deal

Greece signs $3.5bn deal with Israel to acquire its first multi-layered air defence network by 2029.

Greece has signed a $3.5bn defence deal with Israel to provide its first integrated “multi-layered” air defence network.

Israel said the agreement, negotiated over three years, is one of the largest in the country’s history..

Engineers will set up an aerial defence shield for the Greeks, integrating three Israeli systems, including the SPYDER system, produced by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, the BARAK MX system, made by Israel Aerospace Industries and David’s Sling air defence technology, an Israeli defence ministry statement said on Monday.

The agreement comes as Israeli weapons’ exports are soaring, despite widespread criticism over its genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza and other wars in Lebanon and Iran.

Israeli weapons exports reached record highs with more than $19bn last year, a 30 percent increase from 2024, according to official data.

“Modern conflicts have already altered the parameters of military defence and deterrence,” Greece’s Defence Minister, Nikos Dendias, said in a statement after the agreement was signed.

“Technology, ballistic missiles, satellite communications, unmanned systems, cyber threats, hybrid forms of warfare and the interconnection of fields of operations have long rendered pre-existing defence doctrines completely unrealistic,” he said.

Reporting from Athens, Al Jazeera’s John Psaropoulos said the systems could counter a range of aerial threats.

“The SPYDER and David’s Sling are short-to-medium-range air defence missile systems. They fire missiles to intercept incoming aircraft, cruise missiles and large drones. The BARAK can do all these things, but it also intercepts incoming ballistics,” he said.

Separately, Greece signed a $30m deal with Israel for Rafael’s Drone Dome system, “to defend strategic sites against UAVs and drones and to reinforce existing defences”.

Europe’s changing security landscape

Greece is the second European Union member to agree to buy the David’s Sling system, after Finland.

“This is Greece interpreting the lessons from the war in Ukraine, which has changed the nature of armed conflict and realising that it needs much stronger air defences to intercept whatever might come in from the East.” Psaropoulos said.

“Now that the war in the Gulf has reawakened Iranian animosity towards US allies in Europe, there is a perceived threat from there as well as from other countries in the East,” Psaropoulos added.

Greece spends nearly 3.5 percent of its gross domestic product on defence, a higher proportion than ⁠many NATO allies due to its long-standing dispute with neighbouring Turkiye.

Caracas, August 30, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez has defended an oil agreement that US President Donald Trump called “the biggest in history.”

“The historic agreement with the United States will have a great impact on Venezuelans’ lives in the long term,” she said in a televised broadcast on Saturday evening. “It is useless to have oil reserves underground. They should be turned into welfare and prosperity for our country.”

The acting president pledged that the deal would lead to “education and healthcare” improvements and contribute to “energy security” in the Western Hemisphere. She reiterated gratitude to Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the agreement.

According to Rodríguez, the joint initiative will see undisclosed private operators take over 17 oilfields for 25 years. The fields in question contain 65 billion barrels of crude, a little over 20 percent of the country’s reserves.

She added that the project had a 1.5 million barrel per day (bpd) target. With prices estimated at $65, Venezuela would collect US $19 per barrel, totaling $209 billion over the course of the agreement.

However, the price estimates stand markedly below present and projected market values, while the state’s take is likewise significantly reduced. Under previous legislation, enacted by former President Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan state collected over $0.75 for every dollar of oil extracted in the form of royalties, taxes, and dividends from state oil company PDVSA.

Furthermore, an average of $8.4 billion in yearly revenue for 1.5 million bpd produced also amounts to a much reduced share for the Caribbean nation. In 2025, with lower market prices and Venezuela forced to sell at a discount to circumvent US sanctions, the country collected a reported $18.4 billion from an average of 941,000 bpd produced.

Unofficial sources have published the 17 oilfields in question, with nine being extra-heavy crude projects, eight of them in the Orinoco Oil Belt. The remaining eight are reportedly mature light and medium crude fields in Western Venezuela.

For his part, Trump presented the agreement as a major foreign policy victory that would boost US energy security for decades. In a social media message on Sunday, Trump claimed he would use Venezuelan oil to “fill up the Strategic National Reserves,” calling the supply “a gift from Venezuela.”

Details on the US role in the agreement have yet to be disclosed, with Trump Energy Secretary Chris Wright expected in Caracas in the coming days.

According to AP, the US government will have an ownership stake in a company receiving 100-year rights to drill in the assigned oilfields. Washington would reportedly secure 55 percent of the output and be able to purchase oil at cost.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration plans to secure a 35 percent stake in North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), a firm owned by Venezuelan oil mogul Alejandro Betancourt that currently operates multiple oil projects. The operation would be conducted by the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital through penny warrants that minimize capital investment.

Venezuelan and US officials have stated that the deal will attract $100 billion in private sector investment. Nevertheless, there has been no information released about the private actors involved.

Since the January 3 US military strikes and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores, the Trump administration has seized control over Venezuela’s energy sector. Washington has maintained wide-reaching sanctions in place while issuing licenses for select Western corporations. The US Treasury likewise manages Venezuela’s crude sale revenues, with the amounts and timings of the disbursements to Caracas left at the White House’s discretion.

The acting Rodríguez government has pushed a pro-business overhaul of its hydrocarbon law and regulations in coordination with US officials and corporate executives. In recent months, companies such as Chevron, BP, and Shell have struck new long-term oil and natural gas deals or renegotiated existing ones.

Popular movements call for ‘anti-imperialist resistance’

The announced agreement with the Trump administration has drawn significant criticism over its lack of transparency and implications for Venezuelan sovereignty.

Economist Francisco Rodríguez questioned whether the deal would require parliamentary approval as established by the Venezuelan Constitution. He likewise called for an explanation on whether the announced revenue figures are at current prices or adjusted for inflation. “19 dollars per barrel in 2051, when the project ends, correspond to a real value of 9 dollars today,” he wrote.

