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Mexican drug lord ‘El Mayo’ pleads guilty
Mexican drug lord, Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, has entered a guilty plea to two drug smuggling and conspiracy charges in a court in New York, bringing an end to one of the longest and most notorious criminal careers in the history of organised crime.
Zambada was not just any drug lord.
He was the founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, for years the biggest and most powerful criminal organisation in Mexico – with an astonishing global reach.
Last year, he pleaded not guilty to a raft of drug smuggling, gun-running and money laundering offences. But now, he has changed his plea before a federal judge in Brooklyn.
In doing so, he officially accepted his role in creating the vast criminal network which has sent huge amounts of cocaine and other drugs into the US since he co-founded the cartel at the end of the 1980s.
The Associated Press reported that in court Zambada apologised for his actions.
“I recognise the great harm illegal drugs have done to the people in the United States and Mexico,” he said through a Spanish-language interpreter, the AP reported. “I apologise for all of it, and I take responsibility for my actions.”
Local Mexican media has also said that Zambada admitted “the organisation that I headed fed corruption in my country by paying police, military commanders and politicians who allowed us to operate freely.”
The step comes weeks after US prosecutors confirmed they would not be seeking the death penalty against the 77-year-old Mexican kingpin.
Zambada was arrested in Texas last year following an extraordinary double-cross by the sons of his former ally, the jailed co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán.
El Chapo was sentenced to life imprisonment in the same court in 2019.
After his arrest, the cartel splintered into two main factions: one led by El Mayo, and its rival, led by Guzman’s sons, known as ‘Los Chapitos’. The conflict between the two sides continues to rage, particularly in the state of Sinaloa itself.
In late July 2024, Zambada was allegedly lured to a meeting with one of El Chapo’s son, Joaquín Guzmán López.
Initial reports suggested Guzmán López then duped his rival into boarding a light aircraft, but Zambada later claimed he was ambushed and overpowered by Los Chapitos, and forcibly removed to Texas.
US law enforcement officials were waiting for the aircraft when it landed near El Paso and both men were immediately taken into custody.
By entering a guilty plea, Zambada is expected to receive a more lenient sentence. In his late 70s and reportedly in poor health, he may have reasoned that it was futile to continue to claim his innocence, especially given Guzmán’s conviction and life sentence in 2019.
“El Mayo will spend the rest of his life behind bars. He will die in a US federal prison where he belongs,” US Attorney General Pam Bondi told reporters.
It was confirmed last year that both the Guzmán sons – Joaquín and his younger brother, Ovidio – were negotiating plea bargains with the US government.
In May, 17 members of the Guzmán family were escorted into the US by officials. Last month, Ovidio pleaded guilty in Chicago to multiple charges of drug smuggling and involvement in a continuing criminal enterprise.
At his height, Zambada was probably the most powerful drug lord in the world.
More shadowy than other kingpins – particularly El Chapo whose escapes from prison in 2001 and 2015 made headlines around the world – Zambada was no less ruthless or calculating.
For some five decades, he successfully evaded arrest or capture. During that time he oversaw the transport of vast quantities of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine into the US via land, sea and air.
Now, in a US courtroom, one of the most enduring names in global drug trafficking has accepted his role at the top of the one of the biggest and most sophisticated criminal networks in the world.
He is due to be sentenced in January 2026.
Heico surpasses earnings by $0.14, exceeds revenue estimates
Heico earnings beat by $0.14, revenue topped estimates
Israeli airstrikes target hospital, journalists, medics, and civilians in Gaza, causing multiple casualties | Escalation of violence in Israel-Palestine conflict
Israel has struck Nasser Hospital in the south of the Gaza Strip, killing at least 21 people, including five journalists, as well as medics and rescue workers, in the latest deliberate attack on civilians and the besieged enclave’s decimated health system.
Monday’s attack, which killed journalists who worked for Al Jazeera, the Reuters and Associated Press (AP) news agencies, and others, was among the deadliest of a multitude of Israeli strikes that have targeted both hospitals and media workers over the course of the nearly two-year genocidal assault.
