World leaders broke with tradition and quickly adopted a new declaration at the start of the G20 summit, despite pressure from the Trump administration to avoid a leaders’ declaration in the absence of an American delegation.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
The operation begins in the subway tunnel, at Jungfernheide station, in the west of Berlin. Around 30 soldiers storm down the staircase, onto the platform, then jump onto the tracks. A machine-gunner sets up his weapon on the platform and puts his sights on the stationary subway train. The platoon leader signals his soldiers to approach the train. There are screams from the rear compartment, and suddenly the tunnel is filled with smoke. The sound of automatic gunfire rings out from inside the train.
Residents of the German capital making their way home using the subway network this week may have had a surprise. For three nights, Berlin-based soldiers from the German Army were conducting drills in the tunnels, practicing how to fight saboteurs and other urban warfare contingencies. These included training for urban and house-to-house fighting, as well as the protection of critical infrastructure.
On the one hand, the maneuvers were a throwback to the Cold War days of the then-divided city, when NATO special operations forces regularly prepared to face off a Warsaw Pact invasion. On the other hand, they reflect changing priorities for the German military, which is increasingly orienting itself toward a potential future conflict with Russia.
19 November 2025, Berlin: During the exercise Bollwerk Bärlin, German Army soldiers come down a flight of stairs at Jungfernheide subway station. Photo by Christophe Gateau/picture alliance via Getty Images picture alliance
For three nights this week, between the hours of 1:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m., around 250 soldiers from the 2nd and 3rd Companies of the German Army’s Wachbataillon (Guard Battalion), trained to fight in the city. As well as at Jungfernheide subway station, maneuvers took place at a decommissioned chemical plant in Rüdersdorf, and at Ruhleben “Fighting City,” which was a NATO training area in the Cold War, but is now used by the German police.
The scenarios involved in the Bollwerk Bärlin III exercise focused on combating saboteurs in the German capital. As well as eliminating hostile elements, the soldiers practiced securing and evacuating the wounded, which would include members of the city’s population of roughly 3.9 million.
Photo by Christophe Gateau/picture alliance via Getty Images
While the Guard Battalion is best known for its ceremonial duties, including providing an honor guard for the visits of foreign dignitaries, it’s part of the German Armed Forces’ Joint Service Support Command and has an infantry combat role. For this mission, the soldiers swap out their 1930s-era Karabiner 98k bolt-action rifles for Heckler & Koch G36 assault rifles.
Members of the Guard Battalion fulfill their more familiar duty. Bundeswehr/Steve Eibe
“We are training here because Berlin is our area of operation,” Lt. Col. Maik Teichgräber, commander of the Guard Battalion, told Die Welt newspaper. “In the event of tension or conflict, we protect the facilities of the federal government. And this is where they are located.”
“Ultimately, we have to think from the worst-case scenario,” Teichgräber continued. “It’s about being ready for whatever could happen in the worst-case scenario. Nothing is simulated down here. The terrain is as it is.”
German Army soldiers representing injured soldiers are placed on a trolley in a subway tunnel at Jungfernheide subway station. Photo by Christophe Gateau/picture alliance via Getty Images picture alliance
By closing down part of the subway for the exercise, the Guard Battalion was able to practice in an entirely realistic environment, with confined spaces, poor visibility, and changing light.
In the scenario outlined at the start of this story, the battalion’s rapid response unit was called in once it was clear that enemy forces were on the subway train. The unit stormed the train, the carriages were secured, the enemy neutralized, and casualties among the friendly forces were evacuated. Throughout, the station was protected by additional forces positioned outside, including snipers.
Members of the Guard Battalion train for house-to-house combat during an urban warfare exercise. Bundeswehr/Anne Weinrich
Preparing to fight in the confines of subway stations and tunnels is a new development for the German Guard Battalion, but other nations are increasingly conducting similar maneuvers.
Earlier this year, TWZreported on how Taiwanese forces use the Taipei subway to maneuver around the city of Taipei as part of a major annual exercise, named Han Kuang. In that particular case, the Taipei Metro could provide an inherently hardened means of moving troops and supplies around in the event of an invasion from the mainland, wherein key facilities above ground would be heavily targeted. Taiwan’s military already regularly trains for urban warfare, which would be a central feature of any future conflict with the People’s Republic of China, especially in Taipei.
Taiwanese personnel get off a subway car in Taipei carrying a Stinger missile during this year’s Han Kuang exercise. Military News Agency/Taiwan Ministry of National Defense capture via Focus Taiwan
Like in Germany, Taiwan’s military is putting a new emphasis on whole-of-society defense readiness, rather than just that of the armed forces.
Elsewhere, too, the challenges of fighting underground are becoming a more relevant topic.
At the same time, the advent of large numbers of drones on the battlefield, and especially the introduction of autonomy, are further factors that will likely push conventional forces to move underground, if possible, on future battlefields.
During the Cold War, the NATO forces in West Berlin — American, British, and French — regularly trained in urban warfare, to be ready to try and slow down any Warsaw Pact move against the city, isolated 200 miles deep in East German territory. During this time, there was no West German military presence permitted in the city. Given the difficulty of reinforcing West Berlin and the overwhelming numbers of Warsaw Pact forces surrounding it, holding the city for any length of time was never a realistic proposition.
Instead, NATO would have relied primarily on special forces units, like the U.S. Army’s secretive Detachment “A,” the existence of which wasn’t formally disclosed until 2014. Trained in unconventional warfare, clandestine operations, sabotage, and more, it would have sent small teams across the city and deeper into Warsaw Pact-held territory to cause havoc should hostilities break out. It ceased operations in 1984.
Starting with the Battle of Berlin in 1945, during which the Soviets took the German capital from the Nazis, including via house-to-house fighting, the city was characterized by its military presence and strategic status. Flashpoints during the Cold War included the Berlin Airlift, when Stalin attempted to force the Western allies to give up their portions of the city, and the 1961 Berlin Crisis, when Soviet and U.S. tanks stood off at Checkpoint Charlie, leading to the partition of the city and the construction of the Berlin Wall.
On October 27, 1961, combat-ready American and Soviet tanks faced off in Berlin at Checkpoint Charlie. Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union over access to the outpost city of Berlin and its Soviet-controlled eastern sector had increased to the point of direct military confrontation. U.S. Army
It’s worth noting, too, that during the Cold War, certain stations within the West Berlin subway network were constructed specifically with civil defense in mind. The stations at Pankstraße and Siemensdamm (on the same U7 line as Jungfernheide) were prepared as so-called Multi-Purpose Facilities, with blast doors, a filtered ventilation system, and emergency supplies. In case of nuclear attack, each could serve as a fallout shelter for more than 3,000 people over a two-week period. Today, the Pankstraße facility is protected as a historic monument, but Germany, overall, is increasingly looking at reactivating Cold War-era civil defense infrastructure.
A corridor in the Pankstraße nuclear fallout shelter in Berlin on May 10, 2022. Built in 1977 during the Cold War, it was intended to protect the citizens of West Berlin in case of a nuclear conflict. Photo by JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images JOHN MACDOUGALL
By 1994, however, the Cold War was over, and the last military occupying forces had left the city.
The fact that the German military is once again training to fight in the city is a measure of how much the security situation has changed.
By 2029, Germany is expected to spend €153 billion (around $176 billion) a year on defense, equivalent to around 3.5 percent of GDP. This amounts to the biggest military expansion since reunification, putting it ahead of France in terms of defense spending.
The first of 123 Leopard 2A8 tanks for the German Army, unveiled to the public in Munich this week. These are the first new-build main battle tanks for the German military in around 30 years. Photo by Alexandra Beier/Getty Images Alexandra BEIER
Speaking at a Berlin security conference earlier this week, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said it was America’s “aspirational goal” that Germany take over command of NATO forces in Europe, given the country’s defense spending plans. That would be an unprecedented move, since the role of Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) has always been held by a U.S. four-star general.
By most measures, Germany is probably far from being ready to assume command of the alliance, but, in the meantime, it is starting to prepare its military for new kinds of contingencies.
“What is happening 900 kilometers [560 miles] east of us is reality,” said Teichgräber, speaking at the Bollwerk Bärlin III exercise, and reflecting on Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “No one can say whether this will eventually affect Germany. But we must be prepared.”
In his riveting book “The Insider: Malcolm Cowley and the Triumph of American Literature,” veteran book editor Gerald Howard makes a strong claim for Cowley as a crucial catalyst for the efflorescence of American fiction in the years following World War I. He’s not wrong: Working as a critic, author, essayist and editor, Cowley often provided a lone voice in the wilderness for neglected masters.
As consulting editor for publishing house Viking Press in the ‘40s, Cowley resuscitated William Faulkner’s career at a time when most of his books were out of print. Cowley also ushered in Jack Kerouac’s seminal novel of the Beat Generation, “On the Road,” working for seven years to get it published and finally succeeding in doing so in 1957.
