Looking like two giant rhinos splashing in water and wrestling for superiority, 7-foot-5 Cherif Millogo is getting pushed by 7-foot Yann Kamagate near the basket as each battles to establish position in the low post area during a practice drill.

Kamagate is playing defense. Millogo wants to create a passing lane to receive the ball. The physicality is surprising coming from two teammates at St. Francis High.

This is King Kong vs. Godzilla, with each wearing size-17 basketball shoes.

“I love it because you need to be like this in practice or in a game,” said Millogo, who committed to Kentucky last week. “So that’s how we practice here. That’s the game of basketball. It’s physical, it’s tough.”

Said Kamagate: “I don’t want him to have easy baskets. So I got to play harder with him. I’m making him better playing great defense.”

Imagine what St. Francis will look like when Millogo and Kamagate aren’t practicing against each other. It’s happening next week. Both are from Burkina Faso in West Africa. Millogo played for the Golden Knights last season while Kamagate sat on the bench ineligible.

They are going to be the Mission League’s best twin towers since the days of the Collins twins, Jason and Jarron, playing for Harvard-Westlake in the 1990s.

If St. Francis coach Todd Wolfson wants to be nasty to opponents, he’ll unleash 6-10 Hermann Kone on the court at the same time. Kone is roommates with Millogo and Kamagate, all of whom live with former UCLA and NBA player Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who came from Cameroon.

How opponents deal with St. Francis’ size advantage will be one of the most intriguing storylines for the 2026-27 high school basketball season. St. Francis has been invited to travel to Illinois, Massachusetts and Oregon for tournaments and showcases, all with the idea the twin towers are going to attract fan interest.

Wolfson is preparing for all kinds of strategy scenarios, from full-court presses to teams relying on threes to trapping defenses.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Wolfson said. “It’s fun for our coaches scheming for and scheming against.”

St. Francis’ most memorable game last season involved Sherman Oaks Notre Dame using several players taking turns guarding Millogo, who became so frustrated when fouls weren’t called that he ended up fouling out.

“You saw what other schools do to us. If the other teams are going to be physical, we have to be physical,” Wolfson said of the lesson learned.

As for the offense, Millogo said the strategy is, “One’s low, one’s high. I mean that’s the game plan.”

Asked if they like each other, Millogo said, “I mean, yeah, that’s my brother.”

St. Francis started keeping track of dunks last season, so expect that to continue, and the Golden Knights figure to attract and entertain fans with lots of dunks from their big men.

The Mission League is filled with top coaches, which is why St. Francis’ big men will face plenty of challenges in January when league play begins.

It’s going to be another long season full of twists and changes. Don’t expect to identify a No. 1 team until the sit-out period ends on Christmas day and teams gain access to their full group of transfer students.

The team that will improve the most after sit-out transfers become eligible is Mater Dei, which gains 6-8 Ryan Doane from JSerra and 6-11 Ender Berg from Legacy Christian. Gary McKnight is the winningest coach in California history and should become the winningest coach in the nation this season. He’s 18 wins away.

In the City Section, it’s Palisades against everyone else. The Dolphins get to test themselves early with a Nov. 21 game against St. Francis. They want to do more than repeat as City Open Division champions.

Rights commission appeals to Niger president over alleged abuses against Mahamid.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has appealed to Niger’s president over alleged violations of the fundamental rights of the country’s Arab Mahamid community, amid reports of restrictions on access to water, education, healthcare and identity documents.

In an urgent appeal sent to President Abdourahamane Tchiani on November 6, three commission representatives raised concerns about the treatment of the community in the southeastern Diffa region. The appeal was made public on November 9.

The signatories included the commissioner responsible for the human rights situation in Niger and the heads of two working groups covering economic, social and cultural rights, and the rights of Indigenous populations, communities and minorities.

Who are the Mahamid?

The Mahamid are an Arab community with historical links to Chad and Sudan. Many live in Niger’s Diffa region. Some families have been settled there for generations, following successive waves of migration from neighbouring countries.

Disputes over their nationality and identity documents have repeatedly put them at odds with the authorities.

Officials have accused some Mahamid residents of obtaining nationality documents fraudulently, trafficking arms and having links to armed groups around the Lake Chad basin.

At a security meeting in Diffa on August 22, Governor Mahamadou Ibrahim Bagadoma and other officials discussed nationality papers, cross-border movement and security, as well as tensions over water and grazing land, according to state news agency ANP.

ANP reported that Bagadoma warned against holding the entire Arab community responsible for allegations involving particular individuals. The accusations have not been independently verified.

What rights concerns has the African Commission raised?

The appeal comes amid reports of measures restricting the Mahamid’s access to basic services and official documents.

Nigerien publication African Perceptions said it had obtained a copy of an Interior Ministry radio message dated October 7 and numbered 002235, addressed to the governors of Diffa and Zinder.

According to the publication, the message instructed authorities to close schools and water facilities used by the Mahamid, require community members to pay the full cost of healthcare and stop issuing civil status documents to them. It also called for the withdrawal of existing documents, including national identity cards and passports, and for security forces to enforce the measures.

Al Jazeera has not independently authenticated the document or established whether the instructions have been implemented.

The commission has expressed concern about the reported restrictions on access to water, education and healthcare, as well as identity documents. Its appeal to President Tchiani is not a formal finding that the government has violated the community’s rights.

Chadian broadcaster Radio Ndarason Internationale reported that Mahamid representatives were told at a meeting in Diffa on November 8 that they had two months to leave Niger.

The meeting was reportedly attended by the Diffa prefect, the Gueskerou administrator, the Komadougou canton chief and village chiefs. Radio Ndarason said the community representatives declined to comment when approached.

Nigerien publication La Roue de l’Histoire reported on November 10 that the authorities had set December 31, 2026, as the deadline for the community to leave.

Neither publication has made a formal expulsion order available. Al Jazeera has not independently confirmed the decision, its legal basis or whether it applies to the entire community.

Niger faced a similar dispute in 2006, when the government announced plans to expel Arabs from Diffa to Chad. The operation was suspended after protests and negotiations.

General Atomics says it could shrink its Vektrex howitzer-launched glide munition down to a size small enough for several of them to be packed inside the nose of a missile. The company has already put forward a more specific concept involving an AIM-174B air-to-air missile turned into a strike weapon carrying seven Vektrex-derived submunitions. Being able to load existing and future air- and surface-launched missiles with multiple gliding submunitions could open up new operational possibilities and create additional challenges for defenders.

Naval News was the first to report on the submunition-laden AIM-174B concept after seeing a rendering, seen below, on display at General Atomics’ booth at the Euronaval 2026 exhibition in Paris, France, last week. General Atomics’ Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) division has now provided additional information directly to TWZ.

“We’re exploring a concept for deploying Vektrex-derived maneuvering submunitions from air- and ground-launched missiles to address emerging needs for extended-range precision fires,” Mike Rucker, Vice President of GA-EMS Weapons Programs, told us in a statement. “Our investments in advanced weapons, precision machining, automation and assembly provide a manufacturing foundation to support production as designs qualify and customers commit.”

To take a step back, General Atomics first unveiled Vektrex in 2023, at which time it was called the Long Range Maneuvering Projectile (LRMP). It is an unpowered precision-guided munition with pop-out wings that deploy after launch. Development to date, which has been conducted with support from the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy, has been focused first on a version of Vektrex that can be fired from standard 155mm howitzers. A concept for a configuration that can be launched via 5-inch naval guns has also been shown.

Vektrex – The Next King of Battle

General Atomics has previously described Vektrex as having “advanced redundant guidance systems” that enable it to hit static or moving targets. The navigation system allows for multiple types of approaches to the target area. In the terminal phase, it can execute a steep dive onto a fixed set of coordinates or follow a differently shaped flight path to that impact point, if desired. It can also switch over to an onboard seeker to find mobile targets. Indirect approach vectors and maneuvering in the latter stages of flight can also improve survivability.

“The underlying artillery application provides the technical starting point [for the submunition concept],” General Atomics’ Rucker told us. “Deployable wings enable aerodynamic glide that multiplies Vektrex’s reach two to three times beyond conventional rounds. Its capabilities include resilient navigation in GPS-degraded or denied environments.”

General Atomics has previously projected the maximum range of a Vektrex round fired from a 155mm howitzer with a 39-caliber barrel to be in excess of 74.5 miles (120 kilometers). The munition’s reach extends further, to more than 124 miles (200), when launched from a longer 52-caliber 155mm howitzer. As a point of comparison, the maximum range of existing U.S. Army 39-caliber 155mm howitzers is generally pegged at around 19 miles when firing unguided rocket-assisted rounds and 25 miles when employing GPS-assisted M982 Excalibur precision-guided shells.

