To rebel is to defy. It is to understand that the world as it is can and should be better.

So it’s no surprise rebels were everywhere on our movie screens in 2025. Filmmakers in the U.S. and abroad depicted the lengths to which people will go to stand up against the bland (and at times violent) vision of conformity they see around them. It’s a theme that comes through most organically in these films’ costume designs.

In “Wicked: For Good,” for instance, Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba Thropp stands apart from the glossy superficiality of the Emerald City. Paul Tazewell, an Oscar winner earlier this year for the first “Wicked,” once again wrapped Elphaba’s defiant spirit in the very fabric of her costumes. As she fights for animal rights and defies the authority of that fraud of a Wizard, the titular witch dons dresses and capes (and, yes, even a knitted cardigan that had the internet abuzz) that ground her in that land “made of dirt and rock and loam” she sings about.

Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in “Wicked: For Good.”

(Giles Keyte / Universal Pictures)

Not that all rebels choose to stand out. In Paul Thomas Anderson’s politically urgent thriller “One Battle After Another” — costumed by four-time Oscar winner Colleen Atwood — members of the French 75 revolutionary group know better than to draw attention to themselves.

“Take Deandra [played by Regina Hall], for instance, who’s always lived off the grid,” Atwood tells The Envelope. “They have lives, but they are still somewhere on the wanted list, and some weirdo can suddenly know who they are. So they really have to blend in. They have to be not noticeable. That was a big goal with everybody’s costume in the movie, all the French 75 costumes — and Leo as well.”

That’s why DiCaprio spends much of the film in a red bathrobe, making him both incredibly hard to miss and also decidedly ordinary-looking. “Would you wear it the whole time?” Atwood remembers asking herself: “Would he get rid of it? And Paul goes, ‘Why would you take off your clothes if you’re running?’”

Leonardo DiCaprio, left, and Benicio Del Toro in “One Battle After Another.”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

Atwood’s choice to put Benicio Del Toro in a gi and a turtleneck was similarly driven by this approach: These are all people who move through the world wanting to disrupt the system without making such disruption all that conspicuous. Here we may also add the off-the-rack suits Teddy and Don (Jesse Plemons and Aiden Delbis) wear in “Bugonia” to face their kidnapped CEO; the beret-and-turtleneck-wearing revolutionary (Richard Ayoade) in “The Phoenician Scheme”; and the stylish, delightfully unbuttoned shirts Wagner Moura wears throughout “The Secret Agent.”

Not all instances of rebellion are so obviously political. Take Harry Lighton’s deliciously kinky dom-com “Pillion,” which finds shy young Colin (Harry Melling) entering into a BDSM relationship with an enigmatic biker called Ray (Alexander Skarsgård).

“Ray’s an anomaly; he’s the rebel, you can’t place him,” costume designer Grace Snell says. When we first meet him, he is wearing a striking white leather biking outfit: “I wanted him to be like a light at night on this bike and a shiny toy for Colin.”

Harry Melling, left, and Alexander Skarsgård in “Pillion.”

(Festival de Cannes)

The leather and kink gear that Skarsgård, Melling and the rest of the “Pillion” cast wear allowed Snell to give audiences the Tom of Finland fantasy Lighton’s film clearly demands. Yet the film is about a quieter rebellion.

“Colin’s kind of testing his boundaries and understanding who he is as a gay man, and exploring what that means for him,” Snell says. It’s why he spends much of the film in uniform, as a traffic warden, as a member of a barbershop quartet, and later as the new member of Ray’s biker gang.

“Pillion” is about self-fashioning at its most elemental: how gear and uniforms, roles and positions, can help you bloom into yourself; how in losing yourself in another you can find who you want to be.

Blending such a lesson in ways political and personal is Bill Condon’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” also costumed by Atwood. The musical is framed by the tension between Valentin (Diego Luna), a righteous revolutionary, and Molina (Tonatiuh), a gay hairdresser, who share a prison cell under Argentina’s military regime.

Diego Luna and Jennifer Lopez in “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”

(Roadside Attractions)

Along with designer Christine L. Cantella, Atwood aimed to honor the history the film was depicting and the message it embodies. “Not only is it set in a revolutionary time, but it’s also about two people opening each other’s eyes to the world,” Atwood says, “in a way that is such a great message for today.”

Atwood and Cantella had to balance the dingy reality of the prison — where Molina finds modest beauty in his silk robes — and the movie musical he loses himself in — where Jennifer Lopez’s Aurora is dressed like a silver-screen siren throughout. Lopez’s big number, where she dons an ode to the all-white ensemble Chita Rivera wore in the original Broadway show, including a fedora to match, is all about the lure of escapist Hollywood fantasy: “Turn off the lights and turn on your mind,” she sings.

As the ending of the musical attests, there may be a way to do both, to be politically engaged and still enjoy the beauty of the world around you. For, as these varied films attest, a rebel doesn’t just voice their discontent at the status quo. They wear it proudly.

Reporting from Sacramento — Gov. Gavin Newsom’s lifelong struggle with dyslexia makes his proposal to screen little kids for developmental disorders a personal mission.

California’s new governor wasn’t diagnosed with the reading disability until he was in the fifth grade.

“I got screened late,” Newsom, 51, told me. “I bounced around to five schools in seven years because I didn’t get the support. My mom kept trying different schools, looking for support. Back then, they didn’t know what this stuff was.

“I’d fallen behind, literally behind, and when that happens you tend to act accordingly. Finally someone diagnosed it. That allowed me to get support and self-confidence.”

Whatever guidance young Newsom got obviously worked. He graduated from Santa Clara University, created a successful wine and hospitality business, was twice elected San Francisco mayor, became lieutenant governor and then California’s 40^th governor.

Anyone who watched Newsom’s recent inaugural speech on the Capitol steps saw him reading flawlessly off the teleprompter. He didn’t miss a beat even when his 2-year-old son, Dutch, leaped into his arms and stayed there.

In his $209-billion state budget proposal, Newsom asked the Legislature for roughly $100 million to fund developmental and health screenings for infants and toddlers in low-income families.

That’s a little-noticed slice of Newsom’s $1.8-billion proposed package of programs aimed at expanding early education and childcare for the poor.

More from George Skelton »

I asked the governor if the developmental screenings were inspired by his struggles with dyslexia.

“Deeply so — 100%,” he replied. “It’s very personal for me.

“If you get those screens early, you can not only change a person’s life, you can save taxpayers a lot in the process.”

That’s because certain developmental disorders can lead to serious medical ailments that often require tax dollars to treat. At worst, they can lead to criminal behavior.

“I found out [about dyslexia] when I was in the fifth grade,” Newsom says. “My mother struggled with whether to tell me about it. She didn’t want me to have an excuse. She wanted me to work hard.”

Newsom says at least one — maybe two — of his four children has dyslexia.

“It is deeply painful not just for the kids, but for the parents watching them struggle,” he says.

“Unless you get the screening, the rest of your life you struggle.” But with trained help, a child can work around the disorder, he adds, and “later in life you find other strengths.”

The biggest chunk of Newsom’s package to help kids from poor families — and their parents — is his proposal to offer all-day kindergarten. Now, 22% of school districts provide only part-day kindergarten, a costly burden on working parents who must pay for expensive childcare after school.

Newsom also wants to provide full-day pre-kindergarten for all 4-year-olds from low-income families. He’d like to eventually include 3-year-olds.

Coverage of California politics »

“Most of the brain development work is done by the time you’re 4,” the governor says. “Getting 3-year-olds in [class] is the game-changer.”

OK, that’s a great idea. But why not provide pre-kindergarten classes for all kids, regardless of family income? The middle class gets shunted aside again.

There’s a reason why Social Security and Medicare — and K-12 public schools — are so popular everywhere. They’re not means tested. No one is rejected because of income.

Newsom asked the Legislature for $10 million to draw “a road map” to universal pre-kindergarten for every 3- and 4-year-old, regardless of family income. But liberal lawmakers would need to be persuaded to provide preschool for the upper middle class and wealthy.

“The consensus in the Legislature is that it’s not our goal to serve kids whose parents have the means to afford their own,” Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) told me last month.

But full-time day care is unaffordable for many middle-class parents. It costs as much or more than tuition at the University of California — $1,000 a month and up.

The governor and legislators say there isn’t enough money for universal pre-kindergarten, not even with a projected budget surplus of around $21 billion.

“And even if we had all the resources in the world,” Newsom says, “we’re not prepared to spend that appropriately. We couldn’t even lease the facilities, couldn’t train the workforce. It’s not just about access. It’s about quality access.”

Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), who chairs the budget subcommittee on education finance, says it would cost $4 billion annually to include all 4-year-olds in pre-kindergarten. He has introduced legislation to cover poor children. He estimates that would cost $1.5 billion.

“I’d like nothing more than to afford it for all kids,” McCarty says. “But we have other priorities. We can start with the families who need it the most — where we get the biggest bang for the buck.

“Upper-middle-class families will pay for it on their own. And some of the middle-class families will just miss out.”

Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Holly J. Mitchell (D-Los Angeles), who once ran one of the largest child development organizations in the country, Crystal Stairs, says, “If I had a magic wand, I absolutely would” provide early childhood education for everyone. “But we don’t even have enough money to pay for the lowest-income kids.”

Somehow they’ll find enough money for the poor kids and should — and make sure they’re screened for developmental disorders.

Famous people, including Steven Spielberg, Walt Disney, Leonardo da Vinci, Tom Cruise and Albert Einstein, have battled dyslexia.

California’s governor is the latest role model for youngsters struggling with the affliction.

george.skelton@latimes.com

Follow @LATimesSkelton on Twitter

Two former USC football players and another man pleaded guilty to lesser charges Tuesday and were sentenced to 15 years in prison for a series of robberies and beatings last April.

Superior Court Judge David Perez accepted the plea-bargain offered by Danette Meyers, a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney.

The players, Howard McCowan, 19, of Carson and Marcel Brown, 20, of San Diego, were redshirt freshmen last year and expected to play pivotal roles in USC’s football program. Brown’s childhood friend, Garylan Coleman, 19, of San Diego, also was sentenced.

