News Desk

For decades, the Stahl House in the Hollywood Hills has been a rarity — a globally known icon of Midcentury Modernism and Los Angeles glamour, still in the hands of the family who commissioned it in 1960. But now it’s for sale.

The asking price is $25 million, which might seem a startling figure for a two-bedroom, 2,300-square-foot home on a snug lot. But that figure might not surprise lovers of modernist architecture who know it as Case Study House #22.

It was designed for the Stahl family by architect Pierre Koenig, captured on black-and-white film by photographer Julius Shulman and has been admired worldwide ever since.

The Architect’s Newspaper called it “one of the world’s most famous buildings.” Los Angeles magazine called Shulman’s image “perhaps the most famous picture ever taken of Los Angeles.”

“There are no comps for the Stahl house. It’s incomparable,” said William Baker, architecture director for the real estate firm the Agency Beverly Hills. The home was included in the company’s fall catalog Nov. 12.

By Friday afternoon, Baker said, he had received hundreds of inquiring calls. In considering offers, Baker said, the family is open to individuals or institutions — “someone who’s going to understand it, honor the house and the story about it.”

The Stahls purchased the lot in 1954 for $13,500 and enlisted Koenig to design the house after other architects were daunted by the slope of the lot. Koenig’s solution was a cantilevered L-shaped structure with walls of steel and glass, a pool and a free-standing stone-faced fireplace between the living and dining areas.

The second bedroom can only be accessed through the primary bedroom — “an efficient use of space” for a family of five, Baker said. The Stahl family has said the home cost $37,500 to build.

Shortly after the home’s completion, photographer Julius Shulman made a black-and-white photograph that became emblematic of the era. It shows the home at night, with two young women sitting inside in a cantilevered corner, its floor-to-ceiling windows revealing the lights of the L.A. Basin glittering in the background.

To bring up the lights, Shulman later told Los Angeles magazine, he used a seven-minute exposure. The resulting image, along with others Shulman made of the house, is now owned by the Getty Research Institute.

In years since, the home has served as a filming location for many TV and film productions, including the 1968 pilot episode of “Columbo” and the movies “Galaxy Quest” (1999) and “Nurse Betty” (2000).

“This home has been the center of our lives for decades, but as we’ve gotten older, it has become increasingly challenging to care for it with the attention and energy it so richly deserves,” the Stahl family announced on its website. Bruce and Shari Stahl, the surviving children of original owners Buck and Carlotta Stahl, added, “[O]ur tour program will continue unchanged for the time being, and we will provide ample notice before any adjustments are made.”

For the last 17 years, the house has been open for tours, most recently on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, starting at $60 per adult during the day, $90 in the evening, with advance booking required and tight limits on photography. However, the Stahl website indicates all tours are sold out through the end of February.

The real estate listing notes that the home is “a protected landmark and the only Case Study House with original family ownership.”

In nominating it for the National Register of Historic Places in 2009, Amanda Stewart of the Los Angeles Conservancy called it “perhaps the most iconic house constructed in the Case Study House Program.” That program, sponsored by John Entenza’s Arts & Architecture magazine from 1945 to 1966, yielded 25 completed homes, today considered top exemplars of Midcentury home design.

“There’s not a lot of these Case Study houses left. I think there are 19 now,” Baker said. (Baker also said he had recently handled the sale of Case Study House #10 in Pasadena to a buyer who lost a home in January’s Pacific Palisades fire.)

The Stahl home stands on Woods Drive just north of West Hollywood’s city limit, about a quarter of a mile from Chateau Marmont.

Many architecturally important Southern California Modern homes have landed in the hands of institutions, including Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House (1921), owned by the city of Los Angeles; the Schindler House (1922), owned by the Friends of the Schindler House and operated by the MAK Center for Art and Architecture; and the Eames House (1949), owned by the nonprofit Eames Foundation. The Sheats-Goldstein Residence, designed by John Lautner in 1961-63 and renovated by Lautner in the 1990s, has been promised by owner James Goldstein to the L.A. County Museum of Art.

Nov. 24 (UPI) — The Chilean city of Valparaíso has the fastest fixed broadband Internet in the world, according to the Speedtest Global Index, which ranks average connection speeds based on user tests.

The port city leads the latest ranking with an average download speed of 398.21 megabits per second, surpassing major cities such as Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, which placed second with 376 Mbps and Lyon, France, which ranked third.

In the United States, Los Angeles is the first city to appear in the ranking, in 11th place, followed by New York in 12th.

Valparaíso ranked ahead of Chile’s capital, Santiago, because it sits in a strategic location for technology companies that use the city as a hub for developing fiber-optic infrastructure for Chile, South America and connections to Oceania.

“Valparaíso is the landing point for submarine cables such as Google’s Curie, América Móvil’s Mistral and SAC, which add capacity and redundancy to the connectivity ecosystem, while Google’s Humboldt transpacific cable with the Chilean government is set to land in Valparaíso in 2027,” Danilo Bórquez, who holds a doctorate in complex systems engineering and is a professor at the Adolfo Ibáñez University’s engineering school, told UPI.

He added that residents of Valparaíso have faster and more stable Wi-Fi.

“With more than 300 Mbps you can have several users online at the same time. Video calls run smoothly and game or photo downloads and backups are much faster. You can also hold classes or use educational platforms without interruptions, with materials downloading in seconds or minutes,” Bórquez said.

At the national level, fiber-optic adoption is high. “In Chile, it accounts for about 70% of fixed connections, which drives the typical speeds measured by Speedtest. There are companies that can migrate or extend fiber to another 4.3 million households in Chile, which increases the base of users with high-speed plans.”

Marco Aravena, director of Modernization and Digital Transformation and a computer engineering professor at the University of Valparaíso, told UPI that service providers come to the city to expand fiber-optic Internet access.

“In Valparaíso you have Las Torpederas beach, where one of the submarine cables that brings fiber-optic connections from other parts of the world comes ashore. We are one of the technology hubs through which internet arrives in Chile. It’s not that users connect directly to that fiber, but they have more direct access to it,” he said.

Experts say these factors make Valparaíso attractive for people who want to work in hybrid or remote roles.

“Valparaíso is becoming a hub that allows people to come live and work here because of its strong connectivity. It also attracts students because there are many universities in the city,” Aravena said.

However, the city has significant investment in technology and networks but little investment in infrastructure or economic development.

According to the latest 2024 Urban Quality of Life Index from the Catholic University, Valparaíso scored medium-high in connectivity and mobility, but low in housing and surroundings and medium-low in health and the environment.

The federal government seeks to develop tailored artificial intelligence (AI) solutions and drive significant cost savings by leveraging AWS’s dedicated capacity.

Amazon is set to invest up to $50bn to expand artificial intelligence (AI) and supercomputing capacity for United States government customers, in one of the largest cloud infrastructure commitments targeted at the public sector.

The e-commerce giant announced the investment on Monday.

The project, expected to break ground in 2026, will add nearly 1.3 gigawatts of new AI and high-performance computing capacity across AWS Top Secret, AWS Secret and AWS GovCloud regions through new data centres equipped with advanced computing and networking systems.

One gigawatt of computing power is roughly enough to power about 750,000 US households on average.

“This investment removes the technology barriers that have held the government back”, Amazon Web Services (AWS) CEO Matt Garman said.

AWS is already a major cloud provider to the US government, serving more than 11,000 government agencies.

Amazon’s initiative aims to provide federal agencies with enhanced access to a comprehensive suite of AWS AI services. These include Amazon SageMaker for model training and customisation, Amazon Bedrock for deploying AI models and agents and foundational models such as Amazon Nova and Anthropic Claude.

