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June 8 (Asia Today) — A protest blockade outside a vote-counting site in Seoul’s Jamsil area entered its fourth day Monday, as demonstrators demanding a revote over a ballot shortage during the June 3 local elections increasingly raised claims of election fraud.

Until the weekend, protesters had mostly focused on voting rights and calls for a revote. By Monday, however, the atmosphere outside the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium in Songpa District had shifted, with chants of “election fraud” mixed with demands for a new election.

At about 9 a.m., protesters could be heard chanting “fraudulent election, revote.” South Korean flags were visible throughout the crowd, along with many U.S. flags. Some protesters carried signs reading “Stop the Steal,” a slogan associated with challenges to the 2020 U.S. presidential election results.

One participant who said he had been at the site for four days said the mood began changing Sunday night as the size of the crowd grew and different groups joined the protest.

Police informally estimated that about 1,600 people were gathered near the gymnasium at 11 a.m., down sharply from about 8,000 around midnight. The age makeup also appeared to change. People in their 20s accounted for about 30% of the weekend crowd, while those in their 60s or older made up the largest share Monday morning, at 26.2%.

Tensions also rose among protesters. Some who insisted the crowd should only demand a revote were accused by others of being infiltrators from the Korean University Progressive Union, a left-leaning student group.

A brief scuffle broke out around 10:20 a.m. after six members of South Korea’s under-20 women’s national handball team entered the gymnasium to retrieve equipment stored inside before the World Championship in Shanxi, China, on June 24.

Police asked protesters to allow the athletes to enter. The athletes came out about four minutes later with their equipment, but some protesters tried to inspect the bags, saying ballot papers might be hidden inside. One person even demanded that the athletes remove their socks for inspection.

When another protester tried to stop the inspection, others accused him of being linked to the student group and a brief physical confrontation followed.

Revote seen as unlikely

Legal experts say a revote remains unlikely. Under the Public Official Election Act, a revote would require confirmation of a serious legal violation that could have affected the election result and a court ruling invalidating the election.

Legal observers widely say the ballot shortage may be considered a serious failure in election management, but it would be difficult to treat it immediately as grounds to invalidate the entire election.

The government is also focusing more on determining the facts and punishing those responsible than on discussing a revote.

President Lee Jae Myung expressed regret Sunday over the ballot shortage, saying the people’s right to vote is a constitutional right that must not be restricted or violated for any reason. He ordered a thorough investigation and punishment of those responsible and asked the National Assembly to pursue a parliamentary investigation. He did not comment separately on whether a revote should be held.

A joint investigation team involving prosecutors and police was formed Sunday. The investigation is expected to focus on whether election officials neglected their duties and who should be held responsible for the management failure.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s serious crimes unit said Monday it had secured a group chat room used by election workers and was checking the facts with officials and citizens who were unable to vote because of the ballot shortage.

Political discussions on institutional reform are also continuing. Rep. Han Dong-hoon, an independent lawmaker, said Monday he plans to propose revisions to strengthen outside oversight of the National Election Commission and improve management of election commission employees.

Some lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties have also raised the need for a parliamentary investigation and possible independent counsel probe.

The People Power Party said Monday it will file an election petition, a preliminary step before a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the Seoul mayoral election. The party plans to recruit 63 Seoul residents as joint petitioners by Wednesday and file the petition Thursday.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260608010002643

You can’t own the beach in California. Our shoreline is public — thanks to the Coastal Act and the Coastal Commission — even when everything around it gets expensive and complicated. You can live next to it, monetize it and build a personality around proximity to it, but the wet sand itself belongs to everyone.

Jackie Snow takes a selfie by the new public stairs at Escondido Beach, also known as Hidden Beach.

(Jackie Snow)

In 2024, my colleague Jaclyn Cosgrove walked 27.4 miles of Washington Boulevard in a single day, from Whittier to the ocean. I read it in awe of the shape of it. One street. One day. A city revealed in a straight line.

And then a thought occurred to me, I could do something like that. What if I walked the entire L.A. shoreline? What would happen if I went to the beach and just kept walking along the crest of its waves? Except the shore does not reward this approach. It closes. It opens. Erosion pushes you onto the road and lets you back when it feels like it.

I set out to walk the 75 miles along the Los Angeles coastline anyway. I started at the mouth of the San Gabriel River and worked north toward the Ventura County line, taking 10 trips from the end of November to the second week of January, mostly waiting on tides and weather to cooperate.

Being a surfer helped. I already knew that wet sand means public access in California, that satellite view tells you things the default map doesn’t, and that tides can make or break an outing. For someone wanting to do a similar journey, the California Coastal Trail website is a valuable resource. You can walk long stretches and return back, but I went point to point, which means figuring out how to get back to your car. I usually Ubered, although public transit exists on some stretches. The slickest option is going with a friend who has a car: leave their car at the end, drive yours to the start, and walk. Their car is waiting at the finish to bring you both back to yours. Beyond that, bring more water than you think you need to especially as most stretches have no fountains, no services and no shade. Pack snacks that will sustain you throughout the journey, wear a hat and put on sunscreen, then reapply it. Even on gray, marine-layer days, you’re exposed for hours with nothing overhead.

If you’re inspired by this mega-trek but want to instead do a micro version, I suggest the 5.7 miles from Malibu Pier to Escondido Beach. You can park at one end and take a picturesque bus back where a tasty lunch at the pier’s Malibu Farm awaits at the finish. One last tip I picked up: be nice. People sometimes will give you water, or offer help, wanting to see you get to your destination too.

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1. A red-tailed hawk perched on a coastal access sign along the boardwalk in Long Beach. 2. A bench off the Long Beach boardwalk, near the start of the 75-mile walk. 3. Birdhouses located near the Long Beach boardwalk. (Jackie Snow)

Alamitos Beach to Port of Long Beach: 4.9 miles

I start at the mouth of the San Gabriel River at Alamitos Park at about 10 a.m. on a busy Sunday at the end of November, walking with a friend. The first stretch is a flat, easy boardwalk. We stop at the Long Beach Museum of Art, which sits on the bluffs overlooking the water, and grab lunch at Claire’s, the museum’s outdoor cafe. From there, we walk toward the mouth of the Los Angeles River, passing through the marina, where boats sit quietly and a pirate ship is inexplicably for sale. We don’t make it up the man-made pier to the Queen Mary. Instead, we turn around just short of it, one river book-ending the other.

Looking back toward the marina near the mouth of the Los Angeles River, one river bookending the other.

(Jackie Snow)

Cabrillo Beach to Portuguese Bend Beach Club: 8.7 miles

I park at Cabrillo Beach, along the Port of Los Angeles, around 6:30 a.m. People are already playing ping-pong. Someone is dancing alone on the sand.

I start along the Cabrillo Beach Walking Path, which you enter at the south end of the beach where the sand ends and the bluffs start. In what feels like two seconds, I’m up on the cliffs, which quits partway and dumps me onto the residential streets of Coastal San Pedro, a neighborhood that looks quintessentially California. The houses are probably a few million dollars each, but they’re tidy bungalows, not the kind of aggressive beachfront wealth that makes you feel like you’ve wandered somewhere you’re not supposed to be.

I pass through Point Fermin Park, home to a lighthouse perched above the water. Down below, the beaches are rocky and loud. The waves are being sucked forcefully back out between the rocks, a sound that feels more industrial than oceanic. There’s more neighborhood walking on West Paseo Del Mar, interrupted by a Little Free Library stop where I add a few books to my bag. I hit the San Pedro hike trails, and the coastline turns dramatic, and suddenly I can’t step two feet off the path without risking a fall, but it’s breathtaking in its beauty.

Cabrillo Beach at the Port of Los Angeles, where the second walk began.

(Jackie Snow)

I hit another closed section, this one bordering Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes. Not wanting to end up on a Secret Service list that bars me from flying, I find another way around, on a surprising trail that curves between holes that’s part of the Ocean Trails Reserve. I climb down to the beach and start picking my way along the rocks toward the Portuguese Bend Beach Club, moving slowly and trying not to break my neck. You can definitely skip this part.

A security guard named Gilbert Blair waves me over and explains to me what I already know: I’m allowed to walk on the wet sand, but everything else is private. When I tell him what I’m doing, he starts offering advice, pointing out places on my Google map he thinks are closed because of last year’s heavy rains. This area is some of the shiftiest parts of all of California, with landslides going back all through the geographical record. In 2024, areas were moving 9 to 12 inches a week, although it has slowed down to 1 to 2 inches a week. He tells me the unstable land actually created a new beach, which the coast almost never does. People came from all over to see it, he says, gesturing toward a new form of sand that locals have called “unreal.”

Blair is nice, but not nice enough to wave me off the wet sand and through Portuguese Bend’s private roads so I can call an Uber. I have to backtrack, spending more time than I’d like carefully navigating the rocks. I briefly consider stopping at the nearby Trump National Golf Club to eat and use the bathroom, but I’m hot, sweaty and not in the mood to test my welcome.

The trail descending toward the rocky beaches below Point Fermin, where waves get sucked back out between the rocks with a sound more industrial than oceanic.

(Jackie Snow)

Terranea Beach to Palos Verdes Estates Shoreline Preserve: 5.4 miles

Based on Blair’s advice, I skip a section that isn’t open to the public and probably not safe. I drive Palos Verdes Drive South, a rutted, uneven road that skirts the area and feels vaguely off-roading. I park at Terranea Resort, which charges a fee, but there is also nearby free public parking. I pick the walk back up at the charming tucked-away Terranea Beach. As I head north, the trail climbs. I can see stretches of shoreline closed off, tantalizingly visible with no way to reach them.

I stop at the Point Vicente Interpretive Center, a modest but free museum perched above the water. Several people are gathered outside with binoculars, scanning the horizon. They tell me humpbacks were spotted farther out earlier, feeding. It’s easier to see them on the far side of Catalina, they explain, but they still watch from here, every day, sunrise to sunset, December through May. This is the Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project, run by the American Cetacean Society. Volunteers have been coming here for 43 years, counting whales as they migrate past the point.

The Point Vicente lighthouse, perched above the water where Gray Whale Census volunteers keep watch.

(Jackie Snow)

Volunteers with the Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project scanning the horizon. They’ve been counting whales here for 43 years.

(Jackie Snow)

After I peel myself away from looking for whales, the tides won’t allow me to climb down to Honeymoon Cove. I stay on the cliffs and admire the impressive houses around me. I continue until I round the Palos Verdes Estates cliffs, on Paseo del Mar, and see the long, flat stretch of built-up beaches unfurling ahead, South Bay-style, Malibu faint in the distance.

I’ve only done about 15 miles of my walk and suddenly I see how much more there is to go. I’m hot. I’m tired. I packed bad snacks. The sheer expanse of it, frankly, stresses me out. I had planned to make it to Rat Beach in Palos Verdes Estates, but I call it early.

The small coves that punctuate the Palos Verdes coastline, visible from the cliffs above.

