NEW YORK: Carlos Alcaraz tumbled out of the US Open quarter-finals at 3:34 am Wednesday, falling to Ben Shelton in an epic five-set thriller that broke the record for latest finish ever at Flushing Meadows.
The big-hitting Shelton claimed his first career win over Alcaraz, 6-7 (5/7), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (10/7), ending the Spaniard’s hopes of retaining his title in his first tournament back after a four-month injury absence.
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Europe’s answer to OpenAI has just become considerably better funded.
The Paris-based company Mistral AI announced its Series D on Tuesday, three years after being seeded, with the memory chip giant Samsung leading alongside the EU-backed Scaleup Europe Fund, managed by EQT, and existing investor PSG Equity.
The step up is steep.
Mistral was valued at €11.7 billion in 2025 after a €1.7 billion Series C led by Dutch chipmaker ASML, meaning the company has almost doubled its valuation in a year.
Much of the money is going into concrete rather than code. CEO Arthur Mensch announced the funding would build out data centres and computing capacity that Mistral can rent to others but that will also ensure autonomy.
“Long term, the plan is to fully rely on capacity that we are building ourselves, and so that means that the amount of compute that we own is going to grow around 100% in the next five years,” Mensch said, adding that the company would train “bigger and faster models.”
Mistral is already spending €4 billion on data centres across France and Europe, with one facility running outside Paris and another under construction in Sweden.
It raised further debt financing in March for the same purpose, and Microsoft has agreed to fund capacity from its European network, built around thousands of Nvidia chips.
Both Microsoft and Nvidia are also investors in Mistral, with the latter also adding exposure in this funding round.
The company says more than 125 enterprises across 20 countries use its technology, and Mistral projects it will pass a billion in annual recurring revenue by the end of 2026.
Despite the news, Europe continues to critically lag behind in the global AI race.
Mistral’s valuation sits far below OpenAI and Anthropic, and Europe’s wider AI sector remains a fraction of the American one, with enterprise adoption across the bloc running at around 13.5%.
Other European contenders exist but are smaller.
Germany’s Aleph Alpha focuses on government and regulated industries rather than competing at the frontier, while Helsing has grown quickly in defence applications, and Switzerland’s Apertus offers fully open models and training data.
Brussels is trying to close the gap.
The InvestAI initiative carries a €200 billion headline commitment, and in July the Commission opened tenders for up to seven AI gigafactories, aiming to unlock more than €30 billion in investment, though those sites are not expected to operate until next year or 2028.
Thirteen smaller AI factories are already being built across seven EU countries.
The AI Act became applicable in August, but its toughest obligations were pushed back by the digital omnibus agreed in May, with high-risk rules now landing in December 2027 and August 2028, a delay Brussels framed as making the policy more innovation-friendly.
WASHINGTON — A sporadic global trade war led by President Trump is fueling inflation across the U.S. economy, elevating prices on everyday goods, as the war with Iran sends the price of gas on a roller coaster.
Aggressive tax cuts have pushed the national debt past $40 trillion, driving a growing crisis in the bond market. And an unprecedented immigration crackdown is disrupting the labor supply in agriculture, construction, hospitality and food processing, raising prices even further.
Approaching the halfway point of Trump’s second term, a president who won reelection based on a promise to turn the economy around now faces a reckoning in the midterm elections centered largely on his economic record.
Trump’s economic agenda has emerged as an increasingly awkward liability for Republicans heading into the November elections, leaving lawmakers to defend policies that have delivered political pain at home, even as the White House argues they will pay off in the long run.
Polling on Trump’s handling of the economy has remained in precariously low territory throughout the summer, entering Labor Day weekend with less than a third of Americans supporting his job performance on their most pressing concerns. One recent poll, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, found that only 22% perceive the economy in a good or fair state.
Shoppers at Lincoln Heights Certified Farmers Market in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
And Americans’ confidence in the economy is unlikely to improve much ahead of election day, Nov. 3, in part because bad economic news has shown to sink confidence fast. Good news takes much longer to win people back, experts said.
“Voters’ opinion of the economy has mostly hardened,” said Aaron Klein, chair of economic studies at the Brookings Institution. “People vote the economy of the spring and summer, not November.”
Good news has been harder to come by.
Heading into the holiday weekend, Trump dismissed communities opposed to data-center construction as “backwards and poor.” A rapidly escalating trade dispute with Canada threatens Republican gains in battlegrounds along the northern border that could determine control of the Senate.
Sean Zabriskie, center, helps his son Connor, 7, try on hockey pants at The Ice Box Hockey shop in Harbor City. The trade war between the U.S. and Canada is affecting products like hockey gear, most of which is made in Canada and imported to the U.S.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
And fresh polling found that more than 90% of Americans believe corruption is rampant in Trump’s government, even as the president spends hundreds of millions of dollars on vanity projects across the capital.
Susan Collins, the incumbent Republican senator from Maine seeking another term in a strategically critical race, chastised the Trump administration for its latest trade spat with Ottawa as “making the job harder” of securing reelection.
“There’s just nothing good you can say about them,” Collins said of the tariffs.
Trump has pushed back on criticisms of his record, declaring the country has “the greatest economy we’ve ever had” and touting what he calls a manufacturing boom, all while distancing himself from potential midterm losses.
“I’m not affected by the election,” Trump told reporters last week. “I’m not running. But my party’s running, and I’m going to help my party.”
But Rep. Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican and speaker of the House, said last week that the midterms would serve as a referendum on Trump’s presidency.
Rep. Aisha Wahab (D-Hayward) and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La. ) arrive for a ceremonial swearing-in at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 2.
(Andrew Harnik / Getty Images)
“Even though his name isn’t in the midterm, his legacy is,” Johnson said. “The America First priorities and principles are. His administration is.”
Several embattled incumbents fear that’s the case and are distancing themselves from the president. Several Republican lawmakers — including Reps. Tom Barrett of Michigan and Zach Nunn of Iowa — plan on skipping a midterm GOP convention called by Trump for this week in Texas.
Joanne Hsu, director of the University of Michigan’s Survey of Consumers, said that gas prices were a chief frustration among Americans, and found that consumer sentiment soured rapidly once it became clear the conflict in Iran would not be short-lived.
“Consumers are absolutely not feeling great about the economy right now, and the factors that are underpinning their frustrations with the economy at this time are factors that are pretty tough to turn around on short notice,” Hsu said.
Even if the Iran conflict reached a resolution, confidence in the economy is likely to change only when the prices are reflected at the gas station, she said.
“When it comes to the views of the economy, it’s really about what’s happening to my wallet,” Hsu said.
During a White House press media briefing on Thursday,Vice President JD Vance acknowledged the Iran war has led gas prices to rise and that he does not know when Americans can expect those prices to go down.
Vice President JD Vance talks to reporters during a news briefing at the White House on Sept. 3.
(Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
“The reason gas prices are so high now is because the Iranians are shooting at commercial shipping,” Vance said. “Gas, frankly, could have been much, much higher were it not for our efforts. But I am not going to make a promise about when it is going to return to $3.”
The day after Vance spoke, diesel hit a record all-time high of $5.85 a gallon. In California, it sold for as much as $7.71.
