People with knowledge of Plum’s thinking confirmed to the The Times last week that she didn’t intend to re-sign with the Sparks in the offseason, forcing them to move on from her expiring contract and get as much value as possible to build from the ground up — again.
It’s no surprise the Sparks decided to blow it up two weeks after firing general manager Raegan Pebley, who had told The Times that she intended to keep the Sparks in contention through the trade deadline.
The Mercury’s Monique Akoa Makani handles the ball in front of the Liberty’s Pauline Astier at Mortgage Matchup Center on Saturday in Phoenix.
(Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
The return the Sparks got for Plum on an expiring contract is as good as they could have hoped for — a starting quality player and a first-round pick that might end up a lottery pick if the Mercury don’t make the playoffs.
The Sparks traded the No. 2 pick in the 2025 draft to Seattle, who turned that selection into All-Star center Dominique Malonga, to acquire Plum in the 2025 offseason to try to end their rebuild. They finished two games outside the postseason last season and have struggled this year with Plum’s injury and a league-worst defense.
How soon the Sparks can attempt to contend again might depend on this year. If they get a high enough draft pick to take JuJu Watkins, should she choose to leave USC, they can build around her. If not, they are back in the same spot as 2025 when they got the second overall pick and missed out on the Paige Bueckers sweepstakes.
Watkins may choose to stay at USC another season, which would give the Sparks a second chance at her in the lottery if they aren’t back on their feet yet.
Since the Sparks will all but certainly miss the playoffs this season, they will have two lottery picks, giving them a chance to add some rookie-scale contracts to a roster filled with veteran deals. They have two players in Dearica Hamby and Ariel Atkins who are owed more than $1 million per season over the next two years, and Erica Wheeler is on the books for $625,000 next season.
They have young center Cameron Brink, the No. 2 overall pick in 2024, to build around. Despite rumors earlier this season, the Sparks decided not to trade Brink and are instead building around her. Pending restricted free agent Rae Burrell has had her best season in the WNBA this year, and if the Sparks don’t move on from her, she can be another key piece in the next version of the team.
Those two and former No. 4 pick Rickea Jackson were supposed to be a part of the next wave for the Sparks, but they traded Jackson to Chicago for Atkins this offseason in what now appears to be an ill-conceived attempt at winning this year.
Akoa Makani will also slot in as a starter right away for the Sparks at 25 years old. Last season with a Phoenix squad that made it to the WNBA Finals, she started 11 playoff games. She is also under team control until 2027 when she will become a reserved free agent.
Sparks forward Cameron Brink is pressured by Fever guard Lexie Hull on May 13 at Crypto.com Arena.
(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)
Akoa Makani will be one of the better defenders on the Sparks’ roster and is a career 41% three-point shooter. In her 16 games this season, she is averaging 9.4 points, 2.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.2 steals.
Phoenix’s first-round 2027 draft pick the Sparks acquired will most likely be the seventh overall, with a small chance at being first or second because of the WNBA’s two-year lottery odds format. Seventh picks in recent years have included Angel Reese, Aneesah Morrow and Veronica Burton.
The Sparks will be projected to pick around sixth without some extreme lottery luck, but even those two picks will make a big difference for a team with just one lottery pick (Brink) from the past six years of rebuilding.
Aside from Watkins at the top of the draft, Louisiana State guard MiLaysia Fulwiley, South Carolina forward Ashlyn Watkins, Kentucky center Clara Strack and LSU guard Mikaylah Williams will be viable young players.
With Plum off the books and expiring contracts for Nneka Ogwumike and Emma Cannon next season, the Sparks will have cap room to work with even with the hefty contracts at the top of their cap.
If they create a core of young players around Brink, Burrell and Akoa Makani, they will have another chance to get a rebuild right.
The Sparks reportedly agreed to trade All-Star guard Kelsey Plum to the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday night, ending a brief stint in Los Angeles as the franchise continues its rebuild ahead of the WNBA trade deadline.
ESPN reported the Sparks acquired guard Monique Akoa Makani, a 2027 first-round draft pick and a 2028 second-round selection for Plum.
