Lawyers for the ICC’s ousted Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan say he is the victim of a political witchhunt, motivated by his decision to go after Israeli leaders for war crimes. Khan was removed from office over sexual assault allegations. Soraya Lennie explains.

SHE may be pushing 30 with a husband and three kids of her own, but Dani Dyer’s famous dad still foots her phone bill.

The former Love Island star, 29, posted a tribute to her actor dad Danny on his 49th birthday, cheekily making the revelation.

Next to a snap of Danny, she wrote: “Happy birthday to you. Thank you for everything you do.

“So lucky to have you and all the laughs we have together. Love you loads.

“Also thank you for still paying my phone bill!”

The Dyer family went out for a lavish meal to mark Danny’s birthday.

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In more snaps shared by Dani, Danny was treated to a swanky dinner, topped off with his favourite pudding with a candle on top.

The family sang to the Rivals star as he thanked them for their well-wishes.

Danny was joined by his wife Joanne and two of their three children, Dani and 19-year-old Sunnie.

Their youngest, Arty, wasn’t present, but Dani’s husband – footballer Jarrod Bowen – and Sunnie’s boyfriend – record label owner Will Wood – joined the celebrations.

Dani is about to embark on a stint on Strictly Come Dancing, which kicks off at the end of the summer.

It was revealed this week that another “nepo baby” will join her in the 2026 line-up, in the form of Ray Winstone’s actress daughter Jaime.

Ray and Danny both starred in 2006’s football drama All In The Game, suggesting the celebrity offspring have crossed paths in the past.

This comes after it was revealed Danny has further connections to Love Island, beyond his daughter Dani finding fame on the show.

A link has been unearthed between current contestant Lorenzo and Danny – as well as ties to EastEnders, Ne-Yo, and former show winner Ekin-Su.

Lorenzo’s dad Oz helps train MMA fighters at his thriving business Wolf Self Defence, but he worked as a close protection officer for celebrities prior to this.

Oz is also the head doorman at celebrity hotspot Sheesh, where many of the Love Island cast and British celebrities hang out.

Snaps from social media show Oz with Danny, as well as other stars.

Issy Wong takes three wickets to help Southern Brave make it two wins from two in the women’s Hundred, as they beat Sunrisers Leeds by five wickets at Headingley.

WATCH MORE: ‘What a ball!’ – Wonderful Wong gets three for the Southern Brave

Available to UK users only.

Lee Kang-In makes the switch to Atletico after helping Paris Saint-Germain to consecutive Champions League titles.

South Korea midfielder Lee Kang-In has agreed to join Atletico Madrid from Paris Saint-Germain, the Spanish club.

Atletico said on Saturday the player would sign a contract through June 2031. The transfer fee was undisclosed, but it is reportedly between 35 and 40 million euros ($39.8m and $45.5m).

The 25-year-old Lee played all three group-stage games at the World Cup, where South Korea failed to advance after losing twice.

Born in Incheon, Lee moved to Spain when he was 10 to join Valencia’s training academy and ended up playing 62 games for the club. After a stint with Mallorca, he joined PSG in 2023, scoring 16 goals in 124 appearances.

He will now play for an Atletico side that finished La Liga in fourth place and reached the Copa del Rey final last season. Lee will help fill the creative void left by Antoine Griezmann, who has left for the MLS as Atletico’s all-time top scorer.

The world claims to regard education as a universal right. Its financial system tells a different story.

⁠New figures released by UNESCO show that 113 countries with a total population of 6.1 billion now spend more on servicing debt than educating their people. In low-income countries, debt payments are nearly four times education expenditure. In 18 of the most heavily indebted countries, governments spend at least five times more on debt than on education.

These are not merely signs of strained public finances. They reveal a stark political hierarchy.

Creditors possess enforceable claims on government revenues. Children possess declarations, development goals and promises. When the two collide, creditors are paid first.

The consequences are visible in overcrowded classrooms, deteriorating school buildings, teacher shortages, unaffordable school fees and children leaving education prematurely. Yet these outcomes are generally described as funding gaps or failures of domestic governance, as though governments had freely decided to neglect their schools.

In reality, many governments are operating inside an international financial order that sharply restricts what they can choose.

The ⁠World Bank reports that developing countries transferred $741bn more to external creditors in principal and interest between 2022 and 2024 than they received in new financing. This was the largest net debt outflow in at least 50 years. In 2024 alone, low and middle-income countries paid a record $415bn in interest.

In other words, the financial flows are frequently moving in the opposite direction from the one suggested by the language of development assistance.

Poorer countries are commonly portrayed as beneficiaries of Western generosity. But vast amounts of public wealth are travelling from debtor countries to bondholders, commercial banks, multilateral institutions and wealthier creditor governments.

Money that could hire teachers, provide school meals or build classrooms is instead leaving the country.

This is particularly perverse because education is not simply another item of government consumption. It is an investment in a society’s future capacities. Cutting it may make debt payments easier today, but it will weaken productivity, public revenues and social resilience tomorrow.

Debt contracts are treated as binding obligations whose breach can trigger credit downgrades, capital flight, lawsuits and exclusion from financial markets. The right to education, by contrast, carries no comparable machinery of enforcement.

No ratings agency downgrades creditors when a country cannot afford enough teachers. No financial penalty is imposed on bondholders when debt service forces children out of school. Markets do not panic when classrooms collapse.

The system disciplines governments for failing creditors, not for failing children.

UNESCO has proposed expanding debt-for-education swaps. Under these arrangements, a creditor cancels or restructures part of a country’s debt in exchange for government investment in agreed educational programmes.

Such initiatives can produce tangible gains. A 2023 agreement with France helped Ivory Coast finance more than 30 schools in underserved areas. A German agreement with Egypt supported school feeding and basic services, while an earlier Spain-Peru programme funded education projects across vulnerable regions.

These programmes are worthwhile. But they are not a solution to the larger debt crisis.

Debt swaps typically cover only a small fraction of what countries owe. They are negotiated selectively, depend on creditor consent and may add new layers of external monitoring to domestic spending. Most importantly, they leave untouched the principle that creditors are entitled to repayment unless they voluntarily concede otherwise.

The question becomes how to persuade creditors to permit a little more education, rather than why the claims of creditors should take priority in the first place.

That question is especially urgent because education aid is also falling. UNESCO projects that international assistance for education could decline by as much as 30 percent between 2023 and 2027.

Debtor countries are therefore being squeezed from both sides: aid is retreating while debt payments continue.

The familiar recommendation that developing countries should mobilise more domestic resources is inadequate. Progressive taxation and reduced corruption matter. But additional revenues will not transform education systems if they are immediately diverted towards debts contracted at high interest rates, or made more expensive by currency depreciation.

