President Donald Trump on Friday said he would designate the Strait of Hormuz a territory of the United States “pretty soon” as the status of the waterway, a global chokepoint through which a fifth of global oil and gas passes, remains under a military and diplomatic deadlock.

Iran has fired back, dubbing Trump’s threats as “nonsense” as the memorandum of understanding signed between the two in June expires on Sunday.

Tehran has blocked the passage to leverage it as a global economy kill switch, while Washington has maintained a military naval blockade against Iran’s ports, choking its economy further.

In the apparent game of who blinks first – though Trump says negotiation with Iran “is like chess” – the US president’s military rhetoric has also followed a pattern throughout the ongoing war, which began on February 28. On many occasions, he has threatened to attack Iran only to pull back at the eleventh hour.

So, can the US actually make the Strait of Hormuz its territory? And what does that even mean?

What has Trump said?

“After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated, pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States,” Trump said during a speech at a police academy in New York.

Referring to the naval blockade, Trump went a step further to suggest that the Strait of Hormuz is already a US territory. “Essentially, that’s what it is,” he added.

“We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to,” he said.

Iran maintains that it controls the waterway — and despite the US claims, some vessels have transited the passage despite the blockade, maritime navigation data shows.

“It’s clear the US president, with a chuckle as he said that, even himself, is not taking this particularly seriously,” said Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Washington, DC.

“These are the territorial waters of Iran and Oman. But what the US president likes to do is get under the skin of adversaries, and, in this case, it’s Iran,” she said.

“What we should point out, though, is what the US president is not backing down on is the fact that there is a naval blockade by the United States in effect in the Strait of Hormuz, and that is ongoing.

How has Iran reacted to it?

Several Iranian officials have sharply reacted to Trump’s remarks. The head of the judiciary came out with furious rhetoric, calling the US president criminal and feather-headed, his remarks “nonsense” and saying the Strait of Hormuz belongs to Iran.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, also responded, saying, “The Strait of Hormuz cannot be seized by tweet, nor by aircraft carrier, nor by issuing an order, nor by an election speech.”

“The Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian; this strait will only be closed and opened under Iran’s command, and as long as you do not accept the reality of defeat and cease your fanciful delusions, Iran will continue to enforce the blockade,” he added.

Meanwhile, Iran has been holding talks with Oman, the only other coastal country in the strait, to reach a settlement on the management of maritime traffic in the strait. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in comments carried by the Iranian Students’ News Agency, said negotiations between Tehran and Muscat “may reach a conclusion soon”.

The reopening of the waterway, however, is a separate issue, Araghchi said, where Washington has to adhere to promises made in the June memorandum of understanding, including removal of the naval blockade and sanctions on Iran.

That is the new Iranian position on the ongoing war, where Tehran is now seeking these US concessions for mere reopening of the waterway, which were originally conditions for ending the war.

Is Trump’s claim even practical?

First, sovereignty does not exchange hands over a mere unilateral presidential proclamation.

For instance, Trump had earlier threatened to send US boots to Iran’s Kharg Island to take over the key Iranian oil export hub in the Gulf. Tehran then responded by saying that its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps would be waiting for them, “with fingers on the trigger”. Trump had previously also threatened to take over Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.

Bruce Fein, associate deputy attorney general under President Ronald Reagan, says Trump is constitutionally powerless to annex on his own.

“A treaty ratified by the Senate or statute is constitutionally required to annex territory, as with the Louisiana Purchase or annexation of Hawaii or Panama Canal or acquisition of Puerto Rico or the Philippines in ending the Spanish-American War.

If he goes ahead with annexation, Fein says, it would “constitute the crime of aggressive war under international law, including the UN Charter”.

Natalie Klein, a specialist in international law and associate dean at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, said, “Essentially the only way Trump’s claim could have any plausibility under international law would be if the US was asserting control over the Strait as an occupying power perhaps comparable to the authority the US exercised over Japan immediately after World War II.”

“But in that scenario, the US would need to have military control over Iran or at least its coastal areas.”

Trump’s war on Iran is also widely unpopular in the US, where the president and his fellow Republicans are seeking to defend their narrow congressional majorities in November’s midterm elections. Barely 35 percent of Americans approve of the war, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Several US media publications have reported that Washington is running short on munitions, including the crucial Patriot antimissile interceptor. Petrol prices have also increased, and are now averaging more than $4 a gallon – a major issue for Americans.

Last week, US Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration’s top priority in the war was to control increasing petrol prices, while stopping Iran’s supposed race to a nuclear weapon now comes second.

Tehran has also attacked its neighbours in the Gulf, which analysts say are aimed at forcing the regional countries to push Washington into a corner at the negotiating table.

Even Iran does not enjoy unfettered sovereignty over the strait as a whole, under international laws, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), but only some coastal sites near its own borders.

The UNCLOS recognises coastal-state sovereignty over territorial waters, but limits that territorial sea to 12 nautical miles (22km), and notes that ships enjoy a right of passage that “shall not be impeded”.

The Strait of Hormuz is in international waters, sandwiched between the coasts of Iran and Oman. At its narrowest point, the strait is only about 21 nautical miles (39km) wide — and the two countries’ 12-nautical mile territorial seas overlap across it.

While neither the US nor Iran has ratified UNCLOS, the convention’s rules on international straits are widely regarded as customary law.

Paul Musgrave, an associate professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar, said Trump usually makes such statements primarily to speak to a US audience, especially his support base.

It is important to remember, he added, that Trump is a product of US reality TV and is, at the end of the day, a “showman”.

“This is a guy who speaks big. You have to take him seriously in some cases but not literally,” Musgrave cautioned.

Trump cannot be taken seriously, especially in this case because making the strait US territory is physically and legally impossible, he said. But the statements do show that Trump is determined not to back down from Iran and accept defeat in the months-long war, he added.

Palestinian politicians and analysts have warned against what they describe as an Israeli plan to illegally annex the occupied West Bank by implementing a series of decisions and actions under different pretexts.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz, on Friday, ordered the military to prepare a plan for transferring civilian law enforcement in the occupied West Bank to the Israeli police.

According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the decision follows criticism over the army’s handling of Israeli settlers who besieged a Palestinian home in the village of Qusra.

Katz justified the shift, saying, “The army’s role is to combat Palestinian terrorism … and not chase hilltop youth.”

The Defence Ministry indicated the police would establish a dedicated force to handle these civilian matters.

However, Palestinian officials and a wide array of political experts warn this structural shift represents a dangerous acceleration of illegal annexation, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing.

Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, told Al Jazeera that the settlers are the “spearhead in the process of annexation and Judaisation”.

He drew direct historical parallels to the mass displacement of Palestinians, stating, “They repeat what the Zionist terror gangs did in 1948, like the Haganah and the Stern Gang.”

Barghouti warned that placing security in the hands of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and illegal Israeli settlements under Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich amounts to “handing over the West Bank to the settlers”.

He stressed that this is an open war on the population, adding, “The actual ruler in the West Bank is the known fascist terrorist Smotrich.”

De facto annexation

Analysts argue that replacing military occupation law with domestic civilian law fundamentally alters the legal reality of the territory. Mohanad Mustafa, an academic and researcher in Israeli affairs, told Al Jazeera that the decision legally erases the borders.

“The government is dealing with the West Bank not as an occupied territory,” Mustafa said. He explained that by transferring power to a civilian police force, “this means that the government has annexed the West Bank”.

He noted this move absolves the military of its obligations under international law, placing enforcement under Ben-Gvir.

Mustafa warned that Ben-Gvir, who previously oversaw the demolition of thousands of Arab homes in Israel, will now command the police to “support the settlers more and more and push them more and more towards deepening their repression and terrorism against the Palestinians”.

Palestinian leadership strongly condemned the mandate. Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, described the move as a blatant violation of international agreements and an attempt to “impose Israeli law and sovereignty over the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and to entrench the illegal annexation of Palestinian land”.

The Palestinian group Hamas echoed this sentiment, releasing a statement calling the order a “dangerous step on the path to imposing de facto annexation” that provides “cover and more protection for the escalating attacks and crimes of the settlers”.

Fascist militias

The Palestinian Authority has accused the Israeli government and its military of sponsoring settlers’ violence. Even Israeli members of parliament have accused the army of being complicit.

Analysts stress that relieving the military of its duties essentially deputises settler violence, turning them into an armed extension of the state.

Nihad Abu Ghosh, an expert in Israeli affairs, told Al Jazeera that there is no contradiction between the army and the settlers. He noted that the settlers have evolved into “fascist militia formations” that perform the state’s dirty work.

“These are fascist militia formations, and there are similar precedents in many countries that were ruled by fascism, whether in Spain, Italy, Germany, or even Chile,” Abu Ghosh said.

He added that these militias carry out roles that “require evading any discipline, rules, or laws” to achieve a “creeping, gradual annexation to make it a reality”.

Apartheid and displacement

The dual legal framework resulting from this shift has drawn sharp international and local criticism. Shadi al-Shurafa, a researcher in Israeli affairs, told Al Jazeera that the situation is a textbook definition of segregation.

“We are facing an application of an overt racist apartheid system in the West Bank,” al-Shurafa said, noting it involves one regime operating with two entirely different laws based on ethnicity.

He added that the ultimate goal of the current government is carrying out complete ethnic cleansing and trapping Palestinians in “isolated cantons and isolated Bantustans”.

Other experts argue that the move completely alters the international legal status of the territory, pushing the crisis into a new, more dangerous phase.

“The subject has bypassed the issue of annexation to a post-annexation phase and creating a reality where the Palestinian finds himself forced to think about migration,” said Adel Shadid, expert in Israeli affairs.

International complicity

Analysts also pointed to the role of the international community, particularly the United States, in enabling this systemic shift.

Shadid dismissed recent US condemnations of settler violence as mere theatre to “mislead global public opinion”.

He argued that the underlying project has full US backing, noting that “all that is happening now is an American-Israeli plan and there is harmony between the two right-wing administrations in Washington and here in Israel”.

Andrew Whitley, a former United Nations official and director of the Balfour Project, stressed that the planned transfer is “completely illegal” and urged immediate global intervention.

He told Al Jazeera that the “Palestinian state is disappearing before our eyes”, demanding that the international community move beyond rhetoric.

“We have to do much more than just wring our hands and complain that governments are not doing anything about this,” Whitley said, calling for concrete sanctions to halt the rapid erasure of the Palestinian presence.

ARIANA Grande appeared to show off a mysterious new tattoo as she kicked off the first night of her London tour.

The new inking is thought to match one recently seen on boyfriend Ricky Álvarez, sparking speculation that the couple may have got identical designs ahead of Ariana’s ten-day residency.

Taking to the stage at the opening night of her Eternal Sunshine Tour, her first tour in the UK since 2019, Ariana appeared to have the words “I do love you” tattooed across her collarbone.

Ricky reportedly has the same phrase inked on his chest.

The rekindled couple first dated in 2015, when Ricky worked as one of Ariana’s backing dancers.

Their last public appearance as a couple was in 2016, shortly before they went their separate ways.

GRANDE FINALE

Ariana admits she’s ‘overwhelmed’ on stage as she kicks off O2 residency

SOHO CHILLED

Inside Ariana Grande’s secret countryside retreat with Sabrina Carpenter

He was later namechecked in her 2018 hit Thank U, Next, in which she sang: “Wrote some songs about Ricky, now I listen and laugh.”

Rumours of a reunion first began swirling in June after Ricky was spotted at Ariana’s birthday concert in Austin, Texas.

During the show, she changed the original lyric to: “I know he’s still got my back.”

She fuelled speculation further at a later show in Brooklyn, singing: “We always find our way back.”

The pair appeared to confirm they had rekindled their romance last week when Ariana shared two photos of them together in an Instagram carousel and tagged Ricky in both.

The pair are believed to have reunited last month, with Ricky appearing to make their rekindled romance Instagram official by sharing a carousel of photos on social media.

The new design joinig around 50 other tattoos Ariana has, including a matching “For Good” design she shares with Cynthia Erivo in tribute to their time filming Wicked.

Last month, Ariana announced she would be withdrawing from the spotlight after her latest music video for Petal sparked concern among fans over her health.

Despite insisting onstage that her break from the spotlight was planned “a long time ago” she axed plans to star in the West End revival of the classic Stephen Sondheim musical Sunday in the Park with George.

It’s also been rumoured that she’ll no longer be taking part in the press tour for her upcoming movie release Focker-In-Law.

Her representative said at the time: “Ariana will be taking a step back from visibility after she completes the Eternal Sunshine Tour.

“She looks forward to finishing the tour and ending it on a high note, both healthily and happily, and then taking a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny.”

WASHINGTON — It is among the most famous phrases in presidential history: “The buck stops here.” Except with President Trump, it almost never does.

Concerns about a weak economy and still-high inflation? His predecessor, President Biden, saddled him with that, he says, even though the Democrat has been out of office for 18-plus months and despite Trump once promising an immediate turnaround.

The problem-plagued revamp of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool? That was marred by vandalism, the president insists, even though the office of a prosecutor he put in the job has said the damage was due to shoddy workmanship.

The increasingly unpopular war in Iran that has kept oil prices high, Trump’s approval rating low and sent shock waves through the global economy? Actually, this was Trump making up for timid earlier presidents who, he argues, squandered nearly 50 years of opportunities to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Pithy slogans aside, all modern presidents shift responsibility onto others to some degree, frequently blaming the White House occupant who preceded them or Congress — or both. But Trump has taken it to a new level, essentially embracing a de facto political strategy of being in charge of everything but responsible for nothing when things go badly.

“Taking responsibility being a characteristic of presidential leadership — or any kind of leadership — is absolutely true,” said Nicole Anslover, a history professor at Florida Atlantic University and author of “Harry S. Truman: The Coming of the Cold War.”

