struggle

Jobar, Syria – Ahmad, a Syrian man in his mid-30s, walks down an unpaved road in Jobar, in East Damascus, and points to a small home. It was damaged sometime during Syria’s 13-year war and is now dilapidated after years of neglect.

“That was my grandfather’s house,” Ahmad, who asked to use just his first name due to his sensitive position, told Al Jazeera. Nearby is his mother’s home and a small shop where she sold clothes.

Before Syria’s war broke out in 2011, following the violent suppression of anti-government protests, Jobar was a neighbourhood brimming with life. It was home to a historic mosque and synagogue but today stands as a ghost town after years of shelling, air strikes and chemical gas attacks.

Between 2012 and 2018, when much of Jobar was held by rebels, it became one of the frontlines of Syria’s war. It was repeatedly bombed and shelled by government forces, resulting in around 95 percent of buildings being destroyed. When the government recaptured the Damascus suburbs from the rebels in 2018, Jobar was emptied of most of its citizens.

Today, it stands as a major post-war problem for both Syria’s new government and its citizens, as they try to navigate reconstruction and the return of its former residents.

The Bermuda Triangle

Opposition groups built a labyrinth of tunnels to avoid attacks by the regime and its allies, with daily air raids and shelling.

Locals said the tunnel network meant the area gained the nickname ‘the Bermuda Triangle’, because of how people would get lost there.

In 2018, the regime cut a deal with opposition groups – fighters, their families and other locals could leave the area. Most left for rebel-held Idlib and the regime banned any civilians from entering the area. Shortly after the rebels took Damascus in December 2024 and forced President Bashar al-Assad to flee to Russia, some of Jobar’s residents returned to visit their homes for the first time in eight years.

One former resident, Salem Sawan, 59, a former medic, also known as Abu Yehya, rents an apartment in a nearby suburb. He wants to return to his home but, like other locals, said residents have been blocked from rebuilding.

On a walk around a part of Jobar, Ahmad points to a large tunnel opening that was recently filled with dirt and rubble. “The government must have closed this recently,” he said.

Ahmad said some people had possibly got lost in the complex tunnel network. There have also been reports of buildings collapsing due to the hollowed-out ground below them. Between the tunnels, the lack of infrastructure and an ongoing mine clearance operation in the area, Jobar is a prime example of the struggle Syria faces in rebuilding.

Rebuilding challenges

One of the major issues for reconstruction has been finding financing. Assad left the country in ruins, materially but also economically, along with crippling international sanctions, which the new government has successfully worked to remove.

The World Bank estimated that the total cost of reconstruction in Syria is around $216bn, while almost 90 percent of the Syrian population lives below the poverty line.

“The need for reconstruction is really big and if a specific neighbourhood has no infrastructure at all [the question is] how to channel money into reconstruction,” Cao Yue, the author of a recent report on Syria’s reconstruction for ODI Global, a UK-based thinktank, told Al Jazeera. “We know the government has a limited public budget, so they have targeted international capital, and especially international private capital, and that’s why [there’s been an effort] to cut agreements with international investors, especially from neighbouring countries.”

On a tour of Jobar, Ahmad, the former fighter, points to a building with a missing facade. It was once a few storeys high, but the floors are missing because the iron rods that ran through them were stolen, he said.

A little over a decade earlier, Mohammad Hamsho, the former business partner of Bashar’s younger brother, Maher al-Assad, had come under US and EU sanctions for war profiteering and connections to the former regime. One of his companies has repeatedly been accused of extracting iron from destroyed areas for steel production. In January 2026, Hamsho allegedly came to a financial settlement with the new Syrian government, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Locals like Ahmad and Abu Yehya told Al Jazeera that officials told them they couldn’t rebuild their homes, even on their own initiative. When asked why, they were told there was a plan for the area, but they were not provided with any other information.

There are now reports that the government and private developers are looking to invest in areas like Jobar, and its geographic proximity to central Damascus means that land there is highly valuable.

Media reports say that local officials have proposed that a foreign-backed project for the area could finance a $21bn project that could create up to 200,000 jobs. But the project has a downside. It states that locals in the area will receive only 50 percent of their former homes and 30 percent of areas classified as “agricultural”. When that plan was presented to local councils and activists, it was met with anger.

This struggle between the government and locals is at the core of the struggle over Syria’s future.

“People need housing, but also need basic services like education, sanitation, water, electricity and governance,” Mauricio Vazquez, Head of Policy at ODI’s Global Risks and Resilience programme, and another of the report’s authors, told Al Jazeera. Vazquez added that the struggle is not only a “block of brick and mortar” but about finding ways to build back societies that are “better for Syria”.

As for people such as Abu Yehya, he said he is ready to start figuring out how to rebuild his home. During the war, he regularly had to pick up wounded people or bodies whilst fighting raged around him. He now has back problems, two slipped discs and can barely lift a kilo, let alone a body. “If a body is 70 kg (154 pounds) alive, it’s 140 (308) dead.”

That means he now can’t work.

“Anyone who doesn’t have a child outside [Syria] will die,” he said, sitting across from the local cemetery, filled with the bodies of his former neighbours and friends. Still, he wants to find a way to rebuild his home in Jobar.

Standing nearby was Mahmoud al-Ajouz, a 60-something-year-old gravedigger, who never left the area, even when his children were killed here and when the regime and its allies ordered all civilians out.

When asked about reconstruction, he was adamant that Jobar will thrive again. “We will rebuild with our own hands,” he said, “us and the state together”.

SACRAMENTO — Recent news about literacy, education and general smarts in California and across the country has been somewhat distressing.

Along with claims that Americans are becoming illiterate, here in the Golden State there are worries that even the highest-achieving students aren’t prepared for our universities, and a study shows backsliding in civil rights protections in the vacuum created by federal changes under the Trump administration.

Despite being close to terming out of office, and also otherwise occupied with his ever-emerging presidential run, Gov. Gavin Newsom last week found time to announce a consequential, if controversial, move that has the potential to vastly improve educational outcomes for California kids: switching out an independent, voter-chosen leader for a hired gun.

In legislation signed last week, Newsom basically eviscerated the role of the elected superintendent of public instruction and instead shifted oversight of our K-12 schools to a newly created education commissioner — to be appointed by the governor.

The change, set to happen early next year, has been described as a “power grab” by some, and on its surface could be seen that way. The conservative candidate for state superintendent — Sonja Shaw, who says she is running to stop “political ideologies being shoved down everybody’s throats” — quickly claimed Newsom’s move was all about stopping her.

In reality, power grab or not, it’s the kind of reform we should all support — a long-overdue push to create accountability in a hot-mess system where there are too many people almost-sorta in charge of too many conflicting priorities.

‘A’ for accountability

It’s to Newsom’s credit that he’s setting up his successor to helm a system that at least has a chance at coherence, even if it raises the stakes for the next governor to deliver.

For years — decades, really — streamlining the governing structure of schools “has been proposed by Republicans and Democrats and bipartisan and nonpartisan commissions,” Linda Darling-Hammond told me. She’s a professor emeritus at Stanford University, an advisor to the governor and, by any measure, one of the preeminent education policy experts in the country.

“It’s not at all political. It is really about making the system run well,” she said. “The world is changing, the economy is changing. There’s just a need to be very efficient and effective in making policy and then implementing that policy.”

“Run well” is the key there. California operates the biggest and most diverse school system in the country. We’ve got roughly 10,000 regular schools (depending on how you count), including about 1,200 charter schools, around 1,00 school districts and 58 counties, each with their own slice of local control over those schools, according to the Department of Education.

That’s about 5.7 million students, nearly 300,000 teachers and $150 billion in costs (counting the new funding in the next budget).