(Jackie Snow)

Palos Verdes Estates Shoreline Preserve to El Porto Beach: 7.9 miles

I start back at Palos Verdes Estates cliffs. A couple of turns in, I come across my first real surf spot of the walk. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a surf break from this high up. The waves look less like waves and more like pulses of energy moving under the skin of the ocean.

When I finally hit Rat Beach and see how flat the coastline stretches ahead, I feel like dropping to my knees and kissing the ground. After days of cliffs and detours, the openness feels generous.

Hermosa Beach is busy with volleyball nets in use at a level that suggests Olympic aspirations. Forty minutes later, I stop at Ercole’s in Manhattan Beach two blocks off the boardwalk and demolish one of its famed burgers. Instead of stopping where I planned, I keep going and end at my familiar surf spot El Porto.

Surfers walking out to the break at El Porto.

(Jackie Snow)

El Porto Beach to Ballona Creek Jetty: 4.8 miles

I’m back at El Porto Beach, this time walking a paved boardwalk through a thick, foggy marine layer with my husband and a friend who’s in town visiting.

Suddenly, my friend realizes he’s dropped his wallet somewhere north of El Segundo. Cue a round of retraced steps and mild panic. An angel named Dr. Gaz finds it, looks up my friend, and bikes it over so we don’t have to retrace any further. The wallet is returned. Our trio survives. We keep walking, stopping at Ballona Creek Jetty.

A dog and his man relaxing on the beach in Marina Del Rey.

(Jackie Snow)

Marina Del Rey to Will Rogers Beach: 7.4 miles

In this classic boardwalk stretch, we eye the muscle men of Muscle Beach, pause for a quiet break at Small World Books in Venice and walk next to skateboarders (including one dressed as a Santa) in Santa Monica, before ending at Will Rogers State Beach.

The rocks and tide pools just past Malibu Lagoon, where the king tide pulled the water back farther than usual.

(Jackie Snow)

Will Rogers Beach to Malibu Pier: 7.7 miles

I do this stretch with my husband on New Year’s Day, parking at Will Rogers Beach Lot Three and timing it to a king tide. The highs are higher, but the lows are lower too, which is the part we’re interested in.

Even with the king tide low, the beach opens up and pinches closed without warning, and we move between wet sand, rocks we feel like traversing, and the shoulder of the Pacific Coast Highway when we don’t.

Soon enough, we hit the section of burned-out houses that still haunt the beach nearly a year later. I think I can still smell the smoke. It’s the quietest stretch of the whole walk, and the only place the emptiness feels like loss instead of calm.

The Malibu coastline near Escondido Beach.

(Jackie Snow)

When we finally reach the Malibu Pier, it feels like stepping back into civilization. People are on the beach. Nobu is packed. We eat at Malibu Farm and sit indoors, grateful for chairs, shade and food that isn’t trail mix.

Afterward, we take the bus back to the car from a stop near the Pier on the PCH, which turns out to be one of the most beautiful bus rides in existence, with the coastline framed perfectly by wide windows.

Malibu Pier to Escondido Beach: 5.7 miles

We come back the next day for another king tide, despite rain in the forecast. I start on the other side of Malibu Lagoon State Beach, which looks like nothing else on this walk. It’s swampy and green and quietly buzzing, reminding me of Florida, my home turf. Birders are out, rain jackets zipped, binoculars already up.

There are still rocks and little rivers to navigate, but the tide is so low it’s exposing tide pools I didn’t know existed up here. The sand is packed and forgiving, and we cover distance quickly until the rain really starts coming down.

We exit using the new stairs at Escondido Beach, also known as Hidden Beach, which were installed in 2023 after a multidecade battle over access. I take them slowly as I celebrate a mostly triumphant walk.

The Malibu coastline just south of Point Dume.

(Jackie Snow)

Escondido Beach to Zuma Beach: 6.7 miles

I head back to Escondido Beach, a few days later at low tide, though the tide is already coming in. That turns out to be a mistake. My second mistake is coming alone. As I scramble over rocks helpfully labeled with a sign warning not to climb on them, it’s dangerous, I notice my phone has no service. I decide the safest option is to soak my hiking boots instead along the incoming tide.

With my shoes sloshing and Google Maps satellite view looking deeply uncommitted to the stretch just south of Point Dume, I try to exit. Nope. Gated community. Not ready to give up, I keep going.

The surfer south of Point Dume whose companions offered to unlock the gate.

(Jackie Snow)

I spot a woman surfing and stop to take a photo. Her non-surfing companions start chatting with me. When they hear what I’m doing and where I’m trying to go, they offer to unlock the gate. It’s a genuinely kind gesture. But since I’m doing this for you, reader, I ask if there’s an exit farther along. They say there are stairs up ahead, probably reachable. I tell them, in the nicest way possible, that I hope I don’t see them again, and keep going.

My shoes are now collecting water on every step, the bottoms of my pants are wet, and everything underfoot is baseball-sized rocks, which I think is the worst possible rock size for walking. I round the curve. I spot the stairs.

If I had turned off satellite view, the stairs would have been obvious. So much for trying to read the coastline.

I climb out and walk to the tip of Point Dume and look south. I can see the South Bay, where I called it early weeks ago, hot and tired and hating my snacks. I’m still hot. I’m still tired. My snacks are still crummy. But standing here, salty and damp, I realize I don’t want this to walk to end.

The view from the cliffs near Point Dume.

(Jackie Snow)

Zuma Beach to county line: 5.3 miles

Today I timed the hike with a tide going out and my husband joins me so I don’t have a repeat from last time. We park along the PCH at Zuma. The first stretch we go by “Hannah Montana’s View,” a very persistent Google map label. It’s calm until a curve, where a gaggle of adolescent boys, shirtless and shoeless, are trying but failing to climb over the mussel-covered rocks ahead of us. For the second time on this walk, I have to turn around and back-track to the last exit, maybe a quarter mile back.

Luckily, the sighting of a Little Free Library makes the detour feel less like a failure and more like a reward. We cut through a small gated community that turns out to have a door for exactly this purpose, a quiet acknowledgment that people do, in fact, want to walk through here. There is so much rock walking. So much. Eventually we reach Leo Carrillo State Beach, where Los Angeles actually ends and Ventura County begins. Despite the name, County Line Beach is another mile or so away.

Gated Lechuza Point neighborhood has a beach access road that lets walkers get to the shore.

(Jackie Snow)

I watch people walk across the county border without noticing it at all, no fanfare, no announcement, no sense that anything has changed. They keep going. I stop. They are not done walking, but I am.

I haven’t seen every inch of the Los Angeles County coastline. I double-checked my walking distance and I’m still not at 75 miles, more like 65. The number I found online is probably not entirely accurate (the coastline is constantly changing). Maybe it’s closer to 70. But I have seen whale-watch perches, burned-out Malibu lots, crowded boardwalks and magnificent waves. The coastline is both fragile and welcoming — and walkable — if you’re willing to chase the tides.

EXPLAINER

Tensions have escalated between Iran and Israel while ongoing diplomatic efforts have failed to yield a lasting peace deal.

Iran and Israel were on Monday locked in tit-for-tat missile attacks, as the fragile ceasefire that has held in place since April 8 appeared closer to collapse than at any point in the past seven weeks.

These escalating hostilities between Iran and Israel come as the United States-Israel war on Iran enters its 101st day on Monday.

Here is what is happening:

In Iran

• Explosions heard in Iran: Iran’s IRNA news agency reported that at least “two powerful explosions” were heard in Tehran and at least three in the city of Isfahan. The broadcaster also reported that explosions were heard in Tabriz. The Israeli military had said it “attacked military targets” in western and central Iran.
• Power plant in Mahshahr attacked: A security officer in the southwestern Khuzestan governorate told the Fars news agency that Israeli forces have attacked the Karun Petrochemical Company in the city of Mahshahr. The Israeli army confirmed striking the petrochemical plant. The Mahshahr Petrochemical Special Economic Zone announced that its workers have evacuated the site following the Israeli strike.
• Iran denies attacking base in Saudi Arabia: Responding to reports of an explosion at the Al-Kharj airbase in Saudi Arabia, Iran’s IRIB broadcaster cited a military official as saying that “Iran has not fired any shots.”
• Red Crescent on standby: The Iranian Red Crescent says it is standing by to respond to any fallout from Israel’s attacks across the country this morning.

In Israel

• Security cabinet meeting: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene a security cabinet meeting at 11am local time (08:00 GMT) amid escalating hostilities with Iran, according to multiple Israeli media reports.
• The Israeli military issued a series of alerts starting Sunday over waves of missiles launched from Iran towards Israeli territory.
• Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Monday that they launched attacks against Israel’s Nevatim and Tel Nof airbases as a response to attacks on radar sites within Iran, the Fars news agency reported.
• Israel’s Channel 12 broadcaster and Ynet News said a missile fired from Yemen was intercepted.

In the US

• The US State Department issued a security alert for citizens in Jordan over reports of projectiles in the country’s airspace – presumably missiles fired by Israel towards Iran, or by Iran towards Israel.
• Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said Israel’s latest attack on Iran “compounds” the “humiliation” for US President Donald Trump, as it comes after the US president reportedly told Netanyahu not to retaliate to Iran’s missiles fired at northern Israel.

In Lebanon

• Explosions were heard in the Lebanese capital Beirut early on Monday, but these were likely rocket interceptions, Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr reported from Beirut.
• On Sunday, Israel had hit the suburbs of Beirut, in attacks that Iran described as crossing a red line in terms of violating a ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel. Iran then said its decision to hit northern Israel was in response to these attacks near Beirut.

War diplomacy

• Israel defends attacks on Iran: The Israeli ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, defended the attacks on Iran, saying “no self-respecting country” would tolerate Iran’s missile launches against Israel.
• Canada expresses concern: Canada’s Foreign Ministry has expressed concern about the resumption of conflict between Iran and Israel, saying it jeopardises the ongoing negotiations and “the prospects for peace”.
• Saudi-Qatari foreign ministers speak: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud spoke by phone with his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said.
• Qatari-Iranian foreign ministers speak: The Qatari foreign minister, who is also the country’s prime minister, spoke by phone with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi about mediation efforts between Iran and the US, as well as the latest developments in Lebanon, according to a Qatari statement.

The incredible lift ascends 153 metres (502 feet) in under a minute

Some of the world’s most jaw-dropping lifts can be found in luxury hotels, including the highest outdoor lift in Europe, nestled in Lucerne, Switzerland. The Bürgenstock Resort is home to the remarkable Hammetschwand lift, offering stunning views of Lake Lucerne.

The Hammetschwand lift was built between 1900 and 1905 by pioneering hotelier Franz Josef Bucher, at a cost of 500,000 Swiss francs (around £470,000). It remains the quickest route up to the viewpoint, climbing 153 metres (502 feet) in under a minute.

Those planning a visit should bear in mind that to reach the foot of the lift, you’ll need to walk the breathtaking Felsenweg cliff path.

It is estimated that over 40,000 people use the Hammetschwand lift annually, and around 200 to 250 riders per day.

On Tripadvisor, one visitor advised choosing “the perfect sunny day to enjoy the view.” They went on to say: “This is a fantastic view, the elevator is just too quick, but still worth a visit.”