The move comes less than two years after the Sparks acquired Plum in a blockbuster three-team trade with the Las Vegas Aces and Seattle Storm, sending the No. 2 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft as part of the package to land the two-time champion.
The Sparks fired general manager Raegan Pebley on July 12 following two straight wins. Since then, the Sparks have lost six in a row and dropped further back in the playoff race.
Despite Plum’s individual success, the partnership never translated into team success. The Sparks entered the deadline well outside the playoff picture, and reports in recent days indicated Plum was not expected to re-sign after the season, making a trade the organization’s best opportunity to recoup assets before free agency.
Plum, who has been out because of a lower leg injury, was enjoying one of the best offensive seasons of her career before sitting out 10 games, averaging 23.9 points and 6.4 assists and while shooting 52.7% from the field and 38.3% from three-point range in 12 games. She earned another All-Star selection while serving as the focal point of the Sparks’ offense.
For Phoenix, Plum provides an immediate offensive boost. One of the league’s premier scoring guards, she brings championship experience, perimeter shooting and playmaking to a team that is trying to move back into the WNBA playoff picture. The Mercury (11-19) are 12th in the standings just behind the Sparks (10-17).
The Sparks, meanwhile, are stuck in their rebuild limbo, with several veterans on long-term contracts and just Rae Burrell on an expiring contract.
The trade is one of the most significant moves before the WNBA deadline on Sunday and could reshape the championship race. But for the Sparks, it’s just another indicator that they are still searching for a way to contend.
Displaced Palestinians in Gaza cautiously welcome Israel’s approval for an international stabilisation force to enter the territory under the US-backed ceasefire plan. Residents hope the force can help rebuild Gaza and allow them to return home after months of bombardment and displacement.
Jobar, Syria – Ahmad, a Syrian man in his mid-30s, walks down an unpaved road in Jobar, in East Damascus, and points to a small home. It was damaged sometime during Syria’s 13-year war and is now dilapidated after years of neglect.
“That was my grandfather’s house,” Ahmad, who asked to use just his first name due to his sensitive position, told Al Jazeera. Nearby is his mother’s home and a small shop where she sold clothes.
Before Syria’s war broke out in 2011, following the violent suppression of anti-government protests, Jobar was a neighbourhood brimming with life. It was home to a historic mosque and synagogue but today stands as a ghost town after years of shelling, air strikes and chemical gas attacks.
Between 2012 and 2018, when much of Jobar was held by rebels, it became one of the frontlines of Syria’s war. It was repeatedly bombed and shelled by government forces, resulting in around 95 percent of buildings being destroyed. When the government recaptured the Damascus suburbs from the rebels in 2018, Jobar was emptied of most of its citizens.
Today, it stands as a major post-war problem for both Syria’s new government and its citizens, as they try to navigate reconstruction and the return of its former residents.
The Bermuda Triangle
Opposition groups built a labyrinth of tunnels to avoid attacks by the regime and its allies, with daily air raids and shelling.
Locals said the tunnel network meant the area gained the nickname ‘the Bermuda Triangle’, because of how people would get lost there.
In 2018, the regime cut a deal with opposition groups – fighters, their families and other locals could leave the area. Most left for rebel-held Idlib and the regime banned any civilians from entering the area. Shortly after the rebels took Damascus in December 2024 and forced President Bashar al-Assad to flee to Russia, some of Jobar’s residents returned to visit their homes for the first time in eight years.
One former resident, Salem Sawan, 59, a former medic, also known as Abu Yehya, rents an apartment in a nearby suburb. He wants to return to his home but, like other locals, said residents have been blocked from rebuilding.
On a walk around a part of Jobar, Ahmad points to a large tunnel opening that was recently filled with dirt and rubble. “The government must have closed this recently,” he said.
Ahmad said some people had possibly got lost in the complex tunnel network. There have also been reports of buildings collapsing due to the hollowed-out ground below them. Between the tunnels, the lack of infrastructure and an ongoing mine clearance operation in the area, Jobar is a prime example of the struggle Syria faces in rebuilding.
Rebuilding challenges
One of the major issues for reconstruction has been finding financing. Assad left the country in ruins, materially but also economically, along with crippling international sanctions, which the new government has successfully worked to remove.
