June 6 (UPI) — A second case of New World screwworm was confirmed in Texas this week in a one-month old calf nearly six miles from where the first case was detected.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the second confirmed case on Friday, which was detected in Zavala County, Texas, but 5.6 miles away from the first one.
The second case was confirmed just 24 hours after the first, which had been detected in a three-week old calf, and has spurred the USDA to step up surveillance, as well as take other actions to prevent the infestation from spreading.
New World screwworm is spread by flies that lay their eggs in the exposed flesh of living animals — livestock, pets, wildlife and humans are all susceptible — and when the fly larvae, or maggots, emerge from the eggs they burrow through muscle as they grow.
Although screwworm was eradicated from the United States in the 1960s, severe infestations in recent years in Central America slowly moved toward the southern border and was detected here in 2025, according to the USDA.
“With our partners in Texas, we are responding with speed and strength,” the USDA said in a statement about the second case that was posted on X.
“We have defeated this pest before, and we will do it again,” the agency said. “America’s livestock producers have USDA’s FULL support.”
The primary way of controlling the spread of New World screwworm is a combination of trapping flies for testing, implementing detection and quarantine zones where it confirmed, and releasing sterile flies into the area it has been detected to prevent infected insects from reproducing, the agency said.
The USDA has encouraged people in the area of the two cases to check their pets and livestock for draining or enlarging wounds, if not maggots or eggs around bodily opening such as the nose, ears or genitals, or around the navel of newborn animals.
Although screwworm infection in humans is relatively rare, the infestations can happen in ways similar to animals and require immediate medical attention.
President Donald Trump discusses renovations to the Lincoln Reflecting Pool and makes an announcement on coal in the Oval Office at the White House on Thursday. Photo by Samuel Corum/UPI | License Photo
Funerals will be held for Lebanese officers killed in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon, as Beirut’s army chief headed to Pakistan on a surprise visit amid ongoing mediation efforts in the wider United States-Israel war on Iran.
The Lebanese soldiers will be laid to rest on Sunday, a day after the brigadier general, captain and soldier were killed in an Israeli strike on a military vehicle on the Khardali-Nabatieh road, in an incident the Israeli army said it was investigating.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
A ceasefire agreed on April 17 was meant to halt the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, but Israel has continued to carry out near-daily attacks, prompting retaliatory ones from the Lebanese group. The violence has taken a disproportionate toll on civilians in Lebanon, where more than 3,500 people have been killed since hostilities resumed on March 2.
A further conditional ceasefire was announced by Lebanese and Israeli envoys last week in Washington, but was rejected by Hezbollah as it did not include the group or provide for Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
Lebanese army chief Rodolphe Haykal left on Saturday for Pakistan, which has emerged as a central mediator between the US and Iran.
The visit is notable given the insistence by Washington – and by Lebanese leaders, including the president – that ceasefire talks for Lebanon remain separate from the US-Iran negotiations mediated by Pakistan.
Fighting continues in southern Lebanon
Meanwhile, Israeli attacks hit several towns across southern Lebanon and the western Bekaa overnight, while Hezbollah said it launched rockets, artillery fire, and drone attacks against Israeli forces, including near the Beaufort Castle in Yohmor al-Shaqif.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said on Sunday that an Israeli raid on the town of Saksakiyeh a day earlier killed at least two people. The ministry added that 22 people were wounded in the attack, including three children and a woman.
Two others were wounded following an Israeli drone attack on the town of Shahabiyeh, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported.
Israeli air attacks also hit the town of Qalawiya at dawn, and the towns of al-Qatrani, Byblos and Rihan in the Jezzine district overnight. The town of Deir Kifa in the Tyre district was also bombed, while Barashit and Chaqra in the same district were subjected to intermittent artillery shelling overnight.
NNA also reported artillery shelling in the towns of al-Mansouri and Bayt al-Sayyad in the Tyre district.
Israeli warplanes launched an attack on the town of Srifa. Local media also reported that Israeli fighter jets attacked Dweir, near Nabatieh, north of the Litani River.
Paramedics, meanwhile, continue to look for survivors under the rubble following Israeli attacks.
“The pattern is part of what is being called the Gazafication of Lebanon, or Israel using actions normalised by the Gaza genocide,” said Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
“The targeting of schools in southern Lebanon, just like Gaza. Bombing Lebanese hospitals and clinics, also like Gaza. And the murder of journalists. Then there’s these so-called double-tap attacks against paramedics and rescue workers. Hundreds of Palestinian and Lebanese paramedics have been killed with this unlawful practice.”
Gazafication extends to the ceasefire, too, she added.
“The ‘Yellow Line’, first introduced in Gaza, has now swallowed 60 percent of the territory. In Lebanon, the ‘Yellow Line’ now includes nearly a fifth of the country. Both invisible lines keep expanding,” said Odeh.
No choice but negotiations, says Lebanese lawmaker
Najat Aoun Saliba, an independent member of Lebanon’s parliament, meanwhile, condemned Israel’s killing of the Lebanese soldiers and said President Joseph Aoun has no choice but to enter into negotiations with Israel.
“If we don’t have negotiations, what is the alternative? Is the alternative going to war? The war is not going to give us peace,” she told Al Jazeera.
Saliba said dialogue was the only viable path given the imbalance of power between Israel and Lebanon’s armies.
“The balance of power between the armies is not to be compared. Israel has a very strong army backed up by the United States. The Lebanese Armed Forces have been sidelined by a political will for 30 years, because they wanted to strengthen the presence of Hezbollah,” she said.
The lawmaker added that Hezbollah has not been able to stop Israeli aggression.
“Hezbollah is not able to stop any of these war crimes, and it’s not able to stop any of the invasions that Israel is doing. I think with … all these massacres and destruction, I don’t think we have a choice.”
The killing of Brigadier General Wissam Sabra, Captain Elie Khoury and soldier Hussein Ghozal came at a tense moment amid broader efforts to strike a deal between the US, Iran, Hezbollah, the Lebanese government and Israel.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said the attack was “aimed at thwarting all efforts to reach a solution”, while Prime Minister Nawaf Salam described it as “a heinous crime and an attack on Lebanon and all Lebanese people”.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war when Iran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel on March 2, following joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
Tehran has made a ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah a condition for any peace deal with Washington.
Ben Gibbard remembers late 2023 as a time of competing realities.
Onstage, the frontman of Death Cab for Cutie and the Postal Service was thriving as his two bands toured together to mark the 20th anniversaries of Death Cab’s “Transatlanticism” and the Postal Service’s “Give Up.”
Behind the scenes, Gibbard’s personal life was in shambles.
“I was getting off phone calls — very difficult phone calls — 20 minutes before going on in an arena,” he says. The singer and his wife, photographer Rachel Demy, were in the middle of an agonizing breakup that would eventually lead to divorce. Yet audiences in the thousands were turning up nightly to see Gibbard reanimate the peak-millennial classics that made him one of indie rock’s defining stars.
“I’d just tell myself, You’re a professional — you’re gonna go out there and do it, and no one’s gonna know,” he recalls. “It was all waiting for me when I got offstage, of course. But for two hours I was able to disconnect and be a performer, which was incredibly …” Gibbard, 49, trails off into a laugh.
“I don’t know if it was healthy,” he says. “But it was helpful.”
Two and a half years later, that split-screen experience — “this idea of how we compartmentalize our pain or our grief or our trauma,” as Gibbard puts it now — forms a through line of Death Cab’s ruminative new album, “I Built You a Tower.” Due Friday from Anti Records, where the group landed after leaving its longtime home of Atlantic amid a corporate shake-up, the LP sets thoughts of broken fences and never-ending storms against tuneful arrangements that can churn, shimmer or chime.
“I pledge myself to your misery / I kneel at its throne,” Gibbard sings in his still-boyish tenor over the sleek new wave groove of “Trap Door,” “Respecting your proclivity / To languish on your own.” In the fuzzed-out “Envy the Birds,” the frontman recounts an argument between two lovers “spraying bullets of grievances”; the driving “Riptides” is narrated by a guy “too tired to end the war.”
“This record is definitely the result of a divorce,” Gibbard says plainly during a recent visit to Los Angeles from his home in Seattle. “But I didn’t want to make a score-settling record or an angry record. This wasn’t an opportunity to defame someone or make this about how I’d been wronged. People drift apart — relationships don’t work. And I think how that’s affected me at almost 50 is a very different mindset than I found myself in when I was 33 or whatever the last time it happened.”
Gibbard means his first divorce, in 2012, from the actor and singer Zooey Deschanel — a split that inspired Death Cab’s 2015 album “Kintsugi,” on which one song asks, “Was I in your way when the cameras turned to face you?” and another chides an unnamed celebrity: “You’ll never have to hear the word ‘no’ if you keep all your friends on the payroll.”
“There’s some gnarly stuff on that record,” says Gibbard, who’d moved to L.A. to be with Deschanel then promptly left as soon as their marriage collapsed. “It’s not exactly a kind album.”
