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Cristiano Ronaldo will embark on a sixth World Cup at the age of 41 after Portugal coach Roberto Martinez named him in a 27-man squad for the tournament, with a symbolic “plus one” in memory of the late Diogo Jota.

Speaking at Cidade do Futebol before a packed auditorium on Tuesday, Martinez confirmed that fourth-choice goalkeeper Ricardo Velho, of Genclerbirligi Ankara, will travel with the squad, but can only be added to the official 26-man list in the event of an injury to one of the three registered keepers.

Portugal, the reigning Nations League champions, open their Group K campaign at the tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada against the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 17 in Houston.

They then face Uzbekistan at the same venue on June 23 and conclude the group stage against Colombia in Miami on June 27. The tournament runs from June 11 to July 19.

Martinez said his selection comprised “27 players plus one”, a reference to Liverpool forward Jota, who died in a car accident in July last year, aged 28.

“He is our strength, our joy,” Martinez said. “Losing Diogo was an unforgettable and very difficult moment, but the very next day, it was up to all of us to fight for Diogo’s dream and for the example he always set in our national team. Diogo Jota’s spirit, strength and example are the +1 and will always be the +1.”

The coach defended his decision to name four goalkeepers and five fullbacks, while leaving out players including Mateus Fernandes, Ricardo Horta and Pedro Goncalves.

“The complexity of the tournament is very important – the demands of the weather, the time zone, everything we already experienced in March,” Martinez said. “There are positions where we need to have more than two players per position. And we need five fullbacks.”

He highlighted the versatility of Diogo Dalot, Joao Cancelo and Matheus Nunes, and pointed to attacking options such as Joao Felix, Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva and Francisco Trincao operating between the lines, with Rafael Leao, Pedro Neto and Francisco Conceicao providing width.

Martinez added that Velho understood his role as a training goalkeeper, noting that FIFA rules only permit replacement in the event of injury during the tournament.

Portugal warm up against Chile in Oeiras on June 6 and Nigeria in Leiria on June 10. FIFA has stipulated that the squad must be in their Palm Beach, Florida training camp at least five days before their opening match.

Portugal World Cup squad

Goalkeepers: Diogo Costa (FC Porto), Jose Sa (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Rui Silva (Sporting CP); Ricardo Velho (Genclerbirligi Ankara);

Defenders: Diogo Dalot (Manchester United); Matheus Nunes (Manchester City), Nelson Semedo (Fenerbahce SK), Joao Cancelo (FC Barcelona), Nuno Mendes (PSG), Goncalo Inacio (Sporting CP), Renato Veiga (Villarreal); Ruben Dias (Manchester City); Tomas Araujo (SL Benfica)

Midfielders: Ruben Neves (Al Hilal), Samuel Costa (Mallorca), Joao Neves (PSG), Vitinha (PSG), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)

Forwards: Joao Felix (Al Nassr), Francisco Trincao (Sporting CP), Francisco Conceicao (Juventus), Pedro Neto (Chelsea), Rafael Leao (AC Milan), Goncalo Guedes (Real Sociedad), Goncalo Ramos (PSG); Cristiano Ronaldo (Al Nassr)

The recent Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has resulted in a rising death toll, reaching 118 fatalities on Monday, May 18, which is a significant jump from the 80 deaths recorded just two days earlier. This outbreak is the 17th recorded Ebola virus epidemic in the DRC and has been described as a matter of international emergency by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Patrick Muyaya, the DRC government spokesperson, announced that two additional health zones have been identified as impacted by the virus. These include Nyankunde in the Irumu territory of Ituri province. A suspected case has also emerged in Goma, the chief town of North Kivu.

The outbreak is now affecting multiple geographic areas, including Mongwalu, Rwampara, Bunia, Nyankunde in Ituri, as well as Butembo-Katwa and Goma in North Kivu. 

Butembo, a commercial town in North Kivu, was severely impacted during the Ebola Zaire strain outbreak from 2018 to 2020. Goma, which has been under the control of the M23 rebels since early 2025, serves as a significant regional transit hub on the border with Rwanda and Uganda.

The Bundibugyo Ebola strain, noted as the 17th epidemic in the DRC, was declared on May 15. Complete sequencing of the viral genome confirms that it is a genetically distinct variant from previous Bundibugyo outbreaks in 2007 and 2012, originating directly from an animal reserve, according to Jean-Jacques Muyembe, director of the DRC National Institute of Biomedical Research.

On May 17, after the WHO declared the epidemic an international public health emergency, the British organisation Oxfam also estimated that the global number of infections currently stands at 400.

Dodgers lose to the Padres

From Maddie Lee: The Dodgers entered the late innings Monday in an unenviable position: trailing the Padres, whose biggest strength is their bullpen.

“When they have a lead they don’t relinquish it too often,” manager Dave Roberts said after the Dodgers’ 1-0 loss Monday. “You know the numbers — when they’re ahead in the seventh inning they don’t lose. You do have to be a little more aggressive and capitalize when you do get those chances.”

Including Monday, the Padres are 20-2 when leading after six innings, 21-1 when leading after seven, and they have a perfect 22-0 record when leading after eight.

Even when Padres closer Mason Miller got off to an uncharacteristically wild start in the ninth inning Monday, the Dodgers failed to capitalize.

He walked Freddie Freeman and Kyle Tucker on nine pitches. And the next three batters — Will Smith, Max Muncy and Andy Pages — all have proven their ability to do damage in clutch moments.

But it was Miller on the mound, a rare reliever who could actually challenge for the Cy Young Award.

“In this kind of series, you know you’re going to have close games,” Freeman said after the game. “And we just couldn’t get it done.”

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Dodgers give injury updates on Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Brusdar Graterol

Why Dodgers’ 2017 pitch to Shohei Ohtani remains relevant: ‘Acquiesce and accommodate’

Dodgers box score

MLB standings

Justin Turner finds new life with the Tijuana Toros

From Bill Shaikin: Justin Turner did not wear the correct jersey one day, and now he would pay for his sin.

His teammates formed two lines, one facing the other. Turner snaked through the gauntlet, as his teammates playfully slapped and shoved him around.

Turner is 41, an All-Star and World Series champion, one of the most beloved players in Dodgers history. Yet there he was on a gloomy Saturday afternoon in a 50-year-old stadium in Tijuana, subjecting himself to a mashup of a kangaroo court and a hazing ritual, three hours before he would play in a uniform with six advertisements on the jersey and four more on the pants.

“Justin doesn’t have to be here,” said former major leaguer Roberto Kelly, the manager of the Tijuana Toros. “He doesn’t need this to continue his life.”

For the first time in 17 years, Turner is not playing in the major leagues. No team wanted him.

In Tijuana, whether he decides to end his career here or elsewhere, he has nurtured a special bond with his son and emerged as an improbable tourist attraction for Dodgers fans.

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Angels spoil no-hitter, get walk-off win

Adam Frazier singled, leading off the ninth inning for the first hit against Athletics starter J.T. Ginn, and Zach Neto followed with a two-run homer that gave the Angels a 2-1 victory Monday night.

Neto drove a 2-0 sinker 413 feet to center field, stunning Ginn and the A’s while ending a six-game losing streak for the Angels. It was their third walk-off win this season.

Ginn (2-2) struck out 10 and issued one walk on 105 pitches. He also hit Neto with a pitch in the sixth.

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Angels box score

MLB standings

This day in sports history

1909 — In his first title defense Jack Johnson fights ‘Philadelphia’ Jack O’Brien to a no decision in 6 rounds in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to retain his world heavyweight crown.

1923 — Zev, a 19-1 long shot ridden by Earl Sande, wins the Kentucky Derby by 1½ lengths over Martingale.

1935 — NFL adopts an annual college draft to begin in 1936.

1965 — West Ham United of England win 5th European Cup Winner’s Cup against 1860 München of West Germany 2-0 in London.

1973 — Secretariat, ridden by Ron Turcotte, rallies from last with a powerful move on the clubhouse turn to win the Preakness Stakes by 2½ lengths over Sham. There is controversy over the timing of the race as original teletimer time was 1:55 for the 1 3/16-mile race. Pimlico amends it to 1:54 2/5, two days later.

1974 — The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Boston Bruins 1-0 to win the Stanley Cup in six games.

1979 — Spectacular Bid, ridden by Ron Franklin, wins the Preakness Stakes by an easy 5½ lengths over Golden Act.

1984 — Stanley Cup Final, Northlands Coliseum, Edmonton, AL: Wayne Gretzky scores twice as Edmonton Oilers beat NY Islanders, 5-2 for a 4-1 series win; Oilers first SC title.

1990 — Hobart wins its 11th straight NCAA Division III lacrosse championship, beating Washington College of Maryland 18-6. The Statesmen, winners of every final since the tournament’s inception in 1980, are 100-3 in Division III in that time.

1991 — Willy T. Ribbs becomes the first Black driver to make the lineup for the Indianapolis 500.

2001 — Manchester United lose 3-1 to Tottenham at White Hart Lane but win English Premier League title for the 3rd consecutive season.

2004 — NHL Western Conference Final: Calgary Flames beat San Jose Sharks, 4 games to 2.

2007 — Curlin, ridden by Robby Albarado, nips Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense by putting his head in front on the final stride, winning the Preakness Stakes in a riveting finish. The winning time was a blazing 1:53.46, equaling the stakes record of 1:53 2/5.

2007 — English FA Cup Final, Wembley Stadium, London (89,826): Chelsea beats Manchester United, 1 – 0 (a.e.t.); Didier Drogba scores 116′ winner for Blues’ 4th title.

2007 — NHL Eastern Conference Final: Ottawa Senators beat Buffalo Sabres, 4 games to 1.

2008 — NHL Western Conference Final: Detroit Red Wings beat Dallas Stars, 4 games to 2.

2012 — I’ll Have Another overtakes Bodemeister down the stretch to win the Preakness. Like the Kentucky Derby, I’ll Have Another races from behind to beat pacesetter Bodemeister, who also finished second in the Derby. I’ll Have Another, ridden by Mario Gutierrez, covers the 1 3/16 miles in 1:55.94.

2012 — UEFA Champions League Final, Munich: Chelsea beats Bayern Munich, 4-3 on penalties after a 1–1 draw at the end of extra time; Blues’ first title.

2014 — Lucy Li becomes the youngest player to qualify for the U.S. Women’s Open by winning the sectional qualifier at Half Moon Bay in California. The 11-year-old Li shoots rounds of 74 and 68 on the par-72 Old Course and surpasses Lexi Thompson as the youngest competitor in a U.S. Women’s Open when she tees off at Pinehurst on June 19. Thompson was 12 when she qualified for the 2007 Open.

2015 — The NFL announces it is moving back extra-point kicks and allowing defenses to score on conversion turnovers. The owners approve the proposal to snap the ball from the 15-yard line on PATs to make them more challenging.

2017 — LeBron James scores 30 points, Kevin Love had 21 points and 12 rebounds, and the Cleveland Cavaliers steamroll the Boston Celtics 130-86 to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals and tie an NBA record with their 13th straight playoff victory.