Venezuelan social movements also took to the streets of Caracas on Saturday to protest against “neocolonialism and imperialist attacks.” The mobilization was organized by the Popular Anti-Imperialist Front, a coalition of grassroots collectives that has staged regular demonstrations in recent weeks.

“The Popular Anti-Imperialist Front aims to bring together revolutionary movements to resist the imperialist aggression our country is facing,” activist Fernando Berroterán told Venezuelanalysis. “We are staging protests in different communities to raise popular consciousness.”

Berroterán stated that he was “completely opposed” to the announced deal, adding that the Popular Anti-Imperialist Front would meet and establish a joint position in the coming days.

Fellow organizer Orlando Vega argued that the Venezuelan government has “stumbled” in its response following the January 3 US attacks. He urged a firmer stance, demanding the release of Maduro and Flores and a review of legislation approved “under US coercion.”

“Our call is for the people to organize pockets of resistance against imperialism and Zionism,” Vega concluded.

Edited by Lucas Koerner in Philadelphia, USA.

A new deal between Caracas and Washington would give US companies access to more than a fifth of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.

But there’s opposition in Venezuela, as well as debate about whether the plan is legal.

What could the agreement mean?

Presenter: Tom McRae

Guests:

Jose Chalhoub – political risk and oil analyst

Cornelia Meyer – commodity specialist and CEO of Meyer Resources

Francisco Rodriguez – senior research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research at the University of Denver, former head of the Economic and Financial Advisory of the Venezuelan National Assembly

Caracas, August 28, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – US President Donald Trump has announced a major energy agreement with Venezuela to “more than double US oil reserves.”

“The US has just entered into the biggest oil deal in history with Venezuela,” he wrote on social media. “Working with highly respected [Venezuelan Acting President] Delcy Rodríguez, and through a partnership with private business, [the US] has secured majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven Venezuelan oil reserves.”

Trump added that the purported agreement would lower US fuel prices “long into the future” while setting Venezuela “on a course toward tremendous success and great prosperity.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the reported deal “a huge win for both the American and Venezuelan people” and claimed it would bring “nearly US $100 billion in private investment” to the Caribbean nation. Trump and Rubio disclosed no specifics about the arrangement.

Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez confirmed the “historic agreement” via a social media message on Friday night.

“I extend my deepest gratitude to Trump, Rubio, and the US government for their support in developing this agreement, which represents a historic milestone in US-Venezuela relations,” she wrote.

Rodríguez stated that the deal will involve private corporations developing 17 “strategic fields” with 65 billion barrels of proven reserves. She echoed Rubio’s $100 billion investment claim and pledged that the projects would yield $209 billion in tax revenues. According to the acting president, the announced agreement “ushers in a new era of growth and prosperity.”

The high-level negotiations were first reported by Axios on Thursday.

The Venezuelan Constitution establishes that all mineral and hydrocarbon resources are “inalienable public domain” goods. Transferring ownership of oil reserves would require a constitutional reform.

According to Reuters, the deal could take the form of a long-term lease, with the Trump administration then auctioning or allocating fields to select corporations. Bloomberg reported that the lease could be as long as 100 years.

The seventeen fields in question are said to include undeveloped extra-heavy crude projects in the Orinoco Oil Belt and mature light crude fields in Lake Maracaibo. The resulting supply would be “guaranteed” for the US as part of efforts to rein in rising fuel costs amid the ongoing standoff with Iran in the Persian Gulf.

Bloomberg additionally reported that Washington’s direct involvement in Venezuela’s oil industry could be conducted by the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) in partnership with Venezuelan oil mogul Alejandro Betancourt. The Biden administration created the OSC in 2022 to fund private sector initiatives deemed vital for US national security interests. 

Since the January 3 US military strikes and kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the acting Rodríguez administration has fast-tracked a diplomatic rapprochement with Washington while also opening the country’s energy and mining sectors to Western companies. 

A new Hydrocarbon Law and associated regulations were drafted in consultation with oil executives and US officials. The reform slashed royalties and taxes and ceded control over operations and sales to private firms under joint venture or concession-type models. Caracas also acceded to foreign companies’ demands in allowing for legal disputes to be settled by international arbitration bodies.

The legislative overhaul replaced the 2001 Hydrocarbon Law approved by former President Hugo Chávez and subsequent decrees that established a leading role for the Venezuelan state in the energy sector, which in turn fueled the country’s economic and social progress in the 2000s.

The US Treasury has maintained wide-reaching sanctions in place while issuing licenses to hand-picked companies and barring the participation of enterprises from China, Iran, and Russia. Furthermore, Venezuelan oil revenues are presently deposited in a US Treasury account, with the disbursement timings and amounts left at Trump officials’ discretion.

On Thursday, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) amended eight sanctions waivers concerning oil, mining, and telecommunications. OFAC removed a requirement that contracts signed with Venezuelan state entities be drafted in accordance with US laws or jurisdiction. The agency stated that “investment-related reforms” by the acting Rodríguez government had made the clause unnecessary.

Venezuela’s investor-friendly regulatory environment has led to industry giants, including Chevron, Repsol, and Shell, striking new deals or renegotiating existing ones for crude and natural gas exploration. Companies with no energy track record such as Lionheart Capital and Crossover Energy are likewise set to take control of strategic oilfields.

Oil services company SLB, formerly Schlumberger, recently signed an agreement with PDVSA for reservoir studies and service provision. SLB has set the reactivation of 15 oil rigs in the South American country as a short-term priority.