To be kind, this system does not always run well. That’s in no small part because oversight and control are fragmented, overlapping and confusing. Currently, the State Board of Education sets policies, but the elected superintendent implements them through the Department of Education. Then control runs downhill to individual school districts, filtering through local school boards and even principals.

The board can’t control how the superintendent does their job, and vice versa. In fact, they don’t always agree, despite (or because of) the shotgun wedding nature of their relationship. At times, it can feel like they are working against each other. Never mind the complexities of local control.

This has been especially true in recent years as Newsom and the Legislature have pushed through big changes, such as the new prekindergarten grade, that have required massive coordination and effort. At the local level, administrators often complain there is little clarity on what is expected of them and, too often, outright conflict.

“The idea of having policy in one place and implementation in the other is really crazy,” Michael Kirst told me. He’s professor emeritus of education at Stanford and the longest-serving president of California’s State Board of Education, serving under both of Jerry Brown’s gubernatorial stints.

Newsom’s proposed system promises “much clearer, cleaner accountability,” Kirst said.

Expertise counts

It also has the benefit of putting an actual education expert in charge of schools. Because the superintendent role is elected, it has too often been coveted by career politicians looking for a landing spot. Its incumbent, Tony Thurmond, had a background in social work before running for various offices, but that kind of experience isn’t always the case. Neither is experience running a major organization with thousands of employees.

While Newsom’s plan leaves many, if not most, of the details to be ironed out later (a frustrating strategy he’s used more than once to keep the ball rolling on policy without having the drag of actual detail), it does promise to put in someone with the kind of high-level educational policy experience that should be required when managing this vast and important endeavor.

Kirst points out that this will be a “powerful position” charged with making sure our schools are indeed run well, and at the end of the day, it gives us one person to blame if they don’t: the governor.

So if schools don’t improve and our kids don’t learn, voters will know exactly who failed.

What else you should be reading

The must-read: Trump ousts members of bipartisan election commission ahead of midterms
The California edge: The Work of Helping A.I. Destroy Work
The L.A. Times Special: In bed 23 at Adelanto ICE detention center, a terrified teenager missed his mom

Stay Golden,
Anita Chabria

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JESY Nelson has broken fans’ hearts as she confessed she’s been “crying all day” with mum guilt.

The mum-of-two has opened up on how her baby girls are struggling amid the high temperatures.

Taking to social media, she told her 10million followers that she is utterly heartbroken over having to put the twins into thick spinal jackets and splints in this heat.

Pop star Jesy shared a glimpse of the girls laying down in their rockers wearing their supports.

She penned over the clip: “I’ve cried all day. Imagine having to wear a spinal jacket and splints in this heat.

“I cannot even begin to tell you how much this breaks my heart into a million pieces. But, if I don’t put them on every day, their spines and feet will only deteriorate and get worse.”

PROUD MUM

Jesy Nelson shares her daughter’s milestone moment amid heartbreaking SMA battle

in the mix

Jesy Nelson shows off rock hard abs in a bikini as she wails ‘take me back’

“These will never correct their spine or feet, it will only prevent it from getting any worse,” continued Jesy.

“Once again no future SMA babies need to suffer like this if they are given the heel prick test and treatment from birth!”

Despite the temperatures soaring above 30 degrees this week, the girls looked content waving their little hands around and taking in their living room.

Dani Dyer wrote in the comments: “Oh Jesy. You are doing amazing,” followed by two red heart emojis.

Billie Shepherd said: “Sending you all so much love. Super mumma, you are amazing.”

“They will still face every obstacle with the biggest smile. They have the best mummy ever and that’s all they need,” one fan penned.

The former Little Mix star’s baby girls – Story Monroe and Ocean Jade – are both battling Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Type 1 – the most severe form of a rare disease affecting muscle strength and movement.

Both Jesy and her ex-fiancé Zion Foster were told their twins were unlikely to ever walk, and may face serious breathing and swallowing difficulties.

Despite the slim odds, she shared a sweet picture of one of their daughters sitting up in a chair all by herself.

Since Jesy’s babies were diagnosed with SMA she has been tirelessly campaigning to make it mandatory for all newborns to receive a heel-prick to determine whether or not they have the disease.

If SMA is caught early the condition is usually treatable but when left undiagnosed it can be life-threatening and cause death within two years.

A fan told Jesy of her work in her comments: “Want to thank you – just had a baby in Scotland and got the SMA heel prick test as standard. Midwives personally named you and the work you’ve done as to why it’s now offered.”

The Dodgers suffered a deflating 9-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium on Friday to start their final series before the All-Star break.

But if there was a silver lining to the Dodgers rough performance, it was that superstar Shohei Ohtani looked fine at designated hitter after being scratched from his scheduled start because of irritation in his left knee.

Ohtani, will not participate in next week’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia, hit a leadoff home run off Diamondbacks starter Eduardo Rodriguez.

“I found out yesterday morning,” Roberts said of Ohtani’s injury. “So if there’s a chance that we could kind of be proactive and get it drained and do whatever we need to do to try to manage it, along with the rest for the All-Star break, we were gonna do that.

“But obviously the way he’s swinging the bat hasn’t really affected performance,” Roberts added. “We have certainly curtailed the stealing bases. But he feels good, obviously, and he’s gonna be DH’ing the next three games.”

The Diamondbacks took advantage of the Dodgers’ bullpen game — and three defensive errors.

Right-handed pitcher Kyle Hurt opened and surrendered two runs on three hits through 1⅔ innings.

Arizona’s Ketel Marte and Geraldo Perdomo opened the game with base hits. Corbin Carroll grounded into a force out at second, moving Marte to third, before Gabriel Moreno singled on a liner to right that scored Marte. Carroll then scored on an errant throw to third from Kyle Tucker that went into the Dodgers’ dugout.

After Ohtani hit his 21st homer of the season, Andy Pages hit a tying 419-foot blast to left-center for his 17th homer.

But that was all the Dodgers (61-34) would score against Rodriguez, who gave up seven hits and struck out five over six innings to improve to 8-3.

Dalton Rushing walks back to the dugout after grounding out to end the game in the Dodgers’ 9-3 loss to Arizona on Friday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Arizona’s bullpen then held the Dodgers to just two hits — both coming in the ninth inning off Drey Jameson.

Will Klein (3-4) took the loss after surrendering one run through 1⅔ innings.

After Brock Stewart gave up a two-run home run to Tim Tawa in the fourth, Arizona (47-47) tacked on two more runs in the fifth after the Dodgers’ second error.

Stewart walked Perdomo to start the frame. Then, Carroll grounded into a fielder’s choice in front of the plate and reached first safely, with an errant throw by Rushing allowing Perdomo to reach third. Moreno grounded out to third to drive in Perdomo. A balk by Edgardo Henriquez followed by a wild pitch allowed Carroll to score.

Arizona extended its lead in the sixth after Tawa hit an RBI single to left and Perdomo drove in a run on a groundout to first. Tawa ended his four RBI performance with a run-scoring single in the eighth.

Reliever Alex Vesia threw a scoreless ninth inning for his fifth consecutive scoreless outing to cap a night the Dodgers probably would like to forget.

Dine-in movie theater chain Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is launching a new initiative to show unreleased independent films that had successful festival runs, a move that comes as specialty films have struggled to gain distribution.

The Alamo Exclusives program, announced Wednesday, will give limited theatrical runs to films that showed at festivals including Sundance, the Toronto International Film Festival, Tribeca Festival and South by Southwest festival, as well as Alamo’s own Fantastic Fest.

The idea is to help showcase films that received critical acclaim, but did not secure distribution or acquisition deals. The chain will not acquire these films, but instead will enter into agreements with filmmakers to exhibit their films on Alamo Drafthouse screens. By showing these films to audiences on the big screen, these films could get the momentum they need for further opportunities.

The program’s first film will be the documentary “Butthole Surfers: The Hole Truth and Nothing Butt,” which debuted last year at South by Southwest and chronicles the history of the punk rock band.

