This news digest explores the historical significance of St. Wenceslas Day, a national holiday in the Czech Republic celebrated on September 28th. The featured article recounts the life of Wenceslas I, a tenth-century Duke of Bohemia whose Christian leadership and eventual martyrdom led to his status as a patron saint and the subject of a famous Christmas carol. Beyond this central history, the source provides a snapshot of global current events from late September 2026, including a severe storm in the northeastern United States and heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. It also tracks economic data such as currency exchange rates and mentions recent sporting results involving the British and Czech  … 

Fighting in Sudan’s Kordofan region has intensified since late 2025, turning it into one of the main battlegrounds in the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), now in its fourth year.

The vast region, which comprises North, West and South Kordofan states, lies where the two sides’ areas of control meet, between the army-held central region and the RSF-controlled Darfur in the West. In recent months, the SAF has pushed the RSF out of much of North Kordofan.

The battle is increasingly being fought from the air. Drone strikes on towns in North Kordofan are growing more frequent and deadly, and civilian infrastructure has been hit across the region.

Since the war began in April 2023, one in five recorded attacks in Sudan has taken place in Kordofan.

Al Jazeera maps where the fighting is concentrated in Kordofan and across Sudan, and the displacement that has followed.

Who controls what on the ground?

Sudan is broadly divided between the two sides. The SAF controls the capital, Khartoum, and most of the north, east and centre, while the RSF controls the west, including almost all of Darfur and parts of Kordofan. Smaller armed groups, including the RSF-allied Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), hold pockets of territory in the south.

The army has the upper hand in the north, the RSF in the west, and South Kordofan remains contested.

Where have most attacks occurred?

According to an Al Jazeera analysis of data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), an independent conflict monitor, there were 14,648 recorded attacks between the start of the war on April 15, 2023, and September 19, 2026.

The four most affected states include:

• Khartoum: The capital region has seen the most, with 5,719 attacks, or 39 percent of the total, almost three times as many as North Darfur, the second-highest
• North Darfur has witnessed 1,999 attacks (13.7 percent)
• Gezira state has seen 1,435 attacks (9.8 percent)
• Kordofan emerged as a major centre for fighting. North, South and West Kordofan together recorded 2,876 attacks, or about 19.7 percent of all recorded attacks, putting the region behind only Khartoum when considered collectively.

Who has carried out the most attacks?

The SAF is associated with the largest share of recorded attacks between April 15, 2023 and September 19, 2026, accounting for just over half (52 percent), compared with just over a third (34.7 percent) for the RSF and 13.3 percent for other actors.

The balance of attacks has shifted over time. The SAF was associated with more recorded attacks than the RSF in the first year and a half of the war, before the RSF overtook it in number of attacks from late 2024 to mid-2025.

Since August 2025, the two sides’ monthly attack counts have been closer, with the SAF generally recording slightly more, even as the overall number of attacks has fallen sharply.

Where have attacks in Kordofan occurred?

After the fall of el-Fasher, the last major Darfur city held by the army and its allies, in October 2025, attention shifted to Kordofan. The region sits between RSF-held Darfur and the army-held centre, north and east, forming a corridor between the two sides’ heartlands.

Kordofan’s three states recorded 2,717 attacks: North Kordofan had 1,205 (44 percent), South Kordofan 789 and West Kordofan 723. Adding Abyei, a disputed oil-rich area on the Sudan-South Sudan border that was historically part of Kordofan, brings the total to 2,878.

The concentration of attacks differs from state to state. In North Kordofan, Sheikan locality alone accounted for 497 attacks, or 41 percent of the state’s total. Sheikan is home to the state capital, el-Obeid, a commercial and administrative hub linking central Sudan with the west. Taking the city would open a route east towards Khartoum for the RSF.

On September 9, a drone strike on a college in el-Obeid tore the roof off the building and killed a security guard, the college’s dean, Abdel Aziz al-Sheikh, told Reuters.

“As you can see, the entire faculty is destroyed and we feel that our dreams are destroyed, ⁠our future is destroyed,” Omnia Aboul Gassim, a student who had sat her exams at the el-Obeid college just one day before the attack, told Reuters.

In South Kordofan, Dilling locality was the main hotspot, with 242 attacks (31 percent), followed by Kadugli with 107 (14 percent) and Al Quoz with 94 (12 percent).

Attacks in West Kordofan were spread more evenly across localities. Babnusa recorded the most, with 142, followed by En Nuhud (119), Al Khiwai (112) and Abu Zabad (111).

ACLED has recorded at least 12,314 reported fatalities in Kordofan since April 2023.

The SAF was associated with 1,323 attacks (46 percent) across all three states in Kordofan, compared with 920 (32 percent) for the RSF and 633 (22 percent) for other actors.

How many people are displaced?

About 8.6 million people remain internally displaced across Sudan, according to the latest United Nations figures, down from a peak of 11.6 million in January 2025 as millions returned home to areas retaken by the army. New displacement continues in Kordofan, Darfur and Blue Nile.

Darfur hosts the largest concentrations of internally displaced people (IDPs), particularly South and North Darfur.

Returns have steadily increased since 2025, reaching about 5.1 million by August 2026. Khartoum has seen a major return of displaced people, with about 2.7 million returnees.

Despite the decline, millions remain displaced more than three years into the war. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says the number of people newly displaced in Kordofan since fighting escalated in October 2025 has risen 65 percent in four months, from more than 132,000 in February to at least 219,000 by late June.

The agency has warned that el-Obeid, which shelters about 500,000 people, including more than 83,000 displaced, faces a looming threat of a full-scale invasion.

“The warning signs are impossible to ignore,” said IOM Director General Amy Pope earlier this month. “Across Sudan, families are fleeing violence, losing access to water, electricity and healthcare, and now facing the added burden of destructive floods.”

MIS-TEEQ’S Sabrina Washington has made a huge U-turn as she AXES her own solo tour and issues a grovelling apology to fans after sparking mass confusion.

The singer has cancelled her upcoming tour just mere days after seemingly parting ways from the hit band and announcing her solo career plans.

Just days after Mis-teeq’s sold-out 25th anniversary reunion concert in London, Sabrina declared that there would be no further Mis-Teeq dates or new music – which left fans completely baffled.

But now she has sensationally backtracked on all of that.

In a statement shared on social media, Sabrina said: “I have been paying close attention to what people have been saying, reading the comments and trying to understand what you genuinely want to see from me.

“And one thing has come through very clearly: there is a strong desire to see the three of us perform Mis-Teeq’s greatest hits together again.”

MIS-LED?

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MIS-TERY

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She went on: “Ultimately, I don’t want to push ahead with a solo tour when I know there is such a strong feeling among fans about seeing Mis-Teeq together again.

“So, with a heavy heart, I have decided that the right thing for me is to cancel the tour.”

Sabrina added: “This is not a decision I have taken lightly. But for me, the fans have to come first.”

She noted that although she is cancelling the tour, she is not putting her own music to one side.

“I have been working on new solo material,” she revealed in the statement.

She then addressed her comments about going solo and Mis-teeq having no new plans in the pipeline.

“I now understand that my plans may not have been fully communicated to Alesha and Su-Elise before the announcement.

“Looking back, I could have shared more detail with management and spoken to the girls directly beforehand, and for that I am sorry.”

Sabrina added: “I have never closed the door on Mis-Teeq. I said on GMB, and I want to say again: I would never say no to another Mis-Teeq show.

“If the right opportunity came along and the three of us all wanted to do it, I would absolutely be open to that.”

Fans were quick to brand her “courageous” and “brave” for speaking out, though some were annoyed as they had already booked tickets to her now-axed solo tour.

The Sun exclusively revealed last week that the Scandalous hitmakers would be going their separate ways following their recent sold-out reunion gig.

Sabrina, Alesha Dixon, 47, and Su-Elise Nash, 45, brought the house down as they took to the stage to mark 25 years since their debut album Lickin’ on Both Sides.

But soon after the performance, Sabrina revealed she planned to go solo.

Speaking exclusively to The Sun last month, she said: “We have had such a massive year together and I’m really proud of what we achieved. 

“We got to come back 25 years later, perform together again and finish with a sold-out Wembley show.

“It was a really special way to celebrate everything the three of us created together.

“But there aren’t any further Mis-Teeq dates or new music planned and we’ve all gone back to doing our own things now.

“For me, though, I wasn’t ready for the celebration to end there.”

In 2008, Drogheda went into examinership, Ireland’s equivalent of administration, and were deducted 10 points in the league.

Trabzonspor fans heard of their plight and sent letters to the club with cash inside.

Two years later, their relationship was made official when they became sister clubs and there were plans for a ceremonial friendly in Dublin in 2013.

“They travelled over here to play and there was a freak deluge of rain that fell within an hour of kick-off,” explains Wogan.

“We had our staff in the turnstiles waiting to scan tickets in, but the game was deemed unplayable and Trabzonspor went home without playing the fixture.”

So Thursday’s match has been a long time coming.

When Drogheda announced the friendly on social media on 2 September, Trabzonspor fans reacted in their droves. The post on X has been seen well over half a million times.

About 30% of Drogheda’s social media following is from Turkey. More than their share of followers from Ireland.

And it is not just online where the crossover of fans is being seen.

Trabzonspor shirts and flags are commonly spotted at Drogheda matches and Turkish fans sometimes visit the club during the week just to see the stadium.

One Trabzonspor fan, Cafer Bektas, lives a couple of miles outside Drogheda and attends every game.

When he first moved to the area, wearing a Trabzonspor jersey caught the attention of locals and got him discounts in shops.

Dal Lake in Srinagar, the heart of tourism and cultural life in Indian-administered Kashmir, is slowly giving way under mounting population and environmental pressures.

Once renowned for its clear waters, floating gardens and houseboats, the lake is now clogged with untreated sewage, plastic waste and rampant weed growth, even as thousands of residents and businesses rely on it for transport and their livelihoods.

Unregulated construction along its shores, land encroachment and the expansion of nearby neighbourhoods have reduced its surface area and further damaged its fragile ecosystem.

The impact of climate change, including erratic rainfall and rising temperatures, is accelerating the lake’s decline.

Despite periodic clean-up campaigns and official conservation schemes, the future of Dal Lake remains uncertain, reflecting a wider environmental crisis across the Kashmir Valley.

One shop worker called it ‘the friendliest town in England’

One charming UK seaside town is famous for its oysters, bustling harbour and colourful collection of independent shops. Oysters have long been at the heart of Whitstable’s identity, with the town’s seafood heritage dating back centuries.

Today, its working harbour remains one of the main attractions, with fishing boats, seafood stalls, a market and waterside places to eat. But there’s much more to Whitstable than its famous seafood.

