Group

ROSARIO, Argentina — Lionel Messi arrived back in Argentina on Tuesday for a few days of rest following the World Cup final loss to Spain.

Messi’s private jet landed near his hometown of Rosario from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., at 6:27 a.m. Although many fans were waiting with signs and flags, he did not make a public appearance.

“The pain is immense, and this wound will take time to heal,” he posted on his Instagram account. “I cherish all the good moments, memories that will last forever — and the support of an entire nation which, combined with this group’s hard work and effort, propelled us once again into the ranks of the world’s best.”

Supporters only caught a brief glimpse of the SUV that met Messi on the tarmac to transport him and his family to the private neighborhood of Funes, roughly 185 miles north of Buenos Aires.

The Argentina captain reportedly traveled with his wife, Antonela Roccuzzo, and their three children, all of whom had accompanied him throughout the tournament in North America. Waiting for him in Rosario was his 68-year-old father, Jorge, whose ongoing medical treatment for an undisclosed illness had been revealed by the family during the World Cup.

Fans had gathered at the airport as early as 3:30 a.m. hoping to catch a sight of the star. Among them were two young girls in La Albiceleste jerseys holding welcome signs, one of which read: “Messi: You’re a legend. Thank you for bringing joy to our hearts. A whole country loves you!”

Messi is expected to rejoin Inter Miami in late July or early August for the ongoing MLS season.

Fifteen members of Argentina’s 26-player World Cup roster, led by head coach Lionel Scaloni, landed at Buenos Aires’ Ezeiza Airport on Monday on a chartered flight.

The squad’s arrival followed Sunday’s 1–0 extra-time loss to Spain in the World Cup final in East Rutherford, N.J., decided by a Ferran Torres goal.

“It is hard to fully appreciate our achievement right now, but this group reached two consecutive World Cup finals. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for every greeting and message,” Messi added. “I also want to congratulate Spain on winning the championship.”

The match marked Messi’s third World Cup final appearance, following 2014 and 2022. He ended the tournament as the runner-up for the Golden Boot with eight goals, two behind France’s Kylian Mbappé.

Mbappé tops the all-time World Cup goal-scoring chart with 22, one more than Messi.

Álvarez writes for the Associated Press.

When asked if Spain would win the World Cup, Lamine Yamal simply smiled and said “yes”.

His words to American broadcaster CBS in the build-up would have come as a surprise to no-one who has seen the confident teenager become one of the best players on the planet.

For many though, for his prediction to come true, Lamine Yamal was going to have to set the tournament alight in his first ever World Cup.

So far, that has just not happened.

The 19-year-old has scored one goal and has not made an assist, but his country have cruised into the final anyway and will face Argentina on Sunday.

While the likes of fellow superstars Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland have had starring roles, Lamine Yamal’s World Cup has been surprisingly understated.

But could this be his moment?

Lamine Yamal’s stats for Spain are incredible. He has yet to lose for his country in the 27 competitive matches he has played. He has started 12 games at major tournaments for Spain and won all of them, the longest 100%-win rate of any European player across major tournaments when starting.

If he scores in New York on Sunday he will become just the third teenager to find the net in a World Cup final, after Pele in 1950 and Mbappe in 2018.

Win the tournament and he becomes just the fourth teenager to ever start a World Cup final and win the trophy, after Pele, Mbappe and Italy’s Giuseppe Bergomi in 1982. Nineteen-year-old team-mate Pau Cubarsi could become the fifth.

“No-one will care whether Lamine has scored lots of goals and created lots of goals,” said one Spain fan. “If he wins the World Cup with Spain, he will be a legend forever.

“If we lose to Argentina, no-one will remember his first World Cup. We know he will have lots of other World Cups and we believe he will become the greatest.

“But not many teenagers get the chance to win a World Cup. This is his chance. He will have regrets if we lose and he hasn’t been able to play his best.”

Jennifer Finch, bassist for the influential Los Angeles rock band L7, has died. She was 59.

Finch died of “an aggressive form of brain cancer,” according to a statement from the band.

“We are shattered by the loss of our beloved bandmate, sister and friend Jennifer Finch, whose fierce spirit, humor and boundless creativity helped shape L7 and changed all of our lives forever,” the group said in its statement. “Jennifer was a true original who lived entirely on her own terms, and the impact she made on music, art and everyone lucky enough to know her cannot be measured. We love her beyond words and will carry her with us always. Rest in power our dear friend.”

Finch was receiving ongoing treatment for brain cancer, and just last week backed out of the band’s planned final tour. The group said those dates were “planned along with Jennifer when all four of us were in good health and spirits,” and Finch had asked the band to continue the shows while she sought treatment.

Finch, raised in Los Angeles, was an outspoken and ambitious fixture of ‘90s rock. She briefly performed in a band with Courtney Love pre-Hole and Babes In Toyland’s Kat Bjelland, and once dated Dave Grohl. But she came to prominence in L7, a foundational act in the alt-rock scene of the ‘90s.

Formed in 1985 by guitarists and singers Suzi Gardner and Donita Sparks, drummer Dee Plakas and Finch, they made a fast impact on L.A.’s punk scene, which was growing out of the hyper-masculine hardcore era of the ‘80s. Alongside Hole and Sleater-Kinney, L7 helped usher in the riot grrl wave of confrontational, female-led rock acts onto charts and festival bills.

“Rock ‘n’ roll was invented and became popular because of its rebellious nature,” Finch told the Times in 1993. “But the world has seen every form of rebellion–from throwing TVs out the windows to heroin abuse to just the guy in the leather jacket with greased-back hair–and the rebel image is becoming tired and burnt out. So (the press) is finding new interest in women who (rebel), creating a whole new aspect.”

“The unfortunate thing is that journalists are trying to create a genre out of gender, which trivializes it,” she added. “That’s extremely ignorant, because it bypasses the uniqueness between the groups.”

Bolstered by Finch’s ferocious basslines, hit single “Pretend We’re Dead” received significant airplay on alternative rock stations and became the group’s signature song, along with the biting anti-war anthem “Wargasm.” Finch wrote several songs across the group’s catalog, including the scabrous single “Everglade.” L7 went on hiatus in 2001, but reunited in 2014.

Finch was a talented photographer, whose intimate shots of SoCal bands lent an air of tragic grit to an ascendant punk and rock scene. “The irony is not lost on me when I’m driving from my house just blocks from where I grew up, and I’m heading to the L.A. Weekly to publish pictures of us as kids hanging out and shooting up, 20 years ago,” she told L.A. Weekly in 2006.” It feels weird but strangely hopeful. That was a totally unique time and it defined who we are, so then maybe it’s not a bad thing to be nostalgic about.”

Beyond L7, her song with OtherStarpeople, “Then There’s None,” appeared on the beloved “Office Space” soundtrack, and founded the punk band The Shocker in 2002. She acted in John Waters’ dark comedy “Serial Mom” as a member of the fictional band Camel Lips.

L7’s last album, “Scatter the Rats,” was released in 2019, and its final tour, “The Last Hurrah,” is booked to kick off in San Diego on Oct. 6.

L7 and Finch’s family opened a GoFundMe to support her medical care, saying “We love her, and we want her to feel the full strength of the community that has loved and supported her for so many years.” Information on surviving family was not immediately available.

When you walk into a room with Los Primos del Este, the happy-go-lucky guys immediately make you feel like part of the family. What they first cultivate with silly banter and lighthearted ad-libs eases into a more vulnerable, introspective atmosphere, comparable to a cathartic therapy session.

When I met the norteño-sax band in at Interscope Records — the major label that signed them in early 2023 — it was just a couple of hours before the official release of Los Primos’ new album, “Dulce Amargo,” on Thursday.

For a young band of players in their early 20s, they play it cool; “Dulce Amargo” is their eighth LP to date. The project feels thoroughly chiseled to their refined sonic tastes (influenced by Julión Álvarez, Legado 7 and Remmy Valenzuela) inflected with raw, sentimental lyricism and a wailing saxophone that commands each track with the spirit of an electric guitar.

“Play it back to back and actually start understanding the sound more and realize there’s new sounds being created,” said lead vocalist Geovanni Flores. “Because a lot of people get stuck in their old ways.”

Made up of five members — Flores, bassist and supporting vocalist Ariel Jesus Lopez, accordionist Juan Luis Hernandez, drummer Alejandro Tellez and saxophonist David Tellez — the group has built a steady momentum in the música mexicana genre. They’ve championed the resurgence of norteño-sax, a subgenre that fuses the accordion sounds of norteño music with an invigorating alto saxophone, made popular by legendary groups like Conjunto Primavera.

Since forming in 2017, the North Carolina-based band has gained over 2 million listeners on Spotify through catchy norteño-sax songs like “No Es Mentira (Version Norteña),” “Poema” and “Mami” — drawn together by a polka-like beat that has made them a staple of Mexican dance venues.

In 2024 alone, the subgenre grew by 39% in both the U.S. and Mexico, per Spotify.

Los Primos del Este formed in 2017 out of North Carolina.

(Arwen Clemans / Los Angeles Times)

The band took a few years to find its groove. Its 2020 debut album, “PDE,” experimented more with the prickly, sad sierreño sound popularized by acts like Eslabon Armado and DannyLux — as well as trap-infused corridos tumbados with a thumping tololoche. Still, this was music one could bop their head to, even if dance parties were limited during the global pandemic. With norteño-sax, the group could incorporate contemporary dating themes into songs that bring people physically closer to one another on the dance floor.

“There’s been a sense of maturity that’s happened within the group. In the past, we would just make music to make music and release it,” said Flores. “ We thought about every single detail now, even down to the album cover.”

Before getting into the thick of their recent music catalog, Los Primos del Este quickly unfurled details of the album cover, which shows the group sprawled across the flatbed of a white truck. The image was inspired by Alejandro Cartagena, a Dominican Republic-born Mexican creative who photographed carpooling laborers on the flatbeds along a highway in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2012. The project was a visual representation of how everyday people — often marginalized individuals — navigate transit in a sprawling suburban area.

Such an open stance on community issues appears to be a norteño-sax speciality. In 2000, their forefathers Conjunto Primavera previously told The Times that they make music for working-class audiences: “Wealthy people don’t like what we do.”

“Personally, I found myself in the bed of a truck at one point, low-income, trying to make something out of nothing,” said Lopez. “That’s the world I grew up in, and that’s the world I wanna show everybody. It’s not all sweet, you know?”

The band also nods to injustices faced by immigrant communities — including the recent fatal shootings of 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and 26-year-old Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Texas and Maine, respectively.

“We’re willing to take the heat,” said Lopez, referring to the band’s pro-immigrant stance. “The community looks at us as a negative presence, but in reality, we’re hard-working, dedicated family people.”

