A UK campsite with a large children’s play park and an adult-only area has been named the best in the UK.
St Helens in the Park in North Yorkshire has been named the best campsite of the year by the AA Caravan & Camping Awards.
Sign up for the Travel newsletter
Thank you!
St Helens in The Park has been named the best campsite by AACredit: TripadvisorThe park has a range of pitches, including ones with electrical supplyCredit: Tripadvisor
The cafe also runs themed nights, such as burger nights, curry nights and pizza nights, made fresh in the on-site pizza oven.
The campsite has a Store Cupboard shop as well, to top up on supplies such as milk and bread.
If you want to leave the campsite and explore a bit more, then there are a number of pubs and restaurants not too far away.
For example, the Walkers Fish Restaurant and Ye Olde Forge Valley Inn are both just a five minute drive away.
The campsite is located on Dawnay Estate, which sprawls across 7,500 acres and features numerous country walks.
On some walks, visitors may even spot some alpacas or donkeys.
For those who don’t like camping, there are a few pods as wellCredit: Tripadvisor
Visitors can also take a wander to The North Yorkshire Water Park with a zip line, climbing wall, kayaking, pedalos, Park Runs and open water swimming.
The water park is also home to AquaPark – an inflatable obstacle course that sits on the water, ideal for summer days.
For somewhere further afield to explore, Scarborough is only eight miles away, and there is a bus that goes straight from outside the caravan park.
St Helens in the Park was inspected for quality and commitment to customer satisfaction by AA expert inspectors.
Simon Numphud, managing director at AA Media, said: “British caravan and camping has never been more inspiring with parks across the country offering something truly special, from peaceful rural escapes to unforgettable coastal views.
“This year’s winners highlight the incredible variety and quality of outdoor stays in the UK, where passion, creativity and care combine to give holidaymakers experiences they’ll treasure. Congratulations to all the winners and their teams.”
From the hot tub in the Dodger Stadium clubhouse, Yoshinobu Yamamoto saw his interpreter on his way to take a shower.
Yamamoto called out to him.
“What are those colors?” Yamamoto asked him.
Yoshihiro Sonoda, 48, wore only a pair of boxers that depicted a rabbit with rainbow-colored lasers shooting out of its eyes.
Sonoda explained bashfully, “These are my shobu pantsu.”
For more than a year, Sonoda had worn shobu pantsu — or game underwear — for each one of Yamamoto’s starts.
Sonoda chuckled as he recalled the incident. Several weeks have passed since then, and the superstitious interpreter still wears his lucky boxers on days Yamamoto pitches.
When Yamamoto takes the mound for the Dodgers against the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday in Game 2 of the World Series, beneath Sonoda’s team-issued sweatpants will be the rabbit and rainbow-colored lasers.
The kid is a little different.
Sonoda recalled thinking that last year on the first day of spring training. On a grass field near the players’ parking lot, he watched Yamamoto throw javelins as part of his workout routine.
When the Japanese right-hander was finished, Sonoda started collecting the projectiles.
Yamamoto stopped him.
“Please, you’re my interpreter,” he said. “You’re not my servant.”
Yamamoto picked up his javelins and carried them back to the clubhouse.
In the months that followed, Sonoda noticed how Yamamoto treated others. He wasn’t kind only to other players. He was also conscientious of the organization’s rank-and-file employees.
“He pretends he’s not watching, but he’s watching,” Sonoda said. “He seems like he’s not listening, but he’s listening.”
Every day the Dodgers are on the road, Yamamoto has Starbucks coffee delivered to the team hotel. He always orders something for Sonoda.
“I think Yamamoto is quite the gentleman, quite the high character,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He treats everyone from Hiro to myself to all the support staff with the highest of respect.”
Two days into the job as Yamamoto’s interpreter, Sonoda wanted to resign.
A former collegiate judo standout in Japan, Sonoda spent the previous two decades working in the entertainment industry as a lighting engineer, his credits including “Men in Black,” “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “Succession” and “Nurse Jackie.”
He had no previous experience as an interpreter and was by no means a baseball expert. He was apart from his wife, who remained in her native Texas.
“I don’t want to quit, but I can’t do this,” Sonoda told traveling secretary Scott Akasaki.
Akasaki, who was once an interpreter for Hideo Nomo, asked Sonoda to reconsider.
Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, left, speaks to reporters with his interpreter, Yoshihiro Sonoda, in a press conference before Game 1 of the 2024 NLDS against the San Diego Padres.
(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)
“You can learn about baseball if you study it,” Sonoda recalled being told by Akasaki. “But Yoshinobu chose you for a reason, and that’s something no other person has.”
Sonoda never shared his insecurities with Yamamoto, instead throwing himself head first into his work. He was taught how to interpret ball-tracking data by assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness and performance science manager Tyler Duncan. He consulted with veteran interpreters, including Shingo Horie of the San Diego Padres and Hiro Fujiwara of the New York Mets.
Last year at World Series media day, Yamamoto was asked about Sonoda.
“We were both rookies this year,” Yamamoto said. “Sonoda-san especially, he came from a different industry and I would think he endured a lot of hardship. But he didn’t let on about that being the case.”
Standing by Yamamoto’s side, Sonoda fought back tears.
Sonoda has a small notebook in which he tracks every pitch thrown by Yamamoto. In a night game in Baltimore last month, Sonoda took notes as usual, jotting down pitches types and their locations.
Yamamoto carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning.
When there were two outs, Sonoda had Shohei Ohtani on one side of him and trainer Yosuke Nakajima on the other.
Sonoda stopped taking notes.
“I thought I should prepare to celebrate,” he said.
Jackson Holliday homered, and the no-hitter was gone.
Sonoda blamed himself.
