An Antiques Roadshow expert was left stunned after inspecting a “never seen before” item
An Antiques Roadshow expert went “raving mad” for a never seen before item that was worth thousands.
The popular BBC show, filmed at Beaumaris Castle in Anglesey, North Wales, saw locals bring their antiques and fine arts for appraisal.
During the episode, jewellery expert Geoffrey Munn was shown a pendant and an aquamarine brooch crafted by Fabergé, the renowned jeweller from 1900.
The guest revealed that her friend owned the items and had asked her to bring them along for valuation.
“Well, I’m jolly glad she did because they’re very, very exciting things for me,” Geoffrey enthused, reports the Express.
Geoffrey Munn was impressed with two precious jewellery items(Image: BBC)
The pendant featured someone’s initials encrusted with diamonds, set over a geocache ground – a machine-created sun ray effect.
Inside the pendant was an inscription in Cyrillic, loosely translated as, “Maybe it’s better not to wait.”
“Then it’s flooded with pink enamel and you can see through the enamel onto the geocache, which looks like a sunburst behind,” Geoffrey elaborated.
“I think we can possibly assume that this is somebody who could afford to go to Fabergé. Absolutely the highest level of elite.”
The pendant and aquamarine brooch were made by Fabergé(Image: BBC)
Meanwhile, the Siberian aquamarine brooch was encircled by diamonds, topped with a true lover’s knot.
“It’s a remarkably deep stone, and when you turn it up, you can see there’s a gallery beneath which is really quite extravagant, quite wide,” Geoffrey noted.
“The reason that it’s there is because the stone itself is actually very deep.”
The expert continued: “This is court jewellery at the highest possible level by Fabergé.”
Geoffrey then revealed that the pendant could fetch up to £10,000, while the brooch was worth a staggering £35,000 to £40,000.
The guest was left speechless after the valuation(Image: BBC)
“This one is an unusual prototype, never seen the like before, I’m going to say £10,000 for this one,” he said.
“And I’m going to go absolutely raving mad for this one, which is sort of predictable, and tell you that I think it ought to be worth £35,000 to £40,000.”
The assembled crowd let out a collective gasp, with the guest excitedly exclaiming: “Isn’t [my friend] going to be happy!”
She added: “My friend is out of the country, so she asked me to bring them. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to bits to hear about all that I shall tell her.”
Antiques Roadshow is available to stream on BBC iPlayer
Salesforce has slashed another 4,000 jobs from its customer support workforce as the tech giant doubles down on artificial intelligence, even as the company reports strong financial results.
The latest layoffs gutted Salesforce’s customer service division, reducing its headcount from 9,000 to 5,000. AI agents now reportedly handle about one million customer conversations.
In a recent episode of The Logan Bartlett Show, CEO Marc Benioff justified the cuts by saying he “needs less heads” as Salesforce invests heavily in AI across its operations.
Earlier this year, Benioff boasted that AI was already doing 30 to 50 percent of the work, which he framed as efficiency gains – a 17 percent cost reduction achieved after shedding 1,000 people in February.
On Wednesday, the Slack owner reported revenue topped $10.2bn for the quarter ending July 31, up 10 percent from the same period last year. The company also announced a $20bn increase in its share buyback plan.
“These results reflect the success of our customers – like Pfizer, Marriott and the US Army – who are transforming into agentic enterprises, where humans and AI agents work side by side to reimagine workflows, accelerate productivity, and deliver customer success,” Benioff said.
“We exceeded all our financial targets while achieving our 10th consecutive quarter of operating margin expansion, delivering strong returns and maximising value for our customers and shareholders.”
But the business software provider also forecast that the current quarter revenue would be below Wall Street estimates, as clients dial back spending on its enterprise cloud products due to macroeconomic uncertainty.
Shares of the San Francisco, California-based company fell more than 4 percent in trading after the bell.
Benioff, whose annual compensation package was valued at $55m, has openly embraced automation as a central pillar of Salesforce’s future even as thousands lose their jobs. He insists the aggressive replacement of people with machines is worth celebrating, calling the past year of AI expansion “the eight most exciting months of my career”.
This is not new for Salesforce. In early 2023, Benioff oversaw a mass layoff of 7,000 workers, roughly 10 percent of the company’s global workforce, although later in the year, the cloud computing giant hired 3,000 workers.
A mixed message
“Just months ago, they [Salesforce] downplayed AI’s threat to jobs. The latest action raises important questions on trust in the sector. It’s very damaging and gives rise to a climate of fear among the industry’s wider workforce,” tech consultant Waseem Mirza told Al Jazeera.
In July, Benioff echoed that softer line, insisting AI would “augment” rather than replace people. Just a day before announcing the layoffs, he doubled down on that reassurance in a post on X.
“Our agentic future is not preordained. If AI replaces human judgment, creativity, empathy, we diminish ourselves,” he wrote.
“This is quite an important signal that this says to the tech sector with the biggest AI-driven layoffs thus far and could lead to a copycat effect across the sector,” Mirza said.
“The disruption is growing day by day, and we are going to see it continue.”
Salesforce is not alone. Recruit Holdings, the parent company of Indeed and Glassdoor, cut 1,300 jobs amid its AI shift in July. Klarna laid off 40 percent of its workforce earlier this year. Duolingo announced in April it would stop hiring contractors and replace them with AI.
“Internally [at Salesforce], these cuts can be read as a way to maximise efficiency and ultimately shareholder value. But there’s a risk when companies cut too deeply in junior positions; they may be undermining their own future talent pipeline, which could hurt them strategically in the long run,” Fabian Stephany, assistant professor for AI and Work at the University of Oxford, told Al Jazeera.
That concern is widely shared across the industry. Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, told the outlet Axios earlier this year that AI could eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs.
“Highly exposed” fields have seen a 13 percent relative decline in opportunities for workers aged 22-25 between October 2022 and July 2025. In tech specifically, the effect is even more amplified. Opportunities for software engineers have fallen 20 percent, according to new research from Stanford University.
Salesforce did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.
It’s a six-hour direct flight from the UK, and each of the ten islands that make up the archipelago has a different and distinct feel – perfect for those looking for year-round sunshine
This beautiful country is becoming more and more popular with Brits(Image: Getty)
The stunning nation of Cape Verde is fast becoming a favourite among Brits seeking year-round sunshine.
For those looking to change their annual holiday destination in Spain, Italy or France, you might want to have a look at this place. Spain has long been a top pick for those looking to escape the unpredictable British weather, but now more holidaymakers are venturing further afield to Africa’s Cape Verde.
Just a six-hour direct flight from the UK, Cape Verde’s ten islands offer constant sunshine, with temperatures seldom dipping below 21C, making it an ideal winter sun destination. Did anyone say a quick weekend trip?
Road loop in a gorge on a cliff above the ocean, Ponta do Sol in Cape Verde(Image: Getty)
Each island in this Atlantic archipelago boasts its own unique charm and character. With an abundance of white sandy beaches and turquoise waters, you’ll be spoilt for choice, reports the Express.
With a culture influenced by Portugal and African traditions, Cape Verde is the perfect place as it offers an all-year round exquisite weather where visitors can enjoy the beach and partake in watersports like windsurfing and outdoor activities like hiking.
Cape Verde is a member state of the African Union. But interestingly, the official language of Cape Verde is Portuguese. Nonetheless, Creole is also used in conversation, and visitors will hear it throughout their stay.
Top picks include Santa Maria Beach and Ponta Preta on Sal, Praia de Chaves on Boa Vista, and Laginha beach in Mindelo, on São Vicente. Beyond the beaches, there’s fantastic wildlife spotting opportunities, with whales, dolphins and turtles often seen in the crystal-clear waters.
Cape Verde has a wide range of beaches to choose from(Image: Getty)
While Cape Verde is a great year-round destination, do note that the rainy season falls between July and October. In November, expect daily maximum temperatures around 29C and minimums averaging at 23C.
According to AMAN (Alliance of Mediterranean News Agencies), Cape Verde welcomed over a million visitors in 2023, setting a historical record.
For those who love a good hike, the islands are crisscrossed with walking trails through magnificent mountains and towering volcanoes. Santo Antão, São Nicolau and Fogo are touted as the best islands for walkers.
So, if you’re looking to disconnect from the hustle and bustle of city life without going to the typical holiday destinations, Cape Verde is the place for you. For families, friends, and even for a solo trip.
Direct flights are available from London to Cape Verde on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Airlines such as easyJet offer direct flights from London Gatwick, with prices starting at £120 depending on the season and time of purchase.
All the articles are worth a view. Here’s a small sample of what our writers covered.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Cupid’s Hot Dogs (from the 65 favorite places to eat)
Colleague Stephanie Breijo wondered why Cupid’s is so quintessentially San Fernando Valley.
Maybe it’s the large “The VALLEY” mural in the Winnetka location’s parking lot — where carhop service and car shows can occasionally be found — or perhaps it’s that iconic heart-shaped signage that has stood over low-slung buildings and strip malls for nearly 80 years.
It’s probably the fact that the Walsh family has been slinging hot dogs across the Valley since 1946, with sisters Morgan and Kelly Walsh serving as third-generation stewards.
