remain

From Mount Maunganui to Wellington, plus a loss in Hamilton in between, England’s batting failings against the Black Caps were undeniably a concerning trend.

Yes, captain Harry Brook lost all three tosses to expose those batters to the worst of conditions on at least two occasions.

Yes, New Zealand’s 50-over side, with their 93% win ratio at home since 2019, provide one of the toughest challenges in world sport.

But with four Ashes bankers in England’s top five – and the fifth a possible starter in Jacob Bethell – they returned only one innings above 34 between them across three matches.

Bethell, Brook, Ben Duckett, Jamie Smith and Joe Root batted 15 times collectively in the 50-over series and together had nine single-figure scores.

No-one would call that ideal.

“It’s a different form of the game and it’s a completely different kind of challenge that we’re going to be confronted with as well,” said coach Brendon McCullum, denying batters would be scarred by the 3-0 series sweep heading into the Ashes.

At no point have England been in New Zealand because they see it as the optimal way to prepare for five Tests in Australia.

These fixtures were part of their wider schedule, dictated by those with a grip on the purse strings and who sign broadcast deals.

England have, instead, tried to make the most of the cramped schedule and ease players back into action after a post-summer break.

Steve Smith’s Sheffield Shield century appeared ominous, but fellow Australia middle-order batter Travis Head is also battling through white-ball matches against India, with no score above 30 in four attempts.

Had Root stroked New Zealand’s medium-fast pacers for a century in front of Aotearoa’s grass banks, few would have said it mattered when it came to facing Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood in the Perth cauldron with a different ball.

The reverse must also be true.

“Jamie Smith, Joe Root and Ben Duckett, they’ll be better for the run, too,” McCullum said.

“I’m sure they’ll be better for it with the prep that we’ve had with the other Test guys [bowlers Mark Wood, Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson] who’ve been here for a while, too, we’ll have no excuses come Australia.”

An agreement designed to further liberalise trade between the EU and Kyiv came into force on Wednesday.

It will replace the deal in place since 2016, by expanding tariff-free access for Ukrainian goods and services.

However the new agreement has become a political headache for the European Commission, as Hungary, Poland and Slovakia are not lifting bans on Ukrainian agricultural imports.

“We are engaging with all the parties to try to find solutions,” Commission deputy chief spokesperson Ariana Podesta said on Tuesday.

“We believe (the agreement) is a stable, fair framework, that can be reliable both for the EU and for Ukraine, to ensure a gradual integration in our single market, while providing stable trade flows,” Podesta added.

The new deal includes safeguards limiting imports of certain sensitive products such as grains and oil. Nevertheless, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia have refused to lift their national bans on Ukrainian agri-food imports.

These restrictions were first introduced after the EU opened its market completely to Ukrainian agricultural products following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as the Black Sea — a vital export corridor for Kyiv — was effectively blocked.

The resulting land corridors into the EU, designed to keep Ukrainian exports flowing, sparked anger among farmers in neighbouring countries who accused Brussels of allowing unfair competition.

Politically charged

The issue became politically charged, weighing on Poland’s 2023 general election and fuelling tensions in Slovakia and Hungary.

“After the war, imports of agriculture to the EU doubled. We have 117% increase compared to the pre-war levels,” Tinatin Akhvlediani, an expert at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), told Euronews.

However, Akhvlediani added that “it has been unnecessarily politicised because these Ukrainian goods were easily absorbed by the neighbouring countries.”

Ukraine’s main agricultural exports — grain, sugar and oil — are largely unprocessed goods.

“This is complementary with the trading of the EU because it mostly exports processed agricultural goods,” Akhvlediani explained.

“Ukrainian goods in fact are highly demanded in the EU market. That explains why Ukraine is the third largest import partner for the European Union after Brazil and the UK.”

The new trade deal includes a “safeguard clause” allowing either side to impose protective measures if surging imports damage domestic industries.

Yet this has not eased concerns in neighbouring countries.

“Although Brussels wants to give farmers’ money to Ukraine, we are protecting the resources, the livelihoods of Hungarian producers and our market,” Hungarian Agriculture Minister István Nagy wrote on Facebook on Monday, as he and his EU peers met in Brussels.

The ongoing dispute illustrates the broader obstacles facing Ukraine’s path to EU membership.

Within the bloc, some are concerned about how Ukraine’s enormous agricultural capacity — 42 million hectares of cultivated land, the largest in Europe — would affect the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which distributes funds based on farm size.

Even if CAP payments were reformed to focus on production rather than land area, “Ukraine remains quite competitive,” Akhvlediani said.

“The solution could be that the EU puts transition measures in the accession treaty which would limit the benefit from certain policies or not benefit from them at all. This could be the case for the CAP. It’s completely up to the EU,” she concluded.

Romanian President Nicușor Dan, whose country also borders Ukraine, is one of the rare EU leaders to have spoken openly about the issue, saying the discussion about agriculture is “pending”.

According to the Romanian president, the risks of imbalances for the EU are “significant”, especially since Ukraine “does not currently meet the standards that we impose on the agricultural sector in the EU.”

“The discussions taking place are that, in terms of agriculture, Ukraine should have a special status so that it can continue to make significant exports to non-European countries while, in all other clusters, it should be treated as an equal,” Dan said.

SEATTLE — Ramón Rodriguez Vazquez was a farmworker for 16 years in southeast Washington state, where he and his wife of 40 years raised four children and 10 grandchildren. The 62-year-old was a part of a tight-knit community and never committed a crime.

On Feb. 5, immigration officers who came to his house looking for someone else took him into custody. He was denied bond, despite letters of support from friends, family, his employer and a physician who said the family needed him.

He was sent to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Tacoma, Wash., where his health rapidly declined in part because he was not always provided with his prescription medication for several medical conditions, including high blood pressure. Then there was the emotional toll of being unable to care for his family or sick granddaughter. Overwhelmed by it all, he finally gave up.

At an appearance with an immigration judge, he asked to leave without a formal deportation mark on his record. The judge granted his request and he moved back to Mexico, alone.

His case is an exemplar of the impact of the Trump administration’s aggressive efforts to deport millions of migrants on an accelerated timetable, casting aside years of procedure and legal process in favor of expedient results.

Similar dramas are playing out at immigration courts across the country, accelerating since early July, when ICE began opposing bond for anyone detained regardless of their circumstances.

“He was the head of the house, everything — the one who took care of everything,” said Gloria Guizar, 58, Rodriguez’s wife. “Being separated from the family has been so hard. Even though our kids are grown, and we’ve got grandkids, everybody misses him.”

Leaving the country was unthinkable before he was held in a jail cell. The deportation process broke him.

‘Self deport or we will deport you’

It is impossible to know how many people left the U.S. voluntarily since President Trump took office in January because many leave without telling authorities. But Trump and his allies are counting on “self-deportation,” the idea that life can be made unbearable enough to make people leave voluntarily.

The Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees immigration courts, said judges granted “voluntary departure” in 15,241 cases in the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, allowing them to leave without a formal deportation mark on their record or bar to re-entry. That compares with 8,663 voluntary departures for the previous fiscal year.

ICE said it carried out 319,980 deportations from Oct. 1, 2024 to Sept. 20. Customs and Border Protection declined to disclose its number and directed the question to the Department of Homeland Security.

Secretary Kristi Noem said in August that 1.6 million people have left the country voluntarily or involuntarily since Trump took office. The department cited a study by the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates for immigration restrictions.

Michelle Mittelstadt, spokesperson for the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, said 1.6 million is an over-inflated number that misuses the Census Bureau data.

The administration is offering $1,000 to people who leave voluntarily using the CBP Home app. For those who don’t, there is a looming threat of being sent to a third country like Eswatini, Rwanda, South Sudan or Uganda,.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the voluntary departures show that the administration’s strategy is working, and is keeping the country safe.

“Ramped-up immigration enforcement targeting the worst of the worst is removing more and more criminal illegal aliens off our streets every day and is sending a clear message to anyone else in this country illegally: Self-deport or we will arrest and deport you,” she said in a statement sent to The Associated Press.

“They treat her like a criminal”

A Colombian woman dropped her asylum claim at a June appearance in a Seattle immigration court, even though she was not in custody.

“Your lawyer says you no longer wish to proceed with your asylum application,” the judge said. “Has anyone offered you money to do this?” he asked. “No, sir,” she replied. Her request was granted.

Her U.S. citizen girlfriend of two years, Arleene Adrono, said she planned to leave the country as well.

“They treat her like a criminal. She’s not a criminal,” Adrono said. “I don’t want to live in a country that does this to people.”

At an immigration court inside the Tacoma detention center, where posters encourage migrants to leave voluntarily or be forcibly deported, a Venezuelan man told Judge Theresa Scala in August that he wanted to leave. The judge granted voluntary departure.

The judge asked another man if he wanted more time to find a lawyer and if he was afraid to return to Mexico. “I want to leave the country,” the man responded.

“The court finds you’ve given up all forms of relief,” Scala said. “You must comply with the government efforts to remove you.”

“His absence has been deeply felt”

Ramón Rodriguez crossed the U.S. border in 2009. His eight siblings who are U.S. citizens lived in California, but he settled Washington state. Grandview, population 11,000, is an agricultural town that grows apples, cherries, wine grapes, asparagus and other fruit and vegetables.

Rodriguez began working for AG Management in 2014. His tax records show he made $13,406 that first year and by 2024, earned $46,599 and paid $4,447 in taxes.

“During his time with us, he has been an essential part of our team, demonstrating dedication, reliability, and a strong work ethic,” his boss wrote in a letter urging a judge to release him from custody. “His skills in harvesting, planting, irrigation, and equipment operation have contributed significantly to our operations, and his absence has been deeply felt.”

