Cost

HAVE you ever just wanted to pack up your bags and move away somewhere for a month?

Well you’re in luck – as there is a holiday deal which includes your flights and hotel for 28 nights… and it is less than the average mortgage cost for the month.

The deal is for a month in Malta for just £410 per person.

With the average UK mortgage costing between £1,355 to £1,592 (and average rent costing £1,369), you would still be saving money compared to just living a month in the UK.

Even if you head on holiday with another person, it will still be less than a mortgage or rent at £820 for two people.

The trip includes return flights from either Bournemouth on January 16, 2027, or Birmingham on January 6, 2027 and then 28 nights accommodation at the hotel.

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If you want to fly from another UK airport you can, it might just cost you a fiver or tenner more.

You’d stay at the Relax Inn in Bugibba, Malta, just a few minutes’ walk from the sea.

At the hotel there are 40 rooms, including single, twin and triple rooms with each one having its own bathroom as well as a balcony.

There’s also a bar in the hotel, where you can grab a tipple before heading to the lounge to watch a movie or the games room.

As for Bugibba, you’ll find cosy restaurants, bars and a number of shops to explore.

You’ll have to factor in some costs for food and drink, but it isn’t far from the centre of town which has lots of pubs and outdoor cafes.

The only downside? Don’t expect to use the rooftop swimming pool as it will be closed until the summer season.

While Malta won’t be hot in January, it is still warmer than the UK, at around 16C compared to our 7C.

You can head to Perched Beach – a man-made beach with lounging areas.

You can also go on boat trips from the town including to the Blue Lagoon in Comino.

To get to the hotel, you will fly into the capital of Valetta which is a half hour drive away.

The tiny city is known for St John’s Co-Cathedral, the Grand Master’s Palace and the Upper Barrakka Gardens.

Originally published in Spanish on Asdrúbal’s personal Substack

In the weeks following the June 24 earthquake, numerous figures regarding the tragedy’s cost have circulated. The World Bank estimated direct physical damages at $19.6 billion, equivalent to nearly 17% of Venezuela’s GDP. These figures help gauge the magnitude of the disaster, but from an economic perspective, they fall short. Confusing damages with economic costs leads to flawed diagnoses and, often, to poor public policy decisions. Furthermore, it is also worth reviewing the methodology behind these measurements, as in many cases the magnitude of the tragedy is being overstated.

The economy doesn’t just lose when a building is destroyed. It loses when that building stops producing, when a company stops selling, when a port stops moving goods, or when thousands of workers halt their activities. The economic cost of a disaster is not measured by the value of what disappeared, but by the income that ceases to be generated while that productive capacity remains out of service. This is what we economists call distinguishing between the stock and the flow.

That is precisely the exercise we are attempting to carry out for La Guaira.

La Guaira accounts for approximately 6.2% of national transactions (based on past studies we have conducted on transactions in Venezuela), which translates to an economic activity of around $6.9 billion annually out of an estimated GDP of $111.3 billion. However, reducing the state’s importance to that percentage would be a mistake. Its true weight lies in the fact that it concentrates over 40% of the national logistics and transportation sector, thanks to the Port of La Guaira and the Maiquetía International Airport. Both constitute the country’s main entry and exit points for goods and passengers. When that hub stops operating, the impact is quickly transmitted to the rest of the economy.

The first commercial census reveals that barely 1,752 establishments remain operational out of the nearly 7,000 businesses existing before the earthquake.

Physical damages in the state likely range between $4 billion and $6 billion. That is, between 60% and 90% of La Guaira’s annual output. That proportion illustrates the magnitude of the asset shock, but it still doesn’t answer the central question: how much did the state stop producing as a result of the earthquake?

To approach that answer, we must observe how the economy functioned in the weeks following the quake. The port remained completely paralyzed for 28 days and only reopened gradually for cargo operations. The Maiquetía airport will recover its normal operations by the end of this year at best, with a partial opening in August. For nearly eight weeks, the two assets that sustain much of the state’s economic activity operated at a minimal fraction of their capacity.

Added to this disruption was the collapse of the business fabric. The first commercial census reveals that barely 1,752 establishments remain operational out of the nearly 7,000 businesses existing before the earthquake. In other words, three out of four companies ceased to function. In parishes like Caraballeda, Macuto, and Catia La Mar, around 40% of commerce suffered significant damage, and tourism (one of the state’s main economic activities) practically vanished for the entire season.

With these elements, it is possible to build a reasonable estimate of the lost flow of economic activity. Our central scenario points to a contraction of nearly 35% of La Guaira’s GDP during 2026, with a year-on-year drop of between 55% and 70% during the third quarter, which represents the peak of activity disruption. The spending associated with reconstruction, the gradual recovery of the port and airport, and emergency credit lines will prevent an even deeper contraction, but they will hardly change the overall diagnosis.

Translated into numbers, La Guaira is expected to lose out on generating around $2.4 billion in economic activity during 2026 compared to the pre-earthquake scenario. That is, perhaps, the best approximation of the disaster’s direct economic cost for the state during its first year. It is a loss equivalent to more than a third of its annual economy, and quite distinct from the cost of rebuilding the destroyed assets.

The earthquake could cost Venezuela between three and four points of growth during 2026 compared to the pre-disaster baseline.

However, even that estimate remains conservative because the state does not operate in isolation. The temporary closure of the country’s main logistics hub drove up transportation costs, forced operations to be diverted to Valencia, Barcelona, and Maracaibo, increased delivery times, caused congestion in alternative ports, and disrupted supply chains in the central region of the country. These indirect effects explain why the national impact ends up being considerably larger than the mere loss of La Guaira’s output.

Our estimate is that the drop in the state’s activity subtracts approximately 2.2 percentage points from Venezuela’s GDP growth due to direct effects. When factoring in the deterioration of the logistics sector and the spillover effects on commerce, manufacturing, and consumption, the earthquake could cost Venezuela between three and four points of growth during 2026 compared to the pre-disaster baseline.

This difference between physical damage and economic cost is not just a methodological detail. It is a fundamental distinction for designing the reconstruction. If the objective is limited to replacing buildings and infrastructure, the country may recover part of the lost assets. But if the priority is to restore La Guaira’s productive capacity as soon as possible, then investment decisions must change. Reconstruction must focus first on the port, the airport, road connectivity, and financing the thousands of small businesses that make up the state’s economic fabric. Every week these activities remain partially paralyzed, the economic cost of the disaster will continue to rise.

During 2027, we will likely see very high growth rates in La Guaira as a result of the reconstruction process and the low baseline left by 2026. It would be a mistake to interpret these figures as a full recovery. Recovering a capital stock equivalent to between 60% and 90% of the state’s annual output will require several years of sustained investment, institutional stability, and access to financing. Yet, every crisis also opens an opportunity to do things better. La Guaira can be rebuilt by replicating the vulnerabilities of the past, or it can become the starting point for a more modern and efficient logistics infrastructure.

If investments are properly targeted, if financing reaches the businesses that sustain the productive fabric, and if reconstruction manages to become a shared project among the public sector, the private sector, and international cooperation, the state will not only recover what was lost: it can emerge stronger. In the end, true success won’t be returning to where we were before the earthquake, but leveraging this tragedy to build a logistics platform capable of driving Venezuela’s growth for decades to come.

The true indicator of success will not be next year’s growth rate, but the speed at which La Guaira regains its role as Venezuela’s premier logistics platform.

On hearing that new Prime Minister Andy Burnham will be embarking on a monthlong “cost of living” tour across the United Kingdom, one user of the social media chat platform Reddit commented: “Housing is too expensive, energy is too expensive, food is too expensive etc. There you go, Andy, I’ve saved you some fuel (very expensive).”

Like much of the world, the UK is grappling with the rising cost of living. The Bank of England expects inflation to climb further in the second half of the year as the fallout from the United States-Israel war on Iran pushes up energy prices and household bills.

How high is inflation in the UK? Who is hardest hit? And how does it compare with other countries?

How high is inflation in the UK?