The World Bank estimated that the total cost of reconstruction in Syria is around $216bn, while almost 90 percent of the Syrian population lives below the poverty line.
“The need for reconstruction is really big and if a specific neighbourhood has no infrastructure at all [the question is] how to channel money into reconstruction,” Cao Yue, the author of a recent report on Syria’s reconstruction for ODI Global, a UK-based thinktank, told Al Jazeera. “We know the government has a limited public budget, so they have targeted international capital, and especially international private capital, and that’s why [there’s been an effort] to cut agreements with international investors, especially from neighbouring countries.”
On a tour of Jobar, Ahmad, the former fighter, points to a building with a missing facade. It was once a few storeys high, but the floors are missing because the iron rods that ran through them were stolen, he said.
A little over a decade earlier, Mohammad Hamsho, the former business partner of Bashar’s younger brother, Maher al-Assad, had come under US and EU sanctions for war profiteering and connections to the former regime. One of his companies has repeatedly been accused of extracting iron from destroyed areas for steel production. In January 2026, Hamsho allegedly came to a financial settlement with the new Syrian government, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Locals like Ahmad and Abu Yehya told Al Jazeera that officials told them they couldn’t rebuild their homes, even on their own initiative. When asked why, they were told there was a plan for the area, but they were not provided with any other information.
There are now reports that the government and private developers are looking to invest in areas like Jobar, and its geographic proximity to central Damascus means that land there is highly valuable.
Media reports say that local officials have proposed that a foreign-backed project for the area could finance a $21bn project that could create up to 200,000 jobs. But the project has a downside. It states that locals in the area will receive only 50 percent of their former homes and 30 percent of areas classified as “agricultural”. When that plan was presented to local councils and activists, it was met with anger.
This struggle between the government and locals is at the core of the struggle over Syria’s future.
“People need housing, but also need basic services like education, sanitation, water, electricity and governance,” Mauricio Vazquez, Head of Policy at ODI’s Global Risks and Resilience programme, and another of the report’s authors, told Al Jazeera. Vazquez added that the struggle is not only a “block of brick and mortar” but about finding ways to build back societies that are “better for Syria”.
As for people such as Abu Yehya, he said he is ready to start figuring out how to rebuild his home. During the war, he regularly had to pick up wounded people or bodies whilst fighting raged around him. He now has back problems, two slipped discs and can barely lift a kilo, let alone a body. “If a body is 70 kg (154 pounds) alive, it’s 140 (308) dead.”
That means he now can’t work.
“Anyone who doesn’t have a child outside [Syria] will die,” he said, sitting across from the local cemetery, filled with the bodies of his former neighbours and friends. Still, he wants to find a way to rebuild his home in Jobar.
Standing nearby was Mahmoud al-Ajouz, a 60-something-year-old gravedigger, who never left the area, even when his children were killed here and when the regime and its allies ordered all civilians out.
When asked about reconstruction, he was adamant that Jobar will thrive again. “We will rebuild with our own hands,” he said, “us and the state together”.
Soto is a co-founder of the Transgresores collective. (Venezuelanalysis)
Joseph Soto is an activist and co-founder of the Transgresores collective. This 34-year-old, who holds a degree in performing arts, has emerged as a leading figure in the defense of the rights of the sexual and gender diversity community in Venezuela, with a particular focus on raising awareness about trans men.
How was the transition process to a trans man in Venezuela amid a full-blown crisis?
It was undeniably very complex. The years 2016–2017 saw a worsening of the socioeconomic crisis in Venezuela as a result of the US blockade and sanctions, which had a drastic impact on day-to-day life, public services, and the population’s living standards. Everything pointed to the fact that, in order to transition, I would have to leave the country, but I decided not to. There had to be some way to be a trans man in Venezuela.
It was difficult, not only because of the material and socioeconomic conditions, but above all because of the lack of information and the void of references surrounding the issue of trans masculinity. Historically, trans women have shouldered the burden of visibility within the struggles for sexual diversity. When we talk, for example, about the 1969 Stonewall riots, trans women played a leading role. Trans men, on the other hand, have not taken on that protagonism. It caused me a great deal of anxiety to not know what to do, where to start, or where to go. I figured it out by researching, studying, seeing how things were done in other countries, reading medical protocols, analyzing different perspectives, and acquiring theoretical tools to develop my own process. But also by making connections and building networks here. That’s what saved me.
