save

Brandon Nimmo singled home the go-ahead run in the 10th inning and the Texas Rangers beat the Angels 4-1 on Monday night to snap a five-game road losing streak.

Texas (60-59) has won five of its last six overall and is a half-game behind AL West-leading Houston.

Nimmo and Elias Díaz each finished with two hits and an RBI.

Peyton Gray (6-0) pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to earn the win. Jacob Latz worked a scoreless 10th for his 23rd save.

Luke Murphy (0-1) came on to start the 10th for the Angels. Wyatt Langford drew a leadoff walk and Corey Seager singled to load the bases. Ezequiel Duran popped out, Blake Weiman replaced Murphy and Nimmo’s line drive to right field drove in automatic runner Nicky Lopez before Jake Burger’s two-run single capped the scoring.

Mike Trout hit a 418-foot shot for the Angels (45-74), his 20th home run this season, in the first inning. The three-time AL MVP was one for two and walked three times, one intentional.

Angels right fielder Wade Meckler robbed Seager of a home run to end the seventh and preserve a 1-1 tie.

Díaz singled to drive in Duran and make it 1-1 in the fourth.

Texas starter MacKenzie Gore struck out nine in 5⅓ innings. He allowed four hits and walked two. The 27-year-old left-hander was reinstated from paternity leave Saturday after his fiancée, Alex, gave birth to their first child.

Angels starter Reid Detmers gave up one run and had six strikeouts in six innings. He allowed three hits and walked four.

Up next: Angels RHP Ryan Johnson (2-6, 7.11 ERA) starts Tuesday opposite LHP Cody Bradford (0-0, 0.00) as the series continues.

WHAT’S better than a day out at your favourite theme park? Not having to drive home afterwards.

We’ve rounded up the top UK staycation deals across theme parks where you can stay on-site as a family from just £34.13pp.

That means waking up just steps away from your favourite coasters – and in some cases – some free fast passes and gifts bundled in, too.

Here’s our top short break deals for attractions like Thorpe Park and Alton Towers.

Alton Towers

Alton Towers are running a Kids Swim Free summer sale across their short breaks.

Choose between a stay at the CBeebies Land Hotel, Alton Towers Hotel, Woodland Lodges, Luxury Treehouses, Stargazing Pods or Splash Landings – the last of which is attached to the waterpark.

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With your stay you’ll enjoy one day’s theme park entry, and with the summer sale, you’ll also bag free waterpark entry for kids.

In one weekend you’ll be able to tick off the new Bluey children’s coaster and take on the high-speed flumes of the huge indoor waterpark.

Book the Kids Swim Free waterpark offer with an Alton Towers short break – from £87pp

Gulliver’s Theme Park

Head to Wowcher to save up to 57% on tickets to Gulliver’s Theme Park.

The offer is valid across their locations in Milton Keynes, Rother Valley, Matlock Bath and Warrington.

Across the parks you can take on the dizzying Gyrosaur, ride the Rocky Ridge Railway, or drop by the farm park to meet the animals.

At £12.50 per person, this Wowcher offer slashes the standard £25 ticket price in half.

Add in free parking and free admission for toddlers under 90cm, and it makes for a budget-friendly school holiday day out.

The theme park are also currently offering a save up to 40% deal on short breaks – check their website for more.

Book a day out at Gulliver’s World from £12.50pp

Chessington World of Adventures

Book in for an affordable theme park staycation at Chessington World of Adventures this summer.

Short breaks at Chessington include an overnight stay in a themed resort hotel plus one day’s theme park and zoo entry, early ride time, hotel entertainment, a buffet breakfast plus free parking.

Older kids will love thrill coasters like Vampire, while little ones can tackle rides like Chase’s Mountain Mission at the newly-opened World of Paw Patrol.

Plus with the Summer Savings scheme underway until September 1, you’ll benefit from reduced VAT prices whilst you’re away.

Book a short break at Chessington from £88.13pp

Thorpe Park

Thorpe Park are also offering affordable short breaks this summer, bundling an overnight stay, breakfast, two-day theme park entry, free parking and one hour’s fast-track into one price.

Stay in the theme park’s cabins to be right in the heart of the action, or choose to stay at a nearby hotel.

Plus if you choose to stay in a themed cabin on-site, you’ll get an extra fast-track pass for one coaster per guest. You can use it five times on coasters like Colossus, Nemesis Inferno and The Swarm.

Whether you’re visiting to have a go on Hyperia, the UK’s tallest and fastest rollercoaster, or to to race down multi-lane rubber ring waterslides as a family, you’ll tick it all off with a staycation.

Book a short break at Thorpe Park from £34.13pp

Merlin multi-attraction tickets

Heading to London? Plan ahead by booking a multi-attraction pass and bag some savings.

You can combine a mix of Merlin attractions like the London Eye, Madame Tussauds, the London Dungeon, Sea Life and more to spread across your visit to cut costs.

There’s loads of combo packages available – one example is a trip to the London Eye, Madame Tussauds and Sea Life bundled at £56 per adult (down from £64) and kids’ tickets at £50.31 instead of £57.50.

If you’re visiting London from elsewhere in the UK, you’ll want to make sure you tick off several of the big attractions in one go – and these multi-attraction passes are one of the most cost-efficient ways to do so.

Browse Merlin multi-attraction passes from £51.63pp

Legoland

Immerse yourself fully in the world of Lego with a themed stay at Legoland Windsor Resort.

Short breaks include an overnight stay with hot breakfast and one day’s entry into the theme park.

Pick between an off-site hotel or a Legoland Resort Hotel – stays at the latter include a Lego-themed room, early park access, Legoland character meet and greets, a free gift for kids and free parking.

Guests also get discounts on Legoland Adventure Golf, which makes for the perfect rainy day activity if the weather decides to play up.

In the park, scan race on the Minifigure Speedway coaster, soar on the Flight of the Sky Lion, and get creative themselves in the massive playroom.

Book a short break at Legoland from £102pp

Prices correct at the time of publication.

A WEBSITE considered the eBay or Vinted for holidays allows travellers to essentially buy second-hand breaks with massive savings.

Savings can be huge, one man even saved £6,000 on a luxury cruise that he bought online.

Called Transfer Travel, the website is a place to snap up absolute bargains with savings between 40 to 70 percent.

On the flip-side, it lets users sell any part of their trip that they can no longer go from flights to hotels, accommodation or whole holidays.

Maisie Blewitt, head of commercial at Transfer Travel, told the Daily Mail: “We’ve always said we’re like Vinted for travel or eBay for travel. If you can’t go on your holiday, you can just pop them on our platform and then resell them. 

“There’s well over a thousand listings on the website at the moment, well over a thousand different people who need to kind of recoup a bit of money or sell travel plans when things change.”

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One man who spoke to The Times said that he saved £6,000 on a luxury cruise after buying it on Transfer Travel.

Jorge Paiva bagged himself a two-week cruise around Portugal, Morocco and Spain and paid just £1,500 each, which was a third of the full-price ticket.

Originally listed at £9,000 he spent £3,000 on two non-refundable tickets for a Silversea Cruise when the sellers were advised not to go on health grounds.

Another woman who was visiting the UK from the US managed to nab first-class rail tickets from London Euston to Glasgow worth £240 for £150.

You can buy the holiday as is, or try and haggle the price down even more with the ‘Make Offer’ button.

Once the holiday is bought, the platform holds the money from the buyer until the new passenger’s details have been updated for the trip.

The money is then released to the seller, and if the seller doesn’t transfer the trip within 72 hours, the buyer is given a refund.

Sun Travel has found some great deals too – some are even during the summer holidays.

One flight deal is from Manchester Airport to Split with Jet2 from August 9 to September 5 for £190 – which is almost 60 percent less than the original price.

When it comes to holidays, one summer break on offer is seven-nights in Ibiza for £1,100.

Included is a stay at Hotel Brisa between August 17-25 and return flights from Manchester.

It’s a saving of 33.49 per cent.

Currently on the website is a cruise onboard Royal Caribbean‘s Allure of the Seas from Fort Lauderdale to Jamaica.

It’s for four people in a balcony cabin for six days between August 30 to September 6 at the cost of £1,711 – which is 39.47 per cent less than the original price.

For anyone who wants to go on a safari, one traveller is selling a break to Umkhanyakude in South Africa.

It’s a six-night stay for two in a Zulu Nyala Heritage Safari Lodge with all meals included and two daily game drives with professionals.

At the cost of £1,599.75, it’s 66.92 per cent off the original price.

A family trip to Walt Disney World Resort in Florida can be notoriously expensive, but a travel expert who’s visited almost 50 times in the last six years has a money-saving hack

An avid Disney World Resort fan has been to the popular park a whopping 48 times, and during that time, he’s uncovered nifty travel hacks that can help families save hundreds.

Those who have been to Walt Disney World Resort in Florida will know how expensive a holiday can be, and those who haven’t will have heard about its hefty price tag. From flights, hotels, theme park passes, restaurants, and all the additional extras, it can quickly add up, with trips to ‘The Most Magical Place on Earth’ costing anything from £1,500 to £4,000 per person.

For a family of four, that could amount to anything from £4,000 to more than £10,000 for a 10-night trip. It certainly doesn’t come cheap, but for many, it’s a bucketlist holiday that’s well worth forking out for, and there are ample ways to help keep the costs down.

One of the best-known ways to save some serious cash is to book the cheapest available flights and opt for budget-friendly hotels outside the resort but close enough to travel back and forth each day. Yet, there’s another nifty money-saving tip that Disney expert Mark Patterson highly recommends to anyone planning a trip.

Matt, who has been to Florida’s Disney World Resort a whopping 48 times in the last six years for work and pleasure, told the Mirror: “All the restaurants at Disney are expensive, so the hotels I like have a kitchenette with a stove and a full-size fridge, so you can buy food and cook it.

“You can then take it into the park with you, and that can save a lot of money. Even if you just take two meals in for the family, that can save you easily $100 (£74.71) to $200 (£149.42) per day.”

Booking a hotel room or resort with a kitchenette to make meals for the day isn’t the only way to save some extra cash. The travel expert who lives in Southern California advised holidaymakers to book a hotel that offers free breakfast to help avoid hidden costs that can quickly add up to hundreds.

And there’s one area he recommends for that budget-friendly hotel with a free breakfast. “The Flamingo Crossings area is my favourite, it’s newer, and the hotels are all new, and they all have free breakfast. They offer good, reasonable prices there.”

However, he noted that, due to its location, visitors have to drive, get a lift, or take a shuttle bus to the park each day. Yet, with free breakfast included, it might be well worth travelling a little further to help cut costs.