According to Reuters, the multinational firm will also access prized data on Venezuela’s oilfields, from reservoir characterization to real-time output information. SLB allegedly seeks to “make Venezuela’s oil data reliable again.”

In another indication of Caracas’ dramatic diplomatic realignment with Washington, Venezuelan officials are reportedly mulling the possibility of exiting the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Venezuela played a leading role in the creation of OPEC in 1960 as it sought to bring together Global South oil-producing nations to secure better and more stable oil prices in global markets. Former President Chávez also prioritized revamping OPEC after a prior “Oil Opening” under US-aligned governments had oriented the industry toward US interests and undermined the organization.

Edited by Lucas Koerner in Philadelphia, USA.

[Updated on August 28 at 8.30 pm ET following Trump’s announcement.]

SACRAMENTO — After weeks of intense negotiation, state lawmakers on Friday reached a compromise on legislation to regulate energy use by California’s growing data center industry, action triggered by community anger over the facilities and fears of high utility bills in some communities.

The goal, according to legislators and advocates, is to protect consumers from growing electricity costs driven upward by the sprawling facilities and to track the centers’ immense energy and water consumption.

Business groups representing tech companies argued that some of the proposed restrictions and requirements, along with California’s high energy costs and lack of available land, would make it difficult for data centers to open in the state.

Municipalities risk missing out on tax revenues and jobs from the centers if the industry goes elsewhere, they said.

Two bills to regulate the controversial industry consumed the state Legislature in the final weeks of the 2026 session, drawing in Gov. Gavin Newsom and industry organizations and lobbyists representing some of the world’s most influential companies, including Google, Meta, Amazon and artificial intelligence firms such as Anthropic and OpenAI.

Proposed legislation by Sen. Steve Padilla (D-Chula Vista) and Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Los Angeles), finalized Friday, would establish special rules for data centers’ electrical use. The legislation requires the California Public Utilities Commission to create special rates and updated rules for data centers’ use of electricity, including the costs for new power for infrastructure upgrades.

The debate in Sacramento around the data centers centered on how much they should pay for power and infrastructure, and whether that should be mandated by the state Legislature or the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates investor-owned utilities and is controlled by a board appointed by the governor.

Unlike some other states, California hasn’t seen an overwhelming wave of new large-scale data centers, nor have state leaders sought moratoriums such as the ones enacted by governors in Texas and New York.

An aerial view of a 49.5-megawatt data center under construction in Vernon last month.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Nevertheless, advocates focused on reforming the state’s utilities sought this year to seize the moment to enact tough regulations, including forcing data centers to pay for transmission upgrades and wildfire mitigation efforts.

Utility reform advocates and environmental leaders offered mixed reaction on Saturday.

Matthew Freedman, a senior staff attorney for The Utility Reform Network (TURN), praised the final language in the two bills, saying the legislation would prevent data center costs from “being foisted on other customers” while helping California meet its clean energy goals.

Monica Embrey, the founder of Affordable Energy Campaign, called the last-minute amendments “concerning.”

In particular, she pointed to a lack of clean energy requirements for data centers who use their own energy, and a provision that allows a utility to enter into its own agreement with a data center for energy in the interim period before the state finalizes its regulations.

A representative for the Data Center Coalition, whose members include Google and Microsoft, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Data centers have existed for decades but are rapidly expanding because of the rise of artificial intelligence, or AI. The centers help power everything from streaming services to videoconferencing calls.

Data centers in California are typically smaller than the mammoth, 500+-megawatt AI facilities making headlines in other parts of the country. Electricity costs and state regulations on gas-powered generators limit the vast majority of them to under 100 megawatts.

But as proposals increase in number, opposition has been fierce and growing.

A Public Policy Institute of California poll from July showed that 73% of residents oppose the construction of data centers in their communities.

Opposition centers on water use, air and noise pollution, and the potential for data centers to raise utility bills as they add strain to the grid requiring costly upgrades and new electricity supply.

The California Energy Commission expects data center electricity use, currently 2% of the state’s demand, to double in the next 10 years.

Monterey Park became the first city in the country in June to permanently ban data centers by a popular vote, and at least four other San Gabriel Valley cities have enacted moratoriums.

Southeast of L.A., Imperial County, Desert Hot Springs, and Palm Springs also voted on moratoriums, while Coachella permanently banned the facilities. In the Central Valley, Tulare County adopted a moratorium this month as residents voiced opposition to proposals to develop tiny data centers on local fairgrounds in the region.

And in San José, the state’s hot spot of data center development, residents flooded a recent public hearing to call for a moratorium while the city updates its data center standards.

Newsom last year vetoed legislation by Assemblymember Diane Papan (D-San Mateo) that would have required data centers to disclose and certify their water consumption. The governor said he was reluctant to impose “rigid” reporting requirements on the development of “this critically important digital infrastructure.”

Separate bills that would require the centers to disclose their energy and water use were recently approved by state lawmakers.

Like other state legislators, Papan said she wants to work with the centers, not ban them.

“I constantly say, ‘Help us help you.’ We will all get this right if we can just be transparent and methodical,” said Papan, whose district includes Silicon Valley.

Padilla’s district includes Imperial Valley, where a developer’s plans for a data center on 75 acres is sparking fierce backlash.

Advocates and lawmakers fought over two approaches on the issue of regulating data centers’ energy use.

A wider coalition of environmental groups supported the bill from Padilla, SB 886, sponsored by TURN, that would have required data centers to pay up front for broader power grid updates required to meet their demand. That approach made it into the final package.

TURN pointed to a recent transmission plan from California’s grid operator projecting that increased power demands from data centers in PG&E‘s service territory, where the majority of current and proposed data centers are concentrated, would create up to $1.8 billion in upgrade costs for the power grid, including transmission lines.