“The missile-carried submunition concept envisions a larger missile carrying and releasing multiple Vektrex-derived maneuvering projectiles,” according to Rucker. “The concept expands the potential delivery options for maneuvering precision payloads, giving prospective customers a concrete configuration to evaluate against their requirements for range, payload, platform compatibility and affordability. Those requirements would guide how we advance the concept.”

“For artillery users, the modernization opportunity is to extend capability while building on existing launcher and support infrastructure. The missile-carried concept explores a different application of that technology,” he added. “While much of the core technology is applicable, this configuration would require additional engineering and validation.”

As noted, General Atomics has already presented one potential pairing in the form of the AIM-174B loaded with seven submunitions. The U.S. Navy officially unveiled the AIM-174B, also known as the Gunslinger, in 2024. It is an air-launched version of the surface-launched Standard Missile-6 (SM-6). The SM-6 is a multi-purpose weapon able to engage a variety of aerial targets, including ballistic missiles and even certain hypersonic threats in the terminal phases of their flight. It can also be employed in a surface-to-surface mode.

The Navy currently describes the AIM-174B as purely an air-to-air missile. However, TWZ has previously highlighted the potential for the Gunslinger to be employed in the air-to-surface mode, especially given its lineage from the SM-6. A version loaded with gliding submunitions could open new options for engaging multiple targets across a broader area, and doing so at extended ranges, just by launching a single missile.

The reach of this particular pairing could be particularly impressive given the surface-launched SM-6’s stated range of well over 200 miles. Unlike the SM-6, which uses a rocket booster for initial launch, the AIM-174 benefits from the altitude and speed of the aircraft firing it. Though not confirmed, Gunslinger’s maximum range by itself can be reasonably understood to be in the hundreds of miles. Vektrex-derived submunitions could easily add dozens of miles of additional range, at least, from their release point.

A version of the AIM-174B in this configuration would enable strikes on targets deeper inside hostile territory while also helping to keep launch platforms away from enemy air defenses. A single missile could also target multiple ships within a surface action group hundreds of miles away. In any scenario, it would also expand the total number of targets a single aircraft could engage on a single sortie.

The full General Atomics rendering showing the submunition-toting Gunslinger also shows it being launched from a F/A-18E/F Super Hornet carrying another one of these missiles. As such, the jet’s loadout would include 14 gliding submunitions on just two stations. A Super Hornet could carry up to four of these missiles, or a total of 28 submunitions. In this case, the fighter is also depicted carrying two Bullseye cruise missiles, two AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles, and two AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missiles. Bullseye is a cooperative development between General Atomics and Israeli defense contractor Rafael.

This is also just one potential combination. Vektrex-derived submunitions capable of being released from an AIM-174B could also be loaded into surface-launched SM-6s. Just within the U.S. military today, there are multiple options for firing SM-6s from ships, as well as from launchers on land.

Based on the AIM-174B concept that has been presented now, there are certainly other suitably large missiles in existence today that could carry various numbers of Vektrex-derived submunitions. The U.S. Army notably has plans already for a future version of its Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) short-range ballistic missile loaded with “enhanced” payloads, which could include precision-guided submunitions and/or drones.

Depending on the cost of the submunitions, General Atomics’ Vektrex-based submunition concept could also offer broader magazine depth and supply chain benefits. The 155mm-howitzer-launched Vektrex is already being designed with an eye toward affordability and producibility.

“Our focus is developing capabilities that help U.S., allied and partner forces extend precision fires, maintain effectiveness when navigation is disrupted, and obtain munitions in the quantities they need,” GA-EMS’ Rucker told us. “Vektrex is one way we are addressing those needs through improvements at the munition level.”

It should also be noted here that, in general, the safe release of submunitions from any missile, especially one traveling at very high speeds, can present technical challenges. The payloads are subjected to physical and thermal stresses in the process, which seekers and other systems within also have to withstand. The core Vektrex design does have the benefit of being designed from the outset to be shot from a howitzer, which imparts its own stresses on the projectile. A missile with a Vektrex-derived payload could also perform maneuvers to bleed off energy before release, too.

All this being said, General Atomics has stressed that the idea of Vektrex-derived submunitions loaded into AIM-174Bs or any other missile is still very much in the conceptual stage.

“We are exploring the air-launched submunition concept internally, and it does not currently have a sponsoring customer,” GA-EMS’ Rucker told us. “Our near-term focus is advancing Vektrex’s 155 mm application toward customer procurement, while evaluating additional applications against prospective customers’ operational requirements.”

“That development effort is supported by established manufacturing investments,” he added. “As we announced in June, our Mississippi operations include automated precision machining cells tailored to Vektrex components, together with robotics, assembly and systems integration capabilities supporting advanced weapons programs.”

At the same time, General Atomics is clearly already looking to the future for Vektrex, which could go well beyond the core gun-launched variation.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

NETFLIX is refusing to remove a Russell Brand documentary in which the convicted rapist makes a sick joke about his wife giving birth.

The streaming giants will not remove the disgraced comedian’s show, titled Re-Birth, which features a vile comment about his daughter’s birth.

Fallen comic and actor Brand, 51, was jailed for ten years and six months at Southwark crown court on Monday.

He was convicted last Thursday of raping a woman he met at one of his gigs in 2009.

The fiend was also found guilty of sexually assaulting three other women at the height of his fame between 2004 and 2009.

The Christian convert was cleared of two further counts of rape and one of attempted indecent assault.

Sentencing him, Mr Justice Bennathan branded Brand “a sexual predator” who had used his fame to prey on fans.

Brand, who denied all charges, has been held at HMP Wandsworth in South London since his conviction.

Inmates are said to have marked Brand’s arrival with chants of “there’s a new n***e on the wing” about him.

More to follow… For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online

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The election of Nithya Raman, a democratic socialist, as the next mayor of Los Angeles promises to have a profound impact on the city’s police force — although perhaps not right away.

Among the most important and widely watched decisions facing the city’s next mayor is about what to do with LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell. Raman repeatedly said prior to her election that she would replace him as chief.

Raman frequently criticized McDonnell throughout her campaign, particularly over how he handled the LAPD’s response to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement blitz last year.

She has taken issue with the LAPD’s aggressive tactics under McDonnell toward demonstrators, which have included firing tear gas and less-lethal weapons into crowds, officers mounted on horseback swinging batons and accusations of journalists being targeted.

She has questioned whether the LAPD should continue to work closely with the Trump administration on non-immigration matters that require data-sharing, potentially affecting investigations into cargo theft and human trafficking, which involve local collaboration with federal law enforcement.

The events of the last year, she said, have shattered public trust.

In a since-deleted video with a progressive influencer that went viral, Raman said she would work to ensure the LAPD “is actually protecting people, instead of protecting ICE on our streets as we saw happen.”

“I think that starts with a culture shift at the top and new leadership in the department. I don’t believe that Chief McDonnell has met the moment,” she said in the video.

Asked about her plans for the LAPD chief at her inaugural news conference Thursday night, Raman said she had already spoken to McDonnell and believed that public safety was the “most important service” the city can provide. She did not directly say whether his days leading the department are numbered.

“I wanna make sure that whatever happens over this transition that we are prepared to deliver that service at the levels that Angelenos expect,” she told reporters. “And I know Chief McDonnell’s committed to that, I’m committed to that and we’ll continue those discussions.”

During one sit-down with CNN, she was asked to name a police chief whom she admires or respects. “I don’t know … I don’t know,” she stammered in reply.

Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell speaks at a news conference in August.

(Arwen Clemans / Los Angeles Times)

In a brief statement, McDonnell said he respected the outcome of the election and congratulated Raman on her victory. He added that while politicians change, the LAPD’s mission public safety “remains constant.”

“As Chief of Police, I remain committed to leading a department that delivers professional, constitutional, and compassionate policing to all Angelenos,” the statement read.

McDonnell has called Raman’s comments disappointing in news interviews, but has otherwise steered clear of directly criticizing Raman in public. The department has released a series of public service announcements featuring the chief on its official Instagram account in recent days to address what officials said was “misinformation” about the LAPD’s operations — saying that the department is barred by Special Order 40 and state and city laws from assisting federal immigration agencies.

If Raman were to replace the chief, when and how it would happen are unclear.

L.A.’s mayor cannot unilaterally fire the police chief. Only the City Council and the Board of Police Commissioners, whose five civilian members are handpicked by the mayor, have that authority. Under the city charter, the council can initiate removal proceedings, but only by a two-thirds vote. It’s unclear whether Raman could muster enough support to make a change right away, since none of the City Council members endorsed her candidacy.