His granddaughter suffers from a heart problem, has undergone two surgeries and needs a third. Her mother doesn’t drive so Rodriguez transported the girl to Spokane for care. The child’s pediatrician wrote a letter to the immigration judge encouraging his release, saying without his help, the girl might not get the medical care she needs.

The judge denied his bond request in March. Rodriguez appealed and became the lead plaintiff in a federal lawsuit that sought to allow detained immigrants to request and receive bond.

On September 30, a federal judge ruled that denying bond hearings for migrants is unlawful. But Rodriguez won’t benefit from the ruling. He’s gone now and is unlikely to come back.

Bellisle writes for the Associated Press. AP reporter Cedar Attanasio contributed to this story.

WASHINGTON — Republican and Democratic lawmakers at an impasse on reopening the federal government provided few public signs Sunday of meaningful negotiations talking place to end what has so far been a five-day shutdown.

Leaders in both parties are betting that public sentiment has swung their way, putting pressure on the other side to compromise. Democrats are insisting on renewing subsidies to cover health insurance costs for millions of households, while President Trump wants to preserve existing spending levels and is threatening to permanently fire federal workers if the government remains closed.

The squabble comes at a moment of troubling economic uncertainty. While the U.S. economy has continued to grow this year, hiring has slowed and inflation remains elevated as Trump’s import taxes have created a series of disruptions for businesses. At the same time, there is a recognition that the nearly $2-trillion annual budget deficit is financially unsustainable, and reducing it would require a coalition in support of potential tax increases and spending cuts.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, among those appearing on the Sunday news shows, said there have been no talks with Republican leaders since their White House meeting Monday.

“And unfortunately, since that point in time, Republicans, including Donald Trump, have gone radio silent,” said Jeffries (D-N.Y.). “And what we’ve seen is negotiation through deepfake videos, the House canceling votes, and of course President Trump spending yesterday on the golf course. That’s not responsible behavior.”

Trump was asked via text message by CNN’s Jake Tapper about shutdown talks. The Republican president responded with confidence but no details.

“We are winning and cutting costs big time,” Trump said in a text message, according to CNN.

His administration sees the shutdown as an opening to wield greater power over the budget, with multiple officials saying they will save money as workers are furloughed by imposing permanent job cuts on thousands of government workers, a tactic that has never been used before.

Even though it would be Trump’s decision, he believes he can put the blame on the Democrats for the layoffs because of the shutdown.

“It’s up to them,” Trump told reporters Sunday morning before boarding the presidential helicopter. “Anybody laid off, that’s because of the Democrats.”

Republicans on Sunday argued that the administration would take no pleasure in letting go of federal workers, even though the GOP has put funding on hold for infrastructure and energy projects in Democratic areas.

“We haven’t seen the details yet about what’s happening” with layoffs, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said on NBC. “But it is a regrettable situation that the president does not want.”

Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, said that the administration wants to avoid the layoffs it had indicated might start last week, after a Friday deadline came and went without any decisions being announced.

“We want the Democrats to come forward and to make a deal that’s a clean, continuing resolution that gives us seven more weeks to talk about these things,” Hassett said on CNN. “But the bottom line is that with Republicans in control, the Republicans have a lot more power over the outcome than the Democrats.”

Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California defended his party’s stance on the shutdown, saying on NBC that the possible increase in healthcare costs for “millions of Americans” would make insurance unaffordable in what he called a “crisis.”

But Schiff also noted that the Trump administration has withheld congressionally approved spending from being used, essentially undermining the value of Democrats’ seeking compromises on the budgets as the White House could decline to not honor Congress’ wishes. The Trump administration sent Congress roughly $4.9 billion in “ pocket rescissions” on foreign aid, a process that meant the spending was withheld without time for Congress to weigh in before the previous fiscal year ended last week.

“We need both to address the healthcare crisis and we need some written assurance in the law, I won’t take a promise, that they’re not going to renege on any deal we make,” Schiff said.

The television appearances indicated that Democrats and Republicans are busy talking, deploying internet memes against each other that have raised concerns about whether it’s possible to negotiate in good faith.

Vice President JD Vance said that a video putting Jeffries in a sombrero and thick mustache was simply a joke, even though it came across as racist mocking as Republicans insist that the Democratic demands would lead to healthcare spending on immigrants in the country illegally, a claim that Democrats dispute.

Immigrants in the U.S. illegally are not eligible for any federal healthcare programs, including insurance provided through the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid. Still, hospitals do receive Medicaid reimbursements for emergency care that they are obligated to provide to people who meet other Medicaid eligibility requirements but do not have an eligible immigration status.

The challenge is that the two parties do not appear to be having productive conversations with each other in private, even as Republicans insist they are in conversation with their Democratic colleagues.

On Friday, a Senate vote to advance a Republican bill that would reopen the government failed to notch the necessary 60 votes to end a filibuster. Johnson said the House would close for legislative business this week, a strategy that could obligate the Senate to work with the government funding bill that was passed by House Republicans.

“Johnson’s not serious about this,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on CBS. “He sent his all his congressman home last week and home this week. How are you going to negotiate?”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said Sunday that the shutdown on discretionary spending, the furloughing of federal workers and requirements that other federal employees work without pay will go on so long as Democrats vote no.

“They’ll get another chance on Monday to vote again,” said Thune on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”

“And I’m hoping that some of them have a change of heart,” he said.

Boak writes for the Associated Press.

MARKS & Spencer is making a major change to all of its stores this Christmas – with more staff set to work on Boxing Day for the first time in five years.

The retailer is ending its recent tradition of keeping most shops shut on the bank holiday as it gears up for one of the busiest trading periods of the year.

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The change will impact stores across the UK, as M&S looks to boost its post-Christmas operations and ensure shelves are fully restocked.

According to The Guardian, around a quarter of store employees will now be required to work on Boxing Day, while all staff must work at least one of December, 26, 27 or 28.

A document from Marks & Spencer seen by the publication revealed that last year, over 40 per cent of permanent staff and 30 per cent of seasonal workers did not work on one of those peak days.

The retailer said this caused knock-on issues with replenishing stock and maintaining store standards.

To avoid similar problems this year, it stated that “all colleagues must play their part to deliver a successful Christmas.”

Jayne Wall, operations director for Marks & Spencer, said: “Christmas at Marks and Spencer is very special and we are grateful to our hardworking colleagues who make our stores great places for our customers to shop.

“Like most retailers, we always have some colleagues in our stores and depots on Boxing Day to help reset.

However, this year we will have more colleagues working than previously so we are in great shape to welcome customers on 27 December.”

The change marks a significant shift for M&S, which decided to close most of its stores on Boxing Day in 2020 as a gesture of thanks after staff worked tirelessly throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

The retailer had continued the policy since then, saying it wanted to give employees a “much-deserved extended break with their family and loved ones.”

However, this year’s move comes after a turbulent few months for the business.

M&S was hit by a major cyber attack over Easter, which caused widespread disruption to its systems and operations.

The company has since faced staff shortages and logistical challenges, prompting the change in Christmas staffing.

Not all employees are happy about the decision.

Some have said they feel pressured into accepting additional hours during what is usually considered a family holiday.

One M&S worker said: “This has been an incredibly difficult year for colleagues dealing with the cyber incident and the company has been reluctant to give extra hours to stores, so many stores are dealing with low colleague numbers.

“After such a hard time many colleagues feel this is an extra slap in the face.”

Another team member is reported to have written on the retailer’s internal messaging platform expressing disappointment at the move.

They said: “Over recent months it’s been recognised that colleagues have gone above and beyond, doing everything asked of them to keep standards high and deliver excellent service during very challenging times.

“That’s why it feels especially disheartening that Christmas – such a precious time for family – is being disrupted for so many of us.

“Instead of feeling rewarded for our commitment, it comes across more like a punishment.”

HISTORY OF M&S

M&S was founded in 1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer in Leeds.

The first official Marks and Spencer store opened in Manchester in 1901.

Throughout the 1920s, M&SA gre rapidly, opening more and more stores across the country.

The retailer made its reputation in the early 20th century by selling only British-made products.

It began textile sales in 1926 and started selling food from 1931.

The St Michael trademark was introduced in 1928 as a guarantee of quality and value.

This was initially used only for a small range of textiles but was extended over the years to cover all goods sold by M&S.

M&S introduced its first in-store cafe in 1935 in the Leeds store.

It provided cheap, hygienic, and nutritious mass catering.

By 1942, M&S opened 82 cafes across its estate.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, M&S had 234 stores.

By 1945, over 100 of these had been damaged by bombs, and 16 had been completely destroyed.

BY 1960, M&S pioneered in the sale of fresh poultry following the invention of the cold-chain process.

In the 1970s and 1980s, M&S pushed into international markets including the US, Canada and France. 

In 1979, M&S introduced the Chicken Kiev to its food halls across the UK.

In 1992, Percy Pigs were launched.

The Autograph range of clothing was introduced in 2000, and the St Michael brand was slowly phased out.

In 2019, the group announced 110 store closures as part of its plans, affecting several longstanding high-street shops.

In September 2020, M&S partnered with Ocado to allow for home delivery of the chain’s full food range.

M&S has recently announced new stores and is freshening up a swathe of others in a boost for shoppers.

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Oct. 1 (UPI) — Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook will be permitted to stay on the central bank board at least through next year after legal questions over her termination by U.S. President Donald Trump.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Cook can remain on the job on an interim basis into 2026, and agreed to hear oral arguments in January with a likely ruling before June’s end.