Another said: “You do the Burgenstock track to the lift and it is already by itself stunning!!! Nobody talks about it. It’s a hidden gem in Switzerland!

“Then you arrive at that special spit where the lakes of the four cantons connect, and it’s breathtaking. A bit ahead, there’s the lift and the adventure to one of the most beautiful views ever. It’s easy, it’s accessible, it’s unbelievably beautiful. I will do it again.”

Among other remarkable examples is the Hotel Santa Caterina’s lift in Amalfi, Italy, which boasts breathtaking views. Carved into the rugged cliffside, the glass-fronted elevator takes guests down to the exclusive Beach Club and the hotel’s Italian seafood restaurant.

In Greece, the Corfu Holiday Palace features a stunning lift that transports guests down the cliffside to the beach in just moments, treating them to gorgeous views across the bay while providing far easier access to the white sands below.

The Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, United States, is home to one of the most iconic lifts on the planet. Given the hotel’s striking pyramid shape, the lifts travel between floors at a diagonal 39-degree angle, treating guests to a spectacular outlook over the atrium as they make their way to one of the hotel’s 4,407 rooms.

Around 7 a.m. Saturday, in a lot beside the shuttered Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, a strange set of cars and trucks began to gather. Three Model A’s. A couple of ’60 convertibles. A 1964 Chevrolet Impala station wagon. Also, a big bull on trailer wheels.

“Am I in the right place?” asked a man in one of the Model A’s.

“Going to Chicago?” asked a guy in a white Denali.

“I wish I could do the whole thing,” said Joe Hernandez of Pasadena, wistfully standing by.

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This was the starting line for roughly 70 drivers who gathered to celebrate the centennial of Route 66 with a 2,448-mile, 20-day caravan to Chicago. Most had come from outside California to share an adventure with fellow “roadies” and boost awareness of the classic scenery and independent businesses along the eight-state route.

But soaring gas prices and hesitant international travelers have added uncertainty to a trip that was always going to be a logistical challenge. Day 1 alone might terrify an L.A. commuter: From the Pacific to Pasadena by surface streets, including miles on Santa Monica and Colorado boulevards.

“I don’t know how it’s all going to happen,” said Gary Daggett, president of the Old Route 66 Assn. of Texas. But he and his wife, Stephanie, have more than a little Route 66 experience to draw upon.

Mike and Lisa Visket of Prescott, Ariz., pose in Santa Monica at the pier in their Route 66 clothing on June 6, 2026.

“This is our 30th trip over 20 years,” Daggett said. “You can’t see everything. There’s so much…. You start meeting the people, you get hooked on the people.”

Shortly before their 8:30 departure time, organizer Rhys Martin called drivers together.

“Leaving here is going to be a little complicated,” he said.

Martin, who is part of the Route 66 Road Ahead Partnership, is president of the Oklahoma Route 66 Assn., and serves as manager of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Preserve Route 66 initiative. For the journey, he is driving a ’64 Chevy Impala station wagon with a GPS unit inside so that armchair travelers can follow his journey on the web.

“It’s going to be impossible to keep everybody together,” he said during preparations. “We’re encouraging people to spread out and support independent businesses rather than all going to one place and demolishing the kitchen.”

William Cooke of Pinon Hills participates in a caravan from Santa Monica Pier to Chicago, celebrating the centennial of Route 66.

In song and literature, the route is celebrated as an east-to-west journey. This caravan, running in the opposite direction, will travel from California through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri to Illinois.

From Santa Monica, the Day 1 schedule took drivers to Beverly Hills City Hall, Grand Central Market downtown for lunch, the Chicken Boy statue and Galco’s Soda Pop Stop in Highland Park, then an overnight in Pasadena.

Day 2 takes the group from Pasadena to Barstow. Day 3, from Barstow to Needles. On June 25, the caravan is due to arrive in downtown Chicago.

The loose procession was led by a core group of 15 cars, including representatives of all eight states on the route. Since anyone can join or leave the caravan at any time, the number of vehicles will vary by the hour.

Through the decades, the road has grown from an American artifact into a global symbol of small-town Americana. Many merchants, restaurateurs and hoteliers along 66 now say that their summer customers are mostly travelers from abroad, especially Europe. One of the caravan’s drivers, in a rented pickup truck, was Dries Bessels, co-founder of the Dutch Route 66 Assn.

Brady Wilson of Amarillo, Texas, displays an assortment of Route 66 pins on his cowboy hat. Wilson is part of a caravan of Route 66 enthusiasts who set out from Santa Monica Pier on June 6, 2026, for Chicago.

Though the Model A’s will surely raise eyebrows on the road, the caravan’s most startling element is the fiberglass bull representing the Amarillo-based Big Texan Steak Ranch restaurant, one of the event’s sponsors.

“It’s the same one my dad brought home in ’71. His name is Big Moo,” said Danny Lee, who co-owns the restaurant with his brother, Bobby Lee. “He’s 12 and a half feet high. About 500 pounds. It’s all fiberglass.”

In 21 cities along the drive, the Big Texan team aims to stage nightly steak-eating contests, giving free dinners to anyone who can eat 72 ounces of steak, a baked potato, three shrimp, a side salad and a roll in 60 minutes.

The caravan’s first challenge came at the Santa Monica Pier, where there was no room for the cars due to a construction project, World Cup preparations and a Children’s Hospital fundraiser. Instead, the caravan gathered by the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Drivers strolled over the pier for a photo op, then returned to their cars.

“Herding cats,” said George Kulakowski of Huntington Beach, at the wheel of a 1931 Ford Model A Panel Delivery truck.

Participants in a Route 66 centennial caravan pose for a photo before they depart from Santa Monica Pier on June 2, 2026, for Chicago along the historic highway.

Another challenge awaited in West Hollywood, where Santa Monica Boulevard (aka Route 66) was busy with crowds for the city’s WeHo Pride Street Fair. By plans laid ahead of time, most caravan vehicles detoured around the party while select caravan cars followed a police escort through the action.

This way, Martin said, “another community along Route 66 gets to share its identity with the community at large.”

Allison Lehn of Boston participates in a caravan from Santa Monica Pier to Chicago, celebrating the centennial of Route 66.

By 11:15 a.m., Martin’s car had reached Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake. Meanwhile, assorted other parades and caravans are traveling Route 66 in other states this year; most of them concentrate on short segments.

By 12:45 p.m., caravaners had met the mayor of Beverly Hills and rolled through West Hollywood’s Pride festivities, arriving at Grand Central Market, running slightly ahead of time.

On May 30, an estimated 3,596 classic cars joined a “Capital Cruise” on Route 66 in Tulsa, Okla., becoming a Guinness Book of World Records holder for the largest parade of classic cars, drawing an estimated 100,000 spectators and overwhelming local traffic.

In Arizona, the Williams Historic Route 66 Car Show was set for Friday and Saturday. In Texas, the Amarillo-based Texas Route 66 Festival is running Thursday through June 13.

William Cooke of Pinon Hills, left, and Sarah Jane Woodall of Tecopa, Calif., drive along Wilshire Boulevard in a 1960 Edsel Ranger Convertible as part of a Route 66 centennial caravan.

In those states and beyond, the caravan from Santa Monica will find hotels and motels in every kind of condition, vintage neon, road food, blue states, red states and purple states.

As a package of Times stories described in May, some landmarks date to the highway’s days as a scene of Depression desperation in the 1930s, others to its giddy postwar years in the late 1940s and ‘50s.

Route 66 was created in 1926 as a highway stitching together hundreds of local roads. Nicknamed “the Main Street of America” by its boosters and “the Mother Road” by John Steinbeck in “The Grapes of Wrath,” the highway inspired Bobby Troup’s song “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” in 1946.

But economic life along Route 66 has been precarious since the late 1960s, when interstate highways and chain hotels began stealing traffic away from the older, slower road. After Route 66 was decommissioned as a highway in 1985, about 85% of the old route remained in use, often as small-town thoroughfares, country highways and frontage roads alongside Interstate 40.

Efforts to save and rebuild the route as a historic resource began in the late 1980s and gained ground after the 2006 release of the Pixar/Disney animated features “Cars,” which tells the story of the highway’s rise and fall. In small towns such as Tucumcari, N.M., and Seligman, Ariz., the highway remains central to local identity and economy.

A vehicle in the Route 66 caravan is photographed June 6, 2026.

This year’s centennial improvements along the route “are things that are going to go into the future,” Martin said. “The real impact is going to be next year and the years after.”

Demi Vollering claimed victory on a shortened queen stage of the women’s Giro d’Italia on Saturday but admitted it was the “weirdest finish line of my life”.

A summit finish in Sestriere had been scheduled for the eighth and penultimate stage, but organisers reduced the route by 28 kilometres as an unstable slab of ice was threatening to fall on to the route.

Ice had already been cleared from an avalanche shortly before the riders passed through the Italian Alps.

Instead the line was hastily moved to one kilometre below the Colle delle Finestre, where Vollering, of FDJ United–Suez, prevailed in a four-way sprint finish.

The pre-race favourite edged out Isabella Holmgren, Antonia Niedermaier and fellow Dutch rider Anna van der Breggen to claim her second stage win of this year’s race.

“It was strange because the Finestre was suddenly the final climb,” said the 29-year-old Vollering. “It was the weirdest finish line of my life, but I’m very happy to take the win.”

Team SD Worx–Protime rider Van der Breggen retains the pink jersey for the final stage, over 145km around Saluzzo at the foot of the Alps, with Vollering having cut the four-time winner’s lead slightly to 49 seconds.

“We hoped that we could get closer to the maglia rosa today,” said Vollering. “Tomorrow’s stage is not as hard as today’s, but we will make a plan and think about how to try to win the Giro.”

Three tunnels form part of the complex under the city

A European city has an extensive network of tunnels beneath it. The Blanka Tunnel Complex is the longest city tunnel in Europe and runs for a total length of 5,502 meters.

The tunnel sits under Prague and is the longest road tunnel in the Czech Republic. It connects the area west of Prague Castle with the Trója district in the North-east of the city.

Three tunnels, consisting of the Bubenečský, Dejvický, and Brusnický, make up the complex, which was designed to relieve heavy traffic from the history city centre. In its first 49 months since opening, it was used by 139 million cars.

Today, it is estimated that 88,000 vehicles use the tunnel every day. The Blanka Tunnel Complex opened on September 19, 2015, but it was a long time coming.

Construction launched in 2006, but it was planned since 1993. The tunnel was due to open in 2011, but the biggest and most expensive project in Prague was delayed by four years.

It cost 43 billion crowns, which is £1.5 billion today and doesn’t include all construction costs. During the construction of the tunnel complex, there were three landfalls.

The incident occurred twice in the Stromovka park, creating a hole measuring 15 to 25 meters. Another landfall happened in the garden area of the Ministry of Culture in Hradčany.

Since opening, the Blanka Tunnel Complex has undergone continuous maintenance. There is 24/7 monitoring by a dedicated control centre that works night shifts to service lights, ventilation systems, cabling and drainage.