New mayors typically replace current police commissioners with their own appointees — sometimes, leaving one or two in place for continuity — but the process can take weeks since each commissioner has to be confirmed by the council.

A spokesperson for Raman’s mayoral campaign did not respond to a request for an interview about her plans for the LAPD.

Outgoing Mayor Karen Bass has publicly backed the chief she hired two years ago, saying the LAPD could be thrown into disarray if McDonnell is removed before the 2028 Olympic Games.

The question of who might replace McDonnell has been the subject of feverish speculation. One of the most talked about candidates for the top job is Emada Tingirides, an assistant chief who was a finalist in the last chief search, which ended with Bass’ selection of McDonnell. Although questions were previously raised about her perceived lack of leadership experience, Tingirides has been in charge of the department’s Office of Operations, which oversees virtually all patrol personnel, for more than a year.

Other names have been bandied around — including top former LAPD official Bill Scott, the chief of the new Metro police force, and former Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón.

But department insiders have dismissed certain reports — namely any mentioning Gascón — as nothing more than rumors. Gascón told The Times that he has not communicated with the Raman campaign, and said he does not want to be chief. Scott did not respond to a message seeking comment.

LAPD insiders have also discussed Art Acevedo, who has served as police chief in Houston and Miami, and Robert Arcos, a former LAPD assistant chief who works for the county Probation Department, as potential candidates for the job. Both also interviewed for the job during the last chief search; Arcos was a finalist.

Arcos said he has had no conversations with Raman’s team. Asked whether he has been approached about working with Raman, Acevedo replied, “No, absolutely not.”

The guessing game about who will lead the department in the near future has been fueled at least in part by Raman’s seeming indecisiveness on the matter. In interviews and debates, she has struggled to offer a clear vision of where she wants to take the LAPD.

Members of Raman’s progressive base expect major changes from Day 1 — and without swift action, she risks angering them, some political experts say.

Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles co-founder Melina Abdullah, who endorsed Raman in the final days of the campaign, said in a text message with The Times that she is counting on the new mayor to follow through on her “commitment to remove Chief McDonnell.”

Beyond that, though, she said Raman needs to increase funding for violence prevention and intervention groups and to “block the mass surveillance of Angelenos” by companies such as Flock Safety and Axon.

Picking a new chief is considered one of the most important decisions any mayor will make, with legacy-defining implications. The conventional wisdom holds that a new mayor means a change of leadership at the LAPD, and potentially new policies.

But that hasn’t always been the case. At least not recently.

Bass oversaw the reappointment of McDonnell’s predecessor, Michel Moore, shortly after her election and stood by him for a year through numerous controversies before Moore’s abrupt resignation in early 2024. Bass’ predecessor, Eric Garcetti, stuck with Charlie Beck, the chief he inherited when he was elected in 2013; Beck was then reappointed to a second five-year term, also under Garcetti. In the early 2000s, then-Mayor James Hahn — with the support of the police union — infamously opposed Police Chief Bernard Parks’ bid for reappointment.

Beyond replacing the chief, a mayor can influence the LAPD’s operations and policies in other ways, including through executive directives. Raman’s election could, for instance, prompt the City Council to take a second look at Special Order 40, a 1979 policy that prohibits officers from stopping people for the sole purpose of determining their immigration status. Critics say the policy — aimed at reassuring the city’s immigrants that they could safely report a crime or serve as a witness without fear of deportation — doesn’t prevent the LAPD from working with federal immigration agencies.

As part of her agenda for her first 100 days, Raman has said she will seek an audit of the LAPD’s efforts to follow L.A.’s sanctuary city law, which requires that city agencies treat information that can be used to trace a person’s citizenship or immigration status as confidential.

Even McDonnell’s critics acknowledge the difficulty of replacing him. Doing so would probably involve a national search, outside consultants and pitched debates about whether to appoint an experienced outsider with top leadership experience — or promote an insider with a firm grasp of where the LAPD has come from historically and an understanding of the political and labor landscape.

McDonnell is popular with the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union for rank-and-file officers, which remains a powerful force in city politics — although its influence has waned in recent elections, with mayoral candidates who have received the union’s endorsement failing to win in the last two election cycles. The union poured millions of dollars into attack ads against Raman.

As it became clear that Raman would win the race, longtime police union director Jamie McBride was quoted in a news story saying that her mayorship would spell “Armageddon” for the city.

Ruben Lopez, a former LAPD lieutenant, said he has read or heard similarly alarmist comments by plenty of other current and former LAPD officers. But the reality is, he said, he expects Raman and LAPD officials to eventually find common ground — and in the meantime most officers will keep working.

“The true professionals, they’ll keep doing their job just like we saw in New York when [Zohran] Mamdani got elected, said Lopez, who was in charge of SWAT before leaving the department.

Near record-low crime numbers could provide Raman with enough political cover to begin pushing through LAPD reforms while juggling the myriad other issues confronting the city, such as homelessness, housing affordability and crumbling infrastructure.

As mayor, Raman may also be called on to solve the problem of the LAPD’s dwindling ranks.

As of this week, the department had 8,504 sworn personnel — the lowest total since October 1995 — roughly a tenth of whom are not on full duty status, officials say. Even after efforts under Bass to streamline hiring and boost recruitment, some officials are concerned there won’t be enough new officers to replace those projected to leave or retire in the coming years.

Also on her to-do list will be overseeing the negotiations of the next police contract.

The mayor-elect has denounced the raises for rank-and-file officers negotiated by Bass in 2023, which Raman said has deepened the city’s financial problems. Sold as a way to boost recruitment, the pay increases are among the reasons the police union endorsed Bass’ reelection.

Some political experts say Raman enters office unburdened by an indebtedness to the police union. At the same time, she has said she doesn’t want to see the LAPD get any smaller and will need to work with the union to hammer out a new contract, after the current one expires in December.

In a statement released after her election victory, the Police Protective League’s board of directors said it shares a common goal with Raman of shoring up the department’s recruitment of new officers.

“Los Angeles police officers and others are filled with uncertainty and angst at the prospect of major cuts to the LAPD that will reverse the progress made in reducing crime,” the statement said. “Mayor-elect Raman has stated that she does not want staffing levels to decrease from current levels, we share that goal and are committed to ensuring enough officers remain to keep our residents, the Olympics, and our officers safe.”

Negotiations for the next contract are expected to ramp up in January.

Times staff writers David Zahniser and James Queally contributed to this report.

Super League has said its shareholders have agreed to expand the league from 14 clubs to 15 for the 2027 season.

The league expanded from 12 to 14 teams in time for 2026, allowing Bradford Bulls, York Knights and Toulouse Olympique to join, with Salford Red Devils dropping out after a financially tumultuous 2025 campaign.

It will be the first time the league has operated with 15 clubs, with the top flight running with 12 for much of its existence apart from spells with 14 teams in 2000, from 2009 to 2014 and last season.

“[Super League (Europe)] has passed their decision on to the Rugby Football League board,” a league statement said., external

“The RFL Board will now set out criteria and assemble a panel to run the process to judge against it.

“A recommendation will be made in due course.”

Rui Pinto is ‘in talks’ with UK authorities to help uncover more crime in exchange for police protection, reports say.

Football whistleblower Rui Pinto, whose leaks triggered an investigation into Manchester City’s financial misconduct, has held discussions with authorities in the United Kingdom over a new role in helping uncover financial and sporting crime in the country, reports in British media say.

Pinto’s lawyers have been contacted by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) after he stated he would be willing to assist UK authorities with investigations in exchange for police protection, British newspaper The Guardian reported on Wednesday.

Al Jazeera sought confirmation of Pinto’s reported contact with the authorities, but the SFO did not confirm whether the whistleblower was in talks.

“In line with long-established practice to avoid prejudice to law enforcement activity, we can neither confirm nor deny any investigation into this matter,” the SFO said in an emailed statement to Al Jazeera.

Pinto appeared to confirm the reports of his discussions with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) by reposting an article on his social media account.

The 38-year-old is the founder of the website Football Leaks, which obtained private documents that showed City broke league rules from 2009 to 2018, leading to a probe by the Premier League’s independent commission.

City were found guilty of all but one of 115 charges brought against them over breaches of Premier League financial rules.

Pinto’s lawyer, William Bourdon, who has represented other high-profile whistleblowers including Julian Assange and Edward Snowden, was quoted by the Guardian as saying: “I can confirm that the process is under way.”

Pinto said last month that he feared for his life after being told his witness protection programme would end on October 10 and launched a crowdfunding initiative to help him establish an anonymous new life.