In the end, it was challenging but not impossible. And that’s exactly how I began to make connections with activists and advocates in the field of sexual and gender diversity, who in turn put me in touch with trans peers who were here in Venezuela. That allowed me to navigate the initial challenges of my gender identity transition, which involved building a collective of trans men called Transgresores.
In general terms, how would you describe the access to healthcare and medical treatment for trans people in Venezuela?
I believe there is a great need for discussion, training, and awareness-raising among healthcare workers regarding the care of our population. In addition to the inherent weaknesses of the public healthcare system, resulting from the US blockade and internal mismanagement, which create endless hurdles for receiving care at a hospital or affording treatment at a clinic, there is also the anxiety stemming from the possibility that a medical professional might be prejudiced or lack knowledge about trans issues.
The trans community doesn’t just go to healthcare centers for issues related to their gender transition, such as hormone replacement therapy or surgery. We may also experience general illness or suffer an accident, and prejudice stemming from ignorance can affect the quality of care we receive. It’s happened to me. Once I went to the hospital in Lidice (Caracas) for a swollen lymph node in my armpit, but when I mentioned that I was trans, the doctor refused to treat me, telling me to go to my primary care physician or an endocrinologist. He couldn’t even prescribe some ibuprofen. Prejudice won out.
Worse still is the treatment of transgender women. Discrimination persists, and the medical field is no exception. But we exist, and we have the right to healthcare. It seems like something very basic, but it’s work that still needs to be done. In the current context, with the Coexistence Program and the call made by the acting president herself for the recognition of sexual diversity, there is an opportunity for the Ombudsman’s Office, which has been facilitating this debate, to collaborate with the governing bodies in the healthcare sector to develop a training and awareness-raising process.
In other Latin American countries such as Cuba, or certain provinces in Argentina and Uruguay, there are established protocols and transition processes. This is provided through the public healthcare system, including access to hormones and surgical procedures if that is what the person desires. However, in Venezuela, there is no public health policy established and regulated by the state geared toward the care of transgender people. Before that can happen, there must be a rigorous debate since, in addition to transgender people, gay men and lesbians also suffer this type of discrimination.
Sexual and gender diversity collectives have urged the Venezuelan state to tackle anti-trans violence. (Fabrizio Sánchez)
Two issues stand out on the gender and sexual diversity agenda: marriage equality and legal name and gender changes for transgender people. Can you explain why these two issues are so central? And what other demands does the movement have?
In what concerns marriage equality, the Venezuelan sexual and gender diversity movement submitted a bill to the National Assembly in 2014. In other words, work has already been done on this issue, including going through the various legal steps required by the Venezuelan legal framework to present a bill of this magnitude to the legislature. But in the end, that debate did not proceed. It was shelved despite having met all the requirements. That is why we still demand a debate, to overcome the fear of recognizing other forms of family and to integrate ourselves as subjects of equal rights within our legal framework. That would allow, for example, our partners to have inheritance rights.
Regarding the issue of legal name and gender changes for transgender people, there are two key points. The first is that for trans people, when the name registered on legal documents does not match how we see ourselves, it can often expose us to situations of violence and discrimination in administrative procedures or when dealing with law enforcement. There have been instances of discrimination, violence, and abuse by the police when they identify a person as trans.
The second reason is that there is no need to create a new right. What is needed is to enforce and implement an existing one. The Organic Law on the Civil Registry establishes that every citizen of this country has the right to change their name at least once if it is humiliating or does not correspond to their gender. That is why the Venezuelan sexual and gender diversity movement has been so vocal in demanding this provision. As for other demands, there is the issue of the right to a life free from violence and discrimination, because discrimination based on gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation is still very much alive in Venezuela. Certain municipalities have proposed decrees on this matter, but I believe that is insufficient. We need a legal framework that establishes penalties and, above all, addresses all the various forms of discrimination faced by our community.
