Austrian lawyer Volker Turk set to become first UN rights chief to complete two four-year terms since post was created.
Published On 25 Jul 202625 Jul 2026
Volkur Turk, the outspoken United Nations human rights chief who has been a vocal critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza and across the wider region, has won a vote to serve a second term in his role.
UN member states voted 144-10, with 13 abstentions, on Friday to keep Turk in his post as UN human rights chief. His term was set to expire on October 11, but he will now serve for an additional four years.
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If he finishes his second term, he will be the first UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to do so since the post was created in 1993. The United States, Israel, Russia, North Korea and six others opposed his re-election.
Turk said he was “deeply grateful” to be re-elected.
“Human rights are the antidote to today’s turbulence and defeatism. I will give my all for the rights of everyone, everywhere,” he wrote in a social media post.
The rights chief has angered many in Israel by criticising the country’s genocidal war on Gaza, its attacks on Lebanon, and the “shameful” lack of accountability for rights abuses in the occupied Palestinian territory.
A lawyer by training, Turk has spent almost his career working in the UN, including posts in the UNHCR, the UN’s dedicated body for refugees.
He has repeatedly urged Israel to comply with international humanitarian law, and said the state is accountable for any violations of human rights that it commits.
The European Union’s delegation at the UN welcomed Turk’s reappointment, saying it looks forward to working with his office to “promote and protect human rights worldwide”.
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had criticised Turk’s record, saying that under his leadership the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has “erased the atrocities of October 7, misused funds, and betrayed UN neutrality in favor of corrupt political radicalism”.
Israel has been accused by leading rights groups and UN experts of rampant rights abuses, including carrying out a genocide in Gaza.
Jeff Bartos, the US representative for UN Management and Reform, said that the UN human rights system has been losing credibility for decades, that Turk “led it to its deathbed” as Friday’s vote “kicked the bucket”.
The US has been Israel’s top ally and weapons provider.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres faced criticism for how he managed the vote on Turk’s second term.
Guterres, whose term expires in December, sent letters to regional groups at the UN earlier this month informing them of his intention to reappoint Turk, and held the vote just weeks later.
The US Department of State called the rushed vote “another example of the UN’s inherent corruption and incompetence”, saying Turk “turned a blind eye to real atrocities and instead pursued a radical ideological agenda.”
Paramount Skydance has notched a needed win as it continues to pursue its $111-billion deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery.
On Wednesday, the European Commission gave its consent, allowing tech scion David Ellison’s industry-reshaping merger to move forward in the countries that make up the European Union.
Europe joins 64 other regulatory entities that have either approved the deal or chosen not to challenge it, Paramount said in a statement.
“These clearances recognize that the combination of Paramount and WBD will enhance consumer choice and enable a creative-first company to invest in more projects and bring stories to audiences worldwide,” Paramount said. “It will create a scaled media and entertainment company capable of competing with the tech companies that have come to dominate the industry.”
European regulators added just one condition: Paramount must end a partnership with Universal Pictures to share distribution of movies in Europe. Beyond that, regulators concluded that even with the proposed Paramount-Warner consolidation there were enough producers to avoid competitive harms.
“The Commission found that, at film production level, enough film studios remain as competitors,” the European Commission said in a statement. “These include other major US studios like Disney, NBC Universal … and Sony, along with smaller US studios such as Amazon MGM, A24 and Lionsgate, as well as European studios.”
But the merger would result in a “high concentration” of film distribution, the commission said, so Paramount would have 13 months to end its joint venture, United International Pictures, which distributes Paramount and Universal films to cinema owners in Europe.
Paramount must not “directly or indirectly … enter into any agreement or understanding with Universal to jointly co-distribute films” in the European countries for 10 years, the commission said.
Despite early concerns about potential dominance in the children’s television market, Paramount will not be required to divest Cartoon Network, a Warner asset, because of its ownership of Nickelodeon.
“The Commission found that streaming platforms offering children’s content will continue to act as a competitive constraint on the merged entity’s TV channels,” the agency said.
The European Commission joins regulators in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Saudi Arabia, Serbia and South Africa that have found the deal would not crush competition in their respective markets. Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority is still investigating the merger’s impacts.
Paramount secured the approval of the U.S. Justice Department last month. The company was hoping to close its blockbuster acquisition of Warner Bros., which owns HBO, CNN and the Burbank studios behind such popular characters as Batman, Superman, Harry Potter, Scooby-Doo, by the end of September to avoid a larger payout to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders.
The European Commission’s approval came two days after Ellison’s firm was dealt a substantial setback.
A federal judge in Oakland on Monday issued a temporary restraining order preventing Paramount from finalizing the acquisition for at least 14 days as that antitrust case heats up. The decision came after 12 state attorneys general, led by California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, filed a lawsuit last week alleging the merger would violate U.S. antitrust rules.
District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín scheduled an Aug. 3 hearing to determine whether a longer-term pause is warranted. The states are expected to seek a preliminary injunction, which would tie up Paramount’s merger for months.
Paramount, in its statement, noted the European Commission’s conclusions “directly refute key assumptions that underpin the state AGs’ complaint seeking to block the transaction,” including whether big-budget or blockbuster films should be considered a market.
Wednesday’s approval “marks another significant milestone in bringing Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery together,” Makan Delrahim, Paramount’s chief legal officer said in the statement. “We appreciate the Commission’s constructive engagement and thorough analysis throughout its review.”
Deal critic Alvaro Bedoya, a former Federal Trade Commission member who is now a senior adviser at the American Economic Liberties Project, offered a conflicting view.
“This is not remotely over. The United States is not Europe,” Bedoya said in a statement.
The Writers Guild of America joined the legal fray last week by filing its own antitrust complaint against Paramount, alleging the proposed union of two of Hollywood’s biggest studios would lead to fewer jobs and lower pay for writers. The WGA is also seeking an injunction.
The 37-page lawsuit filed by the state attorneys general alleges that Paramount’s proposed takeover — the largest Hollywood deal in decades — would violate the U.S. Clayton Antitrust Act, a century-old law to prevent mergers that weaken competition and raise costs for consumers.
In her order granting the states’ request for a temporary restraining order, Martínez-Olguín wrote: “The Transaction would also be difficult, if not impossible, to unwind if permitted to proceed given the anticipated consolidation of operations, sharing of business-sensitive information, and potential termination or reassignment of employees.”
Paramount faces a potential $7 billion payment to Warner Bros. should the company fail to close the transaction by next summer.
From Kevin Baxter: This summer’s World Cup was so good, nobody wanted it to end.
So Spain and Argentina played on and on in Sunday’s final, through 90 minutes of regulation time and then through a 15-minute extra period before Ferran Torres gave Spain the only goal it needed to claim the title with a 1-0 victory over the defending champion at a sold-out MetLife Stadium.
It was an epic finish to an epic tournament, one that set records for everything from attendance and TV viewers to games played and goals scored. And it was almost certainly the last World Cup for Argentine captain Lionel Messi, 39, who finished his record-setting sixth tournament as the all-time leader in games (34), assists (12) and goal contributions (33).
His parting gift was a silver medal, a handshake from President Trump and a hug from the King of Spain. But none of those were the prize he wanted most, so when he left the stage after receiving his medal, he broke down in tears.
A swarming Spanish defense made him little more than a spectator for most of the match. So while Argentina came into the final leading the tournament in goals per game, it also became the first team to go 90 minutes without a shot in a World Cup final. It was outshot 20-2 for the game, and Spanish keeper Unai Simón, who gave up just one goal in eight matches, was not forced to make a save in registering his seventh clean sheet.
He was named the outstanding keeper of the tournament.
That allowed Torres, who started just once in the tournament, to become the hero.
Swanson: LAFC star Son Heung-min proves life after the World Cup can offer hope and redemption
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From Maddie Lee: Eliezer Alfonzo jumped on a first-pitch cutter, keeping his hands inside to send it into shallow center field.
Two weeks after making his major league debut under tragic circumstances, Alfonzo recorded his first hit.
“The guys have been supporting me, pushing me every day,” Alfonzo said. “And they told me, ‘You’re going to get it here at Yankee Stadium, it’s going to be really good.’”