“The Commission responsible for Portugal’s witness protection programme informed me of its decision to terminate my participation in the programme and withdraw my police protection, thereby knowingly placing me in a life-threatening situation,” he wrote in a social media post.

“Given these circumstances, I have no alternative but to relocate, within the next few days, to an undisclosed location for an indefinite period of time, due to the multiple death threats I have received and the serious risk of an assassination attempt against me.

“For this reason, I have just set up a GoFundMe campaign and I am asking for everyone’s support to help me survive this serious situation created by the Portuguese State, which, as I have already stated, has knowingly decided to place my life at risk.”

However, the Portuguese Ministry of Justice said it would extend his protection pending a new hearing, after Pinto’s lawyers challenged the decision.

Reports last month said Pinto had reached out to UK authorities to offer cooperation in ongoing investigations in exchange for security measures being placed around him.

Pinto said at the start of his trial in April 2020 that he was “proud” to be a whistleblower on European football clubs’ big-money dealings.

The former history student and self-taught computer expert faced 90 charges – from unauthorised access to data and violation of correspondence to attempted extortion – in the case heard at Lisbon’s Central Criminal Court.

“I don’t consider myself a hacker. I am a whistleblower,” he said at the time. “The revelations are serious and I’m proud; there’s no shame. I haven’t done anything for money,” added Pinto, who acknowledges releasing 70 million documents on football’s backroom workings.

He was given a four-year suspended sentence in September 2023 for illegally obtaining documents, committing other cybercrimes and attempted extortion. He was later acquitted on 241 separate counts in a second trial in April 2026 after the court ruled the charges were ­­“invalid”.

Pinto has been a protected witness since August 2020 after agreeing to grant Portuguese authorities access to millions of files gathered before his arrest. His first trial in Portugal began a month later.

As we sit in Gerald Cyrus’ upstairs office, we snack greedily from a box of sugar-free oatmeal raisin cookies, our favorite treat when printing at the house that holds the bulk of his sprawling archive and taut darkroom in North Philadelphia. For the last two years I’ve been visiting this house, poring over box after massive box of shimmering silver gelatin prints, learning printing techniques, and editing Gerald’s debut monograph, “Uptown Odyssey,” published in October by TBW Books.

I first met Gerald at the end of 2024, after coming across a Cafe Royal booklet of some of his photographs at the Photographers’ Gallery in London. I posted about the pleasure I took in the work — the inky, jazzy perfection of these bombastic photographs — and Gerald and I struck up a conversation. He told me that he was based in Philadelphia and I was surprised because at the time I was living there too. He invited me around for a studio visit and from there an unexpected friendship blossomed.

In the photography world today — especially as it pertains to the photo book — there is a stunning lack of representation for Black photographers. Honestly, if you browse the shelves of any art book store today you would think that Black people only existed as subject matter, never as storytellers. This kind of excision, this near total erasure of the Black voice, can turn one toward madness, certainly toward bitterness. Gerald, miraculously, is a total delight. He’s funny, charming, excitable and curious and his love of this medium remains largely unblemished.

Gioncarlo Valentine, “Sifting through the archive,” Philadelphia, 2024.

Whether it be his joyful photographs of families in Ghana and Brazil, his pictures of sleepy passengers on his cross-country trips on the Greyhound bus, his images of his extended family down in New Orleans, or his remarkably tender portraits of his hometown of L.A. in the 1980s, Gerald’s archive is a lush, captivating look at life wherever he finds it, rendered with curiosity, patience and care.

After our printing and our munching, I was excited to sit down for a conversation with him about Los Angeles, mentorship, cultural preservation and to think on what it means to champion the work of one’s elders and help steward it to a new, eager generation.

Gioncarlo Valentine: What was your photographic community like coming up in L.A.?

Gerald Cyrus: I was very fortunate in that I was able to discover a group of photographers based out of Leimert Park at a gallery called the Black Gallery. It was started by Roland Charles, Calvin Hicks, Donald Bernard and Gil Garner, and also the photographer Willie Middlebrook was an important person who I met there. They gave me the opportunity to exhibit for the very first time and gave me a chance to meet working photographers. I got to learn various techniques and I got to assist Roland Charles on a few of his commercial shoots and learn a little bit about lighting, so it was an extremely important place for me to develop my instincts about photography and to decide what I wanted to do, and to have other African American photographers show me that it could be done.

GV: Your photographs in L.A. feel much more spacious than the ones you would go on to make in New York. How did you start to develop your photographic sensibilities there?

GC: This is where I developed my initial instincts and ideas about the medium. L.A. is a place that’s very spread out. It’s very much dominated by the car. I found myself drawn to a type of photography where proximity was important, and so it’s difficult to create those kinds of images in L.A., particularly on the street. In terms of photographing jazz, there were jazz clubs in L.A. that I would go to, so I was definitely able to explore that part of my interest. But as far as photographing on the street, [those images] are marked by a certain distance from people or solitary figures in a vast landscape, that sort of thing. Moving to New York gave me the opportunity to figure out how to photograph within close proximity to people.

Gerald Cyrus, “Horace Tapscott and Bassist,” Los Angeles, 1992.

GV: Was the impulse to create the work you made in New York during the 1990s a conscious act of cultural preservation? I’m wondering if you were drawn to these spaces because this was your area of interest, or if you had a sense that change was coming?

GC: I had no idea the culture was going to change so fast or almost disappear. It was more about exploring something that interested me, and trying to do it in a way that could exploit my artistic sensibilities. Looking at these things, whether it be jazz, Black culture, street culture or just the history of Harlem, I wanted to explore them and to see if I could do it in my own way.

GV: OK, so you didn’t start off making work with the intention of thinking through cultural preservation, but that is a huge aspect to your work.

GC: I think that’s a byproduct of photography, that things that you photograph at some point are no longer going to be there. Looking at those images now, I can see things in L.A. that aren’t the same. Things in Harlem that are not the same. I don’t think any of those bars and lounges in Harlem that I photographed in are still around. Things you see in advertisements, the way people dress, fashion, all those things are changing. And so, even if it’s not your intent to document a changing culture, it ends up being that way. If you’re out there in the streets photographing life as it happens, that’s going to be part of it.

Gerald Cyrus, “We Can Get Along,” Los Angeles, 1992.

GV: Mentorship is something that I’ve written about before. It’s a hot topic for many of us, and it’s so loaded and tricky. When I first started, I was desperate for mentorship — you know, somebody who got there before you did that could guide and advise. They see that you have the talent and hunger and they’re receptive to your ask for support.

I think I told you the story of a photojournalist that I met when I first got to New York, and he was very kind. He invited me into his home and gave me such great advice. After we met, I sent him an email, and I was like, “Hey, would you consider being my mentor?” I wrote a thorough list of what I believed mentorship entailed. I didn’t want somebody to be like, “Yeah, I’ll mentor you,” and it’s just them telling me how to do things in their way. I was interested in mentorship as stewardship. Mentorship as critique, yes, but also as education and support. I wrote this really lovely email, and he received it and never responded. But when I started shooting cover stories for the New York Times, he would send me random emails congratulating me. It was odd and painful, and years later it became evident that he felt some guilt around that.

While hunting for mentorship, I became friends with folks like Ming Smith, Renee Cox and Eric Johnson. But those relationships weren’t mentorship. They were friendships or some kind of imbalanced peership. It was mostly me, eagerly listening to the stories of people who’ve had really fascinating careers and lives. I never did find the thing that I was seeking.

Do you feel you have adequate mentorship?

GC: As I mentioned before, very early on I was able to connect with Black Gallery, and I definitely consider those individuals to be mentors. They helped me to exhibit my work and get a little experience as an assistant. There would be monthly gatherings, in the late ’80s, and they would have slideshows, and you’d get to meet so many other photographers. That was absolutely a space where I felt that I was getting some mentorship. As well as with one of my early teachers, Sheila Pinkel, who’s a fabulous artist. I took a course from her at UCLA, and she was the first person to tell me where to buy a Roy DeCarava book. I mentioned to her that I was interested in his work. I had seen a documentary film about him, and she told me to go to Hennessey + Ingalls in Santa Monica to buy his book. And even when the course ended, I continued to go by to show her my work. So she absolutely was a mentor.

Then, when I moved to New York, I found it to be much more difficult.

GV: Why do you think that mentorship was such a struggle in New York?

GC: I think New York is just a much more competitive place and people are very wary of having ideas stolen from them. Also, I think people are more pressed for time. Maybe they just don’t have the time to give. I would get the names of photographers and call them up and I would rarely get a returned phone call. Later on, I would meet these photographers and become friends with them — you know, when I was more on their level. But when I was starting out and trying to get some advice or someone to show me the ropes, I couldn’t find that in New York.

