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July 27 (UPI) — Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado and opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia said they will not participate a dialogue between representatives of the Venezuelan government and members of the National Assembly elected in 2015.

They said, however, they will not stand in the way of any initiative that produces concrete progress toward a democratic transition.

The dialogue mechanism was announced earlier this month by representatives of the government led by Vice President Delcy Rodríguez and members of the National Assembly elected in 2015, headed by Dinorah Figuera.

Both sides said the talks will formally begin Saturday and address issues that include institutional recovery, the electoral system, guarantees for political participation and the country’s reconstruction after the June 24 dual earthquakes.

The process has the backing of the United States. The U.S. State Department described the roadmap as an important step toward Venezuela’s political reconciliation and national recovery, while the Spanish newspaper El País reported that Washington has played an active role in promoting the talks and a possible political transition.

In a joint statement addressed to the Venezuelan people and the international community, Machado and González said they did not participate in the design, creation or operation of the dialogue mechanism.

“Those promoting it must inform the country of its objectives, its methodology and its timetable,” they said.

The opposition leaders said they will assess any negotiation based on “concrete and verifiable” results, including restoration of democratic institutions, release of all political prisoners, guarantees for all political actors without exclusion, a timely timetable for presidential elections and full respect for the will of the people.

The statement opens by reaffirming the validity of the mandate that, according to both leaders, emerged from the opposition primary election held Oct. 22, 2023, and the presidential election of July 28, 2024.

“That mandate remains in force,” they said.

Machado and González also said Venezuela is facing a crisis that has accumulated over more than 25 years and was made worse the June 24 earthquakes, which they said left communities devastated and deepened the humanitarian emergency.

Against that backdrop, they alleged that citizen-led aid efforts after the earthquakes were subject to attempts to block and control the aid.

“Venezuelans saw with their own eyes how the aid organized by the people themselves was blocked, diverted and controlled to prevent it from reaching those who needed it most,” the statement said.

The opposition leaders argued that rebuilding the country requires “a new government with moral authority and managerial capacity” to guarantee freedoms, restore the institutions of the Republic and support families affected by the disaster.

Machado and González reiterated their commitment to return to Venezuela to stand alongside the public during the country’s reconstruction.

Wildfires in the UK and Europe are a “stark reminder of the challenges posed by an increasingly extreme climate”, the Prince of Wales has said.

More than 300,000 people have so far been evacuated from parts of France and Spain as wildfires continue to rage on the continent, with another intense heatwave on the way.

In Scotland a major incident was declared at the weekend as a result of a major wildfire in the Cairngorms, while a number of smaller fires have burned elsewhere in the UK.

Prince William wrote in a post on X: “Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the devastating wildfires across France, Spain and the UK.”

“We are deeply grateful to the firefighters, emergency services and volunteers working tirelessly in extraordinarily difficult conditions.

“These events are a stark reminder of the challenges posed by an increasingly extreme climate and the importance of protecting both people and nature.”

Climate change is driving up temperatures around the world – but particularly in Europe. It is the fastest warming continent, heating up twice as fast as the global average, according to the Copernicus climate service.

This is causing increased summer heatwaves, greater pressure on Europe’s water supply, and more intense wildfires.

Wildfires are currently tearing through France and Spain.

France has seen its worst fires in two decades, while officials in the Spanish capital Madrid say they are the worst the region has ever experienced.

In the UK, an assessment by the Met Office showed that fires could be exceptionally severe by Wednesday if they were to start in parts of London, the south east or the east of England as a result of hot, dry conditions.

London Fire Brigade said it dealt with more than 1,300 incidents over the weekend – including grass fires, property fires and rescuing a person from the Thames.

It has urged people to avoid disposable barbecues, dispose of smoking materials and put litter in the bin or take it home to avoid starting wildfires.

Temperatures are expected to rise again later this week, with a fourth heatwave of the year looming for some areas. Amber heat health alerts have been issued for much of eastern England.

According to provisional Met Office data, the month of July has been 3C above average across the UK, which could see it end up as one of the hottest Julys on record.

Carly Simon on Monday shared a lengthy and candid letter regarding the state of her health, which she said led to her recent withdrawal from the public eye.

The 83-year-old “You’re so Vain” singer and two-time Grammy winner in a statement shared with The Times revealed she has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and has dedicated time away from the spotlight to understand and learn how to live with the illness. Simon said she decided to come forward about her health issues after “so many people have written to me, kindly wondering about my relative silence.” She did not specify when she was diagnosed.

Parkinson’s disease, according to the Mayo Clinic, is a nervous system movement disorder that worsens with time and cannot be cured. Tremors are a common symptom of Parkinson’s disease, which also notably afflicts “Back to the Future” star Michael J. Fox.

Simon explained in her statement that she experienced arthritis in both of her knees and one hip prior to receiving her diagnosis. She had those three joints replaced — “out with the old and in with delicate bouquets of metal and plastic” — but experienced worsening mobility after, including difficulty walking and standing from couches and low chairs.

“Eventually, there were periods when I could not walk without considerable help,” she continued. “My family and I knew that something more was going on.”

She said she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s after a trip to the Mayo Clinic and underwent treatment and started taking medication to aid with her symptoms.

“There is no tidy predictable schedule to the illness,” she said.

Simon also wrote that her experience with Parkinson’s wrought “anxiety, depression, exhaustion, an apathy.” Of the last, Simon recalled lying like a starfish “while nothing inside is telling you to get up, read, watch, sing, call someone, or do much of anything at all.”

Simon revealed that in the same period, she underwent surgery to treat skin cancer, specifically basal cell carcinoma on her face. The singer’s two sisters died of different cancers days apart in 2022. She said she felt self-conscious about her appearance post-surgery and retreated further from the public. “This gave my inner critic quite a lot of new material,” she wrote.

The singer, who likened herself to an “all-season” hibernating bear, said “I have not stopped living, and I have not stopped working” amid her health issues. She then promoted her upcoming album “Comes in Waves,” her first album of original music since 2008. “Comes in Waves” arrives Aug. 14. She is set to release the song “Peaches” from the album on Friday.

“Music has always known when to arrive,” she wrote. “It has rescued me more times that I can count.”

“Working on the music gave shape to days that did not always have much shape,” she said. “It gave me somewhere to go without having to leave the room. It reminded me that illness can change your life without becoming the whole of your life.”

For Simon, her Parkinson’s battle has proved “difficult, frustrating, and sometimes frightening,” but not a complete obstacle to her life. She expressed gratitude to her friends, family, caregivers and medical teams for their support.

“These days I move more slowly, I lean on others more than I once did, and I have learned to accept that every day will look a little different,” she concluded. “But I am still very much here.”

“A little bit sore and a little bit stiff but that is to be expected,” Langton said of his condition.

“I can’t really complain too much.”

The teenager did not receive his medal until he returned to the team hotel on Saturday evening, with the other members of the team gathering to applaud him.

Whitehouse said the team wanted to do that in order to replace videos of his fall, which were circulating widely on social media over the weekend, with something more positive.

“That was incredible,” Langton said of the moment.

“Seeing all of the team-mates, coaches and getting my medal. I saw my personal coach from Birmingham. It was so nice.”

These things are, of course, relative, but Whitehouse’s Sunday was a disappointing one. He came seventh in an all-round final won by Scotland’s Reuben Ward.

His response on Monday was almost immaculate.

Malaysia’s Muhammad Sharul Aimy, Australia’s James Hardy and Ward all made mistakes in the early rounds of the competition, giving Whitehouse – the fifth gymnast to enter – an opportunity.