“If only I had taken notes on that at-bat …” he said.
Sonoda was a significantly better interpreter this season than he was last season. On his commutes to Dodger Stadium, he listens to audio of Horie interpreting for Yu Darvish or Fujiwara for Kodai Senga.
Yamamoto noticed.
“His efforts in the shadows have been to where I can feel them,” Yamamoto said. “He’s a very pure and straightforward person. I think he’s really wonderful.”
Last year, Sonoda received a set of national-park-themed underwear from his wife, who knew of his affinity for the outdoors. The Yellowstone Park pair featured a roaring bear, which reminded Sonoda of Yamamoto screaming on the mound. Sonoda started wearing the boxers on days Yamamoto pitched, switching to a different pair for the next start if he lost or didn’t pitch well.
A new season called for a new set of underwear, but a stretch of inadequate run support prompted Sonoda to unretire a pair he wore on the Dodgers’ World Series run last year, the ones with the rainbow-emitting rabbit.
“I’m very superstitious,” Sonoda said.
Sonoda is also grateful.
“I think there are 14 or 15 Japanese interpreters in the majors leagues,” he said. “I feel like I’m the most blessed.”
Blessed because Akasaki talked him out of resigning. Blessed because of the baseball education he received from McGuiness and Duncan. Blessed because he has mentors such as Horie and Fujiwara. And above all, blessed because he was paired with a player whom he considers as good a person as he is a pitcher, the kind of high-character individual for whom he would wear radiant underwear in the off chance it could improve his fortune.
From Jack Harris: Ever since resuming two-way duties earlier this year, Shohei Ohtani had been throwing the ball well.
It wasn’t until Wednesday, however, that he finally pitched like a frontline starter, too.
Coming off his second career Tommy John surgery this year, Ohtani immediately lit up the radar gun with 100-mph fastballs and amassed gaudy strikeout totals with a devastating sweeper. In his first eight pitching starts of the season, he gave up just five runs in 16 innings for a 2.37 ERA, racked up 25 punchouts against just five walks, and looked every bit of the hard-throwing ace he was before spending a year-and-a-half rehabbing his right elbow and only serving as a designated hitter.
But, during that time, Ohtani was also throwing in only short bursts, as part of a deliberate effort to slowly build him up. He tossed one inning in his first two starts. Two innings, then three, then four, in each pair of outings after that. Rarely did he face a lineup two times through. At no point did he see the same batter three times in the same game.
“I think we’re still in the [process of] finding out who he is, what he is, getting his bearings for him,” manager Dave Roberts acknowledged ahead of Wednesday’s game.
“But,” the skipper added, “I’m expecting him to get through five [tonight], pitch well and just continue to get better.”
In the Dodgers’ 5-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds, Ohtani was indeed better.
Get the latest on L.A.’s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
ANGELS
Adolis García, Joc Pederson and Kyle Higashioka each hit a three-run homer, Corey Seager went deep a team-leading 21st time and the Texas Rangers blew out the Angels20-3 on Wednesday night.
García’s 17th home run highlighted a four-run first inning, Pederson made it 7-1 in the second with his seventh of the season and Seager added a two-run shot in the fourth.
Higashioka’s 10th homer for a 20-3 lead came on the last of 21 pitches — all between 30 and 40 mph — from Oswald Peraza, who moved to the mound from first base in the seventh and allowed eight runs while getting one out.
From Ryan Kartje: Following public uproar over the potential end of their 100-year old football rivalry, USC has made an amended offer to Notre Dame that would extend their annual series for multiple years beyond this season, USC athletic director Jennifer Cohen told The Times.
Negotiations remain ongoing between the two schools, but Cohen said she is “really hopeful” that USC’s new offer, which better accommodates Notre Dame’s preference for a long-term deal, would lead to an agreement “very soon.”
“We’re trying to extend the series,” Cohen said. “This is an important series for us and for our fans and for our program, and hopefully we get to a resolution that supports that and is in the best interest of our program.”
From Kevin Baxter: The Galaxy, stumbling through the worst season in the franchise’s long history, has looked to the Leagues Cup, a tournament with little pedigree and no real history, to salvage the year.
And for much of the monthlong competition that worked, with the Galaxy cruising into the tournament semifinals unbeaten. But reality and the Seattle Sounders caught up with them Wednesday, when goals from Pedro de la Vega and Osaze De Rosario gave Seattle a 2-0 victory and a spot in Sunday’s Leagues Cup final against Lionel Messi and Inter Miami.
The Galaxy will play host to Orlando City, a 3-1 loser in the other semifinal, in Sunday’s third-place game, where a berth in next season’s CONCACAF Champions Cup will be on the line.
1886 — Richard Sears beats R. Livingston Beeckman 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 to win his sixth straight U.S. national tennis championship.
1888 — Henry Slocum defeats Howard Taylor 6-4, 6-1, 6-0 to win the eighth U.S. men’s national tennis championship. Slocum, last year’s runner-up, is the first men’s champion other than Richard Sears. Sears, the U.S. champion from 1881-1887, retired last year.
1908 — Fred McLeod wins the U.S. Open golf title with a one-stroke victory over Willie Smith in a playoff.
1922 — The oldest American international team golf match, the Walker Cup, is established with the U.S. beating Britain 8-4.
1949 — The U.S. takes the Davis Cup, topping Australia 4-1.
1950 — Althea Gibson becomes the first Black player to compete in the U.S. Open. Gibson wins her first round match, defeating Barbara Knapp of Britain 6-2, 6-2 at Forest Hills in New York.
1977 — The Cosmos beat the Seattle Sounders 2-1 at Portland, Ore., to win their second NASL title. Giorgio Chinaglia’s header in the 77th minute is the winning goal.
