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Navy and Marine Corps leaders have recently come to the agreement that the Corps needs 40 amphibious ships to meet its goal of keeping three Marine Expeditionary Units (MEU) deployed at the same time. However, at the moment, the Navy has only 31 of these vessels, a minimum mandated by Congress, and now an effort is underway to convince lawmakers to increase the fleet.

MEUs, made up of about 2,200 Marines, are typically embarked on Amphibious Ready Groups (ARGs), which usually consist of an assault ship, two transport docks or dock landing ships. Support vessels, surface combatants and in some cases a nuclear fast attack submarine can make up the larger Expeditionary Strike Group.

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith’s top priority is meeting what is called the 3.0 ARG/MEU presence, said Shon Brodie, director of Maritime Expeditionary Warfare at the Corps’ Combat Development and Integration (CD&I) Directorate tasked with modernizing the Marines. 

Smith “believes that the best thing that we as a service can do for the nation is provide the highly trained Marine Expeditionary Units, one from the East Coast, one from the West Coast, and that one in Japan, persistently,” Brodie told a small group of reporters, including from TWZ, on Wednesday.

To ensure that happens, Vice Chief of Naval Operations (VCNO) Adm. James W. Kilby and the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps (ACMC) Gen. Bradford J. Gering “have worked really close together to try to understand the number of ships it would require to achieve 3.0 based on current readiness,” Brodie noted.

 “The two analytical arms of both services have come to the conclusion that it takes 40 ships. That’s 13 big decks and 27 LPDs,” the Maritime Expeditionary Warfare director explained.

Big decks are the Navy’s Wasp class (LHD) and America class (LHA) amphibious assault ships. Their embarked Aviation Combat Elements (ACEs) can include F-35B Joint Strike Fighters, MV-22 tiltrotor aircraft, UH-1, AH-1 and CH-53 helicopters, as well as Navy Seahawk helicopters. The LPDs are smaller [Amphibious Transport Dock ships], which also embark MV-22s and helicopters.

The capabilities of MEUs have grown over the past decade, allowing them, in limited cases, to take on tasks that once required an aircraft carrier strike group. MV-22 tiltrotors, and, more recently, F-35Bs, which can be embarked in large numbers in the so-called “Lightning carrier” configuration, have boosted the utility of these fighting units.

The amphibious ship requirements, which had been in discussion for a while, were finally hammered out over the past few months by the new Amphibious Force Readiness Board (AFRB), stated Brodie. The AFRB is a joint Navy-Marine Corps effort created to better track the readiness of the amphibious fleet, which has been a huge issue as we have frequently noted.

“Right now, I have 31 amphibious warfare ships,” stated Brodie. The biggest need at the moment, he added, is for additional amphibious assault ships.

The law calls for the service to have 10, but currently it has only nine. That’s because the USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) was sent to the scrapyard in 2021 after being ravaged by a fire in 2020.

Brodie said the Marines want to increase the number of mandated amphibious assault ships from 10 to 13.

“When I have a problem generating this force, it really revolves around the big deck,” he stated.

The call for a fleet of 40 amphibious ships, and especially 13 big decks, is a sharp departure from the guidance former Commandant Gen. David Berger introduced in 2019 that led to his Force Design 2030 plan. In these documents, Berger called for fewer amphibious assault ships and more smaller vessels. Berger was concerned about the growing array of threats to these large, slow-moving vessels from anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles, and that was before one-way attack drones became such ubiquitous weapons of war. This strategy was seen as better suited for fighting in the Pacific in a modern context, not large scale beach landings of the past.

He also wanted to return the Corps to its naval roots; small, dispersed stand-in forces working inside an adversary’s weapons engagement zone after two decades of ground pounding in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Given how much of a sea-change this new plan represents, reaching a 40 amphibious ship fleet that includes 13 big decks is no small task. 

“I’ve got a sheet sitting right here in front of me that tells me how we get there,” Brodie added. “You can’t get there tomorrow, right? The only way for me to realistically increase that inventory is for me to build new ships and do a service-life extension on some of the selective ships that I currently have in the inventory.”

Brodie said that Kilby and Gering are going to approach Congress later this month to convey the need for more ships.

There is no set timeline to reach the 40-ship goal, the Marines told TWZ.

“We will have to await future congressional funding for these,” Lt. Col. Eric D. Flanagan, a USMC spokesman, told us, adding that there is a multi-ship procurement contract underway for several amphibious vessels. He was referring to HII being awarded a $9.6 billion multi-ship procurement contract in 2024 for the construction of three San Antonio class amphibious ships and a contract modification for the next America class large-deck amphibious ship. 

“This combined procurement — the first of its kind for amphibious ships — begins the journey for the construction of LPDs 33, 34, 35 and LHA 10 for the U.S. Navy,” HII stated at the time.

The request for additional shipbuilding funds will likely face far stiffer headwinds now that the Democrats have won control of both the Senate and the House.

While the Trump administration continues to pursue a roughly $1.5 trillion defense budget for Fiscal Year 2027, which includes some $350 billion that would come from outside normal defense spending streams via the reconciliation process, a letter leaked yesterday from a top Democrat offers a glimpse into the challenges the new amphibious ship plan may face.

The letter from Rep. Adam Smith, a Washington state Democrat who is in line to become chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, makes clear that many programs and policy issues, as well as defense spending writ large, are set to be put under the microscope when the Democrats take control of Congress in the new year. 

“We must thoroughly review our national defense strategy and develop a more realistic and sustainable approach that does not require a defense budget in excess of $1 trillion or paid for through draconian cuts to critical domestic programs,” Smith wrote in his ‘dear colleagues’ letter.

All of this comes at a time when the Navy has been struggling to meet operational demands for surface combatants with its existing fleet. This has been further exacerbated by shakeups in separate plans to acquire new frigates and larger uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), as well as rising costs associated with its workhorse Arleigh Burke class destroyers.

On top of everything, conflicts in the Middle East have taken a toll on the Navy, incurring costs that need to be paid for.

In August, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle estimated as a result of the Operation Epic Fury fight against Iran, the Navy needed between $6 billion and $8 billion more than what was budgeted for in the 2026 fiscal year “to be whole and solvent for [Fiscal Year] 26,” Navy Times reported.

Overall, the U.S. military “has spent over $47 billion so far to prosecute the war in Iran, more than 25% higher than the Defense Department’s estimate in July,” according to Pentagon data obtained by Reuters last month.