For this week’s newsletter, I spoke with Howard about Faulkner, Kerouac and the death of criticism.
He didn’t have a program or a thesis. He had taste. He was just a pure creature of literature.
— Gerald Howard on Malcolm Cowley, the subject of his new book
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Your book details Cowley’s seven–year odyssey to get Kerouac’s “On the Road” published in 1957 and point out that, contrary to Kerouac’s criticisms regarding the editing, Cowley, in fact, had nothing to do with changes that straightened out his prose.
Cowley took a lot of crap from the Kerouac crowd because Kerouac, in a drunken moment, blamed all his troubles with Viking on Cowley when Cowley was innocent. The Kerouac scholars and biographers don’t quite grasp that a good part of the editing job was assigned to other folks at Viking. They added all those commas in the manuscript that Kerouac was so upset about. Cowley was not an advocate of making big changes to the book; he thought Kerouac’s voice was so vital, so fresh.
Perhaps Cowley’s greatest contribution to 20th century American literature is his rehabilitation of Faulkner’s career at a time when all of his books were out of print. In 1944, he was down and out; six years later, he won the Nobel Prize. Cowley had a lot to do with that.
There was something going on in Europe at the time that was somewhat disconnected from what was going on in the United States. Faulkner’s reputation in France in particular was very high; Andre Gide and Sartre were admirers. But in the United States, Faulkner didn’t sell, he had a very mixed reputation, and he was not well understood. Cowley’s first intention was to write a very long essay about Faulkner’s work, which was serialized in various publications, and then to assemble “The Portable Faulkner” for Viking, which sold well. So the ground was prepared by Cowley.
Critics are “so central to a useful, fruitful culture. I myself don’t particularly care to live in a culture that doesn’t have them,” veteran editor Gerald Howard tells The Times.
(Penguin Random House)
What’s remarkable is the catholicity of Cowley’s taste. He studied Racine at Harvard, but then recognizes the greatness of a disparate group of writers: Faulkner, John Cheever, Kerouac, Ken Kesey, all of whom he shepherds into print.
He didn’t have a program or a thesis. He had taste. He was just a pure creature of literature, immensely versatile and conversant with everything that seemed to matter in the literary universe. Up until the ‘60s, he had his radar up and running. He didn’t believe in a fixed canon.
Cowley was an editor of the New Republic from 1929 to 1944, a small-circulation magazine with outsized influence, featuring critics like Edmund Wilson that generated the cultural conversation. Critics have no such sway anymore. Do you feel there has been something lost from that diminishment of the individual critical voice?
We can let all the online measurements determine the things that people like and allow those things to rise to the surface. But I think the role of the critic is to sort through a vast amount of material to find the things that are really valuable, really interesting. Not just books, of course — also movies, art, music. They’re so central to a useful, fruitful culture. I myself don’t particularly care to live in a culture that doesn’t have them.
Is a maverick editor like Malcolm Cowley possible now?
Probably not. The world that he moved in was a closed world. There wasn’t a lot of room for people who were not white, male and heterosexual. It’s disappointing that he was not more interested in African American literature. He should have been. There are plenty of those people around that he knew. And just appreciating Ralph Ellison was not enough.
(This Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)
📰 The Week(s) in Books
(Los Angeles Times photo illustration; Cover by Macmillan)
You may have seen the Netflix series about the “OneTaste” sex cult, but that’s not even the half of it, according to Ellen Huet’s book “Empire of Orgasm,” which Julia M. Klein calls a “deeply troubling” narrative of coercion and financial ruin.
Bad Religion guitarist and overall punk legend Brian Baker has a new book of photographs called “The Road,” and Josh Chesler chatted with him about it: “I think I have a knack for being at the right place at the right time.”
Arcana has served the L.A. market for over 40 years, currently occupying space in the Helms Bakery building in Culver City.
(Joshua White)
Given the vicissitudes of the retail book market, it’s a minor miracle that Arcana: Books on the Arts has survived 41 years. Arcana, which since 2012 has occupied space in the Helms Bakery building in Culver City after a long run at the Third Street Promenade, is the best art bookstore in L.A., offering a vast selection spanning photography, painting, fashion, graphic design and much more. I spoke with owner Lee Kaplan about what is hot in his store right now.
Is there any particular kind of book that tends to do well for you?
Perennials tend to be more comprehensive, hardbound volumes of well-known artists such as Edward Ruscha, Andy Warhol, John Baldessari and Jean-Michel Basquiat; photographers Robert Frank, Todd Hido, William Eggleston, Ed Templeton; architects Frank Gehry, Herzog & De Meuron, Johnston Marklee, and Fashion brands like Comme des Garcons, Supreme, Dior, etc. That noted, we sell a lot of inexpensive zines by creators few have heard of, yet.
Arcana has survived a lot of the ups and downs of the retail book business. What do you think is the secret to your longevity?
Moving to a large, beautifully designed space in Culver City’s Helms Bakery in 2012 (after decades on Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade) turned out to be a fortunate decision. We have room for scores of thousands of books that we have amassed over the years situated in a lively, artistic and design-conscious neighborhood.
Given the internet, why do people still value looking at art in books?
These are two vastly different experiences, and for me, there is no substitute for holding a book as a tangible, tactile object. Thankfully, there are still many, many visitors daily that seem to feel the same.
1 of 4 | Rose Kennedy Schlossberg (L) and Tatiana Schlossberg, daughters of Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, arrive for the formal Artist’s Dinner honoring the recipients of the 2014 Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C. Tatiana has announced this week that she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. File Photo by Ron Sachs/Pool | License Photo
Nov. 22 (UPI) — Tatiana Schlossberg, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg‘s daughter and the late President John F. Kennedy‘s granddaughter, has announced she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, with a rare mutation, in 2024.
“My parents and my brother and sister, too, have been raising my children and sitting in my various hospital rooms almost every day for the last year and a half. They have held my hand unflinchingly while I have suffered, trying not to show their pain and sadness in order to protect me from it,” the 35-year-old environmental journalist and mother of two young children wrote in an essay for the New Yorker magazine published Saturday.
“This has been a great gift, even though I feel their pain every day. For my whole life, I have tried to be good, to be a good student and a good sister and a good daughter, and to protect my mother and never make her upset or angry. Now I have added a new tragedy to her life, to our family’s life, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.”
She described in detail how she was shocked to be diagnosed when her blood work raised alarms after the birth of her second child last year.
Tatiana, who said she felt healthy and strong at the time, explained all of the treatments she ultimately had to undergo and how the doctor supervising her latest clinical trial cautiously said he might be able to keep her alive for another year at the most.
She is the cousin of Robert Kennedy Jr., who serves as U.S. President Donald Trump‘s secretary of Health and Human Services, as well.
In her essay, she criticized Kennedy, calling him an “embarrassment” to his family for his views and policies regarding vaccines, insurance and funding for research.
Texas Gov. John Connally adjusts his tie as President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, settled in rear seats, prepare for a motorcade into Dallas on November 22, 1963. The president assassinated a few hours later. UPI File Photo | License Photo
Matt and Ross Duffer, the twin directors known as The Duffer Brothers, have focused on raising the stakes in “Stranger Things” as the series moves to its fifth and final season, which premieres on November 26 on Netflix. They modeled the series after “Game of Thrones” to enhance its scale and impact. The Duffer Brothers aim to feature bigger visual effects while prioritizing story and character connections that engage audiences. Ross highlighted that viewers have formed strong attachments to the characters over the past 10 years and will want to witness the series’ conclusion.
Season 5 stars Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, along with Winona Ryder, David Harbour, and others reprising their roles. The series finale will be shown in theaters on December 31 across over 350 locations in the U. S. and Canada, providing fans with a unique way to say goodbye. For Millie Bobby Brown, the final season was both emotional and nostalgic, marking a significant moment after playing the lead since she was 12. Despite this ending, she remains open to future science fiction roles. The Duffer Brothers also launched Upside Down Pictures in 2022, planning a live-action spin-off series alongside other franchise projects. The final season faced delays due to Hollywood strikes in 2023.
La Voix has had a ‘sad day’ coming to terms with the fact that she will not be competing in tonight’s edition of Strictly Come Dancing but has been cheered up by a bouquet of flowers
Strictly’s La Voix admits it’s been a ‘sad day’ as she misses Blackpool week over injury(Image: PA)
La Voix has had a ‘sad day’ coming to terms with the fact that she will not be competing in tonight’s edition of Strictly Come Dancing. The Drag Race star, 45, has had to pull out of the much-anticipated Blackpool heat of the BBC Saturday night favourite after sustaining a foot injury.