2018 — Justify holds off several hard-charging challengers and win the Preakness Stakes on a sloppy, slippery track. Ridden by Mike Smith, the 2-5 favorite wins by a half-length after completing the race in 1:55.93. Bravazo edges Tenfold for second. Trainer Bob Baffert ties D. Wayne Lukas’ record with his 14th Triple Crown victory and matches 19th-century trainer R.W. Walden with his seventh Preakness title.

2018 — English FA Cup Final, Wembley Stadium, London: Chelsea beats Manchester United, 1-0; Belgian international Eden Hazard scores 22′ penalty.

2019 — PGA Championship Men’s Golf, Bethpage State Park: Defending champion Brooks Koepka leads wire-to-wire; wins despite 5 bogeys on last 8 holes by 2 strokes from world #1 Dustin Johnson.

Compiled by the Associated Press

This day in baseball history

1910 — Cy Young won the 500th game of his career as the Cleveland Indians beat the Washington Senators, 5-4, in 11 innings.

1910 — Boston beat the Pirates 6-3 for the first time in 26 tries.

1933 — For the first time in major league history, brothers on opposite teams hit home runs in the same game. Boston Red Sox catcher Rick Ferrell homers off his brother Wes Ferrell in the 2nd inning, but the Cleveland Indians pitcher returns the favor as he homers in the 3rd on a pitch called by his sibling. It is the only time that the Ferrell brothers homer in the same game.

1942 — Paul Waner of the Boston Braves got his 3,000th career hit off Pittsburgh’s Rip Sewell in a 7-6, 11-inning loss to the Pirates.

1956 — Pittsburgh’s Dale Long hit a ninth-inning homer against the Chicago Cubs. It was Long’s first of eight straight games with a homer.

1962 — Stan Musial of St. Louis became the NL career hits leader. The 41-year-old got a ninth inning single for his 3,431st hit and moved past Honus Wagner. The Cardinals beat the Dodgers, 8-1.

1968 — After hitting 10 home runs in six games, Frank Howard of the Washington Senators was stopped by pitcher Earl Wilson of Detroit, which won the game 5-4.

1976 — Carl Yastrzemski has the only three-homer game of his illustrious career, going deep three times in a 4-for-4 day in a 9-2 Red Sox win over the Tigers. He victimizes three different pitchers: Dave Roberts, Steve Grilli and John Hiller.

1979 — After a bitter six-week strike, the major league umpires return to work. During the work stoppage, the men in blue were replaced by amateur and minor league arbiters.

1981 — Pittsburgh’s Jim Bibby gave up a leadoff single to Terry Harper of the Atlanta Braves, then retired the next 27 batters for a 5-0 one-hitter. Bibby also hit two doubles.

1998 — Mark McGwire hit three two-run homers against Philadelphia. It was the second time this season and fourth time in his career McGwire hit three homers in a game. McGwire became the 12th player to have two three-homer games in a season.

2000 — Jason Kendall hit for the cycle and drove in a career-high five runs, leading Pittsburgh to a 13-1 rout of St. Louis. Kendall had a two-run homer in the first inning, an RBI single in the second, a double in the third and a two-run triple in the eighth.

2004 — Atlanta’s 45-year-old Julio Franco broke his own record for the oldest player to hit a pinch-hit homer. Franco, who had a pinch-hit homer two weeks earlier against San Diego, hit a two-out, two-run homer to tie the score at 4 in the eighth. The Braves lost 6-4 in 11 innings to the Diamondbacks.

2008 — Boston’s Jon Lester shut down Kansas City 7-0 for the first no-hitter in the majors this season. The 24-year-old lefty, who survived cancer to pitch the World Series clincher for the Red Sox last fall, allowed two baserunners, walking Billy Butler in the second inning and Esteban German to open the ninth. Jason Varitek catches his fourth no-hitter, tying Ray Schalk for the major league record; one of Schalk’s no-hitters was later removed from the official records, making Varitek the first backstop to have four official no-hitters to his name.

2009 — Washington became the fourth team in major league history to score at least five runs in each game of a six-game losing streak. The Nationals lost 8-5 in 10 innings to Pittsburgh after they rallied to tie the score with a run in the ninth, but another letdown from a bullpen with a collective 1-14 record allowed them to join the 1929 Pirates, 2004 Cincinnati Reds and 2005 Texas Rangers.

2010 — CF Angel Pagan hits the first inside-the-park homer in the history of Nationals Park.

2011 — After sitting on the bench for most of the season so far, veteran 1B Jason Giambi has the first three-homer game of his career in the Rockies’ 7 – 1 win over Philadelphia. He hits homers in his first three at-bats, driving in all 7 of his team’s runs, but fails in his last two at-bats to become only the 16th player to hit four dingers in one game. Giambi entered the game hitting .115 with 1 homer and 4 RBI; at 40, he is the second-oldest player to hit three home runs in a game, after Stan Musial who was 41 when he accomplished the feat on July 8, 1962.

2018 — The Rays have been experimenting with “bullpen days” all season, when the starting pitcher is not expected to go deep into the game, going all out for 3 or 4 innings before handing the ball over to another reliever, but today they take it even further. Short reliever Sergio Romo starts today’s game against the Angels, his first start in the majors after 588 appearances out of the bullpen, and is only asked to pitch one inning before handing the ball over to Ryan Yarbrough. The plan works perfectly as Romo strikes out the three men he faces — Zack Cozart, Mike Trout and Justin Upton, all righthanders — then hands the ball over to lefty Yarbrough in the 2nd. Yarbrough pitches scoreless ball until allowing a run in the 8th as Tampa Bay wins, 5-3. It is the first time a starting pitcher leaves after a perfect 1st inning since Ernie Shore had done so on October 5, 1915. Manager Kevin Cash is so pleased with how the scheme goes that he picks Romo to start the next day’s game as well.

2021 — Corey Kluber of the Yankees is the latest pitcher to join this season’s no-hitter parade, pulling off the feat with a 2-0 win over the Rangers at Globe Life Field. It is already the 6th 9-inning no-hitter this year, and comes one day after Spencer Turnbull of the Tigers had pitched the previous one.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

United States President Donald Trump says he has decided to pause an attack on Iran at the behest of Gulf leaders after Tehran sent a new peace proposal to Washington through Pakistan.

On Monday, Trump said there is now a “very good chance” the US could reach an agreement with Iran to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

An initial, temporary ceasefire commenced on April 8, six weeks into the war. Since then, armed hostilities have largely subsided, but a durable peace agreement remains elusive, with both the US and Iran dissatisfied with each other’s proposed terms.

Also on Monday, Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted three drones, one day after a drone attack hit the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant in the United Arab Emirates. This has raised more concerns about the potential for renewed military escalation in the Gulf as peace negotiations drag on.

What has Trump said about a new attack on Iran?

Following the reported drone attacks on the UAE and Saudi Arabia on Sunday and Monday, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post: “For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!”

Then, later on Monday, Trump wrote another post, saying he had been asked by the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to hold off on a planned attack on Iran scheduled for Tuesday since “serious negotiations are now taking place.”

He added that he had instructed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine and the US military not to carry out the scheduled attack. However, he said, he “further instructed them to be prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached”.

What do we know about the latest peace plan Iran has submitted?

Iran has submitted a revised 14-point peace plan to end the war, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Monday.

Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told a news briefing on Monday that Tehran’s response to the previous US proposal had been “conveyed to the American side through mediator Pakistan”, according to Tasnim.

Washington and Tehran have exchanged multiple proposals in recent weeks amid a ceasefire that has mostly halted six weeks of fighting. However, the initial direct talks mediated by Pakistan in Islamabad in April stalled, and Trump said last week the ceasefire is “on life support”.

While the specific proposals in the latest plan from Iran have not been made public, Baghaei said demands include the release of its assets frozen abroad and the lifting of sanctions.

“The points raised are Iranian demands that have been firmly defended by the Iranian negotiating team in every round of negotiations,” he said.

Iran has also previously demanded compensation for damage inflicted by US-Israeli attacks, an end to the ongoing US naval blockade of Iranian ports and a halt to fighting on all fronts, including in Lebanon, where Israeli forces continue daily attacks and have mounted a ground invasion in the south of the country.

Washington has urged Tehran to dismantle its nuclear programme and lift a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, which, before the war, carried one-fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas ‌(LNG) supply.

What are the main sticking points between Iran and the US?

A major point of contention is Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium. During negotiations, Washington has urged Tehran to give away its enriched uranium, a demand Tehran has resisted.

Iran is believed to have about 440kg (970lb) of uranium enriched to 60 percent. A 90 percent threshold of enriched uranium is needed to produce a nuclear weapon. Iran has never officially declared an intention to build nuclear weapons. The US wants this stock to be handed over to it, but Iran is reportedly only willing to consider handing it to a third party – if at all.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of foreign ministers from BRICS nations in New Delhi last week that Iran and the US have reached a “deadlock” on the question of Iran’s “enriched material”.

As a result, he said, the topic is being “postponed” until later stages in the talks. “For the time being, it is not under discussion, it’s not under negotiation, but we will come to that subject in later stages.”

Araghchi confirmed he had spoken to Russian officials about an offer from Moscow to store Iran’s enriched uranium. He said Iran may consider Russia’s proposal at an “appropriate time” and that he appreciates Moscow’s efforts.

“When we come to that stage, obviously we will have more consultations with Russia and see if the Russian offer can help or not,” he said.

The US and Iran are also arguing about whether Iran should be allowed to enrich uranium at all. Under the Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, signed with several countries in 2015, Iran was able to continue enriching to 3.87 percent – enough for the development of a nuclear power programme. Trump withdrew the US from that agreement in 2018, despite consistent reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Iran had stuck to its terms. Now, the US wants a moratorium on all uranium enrichment for a period of up to 20 years, it says.

Another sticking point between the two countries is the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf.

Since early March, Iran has restricted shipping through the strait, a narrow waterway linking Gulf oil producers to the open ocean and through which 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies are shipped during peacetime. Iran has allowed passage by vessels from select countries, but they are required to negotiate transit with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

In its previous proposals to end the war, Iran has mentioned charging fees or tolls for vessels seeking to pass through the state. Washington has repeatedly rejected the prospect. In April, the US announced a naval blockade on ships entering or leaving Iranian ports, further adding to the disruption of global oil and gas supplies.

Iran’s state media reported, citing the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that technical teams from Iran and Oman met in Oman to negotiate a mechanism for safe transit in the Strait of Hormuz.

A third likely major point of friction – although one which may also be kicked into later discussions – is Iran’s support for a network of “proxy” armed groups around the Middle East which it calls its “axis of resistance”. These include the Houthis in Yemen, who have also caused disruption by launching attacks on Israel-linked ships in the Red Sea in the past, Hezbollah in Lebanon and multiple groups based in Iraq and Syria.

China’s Xi Jinping is hosting Russian President Vladimir Putin, just days after welcoming Donald Trump to Beijing. The Chinese leader is set to discuss energy security and trade, while balancing access to European markets, as Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu explains.