The annual rate of inflation in June was 2.8 percent, down from 3 percent in May. That means prices are still rising, but they are going up a bit more slowly than they were earlier in the year. In practical terms, if something cost 100 pounds (about $135) in June last year, that same item now costs 102.80 pounds ($138.65).

Before the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, the Bank of England had forecast that inflation as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) would fall from 3.4 percent in 2025 to 2.3 percent in 2026. Instead, inflation was again 3.4 percent in March this year, largely driven by higher fuel and heating costs.

Petrol and diesel up more than 20 percent

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a route for about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies, has pushed up the cost of petrol, transport, food and other goods.

Petrol prices in the UK have hit a three-and-a-half- year high. According to data from the RAC Foundation, the price of petrol and diesel rose by 22 percent and 27 percent, respectively, between February 25 and August 11.

The average price of a litre (about a quarter of a gallon) of petrol increased from 1.32 pounds ($1.78) to 1.61 pounds ($2.17) while diesel rose from 1.42 pounds ($1.92) to 1.81 pounds ($2.44) per litre.

Who is being hardest hit?

Not every household feels inflation in the same way. For the average UK household, about 677 pounds ($914) is spent each week on goods and services with some of the biggest costs being housing, fuel and power, transport, food and recreation.

The impact is much greater for households on lower incomes. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that the poorest 20 percent of households spent an average of 407 pounds ($549) a week compared with 1,084 pounds ($1,462) for the richest 20 percent of households. Proportionally, the poorer households will feel the rise in prices more keenly.

That’s because the difference is particularly important when prices are rising. Someone spending a larger portion of their income on rent, energy, food and transport has far less of a cushion to absorb any increase in those costs.

According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a charity that conducts and funds research aimed at fighting poverty in the UK, the cost of living crisis is widespread with 7.4 million low-income families unable to afford essential items this year – the highest since 2021 when its cost-of-living tracker began.

Is the UK worse off than other Western countries?

The UK’s 2.8 percent inflation rate in June puts it in the middle of the other Group of Seven  advanced-industrial democracies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US.

The US has the highest inflation rate at 3.5 percent, followed by Italy (3 percent), Canada (2.8 percent), the UK (2.8 percent), Germany (2.3 percent), France (1.8 percent) and Japan (1.7 percent).

Countries have different exposures to inflation through energy prices, wage pressures and government policies. For the UK, inflation is primarily being driven by the energy triggered by conflict in the Middle East; services inflation, which in June was 3.6 percent, driven by higher costs at restaurants and hotels; and slowing wage growth.

Wages barely keeping up

For Britons, the weekly food shop is still more expensive than it was a year ago, but the latest figures show that food price inflation has slowed. This doesn’t mean prices are falling, of course – just not rising so quickly.

According to the ONS, food and nonalcoholic drink prices were 1.7 percent higher in June than a year earlier, down from 2.2 percent higher in May.

There could be more pressure ahead as the Bank of England says food prices are likely to be affected by higher energy costs affecting the production and transport costs of food. It predicts that food inflation will rise to nearly 3.5 percent by December while supermarkets have said they expect food inflation of 4 to 5 percent by the end of the year.

Weekly regular real earnings, which measure workers’ standard pay adjusted for inflation, have also dipped in recent months, from about 0.4 percent at the start of the year to 0.1 percent after the Iran war began, again making it harder for people to afford price rises.

In the grand buffet of problems explaining President Trump’s abysmal approval ratings, reserve a tray for Mexican food.

Americans are rightfully frustrated with the myriad consequences of the war with Iran he plunged us into, the rising cost of living, his pharaonic obsession with monuments to himself and his overall doddering state of mind.

But as this president afflicts the country with a prolonged civic bout of Montezuma’s Revenge, Mexican food’s role in the overall mess Trump has left us with is notable.

One of this country’s most popular cuisines has inadvertently spent this summer embarrassing Trump in fundamental ways — and I’m not just talking about TACO, the acronym referring to how Trump Always Chickens Out on his most bombastic claims and threats. The most prominent — and disgusting — example has been outbreak of foodborne illness traced back to popular Mexican restaurant chains that have sickened tens of thousands of Americans while Trump has shrugged and effectively told us to eat frijoles.

The Food and Drug administration traced an outbreak of cyclosporiasis, a parasite-born intestinal disease, to contaminated lettuce grown in Mexico by Salinas-based Taylor Fresh Foods that made its way to Taco Bell. The world’s biggest Mexican fast food chain quickly put out a statement that it removed all suspected lettuce from its restaurants and that “we encourage all relevant restaurants, retailers, and foodservice operators to do the same.”

If only the Trump administration was as proactive in caring for the well-being of Americans as the creators of Doritos Locos tacos and Crunchwrap Supremes.

It turned out that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network told state inspectors last year that they were no longer required to report to the agency any instances of the parasite that causes cyclosporiasis they found in this country’s food supply. This was part of massive cutbacks at the CDC that reduced its staff by a quarter and cut billions of dollars in funding.

When reporters confronted Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with these facts, he responded that such criticisms were “invalid” and that the cyclosporiasis outbreak was “under control.”

Make America Healthy Again? More like Make Americans Heave Always.

A bean and cheese burrito with green chile sauce at Al & Bea’s in Boyle Heights.

(Kirk McKoy/Los Angeles Times)

On Aug. 4, the Food and Drug Administration revealed that a salmonella outbreak traced back to contaminated jalapeños imported from Mexico had left hundreds of Americans sick. But the feds were two weeks late to the news: By July 20, Chipotle had already removed all suspected jalapeños from its stores. Unlike the Trump administration, it had invested in food-safety tracking that quickly spotted the problem, a system implemented after the company suffered hundreds of millions of dollars in sales losses and a $25-million federal fine last decade due to repeated foodborne illnesses originating in its stores.

I’m no fan of Chipotle’s underwhelming hipster vibe or Taco Bell’s over-salted options, but they know what the Trump administration seems to not understand: Americans deserve to eat without worrying about whether they’ll get ill as a result. And they also know Americans especially like Mexican food, a cuisine dependent on exported produce that is now more expensive than ever because of Trump’s misguided tariffs and overall bellicosity to our Latin America trading partners.

You would think Trump himself would know: Remember the infamous photo he posted on Cinco de Mayo during his first term of him smiling at his desk appearing ready to chow down on a giant taco salad bowl?

Which leads to the second section of Trump’s combo plate of bad Mexican food news this year. On the same day the FDA belatedly disclosed the jalapeño salmonella outbreak, Turning Point USA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet posted on social media that a college student complained to him that “a burrito shouldn’t cost $20.” Kolvet correctly pointed out that many people currently feel the cost of living is too high, and rightfully suggested that Republican Party leaders should sympathize with such concerns lest they lose even more voters that they already have during Trump’s second term.

Instead, Trump toadies from Vice President JD Vance to Rep. Dan Crenshaw urged young people to eat instant ramen and live frugally instead of splurge on burritos. That provoked other conservative activists to smack down the MAGA Men for showing how out of touch they are with how expensive everything is right now.

Forget the Consumer Price Index: The cost of a burrito is the best way to judge how much the cost of living actually is. I haven’t regularly bought them for years because they’re just not worth it anymore.

A delicious, slender bean-and-cheese burrito with no sauce at the venerable Al & Bea’s in Boyle Heights is going for six bucks and change right now when it was about $2 cheaper two years ago. The gargantuan breakfast burritos at my favorite place to get one, Athenian III in Buena Park, run about $13. Even my go-to fast-food treat, a half-pound Del Taco bean-and-cheese burrito, costs $2.61 with tax at the closest location to my house.

Remember when they were about a dollar? I do.

As someone whose wife runs a restaurant, I don’t blame businesses for hiking their prices; I blame Trump. He campaigned two years ago on stopping and reversing the runaway inflation that was happening toward the end of the Biden administration and won over a lot of Mexican Americans as a result. But when those voters can’t even enjoy a carne asada burrito for lunch without thinking about whether they’ll have enough money for the rest of the week, that should worry Trump and his team as the November midterms approach.

