A special type of indie film teaches you how to see it as you watch it — not as an instructor might a student, but as an ally would a new acquaintance. Shatara Michelle Ford’s sophomore feature, “Dreams in Nightmares,” about a road trip, a friendship and a Black queer landscape anchored by care, has that quietly confident appeal, like being invited into something intimate, then let free when your curiosity is at its zenith.
Ford made their name with the micro-indie, micro-focused “Test Pattern,” an act of upending as it dissected an interracial relationship’s fault lines in a moment of crisis. (It’s on the Criterion Channel now.) This time, with the drive of a born iconoclast, Ford sheds plot even further — save the loose construct of three besties in search of their absent fourth. What emerges, as the plot spans a North America whose inviting (or alienating) textures are attentively captured by cinematographer Ludovica Isidori, is an ode to the centering of chosen family when the realities of life, especially for people of color, always seem to demand soul-crushing acquiescence.
For creative writing professor Z (Denée Benton), recently let go from her Los Angeles-based university and uncertain about her future, a recurring dream featuring black-and-white imagery, a door and an enticing expanse of nature puts her in a journeying state of mind. Hopping to Brooklyn to connect with Tasha (Sasha Compère), a nervy consultant also recently shorn from her job, and Lauren (Dezi Bing), an emerging poet, this close-knit trio first decides to go dancing, then to seek out their celebrated artist pal Kel (Mars Storm Rucker), last heard from in the Midwest and who’s cut off all communication.
That framework, though, isn’t treated like some act-structured gauntlet in Ford’s telling. This is a road trip, after all, in that having a direction — to Pittsburgh, then Iowa City, Kansas City, Santa Fe and across the border — allows for some directionlessness, for different speeds, artful touches (conversations that become camera-facing interludes) and delicate epiphanies of feeling. The trio stops for a lively trans poetry reading. There’s a comically weird dinner with Kel’s ex, Sabrina (a scintillatingly eccentric Jasmin Savoy Brown). A stopover to see Kel’s parents (Regina Taylor and Robert Wisdom) illuminates, for better or worse, where some of these friends have come from and why moving forward matters.
In not adhering to the expected rules of conflict-based drama, “Dreams in Nightmares” can confound. But when you realize that this is exactly the point of Ford’s open-ended exploration, you begin to understand why Ford would rather create a roving, sensorial continuum that feeds intrigue (kudos to composer Ohyung) instead of cornering you. The performances bear that out, from Benton and Bing’s steady inner light to Compère’s coiled, watchful Tosha, a compelling portrait of skepticism inside this cocoon of warmth.
Yet of course, just when Tasha appears to be a fulcrum for narrative revelation, Ford re-balances everything, in waves of grace and gentleness, to remind us that sometimes the less we label, the more we’ll observe about the abiding importance of love and belonging. Ford has internalized the humanity of filmmakers like Mike Leigh, Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Jim Jarmusch. Even the most awkward parts of the film feel uniquely alive. But as “Dreams in Nightmares” wends its way to a close, it’s also easy to believe you’re witnessing a percolating virtuosity that’s all Ford’s own.
‘Dreams in Nightmares’
Not rated
Running time: 2 hours, 8 minutes
Playing: Opens Friday at AMC Burbank Town Center 8 and Laemmle Glendale
Nvidia posted quarterly revenue of $96.2 billion (€82.4bn) on Wednesday, comfortably beating the $92.2 billion (€79bn) Wall Street had expected, as chief executive Jensen Huang declared that artificial intelligence had reached “its inflection point” and guided next quarter revenue to $108 billion (€92.5bn) — again, above forecasts.
“AI has reached its inflection point,” Huang said in a statement. “It’s doing useful work. Its tokens are productive and profitable. Now, compute is revenue, and demand is accelerating.”
Shares initially dipped after the release before recovering in after-hours trading.
Days on which Nvidia reports its quarterly results have an outsized importance for the world’s most valuable company.
At a market capitalisation north of $5 trillion (€4.3tn) it is the most valuable company in the world, worth more than the GDP of Japan, the fourth largest economy in the world.
Yet there is a strange rite that plays out each quarter: Nvidia beats expectations, and the stock falls anyway. It happened after the first-quarter beat this year, when shares slid close to 5% in the days that followed.
The pattern has left a dynamic where the company needs to significantly outperform an already-bullish consensus, or provide a stronger-than-expected outlook, to move the share price higher.
The main concern around Nvidia is not whether it can grow; it is more of a question of who it is growing for.
The firm still draws the bulk of its revenue from Amazon, Google and Microsoft, each of which is now designing its own chips to reduce reliance on the company. The new disclosure will show precisely how large that dependence remains.
Chief Executive Jensen Huang’s commentary on demand into 2027 therefore carries more weight than any single figure. The question has grown sharper since July, when markets fell on doubts about whether vast AI investments will ever generate proportionate returns.
Nvidia’s answer has been to help finance the buildout itself. This month alone it assembled a $500bn (€428bn) capital pool with six Wall Street asset managers for data centre projects, and separately committed up to $105bn (€90bn) to back an OpenAI data centre in Pike County, Ohio, with an initial capacity of 4.25 gigawatts and an option for a further 3.75.
Export policy to China has been one of the most volatile threads in Nvidia’s recent history and is likely to feature heavily on the earnings call.
Washington barred sales of the China-specific H20 chip in April 2025, reversed course, and Nvidia has since received approval to ship the more capable H200 chip to vetted Chinese customers.
Reports have surfaced of large allocations to ByteDance and Tencent, though Beijing has been encouraging domestic firms to limit their purchases and prioritise homegrown alternatives.
Nvidia’s current growth is being driven by its Blackwell chips, the generation of processors powering most AI data centres today. Their successor, known as Vera Rubin, is expected to begin shipping in the second half of the year.
Nvidia has a tradition of naming its chip architectures after scientists and past generations include Ampere, named after physicist André-Marie Ampère; Hopper, named after computer scientist Grace Hopper; and the current Blackwell chip named after mathematician David Blackwell.
Vera Rubin continues that pattern. She was an American astronomer whose observations of how galaxies rotate provided some of the strongest early evidence for the existence of dark matter, the invisible mass thought to make up much of the universe. She died in 2016 and is widely seen as someone who was overlooked for a Nobel Prize during her lifetime,
The company has pointed to an order backlog it says is worth around $1 trillion (€857bn) across 2026 and 2027, though that figure comes from company commentary rather than independently verified financial disclosure.
Wednesday’s data offered no relief on inflation.
The personal consumption expenditures index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge, rose 0.2% in July against expectations of 0.1%, leaving the annual rate at 3.7% rather than easing to the 3.6% forecast. Core prices held at 3.3% over the year, above the Fed’s 2% target for a 65th consecutive month.
The Federal Open Market Committee held rates at 3.50% to 3.75% in July, with three regional Fed presidents dissenting in favour of a quarter-point increase.
Markets currently put the probability of a September hike at around 40%.