1989 — Pete Sampras, 18, wins his first U.S. Open singles match in four sets over Agustin Moreno of Mexico.
1990 — Stefan Edberg becomes the first top-seeded player since John Newcombe in 1971 to lose in the first round of the U.S. Open. Edberg loses to Alexander Volkov of the Soviet Union, 6-3, 7-6, 6-2.
1994 — Tiger Woods, 18, becomes the youngest winner in the history of the U.S. Amateur Golf Championship, capturing the last three holes of his 36-hole title match against Trip Kuehne.
1995 — Monica Seles, plays in her first Grand Slam tournament in more than 2 1-2 years and beats Ruxandra Dragomir 6-3, 6-1 in first round of the U.S. Open.
2004 — The U.S. women’s basketball team goes through the Athens Olympics undefeated to win its 5th Olympic gold medal, beating Australia 74-63 in the final.
2004 — Led by San Antonio Spurs shooting guard Manu Ginóbili, Argentina beats Italy 84-69 for the Olympic basketball gold medal in Athens; star-studded U.S. team takes bronze.
2008 — Top-seeded Ana Ivanovic is ousted from the U.S. Open, beaten by 188th-ranked Julie Coin 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in the second round. Never before in the Open era that began in 1968 had the No. 1 woman lost this early in the tournament.
2014 — Acknowledging he “didn’t get it right” with a two-game suspension for Ravens running back Ray Rice, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announces tougher penalties for players accused of domestic violence, including six weeks for a first offense and at least a year for a second.
2022 — Tour Championship, Men’s Golf, East Lake GC: Irishman Rory McIlroy wins $18 million with one-stroke win over Scottie Scheffler and Im Sung-jae; becomes first three-time winner of the FedEx Cup.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1918 — Tris Speaker was suspended for the rest of the season because of his assault on umpire Tom Connolly after a dispute at home plate in Philadelphia.
1926 — Emil Levsen of the Cleveland Indians pitched two complete-game victories over the Boston Red Sox, 6-1 and 5-1. He did not strike out a batter in either game. The Indians used the identical lineup in both games.
1951 — The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the New York Giants 2-0, snapping the Giants’ 16-game winning streak. The streak enabled the Giants to cut the Dodgers 13½-game lead to six.
1971 — In the nightcap of a doubleheader, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Rick Wise hit two home runs to help himself to a 7-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
1977 — Steve Garvey hit three doubles and two home runs in five at-bats, leading the Dodgers to an 11-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. One of Garvey’s homers was a grand slam.
1977 — In a 6-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles, Nolan Ryan of the Angels struck out 11 batters to pass the 300-strikeout plateau for the fifth time in his career.
1987 — Mike Schmidt passes Ted Williams and Willie McCovey with 522 home runs
1990 — Ryne Sandberg became the first second baseman in history to have consecutive 30-homer seasons, leading the Cubs to a 5-2 victory over the Houston Astros.
1992 — The Milwaukee Brewers set an American League record with 31 hits and 26 singles in a 22-2 rout of the Toronto Blue Jays.
1993 — Pinch-hitter Jeremy Hess’ bases-loaded single with two out in the sixth inning gives Long Beach, Calif. a 3-2 victory over Panama in the championship game of the Little League World Series.
2003 — Eric Gagne set a major league record with his 44th straight save this season as the Dodgers beat Houston 6-3. Gagne eclipsed Tom Gordon’s 1998 record of 43 in a row to begin a season.
2005 — Michael Memea’s home run in the bottom of the seventh gives West Oahu of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, the Little League World Series title.
2008 — Cristian Guzman of the Nationals became the second player to hit for the cycle since the franchise moved to Washington, driving in three in an 11-2 rout of the Dodgers.
2011 — The team from Huntington Beach, Calif., returns the Little League World Series title to the U.S. with a 2-1 victory over Hamamatsu City, Japan.
2014 — San Francisco’s Yusmeiro Petit set a major league record when he retired his 46th batter in a row, and the Giants beat Colorado 3-1. Petit got the first eight Colorado hitters, establishing the mark by striking out Charlie Culberson. That broke Mark Buehrle’s record of 45 straight with the Chicago White Sox in 2009. Petit’s streak covered eight games, six of them in relief.
2016 — Ryan Harlost led Endwell, N.Y., to the Little League World Series title, striking out eight and limiting South Korea to five hits in six innings in a 2-1 victory. Endwell gave New York its first championship since 1964.
2021 — Angels pitcher Shohei Otani becomes the first player in team history to reach 20 stolen bases and hit 40 home runs in a season.
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 [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Ever since resuming two-way duties earlier this year, Shohei Ohtani had been throwing the ball well.
It wasn’t until Wednesday, however, that he finally pitched like a frontline starter, too.
Coming off his second career Tommy John surgery this year, Ohtani immediately lit up the radar gun with 100-mph fastballs and amassed gaudy strikeout totals with a devastating sweeper. In his first eight pitching starts of the season, he gave up just five runs in 16 innings for a 2.37 ERA, racked up 25 punchouts against just five walks, and looked every bit of the hard-throwing ace he was before spending a year-and-a-half rehabbing his right elbow and only serving as a designated hitter.
But, during that time, Ohtani was also throwing in only short bursts, as part of a deliberate effort to slowly build him up. He tossed one inning in his first two starts. Two innings, then three, then four, in each pair of outings after that. Rarely did he face a lineup two times through. At no point did he see the same batter three times in the same game.
He was, in effect, an opener.
And in that role, raw stuff was enough.
Recently, however, Ohtani had encountered a new challenge. Since getting the green light to make more typical five-inning starts, he had failed to actually complete the fifth in his first two attempts.