Matt certainly knows what he’s talking about, having stayed at 36 different hotels during his trips to Disney World. He also aims for an average hotel price of around $100 (£74.71) to $200 (£149.42) per night to make it more affordable, while looking out for any hidden fees.

Another area he recommends is Disney Springs. He said: “The Disney Springs area has a range of hotels, right there within walking distance to the shopping area, and it’s where pretty much everybody goes to eat at night. It gets very busy and popular, so being able to walk to that is very handy.

“However, the bad thing about that, or something you have to trade off, is that only one of the hotels offers a free breakfast; all the others you have to pay for. So I might get a hotel for around $100 (£74.71) per night, but will then have to pay for breakfast, which is $28 (£20.92), along with paying for parking, which can be around $25 (£18.68) and a resort fee of around $40 (£29.88).

“So it can literally double the price of what I thought I was going to pay. Disney Springs area is great, but you’ve got those little hidden fees.”

Mark documents his many trips to Walt Disney World Resort on his website, DDadBudget, with various pieces of advice to fellow fans.

Do you have a travel story to share? Email webtravel@reachplc.com

FREE trackers for soft toys are being offered to easyJet customers to help kids avoid losing them on holiday.

The Teddy Trackers devices fasten to children’s companions, and can be located via safety app Life360.

EasyJet, the airline and package holiday provider, has teamed up with Teddy Trackers to give parents peace of mind while they travel.

It comes after research, conducted by Censuswide, found two thirds of parents say their child has lost their favourite soft toy or comforter on holiday.

Stuart Wright, customer director at easyJet holidays, said: “We know that it’s often the little things that make the biggest difference to a family holiday.

“For many children, a favourite teddy or comfort toy is an important part of the journey and losing it can be upsetting at what should be an exciting time.

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“That’s why we’ve launched Teddy Trackers, giving families extra peace of mind while they’re away.”

The study also found 30 per cent of mums and dad’s of kids who lost toys while they were away, immediately bought an identical replacement online when they got home.

They would hope their little ones wouldn’t notice.

Nearly fourt in five parents say their child’s favourite toy travels with them on most, if not every, family holiday and more than half admit they would change their holiday plans to retrieve a lost toy.

Around 33 per cent of mums and dads say their child’s favourite toy is considered a member of the family.

Among the nation’s most-loved companions, stuffed bunnies take the number one spot as the most commonly lost toy at 26 per cent, followed by traditional teddy bears, and action figures or dolls.

The top toy names reported are Bunny, Teddy, Fluffy, and Billy.

Life360 claims more than 40,000 toys have been actively tracked around the world in the last 12 months through its trackers.

Tom Rizzo, GM International at Life360, said: “We are incredibly excited to be partnering with easyJet right in the middle of the busy summer holiday season, helping families to avoid teddy-related disasters.

“By slipping a Life360 Tile tracker onto a soft toy, the fear of losing it disappears.

“Whether a beloved bear is left behind at security or vanishes under a poolside sunbed, parents can pinpoint its location in seconds using the Life360 app.

“Best of all, the Tile is theirs to keep, meaning families will never have to worry about a lost furry companion on future adventures.”

GRAB your hard hat and get ready for a brilliant family day out, with an exclusive 2-for-1 discount on tickets to Diggerland, the UK’s only construction themed park.

Families can save over £39 on tickets and enjoy a day packed with giant machines, exciting rides, and hands-on fun across four locations in Kent, Devon, Durham, and Yorkshire.

Join Sun Club for just £1.99 a month — don’t miss out.

At Diggerland, visitors can get behind the controls of real construction machinery and enjoy over 20 rides and drives, with more than 100 machines to explore.

Take in the views from 50 feet high on the Skyshuttle, climb into the driver’s seat of a JCB 3CX Backhoe Loader, enjoy the twists and turns of the Spindizzy ride or take the controls of a dumper truck.

Whether it is your first visit or you are coming back for more, Diggerland offers a day out where families can get involved, try something new and make memories along the way.

After all the excitement, families can take a well-earned break at the on-site café, enjoy the indoor and outdoor play areas or let the little ones explore the dedicated Little Tikes area. 

With four UK parks to choose and FREE entry for children under 90cm, Diggerland has everything families need for a memorable day out.

Get 2-for-1 tickets to Diggerland

To redeem your voucher, follow the steps below:

• Step 2: Head to Offers Hub and find the Diggerland page. You do not need to collect Sun Savers codes. Booking opens at 11am on Monday, August 3.

• Step 3: Download your voucher (Max 2 people per voucher) and have it ready on your phone or printed before your visit. 

• Step 4: Choose your Diggerland Park in Kent, Devon, Durham or Yorkshire.

• Step 5: Present your voucher at the gate when purchasing tickets, alongside a valid Sun Club account and claim your voucher by Monday, October 19 to claim this offer. 

T&Cs: Voucher is available on weekends throughout September and October, plus every day during the October half-term break, until October 31, 2026.

Or you can pick up the The Sun newspaper from Saturday, August 1 and collect Sun Savers codes.

• Find the Diggerland page in the Offers section and select Start Collecting.
• Collect THREE out of eight Sun Savers codes printed in The Sun from Saturday, August 1 to Saturday, August 8. Once you have your THREE Sun Savers codes, enter them on the Sun Savers app or website to unlock booking. Booking opens at 11am on Monday, August 3.
• Download your voucher (Max 2 people per voucher), then either show it on your phone or print it and bring it with you to you chosen Diggerland Park in Kent, Devon, Durham or Yorkshire.
• Present your voucher at the gate when purchasing tickets, alongside a valid Sun Savers account and use your voucher by Saturday, October 31.

18+ UK only. Sun Savers multiple code collect 01/08/26-08/08/26 or Sun Club subscription required. Online access required. Buy one full price standard admission ticket to get a second standard admission ticket free for the same day. Voucher must be redeemed at attractions alongside valid Sun Club/Sun Savers account. Cannot be used online or in conjunction with any other offer. Max 2 people per voucher. Tickets valid weekends in September-October and October 26-30 only. Subject to availability. Non-transferable & non-refundable. Full T&Cs apply, see sunsavers.co.uk  or club.thesun.co.uk/sun-club.

Join Sun Club for just £1.99 a month — don’t miss out.

IF you’re trying to figure out which country is the absolute cheapest for a summer getaway, you’re asking the wrong question.

After digging through thousands of our Summer 2026 bookings, the data made one thing blindingly obvious.

The biggest savings don’t come from swapping Spain for Turkey or Greece for Tunisia. They come from swapping one resort for another.

In almost every major holiday destination, there is one specific pocket quietly delivering far better value than the rest.

Sometimes it’s because it sits just a few miles outside a famous hotspot, and other times it’s simply because a place hasn’t shaken off an old reputation it no longer deserves.

The upshot is that you can bag the exact same week in the sun for a fraction of the cost just by shifting your search field a few miles down the coast.

I’ve crunched the numbers to find the cheapest resort in each of Britain’s favourite holiday spots to show you exactly where the system is breaking in our favour.

10. Hammamet, Tunisia – 18 per cent cheaper

Tunisia has quietly become the ultimate value play for guaranteed Mediterranean sunshine without the inflated price tags of Egypt or Turkey, but Hammamet is the real standout.

Our booking data has it tracking at 18 per cent cheaper than the average holiday in Tunisia, serving up massive white sand beaches and a proper, historic old town and marina that gives it way more character than a standard, purpose-built resort strip.

I spotted a seven night stay at The Russelior Hotel & Spa, flying from Gatwick in September, from £350pp on a Bed & Breakfast basis.

And the thing I love most at this property is their dedicated, ultra-quiet saltwater lagoon section hidden at the back.

It completely bypasses the noisy main freshwater pools, giving you a high-end, peaceful oasis for a rock-bottom price.

9. Praia da Luz, Portugal – 26 per cent cheaper

The Algarve is dominated by high-premium names like Albufeira and Vilamoura, which completely swallow the search traffic and explains why Praia da Luz routinely slips under the radar.

But bookings here are coming in 26 per cent cheaper than the Portugal average despite sitting on one of the prettiest, cliff-backed horseshoe bays on the coastline.

You can lock in seven nights at Oasis Beach, flying from Stansted at the end of September on a self-catering basis, from £365pp.

Because the seafront is packed with incredible independent seafood spots, saving cash on the board is a no-brainer.

The biggest perk at this complex is that the clifftop walking trail starts literally right outside the reception gates, leading you directly up to the famous Rocha Negra headland for an elite sunset view without paying the premium prices of the frontline bars.

8. Chloraka, Cyprus – 27 per cent cheaper

When people look at Cyprus, not many people know that Chloraka even exists.

The data shows it is averaging 27 per cent cheaper than the Cyprus baseline while offering the exact same sea views and Mediterranean weather.

It’s a brilliant, simple switch if you don’t mind being slightly outside the main tourist hub.

I tracked down an early autumn week at Helios Bay from £460pp.

Don’t let the 3-star rating fool you – this place has an incredibly loyal following of repeat guests, and the easy local transport right outside the hotel is a big reason why.

The main municipal bus stop sits directly outside the hotel entrance, running a direct link straight into Paphos harbor every 10 minutes for pocket change, allowing you to entirely skip expensive car rentals or daily taxi fares.

How’s that for a hack?

7. Naama Bay, Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt – 28 per cent cheaper

Egypt has firmly established itself as a luxury-for-less destination, but the soaring popularity of its newest five-star resorts has started pushing average prices up.

Naama Bay completely bucks that trend, tracking at 28 per cent less than the average Egypt holiday while still putting you right in the heart of Sharm El Sheikh.

You can spend a week at Falcon Hills from £500pp, flying direct from Liverpool – and that’s all inclusive as well!

It’s a massive favorite for return visitors because it’s set back slightly from the central bustle, and this hotel even has a complimentary, on-site dive partnership.

The hotel runs a free daily shuttle to a private, sheltered coral reef section on the coast, meaning you can snorkel with incredible marine life straight from the shore without shelling out for an expensive commercial boat excursion.

6. Nuevo Horizonte, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands – 34 per cent cheaper

The Canaries are Britain’s ultimate holiday safety blanket because the weather is a safe bet all year round, but the downside is that peak-season markups can be savage.

That’s why Nuevo Horizonte is such a smart data loophole, sitting at 34 per cent cheaper than the Canary Islands average.

I found an all inclusive week at the Globales Costa Tropical, flying from Bournemouth, from £390pp.

You are paying for Fuerteventura’s legendary white beaches here rather than a flashy marble reception lobby, which is a trade I will make every single day.

And being in Fuerteventura, this hotel’s bike hire program is a massive bonus.

