Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s Noah Goldberg, with an assist from Connor Sheets, giving you the latest on city and county government.

As Los Angeles city officials deal with the fallout from last month’s Lineage warehouse fire, one powerful lobbying firm has been at the center of the efforts.

M Strategic Communications took on Lineage as a client two days after the fire ignited at the company’s cold storage facility in Boyle Heights, spewing toxic smoke for miles. A putrid odor from 85 million pounds of rotting food remains a concern.

The company said in a filing to the city’s Ethics Commission that it would be lobbying the mayor and other city officials and would also handle “crisis communications and work related to impact of facility fire.”

Shortly after the fire started, Lineage CEO Greg Lehmkuhl got on the phone with Mayor Karen Bass, and the mayor suggested that Lineage give money to the nonprofit California Community Foundation to disburse to local organizations, according to Jeff Rivera, the company’s chief operating officer.

California Community Foundation has also hired M Strategic Communications to lobby the mayor and other city officials related to reforms to the city’s mansion tax.

After Bass’ suggestion, M Strategic Communications put its two clients, Lineage and CCF, in touch. By that point, according to M Strategic, CCF had already created a fund to help with the emergency.

The lobbying firm also has close ties to Bass. One of its two principals is Shannon Murphy, who was a deputy chief of staff to Bass when Bass was speaker of the State Assembly more than a decade ago. Murphy remains a close confidant of Bass, according to a source with knowledge of the mayor’s office.

M Strategic Communications subcontracted some of the work in its June 19 contract with Lineage to Yusef Robb, who was an unpaid advisor and spokesperson to the mayor until early June.

Robb initially continued to serve as an unpaid, unofficial advisor to the mayor, though no longer as a spokesperson. After The Times and other outlets reported on his work for Lineage last Saturday, Robb said he would no longer serve as an unpaid advisor.

CCF has been paying out the $2 million in funds to more than 20 groups to provide relief to Boyle Heights residents.

During a raucous town hall in Boyle Heights last week, where residents booed the officials who spoke, Bass noted that Airbnb was providing short-term rental assistance for people who live close to the fire.

As it turns out, Airbnb is also a client of M Strategic Communications, which was brought on to help legalize vacation home rentals in the city.

Airbnb has provided more than 1,000 nights of free housing to local residents since the fire, the company said.

“We are grateful that so many of those we work with step up when Los Angeles is in need,” said Chris Modrzejewski, a principal at M Strategic Communications.

Whither auditors?

L.A. City Controller Kenneth Mejia investigates inefficiencies, fraud and other issues in the city’s more than 40 departments, whose budgets add up to more than $46 billion per year.

He employs eight auditors and five fraud, waste and abuse investigators, which he says is far from enough. He has requested more staff, to no avail.

On Thursday, Mejia endorsed Councilmember Nithya Raman for mayor, arguing that she would better fund his department and would be more open and transparent with information than Bass’ office has been.

“Nithya believes in the power of transparency and accountability as a tool,” Mejia said during a press conference with Raman.

Raman did not provide specific numbers on how many people she would hire for Mejia’s team.

“I’ve committed to ensuring that we’re fully funding that fraud, waste and audit team,” she said. “The other piece is not standing in the way, but actually opening the door when the controller asks for information about various programs and departments.”

Bass did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fire funds

Local leaders aren’t happy that Congress still hasn’t appropriated supplemental funding to assist with recovery from the Palisades and Eaton fires.

The catastrophic fires were extinguished more than a year-and-a-half ago, but federal lawmakers have yet to fund a combined request for $15.7 billion from the L.A. city and county governments.

That’s different from what happened after past disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy, when Congress appropriated large portions of the amounts that were requested.

The federal money would go toward projects like restoring and rebuilding infrastructure, parks, schools and senior centers, as well as housing and residential support.

The delays have slowed the recovery process and hamstrung reconstruction efforts, according to Bass and L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger.

This week, the pair sent joint letters to congressional leaders and members of the county’s congressional delegation, calling on them to fund the requests.

They also lamented the fact that the Trump administration’s recent $87.6 supplemental funding request did not detail support for fire victims.

Bass and Barger called on Congress to appropriate supplemental funds “to cover the infrastructure and rebuilding needs associated with the Eaton and Palisades fires.”

State of play

— ROBB JOBS: While serving as a top informal advisor to Bass, Yusef Robb was also working as a crisis communications consultant for Lineage, the company whose cold storage warehouse in Boyle Heights erupted in flames last month. Robb stepped down as an advisor to the mayor following The Times and other outlets’ reporting.

— FREE AND FOR SALE: Robb worked for the mayor as an unpaid spokesperson and advisor for months earlier this year, at the same time that he had a $587,500 contract with Los Angeles World Airports.

— ANOTHER ONE GONE: A top spokesperson for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass departed Monday after a brief tenure, joining a growing list of communications aides who have left over the last nine months. Kolby Lee, who started as Bass’ director of communications in February, said he was resigning to spend time with family and loved ones.

— AIRING GRIEVANCES: The contractor for Los Angeles International Airport’s long-awaited automatic people mover train filed a lawsuit against the city, amid ongoing disputes over project delays.

— PROJECT NIXED: The state has rescinded a $73.4-million grant for a new mental health and drug treatment facility in San Pedro, putting the future of the controversial project in jeopardy. Neighbors had picketed outside the property at 2100 S. Western Ave. and packed a town hall in April to oppose the project, with some expressing fears about drug users coming to the area.

—TO FLOCK OR NOT TO FLOCK: Less than a week after the Los Angeles Police Department halted its relationship with Flock Safety over concerns about how the company shares data from automated license plate readers, police officials said they are working out a new agreement — this time with more protections.

— HEAT WAVE: The Bass administration has appointed a new chief heat officer. Daniela Simunovic took on the role on May 31 after the administration discreetly fired Marta Segura, the first person to hold the position. Simunovic served as Bass’ senior director of climate and sustainability for three years.

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? This week, the mayor’s signature homelessness program went to Chatsworth in City Councilmember John Lee‘s district, bringing 22 people inside.
• On the docket next week: The L.A. City Council remains on recess next week.

Stay in touch

That’s it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to LAontheRecord@latimes.com. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.

Great Britain’s Josh Kerr breaks the world record for the fastest mile, held by Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj since 1999, by half a second in the Diamond League London event at the London Stadium.

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The deals include rebuilding the long-defunct Iraq-Syria crude oil pipeline, which could bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

Iraq has struck dozens of agreements and partnerships with American companies, many in the oil sector, during a visit to the United States by Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi.

“A total of 48 agreements, memoranda of understanding, cooperation agreements and partnership declarations were signed between public and private sector entities in Iraq and the United States,” the Iraqi leader’s media office said on Saturday.

They include “cooperation and partnerships involving the ministries of oil and electricity … with ExxonMobil, KBR, GE Vernova, Shell and Halliburton”, as well as several deals related to the construction of a major crude oil pipeline between Iraq and Syria.

Iraq also signed a deal with Starlink, which dominates the global satellite communications sector, to introduce services to the country.

The preliminary deals, signed at a US-Iraq business summit at the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington on Friday, come as Baghdad seeks to move away from dependence on the Strait of Hormuz, where shipping and oil exports have been heavily disrupted due to the US-Israel war against Iran.

Iraq and Syria signed a cooperation agreement to reconstruct the long-defunct Iraq-Syria oil pipeline, which runs from the oil-rich Kirkuk region in northern Iraq to Syria’s Mediterranean port of Baniyas.

Iraq’s state news agency reported that major US energy company Chevron would carry out the project under the agreement.

The US Department of State said it welcomed Iraq and Syria’s plan to rehabilitate the pipeline, for which a “US-led international consortium” would “execute the technical and financial aspects”.

“Upon rehabilitation, this groundbreaking project will have an initial transport capacity of two million barrels per day of crude oil,” the department’s statement said. It described the pipeline as “a critical energy corridor linking Iraqi oil production to Mediterranean export markets and beyond”.

‘Make Hormuz an afterthought’

The US ambassador to Turkiye, Tom Barrack, said Iraq’s latest oil pipeline agreements would lead to a programme “that will make the Strait of Hormuz an afterthought”.

In addition to the Syria pipeline project, Chevron signed two other agreements with Iraq focused on boosting oil production, according to the company’s president of corporate business development, Jake Spiering.

In total, Iraq’s initial agreements with US firms, spanning the energy, healthcare and technology sectors are worth more than $60 billion, Reuters reported.

“We are using an open-door policy,” al-Zaidi ⁠⁠said at the business summit. “Everybody who has a project can come and talk to us. We will not make it difficult for anyone.”

Artificial intelligence is steadily changing how the world responds to crises.

Governments use it to analyse satellite imagery after natural disasters, humanitarian agencies are testing AI to anticipate displacement before it overwhelms fragile communities, and researchers are applying machine learning to uncover patterns buried inside millions of records that no human could process alone.

These advances, while useful, expose a problem worthy of scrutiny.

Most AI systems are built on data that tells only part of the world’s story. Since they are trained largely on information from North America, Europe, and parts of Asia, they know relatively little about the realities of conflict in parts of Nigeria like Borno, Zamfara, Katsina, Diffa or the wider Lake Chad Basin. They struggle with Hausa, Kanuri, Fulfulde, Igbo and hundreds of other African languages. In addition, they often miss the informal power structures, survival economies, historical grievances, and social relationships that determine whether a community remains stable or slips into violence.

For example, despite advancements in AI content flagging on social media platforms, HumAngle’s reporting and research have consistently found that moderation systems that perform effectively in English often fail to detect incitement expressed in Hausa, Kanuri, Igbo, and other Nigerian languages. Language models frequently miss local expressions, figurative speech and cultural nuances, allowing harmful content to evade automated moderation. That is not simply a technical limitation. It is a human security challenge.

Africa has long faced a deficit in research, reporting, documentation, and structured knowledge about local realities. That gap is becoming one of the continent’s biggest constraints in the AI era. Large language models (LLMs) can only learn from information that exists. If communities, conflicts, languages, histories or ecosystems remain poorly documented, those blind spots are carried directly into the systems built on them. Building culturally informed and representative AI therefore begins long before model development. It begins with producing more reliable knowledge.

