Progressive state Sen. Aisha Wahab will replace former Rep. Eric Swalwell in Congress and finish his current term.

Wahab (D-Hayward) defeated Melissa Hernandez, the president of the Bay Area Rapid Transit Board and the former mayor of Dublin who was seen as the more moderate candidate. The two faced off in a special runoff election on Tuesday, and the Associated Press declared Wahab the winner Thursday afternoon.

The two Democrats will face each other again in the Nov. 3 general election to determine who will represent a slightly redrawn district in the East Bay for a full term beginning in 2027.

Following a Thursday update from Alameda County elections officials, Wahab led with 53.1% of the vote to Hernandez’s 46.9%, according to the secretary of state’s website. The additional ballots widened the slim lead Wahab held on election night.

“This victory belongs to the voters who made clear that our district cannot be bought,” Wahab posted on Facebook Thursday after the race was called. “Through one of the ugliest, most expensive elections we’ve ever seen, we never took the bait or went negative. We stayed focused on the people, and I will fight for this district that raised me. From foster care to Congress, this journey shows the possibility of the American Dream. Today this district made history by electing the first Afghan American to Congress.”

In an email to supporters, Hernandez said the November election “will be in the new district lines, adding 26,000 Dublin voters who didn’t have the chance to vote for me in August. We’re looking forward to winning this on November 3rd with a more favorable district and a much larger electorate. Game on!”

Swalwell, a Dublin Democrat, resigned from the seat and dropped his bid for California governor in April after multiple women accused him of sexual assault and misconduct, which he denies.

Though Wahab was favored to win the seat and finished first in both the regular and special election primaries, the race became more competitive after the pro-Israel group American Israel Public Affairs Committee spent millions of dollars on ads attacking her. Though the war in Gaza was not a central campaign issue, Wahab has criticized Israel’s military actions in Gaza and described it as a genocide. Hernandez has defended Israel’s right to defend itself.

Progressives celebrated Wahab’s victory despite the heavy spending against her.

Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, a group founded by progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), said her campaign “should be studied by every progressive running for office in America.”

“The lesson from CA-14 is simple: Democrats do not have to surrender to the biggest checkbook in the race,” Geevarghese said. “Big money can buy television ads, mailboxes and endless attacks. It cannot buy the trust built through thousands of conversations between neighbors. That is the model: Unite the movement, organize everywhere, and make billionaire money fight us on our terrain.”

Nico Iamaleava became a household name among college football fans.

Not because of his five-star, blue-chip status, leaving Warren High as the second-ranked prospect in the 2023 class and top-ranked recruit out of California.

Not for leading Tennessee to its first-ever College Football Playoff appearance and a 10-3 record — tying for the Volunteers’ second-best finish since 2001.

Instead, Iamaleava is remembered for his tumultuous exit from Knoxville, a parting characterized by head coach Josh Heupel that the program would move on without its starting signal-caller, leading the Long Beach product to UCLA.

More than one year removed after his departure, Iamaleava reflected at preseason media day on his time with the Volunteers, the effect last season had on his mental health and his mindset heading into 2026.

“In Tennessee, I was in a rough mental state as far as being far from home, but that’s what came with me growing and maturing,” Iamaleava said Wednesday. “So coming back home has been a great transition, and I can’t wait to play this year.”

While returning to Southern California brought the Bruins’ starting quarterback closer to his roots and family, the social media ridicule chased him cross-country, targeting not just him, but his parents too.

To combat the animosity centered on his family, Iamaleava focused on his support system, leaning on those around him and strengthening relationships with the people that he loved.

“Mental health is huge, and having a great support system with you definitely helps. I’ve had that with my parents, going to them whenever I need something,” Iamaleava said. “I have brothers that I can go and rely on, and coming back home to my family has been easy. I don’t really focus on the outside noise.”

While the majority of Iamaleava’s criticism stemmed from his departure from Knoxville, it reignited after UCLA started out the season 0-4 and finished the 2025 campaign 3-9 — a program worst since 2018.

Iamaleava could have allowed the disparagement to compound, but the starting signal-caller is using it as fuel for a 2026 season where many have the Bruins painted as a potential dark horse.

“Everybody counted us out. Last year wasn’t a great year for us, so we’re not on anybody’s radar,” Iamaleava said. “That fuels us, and really playing for each other is going to be the main thing.”

Being one of the few returning starters, Iamaleava has embraced a “vet” role, and has subsequently taken the mantle and burden of being the team’s leader.

And despite all of the negative sentiment surrounding Iamaleava and his time at Tennessee, it was with the Volunteers when he learned how to effectively lead and cultivate camaraderie.

“I learned a lot of that in Tennessee. I had a great vet in Joe Milton. He was a great quarterback,” Iamaleava said. “He’s at the Cowboys now, so learning under him, and then my whole O-line from Tennessee, I love them boys, and they helped me a lot too.”

Iamaleava is building on everything — the good and the bad — he learned from his time in Knoxville and his first year in Westwood entering the new season.

And as he enters his senior season with professional football aspirations on the horizon, Iamaleava has learned to not let external voices interfere with his internal confidence.

“I like to let people assume. Not a lot of people know me on a personal level, so it’s kind of hard to really focus on what they have to say,” Iamaleava said. “Those who know me in this locker room, those who know me in the building, those are the people I care about.”

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Washington will impose its ‘toughest sanctions in history’ to ‘collapse’ Iran’s government, warning of consequences for countries that maintain economic ties with Tehran.

The United States has sent about 2,300 Mexican nationals to Guatemala, despite objections from the Mexican government, as President Donald Trump steps up deportations.

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo confirmed on Wednesday that his country has received about 2,284 Mexican nationals deported from the US this year.

“They are arriving on planes carrying Guatemalan returnees,” Arevalo said in a news conference.

“In coordination with the Mexican government, what we have done is bring them through in transit so that we can return them to Mexican territory within 24 hours of their arrival in the country.”

The removals are part of a growing trend of third-country deportations under Trump, who has sent migrants and asylum seekers from the US to countries they may have no connection to.

