future

Howe cannot afford to think that far ahead, given the games to come.

A late push for Europe would put a different complexion on a bruising domestic campaign.

But Newcastle must go on a run to do so, which they have failed to do all season.

When Anthony Elanga openly asked whether the dressing room could show they were fighting for the head coach “again, again and again”, in a previous interview with BBC Sport, the forward was alluding to his side’s inconsistency.

“We want to keep on fighting for him because he’s helped us so much,” he said.

“I’d even go as far to say he is one of the best managers I’ve worked for. I’m really grateful to have him as a manager and I try to take everything he says to me on board because I know it’s for my benefit.

“I know he will help me so much. All the players feel the same.”

Yet you never quite know what you are going to get from Howe’s team this term.

Just as Newcastle can beat Manchester United with 10 men and record a rare win at Chelsea, this leaky side can also capitulate and concede seven goals in the Nou Camp or throw away a half-time lead against Sunderland.

All in the same month.

Is there a degree of mitigation for the ups and downs of a campaign where Newcastle reached the last 16 of the Champions League and a third EFL Cup semi-final in four years, but also suffered 13 Premier League defeats?

Even as far back as the autumn, there was a belief internally there would be choppy waters to navigate following a turbulent summer.

Newcastle missed out on a host of top-choice targets, buckled and eventually sold star striker Alexander Isak to Liverpool on deadline day and tackled a crucial window without a chief executive and sporting director in place.

Also, whereas the so-called ‘big six’ are used to fighting on multiple fronts, with deeper squads, this has been relatively uncharted territory for Newcastle, who have played more games (51) than any other side in Europe’s top five leagues this season.

Such has been the relentless nature of the schedule, there has been a feeling within the camp that they “can’t breathe” at times.

But the squad will soon be lifted by the return of talisman Guimaraes, who is understood to have been “working hard every single day” after being sidelined with a hamstring issue, as well as midfielder Lewis Miley and defender Fabian Schar.

Howe will also have clear weeks to prepare for the final seven matches of the season – and a rare extended period to intensively work with record signing Nick Woltemade following the German forward’s curious recent stint in midfield.

The head coach and his staff will need no reminding they need to make that time count in what feels like a defining few months on Tyneside.

Eamonn Holmes’ future on live TV has been revealed after he concerned fans by ‘falling asleep’ on air, before later admitting that he was working on his microphone pack

Eamonn Holmes’ future on TV has been revealed after he sparked concern by ‘falling asleep’ on air. The TV star was presenting his GB News breakfast show when he appeared to ‘fall asleep’.

He later insisted he had been examining faulty equipment. He said: “I was just looking down at my mic pack to see why it was not working, as we don’t have floor managers or camera operators. Apparently I was sleeping? Whatever!”

However, since that time, he has been off air, and is believed to be taking extended leave. Fans had become concerned on Twitter, wondering when he’d be back on the show given all that’s going on.

“There have been lots of whispers about Eamonn being off. It’s unlike him. He lives and breathes presenting on television,” a source told The Sun. However, he is expected back on air soon.

A GB News spokesman confirmed that Eamonn is due back on Monday, April 13. During his one man show, Eamonn opened up about how life has changed since he began using a wheelchair after a string of health setbacks.

“Experiencing the world differently as a wheelchair user, Eamonn wants to see better access for disabled people. He said: “If you are in a wheelchair you are either at the front of the cinema or the back,” he said.

“Why can’t you be in the middle? The thing that makes me laugh is rooms that are classed as accessible in hotels. They are not at all. Everything is wrong, the bathrooms and the showers. I would love to advise hotel people as they are no use to anybody.”

He also used his show to criticise TV standards, and said that TV budgets were affecting programme output. He explained: “It is a great pity. If you can’t justify the audience then it’s over. ITV will be the next one down the tubes. It will be sold to an American company and they will make it a streaming company.”

Eamonn has been in a wheelchair after suffering with chronic pain since 2021. He suffered a dislocated pelvis, which caused him to have three slipped discs. He fell down the stairs and broke his shoulder whilst recovering and underwent further operations in 2023.

“I’m sick. I’m in a wheelchair. That’s been horrendous to deal with for two years. Certainly I don’t think TV wants to know you when, I mean there’s nothing you and I are talking and no one can there’s anything wrong but I can’t get up,” he said.

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Strictly Come Dancing star Carlos Gu opened up about his time on the show and whether he plans to return, following the recent exits of several of his co-stars

Carlos Gu has opened up about his future on Strictly Come Dancing amid a shake-up to the line-up. Since joining the show in 2022, the professional dancer has performed with three celebrity partners; Molly Rainford, Angela Scanlon and Karen Carney, who he lifted the Glitterball trophy with last year.

Reflecting on his transition from the competitive dance industry to television, he claimed it was “a completely different world” to what he’s been used to for the last 20 years.

Before Strictly, Carlos competed professional with Susan Sun, winning multiple competitions as a well-known duo.

Discussing the industry, the 33-year-old described it as “very challenging and hard”, but also “unstable” as he shed light on the realities of being a dancer.

“It doesn’t matter how hard you work or how good you are, you are the one always being judged and being chosen, your results are always unstable. You never know, today might be good but tomorrow might not,” he explained.

“We worked so hard for 20 years and we made our way there and everybody knows us, we come out, everyone knows Carlos and Susan.”

Reflecting on himself joining Strictly and not being given a celebrity partner in his first year, he added: “Then joining Strictly and not being given a partner made me realise I’m going back again to being chosen, because to have a partner or to not have a partner is out of my control, it doesn’t base on how good I am or how hard I am working, it’s not, it’s purely out of your control.

“I never worked in the TV world, it’s a completely different world,” he added.

Asked by Kate Thornton on her White Wine Question Time podcast about his future on the show, Carlos admitted he was yet to know if he will be returning.

Addressing the news of some of his co-stars leaving the show, he said: “I know we’ve heard, we’ve all seen the news but nothing confirmed by the BBC yet, so we’re waiting. I think they’re going to make the final announcement for all the cast.

“But like I said, being in a position not knowing if you’re going to stay or not is scary. We work so hard in our lives, but those things are out of your hands.”

So far, Luba Mushtuk, Karen Hauer, Michelle Tsiakkas, Nadiya Bychkova have been given the boot from the show. Karen was the longest-standing female professional, who was a part of the show for 14 years.

In a statement announcing her exit, she told fans it was “the right time to close this chapter and take on new projects in other areas I’m passionate about”.

This comes after Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman stepped away from their hosting duties after 11 years together on the main show.

Seven Scots will be playing – five of whom were at the Winter Olympics in Cortina and another couple who were at the recent World Championship – while 2022 Olympic gold medallist Eve Muirhead will take on a general manager role.