Attention now shifts to Jackson Hole, where Fed Chair Kevin Warsh delivers his keynote on Friday morning, his first since taking office in May, 19 days before the next rate decision. The ECB’s Isabel Schnabel joins a panel the same afternoon.
US stock markets drifted through a quiet session on Wednesday after data showed inflation last month was a touch higher than economists had expected.
The S&P 500 edged down less than 0.1% and remains near the all-time high it set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.2% and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1%.
Treasury yields ticked higher after the inflation update, which has traders still largely betting the Federal Reserve will raise the federal funds rate before the end of this year. Oil prices fell after another volatile session.
A FURIOUS Scarlett Moffatt today hit back after a complete stranger told her that she looks “humongous”, as she reaches the final stages of her pregnancy,
The I’m A Celeb star, 35, is currently expecting another baby boy with her fiance Scott Dobinson, but her pregnancy has been far from smooth sailing so far.
Scarlett, who is also a mum to Jude, two, today revealed she had been told she was “huge” by someone she didn’t even know, while at a party – and that it had happened before.
Venting on her Instagram Stories, the heavily pregnant Gogglebox star, who is due to give birth next month, said: “I’ve had women come up to me and tell me I look huge.
“I’m not even joking. Like people are actually just coming up to us.
“I was at my nanny’s party and a woman came up to me and this is where it started and then it’s carried on.
“She didn’t even say hello, she went, ‘Oh my goodness, you look humongous!’
“What am I meant to say to that? I know they’re not saying it to be mean, but let’s not, let’s just not, let’s just not.
“Let’s just not comment on anyone’s bodies, whether they’re pregnant or not.
“Because I don’t know how to respond to someone telling me that I look huge.
“Cause I’ve still got a little while left of my pregnancy as well. It’s not like. I’m like literally about to drop.”
This latest revelation comes after Scarlett opened up to The Sun about the tough time she has had so far with her second pregnancy.
“The first trimester was horrific,” she told us earlier this month.
“With Jude, I was lured into a false sense of security – I kept thinking that all my friends who were pregnant were dead whingey because I had no morning sickness or any symptoms other than the fact I could feel him moving about.
“But this time, the first trimester I was still working and filming and I was getting bad travel sickness – I’ve never had that in my life before. I was also running off to throw up at work.”
Scarlett welcomed Jude in November 2023, and just a few weeks later Scott proposed to her.
Typhoon Narra has hit northern Vietnam and parts of southern China, triggering heavy rains and flooding. Thousands have been displaced, and at least one person has died in northern Vietnam.
Published On 24 Aug 202624 Aug 2026
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Venezuela’s aging oil port terminals are essentially imposing export caps on the country’s resurgent crude production, with tankers having to wait up to 30 days to load because of infrastructure in disrepair, power outages, and quality issues, Reuters reported this week, citing shipping data, sources, and documents.
Love is Blind UK’s Chevanique has been flooded with support(Image: Netflix)
A Love Is Blind UK star has hit out at her Netflix edit claiming she has been “portrayed as someone I’m not.”
The first eight episodes of season 3 have already been released giving fans plenty to binge watch this week.
After an unprecedented 14 engagements this time around, viewers follow just six of the couples as they jet off on holiday before moving in with one another to plan their wedding days.
For some, the process has been smooth sailing, but for others, they have struggled to spark up a connection. But as always, as well as budding romances, there has also been plenty of drama and love triangles for viewers to enjoy.
But one star has hit out at the Netflix edit, taking to her social media pages to speak directly to fans. Chevanique found herself in a triangle on the show as she had explored a connection with Joseph, who also had a strong connection with Francesca.
Ultimately, Joseph chose Francesca, but the three reunited later in the series and Chevanique wanted answers. The 29-year-old sexual health nurse from Birmingham was seen advocating for herself and why she should be chosen, before things turned heated when the three reunited.
Now, Chevanique has taken to social media to address how she came across. She said in a video: “Hi everyone, I don’t think I’ve ever spoken on my TikTok before so this is new for me, but I just wanted to come on here and address the elephant in the room and say hello.
“Yes, I was on Love Is Blind season three and it was a crazy journey, what can I say? It’s just crazy. Over the last few days things have definitely been a bit mad but I just wanted to come on here quickly to say thank you to everyone for all the love and support I’ve been receiving, all the positive messages and comments, you guys are diamonds.
“I thank you so much because you’ve made this transition so much easier for me.”
However, she went on to say: “I know your girl isn’t getting the best edit, damn. J***s, they’re making me out to be someone I’m not. But it’s okay like it’s all for entertainment purposes.”
The support has poured in for the star online as one person said in their own video: “Can we please give Chevanique her flowers?” as another commented: “This!! When I went to her page, I can’t believe the mean comments on her post. He was so unsure and she shot her shot. And then handled it so respectfully. She has beautiful confidence.”
Another replied: “Agree but also they edit to show certain bits to get the views in. We probably miss out a lot of what happen.”
Chevanique herself replied adding: “You’re a diamond thank you for not judging me and seeing it from a different perspective.”
Love Is Blind UK can be streamed on Netflix
BELGIUM is currently seeing its largest wildfire on record, causing hundreds to evacuate.
Shifting winds have even caused smoke to drift as far as France and Germany as well.
The fire first started on August 14 after temperatures reached 37C.
Here’s everything you need to know about the current situation and what to do if you are due to travel to Belgium:
The wildfires in Belgium are currently concentrated in the High Fens nature reserve, which is in the Liege province in the eastern part of Belgium, close to the German border.
The reserve is Belgium’s largest nature protection.
Read more on travel inspo
Currently, surrounding impacted areas include Waimes, Bütgenbach, Jalhay and Malmedy.
Some smoke and fire is also evident near the German border in the town of Monschau.
Currently, the wildfires have impacted around 7,400 acres, making it the largest wildfire in Belgium’s history.
In parts of Waimes and Bütgenbach, around 600 residents have been evacuated so far.
Major tourist hubs such as Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp are entirely unaffected.
However, if you are planning or due to travel to the east of Belgium or the Ardennes region, you must exercise caution.
A recent rainfall and drop in temperature has helped to slow the fire spreading, but thick smoke has drifted widely and as far as eastern France.
Visitors and residents are currently being warned to not travel to the nature reserve, hiking trails or surrounding forests in eastern Liège.
Flights are still operating as normal to Belgium.
The current fire zone is around 85 miles east of Brussels, and while the smoke has caused locals to evacuate it has not caused disruption to flights.
As the Foreign Office has not warned against travel to Belgium, there are no special circumstances in place for holidaymakers to cancel their trip and receive a full refund.
Depending on what travel insurance you have, your policy might include natural disaster cover.
If so, your insurance policy should cover you for when you are unable to reach your holiday destination due to natural disasters, such as wildfires.
So it is worth checking your travel insurance policy.
It is also worth noting, that once in Belgium, open fires, disposable barbecues and wild camping outside official campsites are banned across Wallonian forests and nature reserves at the moment.
