Kilian Jornet, one of the world’s most accomplished mountaineers, did something this month that left even other elite athletes gasping: He climbed all 72 summits in the contiguous United States that stand over 14,000 feet tall.
In 31 days.
That’s like climbing California’s Mt. Whitney — the nation’s tallest mountain outside of Alaska — two-and-a-half times per day, every day, for a month.
But reaching so many summits, so quickly, was only half the battle. In fact, it was “the fun part,” a surprisingly rested-looking Jornet said in a Zoom interview from Seattle earlier this month, three days after summiting Mt. Rainier in knee-deep snow to complete the grueling journey, which he started in early September.
The hard part was negotiating the spaces in between.
Spanish mountaineer Kilian Jornet treks through the Sierra Nevada range known as the Normans 13, which connects 13 summits over 14,000 feet.
(Andy Cochrane)
“If you’re driving, you see the landscape,” Jornet explained. “But you don’t feel it.”
OK, how do you feel it?
By running the hundreds of miles of remote mountain ridges, and biking the thousands of miles of desolate highway, that separate the towering summits scattered across Colorado, California and Washington.
In total, Jornet covered 3,198 miles under his own power. He biked 2,568 miles. He ran 629 miles. He climbed 403,638 vertical feet.
Share via
Tommy Caldwell, arguably the best technical rock climber of his generation and the first to climb Yosemite’s nearly impossible Dawn Wall, followed Jornet’s progress on Instagram. When the Spaniard finished, Caldwell posted, “my mind is officially blown.”
Like many elite climbers, Jornet, 37, slips into a stoic, been-there-done-that voice when describing mountain conditions that would terrify mere mortals. But he broke character, briefly, talking about climbing the summit of Mt. Shasta in Northern California.
As often happens on that free-standing volcano, a howling gale struck just as Jornet approached the 14,162-foot summit.
Shaky video shot by a climbing partner shows Jornet’s trekking poles flailing and his feet sliding around on the ice as he struggles — and fails — to remain upright in what sounds like a hurricane.
“It was crazy,” he conceded, “probably the windiest day I have ever had in the mountains.”
Asked why, exactly, he puts himself through so much agony, he snapped back into aw-shucks mode. He sank into his comfy seat, smiled with the confidence of a man who has parried that question a thousand times, and said:
“Why not?”
Spanish mountaineer Kilian Jornet climbed 72 summits over 14,000 feet in the contiguous U.S. in 31 days.
(Nick Danielson)
In an age saturated with professional outdoor athletes competing for social media attention and lucrative sponsorships — and in a world where the most iconic summits have been climbed, the biggest waves have been surfed and the wildest rivers have been run — one fashionable way to stand out is by setting a fastest known time, or “FKT.”
Jornet’s jaunt over and between those 72 summits, which he dubbed “States of Elevation” and gorgeously documented for his 1.8 million followers on Instagram, was, by all accounts, the fastest known time. It was also the only known time. Apparently, nobody else has tried to link all of those summits together in a single, human-powered push.
“Yes, it’s hard,” Jornet said with a laugh when asked if the constant, grinding pain was worth it. But after a while, “you get used to the discomfort, it’s just part of it, it doesn’t really bother you.”
The finale of Jornet’s 72-peak feat was a 14,441-foot volcano covered with glaciers, one of the broadest and most visually imposing mountains on the planet. Few people even attempt to climb Mt. Rainier this time of year because the weather can be so brutal.
As Jornet pedaled closer to the peak, it started to rain down in the flats, so he knew that meant snow on the mountain.
Crossing the glaciers with their immense, yawning crevasses hidden by fresh snow would have been too dangerous, so Jornet chose a steep and challenging rock route known as Success Cleaver. But even that was buried in knee-deep snow.
After summiting Mt. Rainier, Jornet posted that his U.S. journey was, “never about just the numbers, but rather a deep connection to wild places, and true test of resilience in body and mind.”
Anyone else claiming that might have been met with eye rolls, but Jornet is one of the few outdoor athletes who probably doesn’t need to pad his resume: He cemented his legacy as one of the all-time greats long ago.
Spanish mountaineer Kilian Jornet hikes in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado in September.
(Nick Danielson)
Born just outside of Barcelona in 1987, he grew up in a ski area in the Pyrenees where his father was a mountain guide. He climbed his first mountain over 10,000 feet when he was 5.
At 20, he won the first of six titles in the Sky Runner World Series, an international competition consisting of long, high-altitude foot races that test speed and endurance on steep mountainsides.
At 26, he set FKTs for climbing Switzerland’s Matterhorn and France’s Mont Blanc, the tallest mountain in Western Europe. A year later, he broke the speed record climbing the bitterly cold and deadly Denali, in Alaska, the tallest mountain in North America.
A few years after that, he climbed Mt. Everest twice in one week without supplemental oxygen.
In addition to all of the technical mountaineering, Jornet has been one of the most successful ultramarathoners in history, winning the prestigious Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc, a 100-mile race through the Alps, four times.
After his early career dominating distance races in relatively cold climates, Jornet showed up at Northern California’s Western States ultramarathon in 2010. It’s a 100-mile race that starts near the shore of Lake Tahoe and descends to the Sacramento suburbs in late June, when the sun and temperatures can be unforgiving.
He was comically unprepared. “I didn’t do any heat training,” Jornet recalled, “so when I arrived I was like, ‘Should I have brought water for this race?’” Still, he came in third, then returned the next year to win.
In June, he went back to the Western States 100 for the first time in 14 years. The event has evolved since then: The field is fitter and more professional. But even at his relatively advanced age, Jornet came in third, dropping more than an hour off his winning time in 2011.
Back then, he relied mostly on raw talent, Jornet said. “I train much better now, I know I need to prepare specifically and put in the work.”
But does he ever just kick back and spend a weekend sprawled on the couch, a remote in one hand and a bowl of ice cream in the other?
“For me, that’s not relaxing,” he said, recalling the time he and his wife, Emelie Forsberg, also a world champion runner and skier, tried to take a normal vacation.
They had just completed a race on Reunion Island, off the coast of Madagascar, when they decided to spend a week on the nearby tropical island of Mauritius.
“We said we’d just sit on the beach and read books, and that’s all,” Jornet said. But by the end of the first day they looked at each other and wondered if they should change their flight to get back to running and skiing in the mountains. “It was like, yes, yes, yes for both of us,” Jornet said.
Spanish mountaineer Kilian Jornet in the Sierra Nevada range known as the Normans 13, which connects 13 summits over 14,000 feet.
(Andy Cochrane)
After years living in Chamonix, France, a hard-partying resort in the Alps regarded as the mountain sports capital of the world, Jornet and Forsberg moved to a house by a remote fjord in Norway. It’s a quiet place to raise their three young children, grow their own vegetables and train in the surrounding mountains, some of which have no names.
“Sometimes when you’re climbing Everest, or Mont Blanc, or Mt. Whitney, it’s like you’re climbing the famous name,” Jornet said. As he matures, he prefers climbing mountains simply “because they’re beautiful.”
But he still craves big challenges.
Last year, he climbed all 82 summits in the Alps over 4,000 meters (13,123 feet) in 19 days, traveling the 750 miles between them on foot and bicycle.
“This was, without any doubt, the most challenging thing I’ve ever done in my life, mentally, physically, and technically,” he wrote on social media. “But also maybe the most beautiful.”
That got him thinking even bigger, trying to imagine the most “aesthetic line” for a similar expedition in the United States.
After landing in Denver last month, he went straight to the trailhead for 14,256-foot Longs Peak. “But I really felt like crap,” he said, blaming a combination of jet lag and the air being so much drier in Colorado than in Norway.
For the first week, he wondered if he should just quit. But then, somewhere along the way, his body switched, “from fighting to adapting,” and he settled into a comfortable rhythm.
After summiting 56 mountains in Colorado, Jornet hopped on his bike and pedaled 900 miles to California, where 15 more high peaks awaited. At times, the headwind was so brutal he slowed to a maddening crawl, even when going downhill.
He’d also lost 10 pounds in the mountains and, at 5’7” and about 130 pounds, his slender frame has nothing to spare. So he spent much of his time on the bike shoveling calories — even spiking his water bottles with generous helpings of olive oil — to replace lost fat.