The plea-bargains were accepted shortly before the jury trial was to begin in Santa Monica Municipal Court. The compromise involved reducing a kidnapping charge, which carries a life sentence, to simple kidnapping, a felony with a 15-year maximum.

The defendants also were charged with assault and robbery for incidents April 23 in which Donald Christal, James Van Adler, Norm St. Landau and Lester Lawless were attacked and robbed in Westwood and Redondo Beach. In most of the attacks, the victims’ automatic teller machine cards were taken.

Brown and Coleman, who were charged with the kidnapping, are also being tried in San Diego on assault and robbery charges. McCowan had no other arrests.

If convicted by the jury, they might have received 20 years in state prison, said Michael Brush, McCowan’s lawyer.

In accepting the reduced sentence, Brown broke down in court, telling Perez, “We’re not murders or nothing. (We get) just a couple of minutes to decide on 15 years.”

Brown and Coleman, who was planning to play baseball at Southwestern College in Chula Vista before his arrest, were ready to accept the deal Monday. McCowan balked because the prosecution’s case against him was not as strong as those against the others.

But McCowan changed his mind after Perez ruled Monday that written confessions by Brown and Coleman could be used as evidence by the prosecution.

McCowan is a former standout at Carson High, walked over to his mother, Thelma, who was sitting nearby. He gave her his dark blue blazer, tie, dress shirt and dress shoes. He hugged her, his sister and a friend before returning to enter a guilty plea.

He and the others could be paroled within six or seven years, Brush said.

Thelma McCowan blamed USC officials for her son’s fate, saying that Howard had asked to move away from Brown, but was told he had to stay in the dormitory.

“I know the boys are 19 years old and are considered grown, but they’re not grown,” she said.

“They don’t need baby-sitters following them around, but they do need a little attention and advice once in a while.

“When they come and ask to move, someone should come and ask them why, what’s wrong. But they don’t do that.”

William E. Davis III, Brown’s lawyer, said USC offered no support for the players once they were arrested. Davis, the brother of Anthony Davis, a former USC star running back, said he represented athletes in the past. He said he took the case because Brown had no family support and the school was not willing to do anything.

Israel has carried out the biggest land grab in the occupied West Bank since the signing of the Oslo Accords more than three decades ago.

Its right-wing government has accelerated the confiscation of Palestinian land to build new settlements, which are illegal under international law.

At the same time, Israeli settler attacks are increasing and intensifying.

For many Palestinians, this means all hopes of peace are dashed and, with them, the prospects of an independent state.

So what are Israel’s plans in the West Bank? And what are the implications of its policies?

Presenter:

Dareen Abughaida

Guests:

Xavier Abu Eid – political analyst and former adviser to the PLO negotiation team

Daniel Levy – president of the US/Middle East Project and a former Israeli negotiator

Yariv Oppenheimer – Israeli human rights activist and board member of the Peace Now advocacy group

Comments come days after PM Kamil Idris presented a plan to end the country’s nearly three-year war.

A senior official in Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC) has ruled out any negotiations with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as fighting continues to devastate the country.

“There is no truce and no negotiation with an occupier, and that the just peace that Sudan desires will be achieved through the roadmap and vision of its people and government,” Malik Agar Ayyir, deputy chairman of TSC, said in a statement on Thursday posted by the Ministry of Culture, Media and Tourism.

Speaking to ministers and state officials in Port Sudan, the eastern city where the government is based, he dismissed the narrative that the war is aimed at achieving “democracy”. Instead, he described the war as a “conflict over resources and a desire to change Sudan’s demographics” and emphasised an opportunity to strengthen national unity.

This comes days after Sudan’s Prime Minister Kamil Idris presented a plan to end the country’s nearly three-year war before the United Nations Security Council.

Consistent with the Sudanese army and the government’s position, the plan stipulates that RSF fighters must withdraw from vast areas of land that they have taken by force in the western and central parts of Sudan.

They would then have to be placed in camps and disarmed, before those who are not implicated in war crimes can be reintegrated into society.

The RSF has repeatedly rejected the idea of giving up territory, with Al-Basha Tibiq, a top adviser to commander Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, describing it as “closer to fantasy than to politics”.

RSF reports gains

The war, which has forcibly displaced about 14 million people, shows no signs of stopping as the RSF consolidates its hold over captured territory and expands attacks.

RSF fighters have continued to commit mass killings, systematic sexual violence, and the burying and burning of bodies in Darfur to cover up the evidence of war crimes over the past several months, according to international aid agencies working on the ground.

The humanitarian situation on the ground has only turned more disastrous after the capture of el-Fasher, capital of North Darfur state, in October.

The RSF announced on Thursday that its forces established control over the Abu Qumra region in North Darfur.

They “have continued their successful advancement to the Um Buru area, where they have completely liberated these areas”, the group claimed in a statement.

Despite the mounting evidence of widespread atrocities committed in western Sudan, the RSF claimed that the primary duty of its fighters is to “protect civilians and end the presence of remnants of armed pockets and mercenary movements”.

The group also released footage of its armed fighters, who claimed they were making advances towards el-Obeid, a strategic city in North Kordofan state.

From a design shop in Valencia with “murderous” dolls to a studio in Dublin to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, our photographers have been everywhere this year. They’ve captured key figures in the worlds of music, film and television in somber moments, moments of levity and everything in between. They share behind-the-scenes anecdotes about the shoots and reveal how they got “the” shot.

Britt Lower, Adam Scott and Dichen Lachman (above)

By Jason Armond in Los Angeles

When I received this assignment, my goal was to create a photo that not only mirrored the show’s dystopian surrealness but also captured the intricate relationship triangle between Britt Lower, Adam Scott and Dichen Lachman’s characters.

Initially, it took a little time for everyone on set to see my vision, but once I shared a test image, everyone understood and was excited to collaborate. The entire shoot lasted around eight minutes, but that brief window was all we needed.

After publication, the images quickly went viral. Many viewers assumed the photos were AI-generated or composited, but every detail was achieved in camera.

At the end of the shoot, someone from Lower’s team accidentally stepped on the mirror, shattering it. Someone joked about bad luck, but thankfully, this superstition did not come true, and a few months later, Lower won the lead actress in a drama series Emmy for her role in “Severance.”

Richard Kind

By Christina House at Sunset Gower Studios in Hollywood

Richard is one of a kind — no pun intended. He was singing and joking with us, telling stories. We were set up outside under the beating sun and he was wearing a vest with a wool coat, so we were trying to work quickly! I always love seeing behind the scenes of how films are made. I decided to pull back and include the lights and my assistant Jonathan’s hands to give it that working set feel.

Cynthia Erivo

By Jason Armond in Los Angeles

Cynthia Erivo’s portrait session took place in a studio near Beverly Hills, where she had recently finished recording her latest album. My initial plan was to photograph her seated beside a vintage piano, but she had a different vision. This is why I always prepare at least three setup options for entertainment portraits. I quickly adapted and moved to my next setup, which featured a striking geometric wooden wall in the studio. As I adjusted the lighting, I noticed her stunning wardrobe with two waist-high slits that revealed her tattoos. At that moment, I understood her preference for standing, as it allowed her to express her style and personality fully. I adjusted the lighting to complement Erivo’s sultry and confident presence. Her choice to stand brought a dynamic quality to the image. The resulting image speaks for itself; Erivo brought the scene to life and needed almost no direction. I simply pressed the camera’s shutter button.

Bella Ramsey

By Bexx Francois at the London in West Hollywood

Rather than chasing an expression, I was interested in stillness and repetition; how a simple gesture could feel amplified when echoed across a frame. I wanted Bella’s profile to be both the anchor and the rhythm of the image. She was immediately open to leaning into something more abstract. It was a real-time compositional gamble, guided by instinct and trust. We made several variations, but it was her side profile that ultimately struck the strongest balance between classic portraiture and interpretation.

Lee Jung-jae and Hwang Dong-hyuk

By Justin Jun Lee at the “Squid Game Experience” in New York

From the moment I walked in, I felt completely immersed in the design of the space. It truly felt like I was stepping onto an actual film set from one of the “Squid Game” challenges. The iconic giant doll Young-hee from the “Red Light, Green Light” game immediately stood out to me. My goal was for the images to carry a sense of tension and intensity that mirrors the tone of the show, and I believe that came through in the mood, expressions and presence of both Lee Jung-jae and Hwang Dong-hyuk.

Yungblud

By Hon Wing Chiu at the Hollywood Palladium

(Hon Wing Chiu / For The Times)

I was limited to photographing only the first three songs at the Hollywood Palladium, so I chose to shoot two songs up close and save the last one for a gamble from the back of the crowd. Most of the time I could barely see past the fans, but I hoped the final song would give me something unexpected.

When Yungblud hit the stage, the whole room exploded. The lights were changing every second, and he never stopped moving — running, jumping, connecting with the crowd like the stage could barely contain him. The fans were screaming, reaching, completely locked into the moment. I captured what I could up front, then switched lenses and waited for one last chance.

During that final song, everything suddenly came together. Yungblud stepped right to the very edge of the stage, almost close enough for the fans to touch him. Their hands shot into the air, trying to reach him, and he threw his arm upward with full force, like he was lifting the whole room with him. For a split second, the lights, the crowd and his energy aligned perfectly. I hit the shutter, hoping I caught it.

It wasn’t the peak of the entire concert, but it was the peak of the moment I was allowed to shoot — and it became the image I had been chasing all night.

Olivia Cooke and Robin Wright

By Jennifer McCord in London

I’d only seen the trailer for “The Girlfriend” at the time of the shoot but knew I wanted something that contained the idea of untrustworthy narrators that seemed to be threaded throughout.

Paul Thomas Anderson

By Christina House at the Aster in Hollywood

I had been made aware that PTA does not love being photographed. I had worked with him once before so I knew he was really nice but a bit camera shy. When he finished up his interview with columnist Glenn Whipp, he came to meet me in the neighboring hotel room where I had a chair positioned next to a window. I shared my idea on framing the image; I was shooting it from the bedroom closet to give some depth and he liked it. We took a few frames, talked about our dogs (his dog is trained to bring him his L.A. Times newspaper every morning) and he apologized for being difficult on his way out, to which I immediately replied that he was the complete opposite of that.