Largely, the Trump administration has justified such deportations by saying that the immigrants in question are unable to return to their home countries.

But that is not the case with Mexico, which has consistently accepted deportations from the US.

Critics have blasted the third-country removals as a form of punishment, effectively stranding migrants and asylum seekers far from home.

Speaking about the Mexican nationals sent to Guatemala, Arevalo has said that the deportees are quickly repatriated to their country, with the costs covered by either the Mexican or US government.

But Mexican officials voiced concern about the US sending its citizens to third-party countries.

“The Mexican government has expressed its opposition to this practice to US authorities and has reiterated that every Mexican citizen has the right to enter the country,” Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Thursday.

Following a meeting with Guatemalan officials on Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry also said that the two countries are united by shared values including shared security and “human mobility with dignity”.

Guatemala is not the only country to receive Mexican nationals from the US in recent months. Reports have also emerged that some Mexicans have been transported to Honduras as well.

“They didn’t tell us anything, just to get on the flight,” Arturo Trejo, a Mexican man who was deported to Honduras, told the TV channel Telemundo.

Mexico’s National Migration Institute (INM) told The Associated Press news agency that the US had justified the practice as a form of deterrence.

“The reason is that the United States wants to prevent them from crossing back into its territory,” the INM said.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), meanwhile, responded to inquiries about the practice by saying that it was “utilising all lawful options to carry out the largest deportation operation in history, just as President Trump promised”.

But many human rights experts view the third-country deportations of Mexicans as an intimidation tactic.

“What we are seeing seems part of [a] broader trend towards a very severe US migration policy where they seek to instill terror and fear in migrants at all costs,” Ana Maria Mendez, the Central America director at migrants rights group WOLA, told the news service Reuters.

As neighbours, the US and Mexico have long had a close relationship. The two countries remain top trading partners for one another, with a cross-border exchange of roughly $964.1bn in 2025 alone.

But since Trump returned to the presidency last year, the Mexican government has had to strike a delicate balance.

It has sought to cooperate with the Trump administration on immigration enforcement, while defending the rights of its citizens against alleged abuse.

Critics have accused immigration agents of using excessive violence during raids, and experts have noted a rising number of deaths while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Since Trump returned to office, at least 15 Mexican nationals have died in ICE custody, and another three died during enforcement operations.

In response, the Mexican government has filed complaints with state prosecutors in the US. It has also denounced conditions in ICE detention centres as “incompatible with human rights standards” and urged regular visits from Mexican consular officials.

Hayden Panettiere was candid in her memoir and book tour interviews about the extensive abuse by on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson. Now he’s under the microscope as new details surrounding her death and their relationship emerge.

On Thursday, Panettiere’s mother, Lesley Vogel, whom the “Nashville” actor had a strained relationship with, pointed blame for the actor’s death toward an unnamed individual, but earlier this week she outright named Hickerson.

“Although my daughter and I were estranged, it was not for lack of care or love,” she said in a statement to “Entertainment Tonight.” “It was due to the involvement of a toxic individual who I believe led to her death.”⁠

⁠”It leads me to believe there are still questions surrounding what happened,” she said. “And I think we are all looking for answers.”⁠

And earlier this week, she told NBC, “This person in her life that we have been trying to get rid of for quite some time was with her at her death, and that was Brian Hickerson.”

Hickerson broke his silence for the first time since Panettiere died Sunday of an apparent overdose as his attorney Sloan Ellis made a statement on his behalf. “Hayden’s death remains under investigation and it is important to allow that investigation to proceed,” Ellis told TMZ. “As has been publicly reported, police confirmed there were no signs of foul play.”

“Out of respect for Hayden’s loved ones and the ongoing investigation, there will be no further comment at this time.”

Hickerson and his brother Zach Hickerson were present when emergency responders found Panettiere in cardiac arrest on Sunday. According to a report from Greenville, S.C., police, Zach was “very emotional” as paramedics attempted to revive Panettiere, and Brian “did not become emotional until EMS declared her officially deceased.”

According to TMZ, Narcan — a drug used to reverse an opioid overdose — was found at the scene, but it’s unclear whether it was used on Panettiere.

Brian and Zach Hickerson did not respond to The Times’ request for comment.

In the actor’s memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” which she published in May, she wrote that she and Hickerson met in 2018 at a West Hollywood bar. They fell fast into a whirlwind romance that soured after alcohol-fueled fights turned violent. “It was easy. The easiest happiness that I had come by in a long time,” she wrote in the memoir. “Then, one day, when we were on our second bottle of wine — the bottle that suffocates all the magic and obliterates your defenses — everything changed.”

Hickerson was arrested multiple times on suspicion of domestic violence against Panettiere, beginning in May 2019 in Los Angeles (the charges were later dismissed when prosecutors couldn’t secure a material witness) and again on Valentine’s Day in 2020 in Wyoming (misdemeanor battery charges were eventually dropped). Following an eight-count criminal indictment in July 2020 that covered multiple violent incidents between May 2019 and January 2020, Hickerson pleaded no contest in April 2021 to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend. He was sentenced to 45 days in county jail (but served 13 days due to credit for time served) along with four years of formal probation, mandatory domestic violence classes, and a five-year protective order.

After his 2019 arrest was covered in the press, Panettiere wrote that she and Brian “shut ourselves inside” to avoid paparazzi and that she screened calls from friends and family who phoned and texted “constantly,” worried that she was in a “dangerous situation with Brian.”

“What I never told them was that the abuse I’d endured didn’t feel as bad as the thought of being alone,” she wrote.

In “This Is Me,” she graphically detailed the abuse. She claimed that, during one attack, he punched her in the face repeatedly and secretly recorded himself saying, “Why did you hit yourself?” and “You’re all bruised, why did you do that to yourself?” When he was subsequently booked on charges of felony domestic assault, he pleaded not guilty and claimed that Panettiere had done it to herself.