Whatever the case, their thin dogs still snap with each bite. The signature Cupid dog — a creation of their father’s in the 1980s — is punchy with mustard and onions, and the chili is so thick it’s practically a paste.
The flavors and generational influence collide here, a sort of trip through decades of family and Valley history in a single hot dog stand.
Canto VI (from the 24 best bars and coffee shops)
Restaurant critic Bill Addison wrote that Canto VI owner Brian Kalliel brought a high level of experience into his Chatsworth venture.
Kalliel previously worked as a sommelier at Augustine Wine Bar and Mélisse.
He sets his caliber for wines high, and delivers with an ever-changing selection through which he guides customers from behind the bar, engaging them in conversations on their tastes.
Wine flights, by-the-glass options, a few rarer bottles with some age for the nerds: Kalliel has his audience covered. The dining room — serving wine-friendly snacks, including nicely composed cheese and salumi boards, and Italian-leaning entrees from Chester Hastings, formerly chef at Joan’s on Third — has distinct supper club vibes.
Couples gravitate to the bar. Larger groups land at dimly lit tables. Ordering happens at the counter, which can be disorienting if the staff doesn’t make the process clear to first-timers. With a full house the place feels informal and occasionally a little chaotic and decidedly grown-up, largely due to Kalliel’s confident, hospitable ringleader presence.
(Brandon Ly / Los Angeles Times)
Where Kelly Kapowski grabs a burger
Senior Food Editor Danielle Dorsey tracked down celebrities, media members and politicians to ask about their hidden Valley gems.
Tiffani Thiessen, of “Saved by the Bell” and voice of She-Hulk in the “Lego Marvel Avengers: Mission Demolition,” gave us three.
“Bill’s Burgers [is] our [favorite] burger in the Valley,” Thiessen said. “Super casual setting for a quick bite with the best legendary old school burger.
“Oy Bar [is] one of our favorite date night spots [and the] food is always on point. Casa Vega [is a] nostalgic Mexican joint that has been a staple in the Valley for many years and [I] hope it continues.”
Hopefully readers will find their own San Fernando Valley staple. For more, check out the entire Guide to the 818.
The week’s biggest stories
(Joe Burbank / Associated Press)
Trump administration policies and push back
Labor Day travel and plans
Crime, courts and policing
Community struggles and issues
More big stories
This week’s must-reads
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(Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by HBO / David John Photography)
Going out
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Get wrapped up in tantalizing stories about dating, relationships and marriage.
Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team
Jim Rainey, staff writer Andrew J. Campa, reporter Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor Karim Doumar, head of newsletters Diamy Wang, homepage intern Izzy Nunes, audience intern
For college football fans, the tranquility and/or boredom of game-free weekends has officially ended.
Yes, the college football season is back today along with all of the game-day traditions: tailgating, plopping on the couch with a 60-inch screen, backyard barbecues and incessant complaining about traffic from residents near the Rose Bowl.
Hope is high for the USC and UCLA football programs, members of the Big 10 Conference (it still feels weird saying that!).
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Our L.A. Times sports team put together an amazing digital preview package for the upcoming season. The Trojans start first, hosting Missouri State at the Memorial Coliseum at 4:30 p.m. today while the Bruins welcome Utah to the Rose Bowl at 8 p.m.
Let’s sample some of that coverage and wish both teams the best of luck. And as an Alabama alumnus myself, may I add a very loud Roll Tide!
Expect a roller-coaster season from USC quarterback Jayden Maiava
My colleague and Trojans beat writer Ryan Kartje said the redshirt junior made a concerted effort over the summer to eliminate the back-breaking mistakes he struggled with last season.
Since last season, he dug deeper into head coach Lincoln Riley’s offense and worked on his mechanics with the experts at the 3DQB training academy in Huntington Beach.
But Maiava’s style has lent itself to high variance.
He loves to chuck it deep and too often throws it into coverage. That could yield some thrilling results. We’ll have to see if that will benefit USC or not.
But 4.3% of his passes last season were deemed turnover-worthy by Pro Football Focus. That was third-highest in the Big Ten and too high for USC’s offense to reach its potential.
UCLA’s defense will need big seasons from safety Key Lawrence and edge rusher Devin Aupiu.
My colleague and UCLA beat writer Ben Bolch said UCLA will look for leadership on defense.
Perhaps the most energetic player on the team, Lawrence, a Mississippi transfer, also boasts plenty of talent, speed and smarts.
Barring a setback from a minor right leg injury he sustained midway through training camp, Lawrence projects to be an opening-day starter.
He’ll need to anchor a secondary that’s replacing every starter.
As for Aupiu, UCLA’s pass rush was meh last season, generating 22 sacks to rank tied for No. 78 in the nation.
As a part-time starter, Aupiu made 4½ tackles for losses, including 1½ sacks — decent production given his limited playing time and easily the most among returning players. Getting into the backfield more often this season is a must for the redshirt senior.
Prediction time: The Bruins will be bowl-bound while the Trojans will split with their rivals.
Bolch is predicting a season full of surprises and a bowl berth for the Bruins. Does he think they’ll beat USC? You’ll have to read his preview.
Kartje is predicting a fast start for the Trojans, who will run into some bumps and bruises in the Big 10 before rallying with a flourish. Will USC topple UCLA and Notre Dame?
Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team
Jim Rainey, staff writer Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor Andrew J. Campa, reporter Karim Doumar, head of newsletters Diamy Wang, homepage intern Izzy Nunes, audience intern
HUNDREDS of thousands of Brits could be hit by a surprise £500 tax bill as a new rule comes into effect.
The new scheme could affect nearly 900,000 business owners across the UK.
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Brits have been warned about a new tax change which could cost you £500Credit: Getty
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The new change could affect 900,000 business owners across the UKCredit: Alamy
The Government’s new Making Tax Digital scheme will require people over a certain income threshold to keep electronic records and file updates every financial quarter.
The move is part of the Government’s efforts to crack down on tax fraud, which cost Britain £12.4 billion from 2021 to 2022.
However, financial advisors have warned that the cost of reporting your tax figures could cost up to £500 a year once staff training, software and admin time are factored in – according to George Holmes, managing director of Aurora Capital.
Only people who earn £50,000 from self-employment or from rental properties will be subject to the new rules.
Ahead of the change, Craig Ogilvie, director of Making Tax Digital at HMRC, said: “With April 2026 on the horizon, we are issuing letters to customers we believe will be mandated, outlining specific requirements and timelines.”
He added: “We urge those who meet the mandate criteria to join our testing programme on GOV.UK now to help shape the final service and make your transition smoother.”
An estimated 864,000 sole traders and landlords will need to comply with the new rules.
James Murray MP, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said: “MTD for Income Tax is an essential part of our plan to transform the UK’s tax system into one that supports economic growth.”
Murray added: “By modernising how people manage their tax, we’re helping businesses work more efficiently and productively while ensuring everyone pays their fair share.”
The news comes after experts warned Rachel Reeves that she would have to find £50 billion to plug a black hole in Britain’s finances.
HMRC using AI to scan social media for tax evasion investigations
The Chancellor has remained committed to her fiscal rules, which requires the UK to have financial cushion of £9.9billion by the end of the decade.
In order to put the UK’s finances on a firm footing, experts from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research have said that Ms Reeves will have to raise taxes.
Prof Stephen Millard, from the institute, said: “We would advocate building a bigger buffer.
“To do that requires moderate but sustained increases in taxes.”
The think tank also upped its growth forecast for this year to 1.3 per cent but knocked their prediction for 2026 down to 1.2 per cent from 1.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, tax refund letters have started landing on doorsteps across the UK but Brits have been warned to watch out for scams.
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request by The Sun found that HMRC refunded a staggering £8.3billion in overpaid tax from 2022 until 2023 — with the average worker pocketing £943.
However, any letter or email which requires you to give your credit card details, transfer money or click a link should be avoided at all costs.
How do I check my tax code?
YOU can check your tax code on your personal tax account online, on any payslips or on the HMRC app.
To log in, visit www.gov.uk/personal-tax-account.
If you have one, you can also check it on a “Tax Code Notice” letter from HMRC.
Bear in mind that you might need your Government Gateway ID and password to hand to log in.
But if you don’t have this you can use your National Insurance number or postcode and two of the following:
A valid UK passport
A UK photocard driving licence issued by the DVLA (or DVA in Northern Ireland)
A payslip from the last three months or a P60 from your employer for the last tax year
Details of a tax credit claim if you have made one
Details from a self assessment tax return (in the last two years) if you made one
Information held on your credit record if you have one (such as loans, credit cards or mortgages)
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Rachel Reeves needs to find £50 billion to plug a hole in the country’s financesCredit: Reuters
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
Washington has approved the transfer of thousands of Extended Range Attack Munitions (ERAM) to Ukraine, which will provide the country with a powerful new and relatively low-cost standoff strike capability, it has been reported. However, it’s unclear whether Kyiv will be able to use the new weapon to strike targets deep within Russia, with unnamed U.S. officials telling the Wall Street Journal that such targets are off-limits, at least for the U.S.-donated Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS).