His long slog on the bike ended in Lone Pine, a dusty town four hours north of Los Angeles, where the Eastern Sierra rise 10,000 feet, like a solid granite wall, from the desert floor.
Jornet had covered nearly 200 miles that day, and faced a 6,000-foot climb to the Cottonwood Lakes trailhead, where he would sleep before starting the toughest part of the whole trip.
The road up to Cottonwood Lakes is 23 miles of harrowing switchbacks, with vertigo-inducing views of the valley below at almost every turn. The drive, alone, freaks out a lot of people.
“It was cool that I arrived there in the dark,” Jornet said, undaunted by the prospect of pedaling off the side of a cliff. “Nice to do the climb when it wasn’t so hot.”
The next morning he started running “Norman’s 13” — a baker’s dozen of 14,000-foot summits along the Sierra Crest between Lone Pine and Bishop, the most remote and punishing alpine terrain in California. He made astonishing time: cruising over 14,032-foot Mt. Langley and 14,505-froot Mt. Whitney like they were speed bumps.
But for all their imposing altitude, the standard routes up Langley and Whitney don’t require any special skills, they’re just long hiking trails with very little exposure to deadly falls. Things changed when Jornet reached a section called the Palisades Traverse, just up the hill from Big Pine.
There, a ridge of jagged granite rises like an upside down saw’s blade over one of the last remaining glaciers in California. There are no hiking trails, just daunting towers of shattered and jumbled rock, where seemingly any misstep can lead to a thousand-foot fall.
Only the most committed mountaineers go there, and they tend to take their time, waiting for good weather and climbing with ropes and harnesses.
But when you’re on a mission like Jornet’s, you don’t get to “choose your weather,” he said. You just start and then you’re committed, you have to take what comes.
What came the day he reached the traverse was a surprising, early-season blizzard. It covered the usually reliable, grippy granite with about 4 inches of snow and ice. The storm made climbing “more complicated,” Jornet said, and more miserable.
It was cold and “I was completely soaked,” Jornet said. But with the help of Matt Cornell, a well-known climber from Bishop, he was able to keep going and finish the 100 miles of Norman’s 13 in 56 hours, shaving more than 19 hours off the previous record.
He only slept once during that span, he said, for about an hour and a half, lying in the middle of a trail.
When speed climbing over peaks, Jornet traveled light, carrying only the bare essentials to stay nourished and protected from the weather.
When possible, he was accompanied by photographers and videographers, most of whom had to be exceptional athletes to keep up.
He also stayed in contact with his press team and social media producers, and he sometimes slept in a support RV at the trailheads.
But after the frigid Palisades Traverse he indulged in a bit of luxury, pizza and a glorious night in a hotel bed in Bishop. The next morning, he hiked 14,252-foot White Mountain and then hopped on the bike for the 500-mile ride to the unexpected ordeal that awaited him on Mt. Shasta.
Having survived that with no serious damage, he biked through Oregon, finally with a tailwind, and then surmounted Mt. Rainier.
When he finally descended, instead of popping champagne in front of cameras and an adoring crowd, he and a few close friends spent a quiet night in an RV, swapping stories from the road and sharing shots of pickle juice — an inside joke that started somewhere during the trip.
“I’m not a big celebration guy,” Jornet explained.
He wouldn’t say what his next project will be, but several times he returned to the idea of climbing without crowds or fanfare.
“I do these things because I love them, because they bring me joy and happiness, not because I think they’re very important.”
One place he can sit quietly is at home in Norway, looking out the window, across the fjord to the nameless, snowcapped mountains in the distance.
He lets his eyes linger on their faces, settling on pretty lines to climb up or ski down.
Sept. 12 (UPI) — Two California-based tech firms on Friday joined a Federal Aviation Administration pilot program meant to speed up the delivery of advanced air mobility vehicles, commonly known as air taxis, the agency said.
The Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing Integration Pilot Program will include at least five separate projects, the FAA said in a statement.
Both Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation are joining the public-private pilot program. The companies are primarily focused on electric vertical takeoff and landing technology.
The goal of the pilot program is to “form public-private partnerships with state and local government entities and private sector companies to develop new frameworks and regulations for enabling safe operations,” the FAA said in the statement.
Individual projects under the pilot program will focus separately on short-range air taxis, cargo aircraft, logistics and supply serving emergency management and medical transport, longer-range, fixed wing flights and increased automation safety, according to the FAA.
“This pilot program gives us another opportunity to advance the administration’s plan to accelerate safe eVTOL and advanced air mobility operations across the United States,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in the agency’s statement.
“We will take the lessons learned from these projects to enable safe, scalable AAM operations nationwide.”
The pilot program will run for a minimum of three years.
“The next great technological revolution in aviation is here. The United States will lead the way, and doing so will cement America’s status as a global leader in transportation innovation,” Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said in the FAA’s statement.
Both private companies saw their stock prices climb following the announcement.
Shares of San Jose-based Archer Aviation were up $0.13 or 1.53% to $8.62 as of 12:56 p.m. EDT Friday.
The company’s CEO Adam Goldstein called the announcement a “landmark moment” for the country and industry.
“We have an administration that is prioritizing the integration of eVTOL operations in U.S. cities ahead of full certification in a pragmatic way. We’ll demonstrate that air taxis can operate safely and quietly,” Goldstein said in a statement on the company’s website.
“These early flights will help cement American leadership in advanced aviation and set the stage for scaled commercial operations in the U.S. and beyond.”
Joby Aviation shares were up $0.37 or 2.71% to $14.03 at the same time.
“President Trump has long recognized the significance of America’s leadership in the next era of aviation and this initiative ensures our nation’s leadership will continue,” Joby Aviation Chief Policy Officer Greg Bowles said in a statement on the company’s website.
“We’ve spent more than 15 years building the aircraft technology and operational capabilities that are defining advanced aerial mobility, and we’re ready to bring our services to communities. We look forward to demonstrating our aircraft’s maturity and delivering early operations in cities and states nationwide.”
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans are taking the first steps to change the chamber’s rules on Thursday, making it easier to confirm groups of President Trump’s nominees and overcome Democratic delays.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s move is the latest salvo after a dozen years of gradual changes by both parties to weaken the filibuster and make the nominations process more partisan. He has said the Democrats’ obstruction is “unsustainable” as they have drawn out the confirmation process and infuriated Trump as many positions in his administration have remained unfilled.
Opening up the Senate, Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said that the delays have prevented the Senate from spending time on legislative business.
“We’re going to fix this today, and restore the longtime Senate precedent of expeditious confirmation, and the Senate’s role as first and foremost a legislative body,” Thune said.
Republicans are taking a series of procedural votes Thursday on a group of 48 of Trump’s nominees, and are expected to vote to “overturn the chair,” or change the rules, which takes a simple majority vote. If all goes according to their plan, the nominees — undersecretaries and staff positions for various agencies across the government as well as several ambassadors — could be confirmed by next week.
The rules change effort comes as both parties have obstructed the other’s nominees for years, and as both Republicans and Democrats have advocated speeding the process when they are in the majority. The Republican rules change stops short of speeding up votes on high-level Cabinet officials and lifetime judicial appointments, and it is loosely based on a proposal from Democrats under President Biden.
Republicans have been pushing the rules change since early August, when the Senate left for a monthlong recess after a breakdown in bipartisan negotiations over the confirmation process and Trump told Senate Democratic Leader Charles E. Schumer to “GO TO HELL!” on social media.
Democrats have blocked more nominees than ever before as they have struggled to find ways to oppose Trump and the GOP-dominated Congress, and as their voters have pushed them to fight Republicans at every turn. It’s the first time in recent history that the minority party hasn’t allowed at least some quick confirmations.
Schumer has said Democrats are delaying the nominations because Trump’s nominees are “historically bad.”
“If you don’t debate nominees, if you don’t vote on individual nominees, if there’s not some degree of sunlight, what will stop Donald Trump from nominating even worse individuals than we’ve seen to date, knowing this chamber will rubber stamp anything he wishes?” Schumer said Monday.
Schumer told Republicans that they will “come to regret” their action — echoing a similar warning from GOP Leader Mitch McConnell to then-Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in 2013, when Democrats changed Senate rules for executive branch and lower-court judicial nominees to remove the 60-vote threshold for confirmations. At the time, Republicans were blocking President Obama’s picks.
