brings

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has made a surprise appearance at United States-hosted G20 finance talks in North Carolina, sparking frustration and dismay among European ministers and officials.

Siluanov’s appearance at the talks in Asheville on Monday marks the first time the minister, who was appointed in 2011, has attended a G20 meeting in person since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

He held a bilateral meeting with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, with Russia’s Ministry of Finance saying the two men discussed financial cooperation within the G20 framework.

A US official said the meeting focused on US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine.

Asked about the invitation to Siluanov, Trump told reporters: “We like getting along with everybody. One of the reasons I’m so successful, I get along with everybody.”

European officials, however, criticised the move.

Polish Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski said he was unhappy to see Moscow represented, although he recognised the right of G20 hosts to invite guests.

“We do not trust Russia. They lie constantly, and you need to be really, really cautious while discussing with them,” ⁠he told the Reuters news agency, stressing that Russia was the aggressor in its conflict with Ukraine.

“So for me, it would be very difficult to have any kind of conversation with Russia.”

‘Troubling’ signal

German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said the US’s decision to welcome Siluanov sent a “signal I find troubling”.

He said he told Siluanov during a plenary session that Moscow had to end the war and “that we clearly support Ukraine”.

He also said Europe was preparing a further package of sanctions against Russia and hoped for close cooperation with Washington on the measures.

European ministers and central bankers also opposed appearing with Siluanov in the traditional G20 “family photo”, European officials said. The photograph was ultimately taken without the Russian minister.

Klingbeil said European officials, including European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, had discussed Russia’s involvement on Sunday and agreed that maintaining an avenue for dialogue could allow them to deliver a frank message to Moscow.

“However, the mere fact that the Russian finance minister is back – after, I believe, four G20 meetings without Russian participation – indicates an attempt at normalisation, and that makes it all the more important for us to push back,” he said.

Siluanov’s appearance marked a sharp contrast with the G20 meeting in Washington, DC, in April 2022, when his virtual participation prompted officials from Canada, the United Kingdom, the US, and the European Central Bank to walk out.

White House defends talks with Russia

Asked about Siluanov’s attendance, White House spokesman Kush Desai told the AFP news agency that the Trump administration had been working with Russia to push for a deal that “would stop the endless bloodshed that the president has really condemned”.

“The president and the administration will never shy away from talking with the folks we need to talk to, to further that,” he said. “That’s what we’re working on here at the G20.”

Separately, Reuters and AFP, citing sources familiar with the Washington-Moscow talks, said Bessent had made clear that the US would not provide Russia with economic relief until war in Ukraine was over.

Trump has pushed Moscow and Kyiv to reach a deal to halt the fighting, but an initial 28-point plan that largely adhered to Russia’s demands was criticised by Ukraine and European governments.

The US, which currently holds the rotating G20 presidency, did not invite South Africa, last year’s G20 host, to the gathering. Poland, which is not a permanent G20 member, was invited.

Certain reporters from major US newsrooms, including The New York Times and Bloomberg News, were not granted credentials to cover the gathering.

The decision was condemned by the National Press Club, which said that “no administration should be allowed to handpick the press corps that scrutinizes it”.

The two-day meeting comes as global debt levels have reached a record of nearly $353 trillion and the global economy faces an energy shock triggered by the US-Israel war on Iran. The talks also come amid rising tensions over China’s large trade surplus and uncertainty over the effects of a surge in artificial intelligence investment.

Aug. 28 (UPI) — Panama has brought home 17 citizens linked to the war between Russia and Ukraine as prosecutors investigate an alleged network accused of recruiting Panamanians for military service through false job offers.

The Foreign Ministry said Thursday that 11 of the citizens returned from Russia and six from Ukraine after diplomatic and consular efforts coordinated with Panamanian missions abroad. The statement did not identify the returnees or specify when they arrived.

Panamanian officials held four meetings with representatives of the Russian Embassy and two with Ukrainian Embassy officials to seek the release of citizens serving with military forces and arrange their return.

Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha also sent diplomatic communications to Russian and Ukrainian authorities to request their cooperation on humanitarian grounds.