The star, whose real name is Christopher Dennis, took to social media on Saturday in the countdown for the live show to take place, to reveal that she had been presented with a bouquet of flowers that had cheered her up amid the tough time.
Alongside a picture of the gift, the TV star wrote on Instagram: “Thank you so much Darlings @blossom_and_ivy. This really is a gorgeous surprise on an otherwise sad day of not dancing in Blackpool.”
While La Voix was set to perform in Strictly’s highly anticipated Blackpool special, Strictly announced earlier this week that she was unable to compete after injuring herself. A show spokesperson said in a statement: “Due to injury, La Voix has been advised by doctors to rest and, as a result, will not dance in this weekend’s Blackpool specials.
During an appearance on It Takes Two on Wednesday evening, Christopher opened up about the issue that has been troubling her since earlier in the competition. “This has been ongoing since the foxtrot. I felt a little niggle in my foot hence comments about me being flat-footed. I was thinking this will be fine, but it got gradually worse…” the star told viewers.
La Voix added: “Until on Saturday we had to change shoes, I couldn’t wear heels. I had to wear those awful flat shoes.” Attempts to rehearse on Monday proved the injury was too severe to push through.”
She continued: “We tried on Monday, and it was really clear I was struggling in pain, so we decided to be professional and call this, hoping with some rest I can be back.”
Under strictly rules, the pair will automatically advance to next week’s round, buying La Voix time to recover. When asked whether she expected to return after the Blackpool special, she replied: “I hope so. Some people have said online that it’s just because I wanted to get out of doing the samba. I was desperate to get to Blackpool and do the samba. The production that was planned is going to be incredible.”
Despite the setback, the performer emphasised her love for the show, describing Strictly as a “happy place” and adding: “I am really hoping it continues.”
In a BBC statement released earlier this week, La Voix said: “My heart truly breaks knowing I won’t be dancing in such an iconic venue. I am devastated not to be joining the rest of the cast on that famous dancefloor, but my focus now is on recovery. I’ll be cheering on all the amazing couples this weekend.”
She also addressed her followers directly on Instagram, writing: “As many of you know, I injured my foot last week. With the help of an incredible team — and a whole lot of sparkles and determination — I was able to keep going and perform.”
However, she acknowledged that she now has no choice but to prioritise healing, saying she needed to “listen to her body” after “it became clear that the injury wasn’t improving”.
US President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani met in the Oval Office on Friday after weeks of trading barbs. Trump, who described their meetings as “productive,” gave Mamdani a warm welcome, and said he’ll be “cheering for” the 34-year-old incoming mayor.
Leaders welcome deal reached at UN climate summit as step forward but say ‘more ambition’ needed to tackle the crisis.
World leaders have put forward a draft text at the United Nations climate conference in Brazil that seeks to address the crisis, but the agreement does not include any mention of phasing out the fossil fuels driving climate change.
The text was published on Saturday after negotiations stretched through the night, well beyond the expected close of the two-week COP30 summit in the Brazilian city of Belem, amid deep divisions over the fossil fuel phase-out.
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The draft, which must be approved by consensus by nearly 200 nations, pledges to review climate-related trade barriers and calls on developed nations to “at least triple” the money given to developing countries to help them withstand extreme weather events.
It also urges “all actors to work together to significantly accelerate and scale up climate action worldwide” with the aim of keeping the 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) mark for global warming – an internationally agreed-upon target set under the Paris Agreement – “within reach”.
Wopke Hoekstra, the European Union’s climate commissioner, said the outcome was a step in the right direction, but the bloc would have liked more.
“We’re not going to hide the fact that we would have preferred to have more, to have more ambition on everything,” Hoekstra told reporters. “We should support it because at least it is going in the right direction,” he said.
France’s ecological transition minister, Monique Barbut, also said it was a “rather flat text” but Europeans would not oppose it because “there is nothing extraordinarily bad in it”.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla also said in a social media post that while the outcome “fell short of expectations”, COP30 demonstrated the importance of multilateralism to tackle global challenges such as climate change.
‘Needed a giant leap’
Countries had been divided on a number of issues in Belem, including a push to phase out fossil fuels – the largest drivers of the climate crisis – that drew opposition from oil-producing countries and nations that depend on oil, gas and coal.
Questions of climate finance also sparked heated debates, with developing nations demanding that richer countries bear a greater share of the financial burden.
But COP30 host Brazil had pushed for a show of unity, as the annual conference is largely viewed as a test of the world’s resolve to address a deepening crisis.
“We need to show society that we want this without imposing anything on anyone, without setting deadlines for each country to decide what it can do within its own time, within its own possibilities,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said earlier this week.
Earlier on Saturday, COP30 President Andre Aranha Correa do Lago said the presidency would publish “roadmaps” on fossil fuels and forests as there had been no consensus on those issues at the talks.
Speaking to Al Jazeera before the draft text was released, Asad Rehman, chief executive director of Friends of the Earth, said richer countries “had to be dragged – really kicking and screaming – to the table” at COP30.
“They have tried to bully developing countries and have weakened the text … But I would say that, overall, from what we’re hearing, we will have taken a step forward,” Rehman said in an interview from Belem.
“This will be welcomed by the millions of people for whom these talks are a matter of life and death. However, in the scale of the crisis that we face, we of course needed a giant leap forward.”
THIS former Disney Channel star had her first taste of stardom back in 2016 appearing in hit teen drama Backstage.
But it was her dazzling vocal talent that really piqued people’s attention with her most popular hit, the viral Princesses Don’t Cry, going on to rack up over 250 million streams.
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The child star shared a TikTok talking about her days of stardomCredit: TiktokThough she now lives at home with her parents, she’s incredibly grateful and “wouldn’t have it any other way”Credit: TiktokShe played Alya Kendrick in Disney’s Backstage as a teenCredit: YouTube/Disney
But despite her notable accolades, child star Aviva Chiara Mongillo, who released music under the name ‘CARYS’, is now back living at her parent’s house.
The now 27-year-old, who played Alya Kendrick in Backstage, shared a candid moment about her current living situation with fans online.
Aviva took to TikTok to share a meme about the complete U-turn her life seems to have taken, while simultaneously expressing gratitude for the way her life is today.
“When you were on Disney channel, signed to a major label and had a viral song before the age of 20 and now you’re 27 living with your parents,” the actress-turned-musician quipped, smiling at the camera in a red jumper.
She quipped: “To be honest, I don’t know what happened but we need a re-do”.
There didn’t seem to be any real ill feeling towards her current lifestyle though, as Aviva thoughtfully captioned the post to say she “wouldn’t change a thing”.
“for real though… I wouldn’t change a thing. I’m grateful that this is my life.”
The post has currently been liked around 90,000 times, with fans flooding the comments section with praises.
“Aviva Mongillo you will always be famous to me,” gushed one user in a comment Aviva has hearted.
“Backstage is one of my favourite disney shows ever!!!,” exclaimed another.
Though one of the most common comments was people shocked to learn that Aviva was the voice behind Princesses Don’t Cry, as she wasn’t recognisable.
“YOU’RE THE ONE WHO MADE PRINCESSES DONT CRY???,” said one of the post’s top comments with over 4,200 “likes”.
The star simply responded with “YOU BETCHA”.
Princesses Don’t Cry came out in 2019 and immediately gained popularity through TikTok and other social media platforms.
Aviva had a hit song in 2019-2020 that went viral on TikTokCredit: Wikipedia
Sung under the artist name CARYS, the song subverts traditional fairy tales by asserting that princesses are strong and independent, not “crying over boys with pretty eyes”.
Meanwhile, Aviva’s stint on Backstage saw her star in sixty episodes where she frequently sung and played guitar.
Initially, Aviva was discovered by a music producer who was looking to craft music to feature on Backstage.
But later on she was encouraged to audition for a role instead, eventually landing the part of Alya Kendrick.
Aviva ultimately left backstage in season two to go on tour with the cast of La Boheme.
After her Disney days, Aviva went on to star in comedy-drama Workin’ Moms as the recurring character Juniper.
Aviva had blonde looks when she starred in hit Disney show BackstageCredit: DisneyAviva Mongillo was a Disney star fan-favouriteCredit: AlamyShe’s written other popular songs too, including No More, Bad Boy, and When A GirlCredit: Instagram
Nov. 21 (UPI) — The Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday it won’t deliver the October Consumer Price Index report, meaning the Federal Reserve won’t get the important data before it meets again Dec. 10 to decide on interest rates.
The BLS gathers information via visits, phone calls and surveys, which would have made it impossible during the shutdown and very difficult to get information retroactively.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis also said the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index “is to be rescheduled,” though no firm date has been announced, CNBC reported. That report is the main inflation forecasting tool that the Fed uses.
Minutes from the Fed’s October meeting show that the officials disagreed on whether to lower interest rates at the December meeting after it approved back-to-back reductions.
