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LONDON — U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Monday she doesn’t think the detention of hundreds of South Koreans in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia will deter investment in the United States because such tough actions mean there is no uncertainty about the Trump administration’s policies.

The detention of 475 workers, more than 300 of them South Korean, in the Sept. 4 raid has caused confusion, shock and a sense of betrayal among many in the U.S.-allied nation.

“This is a great opportunity for us to make sure that all companies are reassured that when you come to the United States, you’ll know what the rules of the game are,” Noem said at a meeting in London of ministers from the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing partnership focused on border security.

“We’re encouraging all companies who want to come to the United States and help our economy and employ people, that we encourage them to employ U.S. citizens and to bring people to our country that want to follow our laws and work here the right way,” she told reporters.

The detained Koreans would be deported after most were detained for ignoring removal orders, while “a few” had engaged in other criminal activity and will “face the consequences,” Noem said.

Newly appointed U.K. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood welcomed Noem and ministers from Canada, Australia and New Zealand to the 18th-century headquarters of the Honourable Artillery Company for talks on countering unauthorized migration, child sexual abuse and the spread of opioids.

Mahmood, who was given the interior minister job in a shakeup of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Cabinet on Friday, said the ministers would “agree new measures to protect our borders with our Five Eyes partners, hitting people-smugglers hard.”

The far-flung countries are close allies with some common problems but also widely differ in their approaches to migration. The Trump administration’s program of street raids, mass detentions and large-scale deportations of unauthorized migrants has drawn domestic and international criticism and a host of legal challenges.

Noem says tough measures are an inspiration to others

Noem said there had not been disagreements among the ministers in talks focused on sharing information on criminal gangs, using technology to disrupt their networks and speeding extradition arrangements.

“I don’t think that the discussion today has covered politics at all,” she said. “It is what resources do we have that we can share so we can each protect our countries better?”

Noem said that “when we put tough measures in place, the more that we can talk about that and share that is an inspiration to other countries to do the same.”

She denied a plan to expand immigration raids and deploy the National Guard in Chicago, which has met with opposition from local and state authorities, was on hold.

“Nothing’s on hold. Everything is full speed ahead,” Noem told reporters, saying “we can run as many operations every single day as we need to, to keep America safe.”

Also attending Monday’s talks were Canadian Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and Judith Collins, the attorney general and defense minister of New Zealand.

U.K. grapples with migrant crossings

Britain’s center-left Labor government is struggling to bring down the number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats, some 30,000 so far this year. It faces calls from opposition parties to leave the European Convention on Human Rights in order to take tougher action.

The government says it won’t do that, but may tweak the interpretation of the rights convention in British law. It has struck a deal with France to return some migrants who cross the channel and is working on similar agreements with other countries.

Mahmood said Monday that the U.K. could suspend issuing visas to people from countries that do not agree to take back their citizens with no right to remain in Britain, though she did not name any potential countries.

“We do expect countries to play ball, play by the rules, and if one of your citizens has no right to be in our country, you do need to take them back,” she said.

Lawless writes for the Associated Press.

CATO, N.Y. — Federal agents forced open the doors of a snack bar manufacturer and took away dozens of workers in a surprise enforcement action that the plant’s co-owner called “terrifying.”

Video and photos taken at the Nutrition Bar Confectioners plant Thursday showed numerous law enforcement vehicles outside the plant and workers being escorted from the building to a Border Patrol van. Immigration agents ordered everyone to a lunchroom, where they asked for proof the workers were in the country legally, according to one 24-year-old worker who was briefly detained.

The reason for the enforcement action was unclear. Local law enforcement officials said the operation was led by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, which did not respond to requests for information. Nutrition Bar Confectioners co-owner Lenny Schmidt said he was also in the dark about the purpose of the raid.

“There’s got to be a better way to do it,” Schmidt told the Associated Press on Friday at the family-owned business in Cato, N.Y., about 30 miles west of Syracuse.

The facility’s employees had all been vetted and had legal documentation, Schmidt said, adding that he would have cooperated with law enforcement if he’d been told there were concerns.

“Coming in like they did, it’s frightening for everybody — the Latinos … that work here, and everybody else that works here as well, even myself and my family. It’s terrifying,” he said.

Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck said his deputies were among those on scene Thursday morning after being asked a month ago to assist federal agencies in executing a search warrant “relative to an ongoing criminal investigation.”

He did not detail the nature of the investigation.

The lack of explanation raised questions for state Sen. Rachel May, a Democrat who represents the district.

“It’s not clear to me, if it’s a long-standing criminal investigation, why the workers would have been rounded up,” May said by phone Friday. “I feel like there are things that don’t quite add up.”

Worker describes raid

The 24-year-old worker, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because he feared retribution, said that after he showed the agents he is a legal U.S. resident, they wrote down his information and photographed him.

“Some of the women started to cry because their kids were at school or at day care. It was very sad to see,” said the worker, who arrived from Guatemala six years ago and became a legal resident two years ago.

He said his partner lacked legal status and was among those taken away.

The two of them started working at the factory about two years ago. He was assigned to the snack bar wrapping department and she to the packing area. He said he couldn’t talk to her before she was led away by agents and didn’t know Friday where she had been detained.

“What they are doing to us is not right. We’re here to work. We are not criminals,” he said.

Schmidt said he believed immigration enforcement agents are singling out any company with “some sort of Hispanic workforce, whether small or large.”

The raid came the same day that immigration authorities detained 475 people, most of them South Korean nationals, at a manufacturing site in Georgia where Korean automaker Hyundai makes electric vehicles.

Without his missing employees, Schmidt estimated production at the food manufacturer would drop by about half, making it a challenge to meet customer demand. The plant employs close to 230 people.

“We’ll just do what we need to do to move forward to give our customers the product that they need,” he said, “and then slowly recoup, rehire where we need.”

Dozens held

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said the workers detained included parents of “at least a dozen children at risk of returning from school to an empty house.”

“I’ve made it clear: New York will work with the federal government to secure our borders and deport violent criminals, but we will never stand for masked ICE agents separating families and abandoning children,” she said in a statement.

The advocacy group Rural and Migrant Ministry said 50 to 60 people, most of them from Guatemala, were still being held Friday. Among those released late Thursday, after about 11 hours, was a mother of a newborn who needed to nurse her baby, said the group’s chief program officer, Wilmer Jimenez.

The worker who was briefly detained said he has been helping to support his parents and siblings, who grow corn and beans in Guatemala.

He said he took Friday off but plans to get back to work Monday.

“I have to go back because I can’t be without work,” he said.

Hill writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Olga Rodriguez in San Francisco and Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, N.Y., contributed to this report.

Hundreds of federal agents descended on a sprawling site where Hyundai manufactures electric vehicles in Georgia and detained 475 people, most of them South Korean nationals.

This is the latest in a long line of workplace raids conducted as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda. But the one on Thursday is distinct because of its large size and the fact that it targeted a manufacturing site state officials have long called Georgia’s largest economic development project.

The detainment of South Korean nationals also sets it apart, as they are rarely caught up in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, which data show has focused on Latinos.

Video released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Saturday showed a caravan of vehicles driving up to the site and then federal agents directing workers to line up outside. Some detainees were ordered to put their hands up against a bus as they were frisked and then shackled around their hands, ankles and waist. Others had plastic ties around their wrists as they boarded a Georgia inmate-transfer bus.

Here are some things to know about the raid and the people impacted:

The workers detained

South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said Saturday that more than 300 South Koreans were among the 475 people detained.

Some of them worked for the plant operated by HL-GA Battery Co., a joint venture by Hyundai and LG Energy Solution that is set to open next year, while others were employed by contractors and subcontractors at the construction site, according to Steven Schrank, the lead Georgia agent of Homeland Security Investigations.

He said that some of the detained workers had illegally crossed the U.S. border, while others had entered the country legally but had expired visas or had entered on a visa waiver that prohibited them from working.

But an immigration attorney representing two of the detained workers said his clients arrived from South Korea under a visa waiver program that allows them to travel for tourism or business for stays of 90 days or less without obtaining a visa.

Attorney Charles Kuck said one of his clients has been in the U.S. for a couple of weeks, while the other has been in the country for about 45 days, adding that they had been planning to return home soon.

The detainees also included a lawful permanent resident who was kept in custody for having a prior record involving firearm and drug offenses, since committing a crime of “moral turpitude” can put their status in jeopardy, said Lindsay Williams, a public affairs officer for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, on Saturday.

Williams denied reports that U.S. citizens had been detained at the site, since “once citizens have identified themselves, we have no authority.”

Hyundai Motor Co. said in a statement Friday that none of its employees had been detained as far as it knew and that it is reviewing its practices to make sure suppliers and subcontractors follow U.S. employment laws. LG told the Associated Press that it couldn’t immediately confirm how many of its employees or Hyundai workers had been detained.