It comes as Israel widens its offensive to heavily populated areas and urban centres, including Gaza City, increasing the already heightened peril for the population.
The first strike of the “double-tap” attack, where one strike is followed by a second soon after, hit the top floor of a building at Nasser Hospital. Minutes later, as journalists and rescuers in orange vests rushed up an external staircase, a second projectile hit, said Dr Ahmed al-Farra, the head of the paediatrics department.
Among the journalists killed were Al Jazeera’s Mohammad Salama, Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri, Mariam Abu Daqqa, a freelance journalist working for AP at the time, as well as Ahmed Abu Aziz and Moaz Abu Taha.
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said the attack has “sent the entire area into an absolute sense of chaos and panic”.
“Not only for passers-by or people living in the vicinity of the hospital, but for the patients themselves, who are receiving treatment in one of the areas that must be protected under … international humanitarian law,” Abu Azzoum said.
The attack was met with widespread global condemnation, including from press freedom groups and rights advocates, who expressed outrage over Israel’s repeated targeted killings of Palestinian journalists in Gaza.
Al Jazeera condemned the attack as “a clear intent to bury the truth”.
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, also decried the attack.
“Rescuers killed in line of duty. Scenes like this unfold every moment in Gaza, often unseen, largely undocumented,” Albanese said.
“I beg states: how much more must be witnessed before you act to stop this carnage? Break the blockade. Impose an Arms Embargo. Impose Sanctions.”
Israel’s allies, such as France, Germany and the United Kingdom, have called for an investigation.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate also condemned Israel for the strikes, saying it represented “an open war against free media, with the aim of terrorising journalists and preventing them from fulfilling their professional duty of exposing its crimes to the world”.
The attack raises the death toll of Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023 to at least 273, according to an Al Jazeera tally.
The Committee to Protect Journalists called for “the international community to hold Israel accountable for its continued unlawful attacks on the press”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the strike was a “tragic mishap”, and that the military was investigating it. Israel has often issued similar statements after incidents that drew international outrage and calls for UN investigations, but actual accountability for the perpetrators is unheard of.
Israeli forces also killed Palestinian correspondent Hassan Douhan, who worked for the Al-Hayat al-Jadida publication, in a separate incident in Khan Younis later on Monday, bringing the death toll of journalists killed that day to six.
Two weeks ago, Israel killed prominent Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif and four other journalists in a strike. In that attack, Israel acknowledged targeting Sharif and falsely alleged he worked for Hamas, without providing any evidence, after having openly maligned and condemned him for months before murdering him.
Nasser Hospital has withstood raids and bombardment during the war, with officials repeatedly noting critical shortages of supplies and staff amid a crippling aid blockade. Other hospitals have also come under attack, including al-Shifa Medical Complex, the enclave’s main hospital, where Israel has killed hundreds.
Death, desperation and famine stalk enclave
Israeli attacks across the famine-struck territory have killed at least 61 people since dawn on Monday, including seven people desperately seeking aid.
Tanks have been advancing in Gaza City, where Israeli forces have been intensifying attacks in a bid to force nearly 1 million Palestinians there southwards into concentration zones.
Gaza’s Civil Defence said that Israel had destroyed 1,000 buildings in Gaza City since August 6, trapping hundreds under the rubble, while ongoing shelling and blocked access routes prevented many rescue and aid operations.
The al-Awda Hospital said Israeli gunfire also killed six aid seekers trying to reach a distribution point in central Gaza and wounded another 15.
Israeli forces have been routinely opening fire on hungry Palestinians as they attempt to secure meagre aid parcels at the controversial Israeli and United States-backed GHF sites.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, more than 2,000 Palestinians have been killed and some 13,500 wounded while seeking aid at distribution points or along convoy routes used by the UN and other aid groups.
Al-Awda said that two Israeli strikes in central Gaza killed six Palestinians, including a child, while al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said three Palestinians, including a child, were killed in a strike there.
