private

PLANS for a new multi-million pound private island in the Maldives have been revealed.

The premium exotic complex could span 155 acres on the ocean, with an underwater railway and a “deep-water lagoon”.

A zero-land private island in the Maldives has been put up for sale by a Canadian brokerage, and it can be bought in its entirety for £335million.

The development has not yet been built and will only be constructed if a buyer can be found.

In computer-generated images by Private Islands Inc, The Adaptive Atoll is a 155-acre Maldivian resort that would be nestled away in a secluded setting of the Indian Ocean.

Inside, it would be made of a number of fortresses and holiday homes, all connected by an underwater rail network.

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Private Islands Inc. even offers additional mini-islands that connect on demand, allowing owners to add modular spaces such as a 30-bunk guest pavilion or a dedicated kids’ club.

To accommodate the most high-profile of clients, the layout of the island would allow for fly-in capabilities, meaning the most elite can arrive via seaplanes and private helicopters.

Private Islands Inc. boasts around 800 islands in its portfolio, usually set at around a $1million (£745,000) price point.

Some, especially in Canada, Belize, and the Americas, can cost under $500,000 (around £370,000), such as Grape Cay in Nicaragua that spans the size of two American football fields.

Mr Krolow, the chief executive and founder of Private Islands Inc., told The Telegraph:  “At the end of the day, if you want island ownership in the sense that it’s yours, you’re there and there’s no one else, it’s possible.

“And you don’t have to be super rich, but you do need to be a little crazy.

“You need to have a set of balls, and you need to have been bitten by that island bug.”

HOT, but not too hot. Relaxing, but not boring

A pool with heating and steps — and not just any old steps, they must be Roman steps.

Local food, but also margherita pizzas on tap. Culture, but not challenging.

Not too far from the sea, airport or supermarket. Not too expensive. Not many stairs . . . 

Trying to plan a three-generation family trip, I realised I wasn’t looking for a holiday home, but a unicorn.

The hunt took our family of five — our sons are a “lively” 11, nine and three — my 70-something parents and my godmother to a villa outside Cavtat in Croatia, a 15-minute drive from Dubrovnik airport (tick).

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I drove Irish Route 66 with deserted golden beaches and pirate-like islands

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Tiny ‘Bali of Europe’ town with stunning beaches, €3 cocktails and £20 flights

Cavtat (pronounced Savtat, I learned after a confusing conversation with a waitress) looked lovely, but could it possibly tick all our boxes?

There were blue skies, and our gorgeous white stone villa had a heated pool, those Roman steps and enough bedrooms for the boys not to kill each other.

Add in a higgledy-piggledy garden with wild flowers and a lemon tree at the bottom of our drive — perfect for the G&Ts — and we were good to go.

After a first day splashing in the pool, we managed a pootle down to Cavtat’s main village, a ten-minute drive away.

To the whole family’s delight, you could park cheaply right on the marina, one of many practicalities we came to appreciate during this trip.

The old town lies on a pretty horseshoe bay in the middle of two small pine- forested peninsulas.

With white stone Dalmatian buildings and narrow alleyways, it looks like a mini Dubrovnik but is thankfully smaller, cheaper and significantly less crowded.

This isn’t a coincidence. Cavtat is often called “Old Dubrovnik” as it was once a prosperous Greek and Roman port which was sacked in the 7th century, sending survivors legging it to what later became Dubrovnik.

Whatever its provenance, with a smooth promenade (tick), a cluster of great-value restaurants where you could get pizza and a beer for 8 euros (tick) and a picturesque 15th century church, it was the perfect place to potter around.

The church also houses masterpieces by one of Croatia’s most famous artists, Vlaho Bukovac, who was born in Cavtat.

Bukovac’s house is just off the marina, and one day we dragged the kids inside — admittedly, largely to escape the sun.

It was a blissfully shady change of pace and with just a few rooms didn’t prompt too much whining. Easy culture? Tick.

We quickly settled into a routine: Activities in the morning, followed by naps (for both toddlers and adults) and then lazy afternoons at the villa.

By day three, we girded our loins and got up early to visit Dubrovnik and take the two-kilometre walk around the legendary city walls.

On one side of the walls, which are six metres thick in places, is the vast azure sea, while on the other you peer down into a maze of terracotta roofs, with tennis courts and allotments nestling next to incredible 15th century architecture.

It’s fair to say my three-year-old was unimpressed (despite getting the best view of all of us, riding on my poor husband’s sunburnt shoulders) but he perked up when we dived inside some of the many cool “hole in the wall” bars for a cola. Be warned, they are pricey.

If you prefer to re-energise with ice cream, Dolce Vita serves the best scoops in town. Try the dark chocolate, pistachio and hazelnut “Domino”.

While Dubrovnik deserves its reputation as a must-see, we were all happy to get back to the chilled atmosphere of Cavtat.

Its only downside as a family holiday destination? The stony beaches. But that was nothing some 5-euro watershoes couldn’t fix. When the pebbles get too much, take a boat trip to Sunj bay, allegedly the best sandy beach in Croatia.

Buckets and spades in hand, we hopped on to a speedboat stocked with beers and cans of Fanta, zooming past Dubrovnik and the most expensive villa in town, which David Beckham and Beyonce have stayed in (not together, or this would be on the front page of the paper).

When we arrived at Sunj bay, we found boats can only stop just off the shore, so the boys jumped in and waded through chest-height sea to the beach.

My poor old dad was a bit less enthusiastic. After a brief stint on the sands, we headed to the Blue Cave on nearby Kolocep Island which, as you approach, looks less like a cave and more like a crack at the base of a jagged cliff face.

Pretending to be far braver than I felt, I jumped off the boat and swam towards a gap just a few feet high, shouting for the kids to follow.

Once inside, it was well worth the claustrophobic entrance. A massive chamber opens up with a high ceiling and striking bright blue water — because the cave is lit from underneath, it filters out the red light, leaving only the blue.

Towards the end of the week, we ditched the kids and escaped on our own — just the parents. That’s the best thing about a three-generation holiday: The built-in babysitters.

A white-tableclothed dinner on the waterfront, watching the sun set, was followed by a gorgeous run to sweat out our hangovers the next morning.

The Cavtat walking trail is excellent for those into fitness, wrapping around the peninsula and deliciously shaded by the Aleppo pines.

So, how did Cavtat stack up for a three-generation holiday? My son’s verdict: 9.5/10. Apparently it lost half a point for the bracing sea water.

To be fair, a warm sea wasn’t on my checklist. 

A cavalcade of blacked out Mercedes, flanked by police cars, rolled into the Fifa headquarters in Rabat, Morocco, earlier this week.

Infantino had summoned a select few members of the Fifa management board to discuss his plan to sell off 21% of the commercial and ticketing business to a private equity firm.

This is how the Swiss-Italian travels – in between flights on the Qatar Airways Executive jet which has been made available to him. The plane enabled him to take up to three flights a day, watching two games, throughout the 2026 World Cup.

That type of arrival does look presidential – only more like a president of a country than a sports body.