The federal government seeks to develop tailored AI solutions and drive significant cost savings by leveraging AWS’s dedicated and expanded capacity.

The push also comes as the US, along with other countries such as China, intensifies efforts to advance AI development and secure leadership in the emerging technology.

Tech companies, including OpenAI, Alphabet and Microsoft, are pouring billions of dollars into building out AI infrastructure, boosting demand for computing power required to support the services.

On Wall Street, Amazon’s stock was up 1.7 percent in midday trading.

Other tech stocks surged amid the recent investments. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, closed in on a $4 trillion valuation on Monday and was set to become only the fourth company to enter the exclusive club. Its stock was up 4.7 percent.

Last week, Nvidia announced expectations of higher fourth-quarter revenue — a month after the tech giant announced a partnership to build supercomputers for the US Department of Energy — a deal that sent the company’s valuation topping $5 trillion.

Nvidia stock was up by 1.8 percent in midday trading.

Malcolm Fairley was at the heart of one of Britain’s largest manhunts in 1984, earning the nickname The Fox.

Malcolm Fairley was the man at the centre of one of Britain’s biggest manhunts but where is he now?

Manhunt: Chasing The Fox is now available to stream on Netflix after the two-part true crime docu-series was released on Sunday, November 23.

Back in 1984, Michael Fairley was a sex predator and burglar who earned the nickname “The Fox” as he lurked inside his victims’ homes, creating makeshift “dens” from blankets and furniture.

He would consume their food, watch their telly and rummage through their belongings while Fairley patiently awaited his victims’ return, often armed with a shotgun.

Six months passed with The Fox still at large and, by the time he was apprehended for crimes including rape and indecent assault in September 1984, he had racked up 81 offences.

Where is Malcolm Fairley now?

Malcolm Fairley was handed six life sentences at St Albans Crown Court in February 1985 for sexual offences, burglaries and possession of a firearm during his crime wave across Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.

Forty-two years post his conviction, Fairley passed away in May 2024, aged 71, at HMP Hull, where he was discovered alone on his prison cell floor.

An inquest concluded that he had died of natural causes, specifically a heart attack.

Fairley had a history of heart issues and was diagnosed with angina in 2019 and was on regular medication.

Fairley was actually up for parole consideration in October 2023 but his application was turned down by the parole board.

As reported by the St Albans and Harpenden Review, during Fairley’s conviction, judge Justice Caulfield told him: “There are degrees of wickedness beyond condemnatory description.

“Your crimes fall within this category. You desecrated and defiled men and women in their own homes… You are a decadent advertisement for evil pornographers.”

Manhunt: Chasing The Fox can be streamed on Netflix.

An Israeli air strike on Beirut has killed Haytham Ali Tabatabai, Hezbollah’s chief of staff.

Tabatabai was the highest-level Hezbollah official targeted by Israel since a ceasefire came into force a year ago between the armed group and Israel’s military.

There have been frequent Israeli breaches of the agreement, but observers say the latest attack is a major escalation.

So why is this strike coming now – and what are the implications?

Presenter:

Imran Khan

Guests:

Joe Macaron – Geopolitical analyst specialising in US strategy in the Middle East

Nadim Houry – Executive director of the Arab Reform Initiative

Alon Pinkas – Former Israeli ambassador and consul general of Israel in New York

European allies of Ukraine have given a cautious welcome to efforts to refine a United States peace proposal initially criticised for appearing to be weighted in favour of Russia’s maximalist demands.

The leaders Germany, Finland, Poland and the United Kingdom were among those agreeing on Monday that progress had been made in the previous day’s talks between Washington and Kyiv in Geneva that yielded what the US and Ukraine called a “refined peace framework”.

Still, the European leaders stressed work remained to be done.

“It was possible to clear up some questions, but we also know that there won’t be peace in Ukraine overnight,” said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, adding that the peace plan initially drafted by the US had been “modified in significant parts”.

He welcomed the “interim result”.

“The next step must be that Russia must come to the table,” he said from Angola, where he was attending a summit between African and European Union countries. “This is a laborious process. It will move forward at most in smaller steps this week. I do not expect there to be a breakthrough this week.”

US President Donald Trump had blindsided Kyiv and its European countries last week with a 28-point peace plan criticised by some as a Russian wish list that called for Ukraine to cede more territory, accept limits on its military and abandon its ambitions to join NATO.

Britain, France and Germany responded by drawing up a counter-proposal that would cease fighting at present front lines, leaving discussions of territory for later, and include a NATO-style US security guarantee for Ukraine, according to a draft seen by Reuters news agency.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that Ukraine’s allies in the “coalition of the willing” – a broad term for about 30 countries supporting Kyiv – will hold talks about the negotiations on Tuesday by video.

The German Foreign Office said that chief diplomats of Germany, Finland, France, the UK, Italy and Poland consulted Monday with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha on further steps toward ending the war.

Also attending the summit in Angola, European Council President Antonio Costa said there was “new momentum” in negotiations.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union would “engage further tomorrow with our partners from the coalition of the willing”.

‘Big progress’

On Monday, Trump indicated Sunday’s talks had gone well.

“Is it really possible that big progress is being made in Peace Talks between Russia and Ukraine??? Don’t believe it until you see it, but something good just may be happening,” the US President wrote on Truth Social.

Trump had given Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is under the doubled pressure of Russia’s continued advance on the front line and a corruption scandal that has tainted his administration, until Thursday to agree to a framework to end the war. He also accused Zelenskyy of showing “zero gratitude” for peace efforts.

Zelenskyy said on X on Monday that he was expecting a full report that evening on the Geneva talks.

“To achieve real peace, more, more is needed. Of course, we all continue working with partners, especially the United States, and look for compromises that strengthen but not weaken us,” he said.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also said on Monday that negotiations were a “delicate matter” since “no one wants to discourage Americans and President Trump from having the United States on our side in this process”.

The Kremlin said it had not been informed of the results of the Geneva talks, but that it was aware that “adjustments” were made to the US proposal.

In a call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin repeated his view that the initial US plan could “serve as a basis for a final peace settlement”.

During the call, Erdogan said Turkiye was ready to support efforts to bring Russia and Ukraine together, including helping to facilitate direct talks between the two.

However, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said the European plan appeared “entirely unconstructive and unsuitable for us”, according to a report in the Russian state-run TASS news agency.

Reporting from Moscow, Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova said Russia was unlikely to accept the European revisions.

“If all Russian conditions and interests are not taken into account, Russia is ready to continue fighting because, according to Vladimir Putin, Russia is pretty successful on the battlefield and it wants to achieve its goals,” she said.

In comments made by video to a meeting at the Swedish Parliament, Zelenskyy had indicated that territory would still be a key sticking point, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of seeking “legal recognition for what he has stolen”.

Grim reality

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has decimated the east of the country, forcing millions to flee their homes, ravaging towns and cities, and killing tens of thousands in Europe’s worst conflict since World War II.

On Monday, the war continued to grind on, with Russian forces keeping up their deadly and devastating strikes on civilian areas while making battlefield advances in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhia region.

Russian drones hit residential areas of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city overnight, killing four people and wounding 13, including two children, authorities said.

On Monday, Russian forces struck the city of Pavlohrad in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region with drones, wounding three people and damaging industrial facilities, according to regional authorities.

That morning, Russian shelling killed a 61-year-old woman in Kherson, according to the military administration of the city in southern Ukraine.

Across the border, Russian air defences downed Ukrainian drones en route to Moscow, forcing three airports serving the capital to pause flights.