That they’re collectively still blaming Biden shows how pendejos they are at best, and uncaring at worst.

Back to that 2016 Cinco de Mayo photo of himself enjoying a taco salad sold at his Trump Hotel in Manhattan. It was peak Trump: daring opponents to call him out for appropriating a hallmark of Cal-Mex dining while thinking Americans would see the move as a metaphor for the bounties of riches and good times Trump would usher in for this country.

A decade later, Trump just makes too many Americans want to run to the proverbial toilet and barf from all the slop he and his minions have cooked up for our country.

The White House defended reports it planned to spend nearly a $1bn on controversial construction projects.

The Trump administration has responded to controversy over construction and expansion projects at the White House by saying the work was “long-overdue and necessary” and “inextricably tied to the security of the President, the White House grounds and the certain security infrastructure assets”.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has long insisted construction is being funded by private donors and is necessary for security reasons. But on Wednesday, The Washington Post cited documents it obtained that showed the administration was planning to spend nearly $1bn on the construction work, which includes a large new ballroom to replace much of the White House’s East Wing.

White House spokesman Davis Ingle, in a statement to Al Jazeera, cited recent security incidents, including attempted attacks on the president and events around the 250th anniversary of US independence, as reasons for the work.

Ingle said the work was being done in coordination with the Secret Service and White House Military Office. He also said approximately $400m in funding for the new ballroom was coming from “President Trump and generous American patriots”.

About $875m has been put into the White House Repair and Restoration account, which typically has only several million dollars and is used for routine maintenance and upkeep. Some $500m of that money came from the Secret Service and the White House Military Office, tasked with securing the president and his family, as well as top US officials. Another $305m, according to The Post, came from private donations, while the provenance of another $70m was not indicated.

The White House reconstruction project has faced scrutiny from lawmakers, as well as courts, over concerns that vested interests, including private businesses seeking government contracts, are paying for the work in exchange for government favours. A federal judge in Washington, DC, last week ordered a halt to work specifically for the ballroom, saying it needed Congressional approval under existing law. In June, the advocacy group Public Citizen said it found corporate donors to the project had received more than $50bn in government contracts during the previous six months.

Grace Adama puts on her earrings in her two-room flat in Abuja before grabbing her handbag and heading to work.

The health NGO worker earns 135,000 naira ($99) a month, nearly twice Nigeria’s minimum wage. Yet she says her income now disappears within days as the cost of housing, electricity and food continues to rise.

“If I’m paid today, my salary stays with me just for one week,” she told Reuters. “If you see the cost of living, house, electricity, everything has gone up.”

Adama’s experience reflects a wider cost-of-living crisis confronting millions of Nigerians as the country approaches elections. Living standards have deteriorated sharply since President Bola Tinubu introduced a series of sweeping economic reforms, including the removal of fuel subsidies, the devaluation of the naira and reductions in electricity subsidies.

The government and investors argue that the reforms were necessary to prevent a deeper fiscal crisis and put Africa’s largest oil producer on a more sustainable economic path.

But for many ordinary Nigerians, the promised benefits have yet to materialise.

The cost of preparing the country’s staple jollof rice has more than doubled since Tinubu took office, according to Lagos-based SBM Intelligence. Petrol prices, meanwhile, have risen roughly sixfold following the removal of subsidies, the weakening of the naira and higher global oil prices.

With elections approaching in January, Tinubu faces the difficult task of convincing voters that the economic pain they have endured will eventually translate into better living standards.

NIGERIANS FEEL THE PAIN AS INVESTORS CHEER

The contrast between economic indicators and everyday life has become increasingly striking.

The World Bank estimates that just over half of Nigeria’s population lived in poverty last year, compared with roughly 42% in 2022.

Some Nigerians have responded to the rising costs by cutting household spending, moving to cheaper accommodation and relying on loans to cover basic expenses.

Adama said she had stopped buying meat regularly, moved to a smaller apartment and was still forced to take short-term loans to pay her bills. She also said she could no longer send money to her elderly mother in Benue state as she had done previously.

“I can’t even send money to my aged mother at home,” she said. “I can’t do a lot of things that I used to do before.”

Yet investors have taken a markedly more positive view of Nigeria’s economic direction.

“This is the most positive investors have been about Nigeria probably in the last two decades,” said Thys Louw, a portfolio manager at Ninety One. “They’re taking the tough medicine now.”

That divergence creates a major political challenge for Tinubu. Financial markets can respond positively to reforms long before their benefits reach households, while voters tend to judge governments according to the immediate cost of food, transport, housing and electricity.

Tinubu has been nicknamed “T-Pain” by some Nigerians frustrated by the rising cost of living.

REFORMS AIM TO END YEARS OF ECONOMIC DISTORTIONS

Tinubu inherited an economy burdened by years of policies that had created significant distortions.

Under former President Muhammadu Buhari, the government maintained petrol subsidies, imposed import restrictions and operated tight currency controls. While those measures were intended to protect consumers and encourage domestic production, they also contributed to shortages, foreign-exchange difficulties and growing pressure on government finances.

Fuel subsidies alone cost the government around $10 billion in 2022.

“We were living in fiscal illusions,” Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele said at a recent event in Abuja. “We needed to stop deceiving ourselves so the country can move forward.”

Tinubu’s government therefore moved quickly after taking office to dismantle several of those policies.

The removal of fuel subsidies immediately pushed up transportation and living costs. Currency reforms also caused the naira to lose significant value, increasing the cost of imported goods.

The government argues that these measures were unavoidable and that rebuilding the economy requires accepting short-term pain.

There are signs of progress.

Nigeria’s stock market has risen close to 60% this year. Capital inflows reached a six-year high of $23 billion last year, while the opening of the 650,000-barrel-per-day Dangote refinery has created hopes that domestic refining will eventually reduce the country’s dependence on imported petroleum products.

The government has also pointed to increased investment in domestic oil assets as evidence that its reforms are attracting capital.

But those improvements have not necessarily translated into better household finances.

A BOOMING STOCK MARKET, BUT FEW CAN INVEST

Nigeria’s financial markets have benefited significantly from renewed investor confidence.

However, fewer than 5% of Nigerian adults invest in capital markets, according to the Nigerian stock exchange.

Much of the recent capital inflow has also been concentrated in short-term financial instruments such as Treasury bills, allowing foreign investors to quickly withdraw their money if economic conditions deteriorate.

For ordinary Nigerians, borrowing remains extremely expensive.

The central bank’s key interest rate stands at 26.5% as policymakers attempt to control inflation, which remains close to 16%.

That makes it difficult for businesses to expand and for households to access affordable credit.

At the same time, petrol prices average roughly 1,600 naira ($1.18) per litre nationally. Although that is lower than prices in neighbouring Ghana and Ivory Coast, it remains prohibitively expensive for many Nigerians who had become accustomed to subsidised fuel.

“The solution for me is for government to bring the fuel price down,” said Lagos food seller Eji Uchenna.

She said customers who once purchased food in bulk can no longer afford to do so.

POLITICAL PRESSURE BUILDS

The economic pressure is increasingly becoming a political issue.

In June, federal workers rejected a proposed 100,000-naira minimum wage and threatened an indefinite nationwide strike.

A June voter sentiment tracker by SBM Intelligence found that 80% of Nigerians believed the country was moving in the wrong direction.

Economic hardship is not the only concern. Security, particularly widespread kidnapping, remains a major issue for voters.

Yet widespread dissatisfaction does not necessarily mean Tinubu is vulnerable at the ballot box.

Nigeria’s opposition remains fragmented, reducing the likelihood that dissatisfaction will automatically translate into a coordinated electoral challenge.

“The opposition is disunited, and… the only way the opposition beats Tinubu is if they are united,” said Cheta Nwanze, chief executive of SBM Intelligence.

That gives Tinubu some political space to continue pursuing his economic programme despite the public backlash.

THE TEST IS WHETHER GROWTH REACHES HOUSEHOLDS

Investors remain optimistic that the reforms will eventually produce stronger economic growth, lower inflation and greater investment.

Louw said that if the government maintains its policies, workers could begin to benefit as inflation falls and interest rates decline.