Yet Trump has tried to downplay the economic pressure the war in Iran is placing on Americans, in particular as the Strait of Hormuz — a vital shipping corridor for oil and gas — remains under threat by Iranian troops.
Diesel prices over $7 a gallon are displayed at a gas station in Los Angeles on Aug. 21.
(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
“We have the Strait of Hormuz in extremely good shape,” Trump said, adding that the U.S. Navy has escorted ships through the channel. “A lot of oil is coming out. That’s why you haven’t seen the price of oil going the way they thought it might have to go.”
Trump on Monday also touted an agreement with the Venezuelan government to develop a vast amount of the South American country’s oil reserves. Asked how he sees the deal affecting American consumers, Trump said: “Ultimately prices are going to come down.”
One of the Arts of War statues, newly covered in gold leaf, is visible at Arlington Memorial Bridge near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
(Andrew Harnik / Getty Images)
“Now, will it happen before the election? I can’t tell you that. But I think people are very smart,” he said.
For some Americans, the economic pressures are a key driver ahead of the midterm elections.
Monica Escalante, a home care provider who is a member of the United Domestic Workers union, said she started feeling the pinch on her wallet after Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on a number of products she buys at the grocery store. Gas, she noticed, became harder to cover after the Iran war started.
Escalante, who lives in Bakersfield, said she also has to drive her client to the grocery store, and that mileage reimbursements are not enough to cover her costs.
“It’s really hard when I don’t have the money for gas, and she doesn’t have the money for gas. Then it is like: What do we do?” she said. “It is either she’s borrowing or I’m trying to figure out how I can get gas in my tank.”
RIYADH: Companies listed across the Gulf Cooperation Council posted a record $74.8 billion in net profits in the second quarter of 2026, up 31.3 percent year on year, driven by gains in the energy and banking sectors, according to an analysis.
In its latest report, Kamco Invest said the rise in net profit also reflected higher average crude oil prices amid the regional geopolitical situation, which more than offset a decline in crude oil exports from the region.
Compared with the previous three months, net profit of listed companies in the GCC region increased 10 percent.
The strong figures underscore the resilience of GCC corporates even as geopolitical tensions and regional disruptions continue to weigh on investor sentiment. The gains also highlight the continued importance of energy to Gulf corporate earnings, even as governments pursue economic diversification and non-oil sectors expand.
In its report, Kamco stated: “At the country level, the increase in profits mainly reflected double-digit y-o-y growth in profits for Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Oman and 4.9 percent growth in profits for companies listed on Dubai Exchange.
It added: “On the other hand, Qatari and Bahraini companies reported decline in quarterly profits by 20 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.”
Industry observer Tony Hallside, CEO of STP Partners, said the record $74.8 billion profit figure reflected strength beyond the headline number. “Higher oil prices clearly provided a major tailwind, with energy-sector profits rising more than 40 percent, but earnings growth across several other sectors shows that corporate activity remains resilient.”
He added: “For investors, that breadth is arguably more important than the record number itself.”
Aggregate revenues for GCC-listed companies rose 17 percent year on year to $381.6 billion in the second quarter and 8.1 percent quarter on quarter.
Excluding Saudi Aramco, revenue growth for the rest of the region remained in double digits at 11.4 percent.
Saudi Arabia leads growth
Saudi-listed companies accounted for the bulk of the gain in the region, with aggregate net profits rising 36.7 percent to $45.3 billion from $33.2 billion a year earlier.
Energy, banking and materials together made up 92 percent of Saudi earnings in the quarter.
Saudi Aramco’s net profit increased 42 percent year on year to $32.4 billion, supported by a 19 percent rise in total revenue as realized crude prices climbed from $66.7 a barrel in the second quarter of 2025 to $108.1 a barrel in the second quarter of this year.
Saudi Arabia’s banking sector net profits increased 8.3 percent to $6.6 billion from $6.1 billion, supported by strong lending growth and resilient operating income.
Al Rajhi Bank reported $1.9 billion net profit, up from $1.6 billion, driven by a 13.7 percent increase in net income from financing and investments and a 13.3 percent rise in total operating income.
Saudi National Bank recorded a 7.5 percent increase in net profit to $1.8 billion, mainly supported by a 1.6 percent rise in income from financing and investments.
“Saudi Arabia remains the earnings engine of the GCC market. Aramco was clearly a major contributor as higher crude prices lifted energy earnings, but the more interesting figure is that Saudi-listed company revenues still grew around 11 percent excluding Aramco,” said Hallside.
He noted that it points to “broader corporate momentum and gives investors more evidence that the opportunity set in Saudi equities is widening beyond the traditional energy story.”
Wider regional outlook
Kuwaiti companies recorded the largest percentage increase, with net profits almost doubling to $3.1 billion, partly reflecting the absence of large losses from discontinued operations that weighed on Agility in the year-earlier quarter.
Abu Dhabi profits rose 41.8 percent year on year to $14.7 billion. Dubai-listed firms grew 4.9 percent to $6.9 billion.
Qatari companies saw profits fall 20 percent to $2.9 billion, while Bahraini firms declined 0.4 percent to $572 million. Omani companies rose 24.2 percent to $1.4 billion.
In the first half of 2026, aggregate net profits for GCC-listed companies rose 23.1 percent, or $26.8 billion, to $142.81 billion. The increase was led by almost 30 percent growth in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia, followed by a 14.6 percent rise in Oman. Kuwaiti and Dubai-listed companies registered high single-digit growth, while Qatar and Bahrain recorded declines of 11.6 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.
Sectoral outlook
Sector performance was mixed but broadly positive. Energy profits jumped 41.6 percent year on year to $36.2 billion in the second quarter.
Food, beverage and tobacco more than doubled to $3.9 billion. Real estate, materials, capital goods and transportation also posted higher profits.
Banks reached a record $17.8 billion, up from $16.6 billion, with six of seven country aggregates higher. Telecom recorded modest growth. Utilities, food and staples retailing, and media and entertainment declined.
“What stands out is the divergence within the GCC. Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Oman all delivered double-digit profit growth, while Qatar and Bahrain saw declines. That tells investors this remains a market where country and sector selection matters,” said Hallside.
He noted that banks and telecoms continued to grow, albeit more moderately, while energy, real estate, materials and transportation were stronger. “The GCC cannot be treated as one homogeneous equity market; earnings drivers are becoming increasingly differentiated,” Hallside added.
PHOENIX — The staff caring for Jakob Blodgett said he already had been sneaking candy and refused to take his insulin. An employee at the Arizona group home where the 9-year-old boy was being cared for texted a supervisor about the boy’s elevated blood-glucose reading.
The response? Give him water.
After two missed doses of the long-lasting insulin he needed, he was taken to the hospital. He was diagnosed with brain swelling, put on a ventilator and died in 2022 of complications from Type 1 diabetes.
There were no penalties imposed for Blodgett’s death, and Arizona’s largest group home provider now stands at the center of a political controversy swirling as Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs seeks reelection. Records show Sunshine Residential Homes made political donations beneficial to Hobbs and months later received a rate increase from the state for providing beds for children.
The Arizona attorney general, a fellow Democrat, found no evidence of bribery. But Republican legislators are pushing back with their own questions, and the state auditor general’s office is conducting a separate investigation.
