official

A section of Sunset Boulevard remained closed on Sunday because of last week’s destructive water main break, with officials saying they didn’t know when repairs to the 110-year-old pipe would be completed or the street reopened.

“While there is no set completion date yet, our crews remain dedicated to finishing the repairs as quickly and safely as possible,” the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said in a Sunday release.

Some West Hollywood residents remained displaced Sunday from apartments where underground garages were flooded by Thursday’s water main rupture. And some businesses near the scene remained indefinitely closed.

An aerial view of workers viewing a broken water main at Sunset Boulevard and Holloway Drive in West Hollywood that sent water gushing down many streets, closing several of them Thursday.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Vanessa Lopez, an LADWP spokeswoman, said that two other water pipe ruptures on Saturday — one in Venice and another in Hollywood — had been repaired.

The city received a report of yet another break on an 8-inch water main at 1501 Lincoln Blvd. on Sunday morning, she said, which crews were still working to repair.

Lopez said those breaks were not related to each other or to Thursday’s fracture of the far bigger pipe in West Hollywood, which was constructed in 1916.

Officials said Sunday that Sunset Boulevard remains closed between Sherbourne Drive and San Vicente Boulevard, with limited local access on nearby streets including Cynthia and San Vicente.

City officials urged the public to avoid the area.

LADWP said tap water in West Hollywood remains safe to drink, but officials encouraged residents to conserve.

With the 36-inch water transmission line undergoing repairs, West Hollywood is currently being served by an 8-inch distribution pipe. Residents may notice low water pressure, especially those living in upper-floor apartments, officials said.

Book Soup, a popular bookstore on Sunset Blvd, was one of the shops and restaurants forced to close after streets were flooded.

“For the safety of staff and the community, we’re keeping the store closed for the time being,” an employee said in a recording on its answering machine Sunday.

“We want to reassure everyone that the store is completely fine and our books are safe and dry,” she added.

Thursday’s fracture was on a steel pipe that forms the major arteries for water delivery from reservoirs and tanks to smaller distribution lines across Los Angeles. That section of the Sunset Trunk Line had been slated for replacement in 2031, according to the utility.

In 2019, LADWP said roughly 29% of the city’s pipes were over 80 years old, nearing their typical 100-year lifespan.

When the trunk line ruptured early Thursday morning, millions of gallons of water gushed down Holloway Drive, inundating businesses and flooding underground parking garages.

Repairs to a water main on Sunset Boulevard Saturday in West Hollywood.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

West Hollywood Mayor John Heilman estimated that between 150 and 200 cars were damaged or destroyed in the flood.

The leak was stopped after a few hours, leaving a giant sinkhole in the middle of Sunset Boulevard.

On Saturday, city crews replaced a 25-foot section of the line. Workers have refilled the pipe with water and are now working to repressurize it, officials said Sunday.

The workers must then disinfect the pipe with chlorine and test the water’s quality for safety. The hole in Sunset Blvd. will then be filled and the street repaired, officials said.

Residents and businesses who lost property and suffered damages can find information about filing claims at www.LADWP.com/Claims.

BILLINGS, Mont. — The U.S. Interior Department on Friday canceled a rule meant to protect plants and animals that are determined to be threatened with extinction, the latest step by the Trump administration to dismantle key provisions of the landmark Endangered Species Act at the behest of industry.

Instead of receiving automatic protections, imperiled species will need individualized protection plans once they are added to the threatened species list. That’s a potentially lengthy process in which companies could seek exemptions for oil and gas drilling, mining and other development where those species live.

Opponents said it would make it harder to save wildlife awaiting federal protections and in danger of disappearing, such as monarch butterflies and alligator snapping turtles.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement that the Endangered Species Act had been used for too long “to stop almost any new project in America, driving up costs for families, weakening our competitiveness, and undermining our national security.”

“Success should be measured by species recovery and delisting, not by adding more species to the list,” Burgum added.

A second change finalized Friday requires officials to analyze economic effects when deciding whether habitat is critical to a species’ survival. Critics say it gives corporations an opportunity to put their thumb on the scale so officials will allow development in those areas.

“If you’re exempting certain industries that cause habitat destruction, in many instances you’ll be exempting the main threat to those species,” said Noah Greenwald with the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity.

Officials made similar changes during Trump’s first term, but they were reversed under the Biden administration.

The rules that gave what some consider “blanket protections” to threatened species were first adopted for wildlife in 1975 and for plants in 1977.

Two groups, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Property and Environment Research Center, sued the Biden administration in 2024 after officials restored the blanket protections rule. They argued the rule unfairly imposed the same restrictions on landowners when a species’ status improves from endangered, which is more dire, to threatened.

That removed incentives for landowners to participate in species recovery, said Jonathan Wood, vice president at the Montana-based research center.

Wood said the Trump administration’s approach allows officials to “better reward progress and encourage proactive conservation.”

There have been no species added to the endangered or threatened lists in Trump’s second term. By comparison, more than 20 species were added in Trump’s first term, and about 60 under President Biden.

About 30 species are currently proposed to be listed as threatened. Besides monarchs and alligator snapping turtles, they include California spotted owls and various snakes, fish, clams and insects.

Changes to government policies for endangered plants and wildlife have come faster and extended further in Trump’s second term than in his first.

The administration in March exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said environmentalists’ lawsuits threatened to hobble domestic energy supplies as the U.S. wages war against Iran.

A week before the latest rule change, Interior officials sharply narrowed the definition of what constitutes “harm” to a species. The change would allow development in critical wildlife habitat so long as the animals themselves are not immediately killed or injured.

Officials this week sharply reduced the amount of critical habitat in the Rocky Mountains designated for Canada lynx, forest-dwelling wildcats that are threatened by climate change and other pressures.

Also this week, Burgum said in a visit to Montana that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would turn over more management authority for grizzly bears to states where the bruins live. That’s been a long-standing priority for the Republican governors of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.

The Endangered Species Act is credited with bringing back animals including the California condor, the bald eagle and the American alligator from the brink of extinction.

Burgum noted Friday that 97% of the species that have been given protections still have them. That’s a frustration for Republican lawmakers who say species should be taken off the endangered and threatened lists more quickly once they’ve recovered.

Brown writes for the Associated Press.

OLIVIA Atwood and Pete Wicks are all loved-up on date night just days after going Instagram official.

The couple spent the evening together through to the early hours and sealed the deal with a steamy snog.

Love Island Alum Olivia and TV star Pete were spotted celebrating her new range with Tatti Lash launch in London this week. 

The pair couldn’t keep their hands off each other and looked as loved up as ever as they embraced each other. 

They even shared a steamy snog outside Pete’s favourite hotspot Stringfellows enjoying the night together. 

Olivia stunned in a pink number, which was emblazoned with sequins and featured a mesh shirt design which came into a fitted skirt, matching a pink bra seen through the garment.

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She pulled her blonde tresses into a tight ponytail and matched pink heels with the look.

Pete opted for an all black outfit pairing a shirt with trousers and carried a designer bag with him. 

It certainly seems the pair’s relationship is here to stay, with the couple trying to keep their relationship under wraps for months, but have still been pictured kissing, cuddling and on romantic dates. 

Just days ago Olivia and Pete made things Instagram official after jetting off to Ibiza together.

Pete flew out to visit Olivia in Ibiza as she filmed a new series of her show, Bad Boyfriends, and now he has shared snaps of them together for the first time.

In a perfect hard launch, he captioned the snaps: “I guess someone has to go first…IBIZA” followed by a black heart emoji.

The first black and white snap saw them lying together on a yacht while sailing across the water, and another showed Olivia lying in Pete’s lap as he kissed the top of her head.

His Staying Relevant co-star Sam Thompson was quick to comment: “Never thought I’d see the day YOU hard launch!! couldn’t be happier for you brother.”

Pete’s post came just hours after Olivia returned to her Olivia’s House podcast and said: “Just in the way that I don’t send the first good morning text, I’m not f***ing hard launching anyone first.”

Pete had commented on the post with the wide-eyed emoji, so clearly knew what he had to do.

The pair – who host a KISS FM radio show together – began dating back in February, following Olivia’s split from husband Bradley Dack.

