COMPLETES

After Contreras’ offensive coordinator, Carlos Trujillo, did his work on Friday night during his team’s 39-14 win over Hollywood, he was picked up by car and whisked off to Los Angeles International Airport to take a red-eye flight to Chicago so he could complete the 11th marathon of his life.

“I will never be crazy enough to do one,” Contreras head coach Manuel Guevara said.

Running 26.2 miles is pretty challenging, but Trujillo has found something he enjoys, and players admire his commitment.

“The entire varsity [team] wished him good luck,” Guevara said. “It teaches the kids that coaches challenge themselves in different ways.”

He’ll be back for practice on Tuesday as Contreras (4-3, 2-0) prepares for a key Central League game against Bernstein on Thursday night.

Trujillo, 43, said he started running marathons when he was head coach at North Hollywood. He has run marathons in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas and New York besides Chicago.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

STEPHEN BUNTING has completed a super-rare feat that only TWO other players have ever managed.

The Bullet has been in fantastic form in 2025 as he has won two Players Championships, two European Tour titles, and two World Series of Darts.

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This effort has only been managed twice before by Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen.

Littler managed to achieve the stunning feat last year while Van Gerwen did it in 2016, 2017 and 2019.

Bunting completed the achievement with his victory over Luke Woodhouse in the Swiss Darts Trophy final.

It was the penultimate event of this year’s European Tour ahead of the German Darts Championship later this month.

Bunting put the victory down to his change in footwear as he swapped his normal shoes for some SPIKEY TRAINERS.

He said: “I’m playing the best darts of my life. I feel consistently that I’m delivering even in spiky shoes.

“I’m so happy with this win, it means a lot.

“I’m No4 in the world. It shows how consistent I’ve been.

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“But you can’t take anything for granted in this game. These players are hungry.

“I need to keep on my toes, keep on the practice board, make sure I stay humble.”

After beating Chris Landman on Saturday night, he explained his shoes dilemma, saying: “I was playing in expensive shoes without the spikes, and they were marking.

“So, my idea is use the spikes and they won’t touch the oche and they will last a lot longer.

“And if someone upsets me, they will get one of them in the back!”

SEOUL, Aug. 6 (UPI) — South Korea completed removing loudspeakers that had been installed along the DMZ to blast anti-Pyongyang messages across the border, military officials said Wednesday.

Around 20 speakers were completely dismantled by Tuesday afternoon, officials said. The military began the project on Monday, calling it a “practical measure that will help ease tensions between the South and the North.”

In June, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung ordered the suspension of the broadcasts, which included news, K-pop music, and information about democracy and life in South Korea.

Seoul had resumed the Cold War-style propaganda campaign one year earlier in response to a series of provocations by North Korea that included floating thousands of trash-filled balloons across the border.

The North countered by broadcasting bizarre noises such as metallic screeching and animal sounds, disturbing residents in areas near the DMZ. Pyongyang quieted its own speakers after the initial suspension but has not yet appeared to take corresponding action to remove them.

As of Tuesday, there were “no movements by the North Korean military to dismantle their loudspeakers,” Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Col. Lee Sung-jun said at a press briefing.

President Lee has made an effort to improve inter-Korean relations since taking office in June. In addition to the loudspeaker suspension, his administration has also cracked down on activists floating balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border.

Last month, Seoul repatriated six North Koreans who drifted into southern waters on wooden boats and announced plans to return the remains of another North Korean national found near the maritime border.

Pyongyang did not respond to the repatriation plan by a deadline on Tuesday afternoon, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said. Local government officials will conduct “a respectful funeral in accordance with procedures for handling unclaimed bodies,” the ministry said.

North Korea has rebuffed Seoul’s attempts at rapprochement so far.

Last week, Kim Yo Jong — the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — said Pyongyang had “no interest” in responding to efforts by the Lee administration to thaw relations, citing Seoul’s “blind trust” in military ties with the United States.

The allies are scheduled to hold their annual large-scale Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise this month. Pyongyang frequently condemns the joint drills as rehearsals for an invasion.

