A record-high heatwave is sweeping through the Korean Peninsula, sending temperatures skyrocketing, reaching 42.5C (108.5F) on Sunday. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention ​Agency, at least 14 people have died since mid-May as a result.

The Chase Around the World contestants went up against each other in Paris in the latest instalment

The Chase fans all said the same thing as the ITV show’s spin-off arrived in France.

New series The Chase Around the World started last month and sees six pairs of contestants on a global adventure, where they are tasked with solving a series of questions and challenges in different countries to try and track down the Chasers and host Bradley Walsh. The pair who arrive last in each place will then have to face the Chasers in a quiz.

In the latest instalment, the hopefuls were in Paris, where they had to answer a series of French-themed questions. In one segment two of the pairs had to stay at a classic French brasserie and answer food and drink questions before they could continue on with the race.

However, some viewers felt it wasn’t a fair comparison as one duo was offered snails and the other was offered garlic.

Mother and daughter Nicola and Maddie were first and were told: “Here you’ll need to answer three multiple choice questions correctly. Get one wrong, and you’ll be frozen out of the game for five minutes.

“But there’s a shortcut. Wrong answers can be removed if you have the stomach for it.” They were then told they could “eat a snail or clove of garlic to remove a wrong option”.

Maddie looked horrified, exclaiming: “I am never ever in my life going to try a snail. The thought of it makes me genuinely nauseous.”

But when Nicola decided that she wasn’t confident about the question they’d been given, she decided to tuck in. “It was vile… it was gritty,” she said afterwards.

However, when father and daughter Ashwin and Nikita entered the restaurant, they had a choice of garlic and onions.

“Nikita and Ashwin are vegans – snails are off the menu, replaced by raw onion and garlic,” the voiceover explained.

Some viewers weighed in on X as it aired, with one insisting: “Can’t compare onion to snails.”

“Raw onion is much easier to eat than a snail…. probably,” someone else posted on the platform, which was formerly Twitter.

“Raw onions instead of snails… not a fair comparison,” said someone else. Another likened it to a scene from I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here, joking: “This snail eating is like watching a Bushtucker Trial.”

The Chase Around the World is airing on ITV.

The federal law enforcement probe into the financial affairs of the Dodgers’ controlling owner, Mark Walter, seems to focus on what looks like an obscure financial maneuver: related-party transactions.

They are deals between entities with business or personal ties, including loans, sales and other transactions, that can have legitimate reasons but pose potential conflicts of interest and typically require extra scrutiny.

Walter tapped insurers he controlled to provide most of the financing for the $2.15-billion acquisition of the Dodgers in 2012, The Times has reported — a deal later vetted by state insurance regulators.

Now, regulators reportedly are investigating whether billions of dollars’ worth of similar loans made by Walter’s companies were properly disclosed.

There are examples in which related-party transactions led to trouble, including the 2001 bankruptcy of Enron Corp., the largest at the time in Wall Street history. Bernie Madoff profited from his Ponzi scheme through related-party loans.

At issue with Walter is $21 billion in loans not disclosed to state insurance regulators that were made by two Delaware insurers he owns, according to ratings agency Fitch. The loans reportedly were made to companies with ties to Walter or his TWG Global holdings company.

The seriousness of the investigation has been highlighted by subpoenas served on the insurers and the reported seizure of Walter’s cellphone and laptop by federal authorities. Still, investigations by prosecutors and securities regulators can result in no action.

Here are more details on the risk presented by related-party transactions and why they require disclosure and extra regulatory scrutiny.

What do the investigations mean for his ownership of his sport teams?

The 66-year-old billionaire also took a majority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers last year and owns the Chelsea soccer team in the English Premier League. There is no indication yet that any of this has affected his ownership stakes, but the probe has yet to be completed.

What is the problem with related-party transactions?

Bruce Dubinsky, a forensic accountant who worked on the Enron and Madoff cases, says the issue comes down to the motivation of the parties and can be explained through an analogy.

Sell a car to a stranger and you both research its worth and come to an agreed “fair market value,” he said. Sell it to your brother, you might cut the price to “give him a deal,” and later even forgive the payments.

“That’s why, from an audit standpoint, there should be more scrutiny if you’re doing business with the left hand and the right hand, because it’s easier to manipulate things,” Dubinsky said. “Repayments can be delayed indefinitely. They are always more suspect to fraud.”

How does that play out in the insurance industry?

Insurance is one of the most regulated industries, since the companies hold premium dollars from policyholders for future claims payouts — and regulators want to ensure the money is there when it’s needed. Related-party transactions can threaten that.

“There is a conflict of interest between the policyholders’ interest in the company being profitable and the owner’s interest in getting the least expensive financing that is available,” said Jim Donelon, who served as Louisiana insurance commissioner for 18 years before stepping down in 2024.

“It potentially threatens the solvency of the company, which then threatens the welfare of the policyholders,” Donelon said.

The National Assn. of Insurance Commissioners, for whom Donelon served as president, provides guidance to regulators on how to review related-party transactions.

What are some of the most notable examples of related-party transactions turning into financial disasters?

The failure of Enron was a prime lesson in how related-party transactions can lead to a company’s downfall.

As the Houston energy trader struggled and racked up $30 billion in debt, chief financial officer Andrew Fastow thought he found a way to keep it off Enron’s books. He created off-balance sheet entities to unload the debt and took personal stakes in them, allowing him to sit on both sides of the negotiation and pocket millions.

They were “transactions with related parties that were not at arm’s length,” Dubinsky said.

The debacle was a driving force in the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which tightened regulations over governance, accounting and related-party transactions.

What about the Madoff fraud?

The Madoff scandal, in which investors lost $17.5 billion in invested principal, operated like a typical Ponzi scheme with returns to older investors paid by money from new investors.

However, related-party transactions were key too, and some literally involved family members. Madoff’s brother, Peter, pleaded guilty to receiving $15.7 million in sham loans and giving $9.9 million in sham loans to family members. What’s more, the auditor was a related party.

“In Madoff, what were called ‘related‑party loans’ were just sham transactions — there was no real economic substance. It was simply Madoff taking money out of his own firm,” said Dubinsky, an expert witness for the government.

Is there anything comparable with the Walter probe?

The three situations appear entirely different, but the investigation into the related-party loans made by Walter’s Delaware Life and its affiliate, Clear Spring Life and Annuity, involves vast sums of money.

After receiving the subpoenas, the firms conducted internal investigations. They had reported having $1 billion in related-party loans but, after the review, they reclassified $21 billion worth of loans as related, including $4.6 billion held by Clear Spring, said Fitch analyst Jamie Tucker, senior director of North American insurance ratings.

Executives said they were unaware the loans were going to an affiliated company.

Is there any indication what the money was used for?

“Unclear at this stage,” Tucker said. “This a developing situation with ongoing investigations.”

One clue may be a report that Walter tapped insurers to fund more deals than the Dodgers acquisition. The Wall Street Journal said five insurers had provided more than $10 billion in deal funding since Walter’s financial services company, Guggenheim Partners, got into the insurance business after the 2008 financial crisis.

What have been the implications for the insurers owned by Walters?

Fitch said the financial restatement increased the two insurers’ related-party loans from 2% to 40% of their portfolios, the highest exposure among life insurers it rates in North America.

Fitch, A.M. Best and S&P Global also downgraded Delaware Life’s outlook to negative, though they said the insurer maintain a high level of financial strength.

“Our capital position and liquidity remain strong, and our financial strength ratings are unchanged,” said Group 1001, the insurers’ parent company, in a statement.

What has Walter had to say about all this?

He has not publicly commented, but a TWG spokesperson stated that, “Mark Walter and TWG have always acted in good faith, and those who have done business with Mark know him as honest and straightforward. Nothing about these transactions was any different.”

Mexico deployed more than 1,500 troops to its main avocado-producing state after the US suspended export inspections over security concerns. The halt has frozen shipments to Mexico’s biggest market, threatening thousands of jobs and a multibillion-dollar industry.

A few of Friday’s editorials reflect the anger about the government’s early release scheme for prisoners in England and Wales. The Daily Express, external calls on the prime minister to halt what it calls a “preposterous plan”, which it says will reward sex offenders and the killers of police officers. The Sun calls Andy Burnham’s failure to exempt two of PC Andrew Harper’s killers from the scheme a “terrible decision”, external.

The Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph lead on Conservative proposals to scrap social housing for many foreign nationals. The Mail calls it a “bold move”, external. According to the Telegraph, the Tories believe the change will stop Britain from being treated as a “cash machine for the world”, external. But it also highlights concerns from Labour about the effect on long-term UK residents, including “NHS staff”.

The Guardian, external says the government’s review of youth unemployment will recommend that primary schools in England should identify children at risk of leaving education at 16 without a job. Alan Milburn, who is leading the review, tells the paper that “the warning signs are there from a very, early age”.