The struggles weren’t surprising, with five of the nine runs Ohtani had given up in his previous two outings coming in either the fourth or fifth innings. For all of Ohtani’s talent, it was clear there was tactical rust that still needed to be cleared.
“I think we’re still in the [process of] finding out who he is, what he is, getting his bearings for him,” manager Dave Roberts acknowledged ahead of Wednesday’s game.
“But,” the skipper added, “I’m expecting him to get through five [tonight], pitch well and just continue to get better.”
In the Dodgers’ 5-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds, Ohtani was indeed better.
Both in his results, and his process for getting there.
The right-hander not only got through five full innings of one-run ball in an 87-pitch outing — but did so by adopting a new, more unpredictable plan of attack.
Instead of leaning predominantly on fastballs and sweepers as he did earlier this year, Ohtani threw the kitchen sink at the Reds; using his curveball a career-high 23 times and his splitter a season-high 11 times, and all seven of his wicked offerings on at least seven different occasions.
Along the way, Ohtani yielded only two hits (one of them a solo home run from Noelvi Marte in the third), recorded nine strikeouts (his most in a game in more than two years) and, for the first time this year, showed the kind of ability to work deep into a game that could be pivotal in determining his October pitching role.
“Getting his sea legs back and getting going, it takes a while,” Roberts said. “So I thought tonight was one of those nights where he was locked in and worked some things out and really got into a good rhythm.”
Before Wednesday, there was still an open question over how the Dodgers might use Ohtani’s arm in the postseason.
Ideally, he could help headline their star-studded rotation, joining Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and maybe Clayton Kershaw to form the kind of deep starting pitching arsenal the Dodgers have sorely lacked in recent playoff treks.
But first, he had to show he was capable of navigating an opposing order multiple times.
“I do think that the last few starts, he was pretty predictable,” Roberts said. “And so he was smart enough to kind of suss that out, and get him off the scent.”
Against the Reds (68-66), Ohtani went to his secondary stuff early and often. His 12 curveballs in the first two innings alone were more than he had thrown in his 10 previous outings this year combined. His 34% fastball usage (including sinkers and cutters) was his lowest in a game in almost three years.
“As we’re progressing through this rehab in general, aside from the innings, I just really wanted to be able to incorporate other pitches,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “So that was really the intent going in.”
Ohtani’s command was still shaky, leading to a pair of second-inning walks that he only stranded after back-to-back strikeouts. With one out in the third, he made his lone mistake, leaving a first-pitch cutter to Marte down the middle for a home run that was clobbered to the left-field pavilion.
After that, however, Ohtani found a groove. He retired the final eight batters he faced. He finished his start by getting Cincinnati leadoff man TJ Friedl to ground out in their third meeting of the evening. And he concluded his performance with 14 swings-and-misses overall, the most whiffs he had generated in a game all year.
“He picked and chose when he used his fastball, and it just felt like they couldn’t really figure it out,” Kiké Hernández said. “They looked like they were guessing out there.”
“He’s got so many pitches,” added catcher Dalton Rushing, “and when you throw everything in the zone or around the zone, it just makes you that much better.”
By getting through five innings, Ohtani also qualified for his first pitching win of the season.
The Dodgers (77-57) made sure they didn’t squander it.
After starting the game with nine straight outs against Reds starter Nick Lodolo, the club finally broke the game open with a four-run rally in the fourth, when Ohtani led off with a single and Hernández and Rushing had two-run, bases-loaded singles. Michael Conforto added a solo insurance homer in the eighth. And the bullpen tiptoed in and out of trouble over four scoreless innings of game-sealing relief.
Collectively, the Dodgers set a nine-inning franchise record by combining for 19 strikeouts.
The victory helped the Dodgers grow their National League West lead to two games over the San Diego Padres, who dropped a series rubber match to the Seattle Mariners earlier in the day. It ran the team’s recent winning streak up to four games, its longest since the start of a 21-25 run dating back to July 4.
What was most important, though, was the way Ohtani looked, showing not only the life that remains in his surgically repaired elbow, but his ability to translate it into successful, dominant full-length outings.
“When you’re trying to go through a lineup three times, you’ve got to at times be able to go to different pitches and sequences,” Roberts added. “So, yeah, to continue to build him up and give us options, if we want to get a little bit more length out of him, is certainly helpful.”
Freeman, Call out
The Dodgers were without Freddie Freeman and Alex Call on Wednesday, but are hoping both will be available for their next game on Friday against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Freeman was absent from the lineup because of a “stinger” in his neck and right shoulder, Roberts said. Freeman has dealt with similar issues before, and Roberts said they wanted to give him the opportunity for two consecutive days off (including Thursday’s off-day) to let it calm down.
Call was also out of the lineup after being removed from Tuesday’s game with a back flare-up. He, too, has dealt with similar issues in the past. Roberts described Call as “day-to-day” and said the team would re-evaluate his status Friday.
The US is pitching the creation of a new advisory body for the Digital Markets Act (DMA) involving those companies subject to enforcement of the regulation a voice, in the context of negotiations over an EU-US trade deal, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
The EU will never accept the idea however according to two of the sources.
On Saturday, Trump posted a new set of letters to his social media platform Truth Social, declaring 30% tariffs on the EU and Mexico starting 1 August, a move that could cause massive upheaval between the United States and two of its biggest trade partners.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen quickly responded by noting the bloc’s “commitment to dialogue, stability, and a constructive transatlantic partnership.”
On Sunday, she emphasised that reaching a negotiated solution remains the priority, but that the EU is ready to respond with countermeasures.
The DMA regulates the largest online platforms with a view to protecting the rights of consumers and curbing any abusive behaviour by dominant tech players.
Under the rules, companies face fines of up to 10% of their global annual turnover for non-compliance.