In other interviews and articles, you have talked about the harm suffered from studying in religious schools, despite the law establishing that education should be secular. As we witness a major offensive from evangelical groups in national politics, what is your perspective?
Indeed, the rise of conservative religious thought is a threat to sexual and gender diversity. But at the end of the day, this is nothing new. We are the cultural product of [Spanish] conquest and colonization, and from that point on, the Catholic religion was imposed.
Now, [Protestant] fundamentalist groups are definitely on the rise both nationally and regionally. But I believe the threat does not lie in religious thought itself, because this country is not inhabited solely by Christians. It is a melting pot of religions, beliefs, and faiths. I believe that our commitment must be precisely to celebrate, through sexual and gender diversity, that religious pluralism, so long as it does not infringe upon the rights of any group. My call is for sexual diversity to provide the country with a roadmap, a vision of a truly diverse, respectful society that aims for recognition and is free from violence and discrimination. We must engage in a meaningful debate about the kind of society we want to build. This involves addressing educational, cultural, and media issues.
Soto called for rekindling debates surrounding sexual and gender diversity in Venezuelan society. (Archive)
Most of the country is focused on socioeconomic issues, and this is pushing other important questions to the backburner. What does the sexual and gender diversity movement propose in these circumstances?
I believe that the diversity movement owes a debt to the country because it has often limited itself to merely making demands and pointing out the shortcomings of the Venezuelan state and the Venezuelan people, but it has also failed to develop a strategic, programmatic vision to offer the country a vision of governance and an institutional framework.
My view is that we need to open up a broader debate and reestablish spaces for discussion within collectives, organizations, and platforms. Migration has also disrupted spaces for activism, because many sexual, gender, and diversity activists left the country. But it’s time to regroup and rise to the challenge of the times. What do we propose for the country in the present context? How do we see it? That is the debate we are called upon to have. I cannot definitively say what the sexual and gender diversity movement proposes because it is a debate that has yet to take place. But our approach cannot be limited to marriage equality and sexual identity.
You have also expressed concerns about a sector of the LGBTIQ+ community subordinating its agenda to the dynamics of foreign funding. Can you elaborate on this?
On this topic, I am referring to the fact that many of the sexual and gender diversity initiatives or forms of activism have been limited by NGOs since the international humanitarian system entered the country, as a result of sanctions, the crisis, and so on. In this kind of activism, political action has fallen short because it has been restricted solely to activities outlined within a given project sponsored by a specific funder, and it has lost its own organic character. It cannot be that the only spaces for us to meet and discuss are fully determined by the timelines, categories, and demands of a specific NGO project.
We must have our own agenda, with our own perspective and objectives. One that, above all, is guided by sexual and gender diversity activism and struggle. We have the responsibility and the challenge of overcoming this logic to reclaim an organic structure linked to concrete spaces of work and transformation, to a community, to a specific educational institution, to our territories, with our own agendas, categories, and timelines, not those predefined by an external organization.
The idea is not to demonize external funding, but our actions cannot be completely determined by it. Furthermore, these project activities fall short of the transformation we owe to our society. This is a personal perspective, and I’m sure I’ll get a lot of hate for it, but painting a bike lane with a rainbow flag in wealthy parts of eastern Caracas doesn’t bring about real change, even if resources, information, media coverage, and human effort are devoted to it. In terms of social and structural transformation, it achieves nothing; it leaves no lasting impact. We need a deeper, more strategic vision that harnesses the transformative potential we possess as a collective, as organized actors in society. That is why we must rebuild the movement.
Soto (right) warns of the dangers of subordinating grassroots struggles to NGO agendas. (Transgresores)
Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez signed a memorandum of understanding with U.S.-based GE Vernova, General Electric’s energy division, and state-owned utility Corpoelec to repair, modernize and stabilize the country’s struggling national power grid. File Photo by Miguel Gutierrez/EPA
June 16 (UPI) — Venezuela’s government signed a memorandum of understanding with U.S.-based GE Vernova, General Electric’s energy division, and state-owned utility Corpoelec to repair, modernize and stabilize the country’s struggling national power grid.
