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JUST a few hours away from the UK is one country that’s quickly becoming the go-to destination for theme parks.

There are already over 30 across the country and three new ones have been given the go-ahead.

The country in question is France where it has just been announced that three new theme parks will be built at the cost of €6bn (£5.13bn).

Little has been revealed about them so far, but one will be manga-themed and is inspired by the popular Japanese franchise Dragon Ball Z.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that the development would be “extraordinary” and would create a “new global destination,” adding: Nothing like this has been seen since Disneyland Paris.”

Construction of the new parks could take years, so in the meantime, here are some of the best ones across France for you to enjoy.

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Puy Du Fou

Unlike most theme parks, Puy Du Fou doesn’t actually have any rides – but don’t rule it out.

It’s the second most visited theme park in France and takes visitors through history with live shows and re-enactments.

Visitors can also stroll through immersive villages taking them back in time and see romantic evening shows across a lake.

The theme park has six hotels and even a campsite with cosy family lodges. Tickets to the park start from £40.

Parc Asterix

Parc Astérix is a theme park in Plailly based on the famous comic book series Astérix the Gaul, with over 50 attractions across six themed worlds like the Roman Empire, Greece and the Vikings.

The biggest ride is called Toutatis which is a multi-launch coaster at 167 feet tall and a top speed of 66.5mph.

The Egypt Zone reopened in April this year after a revamp with a water raft ride called The Descent of the Nile and The Flight of Ibis, where visitors swoop over the water garden.

In 2028, the park will open a new British-themed land called Londinium. Tickets here start from £36.

Futuroscope

Futuroscope is as the name suggests a futuristic theme park that this year was named 15th on Blooloop’s best theme parks in Europe.

It has over 40 attractions at the park, three shows and three on-site hotels – it also has an immersive indoor waterpark which opened in 2024.

One of the best ones is Tornado Chasers where visitors can ride into a tornado on a rotating platform, with the world’s largest indoor LED screen.

It’s suitable for toddlers too who can sit on little electric cars and enjoy a small floating log ride and Waterworks play area. Tickets start from £31.

Disneyland Paris

Of course, Disneyland Paris needs a mention being one of the most popular theme parks in Europe.

The biggest and most famous rollercoaster is Big Thunder Mountain in Frontierland.

Of course this year marked the opening of Disney’s newest land, the World of Frozen with a boat ride through Arendelle, meet-and-greets with Olaf, Elsa and Ana as well as a live show.

This is part of the newly transformed Disney Adventure World home to worlds inspired by Marvel and Pixar.

And no visit is complete without seeing the spectacular fireworks and Cascade of Lights show. Tickets to both parks start from £82.

Festyland

Just outside of Caen is Festyland which has 30 rides from high thrills to ones all the family can enjoy.

A new rollercoaster called Valkyrie opened in April – it takes riders “to the heart of Norse mythology” with top speeds of 40mph.

There’s also a drop tower, swinging ship and spinning disk ride – family-friendly attractions at the theme park include carousels, a play area and little race cars.

Tickets start from £21.43.

Vulcania

Vulcania is a unique theme park where volcanoes are the heart, or core, of it all.

There are rollercoasters like Namazu which stands at 52.5 feet tall, covers 584 metres of track and reaches speeds of 42.8mph.

Other rides, like the Abyss Explore, are where visitors can explore underwater volcanoes – others reveal what they look like from above.

The evening light show is not to be missed, and make sure to pop into the planetarium as it’s the biggest in the country. Tickets start from £24.

Terra Botanica

A theme park all about plants might sound odd, but it makes for a great day out.

Terra Botanica is surrounded by greenery and has around 500,000 plants from around the world.

It doesn’t have any classic rollercoaster rides, but it does have treetop trails suspended high up in the air, boat and miniature train rides.

One ride allows visitors to explore the park from a bird’s eye view pedalling in a carriage shaped like a walnut shell.

Inside there are 4D adventures which make visitors feel like they’re in a jeep as they enter a dinosaur reserve.

Tickets start from £18.

Aug. 23 (UPI) — At least 30 people were killed during an overnight landslide at a garbage dump in Conarkry, the capital of Guinea, the government of the West African nation said Sunday.

Six others were seriously injured and 16 more sustained minor injuries in what officials described as a landslide at the Dar-es-Salam landfill in the commune of Gbessia.

The incident happened around 2 a.m. local time on Sunday as heavy overnight rains in the bustling port city and national capital caused several homes to collapse.

Emergency personnel and equipment were mobilized immediately to search for any survivors who might still be buried, rescue victims and recover bodies, the government said.

The Red Cross, armed forces members, medical teams, local authorities and nearby residents were on the scene as Guinean Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah visited the site to “assess the situation and oversee the mobilization of public services.”

He said all necessary measures are being taken to aid the injured, many of whom were taken to Donka University Hospital in Conakry.

“The government extends its deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims, wishes a speedy recovery to the injured, and expresses its profound gratitude to all those involved in the rescue operations,” the official statement read.

Officials urged the public to “remain calm, show solidarity, and strictly adhere to the instructions of emergency services and competent authorities.”

Washington, DC – Over the next two days, a portion of the United States capital will transform into a seven-turn professional-grade track for the city’s first-ever IndyCar race.

The Freedom 250 Grand Prix, championed by President Donald Trump, is one of several special events held to commemorate the country’s 250th birthday.

But the race, which has been billed as a means of “celebrating American greatness”, is not coming without a heavy dose of criticism.

Questions have been raised about potential disruptions to life in the capital, as well as Trump’s ties to the event’s sponsor, the transportation company Penske.

Here’s what you need to know about the weekend’s automobile tournament:

Why is this taking place?

In January, Trump signed an executive order establishing the race as a means of celebrating the country’s 250th anniversary and its history of motorsport.

“This will be like no other race ever,” Trump said in July. “It’ll be one of the most unforgettable racing events the world has ever seen.”

Trump, who has described himself as a racing fan, has participated in several high-profile motorsport events since returning to office in 2025.

Last year, Trump attended NASCAR’s Daytona 500 race, after serving as the grand marshal during his first term. A few months later, in April 2025, he hosted NASCAR and IndyCar drivers at the White House.

Have similar events been held?

The Grand Prix is one of several sporting events being held in honour of the country’s 250th anniversary.

Earlier this month, as part of the festivities, high-school athletes were invited to participate in the inaugural Patriot Games, broadcast on the sport channel ESPN. And in June, Trump hosted an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on the White House lawn, dubbed the UFC Freedom 250.

But members of the Trump administration have compared the race to early moments in US history as a means of highlighting its historic nature.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Washington, DC, has not seen a competition like this since Thomas Jefferson, the third US president, helped mark the country’s 25th birthday in 1801 with horse races.

Is the IndyCar race part of Freedom 250?

Not officially. While the Grand Prix bears similar branding to Trump’s Freedom 250 initiative, they are separate entities.

Trump’s Freedom 250 task force was a public-private partnership that put together events like the Patriot Games and the Great American State Fair, which took place in June on the National Mall.

But critics argued that the task force undermined America250, a separate bipartisan organisation created by the US Congress to arrange festivities for the anniversary. There was also a backlash to the perception that Freedom 250 would be a vehicle for Trump’s political agenda.

The Grand Prix, meanwhile, is being “administered by INDYCAR in coordination with the America 250 Task Force”, according to the District of Columbia government website. IndyCar is a subsidiary of Penske.

What response has the race received?

The race is arguably the most ambitious of all the events Trump has hosted for America’s 250th celebration. It has also drawn concern from preservation experts.