The hotel rents out high-spec cycles from the front desk for next to nothing, and because the coastal path running directly into neighbouring Caleta de Fuste is entirely flat, you can cruise into town for an evening out without ever paying a euro for a taxi.

5. Sarigerme, Dalaman, Turkey – 38 per cent cheaper

Turkey is always at the top of my list for sheer value, but Sarigerme is currently outperforming the market, running 38 per cent lower than the average Turkish booking.

It is infinitely calmer and more unhurried than Bodrum or Marmaris, making it the perfect spot to turn your phone off for a week.

I clocked a seven-night all inclusive break at The X Life Hotel, flying direct from Bristol, from £470pp.

Because it’s strictly an adults-only property, the vibe around the grounds is incredibly laid-back.

The hotel also has a specialised beach shuttle – they run an exclusive, free tractor-pulled shuttle wagon that shuttles guests down to their private sand lot all day, which sounds a bit quirky but is an absolute lifesaver for bypassing the intense midday Turkish heat on the sun-baked sand tracks.

4. Mgarr, Gozo, Malta – 40 per cent cheaper

Gozo is essentially Malta with the brakes tapped, and hopping on the quick local ferry drops your holiday bill by a staggering 40 per cent compared to the main island average.

Mgarr is a stunning harbour town where the water is crystal clear and the pace of life is completely relaxed.

A week at the Grand Hotel here starts from £495pp at the end of September on a room-only basis.

Booking room-only is a smart play here too, because the hotel sits directly above the active harbour, putting the island’s best independent seafood tavernas right at your feet.

And I’ve got a great tip for this hotel too: head down to the docks at 7am, because the local fishermen will sell you the catch of the day directly from their boats for pennies, and the harbour restaurants will happily grill it up for your dinner for a tiny prep fee.

Thank me later.

3. Malgrat de Mar, Costa Brava, Spain – 42 per cent cheaper

Spain will always dominate summer bookings, but Malgrat de Mar has come out as the cheapest major Spanish resort in my entire analysis, sitting at 42 per cent less than the average Spain hol.

It gives you an incredible balance of wide beaches, long promenades, and proper tapas bars that don’t fleece you for chips.

If you just want a cheap week in the sun, the Alegria Cartago Nova is hard to ignore at £205pp for seven nights, flying direct from Stansted.

The location does all the heavy lifting here, and the real insider secret is that the hotel sits just a two-minute stroll from the coastal train line, giving you a direct, traffic-free route straight into central Barcelona for less than the price of a pint.

2. Montecatini, Tuscany, Italy – 59 per cent cheaper

This was the absolute wild card of all the data I poured through.

Italy is rarely associated with budget package holidays, yet the Tuscan spa town of Montecatini came in at a mind-blowing 59 per cent cheaper than the national average.

The logic is simple: instead of paying eye-watering city-centre hotel rates in Florence or Pisa, you use this beautiful historic town as your base and commute in.

I spotted a week at the Boston Hotel from £285pp on a room-only basis.

And while you’re here, take the historic Funicolare cable car from the town centre up to Montecatini Alto.

It’s an ancient, red funicular railway that drops you into a medieval hilltop square packed with family-run trattorias where a proper plate of handmade Tuscan pasta costs a fraction of what you’d pay near the main tourist landmarks down in Florence.

1. Kavos, Corfu, Greece – 69 per cent cheaper

Across every single piece of data I analyzed for Summer 2026, Kavos delivered the biggest saving on the board, dropping an incredible 69 per cent below the average holiday anywhere in Greece.

I know the immediate reaction because Kavos has carried a rowdy party reputation for decades, but if you look past the main strip, the landscape has changed completely.

It now boasts excellent boat trips across to Paxos and some of the cheapest food and drink prices in Greece.

Take the Oula Maisonettes, where a week from Gatwick starts from just £255pp on a self-catering basis.

The property is run by a local family who harvest their own lemons directly on the grounds – perfect in a G&T, I might add.

So the insider play here is hitting up the pool bar for their homemade lemonade or evening cocktails – it’s entirely made from scratch using their own grove fruit and costs next to nothing compared to the commercial town bars.

I first went to this hotel in 2018 and it’s only grown in popularity since. Easy pick.

Prices correct at the time of publication.

Son Heung-min scored a goal for the second consecutive game, Denis Bouanga added a goal, and LAFC beat Real Salt Lake 3-1 on Wednesday night.

Hugo Lloris, who leads MLS with nine shutouts this season, had six saves for LAFC (9-5-3).

Son, who scored his first goal this season Friday in a 3-0 win over the Galaxy, opened the scoring in the 11th minute. The 34-year-old forward pushed the ball wide to his left to create space from a defender and then blasted his next touch inside the near post from the end of the penalty arc.

Mathieu Choiniere played a ball ahead, the last of four consecutive first-touch passes by LAFC, to Bouanga, who raced to the center of the area, cut back to evade a defender and fired a shot into the net to make it 2-0 in the 40th.

DeAndre Yedlin’s own goal capped the scoring in the 68th minute.

Lukas Engel, a 30-year-old defender in his second MLS season, scored his first career goal in the 86th minute for RSL (8-5-2). Rafael Cabral had one save.

Mogadishu, Somalia – Thousands of reel-to-reel tapes sit in an air-conditioned room in the archive of Somalia’s public radio, Radio Mogadishu, stacked on steel shelves and lined up like old manuscripts beneath a thick layer of dust.

Each reel contains a small fragment of Somalia’s 20th-century history, from news bulletins to speeches, music and voices that were once beamed out across the nation’s airwaves, some dating back to the early 1950s.

Abdiqadir Geedi Robleh, an archivist at Radio Mogadishu, threads a reel onto an old tape machine, connects it to a computer, and records the contents of each tape. A tape with a love song by Mohamed Mooge Liban, a prominent singer fills the room, and Robleh is transported, he says, to his youth.

He is working with a small team to digitise and methodically order approximately 400,000 hours of broadcasts, officials here say, before the magnetic tape deteriorates beyond recovery, taking with it a crucial record of the country’s past.

“This is the world’s largest store of Somali language music, culture, dramas and everything else, and at the moment it is locked away from the public in a kind of prison,” Robleh tells Al Jazeera. “We’re working to preserve it but also open it up in future to the public.”

Founded in 1951 during the Italian colonial era, Radio Mogadishu would grow into Somalia’s largest and most important public broadcaster. It initially broadcast in Italian and Somali before introducing foreign language services, including everything from Swahili and Oromo to English and Arabic.

In its heyday, it was among the most influential and distinctive voices in East African media, reaching audiences as far afield as Tanzania, Ethiopia, and the Middle East with a style of radical pan-African broadcasting reminiscent of Radio Cairo in the Nasser years.

With the exception of a brief hiatus in the 1990s, when it fell under the control of a warlord, it has served not only as a key source of news for Somalis and audiences across the region, but also as a vital repository of the country’s collective memory.

The effort to preserve its archives has gathered new momentum this year.

In early June, Somalia’s information ministry and the UNESCO regional office for Eastern Africa – the UN’s heritage agency – brought archivists from across the country to a workshop in Mogadishu, aimed at eventually registering its contents with UNESCO’s Memory of the World programme, which catalogues archives of important historical value.

“Protecting this knowledge isn’t just relevant for Somalia, but it is relevant for everyone,” said Guilherme Canela, a senior UNESCO official who is overseeing the project.

An expert assessment carried out in April counted roughly 45,000 tapes and reels, representing an estimated 400,000 hours of material recorded since the station’s founding. More than 85 percent remain playable, but around one in 10 has deteriorated with age, and more than 5 percent has been destroyed or severely damaged, according to UNESCO.

Radio Mogadishu’s collection was recognised both for its size and because so much of what it holds exists nowhere else.

Some were damaged in an electrical fire in 2018, Robleh says, while others were lost during fighting in 1992, when US forces battled Somali militias in the streets of Mogadishu.

During the worst of the civil war, police colonel Abshir Hashi Ali risked his life to prevent the contents of the archives from being looted. When fighting engulfed Mogadishu following the 1990 collapse of the government, he said he ran back “with the aim of conveying to Somalis the wealth that is stored here”.

Abdi Jeite, the station’s director, says the digitisation drive began as early as 2012, but has been held back for years by a lack of resources. By his estimate, only approximately 10 percent of the archive has so far been converted.

“We’ve got some new tools, and more training for our archivists, but there is still a lot of support needed,” he says.

To understand why the archive matters so much, it helps to understand what radio once meant in Somali life.

“Radio Mogadishu was arguably the preeminent media institution in post-independence Somalia,” Iman Mohamed, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota and historian of Somalia, tells Al Jazeera.

“In a society that prizes orality above the written word, radio was uniquely effective at creating a common public sphere through which ordinary people could feel bonded to one another and to a shared sense of nationhood,” Mohamed adds.

Though Somali audiences could also access BBC Somali, Radio Hargeisa, and opposition stations when the government began to deteriorate in the latter part of the 20th century, it was Radio Mogadishu that dominated the “soundscape of urban Somalia”, Mohamed said.

That dominance made Radio Mogadishu a national factory of talent. “If you were a musician, poet, playwright or producer, Radio Mogadishu was the platform you wanted to appear on,” Robleh, the archivist, said. “It made Somalia’s stars.”

Robleh, the archivist, added that many BBC Somali journalists who went on to have distinguished careers first cut their teeth at Radio Mogadishu, which became an important pipeline for Somali-language talent to the BBC.

Hassan Dahir, a former journalist at the station, was one of many Somali children who grew up dreaming of working there. For years, he recalled, Radio Mogadishu was virtually the only source of news for millions, “the eyes and ears of the community”, he told Al Jazeera.

“Its reach was so extensive that even nomadic herders followed events as far afield as the Vietnam War and the American Civil Rights Movement,” Dahir said.

Under Siad Barre, the military officer who seized power in a 1969 coup and ran Somalia for two decades under a self-styled socialist, revolutionary government, the station became an instrument of state ideology, mixing news, drama and religious programming with nationalist and anti-colonial content.

The station beamed pan-African songs Oh Africa, still asleep by Halimo Khalif Magool, which spurred the continent’s inhabitants to awaken and take charge of their own destinies. Mahamud Abdullahi Sangub’s Reject the Color of Imperialism was another popular song of the era in this same tradition of politically charged music, with lyrics like: “Africans listen to each other, reject the colour of imperialism, reject it, reject it, reject it!”

Many of those songs have been covered, sampled or repurposed since, and younger Somalis often encounter them with no idea who performed the originals, or the politics that shaped them, say Mohamed.

