Month: February 2026

Feb. 22 (UPI) — The U.S. Secret Service early Sunday morning shot a man who was trying to access President Donald Trump‘s Mar-a-Lago resort while appearing to carry a shotgun and a gas can.

The individual, a man in his early 20s, attempted to access the property from its north gate and entered the secure perimeter before he was shot and killed, the Secret Service said in a post on X.

Although Trump often spends the weekend at his West Palm Beach, Florida, resort, he is in Washington, D.C., this weekend and, according to officials, no other protectees were at the property, either.

“U.S. Secret Service agents and a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputy confronted the individual and shots were fired by law enforcement during the encounter,” Anthony Guglielmi, communications chief for the Secret Service, said in the post.

Guglielmi said the man was observed around 1:30 a.m. EDT on Sunday morning making his way into the perimeter of Mar-a-Lago

Agents and PBSO encountered the man, carrying the shotgun and gas can, and ordered him to put down the gun and can.

He put the can down, but then raised the shotgun into a “firing position,” at which time the agents and deputy opened fire at the man, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said at a press conference on Sunday morning.

The identity of the man is being withheld until his family is notified, and is also being held back during an investigation of the incident.

The Secret Service said that no law enforcement personnel were injured in the incident and that during the investigation the two federal agents have been placed on routine administrative leave.

China adopts a stance rejecting the US militarization of the Middle East, viewing the increasing American bases and military buildup in the region as a strategy of containment and undermining Chinese influence. Beijing seeks to achieve regional balance through counter-diplomacy, both economic and security, and sees the American escalation as a threat to global stability, prompting it to strengthen its partnerships to protect its interests in the region. The Chinese perspective on the militarization of the region is that the American strategy in the Middle East is an extension of the policy of deterrence and containment, which extends from the Pacific to broader spheres of influence. China views American bases, such as Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, and other US military bases in Kuwait and the UAE, as an indirect tool to undermine Chinese economic and geopolitical stability. China considers the American military bases in the Middle East as instruments of hegemony and an attempt to contain and diminish its influence. Therefore, Beijing seeks to strengthen its military, diplomatic, and economic presence in the region as a strategic alternative, expanding its influence through its Belt and Road Initiative.

China adopts an approach that opposes the American military presence in the Middle East, prioritizing economic stability to serve its interests. This opposition manifests itself in several ways: supporting parallel security partnerships with Iran and Saudi Arabia, pressuring host countries like the UAE to prevent American expansion, and pursuing civil-military integration in strategic ports. The Egyptian researcher will attempt to identify and present specific examples of China’s rejection of the American military presence in the Middle East, such as China’s obstruction of the UAE’s F-35 deals. Beijing exerted pressure and raised security concerns that led to the stalling of negotiations for the UAE to acquire American F-35 fighter jets, due to Washington’s apprehension about the growing Chinese presence at the UAE’s Khalifa Port. Another example is China’s intensification of joint military exercises with Washington’s and Israel’s adversaries: China has increased its naval and air military exercises with Iran, a direct rival of the American presence in the region, thus posing a strategic challenge to American hegemony. China has also tried to secure oil routes away from Washington’s protection: China seeks to secure its oil interests through independent partnerships in the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf ports, reducing the Arab states’ need for American security protection and reinforcing Beijing’s vision of rejecting American “hegemony.” With (China’s criticism of the US “offensive strategy”): Chinese diplomacy criticizes the excessive US presence and instead calls for diplomatic solutions and “civil-military integration” through infrastructure investment, thus undermining traditional US bases. Here, China uses “soft power” and economic investments in ports, such as those in Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Iran, as tools to diminish the strategic importance of US military bases.

The Chinese perspective is that US bases are used to restrict its movement in vital maritime routes and are viewed as tools of deterrence within the context of great power competition. Therefore, China seeks to secure its economic interests by ensuring its oil and gas import routes and protecting its projects, which has led it to strengthen its military presence, including its base in Djibouti, to match its economic influence. With China offering a “developmental and security alternative”: By enhancing its influence through massive investments and security and technology partnerships, such as developing Huawei’s 5G digital infrastructure and China’s defense partnerships with Egypt, Iran, and the Gulf states, to serve as an alternative to direct military presence. Here, China seeks to achieve “absolute security” by protecting its supply chains and projects without directly engaging in managing regional crises in the American manner, preferring instead to project geoeconomic influence.

Here, China adopts a stance rejecting the US militarization of the Middle East, deeming it an “adventure” that threatens stability and pushes the region toward the brink. Beijing instead seeks to enhance its influence through diplomacy and economics, with Chinese efforts aimed at undermining the American military presence and supporting regional stability through initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative. The most prominent features of China’s rejection of the US militarization of the Middle East are China’s opposition to the “militarization” of the region and China believes that US strategies based on military bases and deterrence, particularly against Iran, increase instability. (China’s focus on finding a diplomatic and economic alternative): China focuses on comprehensive economic partnerships, such as the Belt and Road Initiative, and prioritizes diplomacy to resolve conflicts, making it appear as a strategic alternative to the US “gunboat diplomacy.” The US “gunboat diplomacy” is a declared strategy of President Trump to counter Beijing’s influence in the Western Hemisphere. To counter this, China is focusing on partnerships and economic interests. From the Chinese perspective, regional stability ensures secure energy supplies and massive infrastructure investments in the region.

This coincides with China’s exploitation of the American retreat in the region. China seeks to capitalize on the relative decline in American strategic interest to act as a balancing power, without direct involvement in crisis management, but with an increasing role in maintaining regional equilibrium. Conversely, China fears that American policies will lead to its encirclement and the curtailment of its economic influence, prompting it to strengthen its military ties with certain regional actors as a form of indirect response.

Therefore, China rejects the principle of American militarization of the Middle East. China seeks to find alternatives to American hegemony by strengthening its diplomatic and economic presence, especially given the recent escalation of American military activity. Chinese military analyses indicate that the recent American military buildup, including aircraft carriers and air forces in the region, increases the likelihood of widespread regional conflicts. To that end, China promotes the concept of “common security,” directly rejecting American military involvement that puts pressure on China’s traditional allies in the region, such as Iran.

Concerned circles in Beijing view the American militarization of the Middle East as a perpetuation of a “Cold War mentality.” This is evident in China’s rejection of the ongoing military alliances established by Washington, which Beijing considers attempts to contain its rising influence and force regional states into alignment, a situation Beijing describes as “American hypocrisy.” The Chinese alternative to American militarization in the region is centered on its strategy of “development over militarization.” China seeks to market itself as a “peaceful partner” focused on development and infrastructure, capitalizing on the partial American retreat to expand its diplomatic and economic influence. Beijing adopts a policy of “cautious neutrality,” committing to “non-interference” in regional conflicts and avoiding replacing the American role as the region’s policeman militarily, preferring instead to focus on its strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific. While fully aware that the militarization of the region impacts China’s energy security, China prefers to address this through diplomacy and economic partnerships rather than direct military presence. China aims to protect its interests by deepening its economic engagement, thereby prompting a gradual US withdrawal, especially as China continues to present itself as a “responsible power” in the Global South.

RAPPER Wiz Khalifa filmed himself punching his son in the stomach 13 times in a sick birthday tradition that he shared on Instagram.

In the shocking clip shared to his stories, the 38-year-old lands a series of blows on his son Sebastian who grimaces and tries to grab the wall behind him to brace for the impact.

His father repeatedly tells him to raise his arms above his head for each punch – one for every year of his life.

“We still doin’ birthday licks in this house!” he wrote in a caption with the video.

“Took it like a g tho.”

Just before the second blow, Sebastian can be seen lowering his arms and grabbing the wall behind him before his dad tells him “hands up,” looks directly at the camera and punches him in the stomach before laughing.

WIZ SENTENCE

Rapper Wiz Khalifa jailed for 9 months after lighting up joint on stage

Meanwhile, his son puts his hands on his stomach and grimaces.

“You’ve got to take it like a G, you’re 13 years old,” Khalifa tells him.

“That’s only four, tighten your stomach,” he later told his son who groaned and fell away from the wall on the fourth punch.

He gave his struggling son bizarre and twisted advice, telling him, “every time you get hit, breathe out,” as he continued to hit him.

Wiz, whose real name is Cameron Jibril Thomaz, shares Sebastian with his ex-wife and model Amber Rose.

The pair celebrated their son’s 13th birthday on Saturday night with a basketball-themed bash packed with friends and family.

“He’s officially a teenager. We are so proud of you and we love you,” his dad said during a speech shared by Amber on her Instagram stories.

More to follow…

An armed man drove into the secure perimeter of Mar-a-Lago, President Trump’s resort in Florida, as another vehicle was exiting before being shot and killed early Sunday morning, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service.

The man, who was in his early 20s and from North Carolina, had a gas can and a shotgun, according to Anthony Guglielmi, the Secret Service spokesman. The man had been reported missing by his family a few days ago, and investigators believe he headed south and picked up the shotgun along the way.

Guglielmi said a box for the weapon was discovered in the man’s vehicle after the incident, which took place around 1:30 a.m.

The man killed was identified by investigators as 21-year-old Austin Tucker Martin, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation.

Trump has faced threats to his life before, including two assassination attempts during the 2024 campaign. Although the president often spends weekends at his resort, he and First Lady Melania Trump were at the White House when the breach at Mar-a-Lago occurred.