Trump’s tendency to point fingers at others is increasingly in the spotlight in the run-up to November’s midterm elections, when Republicans are trying to retain control of Congress. His unwillingness to accept blame sometimes leads him to deny that there are problems at all, and could leave GOP leaders in tight races with little reassurance for voters that their concerns are being addressed.

The White House counters that Trump is working to correct long-festering challenges, not simply throwing up his hands and ignoring them.

The president is “rightfully addressing the failures of his predecessors while taking action to deliver big wins for the American people,” spokesperson Taylor Rogers said, pointing to a series of policies that she said Republicans can run on, including tax cuts, efforts to lower prescription drug prices, cracking down on immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border, increasing domestic energy production and a strong stock market.

A pattern dating to Trump’s first term

Truman famously kept a “the buck stops here” sign on his desk as president. That came from “pass the buck,” which, according to Truman’s presidential library, dates to frontier times, when poker players would pass a buckhorn handle knife to the person whose turn it was to deal the cards.

“The president, whoever he is, has to decide,” Truman said during his farewell address in 1953. “He can’t pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him. That’s his job.”

The understanding of the phrase has broadened over the years to include taking responsibility for the outcome of tough decisions. Trump used to espouse similar beliefs, saying back in 2013 that in running a business, “Whatever happens, you’re responsible. If it doesn’t happen, you’re responsible.”

Accepting the 2016 presidential nomination, Trump said, “Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.” But as president, he has often suggested that the solution and blame rest elsewhere.

“The buck stops with everybody,” Trump said in 2019, during a lengthy government shutdown. In 2020, on the same day he declared the COVID-19 pandemic a national emergency, he said, “I don’t take responsibility at all” for a lack of coronavirus testing.

Anslover said Truman took full responsibility for dropping atomic bombs on Japan even though he was not informed that the U.S. was developing such weapons until his predecessor, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, died.

President Kennedy saw his approval ratings rise after he acknowledged he was to blame for the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba. President Reagan said he was sorry for any involvement he may have had in the Iran-Contra scandal even while saying he wasn’t sure he was to blame. “The buck stops here with me,” he said then.

At his final news conference in early 2009, President George W. Bush listed a series of mistakes he had made, including failing to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. His successor, President Obama, said, “I screwed up,” after his nominee for health chief, Tom Daschle, withdrew because of unpaid back taxes.

Presidents before Trump “really usually take accountability,” Anslover said.

‘We inherited a total catastrophe,’ Trump says

The president acknowledged in a recent Punchbowl interview that voters are angry, but he said they are not mad at him but at congressional Republicans.

Trump believes his party can hold its congressional majorities after November, but he was clear that if Republicans lose, it won’t be his fault — echoing his comments before the 2018 midterms that he would not accept blame if his party lost control of the House, which it did.

Trump’s approval rating on the economy, once seen as among his strongest issues, has fallen throughout his time in office, from 40% in March 2025 to 32% in July, according to Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research polling. About 6 in 10 U.S. adults say Trump’s economic policies have made economic conditions worse, according to Pew Research Center polling.

“The public certainly expects the president to be concerned about, and focused on, making life more affordable,” Republican pollster Frank Luntz said.

Trump instead points to Biden, under whom inflation hit a four-decade peak of 9.1% in 2022 as the pandemic was still roiling the world economy, before declining to 2.7% by November 2024. Last month, pressured by the Iran war, it was 3.4%.

“When we took office, we inherited a total catastrophe,” Trump said at a recent rally, later adding, “I inherited those high prices, just so you understand.”

Andrew Bates, a Democratic strategist and former Biden White House spokesperson, noted that Trump no longer mentions his campaign promise to “immediately end inflation” on Day One.

“He may not remember having made those promises, but swing voters sure as hell do,” Bates said.

Iran and the Reflecting Pool

The president has characterized the Iran war as “a little excursion” or “detour.” To play down how long it has lasted, he frequently notes that U.S. wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan dragged on for years, though the Iran conflict — which he initially said would be over in four or five weeks — is now in its sixth month with no clear end in sight.

Trump has sought to shift blame to the past on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, falsely suggesting that Biden and Obama spent “hundreds of millions of dollars” trying unsuccessfully to fix it.

But Trump’s main defense claim has been vandalism. And so far at least four cases alleging that, including the most prominent case against an Olympic canoeist, have been dropped due to a lack of evidence.

Anslover said that, after more than a decade in politics, Trump has proved he is not afraid to violate norms of presidential comportment. Lots of his core supporters do not seem bothered.

“For many Americans, it has either been a shift in how they view the presidency, or, like with so many things, they just feel empowered to say, ‘These are my priorities. My priority is not the facts,’” she said.

Weissert writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Amelia Thomson DeVeaux contributed to this report.

The Olympics have soared before in Los Angeles. In less than two years, the Paralympics will take flight from L.A. for the first time.

LA28 hopes to raise the bar for the Paralympic movement when the Paralympic Games open in SoFi Stadium on Aug. 15, 2028. The city that already changed the Olympic movement by hosting the most commercially successful Games ever in 1984 could leave an equally indelible mark on the Paralympic movement.

“In the opening ceremony in two years’ time, we will be about to witness the Paralympic Games that can really put our movement in a higher step,” International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons said, “in a higher position as a sport movement.”

While the Olympics were blossoming in L.A. in 1984, the Paralympics that year were hosted in New York and Stoke Mandeville, England in a patchwork plan that came to be known as the “Last-Minute Games” because a U.S.-based organizing committee failed to secure funding to host the Paralympic Games at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The LA28 Olympics and Paralympics logos are featured on a sign outside an event in 2024.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Forty years later, the Paris Paralympics solidified the movement’s position as one of the largest sporting events in the world. The 2024 Paralympics sold 2.5 million tickets, the most for a Paralympic Games, and had a record 12,941 global broadcast hours. The overall live audience for the Paris Paralympics grew by 40% compared to 2021 and 117% from 2016.

Seeing the Paralympics leaves a lasting impression on fans. A Nielsen Sports study commissioned by the IPC found that 73% of people thought the Paris Paralympic Games positively changed their attitudes toward people with disabilities.

LA28 wants to build on that momentum.

“I really would love to see the change of perception of what people with disabilities can do, but also most importantly see the athletes perform,” said Ileana Rodriguez, the LA28 vice president of Paralympic strategy and relations and a 2012 Paralympic swimmer. “Because oftentimes we forget the sport side of the athletes and put the disability in front, and I really hope that this is reversed in our Games.”

American Alexandra Truwit competes during the women’s 400-meter freestyle during the Paralympics on Sept. 5, 2024, in Nanterre, France.

(Adam Pretty / Getty Images)

It didn’t take long for Ali Truwit to see the Paralympic standard. The former Yale swimmer had always respected Paralympians for their grit, courage and strength, but after she lost the lower part of her left leg in a shark attack in 2023, Truwit had her own Paralympic awakening.

She realized that to even make the U.S. team for Paris, she needed to swim faster with one leg than she did with two.

“A lot of people would come up and say, like, “Oh well you could do the Paralympics,’” said Truwit, who had 15 months between having her leg amputated on her 23rd birthday and the opening ceremony of the Paris Paralympics. “I’m like, ‘Well, you can’t just do the Paralympics actually!’ It’s elite and it’s fast.”

Her American record time of 1 minute, 8.98 seconds seconds in the S10 100-meter backstroke at the 2024 U.S. Paralympic swimming trials was faster than the times she was putting up to be recruited for Division I schools. Also the U.S. record holder in the S10 400-meter freestyle (4:31.39), Truwit won silver medals in both races in her first Paralympic Games.

But as she starts training for 2028, Truwit knows even her national record times might not be enough to get on the podium in L.A.

In Paris, 175 world and 218 Paralympic records were broken across 22 sports. The quality of the performances are better than ever, Parsons, the Paralympic president, pointed out. Athletes have become more refined with their training techniques.

“If you raise the expectations for what high performance is, for what an athlete is, then gosh, that’s just going to open up so many more opportunities,” said Brent Hardin, an associate professor of kinesiology at the University of Alabama and director of Alabama Adapted Athletics. “The Paralympics has the ability to do that like no other sporting event in the world for athletes with disabilities.”

The last time the Summer Paralympics were in the United States, in 1996, the event was run by a separate committee from the Olympic organizers. Disorganized and under-publicized, the event was underwhelming, Hardin said. Since 2002, organizing committees have been required to put together joint bids to host both the Olympic and Paralympic Games, using the same venues, facilities and infrastructure.

LA28 will rely on mostly existing venues for both the Olympics and Paralympics, relieving many of the biggest headaches that have plagued previous organizing committees. But hosting 4,480 Paralympians in one village is an especially unique challenge.

UCLA students walk up and down stairs on a campus that features many hills. The school is scheduled to host the athletes’ village for the 2028 Paralympics.

(Al Seib/For The Times)

LA28 will host the Olympic and Paralympic villages at UCLA. While renowned for its red brick buildings and lush green lawns, UCLA’s campus is also notorious for its steep hills. In 2025, two students who used wheelchairs sued the university and the UC Board of Regents for discrimination, citing, in part, elevators that are often out of service, insufficient signage and dangerous conditions in pedestrian paths of travel.

Rodriquez recognized the campus’ geographical challenges that organizers can’t change. LA28 said in a statement it is focused on building upon UCLA’s existing accessibility foundation while exploring additional modifications and services to support Paralympic athletes and team officials, such as temporary ramps and modified restrooms. Construction is expected to begin this year, trying to minimize impact on normal campus activities.

“One solution is not going to solve it for everyone, but a system of different ones hopefully will for most of them,” said Rodriguez, an architect consulted on previous Games before working with LA28. “We’re aiming, of course, for 100% of the users, but it doesn’t mean that there might be challenges in some points.”

The Games will also need to accommodate millions of fans traveling around Southern California. The FIFA World Cup tested the transportation system and it was largely a success, but it presented problems for some fans.

Kate Scott, founder of Only Everywhere, a directory providing accessibility information about more than 400 venues in California, heard from fans who paid hundreds of extra dollars for accessible parking and a shuttle to the stadium only to learn later that a free shuttle option was available. Fans struggled to secure wheelchair accessible seats, especially after they were sold at astronomical resale values, and couldn’t get clear answers about what accommodations would be available in the stadium.

Fans pack SoFi Stadium during a World Cup match between the United States and Paraguay on June 12.

(Kelvin Kuo/Los Angeles Times)

SoFi Stadium aced the physical infrastructure with working elevators, wheelchair escorts and accessible seating with clear sightlines on every level. It was mostly an information gap that left fans wanting.

“It’s not a problem if you say there’s no way to get to the cafe on the second floor. It is a problem if they find that out at the bottom of the stairs,” Scott said. “They can plan ahead if you just give them the information. It’s not about perfection. It’s about telling people what to expect.”

Of the 400 California venues Scott has added to Only Everywhere’s directory, more than half don’t publish anything online about accessibility. Only 7% cover accommodations for mobility limitation, hearing disability, vision impairment and sensory disabilities.

Disability advocates hope the Paralympics can lead to improved access to social services and structures for people with disabilities during and after the Games.

“Not just a one-in-every-four-years kind of event,” said Juliann Anesi, an associate professor of gender studies at UCLA and an affiliate faculty member with the disabilities studies department.

After the 1984 Olympics helped fund youth sports in L.A. for decades with a $230-million surplus, the 2028 Games have already jump-started adaptive sports opportunities as part of the PlayLA program.

Hunter Woodhall from the U.S. wins the men’s 400-meter T62 final at the 2024 Paralympics on Sept. 6, 2024, in Paris.

(Thibault Camus / Associated Press)

The program is run by L.A. Department of Recreation and Parks and will have 12 adaptive sports (adaptive archery, athletics, kayaking, skateboarding, lacrosse, pickleball, para swimming, blind soccer, goalball, para surfing, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair tennis) for the 2026-27 season. The program is on track to reach 5,000 total adaptive sports program enrollments in 2027, LA28 said.

“LA28 is an opportunity not only to think about people with disabilities as part of [society], but instead to really reshape the conversation around disability, especially in sport,” Truwit said. “… We don’t look at Paralympians as an inspiration or as something where they’re overcoming a limitation, but rather as just part of human diversity and potential.”

At the halfway mark of the Olympic quadrennial, Truwit is already dreaming about L.A. The Connecticut native can picture the opening ceremony in SoFi Stadium, where she will be flanked by her fellow American Paralympians. That group could even include several athletes who received grants from her nonprofit Stronger Than You Think, which helps provide prosthetics to girls and women experiencing limb loss. Being at the Paralympics together would be a dream, Truwit said.

Parsons will open what will be the final Paralympic Games of his IPC presidency. He envisions going out on a high note.

“The best Paralympic Games,” Parsons said of his 2028 expectations, “ever.”

EXPLAINER

Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea all have new faces in the dugout as Arsenal attempt to defend title for first time in 90 years.

The 2026/27 Premier League season is set to kick off on August 21 as champions Arsenal host newly promoted Coventry.

It has been a busy preseason for many clubs, albeit truncated for some by the World Cup, and as always there are a number of tantalising questions as the new season begins in all its hope and anticipation.

Al Jazeera outlines the five most compelling storylines ahead of the opening game.

Arsenal defend Premier League title for first time since 2005

The Gunners go into the campaign as Premier League champions for the first time since their Invincibles era, bringing a different kind of pressure for Mikel Arteta’s squad. The last time the Gunners retained a league title was in 1935.

They will also be looking to go one better in Europe after reaching the Champions League final for the first time in 20 years last season, only to lose to PSG.