Kunle Adebajo, editor of Code for Africa’s African Academy for Open Source Investigations (AAOSI), has this to say: “Artificial intelligence companies have successfully scraped most of what exists on the Internet to train their models. But a vast amount of data lives outside of the shores of the Internet, especially in Africa. AI systems, for example, will struggle with geolocation because many parts of Nigeria are still not properly mapped. They will struggle with translating languages spoken by minority ethnic groups. Even languages spoken by tens of millions of people, like Amharic, are considered low-resource by AI companies and therefore aren’t prioritised, let alone those spoken by only a few million. There’s, of course, also the lived experiences of conflict victims, which aren’t reported online and which you can only understand through fresh field interviews. Even when all this information is integrated into the AI systems, we still have the risk of hallucinations. In matters of security, we cannot take any of these shortcomings and risks lightly, because lives are at stake. Security actors who are incorporating AI tools into their operations must do their due diligence and maintain strong human oversight over the processes.” 

The decline in funding for research and investigative reporting therefore comes at a critical moment. Every research project left unfunded, every environmental change left undocumented, and every local story that never enters the public record represents knowledge that remains unavailable not only to policymakers and researchers today but also to the AI systems increasingly shaping future analysis. The quality of future AI will depend, in part, on the quality and diversity of the knowledge produced today.

If the data is incomplete, the analysis will be incomplete. If the context is missing, the conclusions may be wrong. In fragile environments, inaccurate conclusions can delay humanitarian assistance, distort policy responses and, in the worst cases, cost lives.

Communities see the signals first

Conflict rarely arrives without warning, and the warning signs are rarely dramatic. They are usually ordinary changes that occur over time, not all at once. A weekly market suddenly stops operating, or fishermen abandon parts of Lake Chad. Parents stop sending children to school weeks before an attack while farmlands expand into traditional grazing routes, or herders begin avoiding ancestral migration paths that have remained open for generations. HumAngle’s reporting has repeatedly documented these patterns.

Months before major offensives around the Lake Chad Basin, local communities described unusual restrictions on fishing, increased taxation by armed groups after governments introduced ransom-payment restrictions, shifting movement routes, and growing pressure on traders. These were not isolated observations. They formed part of a broader pattern.

In northwestern Nigeria, our reporting has shown how armed groups shifted from pickup vans to motorcycles when security operations disrupted their mobility. We documented how kidnapping networks increasingly demanded ransom in CFA francs after Nigeria’s cashless policy disrupted access to large amounts of naira. We traced the emergence of new ungoverned forest frontiers, the expansion of illegal mining sites and the growing links between critical minerals, transnational migration and armed violence. These adaptations rarely appear in conventional datasets, yet they are recognised by communities living with insecurity every day.

Researchers increasingly argue that AI systems become more reliable when such verified local observations are analysed alongside conventional datasets, helping analysts identify patterns that would otherwise remain fragmented. 

Joshua Olufemi, Founder of Dataphyte, a data and research analytics company, believes that agenda-setting is critical to this. Speaking to HumAngle about some practical pathways, he mentioned “Multistakeholder agenda setting and strategic partnerships on critical infrastructure and local data modelling and innovation. ⁠Newsroom Viability and business case initiatives to build and sustain the ecosystem.”

Building AI that understands fragile societies

The proposed HumAngle AI and Human Security Lab is designed to explore how verified field reporting, historical conflict data, humanitarian information, environmental indicators, satellite imagery, where appropriate, and open-source intelligence can be organised to identify areas where risk is changing.

The objective is not to predict the exact time or location of an attack. Conflict is too complex for deterministic prediction, and responsible AI requires transparency about uncertainty. Instead, the approach focuses on identifying shifts in risk while ensuring that assessments remain explainable, transparent, and subject to human review.

For humanitarian organisations, even a few days of additional warning can allow food supplies to be prepositioned before roads become inaccessible, schools to strengthen protection measures before attacks occur, vulnerable communities to relocate before violence escalates or emergency resources to reach areas before displacement intensifies.

Journalism is structured evidence

Journalism is often viewed as a record of past events. Increasingly, it also provides structured evidence that can help explain how crises evolve over time.

For more than six years, HumAngle has reported on insurgency, communal violence, kidnapping, humanitarian crises and governance failures across Nigeria and the Lake Chad region.

Its investigations have exposed mass arbitrary detentions, documented attacks on schools, mapped displacement, tracked ransom economies and examined the evolution of Boko Haram, ISWAP and other armed groups.

Reporting on school attacks has gone beyond casualty figures to examine how fear empties classrooms, deepens inequality and reshapes communities. Investigations into kidnapping networks have documented how criminal economies evolve, how ransom systems adapt and how insecurity expands into areas once considered relatively stable. Each story contains verified interviews, timelines, locations, local terminology and community knowledge. They represent one of Africa’s richest public interest records documenting how insecurity has evolved across the Lake Chad Basin and the wider Sahel.

Adebajo argues that this type of journalism becomes even more valuable when its evidence is intentionally structured for computational analysis.

“Credible investigative journalism products and community knowledge can be used to train AI models that provide intelligence for crisis signalling and data-driven predictive research. But it has to be structured. The good thing is that AI tools can help with that structuring, so it doesn’t consume as much time. However, collecting information for AI training and collecting information for Investigative reporting are not the same thing.”

According to the investigative journalist and AI researcher at Code for Africa, “if you set your mind on achieving both objectives, it’ll also inform the kind of data you collect and how you standardise the process and schema across different scenarios. When you have such a big dataset from years of journalism, you can combine it with other security, satellite, and reporting datasets to draw out patterns and outliers. You can determine which areas are more susceptible to attacks and multiple displacements, which seasons, what time of day, etc.”

Beyond the statistics of political violence, you can also draw out patterns in the nature of the attacks and the experiences of victims. All these can help with better allocation of scarce resources in tackling the problem of insecurity, Adebajo argued.

Kofoworola Odozi, a media analyst and AI hobbyist, agrees. She believes deliberate archiving is central to this work. “Newsrooms and CSOs have to build a digital library that has local information and that they completely own and control. What this would do for us is that instead of relying on data that big tech companies gather, we collect more materials like notes from townhalls, local newspapers, budget hearing notes–things like that that you would not typically find in the data that big tech companies have. CSOs and newsrooms can gather that and use open source to document them.”

The media analyst also believes that media and CSOs have to move to a unified digital infrastructure. “Media and CSOs are very individualistic in the ways we work, even though we are all working towards the same thing. We should work towards an industry-wide consortium.”

Adebajo says there are some strategies working at Code for Africa.

“One thing we’re doing at Code for Africa in our fight against information disorder is to go beyond fact-checking to train people who edit Wikipedia articles and train AI models, so that we can put the fact-checks into a pipeline that feeds into quality AI data, because we understand that more and more people are getting their information directly from these models,” he said. “That’s another thing to consider when reporting on conflict, especially in the fight against misinformation and conspiracy theories. How do we get these dozens and hundreds of reports to be assimilated reliably into AI systems, which are not only disseminating information directly to people but are also feeding indirectly into other knowledge production mechanisms?”

Context matters more than computing power

Much of the AI conversation focuses on larger models, faster processors, and bigger datasets. Yet model performance ultimately depends on the quality and relevance of the information used to train it.

A global AI system may recognise the word “flood.” It may identify references to drought, migration or armed conflict. Yet it may completely miss why a cash policy disrupted kidnapping networks, why changes in seasonal border patrols altered irregular migration routes or why the discovery of lithium, gold, and other strategic minerals reshaped local security dynamics.

It may recognise extremist vocabulary without understanding how concepts such as hijrah, bay’ah or takfir carry different meanings depending on who is using them, where they are used, and the historical context in which they are invoked.

It may classify a dispute as ethnic when local communities understand it primarily as competition over grazing routes, irrigation access, taxation or political representation.

Without local knowledge, AI systems risk misunderstanding complex societies despite increasing computational power.

The next battlefield is information

Conflict no longer unfolds only on the ground. It also unfolds across phones, messaging platforms, and social media.

False rumours spread within minutes as old videos are recycled as evidence of new attacks. AI-generated images and synthetic audio are becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from authentic documentation, and armed groups continue adapting their propaganda while misinformation and disinformation deepen mistrust between communities and weaken confidence in legitimate institutions.

HumAngle has documented how Boko Haram and ISWAP compete not only through violence but also through narratives that seek legitimacy, exploit grievances and shape public perceptions of governance, justice and religion.

Understanding these information ecosystems is becoming increasingly important for humanitarian response and conflict analysis.

The proposed HumAngle AI and Human Security Lab also explores how publicly available information can be analysed to better understand AI-enabled misinformation, extremist narratives, and digital conflict across African contexts, while respecting privacy, freedom of expression, and the principles of independent journalism.

Human judgement must remain at the centre

The growing use of AI in humanitarian and security settings has been accompanied by claims that algorithms will predict wars or replace analysts. Current evidence suggests a more limited role.

AI can support human decision-making by organising large volumes of information, identifying patterns and highlighting anomalies. Human judgement remains essential for interpreting those findings, questioning assumptions, and understanding context. Transparency about uncertainty, limitations, and data quality remains fundamental in fragile environments where analytical errors can carry significant consequences.

Africa and the future of humanitarian AI

The debate over AI in Africa has increasingly shifted from digital access to questions of data, governance, and representation.

Africa possesses extensive community knowledge, linguistic diversity, and historical experience that remain underrepresented in many AI systems. As governments, humanitarian organisations and researchers expand the use of AI in crisis response, these forms of knowledge are becoming increasingly important sources of evidence.

The proposed HumAngle AI and Human Security Lab’s focus is not AI for its own sake. It is the development of analytical tools that help humanitarian organisations act earlier, journalists identify emerging patterns, researchers organise complex evidence and policymakers make better-informed decisions.

If these approaches prove effective, AI may contribute to more timely humanitarian action, stronger evidence-based policymaking and improved protection for vulnerable communities.

OLIVIA Atwood and Pete Wicks are all loved-up on date night just days after going Instagram official.

The couple spent the evening together through to the early hours and sealed the deal with a steamy snog.

Love Island Alum Olivia and TV star Pete were spotted celebrating her new range with Tatti Lash launch in London this week. 

The pair couldn’t keep their hands off each other and looked as loved up as ever as they embraced each other. 

They even shared a steamy snog outside Pete’s favourite hotspot Stringfellows enjoying the night together. 

Olivia stunned in a pink number, which was emblazoned with sequins and featured a mesh shirt design which came into a fitted skirt, matching a pink bra seen through the garment.

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She pulled her blonde tresses into a tight ponytail and matched pink heels with the look.

Pete opted for an all black outfit pairing a shirt with trousers and carried a designer bag with him. 

It certainly seems the pair’s relationship is here to stay, with the couple trying to keep their relationship under wraps for months, but have still been pictured kissing, cuddling and on romantic dates. 

Just days ago Olivia and Pete made things Instagram official after jetting off to Ibiza together.