A temporary track for the race will run 2.7 kilometres, or 1.7 miles, including through the National Mall. Part of the race will therefore take place near several buildings that contain priceless historical works and documents.

Immediately adjacent to the motor speedway will be the National Gallery of Art, featuring paintings spanning the history of Western civilisation, and the National Archives, which includes the original Declaration of Independence and US Constitution.

With race cars set to pass by at speeds nearing 321km/h (200mph), the National Gallery has boarded up some windows on its building and put barriers around several of its outdoor works.

A preservationist group has also warned that historic New Deal-era murals in the nearby Cohen Federal Building could be damaged “due to vibratory impacts”.

A Freedom 250 Grand Prix spokesperson told The Associated Press (AP) news agency that IndyCar has “tremendous respect for the history and the structures” surrounding the track.

But the race’s impacts are being felt by Washington’s residents and travellers as well.

In the days leading up to the race, commuters were plagued by hours-long congestion caused by the closure of some of the city’s popular thoroughfares as organisers prepared for the event.

The Federal Aviation Administration also announced that flights at the nearby Ronald Reagan Washington national airport will be paused for three hours on Sunday so flyovers associated with the event can take place.

Who’s paying for this?

With an expected price tag of $35m, the 147-lap race will be among the most expensive on IndyCar’s calendar.

Bud Denker, the president of Penske Corporation and chairman of the race, told AP his company will pay for the “vast majority” of the event, while the city will cover some “very limited” costs to repave streets and seal manhole covers.

A spokesperson for Washington, DC’s transportation department, German Vigil, told Al Jazeera the city “will be getting reimbursed” by the Grand Prix for those repairs.

The Freedom 250 Grand Prix website explains that the event is supported “by a group of key partners”, including Harbinger, a production company with ties to at least one previous Trump-hosted event.

CNN previously reported that the firm was hired to solicit corporate sponsors for the 2025 White House Easter Egg Roll.

The race’s website identifies Harbinger as an “official event partner” that will “coordinate logistics and the fan experience” for the Grand Prix. A spokesperson for Harbinger told Al Jazeera it was only handling “production”.

Several of the race’s sponsors have government contracts, including the aerospace firm Boeing and the telecommunications firm Verizon.

One, the building manufacturer WillScot, was in discussion with the second Trump administration about leasing mobile structures to house detainees slated for deportation, according to the publication Semafor.

Another, the aircraft company Gulfstream, was the recipient of nearly $200m in a controversial deal Trump’s Department of Homeland Security undertook to buy luxury jets for executive travel.

WillScot and Gulfstream did not return Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

How much does it cost to attend?

A reported 100,000 general admission tickets have already been given away for free, while premium viewing of the race comes at a steep price.

Tickets for the Champions Club, which offers views of the racetrack, cost $5,000 per person, while luxury suites are priced upwards of $250,000.

Will Trump attend?

Media reports have indicated that Trump himself is likely to attend the event.

The New York Post reported that the president may take a lap on Sunday around the track in his motorcade, to kick off the last day of the race.

But Trump’s involvement raises concerns, including from IndyCar drivers, that the event could be politicised. McLaren Racing’s Pato O’Ward, IndyCar’s only full-time racer from Mexico, has said it would be “ironic” if he won, given the president’s aggressive political stance towards immigration and Mexico itself.

With ski slopes in winter and beautiful lochs to swim in during summer, the town of Aviemore in Scotland is like Britain’s very own alpine resort – albeit on a smaller scale.

We arrive at Aviemore Holiday Park, where our wooden lodge overlooks the River Spey in the stunning Cairngorms National Park, to be greeted by several ducks who seem keen to pop through the sliding French doors for a visit.

I count my lucky stars that we’ve left our dog Daisy at home, as the ducks would be toast.

Work your quads

There’s so much to do in the Scottish Highlands that it’s hard to know where to begin, but a sightseeing tour on quad bikes is a great start.

Whizzing through the Rothiemurchus Estate, we stop to see Highland cows and have a great view of the snow-topped Cairngorms in the distance. One-hour tours cost £59 per person (Rothiemurchus.net).

My daughter Riley, 15, and I are speed demons, but my son Harris, also 15, finds it nerve-wracking.

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He does love another activity on the estate, though – clay pigeon shooting.

During our 90-minute session, £59 per person, we learn how to load, hold and carry our guns before shooting at various targets – some flying through the air, others crossing in front of us.

I’m embarrassingly bad, whereas Harris’ hours on Call Of Duty pay off and he trounces all of us.

Water view

There are around 60 major lochs in Cairngorms National Park.

Loch an Eilein, a 15-minute stroll from our lodge, is particularly scenic and takes less than an hour to walk around.

Loch Insh, meanwhile, is a 15-minute drive and offers tons of watersports, including paddleboarding and canoeing, as well as dry-slope skiing and mountain biking.

The rain starts as we cycle, so by the time we return we’re soaked, but also feeling exhilarated – and delicious hot chocolates from the cafe soon warm us all up.

A family day ticket to Loch Insh, which includes most activities, costs £175 (Lochinsh.com).

It’s summit else

Hiking up Cairngorm Mountain is also well worth it. It’s a good two hours to the top, but the view from the 1,245m summit is incredible.

We celebrate our achievement that evening at the friendly and buzzy Old Bridge Inn.

Sitting by the river, we dig into Loch Bloom oysters, £10 for three, steamed Ling cod with ginger and soy broth and pak choi, £24, and lamb curry pie, £24, while burgers with twice-cooked chips are a winner with the kids.

The white chocolate and lemongrass mousse, £9, is also a must (Oldbridgeinn.co.uk).

Further afield, The Penny Bun, tucked away in Glenmore Forest, is a local secret. It serves up seasonal dishes inspired by the landscape, with a constantly changing menu.

We feast on cured halibut, £11, and hot mackerel pâté, £10, before Peterhead goujons with fries and masala sauce, £21, go down a treat, as do braised pigs cheeks, £23 (Thepennybun.co.uk).

And for a cheap night in, the Happy Haggis cooks up unrivalled fish and chips, £13.80, though you can also channel your inner Scot with battered haggis and chips, £9.60, washed down with an Irn Bru (Harkai.co.uk).

After a week in the fresh Scottish air and falling asleep to the sounds of the rippling river, we return to London feeling refreshed and vowing to go back for ’More.

FORGET the crowds of Spain and Italy – there’s a country in Europe which has actually seen a DROP in tourists this year.

It was even dubbed the ‘new Croatia‘ thanks to its one seaside town along the Adriatic Coastline.

Official stats have revealed that the number of foreign tourists who visited Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first half of 2026 decreased by 3.2 per cent on the year to 582,541.

The country had previously been revealed as a top holiday spot for 2025 and even called the ‘new Croatia‘.

Thanks to it being lesser-visited then its neighbour, Bosnia and Herzegovina was described as a “less crowded alternative to Dubrovnik” by a team of travel experts at Wild Frontiers.

In comparison, Croatia welcomed more than 7.6 million visitors during the first six months of 2026.

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But in a world where destinations are suffering from overtourism, the fact Bosnia and Herzegovina has fewer tourists means it’s an ideal time to visit if you want to avoid crowds.

It’s cheap too – in fact the country’s capital, Sarajevo was named as the best-value destination in Europe by the Post Office Travel Money earlier this year.

It calculated that a two night’s stay across a weekend for two people would cost an average of £248.29.

This includes three-star accommodation, food, drink, a three-course evening meal, travel cards and attractions including a visit to a museum, art gallery and sight-seeing tour.

As for what to do there, the city is named one of the best for its food scene.

One traditional dish is called Bosanski Lonac which is essentially a stew packed with chunks of meat and vegetables.

