A manhunt for those responsible for an audacious heist of priceless crown jewels from Paris’ world-famous Louvre museum took a step forward after authorities made five additional arrests, with one of the suspects allegedly a match for DNA traces recovered from the scene. File photo by Mohammed Badra/EPA
Oct. 30 (UPI) — Police in France arrested five new suspects over alleged involvement in theft of priceless French crown jewels from the Louvre in the French capital, Paris’ chief prosecutor said.
The office of Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said the men were detained in and around Paris on Wednesday night but that the jewels, which some estimates have valued at more than $100 million, were not recovered.
The development came 10 days after four suspects were filmed on CCTV carrying out the heist in broad daylight using a lift-ladder mounted on the back of a stolen truck to break into the museum’s Apollon Gallery, before disappearing into the back streets on the back of getaway motorcycles.
Beccuau said that DNA from one of those arrested could be a match to traces DNA left behind at the scene and that the suspect was throught to be part of the gang that carried out the theft.
“He’s one we had in our sights,” she said, adding that the others “can give us information about how the theft was carried out.”
Police have four days to charge the five before they have to release them.
Two others suspected of using power tools to gain entry — both men in their 30s with police records — were arrested Saturday, one as he was boarding a flight to Algeria, but investigators now believe the gang extends beyond those detained thus far.
Among the riches taken were an emerald and diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave to his second wife, Marie Louise, a diadem set with nearly 2,000 diamonds and more than 200 pearls that belonged to Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugenie and six other priceless pieces dating back to the early 1800s.
However, Eugenie’s diamond and emerald-covered crown was left behind after the gang dropped it onto the road in their haste to escape.
The gang, posing as maintenance workers, ascended to a second-floor balcony adjacent to the River Seine, smashed a window and used disc cutters to break into glass display cases housing the jewels.
The Louvre was shut following the robbery, which French Culture Minister Rachida Dati said was an attack on France, and nine of its 28 galleries, including the Apollon, remained closed on Thursday, according to the Louvre website.
The Louvre has since moved some of its most valuable exhibits, including precious jewels, to the Bank of France, a short distance away, to be stored in its main underground vault, 85 feet below rue Croix des Petits Champs.
The packaging maker delivered a strong third-quarter report.
Shares of Crown Holdings (CCK+0.04%), the maker of aluminum cans and other packaging supplies, reported better-than-expected results in its third-quarter earnings report, sporting solid growth on the top and bottom lines. It also raised its guidance for the full year.
As of 11:48 a.m. ET, the stock was up 3.7% on the news.
Image source: Getty Images.
Crown Holdings raises the bar
In a fluid environment where tariffs have roiled global manufacturers like Crown Holdings, the company is still managing to deliver growth. In the third quarter, revenue rose 4.2% to $3.2 billion, topping estimates at $3.14 billion.
The company experienced strong growth in Europe, with volume growth up 12% in the European beverage segment, which drove a 27% increase in segment income. Other regions were mixed.
Overall, segment income, which adjusts operating income for one-time charges and intangibles amortization, was up 4% to $490 million, and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) increased 13% to $2.24, which beat the consensus at $1.99.
Today’s Change
(0.04%) $3.93
Current Price
$98.34
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$11B
Day’s Range
$97.47 – $102.85
52wk Range
$75.98 – $109.48
Volume
1.4M
Avg Vol
1.3M
Gross Margin
18.55%
Dividend Yield
0.01%
Crown lifts its guidance
Management said it was raising its full-year forecast based on its performance through the first three quarters of the year. The company now expects adjusted earnings per share of $7.70 to $7.80, up from a previous forecast of $7.10 to $7.50. For the fourth quarter, it sees adjusted EPS of $1.65 to $1.75, which compares to the consensus at $1.58.
Following the report, Jefferies reiterated a buy rating on the stock, calling it “undervalued.”
At a price-to-earnings ratio of less than 13, Crown looks well priced for a category leader that’s growing in a challenging environment.
Jeremy Bowman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Jefferies Financial Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
PARIS — In a minutes-long strike Sunday inside the world’s most-visited museum, thieves rode a basket lift to the Louvre, forced a window into the Galerie d’Apollon — while tourists pressed shoulder-to-shoulder in the corridors — smashed display cases and fled with priceless Napoleonic jewels, officials said.
It was among the highest-profile museum thefts in recent memory and comes as Louvre employees have complained of worker and security understaffing.
One object was later found outside the museum, according to Culture Minister Rachida Dati. French daily Le Parisien reported it was the emerald-studded crown of Napoleon III’s wife Empress Eugénie — gold, diamonds and sculpted eagles — recovered just beyond the walls, broken.
The theft unfolded just 270 yards from the “Mona Lisa,” in what Dati described as “a four-minute operation.” No one was hurt.
Images from the scene showed confused tourists being steered out of the glass pyramid and adjoining courtyards as officers closed nearby streets along the Seine.
Also visible was a lift braced to the Seine-facing facade near a construction zone — an extraordinary vulnerability at a palace-museum.
A museum already under strain
Around 9:30 a.m., several intruders forced a window, cut panes with a disc cutter and went straight for the vitrines, officials said. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the crew entered from outside using a basket lift.
The choice of target compounded the shock. The vaulted Galerie d’Apollon in the Denon wing, capped by a ceiling painted for Louis XIV, displays a selection of the French Crown Jewels. The thieves are believed to have approached via the riverfront facade, where construction is underway, used a freight elevator to reach the hall, took nine pieces from a 23-item collection linked to Napoleon and the Empress, and made off on motorbikes, according to Le Parisien.
Daylight robberies during public hours are rare. Pulling one off inside the Louvre — with visitors present — ranks among Europe’s most audacious since Dresden’s Green Vault museum in 2019, and the most serious in France in more than a decade.
It also collides with a deeper tension the Louvre has struggled to resolve: swelling crowds and stretched staff. The museum delayed opening during a June staff walkout over overcrowding and chronic understaffing. Unions say mass tourism leaves too few eyes on too many rooms and creates pressure points where construction zones, freight routes and visitor flows meet.
Security around marquee works remains tight — the Mona Lisa is behind bulletproof glass in a bespoke, climate-controlled case.
It’s unclear whether staffing levels played any role in Sunday’s breach.
The Louvre has a long history of thefts and attempted robberies. The most famous came in 1911, when the Mona Lisa vanished from its frame, stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia and recovered two years later in Florence.
Today the former royal palace holds a roll call of civilization: Leonardo’s “Mona Lisa”; the armless serenity of the “Venus de Milo”; the “Winged Victory” of Samothrace, wind-lashed on the Daru staircase; the Code of Hammurabi’s carved laws; Delacroix’s “Liberty Leading the People”; Géricault’s “The Raft of the Medusa.” More than 33,000 works — from Mesopotamia, Egypt and the classical world to Europe’s masters — draw a daily tide of up to 30,000 visitors even as investigators now begin to sweep those gilded corridors for clues.
Politics at the door
The heist spilled instantly into politics. Far-right leader Jordan Bardella used it to attack President Emmanuel Macron, weakened at home and facing a fractured Parliament.
“The Louvre is a global symbol of our culture,” Bardella wrote on X. “This robbery, which allowed thieves to steal jewels from the French Crown, is an unbearable humiliation for our country. How far will the decay of the state go?”