Fernanda Torres (‘I’m Still Here’)

By Annie Noelker in Los Angeles

I remember her just being so classy, elegant and lovely. Her whole team was so kind and we shot out on the balcony of the hotel room for maybe 10 minutes. It was effortless and such a satisfying collaborative experience.

Adrien Morot, Kathy Tse and M3GAN dolls

By Carlin Stiehl in Valencia

It’s always a treat when you step into the creative world of a mastermind, especially when it comes to the magic behind our favorite films. You might expect that seeing the process up close would spoil the mystique, like a magician revealing their tricks, but in the case of Adrien and Kathy, it only deepened the sense of wonder. The “M3GAN” dolls were so lifelike, and the real sell wasn’t their eyes that draw you in, but the skin. The dolls’ lifelike texture and softness, and the rows of faces on worktables waiting to be painted, created a diabolical scene out of a skin-harvesting, flesh-mask horror film. Yet the insanity was where the true genius hid, because in many ways, I could believe it was real. Hence, the inspiration for the photo: a take on the quintessential family-style portrait — the ones you kind of cringe at when you walk into someone’s home, radiating manufactured happiness. The dolls were like their children so I thought, let’s get the kids together with Mom and Dad and show how beautiful their doted-on children are for our guests.

Saagar Shaikh and Asif Ali

By Bexx Francois on the Disney Studios lot in Burbank

I came in with a loose mood board, a few traditional pose ideas alongside some comedic “scenarios” that had a 50/50 chance of making it to my memory cards. Their Hulu series “Deli Boys” was a comedy after all, maybe they’d be down to lean into play. When Saagar and Asif arrived, I showed them my wish list. Instant cosign. Once we nailed the first “scenario,” pure improv took over, with Asif and Sagaar seamlessly falling into the mock-conflict of their on-screen characters; hence, Asif being hoisted 3 feet in the air. By the time we called wrap, everyone was in tears.

Dan Brown

By Cheryl Senter in Rye Beach, N.H.

Two things: I always follow my gut and never wear pink. A few days before the assignment I had this gut feeling that I wanted a portrait of the bestselling author with a wall of mirrors. The day of the assignment I decided to wear a hot pink shirt I had picked up at a thrift store instead of my black-on-black attire. At Dan’s house I spent an hour with his assistant scoping out a few locations — no wall of mirrors. Before I left I asked Dan if he had a wall of mirrors. Dan smiled and led me to a very tiny circular bathroom that had a tall, curved pocket door made of copper. It was a tight space with the door shut. My pink shirt came in handy. I could easily see if I was in any of the mirrors. At one point Dan looked at me and started laughing as I tried to make myself wafer thin. Then I started laughing. Dan’s assistant waiting outside asked softly, “Is everything OK?”

Penn Badgley

By Matt Seidel in Los Angeles

This was a classic celebrity shoot: Our scheduled 30 minutes collapsed into seven so we had to move fast. I shook Penn’s hand and told him I had two goals: Get the shot and get him back on schedule. There was no time to over-direct so I gave him one piece of character direction and let him run. I didn’t want Joe Goldberg from the TV series “You.” I didn’t want Penn Badgley, sexy serial killer. I wanted the real Penn Badgley saying goodbye, closing a chapter, integrating the shadow of the role and stepping into the light of what’s next.

Spike Lee

By Victoria Will in New York

Nothing says Brooklyn like Spike Lee, so it made sense to photograph him where he is most recognized, in Fort Greene near his well-known office. The relationship between Spike and Brooklyn is longstanding and reciprocal, shaped by history, presence and place. That familiarity was evident as nearly every pedestrian waved or said hello, many greeting him like an old friend. And there wasn’t one person that he did not acknowledge. True class.

Sombr

By Evelyn Freja at Pier 17 in New York

The photo was taken on an empty construction floor of the pier where he had a concert that night. I remember it was a very quick session right before he went on because he had gotten a cold and was trying to save his energy to perform. Despite his health, he (and his entire team) was so kind and gracious, which made the shoot go easy. I decided to light the warehouse with a red light to lend the energy of his music to this shoot and a very moody light for Sombr to reflect the ambience of his songs.

Elle Fanning

By Christina House at the Toronto International Film Festival

I had photographed Elle a few years back. She’s a sweetheart and so good at posing so she doesn’t need a lot of direction. For this particular photo, it was taken at our portrait studio at the Toronto International Film Festival. It’s a fast-paced flow of folks coming in and out for portraits, an organized chaos at times, but you would never know that by the calm on her face. She’s a pro.

Lena Dunham and Megan Stalter

By the Tyler Twins in New York

The playlist was ‘90s (Alanis Morissette, the Cranberries, Jewel), and the vibe was easy and celebratory. Megan and Lena have a genuine chemistry and were both very relaxed in front of the camera. Our shared ties to Ohio made for good conversation. It truly felt like we were shooting friends.

Domhnall Gleeson

Jennifer McCord in Dublin

This was shot in a studio in Dublin (studio shoots for assignments always feel super rare!) with just me, Domhnall and his makeup artist Lucy. We played the latest Fontaines D.C. album and the shoot was super chill and lovely. I’m always appreciative when an actor is up for being collaborative and trying different things — this was one of the last shots we took. The rest of the images feel quite energetic, so it was nice to also get this more intimate-feeling frame at the end.

Karol G

By Bexx Francois in El Segundo

When time with an artist is limited, anxiety threatens to grab the wheel. But once Karol G walked on set, everything went quiet. And delicate. She had such a kindness about her. And an effortless beauty. I was inspired by classic Irving Penn; using walls to guide the eyes toward the center. We used a V-flat as our “set.” Even with a wind blower only 6 feet away throwing gusts of drama in her direction, Karol remained in command of her space and performance. And still connected where and how needed — with piercing intention.

Benson Boone and Brian May

By Allen J. Schaben at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival

Shooting Benson Boone’s trademark leaping acrobatics at his Coachella debut this year gave me the chance to bridge the gap between musical generations. The performance of “Bohemian Rhapsody” was made even more significant by the presence of Queen’s legendary guitarist, Brian May. My challenge was positioning myself to capture the moment while navigating a sea of spectators’ heads, hands, arms and cellphones. I dropped to a low angle to create a fan’s perspective, capture the height of his leap and ensure both artists were in the frame. Then it happened — somewhere between a cymbal crash and a guitar wail. Boone sprinted onto the piano and launched into the air above May, and in a split second, it was over. Moments like this are what make my job rewarding, and this performance by Boone and May will live on as a legendary one in my memory.

Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Mike Leigh (‘Hard Truths’)

By Christina House at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica

Marianne and Mike had such lovely chemistry together. They were chatty so I thought I’d give them an action to follow and this is where we landed. This was taken in a hotel boardroom with a seamless backdrop.

Mariska Hargitay

By Victoria Will in New York

I’ve had the good fortune of photographing Mariska Hargitay many times over the years, which brings a level of trust and collaboration. She gives both generously. On this occasion, she was as she always is: grounded, confident and present, with an easy sense of humor.

Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites of the Lumineers

By Robert Gauthier at the Sunset Marquis in West Hollywood

The Lumineers was a memorable shoot for me. To make this photo I crawled into a thicket of ferns at the Sunset Marquis Hotel. As I crouched behind a rippling fountain, stretching and contorting my body to attain the correct angle, I began to wonder, “Do the Lumineers think I’m some kind of a lunatic?”

Luis Guzmán, Jenna Ortega and Catherine Zeta-Jones

By Jennifer McCord in London

I’m such a big fan of “Wednesday” as a show and of all three of these actors, so this was truly a joy. As always with these assignments, we had limited time but thankfully we were shooting at the wonderful Raffles in London and Luis, Catherine and Jenna were so wonderful.

Mark Hoppus of Blink-182

By Robert Gauthier in Los Angeles

Mark Hoppus’ home is a photographer’s dream. A Midcentury Modern with interesting angles, surfaces, colors and light. He was patient and willing to pose wherever I found inspiration. We settled on a few places, including beneath a skylight that streamed natural light into a hallway. It’s a simple image. One might say it was just another one of all the small things.

Stephen Graham

By Sophia Spring in London

This was shot in a little makeshift studio I set up in a boardroom at Netflix HQ in London. We were capturing these portraits of Stephen ahead of the release of “Adolescence.” At the time all I knew about the show was the vague story outline of Stephen’s character as the father of a boy arrested for murder, and so I was keen that the portraits channel the visceral and complex tone of the show. After a quick hello I explained to Stephen what I was after, and for the next 20 minutes he proved why he is the world-class actor we know him as — he brought such an intensity and commitment to our short shoot. I was thrilled to see his well-deserved Emmy win a few months later.

True Whitaker

By Christina House at the London Hotel in West Hollywood

True is a warm and friendly human. She greeted me and my assistant with a hug. I could tell she was feeling a little under the weather that day but she didn’t ask for any special treatment, and kindly and happily took direction. It was a pleasure to meet the “I Love LA” star. I used window light to keep a soft yet moody feel.

Jessie Murph

By Annie Noelker in Los Angeles

We shot Jessie at NeueHouse Venice Beach (rest in peace) and there was this skylight in the backroom, where the sun cast this magnificent glow. The time of day was just perfect and oh so lucky. I had Jessie stand in the glow and look up, with just a little reflector under her chin and we captured this beautiful, still moment of reflection and calm before the insane year the singer-songwriter has had.

Danielle Brooks

By Bexx Francois in Los Angeles

I had just flown in from New York, where only days earlier I was sitting in a movie theater with my nephews, ages 6 and 11, watching “Minecraft” and enjoying their faces light up from the screen. In 2022, I saw Danielle Brooks in the Broadway revival of “The Piano Lesson,” a performance that had me on my feet in applause. And now my nephews were being introduced to her talent in a different context. When the assignment to photograph the actress landed in my inbox soon after, it was an instant yes. Unbeknownst to her, I was quietly geeking out behind the camera. I wanted to capture her in the same bliss she gave my nephews in that theater together.