GV: As you’ve aged, how has your relationship to mentorship changed and maybe your understanding of what mentorship is?

GC: Well, now people ask me to be a mentor. Sometimes it’s surprising because I feel like I’m still kind of struggling to find my way. So the fact that other people are asking me for advice …

GV: But don’t you think that that’s a lot of what the problem was when you were looking for mentorship? That the elders thought the exact same way?

GC: Possibly, but I mean, I always respond to people.

GV: [Laughs.] OK, so that’s an issue of bedside manner.

GC: I might not have much, but I’m willing to talk to you. If you have any questions, I’m willing to answer. I do try to be helpful, as much as I can.

Gioncarlo Valentine, “Gerald laughing in his studio,” Philadelphia, 2025.

Gerald Cyrus, “Gioncarlo,” Los Angeles, June 6, 2026.

GV: Why would you feel like you wouldn’t be the person for those folks seeking your guidance?

GC: Because, I mean, I’m not widely published or widely exhibited. I’m surprised sometimes when people actually know my work. [Laughs.] Like, where did you see it?

GV: What does that feel like to you? That rationale that you just presented? I find it very heartbreaking, albeit familiar. That’s one of the strongest tools of white supremacy. It will disenfranchise you to the extremes, no matter how brilliant you are, and you’ll be so dispossessed that you actually lose sight of your own significance, your own talent and impact. Meanwhile, when we, your audience, see your work we are completely knocked over by it.

GC: Well, that takes me back to the ’80s when I learned about DeCarava and I bought his “Friends of Photography” monograph. I learned that he had this other widely acclaimed book from the ’50s called “The Sweet Flypaper of Life” [co-authored with Langston Hughes]. And I thought, “Oh man, this guy is fantastic!” And I would mention him to white photographers, and they had no idea who he was. So it kind of goes back to that, you can be a person who achieves this level of accomplishment and still be unknown, which was shocking to me.

GV: This brings me back to a question I’m always thinking through, but that feels top of mind for me these days: What does it mean to be successful? How do you define success as an artist beyond visibility, beyond being known? It can’t just be about being known because each one of our areas of art is niche. Broadway is niche. Theater is niche. Writing, photography, painting, ultimately these things are all niche spaces. We think this photographer or that photographer is big s—, but they are rarely household names if your household is not filled with like-minded artists. I think about this all the time with Ta-Nehisi Coates because, to me, he’s such a hero. But ask a random person on the streets about Ta-Nehisi Coates, baby, they don’t know who the f— that man is.

[Laughs.]

GC: You have to define it for yourself in terms of setting goals for yourself, and then try to achieve those goals. In terms of having a close group of colleagues who you respect that you can show your work to and get strong feedback. But in order to make it as an artist, you have to have some strong self-determination to keep going, which can be difficult.

GV: How have you kept going?

GC: I’m hardheaded, so I was gonna do it one way or the other, even it was just me looking at my own work. But, again, having colleagues that I could go to, and they say, “Yeah, your work is strong. Keep going!” It’s important to have those people that can really push you.

GV: There are many similarities in our work, both in the kinds of subjects that we’re drawn to, and our preference for black-and-white images. What do you think accounts for that, a.k.a. are you my dad?

Gerald Cyrus, “Mom,” Los Angeles, 1991.

Gioncarlo Valentine, “A picture of Gerald as a little boy,” Los Angeles, 2026.

Gioncarlo Valentine, “Gerald’s mother,” Los Angeles, 2026.

GC: You know, I think there’s like a lineage, right? When you’re looking at the work of African American photographers throughout history, I think most of it passes through black-and-white imagery. So most of that medium, most of that legacy is going to be in black and white, and in terms of the subject matter, I don’t know. Maybe there’s something in our work that shows a reverence for the culture that maybe you don’t see in everyday media. A certain deepness and insight into the culture. I also think we’re both very attuned to gestures and how it reflects cultural attitudes.

GV: Do you ever think about your photographic family tree? Who’s up in there? Who’s your photo papa?

GC: [Laughs.] It’s probably DeCarava. Definitely. I really didn’t know anything about serious photography, or consider that I would be someone interested in serious photography, until I saw a documentary film on him, and that sent me down this road. And other people like Josef Koudelka and Danny Lyon. Lee Friedlander in the sense of how the camera sees things, not so much in terms of his humanistic sensibility. Andre Kertész was an early influence. Henri Cartier-Bresson and Beuford Smith. Street photographers like Helen Levitt, a lot of Magnum and Kamoinge photographers.

GV: When somebody picks up your book, “Uptown Odyssey,” what do you want them to walk away with?

GC: I want them to have a little journey through a time period and a place, and get a sense, a feeling, and maybe get a heightened awareness of what those streets were like, what that subway was like, what these nightclubs and bars were like, and come away feeling like they were nourished in some way by looking at the photographs.

Gioncarlo Valentine, “Gerald and me next to the Meteor Man suit,” Los Angeles, 2026.

Gioncarlo Valentine is an award–winning photographer and writer from Baltimore, whose work focuses on Black life and legacy.

Stock index futures were higher on Wednesday as strong results and upbeat guidance from CoreWeave lifted sentiment across the technology sector, with Nasdaq futures leading gains.

Here are the five news items investors should watch:

Fed faces growing inflation challenge:

A week after polls closed, Jose Ugarte and Estuardo Mazariegos are still locked in a tight race to see who will succeed Curren Price for the Los Angeles City Council’s 9th District seat.

Ugarte was leading Mazariegos by just 156 votes, 19,200 to 19,044, according to the latest tally released by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Tuesday night.

Tuesday was the last day for mail-in ballots to be counted, said Mike Sanchez, spokesperson for the office. Sanchez said he couldn’t estimate how many votes remained to be counted.

Because of the Veterans Day holiday Wednesday, the next vote tally will not be released until Friday, he said.
District 9 encompasses South L.A. neighborhoods, the Convention Center and USC.

The current councilmember, Price, must leave office because of term limits and is currently facing charges of embezzlement and conflict of interest and he has denied wrongdoing. Price has endorsed Ugarte, whose platform includes protecting city residents from federal immigration enforcement and the Trump administration. Mazariegos is backed by the L.A. chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. He has worked as a community organizer for decades and said he’s running to improve quality of life in the city, including by making housing more affordable and spending money on basic services other than policing.

Mazariegos’ campaign made claims this week against the Ugarte campaign and shared images of unsealed and sealed ballots, alleging the ballots were collected during “an Ugarte canvassing operation.”

“Taking people’s ballots, filling them out, and not following legal voter assistance guidelines in a district that has faced so much disenfranchisement is disgusting,” Mazariegos said in a statement.

Among their claims, the campaign shared a photo of a USC student volunteering for Ugarte’s campaign delivering a stack of ballots to a drop box.

The registrar-recorder’s office forwarded the complaint to the district attorney’s office for review, Sanchez said. Sanchez said the photo of the student, which circulated online, didn’t raise alarms because California law allows voters to authorize another person to return their completed ballots.

The district attorney’s office said it was looking into the matter.

Ugarte said in a statement that the allegations made by Mazariegos’ campaign “are categorically false and defamatory.”

The 9th District seat is one of two council races determined in the Nov. 3 election. Barri Worth Girvan declared victory in the west San Fernando Valley’s 3rd District seat Friday night, after the latest vote tally showed her widening her lead over rival Tim Gaspar, with 51% of the vote to Gaspar’s 48%.

“I will bring competence, transparency, follow-through, and ethical leadership to City Hall, which Angelenos deserve and too often do not get,” Worth Girvan said in a statement.

Worth Girvan will replace Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who is leaving office because of term limits. The 3rd District seat includes Woodland Hills, Reseda and Canoga Park.

Before entering the race, Worth Girvan was L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath’s district director for three years, handling constituent services on the Westside and in the Valley, and has spent nearly 20 years working in public service. Gaspar is a former insurance company owner who had been backed by business groups.

Before this season, Koumas had mixed success across his three loans to the second tier.

The forward made 31 starts and scored six goals during his first loan spell at Stoke City for the 2024-25 campaign.

A disappointing stint at Birmingham City followed, before he helped Hull City win promotion to the Premier League in the second half of last season.

“Loans can be hit and miss at times and I’m actually surprised by the amount of game time he’s had at such a young age in the Championship,” Bellamy said.

“It helps with their development. They see it, they smell it. In that period some take off, some don’t, but it’s not going to define your career.