The South Korean government expressed “concern and regret” over the operation targeting its citizens and is sending diplomats to the site.

“The business activities of our investors and the rights of our nationals must not be unjustly infringed in the process of U.S. law enforcement,” South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lee Jaewoong said in a televised statement from Seoul.

Most of the people detained have been taken to an immigration detention center in Folkston, Ga., near the Florida state line. None of them have been charged with any crimes yet, Schrank said, but the investigation is ongoing.

Family members and friends of the detainees were having a hard time locating them or figuring out how to get in touch with them, James Woo, communications director for the advocacy group Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, said Saturday in an email.

Woo added that many of the families were in South Korea because many of the detainees were in the United States only for business purposes.

Raid is the result of a months-long investigation

The raid was the result of a months-long investigation into allegations of illegal hiring at the site, Schrank said.

In a search warrant and related affidavits, agents sought items including employment records for current and former workers, timecards and video and photos of workers.

Court records filed last week indicated that prosecutors do not know who hired what it called “hundreds of illegal aliens.” The identity of the “actual company or contractor hiring the illegal aliens is currently unknown,” the U.S. attorney’s office wrote in a Thursday court filing.

The sprawling manufacturing site

The raid targeted a manufacturing site widely considered one of Georgia’s largest and most high-profile.

Hyundai Motor Group started manufacturing EVs at the $7.6-billion plant a year ago. Today, the site employs about 1,200 people in a largely rural area about 25 miles west of Savannah.

Agents homed in on an adjacent plant that is still under construction at which Hyundai has partnered with LG Energy Solution to produce batteries that power EVs.

The Hyundai site is in Bryan County, which saw its population increase by more than a quarter in the early 2020s and stood at almost 47,000 residents in 2023, the most recent year data are available. The county’s Asian population went from 1.5% in 2018 to 2.2% in 2023, and the growth was primarily among people of Indian descent, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures.

Raid was the ‘largest single site enforcement operation’

The Trump administration has targeted an array of businesses in its workplace raids, including farms, construction sites, restaurants, car washes and auto repair shops. But most have been smaller, including a raid the same day as the Georgia one in which federal officers took away dozens of workers from a snack-bar manufacturer in Cato, N.Y.

Other recent high-profile raids have included one in July targeting Glass House Farms, a legal marijuana farm in Camarillo. More than 360 people were arrested in one of the largest raids since Trump took office in January. Another took place at an Omaha meat production plant and involved dozens of workers being taken away.

Schrank described the one in Georgia as the “largest single site enforcement operation” in the agency’s two-decade history.

The majority of the people detained are Koreans. During the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, 2024, 46 Koreans were deported out of more than 270,000 removals for all nationalities, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and other state Republican officials, who had courted Hyundai and celebrated the EV plant’s opening, issued statements Friday saying all employers in the state were expected to follow the law.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta described the raid in a joint statement as “unacceptable.”

“Our communities know the workers targeted at Hyundai are everyday people who are trying to feed their families, build stronger communities, and work toward a better future,” the statement said.

Sammie Rentz opened the Viet Huong Supermarket less than 3 miles from the Hyundai site six months ago and said he worries business may not bounce back after falling off sharply since the raid.

“I’m concerned. Koreans are very proud people, and I bet they’re not appreciating what just happened. I’m worried about them cutting and running, or starting an exit strategy,” he said.

Ellabell resident Tanya Cox, who lives less than a mile from the Hyundai site, said she had no ill feelings toward Korean nationals or other immigrant workers at the site. But few neighbors were employed there, and she felt like more construction jobs at the battery plant should have gone to local residents.

“I don’t see how it’s brought a lot of jobs to our community or nearby communities,” Cox said.

Golden writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Mike Schneider in Orlando, Fla., contributed to this report.

WE’VE all done it.

Spotting a plant you think will look amazing in your garden – rushing out to buy it – and then realising that on its own it suddenly looks, well, a bit naff.

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But happily, a new book by Jamie Butterworth could be about to banish the embarrassment of a badly put together garden for good.

‘What Grows Together’ – which comes out next weekend – offers up over 60 ‘fail safe plant combinations for every garden’ with no confusing horticultural jargon or lecturing.

You may recognise Jamie from his RHS Show Feature Dog Garden at Chelsea Flower Show this year – which he created alongside Monty Don and DJ Jo Whiley.

He’s appeared many times on Gardeners World, and cites Monty Don as the gardener who inspired him to get into horticulture.

His nursery Form Plants also supplies plants to Windsor Castle – and when he met King Charles at Chelsea Flower Show, the King said: ‘I know Jamie — you are delivering plants to me on Wednesday. Please don’t be late.’”

But it was another famous Jamie that actually inspired his book.
“I love cooking, but I never know what ingredients to put together as to what will taste nice,” he told Sun gardening.

“But when I came across Jamie Oliver’s Five Ingredients Book – where he just goes – take these ingredients and do this and this is what you’ll get, it was just brilliant. It was exactly what I needed.

“I just thought – we need to do this for gardening. We’ve even laid it out like a recipe book – in terms of making it look really crisp and simple – it’s like no other gardening book that’s ever been written.

“There’s so much synergy between cooking and gardening – people want to garden, they want to have nice gardens but they’re time poor and they don’t know what to plant that will a. Survive and b. look good, and that was the starting premise of the book.

“We’re forever learning with plants – my particular passion is growing plants, putting them together and making nice displays – it’s how I like to make people happy.

“It’s about getting rid of the old gardening rules – the ‘you must do this, you must do that, you must plant carrots at this exact time or everything will fail.

“What I wanted to do was make growing more accessible – there is no right way – but learning even just a few combinations and what will grow well together – then that gives people confidence to have a go themselves.”

“Jamie’s an idol of mine – and I want to make gardening as accessible as he did for cooking.

“You pay garden designers hundreds of pounds to tell you where to put plants – hopefully this book will negate all of that and give people the accessibility they need to go ‘oh actually this is what I need to do’ and it’s that simple.”

JAMIES’ FAVOURITE COMBINATIONS

COMBINATION ONE
Hydrangeas Limelight and Agastache Blackadder – both plants individually are brilliant and will flower for a long long time each – Hydrangeas from June to Autumn and even once they’ve finished flowering they’ll hold their seed heads and look great in the winter. Agastache Blackadder is a perennial and has dark purple liquorice flowers and if you plant the two together the darkness of the Agastache looks brilliant against the white of the hydrangea – but will also grow up through it. If you want to add to it – just add in some yellow Cosmos.

COMBINATION 2
Calycanthus ‘Aphrodite’, Japanese Forest Grass, Penstemon ‘Pensham Plum Jerkum’
Calycanthus has really rich ruby wine red flowers which look stunning in their own right. It flowers from late May through to September/October, leg it up by taking off lower branches – then you’ve got a specimen rather than just a shrub – and underplant with Hakonechloa Macra – AKA Japanese forest grass and the Penstemon with dark rich ruby colour flowers the same as the calycanthus. Individually they’re great plants – but put together that’s an incredible combination.

 What Grows Together: Fail-safe Plant Combinations for Every Garden by Jamie Butterworth (11 September, DK)

Also in Veronica’s Column this week…

News, top tips, Plant of the Week and a competition to win two hedge trimmers

NEWS! Catherine’s Rose is finally available to buy on the high street – with B&Q taking the honours as the main bricks and mortar stockist.
Named after HRH Princess Kate, and launching in store at the end of this month, funds from every sale will go to the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
The pink ‘Catherine’s Rose’, which is scented, was developed by Harkness Roses – and in May we ran a competition for Sun Readers to become the first in the world to own a rose.
Now everyone can get one from their local B&Q..
The RHS and Harkness joined forces with Kate after she underwent a “very spiritual and very intense emotional reconnection” with nature after undergoing treatment for cancer.
The princess announced in January she was in remission after completing a course of preventative chemotherapy.

WIN! WIn one of two Webb ECO 20V 15cm Cordless Mini Chainsaw/Pruning Saws with Telescopic Pole Reach PLUS battery – worth £124.99 each. To enter visit www.thesun.co.uk/WebbPruner or write to
Sun Webb Pruner competition, PO Box 3190, Colchester, Essex, CO2 8GP. Include your name, age, email or phone. UK residents 18+ only. Entries close 11.59pm. September 20, 2025. T&Cs apply

PLANT OF THE WEEK! Heuchera Berry Timeless is evergreen and will still be sending up sprays of pale pink flowers well into September. It’s heat resistant and hardy – and doesn’t seem fussy about soil or shade or too much sun.