But the transition remains painful, and the government faces growing pressure to ensure that economic gains are not concentrated among investors and businesses while ordinary households continue to struggle.

The central challenge is therefore no longer simply whether Nigeria’s reforms are economically necessary. It is whether the government can make those reforms politically and socially sustainable.

Tinubu must demonstrate that the sacrifices demanded from Nigerians are producing tangible improvements in their daily lives before voters head to the polls.

Finance Minister Oyedele acknowledged that the government must do more to ensure that economic recovery translates into broader prosperity.

“When inequality persists, it becomes dangerous,” he said. “It’s like sitting on gunpowder; it explodes.”

For Nigeria, the coming election will therefore offer a test not only of Tinubu’s political standing but of whether a painful programme of economic reform can deliver benefits quickly enough for ordinary citizens to believe in it.

With information from Reuters.

Someday, you might be able to ride a bike from the western San Fernando Valley to Long Beach along the Los Angeles River. But not yet.

The longest unfinished stretch is the eight miles from Elysian Park through downtown to Maywood. For decades, advocates of the path have tried to complete those eight miles along the concretized river.

Yet a decade later, the unrideable gap remains. The ambitious project remains mired in planning and bureaucratic complications, with groundbreaking still two years off and the cost nearly tripling to more than $1 billion — almost $24,000 per foot — documents reviewed by The Times show.

It looked like the prospects for the bike route to the sea were getting serious after Angelenos enthusiastically passed a half-cent tax for transit projects in 2016 that earmarked $365 million for the L.A. River Path.

At the time, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the lead on the project, priced out a simple path on one side of the river.

An aerial view of bicyclists where the Los Angeles River Path ends near Golden Shore and Shoreline Drive in Long Beach.

But by last year, the proposed designs were much wider and added seven pedestrian bridges. They also included sections where the path would be elevated above the ground, supported by beams. The changes responded to community input and comments from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and L.A. Department of Water and Power, among others. Estimated completion of the initial phase is not until 2031.

Navigating the web of nearby structures, like active rail lines and historic bridges, is part of what makes the construction so complex, Metro says. An original $75 million set aside for unforeseen expenses in 2016 swelled to $309 million last year, and the rising cost of construction also added to the high price tag.

Advocates for the path say this grander plan would be great, if there were a way to pay for it.

Yuval Bar-Zemer is a board member with Streets for All, a group that advocates for safer streets in L.A. He also is a downtown loft developer and commissioned studies that helped inform a far less expensive option that would run down near the flowing river, rather than up above. The path would be unusable during heavy rains, but Bar-Zemer and others say that would be less than 20 days each year.

This option was included in Metro’s initial scoping of the path in 2016 but has since been dropped, with the agency citing safety concerns. Bar-Zemer contends that safety features could be installed to make sure pedestrians have enough time to exit the pathway if water rises swiftly. He says he’s spent $350,000 of his own funds in engineering studies and advocacy to advance the path.

A pedestrian walks with an umbrella on the L.A. River Path near Lewis MacAdams Riverfront Park.

“The benefits are so obvious, it’s such a home run and such a low-hanging fruit that for me, it’s like criminal not to make it happen,” he said.

Currently, bikers headed southbound run out of path where Riverside Drive crosses the L.A. River at Egret Park. From there, they’re forced to weave through high-traffic streets in neighborhoods including Lincoln Heights, Chinatown, Downtown L.A. and Boyle Heights before they find the path again in Vernon.

“It’s a huge chasm,” said Michael Schneider, founder and chief executive of Streets for All. He called the gap in the L.A. River path “a shame because it’s an otherwise amazing resource.”

Some 76,000 residents live within walking distance of the proposed path, and a million within three miles of the L.A. River, according to Metro estimates from 2022. Around 17% of working-age people who live within a bikeable distance already walk, bike or take transit in their regular commute.

An aerial view of downtown Los Angeles and the Sixth Street Bridge amid an unfinished eight-mile gap in the L.A. River Path.

More recent numbers could be higher since high fuel prices have motivated many to use transit, bikes, e-bikes and scooters. The path also could provide recreational benefits to an area that has some of the most limited access to green space in Los Angeles.

Metro had the eight-mile gap on its list of 28 projects it wanted ready for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. As costs soared, it quietly was taken off the list.

Yet there are recent signs of progress for the L.A. River Path.

In late May, the Metro board voted to create a committee that brings together all the players needed to push it to toward completion.

The Los Angeles River runs under the Sixth Street Bridge amid an unfinished eight-mile gap in the L.A. River Path in downtown Los Angeles.

Mayor Karen Bass chairs the Metro board. Despite the project’s stagnation, she continues to convey optimism.

“Angelenos voted in 2016 to make the L.A. River Path path a reality, and Mayor Bass is marshaling the resources necessary to eliminate further distraction that have threatened the project’s pace and cost,” her office said in statement.

Metro staffers are reviewing comments on the draft environmental impact statement, the agency said. They intend to recommend a path forward in the fall.

Top executives of California’s two biggest utilities warned they would take action to protect their shareholders if Sacramento lawmakers fail to pass legislation limiting their companies’ liabilities for wildfires sparked by their equipment.

“If the legislature does not act, or if they act and don’t actually solve the problem, then we’re going to have to take action,” said Patti Poppe, chief executive of Pacific Gas & Electric, on a July 23 call with Wall Street analysts.

Poppe did not specify what her company would do, but made it clear any action would protect shareholders’ money. Previously, she told Wall Street analysts that if lawmakers failed to pass legislation to protect the utilities, PG&E would use its cash to buy back the company’s shares, according to a report by the bank Jeffries.

That could raise the company’s stock price and benefit shareholders, while reducing money available for the utility’s California programs.

The comments from Poppe and Pedro Pizarro, chief executive of Edison International, came just before the state Legislature returned from summer break Monday to begin the last four weeks of its session.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislators have been working behind closed doors to address the state’s escalating cost of wildfires, including those caused by the utilities, The Times reported last month. The big electric companies have told their investors they are talking to Newsom and lawmakers about a bill package that would protect shareholders from paying for utility-sparked fires.

On Tuesday, government fire officials released their investigation into last year’s devastating Eaton fire, blaming Edison’s century-old transmission line, which the utility kept in place even though it had not carried power since 1971.

Last week, Edison’s Pizarro echoed some of Poppe’s statements. He told Wall Street analysts on a conference call that he too was prepared to make financial changes if the legislature does not pass a comprehensive bill that cuts the utilities’ financial wildfire risk before the legislative session ends Aug. 31.

Any legislation that passes without a protective framework for utilities, Pizarro said, would “influence how we prioritize and deploy future capital.”

Pizarro declined analysts’ requests to say where the company would cut back, other than saying it would continue spending aimed at keeping its grid safe and reliable.

“We’re going to evaluate the totality of the package that comes to us and figure out our response that goes along with it,” Pizarro said.

Pizarro also told analysts that without legislation supporting the utilities, Edison’s credit rating could be downgraded. If that happens, he said, it could raise bills for electric customers since the utility may have to pay a higher interest rate for new borrowings.

“That could be a significant cost impact through the cost of debt that gets passed through to SCE customers if we don’t have a framework in the next four weeks that is credit supportive for our utility,” Pizarro told the analysts.

Newsom and lawmakers are drawing up legislation based on recommendations in an April study that the governor ordered last year.

The final report didn’t focus on utilities’ responsibility for sparking at least seven of the 20 most destructive wildfires in state history. It suggested ways to reduce the cost of wildfire liabilities, including by capping fees of attorneys representing victims and reducing payments to survivors for non-economic damages like pain and suffering.

The report also suggested that utilities should no longer reimburse property insurers for damages of fires sparked by electrical equipment. Insurers say this would increase premiums for homeowners.

Edison is now facing thousands of lawsuits from the victims of the Eaton fire, which roared through Altadena, destroying more than 9,000 homes and other structures and killing 19 people. The lawsuits claim it was negligent for the fire, which Edison denies.

