision during wet weather in Belfast

A synopsis for episode one reads: “At Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, doctors race to save both victim and attacker after a shocking stabbing brings two critically injured men into A+E at the same time.

“In Belfast, a high-speed crash during extreme weather leaves multiple patients at risk of spinal injuries, while an elderly woman undergoes a painful procedure for a broken femur.

“Meanwhile in Newham, security intervene when a patient refuses to stop live streaming inside the department, and in Norwich, a team fights to restart a patient’s heart during a sudden cardiac arrest.”

In a chilling first look clip at the collision in Belfast, it sees four young men rushed into the department after a high impact car crash at 70mph.

It then sees Doctor Michael examining one of the front passengers, David, who is in serious pain. Speaking in a VT, Doctor Michael explains: “Obviously, the faster the car is going, the more severe injuries you will get.”

Looking over David, Doctor Michael says the patient will be sent for X-rays on his face, neck, lower back and knees to check there are no fractures or breaks.

It comes as NHS England sadly reports a three-year high in violence against staff. Almost 1 in 7 NHS workers (14.47%) were physically attacked by patients or the public last year, with a record number of staff subjected to unwanted sexual behaviour, rising sharply to nearly 1 in 3 ambulance workers (31%), while 9% reported experiencing discrimination – the highest level ever recorded, according to new data from NHS England.

A+E After Dark captures the relentless reality of night-time emergency care across the UK. The new series follows dedicated teams in Belfast, Newham and Norwich as they battle exhaustion, overcrowding and escalating violence to save lives.

**A+E After Dark airs on 5 Star at 9pm on Thursday 2 April and is available to stream on My5. You can follow the series on **Facebook** and **Instagram** and **TikTok.

Tourist, Samuel Carceres confessed he was ‘unaware places in England like this exist’ after visiting a picturesque medieval town that is just two miles from the coast

If you’re after a quintessentially British location to explore that’s perfect for a weekend away, an escape in the south of England comes highly recommended. “I can’t believe places like this in England exist,” confessed visitor, Samuel Caceres in a TikTok video.

The Spaniard shared footage of himself standing on a cobbled hillside street, taking in an array of Tudor architecture after making the journey to the Sussex town from London. “It’s famous for one of the prettiest streets in the UK – Mermaid Street,” Samuel explained as he descended the slope. “This medieval street dates back to the 12th century.”

The town he’s referring to is Rye, where Samuel kicked off his visit by tucking into a “delicious brunch” at the Whitehouse restaurant.

“I then wandered through the town’s charming little alleyways,” he added, passing independent shops including The Mint Arcade and Curious and Curiouser.

Samuel continued: “There is so much to do here – from climbing the church’s tower to take in the sweeping views – to exploring the church’s grounds and postcard-perfect streets.”

He proceeded to tell his followers they simply ‘can’t miss” the chance to enjoy a pint at the Mermaid Inn – an historic hotel and restaurant that “feels like stepping inside a Tudor castle”.

Samuel also highlighted Rye’s Watchbell Street, drawing attention to the “stunning viewpoints” it provides of the surrounding countryside overlooking the River Tillingham.

He concluded his visit at the “famous” Cobbles Tea Room, where he savoured an afternoon tea. “It was cosy, welcoming, and perfect for homemade scones and a warm cup of tea,” Samuel enthused.

He wrapped up his travel recommendation: “You need to add Rye to your bucket list – it’s the perfect daytrip.”

And he provided additional details in a caption: “Rye is a storybook town full of crooked lanes, medieval charm, and smuggler legends. Once a major port and part of the historic Cinque Ports, Rye lost its seaside access as the coastline shifted, but not its character.

“In the 18th century, it became a hotspot for smuggling, with secret tunnels said to run beneath old inns like The Mermaid Inn. Writers like Henry James found inspiration here, and festivals like Rye Bonfire Night still light up the cobbled streets.”

How to Get to Rye

Discover Sussex has the following advice for those wishing to travel to Rye:

By Car – If you are driving, there are many car parks in Rye including Rope Street car park, the Cattle Market car park (not Thursdays) and Cinque Ports Street car park, which are all within walking distance to the town centre.

By Train – Rye has a beautiful Grade II listed train station, which is located north of the town centre and is only minutes from the high street. Trains run approximately every hour from London St Pancras, which require one change at Ashford International, with the journey taking approximately 1 hour 10 minutes.