The nation’s high court, however, did not explain the basis of its decision in the brief ruling.

In August, Trump fired Cook over his claims of mortgage fraud which Cook has since denied.

No justice dissented in the rare break from a majority that typically has ruled on the side of the Trump administration over other legal issues.

Trump requested Supreme Court intervention in mid-September, but Cook fought back arguing that he does not have the authority.

U.S. presidents under the Federal Reserve Act are forbidden from arbitrarily removing a federal reserve governor unless evidence of wrongdoing presented a “for cause” reason to do so.

Cook sued Trump over the attempted ousting, citing constitutional protections guaranteed to her as an official of the independent federal board.

On Wednesday, a legal analyst said the court’s ruling on Cook means justices are saying: “we’re not going to act immediately.”

“It wouldn’t end the fight,” MSNBC legal commentator Lisa Rubin commented on a news program on January’s looming Supreme Court hearing on Cook.

According to Rubin, the Fed’s Cook could “continue to fight on the merits weather or not (Trump) is legally entitled to fire her for the long-term.”

The County Championship is to remain a two-division structure of 14 matches per team after a vote rejected proposed changes.

Eighteen first-class counties were asked to choose between the status quo and a new system of a 12-team top flight, six in the bottom tier, with each team playing 13 matches.

The ballot returned a result on Tuesday, one day before the final round of this season’s County Championship matches begin.

A majority of 12 counties were required to vote for change in order to push through the reform, a figure that was not met.

The result of the vote means the County Championship retains its current structure of 10 teams in Division One and eight in Division Two, with two teams promoted and relegated between each.

It brings to an end a lengthy examination of the domestic schedule, conducted by the counties.

A revamp of the Twenty20 Blast, cutting the number of group games from 14 to 12 and bringing finals day earlier in the season, was agreed in August.

However, differing opinions among the counties about the way forward for the Championship have resulted in retaining the current set-up.

A number of proposals were put forward, including reducing the number of first-class matches to 12, a number favoured by the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA).

When it became clear the shift from 14 to 12 was dead in the water, the 12-team top flight with a 13-match structure was proposed.

The idea involved the 12 teams being split into two groups of six, playing each other twice for an initial 10 games. At that point, the two groups would be split in half to create two further groups of six that would play for the Championship and relegation places.

Makai Lemon came screaming across the center of the field, gliding past one Michigan State defender, then another, moving as if the world around him were in slow motion.

USC’s top receiver had presumably been a top-line focus of the Spartans’ game plan — and even more so after fellow wideout Ja’Kobi Lane was ruled out Saturday with an injury. But here was Lemon slicing his way through Michigan State’s secondary as if no one had bothered to tell him as much, sprinting free as a deep pass soared in his direction and hit him in perfect stride.

Most of Saturday night’s 45-31 win over Michigan State felt that seamless for USC, which moved the ball with ease on offense, racking up 517 yards in the process. But in a swirl of penalties and poor discipline from its defense, USC inexplicably found itself clinging to a one-score lead in the fourth quarter.

It was the sort of stumble that might’ve prompted flashbacks from the Trojans’ previous conference, when #Pac12AfterDark derailed more than a few seasons while the rest of America slept. Though, as late as Saturday’s game ran — with its conclusion coming just before 3 a.m. Eastern time — there would be no such comeback from Michigan State.

“We were dominating the football game,” USC coach Lincoln Riley said. “But our ability to separate back out, I thought, was just as impressive.”

USC mounted a 13-play drive with its back against the wall in the fourth quarter, at one point even converting a critical fourth down near midfield, before Lemon pushed the pedal to the floor. He went sprinting on a jet motion, took the handoff and flew into the end zone for a score the Spartans couldn’t counter.

“Any time the ball is in his hands, something big is about to happen,” USC quarterback Jayden Maiava said.

With Lane out, Lemon accounted for more than half of the Trojans’ passing output, as he finished with eight receptions for 127 yards and a touchdown, the vast majority of which came in the first half.

Maiava didn’t need to do much more through the air after halftime. He finished with a season-low 234 yards, but completed 20 of 26 passes and added three passing touchdowns, to go with another on the ground.

USC’s rushing attack ultimately made the difference, despite facing a defense that hadn’t allowed any of its opponents to rush for 100 yards.

USC running back Eli Sanders runs with the ball during a win over Michigan State on Saturday night.

(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

Jordan bested that total himself, running for 157 yards on 18 carries, while Eli Sanders added 84 rushing yards of his own.

But once again, the Trojans paid a serious price for their propensity for penalties.

On one third-quarter drive, USC ran into Michigan State’s kicker on a punt, was flagged for an illegal substitution and then was called for pass interference, all within a four-play stretch. For a while, it seemed the sequence might turn the tide towards the Spartans.

“Obviously we haven’t done enough,” Riley said of coaches’ efforts to reduce USC’s penalties.

That message was reiterated after the game by linebacker Eric Gentry, who stood up in front of the team to belabor the severity of their penalty problems. The Trojans were called for 10 total penalties on Saturday for a loss of 88 yards, making it three consecutive games of at least eight penalties.

Fortunately for USC, its defensive front was also able to impact the game in other ways, namely by keeping Spartan quarterback Aidan Chiles uncomfortable in the pocket.

But where the pass rush continued to look improved, USC’s secondary didn’t exactly soothe concerns Saturday. Chiles only threw for 212 yards, but 169 of those yards — almost 80% — came on just four pass plays.

Through four games, USC now ranks worst in the Big Ten in plays allowed of 10 yards or further (17).

“We’ve had about one of them a game,” Riley said, “and we’ve got to put a lid on it.”

The road only gets harder from here for USC (4-0). The Trojans’ next three games (Illinois, Michigan and Notre Dame) come against ranked opponents, and two of those games (Illinois and Notre Dame) are on the road. And while the Irish are 1-2, and the Illini were just steamrolled by Indiana on Saturday, both should provide much tougher tests than the Trojans have faced thus far.

Whether USC will have one of its top receivers back for that stretch remains to be seen. Lane, who was listed as questionable on Saturday, came out with the team for early stretches. But when the team reemerged in full pads for warm-ups, the Trojans stud wideout was wearing sweatpants.

Riley said after the game that the severity of Lane’s injury is still “inconclusive,” but his absence could extend multiple games.

“I don’t think it’ll be super long,” Riley said. “But at the same time, I certainly can’t sit here today and say for sure he’s going to play next week or in the coming weeks.”

Without one of their top targets, USC tried to lean on its backs early. Twelve of the Trojans’ first 16 plays went to either Waymond Jordan or Eli Sanders. But it was Maiava who punched in USC’s first score after he faked a handoff and sprinted 15 yards to paydirt.

Michigan State (3-1), meanwhile, took to the air to challenge the Trojans’ struggling secondary. On the Spartans’ first possession, Chiles found Chrishon McCray wide open for a 42-yard touchdown, and Michigan State took an early lead.

Chiles completed each of his first seven passes. But with their run game completely grounded, the Spartans offense came to a halt. Their next three drives accumulated a combined 66 yards.

USC started humming in the meantime, gaining at least that many yards on four of its five first-half drives. The rushing attack found a rhythm, with seven rushes of 15-plus yards in the first half alone, while Maiava moved the ball with ease through the air.

USC quarterback Jayden Maiava scores a touchdown in the first quarter against Michigan State.

(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

Still, despite being outgained by almost 200 yards before halftime, Michigan State was within a single score — and set to receive the second-half kick — as USC drove 88 yards down the field before half. With 37 seconds left, Maiava lofted a pass to the corner of the end zone for freshman Tanook Hines, who reeled in the well-timed, seven-yard score.

USC looked ready to speed past Michigan State in the second half as it took just four plays and less than two minutes to drive the field. Maiava hit tight end Walker Lyons for a touchdown, his second in two weeks, to make it 31-10.

But Michigan State mounted an 11-play drive, and USC’s defense chipped in with four back-breaking penalties to keep it moving. Eventually, Chiles punched in a touchdown himself, cutting the lead to two scores.

The momentum swung suddenly after that. On the first play of USC’s ensuing possession, wideout DJ Jordan lost a fumble deep in the Trojans’ territory. The turnover opened the door for Michigan State, which needed eight plays to reach paydirt and cut the lead to a single score.

But USC slammed that door shut on its next drive. And while Saturday night’s win wouldn’t go down as the most seamless of the Trojans’ season, it was still just as satisfying to Riley.

“If you’re learning lessons as you win, it’s hard not to be excited about what you see out of this football team,” Riley said. “And everything I see makes me believe that we’re going to continue to grow, learn from some of the mistakes, because there are so many positive things happening out there.”

THE world’s best snooker players are in Essex for the English Open.

It is the fourth ranking event of the season and defending champion Neil Robertson is OUT after a shock defeat to Jackson Page in round four.

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The Aussie potter beat Wu Yize 9-7 to take home the Steve Davis Trophy in last year’s Home Nations showpiece.

Robertson was seeded No1 for this event after his stunning win over Ronnie O’Sullivan in the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters final last month.

The Rocket decided to sit out of this tournament and will also miss the upcoming British Open.

That is despite a £100,000 cheque being handed to the winner and all the action being played just a few miles up the road from where he grew up.

When is the English Open Snooker 2025?

• The English Open got underway on Thursday, September 11, with the seeds entering on Monday, September 15.
• It concludes with the final on Sunday, September 21.
• The Brentwood Centre in Essex is the venue for this competition.

What TV channel is the English Open Snooker 2025 on and can it be live streamed?