On Monday morning, a jury in Oakland, California, announced its verdict in one of the most-watched tech feuds between billionaire Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The nine-member jury handed a decisive victory to Altman, saying Musk had waited too long to bring his claims against the artificial intelligence company and its top executives.

Musk, who cofounded OpenAI as a nonprofit, had filed a $150bn lawsuit against the organisation, Altman and its president, Greg Brockman, accusing them of turning it into a for-profit entity for personal enrichment.

The verdict, however, stopped short of resolving the central question at the heart of the case, whether OpenAI betrayed the nonprofit mission on which it was founded in 2015 as it transformed from a research lab focused on benefitting humanity into one of the world’s most powerful AI companies.

Instead, the case became focused on a procedural issue. After deliberating for less than two hours, the jury unanimously found that the statute of limitations had expired before Musk filed the lawsuit in 2024, meaning jurors concluded he had waited too long to bring his claims under the applicable legal deadline. US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers accepted the finding and dismissed the case.

The ruling removes a major legal threat for OpenAI at a pivotal moment for the company, which is deepening its commercial partnerships, expanding its relationship with Microsoft and moving towards what could become one of the largest public offerings in Silicon Valley history; while for Musk, the ruling leaves room to argue that the case was lost on timing rather than substance.

Shortly after the verdict, Musk repeated his accusations on X. “Altman & Brockman did in fact enrich themselves by stealing a charity. The only question is WHEN they did it!” Musk wrote on X. “Creating a precedent to loot charities is incredibly destructive to charitable giving in America.”

Musk has decided to appeal, ensuring that the increasingly bitter feud between two of Silicon Valley’s most powerful figures is unlikely to end any time soon.

How did Musk and Altman fall out?

Musk and Altman cofounded OpenAI in 2015 alongside Brockman and other researchers at a time when concerns were growing over how AI could reshape society.

The idea, according to testimony and internal discussions presented during the trial, was that the company could focus on building safe AI systems that benefitted humanity rather than prioritising shareholder returns.

Musk and Altman also believed the nonprofit structure would help OpenAI compete with technology giants such as Google by attracting top researchers and positioning the organisation as a mission-driven alternative.

Musk claims he contributed roughly $38m to OpenAI during its early years, but relations between the founders later deteriorated sharply. He resigned from OpenAI’s board in February 2018, officially citing potential conflicts of interest as Tesla became more focused on AI.

But the split deepened after OpenAI created a for-profit subsidiary and Microsoft invested heavily in the company. Microsoft has since committed tens of billions of dollars to its partnership with OpenAI, helping transform ChatGPT into one of the defining products of the global AI boom.

Musk became increasingly critical of the company, arguing that OpenAI had moved far beyond the nonprofit vision on which it was founded. In 2023, he launched a rival AI company, xAI, the maker of the Grok chatbot, before filing his lawsuit against OpenAI the following year.

Why did the case collapse?

At the centre of the trial was a relatively technical legal question about when Musk became aware that OpenAI was moving towards a profit-driven structure.

Because the lawsuit was filed in 2024, Musk needed to convince jurors that the alleged wrongdoing occurred within the legal time limit for bringing his claims.

Musk argued that his concerns fully crystallised only in 2023, particularly after Microsoft’s big investments into OpenAI’s for-profit arm.

But OpenAI’s lawyers argued that Musk had known for years that the company planned to pursue a commercial structure and raise huge amounts of outside funding.

Evidence presented during the trial showed that discussions about creating a for-profit arm dated back to at least 2017. Jurors also heard testimony that Altman had sent Musk documents in 2018 outlining plans for OpenAI to raise billions of dollars through a for-profit structure.

Ultimately, the jury sided with OpenAI’s argument that Musk could have filed his lawsuit much earlier – and therefore waited too long.

That meant jurors never had to answer the more explosive question at the centre of the case about whether OpenAI had actually betrayed its founding mission.

What did OpenAI argue?

OpenAI maintained throughout the trial that there was never an agreement to remain a nonprofit indefinitely. Its lawyers argued that Musk understood from the beginning that developing cutting-edge artificial intelligence would require extraordinary levels of funding and computing power.

OpenAI also portrayed Musk’s lawsuit as partly motivated by rivalry. By the time the case reached court, Musk’s xAI had emerged as a direct competitor to OpenAI in the race to develop advanced AI systems.

Meanwhile, OpenAI had become one of the most powerful companies in the technology industry, reportedly valued at more than $800bn and moving towards what could eventually become one of the largest public offerings in history.

Lawyers for OpenAI argued that Musk became hostile only after losing influence within the company and watching Altman turn OpenAI into the dominant force in generative AI.

What questions did the trial leave unanswered?

Although the verdict was a clear legal victory for OpenAI, the trial never became the sweeping test case about the future of artificial intelligence that many had expected.

Because the case was resolved on procedural grounds, the court did not answer some of the biggest questions raised by the AI boom: how these systems should be governed, who should benefit economically from them, and whether companies developing increasingly powerful AI tools can still claim to act in the public interest while pursuing enormous commercial growth.

The trial also touched only briefly on broader concerns surrounding AI development, including transparency, labour and the extraction of data used to train AI systems.

Nicole Turner Lee, director of the Centre for Technology Innovation, told Al Jazeera that one of the central problems surrounding AI is that the technology is deeply “extractive”.

“It does undergo theft where people do not consent as to whether or not their information, their image, their voice, their text are actually being extracted,” she said, raising concerns about compensation and consent in AI training systems.

Those issues remained largely outside the scope of the trial due to it ultimately centring on procedural issues.

The ruling, therefore, also removed the possibility of a far more disruptive outcome that could have threatened OpenAI’s corporate structure, its partnership with Microsoft and the wider wave of investment pouring into the AI industry.

But the broader debate over AI’s future is far from settled. With Musk preparing an appeal, the courtroom battle between the two former allies looks set to continue alongside wider questions about how AI should be governed.

The U.S. Air Force says it does not expect the last of its huge C-5M Galaxy cargo planes to be replaced by a Next-Generation Airlift (NGAL) platform until Fiscal Year 2050. This is roughly five years later than the retirement schedule for the C-5M fleet that the service had laid out last year. NGAL is also expected to supplant the C-17A Globemaster III, but the plan is for those aircraft to keep flying through 2075. The C-5s are a vital part of the Air Force’s current strategic airlift force, but they have a long history of being hard to maintain despite major upgrades in the past.

The latest sunset timeline for the Galaxy and details about the near-term plans for NGAL are contained in the Air Force’s 2027 Fiscal Year budget request. The service currently has 52 C-5Ms in its inventory, all of which were upgraded from older B and C variants, the last of which were built in 1989. Service through 2050 means the youngest examples will be 61 years old at the time of their retirement. The Air Force also just recently disclosed that the C-5 fleet’s mission capable rate has slumped to 37 percent. The Air Force also has 222 C-17As, the last of which it acquired in 2013. Neither the C-5 nor the C-17 is still in production today.

The C-5M is the largest airlifter in U.S. military service today, and one of the biggest in operational use anywhere globally. In addition to just being able to accommodate much larger payload mass and volume compared to the C-17A, it has the benefit of being able to load cargo and personnel from the nose and tail ends, and do so simultaneously. The Galaxy offers a unique capability within the U.S. military for moving outsized and unusual payloads by air, including satellites and other space-related items. The services of the C-5 remain in high demand, as highlighted by support provided for ongoing operations against Iran, as well as during the build-up to that conflict, along with other contingencies around the Middle East in the past few years.

“In accordance with [the] Air Force’s strategic direction, C-5 Modernization Efforts funding supports Next-Gen Airlift (NGAL) Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) and Concept Development efforts,” per the service’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget documents. “NGAL is projected to fully replace the C-5M fleet tentatively in FY 2050 and maintain the Strat Air [sic] program floor of 223 C-17 aircraft and 52 C-5 aircraft per the FY 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).”

The Air Force is asking for $8.9 million to support the NGAL AoA and related concept development work through the C-5 Modernization Efforts line in Fiscal Year 2027. This is on top of $200,000 in funding received for NGAL in this part of the budget in the 2027 Fiscal Year. The AoA process offers a means to assess potential options and further refine requirements for new weapon systems and other capabilities.

“NGAL efforts will include but [are] not limited to operational analysis, concept development, and acquisition strategy framework to prepare for Milestone A approval and entry into the Technology Maturation and Risk Reduction (TMRR) phase of a major defense acquisition program,” the budget documents further note.

As mentioned, the Air Force released a strategic airlift strategy document last year that envisioned the C-5Ms being replaced by the mid-2040s.

“With an accelerated NGAL Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) in FY27 [Fiscal Year 2027] and an uninterrupted acquisition process with consistent funding, the first NGAL aircraft could be produced as early as FY38,” the Airlift Recapitalization Strategy document, dated November 18, 2025, said. “It is estimated the NGAL program will reach Initial Operational Capability (IOC) in FY41.”

“One NGAL aircraft will replace one C-5M aircraft until the entire C-5M fleet is retired. Then, the C-17A fleet will be replaced by NGAL at a one-for-one swap,” the document added. “Uninterrupted inter-theater airlift capacity is paramount for global operations during fleet recapitalization. Current recapitalization projections require C-5M viability until 2045 and C-17A viability through 2075.”

“We’re working forward on the NGAL to combine the view of the C-5 and the C-17 fleet, and figure out what the next strategic airlifter needs to be,” Air Force Lt. Gen. Rebecca Sonkiss had also told TWZ and other outlets at a roundtable on the sidelines of the Air & Space Forces Association’s (AFA) annual Warfare Symposium in February. “That conversation in my book can’t happen enough, or can’t happen fast enough, candidly.”

Sonkiss is Deputy Commander of Air Mobility Command (AMC). She has been serving as the interim commander of AMC since her predecessor, Gen. John Lamontagne, became Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force in January.

As mentioned, the Air Force’s C-5s are key strategic airlift assets, but are also aging and increasingly difficult to sustain. Keeping the Galaxy fleet flying has already presented significant challenges for years now.

“I’m a year and a half out of the conversation. The last data point I got was from U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) commander Gen. [Randall] Reed‘s congressional testimony, where he said that the mission reliability rate, I believe, had fallen to 46%,” retired Air Force Gen. Michael “Mini” Minihan, who last served as commander of AMC, told TWZ in an interview in February. “So, if that’s true, then it’s still an enormous concern. I don’t know any part of your life where you tolerate a critical capability operating less than half the time when you need it. So C-5s are an enormous concern for me.”

At a hearing before the House Appropriations Committee in April, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach told members of Congress that the C-5’s mission capable rate had fallen to 37 percent, further underscoring these difficulties.

“It has to be,” Lt. Gen. Sonkiss had said at the roundtable in February when asked if it was reasonable to expect the C-5 to remain viable even to 2045.

“Define risk. I’m not trying to be pejorative in here, but what risk would you like me to talk about?” she added when asked about the risks this might entail. “There’s a financial risk to having to sustain an older aircraft. And we’ve shown in the Air Force that we’re capable of doing that. The C-5, we’ve invested a lot of money to keep it on board, and it is, and there is no other aircraft that can provide the capacity that the C-5 does.”