In addition to not having enough ships to fulfill the mission, there is a big problem keeping the existing ones available. The Navy’s amphibious ship fleet had just a 47% combat surge readiness rate as of April, according to Kilby’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget request statement. As we have pointed out previously, chronic maintenance delays, competing budget priorities, ill-planned early-retirement efforts that went forward without required congressional approval, scarce spare parts, shoddy contractor oversight and other issues have contributed to these problems.

The Navy and Marines are working to change that and meet the requirements set out by the commandant, Brodie stated. This has involved getting a better handle on how long and how often ships need to be deployed and improving maintenance once underway.

“We’re at the very beginning stage of that, but the indications are, and the models tell us, that we will actually be able to shrink the days in maintenance and improve force generation by some percentage that will be helpful,” Brodie explained. “Without getting into numbers that are probably sensitive, but we’re marginally better than we were before, and the expectation is that we can increase beyond marginally better here over the next couple of maintenance cycles.”

“There’s another factor here that sort of you can’t model in your framework, and that’s extended deployment,” Brodie added. “You’ve got to bring the ship back on time, get it in maintenance on time. If you extend the deployments — and you’ll find that’s true with the whole Navy fleet — if you extend the deployment, and you miss a maintenance cycle, it sort of blows that forecast that you had.”

The problems created by extended deployments are something TWZ frequently highlights.

When regular maintenance doesn’t happen, it creates a cascading series of problems that affect not just the ships and crews, but the facilities that have scheduled repairs and lined up workers to make them happen.

The bottom line is that the longer these vessels stay out on cruise, the longer they have to stay in on deep maintenance, and past a certain point, the magnitude of this relationship skyrockets. Extra days out can turn into extra weeks in the yard, and so on. With yard facilities at a premium, especially those capable of dealing with a supercarrier and big deck amphibious vessels, critical schedules can quickly implode, with work stacking up across multiple vessels, resulting in them being sidelined much longer than planned. This is something we have discussed in great detail when it comes to aircraft carriers.

While the Marines and Navy say they need 40 amphibious ships, whether they reach that level is still an open question that will have to be addressed in future budget cycles. There are a lot of competing needs and only so much money that can be allocated.

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

DSA-backed Raman will lead America’s second largest city, promising action on homelessness and affordable housing.

Nithya Raman, a progressive Los Angeles City Council member, has defeated incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, putting her on track to become the first South Asian to lead the second-largest city in the United States.

The Associated Press called the race for Raman on Thursday, with Raman holding 52 percent of the vote.

Raman, 45, overtook Bass despite the incumbent’s support from prominent Democrats such as California Governor Gavin Newsom, former Vice President Kamala Harris and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Her campaign was backed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), with her victory coming as part of a surge in visibility and electoral wins for the left-wing political movement.

A record number of candidates backed or affiliated with the DSA won federal offices in Tuesday’s midterm elections. On its website, the DSA has claimed credit for contributing to at least 300 candidacies or ballot referendums during the midterms, and it said it is on track to count 105 of those as victories.

Some of those wins came in congressional races, with figures such as Darializa Avila Chevalier, Claire Valdez, Melat Kiros and Chris Rabb winning their first terms as US representatives.

Raman’s victory in Los Angeles follows another high-profile democratic socialist winning a mayor’s race in New York City last year: Zohran Mamdani.

Raman was born in India and worked as an urban planner before running for office. Once an ally of Bass, she had initially endorsed her re-election campaign but reversed course, entering the mayoral race in February, just hours before the filing deadline.

In her victory speech, Raman promised to restore what she called an ambitious, creative and entrepreneurial Los Angeles.

“For too long our broken and unjust status quo has convinced Angelenos that this is the best that we can do,” she told the crowd.

Raman also pledged to expand affordable housing, improve neglected city services and take a different approach to homelessness by deploying more medical teams to assist people who are unhoused.

In addition, she called for replacing the city’s police chief over concerns about cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Raman now faces the task of delivering on those promises in a city of more than 3.8 million people.

Los Angeles also faces the challenge of hosting the 2028 Olympic Games, which open in July of that year.

With the result, Bass has become the first Los Angeles mayor in more than two decades to lose a re-election bid.

Her defeat follows a difficult four years in office. Her administration faced mounting criticism over the city’s homelessness crisis and its response to the deadly Palisades Fire, which broke out while she was overseas and devastated communities across the Los Angeles area.

In a statement on Thursday, Bass congratulated Raman and said she was committed to ensuring a smooth transition.

“Four years ago, you elected me as the first Black woman mayor in the history of Los Angeles. You gave me the honor of serving the city that raised me, and every single day since, I have carried that responsibility with me,” Bass wrote.

“Moving this city forward is what Los Angeles needs from all of us.”

Harold Greene, a beloved Los Angeles news anchor, has died. He was 82.

His daughter, Courtney Greene, shared news of his passing on Wednesday via Facebook, adding that she was by his side, alongside his wife, Charlene Greene, when he “signed off for the last time.”

His cause of death has not yet been announced by the family, but his daughter shared that “there was an extraordinary amount of love in the room” when he passed.

“We have a feeling he’s already settling into the great newsroom in the sky, no doubt with a few suggestions on how things should be run,” Courtney wrote in the Facebook post.

Harold Greene began his career as a reporter and producer for KABC (ABC7) Los Angeles in 1970. Throughout the decade, he shared his talent across other newsrooms in California, including San Diego, where he helped launch KCST-TV (now KNSD) and a short stint in the Bay Area at the CBS affiliate KPIX-TV, where he co-anchored alongside Dave McElhatton, who died in 2010.

Greene later returned to ABC7 for multiple stints, according to the news outlet, including their top-rated “Eyewitness News” team. His final return to the flagship station was in 1982, when he was hired as a reporter and weekend anchor. He served as host/celebrity interviewer of locally produced programs such as “Hollywood Close-Up” and “A.M. Los Angeles” for the station.

In 1986, he earned one of 10 Golden Mike Awards for his coverage of the Cerritos air disaster. He left ABC7 in 2000, but continued his work as a dynamic anchor at KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV until his retirement in 2008.

His on-air image was reportedly the inspiration behind the mustachioed protagonist portrayed by Will Ferrell in the 2004 comedy “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.”

Over his career, Greene earned multiple Emmys and three Edward R. Murrow awards, and he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1999.

The ANC was on about 32 percent of the vote after almost half of the votes were counted in municipal elections.

South Africa’s early municipal election results have shown the African National Congress (ANC) with a sharply reduced vote share, weakening the long-dominant party’s control of key cities such as Johannesburg.