• The English Open Snooker 2025 is being broadcast LIVE on TNT Sports in the UK.
• Fans can also live stream the action on Discovery+.
• Alternatively, you won’t miss a frame or any match reaction by following SunSport’s LIVE blog.

English Open Snooker 2025 schedule & results

Thursday, September 11
Round One

• Cheung Ka Wai 3-4 Jimmy White
• Sunny Akani 4-2 Oliver Brown
• Zhao Hanyang 4-2 Connor Benzey
• Huang Jiahao 4-0 Oliver Sykes
• Liam Highfield 4-2 Onyee Ng
• Wang Yuchen 4-3 Florian Nuessle
• Marco Fu 4-0 Gao Yang
• Antoni Kowalski 1-4 Liam Graham
• Amir Sarkhosh 4-2 Sahil Nayyar
• Louis Heathcote 4-1 Mahmoud El Hareedy
• Duane Jones 4-1 Patrick Whelan
• David Grace 4-0 Jonas Luz
• Harris Tahir 4-0 Michal Szubarczyk
• Sam Craigie 4-0 Chatchapong Nasa
• Julien Leclercq 4-0 Aidan Murphy
• Reanne Evans 2-4 Jiang Jun

Friday, September 12
Round One

• Artemijs Zizins 3-4 Yao Pengcheng
• Chang Bingyu 4-0 Leone Crowley
• Lan Yuhao 1-4 Liam Pullen
• Bai Yulu 4-3 Liu Wenwei
• Iulian Boiko 4-0 Xu Yichen
• Robbie McGuigan 2-4 Mink Nutcharut
• Chris Totten 1-4 Ross Muir
• Farakh Ajaib 4-1 Kreishh Gurbaxani
• Haydon Pinhey 4-1 Ryan Davies
• Bulcsu Revesz 3-4 Alexander Ursenbacher
• Steven Hallworth vs Mateusz Baranowski
• Mitchell Mann vs Ian Burns
• Dylan Emery vs Fergal Quinn
• Ben Mertens vs Ashley Hugill
• Liam Davies vs Hatem Yassem
• Allan Taylor vs Umut Dikme

Saturday, September 13
Round Two

• Fan Zhengyi 4-2 Julien Leclercq
• Long Zehuang 2-4 Amir Sarkhosh
• Luca Brecel 4-1 Jimmy White
• Xu Si 4-2 David Grace
• Noppon Saengkham 2-4 Zhao Hanyang
• Liu Hongyu 4-0 Sam Craigie
• Mark Davis 0-4 Marco Fu
• Jimmy Robertson 4-3 Wang Yuchen
• David Lilley 3-4 Sunny Akani
• Zak Surety 4-3 Haris Tahir
• Oliver Lines 3-4 Liam Highfield
• Ryan Day 4-0 Liam Graham
• Jordan Brown 3-4 Louis Heathcote
• Martin O’Donnell 4-0 Duane Jones
• Robbie Williams 4-1 Huang Jiahao
• Daniel Wells 4-2 Jiang Jun

Sunday, September 14
Round Two

• Lyu Haotian 2-4 Liam Davies
• Gong Chenzhi 4-2 Chang Bingyu
• He Guoqiang 4-3 Farakh Ajaib
• Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-1 Haydon Pinhey
• Matthew Stevens 3-4 Dylan Emery
• Stan Moody 1-4 Liam Pullen
• Sanderson Lam 4-3 Mitchell Mann
• Robert Milkins 1-4 Ross Muir
• Ricky Walden 4-1 Bai Yulu
• Michael Holt 4-0 Mink Nutcharut
• Ben Woollaston 4-2 Alexander Ursenbacher
• Anthony McGill 4-1 Mateusz Baranowski
• Ishpreet Singh Chadha 4-1 Ben Mertens
• Jamie Jones 4-3 Iulian Boiko
• Aaron Hill 4-2 Yao Pengcheng
• Scott Donaldson 4-3 Allan Taylor

Monday, September 15
Round Three

• Ding Junhui 4-1 Liam Pullen
• Si Jiahui 4-2 Liu Hongyu
• Kyren Wilson 2-4 Robbie Williams
• David Gilbert 2-4 Fan Zhengyi
• Barry Hawkins 4-2 Louis Heathcote
• Matthew Selt 4-2 Liam Davies
• Mark Selby 4-1 Liam Highfield
• Lei Peifan 4-1 Ryan Day
• Wu Yize 4-1 He Guoqiang
• Junxu Pang 4-3 Daniel Wells
• Mark Williams 4-0 Amir Sarkhosh
• Tom Ford 4-3 Martin O’Donnell
• Hossein Vafaei 3-4 Luca Brecel
• Zhou Yuelong 4-1 Xu Si
• Chris Wakelin 4-1 Ross Muir
• Shaun Murphy 4-0 Zak Surety

Tuesday, September 16
Round Three

• Zhang Anda 4-0 Anthony McGill
• Xiao Guodong 4-1 Gong Chenzhi
• Joe O’Connor 1-4 Ricky Walden
• Judd Trump 4-0 Michael Holt
• Gary Wilson 4-2 Sanderson Lam
• Yuan Sijun 4-3 Ben Woollaston
• Mark Allen 4-1 Scott Donaldson
• Elliot Slessor 4-2 Jimmy Robertson
• Jak Jones 4-3 Jamie Jones
• Stuart Bingham 4-0 Dylan Emery
• Neil Robertson 4-1 Sunny Akani
• Jack Lisowski 4-2 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
• Ali Carter 4-2 Marco Fu
• Jackson Page 4-1 Zhao Hanyang
• Stephen Maguire 2-4 Aaron Hill
• Zhao Xintong 4-0 Ishpreet Singh Chadha

Wednesday, September 17
Round Four

• Matthew Selt 1-4 Ding Junhui
• Wu Yize 4-2 Chris Wakelin
• Junxu Pang 0-4 Robbie Williams
• Lei Peifan 1-4 Mark Selby
• Judd Trump 4-1 Yuan Sijun
• Gary Wilson 0-4 Elliot Slessor
• Mark Williams 1-4 Zhou Yuelong
• Xiao Guodong 3-4 Ricky Walden
• Zhang Anda 1-4 Jamie Jones
• Barry Hawkins 4-0 Tom Ford
• Luca Brecel 4-2 Si Jiahui
• Aaron Hill 4-3 Ali Carter
• Shaun Murphy 4-1 Fan Zhengyi
• Neil Robertson 1-4 Jackson Page
• Stuart Bingham 3-4 Mark Allen
• Jack Lisowski 4-1 Zhao Xintong

Thursday, September 18
Round Five

• Zhou Yuelong 4-2 Barry Hawkins
• Judd Trump 3-4 Elliot Slessor
• Luca Brecel 4-3 Robbie Williams
• Jackson Page 4-3 Shaun Murphy
• Mark Allen 4-3 Ding Junhui
• Wu Yize 2-4 Mark Selby
• Ricky Walden 3-4 Jak Jones
• Aaron Hill 4-1 Jack Lisowski

Friday, September 19
Quarter-finals

• Zhou Yuelong 5-4 Luca Brecel
• Jackson Page 4-5 Mark Selby
• Elliot Slessor vs Mark Allen
• Jak Jones vs Aaron Hill

Saturday, September 20
Semi-finals

1pm:

• Mark Selby vs Zhou Yuelong

7pm:

Sunday, September 21: Final 

Plans for Nigel

IN typically ferocious style, Nigel Farage yesterday laid down the gauntlet to Labour on immigration.

How the Government responds may well end up deciding whether it wins a second term.

1

Farage speaks ordinary Brits’ language and understands their “total despair”.

His cure for the crisis was plenty of harsh medicine:

1. Deportation flights starting immediately and ultimately booting out up to 600,000 illegals.

2. Bringing back Rwanda-style deals with third countries — the only proper deterrent to the small boats we ever had, and foolishly scrapped by Labour.

3. Ripping up European human rights laws and quitting the ECHR, which will also go down well with voters.

Labour will never do it and the Tories have dithered. But can Farage actually deliver it?

How will he achieve returns deals with rogue and failed states such as Iran and Afghanistan?

Many Brits will be wary of his idea of giving taxpayers’ cash to the vile Taliban regime.

The Tories tried for years to bring in a British Bill of Rights and failed.

Where does Northern Ireland and the complicated rules around the Good Friday Agreement fit in?

If he wants to be Prime Minister, Farage will have to provide some serious answers.

In dole-drums

A STAGGERING 6.5million people are now jobless and on benefits.

That’s up 500,000 in just a year since Labour took office.

Numbers of working-age adults on welfare payments have now risen by 79 per cent since 2018.

Unemployment — made worse by the “Jobs Tax Budget” is now on course to be its highest since the Covid pandemic.

Soaring welfare payments are not only totally unaffordable and a drag on growth, it is also morally wrong to demand working people bail out those who cannot or will not work.

Having ditched its modest welfare reforms — and with the Government now paying a “moron premium” on the UK’s debt mountain — what is the plan?

Unsafeguard

VICTIMS of domestic abuse are regularly failed by the system.

More than 100 women a year in England and Wales alone are murdered by current or former partners.

Many were let down by the DASH questionnaire used by police, social services and healthcare workers as an initial assessment of danger.

Minister Jess Phillips says it doesn’t work and is working out how to replace it.

That cannot come soon enough for those suffering now.

But it’s tragically too late for those who have already lost their lives needlessly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The cause isn’t known, he said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

SACRAMENTO — A day after his younger brother was denied release, Lyle Menendez also saw California parole officials reject his bid for freedom, ruling he will remain behind bars for now for the 1989 shotgun murders of his parents.