Pete flew out to visit Olivia in Ibiza as she filmed a new series of her show, Bad Boyfriends, and now he has shared snaps of them together for the first time.

In a perfect hard launch, he captioned the snaps: “I guess someone has to go first…IBIZA” followed by a black heart emoji.

The first black and white snap saw them lying together on a yacht while sailing across the water, and another showed Olivia lying in Pete’s lap as he kissed the top of her head.

His Staying Relevant co-star Sam Thompson was quick to comment: “Never thought I’d see the day YOU hard launch!! couldn’t be happier for you brother.”

Pete’s post came just hours after Olivia returned to her Olivia’s House podcast and said: “Just in the way that I don’t send the first good morning text, I’m not f***ing hard launching anyone first.”

Pete had commented on the post with the wide-eyed emoji, so clearly knew what he had to do.

The pair – who host a KISS FM radio show together – began dating back in February, following Olivia’s split from husband Bradley Dack.

Paul Lambert believes former club Celtic are “nowhere near good enough” without further recruitment – but has guarded against “panic”.

Striker Camilo Duran is the sole summer arrival so far for the Scottish champions, while midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has signed a new contract after a short-term deal last term.

But forward Kelechi Iheanacho and former left-back loanee Marcelo Saracchi, who had been linked with returns, will not be back in Glasgow this season.

Iheanacho has joined Bursaspor as a free agent, while Saracchi bade farewell to Celtic fans on social media and said he and his agent “did absolutely everything within our power to make a return to Glasgow happen”.

Furthermore, German centre-half Maik Nawrocki has been sold to Lens.

“The squad’s not strong enough,” Lambert told BBC Radio Scotland’s Sportsound.

“I’ve seen Celtic, they’re nowhere near good enough at this moment in time, nowhere near it. Everybody recognises it.

“They’ll compete, but I don’t think they’re strong enough to go and win it [the league] again at this moment in time. The problems were there last season, so they’re not going to change again this season.

“The squad was very, very limited on what it was last season. They won’t get away with that again – the manager knows it.”

July 17 (Asia Today) — A South Korean court Thursday rejected an arrest warrant for former Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung over allegations that he participated in former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed declaration of martial law.

The Seoul Central District Court said prosecutors had not sufficiently demonstrated that Shim was likely to destroy evidence.

The court also said the progress of the investigation and related court proceedings made it difficult to conclude that he posed a flight risk.

The court separately rejected an arrest warrant for Jeon Moo-gon, a former head of the policy planning division at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office.

The court said Jeon’s arguments, the progress of the investigation and the evidence collected did not indicate that he was likely to flee or destroy evidence.

Shim and Jeon are accused of reviewing plans to dispatch prosecutors to a joint martial law investigation headquarters under instructions from then-Justice Minister Park Sung-jae on Dec. 3, 2024.

Investigators also suspect they discussed how to handle crimes that would fall under military court jurisdiction after the martial law declaration.

They are further accused of participating in the preparation of a document concerning court jurisdiction under martial law.

The second special counsel team led by Kwon Chang-young requested arrest warrants for Shim and Jeon on Tuesday on allegations of participating in an insurrection and abusing their authority to obstruct the exercise of rights.

The special counsel team’s failure to secure their detention could complicate its investigation into allegations that senior prosecution officials participated in the martial law attempt.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260716010006339

Saronic, the company that makes the first sea drones ever to be used as kinetic weapons by American forces, announced it will build a big new shipyard in Brownsville, Texas where they plan to construct an array of crewed and uncrewed ships as big as 850 feet. It is a big step for a company whose largest vessel is a 180-foot drone boat called Marauder.

The move comes as the U.S. is struggling to come anywhere near keeping pace with China in the number of ships it can build and amid delays and cost overruns of projects underway. Boosting America’s capacity to turn out new ships and keep existing ones sailing has been a focus of the Trump administration.

The Austin, Texas-headquartered Saronic said it plans to invest more than $3 billion of its own money to build the facility, which it is calling Port Alpha. The location was chosen after a year-long search.

“Brownsville was selected after a rigorous review of workforce availability, infrastructure readiness, land scale, logistics, and expansion potential,” the company said in a release. “Initially situated on 835 acres at the Port of Brownsville, with the opportunity to expand to nearly 4,400 acres, Port Alpha will encompass a shipyard and manufacturing facility capable of producing vessels up to 850 feet. Future site expansion could support the production of vessels over 1,200 ft. The site provides hundreds of acres of waterfront access, deepwater channel connectivity, multimodal logistics infrastructure, and room for long-term expansion—everything required to anchor a next-generation shipbuilding hub.”

In an interview with TWZ earlier this month, company co-founder and CCO Rob Lehman laid out his vision for the new facility.

“Port Alpha is planned to be the largest shipyard in the Western Hemisphere,” Lehman told us. “We are seeing the need for more shipbuilding capacity, and we are answering the call with a greenfield new yard that will provide the Navy, Coast Guard — all of our sea services — the capacity that they’ve been asking for, and they desperately need.”

“We are here to help address the gaps that we are facing and do it at a speed and scale that hasn’t been seen before,” he added.

Asked about what kinds of ships the yard will build, Lehman said Port Alpha “will be capable of producing everything up to Panamax-sized cargo containers, roll on/roll offs, we are open to a variety of different ship classes, both commercial and military.”

Panamax ships — so named because they are the biggest vessels that can fit through the Panama Canal — have a maximum length of 294 meters and a maximum width of 32 meters, according to SeaRates.com. 

Panamax vs Capesize Ships: What’s the Real Difference? #panamax #capsize #ruzave

Lehman said Saronic is focusing on “how do we create a shipyard of the future that is able to support multiple types of vessels and move at a pace and a level of agility that aligns with how technology is advancing. So commercial ships, military ships, modules, everything under the sun.”

“We are keenly focused and ruthlessly focused, frankly, on what does the customer set need, what are they unable to acquire or sustain within the timelines that they require, and how can we address that? So, as long as we know what’s needed, we can put our private capital to work and not force the government to pay never-ending research and development costs.”

At the time of the interview, Lehman declined to provide any further details about the plans or the exact location. However, he did compare it to an existing shipyard the company purchased last year.

“When we acquired the former Gulf Craft yard last April, [compared] to what it looks like now, we’re investing $300 million into that yard already to expand capacity,” he noted. “We’re bringing hundreds and thousands of jobs to the Gulf Coast, and we look to take that same model and just on steroids at Port Alpha. So, unlike Gulf Craft, it’ll be a greenfield yard, so we have all of the flexibility to design the shipyard of the future without the constraints of an existing physical plant.”

In the media release issued today, Saronic claimed that “the project is expected to generate more than $160 billion in regional economic impact for Cameron County and $264.5 billion for the State of Texas, while creating up to 10,000 direct jobs. This makes Port Alpha one of the largest economic development projects in modern Texas history.”

Construction is anticipated to begin in 2026, with Port Alpha expected to open for operations in 2028, the release continued. Company officials did not specify exactly what ships will be built at Port Alpha. Currently, Saronic makes three uncrewed surface vessels (USV).

Corsair, the aforementioned USV used as a kamikaze weapon, is a 24-foot vessel capable of carrying up to 1,000 lbs over 1,000 NM.

Mirage is a 52-foot USV with a range of 2,500 NM of range and 3,500 lbs of payload capacity.

Marauder is a 180-foot USV with a range of 5,200 NM and is capable of carrying up to 150 metric tons in four 40-foot containers, eight 20-foot containers, or other modular payload configurations.

The Navy is set to evaluate Marauder, as well as designs from six other companies, as part of the first round of prototyping under its latest Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) effort. This is part of a larger strategy the service rolled out in March to try to field more USVs and do so faster, as you can read more about here 

Saronic is on a roll of late. As we noted earlier in this story, three of its Corsair sea drones were used earlier this week to attack “a submarine and ship maintenance facility in Iran,” U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced. It marked the first time that the U.S. used sea drones as kamikaze attack weapons.

Last month, a Saronic Corsair USV rescued the crew of a U.S. Army AH-64 Apache that crashed in the Gulf of Oman after it was downed by Iran. That was the first known instance of a drone boat being used to recover personnel as part of a search and rescue mission, and has major implications for these operations going forward.

In December 2025, the company was awarded a $392 million contract from the Navy. The production contract was for the construction of USVs like the Corsair. 

If Port Alpha lives up to the hype, it would be a boon to the Navy and an American shipbuilding industry that struggles to get new vessels out on time and on budget, while supporting those that are already in the water. 

As we noted in previous coverage of U.S. shipbuilding woes, keeping existing vessels afloat “has been a massive challenge as the Navy’s fleet ages while demands for more hulls increase. Crumbling shipyards around the U.S.and a limited number of them that can support mainline military vessels is a huge problem that has led to major delays in maintenance, greatly harming available end strength. It is also of major concern if ships were to get damaged in battle during a conflict and need to be regenerated quickly. While some improvements and investments have been made in upgrading shipyards, it is still a glaring and highly concerning issue.”

GAO: Poor Conditions at Navy Shipyards

The situation is so dire that “the U.S. Navy has officially issued two Requests for Information (RFIs) to major South Korean shipbuilders to assess their capacity to build American destroyers and fleet tankers,” according to Naval News. Such a move “could end an 80-year ban on foreign warship construction,” the outlet added.

Given the state of U.S. shipbuilding, a lot is riding on Port Alpha and the future of this plan is definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

IT WAS must-see viewing for Britain’s teenagers slumped on the sofa on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The cool young cast of T4 delivered zany segments and upbeat links between popular programmes including Hollyoaks and Shipwrecked.

And now as a former teen telly icon is given a peer by Keir Starmer we reveal where some of the other popular TV presenters are now.

June Sarpong (2000-2007)

SHE was a working class immigrant kid who grew up on a council estate but now TV star June Sarpong is taking a seat in the House of Lords. 

The proud honour marks a meteoric rise for June, 49, who first appeared on our screens as a host of MTV before joining the iconic Noughties show T4 way back in 2000.

She was awarded an MBE for services to broadcasting and has made a name for herself as a high profile equality campaigner.

As she celebrated the political honour yesterday, June said: “Words cannot even begin to describe how truly honoured and humbled I feel to have been appointed to the House of Lords by Keir Starmer on his final Honours list.

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“As a working class immigrant kid from a council estate in East London it is not lost on me what this means.

“As I embark on this next chapter, I look forward to being able to use this role to further champion the causes and issues that are dear to my heart.”

But June is not the only former member of the T4 gang who has gone on to bigger and better things. 

It was a hugely successful launchpad for many of the most familiar faces on TV today.

