News Desk

Oct. 17 (UPI) — At least 11 protesters were arrested amid clashes with local police outside the Broadview, Ill., Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Friday morning.

Protesters arrived earlier than normal on Friday at the Chicago-area ICE facility and clashed with local law enforcement when the protesters blocked a local street and refused to go to a designated protest zone, WLS-TV reported.

“We are all Latino,” a protester told WLS-TV. “We all got to be united. What they are doing is not fair.”

The protester said ICE should focus its efforts on criminals and “leave the good people that are working” so that they can continue to work and improve their lives.

A report by WGN-TV said “things appeared to get out of hand rather quickly” when the protesters arrived during the morning hours.

The protest began near 8 a.m. CDT, which is an hour earlier than allowed by local regulations, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Those regulations allow protests from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and within a designated protest area.

The protest was the first since a protective fence around the ICE building was removed on Tuesday, as ordered by a federal judge.

Although the fencing is gone, the protesters are required to stay off the street and within an area lined by concrete barriers.

Those who did not clash with Illinois State Police officers, resulting in 11 being arrested for blocking the street and refusing to move to the designated protest area, local authorities told WLS-TV.

Protester Akeisha Lee was charged with disobeying a police officer or arresting and obstructing, and several others were being processed for violations during the morning hours, the Sun-Times reported.

Among those being processed following her arrest was United Church of Rogers Park Pastor Hannah Kardon.

While the protesters are restricted in their activities, federal law enforcement also is restricted in how it can operate in northern Illinois.

U.S. District Court of Northern Illinois Judge Sara Ellis earlier restricted when and where federal law enforcement officers and agents can use tear gas and on Thursday expressed concern that her restrictions were not being followed.

Ellis also amended a restraining order on federal law enforcement to require those equipped with body cameras to wear them and keep them on during enforcement operations.

The government has said it is “doing everything in our power” to overturn a ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attending a football match in Birmingham and is exploring what additional resources could be required.

On Thursday, Aston Villa said the city’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG) decided that fans of the Israeli club should not be permitted to attend the Europa League fixture on 6 November over safety concerns.

Facing mounting pressure to resolve the situation, the government said it was working with police and exploring what additional resources are required.

A meeting of the SAG to discuss the match is expected next week, the Home Office said.

“No one should be stopped from watching a football game simply because of who they are,” a government spokesperson said.

They added the government was working with police and other bodies to ensure the game could “safely go ahead with all fans present”.

After it was announced on Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer called the move to block fans attending “wrong”, adding “we will “not tolerate antisemitism on our streets”, while there has also been criticism from other party leaders.

The SAG – which advises the council on whether to issue safety certificates – will review the decision if West Midlands Police changes its risk assessment for the match, Birmingham City Council said.

On Thursday, West Midlands Police said it had classified the fixture as “high risk” based on current intelligence and previous incidents, including “violent clashes and hate crime offences” between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv fans before a match in Amsterdam in November 2024.

More than 60 people were arrested over the violence, which city officials described as a “toxic combination of antisemitism, hooliganism, and anger” over the war in Gaza, Israel and elsewhere in the Middle East.

The Home Office was briefed that restrictions on visiting fans might be imposed last week, but the BBC understands officials were not informed about the final decision until Thursday.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the revelation left the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, with “serious questions to answer” about why her department did “nothing” to avert the ban.

She said: “This is a weak government that fails to act when required.”

A source close to Mahmood told the BBC that “this is categorically untrue”.

“The first time the home secretary knew that the fans were being banned was last night,” they added.

Ayoub Khan, an independent MP for Birmingham Perry Barr who campaigned on a pro-Gaza platform in last year’s general election, had pushed for the match to be cancelled due to safety concerns and welcomed Thursday’s decision.

Khan told BBC Newsnight “nobody should tolerate antisemitism” but added: “We cannot conflate antisemitism when we look at what some of these fans did in Amsterdam in 2024. The vile chants of racism and hatred, the chants that there are no schools left in Gaza because there are no children left in Gaza.”

Andrew Fox, honorary president of Aston Villa’s Jewish Villans supporters’ club, said he thought Khan’s comments on Amsterdam were “shameful”, describing what happened there as a “premeditated Jew hunt”.

Hello! I’m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

When news broke last weekend that Diane Keaton had died at age 79, it came as an extraordinary shock because so much of Keaton’s screen presence and persona was rooted in a vitality, a sense of of being very much alive and open to everything.

Revisiting Keaton’s Oscar-winning performance in “Annie Hall” this week, I was struck by how much humor she mined from a hyperawareness of self, often commenting on her own dialogue and behavior as she was still in the act of doing it. She brought a tremendous charge to everything she did.

Jessica Gelt took on winnowing Keaton’s career down to just 10 films, including “Reds,” “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” and the first two parts of “The Godfather.”

Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson in the movie “Something’s Gotta Give.”

(Bob Marshak / Columbia Pictures)

In her appreciation of Keaton, Amy Nicholson called her “the icon who feels like a friend,” adding, “The contradiction of her career is that the things we in the audience loved about her — the breezy humor, the self-deprecating charm, the iconic threads — were Keaton’s attempts to mask her own insecurities. She struggled to love herself. Even after success, Keaton remained iffy about her looks, her talent and her achievements. In interviews, she openly admitted to feeling inadequate in her signature halting, circular stammers.”

There was a very genuine wave of emotion and affection after the news of Keaton’s death. One of the most heartfelt and moving tributes came from screenwriter and director Nancy Meyers, who worked with Keaton on four films, from “Baby Boom” to “Something’s Gotta Give.”

As Meyers said, “She made everything better. Every set up, every day, in every movie, I watched her give it her all.”

Meyers added, “She was fearless. She was like nobody ever. She was born to be a movie star. Her laugh could make your day and for me, knowing her and working with her changed my life.”

AMC Theaters have already announced limited showings of both “Annie Hall” and “Something’s Gotta Give.” Other screenings will certainly happen shortly.

Crispin Glover, still doing his own thing

Crispin Glover in “No! YOU’RE WRONG. or: Spooky Action at a Distance.”

(Volcanic Eruptions)

Still best known for the eccentric screen presence he brought to movies such as “River’s Edge,” “Wild at Heart,” “Charlie’s Angels,” “Back to the Future” and countless others, Crispin Glover is also extremely dedicated to his own filmmaking practice.

His latest project, the creatively punctuated “No! YOU’RE WRONG. or: Spooky Action at a Distance,” will have its West Coast premiere Saturday and Sunday at the American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre, with Glover in person and a book signing. Tallulah H. Schwab’s “Mr. K,” a mystery starring Glover, will have its L.A. premiere at the Los Feliz 3 on Tuesday with the actor again appearing in person.

“No! YOU’RE WRONG” is the third feature Glover has made himself. He began developing the screenplay in 2007, started building the sets in 2010, began shooting in 2013 and didn’t commence editing until 2018. He goes at his own pace, though Glover is self-excoriating.

“None of this is acceptable,” he tells me during a recent video call from New York City following the film’s world premiere at the Museum of Modern Art. “I’m not happy that this has taken as long as it’s taken. Every step of this film just took ridiculously long.”

While Glover enjoys talking about the film, he struggles to explain what it’s actually about. Set across five time periods — 1868, 1888, 1918, 1948 and right now — Glover shot for the first time on 35mm and, for some scenes, used a hand-cranked camera that belonged to the Czech animator Karel Zeman. The negative was hand-processed, which can alter how it looks, with some sections then colored by hand to replicate early film techniques.

“It’s almost better for me to talk about the technical aspects because by talking about the the technical aspects, it sort of reveals things about the film itself,” Glover says. “All of my films on some level deal with surrealism in one aspect or another. And part of the way surrealism operates is to have either disparate pieces of information or withholding information so that the audience can make the correlations themselves and become a participant in the art.”

Bruce Glover in the movie “No! YOU’RE WRONG. or: Spooky Action at a Distance,” directed by his son Crispin Glover.

(Volcanic Eruptions)

Aside from Glover himself, the film includes his father, character actor Bruce Glover, who died in March 2025, as well as his mother, dancer Betty Glover, who died in 2016. Following the death of his father, Glover had to make some changes.

“I don’t want to say too much,” says Glover as he catches himself starting to clarify an aspect of the story. “You’d have to see the film. It’s not good for me to talk about it because the way the film is made and layered, it’s something that people will have different interpretations of. And if I say too much, then it will sway the interpretation. They’ll think, ‘Oh, it’s wrong because the filmmaker said this,’ but it isn’t wrong. What they’re thinking is what’s right for them.”

Points of interest

Cronenberg movies at Brain Dead

Léa Seydoux, left, Viggo Mortensen and Kristen Stewart in the movie “Crimes of the Future.”

(Nikos Nikolopoulos)

Brain Dead Studios has been running a program of David Cronenberg films through October and still has a few titles left to go. And while his films may not fit everyone’s strict definition of Halloween-style spooky, they are reliably unsettling in their examinations of the darker aspects of human existence.

Friday will see a screening of 2022’s “Crimes of the Future,” starring Viggo Mortensen, Kristen Stewart and Léa Seydoux, Monday will be Cronenberg’s 1991’s adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ “Naked Lunch,” Thursday brings 1979’s low-budget horror film “The Brood” and Saturday, Oct. 25 will have 1996’s controversial “Crash.”

I spoke to Cronenberg around the release of “Crimes of the Future,” which at the time felt like something of a summation of the director’s ongoing interests in technology and the body, though he claimed it wasn’t intentional.

“It’s not a self-referential film because I’m not thinking that when I’m writing it or directing it,” Cronenberg said. “But the connections are there because my nervous system, such as it is including my brain, is the substrate of everything I’m doing. So I might even say in the Burroughsian way that all of my work and all of my life is one thing. In which case, it now makes perfect sense that there should be these connections.”