OLIVIA Attwood certainly had a glow about her as she stepped out in London on Friday night to celebrate her new range with Tatti Lashes.

And whether it’s because she’s so happy to be celebrating the collaboration, or due to a recent hard-launch from her boyfriend Pete Wicks, is still to be determined.

This week, Olivia unveiled a new collection she has created with false eyelash brand Tatti Lashes, and celebrated the release on Friday night.

Matching the brand’s pink colour scheme, the TV host and former Love Islander looked stunning in a candy pink mini-dress.

The number was emblazoned with sequins and featured a mesh shirt design which came into a fitted skirt, with Olivia’s matching pink bra seen through the garment.

She pulled her blonde tresses into a tight ponytail and matched pink heels with the look.

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Blowing a kiss for the cameras before heading into the event in Central London – where a slew of Love Islanders were on the guest list.

Olivia appeared in high spirits ahead of the celebration, which could have been helped along by recent affairs of the heart.

The reality personality enjoyed a loved-up holiday to Ibiza last week with Pete , during which the pair didn’t shy away from PDA.

Pete had flown out to meet Olivia after she wrapped filming on her ITV show Bad Boyfriends, which was taking place on the White Isle.

And while they looked very cosy throughout the trip, the couple were yet to confirm their relationship online.

But yesterday, upon returning home, Pete shared a carousel of pictures confirming the romance as he sweetly hard-launched Olivia.

One snap showed Pete planting a kiss on Olivia’s head, while another was of the couple cuddled up during a yacht trip.

“I guess someone has to go first…IBIZA” captioned Pete, followed by a black heart emoji.

His caption about ‘going first’ was seemingly a reference to Olivia’s podcast that had been released just hours earlier.

Returning to her Olivia’s House podcast following the holiday, she said: “Just in the way that I don’t send the first good morning text, I’m not f***ing hard launching anyone first.”

And he certainly understood the assignment, with Pete wasting no time to make sure he obliged.

A senior North Korean party official and China’s top political adviser have met in Pyongyang and discussed ways to strengthen bilateral exchanges and cooperation, the North’s state media said Thursday.

Jo Yong-won, a secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, and Wang Huning, chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), held talks Wednesday, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Wang, China’s fourth-ranking official, is leading a Chinese party and government delegation on a three-day visit to North Korea through Friday to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between the two countries.

During the talks, Jo said the rapidly changing international political situation “has required the two countries to further strengthen the militant unity, support and solidarity and steadily intensify and develop the friendly and cooperative relations” based on the spirit of the treaty.

Jo also said bilateral ties have entered a new stage of development under the leadership of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Chinese President Xi Jinping, expressing Pyongyang’s willingness to expand strategic communication and cooperation across various sectors.

Wang said the friendship treaty has provided a legal foundation for consolidating the “militant friendship formed at the cost of blood” between the two countries.

He also reaffirmed China’s commitment to elevating bilateral ties to a higher level in line with the consensus reached by Xi and Kim during their summit in Pyongyang in June, according to the KCNA.

The two sides discussed ways to deepen party-to-party exchanges and expand cooperation in various fields, including the economy and culture, with the aim of promoting the well-being of their peoples, the report said.

Wang’s visit comes days after North Korean Premier Pak Thae-song traveled to China to attend events marking the treaty anniversary, where he met with Xi and other senior Chinese leaders.

The exchange of high-level delegations has highlighted increasingly active contacts between Pyongyang and Beijing as the two sides seek to reaffirm their traditionally close ties and deepen cooperation.

“We are closely monitoring the possibility of a meeting between Wang and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, as well as any follow-up cooperation that may emerge from the talks,” an official at Seoul’s unification ministry told reporters.

He added the government is also paying attention to the presence of officials involved in urban management at the talks, saying it could signal discussions on cooperation in the economic and urban development sectors.

The latest exchanges reflect efforts by Pyongyang and Beijing to strengthen strategic communication and party-to-party ties, though it remains to be seen whether the current pace of high-level exchanges will continue beyond events marking the treaty anniversary, the official said.

Copyright (c) Yonhap News Agency prohibits its content from being redistributed or reprinted without consent, and forbids the content from being learned and used by artificial intelligence systems.

July 14 (Asia Today) — South Korea’s new court administration chief warned Tuesday that growing outside pressure is making it more difficult for judges and other court employees to perform their duties independently.

Supreme Court Justice Roh Kyung-pil, 62, made the remarks during his inauguration as minister of the National Court Administration at the Supreme Court in Seoul.

“External pressure and burdens that make it difficult for judges to conduct independent trials and for court members to perform their duties in a stable manner are increasing,” Roh said.

He said the National Court Administration would serve as a protective barrier so judges and other employees could carry out their responsibilities according to the law and their professional judgment.

“The National Court Administration will provide firm support so that all members of the judiciary can confidently perform their duties in accordance with laws and principles,” Roh said.

He also pledged to strengthen personnel and material resources for judges and court employees working in difficult positions.

“The more demanding the position, the more we must reduce the burden, even slightly, so they can concentrate on their work,” he said. “We will expand the necessary personnel and physical foundations and develop effective support measures.”

Roh’s appointment filled a position that had remained vacant for about four months.

Former court administration chief Park Young-jae resigned in February after the ruling bloc pushed three controversial judiciary bills through the National Assembly.

The measures included the creation of a criminal offense for intentionally distorting the law, a system allowing constitutional challenges to court judgments and an expansion of the number of Supreme Court justices.

Park stepped down in protest against the legislation.

Roh was born in Haenam County in South Jeolla Province. He graduated from Gwangju High School and Seoul National University’s College of Law.

He was appointed as a judge in 1997 and later served as a Supreme Court research judge, a Seoul High Court judge and a presiding judge at the Gwangju and Suwon high courts.

Roh was appointed to the Supreme Court in August 2024.

The head of the National Court Administration oversees judicial administration under the direction of the chief justice and supervises court administrative operations and personnel.

The position does not involve directing judges’ decisions in individual trials but carries significant responsibility for the judiciary’s budget, staffing and administrative policies.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260714010005202

Croatia’s World Cup was seconds away from being over and Portugal was seconds away from the round of 16 when Ivan Perisic sent a long, desperate cross into the penalty area. The ball bounced off bodies like a pinball before magically, unbelievably, caroming into the net.

Gooooooallllllll!!!!

Fate had given Croatia a reprieve.

But as pandemonium broke out in the stands and on the pitch, Norwegian referee Espen Eskas stood in the middle of the celebration in Toronto, hand to his ear, listening to a voice half a continent away in Dallas.

The voice recommended a review, via the video assistant referee, or VAR.

So Eskas trotted over to a TV monitor, watched a video replay over and over again, and more than 2½ minutes after the goal was recorded, he took it off the board. Perisic’s cross had brushed the hair of teammate Igor Matanovic, leaving Mario Pasalic in an offside position when the ball reached him near the far post. The contact was imperceptible to the naked eye, but a space-age sensor in the ball had confirmed it.

A VAR review led a referee to overturn a Croatia goal during its 2-1 World Cup loss to Portugal in Toronto, eliminating Croatia from the tournament.

(Dan Mullan / Getty Images)

Croatia’s World Cup was over, another victim of VAR, which has had an outsized influence on this summer’s tournament.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. When VAR was introduced to soccer nine years ago, its mission was clear: to alert the head referee to potential clear and obvious errors or serious missed incidents. At least that’s what Major League Soccer, one of the first leagues to use the system, wrote in the news release introducing it.

“It was really to stop the headlines,” said Mark Geiger, who helped implement VAR as an MLS referee. “These super-egregious errors in a game that impact the outcome. The mantra for VAR was always minimum interference but maximum benefit.”

Under the VAR system, officials sitting before a bank of monitors in a centralized control room review match footage in real time and advise the on-field referee of potential errors. If the video assistant referees believe a mistake has been made, they communicate that through an earpiece the match referee is wearing. If the match official agrees, they will stop play, signal a review by motioning their hands in the shape of a rectangular TV screen, then watch the play themselves on a pitch-side monitor before either confirming or reversing the original decision.

It is comparable to the Automated Ball-Strike review added this year in Major League Baseball, tennis’ Hawk-Eye line-calling system and long-standing centralized instant replay review in the National Football League and National Basketball Assn., systems that have both corrected errors and stoked debate.