Laverne Cox and George Wallace

By the Tyler Twins in New York

Laverne Cox arrived fully prepared in vintage Thierry Mugler. We bonded over a shared love of fashion history; she’s an expert! George Wallace, her onscreen father in the Prime Video comedy “Clean Slate,” brought a warmth that was easy to capture. Their father-daughter dynamic unfolded naturally, with Laverne playfully striking poses around him.

Tonatiuh

By Christina House at Hollenbeck Park in Los Angeles

This was a meaningful place for him since he grew up in the area. He seemed at ease and I sensed it felt good to return to a place he called home during what I can imagine is a very busy and surreal time for him — promoting the movie “Kiss of the Spider Woman” with Jennifer Lopez. Grounding yourself is so important. There’s a pond at the center of the park. We headed in that direction and made a few frames with this beautiful, natural sunlight. He mentioned that the scar on the left side of his face is not something he is ashamed of so he was comfortable being photographed on that side.

Laurence Fishburne

By Jason Armond in Los Angeles

When I photographed Laurence Fishburne for his role in the spy thriller “The Amateur,” I approached the session with a storyteller’s mindset. Even in my celebrity portraiture, I aim to capture a narrative. For this shoot, I chose dramatic lighting to reflect the suspenseful tone of the film. Fishburne had recently suffered a broken toe, so he needed to remain seated throughout most of the session. What could have been a limitation became a creative opportunity. I concentrated on close-up portraits, letting Fishburne’s intense expressions and moments of exuberant laughter bring the images to life.

Fujii Kaze

By Jason Armond in El Segundo

During awards season, I photograph many celebrities each week, which challenges me to find new and creative approaches for every session. For me, the key to transforming the ordinary into something extraordinary is always staying open to inspiration wherever it appears. My shoot with J-pop star Fujii Kaze at the L.A. Times offices embodied this idea. On my way to the studio, I noticed a stack of black chairs in the hallway and instantly recognized their potential. Those unassuming chairs became the backdrop for a striking, environmental portrait. Following my instincts allowed me to create something truly unique.

Michael Koman and Greg Daniels

By Jason Armond in El Segundo

When I was assigned to photograph Michael Koman and Greg Daniels, the creators of “The Paper,” I knew I wanted the images to capture the quirkiness of their show. Early on, I decided to build a set entirely out of newspapers. Since our shoot was at the L.A. Times offices, I gathered piles of old papers and envisioned Michael and Greg in a flurry of pages, an energetic and playful nod to their show’s spirit. The idea worked beautifully.

After the session, I led Koman and Daniels on a brief tour of the newsroom. Daniels eagerly asked about every detail of the newsroom’s daily operations and how each area was used. His sincere curiosity stood out, revealing his dedication to his craft.

Before Koman and Daniels left, I jokingly offered my services as a show consultant. I have yet to receive a callback, so for now, I am more than happy to continue my work at the L.A. Times.

Billy Crudup

By Bexx Francois in Los Angeles

We arrived at the Netflix offices and started making our way to our shoot location. Out the corner of my eye, I noticed this teddy bear chair in one of the waiting rooms we were passing by. Its design was charismatic and made me smile. I instantly requested it be brought to set. We tried one to two traditional chairs in its stead before committing to its playfulness. If it made us smile during test shots, hopefully it would do the same once “Jay Kelly” star Billy Crudup arrived on set. And indeed, it did. We spent the most time joking and capturing candid moments with Billy comfortably leaning into that furry hug. It produced one of my favorite photos from our time together.

Cyndi Lauper

By Larsen&Talbert at Jack Studios in New York

From the very beginning, it felt more like a collaboration than an assignment.

Once we knew what she’d be wearing, we gathered around the rolls of seamless paper together, weighing color options like painters choosing a palette. Blue immediately stood out. We agreed, started setting up and everything was moving smoothly — until a few minutes later when Cyndi Lauper came running back into the room.

“We can’t do blue!” she said, laughing. “My hair is blue today.”

She was absolutely right.

Without hesitation, we pivoted to our second choice: orange. Against her blue hair and bold, pink doll-head suit, the orange backdrop crackled with energy — it was perfect.

Some subjects need a lot of coaxing and direction. Not Cyndi. She knows exactly how to move, how to hold a pose and how to communicate with a camera. She doesn’t wait to be told what to do — she gives you something. Our job was simply to stay sharp and ready, capturing whatever magic she sent our way.

It was effortless, intuitive and joyful — the kind of shoot that reminds you why collaboration matters, and why icons become icons in the first place.

Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme

By Dutch Doscher at Blonde Studios in New York

When I got the assignment, I was immediately excited and had this image in my head of placing them inside a colorful candy cane circus. I had no idea how I was going to pull that off until Broderson Backdrops came through with the perfect 25-by-25-foot backdrop. I showed the idea to their publicist and got an immediate, enthusiastic yes. From there, the gold outfits came into focus and everything started to click.

They were incredibly easygoing and completely comfortable playing to the camera. You can sometimes wonder if a duo like that is more of a work relationship, but once you’re in the room with them, it’s clear it’s a deep friendship. That connection made the shoot feel effortless, and I think that’s what ultimately comes through in the photograph.

While the plentiful bars, restaurants and casinos will keep you occupied late into the night in Las Vegas – there is a new must-see attraction in town: The Las Vegas Sphere

Las Vegas was never short of things to see and do, but in the last couple of years, a new must-visit has emerged to dominate Sin City’s skyline.

Opening in September 2023 with a residency from Irish rockers U2, the Sphere is one of the world’s strangest and most original entertainment venues. As well as now being one of the most in-demand concert stages in the world, the Sphere also acts as a fully immersive, 360-degree cinema.

I watched the 1930s classic, The Wizard of Oz, originally shot for a 4:3 movie screen, transporting its audience back in time and making them feel like they are travelling down the Yellow Brick Road alongside Dorothy and friends.

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The original film’s score was re-recorded with new clarity, capitalising on the Sphere’s ability to direct sound anywhere in the venue. More than 2,000 people worked for over two years to bring the reimagined version to life, giving this classic piece of cinema the most modern feel imaginable.

Despite having seen clips online from inside the Sphere, I was taken aback by the 360-degree nature. Looking directly above your head to follow a movie as well as the screen in front of you feels somewhat odd.

The Sphere’s 160,000 square-foot (1,4864 sq-m) interior display plane is the world’s highest-resolution LED screen. But even more unusual is the 4D nature of the venue, with the visual effects just part of the Sphere experience.

If you’ve managed to miss the Wizard of Oz for the last 86 years, spoiler alert, a tornado causes young Dorothy to be knocked unconscious, which is when her journey to the Emerald City begins. While the tornado happens on the screen in front of you, winds blow through the Sphere while leaves fall onto your lap.

Fog fills the air thanks to 20 units while flying butterflies in Munchkinland and giant winged monkeys soar over the audience at other points during the film. More than 500 apples rain down on the audience from 33 hatches in the ceiling, or from trees if you don’t want to ruin the illusion, while 38 snow machines come into their own during the poppy field scene.

While the show was enjoyable and the technology on display is impressive, I’d like to see a concert at the venue rather than a movie, as I think that is when it would really come into its own.

From the outside, the Sphere is unmistakable. It dominates the Strip, particularly in the evening when it lights up the night sky. Companies pay millions to advertise on its exterior, while it played highlights of the Las Vegas Grand Prix during the race in November.

When Max Verstappen crossed the line to win and keep his title hopes alive, the Sphere transformed into a giant chequered flag fluttering as he took the acclaim of thousands of race fans that had descended on Sin City.

Henry Gabriel Cisneros walks briskly across a 200-acre lot that was once a wooded area infested with rattlesnakes and a few aspiring arsonists. On this blustery afternoon in San Antonio, the wind howls across the freshly razed plain as he heads for a large white tent. Time has not softened his unmistakable oval face and elongated nose. But, at 54, his skin has taken on an ashy hue, and a new wave of gray strands has made its debut in his thinning black hair–helped along, no doubt, by federal prosecutors and the FBI.

Inside the tent, 300 real estate agents stand around buffet tables, primed to see Cisneros. They want to hear how American City Vista, Cisneros’ new low-income housing development company, intends to save this section of south San Antonio.

It’s an exciting project, yet it doesn’t account for the anticipation buzzing through this crowd. No, for that you’ve got to look to Cisneros himself, to the man who rose to national prominence as the mayor of this city and who has returned to Texas after nine years in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. The locals are eager to lay eyes again on the hometown boy who has come back to his roots.

Cisneros ducks into the tent and takes the microphone. He explains that the 600 homes in this new development will be shaded by maple trees, bordered by jogging paths and wired with high-speed Internet lines. “We’ll fix it here in south San Antonio, and we’ll make it right,” he says, sounding an awful lot like a man launching a campaign. He finishes to a standing ovation. Smiles all around. Henry Cisneros, it seems, is back.

Or is he?

When Cisneros returned to San Antonio last year, leaving his lucrative job as chief operating officer at Univision, the country’s largest Spanish-language television network, Democrats around the country salivated at the prospect of his returning to political life. Cisneros, they thought, had finally overcome the “other woman” scandal whose seeds–planted when he was San Antonio mayor–sprouted ignominiously in Washington when Cisneros accepted a Clinton administration Cabinet post in 1992. FBI agents conducting a background check after his nomination had asked Cisneros how much financial support he was providing to her. He lied. From there, the investigation grew, and Cisneros left the capital after one term.

That was four years ago–eons on the political calendar. American politics today requires complete shamelessness. Elected officials breezily put their mistakes behind them and move ahead.

But not Cisneros, and that’s the point. In 2001, Cisneros is the man who would not be king. He says he returned to San Antonio not as a Democrat running for office, but because he liked the security of his hometown, a city where Latinos still hang portraits of him in their living rooms, where he is known simply as Henry. He also says he returned because his ailing parents drew him back, and he mentions the death of his father-in-law last year.

But Cisneros came home to heal. He remains hunkered down, a Roman Catholic trying to forgive himself for behavior he believes has wrought permanent damage on his family, and others. Cisneros isn’t now–and maybe never will be–ready to put himself or his family through the public strip search required of a national candidate.