“I didn’t know the person Brian turned into when he started raging,” she wrote. “This other Brian seemed to be dissociating, like the rational Dr. Jekyll part of his brain shut off while the violent Mr. Hyde took over. I was sure he must have a serious mental illness, like bipolar or borderline personality disorder, that could make him change so quickly.”

She continued: “On July 16, 2020, authorities in LA arrested Brian again, charging him with four domestic assault felonies, one misdemeanor count of battery; two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon (in particular, our garage floor and the stairs, both of which he’d once smashed my body into); and one felony count of dissuading a witness from prosecuting a crime.

“That witness was me. After we’d come back from Wyoming, Brian had called and tried to talk me out of pressing charges against him. As my heart broke into a million pieces, I told him it was too late, and then I told the police.”

Three days before Panettiere’s death, Hickerson attempted to expunge and reduce his past felony charges but was denied by a Los Angeles judge. He made the same request last July, which was denied.

During the press tour for “This Is Me,” Panettiere told podcaster Jay Shetty that she had cut ties with Hickerson but that, historically, he’d always found a way to reconnect just as she thought she was finally free of him. Reportedly, the two reconnected just weeks before her death.

“I thought I had gotten out of it and gotten away from it. … Abusers weave themselves like weeds into your life, and there’s always something that they left behind,” she told Shetty. “There’s always something that they have to come back for. There was always something that they find to keep that connection, keep you on the hook, keep that connection with you, no matter where you you go.”

In May, after Panettiere’s interview with Shetty went live, Hickerson spoke with TMZ and appeared intoxicated and slurred as he spoke about the actor. “Hayden Panettiere is the sweetest thing in the world,” he said. “It’s not about who you spend Saturday night with, it’s who you spend all day Sunday with, and Hayden Panettiere is a Sunday girl.”

“I would be an idiot not to walk away from her and let her flourish in her career,” he continued. “So we probably wouldn’t be good together. I’d like to see what she’s gonna do with the next like 30 years of her career, she’ll always hold a special place in my heart … we’re good buddies.”

Community activist Karen Bass achieved a decisive victory in the Democratic primary for the 47th state Assembly district by assembling a coalition that extended beyond the traditional base of African American voters to include Latinos and organized labor.

That broader coalition, which allowed her to trounce two candidates who have long been part of the African American political establishment in the area, may signal a changing of the guard in South Los Angeles. The district extends from Westwood through Culver City to the Crenshaw area.

Bass captured 48% of the vote in the Democratic primary, while Nate Holden, who represented part of the area as a state legislator and city councilman for 20 years, received 21%. Attorney Rickey Ivie finished a distant third, despite support from many of the area’s most prominent black leaders, including current Assemblyman Herb Wesson (D-Culver City), County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, City Councilman Bernard C. Parks and state Sen. Kevin Murray (D-Culver City).

Bass and political experts said that her campaign had benefited from demographic shifts, grass-roots organizing and the power of organized labor.

The candidate said people had seemed to appreciate that, before running for office, she had toiled in the community for more than a decade as the executive director of the Community Coalition, a group that led the fight against rebuilding liquor stores in South Los Angeles after the 1992 riots, and championed education reform for schools in poor neighborhoods.

“I think the idea of new leadership resonated,” Bass, 50, said Wednesday. “People wanted a new style of leadership. I think they liked the fact that I was an activist who had been deeply involved in the community for years.”

Working in the community gave Bass a huge base of grass-roots supporters to draw on in one of the most ethnically diverse districts in the state, said Los Angeles City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, who, along with Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D- Los Angeles), formed a powerful group of Latino leaders that backed Bass.

“She has demonstrated that successful candidates in multiracial districts are going to have to build coalitions, and Karen Bass has been building coalitions for 30 years,” Villaraigosa said. Bass benefited from a $250,000 independent campaign by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, which also flooded the district with 450 volunteers to get out the vote on election day.

“She is part of a new paradigm, of an African American/labor alliance for South Los Angeles,” said Miguel Contreras, head of the labor organization.

The 47th Assembly District was redrawn in 2002 to make it less heavily African American, making it imperative to build alliances beyond a single ethnic group. That’s an increasingly important skill in Los Angeles, where the growing Latino population means there are few areas where someone can be elected with the support of black voters alone.

Assemblyman Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles), a Bass backer, said Bass had done the best job of reaching out to diverse groups. Bass said she had courted Jewish voters in the western end of the district, while organized labor had helped her by targeting Latino voters on her behalf. Ideology also played a role, Ridley-Thomas said, saying that Bass is more liberal than Ivie, Wesson and Burke.

“Ivie is a middle-of-the road, moderate Democrat and Karen is definitely left of center and progressive,” said Jaime Regalado, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute at Cal State L.A..

A Baldwin Vista resident who teaches health communications at the USC School of Medicine, Bass agreed that she was a better ideological match with voters in the predominantly Democratic district.

The 47th Assembly District was one of 100 state Senate and Assembly contests that drew California voters to the polls Tuesday.

Though Tuesday’s winners must still compete in the November general election, most districts have been drawn to strongly favor either Republicans or Democrats. As a result, odds are good that the people who will take seats as new lawmakers in December will include Van Tran, who would become the first Vietnamese American elected to the Legislature, and Lori Saldana, a San Diego community college teacher who shocked the Democratic establishment by spending just $50,000 to beat other Democrats who enjoyed hundreds of thousands of dollars of support from some of the biggest interests trying to influence the Legislature.

Saldana’s clear win over former Gov. Gray Davis aide Vince Hall and Democratic pollster Heidi Von Szeliski was the biggest decided upset in the state, but three races were too close to call Wednesday as counties tallied absentee ballots.

Interest groups, including trial lawyers, business groups and unions, sank nearly $7 million into races, either directly or through independent expenditure campaigns, but no special interest group emerged as a clear winner.