Son Heung-min left the Spurs squad on their tour of his native South Korea on Tuesday to fly to Los Angeles.

Son Heung-min has agreed to a contract with Los Angeles FC, finalizing his move to Major League Soccer (MLS) after a decade at Tottenham Hotspur.

The 33-year-old South Korean superstar forward is joining LAFC three days after he formally announced his decision to leave Tottenham.

Son attended LAFC’s Leagues Cup match against Tigres at BMO Stadium on Tuesday night, watching from a luxury suite. LAFC will formally introduce Son at a news conference Wednesday, but the club showed the forward on the stadium video board late in the first half as he waved to roaring fans thrilled by their team’s landmark acquisition.

LAFC, a deep-pocketed club with significant team success in its first eight seasons of existence, reportedly paid a transfer fee of more than $20m, which could end up being the most ever for an MLS move.

Son was a beloved presence at Spurs, scoring 173 goals in 454 competitive appearances for the North London club, while rising to global prominence with his combination of speed, playmaking skill and finishing acumen.

The captain was given a memorable farewell last week in Seoul during Tottenham’s exhibition match against Newcastle, getting a guard of honour from both teams and tearfully exiting in the second half while nearly 65,000 fans roared.

But South Korea’s most popular athlete – and almost certainly the greatest Asian soccer player in history – has chosen an auspicious stage for the next chapter of his ground-breaking career.

Los Angeles has the world’s largest ethnic Korean population outside Korea, with the city’s vibrant Koreatown district sitting just a couple of kilometres (miles) from LAFC’s BMO Stadium.

LAFC is undoubtedly hoping to market Son as a soccer counterpart to the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, albeit on a smaller scale. Ohtani, the three-time MLB MVP from Japan who is on a trajectory to become the greatest Asian player in baseball history, draws fans from across the Pacific Rim to Dodger Stadium while attracting millions in sponsorships and partnerships for the Dodgers.

Son’s move to California also puts him in a position to have an effect on and off the field at the World Cup, which will be held across North America in 2026. Son, the captain of his national team, has already said he will play in his fourth World Cup.

After leading Tottenham to its first European trophy in decades by winning the Europa League in May, in a fitting cap to his English career, Son will go straight into the MLS Cup race when he suits up for his new club. LAFC currently sits sixth in the Western Conference at 10-6-6, but with multiple games in hand on every team ahead of it due to its participation in the Club World Cup.

Son’s seven Premier League goals last season were his fewest since his Tottenham debut, but he still appears to have the pace and skill necessary to be a difference-maker at any level. He also turned 33 only a month ago, putting him on the younger end of the global stars recently arriving in MLS.

Lionel Messi and Marco Reus were 35 and Luis Suarez was 37 when they went stateside in recent years, while Olivier Giroud and Hugo Lloris were both 37 when they joined LAFC last year.

Son will be reunited in Los Angeles with longtime Tottenham teammate Lloris, who has been outstanding since becoming LAFC’s goalkeeper last season.

High-scoring French forward Denis Bouanga is the only designated player currently under contract for LAFC, and general manager John Thorrington has been criticised by some fans for not using the full power of his financial resources this season. LAFC spent months on an ultimately failed attempt to get France’s Antoine Griezmann to leave Atletico Madrid.

Bouanga and Son have both thrived on the left wing during their careers, but Son likely has more positional versatility than Bouanga, making him a candidate to line up in the middle or even on the right wing.

Son seems to be an infinitely better fit for LAFC than Giroud, who moved to Lille last month after one disappointing year in California. LAFC plays a counterattacking, speed-based style that didn’t suit Giroud’s goal-scoring strengths, while Son should be right at home in such a system.

But LAFC could also alter its style in the winter, after coach Steve Cherundolo departs for Germany following four largely successful seasons highlighted by an MLS Cup championship.

Less than one hour after he teed off on Sunday afternoon Scottie Scheffler had effectively won his first Open Championship title.

The world number one was only walking off the fourth green but the game was already up. A starting four-shot advantage over the field had grown to seven at a sun-kissed Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.