David Fincher’s ‘The Game’

Michael Douglas in the movie “The Game.”

(Tony Friedkin / Polygram Films)

David Fincher’s 1997 thriller “The Game” is somewhat easy to overlook in his filmography, landing between the provocations of “Seven” and “Fight Club” and before fully-formed works like “Zodiac” and “The Social Network.” However, the movie, in which a wealthy man (Michael Douglas) finds his life turned upside in what may be a live-action role-playing game, is strange and unpredictable and among Fincher’s most purely pleasurable movies. It plays at the New Beverly on Friday — a rare chance to catch it in a theater on 35mm.

In his review of the film, Jack Matthews wrote, “Douglas is perfectly cast. Who else can blend moneyed arrogance, power and rank narcissism with enough romantic flair, intelligence and self-deflating humor to make you enjoy his defeats and his victories? What other major star is as much fun to watch when he’s cornered?”

If bill is signed into law, Portugal would join several European countries which already have full or partial bans.

Portugal has approved a bill to ban face veils used for “gender or religious motives” in most public spaces that was proposed by the far-right Chega party and targets burqas and niqabs worn by Muslim women.

Under the bill, approved by parliament on Friday, proposed fines for wearing face veils in public would range from 200 to 4,000 euros ($234-$4,670). Forcing someone to wear one would be punishable with prison terms of up to three years.

Face veils would still be allowed in aeroplanes, diplomatic premises and places of worship.

According to local media reports, the bill is now set to be discussed in the parliamentary committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms, and Guarantees – a body responsible for reviewing legislation related to constitutional matters.

If signed into law, it would put Portugal alongside European countries, including France, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands, which already have full or partial bans.

President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa could still veto the bill or send it to the Constitutional Court for checks.

During Friday’s parliamentary session, Chega leader Andre Ventura was confronted by several female lawmakers from left-wing parties who opposed the bill, but it passed with support from the centre-right coalition.

“We are today protecting female members of parliament, your daughters, our daughters, from having to use burqas in this country one day,” Ventura said.

In a post on X, he wrote: “Today is a historic day for our democracy and for the safeguarding of our values, our identity and women’s rights.”

Andreia Neto, a lawmaker from the ruling Social Democratic Party, said before the vote: “This is a debate on equality between men and women. No woman should be forced to veil her face.”

Two out of the 10 parties in parliament abstained from the vote – the People-Animals-Nature party, and the Together for the People party, according to local media reports.

The parties have suggested that the proposal incited discrimination.

Only a small minority of Muslim women in Europe cover their faces, and in Portugal such veils are very rare.

But full-face coverings such as niqabs and burqas have become a polarising issue across Europe, with some arguing that they symbolise gender discrimination or can represent a security threat and should be outlawed.

The U.S. Army is in the very early stages of formulating a vision for fleets of advanced and highly autonomous drones in a similar vein to the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) that the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Navy are now developing. The Army’s CCA endeavor may ultimately be linked, at least in some way, with work already being done on so-called “launched effects,” a term generally applied to smaller uncrewed aerial systems designed to be fired from other platforms in the air, as well as on the ground and at sea.

Army aviation officials talked about the current state of the service’s CCA plans during a roundtable on the sidelines of the Association of the U.S. Army’s (AUSA) main annual conference this week, at which TWZ was in attendance. The topic had also come up elsewhere during the three-day event, which ended yesterday. Army CCAs would be primarily expected to operate in close cooperation with the service’s existing crewed helicopters, as well as its future MV-75A tiltrotors.

“So, one, we’re following the other services very closely as they’re looking at this, this [CCA] concept,” Brig. Gen. Phillip C. Baker, the Army’s Aviation Future Capabilities Director, said. at the roundtable. “I think for the Army, especially launched effects, it comes down to a discussion of mass. … A platform, a loyal wingman, a CCA concept, allows you to increase mass while also reducing the amount of aviators you’ve got to have in the air.”

Baker noted that the Army is working in particular with U.S. military commands in the Pacific and European regions as it begins to explore potential CCA requirements, which might lead to an operational capability in the next few years. For the past year or so, the Army has been working to figure out “the capabilities that they need in order to deliver that mass, and really survivability,” he added.

At present, a key aspect of the ongoing discussions within the Army seems to be focused on where the service’s existing work on launch effects ends and where a CCA-like effort might begin.

“Launched effects, if you think about it, is a CCA, right?” Maj. Gen. Clair Gill, commander of the Army Aviation Center of Excellence, also said at the round table. “These are things that we’re going to launch off of aircraft and are going to operate in a collaborative fashion, potentially autonomously, but we’re going to give them instructions, and they’re going to operate based off of guidance, either off of something on the ground or maybe they’re being quarterbacked in the air.”

“Manned-unmanned teaming is the future. We’ve talked about the potential of launched effects off the aircraft, or a potential loyal wingman,” Col. Stephen Smith, head of the Army’s elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, better known as the Night Stalkers, had also said during a separate panel at this year’s AUSA conference. Smith had talked about increased use of drones as part of larger efforts to help his unit operate more effectively and just survive in higher-threat environments during future high conflicts, which you can read more about here.

The Army is already envisioning at least three categories of launched effects, broken down into short, medium, and long-range types. They could be configured for a variety of missions, including reconnaissance, electronic warfare, communications relays, and as acting as loitering munitions or decoys. The service has long said that it sees these systems, which could also be networked together in highly autonomous swarms, operating forward of friendly forces, extending the reach of their capabilities, while also reducing their vulnerability.

In some broad strokes, the benefits that launched effects and CCA-types drones offer do align, on top of the “affordable mass” they both promise to provide. However, as the Army currently describes them, even the largest launched effects are substantially smaller and less capable than something in the generally accepted CCA, or ‘loyal wingman,’ category. Most, if not all launched effects are also expected to be fully expendable, unlike a CCA. Any Army CCAs would likely carry launched effects themselves, further extending the reach of the latter drones into higher-risk environments, as well as the overall area they can cover quickly. This, in turn, would allow for a crewed-uncrewed team capable of executing a complex and flexible array of tactics.

When asked then to clarify whether a future Army CCA effort would be distinct from the service’s current launched effects efforts, Maj. Gen. Gill said that “it could be, yes.”

“So, last fall, we actually asked industry what they can provide for a Group 4 VTOL/STOL [vertical takeoff and landing/short takeoff and landing] perspective,” Brig. Gen. David Phillips, head of the Army’s Program Executive Office for Aviation (PEO-Aviation). “So we use that as a great set of information on what the state of the art of technology is from a range, speed, payload, and really effects perspective. What can we bring to bear, given modern technology versus some of our older UAS [uncrewed aerial systems].”

The U.S. military groups uncrewed aircraft into five categories. Group 4 covers designs with maximum takeoff weights over 1,320 pounds, but typical operating altitudes of 18,000 feet Mean Sea Level (MSL) or below. As mentioned already, this is far heavier and higher-flying than any of the UASs the Army is currently considering to meet its launched effects needs.

“I think we’re informing Gen. Gill and Gen. Baker’s teams on what industry has told us on what requirement that shapes out to be,” Phillips added. “It might not look like some of the things we’ve seen on the [AUSA show] floor today. But I can tell you, we received a very robust response from industry, and it’s a combination of maybe some of the things you’d seen on the floor, but we’re excited to start thinking about that space.”

Boeing announced plans for a family of new tiltrotor drones, collectively called Collaborative Transformational Rotorcraft, or CxRs, at this year’s AUSA conference, which you can read more about here. The company said the designs will fall into the Group 4 and Group 5 categories. Per the U.S. military’s definitions, the only difference between Group 4 and Group 5 is that the nominal operating altitude for the latter extends above 18,000 feet MSL.

Last week, Sikorsky, now a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, announced its own plans to expand existing work on a VTOL drone with a so-called rotor-blown wing configuration into a full family of designs dubbed Nomad, which is set to include a Group 4 type. You can learn more about Nomad, which was also showcased at AUSA, here.

Nearly a decade ago now, Bell also announced it was working on a design for a Group 5 tiltrotor drone called the V-247 Vigilant, aimed originally at a Marine Corps requirement. The V-247, or a scaled-down derivative, could be another starting place for a future Army CCA. Bell has notably shown renderings, like the one below, depicting V-247s operating together with versions of its crewed V-280 Valor tiltrotor design, which the Army’s MV-75A is based on.

Brig. Gen. Baker said that experimentation with CCA concepts, to varying degrees, is already underway, and that more is planned for the near future. He also pointed out that the Army is presented with unique questions to answer compared to the Air Force, Marines, and Navy, given that those services primarily expect CCA-type drones to operate collaboratively with higher and faster-flying fixed-wing tactical jets. The Army, in contrast, as noted, sees any such uncrewed aircraft partnered with its existing helicopters, as well as its future MV-75A tiltrotors, with much lower and slower operational flight profiles. It is worth noting here that the other services still have many questions to answer when it comes to their future CCA fleets, including how they will be deployed, launched, recovered, supported, and otherwise operated, let alone employed tactically.

The video below from Collins Aerospace offers a relevant depiction of what the Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy expect future air combat operations involving their CCAs to look like.

“So, our experimentation really lies in two areas. One, our modeling that we do constantly. We do that with the feedback that [Brig.] Gen. Phillips talked about from industry. How do you put that [notional system] into a threat environment, and how does that play out, and really render the specifications that we’re looking at,” Baker explained. “The second piece is, we do an annual experimentation out west. That will be the second quarter this year. And, so, we are looking at vendors, potentially, to come out and partner with us to build off the study that [Brig.] Gen. Phillips did, of what’s truly [the] capability out there.”