The relentless attacks continue as the UN warns that malnutrition among children in Gaza is deepening.
The UN’s humanitarian office (OCHA) renewed calls for the unrestricted flow of aid into and within Gaza.
“With famine conditions now confirmed in Gaza governorate, hunger and malnutrition among children are deepening,” OCHA said.
“Partners working on nutrition note that in any food crisis, children with underlying health conditions are affected first – and without proper nutrition, water and care, their condition worsens more quickly.”
Chris McIntosh, Oxfam’s humanitarian response adviser in Gaza, has described the situation as unprecedented in scale and severity.
“It’s difficult not to overuse superlatives in this context, but truly, this is a singular humanitarian disaster and the worst crisis that I’ve ever been part of… by far,” he said.
In the meantime, US President Donald Trump has predicted that the war on Gaza could see a “conclusive end” within two to three weeks. Similar claims have quickly fallen by the wayside as Washington’s full military and diplomatic backing of Israel’s genocidal war shows no signs of abating.
“It’s got to get over with because between the hunger and all of the other problems – worse than hunger, death, pure death – people [are] being killed,” Trump said.
House Oversight Committee issues subpoena for Epstein’s estate
The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed the estate of the late Jeffrey Epstein on Monday as congressional lawmakers try to determine who was connected to the disgraced financier and whether prosecutors mishandled his case.
The committee’s subpoena is the latest effort by both Republicans and Democrats to respond to public clamor for more disclosure in the investigation into Epstein, who was found dead in his New York jail cell in 2019. Lawmakers are trying to guide an investigation into who among Epstein’s high-powered social circle may have been aware of his sexual abuse of teenage girls, delving into a criminal case that has spurred conspiracy theories and roiled top officials in President Donald Trump’s administration.
The subpoena, signed by Rep. James Comer, the Republican chair of the oversight committee, and dated Monday, demands that Epstein’s estate provide Congress with documents including a book that was compiled with notes from friends for his 50th birthday, his last will and testament, agreements he signed with prosecutors, his contact books, and his financial transactions and holdings.
Comer wrote to the executors of Epstein’s estate that the committee “is reviewing the possible mismanagement of the federal government’s investigation of Mr. Jeffrey Epstein and Ms. Ghislaine Maxwell, the circumstances and subsequent investigations of Mr. Epstein’s death, the operation of sex-trafficking rings and ways for the federal government to effectively combat them, and potential violations of ethics rules related to elected officials.”
The Justice Department, trying to distance Trump and Epstein, last week began handing over to lawmakers documentation of the federal investigation into Epstein. It has also released transcripts of interviews conducted with Ghislaine Maxwell, his former girlfriend. But Democrats on the committee have not been satisfied with those efforts, saying that the some 33,000 pages of documents they’ve received are mostly already public.
“DOJ’s limited disclosure raises more questions than answers and makes clear that the White House is not interested in justice for the victims or the truth,” Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement.
Pressure from lawmakers to release more information is likely to only grow when Congress returns to Washington next week.
A bipartisan group of House members is attempting to maneuver around Republican leadership to hold a vote to pass legislation meant to require the Justice Department to release a full accounting of the sex trafficking investigation into Epstein.
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Record Breaking Sale of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant Signed Card Fetches $12.9 Million
A signed sports collectible card featuring Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant sold for $12.932 million Saturday night, breaking the record for the most paid for a sports card of all time.
The 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman Autographs Jordan & Bryant card, numbered 1-of-1, surpassed the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card, which sold for $12.6 million in late August 2022.
Only Logoman Card Featuring Both Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant
The Jordan/Bryant card was sold with Heritage Auctions. The buyer’s identity was not revealed. It is reportedly the only dual Logoman card featuring both Jordan and Bryant.
“This is the only time there’s been Jordan and Kobe autographed Logomans,” said Chris Ivy, Heritage’s director of sports auctions. “Another one can’t be created. It’s always been looked at by modern basketball collectors as a holy grail.”