Republicans took the Senate majority a year later, and McConnell eventually did the same for Supreme Court nominees in 2017 as Democrats tried to block Trump’s nomination of Justice Neil Gorsuch.
“I say to my Republican colleagues, think carefully before taking this step,” Schumer said.
North Korea’s leader threatens to speed up Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal expansion over a sign of ‘hostile intent’.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has threatened to accelerate the expansion of his country’s nuclear arsenal, condemning ongoing United States-South Korea military exercises as a sign of “hostile intent”, according to state media.
Kim, who made the remarks during a visit to a naval destroyer, called the drills “an obvious expression of their will to provoke war”, according to a report published on Tuesday.
He insisted North Korea must “rapidly expand” its nuclear weapons programme, pointing to the inclusion of what he called “nuclear elements” in the drills.
The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield drills began this week, combining large-scale field manoeuvres with upgraded responses to what the US and South Korea claim are North Korea’s growing nuclear capabilities.
The exercises will run for 11 days, with half of the 40 field training events rescheduled to September.
Purely defensive
South Korean officials said the adjustment reflects President Lee Jae Myung’s call to lower tensions, though analysts doubt Pyongyang will respond positively.
Seoul and Washington claim the exercises are purely defensive, but Pyongyang regularly denounces them as preparations for invasion and has often replied with weapons tests.
North Korea’s position is expected to feature in talks between US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee in Washington later this month, with efforts to curb Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions high on the agenda.
“Through this move, North Korea is demonstrating its refusal to accept denuclearisation and the will to irreversibly upgrade nuclear weapons,” said Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.
Research published by the Federation of American Scientists last year estimated that North Korea may have produced enough fissile material for up to 90 nuclear warheads, though the number actually assembled was likely closer to 50.
Alongside its nuclear ambitions, Pyongyang is also advancing its naval capabilities. The North Korean public broadcaster KCNA reported that the country aims to complete construction of a third 5,000-tonne Choe Hyon-class destroyer by October next year, and is testing cruise and anti-air missiles for the vessels.
EUROPE’S car industry is “heading at full speed against a wall” and risks collapsing if the EU doesn’t rethink its ban on new petrol and diesel cars, the boss of a huge car firm has warned.
In a stark intervention, he said a “reality check” was needed before the 2035 ban on combustion-engine sales is locked in.
3
Mercedes-Benz boss Ola Källenius says a ‘reality check’ is needed before the 2035 ban on combustion-engine sales is locked inCredit: AFP
3
Europe’s car industry is ‘heading at full speed against a wall’ and risks collapsing if EU doesn’t rethink ban on petrol and diesel cars, says bossCredit: AFP
3
Electric cars remain far from dominating the market, with EVs making up just 17.5 per cent of sales across the EU in the first half of this yearCredit: EPA
Mercedes-Benz boss Ola Källenius told German business paper Handelsblatt: “We need a reality check. Otherwise, we are heading at full speed against a wall.
“Of course, we have to decarbonise, but it has to be done in a technology-neutral way. We must not lose sight of our economy.”
The luxury brand — once gung-ho about going fully electric in Europe — has already dropped its ambitious 2021 pledge to stop selling combustion cars “where market conditions allow” by the decade’s end.
Källenius, who also heads the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), now warns the EU’s policy could trigger a last-minute rush for petrol and diesel cars before the cut-off, which “doesn’t help the climate at all.”
Electric cars remain far from dominating the market.
In the first half of this year, EVs made up just 17.5 per cent of sales across the EU, UK, and EFTA countries, while plug-in hybrids took 8.7 per cent.
Traditional hybrids accounted for 35 per cent, but that figure includes mild-hybrids, which critics say aren’t “true” hybrids.
Mercedes’ own figures show EV sales slipping — just 8.4 per cent of its global deliveries in the first six months of 2025, down from 9.7 per cent last year.
Even with plug-ins included, electrified models made up just 20.1 per cent of shipments.
The EU’s 2035 ban is due for review in the coming months, but Brussels has so far signalled no U-turn, reiterating in March its commitment to zero-emission new cars by the mid-2030s.
Tesla’s Cybertruck Graveyard: Hundreds of Unsold EVs Abandoned at Shopping Mall
Europe chief Jean-Philippe Imparato said the Franco-Italian group faces fines of up to €2.5 billion within “two-three years” if it fails to meet emissions rules.
Without a regulatory rethink by year-end, “we will have to make tough decisions,” he told a conference in Rome.
“I have two solutions: either I push like hell (on electric)… or I close down ICE (internal combustion engine vehicles).
And therefore I close down factories,” he said, pointing to the risk for sites such as Stellantis’ van plant in Atessa, Italy.
The warning comes amid fresh turmoil for Stellantis, with its new CEO Antonio Filosa inheriting the fallout from Donald Trump’s 25 per cent US import tariffs and a crisis at Maserati, which has seen sales plunge from 26,600 in 2023 to 11,300 last year.
With EV targets biting, petrol and diesel models under threat, and luxury brands cancelling investments — including Maserati’s £1.3bn electric MC20 Folgore — Europe’s car bosses are sending a clear signal to Brussels: ease off, or risk slamming the brakes on the continent’s auto industry.
Second in a series of stories profiling top high school football players by position. Today, Brian Bonner, Valencia running back.
There are many ways Brian Bonner of Valencia High impacts a football game. As a running back, using his 10.48-second speed in the 100 meters, any kind of opening creates the opportunity for a touchdown.
Ditto catching a ball out of the backfield and being allowed to improvise as he makes defenders miss. And then there’s kickoff returns, where he builds up speed like a locomotive and heads to the end zone faster than putting mustard on a hot dog.
“I think being versatile is very important,” he said. “A lot of teams in college look for a running back that can do more than run the ball. They want you to be able to catch and block.”
At 6 feet and 190 pounds, Bonner is ready to take a place among the many great Valencia backs of the past, from Manuel White to Shane Vereen to Steven Manfro, all of whom made it to the college ranks.
“It’s really cool to learn about the history of the other running backs and it would be an honor to be part of that group,” Bonner said. “I’ve learned all the great things they’ve done at Valencia.”
No one has been faster in Valencia history than Bonner, who started attracting attention when he ran 100 meters in 10.85 seconds during his last race as a freshman. A stampede of football offers started coming after his 10.48 time last year.
Brian Bonner of Valencia runs for yardage against West Ranch during his sophomore season.
(Craig Weston)
“My recruitment started to blow up,” he said. “They were really impressed by speed and my football form backed up my speed. The best way to determine how fast someone is by track times. People can see how fast you are as a player and it shows how important speed is to coaches.”
Bonner rushed for 1,493 yards and 25 touchdowns last season and also caught 40 passes for 498 yards and four touchdowns. He committed to Washington last month.
His combination of speed, size and versatility makes him a valuable offensive weapon. Add to that his patience and youth. He just turned 17 in July and was perfectly fine with playing junior varsity football as a freshman.
“I think everybody wants to play varsity as freshman,” he said. “Now that I look back, it was good. I learned things that I brought to varsity. I knew what to expect instead of being a freshman and not knowing what to expect.”
Valencia coach Larry Muir is plotting how to best use Bonner’s versatility and quickness.
“When you’re special, you have a skill set to catch the ball out of the backfield and he does that as well as anyone,” Muir said. “His speed is incredible, but when you get him in the open field and get him in open space, it’s fun to watch.”
It’s Bonner’s senior year, and he has no intention on relying what he’s done in the past or what 100-meter time he ran.
“You have to work hard, because everyone is going to get better,” he said. “You have to stand out and do things a lot of people won’t do to be the best. Putting in extra hours, learning the plays, learning defenses, becoming a student off the game.”
Thursday: St. John Bosco receiver Madden Williams.