Dermot O’Leary (1998-2001)

A baby faced skinhead, Dermot was part of the original presenting line up when T4 first launched.

Before that he had been a DJ on Radio Essex but Dermot, now 53, proved  such a success with the viewers that Channel 4 swiftly selected him to front spin off show Big Brother’s Little Brother until 2008.

He has since landed a string of high profile presenting gigs including The X-Factor which he hosted for 11 years.

Now Dermot has a Radio 2 show and fronts This Morning on Fridays, as well as publishing a string of hugely successful children’s books about Toto The Ninja Cat. 

Margherita Taylor (1999-2001) 

She was a DJ at Birmingham based radio station BRMB when she took part in a radio contest and moved to Capital Radio. 

From there Margherita landed a spot on T4’s starting line-up alongside Dermot and Vernon Kay and never looked back.

Margherita, 53, went on to present BBC One’s Escape to the Country between 2016 and 2022.

Now she is a familiar guest presenter on  Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, Countryfile and This Morning, but her first love was always radio and she still hosts shows on Smooth Radio and Classic FM.

Ben Shephard (1999-2000)

Ben, 51, was a regular host of Channel 4’s spin-off morning show The Bigger Breakfast when bosses decided to put him on T4.

Just two years later he joined ITV’s GMTV as an entertainment host, then as a main presenter in 2005.

He quit the show in 2010, weeks before it was axed anyway, but returned to ITV in 2014 to front the newly-launched Good Morning Britain, where he remains as one of the country’s most recognisable presenters.

Now the much loved millionaire dad of two is rarely off the box, having swapped his seat at the Good Morning Britain newsdesk for the sofa at This Morning alongside Cat Deeley.

Ben has also hosted hit gameshows including The Summit, Tipping Point and Ninja Warrior UK.

Vernon Kay (2000-2005)

Hunky Bolton lad Vern was working as a model when he was scouted by TV bosses to front T4 and soared to stardom.

After quitting the show All Star Family Fortunes made him a household name.

His 23 year marriage to Strictly’s Tess Daly has crumbled but this week he was named as one of the BBC’s best paid presenters, raking in a staggering £450,000 a year for his Radio 2 mid-morning show, Alternative Dance Sounds of the 90s and other appearances.

Steve Jones (2003-2010)

Welsh lad Steve, 49, – who stripped off several times on the show, was one of T4’s best loved presenters when Simon Cowell chose him to present the American version of The X Factor.

But the show bombed and Steve was axed after just one series.

The former model went on to present a property show called Perfect House, Secret Location and appeared on This Morning before landing a full time gig in 2016 to lead the presenting team for Channel 4’s F1 coverage. 

Miquita Oliver (2006-2010)

While most of the original T4 crew were newbies, Miquita already had five years of telly experience under her belt having fronted Popworld with Simon Amstell. 

But she was suspended from T4 in 2010 after being overheard insulting singer Kesha.

She has also claimed she lost a job on Radio 1 for “saying silly things”.

Since then fashion favourite Miquita, 42, has been on a string of TV programmes, including Celebrity Gogglebox alongside her mum Andi, and has a hit podcast with her pal Lily Allen.

Rick Edwards (2007-2011)

Rick, 47, was performing stand-up comedy at Cambridge University when he was spotted by T4 producers who gave him his first TV job. 

Since then he went on to land a string of presenting gigs including Tool Academy, Made in Chelsea, Freshly Squeezed, E4 Music, and much of Channel 4‘s 2012 Paralympics coverage.

Rick has also hosted a BBC One quiz show called !mpossible and now he can be heard on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Breakfast Show every morning, as well as Fighting Talk on Saturdays and their Premier League review on Sundays.

Alexa Chung (2008-2009)

Fashion icon Alexa, 42, began working as a model after she was scouted at the Reading Festival at the age of 16. She joined Popworld alongside Alex Zane in 2006 before joining T4 two years later. 

She famously inspired the Alexa handbag by British designer Mulberry, and has dated big names like Arctic Monkey’s Alex Turner and actor Alexander Skarsgard.

She pivoted back to style and lifestyle content on TV for shows like Gok’s Fashion Fix, Next In Fashion and now runs her own lucrative fashion label.

Jameela Jamil (2009-2012)

London born Actress and activist Jameela, 40, was working as a school teacher when she was scouted by a TV producer in a bar.

She followed Alexa on to music show Freshly Squeezed alongside Nick Grimshaw and became a DJ on Radio 1 and the event circuit – with her first show being at Elton John’s birthday party.

In 2016 she moved to LA to become a screenwriter but ended up landing a role in American hit comedy The Good Place as Tahani Al-Jamil.

She’s also become an outspoken campaigner for equality and is dating pop star James Blake.

Nick Grimshaw (2010-2012)

Grimmy started out in student radio before landing a job on Radio 1’s Switch youth programme in 2007.

His career really kicked off the following year when he landed the station’s weekend breakfast show, before moving to a late-night presenting slot.

In 2010, Nick, 41, added T4 to his roster, fronting it until he was promoted to the Beeb’s breakfast show, replacing Chris Moyles.

On TV he’s been a judge on The X Factor, filmed cameos for soaps including EastEnders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale and has also starred on Celebrity Gogglebox.

Now he hosts BBC Radio 6 Music’s flagship breakfast show, Sidetracked with Annie Mac and foodie podcast Dish.

HEADING abroad can be stressful, from packing all the essentials to leaving for the airport at the crack of dawn.

To make it as easy as possible, take a look at all of the new rules for a smooth-sailing holiday this summer.

EES

The Entry/Exit System (EES) is a new system that has been implemented across 29 European countries in the Schengen Area.

These include holiday hotspots like Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Portugal and Germany.

EES tracks when you enter and leave European countries by using biometrics and eventually it will replace passport stamping.

Essentially Brits will have to register at a machine and scan their passport – the good news is that you then you don’t have to do it again for another three years.

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If you want to find out more on the step-by-step process – head here.

Something else to be aware of about EES is that it has resulted in long queues, so it’s wise to leave extra time when heading abroad.

There have been reports of up to six- hour delays outside of peak travel time at border control at multiple airports.

During the summer, you might experience queues in the arrivals hall, but there have also been travellers who have missed flights on their way home too.

eGates

There are new rules at UK airports for children which is actually good news for families.

Now, children aged eight and over can now use eGates when accompanied by an adult – they also need to be at least 120cm tall.

The height restriction is in place as kids need to be able to see and be captured by the biometric screens at the eGates.

The rule change impacts 13 airports across the UK that currently use eGates, including:

• London Heathrow
• London Gatwick
• London City
• London Luton
• London Stansted
• Manchester
• Birmingham
• Bristol
• East Midlands
• Newcastle
• Cardiff
• Edinburgh
• Glasgow

Passports

Brits heading on holiday are STILL being caught out by passport rules, so it’s worth reminding yourself beforehand.

Passports must be only be valid for 10 years, with any months rolled over from previous passports no longer allowed.

Figures have shown up to 100,000 holidaymakers a year face being turned away at airports if their passport is more than a decade old.

Before you travel, check the start date, not the expiry.

For example, if a passport has June 2016 start date but a November 2026 expiry, it has technically expired.

Alongside the requirement to have between three to six months left on it, enforced by a number of countries, it is still causing confusion for travellers.

Most places in Europe only want three months left on a passport, but places like the UAE, Egypt, and Chile require six months in total.

Another passport rule to be aware of only affects those with dual nationality.

A rule that came into effect at the beginning of 2026 means that you can no longer use your foreign passport to enter the UK.

Instead, you have to use a valid British passport.

If you don’t have this, you can apply for a certificate of entitlement, which costs £589.

Visas and travel requirements

Luckily for Brits, citizens can visit more than 170 countries in the world without a visa.

When heading on holiday, families can enter with just their passport to the Schengen Area and most European countries.

In most destinations, you can travel for up to 90 days within any 180-day period – so if you’re going to the likes of Spain for a two-week break, you’re covered.

But there are certain countries where an additional entry requirement is needed.

Be sure to check the entry requirements in advance as some take a few weeks to come through – although most holiday visas are approved quicker.

For example, if you’re headed to Florida for a theme park getaway to Orlando, then you’ll need to apply for an ESTA.

It costs around £30 per application and can be approved in as little as 72 hours.

Countries where you’ll need a visa or other travel requirement include India, Australia and parts of Egypt.

Until December 31, 2026, UK passport holders can visit China for up to 30 days without a visa.

This year, Sri Lanka has scrapped visa fees – but you will need to still apply for an ETA in advance.

ETIAS is a new system being brought in for Brits, but it won’t be in use until 2027 – so you won’t need one to travel this summer.

Power banks

While power banks are handy for travellers, they have caused several issues across a number of flights.

As the school summer holidays approach, holidaymakers must remember to adhere to strict rule.

When an incident regarding a lithium battery occurs in the cabin, cabin crew can handle it more easily.

However, if the issue is in the hold, then it’s a trickier problem to solve quickly and can cause delays or even the cancellation of flights.

The rules on carrying power banks vary from airline to airline.

Most airlines allow two power banks onboard per passenger as long as they are in hand luggage and cannot be used during the flight – these include:

• Asiana Airlime
• British Airways
• Cathay Pacific
• China Airlines
• easyJet
• EVA Air
• Jet2
• Lufthansa
• Korean Air
• Loganair
• Qantas
• Ryanair
• Singapore Airlines
• Starlux Airlines
• TUI Airways
• United
• Vietnam Airlines
• Wizz Air

Emirates allows passengers to carry just one power bank onboard and it cannot be used during the flight.

However, Virgin Atlantic allows up to five power banks or spare batteries per passenger depending on their watt-hour rating.

Again, these cannot be used inflight and must be in hand luggage.

If you want to read more on power bank rules by the individual airline, head here.

NEW YORK — Dodgers All-Star third baseman Max Muncy didn’t get a break this week, traveling to Philadelphia to compete in the Midsummer Classic. But even without the extra rest, he put a charge into his go-ahead swing Friday.

The Dodgers struggled against veteran Yankees starter Gerrit Cole — until he hung a slider to Muncy in the seventh inning. Muncy launched it for a two-run blast to carry the Dodgers to a 2-1 victory.

“Anytime you can find a way to win a game when Gerrit Cole’s pitching, it’s a good thing,” manager Dave Roberts said.

Between the come-from-behind win, a strong showing from Dodgers starter Roki Sasaki and a defensive turnaround, the Dodgers (62-36) came out of the All-Star break on a positive note.

It was clear early on that Sasaki, who didn’t give up an earned run in 5 ⅔ innings, had something a little extra.