Nor can the problem be solved by demanding ever more austerity. Education budgets consist largely of recurring expenditure, especially teachers’ salaries. When governments are instructed to freeze public-sector wage bills, they cannot solve teacher shortages or expand access, however often international institutions proclaim education a priority.

A more serious response would begin with large-scale debt cancellation for countries in distress, automatic suspension of payments during economic and climate emergencies, far cheaper concessional financing and a fair multilateral mechanism for restructuring sovereign debt.

At present, debt negotiations are fragmented among private creditors, bilateral lenders and international institutions. Debtor governments must bargain with powerful financial actors while trying to avoid being punished for seeking relief.

A binding United Nations framework for sovereign debt could establish shared rules, require both borrowers and lenders to act responsibly and prevent holdout creditors from obstructing restructuring. It could also make social rights central to assessments of what a country can genuinely afford to repay.

The world needs to move towards the idea that debt repayment cannot come at any human cost. A debt is not sustainable when paying it requires dismantling the institutions on which a society’s future depends.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

WE’VE seen the end of Matty Healy’s messy era with his marriage to Gabbriette Bechtel – and it’s all down to another woman. 

That’s the opinion of The Sun’s Howell Davies, who first met the notoriously chaotic rocker over a decade ago. 

Our experts have delved into The 1975 frontman’s life story on Showbiz Fix: Uncut, looking at his high school days when the band was first formed, through to worldwide success and that relationship with Taylor Swift. 

But our Associate Bizarre Editor Howell believes his marriage to model Gabbriette last week marks the dawn of a new era – and we’ve got Charli XCX to thank.

Chatting on The Sun’s celebrity vodcast, Howell said: “Matty and Gabrielle got together in 2023 but the fun connection is that Gabbriette is actually really good friends with Charli.

“Gabbriette and Charli got to know each other really well on this Netflix show that Charli made where she put together a band called Nasty Cherry and Gabbriette was in this band. 

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“Charli was sort of there helping them make it in music, she got them a record deal. 

“The band didn’t really last very long – but the show is entertaining if anyone wants to go back and watch it. 

“But because Charli has been dating Matty’s band mate George for years, eventually Gabbriette and Matty Healy met, through this friend group.”

Charli was never a fan of Matty’s on/off relationship with Taylor and even shaded the US popstar in her own track, Sympathy Is A Knife.

Howell went on: “I think Gabbriette is definitely more approved by Charli than Taylor Swift was, for sure. 

“It makes a lot more sense for him to be with Gabbriette 

“Fans love it. You know, they’re sort of this edgy, wild card couple who will always be doing weird stuff. 

“You know, Gabbriette has a pet rat and you’re like, yeah, that makes sense for Matty.”

Matty and Gabbriette married at the historic Castillo del Lago estate in Los Angeles on July 18. 

It came two weeks after his ex’s wedding – with Taylor marrying Travis Kelce on July 3 in New York.

Howell said: “The funny thing about Gabbriette and Matty getting together in 2023, just after his split from Taylor Swift, is it’s almost exactly the same time, almost to the week, that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey got together. 

“Then, you know, fast forward three years, they’re getting married two weeks apart. 

“So I think there’s stellar competitiveness between Taylor and Matty.”

You can watch the full episode of Showbiz Fix: Uncut on The Sun’s Showbiz YouTube channel, where a new episode drops weekly. 

WIMBLEDON and the World Cup may be over, but the Tour de France is still going – until tomorrow.

So if watching those Lycra-clad professionals pedal around Spain and France has inspired you to get your bum in that saddle, take a look at these two-wheeled getaways.

These five lesser-used trails showcase some of the most gorgeous scenery, away from the intimidating cycling crowds.

Better still, each trip has been designed with cyclists in mind and includes perks such as accommodation with cycling facilities, bike-friendly transfers and bike carriage.

MENORCA: This Balearic island is far from the well-ridden, high-speed routes on the Tour de France.

Instead you’ll be greeted by rugged coastal trails and ancient paths, including the 185km Camí de Cavalls.

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Translated as The Path of Horses, it was originally used by knights to patrol the coast on horseback in the 14th century.

GO: Seven nights’ self-catering at the three-star Tramontana Park Aparthotel is from £829pp including flights from Manchester on August 31, plus 22kg baggage allowance, bike carriage and return sports transfers.

Approximately £24 in tourist tax is payable at the property.

See jet2holidays.com.

LAKE DISTRICT AND PENNINES: The north of the UK is home to some of the hilliest landscapes, which means this trip isn’t for the faint-hearted.

Those climbs will be rewarded, however, with some of the most breathtaking scenery.

You’ll also tackle Allenheads, which claims to be the highest village in England.

GO: The five-night self-guided coast to coast trip costs from £895pp including breakfasts and lunches, as well as accommodation.

E-bike hire available.

See skedaddle.com.

DALMATIAN COAST, CROATIA: If dramatic coastal scenery is what you’re after, look no further than the Dalmatian Coast, where craggy mountainscapes offer sweeping views of a sparkling ocean.

Staying in the Šibenik-Knin region puts you within reach of some versatile routes for all abilities.

The Krka National Park is known for its cascading waterfalls.

GO: Seven nights’ all-inclusive at the three-star Amadria Park Apartments is from £629pp, based on a family of four sharing, including flights from London Stansted on August 18, plus 22kg baggage allowance, bike carriage and return sports transfers.

See jet2holidays.com.

LOIRE VALLEY, FRANCE: Worried about those aching limbs?

This Loire Valley itinerary includes spa time, so you can rest and recuperate in between cycle stints.

These very easy and flat routes will take you through charming French villages and sweet vineyards whose vines are dripping in plump grapes right about now.

GO: The four-night Loire Spa Escape costs from £895pp including serviced touring bikes with a pannier bag and luggage transfers.

Flights cost extra. See cyclingforsofties.com.

COSTA DORADA, SPAIN: There’s a reason so many pros choose to train on Spain’s Costa Dorada.

Roads are smooth and wide, with very few potholes, plus there’s a variety of terrain that means you can pick your difficulty level.

Weave your way through the wine regions of Priorat and Montsant or challenge yourself with the La Mussara climb that takes you almost 1,000 metres above sea level.

GO: Seven nights’ half-board at three+ star Medplaya Hotel Calypso is from £769pp including flights from East Midlands airport on August 17, plus 22kg baggage allowance, bike carriage and return sports transfers.

Approximately £22 in tourist tax is payable at the property. See jet2holidays.com.

After nearly a month of mulling his options, LeBron James announced in a social media post that he will sign with the Philadelphia 76ers on a two-year, $8-million contract.

James, a small forward, will join guards Tyrese Maxey and V.J. Edgecombe, forward Jaylen Brown and center Joel Embiid in a star-studded 76ers lineup. James’ deal includes a player option, Klutch Sports Group Chief Executive Rich Paul told ESPN.