But VAR has morphed into something far greater. In this World Cup, there have been more than 100 VAR interventions, encompassing both confirmed on-field calls and overturned decisions, through the end of the round of 16, according to Antonio Vuksanovic, a publication relations and communications professional at Sofascore, a Croatian technology company and sports statistics website.

“When it comes to actual overturned decisions, we’re looking at roughly 0.5 per match, which is higher than the last World Cup and higher than what we saw across the most recently completed club season,” Vuksanovic said.

Even though the officials have gotten most of those calls right, many of the infractions reviewed have been so imperceptible yet so consequential, it has raised a question: if human error on the part of players and coaches is part of the sport, is allowing a game to be decided by electronic evidence of a touch detectable only through NASA-level technology violating the spirit of the game?

Iran’s Shoja Khalilzadeh shoots past Egypt’s Mostafa Shobeir, but the goal was overturned after VAR review during a World Cup match in Seattle on June 26.

(Maddy Grassy / Associated Press)

Christina Unkel, a former FIFA referee, state referee administrator in Florida and a rules of the game analyst for multiple TV networks, believes it does.

“Football is an art. And that’s why we love it,” she said. “It truly isn’t the referee’s fault. We’re not the ones seeking more advanced technology. We don’t want to look like robots out there. But the stakeholders are like ‘more, more, more.’

“When you do pursue black and white — objectivity is what they’re trying to get to, and I get it; they want to eliminate as much subjectivity as possible — what everyone is hating is this perfection thing.”

FIFA, the major stakeholder in the World Cup, declined multiple requests to answer questions about the officiating, but it has clearly doubled down on the technology for this tournament, introducing the semi-automated offside system which uses player-tracking cameras, computer-generated offside lines and, in some cases, data from a measuring instrument inside the match ball, to identify everyone’s position on the pitch when the ball is played.

“The whole genesis of VAR was not to fix every mistake or to make the referees perfect,” said Geiger, the first American to officiate a World Cup knockout game and now general manager of the Professional Referees Organization (PRO), which oversees referees for MLS and the NWSL. “Is the referee correct? That’s not the right question. They should be asking themselves, ‘is the referee clearly and obviously wrong?’”

Geiger, however, remains a huge proponent of the system and was careful not to criticize how it’s been used in this World Cup.

Belgium’s Youri Tielemans on a penalty kick that sails by Senegal goalkeeper Mory Diaw during a World Cup round of 32 match in Seattle on July 1. The game-deciding penalty kick was awarded after VAR review.

(Manu Fernandez / Associated Press)

Still, the frequent use of VAR and other technologies has clearly robbed the World Cup of much as its drama, with spontaneous celebrations of game-winning goals turning to grief moments later when the referee steps away from the monitor and takes away a score.

Reviews not only ended Croatia’s tournament, but they showed Shoja Khalilzadeh was a toe offside when he scored the goal that would have sent Iran to the knockout stages, one of three goals Iran had disallowed by VAR in the tournament; it gave Belgium a late penalty, based on light contact, that Youri Tielemans converted to end Senegal’s World Cup; and it cost Egypt a goal for a perceived foul that took place nearly 100 yards away from the ball in its 3-2 loss to Argentina.

“What happened to us wasn’t fair,” Egypt coach Hossam Hassan said.

Unkel agreed with that sentiment too.

“Everyone hates it,” she said. “According to VAR, that’s correct to take that goal away. That’s not the spirit of the game. But it’s the correct decision by law.”

What Unkel would prefer — and she believes a majority of officials are on her side — is for referees to have discretion to ignore or even overrule VAR if common sense and their understanding of the game suggest they should, just as judges have discretion to use common sense in applying the law.

“A lot of our game, the majority of it, is very subjective,” she said. “When we’re all sitting there saying, ‘No, that doesn’t gain an unfair advantage,’ then that’s when we have to start reconsidering things back to the spirit of the law. That’s the catchall loophole for saying, ‘Do we want this to be part of our game?’

“And I think everyone’s universally saying there a lot of different kinds of decisions we do not want part of our game. Toenail offsides, hair follicle arguments.”

Without the use of video replays, its unlikely any of those calls would have been made and the World Cup quarterfinals would probably look quite different.

England players react as referee Alireza Faghani shows a red card to England’s Jarell Quansah during a World Cup match against Mexico on July 5.

(Natacha Pisarenko / Ap Photo/natacha Pisarenko)

England coach Thomas Tuchel, upset about a penalty call on captain Harry Kane and a red card given to defender Jarell Quansah, both following video reviews in his team’s round-of-16 win over Mexico, said rulings were being overturned in the tournament “in a very questionable way.”

“The referees can send any team out in any moment,” he added. “It’s just not good enough. It’s just erratic. It’s just unreliable.”

An apparent misuse of the technology also led to the most controversial incident in the tournament. In the second half of an elimination game between the U.S. and Bosnia-Herzegovina, American Folarin Balogun stomped on the ankle of Bosnia’s Tarik Muharemovic, something Brazilian referee Raphael Claus initially decided did not merit even a caution. But after VAR official Juan Soto of Venezuela urged him to watch a replay, Claus flashed a red card at Balogun, expelling him from the game and banning him from the next match in the round of 16.

Claus had watched the replay in slow motion, allowing him to see what wasn’t apparent at game speed. FIFA later intervened by lifting Balogun’s one-game suspension, igniting ever greater controversy because it was just the second time that has happened in a World Cup.

U.S. forward Folarin Balogun steps on Bosnia-Herzegovina defender Tarik Muharemovic’s foot and received a red card after VAR review during the World Cup.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

The heavy use of VAR has also interrupted the flow of games by halting matches that weren’t meant to be halted, leaving everyone standing on the field while the referee goes off to watch TV, sometimes for minutes at a time.

“When calls are reviewed and when goals are reviewed, sometimes it could take away from the momentum,” U.S. defender Chris Richards said. “Look under anything with a microscope, you could probably find something. But ultimately it was meant to be helpful for the game.”

And it has been. Because if officials have become over-reliant on VAR to review decisions that were not, or could not, be seen in real time, at least they’re getting those decisions right.

“I wish we had it in the 2002 World Cup,” said Bruce Arena, who coached the U.S. in that tournament. “We might have made it to the semifinals.”

In the quarterfinals of that tournament, with Germany leading 1-0 in the 40th minute, an obvious handball by Germany’s Torsten Frings kept out a shot from American Gregg Berhalter. If VAR had been available, Scottish referee Hugh Dallas could have corrected the missed call, awarding a penalty and giving Frings a red card, expelling him for the final 40 minutes.

“Look at every sport now in the world,” said Arena, coach of the San José Earthquakes. “They have some version of VAR. Why not make decisions correct?”

“There are still plenty of opportunities for the referees to control the game and make mistakes and not make mistakes,” he continued in reference to the human element. “It’s not like every moment is evaluated. But key moments are.”

As for interrupting the flow of play, Arena says the three-minute hydration breaks FIFA has introduced each half — ostensibly for player welfare, but in practice to give the TV networks additional commercial breaks — have been more disruptive.

“You don’t want VAR to officiate the game completely,” Arena said. “You have to pick your spots. For the most part, I think VAR is good.”

John H. Rousselot, the conservative Republican who represented part of the San Gabriel Valley in Congress for 14 years, was an officer of the John Birch Society and who tried to buy Charles H. Keating Jr.’s failed Lincoln Savings and Loan Assn., died Sunday. He was 75.

Rousselot, of Mission Viejo, died at Irvine Medical Center of congestive heart failure, said his son, Craig. He said his father had suffered a heart attack a year ago.

A glad-hander and energetic campaigner, Rousselot was controversial and colorful as he surfed the changing waves of political power as public relations expert, legislator or lobbyist.

He first gained office in 1960 when he ousted incumbent Democratic Rep. George Kasem in the 25th District. But he was so outspoken in defending the right-wing Birch Society, which he had just joined, that he failed to win reelection. In 1970, he was returned to Washington for half a dozen two-year terms in the 26th District, which included his native San Marino.

The congressman’s elective status ended in 1982 after redistricting threw him into a new 30th District, stretching from Bell Gardens to Azusa. Too long out of office and tainted by his association with Keating, Rousselot failed in a 1992 comeback campaign for the 25th District.