After entering near the north gate of the property, the man was confronted by two Secret Service agents and a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy, according to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw.

“He was ordered to drop those two pieces of equipment that he had with them. At which time he put down the gas can, raised the shotgun to a shooting position,” Bradshaw said at a news conference. The two agents and the deputy “fired their weapons to neutralize the threat.”

The FBI asked residents who live near Mar-a-Lago to check any security cameras they may have for video that could help investigators.

Investigators are working to compile a psychological profile, and a motive is still under investigation. Asked whether the individual was known to law enforcement, Bradshaw said, “Not right now.”

The incident comes as the country has been rocked by spasms political violence.

Trump survived an assassination attempt during a 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pa. The gunman fired eight shots, one grazing Trump’s ear, before being killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper.

A few months later, a man tried to assassinate Trump while he played golf at his West Palm Beach club, a few miles from Mar-a-Lago. A Secret Service agent spotted that man, Ryan Routh, aiming a rifle through the shrubbery before Trump came into view. Officials said Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire and caused Routh to drop his weapon.

Routh was found guilty last year and sentenced this month to life in prison.

The White House referred all questions to the Secret Service and FBI.

There have been other recent incidents of political violence as well.

In the last year, there was the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk; the assassination of the Democratic leader in the Minnesota state House and her husband and the shooting of another lawmaker and his wife; and an arson attack at the official residence of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Five days ago, a Georgia man armed with a shotgun was arrested as he sprinted towards the west side of the U.S. Capitol.

And on Jan. 6, 2021, a violent pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol and tried to stop Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election victory.

Price writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report.

MILAN — Talk about a closing ceremony.

The final medals of the Milan-Cortina Games were handed out Sunday and these Olympics truly saved the best for last, with the U.S. men’s hockey game grabbing the last gold with a 2-1 overtime win over Canada.

Of course it went to overtime. How else should a U.S.-Canada final end?

Jack Hughes, left alone on the left wing, provided the winning goal 1:41 into overtime, beating Canadian goalie Jordan Binnington cleanly and setting off a wild celebration that left the ice littered with U.S. gloves, sticks and helmets. The Canadian players watched from the bench, many with their heads in their gloves hands.

The other goals came from Matt Boldy, who gave the U.S. a lead early in the first period, and Cale Makar, who evened things for Canada late in the second.

The medal was the 33rd of these Games for the U.S. and the 12th gold, most by an American team in the Winter Olympics. They finished second to Norway, which won a record 41 medals, 18 of them gold.

The title was the Americans’ first in men’s hockey since 1980 and it came on the 46th anniversary of the “Miracle On Ice” win over the mighty Soviets, in what was essentially a semifinal in the Lake Placid Games.

The Canadian team the U.S. beat Sunday was no less mighty. It scored 27 times on its unbeaten run to the final, with Connor McDavid getting 13 points, a record for an Olympic tournament featuring NHL players. And with the NHL players returning to the Winter Games for the first time in 12 years, Canada may have had more elite-level marquee players than any team in Olympic history.

U.S. players celebrate immediately after beating Canada in overtime for the gold medal at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games on Sunday.

(David J. Phillip / Associated Press)

But it was the U.S. that drew first blood, scoring in the sixth minute on a brilliant individual effort from Boldy. The play started with Toronto Maples Leafs captain Auston Matthews digging the puck out along the boards in the U.S. end. He then fed Boldy, a Minnesota Wild forward, who flipped the puck ahead of him as he entered the Canadian zone.

Boldy had Makar and Devon Toews to beat, which he did by skating between them before backhanding the puck by Binnington for his second goal of the tournament.

Back in the Catman Cafe in Mansfield, Mass., where Boldy’s mom Jen works as a bartender, the crowd came to its feet and cheered. It was the third time in as many elimination games that Canada trailed entering the second period.

The turning point in regulation came in a three-minute span in the middle of the second period. First, U.S. goalie Connor Hellebuyck stopped McDavid at the end of a breakaway it. Then less than a minute later, the U.S. took two penalties 28 seconds apart, giving Canada a five-on-three power play.

U.S. goaltender Connor Hellebuyck blocks a shot by Canada’s Macklin Celebrini during the third period Sunday.

(Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)

With the crowd chanting “USA! USA!,” Hellebuyck, who stopped 41 shots in a phenomenal effort, came up big again and the Americans killed both penalties. The U.S. was 18 for 18 on the penalty kill in the tournament.

Makar, however, wouldn’t be denied later in the period, sending a blistering wrister from the center of the right circle just over Hellebuyck’s arm 84 seconds before the intermission. The score stayed that way until Hughes’ goal.

The game was arguably the most-anticipated event of the Milan-Cortina Games — in North America, if not in Italy. Hundreds of bars and restaurants in the U.S. and Canada were packed for early morning viewing parties. In Toronto, Scotiabank Arena, home to the Maple Leafs, opened its doors at 7 a.m. and sold $15 tickets to people to watch the game on TV. In Lake Placid, N.Y., the Olympic Center cafe opened to fans at 8 a.m. while in Milan, the 14,000 people packed into the Santa Giulia Arena were a sea of red Canadian jerseys and white American ones.

Six times the U.S. has finished second to Canada in an Olympic hockey tournament, the last in 2010 when Sidney Crosby’s goal in overtime gave Canada a record ninth gold medal. Crosby, Canada’s captain, did not dress for Sunday’s game after sustaining a lower-body injury earlier in the tournament.

United States players celebrate after defeating Canada for the gold medal at the Milan-Cortina Games on Sunday.

(Hassan Ammar / Associated Press)

That wasn’t the only sign this game would be different for the Americans. As the team was wrapping up its final practice in Milan on Saturday, a spider dropped from the ceiling. Don’t kill it, a local volunteer warned the players. In Italy, the appearance of a spider is considered a sign of coming good fortune.

With the U.S. beating Canada in overtime in the women’s gold-medal last Thursday, the Milan-Cortina Games marked the first time the Americans have beaten Canada in both hockey finals. Canada has swept the men’s and women’s gold three times, in 2002, 2010 and 2014.

At its peak, the BRICS coalition of economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – was seen as a serious attempt to move away from the United States dollar and the domination of Western economic institutions like the World Bank, Group of Seven (G7), and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

But BRICS members have different political agendas, and new forces are at play, argues economist Jim O’Neill, a member of Britain’s House of Lords.

O’Neill, who coined the term “BRIC” 25 years ago, tells host Steve Clemons that the US’s economic policies may be the driver of its own decline, coupled with the economic rise of China and India.

SCROLL through Instagram for five minutes and you’ll feel like the worst parent.

There’s Sky Brown, the Olympic skateboard prodigy whose British dad Stuart had her surfing and skateboarding before she could spell.

And toddler Aubrin Sage, who started snowboarding Washington’s Cascade Mountains at 18 months.

My feed is basically a highlight reel of super-parents raising mini athletes while I’m celebrating that my daughter ate a vegetable.

The pressure is real. And it’s been amped up in light of the Winter Olympics.

So when I heard about La Rosiere – a French Alps resort that takes kids as young as 18 months – I saw my chance.

WAIL OF A TIME

I drove Irish Route 66 with deserted golden beaches and pirate-like islands

TEMPTED?

Tiny ‘Bali of Europe’ town with stunning beaches, €3 cocktails and £20 flights

Time to turn my 20-month-old Lena into the next big thing on snow.

La Rosiere doesn’t mess about. Its ESF ski school’s Galopins Club had Lena on a snowboard-sled hybrid that looked utterly adorable.

Between snow play sessions they kept the kids busy with crafts and stories. Half-day or full-day options with lunch meant I could hit the slopes guilt-free.

Founded by shepherds in the 1960s, the resort has somehow kept its cosy village vibe while going all-in on the family market.

The revamped beginner zone at Les Eucherts features a toddler-friendly four-seater chair lift and a covered mountain picnic area – genius for when your hangry three-year-old has a meltdown in ski boots.

For families, here’s where La Rosiere gets clever. Its X-periences pass costs £59 extra on top of a six-day ski pass but throws in ice skating, cinema, laser tag, paintball, and something called X’treme Luge that sounds like it should come with a waiver.

Evolution 2, the resort’s adventure school gets kids playing at being ski patrol, opening slopes, and doing outdoor escape games.

While Lena was learning not to face-plant, I got to explore the Espace San Bernardo area – 96 miles linking La Rosiere with Italy’s La Thuile.

The new Mont Valaisan lift opens up serious back country at 2,800 metres, and I lucked out with blue-sky powder days.

The south-facing slopes make for sun-soaked days with stunning views of the Haute Tarentaise valley.

And with 80 per cent of the slopes above 1,850m, snow conditions were fantastic throughout our stay.
Time of her life

My base at Lodge Hemera (booked through Peak Retreats) was ski-in, ski-out luxury with a kitchen that saved my family a fortune.

On the nights we didn’t feel like cooking, we went to Le Comptoir, a family-friendly bar with great pizza.

Did Lena become the next Shaun White? Not exactly. She spent more time eating snow than shredding it.

But La Rosiere delivered: World-class childcare that let me remember why I love snowboarding, while my toddler had the time of her life playing in the snow.

So no, I won’t be posting videos of my prodigy daughter doing backflips.