Each of the last two meetings ended with them lowering the rate by .25% to a now-3.7% to 4%.
“This is a temporary state of affairs. And we’re going to do our jobs, we’re going to collect every scrap of data we can find, evaluate it, and think carefully about it,” CNBC reported Fed Chair Jerome Powell said after the October meeting.
“What do you do if you’re driving in the fog? You slow down. … There’s a possibility that it would make sense to be more cautious about moving.”
New York Fed President John Williams said Friday he thinks the central bank probably has “room for a further adjustment in the near term,” implying a potential cut.
Russian forces continue to report advances in eastern Ukraine while the United States ramps up intensive diplomatic pressure on Kyiv and its European allies to accede to its proposed 28-point plan, which heavily leans towards the Kremlin’s demands, by Thursday.
The Russian Ministry of Defence announced on Saturday that its soldiers “liberated” the settlement of Zvanivka in Donetsk region’s Bakhmut, allegedly inflicting “significant losses” on Ukrainian forces.
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It also released footage of air attacks and FPV drone attacks on Ukrainian positions in the Zaporizhia region, where Russian forces have been getting closer to the strategic town of Huliaipole using glide bombs and tactical ground incursions.
The Defence Ministry claimed that the Novoe Zaporozhye area was taken under Russian control, including a “major enemy defence node” covering an area of more than 14sq km (5sq miles).
This would add to a growing number of villages in the southeastern Ukrainian region that have been captured by Russian troops since September as they try to push back the Ukrainian military and strike energy infrastructure with another punishing winter of war approaching.
Ukrainian soldiers are also under intense attacks in the Pokrovsk area, where the fighting is believed to be fierce as the Russian military command redeploys forces to strengthen its offensive.
Regional Ukrainian authorities have reported at least one civilian death and 13 injuries over the past day as a result of Russian air attacks. The fatal strike took place in Donetsk, Governor Vadym Filashkin said.
Ukraine’s air force said Russian troops launched one Iskander-M ballistic missile from annexed Crimea and 104 drones from several areas towards multiple Ukrainian regions overnight into Saturday, of which 89 drones were downed. Most of the drones were of Iranian design, it added.
Ukrainian media said the Yany Kapu electric substation in northern Crimea was targeted by drones overnight, with footage circulating on social media showing explosions and strikes. The Russian Defence Ministry said its air force shot down six fixed-wing Ukrainian drones over Crimea early on Saturday, without confirming any hits on the ground.
EU pushes back against US plan
Ukraine’s allies have not been cheering the plan put forward by the administration of US President Donald Trump without consulting them, despite an ominous Thursday deadline set by Washington approaching.
The unilateral US plan to end the war in Ukraine “is a basis which will require additional work”, Western leaders gathered in South Africa for a G20 summit said on Saturday.
“We are clear on the principle that borders must not be changed by force,” said the leaders of key European countries, as well as Canada and Japan, in a joint statement.
“We are also concerned by the proposed limitations on Ukraine’s armed forces, which would leave Ukraine vulnerable to future attack,” they said, adding that any implementing elements of the plan linked with the 27-member bloc and NATO would have to be undertaken with the consent of member states.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Russia’s war could only be ended with Ukraine’s “unconditional consent”.
“Wars cannot be ended by major powers over the heads of the countries affected,” he said on the sidelines of the summit.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, First Lady Olena Zelenska, top officials and service members visit a monument to Holodomor victims during a commemoration ceremony of the famine of 1932-33, in Kyiv, Ukraine, November 22, 2025 [Handout/Ukrainian Presidential Press Service via Reuters]
Ukraine and its allies continue to emphasise the need for a “just and lasting peace”, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying on Saturday that real peace is based on guaranteed security and justice that secures sovereignty and territorial integrity.
But Zelenskyy approved a Ukrainian delegation to launch talks with US counterparts in Switzerland on ways of ending the war, and appointed his top aide Andriy Yermak to lead it.
Ukraine’s Security Council secretary, Rustem Umerov, who is on the negotiating team, confirmed in a post on Telegram that consultations will begin over “possible parameters” of a future deal.
“Ukraine approaches this process with a clear understanding of its interests,” he said, thanking the Trump administration for its mediation.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with the state-owned International Affairs magazine, published on Saturday, that he would not rule out the possibility of another meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has backed the US proposal.
“The search for a way forward continues,” he said, adding that Moscow and Washington continue to keep channels for dialogue open despite the lack of an agreement during a Trump-Putin meeting in August, and the indefinite suspension of another planned round in Budapest.
Putin has refused to engage in a summit that includes Zelenskyy and will be even less likely to now, given he believes Russia has the upper hand on the battlefield and the ear of the US on the diplomatic front.
I was a bit skeptical when an emailer suggested touring Torrance as a way to appreciate this South Bay hidden gem. As a San Gabriel Valley product, I’ve enjoyed excursions to the iconic Rose Bowl or the historic San Gabriel Mission.
But Torrance? Really?
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I’m a fan of the divine paradise cakes baked at two King’s Hawaiian locations in Torrance and am aware that Compton-based hip hop group N.W.A recorded “F— tha Police” in a city music studio.
Yes, that’s all fine and notable, but is this city of 140,000 actually tour worthy?
Debbie Hays, a resident and Torrance Historical Society docent, was up to the challenge of proving it certainly was when we met for a tour this week.
History meets Hollywood
We started at the Torrance Historical Society. Inside, visitors receive a quick lesson about the city’s creation, from a Spanish land grant to its founding by financial broker Jared Sidney Torrance in 1912.
A good portion of the talk centers on one of the city’s heroes, Louis Zamperini, known as the “Torrance Tornado.”
The Olympic and USC star, who competed in the famed 1936 Games, was a larger-than-life pillar captured in book and film, the latter the 2014 movie “Unbroken.”
“Louis was a bit of a misfit in his early days and his story is one of redemption and finding his purpose,” Hays said. “It started with track and of course he’s most known about his role in the war.”
“No other place in the world has more information and pieces of history tied to Louis than we do,” Hays says.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Zamperini was a U.S. Army Air Force bombardier in 1943 when his B-24 Liberator went down in the Pacific on May 27 with 10 additional crew members.
Zamperini floated on a life raft for 47 days, battling sharks and hunger before being picked up by a Japanese patrol boat.
He was tortured for two years before he was finally freed.
Hays showed off heirlooms, trophies and files donated by the Zamperini family, including more than 60 pounds of notes and awards, used in production of the movie.
“No other place in the world has more information and pieces of history tied to Louis than we do,” Hays said.
The ‘Ramen Capital of Southern California’
One of the more surprising details about Hays’ tour was the number of excursions the city offers.
You can take one of several self-guided tours of the city’s dozen or so microbreweries and craft beer tasting sites that highlight a burgeoning craft industry.
The most delectable tour, however, may be shown on the city’s Ramen Trail map, which declares Torrance the “Ramen Capital of Southern California.”
As for locales, the film and television map tour denotes more than 200 locations where movies like “Scarface,” “Boogie Nights” and “Horrible Bosses” and television sitcoms like “Beverly Hills 90210” and “Barry” were filmed.
“We aren’t Hollywood, but we have many spots worth visiting,” Hays said. “All they’re all relatively close together.”
The Buffy home
One of her most popular excursions is the Fall Tour of Old Torrance, held annually in October.
Hays offers architectural and historic showings of Tudor, Mission and Spanish Colonial revival homes often butting up against each other. Most homes are over 100 years old.
“It’s a very eclectic tour that you don’t see every day in every town,” Hays said. “We’re not a cookie-cutter neighborhood.”
Yet, it’s the No. 4 spot on that tour, a 1914 Craftsman-style home at 1313 Cota Ave., that draws a pilgrimage year round.
The 2,296-square-foot home is forever known as “the Buffy home,” where the popular television show “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” was filmed.
The four bedroom, two bathroom home served as the home of main character Buffy Summers, played by actress Sarah Michelle Gellar.
“I’ve led private tours to the home, with sometimes as many as 80 people,” Hays said. “Fans come to the house, they cry, they take pictures, they hug the tree. They love it.”
Paradise cakes, ramen noodles, craft beer and Zamperini memorabilia. You don’t have to love Buffy to appreciate Torrance.
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A pedestrian braves the rain in Venice Beach.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said Israel is committing genocide in Gaza during an Oval Office meeting with US President Donald Trump on Friday. Trump dodged a question on whether he’d intervene if Mamdani tried to have Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu arrested in New York.
In a wild — but friendly — exchange between US President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, Trump said he didn’t “mind” Mamdani previously calling him a “fascist.” Trump, who once called Mamdani a “communist,” heaped praise on him at their Friday Oval Office meeting.