In Congress, Rousselot became active on the Banking and Currency Committee, and later the Economic and Budget and Ways and Means committees, where he staunchly opposed spending and tax increases, proposed cuts in the food stamp program, and worked for deregulation of the savings and loan industry. He also advocated U.S. military occupation of Cuba two years before the Cuban missile crisis.

As then-Atty. Gen. Robert F. Kennedy and others criticized the Birch Society in the early 1960s, freshman Congressman Rousselot defended the group: “They are calm, firm, dedicated people who are merely trying to inform themselves about communism.”

If Kennedy read the group’s “blue book,” Rousselot told The Times in 1961, he’d know that “one of the main purposes of each chapter is to keep its members and guests who attend fully informed as to the nature, purpose and intent of the Communist conspiracy in this country.”

First turned out of Congress in 1963, Rousselot was named regional director of the Birch Society — heading the group in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada and Idaho from an office in San Marino. He also served as national Birch Society public relations chairman. In both positions, he continued to insist that the organization’s purpose was to educate rather than advocate or indoctrinate.

But Rousselot resigned from the Birch Society with characteristic drama on April 17, 1979, when he was contemplating running for the U.S. Senate [he didn’t], “to demonstrate to the citizens of California that I am my own man, controlled by no organization or individual.” He also said that he had become disillusioned because Birch Society founder Robert Welch had besmirched President Eisenhower as a Communist agent and Winston Churchill as a traitor.

After Rousselot left Congress, he was in the Reagan White House as special assistant for business matters, then served as Western states coordinator for Reagan’s 1984 reelection campaign.

From 1985 to 1988, Rousselot was president of the National Council of Savings Institutions, a Washington-based lobbying group for banks and savings and loans. In addition to deregulation he worked to enable savings institutions to expand their business beyond mortgage lending.

In 1989, after lobbying for Keating, Rousselot was named the final chairman and chief executive of Lincoln Savings and Loan. With four others, he tried to buy the institution shortly before it was shut down by federal regulators who said that its assets were dissipated. Critics alleged that the attempted purchase was a scheme to delay the federal shutdown in the largest thrift collapse in U.S. history.

“I did nothing illegal, improper or unwarranted,” Rousselot told The Times a few years later.

Nevertheless, in 1993 his former association with the scandal-plagued thrift forced Gov. Pete Wilson to withdraw his appointment to the California Board of Prison Terms when legislators refused to confirm him.

John Harbin Rousselot was born Nov. 1, 1927, in San Marino and majored in political science and business administration at Principia College in Elsah, Ill.

In the 1950s, he established a public relations firm in Los Angeles and became president of the California Young Republicans.

From 1958 to 1960, when he resigned to run for Congress, he was national director of public information for the Federal Housing Administration.

Twice divorced, Rousselot is survived by his son, Craig of Irvine; two daughters, Robin Edwards of Lake Forest and Wendy Sirugo of San Dimas; a brother, Norman of Sonora, Texas; and five granddaughters.

A public memorial service will be planned at a later date.

The LAPD is considering whether to shut down its police academy for part of 2028 in order to put hundreds of officers back to work on the streets in time for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, according to four department sources.

The sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss internal matters, said the proposal was floated at a senior staff meeting last week. The idea has sparked debate, the sources said, with some officials worried that a pause would set back the department’s efforts to hire more police officers and replenish its dwindling ranks.

The LAPD declined to make any official available for an interview about the proposal. In response to an inquiry from The Times, the department released a short statement that said: “The Olympic Games are two years away. The LAPD will be prepared as always to keep the citizens and visitors of Los Angeles safe. We look forward to a memorable event.”

Much could still change between now and the start of the Olympics. The size of recruit classes are dictated by the department’s annual budget, which is approved by the City Council before each fiscal year.

Recently, the council signed off on a $15-billion city budget for 2026-27, preserving Mayor Karen Bass’ plan to hire 510 officers — only enough cops to replace those who are expected to leave over the next fiscal year.

It’s not uncommon during large events for the department to mobilize officers from specialized units and others who don’t normally work in the field. But the potential cancellation of more than half of the 13 academy classes that the LAPD typically graduates in a given year came as a surprise to some.

Under the proposal, the academy could cease operations for roughly seven months after the January 2028 class, which would let the department temporarily reassign more than 300 officers from its training division. These include instructors who would normally be spending their days teaching the basics of how to handle firearms, pull over speeding motorists, collect evidence at a crime scene and interview victims and suspects.

Sources said the proposed plan calls for increasing academy class sizes before and after the Olympics and Paralympics in order to offset resignations and retirements.

The plan has still been met with deep skepticism in some quarters, with officials pointing to the department’s well-documented recruitment struggles in recent years. Any interruptions in recruiting officers could set the department back, the skeptics argue.

L.A. City Councilmember Tim McOsker said he understood the need for the department to continue its recruitment efforts, but said that putting training officers back to the field felt like a necessary “sacrifice to be able to host the Olympics.”

Late last month, L.A. officials reached a tentative deal with Olympic organizers laying out the process for reimbursing the city for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars for public services, ranging from traffic control to trash pickup. But the question of how the city will pay for police protection remains largely unsettled.

The costs could theoretically be covered by the $1 billion in funding the federal government has allocated for the Games’ costs. However, some elected officials have expressed concern that the money might not materialize once the Games are over. Another funding option is a $270-million contingency fund maintained by LA28 that can be distributed as a surplus if the Games make money or be used to cover any losses in the event of a shortfall.

For months, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell has warned that public safety will suffer if the city doesn’t hire more officers to not only safeguard Olympic venues, but also continue normal operations over the 66 days between the July 14 start of the Olympic Games and the end of the Paralympic Games. At a budget hearing last year, McDonnell called on the council to fund new hires — while arguing against creating any delays in recruiting and on-boarding more officers.

Some City Council members have pushed back, saying overspending at the LAPD could force city leaders to contemplate cuts to other city jobs, which they oppose.

The Olympics will also be staffed by thousands of officers from agencies from across the state. A bill currently under consideration in the California Legislature would pave the way for the hundreds of officers from other states to help police the 2028 Games. The proposed legislation is opposed by the Peace Officers Research Association of California, the state’s largest law enforcement labor organization, which has argued that bringing in officers who don’t meet statewide training standards could spell disaster.

PRINCESS Andre has shared a brand new sneak peek of her highly anticipated makeup business ahead of its official launch.

The 18-year-old daughter of Katie Price and Peter Andre has even revealed the brand’s name to fans.

Princess is nearing her takeover of the beauty market and has now teased her launch for her very own brand, after landing huge beauty deals in the past. 

Taking to her Instagram, Princess can be seen at her preview launch with images of her and pink balloons in the background. 

The newfound beauty owner can be seen in white corset top, mouthing the words: “omg those makeup products you used are SO good.”

Following the popular online trend, makeup mogul Mitchell Halliday  replies: “They’re your products.”

READ MORE ON PRINCESS ANDRE

slip up?

Katie Price appears to wish Princess happy birthday on wrong day – but had reason

SWANKY DIGS

Princess Andre gives fans a tour of dad Peter’s incredible Cyprus villa

Princess then adds an “oh yeah” before spinning around and blowing a kiss.

The pair were both shown holding makeup products presumably from Princess’ new line. 

The beauty guru added the caption: “Preview Launch, so excited to share with you all what I’ve been working on for so long (heart emoji).”

Alongside, she added the handle to her new brand’s beauty page that has already racked up thousands of followers. 

It’s revealed that the name of her business is set to be By Princess. 

Fans and celebrities alike flooded the stars comment section, GK Barry penned: “Congrats Queen (heart emoji)”

“Love you sweetie (heart emoji)” wrote proud dad Peter. 

Former Towie star Bobby Norris chimed: “Congrats darling!! Xx” which was echoed by Princess’ allegiance of fans.

News broke of Princess’ business venture last year following her second deal with high street giant Superdrug, as the face of their affordable cosmetics line, Studio London.

But now the star is ready to step out on her own and launch her own makeup line.

An insider at the time said: “Princess loves everything to do with make-up and people love her ‘get ready with me’ videos. 