A reported Ukrainian drone strike on Sunday knocked power out for thousands of residents near Moscow, a rare reversal of Russian attacks on energy targets that regularly cause power blackouts for millions of Ukrainians.

NICOLE SCHERZINGER has revealed an audience member fell ASLEEP during one of her Disney gigs.

The ex-Pussycat Dolls star, 47, had a hilarious response to the seemingly knackered attendee, whose mid-show nap has gone viral after a clip was shared on social media.

Nicole made light of the seemingly heavy sleeper during her Walt Disney Concert Hall debut in Los Angeles on Thursday last week, where he was filmed wide mouthed as she performed.

The footage, which shows the audience member enjoying a snooze as Nicole’s belting vocals echoed around the venue, was widely shared on Tiktok.

She then jokingly re-posted the footage on her Instagram account, where she captioned it: “Lullaby album pending”.

Her post has already received over 18,000 likes on the platform.

‘I’M A PUSSYCAT’

Nicole Scherzinger breaks silence on ‘diva’ claims & opens up on wedding

SHOCKZ AND SCHERZ

Inside Nicole Scherzinger’s stunning Albert Hall show with rude jokes

British singer Natasha Bedingfield chimed in on the action in the comments section, as she wrote: “I would definitely play that every night”.

While other pals and followers also left equally hilarious responses.

One wrote: “The performance of his dreams”.

While another added: “Bless him. He looks so relaxed bet he woke up for Don’t Cha”.

It comes as the star took the Royal Albert Hall by storm with a one woman show last month.

The performance, on October 6, received a stellar review from The Sun Bizarre’s Jack Hardwick, though she reportedly faced ‘diva’ allegations backstage, according to MailOnline.

She kicked off the evening by making a rude joke about hooking up with her fiancé, former rugby ace Thom Evans.

Dressed in a stunning tight black dress covered in a silver spiderweb pattern, Nicole told the crowd: “I want you to know that this little girl, this little ­Hawaiian, Filipina, Spanish, Chinese, ­Polish and Irish — that’s right, two per cent Irish, that counts — has come a long, long way.”

Smirking, she added: “I also have English in me. His name is Thom. That’s him over there.”

Lusting after her fiance may have left Nicole slightly confused, though. He’s actually Scottish.

The singer met Thom as she worked on The X Factor: Celebrity back in 2019.

The couple then went public with their relationship in 2020, as they made their red carpet debut.

NO WEIGH

McDonald’s twice a day saw me reach 25st… I’ve lost 12st & now exes want me back

WASHOUT

I’m A Celeb in chaos as stars are EVACUATED from camp and filming delayed

Nicole and Thom have been together for four years, and plan to get married following the former rugby ace’s beach proposal in 2023.

The pair seem loved up as ever. and regularly post cute snaps and work out clips together.

Sudan’s army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan blasted a new US-led ceasefire plan as “the worst one presented,” accusing mediators — including the United Arab Emirates — of bias. The RSF says it accepted the truce. Sudan’s 30-month war has killed tens of thousands and is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

Young Palestinians in Gaza have used parts and fuel from abandoned Israeli military vehicles to create a pump to supply clean water for their community.

Legendary graffiti artist Daniel “Chaka” Ramos once claimed he had tagged more than 40,000 locations around Los Angeles.

He can now add seven more. And unlike decades ago — when Ramos had to sneak around in darkness to spray-paint his nickname in large, block letters all over the city and surrounding areas — this time it was fully permissible.

Earlier this month, Nike recruited Ramos to add his signature style to seven murals celebrating the Dodgers’ back-to-back World Series titles, which the team clinched Nov. 1 with a dramatic Game 7 victory against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Ramos, an L.A. native and Dodgers fan, was more than happy to participate, adding his name and slogans crafted by Nike to each piece. He told The Times in an email that it was his “first major project with a corporate giant like Nike.”

A mural of Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto is a temporary addition to the downtown Los Angeles skyline.

(Natasha Campos / Nike)

“They’re one of the most prolific creative forces in the world, and collaborating with them was a milestone for me,” the 53-year-old artist said. “The rush of graffiti can’t really be compared to commissioned or gallery work, but this experience came close.”

The Nike murals, which are scheduled to remain up through Nov. 30, are among the pieces included in a new and quickly expanding online map detailing the locations of Dodgers murals in and around L.A. The map was created by and is curated by Mike Asner, the mastermind behind a similar website that documents the locations of hundreds of Kobe and Gianna Bryant murals around the world.

Asner already has a full-time job as a marketing director in sports and entertainment, as well as maintaining the Bryant mural site. Still, the morning after the Dodgers clinched their second straight championship, Asner knew it was time to get to start tracking more murals.

“I think the reception from the fans and the artists I got to know from the Kobe mural project was very positive,” Asner, who also has an Instagram page highlighting Dodgers murals, said. “And the main thing I realized was it was helping people and providing a service to them and making things easier. … After the Dodgers won back-to-back championships, we started to see murals going up immediately, so I felt it would be the right thing to do again.”

The map currently includes 54 murals, located as far north as Van Nuys and all the way down to Lake Elsinore. One of the standouts for Asner is a sprawling painting by artist Royyal Dog in the Florence-Graham neighborhood in South Los Angeles (2619 Firestone Blvd.). It features portraits of many all-time Dodgers greats, including Tommy Lasorda, Fernando Valenzuela, Orel Hershiser, Clayton Kershaw, Justin Turner, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani.

A sprawling mural by Royyal Dog in South Los Angeles features images of Dodgers greats past and present, including Yoshinobu Yamamoto (second from right) and Freddie Freeman (far right).

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Another of his favorites is one by artist Gustavo Zermeño Jr. on the Eat Fantastic building in Redondo Beach (701 N. Pacific Coast Highway). A tribute to the 2024 World Series championship, the mural features Betts, Freeman and Ohtani but is highlighted by a larger-than-life image of Lakers legend Bryant wearing a basketball jersey with Dodgers colors and lettering.

The Nike-Chaka collaborations represent some of the newer artwork documented on Asner’s map. A Nike spokesperson said the idea was to give Ramos approved spaces in local neighborhoods to express the pride that Dodgers fans are feeling after back-to-back championships.

Two of the murals were painted directly on the walls by L.A.-based artists, with Ramos adding the slogans and his tag afterward. Artist Swank One painted the one at 2844 1st St. in Boyle Heights. It features relief pitcher Roki Sasaki and Smith embracing after the Dodgers clinched the National League pennant, with the slogan “On the Double.”

Graffiti artist Daniel ‘Chaka’ Ramos was commissioned by Nike to apply his tag to several temporary murals around Los Angeles celebrating the Dodgers’ back-to-back World Series championships.

(Natasha Campos / Nike)

Artists Enkone and Keorock painted at 4560 Whittier Blvd. in East L.A. The mural features pitcher Blake Snell, whose postseason included a one-hit, eighth-inning gem in Game 1 of the NLCS, with the slogan “Twice as Nice.” That mural has since been removed.

For four of the others, Nike licensed game photos from Getty Images, overlaid tag designs from Ramos and then had the images blown up and printed as murals.

Those include “Twice in a Blue Moon” in Silverlake (at Hollywood Boulevard and Hillhurst Avenue), featuring Max Muncy and Hyesong Kim; “Repeat Heroes” in Echo Park (at West Temple Street and North Boylston Street), featuring Smith and Sasaki; “Turn Two, Earn Two” in Echo Park (atSunset Boulevard and Marion Avenue), featuring Muncy; and “Dodgers Rule” — a play on Ramos’ longtime slogan “Chaka Rules” — in Westlake/Echo Park (at Beverly Boulevard and Commonwealth Avenue), featuring Sasaki.