“When you look at a CCA role for – really linked to rotary wing, that is a different dynamic than you have at 20-to-30,000 feet,” he added. “So it’s a whole set of different behaviors, a whole set of different capability you need to marry that up with an aircraft that’s flying at 100 feet, at 150-plus knots, at night. So that is what we’re really looking at, is what is the state of technology right now to develop a requirement that we can deliver.”

Altogether, the Army still clearly has many questions of its own to answer as it begins to explore concepts for future CCA-drones in earnest, including how such a program would fit in with work it is already doing in the uncrewed aerial systems space.

Contact the author: [email protected]

Gogglebox sisters Izzi and Ellie Warner have appeared on the show together since 2015

Gogglebox star Izzi Warner has given fans a rare insight into her life away from the cameras.

The sofa telly critic appears on the Channel 4 programme with her sister Ellie, and have appeared alongside the likes of Pete Sandiford and Jenny Newman since 2015.

Ahead of hitting our screens in tonight’s episode, Izzi took to Instagram, and said, while sharing a video alongside a horse: “Here’s my pet that you don’t see sat on my knee on the sofa on a Friday night.

“Clip clopping our way into the weekend, have a good one, see you at 9 o’clock!”

She captioned it: “Goggleboxing in the wild.”

Izzi later clarified with a picture cuddling her sausage dog: “Just to clarify the pet that doesn’t sit on my knee is Bea… not Toby.”

This comes after the TV star gave fans an insight into her private life earlier this year with a glowing tribute to her new partner.

Last year, Izzi revealed she had been “single for 18 months” and was no longer with her long-term partner Grant, who she shares children Bobby and Bessie with.

She’s since introduced fans to her new partner Toby, posting snaps of them on holiday together and at special events.

In April, she shared an update on her relationship, writing: “The sun shone at Sandhurst on the Sovereigns parade.

“Congratulations to all the officer cadets commissioning today, in particular 16 platoon. Thank you for all who took part in what was spectacular parade.

“Proud of you @tobyj1 .”

She was flooded with support from fans, as one person wrote: “You look lovely and how smart he looks in his uniform. You must be very proud of him.”

Another shared: “Wonderful day for them all…congratulations.”

Meanwhile on Valentine’s day, she let slip to sister Ellie: “Wait till you see what Toby got me for Valentine’s – a card in a box.”

Ellie read out the cats, saying: “‘To Izzi, our first of many. Thank you for being the absolute best. I bloody adore you. Happy Valentine’s Day I love you loads and lots more. Toby.”

Gogglebox airs Fridays at 9pm on Channel 4

Oct. 17 (UPI) — The federal shutdown will last at least a few more days as the Senate expects to hold no votes until Monday. Meanwhile, lawmakers are questioning the legality of how the Trump administration plans to pay the military.

Senate Republican leader John Thune of South Dakota sent senators home for the weekend, so the government will stay closed. The Senate will return at 3 p.m. Monday.

Three Democrats have voted for the Republican bills to reopen the government, but five more are needed to reach the 60 votes needed to pass the stopgap funding bill.

Meanwhile, some Republican senators are questioning the legality of President Donald Trump‘s move to shift Defense Department funds to pay for military paychecks during the shutdown.

They say they’re glad the service members are getting paid, but aren’t sure where the funds are coming from and whether the money shift is legal.

Normally, the White House would need to ask Congress to reappropriate federal funding, then the Appropriations Committee must approve it before moving funds around.

Senators interviewed by The Hill say they aren’t aware of any requests. Trump ordered Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to use “all available funds” to ensure troops got their paychecks.

“That’s a concern of not just appropriators, it seems broader than that,” an unnamed Republican senator told The Hill.

The lawmaker said Republican colleagues have asked the administration for more information about exactly which funds are getting shifted and what legal authority the White House is using to justify its action.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she wants more information from the White House.

“We’ve been given two different explanations. One, is that it’s unobligated balances. One, is that it’s taken from certain research and technology programs. But we don’t have the specifics. We have asked for the specifics,” Collins said.

Alaska’s Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said: “I get that they say for the military pay for this pay period it comes out of … research and development technology [fund] but where? Is that taking it from projects that we have already identified? Maybe something’s really important to me. Where’s it coming from? We haven’t seen that,” she said.

On Wednesday, Trump signed a memo expanding his administration’s authority to repurpose unspent funds to pay service members during the shutdown.

Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., said Trump’s reallocation of funds was, “probably not legal.” On Face the Nation on Sunday, he said the “White House’s understanding of United States law” was “pretty tentative to say the best.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to visit Hungary in the very near future, where he will meet United States counterpart Donald Trump for a second summit on ending the war in Ukraine. The first – in Alaska in August – failed to result in any agreement.

But, with an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant issued in 2023 for Putin’s arrest over the alleged illegal deportation of Ukrainian children during Russia’s war with Ukraine, how will the fugitive from justice make it to the negotiating table?

Signatories of the 1998 Rome Statute, which established the Hague-based court in 2002, are required to arrest those subject to warrants as soon as they enter their territory – which theoretically includes airspace, which is also considered sovereign territory under international law.

Hungary, which recently stated its intention to withdraw from the agreement – making it a safe space for Putin – is surrounded by countries which would be bound by this.

However, the ICC, which has 125 member states, has no police force and hence no means of enforcing arrests.

So what awaits Putin on his upcoming jaunt?

Isn’t Hungary technically an ICC member, too?

On paper, yes. But it’s on the way out.

In April, right-wing populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced the country would be ditching the ICC’s founding document when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid a visit. Netanyahu is also on the ICC’s most-wanted list for Gaza war crimes – his arrest warrant was issued earlier this year.

The Hungarian parliament approved a bill back in May to trigger the withdrawal process, which becomes official one year after the United Nations Secretary-General receives a written notification of the decision.

Given Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto’s comments on Friday on the “sovereign” country’s intent to host the president with “respect”, ensuring he has “successful negotiations, and then returns home”, Putin seems safe from any arrest on Hungarian soil.

What about airspace? Could he be intercepted mid-air?

As Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, “many questions” need to be resolved before Putin sets off on his journey. One of those questions is likely to regard the president’s flight path.

Putin will probably want to avoid the Baltic states after recent violations of Estonia’s airspace by Russian jets, which have put the region on high alert for a potential overspill from the Ukraine war. The Baltics could well force a hard landing.

Friendly Belarus might provide a convenient corridor between the Baltics and Ukraine further south, but this would set the president on course for Poland, which has historically strained relations with the Kremlin and recently warned Europe to prepare for a “deep” Russian strike on its territory. Russian drones have also recently breached Polish airspace.

Slovakia, which is led by Moscow-leaning populist Robert Fico, is still guzzling Russian energy in defiance of Trump’s orders to European countries to stop oil and gas imports, and may be more accommodating. Indeed, Fico is on a collision course with fellow EU members over sanctions against Moscow. But Putin would still need to cross Poland before reaching Slovakia.

Putin’s direct route to Budapest, therefore, appears littered with obstacles.

What about a more circuitous route?

Putin may be inspired by fellow ICC fugitive Netanyahu, wanted for crimes including using starvation as a weapon of war against Palestinian civilians in war-ravaged Gaza, who avoided several European countries on his way to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York last month.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Wing of Zion plane briefly flew over Greek and Italian territory, but then ducked south, entirely avoiding French and Spanish airspace before heading over the Atlantic, according to FlightRadar24.

Flying south could be an option for Putin as well. Georgia, whose Georgian Dream governing party suspended Tbilisi’s bid to join the European Union, is a signatory to the Rome Statute but could potentially be relied on to turn a blind eye.

And Turkiye, which is not a party to the Rome Statute, but which has long walked a tightrope between Russia and NATO and hosted previous attempts between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators on ending the war, could be amenable to allowing the Russian president to pass.

From there, the main obstacle would be Greece, providing a route through the Balkan states to Orban’s respectful welcome.

Has Putin made other trips since becoming an internationally wanted war criminal?

Putin has clearly limited his travels since the ICC warrant was issued.

Last year, he hopped over the border to ICC member Mongolia, where he was treated to a lavish ceremony featuring soldiers on horseback by Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh.

Mongolia has very friendly relations with Russia, on which it depends for fuel and electricity. The country has refrained from condemning Russia’s offensive in Ukraine and has abstained during votes on the conflict at the UN, so it was little surprise to see the red carpet being rolled out.

Flying to Alaska for a bilateral with Trump last August was easy since the president could completely avoid hostile countries, flying over his country’s huge land mass over the Bering Strait to the US, which is not a signatory to the Rome Statute.

Similarly, this year’s visit to “old friend” and neighbour Xi Jinping for a huge military parade and a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation posed no problems since China is not a party to the ICC.

This month, the Russian president met Central Asian leaders with whom he is eager to bolster ties in Tajikistan, which has signed up to the Rome Statute.

Will Putin ever be arrested?

The arrest warrants mark the first step towards an eventual trial, although the capture of Russia’s president is almost inconceivable.

Only a few national leaders have ended up in The Hague.

The former Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, surrendered to The Hague earlier this year to face charges of crimes against humanity. The charges pertain to extrajudicial killings committed during his widely condemned “war on drugs”, which killed thousands of people.

The former Liberian president and warlord, Charles Taylor, was convicted in 2012 by the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, which held proceedings in The Hague. He was found guilty of 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Would a future Russian leader decide to forcibly hand Putin over, as was the case with Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic, extradited to The Hague after his removal in 2000, for atrocities committed in the former Yugoslavia wars?

That would necessitate a seismic shift in the Kremlin’s power dynamic, which seems unlikely for the time being.