“It’s very savvy of the teen to launch her own line, she knows everyone always wants to know what she’s using, so why not make her own?”

Princess has had a very successful few years, which has included landing her own reality show and passing her driving test, before splashing out on a brand new Audi A1. 

She has vowed to be a millionaire before she turns 20 and she’s well on her way. 

As well as working with Superdrug, she was also an ambassador for online retailer PrettyLittleThing, and launched her own jewellery range.

Dr. Mukesh Kapila, former UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, warns the current crisis in El Obeid, Sudan could be even worse than what unfolded in El Fasher in 2024-2025. However, he says sustained international attention and Al Jazeera’s continued coverage could help deter the RSF.

The unification ministry said Friday it views growing calls to refer to North Korea by its official name as part of a broader effort to build public consensus on the issue.

“The ministry is paying attention to religious leaders’ call for the two Koreas to use each other’s official names,” deputy spokesperson Chang Yoon-jeong said at a regular briefing.

“Since their announcement, we have also noted support from various sectors of society, and we will continue listening to these voices going forward,” she added.

The Korean Council of Religious Leaders said the previous day that genuine peace begins with “acknowledging each other as they are,” urging both South and North Korea to refer to each other using their official names, respectively, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“Respecting each other’s name is the first step” toward peaceful coexistence, the group said.

Kang Chang-il, vice chair of the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council, a presidential advisory body on unification, echoed the call.

“I would first like to express my deep appreciation for the senior religious leaders who said peace begins with respecting each other’s name,” Kang said Thursday.

South Korea currently uses “North Korea” rather than its official name, “Joson” in Korean, as Seoul does not recognize its ties with North Korea as state-to-state relations under the 1991 inter-Korean Basic Agreement.

The debate has gained momentum in recent months, with senior officials, including Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, raising the need for Seoul to call North Korea by its official name to achieve peaceful coexistence.

Copyright (c) Yonhap News Agency prohibits its content from being redistributed or reprinted without consent, and forbids the content from being learned and used by artificial intelligence systems.

July 2 (UPI) — Outgoing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer apologized in person Thursday to women and some of their children who were caught up in a historic forced adoptions scandal in England and Wales dating back to the 1950s through the 1970s.

Stamer issued a formal apology on behalf of the British state, calling the taking of an estimated 185,000 babies from unmarried women, railroaded into allowing their children to be put up for adoption, a “stain on our history.”

The shame is not yours. The shame was never yours. The shame is ours,” he said in a statement to the House of Commons after earlier hosting a group of survivors in Downing Street.

“Mothers, many young, vulnerable, and without support were coerced, bullied, or misled into feeling that they had no choice but to have their children taken away from them. What a thing to do,” he said.

Speaking as some of those whose lives were severely impacted watched on from the public gallery, Starmer said that what happened to them and to tens of thousands of mothers, children and families “should never have happened.”

“It is a stain on our history,” he said.

Starmer said the victims had “very powerfully” relayed to him the “gut-wrenching” shame they were made to feel and how it was drummed into them that they were immoral young women whose children would be better off without them.

The experiences stayed with them through their lifetimes, while their children grew up believing they were unwanted, he said.

“We are deeply and profoundly sorry to the mothers who were told they were unfit, who were prevented from caring for the children they desperately wanted to help and to keep, and who have carried this loss for decades,” said Starmer.

Starmer acknowledged that the practice was deliberate and widespread, particularly between 1949 and 1976 when it was, he said, “embedded within systems across local authorities, across voluntary and faith-based institutions, and in health and social care services,” including parts of what is now the National Health Service.

“All institutions that operated with power over people’s lives, yet they did so without compassion, without consent, and without dignity or proper safeguards,” said Starmer.

He said some women, including those placed in Mother and Baby Homes and other institutions, were prevented from seeing their families and partners, denied education and job opportunities and kept in harsh living conditions.

Some of the treatment meted out to the women was tantamount to manipulation and abuse, said Starmer.

Mothers and adoptees campaigned for years for the state to acknowledge wrongdoing but no offer of compensation was forthcoming, although the government has announced a $5.3 million fund to improve access to adoption records and assist family reunions.

Survivor Ann Keen, whose baby son was adopted in 1966 after she was sent to a mother and baby home in Swansea in Wales at the age of 17, told the BBC she had “no say” in the decision.

The former Member of Parliament in the ruling Labour Party, told BBC Radio ahead of Starmer’s statement to lawmakers that she was eagerly anticipating the moment she would finally be “released from my shame.”

WASHINGTON — Former CIA Director John Brennan sued the Trump administration on Wednesday, demanding a court order that would require officials to preserve records from investigations that he says are targeting him for “phantom criminal conduct.”

Brennan said in the lawsuit that the records would be essential for him to mount a defense on vindictive prosecution grounds in the event of an indictment brought by the administration. Such a defense, his lawyers said, would be supported by the more than 100 verbal or written statements that President Trump has made since 2017 lambasting Brennan and by the Republican president’s directives to his Department of Justice to initiate cases “without regard to factual or legal justification.”

“To fully consider those motions, the reviewing judge would need to scrutinize the motivations of the Justice Department officials who directed, oversaw, or undertook those actions to determine whether they violated Director Brennan’s rights, and specifically whether they were motivated by a desire to vindictively prosecute him as an act of retribution,” Brennan’s lawyers wrote in the lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington.

The lawsuit names as defendants Trump and other top law enforcement officials from his administration, including acting Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel and the prosecutors in Florida who have been overseeing investigations related to Brennan and other perceived Trump adversaries.

The lawsuit says Brennan is facing separate investigations in Florida, including one examining whether he made a false statement to Congress related to an assessment by intelligence agencies documenting Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, in which Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton. The other investigation aims to determine whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired to undermine Trump, including during the course of the Russian interference investigation.

No charges have been brought. The Department of Justice has denied claims of weaponization.

Tucker writes for the Associated Press.

The U.S. military has now confirmed the acceptance of at least six F-35 Joint Strike Fighters for the U.S. Marine Corps without radars. This is due to issues tied to the development of the new AN/APG-85 radar, the first production lot of which is scheduled to be delivered in 2028. The prospect of radarless F-35s had first emerged publicly back in February. The AN/APG-85 is a critical component of the larger Block 4 upgrade package for all variants of the F-35, an effort that has been mired in cost growth and delays.

Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Gregory Masiello, head of the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO), disclosed the acceptance of the six radarless F-35Bs at a hearing before members of the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this week. This came as part of a larger back-and-forth between Masiello and Senator Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat and a retired naval aviator, about F-35 readiness rates across the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy, which have long been a point of concern.

Two weeks ago, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a Congressional watchdog, released a report stating that the average F-35 full mission capable (FMC) rate across all variants had fallen from 38 to 25 percent between Fiscal Years 2020 and 2025. GAO defines FMC as an aircraft “that can perform all of its missions.” The F-35 JPO has not disputed GAO’s figures directly, but has openly disagreed with the methodology it uses to determine FMC.

“So, the GAO FMC rate is, they said, 25 percent. Your office claims it’s 56 percent,” Kelly said, leading up to his question. “We’ll go with your number, 50 percent. So, half of the airplanes are not fully mission capable, and I think it’s the Marine Corps that has been accepting airplanes with no radar in it. Is that correct?”

“We have accepted six aircraft for the Marine Corps that do not have a radar installed. That is correct,” Masiello confirmed.

Kelly then asked if this was due to a lack of available AN/APG-85 radars, which Masiello also confirmed.

Reports circulating already say that the aircraft in question are reportedly short takeoff and vertical landing-capable F-35Bs, though Masiello does not appear to have confirmed this during the hearing. The Marines are the only U.S. operator of the B variant, but they also fly carrier-based C models.

“The Block 4 modernization program is necessary to ensure that the Marine Corps and Joint Force can continue to project air superiority against future threats,” a Marine Corps spokesperson told TWZ today when asked for more information. “The Department of War deliberately undertook a highly concurrent development and production program for Block 4 capabilities (Technical Refresh 3 (TR-3), APG-85, etc.) and the largest fighter aircraft production line in the world. DoW officials made this decision with full understanding of the risk of having production aircraft ready ahead of the Block 4 capabilities. The Services’ decision ensured that production aircraft could accept Block 4 capabilities, rather than continuing to build Block 3 F-35s that would require extensive retrofit for Block 4 capabilities, thereby saving multiple years of retrofit hardware installation. ”

The Marine Corps deferred any further questions to the F-35 JPO. TWZ had already reached out to that office for more information, as well.