*

WE ARE SITTING IN THE SUNNY CONFERENCE ROOM OF AMERICAN CITY Vista, an office that occupies one floor of a three-story brick building in downtown San Antonio. Cisneros, dressed in a starched white shirt and dark suit pants, crosses his lanky legs at the ankles. They move like grasshopper limbs.

We have spoken at length about his past and politics, and the conversation has turned to Bill Clinton–his friend and former boss. Cisneros volunteers a story from the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr had just “won a round of some kind” against Clinton in his 1998 investigation into the president’s affair with the White House intern. Cisneros was working in Los Angeles at the time, and he watched on television as Clinton reacted publicly to Starr’s findings. “I didn’t think the president’s response to the press was as humble as it ought to be–as self-effacing as it ought to be,” Cisneros recalls. He thought he should offer some advice, to tell Clinton “that he should just chill a bit and not be so in-your-face.” He wanted to remind Clinton to take a moment to regroup.

That night, the White House operator connected him to Clinton. “He was on the line,” Cisneros says, “and I was about to utter my words, and he said ‘HENRY!’ ” Cisneros booms, imitating Clinton. “ ‘I think we got this son of a bitch where we want him! Don’t you?’ ” Cisneros didn’t think so. In fact, he was “blown away” by Clinton’s moxie.

Cisneros tells the tale with great delight, as if there is nothing wrong with revealing such intimacies about his friend. And there isn’t, because the story isn’t really about the former president. It’s about Cisneros, and the absence of his own combative spirit. It’s a glaring absence.

Bill Richardson, who served as U.N. ambassador and then energy secretary under Clinton, says of his good friend Cisneros: “If I have one criticism of Henry, it’s that he is cautious. His destiny is to become the first Latino governor or possibly president, and I believe that his caution is the only reservation for that achievement. He needs to assume that he is back on track for a subsequent political career–for an Act II. And I believe he is.”

Former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, who lost her seat to George W. Bush in 1994, drove the issue home at an event last winter. “When they write your obituary, you don’t want the top positions to be mayor of San Antonio and secretary of housing,” Cisneros recalls her saying.

Cisneros was once a precocious man of formidable potential. His political career started in 1975 at age 27, when he became the youngest city councilman in San Antonio history. Six years later, he made his first run at the mayor’s office. In speeches to white crowds, he ticked off his degrees from Harvard and George Washington University, promising to lure business to San Antonio. In speeches to Latinos on the city’s west side, he promised to send his wealthy opponent “back to the country club.”

It was 1981, and Cisneros won 63% of the vote to become the first Latino mayor of a large U.S. city. In 1984, Walter Mondale interviewed him as a possible vice presidential running mate. Cisneros was reelected mayor three times.

“It was extraordinary to those of us who followed politics,” says Jim Oberwetter, who ran George Bush senior’s 1992 presidential reelection campaign in Texas. “He had achieved greatly within the Republican community.” Polls showed Cisneros had made significant inroads elsewhere in Texas, even in Republican strongholds. That meant he possessed a rare quality–the magic of a national candidate.

“He had all the attributes needed to appeal to Dallas Republicans–he had a list of accomplishments to point to from being mayor,” Oberwetter continues. “He was a good family man, which appeals to the Republicans.”

In reality, Cisneros’ marriage to his high school sweetheart, Mary Alice, was threadbare. As mayor and an assistant professor at the University of Texas, San Antonio, he clocked 16-hour days. The elected post paid only $60 a week, and the teaching job couldn’t support his family. Cisneros traveled anywhere in the country where speaking fees were offered. Friends say the opportunities for relationships outside his marriage were plentiful. His charisma inspired a line of men’s toiletries, “Henry C,” that rolled out in 1986.

In 1987 he fell for Linda Medlar, a political fund-raiser who was also married. Mary Alice was pregnant with the Cisneroses’ third child. On June 10, 1987, doctors delivered a boy, whom they named John Paul in honor of the pope’s visit to San Antonio. The elated young mayor went out to talk to reporters, but when he walked back into the hospital, he learned that the chances of his son living past childhood were slim.

Doctors believed John Paul’s body would quickly outgrow his heart’s ability to bring him oxygen. By age 6, they said, his lips would turn blue often, and he wouldn’t be able to keep up with the other kids. The tips of his fingers would become clubby, and some of his appendages would simply stop growing. By age 8, he would probably be dying.

“Part of the reason I could not do what other people might have done in that circumstance–get divorced, remarry–was this situation,” Cisneros says as we sit in his office. “I just couldn’t. I couldn’t let Mary Alice deal with that by herself.”

But 16 months later, on Oct. 14, 1988, his hand was forced when thousands of readers of the San Antonio-Express News awoke to a front-page column about the affair. In response, Cisneros told reporters gathered on his front lawn: “I guess human beings just aren’t made of plastic and wiring and metal. They’re made of flesh and blood and feelings.”

He said he would serve out the remainder of his term but would not run for reelection. Cisneros left his devoutly Roman Catholic wife and, according to court documents, he lived periodically with Medlar, who reclaimed her maiden name of Jones after her husband filed for divorce.

But by the time Mary Alice filed divorce papers in late 1991, claiming acts of cruelty and adultery, Cisneros was determined to reconcile. He would not fail at marriage. The high school sweethearts got back together. Jones was quickly ostracized by the community, but Cisneros privately agreed to continue sending her financial support, to assuage his own conscience as much as anything. He had no idea that in 1990, she had begun taping–and editing–their phone calls. It’s unclear if she wanted the tapes as insurance that he would continue the payments, or if she planned all along to make them public.

In 1992 Cisneros worked on “Adelante Con Clinton,” a Latino voter outreach project that helped propel Clinton to office. When Clinton asked him to become secretary of housing, Cisneros feared his financial agreement with Jones would be exposed, so he alerted the president-elect to the arrangement. Then he did something that altered his political career–he lied to the FBI agents. For reasons that he still doesn’t explain, Cisneros told investigators he paid her less than $10,000 a year. And then he cut off communication with her.

In July 1994, she sued him for reneging on a deal to send her $4,000 a month. She also sold the tapes of the phone conversations to the syndicated television show “Inside Edition” for $15,000. Naively, she thought that investigators would only look at Cisneros. Instead, they also followed the money trail into her own investments.

During the next few years, authorities unearthed lies on her home mortgage application, in which Jones relied on money and signatures from her sister and brother-in-law to close the deal. She was convicted of money laundering, bank fraud and making false statements. Initially sentenced to 42 months, her lawyer got it trimmed to 18 months in federal prison.

David Guinn Jr., a former assistant federal public defender who represented her, says Jones now lives with her mother in Lubbock, Texas, and they depend on a stipend from her siblings. Cisneros no longer sends her money. She fights chronic depression, Guinn says, and did not want to comment for this article.

For Cisneros, the FBI investigation had ripped back the curtain on the confession booth. His San Antonio indiscretion had now been revisited, this time as the subject of a full-blown federal investigation. By 1995, Cisneros was inundated with bills that would eventually total $4 million. He owed tuition for one daughter at law school and another at college. John Paul, whose heart was repaired by a Philadelphia surgeon, still incurred significant medical costs.

Financially, Cisneros needed out of Washington. “The president would have been perfectly happy to have him stay,” says former White House Chief of Staff Leon E. Panetta. “But Henry felt he really did need to deal with [the investigation] and try to resolve it so it wouldn’t destroy him.”

In January 1997, at nearly 1:30 on the morning of Clinton’s second inauguration, Cisneros’ final act was to help Clinton rehearse his inaugural address. At noon he and Mary Alice sat behind Clinton as he delivered it. The president then walked inside for the traditional inaugural lunch, and Cisneros and Mary Alice went to a nearby Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Not long after, they moved to Bel-Air Crest, a gated community in Los Angeles, and he assumed the title of chief operating officer at Univision, a Spanish-language network that reaches more than 80% of all Latino households in the country. His job at the network was to represent the face of Univision, to sell its brand, even though the network caters to recently arrived immigrants.

The network boomed while he was there. Soon Univision had the fifth-largest viewership of any U.S. television network, English or Spanish. The surge solved Cisneros’ financial woes. During his first year, he pulled down $400,000 in salary, not including bonuses and Univision stock options, from which he derives the majority of his personal wealth today. When Cisneros arrived at Univision, a share of its stock was valued at $18.50. On the day he left last year, it was $122. Cisneros traded in $10.8 million in company stock last year, and he still owns stock options worth more than $6 million.

By September 1999, Cisneros was a wealthy man with a court date. He appeared before a U.S. district judge in Washington and pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of lying to the FBI. He was fined $10,000.

For all his financial success at Univision, Cisneros seemed miscast as a television executive. Sometimes the clash was painful to behold. At the last Univision annual meeting he attended, advertisers sat in gilded chairs at round tables. Up on the enormous stage, Cisneros stood with the network’s stars, including Alicia Machado, a former Miss Venezuela. Just for good measure, Spanish mega-crooner Julio Iglesias was up there, too, looking tanned and rested. There wasn’t a wonk in sight, except Cisneros– the former politician rented out to a media corporation so he could pay legal bills stemming from an affair 13 years earlier.

*

MARY ALICE CISNEROS IS IMMACULATELY GROOMED AT A BIRDLIKE 5-foot-2 and 100 pounds, with black hair and small pieces of gold and diamond jewelry on her wrists and fingers. When she recalls a conversation she’s had with her husband of 32 years, she cranes her neck, looks up to his imaginary face and pretends she’s speaking to him. But when they’re together, he consistently cuts her off in mid-sentence if she begins to speak about anything other than their family.

She has considered herself a public figure in San Antonio since childhood, when she and her eight siblings worked at her father’s bakery and grocery store. In front of their house on West Houston Street, she points out her relatives’ homes that are within shouting distance. “I liked L.A.–all the glamour and the art–but this is home.”

Henry’s family is close by, as well. His uncle Ruben Mungu’a, 81, runs the print shop that created all of Cisneros’ mayoral propaganda. As a “good way” to recover from open-heart surgery he had last November, Mungu’a showed up at the shop for a five-day workweek in early February. He is feisty and optimistic–convinced that his nephew should run for the U.S. Senate in several years.

