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Pi Network #hackathon Final Submission for Pi Workforce Pool, an app that brings a flexible, full-featured freelance work marketplace into the Pi Network’s trust-based, community-centered blockchain economy.
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LOS ANGELES — A former Compton city councilman was arrested Monday on federal charges alleging he and a business associate paid $70,000 in bribes to a member of the Baldwin Park City Council in exchange for that official’s votes and support for commercial marijuana permits.
Isaac Jacob Galvan, 36, of Compton, who served on the Compton City Council from 2013 until May 2022, was arrested at his home on a 10-count indictment unsealed Monday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Special agents with the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation on Monday also arrested Yichang Bai, 50, of Arcadia, the owner and operator of W&F International Corp., a Diamond Bar-based import-export business and a consulting client of Galvan’s who allegedly helped orchestrate the scheme.
The criminal indictment charges Galvan and Bai with one count of conspiracy, one count of bribery and eight counts of honest services wire fraud.
Both defendants entered not guilty pleas during arraignment hearings in Los Angeles federal court and were granted release on unsecured bonds. A tentative trial date of Nov. 14 was set.
Donald Always, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said the FBI arrested Galvan “for allegedly using his position of power to bribe an elected city official in order to enrich himself and a client.”
“As these actions erode the public’s trust and harm the communities these officials were elected to serve, FBI Los Angeles will continue to investigate them and those individuals who enable their corrupt schemes,” Always said in a statement.
In June 2017, Baldwin Park began permitting the cultivation, manufacture, and distribution of marijuana within its city limits. Soon afterward, then-Baldwin Park City Councilman Ricardo Pacheco, 60, of Baldwin Park, began soliciting bribes from businesses seeking marijuana development agreements and related permits in the city, according to court documents.
In exchange for the illicit payments, Pacheco agreed to use his position in city government to assist the companies with obtaining marijuana permits, including voting in their favor, federal prosecutors said.
According to the indictment, Galvan first paid Pacheco a $10,000 bribe in August 2017 to secure Pacheco’s support for a future consulting client’s marijuana permit.
Then, after securing Bai’s company W&F as a client, Galvan facilitated $70,000 in bribes from Bai to Pacheco. Pacheco served on Baldwin Park’s city council from 1997 until his resignation in June 2020, and he was the city’s mayor pro tempore in 2018.
Galvan allegedly paid the bribes in exchange for Pacheco’s political support of and promise to deliver Baldwin Park’s approval of marijuana permits for W&F.
Pacheco then delivered, voting in favor of W&F’s marijuana permit and later voting in favor of W&F’s bid to relocate its operations.
Throughout the scheme, Galvan and Bai allegedly took steps to cover up their illegal payments to Pacheco by concealing Bai and W&F’s connection to the payments for Pacheco. For example, Bai collected checks from third parties who owed him money and then — at Galvan’s direction — gave Galvan the checks with blank payee lines. Galvan then gave the checks to Pacheco, who then arranged for them to be cashed, either by him or third parties.
If convicted of all charges, Galvan and Bai would face up to five years in federal prison for the conspiracy count, up to 10 years for the bribery count and up to 20 years in prison for each honest services wire fraud count, prosecutors said.
Pacheco pleaded guilty in June 2020 to one count of bribery for accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribes — including $20,000 in cash — from a Baldwin Park Police officer working at the FBI’s direction, in exchange for the councilman’s political support of the Baldwin Park Police Association’s contract with the city. Pacheco’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 17.
In November 2022, prosecutors secured a guilty plea to a bribery charge from Gabriel Chavez, 66, of Upland, a former San Bernardino County planning commissioner who admitted to funneling bribes through his company to Pacheco in exchange for the politician’s votes and influence over the city’s cannabis permitting process. Chavez’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 11.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, both Chavez and Pacheco have signed plea agreements in which they have agreed to cooperate in the government’s ongoing investigation.
In another case, Galvan and five others were charged in 2021 with conspiracy in what prosecutors said was a scheme to rig a runoff election to ensure Galvan would retain his seat.
A specialist vet has issued an urgent warning for all dog owners over the risks of letting them eat corn.
Haven Vets in Hull had to perform life-saving surgery on Roman the Cocker Spaniel after he ate the common vegetable at his home. X-rays revealed that the corn on the cob remained solid in the two-year-old’s stomach, causing a blockage.
This is a common issue for dogs that eat corn because while it is not toxic like chocolate or other vegetables, it cannot be digested properly and thus prevents solids and fluids from passing through the stomach. As this situation can be fatal for any pup, vets have to remove the corn, the Mirror reports.
Haven Vets is urging dog owners to stay vigilant when dogs are in the kitchen, near barbecues, picnics, and any waste they could consume. Jordan Sinclair, the specialist who removed the blockage with a small incision, said: “Corn on the cob can cause choking in dogs or it is highly likely to cause a blockage as it passes through the gastric tract if they do manage to swallow it.