What increased the card’s value was that the Jordan jersey patch is a gold variant, as the jersey comes from the 1996-97 season, when the NBA celebrated its 50th anniversary.
The Jordan/Bryant card is the second-most expensive sports collectible of all time behind Babe Ruth’s 1932 World Series “called shot” jersey, which sold for $24.12 million.
“[They were] kind of mocked, but it tapped into a demographic that wasn’t interested in gimmicks: They just wanted the best of the best,” Ivy added. “They were adding patches and signatures, Logomen — this was [one of] the first times logos from the jersey were used in this manner.”
Exquisite Once Had $5.2 Million LeBron James Rookie Card
According to ESPN’s Dan Hajducky, Ivy stated during an interview that he remembered when Upper Deck first released Exquisite, charging $500 for one five-card pack/box for the 2003-04 release.
Per Hajducky, that was the set responsible for a $5.2 million LeBron James rookie card, which previously held the record for most expensive basketball card until Saturday.
The rarity of the Jordan/Bryant card explains the price tag, despite the card only receiving a 6 from card grader Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA).
“A 1986 Fleer Jordan in a grade 6 sells for a couple thousand while a [grade] 10 sells for almost $200,000 currently,” Ivy said. “Grades matter as far as pricing goes for standard-issue cards, but this is a 1-of-1, so the grade is less important overall to how the card performed.”
Jordan Memorabilia Remains A Hot Commodity
In March, a preseason, signed Bulls jersey from Jordan’s rookie 1984-85 season sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $4.215 million. Then in June, 1986-87 Fleer Jordan autographed rookie card sold for $2.5 million through Pharrell Williams’ auction house Joopiter.
The previous most expensive 1986-87 Fleer Jordan autographed card (PSA graded 8 card/9 auto) sold for $205,000 in March 2024.
In addition, a uniform Jordan wore for 17 games with the Chicago Bulls during the 1992-93 NBA season was sold for $2.623 million at Heritage Auctions in May, per Hajducky.
The demand for Bryant memorabilia also remains high. Collector Matt Allen, who goes by Shyne on social media, recently shared that he spent $4 million total on Bryant cards. Saturday would’ve marked Bryant’s 47th birthday.
Offshore Wind, Whether Fixed or Floating, Could be the Future of Renewable Energy
There is a renewable energy available night and day. It is invisible. And it can be found in the sea. As already anticipated in the article’s title, it is offshore wind energy. This green power is one of the fastest growing in recent years. The latest demonstration is the auction of coastal water rights held by the state of California in the USA. It is estimated that the area, which covers 135,000 hectares, could power 1.5 million homes. Much of this area is deep water that will require new approaches, such as floating offshore wind.
This article covers topics like:
What is offshore wind energy
First, a basic definition: offshore wind energy uses wind turbines in coastal waters that can be attached to the bottom, both with fixed or floating structures. The most common models feature blades and a horizontal axis, i.e., the modern version of the traditional Dutch or Don Quixote’s windmills.
This type of energy could overtake onshore wind by 2030 according to IDAE estimates. With an increase of 48.5 % in the last decade, the speed of implementation of offshore wind energy and its contribution to renewable energies have been impressive. However, it is a relatively young type of energy. Offshore wind is barely thirty years old since the first offshore wind farm was installed in 1991 in Vindeby, Denmark. Today, almost half of the world’s installed capacity is in China.
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Advantages of offshore wind
There are several explanations for this warm welcome. Offshore wind combines many of the advantages of renewable energies. Firstly, in terms of sustainability or reduction in the use of fossil fuels. Secondly, it shares the characteristics of onshore wind, such as its high energy conversion capacity, which ranges from 20 to 40 %. However, it also offers some specific advantages:
- Offshore winds are usually stronger than onshore winds. In the case of wind energy, small speed increases translate into higher energy yields.
- Offshore winds are more uniform and continuous, allowing for a more stable energy supply.