The town is a haven for independent shopping, with Harbour Street, the High Street and the surrounding streets lined with quirky boutiques, vintage stores, galleries, delis, bookshops and homeware shops.

Only a handful of national chains remain.

Just over an hour from London by train, the town has become a popular weekend retreat for city dwellers, reports the Express.

Visitors can spend the day browsing independent businesses before grabbing some fresh seafood and taking a stroll along the coast.

Wander down Harbour Street and the High Street, and you’ll encounter shopfronts brimming with character. Here, you can uncover a variety of distinctive treasures like the stunning Pearl Shop selling contemporary pearl jewellery and marine object d’arts, to George’s Whitstable, a fixture of the high street for 50 years and a true Aladdin’s Cave of treasures

You’ll also find award-winning British artisan cheeses at The Cheese Box, unique gifts at Buttercup Independent Toy Shop, a beautiful selection of books at Harbour Books, Whitstable’s beloved independent bookstore, and sweet treats at HoneyKanes Bright & Beautiful Shop, all without stepping inside a single chain store. That reputation has only strengthened in recent years.

Whitstable flourishes on independence, creativity and community spirit.

This sentiment is echoed by Stewart McArthur, from Brisbane, Australia, who is on a gap year and working at The Wit! of Whitstable, a vibrant Harbour Street gift shop that recently moved up from a small harbour stall to a prime High Street location.

He said: “You can wander up and down the street and see anything you need – there are so many different style stores that you don’t really need Amazon here.

“This is quite a busy little town. It just seems to get a lot of people coming through, which helps the independent businesses.”

Tourists, he added, are absolutely crucial. “They really support a lot of the local businesses when they come through. It gets busy, but I wouldn’t say overwhelmed,” he said.

For Stewart, what sets Whitstable apart is its sense of community. “It’s the friendliest town in England, it’s just a nice, chill, relaxed place. It’s nice to have a conversation with anyone who comes by.”

That sense of community was perhaps best illustrated by the tale of Revival Food & Mood, a social enterprise café and wellbeing hub that lost its premises during the 2021 lockdown.

Rather than disappearing, it was rescued by a grassroots campaign championed by residents with backing ranging from local groups to household names like Suggs from Madness and celebrated potter Keith Brymer Jones.

Thanks to the town’s resolve, Revival ultimately secured funding through the government’s Community Ownership Fund and reopened in a restored heritage building on the High Street. It now operates not only as a café but also as a venue for music, social gatherings, and mental health support.

Vanessa Brolly, the front-of-house manager at Revival Food & Mood told the Express: “There was a lot of support from the community about making sure that they found a new home.”

The wellbeing hub café is supported by East Kent and Bexley Mind, and has been in Whitstable for roughly eight years, though only two at its current site, and provides a variety of dishes, drinks, and social events such as “Chatty Tuesday” and a regular “Sound Social” in partnership with a neighbouring record shop.

Ms Brolly said: “There’s definitely a very close-knit community feel here. For example, we’ve got the social sounds event on tonight and that’s being run by the record shop, which is about two doors down and they’ll come in and play the records. Everyone’s always looking to collaborate, which is nice.”

Step inside and you’re welcomed by quirky décor designed to brighten the spirits, featuring an indoor garden complete with a water fountain, snug booth seating, and a 1970s-inspired relaxation space kitted out with sofas, vinyl decks, lamps, and a mirror ball.

Ms Brolly noted that national chains such as Costa and Prezzo have shut their doors, yet believes this speaks to the strength of independent businesses rather than any ill-feeling towards big brands.

“If I were visiting, I wouldn’t go to Costa,” she said, emphasising that visitors come to Whitstable in search of unique, independent spots.”

She went on to say that funding initiatives, such as Canterbury Council’s levelling-up programme, could also help keep Whitstable’s flourishing independent scene alive, but ultimately, what makes the town truly special to her is straightforward. “Everyone supports each other.”

For her, the best thing about working at Revival is “being involved in the community and listening to good music.”

Mrs Sally Miller, owner of Anchors Aweigh Vintage, has run her seaside vintage shop for 13 years.

Having lived in neighbouring Tankerton for over 17 years, she’s witnessed first-hand how the high street has changed over time. Step inside and it’s impossible not to be captivated by its treasure trove of curiosities — a shop overflowing with history, character and one-of-a-kind finds that each seem to have a story of their own.

Mrs Miller told the Express: “You get more versatility now than you did. A lot of the locals moan about the idea that it’s all down to people from London. Actually, we probably have more people from Sheffield than from London, but that doesn’t occur to them. The world is a transient place now, isn’t it?”

“Some of the locals are like, ‘all these people!’ But you live in a nice place – people aren’t going to avoid it. When you talk about DFLs [Down From Londoners], it doesn’t really matter. It’s a transient place, a tourist destination. And because we do live in a nice place, people come. The more the merrier!”

Yet for Mrs Miller, the backbone of Whitstable’s businesses remains its local community: “We get a lot of repeat customers, a lot of local shoppers as well. They like popping in for buttons and little bits.”

What keeps independent shops thriving and sets Whitstable apart, she believes, is a winning combination of attentive service and a warm, welcoming atmosphere that fosters genuine conversation and connection with every customer who walks through the door.

“People like to talk, they like to stop. We give them the time of day – I’m sure we probably keep people in here longer than they should be,” she laughed.

“It’s the service. People still appreciate the service.”

That sense of camaraderie runs deep — if she doesn’t have something in stock, Ms Miller is more than happy to point customers in the direction of a fellow trader, as they all get along and know one another well.

She added: “We have a strong shop local culture. We’re really lucky. People here talk to you.”

Pearl Shop owner, jeweller and pearl specialist Bibi Southwell also revealed how the town’s heritage and community spirit shaped her business: “We first opened as a pop-up in August 2024, and the response was incredible – both locals and visitors really embraced us. That encouraged us to open permanently just a couple of months later in October. Whitstable’s longstanding history with oysters made The Pearl Shop feel like a natural addition to the town. With its coastal charm, creativity, and independent spirit, it was the perfect fit.

“My favourite thing is being able to be creative every day and sharing that with the community. There’s such warmth here, and we’re surrounded by other independent shopkeepers who all support each other.

“Whitstable draws people from all over thanks to its seaside character, oysters, and thriving independent scene. We see loyal locals who come back regularly as well as visitors who discover us while exploring the high street and both are equally important to us.”

She added: “Whitstable has an authenticity that you don’t find everywhere. The town celebrates creativity, uniqueness, and quality over mass-produced sameness. Visitors come here expecting to find something they won’t see on every other high street, and that gives independents like us the space to really thrive.”

On the subject of the recent closures of chains such as Costa, Ms Southwell said it underlines how people in Whitstable actively seek out independent businesses. Echoing views shared by others including Ms Brolly, she explains that visitors arrive wanting to soak up the distinctive character of the town, rather than the familiar chains they can find anywhere else.

“It shows that people in Whitstable actively choose independents. When you visit, you want to experience the character of the town, not the same coffee chain you’d find anywhere else. I think Whitstable is proving that high streets can survive, and even flourish, when they’re built around small, passionate businesses instead of big brands.”

While many traders are celebrating Whitstable’s flourishing independent scene, not everybody is persuaded it can last. One shop owner, speaking on condition of anonymity, offered a sobering reminder of the very real pressures bearing down on the town’s small businesses.

“They’ve let the harbour be rented out to everything you can imagine that we don’t need in a small seaside town, instead of seafood, for people to make money instead of seafood, which is what we actually need there,” they said. “I don’t want another glossy piece by someone from London saying this is the ‘new Camden’. That’s five years behind the times and it doesn’t help us. Until councils stop raiding towns that were built by small family businesses, we’re all going to die. The local councils couldn’t organise a p***-up in a brewery.”

The shopkeeper’s exasperation is plain to see: “Tourists come here expecting seafood, and instead they find crochet cushions and Thai curry. That’s not what this harbour was built for.”

They went on to say that the town’s weekend atmosphere has been put under strain: “Our weekends are dominated by traffic jams and alcohol. Families leave early, children can’t run around, and the council won’t close the smallest, most dangerous roads for safety. This place risks turning into a tourist attraction, rather than a real working town with shops and families.”

Despite this, the shopkeeper conceded that Whitstable retains its undeniable appeal. “The town will always be amazing – but there’s something not quite right about what goes on behind the scenes when small coastal towns are made popular.”

A spokesperson from Canterbury City Council told the Express: “We’re very pleased to hear such positivity about Whitstable, which only goes to reinforce our view that it’s one of the UK’s best seaside towns – a fantastic place to live and work in, and also wonderful for a visit or extended stay.

“Clearly it’s never possible to please everybody, but given the fact the negative comments have been made anonymously, it makes you wonder if the individual has been turned down for trading opportunities at the harbour and their views have been affected as a result.

“The criticism is also incorrect, because there is seafood readily available at the harbour. The harbour is visited by thousands and thousands of people each year and our commercial units along the south quay are very popular with local residents and visitors alike.

“The hugely popular Whitstable Rocks Oyster Festival takes place each September – this year from 12 to 14 September, see whitstablerocksoysterfestival.com – which brings lots of people in and is also run by a private business.

“At its heart, Whitstable remains a fishing town with an active harbour and plenty of businesses selling seafood. Shops selling a whole mix of other goods complement this offer, which leads to a great balance of traders overall.

“But don’t take our word for it – Daily Express readers should come and experience Whitstable for themselves!”.

New Delhi, India — Speaking at an event in New York this week, India’s Foreign Affairs Minister S Jaishankar offered a blunt assessment of Washington: It has been an insensitive partner to India’s concerns over “terrorism”; has warmed to its arch-rival Pakistan; and has pursued “self-centered” trade policies that have disproportionately hurt the Global South.

That tone marks a new edge in how New Delhi is dealing with US President Donald Trump’s administration in Washington, analysts say, on the back of rising bilateral tensions between the capitals.

For decades, India has dealt with divisive issues with otherwise friendly nations quietly behind the scenes, away from spectacle. That has especially been New Delhi’s approach with Washington, where the relationship has broadly enjoyed wide bipartisan support.

However, after months of tensions, New Delhi is adopting a more openly critical tone towards Washington to address the volatility and uncertainty that Trump brings to the White House.

The changing tune in New Delhi also comes at a critical time for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who faces mounting domestic pressure and criticism from the opposition for allegedly bowing down to US pressure, time and again. On Wednesday, Modi held a telephone call with Trump, which the Indian PM called “productive” — a cold and formal depiction far removed from his description of the US president as a “good friend” in previous years.

Chietigj Bajpaee, a senior research fellow for South Asia at the Chatham House think tank, said that Jaishankar’s remarks “offer a frank assessment” on the current state of the India-US relationship. “Clearly, the shine has come off the bilateral relationship after India was initially among the most optimistic about a second Trump term,” he said.