The criticism lands as Macron touts a decade-long “Louvre New Renaissance” plan — about $800 million to modernize infrastructure, ease crowding and give the “Mona Lisa” a dedicated gallery by 2031. For workers on the floor, the relief has felt slower than the pressure.
What we know — and don’t
Forensic teams are examining the site of the crime and adjoining access points while a full inventory is taken, authorities said. Officials have described the haul as being of “inestimable” historical value.
Recovery may prove difficult. “It’s unlikely these jewels will ever be seen again,” said Tobias Kormind, managing director of 77 Diamonds. “Professional crews often break down and re-cut large, recognizable stones to evade detection, effectively erasing their provenance.”
The Louvre closed for the rest of Sunday as police sealed gates, cleared courtyards and shut nearby streets along the Seine.
Key questions still unanswered are how many people took part in the theft and whether they had inside assistance, authorities said. According to French media, there were four perpetrators: two dressed as construction workers in yellow safety vests on the lift, and two each on a scooter.
Investigators are reviewing closed-circuit TV from the Denon wing and the riverfront, inspecting the basket lift used to reach the gallery and interviewing staffers who were on site when the museum opened, authorities said.
Adamson writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.
There is the free-to-visit Winchombe Museum which talks of the town’s historydating back billions of years.
Otherwise you can also visit St Peter’s Church which dates back to the 1400s.
Just outside the town in the parish of Sudeley is Sudeley Castle.
As well as its beautiful 10 gardens set across the 1,200 acre estate, it has been owned by a number of kings over the years including King Edward IV and King Richard II.
Most read in Best of British
King Henry VIII also visited with his then wife Anne Boleyn – and also made it the resting place of Queen Katherine Parr after her death.
This makes it the world’s only privately owned castle to have a queen buried onsite.
Sadly the town no longer has a functioning train station with scheduled passenger trains.
It did have its own back in 1906 which was on the line of Cheltenham to Birmingham.
Sadly it closed in 1960 and was dismantled in the 1980s.
However, it as since been partially restored for heritage trains such as themed trips and Christmas events.
Katherine Parr is buried at the nearby castleCredit: AlamyThe town has enough pubs to choose from for a weekend breakCredit: Alamy
Kids will love the Royal Mail model railway there too which has a Thomas & Friends train track as well as a small cafe.
You aren’t short of pubs in town either if you want a pint and a burger, from The Royal Oak to The Pheasant Inn.
If you’re looking for somewhere to stay, options include The Lion Inn and White Hart Inn as well.
For something more fun, on the outskirts is The Lodge at Winchcombe, a beautiful country house with en-suite bedrooms.
A TOP Putin crony has warned the Kremlin might seize the “valuables of the British Crown” if the UK supports Ukraine with money from frozen Russian assets.
Ex-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accused “British thieves” of giving Russian money to “neo-Nazis” in a deranged rant on social media.
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Close Putin ally Medvedev accused Britain of giving Russian money to ‘neo-Nazis’Credit: Reuters
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The former Russian President also called Foreign Secretary David Lammy an ‘English idiot’Credit: PA
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Medvedev is a close ally of Russian tyrant Vladimir PutinCredit: AFP
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It comes after Britain announced a fresh £1 billion support package for Ukraine’s fight against Moscow.
The money for this aid boost was raised using frozen Russian assets, Defence Secretary John Healey revealed.
But in a chilling post on Telegram, Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, threatened revenge from Moscow.
In his bizarre ramblings, he even referred to Foreign Secretary David Lammy as an “English idiot”.
Close Putin ally Medvedev accused Britain of giving Russian money to “neo-Nazis” – in reference to a false Kremlin claim that Ukraine is run by Nazis.
“Consequences? Britain committed an offence,” he posted.
“But given that this money cannot be recovered through legal proceedings for obvious reasons, our country has only one way to return the valuables.
“Return what was seized in kind.”
He further threatened to take hold of additional Ukrainian land “and movable property located on it”.
Medvedev has long been one of Moscow’s most vocal cheerleaders for Russia’s monstrous invasion of Ukraine.
Defiant Defence Sec ‘sends two finger signal’ to ‘weaker than ever’ Putin from Ukraine in midst of Russian missile blitz
The Putin lackey added that the Kremlin would respond to any “illegal seizure” of frozen funds by “confiscating the valuables of the British Crown”.
“There are still enough of them in different places, including those located in Russia,” he said.
The UK and other Western nations have imposed bruising sanctions on Russia since Putin ordered his forces to invade Ukraine.
Medvedev’s comments come as members of the pro-Kyiv “Coalition of the Willing” held talks yesterday over future security guarantees for the war-torn nation.
Around 30 leaders came to Paris or joined via video link to hash out plans for what comes next if a peace deal is reached.
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was among those to join the summit remotely.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “The Prime Minister emphasised that the group had an unbreakable pledge to Ukraine, with President Trump’s backing.
“And it was clear they now needed to go even further to apply pressure on Putin to secure a cessation of hostilities.
“The Prime Minister also welcomed announcements from coalition of the willing partners to supply long-range missiles to Ukraine to further bolster the country’s supplies.”
Medvedev’s ramblings are not the only recent threats against Britain from Kremlin mouthpieces.
Another Putin propagandist has threatened to sink the UK with a new high-speed torpedo.
Vladimir Solovyov called for a Poseidon nuclear torpedo to unleash a tidal wave over Britain and drown the entire population.
He said on Russian state television: “I am not calling for anything, about anything, in any way, I am simply stating – the British say their task is to inflict strategic defeat on us.
“Well, let them say it from underwater.”
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Medvedev is now the deputy chairman of Russia’s security councilCredit: EPA
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Medvedev has long been one of Moscow’s most vocal cheerleaders for Putin’s monstrous invasion of UkraineCredit: Alamy
Ron Turcotte, who rode Secretariat during his Triple Crown year in 1973 and electrified the sport, died Friday at his home near Grand Falls, New Brunswick, Canada. He was 84. According to his longtime friend and business partner Leonard Lusky, his death was due to natural causes.
Turcotte, who despite being in a wheelchair since 1978 after a riding accident left him paralyzed from the waist down, often showed up at big races to sign autographs, pose for pictures and act as an ambassador for the sport.
During his almost two-decade career, beginning in 1961, Turcotte won 3,023 races with lifetime earnings of more than $28 million. He was forced to retire in 1978 when, at 36, he suffered career-ending injuries in a spill at Belmont Park.
Turcotte’s accomplishments earned him a spot in six different Halls of Fame, including the National Racing Hall of Fame in 1979 and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1980. He won the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, presented at Santa Anita, the Avelino Gomez Memorial Award, given in Canada, and the Turf Publicists Big Sport of Turfdom Award.
He spent much of his later years bringing attention to the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund, or PDJF.
Of all his more than 3,000 wins, he will most be remembered for his ride aboard Secretariat winning the Triple Crown and Belmont Stakes by an unheard of 31 lengths.
“I couldn’t hear the announcer all the time, saying how far I was in front,” Turcotte told The Times in 2023, to mark the 50th anniversary of Secretariat winning the Triple Crown. “I knew I was quite a ways in front because I couldn’t hear any other horses hitting the ground behind me. When I got the quarter pole I looked and I could barely see them and I looked at the clock and saw 1:59 on the board, which was faster than we ran the Derby.”