Mouat skips Northern Shield and is joined by Olympic mixed doubles partner Jen Dodds and Robin Brydone.

Muirhead joins Hammy McMillan in the other European franchise, Alpine Curling Club. “I think we’ve five Olympic medals between us from this recent Games, which is pretty incredible,” Muirhead, who was Team GB’s chef de mission, said.

Grant Hardie is with American outfit Frontier Curling Club and Ross Whyte joins Canadian team Maple United.

Perhaps most interestingly, Bobby Lammie is part of Asian franchise Typhoon Curling Club and will team up with girlfriend Seol Ye-eun.

“That could be an interesting dynamic,” he tells BBC Sport Scotland. “I’m looking forward to it, but hopefully we don’t fall out.”

“The main challenge for us, in the Asian franchise, is going to be the language barrier because there’s Chinese players, Japanese, Korean, as well as New Zealand, and Sweden. But that’s part of the fun.”

Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua warms up before a playoff game against the Carolina Panthers in January.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Last week, a woman filed a civil lawsuit against Nacua, alleging that on New Year’s Eve he made an antisemitic statement during a group dinner and later bit her shoulder. Nacua’s attorney told The Times before the lawsuit was filed that Nacua “denies these allegations in the strongest possible terms,” and that Nacua would “pursue all available legal remedies in response to these false and damaging statements.”

During a livestream in December, Nacua criticized NFL officials and made a gesture regarded as antisemitic. Nacua apologized, and the Rams and the NFL issued statements condemning antisemitism and discrimination. But after the Rams’ loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Nacua criticized officials in a social media post from the locker room. The NFL fined him $25,000.

“The play on the field is amazing, and then with what the play has dictated and determined there is a responsibility in terms of representing all things not exclusive to just that,” McVay said Monday when asked about Nacua. “He knows that, those are expectations and we are hopeful that … this will be an opportunity for him to learn and grow, and we are hopeful that he’s a Ram for a really long time.

“But he understands what the responsibility is, not exclusive to just the production on the field.”

Snead described Nacua as a “young man, becoming,” who is “continuing to evolve” as a person and player.

“You need to be on your Ps and Qs in both categories,” Snead said, “both variables, right, to earn that type of contract.”

Tony Pastoors, the Rams’ chief operating officer, said “everything gets weighed” in the process.

“It isn’t just, ‘OK, turn it on on Sundays and make decisions from there,’” Pastoors said. “We have to take in every data point we can.”

Kerr’s status at Chelsea was unquestionable before she suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury while at her peak in January 2024.

It took her more than 18 months to recover and she is still returning to full fitness as Chelsea struggle to meet expectations this season.

Off the pitch, Kerr has endured difficulties too. She was found not guilty of causing racially aggravated harassment against a Metropolitan Police officer in 2025 – the result of a court case which played out in the public eye and caused controversy.

That led to calls in her home country to strip her of the Australia captaincy, while she stepped out of the limelight in England.

It has also been a period of change for Kerr as she got married to former West Ham midfielder Kristie Mewis and they have a son, who was born in May.

In her absence, Chelsea went unbeaten domestically and won the treble in manager Sonia Bompastor’s debut campaign, but it has not gone to plan this year.

Injuries – particularly in attacking positions – players departing the club and performances not being up to scratch mean Chelsea are set to miss out on the Women’s Super League title and are out of the Women’s Champions League.

Kerr has struggled to regain her place in the starting XI despite this, playing just 444 minutes in the WSL this season.

She has made 15 appearances in the league, but only started two games, while she netted three goals in three starts in Europe.

Bompastor has fewer options up front, with USA striker Catarina Macario joining San Diego Wave, and Aggie Beever-Jones and Mayra Ramirez out injured.

So has Kerr been overlooked?

“She’s featured in almost every league game this season but it’s only two that she has started. The number nine position has been difficult for Chelsea,” said former Scotland captain Rachel Corsie on BBC Radio 5 Live.

“Lauren James has played there to allow them to get Alyssa Thompson and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd in the team, who have been in good form. There’s lots of different factors.

“But they haven’t got an out-and-out number nine. Chelsea need a number nine. To let go of Sam Kerr, without having a replacement there, would be a big step.”

NASHVILLE, N.C. — Ricky Brinkley has lived in rural North Carolina nearly all of his 65 years, and he likes it “out in the county,” past the street lights and bustle of the small towns that carpet the landscape.

But the former truck driver can feel left out when elections roll around in this battleground state.

“People don’t come out like they should and ask you how you feel about things,” Brinkley said while he manned the counter at his daughter’s beauty supply store down the street from the Nashville courthouse. “You want somebody to vote, but you don’t want to do nothing to get the vote. No, it don’t work that way.”

Brinkley is among the rural Black residents who Democrats have often failed to mobilize as they try to dent Republican advantages here. It’s an urgent demographic puzzle for the party, which is normally strong with Black voters but tends to fall short in rural areas.

Success could help former Gov. Roy Cooper win a hotly contested U.S. Senate race this year and tilt the balance of power in Washington. It could also reshape presidential elections, providing Democrats with a wider path to the White House.

“People want to look at the word ‘rural’ in North Carolina and equate it to the word ‘white,’” said state party chair Anderson Clayton, a 28-year-old who won her job three years ago promising to expand the party beyond cities. “In my vision of a Democratic Party, when you talk about reaching out to rural voters, you are talking about rural Black voters.”

The Rev. James Gailliard, a former state lawmaker who leads a large Black congregation in Rocky Mount, put it even more bluntly.

“You don’t win this state in Durham,” Gailliard said. “You win it in the east.”

It’s about more than Cooper’s Senate bid

North Carolina is known for the university-heavy Research Triangle that includes Durham, Raleigh and Chapel Hill, along with Charlotte’s banking hub. But it also includes large swaths of small towns and rural areas where Democrats have lost ground in recent decades.

That’s not just because of white voters realigning with Republicans. It’s also because Black voters who lean Democratic don’t vote as often as their urban counterparts. Those rural Black voters are concentrated east of the triangle, extending along winding state highways through small towns, flatlands and farmland toward the Atlantic coastline.

Cooper, 68, won two terms as governor and four terms as state attorney general. However, Republicans control the state courts and the legislature, and they’ve redrawn the congressional map to expand their advantage in the U.S. House. Donald Trump carried the state for Republicans all three times he ran for the White House.

A native of rural Nash County, Cooper already in recent months held roundtable sessions with Black farmers, business owners and civic leaders in eastern North Carolina, along with students from North Carolina A&T University, a historically Black school that draws students from across the state. His campaign promises a statewide organizing effort before November.