Bassist Nick Harmer, who formed Death Cab with Gibbard in the late ’90s after the two met as students at Western Washington University, agrees that “I Built You a Tower” represents a shift in perspective. “There’s so much more self-examination — and so much more self-indictment,” he says. (Death Cab’s other members are drummer Jason McGerr, guitarist Dave Depper and keyboardist Zac Rae.)
Which isn’t to say that Gibbard entirely resists placing blame. In “Trap Door” he sings about “a trap door in your heart and a button on your desk well-worn from being pressed.”
The frontman says that in recent years he’d “tried to get away from using the word ‘heart’ because that had been a touchstone for so many of our early records.” Yet this line seemed worth holding onto when it came to him.
“I Googled it to see: Did I already write this?” he says, laughing. “Or is there a very popular song called ‘There’s a Trap Door in Your Heart,’ and now I’m just rewriting it? We’ve made a lot of songs at this point — you gotta check your work.”
Indeed, “I Built You a Tower” is Death Cab’s 11th studio LP. After the band’s previous album, 2022’s “Asphalt Meadows,” fulfilled its deal with Atlantic, Death Cab reupped with the major label for one more record, Gibbard says, based on its strong relationship with the company’s then-CEO, Julie Greenwald.
“Julie was our shepherd and our protector the whole time we were there,” the singer says of Death Cab’s nearly two-decade run at Atlantic, which began with 2005’s Grammy-nominated “Plans.” Yet just days after they reached an agreement for “Tower,” Greenwald was fired and replaced by a new leader, Elliot Grainge, about whom the band felt less than optimistic.
Ben Gibbard
(Cielito Mercado Vivas / For The Times)
“We weren’t given the impression that Elliot had spent a lot of time with ‘Transatlanticism’ in college,” Gibbard says of the 32-year-old exec, who made his name signing rappers like Ice Spice and Trippie Redd. With Greenwald’s help, Gibbard says, Death Cab negotiated an exit from Atlantic with ownership of the new album.
Did Grainge try to persuade the band to stay?
“Never heard a word,” Gibbard says.
In an email, Grainge (whose father is Universal Music Group Chairman and Chief Executive Lucian Grange) said that Death Cab’s music “has meant a great deal” to him.
“Working together may not have been in the cards for us; however, that does not lessen my enthusiasm for the band,” he wrote. “They have delivered an impressive body of work over their decades-long career, and I am looking forward to their new music.”
Death Cab’s Harmer says he and his bandmates “talked for half a beat” about putting out “Tower” on their own before thinking better of the idea.
“We’re not businesspeople,” Gibbard says. “Music is the only thing we know how to do.”
At a friend’s wedding in 2024, the frontman had been seated next to the musician Allison Crutchfield, who was then heading up Anti’s A&R department; early this year, Death Cab announced that it had signed to the indie label, whose other acts include Fleet Foxes and Madi Diaz.
This summer, the band will tour behind “I Built You a Tower,” including two shows in August at L.A.’s Greek Theatre. After the “Transatlanticism”/”Give Up” anniversary outing — not to mention a subsequent tour on which the group looked back at “Plans” — Gibbard is “very ready to play some new material,” he says.
Doing the hits was fun. “But at a certain point,” he adds, “it’s really about moving ahead.”
A US influencer and actor have caused outrage after mocking Palestinians subject to rape and beastiality in Israeli prisons. Elon Gold and Lizzy Savetsky made the comments at the Tribeca Film Festival as they promoted a new film made in Israel.
Formula One racing sensation Kimi Antonelli made a mockery of suggestions that the Monaco Grand Prix would stall his incredible start to the season by producing a stunning qualifying lap to stick his Mercedes on pole position.
The qualifying battle lived up to expectations, with provisional pole changing hands several times before the 19-year-old championship leader snatched it with his final lap on Saturday.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
He edged out Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by 0.043 seconds to become the first Italian since Jarno Trulli in 2004 to take pole position in the principality.
“It was one of those laps that we call a magic lap. I was able to put it all together. It was such a close qualifying with Max,” Antonelli, who clocked 1:12.051 (1 minute and 12.051 seconds) to claim his fourth pole in six races this season, said.
“I knew the last lap was good; I was just hoping that it would be enough, but it was very close.”
Antonelli is the youngest driver to lead the championship, having won the last four races, but the unique nature of Monaco’s twisting circuit, full of slow corners, was supposed to take away the Mercedes power advantage.
Ferrari pair on second row
Ferrari have been strongly tipped as race favourites but had to be content with the second row on Sunday’s grid, with Lewis Hamilton third quickest, 0.228 seconds slower, and local favourite Charles Leclerc, winner of the race in 2024, fourth.
Leclerc had been on provisional pole with time running out in Q3 – the third and final session of qualifying – but clipped the wall on his final lap as he tried to wrestle it back, stopping his car at Rascasse.
Ferrari dominated Friday’s two practice sessions, with Hamilton and Leclerc first and second in both, although Antonelli was quickest in Saturday’s final practice.
“Congrats to Kimi. Mega, mega job. Having your first pole here is so special,” three-time Monaco champion Hamilton, who is yet to win a race for Ferrari, said.
“It was tough for us. We were looking so strong in practice, and we barely changed anything, but the car was drastically different once we got to qualifying for some reason.”
Isack Hadjar, in the second Oracle Red Bull, bounced back from a nasty crash in Friday practice to qualify fifth, with Antonelli’s teammate George Russell, who trails him by 43 points in the standings, a disappointing sixth.
Reigning world champion and last year’s Monaco winner Lando Norris will be on the fourth row alongside fellow McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, with the team’s hopes of victory in their 1,000th Grand Prix now looking slender.
Antonelli, Verstappen and Hamilton after the qualifying round for Monaco GP [Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images]
‘The walls start coming closer’
Antonelli finished 18th and last at the Monaco Grand Prix 12 months ago, and he was expected to feel the pressure of leading the standings on his return.
But he now has a golden chance to continue his dream start to the season by emulating Trulli, who converted his pole into a victory in his Renault in 2004.
“I think this is one of the most intensive, if not the most intense, qualifying sessions of the year, and it takes a massive effort,” he said. “When it is about finding the last two tenths, it is not easy because the walls start coming closer.
“But I felt great this morning, and I am happy that we could finish the job today.”
Of the last 22 Monaco Grands Prix, only six have been won by a driver who did not start on pole, such is the extreme difficulty of overtaking on the narrow, twisty circuit that snakes round the stunning Mediterranean playground.
The last three editions have all been won by the top driver in qualifying, but Hamilton did win from third on the grid in 2016, and with Verstappen showing great speed here this year, Antonelli will be taking nothing for granted.
“If you would have told me yesterday I would be on the front row, I would have taken it,” Verstappen said.
“He passed away peacefully of complications due to pneumonia, surrounded by his family,” his daughters Emily and Daisy said.
Their statement went on: “It has been, and forever will be, an honour and a privilege to be his daughters, and to have witnessed firsthand the impact both he and his work have had on so many.”
Fans have now taken to social media to share they’ve been watching some of his works, including Persuasion, Ted Lasso and Vanity Fair.
“It’s a lovely tribute to remember artists for their work,” one fan wrote on Reddit.
Another replied: “My favourite was him in Merlin,” to which another said: “He was incredible as Uther! So intimidating!” “Right he was so good as Uther,” a fan agreed.
The beloved actor starred as Uther Pendragon, King of Camelot in the BBC fantasy series, alongside Colin Morgan as Merlin, Bradley James as Prince Arthur and Richard Wilson as Gaius.
Merlin aired for five seasons between 2008 and 2012, and followed a reimagining of the legend, in which the young warlock was sent to live with Gaius in Camelot after his mother feared for his life because of his gift of magic.
Working in court, he becomes Arthur’s manservant and spends his talent trying to protect him from evil forces.
Over years, the pair become trusted friends, despite Merlin keeping his magic a secret from all those around him, as he works to help Arthur become the King he was destined to be.
Fans have hailed Merlin as “spellbinding” and “one of the best,” with one writing: “The ending is heartbreaking and may leave you in an eternal sadness but it’s worth it.”
Another said: “I love Merlin, from the 1st episode I knew this would be an excellent show.”
“One of the best TV series of BBC,” another echoed, as one called it “perfection”.
Someone else called it “phenomenal”, as another fan called it “an epic masterpiece”.
Anthony Head previously spoke about how much he enjoyed playing his role in Merlin.
“He has so many levels, and that makes him fascinating,” he said in a 2010 interview.
“We established early on that he wasn’t just a two-dimensional baddie, and now his past transgressions have manifested themselves, which is great fun to play.”
He joked: “I also get to wear the cloak and sword, which reminds me of dressing up as a knight when I was a child.”
Eight people were shot on Saturday afternoon at a festival in Toledo, Ohio, but all are expected to make full recoveries. File Photo by Justin Lane/EPA-EFE
June 6 (UPI) — Several people were shot Saturday afternoon at an outdoor festival in Ohio, with “many victims” sent to the hospital.