He barely faltered, scoring 14.566 to take gold – a score that was not bettered by the remaining three competitors.

“The last few days have been about regrouping after everything that’s happened and then coming out and delivering a good performance,” he said.

There was a similar story later in the women’s vault when England’s Abigail Martin, who finished 11th in the women’s all-round final, took silver behind Canada’s Lia-Monica Fontaine.

“Yesterday didn’t really go to plan the way I wanted it to, but I’m really pleased that I managed to pick myself back up today,” Martin said.

“For me, I just had a little cry about it, but then I thought about all the things that had gone well.”

Whitehouse and Martin will be back on Tuesday in the vault and floor respectively. Langton will again be in the stands.

He plans to “take it easy for a couple of days and do the rehab” before returning to training in the near future.

“I trust in my gymnastics capability,” Langton said.

“It was really just a freak accident.”

Drones launched at Saudi, Jordan and Iraq suggest Iran, or linked groups, may be testing US as it mulls new strategy.

Saudi Arabia has reported intercepting drones that targeted oil facilities in its eastern province and Riyadh.

Saudi’s Foreign Ministry said it “reserves the right to respond” to the attack, which it attributed to Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq.

Separately, Yemen’s Houthi rebels said in a statement on Monday that they had targeted Saudi crude oil transport infrastructure.

It remains unclear whether the two incidents were coordinated or separate.

The attack comes amid a lull in hostilities between the United States and Iran, with mediators suggesting the chances of a return to negotiations have risen.

Following two weeks of intense hostilities, US officials have spoken of a change in strategy, and Washington has paused strikes on Iran.

Iran has said it has also paused its attacks on US allies across the Gulf region.

However, the drone attacks on Saudi and elsewhere suggest that Tehran may be testing the new US stance, and that the armed groups believed to be linked to Iran are not ready to follow suit.

Aside from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iraq also reported drone attacks on Monday. Amman said it shot down two drones, while Iraqi security sources reported strikes on camps housing Iranian-Kurdish opposition fighters in the country’s north.

The officials did not identify the source of either attack, but Jordan and northern Iraq were locations in which four US service members were killed over the past fortnight of conflict.

The Houthis announced later on Monday that nine of its fighters had been killed amid escalating military confrontations with Yemeni government forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition in recent days.

Reform UK say they are reporting Green Party leader Zack Polanski to the police after he shared a post to his Instagram which included a photo of a man wearing a top featuring the name “Nigel” alongside an image of a guillotine.

Polanski accepted a request to collaborate with another account and shared a series of pictures of a Green Party event on Sunday with his 713,000 followers.

One of the images showed a man wearing a T-shirt which said: “We’re only making plans for Nigel”.

A Green Party spokesperson said: “Once this image was brought to [Zack’s] attention he immediately unshared the post. He unequivocally does not support this type of dangerous message.”

The Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, criticised Polanski on X.

Sharing a screenshot of what Polanski had reposted, he said: “If I was to post anything as inciteful then I would expect to be arrested, and so should Polanski.”

It is understood Reform UK are reporting Polanski to the police. The party’s home affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf, said “this is incitement to murder”.

CARDI B is about to let everyone in on the story of her rollercoaster life — including working as a stripper.

I can reveal the rapper is the subject of a major new documentary from the same team behind programmes on Victoria Beckham, Pamela Anderson and Coleen Rooney.

Production company Dorothy Street Pictures is secretly working on the special, in which she will speak about her rags to riches story.

Cardi, who wore this eye-popping pink catsuit and matching hat for a performance in New York on Sunday, has quite a backstory, so I’m sure it will be riveting viewing.

She started off her working life as a stripper, and would entice men to hotel rooms and steal their money.

Her fortunes changed when she became a viral sensation a decade ago on apps such as Vine and Instagram, and eventually got signed to a label and scored hit songs including Wap and I Like It.

ODDIE’S FIGHT

Inside Bill Oddie’s health battles including ‘lithium toxicity’ scare

SAD TURN

Carly Simon, 83, reveals Parkinson’s and cancer diagnosis after years-long break

Cardi has not been short of controversy during her time in the showbiz spotlight, famously throwing a shoe at rival Nicki Minanj during a spat in 2018.

She has also had a difficult love life, getting married to Migos rapper Offset in 2017, and having four kids with him before they separating in 2023.

A source said: “Cardi is one of the most in-demand rappers in the world and is also one of the most interesting.

“She has lived her life in the public eye to some degree. But there’s a lot that she’s never opened up about, and this is her chance.

“Next year will mark a decade since she released her major-label debut single Bodak Yellow and so there’s a documentary in the works which will mark that.

“There’s a lot to talk about and she wants the public to see who she really is, because she often feels misunderstood.

“It’s expected to air on a big streaming service like Netflix, but the deal is still being hatched out.”

Cardi released her long-awaited second album Am I The Drama? last year and then went on a tour across North America.

And I won’t be surprised if we see her back on stage at British festivals next summer.

KOJO: LADIES RULE

Kojo Funds has worked with acts ranging from Wizkid and Tion Wayne to Kano and Bugzy Malone since bursting on to the music scene a decade ago.

But the British singer has saluted the work ethic of top women in the industry and says they have inspired him.

His biggest chart hit to date is 2017 collaboration Finders Keepers with Mabel, and has also worked with Raye on a 2018 track called Check.

Kojo said in an exclusive interview: “Female artists who are operating at that level take their craft seriously. Put effort into what you’re doing, don’t do it anyhow.

“They’re very hard-working, I respect them for that. The work ethic… that’s the kind of thing I took from them.”

Kojo’s new single How Many will be on his EP Hello It’s Me Again, which is out on August 21.

And one person who’s bound to be giving it a spin is Cardi B.

Recalling how the US rapper discovered his music, he said: “Her first time in London, she went to a club and they were playing my music.

“Dun Talkin’ came on and she saw how people were hyping her up while she was moving to it.

“The next morning, she’s on Instagram singing it, with her hair messy, a little bit tipsy.”

They’ve since performed together and hung out, so I’m hoping a collaboration with her is on the cards next.

DANCING On Ice beauty Vanessa Bauer has been tipped for a career in Hollywood by Football Factory and The Business actor Tamer Hassan.

She has re-trained after the ITV show was axed, and plays Tamer’s girlfriend in new film Rise Of The Footsoldier: Retribution.

On how great she was playing Isabella Chaika opposite his character, Colonel Sullivan, he told me: “Vanessa has a future in films, 100 per cent.

She looks great, she carries herself well.

“She’s definitely got some chops to be an actress.”

Vanessa joined Dancing On Ice in 2018 when the show was revived.

She won with Jake Quickenden, and was a runner-up several times with celebs including Diversity’s Perri Kiely and Towie’s Joey Essex.

But the show ended again in 2025 and now she is exploring new paths, having also appeared in Netflix’s The Thursday Murder Club.

THE race for No1 is hotting up.

Shakira’s Dai Dai now is just 118 copies ahead of Sam Fender and Olivia Dean’s Rein Me In – closing the gap from 609 copies the previous day.

The World Cup anthem will be her third chart-topper if she can hang on to the lead until Friday.

But if Rein Me In can clinch it, it will become the longest-running No1 of all time, with 19 weeks at the top.

ROMCOM TOO TOUGH FOR CHRIS

OSCAR-winning director Christopher Nolan says there’s one genre that’s too hard for him to tackle – the romcom.