The family plans a private funeral and asks that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the PDJF. Turcotte is survived by his wife of almost 60 years, Gaetane, and their four daughters: Tina, Ann, Lynn and Tammy.
Marius Borg Hoiby faces up to 10 years in prison after being charged with 32 criminal offences, including rape.
The son of Norway’s crown princess has been charged with raping four women, domestic violence, assault and other crimes following a yearlong police investigation, according to prosecutors.
Marius Borg Hoiby, 28, son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit and stepson of the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Haakon, is expected to stand trial early next year and could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of the most serious charges, Oslo state attorney Sturla Henriksbo said on Monday.
Hoiby denies the most serious accusations against him but plans to plead guilty to some lesser charges in court when the trial starts, his lawyer Petar Sekulic told the Reuters news agency.
“He does not agree with the claims regarding rape and domestic violence,” Sekulic said of his client.
Hoiby was charged on Monday with 32 criminal offences, including one count of rape with sexual intercourse and three counts of rape without intercourse, some of which he filmed on his telephone, the prosecution said.
Henriksbo estimates the trial could begin in mid-January and take about six weeks.
Princess Ingrid Alexandra, Marius Borg Hoiby, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit attend the celebrations of Princess Ingrid Alexandra’s Official Day at Deichman Museum on June 16, 2022, in Oslo, Norway [File: Rune Hellestad/Getty Images]
Hoiby does not have a royal title and is outside the line of royal succession.
“It is up to the courts to hear this case and to reach a decision,” the royal palace said in a statement.
The prosecutor said Hoiby, as a member of the royal family, would not be treated “more lightly or more severely” than anyone else in similar circumstances.
Domestic abuse
Police in November last year held Hoiby in detention for one week as part of the investigation.
In August of last year, Hoiby was named as a suspect of physical assault against a woman with whom he had been in a relationship – the only victim identified by the prosecution, Nora Haukland.
“The violence consisted, among other things, of him repeatedly hitting her in the face, including with a clenched fist, choking her, kicking her and grabbing her hard,” the prosecutor said.
Hoiby, in a statement to the media at the time, admitted to causing bodily harm to the woman while he was under the influence of cocaine and alcohol and of damaging her apartment. He had stated then that he regretted his actions.
According to media reports, he spent time with gang members, Hells Angels bikers and members of Oslo’s Albanian mafia. In 2023, police contacted him to discuss his hangouts with “notorious criminals”.
It emerged last year that Hoiby had already been arrested in 2017 for using cocaine at a music festival.
Aug. 17 (UPI) — A mass shooting at a Brooklyn, N.Y., nightclub left three people dead and nine others hospitalized, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Sunday.
The shooting happened at the Taste of the City lounge in the Crown Heights neighborhood around 3:30 a.m. on Sunday. Three men, ages 19, 27 and 35, died from gunshot wounds, the youngest at the scene. Those injured ranged in age from 19 to 61.
In a news conference about the shooting, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said nine people were being treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
She said the shooting appears to be gang related. There were up to four shooters involved, though no arrests were made as of midday Sunday.
Police recovered one firearm nearby and are investigating whether it was involved in the shooting. Tisch said 42 shell casings from 9 mm and 45-caliber firearms were recovered from the scene of the shooting.
Adams called on the public to come forward with information about the shooting.
“If you were inside the club, if you heard individuals talking about shooting, if you witnessed something fleeting the location, every piece of information would allow us to put the puzzle together to solve this crime,” he said.
SHAUN MURPHY has given his verdict on where the glamorous Saudi Arabia Masters ranks among snooker’s top tournaments.
He claims that the tournament is still far behind the game’s triple crown events, the traditional peak of the Snooker calendar.
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Shaun Murphy has revealed that he is not convinced that the Saudi Arabia Masters competes with triple crown events in prestigeCredit: Getty
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The English snooker player, who has won a triple crown himself, feels that the huge prize money alone still leaves the competition far below the sport’s premier competitionsCredit: Getty
The Saudi event offers some of the sport’s biggest prize pots, with the top players in the world competing for a total prize pool of over £2.3million.
Despite the money being comparable to the prizes on offer in the Snooker World Championships, Murphy feels that the event cannot hold a candle to its more prestigious counterparts.
He told Metro: “I’ve still got one foot in the history camp.
“I still think the history and the legacy of the existing three majors, the Triple Crown events, I think they’re stand alone events.
“This event obviously rivals the World Championship in terms of prize money and it’s a 10-year deal, so it’s got the potential to become in great standing.
“But at the moment, for me, the other three would still be ahead of this one, despite the prize money.”
The winner of the Saudi event will pocket a hefty £500,000 prize, the same on offer at the World Championships.
There is even a £50,000 bounty for any player who manages a 147 break at the tournament, meaning the potential prizes are also very attractive to lower ranked players hoping to pull off a miracle.
But the 43-year-old says that money can only bring the tournament so far when trying to compete with the game’s most established events.
“You can’t buy legacy. The prize money here is massive and we’re all enjoying competing and somebody is going to walk away with £500,000 this week, it’s an amazing opportunity and we’re all very grateful for it.
SHAUN MURPHY Life outside snooker – bullying, religion, golf and music
“But the legacy and how special the Triple Crown events are, you can’t buy that.
“For me, those events are head and shoulders above everything else.”
There are few more qualified to speak on the prestige that comes with the triple crown events, with ‘The Magician’ having won all three, including a World Championship title in 2005.
List of all-time Snooker World Champions
BELOW is a list of snooker World Champions by year.
The record is for the modern era, widely considered as dating from the 1968-69 season, when the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) took control of the sport.
The first World Championships ran from 1927 – with a break from 1941-45 because of World War II and 1958-63 because of a dispute in the sport.
Joe Davis (15), Fred Davis and John Pulman (both 8) were the most successful players during that period.
Ronnie O’Sullivan plays today for a spot in the quarter-finals, while world number one and defending champion Judd Trump was stunned on Tuesday in his round of 32 bout with 68th ranked Oliver Lines.
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Scottie Scheffler had all the time in the world to celebrate his latest major title. This British Open was never in doubt Sunday as golf’s No. 1 player delivered another dominant performance to win his second major this year and grab the third leg of the career Grand Slam.
Scheffler began with a shot into 10 inches for birdie. One hour into the final round, his lead already was seven shots and got no closer than four the rest of the way at Royal Portrush.
He closed with a 3-under 68 for a four-shot victory, sending him to the U.S. Open next year with a chance to make it a clean sweep of golf’s biggest titles.
Scheffler won the Masters by three shots in 2022 and by four shots last year. He won the PGA Championship by five shots in May. With his first career British Open title in hand, he only needs to win the U.S. Open to complete the career slam.
When he arrived in Northern Ireland, Scheffler shared some extraordinary insight while explaining that celebrating tournament wins doesn’t last but a few minutes before it was on to the next one. He loves the work required to be the best. He thrives on competition. But in terms of fulfillment, he often questions why he wants to win so badly when the thrill of winning is fleeting.
He tapped in for par on the final hole, making it all look so routine. But then he saw his family, thrust both arms into the air, pumped both arms and tossed his cap in the air. That’s what it was all about for the 29-year-old from Texas.
And he gets to keep the silver claret jug for a year.