At least eight people were shot around 5:30 p.m. at the Old West End Festival in Toledo, Ohio, all of whom were transported to the hospital and all of whom are expected to survive, the city’s mayor, Wade Kapszukiewicz, told WTOL-11.
As of 8:00 p.m., police said that they were still looking for the suspect or suspects that were involved in the shooting.
“The investigation currently includes scenes in the area of Delaware Avenue and Robinwood Avenue,” the Toledo Police Department said in a statement posted to Facebook.
“Residents and visitors are asked to avoid scenes in the area and expect a significant police presence as officers continue their search and investigators work to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident,” the police department said.
The Old West Festival, an event that has been held for more than 50 years, is a celebration of the history of the area, and was scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
“Summer festivals should be safe spaces for families to spend time together without fear of violence,” Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine said in a statement on social media.
“We are confident that law enforcement will locate the suspects involved in this senseless crime,” he said.
President Donald Trump discusses renovations to the Lincoln Reflecting Pool and makes an announcement on coal in the Oval Office at the White House on Thursday. Photo by Samuel Corum/UPI | License Photo
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
After reportedly losing dozens of MQ-9 Reaper drones while battling Iran, the Air Force on Friday confirmed to TWZ that it is planning to purchase an undisclosed number of unused ones from General Atomics, who made the aircraft. The company, however, said it has less than 10 of these drones to offer, and it remains unclear where else the Air Force can find more.
All of this continues to raise serious questions about the Air Force’s near-term ability to plug gaps left by the losses fighting against Iran and in other recent operations in and around the Middle East. The downed Reapers have a reported combined value of about $1 billion.
The Air Force has reportedly lost dozens of MQ-9 Reaper drones. (USAF)
Furthermore, despite the top Air Force officer recently praising Reaper as “perhaps the most valuable player” in the air war against Iran, the aircraft have been in the crosshairs of service officials. They have openly questioned the drone’s survivability and, by extension, general value in future operations. The Air Force has made several half-hearted efforts, without success, to find a successor. It is now in the early stages of a new attempt at acquiring an “MQ-9 Next.” You can read more about that effort in our story here.
An MQ-9 Reaper. (USAF)
It will be years, if ever, before “MQ-9 Next” comes online. Meanwhile, the search is on for existing replacements.
“The USAF intends to purchase several unused MQ-9A Block 5 from GA-ASI [General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.],” a spokesperson for the service told TWZ today. “A number of MQ-9A Block 5 aircraft were manufactured based on forecasted purchases for other customers but are no longer needed. The available aircraft are currently GA-ASI owned aircraft.”
“The USAF has received funds to begin the acquisition process,” they added.
A U.S. Air Force service member assigned to the 46th Expeditionary Attack Squadron, conducts pre-flight checks on an MQ-9 aircraft in preparation for an Operation Agile Spartan mission departing from Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait, August 21, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Isaac Garden) Tech. Sgt. Isaac Garden
The Air Force was responding to our questions about congressional testimony from a top officer highlighting the service’s plans to backfill the combat losses.
“We’re looking at options to buy back as many of the MQ-9As as we possibly can right now,” Air Force Lt. Gen. David Tabor, Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Programs, had told members of Congress at a hearing back on May 13. “So there’s a bit of a short-term effort to buy back things immediately, in this fiscal year.”
Tabor also said at that time that the Air Force’s total MQ-9A fleet had shrunk to 135 aircraft. Official budget documents say the Air Force had 165 Reapers in inventory as of the start of Fiscal Year 2026, which began on October 1 of last year. This had already marked a significant year-over-year decrease, down from 231 MQ-9As at the beginning of Fiscal Year 2025.
Despite Air Force needs, General Atomics told us the number of available Reapers is in short supply.
“Between parts in stock for new builds, and company-owned Reapers with some number of flight hours on them, there are less than 10 total ‘new’ MQ-9As available to any customers anywhere in the world,” General Atomics spokesperson C. Mark Brinkley told TWZ earlier this week. “There are some number of decommissioned Reapers out there, and some number of those could potentially be brought back into service.”
MQ-9A Reaper in flight. (General Atomics)
One place the Air Force won’t be able to find any Reapers is in storage.
The MQ-9A is out of production. General Atomics has moved on to the MQ-9B, and currently offers those drones in multiple configurations. Though an evolution of the original Reaper, the core B model design differs in significant ways from its predecessor. Any new Air Force purchases of drones in this broader family would have to be of the B model and worked into the existing production schedule.
How many MQ-9As the Air Force has lost in operations in and around the Middle East since January 2025 is unclear, but is understood to be substantial. As of May, “nearly 30 MQ-9 Reapers have been lost in the course” of Operation Epic Fury against Iran, Air & Space Forces Magazine reported, citing “people familiar with the matter.” This is on top of dozens of Reapers reportedly downed while conducting operations targeting Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen in the past year or so.
At the hearing last month, Tabor did not provide any official accounting of Reaper losses, but did acknowledge that “we are concerned about how they’ve attrited.”
In another effort to bolster the supply of operational Reapers, the Air Force told us that while it never regenerated MQ-1 Predator drones back into service, it was repurposing parts from these aircraft that the service stopped using in 2020. There were dozens on hand after they were retired.
An MQ-1 Predator flies above the flightline during launch and recovery training at Creech Air Force Base, Nev. Aircrew will fly the MQ-1 for the final time at Creech on March 9, 2018, before it is officially retired from the Air Force inventory. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Master Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo) Senior Master Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo
Questions about the status of the MQ-1 fleet arose last week after U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) acknowledged the loss of an “MQ-1” drone to Iranian fire. This has led many to question whether American forces are flying the venerable Predator again as a result of the Reaper losses.
At the time, the Air Force declined to say if it lost any of theirs and referred us to CENTCOM, which declined comment. However, on Friday, the Air Force told us that in addition to the Predators being used for parts, 20 had been transferred to the Navy. We reached out to them for comment.
As we previously noted, it is also very possible, if not likely, that the uncrewed aircraft in question was an MQ-1C Gray Eagle, a related but different design still in active U.S. Army service. You can read more about this event in our original story here.
A U.S. Army MQ-1C seen being prepared for a mission somewhere in the Middle East on April 18, 2026. The official caption for this picture erroneously says the drone is an MQ-1 Predator. USAF/Master Sgt. James Cason
At the time of the incident, CENTCOM declined to tell us which variant of the MQ-1 was lost.
Regardless, the Air Force’s mad scramble to find additional Reapers highlights the value of having a high-flying, long-loitering drone that can gather intelligence and fire off munitions, no matter how slow it flies.
A site of big changes, the Music Center has become farewell central. Alongside the Gustavo Dudamel hullabaloo at Walt Disney Concert Hall, James Conlon has begun his final appearances in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion as music director for two decades of Los Angeles Opera, with his own signature form of enchantment in Mozart’s “Magic Flute.”
The silent-movie panache of Barrie Kosky’s production, which opened Saturday night at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and runs through June 21, is on its way to becoming a perennial. This is the third revival since L.A. Opera first staged it in 2013 — all four times with Conlon in the pit. The production operates like an operatic graphic novel and live animated film charmingly all in one. The scene is a giant movie screen broken up in sections and upon which is projected witty, fantastical background animation, while the characters are the live singers, dressed as though silent film stars.
The orchestra plays Mozart’s score as though it were, as orchestras did in the old days, accompanying a silent movie but to radically different effect. Fulgurous cinematic spectacle may immerse your attention, but the opera’s essence is transferred from the stage to the pit. The singers, meanwhile, function to an unusual degree as choreographed characters in a cartoon, leaving little opportunity for body language, allowing, instead, individual expression almost exclusively to their voices.
In Mozart’s opera, Tamino, a prince in a fairyland of mystic temples and mystifying gods, relies on his supernatural flute that turn sorrow into joy to get him out of jams. The genius of Kosky’s singularly musical production is that it magically makes the orchestra itself a compendious magic flute. It more than ever becomes an agent of delight.
That is where Conlon comes in. He has, while leading L.A. Opera for 20 seasons (half the company’s existence), served as an advocate for the core operatic repertory — notably Mozart, Verdi and Wagner — much of it little heard in our late-blooming former operatic desert. He has also been an international champion of his “recovered voices” project, salvaging the neglected operas of composers in the first half of the 20th century who were silenced by Nazi Germany.
“The Magic Flute,” one of the world’s two or three most popular operas, needs no such patronage. Written at the end of Mozart’s life as a popular entertainment, its a singspiel, or sung play. As a proto-Broadway musical operatic genre of spoken word and musical numbers, it appeals on all levels. The fairy-tale libretto is child-friendly. Mozart’s score is tune heaven.
The troublesome Queen of the Night dazzles with high notes that shoot out like daggers. The main lovers, Tamino and Pamina, are lyrical wonders. The comical bird-catcher, Papageno, is everyone’s darling. The domineering Sarastro, an all-powerful priest, bellows spiritual profundities. But if you start digging under the surface, deeper than the symbolic Freemasonry and all, you may never find bottom.