“We’ve shown time and time again that when that aircraft [the C-5] is asked to perform, it does. And so we’ll continue to invest,” she continued. “What I would like to see us do, though, is move forward from having to pour that much money into something old to the pathway to a modernized fleet.”

Especially given Sonkiss’ comments here about the C-5’s unique attributes, questions have also already been raised about the viability of a common replacement for that aircraft and the C-17A. The Globemaster III is also an essential and heavily demanded component of the U.S. strategic airlift force today, but is a very different aircraft with its own distinct capabilities. In particular, the C-17 offers significant short and rough field performance that enables it to bring heavy payloads very far forward for an aircraft of its size, even in the absence of improved runways. It was designed from the outset to transport combat-ready ground units, including tanks and other heavy armor, to landing zones at or at least near the front lines, as well as drop paratroopers into those same areas.

Watch This C-17 Making A Gigantic Dust Cloud – Dry Lake Bed Takeoff

There is also the matter of an ever-expanding threat ecosystem, which the Air Force expects to include anti-air missiles with ranges of up to 1,000 miles by 2050. This will pose increasing challenges to advanced aircraft, let alone non-stealthy and slower-flying types. Key supporting assets, like airlifters and aerial refueling tankers, would also be top targets during any conflict, and even more so in a high-end fight, such as one against China in the Pacific.

One company, Radia, is actively pitching a new airlifter that is bigger than the C-17 and the C-5, and is being designed with a high degree of operational flexibility in mind, to meet the Air Force’s NGAL needs. Development of that aircraft, called Windrunner, originally started with a focus on carrying oversized components for wind turbines, and its projected range is shorter than that of either the Galaxy or Globemaster III. Overall, Windrunner is still in a very aspirational stage, as you can read more about here.

The world’s largest plane is being built to carry wind turbines

Lockheed Martin and Boeing, among others, have also been publicly showing various concepts for advanced transports and tankers in recent years. This includes stealthy types and blended wing body designs. A BWB aircraft could also offer a more limited degree of low-observability (stealthiness) together with significant internal payload capacity.

“I think there are options out there when it comes to large-volume aircraft that exist, that are being worked now, that can help us get capability quickly,” former AMC commander Minihan said in his interview with TWZ earlier this year. “And then I think there are concepts out there, like the commercialization of the C-5 fleet, that need to be taken seriously as well and apply commercial standards, commercial supply chain to increase the readiness of it. And between a combination of those two, I think that you can sustain what America needs to project large volume lift.”

There has also been significant overlap in work on future airlift concepts and potential designs for next-generation aerial refueling tankers, something the Air Force has also been hoping to get into service in the 2040s timeframe. The Air Force’s proposed Fiscal Year 2027 budget shifts work on future aerial refueling capabilities from what had been called the Next Generation Air-refueling System (NGAS) to a new effort dubbed Advanced Tanker Systems.

“We are shifting to what’s called Advanced Tanker Systems,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Frank Verdugo, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Budget, had said during a briefing on the rollout of the service’s latest request last month. “It’s looking to offer more options than just NGAS, and to make sure that our future advanced tanker systems are more resilient and can operate in contested environments.”

What this means for when the Air Force might see a next-generation tanker enter service, and how that might factor into NGAL, is unclear. The service’s current aerial refueling plans include more purchases of KC-46s in the coming years, which will increase the total objective fleet size. Older KC-135s are still expected to remain in service for years to come.

The Air Force’s future airlift strategy also clearly has yet to fully solidify, with the C-5s now set to remain in service into Fiscal Year 2050.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is under investigation in Spain over alleged influence peddling and related crimes in the long-running Plus Ultra airline case.

The High Court said on Tuesday that Zapatero’s office in Madrid was searched along with three other premises, adding that the former premier had been summoned to testify on June 2.

The investigation is tied to the 2021 state rescue of Plus Ultra, which received 53 million euros ($62m) through the state holding company SEPI during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The case escalated in late December after several arrests, including businessman Julio Martinez Martinez, known as Julito, who is considered key to understanding the links between Plus Ultra and Zapatero.

Zapatero is alleged to have been the driving force behind the airline’s bailout and is accused of having pressed the Ministry of Transport, then led by Jose Luis Abalos, to approve the rescue.

Suspicion also centres on Analisis Relevante, Julito’s company, which allegedly received the same amount Plus Ultra later paid to Zapatero. Víctor de Aldama, a Spanish businessman involved in other corruption probes, has alleged Zapatero received 10 million euros ($12m) in commissions.

The bailout remained politically controversial because critics questioned both Plus Ultra’s financial viability and the company’s ownership links to Venezuelan businessmen seen as close to the government of then-President Nicolas Maduro, raising concerns about transparency and possible political influence.

The court is examining whether the aid was properly approved and whether any improper lobbying or influence was involved.

Speaking to the newspaper El Pais, the president of the Andalusian regional government, Juanma Moreno, said: “There has never been a serious investigation process, much less an indictment of a former president. This is something unprecedented and will shake up the government.”

The conservative opposition People’s Party has used the case to sharpen its attacks on Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of the Socialist Workers’ Party, to which Zapatero also belongs. Sanchez’s administration is already facing separate corruption probes involving figures close to the prime minister as well as investigations touching his wife and brother.

Zapatero, who governed Spain from 2004 to 2011, has long been a key ally of Sanchez and has also drawn criticism from the opposition over business and political ties with Venezuela after leaving office. He has denied wrongdoing before a parliamentary committee.

The MQ-9 Reaper has become the latest platform to test-fire laser-guided 70mm Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) rockets. The trials, conducted with the U.S. Air Force, involved an MQ-9 employing the APKWS in its original air-to-ground capacity, as well as against aerial targets. While giving MQ-9’s standard APKWS capability against ground targets seems relatively straight forward, putting the air-to-air optimized variant of the rocket on the MQ-9 would open up another option for the counter-uncrewed air system (C-UAS) mission, which has only gained in importance since the war with Iran.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), the manufacturer of the MQ-9, confirmed today that it had conducted recent flight tests of an Air Force MQ-9A armed with APKWS at the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR).

According to the company, “the demonstration featured multiple types and variations of shot profiles, including aerial targets. All shots were executed flawlessly by the MQ-9A crews using laser-guided rockets and a specialized launcher.”

The utility of APKWS against ground targets for the MQ-9 family of drones is abundantly clear. It provides an extremely precise, relatively low-collateral option that can also drastically expand the drone’s magazine depth. Standard APKWS can be used against a large number of ground and surface targets, from lightly armored vehicles to troops under shallow cover.

Redefining Precision with the APKWS® Laser-Guided Rocket

Then there is the air-to-air application. In U.S. military service, the laser-guided air-to-air rocket is known as AGR-20F, a variant of the APKWS II, specifically, also known as the Fixed Wing, Air Launched, Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems Ordnance (FALCO). In its press release, GA-ASI refers to the rocket simply as APKWS. FALCO includes the modified laser-guidance and control section and a proximity fuze that is ideal for taking down smaller aerial targets. FALCO-equipped rockets can also be used against soft ground targets, like standard vehicles and fast boats.

The test campaign was, in part, a response to “real-time technological adaptation requirements,” GA-ASI explained. The urgent need for C-UAS capabilities saw the trials accelerated, reducing the time between planning, integration, and flight test.

“We recognize the value that a system like APKWS brings to the MQ-9 aircraft as a tool to counter one-way attack drones,” said GA-ASI President David R. Alexander. “APKWS can increase the number of weapons the MQ-9A is able to carry, as well as being able to carry new, lower-cost weapons. More than anything, this integration effort underscores how government and industry can collaborate to rapidly test and make new capabilities available to warfighters.”

Exactly how many APKWS a single MQ-9 can carry is unclear, but the standard pods used for these weapons are loaded with seven rounds, as seen loaded on the MQ-9A involved in the live-fire trials. Nineteen-round rocket pods are also a possibility. The MQ-9 in its standard configuration has seven hardpoints, with six main underwing pylons usually utilized for weapons.

The potential of the MQ-9, or MQ-9 variants, to carry APKWS for the C-UAS role is something that GA-ASI brought up last month.

In particular, the Mojave short takeoff and landing (STOL) drone was earmarked for C-UAS, as part of a broader mission scope for the aircraft.

“We’ve shown APKWS mounted to Mojave in a static display at some of the recent U.S. Army shows where Mojave STOL was present,” General Atomics spokesperson C. Mark Brinkley told TWZ in April. “Integrating new weapons is a multi-part process. Fit tests, weight considerations, captive carry for airworthiness, software, [and] actual live-fire.”

“For Mojave STOL and other GA-ASI aircraft, we’re inside that process now with APKWS,” he added. “It’s flying and firing soon, [in] weeks, not months.”

Meanwhile, GA-ASI presented a CGI video showing the Mojave STOL undertaking the rocket-armed drone-hunter mission “somewhere in the Western Pacific.” In this scenario, the Mojave STOL used an EagleEye multi-mode radar, as well as its infrared sensor in the turret under its nose, to spot and track a pair of kamikaze drones clearly modeled on the Iranian-designed Shahed-136 pattern.

Mojave STOL: Real. Rugged. Ready Today.

The drone is then depicted warning a forward U.S. outpost about incoming uncrewed aerial threats through a satellite link. From a ruggedized laptop on the ground, an operator directs that the kamikaze drones be neutralized. A Mojave equipped with two 19-shot rocket pods then moves in and destroys them. The aircraft is later shown being rearmed at a very austere jungle airstrip.

It is noteworthy that, prior to APKWS, MQ-9s and related drones have demonstrated, during testing, their ability to destroy airborne targets using various other weapons, including AIM-9X and Hellfire missiles.

Meanwhile, APKWS has emerged as an increasingly popular choice in the air-to-air C-UAS role since U.S. Air Force F-16s began employing the rockets this way in combat against Houthi drones in 2024. TWZ was first to report on this development. The total number of U.S. military and foreign aircraft platforms cleared to use a variant of the rocket specifically optimized for air-to-air use continues to grow.

There are advantages and disadvantages to using a drone like the MQ-9 or Mojave STOL as a drone-hunter.

Drones of this kind have questionable survivability in high-end operations. The latest conflict with Iran has underscored the vulnerability of the Reaper, in particular.

On the other hand, TWZ has previously highlighted how a drone like the Mojave could be used to provide more localized force protection, including against uncrewed aerial threats, at forward outposts and rear areas in the context of a larger conflict.

The attributes of the Mojave STOL — including its short- and rough-field capabilities — make it especially relevant for a future conflict in the Pacific. Here, it would be able to push its C-UAS and other capabilities far forward, including to island outposts. As for the MQ-9, as used in the live-fire trials, this aircraft is not rough-field-optimized like the Mojave STOL, but can still operate from forward areas with semi-prepared airstrips.

At the same time, the capabilities inherent in the Mojave STOL mean it can also operate from aircraft carriers and big-deck assault ships, opening up the possibility of rocket-armed examples setting up counter-drone screens in maritime scenarios.

When it comes to the air-to-air APKWS, this weapon is well-suited to slower-flying and less dynamic targets. Compared to traditional air-to-air missiles, it comes with a much lower cost-per-engagement and offers greater magazine depth, as you can read about here.