Gailliard wants a more intentional effort

But Gailliard wants more.

The founding pastor at Word Tabernacle Church, Gailliard was among the Black state lawmakers who lost seats after Republican-led redistricting. He said regaining ground will require neighborhood-level organizing and investment from national Democrats, something he struggled to get from Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign.

“I couldn’t get any traction,” Gailliard recalled. “I begged them to bring her to Rocky Mount. I said, ‘Listen, Rocky Mount is the gateway to the East. If we crack Rocky Mount, we’ve cracked the East.’ Could not convince them to come. Two weeks later, guess who’s in Rocky Mount? Donald Trump.”

The Harris campaign sent former President Bill Clinton to the area instead.

Gailliard said Cooper needs people like him to get elected.

“Roy is a great friend, and I’m gonna run my butt off to help him in every way, but I’m not banking on his coattails,” Gailliard said. “I’m going to do the opposite. I’m going to grow coattails for him.”

The state party tries to fill gaps

Clayton, the state party chair, said the national party and its donors haven’t prioritized North Carolina early enough in recent cycles.

She said she’s relied mostly on local money to finance 25 full-time staffers, more than three times what the state party had heading into the 2022 midterms.

Bertie County Democratic chairwoman Camille Taylor, whose hometown of Powellsville has fewer than 200 residents, said she’s felt the shift.

She speaks regularly with a field organizer in nearby Greenville, the city closest to the northeastern counties with large proportions of Black residents. But she said it’s especially difficult to persuade rural voters to care about voting beyond the presidency, even though she tells them “these are the races and the people that you’re going to interact with more.”

Democrats have recruited candidates in all 170 legislative districts — two are Democratic-aligned independents — and every U.S. House district. State Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls, a noted civil rights attorney and Black woman, is running statewide for reelection.

Gailliard said he’s identified a few hundred nonprofits, neighborhood associations and other groups that can do issue-orientated work in his district as the election approaches. He wants to match each of them to specific precincts, routing money for them to reach voters and persuade them to vote.

He wants volunteers to get training from Democratic and left-leaning organizations rather than have the outsiders themselves knocking on rural Black voters’ doors.

“We can’t have 21-year-old recent college graduates from Utah knocking doors at $22 an hour in the hood,” Gailliard said. “That just does not work. They’re not a trusted messenger.”

Marginal voting changes add up

About 2 in 10 North Carolina voters in the 2024 and 2020 presidential elections were Black, according to AP VoteCast, as well as in the 2022 Senate election.

Roughly 4 in 10 Black voters in North Carolina’s last presidential election said they live in small towns or rural communities, similar to the share who said they live in the suburbs. Only about one-quarter reported living in urban areas.

Small shifts in persuasion matter, particularly when races are close. In 2008, Barack Obama became the last Democratic presidential candidate to win North Carolina, by a margin of just 14,000 votes out of 4.3 million votes cast.

Voter turnout between the 2020 and 2024 elections declined more in North Carolina counties that have larger Black populations.

Counties where Black voters make up about 30% to 40% of the electorate saw the biggest drop, with turnout falling by more than 3 percentage points. Counties with smaller Black populations saw more modest declines of about 1 percentage point. Overall, turnout remains higher in counties with fewer Black voters.

An old Cooper schoolmate just wants to be asked

Gailliard said Democrats cannot underestimate how much it means for someone to simply get asked for their vote.

“Black and rural voters are not transactional,” he said. “They are relational.”

Back in Nashville at the beauty supply store, Brinkley agreed.

“You get to be a big wheel, and you can forget where you came from,” Brinkley said. “I ain’t gonna say Roy forgot. He’s a hometown guy, so to speak, but I don’t expect to see him out here walking.”

Brinkley made it clear that if he votes, it would be for Cooper and other Democrats — but only if he votes.

“I could. I could. I may vote,” he said. “There’s just so much going on.”

Barrow and Sweedler write for the Associated Press. Sweedler reported from Washington. AP journalist Linley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report.

Actor James Tolkan, known for his role as the Hill Valley High principal in “Back to the Future” and the no-nonsense commanding officer in “Top Gun” has died. He was 94.

Tolkan died Thursday in Lake Placid, N.Y., where he lived, his booking agent, John Alcantar, told the Associated Press on Saturday.

In “Back to the Future,” Tolkan portrayed Vice Principal Gerald Strickland, who surveyed the school’s halls with a whistle around his neck and a tardy slip burning a hole in his pocket.

“You got a real attitude problem, McFly,” Tolkan’s character snaps at Michael J. Fox’s character, Marty McFly, in the cult classic 1985 film. “You’re a slacker. You remind me of your father when he went here. He was a slacker, too.”

The line became one of Tolkan’s most famous, and mega-fans would flock to Comic-Cons around the country to ask the star to call them a slacker, requests he typically obliged.

The actor had a number of film and television gigs through the 1960s and ’70s, but he was doing David Mement’s Broadway play “Glengarry Glen Ross” when he got the offer to play Strickland in “Back to the Future.”

“I always said, ‘I’m never going to Hollywood until they send for me,’ ” he told T.C. Restani during a 2015 interview. “And I said, OK, this is my chance. And of course, nobody realized that it was going to be such an important picture. But it was. It was one of those marvelous events where all the planets were aligned and ‘Back to the Future’ became this shooting star of a movie.”

Tolkan was also well known for drilling Maverick and Goose with swift reprimands and tough love between puffs of his cigar as their commanding officer, Tom “Stinger” Jardian, in the 1986 blockbuster “Top Gun.”

“That was very special, because when you make a movie you never know, but in ‘Top Gun,’ everybody felt like it was going to be a success,” Tolkan told Bob McCarthy during a 2016 Comic-Con interview. “ They just felt it, knew it right from the first day.”

Born June 20, 1931, in Calumet, Mich., Tolkan was the son of a cattle dealer — Ralph M. Tolkan. He moved around in his adolescence, spending time in Chicago and landing in Arizona after his parents’ divorce. It was there that his athletic skills got him noticed by the Eastern Arizona College football coach. Tolkan landed a scholarship to the college, but his academic career was short-lived, and he left to enlist in the U.S. Navy.

After a year of service during the Korean War, he was discharged due to a heart ailment, and with $75 to his name he set out for the Big Apple to try his hand at acting. In New York, Tolkan studied under Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg at the famed Actors Studio and started landing stage roles before working his way to the big screen.