According to the WSJ, the Trump administration last week approved the sale of 3,350 ERAM missiles to Ukraine. The weapons, which have a range between 150-280 miles and are stated to be air-launched, at least initially, should start to arrive in around six weeks. “Several” unnamed U.S. officials told the same publication that ERAM use would require prior approval from the Pentagon, due to the fact that it could strike targets relatively deep within Russia.
Artwork the U.S. Air Force has put out in the past depicting a general notional missile design. U.S. Air Force
The ERAM package is said to be worth around $850 million, including undisclosed other items, with most of the funds for this coming from Ukraine’s European allies. The deal was delayed until after U.S. President Donald Trump’s summit meetings with Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.
Then, in July last year, the service disclosed that Ukraine was the intended recipient of ERAM, a precision-guided air-launched standoff munition that it was poised to start developing. A request for proposals (RFP) called for proposals from 16 companies, without naming them.
US approves sale of 3,350 ERAM missiles with a range of up to 450 km to Ukraine – WSJ
Delivery expected in six weeks. Targets must be coordinated with the Pentagon.
Included among those 16 companies, are CoAspire and Zone 5 Technologies. Of these, Zone 5 is also involved in the U.S. Air Force’s Enterprise Test Vehicle (ETV). Under this program, the service has picked four companies to build prototypes of a relatively low-cost and readily producible missile, with the aim of informing future cruise missile concepts. This is far from the first project of this kind to explore similar and related technologies. It’s not clear if the Zone 5 offering for ETAM is the same as that for ETV.
A rendering of the ETV design from the Zone 5 company. Zone 5 via DIU
As for CoAspire, as well as ERAM, this firm is actively involved in a jointly funded U.S. Air Force and Navy project called the Rapidly Adaptable Affordable Cruise Missile (RAACM), which has been described in very similar terms to ETV.
Two candidate weapon prototypes competing for the US Air Force’s Extended-Range Attack Munition program 👇. Both Coaspire and Zone 5 Technologies were awarded contracts late last year in support of the #ERAM program. Both are expected to enter testing this year. https://t.co/9cGBuB9z3spic.twitter.com/gc3ZDtX54m
Once again, we don’t know at this point the exact relationship between the company’s ERAM and RAACM offerings, let alone whether either of CoAspire or Zone 5 will be building missiles for the Ukrainian contract. There are many other possibilities here, not least more than a dozen companies that we don’t know about and that were issued an RFP. Looking at the same kind of space more broadly, it is clearly a growth area among defense contractors, both well-established ones like Lockheed Martin and relative newcomers such as Anduril and Kratos.
The RFP said that ERAM would be “pivotal for accelerating Ukraine’s capability to meet warfighter needs efficiently and effectively, and provides an affordable mass weapon to be produced at scale.” The Air Force added: “The Government is seeking to prototype and adapt commercial autonomous modular open-architecture vehicle [sic] that can deliver affordable long-range effects. The resultant prototype will provide a platform that is mass producible.”
ERAM will provide the Ukrainian Air Force with an important new capacity to strike targets beyond the reach of many of the weapons currently in its arsenal, including Western-supplied precision-guided bombs. It would make Ukraine better able to hold at risk a range of Russian targets far from the front lines — command-and-control facilities, logistics hubs, military-industrial capacity, and airfields, for example — helping offset Russian advantages in terms of manpower, weaponry, and resources.
Previously, Ukraine received Joint Direct Attack Munition-Extended Range (JDAM-ER) and Small Diameter Bombs (SDB) from the United States, as well as French-made Hammer guided bombs. All of which can hit targets out to distances of around 40 to 45 miles, depending on the release envelope and other factors. Ukraine has also received smaller numbers of Storm Shadow cruise missiles from the United Kingdom and Italy, and functionally identical SCALP-EGs from France that have maximum ranges of around 300 miles.
A Ukrainian Su-24 carrying a SCALP-EG cruise missile. Ukrainian Ministry of Defense
As well as its range parameters, some other specifications for the ERAM were disclosed in the RFI. In particular, the missile will be in the 500-pound class required and will have “a top speed of no less than Mach 0.6.” The weapon is required to have a “blast/fragmentation type with at least some degree of penetrating capability and unspecified variable fuze settings.”
“The ERAM’s internal navigation system has to be ‘capable of operating in a GPS degraded environment,’” the RFI continues. “The weapon also needs to have a ‘terminal Accuracy’ of ‘CEP 50 w/in 10m’ (meaning the weapon hits within 10 meters, or around 33 feet, of the specified impact point at least 50 percent of the time) in ‘both in non-EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) and high EMI environments (includes GPS degraded).’”
Russian forces have reportedly been using electronic warfare systems to good effect against GPS-assisted guidance packages used on a variety of air and ground-launched munitions that Ukraine has received from the United States and other Western partners. The ability of standoff precision-guided munitions to still operate effectively in the face of heavy electronic warfare jamming is also an area of considerable interest to the U.S. military.
Just as important to Ukraine are the significant numbers of missiles involved: the 3,350 ERAM rounds will go some way to helping offset the huge advances in Russian long-range precision weapons capabilities, especially the Shahed/Geran one-way attack drones. At this point in the conflict, sheer capacity is becoming critical to Ukraine to keep pressure on Russia via long-range strikes.
It’s unclear what aircraft the ERAM missile will be launched from, but Ukraine has adapted its Soviet-era MiG-29 Fulcrum, Su-24 Fencer, and Su-27 Flanker tactical jets to deliver Western-supplied precision ordnance. The MiG-29 and Su-27 have also been fitted with specialized pylons and tablet-based cockpit interfaces that make it easier to employ GPS-guided weapons. The Ukrainian Air Force has also received second-hand F-16s, which would be another possible candidate. It should also be noted that while publicly released answers to questions from prospective ERAM vendors have specifically discussed launch from aircraft, this might be just one mode of launch for what is already shaping up to be a highly modular weapon.
An ADM-160 Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD) fitted to a Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 Flanker fighter. The decoy is carried on the same specially adapted underwing pylon that is used for various Western-supplied guided munitions. Ukrainian Air Force screencap
Last year, Lt. Gen. Serhii Naev, commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that unspecified air-to-ground missiles with ranges of between 186 to 310 miles were expected to be provided to arm the F-16. While it’s possible he may have been referring to ERAM, there are other possibilities, as TWZexplored at the time.
A Ukrainian Air Force F-16 returns at low altitude after attacking Russian military positions in the direction of occupied Kurakhove, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, on Feb. 17, 2025. Photo by Andriy Dubchak/Frontliner/Getty Images Andriy Dubchak/Frontliner
Another key aspect of the original RFI was the requirement that 1,000 examples of the new missile could be built within two years, for an average production output of around 42 per month.
This also relates to increasing U.S. military interest in weapons, especially those with standoff range, that can be rapidly developed and then their production capacity and stockpiles scaled up, something that is seen as vital when it comes to planning around a potential future high-end conflict with China.
With that in mind, ERAM should also be a very useful real-world learning opportunity for the United States.
Most immediately, though, the ERAM missile helps meet Ukrainian demand for weapons that can engage targets deeper behind the front lines, reducing the launch aircraft’s exposure to highly capable Russian air defenses. Potentially, depending on its propulsion system and flight profile, Ukrainian pilots might be able to launch ERAM from lower altitudes, further improving their chances of survival, and still hit targets at extended distances. For now, these details about the weapon remain unknown.
A mock-up of the Powered Joint Direct Attack Munition (PJDAM), which is broadly in line with the announced ERAM requirements. Joseph Trevithick
Then there is the consideration about what kinds of targets the Pentagon will allow Ukraine to go after with ERAM.
Citing two unnamed U.S. officials, the WSJ reports that, “for months,” the U.S. Department of Defense has prohibited Ukraine from using long-range missiles to strike targets deep within Russia. Since late spring, the report continues, Ukraine has been blocked from using ATACMS against targets in Russia.
On at least one occasion, a Ukrainian request to use ATACMS against a target on Russian territory was rejected, the two officials said.
In his final year in office, President Joe Biden finally authorized Ukraine to use ATACMS to strike objectives in Russia, starting with the Kursk region, where Kyiv launched a ground advance into Russia, before extending that authorization into other areas, according to reports. There remains some confusion here, however, since the U.S. State Department has also said that its policy on Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons had not changed.
U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office of the White House on Sept. 26, 2024, in Washington, DC. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images Win McNamee
The apparent policy change by the Trump administration seems to be connected to efforts to bring the Kremlin into peace talks and find a resolution to the conflict.
Amid the latest reports on weapons restrictions, Zelensky has talked up Ukraine’s ability to strike targets in Russia using domestically produced weapons.
“At present, honestly, we are using our long-range weapons of domestic production,” Zelensky said, during a press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. “And lately, we have not been discussing such matters with the U.S.,” he added.
Zelensky’s words follow the public unveiling of the locally produced Flamingo ground-launched long-range cruise missile last week. This weapon has a reported range of 1,864 miles (3,000 kilometers) and a powerful warhead, making it a much farther-reaching and more destructive weapon than any missile or one-way-attack drone available to Ukraine now.