Rory McIlroy referred to the outcome as “inevitable” when Scheffler built a four-shot lead going into the final round, and it was every bit of that.
Tehran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi visits Saudi Arabia for the first time after Iran’s 12-day war with Israel.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) has met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Jeddah in the first visit by a top Iranian official to the Gulf kingdom after Israel’s war with Tehran.
Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Araghchi’s talks with Prince Mohammed and other Saudi officials on Tuesday were “fruitful”.
The visit after the 12-day intense conflict between Israel and Iran, which saw the United States bomb three Iranian nuclear facilities before mediating a ceasefire, suggests that the war did not derail the rapprochement between Tehran and Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia’s official news agency, SPA, said Araghchi and Prince Mohammed “reviewed bilateral relations and discussed the latest regional developments and the efforts being made in that regard”.
“The Crown Prince expressed the Kingdom’s aspiration that the ceasefire agreement would contribute to creating conditions that promote security and stability in the region, emphasizing the Kingdom’s stance in supporting dialogue through diplomatic means as a path to resolving disputes,” SPA said.
It added that Araghchi expressed his gratitude to the kingdom for “condemning the Israeli aggression”.
The top Iranian diplomat also met with Saudi Minister of Defence Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz and Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.
Israel launched a massive bombardment against Iran on June 13, without direct provocation, killing top military commanders and nuclear scientists as well as hundreds of civilians.
Iran retaliated with missile barrages that left widespread destruction in Israel.
After the US targeted Iran’s nuclear sites, Tehran responded with a missile launch against a US airbase in Qatar. Shortly after that attack, US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between Iran and Israel.
While Arab countries condemned the attack as a violation of Qatar’s sovereignty, Iran appears to be pushing to repair relations with Gulf states.
Ties between Tehran and Riyadh were strained for years over disagreements around regional conflicts and mutual accusations of spreading instability.
But the two countries agreed to restore formal relations as part of a deal brokered by China in 2023, and top Saudi and Iranian officials have been in regular contact.
Before the outbreak of the recent war, Saudi Arabia had welcomed Iran’s nuclear talks with the US, saying it supported efforts to resolve regional and international disputes.
On Monday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said he believed Tehran could resolve its differences with the US through dialogue, but trust would be an issue after the attacks on his country.
In an article published by the Financial Times earlier on Tuesday, Araghchi accused Israel of preferring conflict over diplomacy.
“Iran remains interested in diplomacy, but we have good reason to have doubts about further dialogue,” he wrote. “If there is a desire to resolve this amicably, the US should show genuine readiness for an equitable accord.”
Hours before a ceasefire took effect between Israel and Iran on June 24, the son of Iran’s last shah, Reza Pahlavi, held a televised news conference in the French capital, Paris.
Dressed in a grey suit and blue tie with his hair combed back, the 64-year-old exiled (and self-styled) crown prince of the monarchy that Iranians overthrew in 1979 urged the United States not to give Iran’s government a “lifeline” by restarting diplomatic talks on its nuclear programme.
Pahlavi insisted that Iran’s Islamic Republic was collapsing. “This is our Berlin Wall moment,” he said, calling for ordinary Iranians to seize the opportunity afforded by Israel’s war and take to the streets, and for defections from the military and security forces.
But the mass protests Pahlavi encouraged never materialised.
Instead, many Iranians – including those opposed to the government – rallied around the flag in a moment of attack by a foreign force. It appears that Pahlavi, who said in his Paris speech that he was ready to replace Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and lead Iranians down a “road of peace and democratic transition”, had misread the room.
While he was willing to align with Israel in achieving what he perceives to be the greater goal of overthrowing the Islamic Republic, the majority of his compatriots were not.
If anything, Pahlavi may have squandered the little support he once had by choosing not to condemn Israel’s heavy bombardment of Iran, which killed more than 935 people, including many civilians, said Trita Parsi, an expert on Iran and the author of Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and the United States.
“He has – in my estimation – destroyed much of the brand name [of the shah] … by going on TV and making excuses for Israel when it was targeting our apartment buildings and killing civilians,” he told Al Jazeera.
Pahlavi’s office did not respond to requests for comment from Al Jazeera.
A man holds an Iranian flag by an Iranian Red Crescent ambulance that was destroyed during an Israeli strike, displayed in Tehran [File: Atta Kenare/AFP]
Generational appeal
The level of support for Pahlavi is disputed, but many experts doubt it is extensive.
Still, what support he does have – particularly in the Iranian diaspora – often emanates from opposition to the Islamic Republic and nostalgia for the monarchy that predated it.
Yasmine*, a British-Iranian in her late 20s, said that members of her own family support Pahlavi for the symbolism of the pre-Islamic Republic era that he represents, as opposed to what he may actually stand for, adding that she believed that he lacked a clear political vision.
“He really symbolises what Iran was [a government that was secular and pro-West] prior to the Islamic Republic, and that’s what those who are asking for Reza Pahlavi want back,” she told Al Jazeera.
Her aunt, Yasna*, 64, left Iran just months before the 1979 revolution to attend university in the United Kingdom. While she supports Pahlavi for the reasons her niece mentioned, she also believes Iran will no longer be a pariah to the West if he returned to rule Iran.
“He’s somebody from my generation, and I have a clear memory of growing up in the days under the shah … he’s also so friendly with America, Europe and Israel, and we need somebody like that [in Iran],” Yasna said.
Analysts explained to Al Jazeera that the lack of a prominent alternative to Pahlavi – due to the Iranian government’s crackdown on political opposition – was part of Pahlavi’s appeal.
They also pointed out that support for Pahlavi is tied to the distorted memory that some have of his grandfather, Reza Khan, and his father, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Reza Khan was widely credited with creating an ethno-centralised state that curtailed the power of the religious clergy and violently cracked down on opponents and minorities. That repression continued under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
However, Yasna speaks fondly of the Pahlavi family and hopes Reza Pahlavi can soon carve out his own legacy.
“Reza’s grandfather brought security to the country, and his father helped us move forward. I now think Reza can unite us again,” she said.
Family history
The Pahlavis were not a dynasty with a long and storied past. Reza Khan was a military officer who seized power in the 1920s, before being replaced by Mohammad Reza in 1941.
Foreign powers had a role to play in that, as they did in 1953, when the US and the UK engineered a coup against Iran’s then-elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, who had nationalised the assets of the Anglo-Persian oil company, now known as BP, in April 1951.
“The British thought it was their oil,” explained Assal Rad, a historian of Iran and the author of State of Resistance: Politics, Identity and Culture in Modern Iran.
“They had no recognition of the colonial past that allowed them to forcefully take the resource, nor recognition of Iran’s right to take the resource for itself,” she told Al Jazeera.
Prior to the coup, Rad explained that the shah was engaged in a power struggle with Mosaddegh, who openly criticised the shah for violating the constitution. The former wanted to maintain his control, especially over the military, while the latter was trying to mould Iran into a constitutional democracy with popular support.
The coup against Mosaddegh was ultimately successful, leading to another 26 years of progressively more repressive Pahlavi rule.
According to a 1976 report by Amnesty International, the shah’s feared intelligence agency (SAVAK) often beat political prisoners with electric cables, sodomised them and ripped off their finger and toenails to extract false confessions.
“At the end of the day, the shah’s regime was a brutal dictatorship and non-democracy,” Parsi told Al Jazeera.