- The installation of offshore wind farms has a negligible visual impact.
- As a rule of thumb, the most populated areas tend to be on the coast, which opens up the possibility of generating energy where it is most needed.
Of course, this energy is not without its challenges, such as installing the turbines in a more hostile environment like the sea, often at great depths. But, as we will see next, even these barriers are being overcome thanks to the latest technological breakthroughs.
Main types
As young as this renewable energy is, plenty of approaches have been tested over the past three decades. This includes the type of turbine, but especially how the structure is attached to the seafloor. There are two broad categories:
Fixed offshore wind
Until recently, offshore wind turbine platforms (FOWP) were always installed with a foundation fixed to the seabed up to 196-feet deep. This required various types of foundations, summarized as follows:
- Gravity. Similar to their land-based counterparts, these wind turbines are installed without the need for special drilling. The ballast and the weight of the structure are sufficient. They are normally used in shallow waters, between 30 and 65 feet.
- Monopile. This is the most common design in fixed offshore wind and is based on a tubular structure fixed to the bottom by drilling. It is usually used at depths of up to 82 feet.
- Tripod and tripile. It is usually used for heavy turbines and is based on a central column supported by three sleeves and diagonal reinforcements to ensure the rigidity of the assembly. In the case of the tripile model, a transition piece is added above the surface. In both cases, depths of up to 164 feet can be reached.
- Jacket or lattice. It resorts to gravity foundations but using three or four main legs that are joined by diagonal pieces forming a lattice. This system allows installations at depths below 164 feet, which is close to the limit of current fixed platforms.
Floating offshore wind
While offshore wind energy is highly efficient, much of the world’s coastal waters are deeper than advisable for a fixed foundation. As a reference, the deepest installation at present is a 190-feet-deep jacket platform in Scottish waters. How to overcome this limit?
Since 2007, some prototypes of floating offshore wind turbines have been installed, allowing them to operate at much greater depths. You can read a more detailed explanation here, both of its typology and its advantages, but for the moment, the following primary modalities have been proposed:
- Spar buoy. Basically, it is a floating buoy with ballast at the bottom. The structure is anchored to the bottom by catenary or tensioned lines.
- Semi-submersible platform or barge. This approach is based on a horizontal float anchored to the bottom with tensioned cables.
- TLP (Tension Leg Platform). As the name suggests, this model uses several tensioned steel legs connected to a submarine base. Some estimates show that these offshore wind turbines could reach a depth of 650 feet.
Offshore wind power is not the only renewable energy that can be obtained from the seas. If you want to learn about other alternatives, you can read this article on wave and tidal energy or this one on blue or salinity gradient energy, which leverages the power released by the convergence of fresh and saltwater.
Source:
Lil Nas X denies felony charges following arrest in LA
Christal Hayes
BBC News, Los Angeles
Rapper Lil Nas X has pleaded not guilty to injuring a police officer and resisting arrest after he was detained last week while wandering the streets of Los Angeles in his underwear.
The rapper, whose legal name is Montero Lamar Hill, is facing three felony counts of battery with injury to a police officer and one felony count of resisting arrest.
Police said when they responded to a call about a man wandering the streets partially naked, the Grammy-winning artist charged at them.
He was taken to the hospital for a possible overdose after the incident which happened in the early hours of Thursday, authorities said.
The 26-year-old artist was arraigned in a Los Angeles courthouse on Monday. His bail was set at $75,000 (£55,456), according to CBS, the BBC’s US news partner.
The BBC has reached out to his representatives for comment.
Unverified videos and images published by TMZ appear to show the rapper wandering the streets before the police altercation unfolded. They show the Old Town Road singer dancing along a Los Angeles street in Studio City, wearing just white underwear and white cowboy boots.
Later, he was seen without clothing and walking in the centre of a road. Footage published by TMZ shows him approaching a passing car as he raps lyrics from Kayne West’s song “Monster”.