India’s pain points

Jaishankar addressed frictions between India and the US while speaking at an Asia Society event after the UN General Assembly in New York ended on Monday.

“If I stand back and look at the [India-US] relationship, I note that much of the world has had a more difficult relationship with the US,” he said. “I mean that may not be a consolation, but that’s a reality.”

Trade

Trade has been one of the flashpoints. Washington is India’s largest trading partner, with bilateral goods trade reaching $149.1 billion in 2025; but the relationship remains tilted towards India with a $58.4 billion goods surplus.

Jaishankar started by noting: “Countries should not be so self-centred that you’re in your own world and take your decision and say, ‘Well, it was not my intention to make your life difficult’.”

The minister was partly referring to the economic spillover of the wars in Iran and Ukraine, urging that “sound common sense” should ensure that the basic needs of countries were not neglected.

But then, he referred to the trade negotiations between India and the US, that have so far yielded a roadmap to a deal — but not a deal itself. “Apart from the per capita gap between India and the United States, the nature of production and the nature of society is very different,” he noted.

The agricultural sector has been among the most contested points between the two, where India has kept its market largely closed for decades to safeguard its farmers. “The expectation that it could rapidly move forward was tested against the ground reality, which was much more complex,” he said, adding that “there is more or less an understanding on the trade agreement.”

At one point, India was among the countries facing the worst tariff rates imposed by Trump. After the US Supreme Court struck down Trump’s sweeping tariffs in February, his administration swiftly turned to other tools, including a new 10 percent global tariff. Earlier this month, Trump signed a law under which the US can impose up to 100 percent tariffs on countries like India that purchase Russian oil.

Jaishankar pointed to these changes, noting that the negotiations created “bumps last year for the relationship,” and added that once the deal is closed, it “would contribute to a better relationship.”

Ajay Bisaria, a retired diplomat who served as high commissioner to Canada and Pakistan, and as ambassador to Poland, told Al Jazeera that with Washington, in particular, “India has decided to be more public because there has been a lot of public criticism and a sentiment that the US is bullying India and India has been silent.”

The new 100 percent tariff on India, due to come into effect in less than a month, “is sort of a deal breaker in the relationship right now,” said Bisaria. “If that becomes reality, then all Indian efforts [to reach out to the US] would come under scrutiny.”

‘Terrorism’

But trade isn’t the only challenge in the relationship. A major rupture emerged in May last year, when New Delhi engaged in a four-day war with its bitter neighbour, Pakistan, after an attack by armed fighters in Indian-administered Kashmir killed 26 civilians.

New Delhi was upstaged as President Trump announced a ceasefire, claiming that he threatened both countries with economic damage if they didn’t stop fighting. For India, any question on Kashmir is strictly bilateral with Pakistan, with no room for so-called third-party intervention.

Nevertheless, Trump has gone on to claim dozens of times that he brokered the crucial ceasefire — as recently as at the UNGA in New York — that halted the war between two nuclear-armed neighbours. India took offence to these claims.

On the other hand, Pakistan’s leaders cozied up to Trump, showered high praise, and nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize. Since then, the relationship between Islamabad and Washington has bloomed, to New Delhi’s obvious irk.

For India, Jaishankar said, “particularly important is the issue of terrorism.”

“As a country, perhaps there are very few countries which have been subjected to the kind of terrorism that we have from a neighbour as part of a deliberate, conscious policy over many, many decades,” Jaishankar said, referring to Pakistan.

“Now, if something which matters so deeply to us, there isn’t enough understanding or appreciation or empathy of that, I think that creates a problem too,” he said, adding that India’s primary concerns are “not fully appreciated” by its partner, the US.

New Delhi’s changing tone while addressing Washington “is a lesson learnt from its experiences,” said Bisaria, the former diplomat. “After the ceasefire issue, the moods changed — and it all became worse.”

Harsh Pant, vice president of the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank, said that “the obsession with Pakistan in the Trump administration without taking India’s sensitivities into account contributed to the sense that, look, we need to start articulating it.”

“When at the top level, you don’t see reciprocity, then calculations change and decisions are taken to bring differences out in the open,” Pant told Al Jazeera, referring to Jaishankar’s comments.

Domestic Pressure

Indians have been the biggest beneficiaries of the US’s H1B programme which allows hiring of foreign workers with training in specialty fields. But that has come under fire from Trump, under whose watch Washington has raised barriers and fees for applicants, amid growing criticism of the scheme from supporters of his MAGA movement.

“For many years, mobility was seen as an economic gain. Today the economics of mobility and the politics of mobility are at odds with each other, at least in some quarters,” Jaishankar said, referring to Trump’s anti-immigration politics.

“That certainly in public perception is an issue,” the minister said.

Domestic pressure appears to be finally catching up in New Delhi. “Modi is feeling domestic pressure, with key state elections coming up next year, especially amid some anti-incumbency,” said Bisaria. “It dictates that the government’s posture should not be one of taking bullying from the US.”

Pant said issues like migration impact the general public in India, with the world’s largest population. For years, such connections made the US “an attractive partner for a large mass of Indians.” But today, he said,
”the same issues are becoming a negative drag on the relationship.”

“The public mood in India is also changing perceptibly towards the US. And I think the government is articulating that negative sentiment now publicly,” Pant said.

‘Waiting out Trump’

When Trump returned to the White House for his second presidential run, many in New Delhi’s strategic community were optimistic about bilateral relations, because of the US president’s warm personal relations with PM Modi during his first term.

But things unravelled in the coming months.

Still, Chatham House’s Bajpaee said that despite widening divisions between the US and India, “both have not given up on reviving their relationship”.

He pointed to Jaishankar’s remarks that India isn’t singled out in having a difficult relationship with the US. “Rather, the downturn in India-US relations is a reflection of the Trump administration’s transactional and often unpredictable or erratic foreign policy,” he told Al Jazeera.

“This offers a potential off-ramp for an eventual reset in relations. The conclusion of a bilateral trade agreement is a key watchpoint for this,” Bajpaee added.

For New Delhi, Pant said, “it is now just the question of waiting Mr. Trump out.” Though he added, with a laugh, that India is not alone in that queue.

“Everyone is waiting him out. President Trump has little respect for conventions and norms of inter-state behaviour. How do you just deal with that individual?” Pant said.

John Steinbeck’s 1952 novel “East of Eden,” an Oprah’s Book Club Selection in 2003, is a retelling, or actually two retellings, of the Cain and Abel story, first in Connecticut with half-brothers Charles and Adam Trask, and then in the author’s native Salinas Valley with Adam’s fraternal twin sons, Cal and Aron, in each case competing with one another for their father’s love. Not wanting you to miss his meaning, if you haven’t already guessed by the title, Steinbeck has a character read the entire passage from Genesis.

The stories, which together run from the late 19th century through World War I, are connected by a woman named Cathy Ames, whom Adam marries and who gives birth to Cal and Aron — which I suppose makes her the Eve in this household, though that’s not a theological road Steinbeck chose to really explore.

In 1955, Elia Kazan directed a film version, a color-mad Cinemascope melodrama that told only the Cal and Aron part of the story; significantly, it was the film debut of James Dean and so will live forever. Writing in The Times in 2005, Kenneth Turan called it “not only one of Kazan’s richest films and Dean’s first significant role” but “arguably the actor’s best performance.”

Kazan’s granddaughter Zoe Kazan has written the screenplay and worked with Jeb Stuart as co-showrunners for a new “East of Eden” adaptation, a seven-episode miniseries debuting Thursday on Netflix. Though it omits a sizable chunk of what is after all a very long book, it takes its chronology whole, putting Cathy front and center in the publicity and in the show, owing largely to Florence Pugh‘s performance as its most dynamic character.

Kazan begins her telling with a badly beaten woman dragging herself through the night as a female voice delivers an edited, elaborated version of the author’s thoughts on difference. (It is a book brimming with thoughts.) “I believe there are monsters born in this world to human parents … A child may be born perfect of body but without kindness or the potential of conscience. Still, you must not forget, everyone is normal to himself. And to a monster, the norm must seem monstrous.” Given that the novel’s narrator is Steinbeck, it’s hard to say just who the “I” is here, but I assume the gender swap has something to do with wanting to literally give this version a female voice.

The monster is Cathy, crawling to the porch of the farmhouse occupied by Charles (Mike Faist), who thinks they should call the sheriff, and Adam (Christopher Abbott), who is compelled to care for her. Close your eyes if you don’t want to know anything more about this 73-year-old bestseller, but Cathy has already possibly driven a man to suicide and definitely burned down her house with her parents locked inside. She was beaten up by her former pimp, whose mistress she’d become and from whom she was stealing. You may be thinking “sociopath.”

The series backs up 25 years to a Connecticut farm where father Cyrus Trask (Tracy Letts), a peg-legged Civil War veteran, rejects Charles’ gift of a new knife in favor of Adam’s present of a stray puppy, creating a long trail of jealousy. He’ll later pack pacifistic Adam off to the army (because, he says, he loves him better), with Charles unhappily constrained to stay and work the farm (though he proves good at it). After years in service and living in hobo jungles, Adam returns home.

Standout performers include Hoon Lee as Lee, left, and Ciarán Hinds as Samuel Hamilton.

(Kirsty Griffin / Netflix)

Cathy crawls to their doorstep; Charles sees through her, which will earn him her respect, but Adam falls for her, marries her and drags her west to California, where she doesn’t want to go and doesn’t plan to stay. (She’s quite upfront about this, but Adam is a poor listener.) She gives birth to Cal (younger, Bodhi Aisher; older, Joseph Zada), who will grow up to wonder if he’s bad, and Aron (younger, Jonah Wren Phillips; older, Joe Anders), whom everyone thinks is good, and returns to the life of a prostitute, which suits her fine. And that is probably enough plot for me to relate.

Pugh impressively represents Cathy’s outward self through successive stages; she’s not a character born to develop, though she will have various crises to navigate, and the actor imbues her with as much nuance as the part allows. She’s the main reason to watch, though there are standout performances from Hoon Lee as Lee, a philosophical, intellectual, American-born Chinese man who works for Adam and becomes a kind of surrogate mother to Cal and Aron; and from Ciarán Hinds as Samuel Hamilton, a jovial Irishman, virtually the only remnant of the novel’s Hamiltons, who stand in for Steinbeck’s own family. Faist does a lot with the taciturn, perceptive Charles. Martha Plimpton, never not great, plays Faye, a madam for whom Cathy works; and Zoe Phillips makes an impression in her scattered scenes as Abra Bacon, who’ll date Aron but feels connected to Cal.

Kazan and Stuart do cover all the main plot points and themes — good and evil, love and jealousy, inherited character and (the big one) the possibility of change. Unavoidably the text has been chopped and channeled, with some swapping of parts, bits of narration screwed into dialogue and events described in a paragraph blown out into scenes. Certain thoughts inside Cathy’s head have been made concrete.