The parole board grilled Menendez, 57, over his efforts to get witnesses to lie during his trials, the lavish shopping sprees he and his brother Erik, 54, took after their parents’ killings, and whether he felt relief after the murders.

“I felt this shameful period of those six months of having to lie to relatives who were grieving,” Menendez told the board. “I felt the need to suffer. That it was no relief.”

As the elder brother, Menendez said he at times felt like the protector of Erik, but that he soon realized the murders were not the right way out of sexual abuse they were allegedly suffering at the hands of their parents.

“I sort of started to feel like I had not rescued my brother,” he said. “I destroyed his life. I’d rescued nobody.”

The closely watched hearing for Lyle Menendez, one of the most well-known inmates currently in the state’s prison system, was thrown into disarray Friday afternoon after audio of his brother’s parole hearing on Thursday was publicly released.

The audio, published by ABC 7, sparked anger and frustration from the brothers’ relatives and their attorney, who accused the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation of leaking the audio and tainting Lyle’s hearing.

A CDCR spokesperson confirmed the audio was “erroneously” issued in response to a records request, but did not elaborate or immediately respond to additional questions from The Times.

“I have protected myself, I have stayed out of this, I have not had a relationship with two human beings because I was afraid, and I came here today and I came here yesterday and I trusted that this would only be released in a transcript,” said Tiffani Lucero-Pastor, a relative of the brothers. “You’ve misled the family.”

Heidi Rummel, Lyle Menendez’s parole attorney, also criticized CDCR, accusing the agency of turning the hearing into a “spectacle.”

“I don’t think you can possibly understand the emotion of what this family is experiencing,” she said. “They have spent so much time trying to protect their privacy and dignity.”

After the audio was published, Rummel said family members who planned to testify decided not to speak after all, and said she would be looking to seal the transcripts of Friday’s hearing.

Parole Commissioner Julie Garland said regulations allowed for audio to be released under the California Public Records Act. Transcripts of parole hearings typically become public within 30 days of a grant or denial, under state law.

During his first-ever appeal to the state parole board, Lyle Menendez was questioned over his credibility.

Garland referred to Menendez’s appeal to get witnesses to lie, plans to escape, and lies to relatives about the killings as a “sophistication of the web of lies and manipulation you demonstrated.”

Menendez said he had no plan at the time, there was just “a lot of flailing in what was happening.”

“Even though you fooled your entire family about you being a murderer, and you recruited all these people to help you … you don’t think that’s being a good liar?” Garland asked.

Menendez said the remorse he felt after the crimes perhaps helped create a “strong belief” he didn’t have anything to do with the killings.

Dmitry Gorin, a former Los Angeles County prosecutor, said the board’s decision denying parole was consistent with past decisions involving violent crimes.

“Although this is a high-profile case, the parole board rejecting the release demonstrates that it seeks to keep violent offenders locked up because they still pose a risk to society,” Gorin said. “Historically, the parole board does not release people convicted of murder, and this case is no different.

He called the decision a win for Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman, who has opposed the brothers’ release.

The brothers were initially sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the killings of their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez, but after qualifying for resentencing they gained a chance at freedom.

Many family members have supported their cause, but the gruesome crime and the brothers’ conduct behind bars led to pushback against their release.

The killings occurred after the brothers purchased shotguns in San Diego with a false identification and shot their parents in the family living room.

The bloody crime scene was compared by investigators to a gangland execution, where Jose Menendez was shot five times, including once in the back of the head. Evidence showed their mother had crawled, wounded, on the floor before the brothers reloaded and fired a final, fatal blast.

The brothers reported the killings to 911, according to court records. Soon afterward, prosecutors during the trial noted, the two siblings began to spend large sums of money, including buying a Porsche and a restaurant, which was purchased by Lyle. Erik bought a Jeep and hired a private tennis instructor.

Prosecutors argued it was access to their multimillion-dollar inheritance that prompted the killing after Jose Menendez shared that he planned to disinherit the brothers.

But during the trials, the Menendez brothers and relatives testified that the two siblings had undergone years of sexual and physical abuse at the hands of their father.

In contrast to their frenzy around their trial, Thursday and Friday’s parole hearings were quiet — yet occasionally contentious — affairs.

A Times journalist was the only member of the public allowed to view the hearing on a projector screen in a room inside the agency’s headquarters outside of Sacramento.

During the Friday hearing, the parole board quickly dived into the allegations that the brothers were sexually assaulted by their father, which Lyle Menendez said confused and “caused a lot of shame in me.”

“That pretty much characterized my relationship with my father,” he said, adding that the fear of being abused left him in a state of “hyper vigilance,” even after the abuse stopped and his father began to abuse Erik.

“It took me a while to realize that it stopped,” Menendez said. “I think I was still worried about it for a long time.”

Growing up, he said, taking care of his younger brother gave him purpose, and helped to protect him from “drowning in the spiral of my own life.”

Menendez alleged his mother also sexually abused him, but said he did not share it during his comprehensive risk assessment because he “didn’t see it as abuse really.”

“Today, I see it as sexual abuse,” he said. “When I was 13, I felt like I was consenting and my mother was dealing with a lot and I just felt like maybe it wasn’t.”

Board members also questioned Lyle Menendez on why he didn’t mention the possibility they were removed from their parents’ will in their submissions to the board, but Menendez contended their inheritance was not a motive in the killings.

Instead, he said, it became “a problem afterward” as they worried they would have no money after their parents’ deaths.

“I believe there was a will that disinherited us somewhere,” he said.

The result of Thursday’s hearing means Erik can’t seek parole again for three years, a decision that left some relatives and supporters of the younger brother stunned.

“How is my dad a threat to society,” Talia Menendez, his stepdaughter, wrote on Instagram shortly after the decision was made. “This has been torture to our family. How much longer???”

In a statement issued Thursday, relatives said they were disappointed by the decision and noted that going through Lyle’s hearing Friday would be “undoubtedly difficult,” although they remained “cautiously optimistic and hopeful.”

Friends, relatives and former cellmates have touted the brothers’ lives behind bars, pointing to programs they’ve spearheaded for inmates, including classes for anger management, meditation, and helping inmates in hospice care.

But members of the board questioned both siblings about their violation of rules, zeroing in at times about repeated use of contraband cellphones.

During the hearing Friday, Lyle said he sometimes used cellphones to keep in touch with family outside the prison. But Deputy Parole Commissioner Patrick Reardon questioned this explanation, and asked why Menendez needed a cellphone if he could make legitimate calls from a prison-issued tablet.

The rule violation, board members pointed out, had resulted in Menendez being barred from family visits for three years.

Reardon pointed out that Menendez pleaded guilty to two cellphone violations in November 2024 and in March 2025. Menendez was also linked to three other violations, although another cellmate of his took responsibility for those violations.

Menendez said the violations occurred when he lived in a dorm with five other inmates, and admitted the use of cellphones was a “gang-like activity.” The group, he said, probably went through at least five cellphones.

Heidi Rummel, Menendez’s parole attorney, argued in her closing that despite the cellphone issues, Menendez had no violent incidents on his prison record.

“This board is going to say you’re dangerous because you used your cellphones,” she said. “But there is zero evidence that he used it for criminality, that he used it for violence. He didn’t even lie about it.”

But members of the board repeatedly focused on what seemed to be issues of credibility. Reardon said at times it felt like Menendez was “two different incarcerated people.”

“You seem to be different things at different times,” Reardon said during the hearing. “I don’t think what I see is that you used a cellphone from time to time. There seems to be a mechanism in place that you always had a cellphone.”

Garland asked Menendez about whether he used his position on the Men’s Advisory Council — a group meant to be a liaison on issues between inmates and prison administrators — to manipulate others and gain unfair benefits.

Menendez said the position gave him access to wall phones, and used the position to help him barter or gain favors.

Garland also pointed to an assessment that found Menendez exhibited antisocial traits, entitlement, deception, manipulation and a resistance to accept consequences.

Menendez said he had discussed those issues, but that he didn’t agree he showed narcissistic traits.

“They’re not the type of people like me self-referring to mental health,” he said, adding that he felt his father displayed narcissistic tendencies and lack of self-reflection. “I just felt like that wasn’t me.”

Menendez pointed to his work to help inmates in prison who are bullied or mocked.

“I would never call myself a model incarcerated person,” he said. “I would say that I’m a good person, that I spent my time helping people. That I’m very open and accepting.”

The parole board applauded Menendez’s work and educational history while in prison, noting he was working on a master’s degree.

Despite the violations, Menendez argued he felt he had done good work in prison.

“My life has been defined by extreme violence,” he said, tears visible on his face. “I wanted to be defined by something else.”

SACRAMENTO — Erik Menendez will not be released, the California Parole board decided in a highly-anticipated and lengthy hearing Thursday, curtailing for now the contentious push by he and his older sibling to be freed after the 1989 killing of their parents in their Beverly Hills home.

The hearing came after years of legal efforts by Menendez and his brother to be set free despite being convicted of life without the possibility of parole in 1995. Their jury trial, and accounts of an abusive upbringing in the upscale Beverly Hills home, inspired several documentaries and television series that drew renewed attention to their case and allegations of sexual abuse against their father.

The hearing — the first time Erik Menendez, 54, has faced the California Parole Board — offered a never-before seen glimpse into his life behind bars over more than three decades. A separate hearing for Lyle, 57, is set for Friday.

The hearing, Erik Menendez noted, was 36 years and a day after his family realized his parents were dead. The killing occurred on Aug. 20, 1989.

“Today is the day all of my victims learned my parents were dead,” he said. “So today is the anniversary of their trauma journey.”