COLEEN Rooney has taken a fresh swipe at her ex-pal Rebekah Vardy as she uses their Wagatha Christie row to cash in – AGAIN.

Wayne’s wife was famously embroiled in a six-year fight with fellow WAG Rebekah when Coleen turned detective and accused Rebekah of leaking stories from her personal Instagram account.

In the infamous post, Coleen dramatically announced to the world: “It’s . . . Rebekah Vardy’s account.”

The iconic catchphrase was today used in a new TV advert for Paddy Power starring Coleen and other famous faces including Danny Dyer, Peter Crouch and Gemma Collings.

Cockney EastEnders legend Danny stars as a casino kingpin who flips out when he spots a prosecco glass on his blackjack table, shouting: “Which melt has left their drink on my felt?”

And in a nod to Coleen’s super sleuth skills, he gets a text from Coleen, which says: “It’s… Gemma Collins.”

READ MORE ON COLEEN ROONEY

BECK ON TV

Becky & Jamie Vardy strike huge deal for ITV show in victory in feud with Coleen

JANE ATKINSON

I know why Coleen Rooney stuck with Wayne – and it’s not just because of love

She then winks at the camera after being described by Danny as a “silent assassin”.

A TV insider told The Sun: “Even after all these years, people are obsessed with the Wagatha Christie case and Coleen’s detective work.

“The whole ordeal was a nightmare for Coleen at the time but she’s since made a lot of money from the experience and is happy to capitalise on it.

“Paddy Power is renowned for its hilarious media campaigns and this is yet another example.”

The advert for Paddy Power Games follows 39-year-old Coleen’s previous Wagatha Christie jab when she was announced as the investigator of Man City’s Financial Fair Play case in an hilarious sketch.

Coleen Rooney said: “I’ve been watching the same game almost my entire life, so it’s nice to have a bit of variety for once, and being back with the Paddy Power crew to film such a glamourous ad was brilliant.

“I loved getting dressed up and stepping into the madness of a Paddy Power casino world – Danny played the role of casino boss perfectly, plus I got to reprise my role as head of investigations….what more could you want!”

Rebekah – who’s married to Jamie Vardy – brought a multi-million pound case to court after Coleen publicly accused her of leaking to the press in October 2019.

Despite bringing a libel case against her, Rebekah’s reputation and finances were left hanging in tatters after she was savaged by Mrs Justice Steyn in her ruling.

She was ordered to pay Coleen Rooney £1.4million – picking up 90 per cent of Coleen’s bill after she sensationally lost the libel case.

Coleen went on to release a three-part documentary on Disney+ called Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story and land a place on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here.

The ad, created by BBH London, hits screens this Saturday, October 18 to launch “all sorts of games for all sorts of treacles”. 

The GC delivers one of her most iconic one-liners as well as sequins and sass.

Gemma said:“Let me tell you something, this ad is pure glamour, and did you see the dress, that gorgeous number came home with me!

“Paddy Power Games went all out with this one, it felt like being on a Hollywood set – lights, camera, casino!

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“I had the best time living my best life at that craps table. It’s bold, it’s fun, and it’s got The GC written all over it!”

• Watch the full advert here.

UK court to hear challenge to the pro-Palestine group’s ban under ‘anti-terrorism’ laws after government loses appeal.

The United Kingdom government cannot block the cofounder of pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action from bringing a legal challenge over the banning of the group under “anti-terrorism” laws, a court has said.

Huda Ammori, who helped found Palestine Action in 2020, was on Friday given permission to challenge the group’s proscription on the grounds that the ban is a disproportionate interference with free speech rights, with her case due to be heard next month.

Britain’s Home Office, the interior ministry, then asked the Court of Appeal to overturn that decision and rule that any challenge to the ban should be heard by a specialist tribunal.

Judge Sue Carr rejected the Home Office’s appeal, saying challenging the proscription in the High Court was quicker, particularly where people have been charged and are facing trial for expressing support for Palestine Action.

The court also ruled that Ammori could challenge the ban in the High Court on additional grounds, which Ammori said was a significant victory.

BREAKING: The government LOST their appeal and failed to stop the legal challenge of the Palestine Action ban.

That means the Judicial Review will go ahead on November 25-27th.

Not only that, but we won TWO MORE grounds to argue the illegality of the ban.

Huge victory.

— Huda Ammori (@HudaAmmori) October 17, 2025

“It’s time for the government to listen to the overwhelming and mounting backlash … and lift this widely condemned, utterly Orwellian ban,” she said in a statement.

“The Judicial Review will go ahead on November 25-27th,” Ammori said in a post on X later on Friday.

She hailed the group’s win to challenge “two more grounds to argue the illegality of the ban”.

“Huge victory,” she added.

Disrupting the ‘arms industry’

Palestine Action was proscribed as a “terrorist” organisation by the government in July, making membership a crime which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

More than 2,000 people have since been arrested for holding signs in support of the group, with at least 100 charged.

Before the ban, Palestine Action had increasingly targeted Israel-linked companies in Britain, sometimes spraying red paint, blocking entrances or damaging equipment.

It accused the UK government of complicity in Israeli war crimes in Gaza. Israel has repeatedly denied committing war crimes in its two-year genocidal campaign, which has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians. Rights groups have accused Israel of repeatedly committing abuses in its war in Gaza, which began on October 7, 2023.

Israel and Hamas agreed on a ceasefire last week.

Palestine Action particularly focused on Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems, and Britain’s government cited a raid by activists at an Elbit site last year when it decided to outlaw the group.

The group was banned a month after some of its members broke into the RAF Brize Norton air base and damaged two planes, for which four members have been charged.

Palestine Action describes itself as “a pro-Palestinian organisation which disrupts the arms industry in the United Kingdom with direct action”. It says it is “committed to ending global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime”.

Critics of the ban – including United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk and civil liberties groups – argue that damaging property does not amount to terrorism.

However, Britain’s former interior minister Yvette Cooper, who is now foreign minister, previously said violence and criminal damage have no place in legitimate protest.

Widespread regional anger over Israel’s war on Gaza, and beyond, will likely prove a major obstacle to any further signatories to the accords.

United States President Donald Trump has said he expects an expansion of the Abraham Accords soon and hopes Saudi Arabia will join the pact that normalised diplomatic relations between Israel and some Arab states, one week into the all-encompassing and fragile Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

“I hope to see Saudi Arabia go in, and I hope to see others go in. I think when Saudi Arabia goes in, everybody goes in,” Trump said in an interview broadcast Friday on Fox Business Network.

The US president called the pact a “miracle” and “amazing” and hailed the United Arab Emirates’s signing of it.

The “Abraham Accords” secured agreements between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.

“It’ll help bring long-lasting peace to the Middle East,” Trump claimed with his signature bombast.

But there are several factors at play since the original iteration of the accords, signed with fanfare at the White House during Trump’s first term as president in 2020.

Israel has carried out a two-year genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza, escalated its harsh assault on the occupied West Bank, and beyond Palestine, bombed six countries in the region this year, including key Gulf Arab mediator Qatar, the huge diplomatic fallout from which effectively helped Trump force Israel into a ceasefire in Gaza.

An emergency summit of Arab and Muslim countries held in Doha in September, in the wake of the attack, staunchly declared its solidarity with Qatar and condemned Israel’s bombing of the Qatari capital.

The extraordinary joint session between the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) gathered nearly 60 member states. Leaders said the meeting marked a critical moment to deliver a united message following what they described as an unprecedented escalation by Israel.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vision of a “Greater Israel”, has also been roundly condemned by Arab and Muslim countries, and involves hegemonic designs on Lebanese and Syrian territory, among others. Syrian President al-Sharaa, while welcoming Washington’s moves to end its international isolation, has not been warm to the idea of signing up to the Abraham Accords.

Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Naim Qassem appealed to Saudi Arabia in recent weeks to mend relations with the Lebanese armed group, aligned with Iran, and build a common front against Israel.

An August survey from the Washington Institute, a pro-Israel think tank in the US, found that 81 percent of Saudi respondents viewed the prospect of normalising relations with Israel negatively.

A Foreign Affairs and Arab Barometer poll from June came to similar findings: in Morocco, one of the Abraham Accords signatories, support for the deal fell from 31 percent in 2022 to 13 percent in the months after Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023.

Saudi Arabia has also repeatedly asserted its commitment to the Arab Peace Initiative, which conditions recognition of Israel on resolving the plight of Palestinians and establishing a Palestinian state.

I can’t think of another time that I was quite as terrified as when I walked alone into an interactive horror maze called “Feast” at a chilling carnival-like event called “The Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor: Summoned by the Seas,” which takes place in the parking lot in front of the famously haunted ship, and also in the creepy bowels of its engine rooms, through Nov. 2.

“Dark Harbor,” is the scarier sister event to Griffith Park’s famous “Haunted Hayride.” Both Halloween season fright fests are produced by Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group, which specializes in seasonal terror. The highlight of the nightly carnivals — which include food and drink booths, bars and rides — are a series of interactive mazes populated by bloody monsters, drooling ghouls, murderous clowns, spectral ghosts and maniacal serial killers.

The spooks are largely played by local actors — many of whom come back year after year for a guaranteed paycheck while pursuing a profession that is anything but financially sound. It is to these hardworking artists that the events owe their success. I was struck by just how dedicated the actors were to scaring us mere mortals out of our pants.

The masks, elaborate makeup and props, including butcher knives and bats, surely help the players stay in character— but this is not easy work. The actors must contend with aggressive guests who try to get in their faces (this is against the rules), as well as shrill, shrieking patrons who jump and run as they approach (guilty!).

But the actors are specially trained to handle these reactions and more.