The utility created a program to pay for victims’ damages if they agree to give up their right to sue.

Edison has so far paid more than $1 billion to victims. Experts say the fire’s costs could exceed the $21-billion state wildfire fund that Newsom and lawmakers created in 2019 to protect Edison, PG&E and San Diego Gas & Electric.

If that happens, Edison customers must pay for the rest under legislation that Newsom and lawmakers introduced in the final days of last year’s legislative session.

Because of utility protections in legislation that Newsom and lawmakers passed in 2019 and last year, Edison has said it expects its shareholders to pay little for the Eaton fire. The utility says it believes it will be reimbursed for its damage payments to victims by the state wildfire fund and through customer bills, according to the company’s financial disclosures.

A coalition of wildfire survivors, consumer advocates and other groups wrote a letter to Newsom last month, asking him for legislation that keeps utilities accountable for the fires they cause.

The coalition pointed out that despite billions of dollars in damages from the Eaton fire, Edison’s profits soared last year by more than 200% — from $1.3 billion in 2024 to $4.5 billion.

The company’s board also rewarded Edison executives with higher salaries and bonuses. Pizarro received $16.6 million in cash, stock and other compensation, up 20% from 2024.

“For-profit companies that repeatedly cause catastrophic harm must be held accountable, not protected and enriched,” wrote Joy Chen, executive director of Every Fire Survivors Network, who is leading the coalition, in the letter to Newsom.

The letter warned that without reform of current state laws protecting utilities, disasters like the Eaton fire could happen again.

“Altadena is not the first community to endure this cycle, and it will not be the last,” the letter said.

“I know I’m not going to be a millionaire running a bakery,” says Phil Clayton.

We are speaking in the busy bakery he runs with his wife Tina. It is only 10am, but the operation has been in full swing for nine hours.

Clayton says it is “absolutely not true” that the bakery enjoys more profit due to price rises.

In May, families were paying 2% more for bread rolls than they were a year earlier, according to the CPI.

But in April, farmers were receiving 0.3% less for wheat, the main ingredient, according to API figures.

The 2% increase in prices for customers is smaller than the 3% rise seen across the whole CPI index.

Clayton says he does not regret increasing his prices by 10p to 20p.

“My responsibility is to make sure all of this lot get paid,” he says, referring to his 30-strong team, which includes bakers, delivery drivers and Saturday staff employed in the cafe that adjoins the bakery.

Clayton points out the extra money shoppers pay at the tills goes towards increases in rent, wages, National Insurance, delivery fuel and the rising cost of flour – much of which originates from farms in the region.

Boeing has taken a fresh $280 million loss on work to deliver two newly converted and fully equipped VC-25B Air Force One presidential aircraft to the U.S. Air Force. The company says the new cost growth reflects investments to help it keep on track to finally deliver the first of these planes in 2028. The program remains years behind schedule, as well as over budget, with Boeing now having paid more than $3 billion out of pocket. This all also follows last week’s announcement that the Qatari-gifted VC-25B Bridge jet will be pulled from service for roughly a month to receive additional upgrades amid concerns that it lacks adequate defensive and other capabilities.

The new loss, or “charge,” on the VC-25B effort was announced during a quarterly Boeing earnings call this morning. Steve Parker, President and CEO of Boeing’s Defense, Space, and Security division, had first disclosed new cost growth on the program in an interview with Aviation Week earlier this month, but did not provide a specific dollar figure at that time. The Air Force has been actively working to acquire the two VC-25Bs as one-for-one replacements for its aging VC-25A Air Force One aircraft since the late 2010s.

Boeing is doing the VC-25B conversion work under a firm, fixed-price contract, and has already absorbed billions of dollars in losses since the program began. As of 2024, Boeing had reported some $2.8 billion in charges, according to Aviation Week. The new $280 million charge would push that figure to over $3 billion.

The Air Force has infused some additional funding into the effort, as well. This includes a $15.5 million contract modification to support communications systems work in December 2025. In a report published in June, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said the total estimated acquisition cost of the program on the U.S. government side had risen from $6.263 billion to $6.608 billion between December 2018 and August 2025.

“We’ve made the decision to add significant resources to support the build and test schedule on VC-25B. We have also aligned with the Air Force on moving from an FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] to a military certification basis,” Boeing President and CEO Kelly Ortberg said during today’s earnings call. “These additional resources will also help mitigate potential risks during certification and flight tests. Since this program is in a reach-forward loss, these additional investments resulted in a $280 million charge during the quarter.”

“Results include $280 million of losses on the VC-25B program primarily driven by an investment in additional production and certification resources,” Boeing added in a press release put out today. “The company continues to anticipate first delivery in 2028.”

Boeing first announced last year that it was aiming to deliver the first fully-equipped VC-25B by mid-2028. GAO’s report in June said the Air Force hopes to receive the aircraft by March of that year. If Boeing holds to this timeline, it will represent a slight improvement in the program schedule. However, the original goal was for the Air Force to have the first of these new Air Force One jets in hand by December 2024.

“In September 2025, Boeing provided a revised schedule that would accelerate the aircraft delivery, to mid-2028 and mid-2029, respectively. Program officials said the revised schedule reflects changes to the airworthiness certification approach and aircraft requirements, including interior designs, weight limitations, and storage,” per GAO’s report in June. “They said that the supply chain is ramping up to ensure that parts are delivered on time to support the schedule. They also noted that they are exploring use of the organic industrial base to mitigate supply chain risks and ensure a diversity of suppliers.”

“Repairs of the VC-25B stress corrosion cracks are ongoing and are expected to be completed in 2026, according to officials. They are planning ongoing inspections after delivery,” the report added. “The Air Force plans to upgrade mission communications systems after the aircraft are delivered, but the timelines are still being developed, according to program officials.”

Cracking is a known issue that has been impacting 747-8s worldwide, regardless of their configuration. The FAA issued a formal airworthiness directive to all operators regarding these problems back in 2023.

The additional work required on the communications systems also speaks to the fact that delays on such a complex program inherently mean that certain technologies intended to be incorporated originally have become out of date.

“The program is developing 80 certification plans to demonstrate aircraft airworthiness,” GAO also noted. “The Air Force approved seven of these plans as of October 2025. The Air Force has yet to determine when operational testing will begin.”

Delays and cost growth in the conversion of the two fully fledged VC-25Bs are deeply intertwined with what is now known as the VC-25B Bridge aircraft. Issues related to Air Force One had already been of personal interest to President Donald Trump since he was just a candidate back in 2015. Reports that he was looking for ways to speed up the acquisition of a new Air Force One plane emerged soon after he started his second term last year. The Qatari government subsequently made the highly irregular donation of the 747-8i jet to the U.S. military, after which the Air Force announced it would be turned into an interim presidential aircraft. Defense contractor L3Harris did the conversion work in a span of roughly 10 months.

The basic justification for needing the Bridge VC-25B at all remains a subject of intense debate, and the aircraft has been a source of criticism and controversy from the start. This has been further fueled by a recent chain of events that began with the Bridge jet’s official entry in service in the Air Force One role earlier this month.

Trump took his first trip on the plane on July 1, traveling to Montana for events surrounding the 250th anniversary of the United States. Just days later, the President traveled to the NATO summit in Turkey on the aircraft, but then made an unexpected swap back to an older VC-25A on the return flight home. It has since been reported that a credible threat to Trump emanating from Iran prompted the Secret Service to advise the switch in aircraft. There were reports before and after saying the ex-Qatari 747 lacked key self-defense features and other capabilities that are found on the VC-25As and that will be included on the future VC-25Bs from Boeing.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced a new plan to sell grocery baskets at city-run stores at 30% below retail prices. The baskets will be sold at five city-run stores and are his latest effort to offer savings to New Yorkers.

This beach is a marvel of engineering that is totally free to cross.

The world’s widest bridge is a Guinness World Record holder that cost billions of pounds to build. The Rod El Farag Axis Bridge, also known as the Tahya Misr Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge that spans the Nile River through Cairo, Egypt.