PG&E favored a less stringent approach. In an email earlier this week, a PG&E spokesperson argued SB 886 would “risk higher costs for customers and delay critical infrastructure needed to serve the state’s growing energy demand.”

The Data Center Coalition had opposed both bills for “singling out” one type of power user.

The high cost of land and power, as well as lack of available land, are just some of the reasons that California hasn’t seen a flood of data centers, said Khara Boender, a director of government affairs at the Data Center Coalition. She said dozens of states offer some type of exemption for data centers, but California does not.

Additional regulation in the Golden State, she said earlier this week, “would be another signal that the state is a more challenging place for data center development.”

The 23-year-old French forward would bolster new boss Andoni Iraola’s squad after the departure of Mohamed Salah.

Liverpool have ‌finalised an agreement to sign France forward Bradley ⁠Barcola from ⁠European champions Paris Saint-Germain in a deal worth up to 123 million pounds ($166m), media reports said, with the 23-year-old set to become the latest high-profile addition to Andoni Iraola’s squad.

The 20-time English champions ⁠will pay a package worth 106 million pounds ($143m), with add-ons potentially rising to 17 million pounds ($23m), for Barcola, the BBC reported on Saturday. The Athletic reported that he is set to sign a five-year contract.

Barcola joined PSG from his boyhood club Olympique Lyonnais in 2023 and went on to enjoy a trophy-laden spell in the French capital, winning back-to-back Champions League titles in 2024-25 and 2025-26, three Ligue 1 crowns and two French ⁠Cups, among other honours.

He made 152 ⁠appearances in all competitions for PSG, scoring 39 goals and supplying 37 assists.

He had two years remaining on his PSG contract.

Barcola would be the ⁠latest addition to new manager Iraola’s squad following the close-season arrivals of ⁠Uruguayan defender Ronald Araujo on loan, ⁠French centre back Jeremy Jacquet and Spanish forward Victor Munoz.

Liverpool’s attacking options currently include British record signing Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo, Rio Ngumoha and ‌Munoz as the Merseyside club adjusts to life after talisman Mohamed Salah’s departure. Forward Hugo Ekitike is ‌sidelined ‌with a long-term injury.

Liverpool host Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

US president says deal secures majority US control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in Venezuela.

The United States has struck a deal with Caracas that would give them control of some 65 billion barrels of Venezuela’s proven oil reserves, President Donald Trump has announced, while reviving the OPEC nation’s battered energy industry.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the “historic transaction more than doubles American oil reserves” and “will substantially lower gas prices for all Americans”.

“At my direction, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, working closely with Highly Respected Interim President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, and, through a partnership with private business, have secured majority US control of more than 65 BILLION BARRELS of proven Oil Reserves in Venezuela, at no cost to the American Taxpayer,” Trump wrote.

Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez welcomed the deal, which is expected to bring about $209bn to the state’s treasury.

The announcement followed weeks of negotiations over an agreement that would give American companies long-term access to a group of Venezuelan oilfields and guarantee the resulting crude supply to the US.

Venezuelan officials are preparing to sign agreements next week granting new oil exploration and production rights to a number of companies, particularly US firms.

Sources previously told Reuters news agency that a lease model was under consideration, with fields potentially auctioned to US producers, but the arrangement could face legal and constitutional challenges in Venezuela, where the state retains control over core oil industry activities.

The new deal would represent a dramatic expansion of Washington’s role in Venezuela’s oil industry as the Trump administration seeks to revive the country’s production and secure more crude for US refineries. Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, but produces only 1.25 million barrels per day, far below its potential after years of underinvestment, mismanagement and sanctions.

Trump did not disclose the structure of the agreement, the fields or companies involved, nor how the US would exercise majority control over the reserves.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the agreement as a win for both countries, saying on X that it would secure stable, low-cost oil for the US and help lower petrol prices.

For Venezuela, Rubio said the deal would bring nearly $100bn in private investment, support thousands of high-paying jobs and help rebuild the country’s economy.

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Friday said the U.S. has entered an agreement with Venezuela to take control of 65 billion barrels of the South American country’s oil reserves.

Trump in a social media post announced the agreement he said was negotiated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodríguez.

“The United States of America has just entered into an Agreement with the Country of Venezuela on, THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!” Trump wrote.

The Venezuelan government’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The announcement of the deal comes nearly nine months after the U.S. military at Trump’s direction carried out an operation to capture Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro and spirit him to the United States to face federal narcoterrorism and drug trafficking charges.

Trump faces mounting pressure to address high gas prices as the war in Iran on Friday reached a six-month milestone with no conclusion in sight. The U.S. has tapped its strategic petroleum reserves, which in early August fell below 300 million barrels, down by more than 100 million barrels since the start of 2026.

The U.S.-Israel war against Iran has led to a dramatic slowdown of Gulf oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz, which about 20% of the world petroleum passed through prior to the conflict.

The average price of gas in the U.S. stood at about $4.09 a gallon on Friday, according to AAA. The average price was $3.21 at the same time last year.

Trump in his social media post Friday evening alluded to the Venezuela deal being part of a private partnership. The White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment about the private sector partners involved in the deal, and details on how the arrangement would work were not provided.

Persuading big American oil companies to return the region could face headwinds given and decades of badly damaged infrastructure.

Days after the ouster of Maduro, Trump gathered oil executives at the White House and called on them to rush back into Venezuela. Executives expressed interest in the opportunity but there was also a measure of caution given their past experience in the country.

Darren Woods, CEO of ExxonMobil, the largest U.S. oil company, said at that moment he saw the country as “un-investable.”

But Trump has insisted that his administration has brought a measure of stability to Venezuela.

He has argued that Venezuela stole U.S. oil when former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s moved decades ago to nationalize hundreds of foreign-owned assets, including those owned by American oil companies.