It is both that honesty and vulnerability that are etched into the 14-track LP “Dulce Amargo,” which translates to “bittersweet” in English. The band shared that each member contributed details of his own personal experience to the brainstorming sessions — a process they likened to therapy.

“We were comfortable enough with each other to let [our] stories be heard,” said Lopez. “In the Latino community, there is kinda like that stereotype [that] you have to be strong.  I think this message goes out to everybody — if you’re feeling something, specifically the men, it’s OK to just let it out.”

(Arwen Clemans/Los Angeles Times)

The hazy love melody “Tremenda,” for example, underscores an intense yearning for connection. Written after Lopez was starstruck by a woman, its first lyrics begin in wondrous marvel: “Tal vez fue tu mirada,” or, “Perhaps it was your gaze.”

“What’s the first thing you do when you look at somebody? I look at the eyes,” said Lopez. “They say the eyes are the doors to the soul.”

Alejandro Tellez’s contribution came with the punchy “Linda Sonrisa,” that pleads for someone to realize the realities of the mistreatment they’re facing with another lover.

“How many times are you gonna let him do you wrong until you realize that you have the right guy in front of you?” said Alejandro Tellez in a sing-song twang. “That’s a story that I went through in high school.”

For Flores, the EDM-fused, echoing melody “Mejor Sin Ti,” struck a personal chord; could a relationship be the only thing standing in your way to personal success? “Some people do hold you back, some people tie you down — that’s what I felt,” said Flores.

Hernandez gets a bit teary-eyed when talking about his favorite song, “Sentimientos,” a whirling polka-driven ballad about an avoidant situationship, he said. “To me, it’s like we both kinda love each other already, but we’re kind of afraid to say it,” he explained. “A lot of people are afraid of falling in love again, so that song hits close to home.”

The concept behind “Mereces Mejor,” a trance-inducing ode with floating melodies that implores a loved one to recognize their self-worth, was inspired by David Tellez’s own experience with unrequited love: “She’s trying to go to the bad guy, and I’m over here giving everything I got.”

As the five artists prepare to take their new album on the road — including an upcoming performance at the Lone Star State’s Truck Show Texas Fest on July 25 — they want to make clear that norteño-sax is not a stagnant subgenre. Like most of música mexicana, it, too, is evolving, both in sound and lyricism, encapsulating today’s complex dating culture. Their emotional vulnerability is welcome in a field flooded with artists that may otherwise shrink away from such honesty — perhaps due to the stigma of mental health issues in the Latino community, especially among men.

“We understand that changing the sound may not be for everybody, but we’re making music for the next generation,” said Lopez. “Who knows? Maybe their parents might end up liking this too.”

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Two of the eight men indicted in an alleged drone and sniper plot to attack President Trump’s UFC cage-fighting show on the White House lawn pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal conspiracy charges.

Clothed in jail garb and shackled, Tycen Proper, 19, of Danville, Ohio, and Chandler Scaggs, 21, of Chapmanville, W. Va., entered the pleas before U.S. District Court Judge Edmund Sargus Jr. in Ohio, where the case has been consolidated. They and the other six defendants are each charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and conspiracy to commit murder on federal government territory and to murder a federal government official.

Sargus scheduled their trial to begin Sept. 14.

“What would have happened or could have happened, that’s never going to be clear, because, thank God, there was an intervention here and this thing was disrupted,” U.S. Attorney Dominick Gerace II told reporters last week as he detailed the group’s July 9 indictments. “But, in my view, when I look at what’s been alleged there, it seems pretty likely that someone or multiple people were driving to Washington, D.C., to do something.”

Attorneys for Proper and Scaggs declined to comment after the hearing.

According to the indictment, the plot began in May. Members of the group — citing grievances about government corruption, water-guzzling data centers and the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files — began amassing money, firearms, ammunition, body armor, explosives, drones, medical equipment, communications equipment and other items.

The attack was planned to take place at the cage-fighting show dubbed UFC Freedom 250, which was held on the South Lawn of the White House to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary. Law enforcement officials said they learned of the possible threat four days before the event was scheduled to take place.

One of the defendants told investigators that they planned to fly explosive-laden drones into the event and then shoot panicked crowd members as they fled, according to a federal affidavit.

The Justice Department announced charges against seven people from across the country last month, including from Ohio, Missouri, Washington, Nebraska and California. Officials said the suspects harbored fringe conspiracy theories and hoped the attack would destabilize the government.

Four alleged conspirators charged in Missouri, Nebraska and California the weekend of the event and two more charged about a week later in Washington and Missouri are still in the process of being moved to Ohio to face charges. They are likely to be tried as a group.

Scaggs was arrested separately later, but was brought to Ohio ahead of the other out-of-state defendants.

Smyth writes for the Associated Press.

ATLANTA — The jury is still out on whether Lionel Messi is the greatest soccer player ever. But there should be no doubt he’s the greatest to ever play in a World Cup.

And you don’t need the records, the wins or the goals to prove that — although he certainly has enough of those. You just need to see Messi at his most magical, as he was Wednesday, setting up a pair of game-changing goals in a seven-minute span to lift Argentina to a 2-1 win over England and into Sunday’s World Cup final with Spain.

“It’s really hard to speak right now, but I’m going to try not to cry,” Lautaro Martínez, who scored the winning goal two minutes into stoppage time, said in Spanish. “I’m already overwhelmed inside. It’s incredible. Everything we’ve achieved is just incredible.”

Like their 13-game World Cup unbeaten streak, dating to the opening game of the 2022 tournament in Qatar. Or back-to-back trips to the final, which gives them a chance to become the first repeat champion in the men’s tournament since Brazil in 1962.

Argentina’s Lautaro Martinez scores his team’s second goal in front of England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford (1) and fellow England players Ezri Konsa (2) and John Stones (5) during a World Cup semifinal in Atlanta on Wednesday.

(Erik S. Lesser / Associated Press)

But it hasn’t been easy. Eleven of Argentina’s 19 goals — including both scores in Wednesday’s semifinal — have come after the 75th minute. They trailed in the 80th minute or later in two of their last three knockout games, only to rally both times.

And Messi has either scored or assisted on three of the four goals that rescued Argentina.

“This group, in the face of adversity, keeps going, keeps going, and never gets tired,” Martínez said. “And we have the best in the world as our example.”

On Wednesday that meant heartache for England, which was as close to a World Cup final as it has been in six decades, leading 1-0 on Anthony Gordon’s second-half goal with just five minutes left in normal time.

But after taking the lead, England turned strangely conservative, dropping all 11 players behind the ball at times, daring Argentina to score. Eventually it did, with Enzo Fernández curling a right-footed shot from about 20 yards past England keeper Jordan Pickford and in at the left post to tie the game.

It was a pass from Messi that found Fernández in space at the top of the box, earning the Argentine captain his record 11th World Cup assist.

“The opponent doubted themselves,” Argentine coach Lionel Scaloni said. “We smelt blood and went for it. We all felt it. “

The tie didn’t last for long though, with Messi threading a perfect cross from the right wing to Martínez, who found space between English defenders John Stones and Ezri Konsa at the far post. Messi’s pass just cleared the leaping Stones, then dipped to Martínez, who nodded it home.

England’s Harry Kane and England’s Jude Bellingham are dejected after losing to Argentina during a World Cup semifinal on Wednesday in Atlanta.

(Jeff Roberson / Associated Press)

When the ball hit the net, the sellout crowd at Atlanta’s massive Mercedes-Benz Stadium erupted.

“Once again, despite falling behind, we managed to turn the game around in stoppage time. That speaks volumes about this group, about this team that never settles, always wants more, always strives for more,” Martínez said.

It also gives Messi a chance to strive for more in Sunday’s final. He has already played in more World Cup games, scored more World Cup goals and had more World Cup assists than any man in history. With a win over Spain, he can join another elite group of men: those who have won back-to-back World Cup titles.

History will eventually decide if it was Messi’s brillance or the tactical surrender of England coach Thomas Tuchel that truly turned the game around. Tuchel, however, said he had no regrets.

“We played the matches how they were,” he said. “We overcame every obstacle. We were very, very close today. It’s not a moment now to analyze the full tournament because we lost a crucial match.”

His captain, Harry Kane, who lost in the semifinal of a World Cup for the second time in three tournament, was also not interested in second-guessing.

Argentina’s Lionel Messi sits on the shoulders of a teammate and celebrates after beating England in a World Cup semifinal on Wednesday in Atlanta.

(Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press)

“We had a lot of good moments in this tournament, a lot of good games,” he said. “We talked about knocking on the door. We’re close, we just have to find that missing piece in the final stage of the tournament.”

They may be closer than they think: England is the only team this century to score the first goal in a World Cup semifinal but not reach the final, according to the OptaJoe statistical service.

Argentina’s team, meanwhile, is missing nothing — except maybe a second title,

“The people of Argentina should celebrate being in a final,” Scaloni said. “This group of players is difficult to describe in words. They are so special. I’m getting emotional. They fight for everything.

“We’re going to try to win the final. But what else does this team need to do? There isn’t much else to say. I’m eternally grateful to this group of players.”

Sports editor Iliana Limón Romero contributed to this report.

NEARLY half of Brits identify as the “Chief Vacation Officer” in their friend group – the one who gets holiday plans out of the group chat.

A poll of 2,000 adults found there are six different personalities that make up a group trip, also including the “Busy Bee” who is never free (15 per cent) and the “Ghost” who completely disappears until turning up at the departure gates (10 per cent).

A fifth (20 per cent) identify as the “Snap Happy One” who cannot let a meal or moment pass without snapping a photo and 14 per cent as the “Fluent-ish Friend”, diving into the local language with confidence.

While 11 per cent are self-confessed “Window Shoppers”, who scour social media for recommendations and share them with the group, but never actually book anything.

But the research commissioned by Samsung, which highlights the Galaxy Z Fold7 as the ultimate travel command centre thanks to Multi Window functionality for the modern CVO, found 64 per cent think no getaway would get off the ground without this key role.

From starting the chat to choosing destinations and deciphering endless messages, 53 per cent said the CVO plays an undervalued role in making trips happen.

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To shine a spotlight on their heroic work, Samsung has enlisted the support of Vicky Pattison, a self-confessed Chief Vacation Officer, to explore how travel planning has evolved from a simple booking task into a juggling act across apps and the pride she feels when the plans finally exit the group chat.

Vicky Pattison said: “It’s safe to say I love a holiday, and in my friendship group I am absolutely the lead booker and honestly, I thrive from the challenge.

“What starts as a simple ‘we should all go away’ somehow turns into you sorting dates, comparing hotels, collecting passport details and reminding people to pay you back and I secretly get a kick out of it.