After a nearly 10-hour hearing, the board decided to deny parole to Menendez for three years. He could petition for an earlier hearing.

“This is a tragic case,” said Robert Barton, parole commissioner, after issuing the decision. “I agree that not only two, but four people, were lost in this family.”

Relatives, friends, and advocates have described the Menendez brothers as “model inmates,” but during the hearing Thursday members of the Parole Board raised concerns about drug and alcohol use, fights with other inmates, instances in which Erik Menendez was found with a contraband cell phone, and allegations that he helped a prison gang in a tax fraud scam in 2013.

More than a dozen relatives testified in favor of release for Menendez, with many of them saying they had forgiven him and his brother for the killing. Although amazed by the famiy’s support, Barton said Menendez should not be released on parole.

“Two things can be true,” Barton said. “they can love and forgive you and you can still be found unsuitable for parole.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for relatives of the two siblings said they were disappointed.

“Our belief in Erik remains unwavering and we know he will take the Board’s recommendation in stride,” the family said in a statement. “His remorse, growth, and the positive impact he’s had on others speak for themselves. We will continue to stand by him and hold to the hope he is able to return home soon.”

They said they remained “cautiously optimistic” for Lyle Menendez, whose hearing was set for Friday.

Menendez testified he obtained cell phones despite risking discipline because he didn’t believe there was a chance of him ever being released. He took the gamble, he said, because the “connection with the outside world was far greater than the consequences of me getting caught with the phone.”

He also associated with a gang, he said, for protection.

That all changed in 2024, he said, when he realized there was a chance be paroled at some point.

“In November of 2024, now the consequences mattered,” he told the board. “Now the consequences meant I was destroying my life.”

The crime that put Menendez and his brother in prison began when the siblings drove to San Diego, bought shotguns with cash using someone else’s identification, then returned home and opened fire in the family living room while their parents were watching television.

Investigators have said the gruesome crime scene looked like the site of a gangland execution. Jose Menendez was shot five times, including once in the back of the head, and evidence showed Kitty Menendez crawled on the floor, wounded, before the brothers reloaded and fired a final, fatal blast.

The brothers called 911, with Lyle screaming that “someone killed my parents,” according to court records. But while they appeared as grieving orphans, Erik and Lyle also began spending large sums of money in the months following the killings. Lyle bought a Porsche and a restaurant while Erik purchased a Jeep and retained a private tennis instructor with the intentions of turning pro. The two were infamously seen sitting courtside at an NBA game between the murders and their capture.

Prosecutors argued the brothers killed their parents out of greed to get access to their multi-million dollar inheritance. Jose was planning to disinherit the brothers since he considered them failures, according to court filings. The brutality of the crimes and the juxtaposition of such violence against the family’s Beverly Hills image turned the case into an international media circus, only rivaled at the time by the O.J. Simpson trial.

While mobs of reporters also circled the brothers resentencing hearings in Van Nuys earlier this year, Thursday’s parole hearing was a much more solemn and quiet affair. With the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation tightly controlling media access, a Times journalist was the only member of the public allowed to view the hearing on a projector screen in a room inside the agency’s headquarters just outside Sacramento.

The parole hearing is not meant to re-litigate details of the case or the brothers’ roles in the killings, but members of the board questioned Menendez Thursday on details of the grisly murders, which the brothers and supporters in their family were committed because they had suffered sexual abuse at the hands of their father.

“In my mind, leaving meant death,” Menendez told the board Thursday when asked why he didn’t leave the house, or go to police. “My absolute belief that I could not get away. Maybe it sounds completely irrational and unreasonable today.”

Menendez said he and his brother purchased the shotguns because they believed their parents might try to kill them, or that his father would go to his room to rape him.

“That was going to happen,” he said. “One way or another. If he was alive, that was going to happen.”

Asked why the two killed their mother as well, Erik Menendez said the decision was made after learning she was aware of the abuse, and the siblings saw no daylight between the two.

“Step by step, my mom had shown she was united with my dad,” he said at the hearing. “On that night I saw them as one person. Had she not been in the room, maybe it would have been different.”

He said the moment he found out his mother was aware of the alleged abuse was “devastating.”

“When mom told me…that she had known all of those years. It was the most devastating moment in my entire life,” he said. “It changed everything for me. I had been protecting her by not telling her.”

Asked if he believed his mother was also a victim to his father’s abuse, Erik Menendez said, “definitely.”

“He was beating her because I failed,” he said.

After denying parole, Barton pointed to their decision to kill their mother, calling it a decision “devoid of human compassion.”

“The killing of your mother especially showed a lack of empathy and reason,” Barton said. “I can’t put myself in your place. I don’t know that I’ve ever had rage to that level, ever. But that is still concerning, especially since it seems she was also a victim herself of domestic violence.”

Menendez was visibly overcome with emotion when discussing details of the murder, although he did not appear to cry.

After the murders, Menendez said the spending sprees between he and his brother, including buying a Rolex, were an “incredibly callous act.”

“I was torn between hatred of myself over what I did and wishing that I could undo it and trying to live out my life, making teenager decisions,” he said.

Erik eventually confessed to the killings in discussions with a therapist, and L.A. County sheriff’s deputies found a letter in Lyle’s jail cell admitting to the murders. After jurors hung in their first trial, Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted of first-degree murder in 1996.

L.A. County Deputy Dist. Atty. Habib Balian opposed parole for Menendez during the hearing, arguing he lied to the parole board and had minimized his role in the killings during the hearing.

“When one continues to diminish their responsibility for a crime and continues to make the same false excuses that they’ve made for 30-plus years, one is still that same dangerous person that they were when they shotgunned their parents,” Balian said Thursday. “Is he truly reformed, or is he just saying what wants to be heard?”

Menendez, Balian argued to the board, was still a risk to society and should not be released.

Interest in the brothers case was revived in recent years following a popular Netflix series, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.” The popular show aired after a Peacock docuseries, “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed,” uncovered additional evidence of Jose Menendez’s alleged sexual abuse of his children and others, including Roy Rosselló, a member of the boy band Menudo.

The new evidence was part of the brothers’ most recent legal appeal in the case. More than 20 of the brothers’ relatives formed a coalition pushing for their freedom, arguing they had spent enough time imprisoned for a pair of killings that were motivated by years of horrific abuse.

Last year, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón petitioned a judge to re-sentence Erik and Lyle to 50-years-to-life in prison, making them eligible for parole. After he defeated Gascón in the November 2024 election, new Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman quickly moved to oppose the re-sentencing petition, going as far as to transfer the prosecutors who authored it and asking a judge to disregard Gascón’s filing.

L.A. County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic denied that request. After finding prosecutors failed to prove the brothers were a danger to the public, Jesic granted the resentencing petition in May, clearing the path for Thursday’s parole hearing.

Fellow inmates and rehabilitation officials have described the two as “mentors,” spearheading programs and projects for inmates.

The two have created programs to deal with anger management, meditation, assisting inmates in hospice care and to improve conditions inside prison.

Lyle spearheaded a Rehabilitation Through Beautification project at Richard J. Donovan prison, to work on upgrades and create green space in the prison, along with painting a 1,000-foot mural. Erik has worked with other inmates to do the artwork for the project.

But members of the board questioned Menendez on various incidents, including a fight in 1997.

Menendez said another inmate hit him first, but admitted that he “acted aggressively” as well. In another fight, Menendez said he “fought back” in self-defense.

Members of the board also questioned Menendez on multiple incidents that he was found with contraband, including art supplies, candles, spray cans, and cell phones that Menendez said he would pay about $1,000 to obtain.

Some of the art supplies he used to decorate his cell, he said.

Menendez said he also gave other inmates access to the phone, because “if it was someone that I trusted or someone that I knew had a phone I didn’t want to tell him no.”

He said he used the phones to speak wiht his wife, watch YouTube videos and pornography.

“I really became addicted to the phones,” he said.

During the hearing, Barton said he was concerned about the number of support letters that refer to Menendez as a model inmate, saying it could minimize the impact of cell phones in the prison.

Menendez said it wasn’t until later that he realized the larger impact that cell phones could have, despite how prevalent they could be in prison.

“I knew of 50, 60 people that had phones,” he said. “I just justified it by saying if I don’t buy it someone else is going to buy it. The phones were going to be sold, and I longed for that connection.”

But in January, he said, he had an in-depth with a lieutenant and took a criminal thinking class that made him reassess.

“The damage of using a phone is as corrosive to a prison environment as drugs are,” he said. “In the sense that someone must bring them in, they must be paid for, it corrupts staff…phones can be used to elicit more criminal activity.”

Members of the board spent a significant amount of time questioning Menendez on the use of contraband phones, and also pointed to them as part of their reasoning in denying parole.

“Your institutional misconduct showed a lack of self awareness,” Barton said. “You’ve got a great support network. But you didn’t go to them before you committed these murders. And you didn’t go to them, before you used the cell phone.”

Dmitry Gorin, a former prosecutor, said Menendez decision to break the rules while in prison affected his chances at winning release, even though he was young when he was convicted.

“If you’re not going to comply with the rules in prison, you’re not going to comply out in society — that’s what they’re saying here,” Gorin said. “The big picture here is without serious medical issues or being elderly, I don’t know anyone who killed two people who has been paroled.”

Nancy Tetreault, an attorney for former Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten, said despite public support for parole, Erik was considered moderate risk in the comprehensive risk assessment. To have a better chance at release, he would have to be considered low risk, she said.

“That’s very hard to overcome,” she said.

The two brothers were also involved in classes, but also would need to be more involved in rehabilitative programs for a favorable decision, Tereault said.