Peter Navarro, a senior Trump advisor, has openly accused the bloc of waging “lawfare” against US Big Tech through the DMA and its sister Digital Services Act (DSA) regulation. In response, the EU has said it will “not make any concessions on its digital and technology rules” as part of any trade negotiations with the US.
The DMA already has an advisory board, which plays a consultative and strategic role in its implementation, supporting the Commission in oversight and enforcement.
The board is made up of independent experts and representatives from relevant national authorities and regulatory bodies, however, and is not supposed to be a body of representatives drawn from the enforced entities.
The sources did not expand on what form the advisory body touted by the US would take, beyond giving influence over the enforcement methods.
“The fact that the US proposed setting up an advisory board for the DMA, where those who might be affected would actually sit, that certainly won’t happen, and there will be no exceptions for US companies under the DMA,” one source said.
The Commission has repeatedly said that DMA probes are conducted strictly according to the regulation, which does not discriminate against companies on the basis of country of origin. But the fact that most of those under its scope are US tech giants means that the decisions are now seen through the lens of the brewing trade war.
On both sides of the Atlantic, EU digital legislation has become a red line in the negotiations over tariffs: the US considers the DMA and DSA – which covers illegal content online – as non-tariff barriers to their trade with the EU, while the EU refuses to amend these regulations, which were adopted in 2022.
Sovereignty
Commission Vice-President Teresa Ribera told Euronews on 27 June that it is impossible to for the EU to backtrack on its digital rules.
“We are going to defend our sovereignty. We will defend the way we implement our rules, we will defend a well functioning market and we will not allow anyone to tell us what to do,” she said.
Without changing the rules, the Commission could nonetheless finesse implementation of the DMA, according to Christophe Carugati, a Brussels-based tech consultant. Investigations and fines could become the exception in the DMA enforcement.
“To calm the US, the idea could be to settle disputes formally or informally through dialogue. That will implicitly ‘pause’ the investigations,” he told Euronews.
Non-compliance investigations launched over the past year under the DMA have resulted in relatively low fines compared to those imposed on Big Tech under the Commission’s previous mandate. Apple has received a €500 million penalty and Meta was fined €200 million, the former for preventing developers from steering consumers to alternative offers, the latter for its “Pay or Consent” advertising model.
In April, EU officials said that the lower fines reflected the short duration of the violations since the DMA implementation started in 2023 but also the Commission’s current focus on achieving compliance rather than punishing breaches.
Simplification
US tech giants could also seek to benefit from the Commission’s simplification agenda to secure some relief from regulatory enforcement. In May, Amazon, IBM, Google, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI called on the Commission to keep its upcoming Code of Practice on General-Purpose AI (GPAI) “as simple as possible”, as reported.
EU Tech Commissioner Henna Virkkunen is currently carrying out a digital fitness check, which will result in an “omnibus” simplification package to be presented in December.
She aims to identify reporting obligations in existing digital legislation that can be cut to ease pressure on enterprises, particularly SMEs.
The question remains whether that simplification package will also cover the DMA, DSA and the AI Act.
Virkkunen has always said that despite facing criticism from former Trump advisor and X-owner Elon Musk, the laws are fair and equitable.
“Our rules are very fair, because they are the same rules for everybody who is operating and doing business in the European Union. So, we have the same rules for European companies, American companies, and Chinese companies,” Virkkunen told Euronews in April.
All eyes are on Shohei Ohtani, as he made his long-awaited return to the pitching mound and delivered his first pitches as a member of the Dodgers on Monday night in a 6-3 win over the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium. Ohtani last pitched on Aug. 23, 2023, while with the Angels. He underwent his second Tommy John surgery the following month.
Ohtani is 38-19 with 3.01 earned-run average over 86 starts in his MLB career entering Monday’s game and finished fourth in the AL Cy Young Award voting in 2022, when he went 15-9 with a 2.33 ERA. He is expected to help bolster a depleted Dodgers starting rotation that has been missing Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, among others, for extended stretches this season.
Shohei Ohtani pitches for the Dodgers against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on Monday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Shohei Ohtani delivers against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on Monday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Shohei Ohtani pitches against the San Diego Padres on Monday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani in Phoenix in February.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani throws during spring training in Phoenix in February.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani enters the field at the Tokyo Dome for a workout ahead of the Tokyo Series against the Chicago Cubs in March.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani warms up during a baseball spring training workout in Phoenix.
(Matt York / Associated Press)
Fans head up some stairs wearing Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto jerseys before the game between the Dodgers and the Detroit Tigers at Dodger Stadium on March 27.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani runs onto the field during introductions during the Dodgers’ home opener in March.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
The Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani throws a live batting practice before a game against the New York Mets on May 25.
(Adam Hunger/AP)
The Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani throws in the outfield before a game against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium on June 4.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Dodgers coaches keep a watchful eye as Shohei Ohtani throws in the bullpen before the game against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium on June 4.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Dodgers fans watch as Shohei Ohtani throws in the outfield before the game against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium on June 4.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani plays catch before the Dodgers take on the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium on June 2.
(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)
Shohei Ohtani walks past a throng of journalists before the Dodgers play an exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants at the Tokyo Dome in March.
Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited Azerbaijan in February, and Turkiye only a month ago, in April.
Yet, this week, he was back in both countries, as part of a five-day, four-nation diplomatic blitzkrieg also including stops in Iran and Tajikistan, where Sharif will hold talks on Thursday and Friday. And he isn’t alone: Sharif is being accompanied by Army Chief Asim Munir — recently promoted to Pakistan’s only second-ever field marshal — and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar.
Their destinations might be familiar, but the context has changed dramatically since Sharif’s previous visits.
More than two weeks after a four-day standoff between Pakistan and India – during which they exchanged missile and drone strikes – diplomacy has become the new battlefront between the South Asian neighbours.