The bridge has a whopping width of 67.3 metres, making it the widest bridge in the world. It has six lanes in each direction and is also a big tourist attraction. Pedestrian visitors to the bridge can cross it using the walkway which offers panoramic views out over the Nile.

This walkway is interspersed with glass panels so that it feels as if you are hovering above the rushing river below.

As it is a public road, you can cross it free of charge and enjoy the spectacular views out over Cairo.

The construction of the bridge was implemented by the Armed Forces Engineering Authority (AFEA) in cooperation with a number of national companies.

It took four years, finishing in 2019.

According to Ihab Alphar, the chairman of the AFEA, the basic cost of the project reached an eye-watering £7.43billion.

The bridge is 540 metres long, with 92 metre high suspension towers and has seven different entry and exit ramps.

In order to build the bridge, 4,000 workers, including engineers, technicians and labourers, worked tirelessly to finish the project.

Chief executive officer and chairman of Arab Contractors Company, Mohsen Salah, said: “The engineering crews responsible for the implementation of the bridge faced many difficulties that were overcome with Egyptian engineering innovations.”

He said one of the major issues faced in building the bridge was moving 226.8 tonnes of metal beams to the assembly area.

During the peak of construction, there were 200 cranes deployed at the site to get the bridge up and running.

Builders also had to construct two custom ferry boats that were strong enough to move 544.3 tonnes of equipment to assembly zones

July 22 (UPI) — The Glasgow School of Art Mackintosh building, damaged twice by fire, would cost too much for the school to fully rebuild on its own, the school’s board of governors said Wednesday.

Rebuilding the school in line with artist and architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s original design would cost about $355 million, the school said in a press release Wednesday.

That amount is “equivalent to five times the GSA’s annual turnover [revenue], an amount that is not affordable and which would compromise the financial sustainability of the institution.”

The Art Nouveau building, completed in 1909, was damaged by fire twice. Much of the building was destroyed in 2014 after a student’s art project was ignited by an overhead projector. In June 2018, when the rebuilding was nearly complete, another fire destroyed it. There was no cause found for the second fire, which ignited a dispute between the school and its insurance company that ended in arbitration that wrapped up this spring.

Neil Baxter, architectural historian and former lecturer in architectural history at the school, said the building is “of the greatest world importance,” and said, “The Scottish government should step up, and if it can’t, the British government should step up,” The New York Times reported.

The school released an 80-page analysis Wednesday that highlights the potential for the Mackintosh Building “to become an anchor project in a creative and cultural production innovation district, attracting investment to the city, driving the growth of its creative economy, and supporting new businesses and employment opportunities.”

Ann Priest, chair of the Glasgow School of Art’s board of governors, said early discussions with Scottish and British government officials ahead of the announcement “have been supportive and incredibly positive.”

Priest said the board believes the building should be a “heritage-led economic regeneration project, building on the existing creative and cultural production assets within this part of the city, to strengthen Glasgow’s creative eco-system and its position as one of the UK’s leading creative economies.

“The Mack will always have a special place at the heart of The Glasgow School of Art’s history, and we have further plans within the next phase of work to create museum standard interpretations of the building that will exist alongside its retained architectural elements and help tell the story of this remarkable place and the people who have worked and studied there for years to come,” Priest said.

Gordon Gibb, a former director of professional studies at the school’s architecture department, said that the school needs another organization to “take over” the restoration.

“This is a building that influenced world architecture and changed Victorian traditionalism into modernism,” Gibb told The Times. “We have detailed records of every part of it,” he added, “so it should be brought back.”

July 21 (UPI) — U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told a Senate committee Tuesday that the financial cost of the Iran war has now reached about $37.5 billion according to Defense Department estimates.

Lawmakers questioned Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine during a Senate Appropriations Committee meeting as the Pentagon and President Donald Trump are seeking up to $70 billion in emergency military funds.

This is in addition to the $1.5 trillion the Pentagon has requested in the upcoming defense budget. Trump has also asked for about $18 billion more in emergency funds for unrelated programs, including $11 billion for agriculture. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins was also present at the hearing, although the focus remained on military spending.

Some Senate lawmakers, both Democrats and some Republicans, questioned the need for the money on top of the defense request and the roughly $150 billion in additional funding the military received through Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the committee’s top Democrat, said the request for emergency funds “may be better understood as an attempt toskirt the normal appropriations process.”

“The problem is not a lack of money, but poor planning,”Murray said. “So I’ll be blunt. The truth is, your request does not make a lotof sense.”

Hegseth, in response, blamed “gross negligence and neglect”by the Biden administration.

Some asked about Iran’s military capabilities and theobjectives of the war, as Hegseth and Trump have both previously said that the war had been won. The defense secretary also said in the early days of the war that Iran’s military had already been “destroyed and made combat-ineffective.”

Hegseth said that he never meant that Iran would be unable to launch any attack. He said he meant Iran “can lob missiles, but it’s not an effective military.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Ala., asked Hegseth if the Trump administration believes it does not need authorization from Congress to continue the war. Hegseth replied that the administration believes it already has the authority it needs.

The hearing lasted more than three hours and ended in a shouting match between Hegseth and Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who questioned the war’s objectives, called Hegseth a “failure” and said the Trump administration has created another “forever war.”

Hegseth responded by telling Peters “shame on you” and saying he has “Trump derangement syndrome.”

A group claiming to represent California fire survivors began sending mailers and paying for social media ads this spring, calling on lawmakers to take action to reduce the rising cost of wildfires.

“Contact your legislator and tell them we need to fix our wildfire problem to make California more affordable,” said a mailer sent this month by the group called Wildfire Victims First.

“Stand with wildfire victims,” the group’s website states, urging people to join its cause.

The group was created with money from California’s three biggest for-profit electric utilities — Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric — which government investigators found ignited at least six of the state’s 20 most destructive wildfires.

The corporate campaign has angered wildfire survivors, including some of the thousands of families in Altadena who lost their homes in last year’s Eaton fire. The blaze, which killed 19 people, remains under investigation. Edison has said its century-old transmission line is the likely cause.

The utility-funded group is lobbying in Sacramento for proposals in a study that Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered to guide lawmakers in writing wildfire-related bills. The study largely ignored utilities’ responsibility for igniting fires.

Among its dozens of proposals is limiting amounts victims can get for pain and suffering, capping fees for attorneys representing survivors and requiring property insurers to bear more of the cost of utility-sparked fires.

”Each proposal would shift more of the cost of catastrophic fires away from the corporations responsible and onto survivors, policyholders, taxpayers, and the public,” wrote Joy Chen of Every Fire Survivor’s Network in a letter to Newsom this week.

Chen wrote that the industry-funded Wildfire Victims First campaign “created the appearance that wildfire survivors supported” the findings of the study. “We do not.”

The 15-page letter was signed by other organizations including Public Citizen, Consumer Watchdog and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.

The coalition is urging Newsom and lawmakers to do more to hold utilities accountable for the fires they ignite, so they don’t happen again.

“The Eaton fire devastated Altadena, home to one of California’s most historic Black communities,” said Brandon Lamar, president of NAACP Pasadena, who signed the letter. “Now as survivors fight to rebuild, they should not be asked to bear the cost of protecting the corporations whose failures devastated their community.”

Edison told its shareholders in its annual report that it believes it acted as a “reasonable” utility operator before the fire. If state regulators agree it acted reasonably, Edison will be reimbursed for payments it makes to victims by a $21-billion wildfire fund, which Newsom created through legislation in 2019.

And if Eaton fire damages exceed the $21-billion fund, Edison’s customers will pay the rest through their electric rates under fine print embedded in last year’s Senate Bill 254 — amendments that Newsom and lawmakers added so late that the legislative session had to be extended.

State Sen. Sasha Renee Perez, a Democrat who represents Altadena, said she opposed any bill that would limit payments to victims for pain and suffering.

“I can’t think of a more offensive thing to propose when I have friends who lost family members in the fire,” she said.

Anthony Martinez, a spokesperson for Newsom, said the governor and lawmakers were talking about new legislation because the study “concluded that the current system is unsustainable and not working for fire survivors, utility customers or insurance policyholders.”