Efrem Lukatsky, head of the AP photo service, published a very interesting teaser: “Ukrainian-made over 3,000 km range Flamingo missiles, which were launched into serial production, are seen in a workshop of one of the country’s leading Fire Point defence company in an… pic.twitter.com/i1qvFDgaW4
Since then, Ukraine has shown off another long-range cruise missile from domestic production. This is the so-called Long Neptune, an extended-range version of the land-attack version of the Neptune anti-ship missile. Ukraine famously used Neptune missiles to sink the Russian Navy’s Slava class cruiser Moskva in 2022 and reportedly began developing a new land-attack version in 2023.
In the past, the maximum stated range of the anti-ship version of Neptune has been said to be around 190 miles (300 kilometers). A Ukrainian defense official told TWZ that the original land-attack version could have a range of up to 225 miles (360 kilometers). With its extended body having capacity for additional fuel, Zelensky has said the range of the Long Neptune is in the region of 620 miles (1,000 kilometers). Meanwhile, the Ukrainian president says that the new version has already been tested in combat.
A first official look at Ukraine’s other operational land attack cruise missile; the Long Neptune.
The Neptune LACM reportedly has a range of roughly 1000km, and has already seen combat this year. pic.twitter.com/cPHJ5sjZlu
For the time being, it’s unclear to what degree Ukraine will be able to use ERAM missiles against targets deeper inside Russia.
Even without that possibility, however, the new weapon will be of value to Ukraine, and its relevance also extends to the U.S. military.
In addition, while the Air Force says ERAM is ostensibly for Ukraine, it is not hard to see how the service or other branches of the U.S. military might also be interested in this weapon.
Already, the Pentagon is looking to develop and field weapons in this class, and domestic interest in the ERAM would not be surprising.
In the immediate future, the lower-cost, easier-to-produce ERAM should provide a significant boost to the Ukrainian Air Force. Looking further ahead, weapons like this may well be critical to the U.S. military’s potential to wage war against higher-end adversaries.
Tens of thousands of people have marched through Australia’s major cities and towns, organiers said, demanding action to save dying and starving Palestinians.
More than 40 protests took place across Australia on Sunday, the group Palestine Action said, including large turnouts in state capitals Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
“We demand from our politicians more than just talk. We are long past this,” Remah Naji, one of the organisers of the protest in the eastern city of Brisbane, told Al Jazeera.
“Now, we demand actions in the same way we acted in times of genocide. We are signatories to the Genocide Convention, which means that we have an obligation to prevent and punish genocide when it occurs.”
Protests denouncing Israel’s war and starvation campaign were also held in several other countries on Sunday.
In Australia, where people rallied in cities of all sizes nationwide, protesters urged sanctions against Israel and an end to arms trade with the country, which has been accused of carrying out a genocide by leading rights groups.
Organisers estimate more than 300,000 people participated in the demonstrations.
In Sydney, organiser Josh Lees said Australians were out in force to “demand an end to this genocide in Gaza and to demand that our government sanction Israel” as rallygoers, many with Palestinian flags, chanted “free, free Palestine”.
Demonstrators take part in a pro-Palestinian rally against Israel’s assault and famine in the Gaza Strip, in Melbourne, Australia [William West/AFP]
In Melbourne, protesters congregated outside the State Library Victoria, chanting “sanction Israel now”.
Organiser Nour Salman said Australia’s plans to recognise Palestinian statehood must be accompanied by tougher sanctions on Israel.
“Enough is enough. There is no ifs, buts or maybes,” Salman said.
Thousands also gathered in the southwestern city of Perth.
“Our government cannot claim to support human rights while continuing to arm an apartheid regime,” Friends of Palestine Western Australia organiser Nick Everett was quoted as saying by WAToday newspaper.
“Trade unions, civil society, and communities across the country are united in calling for action. Palestine can’t wait.”
‘Enough is enough’
The protests came after the world’s leading authority on food crises – the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) – declared famine in Gaza City.
The warning has come as Israeli forces have intensified attacks and bombardments across Gaza, where nearly two million people have been displaced.
The IPC report said more than half a million people in Gaza – about a quarter of its population – face catastrophic levels of hunger, with many at risk of dying from malnutrition-related issues.
Protests in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza were also held elsewhere around the globe on Sunday, including in Malaysia, Kenya, Belgium and Senegal. Over the weekend, demonstrations took place in the United Kingdom and Sweden.
A mass rally held in Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, saw thousands of people demonstrate, answering a call by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who said the demonstration would act as a starting point to form a group of activists to take humanitarian aid to Gaza later this month.
In Senegal’s capital Dakar, demonstrators condemned Israeli attacks on Palestinians in the enclave, and called for humanitarian aid to be allowed into the famine-struck Gaza Strip.
In Nairobi, hundreds of bikers rallied, chanting: “Free Palestine”. Many decried the international community for its inability to stop Israel’s deadly assault.
Al Jazeera’s Catherine Soi, reporting from Nairobi, said protesters are standing in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
“They have watched horrific images of children who are starving; they have seen parents being killed as they go to get food for their families,” Soi said. “Here, they are saying: ‘Enough is enough.’”
At least 62,263 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Palestine war since it started on October 7, 2023, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The victims include at least 2,000 Palestinians who were attempting to secure meagre food parcels at the Israeli and US-backed GHF aid distribution sites, dubbed by Palestinian officials as “death traps”.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes in Gaza, including using starvation as a weapon of war.
If you browse through social media, it’s easy to find commentary about canceling the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
There are Angelenos who lack confidence in the city and county’s ability to roll out the red carpet due to perceived failures during the Palisades and Altadena fires.
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One syndicated columnist pleaded with L.A. not to work with “a lawless U.S. regime,” while sportswriter and author Jeff Pearlman wondered if Latin American athletes would feel safe in the U.S. due to the Trump administration’s current deportations.
There are pushes from some, but how possible is it that the Games will be canceled?
Why is backing out difficult? We’re three years away
Host cities and host country national organizing committees (in this country, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee) sign a host city contract (HCC) after the International Olympic Committee officially awards the Games.
The contract for the 2028 Games, signed by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti and then-City Council President Herb Wesson in September 2017, includes procedures for termination from the IOC’s perspective but doesn’t leave the same option for the host city or the national organizing committee.
“While one cannot foreclose all potential theories, it is hard to imagine a scenario where Los Angeles could terminate the HCC without facing substantial legal issues,” Nathan O’Malley, an international arbitration lawyer and a partner at Musick, Peeler & Garrett, wrote in an email. “Especially if the reason for ending the contract was a political disagreement between the federal, state and local branches of government.”
When even COVID-19 didn’t stop the Games
After an initial one-year delay of the Tokyo Games, medical professionals pleaded to cancel amid rising COVID-19 cases.
LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman has emphasized that he has assurances from the federal government that the United States will be open, despite recent travel bans and tighter scrutiny of international travelers arriving in the U.S.
Trump’s June proclamation includes exemptions for athletes, team personnel or immediate relatives entering the country for the FIFA World Cup, the Olympics or other major sporting event as determined by the Secretary of State.
If any city should be ready to host the biggest Olympics in history, it should be L.A. Not only because of the existing venues, but because of the unprecedented 11-year planning time after the IOC awarded the Games in 2017.
Now with less than three years remaining, relocating to a city that would likely have to build new venues would be unrealistic for the IOC.
“For Los Angeles, a city whose identity is partly predicated on staging the Olympics twice, and now having a third time,” said Mark Dyreson, a sports historian at Penn State University, “I think it would be really, really difficult for L.A. to give up the Olympics.”
(Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by Jamie-Lee B.)
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Huda Abu Naja lies weak and emaciated on a thin mattress in her family’s tent in a displacement camp in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah.
The 12-year-old Palestinian girl’s arms are painfully thin, and the bones on her torso are protruding from under her skin, a telltale sign of her acute malnutrition.
“My daughter has been suffering from acute malnutrition since March when Israel closed Gaza’s borders,” Huda’s mother, Somia Abu Naja, tells Al Jazeera, stroking her daughter’s face.
“She spent three months in hospitals, but her condition did not improve,” said Somia, explaining that she decided to bring Huda back to the family’s tent after witnessing five children die of starvation at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis.
“She used to weigh 35 kilos [77lbs], but now she’s down to 20 [44lbs],” Somia added.
Huda is just one of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children suffering from malnutrition in Gaza, according to local health authorities, as Israel continues to block food and other humanitarian aid from entering the bombarded enclave.
On Friday, a United Nations-backed hunger monitor confirmed for the first time that more than half a million people were experiencing famine in northern Gaza – the first such designation ever recorded in the Middle East.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system warned that the figure could reach 614,000 as famine is expected to spread to the Deir el-Balah and Khan Younis governorates by the end of September.
According to the Health Ministry in Gaza, more than 280 people, including more than 110 children, have died due to Israel-induced starvation since the country’s war on Gaza began nearly two years ago.
Children are being hit hard by the crisis, the IPC said on Friday, with an estimated 132,000 children under the age of five projected to be at risk of death from acute malnutrition by June 2026.
Dr Ahmad al-Farra, the chief paediatric physician at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, said 120 children are seeking treatment for malnutrition at the facility, while tens of thousands more are suffering in displacement camps with little assistance.
He told Al Jazeera that children in Gaza will suffer the consequences of malnutrition for the rest of their lives, as hospitals in the enclave are lacking the resources and supplies to respond to the crisis.
Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director of Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital, also told Al Jazeera that an estimated 320,000 children across Gaza were in a state of severe malnutrition.
He said all wounded patients in hospitals were suffering from malnutrition, as well, amid Israel’s continued blockade of the enclave.
Israel has rejected the IPC’s findings, with its foreign ministry saying – despite mounds of evidence – that there was “no famine in Gaza”.
While Israel has allowed limited supplies into the territory in recent weeks amid global outrage over the starvation crisis, the UN and humanitarian groups say what is being allowed in remains woefully insufficient.
An Israeli-backed aid distribution scheme known as GHF has also been condemned as ineffective and deadly, with Israeli forces and US contractors killing more than 2,000 Palestinians as they sought food at the sites since late May.
The IPC famine classification has triggered a renewed wave of calls for Israel to urgently allow a massive and sustained influx of aid into Gaza.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that the famine was a “man-made disaster, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity itself”.
UN aid chief Tom Fletcher also said starvation was occurring “within a few hundred metres of food” as aid trucks were stuck at border crossings due to Israeli restrictions. He demanded that Israel allow food and medicine in “at the massive scale required”.
Israeli destruction in al-Mughayyir near Ramallah is part of push to forcibly displace Palestinians, researcher says.
The Israeli military has destroyed about 3,000 olive trees in a village near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the head of the local council says, as Palestinians face a continued wave of violence across the territory in the shadow of Israel’s war on Gaza.
The Israeli military issued an order on Saturday to uproot olive trees in a 0.27sq-km (0.1sq-mile) area in al-Mughayyir, a village of about 4,000 residents northeast of Ramallah.
The army justified the measure by saying the trees posed a “security threat” to a main Israeli settlement road that runs through the village’s lands.
The destruction was carried out as al-Mughayyir has been under lockdown since Thursday after an Israeli settler said he was shot at in the area.
The deputy head of the village council, Marzouq Abu Naim, told Palestinian news agency Wafa that Israeli soldiers had stormed more than 30 homes since dawn on Saturday, destroying residents’ property and vehicles.
For decades, the Israeli military has uprooted olive trees – an important Palestinian cultural symbol – across the occupied Palestinian territory as part of the country’s efforts to seize Palestinian land and forcibly displace residents.
The West Bank also has seen a surge in Israeli military and settler violence since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023, and tens of thousands of Palestinians have been forced out of their homes.
Palestinian men collect wheat after an attack by Israeli settlers in al-Mughayyir in May [File: Mohammed Torokman/Reuters]
More than 2,370 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians have been reported across the area from January 2024 to the end of July this year, according to the latest figures from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The highest number of attacks – 585 – was recorded in the Ramallah area, followed by 479 in the Nablus region in the northern West Bank.
At least 671 Palestinians, including 129 children, also have been killed by Israeli forces and Israeli settlers across the West Bank in that same time period, OCHA said.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on Saturday on the uprooting of the olive trees in al-Mughayyir.
Hamza Zubeidat, a Palestinian researcher, said the destruction is part of Israel’s “continuous” effort to force Palestinians off their lands.
“We have to be clear that since 1967, Israel is still implementing the same plan of evicting the Palestinian population from the countryside and the cities of the West Bank. What’s going on right now is just a continuous process of this eviction of Palestinians. It’s not a new Israeli process,” Zubeidat told Al Jazeera.
He noted that al-Mughayyir has a long agricultural history and, like other villages in the West Bank, relies almost entirely on agriculture and livestock as its main source of income.
“This area where more than 3,000 olive trees [were] uprooted is one of the most fertile areas in this part of the Ramallah area,” Zubeidat explained.
“Uprooting trees, confiscated water springs, blocking and preventing Palestinians from accessing their farms and water sources means more food and water insecurity.”
What Californians think about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to temporarily redraw the state’s congressional districts has been a source of hot debate.
Republicans rallied around polling conducted by Politico last week that noted that California voters preferred an “independent line-drawing panel” determining seats to the House of Representatives versus giving that role to the state Legislature.
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The high-stakes fight over political boundaries could shape control of the U.S. House, where Republicans currently hold a narrow majority.
Texas’ plan creates five new Republican-leaning seats that could secure the GOP’s House majority. Texas is creating the new districts at the behest of President Trump to help Republicans keep control of the House in the midterm elections. California’s efforts are an attempt to temporarily cancel those gains. The new maps would be in place for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 congressional elections.
Newsom and Democratic leaders say California must match Texas’ partisan mapmaking to preserve balance in Congress.
New polling supports Californians fighting back
The UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll, conducted for the Los Angeles Times, asked registered voters about the Newsom-backed redistricting push favoring California Democrats. This effort serves as a counterattack to President Trump and Texas Republicans reworking election maps to their advantage.
When voters were asked whether they agree with California’s redistricting maneuver, 46% said it was a good idea, and 36% said it was a bad idea.
Slightly more, 48%, said they would vote in favor of the temporary gerrymandering efforts if it appeared on the statewide special election ballot in November. Nearly a third said they would vote no, and 20% said they were undecided.
One interpretation of the data
“That’s not bad news,” said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Berkeley IGS Poll. “It could be better.”
DiCamillo added: “With ballot measures, you’d like to be comfortably above 50% because you got to get people to vote yes and when people are undecided or don’t know enough about initiatives, they tend to vote no just because it’s the safer vote.”
The strongest backers
Among voters who regularly cast ballots in statewide elections, overall support for redistricting jumped to 55%, compared with 34% opposed.
DiCamillo said that is significant.
“If I were to pick one subgroup where you would want to have an advantage, it would be that one,” he said.
Where to find the undecided votes
Winning in November, however, will require pushing undecided voters to back the redistricting plan.
Among Latino, Black and Asian voters, nearly 30% said they have yet to decide how they would vote on redistricting.
Women also have higher rates of being undecided compared with men, at 25% to 14%.
Younger voters are also more likely to be on the fence, with nearly a third of 18- to 29-year-olds saying they are unsure, compared with 11% of those older than 65.
The ever-growing divide
The partisan fight over election maps elicited deeply partisan results.
Nearly 7 in 10 Democratic voters said they would support the redistricting measure, and Republicans overwhelmingly panned the plan by about the same margin (72%).
California Republicans attempted to stall the process by filing an emergency petition at the state Supreme Court, arguing that Democrats violated the California Constitution by rushing the proposal through the Legislature.
The high court rejected the legal challenge Wednesday.
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Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
Ukraine is hoping to see production of its Flamingo ground-launched long-range cruise missile, which just broke cover this past weekend, ramp up significantly by the end of the year. Manufacturer Fire Point is aiming to have the capacity to make seven Flamingos every day by October, though there are questions about how realistic any expanded production goals might be. Reportedly with a range of 1,864 miles (3,000 kilometers) and a warhead weighing 2,535 pounds (1,150 kilograms), the missile presents a much farther-reaching and more destructive weapon than any missile or one-way-attack drone available to Ukraine now.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky talked briefly about Flamingo during a sit-down with journalists yesterday. The Associated Press, which was first to reveal the missile’s existence, has also now reported additional details provided by Fire Point. Previous reports said that Flamingos have already been used in strikes on targets in Russia, but how many have been produced so far is not known.
“The tests of this missile were successful. And so far, it is the most successful missile we have – it flies 3,000 kilometers, which is important. I believe that we cannot talk much about it until we can use hundreds of missiles,” Zelensky said yesterday, according to Ukrainian outlet Ukrinform. “By December, we will have more of them. And by the end of December or in January-February, mass production should begin.”
Fire Point says it builds around one Flamingo every day now and is aiming to get that rate up to at least seven by October, according to the AP. Seven missiles per day would translate to 2,555 built annually. As an aside, something reportedly happened with the first production batch that caused the missiles to end up pink colored, which led to the Flamingo name.
New imagery published by the AP of the missile, seen below, also confirms that Flamingo is just a very large weapon, overall. We also now have a direct look at the warhead inside, which has a pointed front end that may indicate a design intended to offer increased penetration against harder targets. It is possible that the warhead could even be a repurposed air-dropped bomb.
Additional details have been released about Ukraine’s new domestically-produced long-range cruise missile, dubbed the FP-5 “Flamingo” which is manufactured by Fire Point. According to an interview with Chief Technical Officer Iryna Terekh, the “Flamingo” has entered serial… pic.twitter.com/2D5GisrmFP
Beyond the claimed range and warhead size, firm details about Flamingo’s capabilities remain limited. It is powered by a single jet engine and is launched with the help of a rocket booster via a rail mounted on a two-axle trailer.
With the new AP imagery in hand, experts and observers have drawn comparisons between what can be seen of the Flamingo’s engine and the AI-25TL turbofan, best known as the powerplant for the L-39 Albatros jet trainer. This would be a logical choice given that the AI-25 series was originally developed by Ivchenko in what was then Soviet Ukraine, and Ukrainian firm Motor Sich continues to produce versions today. Ukraine is also an operator of L-39s. The Albatros has been and continues to be a very popular design worldwide, with thousands made to date, opening up an additional avenue for sourcing engines.