The plan aims to restore 1,000 megawatts of generating capacity over the next 24 months and more than 5,000 MW within four to five years.
The agreement, signed Monday by Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez, comes shortly after the National Assembly approved reforms to the country’s electricity law. The changes create a new framework that allows foreign investment in the sector after 15 years of an exclusive state monopoly.
During the signing ceremony, attended by Venezuelan government officials, company representatives and U.S. Charge d’Affaires in Caracas John Barrett, Rodriguez said the project will address both hydroelectric and thermoelectric infrastructure.
“We want to move forward steadily in the recovery of the national electricity system, for the benefit of the entire country but also to facilitate conditions for all the international investments arriving in the country,” Rodriguez said during the ceremony, which was broadcast on state television.
#EnVideo| Presidenta (E) Delcy Rodríguez, destacó que la firma del acuerdo con General Electric Vernova constituye un paso histórico para la recuperación del servicio eléctrico, esencial para la vida nacional.
Informó que ha solicitado convertir de inmediato este acuerdo en… pic.twitter.com/O0Wwrs0cYn— Ministerio de Comunicación e Información (@mippci_ven) June 15, 2026
GE Vernova technical teams spent six weeks conducting an audit of Venezuela’s electrical system. The assessment confirmed the deteriorated condition of Corpoelec’s facilities, which have contributed to electricity rationing and widespread blackouts, particularly in western states such as Zulia, the center of Venezuela’s oil industry and a major agricultural region.
“We want to move quickly so the system works as well as possible within a few months, and I believe we can do that together,” GE Vernova Chief Sustainability Officer Roger Martella said. “We already have an agreement on the technical aspects and how we can move forward rapidly. Over the next 12 months and beyond, we will strengthen the national electric system.”
According to local media reports, the Guri Hydroelectric Plant, which supplies about 70% of the country’s electricity, has suffered significant wear because of a lack of original replacement parts. New equipment will be used to stabilize and rehabilitate generating facilities at hydroelectric dams in southern Venezuela.
GE Vernova’s equipment also is expected to help restore local thermoelectric generation capacity, reducing pressure on the Guri complex and improving energy independence for central and western regions.
Transmission lines that cross the country face constant overloads and aging substations. The plan includes energy management software and upgrades to substations to improve reliability and reduce recurring power fluctuations.
The legal reforms approved this month allow concessions of up to 25 years in power generation, transmission and distribution, providing legal certainty for companies such as GE Vernova to deploy technology and services in the sector.
The legislation also establishes stricter accountability requirements for operators and creates a formal framework for renewable energy development.
In addition to increasing generating capacity and modernizing grid operations, the agreement includes a specialized training program for Venezuela’s technical workforce.
England took less than a session on the fourth day of the first Test against New Zealand to begin their post-Ashes rebuild with a much-needed victory.
In their first Test since their 4-1 defeat in Australia, England exploited the devilishly difficult batting conditions on a poor Lord’s pitch to beat the tourists by 115 runs and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
From 55-5 overnight in their chase of 254, New Zealand’s disappointing week was complete when they were hustled out for 138, thanks chiefly to Gus Atkinson’s 5-30.
After Saturday’s third day was almost entirely lost to rain, England required only seven deliveries on an overcast Sunday to resume their wicket-taking -Josh Tongue getting one to skid into the prone pads of Tom Blundell.
With the ball moving up and down, and side to side, Glenn Phillips began an overdue New Zealand counter-attack.
Phillips and Devon Conway added 53 for the seventh wicket, helped by Harry Brook putting down Conway at second slip.
But after England captain Ben Stokes induced a miscue from Conway, the end came quickly.
Nathan Smith edged behind, Kyle Jamieson clipped to mid-wicket and last man Matt Henry was bowled, all by Atkinson, giving the Surrey man yet another place on the Lord’s honours board.
The rapid, seam-dominated nature of this match followed a recent trend of matches involving England. Two of the Ashes Tests were done in two days, while this was the first Test in this country without a single delivery of spin bowled by either team since 1988.
The hope is the surface for the second Test at The Oval, beginning on 17 June, produces a more satisfactory contest.