“F-35 Lightning II aircraft are being built to accommodate the F-35 advanced radar (APG-85) for U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps. When delivered, the F-35 with APG-85 will provide unmatched capability against current and future threats. Initial fielding for some F-35 aircraft is planned for Lot 17,” the F-35 JPO previously told TWZ in May when asked for an update on the radar situation. “The Program in coordination with the Services deliberately undertook a highly concurrent development and production program for advanced capabilities. This decision was made with full understanding of the risk of having production aircraft ready ahead of the capabilities.”

“The program has plans to accelerate APG-85 production capacity to deliver radars that meet capability, stability, and maintainability requirements needed to meet emerging threats,” the office added at that time. “F-35s with APG-85 radars, actual modernization plans, capabilities, and schedules remain classified to maintain program security.”

The F-35 JPO had provided TWZ with a similar statement when asked about whether radarless F-35s were already being accepted back in February.

In February, the U.S. Air Force also explicitly denied receiving F-35As without radars. There is no confirmation yet that the F-35 JPO has accepted any Joint Strike Fighters for the Air Force or the Navy without radars. Previous reports have said that foreign customers are not expected to be impacted at all, at least in the near-term, since none of them are currently in line to receive AN/APG-85-equipped jets.

Today, the standard radar in use on F-35A, B, and C variants is the AN/APG-81, an active electronically scanned array (AESA) type with air-to-air and air-to-ground modes that traces its roots back to the 1990s. It also has a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) mode, which allows it to produce high-resolution map-like images. These can be used for target acquisition and identification, as well as general reconnaissance purposes.

Details about the new AN/APG-85, which Northrop Grumman is developing, continue to be limited. At the hearing this week, Lt. Gen. Masiello declined to talk about its specific capabilities in an unclassified setting.

The AN/APG-85 is also an AESA design, and is expected to offer an array of new and improved functionality compared to the AN/APG-81. As TWZ has previously noted, it will also just be able to leverage decades of additional general technological advancements since its predecessor was developed. In general, the use of gallium nitride (GaN) has had a major impact on modern radar developments when it comes to physical size, weight, and power requirements.

It should also be noted that the AN/APG-81 is deeply integrated with the F-35’s extensive electronic warfare capabilities, as well as other sensors and facets of the design. The AN/APG-85 is similarly expected to fuse together with other key elements of the Block 4 upgrade package, especially a planned new electronic warfare suite, which we will come back to later on.

As the F-35 JPO noted in its statement in May, the plan had been to start integrating the AN/APG-85 onto F-35s starting with production Lot 17. Deliveries of aircraft from that lot began last year. However, per official budget documents released earlier this year, the first production AN/APG-85s are not expected to be delivered before April 2028. This would actually be a nine-month improvement on the much-delayed delivery timeline for the new radars, the unit cost of which is currently pegged at nearly $9 million.

A compounding factor here is that the hardware used to mount the AN/APG-85 on the F-35 is not backwards compatible with the AN/APG-81. According to a report last year from Breaking Defense, the Joint Strike Fighter’s prime contractor, Lockheed Martin, has reportedly at least raised the possibility of developing a common mounting solution, but also said that this would not be ready before Lot 20 aircraft start being delivered. The first Lot 20 jets are not expected to arrive until sometime between 2027 and 2028.

How the Marine Corps, or any other service, might utilize its radarless F-35s in the meantime is unknown. This was among our queries to the Marines today.

“The currently fielded Block 3 (TR-2) F-35 Lightning II is the most capable fighter in the world today, having proven its capabilities in combat,” the Marine Corps spokesperson added in their statement. “Its advanced mission systems enable the F-35 to deter, and if necessary, dominate in any clime and place.”

Senator Kelly also prodded Lt. Gen. Masiello about this, indirectly, at the hearing this week.

“So, I assume that those airplanes can’t count as fully mission capable with no radar?” Kelly asked the JPO head.

“I don’t think I would count them as fully mission capable,” Masiello said in response.

“You say you don’t think. I can’t imagine a scenario where an F-35 with no radar could be an FMC airplane,” Kelly retorted, which Masiello did not push back on.

TWZ has previously noted that F-35s without radars would not be completely useless, but their capabilities and survivability would certainly be severely degraded. As we previously wrote:

“As long as one F-35 in a formation has a radar, all of the other aircraft in said group should be able to benefit from the data it provides via their Multifunction Advanced Data Links (MADL). As such, even without a radar installed, a Joint Strike Fighter would not be without F-35-derived radar data if at least one other was flying cooperatively with it within MADL’s transmission reach.“

“It is possible that radar-less jets could be sent into combat, at least in an emergency scenario, though doing so would still require accepting greater risks. It would limit tactical flexibility, as well, since remaining linked together with other radar-equipped jets would be key. Those jets would also have to rely on using their radars more heavily, which can be a vulnerability. The F-35 also has a host of passive sensors that it can rely on for battlespace information, although none are capable of replacing the radar’s functionality. Data from other platforms transmitted via Link 16 is also available to all F-35 pilots.“

“Maybe one of the biggest issues with having no radar is that it is a major part of the jet’s electronic warfare suite. Its ability to transmit narrow, extremely powerful beams of energy adds to the jet’s potent electronic attack capability. So, without the radar, its ability to defend itself and others by leveraging the electromagnetic spectrum is also curbed.“

Remarks from Lt. Gen. Masiello at the hearing this week also raise new concerns about the capabilities that the AN/APG-85 radars will offer even when they do finally start being integrated onto F-35s. This is tied to what it will take to sufficiently cool the radar and other elements of the Block 4 upgrade package. Thermal management is another long-standing issue for all variants of the F-35, which has already had major negative impacts on readiness rates and maintenance demands, as you can read about in more detail here.

“So, right now, you’re cooling, you got about 30 kilowatts [of cooling],” Senator Kelly said as part of another question posed to the head of the F-35 JPO. “Block 4 requires 32 [kilowatts of cooling], is what I have here. But to get to the cooling needed to – for the full capability of the APG-85, needs to be somewhat higher, it seems like 62 kilowatts of cooling?”

“The requirement that we have for the program going forward is 62 to 80 [kilowatts of cooling],” Masiello said in response. “The challenge I see is if the totality of Block 4, when it’s installed, and on the aircraft, it takes the complete power available, which is 32 [kilowatts].”

“There’s no margin, which as you know, is not a smart way to go,” he continued. “So, we have an incremental approach to increase that. And we have an ongoing program to look at a more systemic and affordable upgrade to the power thermal management across the program.”

Masiello insisted that this Power and Thermal Management System (PTMS) upgrade would not be required for AN/APG-85 integration, but also made clear that it would be available in time, regardless.

“For the engine core upgrade that we anticipate and have asked for additional funding on that, we anticipate that being fielded in 2031, and it will come with a marginal increase in the power thermal management,” he explained. “The actual system that’s under review and looking for the forward program will come a few years later into the system, which is when we would have the additional capabilities beyond Block 4, not yet to be determined that will require that.”

At the same time, as Masiello himself acknowledged, the current plan offers no margin when it comes to cooling before the PTMS upgrade is available. In response to further questioning by Senator Kelly, he declined to speak in an unclassified setting about what that might mean for the initial fielding of the AN/APG-85 radar.

As noted, the entire Block 4 upgrade effort continues to be beset by delays and cost growth, despite efforts to reorganize and accelerate certain components thereof. As of September 2025, the schedule for delivery of a truncated portion of the upgrade package was still running five years behind, according to GAO. The original goal had been for F-35s with the full suite of Block 4 improvements to begin arriving this year.

Beyond the AN/APG-85, Block 4 is eventually supposed to include replacements for the Joint Strike Fighter’s AN/AAQ-37 Distributed Aperture System (DAS) and Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS), as well as a new electronic warfare suite and a host of other improved capabilities. The Air Force previously described the electronic warfare package, which directly tied in with the APG-85, as a top priority. This is all driving the aforementioned demands for more auxiliary power-generation and thermal cooling capacity, work on which is also now behind schedule.