JOB OF THE WEEK! You can start with your onion sets now – to overwinter and get a bountiful crop next year. Red Winter is a great one to get in the ground. Potatoes and raspberries are ready to harvest and sweetpeas can be sown under cover.

TOP TIP! IF you fancy growing your own salad leaves over Winter – now is the time to start.
Lambs Lettuce is very hardy and perfect for Winter Gardens. Get the seeds in the soil now – either in pockets you know are milder – or in a cold frame.
The best thing about sowing rocket is that you’ll get your first crop with four to six weeks – and it also thrives in cooler temperatures.
If you plant Arctic Spring butterhead lettuce now – you’ll get a crop early next year. But also keep an eye out in garden centres, as they often sell a ‘Winter Mix’. Sarah Raven currently has one that includes ‘Can Can’, ‘Salad Bowl’ and ‘Merveille de Quatre Saisons.’

NEWS! Harrogate Autumn Flower Show is taking place from September 19th to 21st. As well as the usual floral marquees – there’s an Incredible Edible pavilion showcasing the best fruit and vegetables – as well as the giant versions – including a National Onion Championship. Plus talks, live demonstrations, expert gardening advice and competitions. And there’s a plant creche so you don’t have to carry your purchases round all day.

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Some 475 people were detained during an immigration raid at a sprawling Georgia site where South Korean auto company Hyundai manufactures electric vehicles, according to a Homeland Security official.

Steven Schrank, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, said at a news briefing Friday that the majority of the people detained were from South Korea.

“This operation underscores our commitment to jobs for Georgians and Americans,” Schrank said.

South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lee Jaewoong described the number of detained South Koreans as “large” though he did not provide an exact figure.

He said the detained workers were part of a “network of subcontractors,” and that the employees worked for a variety of different companies on the site.

Thursday’s raid targeted one of Georgia’s largest and most high-profile manufacturing sites, touted by the governor and other officials as the largest economic development project in the state’s history. Hyundai Motor Group, South Korea’s biggest automaker, began manufacturing EVs a year ago at the $7.6 billion plant, which employs about 1,200 people, and has partnered with LG Energy Solution to build an adjacent battery plant, slated to open next year.

In a statement to The Associated Press, LG said it was “closely monitoring the situation and gathering all relevant details.” It said it couldn’t immediately confirm how many of its employees or Hyundai workers had been detained.

“Our top priority is always ensuring the safety and well-being of our employees and partners. We will fully cooperate with the relevant authorities,” the company said.

Hyundai’s South Korean office didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

ICE spokesman Lindsay Williams confirmed that federal authorities conducted an enforcement operation at the 3,000-acre site west of Savannah, Georgia. He said agents were focused on the construction site for the battery plant.

In a televised statement, Lee said the ministry is taking active measures to address the case, dispatching diplomats from its embassy in Washington and consulate in Atlanta to the site, and planning to form an on-site response team centered on the local mission.

“The business activities of our investors and the rights of our nationals must not be unjustly infringed in the process of U.S. law enforcement,” Lee said.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that agents executed a search warrant “as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into allegations of unlawful employment practices and other serious federal crimes.”

President Trump’s administration has undertaken sweeping ICE operations as part of a mass deportation agenda. Immigration officers have raided farms, construction sites, restaurants and auto repair shops.

The Pew Research Center, citing preliminary Census Bureau data, says the U.S. labor force lost more than 1.2 million immigrants from January through July. That includes people who are in the country illegally as well as legal residents.

Kim and Bynum write for the Associated Press. Bynum reported from Savannah, Ga.

Seoul demands protection for nationals, investors as Trump’s immigration crackdown sees hundreds detained in ICE raid.

South Korea has complained after United States immigration officials detained hundreds of workers during a raid on a Hyundai-LG battery plant being built in the state of Georgia.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul on Friday demanded the rights of its investors and citizens be respected following the raid the previous day, which forced construction of the factory to be suspended.

The episode highlights the disruptive effect President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown is having on his efforts to attract foreign investment. The Hyundai-LG plant is part of the biggest foreign investment in the state of Georgia.

“The business activities of our investors and the rights of our nationals must not be unjustly infringed in the process of US law enforcement,” South Korea’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Lee Jaewoong, said in a statement.

Since Trump returned to power in January, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has been bolstered by record funding and new latitude to conduct raids.

The president has said he wants to deport “the worst of the worst” criminals. But ICE figures show a rise in the detainment of non-criminals.

Lee did not specify exactly how many South Koreans were detained, calling the number “large,” but media reports suggested that 300 or more had been taken into custody.

The Atlanta office of the US Justice Department agency ATF said in a post on X that up to 450 people in total had been detained.

The Korea Economic Daily reported that as many as 560 workers at the Hyundai Motor facility and LG Energy Solution (LGES) had been detained.

Of that number, some 300 are South Korean nationals, according to the Reuters and AFP news agencies, citing South Korean media and unnamed sources.

A South Korean government official told Reuters that the detainees were being held at an ICE detention facility.

Lee said the ministry is taking active measures to address the case, dispatching diplomats from its embassy in Washington and consulate in Atlanta to the site, and planning to form an on-site response team centred on the local mission.

In July, Seoul pledged $350bn in US investment to ease tariff threats from Trump, who was elected last year on a promise to lead the largest migrant deportation programme in US history.

We’ve made it to September. It’s a transitional time in SoCal gardens as well as in our daily lives. It’s the end of summer! The beginning of school! The triumphant return of pumpkin spice! 🤮

In this year of seemingly ceaseless transitions, let’s just take a minute to catch our breath.

Below, you will find, as always, a list of plant-related workshops and events, but I’d first like to consider this lightning-fast year, where titanic changes keep coming with bewildering speed, from devastating and deadly wildfires to ICE raids, tariffs and gut-wrenching international conflicts, to name several.

If you pitched this stuff for a movie (even turmoil with Canada?), it would seem too preposterous to be made. Except we’ve been living this preposterous movie, and it’s been a lot.

A volunteer tomato plant — variety unknown — grows like a champion against a fence, sans any kind of tending, yet it’s outproducing all the other vines planted in carefully prepared beds full of compost and other amendments. To the left is a huge colander of tomatoes picked off the plant with many more left to ripen.

(Jeanette Marantos / Los Angeles Times)

But here’s the thing: Our gardens don’t care, and there’s a certain beauty and reassurance that comes with that. Take the volunteer tomato plant that appeared in a corner of my yard last winter. It grew up and over my fence, while I was preoccupied with everything else going on in the world. Since July, it has been happily producing tons of tomatoes, which are particularly delicious when they’re roasted with garlic and olive oil.

Or consider how at the fire sites in L.A. County, many oaks and other venerable trees survived next to houses destroyed in the flames. I’ve visited burned properties where tall tangles of native sunflowers literally emerged from the ashes to delight native bees, and even roses, supposedly the fussiest of flowers, are blooming on scorched properties sans water, tending or expectation.

Our gardens can’t change the turmoil in our world, but they can help us cope. Even if all you have is a balcony with room for a couple of pots, find a way to plant something this September that can sustain you with fragrance or food or just plain beauty.

Winter veggies

Yvonne Savio ran Los Angeles County’s UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener program for 25 years before she retired. She’s been gardening for nearly 60 years, so I’d put her in the expert category. For many years, she’s been sharing her wit and wisdom on her website GardningInLA.net, and just recently she started writing for L.A. County’s Master Gardeners’ online newsletter, offering timely tips for plant lovers.

Savio has a huge, envy-inspiring garden in Pasadena. She considers September a transitional time to plant the last of her fast-growing warm-season crops such as green beans and summer squash, and the first of her cool-season crops such as lettuces, kale, peppery greens like mustard and arugula, beets, broccoli and peas (edible) and sweet peas (not edible but beautifully, deliciously fragrant).

For those with smaller gardens, she recommends focusing on cool-weather crops. Even a wide container can grow a thick crop of loose-leaf lettuce — just trim a few leaves from each plant to fill your salad bowl.

At Urban Homestead, a family farm in residential Pasadena, salad mix seeds are planted thickly in narrow trenches, so when the plants emerge they can be easily harvested just a few leaves at a time.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Remove spent warm-season plants first. Bag any diseased plants and put them in the landfill trash so you don’t taint compost piles. Then, she said, enrich your soil with a few inches of compost and mix in some slow-release organic fertilizer such as earthworm castings or Dr. Earth.

Now comes the fun part — choosing your plants. Browse your local nursery for starter packs of greens, lettuces or brassicas like broccoli. But be sure to pick up some packets of seeds as well, especially for beets, which are a double treat with delicious leaves — a bounty in soups! — and colorful roots. They are so good roasted.

You can also order excellent seeds online from California companies such as Renee’s Garden seed in Felton or the Ojai-based Plant Good Seed Co.