The Financial Times calls the sale of EasyJet, external to an American private equity firm the “latest foreign swoop”. The paper says the £5.7bn-takeover paves the way for “another London listed company to be taken private”, with the airline joining an “exodus from UK listings”.

“Number 10 aides show blokey Burnham the red card”, declares the Times. It says Downing Street social media experts have told the prime minister to tone down his “blokeish”, external videos – by limiting references to “football and the pub”.

Some of the papers poke fun at the suggestion drinkers could be discouraged from standing in pubs in London’s West End. The Daily Mirror, external asks “wouldn’t this effort be better spent making it a crime to leave when it’s your round?” The Daily Star , externaldeclares it “madness”, and pictures the band of the same name standing in a Soho pub.

It may be summertime, but Karol G is unapologetically leaning into her sadness.

On Friday, the Colombian pop star released her sixth studio album “No Me Arrepiento de Sentir Tanto,” a 14-track project that details the depths of heartache one can only access when finally tuning out the world.

Tinged with dream-pop accents and acoustic instrumentation — though still fringed with her signature reggaeton-pop flair — it is a dramatic departure from her previous album, “Tropicoqueta,” a lofty, genre-rich album that envisioned a Latina-led utopia as a tropic floral paradise.

Now, with “No Me Arrepiento de Sentir Tanto” — which in English translates to “I Don’t Regret Feeling So Much” — Karol G swaps her vibrant, tropical facade for a soft blue vulnerability. Her special new brand of perreo melancolía features guest vocals by Drake (who sings in Spanish), Bruno Mars, Greg Gonzalez (of Cigarettes After Sex), as well as Spanish stars Judeline and Rusowsky.

The melodrama begins early on with the opening track, “Te Llevas To” — a moody EDM elegy that explores the loss of one’s self after a relationship ends. In an interview with Elle magazine, the hit maker shared that she spent a lot of time alone when creating this project, following her split from Colombian singer-songwriter Feid late last year — long before headlines caught wind of their breakup in January.

“Everything started when I went to Hawaii [last November]. I did a lot of hiking alone. I would climb the mountains alone. I would stand there gazing at the sky. I learned a lot about enjoying my solitude in this industry — we are really, really lonely. Compared to the rest of the world, you’re very isolated,” said Karol G in the Elle interview.

Rumblings of the new project first surfaced in April when Karol G performed at the 2026 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival as its first Latina headliner. There, she debuted “Después de Ti,” a shoegaze ballad joined by Greg Gonzalez, frontman of the indie-pop band Cigarettes After Sex; the song expressed profound grief after Karol experienced a loved one’s death.

“I cry a lot. I’m super sentimental and I’ve hated myself a lot for that,” Karol G revealed to Elle in her July cover story. “But at the same time, I’d rather suffer because I lived too much — because I loved too much, because I had too much fun — than to not have had those experiences, you know? I’m inviting everyone to be a little more dramatic, a little more extra.”

Although her classic bichota essence — a term Karol G frequently uses to describe herself, as a female counterpart to the Puerto Rican bichote, or “big shot” — is still heavily present in the new LP. Earlier this summer, Karol teased the song “Matadora” during the opening night of her international stadium tour in Chicago; produced by reggaeton pioneer Tainy, the sultry track is hallmarked by a muffled jazz trumpet and suggestive verses for an unknown paramour.

Her longtime collaborator, Colombian record producer Ovy On The Drums, also returns to incorporate elements of Karol’s the Grammy-winning 2023 album, “Mañana Será Bonito,” which followed her public breakup with ex-fiancé Anuel AA and grew into a massive commercial hit. With Ovy, Karol revived the shadowy timbre of her joint Shakira track “TQG” into the new “Bebiendo Lágrimas,” a reggaeton song that adamantly rejects the notion of love.

Mexican American producer Edgar Barrera — who previously worked with Karol on her merengue smash “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido,” as well as “Mi Ex Tenía Razón” and “Gucci los Paños” — reprises his role as a música mexicana connoisseur, aiding in Karol’s synth-doused Tejana-style cumbia, “Alguien Que Te Amaba.” (The track was also written with legendary songwriter Pete Astudillo, who co-wrote many of Selena Quintanilla‘s greatest hits.)

In the anguished “Con Quien Andara,” the singer pays tribute to the Spanish singer-songwriter Jeanette and her hazy, sentimental pop ballad from 1976 titled “Porque Te Vas?” And if that’s not enough of a nostalgia bomb, there’s the dream-pop reggaeton track “Bby Wow,” which features Judeline and Rusowsky and was inspired by the popular 2003 dancehall track, “Coolie Dance Rhythm” by Cordel “Scatta” Burrell. (Millennials may also recall echoes of this sample in popular tracks like Nina Sky and Jabba’s 2004 “Move Ya Body.”)

A word of advice for the Karol G fans — tropicoquetas and bichotas alike — this is an intimate record that’s best heard alone for the first time. So light up that candle, lock the doors and bring the tissues if you have to — just don’t be ashamed to feel all the feels, or shake your booty if the mood strikes.

The initial concept for USC’s Bloom Football Performance Center was first born on the back of a napkin. It was late November 2021, and Lincoln Riley was on a plane to Los Angeles, where he was slated to be introduced as USC’s coach.

The then-hypothetical facility had been a critical contingency for Riley, who never toured USC’s facilities, but knew — like most people around college football — that the Trojans were seriously lacking in that department. For years, USC officials had resisted doing anything about it. The John McKay Center hadn’t even been around a decade, they’d inevitably say. Plus, there was the not-so-insignificant problem of where to build a new facility on campus.

Riley knew that. And he asked anyway.

“That was a little bit, in that moment, my way to test how committed SC was,” Riley said Thursday. “This honestly was probably the biggest test of commitment for, ‘How invested are we to get this program back?’ When that was met with no hesitations, that was a pivotal part of me taking this job. I think it’s fair to say, if that commitment hadn’t been made, I probably wouldn’t be here.”

The Bloom Football Performance Center on the campus of USC.

Almost five years later, the plans Riley sketched out that morning have been brought to life in one of college football’s finest facilities, the towering jewel of a $225-million capital project at USC that also includes a new baseball stadium (Dedeaux Field) and a women’s soccer and lacrosse field (Rawlinson Stadium).

The three-story, 163,000-square-foot football-only facility opened Wednesday night, with Riley reflecting back on that napkin and marveling at how far the program had come since. But this gleaming building and its array of amenities had far exceeded his initial expectations, he said.

He called it “magical.”

“You can say or promise that you’re gonna build a facility, and then you can halfway do it or you can do it right and just go over the top and just really not hold back in any way, and that’s what our university has done,” Riley said. “I’m proud and thankful for the university for making this happen.”

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1. Bronze plaques of previous USC players adorn the wall of the Mark and Mary Stevens Trojan Legacy Wall at the USC Bloom Football Performance Center. 2. The weight room of the USC Bloom Football Performance Center. 3. A wall of USC players drafted by NFL teams at the Bloom Football Performance Center. 4. Trophies won by the USC football program on display at the Bloom Football Performance Center.

The real magic was that it happened at all, considering all that changed or had gone awry. The athletic director who first agreed to Riley’s facility request, Mike Bohn, resigned. The university president who signed off on it, Carol Folt, retired.

The cost of doing business in college football also went up exponentially with the advent of revenue sharing, all while the university was going through a financial crisis. None of which helped when it came to asking for $200 million in private donations.

Then there was the matter of physical space. The only option to build the facility was to demolish the Trojans’ longtime baseball field and displace the program for multiple seasons.

Hot tubs at the USC Bloom Football Performance Center.

“Think of what Coach Stank and the baseball team, what they had to give up to make this work,” Riley said. “The importance of just getting everybody together and on the same page and pushing in the same direction, this building is one of the first real signs of that. Because this took everybody.”

Riley, in particular, proved to be “very influential” in the process, according to Jeff Fucci, USC’s senior associate athletic director for capital projects.

“Coach was tireless in making sure that this was something that was not going to just be a vision and something that was talked about and not followed through on,” Fucci said.

It also took endowing just about every physical space in the facility to raise the necessary $200 million to build it, from the “Peets Family Atrium” to the “Al Cowlings Defensive Tackles Room” to a hallway labeled as the “Mark and Mary Stevens Legacy Walk.” Even some of the bathrooms bear plaques from donors eager to get their name somewhere in the building.

The locker room at the USC Bloom Football Performance Center,.

“This has been a huge, huge investment from the university,” Fucci said.

The result is a facility that stands in stark difference from the John McKay Center, which cost $70 million when it opened in 2012. That building was “80% subterranean”, according to Fucci — with not nearly enough space to contain the football program, let alone the other sports programs that used it.