In a series of X.com posts, James said he contemplated retirement before choosing the 76ers over several other suitors.

“I was honest at that last press conference when I said I needed to look at myself and decide if I still love this game. I still truly love this game, and I have more to give,” he said.

James will hope to break a 43-year championship drought for the 76ers, much the same way he erased a 52-year streak without a title for the city of Cleveland when he won a championship with the Cavaliers in 2016.

This likely will be the final free agency decision James will make as the 41-year-old enters a record-breaking 24th season. He said winning a fifth NBA title is his primary motivation.

“This is my last decision. I’m not going for money. I’m not going for family. What am I really playing for at this point?” James wrote on X. “I still want to sacrifice. I still want to work. I still want to grind. I still want to compete, to win and to have a chance at the feeling of winning another championship.

“I believe I can help make the Philadelphia 76ers a championship team and I am so excited to energize a new fan base and start this incredible journey one last time.”

The 76ers finished 45-37 and seventh in the Eastern Conference last season. However, they traded for Brown, a bona fide superstar, sending Paul George, two first-round draft picks and two second-round picks to the Boston Celtics on July 6. Brown, a nine-year veteran, averaged 28.7 points a game last season and helped the Celtics win the NBA title in 2024.

This was the fourth foray into free agency for James, who played the previous eight seasons with the Lakers, his longest continuous stint with any franchise.

It was widely reported that James would accept the $3.9 million veterans’ minimum exception. He will be paid far less than the approximately $57 million new teammates Embiid and Brown each will make, but James has made a record $584 million in career salary and his net worth is an estimated $1.4 billion thanks to endorsements and investments.

Reaction to the signing was swift. Nobody seemed more excited than Dawn Staley, the decorated South Carolina women’s basketball coach and a Philadelphia native. A longtime friend of James and his family, she posted a video while courtside at a game.

“Yo Philly, yo Philly, yo Philly! We got the King, y’all!” Staley said before telling James’ wife, Savannah, that she is available for advice on a school for the James’ daughter. “Savannah, we got you! ‘Bron, ‘Bron, good, great choice. My guy!”

James’ new teammates also expressed delight on social media. Maxey compared his recruiting skills to his college coach John Calipari, while Edgecombe recreated James’ famous “Can’t believe this is my life” meme.

James, an Akron, Ohio, native, played his first seven seasons with the Cavaliers after being the first overall draft pick in 2003 at age 18, spent four with the Miami Heat then returned to Cleveland for an additional four years before signing with the Lakers ahead of the 2018-2019 season. He has won four NBA championships, including one with the Lakers in 2020.

James informed the Lakers on June 30 that he would be signing elsewhere. Since then several teams made pitches for his services, with the Golden State Warriors, Heat, Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves considered favorites along with the 76ers.

Not only were fans of those teams anxious to learn his decision. Last week, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the regular-season schedule had not been set because the league was waiting on James.

“We have to finish up the schedule. And where LeBron plays will affect the schedule,” Silver said at the CNBC Sport x Boardroom Game Plan Summit in New York. “So I would like him to make his announcement already, so we can finish the schedule, because, as you might imagine, the teams are calling us, the networks are calling us, and everybody wants to lock in the schedule. But it will influence how we set the schedule, how we set opening week, Christmas Day, etc. So I need him to make a decision.”

A day later, James stood on stage at Fanatics Fest in New York and said he wanted to join a team that “shares the same model as myself, and that’s like practicing championship [habits] every day, but trusting the process more than anything.”

A false alarm became part of the narrative when the Heat posted a link July 21 to a scheduled livestream titled “LeBron James Introductory Press Conference” to its YouTube channel. A team spokesperson said it was a mistake, that the club’s social media department was preparing for the possibility of James’ signing. The post was deleted.

James has announced his agreements with new teams in various ways. When he left the Cavaliers in 2010 to team with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on the Heat, he announced his choice on a live television special called “The Decision,” saying “I’m taking my talents to South Beach.” On Friday morning, a thread on X relayed the big news.

Fans in Cleveland burned his jersey, and Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert posted a letter on the team website calling James’ decision a “cowardly betrayal.”

Four years and two NBA championships with the Heat later, James returned to his home state of Ohio to play for the Cavaliers again in 2014. His first-person Sports Illustrated essay written with senior writer Lee Jenkins shared his “I’m Coming Home” choice with the world.

“I always believed that I’d return to Cleveland and finish my career there,” James wrote. “I just didn’t know when. After the season, free agency wasn’t even a thought. But I have two boys and my wife, Savannah, is pregnant with a girl. I started thinking about what it would be like to raise my family in my hometown. I looked at other teams, but I wasn’t going to leave Miami for anywhere except Cleveland.”

James led the Cavaliers to four consecutive NBA Finals and a championship in 2016 when Cleveland overcame a 3-1 deficit to defeat the Warriors. It was the greatest NBA Finals comeback in history and brought the Cavaliers their first title.

But it turns out most of his child-rearing came in Los Angeles. In 2018, James decided not to pick up his player option and signed a four-year, $153.3-million contract to play for the Lakers, choosing them over the 76ers and a return to the Cavaliers. His salary escalated each year, rising to $52.6 million last season.

“LA has welcomed the arrival of Rabbit, Logo, Stumpy, Big Dipper, Captain, Silk, Magic, Big Game, Diesel, Mamba, Spaniard and now welcomes a King!!” Lakers co-owner Joey Buss tweeted.

In James’ second season in L.A., the Lakers won their 17th NBA championship in a bubble at Walt Disney World to cap the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. James notched a triple-double in the clinching Game 6 and earned Finals most valuable player for the fourth time in his career.

James set the league all-time scoring record while wearing the purple and gold, but his eight seasons with the Lakers also included failures. The 2021-2022 season is widely regarded as the most disappointing in team history. The overwhelming favorite in Las Vegas to win the championship when the season began, the Lakers finished 33-49 and missed the playoffs.

The Lakers never made it past the Western Conference finals over the next four seasons, including getting swept in the conference semifinals by the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2026. James averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists last season while adding to his list of NBA records, setting marks for games played, all-time wins and field goals made.

The Lakers pivoted quickly after James announced he wouldn’t return, overhauling the roster to complement star guards Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. They traded for 7-foot-2 center Walker Kessler and signed free agents Sandro Mamukelashvili, Quentin Grimes, Collin Sexton, Matisse Thybulle, Ziaire Williams and Kevon Looney.

Meanwhile, James methodically listened to pitches from a handful of teams, ultimately settling on the 76ers.

Paul, James’ agent and close friend, said on a podcast Monday that the ample time James took making the decision was necessary because the choice was difficult.