Panama’s embassies in Russia and Poland, which handle the country’s diplomatic affairs involving Ukraine, continue working to locate and assist other Panamanians connected to the conflict, officials said.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office began to investigate the alleged recruitment operation in June. A judge on Aug. 18 ordered the pretrial detention of a third suspect charged with aggravated human trafficking.

The suspect was detained Aug. 16 at Tocumen International Airport after arriving from Colombia under an Interpol alert, the prosecutor’s office said.

Prosecutors said Panamanians were allegedly offered jobs paying more than $2,500 per month, but were placed in forced military work after reaching Eastern Europe.

Two men who returned from Ukraine told reporters Aug. 12 they knew they were traveling to the country, but had been promised they would not be required to participate in combat missions.

They said their passports and phones were taken after they arrived and that they were required to sign contracts written in Ukrainian without receiving Spanish translations.

“We were told that they would not take our passports, that we would not lose contact with our families and that they would not take our phones,” one of the men said, according to Panama’s La Prensa. “When we arrived, that was the first thing that happened.”

The men said recruiters used TikTok, Instagram and WhatsApp to find candidates. They spent about six weeks in Ukraine and said they did not receive the money they had been promised.

The Foreign Ministry estimated that approximately 30 Panamanians may have been or remained connected to the conflict, including 13 associated with Russian forces and 17 with Ukrainian forces.

The ministry stressed that the figures were preliminary, and said some people enlisted voluntarily while others reported being deceived by offers of civilian work.

Panama is not the only country in the region facing cases of deceptive recruitment. Peru has reported a significantly larger recruitment operation.

In early August, the Peruvian Foreign Ministry said that it had official information showing 459 Peruvians had enlisted, including 11 who died, 114 who were missing and three who were captured by Ukrainian forces.

Peruvian authorities evacuated 31 citizens, including 28 who returned to Peru and three who chose to remain elsewhere in Europe. Four of those evacuated said they had escaped forced recruitment.

Prosecutors opened a human trafficking investigation May 1 after families reported that Peruvians had been offered security and other jobs in Russia before allegedly being forced into combat.

Similar allegations have emerged in Bolivia and Colombia.

Bolivia’s Deputy Consular Affairs Minister Héctor Huanca said in July that approximately 16 Bolivians might be in combat zones, although he described the figure as preliminary, Unitel reported. Bolivian prosecutors opened a human trafficking investigation involving false employment offers.

In Colombia, Noticias Caracol reported in early August that families had documented dozens of suspected recruits, although no nationwide official count was available. A Tolima regional official separately told Caracol Radio that authorities knew of at least six local cases involving allegedly false job offers.

Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Arturo Hoyos said Panamanians are still traveling to become involved in the conflict despite repeated warnings.

“We urge, recommend and almost implore Panamanians not to go,” Hoyos said to El Siglo.

The Magic Castle is getting in on the theme park game.

The famed Hollywood institution is teaming up with Knott’s Berry Farm for its after-hours Halloween event, Knott’s Scary Farm, now in its 53rd year. The Magic Castle will supply the artists and show direction for a production that is expected to run nightly in the park’s recently refurbished Bird Cage Theatre.

The theme park initially reached out to the Magic Castle last year, says Payden Adams, vice president of entertainment for Knott’s Berry Farm, but the castle was in the middle of a leadership reorganization at the time. With that completed, a partnership could finally begin.

“It is just astounding what they’ve done with the Bird Cage Theatre,” says Jessica Hopkins, granddaughter of castle pioneers Bill and Irene Larsen and the castle’s chief operating officer. “Magic Castle magicians have been performing in there for decades. It just felt right.”

The magic shows will take place at the park’s recently refurbished Bird Cage Theatre.

(Kyusung Gong / For The Times)

Curating Knott’s magic show will be Rudy Coby, a resident magician at the Magic Castle. Coby performed at Knott’s about 35 years ago and credits the park in helping him get his start. He says the new show, “Occultum,” will vary by week with different performers lined up throughout the Halloween season. Knott’s Scary Farm begins Sept. 17.

And yet, says Coby, “Not every magician is for this audience.” So what’s the differentiating factor for a Halloween magic show?

“It’s a little more edgy,” Coby says. “You really have to grab their attention. It’s the TikTok generation.”

