bond

ATLANTA — JJ Redick was already preaching one type of Japanese philosophy, harping to his team about the concept of “kaizen” to improve each day. Off the court, the head coach found inspiration in another Japanese phrase.

Lakers players and coaches have used PechaKucha presentations to facilitate team bonding this season. The slideshows, which come from the Japanese word for chitchat, could be a secret to the team’s hot start as the Lakers (7-2) have won five consecutive games entering a five-game road that starts Saturday in Atlanta at 5 p.m. PST against the Hawks.

The Lakers have pieced together one of the NBA’s most efficient offenses despite injuries keeping LeBron James, Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic in and out of the lineup, relying on a strong team bond that’s developed quickly through an even faster form of communication.

PechaKucha presentations are traditionally 20 slides, each with a photo. The speaker has 20 seconds to explain each slide for a total presentation time of 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

The Lakers’ version consists of five slides: where you’re from; favorite basketball memory; person, event or thing that has impacted your life; your non-basketball happy place; and dealer’s choice.

“A lot of times most of the interactions you’ll have with your teammates is on the basketball court,” forward Jake LaRavia said. “So it’s good to just kind of either learn some stuff about them outside of basketball, like hobbies and stuff like that, where they come from. And that just helps you kind of understand who the person is a little bit better.”

Assistant coach Scott Brooks started his presentation with a photo of a walnut, symbolizing the walnut farm he worked on during the weekends to help his family make ends meet. LaRavia showed a photo of his driveway as the origin of his basketball journey. Doncic spoke about how his daughter Gabriela changed his life.

One coach and one player present, and then they each nominate the next coach or player to go. With about half of the players and coaches left, Redick said he’s already noticing the holdouts actively planning their presentations before their nominations.

“We’re just constantly encouraging and empowering our guys to get connected,” Redick said. “I believe if you’re connected off the floor, you’re connected on the floor. You need buy-in to that. I’m not trying to take credit for my staff here. It’s the guys on the team, they’re bought into that.”

Doncic, for one, isn’t sold. He deadpanned that he doesn’t think the exercise helps.

Just the fact that Doncic made the joke meant it’s working.

Settled after last season’s jarring trade, the 26-year-old’s personality has started to emerge among his teammates. He is a sarcastic jokester who expresses love for his teammates by threading passes to them through pinhole-sized gaps in the defense and then trash talking them right soon after.

Lakers coach JJ Redick, with injured forward LeBron James next to him, questions a call along with guard Marcus Smart during the game against the Spurs on Wednesday.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Doncic’s smiling antics, whether he’s trying to sit on Austin Reaves’ lap on the sideline or swishing halfcourt shots in a contest with Reaves, Maxi Kleber and staff members, show just how connected the superstar feels to the team.

“Honestly, the feeling is I’m enjoying, very much, playing with these guys,” Doncic said. “AR [Reaves] can’t play. We’re still missing LeBron. So this team has a big potential. But everybody who steps on court, gives maximum, man, everybody. So it’s very enjoyable to play.”

Reaves is present on the road trip but will miss a third consecutive game Saturday. The Lakers ruled him out after practice Friday as his right groin injury progressed to a strain after previously being categorized simply as soreness.

James did not make the trip to Atlanta. He progressed to on-court basketball activities this week after missing four weeks because of a sciatica on his right side. He was playing one-on-one with coaches, Redick said. A stint with the South Bay Lakers is on the table, but no decision has been made.

The NBA’s all-time leading scorer hasn’t played a single minute for the Lakers yet. Reaves, averaging 31.1 points and 9.3 assists, has missed the last two wins, and Doncic has played in only half of the games. But the Lakers are still fifth in the NBA in offensive rating.

“It shows how professional we are,” guard Marcus Smart said of the team’s chemistry despite constantly changing personnel. “I think a lot of people, especially who aren’t in the brotherhood, they forget that you build a relationship with guys, and then one guy or a couple guys, you get traded and you got to rebuild another one. You don’t understand how tough that is, how much of a toll that takes.”

Just as Smart spoke, Doncic appeared behind the group of reporters, clapping loudly. Then Doncic made sure to put on the record that he would beat Smart at a team-building competition that night. Both smiled as they walked away.

Harley Moon Kemp has revealed that she never receives an invite to the pub from her brother Roman as they made their debut together on Celebrity Race Across The World

Harley Moon Kemp has revealed that she never receives an invite to the pub from her brother, Roman. The photographer,36, who is the daughter of TV legend Martin Kemp and pop singer Shirlie Kemp, has stayed largely out of the spotlight, whilst her sibling, 32, has carved out a successful career as a radio host, One Show presenter and general television personality.

But as she and her younger brother appeared on the first episode of Celebrity Race Across The World on Thursday night, the pair shared an exchange that gave an insight into their relationship.

In their introduction, Roman admitted: We’ve got some slightly different traits. Harley was always the one going out, getting in trouble; I was more boring!”

Harley Moon responded: “Roman is going to be practical; and the planning and the budgeting,” as he replied: “You’re in charge of cups and ice.”

READ MORE: Four I’m A Celebrity stars give away they’re headed to the jungle in huge slip-upREAD MORE: Celebrity Race Across the World 2025 line up, full route and when it starts

It was then that she explained: “We’ve got that conventional family thing going on when you call each other when you need stuff,” before Roman replied: “I don’t know what it’s like to hang out with Harleymoon.”

Implying that was his fault, Harley Moon hit back: “You never invite me to the pub,” before the former I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! star clarified: “Because I never go!”

Just months before taking on Celebrity Race Across the World 2025 with his older sister, which will see the sibling duo competing with other stars as they race 5,900km across Central America on just £30 each a day, Loose Men star Roma opened up about the struggle he remembers most vividly from his childhood.

In a conversation with singer Tom Grennan on their You About? podcast, Roman shared memories of him and Harley Moon featuring in national magazines alongside their famous parents during a period when finances were tight for the family.

Shirlie and husband Martin, who was a member of the band Spandau Ballet before starring as Steve Owen in BBC soap EastEnders, were struggling with money due to the musician’s health battles in the nineties.

My parents had no money at the time because my dad had all these operations and s*** for his brain, so, like, they were trying to get more money,” Roman explained to podcast co-host Tom. He went on to admit that even though they had appeared in magazines as a family, Martin and Shirlie were still anxious about their children being snapped by paparazzi on holiday.

Roman continued: “But then, even up to when I was maybe 13, if we’d gone on holiday, we were never allowed to go to the beach because when we went on the beach, my mum and dad would always be like, ‘there it is’ and you’d see a boat come past, quite far out, and then, like, stop, and there would just be a long lens camera just taking pictures of kids on beaches.”

Roman heartbreakingly revealed his mum would often be left in tears after seeing pictures the paparazzi had taken of them appearing in the press. He shared: “It’s mad in that sense, you see it less and less now, like those old celebrity pictures on the beach, you see that a lot less now.

“But at the time, my whole life, me growing up, was my mum crying because they’re taking horrendous pictures and they’d only use the worst picture.” Reflecting on a specific traumatic moment following a holiday, Roman said Shirlie “cried for, like, five days” when photos of the family on a banana boat were published in the press.

Ahead of Celebrity Race Across the World airing on Thursday night, Harleymoon explained she was previously given the chance to go on the BBC show with her mum, but Shirlie had concerns, so the pair missed out.

Harleymoon told the Radio Times: “My mum was asked to be in the first Celebrity Race Across the World and was going to take me, but thought it sounded too hard. I was glad to have another chance to go.”

Sharing his own motivations to sign up to the series, Roman, who has been open about his struggles with anxiety and depression, said: “I came off all medication [antidepressants] over a year ago and the race was a good test for my anxiety.”

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

This was Newcastle’s first European campaign since 1977.

It was also their first since the ban on English clubs playing on the continent after the Heysel Stadium disaster had been lifted in 1990.

There was still a reasonable police presence in Bilbao on what was a national holiday.

Supporter Karl Pedley recalled how Newcastle fans were accompanied into San Mames by “full riot police, some of whom were armed”.

However, just a few minutes into the game, he noticed how “a number of them had sat down with their helmets and pads off, and were enjoying what we were doing”.

There was no edge, even after Newcastle were defeated 1-0, and Athletic fans invaded the pitch and sprinted towards the away end to applaud the travelling support.