While Leandro Trossard has left for Besiktas, Arsenal have generally kept their squad intact and added to it with some promising signings – buying Bruno Guimaraes from Newcastle, Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge, Illan Meslier on a free transfer, and making Piero Hincapie’s loan permanent. Guimaraes captained Newcastle and adds real leadership, steel and depth to the middle of the pitch.

Arsenal had the best defence in the league last year and the best record from set pieces – maintaining these attributes will be key.

Perhaps one area of uncertainty remains up front, where a convincing out-and-out striker remains elusive, despite the flashes of promise shown by Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Jesus.

New faces in the dugouts

Manchester City have appointed Enzo Maresca to replace Pep Guardiola, ending a glittering decade under the Catalan. Maresca previously worked as Guardiola’s assistant during City’s treble-winning season and now inherits the job of reinventing a team built entirely around one man’s philosophy. His fortunes may depend significantly on whether City can hold on to key midfielder Rodri amid interest from Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Maresca left Chelsea mid-season back in January, and the Blues have since turned to Xabi Alonso, a talented manager with a point to prove after he was sacked by Real Madrid last season. Whether Chelsea’s unpredictable owners give Alonso the freedom he needs to work could be a big factor in whether he succeeds at Stamford Bridge. He’s already made some interesting signings, such as bringing in Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa and the 35-year-old Danny Welbeck from Brighton.

Liverpool, meanwhile, go into the season under new boss Andoni Iraola after a wretched title defence under Arne Slot. The Spaniard will be tasked with making a coherent side out of the very talented but unsettled collection of individuals at Anfield, while also rebuilding after the departure of long-term stalwarts such as Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson.

Newcastle have appointed 38-year-old German coach Matthias Jaissle following Eddie Howe’s departure after nearly five years in charge. He inherits a squad that’s lost much of its spine over the preseason, with Guimaraes, Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali and Kieran Trippier all leaving.

Iraola’s move to Liverpool left a vacancy at Bournemouth, where the club has turned to Marco Rose, a former Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig coach.

World Cup hangover looms over the league

With the Premier League season starting just 33 days after the World Cup final, several of the league’s biggest clubs face a rough turnaround from international duty straight into a title race.

Manchester City sent 19 players to the tournament across 12 nations – the heaviest World Cup workload in the league – while Arsenal had 16 involved, raising questions about squad freshness for two of the sides most likely to be challenging for the title.

New rules target time-wasting and holding but ease up on hair-pulling

The Premier League has confirmed a set of new rules for 2026-27, targeting time-wasting and improving consistency around some of last season’s biggest flashpoints.

Players receiving on-field treatment must now stay off the pitch for a full minute, double the previous 30 seconds, while referees will apply a five-second countdown on delayed throw-ins and goal kicks – time-wasting beyond that means possession or a corner will be awarded to the opposition.

Holding and grappling at corners will also draw closer scrutiny, with penalties now more likely for defenders who impede attackers.

There’s a notable softening on hair-pulling too after three straight red cards for it last season – now deliberate pulls without “excessive force or brutality” will only merit a yellow.

Can Sunderland maintain their remarkable form?

Three years after playing in English football’s third tier, Sunderland finished seventh in the Premier League last season – qualifying for the Europa League.

It is an astonishing achievement for a club that spent close to a decade outside the top flight, with most newly promoted clubs battling for survival at the other end of the table.

Manager Regis Le Bris has built a talented squad, but sustaining this level of performance alongside the demands of European football is going to be tough – indeed, Sunderland are again among the favourites to go down.

Sunny Nights is the dark comedy drama that ITV fans have been impatiently waiting for.

Sunny Nights is ready to binge-watch with viewers keen to get a full breakdown of its filming locations.

Following the chaotic story of brother and sister duo Martin Marvin (played by Will Forte) and Vikki Marvin (D’Arcy Carden), Sunny Nights sees the pair leave their lives in the US behind to start over again in Australia.

As Martin also hopes to win back his estranged wife, they set up their own tanning shop but their lives are upended when they accidentally anger a ruthless syndicate crime boss.

Martin also gets himself caught up in a blackmailing plot so their once peaceful future quickly looks a lot more complicated.

As Sunny Nights dropped on ITVX today, Tuesday, August 18, here’s everything there is to know about where the series was filmed.

Where is Sunny Nights on ITV filmed?

Sunny Nights was filmed in New South Wales, Australia, with the comedy drama set in the iconic city of Sydney.

Coastal walks and the beautiful scenery in Bondi are particularly featured in the beginning, including spots like the Bondi Icebergs and the suburb of Tamarama.

Other Sunny Nights filming spots include the coastal residential suburb of Malabar, Botany Bay featuring heritage sites like Bare Island and Frenchman Bay.

The historic pools of Wylie’s Baths can also be seen along with the stunning views of the Blue Mountains.

Heading up the cast as Martin Marvin is Saturday Night Live icon and Netflix ’s The Four Seasons star Will Forte.

Opening up to Rolling Stone, Forte shared that it was a life-changing prospect working on the show.

“It was really after only two episodes were written that I had to make this decision: Am I bringing my whole family down to Australia on the chance that these other six episodes are going to be as good? With [Australian filmmaker] Trent O’Donnell, you say yes to that.

“Looking back, it is the greatest decision of my life.

“Marrying my wife, deciding to have kids, those are all other ones up there as well, obviously, but everything about this show turned out to be the best version.”

Sunny Nights is available to watch on ITVX.

POINT REYES NATIONAL SEASHORE — For nearly 60 years, warring camps have battled one another for the soul of a wind-swept peninsula with breathtaking hills, rugged cliffs, granite outcroppings, oak forests and wide expanses of pasture land and beach.

Jutting off the coastline like an upside-down ice skate, the Point Reyes National Seashore is separated from the mainland by the San Andreas fault, which runs like a skate’s blade edge separating the Pacific and North American plates. The peninsula covers about 110 square miles — roughly five times the size of Manhattan.

Elephant seals and sea lions bark and breed on its sandy coves. Whales and sharks breach and hunt in the waters beyond the thick kelp forests that tickle its edges. And in its forests and on its grasslands, tule elk and mule deer graze, while bobcats and coyotes hunt for rabbits and mountain beavers.

But the peninsula 20 miles north of San Francisco also has been home to agriculture since the 1800s and is the site of one of the state’s fiercest land disputes — one that, contrary to the usual red-versus-blue scenario, pits Northern California liberals against other Northern California liberals.

On one side: beef ranchers and dairy operators who advocate sustainable and organic food and land practices; they note the seashore was established, in part, to preserve their way of life.

On the other: environmentalists who say the taxpayer-funded park is no place for commercial farming, and that the seashore should protect its rare and diverse wildlife and welcome the visitors who bicycle, hike and camp on its beaches, oak forests and grasslands.

For seven weeks last year, it seemed the interminable battle over the seashore had finally come to an end.

The family dog guards poultry at Niman family farm at the Point Reyes National Seashore.

(Josh Edelson / For The Times)

In January 2025, a settlement was announced with the National Park Service laying out how the park would function going forward. Natural landscapes and wildlife would take priority over agriculture. Eleven of 13 historic ranching families would leave and be made whole for their losses.

While no one involved really loved the deal or got everything they wanted, many were satisfied, said Jeff Miller, senior conservation advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the environmental groups involved in the settlement. “The ranchers walked away with a few million dollars and the tule elk get to stay.”

Then this year, the two remaining ranch and dairy families sued. The goal: to upend the deal announced in the waning days of the Biden administration.

The Trump administration, with its pro-meat, pro-cattle agenda, is taking notice.

Since 1962, when the seashore was established, there have been grumblings. The ranchers said the park service saddled them with excessive rules and regulations. The environmentalists said the ranchers brought in invasive plants with their feed, and that cattle fouled the soil and waterways.

But nearly everyone agrees that it was in 2012 when things really began to boil over. That year, the park service moved to shut down a local oyster farm, whose lease was expiring. In his decision to shut it down, Ken Salazar, then secretary of the Interior, promised the ranchers they could remain.

“These working ranches are a vibrant and compatible part of Point Reyes National Seashore,” he wrote in a memorandum, “and both now and in the future represent an important contribution to the Point Reyes’ superlative natural and cultural resources.”

But four years later, environmentalists sued the park service. They argued the cows had degraded the seashore with manure pollution and soil erosion, harming the native wildlife. The iconic tule elk, some of which were fenced in on the northern part of the peninsula to keep them from competing for grassland with cows, were dying off.

The environmentalists demanded the park service establish a new management plan.

They won. But the new plan, issued in 2021, favored the ranchers, extending them 20-year leases, and allowed for the killing of elk if they interfered with cattle.

A tule elk calf is seen with its herd along the Tomales Point Trail, part of the Point Reyes National Seashore.

(Josh Edelson / For The Times)

Once again, the environmentalists — the Resource Renewal Institute, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Western Watersheds Project — sued.

That’s what led to the settlement and the departure of the 11 ranch families and their workers. Each family is believed to have received between $2.5 million and $3 million, but exact amounts have not been divulged because of a nondisclosure agreement.

The 17,000 acres they vacated would be dedicated to conservation and ecological restoration — with a few cattle remaining to feast on invasive species.

But the two litigious families that did not join the settlement — the Evanses and the Nimans — have a different vision.

David Evans, who declined to be formally interviewed, told The Times while moving cattle in the seashore on his ATV that he hadn’t known anything about the settlement. The Evans clan has been running cattle on the peninsula for 150 years.

The other family, headed by Bill Niman and Nicolette Hahn Niman, came to their land comparatively recently.

Born in Minnesota, Bill Niman found himself in Bolinas in 1969, where he befriended lefty intellectuals who were critical of factory farming. In 1978, he and Orville Schell — who later became the dean of UC Berkeley’s School of Journalism — bought land and co-founded the Niman-Schell Ranch. They dedicated their business to raising pigs, and then cattle, in a humane and environmentally sound way.

Niman said he and Schell also wanted to preserve the land from developers and “wealthy people from the Central Valley,” who were moving to the area to build second homes, golf courses and four-lane highways.

In 1984, Niman and Schell sold their 206 acres to the National Park Service for $1.3 million and the promise that they could stay on the property until Niman, Schell or Niman’s older sister all died. They’re now at ages 81, 86 and 90.

Schell did not respond to a request for comment.

“Orville and I concluded that mortals should not own land like this,” Niman said. “It belongs in the hands of the people, because it’s too valuable to cut up and develop.”

The business, which Schell left in 1997, flourished: Alice Waters, at Chez Panisse, bought pork exclusively from Niman, as did Zuni Cafe in San Francisco. In 2009, he merged his company into Natural Food Holdings, which was later bought by Perdue Farms.

Bill Niman and Nicolette Hahn Niman sued the federal government to upend a settlement that paid other ranchers and dairy owners to leave Point Reyes National Seashore.

(Josh Edelson / For The Times)

In 2007, Niman and Hahn Niman started BN Ranch, specializing in organic, grass-fed beef and heritage turkeys. The company, which was bought by Blue Apron in 2017, has operations across the world. Niman later founded Bill Niman Farm LP, which raises grass-fed cows and chickens.

On a recent afternoon, sitting on the back porch of the Bolinas ranch house that Niman built, with a view of the Pacific in the distance, Niman and Hahn Niman — who is 22 years his junior — spoke about their decision to file the lawsuit, which argues the park service was negligent in its rule making.

The Nimans say the seashore’s founders explicitly included agriculture in their vision of the park. They noted that, according to the original charter, Congress could not take the land without the consent of landowners “so long as it remains in its natural state, or is used exclusively for ranching and dairying purposes.”

Hahn Niman also noted, at least five times over two interviews, that Point Reyes is a “seashore” and not a “park,” and therefore doesn’t have as many rules governing preservation. For instance, you can drive an off-road vehicle at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, but off-roading in Yosemite could land you in jail.

The Nimans hope that, should they win or settle, farmers and ranchers would again be allowed in the seashore. Their vision: a test kitchen of sorts that models how farming can, and should, be done.

“We’re really talking about a kind of agrarian model and a use of land that basically keeps this land in its natural state, where agriculture is practiced in harmony with wildlife and nature’s cycles,” said Hahn Niman, who wrote three books, including “Righteous Porkchop” about her work in the early 2000s as an environmental attorney for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Waterkeeper Alliance.

The view from Chimney Rock at Point Reyes National Seashore, which covers about 110 square miles and includes a variety of habitats.

(Christie Hemm Klok / For The Times)

Elephant seals gather below Chimney Rock in Point Reyes.

(Christie Hemm Klok / For The Times)

Hahn Niman said she has spoken with Kennedy about the park, and he supports agriculture in the seashore. She added that Albert Straus, a private equity-backed organic dairy processor in Petaluma, also reached out to Kennedy.

“Straus made efforts to involve [Kennedy], because he was really trying to get help anywhere … and he knew Bobby and I had this connection,” Hahn Niman said. It was Straus who believed legal action might keep agriculture on the peninsula and suggested the Nimans consult an attorney.

According to media reports, Kennedy directly reached out to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. The Department of Health and Human Services, which Kennedy heads, did not respond to requests for comment on Kennedy’s involvement.

The more important contacts, Bill Niman said, have been political appointees in the Interior Department, including Karen Budd-Falen, the agency’s No. 3, who built her legal career advocating for western ranchers, and Brenda Younkin, a senior advisor to the Bureau of Land Management who worked closely with western ranchers on federal livestock grazing issues.

“We were able to have deep and meaningful conversations because the two people that are on the point of this effort, Karen and Brenda, they understand ranching, pastoral relationships, and how to manage government lands in the best of ways,” he said.