The man behind movies such as Oppenheimer, Interstellar and The Dark Knight would be “terrified” at the prospect of making one.

The Brit whose new epic The Odyssey is No1 at the box office, explained: “I think doing a romcom would be incredibly difficult.

I love watching those movies. But no, I think people who direct comedy, people who do comedy . . .  that’s one of the hardest things in the world, to make people laugh that way.

“If I show a film to people and maybe they don’t respond to bits of it, I’m like, ‘Ah, they don’t get it. Whatever’. There’s no hiding behind that when you do comedy, so I would be terrified.”

TYLA POPS TO UK ON TOUR

TYLA is hitting the road for a 34-date global tour following the release last week of her second album A*POP.

The Chanel singer has announced she will open the tour in Paris on October 12 before shows at London’s O2 Academy Brixton on October 15 the O2 Apollo Manchester on October 19 and O2 Academy Glasgow on October 18.

Tickets will go on sale at 10am this Friday through tylaworld.com.

Zara’s latest feet

THERE was no chance of Zara Larsson getting cold feet about her latest brand deal with these slippers.

She wore the funky footwear – designed as giant feet in flip flops – while reclining on a sofa as part of a campaign for re-sale site Depop.

Zara put 30 pieces of clothing from her own wardrobe up for sale, and they sold out almost straight away.

She said: “I’m not particularly sad about releasing anything of mine into the world because I know I’m gonna get many more beautiful things back. Fashion is fun in that way.”

Given all the designer brands desperate for her to wear their clothes, I am sure she has plenty of options.

LIFE OF RILEY FOR RAY AND DANNY

DANNY DYER and Ray Winstone are teaming up again, two decades after appearing in TV film All In The Game.

The hardmen, pictured together in 2006, have been cast in UK crime thriller Going Under, which is due to hit cinemas next spring.

Production on the film has just been completed, after being shot in secret.

It will follow Ray’s gangster character Riley and his right-hand man Don, played by Danny, trying to pull off one final deal.

Charli’s bra-t summer

CHARLI XCX is ready for our fourth heatwave of the summer – and has stripped off to prepare.

She shared this photo of her wearing a bra and sunglasses on Instagram, just as it was revealed there will be a picture of the singer going on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

A 2024 photo of Charli in a white crop top, which was taken by Harley Weir and used to promote her album Brat, has been added to the gallery’s collection and will be in its History Makers Now space.

Senior curator Brandei Estes said: “We are delighted to acquire this striking portrait of Charli XCX, which captures one of the defining cultural figures of her generation.”

WILD Child actress Emma Roberts has tied the knot to afellow screen star Cody John.

Emma, who appeared in American Horror Story and is the niece of Hollywood A-lister Julia Roberts, wore a Monique Lhuillier dress, and told Vogue: “I’ve been married in a movie before, and I tried out wedding dresses for that, which feels so weird. Now, it’s the real deal.

“I wanted it to feel very vintage-inspired.”

The couple started dating in 2022.

LIZ & BILLY LOVE BIRDWATCHING

LIZ HURLEY has revealed the secret to her romance with Billy Ray Cyrus is a shared love of birdwatching.

She said: “We’ve been together nearly 18 months, but we spend the vast majority of our time in the countryside, whether it’s in England or Tennessee.

“We like doing the same things, which some people would think is a little odd. We like bird watching. We’ve got binoculars, we’ve got long lenses.”

The relationship has been especially good for her son, filmmaker Damian, who has been able to meet Billy’s superstar daughter Miley.

Liz added on SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live in the US: “When he was a young teen, he used to love all her music. I used to have to watch her music videos like Wrecking Ball a zillion times with him, so we were very familiar with who she was, and I knew I was going to like her, and I do like her.”

El Chigüire Bipolar, our award-winning equivalent of The Onion, recently ran a headline that nicely captures the domestic fatigue surrounding the months-old rhetoric of the secretary of state: Marco Rubio anuncia que ya ahora sí, de pana, de panita, pronto viene la transición. That translates roughly to: “Rubio announces that now it’s time for the transition to happen soon, this time for sure, for real, I swear.”

It was four days after a military intervention toppled Maduro that Marco Rubio first spoke of the famous three-phase that US diplomats and officials love to quote. He later laid out his expectations for the process currently unfolding. We summarized his comments from the January 28 Senate hearing:

Rubio was reluctant to provide a precise timeline for the current arrangement between Venezuelan authorities and the US. The Trump administration wants to see rapid progress, he suggested. And in five months, the situation must be different (…) In the long term, the US wants Venezuela to have a democratically elected government (…)  Rubio said he wants María Corina to be part of the transition and to be able to run for election eventually.

Fast forward to July, and the messaging from out from the White House has become increasingly unnerving to many. We’ve published plenty of stuff that describes the Rodríguez regime’s response to the disaster (ultimately sluggish and dwarfed by the efforts of ordinary people and foreign rescuers) and Delcy’s inability to deploy the Venezuelan military in a meaningful way.

One must not overestimate the influence of the Secretary of State. Rubio is part of the Trump administration, and he cannot break with the president’s overarching goals.

The gringos, however, are adamant that the chavista elite has been fully compliant with aid efforts. Chief of Mission John Barrett expressed strong confidence in local authorities soon after the quakes. A picture of him amicably grabbing the arm of Diosdado Cabello before a team of US rescuers drew social media outage. So did another of Cabello sharing a laugh with a US general, garnering headlines about the Americans’ willingness to work closely with an alleged narco-terrorist.

Rubio’s priorities in the Venezuela portfolio

In the Trump government, one can identify three figures or groups that have stood out for their distinct talking points and approaches to the country.

There is Donald Trump himself, who seems exhilarated whenever he mentions Delcy Rodríguez and the oil riches the US is extracting there without transparency or accountability. The US president is still eager to use Venezuela to advance his domestic agenda; he recently invoked a CIA report on potential electronic fraud in Venezuelan voting machines, a move perhaps meant to cast doubt on election integrity in US states using that technology.

Then you have a network of whisperers and operatives around Trump, which includes both administration officials and external figures, that intend to covertly influence the Venezuela portfolio behind the scenes, sometimes attempting to lobby through journalists and social media. From the outside, the likes of Laura Loomer and Harry Sargeant featured in 2025. In the White House, one figure that doesn’t talk much but is definitely part of the “Venezuela core” is political advisor Stephen Miller, as he reluctantly admitted last week. JD Vance, a likely candidate in the next presidential race, represents the isolationist faction of the administration. And there’s Rubio, who many Venezuelans and the Machado-led opposition perceive as their ally.

Rubio remains the only relevant US official who consistently discusses the purported goals of democratization and institutional reconstruction. He is also the leading figure in the Venezuela dossier, and we believe he genuinely wants to put an end to chavista rule once and for all. His record as an anti-chavista (and anti-Castro) hawk is widely known but, as this Substack post points out, he’s had to seek a middle ground between a regime-change strategy and the Ric Grenell-backed normalization agenda revealed in 2025. A week ago, Rubio welcomed the “reconciliation and transition talks” that a Rodríguez-led delegation and a Machado-less opposition group agreed to begin on August 1. He said the US will be “very engaged” in this process, while suggesting it will operate independently. It clearly won’t. The talks are happening because the State Department is sponsoring them. Which, as it happens, is not bad news at all.

Neither Edmundo González nor Dinorah Figuera possessed significant political capital until a major player backed them. Both, too, are likely easy to guide and control.

Still, one must not overestimate the influence of the Secretary of State. Rubio is part of the Trump administration, and he cannot break with the president’s overarching goals.