It enables him to travel the globe, visiting Fifa’s official offices like Rabat, where he was based over the past week as the Fifa Forward Enterprise controversy developed.

In his role Infantino is expected to visit the 211 member nations, to see the grassroots projects Fifa has funded.

Part of his remit is to unify football, which cannot be achieved from within the Fifa headquarters in Zurich.

It requires international travel to attend confederation meetings, and the global tournaments Fifa organises. Infantino needs to build relationships with officials and politicians.

In April, before the Fifa Congress in Vancouver, local authorities rejected a request for a level-four motorcade, usually reserved for heads of state or the Pope.

New Zealand police said they had declined a similar request during the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

Alongside the cavalcade of cars and the private charter flights comes a large salary, too, three times what he first earned when elected in 2016.

Infantino, who was paid about £1.3m 10 years ago, now takes home about £4m – a base salary of £2.2m plus a confirmed variable bonus payment of £1.8m.

His predecessor Sepp Blatter was paid a £2.6m package for his final year as Fifa president.

Infantino gets a ‘per diem’ too to cover expenses and living costs, worth £20,500 a year on top of his salary.

As the head of the most popular sport in the world, it should be expected that there is a wage to match.

Infantino would argue that by driving record revenues and funding for member associations, he has proven he is worth the salary.

Fifa president Gianni Infantino says he has scrapped the controversial plan to sell off stakes in the governing body’s major competitions, following widespread opposition.

Infantino said it had become clear the project had “created divisions” that are “no longer in the interest” of its original objective.

The Swiss added: “As a result, this proposal will not proceed.”

Infantino had offered all 211 member associations $40m (£30m) if they backed a proposal for private investment in its tournaments, including the men’s and women’s World Cups.

European football’s 55 member associations, Uefa, voted on Thursday to boycott World Cups if the plans went ahead.

Fifa’s chief operating officer Kevin Lamour said the governing body’s own administration had been “deceived” about the project.

Carlos Cordeiro – Infantino’s senior adviser on global strategy and governance – resigned over the mater, saying the proposal was “a bad deal for football” and would “mortgage football’s future”.

That came after two other major confederations spoke out against the plans.

Concacaf, which governs football in North, Central America and the Caribbean – and hosted this summer’s World Cup – said its members “rejected” the proposal, with sources saying the vast majority of associations from the region are losing, or have lost, faith in Infantino.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said it stood in “solidarity” with Uefa and Concacaf, while UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Infantino was “the wrong man” to lead Fifa.

Infantino, 56, is now under immense pressure as he seeks re-election for a fourth term as president at the Fifa Congress in March.

He said he now intends to “bring all interested parties back together” in the “spirit of shared interest” in football.

More to follow.

This week FIFA announced plans to form a new subsidiary company to run part of the World Cup and offer a 20% stake to private investors, worth over $4B. Jared Kushner’s brother’s investment firm Thrive Eternal has been named a likely buyer. Al Jazeera’s Mohammad Saleh explains.

LET’S be honest: booking a cheap hotel is easy.

But booking a cheap hotel that previous guests actually rate is where things can get really tricky, because the lowest price very rarely equals the best value.

A bargain hotel becomes considerably less impressive the second you see reviews mentioning cold chips, paper-thin walls, and a swimming pool that was clearly photographed with a deceptive wide-angle lens.

To find the ultimate value holiday location, I’ve crunched the numbers on hotel prices across Europe’s favourite package destinations and cross-referenced them with each hotels’ average TripAdvisor ratings.

One caveat though: while the deals in this article are all brilliantly cheap, this isn’t just a list of rock-bottom prices. That’s of no use to you at all.

I’ve also factored in the volume of positive hotel reviews, the choice of properties, and what you actually get for your cash on arrival too.

I’ve ranked my final seven picks by their average score, counting down to the destination that statistically had the absolute happiest guests for the absolute best value.

7. Costa del Sol, Spain (Average Rating: 3.82/5)

The Costa del Sol has been dominating the package market for decades, and that breadth of experience really shows in the data.

Because there’s massive competition between hotels to fill beds every year, prices stay ruthlessly competitive… which is great news for you.

While its hotel’s 3.82 average score sits at the bottom of our final seven, it makes the cut because it’s a destination that is incredibly easy to get right, with massive flight capacity from across the UK keeping travel costs low.

For example, I spotted a five-night, room-only stay at the Helios Costa Tropical in Almunecar, flying from Bournemouth in September, from just £270pp.

This three-star property is completely outperforming the regional average with a staggering 4.8/5 TripAdvisor rating.

And the hotel sits right on the San Cristobal promenade, meaning you can walk straight out of breakfast and onto the sand without paying the inflated room premiums usually charged by the big chain resorts in neighbouring Nerja.

6. Fuerteventura, Canary Islands (Average Rating: 3.85/5)

Fuerteventura is one of the best holiday spots for making a modest holiday budget feel significantly larger.

Resorts here specialise in huge pool complexes and massive, wide beaches that never feel crowded, even during peak school holidays.

Caleta de Fuste is a top-tier shout for families due to the sheltered bays, while Costa Calma is built for world-class lounging.

You can lock in a five-night self-catering stay at the three-star R2 Higos Beach in Costa Calma, flying from London Gatwick in early September from £385pp.

This hotel even pulls in a brilliant 4.6/5 guest rating because it sidesteps the sterile, high-rise block feel of the island’s mega resorts.

The apartments also come with fully equipped, modern kitchens, with the hotel situated right next to a local market, meaning you can prep cheap breakfasts on your private terrace and keep your daily spending money completely intact. Thrifty.

5. The Algarve, Portugal (Average Rating: 3.88/5)

The Algarve tracks at a solid 3.88 average hotel score, but it’s the value in Portugal mixed with the unbelievable scenery you get for your money that earns it a spot on the board.

The dramatic golden cliffs and hidden coves make even a basic walk to the local bar look cinematic.

Albufeira provides the largest pool of cheap apartments, while Alvor and Carvoeiro handle the quieter family pace.

I dug out five nights at the Aura Village Apartments in Albufeira from just £260pp, with direct flights from London Stansted in late September.

It’s a self-catering setup at this hotel, which makes its stellar 4.7/5 review score all the more impressive.

This hotel is near-perfect for a Portuguese holiday as it offers guests a quiet, central apartment that can be used as a launchpad for the rest of the resort. 

Which means you can camp here all day, then head out in the evenings, walk a couple of streets back from the main strip and find independent tavernas hidden in the back alleys that will serve you authentic Piri-Piri chicken for half the price of the tourist traps on the front.

4. Lanzarote, Canary Islands (Average Rating: 4.00/5)

Lanzarote is the only Canary Island on our radar where hotel reviews hit a flawless 4.0 average.

Because development on the island was historically controlled by strict low-rise building laws, you get whitewashed, low-density resorts instead of towering concrete blocks.

Puerto del Carmen is the great all-rounder for value, while Costa Teguise routinely drops some of our heaviest package discounts.

One of the best-reviewed hotel loopholes I found was the Princesa Guayadeque in Puerto del Carmen, with five nights self-catering and flights from Bristol right at the end of September from £320pp.