“I think it’s important for people to understand: We’re not making this about attention and a spectacle,” Paul said. “It’s not about a ‘Decision’ or anything like that. He has a choice to make. He has a business choice to make.”

Giving himself the best shot at a fifth title was key. James has played in 302 postseason games, by far the most of any NBA player, and scored 20 or more points in 261 of them. His teams are 42-15 in playoff series and 188-114 in games. He has scored the most points in the playoffs (8,521) in addition to the most points in the regular season (43,440).

“It’s amazing what he’s done for the sport, for the league, and he deserves the opportunities that were presented to him to be able to make his own decision on what’s best for him and his family,” Silver said last week. “So I completely respect that.”

Lando Norris speaks up ahead of Hungarian Grand Prix with drivers feeling new regulations have cramped their speed.

Formula One has been driven too much by business decisions and needs to remember it is a sport, according to McLaren’s world champion Lando Norris.

With drivers chafing ⁠at new regulations that have cramped their speed, particularly at last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, the Briton told reporters ahead of Sunday’s Hungarian round that Formula One could do better.

“It’s a business,” said the Briton. “Everyone wants to make money, so in order for Audi ⁠and other teams to come in we had to change these things. It’s a shame. It should never have been like that. But that’s how businesses work.”

Audi have entered the sport this season after taking over Swiss-based Sauber, with the German carmaker encouraged by new rules that have increased the electrical element of the power unit to near-parity with the internal combustion engine. The rules have been ‌tweaked for 2027 to reduce the electrical contribution.

“Formula One will always be great,” said Norris, whose car has a Mercedes engine. “It can just be better.

“Us as drivers just know it better than everyone else. The thing that’s a shame is that Formula One is too heavily led by the fact it’s a business nowadays and not how can you make the sport the best possible. It’s ‘how can you just make the most money as a business?’

“And that’s just not what it should simply be. That’s not how a sport should be run. The fact we have hybrids, 50-50 and all that, that’s just because ⁠more teams wanted to come in it and because you make more money.”

Norris said the ⁠Liberty Media-owned sport was also divided between fans who followed Formula One before the arrival of the popular Netflix docu-series “Drive to Survive” and those who have been drawn to it since.

“I think the fans you have nowadays, because they’re a lot more personality-based … and not simply of Formula One as a whole ⁠sport, I think there’s less interest in basically how the actual race goes, and more just ‘has the driver done well or not?’” he added.

“I think that’s just how the fans have changed over ⁠time, and that’s completely fine. But the biggest voice should always be ours ⁠as drivers … We have the best idea of how racing should be, how it can be, what’s possible, what’s not.

“We would just want the best for everything, the best for the fans, the best viewing, the best racing for us, the most fun to drive. And at the minute, we don’t … we have very, very ‌little say, and a lot more of it’s done because if you can have Audi and other teams in it, it’s a bigger win than the drivers being happy.”

A Formula One spokesman responded to Norris’s comments by saying drivers were listened to more ‌than ‌ever.

“The sport on track is, and always will be, the priority,” he said. “Everyone has benefitted from the commercial success of Formula One, the drivers included. Decisions are made for the best strategic outcome for everyone: the fans, teams and partners.”

Norris was ⁠fastest in final ⁠practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday.

Last year’s race winner lapped the Hungaroring circuit with ⁠a best time of 1:17.939, 0.117 seconds quicker than Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.

Formula One championship leader Kimi ⁠Antonelli was third fastest, 0.129 seconds off the pace and ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Mercedes teammate George Russell.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was seventh on the timesheets, ‌with teammate Isack Hadjar eighth but 1.004 off the pace.

Twenty firefighters were taken to hospital after a blaze ripped through an industrial unit and spread to a fertiliser store, triggering a major explosion.

The fire service declared a major incident on Friday, as more than 100 firefighters tackled the flames at Highlands Farm, near the village of Rettendon, Essex.

Three fire engines and two fire service cars were destroyed in the blaze.

Speaking at a media conference on Saturday, Rick Hylton, Essex’s chief fire officer, praised the “remarkable professionalism, courage and commitment” of the fire crews.

Eighty years ago, though the Arsenal of Democracy had vanquished the Axis and weathered a withering Depression, the recovering American people found themselves rich in bills but short on laughs. Enter Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, who debuted together on July 25, 1946.

Unlike Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, or Hope and Crosby, who relied on tightly scripted setups, this disparate yet kindred duo captured America’s heart by being viscerally, uproariously and unpredictably wild.

Martin and Lewis were the founding fathers of an anarchic, side-splitting brand of comedy that combined pratfalls, ad-libbed wordplay and a sustained demolition of the fourth floor. Orson Welles observed that the duo’s combustible zaniness was so hilarious that it made you wet your pants.

The boys cavorted about the stage, kibitzing with bandleaders and the audience alike. In between trading impromptu quips, Martin and Lewis overturned tables, cut ties, sheared suits and spritzed seltzer on one and all.

The suave, dashingly handsome Italian crooner clowning around with his gawky, rubbery Jewish buddy brought the house down every time. It was nonstop, jocular pandemonium: Commedia dell’arte 2.0.

“Saturday Night Live,” Second City, David Letterman, Jerry Seinfeld and Adam Sandler all owe a debt to the artists who started life as Dino Crocetti and Joseph Levitch.

Martin and Lewis created a novus ordo seclorum, in its way innovating like America’s founders, spawning a new comedic order of the ages.

Their alchemy was as ineffable as it was infectious. Variety’s first review of the act noted, “All they do cannot be detailed, but virtually every bit of it is good for solid laughs.” Carl Reiner similarly declared: “I saw what I thought was the funniest ad-libbed thing I had ever seen. It was a riot, and we never stopped laughing.”

In their own madcap way, Dino and Jer epitomized Cicero’s notion that comedy is the imitation of life, the mirror of custom and the image of truth.

Martin and Lewis became the monarchs of all media, conquering radio, nightclubs, television and the silver screen. In 1948, they appeared on Ed Sullivan’s first television show, “Toast of the Town.” From 1950 to 1955, the Martin-and-Lewis-hosted “Colgate Comedy Hour” frequently bested Sullivan in the ratings.

When Hollywood beckoned, the boys answered the call, cavorting, cutting up and reconfiguring reality on the silver screen. They starred in 16 films, bringing their boisterous bromance to capacity-crowd movie theaters.

Though their big-screen adventures could not capture the comedic chaos of their stage act, Martin and Lewis transformed even the most pedestrian screenplay into box-office gold. As film critic Ciara Maloney explained, “Their brilliance shines through the weakest material: the ineffable, bewitching something between them — an intimacy, an immediacy, an ingenuity — frozen in amber for those of us who would never see it in the Copacabana.”