“It’s essential that we work to address the complex and interconnected challenges Californians face from the increasing risk of catastrophic wildfire,” Martinez said.

He didn’t disclose what specific measures the governor supports.

Nathan Click, who directs the corporate Wildfire Victims First campaign, said that the group launched after the study found that “payouts to financial middlemen — like trial attorneys, hedge funds and insurance companies — are often paid out before wildfire victims receive a single dollar.”

“Shockingly, trial attorneys can take up to 40% of wildfire victims’ settlement awards,” he said.

Click said the group was advocating for legislation that reduces wildfire risk, expands access to affordable property insurance and ensures quick compensation to victims.

The utility-paid campaign has been joined by electrical worker unions, a powerful force in Sacramento, as well as the California Building Industry Assn. and dozens of other groups.

The Eaton fire was the second most destructive wildfire in state history.

Pedro Pizarro, Edison International’s chief executive, said last year that a leading theory of the fire’s cause was that an idle transmission line in Eaton Canyon was briefly reenergized through a process called induction, sparking the fire. Induction happens when the magnetic field of a nearby live wire causes power to jump to inactive equipment.

Edison kept the idle transmission line in place despite not using it for 50 years. The state’s utilities had known about the risks of leaving unused equipment in place. In 2019, the Kincade fire in Sonoma County, which destroyed hundreds of homes, was ignited by an idle transmission line owned by PG&E.

Despite the billions of dollars in damages caused by the Eaton fire, Edison’s profits soared last year by more than 200% — from $1.3 billion in 2024 to $4.5 billion.

The company also paid its top executives more. Pizarro received $16.6 million in cash, stock and other compensation, up 20% from 2024.

“If the financial rewards for repeated catastrophic failure are record profits, record executive compensation, and record shareholder dividends,” Chen wrote in the letter to Newsom, “then catastrophic failure is exactly what this system will keep producing.”

Latest cost comes as Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Caine ask for $1.5 trillion budget, including $70bn for Iran war.

United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has put the latest official price tag on the US-Israel war on Iran at $37.5bn.

Hegseth confirmed the figure during a hearing before the Senate appropriations committee on Tuesday, in which he and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine were questioned about their request for a $1.5 trillion US defence budget, including nearly $70bn for the war with Iran.

Still, the number is significantly lower than other estimates, especially those that include knock-on expenses for US consumers. For instance, Moody’s Analytics has estimated the domestic cost of the war to be up to $150bn, accounting for factors such as higher US energy prices.

“The estimate we have as of today is $37.5bn,” Hegseth said upon questioning from Democratic Senator Dick Durbin.

Hegseth added that the price includes some operations and maintenance costs extending through the end of September, but did not provide specifics.

The latest quote is about $8bn higher than the previous figure released by the administration of President Donald Trump of $29bn in May.

Hegseth appeared before the committee as fighting between the US and Iran continued to rage, after a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that had seen a halt in attacks since June 17 collapsed last week.

On Monday, ahead of the 10th consecutive night of US strikes, Trump said Iran would “pay” after two more US soldiers were killed over the weekend.

Over the last week, Trump has threatened to target energy plants and bridges in Iran; send ground forces to seize Iran’s Kharg Island; and bomb a deep-underground nuclear-linked site known as Pickaxe Mountain.

Attacks have so far targeted sites Iran uses to assert influence over the Strait of Hormuz, its key point of leverage in the conflict.

Iran, meanwhile, has pledged to continue to strike US assets in the region. The latest round of strikes saw desalination and power plants set ablaze in Kuwait, as well as other sites hit in Bahrain and Jordan. The Houthis in Yemen, close allies of Iran, have also declared a maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia.

During his opening statements, Hegseth referenced strains on the US weapons stockpile from the war, which the US and Israel launched on February 28.

He said funding was needed “to expand production lines and accelerate delivery of high-demand munitions. We’re talking about solid rocket motors, JDAMs [Joint Direct Attack Munition], hypersonics, and counter-drone capabilities”.

The Pentagon chief also pointed to a pending budget crunch amid the war, saying that “training in the future would have to be curtailed if we do not get our budget needs met and met urgently, and yes, some of that has to do with the current budget cycle and how things come together”.

Democratic Senator Patty Murray questioned the sprawling budget request, which also included funding requests for the National Guard deployment in Washington, DC, US operations against alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean, and military patrols of the US border.

“So I’ll be blunt,” she said. “The truth is, your request does not make a lot of sense.”

July 20 (UPI) — Cuban artist and dissident Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara said he cannot return home after arriving in exile in the United States this weekend.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio renewed his call Monday for the Cuban government to release more than 700 political prisoners amid rising tensions between Washington and Havana.

Otero Alcántara, 38, arrived in Miami on Saturday after spending five years imprisoned in Cuba on charges of desecrating national symbols, contempt and public disorder.

His arrival was confirmed by Rubio, who said the artist had been imprisoned for challenging the Cuban government.

In his first public remarks since arriving in the United States, the founder of the San Isidro Movement said prison changed the way he sees people, but acknowledged that exile carries a high personal cost.

“Five years later, I am more human. Prison is a place where you can look into the eyes of people who, even after committing the worst crimes, are still human beings,” he said in videos published by Caraota Digital.

However, he said that being forced to leave Cuba does not represent true freedom.

“I have been expelled from Cuba. This is not right. … I can’t see my son. I can’t return to my home. It’s just not right,” he said.

Otero Alcántara gained international prominence via a collective of artists and intellectuals that called for greater freedom of expression in Cuba and that, according to Amnesty International, has been the target of constant persecution by Cuban authorities.

He was arrested while attempting to join the anti-government protests of July 11, 2021, and was sentenced to five years in prison a year later.

After confirming Otero Alcántara’s arrival in the United States, Rubio said on X that the artist’s imprisonment was the result of challenging “the Marxist tyranny of the Cuban regime,” and he demanded the immediate release of “the more than 700 political prisoners unjustly detained” on the island.

Rubio said President Donald Trump‘s administration will continue to support those seeking greater political freedoms in Cuba.

Employers are bracing for what could be the highest rise in health insurance premiums in 16 years in 2027, driving up the average cost of family coverage in California to more than $30,000 — the price of a new compact car.

Health insurance companies expect the cost of medical services and prescription drugs to soar by 9% in 2027, according to a new survey by PwC, the highest rise the researchers have found since 2011. Insurers use those expected medical costs to calculate the price of premiums in the coming year. Many employers require workers to pay part of that cost.

Experts say the escalating costs of employers’ premiums are reducing workers’ wages and take-home pay, while raising the prices of goods and services in California and across the country.

“It’s going to erode the standard of living for lots of California families,” said Glenn Melnick, a USC professor of healthcare finance.

Melnick said when employers are forced to spend more on health insurance, there is less money available for wages. The skyrocketing premiums, he said, are like a hidden pay cut for working families.

The higher cost also has small-business owners wondering whether they can continue paying for their workers’ health insurance.

Co-owner Camden Avery makes a sale at the Booksmith in San Francisco.

(Josh Edelson / For The Times)

This year, premiums for staff at the Booksmith, an independent bookstore on Haight Street in San Francisco, leaped by 17%, said Christin Evans, the store’s owner. Next year could bring even more pain. The monthly premium for four employees is $3,250.

To try to cope, Evans said, she has reduced staff hours by closing the store earlier.

“We have to absorb it,” she said. “We’re not paying the wages we want to pay or delivering the customer service we’d like to deliver.”

Seventeen million Californians receive health benefits from an employer. Those premiums have been rising faster in California than the national average.

Between 2022 and 2025, the average family premium for employers in the state rose by 24% to $28,397, according to a survey by KFF and the California Healthcare Foundation. That was nearly double the 12.2% increase in consumer prices during those years.

Hospital, pharmaceutical and other medical costs escalated even faster after 2025.

PwC’s annual survey of insurers last year found an expected rise of 8.5% in 2026, which its researchers later revised to 9%.