The election allowed some politicians to extend their careers, including Board of Equalization member Carole Migden, who won the Democratic primary in a liberal San Francisco state Senate district, and Assemblyman John Campbell (R-Irvine), who beat fellow Assemblyman Ken Maddox (R-Garden Grove) for the Republican nomination in a conservative Orange County Senate district. Johan Klehs, a Democrat who has served eight years in the Assembly and six years on the Board of Equalization, appears headed back to the Assembly. Unopposed, he won the nomination in a Democratic-leaning district east of San Francisco.

Another former assemblyman seeking a comeback, Democrat Tom Umberg, had a slight lead of 51.2% to 48.8% over opponent Claudia Alvarez in the heavily Latino 69th Assembly District, which includes Santa Ana. Alvarez held out hope Wednesday that the absentee ballot tally could swing the race her way.

Also awaiting absentee ballot results were the trial lawyers who sank hundreds of thousands of dollars into the 21st Assembly District south of San Francisco. A four-way race among Democrats has been narrowed to a neck-and-neck contest between Redwood City Councilman Ira Ruskin, with 37.4% of the precinct vote and attorney Joe Carcione, with 36.6%.

A lawsuit filed in Northern California federal court by former high school football player Dominik Calhoun against the California Interscholastic Federation was dismissed for a second time on Thursday after a hearing held by Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler, who granted an 84 motion.

The judge will allow the plaintiff to file an amended complaint by Sept. 10. There’s also the chance to appeal.

Calhoun has been challenging CIF rules on high school transfers and NIL.

The CIF had stopped considering possible changes in several policies, including transfers, while the lawsuit played out.

The question is whether discussions will resume about possible transfer reforms that were discussed in April of 2025.

Aug. 20 (UPI) — Walmart on Thursday reported sales grew at their slowest pace in the retailer’s latest fiscal quarter in six years, sending its shares down more than 9%.

In the second quarter ended July 31, comparable sales in the US, including stores and digital channels open for at least a year, were 2.6%, the smallest advance since 2020, Walmart said.

“Customers tell us they’re still feeling some pressure,” Walmart CEO John Furner said on an earnings call with analysts.

Walmart blamed the disappointing sales growth partly on new federal rules on drug pricing that cut the prices of several costly medications for those enrolled in Medicare.

The company is also anticipating at least $2 billion in extra costs this year from higher gasoline prices due to rising oil prices due to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

As the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline has risen to $4.10 from $2.98 and inflation spiked to 3.4% from 2.4% before the conflict, Walmart said consumers are making adjustments.

“As you go through month by month in the last quarter, you can tell when fuel prices increased and got above $4, and perhaps there’s a psychological impact to that, that there are choices that consumers are making,” Walmart finance chief John David Rainey told analysts. “It’s why we have leaned so heavily into lower prices.”

Meanwhile, Walmart said it has seen gains as more affluent customers trade down as their budgets tighten.

For the full year, Walmart expects net sales to rise 4% to 5%, up from 3.5$ to 4.5% previously. Operating income is expected to rise 7.5% to 8.5%, up from an earlier view for 6% to 8%.

Rainey told CNBC that Walmart is eligible for tariff refunds of around $2.9 billion, and it has yet to receive nearly $100 million of that. He said the funds would be used to lower prices.

The aircraft carrier USS George Washington transited the Arabian Sea today after arriving in the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) region yesterday, the command announced via X. The move was designed to relieve the overworked USS Abraham Lincoln and comes as the U.S. continues to maintain a naval blockade of Iranian ports amid ongoing tensions with Tehran. However, the deployment also leaves the U.S. bereft of aircraft carriers in the western Pacific, at least for the moment, highlighting the strain on one of its most important assets for American power projection. Extended deployments across multiple carriers is putting extreme stress on the carrier force and could have major cascading effects as maintenance required to reset these ships after deployments draws on longer than originally planned. At the same time, delays in carrier production could also exacerbate the future availability of the force.

The need to redeploy the Washington from Yokosuka, Japan, where it is based, to the CENTCOM region was sparked by concerns about the condition of the crew of the Lincoln. That carrier reportedly endured grueling conditions amid round-the-clock operations without any liberty port calls since deploying last year. The issue sparked outrage from those worried about the mental and physical health of the sailors and Marines aboard, as well as pushback from U.S. officials who claimed the media was blowing the situation out of proportion.

The addition of the Washington comes as the Lincoln has departed. That means there are now two carriers in the Middle East at the moment. The USS George H.W. Bush arrived in the region on April 23.

While the U.S. and Iran have stopped firing at each other, the region remains a tinderbox. Both Washington and Tehran are claiming control over the Strait of Hormuz, and negotiations to end hostilities have broken down. 

With the ongoing blockade, as well as CENTCOM’s efforts to move millions of barrels of oil through its preferred southern route close to Oman, there is still a need for the aviation assets provided by carriers and the strike and defensive missile capabilities provided by their escort ships. This is especially true for contingency operations, deterring Iran, and pressuring them to conform to Washington’s demands.

As we noted earlier in this story, all this leaves Adm. Samuel Paparo, the commander of U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM), with no carrier coverage in theater to deter or counter potential PRC or DPRK aggression. Carrier gaps in the Pacific were rare up until 2024, which marked the first time in decades that the U.S. had no flattops in Asia. Though the U.S. military has been largely focused on the Middle East, the PACOM region remains the top concern among many within the national security apparatus, as China is America’s top pacing threat and North Korea remains unpredictable and dangerous. Russian operations in the Pacific are another issue, among a slew of others.

The extended deployment of the Lincoln, and the need to replace it, didn’t just create an issue, albeit temporary, for PACOM. Typical carrier deployments last about six to seven months, a period designed to ensure the ships can maintain readiness and the crews do not get worn out. When that doesn’t happen, it creates a cascading series of problems that affect not just the ships and crews, but the facilities that have scheduled repairs and lined up workers to make them happen.

The bottom line is that the longer these vessels stay out on cruise, the longer they have to stay in on deep maintenance, and past a certain point, the magnitude of this relationship skyrockets. Extra days out can turn into extra weeks in the yard, and so on. With yard facilities at a premium, especially those capable of dealing with a supercarrier, critical schedules can quickly implode, with work stacking up across multiple vessels, resulting in them being sidelined much longer than planned. You can read all about this in our past feature linked here.

