Incident is latest in months of intense violence between rival drug cartel members.
Twenty bodies, several of them decapitated, have been found on a highway bridge in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, Mexican authorities say, as rival drug cartel factions fight one another in the area.
The Sinaloa state prosecutor’s office reported a grisly scene on Monday: Four headless corpses were found on a roadside, 16 bodies were discovered inside an abandoned vehicle near the state capital, Culiacan, and five human heads were found inside a bag.
Authorities said the bodies were left with a note, apparently from one of the cartel factions – though the note’s contents were not immediately disclosed.
Feliciano Castro, the Sinaloa government spokesperson, condemned the killings and said authorities needed to examine their strategy for tackling organised crime with the “magnitude” of the violence seen.
“Military and police forces are working together to reestablish total peace in Sinaloa,” Castro said. Most in the state, however, say authorities have lost control.
Sinaloa has been gripped by months of violence fuelled by rival drug traffickers vying for control of routes used to produce and transport narcotics, including fentanyl, that are often destined for the United States.
The groups are split between members loyal to Sinaloa Cartel co-founders Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
The violence peaked after the arrest in July 2024 of Zambada, who is on trial in the US. The US announced it had arrested 76-year-old Zambada and 38-year-old Joaquin Guzman Lopez, “El Chapo” Guzman’s son, at an airport near El Paso, Texas.
Zambada accused Guzman Lopez of kidnapping him in Mexico and flying him to the US in a private plane against his will.
“El Chapo” has been serving a life sentence in the US for drug trafficking since 2019.
Guzman Lopez pleaded not guilty last July to drug trafficking and other charges in federal court in Chicago.
In September, Zambada pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking, murder and other charges in a New York court.
The violence in Sinaloa has killed more than 1,200 people, according to official figures.
Criminal violence, most of it linked to drug trafficking, has claimed about 480,000 lives in Mexico since 2006 and left more than 120,000 people missing.
Emmerdale will be waving goodbye to a character this week for at least a month, as their mystery and worrying new storyline takes a turn, amid fears it’s health related
20:04, 30 Jun 2025Updated 20:05, 30 Jun 2025
Emmerdale will be waving goodbye to a character this week for at least a month(Image: ITV)
There was some news in the latest episode of Emmerdale that confirms an exit for one character.
One character will seemingly leave the show imminently, announcing their plans to be out of the village by the end of the week. Bosses had confirmed a departure would be on the cards temporarily as part of the mystery new storyline.
Amid fears for Bear in a secretive storyline that has seen his personality change and him displaying concerning behaviour, the character will flee the village for around a month if not longer. When he returns, he will spark concern with characters and viewers as there’s clearly something not right with him.
He will be different, with his loved ones and pals set to miss the signs of what’s really going on. Bear will exit the soap for a while and won’t be onscreen for weeks, and it’s this brief exit that was confirmed on Monday night.
He told his son Paddy Kirk after yet another run-in that he was going to stay with a friend in Ireland. He confirmed he would be leaving this coming Friday, meaning the scenes will likely air on Tuesday or Wednesday this week.
There was some news in the latest episode of Emmerdale that confirms an exit for one character(Image: ITV)
It’s not known if we will see or hear from Bear in his absence, but it’s thought he will be AWOL and not in contact with Paddy or anyone. When he returns, more about what’s going on with him will be revealed until we finally find out what”s happened.
It’s been tipped to be something health related, with concerns from fans suggesting it could be a physical or mental health issue. Paddy was seen confiding in Gabby Thomas and Marlon Dingle that he was worried his dad may have dementia.
Some fans are worried it might be a brain or head injury from his wrestling days, or he may be diagnosed with a tumour. Other health conditions were also suggested, after “symptoms” in recent scenes included confusion, forgetfulness and Bear lashing out.
He’s been physically and verbally aggressive, pinning Paddy up against a wall and attacking Kammy too. He’s been seen with a temper, and on Monday after Paddy was seriously injured in a dog attack, the character slammed his own son saying he let people walk all over him.
One character will seemingly leave the show imminently(Image: ITV)
Trashing his son’s character he left Paddy heartbroken, before he fumed about Paddy’s wife Mandy Dingle too in a judgmental way. He’s acting very out of character, and the aggression and his recent funny turn, which saw him nearly collapse, and the fact he’s angry one moment and then completely calm the next, has left fans fearing the worst.
One viewer speculated: “Brilliant performance from Joshua Richards in tonight’s #Emmerdale. Could bear have a tumour, Alzheimer’s disease, depression or something totally different.” A newer theory saw fans predicting he was suffering with a brain condition called Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), thought to be linked to repeated head injuries.
(Bloomberg) — Argentina must give up its controlling stake in signature energy company YPF SA within two weeks after a New York judge sided with litigators in a $16 billion judgment, delivering a setback to President Javier Milei’s economic momentum before crucial midterm elections. Read More
Carlos Alcaraz leads the Centre Court crowd in a round of applause for Fabio Fognini on his last appearance at Wimbledon, after the Italian was beaten 7-5 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 2-6 6-1 by the reigning champion.
Israel’s bombs have stopped, but grief and fear linger in Iran. As families search the rubble for loved ones, authorities are intensifying crackdowns, branding activists and minorities as Israeli agents. How can Iranians rebuild under tighter repression?
Helmets, padding and the ability to practice better has made everyone fair game and you’re acutely aware that you’ll receive a bouncer when you walk out there, especially as you’ll be tasked to do the same when you have the ball in your hand.
Your palms get sweaty, you need a nervous trip to the toilet every five minutes and you can’t take your eyes off who the opposition captain is gesturing at to bowl next.
I made the mistake of bouncing Jofra Archer in a County Championship match in 2018, hitting him on the head.