The ANC was on about 32 percent of the vote, with the Democratic Alliance (DA) in second place at 25 percent, after more than 60 percent of the votes had been counted in this week’s municipal elections, data from the election commission showed late on Thursday.

Meanwhile, former President Jacob Zuma’s breakaway opposition uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party was in third place with 8.5 percent, below levels suggested by opinion polls.

About 15.9 million of 29.2 million registered voters cast ballots, the electoral commission said, putting turnout at an estimated 54.5 percent, up from 46 percent in the pandemic-hit 2021 local elections.

The ANC, which has been South Africa’s largest party since it led the country out of apartheid in 1994, has tended to do worse in municipal elections than nationally and has acknowledged its failures in local governance.

From nearly 70 percent of the national vote in 2004, the ANC fell below 50 percent for the first time in the 2021 municipal elections, winning 46 percent.

At the 2024 national elections, it managed just more than 40 percent and was forced to accept a unity government with nine other parties, including the DA.

The party, now led by President Cyril Ramaphosa, has borne the brunt of criticism about years of municipal mismanagement that have left South Africans grappling with failing water supplies, persistent power cuts and crumbling public services.

It has also faced corruption allegations, while splinter parties have eaten away at its support base.

The results of this week’s local ballot will offer a key measure of voters’ sentiment ahead of the 2029 general election.

Control of the country’s eight major metropolitan municipalities is up for grabs, alongside dozens of district and local councils.

The MK party had been tipped as one of the few parties capable of securing an outright majority in the eastern port city of Durban.

But projections by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), a state-funded research body, put its support there at 32 percent.

The DA, meanwhile, was forecast to retain control of tourist magnet Cape Town with 56 percent of the vote, with its leader, Geordin Hill-Lewis, already declaring victory.

The party was also leading with 34 percent in Johannesburg, the country’s financial capital, after running a spirited campaign spearheaded by its former leader, Helen Zille, 75, according to CSIR projections.

With outright majorities far from assured in several major cities, the results could usher in another round of complex coalition negotiations, with parties bargaining to assemble the alliances needed to govern.

Final results are expected on Sunday.

Melat Kiros becomes the first Generation Z woman elected to Congress, embodying a new era of political representation.

The outcome of the 2026 US midterm elections has marked a historic shift in American politics, as a new generation of younger and more diverse leaders won key positions across the country.

Out of 117 Generation Z candidates who ran for Congress this year, 24 made it onto the general election ballot. Among them was Melat Kiros, a 29-year-old Ethiopian-born democratic socialist from Colorado, who became the first Gen Z woman elected to Congress. She joins Representative Maxwell Frost of Florida, who became the first Gen Z member of the House in 2022.

Unprecedented Firsts

The election brought several historic breakthroughs for marginalized and underrepresented groups:

First Muslim American Senator: Dr. Abdul El-Sayed won his race in Michigan, becoming the first Muslim American elected to the US Senate.

First Native American Woman Senator: Peggy Flanagan was elected to the Senate, following Deb Haaland’s victory as governor of New Mexico.

Historic Senate Representation: Illinois became the first state represented in the Senate by two women of color (Juliana Stratton and Tammy Duckworth).

Additionally, three Black women will serve in the Senate at the same time for the first time in U.S. history.

State governor races saw record-breaking diversity across the country:

Black Leadership: Keisha Lance Bottoms (Georgia) became the first Black woman elected governor in US history. Alongside new governors Byron Donalds (Florida), David Crowley (Wisconsin), Aaron Ford (Nevada), and re-elected Wes Moore (Maryland), a record five Black governors will serve together in 2027.

Latino Leadership: Gina Hinojosa became Texas’s first Latina governor after defeating incumbent Greg Abbott, while Xavier Becerra became California’s first Latino governor since 1875.

Amy Acton (Ohio), Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota), and Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee) all became the first female governors of their respective states. In total, at least 17 women will serve as governors in 2027, breaking the previous record of 14.

Women also set new records in the House of Representatives:

Democratic women won at least 100 House seats, setting a new record for the party.

Overall female representation in the House is projected to reach at least 139 seats in the upcoming 120th Congress.

Iranian forces say five oil tankers and a tugboat have caught fire in several incidents in the Strait of Hormuz.

At least five tankers have been damaged in the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian forces said, making clear that shipping would remain in peril as long as the United States and Israel’s war on the country is unresolved.

Since the war on Iran began in late February, Tehran has severely restricted traffic through the strategic waterway, which normally carries about one-fifth of global oil consumption.

“Last night … a large oil tanker attempting to pass through the illegal passageway south of the Strait of Hormuz suffered a fire after striking a mine and was brought to a halt,” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) told the Fars news agency on Thursday.

“Another supertanker was halted by a massive fire while exiting the eastern Strait of Hormuz. A tugboat that had approached the supertanker to extinguish the fire also caught fire,” the IRGC added.

The Iranian army later said three more tankers were hit by naval mines and caught fire.

“Early this morning, a violating oil tanker – navigating through an unsafe area east of the Strait of Hormuz – caught fire and came to a halt after striking a naval mine,” the army said, according to the official IRNA news agency.

“Today at around noon, two more oil tankers struck naval mines and caught fire in the unsafe waters east of the Strait of Hormuz,” said another army statement carried by IRNA.

Separately, the British military said a tanker was struck by two projectiles off Qatar’s coast.

The vessel was hit about 50 nautical miles (about 93 kilometres) north of Qatar’s ⁠Madinat ash-Shamal on Wednesday at 23:20 GMT, the ⁠United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said on Thursday.

UKMTO did not identify the tanker or which country’s flag it was sailing under. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

In an incident last week, a Qatari tanker was hit by “unidentified objects” while sailing in the Gulf.

The liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Al Mayeda was hit on October 30, the Qatar Gas Transport Company (Nakilat) said on Sunday.

No crew members were injured, and there ‌was no environmental impact, the company said, adding that the vessel remained ‌safe and ‌operational while the impact was being assessed.

Attacks on tankers in the Gulf are still running close to a record pace.

UKMTO said in a report last month that it was “struggling to accurately report” the true number of attacks as the majority of ships now refuse to report them.

Qatar has stepped up mediation efforts to resume talks on ending the war in recent days.

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ spokesperson said on Tuesday that ⁠both sides were reviewing proposals ⁠put forward by mediators, with talks continuing.

But unnamed Pentagon officials and military commanders told The New York Times on Wednesday that thousands of US air and naval forces on more than a dozen ships and at bases around the Middle East and in the US are poised to resume major combat operations against Iran on President Donald Trump’s orders.

