development

UN chief says 700 million people live in extreme poverty as Qatar calls for doubling efforts to support Palestinians.

Doha, Qatar – A declaration of intent to fight deepening global inequality is a “booster shot for development”, the head of the United Nations declares.

At the Second World Summit for Social Development in Qatar on Tuesday, the president of the UN General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock, announced the adoption of the Doha Political Declaration.

“Social development and inclusion is essential for strong societies,” she said, adding that the declaration must “end social injustice and guarantee dignity for everyone, prioritising a people-first approach.”

In a keynote speech, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on global leaders to unite behind the “bold people’s plan”.

“It’s unconscionable that nearly 700 million people still live in extreme poverty while the richest 1 per cent own nearly half of global wealth,” he told the delegations.

“It’s intolerable that almost four billion people lack access to any form of social protection at all.”

The summit in Qatar’s capital, Doha, was convened to build on the development goals established 30 years ago during the Copenhagen Summit.

According to the UN, about 40 heads of state, 170 ministerial-level representatives, heads of NGOs and 14,000 delegates from around the world were expected to attend.

The declaration calls for commitments in several areas, including poverty eradication, access to “decent work”, social integration, gender equality and climate action.

Guterres noted the progress that has been made over the past three decades.

“Over one billion people have escaped extreme poverty. Global unemployment is at a near-historic low. Access to healthcare, education and social protection has dramatically expanded. People are living longer, and child and maternal mortality have declined. And more girls are attending school with rising graduation rates for all students,” he said.

However, he insisted that more challenges must be faced, saying the Second World Summit “opens at a moment of high global uncertainty, divisions, conflicts and widespread human suffering”.

“Developing countries are not getting the level of support they need,” he warned. “We are not moving fast enough to mitigate the volatility and outright destruction wrought by a warming planet.”

Peace and stability

Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, opened the event by calling for sustained efforts to support the Palestinian people amid the devastation of Israel’s two-year war on Gaza.

“It’s impossible to achieve social development in any society without peace and stability,” he said, adding that only “constant peace, not temporary settlements, is just peace.”

Calling on the international community to increase support for reconstruction, he added: “It goes without saying that the Palestinian people need all forms of aid to be able to recover from the devastation” caused by “the apartheid system in Palestine”.

The UN estimates more than $70bn is needed to rebuild Gaza.

Addressing reporters on the sidelines later, Guterres said he was “deeply concerned” by “continued violations of the ceasefire” in the enclave.

“They must stop, and all parties must abide by the decisions of the first phase of the peace agreement,” he demanded.

The emir also condemned the war crimes being carried out in Sudan.

“We express our collective shock at the horrific atrocities committed in the city of el-Fasher in Sudan’s Darfur region and reaffirm our condemnation of these acts in the strongest terms,” Sheikh Tamim said after the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group captured the capital of North Darfur State last week.

GEORDIE Shore star Aaron Chalmers’ ex Talia Oatway has revealed a “petrifying” development as their son Oakley returns to hospital.

The mum-of-three, who shares her kids with MTV reality star turned MMA fighter Aaron, has been giving fans regular updates on their youngest son’s health.

Their son Oakley has Apert Syndrome, which is a genetic disorder that causes fusion of the skull, hands, and feet bones.

Today Talia gave fans an update, and said: “I know I haven’t been on it today. Um, so Oakley had a gemranosec earlier this morning to have a CT scans on his brain just to basically out rule a lot of stuff for the sickness.

“Um, so he had that and then had to wait obviously for the neurosurgeons to look at the scans.

“I mean I’ve still got no answers but they did tell me some bits that’s going on with Oakley’s brain which obviously has petrified me.

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Aaron Chalmers’ ex Talia says their son may need a wheelchair

BRAVE CHILD

Geordie Shore star Aaron Chalmers’ ex Talia reveals health update on son Oakley

“Um, but I’m waiting until the surgeons at Newcastle obviously speak to the surgeons in Liverpool and then I’ll have more of an understanding about the situation that Oakley is in.

“Um, but yeah it’s just been a really shit day, very emotional day.”

In the summer, Talia shared another worrying post about Oakley.

Taking to her Instagram story, the concerned mum penned: “Oakley had the worst sickness last night, from 11ish till about 5am.

“Bath after bath, bed change after bed change.

“I feel so sorry for him. The fundo surgery he’s due to have soon (after his hands) is so needed.

“It will stop him being sick completely. Currently on a meds run for him.”

Talia previously took to Instagram to post a video of her son taking his first steps and shared an update with her followers.

Alongside the clip, she wrote: “Oakley has been using a walking frame for a few months now.

“He’s had some shoes made for him as it’s impossible to get shoes that fit his feet.

“Which is common with Apert syndrome.

“Today we tried the shoes for the first time. We also had physio at home which we are doing every week.”

Aaron and Talia welcomed Oakley into the world in February 2022.

NOT FINE

Warning to 5million drivers who risk LOSING their licence & £10k fine this October

THROUGH THE MILL

Shock twist for unlikely celeb couple Millie MacKintosh & Prof Green

They also share Romeo, four, and Maddox, three.

The former couple got together in 2017 but split just months after Oakley’s birth.

McCaldon works with Republic of Ireland number one Brosnan at Everton.

From his experience in the women’s game, McCaldon believes a host of factors have come together to develop the modern goalkeeper.

Only in recent years have goalkeeping coaches worked with female players on a full-time basis.

Former England international Karen Bardsley trained alongside men in college and felt it was beneficial to her, but the growing availability of top-class coaching designated for female goalkeepers has been a game-changer.

“The profile of the women’s game is also getting bigger, so there’s more of a player pool,” McCaldon told BBC Sport.

“There’s more resources for female goalkeepers in regards to strength and conditioning exercises, sports science and nutritional research.

“If you package all of it and other holistic stuff like yoga or meditation, you are only going to get better.

“It’s a natural thing that’s happened because of the investment in the women’s game. It wasn’t there when I first started.”

Skinner, before he moved to Manchester United, recruited Hampton for Birmingham City’s academy and would later hand her a first-team debut in 2017.

He went on to work with Earps at United, before American Tullis-Joyce emerged with an impressive first season as the club’s number one.

According to Skinner, a period of “progressive professionalism” has influenced the development of female goalkeepers.

“The athleticism of female goalkeeping has got a lot greater and the development of sport science has improved that,” said Skinner.

“Phallon [Tullis-Joyce] is unique because of her athletic prowess. She has the ability to move around the goal really quickly.

“The other aspects of goalkeepers are developing – tactical knowledge, building structural knowledge and being able to adapt.

“Everyone prides themselves on short passes as a goalkeeper but – and you can see the way Hampton does this – the distribution is now really key.”

Ireland’s Alex Dunne has left McLaren’s driver development programme with immediate effect, saying he is “very excited for what’s to come”.

Formula 2 race winner Dunne impressed on his Formula 1 debut in Austria in June when he finished fourth in opening practice, just 0.069 seconds behind championship leader Oscar Piastri.

By driving at the Austrian Grand Prix, he became the first Irish driver to participate in a Formula 1 weekend in 22 years.

Dunne, who joined the team as development driver in May 2024, also took part in first practice at the Italian Grand Prix in September, and McLaren said it had been a “pleasure” to work with the 19-year-old.

Posting on social, Dunne said he was “very excited for what’s to come”, with an ‘eye’ emoji.

“From today I’ve mutually decided to part ways with the McLaren driver development programme,” he said.

“I’d like to thank every individual at McLaren that has helped me develop and improve as a driver, to have my first opportunity to drive an F1 car followed by two FP1 sessions is something I’ll always hold very close to my heart, I wish them all the best for the future. Thank you papaya family.”

Dunne has won two feature races in his rookie F2 campaign, in Bahrain and Imola, but has dropped out of title contention after a number of technical infringements and collisions.

The final two rounds of the F2 season take place in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

“It has been a pleasure to work with Alex over the last year and to contribute to his growth as a driver,” McLaren said.

“We wish Alex all the best for his career going forward.”

Championship leaders McLaren have no race seats available for 2026 with title contenders Piastri and Lando Norris both under contract.

Red Bull have yet to confirm who will partner Max Verstappen or take either Racing Bulls seat, while Alpine are yet to name who will race alongside Pierre Gasly in 2026.

The U.S. Air Force is working to combine an aerial target designed to simulate ballistic threats and a liquid-fuel rocket motor into a new, lower-cost hypersonic missile dubbed Angry Tortoise. The first test launch of the experimental design is expected to come by the end of the year. The project reflects growing interest across the U.S. military in pursuing new avenues to field hypersonic weapons, and to do so affordably, after years of persistent struggles in this realm.

Angry Tortoise broke cover at the Air & Space Forces Association’s 2025 Air, Space, and Cyber Conference earlier this week, at which TWZ was in attendance. Aerospace firm Usra Major has confirmed to us that a contract it received from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in May, valued at close to $28.6 million, is for this particular effort. Neither the project’s name nor its explicit focus was disclosed at the time, though the expected end result was described as a “tactical flight demonstrator.”

The Angry Tortoise project “works by leveraging partnerships with commercial companies to integrate their existing technologies into Department of War (DoW) weapon systems, enabling rapid delivery of new capabilities,” according to an information card AFRL had available at the conference this week. “The integrated advancements made through the Angry Tortoise project will provide the warfighter with the ability to deliver quick, precise strikes on both stationary and moving targets, giving military commanders more options to counter threats. The project’s focus on public-private partnerships is crucial to accelerating the delivery of these new capabilities by combining commercial innovation with AFRL’s technical expertise and resources.”

The key element of the current Angry Tortoise design is the 4,000-pound-thrust-class Draper rocket motor, a closed-cycle hydrogen peroxide-kerosene design. Despite being liquid-fueled, Draper can be stored for extended periods of time at room temperature. Most commonly used liquid rocket fuels are volatile and corrosive, which limits how long rocket motors that use them can be left ready-to-fire. This also typically makes them more hazardous to handle after being fueled. This has long made more stable solid-fuel rocket motors attractive for military applications, especially when it comes to tactical weapons, despite the performance advantages liquid-fueled types offer.

