News Desk

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said a “deep rift” has opened between Europe and the United States and called to “repair and revive transatlantic trust”.

Tudor has been out of work since being sacked by Juventus in October 2025 and is set for his first spell in England, after previously taking charge of clubs in Italy, France, Turkey, Croatia and Greece.

He is tasked, first and foremost, with easing Tottenham‘s relegation fears, after a 2-1 loss to Newcastle in Thomas Frank’s final match on Tuesday left them five points above the bottom three.

Having earned a reputation as a no-nonsense defender during a playing career in which he won 55 caps for Croatia and made more than 150 appearances for Italian giants Juventus, there is one certain non-negotiable for Tudor as a manager.

“He asks his players to run a lot. In a previous interview he said ‘If you don’t run, you don’t play’,” says L’Equipe journalist Pierre-Etienne Minonzio.

“In his one season in Marseille it was always the same way of playing – 3-5-2 – and it was great to watch.

“It was not easy because Marseille’s best player was Dimitri Payet, a very gifted player but not well-known for running, and he didn’t play.

“It was a joke in L’Equipe – if Igor Tudor had Lionel Messi in his squad, Messi would not play!”

Tudor’s sole season in France saw Marseille finish third behind Paris St-Germain and Lens, despite surpassing the club’s points total from the previous campaign when they finished second.

“He did pretty well in Ligue 1. What I liked is that he doesn’t try to be liked. He is very direct, says what he thinks and doesn’t try to be attractive. There is no seduction,” says Minonzio.

“It is the same with the players. He keeps his distance and his obsession is to make training intense with a lot of running so they can be physically fit for the game.”

Thundering drums and shredding guitar solos cut through the crowd as pyrotechnics and streamer cannons blast. The energy and production feel like a show at the Hollywood Palladium or the Forum, but we’re at Knott’s Berry Farm, on the rooftop of a big red doghouse — that is if we can suspend our disbelief for an evening. The educational rock band Jelly of the Month Club along with guest musicians Charlie Brown, Lucy, Schroeder and Linus set up the show’s finale with a question: “Where’s that crazy dog?” Hundreds of fans scream as “All aboard!” resonates through the park, watching in anticipation as a spotlight searches for its fuzzy rock ‘n’ roll star to emerge.

Chances are you’ve seen Snoopy dressed as Doggy Pawsbourne on your Instagram or TikTok feed, complete with Ozzy’s signature round sunglasses, long hair and trench coat, punctuating the Prince of Barkness’ “Crazy Train” entrance. Snoopy’s Legendary Rooftop Concert became an instant hit with park patrons and with fans internationally thanks to a viral video posted on opening night. Sharon Osbourne shared the “Peanuts” tribute to her late husband with the all caps message “I LOVE IT” to her social media from the floor of the 68th Grammy Awards. But it’s more than witty puns and costumes that make Snoopy’s Legendary Rooftop Concert special.

The show at Knott’s tells the story of Snoopy learning to be a rock star at Jelly of the Month Club’s Music Academy and touring the world with the band. Snoopy takes on fursonas like Dog Lennon, Paw Prince, Fido Mercury, Flying Ace Freely and even a lost member of Devo wearing the signature Energy Dome hat. Jelly of the Month Club hits every beat and chord with precision, with arrangements of songs and medleys that bring together the power of rock’s past with the whimsy of “Peanuts.” Woodstock gets a solo moment too, whistling on Dog Marley’s “Three Little Birds,” set to a perfect one drop beat as Charlie Brown spirals out in a chicken suit while rubber chickens sway.

“We got rows of kids bringing their own rubber chickens,” show director Rob Perez tells me. “Its almost like watching ‘Rocky Horror’; kind of bizarre, really funny, and charming.” When Charles Schulz’s daughter Jill came to see the show, she told Perez that her dad used to say “there’s nothing funnier than a rubber chicken.”

Snoopy as Doggy Pawsbourne at Knott’s Berry Farm

(Dick Slaughter)

It makes sense that rock ‘n’ roll appeals to Snoopy; he’s a bit of an outsider with an internal life seen by almost none of his friends. It makes more sense that the feeling of family promised by rock touring life would appeal to Charlie Brown; it often calls to creative dreamers and outcasts with a subconscious need to belong. Schulz explored why all humans have the feeling people don’t like us in his cartoons and admitted that Charlie Brown was loosely based on himself. “People who win are the minority,” he told BBC in 1977, “most of us lose a lot.” The solution he provided to overcoming life’s most difficult conditions was simply to never give up.

Nobody cheers on Charlie Brown in Snoopy’s Legendary Rooftop Concert more than Jelly of the Month Club guitarist and vocalist Michael De La Torre, a.k.a. Mic Dangerously, who has become accustomed to encouragement working with youth. Active since 2013, Jelly of the Month Club is a family-friendly band who use music to inspire, educate and entertain kids and adults. It has played countless elementary schools, children’s hospitals, civic events and theme parks with interactive songs that teach musical concepts and life lessons. The band also offers free online lessons called the Jelly of the Month Club Music Academy, which turned live gigs into cartoon-based educational games. The band members have partnered with nonprofits including UNICEF’s Kid Power initiative to provide concerts to schools across Southern California, often donating their time.

“Studies say music helps with math, English and science, but it also helps you as a person,” Dangerously says. “It helps you understand feelings better. Look at how adults use music therapeutically. Kids are doing just the same.”

Dangerously first recognized the power of music education as a young boy at St. Pius elementary school in Buena Park, when a man with a bushy mustache and a Hawaiian shirt quieted the boisterous students in seconds with only an acoustic guitar. But hearing Louis Prima’s voice in “The Jungle Book” solidified his desire to become a singer.

Playing at Knott’s has forged meaningful connections to the community in ways Dangerously never foresaw in his early rock ‘n’ roll days. He’s become close to a father and his usually nonverbal son who can’t keep quiet at shows, asking questions and singing along. Last year an older woman who he’s built a friendship with for years suddenly disappeared. Dangerously learned from her daughter and granddaughter that she suffered a stroke. She credits singing and dancing to his music at Knott’s as instrumental in recovering her speech and movement. “She told me that she loved me like a son,” Dangerously says. “I’ve never had anything like that happen with my rock band. It makes you really want to show up.”

On the night The Times experienced Snoopy’s Legendary Rooftop Concert, Dangerously’s biggest fan, Abbey, stood in the front row playing a light up tambourine above her head to “The Blooz Beagles,” wearing a head-to-toe matching outfit to him. In her sequin blazer, red pants, black boots, bow tie and wide-brim hat, the 11-year-old mirrored his musical gestures, never missing a beat. Abbey loves “everything” about the music and dancing she tells me, excited to share that Mic personally gave her the tambourine and a few other instruments too.

Crowd at Jelly of the Month Club show at Knott’s

“They’ve known her since she was 3,” says April Guerrero, Abbey’s supportive mom who has helped her daughter make replicas of Jelly of the Month Club’s looks since 2017. Abbey learned to play music because of the band’s online resources.

“Many of us have a background in education,” Dangerously said. Matt Kalin is a teacher and pro saxophonist who has shared the stage with legends like Social Distortion and Louis Bellson. Dr. Todd Forman is a practicing physician who went to Harvard, taught at USC, and played sax with Sublime. Bassist James Kee is an educator who has taught kindergarten through fourth grade for the last 15 years. Dangerously’s own mom was an art teacher who encouraged him to teach after he finished his audio engineering degree at Musicians Institute, something he’s used in a junior producer’s course he created for an after-school program in Long Beach.

Like the members of Jelly of the Month Club, director Rob Perez is a multi-instrumentalist and producer with a deep reverence for classic rock and Charles Schulz cartoons. Perez is the man responsible for turning Snoopy’s Legendary Rooftop Concert from a dream into a reality. The concert grew out of a 2017 show called Woodstock’s Music Festival. When Snoopy walked out as Jimmy Hendrix, the crowd went wild, and Perez’s boss and Knott’s fans wanted more.

“The Rooftop Concert is a little bit of a nod to the Beatles, but it’s much more about Snoopy’s rooftop,” Perez tells me. “When you see Snoopy as the great writer, or the World War I Flying Ace, it’s always on the roof of his doghouse. So why wouldn’t he be a rock star on his rooftop?”

Knott’s rebrand of the show let Perez incorporate more storytelling, a task he shared with Jelly of the Month Club. The show opens with Snoopy traveling from his fictional cartoon town to a rehearsal where Dangerously gifts him a tambourine to join their jam. He sends Snoopy home with a pile of records which he listens to obsessively in his doghouse, a relatable experience for fans who have found solace and inspiration in old LPs, hiding out like Snoopy with pizza, root beer, and the complicated dream of leaving the only place you’ve ever called home to follow music’s call. Snoopy dons a leather vest, proclaims he’s a “Golden Dog,” and runs away from home to take lessons at Jelly of the Month Club‘s Music Academy and tour the world. After receiving criticism in the recording studio about his howl, Snoopy finds himself missing his best friend Charlie Brown. He asks the Peanuts Gang to team up with Jelly of the Month Club for one final performance on top of his doghouse, legendary enough to land them in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Perez’s writing and producing shares the attention to detail present in Jelly of the Month Club’s approach to the music. Perez had the honor of voice acting for Snoopy. He digitally re-created a technique he learned from researching Bill Melendez’s 1960s approach in which he recorded barks and grumbles directly to reel-to-reel tape, sped it up, then cut and pasted it randomly to create Snoopy’s signature pentameter-less cadence. Perez worked closely with costume designer Tim Barham, creating every wig, accessory, and costume with exacting detail. The storyline and graphics pay close attention to “Peanuts” lore and rock ‘n’ roll film history, with Easter eggs from “La Bamba,” “Rocketman,” “This Is Spinal Tap,” “Almost Famous” and many others hidden throughout the 30-minute show.