The opera begins with three ceremonial chords in the orchestra that signal a brief, sober introduction quickly undercut by an exhilarating fast-forwarding overture. Those three chords can be made to mean many things. Often, they come across as commands by an orchestra to sit up straight and pay attention. They may be dignified or downright quirky and playfully no big deal, just a here-we-go.
Conlon handles them as a sweet, perfectly tuned, almost amorous invitation to pleasure, implying this will be a genial, gracious, laid-back “Flute.” Among his accomplishments in L.A. has been to make the opera’s orchestra capable of producing just such velvety, flowing Mozart, as well as terse, tight theater.
Here, Conlon offers a lesson in the kind of leadership generally lacking in modern society, by simultaneously staying out of the way yet being at the essential center of things. Depth here is not announced, but the care of phrasing implies that there is more to everything Mozart is saying than first meets the ear, that, under it all, the “Magic Flute” is not fantasy but a spiritual lesson in morality.
Many in the cast, this revival, are young singers, not yet well known and new to the company. Sydney Mancasola and Miles Mykkanen, as Pamina and Tamino, are likable, lyric lovers. Kyle Miller catches Papageno’s vulnerable charm. Aigul Khismatullina, Queen of the Night, impresses with the silvery pricks of her high notes, while Kwangchul Youn’s Sarastro, unsteady in middle register, takes on weight at the bottom of his bass. Zhengyi Bai’s lustful Monostatos, disguised in the production as a hammy vampire, almost steals the show a time or two. The Three Ladies and Three Spirits provide vocal allure.
One of the evening’s most theatrical moments, though, came after the music stopped when what sounded like a gun interrupted curtain calls. But as if rescued by a magic flute, an instant of fear turned to joy, glittery gold graffiti filling the Chandler and celebrating Conlon.
‘The Magic Flute’
Where: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A.
When: Through June 21
Tickets: $49-$440
Running time: About 2 hours, 50 minutes, with one intermission.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang on Sunday is significant for one reason.
It’s not that they are meeting: The two men met in Beijing just a year ago when China held a massive military parade to mark 80 years since Japan surrendered unconditionally to Allied forces, bringing an end to the second world war.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
What’s surprising is that Xi is travelling at all.
The Chinese leader has not travelled to Pyongyang since 2019, having steadily cut down his travel in recent years, and world leaders like US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin generally come to him these days.
“We need to remember that Xi Jinping has not really travelled abroad that much,” William Yang, Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Northeast Asia, told Al Jazeera. “The growing trend is foreign leaders heading to Beijing to meet with him.
“For Xi Jinping to be the one who decides to travel to Pyongyang, it shows the level of significance that China attaches to this trip.”
Xi averaged about 14 trips a year between 2013 and 2019, but dropped to approximately six a year between 2022 and 2025, according to the Asia Society. In 2020, he made just one overseas trip, and in 2021, he made none, as China grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic.
He may be travelling now, though, amid concerns about North Korea’s relationship with Russia, Yang said.
Senior partner no more?
Traditionally, Beijing played the role of senior partner in the China-North Korea relationship, with North Korea heavily dependent on China for as much as 95 percent of its trade, according to one 2022 estimate from the National Committee on North Korea, a US-based nonprofit.
That dynamic has been changing since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, however. North Korea has provided Russia with critical weapons, artillery and manpower and is credited by observers with helping to keep Moscow’s war machine going.
South Korea’s Institute for National Security Strategy, a government-funded research institute, estimates that since 2023, Moscow has paid North Korea as much as $14.4bn for troop deployments and the export of “artillery, shells, and guided and ballistic missiles”.
The report said that North Korea may only have received between $580m and $1.5bn of that in the form of “goods”, which means there is a “significant possibility that the majority of the payment from Moscow was in the form of ‘sensitive military technology or related precision parts and materials that are difficult to observe via satellite’,” according to a translation.
Although China shares a mutual defence treaty with North Korea, it is still wary of North Korea acquiring new military technology, Yang said.
“Beijing has always been very careful about providing military assistance to North Korea because they do not see a militarily stronger North Korea as necessarily in its favour,” he said. “A North Korea that is militarily emboldened through its relationship with Russia could be a potential source of disruption to the balance of power and status quo on the Korean Peninsula.”
North Korea has already carried out eight missile launches since the start of the year, and in May unveiled a new AI-guided tactical cruise missile, according to North Korean media and the US Naval Institute.
Earlier this week, North Korean state media also released photos of Kim touring a new “weapons-grade nuclear materials” factory, which would be used to expand Pyongyang’s nuclear capability at an “exponential rate”.
Fluctuating tensions
North Korea has technically been at war with South Korea since 1950, with the conflict suspended by a 1953 armistice agreement. The two countries are divided by a 250-kilometre-long (155-mile-long) Demilitarized Zone, splitting the Korean Peninsula.
Tensions have fluctuated dramatically over the years, reaching a recent low point in 2024 when Kim abandoned the long-term goal of Korean unification.
He has largely cut off communications ever since, according to observers. On Friday, South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it hopes that Xi’s trip will “play a constructive role in addressing issues related to the Korean Peninsula” – suggesting that Seoul may have lobbied the Chinese leader to try to smooth over relations.
South Korean Minister of Unification Chung Dong-young separately told reporters last month that he expects the two leaders to discuss a possible meeting between Kim and Trump later in the year.
Xi may also be alarmed by other security developments in East Asia, including news of a possible military-logistics support pact between South Korea and Japan, which was raised at the Shangri-La Dialogue of regional defence officials in Singapore last weekend.
While China and South Korea’s relationship fluctuates, its ties with Japan are acrimonious due to longstanding grievances dating back to Imperial Japan’s occupation of China in the 1930s and 1940s. Beijing has also objected to recent moves by Tokyo to expand its de facto military.
China strongly condemns the Israeli airstrikes and ground incursion into southern Lebanon, describing these operations as a dangerous escalation that threatens the stability of the entire region. China demands that Israel immediately cease its military operations and fully withdraw its forces from Lebanese territory, warning of the dangers of its incursions and violations of established lines. China views the fourth round of Washington talks between Lebanon and Israel and the military tensions as an extension of a broader crisis. Beijing sees this conflict as a consequence of the Gaza war, emphasizing clear principles in its intelligence and military assessment of the situation across several axes, most notably the necessity of an Israeli withdrawal and a ceasefire. Beijing calls for an immediate cessation of military operations and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory, warning that expanding ground operations will drag the region into chaos. China’s efforts in the reconstruction of Lebanon focus on providing urgent humanitarian aid packages, signing development cooperation agreements, and encouraging Chinese companies to participate in infrastructure projects and long-term investments within the framework of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. China also defended the Lebanese position in the face of Israeli escalation at the United Nations, with its representative to the Security Council emphasizing that Israel’s advance to Beaufort Castle (Qalaat Al-Shaqif) was the most serious incursion into southern Lebanon in 30 years. He called on the international community to take urgent measures before the situation in Lebanon deteriorated further, demanding respect for Lebanese sovereignty and the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from southern Lebanon.
The most prominent features of these Chinese efforts for joint cooperation with the Lebanese side and the international community in the reconstruction of Lebanon and the cessation of Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon are the provision of direct financial and development support. The Chinese and Lebanese governments signed a development cooperation agreement in Beirut worth 50 million Chinese yuan to support reconstruction and sustainable development efforts, along with the provision of urgent humanitarian aid. China delivered shipments of emergency humanitarian aid through the Port of Beirut to alleviate the economic and living burdens on the Lebanese people. Furthermore, China encouraged the participation of Chinese companies and investments in reconstruction and development efforts in Lebanon. Beijing has expressed its readiness to encourage its major companies and national institutions to participate in Lebanon’s reconstruction projects and support the development of the energy, telecommunications, and infrastructure sectors through China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Lebanon has been a partner in this Chinese initiative since joining in 2017. China aims to enhance Lebanon’s role as a pivotal hub for trade and logistics in the Middle East. In addition to sustained Chinese diplomatic efforts, China has continued its diplomatic and developmental support for Lebanon, alongside its active participation in UN peacekeeping operations in southern Lebanon.
China’s role in halting the Israeli war on Lebanon has focused on exerting diplomatic pressure through the United Nations and utilizing international platforms to call for an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory, while supporting political and diplomatic solutions to prevent the conflict from escalating. China has consistently called for an end to Israeli military operations against Lebanon during UN sessions and warned that the collapse of ceasefires places the region on a more dangerous precipice. Beijing called for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from the devastated Lebanese territories, emphasizing the need to respect international resolutions, Lebanon’s sovereignty and independence, and the protection of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). China stressed the importance of ensuring that UN peacekeepers could carry out their duties freely and safely and condemned any attacks against UNIFIL personnel. China also emphasized the need to intensify humanitarian aid to the Lebanese people to address the repercussions of the war and expressed its full readiness to contribute to restoring regional stability.