The adapters don’t add too much material of their own, Steinbeck having provided a wealth of character descriptions, backstory, philosophical rumination and social criticism for every occasion, but here and there they’ll stress a point or provide something new in order to make sense of Cathy. But they don’t overdo it. (Steinbeck, declaring her unknowable, cuts her a lot of slack, walking back his earlier “monster” comments: “Who knows but that she tried to tell someone or everyone what she was like and could not, for lack of a common language. It is easy to say she was bad, but there is little meaning unless we know why.”) Oddly, the Cain and Abel elements in the Cal and Aron story, which launched Dean’s career, don’t really register.

If nothing else, the miniseries reminds us that adaptation is a difficult job that grows harder the more complex and celebrated the original text, and the more necessary it is to honor it. (This is why pulp fiction has produced so many memorable movies.) Things will always be lost in translation, not least from the pictures in your head to the pictures on the screen. If you’re going to film a literary monument, and a period piece to boot, you’re going to have to spend some money.

But the production here betrays its economy, and the direction, by Garth Davis and Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, remains earthbound, held down by mournful strings and devoid of color. The New Zealand landscape does echo the rolling hills of Central California, in a dry season, but it’s a dreary vision, hardly the paradise of Steinbeck’s memory, book or metaphor.

A Michael Jordan jersey from his ‘Last Dance’ season has sold for $12.3m (£9.3m), a record for a piece of Jordan memorabilia.

The jersey was worn in game three of the 1998 NBA Finals in his last season with the Chicago Bulls.

Jordan helped the Bulls win the series 4-2 for his sixth and final NBA Championship. He was named Finals’ Most Valuable Player in all six.

The previous record for a piece of Jordan memorabilia was $10.1m (£7.6m) for his jersey from game one of the 1998 Finals.

The jersey was put up for sale by entrepreneur Ryan Gough and sold at Joopiter, Pharrell Williams’ digital auction house, which gave it an estimated price of $10-15m (£7.5-£11.3m).

Jordan’s 1997 Ferrari 550 Maranello was sold for $2.7m (£2m), four times the auction record for that model.

“Few objects in the history of sport embody greatness as completely as Michael Jordan’s game three jersey from the 1998 NBA Finals,” Joopiter said in the auction posting.

“Worn during the Last Dance… it marks the culmination of an era that transformed basketball into a global cultural phenomenon.

“Today it stands among the most important game-worn sports artifacts ever to come to market.”

The record price for a piece of game-worn sports memorabilia is the jersey worn by baseball legend Babe Ruth when he “called the shot” during the 1932 World Series, which was sold for $24.1m (£18.2m) in 2024.

Coffins containing the remains of those killed will be carried in a funeral procession involving family members.

Palestinians are preparing to bury the remains of 105 people killed in a devastating Israeli attack on Gaza City in October 2023.

The victims were killed in a series of Israeli air strikes involving at least 20 bombs that levelled the seven-storey Al Taj 3 building and destroyed several other residential buildings in the Yarmouk Square neighbourhood on the afternoon of October 25, 2023.

Coffins containing the remains of those killed will be carried in a funeral procession involving family members on Thursday, the General Directorate of Civil Defence said.

The remains will be buried in the Sheikh Radwan cemetery, northwest of Gaza City.

Gaza’s civil defence said the recovery operation was carried out in coordination with an Egyptian committee.

Al Jazeera correspondent Ibrahim Khalili, reporting from Gaza City, said the recovery operation was the fifth largest of its kind since Israel launched its genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza in October 2023, in terms of the number of bodies recovered.

Civil defence operations director Abdul al-Majdalawi said it had been “impossible” to reach the bodies at the time of the attack.

“Bulldozers, excavators and other heavy machinery used by civil defence teams in Gaza were directly and deliberately targeted,” he said.

Osama Sharaf said 37 members of his family were killed in the attack.

“We recovered some of them at the beginning of the war, and today [Wednesday] 16 more were recovered, including my father, my mother, and all of my siblings. My sister’s son was also there with them,” he said.

During a 24-hour visit, Bethany Gavaghan discovered the market town’s independent shops, cafes and winding old streets — and left wanting more

If you thought you had to travel hundreds of miles to cities such as Edinburgh for old town charm and a sense of being swept into a Harry Potter novel, think again — there are destinations far closer to home that are well worth a visit.

Reach’s Bethany Gavagha had never set foot in Shrewsbury in Shropshire and, despite having spotted some gorgeous photographs, she arrived with very little in the way of expectations. Writing for the Express, Bethany shared how she always preferred to keep an open mind when visiting somewhere new, and as she hadn’t done much reading or come across a great deal of content about it, she genuinely had no idea what to expect.

Shrewsbury was, however, previously crowned the town with the best high street in the UK by The Telegraph, which described it as a “beacon of light piercing the gloom”.

It noted that Shrewsbury boasted a healthy selection of quirky and independent businesses that give shoppers a “fine reason to escape the tyranny of Amazon”. Locals spoke with great pride about their town as a result.

Bethany shared: “I was there for almost exactly 24 hours, and I found out quickly that is the ideal sweet spot if you’re someone just passing through, as everything is conveniently located and easy to get to. “

Things to do in Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury is the kind of place where history is impossible to miss. The medieval market town sits within a loop of the River Severn, close to the Welsh border, with its winding streets, timber-framed buildings and hidden passageways giving the centre plenty of character.

The town’s location once made it strategically important, and Shrewsbury was first recorded in a charter in 901. Today, though, it’s the independent shops, cafés, markets and historic sights that make it such an appealing place to explore.

Shrewsbury has a particularly strong independent shopping scene. According to Visit Shropshire, independent retailers outnumber big chains by almost 50%, with boutiques and quirky shops tucked into the town’s medieval streets and narrow passages.

One of the biggest draws is Shrewsbury Market Hall, which has been voted Britain’s Favourite Market. The bustling hall is packed with food stalls, cafés, independent traders, arts and crafts and fresh produce, making it an easy place to spend far longer than planned.

There’s plenty to see between shopping stops, too.

Shrewsbury Castle is a Norman fortress sitting right beside the railway station, making it an easy addition to a wander around the town. For a completely different experience, The Quarry offers 29 acres of riverside parkland and nature reserve inside the loop of the Severn – a peaceful escape from the busy streets.

History buffs can visit Shrewsbury Abbey, founded in 1083 and made famous to many readers by Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael novels.

Then there are the medieval passages themselves. Narrow lanes and little cut-throughs lead off the main streets, making exploring Shrewsbury feel more like an adventure than a conventional shopping trip.

Bethany’s stay

Bethany stayed in a room that was somewhere between a hotel and an Airbnb, called Boutique Shrewsbury Rooms, tucked away in a peaceful corner of the town, just across the river and through a small park — just about manageable on foot from the train station if you’re lugging a heavy suitcase.

“I’d definitely recommend staying there if you enjoy a no-fuss approach to holidays, as you just let yourself in with a keypad and the room and the location were both gorgeous,” she wrote.

A coffee machine stocked with a variety of pods also earned a big thumbs-up from her.

Come morning, the first stop on Bethany’s agenda was a café boasting “with some of the friendliest staff”. The Shrewsbury Coffeehouse is warm and inviting, full of charm in its décor, with generous seating spread across two floors.

She opted for avocado on sourdough toast, which proved to be a perfect brunch choice — packed with flavour and finished with a scattering of chilli flakes for an added kick. Exactly what you need to set yourself up for a full day of sightseeing.

During her visit, the weather was far from kind. She said: “In fact, we actually received what I think might have been the biggest deluge of rain I’ve seen all year, but this led me to realise just how much you can still do indoors, which I normally find quite rare in older towns like this.”

Bethany kicked things off with a visit to the Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery, which offered a brilliant glimpse into the local area. She discovered that woolly mammoths once roamed the fields surrounding Shrewsbury — a fact Bethany found utterly captivating — and the vintage fashion collections were absolutely stunning to take in.

The town is a genuine must-visit for anyone who loves independent shops and cafés. There was even an outdoor food market offering everything from freshly baked goods to Indian cuisine.

“One place that caught my eye was the Old Market Hall cinema, which puts on everything from ballets to dramas and more,” Bethany said.

Noting the building looked “fascinating”, she added: “We didn’t manage to go in this time, but it’s firmly on my list for our next visit.”

In need of something sweet, her next port of call was a coffee shop called the Cat’s Pyjamas. It was a brilliantly quirky space — cocktails on the menu too — and a perfect haunt for indie and creative types. Bethany opted for their red velvet lamington, which was a solid 10/10.

“I would absolutely go back for more without any persuasion needed,” she said.

With a free afternoon to spare, Bethany loved wandering through the winding cobbled streets. “It was surprisingly calm for a Saturday, which only added to its charm. Maybe the weather played a part, but it definitely had that hidden gem feel compared to more hyped medieval towns like Wells, which have gone viral on social media.”

The birthplace of Charles Darwin, Shrewsbury is home to around 77,000 people and reportedly boasts more than 500 independent retailers and hospitality venues. That’s what “makes the town centre really stand out,” said Seb Slater, executive director at Shrewsbury BID.

Bethany said: “My favourite shop was a huge underground shop selling antique items, Shrewsbury Antiques Centre, which has been going for more than 30 years. I never buy anything from places like this but just walking around is an experience in itself.

With more than 50 individual traders, the range on offer is enormous.

Her final port of call was a pizza restaurant that she had strolled past earlier and earmarked as somewhere that looked well worth a visit. You can catch the mouth-watering aromas from several doors away, so it was an absolute no-brainer.

Dough and Oil has built its reputation on sourdough pizza, homemade sides and desserts, and boasts a fun-filled interior complete with a photobooth and mini football table. It ticked every single box.

She had said it before, but Bethany firmly believes the only true way to judge a pizza restaurant is to sample their margherita first — and she would give it 100% recommendation. With the visit drawing to a close, it was time to head back.

The train station was just a short walk downhill from there. She concluded: “All in all, it was a successful 24 hours, and definitely somewhere I’d like to learn more about and get to know again, hopefully with better weather next time.”

Ukraine’s F-16 fleet is facing growing pressure from the demands of the air war, with a shortage of air-to-air missiles now compounded by what appears to be a serious bottleneck in the critical maintenance system supporting the aging aircraft.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that more than half of Ukraine’s F-16s are currently in what a Western source described as “maintenance limbo.” The same source told the newspaper that, at the current rate of operations and maintenance, Ukraine could exhaust the remainder of its available aircraft by the end of the year.