Pitching at Yankee Stadium for the first time, he punctuated a clean first inning by getting ahead of Paul Goldschmidt with 101.8- and 101.7-mph fastballs, en route to a five-pitch strikeout.

“I got a big smile on my face when I saw 102,” Roberts said.

It was the first time Sasaki topped 101 mph in a regular-season game, according to Statcast. He threw 21 pitches at 100 mph or harder, the most of any Dodger since pitch tracking began in 2008. Sasaki pointed to the rest he got over the All-Star break and a delivery tweak for his increase in velocity.

“I kind of changed the way I use my lower body,” Sasaki said. “So I’m really happy to get that velo up.”

The Yankees (54-43) scored their only run against Sasaki by taking advantage of a pair of defensive mistakes.

With two outs in the fourth, center fielder Andy Pages bobbled Jasson Domínguez’s double in right-center field, giving him time to get to third. The next pitch, a forkball, got past catcher Dalton Rushing, and Domínguez raced home.

Pages later found some redemption with a defensive gem to end the fifth. He made a full-speed tumbling catch in the right-field gap to rob Austin Wells of an extra-base hit.

Cole held the Dodgers to just four hits in six-plus innings. Before the seventh, only one Dodgers runner reached second base, when Kyle Tucker and Teoscar Hernández hit back-to-back singles in the second.

Cole came back out for the seventh and walked Mookie Betts to lead off the inning. After a mound visit, he stayed in to face Muncy.

“It was a tough decision for [Yankees manager Aaron Boone],” Roberts said. “You’re thinking about going to the ‘pen, or do you let your ace go after Max and Tucker. And Max spoiled some good pitches and then got a pitch in his wheelhouse and put a good swing on it.”

Muncy fell into a two-strike count, but he kept battling. On the seventh pitch, he saw something he could drive — 416 feet at a 30-degree launch angle, to be exact.

“The swing felt great,” Muncy said on the Spectrum SportsNet LA broadcast. “The result was better and it gave us a chance to win.”

Dodgers relievers Jack Dreyer, Alex Vesia and Tanner Scott chipped in a combined 3⅓ scoreless innings to secure the win. The Yankees came inches away from tying the score in the eighth, but the Dodgers, shaking off their pre-All-Star break rough patch, delivered on defense.

With Trent Grisham on first after a walk, Ben Rice hit a double into the right-field gap off Vesia. Pages chased down the ball and quickly fired to shortstop Betts, who threw it home. Rushing’s sweeping tag beat Grisham to the plate.

“I think it was huge,” Betts said. “We still had a couple mishaps in this game. We’ve got to clean that up for sure. You can’t win a World Series doing what we did today. But we’ll keep working and try to clean it up.”

July 17 (UPI) — Taylor Farms announced Friday it is removing all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico from the U.S. market, after federal officials said they traced the cyclosporiasis outbreak that’s caused illness in thousands of people to lettuce supplied to Taco Bell restaurants in five states.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said their investigators found the shredded iceberg lettuce came from Taylor Farms, a supplier that also sells salad kits in grocery stores.

In a statement, the company said it is voluntarily removing all of its Mexico-sourced iceberg lettuce, adding the outbreak is not associated with any of its salad kits.

“While the FDA traceback is indicating a specific independent farm that represents less than 1% of the U.S.’s iceberg lettuce supply as the potential source of the outbreak, we have removed all iceberg lettuce from the region indefinitely,” the company statement said.

The CDC’s website says not to eat “shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia.”

More than 1,600 people have been confirmed ill with the bug.

The agencies did not name a supplier, but two people familiar with the inquiry told The Washington Post that investigators have identified Taylor Farms as the supplier.

“The investigation remains active, and additional states, restaurants, retailers or products may be identified as more information becomes available,” said Emily Hilliard, a spokesperson for the Health and Human Services Department.

“The signal we have gotten is that there is a very high percentage of people who got sick at Taco Bell, and when investigators asked what their menu items were in common, lettuce came up frequently,” one person familiar with the investigation said.

“Based on ongoing conversations with public health officials, and out of an abundance of caution, Taco Bell has taken immediate action to voluntarily remove potentially impacted lettuce from a supplier in select states,” Taco Bell Corp. said in a statement. “The affected ingredient from our supplier is being indefinitely removed from our supply chain nationwide and will be replaced within 24 hours in select states.”

Taylor Farms is a leading global producer of salads and healthy fresh foods, with production facilities across the United States, Canada, Mexico and Western Europe. The company has been linked to several outbreaks.

In November 2024, onions from Taylor Farms were tainted with E.Coli and sold at McDonald’s stores via Quarter Pounders burgers. About 100 people in 14 states were sickened. In December 2015, 19 people in 18 states were sickened with E. Coli after eating tainted celery supplied by the company to grocery stores. In August 2013, salad kits from Taylor Farms grown in Mexico were recalled after more than 360 people in Texas, Iowa and Nebraska became ill with cyclosporiasis. In February 2013, Taylor Farms recalled organic baby spinach products sold in 39 states for potential E. coli contamination, though there were no reports of illness.

The U.S. Navy expects the stealthy destroyer USS Zumwalt, with its new launchers for Intermediate-Range Conventional Prompt Strike (IRCPS) hypersonic missiles, to be formally returned to service by September. Upgrade work on the ship, which started back in 2023, is some 10 months behind schedule. One contributing factor in the delay was the first full shutdown of the notoriously complex Integrated Power System (IPS) since the ship was delivered to the Navy six years ago. IPS is a power plant that provides massive amounts of electricity to propel the ship and run its advanced systems.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO), a congressional watchdog, provided new details on the hypersonic missile upgrades for USS Zumwalt, also known by its hull number DDG-1000, in a report released today. The four new launch tubes, each of which will be able to hold three IRCPS missiles, notably take the place of the destroyer’s original pair of 155mm Advanced Gun Systems (AGS).

Zumwalt has also been receiving other improvements, including expanded fuel capacity allowing for increased range and endurance, as well as undergoing routine maintenance, in parallel to the IRCPS integration. The Navy refers to all of this work, collectively, as the Build Yard Modernization Period (BYMP).

The Navy’s other two Zumwalt class destroyers – the USS Michael Monsoor (DDG-1001) and the future USS Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG-1002) – are set to receive the same complete slate of modifications. Work on the Lyndon B. Johnson is already underway as part of the larger process of delivering that ship, which is now scheduled for April 2027. The service also eventually plans to integrate IRCPS onto Block V Virginia class submarines.

The Navy’s IRCPS program is also being run in close cooperation with the U.S. Army. The missile at the core of IRCPS is the same one the Army is working to field in ground-based configuration, which it calls Dark Eagle.

The weapon itself consists of a multi-stage ballistic missile-like rocket booster with an unpowered hypersonic boost-glide vehicle on top. The booster gets the vehicle to an optimal speed and altitude, after which it is released. After separating from the booster, the vehicle glides along a relatively shallow flight path within the Earth’s atmosphere to its target, maneuvering along the way, sometimes erratically. In general, hypersonic boost-glide vehicles offer a combination of speed, flight trajectory, and maneuverability that creates distinct challenges for enemy forces. The vehicles are difficult to spot and track, let alone intercept. Their speed limits the time an opponent has to react in other ways. The ability to pierce enemy air defenses and rapidly strike very high-value targets, even ones that may be fleeting, is what makes hypersonic weapons of this type attractive.

“Over the past year, the cost and schedule performance on the first ship to undergo this [IRCPS and other upgrade] work, the DDG 1000, has degraded,” according to GAO’s report. “Program officials reported that the primary cause of recent delays is unplanned work.”

As already noted, one “source of unplanned work and delays per program officials is that this is the first time that the Navy has shut down and restarted key DDG 1000 class ship systems,” per GAO. “For example, equipment failures in the ship’s complex electrical system, which is akin to a small power plant, contributed to delays.”

Zumwalt‘s IPS is a hybrid-electric system that combines gas turbines and electric generators. Hybrid propulsion is not unique, broadly speaking, to this class of ships, but the DDG-1000 design takes it to a completely different level. IPS can generate up to “approximately 78 megawatts of power, nearly what a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier generates,” according to the Navy. It is also said to be able to pump out 58 megawatts of reserve power even while cruising at 20 knots. This level of power generation is essential to support the ship’s array of advanced capabilities, but it also comes with complexities that have proven troublesome over the years.

Integrated Power System (IPS)

In addition, “the unplanned work addresses the need for more cabling than was anticipated in the initial project design, as the contractor cut and removed more cabling than planned from the forward part of the ship for CPS missile launch tube installation,” the report adds. “The additional cabling was needed to match changes to the ship configuration since new construction cables were installed as part of the BYMP.”

Overall, “program officials noted that the Navy modified the BYMP contract with Huntington Ingalls in August 2025 to add 230,000 hours – at a cost of $20 million – for unplanned work,” according to GAO. “The program reported increasing its estimate to upgrade all three ships from $1.8 billion to at least $2 billion.”

GAO says the Navy also stressed that this is the first time it has ever integrated a hypersonic weapon onto one of its warships, and that it has been a learning experience. The service says it is working to ensure that useful lessons are being woven into ongoing work on Lyndon B. Johnson, as well as USS Michael Monsoor‘s future BYMP availability, which is slated to begin before the end of the year.

The timeline for delivery of the Lyndon B. Johnson and the upgrade schedule for Michael Monsoor are already delayed, as can be seen in the GAO graphic below. Delays have also pushed back the target date for a first live-fire at-sea IRCPS launch, a milestone now set to come next year.

The Navy and the Army have conducted several land-based launches as part of a test plan that has suffered its own setbacks in the past.

The Zumwalt class, as a whole, has suffered various trials and tribulations over the years due to a variety of factors. This includes persistent technical difficulties with various systems, especially the main AN/SPY-3 radar. There have been signs for years now that the Navy could replace the AN/SPY-3 with a version of the newer AN/SPY-6. A growing number of other Navy ships are already sailing with or are set to receive AN/SPY-6 variants. The ships have also seen other cutting-edge capabilities watered down.

Challenges facing the Zumwalt class destroyers have been compounded by the prior decision to slash planned orders for these ships from 32 to just three. This has also made the ships extremely expensive to acquire, operate, and sustain. In a separate annual assessment of major U.S. military programs released earlier this month, GAO reported that the unit cost of each of the destroyers had risen to just over $10.6 billion (inclusive of research and development costs). The total acquisition cost of the DDG-1000 program is now nearly $32 billion. For comparison, the price tag on a new Flight III Arleigh Burke class destroyer is around $2.5 billion, according to data released last year by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Broader questions have been raised about the roles and missions that the trio of Zumwalt class ships can be reasonably expected to perform. IRCPS will give the members of the Zumwalt class a new, very-long-range, high-value strategic strike role. The Navy sees this as a key capability for future high-end fights, such as one against China in the Pacific.