“They will start being sick and if it gets lodged in the intestine it can cause parts of the gut to die off and affect the blood supply to those areas. There’s a risk the dog could become very ill or even die. Thankfully Roman’s owners acted very quickly, which is really important and made it much more likely that he went on to make a full recovery.
“I would urge dog owners to be extra careful with any food at home and when out walking. If you think they have swallowed something they shouldn’t, get them to the vet as soon as possible.”
Roman’s owners, Danielle and Kevin Shaw issued their heartfelt gratitude to Haven Vets. Danielle said: “That’s the first time Roman has done that. He never normally chews anything in the house – he runs off with the occasional sock but always gives it back.
“But he snatched the corn and swallowed it in one. I feared the worst. Thankfully we live about two minutes from Haven Vets in Hull, and they were great with him. We’ve taken him there since he was a puppy and I can’t thank them enough.
“We had to be strict with Roman while he recovered to make sure he rested but he is absolutely fine now.”
Haven Vets is urging any owner to contact their local veterinarian practice immediately if they suspect their pet has eaten either corn or any other dangerous food.
A bill heading to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk could direct hundreds of millions of state dollars to Los Angeles County’s troubled juvenile halls, but youth justice advocates and two county supervisors are pushing for a veto, arguing it would waste money on a “very broken system.”
AB 695, introduced by Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco, would give the Board of State and Community Corrections — an agency that recently shuttered two of the county’s juvenile halls over poor conditions — the ability to provide state grants to Los Angeles County for infrastructure improvements, including the construction of new living quarters for youth in custody and modernized spaces for rehabilitative and educational programs.
The bill passed in the Legislature the same week that the BSCC warned it may be forced to close more of Los Angeles County’s juvenile facilities, including the newly reopened Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall, over failed inspections.
Though AB 695 doesn’t set a dollar amount, the Senate Appropriations Committee estimates the hit to the state’s general fund will be in the “high hundreds of millions” of dollars — potentially up to $1 billion — to address the “critical needs of the juvenile facilities in Los Angeles.”
Opponents worry that such a high level of funding will only make the county more reliant on its flawed Probation Department and the prison-like detention facilities that the county has pledged to replace — with little progress so far — with “less restrictive” alternatives.
‘Youth Justice Reimagined’
Instead, the juvenile reform advocates want to see L.A. County follow through with the implementation of Youth Justice Reimagined, a proposal unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors in 2020. That plan would place youth in the custody of the newly created Department of Youth Development and dedicate resources to diversion and intervention programs, in-home confinement and the construction of smaller “safe and secure healing centers” spread throughout the county.
Two county supervisors and nearly two dozen advocacy groups, including the ACLU, opposed AB 695, arguing that such an investment into the juvenile hall system, which Youth Justice Reimagined wants to dismantle by 2025, will not address its failings.
“Funding infrastructure does not begin to approach the wholesale change that is needed in how we approach our justice-involved youth,” wrote county Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Holly Mitchell, in a letter to the state Legislature. “A department with a record of mismanagement so severe that the State had to intervene should not be rewarded with taxpayer dollars.”
The county has invested $35 million in capital improvements over the past five years, yet conditions have become “so abhorrent,” largely driven by a high level of staff call-outs, that the county had to consolidate nearly 300 youth to Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey after the BSCC declared that Barry J. Nidorf and Central juvenile halls were not suitable for confinement of youth, according to the letter.
“A grant to improve a dwindling number of facilities your own corrections board has deemed ‘unsuitable’ for reasons that have little to do with the physical infrastructure would be better spent on efforts that would shift the culture to support developmentally appropriate rehabilitation rather than a punitive approach,” Horvath and Mitchell wrote.
3 supervisors support bill
Three other supervisors, all of whom also support Youth Justice Reimagined, have backed AB 695.
Supervisors Janice Hahn, Kathryn Barger and Hilda Solis, along with several construction and peace officer unions, wrote letters in favor of the bill.
“While the challenges our Probation Department face go far beyond the physical facilities, we still owe it to the youth who are in our care to make our probation facilities modern, safe, and comfortable,” Hahn said in an emailed statement. “The buildings at Los Padrinos are aging and they need upgrades. I want to see funding go toward improving the air conditioning, modernizing the classrooms, and making the rooms more comfortable.”
Despite the promises of Youth Justice Reimagined, state law places juvenile halls squarely under the control of the county probation officer and, thus far, attempts to change that law in the Legislature have been unsuccessful, meaning the Probation Department isn’t going anywhere yet.
What AB 695 will do
The Los Angeles County Probation Officers Union co-sponsored AB 695 and stated in an argument in support that it would be used to “construct a new training facility” needed by the department and “to renovate Central Juvenile Hall, Camp Joseph Paige or Dorothy Kirby Center, and Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall.”
An improved physical environment will help motivate the young people to “change their lives for the better,” the union wrote in a letter in support.