As soon as it was my turn to bat, I knew who’d have the ball in his hand.
The index finger on my right hand is still swollen from where the first ball I faced from him squeezed in against my bat handle in front of my face. He got me out next ball for nought.
The psychological lift a wagging tail gives to a dressing room is also huge.
It lightens the mood, it gives players the confidence that the momentum in the game is in their favour and you can physically see the frustration in the opposition as they toy with how to extract the last few wickets.
The top order batters’ minds are distracted from facing the opening overs of the following innings and if the tail really wags it can descend into chaos.
England were the sixth worst at removing the tail in the previous cycle of the World Test Championship, with the opposition averaging 87.04 after the sixth wicket fell in that period.
With the best in the world, New Zealand, conceding an average of 61.92, that is a significant 50.24-run swing across a Test.
Cast your mind back to the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston in 2023 that Australia won by two wickets.
In a chase of 282, Scott Boland as nightwatchman scored 20 from 40 balls, Pat Cummins 44 not out from 73 and Nathan Lyon a 28-ball unbeaten 16.
More was made of the Stokes declaration on day one, but fundamentally, the inability to blow the tail away in the second innings was where the game was lost.
Killing the tail is going to be imperative to England’s success not only in this series, but in this winter’s Ashes too. Tongue has shown he has the skills. The likes of Carse, Archer or Gus Atkinson could do it too.
Gobbling up rabbit pie could be more important than anyone thinks.
Dick Van Dyke was reportedly under the weather Saturday and couldn’t host his recurring Vandy Camp fan event with his wife at the couple’s namesake theater at Malibu High School.
Introducing herself as “not the Van Dyke you were expecting,” Arlene Silver explained, via People, that “when you’re 99½ years old, you have good days and bad days … and unfortunately, today is not a good day for him.”
Van Dyke and makeup artist Silver, who married in 2012 when he was 86 and she was 40, usually helm the celebrations together, along with their musical group the Vantastix.
Silver told the audience that she had to wear her “big girl pants and hold the reins without Dick here as the safety net.”
Fans were disappointed but undaunted as the show — described by Silver as a “whimsical, vintage circus” — did go on.
“All of the people at the event were so kind and amazing. Many had flown in from around the world and country. I did fly in from the Bay Area,” one fan, Christy Vaca, wrote on Saturday night on Facebook. “It turned into everyone sending amazing messages to Dick Van [Dyke] who was watching at home. He means so much to us all.
“It was really Heartbreaking.”
Last time we checked in with the “Mary Poppins” star, he was being rescued by neighbors during the Franklin fire, which started in Malibu in early December 2024 and burned for nine days.
“I’m out there laying on the ground trying to undo this fire hose, and the fire’s coming over the hill,” Van Dyke said a few days after the fire started. “What I did was exhaust myself. I forgot how old I am, and I realized I was crawling to get out.”
Neighbors managed to get the beloved entertainer, wife Silver and a number of their pets into a vehicle and out of danger, he said. Cat Bobo was missing, but he turned up when they returned home the next day. Thousands of people had to evacuate.
The neighbors “carried me out,” he said, “and came back and put out a little fire in the guesthouse and saved me.” Van Dyke’s home was spared. Twenty structures were destroyed and 28 were damaged in the fire, according to Cal Fire.
The Van Dykes did not evacuate a month later during the tremendously destructive Palisades fire, Silver said on social media in January.
“Keeping Dick warm and entertained has been the two things that have been my top priority, so, you know, we don’t have power […] or regular electricity, so we don’t have Wi-Fi,” she said, via Page Six. At the time of her Instagram live, they were cooking and charging their devices courtesy of her small camper-trailer.
“I don’t know of any other person of, you know, senior citizen age that would put up with this,” she added, calling her husband a “trouper.”
The U.S. Department of Justice sued the city of Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass and City Council members Monday, calling L.A.’s sanctuary city law “illegal” and asking that it be blocked from being enforced.
The lawsuit, filed in California’s Central District federal court by the Trump Administration, said the country is “facing a crisis of illegal immigration” and that its efforts to address it “are hindered by Sanctuary Cities such as the City of Los Angeles, which refuse to cooperate or share information, even when requested, with federal immigration authorities.”
Over the last month, immigration agents have descended on Southern California, arresting more than 1,600 immigrants and prompting furious protests in downtown Los Angeles, Paramount and other communities. According to the lawsuit, L.A.’s refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities since June 6 has resulted in “lawlessness, rioting, looting, and vandalism.”
“The situation became so dire that the Federal Government deployed the California National Guard and United States Marines to quell the chaos,” the lawsuit states. “A direct confrontation with federal immigration authorities was the inevitable outcome of the Sanctuary City law.”
Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi called the city’s sanctuary policies “the driving cause of the violence, chaos, and attacks on law enforcement that Americans recently witnessed in Los Angeles.”
“Jurisdictions like Los Angeles that flout federal law by prioritizing illegal aliens over American citizens are undermining law enforcement at every level — it ends under President Trump,” Bondi said in a statement Monday.
Bass did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In recent weeks, she has pushed back against the Trump Administration’s portrayal of L.A. as a city enveloped in violence, saying that immigration agents are the ones sowing chaos, terrorizing families and harming the city’s economy.
“To characterize what is going on in our city as a city of mayhem is just an outright lie,” Bass said earlier this month. “I’m not going to call it an untruth. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. I’m going to call it for what it is, which is a lie.”
L.A.’s sanctuary city law was proposed in early 2023, long before Trump’s election, but finalized in the wake of his victory in November.
Under the ordinance, city employees and city property may not be used to “investigate, cite, arrest, hold, transfer or detain any person” for the purpose of immigration enforcement. An exception is made for law enforcement investigating serious offenses.