The essence of this duo was the outré interplay between the Prince and the Putz, the Leading Man and the Monkey. Though he was the comedian by trade, Lewis fully credited Martin as the “genius” of the pairing: “He kept the center. He was the spine of the act. And the monkey was constantly attached to that spine, on the spine, next to it.”

From “Sailor Beware” to “The Stooge,” “Living It Up” and “Artists and Models,” theirs was a comedy partnership that came to symbolize America. It is little wonder that presidential historian Tevi Troy called the 1950s “The Martin and Lewis Decade.”

However, many Americans didn’t see these two celebrities as distant icons. Film critic Jenna Ipcar has described how “a perfect comedy duo will make their audience feel like a lucky participant instead of just a passive observer, a welcome guest in a secret world.” Martin and Lewis embodied that ideal.

The boys’ bittersweet final performance took place at New York’s Copacabana on July 25, 1956. Exactly 10 years after their debut in Atlantic City, N.J., Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis had pioneered a new brand of comedy, soothed postwar America’s psyche and made a nation laugh again.

Rosario A. Iaconis, chairman of the Italic Institute of America, writes about Italy and its cultural influence. He is at work on a novel about Harry S. Truman.

WNBA veteran Brianna Turner said on social media this week that the Indiana Fever fired a male staff member for sexual harassment last season and encouraged players not to speak about the matter.

Turner, who played for Indiana last year and is now a member of the Las Vegas Aces, provided no other details about any alleged incidents. The Fever issued a statement Thursday but did not directly address Turner’s allegations.

“Protecting our players and employees and maintaining a respectful, professional workplace is our top priority,” the Fever said in its statement. “Our policy is to take concerns seriously, investigate thoroughly, and act promptly when appropriate to protect the people in our organization and ensure everyone is treated with professionalism and respect. Fostering trust and safety in that process means we do not comment on personnel matters involving former employees.”

Turner made her comments Wednesday in an X thread in which she defended the right of transgender women to participate in women’s sports. “So many takes about them are based on fear mongering and bigotry,” Turner wrote.

Her posts came a day after an ESPN article quoted Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, Turner’s former teammate, saying she wants “to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men.”

“A tiny minority of the population identifies as trans, yet they are always a trending topic unfortunately. I’m in my 8th season as a WNBA player,” wrote Turner, who did not mention Cunningham in her posts. “To date there’s been one out trans player in the league. They caused zero problems.”

She continued: “An issue that has caused problems though? Last year on my WNBA team a male staff member was fired for sexual harassment, but we were encouraged to keep quiet about it. That is an issue. Sexism, misogyny, homophobia, and racism are all issues.”

Turner spent her first five seasons with Phoenix, then one with Chicago before going to the Fever last year. For those just becoming familiar with her and her beliefs this week, Turner reposted something she wrote a couple years ago.

“If you are new here, I am a vocal ally of the trans community,” Turner wrote on X in 2024. “If that bothers you, don’t hesitate to mute or block me. I don’t have the capacity or patience to debate with internet strangers as to why they should be considerate of marginalized communities.”

In April, Turner penned an opinion piece for USA Today in which she harshly criticized the newly adopted policy by the International Olympic Committee that excludes transgender women athletes from competing at the Olympics, starting with the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

“Policies that single out transgender women and athletes with intersex variations do not protect women’s sports,” Turner wrote. “They manufacture a scapegoat while the real challenges to women’s sports go unaddressed: unequal funding, limited access to training and facilities, pay disparities, male-dominated leadership, gender-based violence and harassment across race, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity.”

On Wednesday, Cunningham said she has nothing against the transgender community but stands by the comments she made in the ESPN article.

“When it comes to just protecting young girls in sport and women in sport, I feel very strongly about that,” Cunningham told reporters. “That’s why you have Title IX. That’s why you have some of the greats in women’s sports. If Title IX and women’s sports weren’t protected, then you wouldn’t hear about any type of women in sport.”

Last year, President Trump signed an executive order, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” that looked to ensure that entities receiving federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with his administration’s view that a person’s sex is the gender they were assigned at birth.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt spoke Thursday in support of Cunningham and her opinions on the matter.

“We want to protect women and girls,” Leavitt said, “and the backlash she is receiving from Democrats and left-wing figures across the country is astonishing.”

EXPLAINER

The UN General Assembly voted 144-10 to grant Turk a new four-year term, despite objections from the US, Israel and Russia.

Volker Turk has been elected as United Nations human rights chief for another four-year term, despite strong objections from the United States, Russia and Israel.

The United Nations General Assembly vote on Friday means Turk, who has served in the role since 2022, will become the first person to serve two full terms as the UN rights chief since the position was created in 1993.

Who is Turk and why has his reappointment caused controversy?

Who is Volker Turk?

Turk, an Austrian lawyer, joined the United Nations in 1999 and went on to work in the organisation’s refugee agency. This included posts in Malaysia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He later worked in senior roles at UN headquarters in New York, including as assistant secretary-general for strategic coordination under UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The two are believed to have a close relationship.

In his role as UN rights chief, Turk has been highly critical of both Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He has also been vocal on conflicts and rights abuses in Afghanistan, Sudan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nicaragua.

How was he reappointed?

The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a proposal by Guterres to give Turk another four-year term with 144 votes in favour, 10 against and 13 abstentions.

Earlier, the assembly shot down a US proposal to delay the vote until the end of next week as well as a Russian bid to extend Turk’s term until the end of the year only.

How has Turk angered the US, Russia and Israel?

The role of UN human rights chief is inherently controversial because it requires public criticism of governments of UN members for alleged rights violations.

Turk’s outspoken criticism of policies in Israel, Russia and the US has put him at odds with all three countries.

Turk has repeatedly criticised Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, its deadly assault on Lebanon, and a “shameful” lack of accountability for its rights abuses in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Turk has also described Russia’s war in Ukraine as “senseless” and a “blatant affront to the UN Charter and the whole body of international law”.

On the US, he has raised concerns about the war on Iran and the “dehumanisation” of immigrants under President Donald Trump, citing routine “abuse and denigration of migrants and refugees”.

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs 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”.

Russia’s ⁠Deputy Ambassador to the UN Dmitry Chumakov accused Turk of bias and making unfounded allegations against Russia.

What objections were raised to Turk’s reappointment?

Guterres, whose own term is due to end at the end of this year, has faced criticism for how he managed the reappointment. Critics say the vote was rushed and the selection of a rights chief should have been left to his successor.

The UN secretary-general, 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 criticised the vote for being rushed and said it was “another example of the UN’s inherent corruption and incompetence”.