Last year, the tunnel marked its 10th anniversary. Prague Daily News said: “It relieved congestion in the city centre, reduced journey times, and took vehicle traffic underground.

“Since its opening, around 780 million vehicles have passed through the tunnel.

“The Dejvický Tunnel has borne the greatest load with more than 271 million vehicles, followed by the Brusnický Tunnel with almost 266 million and the Bubenečský Tunnel with 236 million vehicles.

“Although Blanka has been in regular operation for years, the approval process for part of the project is still not fully concluded.

“A formal decision by the Administrative Court has meant that the relevant section continues to operate only under provisional use.

“Observers, however, expect a final acceptance soon.”

The former EastEnders actress has taken on a new role, saying “I’ve loved every minute”

BBC viewers have been left sobbing after watching an EastEnders star’s new show.

Former Sonia Fowler actress Natalie Cassidy has taken on a new role and retrained after caring for her dying father.

The soap star previously opened up about the “breathtakingly hard” final moments of his life, but explained how she was left so inspired looking after him that she has now trained as a carer.

In a new BBC programme, Natalie Cassidy: Caring Together, the actress shines a light on Britain’s struggling care system, and focusing on topics like autism, first aid, dementia, childhood diabetes, and working in placements in a care home and St John Ambulance after returning to school to get a Level 3 BTEC in health and social care.

Viewers were left in tears by the eye-opening programme, with a clip recently shared on social media.

One person wrote: “Fantastic series showing the very important things that all carers and health care professionals have to deal with day in and day out! Good luck to everyone involved. I hope all the students who were in the series get the jobs they want to do! Well done @natcass1.”

Another said: “Just finished watching this. Loved it. Congratulations @natcass1.”

A third wrote: “I cried every day watching this series. It was so beautifully done with amazing respect and understanding for everyone on the show.”

Someone else added: “This has been a most wonderful programme x I can’t wait to hear if you passed x I’m sure you did x the episode about dementia [was] invaluable as my husband was diagnosed with vascular dementia recently x I’ve kept that episode.”

Another wrote: “Loved this series. @natcass1 was so honest about her own life and the job.”

Speaking in the programme, Natalie remarked how much she had loved her training, saying: “This course has been fantastic. The people I’ve met, the placements I’ve been on. I would like to continue this care journey.

“I feel like I’ve scratched the surface. I’ve loved it. I’ve loved every minute of it.”

“Caring for Dad right up until the end of his life, and losing him, was one of the most painful things I’ve ever had to do,” Natalie previously told the BBC.

“But the people I met have changed my life and are so inspirational. That’s what spurred me on to do this.”

“I’ve only ever had one job, but I’ve always wondered what I would have done if I wasn’t an actress,” she added.

Natalie’s father died in April 2021, and she went on to say that filming elements of Caring Together did make her miss him, adding: “Grief never stops – you don’t grieve for someone and then it’s over. It just changes.

“You change as a person – it shapes who you are, it shapes how you look at the world. You just get better at coping with it.”

Natalie left EastEnders last year after 32 years, saying that it was time to move on and adding: “EastEnders is in my bones so I will never forget where I started my career and I will continue to love the show.”

She later explained she was “ready for a change”, telling Bella Magazine: “I adore EastEnders but you can’t do everything. EastEnders is a factory with 60 cast members and 300 staff.

“They can’t cater for someone who says, ‘By the way, I need two months off to do this, I need another three months off to do this’. It’s not fair.”

Executive producer Chris Clenshaw had also said, at the time of Natalie’s announcement: “Over the last 31 years in EastEnders, Natalie has been involved in some of the show’s most iconic and explosive storylines. Her portrayal of Sonia has made her a firm fan favourite amongst the viewers.”

Natalie Cassidy: Caring Together is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

WHEN it comes to date nights, one mum doesn’t just stick to dinner instead, she travels around the world.

Oliviyah Stevens and her partner Kyle have been to Italy, Morocco and Majorca after swapping dinner dates for holidays.

Oliviyah is a mum-of-five, with her oldest child being 14 and her youngest being one.

But she doesn’t let childcare come in the way of travelling, or love life, after discovering extreme day trips.

Oliviyah and her partner Kyle also go abroad every few months for what they call ‘date day’.

Oliviyah, who hails from Walthamstow, explained why she’s been swapping dates and family days out for travel.

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She said: “Everything in London is so expensive – the price of flying to Majorca is the same as an evening meal.”

In April 2026, the couple sorted childcare for their kids and took an extreme day trip to Majorca where flights cost them just £62 each.

In comparison, the average price of a meal at a mid-range London restaurant can be £60.

If you factor in alcohol and train or tube fares, it racks up the price.

Or if you take the whole family out for dinner, you’d be looking at over £100.

During their trip to Majorca, the pair managed to explore the island and even had time to take a boat ride.

On another occasion, the couple had their three-day break to Crete cut short due to a cancelled flight.

But rather than end the trip early, the pair took advantage of their childcare and flew to Morocco instead.

The pair got to enjoy the Moroccan sunshine and were back home within 30 hours.

On another occasion, the pair travelled to Luxembourg to see the Christmas markets.

Oliviyah travels on her own too when her partner can’t go with her – but she does it in one day so she’s back in time for dinner.

Her very first extreme day trip was to Alicante which takes just over two hours on a plane.

Oliviyah said: “The trip was amazing, I had well-needed downtime, and I managed to get through at least 30 pages of my book.  

“I got the bus from the airport straight to the beach and sat on the beach for an hour.  

“Then I got hungry so I went to a café on the beach.”

In total, Oliviyah has visited 20 countries and has just added Pescara in Italy to her list where she paid £30 for a return flight. 

Her kids don’t miss out though as Oliviyah does also take them on extreme getaways – they’ve been to Italy, Morocco and Bucharest.

Oliviyah said: “My first ever extreme day trip was one with our two younger kids and my partner to Italy for the day. 

“The flight out was at 7am and we came back to London at 11pm.  

“It was for Kaius and Kenyah’s birthday who are born a year and two days apart in Bergamo.  

“We went to a theme park called Leolandia – it was a lot cheaper than going to Chessington.” 

As for how she keeps costs low Oliviyah revealed: “I scroll through Skyscanner, look at whatever is available and just book it.  

“I don’t care about anything as long as it’s affordable and the flight times are OK.”

When it comes to exploring Los Angeles, there are three things that actor and comedian Randall Park loves to do: shop, eat and run. Park, a native Angeleno, grew up on the Westside, attended UCLA, chose a career here and can’t imagine living anywhere else.

“I consider myself a small town person who happened to be born in the big city,” Park says. “I’ve traveled a lot for work, and have gotten a greater appreciation for L.A. There’s a little part of everywhere here. There’s so much good food in L.A., so many fun things to do and really great people here.”

In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.

The son of Korean immigrants, Park grew up in the South Robertson area, “a part of L.A. that was extremely diverse,” he says. “My friends, growing up and to this day, are all different backgrounds, races and religions. We were like a bunch of punk kids running around the city.”

Park is known for his roles as Agent Jimmy Woo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, FBI Special Agent Edwin Park in the Netflix series “The Residence” and Taiwanese American patriarch Louis Huang in the ABC sitcom “Fresh Off the Boat.”

Recently, Park, his wife (actor Jae Suh Park) and their 13-year-old daughter Ruby left Studio City, where they had lived for 15 years, to move back to the Westside. When asked what his ideal Sunday would include, Park’s answer was jam-packed. It was so jam-packed that it would be impossible to fit it all in one day. So, take his schedule with a grain of salt. This is his magical Sunday where time bends, L.A. traffic doesn’t exist and bellies are never too full.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

9 a.m.: Go for a run before a day of delicious eats

I’d sleep in, then go for a run to the beach and run around Venice. Sometimes my daughter’s up earlier. She’s on the autism spectrum, and really loves art and making stuff. We have a little art room that’s dedicated to her. She’s always painting, drawing, making little sculptures, just always creating.

10 a.m.: Breakfast and then pastries

Rae’s in Santa Monica is a very old-school diner, and we really love it there. They do these biscuits and gravy that are really good. They’re probably not that good for you, but I just ran, so it’s OK. There’s also a great bakery-cafe that we like to go to called Röckenwagner. So breakfast at Rae’s, then a coffee and pastry at Röckenwagner. We’ll be eating all day, which is why I ran in the morning.

11 a.m.: Stroll the farmers’ market

Next, we’d hit up the farmers’ market in Mar Vista. We’ll get fruits and vegetables for later in the week. There’s a hummus stand that I really love. There’s always a band playing, so we just soak it all in. It’s a really nice walk.

Noon: Shopping, with more eating along the way

Then I’d go shopping, and would either drag my family with me, or I’d go alone while they did their thing. First, there’s a small shop called General Quarters on La Brea. I know the owner there, Blair Lucio, and they always carry the coolest stuff. They specialize in California heritage-style clothing for men. Another store I love is Sid Mashburn in the Brentwood Country Mart. They do suits and really cool menswear. I discovered it in Atlanta when I was working on a job and loved it so much that every time I’d be in Atlanta, I’d go to it. Then I discovered they had one in L.A.

Or, I’d go to Sawtelle Boulevard. That whole street is fun with so many great stores. The Giant Robot store there has a lot of pop culture, Japanese and Asian pop culture, a lot of art, graphic novels. There’s also a great record store called We Share Records. It’s mostly vinyl and a lot of it is from Japan. They’ll even have American artists, but the Japanese editions of their records, so it’s really cool to see the Japanese versions of a Whitney Houston album. The last thing I bought there was a Hall & Oates record from Japan.

For lunch, I’ve been really into a place called Sun Nong Dan on Sawtelle. They have a few locations, but the newer one in Sawtelle is the only one that I go to since I’m on the Westside. I usually get either the Galbi-tang, which is a short rib soup, or the Tta Roh Guk Bap, which is a brisket and dried cabbage soup, or the Dduk Mandu Guk, which is a rice cake and dumpling soup. Very much Korean comfort food. Plus, they’re open 24 hours, which sometimes comes in handy.

If not there, I’d go to El Tepeyac Cafe in Boyle Heights, which is one of my all-time favorites as a kid that my dad would take me to. It’s very homestyle Mexican food, and I would get their Hollenbeck burrito, which is pretty epic.

6 p.m.: Baseball or dinner out

If there’s a Dodgers game, I’d go to the game. Growing up in L.A., there’s a lot of nostalgia with the Dodgers for me. I’ve always been a fan. My wife and I will go to the games and eat Dodger Dogs and nachos.

If not, we’d go to Musso & Frank Grill to get a shrimp cocktail and steak dinner. It’s very Old Hollywood, and you can feel the history in there. A lot of the leather booths have a story. I love when L.A. preserves its landmarks. Getting a sense of the history of the city through these restaurants is really fun.

For something more low-key, there’s this restaurant in Koreatown called Kobawoo House. They specialize in bosam, which are wraps with [fillings like] pork. They also specialize in Korean seafood pancakes that are so good.