His white cowboy boots, meanwhile, were apparently picked up by a passerby who listed them on eBay with a price tag of $10,000.
CBSLA police told the BBC they had responded to reports of a nude man walking in the street along Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. He charged at officers when they got to the scene, officer Drake Madison said.
Lil Nas X spent the weekend in jail after the arrest.
The rapper is expected to release his much-anticipated second studio album Dreamboy later this year, and has recently teased new music on Instagram.
Lil Nas X became the first openly gay man to receive a Country Music Association award, after he won with Old Town Road in 2019.
He won two Grammy Awards in 2020 for Old Town Road, after collaborating with Billy Ray Cyrus.
The song also won two Grammys and broke the record for the longest-running number one song on the Billboard Hot 100, after 17 weeks at the top of the charts.
The singer has courted controversy throughout his career, with some conservatives in the US criticising the music video for his hit single Montero (Call Me By Your Name).
The singer responded with a fake apology video on YouTube, which cut into Montero’s infamous lap-dancing scene, and wrote on Twitter that he wanted his haters’ tears to “fill my Grammy cup”.
The Weeknd aims to secure $1 billion through music-backed financing, according to report
The Weeknd is looking to raise roughly USD $1 billion in financing backed by his music catalog.
That’s according to Bloomberg, which reported on Saturday (August 23), citing people familiar with the matter as saying that the Canadian singer would pledge his stake in publishing rights and master recordings.
No agreement has been reached as discussions are still ongoing, the report said.
New York-based Lyric Capital Group is reportedly leading the talks, with The Weeknd (aka Abel Tesfaye) already reaching out to other investors to assemble the financing package of up to $1 billion.
The proposed deal structure with Lyric reportedly includes $500 million in senior debt, $250 million in junior debt, and $250 million in equity.
Chord Music Partners currently owns a 50% stake in The Weeknd‘s music publishing rights. Chord operates under a consortium that includes Universal Music Group and Dundee Partners, the investment vehicle of the Hendel family.
Meanwhile, Lyric Capital owns Spirit Music Group, which controls publishing catalogs from artists including Tim McGraw, Jason Aldean, and Ingrid Michaelson. Lyric completed fundraising for its second music royalty fund with approximately $800 million in commitments in 2023.
If a deal materializes, it would be one of the biggest catalog-backed music rights transactions in recent years. Apollo Global Management and Carlyle Group have already made investments in the space in recent years.
Tesfaye previously explored selling a portion of his music rights approximately two years ago with an initial valuation target around $1.3 billion, Bloomberg said, citing one of its sources. Those talks did not result in a transaction.
In July last year, Apollo confirmed that it led a $700 million investment into Sony Music Group. This “capital solution”, says Apollo, is intended to fund “investments in the music industry”. In 2022, Apollo Global Management led what it claimed to be the “largest-ever” asset-backed securities transaction for Concord, when the latter company priced a $1.8 billion bond offering backed by over 1 million music copyrights.
Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that Carlyle Group is close to completing a $464 million bond sale backed by music rights.
Artists like John Legend and Justin Bieber have capitalized on their catalogs to secure funding. In 2023, Bieber transferred his music rights to Blackstone-backed Hipgnosis Song Management. Hipgnosis then issued $1.47 billion in bonds backed by royalties from multiple artists including Shakira, Journey, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, last year.
The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, has attracted over 111 million monthly listeners on Spotify. In 2023, his track, Blinding Lights, surpassed Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You to become Spotify’s most-streamed track of all time.
The reported financing deal comes months after The Weeknd said he would retire his stage name while continuing to make music.
Music Business Worldwide
Five journalists killed in Israeli airstrike on Gaza hospital
new video loaded: Five Journalists Among Dead in Israeli Attack on Gaza Hospital
By Ang Li•
Two Israeli strikes hit a hospital in southern Gaza on Monday, killing at least five Palestinian journalists, a rescue worker and up to 14 more people, according to local health officials.
Recent episodes in Middle East Crisis