Usra Major describes Draper as a “tactical” derivative of an earlier design called Hadley, which uses a more traditional fuel mixture with liquid oxygen as its oxidizer. Hadley is notably the rocket motor that powers Stratolauch’s Talon-A hypersonic test vehicle. Usra Major developed both Hadley and Draper in cooperation with AFRL. The origins of Angry Tortoise lie in these developments.

“It started off as, they had an application [for the rocket motor work] for space access applications,” John Remen, the strategic engagement lead for AFRL’s Aerospace Systems Directorate, told TWZ correspondent Hope Hodge Seck in an interview on the floor of this week’s conference. “We were challenged to look at, hey, we want to change this paradigm in hypersonics and affordable mass, to be able to put more mass on target at low cost, effectively, and so forth. What ideas do you guys have that can do this?”

“And we were, like, hey, you know, this is right in the right thrust class,” he continued. “This is the right size, it’s additively manufactured, low-cost. And so, hey, let’s brainstorm. What could we do in terms of a quick demonstration to show some kind of a tactical missile application?”

Angry Tortoise combines Draper with the front half of an existing rocket called the Economical Target-2 (ET-2), produced by Teledyne Brown, according to an earlier story from Avaition Week. Standard ET-2s, which the U.S. military currently uses to simulate ballistic missiles as part of test and evaluation activities, use solid-fuel rocket motors.

“So, what we’re doing is basically taking the back half of it [off], and had to use a new outer shell and everything, because we now have liquid propellant tanks on the inside, the thrust take-out for the engine, and so forth,” AFRL’s Remen explained.

AFRL and Ursa Major are now aiming to launch Angry Tortoise for the first time at the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in New Mexico in December. The Draper rocket motor has already been hot-fired more than 300 times in ground-based testing.

The expectation is that the missile will be able to reach speeds of up to around Mach 4 or Mach 5, with Mach 5 typically considered to be the boundary between high-supersonic and hypersonic speed. Angry Tortoise is only expected to reach around Mach 2 during its first test flight due in part to the physical limitations of WSMR. Though WSMR is a sprawling range complex, hypersonic systems can fly so far so fast that they often ‘out-range’ even larger facilities on land.

“In 2026, we’re going to fly that system long-range in the Pacific,” Dan Jablonsky, Ursa Major’s CEO, said at the opening to a separate panel at the Air, Space, and Cyber Conference.

In terms of the Angry Tortoise project’s immediate goals, it is important to stress that it is presently a science and technology demonstration effort. At the same time, there is a clear eye toward seeing if this is a viable pathway to an operational weapon, and one that could be readily produced at scale at a reasonable price point.

AFRL is hoping to prove out “the performance, the capability, range capabilities, and so forth, just the fact that we can do a low-cost, quick manufacturer [design]. Like I said, it’s additively manufactured, so that speeds up the processes and so forth. You can actually just add a bunch of more machines on the line to put out more systems,” AFRL’s Remen said. For the “space application, might need 20 a year or 30 a year. But the DoD says, hey, no, I need 300 a year. Okay. How can I get that spun up?”

“It’s all TBD of okay, yeah, it was successful, what are we going to do with it from a military standpoint?” he continued. “Our job is to define and help them, help [Air Force] leadership, understand, here’s the art of the possible.”

Remen said that multiple unspecified commands had expressed interest in Angry Tortoise and the capabilities that could be gained from the project. He also noted that the design could well further evolve and that future iterations might be significantly different, including using solid-fuel rocket motors. As an AFRL project, one would imagine the service is eyeing this as a starting place for an air-launched weapon, but it might be adaptable to ground and/or sea-launched modes, as well.

In terms then of unit price, “it’s really going to go to what are you trying to do, and … what do you consider as a reasonable cost?” he added. “You know, we have a warfighting mission, so I’ve got to win the war. Sometimes it doesn’t necessarily matter how much it costs, because I’ve got to win the war, because losing the war is far more costly than it is to win the war.”

“At approx. 60% additively manufactured, Draper costs significantly less than other hypersonic propulsion alternatives,” Ursa Major also told TWZ in response to queries for more information.

At the same time, Angry Tortoise reflects a frustration with the current state of U.S. hyperosonic weapons development and their costs. “The project’s moniker jokingly references the Air Force’s struggle to keep up with international competitors in the affordable hypersonic missile field,” Aviation Week reported, citing Nils Sedano, a technical advisor in the Space Access Branch of AFRL’s Rocket Propulsion Division.

“I mean, you got your hypersonic missiles, like your HAWCs and so forth, 10s of millions of dollars and such [each],” AFRL’s Remen said. “We’re trying to be a lot lower cost in that, but it also may not be as capable.”

HAWC is the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept, a project the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency conducted in cooperation with AFRL, which has fed into the Air Force’s current Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) program. HACM, an air-breathing hypersonic cruise missile, is expected to fly in the upcoming fiscal year after suffering delays.

In its latest budget proposal for the 2026 Fiscal Year, the Air Force confirmed plans to reboot work on the AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW), which the service had previously moved to shelve following years of checkered test results. The stated plan had been to refocus resources on HACM. ARRW is in a different category of hypersonic weapon from HACM, and is designed to launch an unpowered hypersonic boost-glide vehicle, as you can learn more about here.

U.S. Army and U.S. Navy hypersonic weapons plans have suffered their own significant setbacks in recent years.

The Navy revealed earlier this year that it had halted work entirely on its Hypersonic Air-Launched Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (HALO) program, another air-breathing hypersonic cruise missile effort, in late 2024. The service blamed “budgetary constraints” and said it would “revalidate the requirements, with an emphasis on affordability.”

The Army also now has its own program, called Blackbeard, geared explicitly toward accelerating the development, and hopefully fielding, of a lower-cost hypersonic missile.

All of this comes as China, in particular, is at least investing heavily in expanding its arsenal of multiple categories of hypersonic weapons. A number of new designs broke cover ahead of a huge military parade in Beijing on September 3, as you can read more about in TWZ past reporting here.

Russia’s Zircon sea-launched hypersonic air-breathing cruise missile has also now been demonstrated in combat in Ukraine. Russian forces have also used Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missiles, which reach hypersonic speeds in the terminal phase of flight, in strikes on Ukrainian targets.

“As Secretary [of the Air Force Troy] Meink emphasized on Monday, we have to innovate faster,” Ursa Major’s CEO Jablonsky said at the panel this week. “The only way we’re going to be able to maintain our advantage is to innovate, and we have to innovate faster than our adversaries. As we think about the current threat environment, our own arsenal, our own strategic capabilities, we must face the reality that our adversaries are moving faster than we are.”

Ursa Major and AFRL are now presenting Angry Tortoise as one way to try to help change that paradigm.

Contact the author: [email protected]

SCRAPPING the two-child benefit cap may not help with a child’s early development and being ready for school, a report says.

The new study says ending the policy would massively help reduce child poverty but it currently has “no adverse” impact on kids by the end of their reception year.

1

Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to end the cap from ex-Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell.

But ending the policy that came into effect in 2017 would cost between £2 billion and £3.5 billion by the end of the decade.

The government has a goal of raising the proportion of children starting school ready to learn from the current 68 per cent to 75 per cent by 2030.

Report author Tom Waters, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said: “This suggests that it might be hard for the Government to ‘kill two birds with one stone’ – simultaneously reducing child poverty and raising school readiness – through scrapping the two-child limit.”

The government is expected to set out its strategy to tackle child poverty this Autumn.

Cabinet Minister Bridget Phillipson said scrapping the cap is “on the table” while drumming up support for her bid to be Labour’s deputy leader, following Angela Rayner leaving the role.

North Korea ‘is in its strongest strategic position in decades’, US military intelligence said in May.

North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un has said the use of artificial intelligence is a “top priority” in modernising his country’s increasingly sophisticated weapons technology and building up drone capabilities, state media reports.

During a visit to the Unmanned Aeronautical Technology Complex in the capital Pyongyang on Thursday, Kim presided over performance tests of multipurpose drones and unmanned surveillance vehicles, North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Friday.

According to KCNA, the North Korean leader emphasised “rapidly developing the newly-introduced artificial intelligence technology” as a “top priority” in order to increase his military’s unmanned weapons systems.

Kim also called for “expanding and strengthening the serial production capacity of drones”.

The visit to the aeronautical complex comes just a week after Kim oversaw another test of a new solid-fuel rocket engine designed for intercontinental ballistic missiles, which he hailed as a “significant” expansion of Pyongyang’s nuclear capabilities.

North Korea’s military power includes nuclear-armed ballistic and cruise missiles, an increasing stockpile of nuclear weapons and a nascent spy satellite programme, according to the United States Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

North Korean active duty personnel now number an estimated one million troops, and are supplemented by more than seven million reservists – out of a population of roughly 25.6 million.

The country’s level of AI development is less certain, however.

One report from independent analysis group 38 North found North Korea has engaged in cross-border collaborative AI research with academics in the US, China and South Korea despite sanctions, suggesting it has undertaken “substantial efforts” to catch up in the AI race.

Those efforts have largely relied on China, one of the world’s most dominant AI players, the 38 North report added.

While Pyongyang has long depended on China politically and economically, under Kim, it has steadily sought to strengthen its relationship with Russia.

Last year, Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a mutual defence treaty that raised eyebrows in the West.

Pyongyang may not have benefitted as handsomely as Moscow from the deal.

A German think tank recently reported that while North Korea has provided nearly $10bn in weapons to Moscow, along with tens of thousands of soldiers to help Russian forces battle Ukraine, it has only received some $457m to $1.19bn in return.

Moscow’s aid has consisted mainly of food, fuel, air defence systems and possibly some fighter aircraft for North Korea.