Early this spring, a town hall was held at an elementary school at Point Reyes Station. Hundreds of people crammed into the school gym that April evening, and the debate over Point Reyes agitated into a low boil.

There was no agenda or presentation. Instead, the park service, Nature Conservancy, the Nimans’ and Evanses’ lawyers, a representative from the Coast Miwok tribe — the people who lived on the land before the ranchers — and about a dozen other interest groups handed out pamphlets, answered questions and displayed maps at folding tables ringing the hall.

It was hard to hear above the din. Apple Watches around the room warned of “dangerous” noise conditions.

Foodies and farmers railed against the settlement, saying the park’s new plan would destroy the food scene in west Marin County and kneecap the already struggling agrarian community.

“These aren’t factory farms. This is real amazing quality local food,” said Bronte Edwards, a Sonoma County-based sheep farmer. And she made this observation, Edwards said, “as a liberal-facing queer person that believes in climate science.”

Settlement critics noted that the pact meant that ranch employees, many of them Latinos with moderate incomes, lost their homes along with the ranch owners.

They also complained that the settlement was negotiated in secret among the park service, environmental groups and ranch families.

A male tule elk is seen along the Tomales Point Trail, part of the Point Reyes National Seashore.

(Josh Edelson / For The Times)

“It was all hush-hush,” said Stephanie Moreda-Arend, an ag-aligned podcaster.

Others at the town hall, however, expressed fury that the two remaining ranching families were now trying to upend the deal.

“I understand people have been here a long time. People fear change. I understand that feeling,” said Center for Biological Diversity’s Miller. But the settlement, he added, is done. The seashore is “not their property.”

As residents, activists, farmers and journalists squeezed and jostled through the crowd, holding court in one corner was Budd-Falen, the high-ranking official with the Interior Department.

Budd-Falen, a rancher from Wyoming, has stated publicly that grazing regulations are her passion and that she aims to increase the number of grazing allotments handed out to western ranchers on BLM land, and to no longer declare areas as critical habitat for endangered species.

Though she described the settlement as a done deal, she obliquely suggested changes might still be afoot. “How is it managed from this point forward?” she said of the pact. “You can’t create a good management idea unless you talk to the citizens and see what people want.”

She did not answer questions about the Nimans’ and Evanses’ suit, but when asked why she came to the gathering, she said, “I started hearing about the controversy. Then I started making calls to lands [the Bureau of Land Management] and then to the park service and saying, ‘You know, there’s lots of grumbling, what is going on?’

“And they told me, and I was like, ‘Oh, this sounds like an interesting project, something that we ought to be involved in, and really listen to these locals. And how can I help?’”

Backing the remaining ranchers in Point Reyes and their organic beef, cheese and butter is consistent with an administration that places the commercial cattle industry at the center of its public lands agenda and meat at the center of nutrition policy.

But local politicians and parties to the settlement say scrapping the Biden-era pact would require years of federal review and public engagement. Even if the ranchers have some political pull right now, incarnating their vision within the seashore “would be really difficult,” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael).

“They would have to change the law” that established the park and the park system, Huffman said, or “find many millions in funding to subsidize” a new process or management plan that would take on the Nimans’ and Evanses’ vision of model farm.

Given the administration’s zeal to push legal boundaries, especially when confronting perceived enemies — such as California environmentalists — he said, “You don’t want to put anything past them.”

Theresa Harlan, a Coast Miwok descendant who runs the Alliance for Felix Cove — an area in the park where her family had a home until ranchers kicked them out in the 1950s — said the effort to upend the settlement “is just opening up the wound” that had finally started to heal.

Rancher Bill Niman walks along his property at his ranch in Bolinas, Calif.

(Josh Edelson / For The Times)

Now that the cattle are gone, she’s seeing all kinds of native plants, such as coastal strawberries, Yerba Buena Blue-eyed grass and the Douglas iris with their stunning lavender petals. Some of them she hadn’t seen since she was a child.

Ken Boulay, the CEO of the Turtle Island Restoration Network, said it’s time to move forward and imagine what the park could be like without cattle and private ranches.

He noted the peninsula had once been home to animals such as pronghorn, sea otter, North American porcupine, Humboldt marten, gray wolf, American black bear, grizzlies, northern fur seal and Steller sea lion.

And it could be again — well maybe not the grizzlies or wolves. His organization is already restoring native plants and rebuilding natural waterways in parts of the peninsula.

“It’s time to stop thinking about cheese and yogurt,” he said.

Niman, driving his Rivian across the golden, wind-swept fields, said he has some concerns with the way Trump is dealing with foreign policy, immigrants and some broader environmental issues. But the administration “gets it” when it comes to Point Reyes and public lands.

And he’s heard they’re going to do something about it soon.

People look for love wherever their heart takes them, but for Assn. of Volleyball Professionals players Chaim Schalk and Toni Rodriguez, they didn’t have to look far to find it.

“I said ‘I love you’ first,” Schalk said.

The beach volleyball power couple is competing in the AVP Manhattan Beach Open this weekend, continuing to focus on the competitive volleyball circuit that first brought them together.

The couple met briefly while playing at various beach volleyball events, but they really got to know each other and clicked while spending three weeks together during tournaments in China, India and the Philippines. Schalk told Rodriguez he would take her out to dinner at her favorite restaurant, but there was a catch. Rodriguez had to win her upcoming tournament in order to go out with Schalk.

American Chaim Schalk digs the ball during a match against Cubans Nosien Diaz Amaro and Jorge Luis Alayo Moliner during the 2025 Beach Volleyball World Championships at on Nov. 20 in Adelaide, Australia.

(Mark Brake / Getty Images)

Rodriguez made Schalk live up to his promise. The couple went to their favorite fast-food joint, Cafe Rio, because it was something they bonded over during their overseas trip.

“She texted me, ‘Cafe Rio on you?’ after winning,” Schalk said. “And then she flew back [to California] the next day, and we went there.”

Rodriguez didn’t need any motivation to win gold to go out with her future fiancé, but it didn’t hurt. She said that Schalk keeps her level-headed when it comes to playing on the beach.

Schalk has played on the biggest beach volleyball stages. He represented Canada at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. One of his proudest moments was defeating a Brazil team on its home soil.

Chaim Schalk and Ben Saxton of Canada play beach volleyball against Pedro Solberg and Evandro Goncalves Oliveira Junior of Brazil during the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

(Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)

“Beating Brazil in front of 15,000 fans is something that I’ll never forget,” Schalk said.

He called playing in the Olympics the pinnacle of any sport and making Team Canada has been the highlight of his career.

Schalk has had dual-citizenship since birth and has switched his affiliation to Team USA. He hopes to qualify for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles and play alongside Rodriguez. He is a two-time AVP League Champion and three-time winner on the AVP Tour.

His love for volleyball dates back to his time in Canada as a young boy playing with his brothers in their massive grassy backyard.

“I personally love volleyball. I love competing and love trying to win,” Schalk said.

Rodriguez grew up in St. Amant, La., and was focused on volleyball from a young age before playing the sport in high school and at Louisiana State.

American Toni Rodriguez plays a shot against Reika Murakami and Suzuka Hashimoto of Japan during a Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour match in 2022.

(Matt Roberts / Getty Images)

The LSU graduate wanted to play indoor volleyball in college, but she couldn’t because of injuries and instead joined the beach volleyball team.

“Once I got to the LSU beach team and started learning the game and actually playing, I just came to find a new love for the sport,” Rodriguez said. “Once I started playing, there were a lot of opportunities to leave Louisiana and potentially play professionally.”

After three seasons at LSU, Rodriguez moved to California to begin her beach volleyball career. Schalk also left Alberta, Canada, to focus on his beach volleyball career.

“I moved in 2013 to California to train full time and play beach volleyball full time,” Schalk said, who along with Rodriguez lives in Gardena. “I didn’t know I would be here for this long, so it’s definitely different. I love California, and I think it’s a beautiful place to live and we’re lucky to live close to L.A.”

Rodriguez has won two FIVB gold medals. In 2024, she was part of the the first AVP League championship team and joined Molly Shaw winning silver, bronze and gold medals during three consecutive Challenger events in three different countries during a three-week span.

Schalk and Rodriguez have great affection for a sport that took them around the world before they met each other. Schalk said competing in Switzerland near the Swiss Alps was special.

“I have been there about eight times, but that place, for me, is my favorite place I’ve ever played at,” Schalk said.

While they chase AVP and Olympic wins, the couple also are planning a wedding after Schalk surprised Rodriguez with a bold question early in their relationship.

After only officially dating for two days following Rodriguez’s tournament, Schalk invited Rodriguez to Kauai, Hawaii, in January.

Rodriguez had a hunch he might propose because they had formed such a tight bond during their overseas trip.

They went on a hike with Schalk’s brother and kids to a spot with a beautiful jungle view and large swing.

Schalk’s family set up the proposal spot while everyone was walking to the site. Once they arrived, Schalk turned to Rodriguez, got down on one knee and asked her to marry him.

“I blacked out. It was perfect,” Rodriguez recalled.

The couple is set to get married this fall in El Segundo.

The Egyptian forward, who joined the Turkish club on a free transfer, came off the bench early in the second half.

Ex-Liverpool star Mohamed Salah made his competitive ⁠debut for ⁠Trabzonspor on Saturday, coming off the bench in their Turkish Super Lig opener as Kasimpasa rallied from a goal down to secure a 1-1 draw.

Trabzonspor took the ⁠lead in the first half through Noah Saviolo before Kasimpasa’s Adrian Benedyczak levelled from the penalty spot in the second half.

Salah, who joined ‌Trabzonspor on a free transfer after nine seasons at Liverpool, was introduced in the 58th minute shortly after Kasimpasa scored the equaliser.

The Egypt forward, deployed on the right wing, helped create a number of ⁠openings for the visitors ⁠but Trabzonspor were unable to find a winner.

“It’s a sad start today,” Trabzonspor coach Fatih Tekke said.

“It was a game we had to ⁠be victorious in, but we couldn’t succeed.”

“Thursday is really ⁠important; we play a ⁠match in Europe, and the opponent is far better than us,” Tekke added, referring to Trabzonspor’s Europa League playoff with Hungarian side Ferencvaros on August 20.

Trabzonspor, seven-time Turkish champions, finished third ‌in the Super Lig last season and won the Turkish Cup.

Earlier this month, Salah, 34, signed a two-year contract with Trabzonspor, shortly after guiding Egypt to a historic last-16 run at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Widely known as the “Egyptian King” among his fans, Salah established himself as a Premier League great with Liverpool, winning two league titles and the Champions League among eight major honours at the Anfield club.

The forward is considered among the greatest players of all time and the best from the African continent in recent years.

German defense giant Rheinmetall has demonstrated its new FV-014 loitering munition being launched from a containerized launcher mounted on a truck, including while the vehicle was moving. The test marks the first time the FV-014 has been fired from its Containerized Missile Launcher, a modular system intended to carry significant numbers of missiles or loitering munitions.

The demonstration took place in July at the National Test Center for Unmanned Aerial Systems at the German Aerospace Center in Cochstedt, Saxony-Anhalt. The customer demonstration included both stationary and mobile launches from an HX-series truck, followed by simulated operational profiles and attack flights.

Rheinmetall demonstrates FV-014 launch from Containerized Missile Launcher

The FV-014 is a relatively long-range, truck-launched loitering munition that can perform its own reconnaissance and then conduct a precision attack. Rheinmetall says the weapon has a range of up to 100 kilometers (62 miles) and can remain airborne for as long as 70 minutes.

Like many loitering munitions, this endurance gives the operator considerably more time to search for targets and decide whether to conduct an attack than would be available with a conventional fire-and-forget missile. Rheinmetall describes the system as combining “reconnaissance, target identification and precision strike capabilities within a single system.”

The FV-014 is designed to remain under permanent human control. An operator using the associated ground station can identify and track targets and authorize an attack, while also having the ability to abort an engagement if circumstances change.

As we have discussed in the past, human-in-the-loop architecture is useful when operating against targets that may be moving or difficult to identify in advance.

However, the concept also has significant drawbacks compared to increasingly autonomous loitering-munition concepts in which the system itself can perform much more of the target-detection and engagement process. Human-in-the-loop comes with latency and communications dependencies, as well as operator workload, but it may also be the result of a particular customer demand, whether operational or legal. At the same time, for all its promise, autonomous technology is still in its infancy.

The FV-014 has a launch weight of around 50 pounds, including a payload of approximately 13 pounds. Its HEDP, or high-explosive dual-purpose, warhead is claimed to be capable of penetrating around 24 inches of solid armor steel.

That would give the weapon a substantial anti-armor capability for its size, although Rheinmetall also says the warhead can be used against unarmored targets and infrastructure.

After being ejected from its launch tube using a booster, the FV-014 unfolds its wings and transitions into aerodynamic flight. An electrically driven propeller provides propulsion during the cruise phase. Rheinmetall also says the weapon has been designed with reduced radar and infrared signatures in mind.

The company is pitching the FV-014 for both individual attacks and coordinated swarm operations. In the latter case, multiple weapons could be used simultaneously against a number of targets or to overwhelm an adversary’s defenses and create outsized, rapid effects on the battlefield.

‘Swarm’ has become something of a catch-all term in the loitering-munition market, however, and Rheinmetall has not provided detailed information about the level of autonomy or coordination available between FV-014s. The company does say that the weapon has network connectivity and a “high degree of autonomy” intended to help it operate in environments where satellite navigation is being disrupted.

This capability is particularly important on the modern battlefield, where electronic warfare systems are routinely used to interfere with satellite-navigation signals. Rheinmetall says the FV-014 is resilient to global navigation satellite system (GNSS) interference, although specific details about its navigation architecture have not been disclosed.