It’s a two-star hotel, but don’t let that fool you. This spot pulls an exceptional 4.7/5 score from guests who rave about its pristine cleanliness.

And because of the hotel’s high-up position, it sits just a short, flat walk away from the main strip, giving you completely peaceful nights away from the bar noise without forcing you to budget for local taxis.

3. Costa Blanca, Spain (Average Rating: 4.07/5)

The Costa Blanca might be the most complete package bargain in Europe.

The sheer volume of hotels in hubs like Benidorm keeps prices brilliant year-round, and despite that, Costa Blanca hotels still pull in an immensely impressive 4.07/5 average rating.

If the main neon strip feels a bit too lively, nearby Albir offers a completely relaxed alternative under the shadow of the Sierra Helada cliffs.

A standout value option here is the three-star MC Amalia Apartments in Benidorm, where five nights self-catering costs just £255pp, with flights from London Gatwick in late September into early October.

The hotel has a strong 4.5/5 rating, not least because of its brilliant positioning near Levante beach.

It also sits right on the edge of the historic Old Town, meaning you can skip the commercial tourist restaurants and eat like a local at the traditional, wood-fired tapas bars hidden down the famous “Tapas Alley” for a fraction of the cost.

2. Malta (Average Rating: 4.14/5)

Malta delivers an incredible mix of excellent accommodation, historical city walls, and a massive 4.14 average review rating for hotels.

Despite the numbers, it still gets routinely overlooked by Brits who automatically type Spain or Greece into Google, meaning there is excellent value hiding in plain sight.

And if you do fancy it, I’d look around Qawra and Bugibba for the steepest discounts.

For a central base however, St Julian’s Scirocco, Affiliated by Melia is sitting at £340pp for five nights room-only, flying from London Stansted on September 25.

And the best bit: this three-star hotel cleans up with a 4.6/5 score.

This hotel even boasts a rooftop pool deck, giving you panoramic views over the local Mediterranean bays while you lounge, letting you enjoy a premium, high-end city-beach aesthetic without paying the luxury waterfront resort prices down the road.

1. Antalya, Turkey (Average Rating: 4.30/5)

Antalya takes the number one spot on my board by proving that “cheap” and “basic” do not have to live in the same sentence.

The resort has earned an exceptional 4.3 average guest rating at hotels – the highest in Europe.

And because these massive Turkish resorts are locked in a permanent race to out-spec each other with on-site waterparks, private beaches, and the very-best restaurants, the biggest people who benefit are you and me.

This deal highlights the sheer value here perfectly: five nights all inclusive at the 4-star Grand Uysal Beach & Spa Hotel in Alanya is available from just £415pp, flying from Liverpool this September.

The hotel also carries a brilliant 4.6/5 on TripAdvisor, making this deal even more of a find.

While self-catering elsewhere looks cheaper on paper, going all inclusive in Antalya is the smart holidaymaker’s move because it covers your food, drinks, snacks, and waterpark access in one single bill.

The Grand Uysal even has its own private beach that’s accessible via a private underpass, meaning you can step from the pool bar onto the sand in thirty seconds without ever navigating the main coastal road traffic. 

Easily my pick of the bunch.

Prices correct at the time of publication.

Last things first: Eve Babitz is a major minor L.A. writer who died five years ago at age 78. She spent nearly a quarter-century as a recluse, having suffered in 1997 a shocking and disfiguring accident while striking a match to light her Tiparillo. Her thin Indian skirt caught fire searing her panty hose into her flesh, leaving her with third-degree burns over more than half her body. She never published again, though many championed her gifts, including me. At the time of her misfortune, I was book editor of the Los Angeles Times. I had long admired her, especially the rollicking and indispensable “Slow Days, Fast Company,” first published in 1977, a charming and insightful series of stories bursting with pluck and sass. I recommended to John Carroll, the then-editor of the paper, that he make her a columnist and urged Babitz to write him directly. She did, and that letter from October 2000 is the last included in “Too L.A.: Letters Never Sent (But Some Were),” a book of letters expertly edited and chosen by Lili Anolik. Babitz tells Carroll that “what the paper needs is some writers that cause such an uproar, people will have to read it in order to stay abreast of the edge.” Babitz knew what she was talking about. She’d been living on that edge since she was a teenager at Hollywood High in the late 1950s.

The posthumous resurrection of Babitz’s writings is most welcome. Yet there is a risk of overpraising her merits. She was an unabashed booster of the glossy L.A. that became synonymous with a rising creative elite whose élan and narcissism she found irresistible.

Lili Anolik makes the case in her perfervid introduction: “The letters are everything you could want” and often “profound” and “frequently brilliant, invariably amusing.” She says they deserve to be put on the short shelf next to Virginia Woolf’s imperishable “A Room of One’s Own” for they are “every bit as candid, every bit as lucid, every bit as brutal, every bit as delicate as Virginia Woolf’s celebrated manifesto.”

If only.

“Too L.A.: Letters Never Sent (But Some Were)” by Eve Babitz

(New York Review Books)

Regrettably, Anolik, who is almost singlehandedly responsible for Babitz’s literary exhumation, has so fallen in love with her subject as to almost blind her to Babitz’s defects, both with respect to her writing and to the life. With two previous books — “Hollywood’s Eve” (2019) and “Didion and Babitz” (2024) — prompted by Anolik’s riveting March 2014 Vanity Fair profile, Anolik has become Babitz’s greatest champion. Now with “Too L.A.,” a title taken from Babitz’s own over-oxygenated writing, she has gathered and edited a trove of letters. They brilliantly reveal Babitz’s eye for the deep shallow as well as explore the porous boundary between the largely self-inflicted injuries of her private life and the glittering sheen of her public persona. Babitz herself, on the strength of these 197 letters, only 30 of which she ever mailed, understood in a way Anolik doesn’t the limitations of her talents, even as she strives to slip the shackles of a mansplaining culture which at almost every turn tried to blunt her ambitions, both artistic and writerly, even as her editors and admirers sought (often with her ardent encouragement) to slip between her sheets.

Eve Babitz was born in 1943 to Hollywood neo-royalty. Her Brooklyn-born father, Sol, was first violinist for both the Los Angeles Philharmonic Symphony and then the 20th Century Fox Studio Orchestra. Sol would ultimately marry Lily Mae Laviolette, a beautiful Cajun Catholic shiksa willing to convert to Judaism. Eve’s godfather was Sol’s good friend Igor Stravinsky. When puberty burst upon her at age 14, Babitz’s blossoming made her a prime candidate for induction by the fast-track girls at Hollywood High who called themselves the Thunderbird Girls and cruised the Sunset Strip in their cool cars, looking for the main chance.

From left, Sol Babitz, Mae Babitz, Mirandi Babitz and author Eve Babitz gather at a launch party for her book “Slow Days, Fast Company” in 1977.