Iranian government and military leaders, however, have warned of repercussions if the US or Israel pursue further military action.

On Wednesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said there should not be “even the slightest inclination towards submission” to the US, which he said would remain hostile towards Iran no matter which party was in power.

IRGC Ground Force commander Brigadier General Mohammad Karami said on Wednesday that the continuation of “hostile and brutal actions by Iran’s enemies” would lead to “further Iranian victories and greater national pride”, while accelerating the expulsion of foreign powers from the region and the collapse of Israel.

New Democratic Congress expected to probe Trump Justice Department civil rights office’s handling of Epstein files and ICE killings.

As President Donald Trump’s administration prepares for a flurry of congressional investigations into shootings by immigration agents and the Jeffrey Epstein files, the top official in charge of the United States Department of Justice’s civil rights division has resigned.

US Attorney General Todd Blanche on Thursday confirmed Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon’s departure in a post on social media.

“Today, I accepted the resignation of Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon,” Blanche wrote on X. “She has defended the civil liberties of every American and enforced the law without fear or favor.”

A top Trump ally, Dhillon was confirmed to her role in April 2025 and has overseen a dramatic overhaul of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, which is tasked with enforcing anti-discrimination laws. Hundreds of former Justice Department officials penned a letter last December decrying the “destruction” of the agency division under Trump.

Dhillon is the first high-ranking official to resign from the Trump administration since US Democrats swept both chambers of the US Congress in the country’s pivotal midterm elections on Tuesday.

Democratic congressman Robert Garcia, who will likely become the new chair of the powerful House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Accountability, pledged on Wednesday to take on four major investigations, including abuses of power by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and the Epstein files.

Dhillon reportedly told her staff earlier this year that her office, which has typically been charged with investigating law enforcement killings by police officers, would not be looking into the fatal shootings of two US citizens – Renee Good and Alex Pretti – who were gunned down by ICE agents in Minneapolis.

In May, Garcia accused the administration of continuing to shield Trump from scrutiny related to unreleased documents tied to the Epstein investigation

During a closed-door hearing in which Blanche’s predecessor, Pam Bondi, was asked by lawmakers about the case, the California Democrat Garcia alleged Dhillon repeatedly intervened to block questions about the president’s connection to the release of the files.

The Justice Department referred Al Jazeera to Blanche’s social media post when asked when Dhillon submitted her resignation. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After Democrats delivered a once-in-a-generation midterm thumping of Republicans in the United States midterms, their current leader, Chuck Schumer, has expressed confidence he will helm his party’s larger-than-expected majority in the US Senate.

“I’ll be re-elected as majority leader,” the New York Democrat told reporters in Washington on Wednesday.

But as calls for change reached a fever pitch among voters in this week’s pivotal elections, not every newly elected Senate Democrat is open to the idea of having Schumer, a 75-year-old stalwart of the chamber, reprise his role as the head of their agenda.

At least seven incoming Democratic freshmen have publicly suggested – or said outright – they will not commit to supporting Schumer in next month’s leadership vote:

• Illinois Senator-elect Juliana Stratton, through a spokesperson, said she will not support Schumer.
• Kansas Senator-elect Adam Hamilton told CNN in September: “I’m not supporting Schumer”.
• Maine Senator-elect Troy Jackson said on Monday he told Schumer he will “support somebody else”.
• Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed reiterated in an interview with CNN on Thursday that he will support his soon-to-be Democratic colleague, Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, as leader.
• Minnesota Senator-elect Peggy Flanagan told reporters on Wednesday, “It is time for new leadership”.
• New Hampshire Senator-elect Chris Pappas said in an interview last week that “voters are hungry for … a new generation of leadership in the Senate”.
• Texas Senator-elect James Talarico has called for “new blood” in Washington, and since being elected, has indicated he wanted to “hear about [Schumer’s] vision” for the Senate before committing to back him.

Jackson has openly questioned Schumer’s ability to connect with working-class voters, while Flanagan’s staff has said the senator-elect wants “a progressive champion” who will shepherd Democrats through the final two years of Donald Trump’s presidency and into 2028.

New members, like El-Sayed, may not be won over after Schumer backed the former public health official’s opponent, Haley Stevens, in Michigan’s Democratic primary.

Schumer, the first Jewish Senate leader, has often found himself at the centre of brewing cultural and foreign-policy debates within his party.

In remarks that were posted online in February, Schumer told Jewish leaders in New York City one of his core duties was “to fight for aid to Israel”.

“We delivered more security assistance to Israel, our ally, under my leadership than ever, ever before”, he said. “We will keep doing that.”

Schumer has also faced fierce criticism for not doing enough to block Trump’s cabinet members from being confirmed. Some have even chastised the leader for retreating during last year’s government shutdown after he backed a Republican bill to reopen federal agencies without getting anything in return.

Critics in his party, including California Governor Gavin Newsom, called that a “capitulation” that abandoned key Democratic priorities, like healthcare subsidies. Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib said Schumer should have stepped down as leader over the matter.

The Democratic leader said on Wednesday the party’s new Senate plan would include launching investigations into the Trump administration, challenging the president’s agenda and ending his war in Iran.

However, that’s not good enough for some current members, like Van Hollen, who recently told Bloomberg that Democrats should not commit to Schumer without promises of a “bold agenda”.

Before Tuesday’s election, a senior campaign staff member for Senator Jon Ossoff, who was easily re-elected to his seat, would not say whether the Georgia Democrat would back Schumer.

“I do not have an answer,” the Ossoff source told Al Jazeera. “We can do all the fantasy football stuff later.”

When Democratic lawmakers return to Washington next week, voters and Democratic-aligned groups will likely pressure them to support an alternative candidate.

After calling for new leadership after the election, Indivisible, a progressive US-based organisation that bills itself as a movement “to stop the rise of authoritarianism”, released a memo on Thursday detailing their opposition to Schumer.

“Everyone with a Democratic senator – including those with newly-elected senators on their way to DC – should be demanding a contested leadership election, not a cleared field for Schumer”, the memo read.

“Any Democrat who is considering business as usual, or unwilling to fight at a level that matches the public’s demand for action – is not qualified to lead the party at this moment. Who leads the party in this era must be an open question, not a coronation. It’s time to define what the next era of the Democratic Party will be.”

Al Jazeera asked Schumer’s office how he plans to address those concerns and whether he is speaking with frustrated Democrats, but it has not yet responded.

To be re-elected, Schumer needs a simple majority of the Democratic Senate caucus, projected to comprise 54-56 members, and Schumer, who previously served as majority leader during the duration of former President Biden’s term in office, still has allies he can count on.