Here, Chinese diplomatic and intelligence agencies affirmed that Lebanon’s sovereignty and security must not be violated, stressing that extending the authority of the Lebanese state and protecting its stability are the fundamental pillars for preventing the entire region from sliding into a comprehensive regional war. They reiterated the necessity of respecting Lebanon’s sovereignty and security, considering the stability and protection of the Lebanese state as essential to preventing a full-blown regional war. China also expressed its full support for the role of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and emphasized the need to provide guarantees for its protection and freedom of movement to carry out its mission. From an analytical perspective, Beijing believes that a political solution to the crisis must include respect for international resolutions and adherence to the two-state solution for Palestine and Israel. It also expressed concern that these negotiations might lead to regional arrangements that serve the interests of certain major powers and marginalize other parties in the region. On the other hand, China welcomes dialogue and diplomatic solutions as a means to ease tensions in the Middle East and supports efforts to restore Lebanon’s sovereignty. However, Beijing has criticized unilateral US actions in managing interconnected issues such as Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran, emphasizing the need to adhere to international resolutions and support regional stability, avoiding military interventions and the expansion of conflict.
Beijing adopts a clear strategic vision regarding the Lebanese crisis, which is summarized in its emphasis on respecting sovereignty. Chinese diplomacy strongly condemns any violations of Lebanese sovereignty and calls for an immediate halt to foreign military operations on Lebanese territory to ensure the safety of civilians. With Chinese intelligence and military agencies calling for a monopoly on weapons, a position reiterated by the Chinese Permanent Representative to the UN Security Council, China supports the Lebanese state as the sole guarantor of internal stability. This signifies Beijing’s strong support for the principle of state monopoly on weapons, considering official institutions the only guarantor of internal stability and the prevention of the country’s disintegration. China also supports the UNIFIL forces, opposing the termination of the UNIFIL mandate and demanding that it be enabled to fulfill its mission to ensure stability in southern Lebanon and contribute to regional de-escalation. Beijing emphasizes that escalation will not resolve crises, urging conflicting parties (including Washington and Tehran) to prioritize diplomacy and political negotiation to exercise restraint.
The World Cup arrives in L.A. on Thursday. This marks the first time the festivities have taken place in the Southland since 1994, when Pasadena’s Rose Bowl hosted the final between Brazil and Italy, which famously ended in a scoreless tie and was decided by a penalty shootout that led to Brazil winning its fourth World Cup title. (The U.S. hosted the Women’s World Cup in 1999 and 2003, with the finals at the Rose Bowl and Home Depot Center [now known as Dignity Health Sports Park], respectively.)
Soccer is art and art is soccer and soccer is life — and also one of the most beloved sports on the planet — and thankfully for you, dear arts lover, you can mix your passion for art and fútbol by heading to a free public viewing party at a number of local museums and cultural institutions.
This year sees Spain and France as favorites, with England, Brazil, Portugal and defending champions Argentina all in the running. No matter who your team is, there is a museum watch party for you. Here are your top choices, in no particular order:
The Getty Center: A variety of watch parties will take place on newly installed big screens at the museum’s Trellis Bar & Lounge and Garden Terrace Cafe, which will also feature themed menu items and drinks. The Getty will stay open until 9 p.m. on June 12, 19, 26 and July 3 to accommodate evening games. Normal Friday hours will resume July 10. Admission is free, but a reservation is required. Parking is free after 5 p.m.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art: The museum is hosting two free outdoor watch parties on large screens located on its Smidt Welcome Plaza on Wilshire Boulevard. Mexico vs. Korea can be seen from 6 to 8 p.m. on June 18; and Uruguay vs. Cape Verde will take place at 3p.m. on June 21.
LACMA is also hosting a few soccer-themed events, including “Andell Family Sundays: ‘Fútbol Is Life’,” set to take place on June 7, 14 and 28 from 12:30 to 3:30 pm. The event features art-making workshops inspired by the museum’s ‘Fútbol Is Life’ exhibit featuring soccer miniatures by Lyndon J. Barrois Sr., and led by artists Karl Petion and Patricia Yossen. There is also an event called “Let’s Play: Soccer Juggling,” from noon to 3 p.m. on June 21. This is also tied to the exhibit and offers lessons in soccer basics through a drop-in juggling and accuracy workshop led by representatives from American Youth Soccer Organization. All ages and experience levels are welcome. RSVP required.
The Autry Museum of the American West: The Autry’s free Griffith Park watch party will take place at 4 p.m. June 12 when Paraguay takes on USA. The event will feature food trucks, themed cocktails, soccer-inspired games and activities, and local vendors selling specialty wares. Free, but an RSVP is required.
The Music Center: It’s not a museum, but it’s one of the city’s most beloved cultural centers. It’s also hosting a free public screening of Spain vs. Uruguay from 5 to 7 p.m. on June 26 on its lovely Jerry Moss Plaza, including family-friendly activities and themed refreshments. Bring a picnic or pick your dinner from an on-site restaurant. Stick around after the game for a free global dance party celebrating the start of the 22nd season of the Music Center’s Dance DTLA.
I’m Arts editor Jessica Gelt putting my game face on. This is your arts and culture news for the week.
You’re reading Essential Arts
Our critics and reporters guide you through events and happenings of L.A.
By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy such as personalizing your experience and ads.
The week ahead: A curated calendar
FRIDAY
Gustavo Dudamel: Celebrating 17 Years In his final concert as L.A. Phil music director at Disney Hall, the maestro joins his Venezuelan and American identities, conducting two poetry-inspired choral symphonic works. John Adams’ “Harmonium” borrows texts from Emily Dickinson and John Donne to explore time, harmony and rhythm. “Cantata Criolla” by composer Antonio Estévez follows a Venezuelan troubadour who squares off against the devil. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com
Haunted In this one-act dance opera, composer Paul Salerni unites poetry and music to share a tale of doomed love entwined with a ghost story with an unexpected conclusion. Based on a libretto by former California Poet Laureate Dana Gioia. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. sierramadreplayhouse.org
SATURDAY
Family Fest: Pride A free, outdoor event celebrating love, identity and inclusivity, featuring Bob Baker Marionette Theater, Iwalani Music, Everybody Dance LA, Drag Story Time, Color Me Face Painting and more. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. thewallis.org
“Catapult” by Alex Gardner, 2025. Acrylic on canvas. 48 1/16 x 96 1/16 inches.
(Wild Don Lewis Photography; courtesy of Alex Garden and Perrotin)
Alex Gardner, Gabriel Rico and Makiko Kudo A trio of new exhibitions connected through the natural world and the creatures, great and small, who inhabit it: In “Animals,” painter Alex Gardner explores his experience of fatherhood; Gabriel Rico’s “Gabrielinos (I Am You And What I See Is Me),” the artist’s first solo show in Los Angeles, uses textile, assemblage and sculpture to encourage viewers to think about the world around them; the life and death of Japanese painter Makiko Kudo’s pet cat inspired “Reincarnation,” a series of oil paintings. Opening reception, 6-8 p.m.; exhibitions run through July 11. Perrotin Los Angeles, 5036 W. Pico Blvd. perrotin.com
Magnificent Mozart & Mahler Eckart Preu conducts the Long Beach Symphony in two classical masterpieces, “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” and Mahler’s Fifth. 7:30 p.m. Long Beach Terrace Theater, 300 E. Ocean Blvd. longbeachsymphony.org
Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum The summer repertory season launches with Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in the great outdoors of Topanga Canyon. “Romeo and Juliet,” 7:30 p.m. Saturday-Sept. 26; “A Midsummer’s Night Dream,” Sunday-Oct. 10. Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga. theatricum.com
SUNDAY
Juneteenth Block Party Debbie Allen Dance Academy (DADA) hosts its annual free community celebration featuring free dance master classes, live performances, carnival rides, games, food trucks, music and a marketplace for local and minority-owned businesses. Noon-7 p.m. Debbie Allen Dance Academy, 1850 S. Manhattan Place, L.A. debbieallendanceacademy.com
L’Chaim America! The Braid theater company performs real stories of American Jewish life centered on gratitude and possibility. 2:30 p.m. Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., L.A. skirball.org
MONDAY National Museum of the Aftermath The project, conceived and titled by Cauleen Smith and curated by Jon Rubin and Harrison Kinnane Smith, travels from city to city adopting a different name and form in each location. For two months, it will operate within Oxy Arts, challenging the status quo of history and speculating on the future. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; through Aug. 8. Oxy Arts, 4757 York Blvd., L.A. oxyarts.oxy.edu
WEDNESDAY
Denise Burse, from left, Charlayne Woodard and Deborah Joy Winans in rehearsal for “Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous” at Geffen Playhouse.
(Isaak Berliner.)
Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous An expat actor of a certain age returns to the U.S. primed for a comeback, only to face a new generation with very different ideas from her own. Written by Pearl Cleage and directed by LaTanya Richardson Jackson. Denise Burse, Olivia Washington, Deborah Joy Winans and Charlayne Woodard star. Through July 12. Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood. geffenplayhouse.org
The Revolutionists Playwright Lauren Gunderson turns France’s Reign of Terror on its ear in this raucous comedy about women fighting for égalité. Directed by Jamie Torcellini. Previews, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays, through June 28. International City Theatre, 330 E. Seaside Way, Long Beach. https://ictlongbeach.org/therevolutionists/
THURSDAY
Double Take: Photographs in Pairs An intriguing exhibition matching photographs based on their formal qualities: the angle of a body, the geometry of a space, the relationship between figures and the interpretation of color. Photographers featured include Diane Arbus, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Lauren Greenfield, Mary Ellen Mark, Helmut Newton, Irving Penn, Herb Ritts, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Bruce Weber and Bastiaan Woudt. Opening reception 7-9 p.m. Thursday; exhibition runs through July 18. Fahey/Klein Gallery, 148 N. La Brea Ave. faheykleingallery.com
Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2025.
(David Swanson/For The Times)
Ojai Music Festival This year’s music director, Esa-Pekka Salonen, is in the spotlight as a composer with the U.S. premiere of his new work for violin and cello and the first complete performance of his “Six Preludes” for piano, and other works; Salonen also conducts the Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening concerts. In its 80th year, the festival pays tribute to its defining musical figures and welcomes L.A. Phil New Music Group, Colburn Orchestra, L.A. Dance Project and many other noteworthy artists. Through June 14, 2026. Libbey Bowl, 210 S Signal St., Ojai. ojaifestival.org
Rheology This experimental play by Pulitzer Prize finalist and Obie winner Shayok Misha Chowdhury is a collaboration with his mother, physicist Bulbul Chakraborty, filled with dramatic urgency. 8 p.m. Thursday, and June 12-13. REDCAT, 631 W. 2nd St., downtown L.A. redcat.org
Thursday Night Jazz Weekly series featuring guest musicians backed by the Jack Lieberman Trio. Upcoming guests include the Tyler Hammond Jazz Experience (June 11); Ido Eylon and Willem Jochems (June 18); and Joey Du Bois with Kahlil Childs (June 25). 8 p.m. Thursdays. The Spotlight, 1601 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood. thespotlight.la
Arts anywhere
New and recent releases of arts-related media.
Ann Patchett and her novel “Whistler.”
(Los Angeles Times illustration; images from Emily Dorio, Harper)
Ann Patchett, ‘Whistler’ What does a literary novelist have to do with the performing and visual arts? In Patchett’s stories, the past is often inextricably entwined with the present and within those threaded timeframes lie traces of genetic code leading to the arts and art-adjacent worlds. In “Taft” (1994), the protagonist is a former jazz musician turned Memphis bar owner; “The Magician’s Assistant” (1997) finds the title character unraveling the illusions of her own life; “Bel Canto” (2021) features a famous American soprano at the center of a hostage crisis; and “Tom Lake” (2023) revolves around a Michigan woman’s long ago love affair with a soon to be famous actor during a summer stock production of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town.” Of the writer’s latest book, “Whistler,” Times contributor Leigh Haber wrote, “This exquisite writer has once again delivered an incandescent work of fiction — sweet, but never sentimental, infinitely wise and suffused with love. It’s also an ode to New York City itself.” And that ode notably begins with the protagonist and her husband at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A place that Haber notes, “one gets the sense, they know by heart.” This connection to art may prove to be tangential — I’ve only read a quarter of the book — but Patchett’s appreciation of these worlds is anything but. Harper: 304 pages, $30
— Kevin Crust
Culture news and the SoCal scene
Jeff LeBeau, left, and Tim Cummings in the West Coast premiere of Samuel D. Hunter’s “Grangeville” at the Ruskin Group Theatre Arts Center, dairected by John Perrin Flynn.
(John Perrin Flynn)
Times theater critic Charles McNulty reviewed the West Coast premiere of playwright Samuel D. Hunter’s “Grangeville,” directed by John Perrin Flynn, at the Ruskin Group Theatre. The play, which explores the lives of two estranged half brothers from a small Idaho town, is “beautifully acted,” McNulty writes, adding, that Hunter, “the bard of Idaho,” is “one of the theater’s outstanding American realists.”
McNulty also loved the Alicia Keys jukebox musical, “Hell’s Kitchen,” which staged its L.A. debut last week at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre. The musical tells the story of Key’s upbringing in the Manhattan neighborhood of the show’s title, but the story isn’t where the show shines, writes McNulty, noting that the joy comes from the way Keys’ music is seamlessly integrated into the narrative.
Yo-Yo Ma plays the solo for the premiere of Angelica Negron’s “Mudillo” on Thursday, May 28, 2026.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
“Our streets are garlanded with ‘Gracias, Gustavo’ banners and billboards. The Walt Disney Concert Hall shop has become a Dudamel-torium, aisles bursting with Gustavo T-shirts, hoodies, tote bags, refrigerator magnets and this and that,” writes Times classical music critic Mark Swed in a review of Dudamel’s penultimate weekend at Walt Disney Concert Hall, including one featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Dancers from choreographer Benjamin Millepied’s L.A. Dance Project rehearse at LACMA’s David Geffen Galleries on Friday, May 22, 2026, in Los Angeles.
(Carlin Stiehl / For The Times)
Benjamin Millepied’s L.A. Dance Project is staging a free, two-week-long series of public shows called “City of Dance” which take place at nine Southern California landmarks, including LACMA, Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Tongva Park and Stearns Wharf. Read all about how the project came to be, including its use of Philip Glass’ score from the critically acclaimed 1982 documentary film, “Koyaanisqatsi.”
Enjoying this newsletter? Consider subscribing to the Los Angeles Times
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts announced its 2026-27 season.
(Jason Kempin / Getty Images for Wallis Annenber)
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts has unveiled its 2026-27 season, its first under the leadership of its new executive director and CEO, Jean Davidson. Highlights include music by Joshua Redman Quartet; Ronald K. Brown and his dance company Evidence, comedy and cabaret by performers including Sandra Bernhard and designer Isaac Mizrahi; recitals by L.A. Opera, concerts featuring Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and much more. “At the heart of this season is a belief in the power of live performance to connect people to ideas, to one another, and to the shared human experience. We are proud to support artists who spark curiosity, foster empathy, and invite dialogue, while continuing to strengthen The Wallis as a vibrant gathering place for all audiences,” said Davidson in a news release. See the full schedule here.
Pacific Jazz Orchestra also announced its 2026-27 season led by composer, arranger and conductor Chris Walden. The 40-piece string orchestra and big band hybrid is entering its fourth season with five programs dedicated to jazz, swing, soul R&B, Broadway and pop, staged in six venues across the region, including in Beverly Hills, Irvine, Northridge, Palm Desert, Santa Barbara and Ventura. Featured guest artists include Broadway star Sutton Foster, pianist David Benoit and vocalist Nayanna Holley. See the full schedule here.
UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance has announced “Far Away, Here,” a new multiyear international opera initiative that will launch in the 2026-27 season with the U.S. premiere of a new adaptation of “Kafka’s Letter to His Father, “ scheduled to run Nov. 12-14 at the UCLA Nimoy Theater. The initiative will continue to present U.S. premieres of under-the-radar operas by artists from around the world, and is curated and produced by tenor Timur Bekbosunov, in collaboration with CAP UCLA’s executive and artistic director, Edgar Miramontes.
President Donald Trump this week pardoned former U.S. Rep. Stephen Buyer, R-Ind., who was convicted in 2023 on four counts of securities fraud for stock trades about mergers that he made before the information had been made public. Photo by Shawn Thew/UPI | License Photo
June 6 (UPI) — President Donald Trump pardoned former U.S. Rep. Stephen Buyer, R-Ind., who was convicted on four counts of securities fraud in 2023 after he left Congress.
Buyer had been convicted and sentenced to 22 months in prison after he was charged with trading stock based on two mergers he knew about based on work at his consulting firm, ABC News and The New York Times reported.
The two mergers he based trades on were T-Mobile’s deal to acquire Sprint and the professional services firm Guidehouse’s deal to buy its competitor Navigant.
In a proclamation released Thursday by the White House, President Donald Trump included a list of current and former members of members of Congress, including Sens. Roger Wicker and Lindsey Graham and Reps. Pet Sessions and Jack Bergman, among several others.
“Mr. Buyer’s career serving as a judge advocate general in the United States Army and as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the State of Indiana was distinguished and highly productive,” Trump said.
Buyer was first elected to Congress in 1992, retired from the House in 2010 and then formed his consulting company.
The trades he made based, which were based on executives of the companies he was working for, netted him well over $330,000 in profit when he sold shares of the companies after the mergers were announced.
During his time in Congress, Buyer also was a House prosecutor during the impeaching of former President Bill Clinton in the late 1990s.
Emergency Lawyers said dozens were also wounded in the strike that came less than 24 hours after similar drone attacks.
Published On 6 Jun 20266 Jun 2026
A drone strike on a market in central Sudan has killed at least 11 people and injured dozens more, according to a local rights group, as escalating aerial attacks further increase the death toll of one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The attack on Saturday targeted the main market in Abu Zaeima, a paramilitary-controlled town in North Kordofan state, according to Emergency Lawyers, which has documented abuses since fighting erupted in April 2023 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
The group said the casualty figures could rise, but did not specify who carried out the attack. Neither side has claimed responsibility.