Economic inequality between the rich urban classes and the rural poor also grew under the shah, according to a 2019 Brookings Institute report by Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, an economist at Virginia Tech University.
And yet, the shah appeared detached from the plight of his own people throughout his reign. Rad referenced a lavish party that the shah threw in 1971 to celebrate 2,500 years of the Persian Empire.
The luxurious party brought together foreign dignitaries from across the world, even as many Iranians struggled to make ends meet, highlighting the country’s economic disparities.
“He was celebrating Iran with nothing Iranian and no Iranians invited nor involved, and he even had student protesters arrested beforehand because he didn’t want incidents to occur while he was doing this,” Rad said. “The party was one of these monumental moments that led to the disconnect between him and his own people.”
The former shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlevi, during a news conference in the house of the former Panamanian ambassador in Washington, Gabriel Lewis [File: Getty Images].
Coupled with state repression and rising poverty, the Persian Empire celebration was one of the factors that eventually led to the 1979 revolution.
Reza Pahlavi was in the US when the revolution erupted, training to be a fighter pilot.
He was just 17 years old and has never returned to Iran since. Instead, a life in exile began, with the ultimate goal always remaining a return to his home country – and power.
As the eldest of the shah’s two sons, loyalists to the monarchy recognised Reza Pahlavi as heir apparent after his father passed away from cancer in 1980.
He has since spent the majority of his life in the US, mostly in the suburbs of Washington, DC.
Initially focused on restoring the monarchy, Pahlavi has shifted his rhetoric in the last two decades to focus more on the idea of a secular democracy in Iran. He has said he does not seek power, and would only assume the throne if asked to do so by the Iranian people.
Opposition outreach
Pahlavi’s attempt to broaden his appeal came as he also reached out to other opponents of the Iranian government.
Some have outright refused to work with him, citing his royal background. And others who have worked with him have quickly distanced themselves.
One of the most important examples of this was the Alliance for Democracy and Freedom in Iran, formed in 2023, in the wake of antigovernment protests that began the previous year.
As well as Pahlavi, the coalition included Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, women’s rights activist Masih Alinejad, human rights activist and actress Nazanin Boniadi, former footballer Ali Karimi, and the author Hamed Esmaeilion.
But problems emerged from the very meeting organised to form the coalition in February 2023.
According to Parsi and Sina Toossi, an expert on Iran with the Center for International Policy (CIP), Pahlavi rejected any proposal to collaborate with the other attendees at the meeting in Washington, DC’s Georgetown University, either by agreeing to make decisions based on a shared consensus or through some kind of majority vote.
He instead wanted all attendees to defer and rally behind him as a leader of the opposition.
Another issue that followed the Georgetown meeting was the behaviour of Pahlavi’s supporters, many of whom were against anyone associated with left-wing politics, and defenders of the actions of the shah’s regime.
“The monarchists [his supporters] were upset that Reza was put on par with these other people [at the meeting],” said Toossi.
The coalition soon collapsed, with Esmaeilion referring to “undemocratic methods” in what many perceived to be criticism of Pahlavi.
Israeli connections
Two months after the Georgetown meeting, and as the newly formed alliance quickly collapsed, Pahlavi made a choreographed visit to Israel with his wife Yasmine.
As Al Jazeera previously reported, the visit was arranged by Pahlavi’s official adviser Amir Temadi, and Saeed Ghasseminejad, who works at the US right-wing think tank the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), which frequently publishes analyses that call on the US to use military force to deter Iran’s regional influence and nuclear programme.
During the visit, Pahlavi and his wife took a photo with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara.
Yasmine and I were very pleased to meet with @IsraeliPM and Sara @netanyahu. We expressed appreciation for Israel’s continued support for the Iranian people’s democratic aspirations and emphasized that, as the children of Cyrus the Great, Iranians aspire to have a government that… pic.twitter.com/lInuy4lwdC
The trip highlighted Pahlavi’s close ties to Israel, a relationship that had been cultivated for years, even if it was less publicly acknowledged initially.
During George W Bush’s first term as US president in the early 2000s, Pahlavi approached the powerful American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) – a powerful lobby – to speak at their annual conference, according to Parsi.
The offer was rejected, with AIPAC members explaining that he would hurt his own brand as an Iranian nationalist if he were to speak at their annual conference, Parsi explained.
“AIPAC had told him that perhaps it wasn’t a good idea because it could delegitimise him, which tells you something about how disconnected [Pahlavi] was from the realities of the Iranian diaspora,” he told Al Jazeera.
But, about 10 years ago, during US President Donald Trump’s first term, Pahlavi also began to surround himself with advisers who have long called for closer ties between Iran and Israel and for the US to continue its “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign against Iran’s government, according to Toossi.
Trump’s maximum pressure campaign hurt common people more than the Iranian government. It resulted in sharp inflation and major depreciation of its currency, making it difficult for many Iranians to afford basic commodities and life-saving medications, according to Human Rights Watch.
According to Toossi, Pahlavi appeared somewhat aware of the economic hardships brought on by sanctions, which may explain why he supported US President Barack Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015.
The JCPOA ensured global monitoring of Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for much-needed sanctions relief.
However, Pahlavi quickly began to align with Trump when he came to power the following year, Toossi said. Trump scorned the JCPOA and finally pulled out in 2018 before beginning his maximum pressure policy.
The disconnect between Pahlavi and regular Iranians over this issue could also be seen in his actions during the 2023 trip to Israel.
Pahlavi made a well-publicised trip to the Western Wall, in occupied East Jerusalem, which holds considerable religious significance for Jewish people across the world.
The vast majority of Iranians are still Shia Muslims – even if many are secular– and Pahlavi did not visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. The Western Wall is part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound’s exterior wall.
Muslim worshippers gather next to the Dome of the Rock shrine at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, June 6, 2025 [Mahmoud Illean/AP Photo]
Out of touch
In hindsight, the 2023 trip to Israel and Pahlavi’s apparent friendly relations with Israeli officials have damaged his reputation, said Toossi.
“In short … what’s been going on with the Iran monarchy movement is a very clear, evident and above-the-table alliance with Israel,” he told Al Jazeera.
“He was really the only opposition figure that was supportive of [Israel’s war],” he added.
According to Barbara Slavin, an expert on Iran and a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Centre in Washington, DC, Pahlavi’s rhetoric was “counterproductive” during the 12-day war.
Slavin said Pahlavi has largely been disconnected from the feelings and perspectives inside Iran because he simply has not been there since he was a teenager, and his failure to condemn Israel’s bombardment of civilians has turned a lot of people off.
“After all the civilians Israel killed, [his relationship with Israel] really has a bad smell,” she told Al Jazeera.
Parsi agrees and adds that he doesn’t think Israel truly believes that Pahlavi can one day rule the country due to his lack of popular support both in and outside of Iran.
Parsi believes Israel is simply exploiting his brand to legitimise its own hostility towards Iran.
“He is … useful for the Israelis to parade around because it gives them a veneer of legitimacy for their own war of aggression against Iran” during the fighting, he said.
“[Israel] can point to [Pahlavi] and say, ‘Look. Iranians want to be bombed.’” Parsi said.
But that is a turn-off for many Iranians, including those against the government.
Yasmine, the British-Iranian, is one of them.