One of those is Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, who told ABC on Wednesday that he commended Schumer’s handling of the midterms, saying he delivered “one of the most historic sweeps” for the party.

“We’re gonna have a family discussion,” Booker said. “But I think America should give … Chuck Schumer his due for what we were able to achieve.”

When asked Wednesday about building criticism of his leadership, Schumer demurred, saying Tuesday’s elections were “not about” him.

“This is about the American people and what they want and what they need and what we can do to help them. Plain and simple”.

The Army on Wednesday unveiled its new system allowing front-line troops to rapidly convert 60mm and 81mm mortar rounds into drone-droppable munitions. Dubbed the Munitions Air-dropped Lethal Effects Tool (MALET), it is part of the service’s Picatinny Common Lethality Integration Kit (CLIK), which enables lethal payloads to be placed on unmanned systems, including small drones.

The development of these systems is taking place as the Army races to catch up to a mode of delivering munitions on enemy targets that began to show up a decade ago, when ISIS fighters started using this capability during the Battle of Mosul in Iraq in 2016 and 2017.

Work on the MALET system began in 2024, the Army explained in its announcement Wednesday morning. Experts at the Armaments Center’s Fuze and Mortar Divisions “recognized a critical opportunity,” according to the service. “Rather than introducing new munitions to the battlefield, soldiers could benefit from a capability to safely drop existing munitions without having to perform field modifications or manually remove safety mechanisms.”

What they came up with was a clip-on kit that adds a fuze function to the round that allows it to be detonated after being dropped and includes fins to ensure “the aerodynamic stability required for a drone drop of the cartridge,” the Army stated.

Once the rounds are converted, the goal is to drastically extend the range of mortars. Fired from a tube, they have a range of about between two to 3.5 miles. While the Army did not specify which drones were used in recent MALET tests, a solicitation earlier this year said the service is seeking to place these systems on drones with a desired operational range of between 20 and 40 km (about 12.5 to 25 miles).

The MALET system doesn’t damage the mortar, nor does removing it. That way, if the mortar is not expended, or mission requirements shift, soldiers can return the munition back to its original state, allowing it to be fired as a conventional mortar if needed.

Another advantage of the MALET system, according to the Army, is that it has a large supply of mortars.

“Instead of having to procure purpose-built munitions on drones, soldiers will be able to use rounds which they have in abundance already, such as 60mm and 81mm mortar rounds,” the Army noted.

Recent test drops at multiple facilities “have already shown the MALET’s effectiveness, successfully maturing both the system’s fuze function and its critical safety elements,” the Army claimed. “The team just recently had a successful test where they demonstrated the performance of MALET with live 60mm mortars. The items were dropped from a UAS on the move; they oriented correctly and detonated within the desired target area.”

The Army only provided still images showing the round after it was released and then hitting a target, so we can’t independently confirm how well the system worked or how easy it is for soldiers to use it.

As it conducts these tests, the Army says the MALET architecture can be applied to munitions other than these two mortar types. Mortars were the first to be demonstrated due to their maturity and alignment with large UAS requirements.

“The MALET Integrated Product Team (IPT) is exploring even more concepts” which are “mostly close-hold for now,” said the Army. Senior Scientific Technical Manager for Indirect Fire Munitions Ryan Gorman would say only that these new concepts are “unique.” 

“The MALET program is a great example of how the DEVCOM Armaments Center can leverage core competencies like fuze design, safety, and ammunition development and apply them to a dynamic, emerging space like lethal UAS to provide a unique and viable option for the warfighter,” Gorman added.

For the Army, the next step is to distribute the kit to major military exercises this fall “to allow for soldier touchpoints and receive feedback,” the service stated. “Conversations with industry partners, the User and Acquisition communities have already proven fruitful.”

As we noted at the top of this story, MALET is part of the Picatinny CLIK modular system. It includes the Armament UAS Delivered Immediate Battlefield Effects (AUDIBLE) Weapons Release System and the Gunslinger fire control software.

AUDIBLE enables “quick change adapters to safely drop existing munitions, like the M67 grenade, providing a proven concept that is scalable to service a larger array of munition options,” the Army said in a 2025 release.

Gunslinger was originally designed by the Armaments Center for the Future Vertical Lift – Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft XM915 20mm Cannon, the Army explained in a separate release. 

Fire control software helps users point the weapon where it will most likely result in a strike while taking into account variables like target or weapons platform motion.

While the Army is touting the MALET system, it should be noted that last year, the service came under fire for lauding its ability to drop a grenade from a drone. This practice had been in widespread use by even the lowliest of actors for years by then.

“Have you ever seen a drone drop a GRENADE?” a now-deleted post from the official U.S. Army account on X read. “Watch Soldiers from @7thATC [7th Army Training Command], the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine [JMTG-U] and @173rdAbnBde [the 173rd Airborne Brigade] execute the Army’s first live-grenade drop from an unmanned aircraft system in Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany.”

The accompanying video, also since deleted, showed Army personnel loading standard M67 fragmentation hand grenades, as well as inert M69 practice types, onto small quadcopter-type drones fitted with purpose-built mechanisms for dropping them. The system was designed to pull out the safety pin on the unmodified grenade as it is released.

The following image is a screen capture of the now deleted video.

As we pointed out last year, the answer to the “have you ever seen a drone drop a GRENADE?” is a resounding ‘yes’ for anyone who has watched this area of development over the past decade. We had predicted exactly this kind of application for commercially available drones even years before ISIS began using them in Iraq in 2016.

There was a deep disconnect between the tone of the social media post, what is seen in the video and the comments therein, as well as the global reality when it comes to small armed drones.

The Army suggested this was a technological advancement. However, as we noted earlier in this piece, this mode of attack has been used for quite some time.

After the initial use by ISIS in Iraq a decade ago, ISIS and other militant organizations also used drones to drop small munitions, including on American forces in Syria. The threat of weaponized commercial drones, including types carrying improvised explosive payloads designed to just smash into their target and detonate, migrated to Afghanistan, as well. They have been a big part of the Ukraine war, used widely by both sides.

You can see a video of Ukrainian forces dropping munitions from drones early in the war below.

In addition, various nation-state armed forces and non-state actors around the world, including drug cartels in Mexico, now regularly employ small armed drones.

Difunden video de bombardeo desde drones en Tepalcatepec

The concept of adapting surplus munitions to be dropped from drones is not new by any means either, though it has been largely done in more of an improvised manner than the MALET system.