Earlier this month, Kim appeared in Beijing with both his Chinese and Russian counterparts – President Xi Jinping and President Putin – in what analysts viewed as a stark display of North Korea’s desire to take up the world stage.

In May, the DIA reported that North Korea “is in its strongest strategic position in decades, possessing the military means to hold at risk US forces and US allies in Northeast Asia, while continuing to improve its capability to threaten the US”.

For his part, Kim has panned joint US-South Korea drills as “a rehearsal of a war of aggression” against his country.

The U.S. Navy has taken an important step forward toward acquiring new carrier-based Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) type drones with contracts to Anduril, Boeing, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman. In general, the service has been taking more of a wait-and-see approach to CCAs, following behind the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Marine Corps, and focusing its uncrewed aviation energies first on getting the Boeing MQ-25 Stingray tanker drone into service.

Anduril, Boeing, General Atomics, and Northrop Grumman on now on contract with the Navy for “conceptual” CCA designs, according to a briefing slide from Naval Air Systems Command’s (NAVAIR) Program Executive Office for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons (PEO U&W) that TWZ has obtained. The same slide, reproduced below, says the CCA contract that Lockheed Martin received from the Navy is for work on a common control architecture. Breaking Defense was first to report on this slide, which says it was approved for full public release on August 20 of this year. The Navy has further confirmed to TWZ that its contents are accurate, but provided no additional details.

The slide does includes the following bullet points outlining, in very basic terms, what the Navy wants from its future CCAs and why the service sees them as an important addition to its force structure:

• Uncrewed, Modular, Interoperable, Interchangeable, and Versatile Platforms
• Persistent, Lethal, and Agile Force Multipliers
• Carrier Operations Capable
• Cost Efficient and Mission Effective
• Maximizes Operational Flexibility
• Addresses both current and emerging operational gaps
• Accommodates Elevated Risk Profiles
• Crewed Platform Risk Reducer
• Enables 4^th and 5^th Gen and complements 6^th Gen [fighters]

These points are broadly in keeping with how the Air Force, in particular, has presented the value of CCAs as cost-effective force multipliers that will help reduce risk, as well as operational strain, on crewed platforms. In the past, the Navy has also talked about CCA-type drones that could be cheap enough to be “consumable,” and expended as one-way attack munitions or targets for training or test and evaluation activities.

No further details have yet emerged on the specific CCA designs that Anduril, Boeing, General Atomics, and Northrop Grumman are now working on for the Navy. Anduril and General Atomics have notably already been developing potentially relevant designs for the first phase, or Increment 1, of the Air Force’s CCA program. Just last week, it was announced that General Atomics YFQ-42A is now flying. Anduril had said its YFQ-44A will take to the skies soon.

“The US Navy has selected Anduril to develop designs for carrier-ready Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA),” Anduril said today in a statement. “We are focused on delivering an aircraft built specifically to the Navy’s distinct needs, at rapid speed and formidable scale.”

In response to further queries from TWZ, Anduril declined to confirm or deny whether its offering to the Navy would be based in any way on the YFQ-44A, also known as Fury, and drew additional attention to the second sentence of its statement.

“The Navy has been pretty vocal about integrating uncrewed jets of different types and closely following the Air Force’s CCA efforts,” C. Mark Brinkley, a spokesperson for General Atomics’ Aeronautical Systems, Inc. division (GA-ASI), also told TWZ today. “It’s a smart move that buys down significant risk and leverages the substantial work and investments already underway.”

“Last summer, we rolled out notional designs for our future class of carrier-capable CCAs, building on the YFQ-42A’s proven modular baseline and adapting it for shipboard operations. General Atomics developed the EMALS [Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System] system used on Ford class carriers and has extensive experience working with the U.S. Navy and international partners on carrier-based unmanned aircraft operations, so it’s not a stretch for us,” Brinkley added, speaking more generally. “GA-ASI has recorded numerous recent aviation milestones with our aircraft at sea. In 2023, our short takeoff and landing demonstrator known as Mojave launched from and landed aboard the British aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales. In 2024, Mojave took off from the South Korean amphibious assault ship Dokdo and flew to a naval base ashore.”

The “modular baseline” Brinkley mentions here refers to a concept that General Atomics has been pioneering, wherein very different types of drones can be crafted around a common ‘chassis’ that includes landing gear, as well as key mission and flight control computer systems. General Atomics’ experimental XQ-67A drone, originally produced for an Air Force program called the Off-Board Sensing Station (OBSS), has been a major player in proving out this idea. The YFQ-42A CCA design is derived from the XQ-67A. General Atomics has also been developing an entire family of additional uncrewed aircraft, collectively called Gambit, based around the common chassis concept. The company unveiled a carrier-based Gambit 5 design last year, as you can read more about here.

When asked for more information, Boeing deferred to the Navy. However, the company has previously shown a rendering of a carrier-based variant or derivative of its MQ-28 Ghost Bat drone. Boeing’s Australia-based subsidiary originally developed the MQ-28 for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), but the company is now actively pitching it to other potential customers. The Air Force has utilized at least one Ghost Bat in support of advanced uncrewed aircraft and autonomy development efforts.

In April, Navy Capt. Ron Flanders, public affairs officer at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development & Acquisition (RDA) also told TWZ that “the U.S. has expressed strong interest in leveraging the MQ-28’s AI-driven autonomy and modular design for future air combat operations.”

TWZ has also reached out to Northrop Grumman. It is worth remembering here that Northrop Grumman was at the very center of laying the groundwork for a high-end stealthy carrier-based uncrewed combat air vehicle (UCAV) capability for the Navy before the service very pointedly abandoned those plans in the mid-2010s in favor of what became the MQ-25 tanker drone. The company produced two flying X-47B demonstrators that were extensively tested, including launches from and recoveries aboard real aircraft carriers, and in-flight refueling demonstrations. As of 2022, the X-47Bs had been earmarked for public display at museums.

Lockheed Martin’s contract makes sense given how deeply and publicly involved the company has already been in the development of drone control architecture for the Navy’s aircraft carriers, something TWZ has reported on in the past.

“We are under contract to the U.S. Navy supporting common control. Specifically, our Lockheed Martin Skunk Works MDCX autonomy platform is a program of record solution for the U.S. Navy’s MD-5 Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System (UMCS),” Lockheed Martin told TWZ today in a statement. “It provides uncrewed vehicle autonomy, mission planning, and command and control (C2) capability in an operationally proven multi-level secure package for the Navy’s Carrier Air Wing of the Future.”

“Last year, the U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin Skunk Works demonstrated the first live control of a GA [General Atomics] MQ-20 Avenger in flight by Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control Station (UMCS) and MDCX autonomy system, advancing technology necessary for future Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA),” the statement added. “The test flight marked a significant milestone in the development of UMCS, setting the stage for the Navy’s future unmanned aviation operations.”

As noted, given past statements from senior Navy leadership, the revelation that the service now has five companies under contract to do CCA-related work is somewhat unexpected. At the same time, it is logical for the service to begin with exploratory deals for conceptual designs. The Air Force also initially awarded contracts under its CCA program to Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Anduril, General Atomics, before picking the latter two to proceed in Increment 1. The Navy still very much lags behind the Air Force, as well as the Marine Corps, in pursuing CCAs, which is in line with its past messaging.

“The United States Navy is in a tri-service memorandum of agreement and understanding with our sister services, the U.S. Air Force, as well as the Marine Corps, and we are developing that capability together. Each of us are focused on a different aspect of that,” Navy Rear Adm. Michael “Buzz” Donnelly, then director of the Air Warfare Division (N98) within the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, said at the Navy League’s annual Sea Air Space symposium in April. “The Air Force is leading and very forward leaning in the development of the actual air vehicle and the autonomy that goes in those for execution of mission. Marine Corps is working closely to develop manned-unmanned teaming between platforms such as the F-35, the F-35B being the baseline for their aviation capability right now. And the United States Navy is working based on our pathway of unmanned into the fleet with MQ-25.”

“As we work together for the United States Navy, I will tell you that we are definitely in the follow of those three services,” Donnelly added at that time.

“The future of Collaborative Combat Aircraft, and that kind of thing, is TBD [to be decided], still to come. That work’s still to be done, and there’s a lot of folks in that space,” Navy Vice Adm. Daniel Cheever, commander of Naval Air Forces, and more commonly referred to as the service’s “Air Boss,” also told TWZ‘s Jamie Hunter on the sidelines of the Tailhook Association’s annual symposium last month.

Much more remains to be learned about the Navy’s current CCA vision and when it might expect to begin fielding any such capability operationally. There are still many questions that the Navy, as well as the Air Force and Marine Corps, need to answer about just how CCA-type drones will be deployed, launched, recovered, supported, and otherwise operated, not to mention employed tactically, as you can read more about here.

“I think, currently, we’re [the Navy] still figuring out exactly what the specific type of [CCA] platform is going to look like, how it’s going to integrate into the air wing, [and] how we’re going to use it for maximal advantage,” Navy Lt. Cmdr. Mark “Tugboat” Jbeily, an instructor pilot at the Strike Fighter Weapons School, Pacific (SFWSPAC), also told TWZ’s Jamie Hunter at this year’s Tailhook symposium. “But I think some common themes … are going to be consistent regardless of the specific platform, range, vendor, whatever it is.”

“You know, the wings on your chest are a sign of trust, ultimately, right? They represent that you’ve been through an established training pipeline. You’re going to behave in a predictable manner, in a standardized manner. We can trust you with this awesome power of an F-18 or F-35,” Jbeily continued. “How do we take that concept of trust and now bring it to collaborative autonomy, or manned-unmanned teaming? How do we train to get them comfortable so, in the same way that if you and I were flying, if you were my wingman, I would know you’re going to behave in a repeatable, consistent [manner]?”