If you want to cancel your trip or holiday, it is best to contact your airline and/or holiday provider.
Companies do not have an obligation to refund bookings unless Government advice changes.
Clare took the plunge after she realised the downside about campervans (stock) (Image: Getty)
For many, the idea of a portable home on wheels is a dream: the chance to hit the road, live more adventurously and avoid expensive hotel bills. Some have even opted to live full-time in converted vans, swapping traditional bricks-and-mortar living for life on the move.
More than half a million Brits were living in vans or campervans as of August 2025, according to estate agent Property Revolutions Ltd. But for those who want one mainly for the odd holiday, the costs can add up quickly.
Former campervan owner and journalist Clare Macnaughton spotted this downside and eventually sold hers. As she explains, a campervan for her meant a “third vehicle”, complete with MOT, insurance, servicing bills and a “diesel habit to feed”.
So what’s the alternative? Clare chose a vehicle famously loathed by petrolhead Jeremy Clarkson. She and her family bought an Adria Action 361 LT — a traditional two-berth caravan.
Clare admits the caravan wasn’t fault-free at first – she’s had a couple of early niggles, including trouble with the fridge switch and a fuse in one of the sockets. Even so, she says one feature has won her over completely, describing it as a “revelation”.
She wrote in The Telegraph “And then, the revelation: the bed. This caravan may be tiny, but the bed is colossal. Pete is 6ft 1in, with a back ruined by a lifetime of lugging tiles up ladders, and the campervan’s bed was always a couple of inches too short for him.
“This one swallowed Pete, me and Maya with room to spare. Whoever designed this caravan clearly understood the priorities of middle age: you can compromise on almost anything, just don’t compromise on the bed.”
The Caravan and Motorhome Club also rates the model highly. In a write-up on its site, it awarded it 92%, calling it “singularly attractive” and saying it’s “easy to tow”.
“Singularly attractive, nicely made, easy to tow, good value and a brilliant lounge. Wholeheartedly recommended.” It also highlighted the generous sleeping space, calling it a “behemoth of a double bed”.
The comments come after psychologist Dr Sophie Mort, who told the Express that camping can support mental wellbeing — noting how “camping gives everyone a task”.
She explained: “When we’re away from screens, work pressures and daily routines, we’re more likely to have meaningful conversations, share experiences and form deeper connections with those around us.
“So many of us are burned out, stressed out and even talked out right now. Camping gives everyone a task, putting up the tent, unrolling the sleeping bags or getting the stove going for tea, so people can be together without the pressure of more talking and dissecting.
“It’s often in those low-stakes, side-by-side moments that conversation starts to flow naturally.”
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Two pieces of data collided in Tokyo within hours of each other.
Bond investors pushed the 10-year Japanese government bond yield to a three-decade high before the government reported that growth had come in at barely half the pace economists had forecast, a pairing that says a great deal about what is really driving Japan’s markets right now.
The economy expanded at an annualised rate of 1.1% in the second quarter, Cabinet Office data showed, well below the 2.0% forecast and down from a downwardly revised 1.9% pace in the first quarter.
Quarter on quarter, GDP rose just 0.3% against a forecast of 0.5%, marking a third consecutive expansion. Private consumption was flat, and capital expenditure fell 1.2%, while net exports, helped by the weak yen, added 0.5 percentage points to growth.
The 10-year JGB yield touched 2.93% earlier in the day, its highest level since September 1996, before easing slightly once the GDP figures landed.
The gap between weak growth and rising bond yields helps explain what is moving Japanese bonds now: not growth, but inflation and the currency.
The GDP deflator rose 2.6% year on year, and traders are increasingly betting that the Bank of Japan will raise its policy rate, currently at 1% and already a three-decade high, as soon as September to contain inflation and support the yen.
The yen slid to 163.73 per US dollar in late July, its weakest level in roughly four decades, prompting Japan and the US to carry out their first joint currency intervention since 2011.
Japan deployed an estimated $85 billion (€73.3bn) in the first two days alone, while the US intervention was much smaller, according to Goldman Sachs.
The operation pushed the yen back to around 159 per US dollar.
There is currently a wide gap between Japanese and US interest rates, with the Federal Reserve’s benchmark rate still at 3.50% to 3.75%. The Bank of Japan’s September meeting is being watched as the next test of whether the currency’s recovery can hold.
Japan’s bond market matters well beyond Tokyo because of the yen carry trade, in which investors borrow cheaply in yen to fund purchases of higher-yielding assets abroad, from US Treasuries to emerging-market debt.
Rising Japanese yields erode that trade’s profitability and can force rapid unwinding, as it happened in August 2024, when a Bank of Japan rate rise combined with weak US jobs data sent the Nikkei down more than 12% in a single session and knocked roughly 3% off the S&P 500.
With JGB yields at three-decade highs and further tightening still expected, analysts say the conditions for a similar shock have not disappeared.
It feels inconsiderate of Ariana Grande to bring her Eternal Sunshine tour to the UK at the tail end of the year’s fifth heatwave. Haven’t we suffered enough already?
But the fans packed into London’s O2 arena on Saturday night didn’t seem to care about the heat and the sweat.
They came ready to dance. Thousands of them, dressed in cat ears, bridal gowns and elaborate floral headpieces.
They scream when she references rumours she’s back together with her ex, Ricky Alvarez. And they bounce in unison when she plays colourful club anthems like Into You and Break Free.
It’s the first time Grande has played in the UK since 2019, partly because of Covid, but also because of her Oscar-nominated role in the movie musical Wicked.
She rewards fans with a few of Glinda’s signature hair tosses, external and, more importantly, a two-hour show that highlights the incredible agility of the star’s voice.
Sure, the production has all the paraphernalia a major pop tour – big sets, plumes of smoke, inspired choreography – but there are long stretches where it’s just Grande on stage with her band. Her stunning, four octave vocals come first. Everything else is a distant second. And rightly so.
If you dig around on Grande’s YouTube channel, there’s a famous video of her recording the song Positions, external, directing her sound engineers as she layers vocal harmonies and ad libs, finding new note combinations on the fly.
It’s a bravura performance that showcases her facility with melody and arrangement – and she essentially recreates it live on stage at the O2.
After the opening run of songs, she hushes the audience and spends two minutes looping her voice. First the lyric, “I don’t care what people say, it’s true”, in high and low registers. Then she adds short phrases: “Won’t break. Can’t Shake. Deep breaths…. Tight chest. Life. Death. Rewind.”
They become the backbone of the next song, Eternal Sunshine.
They’re also the backstory of the whole show.
Lots of broken-up bands reconvene for a tour, as the Black Crowes did in 2019, half a decade after brothers Chris and Rich Robinson dissolved the Southern rock group they’d formed in Atlanta in the mid-1980s. Some even stay together long enough to make a new record, as the Crowes managed to do with 2024’s well-received “Happiness Bastards.” What’s relatively rare in music is for a reunited band to quickly follow up a comeback album with a second one. Yet that’s what the Robinsons did this year when they dropped “A Pound of Feathers,” the Crowes’ 10th studio LP, behind which they’ll touch down Monday night at the Hollywood Bowl. Ahead of the show, Chris Robinson, 59, called from the road to tell the stories behind five of the band’s songs.