The US also accused Turk of turning “a blind eye to real atrocities and instead pursued a radical ideological agenda”. US Deputy Ambassador Jeff Bartos claimed before Friday’s vote that reappointing Turk would prove that the General Assembly “is dysfunctional”.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry called Guterres’s push for a second term for Turk a “moral failure,” saying that the choice should be left to his successor.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Guterres had followed UN rules and engaged “in a very transparent manner” in appointing Turk, including by holding prior consultations with member states and regional groups.

What other criticism has Turk faced?

Turk’s critics say he could have done more to publicly follow up on a report issued by his predecessor, former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, that said China’s detention of Uighurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups in Xinjiang may amount to crimes against humanity.

Turk also has stopped short of joining independent UN rights experts who have accused Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Turk’s office said he had used both private engagement with Beijing and his public advocacy to support human rights in China.

Tuberculosis is a leading cause of death in the Philippines, killing an estimated 98 people each day.

The infectious disease is particularly grave in remote communities, where medical services are limited and delayed diagnosis and treatment can be fatal.

But a Filipino doctor is determined to change that with modern innovations.

Dr Heidi Sampang uses drones to fly samples and speed up testing.

The technology can help save lives by expediting the delivery of essential medical supplies in a country with thousands of mountainous islands.

101 East meets the medical teams using drones to fight tuberculosis in the Philippines.

OLIVIA Attwood has put a new spin on getting closure, a day after her former husband was spotted with his ex-girlfriend.

The TV star, who split from Bradley Dack in January, threw a lavish soiree on the roof of her building to launch her new drink venture.

And on hand was a tattoo artist, who Olivia asked to ink her wedding ring finger – timely given her ex’s public jaunt with his former flame Emily.

The former Mrs Dack seemed nonplussed, however, looking glam as the tattoo was inked onto her digit as she sipped cocktails in the sunshine.

She was filmed during the process, asking the camera: “Who has a tattoo artist on their penthouse launch for their own drinks launch?”

She was then seen looking around and pointing to herself.

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Olivia’s bold statement is another sure fire sign that she has moved on from Bradley, whom she split from in January due to a “breach of trust” on his part.

Last week her new beau Pete Wicks “hard launched” their romance on Instagram after months of speculation that they had gone from friends to lovers.

Pete will even appear on Olivia’s show The Price Of Perfection, when it returns to ITV2 for a fourth season next month.

In March, The Sun exclusively revealed that Bradley, 32, had reconnected with his ex-girlfriend, Emily Rose Moloney.

They were eventually pictured together for the first time this week, seen returning to her flat in South-East London.

While The Sun went on to exclusively reveal that the couple’s TV wedding was never legally binding, Olivia, 35, had been open about her heartache in the immediate aftermath of their split.

In a new advert for Olivia’s show The Price Of Perfection, Pete and Olivia are seen flirting up a storm in scenes from the upcoming season.

The series – which returns to ITV2 on August 4th – will feature Pete in at least one scene, as the pair chat together in the studio of their KISS FM radio show.

Pete is seen asking Olivia what she’d change about him, with her picking his eyes – much to his dismay.

A LUMINESCENT school of blue marlin, majestic angelfish, cute little seahorses . . . 

I’m spotting almost everything I’d hoped to while snorkelling in the Caribbean Sea — though, sadly, the leatherback turtles haven’t come out to play today.

But when I dive down just a few feet deeper, I see something you wouldn’t expect.

A man sitting with a typewriter at a desk. A princess emerging from a giant nutmeg pod. And a group of 26 children holding hands in a circular formation.

These are just some of the remarkable sights at the world’s first underwater sculpture park off the coast of Molinere Bay in Grenada.

Spectacularly different from anything you’re used to seeing beneath the waves, it’s almost ghostly — but mesmerising to explore.

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Each sculpture relates in its own way to Grenadian culture; together, acting as artificial reefs that promote the growth of coral, they deliver a powerful message of revival.

After the island’s coral reefs were devastated by a hurricane in 2004, the sculpture park was built to lure tourists away from those fragile natural atolls.

But the concrete creations are also attracting new marine life. I’m staying on Grenada for a few days to learn about the country’s attempts to encourage “voluntourism” after its most recent destructive hurricane in 2024.

So you can enjoy a blissful Caribbean holiday while getting hands-on to really immerse yourself in the culture and community.

Whether you’re willing to plant mangroves, join a hunt for the invasive lionfish or harvest the crops at an organic farm, you become more than a tourist, helping to rebuild and reinvigorate so the likes of those shy, endangered turtles can survive.

This is a small island nation, so sustainability is critical.

From my taxi driver to the hotel staff, everyone living here seems to be in on that commitment — they’re proud of their home and passionate about flourishing here while staying true to their roots.

Which, as I quickly learn, includes a love of food, rum and reggae.

My eco-resort, True Blue Bay, comes alive every Wednesday with a street-food festival and epic carnival party until the early hours.

It’s all fuelled by a knockout rum punch.

A tour of distillery Clarke’s Court shows us how they make this national spirit using centuries-old methods to create exotic flavours including passionfruit and coconut.

And the Belmont Estate chocolate factory hand-sort their cocoa beans to fulfil their “tree to bar” ambition before hand-wrapping their chocs.

During visits to both places, what stands out is their commitment to using time- honoured techniques so they can continue to employ the locals rather than replacing people with modern machinery.

Then there are the smells . . . from fermenting molasses while making rum to the cocoa beans being turned while drying in the sun.

From the moment you set foot on Grenada, you know why it’s called the Isle of Spice. You can’t walk far without catching a waft of nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger or turmeric.

A trip to a spice market in the colourful capital of Saint George’s delivers a mouth-watering lesson in flavour as we sample the raw ingredients for everything from nutmeg jam to hot sauce.

Even the local, custom-made cola is flavoured with a nutmeg syrup.

So wherever and whenever you eat, your tastebuds are dancing to a great Grenadian beat.

Breakfast is a Caribbean concoction of coconut bakes, fried breadfruit or cocoa and cinnamon pancakes and cocoa tea.

Lunch can be callaloo soup (a green leafy veg like spinach) or the beloved national dish “oil down” — a stew made with salted meats, breadfruit, green bananas, callaloo, turmeric and coconut milk.

And it is dinners of straight-from-the-sea tuna, conch, mahi-mahi fish or jerk chicken.

When it comes to pudding, trust me and order the cinnamon ice cream. All local ingredients, grown or caught, are fresher than the short, spontaneous downpours.

It is no wonder Grenada was named by the World Food Travel Association in 2021 as the planet’s first “culinary capital”, recognising its gastronomy, organic farming and regenerative food tourism.

Nowhere is more dedicated to those beliefs than my second hotel, the family-owned Blue Horizons Garden Resort — an off-grid, eco-forward destination with a farm-to-table commitment and everything sourced from their own estate.