“I can have insight on your behaviors. We can do a thorough debrief about why did you do this or why did you do that?” he added. “And the key, I think, is going to be, regardless of the specific platform, how do we build that element of trust, and how do we get folks comfortable to be able to use it in a combat scenario if we have to.”

With the contracts to Anduril, Boeing, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the Navy has put itself on a new course in regard to its CCA plans, but it is still very much following its sister services.

Contact the author: [email protected]

Egypt’s strong support for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) spirit in Tianjin, China, 2025, and its tremendous support for the China-led and supported global development and security initiative, especially with the participation of Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and his meeting with Cai Xi, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and his affirmation of Egypt’s strong support for the SCO spirit, headed by China, came on the sidelines of his participation on behalf of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Plus Summit hosted by the Chinese city of Tianjin.

  During his meeting with a number of Chinese officials at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit 2025, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly affirmed the success of China’s global development initiatives, which are reflected in China’s development experience, as well as China’s efforts to eradicate poverty. He noted in this regard the Egyptian experience in confronting poverty, starting with the elimination of unsafe slum areas and continuing with the presidential initiative “Decent Life” to develop the Egyptian countryside and other projects.

The SCO countries, through the upcoming summit at Tianjin, China, in 2025, will adhere to the development concept of innovation, coordination, green development, openness, and sharing, and work together to carry out cooperation in the fields of digital economy, green development, and energy, and implement the Global Development Initiative. China and Egypt have extensive cooperation in these areas. They’re a significance of common development and implementing the Global Development Initiative for both China and Egypt within the SCO summit in 2025.

It is worth noting that the Chinese president launched the “Global Development Initiative” in 2021, with the aim of reorienting global development toward a new phase of comprehensive balance and coordination to address global shocks, promote more equitable and balanced global development partnerships, and achieve greater synergy through multilateral cooperation to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The Egyptian government is keen to enhance South-South cooperation efforts and exchange expertise with emerging economies and developing countries. In this regard, the Ministry of International Cooperation in Egypt has relaunched the South-South Cooperation Academy in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It has also held numerous sessions and workshops to activate South-South cooperation mechanisms during the Egypt-ICF Forum for International Cooperation and Development Financing. A high-level session was also held in cooperation with the NEPAD Agency as part of the African Development Bank’s annual meetings, with the participation of 50 heads of international institutions and development partners, to discuss strengthening South-South cooperation.

Egypt’s full support for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s global development initiative comes as the vision of the two countries’ leaders, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and President Xi Jinping, is in line with the importance of aligning global development strategies and plans with the national priorities and needs of each country. It also emphasizes the need to apply the concept of financial justice, whether at the level of development financing in general or climate financing in particular, to enhance the ability of developing and emerging countries to implement their ambitions and catch up with the global development initiative.

Egypt’s full support for China’s development initiatives in developing countries of the South also underscores the role of South-South cooperation in promoting global development goals, in parallel with China’s comprehensive development initiative, fostering global economic recovery, and creating development models based on successful experiences in developing countries of the South.

Egypt’s cooperation portfolio with China to achieve sustainable development amounts to approximately $1.7 billion to implement numerous projects in various development sectors, including electricity, health, education, vocational training, and others.

  Accordingly, we understand that Egypt aspires to enhance cooperation with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries under China’s leadership, particularly on international issues, including reforming the global order, eliminating double standards, and achieving justice and common development, to promote the “Shanghai Spirit” and all global development initiatives led and supported by China.

Japan has one combined distinctive goal on the African agenda—investment, trade, and development. This was indicated explicitly in most all speeches and presentations at the three-day development conference, from August 20 to 22, in Japan, attended by African leaders and top-level entrepreneurs, where Tokyo offered a multifaceted agenda as an alternative to other key players competing for spots across the continent, which is described as wealthy in untapped natural resources. Africa’s human resource is huge, while the estimated population of 1.4 billion people constitutes the largest consumer market in the Global South.

In the simple words of UN head Antonio Guterres, Africa has everything it takes to become the latest economic power, as he assertively called for greater investment, especially in the economic sectors across the resource-rich continent. Guterres, in his speech, underlined the fact that Africa needed increased concessional finance and greater lending capacity from multilateral development banks.

“Africa must have a stronger voice in shaping the decisions that affect its own future. We must mobilize finance and technology so that Africa’s natural wealth benefits African people; we must build a thriving renewables and manufacturing base across the continent,” Guterres said at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD).

Over the past decade, the United States’ and Europe’s investments have drastically fallen, while Russia, as a latecomer with tectonic anti-Western criticism, is currently struggling to locate its roadmap into the continent. For years, China has invested heavily in Africa, with many of its companies already there having signed deals worth hundreds of billions of dollars to finance several projects under Beijing’s Belt and Road global infrastructure initiative.

As expected, African countries grappling with rapid geopolitical changes are at the same time making the right pragmatic choices from among the tremendous emerging opportunities. African leaders are indiscriminately searching for sustainable investment and trade relations, even with the United States after Donald Trump slapped on them trade tariffs. Further to that, many African leaders, including Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and Kenyan President William Ruto, are feverishly negotiating for the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

In his opening address at the forum on August 20, Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced a plan to train 30,000 people in artificial intelligence in Africa over three years and to study the idea of a Japan-Africa Economic Partnership. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba also announced a vision for a distribution network to link African and Indian Ocean nations. Under the Indian Ocean Africa economic zone initiative, Japan aims to bring investment into Africa from Japanese companies operating in India and the Middle East.

The Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) has strengthened business and investment in the region and promoted free trade by connecting the Indian Ocean region to the African continent. “Japan believes in Africa’s future,” Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said. “Japan backs the concept of the African Continental Free Trade Area,” which aims to bolster the region’s competitiveness.

As part of practical steps toward strengthening economic partnership, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Japan would extend loans of up to $5.5 billion in coordination with the African Development Bank to promote Africa’s sustainable development and to address their debt problems. Amid the current intensifying global competition for influence, Japan’s concrete allocation of funds demonstrated its presence as a long-term reliable partner ready to invest, and more importantly with credibility, across Africa. It is noticeable that Japanese firms are promoting resonating large-scale investment in infrastructure, technology, and industrial development. 

According to the August edition of the Diplomat magazine, Japanese officials have signed major agreements in Angola, Namibia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), including a $1 billion commitment to mineral exploration and production. Tokyo plans to expand its network of bilateral investment treaties to provide greater legal certainty for Japanese investors. Ultimately these agreements, combined with Africa’s ongoing efforts to implement the African Continental Free Trade Area, could unlock significant new flows of capital and trade. The magazine’s article indicated that at TICAD 8, held in 2022 in Tokyo, mostly operating through a model of partnered engagement, Tokyo offered Africa an amount of $30 billion in investment under a ‘three-year period’ that ended in 2025.

On the future free-trade deals between Japan and African countries, Japan’s biggest business lobby, Keidanren, noted that Tokyo must work to win the trust of developing countries with loan guarantees and investment incentives for Japanese firms. “By actively contributing to solving the social issues faced by countries in the Global South, Japan must be chosen as a trustworthy partner,” Keidanren said in a policy recommendation in June.

“The debt and liquidity crisis on the African continent is worsening the challenging socio-economic environment and constraining the fiscal space for governments to cast a safety net over their citizens,” Ramaphosa’s office said in an official statement coinciding with the conference.

The three-day high-level summit held in Yokohama, near Tokyo, focused on the economy as well as peace and stability, health, climate change, and education. Leaders and representatives from about 50 countries from the African continent, as well as officials from international organizations, stakeholders, non-profit enterprises, and business executives, participated. The summit participants adopted the “Yokohama declaration,” which was announced as part of the final summit outcomes at the media conference. The TICAD summit was last held in Tunisia in 2022. According to historical documents, Japan launched the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in 1993.

In the tangled family of Hollywoods, Hollywood would be the obvious golden child, West Hollywood its ritzy older sister and East Hollywood its indie-cool younger brother. North Hollywood, however, is harder to classify. Perhaps you can call it the elusive half-sibling — sharing the family name but somewhat lacking in family resemblance.

Separated from its siblings by sprawling mountains, the oft-slighted San Fernando Valley neighborhood has been described as a bedroom community and a way station for fledgling actors. It’s a socio-architectural liminal space, one in which a historic train depot is home to a hip coffee shop and downtown streets are immediately bordered by suburbia.

Get to know Los Angeles through the places that bring it to life. From restaurants to shops to outdoor spaces, here’s what to discover now.

North Hollywood’s lingering sense of fragmentation is consistent with its slew of past lives — from late-1800s wheat titan to modern cultural center — punctuated by infrastructure milestones like the 1913 completion of the L.A. Aqueduct and the 2000 extension of the Metro Red Line.

The neighborhood has even gone by a few different names: first Toluca, then Lankershim, for the real estate pioneer Isaac Lankershim, who helped catalyze the development of the San Fernando Valley. North Hollywood adopted its current moniker in 1927, as film studios poured into the area and residents at the behest of enterprising developers petitioned to rebrand their town as a Hollywood hot spot. It was, as Tom Link wrote in his 1991 book about the neighborhood’s history, “like a new movie star discarding an old name in order to appear more attractive.”

Today, North Hollywood is an eclectic nook with its cultural epicenter in the Noho Arts District. Dotted with petite theaters, boutiques and pie shops, the 1-square-mile patch was revitalized at the turn of the century with the northward extension of the Metro Red Line and the concurrent opening of the North Hollywood Metro Station. At a critical time for its development, the Metro made North Hollywood an anomaly: a hip and walkable L.A. suburb.

Especially for a locale beyond the hills, North Hollywood is remarkably central, nestled among popular neighbors Burbank and Studio City but boasting reported monthly rent averages hundreds of dollars cheaper than both. And while it’s already home to a high population of young, single professionals, it’s poised to draw even more millennial and Gen Z renters with a transit-oriented development projected to create swaths of affordable housing units in the next decade. Surely, the barcades and artisan coffee shops will be glad to see them come in.