Pahlavi, in her view, was not charismatic and had cemented his unpopularity among Iranians, both inside Iran and outside, with his call for Iranians to take to the streets as Israel attacked Iran.
“He was asking Iranians to rise up against the government so that he will come [to take over],” Yasmine said. “He was basically asking Iranians to do his dirty work.”
*Some names have been changed to protect the safety of interviewees
When it comes to vaccines, virtually nothing that comes out of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s mouth is true.
The man in charge of the nation’s health and well being is impervious to science, expertise and knowledge. His brand of arrogance is not just dangerous, it is lethal. Undermining trust in vaccines, he will have the blood of children around the world on his hands.
Scratch that.
He already does, as he presides over the second largest measles outbreak in this country since the disease was declared “eliminated” a quarter century ago.
“Vaccines have become a divisive issue in American politics,” Kennedy wrote the other day in a Wall Street Journal essay, “but there is one thing all parties can agree on: The U.S. faces a crisis of public trust.”
The lack of self-awareness would be funny if it weren’t so tragic.
Over the past two decades or so, Kennedy has done more than almost any other American to destroy the public’s trust in vaccines and science. And now he’s bemoaning the very thing he has helped cause.
Earlier this month, Kennedy fired the 17 medical and public health experts of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — qualified doctors and public health experts — and replaced them with a group of (mostly) anti-vaxxers in order to pursue his relentless, ascientific crusade.
On Thursday, at its first meeting, his newly reconstituted council voted to ban the preservative thimerosal from the few remaining vaccines that contain it, despite many studies showing that thimerosal is safe. On that point, even the Food and Drug Administration website is blunt: “A robust body of peer-reviewed scientific studies conducted in the U.S. and other countries support the safety of thimerosal-containing vaccines.”
“If you searched the world wide, you could not find a less suitable person to be leading healthcare efforts in the United States or the world,” psychiatrist Allen Frances told NPR on Thursday. Frances, who chaired the task force that changed how the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, defines autism, published an essay in the New York Times on Monday explaining why the incidence of autism has increased but is neither an epidemic nor related to vaccines.
“The rapid rise in autism cases is not because of vaccines or environmental toxins,” Frances wrote, “but is rather the result of changes in the way that autism is defined and assessed — changes that I helped put into place.”
But Kennedy is not one to let the facts stand in the way of his cockamamie theories. Manufacturers long ago removed thimerosal from childhood vaccines because of unfounded fears it contained mercury that could accumulate in the brain and unfounded fears about a relationship between mercury and autism.
That did not stop one of Kennedy’s new council members, Lyn Redwood, who once led Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy, from declaring a victory for children.
“Removing a known neurotoxin from being injected into our most vulnerable population is a good place to start with making America healthy again,” Redwood told the committee.
Autism rates, by the way, have continued to climb despite the thimerosal ban. But fear not, gullible Americans, Kennedy has promised to pinpoint a cause for the complex condition by September!
Like his boss, Kennedy just makes stuff up.
On Wednesday, he halted a $1-billion American commitment to Gavi, an organization that provides vaccines to millions of children around the world, wrongly accusing the group of failing to investigate adverse reactions to the diptheria vaccine.
“This is utterly disastrous for children around the world and for public health,” Atul Gawande, a surgeon who worked in the Biden administration, told the New York Times.
Unilaterally, and contrary to the evidence, Kennedy decided to abandon the CDC recommendation that healthy pregnant women receive COVID vaccines. But an unvaccinated pregnant woman’s COVID infection can lead to serious health problems for her newborn. In fact, a study last year found that babies born to such mothers had “unusually high rates” of respiratory distress at or just after birth. According to the CDC, nearly 90% of babies who were hospitalized for COVID-19 had unvaccinated mothers. Also, vaccinated moms can pass protective antibodies to their fetuses, who will not be able to get a COVID shot until they are 6 months old.
What else? Oh yes: Kennedy once told podcaster Joe Rogan that the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic was “vaccine-induced flu” even though no flu vaccine existed at the time.
He also told Rogan that a 2003 study by physician scientist Michael Pichichero, an expert on the use of thimerosal in vaccines, involved feeding babies 6 months old and younger mercury-contaminated tuna sandwiches, and that 64 days later, the mercury was still in their system. “Who would do that?” Kennedy demanded.
Well, no one.
In the study, 40 babies were injected with vaccines containing thimerosal, while a control group of 21 babies got shots that did not contain the preservative. None was fed tuna. Ethylmercury, the form of mercury in thimerosal, the researchers concluded, “seems to be eliminated from blood rapidly via the stools.” (BTW, the mercury found in fish is methylmercury, a different chemical, which can damage the brain and nervous system. In a 2012 deposition for his divorce, which was revealed last year, Kennedy said he suffered memory loss and brain fog from mercury poisoning caused by eating too much tuna fish. He also revealed he has a dead worm in his brain.)
Kennedy’s tuna sandwich anecdote on Rogan’s podcast was “a ChatGPT-level of hallucination,” said Morgan McSweeney, a.k.a. “Dr. Noc,” a scientist with a doctorate in pharmaceutical sciences, focusing on immunology and antibodies. McSweeney debunks the idiotic medical claims of non-scientists like Kennedy in his popular social media videos.
Speaking of AI hallucinations, on Tuesday, at a congressional committee hearing, Kennedy was questioned about inaccuracies, misinformation and made up research and citations for nonexistent studies in the first report from his Make America Healthy Again Commission.
The report focused on how American children are being harmed by their poor diets, exposure to environmental toxins and, predictably, over-vaccination. It was immediately savaged by experts. “This is not an evidence-based report, and for all practical purposes, it should be junked at this point,” Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Assn. told the Washington Post.
If Kennedy was sincere about improving the health of American children he would focus on combating real scourges like gun violence, drug overdoses, depression, poverty and lack of access to preventive healthcare. He would be fighting the proposed cuts to Medicaid tooth and nail.
Do you suppose he even knows that over the past 50 years, the lives of an estimated 154 million children have been saved by vaccines?
After Gareth Southgate resigned from the role of senior team boss following Euro 2024, Carsley had a six-game spell in charge of the Three Lions, winning five matches and losing one and guiding England back to the top tier of the Nations League.
He is now back at under-21 level and recently signed a new deal with the Football Association that lasts until 2027.
“It’s important I just do a good job, I’m just trying to do it again [win the Euros],” said Carsley. “The priority is the Euros and I won’t be taking my eye off of that.
“Hopefully we’ll be good to watch. That’s what you want. You want people back home watching the next generation of England players and being excited by it.”
There are 16 nations in the tournament in Slovakia, with England placed in Group B, along with Czech Republic, Germany and Slovenia, with the top two from each section moving into the quarter-finals.
Carsley’s 23-man squad includes Newcastle full-back Tino Livramento, who has one cap for the senior side, along with plenty of players with Premier League experience, including Liverpool’s title-winning duo Jarell Quansah and Harvey Elliott.
Other players named include Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson, Tottenham’s Archie Gray, Brighton’s Jack Hinshelwood, Bournemouth’s Alex Scott, Manchester City’s James McAtee and Ipswich’s Omari Hutchinson.
Arsenal winger Ethan Nwaneri, at 18, is the youngest player in the England squad after a breakthrough season for the Gunners, which saw him score nine goals in all competitions.