It was a heartwarming moment early in the Dodgers’ 2-1 loss to the New York Yankees in the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader. By dropping the series finale after an 8-2 win in the opener, the Dodgers settled for a series win instead of sweep.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s third career complete game was the highlight of the win in Game 1 of a doubleheader on Sunday. It was his first complete game since Game 2 of the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Shaikin: Shohei Ohtani’s knee troubles creating a major pitching dilemma for Dodgers
Ryan Johnson struck out five and gave up one run in five solid innings, Jorge Soler and Zach Neto delivered RBI hits and the Angels ended a four-game skid with a 3-2 win over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.
Johnson (2-4) gave up two hits and walked three. The right-hander escaping a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the fifth when he struck out Dillon Dingler with an 82-mph sweeper. Samy Natera Jr., Chase Silseth and Sam Bachman worked scoreless innings of relief.
Ryan Zeferjahn, who gave up just two earned runs in 19 1/3 innings of his previous 18 games since June 1, gave up a homer to Riley Greene in the top of the ninth as Detroit closed within 3-2. But, Zeferjahn retired the next three batters and earned his third save.
Paige Bueckers had 25 points before leaving the game following a scary collision, Arike Ogunbowale scored six of her 20 down the stretch and the Dallas Wings beat the Sparks 90-82 on Sunday to extend their winning streak to a franchise-record six games.
Bueckers hit a three-pointer that capped a 14-5 spurt and gave the Wings an eight-point lead with 9:12 left in the game.
Jessica Shepard had 11 points, 14 rebounds and six assists for the Wings (17-8) and Azzi Fudd also scored 11.
The Sparks (10-15) have lost four consecutive games, all on the road.
Nneka Ogwumike made seven of 12 from the field and finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Sparks. Dearica Hamby added 16 points on eight-of-12 shooting, Cameron Brink scored 10 and Erica Wheeler had 10 assists to go with nine points for L.A.
Ryan Fox of New Zealand survived a wild ride along the back nine of Royal Birkdale and delivered the biggest putt of his life Sunday, making a 12-foot birdie on the final hole to win the British Open for his first major title.
Four players had a share of the lead at some point Sunday. American Cameron Young was atop the leaderboard for two hours because he finished his astonishing six-under 64 when the leaders were on the front nine.
Fox never lost hope, even after a pair of bogeys on the back nine, and the 39-year-old son of an All Blacks rugby player delivered the goods when it counted. He birdied the 16th to tie Young for the lead, and then made birdie on the toughest hole to become the third Kiwi to win a major.
1958 — The PGA championship calls for medal play for the first time and Dow Finsterwald beats Billy Casper.
1963 — Mary Mills wins the U.S. Women’s Open golf championship by three strokes over Sandra Palmer and Louise Suggs.
1974 — Carl Rosen’s Chris Evert beats Miss Musket by 50 lengths in the winner-take-all match race at Hollywood Park.
1975 — Sandra Palmer wins the U.S. Women’s Open golf championship by four strokes over Nancy Lopez, Joanne Carner and Sandra Post.
1980 — Tom Watson wins the British Open by four strokes over Lee Trevino. Watson shoots a 13-under 271 at Muirfield Golf Links at Gullane, Scotland. Watson becomes the fourth American to win three Open titles, joining Walter Hagen, Bobby Jones and Jack Nicklaus.
1997 — Justin Leonard closes with a 65 to win the British Open at 12-under 272 at Royal Troon. Leonard, whose closing round is one of the best in major championship history, takes the lead from Jesper Parnevik with a birdie on No. 17.
2002 — Tiger Woods, trying to win the third leg of the Grand Slam, shoots his worst round (81) as a pro, knocking himself out of contention.
2008 — Padraig Harrington is the first European in more than a century to win golf’s oldest championship two years in a row. Harrington pulls away from mistake-prone Greg Norman and holds off a late charge by Ian Poulter for a four-shot victory in the British Open.
2009 — Lauren Lappin homers to start a three-run rally in the third inning, and the United States beats Australia 3-1 in the World Cup of Softball championship game at Oklahoma City.
2013 — China’s Wu Minxia and Shi Tingmao wins the first diving gold medal at the world championships in Barcelona, Spain. Wu earns a record sixth world title in the women’s 3-meter synchronized springboard.
2014 — Rory McIlroy completes a wire-to-wire victory in the British Open to capture the third leg of the career Grand Slam. McIlroy closes with a 1-under 71 for a two-shot victory over Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler. McIlroy, winner of the 2011 U.S. Open and the 2012 PGA Championship, joins Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players with three different majors at age 25 or younger.
2015 — Zach Johnson rolls in a 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole and outlasts Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman in a three-man playoff to win the British Open. Jordan Spieth, looking to win his third straight major, falls one shot short of joining the playoff.
2020 — Cristiano Ronaldo becomes the first man to score 50 goals in Serie A, La Liga and the Premier League.
2021 — The Milwaukee Bucks defeat the Phoenix Suns 105-95 in game six of the NBA Finals to win their second NBA Championship. It was the fourth win in a row after falling behind 2-0 in the series. The Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo was named NBA Finals Most Valuable Player.
Compiled by the Associated Press
1906 — Malcolm Eason of Brooklyn pitched a 2-0 no-hitter against the Cardinals in St. Louis.
1925 — Brooklyn’s Dazzy Vance struck out 17 batters as the Dodgers tripped the Chicago Cubs 4-3 in 10 innings.
1933 — Babe Herman hit three home runs, including a grand slam, to pace the Chicago Cubs in a 10-1 rout of the Philadelphia Phillies at Wrigley Field.
1941 — New York’s Joe DiMaggio had three doubles and a homer in a 12-6, 17-inning Yankee victory over the Tigers in Detroit.
1958 — Jim Bunning of the Detroit Tigers threw a no-hitter, beating the Boston Red Sox 3-0 in the first game of a doubleheader.
1970 — Bill Singer of the Dodgers pitched a no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies for a 5-0 victory in front of 12,454 at Los Angeles.
1973 — Wilbur Wood of the Chicago White Sox lost both ends of a doubleheader to the New York Yankees, 12-2 and 7-0.
1976 — Hank Aaron hit the 755th and final home run of his career to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 6-2 win over the Angels.
2008 — Francisco Rodriguez became the fastest pitcher to 40 saves in big league history when he closed out the Angels’ 5-3 victory over Boston. Rodriguez, who struck out the side in the ninth inning, reached 40 saves in 98 games — 10 faster than John Smoltz did five years ago.
2009 — Matt Holliday homered twice, including a tying grand slam in the seventh inning, and Jack Cust followed with another shot, helping the Athletics rally from a 10-run deficit — the largest comeback in Oakland history — and beat the Minnesota Twins 14-13.
2013 — The Seattle Mariners manage only one hit but defeat the Astros 4-2.
2015 — Women’s baseball is played in The Pan American Games for the first time.
2017 — Matt Carpenter hits three home runs and two doubles as the Cardinals defeat the Cubs 17-5.
Compiled by the Associated Press
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
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Airbus (EADSF)(EADSY) secured an order for 100 A320neo family aircraft from SMBC Aviation Capital on the opening day of the Farnborough International Airshow, adding to a series of large commercial aircraft deals announced during the industry’s biennial event.
SOUTHPORT, England — Ryan Fox of New Zealand survived a wild ride along the back nine of Royal Birkdale and delivered the biggest putt of his life Sunday, making a 12-foot birdie on the final hole to win the British Open for his first major title.
Four players had a share of the lead at some point Sunday. Cameron Young was atop the leaderboard for two hours without hitting a shot because he finished his astonishing six-under 64 when the leaders were on the front nine.
Fox never lost hope, even after a pair of bogeys on the back nine, and the 39-year-old son of an All Blacks rugby player delivered the goods when it counted. He birdied the 16th to tie Young for the lead, and then made birdie on the toughest hole to become the third Kiwi to win a major.
Fox closed with a two-under 68 and thrust both of those powerful arms into the air. He was on the phone with his family moments later and heard saying, “You asked me to bring a trophy home, and I am, aren’t I?”