The Ukrainian Air Force declined to provide the WSJ with figures on the status of the fleet. Open-source analysis suggests that Ukraine may have received around 40-50 F-16s so far. However, a proportion of these are held back for training elsewhere in Europe, while there have been five confirmed losses. Approximately 110 F-16s have now been promised by a coalition comprising Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway.

The report follows TWZ’s recent reporting on a separate constraint affecting the F-16 force: Ukraine is struggling to maintain adequate stocks of air-to-air missiles for its fighters. AIM-9 Sidewinders and AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) have been heavily used against Russian cruise missiles and drones, and Ukrainian F-16 pilots have reportedly had to ration their missile shots. Aircraft have increasingly had to rely on their internal 20mm cannon when suitable missiles are not available. This is a far from ideal substitute, as you can read about here, but Kyiv is reportedly now negotiating for tens of thousands of additional rounds of 20mm ammunition.

Ukrainian F-16s have apparently been carrying laser-guided 70mm Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) rockets, which should provide an extremely valuable, lower-cost option for engaging long-range drones and subsonic cruise missiles. The exact status of this weapon in Ukrainian hands is unclear, but there is so far limited evidence of extensive use by its F-16s, at least in the public domain.

All these problems are closely related because the same high operational tempo that is consuming Ukraine’s missile stocks is also putting additional hours on the already well-worn F-16 airframes.

The aircraft have become a critical important component of Ukraine’s air-defense effort, particularly as Russia has expanded its use of increasingly sophisticated one-way attack drones, as we wrote about only yesterday. WSJ reports that Russia has launched around 2,000 jet-powered drones against Ukraine this month, compared with approximately 350 in June. The newer, jet-powered drones can reportedly reach speeds of up to 375 miles per hour, making them more difficult for Ukraine’s interceptor drones to engage and increasing the importance of conventional fighters. At the same time, the stocks of effectors for ground-based air defense systems are being reduced, in some cases to a critical level, increasing the reliance on crewed fighters to take up the slack.

F-16s are well-suited to the counter-drone and counter-cruise missile mission, but using them extensively against large numbers of relatively inexpensive targets presents a difficult sustainment problem. In fact, the lower speed and altitude differential between the F-16 and a jet-powered drone, compared to a propeller-driven one, makes the higher-performance weapon an easier target for the crewed fighter in most scenarios.

However, every sortie adds flight hours to the aircraft, while each missile engagement draws from an inventory that Ukraine and its Western partners have to replenish. As the aircraft accumulate hours, they reach scheduled inspection and maintenance intervals, increasing demand on a maintenance network that is already supporting a fleet operating under wartime conditions.

The United States has established a substantial support arrangement for that purpose. In January, the Pentagon awarded Belgian company Sabena Aerospace Engineering a contract with a ceiling of approximately $235.5 million for intermediate- and depot-level maintenance of Ukrainian F-16 aircraft and engines, together with associated material-management support. The contract runs through January 2029, with approximately $69.7 million initially obligated.

The contract provides an indication of the scale of the infrastructure required to keep the Ukrainian F-16 fleet operational. It also highlights why the reported turnaround times in Belgium are significant. A typical phase-inspection that would normally take approximately two to six weeks in the United States is reportedly taking as long as 40 weeks in Belgium.

A 40-week turnaround does not necessarily mean that an aircraft spends 40 weeks continuously undergoing a phase inspection. The overall period an aircraft is unavailable can also include waiting for parts, additional repairs, scheduling, and other work. It is unclear exactly how many Ukrainian F-16s are currently affected by these various factors.

At the same time, the reported turnaround times do point to a substantial capacity problem. Ukraine operates a relatively small F-16 fleet, so aircraft that remain unavailable for extended periods have a disproportionate effect on the number of fighters that can actually be generated for combat missions. Its mission spectrum also includes air-to-ground sorties, putting more demand on the hard-pressed F-16 fleet.

F-16 fighters are the best way to counter new Russian jet-powered drones.

Ukrainian F-16 aces have shot down about 2,500 drones of all types and about 650 cruise missiles.

Jet drones are exactly the kind of target F-16s shoot down very well, and it usually costs $25,000 or… pic.twitter.com/ajxYN9K0yK

— Slava 🇺🇦 (@Heroiam_Slava) September 30, 2026

The F-16s have finite airframe lives, require increasingly substantial inspections as they accumulate hours, and depend on a supply chain for engines, components and other parts. The missiles used to destroy the targets are another finite resource. It should also be recalled that the jets supplied to Ukraine are among the oldest still in operational service. Although upgraded to F-16AM/BM standard, the airframes have accumulated a lot of hours and fatigue.

There is an additional complication with the air-to-air missile inventory, too. AMRAAM is not used only by Ukrainian F-16s, but also employed by its NASAMS ground-based air-defense systems. Sidewinders, too, have both air-launched and surface-launched applications. The same broader Western supply chain therefore has to support both fighter operations and some of Ukraine’s surface-to-air missile systems. Stocks of both AMRAAM and Sidewinder have been eroded by Ukraine, as well as by combat actions in the Middle East.

Southern Ukraine, a Ukrainian NASAMS surface to air missile system intercepts a Russian drone with an (SL)AIM-120B AMRAAM. pic.twitter.com/LTeDDHaECp

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) May 22, 2025

At the same time, Ukraine is continuing to receive additional F-16s. Belgium has said it will transfer three more aircraft to Ukraine before the end of this year. More aircraft will increase the potential size of the force, but they will also add to the requirement for spare parts, engines, technicians and depot capacity.

“There is an important agreement ​with Belgium on the transfer of three F-16 ​fighter jets by the end of this year,” ⁠Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X. “We will work to receive ​these aircraft through an accelerated procedure.”

There is an important agreement with Belgium on the transfer of three F-16 fighter jets by the end of this year. We will work to receive these aircraft through an accelerated procedure. We have already received urgent deliveries of F-16 ammunition from Belgium and other…

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 29, 2026

Zelensky said Ukraine had ​already received “urgent deliveries” of F-16 weapons from Belgium and Spain, among other countries.

The alternatives to the F-16 are also limited in the near term. Ukraine continues to operate the Soviet-era MiG-29 Fulcrum and a small number of Su-27 Flankers, but these aircraft are themselves aging and are also required for strike missions. In their favor, the Soviet types were designed around a different concept of operations, making them easier to maintain in the field, and Ukraine has its own support infrastructure to sustain them.

The French Mirage 2000-5F force provides another Western option, but deliveries have been relatively limited, and additional aircraft are arriving incrementally rather than in numbers that can quickly compensate for a major reduction in F-16 availability. The longer-term fighter replacement plan is more ambitious. Sweden has agreed to provide 16 Gripen C/D fighters, with the first aircraft expected in early 2027, while a separate agreement covers the purchase of 16 new Gripen E fighters whose deliveries are not scheduled to begin until early 2029.

🇫🇷🇺🇦 French-delivered Dassault Mirage 2000-5F fighter jet in service of the Ukrainian Air Force during flight somewhere over Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/eBCjtx2Gjc

— Status-6 (@Archer83Able) May 17, 2026

That leaves the F-16 as the principal Western fighter capability available to Ukraine for the immediate future, increasing the significance of any prolonged disruption to its maintenance pipeline or its supply of air-to-air weapons. Ukraine needs enough aircraft to maintain a meaningful combat presence, enough missiles to arm them for the missions they are being asked to fly, and enough maintenance capacity to keep those aircraft available as their flight hours accumulate.

All this is becoming more important as Russia’s aerial campaign evolves. If the increase in faster jet-powered drones continues, Ukraine may have to devote still more fighter sorties to countering them at the very same time that a large portion of its existing F-16 fleet is reportedly unavailable and its stocks of air-to-air missiles are under serious pressure.

Contact the autjor: thomas@thewarzone.com

Childline founder and legendary broadcaster Dame Esther Rantzen has died at the age of 86 after battling cancer, as her children announced in a joint statement.

BBC presenters Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty reflected on Dame Esther Rantzen’s life.

The 86-year-old is best known for presenting shows such as That’s Life! and for founding Childline, as well as campaigning to legalise assisted dying in the UK. In 2023, she revealed she had joined Dignitas, the Swiss assisted dying clinic, after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.

Sadly, her children confirmed in a joint statement that their mother had died on September 30, stating they will ‘miss her immeasurably.’ During Thursday’s (October 1) instalment of BBC Breakfast, presenters Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt took a moment to pay tribute to the broadcaster and reflect on her career.

Naga said: “Many tributes have been made for the broadcaster and campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen, who has died at the age of 86.”

Charlie added: “She became a household name presenting and producing the BBC programme That’s Life for more than 20 years. Our culture editor Katie Razzell looks back at her extraordinary life.”

BBC viewers were then shown a compilation of clips of Esther’s broadcasting career, including some hilarious snippets from her time on That’s Life, alongside her investigating other serious issues.

One segment saw a clip from her former co-star Adrian Mills, who said: “At the time, the three most powerful people in the country were probably, The Queen, Margaret Thatcher and Esther Rantzen, not necessarily in that order.”

Actress and comedian Miriam Margolyes added, “She just wouldn’t let anything get in the way of work. She was determined, very ambitious and somehow generous.”

A poignant moment in the tribute was a past interview with Esther herself as she commented, “I don’t expect to be remembered.

When you stop appearing on television, people assume you’ve died. My physical death, no doubt, will happen long after people have said, ‘Wasn’t she Esther Rantzen?’

One of the last campaigns Esther was fighting for was the assisted dying bill, which was rejected in Parliament on September 11.

The BBC played a clip of Esther speaking with her daughter, Rebecca Wilcox, on the phone to share her thoughts on the MP’s decision.

She said: “I am sure a change in the law will come, I am deeply sad that it won’t come soon enough for many of the people who need it.”

BBC Breakfast is available to watch weekdays on BBC One from 6am

A Black police officer asked whether a monkey was named “Tyrone,” to the laughter of a roomful of Latino and Asian colleagues.

A Latina cop described how to inflict maximum pain: “You hit Black people in the liver — I heard they got weak livers,” she said, according to an LAPD internal affairs report.

The report said their boss, an Asian sergeant, stood by as his employees used terms like “midnight” and “chocolate, chocolate” to describe people’s skin tones.

Those were among the comments that came to light last year after an LAPD whistleblower secretly recorded his colleagues in a unit that screens police recruits.

The scandal, which has seen new developments in recent weeks, is forcing department officials to reckon with a harsh reality: Years of efforts to make the LAPD more diverse have seemingly done little to stamp out prejudice in the ranks.

For much of its history, the LAPD was a white man’s department. Aggressive tactics in communities of color fueled racial uprisings in the 1960s and early 1990s, when the beating of motorist Rodney King led to the discovery of messages similar to those in the recruitment unit tapes, with officers referring to Black men as “Buckwheat” and bragging about “busting heads.”