I’m A Celebrity fans are feeling sorry for TV presenter Alex Scott and ex EastEnders actor Shona McGarty after the stars were involved in the ITV show’s latest twist
I’m A Celebrity fans are demanding justice for Alex Scott and Shona McGarty
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here stars have been left worrying about stars Alex Scott and Shona McGarty following the ITV’s show’s latest camp twist. Last night’s episode saw Ant and Dec return to camp to deliver the news that those who had received a badge from their new camp leaders – Vogue Williams and Tom Read Wilson – would be enjoying a cooked breakfast away from the camp.
“We promised you would be rewarded for your badges – you will be heading out of camp for a delicious, slap-up breakfast,” the duo revealed, to cheers from the campmates. However, Alex and Shona were the only two not to receive a badge, which meant that they had to take part in the next Bushtucker trial with Vogue and Tom.
“However, Alex and Shona unfortunately for you you weren’t awarded with a badge which means there’s no breakfast for you and you have to take on today’s trial,” they added. Shona and Alex looked disheartened upon hearing the news, with Alex saying: “No way.”
Now, fans have taken to social media to demand that they’re made the camp leaders after the “mean” twist. “Poor Alex and Shona having to miss out on the breakfast at least they both get more airtime doing another trial #ImACeleb,” one fan wrote.
Another said: “Aww alex and Shona won’t get a breakfast #ImACeleb.” A third tweeted: “nooo alex and shona don’t get a breakfast alex looked so sad man #ImACeleb.”
A fourth wrote: “Feel so bad for Shona & Alex. No badges, made to do the trial. Like getting kicked in the b**ls & then told to enjoy it #ImACeleb.”
A fifth said: “Sorry if I was Shona and Alex I would burn the camp to the ground No breakfast and another trial?? #ImaCeleb #ImaCelebrity.”
“What if…Alex and Shona are made camp leaders #ImACeleb,” another said. While someone agreed: “Justice for Shona and Alex #ImACeleb.”
Others criticised Ant and Dec for giving the other campmates a cooked breakfast while Shona and Alex had to do the trial. “Telling everyone about breakfast in front of Alex and Shona Is just mean #ImACeleb,” a fan wrote.
Another said: “If i was shona and alex that would’ve been my final straw actually #imaceleb.”
Another fan said that Shona looked “genuinely gutted”, with a fourth saying: “Not only Shona and Alex got no badge, they also got no full english breakfast and instead both have to do the next trial.
“That is so damn brutal. Both their faces says it all.”
Nov. 21 (UPI) — House Republicans have called on former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to testify before a committee investigating Jeffrey Epstein.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., issued congressional subpoenas seeking Bill Clinton’s testimony Dec. 17 and Hillary Clinton a day later as the committee investigates the Epstein case, USA Today reported.
“The committee looks forward to confirming their appearance and remains committed to delivering transparency and accountability for survivors of Epstein’s heinous crimes and for the American people,” Comer said in a statement.
Comer on Aug. 5 sought the Clintons’ testimonies regarding their relationship with former financier and convicted sex offender Epstein, but their attorney asked Nov. 3 that they be allowed to submit a “written proffer of what little information” they have to share, according to the New York Post.
Comer accused the Clintons of demanding the House committee scrap any plans for them to appear before it when responding to the attorney’s request.
The committee chairman also said the attorney admitted the Clintons have relevant information regarding the matter.
“It is precisely the fact President Clinton and Secretary Clinton each maintained relationships with Mr. Epstein and Ms. [Ghislaine]Maxwell in their personal capacities as private citizens that is of interest to the committee,” Comer told the Clintons’ attorney.
Some legal experts have suggested the Clintons could claim executive privilege to avoid testifying before the committee, but others say the relationships they maintained while in their personal capacities would not be subject to executive privilege, according to the New York Post.
Maxwell unlikely to testify
While the Clintons are scheduled to appear before the House committee next month, Politico reported Maxwell has invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination if she were brought before the committee.
“I could spend a bunch of taxpayer dollars to send staff and members down there,” Comer said. “If she’s going to plead the Fifth, I don’t know that that’s a good investment.”
Maxwell is imprisoned for 20 years after being convicted on child-sex-trafficking charges in 2022.
Comer subpoenaed her testimony in July, but Maxwell said she only would testify after the appeals she filed regarding her conviction were addressed.
The Supreme Court since has denied her request to reassess her conviction.
Maxwell also has sought immunity against future prosecutions in exchange for her committee testimony, which Comer said will not happen.
She did participate in a two-day deposition with the Justice Department in July and afterward was transferred from a Florida prison to a minimum-security prison in Texas.
FBI, police protect Epstein files storage
The location where the Justice Department’s Epstein investigation files is being guarded after Mark Epstein, brother of Jeffrey, on Tuesday accused the FBI of scrubbing the files of any mention of Republicans while they are being held at its Central Records facility in Winchester, Va., Bloomberg reported.
Mark Epstein claimed a “credible source” told him the files were being doctored, and his claim was shared on social media. Several people suggested protesting the FBI’s Winchester office and possibly seizing the files.
FBI officials deemed such comments to be viable threats against the facility and the files and enhanced its security at the location. Police officers also are protecting Central Records facility officials and staff.
Summers and wife visited Epstein’s island
While the FBI is more closely guarding the Epstein investigation files, The Boston Globe reported that former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and his wife, Elisa New, flew to Epstein’s privately owned Little Saint James island in the U.S. Virgin Islands 10 days after their 2005 wedding.
The trip was part of their extended honeymoon celebration and was a brief visit, Summers’ spokesperson Steven Goldberg.
Summers and New “have repeatedly expressed their regret for having any association with Jeffrey Epstein,” Goldberg said in a statement shared with the Boston newspaper Friday.
“Mr. Summers and Ms. New spent their honeymoon in St. John and Jamaica in December 2005, which was long before Mr. Epstein was arrested for the first time,” Goldberg said.
“As part of that trip, they made a brief visit of less than a day to Mr. Epstein’s island.”
Flight log records indicate Summers and New flew aboard Epstein’s private plane when they traveled from Bedford, Mass., to Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, on Dec. 21, 2005.
They met with Maxwell and Epstein’s personal pilot, Larry Visoski, while on the island and during the same year that Florida investigators began looking into Epstein’s activities.
Despite Epstein’s subsequent arrest and guilty plea to two state charges that resulted in his designation as a sex offender and a year in jail, Summers, who also is a former Harvard University president, continued his friendly relationship with the financier.
That ended when Epstein was arrested in 2019 and later that year hung himself while jailed in New York City.
New also maintained her friendly relationship with Epstein and in 2014 thanked him for a donation that he made to support her academic research as a poetry professor at Harvard.
The financial gift from Epstein was not included in Harvard’s 2020 report regarding his activities involving the university.
New in 2018 also emailed Epstein regarding the novel Lolita, which is about an older man sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl, The Boston Globe reported.
Laura KuenssbergPresenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
BBC
It’s been a long time coming. If you feel like this Budget has been going on for ages, you’d be right.
Not just because by one senior MP’s count, 13 – yes, thirteen – different tax proposals have already been floated by the government in advance of the final decisions being made public.
Or because of an ever-growing pile of reports from different think tanks or research groups making helpful suggestions that have grabbed headlines too.
But because the budget process itself has actually been going on for months.
Back in July the Chancellor Rachel Reeves had the first meeting with aides in her Treasury office to start the planning.
“Everyone was getting ready to open up the Excel,” one aide recalls, but Reeves announced she didn’t want any spreadsheets or Treasury scorecards.
Instead she wanted to start by working out how to pursue her top three priorities, which she scribbled down on A5 Treasury headed paper.
That trio is what she’ll stick to next week: cut the cost of living, cut NHS waiting lists, and cut the national debt.
The messages to the voting public – and each containing an implicit message to the mighty financial markets: control inflation, keep spending big on public services, protecting long-term cash on things like infrastructure, and try to control spending to deal with the country’s big, fat, pile of debt.
Reeves’s team is confident the chancellor will be able to tick all three of those boxes on Wednesday.
But there is deep fear in her party, and scepticism among her rivals and in business, that instead, Reeves’s second budget will be hampered by political constraints and contradictions.
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The red briefcase moment at last year’s Budget
Reeves herself will no doubt refer to the restrictions placed on her before she had even walked through the door at No 11 as chancellor.
Big debts. High taxes. Years of squeezed spending in some areas leaving some parts of the public services threadbare. The arguments about the past may wear thin.
“Everyone accepts we inherited a bad position,” one senior Labour figure told me, “but it’s only right that people expect to see things improve.”
Some of the constraints on Reeves’s choices are tighter because of Labour itself.
There’s the original election manifesto pledge to avoid raising the three big taxes – income tax, National Insurance and VAT – cutting off big earners for the Treasury coffers.