The boy’s death and the pay-to-play allegations highlight questions about Arizona’s congregate-care capacity for children, training for workers who care for them and oversight of providers and other contractors who hold leverage over the state simply due to their size and influence.
Hobbs maintains she wasn’t involved in the decision to increase rates for Sunshine Residential Homes. But Republican challenger, U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, has made the scandal a centerpiece of his campaign to unseat her.
“That was all handled by the department,” Hobbs said, “and they made the decision based on what was in the best interest of the department and the kids in their care.”
The allegations were first reported by The Arizona Republic and prompted an investigation by Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes. However, Mayes’ office said it couldn’t find evidence to support bribery charges against Hobbs and concluded that Sunshine’s rate increases were the result of its “outsized leverage” as the state’s largest group home provider, not because of politics.
The company had threatened to reduce its bed capacity if it didn’t get an increase, saying it would instead use beds to house unaccompanied immigrant children for the federal government, officials said. Child welfare officials have said a reduction in Sunshine’s beds would significantly affect the state’s ability to place children in homes and would likely lead to siblings in foster care being split up and sent to different homes.
In all, Sunshine made $550,000 in contributions, including $100,000 to Hobbs’ inaugural fund in December 2022 and $150,000 to a legal defense fund for Hobbs between November 2023 and May 2024, according to records.
A separate investigation by the state auditor general’s office and Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, a Republican, is continuing.
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office also has interviewed several Sunshine employees as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into Blodgett’s death. No one has been charged.
Blodgett isn’t the only diabetic child to die after a stay at an Arizona group home. In July 2024, a 15-year-old boy staying at a group home in Mesa operated by another company died of diabetic ketoacidosis after staff said the boy refused to take insulin, according to records.
Blodgett was staying at a foster home in metro Phoenix where only the house manager was trained in managing his diabetes.
Staff members said the boy was refusing to take his medicine. The manager advised an employee via text to tell the boy that the manager would be called if he refused to take his medicine.
“We don’t want him to go into a diabetic coma,” the manager texted.
The employee texted back about whether the child should get insulin. The manager didn’t respond.
The next day, the employee texted the boy’s blood glucose reading to the manager and asked what to do. The manager said to give Blodgett water but didn’t give any instructions about insulin, according to lawyers for the state and Blodgett’s family. The day after missing his second dose, Blodgett was taken to a hospital.
Two weeks before approving a 30% rate increase in May 2023, the Arizona Department of Child Safety issued a licensing violation against Sunshine over Blodgett’s case. The agency declined to specify to The Associated Press which policy was violated.
Robert Pastor, an attorney representing the family in a wrongful death lawsuit, said the violation was for not giving Blodgett the insulin as prescribed. The lawyer said Sunshine’s staff missed the signs of ketoacidosis, a serious complication caused by a lack of insulin, and waited too long to take Blodgett to the hospital. He also disputed claims that the boy had refused medication.
The state didn’t fine Sunshine or suspend or revoke its license as a result of the violation, according to court records. The agency said it detailed the steps Sunshine had to take to come into compliance, but declined to reveal to the AP what those steps were.
Pastor agreed with the attorney general’s conclusion that Sunshine has a lot of leverage over the state due to reliance on the company’s beds.
“That leverage gave Sunshine an increased rate increase,” Pastor said. “We also know that that leverage that Sunshine has over DCS means that when they kill a child, there will be no consequences. There will be no accountability.”
In a statement, Sunshine spokesperson Tommy McKone said the wrongful death lawsuit remains active, but declined to comment on the licensing violation and the company’s policy on responding to children who refuse medications.
“Sunshine Residential followed all policies and procedures for the required care, throughout his stay at our homes, under state law,” McKone said.
In court records, lawyers for Sunshine said the state indicated Blodgett’s medical needs were minimal and didn’t inform the group home provider that Blodgett’s diabetes management was complex.
Blodgett went into foster care in December 2022 after his father was jailed on a drug charge. His blood glucose levels were high when he was brought to a welcome center operated by the Department of Child Safety, which sought medical help for Blodgett from a children’s hospital where he was treated over several days.
Once discharged, Blodgett went to a Sunshine home.
While he went two days without getting the long-lasting insulin he needed before going to bed, the staff did give him another type of insulin — fast-acting insulin after eating meals — over both days. After the boy missed a long-lasting dose, the house manager contacted the same hospital to talk about how to improve his blood glucose levels.
In a deposition, the house manager testified there was nothing the staff could do if the child refused his medication. Pastor said the claim that the boy refused insulin is a false narrative aimed at blaming the child.
Myriam Villarreal, an official in the Department of Child Safety’s operation that licenses group homes, testified in an April 2025 deposition that Blodgett’s condition wasn’t caught in time because group home workers weren’t trained in spotting the signs of ketoacidosis.
Pressed on why the company didn’t face any penalties, Villarreal testified that the state asked for policy modifications from the company. And she said training should have been provided to the staff members who directly cared for the boy, not just the house manager.
“We didn’t look that every single staff (member) had the appropriate training,” Villarreal testified.
Billeaud writes for the Associated Press.
In the mountain resort of Abetone Cutigliano, nestled in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, supporters of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni are celebrating.
On Friday, the Italian leader and her party set a record – leading the country’s longest-lasting government since World War II.
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Famed for political instability, Italy has seen 68 governments in eight decades. While the late Silvio Berlusconi keeps the title of longest-serving premier, having held the premiership for a longer period over four terms, the government led by the far-right Brothers of Italy has now overtaken his record of 1,412 consecutive days in power.
Abetone Cutigliano, the prime destination for skiing enthusiasts, was one of the municipalities that made the accomplishment possible, overwhelmingly voting for Meloni’s party in the national elections of October 2022. Andrea Tonarelli, a councillor with Brothers of Italy’s local branch, said a seafront celebratory event is being held to mark the occasion.
“Those of us who can’t go will gather at the party’s local office to watch the rally,” the 35-year-old told Al Jazeera.
For Tonarelli, an engineer for the municipality, the milestone is a “point of pride”.
“Ten years ago, this result would have been unthinkable,” he said. “I feel emotional saying this, but the merit goes to those people who were able to get hold of the youth like me.”
A self-professed mountain dweller who joined Brothers of Italy in 2017, Tonarelli said he was enticed by the party’s opposition to the left’s “armchair environmentalism” that restricts hunting, thwarts big infrastructure projects and opposes selective woods logging.
He also embraced the party’s “patriotic” resolve to put “Italians first”, including through border protection and the promotion of local products and traditional heritage.
“Our main characteristic is believing in what we do and giving it our 100 percent,” he said. “This is not a milestone reached by Giorgia Meloni, by the party, or by a single militant. This is a milestone by an entire community that makes history in this nation.”
Grazia Di Maggio, the youngest member of the Chamber of Deputies for Brothers of Italy, hailed the government’s record-breaking longevity as “profoundly symbolic”.
“Giorgia Meloni is the first woman to hold the office of prime minister and she comes from a right-wing background, which means no shortcuts and no favouritism,” the 31-year-old told Al Jazeera, hinting at Italy’s rebuke of Benito Mussolini’s totalitarian dictatorship and subsequent weariness of far-right ideologies.