They catch 90 per cent of rainwater to use for everything from cleaning laundry to watering plants. It’s all geared towards a restful, relaxing, sustainable break.

And yet it lacks none of the mod cons you’d expect from a Caribbean resort.

A five-minute walk away is the locals’ pride and joy: the beautiful Grand Anse beach.

From sunbed renters there to fruit sellers at the side of the roads and the waiting staff in the restaurants, everyone is friendly and warm like the Caribbean sun; you sense genuine hospitality rather than the politeness of customer service.

A little further is the tranquil Morne Rouge beach.

Even the Mona monkeys seem pleased to see us on a visit to Grand Etang National Park, where local guide Leon — aka “the monkey whisperer” — calls them down from the trees so we can feed them bananas.

There, surrounded by lush, vivid-green rainforest, you feel the island’s connection to the natural world; nurture for nature in a place refusing to succumb to commercialism.

Grenada is clearly still committed to the authenticity that arguably no longer exists on its more touristy neighbouring islands.

Rather than variety being the spice of life, in Grenada the variety of spice is life.

And even if you just buy some local nutmeg after enjoying the sun, sea and service, you’ll help the wonderfully welcoming, climate-conscious people on this lovely island.

Which leaves a great taste in the mouth.

Dear Dave Roberts: I was totally disgusted to see you at the Dodgers’ White House ceremony pandering to Trump. As far as I was concerned, you made a complete fool of yourself. I’m sure many Dodgers fans were equally horrified with your behavior.

Susan Stann
Temecula

Today’s visit to the White House was baseball, not politics. It was a boost for MLB, not columnists who try to be political hacks with personal bias. If the hacks or detractors listened to the references it was all about achievement in what the team did to win. The Dodgers are part of the entertainment industry which annually draws maybe a billion fans or more and certainly billions of dollars. The hacks and detractors will not be convinced otherwise but if you line up any 50,000 fans at a game, you will see a positive vote for the privilege of going to the White House. Baseball wins, sports wins, the entertainment industry wins, and America wins. Boo the hacks and the ignorant detractors.

Bill Koury
La Cañada

Dave Roberts justifies his appearance with Donald Trump because it is a “baseball tradition” that should be honored.

I didn’t hear him protesting to uphold other baseball traditions such as banning Black players from baseball, not having designated hitters, or starting with a runner on second base in extra innings.

Traditions come and go. It seems Mr. Roberts traded his moral compass for a trip to the White House lawn.

David Griffin
Westwood

In my dreams Dave Roberts says, “Nope, not gonna go to the White House. If they want to fire me, let ‘em.” Dream on.

Jay James
Pico Rivera

I will suggest the nuclear option. The Dodgers should never again visit the White House. No matter who is president.

Dennis Doherty
West Los Angeles

India’s young protesters are mocking their government. And the jokes are landing.

As thousands of demonstrators take to the streets in the Indian capital, they are waging a parallel campaign online, flooding social media with memes, parody videos and self-deprecating jokes.

In doing so, they are also beating Narendra Modi – the powerful but image-conscious prime minister – at his own game.

Modi built his political brand through social media. Now protesters are using that same platform to mock his administration, ridicule pro-government television news coverage, transform confrontation with police into viral content and seize control of the online narrative.

The campaign has taken the protests demanding accountability and education reforms beyond the streets, broadening its reach and intensifying pressure on a government wary of appearing to yield to a rapidly growing youth movement.

Strava streaks and Subway Surfers

The “Cockroach” movement’s digital campaign has been largely powered by humour.

Clashes with police have become viral content. Videos showed protesters joking about keeping their Strava streaks alive — a reference to the fitness tracking app used by runners — as they ran from police baton charges.

Others edited footage of themselves dodging police barricades to mimic the popular endless runner mobile game Subway Surfers.

Some women have borrowed influencer culture, posting “get ready with me” videos before marches and “fit check” posts featuring helmets, goggles and other homemade protest gear. Other protesters have created spoof videos mocking pro-government television anchors and their dramatic style of broadcasts that have labelled the protesters “anti-national” and “foreign-funded conspirators”.

Several protesters spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from authorities.

One 25-year-old protester said the memes are more than comic relief; they are a way of coping. She sees them as a generational trait.

Unlike older generations, who learned to endure hardship, hers has little patience for “simply putting up with it,” she said.

“If our phone data runs out, we can’t even bear that. So we’re definitely not going to tolerate this,” she said, referring to Monday’s police crackdown on protesters in the capital.

‘We find speeches boring’

The street protests erupted a month ago, fuelled by anger over a string of exam scandals, including the illegal sharing of entrance exams for the national medical programme.

Young people say the scandals have jeopardised their futures and eroded trust in the education system. They blame Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who resigned on Saturday.

But the demonstrations have expanded into wider anger over government accountability, spreading to other cities.

Much of that expansion has been driven by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a satirical group that started the movement two months ago. Through memes, humour and satire, it has given younger Indians a new way to express their frustration with the government and helped turn a single-issue campaign into a broader youth movement.

At the main protest site in New Delhi, that influence was hard to miss.

Some protesters marched in Spider-Man masks and Batman costumes, carrying tongue-in-cheek placards. Other protest signs echoed the irreverent tone of social media, with memes and pop culture references woven into the demonstrations.

One poster featuring the education minister asked: “When will AI take his job?” Another captured the movement’s spirit with the slogan: “Every joke is a [tiny] revolution.”

Some slogans and posters took on an overtly profane and risque tone. A 23-year-old student said the protesters were simply speaking the language of their generation.

“We find speeches boring, we are the summary generation. We have a habit of consuming things in a short span of time, so we are using the same ways to put our message across,” she said.

Jokes now target Modi

For Modi, who is entering his 13th year in office, the protests present an unusual challenge.

His image is built on strength and decisiveness, but he risks alienating young people if he responds too forcefully. Nearly half of India’s population is under 25, making young voters one of the country’s most influential electoral groups.

But the protests have broken a longstanding taboo: mocking Modi himself.

Jokes about Modi were rare during earlier protests, when his government was criticised for suppressing dissent. But now, even he has become a target of taunts.

Modi’s gestures, pauses and mannerisms have been turned into viral edits that turn his own words into political jokes.

When Modi released a late-night, selfie-style video on Thursday addressing the protesters, he promised swift legal action against those responsible for leaking academic or job exams.

But many internet users edited the clip with parody voiceovers and references to his past promises they said had gone unfulfilled.

One video went particularly viral.

Modi’s original address began with him referring to the protesters as “friends”. A parody video kept that opening, and abruptly cut to three young girls staring into the camera and responding: “No, we are not.”

A 21-year-old student said there is no better way to challenge Modi than by using social media that helped build his political brand.