But at least I can say we tried – and I got a decent ski holiday out of it. In the Instagram parenting Olympics, I see that as a win

Uganda Ministry of Foreign Affairs says Mohamed Dagalo’s meeting with President Yoweri Museveni focused on ending war.

Sudan has condemned Uganda for hosting the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, as an “insult” to humanity and the Sudanese people.

In a statement on Sunday, Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the reception of Dagalo, also known as “Hemedti”, in the “strongest terms” and his meeting on Friday with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

“This unprecedented step insults humanity before it insults the Sudanese people, and at the same time, it disregards the lives of innocent people killed due to the behaviour of Hemedti and his terrorist militia,” the Foreign Ministry wrote.

Rights groups and international organisations have accused the RSF of war crimes and targeting civilians in Sudan.

Khartoum said hosting Dagalo “disregards” human values.

It “completely disregards the laws governing relations between member states of regional and international organisations that prohibit providing any support for rebel forces against a legitimate, internationally recognised government”, the Foreign Ministry added.

In 2023, Sudan was plunged into a civil war between the Sudanese army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF.

According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), at least 11.7 million people have been displaced by the conflict and an estimated 150,000 people have been killed.

Last week, the United States imposed sanctions on three RSF commanders over their alleged roles in the 18-month siege and capture of el‑Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State in western Sudan.

In a statement, the US Department of the Treasury accused the RSF of perpetrating “a horrific campaign of ethnic killings, torture, starvation, and sexual violence” during the siege and capture of el-Fasher, which fell to the RSF in October.

Separately, a UN mission found that the RSF campaign in el-Fasher was a “planned and organised operation that bears the defining characteristics of genocide”.

‘Poisonous’ identity politics

Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued its own statement on Dagalo’s visit and said his meeting with Museveni focused on “ending the ongoing conflict in Sudan and restoring regional stability”.

Museveni reiterated in his remarks to Hemedti that peace in Sudan could only be achieved through dialogue and warned against what he described as identity politics.

“When I last came to Sudan, I met [former] President [Omar al-] Bashir and advised against the politics of identity instead of the politics of interest,” Museveni said.

“Identity politics is poisonous. It does not yield good results. What is important are shared interests that unite people,” he said while calling for both parties to prioritise “peace over military confrontation”.

For his part, Dagalo thanked Museveni and said he shares the Ugandan president’s “principles and your commitment to peace”, according to a statement released by the Ugandan government.

“He noted that Sudan continues to face serious humanitarian and institutional challenges as a result of the conflict and stressed the need for a peaceful resolution,” the statement added.

“That’s my pot dealer!” exclaimed Michelle Phillips in a crowded movie theater in 1977. Months earlier, the Mamas & the Papas singer had only known Harrison Ford as a stoner-carpenter with a few bit parts to his credit. Now he was Han Solo in “Star Wars,” directed by a young upstart, George Lucas. Clearly the world was changing.

How much, though? Conventional wisdom about the Hollywood renaissance of the ‘60s and ‘70s suggests that starting with “Bonnie and Clyde” and “Easy Rider,” a batch of emerging auteurs shook the studios out of a rut and transformed American film. There’s plenty of truth to that: Francis Ford Coppola’s shift in 10 years from a director-for-hire on an old-hat musical, “Finian’s Rainbow,” to the auteur behind “Apocalypse Now” is just one of the era’s most remarkable achievements.

A pair of new books, though, suggest that the overall shift was only so modest, ultimately shoring up not just the old-school studio system but the social norms the interlopers were supposed to be upending.

Paul Fischer’s lively history of the new wave of California directors, “The Last Kings of Hollywood,” concentrates on Lucas, Coppola and Steven Spielberg. (New York contemporaries like Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma are present but relatively off-screen.) Fischer has a gift for highlighting the ways that moments that we now accept as inevitable were often the product of dumb luck, pyrrhic victories and tough decisions. Coppola made “The Godfather” out of financial desperation, averse to adapting a mob novel; Spielberg’s “Jaws” was beset with mishaps, from a foolhardy attempt to train a real shark to its malfunctioning mechanical one; only when Lucas learned that the rights to Flash Gordon were unavailable did he pursue a space-opera concept all his own.

Their brashness and can-do spirit were worth cheering for: As the trio delivered films that broke box office records — ”The Godfather,” “American Graffiti,” “Jaws” and more — there were reasons to believe that big-budget films could operate outside the studio system. Lucas in particular was driven as much by resentment of the old as passion for the new. He never forgot how Warner Bros. manhandled his debut feature, “THX 1138” and was driven to muscle “Graffiti” into existence to spite the suits who said he couldn’t. In 1969, Coppola and Lucas launched their own studio, American Zoetrope, in San Francisco, with a passel of scripts in progress (including “Apocalypse Now” and “The Conversation”) and a $300,000 investment from Warner Bros. But Coppola wasn’t much of a businessman, and he had an easier time putting the office’s fancy espresso machine to work than the suite of state-of-the-art editing bays: “He ran his business like he ran a film set — on vibes,” Fischer writes.

A decade later, both Coppola and Zoetrope would declare bankruptcy, and he would split with Lucas, who’d used the success of “Star Wars” to cut his own path as a Hollywood kingmaker via his own production company, Lucasfilm. It allowed him to indulge his love of classic cliffhanger serials, and he tapped Spielberg to direct “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” But Fischer frames Lucas’ career arc as a disappointment, despite all those dollar figures — Lucas wanted to return to artsier “THX”-style fare, but needed cash flow. “If George was ever going to be independent from Hollywood, he thought he wouldn’t get there by making abstract mood poems,” Fischer writes. By the ‘80s, with two “Star Wars” sequels done, Lucas was out of the mood-poem business entirely.

While “Last Kings” focuses exclusively on directors’ relationship to movie economics, Kirk Ellis’ “They Kill People” considers “Bonnie and Clyde” and the New Hollywood from a variety of angles — filmmaking, the social turmoil of the ‘60s, America’s complex relationship with outlaws in general and guns in particular. It’s a meaty yet accessible book that captures the lightning-in-a-bottle nature of the generation’s ur-text, capturing the unlikely nature of its creation and the somewhat dodgy nature of its legacy.

“Bonnie” was such a provocation — nakedly, almost giddily violent — that its studio, Warner Bros, all but willed it not to exist. It was given a shoestring budget, was mocked by studio chief Jack Warner (who sarcastically referred to director Arthur Penn and producer-star Warren Beatty as “the geniuses”), and initially released largely in Southern drive-ins. “They figured the redneck kids would like the guns,” Penn said.

Everybody liked the guns. A few scolding critics lamented the film’s violence, especially its then-shocking bloody finale, but Beatty and co-star Faye Dunaway were deeply seductive onscreen. (Ellis notes that the two are always the best-dressed characters in the film.) And its outlaw sensibility resonated with young audiences in the late‘60s. Moreover, writes Ellis (a historical-drama screenwriter best known for “John Adams”), it represented the culmination of decades of American culture that equated American gun culture with freedom — a notion that would’ve baffled the founding fathers, who dwelled little on gun-rights matters in the Federalist Papers and other constitutional drafting documents, but gained traction thanks to gun manufacturers. “In the printed legend of American history, guns and freedom have become synonymous,” Ellis writes, but it was a new legend — stoked in part by “Bonnie and Clyde” — not America’s origin story.

It’d be a mistake to reduce the New Hollywood to the filmmakers highlighted by these two books — though, focused as they are on white men, they echo the way women and people of color were largely shut out of the system, or relegated to more marginal blaxploitation work. Artists looking to operate outside the system have plenty of inspiration to draw from in the ‘70s. Yet the books also expose how commerce does what it always does — take provocations and sand the edges off of them, then look for ways to make them profitable. In the early ‘80s, a decade after Coppola and company stormed the barricades, Paramount chief Michael Eisner shared a fresh and contradictory vision, such as it was: “We have no obligation to make history. We have no obligation to make art. We have no obligation to make a statement. To make money is our only objective.”

It would take another decade — and auteurs on the East Coast — to launch another attack on that sensibility, via films like “Do the Right Thing” and “sex, lies, and videotape.” They would help usher in the Miramax era — but that’s another story, with its own problematic twists.

Athitakis is a writer in Phoenix and author of “The New Midwest.”

A superb bowling performance breathed life into England’s T20 World Cup campaign as Harry Brook’s side beat co-hosts Sri Lanka by 51 runs in their opening match of the Super 8s phase.

England remained unconvincing with the bat in posting 146-9 but their bowlers took full advantage of a tricky surface to knock over their hosts for 95.

Jofra Archer dismissed key batter Pathum Nissanka and fellow opener Kamil Mishara but even more impressive were the three wickets for all-rounder Will Jacks inside the powerplay.

Jacks, who has struggled with the ball at times in this tournament, removed Kusal Mendis and Pavan Rathnayake in consecutive deliveries and added the scalp of Dunith Wellalage as Sri Lanka crumbled to 34-5 under the pressure of a chase.

After Kamindu Mendis chipped back a catch to Liam Dawson and Dushan Hemantha hit his own wicket, Jacks combined with Tom Banton to complete a fine relay catch on the boundary to dismiss Dasun Shanaka, Sri Lanka’s captain and the last recognised batter, for 30.

That England’s batting remains far from perfect is pushed to another day. Jos Buttler made a tortured seven from 14 balls, Jacob Bethell fell to a wild slog and Tom Banton ran himself out.