Meloni has sought to distance herself from fascism, declaring in 2022 that the Italian right had handed the ideology “over to history”.
For Di Maggio, who left the southern region of Basilicata at the age of 18 and started her political career leafleting while pursuing a degree in communications in Milan, Meloni’s accomplishment sets an example.
“It’s a story that shows that passion, sacrifice and personal value can make a difference,” she said. “It demonstrates that a right-wing government can be credible, stable and uphold its responsibilities.”
Analysts have questioned Brothers of Italy’s claim to a newfound political stability.
“Political stability is not measured by the government’s longevity,” Paolo Carusi, a lecturer in contemporary history at Roma Tre University, told Al Jazeera.
In previous decades, “governments would fall but political ideologies would remain stalwart,” Carusi said. “The current political scene is characterised by voter volatility … Italians don’t feel like voting any more – and if they do, they tend to reward parties that run for the first time.”
Carusi argued that two main factors enabled Meloni’s government to survive longer than others. First, Italy’s latest electoral law, dating back to 2018 and applied to the 2022 election that brought Meloni to power, worked to her advantage by allowing the right-wing coalition to obtain an absolute majority.
Second, Brothers of Italy gave up on much of its electoral programme to maintain stability, unlike previous governments that had alienated coalition partners by pursuing their own agendas.
As a result, Meloni is now grappling with the rapid ascent of a new far-right party led by former army general Roberto Vannacci, which has become the country’s fourth most popular political force only seven months after its launch.
In the upcoming 2027 general election, Vannacci’s National Future will be able to “claim to be the only true upholder of right-wing values,” Carusi said.
Political scientist Piero Ignazi, who lectures at the University of Bologna, said the government’s longevity signalled a period of stasis.
“Stability can be useful to create change, or it can be a way to remain static or even shift into reverse,” the analyst said, arguing that the latter describes the trajectory of Meloni’s government.
Italy’s economy remains fragile, with forecasts projecting its growth at a lacklustre 0.6 percent in 2026. Next year, it is expected to rank last in growth and first in public debt within the European Union.
Alongside Italy’s economy, social policies are also a cause for concern, Ignazi said.
The government has reformed the law to criminalise actions that previously resulted only in fines or civil penalties.
“The government introduced 52 new felonies and all of them have to do with the expression of public dissent and the right to protest,” he said. “This marks a dangerous setback which I believe is the harbinger of more to come if another right-wing government is elected.”
This summer, 35% of deals involving a transfer fee have been from one Premier League club to another, which is an increase from last year, when the figure was 30%.
That then increases to 44% in instances where Premier League clubs have bought players from lower down the English football pyramid.
On top of that, the Premier League net spend remains over £1bn for this window – by far the most in Europe – despite many of the biggest sales this summer coming from the English league too. Bundesliga and Ligue 1 clubs have received more in transfer fees than they have spent.
Aside from French-based duo Barcola and Bouaddi, the majority of major signings made by Premier League clubs this month have been from rival clubs in the same division.
They include England team-mates Rogers and Anderson, while Newcastle sold Tonali to Spurs and Guimaraes to Arsenal.
Manchester United snapped up Baleba from Brighton after a 12-month chase to aid their midfield revamp, while Tottenham‘s recruitment of Fernandes and Savio is in the same category.
But why are English clubs buying each other’s players more than ever this summer instead of shopping abroad for the biggest deals?
One reason could be the temptation for players who are proven in the Premier League.
Many of last season’s big-money signings – with a good chunk of them coming from the Bundesliga – failed to meet expectations or justify their transfer fee.
There have also been deals this summer involving the same clubs, possibly with accounting in mind, with Chelsea and Villa selling players to each other.
And there is also a feeling that teams abroad increase the transfer fees they are asking for when English teams – with all their TV riches – show interest in their players.
Argentina international Enzo Fernandez signs for Manchester City in a deal from Chelsea worth 125 million pounds ($169m).
Published On 1 Sep 20261 Sep 2026
Manchester City equalled the British transfer fee record for a player when they signed midfielder Enzo Fernandez from Chelsea on deadline day for deals in Europe.
The 25-year-old Argentina international, who was part of his country’s team that reached the 2026 World Cup final, had long been linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge.
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The deal, however, was stretched to the final few minutes of the summer transfer window, which shut at 22:00 GMT on Tuesday.
City confirmed the deal with a video on the social media platform X, with the fee matching the 125 million pounds ($169m) that Liverpool paid Newcastle for Alexander Isak last summer.
The deal seemed to have been agreed upon between the clubs hours before the window shut, allowing for the player to complete a medical, but doubts about the deal started to emerge with the clock ticking on the deadline.
Fernandez himself had taken to his Instagram page ahead of the deadline on Tuesday to bid farewell to Chelsea fans.
“I want you to know that these have not been easy days for me. Writing this is not easy either. The truth is, I haven’t been in a good place,” Fernandez wrote in a message directed to fans of the London club.
“Three years ago, Cobham [the club’s training ground] and Stamford Bridge became home for me and my family.
“Believe me when I say that, from the moment I arrived, I became obsessed with winning and with bringing this club every trophy that its history deserves.
“We suffered, we cried, I got angry many times, but we also celebrated titles and unforgettable victories. Together, through the good times and the difficult ones.”
Fernandez was part of the Chelsea side that won the UEFA Conference League in 2025 before going on to claim the expanded FIFA Club World Cup that year.
City boss Enzo Maresca worked with Fernandez at Chelsea before taking on the daunting task of succeeding Pep Guardiola at the Etihad.
The Italian was a driving force behind the deal to land Fernandez after the recent sale of influential World Cup winner Rodri to Barcelona, as well as the departures of fellow midfielders Bernardo Silva, Nico Gonzalez and Tijjani Reijnders.
The 25-year-old will partner with England international Elliot Anderson and Moroccan Ayyoub Bouaddi in City’s revamped central midfield at a cost of more than 300 million pounds ($405.4m).
“Every player wants to be part of a club like this, because everyone knows how well-run City are,” said Fernandez in his statement released by City upon completion of the deal.
“This is a club built for success. If you look across the squad, City have quality in every area. I want to learn from my new teammates and become a better player.”
Fernandez, who signed for Chelsea from Benfica for 106 million pounds ($143.2m) in 2023, angered the Blues last season by expressing interest in joining Real Madrid, and was dropped for two matches as a result.
He scored twice in Argentina’s run to the World Cup final, including a stunning strike against England in the semifinal.
But his tournament ended with a red card in the final as Argentina were beaten 1-0 to miss out on retaining their status as world champions.
“He is a complete midfielder: technically gifted, hardworking, tenacious, and a goalscorer,” said City’s director of football Hugo Viana.
“To have played in two World Cup finals and won major trophies in multiple countries at just 25 says everything you need to know about his mentality, professionalism and technical quality.
“We are delighted to bring him here, and feel very strongly he will improve our team.”
Angel Reese has broken another WNBA record with her 29th double-double of the season.
