spent

Two months ago Liverpool’s huge summer transfer spend looked like it had made the Premier League title a formality.

Arne Slot’s side were five points clear at the top of the table after only five games, having strengthened their squad with £415m worth of talent.

Florian Wirtz was signed from Bayer Leverkusen for an initial £100m, rising to a possible £116m. Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak joined on deadline day for a new record transfer fee of £125m, which could be £130m with add-ons.

Nothing could go wrong, could it?

Both signings have struggled and Liverpool’s form has nosedived, leaving them 12th in the league.

Wirtz has no goals or assists in 11 Premier League outings. Isak has yet to score a goal and has one assist.

It is way too early to write off two of the most expensive Premier League signings of all time.

After all, Thierry Henry scored only two goals in his first 17 appearances for Arsenal. By the end of that season he had netted 17 times in the Premier League, 26 in all competitions and went on to be one of the league’s greatest-ever players.

But curiously, when you look down the list of the Premier League’s biggest incomings, there are not too many ‘huge’ successes.

How do you judge this? I’ve looked at each deal and given my verdict relative to their own achievements and that of their clubs. Fees shown are without add-ons.

Of course this is very subjective and you are free to disagree (or agree) in the comments below!

Karl Bushby, who reportedly aims to be the first person to complete a continuous round-the-world walk, opened up about some of his scariest experiences, including being in the “middle of a war zone”

An explorer who has spent a staggering 27 years walking across the planet has named two of the scariest places he visited on his travels. Karl Bushby, an ex-paratrooper who reportedly aims to be the first person to complete a continuous round-the-world walk, started his mammoth journey in Chile in 1998 and will soon return to the UK after nearly three decades on the road.

The 56-year-old, from Kingston upon Hull, has seen his fair share of danger over the years. As part of his aptly named 36,000-mile Goliath Expedition, Karl has swum across the Caspian Sea and walked the American and Asian continents.

Two particular adventures stood out when it came to describing some of his scariest experiences. His first occurred when traversing the infamous Darién Gap, bridging Central and South America, and he found himself in the “middle of a war zone”, reports Unilad.

Karl told CBS News: “And then there’s a whole layer above that of cartels and drug plantations, and then really, really tough jungle.”

Spanning Panama and Colombia, and known as one of the most treacherous migration routes on the planet, the Darién Gap is a notorious 60-mile passage characterised by difficult terrain, including mountains and rainforests.

Its dangers include hot temperatures, heavy rainfall, rivers that people have to cross, mosquitoes, crocodiles, venomous snakes, and criminals, with human trafficking, extortion, robbery, rape and sexual assault reportedly commonplace.

Karl also highlighted a journey he took across the Bering Strait, which lies between the Pacific and Arctic oceans, where he had an encounter with a polar bear. He added: “You’re in a very serious world that will kill you in 20 minutes if you mess up.”

Located between Alaska and Russia, the strait is a wildlife haven home to such species as beluga, bowhead and gray whales and, of course, polar bears. Despite the peril, Karl succeeded in crossing alongside US companion Dimitri Kieffer.

The intrepid duo reportedly crossed from Alaska to Siberia, traversing ice flows and swimming areas of open water, only to be arrested by Russian authorities upon arrival for illegal entry and deported.

As of November 6, Karl was near Budapest as he bore down on his home city of Hull, which he previously admitted would be a “very strange place to be” after such a long time travelling, reports the BBC.

He also confessed that finally ending his journey was a “positively scary” prospect and was “going to be hard”. Karl said: “I’ve spoken with a number of long-distance walkers, some walking five years or more, and they have told me it’s very difficult returning to normal society.

“The key will be throwing myself into another mission, to have another goal.”

Karl also shared his assessment of humanity, revealing that “99.99% of the world is good” and the world isn’t as scary “as you might think”, even in parts that we “might not expect”.

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta spent nearly half a million dollars in campaign funds last year on personal attorneys to represent him as he spoke to federal investigators about alleged corruption in Oakland.

Bonta paid about $468,000 to law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati last year from his 2026 reelection campaign, according to campaign finance disclosures filed with the state.

Bonta political consultant Dan Newman said the attorney general was approached by federal investigators because he was viewed as a “possible victim” in the alleged corruption case involving a former Oakland mayor and Bay Area business owners.

Newman said “the sole role was to assist by providing information that would be helpful to the investigation.”

“This was all completed in 2024, over a year ago, and the AG’s involvement is over,” Newman said.

Bonta’s payments to the legal team were first reported by Sacramento’s KCRA-TV.

The U.S. Department of Justice in January charged former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao in an alleged bribery scheme involving local businesspeople David Trung Duong and Andy Hung Duong.

Thao ran for Oakland mayor in 2022 and was recalled from office by city voters in 2024 after growing voter frustration over crime and the city’s budget woes. She was arrested in early 2025 by the FBI.