Phil Salt’s 62 and 21 from Jacks, who was the next highest scorer in a fine all-round display, were crucial.

England play Pakistan on Tuesday and New Zealand on Friday in their remaining Super 8s matches.

One win should be enough to qualify for the semi-finals.

Hundreds of far-right anti-Islam marched through Manchester on Saturday, demanding mass deportations of migrants and Muslims from the UK. Al Jazeera’s Nils Adler spoke to protesters and counter-protesters at the rally.

BREAKINGBREAKING,

The incident in Florida took place on Sunday when US President Donald Trump was in Washington, DC.

The United States Secret Service ⁠says its agents have shot and killed a man who attempted to break into a secure perimeter at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

The man, in his 20s, appeared to be armed with a shotgun and fuel can, according to the Secret Service’s communications chief Anthony Guglielmi. He was shot at about 1:30am Sunday morning (06:30 GMT).

Trump was in Washington, DC, not Mar-a-Lago, when the incident took place. No other individuals under Secret Service protection were present, said the agency.

Guglielmi said Secret Service agents and a deputy from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office confronted the armed individual, whose identity has not yet been disclosed, after he approached Mar-a-Lago’s north gate. The individual was pronounced dead after being shot by law enforcement officials.

“The incident, including the individual’s background, actions, potential motive and the use of force, is under investigation by the FBI, the US Secret Service and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office,” said Guglielmi.

This is a breaking news story…

The cast of “Scrubs” knows that the show’s creator, Bill Lawrence, has a habit of building communities with his series, which include “Ted Lasso” and “Shrinking.” But the “Scrubs” crew knows they are the closest.

“Since I work on all those shows, I can say that we’re the tightest-knit group,” says Zach Braff on a video call with his fellow fake doctors Sarah Chalke and Donald Faison. “We vacation together.”

Lawrence, just a day later, has to concede that Braff has a point. “It’s annoying because I have to admit that they are right,” he says. “We’ve stayed the tightest because we all still spend way too much time together.”

And now the gang is back together for a new, nine-episode season of the beloved series premiering Feb. 25 on ABC, and the next day on Hulu. When “Scrubs” debuted in 2001, narrator J.D. (Braff), his best friend Turk (Faison) and on-again, off-again love interest Elliot (Chalke) were interns at Sacred Heart Hospital. Now, J.D. is a concierge doctor, while Turk and Elliot have advanced to leadership positions at Sacred Heart. There’s a new batch of interns, a new cheery hospital representative (Vanessa Bayer) whose job involves making sure no one gets offended, and a new doctor (Joel Kim Booster) who is not too fond of J.D. But there are also other familiar faces including John C. McGinley as J.D.’s begrudging mentor Dr. Cox and Judy Reyes as nurse Carla, who also happens to be Turk’s wife.

“Scrubs” then and now: Sarah Chalke, Zach Braff and Donald Faison in the original series, left, and in the ABC revival. (Chris Haston/NBC) (Brian Bowen Smith/Disney)

In the Season 8 finale — before the show reset with a medical school setting — J.D., always prone to elaborate fantasy sequences, sees a vision of how his life is going to turn out. His reality doesn’t exactly resemble that.

“We say midlife crisis or whatever, but it’s a time of questioning, a time where you take stock of your life,” says showrunner Aseem Batra. “That’s really a cool time to catch up with our characters because when we saw them last, they were in their quarter life.”

Batra herself has followed a similar path to the characters. After working as an assistant at ABC, her first writing gig was on “Scrubs.” Now she’s in a position of authority. “Truly, it was the best job I had and it was my first job and I’m doing it again out of pure love,” she says. (Longtime “Scrubs” writer Tim Hobert was originally announced as co-showrunner but departed the project.)

Lawrence, who serves as executive producer on the new incarnation, can also see a parallel between his path and that of his fictional creations. “I’m only good at writing about stuff that’s at least tangentially part of my life and the idea that of those young goofballs who are the students now being the teachers, it’s very much part of my life right now,” he says.

“Scrubs” creator Bill Lawrence has handed the reins to Aseem Batra, who is the showrunner of the revival. “Truly, it was the best job I had and it was my first job and I’m doing it again out of pure love,” she says.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Still, Lawrence says the reason the revival of the show was able to work is because of the closeness of the original cast. Faison and Braff are still constantly collaborating whether that’s on a podcast or commercials, and even though she’s decamped from Los Angeles to Canada, Chalke makes a point to keep in touch. On a boisterous Zoom call, we spoke about returning to their beloved characters.

What were your reactions coming back to this world?

Donald Faison: Please. Please. Revive it. Do me that solid and revive it.

Sarah Chalke: I manifested it. A couple years ago, I was like, “Oh, I miss ‘Scrubs.’ I want to do a comedy like ‘Scrubs’ that shoots in Vancouver, and then it all happened.”

Zach Braff: To be honest, I was very surprised when it actually started happening that ABC was going to put it in prime time. I thought it might be something on Hulu. That felt like a giant audience with Hulu the next day and a really big scale and really a belief in the project. That was really exciting.

Why do you think the show’s legacy is so strong that there is that belief?

Braff: I think that it’s Bill’s unique mix of comedy and pathos and emotion and fantasy. It’s such a unique recipe. But in execution, as he did with the first pilot, it was undeniable. It was so groundbreaking at the time. No one had done that in the network space. It was also at a time when there was no streaming. So, the show was on at 9:30 and Bill was trying to push what you could still do on network [television]. That’s why it was a more risqué version of what we’re doing now. I think now the goal was — well, there’s streaming for that. What’s a show that we can have on at 8 that pairs with “Abbott Elementary” that parents can watch with their kids? Maybe some jokes will fly over the kids’ heads, but it’s not trying to compete with what people are doing on streaming.

What do you remember about getting cast? You were all in your 20s.

Faison: I was the oldest one. Still the oldest one. I remember how big of a deal it was. This was the pilot of the season. I remember everybody and their mama was talking about how great the script was and how they wanted to be on the show. I remember my agent telling me, “This is a big one. The creator of the show really likes you. Let’s see what you can do.”

Chalke: I didn’t know this until two days ago. Our casting director came up to set to visit, and she said I was the first person to audition on the first morning of casting. In the character description, it said she moves and talks at a faster pace than normal humans. And in every single job, I’ve been told, “Slow down.” It felt like the luckiest thing; I’ll never forget when Bill called me and said that I got it and I truly couldn’t believe it. And the experience far exceeded any expectation I could have had about what it was going to be.

When I think back on it, what I remember is what that felt like to be at work every day, genuinely laughing so hard to the point where it would get late at night and there was one sound that Zach and Donald could make that would make me laugh.

Sarah Chalke on being cast in “Scrubs”: “I’ll never forget when Bill called me and said that I got it and I truly couldn’t believe it. And the experience far exceeded any expectation I could have had about what it was going to be.”

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

What was the sound?

Faison: It’s almost like a fart.

Braff: No, it’s not a fart.

Faison: I’m not trying to make a fart joke. But do you know how when you fart, it always sounds like a question mark. So, that’s the sound.

Braff: Esther, do not use this, please. It’s a high-pitched noise like this [does noise]. We would do it quietly enough that no one would hear we were doing it. And then she would break down laughing and ruin the take and we’d be like, “Sarah, what are you doing? It’s late. We want to go home.”

Zach, what were your initial thoughts about the project?

Braff: I was waiting tables at a French-Vietnamese restaurant called Le Colonial at Beverly and Robertson [in L.A.]. And I had to wear a tunic, which I put into “Garden State.” I’d been auditioning for so many things and not really getting much traction in the sitcom space, but I read this and I thought it was so funny. I was like, “Oh, I think I could really sell this because I find it so funny.”

How did you know the chemistry between the three of you was going to work?

Braff: When we were shooting the pilot, I was just like, “Wow. I really love these people.” I was obsessed with Sarah. I thought Donald was the funniest person I’d ever met. And then Bill was legitimately the funniest person I’ve ever met. I just felt in really good hands.

Chalke: We were all so excited to be there and we’d just hang out and watch the other scenes that we weren’t in. And I remember just being by the monitor, watching everybody else work and just being so blown away.

Braff: We would hang out after we were wrapped, which Sarah still does occasionally. This time Donald came early because there’s this really weird coffee robot in the production office that Donald seems to think is amazing coffee. So, I caught him a few times coming in early for the coffee robot.

Faison: That’s not why I came in early. I was notoriously late and unprepared the first go of “Scrubs.” I heard Tom Hanks talking about how he was a young actor and a very established actor kept forgetting their lines. And the director finally goes, “Ah, come on, come on guys. Three things. Show up early, know the text, have an idea. Let’s take 10,” and walks away. And Tom Hanks goes, “Oh, if that’s what it takes, I can do that s—.” So, I took that to heart and this is the second opportunity.

Braff: I thought it was the coffee robot.

Zach Braff on his co-stars: “When we were shooting the pilot, I was just like, ‘Wow. I really love these people.’ I was obsessed with Sarah. I thought Donald was the funniest person I’d ever met.” (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

But Sarah would hang out after you wrapped?

Chalke: We are all executive producers on this. Zach is producing and directing and editing and writing and doing all of the things, and that’s been really neat to watch. I legitimately do want to learn. Obviously, there’s a balance of that with also going back into work full-time and having two kids.