“Each fall, Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor and Los Angeles Haunted Hayride hire a few hundred performers, most of our cast are locals who come back year after year. We hold open calls in the summer and focus on energy, movement, and presence more than traditional acting experience,” wrote “Dark Harbor‘s” general manager, Star Romano, in an email.

After the performers are hired, Romano explained, they attend orientation, safety training and rehearsals leading into opening weekend.

“It’s a huge community effort, part performance, part team reunion, and one of my favorite things about the season,” Romano wrote.

The result of those efforts led to me sleeping with the lights on for two nights straight.

“Get away from me! I’m too scared!” I shouted at one Leatherface-type character as he approached me with a chain saw.

“That’s the whole point,” he growled under his breath before obeying my wishes and lurching off toward another fear-stricken guest.

(NOTE: For a kid-friendly immersive Halloween experience, you can head to the company’s “Magic of the Jack O’Lanterns,” which features 5,000 hand-carved pumpkins on-site at South Coast Botanic Garden.)

I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt, inviting you to sink into spooky season with me. Here’s your weekly arts and culture news.

On our radar

Benjamin Millepied’s L.A. Dance Project performs “On the Other Side.”

(Laurent Philippe)

L.A. Dance Project
Renowned choreographer Benjamin Millepied continues his exploration of the intersection of dance and visual art with the ballet triptych “Gems,” featuring artwork by collaborators Barbara Kruger, Liam Gillick, Mark Bradford and others. The performance is composed of three contemporary ballets inspired by precious stones: “Reflections” (2013), “Hearts & Arrows” (2014) and “On the Other Side” (2016). The show — with music by David Lang and Philip Glass — marks the first time these pieces have been staged together.
— Jessica Gelt
7:30 p.m. Thursday through Oct. 25. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. https://thewallis.org/show-details/la-dance-project-gems

New York artist Jon Henry stages photographs that reflect on reports of Black men killed by police.

(The Brick)

Monuments
The most eagerly anticipated theme exhibition this fall is reflected in the emphatic title, pointedly written all in caps. “MONUMENTS” was inspired by the wave of revulsion following the violent 2017 white supremacist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va. — a deadly riot opposing the proposed removal of a local statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. That statue is now gone, torn down along with some 200 other tributes across the country to American turncoats who supported chattel slavery. (The last known Confederate monument in Southern California was removed in 2020.)
A selection of decommissioned Confederate statues will be shown at MOCA and alternative space the Brick, joint organizers of the exhibition; they’ll be paired with contemporary work by Bethany Collins, Stan Douglas, Leonardo Drew, Jon Henry, Martin Puryear, Hank Willis Thomas, Kara Walker and a dozen other artists, borrowed and commissioned for the occasion.
— Christopher Knight
Thursday through May 3, 2026. Geffen Contemporary at Museum of Contemporary Art, 152 N. Central Ave., Little Tokyo; The Brick, 518 N. Western Ave. moca.org

Vikingur Olafsson will perform with conductor Santtu-Matias and Philharmonia.

(Timothy Norris / Los Angeles Philharmonic)

Santtu-Matias Rouvali and Vikingur Ólafsson join the Philharmonia Orchestra
It’s been almost a decade since Finnish conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali, a former Dudamel Fellow at the L.A. Phil, last returned to Southern California as a guest conductor of the L.A. Phil. In the meantime, though, he’s been busily attracting attention in London as principal conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra (having succeeded Esa-Pekka Salonen in 2021). For his first local appearance with the Philharmonia, he is joined by the stellar Icelandic pianist Vikingur Ólafsson in Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G. The program also includes the local premiere of a new score meant to awaken environmental awareness, popular Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz’s “Si el Oxígeno Fuera Verde” (If Oxygen Were Green), along with Shostakovich‘s Fifth Symphony. Shortly after fall, Ólafsson heads back to Disney in January as soloist with the L.A. Phil for John Adams’ latest piano concerto, “After the Fall.”
— Mark Swed
8 p.m. Tuesday. Renée & Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, 615 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. philharmonicsociety.org

The week ahead: A curated calendar

FRIDAY

Ethan Remez-Cott, left, and Matthew Goodrich in the play “Amerika or, The Man Who Disappeared.”

(Amanda Weier)

Amerika or, The Man Who Disappeared
There’s Kafkaesque and then there’s the genuine article. Open Fist Theatre Company presents the world premiere of Dietrich Smith’s adaptation of the Franz Kafka novel that details the strange experiences of a 17-year-old European immigrant after he arrives in New York City aboard a steamer.
7:30 p.m. Friday; 7 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday; and 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 20; through Nov. 22. Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. openfist.org

Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson–Apt. 2B
Two free-spirited roommates embrace mystery and adventure in the L.A. premiere of Kate Hamill’s dark modern comedy, a gender-bent spin on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle directed by Amie Farrell.
7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday through Nov. 2. International City Theatre, 330 E. Seaside Way, Long Beach. ictlongbeach.org

नेहा & Neel
Asian American theater collective Artists at Play and Latino Theater Company collaborate for the world premiere of Ankita Raturi’s new comedy about an Indian immigrant and single mom on a cross-country college tour with her 17-year-old American-born son. Directed by East West Players artistic director Lily Tung Crystal.
Through Nov. 16. Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring Street, downtown L.A. latinotheaterco.org

17th OC Japan Fair
Japanese culture festival featuring food, shopping, a cosplay show, a tuna cutting show, popular Japanese entertainers, traditional instrument performances, games, kimono models meet and greet, and more.
4 p.m.-10 p.m. Friday; noon-10 p.m. Saturday; 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday. OC Fair & Event Center, 88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa. oc-japanfair.com

David Roussève will perform “Becoming Daddy AF” Friday and Saturday at the Nimoy.

(Rachel Keane)

Becoming Daddy AF
Renowned dance-theater artist David Roussève presents the West Coast premiere of his experimental movement journey “Becoming Daddy AF.” The piece marks Roussève’s first full-length solo performance in more than two decades and explores themes that have touched and shaped his life, including HIV, genealogy and the loss of his husband of 26 years. (Jessica Gelt)
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. UCLA Nimoy Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd. cap.ucla.edu

Unravelled
The story of Canadian biologist Dr. Anne Adams, who turned to painting at age 53, and her remarkable connection to French composer Maurice Ravel, with whom she shared the same rare brain disease. A play infused with music and visual art, written by Jake Broder and directed by James Bonas.
7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. thewallis.org

SATURDAY

British artist Edmund de Waal will install new work in three sites at the Huntington, including the Chinese garden.

(Linnea Stephan)

The Eight Directions of the Wind
British artist, potter and writer Edmund de Waal is obsessed with archives, which he describes as “places, streets, hillsides as much as card indexes.” For a body of new work, he once traveled to the place in China where the clay used to make porcelain was discovered — and then on to Dresden, Germany; Cornwall, U.K.; and the Appalachian Mountains, where subsequent cultures reinvented it. De Waal’s three site-specific, yearlong installations will be in the Huntington’s cultural and natural “archives” that are its art gallery and Chinese and Japanese gardens. (Christopher Knight)
Through Oct. 26, 2026. The Huntington, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. huntington.org

Lorde performs Saturday at the Kia Forum.

(Scott A Garfitt / Invision/AP)

Lorde
Just as her generation has, by all accounts, sobered up and gone sexless, Lorde returned this year with a defiant album about the giddy rush of partying and the frightening ramifications of a body in search of pleasure. “Virgin” pulls her back to the experimental electro-pop many fans were hoping for after the relatively complacent “Solar Power,” and the album is brimming with startling meditations on pregnancy scares, familial inheritance and the malleability of gender. (August Brown)
7 p.m. Kia Forum, 3900 W. Manchester Blvd., Inglewood. thekiaforum.com

Orchidées
Cellist Kate Ellis performs composer Nick Roth’s cello étude — which traces the 100‑million‑year evolution of orchids by translating their DNA sequences into music — accompanied by time‑lapse footage of blooming specimens from the Huntington’s orchid collection. Also available to livestream.
7 p.m. The Huntington, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. huntington.org

Tortoise
The lauded post-punk band performs “Touch,” their first new album in nine years with opening sets from local duo Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer and KCRW DJ Ale Cohen.
8 p.m. Saturday. The Broad, outdoor East West Bank Plaza, 221 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. thebroad.org

TUESDAY
A Concert for Lowell
A memorial tribute to Lowell Hill, one of the great patrons of new music in L.A., featuring many of the city’s top local artists, including Wild Up, MicroFest, Piano Spheres, the Industry, Partch Ensemble, Monday Evening Concerts, Long Beach Opera and People Inside Electronics.
8 p.m. Monk Space, 4414 W. 2nd Street. brightworknewmusic.com

Morgan Siobhan Green as Eurydice and Nicholas Barasch as Orpheus in the 2022 “Hadestown” North American Tour.

(T Charles Erickson)

Hadestown
The Tony and Grammy Award-winning musical that reimagines the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice as a New Orleans-style folk opera returns on its latest national tour. “Born out of a concept album by Anaïs Mitchell, who wrote the book, lyrics and music, the show travels to the underworld and back again with liquified grace,” wrote Times theater critic Charles McNulty in a 2022 review. “Developed by Rachel Chavkin, the resourceful director who won a Tony for her staging, ‘Hadestown’ achieves a fluidity of musical theater storytelling that makes an old tale seem startlingly new.”
Through Nov. 2. Hollywood Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. broadwayinhollywood.com

Learning to Draw
The exhibition traces a 300-year evolution of artistic training and the mastery of drawing in Europe from about 1550 to 1850. Bringing together the physical control of the hand and the concentration of the mind, the foundational artistic act became essential to exploring, inventing and communicating visual ideas in the modern world.
Through Jan. 25, 2026. Getty Museum, 1200 Getty Center Drive. getty.edu

Dispatch: Ben Platt: Live at the Ahmanson

Actor, singer and songwriter Ben Platt stands for a portrait at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in New York on Thursday, April 20, 2023.