Another is cevapi – these are flatbreads filled with grilled meat, and burek, flaky pastries filled with cheese, spinach or even sour cherry for dessert.

The best part is that eating out is very cheap for a capital city.

According to Wise, a meal at a restaurant can cost as little as £4.41 and visitors can enjoy a local beer from £1.76.

Flights are cheap too if you book in advance – with Wizz Air next April, Brits can fly to Sarajevo from £25 which takes just 2hr40.

Something to do in Sarajevo is head to its enormous thermal spa.

Ilidža Thermal Riviera is one of the largest thermal complexes in the Balkans and has been built on the hot spring of Ilidža.

Guests can take a dip in its indoor and outdoor swimming pools as well as children’s pool which has a slide.

There’s even a small go-karting area, trampolines and a Tropical Garden Restaurant – tickets into the complex cost as little as 8 KM (£3.51).

There’s also a nearby amusement park in the city centre called Sunnyland which has an Alpine Coaster zip lines and giant swings.

It’s found on Olympic Mountain Trebević which is a 10-minute drive from the city centre.

Entry to the park is free with visitors just having to pay for the rides and activities.

While most of Bosnia and Herzegovina is landlocked, it does have a short 12-mile coastline with beautiful beaches along the Adriatic Sea.

All of the coastline surrounds the pretty town of Neum which has bars and cafes along the promenade.

The town is considered an ‘anomaly’ as on a map, it sits along the Croatian coastline, but it’s actually in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Historically, the Republic of Ragusa (Dubrovnik) ceded the land to the Ottoman Empire in 1699 via the Treaty of Karlowitz.

Other must-visit spots include the Ottoman bridge in Mostar which is around an hour’s drive away from Neum.

The bridge sits over River Neretva and is considered masterpiece architecture from the 16th century.

For anyone feeling brave, you can actually jump off the 7-story high bride which is a 450-year-old tradition.

Historically, it was a way for young men to prove their courage – but nowadays anyone can do it as it’s managed by officials at the Mostari Diving Club.

There are also more natural wonders including Kravica Waterfall.

Visitors have called it ‘magical’ and ‘surreal’ with one even comparing it to looking like ‘a scene from Jumanji‘.

WASHINGTON — President Trump said Monday that U.S. Atty. Jeanine Pirro “choked” and “folded like an umbrella” in moving to drop charges against a former Olympian accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Speaking at an unrelated Oval Office event, Trump ducked questions about whether he’d fire Pirro, a former Fox News host and longtime ally he handpicked as top federal prosecutor in the nation’s capital.

But the president kept up his drumbeat of sharp criticism, saying he remained disappointed by her assessment that damage to the Reflecting Pool was the result of shoddy construction, not vandalism.

“Frankly, I think she choked because the judge was really vicious. Instead of going after the people that did it, the judge went after her and went after her department, and I guess she choked,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question after he signed an executive order for military spouses. “I don’t know what the hell happened.”

The move to dismiss charges against David Hearn was an embarrassing setback for the Justice Department and marked a rare moment during Trump’s second term of an aide or political appointee openly defying him.

After initially posting on social media over the weekend, “I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro,” Trump was still fuming two days later, insisting for several minutes that vandalism had marred the troubled project.

“I was disappointed with Jeanine Pirro, really disappointed,” the president said Monday. “She folded like an umbrella.”

Pirro has not commented publicly since Trump’s initial social media post criticizing her.

Hearn has said he was on a bike ride June 19 when he reached in to examine the pool’s newly peeled coating and briefly touched a chunk attached to the side of the pool. But he said he obeyed a park worker who told him to let go of it.

The president also used the opportunity Monday to distance himself from the troubled project, which he had touted as part of his overarching efforts to spruce up the nation’s capital.

Trump said in April that he had consulted with a trio of firms that had worked on swimming pools at his properties and that the one he picked for the Reflecting Pool project had done work at his golf course in Northern Virginia. That firm was Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings, which was awarded a $14.7 million no-bid contract to repaint and waterproof its concrete floor.

“I have a guy who’s unbelievable at doing swimming pools,” Trump said then. “He looked at it. He called me up. He said, ‘Sir, we can do something on it.’”

But Trump insisted Monday that “I didn’t know the contractor” and for the first time hinted that he wasn’t pleased by the work that was done to get the Reflecting Pool ready in time for Independence Day celebrations.

“I’m not saying I was 100% thrilled with the contractor, but the contractor was rushing. We wanted to get it open for July 4th,” he said.

Crews drained the Reflecting Pool weeks ago to launch a new round of repairs. The White House hasn’t said when those might be finished or how much more they will cost, but the Trump administration did not seek new bids from other companies on the new round of repair work.

Trump also said Monday that the Reflecting Pool would be “fixed” and reopened in the next week and a half to two weeks — without providing further details.

Weissert writes for the Associated Press.

Aug. 3 (UPI) — Capital One attorneys said in court documents that the bank closed the Trump Organization’s accounts over concerns about money laundering.

Attorneys for the bank have asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump over it closing hundreds of Trump Organization accounts in 2021. The motion filed by Capital One on Friday clarifies that money laundering concerns were the reason the accounts were closed.

“The closures were the result of months of analysis and a careful review by Capital One’s [anti-money-laundering] team in accordance with bank policies and regulatory guidance,” the court files read.

Trump argues that banks have “debanked” him and other conservatives for their political views. This followed the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. He has also filed a lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase for the same allegations and sought $5 billion in damages.

Capital One argues that the Trump Organization’s accounts were closed in a lawful manner.

“Instead, Plaintiffs attempt to keep their misguided allegations of political discrimination alive by speculating that Capital One’s anti-money laundering concerns were pretextual and claiming that Plaintiffs were somehow ‘misled’ by the contractually permitted closure decision,” the court filings read.

The bank adds that its contracts with clients give it the discretion to close any account “at any time, for any reason or no reason and without notice.”

About 385 accounts with ties to the Trump Organization, Executive Vice President Eric Trump and other affiliated businesses were closed in total.

In March, U.S. District Judge Roy Altman granted a previous motion by Capital One to dismiss the initial lawsuit that allowed Trump a limited window to refile. Trump and plaintiffs since filed an amended complaint that Capital One says suffer from “the same fundamental flaws as their prior two pleadings.”

If Capital One’s latest motion for dismissal is granted, the Trump Organization will be barred from filing another lawsuit.

Before London became England’s capital, a small market town held the seat of royal power as the heart of the mighty Mercian Kingdom — and its fascinating history still lives on today

London is England’s capital today — a city known worldwide for finance, culture, education and tourism, and home to around nine million people. But the idea of one permanent capital is relatively modern. In early medieval England, power shifted between kingdoms, and the places that mattered most were often far smaller than the capital we know now.

One of the most significant was Tamworth.

Now a market town in Staffordshire, roughly 14 miles North-east of Birmingham, Tamworth was once at the centre of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia. During the 8th and 9th centuries, it served as Mercia’s capital, becoming a regular base for kings and a focal point for royal administration. Though it covers only around 12 square miles, the town’s importance was outsized: Mercian rulers are said to have spent more time there than anywhere else, particularly during the reign of King Offa.

Tamworth’s status as a strategic stronghold continued after 1066, when the Norman Conquest transformed England’s political landscape. While Offa is believed to have had a palace in the town, the best-known landmark associated with Tamworth today was built later. Tamworth Castle was constructed around 1070 by Robert Despenser, steward to William the Conqueror, on the site of an earlier Anglo-Saxon stronghold — reinforcing the area’s longstanding defensive value.