“These facilities were constructed decades ago,” union officials wrote. “They are dilapidated, prison-like, and unsuitable for our collective vision to rehabilitate troubled youth and young adults. Nevertheless, we are doing our best with what we have, but our mission to provide second chances for youth and young adults in a trauma-informed, care-first setting is severely compromised with the current facilities.”
Los Padrinos, the county’s largest juvenile facility, originally opened in 1957.
A spokesperson for the union did not respond to a request for comment.
Too late to matter?
Aditi Sherikar, senior policy associate for the Children’s Defense Fund California, called the passage of AB 695 “very disappointing.” The county is less likely to transition away from juvenile halls as promised if it invests a billion dollars into them, she said.
She pointed to recent inspections by the BSCC that found both Los Padrinos and the Secure Youth Treatment Facility at Barry J. Nidorf out of compliance with state standards for juvenile facilities. None of the areas of noncompliance relate to infrastructure, according to an inspection report.
“We know the crisis facing youth in L.A. County has absolutely nothing to do with the buildings, the walls, the structures,” Sherikar said. “If the governor is serious about being responsible with taxpayer money, he will veto this bill.”
The county Probation Department already receives an annual budget of roughly $1 billion, with about half going to the juvenile side. Since 2019, the county has dropped from 19 juvenile camps and three juvenile halls to just six as of 2023.
Though those in custody once numbered in the thousands, the population has declined to less than 500 in recent years.
“LA County has poured resources into this department for decades, but conditions have only worsened despite year over year increases in funding,” stated an opposition letter from the Pacific Juvenile Defender Center. “AB 695 will only serve to bolster LA County probation’s dysfunction and abuse.”
Staffing issues persist
Los Angeles County’s Probation Department has struggled with crisis after crisis for years. Many of the department’s recent problems have been attributed to its struggle to get employees to show up for work. A report in July found that nearly a third of juvenile hall employees were on full-time leave. Recent inspections indicate there has not been enough of an improvement despite the county’s efforts to hire new probation officers and incentivize existing ones.
Both the Department of Justice and the BSCC have separately taken actions against the county over the poor conditions in the facilities.
In 2021, the Department of Justice sued and won a judgment against the county over its failure to provide appropriate educational, medical and recreational services to youth in custody. A judge agreed earlier this year to sanction the county if it doesn’t come into compliance with the terms of that judgment within the next few months.
In May, the BSCC ordered the county to shut down and empty Barry J. Nidorf and Central juvenile halls within 60 days, causing county officials to scramble to reopen Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall, which closed in 2019, to house the juveniles instead.
The hope of a fresh start at Los Padrinos dissipated quickly. Visitors during one of the first weekends complained of foul odors, bug infestations and a lack of activities for the bored and increasingly agitated detainees. Over the next two weeks, a gun was found unattended inside the facility, though firearms are prohibited even for law enforcement. Then, a coordinated group of detainees busted out of their rooms and attacked guards during an escape attempt.
One youth successfully scaled a wall before he was detained in a nearby golf course. Neighboring law enforcement agencies, responding to the call for help, arrived in riot gear and surrounded the facility, while news helicopters circled overhead.
In August, inspectors found that employees at the SYTF and Los Padrinos are still not completing safety checks frequently enough, conducting searches for contraband regularly, bringing youth to school on-time, or providing adequate recreation. Those same problems were flagged during inspections at Central and Nidorf in early 2023 and contributed to their closures.
“Even though these facilities are different than Central and Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Halls, they are the same issues,” said Allison Ganter, the BSCC’s deputy director of facilities standards and operations, during a presentation at the board’s meeting Thursday, Sept. 14.
The BSCC, which will be tasked under AB 695 with supplying grants to Los Angeles County to improve its facilities, could end up shutting down the county’s two largest before a single dollar can be awarded.
The state regulatory agency has ordered L.A. County to submit plans to fix the problems at the SYTF and Los Padrinos by Oct. 10 and Oct. 17, respectively.
If the plans are not approved, or the county fails to implement changes within 90 days, those facilities could be declared unsuitable and forced to close by early next year.
Loading.
1 (3 to 5 extra pound) entire pineapple.
Melted butter or margarine.
Blend with each other the flour, milk, eggs, 2 tbsps thawed butter, sugar, salt. Cool batter approximately a hr prior to making crepes.
Warmth outside grill to medium-high warm. Spin off crown of pineapple, reduced right into fifty percents, after that quarters.
Put concerning 1/2 mug of batter right into the frying pan as well as rapidly swirl so batter equally layers base of frying pan. Prepare till batter begins to establish along sides as well as lower turns light gold and also somewhat crisp. Eliminate to a cozy plate as well as repeat the procedure with continuing to be batter.
When all crepes are made, lay a number of pieces of barbequed pineapple along facility of each crepe, layer over, roll up and also offer.
Makes 12 to 14 crepes.