Newcastle supporters responded by chanting “Athletic! Athletic! Athletic!” – but that was not the end of the matter.

“The police held us back for a short while and took us down a long concrete staircase into the main road,” Pedley said. “All we could see at the bottom was this mass of red and white.

“They brought us down in single file and let us go. We thought ‘oh, here we go.’ But all the Athletic fans wanted to do was shake your hand, pat you on the back and take you to a bar. It was as if they were like ‘adopt a Geordie’.

“I don’t think there was anyone in a Newcastle United shirt who didn’t get fed and watered that night. They were just really appreciative that we were enjoying their city.”

Chants were exchanged as Newcastle fans taught Athletic supporters – among others – “walking in a Keegan wonderland” and “he gets the ball and scores a goal, Andy, Andy Cole”.

Shirts and scarves were even swapped and this remains, possibly, the only occasion where a number of Newcastle supporters wore red and white, which are also the colours of bitter rivals Sunderland.

One such Athletic shirt remains a cherished memento from an away day that Newcastle fan Philip Long will never forget.

“It’s still in the wardrobe with a couple hundred of my Newcastle tops,” he said. “I’ll never let go of it.”

Victor Conte, the architect of a scheme to provide undetectable performance-enhancing drugs to professional athletes including baseball stars Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and Olympic track champion Marion Jones decades ago, has died. He was 75.

Conte died Monday, SNAC System, a sports nutrition company he founded, said in a social media post. It did not disclose his cause of death.

The federal government’s investigation into another company Conte founded, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, yielded convictions of Jones, elite sprint cyclist Tammy Thomas, and former NFL defensive lineman Dana Stubblefield along with coaches, distributors, a trainer, a chemist and a lawyer.

Conte, who served four months in federal prison for dealing steroids, talked openly about his famous former clients. He went on television to say he had seen three-time Olympic medalist Jones inject herself with human growth hormone, but always stopped short of implicating Bonds, the San Francisco Giants slugger.

The investigation led to the book “Game of Shadows.” A week after the book was published in 2006, baseball Commissioner Bud Selig hired former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell to investigate steroids.

The Steroids Era

Conte said he sold steroids known as “the cream” and “the clear” and advised on their use to dozens of elite athletes, including Giambi, a five-time major league All-Star, the Mitchell report said.

“The illegal use of performance-enhancing substances poses a serious threat to the integrity of the game,” the Mitchell report said. “Widespread use by players of such substances unfairly disadvantages the honest athletes who refuse to use them and raises questions about the validity of baseball records.”

Mitchell said the problems didn’t develop overnight. Mitchell said everyone involved in baseball in the previous two decades — including commissioners, club officials, the players’ association and players — shared some responsibility for what he called “the Steroids Era.”

The federal investigation into BALCO began with a tax agent digging through the company’s trash.

Conte wound up pleading guilty to two of the 42 charges against him in 2005 before trial. Six of the 11 convicted people were ensnared for lying to grand jurors, federal investigators or the court.

Bonds’ personal trainer, Greg Anderson, pleaded guilty to steroid distribution charges stemming from his BALCO connections. Anderson was sentenced to three months in prison and three months of home confinement.

Bonds was charged with lying to a grand jury about receiving performance-enhancing drugs and went on trial in 2011. Prosecutors dropped the case four years later when the government decided not to appeal an overturned obstruction of justice conviction to the Supreme Court.

A seven-time National League MVP and 14-time All-Star outfielder, Bonds ended his career after the 2007 season with 762 homers, surpassing the record of 755 that Hank Aaron set from 1954-76. Bonds denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs but has never been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Bonds didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.

Conte told the Associated Press in a 2010 interview that “yes, athletes cheat to win, but the government agents and prosecutors cheat to win, too.” He also questioned whether the results in such legal cases justified the effort.

Conte’s attorney, Robert Holley, didn’t respond to an email and phone call seeking comment. SNAC System didn’t respond to a message sent through the company’s website.

Defiant about his role

After serving his sentence in a minimum security prison he described as “like a men’s retreat,” Conte got back in business in 2007 by resuscitating a nutritional supplements business he had launched two decades earlier called Scientific Nutrition for Advanced Conditioning or SNAC System. He located it in the same building that once housed BALCO in Burlingame, Calif.

Conte remained defiant about his central role in doling out designer steroids to elite athletes. He maintained he simply helped “level the playing field” in a world already rife with cheaters.

To Dr. Gary Wadler, a then-member of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Conte might as well have been pushing cocaine or heroin.

“You are talking about totally illegal drug trafficking. You are talking about using drugs in violation of federal law,” Wadler said in 2007. “This is not philanthropy and this is not some do-gooding. This is drug dealing.”

The hallway at SNAC System was lined with game jerseys of pro athletes, and signed photographs, including athletics stars Tim Montgomery, Kelli White and CJ Hunter, all punished for doping.

Conte wore a Rolex and parked a Bentley and a Mercedes in front of his building. He told the AP in 2007 he wouldn’t drive over the speed limit.

“I’m a person who doesn’t break laws anymore,” he said. “But I still do like to look fast.”

Years later, he met with the then-chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Dick Pound.

“As someone who was able to evade their system for so long, it was easy for me to point out the many loopholes that exist and recommend specific steps to improve the overall effectiveness of their program,” Conte said in a statement after the meeting.

He said that some of the poor decisions he made in the past made him uniquely qualified to contribute to the anti-doping effort.

SNAC System’s social media post announcing Conte’s death called him an “Anti-Doping Advocate.”

Conte was also a musician, serving as a bass player for the funk band Tower of Power for a short time in the late 1970s. He is pictured on the back of the band’s 1978 “We Came To Play” album.

“He was an excellent musician and a powerful force for clean sports and he will be missed,” band founder Emilio Castillo posted on X.

Associated Press sports writers Janie McCauley and Chris Lehourites contributed to this report.

BELOVED actor Tchéky Karyo has died of cancer at the age of 72.

Karyo was best known for his starring role in the film Nikita, James Bond hit GoldenEye and in the popular BBC series The Missing.

His passing was announced by his wife, actress Valérie Keruzoré, and their two children.

They released a heartbreaking statement saying the French film star had “succumbed to cancer this Friday, October 31”.

Kayro was best known in Britain for his role as TV detective Julien Baptiste in The Missing.

He played Baptise in the eight-part BBC series in 2014 before reprising his role in another eight episodes in 2016.

read more in celebrity deaths

RIP HERO

Arsenal legend and ex-Tottenham star Willie Young dies at the age of 73

Rest in peace

Former Arsenal and Nottingham Forest star Colin Addison dies at the age of 85

Then the BBC launched a spin-off called Baptiste in 2019 centred around Karyo’s character.

At the time, the beloved actor said about the reprisal of the role: “I didn’t expect it, but it’s flattering. This has made me feel young again.”

The creators of Baptise had even teased another season of the mystery thriller earlier this summer.

Earlier on his career Karyo found global success on several top projects.

He played the handler Bob in Luc Besson’s assassin film Nikita in 1990.

Other major roles included Ridley Scott’s historical epic 1492: Conquest of Paradise and the James Bond film GoldenEye.

Born in Istanbul, Turkey, Kayro started out in French cinema in the 1980s.

His first major film role came in crime thriller La Balance in 1982.

His stellar performance even earned him a nomination for the César Award for Best Male Revelation.

One of his most recent roles came in 2023 when he joined forces with the BBC once again for the comedy thriller, Boat Story.

Kayro had 140 roles across his decorated career in both film and TV.

He was also a singer songwriter with two albums being released in 2006 and 2013.

Oct. 25 (UPI) — Due process rights were violated when federal officers detained the father of a girl who has cancer without a bond hearing pending deportation to Mexico, a federal judge in Chicago ruled.

U.S. District of Northern Illinois Judge Jeremy Daniel on Friday ordered Ruben Torres Maldonado, 40, to be given a bond hearing no later than Oct. 31 while he faces deportation as his 16-year-old daughter undergoes cancer treatment, WBBM-TV reported.

He remains in custody at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility pending the outcome of the bond hearing, which Daniel said should have been done already to uphold his right to due process.

His attorneys sought an immediate release, but Daniel said the “appropriate remedy” to his detainment is to hold a bond hearing as soon as possible.