One of Rubio’s main goals here is to keep the situation stable. If the recent off-the-record skirmishes with María Corina Machado were to escalate into open conflict between the opposition leader and Trump, framing the Venezuela portfolio as a foreign policy success would become far more difficult. As a Secretary of State, Rubio has become accustomed to defending Trump’s rhetoric and actions in a professional and composed tone while reassuring allied figures and governments in private (including some whom the president has publicly humiliated). This same dynamic likely governs his approach to Machado, whom Rubio insists can play a role in the transition even as Trump continues to shun her.

Machado, who has recently challenged Washington, cannot afford to break with her sole reliable, long-time ally in the US government, Rubio, if she wants to avoid a damaging fallout. Rubio, meanwhile, can’t break with Trump either if he hopes to run for president in 2028, given Trump’s grip on the Republican Party and the MAGA voter base. Rubio would probably like to engineer elections in Venezuela in a way that maximizes his political credit. With the Republican presidential primaries scheduled for the first half of 2028, showing off Venezuelan elections as a personal triumph while the GOP selects its nominee would require those elections to take place in late 2027 or early 2028.

Washington’s proxy

Rubio wants to control this process through Dinorah Figuera and a group of former opposition lawmakers from Primero Justicia and Voluntad Popular, the parties who backed the creation of the Comisión Delegada Figuera presides. To Washington, Figuera represents what Edmundo González was to Machado in the 2024 election: a figure with enough legitimacy who was admitted as a competitor by the chavista-controlled institutions. Just as the opposition leader needed an opposition proxy to stand in for her when she was banned from running, Rubio needs a Venezuelan politician coming from the 2015 National Assembly to claim that negotiations for democracy and reconciliation are Venezuelan-led. Neither González nor Figuera possessed significant political capital until a major player backed them. Both, too, are likely easy to guide and control.

Much like the president-elect, Figuera has shown little political ambition beyond serving as a viable, cooperative figure under these circumstances (much as González did after the Maduro regime disqualified dozens of potential opposition candidates). Figuera has described herself as “an instrument” of the reinstitutionalization and democratization process. She hopes to guarantee the participation of political parties and Machado, whom she acknowledges as the opposition’s leader but notes that she holds “a different vision.”

We expect the Rodríguez-Figuera talks to make progress before the end of 2026.

The upcoming talks will be like nothing we have ever seen, in terms of the US operating as an all-powerful actor wielding immense coercive capacity and veto power. The members of the opposition delegation, whose full roster is not yet public, are expected to serve more as liaisons in constant communication with the Department of State and Trump administration personnel, than as fully-empowered negotiators over the major issues at stake.

Figuera claims this process should lead to a trustworthy CNE and a reformed Supreme Court with new magistrates across its entire structure—not just the chamber overseeing elections. Repressive statutes passed in the Maduro era, used to seize the assets of the regime’s opponents or to punish citizens under the chavista definition of hate speech, are expected to be revoked too. 

With the Delcy regime unable to make progress on multiple fronts and definitely after the government’s lame emergency response, her position before the United States seems weaker as we approach the end of the year. Our latest Political Risk Report quotes Rodríguez government sources suggesting the Trump administration wants to accelerate political developments in Venezuela ahead of the November midterms, so its ventures in Caracas can be framed as a clearer success.

We expect the Rodríguez-Figuera talks to make progress before the end of 2026. Whether that progress will translate into preparations for a new presidential election, as Machado and most Venezuelans would hope, remains to be seen

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. It’s time to give some love to the linemen doing the dirty work in high school football. Let’s examine the offensive and defensive linemen to watch.

Big men in spotlight

Size certainly helps playing on the offensive line and has become much in demand from college recruiters. The Trinity League is home to an outstanding group of blockers that includes Drew Fielder of Servite, Lucas Rhoa of Orange Lutheran, Jack Schein of JSerra, Elisha Mueller of St. John Bosco and Lex Mailangi of Mater Dei. Fielder is going to USC, Roha to Texas and Mailangi to Oregon.

The extremely big linemen list includes 360-pound Amaziah Siale of Mission Viejo, an LSU commit, 300-pound Jackson Hill of Chaminade, a Notre Dame commit, and 350-pound junior Lincoln Fa’alafi of JSerra. Vincent Shields, a 6-5, 285-pound junior from Murrieta Valley, is gaining traction as an improving blocker and top college prospect.

Sierra Canyon has 6-6, 270-pound junior Lance Ciechanowski. San Pedro’s David Medina isn’t tall but his strength and passion comes through as an All-City player. Birmingham’s Pablo Granados enters his senior season with high expectations to continue his development.

The matchups this fall featuring top blockers against top defensive linemen will be electric. Sierra Canyon’s Marcus Fakatou transferred from Orange Lutheran and reclassified to be a senior. He’s committed to Ohio State. The Trailblazers also have Kasi Currie. Call them the Great Wall of Chatsworth.

Godschoice Eboigbodin of JSerra is 6-5, 260 pounds and still learning the game as a UCLA commit. Elija Harmon of Inglewood is an Oklahoma commit returning from an injury.

Caleb Pasina of St. Bonaventure is a 6-4, 270-pound junior just beginning to show his dominance. Siave Seti of Bishop Amat was All-CIF and all-Mission League as a freshman.

Sione Felila of Oak Hills is 6-3, 290 pounds and had 18 tackles for losses. Isaia Vandermade of Santa Margarita was one of the best players during last season’s Division 1 playoffs. Opponents couldn’t block the USC commit. Hunter Taylor from Mira Costa is an Army commit with lots of agility. Hunter Eligon starred for Division 2 champion Los Alamitos last season and now is at Western. Miles Schirmer of Corona Centennial is a 6-5, 260-pound disruptor.

Oaks Christian has improving Aliseleti Tuihalamaka. Junior edge Elijah Tuua of St. John Bosco will be turned loose to harass quarterbacks. David Nansen of Bellflower is a sophomore coming off a standout freshman season. Jon Ioane of Tustin was heavily recruited and ended up committing to Washington. Elyjah Staples of Marquez, a Cal commit, had nine sacks last season. Kingston Sula of Carson had 16 sacks as a sophomore. Kenneth Webb of King/Drew had nine sacks. Will Gelt of Agoura contributed 11 sacks.

Taft High football player Carter Wallace, who has been deaf since birth, works with interpreter Jo Beth during practice.

(Craig Weston)

Taft High’s Carter Wallace is not letting being deaf serving as a roadblock to prevent him from playing football.

Here’s a profile of a player making an impact.

And so it begins

Official high school football practice begins Monday for Southern Section teams with zero week games and in the City Section. There’s a five-day acclimatization period before pads go on. Each player needs 14 days of practice before being able to compete in a game. Scrimmages count as a practice day.

Here’s a look at how much change has come to practices from the days when schools were doing two-a-days.

Preseason top 25

Santa Margarita celebrates after winning the CIF State Football Championship Open Division game in 2025.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

St. John Bosco begins the 2026 season ranked No. 1 in The Times’ preseason high school football rankings. Last year’s No. 1 team, Santa Margarita, begins at No. 4.

Here’s the link to the top 25 rankings.

National title game?

The Aug. 21 football opener in Las Vegas between Bishop Gorman and St. John Bosco might as well be called a national championship game, though Bishop Gorman is expected to participate in a postseason competition run by Overtime that began in 2025.