Then what’s accepted in most government circles now as the real-world effect of the government’s early doom-laden messages: things will get worse before they get better.
In the budget last year, Reeves chose only to leave herself £9bn of what’s called “headroom” – in other words a bit of cash to cushion the government if times are tougher than hoped, which is, indeed, what has come to pass.
One former Treasury minister, Lord Bridges, told the Lords: “This is not a fiscal buffer; it is a fiscal wafer, so thin and fragile that it will snap at the slightest tap.”
Well, it has been snapped by the official number-crunchers, the Office for Budget Responsibility, calculating that the economy is working less well than previously thought, which leaves the chancellor short of cash.
The size of the debts the country is already carrying mean the markets don’t want her to borrow any more.
But most importantly perhaps, limits on what is possible for Reeves on cuts, spending or borrowing stem from the biggest political fact right now: this government is not popular with its own backbenchers, and it doesn’t always feel like the leadership’s in charge.
Downing Street has already shown it is willing to ditch plans that could save lots of money if the rank and file kick off vigorously enough.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Reeves were forced to ditch cuts to the winter fuel allowance in 2024, and to welfare earlier this year. And there is also an expectation that extra cash is on the way.
One senior MP told me: “They need to increase the headroom, do something big on energy costs, and they have to do something for the soft left on [the] two-child cap – they have walked people up the hill.”
It will be expensive, but Labour MPs have been led to expect at least some of the limits on benefits for big families to be reversed, and help with energy bills.
For some members of the government it is deeply, deeply frustrating. One told me Labour backbenchers “want everything for nothing – we should be the adults driving the car, not the kids in the back”.
On Friday, as Reeves received the final numbers for her big budget moment, multiple sources pointed to other decisions the government has made that make her job harder – areas where Labour has appeared to contradict or confuse – and even undermine – its own ambitions.
On some occasions, the chancellor, backed by the prime minister, will say that getting the economy growing, helping business, is their absolute number one priority.
But their early choice to make it more expensive for companies to hire extra staff, by hiking National Insurance, was seen by many firms to point in the entirely opposite direction, and many report that pricier staff costs make growing their business much harder.
Ministers might have talked up their hope of slashing regulation: with more than 80 different regulators setting rules, you can see why.
Yet significant new protections for workers are being introduced, which means more rules.
Labour preached they’d offer political stability after years of Tory chaos. We are not in the realms of the party spinning through prime ministers at a rate of knots, at least not yet.
But endless reorganisations in No 10, very public questions about Sir Keir’s leadership, and fever pitch speculation about impending budget decisions do not match the stated aims that Sir Keir was meant to end the drama.
Late on Friday there were still negotiations in Whitehall over whether to make the tax on oil and gas companies less brutal, with some ministers arguing to soften the edges so that firms don’t pull out of the North Sea, taking their future investments in renewable energy elsewhere.
The contradiction being that Labour promises there’ll be savings on bills and thousands of jobs on offer if energy firms move faster to green power.
But the tax, which they increased last year, could drive some of those same companies away, and with it the promise of future growth. No government has complete purity of policy across the board.
In an organisation that spends more than a trillion pounds a year and makes thousands of decisions every week, it’s daft to imagine they can all be perfectly in line with a broader goal.
But even on Sir Keir’s own side, as we’ve talked about many times, a common complaint about this government is a lack of clarity about its overall purpose.
One frustrated senior figure told me recently sometimes they wonder: “What are we all actually doing here?”
Pressure from the markets means it’s hard for the chancellor to borrow any more. Labour’s backbenchers would be allergic to any chunky spending cuts. And big tax rises aren’t exactly top of the list for a restless public with an unpopular government.
The realities of politics can often make it hard for governments to make smart economic choices. The realities of economics can often make it hard for governments to make the best political decision.
On Wednesday, Reeves will have to credibly combine the two, with a set of choices that will shape this troubled government’s future.
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SHE was the blonde beauty that was catapulted into the spotlight after a starring role in this iconic 1989 movie.
The beloved Disney film was a box office success that would go on to span another two spin-offs, with fans lapping up the characters’ pint-sized adventures.
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The 90s star reenacted the famous flick’s plot with a giant spoon and ‘cheerios’Credit: instagram/@amyoneillofficialThe actress stunned in a sexy blue swimsuit for the fan eventCredit: instagram/@amyoneillofficialThe star posed poolside with a giant popcorn bag that’s a hint to the 1989 film
Now all grown up, aged 54, the star recently took to Instagram and wowed with with some fun swimsuit photos while celebrating the film decades later.
Amy O’Neill was just 19 when she played the role of Amy Szalinski in the hit film Honey, I Shrunk The Kids – but her new pics show she seemingly hasn’t aged at all.
Amy stepped out for the Disney+ ‘Dive in Theatre’ screening of the original movie in a blue and pink racer swimsuit, ready to soak up the attractions on offer.
The former child star looked incredibly youthful and svelte in her swimwear, which she complemented with a wide wicker hat and a patterned blue beach skirt.
In her Instagram caption, shared alongside the pictures, Amy enthused that the experience “transported us back to a different time and size”.
In one photo Amy is seen posing with a giant spoon and some giant ‘cheerios’ in a swimming pool, in what was a cheeky nod to her shrunken sized character.
The star later lounged poolside with her fellow movie-goers to rewatch the beloved movie and was snapped standing next to an old-school film screening sign bearing “Honey I Shrunk the Kids 1989 Now Showing”.
Talking to ABC’s On the Red carpet, Amy said: “This whole thing, when I saw the concept and got the invite I thought it was super cool.
“It’s been 36 years since Honey, I Shrunk the Kids came out.
“It’s only in the last couple of years that I’ve done fan events and I’ve gotten the chance to reconnect with fans and see how vibrant the movie still is in their lives and how meaningful it is to so many people.
Amy was also joined by co-star Thomas Wilson Brown, 51, who played Little Russ in the film, the neighbour’s offspring.
On her Instagram post, fans flocked to the comments, with one asking, “How was it reuniting with Thomas?”
Replying to her follower, Amy explained, “Wonderful as always. He brought his grandson to the screening- so adorable!”
While another said, “Just amazing! A shame the other child actors are absent!”
Amy replied, “I wish they’d been there also- but I wish all of you had been there too!”
A third fan penned, “Wow, that Thomas guy grew up to be a hottie!!”
Amy O’Neill starred in Honey, I Shrunk The KidsCredit: AlamyThe actress is still celebrating the film 36 years on from its releaseAmy looked eternally youthful at the special screeningCredit: instagram/@amyoneillofficialShe uploaded a snap watching the film from the poolCredit: instagram/@amyoneillofficial
Another added, “Another of my favourite classic comedy of 80s, everything looks great.”
“Nice pictures Amy O’Neill and Thomas Wilson Brown and you’re looking well by being grown up,” said a fifth in the comments.
Someone concluded, “Very cool. Still one of the best movies of the 80s.”
The award-winning classic movie, starring Rick Moranis and Marcia Strassman, celebrated its 36th anniversary this year.
Amy played Moranis’ daughter in the movie, which produced two sequels, Honey, I Blew Up The Kid in 1992 and Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves in 1997.
The original followed the chaos that ensued when scientist Wayne Szalinksi (Moranis) accidentally minimised his children and the neighbour’s kids.
Ghostbusters star Moranis went on to star in Parenthood, The Flintstones and the two sequels to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
As for O’Neill, she had TV roles in Murder, She Wrote and The Young and Restless before Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
She also appeared in the 1989 Christian Slater film Desperate for Love.
She starred alongside Thomas Wilson Brown in the 1989 filmCredit: AlamyThe two caught up at the special screening three decades on from the film’s releaseThe original movie went on for another two spin-offs which O’Neill also starred inCredit: AlamyFans couldn’t get enough of the original film with Rick MoranisCredit: Alamy
The former president is taken in the capital Brasilia days before starting his prison time for leading coup attempt.
Published On 22 Nov 202522 Nov 2025
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Brazil’s federal police have arrested former President Jair Bolsonaro, days before he was set to begin his 27-year prison sentence for leading a coup attempt, according to his lawyer and a close aide.
Bolsonaro, who has been under house arrest since August, was transferred to detention on Saturday, his lawyer said.
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“He has been imprisoned, but I don’t know why,” Celso Vilardi, one of his lawyers, told the AFP news agency.
A close aide told The Associated Press news agency that the embattled former leader was taken to the police headquarters in the capital, Brasilia.
Bolsonaro’s aide Andriely Cirino confirmed to AP that the arrest took place at about 6am (03:00 GMT) on Saturday.
The force said in a short statement, which did not name Bolsonaro, that it acted on the request of Brazil’s Supreme Court.
Neither Brazil’s federal police nor the Supreme Court provided more details at the time of publication.