(Justin Jun Lee / For The Times)

Breaking news sure to make L.A. musical theater fans swoon: Center Theatre Group announced Friday that Broadway superstar Ben Platt will be in residency for two weeks and 10 shows at the Ahmanson Theatre , Dec. 12–21. Two-time Tony Award-winning director Michael Arden is set to direct the the residency, appropriately titled, “Ben Platt: Live at the Ahmanson.” Platt’s appearance comes a year after he staged a wildly successful three-week residency at Broadway’s Palace Theatre, which included a cornucopia of famous special guests including Cynthia Erivo, Nicole Scherzinger, Jennifer Hudson, Kacey Musgraves, Sam Smith, Micaela Diamond and Shoshana Bean. The production is staying mum on who might appear onstage alongside Platt during his L.A. run, but it’s safe to expect more big names.

“When you think of the very best in musical theatre, it simply doesn’t get any better than Ben Platt, whose stage presence and charisma make him one of the seminal performers of his generation,” said CTG’s artistic director, Snehal Desai, in a news release that promised “the holiday event of the season.”

Tickets and information can be found at centertheatregroup.org.

Culture news and the SoCal scene

Bassist Tonya Sweets, from left, Marlon Alexander Vargas and drummer Dee Simone in “littleboy/littleman,” directed by Nancy Medina, at Geffen Playhouse.

(Jeff Lorch)

A tale from a land of immigrants
Rudi Goblen’s “littleboy/littleman” is in the midst of its world premiere at the Geffen Playhouse. The two-person show about two Nicaragua-born brothers is much like a performance piece, writes Times theater critic Charles McNulty in his review. It’s also a deeply American story. “Lest we forget our past, America is the great democratic experiment precisely because it’s a land of immigrants. Out of many, one — as our national motto, E pluribus unum, has it. How have we lost sight of this basic tenet of high school social studies?” McNulty writes.

Les Miz at 40
I went backstage at the Pantages for the opening night of “Les Misérables,” which happened to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the legendary musical. The mood was euphoric and everyone in the cast and crew seemed to have a story about a formative connection to the show. Stage manager Ken Davis walked me through the maze-like wings and filled me in on what it takes to tour a show of this scale. Of particular note: The touring production travels with 11 tractor trailers containing over 1,000 costumes, 120 wigs and hundreds of props.

Patrick Martinez, “Fallen Empire,” 2018, mixed media

(Michael Underwood)

When the sum is less than the whole
Times art critic Christopher Knight was not impressed by “Grounded,” a newly opened exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The show’s theme, rooted in recent acquisitions of contemporary art, is promising, but ultimately falls apart. Viewed as a whole, “the 39 assembled contemporary paintings, sculptures, photographs, textiles and videos by 35 artists based in the Americas and areas of the Pacific underperform,” writes Knight. “Sometimes that’s because the individual work is bland, while elsewhere its pertinence to the shambling theme is stretched to the breaking point,” Knight writes.

Remembering Bernstein
Tuesday marked the 35th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s death, and reminders of the great composer’s tributes to John F. Kennedy abound, writes Times classical music critic Mark Swed. In a piece of commentary about what Bernstein’s work can teach us about memorials, Swed examines multiple L.A. productions rooted in that work, including L.A. Opera’s “West Side Story” and Martha Graham Dance Company’s “En Masse” at the Soraya. Swed also wonders whether those important pieces will reach the Trump administration’s newly configured Kennedy Center in the spring.

Guests attend the K.A.M.P. family fundraiser at the Hammer Museum on Oct. 12, 2025, in Los Angeles.

(Stefanie Keenan / Getty Images for Hammer Museum)

Everyone went home happy
UCLA’s Hammer Museum raised nearly $200,000 last weekend with its 16th annual K.A.M.P. (Kids Art Museum Project) fundraiser. More than 700 excited parents and children showed up at the gloriously messy event co-chaired by Aurele Danoff Pelaia and Talia Friedman. Kids roamed the courtyard over the course of four hours, creating art at stations set up and manned by participating artists including Daniel Gibson; Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee of the Johnston Marklee architecture firm; Annie Lapin; Ryan Preciado; Rob Reynolds; Jennifer Rochlin; Mindy Shapero; Brooklin A. Soumahoro; and Christopher Suarez. Fairy Gardens were constructed of thick clay and foraged leaves; cardboard boxes were painted with rollers; plates were spray-painted and affixed with knickknacks and jewelry; and geometric shapes were glued to canvases and painted an array of bright colors. Children went home with their art, and parents left knowing they supported a host of free Hammer Kids programs that serve thousands of children and families annually.

Fair wages on Broadway
Musicians working on Broadway, represented by AFM Local 802, voted to authorize a strike earlier this week — with 98% in favor. The nearly 1,200 musicians have been working without a contract since Aug. 31. According to an open letter the musicians sent to the Broadway League on Oct. 1, their demands include: “Fair wages that reflect Broadway’s success. Stable health coverage to allow musicians and their families to enjoy the health benefits that all workers deserve. Employment and income security so that hardworking freelance musicians have some assurance of job security. This includes not eliminating current jobs on Broadway.” Bargaining talks are ongoing.

Gene Hackman co-stars in “Bonnie and Clyde,” alongside Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway.

(Associated Press)

Gene Hackman, art collector
The late actor Gene Hackman’s art collection will go up for auction through Bonhams in November. Highlights of the 13-piece collection — which is being offered as a single-owner sale — include works by Milton Avery, Auguste Rodin and Richard Diebenkorn. Hackman was passionate about art throughout his life, and took an extra-special interest in it after he stopped acting. During that time he dedicated himself to taking classes and art-making. He even kept a journal of everything he learned, according to Bonhams.

Historic homes tour
Paging architecture fans: It’s not too late to reserve a spot in Dwell’s open-house event, back in L.A. for its second year. Tours of three historically significant Eastside homes are on offer during the day-long event, which launches from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House in Barnsdall Art Park. The three additional houses in the tour are: Richard Stampton’s Descanso House in Silver Lake; Taalman Architecture, Terremoto, and interior designer Kathryn McCullough’s Lark House in Mount Washington; and Fung + Blatt’s San Marino House in — you guessed it — San Marino.

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

Still feeling sad about losing Diane Keaton? Me too. Here’s a list I put together of her 10 most important films. Watch one you haven’t seen — if that’s possible.

Oct. 17 (UPI) — A federal appeals court panel rejected the Trump administration’s request to overturn a lower court order blocking deployment of National Guard troops in Illinois.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday said U.S. President Donald Trump‘s plan to deploy National Guard troops to Illinois “likely” violated the U.S. Constitution’s 10th Amendment, which outlines specific state power.

“The facts do not justify the president’s actions,” the 18-page ruling read, adding that “political opposition is not rebellion.”

Roughly 200 federalized National Guardsmen currently sit in Illinois via Texas and more than a dozen from California. Trump federalized an additional 300 troops over the objection of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, both Democrats.

Trump has repeatedly described Chicago and other Democratic-governed cities as a “war zone.” Pritzker has said there’s no evidence for Trump’s claims and led the state’s legal actions against the White House with other local and state officials.

During an appearance on Politico’s The Conversation podcast — to be aired Sunday — Pritzker said that Trump has “got the biggest platform in the country, the presidency, and he just says things.” He attacked Trump’s “lies” on crime.

“It’s propaganda, again, not true, but he’ll say it over and over and over again, hoping that people will believe him,” the governor said.

On Thursday, the court panel added the administration was unlikely to prove a rebellion against the U.S. government or that Trump as president could not enforce the law using regular federal forces.

The judges wrote in the decision they saw “insufficient evidence of a rebellion or danger of rebellion in Illinois.”

“The spirited, sustained, and occasionally violent actions of demonstrators in protest of the federal government’s immigration policies and actions, without more, does not give rise to a danger of rebellion against the government’s authority,” it continued.

An hearing is scheduled for Wednesday to determined if the temporary restraining order should be extended, which remains in effect until Thursday.

“To Illinoisans: Stay safe, record what you see and post it, and continue to peacefully protest. Make sure that your community members know their rights in times of crisis,” the two-term Pritzker said Thursday night on Bluesky.

Former US National Security Adviser John Bolton is making an initial court appearance as he faces charges in an 18-count indictment of mishandling classified information. Bolton, who served under Donald Trump in his first term, has become a vocal critic of the US president.

Netflix’s new true crime drama No One Saw Us Leave has viewers gripped by the five-part series

Netflix has unveiled a gripping new true crime drama series titled No One Saw Us Leave, following the success of its previous crime thrillers and captivating mysteries, reports the Manchester Evening News.

The five-part thriller is inspired by the real-life story of two children abducted by their father after discovering his wife’s infidelity.

This sets off a relentless quest by a mother to reclaim her son and daughter, aided by an ex-Mossad agent who has become a private investigator.

The conflict intensifies – not only between Leo and Valeria – but also within their influential families as Isaac and Tamara are whisked away to different parts of Europe to keep them from their mother.

The drama draws inspiration from Tamara Trottner’s 2020 memoir No One Saw Us Leave, or its Spanish title Nadie nos vio partir, in which she narrates how she and her brother Isaac were taken during the 1960s.

The narrative provides a glimpse into the Jewish-Mexican community of that era, according to Netflix’s Tudum, as Tamara’s mother faced condemnation from the tight-knit community.

Many viewers are curious about the cast – here’s where you might have seen the actors before.