If we’re going to go fancy, which we don’t often do, there’s a restaurant called Kato at the Row, near downtown. It’s a Michelin-starred Taiwanese omakase-style restaurant that’s so good. You don’t order. They just give you courses, and you can pair it with wine or just order cocktails. I usually just order an Old Fashioned, which is really good there. The food is just out of this world.

8 p.m.: A little night jazz

After dinner, we’d drive down to South Pasadena where there’s a bar and grill called the Barkley. My childhood friend Richie Glaser has a jazz band [the Richard Glaser Quartet] and they play at the Barkley every Sunday night. We’d get a cocktail, listen to the band and hang out.

9:30 p.m.: Winding down for bedtime

We’d come home, relax and watch TV, probably old episodes of “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” My daughter would go to bed before us, and would be asleep before we officially go to sleep. The end of the day is very low-key and quiet. Every Sunday is different, but my ideal Sunday would be one of food, family, friends and frolicking throughout the city.

PHOENIX — Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had a decision to make.

Before the Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte delivered the walk-off blow to the Dodgers — a towering home run off reliever Tanner Scott, punctuated by a bat flip — Roberts had to choose whether to send Shohei Ohtani to the plate as a pinch-hitter.

In a 3-2 loss, Ohtani, who didn’t start after two-way duties the day before, remained in the dugout.

“It has to be the right spot,” Roberts said.

The defensive picture complicated the calculus.

If Scott had thrown a scoreless inning and sent the game into the 10th, Roberts planned to have Ohtani pinch hit for Miguel Rojas, the third batter due up.

In the ninth, however, unless Ohtani replaced designated hitter Will Smith (who ended up hitting a two-out double), Roberts would have had to put in a defensive replacement for the bottom half of the inning.

“I didn’t want to go two innings trying to figure out how to play defense with Shohei then being out of the game,” Roberts said.

Roberts already had been forced to use the rest of his bench.

Third baseman Max Muncy exited in the fifth inning after a collision at first base, and Santiago Espinal replaced him. When rookie left fielder Ryan Ward walked in the seventh inning, the speedier and more defensively sound Alex Call replaced him on the bases. And in the eighth, the right-handed hitting Rojas pinch-hit for Alex Freeland against Diamondbacks left-hander Brandyn Garcia.

Arizona’s Ketel Marte, center, celebrates with teammates as he steps on home plate after hitting a walk-off home run against the Dodgers on Thursday.

(Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

The Dodgers had Andy Pages, Kyle Tucker and Smith — none of whom were candidates to be pulled for a pinch-hitter — due up in the ninth. But after Smith hit a two-out double, leaving first base open, the Diamondbacks surely would have intentionally walked Ohtani if he pinch-hit for Espinal.

Then, the Dodgers would have had to reconfigure their defense, likely moving first baseman Freddie Freeman to third, catcher Dalton Rushing to first base and Smith behind the plate, forfeiting the designated hitter spot.

That would mean a shaky defensive lineup with the game still on the line in the ninth, with pitchers forced to hit if it went into extra innings.

So, instead, Roberts saved Ohtani.

“Once we get into extra innings, then I would fire that bullet,” Roberts said.

The Dodgers, however, didn’t get to extra innings. Scott struck out the first batter he faced. Then he threw a fastball down and in to Marte, who managed to get the barrel of his bat to it.

“You’ve got to tip your cap,” Scott said. “He’s a good hitter. Should I have gone up and in? Yeah. Or just a slider. I knew he was going to be aggressive.”

Ohtani dealing with blister

Ohtani has been dealing with a small blister on the middle finger of his right hand for his last couple starts, Roberts said.

“I don’t expect it to affect him going forward,” Roberts said Thursday afternoon, the day after Ohtani held the Diamondbacks to two hits in six scoreless innings. “Even [Wednesday], if we wouldn’t have tacked on, he would’ve stayed in there.”

Roberts pulled Ohtani after the Dodgers pulled out to a seven-run lead in the top of the seventh inning.

Roberts also said he didn’t believe the blister affected Ohtani’s command last week, when he threw six hitless innings against the Rockies but issued four walks and hit a batter.

“When his command has been off, I think it’s a bigger thing than just a blister,” Roberts said. “Because it’s a small blister. That’s just when his mechanics are out of whack.”

EXPLAINER

Israel strikes Lebanon despite ceasefire, while Hezbollah rejects deal as death toll tops 3,500.

Israel has continued to carry out deadly strikes across Lebanon despite the announcement of a new US-brokered ceasefire agreement reached by Lebanese and Israeli officials in Washington, DC.

The violence has pushed the number of casualties higher, with Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health reporting that at least 3,526 people have been killed and 10,733 wounded in Israeli attacks since March 2.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem has dismissed the ceasefire as a “farce”, warning that northern Israel will remain a target as long as Israeli forces continue bombing Lebanon, raising more doubts about the prospects for a lasting truce.

Here is what we know:

In Iran

• Iran adviser flags concerns over draft deal: Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, said the draft memorandum of understanding being negotiated to end the war still contains “ambiguities” that need to be clarified. Speaking to Iranian state television, Rezaei also accused US President Donald Trump of trying to pressure Tehran into accepting Washington’s terms while keeping Iran’s own conditions “in a vague state”.

War diplomacy

• Questions over US strategy: Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett said the White House is facing growing questions over why a negotiated agreement with Iran is still needed after President Donald Trump repeatedly claimed US military action had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme. Halkett said critics are asking: “If these military objectives have been achieved, then is there still a need for talks?” She added that “with each passing week that this war drags on” and negotiations remaining stalled, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the administration to reconcile its claims of success with the continued push for diplomacy.
• Hezbollah rejects conditional ceasefire: Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected the limited truce agreed to by Lebanese and Israeli representatives in the US, demanding a complete ceasefire and a full Israeli pullout from the country. Qassem also warned of more attacks on northern Israel, highlighting the difficulties in reaching a lasting peace. Both sides have blamed each other for breaking a previous ceasefire announced in April.

The Gulf

• Oman oil terminal disruption: Reuters reported that Oman has suspended crude oil loading operations at its key Mina al-Fahal terminal after an explosion near its single-buoy mooring (SBM) berths. Citing unnamed sources, the agency said the blast occurred between SBM 1 and SBM 2 and was allegedly caused by a drone attack.

In the US

• Trump says US does not need a deal to access Iran’s uranium: The US president said Washington could access Iran’s enriched uranium without reaching an agreement with Tehran, arguing the material is effectively “entombed”. Trump also said he does not plan to meet Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, but he suggested a meeting could be possible if a deal is eventually reached, adding that “if it happened … I’d be respectful”.

In Israel

• Ultra-Orthodox protest blocks major highway: Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Israelis blocked Highway 1 in protest against the government’s enforcement of military conscription for religious students, according to Israel’s Channel 10. The demonstrations began after police stopped two ultra-Orthodox students and transferred one to military authorities. Large numbers of police and border guards were deployed to clear the highway and disperse protesters.

In Lebanon

• Hezbollah rejection raises fears of escalation: Reporting from Beirut, Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem said Hezbollah remains the key actor on the Lebanese side when it comes to decisions about fighting and any potential halt to hostilities with Israel, “regardless of what the Lebanese government says”. Given Hezbollah’s rejection of the US-brokered ceasefire, Hashem warned that further escalation is likely from both Hezbollah and Israel. He noted that southern Lebanon and the western Bekaa Valley experienced significant Israeli air and ground attacks on Thursday, adding that Hezbollah’s position suggests “it is going to be a very difficult situation” in the days ahead.

Perched just above the Strand in downtown Manhattan Beach, this cozy studio has sliding doors that open up to a full, unobstructed view of the pier, beach and ocean only a few hundred yards away. The sound of sea waves infuses the room with nature’s original white noise, adding a sense of marine tranquility to every class.

“Because of our proximity to the ocean, we’re very connected to nature,” says owner Justin Randolph. “To be able to hear the waves and connect to that rhythm, especially during corpse pose — it’s a little slice of calm.”

In fact, calm is something of a specialty at this studio, which focuses less on high-intensity aerobic classes than on restorative, therapeutic methods. Soothing Yin classes are offered nearly every day, and Chair Yoga sessions are tailored for students who are nursing injuries — or just prefer a slower, deeper practice.

To keep your visit stress-free, it’s best to plan in advance for the challenges of beachfront parking. If you’re lucky, you might be able to snag a nearby metered space or a spot in one of the lower pier lots. Otherwise, your safest bet is the large parking structure at Metlox Plaza, about five minutes away by foot.

Single class: $30
New student offer: $59 for 21 days of unlimited in-studio, outdoor and livestream classes
Unlimited monthly membership: $149

From: The 27 best yoga studios in L.A. for stretching, sweating and spiritual awakenings

After spending less than a year living in Southern California, quarterback Ford Green of Westlake High retains his distinct South Carolina accent, still answers questions with “yes sir” and “no sir,” and greets adults with a handshake that can be described as nothing less than crushing.

The first impression he makes is off the charts, which piques the curiosity of strangers wanting to learn more. It only gets better., with As on his report card, an arm that throws frozen ropes and a sports history that includes baseball and boxing, which means defensive linemen better think long and hard if they want to do something stupid.

As a freshman last season, Green guided Westlake to an 11-1 record with 2,195 yards passing and 31 touchdowns. It was his first time playing quarterback with the idea of “going all in.” During the spring, Ohio State was among the schools offering a scholarship despite his lack of football experience. The Buckeyes might be on to something.

The 2026 season could be the year the 6-foot-2 Green rises to a whole different level because of his expected improvement from workouts, practices and devoting total attention to where he wants to go.

Before last season, he said he played football for fun in South Carolina. He was a baseball player, with his focus on pitching. Then, in 2025, everything changed. He said he went “all in” on playing quarterback.

“I fell in love,” he said. “When I wake up, I think about football. When I’m eating, I think about football. When I’m at school, I think about football. I’m infatuated by the game. Not a second goes by where I don’t think something about football. It’s my life.”

Green is someone to pay close attention to this summer during passing tournaments and showcases. Call it the bandwagon effect that happens when one person after another comes to the same conclusion and recognition that someone is going to be very successful.

Twice a week, he goes on Zoom to receive training from a Canadian Football League quarterback. Other times, he works with a private quarterback coach. He already understands the intricacies of the position.

“There’s so many more factors in playing quarterback than just arm,” he said. “It all starts between the ears.”

As scrutiny heightens, attention grows and expectations increase, Green said he’ll follow a big lesson already learned.

“Take it day by day,” he said. “It’s never as good as it seems, it’s never as bad as it seems. Stay neutral and get better every day. I feel if I get better every day, I’ll be able to reach my goals and dreams.”

He said he was too busy with football this year to go out for Westlake’s baseball team, but in the spring of 2027, prepare for his high school pitching debut.

Green was part of an outstanding group of class of 2029 quarterbacks last fall, all of whom should be continuing their rise to prominence.

Seven-on-seven tournaments will be happening almost every weekend in June. Then, next month, prepare for one of the best on July 11 at Huntington Beach Edison, which brings out St. John Bosco, Santa Margarita and Mission Viejo, among others. The “offseason” has been shortened, with zero week scheduled for the weekend of Aug. 21-22. Programs are required to take a mandatory two-week summer break. Some take it in June, others in July. And then there’s the inevitable movement of players through transfers to change teams.