Although his experience in the military informed the types of roles Tolkan would play — Army office, Air Force commander, police lieutenant, attorney — his work as an actor was his passion. “If you choose to be an actor, you have to choose to be an actor, and you have to stick with it through thick and thin,” he told a FanX audience member during a 2023 panel at the Salt Lake City pop-culture convention. “When things get tough, you can’t think about doing something else. You’ve got to say to yourself, ‘I’m gonna do this.’ ”

Other notable acting projects of Tolkan’s include the 1973 film “Serpico,” starring Al Pacino; the 1981 movie “Prince of the City”; the role of Napolean in Woody Allen’s 1975 film, “Love and Death”; and the 1983 film “WarGames,” in which he acted alongside Matthew Broderick.

Tolkan is survived by his wife of 54 years, Parmelee Welles.

Following her huge success on The Traitors, Claudia Winkleman started her own chat show, The Claudia Winkleman Show, but it’s future is uncertain after it received a cool reception

Claudia Winkleman‘s new chat show is facing an uncertain future amid low viewing figures and little reaction from social media. The show has only aired three episodes, but a source has said the highly anticipated series has not reached the heights the BBC may have hoped, causing a stir behind the scenes.

The Claudia Winkleman Show began on 13 March, where the star was joined by Jeff Goldblum, Vanessa Williams, Jennifer Saunders and Tom Allen. The show follows Claudia’s huge success as the host of The Traitors, which catapulted her into being one of the most sought-after presenters in the UK. It also comes after she and Tess Daly decided to step down as the hosts of Strictly Come Dancing after over 20 years at the show.

READ MORE: Miranda Hart ‘in secret talks with BBC’ to replace Claudia Winkleman on Strictly Come DancingREAD MORE: Huge BBC host lined up for next series of Celebrity Traitors

Talking to the Daily Mail, a source explained how The Claudia Winkleman Show failed to rank among the most watched programmes on the BBC and has had little reaction on social media, making the chances of a second series slimmer.

“You’d think it would be guaranteed for a second series at the end of this run,” the source said. “It probably will get one, but the chatter is that it may not be such a certain prospect.”

They added that everyone at the BBC was “excited” about the show but that while usually “everything she touches turns to gold” but this time, “it simply isn’t the case here”. They pointed out that Claudia was “the star” of both The Traitors and Strictly, making the cold reaction to her new show would be “new territory” for her.

The Claudia Winkleman Show is currently midway through its initial run and is due to run for six weeks. It airs in the same slot that The Graham Norton Show, which is created by the same company as Claudia’s chat show, ordinarily occupies.

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The source told the Daily Mail that one of the reasons Claudia’s show has not matched the heights of Graham’s may be because of the guests she’s had on. While Graham’s red sofa has attracted the likes of Taylor Swift, Tom Cruise, Madonna and Paul McCartney, Claudia’s show has so far featured less well-known faces, such as Niall Horan, Rachel Zegler and Guz Khan.

Next week, Claudia will be joined by James McAvoy, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Rita Wilson and Russell Howard. Actor James has appeared on The Graham Norton Show multiple times, and Gugu was on the show a year ago. Russell Howard has been on the show as well, but Rita Wilson has not.

The BBC and Claudia Winkleman’s representatives were contacted for comment.

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Abas Aslani, senior research fellow at the Center for Middle East Strategic Studies, says a premature ceasefire in the US-Israeli war on Iran could spark another round of fighting, pointing to a lack of trust in talks as the US ramps up troop deployments despite calls for de-escalation.

It’s an hour before Monroe High’s baseball team takes infield practice. In the dugout dressed in his uniform, Miguel Gonzalez has his scissors out giving a free haircut to a teammate.

“Ten out of 10,” infielder Alexander Hernandez said when describing Gonzalez’s barber skills.

His pitching skills aren’t bad either. He struck out 12 in six innings in his season debut. He’s 5-0 with a 0.69 ERA. He’s a four-year varsity player for the surprising Vikings, who are 13-1 to start this season under second-year coach Eddie Alcantar.

The fact that Gonzalez is still playing might come as the biggest surprise if you knew all the responsibilities he faces as an 18-year-old.

Alcantar was getting worried last January when Gonzalez didn’t show up for winter workouts.

“I have a rule if you don’t show up for practice, you don’t play,” Alcantar said.

They finally met and Gonzalez revealed he’s been too busy working as a barber. And then came the big news: He’s going to become a father in July.

The Monroe High baseball team is off to an 13-1 start.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

It’s a delicate balancing act between work, school, baseball and the seriousness of being a parent as a teenager.

“I’ve been able to figure scheduling little by little,” Gonzalez said. “I do sleep. Maybe five hours.”

Gonzalez said he worked seven days a week as a barber during the summer. He’s been saving for his future while also making sure he did not have to ask his parents for money. He works weekends and sometimes has to leave practice after an hour for work.

As far as baseball, he added a slider this season, picked up some velocity and tries to throw three pitches for strikes.

Against Eagle Rock, he struck out 10 and gave up two hits in a 3-1 win. Against Arleta, he struck out 10 in six innings during a 6-1 victory with one walk. Against Westchester, he got two outs — both strikeouts — in a 3-1 win. Against Vaughn, he gave up two hits in six innings of a 2-0 victory..

Monroe, which used to be a City Section powerhouse in the 1970s when Denny Holt was head coach, also has received a strong season from junior Luis Martinez, who has 21 hits and is batting .500.

Pitcher Miguel Gonzalez has helped Monroe to an 13-1 start with a 5-0 record and 0.69 ERA.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

He said his parents have been supportive: “They have told me it’s a really big responsibility.”

After high school, he plans to go to an occupational school to learn more about being a barber. He’d love to continue playing baseball, but that will depend on his development and his priorities. So far, his balancing act is keeping him levelheaded and determined.

He’s been working since he was 5 when he helped his father in landscaping. He switched to cutting hair and loves it. His clients swear by him.

“He’s a good kid,” Alcantar said.

Verstappen’s dissatisfaction with F1 is focused on the degree of energy management required of the new engines.

They need to be recharged several times a lap, and that is leading to drivers losing speed on the approach to corners at the end of long straights as the engine runs out of battery power and starts to recharge.

It is also generating a form of racing that has proved attractive to fans and many in the sport, with places swapping and swapping back again.

But Verstappen does not like the way this happens as a result of different stages of battery charge between two drivers racing.

Discussing his attempts to pass Alpine’s Pierre Gasly for seventh place, Verstappen said: “You can pass around here, but then you have no battery for the next straight.

“So I tried once just to have a look, but then of course Pierre immediately got by me again on the main straight and I think that was basically the story of today. You can pass, but then you get re-passed. That was basically it.”

Commenting further on his thoughts about his future, Verstappen said: “I see it like this: You hear it from a lot of sports people when you speak to them about how are you successful. It all starts with actually enjoying what you’re doing before you can actually commit to it 100%.