Sweet peas such as Renee’s Garden varietal ‘Fire and Ice’ come in a huge mix of colors, but almost all offer a similar prize: an unforgettable sweet fragrance that fills a room with happiness.

(ReneesGarden.com)

Spring blooms

Bulbs are a miraculous boon of color in snow country, when early spring is otherwise grim and gray. They’re easy to plant, and once established, they spread and return year after year, making that initial sometimes pricey investment seem very worthwhile.

Sweet peas such as Renee’s Garden varietal ‘Fire and Ice’ come in a huge mix of colors but almost all offer a similar prize: an unforgettable sweet fragrance that fills a room with happiness.

(ReneesGarden.com)

But here’s the scoop about bulbs: Although most will grow in SoCal, many require freezing temperatures to spread and thrive, Savio said.

If you have the cash and patience to treat bulbs like annuals and replant them every year, that’s great. But for the rest of us, Savio recommends focusing on bulbs purchased from Southern California nurseries that do well in our climate. Find out your hardiness zone on the USDA Hardiness Zone Map (most of the Greater Los Angeles Area has a zone around 10, meaning our low temperatures generally stay above freezing) and be sure to choose bulbs that will thrive in your zone.

Some of Savio’s tips for choosing bulbs: Buy the biggest, firmest, driest bulbs you can, without any mold, early in the season. Avoid end-of-season sales because those are usually smaller bulbs that didn’t sell from the previous year.

Savio said she’s found that frilly double-type varieties or late-season bloomers don’t do as well in warmer climates. Try a few by all means, she said, but invest most of your budget in simpler varieties that bloom early in the spring and will likely spread and flourish to give you years of repeat blooms with just one planting.

She said daffodils, paperwhites and fragrant colorful freesias do particularly well.

Her favorite bulb sellers include EasyToGrowBulbs.com, based in Oceanside, and Telos Rare Bulbs in Felton. Most native plant nurseries offer native bulbs, and you can find native Pacific Coast irises and (nonnative) tall bearded irises at Matilija Nursery in Moorpark (which does not do mail order) and Greenwood Daylily Nursery in Somis (which does).

And finally, don’t forget to order some sweet peas! Renee’s Garden and Enchanting Sweet Peas in Sebastapol, Calif., have an inspiring selection. Get some now and be sure to plant them before Thanksgiving as a little happiness insurance for next spring.

Need gardening help?

The UC Master Gardeners of Los Angeles County are once again offering their modestly priced Grow LA Gardens classes, a series of four basic gardening classes in September and October in Boyle Heights, Van Nuys, Hollywood, San Marino, West Adams, Long Beach and South Pasadena. The classes are on Saturdays or Sundays. Times and prices vary, but most cost $70 for all four classes (the highest rate), or $30 for those who need financial assistance.

Upcoming events

Sept. 6 and ongoing
The new Little Tokyo Farmers’ Market from Food Access Los Angeles and the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center opened Aug. 30, and will continue to operate every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the JACCC’s Isamu Noguchi Plaza in downtown Los Angeles. Admission is free. foodaccessla.org

Sept. 6, 7 and 13
Santa Monica Mountains Fund’s free milkweed giveaways provide four to six narrow-leaf milkweed plants per household that were grown and distributed by the Los Angeles Parks Foundation. Milkweed is the host plant for endangered monarch butterflies whose caterpillars dine exclusively on their leaves. Plants will be given away, with instructions on how to put them in the ground, at the Tarzana Community & Cultural Center from 9 a.m. to noon Sept. 6; at the Encino Farmers Market in Encino from 9 a.m. to noon Sept. 7; and at the Pacoima Back-to-School Resource Fair at Vaughn Global Green Generation Elementary from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 13. Admission is free, but registration is required. eventbrite.com

Sept. 7
Gardening 101: The Whys of Gardening in San Diego is a free class at City Farmers Nursery in San Diego from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. that will offer growing advice and plant tips for gardeners. Admission is free, and no RSVP required. cityfarmernursery.com

Sept. 11
Intro to California Native Plant Garden Design with Theodore Payne Foundation Horticulture Director Tim Becker. It’s from 9 a.m. to noon at the foundation in Sun Valley. Register online, $103.22 ($81.88 members). eventbrite.com

Sept. 12, 19 and 26
3-Part California Native Garden Design with landscape designer Carol Armour Aronson of Seco Verde. It’s from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. each day at the Theodore Payne Foundation in Sun Valley. The prerequisite course, Right Plant, Right Place, is available online on Sept. 10 from 6 to 8 p.m. for $37.66. The design course is in person. Register online, $396.11 for one; $471.96 for couples working on one design. events.humantix.com

Sept. 13-14
Southern California Begonia Society’s Begonia Show & Sale is from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days at Sherman Library & Gardens in Corona del Mar. The show includes free talks and demonstrations about growing begonias in terrariums at 11:30 a.m. Sept. 13, basic begonia culture at 11:30 a.m. Sept. 14 and a tour of the garden’s begonia collection at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 14. The show is free with a $5 admission to the garden (members and children 3 and younger enter free). thesherman.org

Sept. 13
Re-wild: Site Design and Establishing New Plants, led by Tree of Life Nursery co-founder Mike Evans, is from 10 a.m. to noon at the nursery in San Juan Capistrano. Learn how to design a native plant landscape. The class is free, but registration is required. eventbrite.com

Avocado 101 Seminar, a free class about avocado varieties and best practices for growing the trees in your garden, is 10 to 11 a.m. at Otto & Sons Nursery in Fillmore. Reservations are not required. ottoandsonsnursery.com

California Native Plant Container Gardening, taught by Theodore Payne Foundation nursery technician Terrence Williams, is at the nursery in Sun Valley. Register online, $55.20 ($44.52 members). eventbrite.com

Monrovia Community Garden’s Green Care Day is from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the garden in Monrovia. Help weed, mulch and otherwise improve the garden with raised bed maintenance and soil topping. Participation is free. monroviacommunitygarden.org

Your Backyard Orchard, a free class about planning and caring for fruit trees taught by the UC Master Gardeners of Orange County, is from 9 to 10:15 a.m. at the Santa Margarita Water District in Rancho Santa Margarita. ucanr.edu

Rose Care Basics, a free class at City Farmers Nursery in San Diego, is from 9 to 10 a.m. and will offer tips about growing roses in San Diego. Admission is free, and no RSVP required. cityfarmernursery.com

Native Plant Summer Maintenance Basics with Theodore Payne Foundation horticulture educator Erik Blank is from 9 to 11 a.m. at the foundation’s demonstration garden in Sun Valley. Register online, $55.20 ($44.52 members). eventbrite.com

Sept. 14
California Biodiversity Day Free Day is from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at California Botanic Garden in Claremont. The event includes bilingual tours of the garden’s production nursery at 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.; a native plant loteria game with help from the Chino Basin Water Conservation District from noon to 1 p.m.; and activities provided by exhibitors from various community organizations between 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tickets are free but must be reserved in advance. calbg.org

Horticulturist Andrew Hankey discusses four new ledebouris species from the Steenkampsberg, Mpumalanga in east South Africa, at the September meeting of the South Coast Cactus & Succulent Society at Fred Hesse Jr. Community Park’s McTaggart Hall in Rancho Palos Verdes. The meeting starts at 11 a.m. and ends at 2 p.m. Admission is free. southcoastcss.org

Gardening for Wildlife, a free class at City Farmer’s Nursery in San Diego, is from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. and covers how to create a wildlife-friendly sanctuary garden for birds, pollinators and small mammals in San Diego. Admission is free, and no RSVP required. cityfarmernursery.com

Sept. 19
Propagating California Native Plants From Cuttings, a Theodore Payne Foundation class led by Horticulture Director Tim Becker, is from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the foundation’s new Los Angeles satellite Los Nogales Nursery at the Audubon Center at Debs Park in Montecito Heights. Each participant will leave with a flat of a few starts for their own garden. All materials provided. Register online, $108.55 ($81.88 members). eventbrite.com

Sept. 20
Southern California Horticultural Society’s 2025 Annual Awards Banquet is from 5 to 9 p.m. at the La Cañada Flintridge Country Club and honors native plant horticulturist Katherine Pakradouni with the society’s first-ever Pathmaker Award, created to recognize forward-thinking individuals breaking new ground in horticulture. Pakradouni developed the native plant nursery for the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing project, collecting about 1 million native seeds from the surrounding region, and has developed several micro forests and other ecological landscapes through her business Seed to Landscape. The society’s Horticulturists of the Year award will go to native plant horticulturist Melanie Baer Keeley, who is developing Alta Vista Natives Nursery in Three Rivers, and her husband, botanist and fire management scientist Jon E. Keeley. Banquet tickets, which include dinner, are available online, $80 ($70 members). socalhort.org