“Now’s not the time. He’s got to pay his bills. He’s got to work a new generation of voters who don’t know him, since he’s been away. He’s got to build up a new image,” Mungu’a says. Then he broaches the subject of politicians and peccadilloes. “Little Baby Jesus–that’s Lyndon B. Johnson–had his own affairs, and, of course, he came in to replace JFK. Eisenhower was also accused of doing certain things when it was cold in Europe. Finally, little Billy comes along. The people have all forgotten this. So, Henry’s thing is not going to pull support from him. That period of his life is totally resolved.”

But Cisneros knows better. Unlike so many politicians who seek redemption and live off the energy of a new political race, Cisneros can feel the Republicans ready to whack him, and it makes him cringe. Susan Weddington, chair of the Texas Republican Party, would have no qualms about taking the first swing. “His potential to be resuscitated as a candidate would require complete memory loss of the electorate. His indiscretion was embarrassing to Texans, especially to Hispanic Texas. I believe that kind of memory loss is highly unlikely.”

It is partisan talk, but it is exactly this kind of contact sport that Cisneros says he’s not willing to play–at least not now. Instead, he wants order and discipline. He doesn’t smoke, and he rarely drinks even a glass of wine with dinner. In his wallet he carries two neatly typed lists, one of nonfiction books and one of the great novels. “I keep a list because when I go to the bookstore I know what to buy,” he says. “I’m trying to read important books that give a person depth.”

When Cisneros grudgingly agrees to talk about the possibility of his running for office, he takes his time. He uncrosses his legs, tilts his head and runs his fingers along the edge of the conference table. Then, in measured statements, he talks about his aversion to both the campaign and the possible bad consequences. It’s clear. He no longer views the political game as he once did.

Mark McKinnon, a media consultant who took on his first Republican client last year when George W. Bush asked him to be his media director, describes Cisneros as someone who is “as smooth and deft and agile as anyone who’s ever been in this business.”

“And there’s an enormous redemptive well open to him, whenever he wants to tap into it,” McKin-non says. “I think he’s much harder on himself than anyone else.”

In Cisneros, Democrats see a handsome, vigorous Latino with national name recognition and a limitless future. Democrats have pushed him to run for the U.S. Senate in 2002, or for Texas governor, a post held until this year by Bush. Instead, Cisneros remains in a cramped fetal position, and while he does, his party is struggling, especially in Texas. Terry McAuliffe, a political fund-raiser and head of the Democratic National Committee, appealed to Cisneros last August at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. “Texas is a big seat for us,” McAuliffe says. “Winning that governorship for us is critical, more than ever. When you really want to win, you get a big player, and Henry’s as big as you get.”

Less than 20 years ago, every statewide seat in Texas belonged to a Democrat. Republicans now hold all the statewide titles in Texas. That includes, for example, every spot on the Supreme Court, the court of criminal appeals, and on down to the railroad commission. More important, it also means that both U.S. senators and the governor are Republicans.

With Cisneros out, things look daunting for the party of inclusion in a large, increasingly Latino state. This winter, Democrats began circling the wagons for A.R. “Tony” Sanchez Jr., a Latino oil magnate who has never held public office. Although a Democrat, he pulled in more than $100,000 in hard money for Bush last year because he believed in the governor.

None of this is to say, however, that Cisneros doesn’t still enjoy the parlor game of politics. He keeps the public intrigued by denying he’s running, while refusing to say if he ever will. He jokes that the door is closed, but not locked. He also dips a helping hand into select races. Last year, for instance, he and L.A. County Supervisor Gloria Molina met secretly with L.A.’s two Latino mayoral candidates in an unsuccessful attempt to persuade one of them to drop out. (“I know it’s popular to say that that’s an older paradigm of ethnic politics, and that it shouldn’t be that way,” he acknowledges of the message he and Molina carried.)

Cisneros also campaigned for former Vice President Al Gore, kicking off “Rally in the Valley” in the Rio Grande Valley, and he raised funds for the San Antonio mayoral campaign of Ed Garza, a 32-year-old city councilman who won last month. But that’s as far as he goes. Instead of political life, he’s thrown himself into American City Vista, a hybrid of politics and commerce intended to revitalize neighborhoods. It’s known as “infill,” where large clusters of Craftsmen and Victorian homes are built on swaths of abandoned or blighted city land.

His first project is Lago Vista. American City Vista is also overseeing similar developments in Southern California, both in the northeast San Fernando Valley.

In April, on Good Friday, we meet at the impressive Sylmar development, which is ringed by mountains and sits next to the Angeles National Forest. It’s unseasonably hot on this afternoon, and hang gliders float silently above us. We are in a car, with Mary Alice in the back seat talking to their daughter by cell phone about a recipe for Easter dinner. Cisneros tells me it will be difficult for anyone to make Jell-O mold like Mary Alice does.

The homes he has invested in here are larger and more indulgent than the Lago Vista homes in south San Antonio. Cisneros spreads his arms and asks: “Where else in L.A. could you get a 2,138-square-foot home for $260,000 with this view?”

*

IF THERE IS ANY EVIDENCE THAT Cisneros can’t seem to get the legal glop of this past decade off of his hands, one only needs to look at the events of this year’s inaugural weekend.

Among the dozens of people Clinton pardoned on his final day in office were Cisneros and Jones. Cisneros learned about the pardon the day before, when his attorney reached him moments before he was about to deliver a speech to 1,000 people in Silicon Valley. The attorney said the White House had called to see if it was “OK” to put him on the pardon list.

“I heard nothing more until noon the next day. We started getting telephone calls from the press that I was on the list,” Cisneros says, explaining that he had been meeting with Tony Sanchez in Laredo when the news broke. The next week, he spoke with Clinton by phone about the surprise pardon.

“He just felt the independent counsel statute had been abused and that, as much as possible, the wrongs created by it needed to be wiped away. He has always felt that the greatest reason they came after me was to get to him,” Cisneros says. “I don’t think that’s completely true. I think I made mistakes and gave them reason to come after me, but he has felt that way.”

In the weeks that followed, the list of recipients became an example of what many people dislike most about Clinton–the bending of laws to suit his own needs. The shakiest pardons were for Marc Rich, a fugitive financier whose wife donated significant sums of money to the Clinton library and the Democratic Party, and for Carlos Vignali, whose father donated heavily to California Democrats. For Cisneros, the association with this latest political scandal was bruising.

“It just reopened old wounds and raised questions with people about the seriousness of the offenses and why they needed to be included in a pardon list,” he says.

Asked if he’s forgiven himself for the pain he caused, Cisneros looks out the window.

“I suppose not.”

It gnaws at him, though–the fear that he will never get out from under his own issues and run for office again.

As time goes on, it will become increasingly difficult for him to justify staying away so long, and if he forgets that fact, Ann Richards and others will remind him. “There are a lot of other things I’d like to do and, hopefully, by the time it’s time to write an obituary, they’ll be other accomplishments under my belt, not necessarily related to holding office, because I think there are many, many ways to contribute substantially in our society, even more than holding office for 6 to 12 years,” he says. His words are emphatic, but his tone isn’t entirely convincing.

“There’s a lot of water under the bridge for me,” he says slowly. “And some of these things I have to sort out for myself.”

NEW YORK — An embarrassed CBS fired a contrite Jimmy (The Greek) Snyder Saturday after the sports commentator said in a much-criticized television interview that blacks were “bred” to be better athletes than whites.

Snyder, who outraged civil rights leaders with this and other remarks about blacks in sports, reiterated a “heart-felt apology” he made after the interview was televised Friday, but raised the possibility he may sue CBS for dropping him.

He said that CBS executives wanted him to resign, but he refused and was fired by Neal Pilson, president of CBS Sports, who called Snyder from Hawaii.

Snyder said in a statement read by a CBS spokesman that he has “referred this matter” to his lawyer, former Republican Sen. Paul Laxalt of Nevada, “who is looking into it. Accordingly, I will have no further comment at this time.”

However, speaking from his Washington hotel in a brief phone interview, Snyder, for 12 years a commentator on the “NFL Today” pregame show, seemed willing to answer questions. But he was prevented from doing so by CBS spokesman Doug Richardson.

Asked if he may sue CBS, Snyder, 70, vaguely replied, “We just want to be protected. We shouldn’t say anything . . . .” He was interrupted by Richardson, who had read Snyder’s statement to a reporter.

Asked why he made his controversial remarks Friday, Snyder again tried to respond, only to be interrupted again by Richardson, who was sharing the same phone. “He’s a good guy–he wants to talk and he shouldn’t,” Richardson said.

“I’ll talk to you later, OK?” Snyder told the reporter. CBS, in a separate statement Saturday, said CBS Sports had “ended its relationship” with Snyder following his remarks. It said the remarks in no way “reflect the views of CBS Sports.”

Snyder, known for his predictions, was in Washington with “NFL Today” colleagues Brent Musburger and Irv Cross for today’s National Football Conference championship game between the Washington Redskins and the Minnesota Vikings.

He has been dropped from today’s telecast.

Snyder’s one-year contract, reportedly worth about $750,000, was due to expire soon.

Snyder made his comments in a lunchtime interview Friday at Duke Zeibert’s, a Washington restaurant.

His interviewer was Ed Hotaling, a black producer-reporter for NBC-owned WRC-TV. Hotaling said Saturday he had just come from covering a memorial to slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., where a tape of King’s famous “I have a dream” speech was played.

Hotaling said he’d been doing interviews with various people in the restaurant, asking what they thought the next step in civil rights progress for blacks should be. He put the question to Snyder.

“It was all on the occasion of Martin Luther King’s birthday,” Hotaling said. “So I thought it was an appropriate, forward-looking question, and got a backward-looking answer.”

In the interview, Snyder, whose remarks were termed “reprehensible” by CBS, said that the only sports realm in which whites now dominate is coaching, and if blacks “take coaching, as I think everyone wants them to, there is not going to be anything left for the white people.”