Its news coverage focused on anti-colonial wars in places such as Mozambique against Portugal, the struggle against apartheid in Rhodesia and South Africa and the Civil Rights Movement in the US. It covered everything from colonial battles in Guinea-Bissau to the arrest of African American political activist and author Angela Davis.

“We were telling the stories of people resisting their oppressors”, said Dahir.

The station was a “mouthpiece of the government”, cautions Mohamed, but took on a crucial role of inculcating “a patriotic and revolutionary ideological orientation in the Somali people”.

One of the most important projects the radio supported was the Somali mass literacy campaign, when the government sent students to rural Somalia in 1972 to teach the newly developed Somali script. The campaign led to a dramatic increase in literacy across the country.

It also became deeply entangled with Somalia’s regional foreign policy, as the government spent much of the 20th century at loggerheads with Ethiopia before eventually invading in 1977.

That rivalry led Radio Mogadishu to dedicate airtime to Ethiopia’s marginalised ethnic communities, as well as armed rebel movements, particularly those from Eritrea. Among its most notable initiatives were broadcasts in Oromo and Sidama.

Dahir, the former Radio Mogadishu journalist who covered Ethiopia, told Al Jazeera that these were the first-ever radio programmes in either language, both of which had been suppressed for many years in Ethiopia under policies that privileged Amharic, the language of the country’s elite.

The station itself has taken on a far smaller role in Somali life since.

The collapse of the central government in 1991 broke the state’s grip on broadcasting, opening space for private radio, television and online outlets, which have proven popular with the Somali public.

It has lost most of its foreign-language programming, and with it, much of its revolutionary edge. The Somali state also continues to be constrained by limited resources as it rebuilds after decades of conflict.

In November 2021, the al-Qaida-affiliated armed group al-Shabab, which has waged a long rebellion against Somalia’s government, assassinated the station’s then-director, Abdiaziz Mohamud Guled, in a suicide bombing in Mogadishu.

Iman Mohamed, the historian, says that with the civil war in the country, now in its third decade, preserving the archive for posterity has become more urgent.

“The destruction of archives during the civil war has left an enormous gap in Somalia’s documentary record, which means that anyone researching the country’s history is almost entirely reliant on foreign archives or oral history,” Mohamed said.

“That is especially problematic for young people,” she adds. “Recovering what we can matters for the youth who will never have known the world that Radio Mogadishu broadcast in its heyday.”

Hao-Yu Lee lined a two-run double with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Detroit Tigers over the Angels 2-1 on Friday night.

Detroit reliever Keider Montero (6-5) struck out five in 3⅓ scoreless innings to earn the win, getting Denzer Guzman to ground out with runners on second and third to end the game.

Tigers third baseman Kevin McGonigle preserved the lead when he leaped to grab Oswald Peraza’s high chopper behind the bag with two on and made a long throw to first for the second out of the ninth.

Angels reliever Kirby Yates (0-5) hit a batter with a pitch to open the top of the ninth, walked another with one out and got Kerry Carpenter to fly to shallow left field for the second out. But the right-hander couldn’t put away Lee, whose clutch hit gave Detroit (45-52) its 10th win in 13 games.

Angels starter Reid Detmers, a top target of contenders looking to acquire a starter before the Aug. 3 trade deadline, gave up four hits, struck out seven and walked none in six shutout innings, effectively mixing his 95-mph fastball with an 86-mph slider and 72-mph slow curve.

Ryan Zeferjahn retired the side in order in the seventh, and Sam Bachman struck out three of four batters in a scoreless eighth for the Angels, who have lost 11 of 13.

Tigers starter Troy Melton, a 25-year-old right-hander who attended nearby Anaheim Canyon High School, gave up one run and four hits in 5⅔ innings. He struck out nine and walked four in his first appearance at Angel Stadium.

Zach Neto‘s leadoff single and two walks loaded the bases for the Angels (38-60) in the first inning, and Josh Lowe drove in Neto with a grounder to second.

Before the game, the Angels announced they signed first-round draft pick Jared Grindlinger, a two-way standout from nearby Huntington Beach High School who will start his pro career as an outfielder.

Up next: Tigers LHP Tarik Skubal (5-5, 3.09 ERA) will oppose Angels RHP Grayson Rodriguez (3-2, 7.55) on Saturday night.

A guy who owns a beach resort on the coast of Florida, where hundreds of miles of overdeveloped shores are threatened by increasingly severe storms driven by global warming, is trying to tell Californians how best to manage our coast.

Guess who.

It’s not that we needed the help. If there’s any thought to adding an eighth wonder of the world to the current lineup of seven, I’d nominate the 1,100-mile treasure that kisses Oregon on one end and Mexico on the other. And it’s not by accident that coastal habitats are aggressively protected and most of the shoreline is free of mega resorts and architectural clutter.

A half century ago, Californians rose up against the threat of over-development. By the will of the people, the coast was enshrined in state law as a precious public asset accessible to the many, not a private playground fenced off for the few.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Coastal Act, and just as we begin the party, President Trump and his minions are scheming to pump some crude oil into the punch bowl.

And here’s how:

Going back to the 1970s, under the Coastal Zone Management Act, California has gotten high marks from the feds for the way in which its coastal regulatory agencies work with D.C. to manage federal projects. But now the state is under attack, which could mean that millions in federal dollars will be clawed back and the state’s voice muted.

So what horrible sins have we committed?

Sit down and take a deep breath.

We’re being accused of “environmental extremism.”

It’s just been far too many years of paying attention to water quality and vehicle and industrial emissions and all the rest. Imagine how that comes across to a president who wouldn’t admit to climate change if his putter melted in his hands or Mar-a-Lago became a swim-up hotel.

As penance for our crimes, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (the one who labeled us environmental extremists) ordered the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, to conduct “a full, formal review” of the state’s coastal management program.

“California has repeatedly and unfoundedly obstructed spaceport development,” Lutnick declared, referencing a dispute over how many rockets Elon Musk’s Space X can launch from the U.S. military’s Vandenberg base. (Per the California Coastal Commission, many of the launches are for private interests rather than military purposes, and even the federal government has noted that the thunderous sonic booms take a toll on sea life and humans.)

We’re also allegedly blind to basic economics and the preferences of the Trump administration when it comes to “offshore oil production, maintenance of pipelines and desalination.” And we need to fall into line in “removing regulatory barriers that hinder U.S. technological and economic leadership while responsibly stewarding coastal resources.”

Where to begin?

I thought California had the world’s fourth-largest economy, with technology as a primary driver. In fact, it’s just been reported that we drew 10 times more venture capital than any other state this year, with AI leading the way. If one or two other states matched our output, imagine the boasting Trump could do, legitimately, about the economy.

And while the administration seems intent on tapping more offshore oil, it’s toppling the nation’s offshore wind projects while the planet suffers through blistering, deadly heat waves directly related to greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.

If the president’s blowtorch buddies want to call us “environmental extremists” for not burying our heads in the sand, it’s a badge of honor.

And another thing.

If Trump is so intent on keeping the world’s oil supply flowing, maybe he shouldn’t have bungled his way into a senseless war that has handed Iran the keys to the global gas pump, spiking prices for everyone.

By the way, it’s not as if the primary coastal regulatory agency in the state — the California Coastal Commission — has said nothing but “no” over the years to oil projects and desalination plants.

“When you look at the Coastal Act, it doesn’t prohibit offshore oil and gas production and we approved a lot of it,” said Susan Hansch, who retired from a top administrative position in 2021 after 47 years at the Coastal Commission. “It just has to be done correctly.”

The commission has also approved multiple desalination plants, but four years ago rejected one proposed for Huntington Beach, despite support for it from Gov. Gavin Newsom. I thought the rejection was the right call, because the proposal struck me as a private boondoggle, with no designated customer for the water and a slurry of environmental hazards.

A Falcon 9 rocket is launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Jan. 25.

(2nd Lt. Andrew Taller / U.S. Space Force)

Not that the Coastal Commission has been infallible over the years. It has worked many a critic into a lather, with complaints that the agency has stood in the way of housing development during the state’s mounting shortage, and that its permitting process is the equivalent of a years-long root canal.

Former Gov. Jerry Brown, who signed the Coastal Act into law in 1976, once called the commissioners “bureaucratic thugs.”

And Trump has feuded with the agency over, among other things, a 70-foot-tall flagpole erected on his Rancho Palos Verdes golf course without a permit. Last year, Trump envoy Ric Grenell said the Coastal Commission was a “disaster” and must “absolutely be defunded,” calling commissioners unelected and “crazy woke left.”

Getting rid of the commission, he said, “is going to make California better.”

I don’t think so.

Ten years ago, I had the privilege of traveling the length of the state and meeting some of the heroes of the coast going back to the 1960s.

They were there when the devastating Santa Barbara oil spill blackened beaches, turned the shoreline into a wildlife graveyard, and galvanized grassroots defense of the coast.

When plans by PG&E to build a nuclear power plant at heavenly Bodega Head triggered an uprising.

When a massive Sonoma Coast residential development pitch sparked fears that beach access would be lost.

In 1972, ordinary Californians circulated petitions, knocked on doors, and rode bicycles down the coast, rallying support for Proposition 20, which aimed to regulate coastal development. It passed despite a massive opposition campaign from corporate, industrial and real estate interests.

That victory led, four years later, to the Coastal Act and creation of the Coastal Commission, whose job was to balance sensible development, habitat protection and conservation, and equitable public access.

Richard Charter, an Ocean Foundation senior fellow, told me in Bodega a decade ago that the California coast is “a public miracle” that was protected by ordinary people who saw it as “a global treasure.”

The Coastal Act has led to the creation of 2,500 public beach access points in the state, and its greatest achievements include wetlands not plowed, habitats not destroyed, and the preservation of countless mesmerizing vistas where land meets sea and California leaves you in speechless, grateful awe.

At Tuesday’s Coastal Commission meeting, Jennifer Savage of the Surfrider Foundation stepped to the microphone and said to commissioners:

“Surfrider sees this federal review as a politically motivated attempt to strip California of the coastal protections that our communities and our marine ecosystems depend on, and Surfrider stands with you, and we will fight this every step of the way.”

If you’d like to join that fight, you can speak in person or remotely when NOAA hosts public hearings Aug. 10-12 in Santa Monica. You can find more details on the Surfrider Foundation website.

One of the early leaders of the Coastal Commission, the late Peter Douglas, anticipated these trials and uttered a phrase I’ve repeated many times over the years. In the year of the 50th anniversary of the Coastal Act, it’s worth repeating once more, and you should think of it as a a clarion call:

“The coast is never saved,” Douglas said. “It’s always being saved.”

steve.lopez@latimes.com

A three-armed spacecraft rockets into orbit to rescue a NASA telescope that’s in danger of crashing back to Earth.