His name will go on the base of that shiny Claret Jug, joining Bob Charles of New Zealand from 1963.
His sterling moment brought more disappointment for Young. The American also finished one shot behind in the British Open at St. Andrews four years ago, and he had a Sunday lead on the front nine at the Masters until Rory McIlroy overtook him.
“I gave it everything I had all the way through,” Young said when he finished. He was on the range when he heard the cheer for Fox. Young declined interviews when it was over.
Sam Burns, the 54-hole leader who was never planning to be at the Open until his wife gave birth to their daughter earlier than expected, lost a two-shot lead and didn’t make birdie over the last 12 holes to finish two shots behind.
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler somehow managed to stick around until the end, getting two bad bounces that cost him momentum, then getting one big break for a most improbable birdie but failing to birdie the 18th. He closed with a 67 and shared fourth with hometown star Tommy Fleetwood, who fell back early but thrilled the thousands packed along the dunes with a birdie-birdie finish for a 68.
Missing from all drama, remarkably, was Bryson DeChambeau. He lost a golf ball and made triple bogey on the 11th hole and didn’t make a birdie until he was well out of contention. That two-shot penalty he received Friday for improving the path of his swing wasn’t an issue at the end. DeChambeau shot a 72 and tied for 14th.
Fox won for the 10th time worldwide, his biggest title before Sunday coming at the BMW PGA Championship in 2023. He is the oldest first-time major champion since Henrik Stenson was 40 at Royal Troon 10 years ago.
Fox finished at 10-under 270, got his hands on the jug and heard those magic words when he was introduced as the “Champion golfer of the year.”
“I’m not quite sure how I hit that putt on 18. Look, it is a dream come true,” Fox said. “Looking at that trophy now, it’s the first time I’ve seen it up close. So it’s pretty amazing.”
Young was flawless until the final hole, his tee shot finding a pot bunker. He tried to open the face of a six-iron but caught it thin and it smacked into the vetted wall and into the rough. He hit the next shot into a greenside bunker and nearly holed it for par. The bogey put him at nine-under 271.
Burns was losing ground quickly on the front nine with three straight bogeys, none more damaging than a pitch to the reachable par-four fifth hole that went over the back of the green.
Si Woo Kim emerged as the leader going to the back nine until he made bogeys on the 11th and 12th holes, and fell out of contention for good with a pair of late bogeys that added to a 40 on the back nine for 72.
And then there was Young, at the top of the leaderboard, the wind gaining strength and the challenge to match him looking tougher by the hole.
Fox fell two shots behind Young’s score when he missed a six-foot par putt on the 11th.
He hit his approach to 12 feet on the 13th for birdie, then hit a superb pitch to tgree feet for birdie on the par-five 14th to tie Young.
But his hopes took a nasty turn on the par-five 15th when his tee shot caromed off the side of a bunker and settled next to the lip, leaving him no stance and no shot. He smartly played away from the back pin to the fairway, chipped from 45 yards away to six feet and made bogey.
It was as big as any shot he hit until the last.
He rallied with another clutch shot to 10 feet for birdie on the 16th to again tie with Young, and right when it looked as though the Open was headed for its first playoff in 11 years, Fox came up with a winner.
Fleetwood found the raucous ovation to be a consolation. He grew up in Southport and long dreamed of winning an Open at Royal Birkdale. He holed a 65-foot putt on the first hole that brought the loudest cheer of the day. And he was one shot behind as he played the ninth.
But he dropped three straight shots and the hope was gone. Even so, the ovation on the 18th hole was one he won’t forget.
“This disappointment that I didn’t win today or I couldn’t get it done when I was in a really good position, of course there’s only one person that gets to win it, and my dream of winning the Open will carry on and I’ll continue to chase it,” Fleetwood said.
“But stuff like that, walking down 18 and the atmosphere out there, that was beyond stuff that I’ve dreamt of. That was just stuff that I never imagined.”
Ferguson writes for the Associated Press.
Mercedes driver won his sixth GP of 2026 as championship rival and teammate George Russell crashes out on first lap.
Published On 19 Jul 202619 Jul 2026
Kimi Antonelli won the Belgian Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday to stretch his Formula One lead to 45 points over Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton on a bleak day for teammate George Russell, his closest title rival heading into the race.
Russell had been the 19-year-old Italian’s closest rival before the start at Spa-Francorchamps, but the Briton spun off into the gravel on the opening lap after a collision with Hamilton while trying to make up places lost at lights out.
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Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was second in the 44-lap race, 1.952 seconds behind after leading, thanks to a pit stop while a virtual safety car was deployed, with Max Verstappen third to give Red Bull their 300th Formula One podium.
Hamilton finished fourth, despite serving a five-second penalty for the collision with Russell, but remained under investigation for an unsafe release from a pit stop that could drop him to fifth and further stretch Antonelli’s lead.
It was Antonelli’s sixth win in 10 rounds this season, leaving him 50 points clear of Russell. Antonelli was first in qualifying, continuing Mercedes’ clean sweep of pole positions this season.
“It’s great to be back on the top step after a few difficult rounds,” said Antonelli, who had drawn a blank in two of the past three rounds.
“It was a hard-fought race. We lost first place with the VSC but then we managed to make our way back.
“The momentum was always there. It was just about getting the results,” he added. “Today we were a bit lucky with what happened in terms of the championship but you have to take every opportunity because we saw how much it can swing.”
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri finished fifth, with Isack Hadjar sixth for Red Bull from last on the grid. Reigning champion Lando Norris was seventh for McLaren after starting 13th due to a 10-place grid drop.
Gabriel Bortoleto brought more points for Audi in eighth place, with Arvid Lindblad ninth for Racing Bulls and Argentine Franco Colapinto completing the scoring in 10th place for Renault-owned Alpine.
HOLLYWOOD filmmaker Guy Ritchie has been given the go-ahead to create Airbnbs on his historic airfield.
The Brit director angered local residents with his scheme to turn staff accommodation at Compton Abbas Airfield in Dorset into holiday lets.
They have accused him of trying to build an “aviation theme park by stealth” and “by any means” with no consideration for he local environment.
They fear his ultimate goal is to have a hotel on the sensitive site which is in the Dorset National Landscape and part of the Cranborne Chase International Dark Sky Reserve.
The Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels director has already opened a smokehouse restaurant and re-routed a 130-year-old public footpath since buying the airfield in 2022.
He puts on Spitfire flight experiences and has turned the airfield into a popular visitor destination with events held throughout the year.
Now his plans for two holiday apartments – one two-bedroom and one four-bedroom – have been won planning permission.
They will allow guests to stay overnight while they enjoy flying experiences during the day.
The airfield has had permission for a flat for live-in staff since 2005.
Locals argued this was for a member of staff to live on site to provide “security and safety”.
But Dorset Council disagreed and said there was no planning reason to refuse it.
Planning officer Jamie Francis said: “The owner has been open that they are seeking to generate additional income streams for the airfield, which would have personal gain, this is also considered to bring economic benefits to the area.
“Overall, the re-use of the building for tourist accommodation in place of staff accommodation is considered acceptable.
“A condition has been applied to ensure that the accommodation is used for short term lets only and not for permanent residential accommodation.
“The conversion of one unit of staff accommodation and one office unit to two units of holiday accommodation is considered acceptable.
“In addition, two units of accommodation to two units of holiday accommodation are considered acceptable.
“Therefore, the Council see no reason to refuse the application on this basis.
“The impact of holiday accommodation is anticipated to have a negligible impact on neighbouring amenity, air pollution, and the overall business of the airfield and flight activities.”
The airfield is near Ritchie’s Ashcombe Estate on the Dorset/Wiltshire border.
He previously shared Ashcombe House with ex-wife Madonna and now he and wife Jacqui split their time between their London home and the country estate.
He has hosted celebrity pals there, including David Beckham and Robert Downey Jnr.
Neighbour Christopher Dymond said the regular flying events caused a nuisance and disturbance to neighbours and likened going into his garden to “walking onto a WW2 film set”.
Mr Dymond said: “Compton Abbas Airfield, until recently, was a polite small grass airfield run for local flying enthusiasts and was managed carefully to reflect the incredibly sensitive location and the proximity of local villages.