Whether you get there by car, train or bike, here’s how and where to spend your time in North Hollywood, the enigmatic neighborhood whose charm sneaks up on you. — Malia Mendez

“Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan and Paramount are going big in Texas, joining forces to open a 450,000-square-foot production campus in Fort Worth, in a boost to the Lone Star State’s growing entertainment economy.

The venture, announced Wednesday, comes on the heels of Skydance’s $8.4-billion takeover of Paramount and just as Texas has taken major initiatives to encourage more film production, having recently passed legislation increasing its film incentives program to $1.5 billion over the next 10 years.

The massive production hub will be situated on the Alliance Texas campus, a 27,000-acre development owned by billionaire Ross Perot Jr.’s Hillwood, a commercial and residential real estate developer and a partner in the project along with Sheridan’s and Paramount Television.

It will be the largest studio facility in the state, according to officials, and marks another step toward Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s goal “to make Texas the Film Capital of the World.”

“We are at a pivotal moment where Texas can become a global force in the film industry, and North Texas offers the location and resources to play a central role in this development,” said Hillwood President Mike Berry in a statement.

The film campus is composed of two buildings with six sound stages that can support four large-scale productions simultaneously. It is expected to be the home base for such Sheridan-produced shows as “Landman” and “Lioness,” which currently film in Texas.

The second season of “Landman” has been filming at the facility since March.

Taylor Sheridan at the premiere of Paramount+’s “1883” at Wynn Las Vegas in 2021.

(Greg Doherty / Getty Images for Wynn Las Vegas)

The move also marks a turning point for Sheridan’s productions.

In recent years, Sheridan, who grew up in Fort Worth, has filmed many of his hit television shows — including “1883” — across the state.

His productions have brought in hundreds of millions of dollars to local businesses and a stream of tourists in what some in the industry began calling “the Sheridan Effect.”

“SGS Studios isn’t just about sound stages or incentives — it’s about reclaiming the independence and grit that built this industry in the first place,” said Taylor Sheridan in statement about the new project.

In the slang, “mid” means disappointingly mediocre, forgettable, uninspiring. On TikTok, a classic rant starts: “It’s called the Midwest because everything in it is mid! Skyline Chili? Mid! Your Cincinnati Reds, who haven’t won a World Series since 1990? M-M-M-Mid!!!”

Today, the Reds are five games over .500, and one of four teams that appear to be competing for the three National League wild-card spots. They added a starting pitcher, an elite defensive third baseman and a veteran utilityman batting .298 ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline.

The Angels are mid.

They are three games under .500, four games out in the American League wild-card race, with four teams to pass, hoping to end baseball’s longest playoff drought at 10 years.

The Seattle Mariners, tied with the Texas Rangers for the final wild-card spot, traded for middle-of-the-lineup corner infielders in third baseman Eugenio Suárez and first baseman Josh Naylor. The Rangers acquired Merrill Kelly to supplement Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi atop the starting rotation.

The Angels made two trades, picking up two veteran setup men and an infielder batting .152 for three lightly regarded minor leaguers.

Why lightly bolster a team with a 1.3% chance of making the playoffs, as projected by Baseball Prospectus before Thursday’s trades, when you could start building the 2026 roster in the many areas needing improvement?

“Giving them a chance to play this thing out, relative to what was presented [in trade talks], made a lot of sense,” Angels general manager Perry Minasian said.

In large part, he said, this was about the young players.

“The development of our core is obviously very, very, very important,” Minasian said. “Being competitive in August and September is really, really important for this group, not only for the now but for the future — playing meaningful games, understanding there is an expectation to win, showing up to the ballpark every day feeling like you have a chance to win over a six-month period.

“It’s hard to quantify, but I felt like it was very important for this group to go through that, to see what playing in August demands, what playing in September is like.”

Does he see the 2025 Angels playing meaningful games in October?

“I don’t make predictions,” he said.

Beyond shortstop Zach Neto, no one on the Angels’ current roster was likely to command an elite prospect in return.

Yet the Angels could have traded soon-to-be free agents such as pitchers Kenley Jansen and Tyler Anderson, or infielders Yoan Moncada and Luis Rengifo, to fill 2026 needs: a back-end starter, bullpen help, a utility infielder, a defense-first outfielder, upper-level depth in the minor leagues.

Maybe Oswald Peraza, the once-hyped New York Yankees prospect with the .152 average, starts at third base next year, or secures that utility job. Minasian called him “a classic change-of-scenery guy.”

To get him, however, the Angels surrendered $73,766 in international bonus pool money that could have been better used to sign Latin American prospects. Minasian said the Angels had used what they needed of their $6,261,600 pool they needed this year — and the better prospects cost much more than $73,766 — but they cannot afford to close any avenues for talent acquisition.

In 2021, the Angels drafted all pitchers and failed to get a collective 1.0 WAR out of them. The Dodgers basically did the same thing: 20 picks, 18 pitchers, same under-1 WAR, although they have gotten some big moments from Ben Casparius, Emmet Sheehan and Justin Wrobleski.

But the Dodgers spend whatever they need, and then some, on deep and talented rosters of players, coaches and executives, and on player development and player acquisition.

It’s not all about money. It’s about creativity too. The Dodgers inserted themselves into a three-team trade Wednesday to bolster their farm system by trading a surplus minor league catcher for two minor league pitchers. The Dodgers last year inserted themselves into another three-team trade to grab reliever Michael Kopech, then-injured Tommy Edman for a depth bat and two minor leaguers.

The last time the Angels were a party to a three-team deal, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman facilitated that too. The Dodgers got four players from the Miami Marlins, then swapped pitcher Andrew Heaney to the Angels for infielder Howie Kendrick. That was in 2014.

The Angels these days do not spend as much, or as well, on free agents. They do not distinguish themselves in scouting, analytics, player development or international signings.

That forces them to narrow their focus to drafting college players who race through the minor leagues. A weak draft class hurts far more in Anaheim than it does in L.A.

The Angels have their kids, but the optimism inherent in their talk of a young core obscures the fact they are about to have to pay the kids — and, money aside, they are running out of time.

Shortstop Zach Neto has emerged as a young star for the Angels, who are fighting for a wild-card playoff spot this season.

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

Neto, the lone star to emerge so far from the young core, is eligible for salary arbitration this winter. The Angels control him for only three more seasons — maybe less, if some or all of the 2027 season is lost to a collective bargaining war.

Catcher Logan O’Hoppe and pitcher José Soriano also are eligible for arbitration this winter. First baseman Nolan Schanuel is eligible next winter.

In the big picture, nothing much changed Thursday. The plan today is the same as it was in spring training: hope enough young players blossom that, when Anthony Rendon’s contract expires next fall, Minasian can persuade owner Arte Moreno that spending big on one or two players in free agency could make the difference. If playing meaningful games this August makes those young players that much better, perhaps this trade deadline was worth it.

Moreno resists rebuilding, as an advocate for fans he believes deserve to see a competitive team. No one in Orange County has to watch what something akin to what the Colorado Rockies are offering — or what the Houston Astros were offering before their ongoing run of success. Rebuilding could mean 100-loss seasons and an even greater drop in attendance; competing could mean sneaking into the playoffs with 84 victories.

The Angels could do that this year. It could work. However, it has not worked over the last decade, and in the meantime the Angels have become an unwitting poster child for a players’ union fighting against a salary cap to say, “Market size is not destiny. Look at the Angels.”

You can say the game plan is to contend every year, in the interest of the fans, but you should not try to win every year on a wing and a prayer.

Your most dedicated fans — represented by the hundreds that decorated themselves in wings and halos at Wednesday’s game, flapping their arms as angels in the outfield — were not shy about letting their feelings be known.

You could hear them loud and clear, at the game and on the television broadcast, “Sell the team!”

Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to issue an executive order Wednesday allowing Los Angeles-area governments to limit development in wildfire-affected neighborhoods by exempting them from provisions of a landmark housing law, a spokesperson for his office said.

The proposed order would let the city and county of Los Angeles and Malibu restrict construction that was allowed under Senate Bill 9, a 2021 law that allows property owners build as many as four units on land previously reserved for single-family homes.

The order would apply to Pacific Palisades and parts of Malibu and Altadena — areas that burned in January’s Palisades and Eaton fires that are designated as “very high fire hazard severity zones” by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Newsom spokesperson Tara Gallegos said.

The decision came after concerns about the potential of a significant population increase if there were widespread use of SB 9 developments in rebuilding areas, making future fire evacuations even more difficult, Gallegos said.

The governor’s plan follows pressure this week from elected officials in Los Angeles. On Monday, City Councilmember Traci Park, who represents Pacific Palisades, sent a letter to Newsom requesting that he suspend SB 9, warning that otherwise there could be “an unforeseen explosion of density” in a risky area.

“When SB 9 was adopted into state law, it was never intended to capitalize on a horrific disaster,” Park wrote.

On Tuesday, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass released a statement supporting Park’s request, citing similar concerns about SB 9 straining evacuation routes and local infrastructure in the Palisades.

“It could fundamentally alter the safety of the area,” Bass said.

Trump is hosting leaders from Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania and Senegal on Wednesday for with discussions to focus on business opportunities.

United States President Donald Trump is meeting with leaders from five African nations as he escalates a trade war that could impact developing countries reliant on commerce with the US.

On Wednesday, Trump hosted leaders from Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal at the White House for talks and a working lunch, with discussions expected to centre on business opportunities, according to a White House official.

During the lunch, Trump said they hail from “very vibrant places with very valuable land, great minerals, great oil deposits and wonderful people”.

“There’s a lot of anger on your continent. We’ve been able to solve a lot of it,” Trump said, pointing to a recent peace agreement leaders of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda recently signed at the White House.

The leaders are expected to discuss key areas of cooperation, including economic development, security, infrastructure and democracy, according to statements from the White House and Liberia. Trump said the five countries were unlikely to face US tariffs.