It was 108 degrees earlier this week in Las Vegas and Bishop Gorman coach Brent Browning is predicting 110 degrees with a chance of a thunderstorm or two when St. John Bosco makes the trip.

In fact, during the Josh Rosen quarterback days at St. John Bosco, the Braves lost to Bishop Gorman 34-31 during a memorable thunderstorm in 2014 when the Braves’ band kept playing despite getting a downpour.

Bishop Gorman also has a nonleague game with Mater Dei, so the Gaels are trying to win the Trinity League, which they would gladly join if the CIF allowed non-California teams to participate.

Notes . . .

Linebacker Wyatt Bogdan from Laguna Beach has committed to Portland State….

Receiver Nathan Williams of Carson has committed to Idaho State….

Standout St. John Bosco pitcher Julian Garcia signed with the Milwaukee Brewers for $1.5 million. He was a fourth-round draft pick….

Grace McCabe has been named the first girls lacrosse coach at Harvard-Westlake, which is adding the sport this year along with flag football as the school prepares to open its new sports complex in Studio City….

Spectrum will once again televise Southern Section football games this fall, with Chaparral facing Mission Viejo in the opening game….

Former Yucaipa baseball coach Ralph Grajeda is the new head coach at Citrus Valley….

Santa Margarita will play its home football games at Saddleback College this season. It’s a return for the Eagles, who once played all their home games at Saddleback….

Jordan Vogel of Arcadia has committed to St. Mary’s baseball…..

Pitcher Robbie Erspamer of San Clemente has committed to UC San Diego….

Cal Lutheran assistant Alec Iniguez is the new baseball coach at Thousand Oaks….

JSerra’s girls’ basketball program could be facing a Southern Section investigation after possible rules violations were detailed in court documents. Here’s the report. …

Johnny Garcia is the new girls basketball coach at Bishop Alemany….

The Area Code Games in baseball begin this weekend with underclassmen at Blair Field in Long Beach, followed by upperclassmen next weekend….

Former Newbury Park cross country coach Sean Brosnan has taken over the program at USC….

Rafael Segura is the new lacrosse coach at St. John Bosco….

Delvon Rose is the new boys basketball coach at South Pasadena….

Isabella Dolce, a girls soccer standout at Santa Margarita, has committed to the University of Louisiana Lafayette….

St. Monica basketball coach Allen Caveness has resigned to become head coach at Long Beach Jordan….

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford presented a $10,000 equipment grant to Dominguez High on Sunday to help purchase blocking sleds, uniforms and practice gear, among other items, for the upcoming season….

Encino Little League’s team made up of 11- and 12-year-olds won its opening game of the state championships in Aliso Niguel to advance to the winner’s bracket semifinals Tuesday. The state champion advances to the Western Regional finals tournament in San Bernardino, with a berth in the Little League World Series on the line.

From the archives: Gabe York

Former Orange Lutheran basketball player Gabe York has found a way to become a pro basketball player since going undrafted in 2016 after leaving the University of Arizona. At age 32, he keeps finding opportunities in overseas leagues, the latest being with the Zhejiang Golden Bulls of the Chinese Basketball Assn.

He has always been known for his shooting prowess. He averaged almost 25 points at Orange Lutheran and had a 43-point performance. Always well liked for giving his all, York keeps finding ways to contribute.

Here’s a story from 2015 on York playing for Arizona.

Here’s a story from 2011 on York’s scoring potential.

Recommendations

From Globenewswire, a story from 2019 that projected youth sports spending.

From the Los Angeles Times, a story looking into the Hall of Fame induction of former Edison High and Dodger second baseman Jeff Kent.

From Wired, a story on how elite young runners are becoming freakishly fast.

Tweets you might have missed

Until next time….

Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.

Did you get this newsletter forwarded to you? To sign up and get it in your inbox, click here.

An Indian police officer has been suspended after firing an AK-47 rifle at students protesting over leaked exam papers. The protests, which led to the education minister’s resignation, have sparked accusations of excessive police force.

July 27 (UPI) — Brazil and China agreed Monday to speed up negotiations on a trade agreement between Mercosur and China as both countries seek to strengthen economic ties after new U.S. tariffs hit Brazilian exports.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke by telephone for more than an hour just days after the United States confirmed a 25% tariff on Brazilian exports.

Lula said on X that the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to expanding cooperation in strategic and high-technology sectors, including artificial intelligence, satellites, critical minerals processing and fertilizer trade.

In the post, Lula highlighted the “positive results” of bilateral trade and the recent short-term visa waiver, saying the measures “will increase tourist flows and business opportunities.”

He also emphasized the need to expand cooperation in other sectors and advance negotiations on a trade agreement between Mercosur, the South American trade bloc, and China.

“I stressed that our government remains committed to diversifying markets,” Lula wrote.

The two leaders also discussed global conflicts and their impact on people’s lives, as well as global food and energy security, identifying them as key international challenges.

“While discussing the crisis in the Middle East, we agreed that restrictions on freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait have harmful effects on the global economy,” Lula said.

According to China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency, Xi rejected what he described as external interference in Brazil’s electoral process and expressed China’s willingness to support Lula’s government.

Xi said that under new global circumstances and challenges, China and Brazil, as leading members of the Global South, should uphold historical justice and the progress of civilization while playing a greater role in reforming and improving the global governance system and defending international fairness and justice.

According to Xi, China “highly values Brazil’s international standing and significant influence, supports the country in safeguarding its sovereignty and independence, opposes foreign interference and will contribute to maintaining regional and global peace and stability.”

Lula also said both leaders criticized the inability of the United Nations Security Council to respond effectively to current international crises and reaffirmed Brazil’s and China’s commitment to multilateralism. They agreed to maintain close coordination on international issues through forums, including the United Nations and the BRICS group.

The conversation comes as Lula has intensified his efforts to diversify Brazil’s trade relationships. In an article published Sunday in The Washington Post, he described the new U.S. tariffs on Brazilian goods as a “strategic mistake” and said Brazil would pursue alternative markets to expand investment and economic partnerships.

IT’S been more than two years since Samie Elishi last walked out of the Love Island villa – and as this year’s finalists prepare for tonight’s live final, she knows better than most what comes next.

Speaking exclusively to The Sun, the former Islander has backed this year’s cast to “smash it” after the villa and lifted the lid on life with boyfriend Tyrique Hyde – amid her latest career ventures.

The Essex beauty finished third alongside Tom Clare in 2023, winning over viewers with her no-nonsense approach to villa drama. Like many Islanders, she left Majorca with a world of opportunities suddenly opening up in front of her.

These days, her time is split between building businesses and enjoying a relationship with fellow Love Island star Tyrique Hyde that blossomed after both of them left the villa.

After working with W7 since leaving Love Island, Samie officially became one of its ambassadors earlier this year and is now preparing to launch her collaboration with the beauty giant.

And with this year’s Love Island final airing tonight, Samie admits she’ll be watching just like millions of other viewers – knowing exactly what’s about to hit the finalists when they leave the villa.

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She said, “I have been watching it. I watch it every year.”

Unlike some former contestants who distance themselves from the programme once it’s ends, Samie has “never missed a series”. And as tonight’s finalists prepare to discover whether they’ve won the public vote, she believes a few couples have the potential to make a success of life beyond the villa.

While millions of viewers have watched this year’s Islanders navigate recouplings, Casa Amor and Movie Night, Samie knows the real challenge only begins once the cameras stop rolling.

Asked what advice she would give the finalists before they step back into the real world, she doesn’t hesitate: “Soak up every moment before your phone comes back. As soon as you switch that phone on… wow.”