Rodríguez, in one of her early moves after taking power, signed a law that opens the nation’s oil sector to privatization and reversed a bedrock tenet of the self-proclaimed socialist movement that had ruled the country for more than two decades.

Rubio said on X that the agreement would usher in $100 billion in private investment into Venezuela and lead to lower gas prices in the United States.

“This deal is a huge win for both the American and Venezuelan people,” Rubio posted.

Venezuela has one of the largest oil reserves in the world, with an estimated 303 billion barrels of crude oil in the ground. That’s about 17% of the world’s supply, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Madhani and Binkley write for the Associated Press. Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas contributed to this report.

The Trump administration is considering trading a parcel of Yosemite National Park to a private commercial developer, according to administration officials, members of Congress and documents reviewed by The Times.

The proposed deal would allow the developer to build a road connecting adjacent property it already owns in the Stanislaus National Forest to a service road within Yosemite, providing any future development on that property with unique access to the famed public wilderness, documents show.

According to a Friday report by the news outlet NOTUS, Trump administration officials have been quietly pressuring the National Park Service to approve the deal for the land despite such pressure being highly unusual and previous proposals for the land being repeatedly denied under the Bush and Obama administrations and in court.

The Department of the Interior, which includes the National Park Service, acknowledged in a statement to The Times on Friday that a land deal is under consideration, but denied any inappropriate influence from the White House.

It said negotiations for the land will comply with all federal rules for federal lands, and that “no final decisions have been made.”

An attorney for the private developer said the deal has nothing to do with politics and is in fact an “environmentally friendly” solution, in that it would dramatically cut down on the amount of driving the future upscale development’s residents would have to do to access the park.

President Trump speaks to astronauts aboard the International Space Station as he visits NASA’s Mission Control Center on Aug. in Houston, Texas.

(Win McNamee / Getty Images)

Congressional Democrats — including Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff of California — are trying to block the deal, after being informed of it earlier this year by the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The fund was created by Congress in 1964 to safeguard natural areas and public lands, and often works to acquire lands to add to national parks.

A fact sheet on the project reviewed by The Times identified the parcel by a former name, the “Hazel Green Ranch,” and said the landowner is seeking to acquire an “interest” in land within the park in order to build a new road connecting “a planned commercial development” to Big Oak Flat Road, an existing federally owned road that “provides access to the park and is a major route to Yosemite Valley.”

The fact sheet said the National Park Service does not have the authority to grant that interest, but has been working with the landowner to facilitate an “exchange” of the land for some other, unidentified parcel of land that is beneficial to the U.S., as allowed under law for federal land swaps.

The project has been identified to lawmakers, without explanation, as a “priority.” Both Padilla and Schiff have objected to it, and Padilla’s office said it is working with Senate Appropriations Committee staff to block the deal.

“The Land and Water Conservation Fund exists to acquire land and interests in land in order to safeguard natural areas, water resources, and cultural heritage — and to provide recreation opportunities for all Americans,” Padilla said in a statement to The Times. “Projects should be chosen on merit, not on an applicant’s connections to high-ranking Trump administration officials.”

Schiff, in his own statement, said Yosemite is “one of California’s natural wonders, and must be protected from further development.”

He said the Trump administration “appears hellbent on moving forward in the face of opposition from the public, Congress and the courts,” and that “the only thing the administration cares about is whether there is money involved.”

The company behind the private development is Nevada-based real estate developer and investment firm Kingsbarn Realty Capital. According to Federal Election Commission records, Kingsbarn CEO Jeff Pori is a donor to Trump, the Republican National Committee and other Republican groups.

Lanny Davis, a former special counsel to President Clinton, represents Kingsbarn, and said the notion the project is moving forward due to Trump administration pressure and Pori’s political contributions despite being environmentally detrimental is false.

He said Kingsbarn wants to build “upscale, single-family houses” on its property, but hasn’t so far because residents would have to drive 28 miles using current roads to reach the park.

To cut that distance down and make the development more feasible, it asked the National Park Service to purchase an 11-mile strip of land within Yosemite to build a shorter, more direct access road, Davis said.

The Park Service responded by saying the company could not purchase park land directly, but could purchase other nearby land of equal or greater value, and then swap it for the park land, Davis said.

It is now working with the Interior Department to identify such land, and is “very close” to doing so, Davis said — calling it a “pro environmental solution” that follows federal law and has “nothing to do” with Pori’s politics.

The White House referred questions about the proposed deal to the Interior Department.

In its statement to The Times, the Interior Department said the NOTUS story “relies on anonymous allegations to manufacture a political narrative that simply is not true. There has been no political pressure to reach a predetermined outcome, and claims suggesting the Department is secretly working to hand over National Park Service land to a private developer are false.”

If a proposal does advance, the statement said, the department will follow established procedures with “transparency and public involvement consistent with federal law. Anonymous speculation does not change those facts.”

The department did not respond to a request for more details as to the proposal.

The land in question represents a tiny portion of the sprawling Yosemite National Park, which is nearly 750,000 acres in total — or roughly the size of Rhode Island. Still, slicing off any piece of the California wilderness — considered a crown jewel in the national park system — runs counter to promises from Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

“My Administration is committed to protecting every acre of our lands and preserving the cleanest air and water in the world,” Trump said in a presidential message on Monday.

Ceding federal lands is also anathema to land preservation groups, which expressed dismay at the idea that any piece of Yosemite might be lost, no matter how small.

Aaron Weiss, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities, said that the NOTUS reporting was “consistent” with what his organization has been hearing “for several months” — and would be inconsistent with public desires for national park lands.

“The American people have consistently said that our public lands, especially our national parks, are not for sale,” he said. “If Secretary Burgum spent more time listening to Americans instead of indulging President Trump’s whims on the National Mall, he’d understand what a terrible idea this is.”