For Green, the 2026-27 school year is shaping up as his most pivotal season to show where he’s headed and what kind of talents he has in the classroom, on the football field and on the pitching mound.

Monitor the journey closely. Something tells me he won’t disappoint.

According to Abs Mechial, there is a specific minute every day in which holidays can be booked for cheaper on average – but you may need to set your alarm to take advantage of it

If you are yet to book a getaway this year and are wondering when the ideal moment might be to do so, a financial expert has identified precisely when you should – and shouldn’t – make your move. Abs Mechial turned to TikTok to reveal that not only are certain days preferable for booking, but specific times of day matter too.

“When is the worst time to book a holiday and when is it actually cheapest? he asked his followers in a video. Surprisingly, according to research, Abs claimed there is a one-hour window in each day when holidays can cost you significantly more money to book.” he asked his followers.

“According to the data, the most expensive time to book is between 9am and 10am,” he explained. “Bookings in that window came in around 30 per cent more than the cheapest time of the day – so no more booking holidays as soon as you log in for the day.”

As for the most economical time of day, Abs warned that you might need to set your alarm. “Early… and I mean really early,” he said. “Between 4am and 5am – and the logic does make sense.”

Abs highlighted that overnight, demand “drops off” and consequently prices “reset” to their baseline.

He elaborated: “Then as the day goes on, the more searches and more clicks result in prices starting to creep back up again.”

For those reluctant to wake up before sunrise, however, Abs provided guidance for anyone wanting to book during “more realistic hours”.

“Late evening, around 8pm to 10pm tends to be noticeably cheaper than the morning rush,” he enthused. “But if you want to go even further and want the exact moment – not just the hour, but the minute – according to the data, the single cheapest minute to book a holiday is 2:48am.”

Surprisingly, bookings made at that precise time worked out up to 60 per cent cheaper on average, according to Abs.

He concluded with a word of caution, however: “Now, definitely take that with a pinch of salt – booking at 2:48am isn’t going to make every holiday 60 per cent cheaper, but the pattern is clear – if you want to save money, avoid peak booking hours because timing, just like everything else with money, makes a massive difference.”

Responding in the comments, one TikTok user offered their own unverified tip: “Best to search in private browser so prices do not increase if you are searching for same destinations. Prices increase with demand so private searching will prevent this.”

A second person added: “I usually book mine within 72 hours of departure… like 50% cheaper! I find the hotels I want and then I wait for them to deal them off.”

A third exclaimed: “Wow that’s crazy how the time of day can cost you!”

While a fourth TikTok user pointed out: “Doesn’t change if you want a certain resort at a certain time of year.”

The Times’ results pages reveal how Californians voted for governor, U.S. House seats and in local city, school board and ballot measure races.

Every registered voter in the state receives a ballot by mail. Polls close at 8 p.m. on June 2, and mailed ballots need to be postmarked on or before that day. Winners may not be known on election night due to the high volume of mail-in ballots arriving after election day.

The vote counts on these pages update periodically as results are reported by the Associated Press and the L.A. County registrar. On election day, those results include in-person voting as well as any mail-in ballots already received. In the days and weeks following, votes will be reported approximately once a day, as they are processed by county registrars. Voters can track their own cast ballot here.

The Associated Press surveys the numbers posted by local election officials. The AP projects the winner for all statewide and federal races using vote returns and other data. A race may be called before all expected votes are in. Results can change as more ballots are counted.

These pages will update until the secretary of state certifies results on July 10.

Travel companies have been contacting people with holidays booked after change made

Jet2 passengers have been told that a key change is now ‘in force’ after some got in touch worried that an email they received could be a fake. Holiday travel companies have also been getting in touch with customers to tell them of the change.

Thousands of travellers have received emails notifying them that their holiday documents will be arriving later than originally expected. This has raised alarm bells among some customers who fear it could be a scam – particularly as Jet2 has recently been warning about numerous fake social media accounts being created in an attempt to defraud passengers.

Previously Jet2 sent all documents to travellers 28 days in advance of the break – however in 2026 this has changed with great uncertainty about the situation this summer with the Middle East conflict still not resolved. In a recent post on Facebook travel company Holiday Getaway said: “Just a quick update for customers travelling with Jet2. Holiday documents will now be available 14 days before departure to ensure you have the most up-to-date information for your trip. No action needed. Online check-in is still available from 28 days before travel.”

One passenger wrote on X: “@jet2tweets Hi, I’ve just received this email apparently from Jet2 saying I will now get my holiday documents 14 days before my holiday departure instead of 28, is this true or is it still 28, I’ve a feeling this was a spam email though.”

Another passenger added: “I had the same email. Flying on 25 May with jet2,” A traveller added: “Ive just had the same email !”

The email says: “Just so you know, following a change to when we send out the documents for your holiday, you’ll now receive your documents 14 days before departure, rather than 28 days as stated on your original booking confirmation. You don’t need to contact us or take any action – you’ll receive your documents 14 days before you travel. Have a lovely holiday!”

Responding on X, Jet2 confirmed it was a genuine message and explained: “Hi there, thanks for reaching out. Yes we can confirm that you will receive your documents 14 days before departure. Should you require any further assistance, then please feel free to send us a DM. “

Jet2 advice says: “At 10 weeks before departure we will take any outstanding balance payment and send a confirmation that the balance has been paid. At 14 days before departure, we will send you a final confirmation with your travel documents attached, consisting of your booking confirmation; your flight voucher; your accommodation voucher, your cruise voucher (where applicable) and your transfer or car hire voucher. We will also provide you with your ATOL Certificate. Please remember to print off all your vouchers as well as your booking confirmation and your ATOL Certificate where applicable.”

Jet2 has also explained why some flight schedules may change, and has moved to remind passengers of an action they must take during a 48-hour period. The major airline states in the Frequently Asked Questions section of its website that it “always aims to operate our flights at the scheduled time of departure”. However, Jet2 added: “Sometimes we may need to make changes or provide alternative carriers or aircraft and cannot always notify you of this in advance. We may also alter or remove the planned schedules as shown on your booking confirmation.”

The guidance notes that Jet2 does not wish to cause inconvenience to passengers, yet “unfortunately sometimes changes to scheduled flight times may be required for operational or technical reasons outside our control”. Jet2 confirmed that in such circumstances, travellers would be given as much advance warning as possible.

Passengers flying with Jet2 are encouraged to keep a close eye on their email and text message inboxes, as these are typically the methods used to get in touch should any changes arise. Jet2 added: “Please contact us if you change your email address or mobile number so we can update your details.

“From the Manage My Booking section on our website you can see your booking summary, request a further email confirmation or select a different email address.” Jet2 is also reminding travellers that they are obligated to review their flight summary within a 48-hour window prior to departure.

Jet2 said: “Please be aware that it is one of our Terms and Conditions that you re-check your flight summary 72 to 24 hours before departure.” The airline also continues to urge passengers to consult the “latest travel information” on its website at least 12 hours before take-off to ensure they remain fully informed.” Additional advice reads: “Please check this section of the website at least 12 hours before your flight for the latest flight information.

“We recommend arriving at the airport at least 2 hours before your scheduled departure time. Please remember – check-in desks close 40 minutes before this.”

Nick Pasqual, an actor who appeared in “How I Met Your Mother,” has been sentenced to 32 years to life for the attempted murder of his estranged girlfriend, L.A.-based makeup artist Allie Shehorn.

Following a jury trial, Pasqual was also convicted of counts of injuring a spouse or partner, first-degree burglary and rape, according to court documents. During the trial, Shehorn had visible scars on her hands and neck when she testified, per ABC.

The incident occurred in May 2024, when Pasqual repeatedly stabbed Shehorn in her Shadow Hills home. Prosecutors said that the actor broke into Shehorn’s home just before 4:30 a.m. on May 23, attacked her with a knife and fled California.

Days before the attack, Shehorn had filed a restraining order against Pasqual, detailing acts of sexual and physical assault. While the judge approved the order, it was unclear whether Pasqual had been served prior to the stabbing.

Christine White, Shehorn’s friend and roommate, discovered the makeup artist lying in a pool of blood and called emergency services. Friends believe Shehorn was stabbed more than 20 times. Following the attack, Shehorn underwent emergency surgery and spent days in intensive care.

Pasqual was ultimately stopped by authorities at a border checkpoint in Sierra Blanca, Texas, and extradited to Los Angeles.

The former couple met on the set of Zack Snyder’s film “Rebel Moon,” where Pasqual worked as a background actor and Shehorn worked as a makeup artist.

Last week, Shehorn sued the actor for sexual battery, assault and negligence, among other counts, according to a lawsuit submitted in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

The 17-page complaint echoes details about the May 2024 stabbing that led to Pasqual’s arrest two years ago and his attempted murder conviction.

Staff writer Alexandra Del Rosario and former staff writer Nathan Solis contributed to this report.

Tiki, an offshoot of the Midcentury Modern movement, flourished in the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s, but began to experience a decline in the ’70s. Thus, by the ’90s, there were concerns at Disney that the Enchanted Tiki Room — the pivotal 1963 attraction that pioneered audio-animatronics — was no longer in vogue, its singing birds, totems and flowers a relic of another era.

The company explored some early concepts to remake the Enchanted Tiki Room. One idea was to transform it into an ecological, save-the-rainforest show. Another was to redesign it with a “Lion King” theme.

“Let me tell you, we hated it,” says artist and designer Kevin Kidney of the latter concept.

Kidney, who worked in Disneyland’s art department in the ’90s, says he and his longtime collaborator Jody Daily were “terrified” the Enchanted Tiki Room would disappear, so much so that they began making fliers to advertise the show and putting them up all over L.A., in restaurants, bars and museums. “We started an underground movement to save the Tiki Room even while we were working on these projects. We tried to frame it in a cool, hip way, like, ‘Everyone needs to go and re-experience this amazing show.’”

Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar took its influence from Disneyland’s Adventureland attractions, namely the Enchanted Tiki Room and the Jungle Cruise.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed, and the Enchanted Tiki Room remains to this day a vital piece of Disneyland history. And now with the modern tiki revival, it’s no longer an archival curiosity. In fact, the connection between Disney and tiki may be as strong as it has ever been, as this spring the Disneyland Hotel’s Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar turned 15. Trader Sam’s took its cues heavily from the Adventureland attraction, its bar flanked by tiki totems with slowly wandering eyes. And watching over guests and bartenders is a re-creation of one of the show’s tiki gods.

“The totem pole on the bar, and Koro up in the rafters above the bar, are all original designs and sculpts for the Tiki Room at Disneyland,” Kidney says. “They made new castings for the bar off of the elements from the attraction.”

Kidney and Daily collaborated with Walt Disney Imagineering, the arm of the company devoted to theme park experiences, on some of the early designs for Trader Sam’s. It’s their mug collection, for instance, that was seen in the bar on opening day. And the pair designed a magnificent glowing ship in a bottle, which thanks to a Pepper’s ghost illusion, occasionally looks as if it’s breaking apart and sinking.