“While sympathetic to the plight the petitioner’s daughter faces due to her health concerns, the court must act within the constraints of the relevant statutes, rules and precedents,” Daniel said.

Daniel was appointed to the court by former President Joe Biden.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary. Tricia McLaughlin called the legal challenge a “desperate Hail Mary attempt to keep a criminal in our country,” the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

He “did not comply with instructions from the officers and attempted to flee in his vehicle and backed into a government vehicle,” she explained.

McLaughlin, in a prepared statement, said “U.S. Border Patrol conducted a targeted immigration enforcement operation that resulted” in his arrest in Niles, Ill., on Oct. 18, according to WLS-TV.

“He has a history of habitual driving offenses and has been charged multiple times with driving without insurance, driving without a valid license and speeding,” she said. “He will remain in ICE custody pending removal.”

Moldonado, 40, has illegally resided in the United States since entering in 2003 and has lived in the greater Chicago area with his partner for the past 20 years.

He has worked as a painter for the same company over the past 20 years.

The Trump administration is calling for the immediate detention of all people when encountered and who are suspected of illegally entering or otherwise residing in the United States.

The detention mandate is based on a federal law that Maldonado’s legal team says only applies to “non-citizens who recently arrived at a border or port of entry.”

Daniel agreed that the law does not apply to Moldonado and ordered his bond hearing to ensure due process in his case.

HOLLYWOOD star Reese Witherspoon is shaken and stirred by James Bond films — saying they objectify women in bikinis.

The Oscar winner, 49, blasted Bond Girls such as Halle Berry and Ursula Andress.

She said: “Women deserve better stories because women save the day all the time.

“We are not wearing bikinis while we do it.”

Reese was in London to plug her co-written novel Gone Before Goodbye.

Reese Witherspoon is best known for her roles in Legally Blonde, critically-acclaimed Walk the Line, and the dark comedy Cruel Intentions.

A FRIGHTFUL PLACE

The little-known town known as Hollywood for horror movies

KENYA BELIEVE IT?

00s singer resurfaces after leaving Hollywood for life on farm in Kenya

She’s been taking home awards since 2006 including Academy Awards, BAFTAs, Teen Choice Awards, and Golden Globes.

She’s set to feature on a new series of The Morning Show alongside Jennifer Aniston.

Her first break came when she appeared in several local TV adverts at just age seven.

She was soon securing major movie roles as a teenager and throughout the 1990s. 

SEATTLE — Ramón Rodriguez Vazquez was a farmworker for 16 years in southeast Washington state, where he and his wife of 40 years raised four children and 10 grandchildren. The 62-year-old was a part of a tight-knit community and never committed a crime.

On Feb. 5, immigration officers who came to his house looking for someone else took him into custody. He was denied bond, despite letters of support from friends, family, his employer and a physician who said the family needed him.

He was sent to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Tacoma, Wash., where his health rapidly declined in part because he was not always provided with his prescription medication for several medical conditions, including high blood pressure. Then there was the emotional toll of being unable to care for his family or sick granddaughter. Overwhelmed by it all, he finally gave up.

At an appearance with an immigration judge, he asked to leave without a formal deportation mark on his record. The judge granted his request and he moved back to Mexico, alone.

His case is an exemplar of the impact of the Trump administration’s aggressive efforts to deport millions of migrants on an accelerated timetable, casting aside years of procedure and legal process in favor of expedient results.

Similar dramas are playing out at immigration courts across the country, accelerating since early July, when ICE began opposing bond for anyone detained regardless of their circumstances.

“He was the head of the house, everything — the one who took care of everything,” said Gloria Guizar, 58, Rodriguez’s wife. “Being separated from the family has been so hard. Even though our kids are grown, and we’ve got grandkids, everybody misses him.”

Leaving the country was unthinkable before he was held in a jail cell. The deportation process broke him.

‘Self deport or we will deport you’

It is impossible to know how many people left the U.S. voluntarily since President Trump took office in January because many leave without telling authorities. But Trump and his allies are counting on “self-deportation,” the idea that life can be made unbearable enough to make people leave voluntarily.

The Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees immigration courts, said judges granted “voluntary departure” in 15,241 cases in the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, allowing them to leave without a formal deportation mark on their record or bar to re-entry. That compares with 8,663 voluntary departures for the previous fiscal year.

ICE said it carried out 319,980 deportations from Oct. 1, 2024 to Sept. 20. Customs and Border Protection declined to disclose its number and directed the question to the Department of Homeland Security.

Secretary Kristi Noem said in August that 1.6 million people have left the country voluntarily or involuntarily since Trump took office. The department cited a study by the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates for immigration restrictions.

Michelle Mittelstadt, spokesperson for the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, said 1.6 million is an over-inflated number that misuses the Census Bureau data.

The administration is offering $1,000 to people who leave voluntarily using the CBP Home app. For those who don’t, there is a looming threat of being sent to a third country like Eswatini, Rwanda, South Sudan or Uganda,.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the voluntary departures show that the administration’s strategy is working, and is keeping the country safe.

“Ramped-up immigration enforcement targeting the worst of the worst is removing more and more criminal illegal aliens off our streets every day and is sending a clear message to anyone else in this country illegally: Self-deport or we will arrest and deport you,” she said in a statement sent to The Associated Press.

“They treat her like a criminal”

A Colombian woman dropped her asylum claim at a June appearance in a Seattle immigration court, even though she was not in custody.

“Your lawyer says you no longer wish to proceed with your asylum application,” the judge said. “Has anyone offered you money to do this?” he asked. “No, sir,” she replied. Her request was granted.

Her U.S. citizen girlfriend of two years, Arleene Adrono, said she planned to leave the country as well.

“They treat her like a criminal. She’s not a criminal,” Adrono said. “I don’t want to live in a country that does this to people.”

At an immigration court inside the Tacoma detention center, where posters encourage migrants to leave voluntarily or be forcibly deported, a Venezuelan man told Judge Theresa Scala in August that he wanted to leave. The judge granted voluntary departure.

The judge asked another man if he wanted more time to find a lawyer and if he was afraid to return to Mexico. “I want to leave the country,” the man responded.

“The court finds you’ve given up all forms of relief,” Scala said. “You must comply with the government efforts to remove you.”

“His absence has been deeply felt”

Ramón Rodriguez crossed the U.S. border in 2009. His eight siblings who are U.S. citizens lived in California, but he settled Washington state. Grandview, population 11,000, is an agricultural town that grows apples, cherries, wine grapes, asparagus and other fruit and vegetables.

Rodriguez began working for AG Management in 2014. His tax records show he made $13,406 that first year and by 2024, earned $46,599 and paid $4,447 in taxes.

“During his time with us, he has been an essential part of our team, demonstrating dedication, reliability, and a strong work ethic,” his boss wrote in a letter urging a judge to release him from custody. “His skills in harvesting, planting, irrigation, and equipment operation have contributed significantly to our operations, and his absence has been deeply felt.”

His granddaughter suffers from a heart problem, has undergone two surgeries and needs a third. Her mother doesn’t drive so Rodriguez transported the girl to Spokane for care. The child’s pediatrician wrote a letter to the immigration judge encouraging his release, saying without his help, the girl might not get the medical care she needs.

The judge denied his bond request in March. Rodriguez appealed and became the lead plaintiff in a federal lawsuit that sought to allow detained immigrants to request and receive bond.

On September 30, a federal judge ruled that denying bond hearings for migrants is unlawful. But Rodriguez won’t benefit from the ruling. He’s gone now and is unlikely to come back.

Bellisle writes for the Associated Press. AP reporter Cedar Attanasio contributed to this story.

The measure comes after the US added Mali to its list of African countries required to post bonds of $5,000 and $10,000.

Mali has imposed visa bond requirements on United States citizens identical to those Washington placed on Malian travellers, in a tit-for-tat response to moves that its government has condemned as a violation of bilateral agreements.

The Foreign Ministry in Bamako announced the reciprocal measures on Sunday after the US began requiring Malian nationals seeking business or tourist visas to post hefty bonds of between $5,000 and $10,000 starting on October 23.

Mali said the US programme breaches a 2005 accord guaranteeing long-term visa access between the two nations, and vowed to apply the same financial barriers to US passport holders under the principle of reciprocity.