When I cracked open retired firefighter Bruce Hensler’s 15-year-old book, Crucible of Fire, I felt I had found an oracle.

Before 15 out of California’s 20 most destructive fires on record, Hensler described large chunks of cities burning to the ground, insurance companies jacking up premiums after realizing they wildly underestimated the risk and politicians failing to enforce the few fire safety rules on the books.

He even describes the fire chief of a decimated city criticizing city its politicians for failing to properly prepare for such a disaster, resulting in the city ousting the chief. (Sound familiar, Palisadians?)

Yet Hensler wasn’t trying to predict what would unfold in California’s wildland-urban interface in the 21st century. He was simply telling the story of the late 1800s and early 1900s in the Eastern U.S.’ downtowns of dense, wooden buildings.

Spoiler: Firefighters, policymakers, local advocates and, notably, insurance professionals figured out how to stop it from happening. Here’s how they did it.

The Industrial Revolution, supercharged by the Civil War, transformed Northeastern cities into denser and denser wooden tinderboxes filled with tons of humans more than capable of accidentally generating sparks.

Fire departments, inspired by the war, were already reorganizing under a new paramilitary structure to more quickly and aggressively respond to blazes although most were still primarily volunteer-based. And beyond a few ad hoc fire safety laws that were scarcely enforced, cities’ building codes and water infrastructure naively lagged far behind the threat cities were creating.

So, cities started burning.

In 1866, a Fourth of July firecracker burned down much of Portland, Maine.

The destruction — more than $240 million in damage in today’s dollars — seriously spooked insurance companies focused on downtown industrial properties. Within days, they joined together to form the National Board of Fire Underwriters to try to stabilize their industry and promote fire-safety measures.

It wasn’t enough. A barn fire burned down Chicago in 1871 — more than $4 billion in damage in today’s dollars. A warehouse fire burned down Boston the next year — causing more than $1 billion in damage.

After the Boston fire, the board raised rates by 50% in large cities and began hurling ham-fisted threats to pull coverage altogether if cities didn’t get their act together and address their tinderbox problems quickly.

Over the next few decades, the board slowly got its own act together: It began collecting data on what caused cities to burn and funded a lab to run experiments. After Baltimore burned in 1904, the board released its own national fire-safety building codes based on that knowledge and created a grading scale to identify the risk of different cities based on their fire departments and water utilities as well as how closely their building practices aligned with the board’s building and electrical codes.

For politicians who dragged their feet because bolstering a water system or fire department is costly and designing a fire-safe building is, quite frankly, more cumbersome, the grading system made maintaining the status quo no longer viable — try explaining to your constituents that insurance rates in town are through the roof simply because the city won’t adopt the board’s new codes.

At some point, cities no longer burned down, only blocks or buildings did. As fire departments and cities continued to adopt new tech (with some pushing from the insurance industry) — motorized fire engines to replace horse-drawn ones, and later, smoke detectors and indoor sprinklers, then air tanks that allowed firefighters to enter buildings — fires didn’t often spread past a single floor or room.

These reforms, targeted mainly at commercial and industrial buildings in dense downtowns, largely missed the looming crisis in suburban residential areas that were slowly building themselves into a different kind of tinderbox that burned from the outside in.

In those areas, we’ve already seen many of the same dynamics play out: first the insurance rate hikes, then the cancellations. Now, some conversations and many heated debates — often driven by the insurance industry — are taking place around what we ought to do to protect our urban-wildland interface areas and how we can make them insurable again.

Organizations such as the Institute for Business & Home Safety play the role of the National Board of Fire Underwriters. Insurance wildfire models are starting to play the role of the grading scale, and policies such as Zone Zero, the national building codes.

As Hensler wrote in 2011, we now “accept building fires as commonplace but no longer expect them to consume adjacent buildings or blocks.”

It reminds me of a text Keegan Gibbs, who leads the Community Brigade program with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, sent me when I asked what he hopes to see in 10 years’ time: “neighborhoods where wildfire can move through the landscape without becoming a community-level disaster.”