Braff: Sarah gave me this whole speech at the top of the show. She’s like, “Hey, I really do want to learn this stuff. I want to sit by your director’s chair. I want to ask you questions. I want to learn to genuinely [executive produce], genuinely direct.” And I was like, “Great.” The first week I was like, “All right. Sarah, we’re going on a big tech scout. It’s probably going to be about…”

Chalke: “In a van for seven hours.”

Braff: I go, “You’re going to learn more on the tech scout than you could in film school.” And she’s like, “No, I won’t be able to do that.” And then by the end of the nine episodes, Sarah was like, “I think my EP thing is morale.”

Faison: I want to piggyback on something Sarah said though. Zach has done a lot, these nine episodes. For this revival, he’s done so much and has worked so hard on this. And that’s made us all feel very safe and secure also because we know we have the No. 1 guy on the call sheet who cares about the show completely putting in 100% to make sure that we’re coming out the gate with something very, very, very, very strong and undeniable for the fans.

What were your conversations about where your characters would be after all these years?

Braff: One of the big conversations we had was we wanted to reground the show because the show got really broad over the years and we wanted to dial it back and go back to where we started, where it exists in a real place. We have the luxury of the fantasies where we can be super silly. And obviously, we dip our toe over the line sometimes and stuff is a little broad. But for the most part, the new show is back to Season 1 and grounded again.

As we all know, especially when you reach 50 years old, a lot of things in life don’t turn out the way you hope they would. And that’s why we opened the show with J.D. living this fantasy that he is this heroic trauma ER guy when in fact he’s fixing toes in the suburbs. Also, I think with regard to me and Donald, [Lawrence] said, “I want them to be silly as those two guys are in real life, but … when they drop in and they’re teachers, they’re really good teachers.”

Donald Faison on returning for the revival: “When we did the table read, I laughed so hard when the first voice-over kicked in, when Zach read the voice-over.”

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Was it easy to fall back into your rhythms?

Faison: When we did the table read, I laughed so hard when the first voice-over kicked in, when Zach read the voice-over.

Braff: The whole room did. It was really funny because no one had heard me do that voice in 20 years.

Chalke: One of the coolest things that helped with the show was Bill would just write to everybody’s strengths or write to their quirks or write to their personalities and weave it in. That happened this season, but it happened all through the first eight years. And so, to a certain extent, the lines blurred sometimes between ourselves and our characters. So, stepping back into them, there’s a reason why it felt so comfortable.

Braff: Sarah is a fast-talking klutz.

Chalke: I am. We met all the interns and Zach said, “So, guys, Chalke’s going to come in every day and something’s going to be broken. Every day there’s going to be a story.” And then I proceeded the very next day, which was the day before filming, to fall and break my finger. So, I did have to come in on the first day and say, “So, I broke my finger.”

How did you break your finger?

Braff: Walking.

Chalke: It’s part of who I am, but it’s also part of who Elliot is.

Braff: I think if we put in the show how really klutzy you are, people would think it’s too much.

Was there anything you were nostalgic for that wasn’t in the new incarnation?

Chalke: Sam Lloyd.

Braff: Sam Lloyd who played the lawyer was such a big part of the show and not only a fan favorite, but our favorite. He was just the funniest, nicest man. And Bill calls people like Sam Lloyd “comedy assassins.” They come in and they have one line and you’re laughing. And he was one of the greats.

Faison: It’s not the same “Scrubs.” And I kind of miss a little bit of that. There are so many new stories to tell. And you get nostalgic when you see the stuff that we’re doing in it, but I do sometimes miss some of the stories that we told in the past. It’s like capturing lightning in the bottle again, and I feel like we did it. I really do hope we have that opportunity again. I really do hope that this isn’t just nine. But it’s important for the audience to know that we’re definitely older. That’s just real talk. I’m not a 26-year-old man anymore. I’m 50.

RICHMOND, Calif. — New bumper stickers reading “Jesse Jackson/Dan Boatwright” appeared recently in this heavily black and economically struggling industrial city across the bay from San Francisco.

“Can you believe that?” state Senate candidate Sunne McPeak grumbled. “It makes it appear that Jesse Jackson has endorsed Dan Boatwright. He hasn’t. And Boatwright hasn’t endorsed Jackson. It’s misleading.”

McPeak, for 10 years a Contra Costa County supervisor, is challenging Sen. Daniel E. Boatwright, a white, 16-year veteran of the Legislature, in the hottest state Senate contest in the June 7 primary election.

On the same day the Jackson/Boatwright bumper stickers showed up, McPeak, who also is white, trumpeted the endorsement of her candidacy by Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley as she walked black precincts in the 7th Senate District, which includes most of Contra Costa County.

Boatwright, widely regarded as a conservative Democrat who said he has not endorsed any candidate for President but will support the party’s nominee, denies that the bumper stickers are misleading. He asserts, while denying any contradiction, that they merely are intended “to get Jesse Jackson and me elected.”

In a tight election, the black vote–which Boatwright said makes up 15% of the Democratic registration–could be pivotal.

McPeak and Boatwright seem to share the same conservative political philosophy on many issues. Both fiercely oppose export of additional water from Northern to Southern California without ironclad guarantees that water supplies in their home base of Contra Costa County will not be degraded or diminished.

McPeak gained statewide attention in 1982 when she spearheaded a successful referendum that overturned a law that would have built the controversial Peripheral Canal, a project strongly supported by Southern California water interests and opposed by Northerners.

McPeak, 39, a former health care consultant, is the mother of two school-age children. An attorney, Boatwright, 58, is the father of three grown sons.

The Democratic winner in June will face Republican William Pollacek, a Martinez city councilman who is unopposed in the GOP primary. Although declining in numbers, Democrats still hold a big registration advantage in the district, 53.7% to 35.1% over Republicans. So the Democratic primary winner is a heavy favorite to emerge victorious in November.

The fast-growing region is a bedroom for San Francisco and includes some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the Bay Area, as well as some of the poorest. Ethnically diverse, Anglos account for roughly 71% of the district’s population, blacks 10%, Latinos 9%, Asians 5% and others 5%. But since blacks register heavily in the Democratic Party, they represent a much larger voter bloc in Democratic primaries than they do in general elections.

Boatwright’s casual manner masks an explosive temper and the tenacity of a pit bull. He delights in characterizing himself as “tough as a cob” and still speaks in a slight drawl that lingers from his boyhood in Arkansas

In legislative skirmishes, he has been known to invoke his experience as a combat infantryman in Korea and once told a reporter: “I’ve never seen anybody around that I couldn’t lick. And if I can’t do it with my fist, I’ll still do it.”

But the tough-talking Boatwright also writes poetry. In a sentimental poem printed in a campaign brochure, Boatwright talks of soaring “like a magic machine” with Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

Boatwright unabashedly boasts of his fondness for dipping into the “pork barrel” of public projects and delivering them to his constituents, including the expansion of Mt. Diablo State Park and authorization for a new state university campus at Concord.

“See that ridge up there?” he said, pointing to an undeveloped saddle of land as he wheeled his sedan through a scenic valley en route to a meeting with constituents to discuss creating a new bay-side park. “We saved that for open space.”

Last year, Boatwright carried a major bill for his district that proposed massive rehabilitation of deteriorating levees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. But he got into a feud with fellow Democratic Sen. Ruben S. Ayala of Chino, chairman of the Senate Water Committee, and Ayala sent the bill back to his committee, never to re-emerge.

This left Boatwright open to political attack that he had failed his constituents. But pressure continued for a levee repair bill and in December, environmentalists, farmers, Southern California water interests, Deukmejian Adminstration water officials, Ayala and Boatwright agreed to a virtually identical measure.

Boatwright’s name was attached to the new bill as its author and it became law in March.

“Boatwright needed a substantial bill to run with in his district,” observed a Senate Democratic staff source.

McPeak, still active in water affairs, contends that the compromise would never have occurred without “pressure” from herself and others.

Now, Boatwright has proposed drought-spawned legislation that would require the installation of water meters in Sacramento, one of the few major population centers in California where water rates are not tied to water usage. Boatwright maintains that 25% of water used in Sacramento is wasted and if metering forced water conservation, his downstream district would benefit. Similar measures have failed in the past.

In her quest to unseat Boatwright, who concedes that this reelection race is his toughest, McPeak goes from door to door telling voters that “the incumbent has been in the Legislature for 16 years. I think it’s time for a change. Don’t you?”

For Boatwright, it is the first time since his election to the Senate in 1980 that he is spending his Saturdays walking precincts and knocking on doors in search of votes. His support includes Senate staff employees from Sacramento who “volunteer” to walk.

McPeak decided to take on Boatwright against the advice of the Democratic Establishment, including Senate leader David A. Roberti of Los Angeles, who last year perceived Boatwright as conspiring to topple him as president pro tem of the Senate.

As a result, Roberti fired Boatwright as chairman of the Appropriations Committee, one of the Senate’s most prestigious posts. Later, Roberti softened the punishment and appointed Boatwright as a member of the committee.

Lukewarm to Candidacy

Some Senate sources have suggested that Roberti is privately only lukewarm to Boatwright’s candidacy. But in keeping with Senate’s clubby tradition of standing by their own, Roberti has publicly pledged to provide “whatever is necessary” in campaign contributions to secure Boatwright’s renomination. Although he may be a rebel at times, Boatwright still is a member of the Senate Democratic fraternity.