In terms of finding targets, drones like the MQ-9 and Mojave STOL have limited situational awareness compared to traditional air-to-air platforms. They can be fitted with onboard radar with air-to-air modes, which could serve as a primary detection sensor. So, too, could infrared search and track (IRST) sensors, which have been tested extensively on other GA-ASI drones. Thereafter, the MQ-9’s MTS electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) turret would provide target ID and engagement functions. Taking advantage of tactical networks could also provide the drone with critical initial telemetry to aid in the IR/EO sensor’s lock-up.

It’s also worth noting that drones like the MQ-9 or Mojave STOL are not anywhere near as quick to respond to incoming drone threats, and especially run down multiple incoming hostiles in a short period of time, as fighters. On the other hand, they are able to loiter for far longer at a fraction of the cost, providing resilient combat air patrols. They could also perform strike and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) support while on station.

For its part, the MQ-9 offers these capabilities coupled with a higher performance and a more extreme endurance over the Mojave STOL. With hundreds of MQ-9s available, many could be armed with APKWS and tasked to provide anti-drone screening against lower-volume raids across large areas.

Indeed, it could be well imagined how APKWS-armed MQ-9s could have played a valuable role in this context during the conflict with Iran earlier this year, protecting allied Arab gulf states and U.S. installations from incoming one-way attack munitions. An MQ-9 picket line of sorts could have been set up over the Gulf, for instance, thinning incoming drones waves. Or these aircraft could have been perched to the east of major bases, providing a final airborne layer counter-drone defense.

With the MQ-9 and the related MQ-1C Gray Eagle being widely operated by the U.S. military and a number of export customers, the ability to transform these aircraft into rocket-armed drone hunters could be of high interest indeed.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

Iran has publicly outlined key elements of its latest peace proposal to the United States, demanding reparations for war damage, the withdrawal of United States forces from areas near Iran, and the lifting of economic sanctions as part of any broader agreement.

According to comments from Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi, the proposal also calls for the release of frozen Iranian assets, an end to restrictions affecting Iranian trade and shipping, and a halt to hostilities across regional conflict zones including Lebanon.

The proposal emerged after United States President Donald Trump announced that he had paused a planned military strike against Iran to allow additional time for negotiations regarding Tehran’s nuclear programme and regional security issues.

Iran Pushes for Broader Regional Settlement

Tehran’s proposal reflects an effort to expand negotiations beyond nuclear issues into wider geopolitical and security concerns across the Middle East.

Iran appears to be seeking a comprehensive arrangement that addresses not only sanctions and military pressure but also the broader regional balance of power involving Lebanon, the Gulf region, and United States military deployments.

The demand for reparations is particularly significant because it frames the recent conflict as an act requiring compensation for damage caused by joint United States and Israeli military operations.

Iranian officials also continue insisting that economic sanctions and frozen overseas assets remain central obstacles to any sustainable agreement.

United States Signals Openness but Maintains Pressure

Trump stated that there was a strong possibility of reaching a deal that would prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons while avoiding renewed military escalation.

However, Washington has not publicly confirmed any major concessions in negotiations. Reports suggesting the United States may release a portion of frozen Iranian funds or allow limited peaceful nuclear activity under international supervision remain unverified by American officials.

At the same time, United States officials continue denying claims that sanctions on Iranian oil exports would be fully waived during negotiations.

The situation reflects a complex diplomatic balancing act in which Washington seeks to maintain leverage while preventing a wider regional conflict that could destabilise global energy markets and military alliances.

Regional Powers Push for De Escalation

Regional governments including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates reportedly urged Trump to delay military action in hopes that negotiations could succeed.

The involvement of regional mediators highlights growing concern across the Gulf about the economic and security consequences of another large scale conflict involving Iran.

The Strait of Hormuz remains especially important because it serves as one of the world’s most critical shipping routes for oil and energy exports. Any escalation threatening maritime trade could have severe consequences for global energy prices and economic stability.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has reportedly continued acting as a communication channel between Tehran and Washington after previously hosting peace talks between the two sides.

Ongoing Tensions Despite Ceasefire

Although a ceasefire has largely held since the suspension of major hostilities earlier this year, tensions remain extremely high across the region.

Iran and its regional allies continue facing accusations of supporting drone activity and proxy operations targeting Gulf states and Israeli interests. At the same time, Iran maintains that it has survived military pressure without abandoning its nuclear capabilities, missile programmes, or regional alliances.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump previously justified military operations as necessary to weaken Iran’s nuclear programme and reduce its influence through allied militias across the Middle East.

However, analysts note that Iran still retains significant strategic capabilities despite extensive military strikes and economic sanctions.

Analysis

Iran’s latest proposal demonstrates that Tehran is attempting to negotiate from a position of resilience rather than surrender.

By demanding reparations, sanctions relief, and troop withdrawals, Iran is signalling that it expects recognition of its regional influence and strategic endurance despite months of conflict and economic pressure. The proposal also reflects Tehran’s broader objective of reducing the long term military presence of the United States near its borders.

For Washington, the negotiations present a difficult challenge. The United States wants to prevent Iran from advancing toward nuclear weapons capability while avoiding another prolonged regional war that could damage global markets, strain military resources, and increase political pressure at home.

The talks are also shaped by wider geopolitical realities. Gulf states increasingly prioritise regional stability and economic security, making them more supportive of diplomacy than direct military confrontation. Rising energy prices and fears of shipping disruptions further increase international pressure for a negotiated outcome.

At the same time, deep mistrust continues to define relations between both sides. The United States remains sceptical of Iran’s regional ambitions, while Tehran sees sanctions and military deployments as tools of long term containment.

Ultimately, the negotiations reveal a broader struggle over the future balance of power in the Middle East. Even if temporary agreements are reached, the underlying strategic rivalry between Iran, the United States, and Israel is unlikely to disappear in the near future.

With information from Reuters.

Workers represented by a local union say ICE presence would create a climate of fear during the FIFA World Cup 2026.

Workers at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles have decided to go on strike if federal immigration enforcement agents are deployed at the venue when it hosts FIFA World Cup matches in June and July.

The UNITE HERE Local 11 – a labour union representing some 2,000 hospitality employees – on Monday demanded federal guarantees that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would not be used during the matches scheduled at the stadium.

The venue, which will be known as the Los Angeles Stadium during the tournament, will host eight World Cup games, including the opening fixture for the United States on June 12.

Workers at the world’s most expensive sports arena say the ICE presence would create a climate of fear for themselves and for fans.

“ICE should have no role in these games,” said Isaac Martinez, a stadium cook, at a protest outside the venue.

“We do not want to live in fear coming to work, or fear being detained going home.”

“If we do not reach an agreement, my colleagues and I are ready to strike,” Martinez added, speaking on behalf of a workforce composed largely of food and beverage concession staff.

ICE has led the charge in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Human rights groups have condemned the agency for its conduct during raids in several US cities, including Los Angeles last year.

In early 2026, ICE agents fatally shot two American protesters in Minneapolis.

Workers on Monday also raised alarms over FIFA’s accreditation process, which requires employees to submit personal data before the tournament, which runs from June 11 to July 19 across the US, Canada and Mexico.

“We ask FIFA not to share our information with ICE agencies, foreign countries, or intelligence services,” worker Yolanda Fierro said.

Protesters carrying plastic balls and signs reading “Kick ICE Out of the World Cup” drew support from Tom Steyer, a Democratic candidate in California’s gubernatorial race.

ICE’s mandate is border control, the financier-turned-politician said.

“Can anyone explain what that has to do with the World Cup? Nothing,” Steyer said.

“How is it possible that this is the agency that is going to be here when we know in fact they’re an absolute threat, a lawless threat, to workers in California?”

On Tuesday, voters in Pennsylvania’s third congressional district — which encompasses much of Philadelphia’s urban core — will decide what kind of progressive champion they want representing them in the United States House of Representatives.

Four candidates are vying for the Democratic nomination in Tuesday’s primary. They include state Representative Chris Rabb, state Senator Sharif Street, pediatric surgeon Ala Stanford and lawyer Shaun Griffith.

On the whole, all four campaigns are markedly progressive, focusing on issues such as expanding healthcare, affordability and housing.

But supporters say the race exposes the fault lines within the Democratic Party as it seeks to rally opposition to Republican President Donald Trump in the 2026 midterm cycle.

Marc Stier, who served as the director of the Pennsylvania Policy Center, a progressive think tank, until earlier this year, noted that there are few differences in the candidates’ platforms.

“They’re all opposed to Donald Trump. They’re all talking about civil rights, healthcare and voting rights,” said Stier, who backs Rabb. “So the differences aren’t that great.”

But the race has drawn nationwide attention, including endorsements from top Democrats.

For Stier and other local experts and leaders, the divisions come down to a duel between ideals and pragmatism — and how the candidates wish to be perceived along that spectrum.

A Democratic stronghold

The primary is highly symbolic for the Democratic Party. Pennsylvania’s third congressional district is considered one of the most left-leaning areas in the US.

According to The Cook Political Report, the district was 40 percentage points more Democratic than the national average in the most recent presidential election.

That makes it a key party stronghold in a pivotal swing state: Pennsylvania has alternated between voting Democratic and Republican in the last four presidential races, most recently siding with Trump.

Since 2016, Democrat Dwight Evans has represented the area. But in June, he announced he would not seek reelection after holding congressional office for a decade.

That opened a gateway to a heated primary, with no incumbent to lead the pack.

Street, Rabb and Stanford are considered the frontrunners. No independent polling has been conducted in the race, but surveys gathered by the candidates or their supporters show a volatile three-way contest.

An April poll sponsored by 314 Action, a group supporting Stanford, found the surgeon leading with 28 percent of voter support, followed by Rabb at 23 percent and Street at 16 percent.

Meanwhile, a November survey sponsored by Street found the state senator ahead with 22 percent support, ahead of Rabb at 17 percent and Stanford at 11.

A three-way race

Each of the three candidates has positioned themselves as the Democrat who will shake up the status quo and deliver results.

“The same old politics and the same old politicians are not going to cut it,” Stanford declared at a forum hosted by WHYY public radio in February.

“We need people who step up in a storm, who lead when others wilt away, and that’s what I’ve done and will do for this city.”

There are differences, however, in how the candidates are presenting themselves.

Stanford is campaigning as the political outsider whose public health advocacy offered critical leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is her first political run.

Street, on the other hand, is seen as the political veteran backed by party leadership. He first entered the state Senate in 2017, becoming the first Muslim elected to the chamber, and his father was a former Philadelphia mayor.

Then there’s Rabb, a democratic socialist who has positioned himself as the firebrand progressive in the mould of New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

He, too, has served in government since 2017, representing northwest Philadelphia in the state House of Representatives.

All three have embraced progressive rallying cries, such as increasing affordable housing, widening access to healthcare, and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency accused of racial profiling and violent tactics.

But Street has set himself apart by wedding his reputation to the Democratic establishment. From 2022 to 2025, he served as chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.