“Everyone loves the holiday once it’s booked, but very few people see what goes into making it happen.”

The research found phones are an increasingly important tool for today’s CVOs, with 67 per cent relying on them to help organise trips, from social media to discover new destinations (40 per cent) and AI platforms to help build the perfect itinerary (42 per cent).

Despite this, 46 per cent still struggle to keep track of the group chat, bookings, and everyone’s preferences in one place.

This planning juggle is no longer confined to laptops or kitchen tables either, with Gen Z turning everyday downtime into personal-admin windows, as 24 per cent admit to planning a holiday during their lunch break or on the commute.

The biggest holiday planning challenges for those who go on group trips included choosing where to stay (27 per cent), collecting everyone’s passport details (11 per cent) and finding dates that work for everyone (42 per cent).

When asked what could make this task easier, 37 per cent would value being able to view flights, hotels, and messages side by side.

While others cited being able to see multiple apps at once (38 per cent), easy multitasking between chats, bookings and itineraries (34 per cent), and a large screen for comparing options more easily (32 per cent) as the device features they would find most useful when planning a group trip.

More than a third (37 per cent) agreed having better tools to support holiday planning would encourage them to organise more trips abroad.

Research shows there are six different personalities which make up a group trip, including the ‘Chief Vacation Officer’ (CVO) – but which one are you?

Almost half of Brits consider themselves the ‘Chief Vacation Officer’ (CVO) in their circle of friends – the person who actually gets holiday plans moving beyond the group chat.

A survey of 2,000 adults revealed there are six distinct personalities that makeup a group holiday, including the ‘Busy Bee’ who’s never available, the ‘Ghost’ who vanishes until appearing at the departure gates, and the ‘Snap Happy One’ who can’t let a single moment pass without taking a photo.

Then there’s the ‘Fluent-ish Friend’, who confidently dives into the local language, and the ‘Window Shoppers’, who trawl social media for recommendations and share them with the group, but never actually get round to booking anything.

The study, commissioned by Samsung to spotlight the Galaxy Z Fold7 as the ultimate travel command centre thanks to its Multi Window functionality, discovered that 64% believe no trip would ever get off the ground without a CVO at the helm.

From kicking off the conversation to selecting destinations, 53% said the CVO plays an underappreciated role in making holidays actually happen.

To celebrate their unsung efforts, Samsung has teamed up with Vicky Pattison, a self-confessed Chief Vacation Officer, to examine how travel planning has transformed from a straightforward booking task into a complex juggling act across multiple apps.

Vicky Pattison said: “It’s safe to say I love a holiday, and in my friendship group I am absolutely the lead booker and honestly, I thrive from the challenge.

“What starts as a simple ‘we should all go away’ somehow turns into you sorting dates, comparing hotels, collecting passport details and reminding people to pay you back and I secretly get a kick out of it.

“Everyone loves the holiday once it’s booked, but very few people see what goes into making it happen.”

The study revealed that mobile phones have become an increasingly vital tool for today’s CVOs, with 67% depending on them to help coordinate trips, from using social media to scout out new destinations (40%) to AI platforms for crafting the ideal itinerary (42%).

Despite this, 46% still find it difficult to keep on top of group chats, bookings, and everyone’s individual preferences in one place.

This organisational balancing act is no longer limited to laptops or kitchen tables either, with Gen Z transforming everyday idle moments into personal admin sessions, as 24% admit to planning a holiday during their lunch break or daily commute.

The greatest holiday planning headaches for those embarking on group trips included deciding where to stay (27%), gathering everyone’s passport details (11%) and pinning down dates that suit the whole group (42%).

When asked what would make the process simpler, 37% said they’d value being able to view flights, hotels, and messages alongside one another.

Others highlighted being able to see multiple apps simultaneously (38%), effortless multitasking between chats, bookings and itineraries (34%), and a larger screen for comparing options more conveniently (32%) as the device features they’d find most beneficial when organising a group getaway.

Over a third (37%) of those surveyed agreed that having improved tools to assist with holiday planning would motivate them to arrange more trips overseas.

TOP 10 HOLIDAY PLANNING CHALLENGES:

1. Finding dates that work for everyone
2. Agreeing on a budget everyone is happy with
3. Choosing where to stay
4. Making decisions when no one else will commit
5. Dealing with people changing their mind repeatedly
6. Getting everyone to reply in the group chat
7. Chasing people for payments or deposits
8. Comparing too many destination options
9. Aligning on activities so everyone feels the trip is worth it
10. Deciding on flights or travel times

“I’m not going to wake her up,” I hiss at my 12-year-old son who’s standing half naked in a dark corridor of a Victorian house. “Please, Mum. She said we could come at any time! I don’t want to get Lyme disease,” he begs.

This is not the kind of drama I was expecting when I signed up to a family walking holiday in Exmoor. A few meltdowns about an extra mile or a blister perhaps, but not a night mission to one of the guides to request a tick removal.

The door opens and Jill comes out brandishing her tweezers. “Have you found another one?” she says cheerily as she whips out the bug that’s buried its head in my son’s torso.

As we trot back to our room, I feel as though I’ve walked into one of the Enid Blyton boarding school books I devoured as a child, returning from a visit to matron with the warm fuzzy feeling of being safe and looked after. Everything about this HF Holidays trip, based at Holnicote House, near Selworthy, feels as though I’ve stepped into a little piece of British history. From the morning briefings in the boot room to pre-dinner hula-hooping on the lawn, we could easily have time travelled to 1956.

The company – a cooperative – has been around since 1913, when Lancashire pastor Thomas Arthur Leonard founded the Holiday Fellowship to give working people access to countryside walking holidays. More than a century later, much of that original spirit survives: communal dining tables, organised walks, evening entertainment and the feeling that everyone has collectively agreed to leave behind modern life for a few days.

I’ve come with my two daughters, 10 and 14, and my son in the hope that one of them might turn into a new walking buddy. Since marrying my husband 18 years ago, holidays have tended towards the accessible – he has partial paralysis – and long hikes, ridge walks and muddy scrambles are things I associate with a previous version of myself. This time I’ve left him at home and have four days (and four walks) to turn the kids on to the pleasures of the great outdoors. We share two rooms with Victorian sash windows and built-in cupboards, simple but spacious. The house has been an HF Holidays property since 1952 and has 32 rooms (14 are singles), sleeping up to 50. This week, there are about 40 of us.

Over scones and cream at the arrival briefing, the kids scour the room for children their age, while I clock other solo parents and grandparents along with a couple of multigenerational family groups. Each day, we can choose from four walks graded in difficulty from level one (about 3 miles), to level four (about 10 miles and with the steepest ascent).

We quickly find our stride: ticking boxes to order packed lunches; attending evening briefings to choose the next day’s walk; joining in organised nightly activities. It’s an introduction for my children to a particular brand of Britishness – one of tea in the drawing room and snacks in brown paper bags, of camaraderie and can-do. And although they are the only mixed-race children here, they easily fold into the tribe of HF Holidays repeaters. Their presence speaks to the history of this country mansion, which during the second world war became Britain’s first mixed-race orphanage, established for children born to Black American GIs and white British mothers at a time when many faced open hostility and rejection.

My children’s initial resistance to the idea of a walking holiday turns to enthusiasm when they realise we’re all in it together and friends made out on the lawn are also on the walks with them. Each day, we’re out for five or six hours. The walks are so brilliantly paced with snack stops, paddle stops, tree climbing stops and the promise of ice-cream at the end, that even my youngest, the most reluctant, happily keeps pace and asks questions about trees and flowers. Mary, our guide, was a geography teacher and imparts her encyclopaedic knowledge engagingly, getting us to count rings on felled trees to determine their age or to guess which leaves come from which tree. We’ve borrowed some binoculars and enjoy identifying the white feathers of a buzzard’s belly and working out the name of a cargo ship far away in the Bristol Channel.

The walks, which are largely circular, cover varied landscapes: fields of buttercups and noisy sheep, pine forests and cliff paths. A particular favourite is a walk that starts by travelling two stops on the steam train of the West Somerset Railway and ends with a visit to Dunster Castle, which emerges fairytale-like from a deer-filled field.

As a solo parent I’m never lonely. Long conversations on walks lead to shared meals and drinks. The children bag “kids tables” at dinner, forcing us adults to mingle. I share one meal with a father who’s with his youngest while the older children are home revising, another with a woman who’s brought her grandchildren (up to three under-11s stay for free with a paying adult). Nearly everyone has been on an HF Holiday before; many came themselves as children. The food is surprisingly good with nightly three-course dinners; my son loves the soups, my eldest the salads and the youngest feels too grown up for the kids menu of burgers and nuggets and opts instead for fish and couscous, or chicken and potato gratin.

The holiday ends with dancing to a live ceilidh band. The final song has Sally walking down an alley and meeting a man from Tennessee. I think of those young English girls and their GI lovers, and for all the old-fashioned fun of the past few days I feel grateful I’ve had my children in a different era. Watching my daughters line dance with pensioners, I vow that this is where I, too, will bring my grandchildren, if I’m lucky enough to have them. But until then, I will bring my son, who tells me on the drive home that he preferred this holiday to any beach holiday we’ve had – despite the ticks. I think I may just have found myself a new walking buddy.

The trip was provided by HF Holidays. The next four-night Exmoor Family Walking Adventures are on 17 and 24 August, £909pp (under-11s free), including full board and daily guided walks. Book now for discounts of up to £172pp for Easter, August and October 2027

When the cast members and creators of the 1990s “X-Men: The Animated Series” reunited at the 2019 Hill Country Comicon in New Braunfels, Texas, they went out for dinner and collectively yearned to one day work together again.

“We said, ‘Let’s put it to the universe: Universe, why don’t you manifest that somebody buys the rights to the show and decides to reboot it and bring us all back.’ We toasted the universe and here we are,” recalls Canadian actor Lenore Zann, the voice of the irresistibly tough Rogue, during a recent video call while visiting Los Angeles.

The result of that metaphysical request is Marvel’s “X-Men ’97,” which debuted in 2024 on Disney+, not as a reboot but as a continuation of the original 1992 classic animated show.

The first season of this new era for the X-Men received an Emmy nomination for animated program. Now, the long-awaited second season has arrived, with the fourth episode streaming this week. Even after the controversial firing of showrunner Beau DeMayo, “X-Men ’97” has already been renewed through Season 4 and the voice cast has started recording their lines for Season 3, Zann says.

The show’s success with both fans and critics is in large part due to its commitment to honor the original ‘90s show, about a group of mutants fighting for themselves and for humanity, not only by preserving its hand-drawn animation style and mature themes but also the voices and personalities of the characters.