KEEP IN MIND: You can cover pineapple with a straightforward sauce made with low-fat vanilla yogurt blended with a little bit of cinnamon or brownish sugar or spray with a little cinnamon sugar prior to rolling up.
Approximate worths per offering (2 crepes): 396 calories, 13 g fat, 119 mg cholesterol, 11 g healthy protein, 61 g carbs, 2 g fiber, 159 mg salt, 29 percent calories from fat.
Warm outside grill to medium-high warm. Spin off crown of pineapple, reduced right into fifty percents, after that quarters. Put regarding 1/2 mug of batter right into the frying pan and also promptly swirl so batter equally layers base of frying pan. Prepare up until batter begins to establish along sides and also lower turns light gold as well as a little crisp. Eliminate to a cozy plate and also repeat the procedure with staying batter.
Angel Fierro is hunting down the Lightweight World champions, and wants to showcase his credentials to take on the title holders as he defends his WBO NABO title against Brayan Zamarripa on Friday night (September 15) at the Auditorio Municipal Fausto Gutierrez Moreno in Tijuana, Mexico, live worldwide on DAZN.
Fierro (21-1-2 17 KOs) is sitting pretty at #4 with the WBO, and the 25 year old gets a hometown outing on Mexican Independence weekend as he looks to build on his growing reputation for exciting performances.
‘Tashiro’ was at his explosive best in his last outing with multiple knockdowns leading to a seventh round stoppage win over Eduardo Estela in Culiacan – a fifth KO in his last six fights – and a run he’ll be looking to improve upon against Zammaripa (13-1 4 KOs), the Baja California man who has recorded ten wins on the bounce since his sole defeat in 2016.
“We’re focused on winning this fight on Friday, and then we’re looking for a World title,” said Fierro. “I’ve been chasing this dream since I was a kid and it’s something that I promised my parents and my daughter.
“I’m excited to be back in Tijuana. It’s been four years since I fought here at home. I’m very excited to have the fifth defense of my title with all my people.
“I’m thrilled to be stepping in the ring, it’s a very big commitment having all my people there. I want to give a good show. I feel very excited and content, I’ve handled pressure well. I’ve been practicing mindfulness and I think we’re heading to a big night.
“I know he’s a brave fighter. When two Mexicans step into the ring it is all-out war, especially on a Mexican holiday. Now he wants to take my title, he must be as hungry as any other boxer fighting for a dream. I think this time the fans will win. It’s motivating to me that another Mexican wants my title, and more motivating knowing that I am now the one being hunted.
“It’s all-out war, of that I am sure. I will just get in the ring and do my work; show all the hard work we have done as a team. I can imagine a hard fight but getting my hand raised, and then having another victory and heading to bigger stages in America.”
“I’ve been in with knockout artists before, and it doesn’t scare me one bit,” said Zamarripa. “I’ve been training hard, harder than I ever have in my life. I know he’s a big hitter, brings good things to the table, but I am ready, I’ve been doing this my whole life. I will just go out there and show what I am capable of.
“I’m proud that we’re fighting on Mexican Independence, I’m ready for it and we’ll put on a great show for Tijuana. I don’t know how I will beat him, but I know I am going to come out victorious. After this, we’re going after the best, we want to be ranked in the top ten and that’s what we’re looking for.”
Fierro’s clash with Zamarripa is part of a stacked night of action in Tijuana, as Erika Cruz (15-2 3 KOs) returns to action following her epic battle with Amanda Serrano in February and tackles Melissa Odessa Parker (6-1 2 KOs) for the WBA Continental Americas Super-Bantamweight title, Rising Mexican talent Kevin Barron Crespo (12-0 9 KOs) tastes ten round action for the first time as he faces Christian Olivo Barreda (20-1-1 7 KOs), Skye Nicolson (7-0) aims to get one step closer to becoming a World champion as she takes on Sabrina Maribel Perez (18-1-1 2 KOs) for the interim WBC World Featherweight title and young Heavyweight Federico Pacheco (4-0 3 KOs) kicks the card off live on DAZN against Carlos Cardenas (4-0 3 KOs).
Where does Sean Strickland land after his all-time upset? And how far do Israel Adesanya and Rose Namajunas fall after their losses? There’s plenty of movement on this month’s lists.
September has been a busy month in the UFC, with back-to-back title fight weekends. So what does that mean? A shake-up in our monthly pound-for-pound rankings.
The most stunning development this month is the inclusion of an uninvited guest to the party, Sean Strickland. It wasn’t quite Buster Douglas shocking the world against Mike Tyson, but Strickland’s upset at UFC 293 carried some serious Villanova-over-Georgetown-in-’85 vibes. Not a lot of people picked Strickland to dethrone Israel Adesanya for the middleweight title. Strickland was a nearly 5-to-1 underdog fighting in Sydney, Australia, a stone’s throw from Izzy’s home country of New Zealand.