“Street has very strong relationships with the political machine here: the party establishment, the ward leaders and committee people, and other legislators,” Stier said.

Supporters weigh in

But amid the frustration with the Democratic Party, particularly after its defeat in the 2024 presidential race, Street’s opponents have sought to distance themselves from the left-wing establishment.

“Rabb clearly says his goal is to push the envelope on issues and build public support for bolder ideas than Street is likely to push forward,” said Stier.

But Stier acknowledges that some voters see progressives like Rabb as all talk and no action.

“As my ward leader says, Rabb is one of those people that makes a lot of speeches but doesn’t get much done,” Stier said.

He dismisses such remarks as hackneyed. “It’s the kind of standard attack that is made by the establishment against people who are very outspoken and don’t always get along with the party establishment in Harrisburg.”

But it is the kind of argument Lou Agre, a ward leader and retired lawyer, sympathises with.

Formerly the president of the Philadelphia Metal Trades Council, Agre is backing Street in the upcoming election. He is not convinced that Rabb’s progressive positions can lead to tangible results.

“Street has always stood behind organised labour,” Agre said.

To Agre, Street represents experience, while Rabb is heavy on rhetoric. “This is a race between a guy with a record and another guy who has a platform that he’s using to get a point across,” he explained.

Duelling endorsements

In many ways, local leaders say that the difference between Tuesday’s primary candidates comes back to familiar arguments that often divide centrist and progressive Democrats.

Those labels have, in part, translated into endorsements — and behind-the-scenes party battles.

The news outlet Axios reported this month that Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro privately warned local building trade unions that attacking Stanford could inadvertently help Rabb, who has been critical of the governor.

Rabb, meanwhile, has earned the endorsements of some of the country’s most prominent progressives, including Ocasio-Cortez, Representative Ilhan Omar and Senator Chris Van Hollen.

Street, by contrast, has become the candidate of choice for some of Philadelphia’s biggest power brokers, including local labour unions, city council members and Mayor Cherelle Parker.

For her part, Stanford has scored the endorsement of the outgoing congressman, Evans, whom all three hope to succeed.

Tuesday’s primary will be key. The winner will almost certainly prevail in the general election in November. No Republicans have come forward with a bid.

But with the race split narrowly between the three candidates, the outcome may ultimately boil down to turnout, and which candidate can rally the most supporters.

“If people come out to vote, if turnout is high in North and West Philadelphia, parts of the southwest and those neighbourhoods, then Sharif will win,” Agre said of his preferred candidate. “If not, who knows what will happen?”

He described Stanford, whom some have depicted as a middle ground between Street and Rabb, as a complicating factor in the race.

“Ala Stanford’s the wild card. Is she fading, or does she still have her slice of the electorate? I don’t know,” Agre said.

Stier, meanwhile, acknowledged that each of the three candidates has a path to victory.

“There are pockets of support for all these candidates,” Stier noted. But he thinks the more moderate approach of Street and Stanford may open a path for victory for Rabb.

“The winner of this race is not going to have a majority. Someone’s going to win this race with 35 to 40 percent of the vote,” he explained.

“And I think Rabb’s campaign is expecting that Stanford and Street will split the more centrist vote, and he will get all the progressive votes, and he’ll run to victory that way.”

Victor Wembanyama outduelled Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to lead the San Antonio Spurs to an epic 122-115 double-overtime triumph over the Oklahoma City Thunder in game one of the NBA Western Conference finals.

Wembanyama scored 41 points and pulled down 24 rebounds in the thrilling game on Monday. He forced the second overtime with a dazzling three-pointer and delivered nine of the Spurs’ 14 points in the second overtime as San Antonio handed the defending champions their first defeat of these playoffs.

“It was, like, sheer willpower,” 22-year-old Wembanyama told broadcaster NBC after the game.

The French star played 49 minutes, producing a pair of dunks and a crucial block late in the second overtime to seal the victory.

With the triumph at Oklahoma City’s Paycom Center, the Spurs stole home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series that will send the winners to the NBA Finals.

Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP motivates Wembanyama

Wembanyama admitted the sight of Thunder star Gilgeous-Alexander receiving his second straight Most Valuable Player trophy before the game made the clash more personal “for sure”.

He earned Defensive Player of the Year honours but finished third in the MVP voting announced on Sunday.

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said the sight of Gilgeous-Alexander lifting the MVP award “100 percent” motivated his star.

“He’s competitive,” Johnson said. “If you’re a competitor and you see another competitor get rewarded with what you want.”

But Wembanyama said the main message of the night was that the young Spurs “are ready to go in any environment, in any place, against anybody”.

“And even though we’ve still got a lot to learn, our effort should be over anybody else’s and tonight we were relentless.”

Rookie Dylan Harper, starting in place of injured De’Aaron Fox, scored 24 points and snagged seven steals for San Antonio. Stephon Castle added 17 points and 11 assists as the Spurs extended their season dominance of the Thunder.

Oklahoma City, trying to become the first team to repeat as champions since Golden State in 2017 and 2018, piled up a league-best 64 regular-season wins but dropped four of five contests against the Spurs, who won 62 regular-season games to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2019.

Gilgeous-Alexander was limited to 24 points, shaking off a sluggish start to key the Thunder’s bid to rally from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit.

‘Wasn’t able to bring my best game’

Alex Caruso scored 31 points to lead the Thunder and Jalen Williams returned from a six-game injury absence to score 26.

Oklahoma City trailed by 10 in the fourth quarter, but the Thunder clawed back, and it was knotted at 99-99 with 33.2 seconds left when Wembanyama spun in for a basket that put San Antonio up 101-99.

Gilgeous-Alexander then tied it up with a layup and Chet Holmgren blocked Wembanyama’s potential game-winner at the buzzer.

Gilgeous-Alexander’s dunk put the Thunder up 108-105 with 57.6 seconds left in the first overtime.

But Wembanyama drilled a transition three-pointer to tie it, and they went to the second extra session.

“I know what my teammates are capable of, what we’re capable of as a team when we bring it,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s just unfortunate I wasn’t able to bring my best game tonight.

“But that’s how it goes sometimes … you’ve got to roll with the punches, don’t get discouraged and stay true to who you are.”

The Thunder, who swept the Phoenix Suns and LeBron James’s Los Angeles Lakers in the first two rounds, will try to bounce back when they host game two on Wednesday before the series shifts to San Antonio for games three and four on Friday and Saturday.

The series winners will face either the New York Knicks or the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.

Police fired tear gas at protesters in La Paz as miners and unions marched on the presidential palace, demanding that President Rodrigo Paz step down over a worsening fuel shortage and economic crisis.

When the ancient Greek historian Thucydides chronicled the Peloponnesian War, he did not write only about the clash between Athens and Sparta. He documented the fate of the small city-states caught between them in 431BC. Corcyra and Potidaea, neutral territories with no grand strategy of their own, were crushed, annexed, or forced into allegiance as the two great powers dragged the entire Greek world into conflict.

Thucydides famously wrote that it was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable. Yet for the smaller states, there was no trap to escape. There was only destruction when great powers fought. This forgotten truth frames the most dangerous bilateral relationship on earth today.

When President Xi Jinping invoked the Thucydides Trap during his May 2026 summit with President Donald Trump in Beijing, he framed it as a question between two great powers asking whether China and the US can rise above the so-called Thucydides Trap and create a new framework for major-power relations. The concept was popularized by Harvard political scientist Graham Allison, who identified sixteen historical cases over the past five hundred years where a rising power challenged an established one, with twelve ending in war. Allison’s framework casts China as the rising Athens and the US as the established Sparta. It centers on whether these two great powers can avoid destroying each other, while leaving less examined what happens to the smaller states caught in between. At the summit, President Xi warned that if mishandled the two countries could clash or even enter into conflict, leading the entire China-US relationship into a highly dangerous scenario. He emphasized that the Taiwan issue is the most critical matter in their bilateral relation, implicitly acknowledging that miscalculation could materialize the very trap he warned against.

The competition between the US and China has grown far beyond trade into something that locks other countries into its orbit. What started as a tariff dispute has become overlapping conflicts across technology, finance, energy, and data governance, each one reinforcing the others and closing off neutral ground. This creates a situation close to a legal Catch-22 where China’s Ministry of Commerce used its blocking statute for the first time in May 2026 against US sanctions and put multinational companies in a position where following Washington’s extraterritorial rules meant breaking Beijing’s laws and following Beijing’s rules meant breaking Washington’s. This is not a byproduct of the competition but is becoming the competition itself.

US bans on advanced semiconductors and AI chips combined with Chinese limits on gallium, germanium, and rare earths along with rival payment systems like China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), which provides cross-border payment services to more than 5,000 banking institutions across 190 countries and regions as an alternative to Western banking rails and clashing visions of internet sovereignty have built up into a tightly connected system where doing business globally increasingly means either choosing a side or paying escalating costs for staying neutral, with the heaviest pressure in tech and finance while other domains retain more space for hedging. These costs hit hardest not the US or China but the countries and firms that have no power over either. China-US trade, technology, and regulatory pressures have repeatedly spilled over into third countries, and Southeast Asia has often been caught in the middle. Vietnam has faced US scrutiny over goods assembled with Chinese-linked inputs, Cambodia experienced significant trade diversion during the 2018 US-China trade war, Malaysia came under pressure to tighten controls on semiconductor shipments, and Singapore has had to navigate the compliance burdens created by competing US and Chinese rules.

More broadly, small states across the globe must navigate between two major powers, leaning toward China for economic reasons and toward the US for security reasons. ASEAN has long relied on non-alignment and hedging to preserve, and of course expand, room to maneuver if possible, but intensifying US-China competition is narrowing that room. Some states have turned rivalry into opportunity. Vietnam has attracted manufacturing shifts and foreign investment as companies diversify supply chains away from China. India, Gulf states, and others actively play both sides or carve strategic niches, extracting economic benefits while maintaining security partnerships. Yet these adaptive strategies have limits, and the space for maneuvering narrows as competition intensifies, leaving smaller states with growing pressure, higher compliance costs, and reduced autonomy.

The relationship between China and the US remains the world’s most dangerous bilateral relationship not because President Xi and President Trump might make war on each other but because small countries worldwide will be the first casualties when that war comes or even when competition intensifies. The real Thucydides Trap is not whether America and China can avoid war with each other but whether small states can survive the rivalry even if both of them somehow manage peaceful coexistence. As fence sitting becomes tense and the legal arms race traps countries in impossible dilemmas, more countries face choices that progressively erode the strategic autonomy they have long relied on. Thucydides wrote about the Peloponnesian War with eyes on all participants including the allies of Athens and Sparta who became victims of the trap. The lesson from ancient Greece is very clear that when great powers fight the weak do not survive, and the stories of Corcyra and Potidaea matter just as much as the struggle between Athens and Sparta.

When Athens and Sparta finally went to war, the first thing that died was the freedom of everyone caught between them. The US and China may or may not escape their trap but regional powers, developing nations, and many other small countries already know themselves to be inside it.

Foad Izadi of Tehran University says US President Trump’s repeated threats of renewed full-scale war are a sign of weakness, coming after 37 days of US bombing failed to force Iran into capitulation.