For instance, after returning from a historic 11-month deployment, USS Gerald R. Ford transited to Pier 5N at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in July to begin its first post-deployment Planned Incremental Availability (PIA). Ford’s PIA will take longer than initially expected due to the stress from its journey, including a fire the laundry room that raged for more than 30 hours and will require an additional, concurrent availability. This will likely extend its time in dry dock, a situation experienced by the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower after it had an epic deployment. Of note is that the damage to the Ford meant it had to depart the CENTCOM region in March at the height of the war on Iran. That left just one carrier on station, which, ironically, was the Lincoln.

There are several other issues being faced by the carrier force as the Navy has had to juggle maintenance schedules to make up for construction delays.

The future Ford class USS John F. Kennedy is not scheduled for delivery until March 2027. JFK just completed Acceptance Trials Aug. 15, following a four-day underway period off the Atlantic Coast. The Navy had originally planned to take delivery of the Kennedy in 2022, but that was delayed until March 2027 “to support completion of Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) certification and continued Advanced Weapons Elevator (AWE) work,” according to the Navy’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget request. To offset that, the decommissioning of the USS Nimitz was pushed back.

The entire Ford class program has been running years behind schedule and now the U.S. Navy is reportedly evaluating changes to the Ford class that could add further delays. This includes moving the island superstructure further forward on the flight deck and abandoning the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) catapults and Advanced Weapons Elevators (AWE) on the Ford class, starting with the future USS Doris Miller.

As for what carrier capacity is actually available today, four are currently offline or waiting to enter maintenance availabilities.

The USS John C. Stennis moved to complete a Refueling and Complex Overhaul (RCOH) period at Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia in May 2021. When the contract was awarded to Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) in February 2021, work was expected to be completed by October 2025, and the downstream effects of the extended delay have rippled across the fleet.

Nimitz class aircraft carriers typically complete RCOH, a lengthy modernization and maintenance period that includes a nuclear refuel, at the halfway point of their expected 50-year service life. The Navy is rethinking its approach to speed up future such overhauls and cut down on labor requirements, beginning with USS Harry S. Truman.

Truman is pierside in Norfolk, Virginia, waiting to enter RCOH following the Stennis, as only one shipyard on the East Coast is capable of conducting such invasive maintenance.

USS Ronald Reagan is the only carrier on the West Coast that is unavailable to deploy today. It was previously forward-deployed to Yokosuka, Japan, completed a hull swap with USS George Washington in mid-2025 and is currently in dry dock at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Bremerton, Washington. When the contract for the Drydocking PIA (DPIA) was awarded in 2025, work was expected to be completed by August 2026, and the timeline appears to be on schedule. According to Stars & Stripes, Ronald Reagan is expected to wrap up the 17-month DPIA and return to service by the end of the month.

This leaves three carriers that could be pushed toward the Pacific in an emergency, one of which is largely ready for deployment. The USS Theodore Roosevelt, USS Carl Vinson, and USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, are in various states of readiness and working up in preparation for future deployments. Theodore Roosevelt, which completed COMPTUEX in May before participating in large-scale exercise RIMPAC 2026 over the summer, is expected to deploy in the very near term, and is the most likely to be sent to the Pacific. Also homeported out of San Diego, Carl Vinson pulled out of port on August 10 and is underway training off the West Coast. As of publication. Dwight D. Eisenhower finished a 16-month post-deployment PIA and completed sea trials in April, and most recently returned home on July 27 after conducting an ammo onload with dry cargo/ammo ship USNS Medgar Evers.

Lincoln, as we noted earlier in this piece, is heading home to San Diego after leaving the CENTCOM region, but when it will return to service is unknown. There is an upcoming DPIA scheduled for the carrier, according to Fiscal Year 2027 budget documents, but the timeline is unclear. Based on the history of other lengthy carrier deployments, that could be delayed as well.

So, it’s likely another carrier strike group will be heading toward the West Pacific soon and the gap won’t be a prolonged one, but after multiple prolonged deployments, America’s carrier force may be set up for a larger availability crisis down the line.

Contact the authors: howard@twz.com; ian.ellis-jones@recurrent.io

Dragons’ Den is back on our screens tonight, and for the first time ever, the number of female Dragons outnumbers the males.

A Dragons’ Den star has a surprising link to Love Island.

The BBC programme is returning to screens tonight, and for the first time ever, the number of female Dragons outnumbers the males.

Following the departures of Touker Suleyman and Sara Davies from the beloved BBC show, a string of guest Dragons, including Gary Neville and Tinie Tempah, have joined regulars Peter Jones, Steven Bartlett and Deborah Meaden in the Den.

After a months-long break, the series is continuing with new episodes from Thursday, August 20.

Joining Peter, Steven and Deborah in the Den, North East businesswoman Jenna Meek and The Apprentice star Susie Ma are returning as investors, reports Chronicle Live.

After making her debut on Dragons’ Den earlier this year, Jenna was supported by her followers as she wrote on social media: “The secret is out… Your newest Dragon.

“Been manifesting this one for a long time and it still doesn’t feel real that it actually happened. It has always been a massive goal of mine to be on Dragon’s Den – it was this show (and Deborah sorry other Dragons haha) that inspired me from day one to want to be an entrepreneur.

“I used to watch this show all the time and would dream to pitch on it one day, never mind be a dragon beyond grateful for this incredible opportunity, it pushed me to new limits and had so much fun doing it.

“The most incredible incredible experience and so grateful for the amazing crew and all the incredible dragons who made me feel so welcome.”

Who is Jenna Meek?

Jenna is the co-founder and CEO of beauty brand REFY.

Since its launch in 2020, the company — which Jenna co-founded alongside influencer Jess Hunt — has grown into one of the UK’s fastest-rising beauty brands, boasting an annual turnover exceeding £40m.

Prior to REFY, Jenna held positions at Burberry and Rebecca Minkoff, and set up festival beauty label Shrine from her bedroom at just 20 years old.