Trader Sam’s, says author and historian Sven Kirsten, writer of “The Book of Tiki,” is one of the more influential bars on the modern tiki landscape. Though it didn’t kickstart today’s movement, says Kirsten, it often serves as “a gateway,” introducing Disney’s millions of guests to the scene.

Kirsten says Trader Sam’s has rightfully earned its place among SoCal’s most respected tiki bars. And most popular. An unofficial Instagram page devoted to the bar, keeping tabs on its mug releases and off-menu bartender creations, has more than 39,000 followers.

The erupting volcano “windows” of Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

“In the early 2010s the craft cocktail revival brought forth these so-called tiki bars that thought if they had a tiki cocktail menu they were a tiki bar,” Kirsten says. “But it was basket lamps and palm leaf wallpaper and that was it. Places like Trader Sam’s and Strong Water and Royal Hawaiian are floor-to-ceiling fully decorated. They’re what a tiki bar should be.”

Before the Disneyland Hotel had Trader Sam’s, the space was home to Hook’s Pointe, which was lightly themed to “Peter Pan.” Yet about a decade after the Walt Disney Co. completed a purchase to assume control of the Disneyland Hotel, Hook’s Pointe was earmaked for renovation.

“We were designing a Caribbean-style bar where Trader Sam’s is now, and that was where I said, ‘Let’s rethink this,’” said Kyle Barnes, an Imagineer who was instrumental in the creation of Trader Sam’s. Barnes was speaking at a recent event hosted by Disney’s fan club D23 on the history of Adventureland and Trader Sam’s.

“I said, ‘That’s more East Coast. This is West Coast.’ Hawaii and Midcentury really fit together with the tiki theme,” Barnes said, noting that the park’s Enchanted Tiki Room was initially pitched as a restaurant and once sat next to the Tahitian Terrace, a Polynesian-themed restaurant complete with hula dancers.

Trader Sam’s is home to many show elements. In addition to the sinking ship, there are bar seats that will begin to drop the longer guests sit in them. Also, there are two theatrical windows looking out toward a volcano, which will erupt when guests order a specific drink. The ship in a bottle and dipping barstools, said Barnes, were inspired by the Adventurers Club at Florida’s Walt Disney World, while the volcano windows were influenced by Florida’s version of the Enchanted Tiki Room.

The Kungaloosh cocktail at Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

The Adventurers Club closed in 2008, but I was fortunate enough to visit it as a child, and it was instrumental in my love of Disney, theater and, well, bars. Full of actors, puppets and walls filled with artifacts that seemed to spring to life, the Adventurers Club was a place of play, and I still remember as a kid being asked by one of the actors to join the imaginary guild. It was a glimpse into a grown-up world full of revelry, silliness and colorful cocktails.

Trader Sam’s fills a similar niche for me today, and as part of its 15th anniversary, it added the Adventurers Club signature drink, the sweetly tropical Kungaloosh, to its menu. As a kid, I longed to enter an adult world. As a grown-up, I love an adult world with a childlike playfulness.

Tiki bars aren’t perfect, and have occasionally come under criticism as escapist fantasy that appropriates Hawaiian or Polynesian iconography. As such, Trader Sam’s has changed over the years. Shrunken heads, for instance, that once hung from the walls, were years ago removed.

Progress, and part of Trader Sam’s enduring appeal. “The jokes that we accepted long ago, they were jokes for only a part of the population,” says Kidney.

And Trader Sam’s remains full of absurdities — spend some time just soaking up the puns and ephemera that dot the walls. Just be prepared to duck when you see the bartenders reach for a spray bottle.

So cheers to another 15 years, and I hope to see you at the bar.

This week in SoCal theme parks

Space Mountain at night.

(Paul Hiffmeyer / Disneyland Resort)

• A refreshed cartoon world. Magic Mountain will on Saturday unveil its new kid-targeted Looney Tunes Land, which is a makeover of its previous Bugs Bunny-focused area. Expect a brand new live show, and spaces designed to represent the personality of characters such as Bugs, Daffy Duck, the Tasmanian Devil, and Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. Each of the attractions, such as calming train and balloon rides, has received a tune-up. I’ll take a closer look next week!
• ‘The Odyssey’ comes to Universal. While theme park fans await the opening date of Universal Studios Hollywood’s new “Fast & Furious” coaster, the park is zooming ahead with its Mega Movie Summer promotion. As part of the latter, a ship from Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” will be added to the park’s tram tour. Elsewhere, Minions from “Minions & Monsters” will start meeting with guests, and various dining locations will receive light makeovers to represent films such as “Jaws” and the “Fast & Furious” franchise.
• Changes afoot at CityWalk. Universal’s CityWalk is in the midst of a multiyear transformation. New spaces, such as one from Malibu Brewing Co., are on the way, while some legacy retailers are unfortunately disappearing. The latest: Publisher Dark Horse Comics is closing its Things From Another World retail location. The pop-culture shop is slated to close in September. No word yet on what may move into the space.
• Space Mountain is back! After a brief overlay as the “Star Wars”-themed Hyperspace Mountain, Disneyland’s classic Space Mountain has returned just in time for the busy summer season. The coaster, which tops off at about 32 mph in near total darkness, should be back in all its vintage glory as of today.
• A renewal perk. The Disneyland Resort in a move to create more loyalty among its Magic Key passholders is offering a bonus for those who opt to stick around for another year. A dining promotion, in which annual passholders can receive a dining gift card for as much as $100 if they choose to re-up, is underway through May of next year.

Tell us your stories. Ask us your questions.

Have a theme park tale to share? Whether it was a good day or less-than-perfect day, I would love to hear about it. Have a question? A tip? A fun photo from the parks to share? Email me at todd.martens@latimes.com. I may feature your note in an upcoming newsletter.

Ride on,

Todd Martens

P.S.

I’m curious if any longtime Disneyland fans have any memories of the Carousel of Progress. I’d love to hear them. The theater show, built around a rotating auditorium, debuted at the 1964 World’s Fair before making its way to Disneyland in 1967. It was moved to Florida’s Walt Disney World in 1975.

In case anyone missed it, the Walt Disney Co. announced last week that Carousel of Progress would be undergoing a top-to-bottom overhaul to update the show. No longer will it begin in the distant past, as the refreshed attraction will now start in the 1960s and take guests into the ’80s, the late ’90s and beyond. An ode to technological optimism, the original show was overseen by Walt Disney, but had undergone multiple changes throughout the decades, most notably in its final scene.

I’ll miss its glimpses of the 1920s and 1940s, but concede the attraction was notable today more for its Disney history than its cultural relevancy. Thus, I’m cautiously hopeful that this makeover can ensure the Carousel of Progress remains a Disney staple for decades to come.

It’s election day in California’s 2026 primary, and you’re headed to the polls — until you realize you’re not sure you’re registered, or fear you might not make it to the vote center on time.

Here are some common election day concerns and challenges and how to end your Tuesday with an “I voted” sticker.

I forgot to register to vote

You can still register to vote on election day as a conditional voter through the same-day voter registration process.

Eligible citizens who need to register or re-register to vote within 14 days of an election can complete this process and vote at county elections offices, polling places or vote centers. To register you’ll need to provide a driver’s license, a state identification number or the last four digits of your Social Security number.

A complete list of county election office addresses can be found here.

Your submitted ballot will be processed and counted once the county elections office has completed the voter registration verification process.

If you’re unsure about your voter status, you can find your record here by providing some personal information including your date of birth and driver’s license number.

I don’t know where my polling place is

You can find your nearest polling place on the California secretary of state’s website here.

You can also use Los Angeles County’s voter center locator on the registrar-recorder/county clerk website here.

On election day, voting centers are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. across the state.

I can’t submit my mail-in ballot myself

You can have someone else submit your ballot.

Anyone can drop off your mailed ballot as long as you authorize them to do so and they do not get paid on a per-ballot basis, according to the secretary of state.

You and the person you’ve authorized to submit your mailed ballot must fill and sign the outside of the ballot envelope.

I forgot my check-in code for in-person voting

Los Angeles County election officials say you can check in at a vote center by scanning your “quick check-in code” — a number that verifies your voter registration.

Your code can be found on your mailed sample ballot and vote center postcard. Take either of those hard copies to the vote center.

If you forgot the hard copies, you can retrieve the code by verifying your voter registration here. You’ll need to input your last name, birth date, the house number of your residential address and ZIP Code. For assistance call, (800) 815-2666, Option 2.

I want to drop my ballot in a box but fear it’s too late

There are three ways you can submit your mailed ballot on election day:

• You can put it in a ballot drop box. The cutoff time for doing so is 8 p.m., which is also when the polls close on election day.
• Drop it off at a vote center, where the deadline is the same.
• Drop it off at a United States post office. Be sure to get a hand-stamped postmark from a postal employee. Mailed ballots must be postmarked on election day and received no later than seven days after election day.

I think I forgot to sign by mailed ballot envelope

If you failed to sign your vote-by-mail ballot return envelope, your vote will still count.

Your county elections official will notify you by mail, phone or email, according to the secretary of state. You can also be notified by way of the “Where’s My Ballot?” tracking tool if you have signed up for automatic notifications that will ping you if there are issues with your ballot.

Your county elections office will provide you with a form to fill out and return completed.

The form will be given to you two days prior to the day your county certifies the election, so be sure to fill it out and return it to your county elections office right away.

I’m going to be late getting to the polls; can I still vote?

In California, any voter who is in line at 8 p.m. when the polls are scheduled to close is allowed to vote, according to the secretary of state.

If there is a line when the polls close, a poll worker stands at the back of the line to let people who arrive after 8 p.m. know that the polls have closed.

Any voter who arrives after the polls have closed may not be allowed to vote, even if voters who were in line to vote before the polls closed are in the process of voting.

LOOKING back on all of her recent holidays, Helen Dalling recalled all the amazing adventures she had in such a short amount of time.

Over the course of one year, she managed to do more travelling that many could wish to do in a lifetime – and she did it without breaking the bank.

Seven countries, £2,000 spent, and more memories made than anyone could dream of.

It all started when Helen decided to see how many new places she could visit for as cheap as possible – and managed to keep costs low while making the most of each new adventure.

She did this by making each trip as short as possible, with some being ‘extreme day trips’ – where you fly in and out of a country within the same 24 hours – and others being just an overnight stay.

And despite packing in a full holiday experience each time, the total cost came in at around £1,600 including flights, airport parking, any hotels, sightseeing, food and drink, and spending money.

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“I’ve always loved travelling but as I’m getting older and I’ve got kids and I work full-time, I thought ‘I’m not going to see enough countries in the world,” Helen, who is from Milton Keynes, said.

“‘If I don’t start going to see a few of them, I need to do them quick and cheap’.

“That’s really why I started doing it.”

While Helen started her extreme day tripping in 2024, it was in 2025 that she really went all out – visiting seven new countries throughout the year.
She headed to Paris, Budapest, Geneva, Split in Croatia, Prague, Amsterdam and several places in Spain in 2025.

The 55-year-old stayed just hours in some places, and spent the night in others, and visited most with friends, while others she headed to alone.