AsTWZ has noted previously, Flamingo’s reported capabilities also align extremely closely with another cruise missile called the FP-5, which is offered by a company called Milanion in the United Arab Emirates. Milanion describes the FP-5 as having a wingspan of 19.6 feet (six meters), a maximum takeoff weight of 13,228 pounds (6,000 kilograms), and a warhead weighing 2,205 pounds (1,000 kilograms), as well as a top speed of 590 miles per hour (950 kilometers per hour) and a cruising speed of 528-559 miles per hour (850–900 kilometers per hour). The missile is said to feature a satellite navigation-assisted inertial navigation system guidance package that is also designed to be resistant to electronic warfare attacks.
A Milanion product card for the FP-5 cruise missile. Milanion
The FP-5 moniker also fits with the designation of another known Fire Point product, the FP-1 long-range kamikaze drone. However, the exact relationship between Flamingo and Milanion’s FP-5 remains unknown.
If Fire Point can ramp up Flamingo production, it could give Ukraine a new and immensely valuable means of targeting key sites well inside Russia, and doing so in a more destructive manner. The jet-powered nature of the missile also offers speed and suvivability benefits for penetrating deeper into Russian territory, especially compared to the converted light aircraft and other longer-range drones Ukraine relies on now for those kinds of strikes. The reported size of the warhead, combined with jet-powered speeds, would also give the missile the ability to burrow into more hardened targets, opening up all-new target sets.
An annotated map giving a very broad sense of the reach of Flamingo inside Russia based on its claimed range. Google Earth
As a direct comparison, the FP-1 drone, a twin-tail-boom pusher-propeller design, has a maximum range of around 994 miles (1,600 kilometers) and a 132-pound (60-kilogram) warhead, Fire Point told the AP. The company also said that FP-1s now account for some 60 percent of attacks on targets far inside Russia, further underscoring the kinds of options available to Ukraine now to prosecute those strikes.
At the same time, it remains to be seen whether Fire Point can significantly increase Flamingo production, and at what cost. The price point for a single one of the missiles is currently unknown.
“We need to consider the financing of this program,” Ukraine’s President Zelensky also said yesterday, according to Ukrinform.
Fire Point, a start-up founded in the wake of Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022, was clear to tout its existing production capacity for the FP-1, as well as the relatively low cost of those drones, in its discussion with the AP. The company says it makes around 100 FP-1s every day at a cost of approximately $55,000.
“We removed unneeded, flashy glittery stuff” to help with producibility and lower costs, Iryna Terekh, Fire Point’s head of production, who is a trained architect, told the AP.
At the same time, Flamingo is very different in all respects to the FP-1. Still, if Fire Point can even just reach its current daily production target of seven, that could be a significant addition to Ukraine’s arsenal. In addition to its own organic capacity, Fire Point might look to leverage foreign partnerships to help expand its ability to churn out Flamingos, if it is not doing so already in cooperation with Milanion.
Regardless, Flamingo’s emergence comes at a time of particular uncertainty about how the ongoing war in Ukraine may evolve, with a new burst of discussion around ceasefire and peace proposals now swirling. U.S. authorities have also reportedly been pressing Ukrainian authorities to offer territorial and other concessions to Russia to bring the fighting to an end following a summit between President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska last week.
On a strategic level, Flamingo could give Ukraine a valuable additional negotiation tool because of the broad swath of Russia it could potentially threaten. As a domestically developed weapon, Ukrainian forces would have much more freedom to employ the missiles against targets inside Russian territory. Western countries have, on-and-off, placed restrictions on the use of long-range munitions they have supplied against Russia proper, and otherwise pressured Ukraine not to strike certain categories of targets.
“It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invader’s country. It’s like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense, but is not allowed to play offense,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social social media network today. “[Former U.S. President] Joe Biden would not let Ukraine FIGHT BACK, only DEFEND. How did that work out?”
👀👀👀
US President Trump: It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invaders country […] Crooked and grossly incompetent Joe Biden would not let Ukraine FIGHT BACK, only DEFEND. How did that work out? […] Interesting times ahead!!! pic.twitter.com/PMGu7GYApF
— Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (@Archer83Able) August 21, 2025
For Ukraine, there is a clear impetus to do whatever might be possible to increase stocks of Flamingo and help the missile live up to its full potential.
THE world’s first smartphone test for type 2 diabetes has launched in the UK.
The app-based check is designed to make it easier for people to spot their risk and could help cut complications such as heart attacks, strokes, and kidney disease, which are often linked to diabetes.
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A finger-prick blood test gives results in minutes with the new appCredit: Getty
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The NHS is piloting the new smartphone test in the North EastCredit: Getty
Patients place a drop of blood from a finger-prick onto a chip, which is then scanned by the PocDoc app to give results almost instantly.
NHS trusts in Cumbria and the North East are the first to roll it out, with a nationwide launch planned later this year.
The Government has hailed the app as a “potential game-changer” in the fight against diabetes as results come in within minutes, instead of the days or weeks it can currently take.
Around 5.2 million people in the UK have type 2 diabetes, with cases still rising – and a further 1.3 million thought to be undiagnosed.
“Enabling screening for type 2 diabetes risk including blood biomarkers via a smartphone app is something that has never been done before,” said PocDoc chief executive Steve Roest.
Professor Julia Newton, medical director at HI NENC, said the test could reach people who struggle with conventional health checks.
“Most people over the age of 40 are invited for an NHS health check every five years, but depending on where you live a large chunk don’t attend,” she said.
“One of the reasons we’ve found is accessing a health check in a conventional setting.
“So if those tests are made more easily available, which this test does, then we have the opportunity to reach far more people.”
She added: “If you consider the number of people with diabetes who go onto have heart attacks and strokes, if we can manage their risk before it becomes a problem that will reduce admissions to hospital, reduce mortality, and reduce complications from diabetes, such as kidney disease, heart disease, and stroke disease.”
High blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes are all dubbed ‘silent killers’ – should we really be that worried?
The HbA1c finger-prick test is considered the gold standard blood test. This is because it shows average blood sugar levels over the past two to three months, giving a clearer picture than daily checks.
Steve said the app fits directly with Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s 10-year NHS plan, spotting illnesses earlier, tailoring care, and shifting more testing and diagnosis into homes and communities.
“There’s a huge gap in screening for preventable diseases,” he said.
“Right now, the system, not just in the UK but worldwide, cannot find, assess, and diagnose enough people to make a dent in tackling heart attacks, strokes, and type 2 diabetes.”
Health minister Stephen Kinnock told The i Paper that the app rollout was important because type 2 diabetes is on the rise across England.
“This is a potential game-changer and exactly the type of technology we want to see in the NHS as part of the 10 Year Health Plan – bringing our health service firmly into the 21st century and care directly into people’s homes.
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“We will make using the NHS as simple and convenient as online banking or shopping, while helping companies bring new technology into the health service more quickly.”
The seed of the device was planted 30 years ago when Steve was a teenager and witnessed his father having a catastrophic stroke in his early forties, due to undiagnosed cardiovascular disease (CVD).
“Using smartphones to deliver diagnostics is exactly what could have saved my dad from having so many [health] problems. He’s cost the NHS a fortune,” Steve said.
Around £9bn is spent on treating complications arising from diabetes, such as heart disease, kidney problems, and nerve damage.
Studies suggest that the annual cost of the disease could increase to £16.9 bn in the next 25 years.
Around 750,000 patients with CVD or early-onset diabetes would benefit from fat jabs sooner, rather than keeping them for the later stages of treatment, new guidance states.
How do I treat type 2 diabetes?
If you’re diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, you’ll need to eat healthily, take regular exercise and have frequent checks, including blood tests.
Try to quit if you smoke, and cut down on alcohol.
Type 2 diabetes can get worse over time, and people living with the condition often need medicine, usually in the form of tablets or injections
However, some people can put their type 2 diabetes into remission by losing weight, where their blood sugar is reduced below the diabetes range.
This can often be done through a low-calorie diet, but this is not suitable for everyone, so it’s important to get medical advice first.
A MAJOR garage has closed down at the worst possible time – after thousands of drivers across the country were ordered to avoid using their cars as part of a huge recall.
A serious fault recently discovered in Citroen and DS3 vehicles has resulted in a nationwide safety notice.
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Citroen drivers face chaos as recall disrupts daily lives across the countryCredit: Getty
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Duff Morgan service centre closure leaves Norwich owners unable to get repairsCredit: Google
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The Norwich-based Citroen garage has shut amid a nationwide recall, adding to driver woesCredit: Google
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Thousands of Citroen C3 and C4 drivers have been left stranded after urgent airbag recall
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The car brand’s recall has expanded to C4 models, leaving UK drivers unable to use their cars
However, the sudden closure of Duff Morgan Citroen and Peugeot – a widely-used service centre in Norwich – has now left many vehicle owners in the lurch.
According to the Eastern Daily Press, the service centre and its Express Service, located on Whiffler Road, closed its doors several weeks ago.
And while the reason for the outlet’s closure has not been revealed, it does coincide with one of the largest car recalls the country has experienced so far this year.
The recall, first announced back in June, targets certain Citroen and DS3 vehicles due to potentially faulty airbags.
It has left thousands of UK drivers unable to use their cars, as Stellantis, the parent company of Citroen, issued an urgent “stop driving” alert.