Snyder, who during his remarks emphasized he was not meaning to be “derogatory,” said the only thing now that “whites control are the coaching jobs–the black talent is beautiful, it’s great, it’s out there. The only thing left for the whites is a couple of coaching jobs.”

He also said that black athletes perform better than white athletes for reasons that went back to slave times.

“The slave owner would breed his big black (man) to his big woman so that he could have a big black kid . . . . That’s where it all started,” he said.

While Hotaling said he was “stunned” and appalled by Snyder’s remarks, he thought it “outrageous they (CBS) fired him.” He said there should be far more reporting on civil rights in sports, and with Snyder participating in the coverage.

“I think it (the interview) was about the best possible Martin Luther King Day story you could have because it brings everything out in the open,” Hotaling said in a phone interview from Washington.

“And I think maybe one of the few people who might have agreed with me that Jimmy the Greek should not be fired would have been Martin Luther King.

“I think you have to think a little more broadly than firing a sports commentator for expressing stupid comments about civil rights. You should start covering the story and let him learn something.”

One way, he suggested, would be to put Snyder on today’s “NFL Today” broadcast and discuss his remarks, and civil rights, with black and white athletes.

“His views would be expressed a little more adequately, I think,” Hotaling said. “He wouldn’t come out to be such a bad guy. They’d have the thing resolved in a positive way instead of a negative way.”

Snyder was quoted by the Washington Post as saying: “I told (Pilson) I wanted to face everyone (on today’s program). He told me, ‘I can’t let you do that.’ ”

Hotaling was quoted by the Associated Press as saying: “I saw no liquor or wine on his table. He did not seem drunk or even tipsy to me. He was articulate in what he was saying. His point of view was made very articulately.”

Hotaling said that at one point in the interview, Snyder “turned to me and said, ‘I don’t want this on.’

“The reason we kept rolling was because he kept right on talking about the same issue. He is a professional sports commentator and he kept on talking even though he knew the lights were on. I think he knew he was on.”

Snyder, who was born Emetrios Snyodinos in Steubenville, Ohio, also made news in 1980, but on a lesser scale, when he and Musburger got into a brief fist fight at a midtown New York bar after the two argued over the amount of air time that Snyder was getting.

Musburger said Saturday he “was stunned” by Snyder’s remarks.

“I don’t know what he was thinking about,” Musburger said.

At Des Moines, Iowa, Democratic presidential hopeful Jesse Jackson, appearing at a conference marking Martin Luther King Day, said that Snyder’s “obviously regrettable and racially offensive” comments were less important than the lack of black managers and coaches in professional and college sports.

The Los Angeles branch of the NAACP sent a telegram to Pilson commending CBS for firing Snyder. Raymond Johnson, president of the L.A. group, said at a press conference Saturday: “The NAACP is outraged at the racist and insensitive remarks made by Jimmy Snyder.”

Jim (Mudcat) Grant, a former major league pitcher who is an NAACP chairperson, said: “Even though (Snyder’s) comments may seem comical to some, the seriousness of it all is that Americans must work harder to open the closed doors and provide equal opportunities for minorities of color.”

Harry Edwards, head of major league baseball’s minority hiring program, expressed outrage.

“Some of his explanations as to why blacks have emerged to a point of near dominance in sports make it clear the man is abysmally ignorant,” he said.

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

US president says ‘deadly strike’ in Nigeria targeted ISIL fighters who had killed ‘primarily, innocent Christians’.

The United ‍States ‍has carried out an air strike against ISIL (ISIS) fighters in northwest Nigeria, US ⁠President Donald Trump ​said.

“Tonight, ⁠at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and ​deadly strike ‌against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria,” ‌Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform on Thursday evening.

Trump said ISIL fighters had “‌targeted and viciously” killed “primarily, innocent Christians, at ⁠levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!”

“I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was,” Trump said.

The US military’s Africa Command (AFRICOM), which is responsible for operations in Africa, said in a post on X that the air strike was carried out “at the request of Nigerian authorities” and had killed “multiple ISIS terrorists”.

“Grateful for Nigerian government support & cooperation,” US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on social media, warning also of “more to come”, without providing details.

In a statement, AFRICOM said the strike occurred in “Soboto state,” an apparent reference to Nigeria’s Sokoto state.

The US military action comes weeks after Trump said he had ordered the Pentagon to begin planning for potential military action in Nigeria following claims of Christian persecution in the country.

Nigeria’s government has said armed groups target both Muslim and Christian communities in the country, and US claims that Christians face persecution ‌do not represent a complex security situation and ignore efforts by Nigerian authorities to safeguard religious freedom.

Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi, reporting from Washington DC, said the threat of US military action in Nigeria had been “percolating for some time” and Donald Trump had accused Nigeria of not doing enough to protect its Christian community in his first term as president.

“But in the last two months or so, with congressional pressure and the State Department, they declared Nigeria a particular country of concern when it came to the rights of Christians and we had heard that the US had begun overflight surveillance of Nigeria from an airbase in Accra, in Ghana, over the last several weeks. And now we have this,” Rattansi said.

“On Christmas day, the Trump administration acts. This will go down very well with Trump’s Christian evangelical base, I am sure,” he said.

Trump issued his attack statement on Christmas Day while he was at ‌his Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago Club, where he has been spending the holiday.

Lionsgate

Lionsgate

Lionsgate

‘Getting the tone right’

Lionsgate

A federal judge in San Francisco on Wednesday barred Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its Justice Department counterpart from “sweeping” civil arrests at immigration courthouses across Northern California, teeing up an appellate challenge to one of the Trump administration’s most controversial deportation tactics.

“This circumstance presents noncitizens in removal proceedings with a Hobson’s choice between two irreparable harms,” Judge P. Casey Pitts wrote in his Christmas Eve decision.

“First, they may appear in immigration court and face likely arrest and detention,” the judge wrote. “Alternatively, noncitizens may choose not to appear and instead to forego their opportunity to pursue their claims for asylum or other relief from removal.”

Wednesday’s decision blocks ICE and the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review from lying in wait for asylum seekers and other noncitizens at routine hearings throughout the region — a move that would effectively restore pre-Trump prohibition on such arrests.

“Here, ICE and EOIR’s prior policies governing courthouse arrests and detention in holding facilities provide a standard,” the judge said.

Authorities have long curbed arrests at “sensitive locations”— such as hospitals, houses of worship and schools — putting them out of reach of most civil immigration enforcement.

The designation was first established decades ago under ICE’s predecessor agency, Immigration and Naturalization Services. ICE absorbed the prohibitions when the agency was formed in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Courts were added to the list under President Obama. The policy prohibiting most courthouse arrests was suspended during the first Trump administration and reinstated by President Biden.

Internal ICE guidance from the Biden era found “[e]xecuting civil immigration enforcement actions in or near a courthouse may chill individuals’ access to courthouses and, as a result, impair the fair administration of justice.”

Nevertheless, the agency’s courthouse policy was reversed again earlier this year, leading to a surge in arrests, and a staggering drop in court appearances, court records show.

Most who do not show up are ordered removed in absentia.

Monthly removal in absentia orders more than doubled this year, to 4,177 from fewer than 1,600 in 2024, justice department data show.

More than 50,000 asylum seekers have been ordered removed after failing to appear in court hearings since January — more than were ordered removed in absentia in the previous five years combined.

“ICE cannot choose to ignore the ‘costs’ of its new policies—chilling the participation of noncitizens in their removal proceedings —and consider only the policies’ purported ‘benefits’ for immigration enforcement,” Pitts wrote in his stay order.

That ruling likely sets the San Francisco case on a collision course with other lawsuits seeking to curb ICE’s incursions into spaces previously considered off-limits. This suit was brought by a group of asylum seekers who braved the risk and were detained when they showed up to court.

One, a 24-year-old Guatemalan asylum seeker named Yulisa Alvarado Ambrocio, was spared detention only because her breastfeeding 11-month-old was with her in court, records show. Administration lawyers told the court ICE would almost certainly pick her up at her next hearing.

Such arrests appear arbitrary and capricious, and are unlikely to survive scrutiny by the courts, Judge Pitts ruled Wednesday.

“That widespread civil arrests at immigration courts could have a chilling effect on noncitizens’ attendance at removal proceedings (as common sense, the prior guidance, and the actual experience in immigration court since May 2025 make clear) and thereby undermine this central purpose is thus ‘an important aspect of the problem’ that ICE was required, but failed, to consider,” Pitts wrote.

A district judge in Manhattan ruled the opposite way on a similar case this fall, setting up a possible circuit split and even a Supreme Court challenge to courthouse arrests in 2026.

For now, the Christmas Eve decision only applies to ICE’s San Francisco Area of Responsibility, a region encompassing all of Northern and Central California, as far south as Bakersfield.

The geographic limit comes in response to the Supreme Court’s emergency decision earlier this year stripping district judges of the power to block federal policies outside narrowly-tailored circumstances.

The administration told the court it intends to appeal to the 9th Circuit, where Trump-appointed judges have swung the bench far to the right of its longtime liberal reputation.

NEW YORK — Jalen Brunson scored 34 points, reserve Jordan Clarkson had 25 and the New York Knicks came from 17 down in the fourth quarter to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 126-124 on Thursday and win on Christmas Day for the third straight year.

Reserves Tyler Kolek and Mitchell Robinson sparked the comeback after the Cavaliers led 103-86 early in the final period. Kolek had 16 points and nine assists, and had fans chanting his name after a late block on Donovan Mitchell that originally was called a foul but was overturned on review. Robinson hustled after offensive rebounds to keep possessions alive and finished with 13 boards.

Brunson made the go-ahead three-pointer with 1:05 remaining, after he, Kolek and Clarkson all hit from behind the arc in a 13-2 run that cut Cleveland’s 12-point lead to 111-110.

Mitchell had 34 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Darius Garland added 20 points and 10 assists, but the Cavaliers blew their chance at a third straight win.

Evan Mobley finished with 14 points and nine rebounds after missing five games with a strained left calf.

The Cavs raced to an 18-3 lead behind 10 points from Mitchell and led 38-23 after one quarter. But Clarkson opened the second with consecutive 3-pointers, and after a Cavs three-pointer, the Knicks ripped off an 18-0 burst to take a 47-41 lead.