Sentenced for coup attempt
The 70-year-old former president was taken from his house in a gated community in the upscale Jardim Botanico neighbourhood to the federal police headquarters, Cirino said.
Local media reported that Bolsonaro, who was Brazil’s president from 2019 to 2022, was expected to begin serving his sentence sometime next week after the far-right leader exhausted all appeals of his conviction for leading a coup attempt.
The 70-year-old Bolsonaro’s legal team had previously argued that he should serve his 27-year sentence for a botched coup bid in 2022 at home, arguing imprisonment would pose a risk to his health.
Bolsonaro was convicted in September over his bid to prevent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking power following the 2022 election, which he lost.
The effort saw crowds of rioters storm government buildings a week after Lula’s inauguration, evoking comparisons with the January 6 riot at the United States Capitol after his close ally, President Donald Trump, lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
Trump has branded the prosecution of his far-right ally a “witch-hunt” and made it a major issue in US relations with Brazil, imposing stiff tariffs on the country as a form of retribution.
Trump and Lula held what Brazil described as a constructive meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Kuala Lumpur last month, raising hope for improved relations after stinging US tariffs.
Lula said the meeting with Trump was “great” and added that their countries’ negotiating teams would get to work “immediately” to tackle tariffs and other issues.
On The Crisis Room, we’re following insecurity trends across Nigeria.
Between 2014 and 2025, at least 1,880 students have been abducted across Nigeria.
It’s a staggering number on its own, but it becomes even heavier when you realise these are children whose dreams, confidence, and sense of safety have been repeatedly disrupted.
And this tragic pattern continues. Just this Monday, Nov. 17, in Kebbi State, terrorists abducted at least 25 students of the Government Girls’ Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga.
Today on The Crisis Room, we talk about the effect of this abduction on children.
Hosts: Salma
Guests: Hauwa Shaffii Nuhu and Professor Auwal Inuwa
To get it out of the way: Yes, Tobias Jesso Jr. has heard about gooning.
“Somebody put me up on it and said it was about masturbation?” says the 40-year-old singer and songwriter, which is about half-right: As detailed in an essay in Harper’s that went viral last month, to goon — a term heretofore associated with Jesso thanks to his cult-fave 2015 album “Goon” — means in Gen Z parlance to masturbate at such great lengths that the act leads to a kind of trance state.
“Well, I’ve never done that,” Jesso says. “‘Goon’ I got from ‘The Goonies’ — it’s just a brilliant movie.” He laughs. “But I don’t care. If it sells more records, sure.”
That Jesso has a record to sell at all might take some by surprise. Though “Goon” thoroughly charmed critics and fellow musicians with its early-’70s-balladeer vibe — many said he evoked the glory days of Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson and beard-and-shearling-coat-era Paul McCartney — Jesso didn’t cotton to the life of a sort-of-famous performer and almost immediately walked away from his solo career to write songs for other singers instead.
He’s thrived in that role, penning hits for the likes of Adele, Niall Horan, Harry Styles and Dua Lipa. In 2023, he was named songwriter of the year at the Grammy Awards; this month he was nominated for that prize for a second time, with the Recording Academy citing his work with Justin Bieber (“Daisies”), Haim (“Relationships”) and Olivia Dean (“Man I Need”), among others.
Yet now he’s back with an unexpected follow-up to his debut called “Shine,” which came out Friday. Stripped back for the most part to just voice and piano, it’s an earnest work of introspection from a guy who knows how to make tenderness feel like strength.
Jesso, who grew up in Vancouver and lives in Los Angeles, announced the album just last week with a music video for his song “I Love You” that features the actors Riley Keough and Dakota Johnson, with whom he’s been close since he first touched down here around 2008.
“I hit them up and was like, ‘You girls think it’s about time I use your fame to get some extra clicks?’” he says on a recent morning at his place in Silver Lake. “The video opens up on them, then it pans away and it goes to me and you never see them again.”
Says Keough, a former girlfriend: “It was a very Tobias ask.”
So why return to the spotlight? According to Jesso, he wouldn’t have had it not been for a breakup that left him “the most depressed I’ve ever been in my life, by far.” We’re sitting in a cozy den that looks out over a lush hillside garden; a bowl of persimmons sits on a coffee table while a copy of “McCartney II” peeks out from a stack of LPs.
Jesso, whose mop of curly hair has begun ever so slightly to gray, says that when he enters a songwriting session with another artist, “I leave my worries and woes outside the door. I’m there to serve you — to write the song you want to write.” It’s an approach that’s endeared him to his star collaborators and yielded songs as deep as Adele’s “To Be Loved,” a stunning meditation on the costs of divorce from her 2021 album “30.”
But earlier this year, for the first time in Jesso’s decade of behind-the-scenes work, he found himself struggling to deliver. “I was feeling so in the dumps that I’d be choking on a line that I didn’t even want to say because if I say it, I’ll start crying,” he recalls.
He cleared six weeks from his busy schedule to process his emotions; the result was a set of songs for himself about heartache — “I can see the love leaving from your eyes in the form of a tear,” he sings in “Rain” — but also about his mom’s experience with dementia and about the young son he shares with his ex-wife.
To record the music, Jesso’s instinct was to go big. “I’m a dreamer, so I was like, ‘Imagine all the people I could have help me now that I didn’t have 10 years ago,’” he says. “I went from so-and-so to so-and-so, trying out studios, making promises I couldn’t keep. But all that stuff over the weeks just kind of flaked away.”
What remained was the beautifully mellow sound of a vintage Steinway piano he’d had restored after buying it on Craiglist for $800. He keeps the piano in a small, uncluttered studio upstairs from the den at his house; that’s where he cut “Shine,” singing live as he accompanied himself in real time.
A small handful of other players appear on the album, most prominently in “I Love You,” which erupts near the end with a wild drum fill performed by Jesso’s old pal Kane Ritchotte. The idea for the percussive outburst came to Jesso after he’d consumed “a s— ton of mushrooms,” he says. “I turned to my assistant at the time — I wonder if I have it — and I said, ‘Record me right now.’ She started recording me, and what came out was that fill.”
He picks up his phone and scrolls for a moment. “Look at this,” he says, turning the screen my way: There’s Jesso in the same room we’re in right now, staring wide-eyed into the camera as he mouths the drum sounds Ritchotte would later replicate exactly.
“That song is about somebody’s inner child being in the middle of a labyrinth, and you’re trying to find them so you can convince them that you’re in love,” Jesso tells me. “You can’t get there and you’re wishing that the whole labyrinth would just be destroyed. So when it gets to that part — ‘Shatter the cracks wide open / And say, “I love you”’ — the drums are the walls coming down. That’s the shattering.”
Tobias Jesso Jr. at the 65th Grammy Awards in 2023.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
Drum theatrics aside, Jesso’s singing is the album’s clear focal point; his pleading, slightly unsteady tone gives the music an emotional intimacy that makes you feel as though you’re sitting right next to him on the piano bench.
Jesso describes his voice as something of a liability, which Keough says has been true since he was ducking the frontman’s job in the various bands he played in when he was in his early 20s. “I always loved his voice, and he just didn’t feel that way for whatever reason,” she recalls. “I don’t know if he felt a sort of shyness, which is really interesting because as a person he’s not shy whatsoever.”
Asked whether Jesso’s decision to follow up “Goon” surprised her, she says, “I was surprised he released ‘Goon’ to begin with.”
The way Jesso sees it, “My voice isn’t good enough for the songs I write, which is why I’ve chosen to work with all these other people.” What he’s comes to realize, though, is that “my voice is perfect for my songs.”
Which doesn’t mean it’s easy for him to hear it. Once he’d finished recording, Jesso asked his friend Shawn Everett to mix “Shine”; what he got back — with every imperfection of his voice under a virtual magnifying glass — terrified him. “It felt way, way, way too vulnerable,” Jesso says.
He texted Everett and said he was sorry but that he couldn’t put out the record like this. “I told him, ‘You just brought out more of me than I’m willing to share,’” he says now. “Then I got home, I smoked a big fat joint and I sat on the couch. I was like, I’m gonna wait until I’m high enough that I can press play and pretend this isn’t me.” He laughs. “I put on the headphones, and I have never in my life had such a profound experience with music.”
Who’d you imagine was singing? I don’t know — like a 50-year-old dude or maybe a 20-year-old girl who’s got a low voice? It didn’t matter — it wasn’t me, so I wasn’t listening with judgmental ears.
The paradox is that “Shine” feels like the you-est possible album. There’s no tricks. I didn’t auto-tune, I didn’t cut anything together, I didn’t do any of that. It’s me singing a take, and it’s the best take I got. Whereas with “Goon,” there were a lot of elements that maybe weren’t possible for me to do.