The ordinance bars city employees from seeking out information about an individual’s citizenship or immigration status unless it is needed to provide a city service. They also must treat data or information that can be used to trace a person’s citizenship or immigration status as confidential.
In the lawsuit, federal prosecutors allege that the city’s ordinance and other policies intentionally discriminate against the federal government by “treating federal immigration authorities differently than other law enforcement agents,” by restricting access to property and to individual detainees, by prohibiting contractors and sub-contractors from providing information, and by “disfavoring federal criminal laws that the City of Los Angeles has decided not to comply with.”
“The Supremacy Clause prohibits the City of Los Angeles and its officials from singling out the Federal Government for adverse treatment—as the challenged law and policies do—thereby discriminating against the Federal Government,” the lawsuit says. “Accordingly, the law and policies challenged here are invalid and should be enjoined.”
Trump’s Department of Justice contends that L.A.’s Sanctuary City ordinance goes much further than similar laws in other jurisdictions, by “seeking to undermine the Federal Government’s immigration enforcement efforts.”
The lawsuit also cites a June 10 meeting in which council members grilled Police Chief Jim McDonnell about his department’s handling of the immigration raids. During that session, Councilmember Imelda Padilla, who represents a heavily Latino district in the San Fernando Valley, asked McDonnell if the LAPD would consider warning warn council members about impending raids.
“Chief McDonnell correctly identified that request for what it was: ‘obstruction of justice,’” the lawsuit states.
The federal filing comes as the city’s elected officials are weighing their own lawsuit against the Trump administration, one aimed at barring immigration agents from violating the constitutional rights of their constituents.
The City Council is scheduled to meet Tuesday to ask City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto to prioritize “immediate legal action” to protect L.A. residents from being racially profiled or unlawfully searched or detained.
Bass has been outspoken about the harm she says the immigration raids have been inflicting on her city, saying they have torn families apart and created a climate of fear at parks, churches, shopping areas and other locations. The city was peaceful, she said, until federal agents began showing up at Home Depots, parking lots and other locations.
“I want to tell him to stop the raids,” she said earlier this month. “I want to tell him that this is a city of immigrants. I want to tell him that if you want to devastate the economy of the city of Los Angeles, then attack the immigrant population.”
Times staff writer Dakota Smith contributed to this report.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The glasses might’ve come first. But it was a light bulb moment with the swing that made the most profound change.
Just over a month into the season this year, veteran Dodgers slugger Max Muncy was in a desperate search for answers.
Through the team’s first 30 games, his batting average started with a one and his home run total was stuck on zero. His role as the team’s starting third baseman was being called into question, fueling early-season speculation that the team would need to replace him before the trade deadline. He was absorbing daily criticism from fans, while trying not to succumb to internal self-flagellation.
The 10-year veteran had gone through cold starts before. But nothing quite so frustrating as this.
“It’s a privilege to play under this pressure, and it’s something I’ve always thrived on, but it doesn’t mean it’s been easy,” Muncy said on the last day of April. “It’s been a rough month.”
Starting that afternoon, however, Muncy made one big change. Upon learning he had astigmatism in his right eye, he began wearing glasses at the plate to balance out his vision. In his first game using them, he hit his first home run of the year.
Then, nine days later, came the real breakthrough.
After spending the entirety of the winter tinkering with his swing, and most of the opening month trying to calibrate his mechanics, everything suddenly synced up during a May 9 at-bat in Arizona.
Muncy took a quick hack at a high fastball from Diamondbacks reliever Kevin Ginkel. He lined a ninth-inning, game-tying single through the right side of the infield in the Dodgers’ eventual win at Chase Field. And he realized that, finally, he’d found a feeling in the batter’s box he’d been chasing the last several years.
A demarcation point had just been established.
And Muncy’s season has been transformed ever since.
“The funny thing about baseball is, sometimes, it just takes one swing, one play, one pitch to lock someone in,” he said. “And ever since that day, I’ve had that feeling in the back of my head. Like, ‘That’s what it’s supposed to feel like.’”
In 36 games before then, Muncy was hitting .188 with only one home run, eight RBIs and 43 strikeouts; his early days with the glasses not even leading to an immediate turnaround.
But since May 9, he has been one of the best hitters in baseball, and on one of the most prolific stretches of his entire career. Over his last 43 games, Muncy’s batting average is .313, a personal best over any span that long in the majors. He has 12 home runs and a whopping 47 RBIs, a major-league-leading total in that stretch. According to Fangraphs’ all-encompassing wRC+ statistic, only Ronald Acuña Jr., Cal Raleigh, Aaron Judge and Ketel Marte have been more productive at the plate.
And, most important, he has re-established himself as a central cog in the Dodgers’ lineup.
“He’s one of our most trusted hitters,” manager Dave Roberts said this past weekend. “I haven’t always been able to say that.”
Being a better, more trusted hitter has been a work in progress for Muncy ever since the devastating elbow injury he suffered at the end of 2021.
In Muncy’s prime years with the Dodgers from 2018-2021, he not only blossomed as one of the best sluggers in baseball by belting 118 home runs over a four-year stretch, but did so while posting a .246 batting average and .371 on-base-percentage; solid marks for a power threat occupying a key role in the middle of the Dodgers’ order.
At the core of that all-around approach was an ability to handle pitches to all parts of the plate — none more important than elevated fastballs at the top of the strike zone.
Dodgers first baseman Max Muncy writhes in pain after colliding with the Milwaukee Brewers’ Jace Peterson during the final regular-season game in 2021.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“When I’m going well, I’m a really good high-fastball hitter,” Muncy said earlier this year.