The film will be shown in Alamo Drafthouse theaters for a limited time later this summer.

The Austin-based chain, which is owned by Sony Pictures, has a long history of curating indie films for its audiences, giving Alamo Drafthouse confidence that its viewers want to see these kinds of movies, company chief executive Michael Kustermann said in a statement.

“Time and again, they’ve shown they’ll come out to support bold, original films when given the opportunity,” he said. The new Alamo Exclusives “gives us another way to champion filmmaker-driven films that deserve to be discovered and connect them with the wider Alamo Drafthouse audience.”

The initiative comes at a difficult time for indie films. Since the pandemic upended the movie business, traditional studios and distributors have had less appetite for risk, including betting on smaller indie films out of festivals.

And as the 2023 dual writers’ and actors’ strikes thinned out theatrical lineups, that aversion to uncertainty became a push for reliable and profitable hits.

“Too many incredible films premiere at festivals and then never receive the theatrical life they deserve,” Lisa Dreyer, director of Fantastic Fest and film innovation at Alamo, said in a statement. “We are actively searching for films across all genres, from horror to comedy, to everything in-between, to champion in this new, exciting way.”

TOM Parker’s pregnant widow Kelsey has revealed her emotional struggle ahead of the first anniversary of her stillborn baby’s death.

Kelsey, 36, tragically lost her son Phoenix in June 2025 after he was born sleeping.

Kelsey has two children with The Wanted singer Tom, who died in 2022 aged 33, – Aurelia, six, and Bodhi, four – but had been expecting her third child with new partner Will Lindsay.

In May, she announced she is pregnant with her rainbow baby but she explained she is now set to tackle a bittersweet weekend.

Amid her pregnancy joy, it will be the one-year anniversary of Phoenix’s passing and in a candid Instagram upload, she admitted she “deeply misses my little boy and wish things had been different”.

Kelsey uploaded a selfie showing her in the sunshine, wearing a white vest top and sunglasses with a gold chain.

bump’s day out

Kelsey Parker shows off growing baby bump in first public appearance

MUM’S PAIN

Kelsey Parker opens up about the moment ‘she knew’ son would be stillborn

In a frank message posted alongside it she put: “I’ve been really quiet on here the last couple of days.

“Truthfully, I’ve been working a lot, trying to keep busy and just processing the fact that Sunday is a big day.

“It’s Phoenix’s first anniversary and it’s Father’s Day too.

“Grief is a strange thing. Some days you can keep going and stay busy, and other days it all catches up with you.

“I’m learning that both things can exist at once. I can feel excited about this next chapter of life, be grateful for everything I have, and still deeply miss my little boy and wish things had been different”.

Giving advice to her followers, Kelsey added: “If you’re navigating grief, anniversaries or simply carrying something heavy right now, please know you’re not alone.

“As always… stop waiting, start living. But also, give yourself permission to feel it all”.

Recently, the brave mum appeared on ITV daytime series Good Morning Britain to reveal her home was “treated like a crime scene” after Phoenix arrived into the world.

Kelsey’s spouse Tom died in 2022, aged 33, following a brain tumour battle.

She previously admitted that that grieving Phoenix was “harder than grieving Tom” as she spoke on the Mum’s The Word podcast.

She shared: “It was so hard. I think with Phoenix, it was harder than it was with Tom.

“I think because they [her kids] were so much younger, it’s like I could just be like, ‘daddy wasn’t coming back.’ 

“And you know, when I said about the angels taking daddy, ‘we won’t see daddy again’, it was like they accepted that and we sort of moved on. 

“And now as time’s gone on, they asked me more questions about their dad and stuff, but that initial I suppose with Bod as well. He was 18 months old. It wasn’t a question that he even thought.”

At the time of Tom’s death, Aurelia was around three, and Kelsey’s co-host Georgia pointed out: “They were almost ages where they didn’t understand. 

“So you almost didn’t have to explain it too much. You obviously have to explain it, but it’s very different to having a child that completely understands, knows what death is”.

Animal lovers in Gaza are resorting to desperate measures to keep their pets alive and healthy. Only two pet clinics are still operating, and critical veterinary supplies and animal food are running low. Vets are warning animal deaths will rise unless supplies arrive soon.

HOLLY Hagan says she has been left in ‘excruciating pain’ while attempting to breastfeed her newborn daughter.

The Geordie Shore star, who gave birth last weekend, told fans that part of her nipple had ‘fallen off’ after spending 12 hours feeding the newborn.

Taking to her Instagram Stories, Holly opened up about struggling to breastfeed, admitting there was something stopping her from being able to feed comfortably.

Sharing how it currently feels like ‘glass’ going through her breasts, the reality star said she had been through a night from hell with daughter Madison-Darci.

The mum-of-two, who also shares son Alpha-Jax with her husband Jacob Blyth, wrote to the platform “Apologies for the lack of update but we had a BADDD night.

“Little missy awake for like 5 hours 3-8, nothing would settle her, she’d just fall asleep and wake up again.

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“My nipples honestly feel like they have glass running through them. I worked out I fed her 18 times for an average of 40 minutes that’s 12 hours of my day sat feeding! I have zero time to think about eating which is WILD for me I think about food 24/7.

“My bum hurts so much from constantly sitting down, my body hurts so much from being so tense when she feeds through the excruciating pain.”

Holly continued that Madison-Darci – who is sweetly named after her late sister – has been checked by doctors, who have confirmed there is no issue with her.

“Yes she’s been checked twice for a tongue tie. It’s not her latch that’s actually so strong, it’s my anatomy.

“It’s still excruciating with a nipple shield, still can’t get any more of my nipple in her mouth after expressing a bit off. Thank god I’d caught quite a bit of milk and stored it in the fridge so Jacob could take her this morning.

“But wow hats off to anyone who breast feeds it is more than a full time job!”

Despite the agonising pain, Holly, who didn’t breastfeed the first time around, said she is going to keep trying in the hopes it will get easier.

She ended the story: “I thought I wouldn’t care about adding formula especially since I only did formula with AJ but I REALLY want to breast feed this time!

“Not going to give up just yet, trying some bigger shields and seeing if my nipples toughen up.. a physical piece of my nipple fell off today LOL”.

A cross section of a 250-year-old Pasadena oak tree that was uprooted in a 1993 windstorm is among the first things visitors will see upon entering the Huntington’s new exhibit, “This Land Is…” Jagged cracks in the trunk, which was once rooted in the Huntington’s lawn, are feebly held together by wooden joints.

It’s a fitting emblem of what’s to come in a long-planned show curated to coincide with the country’s upcoming semiquincentennial, and crafted to pose land itself as central to the country’s complex past. After taking in the exhibit, attendees can draw their own conclusions about the land’s role as a “geographical and metaphorical space of promise, struggle, and belonging.”

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On a recent late afternoon, the Pasadena sun drilled down on the facade of the Huntington’s MaryLou and George Boone Gallery, where the show’s organizers waited beside four chiseled columns with their hands tucked behind their backs, swaying in anticipation.

“It’s the first time anyone is seeing it,” said Linde B. Lehtinen, the museum’s senior curator of photography.

Joining her are Josh Garrett-Davis, curator of Western American history, and Armando Pulido, assistant curator for special projects. All three smile with excitement.

For the better part of the last two and a half years, Lehtinen and Garrett-Davis have spearheaded the curation of “This Land Is…,” which opens Sunday and runs through early next year.

For them the fallen oak tree represents hope amid disturbance: Another once-towering elder on the museum’s North Vista was uprooted during a windstorm in 2025 — one of its acorns has since sprouted and now stands more than 6-feet tall.

Still, it only brushes the surface of an exhibition that seamlessly draws upon a plethora of works crafted across U.S. history. Want to plan a visit? Here are five things you shouldn’t miss seeing.