Under pressure from lawsuits and consent decrees, police leaders pushed to recruit more Black, Latino and Asian officers, seeking to build up trust in minority communities.

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1. Los Angeles Police Department graduates a total of 22 recruits at the Los Angeles Police Academy in Elysian Park on Friday, September 18, 2026. 2. (Christina House/Los Angeles Times)

Latinos now make up more than half of the 8,500-officer department. Black officers constitute less than 9% of the force, coinciding with a decline in the city’s Black population.

The officer who made the recruitment unit recordings, Daniel Flores, is Latino.

He recorded dozens of conversations over a six-month span in 2024, eventually handing them over to the department’s inspector general for investigation.

Last week, Flores filed a new lawsuit against the city, adding to a previous claim that alleged he faced retaliation from his bosses for documenting the offensive comments he heard while on the job.

According to his latest claim, department officials recommended that he be suspended for 22 days without pay. After initially seeking to keep his job with the LAPD, the 13-year department veteran said in the lawsuit that he recently decided to retire rather than endure an increasingly hostile work environment.

Flores also alleged LAPD officials were responsible for pushing a criminal case against him for violating a state eavesdropping law that prohibits recording conversations without consent. Initially alleging 16 felonies, Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman has since reduced the charges to misdemeanors, likely allowing Flores to avoid jail time.

An LAPD spokesperson declined to answer questions about Flores’ case.

“The Department takes these allegations seriously,” Lt. Elpidio Orozco said in a statement. “Because the case and related personnel proceedings remain ongoing, we cannot discuss individual disciplinary actions or make comparisons to unrelated past incidents.”

The department’s defenders maintain that progress has been made toward rooting out bigotry.

Officers are required to undergo psychological screening and training aimed at teasing out unconscious biases. New recruits and seasoned officers alike take field trips to the Museum of Tolerance, where trainers extol the virtues of multiculturalism. The department has sent recruiters to historically Black colleges in the South and the East Coast.

But others, including civil rights attorney Connie Rice, say the latest scandal proves that the LAPD’s problems run deeper than the hateful actions of a few individuals.

The beating of Rodney King in 1991 forced a reckoning for the LAPD.

(George Holliday / Associated Press)

“Racism is like the herpes virus in the body of the LAPD: You can suppress it with a good chief, but as soon as they leave, it breaks out again,” Rice said.

A 2024 study by British researchers examined racial attitudes among members of the department’s vaunted Metropolitan Division.

The researchers found that LAPD officers were “shockingly defensive” when asked about systemic racism, taking a negative view of diversity hiring programs and insisting that left-leaning activists, elected officials and media outlets were stoking public outrage over racial profiling.

“The dismissive reactions … to a question on such an important issue highlight an unhealthy antagonism which prevents any organization from learning or developing its practice,” the researchers concluded. “It is a fundamental barrier that must be overcome.”

While hiring more officers from historically marginalized groups has long been pushed as a way to improve police practices and build trust in minority neighborhoods, studies have not necessarily borne that out, said Daniel Gascon, a sociology and criminology professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

“Just because there’s more numbers of a given sort in a department doesn’t mean it’s going to change automatically,” said Gascon, who has studied the LAPD’s relationship with Latino communities.

Since the start of the year, a review of recruit graduation announcements shows the department has hired just seven new Black officers. By contrast, roughly 80% of the 241 officers to graduate from the police academy over the last nine months have been Latino.

The growing Latino presence in the LAPD has been reflected in police use-of-force numbers.

A Times analysis of police shootings since 2016 found that of the roughly 150 people who have been shot dead by the LAPD across the city, at least 94 were Latino men. In 3 out of every 4 of those shootings, at least one of the officers who fired was also Latino, the analysis showed.

LAPD Officer Daniel Flores, left, listens as his attorney Alan Jackson speaks to reporters at the Superior Court building.

(Libor Jany / Los Angeles Times)

Despite the increased diversity, interviews with current and former LAPD members indicate deep divisions are reflected in the way that Black and Latino officers see the department’s racial issues. Most agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation.

Several Black officers told The Times they still experience workplace hostility and racial dog whistles, such as fretting about the lowering of police recruit standards. The comments, they said, came from Black and Latino colleagues alike.

Too often, the Black officers said, Latinos who wear the uniform see themselves only as victims of discrimination, and not perpetrators.

Some Black officers said they avoid conversations about race entirely for fear of upsetting conservative colleagues — who feel emboldened by the divisive rhetoric coming from the White House.

The Latino officers who spoke to The Times said the department has for too long prioritized the promotion of Black members of the force to leadership roles while the representation of Latinos in the highest ranks has slipped.

Others argue that because society tends to lump Latinos of different backgrounds together, workplace discrimination against and within the community is often missed.

Officers from both groups said their race has been used against them when it comes to promotions. But both sides also say racism is a problem in society writ large, and not limited to the LAPD.

In a recent interview with The Times, Mayor Karen Bass said that although she is pleased that the department has increased the number of Latino officers to reflect the city’s demographics, its percentage of Black officers continues to dwindle as older African Americans are on the brink of retirement with very few young Black officers coming onto the job.

Bass, who was a young community organizer in South L.A. when the King beating happened, said it was foolhardy to believe that merely because the LAPD is more diverse, old problems cannot be repeated.

“Just because this happened 30 years ago and there are new policies that were put in place, that’s not enough,” she said in an interview with The Times. “You’ve gotta make sure that those policies are constantly updated.”

Times staff writers Andrea Flores and Richard Winton contributed to this report.

An example of success at elite level is the Women’s Super League. In January 2023, only four of 12 WSL coaches were women.

Now, eight out of 14 managers in the English top tier are women,, external including the managers of all three newly promoted sides – Amy Merricks at Birmingham, Crystal Palace’s Jo Potter and Karen Hills of Charlton Athletic.

A new Fifa quota stating women’s teams must have a female head coach or assistant has also helped redress the balance in top-level football.

However, at grassroots level it is a different story, with barriers including cost and childcare, even for former Lionesses.

“That number is a shock,” said ex-England international Fara Williams, speaking on the BBC’s Women’s Football Fallout about the drop in coaching numbers.

“The cost to do B and A licences, and the salaries or opportunities you will get from that investment, it does not quite marry up. They are quite costly, those badges.

“I tried it [the coaching pathway], it was not feasible to take up that opportunity. Some can take that risk, but our generation of players, we were not paid enough to go mortgage free, bills must be paid. I needed to do something that would pay the bills, and football coaching was not that.

“When I was playing, I was adamant I was going to be a coach, I coached all the development teams at Everton, Liverpool and Reading, but it is so different. When you are playing you don’t have the opportunities to coach at a higher level, then when you come out the game you don’t have the money.”

The Uefa Pro Licence, external – the qualification needed to coach at the highest level of English football – costs £14,000, and there are only 24 places per intake.

For a C licence, the lowest certification level, the cost is £650., external This can be subsidised, but only if the applicant is currently associated with an FA registered club, creating a chicken and egg situation.

Handyside acknowledges that cost is a major barrier – for women and men.

“The top three barriers are the same for men and women, and cost was in there for both,” she said.

“It is seen as a bigger barrier for women because when you must work twice as hard, the risk and reward balance is more outmatched.

“If you are a female looking at that cost and think you will also be overstretched and under supported, that £650 will have more of an impact.”

Follow our build-up, field hockey rivalry history, score, photos and live text commentary stream of the match in Japan.

On a hazy, humid Sunday morning, just before 9:30 a.m. local time, the USS Theodore Roosevelt sailed out of San Diego Bay for a much-anticipated but little-advertised deployment. The Nimitz class flagship of Carrier Strike Group 9 (CSG-9), nicknamed “The Big Stick,” departed on September 27 and is expected to head to the Middle East to relieve one of the two carriers on station supporting operations against Iran, according to USNI News. As is common with deployments from the West Coast, the departure was not announced by the Navy publicly, although there were several unconfirmed claims on social media that highlighted the impending cruise.

The three-ship Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), packed with thousands of Marines who specialize in expeditionary operations, followed Roosevelt’s path out of the harbor the next day. While the Makin Island ARGs ultimate destination is unclear, the Boxer ARG, currently operating in the Middle East, left the United States on March 18 and is due for relief.

Here’s TWZ’s weekly carrier tracker monitoring America’s flattop fleet, including deployed CSGs and ARGs, using publicly available open-source information. Check out last week’s report here.

Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group Deploys, Reportedly Bound For The Middle East

USS Theodore Roosevelt keyed her Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponder on at 9:10 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time on September 27, broadcasting her precise position publicly via MarineTraffic, and got underway less than 20 minutes later with the help of a few tugs. The supercarrier steamed past Point Loma at seven knots before sailing west and picking up speed, topping 24 knots, then made a hard turn south and stopped transmitting on AIS roughly three hours after departing. She briefly flipped AIS back on again, 55 nautical miles southwest of her previous location, but has been dark since.

Three guided-missile destroyers, USS Paul Hamilton, USS Decatur, and USS Carl M. Levin, are part of CSG-9 and will escort the flattop, TWZ has learned. Rounding out the five-ship CSG is Ticonderoga class guided-missile cruiser USS Chosin, which will serve as the Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) commander for the CSG. The IAMD warfare commander is responsible for coordinating air defense for the entire strike group − a vital role since Roosevelt will be entering an active combat zone. Tico cruisers have 122 Vertical Launch System (VLS) cells, more than the 90 to 96 that Arleigh Burke destroyers are equipped with, and are being retired without a comparable cruiser lined up to replace the aging fleet; however, the newest Flight III Burke destroyers will take on the air warfare commander role.

The carrier has embarked, or is in the process of taking on, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 11 off the West Coast before beginning the long journey toward the Western Pacific. CVW 11 includes a squadron of stealthy fifth-generation F-35C Lightning IIs, in addition to three squadrons of F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and one of EA-18G Growlers. Support squadrons of E-2D Hawkeyes, MH-60R Seahawks, and MH-60S Seahawks are also aboard, as well as a detachment of CMV-22B Ospreys.

USNI News was the first outlet to confirm the deployment and suggests the CSG is headed to the Middle East. “The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group is expected to move to U.S. Central Command to relieve the Japan-based USS George Washington (CVN-73),” they wrote in a report published on Monday.

In response to a request to confirm the deployment, a Navy official told TWZ, “The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group is underway conducting routine operations in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operations. U.S. 3rd Fleet leads naval forces in the region and provides the realistic, relevant training necessary to execute our Navy’s role across the full spectrum of military operations – from combat operations to humanitarian assistance and disaster response. U.S. 3rd Fleet works together with allies and partners to advance freedom of navigation and overflight, the rule of law, and other principles that underpin security for the region.”