Emergency Lawyers said the strike came less than 24 hours after similar drone attacks struck nearby villages and a civilian vehicle.
Condemning the attack, it said the repeated targeting of civilians, villages and public transport reflected a blatant disregard for human life and the basic principles of international humanitarian law.
The group added that the continued loss of civilian life should not be treated as routine and called for an end to such attacks, as well as accountability for those responsible.
Two witnesses told the AFP news agency that another drone hit a fuel station later on Saturday in el-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, which the RSF has partially encircled for months.
A medical source at a hospital there said four wounded civilians had been brought to the facility.
Drone warfare
Nearly 70 people were killed in two separate drone strikes in the West and North Kordofan states over the past week, according to Emergency Lawyers and a local leader.
Drone warfare has become increasingly more common in Sudan’s conflict.
The United Nations said in May that at least 880 civilians were killed in drone strikes nationwide between January and April.
Fighting has intensified in Kordofan and Blue Nile State near the Ethiopian border since the RSF captured el-Fasher last October, the military’s last major stronghold in western Darfur.
Since then, more than 300,000 people have fled front-line areas, including el-Fasher and parts of Kordofan and Blue Nile, according to the UN.
Kordofan, rich in oil and arable land, is strategically significant, linking RSF strongholds in the neighbouring Darfur region to the country’s army-controlled east. The region remains largely contested between the army and the RSF.
Now entering its fourth year, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced nearly 13 million others, creating what the UN describes as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crises.
Under the news network’s editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, on-air correspondents Scott Pelley, Cecilia Vega, Sharyn Alfonsi and the program’s executive producer, Tanya Simon, have all been ousted from the legacy newsmagazine. The two unions, which represent journalists, said the recent actions appear to compromise editorial independence.
WGA East president Tom Fontana wrote in a letter to members on Thursday that the changes at CBS News “are more than mere ideological interference with the news. They display a profound contempt for the journalism profession.”
He added, “it is clear that CBS brass is engaged in a near-constant level of editorial interference that would have previously been unthinkable.”
Tom Fontana joined WGA and SAG-AFTRA members on the picket line in the strike over contract negotiation at Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery offices on Aug. 15, 2023, in in New York City.
(Lev Radin / VIEWpress via Getty Images)
SAG-AFTRA similarly said in a statement Thursday that these “decisions can only be seen as part of a broader strategy to gut the crucial independent journalism that is so important to our democratic system.”
A spokesperson for CBS News said in a statement, “There is no political interference at CBS News, not from ownership, not from Bari Weiss. The only ‘interference’ is the normal back and forth between editor and correspondent that happens in every newsroom.”
Pelley, one of the program’s most high-profile correspondents, was fired on Tuesday after speaking out during a team meeting. He reportedly said Weiss “is murdering ‘60 Minutes.’ … She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it, and she’s been doing exactly that.” He also questioned the newly hired executive producer, Nick Bilton, and his ability to run the show, citing his lack of TV news experience.
Pelley accused CBS News management of favoring the Trump administration by instructing him to put “falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story.”
“I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified,” he said in a statement. “To date, in every case, I have ignored these instructions or refuse them.”
“60 Minutes” is now down four correspondents, following Anderson Cooper’s departure and the firings of Vega and Alfonsi. These are only the most recent controversial moves from Weiss, who’s set on remaking the institution long defined by tradition. She arrived at CBS News in October with no television experience, installed by Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison after he acquired her digital news outlet, the Free Press, with a mandate to change the network.
“I’m only interested in working in a newsroom that is built on trust and mutual respect,” Weiss said of Pelley’s firing during a meeting on Wednesday morning. “That foundation was broken on Monday, and despite our attempts to engage with Scott Pelley and to find a way back, unfortunately we weren’t able to do so, and so we had to part ways.”
The lack of reporters means “60 Minutes” will have to line up new talent quickly to fill the correspondent roles, as production of the 2026-27 season is already underway.
WGA’s Fontana added, “To our friends and colleagues at CBS News: We see you, and you are not alone. Thousands of your union brothers, sisters, and siblings have your backs.”
SAG-AFTRA also said the union is prepared to take “legal actions related to the company’s conduct over the last several weeks.”
Times staff writer Stephen Battaglio contributed to this report.
For the sixth-straight day, thousands of protesters have rallied in the Albanian capital against a proposed luxury beach development linked to Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. Environmental groups accuse authorities of lacking transparency and allowing for the destruction of protected biodiversity on the country’s Adriatic Coast.
Coronation Street legend Amanda Barrie, who starred as Alma Baldwin on the ITV soap, is convinced bosses would’ve sacked her had her sexuality been made public at the time
22:50, 06 Jun 2026Updated 22:50, 06 Jun 2026
Amanda Barrie is convinced that Coronation Street bosses would’ve sacked her if she came out as bisexual (Image: PA)
Amanda Barrie is convinced she would have been axed from Coronation Street had producers found out about her sexuality. The actress, 90, starred as Alma Halliwell on the ITV soap from 1988 until 2001 and the character became known for her marriage to Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs) and ran the local café with Gail Tilsey (Helen Worth) before it was taken over by Roy Cropper.
In real life, Amanda was married to actor Robin Hunter from 1967 until the mid-1980s and she went on to tie the knot with crime novelist and former Mirror journalist Hilary Bonner in 2014, having chosen to come out as bisexual in her 2002 memoir It’s Not A Rehearsal, which she released shortly after quitting the soap.
Now, Amanda, has insisted that whilst the programme now has an influx of gay and lesbian characters, she had to keep her sexuality a secret and is now sure that, had she been open and honest about it, she would have been written out thanks to the attitudes that were in place in society at that time.
She said: “Not thought, I KNOW I would have been [fired], taking into account the climate at the time. Things are so different now. Corrie’s like Canal Street in Manchester these days.
“The people I was close to always knew about me and the relationships throughout my life. Being at the age I am, I still remember when gay men were absolutely crucified for being the way they were. “
Amanda, whose Corrie alter-ego Alma was memorably killed off following a battle with cancer, noted that these days it is “so much easier” for people like Christine McGuinness, who was rumoured to have been dating Nicola Adams after splitting from Paddy McGuinness, to discuss their sexuality publicly.
Now, the former Bad Girls star is just hopeful that eventually, society will arrive at a place where the announcement of one’s sexuality is not even necessary and it ends up being an “unimportant” factor in one’s personality.
Speaking to The Sun, she added: “I believe in the freedom to do and be exactly as you wish in life. To live in your own way. I dream of a day when people’s sexuality is regarded as so unimportant that no one even bothers to remark on whether somebody is gay or straight. “It’s probably a pipedream, but I still like to dream it.”
Amanda, whose stellar showbiz career also includes appearances in other TV favourites like Casualty, Amandaland, and Benidorm and has also seen her become a pantomime favourite, previously spoke of the surprise reaction she got from the public when she did eventually decide to go public about her sexuality.
During an appearance on Good Morning Britain towards the end of last year, she explained: “I expected to be stoned in the street, I got a lot of hugs. What was I in such a state about? Because it was just ‘Oh, I see, oh…'” before adding:
“You automatically revert to the way you’d always behave, lurking about with your head down editing your life is what you do. You change they, he, she, all that editing…”
A Palestinian father in Hebron has buried his seven-month-old son after the baby was killed by Israeli gunfire directed at the family’s car. The shooting, which also wounded the child’s parents, is the latest deadly incident amid escalating Israeli violence in the occupied West Bank.
The first recorded use of smoke as a weapon of asphyxiation against civilians in the MENA region dates back to the mid-19th century, when French general Bugeaud adopted this “new method” against thousand of people in Algeria: “If they [Algerians] take refuge in their caves”, Bugeaud argued, “then smoke them out like foxes [renards]”.
Seventy years later, the Middle East witnessed its first recorded use of chemical weapons. This occurred during the 1917’s Third Battle of Gaza, when the troops led by General Edmund Allenby fired about 10,000 cans of asphyxiating gas. Their limited impact did not meet Allenby’s expectations. However, the use of gas attracted much attention to the point that – right after the 1920 Iraqi Revolt against the proposed British Mandate of Mesopotamia – Secretary of State for the colonies Winston Churchill noted of being “strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against the uncivilised tribes […] it would spread a lively terror”.
One century and many wars later, the UK, France and the US (whose support for Saddam Hussein’s use of chemical weapons during the Iraq-Iran War has now been ascertained), launched a “US-led humanitarian intervention to protect [Syrian] civilians” against a chemical attack allegedly carried out by the Syrian regime in East Ghouta. Yet, their humanitarian intentions raise serious questions yet to be answered.
The cost of ‘non-intervention’?