The weapon’s launch system, Rheinmetall’s Containerized Missile Launcher, is built around a standardized ISO container that can be installed on a fixed site, carried by a truck, or potentially integrated onto a ship. In its 20-foot configuration, the company says the launcher can accommodate up to 18 FV-014s.

That is considerably fewer weapons than some other containerized drone-launcher concepts Rheinmetall has previously promoted. In 2024, for example, the company showed a containerized system intended to carry as many as 126 Hero-series loitering munitions from Israeli manufacturer UVision.

Rather than simply acting as a large rack of launch tubes, the new launch system has its own integrated power supply and can connect to command, control, communications, computers and intelligence networks. It can also be operated locally, through a radio link, or via satellite communications.

The launcher is intended to make extensive use of commercial off-the-shelf components, which should reduce lifecycle costs. It also incorporates what the company calls a “sleeper” capability, allowing the launcher to remain inactive and be remotely activated when required.

The ability to move the entire system on a standard military truck is potentially significant. Rheinmetall has demonstrated the launch of FV-014s from a moving truck, as well as a stationary one. Shooting on the move could be beneficial when defending convoys, engaging targets of opportunity, or offering rapid fire support to units within range. Beyond that, interceptor drones would allow for engagements against drone threats while on the move.

Using a standardized container makes it possible to rapidly relocate a large number of long-range loitering munitions without relying on a dedicated launcher vehicle, and also opens up potential maritime applications. Rheinmetall says future versions are planned for other mobile land platforms and seagoing ones, while the container itself is compatible with existing transportation and logistics infrastructure.

This general concept is already seeing considerable uptake. Containerized launchers provide a relatively discreet way of deploying large numbers of missiles or drones and can potentially turn trucks, ships, or other platforms capable of carrying ISO containers into weapons carriers. TWZ has previously examined the broader appeal of this approach, including Rheinmetall’s earlier Hero-family launcher concept.

In the past, we have also highlighted the immense potential battlefield impact of this type of capability, which other countries, especially China, are also actively pursuing.

The video below shows a test of a Chinese truck-mounted launcher design capable of being loaded with up to 48 kamikaze drones. 

中国电科陆空协同固定翼无人机“蜂群”系统

In general, containerized launchers offer an unusual degree of concealability: a weapons system housed in a standard shipping container can potentially be moved through conventional logistics networks and deployed without the distinctive appearance of a dedicated missile battery. Rheinmetall has explicitly pitched the standardized container format as supporting “covert operations,” and this immediately calls to mind Ukraine’s audacious Operation Spiderweb that saw several Russian bombers and other aircraft destroyed or damaged by (much shorter-range) drones launched from trucks.

Rheinmetall has not disclosed details about the customer involved in the July demonstration, nor of the targets used, the engagement distances, the number of FV-014s launched, or the extent of autonomy involved in reported swarm operations.

However, with the FV-014 now proven, Rheinmetall can offer a complete system in which a truck can arrive with a sizeable magazine of relatively long-range weapons, launch them individually or in groups, and provide operators with the ability to search for targets before deciding whether to attack. The German company’s mobile containerized launcher and a 100-kilometer-class loitering munition are eye-catching, but the system also enters an increasingly competitive market.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

Ryanair has given a cheeky response to the most common excuses that people might miss their flight, which can lead to hefty fees if you want to be rebooked for a new flight

Missing your booked flight can prove to be an enormously frustrating ordeal, particularly when the hold-up is completely beyond your control. Delays can occur due to security complications, last-minute boarding gate changes requiring you to trek across the entire airport, or even a late taxi journey to the airport.

However, sometimes, missing a flight can be completely blamed on the traveller in question, who might have been distracted by the various things you can do at an airport and simply didn’t keep an eye on the time. And known for their sometimes cheeky responses to travellers, Irish budget Ryanair shared a piece of advice to anyone who might have missed a flight in the past.

Taking to their Facebook page, the airline went on to share some of the most common excuses of missing a flight, which included ‘I didn’t hear boarding being announced!’ and ‘I didn’t see the gate had changed!’

They then cheekily added a top tip for people to stop them missing a future flight, as they wrote: “Turn ON push notifications for real-time notifications in the Ryanair app!”

In the Ryanair app, travellers can both check in to their flights, preventing the extra fee added when checking in at the airport, while also keeping an eye on any changes or updates for their flights, including getting notifications when the gate is announced and when boarding starts.

The app also give you easy access to your mandatory digital boarding pass, as they went paperless in 2025 in order to save on costs. If you don’t like this, you also have the option to print your boarding pass from home.

However, travellers quickly hit back at the airline, with many arguing they hadn’t received the correct gate number from their airline’s app. But this didn’t stop some, as another said. “I watch those boards like a hawk purely for that reason.”

What to do if you miss a Ryanair flight

If you miss your Ryanair flight, tickets are non-refundable, but you can move to the next available flight within one hour of departure at the airport ticket desk for a £100 missed departure fee. If you arrive later than one hour, you must purchase a brand new ticket.

If you know you’ll arrive late at the airport, the airline allows you to change your flight online up to 2.5 hours before the scheduled departure time by paying a flight change fee plus any fare difference.

But if you completely miss the flight and do not visit the ticket desk within the 1-hour window, the ticket is lost, and no refund or credit is given. But there are some exceptions to this rule.

While refunds or travel credits are not provided for routine illnesses, travel credit can be requested for specific recent family bereavements if submitted before travel.

However, it’s also recommended to take out travel insurance before your travels, as this usually gives you more security if you can’t make your flight.

In this week’s episode of The Envelope podcast, Chase Infiniti discusses her meteroic rise, her Emmy nomination for “The Testaments” and nurturing the ambition to become an actor since age 10.

Kelvin Washington: Hello, everyone, and welcome to this week’s episode of The Envelope. You have myself, Kelvin Washington, alongside my usual suspects, Yvonne Villarreal, Mark Olsen as well. It’s been a week, so I’m trusting everybody’s good. Yvonne, we’re coming to you here because you’re going to help us break this down. Don’t bug the eyes. Yes, we’re coming to you. The [TV] Academy, they’re making some changes when it comes to the live broadcast, and it can be a little bit confusing. That’s why we got you here. Tell us more.

Yvonne Villarreal: They announced that they will be moving five categories that are usually handed out during the ceremony, the Primetime [Emmys] ceremony, to a week prior and handing them out during the Creative Arts Emmys’ weekend. They say the decision is sort of to make space to innovate the live show and incorporate new things. You know, viewership is always something that they’re after. But it’s causing a stir in Hollywood because we’re losing some mainstays of the show, and that’s writing for a variety series, but also taking a big hit is the limited series or movie categories. We’re losing supporting actor, supporting actress, but also writing and directing. And people have a lot of thoughts. Mark, I want your thoughts. Kelvin, I want your thoughts.

Mark Olsen: I feel like there’s a disconnect between the people who watch award shows and the people who make and produce award shows, where I feel like those of us who watch them, we just want more sort of genuine moments from the talent, from the nominees. I want more speeches! And so taking away five categories, there’s going to be that much fewer speeches. I just can’t help but think of like Linda Cardellini, who’s one of the people nominated, she was on our roundtable earlier this year and just like a great presence, a stalwart TV actor, and to have to take away that chance for her to potentially get up onstage be really genuine, why would you not want that as part of your show instead having these kind of like canned comedy bits or, you know, hacky reunions plus canned comedy bits that nobody particularly wants.

Villarreal: It’s an awards show.

Washington: True, but maybe I’m Nobody in this case. We were talking about this a little bit earlier, you guys were making fun of the 1990s reunions there. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed seeing, I think it was maybe two years ago, when they had “Martin” up there and they had never been invited; they were kind of joking, “Oh, we never got invited” or “We never won an Emmy.” And so I think it’s been pretty cool. And I will say that this is the challenge for productions, when you’re trying to appease everyone. Is it about the awards? It is about the length of time — just speed this thing up? Is it about having the magical moments? And then you see the Grammys try to get these things right as well. You’re never gonna be able to please everyone. So I think it’s always a difficult balance. So we’ll see how it works out this year. But I’m looking at you, Mark, some people might enjoy those. And you too, those nerdy little reunion shows.

Villarreal: But in a time when it’s already hard to get a show visibility in this marketplace, and so many people don’t know what’s nominated anymore, when you’re taking away an access point for them to discover something or not tell them about a show, it’s a short-sighted change I think.

Washington: The only response I would add to that is that’s kind of where we are. Even if you keep up with television, movies and music, it seems to be a lot more word of mouth than historically where things are plastered everywhere. And even if you didn’t care about the particular thing, you saw it, you heard it. Now it’s like word of a mouth and just watercooler or just the algorithm telling you what to like.

With that being said, somebody who’s having a great run right now, Chase Infiniti. I know you had a chance to speak with her. Of course, “Handmaid’s Tale” did so well. Then there’s the spinoff, “The Testaments.” Tell me a little bit more about your chat with her.

Villarreal: Talk about, like, a breakout nomination this year. Chase has really been a star on the rise. She made her debut in Apple TV’s adaptation of the legal thriller, “Presumed Innocent” playing Jake Gyllenhaal’s daughter. And in recent projects, she’s played this young revolutionary, both in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” and now in “The Testaments,” which takes place after the events of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” She’s the daughter of a high-ranking commander, but she’s also the biological daughter of June, who’s Elisabeth Moss’ character. And this show is really about seeing the rebellion of young teenage girls and how they are sort of key to the inside resistance of toppling this regime. And so we talked a little bit about that.

Washington: All right, well, you got me a little nervous. You’re talking about the rebellion of teenage girls. You know, I’ve got a 9, a 7, and a 5-year-old, so that could be my future.

Villarreal: Let’s hope it is. They’re the future.

Washington: You’re right, you’re right. Yvonne and Chase, here they are now.

Chase Infiniti, photographed in late March ahead of “The Testaments” premiere.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Yvonne Villarreal: Chase, thanks so much for being here. Congratulations on your Emmy nomination. What do you want to remember about this moment, this feeling?

Chase Infiniti: Oh. I don’t know. I’m trying to take little pictures in my brain of everything and remember all of the influx of emotions that I felt that entire time, but also throughout the whole journey of making Season 1 of “The Testaments.” There’s so many things about it that I’m like — I just never want to lose that feeling. There’s a lot of [memorable] moments I had on set and also during the press tour and then even finding out about the Emmy nomination, which feels very crazy to say. But even finding out about that, there’s so many little things that I’m like, “I never want to lose that feeling. I want to keep it in my brain forever.”

Villarreal: Is it as thrilling as what you remember feeling when you booked that first role in a local production of “Hairspray,” when you were 10?

Infiniti: It definitely does. I also feel very grateful that with my job and with everything I get to do, I really try to keep intact how much I love the work and how much I love creating. That’s what helps it keep that same energy as me finding out I’m playing Crystal in “Hairspray” versus me finding out that I have an Emmy nomination.

Villarreal: Were you on Cloud 9 getting the news of Crystal?

Infiniti: Oh, yeah. I was so happy because I was it was the first time I ever had a name in a musical. And I remember when I was a kid, I watched the movie version of it every night for six months. Not a lie. Me and my sister would turn it on religiously after school and we would start singing “Good Morning, Baltimore.” It got to the point where we knew almost every line in the movie.

Villarreal: I feel old asking which version of “Hairspray”… Zac Efron? What was it about it?

Infiniti: It’s just catchy — everything about it. It just makes me happy, When I hear “Run and Tell That,” I just want to do twirls in my room. I love musicals so much and they make me so happy. If I’m ever down or need a little pick-me-up, I’ll literally just blast that soundtrack. I blast the soundtrack to “Pippin” or … “Shrek: The Musical.” I remember being in the production and it kind of brings me back to those happy memories I had ,or productions that I saw that I was like, “Oh, my gosh, this really makes me want to work towards being in something like that.” I love musicals.

Villarreal: It was just two years ago where the general public was starting to learn your name with your debut in Apple TV’s “Presumed Innocent.” Since then, you’ve navigated the film award season with “One Battle After Another,” and now the TV awards season with “The Testaments.” How do you make sense of what this moment is? Are there still things you’re getting used to? What have you enjoyed about this part of the job?

Infiniti: There’s a lot of things I’m still getting used to. Especially with “One Battle,” I think the biggest adjustment I had was people knowing me before I walked up to them — people that I’m massive fans of. I met Angela Bassett at something, and she came up to me and said my name, and I was like, “You’re Angela Bassett, and you know who I am?” That was like an “Oh, my gosh” [moment]. I’m still really adjusting to that. I feel like there’s a disconnect in my brain between like what I think people know of me versus what reality actually is. And my friends bring it up all the time and they’re like, “Chase, these people know who you are.” But I can’t wrap my head around that. It’s very strange, especially going from like a 0 to 100 situation. That’s something that I’m still trying to find an adjustment on in my brain.

[What have I] enjoyed about it? I’ve gotten to meet all of my superheroes, in a way. All the people that I’ve grown up watching on the screen and on the stage, [I’ve encountered at] all of these different events and in passing, and everyone could not be kinder and just getting to meet them and just pour into them how much they’ve shaped my life and shaped the creative work I want to do. Another adjustment thing is hearing them pour back into me too. That’s something that I’ve been getting used to. But meeting the superheroes of it all in my brain has been something I’ve really loved. Also getting to meet people who’ve watched “The Testaments”; like younger girls who’ve watched it and then really found a connection point with it, and it’s had an impact on them and their friends. That’s something I really cherish about getting to do what I get to do. I had it with “One Battle.” It’s really cool to see it happening again with “The Testaments.” That’s a very wonderful gift.