If we’re being honest, Strickland was booked to lose. The talk all during fight week was about Strickland not being made for big moments, especially since he got knocked out by Alex Pereira last year. People argued that he was undeserving of a title shot, with better contenders out there. That he was a poor substitute for Dricus Du Plessis, who was originally supposed to fight Izzy but suffered an injury. And, oh yeah, Strickland simply didn’t have a path to victory. If he stormed out throwing clumsy punches, the masterful counter-striker Izzy would put him on the dream flow with a well-timed right hand.
Welp, MMA loves making fools of its experts. Strickland nearly knocked Izzy out early (!?), dominated down the stretch of the five-round clash (!?!), and all but broke the unbreakable middleweight kingpin by the end (!!!). And now we have a new champion and therefore a debutant in the P4P rankings, and—with Valentina Shevchenko fighting Alexa Grasso to a controversial split draw—we have plenty of movement on the women’s side of the ledger, too.
The panel of Chuck Mindenhall, Ariel Helwani, Petesy Carroll, and producer Troy Farkas—known as 3PAC on TheRinger MMA Show—has ranked both the men’s and women’s P4P best, 1 through 10.
Our only criterion for these monthly rankings is that a fighter has competed within at least a calendar year of the publication date, or has at least had a fight booked within that window. If a fighter hasn’t competed in a year and books a fight after that time, he or she is once again eligible to be voted back in.
Fighters who retire are no longer eligible for the rankings.
Though most of the best fighters are currently in the UFC, these rankings are not UFC-exclusive. We take into consideration all the major promotions, from Bellator to ONE Championship to the PFL.
Without further ado, The Ringer MMA P4P Rankings for September.
Men’s Pound-for-Pound Rankings
1. Jon Jones
UFC Heavyweight Champion Last month: no. 1
In a recent interview with Piers Morgan, UFC CEO Dana White was asked who he’d pick to “literally fight for (his) life” from any fighter over the last 100 years. The name Dana came up with (after a rant about Muhammad Ali) was none other than Jon Jones. That’s a lot of respect being heaped on his current heavyweight champion, who defends the title on November 11 against Stipe Miocic at Madison Square Garden. We can argue the point all we want, but Jones quietly occupies the space of being the baddest man alive. I think he likes that title better than the heavy one he wears around his waist, to be honest.
2. Alexander Volkanovski
UFC Featherweight Champion Last month: no. 2
When they showed Volkanovski in attendance at UFC 293, the crowd let out a thunderous roar. That’s their guy! And yet there he was, a bystander rather than a participant on the UFC’s first fight card in Sydney in several years. Bummer. There’s still some work to do at featherweight before Volk bounces up to the lightweight division for good, and right now it looks like a clash with Ilia Topuria is in the cards. Can Topuria end the reign of the greatest 145-pounder of all time? Is Volk’s time just about over? Nothing’s impossible, but we won’t get too nervous until they book the fat lady to sing at the Sydney Opera House.
3. Islam Makhachev
UFC Lightweight Champion Last month: no. 3
Back in 2013, the UFC was dropping fighters into cages throughout Brazil as if they were food for their ever-hungry TRT goblin, Vitor Belfort. Belfort just clobbered the living daylights out of the likes of Luke Rockhold, Michael Bisping, and Dan Henderson in more and more spectacular ways. It was appointment television. Locationally speaking, Abu Dhabi is to Islam what Brazil was to Belfort; a feeding ground. He beat Charles Oliveira there last year to win the vacant lightweight title, and he destroyed Dan Hooker and poor Davi Ramos there before that. The UFC helicopter is dropping Oliveira into the cage with him again at UFC 294 in October, and Islam is pacing back and forth in anticipation.
4. Leon Edwards
UFC Welterweight Champion Last month: no. 5
Tick. Tock. The pages keep turning on the 2023 calendar, and Leon Edwards isn’t booked into that much-maligned fight with Colby Covington yet. Some news on Edwards’s title defense date should be on the horizon, but with the startling development of contenders like Sean Strickland and Sean O’Malley becoming champions, it no longer feels so drastic to imagine Covington breaking through, too. That thought will give plenty of people the willies, but we’re just saying …
5. Sean O’Malley
UFC Bantamweight Champion Last month: no. 7
It’s the Year of Sean, as the UFC now has two different Seans slinging gold over their shoulders. The great thing about “Suga” Sean is that he fans the flames with every rival within a two-division radius. People love to hate him, and everyone wants a piece of his burgeoning star power. Will Chito Vera get the next crack at his bantamweight title? He’s the leading candidate, and why not? The two have the backstory, the cult followings, and all the juice. If the UFC is interested in a long O’Malley run to maximize his star potential, they’ll keep Georgian juggernaut Merab Dvalishvili as far away from him as possible.