“Goon” was a little more elaborate — more players and producers. Which was tortuous because I’m like, “How do I recreate this thing that I didn’t even fully make myself?”
Given the unhappiness of your experience after “Goon” came out, I wondered whether this time you’d put certain restrictions on what you’re willing to do. I’ll say right off the bat: I’m not touring — no way. I’ve met enough artists who say, “I feel totally myself onstage,” to know that there’s a natural state in which people feel comfortable up there. And I’ve tried every which way — by which I mean drinking and not drinking — and I just can’t. It’s not me.
Maybe this is something I still need to work on in therapy, but by being onstage and singing, I’m basically saying, “I’m a singer,” and I’m not comfortable saying that. I’m comfortable saying, “I’m a songwriter.” So there’s this weird shame that comes in where I’m presenting myself beyond what I know my ability to be.
One of the benchmarks I needed to hit on this record was to be comfortable that I’m not misrepresenting myself, which is why I’m OK if there’s an out-of-tune note here and there or if it’s a little bit fast or slow. But even knowing that I can perform it exactly like it is on the record, there’s nothing drawing me to the stage. I don’t really want to have a relationship with fans in that way. I feel very privileged that this is not my main job.
Between “Goon” and now, songwriting became your main job. So I don’t have to take this as seriously. The parts I do take seriously — the art — I’m willing to put in the work for.
But not for success per se. Exactly. This is weird to say, but there were moments where I was toiling over this record — listening to Take No. 73 and being like, “Wait, what was the other one?” — and the thought would occur to me: I could go to work today instead of do this and potentially create much more wealth for myself than this album could ever do.
I mean, that’s almost certainly the case. In comparison, “Shine” is meaningless in terms of success and potential. And yet I was still drawn to doing it, which made me feel like I was making the right choice for myself. But when it comes to the stuff I don’t think is important, just try to get me to do it. It ain’t happening.
I went back and looked at something I wrote about a show you played at South by Southwest in 2015 where you had to start your song “True Love” five times. Oh God.
But it’s not like anybody in the crowd was mad about it. People thought it was cute. I feel like if I was onstage now — and everything’s pointing to I probably should play a show or two — I’d be able to see the value in vulnerability. It’s human, and I like that about it. But at the time I wasn’t able to cope with the people who wouldn’t see it that way. Because I wasn’t seeing it that way. I was seeing it as: I’m trying to pretend I’m OK with this, but I’m actually forgetting my song because I’m such a s— performer. Yeah, the crowd loves it, but I go offstage and I’m not looking for the comments saying, “It was so funny.” I’m looking for the ones that are like, “This guy’s a joke.” And I’m like, f—, I knew it.
Keough shares Jesso’s assessment of what’s put him in a different position today versus 10 years ago.
“With ‘Goon,’ he would have put pressure on himself” to jump through the hoops required of a performer, she says. “He was a barista straight out of the coffee shop. ‘Shine’ is straight off all his Grammys and his big songwriting career. He’s able to be more free as an artist now because the stakes are lower.”
Yet not so long ago Jesso reckoned he might be close to burning out in the pop realm. “I was kind of getting ready to dip,” he says, “because I don’t like going into a room and saying, ‘Oh, this song is blowing up — let’s do the same thing.’”
Tobias Jesso Jr. at home in Silver Lake.
(Ian Spanier / For The Times)
He clarifies that he’s not talking about working with an artist like Dua Lipa, who recruited him as a writer for her 2024 “Radical Optimism” LP. “Dua was great,” he says. “I’m talking about going into pitch sessions and sitting with a bunch of writers and figuring out how to get a song pitched. That’s never really worked for me, and the higher you get with producers, the more into that formula you’re putting yourself.”
What he found with Bieber earlier this year was nothing like that. “It was balls to the wall, ideas just flying around,” Jesso says of the roving sessions for the pop superstar’s experimental “Swag” and “Swag II” albums, which took Jesso and the rest of Bieber’s crew to France and the Bahamas and Iceland before Jesso began work on “Shine.”
“I nearly wept on more than one occasion because of how moved I felt about what Justin was doing,” Jesso says. “It was raw emotion without any tricks, without any wordplay, without any of the stuff that I’d been so jaded by in the industry.” The experience, he adds, “reinvigorated my belief in pop music.”
Which makes it an interesting time to move to Australia, as Jesso plans to do soon in order to be close to his son, Ellsworth, who’s there with Jesso’s ex-wife, the Australian singer and songwriter Emma Louise.
“D-I-V-O-R-C-E, you know — it’s always give and take to meet each other’s needs,” he says. “And one of the things was Australia. She really wants Ellsworth to go to school there, which makes sense in one sense — and professionally makes no sense at all. But I committed to it, and I want to at least give it a try and see it through.
“This album coming out and moving to Australia within the same couple months — it feels like a big moment of change,” Jesso continues. “Maybe I’m letting go of some old things, like music being scary, and embracing some new scary things. I don’t know what the hell I’m gonna do over there. Hopefully I get busy doing something. Otherwise I’ll be pitching the groundskeeper ideas for TV shows the whole time.”
Nov. 21 (UPI) — The U.S. Coast Guard has reversed course on swastikas and nooses, saying they are “hate symbols” after reportedly issuing guidance calling them “potentially divisive.”
The agency late Thursday said the guidance “doubles down on its current policies prohibiting the display, distribution or use of hate symbols by Coast Guard personnel.”
“This is not an updated policy but a new policy to combat any misinformation and double down that the U.S. Coast Guard forbids these symbols,” the Coast Guard, which is part of Homeland Security, said in a news release.
The new guidance came after media outlets, led by The Washington Post, earlier Thursday reported that the Coast Guard had written a less firm policy earlier this month.
Since 2023, Coast Guard policy said displaying the symbols “constitutes a potential hate incident.”
“The Coast Guard does not tolerate the display of divisive or hate symbols and flags, including those identified with oppression or hatred,” the Coast Guard wrote about the policy on Thursday night.
“These symbols reflect hateful and prohibited conduct that undermines unit cohesion. A symbol or flag is prohibited as a reflection of hate if its display adversely affects good order and discipline, unit cohesion, command climate, morale, or mission effectiveness.”
Listed were “a noose, a swastika, and any symbols or flags co-opted or adopted by hate-based groups as representations of supremacy, racial or religious intolerance, anti-semitism or any other improper bias.”
The policy applies to all personnel and they “shall be removed from all Coast Guard workplaces, facilities and assets,” the agency said.
Also, all displays or depictions of Confederate battle flags continue to be prohibited.
In the earlier reported policy, commanders could take steps to remove them from public view and that the rule did not apply to private spaces outside public view, including family housing.
“At a time when anti-Semitism is rising in the United States and around the world, relaxing policies aimed at fighting hate crimes not only sends the wrong message to the men and women of our Coast Guard, but it puts their safety at risk,” Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada said Thursday.
She said the change “rolls back important protections against bigotry and could allow for horrifically hateful symbols, like swastikas and nooses, to be inexplicably permitted to be displayed.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the change “disgusting” and said “it’s more encouragement from the Republicans of extremism.”
Adm. Kevin Lunday, acting commandant of the Coast Guard, called it “categorically false” to claim prohibitions were rolled back.
“These symbols have been and remain prohibited in the Coast Guard per policy,” Lunday said in a statement, adding that “any display, use or promotion of such symbols, as always, will be thoroughly investigated and severely punished.”
DHS denied there was a revision.
“The 2025 policy is not changing — USCG issued a lawful order that doubles down on our current policies prohibiting the display, distribution or use of hate symbols by Coast Guard personnel,” spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said to CNN.
Nooses are a symbol of hatred of black people, with thousands lynched between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the civil rights movement.
Swastikas represent Adolf Hitler‘s Nazi Germany, which killed millions of people during the Holocaust.
About 1,900 died while serving in the Coast Guard during World War II against Germany.
“The swastika is the ultimate symbol of virulent hate and bigotry, and even a consideration by the Coast Guard to no longer classify it as such would be equivalent to dismissing the Ku Klux Klan‘s burning crosses and hoods as merely ‘potentially divisive,'” Menachem Rosensaft, a law professor at Cornell University and a Jewish community leader, said in a statement to Military Times.
Other armed services are part of the Department of Defense.
In 2020, a Pentagon report found that extremist views were not widespread in the military, though there was the ability of people with military experience to carry out “high-impact events.”
Two months ago, Defense Secretary Pete Hegsethordered a review of all the hazing, bullying and harassment definitions across the military. He said they were “overly broad” and were “jeopardizing combat readiness, mission accomplishment and trust in the organization.”
During his confirmation hearing in January, Hegseth said a focus on extremism has “created a climate inside our ranks that feels political when it hasn’t ever been political.”
President Donald Trump meets with New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, on Friday. Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI | License Photo