NASA has launched a robotic mission to try to prevent one of its ageing telescopes from burning up in the atmosphere in a complicated operation expected to last several months.

Northrop Grumman launched the Link spacecraft – built by United States-based Katalyst Space Technologies – from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean on Friday.

A Pegasus rocket blasted off from the belly of a modified aircraft putting Link on course to reach and capture NASA’s Swift Observatory in about a month.

Initially scheduled for Tuesday, the robot’s launch was postponed due to weather, then technical issues. Blast-off happened on Friday at 0836 GMT from an atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

The unprecedented $30m effort involves sending a robot to rescue the Swift space telescope that is falling towards Earth. If successful, the mission could pave the way for giving other satellites a second life.

Launched in 2004, Swift is sinking faster than ever because of recent solar storms. The $250m telescope studies gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe.

Once it reaches an orbit close to Swift’s, the robot will deploy its solar panels and perform a series of checks.

It will then have to locate the Swift telescope in the vastness of space, circle around it and dock using three robotic arms – manoeuvres expected to take several weeks.

Finally, it will attempt to propel the satellite approximately 300km (186 miles) higher above the Earth, roughly to its initial orbital position. That operation is expected to last at least a month.

“This is a lot of firsts stacked on top of each other,” Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director of NASA’s astrophysics division, told reporters on Tuesday. “I’m just deeply thankful that we’re even giving this a go.”

THIS summer, it looks like it’s time to call a truce on the great Spain vs. Turkey debate.

Because by looking at the latest booking data, I’ve noticed a massive change in 2026.

More and more Brits are swapping Europe’s traditional heavyweight resorts for a handful of Greek destinations.

These spots serve up the exact same sunshine, brilliant beaches, and all-inclusive value – often for a chunk less money.

And because I work in travel, my screen is basically permanently locked onto live price trends and capacity numbers.

The pattern right now is clear: holidaymakers are moving away from the usual high-premium hubs in Spain, the Canaries or the Turkish rivieras because Greece has suddenly become the ultimate value loophole.

A massive influx of flight capacity from the UK means you can bag that peak-summer Mediterranean experience without paying the usual school holiday markup.

If you want to know where the smart money is heading this summer, these are the seven Greek spots I’d be circling.

7. Ixia, Rhodes

If there’s one Greek resort that’s aggressively stealing traffic from the traditional Spanish and Turkish mainstays this summer, it’s Ixia.

Our data shows a massive wave of holidaymakers ditching the likes of Benidorm, Alanya, Costa Adeje, Costa Teguise, Marmaris, and Torremolinos specifically to head here.

It gives you that classic beach holiday setup people love, but with a slightly more premium edge, proper decent hotels, and historic Rhodes Old Town sitting just a ten-minute taxi ride down the road.

Plus, you get a constant coastal breeze, which makes the peak August heat infinitely more comfortable than the suffocating temperatures you get elsewhere.

I spotted five nights at the Belair Beach from Edinburgh on 21 August, with half board and flights included, from £375pp.

The hotel sits right across the road from the front, but the real insider perk here is their specialised windsurfing and water sports station directly on the sand.

Because Ixia is a world-class windsurfing hub, the hotel has gear hire sorted right on your doorstep, meaning you can try your hand at proper coastal sports for a fraction of what a commercial water sports center down the coast would fleece you for.

6. Ialyssos, Rhodes

Just around the bay from Ixia is Ialyssos, another Rhodes resort that’s turning into one of the island’s biggest success stories.

The booking data tells us that the crowds usually bound for Benidorm, Costa Adeje, Alanya, and Marmaris are pivoting here instead.

It offers the exact same guaranteed August sunshine you’re chasing in the western Med, but swaps the crowded strips for a much more relaxed, authentic village vibe and some brilliant, family-run apartment setups.

I found five nights at the Trianta Hotel Apartments from 19 August, with flights included, from £255pp.

Landing peak summer flights and accommodation for barely over two hundred and fifty quid is a massive result.

This property is notoriously highly rated by return guests, and the standout feature here is its poolside taverna nights.

Instead of serving up generic, mass-produced package food, the family that runs the place cooks up proper, home-style Greek mezze using vegetables grown in their own garden lot behind the apartments. It’s elite local dining on a shoestring budget.

5. Messonghi, Corfu

If you’re after somewhere that feels slower, greener, and a bit more rustic than the sprawling concrete mega-resorts, Messonghi is a top-tier shout.

And this year, it’s proving particularly popular with Brits swapping away from Benidorm, Costa Adeje, and Alanya.

Corfu‘s scenery is stunning, the beaches are incredibly calm, and a massive boost in regional UK flight routes this year has driven package prices right down into bargain territory.

One standout deal I spotted was five nights all inclusive at Canvas by Mitsis Messonghi from 20 August, with flights included, from £478pp.

And getting a fully loaded, peak-season Mitsis property under the £500 mark is an absolute steal.

The beachfront setting and massive pool complexes at this hotel are brilliant for keeping kids occupied, but what elevates this place above so many Spanish hotels for me is the complimentary, on-site aqua park.

They’ve integrated a proper mini waterpark into the resort grounds with zero entry fees, saving you from shelling out €40 a head for a public waterpark day trip into town.

4. Faliraki, Rhodes

Faliraki has completely reinvented its identity over the last decade.

While people of my generation might still associate it with rowdy 18-30 nightlife, today it’s quietly morphed into one of Rhodes‘ best all-round family beach resorts.

I’m seeing a huge influx of families swapping over from Benidorm, Marmaris, the Costa Blanca, and Alanya to secure one of the island’s widest sandy coastlines and a massive number of modern hotels.

I found five nights at the Hillside Studios from 25 August, with flights included, from £340pp. 

It serves as a brilliant, no-nonsense base with an immaculate pool area, but the secret benefit of this specific hotel is its location near the Erimokastro hills.

Because it sits just outside the central valley, the hotel offers an incredibly peaceful night’s sleep away from the main resort hum, and it puts you right on the doorstep of the hidden, cliff-sheltered Astron Beach cove – a spot most tourists completely miss!

3. Kiotari, Rhodes

If your main holiday priority is peace, quiet, and premium lounging, Kiotari is easily one of my favourite recommendations on the map.

More people are moving here from heavy-hitting hubs like Alanya in Turkey because the hotels feel noticeably more luxurious and modern than the older resort blocks elsewhere in the Med, serving up wide beaches, reliable sunshine, and massive all-inclusive footprints without the premium price tag.

One deal that stood out to me was five nights all inclusive at the Kiotari Miraluna Beach Resort from 19 August, with flights included, from £535pp.

My pick of the features at this resort is easily the cinema lounge.

They run open-air family movie nights right on the edge of the sand under the stars in the evening, which is a fantastic, high-end touch that lets you unwind with a drink by the waves while the kids are completely glued to a big screen.

2. Hersonissos, Crete

Crete never goes out of fashion, and Hersonissos remains the undisputed king of its value market.

Holidaymakers are increasingly swapping over from traditional mainstays like Benidorm and Marmaris, tempted by Crete’s reliable weather, lively waterfront, and massive choice of hotels.

It delivers that buzzing, lively atmosphere that Brits love, but pairs it with incredible independent tavernas, fascinating ancient history, and excellent flight availability from pretty much every major UK runway.

I spotted five nights at the Palatia Village Apartments from 20 August, with self-catering and flights included, from £283pp.

The hotel serves up fantastic, panoramic views across the bay, but the real selling point here is the traditional Cretan architecture of the rooms.

The apartments are styled like a mini, stone-walled Greek village rather than a sterile hotel corridor, meaning you get that high-end, boutique aesthetic for under three hundred quid.

1. Kavos, Corfu

Kavos might raise a few eyebrows on a value list, but the resort landscape here is changing rapidly.

Beyond the main neon strip, there is an influx of quieter, family-run properties that are drawing in couples and budget-conscious travellers who simply want cheap sun without the chaos.

And these great summer prices are driving a massive spike in people swapping here instead of choosing Spain’s traditional budget resorts.

A deal that really caught my eye was five nights at the Oula Maisonettes from 25 August, with self-catering and flights included, from just £235pp.

This is a small, family-run complex that heavily over-delivers for the money.

The absolute best feature here is the independent duplex layout of the maisonettes themselves.

Having your living area completely separate from the upstairs sleeping quarters gives you a proper apartment feel, allowing you to relax on your private terrace with a cold drink after the kids have gone to bed without waking them up.

Travellers can save money on the popular onboard drink if they place their order at the right time

Jet2 says passengers can save money onboard of they order their drinks early. Customers often love to make the most of the onboard refreshments when they’re jetting off on holiday.

The airline enables passengers to pre-order their in-flight meals, which typically include a hot dish, snacks, and a drink (Costa Coffee, Yorkshire Tea, hot chocolate or water). For those who enjoy a celebratory tipple, Jet2 also serves a selection of alcoholic drinks. According to the website, customers who order ahead could save money on one of the most popular alcoholic drinks.

Jet2 said: “To make your holiday extra special, you can pre-order champagne to enjoy on board. Plus, when you pre-order, you’ll save £5 on the onboard price!” Many passengers bring their own food and drink on board to save money, packing snacks such as sandwiches, salads, wraps, and pasta dishes.

However, there are some restrictions that people should be aware of. For instance, customers can’t bring hot food or drink onto planes for safety reasons, and they cannot bring their own alcohol onboard to drink during the flight. This means passengers cannot drink any duty-free alcohol onboard their flight.

Jet2’s website explains: “No, you can’t bring your own alcohol onboard to drink while on the plane. Only alcoholic drinks bought onboard can be consumed during your flight. And we reserve the right to serve alcoholic drinks at our absolute discretion.”

The airline’s current menu includes spirits, cocktails, wines, and beers, including Grey Goose Vodka, Aperol Spritz, and Heineken. There’s also a range of soft drinks, including Harrogate Spring Water and Robinsons Fruit Shoot.

Remember to drink responsibly (18+) and be Drinkaware. For advice and support on alcohol, visit the Drinkaware website here. Drinkaware warns that the risk of developing a range of health problems, including cancers of the mouth, throat and breast, increases the more you drink regularly.

To keep health risks from alcohol low, you should drink no more than 14 units a week, ensure you have several drink-free days, and avoid binge drinking. The NHS website offers information about alcohol support.

Passengers should be aware that being drunk on a plane is a criminal offence.

Gov.uk explains: “It is an offence under the Air Navigation Order to be drunk on an aircraft and airlines have the authority to prevent passengers they believe are intoxicated from boarding aircraft.”