(Photograph by Paul Ruscha; courtesy of Mirandi Babitz / The Huntington Library)

At 20, Babitz posed nude playing chess with the fully clothed Marcel Duchamp to promote Duchamp’s retrospective exhibition at the Pasadena Art Museum. At the time, Babitz was having an affair with the museum’s 32-year-old married director, Walter Hopps, which perhaps explains Babitz’s reluctance to have her face photographed so as not to give the game away to Mrs. Hopps, who attended the opening. A month later, Babitz confides in an (unsent) letter: “Everything’s so fabulous for me now I can’t believe it. There’s nothing like two boyfriends to do it for you every time. There are such fabulous boys around and they take you out on dates and to movies and I feel just like a teenager. (I’m recapturing my lost youth.) I get to get dressed up and I flirt outrageously and put people on and I do things like look soulfully out the window and man it’s just too hoozie for words. … If only all of this could last forever — not that it will, but I can.”

She spent the rest of her life torn between the excitements of everyday life — cruising the hangouts du jour (Barney’s Beanery in the early 1960s where she met many of L.A.’s up-and-coming artists — Ed Kienholz, Billy Al Bengston, Laddie Dill, Peter Alexander, and the Ruscha brothers, Ed and Paul, both of whom she’d bed, Paul becoming an on-again, off-again boyfriend whose bisexuality made for a sometimes tenuous connection; and after seducing Jim Morrison before he became famous and later the Troubadour in the late 1960s which was a happy hunting ground — Steve Martin, Glenn Frey, Don Henley, J.D. Souther, Country Joe Mcdonald, Jackson Browne, to name only a few, and then Ports restaurant where she anchored a corner table) — and the seductions of drugs — uppers, acid (which she seemed to ingest with an alarming frequency), pot, of course, and then by the mid-1970s, tragically, an Everest of cocaine. She had entered what she aptly called the era of “squalid overboogie.”

Eve Babitz and her frequent companion Paul Ruscha celebrate the 1977 release of Babitz’s seminal “Slow Days, Fast Company.”

(Photograph courtesy of Mirandi Babitz / The Huntington Library)

The name-dropping is relentless and if, like me, you have an insatiable appetite for hoovering them up, this volume will not disappoint. Still, there are many pages of vapid jottings — “I cleaned the house, did the laundry, and vowed to quit smoking” — that suggest why Babitz was a failure as a novelist (see her dud “Sex and Rage”) and a superb writer of short stories and essays that stylishly plumbed the depths of her own sensibility precisely in the degree to which she was uninterested in other people.

Nearly 30 years after she stripped to please her married lover and startle the unsuspecting Duchamp, the father of Dada, and eight years after she joined AA in 1982 — the year her beloved father died of Huntington’s disease at age 70 which ultimately would also kill her — and gave up drugs and alcohol and (almost entirely) writing as well, which had always been seen by her as enabled by dope of one kind or another, she boasted that, looking back, “Everybody wanted to be me — they looked at me with yearning faces, and said, ‘Boy, you sure had fun.’ ” She was not entirely wrong. She had struck many admirers both then and now, as the quintessential California girl, a daughter of Dionysus, whose devotion to pleasure was free of misgiving or regret. She detested the East Coast avatars of apocalypse, like Nathanael West, who saw only doom and gloom in sunny L.A. Babitz, by contrast, saw things sunny side up. If Joan Didion was unsettled and made anxious by the hot Santa Anas that regularly kicked up, Babitz luxuriated in them, recalling how she and her sister would as young girls rush to embrace them, spinning madly round and round. In a 1977 unsent letter to Joseph Heller, who had championed her work when she had sent him an unsolicited fan letter after having read “Catch-22” when it was first published and she was barely 20, she declares proudly: “I’m a gossip storyteller who likes L.A. rather than hates it.” She refers to her “shallow nature,” writing that “I feel like an upstream salmon, determined to reach the shallow water, no matter how fast the river is running the other way.”

Eve Babitz, the ultimate Hollywood reveler, on Sunset Boulevard in 1980.

(Los Angeles Times)

On the evidence of these letters, she had two great loves: Ahmet Ertegun, a principal founder of Atlantic Records, and Tom Dowd, renown recording engineer and producer who worked for Ertegun. Of the two, Ertegun had the edge, if for no other reason than he came with buckets of dough, making possible assignations at his regular bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel with limo pickup and dropoff services, and the best champagne and other assorted stimulants. Ertegun was effortlessly elegant and erudite, and there was no one he didn’t know and who wouldn’t return his calls. He was married, age 45, 20 years older than Babitz, when they fell for each other in 1969. She began sleeping with him even as she agreed to profile him for Jann Wenner’s newly launched Rolling Stone. The writing didn’t go well. Wenner wanted a tougher piece than she was willing to write. Ultimately, she abandoned the assignment, claiming (not unreasonably) that she didn’t see how she could write objectively about a man she loved.

Babitz courted danger with heedless bravado and exemplary recklessness. She once had the moxie to rid herself of a would-be rapist: When told not to scream, she said with unimaginable sangfroid: “Why not?” The man bolted. It might be said of Babitz, as Oscar Wilde said of his life, that she spent her talent on her writing and reserved her genius for her life. Sculpting her natural gifts of wit and brazenness into a living artwork dazzled all who came within her orbit. Her lust for life was palpable. The letters are proof. She came at people without fear. She left them without apology. She was the boss of herself. She was the girl who seemed to have it all. The only thing she lacked was inexperience.

Wasserman, a former book editor of the Los Angeles Times, is publisher of Heyday Books, a nonprofit, independent publishing house founded in 1974 in Berkeley. He is the author of “Tell Me Something, Tell Me Anything, Even if It’s a Lie: A Memoir in Essays.”

MOLLY-MAE Hague showcased her flat stomach while she sported a bikini — just six weeks after giving birth.

The reality TV stunner and her boyfriend Tommy Fury welcomed son Midas, their second child, last month.

Taking to Instagram, the Love Island alum, 27, posed for mirror selfies wearing a green bikini top alongside an open white shirt and trousers.

Above one of the snaps, Molly-Mae additionally added the caption: “Mommy.”

It comes as fans branded the reality star “irresponsible” as she headed on a holiday to Greece.

She revealed her family — including Midas — were travelling to their trip away via a private plane.

EAR FEARS

Molly-Mae slammed as she boasts about private jet for first holiday with baby

‘QUEEN’

Love Island’s Charleen reveals Molly-Mae’s support after being branded her double

One wrote: “Babies so young are vulnerable when taken on planes due to their tiny ears and the change in climate can be too much also.

“At least wait until he’s 6 months. Sorry Molly this is irresponsible.”

Another said: “Love you Molly but please stop using private jets. They’re so incredibly polluting, the next generations are inheriting this burning planet.”

A third added: “Why does it have to be in a private jet!!!!

“This is directly affecting the planet your baby will grow up to live in!”

Other comments were more positive, as one said: “Ahhh!!! So unbelievably beautiful, have the best time making special memories.”

CAMPING may conjure images of sagging tents, damp sleeping bags and a dreaded midnight trek to the communal toilet block. But that’s not the case at Lee Wick Farm.

Buried in St Osyth, Essex, this glampsite offers a compromise to satisfy my husband’s need for hot showers, a proper toilet and real mattress, while allowing the rest of our family and friends to embrace the wild.