“Now I think I’m committing 100% and I’m still trying, but the way that I am telling myself to give it 100% I think is not very healthy at the moment because I am not enjoying what I’m doing.

“And now people can easily say, ‘Yeah, well, you’ve won so many championships and races and now just because the car is not good you are complaining.’ Maybe you can see it like that, but I see it different.”

He added that one option would be to go and race in sports cars – he is already planning to take part in the Nurburgring 24 Hours this year.

“I have a lot of other projects anyway that I have a lot of passion about,” he said. “The GT3 racing. Not only racing it myself but also the team. It’s really nice and fun to build that. And I really want to build that out further in the coming years.

“It’s not like if I would stop here that I’m not going to do anything. I’m always going to have fun. And also I will have fun in a lot of other things in my life.

“But it’s a bit sad to be honest that we’re even talking about this. It is what it is. You don’t need to feel sorry for me. I’ll be fine.”

Referring to the bosses of F1 and his potential loss from the paddock, he implied that a change of the rules would make a difference to his decision.

“They know what to do,” Verstappen said.

F1 bosses are due to meet in the four-week gap between Japan and the next race in Miami to discuss changes to the rules to allow drivers to push flat-out in qualifying.

The need to manage energy over one ultimate lap and the effect this having on driving is unanimously regarded in F1 as an issue that needs fixing.

Last May, a strange thing happened on the U.S. album charts. Two metal bands (or at least metal-adjacent hard rock acts) scored No. 1 albums in the same month. The genre hadn’t seen multiple bestsellers in the same year since 2019 — and those were from veteran acts. So it was notable when the young U.K. group Sleep Token crushed on streaming and Ghost topped charts with a Taylor Swift-sized vinyl rollout. Meanwhile, avant-garde heavy rockers Deftones became unexpected TikTok darlings and arena stars.

Metal had not-so-quietly reemerged as a commercial force, and not just in the live sphere, where it’s always thrived and continues to grow. Pop culture seemed ready to welcome back a breed of hitmaker thought lost to time — the sleeve-tatted, throat-shredding hard rock star.

So the wider pop world should acquaint itself with the Virginia-born group Bad Omens, whose slam-packed Thursday night show at the Forum in Inglewood reaffirmed that they’re one of the most ambitious and skilled young bands in heavy rock, and have the star wattage and ravenous fan culture to get even bigger.

Bad Omens — with singer Noah Sebastian, bassist Nicholas Ruffilo, guitarist Joakim Karlsson and drummer Nick Folio — are not brand new. They’ve slugged it out on the metalcore and heavy rock circuit for a decade, signed to the small-ish but influential imprint Sumerian Records. But they hit their stride with 2022’s “The Death of Peace of Mind,” which melded a Weeknd-worthy R&B falsetto with rotted, churning guitars and tasteful electronics.

The band became festival headliners and racked up billions of streams, surely aided by Sebastian’s dreamboat-goth-BF good looks and striking range as a vocalist, where he veers from an ear-tickling whisper to an operatic howl and a shriek worthy of Norway in the ‘90s (sometimes on the same song, as he did on “Like a Villain”).

The band has tipped a new album for some time, though for this career-peak arena tour, it had only a handful of new singles in tow. No matter. At the Forum, the band cohered its catalog with an eye-popping stage production, one that made its case as an ultra-modern heavy rock act with the reach to be huge stars, even if they take genuine fame with some ambivalence.

That force-of-gravity was evident in the days leading up to the Forum show, where fans debated how many hours early they needed to be at the Forum to be on the barricades (the consensus — get there by breakfast). Mid-set, Sebastian pointed out one fan whom he recognized from years on the road. “You’ve been coming to see us since we sucked,” he said, laughing.

That commitment wouldn’t be possible if the music didn’t have a preternatural force to speak to current anxieties. From the first notes of its new single “Specter” — a brooding vocal workout for Sebastian that ended on pulverizing riffs — Bad Omens used cutting-edge tools and underground influence to elicit arena-rock catharsis.

One early peak of the set came when Jake Duzsik of the L.A. industrial-rock trio Health came out to duet on “The Drain,” a lurching, menacing collaborative single and a standout for both bands. Heavy-rock veterans see something compelling in Bad Omens, which helps situate the band’s pop-savvy tracks like “Left for Good” and “Just Pretend” (a platinum-selling single that wrapped up the main set) with earned feeling rather than calculation.

After the Forum show, I understood why it’s taking them so long to finish a new LP. Sebastian has been open about his mental health struggles. The band is pitched right at a difficult juncture at which their artistic ambitions abut real, life-altering attention.

They can make songs like “What It Cost” (a hooky, lecherous electro track that I’d totally believe was co-written with Max Martin if you told me) and the serrated metal that them earned them their fanbase and would cause a revolt without. It’s not easy to pair the two in a natural way. (Just ask Code Orange, once pitched as metal’s breakout stars who got bogged down in electronic experiments.) Having a K-pop-caliber devoted fanbase is great on the way up, but it’s a tense relationship.

But first and foremost, Bad Omens are gifted musicians, and whatever eldritch magic Sebastian wields onstage will always be bolstered by a serious band contorting metal, dark pop and electronic music. I saw nothing that would stop that one fan from coming back for 10 more years of Bad Omens shows, and plenty to suggest others are going to follow him.

BACK to the Future and Top Gun actor James Tolkan has sadly died aged 94.

The Hollywood star passed away peacefully at his New York state home on Thursday after a celebrated TV and stage career spanning 55 years.

His death was announced on the Back to the Future website as well as by writer-producer Bob Gale, but a cause was not provided.

Tolkan played the slacker-hating teacher Mr. Strickland in the first two films of the iconic 80s franchise, returning as the grandfather of his character in the third.

He was also known for his performance as air group commanding officer “Stinger” Jardian in the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun, alongside stars Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer and Meg Ryan.

Tolkan’s five-decade-long career started in the 1960s series Naked City and called it a day after the 2015 film Bone Tomahawk.

He was born on June 20, 1931 in Calumet, Michigan and served in the brutal Korean War as part of the United States Navy.

The young sailor was discharged due to a heart condition and set his sights on becoming an actor, earning a BA in drama from the University of Iowa.

An obituary on the Back to the Future website says that he then “got on a bus for New York City with $75 in his pocket, went to work on the docks and enrolled with both Stella Adler and Lee Strasburg to learn the art of acting. 

“He spent 25 years in New York theater, from off off Broadway to the great White Way.

“Notably, he was a member of the original ensemble cast of the  ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’.”

Tolkan moved his career from New York to California and Canada in 1983 when he was cast in War Games.