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“This machine kills fascists,” etched on the back of Woody Guthrie’s guitar on display at The Huntington.  (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

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A closer view of the “This Machine Kills Facists” etching.  (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Woody Guthrie’s guitar, inscribed with ‘This Machine Kills Fascists’

In 1940, Woody Guthrie sat in a Midtown Manhattan hotel, toiling over lyrics for what would become “This Land Is Your Land.” Today, it’s been adopted as a quasi-anthem for the U.S. and the epitome of American progressivism.

For this exhibition, the museum acquired Guthrie’s C.F. Martin and Co. guitar, a seamless blend of spruce, mahogany, celluloid, ebony and mother-of-pearl. On its back, a carved inscription reads, “This Machine Kills Fascists.”

“The idea for ‘This Land Is…’ emerged … because the scope and breadth of his voice in terms of his activism and how prolific he was … and thinking about how he reflected on and experienced American land,” Lehtinen said.

Alongside the guitar is a copy of the Declaration of Independence, annotated by John McKesson, secretary of New York’s Fourth Provincial Congress, in the days following July 4, 1776. According to Lehtinen, the two objects were paired as instruments of protest and change.

“We talked to [Guthrie’s] granddaughter Anna Canoni, and she said to us at one point that he used guitars like pens or tools, and that was so appropriate to how we were thinking about its relationship to this document,” she added.

A map of the Butte Community, Gila River Relocation Center drawn by an internee.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Japanese flower farmers photographed before, during and after internment

Not far from the Guthrie guitar is a panoramic portrait of the Kuromi family, posing amid a flower farm that stood where Los Feliz Boulevard is now. To its right is a watercolor painting of the Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona, where many members of the family were forcibly transported to and imprisoned during World War II.

“I was looking at a historic preservation report, and the name was the same as my mechanic in Los Feliz,” Garrett-Davis said. “The next time I went to get my oil changed, I took a printout of that panorama and was going to show it to them and ask, ‘Do you know anything about this? Is this related?’

“I walked into their office, and a copy of that photo had been on their wall for years. In 10 years, I had never noticed it,” he said with a laugh.

After their internment, the Kuromi family returned to their farm in 1945 to find their equipment stolen. The process of regaining access to their land was slow, but they eventually settled back in, and operated the farm until losing their lease in 1961.

‘A Harvest of Death’ and mail from home on the Civil War front

One of the most grotesque displays on view is an albumen print of an 1863 photo titled “A Harvest of Death,” taken by Timothy H. O’Sullivan after the Battle of Gettysburg. Within its frame lies the bodies of fallen soldiers, sprawled out and lifeless on the grass.

“That evocative title signals some of the other things that we have been thinking about, whether it’s looking at gardens or loss … in this case, these are bodies that have been left, and they’re decomposing,” Lehtinen said.

Paired with the print is a letter from a young woman named Harriet Bailey to her uncle on the front lines of the Civil War, containing seeds delicately etched with drawings of a ship, facesand a dog. The two pieces represent a stark contrast in experiences during the same conflict, once again touching upon the theme of hope amid disturbance.

“This is a remnant of home that he’s actually being sent while on the battlefield,” she continued. “So, the joy and lightness to what is an incredibly somber moment in American history.”

“Archiving the Watershed” is a collection of artifacts from the Colorado River assembled by Otis R. “Dock” Marston on display.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

The Colorado River, mapped out through an adventurer’s eyes

This display is described as a “tiny slice” of the Huntington’s archive on Otis Reed “Dock” Marston, a historian and river runner who made it his life’s goal to collect information on the Colorado River. According to Garrett-Davis, Marston had around 185 binders full of photographs, often placed on a cut-out map of where they were taken and organized mile-by-mile, from below the U.S.-Mexico border all the way into Utah.

This taps into a focal point of the exhibition: adapting it to a West Coast perspective. In this way, the idea of independence is viewed expansively as it unfolds across time and place.

“The Huntington has a wonderful collection of presidential papers and documents relating to the Colonial era, but we also have materials on California … from the lens of the West,” said Huntington President Karen R. Lawrence.

“We can show the West’s visual culture at the same time that we can show the original copies of the Declaration of Independence … we have a breadth that’s quite rare.”

Artist Noni Olabiisi’s, “Troubled Island” mural on canvas, depicting the struggling of the Haitian revolution.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

‘Troubled Island’ and a mirrored struggle

The Haitian Revolution may seem out of place in an exhibition celebrating the U.S., but Haiti was the second independent nation in the Western Hemisphere. Its independence from the French was proclaimed in 1804, just two decades after the American colonies signed the Treaty of Paris.

In the mural “Troubled Island,” Noni Olabisi chronicles the Haitian struggle for independence, including how suffering under French colonists led to the 1791 slave rebellion. The piece was first painted for the William Grant Still Arts Center in West Adams in 2003, referencing an opera of the same name.

The opera was composed by Still with a libretto from the Missouri-born poet, playwright, novelist and social activist Langston Hughes, who connected Haiti’s struggle for freedom to his home country’s.

“We wanted to focus on parts that might seem peripheral but are actually quite central to American history,” Garrett-Davis said.

Three years later, Olabasi would render the same powerful mural on canvas.

“Being so close to a childhood dream of mine, to play in a World Cup, and now it has been taken away from me with an injury. It’s been a tough one to get my head around.

“Your support and kind messages over the last few days mean the world to me and haven’t gone unnoticed, so thank you so much.

“I’ll see you all back doing what I love again soon, but until then, let’s get behind the team and cheer them on. Come on Scotland!”

Scotland have qualified for their first World Cup finals since 1998.

Head coach Steve Clarke and his squad left Glasgow for the United States on Sunday and face Bolivia in their final warm-up friendly on Saturday in New Jersey.

Scotland start their Group C campaign against Haiti on Sunday, 14 June before playing Morocco and Brazil.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Shane McClanahan pitched one-run ball for five innings, Jonathan Aranda homered and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Angels 5-2 on Sunday.

McClanahan (6-2) allowed four hits, struck out three and didn’t issue a walk. Bryan Baker pitched a scoreless ninth for his career-high 16th save this season in 19 chances.

Aranda hit a solo homer in the first inning before Jose Siri singled with two out in the second, advanced to third when Logan O’Hoppe doubled and scored on a wild pitch by McClanahan to make it 1-1.

Aranda and Richie Palacios drew consecutive walks leading off the third inning and Junior Camerino followed with a single to load the bases. Victor Mesa Jr. hit an RBI single and Cedric Mullins walked to drive in a run, giving the Rays a 3-1 lead.

O’Hoppe hit a solo homer in the seventh that pulled the Angels (23-37) within a run.

Pinch-hitter Ben Williamson singled to drive in a run in the bottom of the inning and stole second base. Taylor Walls walked to load the bases and Yandy Díaz drew an eight-pitch walk that scored Chandler Simpson and made it 5-2.

Camerino and Walls had two hits apiece for the Rays (36-20).

Jack Kochanowicz (2-4) allowed three runs and five hits and walked four in 2⅓ innings.

Up next for the Angels: RHP José Soriano (6-4, 2.65 ERA) is scheduled to pitch at home Monday against Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (1-6, 8.08) in the opener of a three-game series.

TORONTO — Dylan Cease struck out 10, reaching double digits for the third time in eight starts this season, and the Toronto Blue Jays stopped a four-game losing streak with a 2-0 win Friday night that sent the Angels to their 14th loss in 18 games.

Angels pitcher Alek Manoah returned from Tommy John surgery that had sidelined him since May 29, 2024, and faced his former team for the first time. The 28-year-old right-hander struck out one in a perfect eighth inning, reaching 93.8 mph with his fastball while throwing seven of 11 pitches for strike.