Running backs to watch
Maliq Allen, St. John Bosco, 5-8, 180, Jr.: Showed flashes of brilliance with 1,003 yards rushing
Brian Bonner, Valencia, 6-0, 190, Sr.: Speed and hands make him explosive weapon
Justin Lewis, Mater Dei, 5-10, 195, Sr.: Thousand Oaks transfer gained 1,306 yards as junior
AJ McBean, Mira Costa, 5-11, 208, Jr.: Big back with speed and power
Sean Morris, Orange Lutheran, 5-10, 195, Sr.: Northwestern commit transfers from Loyola
Deshonne Redeaux, Oaks Christian, 6-0, 185, Sr.: USC commit has high expectations for senior season
Edward Rivera, Compton, 6-0, 185, Jr.: City Section transfer gained 1,843 yards and 21 TDs last season
Ceasar Reyes, Garfield, 5-11, 175, Jr.: Rushed for 1,520 yards, 22 TDs with relentless energy in 2024
Journee Tonga, Leuzinger, 5-8, 175, Sr.: Rushed for 2,267 yards, 29 TDs last season
Jorden Wells, Servite, 5-7, 150, So.: Let’s see what track speedster can do in first varsity season
WASHINGTON — The Senate is leaving Washington on Saturday night for its monthlong August recess without a deal to advance dozens of President Trump’s nominees, calling it quits after days of contentious bipartisan negotiations and Trump posting on social media that Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer can “GO TO HELL!”
Without a deal in hand, Republicans say they may try to change Senate rules when they return in September to speed up the pace of confirmations. Trump has been pressuring senators to move quickly as Democrats blocked more nominees than usual this year, denying any fast unanimous consent votes and forcing roll calls on each one, a lengthy process that can take several days per nominee.
“I think they’re desperately in need of change,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said of Senate rules Saturday after negotiations with Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Trump broke down. “I think that the last six months have demonstrated that this process, nominations, is broken. And so I expect there will be some good robust conversations about that.”
The latest standoff comes as Democrats and Republicans have escalated their obstruction of the other party’s executive branch and judicial nominees over the last two decades, and as Senate leaders have incrementally changed Senate rules to speed up confirmations — and make them less bipartisan.
In 2013, Democrats changed Senate rules for lower court judicial nominees to remove the 60-vote threshold for confirmations as Republicans refused to consider any of President Obama’s judicial picks. In 2017, Republicans did the same for Supreme Court nominees as Democrats tried to block Trump’s nomination of Neil M. Gorsuch.
Trump has been pressuring Senate Republicans for weeks to cancel the August recess and grind through dozens of his nominations as Democrats have slowed the process. But Republicans hoped to make a deal with Democrats instead, and came close several times over the last few days as the two parties and the White House negotiated over moving a large tranche of nominees in exchange for reversing some of the Trump administration’s spending cuts on foreign aid, among other issues.
But it was clear that there would be no agreement when Trump attacked Schumer on social media Saturday evening and told senators to pack it up and go home.
“Tell Schumer, who is under tremendous political pressure from within his own party, the Radical Left Lunatics, to GO TO HELL!” Trump posted on his social media platform. “Do not accept the offer, go home and explain to your constituents what bad people the Democrats are, and what a great job the Republicans are doing, and have done, for our Country.”
Thune said afterward that there were “several different times” when the two sides thought they had a deal, but in the end “we didn’t close it out.”
It’s the first time in recent history that the minority party hasn’t allowed at least some quick confirmations. Thune has already kept the Senate in session for more days, and with longer hours, this year to try to confirm as many of Trump’s nominees as possible.
But Democrats had little desire to give in without the spending cut reversals or some other incentive, even though they too were eager to skip town after several long months of work and bitter partisan fights over legislation.
“We have never seen nominees as flawed, as compromised, as unqualified as we have right now,” Schumer said Saturday.
Jalonick and Cappelletti write for the Associated Press.
ATLANTA — The center fielder for the Dodgers’ Class A Great Lakes affiliate is a former first-round draft pick. The other two outfielders were selected for the Futures Game.
Who’s the best outfielder on the team?
“We’re all good, brother,” said the left fielder, Josue De Paula. “We’ve all got talent. We all excel somewhere.
“Us together? It’s a dream squad. I don’t feel like you see that much talent that often.”
De Paula flashed his considerable talent Saturday, hitting a three-run homer that decided the National League’s 4-2 victory over the American League and earned him the Futures Game most valuable player award.
The only other Dodgers prospect to win that award: infielder Chin-Lung Hu, in 2007.
“This is definitely motivating for me,” De Paula said. “Mentally, it was a big moment, to prove, especially to myself, who I really am.”
De Paula’s home run traveled 416 feet, triggering a round of fireworks in the sky and a lump in De Paula’s throat as he crossed home plate.
“I was overtaken by emotion,” he said, “especially doing it in front of my dad.”
His father lives in New York City. The Midwest League is far away.
Perhaps the major leagues are not so far away. De Paula is 20, but he is in his fourth pro season. The Dodgers signed him out of the Dominican Republic, but he was born in New York City and he is a second cousin of former NBA All-Star Stephon Marbury.
“Baseball called me,” De Paula said. “I fell in love with it at a young age.”
Zyhir Hope, the Great Lakes right fielder, also appeared in the Futures Game. He singled ahead of De Paula and scored on the home run, so he was waiting at home plate to congratulate De Paula.
“We do it often,” De Paula said, smiling.
Hope, also 20, smiled when asked what he liked about De Paula’s game.
“Everything,” he said. “He takes it easily. He’s calm, relaxed and laid back, but he works hard. He’s a great dude.”
Before the season, Baseball Prospectus ranked De Paula and Hope among the top 10 prospects in baseball. Currently, MLB Pipeline ranks both among the top 40.
De Paula offers power, speed, and advanced plate discipline, although scouts wonder whether he can stick in left field or might need to try first base or designated hitter. Hope has advanced from a good-fielding prospect with uncertain hitting skills in the Chicago Cubs’ system — the Dodgers got him in the Michael Busch trade — to a gap hitter with speed.
This is the time of year, of course, where contenders trade prospects to fill major league needs. Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, rarely trades his top prospects, and De Paula ranks No. 1 in the Dodgers’ farm system. On the other hand, the Dodgers need pitching help.
“I do want to get to L.A. I hope that’s in God’s plans,” De Paula said. “At the end of the day, we never make the decisions. We’ve just got to focus on what we need to do on the field and whatever happens, happens.
“But I really do hope I become a Dodger and I stay there for a very long time.”
Fast fashion giant Shein has confidentially filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
The Chinese-founded, Singapore-based retailer privately filed a draft prospectus last week with Hong Kong’s exchange (HKEX) and sought the blessing of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
The application is a means for Shein to increase pressure on UK regulators as it seeks approval for its London listing. The firm filed to list in the UK capital around 18 months ago, but has since struggled to obtain the green light.
Chinese and UK regulators have notably failed to agree on the language included in the risk disclosure section of its prospectus, particularly where this relates to human rights abuses.
Shein faces claims that it sources cotton from China’s Xinjiang region, where the US and NGOs have accused the Chinese government of forced labour and human rights abuses targeting Uyghur people.The US banned imports from the area in 2021.
In January, Yinan Zhu, a senior lawyer representing Shein, refused to say whether the firm was using cotton from Xinjiang when questioned by UK lawmakers on the Business and Trade committee.
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority approved a version of Shein’s prospectus earlier this year, but it wasn’t accepted by the China Securities Regulatory Commission.
Hong Kong’s exchange is expected to be more flexible than its UK counterpart when it comes to risk descriptions, although FT sources noted that London would still be the preferred listing location.
Shein had originally sought to list in New York, although changed its plans in response to significant political opposition in the US, linked to its labour practices as well as national security concerns.
Financially, Shein’s IPO would provide a boost to the London market that has seen a number of recent defections. Delisted firms include Just Eat Takeaway, Wise, Ashtead and Flutter Entertainment.
According to data from Dealogic, IPO fundraising in the UK market fell to at least a 30-year low in the first half of this year.
Euronews has reached out to Shein for further comment.
The court declined to fast-track the review of the dispute over Trump having legal power to impose broad tariffs.
The United States Supreme Court has declined to speed up its consideration of whether to take up a challenge to President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs even before lower courts have ruled in the dispute.
The Supreme Court denied on Friday a request by a family-owned toy company, Learning Resources, that filed the legal challenge against Trump’s tariffs to expedite the review of the dispute by the nation’s top judicial body.
The company, which makes educational toys, won a court ruling on May 29 that Trump cannot unilaterally impose tariffs using the emergency authority he had claimed. That ruling is currently on hold, leaving the tariffs in place for now.