Home to 20 glamping pods and cabins as well as a secret garden area, this is far from your average camping experience.

We opted for a sleek Lushna cabin, which comfortably slept our family of four and offered uninterrupted views across tranquil fields.

My husband Mark was relieved we had our own private bathroom, along with a compact but well-equipped kitchenette.

Guests can bring their own bedding, or those who like to travel light can add linen to their booking so their beds are ready for a snooze on arrival.

FAKE OUT

Beautiful UK holiday home named one of the most unique in the WORLD

DRINK IT IN

10 of the UK’s biggest beer gardens ahead of more 33C temperatures

Outside, the cabin boasts a private hot tub in an enclosed garden, providing plenty of open space for the kids to run around safely during the day – so the adults had a rare chance to sit down and actually relax.

Local attractions are just a short distance away, too.

On our first afternoon we took a walk down the lane and across the marshes toward the rugged Colne Point Nature Reserve, which felt like a proper expedition.

Wildlife is abundant along this shoreline, including local adders which bask in the grass.

It was a brilliant, old-school adventure that kept children and adults amused, but make sure you bring sturdy footwear just in case you lose a shoe in a bog (like one of our group!).

For a change of pace on a sunnier day, we headed to Curve Water Park. A few minutes from the farm by car, the park features an inflatable aqua assault course which resulted in plenty of competitive laughs and inevitable wipeouts.

For those wanting a more civilised pace, the park also offers paddleboarding and kayaking, allowing you to glide peacefully along the water before grabbing a drink at the dog-friendly lakeside cafe.

Lee Wick Farm is perfectly positioned for coastal and historic day trips too.

A short drive takes you to the sandy beaches of Holland-on-Sea where you can grab a bag of chips, or Clacton Pier where arcades and amusements offer entertainment as well as shelter when the weather takes a turn for the worse.

Or head slightly inland to the picturesque village of Dedham. Located in the heart of Constable Country, it’s the perfect place for a stroll or boat ride along the River Stour.

And after an action-packed day, our cabin back at Lee Wick Farm allowed us to embrace the wilderness without sacrificing our home comforts.

We left with tired legs, bbq-filled stomachs and the realisation that the great outdoors is much more enjoyable when you have a warm cabin, private hot tub and a glass of cold prosecco in hand.

REMEMBER when finding a £1 pint on holiday was the norm? Those days feel a long way off. 

Just like here in the UK, classic holiday hotspots have seen food and drink prices creep up over the last few years.

And now, in plenty of major resorts, the old-school £1 beer is nothing more than a nostalgic memory.

But as a holiday expert, I knew the mythical £1 pint hadn’t vanished entirely.

So, I went digging, trawling holiday reviews and local expat forums and cross-referenced Facebook groups.

I even tapped up every contact I have working in hotels overseas.

And I have great news: the £1 pint is alive and kicking… you just have to know exactly which backstreets to turn down.

Even better, every single spot below is a destination where I clocked a full package holiday for under £400 per person. Or £401 if you want your first pint thrown in…

Benidorm, Spain

If there’s one destination refusing to let the £1 pint disappear quietly, it’s Benidorm.

People love to moan that the strip isn’t as cheap as it used to be, and to be fair, they’re almost right.

But every time I go looking for a proper value holiday, Benidorm still cleans up – and there’s one legendary venue everyone mentions: Uncle Ron’s.

They’re famously flying the flag for the €1 pint long after everyone else moved on, making it the ultimate first pitstop to prove the old-school Benidorm spirit is alive and kicking.

I even clocked a five-night stay at the Terralta Apartments, flying direct from Bristol at the end of September on a self-catering basis, from just £260pp.

Aside from putting you well within striking distance of Uncle Ron’s, the real draw at this hotel is the massive lagoon-style pool area that features its own dedicated poolside supermarket.

It means you can stock your apartment fridge with cheap local snacks and ice-cold cans at local residents’ prices without having to lug heavy shopping bags back from the town centre.

Sunny Beach, Bulgaria

Sunny Beach has spent years dominating the European holiday market when it comes to budget trips, and in 2026 it certainly hasn’t lost its crown.

The beaches and weather here really live up to the name, and your spending money stretches ridiculously far when you get there.

Whenever I’ve visited, I’ve stopped bothering to convert prices back into pounds after day one because everything is just SO cheap.

For the ultimate bargain brew though, Bulgaria-obsessed holidaymakers point straight to The Funny Pub, which regularly slashes its local lager prices down to the £1 mark during daytime promotions.

You can lock in five nights at the Aparthotel Cote Da Zure, flying direct from Luton on a self-catering basis, from a crazily low £160pp.

And the perk of this specific property is that every room comes with a proper, deep balcony overlooking a quiet green pine forest lot.

It gives you a peaceful, scenic spot to pre-drink your bargain beers before heading out onto the main prom to chase £1 pints all night.

Marmaris, Turkey

Every time I check booking data, Marmaris tends to dominate the dashboard.

Thanks to the great exchange rate, British holidaymakers get unbelievable buying power the second they step off the plane.

When I asked around to find out where experts would send a mate for a rock-bottom pint, the Crazy Daisy Bar topped the list, famously keeping local draft beers around the £1 mark during their extended afternoon happy hours.

So I went and tracked down five nights at the Grand Villa Sol Apart, flying direct from Manchester in September on a self-catering basis, from £335pp.

And the restaurant team at this hotel are kind of famous too.

They cook up a traditional Turkish clay-pot stew on-site that beats most of the overpriced tourist traps on the main marina, letting you secure a top-tier local meal for pocket change right by your sunbed.

Sarande, Albania

I’ve said it before and I’ll keep shouting it from the rooftops: if you want to catch the next massive travel trend before the crowds ruin it, get to Albania.

The water is stunningly clear, the Balkan scenery is stellar, and because the tourism infrastructure is still developing, the prices haven’t quite caught up with the quality yet.

When asked about tracking down a £1 pint here, a couple of people in the office laughed and told me I’d probably get change back from a quid if I ordered a local lager at Jericho Cocktail Bar on the front.

I found a six-night stay at Hotel Vola, flying direct from Luton with breakfast included, from just £235pp. And for a coastal spot that feels like a hidden Mediterranean secret, which is huge value.

The standout feature at this hotel, for me, is the private beach access.

They have cordoned off a quiet, rocky swimming platform directly below the hotel with free loungers.

This allows you to bypass the crowded public beach clubs and swim in the exact same pristine Ionian water for zero extra cost.

Ayia Napa, Cyprus

Ayia Napa still suffers from a bit of an old-school 90’s clubbing reputation, which I think is really unfair.

The coast here boasts some of the finest sand in Europe, the sea is bath-warm well into autumn, and because it sits so far south, you get guaranteed scorching sun long after the rest of Europe has started cooling down.

If you want a £1 beer here, head straight to Senior Frog’s, where they regularly run afternoon drink promos designed to keep your spending money intact.

I found a great deal nearby too, with five nights at the Green Bungalows Hotel Apartments, flying direct from Gatwick at the end of September on a self-catering basis, from £275pp – which makes this deal an absolute shoulder season winner. 