After his roles in Back to the Future and Top Gun, Tolkan had a dual role in Woody Allen’s Love and Death.

Tolkan is survived by his wife of 54 years, Parmelee – whom he met in the off-Broadway play Pinkville in 1971 – and his three nieces in Des Moines, Iowa.

The late actor adored animals and the obituary asked for donations in his memory to your local animal shelter, animal rescue organisation or Humane Society chapter.

Breaking news… More to come…

At the dawn of the 2025 season, we published a column with the headline, “What’s the future for aging Angel Stadium? It feels like an increasingly uncertain one.”

With opening day 2026 upon us, we’d like to update that: “What’s the future for the Angels? It feels like an increasingly uncertain one.”

I don’t mean to be an alarmist. Nothing is happening today, or tomorrow, or in the very near future.

However, the Angels’ stadium lease expires in six years, so what might happen beyond then is starting to come into focus. Angels owner Arte Moreno turns 80 this summer. Moreno — or a new owner, if Moreno eventually sells the team — could simply exercise options to extend the lease for another six years.

But that would not resolve the larger issue of replacing or renovating Angel Stadium. In the coming months, the city expects to release an assessment of what it would take to keep the stadium up and running for years to come, and that could trigger a debate between the city and the Angels about who should pay for what.

The Angels are frustrated by all of this, and in particular by what they consider the curiously timed skirmishes over their 21-year-old Los Angeles name. They are annoyed that, for the second consecutive season, city issues have detracted from the hope and faith and joy that surrounds opening day. It is the city, after all, that walked away from two deals that would have secured the Angels’ long-term future in Anaheim.

During negotiations for the last deal, city officials made clear that keeping the Angels was the top priority, even if Anaheim could make more money selling the stadium property to a developer that would not need to retain the stadium.

Now, with six years left on the lease and no commitment beyond then, the mayor of Anaheim says it is time to prepare for a future with or without the Angels.

“We need to plan for what we see as a vision for that property when the lease has expired,” Mayor Ashleigh Aitken told me. “That’s going to take time. No matter how that deal goes, we’re not breaking ground on any project next year.

“But what we need to do, whether it includes the Angels — which I hope it does — or not, is come up with a vision that includes everything residents want to see happen on that land. And only then can we truly advocate for a project that makes sense for us.”

On the day of the home opener last season, Aitken issued an open letter inviting Moreno to meet with her for “an open and honest conversation about the future of baseball in Anaheim” and listing eight starting points for negotiations on a new deal, including the Angels’ restoration of the Anaheim name.

“They have not reached out to us about reopening negotiations for potential development around the property,” Aitken said.

Moreno previously explored other potential ballpark sites, including Tustin in 2014 and Long Beach in 2019.

In Tustin, the targeted land is no longer available. In Long Beach, the proposed waterfront lot remains vacant, but the challenge remains too: Over 81 games each season, how would tens of thousands of fans drive into and out of a ballpark primarily accessible by a single freeway?

For the Los Angeles Angels, perhaps the solution could be found in Los Angeles County.

The Dodgers could bar every other major league team from moving into L.A., but not the Angels. Under MLB rules, neither team could stop the other team from moving anywhere within Los Angeles County or Orange County.

The logical landing spot would be Inglewood, where the Rams, Chargers and Clippers have moved since 2020. Inglewood Mayor James Butts said Sofi Stadium and Intuit Dome have helped to revitalize the city, with unemployment down, home prices up, and municipal revenue up.

“Before, we were known for gangs and crimes and poverty,” Butts told me.

“Now, we are known as the sports and entertainment capital of the western United States.”

How about a baseball stadium in place of the Forum?

“The Forum parcel is absolutely not large enough for a baseball stadium,” Butts said.

Butts said he believes a baseball stadium there would require about 170 acres for the stadium and surrounding parking. Angel Stadium and its surrounding parking lots cover about 150 acres.

On the other hand, the Athletics are building a ballpark on a nine-acre site in Las Vegas, where nearby parking, entertainment and dining options already exist, with more on the way, and with the A’s not responsible for any of that. The same could be true for the Angels in Inglewood, with Rams owner Stan Kroenke and Clippers owner Steve Ballmer developing the land around the sports facilities.

However, Butts said he did not envision baseball coming to Inglewood, at least so long as he remains the mayor. Not enough room in town, he said.

“We’re maxed out when it comes to sports,” Butts said. “We are not going to reduce the housing stock and move residents out to have a baseball team.”

Anaheim has one, plus a 150-acre site perfect for a new stadium surrounded by restaurants and shops and homes. There will be days to be anxious and worried about the Angels’ future in the city they have called home for 60 years. Today is not one of them.

Take it from the mayor of Anaheim, who told me that even after telling me why she wants the city attorney to look into whether the Angels are violating their stadium lease.

“Opening day, to me, is nothing about clauses in a contract,” Aitken said. “It’s about family traditions. It’s about kicking off summer. And it’s about getting so many factions and neighborhoods of Anaheim together for a singular purpose, which is cheering on our hometown boys. That’s the beauty of baseball.”

And, as a lifelong Angels fan, she had one more thing to say.

“Right now,” Aitken said, “we’re tied for first place.”

If you find yourself surrounded by towering palms, mod furniture, vintage-looking neon signs, a 26-foot Marilyn Monroe statue and a backdrop of bare desert mountains, chances are you’ve landed in Palm Springs.

Look, I get it: Palm Springs doesn’t exactly scream Gen Z. It’s long been known — and still functions — as a retirement haven. A place where older adults trade in puffer jackets for gallery strolls, pool lounging and taco sampling under cloudless skies.

But I, a Gen Z reporter, am here to say Palm Springs can be really fun, and it actually aligns with my generation more than you might expect.

“If you’re going to Palm Springs and you’re our age, you’re looking for spots that are content-creatable,” said Ava Bostock, a 25-year-old L.A.-based public relations professional who researches the intersection of media and youth consumer behavior. “We need the picture to prove we were there.”

Palm Springs doesn’t shy away from its past, and that’s exactly what makes it feel so current.

Gen Z, which covers those who are 14 to 29 years old, is fluent in the digital world, but we romanticize the analog: the grainy film photo, the thrifted wardrobe, the rotary-phone energy of another era. Palm Springs leans into that fantasy: sun-faded signage, bubblegum-colored motels, midcentury homes with breeze blocks and Old Hollywood flair. It’s a time capsule built for our aesthetic eye and our camera roll.

“When I revisit the past, the ’60s were so focused on the future and space age and what comes next,” Bostock said. “I don’t think our generation has that. It feels like we’re walking into the future backwards — like we’re so enchanted with the past.”