“We don’t try to change the Peanuts from who they are,” Perez says. “We have to bring Charlie Brown along as he constantly fails at being a rock star. We have to give him a shot and prop him up, because he’s usually on the ledge. We bring him back. That’s been the premise of many Peanuts TV specials and movies.”

Mic Dangerously with Snoopy at Knott’s

(Dick Slaughter)

Jelly of the Month Club’s original song “The Magic Is in the Music” meets Charlie Brown where he’s at, encouraging him to take on the challenge of becoming a guitarist. As he fumbles with his out-of-tune Flying V, looking ready to shred in a thrash band, the crowd cheers for his success despite his self-doubt. When Charlie withdraws during the Elton John number, Dangerously responds by saying that that music can be a safe place when you’re feeling lost, saying “Charlie Brown, you are home.”

“We’re out there singing we ‘want to bark and howl all night’ but we’re teaching Charlie Brown and Snoopy is that it’s not just about your clothes, it’s about what’s in here,” Dangerously says, touching his heart. “It’s important not to take yourself too seriously. We’re showing that it’s OK to have fun. And that silliness is a big, important component of rock and roll.”

This spirit is the core of Snoopy’s Legendary Rooftop Concert on stage and on the floor. At the show I see a sea of grandmas shaking babies’ fists in the air, a little boy in a Woodstock hoodie headbanging, rockers in studded vests with huge smiles on their faces, and teenagers momentarily dropping their defenses against cringe in exchange for a moment of sheer joy.

Hanna and Ellie, teens from South Gate and Silver Lake, respectively, can’t contain themselves, pogoing, screaming and singing along. “I’m at a loss for words,” Hanna says, giggling. The girls agree that the show was better than they expected.

On Snoopy’s rooftop everyone is a rock star: Abbey, a rubber chicken and even Charlie Brown.

Heads of state are arriving in Addis Ababa for the 2026 African Union Summit, with a water-focused theme centred on climate change. Conflicts in Sudan, South Sudan, DR Congo and the Sahel loom, while Israel’s recognition of Somaliland adds pressure over borders.

London, United Kingdom – The United Kingdom’s ban on Palestine Action has “backfired”, its cofounder said, after the High Court ruled that proscribing the group as a “terror” organisation was unlawful.

Critics from the United Nations human rights chief to the Irish author Sally Rooney decried the UK’s ban last June as an illiberal overreach, since it put Palestine Action on par with ISIL (ISIS), al-Qaeda and dangerous far-right organisations.

On Friday, High Court judges dealt a massive blow to the government of Labour leader Keir Starmer, saying, “The decision to proscribe Palestine Action was disproportionate.”

“Today is a victory for Palestine,” Palestine Action cofounder Huda Ammori told Al Jazeera. The ban has “backfired on [the government] massively. They’ve made Palestine Action a household name.

“They have spread the message and the power that ordinary people have to shut down weapons factories across the country and across the world. So for that, I thank them.”

Founded in 2020, Palestine Action’s stated objective has been to counter Israeli war crimes – and what it says is British complicity in them – by targeting weapons manufacturers and associated companies.

Its main target is Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms company, which has several sites in the UK.

“Rather than ask somebody else to stop those weapons going and being used to commit genocide, we go to the source, and we stop those weapons ourselves,” said Ammori, a 31-year-old Briton of Iraqi and Palestinian heritage.

“That is what direct action is about. If you saw a building burning down with children inside, you wouldn’t hesitate to bang down the door to save those children’s lives. It is exactly the same principle. You don’t care about the value of the door. It is about those lives. It is about the liberation of Palestine. And so we do our bit to shut down the Israeli weapons trades from Britain.”

The group has been a thorn in Starmer’s side since Israel began its genocidal onslaught in Gaza.

Palestine Action-linked activists have carried out several raids, often leaving their mark in red spray paint intended to symbolise blood.

Dozens are currently being held on remand in relation to two actions.

Some prisoners, known as part of the “Filton 24”, are alleged to have participated in a break-in at a UK subsidiary of Elbit Systems in Bristol.

Others are accused of involvement in a break-in at the UK’s largest air base in Oxfordshire, where they were alleged to have spray-painted two Voyager refuelling and transport planes. It was after this raid that the government banned Palestine Action.

They all deny the charges against them, such as burglary and criminal damage.

Six of the “Filton 24” were recently acquitted of aggravated burglary; five of them were bailed.

“At its core, Palestine Action is an organisation that promotes its political cause through criminality and encouragement of criminality. A very small number of its actions have amounted to terrorist action,” the High Court judges said.

Tens of thousands of people have protested against the ban. Almost 3,000 of them have been arrested for raising placards with slogans such as: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”

“The government committed a huge crime against its own population,” said Ammori. “It was unlawful for them to ban Palestine Action, and when they banned Palestine Action, they subsequently did thousands of unlawful arrests against their own citizens and tried to prosecute them through the courts for terrorism offences, for holding up signs.”

Despite Friday’s ruling, the ban remains in place pending appeal.

The UK’s Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she was “disappointed” by Friday’s ruling and intends to appeal – earning further criticism from rights groups and some fellow Labour politicians.

John McDonnell, an MP who voted against the proscription, said on X, “I thought it was unjust. We have a right to protest, to assemble, and to speak freely in this country – that has been secured largely by direct action over centuries. I am urging the government to abide by that tradition and not to appeal this judgement.”

“Shabana Mahmood needs to take a step back,” said Ammori. “She’s completely betrayed the Palestinian people since she’s become minister … it’s only going to backfire on her.

“Palestine Action’s ban will be lifted … We won today in the High Court … If they try and appeal, we’ll beat them again.”

Anyone who thought Cruz Beckham was just another nepo-baby musician should think again — that boy is seriously good on a guitar.

He made his live radio debut on Chris Evans’s TFI Unplugged on Virgin Radio UK with his band The Breakers and proved his mettle.

Their new track, For Your Love, is packed with promise — gentle and lilting before it ramps up to an Indie-anthemic chorus.

The video is also out now and features a special appearance from Victoria’s dad, Tony Adams.

Cruz said: “Tony is my grandad, he is an amazing human. He was in a band when he was younger. I love talking to him about music and playing songs.

“Once I found out he was part of a band I got a lot more into it. I found out about The Beatles because of him.”

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It’s clear the Fab Four are a big influence for Cruz, along with a smudge of Oasis and a large splattering of The Stone Roses — his dad David’s favourite band.

Chatting after their performance, Cruz said: “I’ve always wanted to be in a band. Growing up, listening to so much band music, it was always important to me.

“When I was in the studio, there was always something missing. I always wanted stuff around me.

“We met through my girlfriend [Jackie Apostel] who is a songwriter. I went to see one of their gigs and the sparks flew from there.”

The group have already put out tracks including Optics and Lick The Toad, but like Cruz, For Your Love is my favourite by far. Cruz added: “Optics wasn’t my favourite song.

“I wanted to put For Your Love out first. I just think it was a different way into it.”

Cruz and The Breakers have just finished their debut run of shows with Welsh indie group, The Royston Club, and are now preparing to head out on their first solo tour — with almost all of the 14 dates nearly sold out.

“The Royston boys hadn’t heard anything that we were playing,” Cruz explained.

“They didn’t know if we could play a tune to be honest and they just accepted us and it was nuts. It was a whole new thing for me, I’d never really gigged in front of people. But every night it got easier and a lot less stressful.”

Opening up about their influences, Cruz, alongside his bandmates Dan Ewins, Telmo Seixas and Dario Scotti, all cited rock bands — including Machine Head, Rage Against The Machine and Born Of Osiris — as their first shows.

Cruz was more true to form though, joking with Chris: “Other than Spice Girls age two?

“My dad took me to a Stone Roses gig at Old Trafford.”

Chris then revealed David had been listening from home and told Cruz: “Now you’ve mentioned your mum and dad.

“We played Stone Roses at 6:45am and your dad texted me and said: ‘You can’t get enough Stone Roses.’”

True that, David.

I think there’s an exciting future ahead for Cruz and co, so take a look at their performance on Virgin Radio UK’s YouTube channel to see them singing live for yourself.

Millie looks ace

It’s game, set and matching outfit for Millie Bobby Brown as she poses on a tennis court to model her latest fashion range.

The Brit actress was promoting her clobber for fashion brand Florence By Mills, while taking a break after a mammoth tour for the final series of cult Netflix show Stranger Things.

The tennis ball in an ice-cream cone was certainly a stranger thing – but she serves up a good look.

Scott backing UK Eurovision hope

The UK’s Eurovision entry has finally been chosen and Scott Mills has high hopes.

The Radio 2 DJ, who goes to the contest every year, has revealed the BBC are playing him the chosen song next week ahead of a grand announcement later this month.

And he insists we have a good chance, despite mixed results recently, as the standard of our tunes has improved.

Asked in an exclusive chat if he has heard it, Scott said: “No, but I know they’re going to play it to me next week. But I’m really in the dark about it this year.

“I don’t feel embarrassed by any of the artists or songs that we have sent recently.

“I’m not gonna say when, but I’ve worked on Eurovision so long that when they would play me the song I’d be like ‘OK, right then, I’ve got to sell this now….’

“It was quite a while ago now. And that doesn’t really happen any more.

“But I say that now…”

Yesterday Scott was named in Attitude 101, empowered by Bentley, in it’s annual list of 100 LGBTQ+ trailblazers.

Scott, who attended the glitzy lunch with his husband Sam, explained: “I’ve never had a gay honour.

“This magazine is iconic, and also, I have mad imposter syndrome so I’m like, ‘Why am I on this list?!’”

But he is thrilled that homophobia, for him, is in the past.

He said: “When we did Race Across The World, I thought that there might be, like, ‘Oh, God, a gay couple,’ because that’s kind of where I’m from, and that’s what I’m used to.

“And I think it’s all in our heads. That’s what really made me go, ‘Oh, OK, there has been a shift here.’”

And although they aren’t considering it now, having a child isn’t off the table.