The last mural features a photo of Yamamoto letting out a roar. The photo was blown up several stories high and installed several stories higher in downtown L.A. at 213 S. Broadway. Ramos then boarded a suspended scaffold and was lifted high above his hometown, where he spent four to five hours adding his tag and the slogan “Back 2 Back.”

It may not have been as daring as some of the stunts he pulled in the past, but Ramos definitely felt the rush.

“I’ve done graffiti at daredevil heights without a harness before, but nothing at this scale. This time I actually had to gear up with a harness — haha,” he wrote. “It was intense, but a lot of fun.”

The Nike-Chaka murals will be coming down soon, but Asner says he’s excited to see what other new creations might fill out the map in the aftermath of the latest championship run.

“We’re gonna see really amazing artwork going up, and we’re gonna see artwork of Dodgers that haven’t necessarily been on murals. like Will Smith and Yoshinobu Yamamoto,” Asner said. “There’s a lot of really big stars from this series that deserve to get credit for their amazing job. …

“You know, Ohtani was incredible, obviously, Friedman was incredible. But there were a lot of big players that stepped up — Miggy Rojas, right? Huge, huge reason they won. So it’s gonna be great to see what these artists do, and I’m looking forward to seeing it myself.”

Nov. 24 (UPI) — Khol’s on Monday announced interim CEO Michael Bender will be officially named the company’s cheif executive.

Bender will be the Wisconsin-headquartered company’s third CEO in a three-year period in a unanimous move effective Sunday.

“As previously shared, the board engaged an external firm and conducted a comprehensive search,” according to Kohl’s board Chairman John Schlifske.

Schlifske said at the conclusion of its search effort, the board had “enthusiastically” appointed Bender in its unanimous vote to retain Bender.

Declining sales, meanwhile, have been met with leadership issues.

Bender stepped into the CEO role on a temporary basis in May and was appointed after the then-CEO Ashley Buchanan was fired over conflict of interest issues.

“While we’re pleased by our recent progress, we’re deeply motivated to accelerate our transformation — together with our partners, vendors and incredible Kohl’s associates all across the country,” he said in a statement.

It arrived as Kohl’s seeks to spur growth in sales at its more than 1,160 store locations.

Bender, who joined Kohl’s after years in management at other retailers such as Walmart and Victoria’s Secret, has been on the Kohl’s company board since June 2019.

He became board chair last year in May.

Monday’s announcement arrived the day before the company was expected to report its third-quarter fiscal earnings Tuesday.

Talks in Geneva between the US and Ukraine aimed at ending the war with Russia have concluded, with officials from both sides reporting “progress” and an intention to continue working.

However, no details have emerged on how to bridge the considerable divide between Moscow and Kyiv over territorial issues and security guarantees for Ukraine.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the “important steps” that had been made but warned that the “main problem” facing the peace talks was Vladimir Putin’s demand for legal recognition of Russian-occupied territories in eastern Ukraine.

“This would break the principle of territorial integrity and sovereignty,” he said, highlighting concerns that Moscow could be rewarded for its aggression with land it seized by force.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump suggested on social media that “something good just may be happening”, but with the caveat: “Don’t believe it until you see it.”

The Geneva talks did not involve Russian representatives and the Kremlin said it hadn’t received any information on the outcome of the discussions. Spokesman Dmitri Peskov noted Moscow was aware that “adjustments” were made to the plan that had been welcomed by Putin.

A 28-point peace plan drafted by US and Russian officials was presented to Ukraine last week. Several of its elements seemed heavily geared towards Moscow’s longstanding demands, sparking consternation in Kyiv and its European allies.

Comments by Trump which suggested Ukraine had until Thursday to accept the deal or face serious cuts in US support contributed to creating a sense of urgency across Europe and talks between Ukraine and US officials were hastily convened.

By Sunday evening US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a “tremendous” amount of progress had been made at the talks. “I honestly believe we’ll get there,” he said.

But some European leaders have been more cautious. “I am not sure if we are closer to peace,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said discussions would be a “lengthy, long-lasting process” and that he did not expect any breakthroughs this week.

Europeans were left scrambling for a seat at the table last week, after they were seemingly caught unawares when the US draft peace plan was presented.

A counter-proposal – reportedly drafted by Britain, France and Germany – excluded any recognition of Russian-held regions, raised Ukraine’s allowed army size and left the door open to Ukraine joining Nato.

Rubio said he was not aware of the plan and on Monday Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov rubbished it as “completely unconstructive”.

Since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia has consistently demanded full Ukrainian withdrawal from the whole of the eastern Donbas region.

But Kyiv and its European partners are weary of any settlement which would jeopardise the principles of territorial integrity and sovereignty – and Zelensky has repeatedly warned that giving up the Donbas would leave Ukraine vulnerable to Russian attacks in the future.

Despite last week’s frenzied diplomacy the next steps in the process are unclear.

The expectation is that Zelensky will soon personally speak to Trump, after which a new draft peace plan will be eventually presented to Moscow. There were no plans for a meeting this week between Russian and US negotiators, the Kremlin said.

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said there was still work to do for a “just and lasting peace” in Ukraine. A virtual “coalition of the willing” meeting will take place on Tuesday to discuss developments, he added.

Netflix’s The Widower starring Reece Shearsmith tells the true story of Malcolm Webster, the nurse who murdered his wife and attempted to kill his second

The Widower, originally aired on ITV in 2014, has just landed on Netflix and is already scaling the streaming giant’s most-watched chart.

The series of Netflix, which is home to a number of true crime shows, chronicles the life and heinous acts of Malcolm Webster (portrayed by Reese Shearsmith), a Surrey nurse who murdered his first wife and tried to kill his second.

Webster, now 66, was known for pursuing relationships with women to boost his income.

In 1993, he wed Claire Morris from Aberdeenshire, and during their marriage, he drugged her.

In May 1994, he drugged Claire before orchestrating a car crash with her in the passenger seat and setting the vehicle ablaze, making it appear as an accident.

In 1997, he married oncology nurse Felicity Drumm in New Zealand, with whom he had a son.

He staged a second car crash in 1999 and was accused of trying to murder her to fraudulently claim £750,000 from nine insurance policies.

Webster also planned to marry Simone Banarjee, having deceived her into believing he had terminal leukaemia.

She altered her will, leaving her entire estate to Webster, but police alerted her about her fiancé’s past and revealed he already had a wife and son.

In July 2011, he was sentenced to at least 30 years in prison, where he remains today.

The former nurse was convicted of murdering Claire Morris and attempting to murder Felicity Drumm.

These crimes were part of a scheme to claim nearly £1m in life assurance money.

In 2016, he tried to get his case referred back to the High Court, but the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission denied his application.

Previously in 2013, his appeal was dismissed when judges rejected his claim of being a victim of a miscarriage of justice.

The Widower is available on Netflix.

Who: Chelsea vs Barcelona
What: League Phase, UEFA Champions League
Where: Stamford Bridge, London, UK
When: Tuesday at 8pm (20:00 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 17:00 GMT in advance of our live text commentary stream.

Chelsea will host Barcelona at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday in a hugely consequential Matchday 5 League Phase clash in the UEFA Champions League (UCL).

Chelsea and Barcelona, both former Champions League winners, head into this highly anticipated showdown with an identical seven points from their opening four fixtures, making this match pivotal as both sides aim to climb the standings in search of automatic top-eight qualification into the last-16 of the competition.