Natural light pours into Bloom Center, by contrast. Thirty-foot glass doors open up onto the Trojans’ practice field from a 12,000-square-foot weight room with towering vaulted ceilings. From above, an outdoor terrace is outfitted especially for hosting recruits or other luminaries, complete, for the time being, with basketball courts and pickleball.

“I love coming to the weight room in the morning,” said offensive lineman Tobias Raymond. “The sun is coming up, and you can see it, and you open the doors and you get the fresh air blowing in.”

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1. Jeff Fucci, USC senior associate athletic director, leads the media on a tour of the Bloom Football Performance Center on Thursday. 2. USC players make their way to the locker room. 3. Mannequins on display with USC football uniforms outside of the on-site cafeteria at the Bloom Football Performance Center. 4. The cafeteria at the Bloom Football Performance Center. 5. The weight room opens near the practice field.

Riley wanted the facility to put a special emphasis on recovery. So now, players have access to infrared beds, sensory deprivation tanks and AI-led massage chairs. There are hot tubs and cold tubs and a players-only sauna, while every locker is outfitted with a leather zero gravity chair. There’s even a barbershop.

“It’s hard to get our players out of here,” Fucci said.

Riley has been no different. Shortly after moving in, with his family out of town, the coach said he hunkered down for five straight days in the facility.

Before, that would’ve meant barely seeing the sun. But now, as the sun poured through the third-floor atrium of the Bloom Center, Riley couldn’t help but point out the symbolism of such an ambitious undertaking actually coming to life.

“They said it couldn’t be done,” Riley said. “But here we are.”

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1. The football practice fields next to the Bloom Football Performance Center. 2. The rooftop deck, an event-ready space at Bloom Football Performance Center. 3. USC football coach Lincoln Riley, left, speaks to the media in the team room at the Bloom Football Performance Center on Thursday. 4. The lobby of the Bloom Football Performance Center.

Injury update

Projected starting center Kilian O’Connor suffered a non-contact injury during USC’s camp practice Wednesday and will be out for the rest of the season, Riley announced.

“Tough one for the guys to see,” Riley said. “A great reminder for all of our guys just how nothing in this game is ever guaranteed. We’re fortunate to have enough depth on the O-line that we’ve been working on to continue to push forward.”

Aug. 7 (UPI) — Families of victims of last year’s Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Harlem are suing New York City, alleging neglect and failures to follow to its own regulations led to dozens being sickened by bacteria and several deaths.

Three lawsuits filed Thursday by Attorney Ben Crump, along with co-counsel Jared Scotto and Nabeha Shaer, represent five of the seven people who died in the outbreak and 41 individuals and families who say it harmed them.

Announcing the lawsuits during a press conference, Rev. Al Sharpton, founder of the civil rights organization National Action Network, said they were not going to allow those harmed to be forgotten, while Crump stated that Harlem, a historically Black neighborhood, was neglected during the outbreak compared with other parts of New York City.

“Harlem is the center of Black America, historically has always been; that does not mean Harlem should be the center of a Legionnaires’ outbreak in the center of New York,” he said. “And so, we’re here today telling people that Harlem should never get less than — it should get everything that everybody else gets.”

Harlem was struck by a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak from July to August 2025, consisting of 118 confirmed cases and seven deaths.

Legionnaires’ disease is a type of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria that grow in warm water. It is contracted by inhaling water vapor that contains the bacteria.

According to the lawsuits, the plaintiffs were exposed to Legionella bacteria while in the vicinity of cooling towers that tested positive for the bacteria at two locations: Harlem Hospital and the NYC Public Health Lab.

The complaint alleges that the city, along with its health department and a handful of contractors, failed to develop and follow a water management plan required by the New York State Sanitary Code and failed to meet the code’s cooling tower registration, inspection, testing and other related requirements.

Crump and Sharpton spoke during the press conference surrounded by victims of the outbreak, including the fiancee and 6-year-old daughter of Bruce Scott, who died from the outbreak.

“I’m a single mother now,” Lakisha Plowden said as she hugged her and Scott’s daughter, Brooke. “We don’t have her best friend and we don’t have my soul mate.”

UPI has contacted NYC for comment.

“Our lives mean something,” Sharpton said. “You cannot act as though the lives of people and the worth of people depend on what part of the town they live in. Geography does not have anything to do with biology. If Legionnaires’ disease was bad in one part of town it should be valued the same in every part of town. And that is what this is about.”

The announcement came nearly a week after the NYC Health Department declared an end to the Upper Easter Side Legionnaire’s disease outbreak that led to 92 confirmed cases and seven deaths.

Kratos has built the first landing gear-equipped versions of its stealthy XQ-58 Valkyrie drone, with several additional examples now in various stages of construction. The company is also still producing XQ-58s designed for rocket-assisted takeoffs via static launchers, and Valkyrie production is ramping up overall. Both types offer certain advantages in different operational scenarios. Valkyrie flight test activities are currently paused following the crash of one of the drones on Tuesday, which TWZ was first to report and that readers can get caught up on first here.

In reporting on the crash, TWZ had a chance to speak yesterday with Steve Fendley, President of Kratos’ Unmanned Systems Division, who provided additional updates on the Valkyrie program. The U.S. Marine Corps notably previously announced that it is acquiring a fleet of Valkyries in the landing gear-equipped configuration under its Marine Air-Ground Task Force Uncrewed Expeditionary Tactical Aircraft (MUX TACAIR) Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program. Fendley also discussed developments across other parts of the company’s tactical drone portfolio.

To provide some quick additional context, the rocket-assisted takeoff (RATO) and landing gear-equipped conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) versions of the Valkyrie are the two main known configurations of the design. The RATO type, which first flew in 2019, also lands via parachute. Kratos has also developed a special launch trolley that allows RATO Valkyries to conduct runway takeoffs, though they still land using the parachute recovery system.

The CTOL version was first publicly announced in 2024. Drones in this configuration can also be launched via rocket, but then land conventionally. The addition of the landing gear does reduce the available internal payload space, as well, something we will come back to later on. In January, Kratos had told us it was targeting the early 2026 timeframe for a first flight, but we cannot confirm whether this has occurred. The Valkyrie crash on Tuesday did come after “takeoff from a test-range runway,” but Kratos would only say the drone in question was in “test configuration.” Whether or not this may have been the first flight of the CTOL variant is not clear.

More generally, Valkyrie is a highly modular design with an open mission systems architecture intended to be readily configurable to meet customer needs. Kratos has told TWZ in the past that it has developed at least five distinct versions of the drone. The company has also been steadily working to expand the performance envelope of the design.

“We have several CTOL aircrafts [sic] … we’ve been working on it for about a year and a half,” Kratos’ Fendley told TWZ. The CTOL configuration is now “in production. Started on those earlier this year, and again, those aircraft are – some are ready, and some still in the pipeline.”

Overall, work on the CTOL version is pressing ahead, he added, while noting that RATO versions are also still being actively produced. Kratos has customers now for both versions.

The U.S. Air Force was the first known XQ-58 operator, and continues to utilize RATO types in support of research and development and test and evaluation activities. The Marine Corps also has a handful of RATO Valkyries, which it has been using to help lay the groundwork for its future operational fleet of CTOL types, which are now sometimes also referred to as MQ-58Bs. The Marines are hoping to see the delivery of the first of these drones in 2029.

Kratos has also publicly announced a partnership with European aviation giant Airbus to develop a version of the Valkyrie aimed at meeting German requirements for a CCA-type drone. When asked about other Valkyrie sales opportunities yesterday, Fendley told TWZ that there are a “number of other international customers,” but could not elaborate.

“We have a set of customers for each configuration, and in many cases, we have customers that want both configurations,” he did note. “They’ll do test and training ops generally with the CTOL variant, but then for forward-deployed scenarios or for scenarios where they want to maximize the payload capacity, they’ll use the RATO configuration. which allows capacity inside the bomb bay.”

At the time of writing, Kratos’ website says RATO XQ-58s can carry up to 1,200 pounds of stores in their internal centerline bay, as well as payloads weighing up to 600 pounds on a single hardpoint under each wing. The bay itself is also said to be sized around a loadout consisting of four 250-pound-class GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs (SDB). The SDB is just under 71 inches long and has a body that is 7.5 inches in diameter. The CTOL has half the internal payload capacity, both in terms of weight and physical space, per Kratos’ factsheet. RATO and CTOL types can both also carry additional payloads weighing up to 600 pounds on two external hardpoints, one under each wing.

As TWZ has noted in the past, the ability to operate from traditional runways and conduct static RATO launches both offer certain advantages in different contexts. As Fendley reiterated yesterday, RATO types offer valuable runway independence for forward-deployed operations, and dramatically expand the total number of potential launch and recovery points. Previously, Kratos has shown a concept for an entirely containerized static launch system, which would offer further operational flexibility.