Cease (3-1) gave up five hits and walked none over seven innings in his 28th double-digit strikeout game.

Toronto (17-21) scored twice in the third on Kazuma Okamoto’s RBI single and Ernie Clement’s sacrifice fly off Reid Detmers (1-2), who gave up two hits and a career-high six walks in 3⅔ innings. The Angels dropped to 15-24.

Louis Varland earned his fifth save with a perfect ninth.

Up next: Angels RHP Jack Kochanowicz (2-1, 3.05) and Blue Jays RHP Trey Yesavage (1-1, 0.96) start Saturday.

Preah Vihear/Siem Reap provinces – When asked how she spends her day, 11-year-old Sokna rattled off a list of chores.

She first fetches water, then washes dishes and sweeps the leaves and dust from around the blue tarpaulin tent her family now calls home, in the grounds of a Buddhist pagoda in northwestern Cambodia.

Sokna and her sister have stopped attending school, their mother Puth Reen said, since moving to this camp for people displaced by the recent rounds of fighting between Thailand and Cambodia.

The two sisters are among more than 34,440 people who remain in displacement camps in Cambodia – 11,355 of whom are children – as of this month, according to the country’s Ministry of Interior.

“I tried to tell them to go to school, but they don’t go,” Puth Reen told Al Jazeera, explaining how precarious life had become since returning to live in Cambodia after fleeing neighbouring Thailand, where she had worked for many years, as the fighting started.

Like Puth Reen and her family, the future looks murky for the tens of thousands of Cambodians – including many schoolchildren – who are still in displacement camps, and their lives remain disrupted months after the last outbreak of fighting between Thailand and Cambodia.

Forced to flee their homes in areas where local troops are now stationed and on high alert, or in areas occupied by opposing Thai forces, Cambodia’s internally displaced say they are surviving off aid donations, while those more fortunate are transitioning from emergency tents into wooden stilted houses provided by the Cambodian government.

But with tension still evident between the leadership in Bangkok and Phnom Penh, the tenuous ceasefire along the Thai-Cambodia border means life cannot yet return to normality.

Some areas on the Cambodian border, such as the villages of Chouk Chey and Prey Chan in Banteay Meanchey province, have become rallying points for nationalists who post on social media about the Thai occupation of Cambodian territory. Their anger is directed at the large shipping containers and barbed wire that Thai forces have used to block access to villages once inhabited by Cambodians and occupied during fighting.

The Thai military-installed containers now form a sort of new frontier between the two countries.

The Cambodian military has also prevented people, such as local farmer Sun Reth, 67, from returning to their homes in front-line areas, which are still highly militarised zones, with troops ready at any moment for a new round of fighting.

“Now the Cambodian military base is just next to [my house],” Sun Reth said, adding that she was not allowed by authorities to sleep in her modest home or pick cashew nuts from her farm to sell for a little income.

Cambodian children more focused on ‘rumours’ of war

The long-held border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia erupted into two rounds of conflict last year, over five days in July and almost three weeks in December.

Dozens were reported killed on both sides, and hundreds of thousands of civilians fled their homes as both countries’ armed forces fired artillery, rockets, and, in the case of Thailand, conducted air strikes deep into Cambodian territory. Thailand has a modern air force, a military capability not possessed by its smaller neighbour.

Cambodian and Thai officials reached a ceasefire on December 27, but the situation remains tense five months on.

For families who fled the fighting, school continues for most children in the displacement camps, but parents say education is fragmented while their lives are still so unsettled.

Mothers at the Wat Bak Kam camp for the displaced in Preah Vihear province told Al Jazeera that primary school students can join classes at a local school, but high school students need to travel daily to the provincial capital, about 15km (9 miles) away.

Now the rising cost of petrol, due to the US-Israel war on Iran, has made it even harder for teenaged students, who have access to motorcycles, to make the journey to school.

Kinmai Phum, technical lead for WorldVision’s education programme, which is providing support to the camps, said school dropout rates and children skipping classes have increased substantially among students from the displaced border regions.

Kinmai Phum said the situation is a perfect storm of problems: Displaced families have been forced to move around for shelters, schools and temporary learning spaces lack facilities, and some students have psychological trauma due to the conflict.

“Local authorities [are] concerned that many children may not return to school at all if displacement and economic hardship persist,” Kinmai Phum said.

Yuon Phally, a mother of two, said she had noticed the impact of the war on her daughter and son, who are in their first and third years in primary school.

When they return from school, Yuon Phally said, they tell her about rumours they had heard about Cambodia and Thailand resuming fighting.

“Their feeling is not fully focused on school; they focus more on these rumours,” she said.

Her children’s world was more impacted by the conflict because their father is a soldier stationed in the Mom Bei area of the border.

During the fighting in December, Yuon Phally said she could not convince her children to go to school because they all waited to see if their father would call on a mobile phone from the front line.

“I couldn’t hold back my tears, and that added more pressure onto my kids,” she said.

“They would ask about their dad and how he is doing now. Then they told me to eat rice. They understood my feelings.”

She said her children’s focus on their studies only improved after their father returned from fighting to the camp where they are staying, to rest and recover from sickness and injuries sustained in battle.

‘Who doesn’t want to have peace?’

Soeum Sokhem, a deputy village chief, told Al Jazeera how his home is located in the militarised “danger zone” along the border, but he feels compelled to return every few days to check on his house, tend crops, sleep an occasional night, and check in with other neighbours doing the same.

“I can’t just stay here”, he said of camp life.

“I have to go back.”

When asked how he felt about the border war, Soeum Sokhem said he had experienced so much war in Cambodia that he did not know how to describe his “inner feeling like I really want to”.

He then listed off all the conflicts he had lived through in Cambodia since the 1960s: The spill over into Cambodia from the US war in neighbouring Vietnam; the US bombing campaign in Cambodia; the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, and the civil war that followed after Vietnam’s intervention to topple the regime’s leader Pol Pot in 1979, and which lasted until the mid-1990s.

Then in the 2000s, sporadic border fights with Thailand began, he said.

Cambodia’s contemporary history has been anything but peaceful, a fact which might explain why the current Cambodian government so often speaks of peace. Government buildings and billboards proclaim the government’s unofficial motto: “Thanks for peace.”

“But who doesn’t want to have peace?” Soeum Sokhem said, after charting his life and the many conflicts he had lived through.

Now the 67-year-old said he once again hears gunfire occasionally when he returns to check on his home on the front line.

“Before, when I walked there, it was normal,” he said.

“But nowadays, I walk with fear when going back there.”

Brittany Brown looks strong.

She looks confident.

She looks capable of achieving her dreams.

That’s how Brown looks in the mural painted in her honor at Vista del Valle Elementary — and it’s how the 31-year-old U.S. sprinter feels in real life nearly two years after winning a bronze medal in the women’s 200-meter at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

But that’s not always how she felt decades ago during her time as a student at the Claremont school.

“I grew up very sickly,” Brown told The Times last month while visiting Vista del Valle for a mural unveiling ceremony. “I had asthma. I had pneumonia, bronchitis. … I never thought I’d be running because I just was not the person that would be running. I was told to stay inside, not go outside.”

U.S. sprinter Brittany Brown celebrates winning the bronze medal in the women’s 200-meters at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

(Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

Former Vista del Valle Elementary student Brittany Brown wears her 2024 Paris Olympics bronze medal at the school’s district track and field competition April 24.

(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)

Brown’s family also faced housing uncertainty and financial struggles during that time. They moved around a lot, and sometimes Brown and her family — mother Yo-Landa, father Wayne, older sister Brandi, twin brother Brandon and younger brother Bryan — found themselves living in a hotel room near the elementary school.

Her mother told The Times that the school and the community provided invaluable support during those trying times.

“I think emotionally, it took a toll on her,” Yo-Landa Brown said. “But, of course, she was always joyful. She was very observant. She was kind. I could tell she used to cry a lot, but we all just tried to keep things calm and collected around her.”