“You’re learning and gaining experience and exposure and Liverpool felt it was right for him to go on loan.

“They decided to keep him for pre-season this year and it’s real example of how to progress a top, young talent.”

Koumas’ next opportunity to impress on the international stage comes this Saturday in Oslo, as Wales take on Norway.

Wales are looking to repeat their win over Stale Solbakken’s side during the last international window to boost their chances of League A survival.

“The thing with Koumy is he hits a lot of the markers,” Bellamy said.

“Intensity and sprint distance through the roof and when you look at a top player he has all the markers for that.

“I like him at nine and I love that intensity. I remember [Carlos] Tevez doing the same for me at Manchester City and players like Koumy inspire you.

“You see him going and you say, ‘I’ve got to go, I’ve got to move as well.’ It’s got to be controlled, but his willingness excites you.”

The United States House ⁠of Representatives has blocked an attempt to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a surprise reprieve for President Donald Trump’s administration as Republicans reel from their midterm election defeat.

The impeachment articles were introduced by Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, but the effort was backed primarily by Democrats. They accuse Hegseth of abuses of power and conducting illegal military operations.

The Republican-led House voted 211-204 on Tuesday to refer the articles back to the House Judiciary Committee, where they could remain indefinitely. The procedural move in effect killed the impeachment drive for the duration of the current Congress’s term, which ends in eight weeks. On January 3, Democrats will take control of the House and Senate.

In a twist, the absence of 11 Democratic lawmakers during the vote proved decisive.

Here’s what to know about the vote to block Hegseth’s impeachment and what could happen next:

What was Tuesday’s vote about?

The vote was not on whether to impeach Hegseth. It was on whether to refer the articles of impeachment to the Judiciary Committee, where they may be further investigated or amended.

Such procedural moves are often used as stalling tactics. With the current Congress due to conclude soon, the resolution is unlikely to return to the House floor before its term ends.

Massie called the vote “a procedural motion to kill the resolution”.

What was the result of the vote?

It narrowly passed 211-204.

Massie was the sole Republican to oppose the measure. The remaining votes fell along party lines with Republicans supporting the measure and Democrats opposing it.

Eighteen representatives were absent from the vote – 11 Democrats and seven Republicans. Had the Democrats shown up and voted with their colleagues, they would have had the numbers to defeat the procedural move, forcing a full House vote on whether to impeach Hegseth as early as this week.

Trump cheered the result of Tuesday’s vote in a social media post, saying the Democrats’ impeachment effort had “miserably FAILED!”

Who were the 11 absent Democrats, and why did they miss the vote?

The Democrats absent from the vote were:

• Julia Brownley (California)
• Lou Correa (California)
• Nancy Pelosi (California)
• Laura Gillen (New York)
• Steven Horsford (Nevada)
• Jonathan Jackson (Illinois)
• Brittany Pettersen (Colorado)
• Melanie Stansbury (New Mexico)
• Haley Stevens (Michigan)
• Marilyn Strickland (Washington)
• Frederica Wilson (Florida)

The representatives have given varying explanations for why they did not show up.

Strickland, Jackson, Stansbury and Gillen all blamed a traffic delay in Washington, DC.

Pelosi said she was in her home state for a veterans event while Correa said he was in California before undergoing a health procedure. Horsford’s office cited a personal emergency.

Pettersen, who said she helped introduce articles of impeachment against Hegseth in April, said she had been “denied the ability to vote on this motion” without elaborating.

Jackson, Stansbury, Gillen, Strickland, Horsford, Pelosi and Pettersen all said they would have joined their Democratic colleagues in opposing the measure. Jackson and Stansbury also said they had formally recorded their opposition in the Congressional Record although this does not change the official vote count.

There was no immediate comment from Stevens, Brownley or Wilson on their absences.

Stevens previously criticised the Trump administration for launching the war on Iran with Israel and sought more congressional oversight. But days before the US midterm elections on November 3, the Michigan congresswoman, who had lost the Democratic primary for the state’s open Senate seat earlier to Abdul El-Sayed, endorsed Republican candidate Mike Rogers against her own party’s nominee.

Wilson, 83, on Monday attended the groundbreaking for a housing project in Miami-Dade County. Wilson and Brownley, like Stevens, previously opposed Trump’s handling of the war on Iran and demanded the administration seek congressional approval for the fighting.

What has been the reaction?

Democratic politicians and progressive commentators have expressed outrage that poor attendance from Democrats impacted the outcome of the vote.

Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove from California said: “We knew that this vote was coming, so people should have gotten their raggedy selves up these steps to vote.”

“There is no reason why we should have lost this vote because of attendance issues,” she added.

Senator-elect El-Sayed, responding to a question about the absent Democrats, said: “You should show up and do your job.”

Some pundits pointed the finger at Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is expected to become the new speaker of the House in January. They accused him of failing to exert sufficient pressure on party members to defeat the measure.

Political commentator Krystal Ball called the vote “a major Hakeem Jeffries fail”.

“You could have impeached the war criminal Pete Hegseth but Dems didn’t show up to vote,” she said.

Progressive writer Laura Bassett said: “Jeffries didn’t even whip the vote. He told people to ‘vote their conscience’, and 11 members of his caucus didn’t show up. This is why people want a stronger leader.”

Could Hegseth still be impeached?

Yes. When the new Democratic-controlled Congress convenes in January, they could begin the process again and will be in a stronger position to advance impeachment articles.

Jeffries has said he will consult members about another potential bid to impeach Hegseth next year. “We’ll have that conversation at the appropriate time,” he said.

However, a vote to impeach Hegseth does not necessarily mean he will be removed from office. Impeachment itself means the House has formally brought charges against a federal official, similar to a criminal indictment.

A successful impeachment vote triggers a trial in Congress’s upper chamber, the Senate, on whether to convict.

A conviction, which immediately removes the official from office, requires at least two-thirds support in the Senate. That means Democrats, even with their incoming majority in the chamber next year, would likely need about a dozen Republicans to join them to secure Hegseth’s removal.

Only eight officials – all federal judges – have ever been convicted by the Senate. Trump has been impeached twice – in December ⁠2019 and January 2021 – but the Senate acquitted him on both occasions.

The unusual exodus of KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling jets from RAF Mildenhall in the U.K. continued on Tuesday. The movements, which began on Monday, are taking place as security levels at the installation have been raised, due to threats from Iran, acccording to The Wall Street Journal. TWZ was the first to report that Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath were operating under enhanced security measures.

The departure of the KC-135s and increased security protocols are taking place a month after U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers hastily left RAF Fairford in the U.K. following a security incident connected to Iran.

Tuesday afternoon local time, a KC-135 Stratotanker, tail number 58-0095, took off from Mildenhall toward Germany, according to Flightradar24. A few hours later another KC-135, tail number 59-1464, also took off, according to the ADS-B exchange.

The flights were first noticed by the @DefenceGeek open-source flight tracker account on X. The departures on Tuesday followed those of 10 other KC-135s and three CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft from Mildenhall on Monday, DefenceGeek noted on X. The tankers flew to Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany, Moron Air Base in Spain, Ramstein Air Base in Germany and Glasgow Prestwick International Airport in Scotland. The three CV-22s flew to RAF Lakenheath.

Why are the KC-135s leaving RAF Mildenhall?

When we asked about the repositioning of aircraft away from Mildenhall and the reported threats from Iran, the White House on Tuesday morning referred us to U.S. European Command (EUCOM). In a statement nearly identical to one we received Monday, the command declined to offer specifics about the aircraft movements or the increased security measures at Mildenhall and Lakenheath.

U.S. Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE) also declined to provide any details.

“For operational security reasons, we are unable to discuss specific force protection measures,” USAFE told us on Tuesday morning. “We constantly assess a variety of factors that determine what measures are implemented or modified. In close partnership with our host nation Ally, RAF Mildenhall remains vigilant. Together, we are taking coordinated and appropriate actions to ensure the safety and security of our U.S. service members, U.S. and host nation civilians, contractors, and all of our families. Protecting our shared community is a joint responsibility, and we encourage everyone to support this effort by reporting any unusual or suspicious activity to local authorities.”

As far as whether Iran threatened Mildenhall, USAFE said it would be “inappropriate to comment on matters of intelligence. We have nothing further to provide.”

As we noted at the top of this story, The Wall Street Journal on Monday night reported that the aircraft departures from RAF Mildenhall began after an unspecified threat from Iran.

“The precise nature of the threat to RAF Mildenhall—whether imminent or more general—remains under discussion among U.S. officials,” the newspaper wrote, citing its sources.