More than 900 years on, the castle still dominates the town. It is regarded as one of England’s best-preserved motte-and-bailey castles and is open to the public as a museum. Visitors can explore Tamworth’s Anglo-Saxon, Norman and Victorian history through interactive displays, walk through furnished rooms, climb the tower and take in views across the surrounding area.

Over time, London’s position as the country’s political centre became more firmly established, especially following the events of 1066. William the Conqueror made London the focus of royal authority, helping to set it on the path to becoming the seat of government.

Tamworth, however, remains proud of its earlier role. Today it is a thriving town of around 80,000 residents, where modern shops, restaurants and leisure attractions sit alongside heritage sites and a traditional market area — reminders of a place that once stood at the heart of one of England’s most powerful kingdoms.

What is there to do in Tamworth today?

Tamworth may be best known for its rich history — but many of its biggest draws today are firmly modern. The Snowdome, the UK’s first indoor snow centre, is a go-to for learning to ski or sharpening your snowboarding skills, while Drayton Manor Park combines a major theme park with a zoo for a full day out.

While Tamworth Castle is arguably one of the town’s more famous attractions, the 11th-century Middleton Hall and the 600-acre Kingsbury Water Park are also nearby.

With hotels close to the main sights, it’s easy to get around — and once the day’s done, the town has plenty to offer after dark. From stylish bars and traditional pubs to late-night clubs, plus a wide choice of cafés, bistros and restaurants.

What other towns used to be the capital of England?

Tamworth is not the only town with a claim to “capital” status.

Winchester was the capital of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex and a major centre of royal power and religion before London rose to dominance, housing the royal court, treasury and key institutions.

In the 10th century, Athelstan — often described as the first king of all England and a grandson of Alfred the Great — declared Malmesbury his capital after defeating northern English and Scottish forces.

Colchester, meanwhile, is frequently described as Britain’s oldest recorded town and became the capital of Roman Britain in AD49.

The first book I read willingly was Bridget Jones’s Diary. I was 19. Up to that point, I hadn’t been much of a reader. I’d been more into football, or Baywatch, or Robin Budd in the year above – anything really. Given the choice between reading a book and staring at a wall, I would have plumped for the latter.

After finishing my A-levels, I worked in a barbecue restaurant in Portsmouth – which is where I found Bridget Jones. The book was lying around in the staffroom. I picked it up and read a few pages, and then a few more, and then a few more. It felt exciting. Like I’d met someone. Like I was suddenly in a relationship. Over the next few days, I remember cancelling nights out so I could go to bed and read. My mum thought I was depressed.

It hardly matters what book gets you going. For Jeanette Winterson, it was the Book of Deuteronomy. For David Nicholls, it was Tales from Moominvalley. What matters is that a book gets you going. Throughout my 20s, I worked as a carer, but I was always reading and scribbling on the side. I became a published author seven years ago. It’s not an overstatement to say that Bridget Jones changed my life. That books did.

So when I learned that 2026 was National Year of Reading (a UK-wide campaign intended to promote the importance and joy of reading) and that Rabat was to be this year’s Unesco World Book Capital (a rotating designation intended to promote the importance and joy of reading), I packed a few volumes and set off for Morocco’s capital. I was hoping for a cultural adventure, and perhaps a tagine, in this ancient seaside city perched scenically between Casablanca and Tangier.

Rabat was made the capital of Morocco in 1912, at the beginning of the turbulent 44-year period when the country found itself under the thumb of the French. The first thing I saw of the city was the New Town, or Ville Nouvelle, which was laid out in the 1920s à la française, meaning it looks nothing like the huge medieval medina that’s just up the road.

From the central train station, I proceeded to the solar-powered Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, where the permanent exhibition – Shifting Horizon(s) – does exactly what it says on the tin. Highlights include the abstract paintings of Mohamed Melehi and a provocative photograph by Lalla Essaydi. Part of a series called Bullet Revisited, the latter shows a woman covered head to toe in gold bullets, and is a powerful indictment of the violence women suffer.

I walked north to the medina, an irregular network of narrow streets lined with small shops flogging mint, slippers, strawberries and sabon beldi, a black soap made from the flesh and oil of olives. The medina was busy but calm. Not once was I asked to consider a carpet or sample a sardine. Indeed, I felt rather invisible. In this respect, the customer service was uncannily French.

I followed my nose to the Kasbah of the Oudayas, an enchanting district of low whitewashed houses. Built on high ground in view of the ocean, this former royal citadel was ideally placed to spot visitors on the horizon, and greet them appropriately.

After checking into a riad on Rue Bazou, I descended a flight of stone steps to the beach, a modest curve of sand where scores of people were playing football and volleyball. I crossed the cooling sand and climbed on to the breakwater to better observe a neon sun sink slowly seaward, as a lone surfer, way out in the offing, sought inch-perfect swell.

I took a pew at the beachside Relais Marin restaurant. I didn’t deliberate over the menu. Like casserole and paella, tagine is a dish in two senses; both the cooking vessel and the meal, on this occasion a confusion of lamb, almonds and prunes in a delicious gravy that, with time, had reduced to a bold, flavourful pesto, which I mopped up with chunks of khobz (Moroccan flatbread). I could have eaten another.

The next morning I went to the Cafe des Oudayas. Situated next to the Andalusian Gardens – a wonderful place full of orange and pomegranate trees – this alfresco cafe offers three things: mint tea, biscuits and an excellent vantage point.

As I eked out the tea, I watched a boy poised on the edge of a towering rock, 30 metres above the Bou Regreg river. Goaded by his friends, he meant to jump, but he hesitated for minutes in the intensifying sun. His dive, when it finally came, was a thing of beauty – a wide and graceful arc, shapely, immaculate, somewhat divine, almost unreal. The gallery held its breath until he re-emerged – to be met with disingenuous disdain. “La poule a attendu une éternité!” (The chicken waited for ever!) Lads, eh?

On a whim, I boarded an electric tuk-tuk, one of 60 in the city. I asked the driver to take me directly to the Chellah, a medieval necropolis that also houses what’s left of the Roman city of Sala Colonia, but, knowing best, the driver instead went out of his way to show off his home town, swinging by St Peter’s cathedral and a nightclub called Amnesia, where Morocco’s king is said to have boogied back when merely a prince.

The Chellah – when I finally got there – did not disappoint. After doing a round of the picturesque ruins, I climbed to a gorgeous onsite cafe and ordered the couscous. Befitting tradition, the dish comprised a pyramid of seven vegetables, a moat of couscous, a jug of broth and some meaty treasure hidden within the veg. It was unmistakably bon.

If one requires beer in Rabat, one heads to Le Dhow, a bar and restaurant on a boat moored in the shadow of the kasbah. Sitting on the upper deck, I savoured an ice-cold pint while chatting with a British undergraduate studying at the Université Internationale de Rabat. I asked if she felt comfortable in the city. “It’s been fine,” she said. “Some men have said hello. One asked for a photo. To be honest, I’ve experienced a lot worse in Worcester.”

I’m just going to come out and say this – don’t go to Rabat because it’s this year’s World Book Capital. Despite my best efforts, the exact nature of the 300-plus events the city is purportedly going to run during its year as WBC remain a mystery to me. Instead, go to Rabat because it’s an excellent city. C’est simple.

On my final evening, I chanced on a humble bookshop in the medina – Bouquiniste El Azizi. Of the hundreds of preloved books assembled in the diminutive space, a dozen or so were in English. Among them was Bridget Jones’s Diary. I picked it up and read a few pages – and then left it for someone else to stumble on, and perhaps break their duck with.

On leaving the shop, I noticed a sign: Les livres prennent soin de nous. Books take care of us. The sentiment strikes me as the right note to finish on.