“The airfield now is run on a much more commercial basis and largely by stealth is morphing into an aviation theme park with numerous events, shows and visitor attractions.
“The nuisance and disturbance to local residents has increased significantly and many of the historic planning restrictions governing the airfield are not being adhered to.
“Often, on a summer weekend, entering your garden is like walking onto a WW2 film set with noisy historic aircraft constantly flying overhead.
“The current apartment was only allowed on the basis it was an absolute necessity for a member of staff to be on site for safety and security reasons.
“If this safety and security requirement is no longer a necessity there are provisions in the planning legal agreements for the use to cease, not for it to be opened up for paying visitors to stay on the site, without any staff presence.”
Philip Cayford, a neighbour and member of the Compton Abbas Airfield Monitoring Group, said: “It began as a small private strip capable of hosting up to six small aircraft.
“It has long since been accepted that the original permission was a planning mistake; councils since that time have accepted the need to curb the expansion pushed for by successive owners.
“The current application would appear to be a further attempt to increase the size and profitability of this site by any means with no regard whatever for environmental issues or the inconvenience to local residents.
“Approving this application would constitute one further step in the commercial development of one of the most beautiful and sensitive rural landscapes in southern England, and as such is quite inappropriate.”
The Sun has approached Ritchie’s reps for comment.
Shohei Ohtani is a global superstar.
The 2026 ESPY Awards provided the latest evidence of that, with the Dodgers two-way player winning two trophies, as determined by fan votes, at Wednesday night’s ceremony in New York.
But as surprising at it may be — especially to those of us in the Los Angeles area who have witnessed the Japanese baseball phenomenon during his nine years with our local MLB teams — not everyone on the planet is familiar with the four-time MVP and two-time World Series champion.
The ESPYs provided evidence of that as well. Boxers Mike Tyson and Jake Paul joined musician DJ Khaled to present the award for best single-game performance. Ohtani — nominated for his historic Game 4 of the 2025 National League championship series against the Milwaukee Brewers — was the winner, as announced by Tyson.
Paul told the crowd that Ohtani was unable to attend the event, but “he sends his gratitude and appreciation to ESPN and everyone who voted for him.”
Afterward, a hot mic picked up Tyson seeming to ask Paul a rather unexpected question:
“Shohei’s a guy?”
The question seemed to be genuine, and Paul gave a casual response to his friend and former boxing opponent. “Yeah, he’s a guy,” Paul appeared to say as the trio started leaving the stage.
The Times reached out to a Tyson representative for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
No shade toward Iron Mike for apparently not knowing much about Ohtani. Tyson is a legend in his sport and has a number of other ventures and interests that occupy his time. While he did throw out a ceremonial first pitch before a Brewers-Pittsburgh Pirates game in 2014, Tyson just might not be all that into baseball.
Also, the name Shohei isn’t at all common in the U.S., even amid Ohtani’s massive popularity. According to Parenting Patch, only nine American babies were given that name in each of the last two years. All of them were boys, but the odds are good that Tyson doesn’t know any of them.
If Tyson hasn’t been following Ohtani’s career, though, he’s missing out. Take the aforementioned Game 4 of last year’s NLCS as an example. Ohtani hit three home runs and pitched six-plus scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts in a 5-1 victory over the Brewers that completed an NLCS sweep and sent the Dodgers to the World Series for the second straight year.
“That was probably the greatest postseason performance of all time,” manager Dave Roberts said after the game.
Ohtani was much more low-key in his postgame assessment.
“This time around, it was my turn to be able to perform,” he said through interpreter Will Ireton. “I think just looking back over the course of the entire postseason, I haven’t performed to the expectation.”
With his performance that night, Ohtani beat out fellow nominees Tyce Armstrong of Baylor baseball (three grand slams in a game), Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat (83 points in a game) and Hannah Hidalgo of Notre Dame basketball (16 steals in a game) for the award.
That epic game certainly contributed to Ohtani’s other ESPY of the night. He was named best MLB player over fellow nominees Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees, Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners and Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
With his father – former big leaguer Clay Bellinger – in attendance, the New York Yankees player earned MVP honours.
Published On 15 Jul 202615 Jul 2026
Cody Bellinger had a night for the ages.
His young daughters sat next to him and his father watched from the back of the room as he spoke about winning Major League Baseball’s (MLB) All-Star Game’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.
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“Just being able to hang out and watching him win an award, it’s pretty cool,” former Yankee Clay Bellinger said after his son’s two-run single in the first inning off Cristopher Sanchez started the American League to a 4-0 win on Tuesday night.
Cody re-signed with the Yankees last winter for a $162.5m, five-year deal and he has been a key part of the offence. He was hitting .280 through mid-June before a slump dropped his average to .254 heading into the All-Star break. Bellinger hasn’t homered in a month.
“Baseball is the craziest game in the world. It really is. Sometimes it’s unexplainable,” he said. “Going into the break, I actually was feeling pretty good. I felt like I was on the right track.”
Clay Bellinger was an outfielder and infielder for the Yankees from 1999 to 2001, winning a pair of World Series titles, and then finished his big league career with the Anaheim Angels in 2002.
Cody was five years old when his father won his second World Series title. Clay never imagined the player Cody would turn into.
“I knew he was good, but not this good,” Clay said.
Cody became the fourth Yankees player to win the All-Star Game MVP after Derek Jeter (2000), Mariano Rivera (2013) and Giancarlo Stanton (2022).
“Wearing this jersey – I feel proud wearing it,” he said. “It comes with a lot.”
Bellinger, who turned 31 on Monday, was a fourth-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2013 and made the All-Star team in 2017, when he was voted NL Rookie of the Year. He hit 47 homers in 2019 and was voted the NL MVP after making his second All-Star team.
“I was, like, ‘Oh, I’ll be here every year,’” he said. “It took a long time to get back. It’s such a competitive league.”
He followed with three straight subpar seasons, missing time in 2021 because of calf, hamstring and rib injuries. He was cut after the 2022 season and signed a $17.5m, one-year deal with the Cubs.
Bellinger hit a career-high .307 with 29 homers and 97 RBIs, became a free agent again and signed an $80m, three-year contract with the Cubs. After a subpar, injury-slowed season, he was dealt to the Yankees.
He tested the free-agent market, then decided to stay in pinstripes.
“He loves it there,” Clay said. “He loves the teammates, loves the city, loves playing in Yankee Stadium. So, it was kind of a no-brainer.”
Daughters Caiden and Cy accompanied Cody onto the field along with his wife, Chase, for photos after he received his award from Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt.
“You always hope for your kids to do well, whether or not it’s playing baseball or doing whatever they like to do,” Clay said. “He’s been pretty good at it for quite a long time.”
shaunl/E+ via Getty Images
Halliburton (HAL) up 2.5% in Monday’s trading after saying it secured major integrated drilling and completions contracts for the GranMorgu deepwater development offshore Suriname operated by TotalEnergies (TTE); financial terms were not disclosed.
Halliburton (HAL) said it will apply
Based on the words of President Trump, America is well on the way to becoming a “global superpower in manufacturing” — indeed, as he declared in a Father’s Day social media post, we are already experiencing the “BEST ECONOMY EVER.” (Capitalization’s his.)
Here’s what the government’s own statistics tell us: Manufacturing investment has crashed during his watch, with construction spending in the manufacturing sector down 26.4% from Trump’s inauguration through May, to $174.8 billion. That’s the lowest figure since February 2023, when the economy was in the midst of a post-pandemic recovery.
White House spokesman Kush Desai told me by email that “the last two jobs reports” showed manufacturing job growth. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a seasonally-adjusted decline of 2,000 manufacturing workers in May and a gain of 3,000 in June. But the June 2026 figure was 38,000 jobs, or about 0.3% below the level in June 2025, and 75,000 or about 0.6% below the level in January 2025, when Trump took office.
Desai said that “thanks to President Trump’s proven agenda of tariffs, deregulation, and tax cuts, American manufacturing will continue to rebound.”