He added of becoming a dad: “It’s a huge thing. I would like to, but my schedule is so unpredictable and ridiculous still.

“I thought by this time in my career, things would have kind of calmed down a bit, but it’s got busier than ever.”

Tate’s Can do attitude

Tate McRae’s fans are still right behind her, it seems, despite the singer causing a storm after backing Team USA in the Winter Olympics rather than her native Canada.

Die-hards mobbed her as she enjoyed a night out in Paris with mates.

But Tate, who looked chic in a black leather jacket and miniskirt, happily signed autographs and posed for selfies.

It’s the first time she has been seen out since she made a very Gen Z apology for getting behind the Yanks.

She shared a sweet picture of herself as a child, waving a Canadian flag, and wrote: “Y’all know I’m Canada down.”

I’m sure the cash Tate got for this gig more than made up for the criticism.

Tom’s on hand for proposal

My favourite pop star Tom Grennan helped pull off a heart-melting proposal on Capital Breakfast yesterday.

Show hosts Jordan North, Chris Stark and Sian Welby have spent the past fortnight dropping hints about their “secret fiance” (Darren Spencer) during their shows but his girlfriend, Sophie Black, who listened every day on her commute was none the wiser.

Sophie believed she was a competition winner who had bagged a night’s stay at the Jumeirah Hotel in London.

But at breakfast a flash mob of choir singers got up and started performing, Tom popped out to sing his hit, Little Bit Of Love, and Darren got down on one knee.

Sophie, who said yes, said: “Never in a million years did I think he could pull off something like that.”

Katherine Ryan looked as smooth as the cartoon characters at London’s new Pixar attraction.

She showed off the results of her facelift as she cradled daughter Fenna at the launch of the Mundo Pixar Experience in Wembley on Thursday.

Mermaid is little bit naughty

The tale of the Little Mermaid is tipped on its head in a new musical – telling the story from the villain’s perspective.

Camp and hilarious show Unfortunate: The Untold Story Of Ursula The Sea Witch is packed with naughty gags and belting songs, and sees Sam Buttery play the deliciously wicked protagonist.

It launched at London’s Other Palace theatre . . .  although drag queen Tiara Skye caused quite a stir in the audience.

The TikTok star, who it seemed had enjoyed a few drinks, repeatedly heckled the actors and left some of them clearly miffed.

It’s fair to say that Doctor Who’s Yasmin Finney, who was unfortunately sat next to Tiara, looked absolutely mortified by the crazy outbursts.

Taylor Swift scores her sixth No1 single with Opalite, after originally peaking at No2 last year. Olivia Dean, right, stays top of the album charts, ahead of Bad Bunny, whose Super Bowl show has propelled Debí Tirar Más Fotos up to No2 and his single DtMF is at No4.

Single

1. Opalite – Taylor Swift
2. Raindance – Dave & Tems
3. Where Is My Husband! – Raye
4. DtMF – Bad Bunny
5. Rein Me In – Sam Fender & Olivia Dean
6. So Easy (To Fall In Love) – Olivia Dean
7. Lush Life – Zara Larsson
8. Man I Need – Olivia Dean
9. I Just Might – Bruno Mars
10. Stateside – Pink Pantheress with Zara Larsson

Albums

1. The Art Of Loving – Olivia Dean
2. Debí Tirar Más Fotos – Bad Bunny
3. The Fall-Off – J Cole
4. 50 Years: Don’t Stop – Fleetwood Mac
5. The Highlights – The Weeknd
6. Piss In The Wind – Joji
7. Man’s Best Friend – Sabrina Carpenter
8. The Essential – Michael Jackson
9. You’ll Be Alright Kid (Chapter 1) – Alex Warren
10. +–=÷×– (Tour Collection – Ed Sheeran

Feb. 13 (UPI) — Amazon-owned Ring announced it is ending its partnership with Flock Safety, a company whose artificial intelligence-powered technology came into question after a Ring Super Bowl ad touting new surveillance features.

In a blog post published Thursday, Ring said the two companies “made the joint decision to cancel the planned integration” they initially announced in October.

“Following a comprehensive review, we determined the planned Flock Safety integration would require significantly more time and resources than anticipated,” the Ring post read.

Ring’s surveillance camera capabilities came under fire Sunday after the company aired a 30-second commercial highlighting its new Search Party feature.

The feature allows users to upload images of their missing pets to the Ring Neighbors app, which would then use AI to trawl footage in the cloud to find the missing pet. If a missing pet is spotted in the footage, the information would be sent to the owner of the camera that picked up the footage and give them the option to notify the missing pet’s owners.

Ring said the Search Party feature is automatically enabled on all outdoor cameras enrolled in a Ring subscription. But critics questioned whether the AI technology could be combined with Ring’s new facial recognition technology, Familiar Faces, and provide law enforcement surveillance on humans.

Of additional concern, Flock Safety’s technology allows customers to grant local and federal government agencies access to the data picked up by the cameras. Among the organizations that could have access to this data are Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Secret Service and the Navy.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., in November called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Flock Security for allowing government access to the data without “meaningful privacy protections.”

“At the urging of concerned constituents, I conducted further oversight and have determined that Flock cannot live up to its commitment to protect the privacy and security of Oregonians,” Wyden wrote in a letter to the FTC. “Abuse of Flock cameras is inevitable, and Flock has made it clear it takes no responsibility to prevent or detect that.”

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Ma., who has previously criticized Ring’s connections to law enforcement, posted his thoughts on the Super Bowl ad on X.

“This definitely isn’t about dogs — it’s about mass surveillance,” he wrote.

Emma Daniels, a spokeswoman for Ring, told The Verge, that the Search Party feature works only with dogs and is “not capable of processing human biometrics.”

“These are not tools for mass surveillance,” she added. “We build the right guardrails, and we’re super transparent about them.”

In a January blog post, Flock Safety maintained that it doesn’t work directly with ICE or other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security. The company said every piece of data collected by its technology is owned by the customers.

“Decisions about whether, when, and how data is shared are made by the customer that owns the data, not by Flock,” the post read. “There is no hidden back-door access in Flock technology.

“If a local agency chooses not to collaborate with any federal entity, including ICE, Flock has no ability to override that decision.”

Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych had his appeal dismissed as images on his helmet breached an Olympic ‘sacred principle’.

⁠The Court of ⁠Arbitration for Sport on Friday dismissed an appeal by Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych to be reinstated in the Milano Cortina Olympics after he was disqualified over his “helmet ⁠of remembrance”.

The 27-year-old was removed from the Olympic programme on Thursday when the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation jury ruled that imagery on the helmet — depicting athletes killed since Russia invaded Ukraine ⁠in February 2022 — breached rules on political neutrality.

“The CAS ad Hoc division dismissed the application and found that freedom of expression is guaranteed at the Olympic Games but not on the field of play which is a sacred principle,” CAS Secretary-General Matthieu Reeb said, reading from a statement following an eight-hour ‌hearing.

Heraskevych, who was seeking reinstatement or at least a CAS-supervised run, pending a decision by sport’s highest court in advance of the final two runs set for Friday evening, said he would look at his legal options now.

“CAS has failed us. We will consider our next steps,” Heraskevych told Reuters.

The case has dominated headlines in the first week of the Olympics, with the International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry meeting the athlete on Thursday morning at the sliding venue ⁠in Cortina d’Ampezzo in a last-minute attempt to broker a compromise and ⁠have him race without the specific helmet.

The IOC instead offered that he wear a black armband and display the helmet before and after the race, but said using the helmet in competition breached its rules on political protests and slogans ⁠in the field of play.

In a statement, CAS said the IOC guidelines for athletes’ expression in the Games were fair.

“The Sole Arbitrator found these ⁠limitations reasonable and proportionate, considering the other opportunities for athletes ⁠to raise awareness,” CAS said.

“The Sole Arbitrator considers these Guidelines provide a reasonable balance between athletes’ interests to express their views, and athletes’ interests to receive undivided attention for their sporting performance on the field of play.”

Ukraine’s Olympic Committee has backed their ‌athlete, who is also the team’s flagbearer for the Games and also displayed a “No War in Ukraine” sign at the Beijing 2022 Olympics, days before Russia’s invasion. Heraskevych has also received support ‌from ‌Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

CAS was established in 1984 by the International Olympic Committee as an independent judicial authority to settle sports disputes worldwide.

The case has dominated headlines in the first week of the Olympics.

Before the ruling, Heraskevych accused the Milano-Cortina Games as acting as “propaganda” for Russia.

PRESIDENT Donald Trump has revealed why the FBI hasn’t taken over the search for Nancy Guthrie as the investigation approaches the two week mark.

He confirmed the reason the federal agency was pushed to the backburner when asked about the missing 84-year-old on Friday.

On Friday, Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich asked Trump, “Why hasn’t the FBI taken over the Nancy Guthrie case as the lead investigator?

“Do you have any updates on how it’s going?”

Trump responded, “Well, they took it over originally. You know, it was a local case originally, and, they didn’t want to let go of it, which is fine.

“It’s up to them. It’s really up to the communities. But ultimately, when the FBI got involved, I think, you know, progress has been made.”

In the past few days, several reports have claimed the Pima County Sheriff’s Department in Tucson, Arizona, is at odds with federal authorities over the investigation.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos was accused of bypassing federal analysts by an anonymous FBI source who spoke with Reuters.

However, Nanos dismissed the concerns and vowed he was collaborating with other agencies to find the truth.

He responded to reports claiming that he sent DNA evidence and gloves recovered at the scene to a lab in Florida without keeping the FBI in the loop.

“Actually, the FBI just wanted to send [to their own lab] the one or two [gloves] they found by the crime scene, closest to it, mile, mile and a half,” he told NBC affiliate KVOA.

“I said, ‘No, why do that? Let’s just send them all to where all the DNA exist, all the profiles and the markers exist.’ They agreed, makes sense.”

More to follow… For the latest news on this story, keep checking back at The U.S. Sun, your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, sports news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures, and must-see videos.