U.S. sprinter Brittany Brown, a bronze medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics, is all smiles after winning a ribbon in the Vista del Valle track meet as a fourth grader in 2007.

(Brandi Brown)

The mural ceremony was held April 24 immediately after the school’s 50th annual district track meet, where Brown interacted with the participants and handed out ribbons. Vista del Valle Elementary hosts all seven elementary schools in the district each year for the meet. It was as a fourth-grade participant at the same event nearly 20 years ago that Brown discovered she loved to run — and also that she was very good at it.

“I remember running just felt very freeing. Like it just felt like, ‘OK, I’m not the sick kid. I can just try and do something,’” said Brown, who holds the Claremont High School record in the girls 100-meter and 200-meter races. “And I was also winning, so that helped as well. … Running has brought me opportunities I never thought I would ever experience.”

The mural was painted by local artist Xiucoatl Mejia, who attended Claremont Unified School District schools from kindergarten (Sumner Elementary) through high school (Claremont High). He has painted several murals at district schools in recent years and was already working with first-year Vista del Valle principal Charles Boulden to start an after-school art club for the students.

The two men thought it would be great to have a mural on campus to tie in with the half-century anniversary of the district track meet. The realization that one of the country’s top sprinters was a Vista graduate who got her start at the same meet served as further inspiration.

The mural depicts an adult Brown running while wearing a Vista track uniform and carrying a torch. A large group of children runs behind her, with some of those kids resembling students from the art club.

People gather in front of a mural featuring U.S. sprinter Brittany Brown prior to its unveiling ceremony April 24 at Vista del Valle Elementary in Claremont.

(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)

“It just made sense to include some of the kids who were in the class and make it a little bit more custom to the school and personal to these kids,” Mejia said.

Third-grader Levi Adams said being depicted in a mural on a school wall is “special because when you’re older you can go back and look at it.”

Second-grader Holland Ly agreed that “it’s pretty special” to be featured in a painting that “many people” will see through the years.

Art club students also helped paint the mural.

“I had the kids lay out the whole track,” Mejia said. “I wanted them to do that very specifically, because I wanted them to understand that that’s the foundation for the race in our scene. … I wanted them to have that part in it, and be able to look back on it and see it.”

The theme of the piece initially was victory, Mejia said, but it evolved.

“As it progressed, the theme kind of changed into carrying the torch and paving the way for a better future for our youth and for our communities,” Mejia said. “It became a lot bigger than what initially it was. It became something that is a little bit more powerful than any singular victory. It was a collective victory with everyone.”

Boulden thinks the mural ended up being a tremendous success.

U.S. sprinter Brittany Brown holds up her bronze medal from the 2024 Paris Olympics surrounded by, from left: mother Yo-Landa Brown, twin brother Brandon Brown, brother Bryan Brown, grandmother Jeanette Royston and sister Brandi Brown.

(Brandi Brown)

“I couldn’t be happier with how it is — the colors, how vibrant it is and what it represents to me,” the principal said. “I see perseverance in there, and I see chasing dreams, and I see kids chasing after somebody who’s chasing their dreams as well.”

Brown is also thrilled with how the first mural in her honor turned out.

“I think it’s really good! I’m really, really happy with it,” said Brown, who is currently training in Los Angeles with the long-term goal of competing for the U.S. again in the 2028 Summer Olympics. “I love the colors. It even has my choker — I wear a choker when I run a lot. It has the little, fine details, so I think that was really cool.”

Her mother said she thought it was “really touching” that Mejia included images of current Vista students in the painting.

“Yes, Brittany is the Olympian, but now you have the next generation involved,” Yo-Landa Brown said. “Their stories will continue to live on and they will remember that. And that will give them the inspiration to be better and to do better in their lives. I thought that was phenomenal. I felt so thankful that he was able to capture that.”

Wearing her Olympic medal around her neck, Brown addressed the student body at the mural ceremony and became emotional while talking about the hardships she overcame while attending the school.

Olympian Brittany Brown hands out ribbons and high-fives to participants in Vista del Valle’s annual district track and field meet April 24 in Claremont.

(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)

“I really just want them to know you can create beautiful stuff, even in the struggle,” Brown told The Times afterward. “It’s going to be a lot harder, but you can still create beautiful stuff in the struggle. And I definitely have created a different life for me. …

“I never thought the little girl in the hotel would freaking have a mural. I never thought, like a little asthma girl, you know, someone who wasn’t allowed outside, that this would be my story. So it’s definitely crazy. That’s what I want them to know.”

Brown’s message seems to have resonated with the students. Fifth-grader Kaylee Mency said Brown’s story of her childhood struggles “really meant a lot to me because she still kept going even though her life wasn’t as good.”

Fifth-grader Eliana Ocegueda added: “She went to this school and now she’s an Olympian. It’s really inspiring and it kind of makes you think about you can be anything you want to be.”

ST. LOUIS — Andy Pages tapped the top of his helmet as plate umpire Chris Guccione wound up to punch him out, taking one final stab at extending the Dodgers’ scoring opportunity in the eighth inning.

The Busch Stadium scoreboard lit up with a graphic of the strike zone. The ball flew in, touching the top of the rectangle and turning it red. The call was confirmed. Strike three.

In a 7-2 loss to the Cardinals on Friday, that was one of six at-bats the Dodgers had with runners in scoring position. They didn’t record a hit in any of them.

Instead, the Dodgers (20-12) only scored on Max Muncy’s double with a runner on first in the second inning, and Kyle Tucker’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the sixth. It marked their third straight loss, scoring two or fewer runs in each.

“It’s been hard,” said left fielder Teoscar Hernández, who had a ground-ball single and a walk Friday. “Obviously, we don’t want to start the season the way we have started. But we have done a lot of work. Everybody knows this is not easy, hitting, being consistent. We just have to go up there trying to have good at-bats, create situations, put the ball in play, get on base.

“But I think we got unlucky. A lot of guys have been hitting the ball really good, right at people. But we control what we can control, and just leave the rest to baseball.”

Even amid a down stretch, the Dodgers still showed off their scoring power with a pair of 12-run performances in the last two weeks — even if one was at hitter-friendly Coors Field. And they entered Friday leading the majors with an .802 OPS. So all is not lost.

The top of the batting order, however, isn’t producing. Mookie Betts, who would be batting No. 3 in the order, has been out since early April with a strained right oblique.

Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Tucker have had slow starts. Freddie Freeman has been in an offensive lull since taking over the No. 2 spot last week.

The Dodgers entered Friday with the top three spots in the batting order producing a .734 OPS, ranking 22nd in MLB.

The bottom half of the order, and Pages in particular, was carrying the offense early on. But when those hitters cooled, the top of the order didn’t fill the gap.

“Unfortunately, we have a lot more guys that are not swinging the bats well than that are,” manager Dave Roberts said. “And so shuffling the lineup, I just don’t think that’s a solution right now — outside of versus left versus right [pitching matchups].”

On Friday, the Dodgers scored fewer runs than the Cardinals scored in the first inning alone.

“They swung the bat better than we did,” Roberts said. “And we didn’t play well enough.”

Dodgers right-hander Emmet Sheehan’s start went south in one at-bat.

Dodgers starting pitcher Emmet Sheehan delivers during the first inning Friday against the Cardinals.

(Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images)

With two outs in the first inning and runners on first and second, Sheehan worked ahead to an 0-2 count against Nolan Gorman.

Dodgers catcher Will Smith then attempted a back-pick at second base, but his errant throw bounced to the opposite side of the base and past shortstop Miguel Rojas.

With runners at second and third, Sheehan did not declare he was going to switch to throwing from the stretch instead of the hybrid position. So, he was called for a balk, bringing the first run of the game across the plate.