Jayson O’Neill, a spokesman for the group Save Our Parks, said the proposed deal as described by NOTUS represented the latest attempt by the Trump administration and Burgum to gut the Park Service and “then quietly cede treasured park land to private developers, thinking nobody’s watching.”

“National parks belong to the American people, not monied developers who are part of Trump’s donor class,” O’Neill said.

Mark Rose, senior Sierra Nevada program manager for the National Parks Conservation Assn., slammed the proposed land swap as a “secretive, backroom deal” and “an attack on the American people that own this national park.”

He said Yosemite is already facing overcrowding due to “run-away lodging” development outside its borders and the Trump administration’s decision to do away with the park’s reservation system, and a new development would “exacerbate the chaos.”

“The National Park Service needs to get back to prioritizing conservation, not helping bulldoze land, cut down towering trees and construct a luxury development that will harm Yosemite’s wildlife and increase wildfire risks,” Rose said.

Bangladesh is moving toward formal negotiations with China over a potential purchase of J-10CE fighters and attack helicopters, in what could become one of the country’s most significant defense acquisitions in years. The development also underscores the growing international interest in a Chinese fighter that has gained considerable attention since seeing combat in Pakistani service last year.

Bangladesh’s Prime Minister’s Information and Broadcasting Adviser Zahed Ur Rahman said Tuesday that a government panel is preparing a draft agreement that could pave the way for negotiations with Beijing. The government has not disclosed how many aircraft it intends to acquire, the potential value of the deal, or a delivery schedule, with those details expected to be determined during negotiations.

Local reporting has previously pointed to a potential requirement for as many as 24 J-10CEs.

If ultimately contracted and delivered, Bangladesh would become only the second confirmed foreign customer of the export version of the J-10C, after Pakistan. However, there has been growing speculation about other potential customers, too, fueled by imagery showing apparent export-standard J-10s being tested in China.

The potential acquisition comes as Bangladesh seeks to modernize its aging combat aircraft fleet. Dhaka already maintains a long-standing defense relationship with Beijing, which has supplied Bangladesh with combat aircraft, naval vessels, tanks, missile systems, and other military equipment over the past two decades.

The J-10CE is a much more capable proposition than many of the older fighters still operated by air forces that have historically relied on Chinese or Soviet-designed equipment, of which Bangladesh is a prime example. Currently, the Bangladesh Air Force’s fighter fleet is made up of different versions of the Chengdu F-7 (an updated Chinese version of the MiG-21 Fishbed) and much smaller numbers of MiG-29 Fulcrums.

Maintaining aging Soviet-designed fleets increasingly presents challenges in terms of airframe life, avionics, spare parts, weapons, and overall readiness. Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine and accompanying sanctions serve to make Russia an even less reliable source of military aircraft and other arms.

The J-10C is a single-engine multirole fighter equipped with an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, modern avionics, electronic warfare capabilities, and the ability to employ a growing range of Chinese precision-guided weapons. The export J-10CE also provides access to weapons such as the much-vaunted PL-15 beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile.

The aircraft’s growing reputation has been helped considerably by Pakistan.

Pakistan became the first foreign operator of the J-10CE, and the aircraft received intense international attention during the May 2025 conflict between Pakistan and India. Pakistan said its Chinese-made fighters were involved in shooting down several Indian aircraft, while the precise circumstances, numbers, and tactics involved remain the subject of competing claims and outside analysis.

Nevertheless, the conflict provided the J-10CE with an unusual degree of combat visibility for a Chinese export fighter. Now, Bangladeshi officials have explicitly acknowledged that the aircraft’s reported performance during that conflict has attracted attention in Dhaka.

The J-10CE is also particularly well positioned within China’s emerging fighter-export portfolio.

China is developing more advanced stealth aircraft, including the FC-31/J-35 family, but that program represents a different proposition for prospective customers, coming with greater cost and potential uncertainty attached. The J-10C is a much more mature design already in operational foreign service, giving China an aircraft that can be offered today rather than relying entirely on future capabilities.

That combination of modern systems and an established production line could prove attractive to countries that need to replace aging fighters without taking on the financial, political, or industrial commitments associated with acquiring a Western combat aircraft.

As well as the potential Bangladesh deal, Uzbekistan has been linked to the J-10CE.

For months, Chinese military aviation observers have speculated that Tashkent could become another customer for the fighter. More recently, imagery of an aircraft carrying the serial number 1020 has generated renewed interest, with low-visibility markings on its tailfin appearing to resemble the Uzbek flag.

NFL owners have approved the $9.612bn record sale of the reigning Super Bowl champions Seattle Seahawks to a group led by billionaire Vinod Khosla.

The deal, which required the support of at least 24 of 32 owners, is currently the second highest amount paid for a franchise in North American sports history.

The estate of Paul G. Allen, which inherited the NFL team after the death of the Microsoft co-founder in 2018, agreed to terms with the Khosla family on 11 July after a search for a new owner.

And now approved, the sale surpasses the $6.05bn the Washington Commanders fetched when they were sold in 2023, although the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were subsequently sold for $10bn in 2025 and are currently in the process of changing ownership again for a reported $12.5bn.

“We are honoured to be entrusted as the next stewards of the Seattle Seahawks. How often do you get to buy a franchise that just won the Super Bowl?” said Khosla.

“We are incredibly lucky and humbled by this gift, I would say, from the Allen trust.”

“We look forward to building on the winning legacy Paul Allen created and to earning the trust of the Seahawks organisation and fans everywhere.”

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Khosla, who will have to relinquish a minority stake in the San Francisco 49ers as part of his agreement to buy the Seahawks, added: “The task ahead is actually pretty simple – keep the winning streak alive, get another Super Bowl.