The affected models include all Citroen C3 and DS3 vehicles manufactured between 2009 and 2016, as well as some DS3 models produced from 2016 to 2019.
Recently, the recall was also expanded to include C4, DS4 and DS5 models.
Reports suggest the expansion added roughly 9,968 UK cars to the total, meaning nearly 106,000 Citroen or DS vehicles in Britain are covered by the stop‑drive action.
The recall was prompted by concerns over airbags supplied by the now-defunct Japanese manufacturer Takata, whose components have been linked to fatal accidents.
In one incident, a driver in France was killed after a minor collision resulted in metal shrapnel from a faulty airbag hitting them – prompting an immediate reaction from the company.
All UK car dealerships will STOP selling 10,000s of iconic brand’s used models impacted by lethal airbag flaw
Consumer protection organisation, Which?, has since slammed Stellantis for their “chaotic” handling of the recall and called on them to make urgent improvements.
Thousands of customers across the country have been left unable to drive their cars, with many having no alternative modes of transport, according to Which?.
No incidents are yet to be reported in the UK, but the consumer group has expressed its concern for the lack of clarity around available compensation for customers.
They outlined how “major upheaval” had been caused for customers who were reliant on their cars.
This has only been compounded for Norwich residents, as the closure of the Duff Morgan service centre means many have been unable to get repairs necessary for them to use their cars to access work, healthcare appointments or essential activities, such as taking their children to school.
Elderly individuals in rural areas have also experienced isolation due to the lack of transportation.
Many owners across the country have already complained of substantial delays in receiving necessary repairs, with garages struggling to source replacement airbags.
Sun Motors has contacted Duff Morgan for a comment, an explanation on why the site has closed, and which alternative locations frustrated car owners can take their cars for repairs.
Citroen & DS models affected by UK ‘stop drive’ action
THOUSANDS were left without power after Hurricane Erin battered the Caribbean and hurtled towards the US – with the storm still expected to strengthen.
The hurricane, which is now category 3, brought heavy rainfall and vicious winds to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands on Sunday, cutting power for some 100,000 locals.
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A truck drives through a flood as category 3 Hurricane Erin leaves the region in Naguabo, Puerto RicoCredit: AFP
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Hurricane Erin from satellite view on August 17Credit: Reuters
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The storm left 100,000 people without power, reports sayCredit: AP
Luma Energy, Puerto Rico’s private power grid operator, revealed that most of its customers on the island had working electricity by Sunday afternoon.
The operator said on X: “As of 5:00 p.m., 92.5% of customers have electrical service.
“The majority of affected customers are concentrated in the regions of Arecibo, Caguas, and San Juan, as the rain bands have been moving out of Puerto Rico.”
They added: “Our crews are working with precision to ensure safety and continuity of service.”
The storm caused “multiple interruptions across the island”, the company said earlier.
Hurricane Erin also saw two divers swept amid powerful waves near St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands.
They had to be rescued by local crews on Sunday, authorities announced.
Shocking footage showed taken by St. Croix Rescue Chief Jason Henry showed the divers being dramatically hauled over onto a boat.
On the island of Sint Maarten, footage showed palm trees swaying in violent winds.
Its local government said cleanup crews were clearing debris since Sunday morning.
Hurricane Erin intensifies to ‘catastrophic’ category 5 with 160mph winds
A large amount of Sargassum seaweed also reached the shore – which could contain harmful toxins poisonous to people and marine life.
Erin has been labelled category 3 after multiple fluctuations in the last several days.
On Saturday it was considered to be a catastrophic category 5 hurricane.
Outer bands are continuing to sweep over Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, pummelling coasts with heavy rain and strong winds.
Rainfall was recorded between two and four inches.
Up to six inches is likely to fall in some areas.
Fears are mounting that this could lead to flash flooding or mudslides.
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Large waves crashing in the Dominican RepublicCredit: EPA
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The storm caused major floods in some areasCredit: AP
As of 5pm local time on Sunday, Erin was 275 miles north-northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
It had maximum sustained winds of 125mph, and is reportedly currently moving west.
Puerto Rico Governor Jenniffer González-Colón warned residents to stay home if possible.
There are no reports of flooding on the island so far – but the worst weather is expected to impact the region within the next six hours, officials said.
Terrifying footage on X also showed heavy rain falling in Cidra in central Puerto Rico on Sunday.
The hurricane is expected to strengthen in the next two days before taking a north-ward turn on Monday and Tuesday.
The storm is then forecast to gradually weaken through the middle and latter half of next week as it passes between the US and Bermuda.
Tropical storm warnings have been issued in Turks and Caicos and the southeast Bahamas, according to authorities.
In Sierra Bayamón, Puerto Rico, a suspension insulator broke and a conductor fell to the ground because of the stormy weather.
Luma Energy also advised the public to avoid walking or driving through flooded areas, especially near downed power lines.
If you’re a Gen Xer or younger, there’s a good chance you’ve contemplated moving out of California.
The reasons are obvious. It’s expensive and difficult to raise a family, pay rent or even consider buying a home.
That struggle isn’t just on the mind of locals. Midwestern and Southern states have recognized an opportunity and are making their best pitches to frustrated Californians.
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So, is there a price Tulsa, Okla., could offer you to move? Are the incentives of cheaper gas, much shorter commutes and overall drive times enough of an appeal? I haven’t even mentioned the cost of living and a real chance of buying a home.
Rollins felt socially isolated working a remote job in Ocean Beach for a tech company, but still overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people around her.
Months earlier she read about a program, Tulsa Remote, that would pay remote workers to relocate to Oklahoma’s second-largest city for at least a year. She decided to give it a shot and visit.
“When I was [in California], I was so consumed with the process of day-to-day living — the traffic, getting places, scheduling things,” Rollins said. “Here there’s so much more space to think creatively about your life and to kind of set it up the way you want.”
After five months in Tulsa, Rollins met her significant other at a trivia night. Her partner, with whom she now lives, made the journey from California to Tulsa for school during the pandemic.
“He grew up in Santa Cruz and was living 10 minutes from me down the road in Pacifica, but we never met in California,” she said. “We met in Tulsa.”
What is Tulsa offering?
Tulsa Remote — funded by the George Kaiser Family Foundation — started in 2019, and has sought to recruit new residents to diversify the city’s workforce.
It decided to offer $10,000 to remote workers who would move to the state for at least a year.
The program also provides volunteer and socializing opportunities for new residents and grants them membership at a co-working space for 36 months.
What do the numbers say?
Tulsa Remote has attracted more than 3,600 remote workers since its inception.
More than 7,800 Californians have applied to the program and 539 have made the move, cementing California as the second-most popular origin state behind Texas.
Those numbers reflect something of a wider trend: From 2010 through 2023, about 9.2 million people moved from California to other states, while only 6.7 million people moved to California from other parts of the country, according to the American Community Survey.
A Public Policy Institute of California survey conducted in 2023 found that 34% of Californians have seriously considered leaving the state because of high housing costs.
Zach and Katie Meincke, former Westsiders
The lower cost of living was a huge bonus for the Meinckes when they moved three years ago.
They went from paying $2,400 in monthly rent on a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in L.A.’s Westside to a five-bedroom, three-bathroom house in Tulsa for just a few hundred dollars more.
It ended up being fortuitous timing for the couple, who discovered they were expecting their first child — a daughter named Ruth — just weeks after they decided to move.
The couple are expecting their second child in December.
It’s a life milestone that Meincke says may not have happened in Los Angeles. In California, it costs nearly $300,000 to raise a child to 18. In Oklahoma, researchers estimate it costs about $241,000, according to a LendingTree study this year.
“There was no way we were going to move into a house in Los Angeles unless we had roommates, and that’s not an ideal situation,” Zach Meincke said. “We were 37 when we left Los Angeles and it felt like we were at a point that if we wanted to have all those other things in life — children, a house — we need to make that shift.”
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Jim Rainey, staff writer Andrew J. Campa, reporter Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor Karim Doumar, head of newsletters Diamy Wang, homepage intern Izzy Nunes, audience intern
More than 2,500 migrants have crossed the Channel in small boats in the 11 days since the new “one in, one out” agreement with France took effect, figures from the Home Office show.
The plan proposes that for each migrant the UK returns to France, another person with a strong case for asylum in Britain will be allowed to stay.
Around 28,000 people have reached the UK in small boats so far this year and more than 50,000 have crossed since Labour came into power in July 2024.
Meanwhile, a boat holding more than 100 people was reportedly sighted in the Channel this week.
A Home Office spokesperson said the people-smuggling gangs “do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay”.
“That is why this government is implementing a serious and comprehensive plan to break the business model of the gangs, including enhanced cooperation with France to prevent small boat crossings and a pilot scheme to detain and return small boat migrants back to France.”
Rob Lawrie, a volunteer aid worker, told the BBC’s Today Programme on Friday smugglers estimate they can send up to 150 people on boats.
“That’s a lot more people, overcrowding an extra large boat,” he said.
“We’ve already had reports of children getting crushed, not only in the rush but within the dinghy itself.”
He added it was unclear how many people were falling overboard during crossings.
Crossings tend to increase in the summer months when the weather is calm in the Channel. Last August, more than 4,000 people made the journey.