The F-35 program as a whole continues to face growing costs and other challenges associated with operating and maintaining the jets, which are key factors in the low readiness rates of all variants in service today. Spare parts shortages have been a particularly persistent and serious problem, as you can learn more about in this past TWZ feature.

“That is now what we’re putting forth is the requirement, which is the reason why, in this generational investment of the 2027 budget will help us. So, we will fill up the available parts,” Lt. Gen. Masiello also said at the hearing this week. “It’s not a systemic issue with the system having the ability. It’s the fact that we didn’t put enough parts and pieces on the shelf. And we’ve increased the demand exponentially with the number of aircraft fielded, and we didn’t do the same thing with the spare parts and the system.”

As of last year, the total project cost of the entire program, from initial development in the 1990s through the end of the type’s expected lifecycle in the 2070s, was pegged at $2.1 trillion. The JPO has stressed in the past that this figure includes the acquisition of thousands of jets and that inflation is expected to account for roughly half of the total cost.

When it comes to the continuing saga of the AN/APG-85, F-35s are now being delivered without any radars, and it could be years still before that changes.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

June 26 (UPI) — A Federal Emergency Management Agency official who claims he was once teleported to a Waffle House has been ousted from the agency, unnamed sources familiar with the situation told media outlets Friday.

Gregg Phillips, who was appointed to lead the Office of Response and Recovery in December, was asked to vacate his position because of concerns about how he’s publicly perceived, anonymous sources told The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN.

Phillips, the associate administrator for FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery, posted on social media in April doubling down on his teleportation claim. He said it really happened and that it is connected to his Christianity.

“God will not be mocked,” Phillips posted on Truth Social. “People can debate me. Question me. Even ridicule what they don’t understand.”

He clarified that it happened while he was heavily medicated during cancer treatment.

“The word ‘teleportation’ was not mine,” Phillips posted on Truth Social. “It was used by someone else in the conversation reaching for language to describe something with no easy name. The more accurate biblical terms are ‘translated’ or ‘transported’ — not new ideas for people of faith.”

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed Thursday that Phillips is leaving the agency, saying he is taking leave for personal reasons. But sources told CNN the departure was not by his choice.

New DHS leadership was tired of his public image and clashes with department leadership, the sources said. David Arnold, a senior official who left FEMA earlier this year, will fill in as an acting leader of the Office of Response and Recovery.

The office has more than 1,000 employees and a budget of nearly $300 million. It’s critical to the mission of responding to disasters.

Phillips was known as a conspiracy theorist, particularly concerning election fraud. He said millions of noncitizens had voted in the 2016 election. Trump also boosted those claims.

Some agency staff were unhappy with his ouster, saying he wanted to help improve the agency.

“He showed interest in preserving the mission of the agency and helping us serve citizens,” one current agency official told The Post.

Another agency official told The Post that Phillips was one of the only political appointees who supported staff and would push back against leadership such as former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem or Karen Evans, who briefly led FEMA.

Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark called out officials following her team’s 86-77 win over the Phoenix Mercury on Monday. She was one of five players assessed technical fouls amid a fourth-quarter dustup that also involved former teammate DeWanna Bonner.

Clark was called for a personal foul at the 7:57 mark in the fourth quarter after getting tangled up with Bonner, who was trying to post up near the free-throw line. The two exchanged some words before things escalated as their teammates got involved. Clark appeared flabbergasted when she learned she received a technical foul for clapping while her teammate Myisha Hines-Allen and the Mercury’s Alyssa Thomas were in each other’s faces.

Bonner, Thomas, Hines-Allen and Fever guard Sophie Cunningham were also assessed technical fouls for their actions during the scuffle. Hines-Allen was later ejected from the game after earning another technical foul for pushing Thomas after being called for a foul in the very next play.

This marks Clark’s fifth technical of the season so far. Players who rack up eight technical fouls in a season must serve a one-game suspension.

“It’s ridiculous. I got a tech for clapping,” Clark said after the game. “We should all just go on the calendar now and pick a game that I’m going to be suspended for if I’m going to get technicals for clapping.

“If any technicals should be taken away, it should be that one,” Clark added. “I don’t understand it at all. … I’m going to play with emotion. I’m going to play with passion. And if they’re going to give me a technical foul for clapping, then so be it. That’s their choice.”

Caitlin Clark reacts during Monday’s game between the Indiana Fever and the Phoenix Mercury.

(Michael Hickey / Getty Images)

This was not the first time this season the two-time All-Star has been seen clapping toward other players or officials during a game. None of the previous occasions resulted in Clark receiving a technical foul. The star guard has been receiving more attention this season for her behavior during games outside of her play. The Fever reportedly plan to appeal the technical foul.

Clark led all scorers with 24 points while also dishing out nine assists in the Fever win, while Kelsey Mitchell added 22 points. For the Mercury, Kahleah Copper led with 20 points, while Thomas had 19 points, five rebounds and nine assists.

Bonner, a two-time WNBA champion, had signed a one-year contract with the Fever last season. She played in just nine games before parting ways with the team and eventually rejoining the Mercury, where she started her career. Fever fans could be heard booing Bonner at various times during Monday’s game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Fever coach Stephanie White said that Clark has to be aware of her technical fouls and that “there are some that we could do without.”

“There are natural things that happen that the energy of the game creates when you do get those,” White said. “But there are some that we can be a little bit more in control of. So, yes, we’ll continue to remind her, and I think she has to have an awareness.”

She also brushed off the incident as something “that … happens” in “a competitive sport.”

“As a group, we have to be able to have our moment and then regroup and play with poise and composure. It can’t continue to go on,” White said.

Dallas Wing guard Paige Bueckers and Golden State Valkyries forward Janelle Salaün are among the other players who have been assessed technical fouls this season for clapping after a play. Neither incidents involved taunting players from the opposing team, and both of those techs have reportedly been rescinded.

Liam Payne’s 9-year-old son has inherited the late singer’s fortune.

Bear Grey Payne, the only child of Payne and British singer and former “X-Factor” judge Cheryl Cole, has been named the sole beneficiary of the former One Direction star’s estate, according to court documents reviewed by People.

Bear now has more than $29 million to his name. According to the filing, a portion of the inheritance can be accessed now, but the majority will be held in a trust for another nine years, until Bear turns 18.

During a 2019 appearance on “The Jonathan Ross Show,” Payne opened up about fatherhood and spending time with Bear after the singer and Cole had called it quits.

“He comes over to my house every so often, and we just hang out and do whatever,” Payne said of his then-2-year-old son. “I think you put pressure on yourself as a dad sometimes. It’s hard to connect with it with a 2-year-old … but they literally will laugh at anything. We put this Batman costume on him in the house, and it was a little bit slidey on the floor, and he kept falling off the sofa. And if I said ‘Whoopsie-daisy!’ and it was like the best thing ever.”

Payne, who was one-fifth of the global boy-band sensation One Direction, died Oct. 16, 2024, after falling from a balcony at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel. Officials determined the 31-year-old singer died from multiple traumas caused by the fall. He had traces of alcohol, several narcotics and a prescription antidepressant in his system when died, according to officials.

The boy-band star turned solo artist had been open about his battle with addiction and mental health and shared updates on his sobriety journey on social media.

After Payne’s death, the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office of Argentina charged five people for alleged involvement in the pop singer’s death, including a representative for Payne and the manager and the head of reception of the Buenos Aires hotel where the British singer fell to his death.

Another hotel employee and a waiter whom Payne met in a restaurant were charged with supplying the singer with narcotics.

Times staff writers Alexandra Del Rosario and Karen Garcia contributed to this report.

The chief of the White House World Cup task force says it’s “pretty amazing” Iran’s football team has been given visas for the tournament. Andrew Giuliani defended the US’s treatment of the team, which has been forced to base itself in Mexico and fly in and out for matches.

His Majesty’s Passport Office issued an update

Millions of Brits planning a summer break are being told to observe a vital passport “3-week rule” following a new alert from His Majesty’s Passport Office.

The government body says that holidaymakers should allow a minimum of three weeks for their passport application to be handled and has cautioned that certain cases may take longer if further checks are needed. The reminder arrives as families gear up to travel abroad during the busy holiday period, when demand for passport renewals typically surges.