Had enough of the heat? Grab your bags and enjoy utter luxury with Club Med prices in July

Club Med has officially unveiled an enticing selection of last-minute summer holiday offers, giving spontaneous travellers the chance to save up to 15% on last-minute breaks. Tailored for those prepared to jet off at a moment’s notice, this time-limited promotion delivers sunshine, sandy shores and luxury at a fraction of the usual cost.

Holiday seekers will need to move quickly, however, as spaces are restricted across selected dates and properties. To maintain the excitement, Club Med will be introducing fresh departure offers every Friday, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Renowned for its upmarket all-inclusive holidays, Club Med provides idyllic getaways to stunning locations across the globe. Each package bundles together high-end accommodation with fine dining, unlimited activities and childcare into one transparent price, allowing guests to unwind and savour a much-needed escape.

READ MORE:

From the sun-kissed coastal havens of Europe to the palm-lined shores of the Caribbean, we’ve compiled some of the finest resorts for a last-minute holiday you’ll treasure forever.

Club Med Magna, Marbella

The 12-acre Club Med Magna Marbella is a sun-soaked resort ideally situated for reaching central Marbella. Visitors can unwind beside the family lagoon pool and the adults-only Zen Zone or get involved in numerous activities such as padel tennis.

The resort also features outstanding dining experiences at the sophisticated Suenos restaurant and the Tierra Gourmet Lounge, which offers regional specialities such as jamón ibérico. Additionally, there are four distinct bars where guests can savour a holiday drink.

Save up to 15% on a last minute holiday

Prices vary

Club Med

Book now

Travel dates are available until July, with new deals added every Friday

As the sun-kissed shores of Marbella continue to be a favourite amongst British tourists, holidaymakers can also discover reduced Spanish getaways with savings of up to £600 through TUI. Budget-conscious last-minute escapes are also on offer for under £500 with Love Holidays.

TripAdvisor users have given the resort glowing reviews, with one describing it as ‘THE family destination’. One visitor said: “Our stay was simply amazing, everything is thoughtfully designed with families in mind. Our 4-year-old absolutely loved the kids’ club… the food was exceptional. There were so many spaces to explore with our children, and a great range of sports and activities to enjoy – paddle, tennis, Pilates and more.”

Another guest did observe that the location was an “Isolated village, without much personality, but a hotel of good quality, made for sport and sun.”

On the whole, though, the prevailing view mirrored this assessment, stating: “Very good experience at Club Med Magna Marbella. Everything was perfect, buffet, kids club and entertainment.”

Club Med Da Balaia, Algarve

Perched atop the famous red cliffs of the Algarve, Club Med Da Balaia is a paradise for golf enthusiasts. Visitors can also unwind beside the unique natural eco-pool or try their hand at numerous activities, including flying trapeze and archery.

The resort also features excellent dining at the Balaïa Restaurant and the relaxed lounge, offering authentic Portuguese fare alongside stunning ocean vistas. There’s also a spa on-site providing bespoke treatments and ample indulgence.

The Algarve remains a firm favourite holiday destination for Brits seeking a getaway. Currently, Love Holidays has last-minute, room-only Portugal breaks from £119 per person, while Golf Breaks provides specially designed escapes for devotees of the sport.

At Club Med, TripAdvisor reviewers are full of praise for the resort, with one declaring: “Our stay at Club Med La Balaia was simply fantastic from start to finish. Set in a stunning location overlooking a beautiful, family-friendly beach, the resort offers the perfect balance of activity and relaxation.”

While one visitor mentioned the pool was “ok, maybe a bit warmer may have been ideal,” the overall sentiment mirrored this review: “We had an absolutely wonderful week at Club Med de Da Balaia…three young children, parents and grandmother. Everything was there for a successful holiday: sunny weather and beautiful surroundings.”

Cefalù, Sicily

The flagship Exclusive Collection Cefalù is a luxury resort superbly located on the iconic Italian island of Sicily. Guests can unwind in the restored 18th-century palazzo lounge or participate in numerous activities, including sunset yoga and Europe’s first stand-up paddleboarding school.

After an action-packed day, the resort features impressive dining options to satisfy every appetite. Visitors are then treated to a delectable Sicilian-inspired menu that perfectly captures the authentic flavours of the region.

Travellers unlucky enough to miss out on a Club Med stay could try booking a break to Italy with British Airways Holidays instead. Alternatively, Citalia offers a range of specially selected tours and holidays in the region.

Guest reviewers overwhelmingly praise the resort, with one hailing it as a ‘magical place’ where “the food is to die for’. They also praise the stunning views and say that just being 10-15 minutes away from Cefalu town in Sicily ‘is something very special.”

While one guest noted that, unlike some other Club Med locations, there was “no show at happy hour, no barbecue, no themed evening.”

Most, however, enjoyed their stay with another adding: “We had an absolutely exceptional time at Club Med de Céfalù! The setting is simply magical: breathtaking views of the Tyrrhenian Sea, elegant architecture perfectly integrated with nature, and a serene atmosphere that immediately invites relaxation.”

Club Med Palmiye, Turkey

Positioned south of Antalya close to the Taurus mountains, Club Med Palmiye is a beachfront resort nestled along a Mediterranean shoreline. Holidaymakers can opt to unwind beside the family pool or the adults-only Zen pool, or take part in numerous activities including flying trapeze and wakeboarding..

When it comes to dining, the resort provides multiple choices to cater for varying preferences. Guests can sample Turkish cuisine in a restaurant boasting a duck pond moat. There’s also a vibrant beach bar to enjoy as evening approaches.

Turkey’s southern coastline delivers budget-friendly entertainment and warm weather. Some other excellent bargains to the area include all-inclusive getaways with On The Beach, and Mr and Mrs Smith provide thoughtfully selected stays in upscale accommodations.

As you’d anticipate from Club Med, the Palmiye resort has also garnered numerous positive reviews on TripAdvisor. One said: “A great place for early birds and those who like to do a lot of different activities, to learn tennis and padel, circus trapeze, sailing basics and waterski.”

While one visitor mentioned slight annoyances with “long lines” for waterskiing, the overall verdict reflected the sentiment of an ideal family retreat. Another repeat guest proclaimed: “We came here after 2 years again, it was a good experience, so we come again, and we will come every year.”

For those contemplating a long-haul escape, the Punta Cana Resort in the Dominican Republic offers particular appeal to families.

A perfect choice for summer holidays, it features Club Med’s biggest water park, boasting more than 20 slides and splash zones, alongside a luxurious spa..

With a 4.4-star rating on TripAdvisor, guests commend the beautiful beach and the expert instructors who help families master new pursuits, including golf and tennis. Meanwhile, the Club Med resort in Marrakech has been described as a ‘magical destination’ where visitors can swap unpredictable weather for golden sunsets, colourful souks and the enchanting scent of spices wafting through the streets.

To discover more about last-minute getaways with Club Med, click here to save 15%.

June 24 (UPI) — On July 1, student loan servicers will begin notifying borrowers enrolled in SAVE repayment plans that they must switch to a new plan and borrower advocates warn that what comes next will likely be an increase in defaults and delinquencies.

Not all borrowers will receive a notice on July 1. In fact, many will not. The notices will be staggered across the millions of people enrolled in the SAVE program over the coming months. Once a borrower receives their notice, the clock starts on a 90-day window for them to enroll in an eligible repayment plan.

If a SAVE enrollee fails to switch to another repayment plan, they will be automatically enrolled in a standard repayment plan, which will carry a higher monthly payment requirement. In many cases, that plan will not be their most affordable option.

Betsy Mayotte, president and founder of the Institute of Student Loan Advisors, told UPI that the borrowers her organization hears from are more frequently expressing confusion over which plan is best for them.

“We’ve seen borrowers whose SAVE payment was $40 and their next lowest payment on a new plan is $400,” Mayotte said.

For many borrowers, they will be able to switch plans directly on the Federal Student Aid website. In most cases, this will be the simplest way to switch, Mayotte said. However, in some cases, this can create problems with unduly high payment requirements due to a glitch in the Department of Education’s website.

People who are married with both spouses having student loans may be assigned double the payment when applying through the Federal Student Aid site, Mayotte said. What the partners would pay together is misapplied to each spouse, effectively doubling their required payments.

What is supposed to happen, Mayotte said, is that the spouses apply together and their payment is “portioned out” considering both of their loans and incomes. Instead, the glitch is causing the amount not to be portioned, requiring each spouse to make that full payment.

Mayotte added that this glitch is not obvious to the borrower when they go through the application process, meaning it can fly under their radar.

In these cases, borrowers are advised to discuss their repayment options directly with their student loan servicer.

Borrowers who do not have new student loans after July 1 will continue to have access to the old income-driven repayment plans until July 1, 2028, when those programs end.

July 1 also brings about the deadline for Parent PLUS loan borrowers to consolidate their loans to be eligible for enrollment in an Income-Driven Repayment plan. New Parent PLUS loans taken out after this deadline, or loans that are not consolidated before it, will not have access to Income-Driven Repayment plans.

For Parent PLUS loans that have been consolidated, borrowers must enroll in an Income-Driven Repayment plan by July 1, 2028, or they will forfeit their eligibility.

Beginning with the coming school year, Parent PLUS loans will be capped at $65,000 total per student with two parents. Each student will have a separate $65,000 cap.

With the SAVE plan’s end, Mayotte said she expects defaults and delinquencies to rise. She said the borrowers who have historically been least likely to default are those who have made 12 to 24 payments consecutively on time.

The COVID-19 pandemic took about 40 million people out of that habit, Mayotte said.

“We had 3 million default in the last quarter of 2025,” she said. “I think the SAVE transition is going to continue that trend because people have no plan they can afford.”

“There are two big factors,” Mayotte continued. “One is lifestyle creep. They haven’t had to pay for two years and lifestyle creep happens. The other thing that’s happened is they were told their payment was going to be ‘x’ on SAVE and they made other financial decisions around that. If you’re told your payment’s going to be $100 on SAVE and then you budget to buy a house — all of the sudden your payment is not $100 a month, it’s $400 a month, you can’t take back that mortgage.”

Meanwhile, the cost of living has increased on all fronts in the United States.

“Payments are resuming at a higher rate for borrowers at the same time health insurance has gone up, gas prices, groceries, produce has gone up like 43% in the last three months,” Mayotte said. “It’s like a perfect storm, especially for low-income and middle-class families as far as expenses go.”

Amy Czulada, senior adviser for outreach and engagement with the Student Borrower Protection Center, told UPI that the difference between the SAVE plan and the next most affordable plans available for enrollees is “astronomical.”

The Trump administration is launching the Repayment Assistance Plan on July 1. It is a new income-based repayment plan approved by Congress last summer. It and the Income-Based Repayment plan will be the only plans based on income available to borrowers starting July 1, 2028, and the only plans for borrowers with new loans after July 1 this year.