All of this, in turn, could help enable distributed concepts of operations that are also intended to reduce vulnerability and otherwise complicate an opponent’s decision-making cycles. The U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force, in particular, see distributed deployment concepts as critical to success in future conflicts, especially a potential high-end fight, such as one against China in the Pacific. The Air Force’s particular set of operational concepts, which it currently calls Aegis Combat Employment (ACE), were baked into the requirements for its CCA drone program from the start.

In general, static RATO launch does impose constraints on maximum takeoff weight and, by extension, on range and payload capacity. Kratos has previously told TWZ that just using the trolley launch method offers an increase “in the 10s of % for both fuel and payload capacity.” How exactly the CTOL’s payload and performance compare to the RATO version in either of these different launch modes is unclear. As already noted, the CTOL version does have less capacity available in its internal bay because of the landing gear.

Kratos Valkyrie Trolley Launch System

Still, as we have previously written:

“The CTOL version offers a single platform with the flexibility to take off from conventional runways, which could allow for heavier overall weights, or to use the existing rocket-boosted method from a much wider array of potential operating locations. In a real-world operational scenario, the drones could fly a rocket-boosted mission to start, recover on a runway at a tertiary site, and then continue to fly sorties from there, or be deployed elsewhere. This would combine the benefits of runway independence, including the difficulties imposed on enemies trying to target what could be widely distributed launch points, during an initial wave, and the advantages offered by normal runway-centric tactical air operations for follow-on sorties.

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“An XQ-58 that can land like any other fixed-wing aircraft on a runway offers advantages for resetting the drones and getting them back into the fight. It takes far more time and effort to get runway-independent types ready for relaunch after they touch down via parachute. That method of landing also relies on airbags to cushion the impact, and a failure of that element of the system can lead to significant damage. There is, of course, always the potential for accidents while operating from traditional runways. Regardless, a Valkyrie that uses a runway should be able to achieve significantly higher sortie rates.”

“The CTOL variant’s flexibility could also have benefits outside of a tactical scenario. TWZ has previously noted that a landing gear-equipped version would be easier to integrate, overall, with other tactical air assets that rely on traditional runways, which would also be relevant for training and other day-to-day peacetime activities. That being said, a significant portion of the Marine Corps’ future CCA fleets, as well as those that the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy plan to acquire and field, may not ever be daily fliers.”

As noted earlier, Fendley spoke directly to these latter points as important benefits of the CTOL configuration during his interview with us yesterday. There are still tradeoffs with the landing gear-equipped Valkyries, especially since they have to find a runway to touch down on even after a rocket-assisted launch. All of this, in turn, speaks to Fendley’s other comments about interest from customers in operating mixed fleets of RATO and CTOL types.

Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie Test Flight

Beyond the core RATO and CTOL configurations, “we have many different configurations of Valkyrie for many different mission profiles and scenarios that our customers want to resolve, handle, address with unmanned, uncrewed systems,” Fendley also told us. “The ability for that system to couple with either a fourth-gen or a fifth-gen system and increase the survivability, increase the lethality of either of those systems is fantastic.”

This “has really served us with respect to our customers who want to be able to have a defensive capability like that without expending their entire annual budget,” he continued.

The current price point for Valkyries in either the RATO or CTOL configurations is unclear. Kratos has told TWZ in the past that RATO versions are in roughly the $4 and $6 million unit cost range. Years ago, the company also said it was hoping to eventually drive the purchase price down to around $2 million. Economy of scale benefits could be on the horizon as Kratos works to ramp up Valkyrie production. The company is hoping to see the annual production rate rise to 40 airframes by 2028.

“We have increased our full year 2026 organic revenue growth forecast up to approximately 18 percent to 23 percent as compared to full year 2025, which now also includes an expectation of approximately 10 percent organic growth for our Unmanned Systems business based upon recent contract awards, including Valkyrie,” Kratos’ President and CEO Eric DeMarco said just earlier this week around the comapny’s release of its second quarters earnings report.

Kratos is also seeing a surge in interest across its tactical portfolio more broadly, driven by demand both for reusable platforms and long-range one-way attack drones. In speaking to us yesterday, Fendley specifically highlighted the company’s Tactical Firejet design, also known as Airwolf, which has now been adapted into a kamikaze drone. That work has been done in partnership with Taiwan’s National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST). You can read more about this variant, which is also called the Chien Feng IV (Mighty Hornet IV), here.

“And then, of course, our Mako system, which was our original tactical system, that we have a couple of customers who have become very interested in that,” Fendley also noted. This “is interesting because we developed that system in about the 2015-2016 timeframe, and all was quiet for a long time, and it’s really heated up in the, I would just say, in this calendar year. And I think some of that is based on world events, and some of it is based on the increase in budgets, particularly.”

Mako, also known as the UTAP-22, is a tactical combat drone derived from the BQM-167A Skeeter target drone, which Kratos also produces. Mako was at the center of a number of important experimental U.S. military drone programs in the late 2010s and early 2020s, but had appeared to be overtaken by the XQ-58, as well as more advanced designs from other companies. The design does still offer a tier of loyal wingman-type capability that could also come at lower cost compared to other options on the open market now. Mako might be adaptable to the one-way-attack role like the Tactical Firejet/Airwolf, as well.

In addition, Fendley offered positive assessments of ongoing development of the secretive Apollo, Athena, and Thanatos drones, but said he could not offer additional details given the level of classification surrounding those programs. This also just represents work the company is doing in the classified realm that we know about.

The Valkyrie family does remain front and center in Kratos’ tactical drone portfolio. This only looks set to continue with CTOL versions now being built and production ramping up overall for a growing number of customers globally.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Vogue Williams and Luke Mabbott are helping homeowners with their difficult renovations

A heartwarming tribute was aired after a special renovation.

After launching in 2024 as one of Channel 4′s biggest new lifestyle titles, Renovation Rescue has returned for a second series with two brand new hosts.

Armed with a degree in Construction Design and Management and another in Quantity Surveying, presenter Vogue Williams has taken charge of proceedings alongside trained heating and plumbing engineer and former Love Island star Luke Mabbott.

The series follows ambitious renovations as Vogue and Luke share money-saving skills, offer design inspiration, and demonstrate simple DIY techniques that anyone can try.

During the latest episode on Thursday (August 6), Vogue and Luke helped retired artist Penny in Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex.

After losing her partner of 20 years, Penny planned to make a fresh start near her daughter and grandchildren by the seaside.

“He died very suddenly of septicaemia, virtually overnight. He was climbing trees one minute and the next minute he was gone. I woke up one day and said, ‘Look, Penny, he’s dead. You’re alive, so get on with it and make the best of the time you have here,'” she said.

But after Penny fell for a house that needed a total overhaul, the plans were put on hold as the renovation went badly over budget and behind schedule.

“I don’t think I’ve ever experienced this level of anxiety and stress,” Penny revealed.

To make Penny’s remaining budget go further, Vogue showed her clever ways to achieve the artistic aesthetic she loves without spending a fortune, including helping to create some beautiful cupboard doors with a lozenge-shaped detail.

Meanwhile, Luke showed Penny how to tackle DIY tasks including blockwork in the courtyard and creating a garden gate.

Later in the episode, Penny showed Vogue a picture that her late partner, Martin, had drawn years before – which has become one of her most treasured possessions.

“To me it’s quite important because I haven’t been able to show any of his work. He was very proud of this piece of work, actually,” she said, before Vogue added: “I think this should be the last thing that you put on the wall.”

Penny agreed: “Yeah and I will feel that Martin’s finally found a place,” leading Vogue to share how pleased she was that Penny could start looking to the future.

After all the work had been done on the property, Vogue and Luke paid Penny a visit and were stunned by the transformation.

Penny had even put Martin’s “beautiful” framed picture in the centre of her living room, flanked by a pair of floor-to-ceiling alcove cupboards that the hosts had made.

“It looks amazing,” said Vogue, with Penny concluding: “I feel as if I’ve got past the grieving stage where I’m not crying at the drop of a hat. Now, I can look at it and feel pleased that it’s there. He was very pleased with that piece of work.”

Renovation Rescue is available to stream on Channel 4

MINNEAPOLIS — Rae Burrell scored 17 points, and Erica Wheeler had four in a game-ending 8-0 run and the Sparks ended Minnesota’s 10-game winning streak, beating the WNBA-leading Lynx 89-82 on Thursday night.

Kayla McBride hit a three-pointer to give Minnesota (25-7) an 82-81 lead, but the Lynx missed their final seven shots and went scoreless over the final 4:53.

Nneka Ogwumike had a go-ahead layup, Wheeler hit a pull-up 10-footer, and Monique Akoa Makani and Wheeler had the final two baskets in the late run for the Sparks (12-18). The Sparks beat the Lynx for the first time in three tries this season.