The Black Crowes broke out with a frisky cover of this Otis Redding tune just as hair metal was giving way to grunge. A hit on MTV, the song drove sales of the band’s debut, “Shake Your Money Maker,” to sales of more than 5 million copies.
There are some songs of Otis’ that I couldn’t do justice. As a 21-year-old kid starting my career — well, we didn’t even know we were gonna have careers — but what am I gonna sing? “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”? “Hard to Handle,” it’s cheeky, it’s lighthearted. And I loved the break: “Pretty little thing, let me light your candle…” So I took it to George Drakoulias, our producer, and I said, “I think we could do this.” George is the one who turned it into “Walk This Way” — he put it in the same rhythmic space. Otis’ version swings, but we really couldn’t swing at the time.
So “Hard to Handle” wasn’t something you were playing live early on?
No, we brought it in for the record. Being from Georgia and Otis being from Georgia, it was important to us that people knew this is where we’re coming from. Two autumns ago, Zelma Redding and her family invited us to their big old ranch outside Macon, and we had an afternoon in the great man’s study. They have all his awards and guitars and stuff and the velvet slippers he had on when the plane crashed. At certain times in our career, we’ve been like, “F—, do we have to play ‘Hard to Handle’ again?’” We’d jam at the end or try all these things to make it sound different. But as the years have gone by, we just play it the way it’s supposed to be.
George’s engineer, Brendan O’Brien, played the guitar solo in “Hard to Handle.” Why?
We had Jeff Cease, but he’d split and gone back to Nashville. And Rich didn’t play solos back then. That changed, but at the time he was the rhythm guitar player. So it was out of necessity. We needed that meat-and-potatoes solo, and Brendan could rip it. I saw him on some podcast saying we were in L.A. and we were gonna call Slash. I’m like, “No we weren’t — you did the solo in Atlanta on Rich’s Les Paul.”
“Shake Your Money Maker” came out on Rick Rubin’s Def American label, and he’s credited as executive producer. Did Rick do anything on the album?
No.
All righty.
I’m just being honest. George and I lived in Rick’s house — I was in the basement — but the most I saw of him at the time was him leaving to go get lunch at Canter’s with Glenn Danzig. He did come to a session once with Andrew Dice Clay. We were called Mr. Crowe’s Garden at the time — we weren’t yet the Black Crowes. Rick and George were like, “You guys probably need to change your name,” and Andrew Dice Clay goes, “You should change it to Sticky Paste.” I said, “Why don’t you stick to the cigarette over your head, and I’ll handle this?”
For “Money Maker’s” fourth single, the band released this darkly poetic ballad about a woman struggling with a drug addiction.
Were you nervous to reveal a softer side?
The only trepidation would’ve been because this was the power-ballad era of all the hair-metal bands.
Poison with “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” and so on.
Every band had one. There were hair-metal bands that only had power ballads — Firehouse or some band with 17th century French aristocrat hair.
Everything but the lace cravat.
Everything but sincere songwriting. Look, they’re people too — I get it. But we wrote a ballad out of the sincerity of how we were feeling, you know? We were reaching for “Wild Horses” or “Dark End of the Street” or “Astral Weeks.” The power ballad was a device for rock bands, but we didn’t use it as that. We used it as pure expression.
Tell me about the story the song tells.
My interest in writing and literature revolved around darker themes, whether it was the Beats or Paul Bowles or whatever. There’s drugs and madness and pain but also glory and redemption and the true heartbeat of life. So the song is a sad story but it’s romantic. There’s no moral gotcha — no resentment toward the character or the predicament they find themselves in.
How’d you come by that approach?
Reading. My mother, who just passed away a few weeks ago, she gave me a great gift: I’m dyslexic, and my mom in the early ’70s in the Deep South, she knew something was up with me. I went to school three times a week after school for years to learn how to read. And when that clicked, that was everything. My life now, it’s horribly boring. Rick Rubin with Danzig at Canter’s sounds exciting compared to Chris Robinson and the used bookstores of my life.
“Angels” is full of vivid details: the lock of hair in the woman’s pocket, for instance. Who were the songwriters that taught you how to create an image?
It all starts with Bob: “Jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule” — like, what?! But I’m a funny Dylan fan because I like the weird lyrics he does, like “Clothes Line Saga” from “The Basement Tapes.” Alex Chilton was really big. The first Big Star record I could get my hands on in the early ’80s was “3rd.” As a matter of fact, the first show we ever did, Rich and I played “Nightime” from that record.
On the strength of “Money Maker,” the Crowes were nominated for best new artist at the Grammys in 1991. You didn’t win —
A theme that continues today.
You remember who did?
It was Mariah Carey, I think.
Correct.
Good for her. Rich and I flew in from some tour date for one night, and I remember MC Hammer winning and doing something with Pepsi. I met MC Hammer a couple years ago. Amazingly cool guy.
What put you and Hammer in the same room?
I’m not allowed to talk about that.
Sure.
No, I’m serious — I can’t talk about it.
The Crowes’ sophomore album, “The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion,” was led by this swaggering soul-rock jam, which Robinson opened with a memorable couplet: “Baby, baby, why can’t you sit still? / Who killed that bird out on your windowsill?”
I was in Philly a few weeks ago, in Rittenhouse Square, and I said to my friend, “That’s the hotel that I opened my window one gray day on tour, and there was a dead bird.” The room was on the 15th floor or something, and I guess the bird had flown into the glass. I was in a series of early failed rock and roll relationships, so my imagination was: Who killed that bird? Oh, she did it. The rest of it’s made up, but I had to see the dead bird that morning to kick off the thought.
There’s some great interplay here between you and your background singers — really draws out the R&B in the band’s sound.
For us, it’s instinctive. I’ve ingested a lot of Funkadelic, a lot of Prince, a lot of the Gap Band. One of my first concerts was Cameo on the “Alligator Woman” tour — mind-blowing. My singing is far more rhythmic than it is melodic a lot of the time. When I was playing with Joe Perry last summer, Steven Tyler came down to the Hollywood Bowl to do “Train Kept A-Rollin’.” He was like, “What key’s it in?” I said, “I don’t know.” He’s like, “You’ve been out with Joe for three weeks, and you don’t know what key the song’s in?” I said, “Steven, are you ready? I’ve never known what key a song is in.”
“Remedy” spent 11 straight weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s rock radio chart. One of the songs stuck behind it was the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Under the Bridge.”
And just think — I never took my shirt off.
The tune that eventually knocked “Remedy” from the top spot? The Crowes’ second single from “Southern Harmony.”