Ben Aitken is the author of Shitty Breaks: A Celebration of Unsung Cities, £9.99. To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply

EUROSTAR is launching new trains to a European city for the first time ever.

Often overlooked in favour of other Belgian destinations like Brussels and Bruges, the new train route will connect London to Antwerp.

Antwerp handles around 80 per cent of the world’s rough diamonds – and the diamond district itself is a popular tourist spot with cafes and bars.

There are even diamond history tours and cutting workshops for those who really want to delve into it.

Antwerp’s Borgerhout neighbourhood east of the city centre was voted one of the ‘coolest in the world‘ by Time Out last year.

Some of the most popular spots in the area include the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp which holds live events like DJ and music evenings during the summer.

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Just up the road is the MoMu Fashion Museum and De Roma is a restored 1920 art deco cinema which holds concerts and film screenings.

There’s also plenty of bakeries, cafes and pubs to pop into like Café Mombasa which is bicycle-themed and has around 90 types of beer on offer.

When Sun Reporter Harry Corton visited the city, he discovered another spot for taste testing.

He said: “There are tons of places to sample the dizzying local delights. The best is Bier Central (De Keyserlei 25), where the 120-page ‘BeerCyclopediaa’ offers over 100 different concoctions.

“Following a local’s tip, I opt for a “Trappist” drink, meaning it was brewed by monks . . . in a monastery. It’s generally a mark of higher ethical and quality standards.”

And if you’re a foodie, then Antwerp will be right up your street as it has 17 Michelin-starred restaurants.

Antwerp sits on the banks of the Scheldt River and it even has its own urban beach.

Currently those wanting to visit Antwerp can head to Brussels where they need to hop on a connecting train.

But from December 14, the high-speed rail service will operate four direct services from London St Pancras each day.

These will take just two hours and 41 minutes.

The Eurostar will stop at Antwerp-Centraal station which often takes the crown for the world’s most beautiful railway terminal.

So it’ll be a good excuse to take a look around its beautiful marble interior before heading into the city.

The only small hiccup is there are no direct return trains from Antwerp to London, so you will have to change.

Talking to Head for Points, Eurostar said: “Customers travelling from Antwerp to London can book a combined SNCB and Eurostar ticket on eurostar.com, connecting via Brussels-Midi where UK border and security checks take place.

“There are currently no plans to introduce direct services from Antwerp to London, as this would require dedicated UK border and customs facilities at Antwerp-Centraal.”

Jubilant fans leapt with joy in Buenos Aires after Argentina defeated England 2-1 in Wednesday’s World Cup semifinal match. The defending champions will take on Spain in Sunday’s final.

The first days after the earthquake were defined by what had been lost. Apartment blocks lay in ruins, entire neighborhoods disappeared beneath the rubble, hospitals overflowed, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans found themselves without a home. Yet as the emergency slowly gave way to recovery, another realization has emerged, one less dramatic but perhaps more consequential. 

Venezuela did not only lose buildings: it is now discovering that it has very little left with which to rebuild them.

Reconstruction is often described as something that begins after disaster strikes. In reality, it begins years earlier, with the reserves a country accumulates while times are good. Wealth matters, but so do things that rarely appear in economic statistics: functioning institutions, domestic industries, engineering firms, construction companies, reliable electricity, access to credit, insurance markets, emergency planning, skilled workers and the public trust needed to mobilize them all. These are the hidden reserves that allow societies to absorb shocks. The earthquake revealed that Venezuela had spent much of them long before the ground began to shake.

That depletion has become evident in almost every aspect of the response. Venezuela imports a significant share of the food it consumes and much of its medicine. The emergency quickly exhausted whatever inventories existed. Heavy machinery needed to clear debris had to be sought abroad. Medical supplies became scarce almost immediately. Temporary shelters proved insufficient, forcing thousands of survivors to remain in tents erected in parks and public spaces weeks after the disaster. The government is now considering housing many of them in schools, an understandable emergency measure made possible only because classes are suspended for the summer.

Temporary solutions, however, have a habit of becoming permanent in Venezuela. Families displaced by the Vargas Tragedy of 1999 and by the 2010 floods spent years, in some cases decades, living in shelters that were never meant to become homes. The earthquakes risk repeating a familiar pattern, not because Venezuelan authorities necessarily want it to, but because they have long lacked the capacity to offer anything else.

The Venezuelan diaspora contains an extraordinary concentration of precisely the human capital required to rebuild the country. Whether that expertise can be persuaded to return, even temporarily, remains an unlikely scenario.

Some will inevitably attribute this lack of preparedness primarily to sanctions. It is an understandable argument, but one that struggles to explain what the earthquakes actually exposed. The collapse of domestic industry, the deterioration of public infrastructure, chronic underinvestment in the electrical grid, the shrinking of Venezuela’s manufacturing base and the erosion of emergency response capacity all began years before oil sanctions were imposed.

Recent research has also challenged the idea that sanctions caused a discrete collapse in access to food and medicine, showing instead that essential imports had already fallen dramatically before sanctions and later stabilized as the government dismantled some of its own economic controls. The sanctions era itself demonstrated that Venezuela retained the ability to import consumer goods. Supermarkets gradually refilled for those able to pay. Construction cranes returned to Caracas’ wealthiest neighborhoods. Restaurants multiplied. Consumption recovered far more quickly than productive capacity.

The earthquake exposed the difference.

The destruction of resilience

Disasters ask questions that ordinary economic life does not. They care little about how many imported products sit on supermarket shelves or how many luxury apartments are being built in eastern Caracas. They ask whether a country can mobilize excavators, engineers, trauma surgeons, logistics networks, emergency housing, electricity, financing and public institutions at scale. They ask whether resilience has been accumulated or consumed. Venezuela’s answer has been painfully clear.

That is perhaps one of the least understood legacies of chavismo. Much has been written about the destruction of wealth, the collapse of oil production or the country’s prolonged recession. Less attention has been paid to the destruction of resilience itself. For years, the Venezuelan State approached institutions with the same extractive logic that governed its relationship with oil. Productive assets became sources of immediate political or fiscal returns rather than investments to be maintained and strengthened. Private companies were expropriated rather than incorporated into development. Public enterprises became instruments of patronage rather than production. Infrastructure was consumed faster than it was repaired. The country did not merely become poorer. It gradually spent the reserves that societies rely upon when catastrophe arrives.

Resources that may have financed future growth must now finance immediate recovery.

The consequences extend far beyond physical infrastructure. Reconstruction is ultimately carried out by people, and Venezuela has spent the last two decades exporting many of those it now needs most. Engineers who now design highways in Spain, petroleum specialists managing fields in Texas or Guyana, architects working across Latin America, doctors practicing in Colombia and Chile, electricians, project managers and construction supervisors who left because opportunities disappeared at home. The Venezuelan diaspora contains an extraordinary concentration of precisely the human capital required to rebuild the country. Whether that expertise can be persuaded to return, even temporarily, remains an unlikely scenario.

Money presents an equally daunting challenge. Before the earthquake, Venezuela’s slow economic reopening had begun to attract cautious international interest. Much of it remained exactly that, cautious. Memoranda of understanding outnumbered signed investment agreements, access to financing remained limited and investors continued to price Venezuela’s political risks accordingly. The expectation, however tentative, was that new investment would increasingly flow toward rebuilding the electrical grid, expanding oil production and modernizing neglected infrastructure. The earthquake has fundamentally altered those priorities. Resources that may have financed future growth must now finance immediate recovery. Every home rebuilt is a home that cannot wait. Every hospital repaired is indispensable. Every bridge reconstructed delays another project that might otherwise have expanded productive capacity. Reconstruction does not replace development. It postpones it.