Learning Resources asked the Supreme Court to take the rare step of immediately hearing the case to decide the legality of the tariffs, effectively leapfrogging the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Washington, where the case is pending.
Two district courts have ruled that Trump’s tariffs are not justified under the law he cited, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Both of those cases are on appeal. No court has yet backed the sweeping emergency tariff authority Trump has claimed.
Cristiano Ronaldo guided Portugal to Nations League glory earlier this monthCredit: SHUTTERSTOCK
“Maybe he’ll have to watch on TV.”
Speed leapt to the defence of Portuguese superstar Ronaldo, insisting the five-time Ballon d’Or winner will guide Portugal to glory in the 2026 World Cup.
Watch IShowSpeed’s X-rated meltdown after police block him from seeing Cristiano Ronaldo at Euro 2024
Aguero sarcastically then asked the 20-year-old: “[Ronaldo] just won the [Euros] no?
Servite’s boys’ 4×100-meter relay team, consisting of freshmen Jace Wells, Jaelen Hunter, Kamil Pelovello and Jorden Wells got Friday’s CIF State Track and Field Championships off to a blazing start by winning the first heat in 40.28 seconds and earning the top qualifying time — not bad for the foursome’s first go around the oval.
Robert Gardner ran the anchor leg behind Jace Wells, Hunter and Pelovello six days earlier when the Friars clocked 40.40 to win the Southern Section Masters Meet and fellow sophomore Benjamin Harris joined Jorden Wells, Hunter and Gardner when Servite set a state and meet record at the Arcadia Invitational in April.
Justin Hart of Granada Hills ran the 400 meters in 47.72 seconds on Friday to earn the final qualifying spot for the CIF state final.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Friday was all about the “youth movement.” They left Veterans Memorial Stadium at Buchanan High believing that they could return Saturday to break the state meet record of 40.24 set by Hawthorne in 1989.
“This is the first time that all four of us have been in the same relay,” Hunter said. “We’re going after the record tomorrow.”
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame won Heat 2 in 40.83, the second-fastest time.
Hunter showed why he’s the fastest freshman in the country one hour later when he looked like he was saving his energy for the finals even while winning his 400-meter heat in 47.43, the third-fastest prelims time behind Temecula Valley senior Jack Stadlman (46.99) and Culver City’s Duaine Mayrant (47.38).
Jace Wells clocked a personal-best to win his 200-meter heat in 21.03 while Stadlman (21 flat), Antrell Harris (21.14) and Leo Francis (21.16) from Santa Margarita also advanced to the finals ahead of USC-bound RJ Sermons of Rancho Cucamonga, who raced Nicolas Obimgba of Torrance head-to-head at 11 p.m. for the last qualifying spot after they tied to the thousandth of a second for ninth.
Sermons won by 20 hundredths of a second in 21.11 in an empty stadium to secure his spot in the finals.
“I’ve never been in a run-off before,” Sermons said, shaking his head. “I had a bad start the first time. No one to blame but me.”
Rancho Cucamonga’s RJ Sermons, right, wins a run-off against Nicolas Obimgba of Torrance to earn the last spot in the boys’ 200-meter finals.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Servite capped its impressive day by winning its 4×400-meter heat in 3 minutes 10.94 seconds, holding off Cathedral (3:11.13) for the second-fastest qualifying time behind Long Beach Poly (3:10.70).
Maintenance crews will be working overnight trying remove the scorch marks on the track after the boys’ 100 meters. All nine sprinters who advanced to Saturday’s finals clocked 10.51 or under, led by De La Salle junior Jaden Jefferson, whose wind-legal 10.01 bettered the California record of 10.14 by Rodrick Pleasant of Gardena Serra in 2022. Second in the heat was Obimgba (10.20) and third was City Section champion Antrell Harris of Birmingham, giving a single heat the first, second and fourth-fastest times in the state this year.
USC-bound RJ Sermons of Rancho Cucamonga bounced back from a subpar Masters race, where he finished fourth in 10.47, to win his heat in 10.40 and Demare Dezeurn, who repeated as Masters champion in 10.35 seconds, also topped his heat Friday in 10.43. Benjamin Harris won Heat 4 in 10.49.
“Today was all about qualifying for finals, said Dezeurn, a sophomore from Alemany. “It’s great competition. I have to go hard tomorrow. If I can beat [Jefferson] at the start I can beat him in the race. He is good, though. Seeing those times just makes me love the game even more. I want to prove I belong here. I run to win!”
Kyra Terry, left, receives the baton from Oaks Christian teammate Rayah Rodriguez in a girls’ 4×100-meter relay heat at the state preliminaries on Friday.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Christina Gray anchored Carson’s girls’ 4×100 relay, which posted the fastest qualifying time (46.16) while Journey Cole’s late kick on the anchor leg in Heat 2 allowed Redondo Union (46.33) to clip last year’s state champion Oaks Christian, which posted the same time (46.39) as Long Beach Poly. Gray followed with a personal-best 11.47 in the 100, beating Chaparral’s Keelan Wright by two hundredths of a second for second in her heat.
Calabasas sophomore Malia Rainey yelled “C’mon” after winning her heat in a personal-best 11.57 while teammate Marley Scoggins won Heat 4 in 11.67. Wright bounced back to post the best time (23.58) in the girls’ 200 meters while Gray finished second in 23.71, the second-fastest time and much swifter than her 24.62 at City Finals.
“In the 100 I had a great start, now I just have to work on the finish,” Gray said. “It’s still a great time for me. I’m feeling pretty good, there was no negative wind and winning the relay gave me confidence as I was feeling doubtful before that but after the 4×100 I knew I’d do well the rest of the day.
Carson 4×100-meter relay anchor runner Christina Gray crosses the finish line during a heat at the CIF state track and field preliminaries on Friday.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Reigning discus champion Aja Johnson Sherman Oaks Notre Dame struggled Friday but secured the 12th and last finals spot with an effort of 139 feet 3 inches. Camarillo’s Trinity Tipton was the top qualifier at 152-06. The 2023 shot put state champion, Johnson was the top qualifier Friday at 45-05, beating Aliso Niguel’s Jaslene Massey by six inches.
Transgender athlete AB Hernandez of Jurupa Valley was the leading qualifier in the girls’ long jump (19-11.75), triple jump (40-09.75) and high jump (5-05.00).
May 24 (UPI) — President Donald Trump‘s administration is lifting sanctions on war-torn Syria, with the goal of speeding recovery and reconstruction efforts in the Middle Eastern country.
The move will pave the way for “new investment and private sector activity consistent with the President’s America First strategy,” Secretary of State Marco Rubiosaid in a statement this week.
Trump earlier this month met with Interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa where he promised he would lift “crippling” U.S. sanctions.
“I have issued a 180-day waiver of mandatory Caesar Act sanctions to ensure sanctions do not impede the ability of our partners to make stability-driving investments, and advance Syria’s recovery and reconstruction efforts,” Rubio said in the statement.
“These waivers will facilitate the provision of electricity, energy, water, and sanitation, and enable a more effective humanitarian response across Syria.”
Trump at the time said sanctions were targeting entities and individuals that were “actively supporting the murderous and barbaric Assad regime.”
Assad was ousted from power last December, fleeing to Russia. It ended a five-decade run of Assad family rule in Syria.
In addition to lifting sanctions, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued Syria General License 25, allowing people previously blocked from conducting business with Syrian entities to do so under the new al-Sharaa government.
“The GL will allow for new investment and private sector activity consistent with the President’s America First strategy. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is providing exceptive relief to permit U.S. financial institutions to maintain correspondent accounts for the Commercial Bank of Syria,” Rubio said in the statement.
“Today’s actions represent the first step in delivering on the President’s vision of a new relationship between Syria and the United States,” Rubio said. “President Trump is providing the Syrian government with the chance to promote peace and stability, both within Syria and in Syria’s relations with its neighbors. The President has made clear his expectation that relief will be followed by prompt action by the Syrian government on important policy priorities.”
The American directive comes just days after the European Union made a similar move. EU officials on Tuesday lifted its sanctions on Syria with the same goal of helping economic recovery.
“We want to help the Syrian people rebuild a new, inclusive and peaceful Syria,” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas said at the time.
May 24 (UPI) — President Donald Trump signed four executive orders to overhaul the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and hasten the process and deployment of new nuclear power reactors in the United States.