The Knicks made 12 of their first 14 shots in the second, before Mobley had Cleveland’s final four baskets as New York took a 60-58 edge into the break.

Cleveland quickly regained control in the third. Mitchell slammed down a lob pass that Garland threw from beyond halfcourt to cap a 10-3 burst to open the period, and Mitchell later hit a three-pointer to cap an 18-4 spurt that turned a 71-all tie into an 89-75 advantage for the Cavs.

Dec. 25 (UPI) — Up to 350 Louisiana National Guard members began deploying this week in New Orleans and will stay through February to help maintain peace and safety during New Year’s and special events.

The deployment also comes amid efforts to locate and deport those who illegally are in the United States.

“These National Guard troops will support federal law enforcement partners, including the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, as they enforce federal law and counter high rates of violent crime in New Orleans and other metropolitan areas in Louisiana,” Defense Department spokesman Sean Parnell said in a prepared statement on Tuesday.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry maintains his command and control of the state’s National Guard, whose mission is to enhance safety.

He said the troops will be fully deployed ahead of New Year’s Eve and will stay in New Orleans at least through February.

The deployment was announced after the Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down President Donald Trump’s effort to deploy the Illinois National Guard in Chicago over the protests of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.

The troops will be tasked with ensuring safety in the French Quarter during New Year’s celebrations and during the Sugar Bowl and Mardi Gras.

“We know how to make cities safe, and the National Guard complements cities that are experiencing high crime,” Landry said during an appearance on The Will Cain Show.

He cited President Donald Trump’s National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C., as an example of how the troops can make cities safer for residents and visitors.

“When he wanted to send the National Guard into Washington, D.C., Louisiana was one of the first to raise its hand and say our troops will go there,” Landry said. “And the city is so much better.”

We had a feeling we would be in for another round of weapons ‘reveals’ out of China this Christmas, following last year’s ‘leaks’ of not just one, but two tailless stealth tactical jet designs, among other developments. It appears we are getting at least one installment of this in the form of a medium-sized cargo ship packed full of containerized vertical launchers, along with sensors and self defense systems. The message is clear, China is making it known that it could, and likely will, turn ships from its behemoth of a commercial fleet into not just shooters, but arsenal ships.

The vessel has containers packed on its deck, both used for containing weapons and for mounting them, along with sensors. In other words, the layout appears to be designed as something of an improvised superstructure in order to turn the cargo ship into a heavily-armed surface combatant of sorts. This includes the mounting of a large rotating phased-array radar forward of the bridge atop three containers, as well as another domed radar or communications system across the deck from it mounted on two containers.

Near the bow of the vessel, high-up mounted on above two containers, we see an Type 1130 30mm close-in-weapon system (CIWS) for last-ditch defense against incoming threats, especially cruise missiles. One container lower, on both sides, we see Type 726 decoy launchers mounted on top of another pair of containers. The large cylindrical pods appear to be emergency life rafts, likely required because of the expanded crew size to make a concept like this work.

Then we get to the real eyebrow raiser, a deck literally covered with containerized vertical launchers. Installed five wide and three deep, each packing four large launch tubes, this arrangement gives the vessel a whopping 60 vertical large launch cells. This is two-thirds the VLS capacity of a Arleigh Burke class Flight I or II destroyer.

Due to the large radar installation, it appears this ship’s mission is something of a picket ship, rather than just an arsenal ship, providing area air defense, but that doesn’t mean its containerized launchers couldn’t pack other weapons. Still, something like this could be useful for persistently providing air defense over a given area.

Regardless, it’s an impressive display and there have been rumors about China going this route as it races to advance its goal of naval supremacy. We have already seen Chinese commercial ships leveraged at improvised helicopter carriers and ferries being shifted to the island invasion mission during exercises. It’s also worth noting that containerized weapon systems have moved from controversial oddity to the mainstream over the last decade, and it’s an area the U.S. continues to pursue heavily for all sorts of applications.

The images of China’s cargo ship turned floating missile farm offer a lot to look at, but the question has to be raised just how real this configuration is? It very much looks like it was made photo ready for these images. Is this a proof of concept demonstrator or just a mockup? How sturdy are the radar and CIWS installations, for instance? On closer examination of the images, the radar installation looks relatively robust, but takeaways are limited at this time. The radar would have an issue with being close to inline with the ship’s actual aft superstructure, although there are ways to mitigate this. And just because you can bolt all this to a commercial ship, it doesn’t mean it can employ these sensors and weapons effectively. What combat information system exists on the ship to integrate all these systems and effectively use them in combat?

We just don’t know at this time.

WASHINGTON — The national Republican Party leadership, spurred by chairman Lee Atwater, today cut all ties to former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, the newly elected Louisiana Republican state lawmaker.

Party spokeswoman Leslie Goodman said 28 voting members of the party’s executive committee unanimously repudiated during a telephone vote Duke’s racist and anti-Semitic views and barred financial or other assistance for him.

Duke, 38, a former klan grand wizard, was elected to the Legislature Saturday from a suburban New Orleans district in a narrow victory over builder John Treen, 63, who was backed by President Bush and former President Ronald Reagan.

The resolution adopted by the national Republicans in effect “excommunicates” Duke, according to Atwater, who said Duke is neither a Republican nor a Democrat but “a charlatan and a faker” using Republicans to promote his racist agenda.

St James’ was once the second-biggest club stadium in the country, behind Old Trafford, but Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, West Ham United, Arsenal, Manchester City and Everton have all since leapfrogged Newcastle‘s 52,335-seater ground in terms of capacity.

In that time, a huge revenue gap has opened up between the established order and Newcastle, with Manchester United generating £87m more in match-day income and £219.3m more in commercial income in 2023-24.

Newcastle‘s training ground has been modernised in recent years, including hydrotherapy and plunge pools, a new canteen, a players’ lounge and bigger dressing rooms – but it remains some way off the best in the country.

Howe was keen to stress that the “ambition is there from everyone to make that happen”.

But the Newcastle head coach said there needs to be a “bit of patience” with the club’s infrastructure plans to “make sure it’s the right solution for everybody”.

He added: “If there is extra time taken to make the right decisions so the stadium project is correct, and it’s the right one for Newcastle for how ever many years the club are there, then take the extra time.

“It’s the same with the training ground. You need the right site and designs. I would rather it was correct than rushed.

“I know that there’s a 99.9% chance that I’m not going to see either in my position, but I’m still passionate about making sure it’s there for the future generations of Newcastle, whether that’s supporters or players.”

Families celebrate Christmas releases while calling for full freedom of detainees.

Authorities in Venezuela have released at least 60 people arrested during protests against President Nicolas Maduro’s re-election, according to a human rights advocacy group, though campaigners say hundreds remain behind bars.

The releases began early on Thursday, over Christmas, according to the Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners, a group of rights activists and relatives of detainees arrested during unrest that followed July’s presidential election.

“We celebrate the release of more than 60 Venezuelans, who should never have been arbitrarily detained,” committee head Andreina Baduel told the AFP news agency.

“Although they are not entirely free, we will continue working for their full freedom and that of all political prisoners.”

Maduro secured a third term in office in the July 2024 vote, a result rejected by parts of the opposition amid allegations of fraud. The disputed outcome triggered weeks of demonstrations, during which authorities arrested about 2,400 people. Nearly 2,000 have since been released, according to rights groups.

Despite the latest releases, Venezuela still holds at least 902 political prisoners, according to Foro Penal, an NGO that monitors detentions.

Relatives said many of those freed had been held at Tocoron prison, a maximum-security facility in Aragua state, roughly 134km (83 miles) from the capital Caracas. Officials have not publicly clarified the conditions under which detainees were released.

“We must remember that there are more than 1,000 families with political prisoners,” Baduel said. Her father, Raul Isaias Baduel, a former defence minister and once an ally of the late president, Hugo Chavez, died in custody in 2021.

A suicide explosion occurred at Al-Adum Jummat Mosque in Gamboru Market area of Maiduguri, northeastern Nigeria, on Wednesday, Dec. 24. 

The bomb went off around 6:00 p.m., shortly after residents and traders began observing the evening prayers.

The Borno State Police Command confirmed that 5 persons lost their lives while 35 others sustained varying degrees of injuries. 

“Preliminary investigations further suggest that the incident may have been a suicide bombing, based on the recovery of fragments of a suspected suicide vest and witness statements recorded, while investigations are ongoing to establish the exact cause and circumstances,” said ASP Nahum Kenneth Daso, Police Public Relations Officer of the Borno State Police Command.

People praying outside the mosque were also wounded after debris and shattered glass were scattered across the area.

Security personnel and emergency responders arrived to evacuate victims and sealed off the site.

The explosion marks the most serious incident reported in Maiduguri in recent times. Since the Boko Haram insurgency began over a decade ago in the city, suicide bombings like this one have been recorded across major cities in public places like worship areas and motor parks. The insurgency has killed over 35,000 people directly so far. 

HumAngle observed several ambulances transporting the injured and the deceased to hospitals, while the police and military personnel maintained guard around the site of the explosion.

While some of the victims were taken to the Maiduguri Specialist Hospital, others were taken to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital. At the Specialist Hospital, HumAngle counted 17 victims, with injuries on the arms and legs, admitted at the Weapon Wound Ward.

A trader at Gamboru Market said, “I was performing ablution when the blast occurred, and I ran away.” He confirmed that the explosion came from inside the mosque.

Gamboru Market is one of Maiduguri’s busiest commercial hubs, drawing traders and shoppers from Borno State and neighbouring countries like Chad, Cameroon, and Niger. The market hosts a variety of businesses, including stalls for fresh produce, textiles, clothing, household goods, and other everyday commodities. 

It also serves as a centre for small-scale services like tailoring, food vending, and transport, making it a key economic lifeline for the local market, operating long into the night, sometimes until 9:00 p.m., even after the main market closes at 6:00 p.m.

ASP Nahum Kenneth Daso also stated that “Police EOD personnel have cordoned off the area to ensure public safety, while investigations are ongoing.”

He urged members to remain calm and vigilant as security operations are ongoing.