6. Max Holloway
Former UFC Featherweight Champion Last month: no. 9
Listen, not a lot of people liked the Korean Zombie’s chances against Max Holloway. But when Max showed up to Singapore with the dire situation in Maui fresh on his mind, it felt particularly ominous. You give Holloway added motivation, and it’s usually curtains. Holloway did what he does best—that is, overwhelm Chan Sung Jung with a fusillade of precision shots that were being delivered rapid-fire from every conceivable stance. The question next for Max is: What now? With the three losses to the champ Volkanovski, getting a fourth title shot is a tough ask. He might need to keep beating up contenders for a few.
7. Charles Oliveira
Former UFC Lightweight Champion Last month: no. 6
The first time Charles Oliveira fought Jim Miller, he lost via kneebar. The second time he fought Miller, he won in just 75 seconds with a rear naked choke. The first time he fought Nik Lentz, he choked Lentz out but the match was deemed a draw because he landed an illegal knee to set up the submission. In the subsequent fights with Lentz he finished him via submission and then strikes, looking better each time. What are we saying here? That Oliveira gets better in rematches. There’s no reason to believe he won’t make key adjustments in his second fight with Makhachev, but the wind keeps whispering the same caution over and over again: Islam Makhachev is no Nik Lentz.
8. Demetrious Johnson
ONE Championship Flyweight Champion Last month: no. 8
As time goes on, the admiration for Demetrious Johnson only grows. Not only did he break Anderson Silva’s UFC title defense record as an unsung flyweight champion back in the day, now he’s out there winning jiu-jitsu tournaments like it ain’t no thing. Johnson won gold at the IBJJF World Master Championship in Las Vegas, which just raises his legacy of badassery up a couple of bars. What’s next? That’s anybody’s guess, but he’s not quite done with MMA. At least, not yet. Enjoy him while he’s still here, MMA fans.
9. Sean Strickland
UFC Middleweight Champion Last month: Not ranked
Forget about the odds in his fight against Izzy being stacked against him: The odds that a dude who was in a serious motorcycle accident five years ago would come back to fight at all were long. And yet, here is Strickland, overcoming all of life’s adversities, holding a belt as the unlikeliest of middleweight champions, making a fuzzy feeling out of one of the UFC’s strangest stories. How will he handle the mic now that the spotlight is on him? Does he tone down his murderous desires and scale back the misogyny just a little bit? Who knows, but buckle up because this will be an interesting ride.
10. Israel Adesanya
Former UFC Middleweight Champion Last month: no. 4
Perhaps the most difficult thing to be in the UFC is a dominant champion, not because of the exceptional skill it requires, but because of everything else. The expectations. The media obligations. The ability to sell a fight. The obligation to deliver on a pay-per-view that was put together just a month before it occurred. It can be a taxing gig being the legit no. 1. Did Izzy show up in a compromised form in his fight with Strickland? He didn’t seem to have any answers to the lancing jab and the lumbering pressure, which only brings up more questions. A rematch at some point seems likely, but time off after fighting five times since the beginning of 2022 might be in order first.
Others receiving votes: Alex Pereira, Kamaru Usman
Women’s Pound-for-Pound Rankings
1. Zhang Weili
UFC Strawweight Champion Last month: no. 1
It would be hard for a champion to look any better than Weili did in her title defense against Amanda Lemos at UFC 292. Weili out-landed Lemos in significant strikes 163-24 and scored six out of her seven takedown attempts, meaning she dominated every aspect of the fight. If anything, this second stint as a titleholder seems that much scarier because Weili has experienced the gamut just as she’s coming into peak form. If there’s a fighter out there who can match Weili in the ranks of absolutely diabolical destruction, it’s the undefeated Tatiana Suarez, who was baptized in the pillar of life’s fire. (Which is to say she’s a wrestler who knows how to drag an opponent through every sector of hell.)
2. Valentina Shevchenko
Former UFC Flyweight Champion Last month: no. 3
What’s this now? A new no. 2 emerging even though she didn’t win her last fight? These are strange times, to be sure, but if you watched Shevchenko’s bout with Grasso this past weekend, you saw two peculiar things. One, the reports of Shevchenko’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, and two, Shevchenko actually won a fight that was officially declared a split draw. One of the judges indefensibly scored the final round 10-8 in Grasso’s favor, and the fight swung into a state of irresolution. Will the UFC look to create a trilogy fight between the two, given the controversial nature of the scorecards? There’s a strong case to be made.
3. Alexa Grasso
UFC Flyweight Champion Last month: no. 2
The UFC put some serious marketing effort into Grasso’s first title defense by booking it on Mexico’s Independence Day (traditionally reserved for boxing’s Canelo Álvarez) and using Guadalajara’s own as the vehicle into the market. It was a big spot for Grasso, no doubt. That the UFC aired it on ESPN+ rather than on PPV was all the sweeter, yet Grasso came away with two very different things: her belt, which remained around her waist due to the split draw, and a general sense that she got away with one.