They allow agencies to build reactors on federally owned land, revamp the NRC, create new timelines for construction permits, and expand domestic uranium production and enrichment capabilities.
Nuclear executives joined Trump, including Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez, who leads the largest operator of nuclear plants in the U.S.
Constellation wants to restart operations at Three Mile Island, aiming to bring the Unit 1 reactor back online in 2028. The Unit 2 reactor at Three Mile Island was the site of a partial meltdown in 1979.
“We’re wasting too much time on permitting and we’re answering silly questions, not the important ones,” the Constellation CEO said.
The agency is also reviewing whether to restart the mothballed Palisades plant in Michigan.
Dominguez said nuclear energy is best-suited to support artificial intelligence data center needs with consistent, around-the-clock service.
Between 1954 and 1978, the United States authorized construction of 133 civilian nuclear reactors at 81 power plants. Since 1978, the NRC has authorized a fraction of that number, and only two reactors have entered into commercial operation.
“Instead of efficiently promoting safe, abundant nuclear energy, the NRC has instead tried to insulate Americans from the most remote risks without appropriate regard for the severe domestic and geopolitical costs of such risk aversion,” according to one of the executive orders.
Former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, who now heads the Nuclear Threat Initiative and Energy Futures Initiative, said the moves could increase safety or security risks.
“Reorganizing and reducing the independence of the NRC could lead to the hasty deployment of advanced reactors with safety and security flaws,” Moniz, a nuclear physicist who served under President Barack Obama, said.
NRC overhaul
The 50-year-old independent NRC regulates nuclear reactors. The new executive order dictates reductions in force “though certain functions may increase in size consistent with the policies in this order, including those devoted to new reactor licensing.”
The NRC shall also create a team of at least 20 officials to draft the new regulations.
The order will not remove or replace any of the five commissioners who lead the body, according to the White House.
The NRC will work with the Department of Government Efficiency, the Office of Management and Budget, and other executive departments and agencies on the reorganization, according to the White House.
The public hearings process at the agency also will be streamlined, the executive order said.
New reactors
Trump’s orders also create a regulatory method for the departments of Energy and Defense to build nuclear reactors on federal land, the administration official said.
The commission will be required to decide on nuclear reactor licenses within 18 months and, within 60 days, the secretary of energy is expected to issue guidance on what counts as a qualified test reactor.
The order says that qualified test reactors can be safely operational at Department-owned or Department-controlled facilities within two years.
“Federal Government has effectively throttled the domestic deployment of advanced reactors, ceding the initiative to foreign nations in building this critical technology,” the order reads. “Our proud history of innovation has succumbed to overregulated complacency.”
Two new reactors that recently came online at Plant Vogtle near Augusta, Ga., took seven years longer than planned to build and came in $18 billion over budget.
The secretary of state is also expected to “aggressively pursue” at least 20 new agreements by the close of the 120th Congress “to enable the United States nuclear industry to access new markets in partner countries.”
“We’re also talking about the big plants — the very, very big, the biggest,” Trump said at the signing. “We’re going to be doing them also.”
Other changes
Another of the orders Trump signed seeks to fully leverage federally owned uranium and plutonium resources declared excess to defense needs.
Trump also wants a pilot program for reactor construction and operation outside the National Laboratories.
Within 240 days, the agencies are expected to develop management of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste, and deployment of advanced fuel cycle capabilities “to establish a safe, secure, and sustainable long-term fuel cycle,” according to the order.
Additionally, the order directs the Department of Education to work toward increasing participation in nuclear energy-related apprenticeships and career and technical education programs.
WASHINGTON — President Trump signed executive orders Friday intended to quadruple domestic production of nuclear power within the next 25 years, a goal experts say the United States is highly unlikely to reach.
To speed up the development of nuclear power, the orders grant the U.S. Energy secretary authority to approve advanced reactor designs and projects, taking authority away from the independent safety agency that has regulated the U.S. nuclear industry for five decades.
The order comes as demand for electricity surges amid a boom in energy-hungry data centers and artificial intelligence. Tech companies, venture capitalists, states and others are competing for electricity and straining the nation’s electric grid.
“We’ve got enough electricity to win the AI arms race with China,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said. “What we do in the next five years related to electricity is going to determine the next 50” years in the industry.
Still, it’s unlikely the U.S. could quadruple its nuclear production in the time frame the White House specified. The United States lacks any next-generation reactors operating commercially and only two large reactors have been built from scratch in nearly 50 years. Those two reactors, at a nuclear plant in Georgia, were completed years late and at least $17 billion over budget.
Trump is enthusiastic
At the Oval Office signing, Trump, surrounded by industry executives, called nuclear a “hot industry,” adding, “It’s time for nuclear, and we’re going to do it very big.”
Burgum and other speakers said the industry has stagnated and has been choked by overregulation.
“Mark this day on your calendar. This is going to turn the clock back on over 50 years of overregulation of an industry,’’ said Burgum, who chairs Trump’s newly formed Energy Dominance Council.
The orders would reorganize the independent Nuclear Regulatory Commission to ensure quicker reviews of nuclear projects, including an 18-month deadline for the NRC to act on industry applications. The measures also create a pilot program intended to place three new experimental reactors online by July 4, 2026 — 13 months from now — and invoke the Defense Production Act to allow emergency measures to ensure the U.S. has the reactor fuel needed for a modernized nuclear energy sector.
The NRC is assessing the executive orders and will comply with White House directives, spokesperson Scott Burnell said Friday.
Jacob DeWitte, chief executive of the nuclear energy company Oklo, brought a golf ball to the Oval Office. He told Trump that’s the amount of uranium that can power someone’s needs for their entire life.
“It doesn’t get any better than that,” he said, holding up the ball.
“Very exciting indeed,” Trump said.
Trump has signed a spate of executive orders promoting oil, gas and coal that warm the planet when burned to produce electricity. Nuclear reactors generate electricity without emitting greenhouse gases. Trump said reactors are safe and clean but did not mention climate benefits. Safety advocates warn that nuclear technology still comes with significant risks that other low-carbon energy sources don’t, including the danger of accidents or targeted attacks, and the unresolved question of how to store tens of thousands of tons of hazardous nuclear waste.
The order to reorganize the NRC will include significant staff reductions but is not intended to fire NRC commissioners who lead the agency. David Wright, a former South Carolina elected official and utility commissioner, chairs the five-member panel. His term ends June 30, and it is unclear whether he will be reappointed.
Critics have trepidations
Critics say the White House moves could compromise safety and violate legal frameworks such as the Atomic Energy Act. Compromising the independence of the NRC or encouraging it to be circumvented entirely could weaken the agency and make regulation less effective, said Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
“Simply put, the U.S. nuclear industry will fail if safety is not made a priority,” he said.
Gregory Jaczko, who led the NRC under President Obama, said Trump’s executive orders look like someone asked an AI chatbot, “How do we make the nuclear industry worse in this country?”
He called the orders a “guillotine to the nation’s nuclear safety system” that will make the country less safe, the industry less reliable and the climate crisis more severe.
A number of countries are speeding up efforts to license and build a new generation of smaller nuclear reactors to meet a surging demand for electricity and supply it carbon-free. Last year, Congress passed legislation that President Biden signed to modernize the licensing of new reactor technologies so they can be built faster.
This month, the power company in Ontario, Canada, began building the first of four small nuclear reactors.
Valar Atomics is a nuclear reactor developer in California. Founder and CEO Isaiah Taylor said nuclear development and innovation in the United States has been slowed by too much red tape, while Russia and China are speeding ahead. He said he’s most excited about the mandate for the Energy Department to speed up the pace of innovation.
The NRC is currently reviewing applications from companies and a utility that want to build small nuclear reactors to begin providing power in the early 2030s. Currently, the NRC expects its reviews to take three years or less.
Tori Shivanandan, chief operating officer of Radiant Nuclear, a California-based startup, said the executive orders mark a “watershed moment” for nuclear power in the U.S., adding that Trump’s support for the advanced nuclear industry will help ensure its success.
Daly and McDermott write for the Associated Press.