A third birdie of the round, on the fifth, further underlined his dominance and the only question left remaining was if he would surpass Tiger Woods’ modern record of an eight-shot win, achieved in 2000 at St Andrews.

In the end, he fell short of that but a 68 saw him win on 17 under par, four shots clear of fellow American Harris English, who closed with a 66.

Last week’s surprise Scottish Open winner Chris Gotterup was one further back after a 67, while England’s Matt Fitzpatrick, who hovered around the top of the leaderboard all week, birdied two of the last three to join Wyndham Clark (65) in joint fourth on 11 under.

Rory McIlroy looked emotional as he was welcomed on to the final green like the champion by thousands of adoring fans.

He tapped in for a par that saw him finish alongside Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre and last year’s winner Xander Schauffele on 10 under.

The new champion golfer of the year though is Scheffler and given his recent dominance the comparisons with Woods are only going to grow stronger.

This stat adds to that feeling. A total of 1,197 days elapsed between Woods first major victory and his fourth (the 1997 Masters and 2000 Open). A total of 1,197 days have elapsed between Scheffler’s first major victory and his fourth (the 2022 Masters and 2025 Open).

It is a second major title of the year for Scheffler, after winning May’s US PGA Championship, and a fourth in total, adding to his two Masters. He now only needs the US Open to become the seventh player to complete the career Grand Slam.

Victory on the Antrim coast is the American’s second title outside of his home country, after also claiming gold at last year’s Olympics in Paris, France.

It is not bad for a man who spoke at the start of the week about how professional golf was “not a fulfilling life” and questioned “the point” of pursuing victories with such zeal.

More to follow.

July 18 (UPI) — Chevron, one of the world’s leading energy companies, completed its $53 billion acquisition of Hess after all legal hurdles were cleared, including the company’s vast oil fields off the coast of Guyana.

The deal involving the two public companies was originally announced on Oct. 23, 2023.

Chevron, headquartered in Houston, received a favorable arbitration ruling from the International Chamber of Commerce, denying Exxon Mobil’s claim of a right of first refusal over Hess’ assets in the Stabrock Block, an oil development site off Guyana adjacent to Brazil and Venezuela in South America.

Hess, headquartered in New York, has a 30% stake in the oil reserve. Exxon leads the project with 45%. China National Oil Corp., which also challenged the acquisition, has 25% stake.

“We disagree with the ICC panel’s interpretation but respect the arbitration and dispute resolution process,” Exxon said in a statement to CNBC after the ruling. “We welcome Chevron to the venture and look forward to continued industry-leading performance and value creation in Guyana for all parties involved.”

Chevron Chairman and CEO Mike Wirth said in a statement: “This merger of two great American companies brings together the best in the industry. The combination enhances and extends our growth profile well into the next decade, which we believe will drive greater long-term value to shareholders.”

Also on Friday, the Federal Trade Commission cleared CEO John Hess to join Chevron’s Board of Directors, pending board approval.

“I’m pleased with the FTC’s unanimous decision,” Wirth said. “John is a respected industry leader, and our board would benefit from his experience, relationships and expertise.”

John Hess said: “We are proud of everyone at Hess for building one of the industry’s best growth portfolios, including Guyana, the world’s largest oil discovery in the last 10 years, and the Bakken shale, where we are a leading oil and gas producer. The strategic combination of Chevron and Hess creates a premier energy company positioned for the future.”

Chevron already is the leader in reserves worldwide.

The company has 463,000 acres off high-quality inventory in Bakken in North Dakota, Montana and Canada, as well of 31,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the Gulf of Mexico/America and gas assets in Southeast Asia with 57,000 barrels per day. Chevron also has assets in the Permian Basin in West Texas/southeastern New Mexico, DJ Basin in northeastern Colorado/southeastern Wyoming, Eastern Mediterranean, Kazakhstan and Australia.

“This accretive transaction is expected to drive significant free cash flow and production growth into the 2030s,” Chief Financial Officer Eimear Bonner said. “We are quickly integrating our two companies and expect to achieve $1 billion in annual run-rate cost synergies by the end of 2025. All of this should enable even higher returns to shareholders over the long-term.”