Some of the illusions Coby says he will bring to Knott’s Scary Farm would be “too intense for the Magic Castle.”

“The ideas I’ve had, with chainsaws and cutting off my limbs, I couldn’t get away with at the Magic Castle,” he says.

“But you can here,” says Hopkins.

The Magic Castle-headlined show is not the only new addition to Scary Farm in 2026. Here are two other reasons I’m looking forward to the event.

Inked: A new maze with killer vintage cartoons

Concept art for the new Knott’s Scary Farm maze, Inked.

(Knott’s Berry Farm)

One of the two new mazes coming to Knott’s Scary Farm will rely heavily on black-and-white, vintage-style animation. Inked, as it’s called, will be set in the 1930s, and was introduced at a media event with a song-and-dance production that recalled Disney’s classic Silly Symphony “The Skeleton Dance.”

The story centers on Mortimer Morbid, a deadbeat, down-on-his-luck animator whose career changes — not necessarily for the better — when it’s discovered his blood can bring his drawings to life. Of course, cartoons infused with blood don’t have the most altruistic desires.

Inked designer Daniel Miller says the maze took two years to create, largely because Knott’s conceived the animation for the walk-through in-house with a team of four. Most every room in the haunted house is expected to feature original media, as the animated creations will be represented both in their cartoon form and as costumed characters.

And it’ll be gruesome.

“We kind of geared it around the notion that they’re bloodthirsty,” Miller says of the killer ‘toons. “We see all the animators in various stages of disembowelment.”

Sheesh. Animators have it hard enough today already.

Expect the unexpected with ‘Voodoo: Bayou’s Edge’ and Unearthed

Concept art for Unearthed, a new Knott’s Scary Farm maze.

(Knott’s Berry Farm)

Knott’s Scary Farm, unlike its main SoCal competitor, doesn’t rely on known film and television properties. That means the event can generally get a little … weirder. You see that in its mazes, as noted above, as well as in its theatrical productions. Also new this year is a show titled “Voodoo: Bayou’s Edge,” which takes place on an outdoor stage. The production centers on a voodoo queen and the mysterious happenings in a cemetery. Knott’s is pitching it as a music, dance-focused show.

And while voodoo can potentially be a culturally sensitive subject to tackle in a theme park, the show comes from the mind of the respected Rovin Jay, who has long been closely involved in the park’s spectacular “Ghost Town Alive!” Expect “big dance numbers” and something “really sexy,” says Adams.

Another new maze, Unearthed, will be set in the present day but takes its cues from films such as “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “The Mummy” as it deals with a supernatural archaeological dig. Maze designer Jon Asperin says it will have numerous interactive elements, such as effects triggered by guests pulling a lever.

“Having the ability to come up with original stories lets us tap into the nerd in all of us,” says Asperin. “We don’t feel restricted by certain IP or things that may not be appropriate. We get a chance to challenge ourselves with trying out new things that some folks won’t take a risk on.”

This week in SoCal theme parks

The Disneyland attraction Mad Tea Party as it was under construction just months before the park opened. The image is from the documentary “Disneyland Handcrafted.”

(Disney+)

• A must–see Disney history event. Nonprofit creative institution Ryman Arts, in partnership with Santa Ana’s Bowers Museum, will host a talk and cocktail reception centered around a screening of Leslie Iwerks’ documentary “Disneyland Handcrafted” on Sept. 27. It’s a charity event, and a good one, as the panel lineup is top notch. Historian and author Tim O’Day will moderate a talk that includes the film’s producer, Mark Catalena, former Imagineer-turned-historian Tom Morris and current Imagineer Emily “Emo” O’Brien, who oversees creative at Disneyland and is leading the team behind the just-announced makeover of Tomorrowland. Don’t expect any insights on the latter, of course, but do anticipate a lively talk on the evolution of Disneyland. Tickets start at $125 and are on sale now.
• Stay seated on Tiana’s — or else. Disneyland has updated signage around Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, warning guests that they will be removed from the park if they stand up while on the log-flume adventure, reported Times writer Hannah Fry. The changes come less than two months after a 13-year-old boy climbed out of a log flume and fell 50 feet.
• Exciting Disneyland construction news. Big changes are coming to Disneyland, and while many are years away, the positive sign is that the park is wasting no time in getting started. There are now indications of construction in Disneyland’s esplanade between its two parks. This will pave the way for a new parking garage, of which groundbreaking has just begun, as well an entrance experience on the eastern side of the resort. This is the first of many steps, but one that must be completed before Disney begins its wider expansion that could bring attractions such as “Avatar” to the resort.