“Our approach is generally going to be long-term focused, that’s our inclination always. So, keep winning, take a long-term approach, and learn a lot. We don’t know enough, and the other owners have been incredibly welcoming and willing to teach us, so we’ll learn a lot.

“We’ll learn from management and see what they are recommending.”

Khosla, 71, was the co-founder of US technology company Sun Microsystems and the founder of the venture capital firm Khosla Ventures and has a net worth of $13.2bn, according to Forbes. , external

Former owner Allen saved the Seahawks from relocating to Southern California when he bought the team from Ken Behring in 1997.

His sister, Jody Allen, took control of the Seahawks and the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers as chair of both teams upon her brother’s death with a directive to eventually sell both and donate the proceeds to charity.

In the 29 seasons in which Paul or Jody Allen were in charge, the Seahawks made the play-offs 17 times and won two of the four Super Bowls they contested.

Syria has been in talks on the fate of Khmeimim and Tartous bases, which Russia used to support ousted Assad regime.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa have held discussions, including on the fate of Russia’s military bases in the Middle Eastern country.

During a telephone call on Wednesday, Putin affirmed Moscow’s support for Syria’s territorial integrity and reiterated Russia’s rejection of Israeli attacks and violations of Syrian sovereignty, reports Syrian news agency SANA.

The Kremlin stressed that the discussion also concerned deepening political dialogue and cooperation in trade, among other areas.

The talks were aimed at further development of bilateral relations and strengthened cooperation, SANA noted.

However, the status of the Khmeimim airbase and Tartous naval base, which are highly strategic for Russia, remains the key topic between Damascus and Moscow.

The Kremlin said that Russia-Syria relations will continue through continued contact “at various levels” and that “both sides underscored the importance of the Memorandum of Understanding On the Reorganisation of the Khmeimim Air Base and the Tartus Material-Technical Support Point, signed on August 9”.

Syria announced earlier this month that a deal had been agreed after 18 months of negotiations that will see Khmeimim and Tartous turned into “joint training and capacity-building centres”, with Syria to take control of civilian facilities at both bases.

Russia backed former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad throughout Syria’s 13-year civil war, intervening militarily to keep him in power and expanding the Russian footprint at the Khmeimim air base and Tartous naval base on the Mediterranean coast.

Since al-Sharaa led the ouster of the a;-Assad regime, Putin has worked to build relations with the new Syrian government and to secure the future of the bases, which are key to Russian efforts to maintain influence across the Middle East and Northern Africa.

TWG Global — the holding company of Dodgers owner Mark Walter — rejected allegations of financial impropriety in the purchase and operation of the Dodgers and reiterated the team is not for sale.

At a time insurance regulators and federal investigators are looking into allegations that insurance companies under Walter’s umbrella did not properly disclose and conduct transactions between other companies he controls, and after Walter sold his controlling interest in the Lakers at a record $12.5 billion valuation, potential bidders have monitored whether the Dodgers might be sold as well.

In a statement Tuesday, TWG Global decried “multipronged attacks against TWG … by unnamed sources with self-serving interests” and said no insurance policyholder has been hurt as a result of the company’s financial transactions.

“There is no victim here,” the statement said. “No one has been harmed, and no one has claimed they were harmed.”

In 2012, when Walter and his partners bought the Dodgers for $2 billion, The Times reported the use of $1.2 million from Guggenheim Partners insurance funds into the deal. At the time, rival bidders expressed concern over the unusual financing, but state insurance regulators cleared the deal and Major League Baseball approved it.

“The transaction was subject to a full investigation conducted by an outside law firm on behalf of insurance regulators from multiple states,” the statement said, “which identified no irregularities and resulted in no further action.”

Even with the Dodgers issuing over a billion dollars in deferred contracts and amid whatever transactions might have been conducted between TWG-related insurance companies and the Dodgers’ affiliates — including ones that hold the team’s television rights and ticket revenues — the Dodgers’ ability to fund player contracts is not at risk, according to the statement.

“The Dodgers have the highest revenue in baseball, and it significantly exceeds the team’s obligations to its players,” the statement said.

The statement reiterated that, as Dodgers president Stan Kasten has said, “the team is not being sold and no sale process has been initiated.”

The Dodgers, if sold, could likely command a price in the range of $10 million to $13 million, industry analysts have told The Times.

The Lakers sold at a record price for a North American sports franchise, although industry analysts have said a competitive bidding process likely would have resulted in an even higher sale price.

Said the statement: “Mr. Walter was approached by Josh Kushner and his team about this transaction and the agreement represents a 25% premium to the price paid by Mr. Walter less than a year ago (and an even higher premium to the $5.0 billion valuation Mr. Walter paid in 2021) — hardly a ‘fire sale.’”

The statement added: “TWG is not looking to sell its sports assets at ‘fire sale’ prices to raise capital for its insurance operations.”

TWG said it is “working cooperatively and in partnership with the Delaware Department of Insurance” to resolve the regulatory issues and “is committed to working with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve their inquiries.”

“TWG stands firmly behind the integrity of its business,” the statement read. “Despite what has been reported, there has been no fraud.”

Trump says all mines have been cleared from Strait of Hormuz’s international waters and that Tehran received warnings that ships laying new mines will be ‘destroyed’.

In an intriguing development, Poland has been named among the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers covered by a massive new U.S. contract with Boeing for the F-15 program. This has prompted renewed speculation that Warsaw could eventually acquire the F-15EX Eagle II. Poland’s Ministry of National Defense, however, says there is currently no such plan, but there is a precedent here, with the Polish order for AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopters following a very similar path.