The Atlanta Dream forward had 15 points and 11 rebounds in the team’s 89-81 victory against the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday, surpassing the previous mark for most double-doubles in a single season set by Alyssa Thomas in 2023. (Thomas had set that record while playing for the Connecticut Sun during a 40-game regular season.)
The three-time All Star has already broken multiple rebounding records this season. During the Dream’s 78-71 victory over the Sparks on Aug. 24, Reese grabbed 26 boards, setting a new record for total rebounds in a single game. Chamique Holdsclaw previously held the record with 24 rebounds, which she had set on May 23, 2003, while playing for the Washington Mystics.
Reese also set the records for most rebounds in a single season during that match-up. She now has 485 rebounds on the season, with four regular-season games remaining. Reigning WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson held the previous record of 451 total rebounds, which she had set during the 38-game regular season in 2024. Reese surpassed Wilson’s mark in 37 games.
“I’m just in awe watching her rebound,” teammate Allisha Gray said after Reese’s record-setting performance in L.A. “That’s a talent.”
The third-year player — also known to fans as ATL Barbie — heads into the FIBA World Cup break averaging 16.1 points and 12.4 rebounds this season. Reese has led the league in rebounds in each of her first two seasons and is on track to do so again.
Reese and Dream teammate Rhyne Howard will be among the players representing the U.S. at the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Berlin, Germany. The tournament kicks off Sept. 4 and is scheduled to conclude Sept. 13.
On Monday, USA Basketball announced that Wilson and Kelsey Plum, who had previously been announced as members of the team, will miss the World Cup for heath reasons. The pair will be replaced by All Star Washington Mystics duo Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen.
The announcement did not include further details about why Wilson and Plum will be missing the World Cup, but Plum has been dealing with a lower leg injury for most of the WNBA season.
“I did everything I could to be back on the court, but just ran out of time,” the Phoenix Mercury guard said in a statement posted to her Instagram story on Monday. “After careful consideration and conversations with my family, team doctors, coaching staff, and front office, the decision has been made to shut it down through [the] remainder of the season and focus on getting my body back to 100% … This is not an easy decision as I love to compete, but I know it’s the right one for the long term.”
Plum was a key piece to Team USA’s victory over France in the gold medal game at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
Four-time MVP Wilson, meanwhile, has been having another MVP-calibur season with the Las Vegas Aces. She was recently listed as questionable due to a back injury ahead of a game against the Toronto Tempo, but started both games against the expansion team last week. Wilson was named most outstanding player of the 2024 Paris Games and the 2022 World Cup.
The WNBA will resume play on Sept. 17.
ATLANTA — Tiger Woods was going for his seventh straight PGA Tour victory when he tied for second at Torrey Pines. He earned $264,000 that day to move to No. 1 in career tour earnings.
That was Feb. 13, 2000, and Woods stayed there ever since — until Sunday.
Scottie Scheffler won the Tour Championship to capture his second FedEx Cup title and the $10 million prize — now considered official money — to raise his career total to $130,390,661.
Woods had been at $120,999,166 since he made his last cut on the PGA Tour at the 2024 Masters.
This is an entirely different era of golf, and Scheffler finally topping Woods in career earnings was inevitable. That it happened so quickly is a testament to Scheffler’s dominance. He has been No. 1 in the world since May 2023.
The popularity and momentum Woods brought to the sport 30 years ago generated enormous spikes in prize money. And then with the arrival of Saudi-funded LIV Golf in 2022, the PGA Tour responded with even greater increases to keep more players from defecting.
There were 15 prize funds of $20 million or more this season on the PGA Tour schedule. Woods never played for a $10 million purse during his peak years from 1997 through 2009.
Woods won the FedEx Cup twice when it was worth $10 million, all in bonus money. Scheffler earned $23 million in bonus money last week by leading the FedEx Cup in points. The FedEx Cup finale has counted as official the last two years.
Most telling about the rapid increase in money was the 2024 Masters. Woods, at age 48 and trying to recover from multiple back surgeries and a 2023 car crash that shattered his right leg and ankle, finished in last place and made $44,000.
Scheffler won the Masters that year and moved to No. 12 on the career earnings list at $57,658,464. He has earned just over $72.7 million in his last 50 tournaments over two years and four months.
It was a matter of time, and it really doesn’t matter to Scheffler.
“The reason our purses are so large today is because of the influence and impact that Tiger had on the game,” Scheffler said before the Tour Championship started. “I wouldn’t really consider that a Tiger record being broken. I think it just shows one of the many effects he had on the game of golf in a positive way.”
Scheffler indicated last week in St. Louis the Tiger number he cares about his victories. Scheffler won for the 22nd time Sunday at East Lake. Woods shares the PGA Tour record at 82 victories.
Ferguson writes for the Associated Press.
Swedish club Djurgardens have agreed a National League record fee thought to be in excess of £1.5m to sign winger Abdul Abdulmalik from Boreham Wood.
The 23-year-old’s move breaks the record fee paid for a fifth-tier player in England, set in 2012 when Leicester City paid Fleetwood Town £1m for Jamie Vardy.
Abdulmalik is currently in Sweden completing a medical after the deal was agreed on Sunday morning.
The forward enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2025-26, scoring 17 goals and providing 10 assists as Boreham Wood reached the National League play-off final, where he scored and set up a goal at Wembley.
The agreement also brings to an end a long-running transfer saga, with the Hertfordshire club having rejected bids of £1m and £1.5m for the former Millwall academy player earlier this summer.
Abdulmalik said: “I’m ready for the next challenge. I’m ready to prove to myself and those around me that I’m capable of reaching the top.”
He scored in his final appearance for Boreham Wood in mid-August but subsequently made himself unavailable for selection in an attempt to secure a move.
Clubs in England, including Peterborough United, had also expressed an interest.
Abdulmalik was previously an England Under-17s international but was released by Millwall in 2024 and had an unsuccessful trial at Portsmouth.
Stockholm-based Djurgardens are currently fifth in the Allsvenskan – which runs from April to November – but have two games in hand on the majority of their rivals and remain in contention to qualify for Europe.
OUR Spotlight On column shines a light on the best things to see and do in popular holiday destinations, as well as some lesser known spots.
As Brazil sees a record breaking number of British tourists flocking to the country in 2026, this week we’ve set our sights on Rio de Janeiro.
The Sun’s Deputy Travel Editor Kara Godfrey recently visited the iconic city.
She explained: “I’ve never been to a place that looked exactly like it did in the movies – enter Rio.
“From the 5am pink sunrise of Copacabana Beach, to the men selling teeny tiny bikinis all tied to a huge stick, the city welcomed me with vibrant colours and beautiful chaos.
“Make sure to do some shopping – Havaianas are a steal here compared to the UK, with too many shops to choose from – or just rent an umbrella and lounger for the day for less than £20.
“Thanks to the many beach vendors, they’ll all come straight to you, serving cocktails, snacks, meals and even accessories.”
Here are some of our other top tips for a trip to the Brazilian capital.
Hop in a taxi and head over to the district of Santa Theresa, nicknamed Little Lisbon.
The resemblance comes from the very quaint yellow tram that runs the length of it to the fantastic independent shops and cafes.
Street art brings colour to the roads, alongside sellers hawking Brazilian football shirts and rogue monkeys swinging through the trees.