It’s as close to a protest song as we ever got. Concerts in the ’90s were wild, man — we were seeing security guards beating on kids. But we were also seeing this blind patriotism toward ideals and philosophies that you’ve never even really looked at with any depth. So: “If you feel like a riot / Then don’t you deny it.”
There’s something slippery about the riff — it takes a second to figure out where the one is.
It fights itself — it’s funky in there. “Shake Your Money Maker” was very straight — click tracks to put the drum track together, now play the bass over that, blah blah blah. We just weren’t great at that point. By the time we’re in the studio with “Sting Me,” though, that’s one take live on the floor. We made “Southern Harmony” in eight days.
You can hear the effect of having played a few hundred gigs.
I’m glad you say that. Now bands are like, “I don’t want to go on the road — I’m gonna take a mental health break.” Can you imagine in 1992, you’re in one of the biggest bands in the world, and you’re like, “Hey man, I gotta chill out”? Get the f— out of here.
The “Sting Me” video was filmed at the Great Atlanta Pot Festival in 1992, which the band played as part of your activism around legalizing weed. What’s it been like to see those efforts succeed to some degree?
My main victory within that, if my voice was a part of it, is that we’re in a more gentle place — that it won’t ruin your life now if the police pull you over and there’s a roach in your ashtray. You have to realize: Being arrested isn’t just about the inconvenience of being incarcerated — it’s that now you’re in the system. I mean, ask any marginalized community — those drug laws were put on the books to keep you down.
Over a shuffling country-blues groove, Robinson sings about “perfume, Champagne and sin” in this standout from “A Pound of Feathers.”
Would you have foreseen that, after you got back together, you and Rich would release two albums in less than two years?
I don’t know about that. But leave Rich and I to our own devices, and that’s what we do. Our whole entrée into this world wasn’t because I could sing or he was a great guitarist — we wanted to write songs. I’ve written a lot of songs by myself, and probably out of those songs, there’s a few that I’m proud of. And I think Rich would say the same thing for himself. But there’s just something about the inspiration I get from Rich’s playing that makes us a successful songwriting team.
“Pharmacy Chronicles” has some bedraggled wisdom to it. I’m not sure you could have written it as a younger man.
I wasn’t that cynical then. It’s making fun of yourself in a way — like some old Victorian actor in the bowels of the theater taking his makeup off and wondering what it all means.
Do you think your voice has changed along with your perspective?
Of course my voice has changed — through age and, in the ’90s, through abuse. I can’t hit the super-highest notes I could as a young person. But we still sing the old songs in the original keys. Not that I know what those keys are.
Seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams defeated 6-2, 6-2 by Emiliana Arango in the first round of Cincinnati Open.
Published On 15 Aug 202615 Aug 2026
Venus Williams’s losing streak in singles play has reached 13 matches.
The seven-time major champion was defeated 6-2, 6-2 by Emiliana Arango late on Friday in the first round of the Cincinnati Open.
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The 46-year-old Williams received a wild-card entry to the WTA 1000 event. She has not won a singles match since July 2025.
Arango, a 25-year-old qualifier from Colombia ranked 95th, needed 1 hour, 5 minutes to defeat Williams on the grandstand court at Lindner Tennis Center.
Williams had her serve broken in the first game of the match and faced an uphill battle the rest of the way. Arango was 4 of 5 on converting break points and won 71 percent of her first-serve points.
Williams was unable to convert on her lone break opportunity and was only 41 percent on first-serve points.
“That kind of eased my nerves a little bit of having maybe a little bit of breathing room. And then I think I just did a good job of staying on it, trying to make her play as much as possible,” Arango said about getting ahead early.
Arango will face No 7 seed and defending Cincinnati champion Iga Swiatek in the second round.
Williams’s last singles victory came last year in Washington, when she defeated Peyton Stearns.
“I think that at all times I was really controlling the point, but unfortunately didn’t finish it the way I wanted to,” said Williams, who is making her 11th appearance in the tournament. “The encouraging part is that I’m controlling the shots, but I have to just get a little more consistent on that last part.”
Williams will remain in Cincinnati to play doubles with her sister, Serena, after they received a wild-card entry. They last played doubles together at the 2022 US Open.
The Williams sisters were slated to play doubles at Wimbledon before an injury to Serena. They will play Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns in the first round.
The doubles portion of the tournament starts on Sunday.
“I’m excited and hope that we can both go into it fresh, on our toes and ready. I’ll be preparing for that,” Venus Williams said.
Venus is also slated to play mixed doubles at the US Open later this month with Alexander Bublik.
Walbert Ureña gave up two hits in six innings, Mike Trout and Denzer Guzman led a 15-hit outburst with three singles and an RBI apiece, and the Angels beat the Texas Rangers 7-0 on Thursday night.
Josh Lowe added two hits and two RBIs, and Adam Frazier had two hits and an RBI for the Angels, who extended their win streak to three and had at least 10 hits in a game for the first time since July 8.
Ureña (8-8) struck out five and walked two while lowering his ERA to 2.67. The rookie right-hander has a 2.43 ERA in 18 games since May 1 and has given up no more than one run in 13 of those starts. José Fermin, Tayler Saucedo and Sammy Peralta each threw a scoreless inning to complete the five-hitter.
Rangers starter Jacob deGrom, who has been battling a left hip and glute injury since the All-Star break, was pulled after two innings because of right triceps fatigue.
The 38-year-old right-hander escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the first but gave up two runs and five hits during a 32-pitch second — the first time deGrom (8-8) gave up five hits in an inning since Sept. 5, 2017, with the New York Mets.
Guzman sparked the Angels’ second-inning rally with a single. He went to third on Lowe’s double and scored on Frazier’s one-out single. Lowe tried to score from second on Frazier’s hit but was thrown out by left fielder Wyatt Langford. Wade Meckler singled and Trout hit an RBI single for a 2-0 lead.
The Angels broke open the game with four runs and six hits off Texas left-hander Jordan Montgomery in the fifth.
Singles by Trout, Nolan Schanuel and Vaughn Grissom loaded the bases. Guzman drove in a run with an infield single, Lowe hit a two-run single and Jose Siri’s RBI groundout made it 6-0. Siri added an RBI single in the seventh.
A EUROPEAN airport has been forced to close for the third day in a row as a volcano eruption continues to disrupt thousands of passengers.
Flights at Catania Airport in Sicily, Italy, will now be suspended until at least early Saturday due to ash from Mount Etna’s ongoing volcanic eruption.
Over the course of this week hundreds of flights have been cancelled with further flights diverted to neighbouring airport Palermo.
The airport has been closed for three days now, with flights disrupted over the past seven days.
In the latest update on its website, the airport states: “Due to Mount Etna’s eruptive activity, the closure of Sector C1 and B3 has been extended, resulting in the suspension of departures and arrivals until 2:00 AM on August 15.
“Passengers are kindly advised to check the status of their flight with their airline before heading to the airport.
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“Further updates will follow in the coming hours.”