Like us on Facebook at TheSunUS and follow us on X at @TheUSSun

Who: Real Madrid vs Real Sociedad
What: Spanish La Liga
Where: Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Spain
When: Saturday, February 14, at 9pm (20:00 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the buildup on Al Jazeera Sport from 17:00 GMT in advance of our text commentary stream.

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s Real Madrid career has not got off the ground yet, but fit again after injury, the England right-back could be crucial for the Spanish giants in the second half of the season.

With Alvaro Arbeloa’s side still taking shape following the coach’s arrival in January, Alexander-Arnold has the chance to make himself a key part of the club’s battle for silverware.

Pellegrino Matarazzo’s in-form Real Sociedad visit the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday in La Liga, in what promises to be an enticing clash.

Arbeloa’s Madrid are looking to move two points clear of Barcelona and take the lead in La Liga before the Catalans visit Girona on Monday.

Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at Saturday’s headline fixture in La Liga.

Will Alexander Arnold start for Real Madrid against Sociedad?

Former Liverpool full-back Alexander-Arnold, who came off the bench last weekend as Madrid beat Valencia, could potentially start for the first time since December 3.

After a decent early showing for Madrid at the Club World Cup last year, hamstring and thigh injuries have stopped him from settling in, limiting him to 12 appearances across all competitions this season.

“After [he’s had] a long time out, we will proceed with caution,” said Arbeloa after Alexander-Arnold’s return, with Spanish newspaper AS reporting Madrid’s aim is for him to start against Benfica in the Champions League playoff round on February 17.

Even if Arbeloa uses veteran Dani Carvajal or youngster David Jimenez to start against Real Sociedad, the expectation is for Alexander-Arnold to get more crucial minutes under his belt.

How are Real Sociedad faring in La Liga this season?

Real Sociedad are unbeaten in nine matches but are eighth in the table – 14 points off fourth place and the crucial UEFA Champions League qualification spots.

Matarazzo’s side did, however, defeat champions Barcelona last month and have one foot in the Copa del Rey final after a semifinal first leg win at rivals Athletic Bilbao this week.

Sociedad are also coming off a 1-0 win at Basque Country rival Athletic Bilbao in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals.

Will Vinicius and Mbappe’s dinner give Madrid food for thought?

Real Madrid is counting on a team-bonding dinner reportedly paid for by its biggest stars to boost its late-season pursuit of the La Liga and Champions League trophies.

Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe paid the bill at the restaurant in Madrid on Tuesday, midfielder Dani Ceballos told reporters. The tab ran in excess of 1,000 euros ($1,100), according to accounts by Spanish media.

Vinicius posted a photo of the entire squad during the dinner near the city centre in a fancy location that features an “Art Dining Club.”

Fans waited outside the restaurant to try to talk to the players after the dinner, which went well past midnight.

Coach Alvaro Arbeloa and his assistants were not part of the dinner, Spanish media said.

The show of unity came a week before Madrid faces Benfica in the first leg of the knockout playoffs of the Champions League. The team dropped out of the top eight that automatically qualified for the round of 16 after a 4-2 loss at the same as Benfica in the final round of the league phase.

Defender Raul Asencio told media that after the dinner, the team was “very united.”

Why has Real Madrid struggled this season?

Madrid went through turmoil at the end of last year, with some players reportedly not on the same page with coach Xabi Alonso.

Under Arbeloa, Madrid was eliminated by second-tier Albacete in the Copa del Rey round of 16, and lost to Benfica in the match that relegated the team to the Champions League’s knockout playoffs.

With the bad-tempered Bernabeu crowd on their own team’s backs in recent weeks, the chance to move top of the table could settle the natives.

How is the La Liga race shaping up for Real Madrid and Barcelona?

Madrid has won seven in a row to be one point behind leader Barcelona.

Barcelona will look to win its fourth in a row in the league against a Girona that was in 12th place and was winless in its last three matches.

Barcelona is coming off a resounding 4-0 loss to Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the Copa del Rey on Thursday, when it conceded all goals in a disastrous first half.

It had won 17 of its last 18 matches in all competitions before the defeat. The last setback had been losing 2-1 at Sociedad in the league last month.

Third-placed Atletico will face lowly Rayo Vallecano on Sunday, while fourth-placed Villarreal is at mid-table Getafe.

What happened the last time Real Madrid met Sociedad?

Los Blancos were 2-1 winners against Sociedad in September’s reverse fixture in La Liga.

Kylian Mbappe and Arda Guler scored either side of Dean Huijsen’s sending off in the first half.

Mikel Oyarzabal’s 56th-minute penalty offered the home side hope, but they were unable to further make the most of their numerical advantage.

Head-to-head

This is the 184th meeting between the teams, with Madrid winning on 103 occasions and Sociedad claiming the spoils in 38 of the contests.

The first fixture was played in April 1905, with Madrid winning the Copa del Rey meeting 3-0.

Real Madrid team news

Mbappe trained separately from the squad on Thursday because of a knee issue and became doubtful for Saturday’s game.

He had already been held to gym work on Wednesday. The club did not immediately give any details about his condition.

Vinicius was set to be back with Madrid after missing the previous league game because of a yellow card suspension, but Jude Bellingham will remain sidelined with a hamstring injury.

Predicted Real Madrid starting lineup (4-3-3)

Courtois; Alexander-Arnold, Asencio, Huijsen, Carreras; Valverde, Tchouameni, Camavinga; Brahim, Mbappe, Vinicius

Real Sociedad team news

Brais Mendez is suspended for the trip to Madrid, while Takefusa Kubo and Unai Marrero are both absent with hamstring and facial injuries, respectively.

Arsen Zakharyan, Ander Barrenetxea and Luka Sucic have slight niggles and face late fitness tests.

Predicted Real Sociedad starting lineup (4-2-3-1)

Remiro; Odriozola, Martin, Caleta-Car, Gomez; Gorrotxategi, Turrientes; Marin, Soler, Guedes; Oyarzabal

The armed forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have deployed drone technology against several positions of the M23/AFC rebels around Mpety of Walikale territory in North Kivu.

According to local administrative sources, the first explosions from the drone attack occurred around 1 p.m. on Feb. 11, causing widespread panic among villagers and forcing families to leave their homes.

The strikes occurred 48 hours after similar operations aimed at rebel positions in Mindjendje, close to Mpety in the Banakindi area. According to various sources in the region, the earlier missions resulted in multiple non-fatal injuries among the M23/AFC forces.

In the past month, the Walikale territory, particularly the Pinga-Mpety-Mindjendje axis, has been the theatre of violent clashes between the army and the M23/AFC rebels. This strategic area is highly sought after by both parties, intensifying regional security instability. 

The ongoing airstrikes are part of a strategy by the DRC army to reclaim control of key areas around Pinga, which is regarded as the security hub of Walikale territory. The growing arms race between the Congolese government and the M23 rebels has necessitated investments in drone warfare by both parties.

DRC has particularly invested heavily in acquiring military drones, especially the China-made Wing Loong 2 combat drone. In 2023, the country purchased nine Chinese attack drones to strengthen its military capabilities amid the war against the M23 rebels. 

The drones are recognised for their precision strike capabilities and long endurance. They are expected to give Congo’s armed forces a tactical advantage as they work to counter the M23’s advances, which Kinshasa classifies as a terrorist organisation.

When the Justice Department released an additional 3 million pages of documents related to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein at the end of January, ARTnews unearthed and published excerpts from dozens of emails between Epstein and David A. Ross, a former director of the Whitney Museum of American Art who started his career in the 1970s as deputy director and curator of video art at the Long Beach Museum of Art.

Ross, who served as the chair of the MFA art practice program at New York’s School of Visual Arts since 2009, promptly resigned.

If the emails had been less damning, the revelation of Ross’ connection to Epstein might have played out differently, but that was not the case. In one letter, dated Oct. 1, 2009, Epstein wrote to Ross that Roman Polanski’s attorney was coming to see him and that he was considering funding an exhibit titled, “Statutory.”

“Girls and boys ages 14 – 25, where they look nothing like their true ages,” Epstein wrote. “Juvenile mug shots, photo shop, make up. Some people go to prison because they can’t tell true age. Controversial. Fun. Maybe it should be a web page with hits, tallied.”

“You are incredible,” Ross wrote back. “This would be a very [sic] owerful and freaky book. Do you know that total porno commercial kiddie picture of Brooke Sheilds that Richard Prince appropriated for an exhibition in the early 1980’s?”

Epstein replied in the affirmative to Ross’ reference to a Prince photo titled, “Spiritual America,” which appropriated a 1976 photo of a naked, 10-year-old Shields taken by commercial photographer Gary Gross.

“They closed it off in the London show,” Epstein noted.

Ross also expressed sympathy for Epstein’s legal travails in 2009 following a 13-month sentence he served in Florida after pleading guilty to reduced state charges of procuring a minor for prostitution.

“Glad the nightmare is over, Jeffrey,” Ross wrote. “It was an undeserved punishment foisted upon you by jealous creeps.”

In an email to ARTnews, Ross expressed remorse that he “fell for” Epstein’s lies.

“Like many he supported with arts and education patronage, I profoundly regret that I was taken in by his story,” Ross wrote. “I continue to be appalled by his crimes and remain deeply concerned for its many victims.”

Ross noted that he first met Epstein when he was director of the Whitney in the mid-1990s. Ross also served as director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston.

“I knew him as a wealthy patron and a collector, and it was part of my job to befriend people who had the capacity and interest in supporting the museum,” Ross wrote, adding that when Epstein was jailed in 2008, he told Ross that it was a political “frame-up” resulting from his support for former President Bill Clinton. Ross said he believed him.

It seems lots of men believed Epstein. Meanwhile, behind all the power lunches, private plane rides and callous late-night emails, far too many women and girls suffered.

I’m Arts editor Jessica Gelt with your arts and culture news for the week.