“When I pitched the show to Kevin [Feige], he got it immediately and his first question was, ‘Are you going to get the original cast back?’ And I was like, ‘Yes, we are,’” says Brad Winderbaum, head of Marvel Television, Animation, Comics and Franchise at Marvel Studios.

Several voice actors from the original “X-Men” animated series returned for “X-Men ‘97,” which has returned for Season 2. From left, Beast (George Buza), Bishop (Isaac Robinson-Smith), Rogue (Lenore Zann), Professor X (Ross Marquand), Magneto (Matthew Waterson) and Nightcrawler (Adrian Hough).

(Marvel)

Not everyone was still around to return — Norm Spencer, voice of Cyclops, died in 2020 — but in addition to Zann, actors George Buza (Beast), Alison Sealy-Smith (Storm), and Cal Dodd, the voice of the lovable clawed grouch Wolverine, have reprised their roles in “X-Men ’97.” Their emblematic voice performances, Winderbaum says, are baked into his psyche.

“Any time Lenore says the word ‘sugah,’ it just makes me melt into a puddle on the floor,” Winderbaum says, laughing. “She is Rogue and, when she turns it on, she becomes an icon.”

Busy with her political career as part of Canada’s parliament, Zann stepped away from the entertainment business for over a decade. Zann was back home in Truro, Nova Scotia, figuring out her next chapter when she received an email from a friend who said producers at Disney were looking to have her audition for a show. She was skeptical.

Zann eventually got a call from casting director Meredith Layne and a screenplay with lines that were instantly familiar from her time voicing Rogue, the spunky heroine whose touch can be deadly, in the ‘90s.

”I thought, ‘I guess they’re looking for Rogue, so I’ll just give them Rogue,’” she recalls, laughing. “And I did my Rogue voice, which is basically just my own, but with a bit of a Southern accent thrown on,” she adds with a slight twang.

The producers then asked her if she would reprise her superhero for a new generation of kids.

Doing her Rogue voice, Zann recalls: “I said, ‘You had me at hello, sugah.’”

She revels in the similarities between her and Rogue. “We’re both social justice warriors. We really fight for people to be accepted as who they are.”

In 2024, Zann published “A Rogue’s Tale: A Memoir,” a tome recounting her storied life, titled after a memorable episode in the ‘90s series that revealed her beloved mutant’s backstory.

Wolverine in a scene from Season 2 of “X-Men ’97.”

(Marvel)

For Dodd, leaving behind Wolverine after five seasons of the original show felt like losing a part of himself. “X-Men ’97” offered him a chance to feel complete once again.

“I was so happy because when I first created the voice of Wolverine in ‘92, he became very quickly like my brother or my right arm,” Dodd says during a recent video call. “I got my arm back, and my brother.”

After all these years, Dodd was also pleased to see how the most important character of his career looked in the new series. “Out walks Wolverine and I just went, ‘Holy crap, you look great, bub,’” he recalls, laughing about his first time recording lines for “X-Men ‘97.”

When he first auditioned for the role in the ‘90s, Dodd had no idea who Wolverine or the X-Men were. At the time, he was making a living as a singer for commercials and jingles in Toronto.

Dodd remembers the lines he was asked to deliver were directed at the villainous mutant Sabretooth. He had never seen an image of Wolverine or any of the characters. “At one point, I said to them, ‘Is this an animal cartoon?’ They just thought I was a complete imbecile,” he recalls with a chuckle.

In that initial scene, where Sabretooth attacked Jubilee, a member of the X-Men who Wolverine sees as a daughter, his line was: “All right, you egg-sucking piece of gutter trash. You always like pushing around people shorter than you. Well, I’m shorter. Try pushing me.” Dodd recites it from memory in Wolverine’s voice with a growl.

“The lines I was reading, I’d heard them before in the small town that I grew up in Canada; it’s a fisherman’s town, a tough little town,” says Dodd about his reference for Wolverine’s voice. “I knew guys that were exactly like him, and I knew the way they sounded.”

Even without any notion of the X-Men, he nailed it.

“The next morning, they called me and said, ‘We would love to have you as our Wolverine for the very first X-Men animated series,’” Dodd recalls. “And I said, ‘I would love to be your Wolverine, whoever, and whatever he is.’”

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1. Cal Dodd, voice actor for Wolverine in “X-Men ’97.” 2. Lenore Zann, who voices Rogue. (Pauline Aguirre)

When Rogue came into Zann’s life, she already had a notable career as a screen and stage actor. Zann had starred as Marilyn Monroe in a rock opera about the actor’s life, for which she received much praise. “My agent called me and she said, ‘Lenore, they’re doing this animated series, and they’re looking for “a woman with a deep husky, sexy voice who can do a Southern accent,”’” Zann recalls, laughing. “And she said, ‘That’s you!’”

Back then, Zann wasn’t interested in doing voice work, so she missed the first auditions. But about a month later, she says, her agent called again. They still hadn’t found the right voice, so she pushed Zann to audition. She walked in and looked at a drawing of Rogue that Larry Houston, the storyboard artist and director of the show, had drawn.

“She had a very sassy attitude, and she had her hand on her hip and her head back with the hair flowing. I was like, ‘Yeah, I can do that.’ And then I went into the studio, put the headphones on, and opened up my mouth, did the first line: ‘I remember I had a boyfriend, when I kissed him, poor boy went into a coma for three days,’” she says in Rogue’s voice. That was enough for her to land the life-changing part.

At the end of the first season of “X-Men ’97,” both Rogue and Wolverine find themselves in difficult times. Wolverine’s clash with Magneto, the perennial antihero, left him severely injured, physically and mentally.

“He’s as tough as nails and he is more pissed off than anything that he was the only one that stood up to Magneto. He’s disappointed,” says Dodd. “And it’s a struggle for him in Season 2 for a lot of it. And then you see what happens. He’s in a funky place, but he’ll handle it.”

Part of that healing process will involve leaning into the humor tat Dodd imbues in his delivery. “What I think is surprising when you go back and watch that original animated series is how funny Cal is,” says Winderbaum. “Wolverine has amazing one-liners throughout that original series.”

As for Rogue, she is grieving the loss of Gambit, a.k.a. Remy LeBeau, who died in the first season. To voice Rogue’s sorrow, Zann leaned into her own grief over the passing of her 17-year-old niece from cancer. In Season 2, Rogue is trying to move forward.

“She’s still basically on a hero’s journey wanting to get justice for what happened to Remy and for the genocide that she witnessed and that she is a survivor of,” Zann says. “She still got survivor’s guilt, and she’s still trying to find her place within the X-Men now that the one that she loves is gone.”

At comic conventions, Zann and Dodd often meet fans of the original show, who are now adults, and their children, who have also come to love the characters. The emotions that people share with them are at times overwhelming.

“Many times, they tell us that this show saved their lives. They were either LGBTQ+ or they were bullied, or they just felt othered,” Zann explains. “A lot of folks who are Latino tell me that when they were little kids, their parents were agricultural workers, and they learned how to speak English from watching our show. We made them feel it’s OK to be different.”

“I see grown men in tears. They’re in their 40s and they’re crying,” Dodd says about meeting lifelong fans. “I can tell you that Wolverine can cry as well.”

Zann believes the X-Men are like modern-day mythological heroes. Through their fantastical ordeals, the X-Men illustrate qualities that inspire viewers, young and old.

“They are a group of misfits who band together to learn how to control the things that make them different and learn to accept and love themselves,” she says. “It’s an honor to be part of this incredible group of people and these characters that can really touch lives and help change them for the better.”

In 1975, 31-year-old Mick Jagger told People magazine that “I’d rather be dead than sing ‘Satisfaction’ at 45.” The Rolling Stones’ frontman is still very much alive, despite having performed that song in concert hundreds of times since then, most recently in 2024 during the band’s “Hackney Diamonds” tour. Jagger was 80 at the time.

“Time waits for no one,” as the Stones once sang, but apparently that doesn’t apply to the “World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band.” To paraphrase the group’s first Top 10 U.S. hit in 1964, time is on their side. Yes, it is.

Consider the fates of the British Invasion superstars who emerged from England alongside the Stones in the 1960s. The Beatles broke up in 1970. The Kinks dissolved in 1996. The original Animals imploded in 1966. The Who called it quits in 1982 but has reunited repeatedly, including for its recent North American farewell tour.

And then there’s the indestructible, indefatigable Rolling Stones. With the partnership of Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards still front and center, the Stones will release their 27th studio album, “Foreign Tongues,” on Friday. Over the decades, they have produced classics such as “Exile on Main St.” and “Some Girls,” mediocrity like “Steel Wheels,” and abominations such as “Dirty Work.” We rank the group’s six-decade studio output from worst to first. All albums are the U.S. editions.

27. ‘Dirty Work’ (1986)

Never has an album cover so captured a band’s mood. “Dirty Work” features a photo of sullen, unsmiling Rolling Stones looking like they’d rather be anywhere else. The music reflects that disinterest. Apart from the cover of “Harlem Shuffle,” nothing here is memorable. It’s no surprise that the Stones nearly broke up during this period.

26. ‘Undercover’ (1983)

The follow-up to the brilliant “Tattoo You” landed with a thud. Although the song “Undercover of the Night” nicely melds a solid guitar riff with trenchant lyrics about political corruption and violence in South America, the rest of the album wilts.

25. ‘Bridges to Babylon’ (1997)

Another in a series of disappointing releases, “Bridges to Babylon” has one great song, “Saint of Me,” and lots of filler.

24. ‘Steel Wheels’ (1989)

Touted as a return to form, this album certainly outshines “Undercover” and “Dirty Work.” But that’s not saying much. With dated production and too many songs that make a good first impression but fail to stick, “Steel Wheels” has gathered moss over the years.

23. ‘Voodoo Lounge’ (1994)

Like its predecessor “Steel Wheels,” this is another attempt to recapture their classic sound. To an extent, the record succeeds. “You Got Me Rocking” sounds like a throwback to something on “Exile on Main St.,” while the ballad “Out of Tears” echoes “Angie.” With the exception of “Love Is Strong,” however, most of the songs here are little more than pleasant exercises in nostalgia.

22. ‘The Rolling Stones: England’s Newest Hitmakers’ (1964)

A solid debut, “England’s Newest Hitmakers” features covers of songs by Willie Dixon, Chuck Berry and Jimmy Reed, firmly grounding the group in its American blues and R&B influences. The sole Jagger/Richards original here, “Tell Me,” only hints at the duo’s future songwriting prowess.

21. ‘Black and Blue’ (1976)

After guitar virtuoso Mick Taylor’s departure from the Stones in late 1974, the band used “Black and Blue” to audition potential replacements. They settled on Ronnie Wood, a former member of the Faces who, ever since then, has engaged in the ancient art of guitar weaving with Keith Richards. Heavy on grooves and jams, this album sometimes feels unfocused and indulgent. The excellent ballads “Memory Motel” and “Fool to Cry” are essential.