More recent wildfire news

State Farm reached a deal with California last month to keep a 17% rate hike that took effect after the 2025 L.A. County fires, my colleague Paige St. John reports. The state initially rejected State Farm’s 22% rate hike request but eventually offered a temporary approval of the 17% hike last year. State Farm — which said it paid $6.2 billion in claims last year, largely from the L.A. County fires — said the increase enables the company to continue serving Californians.

A monthlong heat dome over the American West, fueled by climate change, has melted mountain snowpacks significantly this year, writes fellow Boiling Point host Ian James. With more time for vegetation to dry out, the early melting brings an increased risk of wildfire across the region this year.

In fact, acreage burned this year is nearly triple the 10-year average, reports Tim Casperson of newsletter the Hotshot Wake Up. The uptick has been fueled by a series of fires in Nebraska that has stunned many of the state’s ranchers as it decimated the hay that cattle rely on and stressed pregnant cows, reports Anila Yoganathan at the Flatwater Free Press.

A few last things in climate news

The U.S. Forest Service announced a major reorganization effort Tuesday that will move its headquarters from Washington to Salt Lake City, close research and development facilities in more than 30 states and shift management from broader regional offices to more localized state offices, reports Christine Peterson for High Country News. Former Forest Service employees and tribal leaders expressed concern that the move would uproot thousands of employees, scattering specialized regional knowledge. The chief of the Forest Service said the plan is intended to make the agency more “nimble, efficient, effective and closer to the forests and communities it serves.”

Gas prices in Los Angeles surged to $6 per gallon this week after the U.S. and Israel’s and the U.S.’s attack on Iran prompted the nation to close the Strait of Hormuz. However, California’s petroleum market watchdog is warning that some of the inflated price may be due to price gouging, my colleague Blanca Begert reports. In January, refineries were making 49 cents on the gallon, the watchdog group said; now, it’s closer to $1.25.

Honda is scrapping plans to build and sell three new electric-vehicle models in the U.S. after the Trump administration abandoned Biden-era policy goals to increase EV manufacturing and adoption, Dan Gearino reports for Inside Climate News. It comes after similar moves by Ford and Ram.

Finally, Heatmap News, in collaboration with MIT, has launched a new tool tracking electricity prices across the country on a month-to-month basis all the way down to the Zip Code level. You can check it out here.

This is the latest edition of Boiling Point, a newsletter about climate change and the environment in the American West. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. And listen to our Boiling Point podcast here.

For more wildfire news, follow @nohaggerty on X and @nohaggerty.bsky.social on Bluesky.

Kerr’s status at Chelsea was unquestionable before she suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury while at her peak in January 2024.

It took her more than 18 months to recover and she is still returning to full fitness as Chelsea struggle to meet expectations this season.

Off the pitch, Kerr has endured difficulties too. She was found not guilty of causing racially aggravated harassment against a Metropolitan Police officer in 2025 – the result of a court case which played out in the public eye and caused controversy.

That led to calls in her home country to strip her of the Australia captaincy, while she stepped out of the limelight in England.

It has also been a period of change for Kerr as she got married to former West Ham midfielder Kristie Mewis and they have a son, who was born in May.

In her absence, Chelsea went unbeaten domestically and won the treble in manager Sonia Bompastor’s debut campaign, but it has not gone to plan this year.

Injuries – particularly in attacking positions – players departing the club and performances not being up to scratch mean Chelsea are set to miss out on the Women’s Super League title and are out of the Women’s Champions League.

Kerr has struggled to regain her place in the starting XI despite this, playing just 444 minutes in the WSL this season.

She has made 15 appearances in the league, but only started two games, while she netted three goals in three starts in Europe.

Bompastor has fewer options up front, with USA striker Catarina Macario joining San Diego Wave, and Aggie Beever-Jones and Mayra Ramirez out injured.

So has Kerr been overlooked?

“She’s featured in almost every league game this season but it’s only two that she has started. The number nine position has been difficult for Chelsea,” said former Scotland captain Rachel Corsie on BBC Radio 5 Live.

“Lauren James has played there to allow them to get Alyssa Thompson and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd in the team, who have been in good form. There’s lots of different factors.

“But they haven’t got an out-and-out number nine. Chelsea need a number nine. To let go of Sam Kerr, without having a replacement there, would be a big step.”

Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan intends to continue to nudge the United States and Iran towards negotiations aimed at ending their war, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs acknowledges “obstacles” in its efforts.

Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi did not specify the roadblocks on the path to peace that he was referring to. But his comments, made during a weekly media briefing in Islamabad, came hours after US President Donald Trump threatened to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages” if it did not accept Washington’s terms for a peace deal.

Pakistan has been leading a multination effort to facilitate negotiations between the US and Iran.

“Despite challenges and obstacles, Pakistan will continue its efforts to promote facilitation and dialogue,” Andrabi said. He added that Islamabad was working to create conditions for “meaningful negotiations among relevant stakeholders”.

He said the US and Iran had confidence in Pakistan’s role as a neutral intermediary.

In a sign of that confidence, Iran has allowed 20 Pakistani-flagged vessels to transit the Strait of Hormuz. Andrabi called it “a harbinger of peace” and a positive step for regional stability.

He did not confirm whether any Pakistani ship had so far sailed through the strait.

The Hormuz route has been largely blocked since Iran began restricting oil and gas shipments following the outbreak of the US-Israel-Iran conflict on February 28. The disruption has driven up energy prices and triggered widespread economic strain.

Andrabi also pointed to sustained high-level contact between Islamabad and Tehran. He cited a March 28 call in which Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, stressing the need to “build trust in order to facilitate talks and mediation” and praising Pakistan for its “supportive role for peace”.

Regional diplomacy

The briefing came just a day after Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar returned from Beijing, where he met China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

The visit produced a joint five-point initiative calling for an immediate ceasefire, urgent diplomatic engagement to prevent further escalation, and the restoration of normal maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

Andrabi said the Chinese-Pakistani plan had since been shared with Iran, the US and other stakeholders, receiving appreciation “across the region and beyond”.

He added that the proposals were consistent with the outcome of the four-nation ministerial meeting held in Islamabad the previous weekend — the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Egypt joined Dar for those talks.

Dar travelled to Beijing despite medical advice to rest after sustaining a hairline fracture during the Islamabad talks, a move Andrabi said reflected the importance Pakistan places on its ties with China. “The Chinese side expressed deep appreciation, conveying that China and Pakistan are strategic cooperative partners,” he said.

The Islamabad meeting between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Egypt was the second such gathering in a coordinated regional push to de-escalate tensions. The first was held in Riyadh on March 19.

Following those talks, Dar said Pakistan was prepared to host direct US-Iran negotiations “in the coming days”.

“Pakistan will be honoured to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides for a comprehensive and lasting settlement,” he said on March 30.

At Thursday’s briefing, Andrabi reiterated that offer, confirming Pakistan had formally “offered to host and facilitate negotiations as part of its broader diplomatic outreach”.

He said the next phase of efforts would focus on securing “meaningful negotiations among relevant stakeholders”.

He appeared to acknowledge that Iran — which has so far denied any direct negotiations with the US and has insisted that the mediation is limited to messages being passed between Tehran and Washington by Islamabad — was not fully on board with the efforts to push the warring nations towards talks.

“Iran, as a sovereign country, determines its own policies,” Andrabi said.

Afghanistan breakthrough?

Separately, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry confirmed sending a delegation of senior officials to the northwestern Chinese city of Urumqi for talks with Afghanistan. It is the first substantive contact since Islamabad launched cross-border strikes in late February.

The Urumqi meeting on Wednesday focused on exchanging views on the current escalation, Andrabi said.

“Our participation is a reiteration of our core concerns,” he said. “The burden of real process, however, lies with Afghanistan, which must demonstrate visible and verifiable actions against terrorist groups using Afghan soil against Pakistan.”

Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq on the night of February 26, targeting what it described as sanctuaries of “terrorists” in Afghanistan, following what it called unprovoked fire from across the border by Afghan Taliban forces.

After a five-day pause from March 18 to 23 for Eid-ul-Fitr, partly in response to de-escalation requests from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye, Andrabi confirmed the operation was continuing.

“There has been no change in Operation Ghazab lil-Haq, and operations are continuing,” he said.

Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Taliban administration in Kabul of enabling groups such as Pakistan Taliban, known by the acronym TTP, which have repeatedly launched deadly attacks inside Pakistan, to operate from Afghan soil. Kabul denies those allegations.

Islamabad says its concerns remain unaddressed, and violence has surged since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021.

China has also played a role in facilitating engagement between Pakistan and Afghanistan, including meetings in Beijing in May and in Kabul in August.