A key driver of the rising medical costs, according to experts, is prices charged by hospitals. In recent years, some health systems, including UCLA and Cedars-Sinai, have grown larger by buying nearby hospitals and expanding their clinics, becoming more dominant in the community and reducing competition.

Melnick said the expansion of some health systems into giant organizations means that they can “tell insurance companies what the price will be.”

A Cedars-Sinai spokesperson pointed to a 2022 paper that found that for-profit health system prices had escalated faster than those at nonprofit systems like Cedars. The paper was partly funded by Cedars.

“Cedars-Sinai Health System’s growth in recent years has expanded access to the highest levels of patient care and medical innovation across the Los Angeles region,” the spokesperson said.

UCLA did not respond to requests for comment.

Another factor is the rising cost of prescription drugs. Spending on cancer drugs, the most costly category, reached $143 billion in 2025, an annual increase of 12%, the PwC survey found.

The nation’s spending on obesity medicines, including GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy, soared by 81% last year, PwC said. A 30-day supply of the drugs lists for more than $1,000.

An Ozempic injection pen.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Gallup said this month that its survey found that 11% of U.S. adults are now taking the GLP-1 drugs for weight loss.

The obesity drug manufacturers say the medicines can reduce medical expenses by preventing other costly conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, but data don’t yet show such reductions, PwC said.

Researchers at the California Healthcare Foundation say a large part of the problem is that hospital operating costs, prescription drug prices and doctor fees have been allowed to grow unchecked for decades.

The foundation estimated in a report last year that 25 cents of every dollar spent in California — more than $73 billion each year — does nothing to help patients. Instead it goes to excessive profits for providers, administrative red tape and other waste, the foundation found.

California employer premiums are expected to rise next year for another reason: Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers agreed in June to raise taxes on the private plans to help pay for the cost of Medi-Cal, which covers the medical costs for the poor, and to help balance the state budget.

The California Assn. of Health Plans said insurers will add the tax to next year’s premiums. The trade group estimates the higher tax will cost each insured person $100 next year or $400 for a family of four.

The higher tax must still be approved by the Trump administration. Republicans in the state Assembly wrote a letter to the administration this month, asking officials to deny the request.

Researchers also expect a jump in premiums for families without employer insurance who purchase policies on state marketplaces such as Covered California. Some of those families faced double-digit increases this year because of rising medical costs and the end of enhanced federal subsidies that Congress had approved as a temporary measure during the pandemic. Almost 400,000 Californians dropped their Obamacare plans this year as prices soared.

To deal with the higher premiums, some employers are changing the design of their health plans to shift more of the cost to workers by raising deductibles and co-pays.

Those higher out-of-pocket costs are just the beginning of the fallout. Twenty-two percent of chief financial officers surveyed by Mercer in February said the high price of health benefits had forced them to stop hiring or led to layoffs. Thirty-six percent of those executives said the rising premium costs have harmed workers’ wages and raises.

Candice Elliott, a human resources consultant in Santa Cruz, said smaller businesses such as restaurants struggle to find ways to cover the higher costs.

Many restaurants, Elliott said, already have a slim margin between their revenues and expenses. When premiums rise, she said, some restaurants have added a fee to the customer bill to help cover workers’ health costs. Others have hiked menu prices.

“That impacts affordability for the consumer,” Elliott said. “It makes inflation greater.”

Some small businesses have moved from so-called silver plans to the lower-priced bronze plans, she said, which cover less of the employee’s monthly premium. “It’s effectively a decrease in pay for the employee,” she said.

Others are hiring employees overseas, Elliott said. “You can pay someone in the global south half of what you pay an American and still afford them a good standard of living and benefits that are unaffordable in the U.S.,” she said.

Melnick, the USC professor, said many workers don’t realize how much they are losing as their employers’ premiums rise. He tells people to look at their W-2 tax form from last year, where employers are required to report the cost of the employee’s premium in box 12, under “Code DD.”

He said USC’s premium for his family of four is $45,000.

“The base is so high that even a small increase has a big impact,” he said. The continuing annual increases, he said, are “bad news for everybody.”

England have showed character at this World Cup, coming from behind to defeat both DR Congo at the last-32 stage and Norway in the quarter-finals.

“The difference is hanging on against Norway or Mexico [in the last 16], they have not got the quality this Argentina team have got in terms of the ability on the ball and the ability they have to punish you,” former England captain Alan Shearer told BBC Sport.

“Tuchel played his cards very, very early and it has backfired.”

England looked to have taken full control of the semi-final against their old foes when Gordon put them ahead 10 minutes into the second half.

England’s fans celebrated wildly – but then the Three Lions opted to sit back and defend.

“The fact that England got themselves in front and then basically handed Argentina the initiative… that was a coaching catastrophe from Thomas Tuchel,” Chris Sutton, a Premier League winner with Blackburn in 1994-95, told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“You can’t expect to defend for 30 minutes against the quality Argentina had.

“It’s all on the coach where I am concerned. He made the changes. He was negative, so the question which I’m going to ask is ‘how can you trust Thomas Tuchel to take this team forward?'”

England have come undone against Argentina in the past.

Who can forget Diego Maradona’s infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal at the 1986 World Cup or the 1998 World Cup defeat that burns so deep.

England, however, have no-one but themselves to blame for Wednesday’s loss.

“Norway and Mexico panicked against England,” former England goalkeeper Joe Hart told BBC Sport.

“I didn’t see one bit of panic from that Argentina side. I saw belief, I saw the realising they could free up the great man Lionel Messi in the pocket, and they were running all over England.

“Gareth Southgate took a lot of criticism for the big moments with England, when they had the lead in big games and shut up shop. I don’t see that anything has changed in that big moment out there.”

So what were the changes that frustrated England fans so much?

Leading 1-0, many expected Tuchel to go for another goal – but instead the German made three defensive changes.

He brought Konsa on for Gordon in the 72nd minute – switching to a back five – before bringing on further defensive reinforcements 10 minutes later in Burn and O’Reilly.

Tuchel sent on forwards Rashford and Toney in added time, but it proved too little too late.

“I felt the changes we made at 1-0, that if Argentina scored we wouldn’t make extra time,” added Rooney.

Former England defender Micah Richards told BBC Sport: “When England scored that first goal they should have gone for the second.

“Yes, you respect their quality, but dropping deep allowed Argentina to get into their flow.”

Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson, speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, said Tuchel went too deep too soon.

“I think he has got that wrong,” added Robinson, who won 41 caps for England between 2003 and 2007.

“He has got a lot of decisions right, but I think trying to defend a lead against this team was a wrong choice.”

This tunnel is famous for its beautiful lighting and top air quality.

Norway has no shortage of beautiful roads. From snow capped mountains to glacial passes, a road trip through this gorgeous country means you will never be bored. It’s not just open road though – Norway is also home to one of the most beautiful tunnels in the world.

The Lærdal tunnel in West Norway is the longest road tunnel in the world, stretching 24.5 kilometres (15 miles) beneath a mountain range. It connects Aurland and Lærdal, in the heart of Sogn, and provides a ferry-free connection between Oslo and Bergen.

Construction of the tunnel began in 1995 and finished in 2000 and during construction an incredible 2,500,000 cubic meters of rock were extracted from the tunnel.

It cost a whopping £75million to construct. The tunnel is divided into four sections separated by three large caves.

The tunnel is known as one of the most beautiful in the world due to the way it has been designed to prevent driver fatigue and claustrophobia.

The main section of the tunnel is brightly lit with white lights, but each cave is lit with blue and yellow lighting around the edges to create the illusion of a sunrise.

These caves were lit with the idea of breaking up the monotony of the tunnel and allow drivers a short break.

The caves also work as turnaround points during the 20-minute journey.

There is also a rumble strip in each lane which stops drivers becoming inattentive and drifting.

At every kilometre, a sign lets you know how far you have travelled through the cave and how much further you have to go.

One of the other impressive things about the Lærdal Tunnel is that it is the first in the world to be equipped with an air treatment plant.

This plant can be found in a cavern 100 metres wide and it removes both dust and nitrogen dioxide from the tunnel air.