“We are just answering him in his language,” he said.

Helicopters played a major role in this year’s Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) sinking exercise (SINKEX), with at least three allied rotorcraft types employing weapons against retired U.S. Navy vessels. U.S. Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopters fired Spike NLOS (Spike Non-Line of Sight) missiles at the guided missile cruiser ex-USS Mobile Bay, a Royal New Zealand Navy SH-2G(I) Seasprite struck the amphibious assault ship ex-USS Peleliu with an AGM-119 Penguin missile, a Royal Australian Navy MH-60R Seahawk launched an AGM-114N Hellfire missile against a target ship, and an Italian Navy SH-101 helicopter launched a Marte anti-ship missile.

Collectively, the engagements underscored how helicopters are emerging as key contributors to distributed maritime strike, complementing fighters, warships, submarines, and land-based missile batteries with precision-guided anti-ship weapons.

The Apache strike, conducted July 11, saw AH-64s assigned to the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, 7th Infantry Division, Multi-Domain Command–Pacific engage the former Ticonderoga-class cruiser ex-USS Mobile Bay during the live-fire SINKEX. The Army’s previous demonstration of an Apache destroying a much smaller boat with a Spike NLOS was something TWZ was first to report, but employing the weapon against a full-sized cruiser during the world’s premier maritime exercise marks another significant milestone in the service’s expanding maritime mission.

The Apache’s participation in RIMPAC reflects the Army’s steadily growing role in maritime operations across the Indo-Pacific. Long associated with close air support and anti-armor missions, the AH-64 is increasingly being tasked with engaging naval targets. This is something that has also played out in recent combat operations against Iran.

Spike NLOS has emerged as one of the key tools enabling that mission. The Israeli-developed missile provides an operator-in-the-loop datalink that allows course corrections and aimpoint refinement throughout much of the missile’s flight. That capability makes it particularly useful against moving or time-sensitive maritime targets, where target discrimination and battle damage assessment can be especially challenging.

AH-64 fires Spike NLOS during integration tests at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in 2023:

Spike missile integrated into AH-64 at Yuma Proving Ground

Compared with the AGM-114 Hellfire and AGM-179 Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM), Spike NLOS dramatically extends the Apache’s reach while retaining the flexibility to engage both land and maritime targets.

According to manufacturer Rafael, the latest version of Spike NLOS has a maximum range of roughly 20 miles, giving it a substantial stand-off advantage over the Hellfire and JAGM. The variants of those weapons currently fielded on U.S. Army Apaches have maximum ranges of less than 10 miles, though they are typically employed at considerably shorter distances in operational use. At the same time, extended-range versions of both missiles have been demonstrated, with Hellfire tested at approximately three times its standard range and JAGM at roughly double its baseline reach.

The Royal Australian Navy’s contribution highlighted another facet of the growing helicopter anti-ship mission. An MH-60R Seahawk embarked in the Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer conducted a live AGM-114N Hellfire engagement against a target ship. While Hellfire lacks the standoff reach of Spike NLOS and is primarily associated with engaging smaller surface vessels, it remains a highly capable maritime strike weapon and is a standard part of the MH-60R’s surface warfare arsenal.

Imagery released by the New Zealand Defense Force showed a Royal New Zealand Navy SH-2G(I) Seasprite embarked aboard the Anzac class frigate HMNZS Te Mana launching an AGM-119 Penguin anti-ship missile against the decommissioned amphibious assault ship ex-USS Peleliu. According to the NZDF, the missile penetrated the hull before detonating inside the vessel, inflicting significant internal damage and compromising its integrity.

The Italian Navy also revealed that an SH-101 helicopter embarked aboard the multirole combat ship Giovanni delle Bande Nere launched a Marte anti-ship missile during RIMPAC 2026, although it did not specify which target the missile was fired against.

Together, the Apache, Seahawk, Seasprite, and SH-101 illustrated just how diverse helicopter-based maritime strike has become. Although each of the weapons described above is optimized for different targets and mission profiles, all three point toward helicopters assuming an increasingly prominent role in coalition anti-surface warfare operations.

The U.S. Army’s maritime application for Spike NLOS aligns closely with the Army’s Multi-Domain Operations concept, which increasingly envisions aviation units contributing to sea-denial missions alongside their more traditional roles. Apache crews have repeatedly demonstrated maritime strike capabilities during exercises across the Pacific, and RIMPAC provides one of the largest and most complex venues yet to refine those tactics alongside allies and partners.

Beyond the Army’s work with Spike NLOS, the U.S. Marine Corps has been experimenting with arming its AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters with small cruise missiles, dramatically expanding their reach and giving them the ability to strike ships from well beyond the range of traditional helicopter-launched weapons. Above all else, it’s yet another example of the attack helicopter’s changing role in the maritime environment.

Although helicopters featured prominently, they represented just one layer of the larger SINKEX strike package.

Video released this week also showed a U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet carrying AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASM), along with live launches from U.S. Army M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Type 12 coastal defense missile batteries. U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft were also seen supporting the event. Based on the imagery that has been published, submarines were also involved in the SINKEX strikes. Full details of which weapons and platforms ultimately sent which retired ships to the bottom remain unclear, and TWZ has asked officials for additional information.

As well as the decommissioned Ticonderoga class guided missile cruiser, the Tarawa class amphibious assault ship ex-USS Peleliu also served as a SINKEX target. As we have discussed previously, the pair represented two very different classes of major warship, providing participants with valuable opportunities to employ and evaluate a wide range of anti-ship capabilities.

Live-fire events like RIMPAC’s SINKEX remain among the most valuable aspects of the exercise, providing opportunities that are difficult to replicate in synthetic training environments. They allow participating forces to observe weapon performance against full-sized ships, refine targeting procedures, and integrate air, sea, and land-based fires while operating within a coalition framework.

RIMPAC 2026 brings together 30 nations, more than 30 surface ships, five submarines, 15 national land forces, over 206 aircraft, and approximately 30,000 personnel operating in and around the Hawaiian Islands from June 24 through July 31. Now in its 30th iteration since beginning in 1971, RIMPAC remains the world’s largest international maritime exercise, designed to improve interoperability while strengthening the partnerships that underpin maritime security and freedom of navigation across the Indo-Pacific.

While long-range anti-ship missiles launched by fighters, warships, submarines, and coastal batteries remain central to modern naval warfare, this year’s RIMPAC SINKEX also demonstrated that helicopters are increasingly indispensable members of the maritime strike team. Whether armed with Spike NLOS, Hellfire, Penguin, or Marte missiles, allied rotorcraft showed they are increasingly expected to contribute directly to the joint force’s anti-ship kill chain. For a region where distributed operations and coalition interoperability are becoming ever more important, that evolution is likely only to accelerate.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com