That fixation shows up in our Pinterest boards, photo filters and travel decisions. “The most iconic images of decades past are at your fingertips,” she said.

In a place like Palm Springs, where roadside signs, retro motels and Old Hollywood architecture are preserved like set pieces, Gen Z can find a slowed-down, stylized version of the past we’ve only ever seen online.

It’s not just about visuals. “The way we consume and vacation and travel is really dictated by content,” Bostock said.

That’s part of what makes Palm Springs feel uniquely Gen Z. It satisfies a generational paradox: a destination that’s hyper-photogenic yet relaxed and immersive. It’s a place where you can stage the perfect coffee photo, then put your phone down and just be.

So whether you’re tagging along with your desert-retreating parents or planning a weekend getaway with friends, here’s your Gen Z-approved guide to Palm Springs, from where to caffeinate and vintage shop to the best spots for dancing, wellness walks and content-worthy photo ops.

Disney has a new captain, and his eyes are on the stars.

Taking over the reins from Bob Iger on Wednesday, new chief executive Josh D’Amaro signaled a bold shift for the entertainment giant: a future where emotional storytelling remains the “North Star,” but cutting-edge technology provides the fuel.

From ESPN to the Magic Kingdom, D’Amaro said in his first letter to employees as the top boss that his mission is to turn a century of nostalgia into a more personal, high-tech reality for fans worldwide.

“Used thoughtfully, it can empower our storytellers, strengthen our capabilities, and help us create more immersive, interactive and personal ways for people to experience Disney,” he wrote in the Wednesday morning note.

D’Amaro also said he wants the sprawling company, which includes film and TV studios, a tourism division, streaming services and live sports programming, to operate as “one Disney,” saying the global businesses all play a role in deepening consumers’ relationship with the Mouse House.

That connection people have with Disney’s brand is key to the company’s future. Consumers have more film, TV and experiences to choose from than ever, meaning Disney needs to distinguish itself among competitors.

To do that, D’Amaro plans to focus on the emotions consumers feel when they encounter Disney. As an example, he reminisced about his own first visit to Disneyland more than 40 years ago.

He recalled the joy on his father’s face as the two rode Peter Pan’s Flight together. And when they soared over the miniature version of London on the ride, he remembered his father leaning in and saying, “See, I told you. It feels like we’re flying!”

“That feeling of flying I had on Peter Pan all those years ago is still real to me,” he wrote in the Wednesday morning note. “And today, I am honored to move forward with all of you — with ambition, optimism, and absolute confidence in what we can build together.”

That new era also included a goodbye to Bob Iger, who handed over the reins Wednesday and now moves into a senior advisory role for the rest of the year before his planned retirement.

The company paid tribute to Iger in a video during Disney’s annual shareholders meeting Wednesday morning.

With clips from his earliest public appearances as Disney’s CEO, a highlight reel of the acquisitions the company made under his tenure and even a nod to his previous career behind the anchor desk, the video highlighted Iger’s legacy at the company and the role he played in bulking up Disney’s franchises, global theme parks, sports and streaming platforms.

When asked in the video about where he’ll go from here, Iger laughed and replied, “To Disneyland.”

In a pre-recorded speech, Iger said his time at Disney has spanned much of his life and that he never expected to become CEO of the company — much less twice.

“Over the years, we experienced extraordinary change and faced real challenges that were particularly profound in the last three years,” Iger said. “It was daunting at times, but through it all, what sustained me was the passion I saw every day from great storytellers, innovators, leaders and people around the world.”

In his parting remarks during that speech, he expressed confidence in the new leadership team of D’Amaro and Dana Walden, who is now president and chief creative officer of the company.

“I will be cheering on Josh, Dana and all of you as I sail off into the sunset,” he said. “So thank you for the trust you placed in me, for the memories we created together, and for allowing me the honor of serving. It has meant more to me than I can say.”

Despite that uncertainty, Davies is already laying the foundations for the club’s long-term direction, with a major emphasis on building a high-performance environment both on and off the field.

“A big part of what I’m doing is making sure we’re high-performance across the board,” he added.

“There’s a huge amount of work in aligning our style of play – our Scarlets DNA – with the processes that support that, the coaching roles, the player profiles, the conditioning programmes and the skill sets.

“It’s about putting the right processes and metrics in place so we can drive things forward, understand where we are and measure progress.”

Davies also confirmed he has yet to hold any discussions about extending his stay, although he is leading a significant structural reset behind the scenes.

“A lot of this is about evolving the environment,” he said.

“There will be robust processes and a clear structure in place for the future, whoever is involved.”

The review has already led to changes in the backroom team, and more could follow, with defence coach Jared Payne leaving at the end of the season.

Davies says further backroom adjustments are likely as the club looks to rebuild.

“In any organisation, if you want to move forward, you have to continually assess, re-evaluate and evolve,” he said.

“There will be changes.”

This particular run of seven games will define City’s season on all four fronts – losing twice against Real means their trophy prospects have been reduced to three.

That could be down to two on Sunday with a huge clash against the Gunners, who are hungry to rid their tags of ‘nearly men’ by ending a trophy drought which stretches back to 2020.

“On Monday [after Carabao Cup final] hopefully we will wake up and it is a sunny day,” said Guardiola. “It is not crucial, it is a football game, we are going to try to win with a good performance.

“We will challenge against the best team in England so far, the best team in Europe because look at their results in the group phase, they were first and have lost three or four games all season. We will challenge them and we have to see how we are competing against them.”

City were held to a surprise 1-1 draw at relegation strugglers West Ham, which has left them nine points off the pace in the Premier League with eight games to go – and a monumental effort is required to overturn that particular deficit.

And the FA Cup is no formality either, with City hosting rivals Liverpool in the quarter-final on Saturday 4 April after the international break, with league games immediately after against Chelsea and Arsenal.

Guardiola said: “After one or two weeks, we play against them in the Premier League and it is a good mirror to see what we have to do to achieve [like] them. I am old enough to see that one football game is not the big happiness or a loss is the end of the world, it’s just a game.

“In the end, the results have not been good except Newcastle but I have the feeling we are an extraordinary team with many, many, many good things that I love.

“We are still not complete, we are not aware in certain moments and departments, we have to be more clinical but my feeling is it is a question of time.”

The events that transpired in Caracas on January 3rd drew global attention to the future of Venezuela’s well-known hydrocarbon industry, while another strategic facet of the country´s economy has remained largely unnoticed: mining. 

Historically overshadowed by the sheer scale of Venezuela’s oil-based economy, the country’s mines became an increasingly important source of revenue as sanctions closed the spigot on petrodollars during the Maduro years.