On our radar

Michael Feinstein and the Carnegie Hall Ensemble will perform Valentine’s Day at Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa.

(Segerstrom Center for the Arts)

Michael Feinstein: A Broadway Valentine
The singer, musician, conductor and stalwart proponent of the Great American Songbook celebrates the holiday of the heart with the Carnegie Hall Ensemble. Timeless love songs and lush orchestrations seem like a perfect way to spend the evening.
7:30 p.m. Saturday, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Segerstrom Hall, 300 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. scfta.org

A detail of miniature “sportraits” from Lyndon J. Barrois, Sr.’s exhibit, “Fútbol Is Life,” at LACMA.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Fútbol Is Life: Animated Sportraits
GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAL! Ahead of this summer’s World Cup, with L.A. as one of 16 host cities across the U.S., Canada and Mexico, arrives this unique exhibition celebrating the beautiful game. Portraying transcendent moments in men’s and women’s soccer, award‑winning animator and visual effects artist Lyndon  J. Barrois, Sr. fashions engrossing scenes in miniature from gum wrappers, glue, paint and other materials. The handmade sculptures and stop-motion animations on display bring together the visual and emotional elements that make it the world’s most popular sport. Jasmine Mendez spoke to Barrois about his process and Times photographer Allen J. Schaben provides more marvelous images.
Sunday through July 12. LACMA Resnick Pavilion, 5905 Wilshire Blvd. lacma.org

The Academy Museum’s exhibition “Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo” opens Saturday.

(Nibariki-GNDHDDT)

Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo
A deep dive into Hayao Miyazaki’s 2008 animated film about a goldfish who longs to be human honors the traditional hand-drawn animation processes used by its creators. The exhibition includes more than a hundred items handpicked by Studio Ghibli: art boards, posters, a Studio Ghibli animation desk and original hand drawings by Miyazaki and others. “Because writer-director Miyazaki very much follows his own star when it comes to story, narratives like ‘Ponyo’ remind you of no one else’s tales,” wrote Times film critic Kenneth Turan upon the film’s U.S. release. “Not only do they offer up fantastical images, like Ponyo running on the crests of waves, they make deep connections to our emotions without following conventional paths, using the logic of dreams to excellent effect.”
Screening 2:30 p.m. Saturday; exhibition, Saturday through Jan. 10. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org

The week ahead: A curated calendar

FRIDAY
Nitrate Festival
The American Cinematheque’s annual tribute to the beautiful, if highly volatile, film format that was used from the 1890s until the 1950s, offers audiences the rare opportunity to see this work on the big screen. The festival opens with the 1947 noir “Dead Reckoning,” starring Humphrey Bogart and directed by John Cromwell, and continues with William Wyler’s “The Good Fairy” (1935), Gregory La Cava’s “My Man Godfrey” (1936), William Wellman’s “Nothing Sacred” (1937), Mikio Naruse’s “Wife! Be Like A Rose!” (1935), David Lean’s “Blithe Spirit” (1945) and Cecil B. DeMille’s “Samson and Delilah” (1949).
7 p.m. Friday, through Feb. 22. Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. americancinematheque.com

Foursome
Matthew Scott Montgomery, Adrián Javier, Jimin Moon and Calvin Seabrooks star in Montgomery’s comedy about a quartet of queer friends who reunite for an emotionally fraught, desire-filled weekend at a cabin. Directed by Tom DeTrinis.
Through March 23. Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. iamatheatre.com

Guards at the Taj
Two sentries at the Taj Mahal have their friendship, faith and sense of duty challenged in Rajiv Joseph’s play set centuries in the past with contemporary resonance. Behzad Dabu and Kausar Mohammed star. Directed by Behzad Dabu.
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays, through Feb. 22
El Portal Theatre, 5269 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood elportaltheatre.com

Alfredo Rodriguez, left, and Pedrito Martinez will perform Friday at the Nimoy.

(Anna Webber)

Alfredo Rodriguez and Pedrito Martinez
Pianist Rodriguez and percussionist-vocalist Martinez perform traditional Cuban songs, original compositions and some surprises.
8 p.m. UCLA Nimoy Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd. cap.ucla.edu

Incitation To The Dance
A young man upends an older gay couple’s relationship in the world premiere of writer-director Michael Van Duzer’s dark comedy.
Through March 15. Theatre West, 3333 Cahuenga Blvd. https://theatrewest.org/on-stage/incitation-to-the-dance

Roksana Pirouzmand
The Iranian-born, L.A.-based multidisciplinary artist’s solo exhibition “everything was once something else” explores the contrasting properties forged by earth and fire through clay and metal works.
Through April 11. Oxy Arts, 4757 York Blvd. oxyarts.oxy.edu

SATURDAY
Attune 1.0
A free public light- and sound-art experience happens simultaneously across L.A. County locations presented by NXT Art Foundations with community support.
4:30-7:30 p.m. Barnsdall Park, East Hollywood; Sycamore Grove Park, Northeast Los Angeles ; Jessie Brewer Jr. Park, Exposition Park; Jane and Bert Boeckmann Park, Porter Ranch; Hansen Dam, Lake View Terrace; Leimert Park, South Los Angeles; Wende Museum, Culver City; Promenade Square Park, Long Beach; Tongva Park, Santa Monica and Loma Alta Park, Altadena. nowartpublic.com

Desert Dreams and Coastal Currents
The exhibition tracks the concurrent emergent of artistic hubs in Southern California and the Southwest, featuring work by artists in areas such as Laguna Beach, and Taos and Santa Fe, N.M.
The Autry, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park. theautry.org

Wally Hedrick
“Sex Politics Religion” is a two-venue retrospective of the Pasadena-born artist, who established himself in the burgeoning post-war San Francisco art scene. Hedrick eschewed “style” in favor of pursuing a vision including welded assemblage junk sculptures, Bauhausian abstraction, black monochromes, gestural figuration, graphic signage, pictographic diagrams and near-photorealism.
Through April 4. Parker Gallery, 6700 Melrose Ave.; The Box
805 Traction Ave., downtown L.A. parkergallery.com

Honour
The Ruskin’s grand opening on the Kaplan Stage features Joanna Murray-Smith’s drama on the precariousness of marriage, directed by Max Mayer and starring Marcia Cross, Matt Letscher, Ariana Afradi and Jude Mayer.
8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays, through March 22. Ruskin Group Theatre, 2800 Airport Ave., Santa Monica.

Artist Takashi Murakami.

(Shin Suzuki)

Takashi Murakami
The new solo exhibition “Hark Back to Ukiyo-e: Tracing Superflat to Japonisme’s Genesis” features 24 paintings by the Japanese artist.
4-7 p.m. opening, free and open to the public; exhibition continues through March 14. Perrotin, 5036. W Pico Blvd. perrotin.com

Mythical Creatures: The Stories We Carry
Immigrant narratives and pan-Asian mythology infuse this immersive exhibition featuring contemporary artists including Dinh Q. Lê, Dominique Fung, Lily Honglei, Greg Ito, Wendy Park, Momoko Schafer, Kyungmi Shin, Sanjay Vora and Lauren YS. Conceived by L.A.-based Korean American artist and muralist Dave Young Kim.
Through Sept. 6. USC Pacific Asia Museum, 46 N. Los Robles Ave. Pasadena. pacificasiamuseum.usc.edu

PASSION + MYSTERY
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, led by conductor Jaime Martín, celebrate Valentine’s Day weekend with Fauré’s “Pelléas et Mélisande” and Gernot Wolfgang‘s “Desert Wind,” and are joined by pianist Fazıl Say for Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 3.”
7:30 p.m. Saturday. Colburn School, Zipper Hall, 200 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A.; 4 p.m. Sunday, The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. laco.org

Red Harlem
Four Black actors in 1932 Harlem are recruited by the Communist Party to make a film in the Soviet Union in Kimba Henderson’s drama based on true events. Directed by Bernadette Speakes.
Through March 15. Company of Angels, 1350 San Pablo St. companyofangels.org

Retro Romantics: An Academy Film Archive Trailer Show in 35mm
Vintage cinematic love stories unspool in their original abridged glory, seductively beckoning you to the movies.
7:30 p.m. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org

SUNDAY
Black History Month at The Ebell
Soprano Gertrude Bradley performs a tribute to Joel Graham, accompanied by pianist Greg Schreiner in an African Americans for LA Opera recital; and Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (ICYOLA) salutes the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in “I, Too, Sing America,” a nod to the Langston Hughes poem.
AALAO Recital, 12:30 p.m. Sunday; LA Voices: ICYOLA, 4:30 p.m. Sunday. Ebell of Los Angeles, 743 S. Lucerne Blvd. https://www.ebellofla.org/

Isidore String Quartet
The group performs “Brahms: the Admirer,” an exploration of the composer’s work alongside complementary pieces by Bach and Beethoven.
3:30 p.m. Caltech Beckman Auditorium, 332 S. Michigan Ave. Pasadena. colemanchambermusic.org

What Happened to Flamenco
Clap your hands as dancer and choreographer Fanny Ara brings the folkloric tradition to life.
7 p.m. Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave. fountaintheatre.com

TUESDAY
Seth MacFarlane
The erstwhile animator, writer, producer, director, actor and comedian picks up the mic, backed by an orchestra, for a program dedicated to the music of Frank Sinatra.
8 p.m. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com/events

WEDNESDAY
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change
Barry Pearl directs the long-running off-Broadway musical comedy revue on modern love, featuring book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro and music by Jimmy Roberts to open ICT’s 41st season.
Through March 8. International City Theatre, 330 E. Seaside Way, Long Beach. ictlongbeach.org

Patti LuPone
The Broadway star marks the 25th anniversary of her “Matters of the Heart,” which ran on Broadway and London’s West End and toured the globe.
8 p.m. Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Segerstrom Hall, 300 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. scfta.org

Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Can’t get to New Orleans for Mardi Gras? The Soraya brings it to the Valley via the deep roots of this legendary French Quarter ensemble.
8 p.m. The Saroya, 18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge. thesoraya.org

Emma Elizabeth Smith as Catherine of Aragon in The North American touring company of “Six.”