Ride report

A photo of the Haunted Mansion’s new gingerbread house, as snapped from my ride vehicle.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

Merry Christmas! Yes, that’s right, as the Haunted Mansion has been given a Christmas-heavy makeover, as always focused on “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.” (And yes, before the debate begins, it’s clearly a Christmas movie.) While I prefer the original Haunted Mansion, there are plenty of fun and clever details in the seasonal makeover that still make it a must-experience attraction. The attic scene, for instance, is full of clever nods to Disney history, including a Rolly Crump-inspired melting candelabra man. Each year I wonder if what I’m seeing is brand new, or was always there, such as what appeared to be a tiny bride figurine.

But one change is guaranteed: Each season Disneyland’s team concocts a new gingerbread house for the ballroom diorama. This year’s edition is a giant, candy-infused music box-like creation, which gradually opens as guests glide past it and a skeleton pops out. The concoction is designed in the shape of the Haunted Mansion itself, so it’s a little mansion-within-a-mansion. And, bonus, the room smells like gingerbread.

The best thing I ate at the parks this week

The delicious pumpkin cookie from Disneyland’s Harbour Galley.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

I love a cookie, and Disneyland’s Harbour Galley has the best one on the property this Halloween season with its pumpkin creation. They’re small-ish — three or four bites — but come in packs of 6 ($8.49) or 13 ($14.49). They’re soft, slightly chewy and addictive. I love it when I get a little brown sugar crystal in my mouthful. The pumpkin flavor isn’t overpowering. It’s closer to a ginger snap than it is a slice of pumpkin pie, meaning it has just the right balance of sugar and spice. It‘s also, it should be noted, one of the best values at the resort for a dessert item. I get a pack of 13 and have breakfast for a week.

Tell us your stories. Ask us your questions.

Have a theme park tale to share? Whether it was a good day or less-than-perfect day, I would love to hear about it. Have a question? A tip? A fun photo from the parks to share? Email me at todd.martens@latimes.com. I may feature your note in an upcoming newsletter.

Ride on,

Todd Martens

P.S.

The Walt Disney Co. stated that it will soon reimagine Disneyland’s Tomorrowland at its fan convention D23. The move has been one fans have long clamored for.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

The topic consuming most Disneyland fans for the next few years will be the Tomorrowland reimagining. The project is just getting started, and I’ll refrain from offering a wishlist. Let the Imagineers do their work, I say, although I consider all of it, save for the monorail and Space Mountain, on the table. Gut it. Start over. But reader Peter La Barba of Long Beach wrote in with a request that I wouldn’t disapprove of.

“Whatever they do, I hope they restore the two Mary Blair murals that were in Tomorrowland,” La Barba wrote. “I’d like to see optimism restored to Tomorrowland. I was about 3 or 4 when we went to the park in August of 1955 and I wanted to live in that future. Not the incessant war future of ‘Star Wars.’”

Hear, hear. The murals of animator/fine artist Blair were a wonder, full of children of the world in celebration mode. Flying contraptions! Communication devices! Satellites! Planets! I don’t have an image safe to use, so head over to Disney history site Yesterland for a look. The two murals lasted until the ’80s and ’90s, and replacing them was a mistake that’s only looked more shortsighted over time. As Blair’s work continues to grow in stature, who needs another “Star Wars” painting?

The U.S. Navy’s Ford class aircraft carriers have been very much in the news in the past week, with huge changes to the core design now potentially on the horizon. Whether or not radical changes to the catapults, weapons elevators, and island superstructure on future ships in the class actually materialize remains to be seen. However, the design has already been changing in various other ways. This includes adding back in a feature that had been found on all Nimitz class carriers and other Cold War-era flattops before it – dedicated radar illuminators to guide surface-to-air missiles.