Hess shareholders will receive 1.0250 shares of each Chevron share.

The combined company’s capital expenditures budget is projected to be between $19 billions and $22 billion, Chevron said.

Chevron’s stock price was down 0.95% to 149.94 a few hours before closing on the New York Stock Exchange. Hess stock was halted on Friday due to the sale.

Chevron produces crude oil and natural gas; manufactures transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and additives; and develops technologies.

Chevron is a descendant of Standard Oil that broke away in 1911 and merged with Texaco in 2001. Exxon Mobil is also a descendant of Standard Oil.

Chevron in 2025 had the third-largest revenue of a U.S. company at $193 billion, behind Exxon-Mobil with $340 billion and Shell at $281 billion.

Saudi Aramco is the top publicly traded company with revenue of $478 billion, according to CompaniesMarketCap. Chevron ranks sixth worldwide with Exxon Mobil fourth.

Hess ranked 88th in the world with $12.5 billion.

Hess Oil and Chemical was founded in 1933 by Leon Hess in Asbury Park. N.J. The company opened its first oil refinery in 1966. In 1968, Hess merged with Amerada and changed its name to Hess Corp.

Hess, which has 1,797 employees, sold its gas stations to Speedway, which was acquired by 7-Eleven in 2021.

After legal battle, US sends eight detainees to country it has advised citizens not to visit due to ‘crime, conflict’.

The United States has confirmed it completed the deportations of eight men to South Sudan, a day after a US judge cleared the way for President Donald Trump’s administration to send them to the violence-hit African country.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Saturday that the men were deported a day earlier, on US Independence Day on Friday, after they lost a last-minute legal bid to halt their transfer.

The eight detainees – immigrants from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, South Sudan and Vietnam – had been held under guard at a US military base in Djibouti for weeks.

A staffer working at Juba airport in South Sudan told the Reuters news agency that the aircraft carrying the men had arrived on Saturday at 6am local time (04:00 GMT). Their current location is not known.

In a statement, DHS said the eight men had been convicted of a range of crimes, including first-degree murder, robbery, drug trafficking and sexual assault.

Their case had become a flashpoint in ongoing legal battles over the Trump administration’s campaign of mass deportations, including removals to so-called “third countries” where rights groups say deportees face safety risks and possible abuses.

“These third country deportations are wrong, period. And the United States should not be sending people to a literal war zone,” progressive Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal wrote on social media earlier this week, urging the deportations to be blocked.

The eight men had been held in a converted shipping container in Djibouti since late May, when an earlier deportation flight to South Sudan was halted by the courts over due process concerns.

The US Supreme Court has twice ruled that the Trump administration could deport them to countries outside of their homelands, issuing its latest decision on Thursday (PDF).

That same night, the eight detainees had filed an appeal, arguing that their “impermissibly punitive” deportation to South Sudan would violate the US Constitution, which prohibits “cruel and unusual punishment”.

But Judge Brian Murphy of Boston, whose rulings had previously halted efforts to begin deportations to the African country, ruled on Friday evening that the Supreme Court had tied his hands, clearing the way for the deportations to go ahead.

On Saturday, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin hailed the removals as “a win for the rule of law, safety and security of the American people”.

The US State Department advises citizens not to travel to South Sudan due to “crime, kidnapping, and armed conflict”.

The United Nations has also warned that a political crisis embroiling the African country could reignite a brutal civil war that ended in 2018.

Last week, Blaine Bookey, legal director at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, condemned the US’s use of deportations to third countries.

“The administration’s increased use of third country transfers flies in the face of due process rights, the United States’ international legal obligations, and basic principles of human decency,” Bookey said in a statement.

June 23 (UPI) — NASA fired up a full-duration test of its new RS-25 engine that will power the Space Launch System rocket on Artemis missions to the moon, the space agency announced Monday.

NASA tested RS-25 engine No. 20001 on Friday at the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center at Bay St. Louis in Mississippi. The full-duration “hot fire” test was the first since NASA completed certification testing for new production RS-25 engines last year.