Alongside the vast reserves of hydrocarbons, the country’s privileged geological endowment covers extensive metal and mineral deposits. Concentrated largely in the Guyanese Shield in the southeast of the country, these reserves include some of the region’s largest gold reserves, extensive iron ore deposits, and a range of minerals that have been labelled as critical for the global energy transition by actors like the European Union. 

Despite its vast mineral wealth, Venezuela’s mining sector remains poorly governed. Reforming it will be essential to rebuilding a stable republic.

The harsh reality is that the mining sector in Venezuela is currently a cesspool of some of the most atrocious activities conducted by the regime in the last decade, from human trafficking to international guerrillas like the Colombian Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) controlling illegal mining operations that cause considerable environmental damage and serve to finance terrorist acts abroad. The fact remains that if these actors continue to be a force in the sector, the hopes of establishing a strong and robust Venezuelan economy will be slashed before they even get off the ground. 

All conversations start with the regime’s establishment of the infamous Orinoco Mining Arc in 2016. This Zona de Desarrollo Estratégico Minero Nacional contains an estimated 7,000 tonnes of gold, alongside millions (literally millions) of tonnes of iron ore and bauxite, as well as dozens of other high value resources. In theory, it is managed by the State and the armed forces. In practice, investigations by Human Rights Watch, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the International Crisis Group, and research projects such as SOS Orinoco consistently describe it as a criminal economy dominated by irregular armed groups, through which the Venezuelan regime captures significant revenue from gold extraction and international sales. 

It’s important to mention that three important developments have happened in recent days. The first is that on March 9th 2026, the National Assembly in Venezuela approved the first draft of a new mining reform law. Supported by the Rodríguez-led executive, the bill presents the first significant set of changes to the Venezuelan mining law that has been in full effect since 1999, since the gold reform in 2015. Among the most important aspects of the bill are the extension of concessions from 20 to 30 years, the welcoming of both national and international companies to directly develop projects in Venezuela, and the introduction of an “international arbitration program”.

When the strong control of a mafia-like regime is combined with a lack of true judicial safeguards for foreign investment in the country, most of the reliable foreign investors will be scared away.

This law comes following two key visits from high-ranking Trump administration officials. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum had discussed Venezuela’s potential as a reliable source of strategic minerals. And previously, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said the same about oil. Today came the announcement from Swiss commodity trading giant Trafigura, where they are committing with Minerven to help build a program for the responsible sourcing of Venezuelan gold.

Rebuilding Venezuela’s mining ecosystem will be an uphill battle that will require more than a few high-level visits, a tenuous attempt at legal reform, or a single agreement from a renowned international trader. The shadow mining economy is a key issue in the consolidation of a future Venezuelan republic that aims towards a stable political and economic development. This will in turn place some pressure on Delcy Rodríguez and the regime’s inner circle to address a system that has been successful under their watch. Without a doubt, there’s a big question mark over their willingness to dismantle one of its main cash cows, but this should remain a key issue in discussions over Venezuela’s future.

But just cleansing the system is not nearly enough to revitalize the sector. Because for Venezuela to become a key exporter of gold, iron and critical materials, international standards must be adopted. That is why Venezuela must create a true pathway for foreign investment to become an engine for the sector. One of the main concerns is just how much control the state exerts over the mining system, which can be argued to be even larger than the one seen in the energy industry. Three key State-owned companies “officially” control most of the mining operations in Venezuela: Corporación Venezolana de Minería (CVM), Corporación Venezolana de Guayana (CVG) and Minerven.

The problem is not the fact that State-owned companies operate in the country, but rather that the State that operates them is basically a criminal organization. When the strong control of a mafia-like regime is combined with a lack of true judicial safeguards for foreign investment in the country, most of the reliable foreign investors will be scared away. The ones who can start to create pathways to reintroduce Venezuela into the broader global economy, and transform the country into a crucial source of minerals. 

The main reason why foreign direct investment must drive the growth patterns is due to the fact that international operators can bring much needed expertise and technical know-how to develop stable mining projects across the region. It is important to note that for Venezuela to eventually meet high operational, environmental and safety standards, some time must pass. Many of these international companies have vast experience operating in less than ideal scenarios in countries like Angola or the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and they have managed to meet the minimum benchmarks to sell on Western markets. Thinking that in only a couple of years Venezuela will meet the same standards as minerals sourced from Europe, Canada or Australia is plain wishful thinking. For the industry to take off, production should start, as soon as viable, and as soon as a realistic negotiation and hopefully a government change can happen.

In this vein, the main Western drivers of foreign investment into mining globally, Canada and Australia, have adopted strict technical instruments like the NI 43-101 and JORC following mining scandals like BRE-X in the late 1990s. These frameworks are meant to prove the reliability standards to even invest in mining companies both locally and abroad. These regulations, which are widely accepted interchangeably worldwide, have created considerable scrutiny for the international mining sector, and the ones who can reliably bring these instruments into Venezuela are Western actors who have included them into their internal practices. If international actors bring these in, they can become a major first step in establishing the global standards required for projects in Venezuela. An important facet of this scenario is how retribution for past seizures of assets from companies like Crystallex International and Rusoro Mining will factor into the negotiations into the future of the Venezuelan mining industry.

The Venezuelan armed forces must commit to cooperating with international companies, switch their allegiances, and start a pushback against the criminal structures across the territory.

Thinking that high international standards will be adopted quickly might be too idealistic, but future negotiations in the country should include three key elements. First, territorial control must eventually be regained. Waiting to purge the Arco Minero before starting full production would be unrealistic, as it will require a comprehensive, and time-consuming security strategy. In this case, and considering that international investors will most likely bring in their own private security, there should be a commitment from the high command of the Venezuelan armed forces to cooperate with these companies, switch their allegiances, and start a pushback against the criminal structures across the territory.

Furthermore, international observers should be welcomed into the country with open arms to provide both expertise and external oversight with a true “punitive” capacity to ensure the transparency of the process. While this is happening, the third standard will come naturally, which is the systematic integration of international compliance levels. 

These two steps can eventually lead future governments in the country to invest in the creation of internal independent agencies that oversee the entire process, which will hopefully be embedded into the broader State apparatus that will be revamped in the coming years. 

The reality is that the current situation in Venezuela presents an interesting path towards the reactivation of the mining industry. The sector will be crucial, and the road to restart will be long. As more than a compromise between an unreliable government partner in Delcy Rodríguez and her cadre of officials, and the global hegemon, the industry is in desperate need of foreign investment and a firm commitment from international operators to start implementing the world-class standards. Because eventually, these players will be the ones to push for the creation of viable frameworks during the rebuilding of the Venezuelan Republic.