India has launched a global diplomatic campaign, sending delegations to over 30 countries, accusing Pakistan of supporting “terrorist groups” responsible for attacks in India and Indian-administered Kashmir.
“We want to exhort the world to hold those responsible for cross-border terrorism accountable, those who have practiced this for 40 years against India, that is Pakistan. Their actions need to be called out,” said Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, last week.
On April 22, gunmen killed 26 people, most of them tourists, in Pahalgam, a hill resort in Indian-administered Kashmir in the worst such attack on civilians in years. India blamed the killings on The Resistance Front (TRF), which it alleges is linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistan-based group designated as a “terrorist” entity by the United Nations. New Delhi accused Islamabad of complicity in the attacks.
Pakistan denied the allegations, calling for a “transparent, credible, independent” investigation.
Then, on May 7, India launched a series of missiles aimed at what it said was “terrorist infrastructure” in parts of Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Islamabad insisted that the missiles struck civilians, mosques and schools. More than 50 people, including at least 11 security personnel were killed in the Indian missile strikes.
This was followed by drone incursions and, on May 10, both sides fired missiles at each other’s military bases, as they stood on the brink of a full-fledged war before they agreed to a ceasefire that the US says it brokered.
Now, Pakistan, say officials and analysts, is looking to flip India’s narrative before the world — projecting itself as an advocate of peace and stability in South Asia, and New Delhi as the aggressor looking to stoke tensions.
‘We want peace’
On Wednesday, Sharif expressed willingness to engage in dialogue with India on “all matters,” if India reciprocates “in all sincerity.”
Speaking at a trilateral summit in Lachin, Azerbaijan, Sharif said trade could resume if India cooperated on all issues, including “counterterrorism.”
“I have said in all humility that we want peace in the region, and that requires talks on the table on issues which need urgent attention and amicable resolution, that is the issue of Kashmir, according to the resolutions of the United Nations and the Security Council, and as per the aspirations of the people of Kashmir,” he said.
Kashmir, a picturesque valley in the northeastern subcontinent, remains the root of conflict between the two nuclear-armed nations since their independence in 1947.
A 1948 UN resolution called for a plebiscite to determine Kashmir’s future, but eight decades later, it has yet to take place.
India and Pakistan each administer parts of Kashmir, while China controls two small regions. India claims the entire territory; Pakistan claims the portion administered by India, but not the areas held by its ally China.
Contrasting diplomacy
But there are other motivations driving Pakistan’s diplomatic outreach too, say officials and experts.
India’s diplomatic delegations that are currently touring the world include members from various political parties, including the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Indian National Congress (INC), projecting a unified stance.
In contrast, Pakistan’s current mission is led by top state officials, including Sharif and army chief Munir, widely considered the most powerful figure in the country.
The Pakistani delegation with prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Asim Munir also made a stop in Iran during their four-country tour. [Handout/Pakistan Prime Minister’s Office]
The trip also reflects strategic alignment, say analysts. Turkiye, whose drones were used by Pakistan in the recent conflict, is a key defense partner.
“Pakistan’s defense cooperation with Turkey is especially deep,” said Christopher Clary, assistant professor of political science at the University at Albany.
“Evidence suggests several Turkish-origin systems were used in this recent clash, with varying levels of effectiveness, so there is much to talk about between the two,” he told Al Jazeera.
Khurram Dastgir Khan, a former federal minister for foreign affairs and defence, is part of a Pakistani delegation set to visit the US, UK and EU headquarters in Brussels next month.
He said the current trip by Sharif, Munir and Dar is at least partly about highlighting Pakistan’s capacity to wage a modern war against a larger adversary. “There is immense interest in how Pakistan fought the recent war,” Khan said.
“There are countries deeply interested in learning the details, what capabilities Pakistan used and what Indians had,” he added.
“This opens new strategic possibilities for Pakistan’s defence forces to provide training to others. We are battle-tested. This makes us highly sought after, not just in the region but globally.”
Pakistan relied heavily on Chinese-supplied weaponry, including the fighter jets and the missiles that it deployed against India, and the air defence systems it used to defend itself from Indian missiles.
Post-conflict narrative battle
Though both countries claimed victory after the conflict, the battle over narratives has since raged across social media and public forums.
Pakistan claims to have downed six Indian jets, a claim neither confirmed nor denied by India, while Indian missiles penetrated deep into Pakistani territory, revealing vulnerabilities in its air defenses.
India has also suspended the six-decade-old Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), a critical water-sharing agreement that is vital to Pakistan.
Recently, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Pakistanis to reject “terrorism.” “Live a life of peace, eat your bread or choose my bullet,” Modi said, during a speech in India’s Gujarat state.
He also criticised the IWT as “badly negotiated,” claiming it disadvantaged India.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, right, and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, left, speak to the media following talks in Berlin, Germany, May 23, 2025. [Annegret Hilse/Reuters]
Muhammad Shoaib, an academic and security analyst at Quaid-i-Azam University, said Modi’s remarks reflected “ultra-nationalism” and were targeted at a domestic audience.
“The Indian diplomatic teams won’t likely focus on what Pakistan says. They will only implicate Pakistan for terrorism and build their case. Meanwhile, the Pakistani delegation will likely use Modi’s statements and international law regarding the IWT to bolster their arguments,” he told Al Jazeera.
Khan, who is also a senior member of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), the ruling party which premier Sharif belongs to, said the upcoming diplomatic mission that he will be part of will focus on issues like India’s suspension of the IWT.
“Our fundamental point is that Pakistan seeks to maintain lasting peace in South Asia, but three major hurdles are posed by Indian aggression,” he said.