And what I loved about these bungalows was the outdoor hot tub and courtyard setup – they’ve built a massive, open-air hot tub right beside the main pool bar, meaning you can wind down in the evening heat with a cheap drink without having to head into the busiest parts of the resort.

Laganas, Zante

Zante is another island that gets judged far too quickly based on the main strip. 

Walk ten minutes away from the neon signs and you’re looking at beautiful turtle-nesting beaches, traditional family tavernas, and some of the clearest water in Greece.

For a budget pint, the Rescue Club is the staple shout, running massive seasonal daytime promos that knock local drafts down to the £1 mark.

I even found five nights at the Acapulco Marinos Apartments, flying direct from Manchester at the end of September on a self-catering basis, from £385pp.

It’s a cracking price for a Greek island, and what I love about this family-run spot is their on-site traditional olive grove garden… Not what you’d expect in Zante, eh?

The family actually harvests their own olives right on the grounds to make homemade oil for the pool bar snacks, giving you a proper, authentic slice of Greek island hospitality right at your sunbed.

Prague, Czech Republic

I couldn’t write an article about cheap beer without including the absolute capital of lager.

No, it doesn’t have a beach, but if your idea of a holiday involves wandering historic cobbled streets and dropping into ancient beer halls, it’s unbeatable.

While the centre has indeed gotten pricier over the years, lots of people pointed me toward U Zlateho Tygra (don’t ask me how to pronounce that), a historic pub where a world-class Czech Pilsner still costs around about a quid.

You can grab a city break at the Bohem Prague Hotel, flying direct from Bristol in early September on a room-only basis, from just £175pp (is it me, or are trains to and from Manchester and London more expensive than that these days?)

The real win at the Bohem though is its location in the Smichov district.

This hotel sits completely outside the overpriced tourist zones, putting you right next to the local Staropramen neighborhood bars where food and drink prices drop by 50 per cent compared to the Old Town Square.

Cheers to that!

All prices were accurate at the time of writing but may vary.

June 29 (Asia Today) — South Korea’s space agency released guidelines Monday for private companies seeking to use the Naro Space Center, beginning preparations for the country’s first dedicated commercial launch facilities.

The Korea AeroSpace Administration said the guidelines outline a four-stage consultation and approval process, methods for calculating fees and safety and security requirements.

They also establish procedures and fee standards for private companies seeking to use testing facilities at the space center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province.

The government plans to open the commercial launch site in two stages, beginning in the third quarter of 2027 and expanding it in the first quarter of 2031.

The first stage will include a mobile launch platform, propellant supply systems and launch control equipment.

The second stage will add an assembly and testing facility where companies can prepare launch vehicles and test payloads.

The expanded infrastructure is expected to accommodate commercial launch vehicles and eventually support reusable launch systems.

Companies seeking to conduct a launch at Naro must apply at least four months before their proposed launch date.

They will then undergo four stages: preliminary consultation, review and authorization, launch operations and post-launch procedures.

The guidelines also establish a system for calculating usage fees based on each company’s launch requirements and the facilities and services it uses.

An agency official said the guidelines were prepared to help private companies use the center systematically before the commercial launch site opens and South Korea continues launches of its domestically developed Nuri rocket.

The official said the government will seek to simplify procedures based on companies’ needs and establish reasonable usage fees.

South Korean launch companies have relied on overseas spaceports and sea-based platforms because the country has lacked a land-based commercial launch site available to private operators.

Opening the Naro facilities could allow companies to conduct more of the development process in South Korea, from ground testing to commercial launches.

“Opening the Naro Space Center to private use goes beyond simply granting access to a government facility,” said Taeseog Oh, administrator of the Korea AeroSpace Administration.

“It is meaningful because it strengthens the support system for private companies in the space industry,” Oh said. “We will continue providing support so a private-sector-led commercial space ecosystem can take root in a stable manner.”

The Naro Space Center has primarily supported government launch programs, including the Naro rocket and Nuri, South Korea’s first domestically developed space launch vehicle.

Nuri’s fourth launch took place in November 2025, with private company Hanwha Aerospace assuming a larger role in rocket production and assembly under a government technology-transfer program.

The opening of the commercial facilities is expected to further shift South Korea’s space industry from a government-led model toward one in which private companies develop and operate launch services.

The guidelines released Monday are scheduled to be submitted to the Korea Aerospace Research Institute’s board for approval on July 8 before being registered as internal operating rules.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260629010010286

June 25 (UPI) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a Hawaiian law that required people to ask permission to carry a concealed firearm onto a private property.

The Court’s majority, in a 6-3 ruling, said that Hawaii cannot block a properly licensed person from carrying a concealed weapon on private properties that are open to the public.

Hawaii was one of five states that enacted similar laws after the Court in a 2018 ruling said that states could not limit gun licenses to “exceptional cases” because it violated the 2nd Amendment right to carry a firearm.

The law required people who wanted to carry their firearm in places such as gas stations, restaurants, grocery and other stores, dry cleaners and other properties that are “open to the public” to get permission to carry their gun.

“Under the new Hawaii law, no one carrying a firearm may enter without the property owner’s express authorization,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion.

“The effect of this new rule is to impose severe restrictions on the daily activities of residents who have satisfied the State’s rigorous requirements for the issuance of a carry permit,” Alito wrote.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson disagreed with the majority that the Hawaii law is an “attempt to end-run our Second Amendment precedents,” suggesting instead that it applies the first principle of property law, the right to exclude.

In addition to noting that Hawaii has a long history of restrictive gun laws, Brown Jackson said it enacted the permission law in order to prevent confusion among property owners that federal law had affected traditional expectations in the state.

“The public might well have an implied license to enter private property open to the public, and such permission might generally include the ability to enter armed,” she wrote in the dissent.

“But,” she wrote, “any such license is not a matter of right — a license is a creature of state law and custom, and it can vary accordingly.”

One of Russia’s biggest advantages in the war against Ukraine is its ability to launch tactical airstrikes from bases largely out of reach of kinetic responses. While we have frequently reported about Ukrainian attacks on these bases, they aren’t sustained enough to stop Russia from generating devastating sorties.

Now Ukraine and NATO are looking to the private sector for ways of changing that equation through what is being called the Airfield Denial Challenge. It offers a 250,000 Euro award to companies or individuals who come up with workable ideas to prevent Russia from being able to use its air bases.

“The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) operational experience has firmly established that the ability of the adversary to project air power from secure rear-area airfields remains one of the most consequential asymmetries in the current conflict,” according to NATO’s Headquarters Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT). “Enemy tactical aviation, operating from bases beyond the reach of conventional Ukrainian strike assets, continues to conduct strikes using guided aerial bombs, cruise missiles, and stand-off munitions against friendly forces, critical infrastructure, and civilian population centers.”

The goal of this program is lofty.

“Each sortie originates from an airfield. Every airfield is a node of vulnerability: if it can be persistently denied, the adversary’s air campaign is fundamentally disrupted at source,” SACT suggested.

You can see video from one of the Ukrainian attacks on Russian tactical aviation bases below.