In the northwest corner of the United States, Oregon has fostered a reputation as a left-wing stronghold. Since the 1980s, the Beaver State has consistently elected Democrats in most of its statewide races.

But even in a comfortably blue state like Oregon, the fight to hold onto political power can be competitive.

On Tuesday, the state will hold its latest primary races, with each of the major parties picking its nominees for November’s midterm elections.

But a packed field of roughly 25 contenders, both Democrats and Republicans, is jockeying to replace Tina Kotek as she seeks a second term as governor.

Tuesday’s vote could also serve as an economic bellwether. Voters will weigh in on a referendum that could repeal a state fuel tax, as the US-Israel war on Iran heaps strain on consumers at the gas pump.

Who is running? And which races have attracted the most attention? We tackle those questions and more in this brief explainer.

What time do polls open?

Polls will open on Tuesday at 7am Pacific US time (15:00 GMT) and close at 8pm (4:00 GMT).

Who is running for governor?

Incumbent Governor Kotek is making a bid for a second four-year term. But she is fielding competition from dozens of other candidates, including nine Democrats.

Going into the Democratic primary, Kotek is the frontrunner. Her challengers include a children’s book author, the leader of an Indigenous nonprofit and an inventor who hopes to address water shortages.

Even more contenders are angling for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

Among them is State Senator Christine Drazan, who ran against Kotek in 2022. Drazan has been critical of President Donald Trump’s tariff policies but supportive of his tough stance on immigration.

Also on the Republican ballot is former NBA player Chris Dudley, who was the Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2010. He had the smallest losing margin of any Republican candidate in decades.

State Representative Ed Diehl, meanwhile, is hoping to capitalise on the momentum he gained after leading the charge to block Kotek’s gas tax and fee increase package.

What are the opinion polls saying about the governor’s race?

Polls show Drazan leading the race to receive the Republican nomination, with 35 percent support.

Kotek is likely to grab an easy victory in the Democratic primary, with none of her opponents polling close behind.

What about the Senate race?

Another Democratic incumbent attempting to hold onto his seat is US Senator Jeff Merkley.

The 69-year-old, who began his career working on affordable housing, is running for a fourth consecutive six-year term. He first took office in 2009.

But while the senator faces eight rivals on the campaign trail – one Democrat and seven Republicans – his seat is considered relatively safe.

He is expected to win the Democratic primary on Tuesday and become the frontrunner for November’s general election.

What other positions are up for grabs?

All six of Oregon’s members of the US House of Representatives are running for re-election and will face the primary process on Tuesday.

Five are Democrats. One, Cliff Bentz, is a Republican, and he represents Oregon’s second congressional district, a sprawling area encompassing the entire eastern half of the state.

Also on Tuesday, voters will choose their party representatives in races for the state Senate and House.

The election will also determine a nonpartisan commissioner to lead the state Bureau of Labor and Industries.

Why does this race matter?

Oregon is a closed primary state, meaning that voters choose nominees only for the party they are registered under.

Given the state’s left-wing bent, the winners of the statewide Democratic primaries will likely emerge as frontrunners in November’s midterm races.

Still, there is room for surprise. According to state voter rolls, less than 25 percent of Oregonians are registered Republicans. But only 32 percent are registered Democrats, with the largest proportion of voters identifying as “non-affiliated” with any party.

Primary races in right-leaning areas like Oregon’s second congressional district could signify how closely the state’s Republican politicians want to align with President Trump.

Voters will also have a chance to vote on the referendum that could repeal the gas tax increase on Tuesday’s ballot.

Democrats in the state legislature raised Oregon’s gas tax to pay for roads and supplement the state’s transportation budget.

But as the US-Israel war on Iran causes gas prices to skyrocket, Republicans have used the referendum to appeal to voters on the cost of living. Gas is now averaging about 80 cents more in Oregon.

In addition, there are nearly 100 local measures sprinkled on ballots across the state, tailored to different counties. Many will focus on funding local fire departments, schools and libraries.

When are results expected?

Preliminary results are expected on Tuesday evening, shortly after polls close at 8pm local time.

But ballots will continue to arrive after election day, as mail-in votes and provisional ballots are counted, and some races may not be officially called until days later.

Caracas, May 17, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The Venezuelan government turned over former minister and diplomatic envoy Alex Saab to the US to face charges on Saturday.

The executive led by Acting President Delcy Rodríguez announced the “deportation of Colombian citizen Alex Saab Morán” through a statement issued by the Administrative Service for Identification, Migration, and Immigration (SAIME).

The statement said the measure was adopted “taking into consideration that [Saab] is implicated in various crimes in the United States of America, as is publicly known and widely reported.”

According to local media reports, Saab was transferred under custody from the El Helicoide detention center in Caracas to Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía, where a US government airplane was waiting for him. The operation reportedly involved agents from the FBI and the CIA, under the supervision of the US Justice and State Departments.

EFE confirmed Saab’s arrival at Opa-locka Airport in Miami-Dade County at 9:15 p.m. local time, escorted by Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) personnel. Footage of his arrival showed him placing his fingerprints on a biometric scanner upon entering the airport terminal. 

US authorities have yet to issue a public statement on Saab’s detention. The charges against Saab reportedly include criminal conspiracy, money laundering, and bribery of Venezuelan officials. According to the indictment filed in the Southern District Court of Florida, he is accused of having falsified documents and used intermediaries to facilitate international transfers of public funds.

Rumors of Saab’s detention in Caracas, allegedly at Washington’s request, began to circulate in February, with Venezuelan authorities offering no confirmation or denial on his status and whereabouts.

A Colombian-born businessman who later received Venezuelan citizenship, Saab was previously detained on US charges in 2020, during a plane refueling stop in Cape Verde while on a trip to Tehran to negotiate food and fuel imports amid shortages in Venezuela. He was charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Saab’s arrest and subsequent forced departure to US soil saw the Nicolás Maduro administration launch a significant effort to denounce the “kidnapping” of a government diplomatic envoy and demand his release. The “Free Alex Saab” campaign saw Venezuelan authorities and international solidarity movements organize multiple demonstrations and digital campaigns demanding the envoy’s liberation from US custody.

In 2021, Venezuelan National Assembly President and lead negotiator Jorge Rodríguez suspended a dialogue process with the Venezuelan opposition in Mexico following what he described as “the brutal aggression against Saab’s diplomatic status,” insisting at the time that Venezuela would exhaust “all available legal and diplomatic resources” to secure his release.

The Maduro government secured Saab’s return in December 2023, with US President Joe Biden granting him a presidential pardon, as part of a prisoner exchange. Venezuelan authorities released 10 US citizens, including two former Green Berets who had taken part in a failed mercenary incursion. The Venezuelan government hailed Saab’s release as a “victory of truth and dignity.”

He was appointed president of the International Center for Productive Investment (CIIP) in January 2024 and minister of industry in October 2024. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez replaced him in both posts in January, three weeks after the US military strikes and kidnapping of President Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.

Saab’s wife, Camilla Fabri, was likewise removed from her government responsibilities as communications vice-minister and head of the “Return to the Homeland” migrant return program.

During his prior detention, Saab’s legal team argued that the Barranquilla-born businessman had acquired Venezuelan nationality and was entitled to diplomatic immunity as a government special envoy. His Venezuelan citizenship allowed him not only to serve as minister, but also to vote in the 2024 presidential elections. Under Article 69 of Venezuela’s Constitution, Venezuelan citizens cannot be extradited.

However, the SAIME communiqué refers to Saab exclusively as a Colombian citizen, without explaining the legal procedure for his removal from the country. Likewise, the statement frames the move as a “deportation” rather than an extradition, although Saab was immediately flown to US territory. At the time of writing, there has been no judicial sentence publicly issued to approve the surrender of the former minister to US authorities.

Edited by Ricardo Vaz in Caracas.

Taylor Tinsley has pitched 203 innings and accounted for 30 of UCLA’s 50 wins this season.

As one of three star veterans on a team featuring younger and less experienced talent, Tinsley has embraced a heavy workload and the inevitable miscues that can go along with it.

She opened NCAA tournament play surrendering 10 runs and relied on her teammates to rally for a walk-off win, but Tinsley rebounded with grace while earning back-to-back victories that propelled UCLA to a regional win.

Tinsley is quick to deflect praise to her teammates, especially record-setting hitters Megan Grant and Jordan Woolery.

UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez struggled to contain her emotions when asked about the influence Tinsley had on the program after Sunday’s win, so Grant filled in.

“Everything Taylor said about us as a team, we try to reciprocate it back to her,” Grant said. “We know what she is doing for us. She is sacrificing everything for this team, and especially on offense, we try to give back as much as possible.”

Tinsley, who has led the Bruins in ERA for three consecutive seasons, earned back-to-back All-Big Ten honors and helped lead UCLA to the Women’s College World Series last season.

She has spent four years at UCLA competing alongside hyper-competitive, intense athletes such as Maya Brady, niece of NFL legend Tom Brady, and more light-hearted players, including Woolery and Grant, who bring joy and laughter to their work. All her teammates, of course, expect to win.

“This year, our team is fun and relaxed; we like to be goofy, ” Tinsley said.

Tinsley credits the team for her success on the mound. She said one of her proudest moments was watching Grant and Woolery break UCLA and NCAA hitting records. Taylor, Grant and Woolery were selected in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League draft.

Before they turn pro, the seniors are trying to win a national championship.

“I definitely think we’ve left our mark on this program in general,” Tinsley said. “We entered as freshmen with a legendary senior class. We had Megan Framo, Aaliyah Jordan, and I even got to play with Maya Brady for two years, so I learned a lot from them.”

The alumni, some of whom attended the Bruins’ NCAA regional-clinching win over South Carolina on Sunday, still have an influence on her today.

Inouye-Perez said Tinsley has put the program on her back since her sophomore year. She inspires her teammates, including freshman pitcher Natalie Cable.

The pitchers are still learning, but their coach is pleased with their commitment to improving and learning from Tinsley.

“I am very fortunate that they have a positive attitude and work hard every day and are ready to do whatever they can to help the team,” Inouye-Perez said of the pitching rotation.

After Friday’s walk-off win over California Baptist, Inouye-Perez trusted Tinsley to shake off one very bad inning to pitch on Saturday and Sunday against South Carolina and she delivered.

Now the Bruins will host Central Florida, which upset regional host Florida State, for a super regional series starting Friday with a ticket to the Women’s College World Series on the line.

Tinsley said her training prepared her to let go of Friday’s game and play her best the rest of the weekend.

“It comes with pitching. Just taking one pitch at a time,” Tinsley said. “We are focused on where our feet are and not worried about the past or future.”

Baseball wraps up record-setting regular season

The No. 1 UCLA baseball team earned a 6-1 win over Washington on Saturday during the Bruins’ regular-season finale at Husky Ballpark, sealing a 2-1 series victory.

UCLA (48-6, 28-2 Big Ten) set a school record for regular-season wins, surpassing the 2019 team’s 47 victories.

The Bruins won every regular-season series and were the only team in the country to win at least two of three games every weekend. UCLA also set a school record for most conference wins.