Make sure to order delicious acai bowls and ‘pão de queijo’ a cheesy bread, at Cultivar for a true Brazilian breakfast.
One of the famous Brazilian clothing brands is Farm Rio – but one has a hidden rooftop that no-one knows about.
Casa FARM rooftop is set across four floors but go to the top and you will get an amazing view of the beautiful Green Lagoon and Christ the Redeemer without the crowds.
You can’t visit Rio without going to see the famous Wonder of the World, Christ the Redeemer.
Make sure to check the weather before going up – any fog up there and you’ll only see half the man – but the massive statue surrounded by the city of Rio will leave you in awe of its grandeur.
Then head over to Sugarloaf mountain for just as fantastic views, after hopping in two cable cars to take you up the 1,299ft.
Rio express tour with Christ Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain, from £70. See tuimusement.com.
Make the most of the beautiful Rio beaches and eat at Tropik Beach Club, which is on Copacabana Beach with hearty bowls of shrimp rice and fresh ceviche, chased by a local caipirinha cocktail and live music as the sun goes down.
If you get snacky on your walk home, try and catch one of the nearby street vendors for a bag of Biscoito Globo a strangely-morish cassava beach snack.
For a good night out, join the locals in the neighbourhood of Botafogo.
One of the most popular bars is Casa Tão Longe, Tão Perto which serves local Brazilian wines from small distilleries.
You have to be quick here. The tiny rattan seats line the pavement and are in short supply, but it is worth it for the friendly English-speaking staff.
For something a bit finer, head around to Belisco Bar de Vinhos, which serves up fantastic Chilean and Argentinian wine as well.
The Fairmont Rio de Janeiro Copacabana couldn’t be better placed, straddling both Copacabana and Ipanema beach.
The rooftop infinity pool has a great snack menu as well as live DJs and beautiful views from the many sunloungers.
The rooms are simple but classy and spacious, many of which have seaview balconies.
Make sure to spend time at breakfast – the buffet is extensive – and book in for a glorious massage at the on-site spa.
Double rooms at Fairmont Rio de Janeiro Copacabana cost from £277 based on two sharing on room-only basis. See fairmont.com.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche’s fidelity to President Trump nearly cost him his confirmation. Now comes Blanche’s real test.
Trump’s former personal attorney has stepped into the commanding role facing a challenge that other leaders of the Republican president’s Department of Justice could not overcome: threading the needle between Trump’s boundary-busting demands and a prosecutor’s duty to uphold the rule of law. At the same time, Blanche must try to stabilize a workforce shaken by an exodus of experienced lawyers and an erosion of trust in the judicial branch.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Associated Press during a trip to Puerto Rico this week, Blanche promised to lead the department with integrity, dismissing concerns from critics who say his actions so far — including an indictment against longtime Trump foe and former FBI Director James Comey — call into question whether Blanche is still functioning as Trump’s personal lawyer.
A slew of ongoing politically charged investigations under Blanche’s watch could force him to choose between his long-standing loyalty to the president and the foundational principles of the Cabinet agency he leads. At stake is the fate of a department already reeling under a president who has made clear his desire for retribution over the criminal scrutiny he faced.
“My integrity, my commitment to the rule of law is the same today that it was the day I graduated,” Blanche told the AP when asked where he would draw the line on requests from the White House. “I would never do anything unethical or improper or violate my oath, no matter the circumstances.”
Critics disagree.
As acting attorney general, Blanche came under fire from lawmakers, including many Republicans, for signing off on a $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate Trump’s allies who believed they were politically prosecuted. He also greenlit a deal that granted Trump, the Trump Organization, and two of his sons immunity from tax audits. Those moves, unusual steps aimed at granting the president and his allies far-reaching benefits, put Blanche’s confirmation at risk, prompting key senators to express concern.
In the AP interview, Blanche addressed criticism of the department under his leadership, his priorities as attorney general and losses the administration has had in high-profile cases. He also depicted the Justice Department as an institution whose independence had eroded long ago — a characterization at odds with decades of fierce autonomy that challenged the highest echelons of power in Washington and beyond.
Blanche, a former federal prosecutor in New York, is walking the same tightrope as Trump’s three other Senate-confirmed attorneys general. They found their pledges to uphold the rule of law and the department’s ethical norms at odds with the president’s demands to bend the institution to his will.
During Trump’s first term, one attorney general infuriated Trump over his withdrawal from an investigation into Trump’s winning White House campaign and was forced out. Another submitted his resignation weeks after breaking with Trump over Trump’s false claims of election fraud. Blanche’s immediate predecessor, Pam Bondi, was ousted in April after failing to deliver successful prosecutions against the president’s political enemies.
Blanche’s narrow confirmation this month over opposition from two Republican senators underscored growing concerns about the dismantling of the Justice Department’s long-standing tradition of independence from the White House, which is meant to protect the impartiality of politically sensitive investigations and prosecutions.
Blanche bristles at the suggestion that the Justice Department should be independent of the president and he has made clear his view that the executive has both the power and the right to shape and control the law enforcement agency.
He has staunchly defended the integrity of cases the administration has brought against the president’s perceived political opponents, often pointing to his own experience representing Trump in criminal cases brought by Democratic President Joe Biden’s Justice Department. Blanche and the president have characterized those cases as politically motivated.
“I think attorneys general and others have said, ‘Oh, we’re independent.’ I don’t think that’s actually true,” Blanche told the AP.
Blanche claimed the Justice Department was not truly independent when he was a federal prosecutor or during the Biden administration. But that characterization ignores the fact that under Biden, the Justice Department investigated Biden himself over his handling of classified documents and secured felony charges in two separate cases against his son Hunter before Biden pardoned him.
The two criminal cases filed by special counsel Jack Smith against Trump were based on allegations, supported by long-running investigations, that Trump had classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and obstructed government efforts to get them back, and conspired to overturn the 2020 election.
Blanche has sought to highlight the administration’s focus on tackling illegal immigration, violent crime and drug-trafficking cartels, spotlighting cases such as the takedown of a Puerto Rican gang that he announced during his visit to the U.S. island territory.
But Blanche’s policy priorities are often overshadowed by a growing number of investigations that have drawn criticism that the department is being used as a weapon in the president’s campaign of retribution.
Blanche’s supporters have argued that the close relationship he developed with Trump while serving as his criminal defense lawyer can make him more effective at pushing back on or explaining the legal constraints of the president’s demands. Others wonder whether he will fare any better than Bondi up against the same skeptical court system, and factual and legal hurdles, that impeded efforts to deliver the sought-after results.
Blanche is also confronting growing distrust of the Justice Department among judges, who in multiple cases have accused government lawyers of withholding information or misleading courts. Courts in some cases have quashed subpoenas or ordered the review of grand jury transcripts, and the criminal cases against Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James were dismissed after a judge found the prosecutor who brought them was illegally appointed.
But Blanche played down concerns that the erosion of judicial trust could impede his efforts to advance his agenda.
“The isolated incidents that make the news are not reflective of the way the bench feels in my view, or the way prosecutors are doing their job around the country,” Blanche said.
Richer writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.