West Bromwich Albion forward Tom Fellows is a late addition to the squad, replacing Jobe Bellingham, who has been included in Borussia Dortmund’s squad for the Fifa Club World Cup after joining the German club from Sunderland earlier this week.
Fellows had travelled to Slovakia as an additional training player.
Goalkeepers: James Beadle (Brighton), Teddy Sharman-Lowe (Chelsea), Tommy Simkin (Stoke).
Defenders: Charlie Cresswell (Toulouse), Ronnie Edwards (Southampton), CJ Egan-Riley (Burnley), Tino Livramento (Newcastle), Brooke Norton Cuffy (Genoa), Jarell Quansah (Liverpool).
Midfielders: Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest), Archie Gray (Tottenham), Hayden Hackney (Middlesbrough), Jack Hinshelwood (Brighton), Tyler Morton (Liverpool), Alex Scott (Bournemouth).
Forwards: Harvey Elliott (Liverpool), Tom Fellows (West Bromwich Albion), Omari Hutchinson (Ipswich), Sam Iling Jnr (Aston Villa), James McAtee (Manchester City), Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal), Jonathan Rowe (Marseille), Jay Stansfield (Birmingham).
Ruben Neves scores winning penalty kick as Portugal defeat Spain 5-3 in a shootout to win the Nations League title.
Cristiano Ronaldo was in tears as Portugal picked up their second Nations League title by beating holders Spain 5-3 on penalties following a thrilling 2-2 draw in the final.
Ronaldo’s 138th international goal took the final on Sunday to a shootout, with Alvaro Morata’s miss proving costly for Spain as Ruben Neves struck the winning spot kick to spark wild scenes of celebration, with emotion overwhelming the veteran captain.
Spain’s exhilarating 5-4 victory over France in Thursday’s semifinal ensured Luis de la Fuente’s side had continued an unbeaten run that stretched back to March 2023 coming into Sunday’s showpiece final in Munich.
They appeared on course for yet another trophy, on the back last year’s European Championship triumph, as Martin Zubimendi tapped home his second international goal in the 21st minute.
The holders’ lead did not last long, however, as flying Portugal full-back Nuno Mendes slotted home the equaliser after good work from Ronaldo in the build up.
A sublime pass from midfielder Pedri helped Mikel Oyarzabal, who netted the winner against England in last year’s European Championship final, restored Spain’s lead before the break.
The tussle between the Iberian neighbours was billed as a clash between old and new – 40-year-old and five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo and Spain’s teenage sensation Lamine Yamal.
While Yamal, among the favourites to take home one of the most prestigious individual awards this year, struggled to make inroads, Ronaldo pounced on his chance, firing Portugal level from close range just past the hour mark.
Ronaldo went off injured late on and neither side could find a winner in extra time, with the game going to a shootout and Portugal netting all five of their penalties to claim the trophy.
Earlier on Sunday, Kylian Mbappe led France to third place with a 2-0 win over host nation Germany in Stuttgart.
The Real Madrid star scored one goal and set up the other for Michael Olise as France recovered from a lethargic first half.
Normally, the running of the Belmont Stakes without a chance at a Triple Crown winner makes the third leg of the series about as interesting as a television procedural — the Chicagos, FBIs or Law & Orders — in the last two minutes after the culprit has been identified and prosecuted.
But not this year. The 157th running of the Belmont Stakes has about as many plot lines as a season of “The White Lotus.” It’s easily the best race of the year, and, yes, that includes the Kentucky Derby.
You’ve got your villain in Sovereignty, who kicked racing tradition in the teeth after winning the Kentucky Derby when his connections refused to enter him in the Preakness Stakes because of the short time frame — two weeks — between the first two legs of the Triple Crown. It killed any opportunity racing had to build a new fan base revolving around the Derby and a possible Triple Crown winner.
You’ve got your fresh-faced wannabe in Rodriguez, whose last race was a win in the Wood Memorial. He was scheduled to run in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, but a sore hoof forced him to withdraw from both races. His early speed and front-running ability likely means he’ll be on the lead as the horses head down the backstretch. Add to that the fact that he is trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Mike Smith, both Hall of Famers who know how to get a horse from gate to wire in winning form.
And finally, you’ve got a wiseguy (professional gamblers) horse in Baeza, whose talent far exceeds his early results. He finished a strong third in the Kentucky Derby and second in the Santa Anita Derby behind Journalism. He is also trying to find a place in history for his mom, Puca, who has produced Kentucky Derby winner Mage and last year’s Belmont winner in Dornoch. If Baeza were to win, he would be the first horse who has a dam who has won three Classic races. That’s a record.
And that’s just half of the eight-horse field.
Whoever finishes first, the victory is likely to be remembered as having an asterisk next to it. The Belmont Stakes, considered the test of champions because of its normal 1 1/2-mile distance, is being run at the less interesting distance of 1 1/4 miles. The reason is the race has been moved from Long Island’s Belmont Park to Saratoga Race Track in Saratoga Springs, a suburb of the New York state capital of Albany, because of a massive rebuild at Belmont Park.
The reason the race was shortened is because to have a 1 1/2-mile race at Saratoga, the horses would have to start on a turn, something the organizers didn’t want to happen.
The starting positions add little clarity as to who might win. Sovereignty (post 2, 2-1 on morning line) should have no problem getting early running room, especially with Rodriguez on his immediate outside. Rodriguez (post 3, 6-1) and Crudo (post 5, 15-1) are expected to battle for the lead early. Crudo’s last win was his last outing with a 7 1/4-length win in the Sir Barton Stakes at Pimlico.
Journalism will be breaking from post 7 at 8-5 morning line odds.
“He’s been kind of the same horse since July of last summer,” Michael McCarthy, trainer of Journalism, told NYRA publicity. “He does everything you ask a good horse to do — eats well, trains well, packs well. I thought the last six or seven weeks here, his energy has been the same throughout. Obviously, Saratoga is very good for horses. He seems reenergized up here. I’m looking forward to a wonderful renewal of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday.”
If either Journalism or Sovereignty wins, they will be the first repeat winner of a Classic race since Justify in 2018, who won all three Triple Crown races. Since then, no horse has won more than one Classic race, making it a 21-race streak. Of course, Triple Crown races are only for 3-year-olds meaning trainers start every year fresh trying to find prospective winners.
Racing is in desperate need of stars and the chase for the Triple Crown is one way of getting them. It’s why there was such consternation when trainer Bill Mott and owner Godolphin, decided to skip the Preakness Stakes.
“You never know until they actually do it in a race,” said Michael Banahan, who heads Godolphin in the U.S. “He always gave us that indication that he’d like to go long. And we thought the Derby as well and then finished up, from the top of the stretch to the wire in very good fashion and galloped all the way through the wire.
Crudo is a 15-1 longshot to win the Belmont Stakes, which features an eight-horse field.
(Seth Wenig / Associated Press)
“So, I’m with the Belmont this year at Saratoga. He just has to do the same distance again. So, I would anticipate that’ll be fine for him. I suppose if it were a regular Belmont at Belmont Park, that’ll be another question to answer going that far. It certainly looks like a mile-and-a-quarter was well [within] his wheelhouse in the Derby and anticipate that it shouldn’t be any issue at Saratoga as well.”