The star-studded clubs are riding recent hot streaks with Chelsea, bolstered by a trio of recent wins against Tottenham, Wolves and Burnley, closing in on the Premier League’s top spot behind table-topping Arsenal, while reigning La Liga champions Barcelona are again competing with archrival Real Madrid for the domestic title.

Here is all to know before their epic clash at Stamford Bridge:

What happened in Chelsea’s last Premier League match?

Goals from Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez earned Chelsea a 2-0 victory at lowly Burnley on Saturday.

The result moved the Blues past Manchester City and into outright second on the English Premier League (EPL) table behind leaders Arsenal.

Enzo Maresca’s side will clash with the Gunners next Sunday in a top-of-the-table premiership showdown at Stamford Bridge.

What happened in Barcelona’s last La Liga match?

Barcelona secured a dominant 4-0 victory over 10-man Athletic Bilbao on Saturday in their first match back at their home venue Nou Camp since May 2023.

Ferran Torres had two goals for Barca with Robert Lewandowski and Fermin Lopez also adding to the scoresheet.

Athletic lost midfielder Oihan Sancet to a red card in the 54th minute after he was sent off for a crude challenge on Lopez.

Lewandowski, who scored the opener, said he will remember kicking the first goal at the team’s rebuilt Nou Camp stadium “forever”.

“Today was a special day, not only for me but for everyone. Because of this I’m very happy that I could score the first goal, coming back to the Nou Camp,” Lewandowski told Barca One.

“I have so much experience playing in different stadiums, but here is something special. I’m very proud of myself and also of the team because we did a great job today and we won.”

What happened in the last UCL League Phase match for both clubs?

Chelsea were held to a shock 2-2 draw by Azerbaijan side Qarabag in their last outing on November 5, while Barcelona had to rally from a goal down and split the points in a 3-3 result against Club Brugge in Belgium.

Where do Chelsea and Barcelona sit on the UCL League Phase standings?

Barcelona are currently 11th on the UEFA League Phase standings with Chelsea right behind in 12th position. Both sides have two wins, one draw and one loss from their four fixtures.

Teams need to finish the League Phase standings in a top-eight position to secure direct qualification into the round of 16. Those clubs that finish in ladder positions 9-to-24 will enter into a home and away playoffs to reach the last-16.

Where did Barcelona finish in last season’s Champions League?

The Catalan club were widely expected to reach the Champions League final but were eliminated by Inter, who staged a late comeback in the second leg of their record-equalling semifinal.

Palmer out of Barca clash

Chelsea star Cole Palmer is close to returning but will miss the UCL clash with Barcelona before the top-of-the-table Premier League showdown against Arsenal, Maresca said on Monday.

Palmer, who suffered a groin injury in August before returning with back-to-back goals against Brentford and Bayern Munich, was nearing his comeback, but an accident at home delayed his return.

The 23-year-old England international stubbed his toe on a door during the night, resulting in a fracture.

“Cole is wearing a (protective) boot,” Maresca told reporters.

“We don’t know when he will be back but for sure it will be soon. He’s already on the pitch, he’s already touching the ball and the feeling (for him) is good.

“I don’t think he will be available for these two games (Barca and Arsenal), but he is doing well.”

Barca’s Lopez showing summer suitors Chelsea what they missed

Fermin Lopez, 22, is establishing himself as a regular starter for manager Hansi Flick’s side, even though outside of Spain he is not yet a household name.

Chelsea know plenty about Lopez, though, having had a 40-million-euro ($46m) bid rebuffed by Barcelona in the summer. In Tuesday’s Champions League fixture, the attacking midfielder will be one of their main goal threats.

Flick was eager to keep Lopez, while Barca were open to selling him at the right price, which Chelsea did not reach.

“I’m convinced that he will stay, but in the end I don’t know what happens. We have to wait. I am really happy when the market is closed,” said Flick in August, eventually getting his wish.

Despite his improvement and obvious utility for Barca – or maybe even because of it – he is an asset the Catalan giants could cash in.

If he shines at Stamford Bridge, it would be no surprise to see Chelsea’s interest in the midfielder reawaken and his price tag rise further.

Form guide: last five matches

Chelsea: W-L-W-W-W (Premier League, most recent result last)

Barcelona: W-L-W-W-W (La Liga, most recent result last)

Head-to-head: Chelsea-Barcelona

The two clubs have faced each other 14 times, with both teams winning four times while six ended as draws.

The sides last met at the round of 16 in the 2017-2018 Champions League with Barcelona progressing to the quarterfinals 4-1 on aggregate. Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi was the standout in the second leg with two goals – including his 100th UEFA Champions League goal – on the night.

Chelsea’s team news

Oft-injured Reece James was taken off at halftime of Saturday’s EPL fixture at Burnley, but the Chelsea captain’s early finish was preplanned and not the result of a new injury, according to Maresca, so he is expected to be available for team selection.

“The idea was to manage Reece,” said Maresca. “This is the reason why he played 45 minutes [only]. It was planned.

“It’s not easy, because me personally, I would like Reece to continue, but we need to protect Reece.”

French centre-back Wesley Fofana, who was omitted from the matchday squad against Burnley, is believed to be match fit ahead of the Barca clash.

Levi Colwill (knee), Dario Essugo (thigh) and Romeo Lavia (thigh) all remain sidelined for the Blues.

Chelsea’s possible starting XI

Sanchez (Goalkeeper); James, Adarabioyo, Chalobah, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Neto, Pedro, Garnacho; Delap

Barcelona’s team news

On-loan Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford missed Barca’s 4-0 victory over Bilbao on Saturday with illness but was back on the training pitch the following day, prompting rumours that he might suit up against Chelsea on Tuesday.

First-choice goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen will miss the fixture as he continues to recover from a back issue. Joan Garcia will stand in for the German.

Pedri (hamstring) and Gavi (knee) are unavailable for the La Liga champions.

Dynamic winger Raphinha, who returned on the weekend from a hamstring injury, is a strong possibility to regain his starting role against the Blues.

Barcelona’s possible starting XI

J. Garcia (goalkeeper); Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Casado, De Jong; Yamal, Lopez, Torres; Lewandowski

A POP superstar left fans doing a double take after an unrecognizable throwback snap resurfaced online.

The songstress, now 26, cut a completely different look as she posed with singer pal Zara Larsson, 27, at a swanky event in Italy.

Gone were her signature sexy stage outfits and platform heels in favour of a more demure black suit and point-toe heels.

And Sabrina Carpenter fans simply couldn’t believe the Espresso songstress’ appearance in the seven-year-old image.

The American’s blonde locks were much longer and in a darker shade, tied up in a high ponytail.

She added a flick of black eyeliner and struck a perfect pose for her snaps at Milan Fashion Week in 2018.

read more sabrina carpenter

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

Sabrina Carpenter returns to acting in new ‘Alice in Wonderland’ film

One fan on Reddit was quick remark on her “wild” rebranding, which has seen her switch up her look with mid-length platinum blonde hair and sexy outfits.

She’s become more daring with her fashion choices, stripping off for magazine shoots and was even forced to defend herself against backlash on her latest album cover which saw her on all fours.

A pop fan has now posted on the forum afte the old image resurfaced: “Sabrina’s rebranding is wild! And it’s not a critique, before someone comes for me. She found her aesthetic.”

Another posted: “Pre-Short N Sweet (aka pre-bangs + glam) Sabrina is wild to look back on.”