Ukrainians in particular became masters of this, including breaking down some of the U.S.-made cluster munition artillery shells they received to repurpose the submunition bomblets inside as improvised weapons to be air-dropped from small drones. Now there are munitions built just for this, as well.

The following video shows one example of how that worked.

Given that the Army is still testing the MALET system, it will be some time before it is actually fielded. While the service remains behind the curve, if MALET works as advertised, it will be a welcome addition for soldiers who want to extend the reach of a plentiful munition.

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

Paraguayan President Santiago Pena resigned on Thursday after calls for his removal swelled following the collapse of digital lender ueno that left millions of customers unable ‌to access their accounts.

“I do so with the stability of our country, social peace and the need to preserve our democratic institutions in mind,” he said in a video recorded address on Thursday.

Pena, an ally of US President Donald Trump, is stepping down after the ⁠opposition called an extraordinary session to begin the process of filing an impeachment motion in Congress, and as protesters demanded his resignation.

Earlier on Thursday Pena lost backing from members of his own conservative party. Vice President Pedro Alliana is set to take office as his replacement.

Lawmakers had accused Pena of conflicts of interest, misuse of pension funds and institutional cover-ups linked to the collapse of ueno, which had grown ‌quickly ⁠from a niche fintech player into a mid-tier bank administering close to $850 million in public funds.

“He is accused of negligence at the very least and complicity in covering up the fact that the bank was insolvent,” said Al Jazeera’s Latin America editor Lucia Newman.

“The congress right now is tying to impeach the president and the vice president, this session is underway,” she added. “As a I speak, there are people outside urging congress not to accept the resignation of the president because they say that they want him tried and impeached.”

Paraguay’s central bank intervened in ueno after determining ⁠that it had breached minimum solvency requirements, setting off a crisis that has left the company’s roughly 3 million customers, in a ⁠country of 6.5 million people, unable to access accounts.

“My greatest wish is that the return of those funds be guaranteed, that the deposit guarantee fund fulfill its purpose, and that ⁠public funds – as well as the resources that belong to all Paraguayans – be protected,” Pena added in his address.

Ueno has made no public statement on the issue.

Hours after results confirmed that the Republican Party had lost control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives in the United States Congress in the midterm elections this week, senior Republicans were hand-wringing over what had gone so badly wrong and whether a major course correction would now be required.

As once-Republican strongholds like Texas fell to the enemy, US Vice President JD Vance took to X to declare that the “real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone”.

“The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night. If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest,” Vance said.

Former Trump voters had switched sides, he said, over the Iran war and the US ties to Israel.

The elephant in the room was no more.

“I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, ‘I told you so’: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview,” he wrote.

A poisoned chalice

Just days after the US and Israel launched strikes across Iran on February 28, Tehran effectively closed the critical Strait of Hormuz, which once transited roughly 25 percent of the world’s seaborne oil trade, triggering a massive spike in oil prices and a major global energy crisis. The price of Brent crude – the global benchmark – hit $120 in March and April and has hovered around $115 in recent weeks.

On Thursday morning, oil prices dropped to $93.82 a barrel on expectations that Republican Party losses would reduce the likelihood of US President Donald Trump renewing strikes on Iran following weeks of speculation.

But as consumers in the US struggle with sky-high petrol and diesel prices – not to mention the soaring cost of food, which has also been impacted by Trump’s trade tariffs – the midterms have forced a leadership rethink as the Trump brand appears increasingly toxic.

While no Republicans have declared their intention to run for the 2028 presidential election, some in the party are believed to be eyeing it now.

Andrew Payne, from the Chatham House think tank, told Al Jazeera that any Republican wanting to take on the 2028 election will now need to “distance themselves from the more unpopular aspects of Trump’s record”. That means the Iran war, the greatest poisoned chalice of them all.

“That, I think, is why Vance came out so clearly in blaming the war. It is evident to those who have been watching closely that he has always been the voice of scepticism behind the scenes, and he now needs to make that difference of opinion clear to the average voter. But doing so will be really hard while Trump is still in office and, presumably, wants to play an active role as kingmaker,” Payne said.

Unpopular, but not as unpopular as Trump

The most obvious pick and frontrunner for the Republican 2028 nomination is currently Vance, who is known to have ambitions to take over from Trump.

Regarded as an anti-US interventionist, Vance, while publicly supporting Trump’s Iran war, has also been privately urging him and others to end the conflict, according to the US news outlet Axios.

Last week, Vance sent a letter to the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, proposing a meeting between US and Iranian officials soon in a bid to prevent further escalation. By contrast, this week Trump said the war would only come to an end “when I want it to”.

This move, coupled with his post on X on Wednesday night, is increasingly being seen as Vance putting as much distance as he can between himself and the war.

Throwing off the Trump touch may be trickier than he thinks, however, according to one Vance ally close to the White House who spoke to Politico on Wednesday. While it is “possible for him [Vance] to modestly differentiate himself” from Trump, the source said, there is no way to completely delink himself.

“He’s still Trump’s vice president. This is still a Trump administration war. They’re still both unpopular. He’s not as unpopular as Trump but he’s unpopular,” the anonymous source said.

According to Tuesday polling from The New York Times on who is ahead in a theoretical Republican presidential primary, Vance is at 40 percent. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio follows at 21 percent, alongside Donald Trump Jr, also at 21 percent.

Rubio has yet to comment on the Republican wipeout. Still, like Vance, he is allied with Trump’s administration, which may make a presidential bid challenging.

Any potential candidate now faces a choice between two routes, Payne said. One is to “re-energise the [Make America Great Again or MAGA] movement, which I expect will be difficult, because Trump did it through sheer force of personality that is hard to replicate”.

“The second route is to keep as much of the base on board as possible while appealing to the traditional conservative groups who have drifted from the party over the past decade, thereby expanding the coalition. If he runs, I would think Marco Rubio has a better shot at doing that,” Payne said.

‘Blue tsunami’

There are other potential candidates to consider.

A former frontrunner for the 2016 presidential election, which saw Trump secure his first administration, Ted Cruz is now Texas’s only statewide Republican lawmaker.

In a post on X after the results, Cruz wrote: “2026 was not simply a blue wave; it was a blue tsunami. It was an a** kicking”.

“Food is too high, gas is too high, diesel is too high, insurance is too high, life is too high. Tariffs have made everything too expensive, and the Iran war has dragged on too long. It should have been brief, decisive, and over,” Cruz wrote.

“Understandably, people were pissed off, and elected Republicans didn’t do enough to address their very real pain. So, what do we do now? We need to listen and respond. We need to champion economic policies that make a real difference in working people’s lives, and we need to deal with the consequences.”