At the same time, GAO’s report today also highlights the small number of missiles the Navy and the Army are in the process of acquiring now for IRCPS and Dark Eagle. Prime contractor Lockheed Martin still has limited capacity to produce them, too.

“Navy data indicate that the contractor facility operations are not currently able to meet demand, making it difficult for Lockheed Martin to keep production commitments,” according to GAO. “Specifically, the facility is currently capable of producing a maximum of six to seven rounds a year out of the 12 rounds per year necessary to stabilize production.”

“Over the past 5 years, CPS costs estimates have fluctuated, driven by factors such as the Navy’s removal or addition of host platforms, revisions to total quantities, planned periodic capability insertions, and production time frames to date, among others,” per GAO’s report. “In fiscal year 2020, early in the MTA [middle tier acquisition] rapid prototyping phase, the Navy estimated it would cost about $31 billion in total lifecycle costs for a program that would deliver 262 missiles. In 2024, the Navy increased its estimate of the total cost to acquire CPS by about 30 percent while reducing the number of missiles to be procured – now $41 billion in total lifecycle costs for 224 missiles.”

“These missile quantities do not reflect a specific program requirement, according to CPS program officials, but rather modeling based on various inputs, including budget documents, analyses of industrial base capacity, and direct, ongoing collaboration with the U.S. Strategic Command and the requirements sponsor – OPNAV N97 [the Undersea Warfare Division within the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations],” the report also notes. “Additionally, the Army is planning to spend more than $10 billion to procure 48 missiles and associated ground support equipment.”

As of April 2026, the average estimated unit cost for each missile was pegged at approximately $67 million. GAO points out that “the exact unit cost will depend on the contractor’s efficiency in production, which is, in part, dependent on stable annual procurement funding for the missile.”

USS Zumwalt‘s formal return to the fleet as the Navy’s first vessel equipped to fire hypersonic missiles will be an important milestone. However, signs still very much point to IRCPS being a relatively limited and costly capability, likely to be held in reserve for very high-priority targets, at least in the near term.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

The ‘outstanding’ historical drama, adapted from a best-selling book series, has been dubbed ‘highly addictive’ by fans who are calling it ‘a treat to watch’ — streaming free on Channel 4

An under-the-radar period drama currently streaming free on Channel 4 is being hailed as a masterpiece adaptation of a best-selling book series — and viewers are ‘obsessed’.

The series, originally developed for the BBC, delves into Britain’s history and is based on real events that took place in the 1400s in the tumultuous battle for the throne of England. With the War of the Roses as the backdrop of the historical drama, the series takes a closer look at real-life incidents and the drama surrounding court politics at the time.

The period drama is based on author Philippa Gregory’s Cousins’ War book series and has been adapted from three best-selling novels — The White Queen, The Red Queen, and The Kingmaker’s Daughter.

The costume drama is an amalgamation of stories, characters, and instances from all three books and follows the story of three women — Yorkist Elizabeth Woodville, wife of King Edward IV and played by Rebecca Ferguson; Lancastrian Margaret Beaufort, mother of the Tudor King Henry VII of England and portrayed by Amanda Hale; and Yorkist Anne Neville, wife of the Duke of Gloucester, King Richard III, portrayed by Faye Marsay.

Elizabeth Woodville is the protagonist of the 2009 novel The White Queen, while Margaret Beaufort and Anne Neville are the focus of The Red Queen (2010) and The Kingmaker’s Daughter (2012) respectively. These three women appear in the three novels which constitute the screenplay of this underrated television drama which first hit UK airwaves in June 2013.

The series has been on the receiving end of glowing reviews from both critics and audiences.

One critic says of the show: “As a love story set in an impossibly chivalrous past, this was deliciously enjoyable. The conflict between the houses of Lancaster and York ceased to matter — the crucial conflict was between Innocence and Experience.”

While another reviewer writes: “Part soap opera, part war film, and part melodrama, this series is an intoxicating jaunt through a snippet of British history fraught with contentious loyalties and lethal power struggles.”

A third critic said: “It’s a great tale and beautifully told with beautiful actors…Don’t miss it.”

One viewer posted to IMDB: “Fantastic!! The BBC, like most of their period piece dramas, got this series right. It is highly addictive and very watchable. The White Queen has everything an avid audience for this type of show craves; It is romantic; It is violent; It is full of vengefulness, cruelty and karma. I thoroughly enjoyed it and wanted more.”

While another fan of the show added: “Excellent period drama! BBC does it again! I came across this title by accident and I ended up watching the first four episodes! I love the love story, the drama, the betrayal. Truly a treat to watch! I really enjoyed it, I found the actors to be truly convincing, the decor lovely and the storyline engaging!”

Another IMDB user review reads: “I’ve read the 3 books, The White Queen, The Red Queen and The Kingmaker’s Daughter, and this series is one of the most faithful adaptations I have ever watched.

“The portrayal of the Tudor and Lancastrian England, the life and politics of the feudal society, how Kings and Queens and Great Royal Houses were made or unmade with in fire and blood, and the brilliance and fortunes of Edward’s court, with some artistic license from Philippa Gregory, make for a very compelling watch.”

While one audience review of the show on Rotten Tomatoes states: “I absolutely loved this mini-series. Gorgeous costumes, realistic scenery, intrigue, treachery, lies, unexpected twists and a torrid love story. Seriously, what more could you ask for?”

The White Queen is available to stream for free on Channel 4.

NEW YORK — Lost amid the headlines about Tarik Skubal, the Dodgers face this unexpected reality as the trade deadline looms: They would like to add a starting pitcher, but they need to add a catcher.

Will Smith has not played in six weeks. In a “best case” scenario, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Friday, Smith would miss another month.

That left Roberts to make a jolting admission, when I asked him if the team really can count on Smith returning this season.

“We don’t know,” Roberts said, “but we certainly are counting on it.”

Would it be nice for the Dodgers to get their three-time All-Star catcher back in time for October? Of course.

Should the Dodgers count on it? Of course not.

The Dodgers won’t know where Smith stands by the Aug. 3 trade deadline. That means now is the time to acquire a catching option they may or may not need later.

Dalton Rushing, the primary catcher in Smith’s absence, has a .799 OPS. Among the 24 major league catchers with at least 200 plate appearances entering play Friday, Rushing ranked fifth in OPS.

He is hitless in his last 13 at-bats. His batting average: .266 before Smith’s injury, .233 since then.

On defense, Rushing ranks next-to-last in defensive runs saved among major league catchers, ahead of only the Angels’ Logan O’Hoppe. On Friday, in the Dodgers’ 2-1 victory at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees scored their only run on Rushing’s passed ball.

In past Octobers, the Dodgers have prioritized defense at catcher. In the 2020 World Series, Austin Barnes caught ahead of Smith in four of the six games, including the final two.

In 2025, with Smith recovering from a hand injury, Ben Rortvedt started ahead of Rushing in the Dodgers’ first four postseason games. Rortvedt was a trade deadline acquisition last summer, picked up with pitcher Paul Gervase from the Tampa Bay Rays for catcher Hunter Feduccia.

Will Smith bats for the Dodgers against the San Francisco Giants on April 22.

(Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)

Rortvedt, currently playing in triple-A for the New York Mets, fits the profile of what the Dodgers need now: a defense-first catcher with major league readiness. With Smith injured, the Dodgers first tried and then cut minor league journeyman Chuckie Robinson at backup catcher. Their current backup, Eliezer Alfonso, made his major league debut in his ninth professional season; he is hitless in nine at-bats.

Could the Dodgers pursue an established catcher, say Ryan Jeffers of the Minnesota Twins or Francisco Alvarez or Luis Torrens of the New York Mets? Possible, but probably not necessary.

Rushing could be their guy. Smith could be back.

Smith has started and re-started baseball activities, only to find out that the inflamed disk in his neck flares up.

“He hasn’t been able to get over the hump,” Roberts said.

The Dodgers are trying another round of complete rest before asking him to try hitting or throwing again.

“We felt that, if he’s inactive, it gives it a good chance to get all the inflammation out, the soreness out, the pain, increase flexibility, all of it,” Roberts said. “Then he has a fighting chance to work his way back. Trying to do everything — even at a lesser dosage — just wasn’t feasible.”

Trying to trade for Skubal might not be feasible, at least so long as his Detroit Tigers remain in the American League wild-card race. The Tigers won seven of their final 10 games in the first half, and they face teams with losing records in 13 of their 16 second-half games ahead of the trade deadline, starting with the Angels this weekend in Anaheim.

The Dodgers do not need a depth starter. However, they might do well to find someone they would feel comfortable starting the third or fourth game of a playoff series, lest they count on Blake Snell (elbow) and Tyler Glasnow (back) and Shohei Ohtani (knee) all returning to the mound healthy and effective.

Important, yes. As important as another catcher, no.

For a team that will spend almost half a billion dollars on its player payroll and luxury tax this season, its most important trade deadline pickup could be a catcher making maybe $1 million.

PM Narendra Modi says successful launch will ‘encourage countless youngsters to dream bigger and innovate fearlessly’.

India has successfully tested its first private-sector orbital rocket, marking a milestone in New Delhi’s ambition to become a major player in the global space economy.

The three-stage 22-metre Vikram-1 was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota and deployed customer payloads into a 450km (280-mile) low-Earth orbit, making India the third country to achieve orbital launch capability through private enterprise.

Vikram-1 can carry a payload of up to 350kg (772lb) and is equipped with robotic arms that can clear space debris.

It also carried experimental equipment, a lab-grown diamond and a miniature 18-carat gold sculpture commemorating India’s national space programme.

India Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the achievement, saying that it will “encourage countless youngsters to dream bigger and innovate fearlessly”.

The test validated the rocket’s propulsion, avionics, telemetry, guidance, navigation and control systems during flight, according to manufacturer Skyroot Aerospace.

Founded in 2018, Skyroot is among a new generation of Indian space startups that have attracted backing from global investors following the sector’s liberalisation.

It became the first space-sector company in the ⁠country to hit a $1bn valuation earlier this year.

Skyroot celebrated the successful mission with a post on X stating: “Hello space, we have arrived!”

Vikram-1 improves upon Skyroot’s Vikram-S mission in 2022. That suborbital flight reached space but did not place payloads into orbit.

The company plans further test flights before starting routine commercial missions. It is another milestone for India’s burgeoning private and public space programmes.