20. ‘12X5’ (1964)

A step forward from their debut, “12X5” has the magnificent covers “Time Is on My Side” and “It’s All Over Now.” For those who like their Stones bluesy, early albums like this offer a cornucopia of treasures.

19. ‘Blue & Lonesome’ (2016)

Recorded in just three days, this album of blues covers sizzles. The Stones sound absolutely committed, with Jagger’s harmonica and vocals particularly strong.

18. ‘The Rolling Stones, Now!’ (1965)

On the band’s third U.S. album, the Stones rock harder and softer. Their version of Willie Dixon’s “Little Red Rooster” is a slow burn. The ballad “Heart of Stone,” one of their best early originals, made the Billboard Top 20.

17. ‘Foreign Tongues’ (2026)

The Stones have rarely sounded looser or more alive. Produced again by the classic-rocker whisperer Andrew Watt (Paul McCartney, Elton John, Pearl Jam), the band delivers a clutch of strong songs. In a just world, the single “In the Stars” would be a hit. “Back in Your Life,” fueled by some of Wood’s most sensitive and impassioned playing, is a stunner. At 14 songs and 62 minutes, the album would have benefited from trimming three or four of the more generic tunes. Still, it’s amazing that Jagger and Richards, both 82, and Wood, 79, have made such a fresh and vital record. Sometimes you can get what you want.

16. ‘A Bigger Bang’ (2005)

For the band’s first album of originals in eight years, the Stones remind you what makes them great. The first of their three late-career triumphs, “A Bigger Bang” brings attitude, funk, dirty rockers and dreamy ballads. The blazing “Rough Justice” and the slinky, sexy “Rain Fall Down” are topflight.

15. ‘Hackney Diamonds’ (2023)

Eighteen years passed between the release of “A Bigger Bang” and this album. It was worth the wait. “Hackney Diamonds” is another strong effort, with the banger “Angry” sounding urgent and, well, genuinely angry. The gospel-tinged “Sweet Sounds of Heaven,” featuring Lady Gaga, finds her and Jagger trading vocals and pushing each other to the stratosphere. It’s the best song the group has made since “Tattoo You’s” “Waiting on A Friend” and “Start Me Up” in 1981. The absence of late drummer Charlie Watts is felt, but Jagger and Richards prove that old geezers can still rock.

14. ‘Out of Our Heads’ (1965)

A very strong outing that includes originals “The Last Time,” “Play With Fire” and “Satisfaction,” one of the best rock songs ever written.

13. ‘It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll’ (1974)

Keith Richards’ deepening heroin problem meant Jagger had to carry more of the load himself. On this album, he acquits himself admirably. The anthemic title track positively swaggers. The poignant “Time Waits for No One” features one of Taylor’s most beautiful solos, a fitting coda to the end of his five-year career with the Stones. A fine album with several good songs and a couple great ones.

12. ‘December’s Children (And Everybody’s)’ (1965)

A hodgepodge of live cuts, outtakes, British LP tracks and singles, this album shows the Stones rapidly gaining confidence and playing with equal parts finesse and fire. Any album with “Get Off of My Cloud” and “As Tears Go By” is worth the price of admission.

11. ‘Their Satanic Majesties Request’ (1967)

Released months after “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” this occasionally ill-advised foray into psychedelia pales in comparison to the Beatles’ masterpiece. That doesn’t mean it’s bad. In fact, the Stones never sounded as adventurous or experimental. When it works, as it does on “She’s a Rainbow” and “2000 Light Years From Home,” candy-colored bliss follows.

10. ‘Emotional Rescue’ (1980)

An underrated gem often overshadowed by its predecessor, “Some Girls,” and its successor, “Tattoo You,” “Emotional Rescue” finds the Stones in fine form at the dawn of a new decade. The rhythm section of bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Watts locks in, while Richards and Wood converse with their guitars as only they can. Jagger sounds energized on the rockers “Let Me Go” and “She’s So Cold” and sexy on the incredibly funky “Dance (Pt. 1).”

9. ‘Goats Head Soup’ (1973)

Considered a big letdown after the magisterial “Exile on Main St.,” this album has received a well-deserved critical reappraisal and aged like a fine wine. It’s not the Stones at their peak, but close enough. “Angie” is absolutely gorgeous, while “Star Star” captures the Stones at their most profane.

8. ‘Tattoo You’ (1981)

Needing new material for their 1981 tour, the Stones cobbled together “Tattoo You” from leftovers and half-finished songs dating back to “Goats Head Soup.” Jagger penned new lyrics, recorded new vocals, and presto — the band made its last classic. “Start Me Up,” the band’s best rocker since “Brown Sugar,” propelled the album to multiplatinum sales and shook stadiums around the world. It still does.

7. ‘Aftermath’ (1966)

The first Stones album composed entirely by Jagger and Richards, “Aftermath” represents a quantum leap forward or two. Brian Jones, before drugs and paranoia dimmed his creative spark, made some of his greatest contributions, elevating “Paint It Black” with his sitar and adding the indelible marimba riff to “Under My Thumb.” The Stones had finally lived up to all the hype.

6. ‘Between the Buttons’ (1967)

The American version kicks off with the one-two-three punch of “Let’s Spend the Night Together,” “Yesterday’s Papers” and “Ruby Tuesday” and doesn’t let up. Arguably the band’s poppiest album, it sounds like groovy Swinging London set to music.

5. ‘Some Girls’ (1978)

After the lackluster “Black and Blue” and the mixed critical reception of “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll” and “Goats Head Soup,” some wondered if the Stones had lost their musical magic. They needn’t have worried. The band, hungry to prove the doubters wrong, made one of its strongest albums. With Wood now fully integrated into the group , punky, guitar-centric rockers like “Respectable,” “When the Whip Comes Down” and “Shattered” snarl. Jagger, entranced by the sounds coming out of New York’s discos at the time, contributed the No. 1 “Miss You.” Add “Beast of Burden” and the countryish “Far Away Eyes” to the mix and you have the ingredients for a stunning comeback.

4. ‘Beggars Banquet’ (1968)

The start of one of the strongest four-album runs in rock history, “Beggars Banquet” is a near-perfect listen from beginning to end. New producer Jimmy Miller helps strip the band down to its rawest, raunchiest essence on songs like “Sympathy for the Devil,” “Stray Cat Blues,” and “Street Fighting Man.” For the first time, the Stones had released an album on par with some of the Beatles’ best work. Indispensable.

3. ‘Sticky Fingers’ (1971)

Unbreakable love (“Wild Horses”); heartbreak (“I’ve Got the Blues”); slavery, interracial sex and heroin (“Brown Sugar”); addiction (“Sister Morphine”) — “Sticky Fingers” has it all, along with some of the most powerful music in the Stones’ catalog. If a Martian came to Earth and wanted to know what made the Stones special, a listen to “Sticky Fingers” would make it abundantly clear.

2. ‘Let It Bleed’ (1969)

By the end of the ’60s, the dream had faded. Vietnam, inner-city riots, and the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. had cast a pall over the Day-Glo optimism of the Love Generation. The Rolling Stones were there to chronicle the impending hangover. “Gimme Shelter” reflected the growing dread of the times. It’s among the darkest, grittiest and most transcendent songs ever recorded, with Jagger singing about rape and murder over Richards’ shimmering guitar. In the powerhouse “Midnight Rambler,” Jagger takes on the persona of a killer, even name-checking the Boston Strangler. Dark stuff. Yet the superb “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” replete with a gospel choir, the country stylings of “Let It Bleed” and “Love in Vain,” sung by Jagger with utter conviction, give the album incredible diversity and depth.

1. ‘Exile on Main St.’ (1972)

And then there was one. Recorded largely in the steamy, sweltering basement of Richards’ rented French villa, Nellecôte, “Exile” reeks of filth, decadence and decay. With Jagger’s vocals often buried deep in the muddy and murky mix, the album initially sounds like a druggy demo. But listen again. And again. Slowly, it reveals itself as quintessential Stones, a potent admixture of styles, sounds and soul. Richards tosses off one indelible riff after another, making “Rocks Off,” “Happy,” “Tumbling Dice” and “All Down the Line” rock and roll perfection. You like your Stones with a dash of Americana? “Sweet Virginia” might be the band’s best country rocker. Blues? Try “Ventilator Blues.” Gospel? “Shine a Light,” accented with Billy Preston’s piano and organ, transports listeners to a higher place. Other Stones records contain more classics and better production, but none holds together as well as a whole or comes as close to the sublime as this one.

Marc Ballon, a former Times, Forbes and Inc. Magazine reporter, teaches an advanced writing class at USC. He lives in Fullerton.

The L.A. Zoo’s elephants are now in Tulsa, and the zoo’s longtime nonprofit partner is now in bankruptcy court.

The litany of woes at the L.A. Zoo grew longer last month as the city’s nonprofit partner, the Greater Los Angeles Zoological Association, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing “incessant litigation” from the city of Los Angeles as the cause.

The city sued GLAZA — its partner for more than half a century — in 2024 over a $50 million endowment that each side argued was theirs to steward.

The city won a preliminary injunction in Los Angeles Superior Court that barred GLAZA from keeping the money when its contract with the zoo ended last year. Following the split and lawsuit, GLAZA dwindled in size from 42 full-time employees to just four part-time employees.

Now GLAZA says it owes its creditors, including more than $300,000 that it needs to pay a law firm that has represented the nonprofit in its legal battle with the city.

“The City has designated an army of eight attorneys to overwhelm GLAZA with endless discovery, depositions, and court filings all to run up GLAZA’s legal fees,” the nonprofit said in a statement shared with The Times. “As a result, GLAZA has been left with no options other than to seek protection from the bankruptcy court to ensure the survival of GLAZA and the protection of its donors.”

Following its separation from the city, GLAZA executives hope the nonprofit can work in the animal conservation efforts in Southern California.

On July 1, the City Council approved $250,000 in outside lawyers related to the bankruptcy case.

The zoo is facing headwinds as membership has declined precipitously and facilities have deteriorated, according to an Los Angeles County civil grand jury report.

The city attorney’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment on GLAZA’s bankruptcy.

Pratt’s new frontier

Former mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt was far from Los Angeles as he took a meeting with President Trump in Washington, D.C., a few days ago.

Pratt, who came up short of the Nov. 2 runoff by a few percentage points, met with the president in the Oval Office, posting a photo of the rendezvous to social media Tuesday.

“I will never stop fighting for my community,” he wrote.

Pratt paired the visit with an announcement of a new media endeavor he plans to launch called “WAR.” He said the foundation will fight against political corruption, advocate for transparency in government and “restore common sense.”