There’s little mystery about what has come between Trump’s ambition and the real world. To a large extent it’s Trump’s economic program, particularly his tariff policies and, more recently, his war with Iran. Those have injected a level of uncertainty for corporate managements pondering whether to spend money on expansion that they haven’t had to confront in years.
From where we’re standing, we are not seeing signs of a manufacturing renaissance in the U.S.
— Didi Caldwell, Global Location Strategies
The tariffs and the war have driven up manufacturers’ costs for raw materials and overseas shipping. The general economic atmosphere doesn’t help. U.S. gross domestic product growth came in at a 2.1% annualized rate in the first quarter of this year, but the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta expects it to have fallen to 1.3% in the second quarter ended June 30.
Meanwhile, the University of Michigan consumer confidence index reached 44.8 in May, its lowest level ever (though it improved to 49.5 in June). Wages have been rising modestly, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but those gains have been eaten up by higher prices, especially for gasoline and food.
Commentary on economics and more from a Pulitzer Prize winner.
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To put things another way, the actual figures show the U.S. economy to be sputtering, and the “vibe economy” as measured by consumer confidence is doing even worse.
Now that Trump’s second term is about to reach its 18-month mark, let’s unpack the factors causing the discrepancy between his ambitions and claims, and the reality.
Trump declared economic victory just as his term was starting. On March 20, 2025, he proclaimed a “manufacturing renaissance” in the U.S. That was based on what he said were “trillions of dollars in new investments” he had “already secured in tech-based manufacturing.”
A White House statement said “the list of manufacturing wins is endless.” The provided list was a roster of announcements, not groundbreakings, much less completed ventures.
Business executives quite properly have taken these pledges with mounds of salt. “Announcements are what people say they’re going to do, but dollars spent is what’s actually happening,” Didi Caldwell, chief executive of a firm that helps companies find factory sites, told the Financial Times. “From where we’re standing, we are not seeing signs of a manufacturing renaissance in the U.S.”
Indeed, at least some of these announcements have had the flavor of performative efforts to satisfy Trump’s amour propre and extract government concessions.
For example, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook appeared with Trump at the White House in August to announce a $600-billion U.S. spending plan to take place over four years. That was a $100-billion increase over its previously-announced program.
More to the point, however, it incorporated spending with suppliers that Apple had been working with for years. Mentioned in the news announcement was a commitment to buy cover glass for iPhones from Corning. But Corning has been supplying that glass since the first iPhone appeared in 2007. In any case, the announcement appeared to secure a commitment from Trump to exempt Apple from tariffs imposed on imported chips.
Apple’s announcement Wednesday that it will spend $30 billion to buy chips from Broadcom was similarly ambiguous. The announcement didn’t provide details about the terms of the commitment or the timing of its expenditures. I asked Apple for details and whether the deal was related to a desire to remain in Trump’s favor, but didn’t hear back.
A similar phenomenon occurred during Trump’s first term; Trump had built much of his 2016 presidential campaign on a promise to increase manufacturing jobs in the United States. He blamed shrinkage in the manufacturing sector on trade agreements such as NAFTA and the policies of the Chinese, and took credit when an American manufacturer agreed to create or save jobs in the United States.
As I reported in 2019, many of those arrangements turned out to be exaggerated or bogus, or predated Trump’s claim. Some disappeared as soon as public attention turned elsewhere, or were outweighed by job cuts made elsewhere by the same companies.
Trump’s tariffs appear to have had a direct effect on manufacturing employment in the U.S. Since Trump’s inauguration, the manufacturing sector has shed about 75,000 jobs, or 0.6%. After April 2, 2025, when he announced global “liberation day” tariffs supposedly as a response to years of unfair treatment of American exports, the decline picked up pace, with a shrinkage of 68,000 manufacturing jobs.
The Supreme Court invalidated those tariffs in February, but others are still in place, including tariffs on imported steel and aluminum and on goods from China. Nor has he ceased threatening partners with trade wars. As recently as Tuesday, he said he would cut off all trade with Spain because of that country’s disagreement with him over its defense spending and its criticism of his Iran war.
As it happens, Spain is one of the few countries with which the U.S. has a trade surplus. That means that any cutoff, which trade experts think will be unlikely, would come at a cost to the U.S.
One might have hoped that Trump had learned a lesson from his first-term trade war with China. That conflict provoked a sharp contraction in the manufacturing economy, with the Institute for Supply Management’s purchasing managers index falling to 49.1 by mid-2019. (A reading below 50 signifies contraction.)
The ISM index began to recover toward the end of Trump’s term but fell again during the pandemic. Lately it has been falling again, to 53.3 in June from 54 in May.
The Iran war is another deadweight on domestic manufacturing. That’s partially the consequence of blockages of the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial thoroughfare not only for middle eastern oil, but also for such industrial inputs as fertilizer and aluminum. Cement, concrete, olive oil and spices are also among commodities produced in the region that use the strait as an outlet to reach the outside world.
Uncertainties in the region, tensions between the U.S. and China, and heightened concerns over the safety of shipping overall have driven up shipping costs between the far east and the U.S. The price of shipping a benchmark 40-foot container from China to the West Coast has nearly quadrupled to $6,687 now from about $1,700 just before the Iran war began, according to an index maintained by the cargo firm Freightos — even though shipping prices typically decline during this time of year.
There can be little doubt that the U.S. would benefit from an industrial policy — if it’s coherent. China supplanted America as the world’s leading exporter of manufactured goods in 2010, and the gap has only widened since then. China’s dominance may be hard to reverse, as it’s built on lower labor costs and transport infrastructure that enjoys focused government investment.
Tariffs could be a component of a new industrial policy, but Trump’s tariffs aren’t rationally geared to protecting domestic industries that need protection. They’re expressions of his whims, and as such they’re totally ineffective. If there are government investment policies targeting industries that need assistance, they’re not apparent to economists or industrialists.
Trump can talk as much as he likes about a golden age for U.S. manufacturing, but from his first term through this one, it’s nothing but talk. And talk, of course, is cheap.
MEXICO CITY — After what may have been the most important game in the Mexican national team’s World Cup history, coach Javier Aguirre hugged each of his 26 players.
The embraces weren’t to celebrate a victory. They were hugs of gratitude, encouragement and, above all, resignation.
Minutes earlier, the players paraded around Azteca Stadium — traditionally an impenetrable fortress — to applaud El Tri fans with tears in their eyes. Mexico had just lost 3-2 to England, extinguishing the hope that it could parlay its World Cup co-host role into the deepest tournament run in the country’s history.
The goal was to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 1986 and, above all, to show the world that Mexican soccer finally had taken the leap that had been demanded for so long — defeating a past world champion, England, that hadn’t looked particularly dominant. But reality, once again, hit hard as the loss became Mexico’s eighth defeat in the round of 16 since 1994.
This time, Mexico had the support of its fans, playing on home soil. And it wasn’t enough.
“I’m satisfied with the work we’ve done, but when you lose — and I’ve lost a lot in my career — you never quite get over it,” Aguirre said. “It’s very painful because dreaming gives us hope; losing this way hurts a lot.”
Mexico fans show their support before their team faced England in a Round of 16 World Cup match at Azteca Stadium on July 5.
(Richard Pelham / Getty Images)
After weeks of celebrations following wins over South Africa, South Korea, Czechia and Ecuador, Mexico failed the test against England, ranked fourth in the world. El Tri dominated possession but could not convert it into goals, while the English were clinical, led by Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane, Anthony Gordon, Bukayo Saka and goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
For Aguirre, the loss reopened a familiar wound. In the 2002, Mexico lost 2-0 to a U.S. squad led by Landon Donovan in what many consider the most painful defeat in the country’s World Cup history. This defeat to England very well could rival it.
“I would have liked to win five games, to leave home with five victories. That hurts — it hurts a lot,” Aguirre said. “A loss is a loss. Our opponent didn’t make the same mistakes we did.”
Judging Aguirre solely on the end of this World Cup run would be simplistic given what he inherited. Two years ago, he was asked to lead the struggling team for the third time. When he arrived, Mexico was ranked 17th in the world and had not won the Nations League. He leaves with Mexico ranked in the top 10 and as Nations League champion and two-time defending Gold Cup champion.