Dearica Hamby had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Sparks, and Ogwumike had 16 points and seven rebounds. Wheeler had 12 points and nine assists, and Cameron Brink had 12 points.

Rookie Olivia Miles finished with 23 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the Lynx. Napheesa Collier had 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Minnesota led by 11 points in the first quarter before settling for a 22-21 advantage. The Lynx used an 11-0 second-quarter run to lead 48-40 at the break.

Up next for the Sparks: vs. Golden State at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday night.

Thousands of people in India have been displaced since July after monsoon rains triggered severe flooding. India’s northeastern state of Assam is among the hardest hit, with at least 87 recorded deaths.

The Houthi rebels of Yemen have launched one of their biggest attacks on Saudi-aligned forces in that country in years. The strikes are a flare-up in what up until recently has been a largely dormant conflict. They took place in eastern Yemeni provinces of Marib and Hadhramaut, which are areas controlled by local forces opposed to the Houthis. This unfolded as the Iranian-backed rebel group is also expanding its campaign against Saudi shipping in the Red Sea region and its oil production infrastructure.

The Houthis claim they killed and injured hundreds of the Saudi-aligned troops. Yemeni government officials said that at least 30 troops were killed while there has been no official comment from Riyadh. However, the U.S. Embassy in Yemen, the Yemeni Defense Ministry and the Saudi-led forces confirmed the attacks.

“Our armed forces carried out a broad and precise military operation targeting the Saudi enemy’s mobilizations in the areas of Al-Ruwaik, Al-Abr, and Al-Thaniyah, and other camps belonging to what is called the First and Third Emergency Divisions, using a large number of ballistic missiles and drones,” Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree stated on X. In addition to “the deaths and injuries of hundreds of Saudi enemy mercenaries,” Saree claimed the “destruction and burning of a large number of Saudi enemy camps, mobilizations, storage depots, and weapons in the Al-Wadiah area in the east of the country” as well as the “destruction of a large number of vehicles.”

Saree added that the actions were preemptive to prevent an assault on Houthi forces.

In a statement on X, the Yemeni Defense Ministry said the Houthis “carried out a treacherous attack using ballistic missiles and drones, targeting several camps and units of the Armed Forces deployed in the provinces of Marib and Hadramaut… The Ministry of Defense affirmed that the Yemeni Armed Forces will respond to this aggression at the appropriate time and place, and that this treacherous attack will not undermine the resolve of the Armed Forces’ heroes or affect their ability to perform their national duties; rather, it will increase their steadfastness, cohesion, and determination to defend the Republic, restore the state, and end the coup.”

The target of these strikes, the Yemen Emergency Forces (YEF), acknowledged they had been hit. 

“In a new military escalation, the Houthi terrorist militias targeted several military bases and military units, including emergency forces, resulting in material and human losses,” YEF claimed on Facebook. “This targeting comes after the military forces’ success in carrying out their duties under the directives of the Minister of Defense, aiming to secure areas, protect international roads, pursue gangs of kidnappers and smugglers, and apprehend those involved in robbery, kidnapping, and organized crimes.”

The Yemen Emergency Forces “are made up mostly of Salafi-aligned fighters from Yemen’s northern governorates and fall entirely under the Yemeni Forces Authority, itself commanded by the Saudi-led Joint Forces Command,” according to Defenseliney, an independent Yemeni media platform focusing on security issues. “Their roots trace to an earlier nucleus called the ‘Happy Yemen Forces,’ formed with Saudi funding, training, and support since 2019 and deployed along the Saada border strip extending north into Al-Jawf; most of its brigades had earlier operated under separate presidential decrees before being absorbed into the Emergency Forces.”

The U.S. Embassy in Yemen derided the Houthi attack as an act of terrorism.

“The U.S. Embassy to Yemen expresses our deepest condolences to the families of the brave Yemeni soldiers killed today in Hadhramawt and Marib,” the embassy announced on X. “The Iran-backed Houthis’ cowardly attacks represent yet another example of their terrorism against the Yemeni people. We wish the wounded a speedy recovery.”

Several videos emerged online purporting to show the Houthi attacks. They depict plumes of smoke wafting from what appear to be strikes and the sounds of small arms fire and what appears to be a drone strike can be heard, but they offer little real sense of the scope of the incidents or the damage inflicted.

Yemen’s Houthis frame the strikes as a pre-emptive response to a large Saudi military build-up they say was in its final stages, aimed at escalating against them to force them to abandon their push to end the blockade.

Houthi statement warns Saudi Arabia against any “folly,”… https://t.co/WkpUIyGxTQ

— Clash Report (@clashreport) August 6, 2026

Reports are emerging of a significant Houthi assault on the Saudi backed Yemen Emergency Forces encampment near Marib, Yemen with several casualties reported. This video purports to show the aftermath of one of the attacks, though it has not been verified.

Marib is the… pic.twitter.com/6LmQyHkhW2

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) August 6, 2026

🔴 Update 3 |

Exclusive sources: The 13 ballistic missiles launched by the Houthi group were fired from three Yemeni governorates: Sana’a, Ma’rib, and Al-Jawf, while the drones were launched from Al-Bayda governorate.

💢 Missile launch sites identified:

▪️ The mountainous… https://t.co/fICrwP6KBV pic.twitter.com/7FDHTMQeXz

— عاصم المجاهد | Asem Al_Mujahed (@Asem22mo) August 6, 2026

There was also video purporting to show Houthi missile launches against the Saudi-backed forces; however TWZ cannot confirm any of claims about these videos.

Today’s engagement marks a major escalation both in Houthi-Saudi hostilities and in the battle for Yemen, one of the world’s poorest countries, but strategically located along the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

The civil war in Yemen erupted in 2014 and expanded a year later when a Saudi-led coalition joined forces with the government ousted by the Houthis. For a while, the U.S. was supporting that coalition’s bombing campaign by providing aerial refueling and intelligence. However, then-Defense Secretary James Mattis ended that in 2018 during the first Trump presidency after growing concerns over the large number of civilian casualties being inflicted. The Saudi coalition’s fight against the Houthis also complicated the U.S. counterterrorism campaign against Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

The fighting between Saudi-led forces and the Houthis largely abated after a tenuous ceasefire was signed in 2022. Tensions, however, reignited in recent weeks after the Houthis joined the U.S.-Iran conflict on the side of their major supporter. The Houthis imposed a blockade on the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and began striking Saudi ships in the southern part of the Red Sea as well as refineries along the northern portion. As we noted yesterday, the Yemeni rebel group said it was expanding its campaign against Saudi Arabia to strike vessels in the northern part of the Red Sea.

All this is adding to the pressure on oil supplies flowing out of the region, which has created global economic stress.

In response to attacks on its shipping, Saudi Arabia hit Houthi missile-launch platforms, a rocket-launch site, and weapons depots. However, the Saudi reaction was limited in nature. It remains to be seen how the kingdom will respond now given that many of the fighters it supports have been killed.

The uptick in Saudi-Houthi fighting comes as the region is already roiled in conflict, though efforts are underway to achieve a diplomatic solution to the U.S.-Iran war, now paused in an uneasy ceasefire.

As we have reported in the past, the two countries and Oman are working toward a deal that would essentially give Iran control over the Strait of Hormuz. 

Tehran is “insisting the framework represents a new security model for the strategic waterway rather than a full reopening of the strait,” CBS News reported on Thursday, citing Iran’s state news agency IRNA.

The proposed mechanism would regulate the movement of commercial vessels, with ships entering through Iranian waters and exiting through Omani waters.

IRNA said the talks are aimed at defining “a new model that is different from the 60-year-old practice of the past” in which ships passed through the strait at will.

Iran state media Fars: according to the negotiations between Iran and Oman, after an initial period, “passage of vessels through both the northern and southern corridors [of the Strait of Hormuz] will cease, and all traffic will occur through the central corridor. However, the… pic.twitter.com/ezIj2Bf5We

— Steve Lookner (@lookner) August 6, 2026

The flow of traffic through the strategic chokepoint has become the main sticking point between Washington and Tehran as the two sides work toward ending hostilities. U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted that Iran must fully open the vital chokepoint or face new and more intense attacks that would include power plants, other civilian infrastructure and even leadership.

How much increased fighting between the Saudis and Houthis complicates these matters is an open question. As we have frequently noted, the closing of the BAM to Saudi oil traffic and now threats to the transit route north to the canal have already raised the specter of the U.S. having to get as involved as it did during the previous Houthi campaign against shipping that ended last September, which could pull resources away from Iranian-focused operations. It’s possible Egypt would have a major problem with such actions too, as it would impact the canal’s revenue and freedom of movement. 

A major intensification of Saudi-Houthi hostilities represents yet another complication in a region already in turmoil. 

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

Ruby Franke is at the heart of tonight’s BBC true crime doc The Devil in the Family.