In a statement released by its Foreign Ministry, Mali said it “has always collaborated with the United States of America in the fight against irregular immigration, with respect for law and human dignity”.

The dispute highlights escalating tensions as the administration of US President Donald Trump deploys visa restrictions as diplomatic leverage to pressure African governments on immigration enforcement and deportation cooperation.

Mali is among seven African countries facing the bond requirements under a year-long pilot scheme that the US State Department says targets nations with high visa overstay rates.

Mauritania, Sao Tome and Principe, and Tanzania were also added to the programme alongside Mali in late October, while Gambia, Malawi and Zambia were added earlier.

Trump immigration moves

Travellers subject to the bonds must pay up front through a US Treasury Department portal, and can only enter and exit the US through three designated airports.

The money is refunded if visitors depart on time, but forfeited for overstays or asylum applications. Consular officers determine individual bond amounts based on applicants’ circumstances.

The US justified the pilot by citing national security concerns and US Department of Homeland Security data showing more than 300,000 business and tourist visa holders overstayed their authorised periods in 2023.

Critics warn the fees – imposed atop standard $185 visa costs – could deter legitimate travel and harm the US tourism economy ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Mali said it was interested in “fruitful cooperative relations”, but was introducing the measure against US citizens attempting to travel there in the spirit of reciprocity.

The visa bonds are the latest immigration measure following months of efforts by the Trump administration to pressure African nations into accepting deportees, including those not from their own countries.

Several governments have received expelled migrants in exchange for payments or political favours, while others faced swift punishment for refusal.

Burkina Faso had all visa services suspended at its US Embassy after rejecting demands to accept third-country deportees, forcing residents to travel to neighbouring Togo for applications.

South Sudan initially had visas for all passport holders revoked following a deportation dispute, though it later accepted eight people from Asian and Latin American countries.

Eswatini agreed to receive up to 160 deportees for $5.1m in US funding, while Ghana, Rwanda and Uganda have also accepted expelled migrants under bilateral arrangements, according to diplomatic sources.

A SAVVY entrepreneur ditched her boring desk job at ASOS and is now raking in as much as £56,000 in a single day.

Aimee Smale, has taken her fashion brand Odd Muse from a bedroom side hustle to a multi-million-pound empire.

3

3

The twenty-eight year old has now cemented her place among luxury giants by flinging open the doors to her first UK flagship on London’s exclusive New Bond Street.

Humble beginnings

Just a few years ago, Aimee was slogging away in a £21,000-a-year admin role, feeling unfulfilled working from home during the pandemic.

But with a burning ambition, she started a clever side hustle, flogging £10 logos to Brits who’d started small businesses in lockdown.

Speaking candidly to Grace Beverley on the Working Hard, Hardly Working podcast, she revealed how the tenner-a-pop gig became a goldmine, saying: “I was making like 30 logos a day at one point. 

“Finishing ASOS, closing my laptop, staying up all night to just make logos. But it got me £12,000 for Odd Muse.”

Aimee’s dream was to have her own fashion brand and so she began saving to start what would become her own fashion empire.

Aimee ploughed her entire side-hustle earnings into ordering the first batch of stock, admitting she was “almost arrogant” in her belief that it would be a roaring success. 

She ordered 100 units of her now-iconic blazer, and her bold gamble paid off big time, selling out in days and breaking even instantly.

A significant moment for Odd Muse came when influencer Lorna Luxe purchased the blazer, leading to a massive surge in sales.

Aimee shared, “I remember saying to everyone – everyone would be like who do you want to wear your brand and I would say Lorna. Anyone in the world – Lorna.

“She literally bought it, put it on her story, and it changed the game for me.”

The success of the Ultimate Muse Blazer was followed by the launch of the Pearl Dress, which sold out within a minute.

The brand made over £100k in its first three months and is now a certified smash hit, turning over a whopping £5.2 million in 2023. 

Fashion visionary

Aimee’s vision was to create timeless, luxury clothes that young women could actually afford, offering an alternative to the world of throwaway fast fashion.

She previously told The Sun: “I just remember thinking fashion when I left university aged 21 was fast fashion, which is all we can afford, and the luxury sector is unattainable. 

“I just wanted to offer a fast fashion alternative and justify a price point that encouraged re-wearing and investing in your wardrobe.”

Flagship store opening

Now, Aimee has officially taken over one of the most prestigious shopping streets in the world, having opened her glitzy new store on October 3. 

Despite her mega-success, she admitted on TikTok she still gets terrified no one will show up to her events, a fear that was quickly squashed when 2,000 eager fans turned up to a recent sample sale.

The fashion mogul revealed she was even warned against the bold move onto Bond Street.

“I was told no… I didn’t need to take on New Bond Street,” she said. 

But Aimee was determined to create a space for her loyal fans, “inviting our community into a world luxury fashion previously didn’t think to invite them into.”

The shy girl from class is now the poster girl for her own business, using her relatable personality on TikTok to connect with thousands of customers worldwide. 

She credits this authentic approach for building a massive community, with a staggering 60% of orders now coming from the US.

Meanwhile, the company’s permanent boutique in London’s Covent Garden celebrated its second anniversary back in March.

From her bedroom to Bond Street, Aimee’s incredible journey shows what can happen when you have a bit of northern grit and a brilliant idea. 

As she puts it, seeing addresses from all over the world flooding in made her realise “Odd Muse was going to be something big.”

3

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN has paid tribute to former World Nineball Pool champion Mika Immonen.

Immonen passed away at the age of 52 on Sunday after a long battle with cancer.

2

2

Tributes poured in for the Iceman, who became a legend on the pool circuit.

O’Sullivan has now opened up about his bond with Immonen, who would stay at his house during his time in the UK.

The Rocket took to Instagram to say: “So sad to hear of the passing of my friend Mika, someone I did not see enough of but thought a great deal of.

“Stayed at my house on times in UK and enjoyed our runs in the forest, one of the greatest pool players of the generation, an honour to share a pool table with him but also the personal times together I will never forget.

“Sadly missed, devastated today.”

Immonen became the only Finnish star to win the World Nineball Championship in 2001.

He also won back-to-back US Open Pool Championship titles in 2008 and 2009.

The Iceman established himself as a pool icon with his appearances at the Mosconi Cup over the years.

He represented Team Europe on 15 occasions – the second-most of any European.

Immonen was named MVP for his performance in the 2008 competition.

Lilongwe, Malawi – In the rural valleys of Malawi, where homes are built of mud and grass, and electricity is scarce, Tamala Chunda spent his evenings bent over borrowed textbooks, reading by the dim light of a kerosene lamp.

During the day, he helped his parents care for the family’s few goats and tended their half-acre maize field in Emanyaleni village, some 400km (249 miles) from the capital city, Lilongwe. By night, he studied until his eyes stung, convinced that education was the only way to escape the poverty that had trapped his village for generations.

That conviction carried him through his final examinations, where he ranked among the top 10 students in his secondary school.

Then, this May, a letter arrived that seemed to vindicate every late-night hour and every sacrificed childhood game: a full scholarship to the University of Dayton in Ohio, the United States.

“I thought life was about to change for the first time,” Chunda told Al Jazeera. “For my entire family, not just myself.”

News of the award brought celebration to his grass-thatched home, where family and neighbours gathered to mark what felt like a rare triumph. His parents, subsistence farmers battling drought and rising fertiliser costs, marked the occasion by slaughtering their most valuable goat, a rare luxury in a village where many families survive on a single meal a day.

Distant neighbours even walked for miles to offer their congratulations to the boy who had become a beacon of hope for the children around him.

But just months later, that dream unravelled.

The US embassy informed Chunda that before travelling, he would have to post a $15,000 visa bond – more than 20 years of the average income in Malawi, where the gross domestic product (GDP) per person is just $580, and most families live on less than $2 a day, according to the World Bank.

“That scholarship offer was the first time I thought the world outside my village was opening up for me,” he said. “Now it feels as if I’m being informed that no matter how hard I work, doors will remain sealed by money I will never have.”

A sudden barrier

Chunda is one of hundreds of Malawian students and travellers caught in the sweep of a new US visa rule that critics say amounts to a travel ban under another name.

On August 20, 2025, the US State Department introduced a yearlong “pilot programme” requiring many business (B-1) and tourist (B-2) visa applicants from Malawi and neighbouring Zambia to post refundable bonds of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 before travelling.