Ukraine’s ongoing efforts to halt these attacks are insufficient, SACT posited.

“Current workarounds: manned strike aviation, ground-based long-range fires (MLRS, ballistic missiles), and conventional single-unit loitering munitions have demonstrated limited effectiveness against defended airfield targets,” SACT argued. “They lack the mass-effect, persistence, and EW (Electronic Warfare)-resilience required to simultaneously suppress airfield infrastructure across multiple aim points in a contested environment.”

The “battlefield logic is clear,” the NATO subcommand added. “Point-defense and reactive interception of individual weapons must be complemented by persistent denial at the source.”

“We must find technologies that will help to permanently limit the enemy’s use of aviation infrastructure: aircraft, runways, fuel and ammunition storage facilities, and ground support infrastructure,” the Ukrainian Defense Ministry (MoD) explained. “Ukrainian miltech companies, startups, and engineering teams are invited to participate.”

SACT said the challenge is technically agnostic and that it is looking for ideas that include, but not are not limited to, the following:

• Uncrewed aerial systems of any configuration or range class

• Autonomous or semi-autonomous munitions and loitering systems

• Swarming and mass-effect approaches

• Alternative delivery mechanisms beyond conventional aerial platforms

• Hybrid solutions combining multiple technologies

Regardless of what type of solution is presented, it “must be capable of operating in GPS-denied and EW-contested environments, across all weather conditions and seasons, and must demonstrate a credible path to rapid fielding.”

In addition, SACT is looking for systems that can conduct sustained strikes deep into contested airspace, operate without “continuous human control,” be fully autonomous and deliver “sufficient mass and precision to suppress multiple aim points across an airfield simultaneously.”

SACT also wants systems that require minimal training, and have AI-assisted target acquisition that “reduces reliance on expert judgment.”

The solicitation comes with the understanding that whatever solutions are presented won’t be proven, but should be at least in the mid-to-upper tier of the military technology readiness level (TRL) scale. It includes systems ranging from those having “high fidelity” laboratory integration of components to those with prototypes “near, or at, planned operational systems.”

Meanwhile, any solution that will take more than a year to be fielded won’t be considered.

The deadline for submissions is July 20. Ten finalists will be selected on August 11 and will be invited to a “pitch day” on Sept. 3, tentatively in Poland, to showcase their designs.

Whether this ambitious program will actually lead to the fielding of any systems that can persistently deny Russia the ability to launch aircraft is very much in question.

As we have frequently reported, Ukraine has one of the world’s most innovative defense technology infrastructures that has created drones, missiles and other weapons designed, tested and fielded under intense wartime conditions. However, it has still been unable to achieve the goals being sought by this challenge. 

One of the big issues Kyiv faces is the limited amount of funds to pursue some of these advances and what the Atlantic Council has described as “Ukraine’s inability to mass produce sophisticated weapons or sustain stable military supply chains.” 

Getting an idea into the hands of NATO, which has developed a half-billion dollar fund to develop weapons for Ukraine, could ultimately help turn an idea into a workable weapon to keep Russian tactical aviation at bay. Even if that happens, though, the time it would take to develop these weapons at a scale large enough to make a real difference would be a formidable endeavor.

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

The war film, which follows a young British soldier’s journey to the D-Day landings, is being praised by viewers as a more authentic and moving portrayal of WWII than Saving Private Ryan — and it’s currently available to stream in the UK

A “moving” and largely forgotten film from the 1970s depicting the D-Day landings is being hailed as “more realistic” than modern representations of the historic battle.

Overlord (1975) charts the experience of Thomas Beddows (Brian Stirner), a young British serviceman from his enlistment into the East Yorkshire Regiment, through initial training and ultimate participation in the Allies’ landmark amphibious invasion of German-held Normandy in June 1944 (codenamed Operation Overlord).

The picture, directed and co-written by Stuart Cooper, blends authentic archive material of the momentous military operation with sequences of Tom reflecting on his own death and the horrors awaiting him.

Screenrant writer Tommy Lethbridge observed that while it lacks the brutal, visceral intensity of the D-Day scenes featured in Steven Spielberg’s groundbreaking 1998 picture Saving Private Ryan, Overlord ultimately provides a more “authentic” depiction of the clash between Allied and German troops.

This, he argued, stems from Overlord’s deployment of archival footage, combined with the incorporation of “extensive detail from real soldiers’ diaries, clips from British Army training missions”, and seized German material, all of which grant the work “unrivalled authenticity”.

Fans have flocked to IMDb to lavish praise on the lesser-known war epic, with one saying: “The archival footage which makes up much of the film’s most stunning imagery is meticulously chosen and edited.

“It frequently becomes Tom’s dreams and visions of the War as it unfolds, and for the viewer, it is a vision of what WWII was, seen from both German and British sides.”, reports the Express.

“Cooper so masterfully situates Tom, an everyman, in visions of the surrounding war, that by the end of this surprisingly short, yet incredibly rich film, the magnitude of the toll the war took on the individuals fighting it becomes overwhelmingly moving.”

Another added: “If you watched Saving Private Ryan, go and see this film too. It’s totally different, but it deals with the personal feelings of a private much better, no battle scenes, just the perfect backdrop about a normal soldier going off to war, knowing what will happen.”

A third described it as “not your average war film”, noting: “There’s very little in the way of dramatised battle scenes as it shows one soldier’s path to one of the most important, pivotal battles of all time: his farewells with family, his journey to his unit, his training, his preparation for Overlord.

“No heroics, no jingoism, just the reality of what soldiers go through in becoming soldiers and how they handle the fact that eventually they’ll need to use this training in deadly earnest.”

A fourth viewer said: “It’s a sad tale, one of the forgotten men in a conflict long ago, but its universality still stands strong.”

Overlord, which carries a 15 certificate, is available to buy or rent on both Amazon Prime and Apple TV.

DAVID Beckham has snapped “That’s a private matter’ as he shut down any questions on his son Brooklyn amid their ongoing family rift.

The soccer legend was being interviewed ahead of receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The Beckhams have been embroiled in an ugly fallout with Brooklyn, 27, and his wife Nicola Peltz, 31, for months, with things coming to a head in when Brooklyn posted an explosive statement about the row. 

However, David wasn’t happy when asked what toll the media coverage on the fallout had on him.

He replied: “To be honest, I’m sorry to stop you there, but that’s a private matter. That’s the one thing that I don’t want to talk about.”

However, he did open up about the key to his 26-year marriage with Victoria and creating their “four incredible kids.”

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David told Variety: ‘We’ve got four incredible kids. We’ve got businesses that we work hard on.

“But we always make time for each other, and we always have. I want Victoria to be the best version of herself, and vice versa. 

“And as busy as we are, our family always comes first.

“That’s our priority, and that’s what makes it work when you’ve been together for so long. Our priority will always be our family.”

David grafted for his star under the category of Sport Entertainment after becoming the UK’s first billionaire sportsman.

Singer-turned-fashion-designer Victoria Beckham will of course be on hand during the ceremony as she’s poised to share her support for David.

Former Spice Girl Victoria is said to be showing up for her man by speaking at the event alongside their pal Hollywood actor Tom Cruise.