A BBC true crime doc investigates the truth behind the case of Ruby Franke.

The Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke aired this evening, Thursday, August 6, on BBC Two, with the three-part special investigating the life and crimes of Franke.

Speaking to those who knew the 44-year-old best, this third episode delves into the truth which “proves far worse than anyone imagined”.

Who is Ruby Franke?

Ruby Franke is an American former family vlogger who ran the controversial YouTube channel 8 Passengers.

She started the channel in 2015 and ran it with her then-husband Kevin, documenting their lives with their six children with 8 Passengers attracting almost three million subscribers.

While it was popular, 8 Passengers received plenty of online criticism as it promoted strict parenting rules and harsh disciplinary tactics. When the channel started to decline, and was eventually suspended, Franke teamed up with mental health counsellor Jodi Hildebrandt.

Together, they launched their joint Instagram profile and podcast Moms of Truth which similarly talked about extreme parenting but also the idea that children who didn’t follow their rules were possessed or acting under dark influences.

Franke and Hildebrandt were also business partners who ran an online life-coaching service named ConneXions.

In August 2023, Franke was arrested after her 12-year-old son escaped a home in Utah, now known to be Hildebrandt’s, and asked a neighbour for help.

Police discovered that her two youngest children were extremely malnourished with physical injuries and bondage wounds.

Franke pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse and was sentenced to four prison terms of one to 15 years each to run consecutively.

This means she will serve a total prison sentence of four to 30 years which was the maximum penalty under Utah law. Hildebrandt also received this sentence for her involvement in the abuse.

The Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

President Trump targeted birthright citizenship again Thursday by signing a pair of executive orders purporting to narrow it — including by cracking down on “birth tourism” and limiting which children born to immigrants in the U.S. qualify.

The new orders follow a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June that rejected an attempt by Trump to end birthright citizenship outright.

During a signing ceremony in the Oval Office, Trump called that decision by the high court “very unfair” and said the new orders were an attempt to end birthright citizenship by other means.

“Our country suffers because of it, and we’re ending it a different way,” he said.

Trump promised “big crackdowns” on birth tourism, or the practice of pregnant foreign mothers coming to the United States, or foreign fathers using surrogates already in the U.S., specifically to ensure their children receive U.S. citizenship.

Trump said an entire industry has been built up around the practice, turning birthright citizenship into “a joke.”

“Wealthy people are building businesses around birthright citizenship. That’s not the way it’s supposed to work. It’s a disgrace,” he said. “They’re buying their way in, and we’re not going to let it happen.”

The orders were immediately criticized by proponents of birthright citizenship as an indefensible attempt by the president and his administration to make an end run around the Supreme Court’s clear finding that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution cannot be undone by the president.

The amendment reads in part, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

In an apparent response to the president’s new orders, California Gov. Gavin Newsom posted that exact language to the social media platform X. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) also responded on the platform, writing, “Trump doesn’t understand the Constitution — but the 14th Amendment’s promise of birthright citizenship and equality speaks for itself.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement that Trump’s “continued crusade to end birthright citizenship is blatantly illegal,” that Democrats would challenge the orders, and that the president had “set himself up for yet another loss in the courts.”

“If you are born in America, you are American — period. The Constitution says it and the Supreme Court has affirmed it,” Schumer said.

A spokesperson for California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s office, which successfully sued alongside other Democrat-led states to block Trump’s first order purporting to end birthright citizenship, said attorneys there were reviewing the latest orders late Thursday.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which also sued to block the first order, denounced the new orders — and predicted they, too, would fall.

“The Supreme Court already decided this issue: Birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the Constitution. No additional executive order can change the meaning of the Constitution,” Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in a statement. “Any executive order that tries to rewrite birthright citizenship will meet the same fate as the last one.”

Trump’s order on birth tourism defines the practice as “the entry of any foreign national into the United States via a nonimmigrant visa for the purpose of giving birth on American soil,” or “any effort by any foreign national to facilitate” such entry.

It orders the Homeland Security and State departments to ramp up controls to block such entries, including through the denial or revocation of visas and other travel authorizations for individuals suspecting of participating in such efforts.

“Foreign nationals seeking temporary admission into the United States must adhere to the purposes for which the Congress has authorized their temporary admission, and cannot be permitted to circumvent the immigration laws in an attempt to vest themselves and their children with lasting benefits that are irreconcilable with their nonimmigrant status,” the order reads.

The order purporting to limit which children born in the U.S. are eligible for birthright citizenship describes “certain categories of children” who it says “do not fall within the rule of birthright citizenship as announced by the Supreme Court.”

It orders U.S. agencies not to provide citizenship documents to any child whose parents are not citizens if either of their parents is a foreign government employee, ambassador or a member of a foreign terrorist organization; was “engaged in a commercial transaction to purchase or access birthright citizenship” for them or to ensure their mother was in the U.S. when she gave birth to them; or had paid for a surrogate in the U.S. to give birth to them.

Echoing arguments made before the Supreme Court in defense of Trump’s first order purporting to end birthright citizenship, Trump and other White House officials claimed on Thursday that birthright citizenship was only ever intended for the children of slaves.

“This was done right after the Civil War. This was for the babies of slaves,” Trump said.

Others have said that argument “disregards the historical record” — which clearly shows lawmakers understood that the amendment’s language was much broader than that.

White House officials said the orders would prevent a large number of children from receiving birthright citizenship, hailing it as momentous.

“It ends what has been one of the gravest and most egregious abuses of the American system, and it keeps American citizenship safe,” said Stephen Miller, one of Trump’s top advisors on immigration.

Asked if the new orders would withstand judicial scrutiny, Trump predicted they would, before directing the question to White House staff secretary Will Scharf.

“What we’re doing is taking legally validated means that are clearly within our disposal and targeting them square on to this birth tourism industry,” Scharf said. “There’s absolutely nothing in here that runs afoul of any of the Supreme Court’s opinions on the subject.”

Vice President JD Vance also hailed the move.

“Our immigration system has been exploited by those who treat citizenship as a commercial transaction, not a sacred bond. President Trump is taking bold steps to combat birth tourism and restore our sovereignty. A serious nation owes its citizens nothing less,” he wrote on X.

In its 6-3 decision in June, the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s first order purporting to end birthright citizenship outright, finding that the 14th Amendment — with very few exceptions — provided a right to children born in the U.S. that could not be undone by the president.

“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts wrote for the court. “The Framers of the 14th Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land.’ We keep that promise today.”

Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson joined Roberts in full, with Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh concurring with the outcome based on separate federal law. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito and Neil M. Gorsuch dissented.

The ruling was a major defeat for Trump, and was cheered by immigrant rights advocates, including many in California, as the final say on the matter — though Trump signaled almost immediately that the fight wasn’t over.

You compete.

Or you complain.

UCLA head coach Bob Chesney coined it at the beginning of preseason camp last year in Harrisonburg, Va., before leading James Madison to a 12-2 record, a Sun Belt championship and its first College Football Playoff appearance.

“You either compete or complain, you can’t do both,” Chesney said on Aug. 5, 2025. “You are either full of pride and won’t allow yourself to have mental, physical and emotional lack of discipline and toughness, or you fill yourselves with pity and you have a lack of all three of those things.”

Chesney carried that same tune on his first day of fall camp in Westwood, leading his new team.

The Bruin faithful got its first taste of their newly minted head honcho at his introductory news conference on Dec. 9, where he made promises of turning around the football program, elevating it to its height of the past, and reengaging the Bruin community.

UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava looks to throw a pass during the first day of preseason camp at Spalding Field on Thursday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

And Chesney has not wavered since.

From his halftime speech at a UCLA men’s basketball game versus Indiana — where he proclaimed that the Bruins would be Big Ten champions — to throughout spring practice and all through Big Ten media day last week, Chesney has stayed consistent.

And that consistency includes the way he is training his players leading up to UCLA’s opener against California, where the former Pac-12 rivals will meet for a night game between two first-year head coaches.

Chesney has emphasized, throughout his short tenure in Westwood, that while physical development is imperative in the offseason, the mental side of the game carries the same weight. Central to that, is putting players in adverse situations in the offseason to get them battle-tested come game day.

“Those are the moments that test you. Pay no attention to a virtue that’s not been tested in fire, and that’s ultimately something that we got to be able to do is put them in situations where we’ve tested them in fire,” Chesney said. “We know how they’re going to react and how they’re going to respond. We know when the moment’s on the line. That’s the most important thing that we can do out here. That’s what this whole entire camp is ultimately about.”

In order to test his players’ resiliency, Chesney has implemented “compete periods” throughout his time in Westwood to emulate the speed and intensity of live reps.

Alongside competition has been grading everything a player does, so there is no ambiguity as to where a player stands on the depth chart or in the program.