President Trump Participates in a Multilateral Lunch with African Leaders https://t.co/nkcx56xF74

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 9, 2025

Trump is expected to soon announce dates for a broader summit with African leaders, possibly in September around the time of the United Nations General Assembly.

This week’s mini-summit marks the latest effort by successive administrations to counter perceptions that the US has neglected a continent where China has increasingly made economic inroads.

Trade, investment in focus

Wednesday’s meeting is expected to focus on economics.

During the meeting, Gabon’s President Brice Oligui Nguema told Trump his country was open to investment and wants to see its raw mineral resources processed locally, but needs large investments in energy to do so.

“We are not poor countries. We are rich countries when it comes to raw materials. But we need partners to support us and help us develop those resources with win-win partnerships,” Nguema said at the meeting.

Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye suggested his country also offered investment opportunities for tourism, including a golf course.

Faye said the course would only be a six-hour flight from New York and suggested Trump could visit to show off his skills.

The US International Development Finance Corporation said earlier in the day it would provide project development funding for the Banio Potash Mine in Mayumba, Gabon, helping Gabon reduce its dependence on imports.

“DFC’s efforts not only benefit the countries and communities where they invest but also advance US economic interests by opening new markets, strengthening trade relationships, and promoting a more secure and prosperous global economy,” said DFC head of investments Conor Coleman.

The five nations whose leaders are meeting Trump represent a small fraction of US-Africa trade, but they possess untapped natural resources.

Senegal and Mauritania are important transit and origin countries when it comes to migration, and along with Guinea-Bissau, are struggling to contain drug trafficking, both issues of concern for the Trump administration.

However, African Union officials question how Africa could deepen trade ties with the US under what they called “abusive” tariff proposals and visa restrictions largely targeting travellers from Africa.

The top US diplomat for Africa, Ambassador Troy Fitrell, has dismissed allegations of unfair US trade practices.

Earlier this month, US authorities dissolved the US Agency for International Development and said it was no longer following what they called “a charity-based foreign aid model” and instead will focus on partnerships with nations that show “both the ability and willingness to help themselves”.

Those cuts could result in more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, research published by The Lancet medical journal showed last week.

Joypurhat/Dhaka, Bangladesh, and New Delhi/Kolkata, India – Under the mild afternoon sun, 45-year-old Safiruddin sits outside his incomplete brick-walled house in Baiguni village of Kalai Upazila in Bangladesh, nursing a dull ache in his side.

In the summer of 2024, he sold his kidney in India for 3.5 lakh taka ($2,900), hoping to lift his family out of poverty and build a house for his three children – two daughters, aged five and seven, and an older 10-year-old son. That money is long gone, the house remains unfinished, and the pain in his body is a constant reminder of the price he paid.

He now toils as a daily labourer in a cold storage facility, as his health deteriorates – the constant pain and fatigue make it hard for him to carry out even routine tasks.

“I gave my kidney so my family could have a better life. I did everything for my wife and children,” he said.

At the time, it didn’t seem like a dangerous choice. The brokers who approached him made it sound simple – an opportunity rather than a risk. He was sceptical initially, but desperation eventually won over his doubts.

The brokers took him to India on a medical visa, with all arrangements – flights, documents, and hospital formalities – handled entirely by them. Once in India, although he travelled on his original Bangladeshi passport, other documents, such as certificates falsely showing a familial relationship with the intended recipient of his kidney, were forged.

His identity was altered, and his kidney was transplanted into an unknown recipient whom he had never met. “I don’t know who got my kidney. They [the brokers] didn’t tell me anything,” Safiruddin said.

By law, organ donations in India are only permitted between close relatives or with special government approval, but traffickers manipulate everything – family trees, hospital records, even DNA tests – to bypass regulations.

“Typically, the seller’s name is changed, and a notary certificate – stamped by a lawyer – is produced to falsely establish a familial relationship with the recipient. Forged national IDs support the claim, making it appear as though the donor is a relative, such as a sister, daughter, or another family member, donating an organ out of compassion,” said Monir Moniruzzaman, a Michigan State University professor and a member of the World Health Organization’s Task Force on Organ Transplantation, who is researching organ trafficking in South Asia.

Safiruddin’s story isn’t unique. Kidney donations are so common in his village of Baiguni, that locals know the community of less than 6,000 people as the “village of one kidney”. The Kalai Upazila region that Baiguni belongs to is the hotspot for the kidney trade industry: A 2023 study published in the British Medical Journal Global Health publication estimated one in 35 adults in the region has sold a kidney.

Kalai Upazila is one of Bangladesh’s poorest regions. Most donors are men in their early 30s lured by the promise of quick money. According to the study, 83 percent of those surveyed cited poverty as the main reason for selling a kidney, while others pointed to loan repayments, drug addiction or gambling.

Safiruddin said that the brokers – who had taken his passport – never returned it. He didn’t even get the medicines he had been prescribed after the surgery. “They [the brokers] took everything.”

Brokers often confiscate passports and medical prescriptions after the surgery, erasing any trail of the transplant and leaving donors without proof of the procedure or access to follow-up care.

The kidneys are sold to wealthy recipients in Bangladesh or India, many of whom seek to bypass long wait times and the strict regulations of legal transplants. In India, for example, only about 13,600 kidney transplants were performed in 2023 – compared with an estimated 200,000 patients who develop end-stage kidney disease annually.

Al Jazeera spoke with more than a dozen kidney donors in Bangladesh, all of whom shared similar stories of being driven to sell their kidneys due to financial hardship. The trade is driven by a simple yet brutal equation: Poverty creates the supply, while long wait times, a massive shortage of legal donors, the willingness of wealthy patients to pay for quick transplants and a weak enforcement system ensure that the demand never ceases.

The cost of desperation

Josna Begum, 45, a widow from Binai village in Kalai Upazila, was struggling to raise her two daughters, 18 and 20 years old, after her husband died in 2012. She moved to Dhaka to work in a garment factory, where she met and married another man named Belal.

After their marriage, both Belal and Josna were lured by a broker into selling their kidneys in India in 2019.

“It was a mistake,” Josna said. She explained that the brokers first promised her five lakh taka (about $4,100), then raised the offer to seven lakh (around $5,700) to convince her. “But after the operation, all I got was three lakh [$2,500].”

Josna said she and Belal were taken to Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences in Kolkata, the capital of India’s West Bengal state, where they underwent surgery. “We were taken by a bus through the Benapole border into India, where we were housed in a rented apartment near the hospital.”

To secure the transplant, the brokers fabricated documents claiming that she and the recipient were blood relatives. Like Safiruddin, she doesn’t know who received her kidney.

Despite repeated attempts, officials at Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences have not responded to Al Jazeera’s request to comment on the case. Kolkata police have previously accused other brokers of facilitating illegal kidney transplants at the same hospital in 2017.

Josna said her passport and identification documents were handled entirely by the brokers. “I was OK with them taking away the prescriptions. But I asked for my passport. They never gave it back,” she said.

She stayed in India for nearly two months before returning to Bangladesh – escorted by the brokers who had her passport, and still held out the promise of paying her what they had committed to.

The brokers had also promised support for her family and even jobs for her children, but after the initial payment and a few token payments on Eid, they cut off contact.

Soon after he was paid – also three lakh taka ($2,500) – for his transplant, Belal abandoned Josna, later marrying another woman. “My life was ruined,” she said.

Josna now suffers from chronic pain and struggles to afford medicines. “I can’t do any heavy work,” she said. “I have to survive, but I need medicine all the time.”

‘In front of this gang’s gun’

In some cases, victims have become perpetrators of the kidney scam, too.

Mohammad Sajal (name changed), was once a businessman in Dhaka selling household items like pressure cookers, plastic containers and blenders through Evaly, a flashy e-commerce platform that promised big returns. But when Evaly collapsed following a 2021 scam, so did his savings – and his livelihood.

Drowning in debt and under immense pressure to repay what he owed, he sold his kidney in 2022 at Venkateshwar Hospital in Delhi. But the promised 10 lakh taka ($8,200) never materialised. He received only 3.5 lakh taka ($2,900).

“They [the brokers] cheated me,” Sajal said. Venkateshwar Hospital has not responded to repeated requests from Al Jazeera for comment on the case.

There was only one way he could earn what he had thought he would get for his kidney, Sajal concluded at the time: by joining the brokers to dupe others. For months, he worked as a broker, arranging kidney transplants for several Bangladeshi donors in Indian hospitals. But after a financial dispute with his handlers, he left the trade, fearing for his life.

“I am now in front of this gang’s gun,” he said. The network he left behind operates with impunity, he said, stretching from Bangladeshi hospitals to the Indian medical system. “Everyone from the doctors to recipients to the brokers on both sides of borders are involved,” he said.

Now, Sajal works as a ride-share driver in Dhaka, trying to escape the past. But the scars, both physical and emotional, remain. “No one willingly gives a kidney out of hobby or desire,” he said. “It is a simple calculation: desperation leads to this.”

Acknowledging the cross-border kidney trafficking trade, Bangladesh police say they are cracking down on those involved. Assistant Inspector General Enamul Haque Sagor of Bangladesh Police said that, in addition to uniformed officers, undercover investigators have been deployed to track organ trafficking networks and gather intelligence.

“This issue is under our watch, and we are taking action as required,” he said.

Sagor said that police have arrested multiple individuals linked to organ trafficking syndicates, including brokers. “Many people get drawn into kidney sales through these networks, and we are working to catch them,” he added.

Across the border, Indian law enforcement agencies, too, have cracked down on some medical professionals accused of involvement in kidney trafficking. In July 2024, the Delhi Police arrested Dr Vijaya Rajakumari, a 50-year-old kidney transplant surgeon associated with a Delhi hospital. Investigations revealed that between 2021 and 2023, Dr Rajakumari performed approximately 15 transplant surgeries on Bangladeshi patients at a private hospital, Indian officials said.