Reconstruction-era uncertainty and challenges

The financing challenge has also become more complicated politically. Investors had already approached Venezuela with understandable caution. The humanitarian emergency has increased the country’s fiscal needs precisely as political uncertainty has deepened. The constitutional arrangements established after Nicolás Maduro’s removal were always presented as exceptional. As they become more prolonged and their legal basis increasingly contested, companies considering long-term reconstruction projects must ask whether contracts signed today will remain secure under whatever government eventually succeeds the current one. Investors do not need constitutional certainty, they simply need enough legal certainty to believe that agreements lasting ten or twenty years will survive political change. Venezuela offers remarkably little of it.

This is also why Delcy Rodríguez’s recent call for the lifting of sanctions misunderstands the country’s central problem. Whatever benefits further sanctions relief might provide, it cannot eliminate the uncertainty surrounding Venezuela’s legal and political environment. Investors deciding whether to finance ports, housing developments or power plants are unlikely to base their decisions on sanctions alone. They also ask whether contracts will survive a change of government, whether courts will enforce them and whether today’s authorities will still possess the legal authority to honor them tomorrow.

Reconstruction depends on trust, functioning institutions, access to capital, legal certainty and a productive economy capable of sustaining the effort long after international solidarity inevitably fades.

There is another irony hidden beneath the rubble. The Venezuelan insurance industry will likely survive this catastrophe better than many expected, not because losses have been modest, but because so much of what was lost was never insured. This was an under-insured disaster. Homes, businesses and families that lacked coverage will inevitably look toward the state for assistance. Yet the state that spent years hollowing out its own fiscal and institutional capacity now finds itself acting as insurer of last resort, precisely when it possesses the fewest resources to fulfill that role.

Natural disasters often become moments of national renewal. Reconstruction can modernize infrastructure, attract investment and accelerate reforms that politics alone struggles to produce. Those opportunities exist in Venezuela as well. Rebuilding cities will require new housing, new roads, new power systems, new telecommunications infrastructure and new industries capable of supplying them. But opportunities are only as valuable as a country’s ability to seize them. Reconstruction depends on trust, functioning institutions, access to capital, legal certainty and a productive economy capable of sustaining the effort long after international solidarity inevitably fades.

The earthquake destroyed thousands of buildings. Rebuilding them will take years. What it ultimately revealed, however, is something far more difficult to reconstruct. Over the last quarter century Venezuela has steadily depleted much of the industrial, institutional, financial, human and political capital that countries quietly accumulate before disasters occur. Those invisible reserves are what determine whether recovery becomes a matter of years or generations. They cannot be imported as easily as food or medicine. They have to be rebuilt, patiently, one institution at a time.

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

The attacks have triggered fires in two districts of Kyiv, according to the city’s mayor.

Russian missile attacks have struck Kyiv in the third large-scale assault on the Ukrainian capital in less than a week.

Early on Wednesday, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a statement on Telegram that the Russian strikes had triggered fires in two districts of the city. It is not clear if there have been any casualties or damage.

Moscow also launched a large-scale attack on Kyiv on Monday, killing at least 14 people and damaging at least a dozen buildings.

Both Russia and Ukraine have recently expanded their use of long-range weapons, including missiles, marking a new front in Moscow’s four-year war.

Ukraine has focused its attacks on Russian energy facilities to weaken its war efforts.

Ukraine said on Tuesday that its drones attacked a dozen tankers from Russia’s “shadow fleet” over the past two days that were delivering fuel to Moscow-occupied Crimea. Kyiv’s military said they had struck eight vessels subject to sanctions in the Sea of Azov, each with a deadweight of about 7,000 metric tonnes. Two more tankers were hit later in the day.

The Sea of Azov is a key supply route for Russian forces in Crimea and other occupied parts of southern Ukraine.

Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 – in a move that has been unrecognised internationally – eight years before launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow has not publicly commented on this week’s attacks on Ukraine, which also included strikes on electrical substations, radar systems, and missile installations.

Attacks amid NATO Summit

The latest exchange of fire between Russia and Ukraine also comes amid NATO’s annual summit, which began on Tuesday. The military alliance’s leaders have gathered in Turkey’s capital Ankara for the two-day summit, where defence spending and the Russia-Ukraine war is under discussion.

NATO is expected to pledge further military support for Ukraine, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urges the alliance to step up aid for the country’s air defences following a deadly escalation of Russian attacks on Kyiv.

Zelenskyy – who has renewed his call for Ukraine to be allowed to join the alliance – wrote on social media on Tuesday that he had signed new agreements with Estonia, the Netherlands, and Denmark in Ankara.

The deals create “new opportunities for joint production, the development of innovative defense technologies, systematic exchange of expertise, and the export of Ukrainian battlefield-proven solutions”, he said.

Further agreements are expected with Germany, Norway, Finland, and Canada.

US President Donald Trump is also expected to meet Zelenskyy on the summit sidelines on Wednesday, having spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of the NATO gathering.

Asked about Russia’s war in Ukraine, Trump said he hoped it would be settled “soon”.

“I think they both want to make a deal,” Trump said.

“It’s too bad it took so long, but I think something’s going to come out.”

JACKSON, Miss. — The former mayor of Mississippi’s capital city and the former City Council president have pleaded guilty in a bribery scheme one week before they were set to face trial.

Former Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and former Jackson City Council President Aaron Banks pleaded guilty Monday to one count of conspiracy. Their pleas came after Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens pleaded guilty last week and resigned. All three are Democrats.

Two other people — Angelique Lee, the Democratic former vice president of the Jackson City Council, and Sherik Marve Smith, a businessman and relative of Owens — had already pleaded guilty to bribery charges.

A November 2024 indictment accused Owens of taking at least $115,000 from two FBI agents posing as real estate developers and facilitating more than $80,000 in bribe payments to Banks, Lumumba and Lee in exchange for their help greenlighting a development project.

Lumumba, Banks and Owens could be sentenced to up to five years in prison. Their sentencing hearings are set for Oct. 15.

Lumumba, who previously called the charges a political prosecution, lost his reelection bid last year. His lawyers did not immediately respond to The Associated Press’ requests for comment.

Banks’ lawyer declined to comment.

Bates writes for the Associated Press.

NASA-affiliated aircraft, including F-5 Tiger IIs jets, will kick off roughly seven hours of flyovers above Washington, D.C., to mark the Fourth of July. Today, NASA also officially unveiled an F-15D Eagle and an F/A-18B Hornet jet wearing new star-spangled paint schemes as part of larger celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. The aerial showcase over the nation’s capital tomorrow will also see wave after wave of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters from across the U.S. military, as well as foreign air forces. It is set to be an unprecedented aerial review, unlike anything seen in recent decades.

A full flyover schedule is available on the website of the Freedom 250 organization, the primary organizer of various 250th anniversary celebrations. A more truncated flyover program has already come and gone today. The full aerial review is set to start tomorrow at 1:14 PM ET with a “NASA F-5 Flyover,” followed immediately by a “NASA Fleet Review.”

The NASA “Freedom 250” F-5 team consists of four privately owned aircraft, including one that belongs to its current administrator, Jared Isaacman. They have already been taking part in various airshows and other events since April. Three of the F-5s, wearing their special 250th anniversary schemes, touched down at Andrews Air Force Base just outside of Washington, D.C., on June 30.

As noted, NASA has also now unveiled the F-15D and F/A-18B with their special 250th anniversary liveries, as seen at the top of this story and below. Those jets could be part of the larger NASA Fleet Review.

Spotters in Spokane, Washington, had first caught sight of these jets yesterday. Based on the assignment of its civilian N-number registration code in May of this year, the F-15D appears to be one of two ex-Oregon Air National Guard jets that NASA acquired in January.