“Mental mistake,” Sheehan said. “I know the rule. It was just in the moment, I didn’t declare it. And, yeah, unacceptable.”

Gorman battled Sheehan to a full count. Then Sheehan left a high fastball over the plate, and Gorman sent it into the right-field stands for a two-run blast.

Sheehan bounced back with a 1-2-3 second inning. But he surrendered a solo homer to slugger Alec Burleson in the third.

By the time Sheehan exited with two outs in the fifth inning, before Gorman was due up again, he’d given up a season-high eight hits.

“I feel like we’ve been making progress and then taking a step back,” Sheehan said. “And, yeah, it’s definitely frustrating. But we know we need to work on, it’s just fixing it now.”

The Cardinals (19-13) widened their lead in the seventh inning, putting together a three-run rally against reliever Edgardo Henriquez. And the Dodgers offense never threatened a comeback.

“We’re in a little funk offensively, which is certainly obvious,” Roberts said. “But you’ve just got to keep going. I believe in the guys, the hitting coaches do, the guys do. You’ve got to keep working and know that it will click one night and we all come together. But it’s not one at-bat. It’s not one particular hitter that is bringing the group down. We’ve all got to come together and expect things to change.”

Race Across the World stars Jo and Kush appeared on BBC’s Morning Live on Thursday

One Race Across the World star has made an unexpected admission.

The hit travel competition sees five intrepid teams embarking on the journey of a lifetime, spanning more than 12,000km across southern Europe and Central Asia. They will navigate seven checkpoints on their way to Hatgal in remote northern Mongolia.

Cousins Puja and Roshni were the first pair to be eliminated earlier this month, with more dramatic twists in store.

Sibling duo Katie and Harrison lost their lengthy lead last week, dropping all the way down to last place. In-laws Mark and Margo have charged into the lead for the first time, followed by childhood best friends Jo and Kush, and father-and-daughter pair Molly and Andrew.

Ahead of a new instalment airing on Thursday (April 30), Jo and Kush appeared on BBC’s Morning Live, where they spoke to hosts Holly Hamilton and Rav Wilding about their experience on the show.

During the interview, Kush revealed a hidden struggle he faced during the race, which viewers wouldn’t have known about.

“I think the hardest part is the fact that you sacrifice everything. You’ve got no home life, no reminders of home, no [home] comforts. Everything is to do with the race, and I think that started to get a bit consuming at times,” he said.

“You’re going to sleep and thinking about the race. Every day, every action and decision you make is to advance your race, and I really struggled with that at times. I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t function.”

Holly then discussed a show “controversy” after Jo and Kush notably decided against giving money to their competitors Molly and Andrew.

The presenter said: “There was one point, as well, where you had to make a decision about whether or not to give money to one of the other teams. There was a bit of controversy around that.”

Kush replied: “People come up to us and they’re so 50/50. I had one person come up to me a few days ago at work, saying, ‘Oh, you should have given them [the money]. Why didn’t you give them the euros?'”

Jo added: “At the end of the day, it is a competition. The game’s a game. Obviously, we love Andrew and Molly. We actually gave them the €10 back the other day, and they gave us £10 back, so we made a little transaction there!”

Tonight’s episode will see the teams face the longest leg of the race so far. They will travel through the world’s largest landlocked country, Kazakhstan, and into Uzbekistan, navigating the vast Kazakh steppe with its endless horizons and limited English speakers.

One racer soon becomes overwhelmed after a string of missed connections and fraught taxi negotiations, while another pair take part in an authentic Kazakh coming-of-age celebration.

Race Across the World is available to stream on BBC iPlayer

The trial’s outcome could sway the balance of power in AI, and jury selection starts on Monday.

Technology tycoons Elon Musk and Sam Altman are poised to face off in a high-stakes trial revolving around the alleged betrayal, deceit and unbridled ambition that blurred the bickering billionaires’ once-shared vision for the development of artificial intelligence.

The trial, which is scheduled to begin on Monday with jury selection, centres on the 2015 birth of ChatGPT maker OpenAI as a nonprofit start-up primarily funded by Musk before evolving into a capitalistic venture now valued at $852bn.

The trial’s outcome could sway the balance of power in AI, breakthrough technology that is increasingly being feared as a potential job killer and an existential threat to humanity’s survival.

Those perceived risks are among the reasons that Musk, the world’s richest person, has cited for filing a lawsuit in August 2024 that will now be decided by a jury and US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California.

The civil lawsuit accuses Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, and his top lieutenant and a cofounder, Greg Brockman, of double-crossing Musk by straying from the San Francisco company’s founding mission to be an altruistic steward of a revolutionary technology. The lawsuit alleges they shifted OpenAI into moneymaking mode behind his back.

The bitter legal fight may come down to a few pages in one executive’s personal diary.

“This is the only chance we have to get out from Elon,” wrote Brockman in the autumn of 2017. “Is he the ‘glorious leader’ that I would pick?”

Brockman’s diary entry is part of the thousands of pages of internal documents revealed in court.

Musk said the defendants kept him in the dark about their plans, exploited his name and financial support to create a “wealth machine” for themselves, and owe damages for having conned him and the public.

He also wants OpenAI to revert to a nonprofit, for Altman and Brockman to be removed as officers and for Altman to be removed from its board.

OpenAI has brushed off Musk’s allegations as an unfounded case of sour grapes that’s aimed at undercutting its rapid growth and bolstering Musk’s own xAI, which he launched in 2023 as a competitor.

The trial also carries risks for Musk, who last month was held liable by another jury for defrauding investors during his $44bn takeover of Twitter in 2022. Any damaging details about Musk and his business tactics could be particularly hurtful now because his rocket ship maker, SpaceX, plans to go public this summer in an initial public offering that could make him the world’s first trillionaire.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Cole Ragans struck out 11 in six sharp innings and Nick Loftin had a career-high four RBIs as the Kansas City Royals routed the Angels 12-1 on Saturday night.

Ragans (1-4) allowed one run and five hits. It was the 15th quality start this season for the Royals, who entered the day tied for second in the majors in that category.

The left-hander had runners on second and third with one out in the second but got consecutive strikeouts to end the inning. The lone blemish for Ragans was a solo home run by Jo Adell in the fourth.

Loftin had an RBI single, a two-run single and a bases-loaded walk. Salvador Perez went three for five with a solo homer and an RBI double.

Vinnie Pasquantino drew three walks, including one with the bases loaded. Royals batters were handed 10 free passes in all.

Michael Massey hit an RBI single to spark a three-run seventh. Carter Jensen hit a two-run single off infielder Adam Frazier in a four-run eighth.

Vaughn Grissom went three for four with a double for the Angels (12-16). Mike Trout had a hit in the eighth to extend his on-base streak against the Royals to 28 games.

Walbert Ureña (0-3) allowed four runs in 3⅔ innings with three strikeouts and a career-high five walks.

Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe exited in the eighth with left wrist irritation.

Kansas City (10-17) has won a series for the first time since the first one of the season.

Up next: Angels LHP Reid Detmers (1-2, 4.08 ERA) is scheduled to face RHP Seth Lugo (1-1, 1.15) in the series finale, the first Sunday night game at Kauffman Stadium since 2016.

WASHINGTON — Iranian forces attacked three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, stoking an already tense standoff in the Persian Gulf as a U.S. naval blockade strains Tehran’s economy and pressures its divided leadership to return to peace talks.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it seized two ships and damaged a third after the vessels “ignored repeated warnings.” British maritime monitors confirmed the incidents, describing one cargo ship left disabled in the water and another that took heavy damage to its bridge.

“Disrupting order and safety in the Strait of Hormuz is considered a red line for Iran,” the Iranian Navy Command said in a statement.

Hours before, President Trump confirmed he would maintain the naval blockade in the gulf, but agreed to give Iranian leaders additional time to agree on a new peace proposal, he wrote in a Truth Social post.