But experts say that these arrests are too sporadic to seriously dent the business model that underpins the kidney trade.

And experts say Indian authorities face competing pressures – upholding the law, but also promoting medical tourism, a sector that was worth $7.6bn in 2024. “Instead of enforcing ethical standards, the focus is on the economic advantages of the industry, allowing illegal transplants to continue,” said Moniruzzaman.

‘More transplants mean more revenue’

In India, the Transplantation of Human Organs Act (THOA) of 1994 regulates organ donations, permitting kidney transplants primarily between close relatives such as parents, siblings, children and spouses to prevent commercial exploitation. When the donor is not a near relative, the case must receive approval from a government-appointed body known as an authorisation committee to ensure the donation is altruistic and not financially motivated.

However, brokers involved in kidney trafficking circumvent these regulations by forging documents to establish fictitious familial relationships between donors and recipients. These fraudulent documents are then submitted to authorisation committees, which – far too often, say experts – approve the transplants.

Experts say the foundation of this illicit system lies in the ease with which brokers manipulate legal loopholes. “They fabricate national IDs and notary certificates to create fictitious family ties between donors and recipients. These papers can be made quickly and cheaply,” said Moniruzzaman.

With these falsified identities, transplants are performed under the pretence of legal donations between relatives.

In Dhaka, Shah Muhammad Tanvir Monsur, director general (consular) at Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that the country’s government officials had no role in the document fraud, and that they “duly followed” all legal procedures. He also denied any exchange of information between India and Bangladesh on cracking down on cross-border kidney trafficking.

Over in India, Amit Goel, deputy commissioner of police in Delhi, who has investigated several cases of kidney trafficking in the city, including that of Rajakumari, the doctor, said that hospital authorities often struggle to detect forged documents, allowing illegal transplants to proceed.

“In the cases I investigated, I found that the authorisation board approved those cases because they couldn’t identify the fake documents,” he said.

But Moniruzzaman pointed out that Indian hospitals also have a financial incentive to overlook discrepancies in documents.

“Hospitals turn a blind eye because organ donation [in general] is legal,” Moniruzzaman said. “More transplants mean more revenue. Even when cases of fraud surface, hospitals deny responsibility, insisting that documentation appears legitimate. This pattern allows the trade to continue unchecked,” he added.

Mizanur Rahman, a broker who operates across multiple districts in Bangladesh, said that traffickers often target individual doctors or members of hospital review committees, offering bribes to facilitate these transplants.​ “Usually, brokers in Bangladesh are in touch with their counterparts in India who set up these doctors for them,” Rahman told Al Jazeera. “These doctors often take a major chunk of the money involved.”

Dr Anil Kumar, director of the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) – India’s central body overseeing organ donation and transplant coordination – declined to comment on allegations of systemic discrepancies that have enabled rising cases of organ trafficking.

However, a former top official from NOTTO pointed out that hospitals often are up against not just brokers and seemingly willing donors with what appear to be legitimate documents, but also wealthier recipients. “If the hospital board is not convinced, recipients often take the matter to higher authorities or challenge the decision in court. So they [hospitals] also want to avoid legal hassles and proceed with transplants,” this official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, organ trafficking networks continue to adapt their strategies. When police or official scrutiny increases in one location, the trade simply moves elsewhere. “There is no single fixed hospital; the locations keep changing,” Moniruzzaman said. “When police conduct a raid, the hospital stops performing transplants.

“Brokers and their network – Bangladeshi and Indian brokers working together – coordinate to select new hospitals at different times.”

Porous borders and the fallout

For brokers and hospitals that are involved, there is big money at stake. Recipients often pay between $22,000 and $26,000 for a kidney.

But donors get only a tiny fraction of this money. “The donors get three to five lakh taka [$2,500 to $4,000] usually,” said Mizanur Rahman, the broker. “The rest of the money is shared with brokers, officials who forge documents, and doctors if they are involved. Some money is also spent on donors while they live in India.”

In some cases, the deception runs even deeper: traffickers lure Bangladeshi nationals with promises of well-paying jobs in India, only to coerce them into kidney donations.

Victims, often desperate for work, are taken to hospitals under false pretences, where they undergo surgery without fully understanding the consequences. In September last year, for instance, a network of traffickers in India held many Bangladeshi job seekers captive, either forced or deceived them into organ transplants, and abandoned them with minimal compensation. Last year, police in Bangladesh arrested three traffickers in Dhaka who smuggled at least 10 people to New Delhi under the guise of employment, only to have them forced into kidney transplants.

“Some people knowingly sell their kidneys due to extreme poverty, but a significant number are deceived,” said Shariful Hasan, associate director of the Migration Programme at BRAC, formerly the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, one of the world’s largest nongovernmental development organisations. “A rich patient in India needs a kidney, a middleman either finds a poor Bangladeshi donor or lures someone in the name of employment, and the cycle continues.”

Vasundhara Raghavan, CEO of the Kidney Warriors Foundation, a support group in India for patients with kidney diseases, said that a shortage of legal donors was a “major challenge” that drove the demand for trafficked organs.

“Desperate patients turn to illicit means, fuelling a system that preys on the poor.”

She acknowledged that India’s legal framework was aimed at preventing organ transplants from turning into an exploitative industry. But in reality, she said, the law had only pushed organ trade underground.

“If organ trade cannot be entirely eliminated, a more systematic and regulated approach should be considered. This could involve ensuring that donors undergo mandatory health screenings, receive postoperative medical support for a fixed period, and are provided with financial security for their future wellbeing,” Raghavan said.

Back in Kalai Upazila, Safiruddin nowadays spends most of his time at home, his movements slower, his strength visibly diminished. “I am not able to work properly,” he said.

He says there are nights when he lies awake, thinking of the promises the brokers made, and the dreams they shattered. He doesn’t know when, and if, he will be able to complete the construction of his house. He thought the surgery would bring his family a pot of cash to build a future. Instead, his children have been left with an ailing father – and he with a sense of betrayal that Safiruddin can’t shake off. “They took my kidney and vanished,” he said.

Reporting for this story was supported by a grant from Journalists for Transparency.

Frederick M. Nicholas, a war hero, attorney and real estate developer who shaped several of Los Angeles’ major arts and public service institutions, died peacefully at his home Saturday. He was 105.

Nicholas led the design and development of major L.A. landmarks, including the Museum of Contemporary Art and Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Surprisingly enough, Nicholas discovered his love of the arts in law school at the University of Chicago. “When I went downtown, I saw an art gallery for the first time,” he said in a 2022 YouTube interview with Blake Meidel, a young film creator. “I went inside and I looked at it and I was overwhelmed.”

When he returned to L.A., where he had studied journalism at USC, Nicholas took classes in the visual arts and built a law practice that included representation of artists and galleries. He took on several distinguished roles in the arts community, serving as MOCA’s chairman and vice chairman for a cumulative 11 years and a life trustee for the remainder of his life. Nicholas was instrumental to the development of the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA and Walt Disney Concert Hall.

It is little wonder that he was nicknamed “Mr. Downtown Culture.” In the 1980s, Nicholas led the city out of a cultural stasis and turned it into a global cultural and architectural powerhouse.

“Fred, we literally wouldn’t be L.A. without you,” former mayor Eric Garcetti said in a message to Nicholas on his 100th birthday.

Renowned architect Frank Gehry told The Times that Nicholas’ involvement in MOCA “was too good to be true.”

“He is an extremely smart man, and he’s sensitive. He’s been involved in and interested in the arts as a collector,” Gehry said in 1982. “He understands both the architecture and business of development. He knows all the players involved with the museum, and he has their respect. When I heard he was involved I thought it was too good to be true. I know he can pull it off.”

Nicholas negotiated with Giuseppe Panza of Varese, Italy, to acquire the Panza Collection. Including works from Mark Rothko, Franz Kline and others, the art now forms the core of MOCA’s permanent collection.

As chair of the Walt Disney Hall Concert Committee beginning in 1987, Nicholas headed a committee to find an architect (Gehry was eventually hired for the coveted gig), fundraise and plan the building process.

Over 105 years, Nicholas engaged with some of history’s greatest artists. “I met Pablo Picasso and I had dinner with him,” he told Meidel breezily.

Nicholas’ influence in L.A. extended into the realm of public service as well. After an incredibly successful law career, he shifted to pro bono work. “I thought that lawyers should do something to help the poor,” Nicholas told Meidel. Nicholas founded Public Counsel in 1970, which provided legal support to vulnerable people, including veterans and unhoused families, in what is now the largest firm of its kind in the U.S.

“Public Counsel really is his greatest legacy,” Nicholas’ son, Anthony Nicholas, told The Times on Tuesday. “They are still helping people today.”

Nicholas was born on May 30, 1920 in Brooklyn, N.Y. When he was 14, his family moved to L.A. In 1941, Nicholas served in the Army and was discharged five years later.

“One of the things that made me successful in law was that I was always in a hurry. I was always eager to move because I felt that I had lost so much time in the war. I had to make it up,” Nicholas, one of the oldest and most decorated WWII veterans, said in a retrospective on his life and work at age 100.

Nicholas was also adored by his family. Anthony recalled his father’s “beaming smile,” “great, great energy” and “the love he spread around the world.”

Nicholas is survived by his children, Deborah, Jan and Anthony; Anthony’s wife Mona; six grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and sister Helen Devor.

At least 50 world leaders gather in Seville to address global concerns, including hunger, climate change and healthcare.

The United Nations Conference on Financing Development has opened in the southern Spanish city of Seville, as member states are expected to discuss global inequality amid a significant financial loss following the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funding cut.

The once-in-a-decade event will be held from Monday to Thursday, aiming to address pressing global concerns, including hunger, poverty, climate change, healthcare, and peace.

At least 50 world leaders gathered in Seville, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Kenyan President William Ruto.

More than 4,000 representatives from businesses, civil society and financial institutions are also participating in the fourth edition of the event.