Drought and extreme heat are drying up rivers and farmland across Europe, with record-low water levels disrupting agriculture, shipping and even nuclear power plants that rely on rivers for cooling.
Published On 28 Aug 202628 Aug 2026
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Ashley Sanchez scored twice to break the single-season goals record for the North Carolina Courage in a 2-0 victory over Angel City on Wednesday night.
The former All-American at UCLA leads the National Women’s Soccer League in scoring this season with 15 goals.
Sanchez scored her 14th goal in the 41st minute, tying Lynn Biyendolo’s record for the North Carolina set in 2019. Evelyn Ijeh’s backheel flick found a charging Sanchez, who blasted it into the far corner.
Sanchez added her record-breaker in the 78th, running down a long ball sent forward by Courage goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan and out-running three Angel City defenders before burying her shot. Sheridan, who got the assist, ran up the field after the goal to celebrate with Sanchez.
Sanchez also had a pair of goals in the Courage’s 2-1 victory over the Boston Legacy on Saturday. North Carolina has won (11-3-7) has won five of its last six games.
The loss ended a four-game streak of draws for Angel City (7-6-7). Angel City played to a scoreless tie at home with Gotham on Sunday.
North Carolina’s Maycee Bell made her 50th NWSL regular-season appearance but she was injured early in the second half and had to be stretchered off with an apparent arm injury.
NFL owners have approved the $9.612bn record sale of the reigning Super Bowl champions Seattle Seahawks to a group led by billionaire Vinod Khosla.
The deal, which required the support of at least 24 of 32 owners, is currently the second highest amount paid for a franchise in North American sports history.
The estate of Paul G. Allen, which inherited the NFL team after the death of the Microsoft co-founder in 2018, agreed to terms with the Khosla family on 11 July after a search for a new owner.
And now approved, the sale surpasses the $6.05bn the Washington Commanders fetched when they were sold in 2023, although the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were subsequently sold for $10bn in 2025 and are currently in the process of changing ownership again for a reported $12.5bn.
“We are honoured to be entrusted as the next stewards of the Seattle Seahawks. How often do you get to buy a franchise that just won the Super Bowl?” said Khosla.
“We are incredibly lucky and humbled by this gift, I would say, from the Allen trust.”
“We look forward to building on the winning legacy Paul Allen created and to earning the trust of the Seahawks organisation and fans everywhere.”
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Khosla, who will have to relinquish a minority stake in the San Francisco 49ers as part of his agreement to buy the Seahawks, added: “The task ahead is actually pretty simple – keep the winning streak alive, get another Super Bowl.
“Our approach is generally going to be long-term focused, that’s our inclination always. So, keep winning, take a long-term approach, and learn a lot. We don’t know enough, and the other owners have been incredibly welcoming and willing to teach us, so we’ll learn a lot.
“We’ll learn from management and see what they are recommending.”
Khosla, 71, was the co-founder of US technology company Sun Microsystems and the founder of the venture capital firm Khosla Ventures and has a net worth of $13.2bn, according to Forbes. , external
Former owner Allen saved the Seahawks from relocating to Southern California when he bought the team from Ken Behring in 1997.
His sister, Jody Allen, took control of the Seahawks and the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers as chair of both teams upon her brother’s death with a directive to eventually sell both and donate the proceeds to charity.
In the 29 seasons in which Paul or Jody Allen were in charge, the Seahawks made the play-offs 17 times and won two of the four Super Bowls they contested.
European 800m champion Audrey Werro has backed herself to overhaul one of athletics’ oldest and most controversial world records.
Jarmila Kratochvilova, representing the then Czechoslovakia, clocked one minute 53.28 seconds in 1983 and the mark has remained untouched in the 43 years since.
While a systematic doping programme of athletes was in place in the country during her career, Kratochvilova never failed a doping test and has denied cheating., external
Werro, still only 22, ran 1:53.80 in Paris in June, moving up to third in the event’s all-time list and to within half a second of Kratochvilova’s time.
“Things have happened really fast,” said Werro, on the eve of Thursday evening’s Diamond League meeting in Zurich.
“I was not prepared for a world record this year. I just want to focus on running fast and winning some races and I think with this mentality the world record will fall one day. But I don’t know when.”
Werro, a multiple title-winner at youth level, has improved her personal best in each of her last eight seasons and is now consistently within range of the world record.
This year the Swiss has registered three of the 10 fastest times in history.
Manchester City‘s position has shifted following Wednesday’s signing of Ayyoub Bouaddi. They have generated 278.5m euros from sales so far, with the departures of players including Savio, Tijjani Reijnders, Rodri, James Trafford, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake.
Bouaddi’s arrival takes City’s spending to 273.7m euros, leaving them with a positive transfer balance of 4.8m euros.
Further departures could quickly change the picture again. Tottenham have agreed a loan deal to sign Omar Marmoush, with an obligation to make the move permanent for £60m (58m euros) next summer. That fee would therefore count towards City’s 2027-28 transfer income rather than this season’s figures.
Nico Gonzalez is also expected to leave, while Jack Grealish could yet be another departure before the deadline. Grealish spent last season on loan at Everton, who remain interested, although the winger has viewed Enzo Maresca replacing Pep Guardiola as manager as a fresh start at City. His contract runs until June 2027.
A permanent sale of Gonzalez, and possibly Grealish, could still significantly increase City’s 2026-27 income.
Their ability to sell at such a level is particularly significant given the scale of their midfield rebuild. City have already signed Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest for 135m euros. They also remain interested in Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez.
Aug. 25 (UPI) — In its 100th Falcon 9 launch of the year, SpaceX marked a record-setting 37 missions for the rocket’s first-stage booster, a reuse milestone.
The rocket launched early Tuesday from Cape Canaveral in Florida, carrying 29 Starlink internet satellites. There are already more than 11,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, making it the largest satellite constellation so far.
Falcon 9 rockets include extensive reuse of boosters, with nine of the company’s boosters making at least 30 flights. The one used Tuesday, B1067, entered service in June 2021. About 8.5 minutes after liftoff, the booster landed on a droneship in the Atlantic Ocean as the upper stage continued on to low Earth orbit.
Falcon 9 rockets flew 165 missions — all of them successful — in 2025. The reuse of the boosters makes the rockets cheaper and more efficient to use. While competitors have been working toward the same concept, SpaceX is so far the only one to manage it.
The next step for the company is the “megarocket” Starship, which is designed to be completely reusable multiple times a day. Only the Falcon 9 boosters are reusable.
Tuesday’s launch is expected to be the final one for Falcon 9 rockets in Florida. Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX vice president of launch operations, confirmed this in a social media post Tuesday.
“From here on, Starlink missions out of Florida will fly on Starship,” Dontchev wrote. “The West Coast team will continue regularly launching Starlink from Vandenberg.” This refers to Vandenberg Base in California.
SpaceX has not yet tested Starship in orbit. The next launch is expected in mid-September from Texas. If that one goes well, the next Starship launch will be from Florida.
“Once Starship is flying reliably several times a week, it makes sense to shift … production resources to Starship to get launch rate to several times per day,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a social media post Saturday.
Falcon 9 rockets launched for the first time in 2010. There have been nearly 700 launches since.