(Segerstrom Center for the Arts)

Six
The national tour of the Broadway musical by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, a modern pop take on the sextet of women who were the wives of Henry VIII.
Through March 9. Hollywood Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd.; March 10-15. Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 300 Town Center Dr., Costa Mesa. sixonbroadway.com

THURSDAY
Compagnie Hervé Koubi: Sol Invictus
The French-Algerian choreographer’s dance troupe performs “Sol Invictus,” with a score featuring music by Swedish composer Mikael Karlsson, minimalist composer Steve Reich and digital composer Maxime Bodson.
7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. February 19 – 21, 2026 The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd. Beverly Hills. thewallis.org

Culture news and the SoCal scene

The cast of “Brassroots District” performs on Sunday.

(Gabriella Angotti-Jones/For The Times)

Features columnist Todd Martens checked out “Brassroots District: LA ’74,” a piece of immersive theater he describes as “part concert, part participatory theater and part experiment, attempting to intermix an evening of dancing and jubilation with high-stakes drama. How it plays out is up to each audience member. Follow the cast, and uncover war tales and visions of how the underground music scene became a refuge for the LGBTQ+ community. Watch the band, and witness a concert almost torn apart as a group on the verge of releasing its debut album weighs community versus cold commerce. Or ignore it all to play dress-up and get a groove on to the music that never stops.”

The UCLA Hammer Museum has announced the winner of the $100,000 Mohn Award.

(Eric Staudenmaier)

Artist Ali Eyal, who grew up in Baghdad in the late 1990s and early 2000s during U.S. military operations in Iraq, is the recipient of the $100,000 Mohn Award, which honors artistic excellence, in conjunction with the Hammer Museum’s Made in L.A. 2025. In addition to the award money, the Hammer will produce a publication for Eyal. The Hammer also announced that sculptor Carl Cheng has been given the $25,000 Career Achievement Award; and that painter Greg Breda won the $25,000 Public Recognition Award.

The news out of the Kennedy Center continues to be grim. This week, Trump-appointed center president Richard Grenell sent an email to staffers informing them that significant cuts would be implemented when the center closes for renovations, beginning July 4. “Over the next few months, department heads and I will be evaluating the needs and making the decisions as to what these skeletal teams left in place during the facility closure and construction phase will look like,” Grenell wrote in the email obtained by The Times.

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

Want a giant stuffed mochi? So do I.

Feb. 13 (UPI) — The Japanese fisheries agency said Friday that authorities seized a Chinese fishing boat off the coast of Nagasaki after its captain refused to stop for an inspection.

The Chinese boat was sailing in Japan’s exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea near Japan’s Goto Islands on Thursday when it was ordered to stop. The boat then attempted to flee, a statement by the fisheries agency said.

Eleven people were aboard the fishing boat, including the captain, Zheng Nianli, a 47-year-old Chinese national. The captain was detained by Japanese authorities.

The boat, the Qiong Dong Yu 11998, remains in Japan’s custody and is being held as evidence. It remains unclear what will happen to the 10 members of the crew.

“We will continue to take resolute action in our enforcement activities to prevent and deter illegal fishing operations by foreign vessels,” said Minoru Kihara, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary.

Lin Jian, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, said Friday that Japan should “enforce the law impartially and protect the safety and legitimate rights and interests of crew members.”

Tensions have continued to rise between China and Japan in recent months. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told parliament in November that Chinese aggression toward Taiwan could spark a military response from Japan.

China has continued its claim that Taiwan is its territory. In its ongoing push for “reunification,” Chinese officials have not ruled out the possibility of using force.

Takaichi’s comments to parliament drew criticism from Chinese officials. China’s foreign ministry called the comments “egregious.”

Diplomacy, tourism and commerce between the two nations have been strained since Takaichi addressed Japan’s parliament.

An AeroVironment LOCUST laser directed energy weapon owned by the U.S. Army was central to the chain of events that led to the recent shutdown of airspace around El Paso, Texas, according to Reuters. Though many questions still remain to be answered about how the flight restrictions came to be imposed, LOCUST was designed to respond to exactly the kinds of drones that regularly fly across the southern border from Mexico.

Readers can get caught up on what is known about the clampdown in the skies above El Paso on Wednesday in initial reporting here.

Multiple outlets had already reported yesterday that the use of a laser counter-drone system was a key factor in the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) sudden decision to impose the temporary flight restrictions over El Paso. Reuters‘ report says “two people briefed on the situation” identified the laser system in question as LOCUST. TWZ has reached out to AeroVironment and the U.S. Army for more information. U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM), which oversees U.S. military operations in and around the homeland, declined to comment.

Last July, the U.S. military released a picture, seen below, showing Army personnel assigned to Joint Task Force-Southern Border (JTF-SB) conducting sling-load training with a LOCUST mounted on a 4×4 M1301 Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV) at Fort Bliss. This had prompted some speculation that LOCUST systems might be in use along the U.S. border with Mexico. JTF-SB was established in March 2025 to oversee a surge in U.S. military support to the border security mission. Fort Bliss, situated in El Paso, is a major hub for those operations. It is also home to the 1st Armored Division and a significant number of Army air defense units.

As of December 2025, the U.S. Army was known to have taken delivery of LOCUST systems in at least three different configurations, including the ISV-based type. The service has also received 4×4 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTV) equipped with the laser and a palletized version. In 2022, the Army confirmed the operational deployment of two of the palletized systems to unspecified foreign locales. The full extent of the service’s operational use of LOCUST since then, abroad or at home, is unclear.

The U.S. Marine Corps has also moved to acquire JLTV-based LOCUST systems, and other configurations have been put forward in the past. AeroVironment completed is acqusition of BlueHalo, the original developer of LOCUST, last year.

At LOCUST’s core is a 20-kilowatt-class laser directed energy weapon. This is at the lower end of the power spectrum for this new era of laser directed energy weapons, and the system is explicitly geared toward the countering small drones mission set.

The turreted system also includes built-in electro-optical and infrared video cameras for target acquisition and tracking. It can be cued to threats by tertiary sensors, including small-form-factor high-frequency radars and passive radio frequency signal detection systems mounted on the vehicles themselves, as well as traditional radars, and other capabilities positioned elsewhere. The Army’s ISV and JLTV-based configurations both feature small radars.

LOCUST Laser Weapon System

As a relatively small system itself, LOCUST offers additional benefits in terms of mobility and flexibility. Road-mobile versions can readily deploy and redeploy to different locations in response to shifting threats. As the sling load training picture shows, versions of the system can be readily airlifted by helicopters, allowing for rapid movement to remote locales. Palletized configurations offer different types of flexibility for providing point defense at sites on land, and could potentially be installed on ships, as well.

In general, laser directed energy weapons offer the promise of functionally unlimited magazine depth, as long as there is sufficient power and cooling capacity. They also present a drastically lower cost-per-intercept proposition compared to traditional anti-air interceptors. This is all advantageous for engaging drones, particularly smaller and cheaper designs that can still present very significant threats. The dangers posed by uncrewed aerial systems are only set to grow as networked swarming and automated targeting capabilities, enabled by advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, become more accessible. Defenders already face real risks of just being overwhelmed by attacks involving volumes of drones.

Depending on their power level, laser weapons are envisioned as being employed against larger, as well as higher and faster flying targets, such as cruise missiles, in the future. As already noted, LOCUST is not in that power category and is focused on going after small drones, like quadcopter.

With these promised benefits in mind, the Army has been very active in its pursuit of multiple tiers of ground-based laser directed energy weapon systems, with power ratings ranging from 5 to 300 kilowatts, for years now. This includes the 50-kilowatt Directed Energy Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense (DE M-SHORAD) system based on the Stryker light armored vehicle and a truck-mounted 300-kilowatt design for the Indirect Fires Protection Capability-High Energy Laser (IFPC-HEL) effort. Many of these systems have been primarily intended to serve as stepping stones to future operational capabilities. In recent years, there have been a number of additional laser directed energy development efforts, often focused on the counter-drone mission, across the U.S. military, and for use in the air and naval domains, as well as by forces on land.

As mentioned, the Army received its first versions of LOCUST in the early 2020s, as part of a rapid prototyping effort called the Palletized-High Energy Laser (P-HEL). The service tested multiple laser weapon designs under P-HEL. The Army has acquired the ISV and JLTV-based configuration through a follow-on effort called the Army Multi-Purpose High Energy Laser (AMP-HEL).

At the same time, a laser like LOCUST can only engage a single target at once. Lower-powered lasers need to dwell on their targets for a longer period of time in order to cause significant damage by burning a hole in them, as well. This limits the number of targets a single system can engage in a given window of time.

In addition, the power of any laser beam drops as it propagates through the atmosphere further and further away from its source. Weather and other environmental factors like smoke and dust can also distort the beam and reduce its power. All of this only adds to the aforementioned dwell time. Adaptive optics, and just more power overall, can help produce useful effects at greater distances, but laser weapons continue to have short ranges, typically measured in handfuls of miles, as a general rule. As an aside, LOCUST was originally described as a 10-kilowatt system and a version has at least been demonstrated with a 26-kilowatt power rating. How much more can be scaled up within the existing form factor is unclear.

The Army, as well as other branches of the U.S. military, have repeatedly acknowledged challenges in fielding laser directed energy weapon systems. Sensitivity to vibration, humidity, dust, and sand, as well as fragile optics and cooling demands, have all created further complications for operating and sustaining these systems in real-world environments. In 2024, Doug Bush, then Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology, did tell members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that unspecified laser weapons emplaced at fixed sites “are proving successful” for “some” users. This was seen at the time as a likely reference to the overseas deployment of the palletized version of LOCUST.