But the group’s most significant player, the US, is snubbing the talks following President Donald Trump’s decision to slash funding shortly after taking office in January.

In March, US State Secretary Marco Rubio said the Trump administration had cancelled more than 80 percent of all the USAID programmes.

Moreover, Germany, the United Kingdom, and France are also making cuts to offset the increased spending on defence, being imposed by Trump on NATO members.

But the series of cuts to developmental aid is concerning, with global advocacy group Oxfam International saying the cuts to development aid were the largest since 1960.

The UN also puts the growing gap in annual development finance at $4 trillion.

‘Seville Commitment’

The conference organisers have said the key focus of the talks is restructuring finance for the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted at the last meeting in 2015 and expected to be met by 2030.

But with shrinking development aid, the goals of reaching the SDGs in five years, which include eliminating poverty and hunger, seem unlikely.

Earlier in June, talks in New York produced a common declaration, which will be signed in Seville, committing to the UN’s development goals of promoting gender equality and reforming international financial institutions.

Zambia’s permanent representative to the UN, Chola Milambo, said the document shows that the world can tackle the financial challenges in the way of achieving the development goals, “and that multilateralism can still work”.

However, Oxfam has condemned the document for lacking ambition and said “the interests of a very wealthy are put over those of everyone else”.

June 27 (UPI) — Latin America and the Caribbean rank among the regions with the highest rates of criminal activity worldwide, marked by a strong presence of illicit markets and limited institutional capacity to combat them.

Organized crime has become one of the biggest obstacles to economic development in the region, according to a World Bank report. The report points to four main drivers: territorial control, criminal governance, institutional capture and systemic violence.

In addition to producing and consuming large quantities of cocaine, Latin American criminal groups play a central role in trafficking the drug to the United States and the European Union. These networks are tightly linked to criminal organizations around the world and have a significant impact on the region’s economy, according to the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, or GI-TOC.

Although the region makes up just 9% of the world’s population, it accounts for about one-third of global homicides, with rates up to eight times higher than the global average. Twelve Latin American countries are among the 50 most affected by organized crime, according to GI-TOC.

A study by the Inter-American Development Bank, led by Argentine researcher Santiago Pérez-Vicent, estimates that criminal organizations cause economic losses equal to 3.5% of the region’s gross domestic product. That figure represents 78% of the regional education budget, twice the amount spent on social assistance and 12 times the investment in research and development.

Colombia, Peru and Bolivia dominate global cocaine production, while Mexico, Brazil and several Central American countries serve as key transit and distribution routes to major consumer markets in North America and Europe.

Cocaine’s impact in Latin America goes beyond the global illicit economy, fueling violent clashes among rival cartels across the region.

In Mexico, about 30,000 teenagers are involved in organized crime, according to the Legal Research Institute at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. They engage in 22 types of criminal activity, including drug trafficking and kidnapping, with many recruited as hitmen due to their age and vulnerability.

Alongside major cartels in Colombia and Mexico, new groups have emerged, including Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua and Brazil’s Primeiro Comando da Capital, or PCC. These organizations have developed new strategies to traffic drugs — including substances beyond cocaine — into the United States and the European Union.

Experts and international organizations say organized crime in the region has evolved significantly. Fragmented and diversified networks are expanding through alliances with foreign groups, including Albanian and Italian mafias.

While most governments in the region focus on combating drug trafficking, cocaine production is only one part of a broader criminal economy. According to The Evolution of Organized Crime in Latin America, a report by researchers Lucía Dammert and Carolina Sampó, organized crime also drives illegal mining, migrant smuggling and human trafficking — activities that severely impact communities and threaten regional and global security.

Illicit activities have expanded into markets with direct human impact, including logging, livestock operations, the cultivation of prohibited plant species and large-scale illegal and unregulated fishing, according to the report.

“Human and arms trafficking, prostitution, the spread of synthetic drugs, counterfeit pharmaceuticals, contract killings and illegal mining — which in countries like Peru and Colombia generate as much or more revenue than drug trafficking — are among the criminal enterprises that have taken hold,” said Pablo Zeballos, a former intelligence officer and international organized crime consultant, in an interview with the BBC.

In recent years, several Latin American countries that were once relatively free of gang-led violence have experienced growing insecurity, violence and lawlessness.

Organized crime has shaped life in places like Mexico, Colombia and Brazil for decades, said Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, in a podcast for Americas Quarterly. “Now, historically more peaceful countries such as Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay are starting to experience rising levels of violence,” he added.

The expansion of organized crime in Latin America has been driven by a lack of effective coordination among regional governments, limiting joint responses to transnational threats such as drug trafficking, arms smuggling and human trafficking, according to reports from GI-TOC and InSight Crime.

This structural weakness is compounded by the steady erosion of institutions in several countries, marked by high levels of corruption, impunity and limited operational capacity within law enforcement.

Together, these conditions have created power vacuums that criminal groups exploit to establish sophisticated networks of territorial control, infiltrate legal economies and overwhelm national response systems.

It doesn’t seem that long ago that Christen Press was helping the national team to consecutive World Cup titles. She was unstoppable then, a key cog in the greatest women’s soccer team in history.

Yet she played her 155th and final match for the U.S. in the Tokyo Olympics.

It doesn’t seem that long ago that Press, just 18 days removed from those Olympics, became the first player signed by expansion club Angel City. She was bringing the NWSL to her hometown and was being rewarded with what was then the richest contract in league history.

Yet she’s started just 10 games since then, losing most of the last three seasons to a stubborn anterior cruciate ligament injury that took four surgeries to repair.

Press eventually will be inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame, but she isn’t ready for that trip just yet. If her body isn’t always willing, her mind and her heart are still keen on the sport, so Press makes her most valuable contributions now in the quiet of the locker room.

At 36, she has completed the transition from wunderkind to elder stateswoman. And on a Angel City team with 13 players under the age of 25, her presence is being felt.

“It’s a different role. I wasn’t that type of person,” said Press, who admits she has grown into the job.

“When I was 20 I didn’t have a relationship with a senior player like they have with me. I’m enjoying the presence that I have with these young players.”

Press has paid special attention to Alyssa Thompson, the 20-year-old Angel City player whose early career may be most reminiscent of her own, taking the locker next to Thompson in the team’s spacious dressing room.

Both are Southern California natives who played soccer and ran track in high school, led their teams to CIF titles and won national player of the year awards. Both committed to play for Stanford — Press went, Thompson didn’t.

Angel City forward Alyssa Thompson controls the ball during a match against Seattle in October.

(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)

But Thompson’s career is just starting while Press is winding hers down. So the most valuable thing she can offer now is advice.

“The thing that I’m good at is scoring goals. It is an art and I love it,” Press said. “I’m now kind of showing Alyssa how I trained to become a goal scorer. How you can think about goal-scoring in a very nuanced and methodical way.

“I’m learning as I teach her. I’m seeing the ways that she approaches it differently. It’s just kind of a spirit of collaboration I see as a win-win for everybody.”

Thompson agrees, saying she appreciates the chance to learn from a master.

“She’s definitely my mentor,” Thompson said. “She’s entering a new era of her career and she still wants to continue to play and stuff like that. But when she’s not playing, she’s able to [offer] her guidance and support.”

Goalkeeper Angelina Anderson, the team’s vice captain and, at 24, a key member of Angel City’s youth movement, isn’t sure Press fully appreciates the impact she’s having. The extra work Press puts in with Thompson, for example, has also made Anderson better.

“After training she’ll pull me aside and say ‘Hey, Ang, can you stay? I’m going to play a few balls through for Alyssa.’ That alone, dealing with such an elite finisher, is making me better obviously,” said Anderson, who was recently called up to the national team for the first time.

“She’s probably had to change a lot; just her mindset and mentality going through her injury and being older. I think she’s embraced her role and she seems like she’s in a really healthy spot.”

Listen to Press for a moment and the depth of her wisdom, experience and intelligence is obvious. But that doesn’t exactly make her rare in the Angel City locker room. Ali Riley, Press’ former Stanford teammate, and Scottish international Claire Emslie also have played on multiple continents and in multiple international championships and have become mentors to the team’s younger players.

“I enjoy that,” Emslie said. “I definitely find myself saying things to the younger players that I remember getting told and I think it’s important to pass on that information and have those relationships.

“I want to help them as much as I can because they’re going to go on and have even better and more successful careers. If I can help them along the way, it’s rewarding.”

That approach seems to be working. Angel City (4-4-2) is in playoff position through 10 games despite starting six players younger than 25.

“It’s important to have experienced players like Christen around. Especially when you’ve got so many players that are so young and exciting and dynamic,” interim manager Sam Laity said.

How long Press continues to do that in person is uncertain. The one-year contract extension she signed in January ends when the season does and she has a budding business empire to manage, one that includes a wildly entertaining podcast and a social entrepreneurship company founded with former USWNT teammates Megan Rapinoe, Meghan Klingenberg and Tobin Heath.

But if her playing days are indeed numbered, she’s enjoying those she has left. And that may be the most important lesson Professor Press passes on to her young students.

“There’s only one thing I haven’t done in soccer and that’s enjoy it,” she said. “All of my peers retired and I’m still here. I’m still given this gift of being able to appreciate it, play with gratitude, be a role model. And when I think about Angel City and my legacy, I think about ‘wow, what an opportunity to show the next generation that this can — and should be — fun and rewarding and it’s a gift that we get to chase greatness.

“The truth is the other things that I’m doing, from a career standpoint, are more lucrative than playing for Angel City this season. [But] there’s no better job in the world. We get so wrapped up in winning and greatness and titles and trophies that sometimes we don’t just get to be there. Like, I run around for my job. And I’m grateful that I have the opportunity to do so.”

⚽ You have read the latest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a spotlight on unique stories. Listen to Baxter on this week’s episode of the “Corner of the Galaxy” podcast.