A third wrote: “She looks way different but I think this is one of the rare cases where it’s really just aging (not aging as in “old” but as in “aging into adulthood”) and the bangs.”

Another said of the pair: “Yes styling is EVERYTHING! Went from cute high school girls to SUPERSTARS.”

One surmised: “Sabrina looks so pretty this way, I love her stage persona too, but this fits her so well.”

Sabrina first found fame in the acting world, on the Disney TV show Boy Meets World reboot, Girl Meets World.

She played Maya Hart on the series for three years, from 2014 to 2017.

Sabrina Carpenter and Barry Keoghan relationship timeline

Barry and Sabrina first sparked dating rumors in December 2023

They were first spotted having a dinner date at a restaurant in Los Angeles in December 2023.

Since then, Sabrina and Barry have been repeatedly documented going on dates and nights together.

In March 2024, Barry was seen cheering on Sabrina during her set when she opened for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in Singapore.

After her set, Sabrina was seen running off stage and into Barry’s arms in the crowd.

The two were also seen standing shoulder-to-shoulder when Taylor took to the stage.

A month later, Barry was spotted supporting Sabrina once more during her Coachella set.

Her last major film roles were in 2022, where she starred in Amazon Prime‘s Emergency and Tall Girl 2 for Netflix.

Espresso was released in 2024, and she has focussed on pop stardom since.

ON SCREEN

Yet the Manchild singer will soon return to her screen roots in the new Alice In Wonderland musical movie.

She is also co-producing the film alongside Oscar-nominated producer Marc Platt, who has worked on music-driven projects such as Wicked and La La Land. 

Sabrina will star in the titular role for an upcoming Alice in Wonderland movie that has been greenly by Universal Pictures, the studio confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. 

While the project remains untitled, it will be based on the literary classic, Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll.

Lorene Scafaria, who wrote and directed the critically acclaimed film Hustlers, will also direct and write this feature.

NO WEIGH

McDonald’s twice a day saw me reach 25st… I’ve lost 12st & now exes want me back

WASHOUT

I’m A Celeb in chaos as stars are EVACUATED from camp and filming delayed

The beloved story of Alice in Wonderland follows the main character, Alice, who falls down a rabbit hole and finds herself in a world of nonsense and mischief.

The adventures that follow lead her to meet characters who have become pop culture icons, such as the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit, and the Queen of Hearts.

Drug cartels in Mexico are recruiting children and forcing them to become professional killers. Rights groups warn hundreds of thousands of minors are at risk. Al Jazeera’s John Holman gained rare access to speak to child hitmen committing murder for money.

In 2017, Al Jazeera broadcast a documentary by Clover Films that sought to highlight the true origins of the Syrian civil war. By that year, international sympathy for the rebel cause had diminished dramatically as Western media adopted the accepted mainstream position that groups such as al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front and even ISIL (ISIS) had been behind the revolution. (ISIL didn’t even exist at the time of the uprising.) The Boy Who Started the Syrian War would change the narrative.

Now, with the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime along with its army and militia, the Shabiha, it’s time to meet once again with the surviving characters from the original film. One of those is Mouawiya Syasneh, who had laid down his school satchel and picked up a gun to fight with the Free Syrian Army.

On a sunny Saturday afternoon last month in Los Angeles, excited fans opted for a dark studio at CBS Television City where a reunion with the beloved Barone family of “Everybody Loves Raymond” would take place. Devotees of the Emmy-winning sitcom gathered for a live taping of a 90-minute 30th anniversary special, airing Monday on CBS.

“This is a bucket list-type thing,” said longtime fan Kim Brazier, who flew in from Gulfport, Miss. “I only watch ‘Everybody Loves Raymond.’ I have it on repeat. I watch it when I’m getting ready in the morning, and it’s kind of my lullaby when I go to bed.”

The popular sitcom, which ran for nine seasons from 1996 to 2005, was known for its hilarious depiction of family dynamics. Ray Romano starred as sportswriter Ray Barone, married to Debra (Patricia Heaton). The couple raised three young children while navigating marital squabbles, awkward parenting moments and constant meddling from Ray’s parents, Marie and Frank (Doris Roberts and Peter Boyle), who lived across the street with Ray’s jealous, downtrodden police officer brother Robert (Brad Garrett).

Inside the reunion, the atmosphere brimmed with nostalgia as Romano and the show’s creator, Phil Rosenthal, hosted the live taping from the living room they once brought into millions of households each week. The set was meticulously recreated for the occasion, including the Barone couch, which Romano now owns and had transported from his home for the occasion.

Cast members were brought out one by one throughout the afternoon, each remaining on stage as the panel grew, including Rosenthal’s wife, Monica Horan, who played Robert’s longtime love interest, Amy.

Ray Romano and Phil Rosenthal walking to the stage for the 30th anniversary reunion, which was taped before a live studio audience, just like the series.

(Matthew Taplinger / CBS)

The group reminisced about working with one another and shared their favorite episodes, accompanied by clips on surrounding screens that included a reel of outtakes of funny lines improvised by Romano and Garrett cracking up their fellow castmates. As each segment played, Rosenthal and the cast watched, fully absorbed with smiles across their faces, while the audience sat rapt, revisiting these cherished moments.

A week and a half later, in a Zoom interview with Rosenthal and Romano, the latter reflected on returning to the set. “It was emotional and surreal. At first it felt so strange to be back, like we went back in time,” Romano says. “And then after we were joking and comfortable for a while, it felt like we never left.”

Just like the reunion, the original series was filmed in front of a live studio audience, a conscious choice to capture the energy in the room. “We had me, a comedian, and comedy writers, and we wanted to hear the laughs,” Romano says.

And the laughs were plentiful. Rosenthal told the crowd at the taping that the cast often had to pause after punchlines to let laughter die down. Occasionally, he said, the laughter went on so long it had to be edited out of episodes. The only time the audience wasn’t in stitches was when Romano literally needed them. He once sliced open his hand during a scene where he was cutting cheese; Romano went to the hospital to be sewn up and then returned to finish the episode.

From the stage, Romano recounted the show’s origin story, which dates back to his 1995 stand-up comedy debut on the “Late Show With David Letterman.” His five-minute routine focused on parenting his toddlers and losing his perspective on adult-oriented humor. He noted that the last joke he’d written dated back to when his twin sons were babies — a bit about jingling his car keys to make them laugh — which he physically demonstrated during the appearance. After the “Late Show” crowd laughed, he pushed the bit one step further. “I’m glad you laughed at that,” he said. “If you didn’t, I would’ve had to come down there and rub my nose in your bellies.”

The cast of “Everybody Loves Raymond” during the taping of the finale episode of the series, which aired in May 2005.

(Richard Cartright / CBS / AP)

Meanwhile, Rosenthal, then a writer on ABC’s sitcom “Coach,” was at home with Horan watching Romano’s set. It immediately resonated with the couple. “It made me laugh so hard,” he says. “We had just had a kid, and the material was eminently relatable.”

Two weeks later, when Letterman’s production company offered Romano a development deal, he met with Rosenthal, and the two began shaping the sitcom, blending their sensibilities. Rosenthal says the resulting show became a hybrid of his sitcom experience with Romano’s sensibility that everything must be rooted in truth. “It had to feel real and honest,” Rosenthal says. “And you don’t do anything just to get a laugh. We had a rule in the writers room: ‘Could this happen?’ Are we stretching credibility so far that we break the bond of relatability with the audience?”

They developed the show around their own lives, modeling the Barone children after Romano’s, and incorporating material from his Letterman routine. The character of Robert was based on Romano’s real-life brother, a New York City police officer whose bitter quip when Romano won an award — “Everybody loves Raymond” — became both the show’s title and a line of dialogue his fictional counterpart delivered in the pilot.