According to the indictment, Thao, then a mayoral candidate, engaged in a quid pro quo scheme with the Duong brothers in which she promised to take official actions as the mayor to help their recycling and modular homes businesses.

The Duong brothers and Thao have pleaded not guilty.

The San Jose Mercury News reported in January 2025 that campaign finance regulators had also been closely scrutinizing Andy Duong. The Duong family viewed Bonta as a political ally, according to the newspaper.

Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021 selected Bonta, then an Assembly member representing the Oakland area, as the attorney general to serve the remaining term of Xavier Becerra, whom President Biden nominated to become the U.S. Health and Human Services secretary.

Bonta has emerged as a key player in California’s battle against President Trump, filing dozens of lawsuits against the Trump administration.

Bonta eventually returned $155,000 in campaign contributions from the Duong family after the federal investigation became public, according to multiple news reports.

Newman, Bonta’s consultant, said that the attorney general was ultimately found not to be a victim in the case. When asked why so much money was spent on attorneys, he said that multiple lawyers worked over a period of several months.

A representative for the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment on Newman’s assertions.

South Korea took a major step forward Friday in its long-running quest to secure rights to enrich uranium and reprocess spent nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes, with the United States affirming its support in the countries’ joint summit document.

The joint fact sheet, released earlier in the day, outlines the agreements reached in the two summits between President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump. It covers the allies’ commitments on a range of key trade and security issues.

“Consistent with the bilateral 123 agreement and subject to U.S. legal requirements, the United States supports the process that will lead to the ROK’s civil uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing for peaceful uses,” the document showed. ROK stands for South Korea’s official name, the Republic of Korea.

Under the 123 agreement on peaceful nuclear energy cooperation, South Korea has very limited authority to reprocess spent nuclear fuel or enrich uranium for civilian purposes, as such activities require U.S. consent through bilateral consultations under the relevant treaties, laws and regulations governing both countries.

The agreement only allows South Korea to enrich uranium up to less than 20 percent based on U.S. consent, with U.S. concerns over nuclear proliferation known as the primary reason.

The nuclear energy pact, forged in 1974, was revised once in 2015 for a 20-year term, to accommodate Seoul’s request for the rights to reprocess spent fuel and enrich uranium, but it has been seen as effectively barring Seoul from producing its own civilian nuclear fuel.

South Korea, a global nuclear energy powerhouse, has long sought to expand its rights as a way to address growing nuclear waste stockpiles.

The country currently operates 26 commercial nuclear reactors. The storage for spent fuel rods from the reactors is expected to reach full capacity around 2030.

Its push to revise the agreement also comes as South Korea seeks to secure fuel supplies for its bid to build nuclear-powered submarines, a project for which it has obtained U.S. approval, as confirmed in their joint fact sheet.

Announcing the result of the summit Friday, Lee called U.S. support for Seoul’s uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing a “significant advancement.”

“The door is now wide open for a South Korea-U.S. alliance renaissance, in which both nations can achieve a true win-win outcome,” he said.

In separate press material, the foreign ministry described the agreement on enrichment and reprocessing as “a strategic upgrade” of bilateral nuclear energy cooperation.

“We have publicly secured U.S. backing for (uranium) enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing for the first time,” the ministry said.

Having secured such support from its ally, South Korea faces a long and complex road ahead to advance these efforts, as implementing the agreement will require a lengthy and challenging negotiating process that could take years or more.

Seoul and Washington would need to decide whether the U.S. will allow uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing within the current 123 agreement framework, or by revising the pact. Either way, tough negotiations over the terms are expected.

“It will require extensive discussions,” National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said following the joint fact sheet announcement. “How much adjustment is needed will depend on the results of these consultations,”

The prevailing view is that South Korea has looked at Japan’s 1988 agreement of the same kind with the U.S. as a case model. The U.S. has given Japan preapproved and long-term permission, known as “advance consent,” for the enrichment and reprocessing. It allows Japan to produce highly enriched uranium over 20 percent if the two parties agree.

First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo signaled that the government is considering a revision.

“We are in talks with the U.S. with a revision in mind,” he told lawmakers during a parliamentary session.

South Korea and the U.S. have established a high-level bilateral commission under the 123 agreement. Any follow-up talks could start by resuming this platform.

Going forward, how Seoul will work with Washington to dispel nuclear proliferation concerns from within the U.S. government remains another major challenge.

It took more than two weeks after the Lee-Trump summit for the joint fact sheet to be released, apparently due to extended coordination among the relevant U.S. government agencies.

Wi said Friday that the delay had much to do with the enrichment and reprocessing issues.

“The bulk of the final discussions (within the U.S.) had focused on uranium enrichment and reprocessing,” he told reporters at the briefing.

“In any case, we believe the agreement will need some form of adjustment.”