This World Cup wasn’t the disaster that Qatar was four years ago, when Mexico was eliminated in the group stage. This summer, Mexico secured its first knockout-round victory since 1986, advanced to a fifth World Cup match for the second time and swept three games during the group stage without conceding a goal — something no other Mexican team achieved.
In 22 months at the helm — having taken over in 2024 following Jaime Lozano’s failure at the Copa América, where Mexico failed to advance past the group stage — Aguirre achieved something that went beyond the scoreboard by uniting players previously accused of having too much ego and preferring not to sacrifice to help the team.
At this World Cup, that squad gave its all — body and soul — and rebuilt a relationship with the fans that had seemed broken since the 2024 Copa América. Thousands of fans filled the Ángel de la Independencia, the Zócalo and other squares across the country, as well as watch parties in cities like Los Angeles.
“We managed to restore the pride of being part of the national team — for the national anthem and for its people. It’s a privilege to be here, and they know it,” Aguirre said of his players. “I think we’ve returned to a Mexican identity.”
Green jerseys were seen all over Mexico as people set aside their differences to cheer on El Tri.
“Mexico was the best host of the three. It had the best atmosphere — it’s a country that truly loves soccer,” Mexico City native Santiago Mondragón said before the England match.
Mexico had standout and inspired performances from Erik Lira, Gilberto Mora and Roberto Alvarado, but its lineup struggled to keep pace with English players trained at elite European clubs.
Mora, just 17 years old and with tremendous potential, made a mistake on the play leading to England’s second goal. Alvarado, who provided strong passes to Raúl Jiménez and was solid in defense throughout the tournament, lost track of Bellingham on the first goal. Raúl Rangel, who was outstanding against South Korea and who three years ago was playing for Tapatío in the Mexican expansion league, stepped too far forward on the penalty kick that sealed the match, minutes after an English player was sent off in the second half. Edson Álvarez, who did not have a good season with Turkey’s Fenerbahce because of an injury, received little playing time and made a serious mistake marking Kane, which led to Gordon’s breakaway on the play that resulted in the penalty kick.
Mexico’s Raúl Jiménez gets tangled with England’s Ezri Konsa while going for the ball during a World Cup Round of 16 match at Azteca Stadium on July 5.
(Francois Nel / Getty Images)
Following the loss, many in Mexico still are wondering why, despite having a one-man advantage for 36 minutes —plus 11 minutes of stoppage time — the team was unable to tie England. Aguirre replaced Mora and goal-scorer Julián Quiñones, bringing on an attacking lineup that focused on sending in crosses, which the English defense easily cleared.
While it’s possible a few changes could have shifted the match in Mexico’s favor, there were limits to how much the technical staff could get out of the roster.
El Tri lacks sufficient depth to assemble a truly competitive 26-man roster, as players such as Álvarez and Santiago Giménez didn’t arrive at their best form, and players such as Brian Gutiérrez weren’t ready for the pressure of a tournament of this magnitude, in need of more time to develop.
Mexico lacked game-changing players capable of breaking down tight defenses — the role Hirving Lozano played in 2018 or Giovani Dos Santos in 2014. The lack of creativity that showed against Saudi Arabia in 2022 flared up late against England.
Thanks to Jiménez and Quiñones, the team did show firepower, scoring 10 goals in five matches, but it lacked depth to break down a well-organized English defense.
The talent pool has been hindered by the Mexico club system.
Mexico’s Julián Quiñones is tossed in the air by teammates as they celebrate a Round of 32 World Cup win over Ecuador at Azteca Stadium on June 30.
(Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
Liga MX owners maintain a narrow view of domestic soccer, prioritizing foreign signings over the development of local players and promotion and relegation remain abolished — removing competitive pressure that is the backbone of English leagues.
Top Mexican players continue to be overvalued by their home clubs, which makes it difficult for European clubs to sign them when there are cheaper options with more impressive résumés.
“This was the opportunity; that’s why it’s frustrating, that’s why it’s sad,” Mexican journalist Javier Alarcón said of El Tri’s World Cup exit. “With the Mexican federation and its owners, there isn’t much hope.”
Rafael Márquez, a former FC Barcelona star and one of the greatest players in Mexican national team history, is succeeding Aguirre after serving as one of his assistant coaches. Márquez has formed a close bond with players, who tossed the 47-year-old former defender in the air after one of their World Cup wins, and is familiar with all the reasons Mexico continues to hit the same World Cup wall.
“Rafa is a great guy, a great coach,” said Aguirre, who noted that the team’s average age has dropped and that more and more players are playing in Europe. “Hopefully he can do better than we were able to.”
When it comes to fear of heights, Maddi Haferling was born with the opposite gene — loving heights.
The Woodbridge High senior started climbing a door at home at age 4 trying to reach a pull-up bar. By 10, she was signed up for a climbing academy. At 17, she won a gold medal in speed climbing last week at the USU19 National Championship in Salt Lake City.
On Thursday, she leaves for Arco, Italy, to compete at the Youth World Championships.
“It’s pretty cool,” she said.
At 5 feet tall, her challenge is climbing a standardized 15-meter wall course and finishing with the fastest time going against an opponent climbing an identical course. She’s attached to a safety rope in case there’s a fall.
Maddi Haferling of Woodbridge won a gold medal in speed climbing.
(Haferling family)
Being a climber, I have a lot of strength that oust don’t have,” Haferling said. “I can do 25 pull-ups that can impress you.”
So what happens if a Woodbridge football player challenges her to a pull-up contest?
“I think they know they’d lose,” she said.
She trains five days a week, three hours a day at a Santa Ana climbing facility lifting weights and practicing speed climbing techniques with other team members.
“It’s nice I can push myself in a sport and commit to something,” she said. “Being on a team is amazing.”
There’s no time off this summer for Loyola volleyball coach Michael Boehle, who owns the Manhattan Beach Volleyball Club. He was celebrating Monday after his two sons, Davis and Parker, coached the 18U club team to the AAU Open Junior National Championship in Orlando, Fla.
The tournament MVP was Loyola graduate Blake Fahlbusch, a USC commit. Wyatt Davis and Jack Newman, Mira Costa grads, were All-Americans. JP Wardy, another Loyola graduate, was also instrumental in the team’s success.
“I’m so proud,” Boehle said of his sons coaching the team.
In 2012, when Mark Walter and his partners bought the Dodgers, team president Stan Kasten declared mediocrity would no longer be acceptable.
Would the Dodgers improve their minor league system? Yes. Would the Dodgers improve their major league roster? Also yes. Would spending in one area preclude spending in another? Absolutely not.
“These fans expect and deserve a team that can win,” Kasten said then.
So do Angels fans. For the first time this decade, with the arrival of John Mozeliak as interim general manager, they have legitimate hope.
Mozeliak, whose St. Louis Cardinals teams reached the playoffs more often than not in his 18 years running baseball operations there, is here to end baseball’s longest postseason drought, or at least steer the Angels in that direction.
At first, I was shocked to hear him say he does not believe the Angels need to rebuild. Under owner Arte Moreno, the Angels have resisted rebuilding, preferring to add lower-tier free agents and rush college players to the major leagues in an effort to field a competitive roster. That has failed: For the first time in franchise history, the Angels could finish in last place for a third consecutive season.
But, when Mozeliak and I sat down in the Angels’ dugout the other day, he explained that the path forward in Anaheim should not be tanking. It should be acting like the major-market team the Angels are — and were, during Moreno’s first decade of ownership.
“The one thing you have to realize about the Los Angeles Angels is: they do have resources,” Mozeliak said. “From Mr. Moreno to the market size, this is a place that could be a very, very special place.”
In Moreno’s first decade, under Bill Stoneman and Mike Scioscia, the Angels were a player development machine. In 2003, in his first winter as owner, Moreno signed the best position player on the free-agent market in Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero and the best pitcher on the market in four-time All-Star Bartolo Colon.
The questions Mozeliak asks and answers now are the same ones Kasten did with the Dodgers. Can the team deploy resources to upgrade scouting and player development? Yes. Can the team do the same with the major league roster? Also yes.