But it is thought Brooklyn is unlikely to attend, despite living just a short distance away in Los Angeles.

The star will be located less than five miles from the Beverly Hills mansion Brooklyn shares with Nicola.

A source previously told The Sun: “Brooklyn snubbing David’s special day will be a very public humiliation as he lives in Hollywood.

“Of course, David is hopeful the family will have mended their relations by then, especially after he has offered an olive branch to Brooklyn.

“The rift has been a great cause of heartache.”

Caracas, June 4, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The Venezuelan National Assembly preliminarily approved on Tuesday a reform to the country’s Organic Law of the National Electricity System and Service, proposing a structural overhaul of the National Electricity System (SEN).

One of the most significant changes is the incorporation of the private sector in electricity generation, transmission, distribution, and commercialization activities, breaking with two decades of state monopoly through the National Electric Corporation (Corpoelec).

According to the draft text seen by Venezuelanalysis, private corporations and joint ventures will be able to operate in the electric grid in what is termed a “diversification of actors in the service chain.” The mixed ventures, where the state can hold majority or minority stakes, will be approved directly by the government and not by the National Assembly.

“In recent decades, the electric system has showcased structural and financial limitations […] as a result of the productive reality and the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures,” the proposed law reads. “Faced with this reality, the Venezuelan state must assume an institutional and judicial reengineering.”

The bill establishes concessions with a maximum duration of 25 years, renewable for a further 15 years under specific conditions. Once a concession expires, all infrastructure, assets, substations, and data will automatically revert to the state in good condition and without compensation.

The proposed legislation announces the creation of a new tariff scheme “based on real costs and a reasonable return for investors.” Electricity, like most public services, has been heavily subsidized in recent decades in the Caribbean nation. The bill additionally introduces obligations for electricity distributors to compensate users for damages caused by blackouts or other failures.

The reform likewise establishes the possibility for the executive branch to grant tax exemptions to projects linked to renewable energy, rural electrification, or strategic investments in the electricity sector.

The 42-article legislation will now be subject to discussions and amendments before a second and decisive vote. 

If approved, it would repeal the Organic Law for the Reorganization of the Electricity Sector, enacted by former President Hugo Chávez on July 31, 2007, which merged the country’s seven existing electricity companies through the creation of the National Electric Corporation. The legislation also defined all stages of electricity generation and distribution as “strategic for the nation.”

During Tuesday’s parliamentary session, United Socialist Party (PSUV) lawmaker Orlando Miranda argued that the electricity reform represented a “mixed and private capital strategy under a rigorous regime of concessions and public supervision.” 

He noted that government plans to reinforce the grid with thermoelectric plants in the past 15 years were hampered by US economic sanctions. Miranda went on to add that increased tariffs are being studied to reflect the “real costs” of the system.

For his part, opposition legislator Ezio Angelini (Un Nuevo Tiempo) demanded that the reform address corruption, which he identified as a key factor behind Venezuela’s recurring power outages.

Angelini stated that in 2019 Venezuela generated around 20,000 megawatts (MW) while consuming approximately 12,000. Today, he claimed, the country produces close to 12,000 MW, roughly 40 percent of installed capacity, while demand has risen to 14,000. On May 11, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello stated that electricity demand had surpassed 15,500 MW due to increased oil production.

Zulia state, considered the cradle of Venezuela’s oil industry, and other western regions have experienced daily blackouts lasting between eight and twelve hours in recent weeks. Supply instability also affects other services such as water pumping and cooking gas distribution.

Frequent power outages have also gripped oil fields in the Orinoco Belt, as crude extraction relies on electric motors that are vulnerable to tension fluctuations. According to Bloomberg, the Venezuelan government is urging international energy companies to generate their own electricity for oil and natural gas projects in an effort to shield the grid from the additional load.

Delegations from Siemens and General Electric visited the country in April and held talks with the Venezuelan government headed by Acting President Delcy Rodríguez. However, the two corporate giants are reportedly “hesitant” to take part in major projects due to doubts over Caracas’ financial capabilities.

Additionally, in mid-May, US Chargé d’Affaires in Venezuela John Barrett held a meeting with Electricity Minister Rolando Alcalá to discuss plans to “restore a reliable energy supply through US investment and collaboration.”

Electricity generation in Venezuela depends heavily on the 10 MW-capacity Guri hydroelectric complex in Bolívar state, making the system particularly vulnerable to climatic factors such as the high temperatures affecting the country. Venezuela suffered nationwide blackouts in 2019, with authorities blaming US-led cyberattacks.

The electricity reform follows legislative overhauls to the hydrocarbon and mining sectors that likewise curtailed the state’s role and responsibilities while granting private corporations expanded control over operations and sales, slashed royalties and taxes, and the ability to bring disputes to international arbitration bodies.

Edited by Ricardo Vaz in Caracas.

TOMMY Fury raced to be by Molly-Mae’s side for the birth of their second child as he chartered a private jet from boxing training camp to make it in time.

Fans were concerned history would repeat itself and Tommy wouldn’t be around during the beginning stages of their baby’s life, due to his scheduled fight against World’s Strongest Man, Eddie Hall, on June 13.

But, the Netflix star has certainly put those rumours to bed as he stopped at nothing to put Molly at ease.

The 27-year-old flew on a private jet from his training camp in Manchester down to London earlier this week.

The loved-up couple announced the birth of their baby on Instagram today with a sweet snap at the hospital.

A source said: “The whole family is over the moon. Tommy flew down on private jet to be at the birth.

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“Mollie went into labour yesterday, she had been in London for the past week while Tommy continued his training camp in Manchester ahead of his Eddie Hall fight.”

“Tommy flew straight down last night to be by her side as soon as she told him labour had started. They went to hospital this afternoon and the baby was born a few hours later,” the source continued.

“The baby is absolutely perfect. Molly is exhausted but doing well. She’s so glad Tommy made it down for the birth as she was so worried he might not get there in time.”

But despite it all being a race against the clock, Molly’s boxer beau still managed to get there in time bearing gifts.

The source added: “Tommy rushed down with flowers, her favourite chocolates Ferrero Rocher and the blanket she wanted to wrap the baby in for the first pictures, as she’d forgotten it at home.”

In the first snap of their new babe, Tommy, Molly and Bambi all gathered around the hospital bed as they lay sleeping.

The picture appeared to be taken soon after the birth as stunning Molly was still in her hospital gown.

She looked utterly overjoyed as she beamed down at their new arrival.

The smitten couple captioned the announcement post: “…and then there were 4.”

There celebrity pals and fans went wild over the news and flooded their comments with congratulations.

Before the birth, Maebe creator Molly told fans over on her YouTube that she would be giving birth to her second bundle of joy at London’s Portland Hospital.

She explained how she would be having the same midwife that was present when she gave birth to her daughter Bambi, three.

Molly and Tommy are yet to reveal the baby’s gender or name.

In her latest video, Molly confessed she could announce the name by putting it on Tommy’s fight shorts as she normally take the lead on designing them.

Perhaps all could be revealed next week.