The illuminators are used to guide the RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles (ESSMs). The need to add this feature is intertwined with a decision to integrate a replacement for the complex and troublesome Dual Band Radar (DBR) on all forthcoming carriers in the class after the USS Gerald R. Ford. The future USS John F. Kennedy is the first of those ships.

The Mk 95 radar illuminators on John F. Kennedy were particularly visible in pictures released last week of the ship leaving port in Newport News, Virginia, to begin acceptance sea trials. The carrier, also known by its hull number CVN 79, made its maiden voyage in January, and the Navy hopes to take formal delivery of the ship before the end of the year.

The Mk 95 traces back to the 1970s and was originally designed to support the employment of surface-launched RIM-7 variants of the Sparrow missile. All versions of the RIM-7 use semi-active radar guidance, which requires the launch platform to ‘illuminate’ the target.

As an example of the mode of operation for the RIM-7, if a ship were to detect an incoming cruise missile or some other kind of aerial threat, it would cue the missile in the right direction, fire it, and then use illuminators like the Mk 95 to ‘paint’ the target in radar energy. The missile’s seeker would then passively home in on the reflected radar energy through the terminal phase of flight.

When it was first introduced, the Mk 95 was part of a larger fire control suite that also brought an important new level of automation compared to previously available capabilities. Some earlier illuminators on Navy ships even had to be manually operated by sailors on deck.

Today, Mk 95s are found on a variety of U.S. and foreign naval vessels, including the Navy’s Nimitz class carriers. Some versions of the illuminators have camera systems to further help spot and track incoming threats, which have also been upgraded over the years. Improvements in associated combat systems also mean they have become better able to manage available illuminators to allow for as many engagements simultaneously as possible.

The RIM-7 family has since been supplanted in U.S. Navy service with the improved RIM-162 ESSM. Block 1 variants of the ESSM also use semi-active radar guidance and have the same general mode of operation as their predecessors. New Block 2 versions, which began entering service in the early 2020s, have semi-active and active modes, the latter of which does not require any illumination in the terminal phase. In addition, the new missiles feature a data link, allowing them to receive targeting updates after launch, helping cue them to the target area, which further reduces the need for an illuminator in the initial phases of flight. It is also very valuable for longer-range engagements beyond the horizon, especially against low-flying cruise missiles.

At present, the defensive armament suite on Ford class aircraft carriers includes two 21-round launchers for RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missiles (RAM), three Mk 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapon Systems (CIWS) armed with 20mm Vulcan cannons, four 25mm cannons on Mk 38 mounts, and various small arms. There are also two eight-cell Mk 29 launchers, a design that also dates back to the 1970s and was originally designed to fire RIM-7 Sparrows. The Mk 29 has since been adapted to fire Block 1 ESSMs, but there were issues in integrating Block 2 versions owing to the increased weight of those missiles, at least in the past.

“CVN 79 and follow-on Ford class ships will be upgraded to a mix of new RAM variants Block 2A and 2B, plus a mix of ESSM Block 1 and Block 2,” according to an annual report from the Pentagon’s Office of the Director of Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) covering work on the program during the 2025 Fiscal Year.

The Navy’s most recent annual budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2026 does note work to modify the Mk 29 launchers to support Block 2 ESSM capability, but the current state of those efforts is unclear. The service is also pursuing an entirely new launcher to replace the aging and increasingly unsupportable Mk 29, as well as a follow-on to the Block 2 ESSM.

Mk-29 Sea Sparrow Missile Launcher – RIM-162 ESSM & RIM-7P During Sea Trials

Even with integration of the Block 2 ESSM, Ford class carriers will still have to provide ‘illumination’ in order to employ Block 1 versions of the missile, which remain in active Navy inventory. As noted, Block 2 variants can be employed in a semi-active radar homing mode, as well.

This all brings us to the matter of the DBR, which was intended to be the main radar on all members of the Ford class. The DBR consists of two distinct radar systems, the AN/SPY-3, an X-band active electronically scanned array (AESA) type, and the AN/SPY-4, an S-band phased array. On paper, this was set to be a powerful combination. In a defensive scenario, the SPY-3 would be used for horizon search, generating high-fidelity target tracks, and otherwise helping direct interceptors like the ESSM to their targets. The volume search SPY-4 would provide additional long-range search and tracking functionality. Being able to fuse all that data for the dual arrays together, while also leveraging the specific capabilities of the quick-scanning AESA SPY-3, would only offer even greater benefits.