Outside of the actual drills and exercises Chesney implements, the coach has also purposefully scheduled some of his practices in the afternoon to expose his players to the intense Los Angeles heat — his version of throwing his players into the fire to help get them acclimated and test their mental toughness.

Chesney’s mental training ultimately serves as a litmus test in discovering who is cut from a different cloth.

“Procedural discipline was a big part of what we want to make sure that we’re constantly talking about,” Chesney said. “And then, how quickly can I get to the next play? How much do I love being coached, and how hard am I going to be coached and accept that coaching and make myself get better?”

With passion and excitement emanating from players on the first day of fall camp, and less than a month away from the first game of the season, Chesney highlighted that it is about striking a balance: testing his players’ resolve but also not being reactionary.

The new head coach underscored that it can be easy for impulse and emotion to take over, but uplifting one another and letting mistakes refine you rather than define you is integral to success.

UCLA defensive linemen Jacob Busic (97) and Anthony Jones (15) run drills during the first day of preseason camp at Spalding Field on Thursday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

Central to that is teammates, particularly within the same position group, celebrating the success of one another rather than letting the depth chart dictate morale.

“If someone’s above you and perceived to be above you, what are you doing? Are you trying to elevate your game and compete with them, or are you trying to knock them down and pull them back towards you?” Chesney asked.

“The best teams in the world love that that guy above him is a little better, and they are chasing him every single day. We have a good amount of that on our team, and it’s got to continue because we are going to need everybody, whether they know it or not,” he said.

UCLA will not play its first game until Sept. 5.

However, battles will be won and lost within the team along the way.

But to Chesney, it is how you respond to those successes and failures that prevail.

Aug. 6 (UPI) — A D.C. judge has dismissed the Lincoln Reflecting Pool vandalism case against U.S. Olympian David Hearn, according to court documents filed Thursday afternoon.

A grand jury charged Hearn with one felony count of destruction of property early last month, alleging that the 67-year-old willfully ripped up a piece of recently installed blue pool sealant from the Lincoln Reflecting Pool, which President Donald Trump had recently ordered renovated.

The alleged incident involving Hearn occurred June 19 as videos were posted online showing its surface green with algae and blue paint seemingly peeling from the bottom of the pool. Trump claimed vandalism and vowed those responsible would be held to account.

In his order filed Thursday afternoon, Associate Judge Todd Edelman dismissed the case but allowed litigation to continue over whether the dismissal should be with or without prejudice.

On July 31, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro for the District of Columbia filed a motion to dismiss the case without prejudice, stating that the Department of Interior had provided “less than fulsome information at the outset of this case” that led prosecutors to charge Hearn. After he was charged, the DOI provided documents that “strongly suggest that a rushed and botched installation by AIC, the primary contractor, led to the damage to the lining of the reflecting pool.”

On Aug. 5, Hearn’s lawyers agreed the case should be dismissed but argued that the dismissal should be with prejudice.

“David Hearn is innocent and today’s dismissal reflects that simple fact,” Hearn’s counsel Norm Eisen of Democracy Defenders Fund, Mary Dohrmann of Washington Litigation Group and Steve Levin of Steptoe LLP said in a joint statement Thursday.

“The Department of Justice’s decision to seek an indictment was a miscarriage of justice.”

They said they intend to “vigorously advocate” for the case to be dismissed with prejudice to prevent the government from bringing the case again.

“All other legal options also remain on the table,” they said.

Trump maintains that vandalism was the cause of damage to the reflecting pool, despite the admission by his own Department of Interior. After Pirro filed for dismissal, Trump criticized her online, leading to speculation that the former Fox News host may be the next woman he fires.

“I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro,” he said online.

“I don’t know what she was thinking? To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM,” he said, before referring to alleged vandalism to grass near the reflecting pool. “There may have been some contractor difficulty, but the major damage was caused by VANDALS!”

Trump had ordered the Reflecting Pool be painted “American flag blue” ahead of celebrations marking the United States’ 250th birthday. But within days of the $15 million work being completed on June 6, the pool began experiencing issues, from algae blooms to blue coating peeling off the bottom.

Hearn is a three-time Olympia, having competed in the Barcelona games of 1992, the Atlanta games of 1996 and the Sydney games of 2000. He is a former canoe slalom athlete.

This article highlights the unique cultural significance of boat racing in Anguilla, identifying it as the territory’s primary national sport. Unlike neighboring islands that prioritize cricket, Anguilla’s passion for nautical competition grew from a historical tradition of workers racing home from abroad. These events serve as the centerpiece for the Anguilla Summer Festival, which features major contests like the Meads Bay Boat Race and the prestigious Champion of Champions finale. The publication also touches on broader global topics, including international finance, maritime shipping concerns, and various entertainment updates. Ultimately, the source provides a snapshot of Anguillian heritage and sporting pride during its pea … 

Justice Department Watchdogs Face Sharp Decline

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is facing growing scrutiny after internal watchdog offices responsible for investigating attorney misconduct and departmental wrongdoing experienced significant staffing losses during President Donald Trump’s second term, even as complaints against the department reached record levels.

According to a Reuters review of government records and interviews with former Justice Department officials, the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) and the Office of Inspector General (OIG) have seen substantial reductions in personnel, raising concerns about their ability to independently oversee the country’s top law enforcement agency.

Federal judges have increasingly criticized DOJ attorneys for alleged misconduct, including accusations of making false statements, ignoring court orders and using legal processes against political opponents.

Misconduct Complaints Rise as Investigations Fall

The Office of Professional Responsibility, which investigates misconduct by Justice Department lawyers, has seen its workforce fall from 29 employees to just 16 since Trump returned to office.

At the same time, misconduct complaints have climbed to their highest level in two decades.

Despite receiving 1,666 complaints during the 2025 fiscal year, the office opened only seven formal investigations, the lowest number recorded in the past twenty years. Over the previous decade, the office averaged more than 18 new investigations annually.

Former Justice Department officials told Reuters that staff departures, combined with concerns about political retaliation, have significantly slowed oversight activities.

Justice Department spokesperson Kiersten Pels rejected those concerns, saying OPR remains committed to investigating attorney misconduct and ensuring accountability.

Inspector General Office Also Loses Staff

The Department’s Office of Inspector General, responsible for investigating fraud, waste and abuse across the DOJ, has also experienced notable staff reductions.

Government employment records show the office lost 99 employees since the end of former President Joe Biden’s administration, reducing its workforce to 477.

Former officials interviewed by Reuters said the office has become increasingly reluctant to pursue politically sensitive investigations, although Inspector General spokesperson John Lavinsky denied that claim, insisting the office continues to conduct independent oversight regardless of political sensitivity.

Jack Smith Investigation Remains Unresolved

Among the most prominent internal cases is the ethics investigation involving former Special Counsel Jack Smith, who led federal prosecutions related to Trump’s handling of classified documents and efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

The investigation examined allegations by Republican lawmakers that Smith’s team improperly influenced the 2024 election and pressured witnesses.

Reuters reported that Smith had already been interviewed by investigators and the inquiry was expected to conclude last year. However, the investigation remains unresolved after reportedly being paused by political appointees.

Separately, the Justice Department has since launched a criminal investigation into Smith, who has denied wrongdoing.

Federal Judges Increase Criticism of DOJ Conduct

The weakening of internal oversight coincides with an increasing number of judicial rebukes directed at the Justice Department.

Federal judges have criticized government attorneys in several high profile cases involving evidence handling, courtroom conduct and legal strategy.

Among the most notable rulings was a decision by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, who accused senior Justice Department officials, including Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, of failing to properly defend the government in litigation involving former President Trump and instead negotiating what she described as an inappropriate settlement.

DOJ officials have disputed those judicial findings, arguing that several courts have demonstrated political hostility toward the administration.

Concerns Over External Oversight

The Trump administration has also moved to limit outside scrutiny of Justice Department attorneys by challenging state level ethics investigations and seeking expanded authority to restrict oversight by legal licensing bodies.

Administration officials argue that many state investigations are politically motivated and designed to discourage government lawyers from implementing the president’s policies.

Legal ethics experts, however, warn that diminishing both internal and external oversight risks undermining public confidence in the department’s accountability mechanisms.

Analysis

The reported weakening of the Justice Department’s internal watchdog offices comes at a time when judicial scrutiny of government conduct has intensified, placing institutional accountability under renewed focus. While the administration argues that oversight mechanisms remain fully operational and that many judicial criticisms are politically motivated, the decline in staffing and investigations raises broader questions about the effectiveness and perceived independence of internal accountability structures. As politically sensitive cases continue to move through U.S. courts, the credibility of the DOJ’s oversight institutions is likely to remain central to debates over the balance between executive authority, legal ethics and public trust in federal law enforcement.

With information from Reuters.

JUNGLE are bringing Sunshine to summer – and entering their most confident era yet.