“When Max is covering that pitch,” added hitting coach Aaron Bates, “it allows him to do so many other things as a hitter.”
Coming off his elbow injury, however, getting to high heat became a weakness in Muncy’s game. For much of the next two years, when he still hit for power but batted only a combined .204, he felt “it was really hard to replicate” his old swing. Last year, he made some incremental progress — when he batted .232 — but was stalled by an oblique strain that cost him the middle three months of the season.
Thus, this winter, Muncy set his mind to rediscovering his old mechanics.
“It really wasn’t that big of a change,” he said. “It was just going back to what I did when I first got here from 2018 to 2021. The same philosophy I had all those years.”
The work started in January, when Bates and fellow Dodgers hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc visited Muncy at his home in Texas and crafted a simple focus for the 34-year-old’s offseason work: Purposely practice hitting grounders and line drives on a lower trajectory, in hopes it would train his swing to stay on top of the ball even on pitches up in the zone.
“You know he’s naturally going to have loft in his swing to elevate the baseball easily,” Bates said. “So that was a focus point for him, making sure he can hit a hard line drive on a pitch up in the zone, not necessarily trying to elevate it more than he needs to.”
A sound theory, with some disastrous early results.
At the start of the year, Muncy’s new swing thought bred other unexpected bad habits. In his effort to stay on top of the ball, he was opening up his backside and letting his front shoulder drift too far forward at the start of his move. As a result, Muncy had trouble squaring the ball and keeping his bat level through the strike zone. It led to not only a lack of power, but a diminished ability to distinguish the kind of pitches being thrown — evidenced by a nearly 32% strikeout rate in April that was seventh-highest among MLB hitters.
“That’s where it’s tough playing the sport,” Muncy said. “Because you can’t chase results immediately, even though you kind of have to. You have to chase the process in the long run.”
And even as external pressure over his dwindling production mounted, Muncy said the club’s coaches and front office assured him he’d have time to keep working through it.
“It’s easier to stick with something long-term when that’s the case,” Muncy said. “And for me, that’s been my entire career. Trust the process, not the result.”
During late April, Muncy’s process included a visit to the same eye doctor who had diagnosed Kiké Hernández with eye astigmatism last year; a discovery that prompted Hernández to start wearing glasses, and keyed a sudden offensive turnaround in the second half of the season.
Turned out, Muncy had a similar problem. Though his vision was 20/12, astigmatism in his right eye had made him left-eye dominant, a subtle but limiting dynamic for a left-handed hitter.
Thus, on the last day of the month, Muncy also started wearing prescription-lensed glasses, and christened the new eyewear with a home run in his first game using them.
“It’s not necessarily something that I need,” Muncy said. “But just any chance at all it evens out both eyes for me, I’ve been taking it.”
Yet, in his first week using them, he still went just six-for-28 with nine strikeouts and only five walks. He was still grinding through his adjustments to his mechanics. He was still waiting for one swing where everything would feel synced up.
When Muncy came to the plate in that May 9 game against the Diamondbacks to face Ginkel, he surveyed the situation, put his swing mechanics out of his head, and tried to focus on only one objective.
“It was guy on second, no outs,” Muncy recalled, “so I was trying to give up the at-bat, get the ball on the ground to the right side of second base, and move the runner from second to third.”
Throughout his career, this is when Muncy is at his best. When his mind isn’t clouded by the pressure to produce, or the particulars of his swing. When he’s “going out there and just trying to play the situation,” he explained. “Like, ‘What is my at-bat calling for in this moment?’”
And on that day in Arizona, with the Dodgers trailing by one run in the ninth, that simplified mindset gave Muncy his moment of long-awaited clarity.
Ginkel threw a 95 mph fastball up near Muncy’s chest. The slugger hit it with the kind of quick, level swing he’d spent all winter attempting to craft.
As the ball rocketed through the right side of the infield for a game-tying single, Muncy felt a lightbulb go off as he pulled into first base.
Fans cheer as the Dodgers’ Max Muncy rounds the bases after hitting a grand slam on June 22 against the Washington Nationals.
(Luke Johnson/Los Angeles Times)
“I was so short and direct to it, it just triggered something in my head,” Muncy said. “It kind of took all the stuff I’d been working on, even going back to the winter, and was like, ‘OK, this is how I’m trying to get it to feel.’”
Muncy hasn’t looked back ever since.
By being able to cover the top of the strike zone, he hasn’t had to cheat on fastballs or hunt on tougher pitches to hit around his knees. When coupled with the glasses that have helped him better differentiate velocity from spin, he’s been able to be selective and wait out mistakes.
“There’s been spells in his career where it was the three [true] outcomes and that was it,” Roberts said, long a believer in Muncy’s ability to be a more potent hit collector, rather than just a high-powered, high-strikeout slugging presence. “Now, I think he’s a complete hitter. So you see the runs batted in, the homers, the quality of at-bats all tick up.”
During this torrid two-month stretch, highlights have come in bunches for Muncy. He’s had two seven-RBI games and another with six. He hit a game-tying home run in the ninth inning against the New York Mets on June 3. He had two grand slams in the span of three games last week.
He has gone from the subject of trade deadline rumors to a fan-voting finalist to make the All-Star Game.
He knows it’s still only been two months; that, in a sport as fickle as baseball, the feeling he has discovered at the plate can just as quickly disappear again.
But for the first time in years, he’s healthy, in sync and possessing total clarity — in both vision and mind — every time he steps to the dish.
“This is definitely more of what I was envisioning,” Muncy said this weekend, reflecting back on the early-season struggles and laborious swing work over the winter that preceded his two-month tear.
“Now, I have the confidence to know I can accomplish pretty much anything I want to do for that situation. Whereas, before, you don’t always have that.”