Sept. 20-21
Carbon Culture Workshop: Hands-On Hugelkultur is from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Granada Hills and led by Studio Petrichor’s regenerative garden designers Leigh Adams and Shawn Maestretti. Learn how to build hugelkultur berms out of logs and layers of wood chips and soil; and lasagna mulching to tamp down weeds. Bring gloves and a water bottle; lunch provided. Register online $44.52. eventbrite.com

Sept. 26 and 27
California Botanic Garden’s Seeds Walking Tour involves guided tours through the state’s largest botanic garden dedicated to California native plants to learn about what seeds can tell us about their native plants. Tours available from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. and 10 to 11 a.m. both days at the garden in Claremont. Register online, $20 ($10 members). calbg.org

Sept. 26-28
44th Edition of the Fascination of Orchids International Festival of Orchids & Exotic Plants is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. all three days at the Santa Ana Zoo in Santa Ana. The event includes thousands of orchids and exotic plants on display as well as classes about growing orchids and vendors selling supplies. Purchase tickets online, $5.49 per person, valid for all three days. ticketleap.events

Sept. 27
Love Your Lands: National Public Lands Day Event with Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy is from 9 a.m. to noon at the conservancy’s White Point Nature Preserve in San Pedro. It will be a day of helping to remove nonnative plant species, watering new native plantings, seed preparation, garden walks and activities for children. Participation is free, but registration is required. pvplc.volunteerhub.com

Re-wild: Planting Design and Installation, led by Tree of Life Nursery co-founder Mike Evans, is from 10 a.m. to noon at the nursery in San Juan Capistrano. Learn how to implement your native plant landscape design. The class is free, but registration is required. eventbrite.com

What we’re reading

After two winters of next-to-no rain, SoCal is heading back into drought conditions. Is this the year you finally remove your lawn? If you need inspiration, here are two of our latest stories about Angelenos who pulled out their turf to create native plant landscapes, with the help of an ocean-conscious designer in Long Beach and a creative DIY couple in Harvard Park determined to transform their dead lawn into a vibrant habitat.

Altadena was lush with plants before the Eaton fire, and resident Laurie Scott is intent on replacing that green — and lifting her community’s spirit — with her Regrow Altadena project, which gives free plants to residents to plant around their fire-damaged properties.

Finally, in The Times’ series Imagining a Future L.A., my colleague Patt Morrison predicts a “frond farewell” to L.A.’s iconic fan palms.

Russia has accused Ukraine of carrying out a drone attack on a nuclear plant that has caused a fire and damage to an auxiliary transformer as Ukraine celebrates its Independence Day for the 34th time.

Sunday’s attack forced a 50 percent reduction in the operating capacity at reactor number three at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), close to the border with Ukraine, according to Russian officials, who added that several power and energy facilities were targeted in the overnight strikes.

The fire at the nuclear facility was quickly extinguished with no injuries reported, the plant’s news service said on Telegram. Two other reactors are operating without power generation, and one is undergoing scheduled repairs, it said, adding that radiation levels were normal.

Alexander Khinshtein, the Kursk region’s acting governor, said Ukrainian attacks on the plant, 60km (38 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border, “are a threat to nuclear safety and a violation of all international conventions”.

The United Nations nuclear watchdog on Sunday confirmed normal radiation levels near the nuclear plant.

“Monitoring confirms normal radiation levels near Kursk NPP,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a post on X.

Russia and Ukraine have also accused each other of attacks on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southeastern Ukraine and warned they could trigger a nuclear accident. The nuclear plant – Europe’s biggest – is under Russian control.

In western Russia’s Leningrad region, firefighters responded to a blaze at the port of Ust-Luga, home to a major fuel export terminal. The regional governor said about 10 Ukrainian drones were shot down and the debris ignited the fire.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its air defences intercepted a total of 95 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight into Sunday.

Russia fired 72 drones and decoys along with a cruise missile into Ukraine in the same time period, Ukraine’s air force said. Of these, 48 drones were shot down or jammed, it said.

Ukraine’s Independence Day

The incidents occurred as Ukraine marked its Independence
Day, commemorating its 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered remarks in a video address from Kyiv’s Independence Square, emphasising the nation’s resolve.

“We are building a Ukraine that will have enough strength and power to live in security and peace,” Zelenskyy said while calling for a “just peace”.

“What our future will be is up to us alone,” he said in a nod to the United States-Russia summit in Alaska this month, which many feared would leave Ukrainian and European interests sidelined.

“The world knows this. And the world respects this. It respects Ukraine. It perceives Ukraine as an equal,” he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov slammed Zelenskyy for “obstinately insisting, setting conditions, demanding an immediate meeting at all costs” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Lavrov also accused Ukrainian authorities of “attempts to disrupt the process that was laid down by Presidents Putin and [Donald] Trump [of the US], which has yielded very good results”.

“We hope that these attempts will be thwarted,” he said, accusing Western countries of trying to “block” peace negotiations to end the Ukraine conflict after a flurry of diplomatic activity appeared to stall.

On Friday, Lavrov said “no meeting” between Zelenskyy and Putin was planned. The Trump administration has been making efforts to organise a meeting between Zelenskyy and Putin to find a solution to the war.

Amid the diplomatic efforts, fighting continued on the front lines in eastern Ukraine, where Russia claimed on Saturday that its forces had seized two villages in the Donetsk region.

Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrived in Kyiv on Sunday morning for meetings with Zelenskyy.

“On this special day – Ukraine’s Independence Day – it is especially important for us to feel the support of our friends, and Canada has always stood by our side,” Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, said.

Norway announced significant new military aid on Sunday, pledging about 7 billion kroner ($695m) for air defence systems.

Aug. 23 (UPI) — A mandatory evacuation remains Saturday within a 1-mile radius of a lubricant manufacturer and distributor in Louisiana that exploded one day earlier.

Smitty’s Supply, which employs about 400 people at the plant, erupted at 1 p.m. CDT Friday in a plume of black smoke in Roseland, which is 81 miles north of New Orleans.

The fire is continuing to burn, local, state and federal officials said at a briefing Saturday morning.

Several small explosions erupted, Louisiana Police Sgt. William Huggins said at the briefing but there were no new risks.

“We’re fighting a big fire,” Tangipahoa Parish President Robby Miller said. “It’s not as big as yesterday, but it’s still big.”

“Although there is less visible smoke today, the fire is still burning,” Louisiana State Police posted Saturday on Facebook. “This remains an active and complex incident; please do not let your guard down.”

Forty-six people are in a shelter in Amite City, a few miles from the evacuation zone. Originally, 202 people showed up. Tonya Mabry, executive director of housing in Tangipahoa Parish, said the site will be open as long as needed.

“I got health problems,” one evacuee told Nolo.com, noting his asthma. “I just didn’t want to be in my trailer.”

No injuries were reported, “which is a godsend,” Miller said.

The cause isn’t known, he said.

Soot is believed to contain combustibles and hydrocarbon chemicals, Huggins said.

“Relocate IMMEDIATELY and stay away from this area until further notice,” the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office said on X.

Outside the evacuation area, residents are urged to remain indoors when possible, wash their hands frequently, avoid touching their face and avoid direct contact with soot.

Huggins said updated air quality readings indicate “below an actionable threshold,” Huggins said.

Debris wound up in the nearby Tangipahoa River. Water samples will be collected for environmental impact analysis, officials said.

In 2023, Smitty’s officials told state regulators storage tanks can typically hold ethanol, charcoal lighter fluid, gas oil mixture, motor oil, lubricants and hydraulic fluids, diesel, brake fluid, grease and various unnamed water-based chemicals.

IT’s been HOT this summer – it’s no surprise if some of your usual garden favourites are wilting somewhat.

But as the climate changes it’s worth thinking about new varieties that can cope a bit better going forward.

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There’s a whole host of wildflowers out there that can handle the heat and still put on a beautiful show.

Dr Emily Attlee, conservation scientist and co-founder of Seedball has shared her top picks with Sun Gardening.

CONEFLOWERS

“Not just a feast for the eyes, these are tough and reliable perennials that come back year after year. Easy to grow and adored by pollinators, coneflowers bring long-lasting colour and drought resilience to any garden.

OXEYE DAISY

“Spotted on roadside verges, the oxeye daisy is a fuss-free flower that thrives on neglect. It handles poor soil well and requires very little watering once settled in.

These cheerful self-seeders return annually and spread with ease – bringing with them rustic charm and a welcome haven for pollinators.

MEADOWHALL CRANESBILL

Although young plants may need a little more water to begin with, meadow cranesbill is a fantastic choice for dry, well-drained soil once matured.