The first, according to Khan, is “Indian-sponsored terrorism” in Pakistan, in which, he claimed, more than 20 people have been killed over the past four years. India has been accused by the US and Canada of transnational assassinations. In January 2024, Pakistan also accused India of carrying out killings on its soil. India denies involvement. Pakistan also accuses India of backing separatist groups in its Balochistan province — again, an allegation that India rejects.
“The second point is India’s utterly irresponsible suspension of the IWT,” Khan said.
“Pakistan has rightly said that any step by India to stop our water will be treated as an act of war. This is something that can bring all the region in conflict and I believe that if India acquires capability to divert waters in next six to ten years, and tries to do so, it will lead to a war,” Khan warned.
The third issue, Khan said, is Pakistan’s concern over India’s “status as a responsible nuclear power”.
In the past, New Delhi has frequently cited the nuclear proliferation facilitated by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme, as evidence that Islamabad cannot be trusted with the safe management of its nuclear weapons.
But in recent days, India’s internal security minister, Amit Shah — widely viewed as the country’s second-most powerful leader after Modi — has confirmed that India used its homegrown BrahMos missile against Pakistan during the recent military escalation.
The BrahMos – developed with Russia – is a supersonic cruise missile capable of Mach 3 – three times the speed of sound – and a range of 300 to 500 kilometers. It can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads and be launched from land, air, or sea.
Khan, who served as defense minister from 2017 to 2018, warned of “unimaginable consequences” from using such weapons.
“Once the missile is in the air, you cannot know what payload it carries until it hits the target. This is very, very irresponsible,” he said. “India has already shown recklessness when it mistakenly fired a missile into our territory a few years ago.”
Khan was referring to an incident in March 2022, when India fired a BrahMos “accidentally” in Pakistani territory, where it fell in a densely populated city of Mian Channu, roughly 500 kilometers south of capital Islamabad.
India at the time acknowledged that accidental launch was due to a “technical malfunction” and later sacked three air force officials.
A man waves a national flag in front of a cut out of Brahmos Missile during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Road show in Ahmedabad, India on May 26, 2025. [Ajit Solanki/AP Photo]
Ceasefire holds, but tensions linger
While the conflict brought both countries to the edge of war, the ceasefire declared on May 10 has held, with troops gradually returning to peacetime positions.
Shoaib, also a research fellow at George Mason University in the US, expressed cautious optimism.
“Initiating hostilities is risky. No side wants to be seen as irresponsible. For that to break, it would take a major incident,” he said.
Tughral Yamin, a former military officer and researcher in Islamabad, noted that while diplomacy offers no guarantees, the ceasefire could last.
“India has seen that Pakistan is no cakewalk. It has both conventional and nuclear deterrence,” he told Al Jazeera. “Both sides will remain alert, and Pakistan must address weaknesses exposed in the standoff.”
Clary added that while the India-Pakistan relationship remains fragile, history suggests that intense clashes are often followed by calmer periods.
“It is reasonable for both countries and international observers to hope for the best but prepare for the worst over the next few months,” he said.
But Khan, the former minister, questioned Modi’s comments, after the military crisis, where the Indian PM said that any attack on the country’s soil would now be seen as worthy of a military response, and that New Delhi would effectively cease to draw any distinction between Pakistan’s military and non-state armed groups.
“The new stated policy of the Indian government is to attack Pakistan even after minor incidents, without waiting for evidence. This puts the entire region on edge,” he said. “This trigger-happy policy should concern not just Pakistan, but the entire world.”
Donald Trump had just been elected president when I first visited the sprawling Wyoming ranch of conservative billionaire Phil Anschutz in late 2016.
But my tour guides didn’t let President Trump’s well-known disdain for wind power stop them from sharing their story: With Anschutz’s fortune behind them, and huge profits ahead, they were preparing to build America’s largest wind farm. America’s future was renewable.
After Trump returned to office this year and began weaponizing federal departments against clean energy, wind in particular, with a vengeance unlike anything seen during his first term, Anschutz’s Power Co. of Wyoming updated its website. The company now planned to build a gas-fueled power plant as large as 3,200 megawatts, it said in February. That would be the country’s second-largest gas plant, after a facility in Florida.
Anschutz’s 3,550-megawatt wind farm remained under construction, as did a long-distance power line capable of transmitting the electricity to California. But the way the company described its mission had changed.
Until at least Feb. 11, the website’s home page, as documented by the Internet Archive, was titled, “Putting wind to work for Carbon County.” It said the wind farm’s benefits would include “a reliable, competitively priced supply of renewable electricity” that would “help America reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.”
Now the page says nothing about heat-trapping emissions or renewable electricity, and little about wind. Instead, it’s littered with Trump-esque language about “American-made energy” and “electricity that our nation needs.”
There’s still a separate section of the site describing the wind project and its benefits. But atop the home page, a banner that previously featured two pictures — one of wind turbines, one of the U.S. flag and the Wyoming state flag fluttering in the wind — has been updated. In place of the flag picture, there’s a gas plant.
Why might an energy company owned by a Republican mega-donor feel the need to make such a pivot?
Phil Anschutz, left, watches the Lakers play the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2011.
(Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
Simply put, Trump despises wind turbines, an obsession that dates to the early 2010s, when he tried and failed to block an offshore wind farm he believed would ruin the view from his Scottish golf resort. In January, he issued an executive order blocking construction of Lava Ridge, an Idaho wind project approved by the Biden administration. Trump’s appointees have paused federal permitting for all wind farms, which experts say is most likely illegal.
In their most brazen attack yet, last month Trump’s appointees ordered the Norwegian company Equinor to stop construction of Empire Wind, an ocean wind farm off the coast of Long Island that will help power New York City. The company had already invested $2.7 billion in the project. Until the Trump administration lifted the stop-work order this week, Equinor executives said they were days away from canceling Empire Wind entirely.