The suspected chemical attack of 7 April has been denied by a number of sources, including the doctors serving at the field hospital were the victims have been treated. Nothwithstanding the recurrent war crimes perpetrated by the Syrian regime, the latter’s interest in using chemical weapons in a phase in which Bashar Al-Assad’s forces are advancing and winning the war appears unclear.
It should also be added that conventional weapons (not chemical weapons) are responsible for over 90 per cent of the mass killing of Syrian civilians by the regime and its allies (including Iran and Russia). If anything, the “US-led humanitarian intervention” confirmed that external powers are not so much troubled by the fact that dozens of Syrians die every day. It is mainly how they do so that seems to deserve a special attention, or “reaction”.
And it is indeed in the alleged lack of an earlier “reaction” – the so called “non-interventionist policy” in Syria – that many observers see as a key-component to assess what Syria is currently experiencing. If there was an opportunity for Western powers to make a difference for the better, pointed out British author Andrew Rawnsley, “chance was missed many, many deaths ago”.
London and its allies had indeed plans already before 2011 to use the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood to curb a regime that has been considered by them as a thorn in their sides for decades. In 2011 strategy shifted to West’s allies funding proxies. If anything, the US, Britain and their allies intervened too much and too early, largely to the benefit of Bashar Al-Assad, but also Hezbollah and Iran.
A regional order in the making
It has been noted that in our age of “politics as reality show”, even geopolitics and military raids are often done for show. There is much truth in these words. In this sense it should be noted that a possible chemical attack occurred already in April 2017. Then as today, the US-led strike was preceeded by an announcement made by US President Donald Trump regarding his will to withdraw from Syria and followed by the bombing of an empty Syrian airfield.
A Syrian man receives medical treatment after the Assad regime conducted a poisonous gas attack in Eastern Ghouta, in Damascus, Syria on 7 March, 2018 [Dia Al Din Samout/Anadolu Agency]
And yet, the ongoing “geopolitical show” is underpinned by two very practical aims. The first one might be linked to the 2017–18 Qatar diplomatic crisis. Both the outbreak of the Qatar crisis and the recent US-led strike are in fact meant to provide a clear sign to regional actors to show the consequences that will be faced by those unwilling to align themselves with the anti-Iran front and the tacit agreement that binds Israel to Saudi Arabia and its allies.
In recent months also a number of Saudi sources have come forward contending that Saudi-Israeli relations are “the main gateway” to understanding the “transformations in the region and the backstage deliberations over the Palestinian cause”, including the recent and upcoming developments concerning Jerusalem.
Fostering fragmentation
The second aim is rooted in the will to weaken the link between Iran, Turkey and Russia; the three guarantors of the Astana peace process. The latter, in which Russia has played a key role, is perceived by many as a key tool to overcome the fragmentation of Syria and, more generally, the division of large Arab states into small and mostly homogeneous entities incapable of posing any threat.
This political goal is actively supported, directly andor indirectly, by a number of key-figures within the Trump administration, and has been advocated by several influential think tanks in Washington, including Project for the New American Century (PNAC), since the early 2000s.
Among the 25 political figures who signed PNAC’s founding statement of principles in 1997, ten went on to serve in the administration of former US President George W. Bush. Some of them – including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, John Bolton and Paul Wolfowitz – were charged with highly influential positions that had direct repercussions on key-aspects pertaining to the region. The then president expressed his support for the remodeling of the “greater Middle East” also in his State of the Union speech on 20 January 2004.
Whose humanitarism?
The image of a “civilised world” that was witnessing yet another clash in the context of an inherently fanatic “Islamic Orient” was very much present in the articles published in England and France in the early 1860s. Western observers were then describing the massacres which occurred between Christians and Muslims during the 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war.
Then, as today, external (and particularly Western) powers felt the necessity to intervene in the region justifying this through “humanitarian considerations”, and by adopting a self-imposed mission civilisatrice. They were, however, much less ready to acknowledge their own roles and responsabilities, or to ease the humanitarian burden faced by local actors.
Not much has changed in this respect. It is enough to mention that, according to the US State Department, Washington has admitted a total of 11 Syrian refugees in the all 2018. Despite playing a leading role in Syria and the broader region, Russia has granted refugee status to “only one Syrian national since 2011”. These examples represent the rule rather than the exception. Orwell’s celebrated prophecy – “War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength” – could not have found a better manifesto.
Caricature of Syrian President sending air strikes in Syria – Cartoon
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
The star – who is undergoing a hair transplant – said bluntly: “We’re not talking about Pete Wicks,” then laughed wickedly.
Sidekick Tyrique asked: “What’s going on with Pete Wicks?”
Olivia and Pete have grown closer and closer since her splitCredit: GettyThe pair starred together in Olivia Marries Her MatchCredit: instagram/oliviameetshermatch
An angry Ronnie vented: “F**k him.”
The star continued: “Brad’s my boy, man. My brother, and that’s all I’m saying.”
The 2024 villa star’s friendship with presenter Olivia has gone down the drain following her split with ex husband Bradley Dack.
The estranged couple got engaged in DubaiCredit: InstagramThe cosy couple were spotted snogging in a bar earlier this yearCredit: The Sun
As revealed by The Sun, Olivia severed ties with the Love Islander earlier this year – with Ronnie telling friends there’s no going back afterOlivia moved onwithPete.
Olivia first found fame on Love Island in 2017 when she reached the final with Chris Hughes.
She encouraged ex pal Ronnie to follow in her footsteps seven years later when he signed up to theITV2show.
Fans are still in the dark about what made ended Olivia’s relationship with her on/off partner of 11 years.
However, claims of a “breach of trust” on Bradley’s side were first reported as news of the split broke.
It’s thought Olivia later turned on Ronnie, who was Brad’s best man at their wedding, after discovering “he knew more than he let on”.
Lothario Pete has since fallen out with Ronnie and BradleyCredit: GettyThe former husband and wife had been together on and off for over ten yearsCredit: Getty
Ronnie made it clear he’s taken Bradley’s side by unfollowing her on Instagram after she was pictured kissing Pete in a packed hotel bar.
Olivia had already unfriended Ronnie online at the same time as she unfollowed Bradley.
Pete has known Olivia for around nine years and they both starred in Towie in 2019.
Last August they were pictured cosying up together as they partied with friends on a yacht off Ibiza, leaving Olivia “in the doghouse” with Bradley.
Since her marriage separation, speculation has mounted that Olivia has moved on with lothario Pete.
Republican Stephen Buyer was convicted and sentenced to 22 months in prison, though he has maintained his innocence.
Published On 6 Jun 20266 Jun 2026
United States President Donald Trump has issued a pardon to Stephen Buyer, a former Republican congressman from Indiana who served nearly two years in prison for making illegal stock trades based on inside information after he left office.
The pardon was dated Thursday and released by the White House late Friday night.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Buyer was sentenced to 22 months in prison in 2023 for trades made while working as a consultant and lobbyist. He was ordered to forfeit more than $350,000, representing the amount of the illegal gains, as well as pay a $10,000 fine. He was released in 2025.
The Supreme Court in May rejected Buyer’s appeal without comment or noted dissent.
In granting “a full, complete, and unconditional pardon” to Buyer, Trump cited the Republican’s work, both as a judge advocate general in the US Army and as a politician in the US House. Trump described his career as “distinguished and highly productive”.
Buyer said the pardon “corrects a politically motivated prosecution” and that it was “horrific to be imprisoned for a crime that I did not commit”. He maintains that he is innocent.
Trump used his Truth Social media platform on May 31 to share a pair of letters requesting a presidential pardon for Buyer, a lawyer and Gulf War veteran who left office in 2011.
He was a House prosecutor at Democratic President Bill Clinton’s 1998 impeachment trial, and in 2016, he served on Trump’s transition team, focusing on veterans’ issues.
A letter signed by more than 40 former Republicans in Congress said Buyer was “targeted by the deep state” because of his involvement in Clinton’s trial.
“Like you, Mr President, Steve has been the victim of lawfare conducted by the Biden Administration,” they wrote in the April 2025 letter.
A second letter, from five current House Republicans, said pardoning Buyer would bring justice to his case. The June 2025 letter was signed by Tom Cole of Oklahoma, Ken Calvert of California, Marlin Stutzman of Indiana, Jack Bergman of Michigan and Pete Sessions of Texas.
Buyer, 67, was convicted in connection with insider trading involving the $26.5bn merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, announced in April 2018, and illegal trades in the management consulting company Navigant when his client Guidehouse was set to acquire it in a deal publicly disclosed weeks later.
The US Constitution gives the president broad power to grant pardons for federal crimes.
A pardon does not erase a recipient’s criminal record but can be seen as an act of mercy or justice.
![An affected man receives a medical treatment after Assad regime forces conduct allegedly poisonous gas attack on Sakba and Hammuriye districts of Eastern Ghouta, in Damascus, Syria on 7 March, 2018 [Dia Al Din Samout/Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/2018_03_07-Victims-of-allegedly-gas-attack-receive-treatment-in-Eastern-Ghouta20180308_2_29110087_31436954-.jpg?w=1200&ssl=1)