First known as The Gypsy Shrine, the company popularised peel-and-stick face and body gems and biodegradable body glitters, with Jenna even visiting the Love Island villa to decorate the likes of Olivia Attwood and Montana Brown in her products for a glitter party.

She previously told Mail Online: “We were just brainstorming and thinking of new ideas. I was like, ‘Let’s get on to Love Island’.”

She continued: “It was so crazy. I had nearly given up but my mum was like, ‘don’t let me down on this’, I had to figure it out and I kept pestering I guess.”

She went on to recall: “Kem [Cetinay] wanted [a lot of glitter], he was like ‘Do this do this!’ I had to tell him, ‘No we’ll keep it silver otherwise you are going to look like an idiot on TV!’”

The 33-year-old has firmly established herself within the industry, earning recognition in The Sunday Times beauty rich list and Forbes’ 30 under 30 list in 2022.

Jenna’s net worth is thought to be in the region of £52m.

Dragons’ Den airs from 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

GUATEMALA CITY — The United States has deported nearly 2,300 Mexicans to Guatemala this year and sent at least dozens more to Honduras, according to official data, a shift from the beginning of President Trump’s second term when such transfers were minimal.

Until now, Mexicans deported from the U.S. were sent almost exclusively back to their country by air and land. Only a handful arrived in other countries.

Some civil organizations believe this change reported in recent days is a way to increase pressure on Mexico, whose government has protested the deaths of 17 Mexicans in U.S. immigration custody or during enforcement operations. This also comes as Trump has expanded agreements with allied Latin American countries to conduct joint operations in the region against criminal groups and has increased U.S. security demands on Mexico.

Sent to Central America by plane and Mexico by bus

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo confirmed Wednesday night that, so far this year, 2,284 Mexicans deported from the U.S. have arrived in the country as part of a “transit stopover” before being taken to Mexico as part of an “arrangement” with the Mexican government, and without these individuals being under any refugee or asylum status.

“They are arriving on planes carrying Guatemalan returnees, and what we have done is bring them in transit so that, in coordination with Mexican immigration authorities, we can return them to Mexican territory within 24 hours of their arrival in the country,” he explained at a news conference.

The costs of these operations are covered by the Mexican government or, in some cases, by U.S. funding, he added.

Mexico’s National Migration Institute confirmed to the Associated Press in a brief message that Mexicans have been deported by the Trump administration to Guatemala and Honduras, primarily since April, and are then transported by bus to southern Mexico.

“The reason is that the United States wants to prevent them from crossing back into its territory,” the institute said. It did not provide figures or further details.

Asked about why the Mexicans were sent to Central America and not their home country, and for more details, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration enforcement, said in an emailed statement that the administration “is utilizing all lawful options to carry out the largest deportation operation in history, just as President Trump promised.”

“The Mexican government has expressed its opposition to this practice to U.S. authorities and has reiterated that every Mexican citizen has the right to enter the country,” the Mexican foreign ministry said in a statement Thursday. It added that Mexico is coordinating with the countries involved to ensure the safe return of Mexican citizens.

Third-country deportations raise concerns for Mexican migrants

Historically, Mexico has always been willing to receive its deported citizens.

Since Trump’s first term, it has also accepted deportees from third countries, although the details of immigration agreements with Washington have usually been opaque. In 2025, Mexico received about 12,000 deported foreigners, mostly Cubans and Venezuelans, according to figures provided by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. The government has not updated these figures since December although the practice has continued.

Authorities in Honduras also did not respond to requests for comment, but according to official documents from the country accessed by the Associated Press, 82 Mexicans deported from the U.S. arrived in the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula on two flights on Aug. 13 and Saturday. An additional 35 were scheduled to arrive Thursday.

An additional 165 Mexicans were deported to Honduras between May and mid-July, according to the website Third Country Deportation Watch, run by the nongovernmental organizations Human Rights First and Refugees International, which track U.S. deportation flights to third countries.

The website does not clarify the source of its nationality figures, but both organizations have expressed concern because these transfers could endanger migrants who possibly sought asylum in the U.S. or have few resources in an unknown country.

The deportation tactic “seems to be to put pressure on the Mexican government,” said Savitri Arvey of Human Rights First. “They really don’t want any Mexicans crossing the border.” Some of those deported arrived in Honduras on U.S. military flights, she added.

A recent change in the deportation pattern

At the beginning of his second term, with immigration control as one of his priorities, Trump reached agreements with Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama to act as “bridge” or destination countries for migrants from third countries expelled from U.S. territory. These agreements gradually expanded to more countries, including some African ones, most recently Liberia.

Until recently, only a handful of Mexicans had been expelled from the U.S. to countries other than Mexico.

Arévalo said Wednesday that Guatemala received 15 Mexicans in 2025. As of February 2026, Honduras had officially reported the arrival of six. Costa Rica has received 11 Mexicans since Trump’s return to the White House, and according to local immigration authorities, they remain in the country. Presumably, these individuals may have requested to not be returned to Mexico out of fear.

Immigration lawyers believe that the Trump administration is using deportations to third countries as a legal loophole to indirectly force asylum seekers to return to Mexico when the government cannot send them there because it would violate court orders from immigration judges that recognize the dangers. Organizations and politicians both inside and outside the U.S. have also questioned the use of force by U.S. immigration authorities.

Pérez, Verza and González write for the Associated Press. Verza reported from Mexico City and González from Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Bill Rasmussen, the founder of the world’s first 24-hour all-sports cable network ESPN, has died. He was 93.

The sports media company announced his death in a news release on Tuesday and said the cause was from the effects of Parkinson’s disease. The entrepreneur was first diagnosed with the movement disorder in 2014.

“Bill was a remarkable man — a visionary and an innovator who conceived the idea of a network entirely devoted to sports,” said ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro in a statement. “Quite simply, none of us would be here today if it wasn’t for Bill’s passion and all the hard work and entrepreneurial spirit he put into building ESPN in the late 1970s.”