What other NASA aircraft might make an appearance is unclear. Last week, NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, did share pictures of T-38, WB-57F, and Gulfstream V aircraft with Freedom 250 emblems painted on their fuselages, but it is unknown whether they will be part of the Fourth of July event.

NASA’s fleets do include a broad selection of other aircraft, including other Gulfstream business jet models and a variant of the U-2 spy plane called the ER-2. Earlier this year, NASA also took delivery of a new Boeing 777. Whether any of its experimental X-planes, such as the highly unusual-looking X-59 Quiet Supersonic Technology test aircraft that may help pave the way for a new era of commercial supersonic flight, might join the flyovers remains to be seen.

U.S. Coast Guard helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft will follow the NASA flyovers, per the Freedom 250 website, but no specific aircraft types are mentioned. Today, the Coast Guard operates a mix of MH-65 Dolphin and MH-60T helicopters, as well as HC-130J, C-27J, HC-144, C-37, and now C-39 fixed-wing aircraft. C-39 is the designation given to new Gulfstream 700 VIP jets, the first of which was delivered in January. The Coast Guard is in the process of acquiring a second one of these aircraft, which will supplement, if not eventually supplant, its C-37s, which are based on older Gulfstream types, as you can read more about here.

The U.S. Army’s Golden Knights and the U.S. Navy’s Leap Frogs, both of which are parachute demonstration teams, are set to follow the Coast Guard portion of the aerial review. Whether they will jump from different aircraft or the same one, and what type of aircraft will be utilized, are unknown. The Army has aircraft dedicated to supporting the Golden Knights, including Dash-8-based C-147As and UV-18C Twin Otters.

2026 B-Roll Package

Leap Frogs 2021

The parachute demonstrations are to be followed by a review of Army helicopters, which could include a mixture of AH-64 Apache, UH-60 Black Hawk, CH-47 Chinook, and UH-72 Lakota types. Special Operations MH-60Ms, MH-47Gs, and AH/MH-6 Little Birds from the famed 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the “Nightstalkers,” might also take part. The Army also has several VH-60 Black Hawks specially configured for VIP transport missions, known as “gold tops” because of their distinctive black-and-gold paint jobs, based in the broader Washington, D.C. area, that could be included in the flovers.

Waves of U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy aircraft – in that order – will come after the Army helicopters pass by.

The Air Force’s three waves are broken down into “heavies,” aircraft from Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), and fighters. We know from the schedule that a “Tri-Bomber Formation” made up of a B-2, B-1, and B-52 will come later in the day, but the “heavies” mentioned here also sound likely to include a mix of cargo aircraft and aerial refueling tankers. Executive transport types might also make an appearance at this point in the festivities. The new VC-25B “Bridge” aircraft, which made its maiden flight in the Air Force One role this week in taking President Donald Trump on a trip to North Dakota, is explicitly set to be part of the larger aerial review.

The main components of AFSOC’s fleets today are AC-130J Ghostrider gunships, MC-130J Commando II special operations tanker transports, CV-22 Osprey tiltrotors, and new OA-1K Skyraider II light attack planes. We may well see examples of all of the Air Force’s current tactical jet fleets – F-22 Raptors, F-35A Joint Strike Fighters, F-15E Strike Eagles, F-15EX Eagle IIs, F-16C/D Vipers, and A-10 Warthogs – in the “fighter” wave.

An “Executive Rotary Wing Airlift” flyover will come in between the Air Force and Marine Corps waves. The Marines are the most prominent operators of aircraft in this category, being responsible for the VH-92, VH-60, and VH-3 presidential helicopters, also commonly known as Marine Ones, as well as a fleet of MV-22 Ospreys used for executive airlift missions. The Army’s aforementioned “gold top” Black Hawks, as well as the Air Force’s UH-1N Twin Hueys based at Andrews Air Force Base, are in this “executive” category, as well.

The waves of other Marine and then Navy rotary wing and fixed-wing aircraft will follow. As with the Air Force waves, it seems likely that we will see a broad swath of types that these services currently fly. On the fixed wing side, this could include F-35B and C Joint Strike Fighters, F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers, F/A-18C/D Legacy Hornets, and KC-130J Hercules tanker-transports. On the rotary-wing front, there are MV-22 and CMV-22 Osprey tiltrotors, as well as its AH-1Z Viper, UH-1Y Venom, CH-53E Super Stallion, CH-53K King Stallion, and MH-60R/S Seahawk helicopters.

It should be noted here that there are heavy restrictions on how and when uncrewed aircraft, even ones belonging to the U.S. military, can fly within the U.S. national airspace. This makes it very unlikely that drones from any of the services will be part of the aerial procession.

Flights by the Navy’s Blue Angels and its separate Super Hornet demonstration team, as well as the Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey demonstration team, are next in the program. The Blue Angels have various signature maneuvers, some of which they might be able to incorporate into their flyover.

Blue Angels Air Show 2026

Per the Freedom 250 website, the Navy and Marine Corps demonstration teams will be followed by another review of Air Force fighters, then the Tri-Bomber formation mentioned before. The Navy’s F-35C demonstration team will go next, and then the Air Force’s Thunderbirds.

Like the Blue Angels, the Thunderbirds have several signature maneuvers, and a “Delta Break” (more commonly referred to as a “Delta Burst”) is explicitly on the schedule. This entails the Thunderbirds’ F-16s flying in a delta formation before breaking outward, giving the appearance of a starburst in the sky. Smoke trails from the jets during the maneuver, adding to the effect, as seen in the video below.

USAF Thunderbirds “Delta Burst”

An “Air Force One Flyover” is sandwiched between the Thunderbirds’ initial flyby and the Delta Burst per the schedule on the Freedom 250 website. Whether this will feature anything besides the new VC-25B “Bridge” aircraft remains to be seen. That plane is set to lead a “HUGE 1” flyover, the composition of which is unclear.

A “U.S. Stealth Airpower Flyover,” which would include the B-2, F-22, and F-35, comes next in the program. The F-22 Raptor demonstration team has its own specific slot in the schedule, capped off with a flyby in afterburner. The sun will still be setting at 7:53 PM ET when it is set to occur, but the visual should still be impressive. There will also be a B-1 bomber flyover with the afterburners at 8:07 PM ET.

The entire aerial review program ends with another “HUGE 1” flyover, a “Twilight Jump” by the Golden Knights, and then finally a “Night Pass” by the B-1 in afterburner at 10:36 PM ET, by which time the sun will have fully set for the day. A B-1 made a similar flight over Washington, D.C., as part of the UFC America 250 event at the White House back on June 14.

The roar of a B-1B Lancer assigned to the 7th Bomb Wing, Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, over Washington, D.C., tonight. 🇺🇸

As America approaches its #Freedom250 anniversary, military flyovers remain a powerful tradition—honoring the past, celebrating the present and inspiring… pic.twitter.com/dyBPAA5A7y

— U.S. Air Force (@usairforce) June 15, 2026

There has been and continues to be much speculation about potential surprise appearances during the hours-long procession of U.S. military aircraft. The Air Force insists that the new B-21 Raider will not make an appearance. We also asked about whether a drone commonly and unofficially known as the “RQ-180,” or any of the demonstrators used in the Next Generation Air Domain (NGAD) program that birthed the F-47 sixth-generation fighter, might take part. We were flatly told no in response.

There is also set to be at least some degree of participation by foreign air forces, none of which is explicitly mentioned in the schedule on the Freedom 250 website.