As part of the original Ford design, DBR also serves as host of other functions, including helping to provide air traffic control in support of flight operations. This also allowed the Navy to pare down the total number of distinct radars on the ship compared to the Nimitz class. This, in turn, directly factored into the design of a smaller and more angular flight deck island on the Ford class. Just this week, TWZ published a separate detailed piece on the island, and the reasons for its location so far back on the flight deck. This followed reports this past weekend that President Donald Trump is pushing the Navy to reposition the structure on future ships in this class on aesthetic grounds.

Despite the promised benefits, and its deep integration into the Ford class design, the DBR has proved to be extremely complicated and unreliable.

“Here’s the one thing that I think I screwed up. I think I’m responsible for at least a billion-dollar cost of overrun because I wanted to reduce the number of radars,” retired Navy Capt. Tal Manvel, who served for a time as Program Manager for Future Carriers, said during a presentation at the U.S. Naval Academy Museum in 2015. “I did not appreciate that the complexity of that is not just increasing scale like with a mechanical system, like in the propulsion plant, but the complexity of the software-hardware interface.

“That’s my fault. I screwed up on that because I thought that this would be significant,” Manvel continued. “It turns out to be a big cost driver up front, and that’s one of the reasons why the Ford has this challenge of cost.”

You can watch Tal Manvel’s full 2015 presentation below.

Shifley Lecture: USS Ford-class carrier design

The Navy has since made the decision to replace the DBR on Ford class carriers primarily with the AN/SPY-6(V)3, also known as the fixed-face version of Raytheon’s Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR). The AN/SPY-6(V)3 has three antenna arrays compared to the DBR’s six. John F. Kennedy and future ships in the class will also feature an AN/SPQ-9B horizon search radar and the Mk 9 Tracker Illuminator System – which includes the Mk 95 illuminators – to provide additional functionality that was originally supposed to come from the DBR.

As an aside, the DBR was originally a core component of the Zumwalt class stealthy destroyer design, and was to be deeply integrated with the ship’s unique combat system, but suffered from similar technical and reliability issues in that setting, as well. The Navy subsequently decided to eliminate the S-band arrays on those ships as a cost-cutting measure. As it stands now, the USS Gerald R. Ford is the only ship the service expects to operate with the full DBR. The Navy has plans to eventually replace the DBR on that carrier with the EASR and other radars, too. Several variants of the AN/SPY-6 are also increasingly being integrated onto a host of different Navy ships, as seen in the graphic below.

The need for the Mk 95 illuminators on the Ford class could evolve further over time, including as the Block 2 ESSM enters more widespread service and with the development of the planned follow-on missile. TWZ has previously noted that the total number of Mk 95s has been reduced on at least some Nimitz class carriers for reasons that are still not entirely clear.

John F. Kennedy is also expected to bring along other important, but less visible improvements, which are set to be carried over to future ships in the class. This includes upgrades to the ship’s combat management system and a Block II version of the Navy’s Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) networked sensor architecture.

The Ford class program, overall, continues to face major delays and cost growth due to a host of technical issues and other factors that go well beyond problems with the DBR. The Navy had originally hoped to receive John F. Kennedy in 2022. Work on the next two ships in the class, the future USS Enterprise and USS Doris Miller, is also running behind schedule.

The Navy has said it is working to mitigate these ongoing issues and incorporate lessons learned in the construction of future ships in the class. The USS Gerald R. Ford has also now supported real combat operations, mostly recently as part of the conflict with Iran.

As highlighted in John F. Kennedy‘s recent sea trials, the Ford class design is already evolving in notable ways, particularly when it comes to the radar suite.

Special thanks to user @lfx160219 on X for bringing the Mk 95 radar illuminators on the future John F. Kennedy to our attention.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

The kid in the candy shop is Eli Roth with a gore budget and in the “Hostel” director’s latest bloody romp, “Ice Cream Man,” there’s a decidedly childlike giddiness from behind the camera to accompany the sicko suburban carnage depicted onscreen. Where others might view a “Village of the Damned” scenario as dread-inducing, Roth hears the bell for recess.