The engine, built by contractor L3Harris Technologies — formerly Aerojet Rocketdyne — was fired up for nearly eight-and-a-half minutes. That is the same amount of time it would take four RS-25 engines to launch an SLS rocket, sending astronauts aboard the Orion into orbit. The engine was also fired up to the 111% power level to test its limits.

The test was conducted by a team from NASA, L3Harris and Syncom Space Services, which is the contractor for site facilities. All RS-25 engines are being tested and proven flightworthy at NASA Stennis after the space agency completed its RS-25 certification test series in April 2024.

“The newly produced engines on future SLS rockets will maintain the high reliability and safe flight operational legacy the RS-25 is known for while enabling more affordable high-performance engines for the next era of deep space exploration,” Johnny Heflin, SLS liquid engines manager, said last year.

The RS-25 engine dates back to the 1960s, with a previous iteration of Rocketdyne from the 1970s. NASA’s first space shuttle flight used RS-25 engines to launch in April 1981.

It will take four RS-25 engines, producing a combined 8.8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, to launch the SLS rocket for Artemis missions.

NASA is targeting the first crewed Artemis mission, Artemis II, for April 2026. It will be the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. During Artemis II, four astronauts will make a trip around the moon. Artemis III will include a lunar landing, which is currently scheduled for 2027.

Sinner* 6-4 7-6 4-6 6-7 1-3 Alcaraz

His arms must feel so heavy after virtually four-and-a-half hours on court but Alcaraz shows superb touch with the nifty drop shot – and Sinner does not run for it.

Literally a carbon copy in the second point. Again Sinner does not chase it down – that is very, very telling.

He has been running those down for the whole match until now.

Have his legs gone?

He is really struggling to move and it is Alcaraz that is deciding which way the points go – winners, errors or forcing Sinner into mistakes.

After going down 40-30, Sinner lets out some emotion towards his team – that is the first sign of any frustration he has allowed out.

But fast forward a couple of minutes and Sinner has a break point… surely he can’t can he?

Alcaraz kicks in a second serve and brushes the winner away.

Oh my word – how has he pulled that drop shot off? That is staggering from Alcaraz as he cuts a forehand just over the net and though Sinner chases it down, it is simply too good.

But back comes the Italian to deuce before two serves clip the net and go out – not the time for a double fault!

Huge from Alcaraz to go on the offensive and save it in style.

Sinner mishits a return and has a small outburst of anger – and he will be seething inside as Alcaraz eventually holds after nearly ten minutes with a forehand winner.

May 18 (UPI) — Capital One Financial services has completed its acquisition of former credit card rival Discover Financial Service, the companies announced on Sunday.

Capital One announced its intentions to acquire Discover in February 2024, stockholders of both companies voting in favor of the $35 billion deal a year later and federal regulators approving it in April.

“This deal brings together two innovative, mission-driven companies that together are poised to deliver breakthrough products and experiences to consumers, businesses, and merchants,” Capital One CEO and founder Richard D. Fairbank said in a press release.

Fairbank added in the statement that the new company will continue its quest to “change banking for goods for millions of customers.”

Capital One expanded its board of directors from 12 to 15 to handle the expanded company, and added that Capital One and Discover cardholders do not need to take any action and would be advised them of any future changes, “and will continue to be served through their respective Capital One and Discover tools and channels,” the release said.

The statement said the company will continue to issue both Capital One and Discover cards for the foreseeable future, in addition to the other cards it already makes available.

“The combination of our two companies will increase competition in payment networks, offer a wider range of products to our customers, increase our resources devoted to innovation and security, and bring meaningful community benefits,” Interim CEO and President of Discover, Michael Shepherd said when federal regulators approved the deal in April.

The deal could expand the number of places that accept the Capital One card, as it will move to the Discover network, allowing it to be more competitive with Visa and Mastercard, especially outside the United States.

A report by the customer watchdog J.D. Power showed that both Capital One and Discover score high approval ratings among their card holders.