About 3 million borrowers are enrolled in income-driven repayment plans that will sunset in 2028.

In its analysis of the RAP plan, the Student Borrowers Protection Center estimates that the average borrower with a college degree will pay more than $4,000 per year more in student loan payments.

“The difference in payments is just beyond anything folks are able to handle at the moment,” Czulada said.

The Student Borrower Protection Center, a student loan borrower advocacy organization, warns that the deadline for borrowers to pick new plans threatens to push borrowers back into a “broken and corrupt servicing system.”

The organization published its report “Repeat Offenders” earlier this month, detailing allegedly illegal acts and practices carried out by student loan servicers that exploit borrowers. Practices such as deliberately long wait times on phone calls, not providing borrowers with all the relevant information they need to plan their payments, illegally denying applications for affordable payment plans and deceiving borrowers to collect maximum interest rate charges.

The report also highlights that student loans changing hands across servicers, along with shifts in the Department of Education, creates opportunities for borrowers to be taken advantage of, have applications lost, payment histories misapplied and other shortfalls in service to borrowers.

“Folks often think they are conversing directly with the Department of Education,” Czulada said. “So there’s a lot of white labeling going on where these contractors are the ones interfacing with, but folks don’t necessarily know or understand that.”

Federal management of student loans is currently being moved from the Department of Education to the U.S. Treasury Department.

“What that has led to is that there’s not really a functioning federal student aid office that can take complaints and really dive into what the issues are,” Czulada said. “Borrowers are left really susceptible to all these practices and limited oversight and accountability.”

In March, the Government Accountability Office issued its review of Federal Student Aid’s monitoring of student loan servicers. It found that the FSA had stopped reviewing the accuracy of servicers’ records in February 2025, because of a lack of staff.

The Department of Education and other government agencies reduced staff broadly in 2025 under recommendations by the Trump administration’s short-lived Department of Government Efficiency, led by the world’s first trillionaire Elon Musk.

Nelnet and Mohela are the largest loan servicers contracted with the Department of Education.

Nelnet manages more than 12 million accounts worth more than $480 billion. It has received $3.1 billion in payments from the department since 2009.

In 2024, a Senate investigation found that more than 1.4 million duplicate student loan records appeared on borrowers’ credit reports when loans were transferred from Mohela to Nelnet. Earlier that year, the company was fined $1.8 million by the attorney general of Massachusetts for failing to keep borrowers in affordable repayment plans, stopping them from progressing toward student loan forgiveness.

Czulada said during the pandemic student loan servicers notoriously allowed borrowers to defer payments or enter forbearance rather than informing them about repayment options that would have counted toward loan forgiveness.

Mohela manages more than 7 million student loan accounts worth more than $318 billion and has received $1.54 billion in payments from the Department of Education since 2011. At least 347,000 of its borrowers are at least three payments behind and more than 75,000 defaulted last year.

More than 41,000 complaints were issued against the company by borrowers last year.

Mohela is rated by FSA as the servicer with the longest wait times for borrowers calling its service lines. Borrowers wait for 13 minutes on average to connect with a representative at Mohela and about 14% abandon their calls before reaching someone.

When callers do get through, Czulada said they are often redirected to other representatives or sent to webpages that do not function.

The American Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit against Mohela in 2024 and has amended its complaints as recently as January. It alleges that the servicer and five more of the biggest student loan services have engaged in a call deflection scheme and have systemically delivered poor service to customers trying to stay in compliance with loan repayments.

“These companies are just continuing to get more money from the Department of Education for giving us the same terrible service over time,” Czulada said. “This has been really harmful to a lot of people. Like millions of people. Nothing is better evidenced by that than having almost 10 million people in default right now and almost another million careening towards default. In 2020 we also had a record number of people in default before the pandemic began. Moving back to the status quo is also not really an option.”

Playing in goal for the U.S. men’s national soccer team is a little like playing right field for the Yankees. You’re following a long line of great players, making the comparisons — and the high expectations — unavoidable.

Matt Freese is the latest to be thrown into that crucible. But he considers that pressure to be a privilege, not a problem.

“I wouldn’t say it’s intimidating, I would say it’s inspiring,” he said before the U.S. training session Tuesday morning in Irvine. “It’s a long line of goalkeepers that I’ve looked up to for my whole life — and there were some before my life as well.”

Two games into this summer’s World Cup he’s certainly held his own with that group, giving up just one goal for a team that’s unbeaten and already through to the next round. However Thursday’s group-stage finale with winless Turkey will be far from meaningless for Freese since his first start for the U.S. came against Turkey 55 weeks ago, bringing his whirlwind international team career full circle.

U.S. goalkeeper Matt Freese waves to the crowd after beating Paraguay during a World Cup match at SoFi Stadium on June 12.

(Kelvin Kuo/Los Angeles Times)

He lost that game but his performance was good enough to make him the starter in the Gold Cup, where he was even better. A little over a year ago he was just a faint blip on coach Mauricio Pochettino’s radar. Now he has a World Cup shutout and with another clean sheet Thursday, he’ll join Matt Turner as the only American keepers to post back-to-back shutouts in a World Cup in 96 years.

“I dreamt of this opportunity. But you never know if it’s going to come,” Freese said. “I learned the ones that work hard without the promise of reward are the ones that usually succeed.”

Turner, who gave up just a goal in the group stage in Qatar four years ago, is Freese’s backup in this tournament. And he’s just the most recent U.S. keeper to stand out in a World Cup. In 2014, Tim Howard set a tournament record with 16 saves in a knockout-stage loss to Belgium and 12 years before that Brad Friedel made six stops in a 2-0 win over Mexico to send the U.S. to the quarterfinals for the only time.

“To have my name next to theirs as the next guy up is an incredible honor, and it’s something I’ve dreamed of,” Freese said. “The bar is set high and I’m going to strive to reach that bar and raise it even higher.”

Freese, 27, took an unusual route to that bar. The son of a neurosurgeon who earned a doctorate from MIT and the grandson of scientists who immigrated from Germany after World War II, Freese grew up in a household where academics were more important than athletics. So while he joined the Philadelphia Union academy as a teen, he craved the demands of school and left soon afterward to enroll at Harvard.

“When you’re a professional athlete at age 18, 19 sometimes it can be difficult to keep a routine, keep a regimen that keeps you focused and keeps you hungry,” Freese said. “For me, taking classes was something that occupied my time, occupied my mind and gave a very natural release off the field.

“I think at that age it was necessary.”

After two seasons at Harvard, he returned to Philadelphia to sign with the MLS team while continuing to take classes online, once writing a paper on penalty-kick analytics. In 2022, he graduated from Harvard with a degree in economics.

The soccer part wasn’t going nearly as well. Playing behind Andre Blake, a three-time MLS keeper of the year, Freese rarely saw the field in Philadelphia. But a trade to New York City FC in the winter of 2023 gave him a second chance and likely saved his career.

He made the most of it, earning the starting job in his second season, when he finished third in the league in saves, and getting his first call-up to a national team training camp in January 2025.

Six months later he was the team’s starter in goal.

The late-blooming Freese’s journey was unusual in another way too since he traveled to the World Cup from MLS. In the five World Cups between 1998 and 2014, the U.S. started Friedel, Kasey Keller and Howard — three English Premier League keepers — in goal. A dozen years later, the Athletic reports, there are no American goalkeepers in the top five European club leagues and the three goalies on this summer’s roster all play in MLS.

U.S. goalkeeper Matt Freese clears the ball as Australia’s Mohamed Toure closes in during a World Cup match in Seattle on June 19.

(Maddy Grassy / Ap Photo/maddy Grassy)

However as a guy with a Harvard diploma on his resume, Freese knows enough to know that getting to a World Cup isn’t about where you came from or even how long it took you to get there. All that matters is that you made it. And now that he’s there, his job isn’t to stand out, but to blend in.

“Being a goalkeeper is recognizing that it’s not always about you. And I’m comfortable with that,” he said. “The less action I have in a game means the better that we’re playing, and the more likely we are going to win.

“So I’m typically more focused on that and preventing any shots rather than just being only ready to save them.”

Members of Congress are again moving to block the U.S. Air Force from retiring all of its U-2S Dragon Lady spy planes. This time, legislators also want to compel the service to “fully restore” four of the iconic aircraft through heavy depot maintenance, which would bolster the fleet’s operational capacity. The Air Force continues to argue that the high-flying Cold War-era jets are too vulnerable to support future high-end fights and should be supplanted by a mix of space-based and other capabilities. This would presumably include a classified stealthy high-altitude drone, commonly (and unofficially) referred to as the RQ-180, or an evolution thereof, which first emerged publicly just earlier this year.

Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee released a draft defense spending bill for the 2027 Fiscal Year. It includes a provision that would prevent the Air Force from retiring more than two U-2Ss in that fiscal cycle. The Air Force currently has 23 of these aircraft in inventory, including three two-seat TU-2S trainers.

A summary of the proposed legislation also says it includes “$81 million for U-2 programmed depot maintenance to fully restore four aircraft.” The current operational status of the aircraft in question is unclear. This is included under the umbrella of $335.3 billion in total funding for operation and maintenance (O&M) accounts across the services that the draft bill would appropriate for Fiscal Year 2027.

Programmed depot maintenance for any aircraft is an intensive process that essentially involves a full tear-down and detailed inspection. Paint and other coatings are typically stripped and reapplied. Upgrades and modifications are often worked into depot maintenance cycles given the extensive work already being done.

U-2 Dragon Lady Maintenance

The Air Force’s proposed budget for the 2027 Fiscal Year completely zeroes out the line for U-2 O&M, to include depot maintenance, reflecting the service’s desire to retire the fleet. An annual force structure report the Pentagon released in May concisely outlines the current argument for retiring the remaining U-2Ss.

“The Air Force will retire the entire 23-ship U-2 fleet, as the platform is no longer viable for future high-end conflicts,” the force structure report says. “Continued operation presents significant safety, logistical, and financial risks that outweigh the platform’s remaining utility in contested environments.”

“This decision allows for the strategic reallocation of fiscal resources to fund more critical, high-priority service requirements and accelerate modernization efforts in other key areas,” it adds. “Continuing to operate the U-2 fleet would require a significant investment to address systemic issues, including diminishing manufacturing capacity, material shortages, and safety risks inherent in the aging platform.”

Questions about the continued relevance of the U-2 in the face of an ever-expanding global air defense threat ecosystem are not new. Near-peer competitors like China and Russia, as well as lower-tier potential adversaries like Iran, continue to develop and field more capable air defense systems and expand their anti-access and area denial bubbles. This, in turn, has threatened to push the U-2 further and further from the areas where it would be tasked to collect.