VIllarreal: Before we delve further into “The Testaments,” I do want point out this moment onstage at the Academy Awards. When “One Battle After Another” won best picture, Paul Thomas Anderson singled you out, calling you “My American girl” and the “heart of this movie.” Place me in that moment as Chase.

Infiniti: Well, I didn’t hear him. I just heard him say my name. I remember he was going down the list and saying names of different people, and I thought that it was something like that. I was touched that he even mentioned me onstage. Obviously, that movie has quite literally changed my life and that entire cast. And I love Paul so much. So I didn’t hear him onstage, and it wasn’t until afterwards that my parents had sent me a screenshot of the [closed] captions from that night. They were like, “This is what Paul said about you.” I just remember feeling so honored that I got to be a part of something that changed my life, but [it was a film that] also really, I think, changed a lot of people’s lives as well; they connected with it. I can distinctively remember every single day on that job. I just remember feeling such a rush of emotions after reading [what he said] because I love that movie and I love Paul so much. I could not be more grateful for that opportunity and for the opportunity to play Willa, let alone get to be a part of the crazy world that is a Paul Thomas Anderson set. But I learned so much. There’s so much I could say about it.

Villarreal: How did playing Willa inform how you thought about Agnes, who’s also this young revolutionary in the making, as you were putting yourself on tape for “The Testaments”?

Infiniti: I signed on to it with one script in mind. Obviously, I had read the book beforehand, so I had an idea of what she was going to go through, but I didn’t necessarily know how it was going pan out onscreen. The biggest help Willa [provided] beforehand going into that is, I feel like I, by nature, have a little bit of a rebellious spirit, but I really had to turn it up with Willa. I think that being able to access that through Willa and then shape it differently for Agnes, given the circumstances of where she is, was the biggest key between the two. They do share the strong sense of rebellion. Granted, Agnes doesn’t know where it comes from. She doesn’t really know how to handle it, necessarily. But I think that that was a nice way into Agnes and creating her world mentally of where she is and also the inner turmoil of, “I know that there’s this thing happening inside me, but I don’t really understand it.” I think [that] was the biggest cheat code from Willa to Agnes.

Villarreal: What was it about “The Testaments” that spoke to you and made you want to tackle the material?

Infiniti: Just from that one script alone that I read before I signed on, it was hidden that it was “The Handmaid’s Tale,” but you can get a sense of what the world is based off of that initial script. I just fell in love with how detailed it was. It didn’t feel like there were any question marks in the world, and I think that diving into something [like] that felt very interesting because it’s not otherworldly but it feels otherworldy in the sense of the way that they speak and the way Gilead itself looks on paper versus on the screen. That was something that I found to be very interesting. But I think with Agnes specifically, I really love the amount of love that she has for her friends, because that’s something that I feel very strongly about. My friends and my family, but especially my friends, are the people I cherish most in my life. My loved ones are near and dear to my heart, and I will do anything for them. That’s something that I really loved about Agnes. That makes me very happy to see, that even in a world that’s so dark and so dim — even if she doesn’t view it as that, it is dark and it is dim for a young girl in Gilead —she still has so much love and so much hope for her friends. And I found that to be very inspiring.

Villarreal: Did you have any hesitation about the heaviness of this fictional world?

Infiniti: I don’t think that that necessarily terrified me, because I think that I have this very privileged ability to step into this world that seems like it’s so far outside of what we are, I guess, used to — but it’s really not. Nothing that Margaret Atwood writes is fiction. It is all based off of history or things that are happening at the time that she’s written it. I knew that it was going to be very relevant. I’m in this very privileged position where this isn’t my reality, but this is the reality of so many women around the world. And I thought when I read this script that this was a way for people to not, I guess, become desensitized to seeing these things, because I think that we’re in a world where it’s so easy to just turn off your phone, scroll past something, and just ignore what’s actually really happening. With “The Testaments” and with the things that these girls go through, I truly feel heartbroken. But if this in any way can wake people up, can help people continue to ask questions and really question their own environments, that was something that I wasn’t scared of. And I really felt empowered to join something that was doing that. And I am also grateful that on that set, it never felt like the material was too heavy for a day because our entire cast and our entire crew kept the energy on set very light. And if there was ever a point where a day was extra heavy, I knew that I could turn to Lucy [Halliday, who plays Daisy] and she would always be there for me. I know that I can turn to one of the directors and they would always be there, or even one of the [production assistants]. Everybody on set was very forthcoming with kindness and always very open. That was something that helped to keep the heaviness of the subject matter [from] going home with us.

Villarreal: Agnes has only known obedience and repression. She’s very controlled with her emotions. As somebody with roots in musical theater, did you have to curtail some of those instincts that you might’ve had to be a little more expressive? How was it settling into Agnes?

Infiniti: It was honestly pretty easy because you get into the space, you get into the world, and you instantly are transported and you get little context clues based off of the things that you see in Agnes’ room versus the things that you’ve seen in the school — or the absence of things. The absence of things really helped to start to put me in a box in a way — not the negative connotation of that — like putting the costume on. It really helped for me to feel the restriction of the world to understand what Agnes’ mind is, and getting to see that from the outside and then getting to step into it. It wasn’t that hard to shut off that part of my musical theater brain, but I think part of that is also I’ve learned how to maneuver through that just based off of “Presumed Innocent” and “One Battle,” because both of those parts are also very, very much so not musical theater-y at all. So I think that was also something that I had the privilege of learning on both of those sets.

Villarreal: Something that stands out with Agnes is we’re witnessing her awakening. Gilead is all she’s ever known. And she’s very dutiful to the practices of that society. But she’s grappling with coming into her identity and feeling this gap of her internal thoughts and feelings and what society tells her to be. What was important to you in having those two realities live side by side?

Inifiniti: The one thing I never wanted her to lose was her sense of love. She is a character who that is at the root of most of her decisions, especially when it comes to the final episodes with Becka [played by Mattea Conforti]. I think the love that Agnes has in this world is something baseline I never want to lose. I really tried to maintain that throughout.

There’s so much that you keep to yourself — your inner thoughts, your inner personality in a way — versus what you outwardly show the world. I just had to turn up the extremes when it came to Agnes, and really make sure to keep those things that she keeps close to her heart guarded. And put on this almost armor in a sense of what she views to be the most perfect version of herself for the outside world. And then watching that kind of crumble, those layers are peeled apart based off of what happens to her and what she sees happen to her friends. But also, there’s a point in everyone’s life where they realize, “Oh, what I had been raised under the belief of is actually not the reality. Whether it be something like that or whether it be an idea or an ideal that you have about the world or about yourself or your morals, just based off of what you’ve been raised with. I think that everybody has a point in their life where they have to face a version of reality that they’ve been told versus what actually is reality. There’s things that I’m still learning, and there’s still things that I’m questioning just based off of what I see in my personal life, and then also with my friends or what my family goes through.

Villarreal: A key character in the show is menarche and the menstrual cycle. We see how it’s weaponized, but we also see how it gives these young girls their power. What was it like to explore that?

Infinti: The thing I honestly really enjoyed about it is the openness of it. Like, you know when you go to the bathroom — and this is perfect podcast talk — and you’re taking your pad or your tampon to go change, but you’re hiding it because you’re like, “I don’t know if I want anybody to see it” [or hear] the crinkling of everything. But I think that the openness of everything in the show — granted, circumstances are completely different — but the openness that they have with it, I found to be very freeing and refreshing in a way. That was something, especially when we started shooting, that we all talked about, because we were like, “We’ve never been in a place where it didn’t feel like there was a stigma against it.” It felt like we were almost encouraged to talk about it. Getting to put this show out into the world and letting girls see that there isn’t something that they should be afraid of, but also letting them see that this is normal. This is not something that we should be scared of, let alone try to hide, because it’s a part of womanhood. It’s also a part of girlhood and a point of connection between younger girls. Getting to see it on the screen and see the way that these girls talk about it, ignoring the society of Gilead and the amount of pressure that the men put on them in this society, that connection that they have with those few things that span across culture, that is something that we were all very happy to kind of have that openness with something that we’ve felt so scared to talk about, especially at like 14 and 15.

Villarreal: Scared to experience too.

Infiniti: I remember when I got my period for the first time I was like, “What is happening? I don’t know what is going on.” The first person that you call, if it’s not your mom or another maternal figure in your life, is your friends. Because they’re normally the person closest to you in proximity if you’re at school or if you were at an after-school activity or something like that. Getting to have that openness felt very refreshing to have on set.

Villarreal: There was so much openness that there was a menarche playlist curated by director Mike Barker. Tell me the backstory on this.

Infiniti: We did. I’m trying to remember how we found out about this playlist. We were doing a camera test for the costumes, and I remember Mike just putting on this playlist and he’s like, “I like putting up these songs for everyone to listen to” because there was no dialogue in this little camera test between me, Mattea, Rowan [Blanchard], Lucy, Brad [Alexander], Amy [Seimetz] and Mabel [Li] — I can’t remember if I might be forgetting somebody else, and I’m so sorry if I am. But it was a bunch of the cast and then there was also some pinks in there just to see how everything looks on camera. And we were hearing all these different songs playing. We’re like, “Wow, this is great. Thanks for putting together a playlist, Mike.” At some point, Lucy went to grab his phone to look at what the song was and his playlist was open, and she’s like, “Why is the playlist called ‘The Menarche Playlist’? And after that, it just became us trying to get him to approve a song that we would suggest.

Villarreal: I remember you telling me Britney Spears’ ”… Baby One More Time” was on it. But I had wondered who else made the cut.

Infinti: “… Baby One More Time” was on it. I think that was the first song on it, but there would be points in lunch — we’d all eat lunch together — and we’d be like “OK, Mike, what about this one for the menarche playlist, or what about about this one?” We would all secretly hope that they would get added to the show.

Villarreal: Did one of your suggestions get added?

Infiniti: There are songs on there that I don’t even remember. So one of them probably did get added. I just don’t remember what it was.

Villarreal: Agnes is somebody that doesn’t really experience culture. We don’t know what kind of music she likes, what kind of TV or film she likes. And you’re someone that’s very much into culture, at least from what I’ve seen. Were you thinking about what she might like? How did you think about her backstory with that kind of absence?

Infiniti: I was really just relying on what you saw of her in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and that was the extent of what I would let a part of her backstory be because she doesn’t remember much about her childhood. Once she becomes conscious, in a way, in Gilead, all I did was rely on the things that I knew that she liked and really try to remind myself, “She doesn’t know what a movie is. She knows what ‘Jaws’ is, but she doesn’t really have an understanding of what watching a movie is like. She doesn’t know what YouTube is, she doesn’t know what a phone is.” I had to keep reminding myself, especially at the beginning, to not put those things in the forefront of our minds, unless, of course, like you’re a Pearl girl who has prior knowledge of everything. A lot of it was just reminding myself, “You don’t know what this is, she doesn’t know what this is.” If I were to meet Agnes right now, she would probably think I was crazy because she just doesn’t understand a lot the things I’ve seen, and the things that we use in our day-to-day life, and I really tried to make sure to keep that intact, but also relying on the bits of information that I had from “The Handmaid’s Tale” going back to the show. And also, of course, we had Bruce Miller, so I could ask him anything.

Villarreal: What would you, Chase, expose her to? If she were to come to you, what she should be listening to or watching, what’s the guide you’d give her?

Infiniti: The crash course to being 14? I would show her One Direction. I’m sorry. That is something that is so quintessential to being a 14-year-old, especially me being 14. I would be like, “Agnes, I see the things that you love and you’re obsessed with. I’m going to show you the thing that I was in love and obsessed with when I was your age.” I would be very curious to see how she would react to hearing One Direction for the first time; hearing “What Makes You Beautiful,” that would be interesting to see. I would show her something that is representative of me being her age. I still am a fan. I’ve always been a fan my whole life, but especially One Direction, that’s probably something I would show her.

Villarreal: Who was Chase at 14? You talked earlier about having a little bit of that rebellion in you. And after playing these two characters back to back, what have you sort of learned yourself, about your power or finding your voice, especially in an industry like Hollywood?

Infiniti: Something that I realized when I was probably about 13 or 14 is, I used to be very upset when people would underestimate me. I found a way to, I guess, not make it my superpower … but use it as opposed to [letting it be] something that would defeat me. [I would] use it as something to continue to motivate me to work towards the goal that I already had because there’s always gonna be people that underestimate you. There’s always going to be people in the world that want to pour negativity into you when you’re truly just living your life, working towards the things that you want. That was something that I realized pretty young because I knew at 10 that I wanted to be an actor. And so at that point, I kind of made a shift in my mind where I was like, “OK, I need to start working towards the thing that I want to do.” At 13, people were like, “Why are you so motivated to do this? It’s a bit embarrassing that you want to be an actor. What makes you think you can do that?” And I was like, “Because I want to do it.” I never had a doubt in my mind that this would be the thing that I would get to do because that was something that my parents always told me. They were like, “Dream big because the dreams that you’re imagining can be your reality, especially if you work hard enough towards it.” And I feel very lucky that I get to do the thing I’ve always dreamed of doing.

Villarreal: How does that live side by side with also learning how to deal with rejection so young?

Infiniti: It’s a lot of tears, a lot of sad days, sad weeks, conversations with my friends, conversations with parents. But from being underestimated, I remember my dad being like, “You have to get comfortable with ‘no.’ And it’s not going to be fun. It’s not gonna be something that you’re excited to hear, because no one’s excited to hear that they didn’t get something that they really wanted.” Now I’m at a point where I’ve really learned how to process it and not let a no or a rejection affect my view of myself or affect my view of a performance or my abilities to do anything. It took a long time to learn, and I’m still nowhere near perfect, but I’m definitely at a place that’s better than when I was 13 because it is hard for somebody that young to get that amount of rejection. It’s also hard for somebody at my age to handle that level of rejection, especially when you get so close to something. I have to give that credit to processing those things to my parents because that is all them. I had many tear-filled nights when I was a kid because I was so sad that I didn’t get a solo in something, and they’re like, this doesn’t mean that you’re not talented. I’m also somebody who believes the right things will find you. And they’re [my parents] also the people that kind of instilled that in me too.