Rather than getting caught up in public opinion, she hopes this year’s cast focuses on making the most of the opportunities waiting for them.

“I feel like all of them are really strong this year,” she said.

“They’ve all got such good heads on them. I honestly think they’re all going to smash it, whatever they decide to do.”

Despite following every episode, Samie refuses to be drawn into choosing one favourite contestant.

The star admitted, “I feel like everyone has been really entertaining this year. You know what? 
I actually don’t have a favourite – I actually like everyone for different reasons.” 

Though she has connected with one person: “I spoke to Ellie on the phone because she was on Tyrique’s stream and she was lovely.”

She’s also been impressed by Finn and Ellie’s relationship, admitting she hopes they continue to go from strength to strength outside the villa.

When it comes to predicting the winners, though, Samie knows better than most that Love Island rarely follows the script.

She believes Jasmine and Kavan have every chance after winning viewers over with their journey, while Simba and Angie have also caught her eye.

“I feel like Jasmine and Kav have a good chance. They’re very much loved up. I really like Simba and Angie.”

But she suspects the biggest surprise could come elsewhere.

Samie explained: “I think Tommy and Yasmin could be the underdogs. It’s always the winners that nobody expects.”

Although, with the recent revelation that Tommy was in a relationship 2 weeks prior to entering the villa – this may have thrown a spanner in the works for their place in the final.

Having experienced the unpredictable public votes herself, she knows contestants inside the villa often have little idea how they’re being perceived.

“When you’re in there, you genuinely don’t know what’s being shown,” she explained.

“So when the public vote comes in, you’re just like, ‘Okay… that’s fine.’”

Watching this year’s romances unfold has also reminded Samie just how much life has changed since her own villa experience. Although she and Tyrique Hyde both found fame on Love Island, their relationship didn’t begin in the villa.

Asked how life together compares to the whirlwind romances viewers usually see on screen, which can often crash and burn off camera, she laughed: “Me and Ty were never actually on the cameras together. So we’ve just met properly in real life. It’s just been us from the start, which has been really nice.”

The pair now spend virtually every day together, with Samie admitting moving in together feels less like an “if” and more like a “when.”

She said: “In the future we’ll definitely live together. We’re inseparable anyway, so it won’t really change much.”

Friends and fans have watched the relationship flourish over the past year, and Samie says she’s happier than ever.

“We’re just really happy. I feel like everyone who knows me can see that.”

That happiness has spilled over into every other part of her life too.

Now she’s preparing to unveil what she describes as her “biggest beauty venture” yet, after spending months working behind the scenes on a collaboration with W7.

Unlike many celebrity collections that simply involve putting a famous face on an existing product, Samie insists this project has been far more hands-on.

Opening up on the project, she said: “We’ve been working on the products really closely. I’ve been using little testers for months because I wanted to make sure everything was perfect.”

Although she’s sworn to secrecy over exactly what fans can expect, she promises the finished collection is unmistakably her.

She laughed: “It’s really annoying because I can’t actually tell you what it is. But what I can say is it’s very me.”

Rather than simply lending her name to a range, Samie wanted the products to reflect the make-up look she’s become known for since first appearing on ITV2.

“I wanted products that people can use every day. That was what I based everything around,” she explained.

The collaboration is the culmination of a relationship that began shortly after she left Love Island.

“It’s been such a huge pinch-me moment,” she admitted.

One of the biggest milestones came when she spotted herself in Superdrug stores across the country.

She laughed: “Walking into Superdrug and seeing my face there is just mad. My friends keep sending me photos every time they see it. It’s one of those shops we all grew up going into, so it feels surreal.”

Alongside the W7 collaboration, Samie continues to develop her perfume brand while juggling a house move and several other ventures she’s not yet ready to reveal.

“This has definitely been my busiest year,” she said.

“There are so many exciting things coming later this year and into next year. I just feel like I keep ticking things off my bucket list.”

Rather than relying on the fleeting fame that comes with reality TV, Samie has spent the past two years building a career away from the villa.

“I feel like we’re conquering all aspects this year,” she said.

“There are so many exciting things coming towards the end of this year and the start of next year.”

The Indianapolis Colts took a flyer on an impressive athlete from Kenya 13 years ago, but a story that began with an inspirational backdrop has taken an increasingly familiar turn: Daniel Adongo was deported from the United States last month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed.

According to ICE, Adongo, 37, overstayed his visa after his brief NFL career ended in 2015 and he remained in Indiana. The former linebacker and African rugby star was arrested several times over the past nine years for crimes including felony intimidation, battery and disorderly conduct. He also showed signs of mental illness, according to court records.

“This dangerous individual was clearly a threat to the community, which is now safer since he’s been removed,” ICE Chicago Assistant Field Office Director Douglas Thompson said in a statement. “Those who violate immigration law are held equally accountable, including former professional athletes.”

Adongo was released by the Colts after playing in two games in 2013 and three in 2015, mostly on special teams. The team cut ties with him after police were called to a home in Fishers, Ind., to check on a woman who lived with Adongo.

According to a police report, the woman’s friend contacted law enforcement. Adongo was not at the residence at the time, and the woman declined medical assistance. The Hamilton County prosecutor’s office reviewed the case and did not charge Adongo.

However, the 6-foot-5, 260-pound Adongo began exhibiting increasingly erratic behavior. In 2017, an Indiana judge found him mentally incompetent to stand trial in a criminal case in which he was charged with intimidation and criminal mischief and ordered him committed to a state psychiatric hospital for evaluation and observation, according to the Indianapolis Star.

The only crime Adongo has been convicted of is a criminal mischief misdemeanor in 2020 for which he was sentenced to 364 days in jail, according to ICE. Other charges for intimidation, battery and disorderly conduct were dismissed.

Judges twice found Adongo incompetent to stand trial, according to court filings, including one case in which an expert witness testified that Adongo was acutely psychotic and possibly suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy — brain trauma — from playing football and rugby.

Members of Adongo’s family described in court filings a dramatic personality change in him after his playing career ended and expressed concern that he struggled to access mental health treatment.

ICE held Adongo without bond for several months under the Laken Riley Act, a federal law signed Jan. 29, 2025, that requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to detain undocumented immigrants without bond when arrested for specific crimes. He was deported one month ago.

Adongo was the first of two Kenyans to play in the NFL. The second was guard Rees Odhiambo, who played in 16 games from 2016 to 2018 for the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals.

July 27 (UPI) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on his way to Washington, D.C., on Monday for his eighth meeting with President Donald Trump since he returned to the White House last year.

The war in Iran will be the key topic Trump and Netanyahu are expected to discuss when they meet at the White House this week. It will be their first meeting since the war began. The two leaders have expressed differing opinions about peace agreements in recent weeks.

“In these complex times, you need to act with both great determination and great wisdom,” Netanyahu said in a video statement Monday. “We will discuss all the issues on the agenda, primarily Iran. Of course, our goal is to protect our security and also to expand the circle of peace around us.”

Fighting between the United States and Iran resumed over the past two weeks after a preliminary peace agreement between both sides fell apart. The U.S. military said it paused strikes on Iran over the weekend after a series of daily attacks.

Iran’s military said it is also halting strikes against the United States as long as the United States holds off.

It is a politically significant time for both Netanyahu and Trump. On Oct. 27, Israel’s legislative election will include all 120 seats in the Knesset, determining who will lead the government. The prime minister will be determined in consultation between the Israeli president and the Knesset, through a series of coalition formations.