Following the unexpected global success of their 2023 album Volcano, the Brit-winning band return with a warmer, more organic fifth album, blending Brazilian rhythms, effortless grooves and nostalgia.

And the trio — Tom McFarland, Josh “J” Lloyd and regular contributor turned full-time member Lydia Kitto — might have called their fifth album Sunshine, but its warmth comes with a distinctly melancholic edge.

“It’s not about the weather or a season,” Lloyd explains. “It’s about relationships and distance and regret, and hope and longing for a better time.”

McFarland adds: “Everyone feels nostalgic about that summer when they were 16. Those emotional memories linger with us.

“Even the idea of memory is quite melancholic, because these great things happened, but they’ll never happen again.

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“You can recall them and remember how you felt, but that moment has gone.”

It’s day one of live rehearsals for Jungle when I join them at their studio in South West London.

Lloyd and Kitto have not long flown in from LA while dad-of-three McFarland is telling stories about his kids.

Despite the jet lag and the busy day ahead, the trio are as warm and easy-going as the title of their new album suggests.

Their new confidence follows the unexpected success of Volcano and its breakout song, Back On 74, in particular.

“That song was a big surprise,” says McFarland with a smile. “It went far bigger than we expected.

“We thought there was a certain level we could reach, but what happened with Back On 74 opened up a whole new dimension for the band.

“It brought so many more people to the music, and that has been a really cool thing to see.

“When we were in the middle of it, we didn’t pay too much attention. We don’t chase our own tails wondering whether we’re popular.

“You give the song away and hand it over to the public.

“The more you listen to the noise, the more you start to be directed by it.

“We were very keen not to think, ‘People like Back On 74, so let’s make a whole album like that’, because that’s where bands lose their way.”

Dance and striking visuals have always been central to Jungle’s story, with their cinematic, intricately choreographed videos becoming as distinctive as the music itself.

Their dazzling performance of Back On 74, which brought the celebrated video to life with a full dance troupe, was one of the highlights of the 2024 Brit Awards.

Their Group Of The Year win that night came as a genuine surprise, and Kitto says: “We didn’t have a clue.

“Loads of people were acting a bit fishy, so we were thinking, ‘Have we won? Haven’t we?’

“We thought we should probably write a speech just in case, but then decided there was no way we were going to win.

“So we sat down, had a bit of a drink and suddenly we’d won.”

McFarland adds: “We had a great night — we met Green Day, we got quite drunk and had a party.

“When you’re touring, you miss out on so many things, so being able to get family and friends in the same room and just have a dance was special.”

Lloyd adds: “Winning was a surprise as we don’t really pay that much attention to it.”

Jungle’s visual influence has proved equally powerful.

“What’s been really nice is seeing people make the choreography their own and connect with the visual side of the band,” says Lloyd.

“We’re obviously not a TikTok-generation band, but watching it blow up online was really cool.

“Seeing young kids dancing to our music in their living rooms was such a lovely thing.”

Lloyd co-directs the band’s distinctive, intricately choreographed videos with long-term visual collaborator Charlie Di Placido.

He adds: “You can see people, especially in advertising, starting to copy the band’s aesthetic.

“We’ve seen plenty of imitations of our videos and visual style, but I suppose we take it as a form of flattery. It shows that people have been inspired by what we do.”

Carry On was chosen by the band’s manager as the first single from Sunshine.

Lloyd says: “Once you’ve finished an album, you lose all perspective. You have so many different favourites, so you need an outside opinion to guide you through that final stage.

“Carry On has an old-school Motown, almost Sixties sound.

“It’s almost Jungle’s folk song, but it has a sadder emotional heart.

“Back On 74 is nostalgic, while Carry On is about overcoming heartbreak, rebuilding trust and finding the self-belief to push through difficult times.”

McFarland says affectionately: “My daughter loves this song — she walks around the kitchen singing it.”

Central to Jungle’s recent evolution has been Kitto, whose gorgeous, soulful vocals have become increasingly prominent across their music.

Having contributed to the band since their 2021 album Loving In Stereo and taken a leading role on Volcano, she is now an official member of the trio and steps further into the spotlight on Sunshine.

“Joining the band fully made sense,” she says. “I already felt so involved that I was sort of in Jungle anyway, so it was a natural progression.

“It’s like getting into a relationship with somebody — you hang out for a while and then think, ‘Oh yeah, this works’.” Lloyd — Kitto’s partner and her bandmate in music side project Loaded Honey — adds: “I don’t think people realise how long Lydia has been working with us.

“We’d been doing sessions and writing with her since before the third album, and then she joined the live band.

“Jungle had been built around group vocals for so long, but we were yearning for an emotional lead vocalist who could take these verses and connect with people.

“Lydia has that ability. She’s got a generational voice — an amazing soul vocal that takes our music to the next level.”

McFarland says: “We’ve always tried to create a universal message through the stories we tell.

“We were never going to be a band that told extremely personal stories.

“For us, it’s about giving people something they can hold on to and make their own. We want the music to have a global sound

that anybody can connect with. From day one, when we were making the first Jungle music, it was all about visiting imagined places we’d never been to.

“We’ve been lucky enough to visit many of them since, but at the start we’d ask, ‘What would it sound like if a band were playing on Cola Beach in South Goa?’

“We’ve always had that vision of putting ourselves — and therefore the listener — into a physical space.

“The Wave is a perfect example of that. You’re instantly on a beach.”

Lloyd adds: “We tend to see certain songs as brothers and sisters.

“The Wave harks back to Loving In Stereo and has something of Beat 54 from the second album in it.

“It has that sampled feel, although we created the sample ourselves. Originally it was much faster, before we slowed it down.

“It was actually the last song made for the album and was almost squeezed in at the end. There was something spiritual about it.

“The Wave represents the idea that you only get one life, so you have to be careful what you do with it.”

Romeo II is another one of those sibling songs, following Romeo from Loving In Stereo and again featuring Dreamville rapper Bas.

Lloyd says: “Romeo II was Bas’s idea. The track originally had a much longer title, but we wanted something more interesting.

“He suggested Romeo II, which felt great because it creates a sense of nostalgia for people who know the original.

“I think he was also referencing the tradition in hip-hop of songs having sequels.

“It gives the track an instant familiarity — people think, ‘I remember that Bas song from the third album, so I want to hear this one’.

“In some ways, Romeo II is actually even more Romeo in its subject matter than the original.”

And he jokes: “Bas has been on the last three albums — he’s going to join the band at some point.”

Lloyd continues: “We have always been inspired by Gorillaz and the way their collaborators became part of the family.

“You look at Del the Funky Homosapien on that first Gorillaz record and he appears across a couple of tracks. We’ve never viewed features as a way of gaming the system or chasing streams.

“For us, it’s always been about asking who’s good, who’s our friend and who feels like they genuinely belong within the collective.”

Talk turns to bands who put out greatest-hits albums.

Kitto says: “We could just do the same thing again and again and call it a greatest hits, like The 1975 do. They put out all their old songs and call it The 1975 At Their Very Best. There are no new songs at all.”

Jungle’s recent single Someday, Somewhere might just be the best song they have released, with its sun-soaked vocals, irresistible disco-funk groove and bittersweet blend of optimism and longing.

“I love that song,” says Kitto. “I can put it on at any point, and it changes your mood.”

For McFarland, Reflection is a favourite. “I love that song,” he says. “What I connect with is the way a song can transport you. When I’m driving in the sunshine, I’ll listen to Crosby, Stills and Nash radio and classic Laurel Canyon songs.

“Reflection does that for me. It takes me very vividly into a particular physical and emotional space.”

Lloyd says: “It depends on the day. We become very emotionally attached to the songs while we’re making and delivering them, but once they’re out, I tend to detach myself.

“Where Are You Now? was one of my favourites. I like the bouncier side of Jungle, but I also tend to choose the song that other people aren’t picking.

“If everyone likes one track, I’ll go for the other one.”

Soon it’s back to rehearsals for the trio’s world tour, beginning in the States next month, then heading to Europe and South America next year.

What matters most in a Jungle live show?

“The arc of the show is really important to us,” answers McFarland. “We want to build the audience up, pull things back again and create intimate moments alongside the more euphoric ones.

“I don’t think I’d ever get bored of playing Busy Earnin’ because it’s so much fun watching people have a great time.

“You see grandparents, their children and then their grandchildren, sometimes as young as six, all there together. It’s fun watching loads of people having a great time.”

Lloyd adds: “We want to be in control and make things according to our own vision.

“We’ve done well within the industry by not having to play by other people’s rules.

“Other artists have looked at what we’ve done and built careers from it.

“But we’ve only ever written our own narrative, and I think that’s really important as an artist to have the ability to fully be in control of your own story.”

• The album Sunshine is out on August 14. The band’s UK tour begins in Leeds in November.

JUNGLE

Sunshine

★★★★☆