Flights cancelled today include:
In total, nine flights to the UK are cancelled today as well as nine flights from the UK due to arrive at Catania.
Over the past days, more than 700 flights have been cancelled.
Families have also been left stranded at the airport, with videos on social media showing how some passengers have resorted to sleeping on luggage belts at the airport.
The impact has spread further than the Sicilian airport as well, with Malta International Airport forced to cancel 19 flights earlier this week too.
Anton Radchenko, air passenger rights expert and founder and CEO of AirAdvisor, explained what the disruption means for customers…
“When volcanic ash closes airspace, airlines will usually class it as an extraordinary circumstance, which means fixed cash compensation is unlikely.
“However, I would urge passengers not to confuse ‘no compensation’ with ‘no rights’.
“The airline must still offer a refund or rerouting and provide reasonable meals, accommodation and transport while passengers wait.
“If you still need to get home, do not automatically accept a refund.
“Once you accept it, the airline’s rerouting and care obligations will normally end.
“Ask for the earliest reasonable alternative and, if another airline can get you back significantly sooner, ask to be transferred to that service.
“If you have to pay for reasonable essentials because the airline fails to provide them, keep every itemised receipt so you can seek reimbursement.”
This is supported by the UK Civil Aviation Authority’s current cancellation guidance which you can find here.
LORD Alan Sugar has publicly hit out at a credit card company for allegedly refusing to increase his spend limit.
It comes despite the businessman’s reported £1.138 billion net worth and his reputation as a entrepreneurial tycoon.
Taking to his X account on Monday, the billionaire – who has no qualms about speaking his mind – slammed card issuer American Express as he claimed they haven’t allowed him to borrow more money on his credit card.
He wrote: “I spent a hour on the phone with American Express. I was passed to 4 different people.”
“I was asking for an increase in my credit limit.
“Finally I got to speak to a person in the UK at Brighton who knew who I was and my financial status. However my request was refused due to their system.”
In the replies, several users were confused as to why Lord Sugar – who fronts BBC show The Apprentice – would need more money on his credit card.
One wrote: “I’m not sure why anyone worth a billion pounds needs a credit card”.
Another joked: “I have a spare 20 quid I can lend you if you’re struggling to see the month out? Just let me know.”
Responding to users questioning him, Lord Sugar explained he needs a credit card ‘to buy things’ as he ‘doesn’t carry bags of cash’.
He wrote in one response: “DO PRACTICE BEING AN IDIOT. I DON’T WALK AROUND WITH BAGS FULL OF CASH. I NEED A CREDIT CARD TO BUY THINGS .”
“I AM NOT MOANING JUST EXPOSING WHAT A BUNCH OF IDIOTS AMEX ARE,” he said in another tweet.
The Sun has reached out to American Express for comment.
The famous businessman began building his fortune by founding consumer electronics company Amstrad.
He now has a portfolio of companies under his umbrella, as well as his booming TV career on the BBC.
DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,
Emergency teams are still assessing the impact of the quake that was felt across the region.
Published On 10 Aug 202610 Aug 2026
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake has struck western Colombia and neighbouring countries, prompting widespread evacuations.
The earthquake struck on Monday near the municipality of San Jose del Palmar in Colombia’s Choco region, about 400km (250 miles) west of the capital, Bogota, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and Colombia’s geological service. Colombia had initially put its magnitude at 6.6 on the Richter scale.
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The USGS said the quake occurred at a depth of about 107km (66 miles). The US tsunami warning system said there was no tsunami warning.
“We have just experienced a major earthquake in the department of Choco. We are concerned about aftershocks,” Choco Governor Nubia Carolina Cordoba-Curi said on X. “Although the epicentre was near San Jose del Palmar, there are injuries and significant damage to buildings in the capital, Quibdo. We are already carrying out a damage assessment and will issue the first official report shortly.”
Authorities in Colombia and Ecuador urged residents in affected areas to remain alert as emergency teams assessed the quake’s impact.
In the capital, Bogotá, the earthquake triggered car and building alarms as people fled into the street.
Bogota Mayor Carlos Galán said on social media shortly after the earthquake that there were no reports of injuries, and only some cracks in buildings.
“No serious structural damage has been reported in Bogota, so our resources are at the service of the country,” Galan wrote. “We stand in solidarity with the affected cities. We will continue to address this emergency and provide assistance as needed.”
News outlets aired footage of buildings also destroyed in cities such as Pereira and Manizales in a tourist region called Eje Cafetero.
The mayor of Pereira, Colombia, said that 18 people had died there.
Two people are dead in Manizales, the Associated Press reported.
In Medellin, the earthquake prompted evacuation sirens from apartment buildings, with people fleeing their homes wearing pajamas or, simply, a wrapped-around towel. No full collapses were reported in the city, nor casualties. Mayor Federico Gutierrez of Medellin suspended the normal operation of the city’s metro, citing necessary checks for infrastructural damage.
Small towns on the outskirts of Medellín report structural damage including caved-in roofs and fractured walls.
In Cali, which is southwest of Bogota, at least 25 buildings collapsed, and authorities on the ground have confirmed “at least one casualty”. Mayor Alejandro Eder confirmed the installation of a Unified Command Center in the city, and pleaded for support from “sister cities” Medellin and Bogota.
The quake comes weeks after two powerful earthquakes struck Venezuela in late June, killing more than 6,000 people and destroying hundreds of buildings. The tremors, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude, were among the deadliest earthquakes to hit the region in recent years.
PHOENIX — Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz trudged toward the dugout as Arizona’s Ryan Waldschmidt celebrated with teammates after hitting a two-run, walk-off home run to seal a 4-3 win that sent the Dodgers to a season-worst seventh straight loss.
“We’ve just got to play better,” manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “I don’t think that the standings — obviously, they are important, they matter. But I just feel like with the talent that we have, we just got to play good baseball, and it’ll take care of itself. It always does.”
The Dodgers’ recent skid dropped their National League West lead into single digits for the first time in over a month. They are now only 7½ games ahead of the second-place Diamondbacks in the division.
They also now have the fourth-best record in the majors (69-47), falling behind the Brewers (72-44) and Braves (70-46) and Rays (69-46).
“A week ago, it looked a lot different,” Roberts said. “And another week from now, it could look even more different. So you’ve just got to put your head down and play baseball.”
They did, at least, have a better record than last season (67-49) at the 116-game mark. But the Dodgers would prefer to, unlike last year, at least earn a first-round bye, and ideally home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Their performance Friday sent them in the wrong direction.
The Dodgers went hitless against Diamondbacks starting pitcher Merrill Kelly for the first five innings. Kyle Tucker and Shohei Ohtani both drew walks, as the Dodgers’ only baserunners before the sixth — and Ohtani was thrown out attempting to steal second to end the third inning.
Finally, leading off the sixth, Tommy Edman — who three innings prior was robbed of a home run on a leaping grab by Diamondbacks right fielder Corbin Carroll — broke up Kelly’s no-hit bid with a sharp infield hit.