Boatwright, who coasted to victory in previous reelection campaigns, estimated his primary election budget at $500,000, a substantial sum for an established incumbent. McPeak estimated her spending at $300,000, with most contributions coming from residents and organizations within the county, many of them developers.

McPeak, endorsed by some labor unions who had been urged by Roberti to remain neutral in the primary, portrays herself as an outsider, striking out against the “power brokers, the bosses, the political dictators” in Sacramento who counseled her not to run.

However, delegates to a recent convention of the California Democratic Party endorsed her over Boatwright, who became the only incumbent Democrat to not receive the endorsement of his party.

Although Boatwright did not seek the endorsement, giving it to McPeak rankled him. “I resent the state Democratic Party injecting itself into my race,” he said. “They don’t know how I vote in the Senate, and they shouldn’t be telling people in my district how they should vote.”

Stirs Controversy

Virtually from his first election to the Assembly in 1972, Boatwright has stirred controversy. He has been the subject of investigations by a local district attorney, state attorney general, Fair Political Practices Commission and the FBI. In each case, no charges were filed.

Additionally, he was sued by a citizen watchdog organization for allegedly failing to accurately disclose the value of two shares of stock he owned in a Walnut Creek shopping center. He purchased them for $24,000 in 1973 but the lawsuit charged their actual value exceeded $300,000. Boatwright won in court.

Later, the Internal Revenue Service claimed that Boatwright and his former wife owed $112,800 in back taxes and penalties on income from that stock allegedly not reported in 1976. Boatwright sued the IRS and the agency dropped the action, a Boatwright aide said.

McPeak said she does not intend to hit Boatwright about the investigations but will concentrate on his legislative record.

“We won’t get into that,” she said. “We are focusing on issues that affect the future. We are talking about his voting record. . . . We think that is sufficient.”

But Boatwright is skeptical. “She can’t get me on my record,” he asserted. “She is going to have to start attacking me personally. She is going to get down and dirty. She has to.”

The EGM news comes at a time of turmoil for Welsh rugby off the field.

Swansea Council has applied for a High Court injunction to halt the proposed deal between the WRU and Ospreys owners Y11 Sport and Media to buy rivals Cardiff.

Ospreys are under threat of being removed from the professional tier with owners Y11 the WRU’s preferred bidders to buy Cardiff from the governing body.

The WRU wants to cut one professional men’s side in Wales with Ospreys now in the firing line if Y11 buy Cardiff.

The WRU has told Swansea Council a deal will not be completed with Y11 before 16 March.

On the field, Wales, who have lost the opening three games against France, England and Scotland, finish their Six Nations campaign against Italy in Cardiff on Saturday 14 March after travelling to face Ireland in Dublin eight days before.

The WRU statement continued: “The WRU published its plans for the future of the elite game in Wales at the end of October 2025, following an extensive consultation process.

“We are now focused on rolling out that plan and have been working tirelessly with the key stakeholders during the last months to agree a consensus on its implementation.

“This detailed work has been undertaken with the professional clubs, the United Rugby Championship and player representatives, and we remain committed to reaching consensus on the next steps.

“We ask all stakeholders to continue working with us. We recognise that change is challenging, but it is essential for the long-term health of the game in Wales.”

Feb. 20 (Asia Today) — Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party has approved a draft proposal calling for a significant expansion of lethal weapons exports, including scrapping existing limits that restrict overseas transfers to non-combat equipment.

The draft, endorsed Wednesday by the party’s Security Affairs Committee, seeks to revise operational guidelines under Japan’s Three Principles on Defense Equipment Transfer.

At the center of the proposal is the abolition of the so-called “five categories” rule, which currently limits arms exports to non-combat purposes such as rescue, transport, surveillance and mine clearance.

Under the draft, exports of weapons with lethal capability would in principle be permitted.

Kojiro Onodera, head of the committee, told reporters after the meeting that Japan’s security environment is “growing increasingly severe” and said expanding defense exports is necessary to strengthen coordination with allies and like-minded countries.

The party plans to finalize its recommendations next week and submit them to the government in early March.

Exports would be limited to countries that have signed defense equipment and technology transfer agreements with Japan. Media reports have cited between 10 and 17 partner countries, including the United States and Australia.

Decisions on lethal weapons exports would be subject to review by the prime minister and relevant Cabinet ministers at the National Security Council. Non-lethal items such as body armor and helmets would be handled at the working level within the government, with possible post-reporting to the Diet rather than requiring formal Cabinet approval in each case.

The draft also calls for allowing finished products developed through international joint programs to be exported to third countries beyond the original partner nations. Current rules restrict such transfers largely to the next-generation fighter program jointly pursued by Japan, Britain and Italy.

Another sensitive issue is exports to countries involved in armed conflict. The existing principles prohibit transfers to parties engaged in conflict, allowing only limited non-lethal support to countries such as Ukraine.

The draft would maintain a general ban on exports to countries actively engaged in combat but allow exceptions in “special circumstances” when Japan’s security interests are at stake.

Japanese media outlets including Asahi, Mainichi and Sankei described the move as accelerating Japan’s shift toward a more active defense export policy.

The push reflects efforts to revitalize Japan’s defense industry and deepen security ties with partner nations. Critics, however, have raised concerns that easing restrictions could weaken parliamentary oversight and increase the risk of arms proliferation.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260220010005980

Six holidaymakers paid just £450 each for a week at a five-star all-inclusive hotel in Tunisia through easyJet, including flights and transfers – but there’s one thing to watch out for

A week-long stay at a five-star, all-inclusive hotel for under £65 per night — with flights and transfers included — might sound like fantasy. But that’s exactly what one group of six holidaymakers claim they paid for a winter getaway to Tunisia through easyJet, albeit with one important caveat for travellers to bear in mind.

Terry Langley documented the trip on his YouTube channel, Travelly Man, after arriving at the Iberostar Selection Kuriat Palace in Monastir, where the group stayed for seven nights.

The seafront resort served as their base throughout the holiday.

“We have just arrived here at the Iberostar Selection Kuriat Palace in Monastir, Tunisia, which is going to be our base for this easyJet all-inclusive holiday,” he said at the start of the trip.

The hotel, which opened in 2019, appeared modern and well maintained.

“Now this hotel itself is actually really quite modern. It was only built in 2019 and I think we got this for an absolutely incredible price,” he added.

While generally impressed, Langley noted some minor cosmetic wear in places and a small maintenance issue in one of the rooms.

“The hotel, the Kuriat Palace, I think this is fantastic despite the fact there are a few knocks here and there to the rooms and the fact we did have a small maintenance issue, which was sorted straight away,” he said, reports the Express.

He mentioned that some external areas could benefit from a fresh coat of paint, though staff appeared to be preparing for the upcoming peak season. Inside, however, he described an impressive first impression.

“The common areas are really well kept and there is a real feeling of grandeur when you enter reception for the first time.”

For Langley, it was the service that truly set the hotel apart.

“More than that though, the staff are truly excellent and they do make you feel very welcome and, combined with the service that they offer, for me this is really what makes the stay,” he said.

He suggested the hospitality might be characteristic of either the Iberostar brand, North Africa more broadly, or a combination of both.

“Now I don’t know if it’s an Iberostar thing, a North African thing or a combination of the two but, for the second consecutive year, the service has been incredible — both here in Tunisia and last year in Morocco as well. And that goes for reception, housekeeping, bar staff, restaurant staff and the entertainment team as well. So I have to thank them for that.”

Despite his overwhelmingly positive review, he did flag one issue prospective guests may wish to consider — particularly during busier periods.

“Yet again, I think the only thing to note, and to give some balance, is that the food — despite it being of a really good quality — can be a little bit repetitive and it can also get a little bit congested at the buffet when it’s busy, as it is only a small space,” he said.

Given the visit took place during winter, he warned the issue could be more pronounced in summer when the hotel operates at full capacity.

“So bearing in mind that we’re here in winter, during the main holiday season I think that could be something to watch out for.”

The location may also prove less suitable for guests hoping to explore on foot.

“The other thing I need to mention is the location. It isn’t the best. You can’t really walk out of the front of the hotel and go to any shops or just take a stroll if you want to. You will need to get a taxi into Monastir, but that’ll take less than 10 minutes and it will definitely be cheap enough anyway. And then if you want to go to Sousse, that’s about a 20-minute drive in the other direction.”

However, it was the price that stood out most.

“We booked not one, not two, but three rooms for six people. We have stayed here for a full week on an all-inclusive basis. The total stay came to a cost of £2,700,” he revealed.

That works out at £450 per person, or £64.28 per night, for a five-star all-inclusive package including flights and transfers.

“I don’t know what you think, but I think that is absolutely insane value. And if you’ve ever seen those ‘I tried to profit from an all-inclusive’ videos on YouTube, I can tell you straight away — I don’t need to make such a video. I can tell you 100% that we definitely have.”

CORNWALL is a gem to visit – but one Cornish town in particular has heaps of history and if you are lucky, you might spot a royal.

Lostwithiel (pronounced lost-with-ee-ul) sits at the head of the River Fowey estuary and was the medieval administrative capital of Cornwall in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Now, it is nicknamed the ‘antiques capital of Cornwall‘ thanks to having numerous independent shops with fascinating objects.