When LeBron James signed up to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to NBA glory with a $154 million contract in 2018, it wasn’t the biggest deal he did that year.
Just months before he joined, a limited liability company he controls borrowed almost $300 million from a pair of Midwestern life insurers advised by an arm of Guggenheim Partners, according to insurance industry records reviewed by Bloomberg.
The previously unreported bonds, which are due in 2049, were structured to provide immediate cash to James and backed by a stream of future revenue tied to his earnings outside basketball such as a lifetime Nike Inc. sponsorship, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The burst of lending began before Guggenheim leader Mark Walter started acquiring the storied basketball team. In an abrupt turn this month, the billionaire mogul agreed to sell the Lakers amid a federal probe into parts of his business empire. There’s no indication that the loans to James have anything to do with those inquiries.
Athletes and artists are increasingly using future earnings like royalties and licensing deals to structure deals that help them unlock immediate capital. David Bowie was famously the first recording artist to go to Wall Street to tap the future earnings of his music, paving the way for a thriving market for esoteric securities.
But James’ deal offers another look at how Walter and fellow Wall Street money managers have tectonically shifted the once-boring business of life insurance, steering policyholder premiums into more unusual investments. Guggenheim has moved insurers’ money deeper into private credit, sports franchises and — with James — financing for a star player. That’s far outside the industry’s traditional focus on plain-vanilla assets to reliably pay out future claims.
The two insurers — North American Company for Life and Health Insurance and Midland National Life Insurance Co. — are both owned by Sammons Financial Group. During a call with investors this week, Sammons said Guggenheim was the sole manager in charge of picking assets for the firm’s portfolios until 2021, according to people who heard the remarks and, like others in this story, asked not to be identified describing confidential dealings.
Sammons has been distancing itself from Guggenheim recently. Walter’s firm had long counted Sammons’ parent company among its biggest investors. During the call, though, Sammons’ representatives said it has been selling down that stake, the people said.
The “transactions were a securitization done by Mr. James with his personal, non-NBA salary, assets and income which is a very common financial structure for an individual with this level of earnings and assets,” a spokesperson for James said.
Spokespeople for Sammons and Guggenheim declined to comment.
The scrutiny of Walter’s empire by the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission has turned up the spotlight on the intermingling of asset managers and insurers.
Wall Street power players have used insurance balance sheets to pursue their quest for higher returns, steering the savings of everyday Americans into more opaque and complex investments. The approach lets asset managers originate and structure deals, and then find uncomplaining buyers by parking such investments on the balance sheets of insurers they influence.
James’ borrowing from the two Midwestern insurers — structured as sales of asset-backed bonds — began when he was at the Cleveland Cavaliers and his career was poised for new heights.
The two companies bought almost $300 million bonds issued by an LLC he controlled called King James Funding, the records show. Within a few years, the LLC paid down some of that debt, then sold more bonds to the insurers, leaving them with about $245 million on their books by the end of last year, the records show.
The initial bonds from 2018 had a 4.8% interest rate and aren’t due until late 2049, the industry filings show. Terms are otherwise scant in the records reviewed by Bloomberg.
A few months after the deal, James started looking for another team as a free agent, ultimately picking the Lakers. In an oft-retold moment, he received a visit at home from Walter’s longtime business partner Magic Johnson, then a top executive for the Lakers. James ultimately signed a four-year contract.
Then in mid-August 2022, James signed a $97 million contract extension with the Lakers. Around that same time, the same Midwestern insurers provided his LLC with more cash, buying almost $60 million of 34-year bonds with a 5.75% interest rate, the insurers’ records show.
“Both transactions were independently credit rated by a third party and the 2022 transaction was fully approved by NBA,” James’ spokesperson said, noting the athlete had no affiliation with Guggenheim, Sammons, North American Co. or Midland National beyond their participation in the transactions.
Guggenheim also got involved in some of James’ other personal ventures. As the Covid pandemic took hold in 2020, he and his childhood friend and business partner, Maverick Carter, announced that they had raised $100 million for their media venture called SpringHill Co. Guggenheim was listed among investors in that company.
Leaving the Lakers
For more than a decade, Walter has mixed money from insurers with investments in sports. His 2012 acquisition of the Los Angeles Dodgers with business partners including Johnson relied heavily on the insurance industry.
Afterward, the new team’s owners ramped up spending on players to turn the franchise into a jewel of professional baseball, appearing in five of the past nine World Series. But that playbook isn’t as feasible in the NBA, which has stricter caps on team salaries.
Walter’s acquisition of the Lakers began in 2021 when he purchased a minority stake, granting him rights that paved the way for him to take a majority stake last year.
The sale of the team came as Walter has been reshaping his empire to unwind more than $20 billion of loans on his insurers’ books that should have been marked as funding affiliated businesses, but weren’t. While regulations allow insurers to lend money to such parties, they require that the dealings be disclosed.
James, meanwhile, announced that he’s leaving the Lakers and he signed a two-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers. His new team is co-owned by Josh Harris, whose 26North Partners invests across middle-market private equity, credit and insurance.
Li, Sridhar Natarajan and Rajbhandari write for Bloomberg.
The final statistics are in for transfers for the 2025-26 school year compiled by the 10 sections that make up the California Interscholastic Federation, and it was another record year for transfers.
There were 17,618 transfers, according to the CIF. The 2023-24 school year marked the first time the transfers exceeded 17,000 with 17,068.
The Southern Section led the way with 7,248, a record.
CIF transfer numbers for 2025-26.
(Los Angeles Times)
Transfers have been a major topic for discussions in high school sports around the country, with state associations coming up with different ideas, from making athletes ineligible for one year in Texas if they transfer for athletic reasons to offering one-time free transfers.
The CIF held a roundtable for discussions in 2025 about possible policy changes but everything has been on hold while waiting for a court case to play out that was dismissed for a second time recently.
CIF membership has been cautious about intervening or limiting transfer opportunities for fear politicians in Sacramento might get involved.
Angel Reese broke the WNBA single-game rebounding record with 26 while also breaking the league’s season record for rebounds as the Atlanta Dream beat the Sparks 78-71 on Monday night.
Reese surpassed Chamique Holdsclaw’s record of 24 rebounds, set on May 23, 2003 for Washington.
The Dream star has 458 rebounds this season, seven more than A’ja Wilson’s mark set in 2024. Atlanta still has six games remaining in the regular season.
“I’m just in awe watching her rebound,” teammate Allisha Gray said. “That’s a talent.”
Reese finished with 11 points. She secured her WNBA-leading 27th double-double of the season on a basket with 13.9 seconds left in the game.
The Dream have won four straight games — all on the road — and have beaten the Sparks nine straight times.
Gray led Atlanta (25-13) with 20 points. Rhyne Howard added 18 points to eclipse 3,000 for her career. Gray set an Atlanta record for field goals in a season with 247.
Nneka Ogwumike had 27 points and 16 rebounds for the Sparks (13-25). Dearica Hamby and Cameron Brink each scored 15 points.
Atlanta trailed 37-36 at halftime before starting the third quarter on a 9-2 run. The Dream also began the fourth on a 9-2 run to make it 71-57 with 6:57 left.
Up next for the Sparks: host Washington on Friday.