The underway was live-streamed on San Diego Web Cam, which had a few hundred viewers at the peak. TWZ was monitoring the feed at the time after rumors surfaced that a departure was imminent. Notably, Sailors were not spotted manning the rails, which is usually an easy tell that a warship is deploying rather than training. However, several public posts on social media by individual Sailors, as well as their friends and family, pointed to the ship heading on its long-awaited cruise.

USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) Departs San Diego on Deployment | San Diego Web Cam

Video: @SanDiegoWebCam/YouTube

Roosevelt has been preparing for the cruise for the better part of a year. The CSG last deployed from January 11 to October 15, 2024, to the U.S. 5th and 7th Fleet areas of responsibility (AOR) in support of Operation Prosperity Guardian. After arriving back home nearly two years ago, the carrier underwent an eight-month Planned Incremental Availability (PIA). Following the PIA, she completed flight deck certification and carrier qualifications from July 23 to July 29, 2025. In 2026, the carrier conducted Composite Unit Training Exercise (COMPTUEX) from April 14 to May 15, and then steamed to Hawaii for the large-scale, biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise from June 24 to July 28. Most recently, Roosevelt completed a brief pierside availability prior to deploying, as TWZ first reported.

In February, Vice Adm. Brendan McLane told reporters at WEST 2026 that a medium unmanned surface vessel (MUSV) would deploy with the strike group for the first time. During COMPTUEX and RIMPAC, the Roosevelt CSG drilled alongside Leidos’ MUSV Seahawk, which TWZ was the first to report. We asked the Navy to confirm whether an MUSV would accompany the group, but have not received a response. As of publication, Seahawk was still pierside in San Diego, and it’s unclear if the drone boat will operate with the CSG or remain in San Diego.

Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group Also Deploys, Destination Unknown

The three-ship Makin Island ARG, with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) embarked, got underway for a deployment on September 28, a Navy official also confirmed to USNI News. In addition to the flagship Wasp class amphibious assault ship (LHD), USS Makin Island, two San Antonio class amphibious transport dock ships (LPD), USS John P. Murtha and USS Anchorage, left on the same day and round out the expeditionary group.

USS Makin Island (LHD 8) Departs San Diego on Deployment

Video: @SanDiegoWebCam/YouTube

No destination has been formally announced. However, there is an obvious candidate for relief: the Boxer ARG. Currently on station in the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) AOR supporting blockade and interdiction operations in the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, the group has been deployed since mid-March. The amphibious fleet is notorious for experiencing maintenance issues, and these ships have been pushed hard without a port call in months. Amphibious ships move slower than carriers, and if CENTCOM turns out to be the final destination, the Makin Island ARG would have to hustle to arrive before November.

Makin Island embarks short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) F-35B Lightning IIs, assigned to the “Wake Island Avengers” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 211, and MV-22B Ospreys with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 364 (Reinforced). The Bravos recently conducted a simulated airstrike off the coast of California.

Abraham Lincoln Days Away From Well-Deserved Homecoming

Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao flew out to the flight deck of USS Abraham Lincoln as she was sailing eastbound in the Hawaiian Islands operating area, en route to her homeport in San Diego. “Today, our warfighters aboard USS Abraham Lincoln demonstrated the overwhelming capacity and capability that they brought to bear on our adversaries for the last 10 months,” he wrote in a post on Sunday.

USS Frank E. Petersen Jr., a destroyer that escorted Lincoln throughout the 10-month deployment, peeled off and moored at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on Monday. “Over the course of 300 days, Frank E. Petersen Jr.’s crew conducted 45 replenishments-at-sea, sailed over 85,000 nautical miles, safely transferred over 7,544,486 gallons of F-76 fuel and 175,288 gallons of JP-5 fuel, and completed 1,094 hours of flight quarters,” according to a press release. The statement also confirmed that the warship served as IAMD commander for the group. The destroyer defended against more than 100 missile and drone attacks, Stars and Stripes recently reported.

Petersen Jr. and USS Michael Murphy became the first U.S. warships to transit the Strait of Hormuz since the war began when they entered the Persian Gulf in April in support of mine-clearance efforts.

Lincoln is now 314 days into her deployment and less than two weeks shy of surpassing the 326-day record USS Gerald R. Ford set in May. Approximately 2,000 nautical miles separate Hawaii from Naval Air Station North Island, but assuming a straight shot, it does not appear Lincoln will break the record.

Growler Mishap On Dwight D. Eisenhower

Two crew members from an EA-18G Growler embarked on the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (Ike) were rescued after ejecting due to an arresting gear failure, the Navy announced in a statement. The incident took place on Monday around 6:18 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time as the vessel was underway off the coast of Virginia.

The aviators, assigned to the “Zappers” of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 130 and attached to CVW 3, “safely returned to the ship and are being evaluated by medical personnel,” according to the release. The “Dusty Dogs” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 7 recovered the crew using MH-60S Seahawk helos.

Four shipboard personnel “were also injured during the mishap and are receiving medical care,” the Navy said. “One Sailor is being transported to a Norfolk-area hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries,” according to the original statement. In total, eight sailors were evaluated by the ship’s medical team.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation, and it’s unclear whether the aircraft was lost or if there was any damage to the carrier. TWZ has reached out to the Navy to find out more details.

Eisenhower wrapped an extended 15-month PIA earlier this year in April. The flattop had been pierside at Naval Station Norfolk since September 2 after being at sea for 12 days completing Fleet Replacement Squadron and Training Command Carrier Qualifications (CQ) in the Virginia Capes and Jacksonville operating areas. She got underway again on the afternoon of September 28, based on public AIS data, for Tailored Ship’s Training Availability, Final Evaluation Problem, and CQ, one of the final steps before onloading ammunition for COMPTUEX, where the full strike group certifies for deployment.

Ike is working up in preparation for a future deployment scheduled for the first half of 2027, TWZ previously reported.

Reports Surface That George H.W. Bush Is Headed To Thailand For A Port Call

Multiple news outlets in Thailand reported Tuesday that USS George H.W. Bush and destroyer USS Delbert D. Black, which have both been in the Middle East in support of operations against Iran, will make a port call in Phuket in early October. If such a transit occurs, this would leave one carrier, the USS George Washington, on station in the U.S. 5th Fleet AOR for the first time since April. The Navy has not formally made an announcement, and TWZ has not verified the accounts.

The reports are based on a meeting that representatives of the U.S. Embassy in Thailand allegedly held with the Patong police to discuss security protocols during the stop. “The visit has prompted coordination between Thai authorities and US officials over security, public order, and the movement of visiting military personnel during shore leave,” Phuket News wrote. According to the article, Patong police met with two deputy assistant defense attachés, Lou Pham and Robert Robinson, to discuss the visit. U.S. personnel were advised to comply with Thai laws during their stay, a specific request that may have been triggered by the recent visit of Lincoln.

There are conflicting accounts of when Bush would arrive in Phuket’s deep-sea port, but the visit will likely last five or six days, which is similar to Lincoln’s recent port call in the Southeast Asian country. If the timeline holds, it means Bush is likely already en route from her station in the Arabian Sea, where the CSG was most recently operating as of September 25, according to DVIDS. The Bangkok Post and Thai Examiner also reported the upcoming visit.

Notably, the reports do not mention any of the other warships that have been part of the Bush CSG in the past, including USS Donald Cook, USS Ross, USS Mason, or USS Princeton. The composition of the Bush CSG has shifted throughout the cruise.

Big Deck Fleet At A Glance

Overall, four U.S. carriers are deployed (with one heading home), three are working up in various states of readiness, three are in current or upcoming maintenance, one is being used primarily for training before deactivation next year, and the future USS John F. Kennedy, the second Ford class carrier, has received preliminary acceptance ahead of delivery in spring 2027. Two amphibious ready groups are deployed, one is forward-deployed, three are working up or in port, and three are in maintenance.

Note: Positions are general approximations. Non-deployed LHA/LHD amphibious warships are not shown.

Contact the author: ian@twz.com or @ianellisjones

Country western star Wynonna Judd is confirming that she and her sister, Emmy Award-nominated actor Ashley Judd, do not have a relationship.

She spoke with People ahead of the release of her 10th solo studio album, “The Hard Truth,” which drops Friday, and revealed that the rift between the sisters is still there after years of on and off disharmony.

Wynonna told the outlet that Ashley hadn’t heard the album, as the sisters are not “connected.”

“We’re taking a break, which all families can relate to,” she said. “She’s doing her thing, and I’m doing mine.”

In April 2022, Wynonna and Ashley’s mother, Naomi Judd, died by suicide at 76 after a lifelong battle with depression. Naomi and Wynonna made up the Grammy-winning duo the Judds.

At the time, the sisters released a statement together, writing, “Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness. … We are shattered. We are navigating profound grief and know that as we loved her, she was loved by her public. We are in unknown territory.”

The following month, the two appeared at the annual Medallion Ceremony, where the Judds were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the sisters spoke on behalf of their mother.

“While this is so much about the Judds as a duo, I want to take a moment to recognize my sister, a GOAT,” Ashley said at the ceremony. “Do you know what that means? I don’t think she knows I’m calling her the greatest of all time. She lives on a farm. She’s being a little literal.”

Ashley told the crowd that growing up as the younger sister of Wynonna, she got to “bask in this voice that was around the house, and I’ve always been so proud of the music and so proud of you. … So I know that we’re talking a lot about Mom tonight, as we should be. Our beautiful mother, and I want you to know that you also are being inducted to the Hall of Fame tonight. And newspapers don’t get much right these days, but when the Los Angeles Times said you were Elvis-like, they got it right. And I love you, and I’m proud of you. And Mom is proud of you, and she always was.”

By October 2022, rumors were flying that the sisters were fighting over their mother’s will, a claim that Wynonna shot down while speaking with People.

“Someone told me while I was at Ashley’s house, ‘Hey, did you know that they’re saying this about you?’ I went, ‘Huh? I’m fighting with Ashley?’” Wynonna said. “Fighting over what? I have such a great life. Ashley has a great life. Why would we be fighting over the will?”

This wasn’t the first time a feud was reported between the two. Back in January 2015, Wynonna gave a teary-eyed account of the disconnect during an appearance on AXS TV’s “The Big Interview With Dan Rather.”

“The only thing I have in common with my sister is a father missing and a mother that’s both of ours. She and I are very different. We don’t communicate, nor do we spend time together, and that’s a long history of being apart,” Wynonna told Rather.

Wynonna said that she and Ashley were dysfunctional, didn’t agree on anything and developed separate lives, but she cared for her younger sister growing up.

“I raised Ashley, so I think there’s a lot of work we still have to do about where do we find the ‘sister’ in all of this,” she said. “She called me sister mommy, and I really had a hard time with that, because I was like, I don’t want to be your mommy. I want to be your sister.”