The programme, modelled on a proposal first floated during the Trump administration in 2020, is intended to curb visa overstays. But Homeland Security’s own statistics suggest otherwise.

In 2023, the department reported that Malawian visitors had an overstay rate of approximately 14 percent, which is lower than that of several African nations not subject to the bond requirement, including Angola, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Liberia, Mauritania, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

“It is the equivalent of asking a farmer who earns less than $500 a year to produce 30 years’ worth of income overnight,” said Charles Kajoloweka, executive director of Youth and Society, a Malawian civil society organisation that focuses on education. “For our students, it is less of a bond and more of an exclusion order.”

A US embassy spokesperson in Lilongwe told local media that the bond programme was intended to discourage overstays, and said it did not directly target student visas.

While student visas, known as F-1s, are technically exempt from the bond requirement in the pilot phase of the programme, in practice the situation is more complicated, observers note.

International students on F-1s are allowed to enter the US up to 30 days before their programme start date. However, for those needing to arrive prior to that – for orientation programmes, housing arrangements, or pre-college courses, for instance – they must apply for a separate B-2 tourist visa.

That means that many scholarship recipients need tourist visas to travel ahead of the academic year. But without funds to secure these visas, the scholarships can slip away.

For students entering the US on tourist visas with the intention of changing their status to F-1 once they are there, this is legally permissible, but it must be approved by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. The visa bond requirements make this pathway much more complicated for Malawian students.

Even for those who manage to raise the funds, there is no guarantee of success. Posting a bond does not ensure approval, and refunds are only granted if travellers depart on time through one of three designated US airports: Logan in Boston, Kennedy in New York, and Dulles outside Washington.

Kajoloweka added that the policy also places extraordinary discretion in the hands of individual consular officers, who decide which applicants must pay bonds and how much.

Students in limbo

For decades, programmes such as the Fulbright scholarships, the Mandela Washington Fellowship, and EducationUSA have created a steady pipeline of Malawian talent to American universities.

“Malawi depends on its brightest young minds acquiring skills abroad, especially in fields where local universities lack capacity,” said Kajoloweka. “By shutting down access to US institutions, we are shrinking the pool of future doctors, engineers, scientists, and leaders … It is basically a brain drain in reverse.”

The visa bond has strained decades of diplomatic and educational ties between the US and Malawi, a relationship built by programmes dating from the 1960s and reinforced by sustained investment in education and development.

Last month, Malawi’s foreign minister, Nancy Tembo, called the policy a “de facto ban” that discriminates against citizens of one of the world’s poorest nations.

“This move has shattered the plans most Malawians had to travel,” said Abraham Samson, a student who had applied for US scholarships before the bond was announced. “With our economy, not everyone can manage this. For those of us chasing further studies, these dreams are now a mirage.”

Samson has stopped monitoring his email for scholarship responses. He feels there is little point, believing that even if an offer were to arrive, the overall costs of studying in the US would remain far beyond his reach.

Section 214(b) of US immigration law already presumes every visa applicant intends to immigrate unless proven otherwise, forcing students to demonstrate strong ties to their home country.

The bond adds another burden, wherein applicants must now prove both their intention to return and that they have access to wealth beyond the means of most.

Hope on hold

The situation is even more difficult for small business owners.

One businessman has spent two decades creating his small electronics import company in Lilongwe, relying on regular trips to the US to identify cost-effective suppliers.

In the aftermath of the mandate, the $15,000 visa bond has disrupted his plans, forcing him to buy from middlemen at outrageous prices.

“Every delay eats away at my margins,” he explained, speaking under the condition of anonymity to protect future visa prospects. “My six employees rely on me. If I can’t travel, I may have to send them home.”

Civil society groups, such as the one Kajoloweka helms, are mobilising against the policy. The group is documenting “real-life stories of affected students,” lobbying both locally and internationally, and “engaging partners in the United States and Europe to raise the alarm”.

“We refuse to let this issue quietly extinguish the hopes of Malawian youth,” he said. “This bond is a barrier, but barriers can be challenged. Your dreams are valid, your aspirations are legitimate, and your voices matter. The world must not shut you out,” he added, speaking generally to Malawian youth.

Meanwhile, back in his village, Chunda contemplates a future far different from the one he had imagined. His scholarship to the University of Dayton sits unused, a reminder of an opportunity denied.

“I thought life was about to change for the first time,” he lamented. “For my entire family, not just myself. I now have to look elsewhere to realise my dream.”

This article is published in collaboration with Egab.

On a plaque, unknown artists said it was displayed ‘in honour of friendship month’ for the two men.

A mysterious bronze statue called “Best Friends Forever” has popped up on the east end of the National Mall in Washington, DC, showing United States President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, as his past connection to the deceased sex offender continues to rumble on in public discourse.

On Tuesday, the satiric pop-up statue, which shows the two men holding hands with one leg in the air, was captioned, “In honour of friendship month”.

“We celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his ‘closest friend’, Jeffrey Epstein,” a plaque on the installation read.

While there was no immediate claim to the statue, the artwork follows a series of installations that have been critical of Trump in Washington, displayed by an anonymous group.

In June, another anti-Trump statue popped up on the National Mall, this time titled “Dictator Approved”, and showcased an eight-foot-tall sculpture with a gold thumbs up crushing the head of the Statue of Liberty.

But in response to the statue, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told The Washington Post that “Liberals are free to waste their money however they see fit”.

“But it’s not news that Epstein knew Donald Trump, because Donald Trump kicked Epstein out of his club for being a creep,” Jackson wrote in an email.

Trump’s connection to Epstein, a former sex offender who died in jail in 2019, has caused a furore among his MAGA base since Trump returned to office in January, infuriating him, with more pressure on case files related to Epstein to be released.

Earlier in September, a US congressional panel released a copy of an alleged “birthday book” that was given to Epstein to celebrate his then-50th birthday.

Within the 238-page book containing messages and photos with friends of the former financier, there was a letter with a signature similar to Trump’s.

Trump has denied that he penned a lascivious birthday message to Epstein amid the sustained scrutiny of his links to the convicted sex offender. Trump is also suing The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times for their allegations and coverage of his involvement with Epstein.

Vice President JD Vance slammed accusations of Trump’s involvement in the letter and accused Democrats of “concocting another fake scandal” to “smear President Trump with lies”.

The lights never dimmed and Angel Minguela Palacios couldn’t sleep. He pulled what felt like a large sheet of aluminum foil over his head, but couldn’t adjust to lying on a concrete floor and using his tennis shoes as a pillow.

He could smell unwashed bodies in the cramped room he shared with 40 detainees. He listened as men, many of them arrested at car washes or outside Home Depots, cried in the night for their loved ones.

Minguela, 48, lay in the chilly downtown Los Angeles ICE facility known as B 18 and thought about his partner of eight years and their three children. In his 10 years in the United States, he had built a secure life he had only dreamed of in Mexico, ensconced in their humble one-bedroom rented home, framed photos of the family at Christmas, his “#1 Dad” figurine. Now it was all falling apart.

The morning of Aug. 14, Minguela had been on his last delivery of the day, dropping off strawberries to a tearoom in Little Tokyo. He didn’t know that Gov. Gavin Newsom was holding a news conference there to inveigh against President Trump’s efforts to maintain control of the U.S. House of Representatives through redistricting in Texas. U.S. Border Patrol agents were massing nearby, creating a show of force outside the event.

As they moved in, one agent narrowed in on Minguela’s delivery van. Soon, he was in handcuffs, arrested for overstaying a tourist visa. As his lawyer put it, Minguela became “political, collateral damage.”

Over the six days he spent in B 18, a temporary immigration processing center, Minguela watched as several detainees chose to self-deport rather than remain in detention.

A building marking is painted on a wall at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility known as “B 18.”

(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

”No aguanto aqui,” the men would say. “I can’t take it here.”

The harsh conditions, Minguela said, felt intentional. He knew he needed to stay for his family. But he wondered if he’d make it.

::

Minguela fled Mexico in 2015, driven in part by violence he faced there.

In his time servicing ATMs in Ciudad Juárez, he said he was kidnapped twice and at one point stabbed by people intent on stealing the cash. After his employers cut staff, he lost his job, helping drive his decision to leave.