Kelly picked off Edman at first base, but Hunter Feduccia followed with a single of his own, the catcher’s first hit since rejoining the Dodgers at the trade deadline.
Ohtani and Andy Pages both drew walks to load the bases. And the Dodgers finally scored on a groundball fielder’s choice from Freddie Freeman. That single run was all they got out of the inning.
Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki held the Diamondbacks to two runs in six innings. He surrendered a solo homer to Arizona third baseman Nolan Arenado in the second and an RBI triple to Geraldo Perdomo in the fifth. But he only gave up two other hits.
With both starters out by the seventh (Kelly exited with two outs in the sixth because of cramping in his right leg), the Dodgers orchestrated a comeback and then gave it up.
Edman drove in the tying run, too, lining a single to left for the Dodgers’ third hit of the inning off Diamondbacks right-hander Taylor Clarke in the seventh. But the Dodgers failed to turn a bases-loaded situation into a crooked number when Ohtani grounded into a double play to end the inning.
The next inning, Pages gave the Dodgers the lead with a solo homer off Diamondbacks lefty Brandyn Garcia.
The Diamondbacks threatened against Dodgers setup man Tanner Scott. But he escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth by winning a 12-pitch at-bat against Arenado for the inning-ending strikeout.
Trade-deadline acquisition Kris Bubic, who is rehabbing at the Dodgers’ Arizona complex, is taking advantage of the opportunity to be around the team this weekend at Chase Field.
“It’s been a whirlwind the last couple days,” Bubic said. “Obviously I had been with Kansas City the whole time since I was drafted. I’ve been there my whole big-league career. I’d been on the shelf for a little bit now, but to hear I was getting traded over here was pretty exciting.
“Obviously the roster speaks for itself. The success speaks for itself. The opportunity to be a part of this, to learn from these guys, all the coaches on the staff and whatnot, it’s going to be an exciting time. I’m really looking forward to getting started.”
Pitcher Kris Bubic throws during a game between the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Mariners on May 3.
(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)
Bubic initially landed on the injured list in mid-May with a low-grade flexor strain in his left forearm, he specified. While working back from that injury, he had setbacks with an impingement in his left shoulder.
Because he has an injury history with both his elbow (2023 Tommy John surgery) and shoulder (2025 rotator cuff strain), the Royals didn’t rush him back. Bubic said he had a cortisone injection on July 1 and then threw off a mound on Sunday.
“I’m kind of itching to get back going,” he said. “But I know talking with the staff here they’ve got a pretty good plan. I’m expected to come out of the ‘pen in some capacity. At this point, I’m looking forward to getting back on the field and helping this team down the stretch.”
Bubic said the Dodgers have already presented him with a couple mechanical tweaks. He hopes to begin a minor-league rehab assignment around the end of the month or beginning of September.
The Dodgers plan to pitch two-time Cy Young winners in back-to-back games against the Royals when they return to Los Angeles next week.
On Monday, Tarik Skubal is scheduled to make his first home start at Dodger Stadium, and second with the Dodgers since being acquired in a trade with the Detroit Tigers. On Wednesday, Blake Snell is set to return from the IL for his second start of the season, his first since May.
Oil prices fall as US officials tout progress in talks to reopen critical waterway.
Published On 5 Aug 20265 Aug 2026
The US stock market has hit an all-time high amid growing hopes for a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and a flurry of bumper corporate earnings results.
The S&P 500, the most popular gauge of US stocks, surged 1.8 percent on Tuesday to top 7,700 for the first time, blasting past its previous record of 7,620.90 set on June 2.
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Wall Street’s benchmark index has risen 12.80 percent so far this year, comfortably beating its historical average of about 10.5 percent.
Palantir Technologies, a data analytics company closely tied to the US and Israeli defence sectors, was among the biggest gainers, with its shares soaring 29.5 percent on the back of forecasting-busting second-quarter revenue of $1.94 bn.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which tracks 30 blue-chip companies, set a new record for a second straight day, climbing 1.7 percent to 54,085.88.
The rally continued in Asia on Wednesday morning, with key indexes in Japan and South Korea making major gains.
Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 was up 3 percent as of 01:00 GMT, while the Kospi in Seoul was up 4.6 percent.
Brent crude, the primary international benchmark for oil prices, edged lower after falling about 5 percent overnight on hopes for an end to the months-long disruption to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for about one-fifth of global oil supplies before the start of the US-Israel war on Iran in late February.
Brent futures for October delivery stood at $79.11 per barrel as of 01:00 GMT, down about 13 percent from the previous week.
The growing market optimism came as both US and Iranian officials touted progress in talks between Iran and Oman aimed at restoring shipping in the strait.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that while an agreement had yet to be reached, he hoped that a deal would “happen very shortly”.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with CNBC that an agreement on the strait could be reached as soon as Tuesday or Wednesday.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, said talks with Omani officials on designating safe routes for vessels have been “positive”.
Maritime traffic in the Gulf has been severely constrained since the start of the war amid the threat of Iranian attacks on vessels in and around the strait, as well as a US blockade of Iranian ports.
Just nine vessels transited the critical waterway on Sunday, according to ship-tracking platform MarineTraffic, compared with roughly 130 daily crossings before the start of the war.
The US military said on Tuesday that the strait was “free and open” to all commercial vessels despite Tehran’s repeated insistence that it has the right to control the movement of traffic in the waterway.
“Over the past three months, US forces have assisted more than 1,000 vessels in successfully transiting the strait despite unwarranted Iranian aggression, and these transits continue today,” US Central Command said in a post on social media.
SAN FRANCISCO — Mike Trout had his first four-hit game in more than five years, Jorge Soler and Jo Adell homered and the Angels beat the San Francisco Giants 4-3 on Sunday to snap a three-game skid and avoid a series sweep.
Angels starter José Soriano (9-6) allowed an unearned run in five innings. The 27-year-old right-hander gave up three hits, walked three and had five strikeouts. Mitch Farris got the final two outs for his first career save.
San Francisco, which had its four-game home win streak snapped, is the only team in MLB without a series sweep of three-plus games this season.
Trout’s first four-hit game since April 26, 2021, moved him past Tim Salmon on the Angels’ career doubles and singles lists. He went four for four with a double and three singles.
Trout’s double was his 340th, moving past Salmon for second on the franchise list behind Garret Anderson’s 489. Trout also is now fourth on the Angels’ all-time list with 1,014 singles, trailing Anderson (1,572), Darin Erstad (1,082) and Brian Downing (1,062).
Trout’s four-hit game was the 21st of his career and raised his average to .247.
Soler hit a leadoff homer, Nolan Schanuel walked and Adell’s 446-foot home run gave the Angels a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning.
Luis Arraez had an RBI groundout in the fifth and added a two-run double in the ninth for the Giants. Drew Cavanaugh went two for two and walked twice.
Carson Whisenhunt (2-1), who was recalled from triple-A Sacramento, gave up four runs and had seven strikeouts in five innings.