She added: “I went to seven brand new countries.

“That’s what I really wanted to do, I thought ‘I’ve never been to Hungary so let’s go to Budapest’.”

Helen says she tries to keep costs as low as possible, by regularly searching for bargains on the websites of different airlines she knows fly from her nearest airport, Luton.

She added: “When I went to Paris, I was basically just browsing on New Year’s Day, not doing much else and I spotted that you could get a flight to Paris for £13, one way and £12 the other.

“I just booked it – and then when I told a friend, she booked it too and came with me.

“The Budapest flights were about £8.99 each way, you can’t even get them that cheap anymore.

“I’ve done others that were £15-£20 return; I just book them – when I see the price, I just go for it.”

While Helen does some of her trips solo, she often has friends tag along for the day.

She says she treats her trips as “an opportunity to catch up with a friend.”

She added: “Instead of going to London for lunch, let’s go somewhere for the day.

“I did Geneva twice last year, but the second one I did at Christmas was with a real old friend of mine who is really into her food.

“So we went and did a foodie trip to the Christmas markets in Geneva and just went for the day, she’d never done one.

“Everybody that I’ve done one with has said ‘oh my God, that was amazing’.

“I’ve got a bit of a queue of people wanting to go as well, but only so much money.”

Of all her trips in 2025, Helen says her adventure to Budapest, which cost £191 for an overnight stay, was the best – particularly for its Thermal Baths.

She said: “We just fell in love with Budapest.

“Every time we did something else afterwards, I just said to my friend ‘it’s not Budapest though, is it? It’s not Budapest.’

“It was February when we did that but the sky was blue and we had the best time.

“It was super cheap and everything just worked.

“It was so lush.

“We were just sat in these massive pools of boiling hot water with the cold air on our skin, just going ‘this is amazing.’”

Helen shows no signs of slowing down with her bargain trips either, having already undertaken several in 2026.

She recently visited Palma, Mallorca with a friend, for under £120 each.

They spent the day exploring the city, visiting a sky bar restaurant for lunch, heading to the beach to swim and even stopping for iced coffee at a beach bar.

Most recently, Helen spent the night in Lithuania, and even visited Albania for the day.

She added: “ I’m always buzzing after a day trip.

“I would definitely do it again, it’s a great way to visit countries you’d never visit by going on one holiday a year.

“Last year I visited seven new countries and it’s liberating.”

CLOVIS, Calif. — Jurupa Valley senior AB Hernandez stood on a hillside overlooking Veterans Memorial Stadium, a booklet of encouraging letters tucked under one arm and two gold medals hanging from her neck.

She rolled the medals between her fingers.

“I still feel like I’m gonna be here next year,” she said. “I guess I’ll process it overnight maybe, then tomorrow, I’m going to Disneyland.”

For most high school seniors, a state championship marks the end of a season.

For Hernandez, it marks the end of three years spent competing as a transgender athlete under a spotlight few teenagers could imagine.

On Saturday, she won state titles in the high jump and triple jump, capping her career as a four-time state champion. Days earlier, she had graduated from high school.

AB Hernandez leaps in the air during the CIF state track and field championship finals in Clovis on Saturday.

(Tomas Ovalle/For The Times)

Away from the spotlight, Hernandez likes swimming, spending time with friends and working on her makeup routine. During the past two years, politicians and activists stoked by President Trump have turned her into a symbol in the national fight over transgender athletes’ right to participate in girls’ sports.

“I feel like I’m always going to be in the public eye,” Hernandez said. “It’s never going to go away and that’s weird. But maybe someday it’ll be for something else.”

At the state championships, that fight was visible everywhere except where Hernandez seemed most comfortable: among the athletes competing in the stadium.

At the end of Friday’s preliminary competition, Hernandez and five other high jump contenders sprawled on their stomachs beneath the high jump tent, cheering on West Ranch junior Avery Prestridge and La Jolla junior Anastasia Volkov in a jump-off for the final qualifying spot.

AB Hernandez, second from right, laughs while standing on the first place podium alongside Monta Vista’s Leilani Laruelle after the CIF state track and field high-jump finals on Saturday.

(Tomas Ovalle/For The Times)

When Prestridge secured the berth, she and Hernandez exchanged a high-five and a smile.

“That’s what will stick with me,” Hernandez said. “Laying on the field, cheering for other girls, everyone being sweet.”

It was a stark contrast to the image detractors tried to paint earlier in the day.

While Hernandez warmed up on the track, anti-trans activists and politicians gathered across the street in an area marked by a CIF sign reading “free speech area.”

There, organizers who have protested women’s athletic events involving transgender participants across California delivered speeches demanding that the CIF prohibit Hernandez and other transgender athletes from competing. They were unmoved by CIF’s policy requiring that any transgender athlete who advances in track and field playoffs or places in competition be joined by the next cisgender girl in the rankings, with both advancing or receiving the same medal.

“The message being sent to female athletes is clear — your opportunities, your records, your placement and your hard work comes second to males,” former NCAA soccer player Sophia Lorey said during the rally.

California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton spoke alongside the protesters.

“The first thing we have to do is overturn the law that set all this in motion, AB 1266, that was passed in 2013, that’s why we’ve been living with this for so long,” Hilton said to Fox News. “That law violates the California state Constitution. … I will immediately suspend the law while we begin legal proceedings to overturn it.”

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton held a news conference outside the state track and field championships in Clovis denouncing CIF for allowing transgender athletes to compete alongside girls.

(Tomas Ovalle/For The Times)

Earlier in the day, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer posted a video on X with Hernandez.

“I’m so proud of you for what you’re doing,” Steyer told Hernandez. “So proud of you for succeeding. So proud of you for competing. That’s really the point. … And I’m going to hope like heck that you don’t just make state but you do really well there. Deal?”

Last year, Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, that, “As a Male, he was a less than average competitor. As a Female, this transitioned person is practically unbeatable.”

He also threatened to withhold federal funding from California if the CIF allowed Hernandez to compete. That came after he enacted an executive order in February 2025 barring transgender women and girls from participating in sports according to their gender identity.

Transgender participation in sports has become a central Republican talking point in recent years and it is impossible to separate Hernandez’s story from that political context.

Focus on the Family, Family Research Council and California Family Council have invested years and millions of dollars into messaging, advocacy and legal efforts surrounding the issue. According to ProPublica and public filings, those organizations collectively reported hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue in 2024.

Transgender athlete AB Hernandez, center, poses with other athletes at the CIF state track and field championships in Clovis on Saturday.

(Tomas Ovalle/For The Times)

As a result, a California athlete who confirmed her transgender status became the focus of a national political fight.

“The voice of the kid who’s been targeted gets lost,” said activist Daisy Gardner, who spoke at a news conference supporting Hernandez before Saturday’s meet. “We’re up against a million[-dollar] machine on the other side who has launched the ‘Protect Girls’ Sports’ campaign, and we need to have a little ray of sunshine pushing through the darkness.”

The Trump administration’s Executive Order 14201, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” was issued on Feb. 5, 2025, and was followed the next day by an NCAA ban on transgender athletes participating in women’s sports.

AB is not sure whether she will find a way to continue competing in college.

“I don’t think any child should have to go through this,” AB’s mother Nereyda Hernandez said. “These are adults willingly doing this to a minor child. This is a kid, a breathing human, a child. It’s not what people are making this out to be.”

For the first time during Friday’s preliminary competition, the clouds broke and the Clovis sun beat down on the field.

AB, who had posted the top regional mark, needed only one jump to qualify for the next day’s finals. She went last in the second flight.

As she prepared for her attempt, the public address announcer’s voice echoed through the stadium.

“In girls’ long jump, here comes AB Hernandez.”

A ripple of applause spread through the crowd from those who recognized the name. Nereyda and family friend Trevor Norcross were among the loudest.

Transgender athlete AB Hernandez won the high jump title during the state track and field championships in Clovis.

(Tomas Ovalle/For The Times)

Two hours later, after completing her triple jump qualifying leaps, Hernandez headed to the high jump, where she again found herself among the final competitors remaining.

During the long wait between events, Nereyda was interviewed by ABC30. At the same moment, AB was preparing for a high jump attempt.

Gardner, the activist, hurried over, tapped Nereyda on the shoulder and pointed toward the pit.

Nereyda quickly turned her phone sideways and hit record.

“Let’s go AB!”

The night before qualifying, AB, Nereyda and friends sat in a hotel room making bracelets. At first, they strung rainbow-colored beads. AB shook her head. Her colors were pink and gold.

“I know what looks good on me,” she said. “I want something that represents me. People see a flag, and that’s not me in my entirety. I want something that is me personally, me entirely.”

While Nereyda felt the familiar butterflies about what the next day might bring, AB focused on what mattered to her. She decided how she wanted to wear her hair and prepared the custom-made letterman jacket she got last year with money donated by supporters.

Transgender athlete AB Hernandez wears a letterman jacket funded by her supporters and waves during the CIF state track and field championships in Clovis.

(Tomas Ovalle/For The Times)

AB Hernandez’s mom, Nereyda, shows a friendship bracelet she made alongside supporters of her daughter that reads “I stand with AB.”

(Tomas Ovalle/For The Times)

“She said, ‘I want my letterman jacket,’ and I was like, OK,” Nereyda said. “And she said, ‘I want that to be a reminder every time I wear it, I want it to be a reminder of the people who supported me,’ and that’s what she did.

“It was a daily reminder that she wasn’t alone.”

Those are the memories Nereyda says will stay with her more than the vitriol she and her daughter have faced during the past two years. AB is a reluctant transgender athlete pioneer who prefers to be known for so much more than just her gender identity, but the prospect of hiding because she was relentlessly attacked didn’t feel right, either.

“I’m always going to think about how hard she tried to be here,” she said. “She didn’t quit. Despite all the pressure, you can’t change my kid.”

The night before AB’s final competition, Nereyda felt sick. She suspected it was stress over what the next day might bring.

But Saturday passed with minimal disruption.

AB’s long jump did not meet her usual standard. She finished third with a mark of 20 feet, 2 1/4 inches, a result she described as “bittersweet.”

“It was a little nerve-wracking,” Nereyda said. “I could see it was a different vibe when she got into the high jump and triple jump.”

In those events, Hernandez delivered the top performances of the day to repeat as a state champion.

She leaped 42-8 3/4 in the triple jump, comfortably ahead of Los Altos senior Daniela Hughes, who finished at 41-1 before sharing the podium. Standing together atop the first-place position, the two posed for photos with Hughes’ arm draped around Hernandez.

“I’m just happy with my performance,” Hughes said when asked about sharing a podium. “I wanted to win a championship.”

Transgender athlete AB Hernandez clinches her fists and reacts after completing a high jump during the CIF state track and field meet in Clovis.

(Tomas Ovalle/For The Times)

About 30 minutes after the high jump medal ceremony, AB walked toward her mother.

Nereyda spotted her and threw her hands into the air.

“My baby!”

The two embraced, away from the crowd, the cameras and the ire.

“She did it,” Nereyda said. “With everything else, it didn’t matter, she did it.”