Minguela came to Texas on a tourist visa and left the same day to L.A. drawn by the job opportunities and its many Spanish speakers. He had little money, rented a room as he searched for employment and soon found a job at the downtown produce market.

He met the woman he calls his esposa, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, at the second job he worked in the Piñata District. They are not married but Minguela helped raise her two children and later their son, who is autistic. The children — 15, 12 and 6 — all call him Dad.

With Minguela there, his esposa said she never felt alone. He helped with the laundry and cleaning. He played Roblox with his middle son and helped his 15-year-old daughter with her homework, especially math.

“He would always make sure that we would stay on track,” his daughter said. “He would always want the best for us.”

Photos captured the life they had built in L.A. The family in San Pedro for a boat ride. Celebrating Father’s Day and birthdays with cake and balloons. At a Day of the Dead celebration on Olvera Street downtown.

Angel Minguela Palacios with his partner of eight years and their 6-year-old son.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

When immigration raids began in June, their lives suddenly narrowed. Minguela rarely went out, leaving the house only for work and errands. His daughter would warn him if she heard rumors of immigration officers near her high school, so he wouldn’t risk picking her up.

Minguela planned ahead, made copies of his keys and left money for his family in case he was grabbed by immigration agents. But he never expected it would happen to him.

On Aug. 14, his alarm went off at 1:15 a.m., as it did almost every day. He drank the coffee his wife had brought him as he headed to the produce market, where he’d worked for the same company for eight years.

Minguela helped take orders of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, before heading out to make deliveries around 8 a.m. He had around half a dozen places to hit before he would call it a day.

His partner called to warn him that she’d seen on social media that ICE officers were near one of his delivery spots. He had just been there and luckily missed them, he said.

He was relieved that the Little Tokyo tearoom was his last stop. It didn’t open until 11 a.m. He arrived 10 minutes after. He found a parking spot out front and began unloading the boxes of strawberries and one box of apples.

Minguela was adjusting wooden pallets in the van when he heard a knock. He turned to see a Border Patrol agent, who began asking him about his legal status. Rather than answer, Minguela said he pulled a red “know your rights” card out of his wallet and handed it to the agent.

Angel Minguela Palacios took this image of a federal agent looking at his identification outside of the Japanese American National Museum on Aug. 14.

(Angel Rodrigo Minguela Palacios)

The agent told him it was “of no use” and handed it back. As he held his wallet, Minguela said the agent demanded his license. After running his information, Minguela said, the agent placed him in handcuffs.

::

Inside B 18, the lights never turned off. No matter the hour, officers would call detainees out of the room for interviews, making it difficult to get uninterrupted sleep, Minguela recounted. The temperature was so cold, family members dropped off sweaters and jackets for loved ones.

The detainees were given thin, shiny emergency blankets to sleep with. He described them as “aluminum sheets.” As the days passed, he said, even those ran out for new detainees. The bathrooms were open-air, providing no privacy. Detainees went days without showering.

The conditions, he said, felt intentional. A form of “pressure to get people to sign to leave.”

Department of Homeland Security officials have previously told The Times that “any claim that there are subprime conditions at ICE detention centers are false.”

When Minguela closed his eyes, he saw the faces of his family. He wondered how his esposa would keep them afloat all alone. He wanted to believe this was just a nightmare from which he would soon awaken.

He replayed the morning events over and over in his head. What if he had gotten to Little Tokyo five minutes earlier? Five minutes later?

“Those days were the hardest,” Minguela said. “My first day there on the floor, I cried. It doesn’t matter that you’re men, it doesn’t matter your age. There, men cried.”

The men talked among themselves, most worrying about their wives and children. They shared where they’d been taken from. Minguela estimated that around 80% of people he was held with had been detained at car washes and Home Depot. Others had been arrested while leaving court hearings.

Minguela said he’d only been asked once, on his second day, if he wanted to self-deport. He said no. But he watched as several others gave up and signed to leave. Minguela hoped he’d be sent to Adelanto, a nearby detention center. He’d heard it might be harder to get bond in Texas or Arizona.

On the sixth day, around 4 a.m., Minguela and more than 20 others had been pulled out of the room and shackled. He only learned he was going to Arizona after overhearing a conversation between two guards.

It felt, Minguela said, “like the world came crashing down on me.”

The 25 detainees were loaded onto a white bus and spent around 10 hours on the road, before arriving at a detention center near Casa Grande. When Minguela saw it for the first time, in the desert where the temperature was hitting 110 degrees, he felt afraid. It looked like a prison.

“Ay caray, adonde nos trajeron,” he thought. Wow, where did they bring us?

::

There were around 50 people in Minguela’s wing. His cell mate, an African immigrant, had been fighting his asylum case for five months, hoping to get to his family in Seattle.

For the first time since his youth, Minguela had time to read books, including Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “No One Writes to the Colonel.” He read the Bible, taking comfort in Psalm 91, a prayer of trust and protection. He took online courses on CPR, computer skills and how to process his emotions.

But all the distractions, he said, didn’t change the fact that detainees were imprisoned.

“Lo que mata es el encierro,” Minguela said. “What kills you is the confinement.”

Angel Minguela Palacios spent more than a month in immigration detention.

(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

Almost everyone there, Minguela said, had arrived with the intention of fighting their case. There were detainees who had been there for a year fighting to get asylum, others for eight months. Some had been arrested despite having work permits. Others had been scammed out of thousands of dollars by immigration lawyers who never showed up for their court hearings. Many decided to self-deport.

If he wasn’t granted bond, Minguela told his partner he feared he might do that in a moment of desperation.

Minguela lay in his darkened cell, reflecting on moments when he had arrived home, tired from work and traffic, and scolded his children about minor messes. About times he’d argued with his wife and given her the silent treatment. He made promises to God to be an even better husband and father. He asked that God help his lawyer on his case and to give him a fair judge.

Minguela had his bond hearing Sept 9. He was aided by the fact that he had entered the country lawfully, providing the judge the ability to either grant or deny him bond.

Alex Galvez, Minguela’s lawyer, told the judge about his client’s children. He pointed out that Minguela didn’t have a criminal record and was gainfully employed, the primary breadwinner for his family. Galvez submitted 16 letters of recommendation for his client.

Angel Minguela Palacios beams at his 6-year-old son.

(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

When the government lawyer referred to Minguela as a flight risk, Galvez said, the judge appeared skeptical, pointing out that he’d been paying tens of thousands of dollars in taxes for the last 10 years.

The judge granted a $1,500 bond. Minguela’s employers at the produce company paid it. When Minguela was pulled out of his cell on the night of Sept. 17, the other detainees applauded.

“Bravo,” they shouted. “Echale ganas.” Give it your all.

::

A crowd of people waited to greet Minguela as soon as he stepped off a Greyhound bus at Union Station in downtown L.A. on Thursday night. His partner and their three children all wore black shirts that read “Welcome Home.”

Minguela’s employer, Martha Franco, her son, Carlos Franco, and her nephew held “Welcome Back” balloons and flowers.

“He’s coming,” the children cried, when the bus groaned to a halt at 9:35 p.m. When Minguela spotted the waiting crowd, he beamed. His youngest son jumped up and down with anticipation as he stepped off the bus.

“Estas contento,” Minguela asked the boy. “Are you happy?”

• Share via Close extra sharing options

He held his esposa tight, kissing her on the cheeks, the forehead and the lips.

Minguela knows his release is just a step in the journey. His lawyer plans to file for cancellation of his removal and hopes to secure him a work permit. Minguela said he wants other immigrants to know that “there’s hope and not to despair.”

“Have faith,” Minguela said.

When Minguela arrived home after 10 p.m., he clasped his face in surprise as he was greeted by more than a hundred red, gold and black balloons. Signs strung up around the living room read “God loves you” and “Welcome home we missed you so much.”

His partner had decorated and bought everything to make ceviche and albondigas to celebrate his return. But she hadn’t had time that day to cook. Instead, she bought him one of his favorites in his adopted home.

An In-N-Out Double-Double burger and fries.

From his seat inside Allegiant Stadium last weekend, Jorge Morales surrounded himself with the UCLA football gameday essentials.

Pizza. Beer. The Bruins’ roster pulled up on his cellphone.