Villarreal: Does that reframing of no also give you the confidence to approach Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio del Toro and say, “Will you make a TikTok with me?”

Infiniti: It honestly was like a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I was very specific. I did lots of research because I also was like, “I want it to be something that they can look at and also laugh at.” They can enjoy it.

Villarreal: Do you think you’ll get there with Ann Dowd? A TikTok?

Infiniti: I would love to. I don’t know what it would be, but I would love to make a TikTok with Ann Dowd one day. If it could be like all the girls on set making a TikTok, I would be very happy. I do have some planned. So, we’ll see.

Villarreal: Margaret Atwood makes a cameo in the finale of Season 1. How do you even talk to Margaret Atwood when you meet her? What was that experience like for you?

Infiniti: The person who was probably the most shocked was Lucy because Lucy Halliday is the biggest Margaret Atwood fan I think I’ve ever met. I had the gift of getting to witness Lucy meeting Margaret for the first time. But meeting her — she’s so kind. [Producer] Warren Littlefield says this all the time where he’s like, “You can’t talk to Margaret Atwood and not learn something with every conversation.” I just remember being very quiet and listening to her talk and listening to her ask questions of me, ask questions of Lucy, but we would just pour into her and be like, “Thank you so much for your work because you truly have touched millions.” She’s also so funny and so witty and very charismatic. I remember being very nervous beforehand, but she made it very easy for our nerves to go away. The highlight was getting to see Lucy meet Margaret.

Villarreal: You’re about to head out to Canada to start production on Season 2. You’ve seen two scripts. What do you hope to see for Agnes in Season 2?

Infiniti: I hope Agnes is happy, and I hope that she can continue to push and find her happiness. I hope that she doesn’t lose her spark, and I hope that’s something that she continues to explore and understand why she is the way that she is. Those are two hopes that I have.

THURSDAY’S RESULTS

Southern Section

Agoura 38, Buena 0

Canyon Country Canyon 75, PACS 0

Castaic 19, Burbank Burroughs 0

Channel Islands 26, Rio Mesa 13

Corona Centennial 6, El Dorado 0

Corona Santiago 35, Great Oak 14

Crean Lutheran 7, Capistrano Valley 6

Dos Pueblos 28, Santa Ynez 6

El Toro 26, Dana Hills 0

Fillmore 45, Del Sol 0

Gahr 54, Dominguez 6

Hacienda Heights Wilson 7, Garey 0

Hart 12, Royal 6

Hemet 18, Murrieta Valley 7

Indio 21, Canyon Springs 0

Katella 19, Norwalk 0

Lancaster 32, Rosamond 6

Newport Beach Pacifica Christian 51, Loara 7

Nogales 26, Mountain View 12

Oxnard Pacifica 19, Newbury Park 18

Paramount 14, Fairmont Prep 7

Redondo Union 27, Santa Monica 7

Saddleback 8, Century 6

Santa Barbara 38, Hueneme 12

Saugus 26, St. Bonaventure 0

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 22, Oaks Christian 0

Sonora 14, Portola 12

Thousand Oaks 27, Long Beach Wilson 20

Ventura 27, Santa Paula 0

Westlake 61, Simi Valley 12

Intersectional

Bakersfield Christian 19, Highland 6

FRIDAY’S RESULTS

City Section

Franklin 33, Garfield 13

Hollywood 39, West Adams 0

Los Ángeles Marshall 29, Monroe 0

Los Ángeles Marshall 7, Sotomayor 0

Sotomayor 19, Monroe 0

Southern Section

Agoura 12, Cypress 7

Azusa 20, Northview 19

Beckman 32, Mira Costa 13

Bonita 13, La Serna 6

Cantwell-Sacred Heart 26, Whitney 7

Compton 32, Huntington Park 0

Cypress 13, Warren 12

Dos Pueblos 28, Classical Academy 12

Dos Pueblos 13, Redondo Union 7

Edison 13, Long Beach Poly 0

El Rancho 45, El Monte 0

Fountain Valley 26, Capistrano Valley 6

Highland 50, Rosamond 0

Huntington Beach 7, Classical Academy 0

Huntington Beach 18, Redondo Union 0

JSerra 24, Camarillo 0

JSerra 19, Westlake 6

Lakewood St. Joseph 40, Corona 6

Long Beach Wilson 7, Santa Ana Valley 0

Los Altos 13, San Gabriel 0

Montebello 18, Bell Gardens 0

Newport Harbor 25, Aliso Niguel 0

Newport Harbor 7, Oxnard 0

Northwood 6, Rosary 0

Orange Lutheran 16, Oxnard 6

Orange Lutheran 27, Aliso Niguel 0

Palos Verdes 43, Desert Hot Springs 0

Shadow Hills 25. Cathedral City 0

Sierra Canyon 25, Long Beach Poly 13

St. Margaret’s 13, Agoura 6

St. Margaret’s 21, Warren 20

Ventura 28, Fullerton 0

Villa Park 13, Anaheim Canyon 0

Western Christian 20, Tesoro 6

Woodbridge 40, Wiseburn-Da Vinci 0

Woodbridge 36, Ventura 0

Intersectional

Beckman 21, Narbonne 0

Bonita Vista 20, Sierra Canyon 12

Compton 32, Huntington Park 0

Edison 13, Bonita Vista 0

Esperanza 18, Panorama 13

Mira Costa 13, Mira Mesa 12

Mira Mesa 6, Narbonne 0

Tesoro 13, Panorama 6

Torrey Pines 12, Westlake 7

Torrey Pines 7, Camarillo 6

SATURDAY’S RESULTS

Southern Section

Anaheim Canyon 39, Los Osos 0

Anaheim Canyon 35, South El Monte 7

Baldwin Park 21, Gabrielino 13

Beaumont 38, Long Beach Wilson 0

Beckman 26, Tesoro 24

Bishop Amat 7, La Serna 6

Bonita 34, Don Lugo 0

Bonita 47, Covina 6

Bonita 25, Chino Hills 0

Cerritos 52, Keppel 0

Chaminade 7, San Marcos 0

Chaminade 20, West Ranch 0

Chaparral 20, Newport Beach Pacifica Christian 0

Chino Hills 26, Covina 6

Colony 19, Corona 13

Corona Centennial 40, Kaiser 6

Corona del Mar 13, Trabuco Hills 12

Corona del Mar 19, Bishop Amat 6

Covina 35, Don Lugo 6

Don Lugo 6, Chino Hills 6

Glendora 61, Arroyo 0

Great Oak 26, Newport Beach Pacifica Christian 0

Irvine University 18, Crean Lutheran 0

JSerra 27, Orange Lutheran 6

JSerra 28, Dos Pueblos 0

JSerra 23, Newport Harbor 6

Linfield Christian 32, Temecula Valley 6

La Serna 20, Cajon 6

Los Osos 24, Colton 2

Mira Costa 13, Western Christian 9

Newport Harbor 13, Edison 0

Newport Harbor 14, Huntington Beach 0

Norco 21, Patriot 6

Norco 19, Murrieta Mesa 12

Oxnard 20, Long Beach Poly 7

Oxnard Pacifica 19, West Ranch 6

Oxnard Pacifica 6, Chaminade 0

Quartz Hill 0, Valencia 0

Redlands 31, Banning 0

Riverside King 41, San Jacinto 0

Riverside King 49, Canyon Springs 0

Riverside King 29, Patriot 7

San Marcos 21, Oxnard Pacifica 7

San Marcos 32, West Ranch 0

St. Lucy’s 16, Alhambra 6

Temecula Valley 21, Temecula Prep 0

Tesoro 20, St. Margaret’s 6

Upland 19, El Dorado 12

Upland 12, Hart 0

Ventura 25, St. Margaret’s 15

VIsta Murrieta 62, San Jacinto 0

Vista Murrieta 32, Canyon Springs 0

Warren 19, Esperanza 6

Warren 32, Fullerton 6

Western Christian 12, Agoura 6

Westlake 20, Oxnard 13

Westlake 20, Redondo Union 14

Woodbridge 18, Agoura 8

Intersectional

Bonita Vista 13, Dos Pueblos 6

Downey 44, San Pedro 0

Edison 19, Torrey Pines 0

Esperanza 14, Narbonne 6

Huntington Beach 25, Torrey Pines 7

Mira Mesa 14, Panorama 7

Mira Mesa 20, Cypress 14

Narbonne 12, Fullerton 0

Orange Lutheran 6, Bonita Vista 0

Panorama 27, Wiseburn-Da Vinci 0

Warren 20, Mira Mesa 0

Novak Djokovic suffered from punishing heat and humidity on Saturday but made a match of it before falling 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Thiago Tirante in what could be the Serb’s last appearance at the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters.

The second-round battle lasted for more than two and a half hours, and it proved too much for the 24-time Grand Slam champion, who was playing his first match since he lost to Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon semifinals more than a month ago.

Top-seeded Alexander Zverev, the French Open champion who fell to Sinner in the Wimbledon final, was more fortunate, squeezing out an opening 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Cameron Norrie in a match that took two hours and 45 minutes and ended at 2:15am.

Britain’s Norrie has now lost all eight of his matches against the German, winner of the Cincinnati title five years ago, who is hoping a return to Ohio will help him shake off an abrupt exit in Canada last week.

Norrie had wrapped up the opening set before Zverev began to find his footing to level the match.

Norrie saved six break points in a 12-minute game to begin the deciding set but was broken twice as Zverev advanced.

“I needed to get a match rhythm,” Zverev said. “The confidence was not there after Canada.

“The first set was not great, but the other two were at a high level, and I’m happy about that.”

Depleted Djokovic

Djokovic, who claimed the last of his three Cincinnati titles in 2023, took the opening set against Argentina’s Tirante with little fuss.

But the sweltering afternoon temperatures took a toll.

“It was a combination of the heat and humidity, all those things,” he said. “Everything involved makes it worse.”

Djokovic won a brutal 18-minute third game of the second, saving four break points over nine deuces. But he was bent over in distress between several points and even dropped to his hands and knees after one particularly gruelling exchange.

Djokovic took a medical timeout after that game, with the physio and then a doctor coming on court to assist with assessments and ice towels.

After Tirante took the second set, both players cooled off in the locker room.

Slightly revived, Djokovic set the pace again in the deciding set. But it all went wrong in the ninth game, when Djokovic saved three break points before getting it wrong on a drop shot to bring up a fourth break chance that his opponent converted.

Tirante clinched the biggest win of his career in the next game as Djokovic again failed to land a drop shot on match point.

The Serb, who must now try to regroup before the US Open starts on August 30, admitted he might have played his last match in Cincy.

“It looks like I won’t be back, unfortunately, to play here,” he said.

Tirante called the win the best of his career.

“I managed the nerves of playing a legend like Novak. It was all so much pressure.”

‘Focused’ Eala advances

In the WTA draw, Philippines sensation Alexandra Eala advanced to the third round 6-1, 3-0 as injured Elena-Gabriela Ruse retired from their match during a weather delay.

The Romanian had received treatment on her right ankle just before play was halted by a thunderstorm, Ruse pulling the plug during the delay.

Eala, the emerging WTA star who captured her first WTA title in Washington, DC, this month, will next play ninth-seeded American Amanda Anisimova, who beat Turk Zeynep Sonmez 6-2, 6-3.

“I was playing well and feeling really focused,” Eala said. “I tried to stay in the zone.”

“A retirement is not the way you want to end a match,” she added. “Injuries are not fun.”

Roland Garros finalist Maja Chwalinska advanced 6-2, 6-2 over Spain’s Cristina Bucsa.

Wimbledon winner Linda Noskova followed suit with her 6-3, 6-3 defeat of Britain’s Katie Boulter.

There was heartbreak for Payton Stearns, who grew up just blocks from the tennis centre. She lost 7-6 (9/7), 1-6, 7-5 to Dane Clara Tauson, who played through back pain but rallied from 4-1 down in the final set to win.

A fundraiser created by Dudley Council to help residents “rebuild their lives” has surpassed £25,000.

Another by the Heart of England Community Foundation to help families impacted by fires across the West Midlands has hit £50,000.

Stourbridge MP Cat Eccles urged anyone who needed additional support to reach out for help.

“I’m on hand to support however I can, the Town Hall remains open for food, clothes, pet supplies, phone chargers, general inquiries,” she said.

“Counselling is available and being offered by several local professionals free of charge for adults and children.”

The Stourbridge and District branch of the RSPCA has also shared posters, external about several cats who have gone missing from the area since the fire.

In Stoke-on-Trent, four homes were completely destroyed by a fire that started in a park in Sandyford and 13 other homes suffered structural, roof and window damage.

Marie Leese told how her treasured garden went up in flames after fire ripped through properties in Maureen Avenue.

When she was allowed to return home, she discovered she had also lost the summer house her husband built before he died three years ago.

Police have arrested a man and woman on suspicion of arson in connection with the Stoke-on-Trent fire.

Investigators are still working on what caused the blaze in Stourbridge.

WHEN I told my husband I was whisking him away for a romantic weekend, he was expecting a quaint B&B with chocolates on the pillows, not a static caravan.

But our three-night trip to Green Hill Farm Holiday Village turned out to be rather luxurious, not to mention quite steamy . . .  ahem, due to our private hot tub.

The Lovat Holiday Parks site sits just minutes away from the New Forest and it’s so much more than a budget family getaway destination.