Security at both Mildenhall and Lakenheath was raised to Force Protection Condition Charlie (FPCON Charlie), the second-highest alert for U.S. military installations. FPCON Charlie applies when an incident occurs or intelligence is received indicating some form of terrorist action targeting personnel or facilities is likely.

TWZ cannot independently confirm The Wall Street Journal’s reporting. However, on Monday, a U.S. official told us that “enhanced force protection measures” were underway at Mildenhall and Lakenheath. The official did not say why.

Both installations are home to U.S. Air Force aircraft and are major hubs for transits to other regions, as we have noted in the past.

How serious is the reported threat to RAF Mildenhall and Lakenheath?

A ​spokesman for U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham told Reuters that the protection of Britain’s military bases was a top priority, and that the government worked closely with the police and allies to protect them.

“Security measures were kept under constant review and the government was investing more than £2 billion in air defense and counter-drone capabilities,” the spokesman said. Asked if he was ​confident that Britain’s bases were safe, he said: “Yes.”

A former commander of the 100th Air Refueling Wing, the host unit at Mildenhall, told us that it certainly appears that the hasty departure of all these aircraft “is based on a credible threat.”

“Now, how severe of a threat, we would never know in this medium,” retired Air Force Col. Troy Pananon told us. “The threat might not need to be significant to make a decision to move assets from varying locations.”

Pananon, who also served at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, called the departures from Mildenhall “atypical” and likened them to when “we routinely evacuated aircraft from MacDill for potential hurricane impact and projected paths.”

The Iranian threats to the two U.S. air bases in England were reported as efforts are underway to stave off a new round of attacks from the U.S., and likely Israel, against Iran.

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that for the moment, new combat operations are not imminent.

“I informed our partners – as we’ve been discussing with you and others – that at this point the economic campaign and the pressure and the devastation that our economic campaign is having on the Iranian regime is working so well that the President really doesn’t have any need to conduct major combat operations,” Rubio explained.  “Now, obviously, if Iran crosses certain red lines, if their regime does certain things that should not happen – I’m not going to speculate what those are, but you know what they are – obviously the U.S. military, the most capable military in the world, stands ready to address it.”

What else has Iran been accused of in Europe?

The reported Iranian threats against the two U.K. air bases are not the only recent nefarious actions in Europe attributed to the Islamic Republic. Commercial refrigerators at grocery stores across France were hit by an Iranian cyber attack, French authorities claim.

“On 11 and 12 October, nearly 700 retail sites were targeted by a cyber campaign that was unprecedented in its scale and level of aggressiveness,” French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot stated on X Tuesday morning. “Today, thanks to the work of government services, we know who is responsible: the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran. The Ambassador of Iran has been summoned. We plan to sanction the perpetrators and take all the measures we deem necessary and proportionate to respond to these attacks and deter those who might consider carrying out further attacks.”

As we mentioned earlier in this piece, security concerns about bases in England hosting U.S. Air Force aircraft and personnel were raised following an incident at RAF Fairford in September.

Like Mildenhall and Lakenheath, RAF Fairford is a major hub for U.S. military aircraft in the United Kingdom. It is a regular host of strategic assets, including bombers and U-2 spy planes. It also acts as a pit stop for other aircraft, including fighters, that are being ferried to and from the United States. Bomber strikes launched from Fairford were a central aspect of major U.S. combat operations against Iran earlier this year.

In late September, five men were arrested on suspicion of driving bomb-laden vans toward it. They were soon released on bail after no explosives were found, but two men were later arrested, one of whom was “charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service, which police earlier said they believed to be Iran,” according to the BBC.

According to a new U.S. federal indictment handed up on Tuesday, the plot against Fairford was partly coordinated from an American jail.

Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, a dual Iranian-Iraqi national, Mohsen Mohajeri, an Iranian national, and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, an Iraqi national, “allegedly conspired to commit terrorist attacks in Europe and the United States on behalf of an Iran-aligned terrorist network, which included the IRGC and Kata’ib Hizballah,” the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced. 

“Most recently, in approximately September 2026, al-Hassani allegedly orchestrated a terrorist plot at a British Royal Air Force Base (RAF Fairford) in Fairford, United Kingdom (the “RAF Fairford Terrorist Plot”), which at the time of the attempted attack, housed U.S. military aircraft and personnel,” according to DOJ.

“Al-Hassani and Mohajeri, both of whom were in Iran at the time of the RAF Fairford Terrorist Plot, allegedly relied on a network of contacts in the United Kingdom,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office added. “Al-Saadi, who was imprisoned and awaiting trial on pending terrorism charges in the Southern District of New York, attempted to coordinate with al-Hassani and Mohajeri from jail by passing coded messages through third parties.”

A week after the security incident, U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers that had been deployed to RAF Fairford in the U.K. since Operation Epic Fury returned to their home stations, a U.S. defense official confirmed to TWZ at the time. The hasty movement was reportedly sparked by new Iranian threats against the base. As we previously reported, Tehran directly threatened RAF Fairford in July over its use as a base to launch attacks against Iran.

We may never know what prompted the reported threats to Mildenhall and Lakenheath or exactly why so many aircraft were dispersed from Mildenhall in such a short period of time. We will provide the answers to those questions if and when we find them.

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

The provided text highlights the historical significance of Colon Day in Panama, which is annually commemorated on November 5. It details the pivotal events of November 5, 1903, when local citizens successfully persuaded stationed Colombian military forces to halt their advance toward Panama City. This peaceful intervention prevented the troops from gaining a tactical advantage that could have easily crushed the nation’s fragile independence movement. Furthermore, the excerpt serves as an example of content found on a broader digital platform that frequently covers international holidays, global news updates, and financial exchange rates.

Friends say they haven’t heard from her since November 6

A woman has disappeared in a tourist hotspot after leaving her hotel. Friends have been left worried after Emily Lummis disappeared after stepping out of her holiday accommodation.

The 38-year-old has not been seen for days after she vanished in Lisbon, Portugal. The last sighting of her came on November 6. The missing persons report states that she was last seen leaving the Palacio do Governador hotel in the district of Belem.

This sighting came around 12pm with no further updates made as of yet. The Brit, who is from London, is described as being blonde, around 5ft 4ins tall and of a slim build.

Emily also allegedly goes by the name ‘Lyra’. She was last seen wearing jeans, a grey jumper and a black overcoat. Brits abroad, expats and locals have been urged to contact the police with any information they may have.

Her friend Ravi has posted the report online. She said: “I’m here looking for help. Lyra, also known as Emily Lummis, has been missing since Friday 6th Nov, 12pm. Last seen leaving her hotel Palacio do Governador in the district of Belem.

“She is English, slim blonde, 38 years old, 5ft 4. Last seen wearing jeans, a grey jumper and a black overcoat.

“We are now increasingly worried. Please contact us if you have any information on seeing her or her whereabouts. Contact- Police no. +351 261 860 710 in Lisbon.”

DESCRIBED as “ruthless, calculated and manipulative”, the depravity of Russell Brand has appalled the nation as every chilling detail of his sex attacks played out in court.

By his own admission, he was a “hedonist” and “an exploiter of women” who used his celebrity status and every emotional tool in his arsenal to achieve what he considered to be “my birthright” – having an “orgasm”. 

Brand, who was jailed for 10 years and six months this week, said he had “dedicated a lot of [his] life” to “beyond reckless philandering” – acts that saw him be “persuasive, seductive, begging and flirting” and even pretend to be gay to sleep with women. 

Now, in the wake of him being convicted for three sexual assaults and one rape, more questions have emerged about this master of manipulation and what else he sought to control. 

It has been speculated that even his romances may have had a calculated nature behind them – apparently benefiting his career, status, wealth or a combination of them all.

Most notable in this theory is his relationship with Katy Perry. Before dating and then marrying the popstar, all within the space of 10 months, an ex-girlfriend claimed Brand told her his aim was to find a world-famous girlfriend in order to make him a global superstar. 

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At the time in 2010, Brand was famous in the UK for his stand-up specials, hosting Celebrity Big Brother spin-off Big Mouth and had parodied himself in films including Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him To The Greek and St Trinian’s. 

But the comedian was barely known stateside and no doubt, a relationship with Perry – who was quickly becoming the world’s most famous popstar thanks to mega hits I Kissed a Girl, Hot N Cold and Teenage Dream – would help him to achieve that. 

Brand himself admitted that he “pushed to get married early” due to feeling “inadequate and insecure” and according to Perry, he longed to be “an equal” both in their relationship and to be seen as one by the outside world. 

But this determination to be considered on the same level manifested itself in a dark way. It led him to “mock her and be mean behind her back,” according to one source, who claimed he “just couldn’t cope with her star eclipsing his”.