During the game’s first series, the lifelong fan saw No. 15 on the UCLA defense surge into the Nevada Las Vegas backfield. Morales wondered about the identity of this fast, feisty edge rusher and looked him up. It was Anthony Jones, a transfer from Michigan State.

Later, Morales watched No. 3 in coverage and commenced another search. It was defensive back Robert Stafford III, a transfer from Miami (Fla.).

UNLV’s Var’Keyes Gumms (30) stiff arms UCLA’s Cole Martin (21) while scoring a receiving touchdown at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday in Las Vegas, Nev.

(Ian Maule / Getty Images)

Curious about the starting offensive linemen, Morales went back to his phone once more. He discovered a group that included three new starters in left tackle Courtland Ford and guards Eugene Brooks and Julian Armella — all transfers.

“I didn’t recognize any of the numbers,” Morales said.

Similar bewilderment was playing out in the San Diego living room of Ted Zeigler. Watching the game on his 65-inch television, the self-described hardcore Bruins fan also had the roster pulled up on his phone for ready reference, alternating between one screen and the other.

“This adds another dimension to watching the game that I wasn’t looking for,” Zeigler said. “I just feel disinterested.”

It’s hard to be a UCLA fan these days for reasons that go beyond the team’s 0-2 record. Few recognize more than a handful of names on a roster laden with 57 new players, including 37 transfers in their first season with the team.

The days of starting lineups rife with Bruins who have been in the program for two or three years may have gone the way of New Year’s Day bowl appearances for a team stuck in a decade-long funk.

All the new faces are a function of unlimited transfers in college football — Jones is attending his fourth college in as many years, after previous stops at Michigan State, Indiana and Oregon — and a need to restock the roster after the Bruins lost every starter on defense and seven on offense.

UCLA is hardly the only team experiencing such massive turnover, though that disclaimer has done little to lessen the growing detachment some fans feel watching a team only recognizable because of its uniforms.

UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava looks to pass during a game against UNLV at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday in Las Vegas, Nev.

(Ian Maule / Getty Images)

“College football’s changed,” Bruins coach DeShaun Foster said. “It’s not the same game it was when I played, it’s not the same game that it was when I started coaching and it’s evolving every day, basically.”

For Foster’s team, those changes have involved a curious lack of marketing of newcomers who presumably want to build their brands in an era when they are paid for their name, image and likeness.

From the start of training camp, Foster severely restricted media access. Reporters were allowed to observe stretching, individual drills and a handful of plays involving the offense facing the defense — and even those glimpses of team periods have been eliminated in recent weeks. Requests for feature story interviews involving players and a staff including eight new assistant coaches have largely been not just denied but ignored.

“It’s tough,” Foster said when asked about granting interviews for human-interest stories, “but we’re trying to win games.”

So where does that leave the fans? Some say they’re watching as much out of habit as interest, especially since they know so little about the team they have long loved.

“Foster shielding the media from camp and everything,” said Vic Deverian, a UCLA graduate and longtime season ticket-holder, “you didn’t get a chance to know who the players were, who looked good in practice — you didn’t know any of that stuff. So it’s kind of like going on a lot of blind dates — it’s like, I don’t know who you are but this is where I’m supposed to be on Saturday and I’m going to watch UCLA, but I don’t recognize these players at all.”

Among the new players Deverian has developed a fondness for in the season’s early going are slot receiver Mikey Matthews, quarterback Nico Iamaleava and running back Anthony Woods.

“He’s a talented running back,” Deverian said of Woods, who arrived at UCLA after previous stops at Utah and Idaho. “He needs to get the ball more.”

Utah linebacker Trey Reynolds (37) intercepts the ball as UCLA receiver Kwazi Gilmer (3) tries to stop him on Aug. 31 at the Rose Bowl.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

But how many of the new players will make more than a cameo appearance as Bruins? Iamaleava said in July that he hoped to head to the NFL after this season and as many as 33 players will have exhausted their eligibility by season’s end, possibly leading to another large group of transfers.

Foster said he didn’t want to dip so heavily into the transfer portal in future seasons, which would require extensive player retention and success in high school recruiting.

“If you can get guys and develop them, then they understand your culture, you know?” Foster said. “But when you’re getting new guys and you don’t have them for as long as you would like, they’re still learning the culture, you know?”

Longtime fan and UCLA graduate Travis Fuller said he felt especially close to the team growing up watching stars such as Cade McNown, Marcedes Lewis and Drew Olson because they spent multiple years in blue and gold, developing into widely known personalities.

Now, a high turnover rate is compounded by a lack of success for a program that hasn’t won much since coach Jim Mora guided the Bruins to a 10-3 season in 2014 while setting attendance records at the Rose Bowl.

Contrast that with what could be a record-low crowd Friday night when UCLA faces New Mexico (1-1) at the Rose Bowl given the confluence of weekday traffic, an opponent from the Mountain West Conference and a winless, largely anonymous batch of Bruins.

Lifelong fan Scott Detki, who acknowledged feeling more detached from the Bruins than usual, said he would be driven to learn about a successful team.

“I would be more attached if the team was actually winning,” Detki said, “because that would inspire me to be like, ‘Oh, who’s this guy? Where did he come from?’ It almost leads to more questions on what their story was.”

Then again, maybe there’s an upside to all of this unfamiliarity. As the Bruins fell behind by 23 points against UNLV last weekend, Morales found some comfort in knowing so little about his favorite team.

“It maybe made it a little easier to watch because I couldn’t get mad at any of the players,” Morales said with a laugh. “I don’t know who’s who, so I don’t know who I’m upset with.”

Goodwill messages continued this week’s unprecedented public display of diplomatic unity between Beijing, Pyongyang and Moscow.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told Chinese President Xi Jinping that North Korea will support China in protecting its sovereignty, territory and development interests, as the pair met just a day after an unprecedented show of unity with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing.

The bilateral meeting between Xi and Kim on Thursday came as Russia also hailed North Korea’s role supporting its war in Ukraine, continuing the public display of close relations between Pyongyang, Beijing and Moscow after their meeting at Wednesday’s huge military parade in China’s capital to mark 80 years since the end of World War II.

In an article published on Friday by North Korea’s state-run outlet, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim was quoted as saying, “No matter how the international situation changes, the feeling of friendship cannot change” between Pyongyang and Beijing.

“The DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] will as ever invariably support and encourage the stand and efforts of the Communist Party of China and the government of the People’s Republic of China to defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity and development interests of the state,” Kim said after meeting with Xi, according to KCNA.

Xi also reportedly told Kim that China and North Korea are “good neighbours, good friends and good comrades” that share one destiny, and he was willing to “defend, consolidate and develop” the countries’ relations, KCNA said.

KCNA also confirmed that Kim departed Beijing on Thursday, concluding his first trip outside of North Korea since meeting with Putin in Russia in 2023.

Top-ranking Chinese Communist Party officials – including Cai Qi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi – attended a send-off ceremony for Kim, according to KCNA.

During Wednesday’s military parade in Beijing – in which the People’s Liberation Army displayed its latest generation of stealth fighters, tanks and ballistic missiles amid a highly choreographed cast of thousands – Xi hailed China’s victory 80 years ago over “Japanese aggression” in the “world anti-fascist war”.

Putin and Kim were among some 26 mostly non-Western world leaders in attendance, with the pair meeting with Xi for two and a half hours on the event’s sidelines in an unprecedented display of unity. The trio discussed “long-term” cooperation plans, according to KCNA.

Putin and Kim also met prior to the parade, with both leaders praising the deepening military partnership between Moscow and Pyongyang.

Seemingly rattled by the meeting, United States President Donald Trump addressed Xi in a post on his Truth Social platform, saying: “Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America.”

A Kremlin aide dismissed Trump’s remarks, saying “no one even had this in their thoughts”.

Following the meeting, Putin also sent Kim a congratulatory message for North Korea’s foundation day, in which he hailed Pyongyang’s support for Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine.

“Your combat force’s heroic involvement in liberating the Kursk territories from the invaders is a distinct symbol of friendship and mutual aid between Russia and North Korea,” Putin’s message read, according to KCNA.

“I am confident that we will continue to work together to consolidate the comprehensive strategic partnership between our two countries,” Putin added.