India’s national space programme previously launched 104 satellites into orbit on one rocket in 2017, setting a record at the time.

Six years later, India became the fourth country in the world to complete a lunar landing when Chandrayaan-3 landed near the moon’s south pole.

When Washington celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, the celebrations will arrive bruised. There will be the customary funding disputes, a federal commission fighting against a more partisan task force from the White House, and a public worn by years of political turmoil, all of which will turn what could have been an occasion of civic healing into another USA ‘celebration’ in the world. None of this has gone unnoticed in Beijing, given that this ‘celebration’ is being interpreted more as a diagnosis than a birthday. What is being asked throughout the commentaries from Qiushi (求是), on CCTV, in Tsinghua and Peking University, is simply put, what kind of America is turning 250?

Within the last five years, the interpretation given from both the official channels and the more informal academic channels in Beijing has varied considerably. Most importantly, these streams have been diverging for some time and therefore offer significant insight into how Beijing has been interpreting the country it has been comparing itself to for the last 20 years.

From “the East rising” to a measured retreat

Many are familiar with the upbeat version of the story. After 2020, the phrases that framed China’s worldview included “great changes, unseen in a century” (百年未有之大变局) and “the East is rising, the West is declining” (东升西降). The latter, used by Xi Jinping in remarks to senior officials in early 2021 and again in 2023, provided the slogan for the official narrative. The Covid-19 pandemic, the insurrection at the US Capitol, and a decade of US political instability seemed to provide the empirical evidence for a thesis, rooted in Chinese Marxist theory, that capitalist systems contain the principle of their own disintegration. This was rationalized and systemized after the 2008 financial crisis and has remained largely unchanged.

However, the reality is far more complicated than the slogan implies. Researchers who have traced the terminology in Chinese academic publications through the CNKI database have found that scholarly use of “the East is rising, the West is declining” (东升西降) peaked around 2021 and has subsided since then, even though the idea itself remained more prevalent than it was during the entire duration of Donald Trump’s first presidential term. In other words, the slogan was being diplomatically retracted within scholarly circles at the very moment it was most associated with official optimism. When Xi’s speech in 2023, which was published in Qiushi in January 2025, described the West’s decline, it was more a formal, official copy of a sentiment than a newly published speech.

The official rhetoric, however, did not soften. A Brookings study found a near doubling in the use of “American decline” terminology in official Chinese documents from 2025. State Security Minister Chen Yixin wrote in Qiushi in December of 2025, what could be described as a near complete inventory of the ills of the world: the usurpation of unipolar dominance gives way to economic decline and social disintegration, a domestic credit crisis and the collapse of foreign mythic structures. Around the same time, a popular phrase borrowed from gaming, the “kill line” (斩杀线) found its way to official Chinese publications. A Qiushi article from January 2026 described an America, the working class of which had been pushed (beyond the point of no return) along the path of ruin by an unrepairable (decomposing) industrial base while financial capitalism strangled the benefits. The conclusion that was drawn was that we had already entered the post-American world.

The correction of early 2026

Then the story changed once more, and the correction was from within Beijing’s own strategic community.

The consensus in Chinese policymaking following the Busan summit in October 2025, was that China had won the trade war and forced the US into a stalemate. The years of maximum pressure, they said, did not lead to the systemic concessions China had sought, but rather worsened American inflation and reduced productivity. For a few months, the optimism was high. However, by 2026, the optimism was replaced by apprehension. A series of adverse events for China, from losing equity in a German port buyout, to the Nexperia debacle, to the Iran war, led many to wonder if China’s victory was, in fact, a loss. The dominant question that the strategic community was debating was whether American power was in decline or if it was in fact, power rebounding.

What was most interesting was who took the cautious side. Both Chen Wenling and Yan Xuetong argued that the US had, and has, the military and economic capability to project power. In their view, the US had the edge, and Trump’s high stakes, risky policy decisions were based on the belief that the US had the dominant position. The gap was definitely closing, but was not yet a reality. The advice they gave was to be patient. If China was able to “manage its own affairs well,” it was likely that the US would be compelled to return to a more stable relationship.

The key observation regarding prominent intellectuals in Beijing is this. They have never been champions of the triumphalist position. Yan Xuetong has spent a great deal of time dismissing talks of “The East is rising and the West is declining” and multipolarity as delusional. His recently published book, Inflection of History (历史的拐点), which was published by CITIC Press in December of 2025, predicts a US-China bipolarity which, during the next decade, would be expected to stabilise rather than destabilise. In this scenario, over the next decade the gap in capability between the two powers would be expected to converge, although the US would retain an overall advantage. In this scenario, the US would retain overall dominance in services, cyberspace and global influence, while China would retain relative superiority in manufacturing and be dominant in the international arena. In this scenario, Yan does argue that Trump would be expected to damage American power, especially with regards to the international balance, through the closure of laboratories, the loss of researchers, and a declining international trade. However, damage to the leader of the bipolar order is not the same as the collapse of the order, and Yan is very cautious not to make confuse the two.

As China’s foremost authority on US studies, Wang Jisi (王缉思) of Peking University, has placed the greatest emphasis on the need for a clear and level-headed approach. His influential essay, titled, “Has America really declined? Chinese people should hold a sober understanding” ( 美国到底有没有衰落？中国人应有清醒认识), leads with the argument that the most important factors influencing the relationship are domestic political issues, and are not to be found in some quantifiable assessment of relative national strength, or within the confines of the Thucydides Trap. He has argued that the effects of Trump’s immigration restrictions would be more symbolic than real, and would not negatively impact the long-term potential of the US economy. Along with American scholar David Lampton, he wrote, that while both societies have convinced itself that the other is an existential threat, which is a dangerous narrative trap, similar to a noticeable shift of power.

Why AI keeps rewriting the script

If the quest for technological dominance was to be provided as a single reason for the inconsistency in the narrative, it would be the most accurate. The same confidence that characterized 2025 is the same that will characterize the sobriety of 2026. When Trump had his second inauguration in January 2025, DeepSeek had launched their R1. It disrupted the presumption of AI dominance in America and had a day effect of 200 billion on Nvidia’s valuation. For Chinese decision makers, since then, it has been electric. Carnegie researchers described it as the rediscovery of technological confidence. The effect was the realization of the theory of “The East is rising and the West is declining” (东升西降): a monumental achievement with controls on exports from a young lab in Hangzhou.

The second installment was more sobering. The launch of DeepSeek’s next model, V4, in April 2026, was received with indifference. In fact, DeepSeek’s own internal product documentation stated that V4 was between three and six months behind American models. Furthermore, V4 was reliant on domestic chips from Huawei, and was, in most assessments, dependent on American technology that was not easily replaceable. For Chinese analysts, this was not a case of falling behind, but one of the more difficult problems of maintaining the technological edge. Reshoring and tariffs told a similar story. The American industrial base, which the “kill line” (斩杀线) commentary presumed was a terminally stagnated industrial base, was the target of a renewed, aggressive, and partially successful push to bring industry back to America. A competitor with such a focus on rejuvenation and renewal is not, on the surface, a declining competitor.

The G2 Puzzle

There’s another element coming from Washington that adds to the complexity of the story of American decline. This element relates to Trump. Before the Busan meeting, Trump used the term “G2,” and several Washington officials followed suit. The decline thesis cannot account for this. If America is indeed in decline, why is it offering G2 (shared leadership) with China?

Chinese reflexive responses are interesting. The official position, as expressed in Zhou Li’s (周力) December 2025 article, is that G2 as a hegemony is incompatible with China’s commitment to a multipolar world and would alienate the Global South which China is trying to court. These scholars have found their own workarounds. Yan Xuetong and Zheng Yongnian have suggested that G2 is more a description of a scenario of existing bipolarity than a policy to adopt. Xia Liping of Tongji University has suggested that G2 be rephrased as “China-US coordination” (中美协调) instead of “China-US co-governance” (中美共治), which makes it easier for Beijing to accept peer status while not succumbing to a duopoly. The attempt to manage the terminology suggests that the US at 250 is still sufficiently powerful that its offer of co-leadership is significant, even to a China that is more confident than ever.

A mirror, not a verdict

What emerges from five years of this commentary is not a single Chinese view of America at 250 but a layered one. The loudest polemical phrase is that the US, a hegemon, is in an irreversible decline. Within a Chinese context, this serves a purpose unrelated to the US. The state media have found it convenient to juxtapose gun violence and homelessness against the backdrop of Chinese economic performance. The decline of the US economy flouts the-premise, as socialism is the ultimate victor among capitalist competition.

But that was in the loud tier. In the reserved tier, the people in Beijing who are actually relying on reading Washington have converged on a more cautious and, frankly, more accurate assessment. They have described America as a relative decline, but erratic, and still very formidable as well as technologically advanced, especially in the field of the upcoming and new challenges of competition. The assessments have consistently referred to America as “declining but dangerous,” and this phrase has proven to be the most accurate of the lot. Reality has justified the phrase. The same cannot be said of unqualified and total victory.

The inconsistency in narratives can be attributed to the fact that the accounts are serving two purposes simultaneously. They are both analysis and propaganda, and the two types of work are at odds with each other. After AI successes or trade wins, the propaganda is ahead of analysis. After the impacts of reshoring or when a Chinese model stays behind, the analysts bring it back. The occasion is provided by the anniversary, but the underlying reason is that China has not decided, and maybe cannot decide, if they think that simply waiting will work in their favour or if the gap they have slowly been closing over the past 25 years is going to be a stubborn gap.

At 250, in other words, the United States functions in Chinese discourse less as a subject to be judged than as a mirror. What Beijing sees in it, in any given month, tells you a great deal about how confident Beijing is feeling about itself

Tennessee propositioned Paramount Skydance, hoping to tempt it to become the next company to leave California.

As California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta gathered a coalition of 12 state attorneys general to try to block Paramount’s $111-billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, Tennessee slid into Paramount’s DMs, suggesting it would be better treated in the southern state.

Corporate flight from the Golden State has increased in recent years, with many California-based companies fleeing for lower taxes and more lax business regulations. For the first time this year, California was not the state with the most Fortune 500 companies, after Texas dethroned it in June.

California companies packing up their people and headquarters to move to Texas has been a well-traveled road for those looking for options. Now Tennessee wants to be in the running as a prime destination as well.

Here is what you need to know about its efforts:

What happened with Paramount?

In a July 2 letter to Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison, Tennessee Deputy Gov. Stuart McWhorter pitched a relocation of the studio’s Hollywood headquarters to the Volunteer State. In the middle of a brutal legal battle with California regarding the proposed Warner Bros. merger, Tennessee may appear more appealing to Ellison. Paramount relocated its headquarters from New York to Los Angeles in August of last year.