With rich violet blooms and a place in the geranium family, this plant supports pollinators while adding definition and charm to beds and borders.

MUSK MALLOW

With soft pink flowers and a classic cottage garden appeal, musk mallow is both beautiful and hardy. Low maintenance and drought tolerant, it dies back in Autumn but reliably reappears in spring. Its vintage look and wildlife-friendly nature make it a garden favourite.

CORNFLOWER

These eye-catching blue blooms feature open faces, frilled petals, and curly stamens. Loved by bees and other beneficial insects, cornflowers are easy going once established and thrive with minimal watering. Ideal for adding colour and texture to a dry garden.“

She added: “These are just a small selection, as most native wildflowers are naturally suited to withstand drought once they’ve taken root.

“Many have evolved over time to adapt to the UK’s unpredictable weather patterns, including long dry periods. Some even store seeds beneath the soil, ready to regenerate when conditions improve.

“So, if you’re planning for the future of your patch, wildflowers are a smart, sustainable choice.”

For more tips from Emily and the Seedball team, visit  www.seedball.co.uk.

Also in Veronica’s Column this week

Top tips, news, Plant of the Week and a competition to win a Spring Bulb Bundle with 183 bulbs!!

NEWS! Multi award-winning garden designer, Pip Probert, from BBC 2’s Your Garden Made Perfect, is designing the headline feature garden at this year’s BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair, taking place at Audley End House and Gardens in Saffron Walden, Essex next weekend.
 As reported previously in Sun Gardening – the  ‘Make a Metre Matter’ campaign encourages gardeners to transform a metre of outdoor space for the good of the planet. More than 13,500 eco-friendly metres have been pledged at gardenersworld.com to date, and Pip’s feature garden is brimming with meaningful metres to inspire Autumn Fair visitors to get involved. For tickets, visit  www.bbcgardenersworldfair.com.

TOP TIP! If you’re thinking about attracting birds to your garden and keeping them happy in Autumn – then Honeysuckle is a win-win plant for your outside space.
It will provide you with a gorgeous scent and lovely trumpet-shaped flowers, as well as being a great climber for trellis and walls.
But in September it also provides lush red berries – a favourite food source for birds and other wildlife.
Or consider Cotoneaster shrubs – blackbirds and thrushes absolutely love them – just check the size of the one you’re buying as you don’t want it to take over.

TOP TIP! IF you’re coming to the end of your tomato journey for this year and you’ve still got some on the vine that look like they’ve got no chance of turning red – don’t despair.
Some experts suggest putting them in a bowl with a banana! The bendy yellow fruit emit ethylene – a compound that helps fruit ripen. Or you can just make green tomato chutney. Remember to chop up your vines and chuck them on the compost.

JOB OF THE WEEK! If you’re lucky to have wisteria – cut back this year’s current green shoots to five/six leaves. It will prevent it from growing too large and unwieldy.

PLANT OF THE WEEK! Spider Lillies are blooming now – and are named after the stamens resemble spider legs. Great for tropical borders, they look really exotic, best in full sun, in well drained soil and are full hardy to -5ºC

TOP TIP If your kitchen ginger has started sprouting, plant in a shallow tray with the shoot poking out – as it grows, keep topping up the soil. Keep on a sunny windowsill and you can grow year round as long as it doesn’t get too cold.

WIN! Win one of FOUR Spring Saver Bulb Bundle – 183 Bulbs WORTH £64.94 from Suttons Seeds. 
Featuring a variety of beloved spring-flowering bulbs to bring colour from February all the way through May, they’re ideal for beds or rockeries and can be layered in patio pots. To enter visit www.thesun.co.uk/SPRINGBULBS or write to Sun Spring Bulbs competition, PO Box 3190, Colchester, Essex, CO2 8GP. Include your name, age, email or phone. UK residents 18+ only. Entries close 11.59pm. September 6, 2025. T&Cs apply

For more gardening content follow me @Biros_and_Bloom

Israeli navy fires missiles at the energy facility south of Sanaa saying it was used by Houthis, but provides no evidence.

The Israeli navy has carried out attacks on a power plant near the Yemeni capital Sanaa, according to Israeli media reports.

Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV reported on Saturday that the “aggression” damaged generators at the Hezyaz power plant, sparking a fire that was later contained. The country’s deputy prime minister confirmed emergency crews managed to prevent further damage. Residents in Sanaa also reported hearing at least two loud explosions.

The Israeli military claimed that the site was being used by Houthi fighters. But it did not present evidence to justify hitting a civilian power station, raising concerns that the strike may constitute a war crime.

In a statement carried by Israeli outlets on Sunday, the military said the assault was a direct response to repeated Houthi attacks, including missiles and drones launched towards Israel.

The Houthis have repeatedly fired rockets and drones at Israel since 2023 in response to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Israel has retaliated by bombing Yemen’s infrastructure, including Hodeidah port, a vital lifeline for humanitarian aid deliveries.

Israel has also attacked Yemen’s international airport, claiming it was being used by Houthis.

Most Houthi projectiles aimed at Israel have been intercepted, but the exchanges have widened the regional fallout of Israel’s war on Gaza.

The United States and the United Kingdom have also carried out bombings in Yemen as the Houthis attacked ships linked to Israel passing through the Red Sea. Houthis said the move, which disrupted global trade passing through the waterway, was in response to Israel’s war and blockade of Gaza.

In May, Washington announced a surprise truce with the group, halting its bombing campaign in exchange for an end to Houthi attacks on US-linked vessels in the Red Sea. The Houthis insisted the deal did not apply to their operations against Israel.

US forces had carried out hundreds of air raids in Yemen, killing more than 250 people, before the ceasefire was declared. US President Donald Trump said the truce would “stop the bombing”.

The deal appeared to blindside Israel, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressing his country would “defend ourselves alone” if necessary.

Aug. 16 (UPI) — The deadly explosion in the Steel Clairton Coke Works near Pittsburgh occurred when a gas valve was flushed in preparation of planned maintenance, U.S. Steel said in preliminary findings.

Two people died and 10 people were hospitalized on Monday in the explosion at the plant about 15 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Black smoke could be seen for miles.

“Pressure built inside the valve, leading to valve failure and coke oven gas filling the area and ultimately exploding when finding an ignition source,” U.S. Steel spokeswoman Amanda Malkowski said in the statement to KDKA-TV and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Workers were charging ovens and pushing coke out of them as part of normal operations, Executive Vice President Scott Buckiso said at a news conference earlier this week.

“We want to reinforce that this investigation is in its early stages, and we will provide more information when we can,” Malkowski added. “Our focus remains on our employees and their families during this difficult time.”

She said company employees, agencies and experts have been reviewing video and interviewing workers.

“I thought something like this would take two to four to five months for it to unfold,” Calirton Mayor Rich Lattanzi said Friday. “I’m thinking what they found is a smoking gun.”

JoJo Burgess, who works at the plant and is mayor of nearby Washington, said he wants more information.

“Did someone know before it happened, so that they could have tried to stop the process?” he told KDKA-TV.

Bernie Hall, director of United Steelworkers District 10, said the union needs to learn more before speculating.

The explosion occurred around 11 a.m. Monday at the plant. Two people were initially reported missing, but the workers’ bodies were found in the rubble.

Killed were Timothy Quinn, 39, who lived with his disabled mother, and Bryan Dascani, 52, who was married and had two daughters, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

Three other people remain in critical condition.

On Monday, U.S. Steel said the initial blast occurred inside the reversing room for batteries 13 and 14. Secondary explosions ensued but those blasts didn’t injure anyone.

U.S. Steel CEO Dave Burritt said local, state and federal personnel are investigating, including the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.

On Tuesday, Gov. Josh Shapiro said during a news conference he wants Clairton and its surrounding communities to be protected. The blast could be felt miles away.

The Clairton plant settled a 2017 suit for $8.5 million over pollution, including $6.5 million to reduce soot emissions and noxious odors, CNN reported.

WTAE-TV uncovered past violations and injury reports at the plant over the past decades.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Risk Management Program enforcement analysis found that over five years, the plant was listed in “high priority violation” of the Clean Air Act and 32 “formal enforcement actions.” This is four times more violations than at similar places at the same time.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration found the plant had nine serious injury reports as of early 2024. They include trips and falls, resulting in broken bones or cuts.

There are around 1,300 workers at the plant.

“U.S. Steel had a record-setting safety performance in 2024 and an over 99% environmental compliance record. Safety is our top priority every single day,” the company said in a statement.

“Over the last five years, U. S. Steel has invested over $750 million in improvement projects at its Mon Valley Works facilities, including roughly $100 million annually being spent at the Clairton facility on environmental compliance.”

The company’s headquarters are in Pittsburgh.