“Yes, they have a lot of classes and things like that that I was reading the classes they’ve put together, like meditation, for insight, that they’re leaving it, but they need to, they need to start programming,” she said.

Menendez admitted to drinking alcohol and briefly using heroin at one point in prison, which he said he tried because he was “miserable” and feeling hopeless.

“If I could numb my sadness with alcohol, I was going to do it,” he said. “I was looking to ease that sadness within me.”

Members of the board also asked Menendez about his connection to a prison gang and a tax fraud scam in 2013, but did not discuss details of the scheme.

Menendez said part of the reason he associated with members of the gang, known as 25s or Dos Cinco, was fear of his safety.

“When the 25ers came and asked for help, I thought this was a great opportunity to align myself with them and to survive,” Erik Menendez said, adding that he thought he needed to keep himself safe since he had no hopes of being paroled at the time. “I was in tremendous fear.”

The gang was in charge of the prison yard, he said, and a member approached him about the scheme, although Menendez said he did not personally control the checks. The gang also supplied him with marijuana, he siad.

Much changed after 2013, Erik Menendez said, and he curbed his use of drugs and alcohol. At one point, members of the gang also believed he had become an informant.

“I did not like who I was in 2013,” Erik Menendez said. “From 2013 on I was living for a different purpose. My purpose in life was to be a good person.”

In Oct. 14, 2023, his mother’s birthday, he said he committed to stop using drugs, he told the board.

Deputy Parole Commissioner Rachel Stern asked Menendez about his work with hospice inmates, including a World War II veteran convicted of an unspecified sexual violence crime that Menendez helped with getting his meals and bedding.

Menendez said he saw his work with the inmate as a way to make amends for his father.

Menendez apologized to his family during the hearing, noting their support.

“I just want my family to understand that I am so unimaginably sorry for what I have put them through,” he said. “I know they have been here for me and they’re here for me today, but I want them to know that this should be about them. It’s about them and if I ever get the chance at freedom I want the healing to be about them.

Alan Shearer was in his prime and in the starting lineup for Blackburn when the English Premier League kicked off its first season 33 summers ago.

Shearer scored two goals that day in a 3-3 draw with Crystal Palace. But he had no idea that season would give birth to the most dominant force in the history of club soccer — and perhaps the most dominant force in the history of international sports.

“There’s no way anyone could have predicted back in 1992 that it was going to be this incredible, huge, gigantic force that it’s become,” said Shearer, who would go on to become the leading scorer in EPL history, of the Premier League. “It is sort of chalk and cheese in terms of where it was then to where it is now.”

That’s an English way of saying the league, which kicked off a new season Friday, has progressed.

International soccer is a sport ruled by money, and the Premier League became the best league in the world because it’s also the richest. Six of the 10 wealthiest teams in the world play in the EPL, where the average franchise value is $1.5 billion, according to Sportico. And the 20 teams combined to earn more than $8.5 billion in commercial revenue in 2023-24, according to Deloitte.

That’s allowed the EPL to outbid others for the top talent, resulting in deeper rosters and a level of play no other league can match.

Other leagues may have one or two better teams — France’s Paris Saint-Germain, for example, is the reigning European champion and Spain’s Real Madrid has won 15 continental titles, more than twice what any English club has won — but top to bottom, no league is as competitive as the EPL. That’s why its games are broadcast in 189 countries to a potential audience of 4.7 billion people, part of an international and domestic broadcast package valued at $5.1 billion a season, according to CNBC.

“It is where it is because of the interest and because of how many people want to watch it,” said Shearer, now a soccer pundit for the BBC. “We’ve got, without a doubt, a lot of the best players in the world. We’ve got the best atmosphere in the world. The finances are there.

“Basically everyone wants to be a part of it. And whilst that is the case, it’s only going to get bigger.”

It certainly didn’t start that way. The Premier League formed when English soccer was emerging from a low point that threatened to sink it. In the mid 1980s, hooliganism was rife, English teams were banned from European competition for five years following a deadly clash between Liverpool and Juventus supporters in Belgium, and the Football League First Division, the country’s top level since 1888, lagged well behind Italy’s Serie A and Spain’s La Liga in attendance and revenue. As a result, the best English stars, not to mention international talent, played elsewhere.

By 1990 the situation had gotten so bad, England’s top clubs — Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool and Everton, known collectively as the “Big Five” — had begun discussions to form a breakaway league that would have commercial independence, allowing it to increase revenue by negotiating its own broadcast and sponsorship deals.

Two years later, the Premier League debuted.

The revenue growth that EPL has enjoyed in the three decades since is well beyond the wildest dreams of the league’s founding fathers. And that’s turned around an exodus of top players out of England; now nearly three-quarters of Premier League players are foreign-born, among them Egypt’s Mo Salah, Norway’s Erling Haaland and Sweden’s Alexander Isak.

Manchester City’s Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring against Wolverhampton on Saturday.

(Dave Shopland / Associated Press)

But what has really made the Premier League great is its relative balance. Although just seven teams have won a title in the league’s 32 seasons, that qualifies as parity in Europe, where Bayern Munich has won 12 of the last 13 German championships, PSG has won 11 of the last 13 French crowns and just one team not named Real Madrid or Barcelona has won the Spanish league in the last 21 years.

In the Premier League, on any given weekend every game is in doubt. That competitiveness is why three EPL teams have won the UEFA Champions League since 2019 and in two of those three seasons, the European champion didn’t win the Premier League title. This summer Chelsea won the FIFA Club World Cup, making it arguably the best team on the planet, two months after finishing fourth in the Premier League table.

“One week the team at the bottom can beat the team at the top and that’s not a fluke,” said Shearer, who played for a Newcastle team that finished second in the EPL in consecutive seasons, then fell to 13th in each of the next two. “I don’t see that jeopardy in other leagues at all. That’s why the Premier League works and why the Premier League is the most watched.”

The challenge now for the Premier League is staying on top. When the EPL came into being, Serie A and La Liga were widely considered the best leagues in the world, winning a combined six Champions League titles between 1990 and 2000. But financial issues, tactical stagnation and a lack of investment in infrastructure combined to sink Italian soccer while La Liga became so top-heavy, with superclubs Barcelona and Real Madrid choking off all competition, that it became a league of two Goliaths and 18 Davids.

Shearer said there are lessons to be learned from those experiences.

“Every huge business has to evolve and keep going forward and keep improving,” he said. “The Premier League is no different. Since that very first day when I ran out for Blackburn against Crystal Palace to what it is now, there’s been improvement. Whilst the interest is there, whilst the finance keeps coming in, whilst we all want to watch, it is getting bigger and better.

“But yeah, you have to keep an eye on your competitors.”

⚽ You have read the latest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a spotlight on unique stories. Listen to Baxter on this week’s episode of the “Corner of the Galaxy” podcast.

France’s most devastating wildfire in decades remains active despite being brought under control, officials announced, as firefighting efforts continue with hundreds of personnel.

The massive blaze in Aude has scorched more than 17,000 hectares (42,000 acres) – an area larger than Paris – killing one person, injuring another 13 and destroying numerous homes.

Approximately 2,000 firefighters remain deployed to combat the flames, which were declared under control on Thursday night.

“The fire will not be declared extinguished for several days,” said Christian Pouget, Aude’s prefect. “There is still a lot of work to be done.”

Officials have restricted access to the devastated forests until at least Sunday due to hazardous conditions, including fallen power lines and other dangers.

Pouget confirmed that roughly 2,000 evacuees still await clearance to return home, with hundreds sheltering in school gymnasiums and community centres throughout the region.

This wildfire is the largest in France’s Mediterranean region in at least 50 years, according to government monitoring agencies. The southern area is particularly susceptible to such fires.

At its peak, the blaze consumed about 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) per hour, Narbonne authorities reported. Shifting strong winds over two days made the fire’s behaviour unpredictable.

A 65-year-old woman who refused evacuation orders was found dead in her burned home, while 13 others were injured, including 11 firefighters.

Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, visiting the affected area on Wednesday, called the wildfire a “catastrophe on an unprecedented scale”.

“What is happening today is linked to global warming and linked to drought,” Bayrou said.

Environment Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher wrote in a post on X that this was France’s largest fire since 1949. The country has experienced approximately 9,000 wildfires this summer, primarily near the Mediterranean coast.

Aude has seen increasing burn areas in recent years, exacerbated by reduced rainfall and vineyard removals that previously helped slow fire progression.

In Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, the hardest-hit village, thick smoke continued rising on Thursday from pine-covered hills overlooking vineyards where dry grass still burned.

With Europe facing new August heatwaves, many regions remain on wildfire alert. Portugal extended emergency measures on Thursday due to heightened fire risks.

Near Spain’s Tarifa, fire crews secured areas around tourist accommodation after controlling a major blaze that destroyed hundreds of hectares.

Climate experts indicate that global warming is driving longer, more intense and more frequent heatwaves worldwide, creating more favourable conditions for forest fires.

TOKYO — Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Wednesday vowed to remain in power to oversee the implementation of a new Japan-U.S. tariff agreement, despite media speculation and growing calls for him to resign after a historic defeat of his governing party.

Ishiba met with heavyweights from his Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, and former Prime Ministers Taro Aso, Fumio Kishida and Yoshihide Suga at party headquarters.

He told reporters afterward that they didn’t discuss his resignation or a new party leadership contest, but only the election results, voters’ dissatisfaction and the urgent need to avoid party discord.

Despite his business-as-usual demeanor, Ishiba is under increasing pressure to bow out after the LDP and junior coalition partner Komeito lost their majority in Sunday’s election in the 248-member upper house, the smaller and less powerful of Japan’s two-chamber parliament, shaking his grip on power.