U.S. military officials regularly stress that lasers are not a ‘silver bullet’ solution to the problem of drones or other aerial threats, and they expect to field them as part of layered defense networks. High-power microwave directed energy weapons and electronic warfare systems have also steadily emerged as key parts of future counter-drone ecosystems, especially for responding to swarm attacks. The pursuit of lasers, specifically, to defeat drones, as well as cruise missiles and potentially other targets, is a growing trend globally, as well. In the naval domain, lasers are also seen as valuable additions to ships for point defense against small watercraft.

Drones, especially smaller types, present their own additional challenges, in general, when it comes to detection and tracking, let alone engaging them with any effector. This has been underscored in reporting surrounding the recent temporary flight restrictions over El Paso.

Official statements so far from the Trump administration have said that the clampdown on the airspace around El Paso resulted from the response to a cross-border incursion of drones operated by Mexican drug cartels, something that happens on a near-daily basis. Questions have since been raised about exactly when the incident the administration has cited may have occurred and whether any drones were actually involved in that particular case.

“The [laser] anti-drone technology was launched near the southern border to shoot down what appeared to be foreign drones,” according to a story yesterday from CBS News, which was among the first to report on that detail. “The flying material turned out to be a party balloon, sources said. One balloon was shot down, several sources said.”

Other outlets, also citing anonymous sources, have since reported on the use of a laser directed energy weapon to down one or more innocuous balloons along the southern border earlier this week. However, the exact relationship between those engagements and the temporary flight restrictions remains murky.

However, “the Mexican cartels have been running drones on the border lately, the sources said, but it was unclear how many were hit by the military’s anti-UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) technology this week,” CBS News‘ report yesterday had also noted. “One official said at least one cartel drone was successfully disabled.”

It has also now been widely reported that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel have been the ones actually operating the laser systems along the border through an agreement with the U.S. military. This speaks to additional ongoing complications surrounding domestic authorities for responding to drone threats, something TWZ has explored in detail in the past. This is despite significant changes to policies that allow for broader and more rapid responses within the United States, at least on the U.S. military side, just in recent weeks.

Furthermore, a breakdown in coordination between the Army, CBP, and the FAA over the use of lasers along the border, operationally and/or in testing, looks to have been a central factor in the decision to shut down the airspace around El Paso based on the reporting to date.

“My team has been working with the FAA, DOW [Department of War], and others to gather more information about this morning’s temporary airspace closure in El Paso,” Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican, wrote in a post on X yesterday. “I’m hopeful more details can be publicly shared in the coming days on interagency coordination.”

“The amount of misinformation being spread – including by the White House – is alarming and unhelpful,” Veronica Escobar, the Democrat who currently represents the El Paso area in the House of Representatives, also wrote yesterday in a series of posts on X. “To be clear: this was the result of incompetence at the highest levels of the administration.”

More details are yet to come about the exact circumstances surrounding the flight restrictions imposed this week around El Paso. What has already emerged points to a growing use, or at least desire to use, laser directed energy weapons like LOCUST to challenge the current flow of uncrewed aerial systems across the southern border from Mexico.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Another presenter will step in to present Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg this weekend.

The BBC presenter has confirmed another broadcaster will be stepping in at the weekend.

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg is helmed by the political journalist. She has now revealed another presenter will briefly assume control.

On Sunday’s edition, Laura, 49, interviewed work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden, shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Alex Burghart and Plaid Cymru Leader Rhun ap Iorwerth.

The question, “Can Keir Starmer survive the Mandelson crisis?” was raised during a panel debate on last week’s broadcast (February 8) where the host revealed her colleague would be taking over the forthcoming show on Sunday during half-term week.

Concluding the programme, Laura remarked: “Thank you to all my guests. And most of all to you for spending your Sunday morning with us.”

“Victoria [Derbyshire] is here next week. But I’ll be here later with Paddy O’Connell for Sunday’s Newscast.”

Laura informed viewers: “I look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks a week on Sunday. Same time, same place.”

Victoria Derbyshire, who fronts BBC Newsnight, will present Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg this weekend (February 15) with the programme’s regular host returning the subsequent Sunday, reports the Express.

The change in presenter comes as the BBC has had a plethora of shake-ups this month.

BBC viewers have seen Morning Live change channels to air on BBC Two, allowing the Winter Olympics to have coverage.

Similarly, the fifth and six episodes of Gladiators will now air later than usual to cover the football.

In a release, the BBC stated: “On February 14, if the football finishes in 90 minutes, Gladiators will air at 20:00. On February 21, Gladiators will air at 19:15.”

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg airs Sunday on BBC and BBC iPlayer at 9am.

Latest attacks come amid a widely condemned Israeli push to cement control over the occupied Palestinian territory.

Dozens of Palestinians have been injured as Israeli settlers carried out a wave of attacks across the occupied West Bank, destroying olive trees and vandalising property.

At least 54 Palestinians were wounded on Friday morning as settlers attacked several towns and villages under the protection of the Israeli military.

Settlers assaulted Palestinian farmers on their lands near Talfit, a village south of Nablus in the northern West Bank, and Israeli troops fired tear gas and live ammunition at residents who tried to repel the settler attack.

Images from the village showed homes with broken windows and vehicles with smashed windshields as a result of the attack.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli settlers also destroyed about 300 Palestinian olive trees near the Ramallah-area town of Turmus Aya, the Wafa news agency reported, citing local sources.

Palestinians across the West Bank have faced an intensified surge in Israeli military and settler violence in the shadow of Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza.

At least 1,054 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank by Israeli troops and settlers between October 7, 2023, and February 5 of this year, according to the latest United Nations figures.

Israel has also forcibly displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians from their homes across the West Bank, refusing to allow them to return in what Human Rights Watch says amounts to war crimes and a crime against humanity.

The Israeli government drew international condemnation this week after it approved plans to extend its authority over more of the West Bank – a move that observers denounced as de facto annexation, in violation of international law.

“If these decisions are implemented, they will undoubtedly accelerate the dispossession of Palestinians and their forcible transfer, and lead to the creation of more illegal Israeli settlements,” UN human rights chief Volker Turk said on Wednesday.

“We are witnessing rapid steps to change permanently the demography of the occupied Palestinian territory, stripping its people of their lands and forcing them to leave,” Turk said in a statement.

“This is supported by rhetoric and actions by senior Israeli officials, and violates Israel’s obligation as an occupying power to preserve the existing legal order and social fabric. These decisions must be overturned.”

DP World appoints new chairman and group CEO following departure of Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem over ties to sex offender.

United Arab Emirates-based logistics giant DP World has appointed a new chairman and CEO, after coming under pressure over former company chief Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem’s ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein

The UAE government’s Dubai Media Office said Friday that Essa Kazim had been appointed chairman and Yuvraj Narayan as group CEO of DP World, one of the world’s largest logistics companies, which claims to handle about 10 percent of global trade.

The roles were previously held by bin Sulayem, one of Dubai’s most powerful and well-connected people, who has led DP World – which operates more than 60 ports and terminals worldwide – for more than four decades.

Sulayem’s lengthy tenure at the helm of the logistics giant came to an end in a firestorm of controversy over his links with the disgraced financier, after recently declassified documents showed the pair had exchanged messages for years before and after Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor for prostitution.

Salacious exchanges

The friendly exchanges between the two include discussions about deals and also mention bin Sulayem visiting Epstein’s private island while sharing contacts in business and politics.

The two men also shared salacious comments about women, with bin Sulayem’s email address featuring a correspondence in which Epstein remarked, “I loved the torture video.”

Bin Sulayem’s name was blacked out in documents released by the Department of Justice, but on Tuesday, Democratic Representative Ro Khanna identified him in the House of Representatives, along with five others whose names had been redacted, saying the government had shielded their names “for no apparent reason”.

Since Khanna’s speech to Congress, the Justice Department partially unredacted some of the files he pointed to.

Partners suspend ties

While the files referenced by Khanna did not appear to implicate bin Sulayem or the other men in any specific crimes, the revelation of bin Sulayem’s years-long friendship with Epstein prompted the ‌United Kingdom development investment agency, British International Investment, and Canada’s second-largest pension fund, La Caisse, to announce they had paused future ventures with DP World in response.

La Caisse, which in 2022 invested $2.5bn in Jebel Ali Port, the Jebel Ali Free Zone and the National Industries Park, three of DP World’s flagship assets in the UAE, said on Tuesday that it would not carry out further investments until it shed light on bin Sulayem’s links to Epstein and took “necessary actions”.

On Friday, British International Investment welcomed DP World’s appointment of a new ⁠chief executive and said it would resume investment alongside the company.

“We ‌welcome today’s decision by DP World and look forward to continuing our partnership to advance the development ⁠of key African trading ⁠ports to unlock the continent’s global trading potential,” a ⁠spokesperson for the agency said.

Epstein was convicted of procuring a minor for prostitution in 2008, spending about a year in prison before his release.

His contacts with a network of wealthy and influential figures continued in the wake of his conviction until an investigation into the wealthy financier was reopened in 2019.

Epstein died in prison that year while facing charges of sex trafficking underage girls.

What’s your favorite sighting heading into the long weekend?

A rare red fox outside Yosemite? A 3-year-old gray wolf roaming Los Angeles County, the first such visit in nearly a century? Or Kiké Hernández returning to the Dodgers after a long offseason spent waiting for him to resign?

I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times, host of The Envelope newsletter and the guy answering all of the above to this newsletter’s initial question.

Let’s spend a little more time with The Envelope’s latest cover star, “Sinners” scene-stealer Delroy Lindo, this week.

Cover story: Delroy Lindo

(Bexx Francois / For The Times)

Everyone loves a surprise or two on Oscar nominations morning, and this year gave us the gift of Delroy Lindo, 73, finally earning his first Oscar nomination for his standout performance as bluesman Delta Slim in “Sinners.”

Some people are still smiling about the news. Lindo certainly is.