The A-HyM Hypersonic Air Master is designed to carry 170 passengers and cruise at an altitude of 30,000 metres while travelling at speeds of Mach 7.3
Milo Boyd Digital Travel Reporter and SWNSDeanMurray (Dean Murray)
15:57, 23 May 2025
The plane is designed to fly at 5,600mph
A groundbreaking hypersonic airliner could cut London-New York flight times to a mere 45 minutes.
The revolutionary A-HyM Hypersonic Air Master is set to transform air travel by flying at Mach 7.3-over 5,600 mph (9,000 kph). Designed to carry 170 passengers, it could reduce the transatlantic journey from the usual seven hours, making transatlantic travel quicker than ever before.
In comparison, Concorde typically flew from London to New York in just under three and a half hours, compared to about eight hours on a subsonic flight. Spanish designer Oscar Viñals says the A-HyM would cruise at an altitude of 30,000 metres, far above conventional jets, using advanced heat-resistant materials like titanium and carbon fibre to withstand temperatures up to 1,000°C.
Its innovative Sonic Boom Mitigation System aims to reduce the disruptive noise of breaking the sound barrier, potentially allowing supersonic-and even hypersonic-flights over land without disturbing communities below. Powered by a next-generation hydrogen-fuelled combined-cycle engine, the aircraft would blend turbojet, ramjet, and oblique detonation technologies for both speed and eco-friendliness.
The plane could hypothetically fly from London to New York in 45 minutes
Inside, passengers would enjoy spacious, comfortable cabins equipped with virtual panoramic windows and advanced entertainment systems designed to handle the unique conditions of hypersonic flight.
Although only a concept at this stage, the A-HyM illustrates how rapid breakthroughs in materials science, propulsion systems, and aerodynamics are making the prospect of ultra-fast and sustainable global travel increasingly plausible.
According to Oscar Viñals: “This aircraft concept would allow its users not only to experience a unique flight at dizzying speeds in excellent conditions, but it would also allow them to “master” time, because a trip, for example, from London to Los Angeles would only take an hour and a half, from boarding at Heathrow international airport to disembarking at LAX (Los Angeles International Airport).”
The A-HyM aircraft’s developers are far from the only ones perusing the dream of commercial super-sonic flight. In January the Boom supersonic jet – dubbed the ‘new Concorde‘ – officially broken the sound barrier.
The Colorado-based company Boom launched its XB-1 test plane from California‘s Mojave Air and Space Port for a test flight in January, reaching a speed of Mach 1.1, or 844 miles per hour while flying at about 35,000 feet.
A plane is classed as having reached ‘supersonic’ speeds once it passes Mach 1. The Boom XB-1 is the first civil supersonic jet made in the US to break the sound barrier.
The goal of crashing through the sound barrier, and the loud bang that happens when planes do, is part of the reason super-fast air travel proved difficult from a business perspective.
Making a commercial success of super-sonic aircraft has proved a challenge
As iconic and beautiful as the Concorde’s curved-delta wing shape was, there had always been a fundamental problem with the plane before it was mothballed for good. Smashing through the sound barrier causes a huge bang that has big consequences of those on the ground. During a 1965 test over Oklahoma city by the US Air Force, hundreds of reports of smashed windows were made.
The potential to cause this kind of disruption meant that Concorde could only fly certain routes at supersonic, meaning no high-speed flights over land. This crushed the business case for the aircraft in the US as cities such as Los Angeles and New York could not be linked up effectively.
Climate scientists also began to express alarm about the impact of the Concorde on the ozone layer, specifically the potentially damaging impact its emissions could have while flying at 60,000 feet – something it needed to do to get into air thin enough.
The relatively small number of passengers onboard coupled with the large amount of fuel required to fly so fast (compared to slower air travel), meant fluctuations in oil price hit the airline hard. At points customers were paying close to $12,000 for a single trip, back in 2003. Operators Air France and British Airways had to have reserve planes made as back-ups, which added to the spiralling bill.
Manager Dave Roberts was asked the other night about the “difficult decision” the Dodgers will have to make on Kim when utilityman Tommy Edman and outfielder Teoscar Hernández return from the injured list in the next couple of weeks, but nothing about this decision should be difficult.
Kim will still belong in the major leagues.
There won’t be enough at-bats for him?
The Dodgers have to find them.
He can gain more experience in the minors?
A 26-year-old who played seven-plus seasons in the Korean Baseball Organization before he signed with the Dodgers, Kim isn’t a typical rookie.
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said part of the reason catcher Dalton Rushing was called up this week was because of the competition in the National League West?
The same logic should be applied to Kim’s situation.
Make liberal use of the injured list. Release Chris Taylor. Do whatever is necessary for Kim to remain in Los Angeles.
“How he’s playing,” Roberts acknowledged, “certainly helps his case.”
Shohei Ohtani homered twice in a 19-2 victory over the Athletics at Dodger Stadium on Thursday night. Both times, Kim was on base.
Ohtani, who leads off for the Dodgers, drove in only 10 runs in his first 30 games of the season. The bottom of the order wasn’t hitting or drawing walks
In the first 12 games Ohtani played since Kim was called up from triple-A Oklahoma City, Ohtani collected 18 runs batted in.
Kim batted eighth or ninth in each of the eight games he started through Thursday, and he’d already been driven home by Ohtani five times. The only player Ohtani has driven in more this season: Ohtani.
“A lot easier to pitch to Shohei when nobody’s on base,” Roberts said. “Recently, certainly with Kim and his ability to get on base, there’s always traffic.”
Kim entered the Freeway Series opener on Friday batting .429, a pleasant surprise considering he looked completely overmatched at the plate in spring training. His ability to make contact has enhanced his greatest weapon, his legs.
“He’s really talented,” third baseman Max Muncy said. “He can do a lot of really special things that you can’t see from a lot of players.”
That game-changing speed was on display in just his second major league game when he was deployed as a ninth-inning pinch runner with a one-run deficit against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park. Kim stole second base and reached third on a dropped third strike, positioning him within 90 feet of the tying run. The next two batters struck out and the Dodgers lost the game, but the cameo performance was a preview of what was to come.
In his first 12 major league games, Kim stole three bases and plated nine runs. Three of his first 12 hits were infield hits.
“I tried to figure out what my role is in this organization, and I’m just trying to control what I can control,” Kim said through an interpreter.
Dodgers coaches also believe Kim’s speed has influenced how opponents attack Ohtani. One particular example that was cited was Ohtani’s three-run, ninth-inning home run in a 14-11 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 9.
Kim was on second base and Michael Conforto was on first when Ohtani came to the plate with one out and the score level, 11-11. Walking Ohtani would have moved the go-ahead run to third base, and with Kim’s speed, any ball put in play by the next batter would have likely resulted in a run. Diamondbacks reliever Ryan Thompson pitched to Ohtani, who launched a 1-2 pitch into the stands in right-center.
“With the speed dynamic [of Kim], it creates stress,” Roberts said. “He can steal a base, go first to third. It certainly opens some things up for the top of the order.”
The Dodgers have scored an average of 7.3 runs per game since Kim joined the team. In the process, he’s become a beloved figure in the clubhouse, overcoming a language barrier to form bonds with a wide range of players that includes everyone from Ohtani to Mookie Betts.
“That started in spring training,” Muncy said. “He was there with a couple of us and just immediately fit right in. He likes to have fun. He’s always smiling, he’s always laughing. He’s really fun to have out there.”
With a three-year deal that could be extended by the Dodgers for an additional two seasons, Kim figures to be a part of their future. But he’s already a reason for why they’re clicking now, and the returns of Edman and Hernández shouldn’t change that.
When survivors from January’s wildfires in Los Angeles County apply to rebuild their homes, their first interaction might be with a robot.
Artificial intelligence will aid city and county building officials in reviewing permit requests, an effort to speed up a process already being criticized as too slow.
“The current pace of issuing permits locally is not meeting the magnitude of the challenge we face,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said when announcing the AI deal in late April.
Some 13,000 homes were lost or severely damaged in the Eaton and Palisades fires, and many families are eager to return as fast as they can. Just eight days after the fire began and while it was still burning, the city received its first home rebuilding application in Pacific Palisades.
Wildfire recovery foundations purchased the AI permitting software, developed by Australian tech firm Archistar, and donated it to the city and county. When property owners submit applications, the software first will examine them for basic compliance with zoning and building codes, suggest corrections and provide a standardized report on the submission for human plan checkers to review.