It also led him to share a deliberately unflattering, make-up free photo of Perry to his 1.8million followers on Twitter, now known as X, in 2010 – an act decreed as “cruel”, “mean” and “disrespectful” by fans. 

While Brand deleted the snap within 48 minutes of posting, it had already gone viral and exposed his wife to bile from online trolls across the globe, who eagerly branded her “ugly” among other hurtful comments. 

A source who knew the couple told The Times that Brand “found himself resenting her success” while “her career rocketed” and his was waning – most notably after his film Arthur, which he had been “given full rein on”, flopped at the Box Office in 2011.

Brand would later admit he “didn’t handle [their] marriage very well” due to his insecurity and loneliness while Perry was “pursuing her dream of … becoming the world’s most famous pop star”. They divorced in 2012. 

Yet the romance with Perry wasn’t the only time Brand has faced claims of having weaponised his love life for fame and financial gain.

Back in 2006, Brand’s career was still in its early days. He was a BBC Radio host, presenter on Big Brother Efourum – later known as Big Mouth – and had appeared on shows like Richard & Judy, Kings of Comedy and The Bill. 

That soon changed after he was photographed with world-renowned supermodel Kate Moss following a one night stand and the subsequent war of words in the love triangle involving them and Libertines frontman Pete Doherty. 

The publicity from those snaps coupled with the attention garnered from fuming Doherty calling him a “hairy t***” and “no replacement”, gave Brand’s star a huge bump. 

A year on from their romp, Brand had made a whopping 19 appearances on TV shows including on The Royal Variety Performance, The Big Fat Quiz Of The Year and Soccer AM.

He had also presented The BRIT Awards and released his first memoir My Booky Wook.

Brand would also capitalise from the Moss tryst by boasting about it in his second autobiography, My Booky Wook 2, where he described Moss as like “an angel of my own devising”.  

Prior to those feats, Brand seemed keen to distance himself from bad boy, lothario image and paint himself in a more wholesome light by claiming he was ready for lasting love.

He told the Mirror in 2006 about having sworn off sex and his master plan: “I’d like to settle down and have children.”

Yet at the same time, Brand – who claimed to have deleted 784 numbers from his phone to avoid temptation – ferociously flirted with his female interviewer.

When asked how long his abstinence, then at 22 days, would last, he replied: “Is that an offer? Because it’s incredibly indiscreet!”

Brand would later tell her: “You’re quite attractive and it’s making me think I should maybe face the other way a bit more.

“I think it’s the tights, your hair, the cleavage, the boots. And you’re all cute and blushy and Northern and sweet.”

Brand would tell her “blushing is an indication of sexual availability” and quizzed her about cheating multiple times, including asking: “Are you faithful at the minute?”

That was the same year, that Brand was accused of drugging and raping a 20-year-old student at an Edinburgh flat he was renting.

Brand denied any knowledge of the 2006 claims and, later, his friend Trevor Lock was charged with rape. The case was later dropped by police and prosecutors. 

He also started dating future wife Laura Gallagher – then a 19-year-old art student, while he was 31 – that same year. They broke up in 2007 after he cheated on her multiple times.

The next known relationship was with Perry, who he spent two years married to before dumping her and demanding a divorce via text message in 2012. 

A source, who knew the couple, claimed the split followed his struggles living stateside and dealing with “her star eclipsing his”.

They added: “He was becoming more disillusioned spending time in Hollywood and the failure of Arthur – a project he had been given full rein on.”

That year Brand returned to the UK and appeared to be attempting to reestablish himself as a British icon, with performances including at the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.

He appeared in a BBC documentary about substance abuse and addiction – which drew heavily from heroin and sex addictions, made a comeback comedy tour called Only Joking and even briefly dated Spice Girl Geri Horner.

The romance was over in less than two weeks but was so intense that the singer and Brand apparently spent three days looking at houses together in North Devon, according to a source.

At the time of the split, Horner said: “It’s been a whirlwind. All I want is to be in a loving relationship. Is he my ideal man? I’m choosy. I want someone who’s trustworthy, sweet and kind.”

By 2014, Brand had reinvented himself again as an activist – following a scandal-hit relationship with Jemima Goldsmith, the then-editor of political magazine The Spectator.

Post Brand’s conviction, she claimed to have suffered “violence, coercive control and abuse” during their year-long romance. She has not reported those claims to the police.

Their split followed an alleged 2014 “violent incident”, which ended with her having to “call the police to have him removed from my house”. 

Prior to the break up, there was more trouble linked to a masseuse hired by Brand, who claimed she was treated “like a prostitute” and was “the victim of wrongful and criminal conduct” – which the couple denied. 

The case was investigated by police but no charges were brought. Masseuse Szilvia Berki was taken to the High Court, where she had no legal representation and would be bankrupted by the £50,000 legal costs she was forced to pay.

She was subjected to a type of gagging order called an anti-harassment injunction, which prevented her from speaking about the case.

While the case was all unfolding, Brand was painting himself as a man of the people and campaigner. 

He released a book titled Revolution, which criticised capitalism and claimed democracy was broken. 

He joined housing and anti-gentrification protests and a group of young mothers who refused to leave their homes after being issued with eviction notices after funding was cut at their hostels. 

Then in 2015, when the case with masseuse Berki was settled, he started dating future wife Laura for a second time – a woman he married two years later and had three kids with.

Recalling how Brand came back into her life, Laura told Grazia in 2020: “My ex had literally moved out of our flat that day, and I was heartbroken, with mascara running down my face

“A friend dragged me out on a walk to the canal in east London, where I’d never been in my life, and as we came on to the footpath, Russell was standing there, like he’d organised it.”

Laura would remain a bedrock who has stood by him through the claims of abuse in Channel 4’s Dispatches in September 2023 and the many police interviews that would follow. 

In the lead up to those years, Brand had already started to raise doubts about the government, police and media online.

He began sharing dangerous myths that the Covid-19 jabs posed a risk to health and peddled anti-establishment narratives.  

Six months after the documentary came out, Brand was baptised in the River Thames by TV adventurer Bear Grylls in a Christian rebrand that would endear him to religious worshippers in America and the UK. 

Since then Brand has peddled false theories about the ‘mainstream media’, claimed those who spoke out are often silenced and pushed extreme far right theories. 

It led to fans championing his cause outside of Southwark Crown Court throughout his trial – including one group with a banner that read: “Christ was crucified for telling the truth, Russell is the truth”.

Those worshippers will likely continue to cast doubt upon the three sexual assault and one rape convictions that a jury found Brand guilty of last week. 

But for all of the many faces adorned by Russell Brand, it was not enough to prevent his past from catching up with him. 

Yesterday, he was sentenced to nearly 11 years imprisonment and will have to serve at least seven years before he can be considered for parole.  

Upon his release, Brand will no doubt emerge as another new man and with another grand plan to rise to fame once more. 

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Two panellists considered that the “subjectivity in assessing impact meant this did not meet the high threshold for VAR intervention”, but the majority view was it that was “a clear and obvious error”.

One panellist considered the “short-lived holding to lack clear impact on the ability of Isak to progress”.

Isak stayed on his feet during the incident.

After the match, Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola told BBC Match of the Day: “There is a clear grab of the shirt.

“Alex was just in front of him. He was going to head in front of the goal, but couldn’t because he grabbed the shirt.

“If he goes to the floor, they call the penalty, 100%. It should be like this, but it is what it is.

“Next time, the managers should tell Alex to go to the floor, otherwise they won’t call it.

“The answer is you have to dive. If you don’t dive they won’t call it.”

The KMI Panel ruled that there was a second VAR error on 31 October.

It said Ipswich should have been awarded a penalty against Hull City when Nobel Mendy held back Dara O’Shea at a corner.

Referee Peter Bankes did not spot the offence and VAR Neil Davies took no action.

The game was 0-0 at the time. Ipswich took the lead shortly afterwards and it finished 2-2.

When war engulfs Gaza in October 2023, members of a Palestinian-Russian family hold on for as long as they can. They have a route out of the Strip. But Anna and Ghassan Ashour and their daughters, Lisa and Donia, stay on despite the worsening conditions, because Gaza is their home. But as the violence escalates, they’re eventually forced to leave and head to Russia in search of safety. For Lisa and Donia, life there is unfamiliar. Struggling with the language, culture and separation from Gaza, the two of them move to Egypt, closer to home and to the possibility of a return. Split between Russia and Egypt, the family must find new ways to live with distance, uncertainty and longing. Their story reveals the enduring tension between the need for safety and the place that they still think of as home.