In September, the Wall Street Journal reported that Cruz was testing the waters for the 2028 nomination. But as one of the early cheerleaders for the Iran war, Cruz will struggle to disassociate himself from it, other than to criticise the manner of its execution.

As the blame game continues, the Republican Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, described the results of the midterms as “close to an extinction-level event” for the party.

“If the Republican Party doesn’t have Texas as an anchor, then we are not going to be viable nationally going forward,” he said.

“We’re in a very volatile political era, things shift quickly, and the leaders just got to recognise that.”

DeSantis’s time as governor ends in January after two terms, but speculation has grown about whether he also wants to throw his hat into the ring for the US presidential nomination as the playing field remains wide open.

Spain’s national football team coach and the president of Real Madrid joined family, friends and teammates on Thursday at the funeral of Jesus de Miguel, the Tenerife player who died after an on‑field collision earlier this week.

The service was held in Navahermosa, a town of about 3,000 people in central Spain, where De Miguel’s parents were reportedly born.

A hearse covered in flowers moved slowly towards the church as dozens of mourners, some carrying candles, walked behind. The town hall declared three days of mourning, with flags at half-staff.

De Miguel, 30, suffered cardiac arrest after colliding with Andorra goalkeeper Jesus Owono while challenging for a high ball during a second‑division match on Monday. He died in hospital the following day.

Spain coach Luis de la Fuente and Real Madrid President Florentino Perez attended the funeral, with De la Fuente saying the game’s community “stands united” in grief.

Police have opened a routine investigation into possible involuntary manslaughter to assess whether the challenge went beyond normal play.

Tributes have poured in from clubs across Europe, with De Miguel’s death described as a rare and shocking tragedy in professional football.

Caracas, November 4, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The Donald Trump administration is negotiating a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with Venezuela that would lay the groundwork for a potential long-term US military presence in the country, according to US officials cited by the New York Times.

According to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, negotiations over the military pact are being led by the State Department under Secretary of State Marco Rubio. However, details regarding the number of troops and ground missions would be left for future discussions.

According to US officials, SOFA accords “provide a clear and predictable legal framework for US forces to work on mutually agreed activities with our security partners, such as ship visits, training, exercises, and humanitarian assistance.” 

The US currently has SOFA agreements in place with several Latin American countries, including Paraguay, Ecuador, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago, to “address shared threats such as drug trafficking and transnational organized crime.” Washington likewise operates multiple bases in the hemisphere and recently launched the “Shield of the Americas” initiative alongside regional allies with the declared purpose of tackling transnational crime and illegal immigration.

The New York Times sources did not clarify whether Washington intends to establish military bases in Venezuela or deploy US troops at existing Venezuelan bases. One official said only that the issue remains “far in the future” in the discussions, citing Venezuela’s “poor infrastructure” and the lack of interaction between the Venezuelan and US militaries in recent decades.

The newspaper warned that the military cooperation talks could be both “significant” and “risky.” Article 13 of Venezuela’s Constitution prohibits the establishment of foreign military bases or facilities serving the military purposes of other countries.

The story comes on the heels of a reported attack involving drones and helicopters against a camp belonging to Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) on Friday in Apure State, close to the two countries’ shared border. 

According to the New York Times, the operation counted on US intelligence assistance, with military personnel helping identify the camp, which was claimed to be a “hub” for drug trafficking. 

The death toll, initially reported at 19 by local NGO Fundaredes, has risen to 23. Fundaredes’ Apure coordinator Juan García said that interviews conducted with survivors and victims’ relatives indicated that the strike also killed civilians not associated with the guerrilla group.

The Times stated that it was “not clear who piloted the drones” which are typically operated by US forces. The Wall Street Journal claimed US military drones executed the attack with “cooperation” from the Venezuelan government. For its part, the acting Delcy Rodríguez government and the Venezuelan armed forces have yet to issue any public comment on the mission targeting the ELN.

The ELN is the longest active guerrilla group in Colombia, having sustained a decades-long insurgency against the Colombian state. The organization maintained an arms-length relationship with the Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro governments, operating across the vast and porous southwestern border uncontrolled by both nations and at times cooperating with Venezuelan authorities against Colombian paramilitaries and dissident FARC elements.

Since the January 3 bombing and kidnapping of Maduro, senior US military brass have visited the Caribbean country.

In June 2026, US forces carried out an airstrike on Venezuelan territory that neutralized Héctor “Niño” Guerrero, an alleged leader of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua. The operation involved CIA intelligence work, with US authorities thanking Venezuelan counterparts for cooperation. Likewise, following the June 24 double earthquake, the US Southern Command deployed around 2,000 troops in Venezuelan territory, temporarily taking control of the country’s main airport.

In May, the US military held “rapid response” military drills, flying Osprey MV-22B aircraft over Caracas and landing at the US Embassy. The exercise drew fierce protests from Venezuelan social movements.

Edited by Ricardo Vaz in Caracas.

Allegations about Brand’s behaviour first emerged in the media in September 2023.

The Times, Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches programme jointly reported that four women had accused him of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse – claims he strongly denied.

The investigation into other reports against Brand began soon after the story broke.

“We kind of assumed that people might want to come forward,” Furphy said, “and people came forward.”

Victim reports were made to forces across the country and the Met set up a dedicated team of officers to lead the investigation, which it called Operation Actinolite. Officers said they have since taken more than 340 witness statements – including from Brand’s former employers, his ex-colleagues and associates.

One officer was assigned to read Brand’s books, watch his stand-up routines and DVDs and listen to his podcasts to help build the case.

His high profile and the intense media scrutiny around him proved a challenge to officers, said Furphy.

Another complexity for the team was the allegations were all “non-recent”. The earliest dated back 27 years. It meant there was no CCTV and no forensic evidence to work with.

Furphy said police had to look for other ways to build their case.

“Can we look at where the victims were at the time? Who did they speak to in the aftermath of it? Did they tell anybody else? What other available material is there for us to review that might lend some weight to it? Just because it’s non-recent doesn’t mean that we can’t solve it at all.”

Brand’s former friend was called to court to give evidence for the prosecution, while a statement from the parents of one of the women was heard.

The entertainer’s former personal assistant, who worked closely with Brand, told the jury about his “insane sexual appetite”.

Lakers get past the Kings

From Broderick Turner: On a night when Lakers coach JJ Redick said his team was “a little flat,” Luka Doncic flattened yet another opponent.