Rasmussen’s creation — which began in the small industrial town of Bristol, Conn., — became an integral part of the new television landscape that emerged from cable and satellite technologies in the 1970s. Before the launch of ESPN, consumers had a limited number of sports viewing options through the handful of local TV stations in their markets.

ESPN launched seven months before Ted Turner unveiled his 24-hour news channel CNN. The two channels became the most valuable assets in building the pay-TV business, as cable and satellite providers expanded across the country, forever changing consumer viewing habits by offering a wide array of choices. ESPN’s continued growth over the decades that followed also showed that viewers have an insatiable appetite for live sports programming.

William F. Rasmussen was born Oct. 15, 1932, in Chicago and raised in nearby Columbus Manor, Ill. As a child, he had a knack for sports and was considered an avid athlete. He attended DePauw University in Indiana and received his bachelor’s degree in economics. After he graduated, he served in the United States Air Force and later earned an MBA from Rutgers University in New Jersey.

He built an entrepreneurial venture in the advertising business and decided to pivot to a career in media in 1962 with a radio position in Massachusetts. A few years later, he moved to WWLP-TV, a broadcast news channel, where he worked for eight years as sports director and two years as news director. After leaving the station, he worked as the communications director for the New England Whalers but was later fired from the role in 1978.

Rasmussen and his son Scott had been chasing the new business of satellite television through the summer of 1978 and had secured space on an RCA transponder — Rasmussen financed the deposit on a credit card, using a $9,000 advance, by his own account. What they lacked was programming. Stuck in traffic on Interstate 84 on a Friday afternoon in August, driving toward the New Jersey shore, Rasmussen floated the idea of filling the channel with nothing but sports.

Their idea soon developed from a local station showing Connecticut sports to state residents to a larger 24-hour national sports network. They received financial backing from the Getty Oil Company, a contract for programming with the NCAA and an advertising agreement with Anheuser-Busch — marking the largest sponsorship deal in cable history at the time. The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network was soon founded in Bristol with around 80 employees.

ESPN officially launched to 1.4 million homes at 7 p.m. Eastern time on Sept. 7, 1979, with a short introduction followed by the opening show, “SportsCenter” hosted by Lee Leonard and George Grande. To this day, “SportsCenter,” remains a vital part of the network’s programming and holds the record for the most episodes in television history.

ABC acquired ESPN from Texaco, which had absorbed Getty for $237.5 million in 1984 after buying a small stake in the network earlier that year. The entity became part of the Walt Disney Co. after the media conglomerate purchased Capital Cities/ABC in 1996. ESPN absorbed ABC’s sports division in 2006.

ESPN currently employs more than 5,900 people worldwide and operates eight U.S. cable channels, according to the company, in addition to programming sports on ABC and running one of the most-used sports apps in the country. Rasmussen himself was gone from day-to-day operations roughly a year after launch, displaced by the professional managers and outside money his idea had attracted.

“Bill was our George Washington and a good friend,” said veteran ESPN anchor Chris Berman in a statement. He joined the network only three weeks after the original launch in 1979. “He was such a grateful person and every sports fan can be grateful for Bill.”

After leaving ESPN, Rasmussen continued to serve as a consultant to sports rights holders and media companies and also maintained his own startup ventures in sports.

He publicly disclosed his 2014 Parkinson’s disease diagnosis in 2019 and became an ambassador for Parkinson’s patients through both the American Parkinson Disease Assn. and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

“I’m a positive guy . . . I always look at the positive side of people, projects, ideas, etc. For some reason, Parkinson’s is kind of an orphaned malady — people don’t like to talk about it, as if it were taboo,” said Rasmussen in an essay he wrote for ESPN that year. “Well, 40 years ago, people didn’t want to talk about a 24-hour sports network either as if competing with ‘The Big Three’ broadcast networks was taboo. We never stopped asking questions, solving problems and selling the dream. A lot of really good people did believe and we see the results of that effort today.”

Rasmussen’s wife of 56 years, Lois, died in 2011. He is survived by his three children, Scott, Glenn and Lynn Van Hollebeke, seven grandchildren, Andy, P.J., Wil, MaryAnn, Donna, Jessica and Sarah and two great-grandchildren, Otto and Adelaide.

Former leader was escorted from Adiala jail to Shifa International Hospital, following court order, local media reports.

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan has been transferred from jail to hospital by police and security, according to local media reports.

The founder of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was escorted by authorities in Islamabad from Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail to Shifa International Hospital in the capital late on Thursday, following the Supreme Court’s order, Pakistan’s Geo News reported.

Sources told Geo that authorities had earlier in the day completed preparations to shift the ousted prime minister, who is 73, to the hospital.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the shift to be completed within two days.

The government had filed a petition against the decision.

PTI shared a live broadcast of the preparations for his transfer but has not yet released a statement about it. The Pakistani government is also yet to comment.

The transfer fulfils a demand that Khan’s party and family had been making for months, expressing concerns over his health.

Under the order, Khan is to be examined by a medical board that includes his personal physician.

Khan’s next hearing has been scheduled for September 16, and the former leader should remain hospitalised until at least then as per the order, according to one of Khan’s lawyers, Uzair Bhandari.

This would be the longest period Khan would be physically outside jail premises since he was imprisoned in August 2023 and convicted in several corruption-related cases that he and his party insist are politically motivated.

The former cricket-star-turned-politician was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022.

New York City, United States – Mayor Zohran Mamdani is challenging a new law that would give New York City’s teaching aides a one-time $10,000 bonus, arguing it goes against the city’s collective bargaining laws.

On Wednesday, the bill, which was passed by New York City’s City Council, automatically became law because the mayor had opted not to veto it. Instead, Mamdani filed a lawsuit to block it because the City Council had enough votes to override his veto.

The bill, called the Respect Check Act, was backed by the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), a labour union representing teachers across New York City’s public school system and was championed by City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who has often clashed with the mayor.