North Korea has controversially sent thousands of soldiers to fight in Kursk – a Russian region briefly occupied by Ukraine – and also provided artillery ammunition and missiles to support Moscow in its war against Kyiv.

During their meeting in Beijing, Kim also reportedly told Putin his country would “fully support” Russia’s army as a “fraternal duty”, KCNA previously reported.

All good things come in threes — including reliability.

Anchored by kicker Cameron Dicker, punter JK Scott and long snapper Josh Harris, the Chargers’ specialists have been a bedrock of stability the past three seasons. That steadiness seemed in jeopardy when Scott’s contract expired this offseason.

Like a rock band losing its guitarist, it looked as though the group might have played its final tour together. But for Scott — whose bond with Dicker and Harris runs deeper than football — staying in L.A. felt like divine intervention.

“Truly, it was something me and my wife made a decision together from a place of prayer,” Scott said of re-signing. “We felt like we were supposed to be here. The relationships that we have here, we just felt like this was the right fit.”

Assembled by special teams coordinator Ryan Ficken, the unit thrives on contrast. Dicker is the lively free spirit. Scott brings a reserved, thoughtful presence. Harris, 36, is the seasoned veteran.

“They’re like big brothers,” Dicker, the youngest of the group, said. “It’s been really cool to have them in my life and helping with things on the field, off the field. Leading me through it all, and just going through the journey of life coming out of college, it’s nice to have those guys.”

The three specialists, along with Ficken, are holdovers from the previous regime. Ficken, one of the few coaches retained when Jim Harbaugh was hired as head coach, engineered the transformation.

Before his arrival, the Chargers ranked near the bottom in special teams DVOA, or defense-adjusted value over average — 32nd in 2020 and 28th in 2021. With Harris and Scott’s offseason signing and Dicker’s arrival midseason, the unit rose to sixth by the end of 2022 and second in 2023.

“The way they approach the game and how they respect one another and they understand that each other’s success is going to help all of us,” Ficken said. “Having all three of them back another year just continues to allow us to grow.”

Under Ficken’s guidance, Dicker has become one of the league’s most accurate, converting 89 of 95 kicks since 2022. He had a franchise-record 150 points last season with 39 field goals and 33 extra points.

Chargers special teams coordinator Ryan Ficken, left, works with long snapper Josh Harris before a game against the Buffalo Bills in December 2023.

(Kyusung Gong / Associated Press)

Scott finished top 10 in downed punts inside the 20-yard line and posted the second-highest hang time in the league at 4.65 seconds last season.

“Selfishly, I’m going to say we have the best room in the league,” Harris said. “Getting to come to work with JK, Dick and Fick, we really work well together. … There’s nobody else that I’d rather go out there with.”

When the Jacksonville Jaguars cut Scott early in the 2021 season and he went unsigned for the rest of the year, Ficken advocated bringing him to the Chargers.

“He called me and told me he wanted to have me as his punter for a while,” Scott said. “I attribute a lot of just me being here to him. So I’m grateful for him. Really, really love that guy.”

And when there was a chance the trio could drift apart, Ficken acted as the glue keeping them together. His faith in Scott ultimately factored into Scott’s decision to re-sign.

“He really believes in me, believes in Josh and Cameron,” Scott said. “He always expressed that, and it’s crazy, the power of when you have people believing in you, it helps you believe in yourself more.”

The group is guaranteed to stay together for at least one more year.

Scott signed a two-year, $6-million contract in March. Dicker secured a four-year, $22-million extension last season, making him among the highest-paid kickers. Harris, however, is in the final year of his contract and will miss at least the first four games after being placed on injured reserve with a shoulder injury. Rick Lovato will take over until Harris returns.

While the turnaround of a once-abysmal special teams unit is the measurement of success, the playful off-field moments define their time together.

Sometimes it’s Harris offering Scott smelling salts — a practice Dicker, who is naturally amped, skips. Or it’s Harris snapping a photo of Dicker, Scott and Ficken next to the Dicker’s famous fair-catch kick cleats on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Then there’s Scott, who asked Harris a loaded question during a recent news conference: “Who do you like more, JK Scott or Cameron Dicker?”

“I can’t answer,” Harris said with a chuckle. “You guys are the best, but you’re sitting in here, so I guess I’ll have to go with my guy right now, showing support.”

EchoStar Corp. has agreed to sell spectrum licenses to AT&T Inc. for about $23 billion in a deal that will help the company stay out of bankruptcy and fend off regulatory concerns about its airwave use.

The sale will expand AT&T’s network and add about 50 megahertz of low-band and mid-band spectrum in an all-cash transaction, the Dallas telecommunications company said in a statement Tuesday. The deal is expected to close by mid-2026, pending regulatory approval.

The White House and the Federal Communications Commission were briefed about the transaction before the announcement, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions who asked to not be identified because the talks were private. America’s leadership in wireless services has a been a priority for President Trump, according to a White House official, who said the president believes this deal will accelerate the use of the wireless spectrum.

“We appreciate the productive and ongoing discussions with the EchoStar team,” FCC spokesperson Katie Gorscak said in a statement. “The FCC will continue to focus on ensuring the beneficial use of scarce spectrum resources.”

EchoStar shares jumped as much as 85% to hit the highest level on record after the announcement. AT&T shares were largely unchanged. Bonds in the broader EchoStar universe rallied. Dish DBS bonds due 2029 soared as much as 12 cents on the dollar to 83 cents and were the biggest gainers in the U.S. junk bond market, according to Trace pricing data. Trading in AT&T bonds was more than 10 times the average for this time of day.

The purchase price is $9 billion more than EchoStar paid for the spectrum and $5 billion more than the appraised value used in securitizing the assets, New Street Research’s Philip Burnett said in a research note Tuesday. Though $1.5 billion shy of New Street’s valuation, he said, the sale price was “nevertheless a great mark on value.”

Federal regulators have been pushing EchoStar to sell some of its airwaves after concerns it had failed to put valuable slices of wireless spectrum to use, Bloomberg reported in July. The FCC launched an investigation in May into whether EchoStar was meeting its obligations for its wireless and satellite spectrum rights. The company skipped bond payments and considered filing for bankruptcy, saying the investigation had stymied its ability to make decisions about its 5G network.

In a June meeting, first reported by Bloomberg, Trump urged EchoStar Chairman Charlie Ergen and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to cut a deal to resolve the dispute. EchoStar shopped the assets to other would-be buyers, including Elon Musk’s Starlink, Bloomberg earlier reported.

AT&T said the acquisition of about 30 MHz of mid-band spectrum and 20 MHz of low-band spectrum will strengthen the company’s ability to deliver 5G and fiber services across the U.S. EchoStar will operate in the U.S. market as a hybrid mobile network operator under its Boost brand, the company said in the statement. AT&T will be its primary network partner for wireless service.

In a separate news release, Ergen called the sale and related agreement to work with AT&T “critical steps toward resolving the FCC’s spectrum utilization concerns.”

The U.S. Justice Department’s Antitrust Division said in a statement posted on X that it has been working with the FCC and other parties for several months on the EchoStar matter and would review the transaction.

On a conference call with investors Tuesday, AT&T Chief Executive John Stankey said regulators shouldn’t be concerned that the transaction was putting too much wireless spectrum in the hands of the largest telecom carriers.

“The dynamics of what’s occurring in the market support the fact that concentration really isn’t an issue,” Stankey said. “Getting more capacity out into the market is ultimately a good thing for consumers over the long haul.”

AT&T has been spending heavily to expand its fiber-optic network across the country and previously said it would use cash savings from Trump’s tax and spending bill to accelerate those plans. In May, it agreed to buy the consumer fiber operations of Lumen Technologies Inc. for $5.75 billion, expanding its fast broadband service in major cities such as Denver and Las Vegas.

The company intends to finance the EchoStar deal with a combination of cash on hand and borrowings. AT&T maintained its earlier projections for as much as $20 billion for share repurchases through 2027. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. advised AT&T on the EchoStar acquisition.

EchoStar had $5 billion of cash on its balance sheet and subsequently committed to resuming bond payments including interest on the defaulted amounts. Its bond prices signaled that creditors weren’t expecting big losses even against the implied threat of a bankruptcy, which may have provided a fast way to get a federal judge to mediate a process that could otherwise drag on.

Solon, Griffis and Dlouhy write for Bloomberg.