The U.S. Department of War announced Monday that Boeing had received an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a ceiling value of $131.23 billion for the “F-15 Eagle Crest” program. The agreement covers production, systems integration, modernization, upgrades, retrofits, sustainment and the establishment of depot-level maintenance capabilities for F-15 aircraft. Work is expected to continue through August 2037, with orders initially permitted through August 2031 and an option to extend that period to 2036.

The distinction is significant. An IDIQ contract establishes a mechanism through which orders can subsequently be placed; it does not itself constitute an aircraft purchase by every country named within it. The $131.23 billion figure is therefore a maximum contractual ceiling for the wider F-15 program, rather than the value of aircraft already ordered by the United States and its foreign customers.

Importantly, the contract also covers Foreign Military Sales customers. The Pentagon specifically lists Japan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, and Poland.

Of these, it should be noted that Indonesia was once in line to be the first export operator of the F-15EX, but, earlier this year, Boeing confirmed the country had abandoned its plans to buy the jets. The deal had been in stasis for the previous two years.

Poland, however, had never formally announced plans to order the F-15EX, although Boeing eyes the country as a potential customer for the aircraft.

Boeing has actively promoted the F-15EX to Warsaw, while Polish military officials have previously visited the company’s facilities in the United States. In 2025, then-Inspector of the Polish Air Force Gen. Ireneusz Nowak flew an F-15EX at Boeing’s facilities.

The aircraft has frequently appeared in discussions about Poland’s requirement for additional fourth-generation fighters. Warsaw has already committed to a large expansion of its fifth-generation F-35 fleet, with Polish officials confirming plans for another 32 F-35As in addition to the 32 aircraft already ordered.

F35 – HUSARZ

As we have discussed in the past, the F-15EX could provide a compelling complement to the F-35, providing a large weapons payload, long range, and a substantial air-to-air weapons capacity. But there is currently no indication from Poland that such a procurement has entered a formal acquisition phase.

Poland’s Ministry of National Defence told Defence24 that the Polish Armed Forces “do not plan to acquire F-15EX aircraft” and that the country’s inclusion in the U.S. framework contract does not mean a decision has been made or that a procurement process has begun.

As it is, the wording of the U.S. announcement is best understood as identifying countries that can potentially participate in F-15 Foreign Military Sales under the new contractual framework.

For Poland, Washington has established a long-term contractual vehicle that could facilitate a future F-15EX purchase, even though Warsaw says it has no current plan to acquire the aircraft.

Whether that changes in the future remains a separate question. However, as Gareth Jennings, aviation desk editor at Janes, has pointed out, in 2017 the U.S. Department of Defense denied that Poland had selected the AH-64 after it was named in a similar contract, for sensors. Not long after, Warsaw became the largest international customer for the Apache, buying 96 examples of the attack helicopter.

Boeing today told Jennings that Poland has not yet made a decision about the F-15EX.

As for the Apache buy, this is just one part of an extraordinary military expansion underway since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Warsaw has pursued major acquisitions across nearly every part of its armed forces, including 48 FA-50 light combat aircraft, 180 K2 tanks and 250 M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams tanks, alongside its 32-aircraft F-35 order. Its existing fleet of F-16 fighters is also set for a major upgrade.

With the FMS case for Indonesia having expired earlier this year, an F-15EX sale to Indonesia now looks far less likely.

For now, there is no Polish F-15EX deal, and Warsaw is clear that no procurement process has begun. But the country’s inclusion in the U.S. framework, combined with Boeing’s continued interest and the Apache precedent, means the possibility is worth watching.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

YOU could be sunning it up on a beach right now, cocktail in hand with 28C sunshine – all for the price of a three-course dinner in London.

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Or head to Bulgaria’s Sunny Beach, known for being one of Europe’s most affordable seaside resorts?

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Fourteen iconic cities across Europe (along with Morocco) are included, which are:

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Book Wowcher’s £99 European Beach or City Break

Not only that, but they are also a great way to try out a city for the first time to “dip your toe” before committing to a longer holiday there.

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Manchester City have agreed to sign winger Allan Elias from Palmeiras in a deal worth up to £34.2m.

The 22-year-old Brazilian will come in as a replacement for compatriot Savinho, who looks set to join Tottenham.

City have agreed to pay a fixed fee of £32m, plus £2.2m in add-ons, for Allan with a medical scheduled to take place in the coming days.

They remain in advanced talks to sell Egypt forward Omar Marmoush to Spurs, and sources with knowledge of the situation say there is a “good chance” the deal gets completed before the 1 September transfer deadline.

Discussions are ongoing between the two clubs and there are some details yet to be agreed.

Midfielder Nico Gonzalez may also depart Etihad Stadium before the end of the transfer window, with strong interest in the Spaniard from Newcastle.

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta abruptly pulled out of a planned mediation session Monday to seek a resolution to the antitrust lawsuit that has stalled Paramount’s blockbuster $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.

Bonta, in a statement, cited Paramount’s alleged leaking and misrepresenting information the two sides discussed during a preliminary session Friday.

Representatives of Bonta and Paramount Skydance came together late last week to set ground rules for Monday’s meeting, which was to involve Paramount Skydance Chief Executive David Ellison.

One of the rules had been confidentiality of the mediation process.

“I have pulled down this meeting,” Bonta said in a statement. “As I have said before, generally for all cases, I prefer to resolve disputes in the boardroom, not the courtroom. As I’ve also said, if the opposing party in litigation wants to meet in good faith to make a sincere effort to resolve the case.”

Bonta went on to say “Not only did Paramount leak the alleged substance of the settlement discussions, but they misrepresented these discussions, demonstrating a lack of good faith.

“As soon as Paramount stops playing games and engages sincerely, my office is happy to meet again.”

This is a developing story.