For a bargain, head to the Community Centre which hosts a number of antiques fairs throughout the year.

You’ll find most of the independent shops on Bodmin Hill and Fore Street, including gems such as homeware shop Alice in Scandiland and Hagstone Pottery.

Restormel Castle sits on a circular keep and looks over the River Fowey.

Read more on travel inspo

CHEAP BREAKS

UK’s best 100 cheap stays – our pick of the top hotels, holiday parks and pubs

PLACE IN THE SUN

Cheap 30C European country that’s EASY for Brits to move to… how I did it

The castle was most used under the reign of Edward the Black Prince, who gained his name from the black armour he wore which made him stand out in battle during the Hundred Years’ War.

The castle is an English Heritage site and is currently closed, but will reopen to visitors on March 28 with entry costing £6.50 per adult and £3.50 per child.

And Duchy Palace can be found in the town centre, which once made Lostwithiel the administrative capital of Cornwall.

Though currently closed, the Old Duchy Palace dates back to 1292.

And other famous links to the town include King Charles III and his family, who have been known to stay in the area.

The town used to be an important port as well, importing tin from the Mediterranean Sea.

There’s a good choice of pubs in the town too, including The Globe Inn which opened back in 1707.

One visitor said: “Lovely ambiance, cosy and felt like we’d stepped back in time.”

If you want to explore slightly further afield, then head off on a walk along the river to a wooded creek which leads to the village of Lerryn.

When the tide is out, you can cross the river via stepping stones and walk through the woods that inspired Kenneth Grahame’s famous novel The Wind in the Willows.

Also in Lerryn you will find an abandoned pleasure garden that is over 100-years-old and was inspired by one of the world’s oldest and most popular amusement parks.

Tivoli Park in Lerryn features abandoned fountains, arches, a bandstand and even a swimming pool among the trees.

The park was inspired by the Tivoli Gardens amusement park in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The Cornish park opened back in 1922 and was previously used as the venue for Lerryn Regatta.

Around Lostwithiel there are lots of places to stay as well, from independently-run hotels to B&Bs and campsites.

For more places to explore in the county, here’s The Sun’s favourite hotels, holiday parks, cottages and campsites in Cornwall.

Plus, the Cornish road trip that rivals New Zealand with pirate towns and fairytale islands.

“TONY ‘the Slugger’ Rizzo, boss of New York’s Castelli crime family, wiped the blood off the baseball bat with the dead guy’s toupee…”

“Grandad!” 

“ . . . He jabbed a finger at his late accountant and shouted: ‘See what happens when you double-cross me, you muthaf . . . ’ ”

“Grandad!!”

“ ‘. . . and you gone and got your blood all over my freakin’ money. So now I gotta waste my day laundering it!’ . . . ”

“GRANDAD!!!”

SHIRE POWER

Turf-roofed burrows to cosy waterside cabins… holiday homes for UK escapes

HOLI-YAY

Top travel mum influencer reveals her best cheap, family-friendly hotels

I am lying on a beautiful Greek beach, a good book in my hand and a cold Mythos beer on the table beside me.

It’s holiday perfection, but someone keeps interrupting.

Two-year-olds . . . it’s all about them, isn’t it?

My wife and I are in Skiathos with our daughter and her husband and our granddaughter Flo.

We’re on one of those multi-generational breaks — or as we grandparents call it, a working holiday.

(“Just off to the spa. Can you look after Flo?” “Can Flo stay with you while we go into town?” “We thought we might have dinner on our own tonight. Just the two of us . . . ”)

Luckily, we are at the Princess Resort, a wonderful hotel just 20 minutes from the island’s airport that knows how to help families relax — especially grandparents who have forgotten what holidaying with a toddler entails.

We first came here about 15 years ago, when my daughter and her brother and sister were young, and had one of our best ever family holidays. I didn’t get much reading done then either . . . 

The hotel may be the most famous on the island thanks to Mamma Mia!.

The cast stayed here during filming and Colin Firth loved it so much, he came back the next year.

You can see why. It is located in beautiful, manicured gardens in the sheltered bay of Agia Paraskevi.

Rooms are in a two-storey building in a semi-circle which means everyone gets a view of the beach.

And what a beach! A long stretch of immaculate golden sand with shallow, warm water gently lapping up against it. It’s the perfect setting for one of the big ambitions of our holiday: Operation Get Flo Swimming.

Flo loves going to the pool at home in Brighton and is just learning, but what would she make of the sea?

After some initial reluctance caused by the feel of the sand between her toes and several swallows of salty water, she soon takes to it.

And, naturally, it’s grandad she wants to keep going in with her for a splash about.

The beach’s sun loungers and tiki umbrellas are all reserved for guests and free but you can shell out on a cabana.

OK, this isn’t cheap at €90 a day but it is definitely worth it, especially with a baby or toddler. We were in Skiathos in June and, God, it was hot.

With a cabana you have a proper base on the beach in the shade where you can snooze, eat and read (yeah, right).

It’s vital when you are trying to keep a little one from getting sunburned.

The Princess Resort is great for children. There’s a complimentary kids’ club, the Little Seals Club, a superb outdoor play area and a €15-a-night babysitting service. (Now they tell me.)

Plus, a lot of the equipment you need — from high chairs and potties to car seats and even prams — is available from reception.

(Don’t even bother asking about the fuss we had packing for a holiday with a toddler.)

But, adults need a break, too, you know, and the hotel offers scuba diving, horse riding, water sports and fishing and sailing trips. Or you can just kick back and take advantage of the massages and beauty treatments in the spa.

The Princess Resort is B&B, which means you are not tied to the hotel for dinner.

But make sure you eat at Ammos, the hotel’s taverna on the beach, which specialises in fresh seafood.

It’s not cheap but the location and grub is definitely worth it. And they love kids.

As do the staff at the superb Platanias Taverna & Bar over the road from the hotel.

It’s a good value family-run restaurant serving traditional food, where children can run free while indulgent staff manoeuvre around them without complaint.

It would be Jan Leeming’s restaurant nightmare.

For an upmarket, foodie experience head to the waterfront Baracoa about ten minutes away from the hotel by taxi.

It’s expensive, but the setting and menu have made it one of the must-visit places to eat on Skiathos.

Oh, and for a meal WITHOUT nippers, try the Princess Resort’s sister hotel, the boutique adults-only Aegean Suites Hotel, just outside town. Amazing food and terrific views over the old marina.

One of the great things about Skiathos is that you don’t need a car.

There’s a bus stop right outside the Princess Resort and the fare into town is just €2.

Or splash out €40 and get a boat ride from the jetty along from the hotel and arrive in town in style.

A word of warning, though — taxis can be thin on the ground in Skiathos Town in the evening. So if you are planning a late return, get a cab into town and arrange a return pick-up with the driver.

There are plenty of upmarket boutiques, bars and restaurants to discover in this beautiful whitewashed island capital.

It’s great to sit on the waterfront with a beer and watch the boats come and go.

And not much beats wandering around the narrow alleyways and coming across some enticing looking bar or a cafe serving delicious Greek treats.

Watch out for the scooters, though.

Since Mamma Mia! was filmed in the Sporades islands, Skiathos Town has definitely moved upmarket and it is a lot busier — even though most of the movie locations are on Skopelos and Alonissos.

But it retains a friendly, down-to-earth vibe you simply don’t get in the A-list hangouts of Santorini and Mykonos.

Anyway, after a long, tiring day of exploring in Skiathos Town, Flo’s finally in bed — so at last I can get some serious reading done.

Here we go: “It was Peppa Pig’s birthday and Daddy Pig had a great idea . . . ”

Follow the build-up, analysis and live text commentary of the game as Spurs host Arsenal for a crucial North London derby.

KELLY Osbourne has penned an emotional message about grief seven months after her father Ozzy’s passing.

The Black Sabbath singer died aged 76 at home with wife Sharon, 73, and his kids by his side, back in July.

Ozzy passed away weeks after he took to the stage one final time with his bandmates at Villa Park in Birmingham.

Kelly, 41, has been candid in opening up on the difficulties of processing her tragic loss.

She previously told how she slept in her late father’s bed along with her mum Sharon as they dealt with their grief.

The mum and daughter duo also broke down in tears this month at a Grammys tribute to Ozzy.

ALWAYS REMEMBERED

Sharon & Kelly Osbourne left in tears after Grammys tribute to Ozzy

‘RIP DEAR FRIEND’

Finding Prince Charming contestant dies as Kelly Osbourne leads tributes

Now Reality TV star Kelly has taken to her Instagram post for a lengthy message pouring out her feelings.

She wrote in white text on a black background: “Some grief doesn’t end. It changes shape.

“It becomes the quiet weight you learn to carry, the ache woven into your days.

“Making it through doesn’t mean leaving it behind.

“It means finding the strength to live and love and keep going even with forever resting in your heart.

“When grief feels endless and disastrous, like it’s unmaking you from the inside out, surviving isn’t about conquering it.

“It’s about enduring it.

“It’s about standing in the wreckage of our own heart and whispering, ‘I am still here,’ even when every part of you feels shattered and like you don’t want to be here!”

Ozzy died at home in his stunning mansion in Welders, Buckinghamshire “surrounded by love”.

Sharon, his wife of 43 years and mum to their children Aimee, Jack and Kelly, was by his side.