It came after a loss in the more powerful lower house in October, and so his coalition now lacks a majority in both houses of parliament, making it even more difficult for his government to pass policies and worsening Japan’s political instability.

Ishiba says he intends to stay on to tackle pressing challenges, including tariff talks with the U.S., so as not to create a political vacuum despite calls from inside and outside his party for a quick resignation.

Ishiba “keeps saying he is staying on. What was the public’s verdict in the election all about?” said Yuichiro Tamaki, head of the surging Democratic Party for the People, or DPP.

At the LDP, a group of younger lawmakers led by Yasutaka Nakasone started a petition drive seeking Ishiba’s early resignation and renewal of party leadership.

“We all have a sense of crisis and think the election results were ultimatum from the voters,” he said.

Japanese media reported that Ishiba is expected to soon announce plans to step down in August.

The conservative Yomiuri newspaper said in an extra edition on Wednesday that Ishiba had decided to announce his resignation by the end of July after receiving a detailed report from his chief trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, on the impact of the U.S. tariffs on the Japanese economy, paving the way for a new party leader.

Ishiba denied the report and said that he wants to focus on the U.S. trade deal, which covers more than 4,000 goods affecting many Japanese producers and industries. He welcomed the new agreement, which places tariffs at 15% on Japanese cars and other goods imported into the U.S. from Japan, down from the initial 25%.

Still, local media are already speculating about possible successors. Among them are ultraconservative former Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi, who lost to Ishiba in September. Another conservative ex-minister, Takayuki Kobayashi, and Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, the son of former popular Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, are also seen as potential challengers.

In Sunday’s election, voters frustrated with price increases exceeding the pace of wage hikes, especially younger people who have long felt ignored by the ruling government’s focus on senior voters, rapidly turned to the emerging conservative DPP and right-wing populist Sanseito party.

None of the opposition parties have shown interest in forming a full-fledged alliance with the governing coalition, but they have said they are open to cooperating on policy.

People expressed mixed reaction to Ishiba, as his days seem to be numbered.

Kentaro Nakamura, 53, said that he thought it’s time for Ishiba to go, because he lacked consistency and did poorly in the election.

“The (election) result was so bad and I thought it would not be appropriate for him to stay on,” Nakamura said. “I thought it was just a matter of time.”

But Isamu Kawana, a Tokyo resident in his 70s, was more sympathetic and said if it wasn’t Ishiba who was elected prime minister last year, the result would have been the same.

“I think he got the short end of the stick,” Kawana said.

Yamaguchi writes for the Associated Press. Reeno Hashimoto contributed to this report.

The day after he pitches, Shohei Ohtani turns into Michael Conforto.

Ohtani has played four games on days following his starts, and he’s taken a total of 15 at-bats in them.

He’s collected just one hit.

He’s struck out six times.

Ohtani pitched three innings in the Dodgers’ 5-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night, which led to manager Dave Roberts being asked about Ohtani’s anticipated Confortization on Tuesday.

“In the batter’s box, he’s certainly still a threat,” Roberts said. “So I don’t think right now we’re giving that too much thought.”

Good.

Suspicions that Ohtani’s pitching has negatively affected Ohtani’s hitting have become almost immaterial.

Ohtani will remain a two-way player.

He will remain a two-way player for the remainder of the regular season, and he will remain a two-way player in October.

He should provide more than a couple of innings here and there. He should be a full-blown starter.

Because he wants to. Because the Dodgers need him to.

Ohtani is the best hitter on a team that can’t hit much of anything lately. He is the best pitcher on a team with an injury-ravaged pitching staff that sustained another likely loss on Monday night when closer Tanner Scott departed the game with forearm pain.

His value as a two-way player was evident in the opening game of the three-game series against the Twins, as he gave up a leadoff homer to Byron Buxton and returned the favor by crushing a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning.

The 2-1 lead was gradually extended, by a pair of solo home runs by Will Smith and another bases-empty shot by Andy Pages.

Ohtani pitched three innings, the damage inflicted against him limited to Buxton’s homer even though he was plagued by control problems. Ohtani struck out three batters and was charged with four hits and a walk while throwing 46 pitches.

“I thought I wanted to go four innings, but my pitch count was piling up,” Ohtani said in Japanese.

The Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani celebrates with teammate Mookie betts after hitting a two-run homer in the first inning Monday.

(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)

He will be extended to four innings in his next start, Roberts said.

The Dodgers might need every one of them, considering they have lost 10 of their last 13 games.

Ohtani didn’t know it at the time, but he spent six seasons preparing for something like this. On the Angels, he was a great player on a horrible team, which is what the Dodgers are at this moment.

The sorry state of the team didn’t stop Ohtani from trying to carry it then, and that’s not stopping him from trying to carry it now.

“I think he’s very mindful of where our team is right now,” Roberts said. “I feel he’s trying to will his way to kind of getting us over the hump. He’s competing. He’s taking really good at-bats. And he’s fighting. So I love what he’s doing.”

Ohtani has homered in each of the last three games.

“There’s just an extra level of focus I see in the decision-making at the plate,” Roberts said.

Roberts observed that Ohtani wasn’t driven by personal glory. He pointed to how Ohtani offered no resistance when he said he wanted to switch him and Mookie Betts in the batting order, with Ohtani dropping from the leadoff to No. 2 spot.

Ohtani batted first in every game until Sunday when Roberts moved a slumping Betts to the top of the lineup with hopes of jump-starting his season.

When Roberts texted Ohtani his thoughts the previous night, Ohtani replied by telling him to do whatever was best for the team, even if that meant batting him ninth.

“I have absolutely no problem with it,” Ohtani said. “What’s most important is that everyone can hit comfortably.”

Ohtani’s homers in the last two games came right after Betts reached base in front of him, with a single on Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers and with a walk on Monday against Twins starter David Festa.

“He wants to win,” Roberts said of Ohtani. “I think that him playing every day, him pitching, him taking walks when needed and switching spots with Mookie in the order, whatever is in the best interest of the ballclub, that’s what he’s doing.”

Ohtani is now 31. There are questions about whether his body can still withstand the workload required to play both ways, and rightfully so. But as the Dodgers have trudged through this midseason slump, Ohtani has revealed the spirit that was fundamental in making him the best player in the world. Roberts will wager the season on it. He has no other option.

The 40-year-old All-Star will report to Los Angeles Lakers’ training camp this preseason amid NBA trade rumours.

Despite an off season of rumours and speculation, LeBron James is expected to remain with the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2025-26 basketball season, The Athletic has reported.

The Lakers and James have not engaged in talks about a trade or buyout, and the NBA’s all-time leading scorer is expected to report to camp with the Lakers this autumn, per the report published on Wednesday. There haven’t been any signs, either, that James wants out.

James picked up his $52.6m option last month to return for an eighth season with the Lakers.

He will be returning to a team this time around on which, for the first time in his career, he is the second option. Luka Doncic, acquired in a stunning trade from the Dallas Mavericks in February, is expected to be the centrepiece for Los Angeles in the upcoming season.

Apparently fuelling the trade or buyout rumours is a statement made by James’s longtime agent, Rich Paul, last month that included this line, “We do want to evaluate what’s best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career.”

Trading James, given his salary, would be difficult since NBA trades must be for players with contracts of similar value due to the salary cap.

The Lakers, according to The Athletic, also are reluctant to take on a player earning in the $50m range if he has additional years on the contract. The Lakers will be free of James’s $52.6m player option once his contract expires at the end of the upcoming season.

James, 40, is entering his record-setting 23rd NBA season. He has played in 1,562 regular-season games and is 50 shy of breaking Hall of Fame member Robert Parish’s NBA record.

James averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists in 70 games in 2024-25 to rank in the top 22 in each category. The Lakers forward also finished sixth in most valuable player (MVP) voting.

He is a 21-time All-Star, four-time league MVP and four-time NBA champion. He has scored a record 42,184 regular-season points, and 50,473 in the regular season and playoffs combined.

James entered the NBA as an 18-year-old after being selected number one in the 2003 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He turns 41 in December.

Houthis strikes on Israel prove without a shadow of a doubt that America’s air strikes on Yemen are a failure, Nasr Al-Din Amer, deputy head of the Houthi group’s media office, said yesterday.

In statements to Al Jazeera, Amer added: “As much as the destruction of our infrastructure pains us, it does not affect our military operations, and we will respond.”

He stressed that “the blockade on Umm Al-Rashrash [Eilat] Port will not be lifted, nor will it resume operations. It will remain closed, and navigation will not return to normal at the Israeli enemy’s airports. They will remain closed until the aggression against Gaza stops.”

“We tell them that the operations will not end, and we are in a long battle, not an exchange of strikes. Our strikes are coming, even if you don’t attack Sana’a airport or Hudaydah Port. We will attack you because you are killing the Palestinian people,” he continued.

READ: US-Houthi ceasefire deal does not include Israel, says Houthi spokesperson

Amer asserted that the group’s operations intend to support the Palestinian people, vowing to intensify them with other advanced methods “if Israel continues to threaten ground operations in Gaza.”

He ended by saying: “We are responding within the framework of a battle with the Israeli enemy entity. As long as the aggression against Gaza continues, along with the siege and the violation of a number of Arab countries continues, we remain in a state of engagement with the enemy. We will respond with full force, we will say no, and we are confident that we will achieve victory in the battle.”

Yesterday, the Israeli occupation army announced it bombed Sanaa airport and central power stations used by the Houthis in the capital, as a response to the attack on Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv on Sunday.

READ: Airlines halt all flights to Israel after Houthi missile lands near airport