Top MLB draft prospect Roch Cholowsky led UCLA with 21 home runs, while Will Gasparino smashed 19 and Mulivai Levu added 16. Roman Martin, meanwhile, led the Bruins with a .340 batting average.

Logan Reddemann (8-0), Michael Barnett (6-0) and Wylan Moss (5-1) pitched the most innings and contributed heavily to UCLA’s success.

The Bruins clinched the Big Ten tournament No. 1 seed and will open play Friday in Omaha, Neb.

Rice and Jaquez are thriving in WNBA

The Tempo’s Kiki Rice drives past the Sparks’ Kelsey Plum at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday.

(Harry How / Getty Images)

All six of UCLA’s WNBA draft picks made opening day rosters and they’ve all earned game minutes.

Chicago Sky’s Gabriela Jaquez and Toronto Tempo’s Kiki Rice are off to the hottest starts.

After Marisa Ingemi wrote about Rice’s strong start with Toronto (2-2), Rice started her first game and helped the Tempo defeat the Sparks. Rice scored a season-high 19 points with five rebounds, two assists and no turnovers.

Jaquez, however, had the bigger game Sunday. She is the only former Bruin to start every contest for her WNBA team so far this season. She had 20 points, eight rebounds, one assist and one steal in 32 minutes during the Sky’s (3-1) 86-71 road win over the potent Minnesota Lynx (2-2).

She earned player of the game honors and was recognized by coach Tyler Marsh in the postgame locker room.

“Her teammates love her, the coaching staff loves her,” Marsh said of Jaquez. “It’s very hard for me to take her off the court, even when she’s gasping for air. She just finds ways to be effective on both ends of the floor.”

In case you missed it

UCLA softball pummels South Carolina to advance to NCAA super regional

‘We got really lucky:’ Toronto Tempo say UCLA star Kiki Rice has not disappointed

UCLA softball rolls past South Carolina, Megan Grant extends NCAA home-run record lead

UCLA surrenders 10 runs in an inning, rallies to win NCAA regional opener on walk-off

UCLA rewards national title-winning coach Cori Close with contract extension

Inside the Rose Bowl’s $30 million makeover: Will it help the stadium stay relevant?

UCLA senior Megan Grant breaks NCAA home-run record but Bruins fall in Big Ten title game

UCLA senior Megan Grant ties NCAA softball home run record; Bruins reach title game

Have something Bruin?

Do you have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future UCLA newsletter? Email newsletters editor Houston Mitchell at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Tehran says Iranian leaders are ‘projecting defiance’ and rejecting ‘public pressure’ from the US.

Ukraine has provided imagery of its first homegrown glide bomb, which it says is now ready for combat. Developments by both sides in the Ukraine conflict underscore the fact that standoff munitions of all kinds are in particularly high demand, to counter the increasing density and lethality of enemy air defenses.

According to the Ukrainian Minister of Defense, Mykhailo Fedorov, the development of the weapon — the name of which hasn’t been revealed — took 17 months. A product of Brave1, the defense tech arm of the Ukrainian government, the weapon is said to carry a 250-kilogram (551-pound) warhead, to which is attached a wing kit and some kind of guidance system, the nature of which has not been disclosed.

In a statement today, Brave1 said the glide bomb “has completed all required trials,” and has now been declared ready for combat. The weapon is said to be able to hit targets “dozens of kilometers behind enemy lines.”

With the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense having placed a first order, pilots are now said to be training with the weapon, meaning that combat deployment is “imminent.”

Ukrainian authorities claim that the weapon was designed from scratch and was “not copied from Western or Soviet systems.”

An accompanying video shows the release of the weapon from a Ukrainian Air Force Su-24 Fencer swing-wing attack jet. The bomb is then seen with its range-extending wings deployed; interestingly, these are seen extended immediately after release. Otherwise, the weapon also features notably large cruciform tailfins. The apparent lugs seen under the body of the munitions suggest that, like Russian glide bombs, the weapon ‘topples over’ to assume the correct profile before the wings deploy.

We have reached out to Brave1 for more details on the glide bomb.

It is also worth noting that a previous video, from August 2024, showed another type of air-launched munition, apparently also homegrown, being released from a Ukrainian Su-24, as you can read about here.

Again, we have reached out to Brave1 to better understand if there is any relationship between these weapons. However, the development of the new weapon officially began in December of 2024, several months after the mystery munition appeared.

As for the Ukrainian Air Force, the new glide bomb should provide an important addition to Western-supplied weapons in this class.

Ukraine already employs the Joint Direct Attack Munition-Extended Range (JDAM-ER) and AASM-250 Hammer bomb supplied by the United States and France, respectively. The Ukrainian Air Force also makes extensive use of the U.S.-supplied Small Diameter Bomb (SDB), which also has pop-out wings.

At the same time, the new weapon helps Ukraine match similar weapons that are proliferating in the Russian inventory. The Russian Aerospace Forces have, for several years now, been making extensive use of increasingly larger dumb bombs fitted with add-on precision guidance kits. Russia has also been working to refine its glide bombs, making them more effective than the original, fairly crude designs.

Based on Ukraine’s experience with its expanding roster of longer-range kamikaze drones and glide bombs currently in service with both sites, a satellite navigation-assisted inertial guidance system would be used to direct the glide bomb to a specific set of coordinates. Additional seekers are possible, but not probable at this time.

It is not clear if the new Ukrainian weapon has any kind of powerplant. Ukraine has already been employing multiple types of jet-powered kamikaze drones. More importantly, Ukraine’s French-supplied Hammer precision-guided bombs also feature a rocket booster. This feature is of unique utility for Ukraine, which often slings its glide bombs via pop-up launch profiles from low level executed by its fighter and attack aircraft. This is due to the extremely heavy air defenses near the front lines. Even without a motor, however, the weapon provides an important capability and one that is increasingly important as stocks of Western-supplied munitions are eroded or their supply is otherwise interrupted.

A video compilation provides a look at the French-made Hammer munition being used by Ukrainian Su-25 attack jets, including low-level toss bombing:

ЖАБА. ЗСУ Су-25 . З Новим роком , друзі !

We will likely have to wait to see the weapon in action before establishing whether it can be launched from platforms other than the Su-24, although this would seem almost guaranteed.

While Ukraine’s Su-24s are the country’s launch platforms for stealthy Storm Shadow and SCALP-EG air-launched cruise missiles provided by the United Kingdom and France, its MiG-29 Fulcrums and Su-27 Flankers have been the primary carriers for other Western-supplied air-launched precision air-to-ground munitions like the JDAM-ER, SDB, and Hammer bombs, as well as AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM). The size of the weapon would allow it to be carried by any of these platforms, as well as Su-25 Frogfoot attack jets, which also deliver Hammers.

Whatever the launch platforms and the new weapon’s exact capabilities, its biggest advantage is that it offers a domestic source of air-launched precision-guided munitions with some kind of standoff range. The longer-range Storm Shadows and SCALP-EGs were provided only in relatively limited quantities to Ukraine. They can only be launched by the Su-24 and are reserved for more strategic targets.

Meanwhile, the JDAM-ER has never been in widespread use with the U.S. military or other foreign armed forces, so the quantities available are questionable.

To help meet the shortfall, the U.S. Air Force launched a project to develop a new, relatively low-cost precision-guided air-launched standoff munition focused primarily on meeting Ukrainian demands for weapons of this kind. In August of last year, it was reported that Washington had approved the transfer of thousands of these Extended Range Attack Munitions (ERAM) to Ukraine. As well as the Rusty Dagger from Zone 5 Technologies, CoAspire developed the Rapidly Adaptable Affordable Cruise Missile (RAACM) under the ERAM program. 

However, evidence of these weapons being employed by Ukraine has yet to emerge.

There is also the fact that a domestically developed standoff weapon can be used without restriction against any kind of target. Previously, longer-ranged Western-supplied weapons have come with restrictions on their employment. As a result, Ukrainian officials have repeatedly and publicly called for more flexibility in striking targets inside Russia proper. This became especially critical during the Ukrainian incursion into the latter country’s Kursk region.

The apparent rapid pace of development of Ukraine’s first homegrown glide bomb suggests that this is an urgent requirement and one that may well have been driven by problems in the availability of equivalent Western munitions. With that in mind, combined with claims that the weapon is now ready for combat, we may not have to wait too long for evidence of it being used in action.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

The Trump administration has frequently accused US allies of failing to live up to mutual defence obligations.

The United States has said it will not take part in a joint board for continental defence with Canada, depicting the country as failing to live up to its defence obligations.

On Monday, US Undersecretary of Defense Elbridge Colby wrote on social media that his department would halt its involvement in the Permanent Joint Board on Defense to “reassess” the forum’s benefits.

The board dates back to World War II and has served as a forum for regional security. But relations with Canada have grown strained since US President Donald Trump returned to office for a second term in 2025.

“A strong Canada that prioritizes hard power over rhetoric benefits us all. Unfortunately, Canada has failed to make credible progress on its defense commitments,” Colby wrote on X.

“We can no longer avoid the gaps between rhetoric and reality. Real powers must sustain our rhetoric with shared defense and security responsibilities.”

The announcement is the latest instance of the Trump administration chiding Western allies for what the president believes is an overreliance on US military power.

Allied countries have largely refuted his claims, arguing that they are ramping up military spending and taking steps to take greater control over regional security.

Just last year, at a NATO summit in The Hague, nearly every member state agreed to increase defence spending to 5 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP). Spain petitioned to be excluded from the agreement, though.

Canada, under Prime Minister Mark Carney, was among the countries committing to the increased spending.

Of the 5 percent earmarked for defence, 3.5 percent would go to bolstering Canada’s “core military capabilities”, Carney’s government said. The rest would go to security-related expenses, including port improvements, emergency preparedness and other resources.

Since taking office as prime minister in March 2025, Carney has been an outspoken supporter of lessening Canada’s dependence on the US’s military and economy.

In a speech this year, he outlined a vision in which “middle powers” like Canada banded together to sidestep the current “era of great power rivalry”, a veiled reference to countries like the US, Russia and China.

While the US and Canada are neighbours, Trump’s second presidency has resulted in fraying bonds between the two countries, even beyond matters of security.

Trump has accused Canada of pursuing unfair trade policies and failing to crack down on the illicit traffic of people and drugs across the border, though critics have questioned the legitimacy of these claims.

To force Canada to comply with his policies, the US president has pursued an aggressive tariff regimen to tax cross-border imports.

Trump has suggested in the past that Canada could avoid such penalties by ceding its sovereignty and becoming the US’s 51st state.

“Cooler and wiser brains are needed to preserve a close alliance w/ our neighbor,” US Republican Representative Don Bacon said in a social media post on Monday, criticising the decision to pull out of the defence forum with Canada.

“This all started w/ taunts of ‘Canada will be the 51st state’ and ‘their Prime Minister will be the 51st governor’. The insults gained us nothing but animosity that cost us economically and now militarily.”

The US, Canada and Mexico are set to negotiate an updated version of a regional free trade agreement, known as the USMCA, later this year.