A statement from his family said at the time: “It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning.

“He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.

“Sharon, Jack, Kelly, Aimee and Louis.”

Ozzy became known as the “Prince of Darkness” in his six-decade career thanks to his on-stage antics that attracted a legion of heavy rock fans.

He last graced the stage this July when he reunited with his bandmates Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward and played a five-song set in a farewell to music.

The gig was touted as “the greatest heavy metal show ever,” with Ozzy grinning to chanting fans as he thanked them for all they had done for him.

Over the weekend, we told how removal boxes have been seen outside Sharon’s £13million LA mansion as she downsizes following her spouse’s passing.

At a recent meeting of California’s high school sports governing board, two seniors from Arroyo Grande High School spoke out against a transgender peer competing on their track and field team and allegedly “watching” them in the girls’ locker room.

One of the Central Coast students said she is “more comfortable” changing in her car now. The other cited a Bible verse about God creating men and women separately, and accused the California Interscholastic Federation of subjecting girls to “exploitative and intrusive behavior that is disguised through transgender ideology.”

“Our privacy is being compromised and our sports are being taken over,” she said.

During the same meeting, Trevor Norcross, the father of 17-year-old transgender junior Lily Norcross, offered a starkly different perspective.

“Bathrooms and locker rooms are the most dangerous place for trans students, and when they are at their most vulnerable,” he said. “Our daughter goes to extreme lengths to avoid them. Unfortunately, sometimes you can’t.”

Lily Norcross with her parents, Trevor and Hilary Norcross.

(Owen Main / For The Times)

Norcross said Lily’s teammates had for months been misrepresenting a single moment from the year prior, when Lily had to use the restroom after a full day of avoiding it, chose to use the one in the locker room because it is monitored by an adult and safer for her than others, and briefly stopped to chat with a friend on her way out.

“There’s always more to the story,” he said.

The conflicting testimony reflected an increasingly charged debate over transgender athletes participating in youth sports nationwide. Churches, anti-LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, cisgender athletes and their conservative families are organizing to topple trans-inclusive policies, while liberal state officials, queer advocacy groups, transgender kids and their families are trying to preserve policies that allow transgender kids to compete.

The battle has been particularly pitched in California, which has some of the nation’s most progressive statewide athletic policies and liberal leaders willing to defend them — including from the Trump administration, which has attacked transgender rights and is suing the California Department of Education and the CIF, alleging their trans-inclusive sports policies violate the civil rights of cisgender athletes.

Along with a pending U.S. Supreme Court decision on the legality of policies banning transgender athletes from competing in states such as Idaho and West Virginia, the Trump administration’s lawsuit against California could have sweeping implications for transgender athletes — with a state loss potentially contributing to their being sidelined not just in conservative states, but nationwide.

For the handful of transgender California teens caught in the middle of the fight, it has all been deeply unnerving — if strangely motivating.

“I have to keep doing it, because if I stop doing sports, they won,” Lily Norcross said. “They got what they wanted.”

A coordinated effort

The movement to overturn California’s trans-inclusive policies is being coordinated at the local, state and national levels, and has gained serious momentum since several of its leaders joined the Trump administration.

At the local level, cisgender athletes, their families and other conservative and religious allies have expressed anger over transgender athletes using girls’ facilities and resentment over their allegedly stealing victories and the spotlight from cisgender girls.

In 2024, two girls at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside filed a lawsuit challenging the participation of their transgender track and field teammate Abigail Jones, arguing her participation limited their own in violation of Title IX protections for female athletes. A judge found insufficient evidence of that, and recently dismissed the case.

Last year, Jurupa Valley High School track star AB Hernandez won several medals at the CIF State Track and Field Championships despite President Trump personally demanding she be barred from competing. Critics argued Hernandez’s wins were unfair, despite CIF having changed its rules so that her cisgender competitors received the medals they would have received had she not competed.

AB Hernandez competed for Jurupa Valley High School in the long jump at the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships.

(Tomas Ovalle / For The Times)

The challenges to Abigail, AB and Lily competing have all been driven in part by a network of conservative organizations working across California and beyond to oust transgender girls from sports, including by coordinating with evangelical churches, pushing social media campaigns, lining up speakers for school board meetings and working with cisgender athletes to hone their messages of opposition.

Shannon Kessler, a former PTA president and church leader who is now running for state Assembly, has worked within the wider network. In March 2025, Kessler founded the group Save Girls’ Sports Central Coast, and the next month distributed fliers at Harvest Church in Arroyo Grande that called on parishioners to challenge Lily’s participation on the track and field team.

Kessler said the two seniors on Lily’s team, who did not respond to a request for comment, had initially asked if she would “speak on their behalf,” so she did, but she has since let the girls “take the lead.”

“They took the initiative to speak and wrote their own speeches,” Kessler said, of their remarks at the recent CIF meeting.

Norcross said the effort to sideline his daughter has clearly been coordinated by outsiders from the start. He blames Kessler, Harvest Church and the state’s wider network of conservative activists for stirring up baseless fears about transgender athletes, exposing his family to danger and leaving them no choice but to defend themselves publicly.

“It’s not a fair position to be in,” he said.

Tied up in court

Within months of Trump issuing his February 2025 executive order calling for transgender athletes to be barred from competition nationwide, two leaders within the California conservative network turned Trump administration officials — Harmeet Dhillon, who is now assistant attorney general for civil rights, and former state Assemblyman Bill Essayli, who is now in charge of the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles — quickly moved to bring the state to heel.

They launched an investigation into California’s trans-inclusive sports policies, ordered its school districts to comply with Trump’s order in defiance of state law, and then sued the Department of Education and the CIF when they refused — alleging the state’s policies illegally discriminate against cisgender girls under Title IX by ignoring “undeniable biological differences between boys and girls, in favor of an amorphous ‘gender identity.’”

Neither Dhillon nor the Justice Department responded to a request for comment. Essayli’s office declined to comment.

Assistant Atty. Gen. for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon arrives for a news conference at the Justice Department in September.

(Andrew Harnik / Getty Images)

The Department of Education and the CIF have called for the lawsuit to be dismissed, arguing that Title IX regulations “do not require the exclusion of transgender girls” and that the Justice Department had provided no evidence that the state’s policies left cisgender girls unable to compete.

The CIF said in a statement that it “provides students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete in education-based experiences in compliance with California law,” but it and the Department of Education said they do not comment on pending litigation. California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s office has slammed the Trump administration’s efforts, and filed its own lawsuit to block them.

Separate from the California litigation, there is a major case on transgender youth athletes before the U.S. Supreme Court.

After athletes successfully challenged West Virginia and Idaho bans on transgender competition in lower federal courts, the states appealed. During arguments last month, the high court’s conservative majority sounded ready to uphold the state bans — but not necessarily in a way that would topple liberal state laws allowing such athletes to compete.

Pressure and resolve

Lily, AB and Abigail — all of whom are referenced anonymously in the federal lawsuit against California — agreed, with their parents, to be identified by The Times in order to share how it has felt to be targeted.

Abigail, 17, graduated early and is preparing to start college but hasn’t stopped being an advocate for transgender high school athletes, continuing to show up to CIF and school board meetings to support their right to compete.

“This is a part of my life now, whether I like it or not,” she said.

Speaking can be intimidating, Abigail said, but it has also become familiar — as has the cast of anti-transgender activists who routinely show up to speak as well. “It’s always the same people,” she said.

Abigail Jones participates in a protest against President Trump and his attacks on transgender people in April in Riverside.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

AB, also 17, said last year — when everyone, including Trump, seemed to be talking about her — was “just so much — too much.”

She felt she had to constantly “maintain an image,” including among her peers, that she was “not bothered by anything and just confident,” which was exhausting, she said. “There were a lot of times I just didn’t go to school, because I felt like I couldn’t keep up that image and I didn’t want them to see me down.”

It still can be overwhelming if she looks at all the vitriol aimed her way online, she said, but “off the internet, it’s a completely different story.”

AB was nervous headed into last year’s championships, but a couple of other competitors reached out with their support and the meet ended up being “a blast,” she said. At track practice this year, she’s surrounded by friends — one of her favorite things about being on the team.

For Lily, the last year has been “different and interesting, in not really a good way.”

She has had slurs lobbed at her and been physically threatened. She sometimes waits all day to use the toilet, nearly bursting by the time she gets home. When she has to use a school restroom, she times herself to be in and out in under three minutes. She took P.E. courses over the summer in part because she felt there would be fewer students around, but faced harassment anyway. Like AB, she feels as though she’s under a constant spotlight.

And yet, Lily said she is also “a lot happier with who I am” than she ever was before transitioning a couple of years ago. She said she’s enjoying her classes and her school’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance, where LGBTQ+ kids gather at lunch to swap stories, and is optimistic about the future — even if things aren’t great right now.

Her dad said watching her come out and transition has been gratifying, because “the smile came back, the light in her eyes came back.” Watching her navigate the current campaign against her, he said, has been “really hard,” because “she has been forced to grow up too quickly — she has been forced to defend herself in a way that most kids don’t.”

Mostly, though, he’s just proud of his kid.

“We had our fears as parents, as any parent would, that, OK, this is a different path than we thought our kid was going to be on, and we are worried about her safety and her future in this world,” he said. “But she is amazingly strong — amazingly courageous.”