Up next for the Angels: RHP Walbert Ureña (6-7, 2.78 ERA) starts Tuesday in the opener of a three-game home series against Houston. The Astros have not named a starter.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree delivers a televised statement in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday. Yemen’s Houthis claimed to have launched missile and drone attacks against facilities belonging to Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil company, in retaliation for Saudi airstrikes on the Yemeni port city of Hodeida. Photo by Yahya Arhab/EPA
July 25 (UPI) — The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen announced Saturday that they had attacked Saudi Arabia with missiles and drones in retaliation for Saudi attacks on Hodeida, Yemen.
Houthi Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, the group’s spokesperson, posted on X that the Houthis launched two military operations “in response to this blatant and criminal aggression” from Saudi Arabia.
“The first targeted sensitive Aramco-affiliated facilities in Jizan with dozens of ballistic missiles and drones,” he said. “And the second operation targeted sensitive Aramco-affiliated facilities in Yanbu with a number of ballistic and cruise missiles and drones.”
Aramco is the Saudi Arabian state-owned oil company.
“Both operations successfully achieved their objectives thanks to Allah Almighty, with accurate and direct strikes,” Saree said.
But the Saudis claim that the attacks were intercepted by air defense systems operated by Greek military units.
It’s the latest escalation between the two countries. On Wednesday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for two attacks on Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea with missiles and drones. They have said they have blocked the Bab al-Mandab Strait. That strait is on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz. It’s the gateway between the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea, and blockades of both straits would cut off Saudi Arabian ships entirely.
The Saudis and the Houthis have been in an effective cease-fire since 2022. But tensions recently flared when the Houthis accused the Saudis of striking the airport in Yemen’s capital Sanaa. The spat came from a dispute when an Iranian plane had tried to land at the airport.
Saudi Arabia on Friday hit the Houthi-held port city of Hodeida with strikes, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said. The attacks were in response to the Houthi hits on oil tankers.
“The Saudi enemy’s targeting of civilian facilities in Hodeida and Kamaran Island constitutes a dangerous escalation,” the Houthis’ Ansarollah media posted on Telegram.
“We affirm that these recent crimes will not go unanswered,” the post said.
Al Masirah television, which is run by the Houthis, said Saturday that the strikes from Saudi Arabia targeted facilities that belong to the state telecommunications corporation and Kamaran Island. It said one worker in Hodeida was injured, and a woman was injured on the island, Deutsche Welle reported.
The Saudis said they would do whatever is necessary to protect their ships. They warned the Houthis that if they continued “hostile acts, then there will be no hesitation in responding.”
On Thursday, President Donald Trump said his administration would “hold Iran responsible” for any Houthi attacks on ships, The Hill reported.
“Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if they do this again, the U.S. will hold Iran responsible, in that the Houthis are a Surrogate and/or Proxy of Iran, and major military punishment will be inflicted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis, themselves, who I am very disappointed with in that they have, until now, acted very professionally and smart,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
Logistics facilities belonging to Russian online markeplace Wildberries came under attack by Ukrainian drones overnight for a third time in four days, injuring 15 employees, three of them seriously. File photo by Stringer/EPA
July 22 (UPI) — Ukrainian drones hit logistics plants of Russian online retailer Wildberries for the third night in four days, injuring 15 workers at two facilities in the southwest of the country, the company’s CEO and regional heads said Wednesday.
Wildberries founder Tatyana Kim said in an online post that warehousing in Krasnodar and the city of Nevinnomyssk in the Stavropol region further to the east came under attack, causing injuries and forcing an emergency evacuation of employees.
“Our people are our priority. I want to thank our team — our heroes — who carried out a swift evacuation. Unfortunately, preliminary reports indicate there are injuries.
“There are no words to describe the emotions stirred by attacks on ordinary people — on our employees, on all of us — who are simply doing their jobs. Yet, these situations highlight the most important thing: we must continue doing what we do for the benefit of the people,” wrote Kim.
Krasnodar Krai regional Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev said 10 people were injured in a strike on a warehousing complex, three of them seriously, as part of what he called “a massive attack” on the region that killed at least one worker in a separate strike on a commercial enterprise in Armavir, 120 miles east of Krasnodar city.
Armavir authorities said an oil depot was also targeted in the attack, setting it on fire.
Two apartment blocks in Krasnodar and two houses in Dinskaya village were damaged by debris from downed drones, according to Kondratyev.
Stavropol Krai Gov. Vladimir Vladimirov said five people were hurt at a logistics facility on the outskirts of Nevinnomyssk, but only required treatment as outpatients.
Footage circulating online of the two Wildberries facilities that the BBC said it had verified shows explosions at the complex in Nevinnomyssk and major blazes raging at both sites.
Saying a tanker and four cargo ships from Russia’s shadow fleet were also hit in the Black and Asov seas, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the strikes on warehouse complexes, saying they were part of the Russian military’s supply chain.
“Ukraine‘s long-range sanctions successfully struck important targets in Russia’s Krasnodar and Stavropol regions, logistics hubs involved in supplying the Russian army with drone components, navigation equipment, and other gear,” he wrote on X.
“We are, quite justly, bringing the war back home — to Russia,” said Zelensky.
The attacks overnight follow attacks on Wildberries south of Moscow in the early hours of Monday in which drones struck a fulfilment center in Kolyedino and warehouses in Belye Stolby were destroyed and strikes early Saturday that killed at least eight people and injured more than 60 at a Wildberries distribution facility at Kotovsk in Tambov region and a second facility in Elektrostal in the Moscow region.
July 20 (UPI) — The average price of a gallon of regular grade gasoline in the United States has again reached $4 on Monday with renewed fighting in Iran.
AAA reported a 13-cent hike in the average gas price over the past week, bringing an end to declining prices. The latest surge comes on the back of the peace deal between the United States and Iran falling apart with both sides reigniting attacks.
The lowest gas prices in the United States on Monday can be found in Indiana, where a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.35. California has the highest average price per gallon at $5.49 and Washington and Hawaii are above $5 per gallon.
The average price of a gallon of gas was $2.98 before the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb.28. Prices climbed quickly after that due to Iran effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint in the Middle East oil trade. The average gas price in the United States topped $4.50 in May, marking a four-year high.
Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, surpassed $90 per barrel on Monday for the first time since early June. The price of Brent crude oil has climbed by 16% in the past week.
The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil has increased by $12 in July, hitting $82 per barrel.
Aggressions between the United States and Iran have brought the return of the U.S. naval blockade on the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. forces are again targeting any ships using Iranian ports.
U.S. economic data showed improvement beginning in June as talks of a peace agreement heated up. The White House welcomed a report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics last week that showed consumer prices falling in June.
“Prices are coming way down, and we’re doing a great job,” President Donald Trump told reporters last week. “And remember that for the midterms.”
The decline in consumer prices was largely attributed to falling gas and energy prices. Those prices were also the catalyst for prices surging over the past five months.