U.S. Steel, which was founded in 1901, has about 22,000 employees with revenue of $15.6 billion in 2024.

Toni Laites emerged victorious from the latest series of Love Island but it’s now been alleged that she was actually spotted by a top ITV producer when he was on holiday

Toni Laites emerged victorious from the latest series of Love Island when she and now-boyfriend Cach Mercer were voted the nation’s couple. But now, it’s being claimed that the US native, 25, was actually handpicked by a top ITV boss who spotted her working in a club when he was on honeymoon to star in the show.

Olivia Attwood, who shot to fame on the third series of Love Island in 2017 and now has a successful TV career with a string of documentaries and a regular spot on the Loose Women panel, has alleged that this year’s winner didn’t apply for the show in the traditional manner. She said: “You know Mike Spencer, the producer? He found Toni in Vegas, she was a cabana girl – he was on his honeymoon.”

Olivia explained that the ITV boss simply struck up a conversation with the then-bar girl and decided there and then that she would be a good addition to the ITV2 programme, from which she eventually walked off with the £50,000 prize. She said: “He met her, got chatting with her and told her, ‘you’d be amazing on Love Island’. That’s how she got on [the show].”

READ MORE: Love Island’s Conor slams castmate on TikTok after ‘fallout’ despite strong friendshipREAD MORE: Love Island winner Toni Laites uses £30 eyelash growth serum that ‘works wonders’

The former TOWIE star then explained that she had spoken to Toni herself, and claimed that the Love Island beauty is in a little bit of a predicament because she hasn’t been back home ‘for months’ thanks to her career suddenly taking off in the UK. But Olivia was quick to offer her advice. During an appearance on Pete Wicks‘ Sunday Roast podcast, she added: “I said to her, ‘what are you going to do? When was the last time you went home?’ She said, ‘I haven’t been home for months, I don’t know what to do’. Because she’s now got this boyfriend who’s English. If I was her, I’d want to make the most of it and stay here for a bit.”

Toni and Cach made it to the final after weeks of being coupled up in front of millions of Love Island fans, and managed to beat Harry and Shakira and Yas and Jamie to the top prize with 33% of the vote. And since she has become the first American to be in such a position on the UK version of the hit franchise, Toni admitted that she ‘never expected’ any of it at all.

Discussing her aspirations at the ITV Reality event, Toni revealed: “The love has been insane. I never expected it in a million years honestly.”, reports the Daily Star I think for me this is all new. It’s a whole new world so I’m still trying to find my feet.

“There’s a lot of opportunities at hand but I think presenting is my thing. All the love is so incredible so shout out to the UK.”

In her first interview alongside her now-boyfriend after leaving the villa, she hinted that a move to the UK could be on the cards as she explores opportunities that have come with her newfound fame.

During an appearance on last Friday’s This Morning, she told hosts Joel Dommett and Emma Willis : “Crazy, isn’t it? I don’t think I’ll be spending much time in America. No decisions are made yet but obviously, but Cach is here, I have a lot of opportunities coming up, my friends are here. I see no reason to be in America anymore.”

Toni also explained just how ‘insane’ it is to her and Cach that they are now suddenly very famous in the UK after weeks of living in the Spanish villa, and noted that she even had her ‘doubts’ about their reception prior to landing back after the show had finished. She added: “Insane, I was a very regular person before the show and now there’s like millions of comments and followers.”

Toni also explained just how ‘insane’ it is to her and Cach that they are now suddenly very famous in the UK after weeks of living in the Spanish villa, and noted that she even had her ‘doubts’ about their reception prior to landing back after the show had finished. She added: “Insane, I was a very regular person before the show and now there’s like millions of comments and followers.”

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Flames and heavy smoke billow out of the plant owned by US Steel as firefighters struggle to extinguish the fire.

Multiple explosions at a US Steel plant near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania have killed two people and injured 10, according to the company and local authorities.

The blasts at the Clairton Coke Works – part of a sprawling industrial complex along the Monongahela River – took place just before 11am Eastern Time (15:00 GMT) on Monday.

Firefighters battled flames and heavy smoke that billowed out of the plant, which is owned by US Steel, a subsidiary of Nippon Steel.

Initially, two people were reported missing. One person was found and transported to a local hospital, said Allegheny County Police Assistant Superintendent Victor Joseph at an afternoon briefing.

There was no word yet on the possible cause of the explosion.

The investigation into the explosion would be “a time-consuming technical investigation”, Joseph said.

David Burritt, president and chief executive officer of US Steel, said in a statement that the company was working with local authorities to discover the cause.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro posted on X that there were multiple explosions at the plant and that his administration was in touch with local officials.

“The scene is still active, and folks nearby should follow the direction of local authorities,” he wrote at the time the employee was missing.

The severity of the injuries was not known, but news accounts said several people were taken to hospital burn units.

Steel sector in decline

Clairton Mayor Rich Lattanzi said it was a horrible day for the city, about 32km (20 miles) south of Pittsburgh, long known as the US Steel City.

US Steel has produced steel in the area since the late 19th century, but in recent decades, the industry has been in decline, leading to plant closures and restructurings.

In June, Nippon Steel, Japan’s biggest steelmaker, closed its $14.9bn acquisition of US Steel after an 18-month struggle to obtain United States government approval for the deal, which faced scrutiny due to national security concerns.

While air quality monitors did not detect a dangerous rise in sulphur dioxide after Monday’s explosions, residents within 1.6km (1 mile) of the plant were advised to remain indoors, close windows and doors, set HVAC systems to recirculate, and avoid activities that draw in outside air, said Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato at the briefing.

The Clairton Coke Works is the largest coke manufacturing facility in the US, employing about 1,300 workers. It operates 10 coke oven batteries, which produce about 4.3 million tonnes of coke a year.

Coke is produced by heating coal at high temperatures. It is used in blast furnaces as part of the process of making steel.

Scientists say warmer waters in the North Sea due to climate change have created conditions allowing jellyfish to thrive and reproduce.

Four reactor units at one of France’s largest nuclear power stations have been forced to shut down due to a swarm of jellyfish in the plant’s water pumping stations, French energy group Electricite de France (EDF) said.

Three reactor units were automatically shut down on Sunday evening at Gravelines on the English Channel, followed by the fourth early on Monday morning, EDF said, adding that the safety of the plant, its employees and the environment was not at risk.

“These shutdowns are the result of the massive and unpredictable presence of jellyfish in the filter drums of the pumping stations,” EDF said in a statement.

The plant in northern France is one of the largest in the country and is cooled from a canal connected to the North Sea.

Teams were carrying out inspections to restart the site “in complete safety”, EDF said, adding the reactors that were shut down are expected to restart on Thursday.

The beaches around Gravelines, between the major cities of Dunkirk and Calais, have seen an increase in jellyfish in recent years due to warming waters and the introduction of invasive species.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists wrote in 2021 that jellyfish swarms incapacitating nuclear power plants is “neither new nor unknown” and there was substantial economic cost due to the forced closure of power plants.

Scientists are currently exploring ways to avert closures due to sea swarms, including using drones to map the movement of jellyfish, which would allow early intervention.

“Jellyfish breed faster when water is warmer, and because areas like the North Sea are becoming warmer, the reproductive window is getting wider and wider,” Derek Wright, marine biology consultant with the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told the Reuters news agency.

“Jellyfish can also hitch rides on tanker ships, entering the ships’ ballast tank in one port and often getting pumped out into waters halfway across the globe,” he said.

An invasive species known as the Asian Moon jellyfish, native to the Pacific Northwest, was first sighted in the North Sea in 2020. The species, which prefers still water with high levels of animal plankton, such as that in ports and canals, has caused similar problems before in ports and at nuclear plants in China, Japan, and India.

EDF said it did not know the species of jellyfish involved in the shutdown, but this is not the first time jellyfish have shut down a nuclear facility, though such incidents were “quite rare” – the last effect on EDF operations was in the 1990s.

There have been cases of plants in other countries shutting down due to jellyfish invasions, notably a three-day closure in Sweden in 2013 and a 1999 incident in Japan that caused a major drop in power output.

Experts say overfishing, plastic pollution and climate change have created conditions for jellyfish to thrive and reproduce.

EDF said there was no risk of a power shortage due to the shutdown, saying other energy sources, including solar power, were operational.

WASHINGTON — President Trump said Monday that he expected to determine mere moments into his meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin this week whether it would be possible to work out a deal to halt the war in Ukraine.

“At the end of that meeting, probably the first two minutes, I’ll know exactly whether or not a deal can be made,” Trump said at a White House press conference that he called to announce plans for a federal takeover of Washington’s police force to help combat crime.

He said he thought Friday’s sitdown with Putin in Alaska would be “really a feel-out meeting.” Trump added that “it’ll be good, but it might be bad” and predicted he may say, “lots of luck, keep fighting. Or I may say, we can make a deal.”