On top of all this, the U-2s are aging and becoming more costly to operate and maintain. The U-2S models in service today were upgraded from earlier variants that began their service careers in the 1980s.

As noted, this is not the first time the Air Force has tried to retire its remaining U-2s, citing operational and sustainment-related factors. In response, Congress has repeatedly intervened in the past few years to at least block full divestment of the fleet over persistent concerns about the aerial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability and capacity gap that might result.

The Dragon Lady continues to offer a unique ISR platform that can fly higher than any other operational non-orbital platform, crewed or uncrewed, the U.S. military has, at least from what we know today. This, in turn, means that the aircraft can bring imaging, signals intelligence, communications payloads, and other sensors up to those altitudes, giving them particularly good fields of view. From this perch, aircraft can use a slant angle to peer deep into denied areas while still flying international airspace and further away from potential threats. The use of the U-2 to gather intelligence about a Chinese spy balloon that soared over parts of the United States and Canada in 2023, which involved flying above it, offered a particularly public demonstration of the value of the aircraft’s high-altitude capabilities.

Each Dragon Lady can also carry a wide array of different sensor systems simultaneously, as well as communications packages, further increasing its flexibility. The U-2Ss have the ability to be readily deployed to forward locations globally and conduct long-duration sorties, as well. The latter points have been especially relevant in comparison to known existing ISR satellite constellations that are constrained by their orbits and can only offer relatively short-term coverage over a specific area. We will come back to this in a moment.

It is worth noting here that the Air Force’s Dragon Lady fleet also has a long history now of providing valuable ISR support outside of traditional combat operations. Last year, the service confirmed U-2Ss were supporting the enhanced border security mission along the United States’ southern boundary with Mexico. The aircraft have been used to support counter-narcotics operations over the years, as well as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions. NASA also operates a pair of ER-2 aircraft, another version of the Dragon Lady, as high-flying scientific research platforms.

The Air Force has been hinting for years now at the existence of advanced aircraft in the classified realm that could help fill gaps left by the retirement of the U-2, and also be more survivable in very high-threat environments. This has now been further underscored by the emergence of the ‘RQ-180,’ or a related stealthy design, in Greece earlier this year, the likely capabilities and roles of which TWZ explored in a detailed feature in April. At the same time, we have raised still unanswered questions in the past about how many of any such drones might actually be in service and what kind of operational capacity those fleets might provide.

PHOENIX — Pavin Smith hit a tiebreaking, solo homer off the right-field foul pole, Ryne Nelson threw seven quality innings, and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Angels 4-3 on Monday night.

Smith broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh when he launched his first homer in nearly a calendar year. The veteran first baseman — who came into the game with a .103 batting average — has spent most of this season on the injured list after surgery to remove bone chips in his left elbow.

Geraldo Perdomo added an RBI double later in the seventh that made it 4-2. Paul Sewald gave up a solo homer to Donovan Walton with two outs in the ninth but struck out Oswald Peraza to earn his 18th save in 19 chances.

Nelson (3-5) gave up two runs, scattering nine hits and striking out five. The right-hander has thrown at least seven innings in five of his last seven starts.

Angels slugger Mike Trout hit his 16th homer, an opposite-field shot, to tie the score 2-2 in the fifth. It was the three-time MVP’s 420th career home run.

Walbert Ureña (4-5) threw seven innings for the Angels, giving up four runs (three earned).

The Angels (29-44) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first on Jo Adell’s double down the right-field line that brought home Trout. The Diamondbacks (37-35) tied it in the bottom half on Gabriel Moreno’s single.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. returned to Arizona’s lineup after missing roughly three weeks because of a strained left hamstring. He had an RBI single in the fourth.

Up next: The Diamondbacks throw RHP Merrill Kelly (5-5, 5.46 ERA), while the Angels counter with LHP Reid Detmers (2-5, 4.00) on Tuesday.

Whether you’re looking for the best restaurants L.A. has to offer, a fun and affordable way to spend your day or a new adventure in one of our city’s iconic neighborhoods, the Los Angeles Times has you covered.

You can now make our guides your own by saving individual recommendations for later — mixing and matching from food to fun and everything in between — with the confidence that your choices are backed by L.A. Times experts.

Saving is simple. Visit any of our local guides, find something that interests you and look for the “Save” button. From there, you can choose a category in which to save your item, such as Food & Drink or Things to Do.

Not an L.A. Times subscriber? Don’t worry. You can register for a free account to get saving on many of our guides. Once you’ve saved a few items, check out your personalized save dashboard at latimes.com/saved/guides. You can also find it in the site account dropdown menu.

Call it a wish list, bucket list or checklist — the dashboard is all yours. Revisit your saves, remove ones you don’t want and even see your items on a personal map.

We hope this makes it easier to explore L.A. and beyond.

LAS VEGAS — Jordan Staal scored his second goal of the game while stretched out on his stomach at 6:32 of the third period to put the Carolina Hurricanes ahead for good in their 5-3 victory on Tuesday night over the Vegas Golden Knights and even the Stanley Cup Final after four games.

Game 5 is Thursday night at Carolina, which will potentially have two games on home ice to win its first Cup in two decades. The Golden Knights are searching for their second in four years.

This was the first game not decided by one goal.

A two-goal lead has disappeared in all four games in what has been a remarkable series in which momentum often changes at a moment’s notice. Each team has led by at least that many twice.

Staal became the first player in 44 years to score at least one goal in each of the first four games of the final and the ninth overall. Mike Bossy in 1982 with the New York Islanders against the Vancouver Canucks was the last player to score in the first four games of a final.

Nikolaj Ehlers added an empty-net goal and two assists for the Hurricanes, Jackson Blake had a goal and an assist, and Logan Stankoven scored a goal.

Brandon Bussi started in place of Frederik Andersen in goal and made 18 saves. Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour told ABC that Andersen, who did not dress, needed the rest. Pyotr Kochetkov was the backup goalie with Andersen serving as the emergency goaltender.

“Let [Andersen] rest,” Brind’Amour said. “Give him as many days here as we can.”

Mark Stone, William Karlsson and Brett Howden scored goals for the Golden Knights, and Carter Hart made 23 saves. Karlsson also had an assist.

The Hurricanes outplayed the Golden Knights in the period, outshooting Vegas 14-6. But the Golden Knights, according to Natural Stat Trick, had four high-danger chances to three for Carolina.

The difference was the Hurricanes took advantage of their chances.

Brind’Amour replaced Andersen with Bussi trailing 4-0 after two periods in Game 2 on Saturday, and he saved the first 18 shots he faced as the Hurricanes mounted a furious rally. Bussi failed to save the 19th shot when Shea Theodore knocked the puck off the boards and it bounced off Bussi’s skate for a Golden Knights victory.

A month away from its closure, onetime gambling oasis Primm, Nev., located along the state border with Southern California, has a new lease on life.

The Primm family, owners of the land that includes three casino resorts and other businesses along the 15 Freeway, announced Tuesday a partnership intended to save the struggling state-line strip and hundreds of jobs.

The deal allows Las Vegas-based Terrible’s, owned by the Herbst family and perhaps most famous for a string of gas stations and convenience stores, to operate the properties.

“What we saw with them is the same energy that we had in rebuilding Primm,” said Cory Clemetson, describing the new deal with Terrible’s in an interview with The Times. Clemetson is president of Primm South Real Estate Co. and a grandson of Primm founder Ernie Primm, who made a name for himself in Southern California in the 1930s and ’40s with his Gardena card rooms.

In the summer of 2025, signage blocks an entrance at Primm Mall, a once-popular site along with the trio of casinos at the California-Nevada state line.

(Bridget Bennett / For The Times)

“Primm has long been one of Nevada’s most recognizable destinations,” said Tim Herbst, president of Terrible’s, in a statement. “This partnership reflects our commitment to preserving that legacy while creating new opportunities for growth, investment, and tourism for decades to come.”

Terrible’s takes over for Affinity Gaming, owned by private equity company Z Capital Partners, in the full-circle world of southern Nevada gaming. In 2010, Herbst Gaming declared bankruptcy and saw Primm taken over by Z Capital Partners.

An email to representatives for Affinity Gaming was not immediately returned.

The process for the return of Terrible’s to Primm kick-started May 5, when Affinity confirmed the closure of Primm Valley Casino Resorts.

Affinity’s subsidiary, Primadonna Co. LLC, sent termination notices to more than 300 employees effective July 4.

The closure was devastating, Clemetson said.

“It felt like a gut punch,” he said. “I mean, you’ve got to be kidding me that they would announce something like that for the Fourth of July. Laying off in excess of 300 Nevadans who are mostly paycheck to paycheck with nowhere to go didn’t sit well with my family.”

Primm Valley was the last of three resorts built between 1977 and 1994 at the site that remained in full operation.

Buffalo Bill’s, the largest of the three resorts, closed 24-7 operations in July 2025, after Whiskey Pete’s, the original casino, shuttered in December 2024.

Affinity Gaming declined multiple requests from The Times to speak about Primm’s struggles.

In a letter presented at a Clark County Board of Commissioners meeting, Erin Barnett, Affinity’s vice president and general counsel, wrote in October 2024 that “traffic at the state line has proved to be heavily weighted towards weekend activity and is insufficient to support three full-time casino properties.”

Scott Butera, Affinity’s chief executive and president, offered a few comments about the closure at the May 21 Nevada Gaming Commission meeting.

“As a tenant with a difficult lease and an expensive property and increased competition every day in California … it just became a very difficult thing,” he said, “and we’ve been losing money for years there.”

Clemetson said that Affinity asked for help over the years, such as potential rent reductions, but that the Primm family was unaware of Affinity’s finances.

As for the future, Clemetson said Terrible’s was in the process of reacquiring a gaming license for Primm, which he hoped would happen in the next three weeks.

He also said it was the goal of the Herbst and Primm families to try to keep all workers who received a termination notice employed.

Clemetson said he was excited about Primm’s future under Terrible’s and chalked up its bankruptcy in 2010 to the Great Recession.

“They suffered a similar fate of many big brands like MGM and Caesar’s,” Clemetson said.

“They’re very well thought of in Nevada and they’re a very successful family who’s done well,” he added.

Speaking of Primm’s chances of regaining its former glory, Clemetson reached back into his own past as a young sports agent for players on the L.A. Galaxy soccer team.

“I can’t tell you how many people told me I was dumb to get involved representing soccer players because soccer would never make it here,” he said. “Now, Major League Soccer has a few franchises over a billion dollars.”

As for Tim Herbst and his family, “we believe Primm’s best days are still ahead.”