4. Cris Cyborg
Bellator Featherweight Champion Last month: no. 4
It’s been a long freaking time since Cyborg last fought, and as a result, she and her decades of dominance haven’t been talked about enough recently. Her upcoming fight with 41-year-old Cat Zingano has legacy vibes written all over it, and that it’s happening at Bellator 300 is fitting. She deserves a spotlight. To put Cyborg’s career in perspective, think about this. Bellator 1 occurred just a week before Cyborg beat Hitomi Akano in 2009, which set up the biggest women’s MMA fight ever at that time—her bout against Gina Carano. The twilight feels like a victory lap.
5. Erin Blanchfield
UFC Flyweight Contender Last month: no. 7
Perhaps Blanchfield had one rooting interest in Grasso’s rematch with Shevchenko, and that was for the outcome to be emphatic. Instead, what she saw was the worst-case scenario—a kissing cousin split draw to leave the title she covets in a state of uncertainty. At 24 years old, Blanchfield is in an enviable position. She’ll either fight for the title next or face off with another contender for that right, with her youth intact and time on her side. If the UFC decides to run back Grasso and Shevchenko in a trilogy, a fight with Manon Fiorot is an incredible consolation and realistically a genuine no. 1 contender’s bout.
6. Manon Fiorot
UFCFlyweight Contender Last month: no. 10
She hadn’t received a ton of fanfare ahead of her homecoming co-main event at UFC Paris against Rose Namajunas, but coming out of it, she was anything but “Manonymous.” Fiorot didn’t just beat Rose in a unanimous decision; she ransacked the smaller Namajunas for 15 grueling minutes. It was the kind of showing that screams title fight, but—as with Blanchfield above—the title picture didn’t clear up enough to make her the obvious next contender. The only problem with fighting Blanchfield next is that the UFC would kill off a super viable contender, but oh, baby, what a fight that would be.
7. Tatiana Suarez
UFC Strawweight Contender Last month: no. 5
Though she’s fought only 11 times as a professional, it’s been a long climb for Suarez. She was dubbed the female Khabib when she burst onto the scene in 2018, but her three-and-a-half-year injury hiatus cooled the buzz down and made her a bit of a divisional afterthought. If anything, Tatiana has looked even better upon her return, having submitted both Montana De La Rosa and Jéssica Andrade. Is a showdown with Weili in the cards? It’s the chance that Suarez has been building toward for half a decade, and you get the feeling she wouldn’t squander it. The only sticking point is that Yan Xiaonan is also out there with a claim to a title shot.
8. Julianna Peña
Former UFC Bantamweight Champion Last month: no. 8
Peña has declared Amanda Nunes “dead to her,” which is a step forward. That trilogy fight, which Peña was booked into but had to pull out of with an injury, is gone forever. Peña is moving on. She doesn’t need Nunes in her life, and she certainly doesn’t need that rubber match to solidify her legacy. Peña is perfectly fine to … oh, who are we kidding? Nunes’s choice to up and retire without giving Peña that third fight is enough to land anybody on a shrink’s chaise lounge. Only when Peña fights for that vacant bantamweight title will the healing begin, yet here’s guessing the emptiness will never go away.
9a. Rose Namajunas
Former UFC Strawweight Champion; Current Flyweight Contender Last month: no. 6
Hey, it was a big risk. Namajunas moved up to flyweight because she said it scared her. She fought a top contender in her new division because why mess around, you know? As a two-time former champion at strawweight, there’s no such thing as starting in the middle. She fought in Paris, Fiorot’s backyard, because there are levels to her fearlessness. It didn’t work out by any stretch of the imagination, but Namajunas seems set on continuing on as a flyweight. Though she did look small at 125 pounds, it would be silly to discount her there. Every time we sleep on Rose, she does something incredible (see: the first fights against Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Weili, as well as the second fights against those women).
9b. Yan Xiaonan
UFC Strawweight Contender Last month: no. 9
Similar to the situation with Blanchfield and Fiorot at flyweight, Xiaonan occupies a strange spot in the pecking order at 115 pounds. After obliterating Andrade in her last fight, she felt she’d done enough to earn a title shot, yet the UFC opted to give that to Lemos instead. Fast-forward to the present, and not much has changed. If the UFC doesn’t book Xiaonan against Weili in an all-Chinese title fight, that probably means Suarez got it. And if Weili needs time away, a match between Xiaonan and Suarez would give us contender clarity.
A judge in Spain heard evidence on Friday of alleged torture during the rule of the country’s late dictator Francisco Franco, in what rights groups say is the first case of its kind to be accepted for legal review.
The hearing at a Madrid court involved allegations against five former police officers. The lead witness, Julio Pacheco, told reporters outside that he had recounted to a judge how he was tortured by police in 1975, when he was a 19-year-old student.
Pacheco said he hoped his testimony was a step toward ‘starting to break down the wall of silence and impunity’ regarding abuses during Franco’s rule. His wife also testified.