Rosenthal contributed his own family inspiration too, basing Ray’s TV mom largely on his mother, with aspects of Romano’s. At the anniversary special, he told the audience with a wink that his mother had always insisted the character was “an exaggeration.”

Phil Rosenthal, left, and Ray Romano on the recreated set of “Everybody Loves Raymond.” (Sonja Flemming / CBS)

Brad Garrett, left, played Ray’s brother and Patricia Heaton, played Debra, Ray’s wife in the series. (Sonja Flemming / CBS)

When it came time for casting, approximately 20 women auditioned to play Ray’s wife, but Heaton nailed it, with a bold choice setting her apart. She was the only actor who actually kissed Romano during the audition, while the rest just mimed it. It wasn’t until the reunion, however, that Heaton learned onstage that she was the only one who’d done so.

The reunion also revealed that Garrett’s casting as Robert was a surprise to Romano. His real brother is shorter than he is, while Garrett is 6 feet 8, prompting Romano to joke that two brothers had been cast at once.

Rosenthal noted that to avoid the appearance of nepotism, he never suggested his wife for the role of Amy. Rather, it was a writer on the show who had put her name forward.

The reunion also honored Boyle and Roberts, who died in 2006 and 2016, respectively. The taping coincided with what would have been Boyle’s 90th birthday, and his wife, Lorraine, was in the audience. Romano shared that Boyle was nothing like his grumpy character Frank. During the first rehearsal, Boyle gave the nervous Romano advice: “It’s just like water. Just let it flow.”

Roberts, meanwhile, was the show’s matriarch on- and off-screen, known for making pots of soup in her dressing room and looking out for the cast. Horan recalled Roberts as professional and protective, pointing out whenever anyone was unwittingly blocking Horan’s light in a shot.

Frank and Marie, played by Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts, were remembered during the reunion special. The taping coincided with what would have been Boyle’s 90th birthday.

(Robert Voets / CBS)

Later in the afternoon came another poignant moment when Madylin Sweeten and younger brother Sullivan Sweeten, who played Ray and Debra’s children, Ally and Michael Barone, joined the panel. Madylin was 5 when the show began, while Sullivan was 16 months old. His twin brother, Sawyer, who also appeared on the show as Michael’s twin, Geoffrey, died by suicide in 2015, just before his 20th birthday.

Speaking about his late brother, Sullivan said that he tries to stay positive by reflecting on his best moments with Sawyer, sharing that most of them happened on the set of the show. Madylin said that she and Sullivan work with the National Suicide Prevention Hotline, noting that most who seek help do survive.

Now 34 and a mom herself, Madylin reflected on growing up on a hit series. At the time, she was too young to fully grasp its importance, revealing that she remembers being upset one year when she couldn’t participate in a school play because she had to be on set. As scenes of the Barone children played above the stage, she wiped away tears at the sight of Sawyer as a child.

It was easy to see what made the cast feel like a real family. Their chemistry filled the studio once again, and their connection endures.

“Imagine spending nine years with people and then staying in touch,” Rosenthal says. “Phil and I see each other all the time,” Romano adds, before Rosenthal chimes in: “Our families vacation together.” They shared that they’d had lunch with the show’s writers earlier that day.

The affection among the cast is matched only by the devotion of the fans who filled the studio. Throughout the taping, the audience erupted in laughter, cheers and applause, a testament to how deeply the show remains embedded in people’s lives. Even 20 years after its finale, everybody still loves Raymond.

“It was the ultimate honor,” Rosenthal says of the enthusiastic fans who showed up for the reunion. “We can die happy that we made something of lasting value.”

Asked why they’ve never considered a reboot, Romano is clear. “This was our legacy, this was our baby, and we wanted to treat it right,” he says. “We wanted to leave on a high note and go out on top, and that’s what we did.”

Nov. 24 (UPI) — At least three officers of Pakistan’s Federal Constabulary were killed Monday and 12 people, including civilians, were injured in a suicide bombing at the force’s regional headquarters in Peshawar in the northwest of the country.

Two loud explosions were heard coming from the compound at about 8:10 a.m. local time, with an official saying five security officials and seven civilians had been injured.

Calling it a “foiled terrorist plot,” authorities said two armed attackers were shot dead before they were able to enter the building.

“Initially, three militants tried to attack the headquarters. One terrorist blew himself up at the gate, while two others tried to enter the premises but were gunned down by FC personnel,” Peshawar Capital City Police Officer Mian Saeed Ahmad told reporters.

Ahmad said authorities were already on high alert due to the security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the province where Peshawar is located, which borders Afghanistan, and where the Pakistan Taliban, also known as Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistan, has carried out a series of deadly attacks.

A TTP splinter group called Jamatul Ahrar said it carried out the attack.

“The perpetrators of this incident should be identified as soon as possible and brought to justice,” said Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The Federal Constabulary is a national paramilitary police force responsible for internal security as well as tackling organized crime and drug production and trafficking.

Monday’s attack came two weeks after a suicide bomber killed 12 people and injured 36 after detonating a car bomb outside a court building in Islamabad, which Pakistan Defense Minister Khawaja Asim blamed on the TTP and its backers in Afghanistan.

The government said the Taliban regime in Kabul backs the TTP, which has been waging a campaign of violence against Shiite Muslims in Pakistan and launching attacks against Pakistan’s military and government in a bid to replace the secular state with an Islamic one.

Tensions escalated in early October when Pakistan mounted airstrikes on TTP targets in Kabul and three other cities. The Taliban responded by launching deadly attacks along its border with Pakistan in which 23 soldiers were killed and at least 29 were injured.

Pakistan carried out retaliatory strikes that officials said killed 200 Taliban-backed Afghan militants and claimed Pakistani forces had destroyed Afghan terrorist training camps.

In September, six soldiers were killed in an attack on an FC compound in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district, 100 miles southwest of Peshawar. Five militants that authorities said belonged to the TTP were killed in the ensuing firefight.

The TTP is proscribed by the United States and Britain, among others, as a foreign terror organization.

Leading tech companies are in a race to release and improve artificial intelligence (AI) products, leaving users in the United States to puzzle out how much of their personal data could be extracted to train AI tools.

Meta (which owns Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp), Google and LinkedIn have all rolled out AI app features that have the capacity to draw on users’ public profiles or emails. Google and LinkedIn offer users ways to opt out of the AI features, while Meta’s AI tool provides no means for its users to say “no, thanks.”

“Gmail just flipped a dangerous switch on October 10, 2025 and 99% of Gmail users have no idea,” a November 8 Instagram post said.

Posts warned that the platforms’ AI tool rollouts make most private information available for tech company harvesting. “Every conversation, every photo, every voice message, fed into AI and used for profit,” a November 9 X video about Meta said.

Starting December 16th, Meta will start feeding all your data to AI. This video is an instructional on how to turn these settings off. pic.twitter.com/BUJagaMr5b

— David Wolfe (@DavidWolfe) November 9, 2025

Technology companies are rarely fully transparent when it comes to the user data they collect and what they use it for, Krystyna Sikora, a research analyst for the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund, told PolitiFact.

“Unsurprisingly, this lack of transparency can create significant confusion that in turn can lead to fear mongering and the spread of false information about what is and is not permissible,” Sikora said.

The best – if tedious – way for people to know and protect their privacy rights is to read the terms and conditions, since it often explicitly outlines how the data will be used and whether it will be shared with third parties, Sikora said. The US doesn’t have any comprehensive federal laws on data privacy for technology companies.