“Based on the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so and, upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal,” Trump wrote Tuesday.

More than a dozen American warships have prevented exports from leaving Iranian ports since peace talks in Islamabad failed earlier this month. The tactic has greatly constrained Iranian oil exports — about 90% of which flow through the Strait of Hormuz — contributing to rising inflationary pressure.

The restrictions could wipe out roughly $435 million in daily economic activity, according to Miad Maleki, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Oil exports, Tehran’s primary revenue source, have halted. At the same time, Iran has been unable to import food or industrial goods. As a result, the blockade is expected to empty Iran’s war coffers and sharply accelerate inflationary effects on its people.

Trump is betting that the strategy will force Iran’s fractured negotiating team — which appears to be split between parliamentary moderates and hard-liners within the Revolutionary Guard — to agree on a “unified” peace proposal.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said Wednesday the president extended the ceasefire agreement to allow Iran to get their “act together,” and emphasized that Trump has not given Iran a “firm deadline” to respond yet.

“President Trump will ultimately dictate the timeline and he will do so when he feels it is in the best interest of the United States and the American people,” Leavitt told reporters.

Though she declined to specify who the administration is negotiating with in Iran, Leavitt said the president was “generously offering a bit of flexibility” to the regime so that they can come up with a unified response.

“This is a battle between the pragmatists and the hard-liners in Iran right now,” Leavitt told reporters at the White House.

That division was visible earlier this week when plans for a second round of talks in Islamabad collapsed after Iranian officials failed to confirm participation and instead introduced new preconditions under pressure from hard-line factions.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Bagher Ghalibaf initially signaled a willingness to attend talks, but was overshadowed by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Maj. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, who insisted that the United States lift its blockade before discussions could begin. A report by the Institute for the Study of War said Vahidi sought to derail negotiations rather than secure meaningful economic relief.

“One challenge with the ongoing negotiations is the divided nature of Iran’s negotiating team,” the report said, adding that “[Trump’s] reference to a ‘unified’ proposal appears to imply that previous proposals were not unified in some way.”

And while hard-liners continue attempts to derail diplomacy with continued demands and attacks in the strait, moderates in Iran continue to push for peace.

This week, prominent Sunni cleric Moulana Abdol Hamid called a “fair agreement” the only viable path forward and warned that those who seek to block negotiations would bear responsibility for the “homeland’s devastation.”

Benjamin Radd, a political scientist at UCLA who studies Iran, said the dispute is a sign of a larger power struggle for control of Tehran’s government.

“There are clear divisions within the leadership,” Radd said in an interview. “Right now, it’s the IRGC faction that has all the power. They have the guns, they have the weapons. What they don’t have is the diplomatic connections and experience dealing with the United States.”

Radd pointed to the economic toll of the U.S. blockade as a key driver of tension inside Iran.

“They’re facing a huge domestic crisis,” he said. “They’re not able to replenish their own needs. Nothing can get in or out of the country. They can’t make any money.”

The consequences of the U.S. strategy could push the more moderate Iranian leaders to strike a deal on nuclear enrichment or a reopening of the strait in exchange for the United States lifting the blockade, Radd said.

“That would start rebuilding some sort of trust,” Radd said. “And then we’re seeing the IRGC is basically steadfast, refusing to do any of this.”

With renewed Israeli attacks in Lebanon killing at least three people Wednesday, despite a 10-day ceasefire agreement, Iranian leaders are preparing for the possibility that talks with the United States will fail altogether.

“Iran has prepared for a new phase of fighting,” the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported this week, citing military redeployments and updated target lists.

Meanwhile, Iranian Judiciary Chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei warned that renewed U.S. or Israeli strikes were likely. Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei made a similar statement in a news briefing Wednesday. He announced the country’s armed forces were “on high alert” and ready to defend against any threat, while being open to Pakistan’s mediation efforts.

He did not confirm if the government was participating in a second round of negotiations.

“Diplomacy is a tool for ensuring national interests and security,” he said, “and we will take the necessary steps whenever we conclude that the necessary and logical grounds exist to use this tool to achieve national interests.”

Until then, it appears both Washington and Tehran will continue brinkmanship in the strait.

On Wednesday morning, the IRGC released a statement confirming it seized the two cargo ships and identified them as the MSC Francesca and the Epaminondas. It claimed the MSC Francesca was linked to Israel and accused both of “jeopardizing maritime security by operating without necessary permits and tampering with navigation systems.”

A third ship, the Euphoria, which sails under the Panamanian flag and is owned by a company based in the United Arab Emirates, was fired upon early Wednesday while heading east out of the Strait of Hormuz, according to Vanguard, a maritime intelligence firm.

The Euphoria later resumed sailing toward the Gulf of Oman, according to Lloyd’s List.

In Lebanon, Amal Khalil became the fourth journalist killed by Israeli fire since hostilities with the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah intensified on March 2.

Khalil’s body was reported to have been found under the rubble of a house where she and freelance photographer Zeinab Faraj were sheltering, according to their colleagues.

Khalil and Faran were in the southern Lebanese town of Al-Tayri, covering developments there when an Israeli attack targeted the vehicle in front of them, killing its occupants.

The two journalists then sheltered in a house but were hit by Israeli fire once more, according to a statement from the Lebanese Health Ministry.

When Red Cross crews scrambled to the area to rescue the trapped journalists, they were targeted with a sound bomb and machine-gun fire.

The Israeli military said it was not preventing rescue teams from reaching the area and that the incident was under review. It acknowledged targeting a vehicle it said had come out of a structure used by Hezbollah and was heading toward Israeli troops.

The Red Cross reached the house by the early evening local time, and rescued Faraj, who is reported to be in stable condition after undergoing surgery for a head wound, according to her colleagues.

Times staff writers Ana Ceballos in Washington and Nabih Bulos in Beirut contributed to this report.

Ramón Laureano and Fernando Tatis Jr. each drove in two runs apiece, Germán Márquez threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings in a strong start and the San Diego Padres beat the Angels 4-1 on Saturday night.

Adrian Morejon (2-0) struck out two in 1 1/3 scoreless relief innings for the win and Mason Miller earned his seventh save despite giving up a single and a walk in the ninth.

Miller, who has allowed two hits, walked two and struck out 25 in 10 1/3 innings this season, extended his scoreless streak to 31 2/3 innings dating to last Aug. 6.

The teams were in a scoreless tie when Freddy Fermin and Jake Cronenworth opened the eighth with four-pitch walks off Ryan Zeferjahn (1-1). Laureano chopped an RBI single through the middle for a 1-0 lead, snapping San Diego’s 16-inning scoreless streak. Tatis followed with an RBI hit-and-run dribbler through a vacated second-base spot for a 2-0 lead.

The Angels trimmed the deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth when Logan O’Hoppe and Adam Frazier singled off Jason Adam and Nolan Schanuel hit a two-out RBI single. But Jo Adell grounded out to end the inning.

San Diego pushed the lead to 4-1 in the ninth on Laureano’s sacrifice fly and Tatis’ RBI single.

Márquez gave up two hits, struck out five — all in the fourth and fifth innings — and walked two.

Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi allowed four hits, struck out eight and walked one in six innings.

Jackson Merrill robbed Yoán Moncada of a solo homer with a leaping catch at the right-center-field wall in the second, holding onto the ball as he collided with Tatis.

The game was twice delayed for several minutes. In the second, O’Hoppe, the Angels’ catcher, took a foul tip off his neck. In the fifth a 96-mph fastball from Kikuchi grazed Cronenworth’s chin. Both players remained in the game.

Up next

Padres RHP Michael King (2-1, 2.78 ERA) will face Angels LHP Reid Detmers (1-1, 3.57 ERA) in Sunday’s series finale.