Previously, judges have refused to hear such cases because of a 1977 amnesty law that blocked the prosecution of Franco-era crimes. The law was part of Spain’s effort to put that period behind it and strengthen its fledgling democracy following Franco’s death two years earlier.
With victims and human rights groups arguing that torture and other serious crimes should not go unpunished, the left-leaning socialist government in power last year opened the door to possible prosecutions for crimes committed under the dictatorship. ALSO READ: Senate approves law that bans support for Franco and seeks to bring ‘justice’ to victims.
Other complaints have been filed with Spanish courts, but Pacheco’s was the first to be heard by a judge, according to right groups supporting the legal action.
Pacheco’s complaint names five police officers who allegedly were present when he was being tortured. Paloma Garcia of Amnesty International’s Spanish branch, which is one of the groups supporting the action, said investigators haven’t been able to locate some of the officers and weren’t sure whether the named men were still alive.
The judge will later decide whether there is enough evidence for the case to go to trial.
The socialist and left-wing coalition government led by the current acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez took several high-profile actions on Franco-era issues. They included making the central government responsible for the recovery from mass graves of the bodies of tens of thousands of people who went missing during the Spanish Civil War and Franco’s dictatorship. ALSO READ: Initial forensic work begins to exhume bodies of 128 victims of Civil War.
¡Hito histórico!
Julio Pacheco, torturado por la policía durante el franquismo, ha sido escuchado. Es #LaPimeraDe100 querellas de víctimas del franquismo admitidas por tribunales españoles
Cambridge University’s Centre for Geopolitics and the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (FAMES) are delighted to announce that, together with the Peace and Democracy Institute of Korea University, they will jointly be hosting the Korea Global Forum: Europe Seminar on September, 29, 2023, at Darwin College, Cambridge.
Since its inception in 2010, the Korea Global Forum has been an influential track 1.5 multilateral dialogue annually organized by the Ministry of Unification, bringing together policy-makers (former and current), representatives from international organisations and civil society, and distinguished scholars to consider critical issues affecting the Korean peninsula. The forum’s primary objective is to gather valuable insights and facilitate constructive discussions with the international community on matters pertaining to peace, prosperity, and the unification of the Korean Peninsula.
The 2023 Korea Global Forum holds special significance as it coincides with several significant milestones. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, the 30th year of North Korea’s declaration to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the publication of the 2023 Report on North Korean Human Rights. In light of North Korea’s continuing development of nuclear weapons and its repeated security provocations and in the context of Kim Jong-un’s recent summit meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, the challenge of promoting peace and prosperity on the peninsula remains especially important.
Significantly, the Forum will be opened with a keynote address by Kim Yung Ho, Minister of Unification of the Republic of Korea (ROK). In addition to UK participants, speakers at the forum will include representatives from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
This year’s Seminar will serve as a significant platform to discuss a range of topics, including international cooperation for North Korea’s denuclearization, effective measures to enhance human rights in North Korea, sustainable strategies for unification, and the role of the international community in promoting long-term peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula.
09:00 – 09:30
Registration
9.30 – 09:40
Opening Ceremony – LEE Dong Sun, Director, Peace and Democracy Institute, Korea University
09.40 – 10.00
Keynote Lecture – KIM Yung Ho, Minister of Unification
10.10 – 11.45
Session 1: The role of Europe in promoting North Korean Human Rights –
Speaker List:
PARK Jihyun, human rights activist
SON Sarah, University of Sheffield
John EVERARD, former UK Ambassador to North Korea
Benjamin SILBERSTEIN, Swedish Institute of International Affairs
Tereza NOVOTNA, Free University Berlin
Moderator: John NILSSON-WRIGHT, Chatham House and University of Cambridge
12:00 – 13:30
Lunch
13.30 – 15.15
Session 2: North Korean denuclearisation, challenges in a changing World –
Speaker List:
WHANG Taehee, Yonsei University
Iordanka ALEXANDROVA, Seoul National University of Science and Technology
Målfrid BRAUT-HEGGHAMMER, University of Oslo
Tom SAUER, University of Antwerp
Moderator: LEE Dong Sun, Director, Peace and Democracy Institute
15:15 – 15:30
Coffee Break
15.30 – 17.15
Session 3: Cooperation with Europe for Korean unification –
Speaker List:
PARK Hyeong-Jung, Korea Institute for National Unification
Niklas SWANSTRÖM, Institute for Security and Development Policy, Stockholm
Antonio FIORI, University of Bologna
Moderator: Ramon Pacheco PARDO, King’s College London
17:15 – 17:30
Closing remarks –
John NILSSON-WRIGHT, Chatham House and University of Cambridge
Please note that this event is being photographed and videoed, and both may be published on the Centre’s website and YouTube channel. We may also use the photos and videos for the purpose of promoting the Centre’s activities to the media, within publications and online. If you do not wish to appear in either, please speak to a member of the Centre for Geopolitics team present on the day.