Even Doncic started slow compared to his usual first-quarter exploits, but he picked up his pace as the game progressed, dropping 40 points on the woeful Sacramento Kings to lead the Lakers to a 116-103 win Wednesday night at Golden1 Center.

Doncic has scored 40-plus points in three straight games and in five of his last six.

So, after he went 11-for-23 from the field and six-for-13 from three-point range and after he also notched nine rebounds and seven assists, Doncic was asked if he’s ever had a better offensive stretch over his eight-year NBA career.

“Maybe. I don’t know,” he said. “I had some good stretches in my career. But obviously this could be one of the highest ones. But there’s still some work to do.”

Continue reading here

Lakers box score

NBA standings

Clippers lose at last second

Klay Thompson made the winning three-pointer with a second left in overtime and the Miami Heat rallied past the reeling Clippers 117-116 on Wednesday night.

Bam Adebayo set season highs with 35 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat, who have won three of four after losing their first four games. Thompson scored 30, going eight of 17 from three-point range, and Giannis Antetokounmpo had 27 points, 14 boards and six assists.

Miami trailed by 20 in the second quarter and was still down 10 with 4 1/2 minutes left in the fourth before a 9-0 spurt set up the tight finish.

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Clippers box score

NBA standings

Myles Garrett returns to Rams practice

From Gary Klein: Rams star edge rusher Myles Garrett, who has been sidelined for seven games following knee surgery, returned to practice Wednesday.

Garrett, the reigning NFL defensive player of the year, has been on injured reserve since undergoing left knee surgery after the Rams’ season-opening loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Australia.

Coach Sean McVay said the Rams have attempted to be “as diligent, as thorough” as possible before allowing Garrett to practice and opening the 21-day window for him to return to the roster.

McVay said Garrett would take half the amount of full reps on Wednesday and would be evaluated each day before determining when he would be activated to the roster for a game. Garrett went through individual drills with edge rushers during the portion of practice open to reporters.

The Rams play the Washington Commanders on Sunday in Landover, Md.

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Rams’ Jaylen Watson to miss rest of season

From Gary Klein: Rams cornerback Jaylen Watson will have shoulder surgery and is out for the season, coach Sean McVay said Wednesday.

Watson, who signed with the Rams as a free agent after winning two Super Bowl titles in four seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, reinjured his shoulder during last Sunday’s victory over the Chargers at SoFi Stadium.

“That’s a big blow,” McVay said. “Bummer for him. He’s been such a stud for us. He wanted to be able to play through it but just kind of understanding the totality of it all, just some of the different things, recommended to get that surgery.

Continue reading here

Kempe’s hat trick leads Kings

Adrian Kempe had a hat trick and an assist, Quinton Byfield scored two goals, and the Kings routed the San José Sharks 7-2 on Wednesday night.

Erik Haula and Joel Armia also scored for the Kings and Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves. Artemi Panarin had four assists.

It was the 37th multigoal game Kempe has had with the Kings, moving him past Dustin Brown for sole possession of ninth place in the history of the franchise. Kempe returned to the lineup after missing a 3-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday because of an undisclosed injury.

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Kings summary

NHL standings

This day in sports history

1927 — Walter Hagen beats Joe Turnesa 1-up to capture the PGA Championship for the fourth consecutive year and fifth overall.

1955 — Montreal’s Jean Beliveau scores the second fastest hat trick in NHL history in a 4-2 win over Boston. Beliveau, who scores all four Canadien goals, gets three in 44 seconds against Bruins goaltender Terry Sawchuk on the same power play.

1961 — Bill Stacy of the St. Louis Cardinals returns two interceptions for touchdowns in a 31-17 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

1966 — Virgil Carter of Brigham Young passes for 513 yards and rushes for 86 to set an NCAA record for total yards with 599 in a 53-33 victory over Texas Western.

1977 — BYU sophomore Marc Wilson sets an NCAA record with 571 passing yards in a 38-8 rout of Utah.

1978 — Oakland coach John Madden becomes the 13th head coach to win 100 games in the NFL as the Raiders beat the Kansas City Chiefs 20-10.

1988 — Alysheba becomes the richest racehorse when he beats Seeking the Gold by a half-length in the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs.

1994 — George Foreman regains part of the heavyweight title he lost to Muhammad Ali in 1974, stopping Michael Moorer with a two-punch combination at 2:03 of the 10th round. Foreman, 45, captures the IBF and WBA championships to become the oldest champion in any weight class.

1999 — Carolina’s Ron Francis becomes the sixth NHL player to reach 1,500 points when he assisted on Sami Kapanen’s first-period goal for the Hurricanes in 3-2 loss at Detroit.

2008 — Tony Parker scores a career-high 55 points, including a 20-footer at the buzzer to force a second overtime in San Antonio’s 129-125 victory over Minnesota.

2010 — Calvin Borel and Javier Castellano tussle at Churchill Downs just moments after tangling during the $500,000 Breeders’ Cup Marathon in an ugly, chaotic scene. Castellano’s horse Prince Will I Am runs into the path of Romp and Martin Garcia. Garcia is able to stay on top of his horse but also impedes Borel and A.U. Miner. After the race, an enraged Borel is restrained by security personnel and his older brother Cecil.

2010 — Mexico beats the United States in one of the biggest upsets in the history of women’s soccer. The Mexicans, on goals by Maribel Dominguez and Veronica Perez, post 2-1 victory and qualify for the 2011 World Cup.

2011 — Drew Alleman kicks a 25-yard field goal in overtime to give top-ranked LSU a 9-6 win over No. 2 Alabama.

2016 — Arrogate catches 4-5 favorite California Chrome in the final 100 yards to win the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.

2017 — Shalane Flanagan dethrones three-time winner Mary Keitany to become the first American woman to win the New York City Marathon since 1977.

2017 — Eli Manning of the Giants became the seventh NFL quarterback to reach the 50,000-mark with his completion to Sterling Shepard in the fourth quarter against the Rams.

2022 — Alex Ovechkin scores 787th goal for the Washington Capitals surpassing Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings, for all-time NHL record for most goals scored for a single team, in 3-2 loss to Arizona Coyotes.

2022 — World Series: Houston Astros win second title in franchise history; beat Philadelphia Phillies, 4-1 iat Minute Maid Park, Houston for 4-2 series victory; MVP: Astros SS Jeremy Peña, Dusty Baker (73) becomes oldest manager to win championship, Phillies set ignominious record striking out 71 times.

2025 — Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin becomes first NHL player to score 900 goals in a 6-1 win over the St. Louis Blues

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.