“There are many franchises in the game of baseball that cannot do that,” Mozeliak said. “They have trade-offs. They have to make a decision: If I’m going to give you $20 million for your infrastructure, that’s $20 million less for your payroll.
“This place is different.”
The Dodgers parallel only goes so far. Walter and Kasten inherited a core of Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jansen, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier. Mozeliak will work with Mike Trout and a long-touted “young core” that has shown by now it is not the foundation of a championship-caliber team.
No one expects Moreno to spend like the Dodgers do (and even Walter’s fellow owners want a salary cap in an attempt to stop the Dodgers). Yet, in St. Louis, Mozeliak built winners without the Cardinals owners ever paying a luxury tax.
The first step in revitalizing the Angels comes Saturday, in the draft.
“We’re going to take the best available player,” Mozeliak said.
Mozeliak said he is not interested in two recent Angels trends: paying less to a first-round pick in order to spread the savings around longer shots in the lower rounds, or targeting a polished college player in part because he could get to Anaheim in a hurry.
“I’m not wedded to a high school player or a college player,” Mozeliak said. “I want the best player.”
The second item on the agenda: the Aug. 3 trade deadline, which would afford Mozeliak the opportunity to collect prospects for such players as pitcher Reid Detmers and Jose Soriano and outfielder Jo Adell.
In 2020, Moreno nixed a trade that would have brought Andy Pages – then a Dodgers prospect, now an All-Star – to the Angels.
In 2023 and 2024, Moreno rebuffed trade offers for Shohei Ohtani that could have returned the likes of Junior Caminero or Jackson Merrill. No player of that caliber would be coming in return for what the Angels have to offer now.
Mozeliak said the Angels should not consider a trade proposal in isolation, without considering how to flex their major-market muscles to fill whatever hole a trade might create.
“If we understand what we’re doing today can help make us stronger tomorrow, and then look at potentially what we could do on the free-agent market,” he said, “that should be something we are doing in parallel thinking.”
Mozeliak said he does not believe any player should be untouchable. As if on cue, Trout walked by.
Trade Trout? That’s not happening, right?
“That’s not happening,” Mozeliak said.
In his hours of conversations with Moreno, Mozeliak said, the topic of whether the owner might sell the team “never came up.”
Does Moreno appear interested in staying for the long haul?
“Absolutely,” Mozeliak said.
Mozeliak said he had presented Angels President Molly Jolly with a 100-day plan for what the team calls a consulting role: run baseball operations on an interim basis; do a deep dive into how the Angels do things now and how they can do them better; recommend a new general manager. Maybe he stays in that role, or in a supporting role, or he simply leaves when his contract expires in December.
“I’m certainly confident in what we need to do, and I’m certainly confident this is a market that could be amazing,” he said. “It’s exciting times for me. I’m energized.
“I’m smart enough to know that one person cannot change everything. But one person can begin change, and that’s what I’m going to start to do.”
Distinguished executives, including the likes of Dave Dombrowski and Andrew Friedman, have wanted no part of the Angels. Then again, Mozeliak is only committed for six months. If Moreno does not do what Mozeliak believes should be done, and if Mozeliak is not allowed to begin that change, he can just walk away.
“I think I have that authority,” Mozeliak said, “and I think he understands that he can embrace change, because that is what is going to be required.”
Based on Moreno telling you that?
“Yes,” Mozeliak said.
The last time the Angels hired an experienced general manager from outside the organization: 35 years ago, when they also looked to St. Louis for Whitey Herzog. That didn’t work. Herzog won a power struggle in the front office, then quit anyway, amid disputes with ownership.
This might work, or might not. But think back to 2020, when then-Angels president John Carpino said this: “Obviously, we’re not doing it the right way. We’re not winning games. So something is not right in our organization.”
Carpino retired in April, without ever explaining what was not right in the organization or, based on the standings, repairing it.
Jolly replaced him and, within two months, secured Moreno’s approval to hire the architect of a World Series championship team to figure out what was not right in the organization, and to fix it.
In one bold step, the Angels admitted they had a problem and set out a path to remedy it. With three months to go in this wretched season, the MVP of the 2026 Angels is abundantly clear: Molly Jolly.
Leclerc now looked locked in for victory, but there was great doubt over second place.
Hamilton, who earlier had a five-second penalty for moving before the lights went out at the start, was 20 seconds back from his team-mate, but Verstappen was closing in and Russell was going with the Dutchman, having dropped back with a pit stop on lap 34 forced by a slow puncture.
But on lap 48, Verstappen spun off at Stowe. Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said the rear wing did not close properly, meaning Verstappen had less downforce as he turned in, causing his loss of control.
Verstappen’s off brought out the safety car, and initially it looked as if there would be a short blast to the finish with the Ferrari drivers contesting victory on fresh tyres.
But Russell did not pit, so he would have taken any restart between them, which would have delayed Hamilton’s charge, even by a few seconds.
But Verstappen had crashed with only four laps to go, and there was doubt about whether the incident would be cleared in time.
As the cars came around to approach the start of the final lap, the timing screen initially said the safety car would pull in, but a few seconds later that message was replaced by another saying it would stay out.
The full post-race FIA statement said: “The safety-car period regulation states that one lap must be completed following the unlapping procedure.
“This process was followed by race operations. The ‘safety car in this lap’ message was displayed erroneously due to a software error.”
The safety-car finish guaranteed Leclerc’s first win since the 2024 US Grand Prix in Austin.
Russell’s podium was his first at his home race and he said: “Really pleased to be standing here, even though it was a very lucky race. I had the puncture but I was lucky to get the safety car at the end.”
Hamilton said: “I just didn’t have it today. I jumped the start, got a five-second penalty but Charles had the pace on me today. I struggled with the balance of the car. I gave it everything and I am grateful to be up here.”
Lando Norris took fourth for McLaren after a solid but quiet race as the world champions wait for upgrades due at the Hungarian Grand Prix this month.
Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar was fifth, followed by the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and 18-year-old British rookie Arvid Lindblad.
Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri dropped to the back after being involved in a first-lap incident and recovered to 11th, behind the Audi of Gabriel Bortoleto and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly.
Egypt and Morocco fans celebrated their World Cup success by singing ‘My Blood is Palestinian’ at a Dallas fan zone, in a show of Arab solidarity with Palestinians.
Published On 5 Jul 20265 Jul 2026
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Over the past year, it may have appeared that the pro-Palestine protest movement in the United States has lost momentum in the face of smears, crackdowns, indifference and fatigue.
But a string of electoral wins by critics of Israeli abuses appears to indicate that activism’s success can only be measured in the long term.
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In New York, Darializa Avila Chevalier, an activist who participated in the pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University, won a Democratic congressional primary against a five-term incumbent.
“It’s just so satisfying to feel like the tide is finally turning,” said Maryam Alwan, who participated in the Columbia protest in 2024.
“Public opinion has shifted to a point where it’s unavoidable and undeniable, and I think we’re finally starting to see the ripple effects of movements like the encampment that happened two years ago.”
Avila Chevalier’s win was one of several victories for pro-Palestine candidates in New York last week.
Last year, Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City, in part thanks to the efforts of young pro-Palestine activists who powered his campaign.
In Colorado on Tuesday, Melat Kiros, who was fired from her law firm in 2023 for a letter defending Palestinian rights supporters from accusations of anti-Semitism, ousted a House member who had been in Congress for nearly 30 years.
Candidates backed by supporters of Palestinian rights also won key races in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Avila Chevalier’s victory especially stands out in the context of the long-term impact of the student protests.
The democratic socialist nominee, who is likely to cruise to victory in a safe Democratic district in November, will represent large parts of Columbia University’s campus, where it all started.
Witnessing horrific atrocities in Gaza that were partly funded by their own government, students at Columbia set up the first encampment in support of Palestinians, kick-starting a national movement.
Students nationwide then turned their campuses into a front line for political activism against Israel’s genocidal war on Palestinians.
Dozens of encampments sprang up on campuses across the country in 2024 and chants of “free Palestine” rang out in schools from Seattle to Miami.