Here’s what we learned about how each platform’s AI is handling your data:

Social media claim: “Starting December 16th Meta will start reading your DMs, every conversation, every photo, every voice message fed into AI and used for profit.” – November 9 X post with 1.6 million views as of November 19.

The facts: Meta announced a new policy to take effect December 16, but that policy alone does not result in your direct messages, photos and voice messages being fed into its AI tool. The policy involves how Meta will customise users’ content and advertisements based on how they interact with Meta AI.

For example, if a user interacts with Meta’s AI chatbot about hiking, Meta might start showing that person recommendations for hiking groups or hiking boots.

But that doesn’t mean your data isn’t being used for AI purposes. Although Meta doesn’t use people’s private messages in Instagram, WhatsApp or Messenger to train its AI, it does collect user content that is set to “public” mode. This can include photos, posts, comments and reels. If the user’s Meta AI conversations involve religious views, sexual orientation and racial or ethnic origin, Meta says the system is designed to avoid parlaying these interactions into ads. If users ask questions of Meta AI using its voice feature, Meta says the AI tool will use the microphone only when users give permission.

There is a caveat: The tech company says its AI might use information about people who don’t have Meta product accounts if their information appears in other users’ public posts. For example, if a Meta user mentions a non-user in a public image caption, that photo and caption could be used to train Meta AI.

Can you opt out? No. If you are using Meta platforms in these ways – making some of your posts public and using the chatbot – your data could be used by Meta AI. There is no way to deactivate Meta AI in Instagram, Facebook or Threads. WhatsApp users can deactivate the option to talk with Meta AI in their chats, but this option is available only per chat, meaning that you must deactivate the option in each chat’s advanced privacy settings.

The X post inaccurately advised people to submit this form to opt out. But the form is simply a way for users to report when Meta’s AI supplies an answer that contains someone’s personal information.

David Evan Harris, who teaches AI ethics at the University of California, Berkeley, told PolitiFact that because the US has no federal regulations about privacy and AI training, people have no standardised legal right to opt out of AI training in the way that people in countries such as Switzerland, the United Kingdom and South Korea do.

Even when social media platforms provide opt-out options for US customers, it’s often difficult to find the settings to do so, Harris said.

Deleting your Meta accounts does not eliminate the possibility of Meta AI using your past public data, Meta’s spokesperson said.

Google

Social media claim: “Did you know Google just gave its AI access to read every email in your Gmail – even your attachments?”  – November 8 Instagram post with more than 146,000 likes as of November 19.

The facts: Google has a host of products that interact with private data in different ways. Google announced on November 5 that its AI product, Gemini Deep Research, can connect to users’ other Google products, including Gmail, Drive and Chat. But, as Forbes reported, users must first give permission to employ the tool.

Users who want to allow Gemini Deep Research to have access to private information across products can choose what data sources to employ, including Google search, Gmail, Drive and Google Chat.

There are other ways Google collects people’s data:

• Through searches and prompts in Gemini apps, including its mobile app, Gemini in Chrome or Gemini in another web browser
• Any video or photo uploads that the user entered into Gemini
• Through interactions with apps such as YouTube and Spotify, if users give permission
• Through message and phone calls apps, including call logs and message logs, if users give permission.

A Google spokesperson told PolitiFact the company doesn’t use this information to train AI when registered users are under age 13.

Google can also access people’s data when they have smart features activated in their Gmail and Google Workplace settings (that are automatically on in the US), which gives Google consent to draw on email content and user activity data to help users compose emails or suggest Google Calendar events. With optional paid subscriptions, users can access additional AI features, including in-app Gemini summaries.

Turning off Gmail’s smart features can stop Google’s AI from accessing Gmail, but it doesn’t stop Google’s access to the Gemini app, which users can either download or access in a browser.

A California lawsuit accuses Gemini of spying on users’ private communications. The lawsuit says an October policy change gives Gemini default access to private content such as emails and attachments in people’s Gmail, Chat and Meet. Before October, users had to manually allow Gemini to access the private content; now, users must go into their privacy settings to disable it. The lawsuit claims the Google policy update violates California’s 1967 Invasion of Privacy Act, a law that prohibits unauthorised wiretapping and recording confidential communications without consent.

Can you opt out? If people don’t want their conversations used to train Google AI, they can use “temporary” chats or chat without signing into their Gemini accounts. Doing that means Gemini can’t save a person’s chat history, a Google spokesperson said. Otherwise, opting out of having Google’s AI in Gmail, Drive and Meet requires turning off smart features in settings.

LinkedIn

Social media claim: Starting November 3, “LinkedIn will begin using your data to train AI.” – November 2 Instagram post with more than 18,000 likes as of November 19.

The facts: LinkedIn, owned by Microsoft, announced on its website that starting November 3, it will use some US members’ data to train content-generating AI models.

The data the AI collects includes details from people’s profiles and public content that users post.

The training does not draw on information from people’s private messages, LinkedIn said.

LinkedIn also said, aside from the AI data access, that Microsoft started receiving information about LinkedIn members – such as profile information, feed activity and ad engagement – as of November 3 in order to target users with personalised ads.

Can you opt out? Yes. Autumn Cobb, a LinkedIn spokesperson, confirmed to PolitiFact that members can opt out if they don’t want their content used for AI training purposes. They can also opt out of receiving targeted, personalised ads.

To remove your data from being used for training purposes, go to data privacy, click on the option that says “Data for Generative AI Improvement” and then turn off the feature that says “use my data for training content creation AI models.”

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The Harry Potter star shared an outrageous story about Arnold Schwarzenegger on Lorraine, which left many fans flocking to social media to share their horror

Miriam Margolyes left fans of Lorraine horrified after she told a story about Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Harry Potter star shared that she was working on a film with the Hollywood actor when he chose to “punish” her – by directing a fart at her face.

“Is it true he farted in your face?” Lorraine asked whilst talking about the stories Miriam shares in her new book, The Little Book of Miriam. The star said it was true but added that it was in retribution for her farting first.

“I farted first but we were in rehearsal. He farted when we were actually in performance. And it was not a nice fart. Some farts are sweeter than others, but his was not.”

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She added that she felt her purposefully aimed it at her as a form of punishment. She said: “He punished me. He directed it at me. I really didn’t like it.”

Fans of Lorraine were horrified that Miriam would tell such a story, taking to X to share their feelings. One simply wrote: “Miriam Margolyes. [three vomit emojis]”. Another added: “OMG that AWFUL woman.”

A third suggested this topic was a common occurrence for the actress: “Yay, we managed three minutes without ‘National Treasure’ Miriam Margolyes doing her usual farting bit. See ya.”

Others found it funny, with one saying they enjoyed how un-Christmassy she was being: “Miriam is not on message with ITV daytime Christmas grift and I’m here for it.”

Someone else added that they had been reading some of her books and like how shocking she was: “I’ve been reading Miriam Margolyes books, she is such a shocker but a good laugh.”

Miriam worked with Arnold on the film End Of Days in 1999. The film follows Arnold’s Detective Jericho Crane becomes part of the security detail for a banker who has been possessed by the Devil. Miriam played Mabel, a disciple of the Devil who was raising a young woman, played by Robin Tunney, to be a wife for him.

She told The i Paper that she did not have positive feelings about Arnold after the incident, but forgave him earlier this year when he spoke out against Donald Trump.

In September, she said: ““I forgave Arnie only last week, because I heard him speaking out against Trump. I thought, ‘Well, good for you. You’ve come to your senses!’”

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