“The national aerobatic display team of the United Arab Emirates, ‘Al Fursan,’ has arrived in the United States of America to take part in the celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States of America,” the UAE’s Ministry of Defense notably wrote in an official post on X this morning, per a machine translation of the original Arabic. “The team will join the official air show on July 4th, flying side by side with the Blue Angels team and squadrons of the U.S. Air Force, in an extraordinary scene that embodies the depth of bilateral relations between the United Arab Emirates and the United States of America, while reflecting the shared values and enduring partnership that unite the two nations.”

This is especially notable given that the Al Fursan team currently flies Chinese Hongdu L-15 jet trainers, as seen in the video below. This looks to be the debut appearance of any Chinese-made military aircraft in the United States.

وصول فريق الاستعراضات الجوية “فرسان الإمارات” إلى الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية للمشاركة في احتفالات ذكرى الاستقلال الـ250

وصول فريق الاستعراضات الجوية الوطني لدولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة “فرسان الإمارات” إلى الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية، للمشاركة في احتفالات الذكرى الـ250… pic.twitter.com/x0o3YQcdVH

— وزارة الدفاع |MOD UAE (@modgovae) July 3, 2026

The French Patrouille de France aerobatic team, which flies Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jets, has already flown over Washington, D.C., and New York City in the past two weeks as part of larger celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. The French have dubbed this the “Liberté 250” tour, which they say also celebrates their historic relationship with the United States since its founding.

Arlington. Mount Vernon. Washington.

Aujourd’hui, la mission #Liberté250 a rendu hommage à quelques-uns des lieux les plus emblématiques de la mémoire américaine.

Un parcours symbolique pour célébrer près de 250 ans d’amitié entre la France et les États-Unis. 🇫🇷🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/TKsVI7waqE

— Armée de l’Air et de l’Espace (@Armee_de_lair) June 22, 2026

As mentioned, tomorrow’s flyovers look set to be completely unlike anything seen in years. It will be a far larger gathering of aircraft than what was present at the parade marking the 250th Birthday of the U.S. Army last year. It will dwarf even what was put together to mark the Centennial of Naval Aviation in 2011.

Just from what’s on the public schedule, Washington, D.C., is set to see an unprecedented aerial extravaganza to mark this year’s Fourth of July.

Special thanks to Tom Riley for sharing his picture of the NASA F/A-18B and F-15D in Spokane with us.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

When Klarna chose New York over Europe for its stock market listing, it highlighted a challenge Brussels has been trying to solve for years: Europe’s fastest-growing companies often look across the Atlantic for deeper pools of capital.

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As the EU seeks to build its own AI champions, strengthen its defence industry and keep more high-growth companies raising money at home, one question remains: why does a bloc with €37tn in household savings still struggle to finance its own fastest-growing businesses?

Now the European Union has stepped up efforts to reform its capital markets, aiming to make capital flow more freely across the bloc.

Policymakers are pursuing incremental reforms, including greater supervisory alignment, but a fully unified capital market is likely to take many years, as member states struggle to agree on key technical details, slowing the process.

The competitiveness challenge

The current speed of negotiations does not reflect the urgency being expressed by the EU’s political leadership: Europe needs more integrated capital markets to compete globally with major powers such as the US and China.

To do so, billions need to be invested in strategic sectors such as AI and defence, amid intense geopolitical uncertainty, including wars and trade tensions.

Lacking strategic industrial and technological leadership means sacrificing geopolitical power and economic resilience, especially in a global landscape where dominance, or even survival, depends on control over resources and expertise.

This narrative has been championed by leading EU politicians, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, whose goal of making Europe more competitive on the global stage has become the North Star of her political mandate.

For this reason, von der Leyen tasked former European Central Bank President and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi with preparing a report on EU competitiveness, which identified capital markets reform as one of its central recommendations.

Presented in autumn 2024, the report says Europe needs €750bn-€800bn in investment each year, equivalent to up to 5% of GDP, to fulfil its competitiveness goals and remain globally competitive.

“It’s ‘Do this,’ or it’s a slow agony,” Draghi warned in one of his best-known remarks. Draghi describes this “agony” as a prolonged and cumulative erosion of Europe’s economic position, driven by structural weaknesses such as high energy costs and a fragmented single market, which together make the continent less conducive to investment and innovation.

The EU is focusing on two priorities to unlock the potential of its capital markets.

The first is convincing households to invest, mobilising a small percentage of the estimated €37tn in savings. The second is integrating national financial markets across the EU to reduce barriers within the single market, making it easier for businesses to raise funding and for investors to put their money to work.

For this to happen, households need better access to capital markets, along with a better understanding of how to invest and the potential benefits involved. For example, greater participation in financial markets can help individuals build their retirement savings.

At the same time, Brussels must advance the legislative framework — known as the Savings and Investments Union (SIU) — to enable these reforms to take place.

Why do businesses find it easier to seek funding in the US?

Capital markets are marketplaces where individuals, institutions and governments buy and sell long-term financial instruments, such as equities or debt.

They offer businesses a way to raise funds and support their growth. However, scaling up in Europe remains challenging. Cross-border operations can be costly, time-consuming and involve significant administrative burdens. This is because rules differ between member states, and even where they are the same, their implementation may differ.

These are among the reasons why firms in Europe obtain most of their financing through bank credit.

“What we need to develop is a more diversified funding source,” the head of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), Verena Ross, told Euronews in an exclusive interview with Euronews Business editor Angela Barnes.

Without enough diversification, businesses look for other markets where funding is more readily available, such as the US.

“The US capital market benefits from a more consolidated supervisory approach. There are fewer layers of bureaucracy and red tape because the US uses a single currency,” Rebecca Christie, senior fellow at Brussels-based think tank Bruegel, told Euronews.

Christie also said the US benefits from having a long-established federal system and from the dollar’s status as the world’s dominant reserve currency, both of which reduce barriers and increase its attractiveness.

“Anybody who needs financing has an incentive to go to US markets because that’s where the money is,” she said.

A less fragmented European capital market would have far-reaching implications, including making more capital available for strategic investments and strengthening the euro’s international role as a global currency — another major ambition of the current EU leadership amid the dollar’s declining role.

“We live in a global world and, particularly, capital markets are global by their nature. We also need to be attractive to overseas investors, whether they are American, Asian or from wherever they come, and make sure that Europe is a destination for that investment capital,” Ross told Euronews.

Why is a capital markets union so hard to achieve?

Despite broad agreement that capital markets need greater integration, there is still strong disagreement over how to make it happen.

The capital markets union legislation forms part of the Savings and Investments Union (SIU), a package of legislative proposals currently under negotiation.

One of the key pieces of legislation aimed at harmonising capital markets is the Market Integration and Supervision Package, known as MISP.

Despite the intensification of talks on MISP in recent months, member states have yet to reach a common position, particularly on how to harmonise capital markets supervision.

Last spring, the six largest European economies — Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands — made a proposal setting out how to centralise supervisory powers.

In particular, they propose transferring some supervisory powers to ESMA, but there is no consensus on whether to proceed, an EU diplomat told Euronews on condition of anonymity. Even among those who agree, there are differing views on how and over what timeframe this should be implemented.

“The problem with the integration of capital markets is not even a political one; it is more a national issue,” Aurore Lalucq, chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, who played an important role in the legislation, told Euronews.

“I think there will be progress in supervision, but there are a lot of details that will be tough to negotiate due to very different perspectives,” Lalucq added, referring to the fact that member states have very different capital market cultures.

Klarna’s decision to look across the Atlantic for deeper capital markets illustrates the challenge Europe faces. While there is broad agreement that the bloc needs to mobilise more private investment, national interests continue to slow progress towards a truly unified capital market.