The website for the foundation doesn’t have additional details, just a link to contribute and a link to a website selling Pratt merch.

The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Pratt also posted a 9-minute video Wednesday calling out California’s election system, claiming that the results of the June 2 primary were skewed by fraud.

Representatives for Pratt’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Phoning it in

After the flag salute and brief comments, L.A. City Council meetings kick off with a public comment period, during which crusading citizens often let loose on city officials as the council members quietly listen, leave the room or chat among themselves.

It’s not always L.A.’s finest hour, as certain commenters often resort to slurs and ad hominem attacks about the council members’ race, ethnicity and even physical appearance.

On July 1, public comment expanded as new state law, SB 707, went into effect, requiring the council to take telephonic public comment.

The council also had to verbally state the amendments they make to motions due to the new law, Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson noted. Historically, the council has affixed amendments to a bulletin board in council chambers.

After frequent speaker Armando Herman used the N-word at the July 1 meeting, Harris-Dawson noted that the state legislature had done nothing about offensive comments at public meetings.

“Our friends in the state legislature made the decision to require us to have telephonic public comment. They did nothing, zero, about what we just heard. Since they want to intervene in our meetings, I’d call on them to do something about what they just heard,” he said.

The council did ban commenters from using the N-word and C-word last year. Speakers who use those words receive a warning and are booted from the meeting if they do it again.

Harris-Dawson said the new state law was “problematic” and noted another issue.

“We can’t verify if calls are bots or foreign agents, which poses a security risk,” he said in a statement to The Times.

State of play

— BOYLE-ING OVER: Mayor Karen Bass, Councilmember Ysabel Jurado and County Supervisor Hilda Solis were roundly booed and heckled by Boyle Heights residents during a town hall Thursday about the Boyle Heights fire. The three officials struggled to speak over the irate audience.

— SOLAR FLARE: Before the Boyle Heights warehouse fire, Lineage representatives lobbied City Hall over the rooftop solar array. The company says it was seeking a safer alternative to rapid shutdown devices.

— FISCAL EDUCATION: The Los Angeles Unified School District is facing “severe” indications it could be insolvent as soon as next year and has 45 days to fix its budget or risk an outside takeover. The Los Angeles County Office of Education has projected a $231 million cash shortfall by 2027.

— HIT THE STREETS: The LAPD is considering shutting down its police academy for part of 2028 to allow hundreds of officers to hit the streets for the Olympics, according to department sources. The move could lead to a drop in police hiring.

— LEGEND GONE: Billy G. Mills, one of the first Black men elected to L.A.’s City Council, died June 27. Mills was a civil rights leader before being elected to the legislative body in 1963, the same year Tom Bradley was elected to be a council member.

— IT TAKES A VILLAGE: Billionaire developer Rick Caruso’s Palisades Village will reopen in August after more than $100 million in renovations following the January 2025 wildfire.

— EVICTION BENEDICTION: Thousands of formerly homeless people whose housing subsidies will expire in December are no longer at risk of eviction, local housing officials announced Thursday. An infusion of new funds approved by Congress this year and a waiver of eligibility procedures have staved off a potential crisis that would have left 4,200 back on the street.

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature program had no operations this week.
• On the docket next week: The City Council remains on recess until Aug. 4.

Stay in touch

That’s it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to LAontheRecord@latimes.com. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.

IT HAS been 30 years since the Spice Girls dropped their debut single Wannabe and kickstarted one of the most remarkable pop juggernauts of all time.

But while they once defined girl power for a generation, Geri Halliwell-Horner, Mel B, Victoria Beckham, Emma Bunton and Melanie C are now more divided than ever before – with their long-hoped-for reunion concert a distant dream.

With the bandmates at each other’s throats, this week’s anniversary celebrations have amounted to little more than a few posts on Instagram and a show from Emma Bunton on Heart Radio – despite promoters initially planning a tour for the group to mark the occasion.

And the reunion pleasantries didn’t last long, after Mel B appeared to have blocked Geri Horner on Instagram.

The pair clashed in 2022, after Mel B claimed Geri lied about her age, with the pair unfollowing each other on social media.

And now fans have claimed Scary Spice has blocked her former bandmate, after Geri was unable to properly tag her in a post marking the anniversary of their 1996 breakthrough track.

Geri shared a photograph of the band, also made up of Victoria Beckham, Mel C and Emma Bunton, with the caption: “30 years of Wannabe…Thank you to my beautiful Spice sisters.”

All of Geri’s tags for her bandmates registered, apart from Mel B’s – which happens when a user has been blocked.

The Sun can also reveal that dates were looked at for a global jaunt for 2026, although the plans never got off the ground.

And now it is looking increasingly likely that we may never see the Spice Girls on stage together again.

To make matters worse, Mel C confirmed this week that the group’s relationship with their former manager Simon Fuller is over, which puts paid to the ambitious plans he had for their legacy.

We revealed last April that Geri had flown to Miami to meet with Simon about exciting ideas for the group, in the hope he could persuade the reluctant star to return to the fold.

The following month it was revealed that he was shopping around the idea of a Spice Girls digital avatar show, much like ABBA Voyage, which could take place in London or Las Vegas.

However, that is now believed to have been put on ice as divisions over the direction of their legacy deepen.

And a Netflix drama about the group, which was to be scripted by Bad Boys writer Jack Rooke, has also been shelved.

The most reluctant to return has long been Victoria, having declined the opportunity to take part in their sold out, 13-date stadium tour in 2019.

They last performed as a five-piece at the 2012 Olympics Closing Ceremony.

Geri has said she is only prepared for a reunion if it includes all five girls. And now it is Ginger Spice who, like Posh, is reluctant for anything else.

She has retreated from public life and is said to be anxious at the prospect of returning to the stage. That isn’t helped by her strained relationship with Mel B, who has also washed her hands of future plans.

Mel, whose 50th birthday party last year was only attended by Emma and Mel C, said of a reunion tour: “I can tell you it’s not happening. If it does, it’ll be a shock to me, let’s put it that way.

“You can’t be nagging everyone to go on tour if they don’t want to. I laid that to rest when I turned 50.”

And on previously-discussed plans for a documentary, she pointedly added: “I think we’ve all been asked and were all thinking about it at some point.

“But it has to be done in the right way, and it has to be honest – and not everybody wants to be honest.”

In October, Geri, Mel C and Emma attended Victoria’s Netflix series launch, and in January, they were all at Emma’s 50th party, although Mel B was absent from both.

Geri and Mel B were once extremely close, but Ginger Spice said it was “hurtful” when Mel claimed in 2019, weeks before their reunion tour, that they had once had a sexual relationship.

Speaking on The Louis Theroux Podcast this week, Mel C admitted the pair’s friendship was often volatile and impacted the group – as it still seems to be doing, 30 years later.

She explained: “Like any group of people there’s a dynamic, and what was difficult for us was that Melanie [B] and Geri were really great mates, but if they had a fallout, it would affect everybody.

“I think because they were both so outspoken and, myself, Emma, and Victoria, I don’t know, we didn’t have as much airtime as the other two girls.

“I don’t mean that in a thingy [public] sense. I mean, like, just in the room. So that would cause issues sometimes.

“If it wasn’t for Geri and Melanie being the way that they are, we wouldn’t have been as successful as we were.”

While Victoria, Geri and Mel B look increasingly reticent, it is Sport Spice Mel C who has become the most loose-lipped of them all – taking over from Scary Spice.

In 2022, Emma said of Mel B: “If we want anything to be kept a secret we don’t tell her.”

But in the last year, it has been Mel C raising fans’ hopes, only for them to be dashed.

She gave several interviews where she teased a tour could happen, and said that exciting plans were in motion for their 30th anniversary.

Even this week, on the prospect of marking it, she teased: “We want to. Everything’s in discussion. But it’s a really positive time for us.”

She then conceded: “There’s nothing in the works, so it’s obviously not going to be anything in time for the anniversary. But we are discussing lots of great opportunities.”

She also claimed the group have won back the rights to their 1997 movie Spice World and that they are in talks to get it on streaming services.

However, sources close to the group insisted no talks are currently taking place.

So while fans may be streaming their hits, buying re-released vinyl or forking out for new merch from their online shop, the dream of seeing all five back together again is something of a pipe dream.

In 2024, Victoria said of their 30th anniversary: “It would be lovely for us to do something to celebrate [the 30th anniversary] – a dinner or a lunch – and reminisce. But yes, it will not be any more than that.”

Judging by the state of relations right now, even that would be a surprise.

Lauren Bennett, the British singer who told millennials to “put yo’ hands up” in LMFAO’s megahit “Party Rock Anthem,” and a member of pop group G.R.L., has died. She was 37.

G.R.L. members Emmalyn Estrada, Natasha Slayton and Paula van Oppen announced Bennett’s death on Monday via social media.

“It is with great sadness that we share the passing of our beloved Lauren,” G.R.L.’s statement read.

“Our hearts are broken, and we cannot begin to express how much she meant to us. We will forever cherish the love, laughter, and countless memories she gave us. Her beautiful spirit touched so many lives, and she will be deeply missed and forever loved. Rest peacefully, sweet Lauren. You will always be in our hearts.”

Bennett’s cause of death has not been revealed.

The British singer first splashed onto the music scene when she appeared on the U.K. “X Factor” in 2006. She was eliminated before the live show round of the series, but the following year she was recruited to join Paradiso Girls, a group launched by Pussycat Dolls founder Robin Antin. In 2009, they dropped “Patron Tequila,” featuring Lil Jon and Eve. The group disbanded in 2010 and their debut album was never released.

In 2011, Bennett joined forces with electronic dance duo LMFAO on “Party Rock Anthem.” The track spent six weeks topping Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and became wildly popular globally. Billboard ranked the megahit second on their official “Top Hot 100 Songs of the Decade” list for the 2010s, behind Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk.”

In 2012, she and Antin teamed up again, forming pop group G.R.L. (Girls Rock Life) with founding members including Bennett, Estrada, Slayton, van Oppen and Simone Battle. The group debuted on the “Smurfs 2” soundtrack with “Vacation” in July 2013 and, in early 2014, they were featured on Pitbull’s “Wild Wild Love.” In the summer of 2014, they dropped “Ugly Heart,” the lead single of their self-titled EP, but in September, founding member Battle died by suicide. G.R.L. split up the following year. By 2016, the group reformed as a trio with Bennett, Slayton and new member Jazzy Mejia.

Bennett welcomed her daughter, Harlow, with partner and “Footloose” star Kenny Wormald in 2019. Wormald often shared photos of Bennett on his Instagram with loving captions.