L.A. County officials hope the software — believed to be the first large-scale use of such permitting technology nationwide after a natural disaster — will slice the time its employees now spend performing menial tasks, such as measuring building heights, counting parking spaces and calculating setbacks, said Mitch Glaser, an assistant deputy director in the county’s planning department.
“We see our planners doing things that are more impactful for our fire survivors,” Glaser said.
Disaster relief and government technology experts said they’re encouraged by the initiative. Municipal permitting is the type of highly technical, repetitive and time-consuming process that AI software could make more efficient, they said, especially as residents are expected to flood local building departments with applications to rebuild.
Still, they warned that for the AI software to be effective, the city and county would have to integrate the technology into its existing systems and quickly correct any errors in implementation. If not, the software could add more bureaucratic hurdles or narrow property owners’ options through overly rigid or incorrect code interpretations.
“This could be fabulously successful and I hope it is,” said Andrew Rumbach, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Urban Institute, where he studies disaster response. “But experimenting with technology in the context of people who’ve lost a lot is risky.”
Immediately after the fires, leaders at all levels of government pledged to waive and streamline rules for property owners to rebuild, promising that regulatory processes wouldn’t hold up residents’ return. Noting the pace of ongoing debris removal, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass has called the region’s recovery “on track to be the fastest in modern California history.” A mayoral spokesperson said that the building department is completing initial permitting reviews twice as fast as before the fire.
More than 200 Pacific Palisades property owners have submitted applications to rebuild or repair their homes, according to a Times analysis of city permitting data, with 11% approved. Last week, 24 property owners submitted applications, the highest amount since the disaster, the analysis shows.
L.A. County, which is responsible for permitting in Altadena and other unincorporated areas, has a separate system for tracking permits which the Times has not been able to independently verify. On Monday, the county listed 476 applications for zoning reviews on its data dashboard, with eight building permits approved. By Tuesday, the number of zoning reviews listed had increased to 486 while the number of building permit approvals dropped to seven.
Besides Newsom, architects, builders and homeowners have grumbled about the permitting process, expressing frustrations at what they say are confusing and inconsistent interpretations of regulations. Last week, actress Mandy Moore, whose family had multiple homes damaged or destroyed in the Eaton fire, blasted the county for “nonsensical red tape” that is making it difficult for her to rebuild.
The wildfire recovery nonprofit Steadfast LA, started by developer and former mayoral candidate Rick Caruso, took the lead on securing the Archistar software and is covering much of the up to $2-million tab for its implementation. LA Rises, the foundation started by Newsom after the fires, will pay Archistar’s $200 fee per application.
Caruso, who declined an interview request from The Times, has said that turning to AI was a no-brainer.
“Bringing AI into permitting will allow us to rebuild faster and safer, reducing costs and turning a process that can take weeks and months into one that can happen in hours or days,” Caruso said in the news release announcing the deal.
Archistar’s AI permitting software has been in development since 2018. The company has contracts with municipalities in Australia and Canada and is expanding to the United States. In the fall, after a successful pilot program in Austin, Texas, Archistar signed an agreement with the city to perform initial assessments of building projects, similar to its intended use in Los Angeles. Austin has not implemented the software yet, but city officials said they believe it could cut preliminary reviews there to one business day from 15.
Once Archistar’s program is online in L.A. County, Glaser said, officials hope it will reduce the first analysis for rebuilding projects to two or three business days from five.
It could save additional time for projects by minimizing revisions and corrections, said Zach Seidl, a Bass spokesperson.
“The biggest potential for reducing permitting time comes from improving the quality of initial plans that homeowners submit to the city,” Seidl said.
Land use consultants and architects in Los Angeles said they were happy with any technology that could hasten approvals of their projects. But they said that AI wouldn’t ease the hardest parts of the permitting process.
Architect Ken Ungar, who is working with roughly two dozen Palisades property owners who are rebuilding, said his biggest headaches come from needing multiple city departments, such as those that oversee fire safety and utilities, to sign off on a project. Applications can get stuck, he said, and even worse sometimes one department requires changes that conflict with another’s rules.
Artificial intelligence, Ungar said, “sounds great. But unless the city of L.A. changes its whole M.O. on how you get building permits, it’s not super helpful.”
The state’s Archistar deal allows the city of Malibu, where the Palisades fire destroyed more than 1,000 homes, to receive the donated software as well. Malibu officials say they’re still deciding on it, noting that the community has specialized building codes addressing development on coastal, hillside and other environmentally sensitive habitats.
Governments are right to look to technology for help in speeding up disaster permitting, Rumbach said, but they also should ensure that human plan checkers provide oversight to account for nuances in zoning and building codes.
“I hope there are people more seasoned in communicating with disaster survivors who are the face of this,” he said. “A lot of people could be frustrated because they don’t want to deal with AI. They want to deal with a person.”
Although L.A. city and county might be the first to use AI for permitting after a major disaster, experts expect the technology to become mainstream soon.
“I’m confident there is no way back,” said Sara Bertran de Lis, director of research and analytics at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence.
L.A. County expects to implement the Archistar software within six weeks after programming and testing, Glaser said. At a recent disaster recovery panel, Bass said the city will do so “in the next couple of months.”
DRIVERS are being warned they could face £100 fines as councils crack down on so-called ‘ghost plates’—illegal number plates intended to evade speed and bus lane cameras.
These plates often use reflective or obscuring materials to avoid detection by traffic enforcement systems.
2
Drivers caught using ghost plates can expect to be hit with a £100 fineCredit: Getty Images – Getty
In Wandsworth, council chiefs are taking action to shut down the loophole.
These banned plates, often referred to as 3D or 4D plates, reflect camera flashes and can render a vehicle invisible to enforcement systems.
Council bosses have issued a stark warning about rogue motorists using ‘ghost plates‘ to avoid detection.
These plates, which are not legal for road use, are being used by some drivers to beat traffic rules and avoid fines.
Authorities are now ramping up efforts to stop them.
Two years ago, the head of the national Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system revealed that a shocking number of drivers – roughly one in 15 – could easily outsmart the system.
On leaving his post, Professor Fraser Sampson wrote to Transport Secretary Mark Harper expressing his frustration over the lack of government action on the issue.
To combat the problem, new cameras capable of spotting these ‘stealth’ number plates have been rolled out in some areas.
In Wolverhampton, local enforcement officers were equipped with upgraded technology during a strict clampdown last year.
Drivers caught using ghost plates can expect to be hit with a £100 fine.
In his letter to Mark Harper, Prof Sampson detailed how motorists were getting around the law using reflective materials, cloned plates, and other deceptive tools to avoid penalties for speeding, low-emission zone breaches, or bus lane violations.
According to Prof Sampson, the ANPR system has a 97 per cent success rate in reading plates but still produces 2.4 million incorrect readings daily.
That margin of error could mean innocent drivers end up being wrongly fined.
Prof Sampson has raised major concerns about the vulnerability of the system, which still depends heavily on readable number plates despite advances in technology.
He said: “For all its technological advancement and operational indispensability, the ANPR system still relies ultimately on a piece of plastic affixed to either end of a vehicle.
“Served by a wholly unregulated market, what my predecessor termed the humble number plate represents a single and readily assailable point of failure with the ANPR network being easily defeated by the manufacture and sale of stealth plates, cloned registration marks and other rudimentary obscurant tactics.”
He added: “The result is that the ability to frustrate the ANPR system remains staggeringly simple at a time when proper reliance on it for key public services such as policing, law enforcement and traffic management is increasing daily.”
What to do if you think you’re being scammed
The DVLA recommends you do the following:
Forward suspicious emails to [email protected] and The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) will investigate it.
Forward suspicious text messages to 7726 as this will flag the potential scam to your phone provider.
Report scam or misleading adverts to the Advertising Standards Authority. You can report adverts found online, including in search engines, websites or on social media.
You can also report scam or misleading adverts to Google or Bing if you found them in search results
Contact Action Fraud if you think you’ve lost money or been hacked because of an online scam or fraud and you’re in England or Wales.
If you’re in Scotland and you’ve lost money because of an online scam or fraud, report the crime to Police Scotland.
2
In Wandsworth, council chiefs are taking action to shut down the loopholeCredit: Getty Images – Getty