June 30 (UPI) — The Trump administration on Monday threatened more funding cuts to Harvard University after a federal task force claimed the Ivy League school was in “violent violation” of the Civil Rights Act over a perceived failure to protect Jewish students.
“Harvard holds the regrettable distinction of being among the most prominent and visible breeding ground for race discrimination,” read the letter in part to University President Alan Garber from the federal government’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism.
The letter, signed by four federal officials from the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, the U.S. General Services Administration, and Assistant U.S. Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet K. Dhillon, cited the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling on Harvard’s admission practices.
It said that its Title VI investigation via the 1964 Civil Rights Act — which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin — concluded that Harvard allegedly failed to suppress anti-Semitism on its Boston-based campus.
“That legacy of discrimination persists with Harvard’s continued anti-Semitism,” it stated, adding that any institution refusing to “meet its duties under federal law may not receive a wide range of federal privileges.”
The task force listed in its examples a series of allegations that it says Harvard “did not dispute our findings of fact, nor could it.”
It indicated a quarter of Harvard’s Jewish students felt unsafe, saw negative bias and reported alleged assaults during campus demonstrations that federal officials claimed violated university policy, among a number of other issues.
In their letter, it went on to express how the Holocaust engulfed Europe “due to the ‘[d]isbelief, incredulity, and denial on the part of both victims and onlookers’ which ‘worked to the advantage of those who wanted to eradicate the Jews.'”
“Failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources and continue to affect Harvard’s relationship with the federal government,” the letter continued. “Harvard may of course continue to operate free of federal privileges, and perhaps such an opportunity will spur a commitment to excellence that will help Harvard thrive once again.”
On Monday, the university pointed to “substantive, proactive steps” officials took to address “the root causes of antisemitism” on campus, saying Harvard is “far from indifferent on this issue and strongly disagrees with the government’s findings.”
“In responding to the government’s investigation, Harvard not only shared its comprehensive and retrospective Anti-Semitism and Anti-Israeli Bias Report but also outlined the ways that it has strengthened policies, disciplined those who violate them, encouraged civil discourse, and promoted open, respectful dialogue,” a university spokesman told The Hill in a statement.
This week: a powerful conversation with MSF on Nigeria’s malnutrition crisis—where aid workers fight to save lives on the edge.
But we’re not stopping there. In the coming episodes, we will dig into the tangled roots of insecurity, mass displacement, and how climate change fuels conflict across Africa.
The stakes are real. Tune in, share, and stay ahead of the story.
The Crisis Room podcast is highlighting urgent issues, beginning with a critical discussion with MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières) about Nigeria’s malnutrition crisis, where aid workers are working tirelessly to protect lives. Upcoming episodes will investigate the interconnected causes of insecurity, mass displacement, and the role of climate change in escalating conflicts across Africa. Hosted by Salma and Salim, the podcast features guest Mr. Suwulubalah Dorborson, MSF project manager in Katsina, Nigeria, with Anthony Asemota as the audio producer and Ahmad Salkida as the executive producer.
Downton Abbey is back for one final movie – with the likes of Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Jim Carter, Phyllis Logan and Joanne Froggatt all returning for the movie sequel
Downton Abbey has given fans a first look at the final movie trailer. The cast of the hit ITV show, which was turned into a movie franchise, is back for one last time – with many of the famous faces gracing out screens again.
Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Elizabeth McGovern and Paul Giamatti are all back for the movie alongside Penelope Wilton, Jim Carter, Phyllis Logan, Laura Carmichael and Harry Hadden-Pato.
Joanne Froggatt, Allen Leech, Robert James-Collier, Lesley Nicol and Sophie McShera complete the cast alongside Raquel Cassidy, Kevin Doyle, Michael Fox, Dominic West, Arty Froushan, Joely Richardson and Douglass Reith.
Downton Abbey is back for one more hurrah
The grand finale of Downton Abbey will see the Crawley family and their staff navigate the 1930s. Mary is front and centre as she navigates a public scandal whilst the family face financial issues.
Elsewhere, the whole household struggles with the fall out as the family must face change as they prepare for a new chapter – but what does the family face and how will it all end for the Crawleys and their staff?
Simon Curtis has directed the movie, whilst creator Julian Fellowes has done the screenplay. He will also produce alongside Gareth Neame and Liz Trubridge and Nigel Marchant is executive producer.
Joanne – who plays Anna Bates – previously admitted it was going to be hard to say goodbye to her character for good.
The final film features all the fan favourites(Image: Universal Pictures/Youtube)
“Oh my goodness, it’s going to be hard! We’ve said goodbye a few times, thinking, ‘This is the end’, at the end of the seasons. Then we did one movie and we wondered if we’d get a second movie.
“This really is, the third and final, so this really is goodbye. It’s going to be emotional, but all good things must come to an end, I suppose,” she said.
Joanne also teased a “full circle” moment in the final film. She said: “We come to the core of the family and the servants, what the future will be and looking back at where the family have got to now. It’s a beautiful full-circle moment that it comes to at the end.
“There was a stage where reality TV came in and it was all the rage. There wasn’t much drama being made in the UK.
“That was sad but then eventually it came good again and Downton Abbey was one of the first shows to sort of bring back the eagerness for good drama. It’s been amazing to ride it all out and still be around to tell the tale.”
Authorities say forecasters cannot rule out a repeat of extreme weather like the devastating floods of 2022.
Nearly a week of heavy monsoon rains and flash floods across Pakistan have killed at least 46 people and injured dozens, officials say.
The government announced the death toll on Monday and said the fatalities were caused by several days of abnormally strong downpours.