Longtime friend and music producer Josh Stevens, who co-wrote and engineered LMFAO’s sophomore album “Sorry for Party Rocking,” posted a tribute to Bennett on Monday, writing, “My friend [Lauren Bennett] we will deeply miss you. I was lucky enough to witness you change the world! We traveled the globe party rocking from night clubs to stadiums, a wild and crazy time. A true legend!

“Later on in life our children had the same birthday, I remember us texting each other while you were in labor and my wife was in labor on the same day, same time, both in the hospital. We were laughing and it somewhat seemed calming to know to each was going thru this at the same time.

“We will very much miss you.”

The American democratic experiment stands on shaky ground. Not since the Civil War have these proverbially United States been so disunited. As the nation throws itself a grand old 250th birthday bash in Washington, the mood in much of the country is more funereal than festive.

All-out partisan warfare has sown chaos. Republican legislators, taking their lead from a president who sees half the nation as his personal enemy, have put their own party’s interests over the republic’s. Staying in office has become the only thing that matters. The values imparted to me throughout my public school education — equal opportunity, impartial justice, respect for expertise, basic honesty — have been abandoned by a new breed of politician that has turned governance itself into a blood sport.

Where can one turn for reassurance that America’s best years are still ahead? Would you believe me if I said the theater? I’m not toeing the line for my field. I’m merely calling attention to a development that’s been gaining strength since I first reported on it in 2015. A cohort of playwrights, breathtakingly diverse demographically as well as aesthetically, has been rejuvenating American theater.

These writers aren’t on a sociological mission. They’re not trafficking in grievance or appealing to a particular political base. They let their plays do the talking. And they’ve been trying to have a conversation that isn’t hijacked by the most doctrinaire voices in the room.

From an institutional perspective, the American theater is in bad shape. The triple whammy of the COVID-19 closures, inflation and technological disruption has left everyone hurting. The Mark Taper Forum had to suspend programming for more than a year, smaller companies still in operation are producing fewer shows, and producers everywhere are gravitating toward the bankably familiar.

But despite this difficult terrain, it has been a boom time for American playwriting. For more than a decade, I’ve been teaching a course at the California Institute of the Arts called American Drama Now, and each year the selection of plays has become harder to whittle down. I designed the seminar partly around theater offerings in Los Angeles to connect students to recent developments in the field and to consolidate awareness that something special is happening in the American theater.

The current generation of playwrights has revealed itself to be remarkably resilient and independent. It has had no other choice. By the time many of these rising talents were accruing debt in graduate writing programs, the dream of a sustainable career in the nonprofit theater had already gasped its last breath.

When Wendy Wasserstein, Tony Kushner, Craig Lucas and Jon Robin Baitz emerged in the late 1970s and ’80s, it was still imaginable that a chosen few playwrights could make a living via the regional theater circuit, that constellation of companies founded as an alternative to the Broadway model.

That prospect was growing dimmer a few years later when playwrights such as Suzan-Lori Parks and Lynn Nottage came into prominence. But hope was still alive in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Regional theaters such as Seattle Rep, the Guthrie, the Goodman and Baltimore Center Stage remained committed to their missions while New York nonprofit companies continued to hold the line off-Broadway.

When did the picture change? In 2009, “Outrageous Fortune: The Life and Times of the New American Play” was published by the Theatre Development Fund, and one of the key findings in this study written by Todd London with Ben Pesner and Zannie Giraud Voss is that “there is no way to view playwriting as anything but a profession without an economic base.” A chasm had opened between the network of increasingly corporate-minded nonprofit theaters and the artists this system was built to serve.

The situation has grown bleaker in the last decade and a half as commercial pressures have ramped up and media consolidation and digital shortsightedness have obliterated arts coverage. Yet there’s been an unexpected upside. Theater artists who have come of age in this period have been released from the burden of having to conform to notions of regional theater respectability.

Instead of worrying about the timid taste of subscription audiences, these dramatists have been writing for themselves and their communities, dreaming up plays that don’t have to fit into institutional slots or stay within the staid bounds of traditional proscenium house decorum. The irony is that in not trying to pass muster with more conservative theatergoers (and their fastidious institutional guardians), playwrights have been winning over not just critics but also formerly squeamish artistic directors and perennially nervous Broadway producers.

The playwrights who appear regularly on the syllabus in American Drama Now — Young Jean Lee, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Annie Baker, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Samuel D. Hunter, Martyna Majok, Jeremy O. Harris, Will Arbery, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Ayad Akhtar, among them — are of different ages, sensibilities and backgrounds. What they share is an appreciation of the complexities and contradictions in being an American.

The politics of identity for them is a lived experience. And as dramatists, they’re uniquely positioned to appreciate the conflicted loyalties and communal tensions of American life in dramatic rather than dogmatic terms. Whatever agendas they may personally espouse, these writers are too alert to the messiness of history and human nature to be rigidly ideological in their work.

The ongoing war between woke and anti-woke factions is a fatuous melodrama best left to the satirists. The goal of playwrights grappling seriously with what it means to be an American today isn’t to score social media points but to shed light on the fractured reality of our collective experience.

Characters in plays by Young Jean Lee, such as “Straight White Men,” are often “trying on masks to see what might prove effective in a given situation.”

(Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Identity is not a fixed fact but a raucous collision of parts. No single category can contain the Whitmanesque multitudes jockeying for position inside us. Race, religion, ethnicity, gender, age, sexuality, class, disability and geography don’t line up in perfect political harmony, and each social marker tells only a fraction of the whole story. (Money, the great unequalizer, may be the most taboo subject of all.) “We are not only but also,” the sociologist and cultural historian Todd Gitlin wrote in his 1995 book “The Twilight of Common Dreams: Why America Is Wracked by Culture Wars.” We also overlap and often even clash with ourselves.

Discussion around identity can be dangerous. How can anyone be expected to navigate the minefield? Tribalists and traditionalists have controlled the terms of the battle, one by simplifying, the other by denying, the way privilege has shaped our compound selves.

Playwrights know better. They understand the way oppression, which falls disproportionately on the marginalized, has warped all of us. History, whether acknowledged or not, is etched in our souls.

It is a long-held tenet of the theater that the most interesting characters, like the most interesting people, are defined by their schisms and paradoxes. (How else could Hamlet have maintained his centuries-long hold?) Dramatists are more cognizant than ever of the sociopolitical import of these contradictions and they’ve been chronicling the way this historically freighted baggage emerges in the drama of everyday life.

All the world is indeed a stage and all its inhabitants merely stock players, as Jaques lays out in “As You Like It.” Hegel described Shakespeare’s characters as “free artists of their own selves.” The truth where we and our contemporary stage surrogates are concerned is somewhat more constrained. Culture and representation largely determine the range of our performance possibilities.

Plays such as Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “Appropriate” reexamine “the canon of great American family dramas … to uncover the stories that have been suppressed.”

(Craig Schwartz)

Jacobs-Jenkins has recognized perhaps more acutely than any of his peers the way dramatic forms have locked us into set scripts about our lives. He tackles genres — adapting a Dion Boucicault melodrama in “An Octoroon,” reexamining the canon of great American family dramas in “Appropriate” — to uncover the stories that have been suppressed in the dominant white middle-class narratives that would prefer not to think of themselves as political.

Lee’s standout identity plays — “Straight White Men,” “The Shipment” and “Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven” — reject the illusion of stable, coherent characters propagated by psychological realism. The figures in her uncategorizable works are in experimental flux, trying on masks to see what might prove effective in a given situation. Even “Straight White Men,” which uses the old home-for-the-holidays genre as a springboard, can’t help spinning away from the drama’s droll hyper-naturalism toward something resembling performance art. (Not even straight, white men want to be confined to a box, even a relatively plush one.)

“Fairview,” by Jackie Sibblies Drury, “theatricalizes the experience of the white gaze.”

(Jeff Lorch)

In “Fairview,” Jackie Sibblies Drury theatricalizes the experience of the white gaze, ultimately reversing the comfortable position white theater audiences have traditionally held. Bess Wohl’s “Liberation,” this year’s most decorated play, reanimates the history of the 1970s feminist movement by questioning what it could be leaving out of the picture. “The Balusters,” by David Lindsay-Abaire, brings the current culture wars to the stage with unique sensitivity through the squabbles of a neighborhood association torn between protecting its town’s heritage status and coming to terms with the more pluralistic demands of the 21st century.

“Fairview,” “Liberation,” and “The Balusters” are extremely funny plays that also happen to be deadly serious. If philosophy begins in wonder, trenchant social drama seems to start in laughter.

What do theatergoers want? They don’t just want to look; they also want to be seen. Isn’t that what any of us wants when gazing into the mirror held up to nature, as Hamlet describes the theater? To be granted a more expansive view of ourselves and others?

E pluribus unum, the motto of the United States, is so fundamental that it’s printed on our currency. There’s perhaps no place where the truth of this phrase — out of many, one — is more regularly realized than at the theater, where strangers transform over the course of a show into that mysterious organism we call an audience.

Gitlin ends “The Twilight of Common Dreams” with a plea: “For too long, Americans have busied themselves digging trenches to fortify their cultural borders, lining their trenches with insulation. Enough bunkers! Enough of the perfection of differences! We ought to be building bridges.”

A coalition mindset doesn’t mean denying history or pretending that America has been a level playing field. It’s been anything but in this “melting pot where nothing melted,” to quote the rabbi whose eulogy sets Kushner’s “Angels in America” in motion. But history happens to all of us, not just a select few. And to be an American is to be embroiled in the great democratic experiment that has been defined by division from the beginning. Empathy, the nuclear fusion of playwriting, is expanded when we’re allowed to take in more of our patchwork selves. Today’s dramatists have been extending a generous invitation to their compatriots: We’ll show you our complexity, if you’ll show us yours.

Elyas Abu Safia says his father can barely breathe or speak after more than 555 days in Israeli prison.

The son of a prominent Palestinian doctor abducted and held by Israel without charge has issued an urgent appeal for his father’s release, warning that his health has sharply deteriorated after more than 555 days in prison, as a rights group warned that his life was in danger.

Elyas Abu Safia, the son of Dr Hussam Abu Safia, said in a video message on Sunday that his father, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, showed signs of severe abuse after Israeli authorities transferred him to solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison.

“The day before yesterday, the lawyer Nasser Odeh managed to visit my father, where he told us painful details about this visit,” said Elyas, who is also a doctor.

“My father was unable to breathe. My father was unable to speak,” he said, adding: “His face was disfigured from the marks of torture and pain, and the blood he endured inside the prison, especially after the last court session held in Jerusalem.”

Israeli forces arrested Abu Safia at work on December 27, 2024, as they intensified their attacks on northern Gaza’s healthcare system as part of the genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza. Two months earlier, an Israeli drone attack killed another of his sons, Ibrahim, at the entrance of the hospital where he worked.