READ MORE: ‘Spine-chilling’ new Netflix thriller led by ‘utterly magnificent’ horror icon is a must-watchREAD MORE: Crime thriller fans urged to add ‘dark and gritty’ series to Netflix watch-lists

Who stars in Netflix’s No One Saw Us Leave?

Valeria Goldberg – Tessa Ía

Heading the cast is actress Tessa la, portraying the desperate mother Valeria Goldberg.

The star is renowned for her roles in Narcos: Mexico, Unstoppable, The House of Flowers: The Movie, and Something Blue.

As per IMDb, she’s next set to appear in TV shows La Banda, Yellow, and De brutas, nada.

Leo Saltzman – Emiliano Zurita

Actor and producer Emiliano Zurita takes on the role of Leo Saltzman, a father pressured by his parents to take his children away from Valeria.

Zurita has previously appeared in TV series such as Zorro, Dance of the 41, Natural Born Narco, and The Head of Joaquin Murrieta.

Samuel Saltzman – Juan Manuel Bernal

Juan Manuel Bernal portrays Samuel Saltzman, with previous credits including Lazos de amor, Confessions, Perfect Obedience, The Blue Room, Monarca, and he also starred in The Head of Joaquin Murrieta alongside Zurita.

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This lets members watch live and on-demand TV content without a satellite dish or aerial and includes hit shows like Stranger Things and The Last of Us.

Carlos – Gustavo Bassani

Gustavo Bassani plays Carlos, Valeria’s lover whom she ultimately leaves her husband Leo for.

Bassani’s past roles include appearances in Transmitzvah, Yosi, the Regretful Spy, Maledictions and Papeles.

Elías – Ari Brickman

Ari Brickman, an actor, director, composer and writer, takes on the role of Elías. He has had roles in Like Water for Chocolate, Nora’s Will, Technoboys, All That Is Invisible Más alla de ti, and directed several episodes of Netflix’s sci-fi epic Sense8.

Isaac Saltzman – Alexander Varela

Child star Alexander Varela plays Isaac Saltzman, Leo and Valeria’s son. His previous roles include parts in Luis Miguel: The Series and Who Killed Him?, but No One Saw Us Leave is his most significant project to date.

Tamara Saltzman – Marion Siro

Marion Siro, another child star, plays Tamara Saltzman, who is taken along with her brother.

The cast also includes Flavio Medina, Juan Manuel Bernal, Caro Darman and Natasha Dupeyrón.

No One Saw Us Leave is streaming on Netflix now

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said handing over the Ukrainian diver is not in the country’s best interests.

A Polish court has blocked the extradition of a Ukrainian diver wanted by Germany in connection with the 2022 Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions, a handover that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said earlier this month was not in his country’s best interests.

The Warsaw District Court rejected the extradition of the man, only identified as Volodymyr Z, on Friday and ordered his immediate release.

The government had previously said that the decision about whether Volodymyr Z should be transferred to Germany was one for the courts alone.

Tusk has said the problem was not that the undersea pipelines, which run from Russia to Germany, were blown up in September 2022, but that they were built at all.

The explosions ruptured the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which was inaugurated in 2011 and carried Russian natural gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea until Russia cut off supplies in August 2022.

They also damaged the parallel Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which never entered service because Germany suspended its certification process shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

The explosions largely severed Russian gas supplies to Europe, marking a major escalation in the Ukraine conflict and squeezing energy supplies.

Germany’s top prosecutors’ office says Volodymyr Z was one of a group suspected of renting a sailing yacht and planting explosives on the pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm.

He faces allegations of conspiring to commit an explosives attack and of “anti-constitutional sabotage”.

His Polish lawyer rejects the accusations and says Volodymyr Z has done nothing wrong. He has also questioned whether a case concerning the destruction of Russian property by a Ukrainian at a time when the countries are at war is a criminal matter.

Volodymyr Z’s wife has told Polish media her husband is innocent and that they were together in Poland at the time the pipelines were blown up.

He is one of two Ukrainians whose extradition German judicial authorities have been trying to secure in the case.

A man suspected of being one of the attack’s coordinators was arrested in Italy in August. This week, Italy’s top court annulled a lower court’s decision to order his extradition and called for another panel of judges to reassess the case, his lawyer said.

John Bolton, Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, has arrived at a federal court to surrender to authorities on charges of mishandling classified information.

The 18 charges stem from allegations he shared or retained sensitive materials, including some characterised as top secret.

Bolton served during Trump’s first administration but parted with the White House contentiously, and has become one of the president’s most vocal public critics.

The indictment makes Bolton, 76, the third of the US president’s political opponents to face charges in recent weeks. Bolton has said he would defend his “lawful conduct”.

Prosecutors have accused Bolton of using personal messaging apps and email to illegally transmit sensitive information.

“These documents revealed intelligence about future attacks, foreign adversaries, and foreign-policy relations,” prosecutors wrote.

Responding to the charges, Bolton said he would defend his “lawful conduct.”

He added he had “become the latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department to charge those he [Trump] deems to be his enemies with charges that were declined before or distort the facts.”

GEORDIE Shore star Aaron Chalmers’ ex Talia Oatway has revealed a “petrifying” development as their son Oakley returns to hospital.

The mum-of-three, who shares her kids with MTV reality star turned MMA fighter Aaron, has been giving fans regular updates on their youngest son’s health.

Their son Oakley has Apert Syndrome, which is a genetic disorder that causes fusion of the skull, hands, and feet bones.

Today Talia gave fans an update, and said: “I know I haven’t been on it today. Um, so Oakley had a gemranosec earlier this morning to have a CT scans on his brain just to basically out rule a lot of stuff for the sickness.

“Um, so he had that and then had to wait obviously for the neurosurgeons to look at the scans.

“I mean I’ve still got no answers but they did tell me some bits that’s going on with Oakley’s brain which obviously has petrified me.

Read more on Aaron chalmers

raw reveal

Aaron Chalmers’ ex Talia says their son may need a wheelchair

BRAVE CHILD

Geordie Shore star Aaron Chalmers’ ex Talia reveals health update on son Oakley

“Um, but I’m waiting until the surgeons at Newcastle obviously speak to the surgeons in Liverpool and then I’ll have more of an understanding about the situation that Oakley is in.

“Um, but yeah it’s just been a really shit day, very emotional day.”

In the summer, Talia shared another worrying post about Oakley.

Taking to her Instagram story, the concerned mum penned: “Oakley had the worst sickness last night, from 11ish till about 5am.

“Bath after bath, bed change after bed change.

“I feel so sorry for him. The fundo surgery he’s due to have soon (after his hands) is so needed.

“It will stop him being sick completely. Currently on a meds run for him.”

Talia previously took to Instagram to post a video of her son taking his first steps and shared an update with her followers.

Alongside the clip, she wrote: “Oakley has been using a walking frame for a few months now.

“He’s had some shoes made for him as it’s impossible to get shoes that fit his feet.

“Which is common with Apert syndrome.

“Today we tried the shoes for the first time. We also had physio at home which we are doing every week.”

Aaron and Talia welcomed Oakley into the world in February 2022.

NOT FINE

Warning to 5million drivers who risk LOSING their licence & £10k fine this October

THROUGH THE MILL

Shock twist for unlikely celeb couple Millie MacKintosh & Prof Green

They also share Romeo, four, and Maddox, three.

The former couple got together in 2017 but split just months after Oakley’s birth.

SEOUL, Oct. 17 (UPI) — Samsung Electronics and SK hynix emerged as the biggest winners on the Seoul bourse during the third quarter, thanks to a strong semiconductor market, according to Korean consultancy CXO Institute on Friday. The two firms are the world’s top two memory chipmakers.

During the July-to-September period, the market capitalization of Samsung Electronics surged by more than $100 billion, maintaining its position as South Korea’s most valuable company. SK hynix followed with an increase of $28.5 billion.

Riding on the mounting global demand for weapons, Korea’s leading defense company, Hanwha Aerospace, ranked third with a $12 billion gain, followed by battery maker LG Energy Solution with $8.3 billion and shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean with $6.7 billion.

“During the third quarter, the South Korean stock market was bullish. In particular, sectors such as semiconductors, shipbuilding, rechargeable batteries and biopharmaceuticals did well,” CXO Institute chief Oh Il-sun told UPI.

“The biggest winners were Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. As the memory chip market remains hot, the two corporations are expected to cruise well during the remainder of this year, too,” he added.

Indeed, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix saw their share price further rise by 16.7% and 30.2% this month, respectively.

As a result, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong’s stock holdings topped $14 billion this month for the first time to solidify his status as the country’s wealthiest businessman.

He has shares in seven Samsung subsidiaries, including Samsung Electronics, Samsung C&T, Samsung SDS and Samsung Life Insurance.

Sogang University economics professor Kim Young-ick cautioned that the market may face a correction phase in the short term.

“In consideration of nominal gross domestic products, currency circulation and export data, I think that the stock market, led by Samsung Electronics, may enter a period of adjustment in the fourth quarter,” Kim said in a phone interview.

“As Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are projected to post strong results next year, however, the upward trend is likely to continue in the medium term,” he said.

Another standout performer was Hanwha Group, as two of its affiliates made the top-five list. The combined market capitalization of the conglomerate’s listed units more than tripled this year from $28.8 billion to $89.6 billion as of the end of last month.

As the figure nears $100 billion mark, Hanwha Chairman Kim Seung-youn encouraged its units to become global leaders in their respective fields.

“With the sense of responsibility that comes from being a national representative company, we must take the lead in every field,” Kim said his anniversary message to employees earlier this month.

“We are carrying out large-scale projects in various parts of the world, including North America, Europe, and the Middle East, in segments such as defense, shipbuilding and energy,” he said.