They included 22 people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwest Pakistan, 13 in the eastern province of Punjab, seven in Sindh in the south and four in Balochistan in the southwest, the National Disaster Management Authority and provincial emergency officials said.
“We are expecting above-normal rains during the monsoon season, and alerts have been issued to the concerned authorities to take precautionary measures,” Irfan Virk, a deputy director of Pakistan’s Meteorological Department, told The Associated Press news agency.
Virk said forecasters cannot rule out a repeat of extreme weather like the devastating floods in 2022.
Residents observe the overflowing Swat River on the outskirts of Mingora, the main town of Pakistan’s Swat Valley [Sherin Zada/AP Photo]
Severe rains then inundated a third of the country, killing 1,737 people and causing widespread destruction.
The deaths from the past week include 13 tourists from a family of 17 who were swept away on Friday. The other four family members were rescued from the flooded Swat River in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Rescuers found 12 bodies from the family, and divers continued searching on Monday for the remaining victim, said Bilal Faizi, a provincial emergency service spokesman.
The incident drew widespread condemnation online over what many called a slow response by emergency services.
On Sunday, the National Disaster Management Authority had warned of potential hazards and advised people against crossing rivers and streams.
People attend funeral prayers for people swept away by the Swat River in Daska, Pakistan [SA Rizvi/AP Photo]
Fabio Fognini gets the better of Carlos Alcaraz after a lengthy 18-shot rally, earning a break point against the reigning Wimbledon champion as David Beckham watches on.
June 30 (UPI) — Member nations of the International Atomic Energy Agency called out Iran Monday for threats made against Rafael Grossi, the organization’s top official.
“Any undermining, sanctioning or even threat against the director general personally or his staff are completely unacceptable,” posted Austria’s Chancellor Christian Stocker to X Monday.
The French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs released a statement Monday that it “strongly condemns the threats against the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.”
The French statement was further echoed by a joint press release from France, Germany and the United Kingdom that condemned “threats against the Director General of the IAEA Rafael Grossi.”
Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani spoke Sunday on the CBS News program “Face The Nation” and said that there was no threat made to Grossi, despite an article that ran last week in Iran’s ultra-conservative Kayhan newspaper that alleged Grossi to be a spy for Israel, and that “as soon as he enters Iran, he will be tried and executed for spying for Mossad and participating in the murder of the oppressed people of our country.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubiohad responded Saturday on X that “calls in Iran for the arrest and execution of IAEA Director General Grossi are unacceptable and should be condemned.”
Iravani however, when asked by CBS if he condemned calls for Grossi to be executed, replied “Yeah.”
He also explained that IAEA inspectors already in Iran are safe but are not being permitted to inspect nuclear sites there. “It is our assessment is that they have not done their jobs,” Iravani said, and implied the IAEA “failed” in regard to the attacks made by Israel and United States on Iranian nuclear facilities.
In the joint statement made by Britain, France and Germany, the countries called on “Iranian authorities to refrain from any steps to cease cooperation with the IAEA.”
“We urge Iran to immediately resume full cooperation in line with its legally binding obligations, and to take all necessary steps to ensure the safety and security of IAEA personnel,” the statement continued.
“The organization’s work is now more important than ever and must urgently be continued,” said Stocker in the same X post he made Monday.
The IAEA had announced in a press release Friday that radiation levels in the Gulf region had remained normal following the attacks on Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant and the Tehran Research Reactor.
Grossi explained in the release that the attacks “could have caused a radiological accident with potential consequences in Iran as well as beyond its borders.”
“It did not happen, and the worst nuclear safety scenario was thereby avoided,” Grossi said.,
Israeli forces have bombarded multiple areas across the besieged Gaza Strip, killing at least 85 Palestinians, including aid seekers and families sheltering in schools, and wounding many more in attacks that have also targeted a crowded hospital.
In the relentless attacks on Monday, 62 of the victims were in Gaza City and the north of the territory. The Israeli navy struck a port in Gaza City, where the military has stepped up its heavy strikes, killing at least 21 and wounding 30, many of them women and children.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said the attack was in the heart of a displacement centre near the Gaza seaport.
“This area serves as a refuge for many traumatised and displaced people, offering some relief from the oppressive heat of the tents,” he said.
Also on Monday, Israeli forces targeted the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah, where thousands of families had sought shelter.
Videos circulating online and verified by Al Jazeera showed chaos at the hospital, with people fleeing for safety as tents sheltering displaced families appeared damaged by the attack.
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from the scene of the hospital attack, said the army did not issue “any warnings” before the “huge explosion”.
“The site of the attack is about 10 metres [33ft] from our broadcast point. This is not the first time the hospital’s courtyard has been attacked. At least 10 times, this facility has been squarely targeted by Israeli forces,” Abu Azzoum said. “It’s a staggering concentration of attacks on medical facilities, adding further burden on barely functioning hospitals.”
In a statement, Gaza’s Government Media Office decried the attack by Israel, calling it a “systematic crime” against the Palestinian enclave’s health system.
“Its warplanes bombed a tent for the displaced inside the walls of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, resulting in injuries at the site of the bombing, material damage, and directly threatening the lives of dozens of patients,” it said.
Israel has repeatedly targeted dozens of hospitals during its 22-month war on Gaza. Human rights groups and United Nations-backed experts have accused Israel of systematically destroying the enclave’s healthcare system.
‘It felt like earthquakes’
Also in the south, at least 15 aid seekers looking for food at aid distribution hubs run by the controversial United States- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) were killed by an Israeli air strike in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, according to sources at Nasser Medical Complex. Fifty people were also wounded in the attack.
They are the latest victims in a wave of daily carnage at these sites that have killed nearly 600 Palestinians since GHF took over limited aid deliveries in Gaza in late May amid a crippling Israeli blockade.