The students demanded an end to their own schools’ complicity in Israel’s abuses. They called for divestment from Israeli companies and weapons manufacturers.
A security crackdown soon ensued, leading to the arrest of hundreds of students and the removal of encampments.
Avila Chevalier herself was arrested in 2024 as an alumna taking part in the protests.
Many students faced academic disciplinary action and others were charged with alleged crimes related to the protests as politicians from both major parties portrayed the movement as anti-Semitic.
Then, Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025 and went after student activists who were not US citizens, pushing to deport them.
With the encampments removed, the protests getting quieter and the activists going on the defensive to preserve their own personal reputations, safety and freedom, it appeared that the pro-Israel camp successfully suffocated the student movement.
But the story is not over yet, activists say, and the recent elections show it.
“There’s no words to describe the joy and satisfaction that comes from seeing Darializa, a former leader and organiser of the encampment, represent the school that arrested her,” Alwan said.
She added that while students may not have succeeded in securing divestment despite rallying and suffering personal costs, change is proving to be a “gradual process”, and public opinion is now more aligned with the protesters.
“We’re experiencing a new wave of hope,” Alwan told Al Jazeera.
Cameron Jones, who participated in the protests at Columbia, said Avila Chevalier was always supportive of younger activists and unafraid to speak up for Palestinian rights, even when it wasn’t popular.
“It’s really inspiring to see how, even though we have faced such immense repression and have been organising in such a hostile environment, the power of the people is still able to overcome all the barriers that are being set by the federal government, Columbia, the media,” Jones said of Avila Chevalier’s win.
The Columbia protests were part of Avila Chevalier’s political identity as she launched her campaign last year.
One of her criticisms of her now-defeated opponent, Congressman Adriano Espaillat, is that he did not adequately support Columbia activist Mahmoud Khalil as he was targeted for deportation by the Trump administration.
Heba Gowayed, a sociology professor at the City University of New York (CUNY), said the recent electoral wins for pro-Palestine candidates would not have been possible without the student protests of 2024.
“When we think about social movements, we think about them as bursts of action, as temporally limited things,” Gowayed told Al Jazeera.
“And when the students are dispersed and the students are expelled and the university doesn’t divest, we see that as the loss of a movement.”
She added that there have been many articles declaring the defeat of student protests and claiming they have petered out and questioning the lack of campus activism in the Trump era after the crackdown.
“But here we have Darializa’s win, Mamdani’s win and the win of the entire socialist slate,” she said. “This does not happen if those students don’t encamp; it just doesn’t happen.”
WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. led a fractured Supreme Court this year that both expanded a president’s power to run the government and dealt major defeats to President Trump.
In Trump’s second year back in the White House, Roberts and the court punctured his claim to have power with no limits.
The justices struck down his worldwide tariffs, ruling these import taxes are a matter for Congress, not the president.
They also threw out his executive order that would end the principle of birthright citizenship. The Constitution wrote this promise into law, Roberts said, and the president may not change it.
The court also ruled in December that the president did not have the power to put National Guard troops on the streets of Chicago.
The three decisions came over fierce dissents from conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. and with Neil M. Gorsuch in two of them.
The three liberal justices dissented angrily when the court ruled the administration may end Temporary Protected Status for Haitians and Syrians.
They did the same when the court ruled the president may replace the top appointees of semi-independent agencies.
But they joined Roberts in a 5-4 ruling that affirmed the independence of the Federal Reserve and blocked Trump’s move to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook.
Trump has won on most immigration fronts because Roberts and the conservatives believe Congress put the enforcement power in the hands of the administration. They point to the law authorizing temporary protection which says there shall be “no judicial review” of the decision to end the protection.
Roberts is a solid conservative who also tries to keep the court on a middle course. It’s an approach that rarely wins plaudits from the right and almost never from the left.
This year the chief justice prevailed with different coalitions.
This week, the court ruled by a 5-4 vote against the Republican National Committee and upheld state laws that allow for counting late-arriving mail ballots. Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined with Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Barrett also joined the chief justice in the rulings on tariffs and birthright citizenship.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. speaks to the Georgetown Law School graduating class in 2025.
(Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press)
This week, the court also limited the power of police to use cellphone data to look for crime suspects. This too came on a 5-4 vote when Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh joined Roberts and the three liberals.
Harvard law professor Richard Lazarus, who has been a friend of Roberts’ since their time in law school, said the chief justice “is clearly working very hard” to put together majorities.
“It is not easy to formally preside over a court in which five of its members (Justices Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch on the right and Justices Sotomayor and Jackson on the left) deride the kind of efforts at moderation that is the chief’s preferred signature and harshly condemn him when he strays from their own views.”
Washington attorney Roman Martinez, a former clerk for Roberts, said the court is “clearly right of center” but the decision on tariffs was the most important of the year.
“It is a huge deal for the court to say ‘no’ to the president on his major policy initiative,” he said.
Stanford law professor Michael McConnell agreed. “It’s hard to claim the court is in Trump’s pocket when he lost the major cases,” he said.
Trump responded to the tariff defeat by calling the justices in the majority a “disgrace to our nation” and “disloyal to the Constitution.”
They “sicken me,” he said of Justices Barrett and Gorsuch, his two appointees who joined Roberts in the 6-3 majority.
Trump went to the court in April to hear his top attorney defend his executive order on birthright citizenship. He left after an hour of mostly skeptical questions.
On the term’s last day, Roberts issued a clear and eloquent 26-page opinion setting out America’s history of according citizenship to children who were born in this country, without regard to their parents.
This view came from England “and crossed the Atlantic with the colonists — and was adopted with little fanfare after the Revolution,” he wrote. “Nothing is better settled,” Justice Joseph Story wrote in 1830.
But it was unsettled by the fight over slavery.
“In the odious decision of Dred Scott v. Sandford, this Court imposed the Southern States’ beliefs onto the Nation” and decreed Blacks could not become citizens, Roberts wrote.
Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass were among the many who condemned the court’s decision, he said.
“It took more than a decade — and the addition of names such as Antietam, Gettysburg, and Chancellorsville to our national canon — but Douglass’s vision of ‘our common humanity’ would be fulfilled,” he wrote.
The Reconstruction Congress wrote this rule into the 14th Amendment and said “All persons born” here are citizens by birth.
The principle of birthright citizenship had been upheld by the Supreme Court in 1898, the chief justice wrote, and it had gone unchallenged until Trump returned to the White House last year.
But Thomas filed a 91-page dissent arguing that immigrants must be “domiciled” here before their children may become citizens.
Alito filed a separate 39-page opinion branding the Roberts opinion a “serious mistake.”
On that note, the court adjourned for its summer recess.
Women’s PGA Championship final round
-13 H Ryu (Kor); -11 I Yoon (Kor); -10 B Henderson (Can), D Weber (Ned); -7 A Corpuz (US), A Kim (US), A Lee (US); -6 SY Kim (Kor), J Thitikul (Tha), N Korda (US), AL Kim (Kor)
Selected others: +5 L Maguire (Ire); +6 G Dryburgh (Sco)
South Korea’s Haeran Ryu landed a maiden major with a two-shot victory at the Women’s PGA Championship.
The 25-year-old went into the day with a one-shot lead and relinquished her place at the top of the leaderboard in a fluctuating final round, with three bogeys in the first five holes.
But she got back on track with five birdies in a two-under-par round to finish on -13 and take the $1.95m (£1.48m) winner’s cheque.
The tournament purse of $13m (£9.8m) is the largest in women’s golf history.
“It feels like a dream has come true because I tried a couple times to be a major champion and I didn’t get it,” Ryu said.
“Today I did it and I’m so happy right now.”
It was an incredible comeback for a player who was tied for 70th and 10 shots off the lead after the opening round at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota.
Canada’s Brooke Henderson and Dewi Weber of the Netherlands each held the lead following a weather-delayed start to the round but both finished on -10, tied for third – a career-best finish in a major for Weber.
Ryu’s compatriot Ina Yoon had fallen away on the third day after leading by five, but fought back to finish second on -11.
America’s Nelly Korda – chasing a historic third straight major championship win – was four shots off the lead at the start of play but could not kick on, ending tied for eighth on six under.