Biggest losers: Doosan Enerbility, Kakao units

In contrast, South Korea’s top heavy industry company, Doosan Enerbility, was the biggest loser, as its market capitalization fell by $2.6 billion during the third quarter, chased by online game publisher Krafton, down $2.4 billion.

Kakao Pay and Kakao Bank also languished by losing $2.2 billion and $2.1 billion, respectively, while the country’s largest contractor, Hyundai E&C, rounded out the bottom five with a $1.9 billion drop.

“In the third quarter, many companies in the construction, telecom, game, entertainment and retail sectors struggled. Oh said. “Of note is that two Kakao subsidiaries were among the underperformers.”

Once hailed as a next-generation online platform, Kakao aggressively expanded into multiple industries, but has experienced growing challenges in recent years.

Its founder Kim Beom-su, also known as Brian Kim, faces legal risks as the prosecution sought a 15-year prison term for him in late August.

Kim has been accused of being involved in the stock price manipulation of K-pop management agency SM Entertainment in 2023 to block a takeover attempt by rival company HYBE.

Kim has denied the allegations. He resigned from Kakao’s top decision-making council early this year, but remains as its largest shareholder.

The Association of the U.S. Army’s (AUSA) annual symposium has seen some notable appearances by autonomous launchers, underscoring the service’s growing interest in this class of system. On show at the event were a new Family of Multi-Mission Autonomous Vehicles (FMAV) from Oshkosh Defense, as well as Raytheon’s DeepFires. Between them, these platforms can be armed with a wide variety of offensive and defensive weapons, including Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot surface-to-air missiles.

Extreme Multi-Mission Autonomous Vehicle (X-MAV)

The FMAV series from Oshkosh Defense comprises three different truck chassis that can carry a wide variety of weapons. The three vehicles are described as being “production-ready” by the manufacturer and comprise the following:

The largest of the FMAV series, the purpose-built X-MAV is able to support long-range munitions, including a podded launcher with four Tomahawk missiles. The 10×10 wheeled chassis offers off-road mobility, as well as integrated onboard power. Oshkosh is aiming the X-MAV at the U.S. Army’s Common Autonomous Multi-Domain Launcher Heavy (CAML-H) program.

In August, the Army revealed more details of CAML-H, which aims to integrate a launcher onto a 15-ton class chassis that will fire either Tomahawk missiles or the Patriot Advanced Capability 3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) interceptor.

It is also worth noting here that the Army is already fielding the Typhon missile system, which includes tractor-trailer launchers capable of firing Tomahawks and SM-6s. Meanwhile, however, the Army has begun looking at smaller launchers that are easier to deploy as companions to Typhon, something we have reported on in the past.

Medium Multi-Mission Autonomous Vehicle (M-MAV)

The medium entrant in the family is based on the existing 6×6 Oshkosh FMTV A2. The M-MAV can be operated as an optionally crewed or fully autonomous launcher, equipped with the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) family of munitions. These munitions include the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS), Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), as well as future weapons like the Joint Reduced Range Rocket (JR3).

“M-MAV delivers advanced navigation, remote operation, and automated resupply capabilities to increase survivability, reduce crew burden, and enable dispersed, resilient fires formations,” Oshkosh said in its press release.

Light Multi-Mission Autonomous Vehicle (L-MAV)

The L-MAV is derived from the U.S. Marine Corps ROGUE-Fires and is a 4×4 autonomous carrier. It uses a modular design, so it can be rapidly configured for missions. These include counter-uncrewed aerial systems (C-UAS), electronic warfare, or resupply, for example. Examples of payloads shown at AUSA were the AeroVironment Switchblade 600 loitering munition and the Titan C-UAS.

“The Army has been clear on the need for autonomous, payload-agnostic platforms that are ready now,” said Pat Williams, chief programs officer at Oshkosh Defense, as he outlined the FMAV series. “The Oshkosh Family of Multi-Mission Autonomous Vehicles is engineered on proven tactical vehicles, with scalable autonomy and payload versatility to deliver what the Army needs today with the flexibility to adapt as the battlefield evolves.”

Raytheon DeepFires

Meanwhile, Raytheon revealed more details of its DeepFires autonomous launcher, which uses the Oshkosh FMTV A2 — the same platform employed by the middle-tier M-MAV. Raytheon has already been using the FMTV A2 platform for its DeepStrike autonomous launcher, which you can read more about here.

As for DeepFires, this has been designed for modularity, able to pivot very quickly from offensive or defensive fires. The vehicle is also designed for optionally crewed or fully autonomous operations and has already been tested.

Weapons payloads for DeepFires range from the AIM-9X Sidewinder for air defense all the way up to the Tomahawk. Raytheon has been tight-lipped about exactly how many rounds of each type of missile can be loaded on a single vehicle, although a promotional video from the company shows one of the trucks carrying two containerized Tomahawk rounds. Meanwhile, one of the DeepFires vehicles exhibited at AUSA was loaded with four Patriot missiles.

Speaking to media, including TWZ, at AUSA, Brian Burton, vice president, Precision Fires and Maneuver at Raytheon, hinted at the possibility of carrying significant numbers of smaller weapons, like the AIM-9X:

“One of the big things when we got feedback from the warfighters was more magazine depth. Not a surprise. We hear that all the time. So, this is something that we’ve been looking at from the very beginning — how do we increase that? So, it can vary, but you’re looking at a significant increase in magazine depth, and that’s obviously important to whether you’re putting additional fires down range or it’s just defending your area.”

Another key requirement that emerged from Army feedback on DeepFires was onboard vehicle power. Not only does the onboard power allow for the handling, including reloading, of missile rounds, but it also provides additional mobility, since the vehicle is not tied to a separate generator. “That was a key piece that came out of touchpoints with the customer and feedback that we incorporated, and they’re really excited about that,” Burton said.

Also built into the DeepFires concept, from the outset, is air transportability, including by the C-130 airlifter. “We wanted to put something together that could be very mobile,” Burton explained, “and [to] be able to get on that [C-130] platform gives the warfighters a lot more flexibility as to where they can get to and how quickly they can get there, and how quickly they can get out.”

The air transportability of DeepFires also helps answer broader U.S. military concerns about establishing diverse, distributed logistics chains. These are seen as an essential requirement for supporting future operations in contested environments, especially in the context of a potential future high-end conflict, including in the Pacific.

The relevance of DeepFires to the Indo-Pacific theater is something that was referenced directly by Scott Sanders, chief growth officer at Forterra, the company that provides the autonomous capabilities for the system. “The only thing more terrifying than a fleet of unmanned vehicles hiding in the Indo-PACOM somewhere is probably a B-21,” he said.

At the same time, a system such as this could be highly relevant for contingencies in the European theater, where long-range precision fires are increasingly seen as necessary to offset potential Russian aggression. In the near future, it may also be possible that Ukraine will need a launcher of this kind, should it be approved to receive Tomahawks. Ukraine has some experience in this area, having already been successful with remote Patriot launcher operations.

For autonomous operations, an operator is able to control between one to six DeepFires vehicles, depending on theater requirements. The vehicles can be controlled independently, using a route-following approach. In this mode, they will be given endpoint goals where the firing battery is required, and they will self-navigate from point A to point B.

Alternatively, Raytheon is proposing a “follower technique,” in which the first vehicle is crewed. “You can pick up a string of [uncrewed] vehicles behind you, move really quickly to your firing point, disperse via waypoint-based navigation into your firing points, and regroup,” Burton explained. In terms of command and control, DeepFires is intended to be “relatively comms agnostic,” Burton said, meaning that it can be operated using a variety of different networks and bandwidths, including via satellite link.

When asked whether DeepFires is being pitched directly at the Army’s Common Autonomous Multi-Domain Launcher (CAML) program, Burton said that Raytheon is “100 percent tracking and pursuing the CAML opportunity. They’ve seen this as an opportunity, and they are moving out quickly to get this capability into their hands.”

Since DeepFires is designed around scalability, Burton said that the launcher could be optimized for both the Medium and Heavy segments of that program: CAML-M and CAML-H.

“We can scale and, working with Oshkosh and with Forterra, bring that to a larger, heavier vehicle, if that’s what the demand and the means are for the Army,” Burton observed.

Other options for DeepFires could include the possibility of a separate autonomous launcher that would be dedicated to air defense, building upon the planned integration of the AIM-9X and Patriot on the basic platform. “Certainly, we’re looking at both,” Burton said, noting that Raytheon also provides a lot of in-house air defense capabilities, including counter-uncrewed aerial systems (C-UAS). These include the Coyote Block 2, a jet-powered drone-like loitering interceptor that the Army currently fields as part of the mobile and fixed-site versions of its Low, Slow, Unmanned Aircraft Integrated Defeat System (LIDS). 

With a growing focus on battlefield survivability in the face of drone proliferation, of the kind that’s been seen in the war in Ukraine, Raytheon says it’s considering C-UAS capabilities that are indigenous to the platform itself, or mounted on a different, dedicated platform.

The appearance of these somewhat-related autonomous launchers at AUSA points again to the U.S. military’s interest in flexible, highly mobile, very hard to target systems that offer significant reach and relevant magazine capacity, and which are optimized for future scenarios in the Indo-Pacific region.

Already, the Army has explored this concept with an uncrewed derivative of the HIMARS launcher vehicle called the Autonomous Multi-domain Launcher (AML).

Building on the prototype AML, the Army has since put out a contracting notice outlining a potential family of uncrewed launcher vehicles — the aforementioned CAML, which the Oshkosh and Raytheon options may well end up competing for.

Various kinds of autonomous launchers would be particularly relevant in future expeditionary or distributed operations, especially across the broad expanses of the Pacific during a future major conflict with China, or for trying to deter one. This is a reality that is clearly not lost on the various companies presenting systems in this class at AUSA this week.

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