Putin wants to lock in Russia’s gains since invading Ukraine in February 2022 as Trump presses for a ceasefire that has remained out of reach. Trump’s eagerness to reach a deal has raised fears in Ukraine and Europe about such an agreement favoring Russia, without sufficient input from Ukraine. Trump has alternately harshly criticized both leaders after promising — and so far failing — to swiftly end the conflict.

The Trump-Putin meeting so far isn’t going to include Zelensky

Trump on Monday ducked repeated chances to say that he would push for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to take part in his discussions with Putin, and was especially dismissive of Zelensky and his need to be part of an effort to seek peace.

He said the Ukrainian president had been to “a lot of meetings” without managing to halt a war that Russia started. Trump also noted that Zelensky had been in power for the duration of the war and said “nothing happened” during that time. He contrasted that with Putin, who has wielded power in Russia for decades.

Trump said that, after his meeting with Putin, “The next meeting will be with Zelensky and Putin” but it could also be a meeting with “Putin and Zelensky and me.”

European allies have pushed for Ukraine’s involvement, fearful that discussions could otherwise favor Moscow.

To that point, Trump said he would call Zelensky and European leaders after his discussion with Putin to “tell them what kind of a deal — I’m not going to make a deal. It’s not up to me to make a deal.”

Trump spent the early part of his administration decrying Zelensky, even suggesting he was a dictator because his country has not held elections during the war. Zelensky was hounded out of the Oval Office in February after Trump and Vice President JD Vance suggested he hadn’t been grateful enough for U.S. support.

Trump’s up and down relations with Putin

More recently, Trump has expressed frustration with Putin that Russia hasn’t appeared to take a push for a ceasefire more seriously, and softened his tone toward Zelensky. His comments Monday suggested he might have had another change of heart.

“President Putin invited me to get involved,” Trump said. He noted that he thought it was “very respectful” that Putin is coming to the U.S. for Friday’s meeting, instead of insisting that Trump go to Russia.

“I’d like to see a ceasefire. I’d like to see the best deal that can be made for both parties,” Trump said.

The president repeated that any major agreement could involve land swaps, without elaborating. He had threatened Moscow with more economic sanctions if more isn’t done to work toward a ceasefire, but suggested Monday that, should Friday’s meeting be successful, he could see a day when the U.S. and Russia normalize trade relations.

Putin is expected to be unwavering in his demands to keep all the territory his forces now occupy and to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO, with the long-term aim of returning it to Moscow’s sphere of influence.

Zelensky insists he will never consent to any formal Russian annexation of Ukrainian territory or give up a bid for NATO membership.

Putin believes he has the advantage on the ground as Ukrainian forces struggle to hold back Russian advances along the 600-mile front. On the front lines, few Ukrainian soldiers believe there’s an end in sight to the war.

Europeans will prepare with a virtual meeting on Ukraine this week

With the Europeans and Ukrainians so far not invited to the summit, Germany sought to prepare by inviting Trump, Zelensky, the NATO chief and several other European leaders for a virtual meeting on Wednesday.

The German chancellery said the talks would seek additional ways to pressure Russia and prepare for peace negotiations and “related issues of territorial claims and security.”

Steffen Meyer, spokesperson for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, said the German government “has always emphasized that borders must not be shifted by force” and that Ukraine should decide its own fate “independently and autonomously.”

Earlier, a Ukrainian drone attack killed one person and wounded two others in a region some 260 miles east of Moscow.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses intercepted and destroyed a total of 39 Ukrainian drones overnight and Monday morning over several Russian regions as well as over the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.

Weissert writes for the Associated Press.

An explosion at a US Steel plant near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States has left one dead and dozens injured or trapped, with emergency workers on site trying to rescue victims, officials said.

An Allegheny County Emergency Services spokesperson, Kasey Reigner, on Monday said one person died and two were currently believed to be unaccounted for. Multiple other people were treated for injuries, Reigner said.

A fire at the plant started around 10:51am (14:50 GMT), according to Allegheny County Emergency Services.

“It felt like thunder,” Zachary Buday, a construction worker near the scene, told WTAE-TV. “Shook the scaffold, shook my chest, and shook the building, and then when we saw the dark smoke coming up from the steel mill and put two and two together, and it’s like something bad happened.”

Dozens were injured and the county was sending 15 ambulances, in addition to the ambulances supplied by local emergency response agencies, Reigner said.

Air quality concerns and health warnings

The plant, a massive industrial facility along the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh, is considered the largest coking operation in North America and is one of four major US Steel plants in Pennsylvania that employ several thousand workers.

The Allegheny County Health Department said it is monitoring the explosion and advised residents within one mile (1.6 kilometres) of the plant to remain indoors, close all windows and doors, set air conditioning systems to recirculate, and avoid drawing in outside air, such as using exhaust fans. It said its monitors have not detected levels of soot or sulfur dioxide above federal standards.

The plant converts coal to coke, a key component in the steel-making process. According to the company, it produces 4.3 million tons (3.9 million metric tonnes) of coke annually and has approximately 1,400 workers.

In recent years, the Clairton plant has been dogged by concerns about pollution. In 2019, it agreed to settle a 2017 lawsuit for $8.5m. Under the settlement, the company agreed to spend $6.5m to reduce soot emissions and noxious odours from the Clairton coke-making facility.

In another lawsuit, residents said that following a massive 2018 fire, the air felt acidic, smelled like rotten eggs, and was hard to breathe due to the release of sulfur dioxide.

Last year, the company agreed to spend $19.5m in equipment upgrades and $5m on local clean air efforts and programmes as part of settling a federal lawsuit filed by the Clean Air Council and PennEnvironment and the Allegheny County Health Department.

The lawsuits accused the steel producer of more than 12,000 violations of its air pollution permits.

David Masur, executive director of PennEnvironment, an environmental group that has previously sued US Steel over pollution, said there needed to be “a full, independent investigation into the causes of this latest catastrophe and a re-evaluation as to whether the Clairton plant is fit to keep operating.”

In June, US Steel and Nippon Steel announced they had finalised a “historic partnership”, a deal that gives the US government a say in some matters and comes a year and a half after the Japanese company first proposed its nearly $15bn buyout of the iconic American steelmaker.

The pursuit by Nippon Steel for the Pittsburgh-based company was buffeted by national security concerns and presidential politics in a premier battleground state, dragging out the transaction for more than a year after US Steel shareholders approved it.

Aug. 11 (UPI) — At least one person is dead and several are injured, including those trapped in rubble, after an explosion at the U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works about 15 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, officials said.

Allegheny County Emergency Services spokesperson Kasey Reigner told WPXI-TV that “dozens were injured” in the blast. Also, two people are missing as crews searched for victims trapped in rubble.

At 10:50 a.m. EDT, emergency medical services received a call for an “ongoing situation” at the plant for a potential mass casualty event, Reigner told the Post-Gazette.

A Level 3 Mass Casualty incident was declared and more resources across the region were deployed.

Allegheny County Health Department advised people who live within a mile to stay inside.

The extent of injuries wasn’t clear, though several people were taken to hospitals. Allegheny Health Network told WPXI that it was receiving patients at several of its hospitals, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center said two patients were taken to Mercy Hospital.

WTAE-TV’s helicopter captured fire crews battling flames while ambulances rushed to the area.

Breath Project captured when the explosion occurred.

“Felt like thunder,” Zachary Buday, who was working close to the scene, told WTAE. “Shook the scaffold, shook my chest, then shook the building. Then we saw the smoke coming up from the steel mill.”

He said there wasn’t fire but black smoke.

Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, who grew up near the area in McKeesport, posted on X: “The Commonwealth is providing whatever resources and manpower are needed to help with emergency response. Please stay away from the area at this time to allow emergency crews to do their job and follow all future guidance from officials for those that live nearby.”

Gov. Josh Shapiro posted on X that his administration “is in touch with local officials.”

He said: “The scene is still active, and folks nearby should follow the direction of local authorities.”

Sen. John Fetterman, who serves Pennsylvanians, wrote on X: “My team and I are tracking this explosion and waiting for more information.”

Calirton Coke Works, which is situated along the Monongahela River, is considered the largest coke manufacturing plant in North America with several million tons produced annually.

In the process, raw coal is turned into coke, which is used in steelmaking.

The company’s headquarters are in Pittsburgh.

U.S. Steel, which was founded in 1901, has about 22,000 employees with revenue of $15.6 billion in 2024.

In May, President Donald Trump announced a partnership with Japan’s Nippon Steel Corporation. He also said there would be a 50% tariff on imported steel. He appeared at the Edgar Thomas Plant near Braddock.

BBC

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