Lindo and I talked about the lessons he has learned as an actor over the course of a career that has spanned a half-century. He recalled the self-doubts that plagued him when he first played the lead in “A Raisin in the Sun,” the story of a struggling Black family dealing with discrimination in 1950s South Chicago, and how he overcame those fears when he revisited the role three years later.

“This was an absolute period of growth for me as an actor all because I learned the most important thing: preparation, preparation, preparation,” he told me.

But even when you exercise that level of care, you still deal with doubt. Actors will be the first to tell you that they’re needy, neurotic.

To play Delta Slim, Lindo read books on the blues, listened to Son House, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf and immersed himself in the culture of the Mississippi Delta. Musicians helped him hone his harmonica and piano playing. He was ready.

But that doesn’t mean he couldn’t use a little affirmation for a final boost.

Lindo says there were two such “seminal moments” for him while making “Sinners.” The first came when they filmed the scene where Lindo stands as his car passes a chain gang. Delta Slim exhorts the prisoners to “hold your heads.”

“[Director] Ryan [Coogler] was very nervous,” Lindo says. “He didn’t want any accidents.”

Shortly after shooting the scene, the movie’s unit publicist, Anna Fuson, emailed Lindo’s agents, telling them how his work had moved her and the crew.

“That doesn’t happen,” Lindo says, his voice cracking with emotion.

Later they shot Delta Slim’s monologue, in which he recalls the lynching of a fellow musician, ending with Lindo breaking into a guttural humming and drumming, expressing pain that transcends words. That night Zinzi Coogler, Ryan’s wife and a producer on “Sinners,” wrote Lindo telling him how much that scene had meant to her.

“Those two moments gave me a grounding,” Lindo says quietly. “It let me know this work is impacting people. And you can’t put a value on that kind of thing.”

Explosions are reported in eastern Gaza City, while at least 54 Palestinians are wounded in attacks by Israeli settlers across the occupied West Bank today.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has claimed victory in the country’s first election since a student-led uprising that ousted longtime leader Sheikh Hasina in 2024.

Unofficial results confirmed by election officials to Al Jazeera on Friday showed the BNP winning 209 seats, easily crossing the 151-seat threshold needed for a majority in parliament.

Its leader, Tarique Rahman, the son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, is now set to become the country’s next prime minister. BNP officials said the party expected to form a government by Sunday.

The BNP was followed by Jamaat-e-Islami, which secured 68 seats in Thursday’s polls – its highest-ever tally.

The party, which is led by Shafiqur Rahman and contested for the first time since a 2013 ban that was lifted after Hasina’s ouster, said it is not “satisfied” with the vote count and raised “serious questions about the integrity of the results process”.

The National Citizen Party (NCP), led by youth activists instrumental in toppling Hasina and part of a Jamaat-led alliance, won just six of the 30 seats that it contested.

The Election Commission has yet to formally announce the final tally, which is expected either later on Friday or on Saturday.

Turnout stood at almost 60 percent of registered voters, according to the Election Commission, well over the nearly 42 percent in the last election in 2024.

The election featured a record number of parties, more than 50, and at least 2,000 candidates, many of them independents. The parliament comprises 350 lawmakers, with 50 seats reserved for women.

More than 127 million people were eligible to cast their votes, with many expressing enthusiasm for what was widely seen as Bangladesh’s first competitive vote in years.

An interim government led by Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus, 85, has been in office since Hasina fled to India in 2024 after widespread protests led largely by young people, who were killed in their hundreds by security forces.

Tarique Rahman, who has never held government office, returned to Bangladesh in December after 17 years of self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom. The 60-year-old has yet to comment on the unofficial results but on Friday, he waved from his car as he left his house in the capital, Dhaka, for a mosque.

In a statement, the BNP asked people to refrain from large celebrations and offer special prayers instead.

“Despite winning … by a large margin of votes, no celebratory procession or rally shall be organised,” the party said in a statement.

‘Litmus test’

The 78-year-old former leader, Hasina, was sentenced to death in absentia for crimes against humanity for the bloody crackdown on protesters during her final months in power, and remains in hiding in India. Her Awami League party was barred from the election.

BNP members have said the party would formally request Hasina’s extradition from India. In its manifesto, the BNP promised to prioritise job creation, protect low-income and marginal households and ensure fair prices to farmers. Tarique Rahman has also promised to revive a stagnant economy, reset ties with countries in the region and crack down on corruption.

Abbas Faiz, an independent South Asia researcher, said the election was a test of how Bangladesh was “ready for democracy”.

“Also, a test of the political parties which have been able to take part in the elections. They have actually understood the aspirations and the wishes of the people of their country for the removal of corrupt practices in the administration and parliament,” Faiz told Al Jazeera.

He added the election is the “litmus test” which puts responsibility on the “shoulders of the new government”.

But Faiz explained that the election would have been “fairer” if all parties, including the Awami League, were allowed to participate.

“But in a way, the problem lies with the Awami League itself, because it did not reimage itself as a party that could be trusted by the general populace in Bangladesh,” he said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the US ambassador to Bangladesh, Brent T Christensen, were among the first to congratulate Rahman on his party’s victory. China’s embassy in Dhaka also congratulated the BNP over its election showing.

The election commission also said some 48 million ‌voters chose “Yes” ‌while about 23 million said “No” in a referendum on constitutional reforms held alongside the election, though there was no official word on the outcome.

The changes include two-term limits for prime ministers and stronger judicial independence and women’s representation, while providing for neutral interim governments during election periods and setting up a second house of the 300-seat parliament.

Fahmida Khatun, an economist and executive director of the Dhaka-based Centre for Policy Dialogue, told Al Jazeera that early signals support the perception of a credible election.

Although heavy security was reported across polling stations, “broadly, the voting was peaceful”, Khatun said, pointing to the voter turnout figure as an indicator of healthy participation.

“This indicates citizens wanted to exercise their voting rights and they wanted to choose their own people,” she added.

Several hundred international observers monitored Thursday’s voting, with the European Union’s Election Observation Mission expected to issue a preliminary report on its findings on Sunday.

FANS of Oscar-nominated actress Cynthia Erivo were delighted when they heard the Wicked star was hitting the West End, but have been left demanding refunds after watching her perform in the flesh.

The A-list actress is currently starring in one-woman show Dracula at the Noël Coward Theatre in London’s West End, which kicked off last week and sees her playing a whopping 23 characters.

However, it seems that Cynthia may have bitten off more than she can chew with the vamp role – as fans have scrutinised her for “reading off of the teleprompter” throughout.

The show is filled with complex filmed sections, which means the autocue is clearly visible on massive screens throughout.

Taking to TikTok to share their frustration, one audience member wrote: “Did I just pay £135 to watch Cynthia Erivo read off a teleprompter?”

Agreeing in the comment section of the clip, another said: “The show was rubbish. After arguing with the ticket office I got a refund.”

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As one theatre-lover asked whether the teleprompter could really be seen from the audience, the original poster responded: ” Saw it with my own eyes unfortunately.

“As did many people in my section who were confused why there were multiple”.

Another user slammed: “Why play 20 roles if you know you can’t memorise a script consisting of 20 roles”.

The early reviews of the show will be a blow after the production budget was believed to be north of £3million, while tickets are as much as £225.

However, it’s not all bad for the Elphaba star, with some fans lauding her performance.

“I was at the first preview and it was genuinely the most incredible thing. Cynthia was epic!!,” said one fan after watching Dracula.

Another said: “My mind was blown”.

A third defended her use of the teleprompter, asking: “Did you want her to memorize 20 thousand words?”

Cynthia is no stranger to the West End and has even won a Tony award for her stage work.

In 2016, the actress won the gong for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her portrayal Celie in the revival of The Color Purple. 

Cynthia is set to star in Dracula until 31 May. 

Ukrainian skeleton racer Heraskevych says 2006 Winter Olympics ‘acts as propoganda for Russia’ after IOC decision.

The Court ⁠of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) began hearing Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych’s appeal on Friday, with a decision expected later in the day on whether he can return to competition at ⁠the Milano Cortina Olympics after his disqualification over his “helmet of remembrance”.

The 27-year-old was removed from the Olympic programme on Thursday when the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation jury ruled that imagery on the helmet — depicting ⁠athletes killed since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 — breached rules on political neutrality at the Games.

Heraskevych is seeking reinstatement or at least a CAS-supervised run, pending a decision by sport’s highest court in advance of the final two runs set for Friday evening.

“I’m pretty positive about how it went,” he told reporters outside the office of CAS ‌in Milan following his appearance before the court. “I hope the truth will prevail, and I know that I was innocent.”

The racer said he was now getting threats from Russians and blamed the IOC’s decision for that.

“I believe that these Games now and this act of the IOC also serves as an instrument of propaganda for Russia,” Heraskevych said. “I still receive a lot of threats from the Russian side.”

The IOC, whose president, Kirsty Coventry, met Heraskevych on Thursday in a last-ditch effort to break the impasse, has ⁠allowed the athlete to keep his credentials despite his disqualification, so he can ⁠stay at the Milano Cortina Games.

“For me, sitting down with Vladyslav and his dad, the conversation was extremely respectful,” Coventry told a news conference on Friday. “After that, I asked the disciplinary commission to re-look at not pulling his accreditation, out of respect for him ⁠and his dad. I thought that was the right thing to do.”

The case has dominated headlines in the first week of the Olympics.

CAS Secretary-General Matthieu Reeb ⁠could not say exactly when they were likely to reach a ⁠decision, despite the tight schedule.

“We hope to have a final decision announced today, but it’s difficult for me to say when,” Reeb told reporters. “Obviously, we know the schedule of the competition, and it is an objective for CAS to be able to run the decision ‌before the start of the race, but we don’t know how long the hearing will take.

“We have only one arbitrator from Germany, and she will be in charge of this case. We have participants attending in ‌person, ‌like the IOC, the athlete is here, the father of the athlete is here.

“We have a representative of IBSF attending remotely. The athlete is also assisted by legal counsel speaking from Kyiv.”