The Israeli military acknowledged on Monday that Palestinian civilians were harmed at the aid distribution centres, saying that instructions had been issued to forces following “lessons learned” and firing incidents were under review.
This follows the Israeli news outlet, Haaretz, reporting that soldiers operating near the aid sites in Gaza have been deliberately firing upon Palestinians. According to the Haaretz report, which quoted unnamed Israeli soldiers, troops were told to fire at the crowds of Palestinians and use unnecessary lethal force against people who appeared to pose no threat.
Israeli forces are also carrying out home demolitions in Khan Younis, raising fears of a new ground invasion.
The Israeli military, meanwhile, has issued more forced evacuation threats to Palestinians in large districts in the northern Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces had operated before and left behind wide-scale destruction, forcing a new wave of displacement.
“Explosions never stopped; they bombed schools and homes. It felt like earthquakes,” said Salah, 60, a father of five children, from Gaza City. “In the news, we hear a ceasefire is near. On the ground, we see death and we hear explosions.”
Israeli tanks pushed into the eastern areas of Zeitoun suburb in Gaza City and shelled several areas in the north, while aircraft bombed at least four schools after ordering hundreds of families sheltering inside to leave, residents said.
Gaza’s health authorities said at least 10 people were killed in attacks on Zeitoun and at least 13 were killed southwest of Gaza City.
More than 80 percent of Gaza is now an Israeli-militarised zone or under forced displacement orders, according to the United Nations.
The attacks come as Israeli officials, including Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, were due in Washington, DC for a new ceasefire push by the administration of US President Donald Trump.
Key mediator Qatar has confirmed that there are serious US intentions to push for a return to negotiations, but there are complications, according to a Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman.
The spokesman said that it has become difficult to accept the continued human losses in the Gaza Strip, warning that the continued link between the humanitarian and military aspects in Gaza cannot be accepted.
The talks in the White House are also expected to cover Iran, and possible wider regional diplomatic deals.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet was expected to convene to discuss the next steps in Gaza.
On Friday, Israel’s military chief said the present ground operation was close to having achieved its goals, and on Sunday, Netanyahu claimed new opportunities had opened up for recovering the captives, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.
Palestinian and Egyptian sources with knowledge of the latest ceasefire efforts also said that mediators Qatar and Egypt have stepped up their contacts with the two sides, but that no date has been set yet for a new round of truce talks.
Speaking with musician and producer Adrian Quesada elicits a calming effect, as if a salve has been applied to the people conversing with him. His voice moves and bounces with intrigue and interest, but never catapults itself upward in decibels.
The soothing and entrancing qualities of his disposition mirror that of his latest album, “Boleros Psicodélicos II,” a 12-track sonic field trip through Quesada’s Latin American influences — and a testament to teamwork — that dropped on Friday.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the mellow Austin-based musician prefers to kick it in the background, fancying himself more of an Izzy Stradlin than a Slash — despite having his name splashed across his imminent record.
“I always consider myself more of a producer than an artist. Being a solo artist is a very recent thing for me,” Quesada told The Times on a recent sunny day by Echo Park Lake. “It’s really raw and kind of a weird thing for me because it’s not my style to be in the forefront. I just like to make the music. I try to move in silence.”
He managed to maneuver the music industry by flying under the radar up until a few years ago by playing in large ensembles. His former band, Grupo Fantasma, had 10 members; his mid-2000s Latin-funk group Brownout was also a dectet; and his Grammy-winning group, Black Pumas, had seven (sometimes eight) members. While he obscured himself physically, his musicianship and production skill always stood out.
Grupo Fantasma’s “El Existential” won a Grammy for Latin rock or alternative album in 2011. Black Pumas were nominated in the new artist category in 2020, then received three more Grammy nods in 2021 — which included record of the year for the track “Colors” and album of the year for the group’s eponymous album. Black Pumas also nabbed two Grammy nominations in 2022 and another one in 2024.
Quesada embarked on his journey as a solo artist with “Boleros Psicodélicos” — the spiritual precursor to his latest album. It featured covers of boleros from across Latin America, as well as original material, with Quesada enlisting artists such as iLe from Calle 13, Mireya Ramos and Gaby Moreno to lend their voices to the project.
The Times called that 2022 album a “tropical mystery-thriller of a record,” imbued with a “crispy, 1960s psych-rock feel [that] … sets the scene for Latin indie’s best and brightest vocalists to truly sparkle.”
“Boleros II” finds Quesada as aurally slick as ever as he tackles the oft-covered romantic Spanish standard “Cuatro Vidas,” plus Los Pasteles Verdes’ “Hoy Que Llueve” and brand-new tracks — all while integrating his signature three-over-two rhythms.
(James Carbone / For De Los)
Born and raised in the border town of Laredo, Texas, Quesada always felt he was “at the crossroads of a crossroad.”
“It’s not quite Mexico, but it’s not quite Texas and it’s not quite the Rio Grande Valley,” Quesada said. “Laredo is completely bilingual, everybody just speaks Spanglish. I didn’t have a distinction between English and Spanish and it was a couple of different cultures together. Now with music, people seem really caught up on genres — this is in Spanish and this is in English. And none of that really fazes me.”
Like most American kids of the ’80s and ’90s, Quesada’s biggest source of musical consumption came from binge-watching MTV, with a sprinkling of recommendations from friends.
“I was home a lot by myself and I would just watch MTV, so I used to watch all the shows: ‘Yo! MTV Raps,’ ‘Headbangers Ball,’ ‘Alternative Nation’ and ‘120 Minutes,’” he said. “That was where I was discovering stuff. And then friends had an older cousin who used to make me cool tapes, and other friends would pass around hip-hop tapes.”