Teaching assistants are among the lowest-paid workers in the city’s school system, according to a statement released by Menin’s office on Wednesday. Their pay is as low as $32,000. According to MIT’s living wage calculator, the living wage in New York City is $79,469 for Manhattan, $67,558 for Brooklyn, $73,258 for Queens, $67,974 in Staten Island, and $60,341 for the Bronx.

When the bill passed in July, Mamdani argued that the law directly violated a state law called the Taylor Law, a nearly 60-year-old law that gives public sector workers the right to organise. The UFT, which endorsed Mamdani in July 2025 ahead of the city’s election, pushed back on the mayor’s claims. The group argued the City Council did not undermine collective bargaining.

“The City Council would not have introduced – let alone passed – this bill if it were illegal, and we would not have supported a bill that threatened our collective bargaining rights,” Michael Mulgrew, president of the UFT, said in a statement provided to Al Jazeera.

“This moment is an opportunity for Mayor Mamdani to create a new, fairer system and build the kind of city he said he wanted to lead. This administration must keep its promises, and we won’t stop until it does.”

The City Council crafted the law to avoid violating New York’s Taylor Law, a UFT representative told Al Jazeera.

Under a 2023 state appeals court ruling, additional payments to public employees are mandated to be independent of a worker’s regular salary and cannot be tied to collective bargaining, they argue.

“The Court of Appeals has found that the Taylor Law does not prevent a municipality from unilaterally providing an economic benefit,” Beth Norton, general counsel for the UFT, said in testimony in front of the City Council in 2025, provided to Al Jazeera.

Pushing back

New York City Hall sees it differently.

“Council labels these ‘stabilisation’ payments; they effectively function as stipends or salary bonuses and, regardless of terminology, are an additional form of compensation and, as such, a mandatory subject of bargaining,” the 18-page filing obtained by Al Jazeera said.

“I think the mayor is right that this sets a bad precedent,” Adin Lenchner, founder of the New York-based political consultancy Carroll Street Campaigns, told Al Jazeera.

“Him and his team are either posturing, negotiating, or using this as a moment to negotiate toward some other kind of deal. I think everyone would agree that, substantively and philosophically, this is aligned with the mayor’s public policy approach and his vision for the city,” Lenchner added.

“So, if I had to guess, this is, on the one hand, about not wanting to establish a bad precedent and, on the other hand, a step toward a longer-term negotiation.”

Citizens Budget Commission (CBC), a nonpartisan think tank, urged the mayor in July to veto the bill, arguing that City Council should not make this decision. It says the now-law would add $325m in city spending.

“The City should continue to determine employee compensation at the bargaining table, not the legislative chamber,” vice president for research at CBC, Ana Champeny, said in a press release in mid-July.

Mamdani echoed that sentiment when he was asked about the law earlier this month.

“Conversations around compensation are better left at the bargaining table,” Mamdani said in a news conference on August 6.

However, the mayor voiced support on the campaign trail for legislation that would provide support payments to these paraprofessionals. That legislation supported recurring payments, not a one-time payment.

“The version he supported last fall made the payment recurring; what passed last month only guarantees it for one year. That’s the line between then and now, so not much of a flip-flop,” Lenchner added.

“We will not allow the political process to replace the collective bargaining table. The City is filing a lawsuit to protect the right of every union to negotiate on behalf of its members, to fight for the workplace they deserve and ensure that workers – not politicians – determine their own futures,” Matt Rauschenbach, a spokesperson for the mayor, said in a statement provided to Al Jazeera.

“We will work towards a quick resolution that respects workers, protects the City’s finances, and ensures that the Council does not interfere with collective bargaining in the future.”

Rauschenbach declined to provide further comment.

Francesca Cumani is a popular ITV Racing presenter, who regular appears on our TV screens

Francesca Cumani is a popular ITV Racing presenter – but who is her famous dad and co-star ex?

Francesca is known for presenting at a variety of horse racing events for ITV. She has previously been part of the coverage of the Melbourne Cup with Seven Network and 10 Sport.

She returned to screens on Thursday (August 20) to present ITV‘s coverage of the second day of the Ebor Meeting in York, alongside her co-star Ed Chamberlin.

Analysis came from Jason Weaver, Adele Mulrennan and Ruby Walsh, with reporting by Matt Chapman, Oli Bell and Mick Fitzgerald, and commentary from Richard Hoiles.

The coverage will continue on Friday (August 21), leading up to the feature race, Nunthorpe Stakes. As Francesca continues to delight ITV racing fans, some may be surprised to learn that the star has a famous dad and a co-star ex away from the cameras.

Who is Francesca Cumani’s famous dad?

Francesca’s father is Luca Cumani, a renowned former thoroughbred racehorse trainer.

The Italian trained racehorses for over four decades from Bedford House Stables in Newmarket. Luca notably trained numerous Group 1 winners globally, including two Epsom Derby victories.

Francesca remembers the day her father’s horse won the 1998 Derby. She previously told the Daily Mail: “I had to play in a [tennis] match that afternoon. Luckily my games teacher was a real racing fan and let me duck out of the match to watch the race. I was too excited to play the rest of the match.”

Luca was also a champion amateur jockey in his youth, before becoming a prominent trainer and mentor to top jockeys.

After attending university, Francesca worked in the family business of training and breeding race horses, before delving into the world of presenting.

Francesca Cumani’s co-star ex

Francesca was previously in a relationship with her ITV Racing co-star Oli Bell – the son of sports commentator Rupert Bell.

She married Australian international polo player Rob Archibald in 2014, two years before their son, Harry, was born. The couple split in 2018, with Francesca later exploring a romance with Oli.

But ahead of the 2020 Cheltenham Festival, Oli and Francesca decided to end their relationship. Despite their split, they have continued to work together at various ITV Racing events over the years. In April, they notably attended ITV’s 2026 Showcase together, alongside their colleague Ed Chamberlin.

Francesca is now in a relationship with triathlete Max Johnson. They welcomed their first child together, Teddy, in 2022, before Francesca gave birth to another baby in December 2023.

ITV Racing is free to stream on ITVX