We stayed in a modern two-bed luxury lodge, which overlooked a pond filled with ducks.

Alongside a comfy double bed, the lodge featured a cosy living room, a large kitchen and a decking area complete with a hot tub that glitters with LED lights at night.

The complimentary slippers and dressing gowns elevated the experience above your bog standard holiday park stay.

WAIL OF A TIME

I drove Irish Route 66 with deserted golden beaches and pirate-like islands

TEMPTED?

Tiny ‘Bali of Europe’ town with stunning beaches, €3 cocktails and £20 flights

If the kids come along, there’s an endless list of activities as well as a play area with a splash pad, and a board game library.

Plus there’s a forest ranger programme, unique to this holiday park, offering special segway-riding trails through the woodland, and archery and trampolining.

Meanwhile, parents can relax by the enormous lake, where they can try fishing, or get their workout fix at the small outdoor gym.

The highlight for us as a couple was the stunning location.

Perched at the edge of the New Forest, with direct access to the National Park, it’s a haven for nature enthusiasts.

We went for a romantic ramble on the moors, where we spotted wild ponies and donkeys, many of which were tame enough to pet.

You don’t need to be a top-tier hiker, there’s a variety of routes to suit all abilities on your doorstep.

After working up an appetite, we treated ourselves to pizza from the Ember Restaurant back on site.

The margherita was £13.50, or you can opt for the Inferno, which comes with pepperoni, chilli and peppers smothered in hot habanero sauce.

There’s also the delicious Greek, which comes with olives, feta, red onion and oregano.

For burger-lovers The Smashed Buns van is sure to hit the spot.

Standard burgers will set you back £8.50 and fries are an extra £3.50.

There’s also a takeaway spot for coffee and fresh pastries in the morning and a mini on-site shop selling groceries, beer and wine.

The nearby Rockingham Arms has a cracking beer garden and does an excellent Sunday roast.

The barmaid entertained us with ghost stories about the local area.

Architecture fans will love ornate Salisbury Cathedral, while the high street offers a great mix of quaint independent stores and giants like Primark and Marks and Spencer.

For lunch, head to The Tabletop Tavern, a medieval-themed bar with a wooden chandelier and candle-like bulbs.

The menu is all hearty stews and Elderwine sausages.

Even the board games have a Medieval theme — Dungeons & Dragons, anyone?

Our favourite pub, however, was The Bishops Mill, which hosts regular live music sessions and quiz nights, and does excellent sharing dishes like the crispy duck nachos.

We could have spent hours kicking back with a pint, listening to the singer belt out ballads, but the romantic setting left us in the mood to get steamy back at the lodge.

And we know what that means — hot tub time!

ARIANA GRANDE revealed she felt “overwhelmed” with emotion on stage as she thanked her fans for their support.

At the opening night of the UK leg of her Eternal Sunshine Tour, the American singer said: “London, I love you so much.

“I feel overwhelmed right now. I’m so grateful to be doing this with you all.

“As you know, London is my final stop on this tour. And I just wanted to say I’m going to savour every last second of these last ten shows with you guys. As this is one of my favourite places in the world.”

There was no hint of any underlying upset as Ariana took to the stage at The O2 London despite her shock decision to take an extended break from the public when her ten-night stint in the capital ends.

She seemed excited to be back, having spent so long living and working here during filming for the Wicked movies.

SOHO CHILLED

Inside Ariana Grande’s secret countryside retreat with Sabrina Carpenter

STEPPING BACK

TV boss breaks silence on Ariana Grande quitting hit drama show

Ariana said: “I lived here for a while so it will always have a special place in my heart.

“I want to say thank you to my fans for being the most incredible, loving beings and a presence in my life. I’ll always cherish you.”

Perhaps Ariana had something else to smile about.

Her boyfriend, Ricky Alvarez — who she first dated a decade ago before recently rekindling their romance — was watching at the side of the stage.

Ariana’s powerhouse vocals were pitch-perfect throughout her 26-song set, and the choreography was flawless.

But this show, her first since 2019’s Sweetener World Tour, felt like a deep exploration of her inner psyche.

It was littered with references to her childhood, ballet and old Hollywood-style glamour.

Enjoy your stint here, Ari, we’re grateful to have you.

Makhachev was greeted by loud cheers as he made his walkout and made a statement in the first round as he took Machado Garry down at the first attempt.

The Irishman defended on the ground admirably, but it was a sign of things to come as Makhachev controlled the rest of the round with the challenger trapped against the side of the cage.

Makhachev’s dominance continued into the second round as he knocked Machado Garry down with a head kick, before slamming the dazzled Irishman to the canvas.

Again Machado Garry survived until the end of the round and although he found some success with a number of kicks midway through the fight, Makhachev continued to assert control when the pair grappled.

Machado Garry bloodied Makhachev’s face with some punches in the clinch, but the Russian shrugged it off to reach the final bell ahead in a number of key stats.

He secured seven unanswered takedowns and clocked over 12 minutes of control time to Machado Garry’s 34 seconds.

Although the Irishman landed 29 significant strikes to Makhachev’s 22, it was not enough to convince the judges of the win.

In a show of respect, the pair embraced before Machado Garry raised Makhachev’s arm in victory.

“To all my fans, Ireland, everybody, I’m sorry I couldn’t get this done,” said Machado Garry.

“But I stand here as a man proud of what I’ve done, proud of where I came from and proud where this will take me. To all the fans who doubt me, I’ll be back.”

At 28, Machado Garry has plenty of time to realise his dream of becoming a UFC champion, while Makhachev’s victory adds weight to claims he’s closing in on being regarded as the greatest UFC fighter of all time.

Messi’s record from the penalty spot is poor by his sky-high standards, including missing twice during the 2026 World Cup.

Forward Lionel Messi missed yet another penalty and was booked as Inter Miami suffered a 4-1 defeat at Nashville in a top-of-the-table Major League Soccer clash on Saturday.

England’s Sam Surridge and Germany’s Hany Mukhtar scored second-half goals for the hosts, Nashville, in a showdown between the MLS overall leaders.

Argentina and Miami captain Messi was denied from the penalty spot in the first half and was issued a yellow card in the 59th minute but also assisted Miami’s lone goal, scored by Telasco Segovia.

Messi, the 2022 World Cup winner, struck both posts in second-half stoppage time.

Nashville lead MLS with 43 points and a record of 13-2 with four drawn, while Inter Miami are second on 38 points.

Nashville had already knocked Miami out of this year’s CONCACAF Champions Cup in the round of 16.

Defending MLS champions Miami, who had been a league-best 8-1-1 on the road, saw a seven-match undefeated MLS run snapped as Nashville remained unbeaten at home in the MLS campaign.

Honduran defender Andy Najar scored with a header in the 17th minute to give Nashville a 1-0 lead.

Miami had a chance to equalise with a Messi penalty kick in the 23rd minute, but Nashville goalkeeper Brian Schwake saved his weak effort.

Messi’s recent record from the penalty spot is poor by his sky-high standards, including missing twice at the FIFA World Cup 2026.

The visitors netted the equaliser three minutes into first-half stoppage time when Venezuelan Segovia blasted in a right-footed shot off an assist by Messi.

Mukhtar, the 2022 MLS Most Valuable Player, put Nashville back in front in the 49th minute.

Surridge gave Nashville a 3-1 lead, and Mukhtar added his second in the 63rd for extra insurance as the hosts pulled away.

The U.S. Army is on the hunt for a new lower-cost strike missile capable of hitting targets more than 621 miles (1,000 kilometers) away. The Affordable High Speed Strike (AHSS) missile could be more of a traditional ballistic missile-like weapon or feature an air-breathing propulsion system. AHSSs could be fired from new uncrewed launcher vehicles that the Army is pursuing separately, as well as certain existing crewed types like the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). The service sees these future weapons as offering a particularly important new way to strike enemy air bases, air defense nodes, missile launchers, and other high-value targets within a particular theater of operations.

AHSS was among the many programs the Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Aviation & Missile Center (DEVCOM AvMC) highlighted at its booth at the annual Space & Missile Defense (SMD) Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama. TWZ was in attendance at this conference, which wrapped up yesterday. Aviation Week was first to report on AHSS from this event.

“AHSS is an entirely new missile,” a DEVCOM spokesperson said, according to Aviation Week. At the same time, the Army is also clearly in the very early stages of defining what it wants from this new weapon beyond general affordability and reach.

A graphic on display at DEVCOM’s booth at the SMD symposium showed renderings of two distinctly different notional missiles under the AHSS heading, as seen at the top of this story and below. One has a traditional ballistic missile-type design with a cruciform fin arrangement at the tail end. The other notional missile has a more novel design with an air-breathing propulsion system feeding from an intake in the nose. In broad terms, the intake has a style commonly associated with high-speed jet engines such as ramjets and scramjets. It also has a completely different tail configuration, as well as what appears to be a long, slender stabilizing strake visible along the right side of the body.

Aviation Week‘s story also highlights the Army’s current separate development of an entire new family of Common Autonomous Multi-Domain Launcher (CAML) vehicles. However, the current AHSS concept also includes “an option to be launched from a crewed HIMARS,” the DEVCOM spokesperson said, according to that outlet.

HIMARS, which uses a 6×6 tactical truck as its base, fires munitions via standardized ammunition ‘pods.’ As such, it seems likely that any other launcher that makes use of these same pods, such as the tracked M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), would also be able to fire the future AHSS missile.

“This project directly supports Precision Fires capabilities by developing, maturing, and demonstrating affordable high speed strike missile technologies for responsive, mobile, deployable, survivable, and sustainable Army conventional theater strike weapons,” the Army said about AHSS in its 2027 Fiscal year budget proposal, which was released earlier this year. The program will “provide hardware and software technologies demonstrated, including affordable advanced propulsion, complementary warhead, guidance, navigation and control technologies, and integration onto Army mobile launch platforms.”

“The Army needs affordable, responsive high speed strike capability to attack theater level targets, provide offensive counter-air capability, and be launched from Army mobile, deployable, and survivable platforms,” the Army budget documents add.

The specific mention of the offensive counter-air (OCA) mission set is interesting as it is far more commonly associated with air assets. However, it is simply defined as “offensive operations to destroy or neutralize enemy aircraft, missiles, launch platforms, and their supporting structures and systems both before and after launch, and as close to their source as possible,” according to the January 2020 edition of the U.S. military’s official Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. Long-range surface-to-surface missiles are very applicable for pursuing these objectives, something we will come back to later on.

It is also worth noting that DEVCOM’s graphic at the SMD Symposium used the exact same air-breathing missile render to represent the planned Increment 4 version of the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM). The baseline version of PrSM, or Increment 1, is a traditional short-range ballistic missile with ability to hit targets at least around 310 miles (500 kilometers) away, if not further. The Army’s current stated plan for Increment 4 is to acquire a new variant or derivative of PrSM with a range of at least 621 miles/1,000 kilometers. For further context, the Increment 2 PrSM, which is in active development now, is an anti-ship-focused variant with a new seeker system, allowing it to engage moving targets. The Increment 3 plan is centered on new unspecified “enhanced” payloads, which could include swarms of loitering munitions.

The Army has also talked in the past about an Increment 5 variation of PrSM with even greater range. This would put it in the same general category, at least in terms of reach, as AHSS. As noted, DEVCOM has stressed that AHSS is distinct from other existing efforts.

Furthermore, AHSS and PrSM are just two parts of a larger array of new longer-range strike capabilities the Army is working to acquire. The service has already fielded a small number of Typhon systems, which are currently capable of firing Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles and Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) multi-purpose missiles. Tomahawks can hit targets roughly 1,000 miles away. The Army is now pushing to field the Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), also known as Dark Eagle, as well. Last year, new details emerged that put the maximum range of this weapon at around 2,175 miles.

On top of this, defense startup Castelion is developing a ground-launched version of its Blackbeard missile for the Army. Blackbeard is a lower-cost design said to be capable of traveling at hypersonic speeds. The exact maximum range of this missile is unclear, but the Army has said in the past that it is targeting “80% of the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) Increment 4 capability.”

A key underlying factor in all of this was the collapse of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 2019. Under the INF, the United States and Russia were both prohibited from developing and fielding nuclear or conventionally-armed ground-based ballistic and cruise missiles with maximum ranges between 310 and 3,420 miles (500 and 5,500 kilometers). The AHSS section in the Army’s 2027 Fiscal Year budget request specifically mentions that such developments are now “unconstrained by previous treaties.”

Depending on what kind of capability is ultimately pursued under AHSS, as well as PrSM Increment 5, the Army could be on track to field its first new medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) since the INF went into force in 1988. MRBMs are categorized as ballistic missiles with maximum ranges between 620 and 1,860 miles (1,000 and 3,000 kilometers). Members of Congress have notably been openly supportive of the Army acquiring exactly this kind of long-range capability in the past.

Pairing this capability with new and improved crewed and uncrewed launchers could offer more flexibility for employing these weapons, while also helping to reduce vulnerability to enemy attacks. TWZ has highlighted now on several occasions how uncrewed mobile launch systems would offer even greater advantages for future expeditionary and distributed operations. Uncrewed platforms could be pushed further forward without necessarily exposing human operators to greater risks. This would also allow a smaller force of human personnel to operate a larger number of total launchers, in general.

The broader value of Army ground-based long-range strike capabilities has been demonstrated this year in the course of operations against Iran. PrSM, as well as older Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) short-range ballistic missiles, have been so heavily employed against Iranian targets that there are now serious concerns about the adequacy of the remaining stockpiles of those weapons. There are reports that stocks of PrSMs, which the Army only received in quantity in 2023 and that made their combat debut in strikes on Iran, have run especially low.