Meanwhile, Trump’s focus politically is on the midterm elections in November. The elections will determine the political makeup on Capitol Hill and Trump’s path toward advancing his agenda in the final two years of his term.

Andy Burnham has told the BBC “the NHS will collapse” if social care is not reformed but said he could not put a timeline on changes.

In his first major interview since becoming prime minister, Burnham said he would not want to leave office without bringing in “substantial change” to the social care system.

The prime minister also suggested making it harder to claim benefits, saying the country had to get serious about getting the welfare bill down.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has meanwhile written to the prime minister, saying he should rule out tax rises or increased borrowing to fund social care reform.

Burnham told the BBC that if the government did not reform social care, the NHS would “collapse under the weight of trying to care for people who’ve really not needed to end up in the NHS system”.

But pressed on whether he would create a new system before the next election, he said he “couldn’t put a timeline on it right here, right now”, though he would put “whatever political capital I have into fixing broken social care”.

Burnham first proposed a universal system of social care in England in 2009 when he was health secretary under Gordon Brown and pursued the idea of a compulsory levy to fund it.

That Labour government also floated the idea of allowing people to defer the payment until after they died, which led to the Tories branding it a “death tax”.

Burnham is due to make a speech on adult social care on Wednesday.

The BBC understands the PM will stop short of unveiling plans for a new system in this speech, instead announcing he is speeding up the Casey Commission, an independent review that has been considering possible solutions for social care.

Baroness Louise Casey is not expected to give her final recommendations until 2028, but Burnham wants to bring her schedule forward.

Adult social care provides state support to help people live more independently, including assistance at home.

Unlike the NHS, social care is not free at the point of use. In England and Northern Ireland, people with savings worth more than £23,250 are not entitled to help with care costs from their council.

In Wales and Scotland, different rules apply in terms of eligibility.

Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of healthcare think tank the King’s Fund, said the current “punitive system” meant that “quite a lot of people go without care that they need”, with one in seven paying in excess of £100,000 for social care.

While Burnham has not yet outlined any plans, Woolnough told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that reforms could range from making social care free at the point of need to placing a cap on the amount people spend.

“The PM has for a long time mooted the idea of a social care system similar to NHS,” she said.

“It would be expensive but on the scale of what we spend on other public services – around £200bn on the NHS – we are talking for some of these options low billions per year.”

Adult social care has proved a complex issue to tackle for successive governments.

Two years ago Sir Keir Starmer was criticised when Labour scrapped plans for an £86,000 cap on the amount people in England would spend on social care in their lifetime.

Badenoch wrote in her letter to Burnham that “any solution to the issues around social care must also be fair to those who have made provisions and saved up over the course of their lives”.

Layla Moran, the Liberal Democrat MP who chairs the Health and Social Committee, told the Today programme: “We do need to discuss where the money is going to come from but also we need to all be putting our political capital into this.”

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said he was ready to do “whatever I can to find a real and lasting consensus on social care”.

“Family carers must be at the heart of any new system, everyone must get the care they need and no one should lose their home as a result,” he said.

Reform Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick said social care needed fixing but warned the party would fight any proposal for a “universal death tax”.

He said: “It’s not fair to raid people’s life savings and drags hundreds of thousands more families into paying tax when their loved ones pass away.”

NBCUniversal’s Peacock is stretching its wings by joining the subscription YouTube Premium service — a significant boost for the streaming platform that has struggled to find its niche in the increasingly crowded landscape.

NBCUniversal and YouTube on Monday announced the multi-year partnership. Beginning early next year, Peacock will be available as part of YouTube Premium’s U.S. subscription bundle, which also includes ad-free videos and music.

The pact represents Peacock’s largest wholesale distribution agreement to date, one that will introduce the service into millions of new homes.

On Friday, NBCUniversal owner Comcast disclosed the service had finally reached profitability in the second quarter after billions of dollars of investment.

The important benchmark comes as Comcast prepares to spin off NBCUniversal entertainment and news media businesses into a separate company. Peacock, which launched in 2020, grew its paid subscribers by 4% to 48 million in the second quarter, compared to the first quarter.

Comcast has long tried to make Peacock an asset for its Xfinity broadband and cable TV subscribers, but recently began to expand its partnerships in recognition that consumers were getting overloaded with pricey choices.

As part of the agreement, NBCUniversal’s linear television channels will remain on the YouTube TV service.

“This partnership brings NBCUniversal’s world-class content and iconic franchises to YouTube’s unmatched scale and global platforms,” Mike Cavanagh, NBCUniversal’s chief, said in a statement. “We’re excited to deepen our relationship with YouTube through a collaboration that reflects our strategy of partnering with industry leaders to drive sustained growth for NBCUniversal.”

The deal will give YouTube, owned by Google, a bevy of sports, including NFL football, NBA basketball, soccer and Major League Baseball.

“We’re incredibly excited to expand our partnership with NBCUniversal to redefine what a modern entertainment subscription can be for consumers,” YouTube Chief Executive Neal Mohan said in the statement. “YouTube Premium brings your favorite creators, artists and cultural moments together uninterrupted, and now, we’re pairing that ultimate viewing experience with Peacock’s expansive lineup of live sports.”

A TOWN often compared to the Cotswolds could soon get direct services to the capital.

Locals are calling for a new train service to launch between Bradford-on-Avon and London.

The Wiltshire town used to have a route to London Waterloo, but this was axed in 2021.

Currently, passengers have to change trains at Salisbury or Southampton to get to Bradford-on-Avon.

Locals are also calling for a service between Trowbridge and London as well.

According to Time Out, Wiltshire Council has said it would “strongly welcome” a direct train service between the towns and London.

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South Western Railway (SWR) is now looking into the possibility of launching the service.

Sitting on the edge of the Cotswolds but not quite in it, Bradford-on-Avon currently has direct links to Bristol and Bath, which is only 10 minutes away.

You’ll find lots of quaint cottages as well as picturesque countryside walks.

In the heart of the town, you can head to the Bradford-on-Avon Museum, where you can explore the local history.

To enjoy the architecture of the town, make sure to stop by the Saxon Church, which dates back to the early eleventh century.

Make sure to also visit the 14th- century Tithe Barn, which is an English Heritage site measuring 51.2 metres long.

For a fun activity, make sure to hop on a canal trip along the Kennet and Avon Canal and Avoncliff Aqueduct.

There are multiple different boat trips you can head on, including afternoon tea ones, with tickets starting from as little as £10 per person.

After exploring, if you fancy a bite to eat, head to The Bridge Tea Rooms, where you’ll be served afternoon tea for £13.95 per perso, by people in Victorian costumes.

Or if you want a pint, you won’t be short on pubs with options including The Dandy Lion and Timbrell’s Yard – which you can stay at as well, from £167 per night.

Or you could head to The Hall Estate, which is a 400-year-old Grade-I listed Jacobean mansion, costing from £160 a night.

IF you‘re already thinking about next year’s holiday and want to bag a bargain then set your alarm for tomorrow.

easyJet is set to put lots of flights on sale for summer 2027 in its next Big Seat Release – and they’ll be cheap too.

From tomorrow, the airline will put flights on sale for travel between June 14 and September 26.

Talking to MoneySavingExpert, easyJet revealed that almost 14million seats will be available to book – that’s more than 78,000 flights.

But if you want to get cheap deals, you’ll need to start early as when demand goes up, so do the prices.

A time for the release hasn’t been confirmed yet, but usually it’s around 6am or sometimes earlier.