Many favour a circular walk, but you can give a linear one new shape with the addition of a novel form of transport. My wife Helen, our friend Tom Cox and I take the water taxi – a rigid inflatable boat (Rib) – from West Bay on Dorset’s coast to Lyme Regis, with a plan to walk back to our starting point.

The rain stops as the boat leaves the harbour, the views open along Chesil Beach to low-lying Portland to the east, and west to Lyme Regis; on the far horizon, we can see Start Point on the Devon coast. Our skipper, Nick, is highly knowledgable and takes time to stop and point out the history of the shoreline and the treacherous waters of Lyme Bay. The seabed is studded with wrecks – fishing boats and smugglers’ ships, but some are from the two world wars.

On New Year’s Day 1915, the battleship HMS Formidable was torpedoed by a German submarine. Of its crew of 750, no more than 200 survived. In the second world war, the Dorset coast was a huge mustering station for the allied forces in preparation for D-day. During Exercise Tiger, a large-scale rehearsal for the Normandy landings, hundreds of American service personnel were killed in an attack by German boats later known as the Battle of Lyme Bay – the wreck sites are now designated war graves.

At Lyme Regis, we disembark on to the Cobb, the harbour wall that snakes unsteadily into the bay and was made famous by Jane Austen, who had Louisa jump from it in Persuasion, and by John Fowles, who lived in Lyme. The movie adaptation of his novel The French Lieutenant’s Woman starred Meryl Streep as Sarah Woodruff. Its famous trailer begins with the actor sweeping across the Cobb, the hood of her cloak covering her face. For the filming, many buildings in the town were given a 19th-century facade. For a film that plays with time, it seems appropriate that the town’s bookshop kept its temporary fascia for many years.

Our walk back to West Bay is 10 miles long and begins not along the coast but by heading inland. The west Dorset coast is friable – the cliffs keep falling on to the beaches, and the path to Charmouth takes a diversion through a golf course. It wasn’t always like this: once there was a coastal road, Long Entry, between the two settlements. In 1725, Henry Fielding, then aged 17, attempted to abduct his cousin Sarah, with whom he was infatuated, from Lyme. The future novelist made his escape along Long Entry before being stopped by her guardian.

Our walk back to the coast is interrupted by a sculpture on the path. The shape of a woman, angular and determined, a hammer in her outstretched right hand, the other holding above her head the skeleton of a prehistoric animal. There’s another recent sculpture of the same subject, Mary Anning, in Lyme Regis, recording her importance to palaeontology and to the town, but this upland creature, made by Greta Berlin, is wilder, perfectly suited to its woodland setting. The representation of the fossil held aloft is Anning’s discovery: Ichthyosaurus anningae. One cannot walk this section of Dorset’s coast without being aware of its ancient past and the fragile geology close to the surface. Our boat trip began on crumbly sandstone, which gave way to fossil-rich clay as we travelled west.

Charmouth is a pretty village with no harbour; its shallow waters make it popular with those learning to swim or paddleboard. This next section of the South West Coast Path, to West Bay, coincides with the Monarch’s Way, the route that Charles II took to flee to mainland Europe after the civil war. Our day is more peaceful but the path is steep. We’re grateful for Tom’s company – his latest novel, Everything Will Swallow You, is infused with the history and landscape of the Dorset coast and his knowledge enlivens our walk, as do the pasties he brings, baked by his wife, Ellie.

We pass the remains of St Gabriel’s Church, which fell into disuse in the 18th century, although smugglers found within its walls useful shelter for their contraband. Soon we’re on Golden Cap, the highest point on the south coast – 191 metres (627ft) above sea level, with extraordinary views over Lyme Bay. At Seatown, we stop at the Anchor Inn for refreshments, meeting friends who have opted for a shorter walk. From Thorncombe Beacon, we descend to Eype Mouth – in Old English Eype is “Steep Place”; the church in this secluded village was chosen by PJ Harvey to record Let England Shake, a Mercury prize-winning album rich with the echoes of war.

There are further reminders of the coast’s fragility on the final stretch to West Bay – one sign references a cliff fall in 2020, and the path is frequently redirected to safer routes. West Bay, a small stone town, was once the harbour from where Bridport exported its rope and was originally called Bridport Harbour, but had its name changed by the railway company hoping to attract tourists. The railway is long gone – its station now hosts a restaurant in railway carriages – but West Bay, with its stalls for chips and views back towards Lyme, is a fitting place to end, a town out of time.

OS Explorer 116 (Lyme Regis & Bridport) covers the entire walk from Lyme Regis to West Bay. The Lyme Bay Water Taxi operates during the summer months; there is a year-round bus service between West Bay and Lyme Regis. Jon Woolcott is the author of Real Dorset and The Tattooed Hills, Journeys to Chalk Figures

The California I grew up in had its pluses and minuses, just like the state I’m living in now.

But consider this:

In 1974, I wrote a check for a semester of college.

The fee was $98.

That was the cost of registration, by the way. Tuition for in-state residents was free at San José State University and other public universities in California. The state’s leaders believed subsidized higher education would serve the greater good and seed economic growth.

Two years after graduating, I was working as a sportswriter for a small Bay Area newspaper. My spouse was a drug store clerk. Together we made less than $20,000 a year.

And we bought a brand-new house, 45 minutes east of Oakland, for just under $50,000.

In a thousand ways, we’re living in a different California today. Tuition and fees for a semester on a Cal State campus now run about $4,500, and the average mid-tier home costs about $775,000 in some places and far more in others, which is out of reach for nearly 80% of working people.

So as I watched the gubernatorial debate Wednesday night between the two men who want to lead us into the future, I was wondering which California is better in terms of hope, opportunity and livability?

The one I was born in during the postwar boom, or the one we’re living in now?

There’s no easy answer. The California of my youth was more affordable, but it was no utopian dreamscape. Housing discrimination and segregation were deep-seated, and the Los Angeles sky was the color of swamp water.

In the last half of the 20th century, California went on to become a global leader in technology, aerospace, the arts and healthcare, and its investment in public education helped build an economic superpower. Even the air got cleaned up, to a degree.

But for all of California’s riches and unrivaled natural beauty, it’s fair to say things are out of whack at the moment. How is it that the world’s fourth-largest economy also has the nation’s highest poverty rate?

There’s a flotilla of yachts, but millions of have-nots, and enough homeless people to fill stadiums. If we’re so progressive, and swimming in more venture capital than the rest of the nation combined, why are the masses crippled by a housing shortage and the high cost of living, and why did we build a soaring higher education model while letting our once exalted K-12 system sink in national rankings?

If California weren’t so lopsidedly blue, Republican candidate Steve Hilton might get a little more traction with a campaign built around the idea that there’s an easy explanation for the state’s misery of problems: Democrats have been in charge for years, they’ve mucked things up, and Xavier Becerra is yet another textbook California liberal who will stay the course.

“It’s impossible for regular working people to live in this state anymore,” Hilton charged during the debate, calling out over-regulation, the high cost of living, the housing shortage and a homelessness problem that “shames” our state. “And all you’re offering,” Hilton continued, “is more of the same, backed by the same corrupt machine in Sacramento.”

Becerra, meanwhile, kept handcuffing Hilton to President Trump, a good move, given that the president has helped launch an idiotic war, gummed up the economy, and seen his favorability plummet.

Hilton is not entirely off base, although there’s no evidence he has plausible solutions.

What he doesn’t tell you is that other states have their own problems, many of which have more to do with global economic forces — and President Trump’s war-mongering and tariff tirades — than with public policy decisions at the state level.

When I was a lad, my father drove a milk truck, and then a bread truck, and then he sold candy and tobacco for a wholesale distributor based in Oakland, near the Coliseum, where he’d take me to A’s games but save a few bucks by parking next to the railroad tracks a half-mile away from the parking lot.

His jobs were mostly unionized. Unions were plentiful in the private sector back then. My family saved up for a house while we lived in an apartment, and then I paid next to nothing for a college degree.

The boldness of that idea — a free education at an elite university, with a lofty if unfulfilled goal of equal access for all — is still a testament to California’s long-ago grand ambition, even if Gov. Ronald Reagan eventually ended free tuition.

In her new book, “California Dreams: The Making and Remaking of the University of California,” Miriam Pawel references a quote from UC Berkeley alum Joan Didion, who called the system “the most coherent expression of the California possibility.”

The staircase I climbed was the essence of what USC professor Natalia Molina called “the infrastructure” of upward mobility. In her immigrant family, her grandmother established an Echo Park restaurant that Molina wrote a book about — “A Place at the Nayarit” — and her mother ran the bar there after attending bartending school.

Molina went to UCLA, and is now both a MacArthur Foundation fellow (the “genius” grant) and a Guggenheim fellow.

“There’s not that same path for upward mobility,” Molina said. “But there sure seems to be a path for downward mobility.”

That brings me back to the economy, and lessons I learned in 2018, when I spent several weeks in and around Telfair Elementary School in Pacoima, looking into why nearly a quarter of the students were homeless.

The answer? Several once-bustling manufacturing and aerospace companies in the area had shut down. The new economy was fast food and big box stores. Pay dropped; housing prices spiked. It was a snapshot of a changing world — one we haven’t yet adapted to.

Modern politics is not built to foster long-term thinking about such challenges, said longtime political strategist Darry Sragow.

“What are the dreams, what are the aspirations, where do you want to go?” said Sragow, who doesn’t know the answers but would like to at least hear the questions. “I keep looking for somebody who will do that.”

Agoura Hills resident and attorney Dan Douglass, 80, who detests President Trump and isn’t a fan of Hilton, told me that as a moderate Republican, he feels like “a man without a party.” But he is not without an answer to California’s housing problem.

“They’ve made it too complicated to build anything,” Douglass said. “Too many permits. Too much time to build.”

He is not wrong.

Samuel Trachtman, a political scientist with the UC Berkeley Economy and Society Initiative, argues that despite recent legislative progress on the housing crisis, state policies are restricting growth and making California more unaffordable.

“California must reduce regulatory costs that fall disproportionately on low- and middle-income residents,” Trachtman wrote in a recent four-part analysis.

“The state has “long led the nation in regulations promoting safety, sustainability, and quality,” he went on. “These policies can produce strong benefits. But they can also drive up the cost of essentials — costs that hit the poor hardest. This amounts to regressively funded progressivism.”

California was, and is, a work in progress, richly endowed and deeply flawed. Fixing complicated problems isn’t easy, but what I’d like to see from the next governor is more of the striving, imagination and sense of collective purpose that made California great.

There’s no way and no reason to go back to the state of my youth, but Trachtman had a thought about where to go next.

“In some ways we can use the past as a model,” he told me. “But in other ways we need to be more innovative and think about charting a path forward.”

Toward the most coherent expression of the California possibility.

steve.lopez@latimes.com