In a message to travellers, His Majesty’s Passport Office said: “Sun, sea & stress-free travel. Apply early – UK passports usually arrive within 3 weeks (longer if checks needed).”

Official guidance confirms that standard passport applications lodged in the UK are normally processed within three weeks from when the Passport Office receives the necessary documents. Nevertheless, officials emphasise that not every application can be completed within that window.

Government guidance states: “You’ll usually get your passport within 3 weeks. It may take longer than 3 weeks if we need more information, or we need to interview you. We’ll tell you this within 3 weeks.”

The Passport Office is also cautioning Brits against booking holidays before their new passport has been delivered. Its guidance states: “Do not book travel until you have a valid passport – your new passport will not have the same number as your old one.”

The guidance is especially important for travellers whose passport is set to run out before a planned journey.

Following Britain’s exit from the European Union, numerous European countries now insist that British passports must have been issued in the last 10 years and retain at least three months’ validity on the date of leaving the nation you’re visiting.

Travel industry specialists regularly caution that holidaymakers risk being refused boarding if their passport fails to satisfy their destination’s entry criteria.

Britons requiring a passport with greater urgency might be eligible to utilise the Passport Office’s premium services, such as the Online Premium and One Week Fast Track alternatives, though these come at a higher cost than the conventional application route.

Passport applications can be lodged online or via a paper form obtainable from Post Office branches, although paper submissions incur an extra charge.

Those who have already submitted their application can monitor its progress using the Government’s online passport tracking service.

Passport processing times.

The standard UK passport application service generally takes up to three weeks for completion. For individuals needing a passport more swiftly, the One Week Fast Track service aims to deliver a passport within seven days.

Travellers who need a passport straight away can opt for the Online Premium service, which provides a same-day appointment and passport collection. The Passport Office confirms that processing times only commence once all required documents have been received, which means any hold-ups in providing paperwork can prolong the total time needed to obtain a new passport. Further information is available here.

June 19 (Asia Today) — Former North Korean diplomats have alleged that a North Korean education specialist affiliated with UNESCO and being considered as a speaker at an international forum in South Korea may be connected to Pyongyang’s intelligence apparatus.

Jang Kwang-chol is under consideration to participate by video in a session titled “UNESCO and the Future of Education: Challenges and Prospects” at the 21st Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity, according to forum organizers.

The forum, jointly hosted by South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, the Jeju provincial government and other organizations, is scheduled to take place from Wednesday through June 26 at Haevichi Hotel & Resort Jeju and Jeju Stone Park.

The former diplomats’ allegations regarding Jang could not be independently verified. Neither UNESCO nor the North Korean government was quoted as responding to the claims.

Several former North Korean diplomats said Pyongyang selects Foreign Ministry officials for assignments at United Nations agencies to secure international assistance, collect information about foreign governments and South Korea and earn foreign currency.

They alleged that officials selected for such work sometimes receive fabricated or altered professional backgrounds tailored to the agency where they will serve.

Before deployment, the officials may formally transfer their affiliation to an intelligence organization such as North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau, the former diplomats claimed. Such an arrangement, they said, allows the officials to operate with greater independence than ordinary North Korean diplomats.

UNESCO materials identify Jang as an education specialist who earned a doctorate in education from Kim Hyong Jik University of Education and previously worked for North Korea’s Education Ministry.

The former diplomats alleged that at least part of that professional background could serve as a cover for intelligence-gathering duties.

Ko Young-hwan, a former first secretary at the North Korean Embassy in the Republic of Congo, told Asia Today that North Korea has frequently dispatched what it calls international civil servants to U.N. organizations.

“When they were sent abroad in the past, their affiliations were transferred to organizations under the Workers’ Party, such as the United Front Department or the External Information Investigation Department, also known as Office 35,” Ko said.

“After those organizations were consolidated, I understand that their affiliations were transferred to the Reconnaissance General Bureau.”

Ko, who later headed South Korea’s National Institute for Unification Education, said he believed Jang could fall into that category.

North Korea created the Reconnaissance General Bureau in 2009 by combining intelligence and operational units that had previously been divided among the Workers’ Party and the military.

South Korean authorities have described the bureau as North Korea’s principal organization for overseas intelligence collection, cyber operations and clandestine activities.

Former North Korean diplomats also said officials assigned to international organizations operate with fewer restrictions than diplomats posted to embassies.

Ko recalled an official who worked at UNESCO headquarters in Paris while he was serving in the North Korean Foreign Ministry.

“He attended a weekly self-criticism session at the embassy only once a week and did not have to report unless something unusual occurred,” Ko said.

Ryu Hyun-woo, a former acting North Korean ambassador to Kuwait, said such officials can operate independently under special circumstances.

“They are diplomats who act alone in exceptional situations,” Ryu said. “I understand that they receive separate, specialized training before being dispatched.”

The Jeju Forum’s organizers said education innovation is one of this year’s major themes and that Jang is being considered because he is a UNESCO-affiliated official suited to the education session.

The organizers have not publicly suggested that his proposed participation is connected to intelligence activity.

Some observers, however, have interpreted the invitation as a possible attempt to reopen communication with North Korea amid strained inter-Korean relations.

The outreach comes after the Jeju provincial government provided North Korea with about 160 million won ($116,000) worth of agricultural and medical supplies, including hallabong citrus seedlings, chemicals used to combat pine wilt disease and kidney dialysis equipment.

The provincial government’s North Korea assistance program has also drawn scrutiny following reports that Jeju Gov. Oh Young-hun had contact with Ri Ho-nam, a former counselor at the North Korean Embassy in Beijing who has been identified by South Korean sources as an operative involved in inter-Korean affairs.

No evidence was presented in the article showing that Jang had engaged in espionage or other illegal activity in connection with the Jeju Forum.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260619010006871

Mehdi Torabi issued a new visa after previous one expired when team returned to Mexico following the New Zealand game.

United States officials have confirmed that Iran’s team will have to leave the country within hours of the full-time whistle at their World Cup group games in Los Angeles and Seattle.

The response from the World Cup 2026 cohost nation came on Tuesday following criticism of its handling of the Iranian team’s visa and stay in the US after their first game.

“We were clear this was the process,” Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House FIFA Task Force, told The Associated Press news agency.

Team Melli drew with New Zealand in a politically charged Group G game in Los Angeles on Monday following months of uncertainty over the team’s participation in the World Cup amid the US-Israel war on Iran.

The Iranian delegation left the US hours after the match ended at about 8pm local time (03:00 GMT) and returned to their base camp in Mexico, prompting criticism of the US handling of their visas as the team did not get a day to recover at their hotel.

Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei said after the match that his team had been ordered to leave the US and return to Mexico only a few hours later. Ghalenoei said the team had expected to spend the night in California to maximise the normal recovery process after their opening game.

The US faced further pushback as Iran winger Mehdi Torabi’s entry visa expired after the first game. Team officials confirmed Tuesday afternoon that they had secured him a new, multiple-entry visa allowing him to travel into the US for future matches.

“This issue has been resolved,” the US Department of State said.

“As soon as we became aware of the issue, we worked to ensure that the player can participate in every game.”

Giuliani said during an interview broadcast Monday night on CBS News that some of the Iranian team’s support staff and team officials were denied entry into the US, but all the players and coaches had received visas.

He also outlined the conditions by which the Iranian team would be able to come into the US for their games.

“The team will be allowed to come in, match day minus one, so the day before the match. They’ll be asked to leave the day that the match wraps up, so the evening of the match. And they’ll be able to do that again in Los Angeles. They’ll be able to do it again in Seattle,” Giuliani said.

When asked about why some support staff and team officials had been denied entry, Giuliani wouldn’t go into details but referred to previous comments made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio about denying entry to people with direct ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

“Secretary Rubio said very clearly: Anybody with direct ties to the IRGC is not coming into the United States of America, and they’re not going to let the World Cup be the reason why they can come in,” Giuliani said. “So I think it’s very clear why.”

Iran captain Mehdi Taremi said the team endured five hours of travel and security checks during what’s normally a very short trip from Tijuana to the Los Angeles area on Sunday.

“I think FIFA have to help us more than this,” Taremi said.