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An easyJet spokesperson told the publication: “We encourage customers to book early to get the best fares.

“Fares are demand-driven so they start low and rise as more seats on the aircraft are booked.”

Talking about the easyJet seat release, Martin Lewis described it as “the most predictable time to get cheap flights” – which means there’s likely to be a sharp increase in flight prices.

In its last release, which was in March, millions of seats were available for holidays in winter 2027, including February half-term.

Some of its deals included one-way flights to Paris from London Gatwick from £31.99.

There were also flights to Agadir in Morocco from London Gatwick on February 23, 2027, for £37.99 one-way.

The Tour de France has a chequered history that cannot be forgotten.

“He knows what the record is,” Lance Armstrong said on social media following Sunday’s result, referring to Pogacar.

The American’s record of seven Tour de France victories between 1999 and 2005 has long since been wiped from the record books following the revelation of his systematic doping.

And those in the sport have fairly diligently avoided mentioning his name since.

But the night-time anti-doping tests during this year’s Tour, which the International Testing Agency (ITA) told BBC Sport were undertaken as an “exceptional operation” and because time was of the essence, once again raised questions in a sport which doesn’t need them, thanks to that dark past.

Testing at such anti-social hours is rare and requires additional permission, and some suspect it may have been a factor in Jonas Vingegaard’s Tour-ending crash after he was woken at 2am the previous night, and Pogacar himself at 5am.

Others were tested at night, too, and all riders were tested during the race. But what were the ITA looking for?

They wouldn’t say, specifically, but one possible explanation for night-time testing of professional cyclists appears to be to gather as much information as possible to try to understand micro-dosing. That is where an athlete could take performance-enhancing drugs, such as red blood cell stimulant EPO or anabolic steroids, in very small quantities to evade detection on the Athlete Biological Passport, which is endorsed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) and used across cycling.

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing in the case of Pogacar, Vingegaard or any of those tested at night this year.

Past findings produced by Wada suggest micro-dosing could evade detection methods, and so the scope to cheat in professional sport remains, meaning all efforts must be taken to ensure nobody beats the system.

The ITA cannot confirm when the results of the Tour tests will be made public, but EF Education-Easypost boss Jonathan Vaughters told BBC Sport: “Doubts? Actually [those tests] solve my doubts.”

Vaughters, who doped during his riding career, is now reformed.

He said during this year’s race: “If we had 24-hour testing in 2001 when EPO tests were first introduced we would have had a huge number of riders excluded from the sport, including me. And it would have saved 25 years of drama.

“So I mean we wouldn’t have had to go through Lance Armstrong… The problem would have been solved immediately in 2000.

“If you introduce a low enough dose of a peptide hormone, the clearance time can be four hours – if you take it at 11 it’ll be out of the system at 3am, so it makes a difference. The testing technology is evolving quickly.

“If you want to watch a clean sport, watch cycling, most other sports’ testing is a complete joke.

“Why is cycling so hyper-focused? History. This is human F1 car racing; this is edge of human performance; boundaries are always going to be pushed.”

Many riders and team bosses won’t go near the ‘D’ word, and the consensus is ‘believe what you are seeing’ when Pogacar accelerates away and wins by, at times, a matter of minutes, and when others perform their own remarkable feats in the saddle.

Nearly four years after being extradited to the United States for a drug-trafficking trial, former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez returned home after a pardon by US President Donald Trump at the end of last year.

Trump claimed the trial was a “set up” orchestrated by former President Joe Biden’s administration.

Hernandez still faces corruption charges in Honduras but returned on Sunday after an arrest warrant against him was cancelled.

Human rights activists and lawyers fear a trial on home soil, where his party holds the presidency, would be a sham.

So why did Trump pardon and release the former president of Honduras despite abducting and arresting Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro on drug and gun charges in January?

Why did Hernandez return to Honduras?

Hernandez was able to return after being pardoned by Trump, released from a US prison and then having an arrest warrant against him suspended last month.

He arrived at Palmerola International Airport, where he was greeted by his family and supporters of his National Party.

Hernandez led his country from 2014 to 2022, during which, according to US prosecutors, he once boasted he would “shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos”, referring to Americans.

Shortly after leaving office, he was extradited to the US, where he was found guilty by a federal jury and sentenced to 45 years in prison for involvement in a scheme to export cocaine to the US.

Prosecutors described the scheme as “one of the largest and most violent drug trafficking conspiracies in the world”. He was convicted of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from violent drug-trafficking organisations over 18 years, which he was alleged to have used to fuel his rise in politics.

“During his political career, Hernandez abused his powerful positions and authority in Honduras to facilitate the importation of over 400 tons of cocaine into the US,” the US Department of Justice said after he was sentenced last year.

During his trial, Hernandez denied taking bribes from drug dealers, arguing he in fact cracked down on the narcotics trade and citing his administration’s cooperation with the US military.

“I cannot deny the profound emotion and joy I feel in my heart to be returning home,” Hernandez wrote on social media earlier this month, saying he was counting down the days to see his family.

“It wasn’t easy. The process has been extremely difficult … and what I experienced in prison, I truly wouldn’t wish on anyone,” he added.

Hernandez is expected to appear in court on August 3 to face the Honduran corruption charges.

Why did Trump pardon him?

Under the US Constitution, a president may offer two types of clemency for federal crimes: pardons, which forgive defendants their federal charges and restore their civil liberties, and commutations, which reduce people’s punishment without addressing their convictions.

Hernandez was pardoned by Trump in December. The US president said Hernandez had not received a fair trial and had been “set up” by the Biden administration.

Trump added that Hernandez was “treated very harshly and unfairly”.

At the same time, Trump also threw his weight behind right-wing candidate Nasry “Tito” Asfura, a member of Hernandez’s party. He ran in November’s presidential election and was declared the winner a month later in the close race after delays and allegations of fraud. He took office in January.

A Pandora Papers corruption investigation also accused Hernandez of diverting nearly $11m in state funds to political campaigns from 2010 to 2013.

Why a pardon for some but jail for others?

The Trump administration has faced criticism at home for pardoning the Honduran leader while at the same time abducting former President Maduro of Venezuela and his wife, Cilia Flores, in January on similar charges.

Maduro and Flores were seized in Caracas by the US military and flown to New York, where he is facing a range of guns and drugs charges and accusations of being a “narcoterrorist”.

At the time of Maduro’s abduction and since then, the Trump administration has targeted small boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that it claims, without providing evidence, are involved in drug trafficking. More than 220 people have been killed in more than 60 such strikes on small boats in what many lawyers and activists have deemed extrajudicial killings.

Since taking office for a second term in January 2025, Trump has ordered more than 1,800 acts of clemency benefitting a range of personalities, including cryptocurrency billionaires, disgraced politicians and hundreds of political allies.

Some of the most controversial beneficiaries are supporters of his Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, including hundreds of rioters who attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in a bid to prevent the certification of Biden’s electoral victory over Trump two months earlier.

Legal experts have argued that while the president’s clemency power is broad, using it for allegedly corrupt purposes, such as to protect political allies or obstruct justice, could form the basis for impeachment proceedings.

US constitutional expert Bruce Fein told Al Jazeera that the US Constitution’s framers “understood the abuse of the pardon power to shelter political or personal friends to constitute an impeachable high crime and misdemeanour justifying the removal of the president through the impeachment process”.

“If Democrats gain control of Congress in the midterm elections, Trump will be in impeachment jeopardy for pardoning Hernandez,” Fein said, referring to elections in November.