These numbers can vary depending on factors including the supply of boat parts and how actively the police are patrolling the beaches in northern France, to try to prevent boats from launching.
The first group of people to arrive under the scheme were detained in Dover earlier this month. Removals to France have yet to take place and could take up to three months.
When Labour came to power it promised to smash the gangs organising the crossings, but warned that it would not be quick or easy to do. Ministers are now under pressure to deliver results, though the deterrent effect of the returns deal may not become clear until deportations begin in earnest and increase in number.
Speaking about the first detentions earlier this month, Sir Keir said: “If you break the law to enter this country, you will face being sent back. When I say I will stop at nothing to secure our borders, I mean it.”
Set to last 11 months, the project will see the UK accepting an equal number of asylum seekers who have not tried to cross and can pass security and eligibility checks.
At the time, shadow home secretary Chris Philp criticised the government’s new deal as “having no deterrent effect whatsoever”.
The National Crime Agency said it has had some success in disrupting the business model of the smugglers.
Last week, 20 inflatable boats believed to be destined for the Channel were seized from a lorry in Bulgaria – the second such discovery in less than three weeks.
The government says it’s an illustration of the need for international cooperation to tackle illegal immigration.
Afghans were the top nationality arriving by small boat in the year to March 2025, according to Home Office figures.
Syrians made up the second largest group, followed by people from Iran, Vietnam and Eritrea.
These five nationalities accounted for 61% of all arrivals.
In 2024, almost one third of the 108,000 people who claimed asylum in the UK arrived on a small boat.
The Home Office can remove people with no legal right to stay in the UK, or refuse to let them enter.
But the 1951 Refugee Convention establishes the right to claim asylum in a foreign state if an applicant can prove they face a serious threat to life or freedom in their country of origin.
As part of a new challenge to push himself, the Marvel actor decided to learn to play the drums – but when he played in a stadium with pop star Ed Sheeran, he was terrified…
06:00, 15 Aug 2025Updated 07:25, 15 Aug 2025
Marvel actor Chris Hemsworth takes up drumming and joins Ed Sheeran at a stadium concert(Image: NationalGeographic/Evan Paterakis)
Terrified, sweating and short of breath, Thor actor Chris Hemsworth said playing drums for Ed Sheeran in front of 70,000 people was “the stupidest thing I could have done”. The Australian star, best known for playing a hammer-wielding Norse God, was wielding drum sticks instead as he took to the stage – and he was way out of his comfort zone. He says: “All the fans are going to be watching me destroy an Ed Sheeran classic.”
The scary challenge was part of a bold new mission for Chris, and this time, not in the Marvel world, in the real world. In a thrilling three-part series Limitless: Live Better Now, streaming today (Aug 15) on Disney+, Chris pushes himself further than ever – physically, mentally and emotionally – as he confronts some of life’s most universal challenges: pain, fear and cognitive decline. Determined to discover how we can all live better, Chris dives into three high-stakes challenges that promise real, immediate ways to sharpen our minds and strengthen our bodies.
Chris Hemsworth with his mate Ed Sheeran(Image: National Geographic/Laura Radford)
In the first series, the 42-year-old discovered while filming that he is, biologically, eight to ten times more likely than the average person to develop Alzheimer’s disease because he carries two copies of a certain gene. “That warning sign was further motivation to take care of myself,” he says.
In this second series, filmed across six countries over two years, he climbs a 600-foot Alpine dam, learn the drums to perform live with Ed Sheeran, and endure South Korean Special Forces training. He adds: “I’ve always worked very hard on my physical fitness but I’m realising that I need to put as much work in for my brain as I do for my body. I’m diving head first into cutting edge science to uncover three secrets to living better.”
We see Chris struggling as he first starts to learn the drums, with Ed Sheeran telling him: “I think this might actually be the most difficult thing you do.” Just two months later we see Chris preparing to go on stage in the massive arena in Bucharest, Romania. Chris says: “Of all the stupid things I could have done, this feels like the stupidest. The moment I walk out and see how big that arena is, I’m starting to think ‘I’ve got to get out of here’.”
He adds: “Nervous energy, heart rate, sweaty palms, short of breath, all of that. The reality is kicking in and I’m feeling really terrified. All the fans are going to be watching me destroy an Ed Sheeran classic. It’s one take, one shot. I basically have no musical talent so how did I end up playing drums for one of the biggest pop stars in the world in front of 70,000 people?”
Chris Hemsworth puts himself through cognitive tests in his new series Limitless: Live Better Now(Image: National Geographic/Laura Radford)
He adds: “This is the first challenge in a journey that will take me all over the world – discovering three powerful secrets to living better right now. Can we supercharge our brains by learning something new? Can we beat pain by reframing? And what benefits are there if we face the things that scare us most? It’s a life-changing mission that will push my mind and my body to the limits.”
Starting in London, where he has some cognitive tests, Chris says: “There are some days when I think my memory is pretty good but there are other days when I think ‘Something’s not firing properly’. I put it down to being overwhelmed by certain things and having too many things on my plate.” He is told that one of the best ways to boost his brain is to learn a new skill, especially a musical instrument, which activates visual, auditory and motor skills all at once.
Of course he decides to play the drums – he’s Thor. And of course he’s mates with Ed Sheeran. There’s a lot of stress but his surprise performance, to the hit Thinking Out Loud, is met with rapturous applause in the stadium. Chris says: “I haven’t ever had 70,000 people staring at me like this. Ed told me to take my headphones out and listen (to the applause). I’ll never forget that moment.”
*Limitless: Live Better Now is now streaming on Disney+
While cuisine often takes center stage in Southern California, at L.A. bars it’s also quite possible to “have it all.”
And we all have our favorites: the Short Stop in Echo Park after Dodger wins, the Tiki Ti in Los Feliz when you’re looking for the island vibe or a refreshing sidecar at Pico Rivera’s bustling and dimly lit Dal Rae.
Sure, they’re all wonderful. But it’s also fun to experience new scenes, different twists on some classics and to just find yourself in a different locale with a new drink.
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The Times’ Food team, led by colleagues Stephanie Breijo and Danielle Dorsey, is inviting readers to add to your favorites by visiting one or all of their 21 new bars to check out.
Here’s a quick look at their full list. Cheers.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Chinatown’s Evangeline Swamp Room
This is the place to let the good times roll in true New Orleans fashion.
All of the requisites are here: Ramos gin fizzes hand-shaken to an inch-high fluffy top, smooth sazeracs, mint juleps crowned with bushels of fresh mint, frosty hurricanes and more. But the Evangeline Swamp Room also makes room for a few of its own creations, such as a pink-lemonade take on the Pimm’s cup, a Cajun riff on the bloody Mary that’s garnished with blackened shrimp, and a rotation of frozen seasonal cocktails that go down dangerously easily. When you need food to sop it all up, opt for po’boys, charbroiled oysters, jambalaya fritters, fried okra and gator chili.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Hollywood’s Bar Avoja
Walk through the bar area of Mother Wolf past the semi-open kitchen where Evan Funke’s celebrated Roman dishes come flying out at a rapid clip. Head through the double doors, hang a left and you’ll find yourself at the entrance to Bar Avoja.
Like Mother Wolf, Bar Avoja — Roman slang for “hell yeah” — is co-owned by operator Giancarlo Pagani and inspired by the cuisine of Rome. The cocktails in this Thursday-to-Saturday lounge deserve praise. Sometimes they incorporate region-appropriate ingredients, such as limoncello and amari, other times they blend the unexpected (the Morso Di Vita, made with vodka, tomato, basil and passion fruit, is a highlight). Dimly lit and slightly upscale, it feels like a pared-down, intimate experience.
(Alyson Aliano/For The Times)
Los Feliz’s Untamed Spirits
Silver Lake’s first bar dedicated to women’s sports opened during Pride Month courtesy of wives Janie and Stephanie Ellingwood. Untamed Spirits features TVs throughout the space, from the open-air interior to the covered patio with string lights and hanging plants. The menu offers elevated bar standards including brisket nachos, kimchi fried rice and a smashburger, with house cocktails such as a pear lychee martini and tequila watermelon punch. Taco Tuesday brings tacos priced from $3 to $5, $3 tequila shots and $10 margaritas, while weekend brunch adds smoked brisket hash and a breakfast burrito. Untamed Spirits is an official bar partner of the Angel City Football Club and will host its first watch party on Sept. 7. Day parties, trivia and drag bingo round out the bar’s regular programming.
(Danielle Dorsey / Los Angeles Times)
Venice’s Kassi
The lush, Grecian-inspired escape features a coastal palette with umbrellas, tables and comfortable couches for wasting away a summer day, all with a clear view of the crashing waves at Venice Beach. The beverage program fits the theme with strawberry and cucumber slushies that can be swirled together, a Mediterranean gin and tonic packed with fresh herbs and a pomegranate za’atar mule. The food menu from chef-partner Thomas Lim includes shareable bites such as mezze, skewers, crispy saganaki and a refreshing watermelon salad topped with whipped feta. The rooftop turns clubby with DJs in the evenings and on weekends; its patrons are a healthy mix of locals and tourists.
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Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team
Jim Rainey, staff writer Diamy Wang, homepage intern Izzy Nunes, audience intern Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor Andrew J. Campa, reporter Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