The horse that is poised to pull the upset is Baeza, who has only won one race, a maiden at Santa Anita. His second-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby would have normally been enough to get him in the Kentucky Derby. But Churchill Downs, in an obvious attack at West Coast races, lowered the point total because of a small field.
Trainer John Shirreffs did not want to bring the horse to Churchill Downs, hoping there were enough scratches to get him in the race. Shirreffs was overruled by the owners so he stood on the backside at Barn 41 while hoping for an entry to the world’s most famous race. The reprieve, and entry, came when Rodriguez was scratched because of a sore hoof.
Baeza more than proved his entry into the Derby with a strong third-place finish.
“I think Baeza, week by week, he’s developed a little bit more,” said Shirreffs. “He’s developed a little bit more. I see him, maybe, a little bit taller, a little ‘stretchier’ He seems to be holding his weight really well. And you can really get an image of him now is what he’ll look like as a 4-year-old. So, you’re starting to see him emerge.”
The most likely scenario is the winner of the Belmont Stakes will come from the four most prominent horses. It’s more than possible that the 21-race streak without a repeat winner will be over.
Alyssa Lee of El Camino Real has achieved something few volleyball coaches can claim.
With El Camino Real’s boys team winning the City Section Open Division championship on Saturday after an upset over No. 1-seeded Venice, Lee has won City titles coaching El Camino Real’s boys, girls and beach volleyball teams, the Triple Crown of volleyball coaching.
“That’s very impressive,” said Granada Hills coach Tom Harp, who had Lee on his girls’ team when she graduated in 2009.
Harp, a future Hall of Fame coach in the City Section, said Lee is calm and comfortable on the bench and knows strategy well.
The CIF Southern California tennis championships will be held Friday and Saturday at Claremont Club. Here’s the bracket…
Southern Section golf team championships are set for Monday and Tuesday. The individual championship will be Thursday. The City Section championships are Wednesday at Harding Golf Course.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].
BALTIMORE — Horse racing’s biggest prize is winning the three legs of the Triple Crown — the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes. Three races in five weeks. It’s difficult, which is why only 13 horses have done it in more than a century.
It probably goes without saying that to achieve that goal, a horse actually has to run in all three races. And therein lies the rub.
For the third time in seven years, the winner of the Kentucky Derby is not running in the Preakness Stakes. Many in racing believe that horses aren’t trained, or even bred, to come back and race on two weeks’ rest. Others say it’s not that big of a deal to come back so quickly.
Horse racing embraces change about as well as giving your dog or cat a pill. It can be done, but it sure isn’t easy.
Aidan Butler, the president of 1/ST Racing, which owned Pimlico Race Course at the time, stirred the discussion two years ago when he suggested racing needed to look at the spacing between the Triple Crown races. He thought the sport would benefit if there was at least one more week between the Derby and Preakness. It would have meant that the Belmont Stakes would also have to move at least a week.
Belinda Stronach, chairman of The Stronach Group, the parent company of 1/ST Racing, even called the New York Racing Assn. (NYRA) to lobby the case for changing the dates. NYRA didn’t bite.
In hindsight, Butler thinks it was a case of bad timing.
“In fairness to NYRA, what and when I was suggesting a change, they were moving [the Belmont Stakes temporarily] to Saratoga,” Butler said. “They changed the distance from 1 ½ miles to 1 ¼ miles. And there was the construction at Belmont Park . That’s a lot to deal with. And we’re asking to change the date. I think it was maybe too much too soon.”
While things quieted in the corporate offices, it remained a hot topic on the backstretch.
Bill Mott, the trainer of this year’s Derby winner Sovereignty, ended the speculation early by saying he was skipping the Preakness on Saturday and pointing to the Belmont. Mott also skipped the Preakness when Country House won the 2019 Derby, although the stated reason was the horse developed a cough.
In 2022, Rich Strike, the longshot winner of the Derby, also skipped the Preakness because of the short turnaround.
Kenny McPeek, trainer of last year’s Derby winner Mystik Dan, said on the Tony Kornheiser podcast that he wishes he would have made a different decision and not gone to the Preakness.
“If I could have a do-over, I wouldn’t have gone last year,” McPeek said. “I think it was a mistake on my part.”
This year only three of the nine Preakness starters ran in the Kentucky Derby: Journalism (2nd), Sandman (7th) and American Promise (16th). The Baltimore Sun surveyed all the Derby horses from 2022 to 2025 and found that only 10 of the 67 horses ran in both the Derby and Preakness. That’s an abysmal 15% participation rate.
Michael McCarthy, trainer of Preakness favorite Journalism, would prefer to keep things the way they are.
“I think it’s demanding and meant to separate the greats,” McCarthy said. “I think it captivates the average observer for the five weeks. Sometimes there’s some great stories involved. This year we’re not going to have [a Triple Crown winner], but we’re still going to have a great Triple Crown series.
“Obviously, with the Belmont going to Saratoga last year and this year, it makes for a little bit of a different kind of a series. … I’m a bit of a traditionalist in that way, but I think three races in five weeks is good.”
Wayne Lukas, who trains American Promise, has been around racing longer than anyone. The 89-year-old has won the Preakness seven times, including last year with Seize the Grey.
“I’ve been pushing for a change in that tradition for 20 years,” Lukas said. “But then Bob Baffert comes up and wins [the Triple Crown] twice. So that silenced everybody pretty much.
“I thought that we could run the first Saturday in May and then run the Preakness on Memorial Day weekend … when everybody’s off work and then run the Belmont on the Fourth of July. But in order to get that done, you got to have three race tracks agree. And that’s really difficult.”
Baffert, who won the Triple Crown with American Pharoah and Justify and is running Goal Oriented in the Preakness, chooses to play Switzerland in this discussion.
“I don’t get involved in that conversation because I’ll do whatever [they want],” Baffert said. “We should just take it to Santa Anita for one year. Bring it out there. Don’t need your raincoats. Get a tan while you’re out there.”
Trainer Mark Casse, who has Sandman in the Preakness, has changed his mind on the topic.
“For a long time, I’ve said ‘No, I like the two weeks,” Casse said. “It’s not supposed to be easy. One of the things that drives me crazy is when people say, ‘Well, this is the way we’ve always done it.’ I believe that the world gets smarter every day, and if you stand still, you get run over.
“I think if we’re going to continue losing Kentucky Derby winners because of the two weeks, then I think we got to really seriously look at making it maybe a month and a month.”
Butler brought up another theory as to why fewer horses run the first two legs of the Triple Crown.
“There’s a lot of opportunities for 3-year-olds,” Butler said. “When the Triple Crown was the Triple Crown back in the day, that was it for big money races and you wanted to be there. That’s why you had a lot of the Derby horses running back to run for the money. Now, there are so many other opportunities, and two weeks doesn’t fit in.”
The Preakness is considered the easiest of the three races to win. It has a field about half the size of the Derby, which is considered the most difficult of the three to win. It also is 1/16 of a mile shorter than the Derby and 5/16th of a mile shorter than a traditional Belmont Stakes.
Doug O’Neill, when he was campaigning Derby winner Nyquist in 2016, might have offered the best explanation of why running the Preakness two weeks after the Derby is a good idea.
“You’re coming back so quick [after two weeks], you don’t have time to screw them up,” O’Neill said.
The topic likely will remain quiet for 50 weeks until the connections of next year’s Kentucky Derby winner decide to go to Baltimore or wait for New York.
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