“As Paramount Skydance writes its next chapter, Tennessee offers a compelling proposition: a state where creativity and technology converge, where talent is developed intentionally, and where innovation is embraced,” said McWhorter in the letter viewed by The Times. “We would welcome the opportunity to share our vision for how Tennessee could help shape the future of Paramount Skydance and its talented team.”

Though many in Hollywood have giggled at the idea of a major studio moving to the South, it isn’t totally ridiculous.

Ellison has backing from his father, tech billionaire and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. Oracle, once a California-based company, is now moving its headquarters to Nashville.

In December of 2020, the software tech company left California, where it was founded in 1977, to relocate to Texas. In April 2024, it chose Nashville as the home for Oracle’s “world headquarters,” which began construction in February.

Have other companies moved to Tennessee?

Oracle isn’t the first company to set up in Tennessee. Nissan, which had operated its U.S. headquarters out of Gardena since 1960, left the state in 2005 for Franklin. Nissan chose Tennessee for its drastically lower operational costs.

Mitsubishi Motors also moved its headquarters to Franklin from Cypress in 2019. Mitsubishi moved for lower operational costs and to be in a state with less-strict business regulations than California‘s.

Two beloved California burger chains moved to Tennessee.

In 2018, CKE, the parent company of Los Angeles-founded Carl’s Jr., also left California for Tennessee. CKE consolidated Carl’s Jr. and its St. Louis chain, Hardee’s, under its headquarters in Franklin.

In-N-Out — arguably California’s most iconic burger spot known for its animal fries and double doubles— began a transition out of California in 2023. It established a corporate office in Franklin, and last summer, owner and Chief Executive Lynsi Snyder announced her own move to Tennessee.

Last year, Snyder said pandemic-era restrictions and California policy motivated her decision to leave, but she has no plans for In-N-Out to expand farther East. The majority of In-N-Out locations are still in California.

“There’s a lot of great things about California, but raising a family is not easy here. Doing business is not easy here,” Snyder said.

What is so special about Tennessee?

The southern state’s highly business-friendly tax incentives make it an extremely desirable location. Businesses and billionaires are drawn to Tennessee by its lack of state income and property taxes. Instead, the state relies on a 7% sales tax as its main source of tax revenue. Tennessee also offers a number of tax credits and grants for businesses, including many designed to support newly relocated businesses, cover costs of training new employees, and construction.

Tennessee’s central location and well-connected infrastructure support supply chain logistics. Seven interstate highways run through Tennessee, and six of the United States’ class 1 rail lines operate there, allowing companies to cut transportation costs dramatically. Memphis is also home to the busiest cargo airport in the country.

The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development says the state has one of the best business incentive programs in the country and has been ranked the third best state for doing business by Chief Executive magazine.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee attributes the success to the state’s competitive tax policy, workforce, and quality of life.

“Companies choose Tennessee because they recognize the strength of our workforce, our strategic location and our ability to support long-term growth,” Lee said in an emailed statement. “Tennessee’s success comes from our commitment to helping businesses thrive.”

AS the Sun’s Deputy Travel Editor, I’ve certainly racked up the countries, hitting 60 this year.

This has included some insanely beautiful islands along the way, some of which you might not have heard of.

When it comes to island holidays, there is a strict criteria I always look for.

Stunning beaches and beautiful blue waters are obviously a must.

However, I also want a mix of relaxation and adventure, not just one or the other – after all, I want my hiking offset with a sunlounger cocktail.

So here are my top 11 picks I think everyone should visit, ranging from established Spanish islands to barely-known ones further afield.

Holbox

While Tulum and Cancun are great holiday destinations in Mexico, let me pitch you Isla Holbox. It’s a two-hour bus from the airport, followed by a quick ferry ride – but it is worth the trip.

Expect no cars, only golf buggies, people playing live music and dancing into the night and brightly graffitied coffee shops and taco stands.

White sandy beaches, palm trees and slightly dodgy electricity… but it truly makes you feel like you’re a million miles away from the world.

You can get some insanely beautiful hotels to stay in for really cheap as well – try Alcobas Del Mar which is from £30 a night, with an indoor pool. Flights to Cancun start from £507 return.

Tenerife

Sometimes, all you want is a beautiful fly and flop hotel resort – enter Tenerife.

Of course, the Spanish island has its iconic Siam waterpark, named the best in the world for years, its volcanic beaches and crazy Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival every year.

But I went there to celebrate in style for my 30th, and was sold by the pink Ritz Carlton Abama hotel (complete with a hidden beach you can only get to by land train).

I never left thanks to its Villa Ambassadors who are on call for your every need, from better pillows to booking massages.

If you’re looking for that hallowed 1 euro holiday pint you’ll be searching for a while as most of the cheap bars have put their prices up to a minimum of 1.50 (£1.30) euros a pint now – to find these deals, head to the strip in Los Cristianos, Playa De Las Americas and Costa Adeje.

Not every holiday has to be an adventure, and I came away being so relaxed I almost missed my flight back. Deals can be found for £839 each for a seven-night and flight package, via loveholidays.

Mauritius

If you asked me where the best sunsets are found in the world, I’d say Mauritius, an African island which had gorgeous bright pink skies every night.

Yet I was transported to Dubai thanks to the hotel rooftop infinity pools, Bora Bora from the thatched lobbies and Maldives for its overwater restaurants. That’s before exploring the beautiful history via L’Aventure du Sucre, and some rum cocktails at the beach bars….

It’s the kind of island where you never want to leave your resort, with friendly locals always cracking jokes as you laze by the pool.

You can fly directly there with Air Mauritius from £536 return, while you can easily find seven-night package holidays for under £1,000pp.

Ria Formosa

Don’t overlook Faro as a holiday destination, despite it being the gateway to the Algarve – it is home to some tiny, crowd-free islands in Ria Formosa, that only locals know about.

Ilha Deserta is just a few euros and 20 minutes by boat, where its golden sands are compared to the Caribbean of Portugal. The only thing on it? The fabulous Estamine restaurant, serving fresh fish and local wine.

Or there is Isla Armona, with a few more local houses and cafes, and is just as quiet to visit, along with islands Cabanas, Culatra and Tavira.

You’ll have to stay back on the mainland, with Faro hotels from around £80 a night. Flights to Faro start from £30 return with Ryanair.

Naifaru

At this point, the Maldives is on everyone’s bucket list, but there is a way to see the real side of the country, outside of the resorts.

I went on a day trip to Naifaru, where I met rehabilitated turtles at Atoll Marine Center that were injured from boats, as well as learned more about the local way of life from the people themselves.

Of course, if you want luxury you have a lot of options on nearby islands – if you want a larger, more established resort, opt for Atmosphere Kanifushi, while a smaller and more intimate resort is something like VARU by Atmosphere.

Deals for the Maldives are insanely cheap right now – loveholidays has some for as little as £1,179pp for a seven-night and return flight package.

Crete

Trying to name the best Greek island when there are hundreds to choose from seems like an impossible task. But the largest of them all sold itself as the perfect places for both couples and families.

I explored two sides of Crete, with Numo Ierapetra going up there as one of my favourite hotels. Adults-only, live DJ pool sessions, quiet beach and fantastic breakfast buffet – all boxes ticked.

Or head to the other side of the island and swap Chania for the Venetian city of Rethimno, where I hopped between cafes and trendy shops, as well as the tiny village of Margarites known for its ceramics.

Flights to Crete with easyJet are around £56 return, while stays at Numo Ierapetra start from £137 a night.

Sri Lanka

Mix palm-tree lined beaches with the best cup of tea in the world, and you’ll find Sri Lanka. It’s the size of Ireland, so it’s easy to get around, but with an insane amount of things to do.

Catch some waves at Weligama Beach, followed by an elephant safari in Yala, ending on some of the best – albeit spicy – curries of your life. Make sure to spark up a conversation with the locals, where it won’t take long to get onto the topic of cricket.

Hotels are crazy cheap – as little as £25 a night – but it has some of the world’s best hotels for a relatively reasonable price given the quality, like Jetwing Vil Uyana (from £271) or Cape Weligama (from £364).

Or keep it simple with a package deal with On The Beach from £870pp.

St Kitts

If you like hiking volcanos, paragliding in bright blue waters and ziplines through the jungle – St Kitts is the island for you.

Adventure tourism is a huge thing here. Think horse riding, jet skis, snorkelling and buggy rentals, which are the tip of the iceberg of what you can do there.

Although it still has its beautiful beach bars serving cheap cocktails and tasty lobster, alongside live reggae music.

Even better? You can fly there directly with British Airways, with return flights from £420pp. Hotels start from £68 a night, although most tend to sit around £100-£140.

Iceland

Sometimes you don’t want a sweaty, overly-hot holiday – which is where Iceland comes in. Even as a hot-weather girly, I was left in awe of the island’s natural landscape.

I spent my mornings in the famous Blue Lagoon, before getting cosy with a hot chocolate in front of my hotel fire.

Crazy geysers, rocky road trips, Northern Lights – it felt like I was going back in time to a more basic, rural way of living.

You can do it on a budget if you know where to look. Icelandair have a “Just the Basics” package trip from £421 which is return flights and two nights at a hotel.

Puerto Rico

If there is one island that surprised me in how much I loved it, it was Puerto Rico. While it’s popular with Americans, Brits often overlook it as a holiday destination, most likely because it requires a stopover flight.

It was a fascinating mix of American and Caribbean culture, where Medalla Light Beers were just £2.50 chased by great-value pork sandwiches to soak it all up. A tour of the Casa Barcardi distillery includes a lot of cocktails along the way too…

Definitely get a boat trip to Flamenco Beach, frequently classed as one of the best in the world, with the unique feature of a WW2 US army tank stranded on the shoreline, as well as a visit to El Yunque National Forest to see the glowing bioluminescent waters.

Don’t expect super cheap hotels, but you can find some guesthouses for under £100 a night. Return flights start from £610.

Turks & Caicos

Turks & Caicos is no longer as easy to get to, after Virgin Atlantic scrapped flights there – but it is 100 per cent worth the trip.

It’s a place for lazy days spent at resorts. All I did was explore sunrises on Grace Bay (another world’s best beach), kayak in glass-bottomed boats alongside chilled turtles, and drink alcohol on floating pontoons.

Don’t even try to compare it to its nearby neighbours of Jamaica and Barbados – it feels worlds away when it comes to the paradisical island.

Seven-night holidays start from £1,159pp with loveholidays.