Given those events, it’s possible Anschutz’s pivot toward gas is a “strategic play” to avoid incurring Trump’s wrath, said Leah Stokes, an associate professor of climate and energy policy at UC Santa Barbara.
“Trump has been attacking wind so much,” she said.
Anschutz spokesperson Kara Choquette gave me a different explanation for the company’s gas-plant plan — one that had nothing to do with Trump. She cited “unprecedented demand growth,” alluding to the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence technology that’s driving a data-center boom — and a corresponding need for electricity.
“Market demand has always been the driver for our projects,” Choquette said via email.
In a filing with Wyoming regulators, the Anschutz Corp. expressed interest in selling power to “hyperscale data centers” that could be built on its Wyoming ranch. That power could come from the wind farm, the gas plant or a 1,000-megawatt solar farm that Anschutz is also interested in constructing.
A mix of wind and gas, Choquette told me, “will provide firm, reliable power at a meaningful scale and size.”
PacifiCorp’s Ekola Flats wind farm outside Medicine Bow, Wyo., seen in 2022, has 63 turbines, most of them rated at 4.3 megawatts.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
But Stokes, who helped craft portions of President Biden’s climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, wonders if the gas plant proposal is largely performative. A surge in gas-plant construction, fueled by AI demand, has led to long delays for gas turbines. The research firm Wood Mackenzie reported this month that some energy developers are finding the earliest they can bring new gas plants online is 2030. Turbine costs have also hit all-time highs.
Meanwhile, solar and batteries made up nearly 84% of new power capacity built in the U.S. last year.
“You’ve got to build batteries and solar, because that’s the only thing you can build fast,” Stokes said.
Thus far, Anschutz’s company hasn’t applied for a gas-plant permit from Wyoming officials. But the Denver-based billionaire won’t lack for resources if and when he decides to move forward. He owns the Coachella music festival, the Los Angeles Kings and L.A.’s Crypto.com Arena, among other lucrative assets. He’s already spent at least $400 million over more than 15 years permitting and beginning to build the wind farm and 732-mile power line.
The wind farm and power line could help wean California off fossil fuels, supplying bountiful clean energy during the evening and nighttime hours, when solar panels stop generating and batteries aren’t always sufficient.
But if Anschutz does indeed build the nation’s second-largest gas plant, the air pollution could be significant.
Gas is usually cleaner than coal. But gas combustion still results in harmful pollutants, including nitrogen oxides, which the American Lung Assn. says can cause asthma attacks and reduced lung function. Gas also fuels the worsening heat waves, wildfires and storms of the climate crisis, especially when it leaks from pipelines and power plants in the form of methane, an especially powerful heat-trapping pollutant.
Anschutz’s company says on its website that the gas plant will be “hydrogen-capable and carbon-capture-ready” — meaning the facility will be capable of eventually switching from gas to clean-burning hydrogen, and ready to add installations that capture heat-trapping carbon dioxide before it escapes into the atmosphere.
The city of Glendale’s gas-fired Grayson power plant, seen in 2023, sits near the banks of the Los Angeles River.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
In theory, those are nice ideas. In practice, both technologies mostly don’t exist yet in commercial, reliable form. Hence the “capable” and the “ready.” A 3,200-megawatt gas plant would be a big polluter.
“There are water issues. There are wildlife issues,” said Rob Joyce, director of the Sierra Club’s Wyoming chapter. “Even if it is on private land on their ranch, it’s something we should be concerned about.”
Shutting down all gas plants isn’t realistic, at least not yet; even California still depends on gas for one-third of its electricity. But scientists say building new gas plants, especially in richer nations like the U.S., is incompatible with a safe future for human civilization. Not to mention financially questionable, when solar and wind are cheaper.
Here’s hoping Anschutz doesn’t actually build a giant gas plant.
Perhaps just as importantly, here’s hoping America’s most wealthiest and most powerful people and institutions stop caving to Trump’s diktats. Universities, Fortune 500 companies, marquee law firms, billionaires — do they really think if they just give Trump a splash of what he wants, he won’t ask for more? And then he’ll leave office peacefully, and democracy will be fine? And we’ll maintain a livable climate and functioning economy?
I can’t know for sure if Anschutz’s gas-plant proposal is designed to appease Trump.
But Power Co. of Wyoming has definitely undergone a rebranding since he took office.
On its profile page on social media platform X — where it’s long posted under the username “welovewind” — the company used to describe itself as a supplier of “diverse, high-capacity, reliable, ‘Made in Wyoming’ wind power to help meet region’s [renewable portfolio standard, greenhouse gas] and economic growth goals.”
Sometime between late January and early March, though, the description changed. Now it reads: “High-capacity, reliable, clean, ‘Made in Wyoming’ electric power to help meet diverse market demands and goals.”
ONE MORE THING
On this week’s Boiling Point podcast, I talk with Sadie Babits, a climate editor at NPR and author of the excellent new book, “Hot Takes: Every Journalist’s Guide to Covering Climate Change.” We talk about how reporters can do a better job tackling one of the biggest stories of modern times — and how news consumers can help them.
This is the latest edition of Boiling Point, a newsletter about climate change and the environment in the American West. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. And listen to our “Boiling Point” podcast here.
Correction: Last week’s newsletter used the wrong name for a nuclear plant in Washington state. It’s Columbia Generating Station, not Centralia. Centralia is a coal plant.
![The Pakistani delegation with prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Asim Munir also made a stop in Iran in their four-country tour. [Handout/Pakistan Prime Minister's Office]](https://www.occasionaldigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/c4bc2843-fa4c-4437-b90f-387be1d39668-1748471595.jpg)