Quesada says he finally became curious about what a music producer does after listening to N.W.A in his teen years. He recalls sitting in front of his Casio keyboard with its pre-programmed drum machine and trying to dissect the intricacies of what producer Dr. Dre was able to craft.
Revealing the arbitrary nature of self-imposed borders — of both countries and genres — is one of Quesada’s artistic goals, opting to build bridges and not walls.
“There’s a thing called the narcissism of small differences, which means we can’t get over our differences that we have with other people that are so minuscule, we have to differentiate ourselves,” Quesada said. “And I’m starting to finally feel a responsibility for showing people nothing is that different. Latin rhythms are not that different from soul rhythms, or funk rhythms, or rock ’n’ roll. That’s probably the biggest [impact] my upbringing has on me.”
Despite his deeply Texas roots and sensibilities, Quesada’s “Boleros II” and his recent life experiences have been immensely L.A.-coded.
Quesada was nominated for original song at this year’s 97th annual Academy Awards, for writing the track “Like A Bird” with Abraham Alexander, as featured in the Colman Domingo-led film “Sing Sing.”
“I had fun with that. I was catching key things in the movie, seeing what they did visually, and what I could do musically on the song,” he said of working on the piece.
That process led to him spending more time in L.A. than anticipated. “The Oscars kind of flipped my world upside down,” he said. “I had to be here a lot between the nomination being announced and Oscars night. That was the first three months of the year.”
Carrying the L.A. momentum from the Academy Awards to “Boleros II” is the notable presence of Angelenos on the album, including Hawthorne’s perpetual sadboi Cuco, El Monte native Angélica Garcia and Carson soul singer Trish Toledo. (L.A. producer Alex Goose may not be Latino, but his intrepid hip-hop production chops blend seamlessly with Quesada’s eclectic sensibilities.)
“L.A.’s such a predominant Latino town,” said Quesada. “All the references I was showing Angelica, Trish and Cuco, they were very familiar with all that stuff. It came really natural to them. So I do think there’s something with L.A. where they get it culturally here. I leaned on a lot of L.A. artists.”
Quesada is currently touring as part of Trio Asesino, in support of Hermanos Gutiérrez on their U.S. tour. Quesada will perform songs from “Boleros II” at L.A.’s Grand Park on Aug. 2, as part of a free summer concert series by Grand Performances. (Editor’s note: De Los will be a co-presenter of Quesada’s performance.)
“‘Sing Sing’ was about rehabilitation through the arts and how it can change people’s lives, not just reaching people as a fan, but also reaching more kids who can take up art,” Quesada said of the mission of the Grand Performances series. “I believe in the power of art. Everything from a song inspiring a whole movement to a song just making you smile for the day, that’s the power of music.”
Former world number one upset by Benjamin Bonzi of France on day one of third Grand Slam of the year.
Former United States Open champion Daniil Medvedev has suffered a shock first-round defeat at Wimbledon at the hands of France’s Benjamin Bonzi.
Medvedev had reached the Wimbledon semifinals for the past two years, but the Russian’s bid for another strong run at the All England Club came to an abrupt end on Monday at the hands of the world number 64.
Bonzi beat ninth-seeded Medvedev 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 in three hours and seven minutes in sweltering conditions on Court Two.
It was the first time in seven Wimbledon appearances that Medvedev failed to advance past the opening round.
Medvedev smashes his racket on the ground after his defeat to Bonzi [Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP]
Medvedev, a six-time Grand Slam finalist, has endured a dismal year at the majors, losing in the second round of the Australian Open and first round of the French Open before his Wimbledon flop.
The 29-year-old, who won the US Open in 2021, defeated top-seeded Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon quarterfinals last year before losing to defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals.
“This is my first top-10 win at a slam. Obviously, it is always special at this tournament,” Bonzi said.
“I love this place, so it’s very special, and Daniil is a great player. He has reached two semifinals here.
“I knew it was a tough match, but sometimes it is better to play this kind of player in the first round. Anything can happen, so I’m very happy with the win.”
Bonzi celebrates with supporters after winning against Medvedev in the opening round [Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP]
WASHINGTON — President Trump will visit a new immigration detention facility in the Florida Everglades on Tuesday, showcasing his border crackdown in the face of humanitarian and environmental concerns.
The trip was confirmed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday.
“When the president comes tomorrow, he’s going to be able to see,” DeSantis told reporters. He added that “I think by tomorrow, it’ll be ready for business.”
The governor, who unsuccessfully challenged Trump for the Republican presidential nomination last year, said he spoke with Trump over the weekend. He also said the site obtained approval from the Department of Homeland Security.
“What’ll happen is you bring people in there,” DeSantis said during an unrelated press conference in Wildwood. “They ain’t going anywhere once they’re there, unless you want them to go somewhere, because good luck getting to civilization. So the security is amazing.”
The facility has drawn protests over its potential impact on the delicate ecosystem and criticism that Trump is trying to send a cruel message to immigrants. Some Native American leaders have also opposed construction, saying the land is sacred.
The detention facility is being built on an isolated airstrip about 50 miles west of Miami, and it could house 5,000 detainees. The surrounding swampland is filled with mosquitos, pythons and alligators.
“There’s really nowhere to go. If you’re housed there, if you’re detained there, there’s no way in, no way out,” Florida Atty. Gen. James Uthmeier told conservative media commentator Benny Johnson.
He’s described the facility as “Alligator Alcatraz,” a moniker embraced by the Trump administration. DHS posted an image of alligators wearing hats with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s acronym.
State officials in Florida are spearheading construction but much of the cost is being covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, which is best known for responding to hurricanes and other natural disasters.
Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Megerian and Licon write for the Associated Press.