Elyas accused Arab and Muslim leaders of abandoning his father.

“You deprived us even of your voices, your solidarity and your support, which should have been there from the start of the detention,” he said.

“But sadly, your silence is a betrayal and a crime, and complicity in torturing my father and the hostages inside Israeli prisons,” he added.

‘The most shocking testimony’

Physicians for Human Rights Israel warned that Abu Safiya’s life is in immediate danger after his transfer to the Rakefet section of Nitzan prison.

The group said lawyer Nasser Odeh visited Abu Safia on July 2 and documented severe injuries, signs of assault, difficulty breathing and repeated loss of consciousness. It said guards brought him into the visit with his hands and feet bound and surrounded him with masked officers.

Odeh also saw fresh bruises and injuries on Abu Safiya’s head, around his eyes, ears and neck. The wounds were so severe that the lawyer struggled to recognise him, the group said.

“The information we received raises serious and immediate concerns for Abu Safiya’s life. The lawyer’s testimony is among the most shocking we have heard since the beginning of the war: a man detained without charge tells his lawyer that he believes they will kill him, after he arrived for the visit injured, suffering from difficulty breathing, and on the verge of losing consciousness,” Naji Abbas, director of the Prisoners and Detainees Department at Physicians for Human Rights, told the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Israeli authorities have not filed charges against Abu Safia. They classified him as an “unlawful combatant”, a designation Israel has used to hold Palestinians for prolonged periods without trial.

Physicians for Human Rights has demanded his release, along with other imprisoned Palestinian doctors. In March, United Nations experts also called on Israel to free Abu Safia immediately and ensure he receives medical care.

He is one of 14 Palestinian doctors from Gaza currently held by Israel without charge.

Corona High baseball coach Andy Wise has pulled off the most intriguing acquisition of the summer season.

Former Dodgers relief pitcher Joe Kelly, a Corona graduate, is joining the program as an assistant coach to help guide pitchers.

Known for his quirky personality and ability to thrive under pressure, Kelly has followed the program in recent years after retiring as a player and jumped at the chance to help the pitchers, Wise said.

“My conversations with him over the years have been incredible,” Wise said. “What an asset for the pitching staff and the whole program. He’s got the time and he’s got a lot of kids. He’s not going to be here six days a week. He’s excited.”

The plan came together after Wise went up to Northern California to speak with a group of players with Kelly.

“No stress, no pressure, anything you might help us with would be awesome,” Wise said he told him.

Wise said Kelly has been following the team in person and on GameChanger and offering ideas.

Just having around a 13-year former MLB pitcher should be inspiring to players next season.

“Joe is Joe and I expect him to be Joe,” Wise said.

June 29 (Asia Today) — The Esther Prayer Movement began a five-day fasting prayer conference Monday in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, to pray for the salvation of North Koreans and what organizers call “gospel unification.”

The 36th Gospel Unification Conference, also called the Fasting Prayer Assembly for North Korea’s Salvation, will continue through Friday at the Osanri Choi Jasil Memorial Fasting Prayer Mountain.

Organizers use “gospel unification” to refer to reunification accompanied by religious freedom and the spread of Christianity in North Korea.

The interdenominational gathering brings Christians together to pray for what the organization describes as “a holy South Korea,” the salvation of North Koreans and gospel-based reunification.

The fasting prayer gathering began in January 2009 and has since been held twice a year, during the second week of January and the first week of July. The conferences run for five days and are livestreamed on YouTube for viewers in South Korea and abroad.

At its 35th conference in January, the organization announced a 40-day fasting prayer campaign for the country during 2026.

About 600 pastors and church members registered for the campaign, which is continuing throughout the year, organizers said. Members also participated in a 150-day special overnight prayer campaign from Jan. 17 through June 14.

The organization said the latest gathering is intended to draw attention to North Koreans living under the rule of the Kim family.

It said North Koreans are subjected to the state-sponsored deification of the ruling family and compelled to show reverence to statues and portraits of former leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

Lee Yong-hee, head of the Esther Prayer Movement, cited Hebrews 13:3, which calls on Christians to remember prisoners and people who are mistreated.

He also cited 1 Timothy 5:8, which says believers should care for their relatives and immediate families.

“The Korean church should fulfill its responsibility toward fellow Koreans,” Lee said.

Lee said he had recently heard accounts that North Korean Christians who fasted and prayed during the gatherings experienced what they described as divine grace, including speaking in tongues.

“Let the underground church in North Korea, Korean churches overseas and churches around the world unite and do their utmost in fasting and prayer to bring forward the day of gospel unification,” Lee said.

He said Christians should make every effort if greater participation in fasting and prayer could hasten that day.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260629010009929

A Florida judge set a $1 million bond for former Detroit Lions cornerback Terrion Arnold, who has been in jail since being arrested last week in connection to an alleged armed attack on a group of men in Tampa, Fla., in February.

Arnold will not have to wear an ankle monitor while he awaits trail on eight felony charges of kidnapping and robbery that could keep him in prison for life if convicted, thus clearing the way for him to practice and play football during that span.

He won’t be doing so, however, with the team that drafted him at No. 24 overall in the 2024 draft. The Lions announced Monday afternoon on X that they have released Arnold, with no other details provided.

Hillsborough County Judge Christopher C. Sabella said during Monday’s hearing that Arnold already has a “paparazzi monitor” that would prevent any potential attempts to flee.

“If he is late for practice, ESPN will let us know,” Sabella said. “If he violates the conditions of his bond, he will be found.”

Arnold was ordered to remain at his Tallahassee home except for when he’s playing, training and traveling with the Lions. He also has to turn in his passport and cannot have any contact with other people tied to the case.

The Hillsborough County state attorney’s office had argued for Arnold to remain behind bars until trial. The county jail’s inmate tracker has not been updated and does not indicate if he has posted bond or been released.

According to the Tampa Police Department, Arnold is believed to be the “primary conspirator” in an alleged plot that left three young men with “visible injuries from being battered, held at gunpoint, and pistol-whipped before their personal property was stolen and they were ordered to leave.”

Arnold turned himself in Wednesday night and pleaded not guilty at his arraignment hearing Thursday afternoon.

“Today’s ruling by Judge Sabella confirms that there is very little evidence to even suggest any criminal involvement by Mr. Arnold,” Denise White, chief executive of EAG Sports Management, which represents Arnold, said in a statement emailed to The Times.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Colombia and Portugal played out a breathless 0-0 draw to a wall of sound at Miami Stadium, with both teams advancing to the last 32 ⁠of the 2026 FIFA World Cup as the top two in Group K.

The Colombians will rue their profligacy in front of goal on Saturday, but take encouragement from dominating quality European opposition for large periods as they head off to Kansas City as group winners to take on Ghana ⁠on Friday.

Portugal, who needed to win to top the group, go north to Toronto to play Croatia on Thursday, knowing they have not quite yet found a way to blend all the talent in their squad into an effective team.

The match started to a cacophony of noise from the massed ranks of yellow-shirted South Americans, and the decibel levels went up a notch when striker Jhon Cordoba headed the ball over ‌the bar in the first minute.

Jhon Arias caused Portugal problems every time he ran at them, and he set Cordoba free in the 17th minute, the big target man unleashing a rocket of a shot that keeper Diogo Costa did well to stop.

After a lovely flowing move five minutes later, winger Arias took the shot himself and screwed the ball towards the far corner of the net, only for Ruben Neves to arrive just in time to flick it off the line.

Colombia struggled to clear their lines cleanly sometimes, however, and it was this frailty that allowed Portugal their best chances towards the end of the first ⁠half.

Bruno Fernandes found himself free in front of goal in the 39th minute, with ⁠his shot bringing a fine point-blank save out of Camilo Vargas in the Colombia goal.

Three minutes before half-time, Joao Felix cleverly chested the ball over a defender and flashed an acrobatic volley over the bar.

Colombia pressed forward, looking for the goal their dominance deserved, and both Gustavo Puerta and playmaker James Rodriguez troubled the ⁠goalkeeper with shots before the break.

Portugal attacked more after the break, but it was Colombia who continued to carve out the best chances, with Arias setting up substitute Richard Rios for a shot that ⁠went wide.

Arias curled a shot at goal, which was well saved by Costa, and ⁠Puerta drilled another chance wide just before the hydration break.

A Rodriguez volley was deflected away from its target in the 73rd minute, just before he and Arias were substituted, but Colombia continued to tear forward at every opportunity.

Davinson Sanchez thought he had scored the winner with a far-post header a minute from time, but it ‌was called back for a very tight offside after a VAR check.

Rafael Leao went close to winning it for Portugal in stoppage time with a shot that flashed across goal, before the referee finally called time on the entertaining match, played out in front of ‌a ‌crowd of 64,478 sweltering in the Miami evening heat.

Portugal’s totem Cristiano Ronaldo, booed every time he touched the ball and starved of service, had barely a sniff of a chance, his one shot on target a long-range free kick that went straight to the goalkeeper.

Wissa sends DR Congo into last-32 clash with England

In the group’s other game, Yoane Wissa scored twice as the Democratic Republic of the Congo beat Uzbekistan 3-1 and qualified for the last 32 of the World Cup for the first time in their history on Saturday.

They will meet England after registering their first-ever World Cup win.

Eldor Shomurodov’s lob over Lionel Mpasi gave Uzbekistan a perfect start in Atlanta.

But Newcastle striker Wissa levelled from the penalty spot, before Fiston Mayele’s goal sent the mainly Congolese crowd into a frenzy.

Wissa rounded off a historic night for the Africans with a fine strike in stoppage time for his third goal of the tournament.

Earlier on Saturday, Jude Bellingham dragged England through a stubborn Panama test, scoring and setting up Harry Kane in a 2-0 ⁠win that sent them into the World Cup round of 32 as Group L winners.

England were made to work for more than an hour in rainy New Jersey, before Bellingham broke the deadlock, crossing for Kane to head in his 11th World Cup goal, lifting ‌him above Gary Lineker as England’s all-time leading scorer at the tournament.

Meanwhile, Nikola Vlasic headed in Luka Modric’s 83rd-minute ‌corner to lift Croatia to a 2-1 victory over Ghana on Saturday and a second-place finish in ⁠World Cup Group L.

Vlasic’s ⁠perfect finish off the inside of the left post came 10 minutes after Derrick Luckassen had pulled Ghana level on his international debut, with half the time in between spent ⁠on a VAR review determining whether he was onside.

Petar Sucic scored early for Croatia, who needed only a draw to reach the last 32. Claiming the second-place spot guaranteed the 2022 third-place finishers a meeting ⁠with Portugal, the second-placed team in Group K, on Thursday in Toronto.