That doesn’t necessarily translate to a successful film. Little things like style, narrative command and character still matter, and Roth, who wrote “Ice Cream Man” with Noah Belson and even gives himself a role, is decidedly more of a smart-ass vaudevillian than a skilled filmmaker. (“Thanksgiving” was better as an impish sideshow teased as a trailer in “Grindhouse” than as a standalone feature years later.) And while that same belief in the lasting entertainment value of jokey splat-itude gives “Ice Cream Man” its occasional well-churned moments, it eventually undercuts Roth’s own semi-worthy bid to rattle us as the best horror movies can.

With its sunny elevator-music-scored opening of cheery park scenes and leafy residential neighborhoods, “Ice Cream Man” sets itself up, not unappealingly, like a Norman Rockwell painting asking to be vandalized. Next comes the arrival of a tinkling blue ice cream truck manned by an eerily silent, smiling, wraith-like purveyor (Ari Millen) with a John Waters mustache. He hands out his goodies free of charge, and the town’s children converge excitedly, then head home with colorfully smeared faces and a peculiarly quiet demeanor — except for easily bullied Jared (Charlie Zeltzer), who’s lactose intolerant and nobody’s friend anyway, after losing the ballgame for his team.

But when his ice cream-eating schoolmates begin slaughtering their parents overnight, seemingly fueled by the wafting sound of the truck jingle and old-timey black-and-white animations invading their phones, Jared seems like the lucky one. At school the next day, the cold-eyed stares of dairy-slopped grade-schoolers befuddles the teachers (“Is this some sort of zombie pajama day challenge?” is one of the better reaction lines) as well as unsuspecting Jared, along with two other unaltered classmates, Mia (Kiori Waldman) and Tommy (Shiloh O’Reilly). Then the ice cream man returns to refuel his targeted customers, who try to convert our well-cast, engaging trio of young double-scoop holdouts. Things get sticky.

A daytime massacre, built around gleefully homicidal children in full kill mode against adults, contains visuals designed to forever alter how you see tetherball, rope-skipping and cat’s cradle (plus a quasi-amusing shout-out to “The Birds”). It’s clear Roth was aiming for a blood-and-guts tour de force, which this both is and isn’t. Even after Jared and the gang escape the slayground to a church where they get the ice cream man’s backstory from a cowardly priest (Benjamin Byron Davis), genuine scares aren’t really in play here, just taboo snickers.

Then again, the carefully calibrated blend of dark humor, weirdness and sheer terror that made last year’s “Weapons” a rapturous nightmare about creepy children isn’t what Roth is after (or cares to do). He’s got a super-soaker “Goonies”-meets-early-Peter Jackson mindset and a list of clever kills to execute. Time’s a wastin’.

So a pinch of surprising depth proves to be the most unwieldy move when Roth unveils a resonantly nasty surprise for his story’s endgame. The impact is muted because it instantly clarifies how needlessly trivial everything before it was. Maybe someday, Roth will temper his empty-calories instincts and make more of a meal out of his twisted ideas.

Tarik Skubal is a Dodger.

The five words every baseball soul outside of Los Angeles dreaded hearing.

The Dodgers are going to three-peat.

The six words that every baseball soul everywhere must now acknowledge.

It’s over. The chase for baseball’s best pitcher, the hunt by baseball’s best team, the pennant race, the World Series, all of it.

It’s over. The Dodgers just stole it all again, three months early but right on time, their third consecutive championship cemented when they traded for the Detroit Tigers’ Tarik Skubal, the two-time defending American League Cy Young Award winner and quite simply the best pitcher in baseball.

Everybody wanted him. The Dodgers were the only team with enough assets to get him. Of course they were. They always are.

And in return, they surely will win a third consecutive championship against a withering and overmatched group of pretenders that could add Skubal only in their dreams.

He cost the Dodgers minor leaguers Zyhir Hope, River Ryan and Brady Smith. So? None of the three is considered a top-five Dodgers prospect in what appears to be a scandalously one-sided deal.

He could be a free agent this winter and may cost $400 million to retain. So? The Dodgers have that much in their couch cushions.

The Dodgers’ injury-scarred rotation needed a stud starting pitcher like Skubal and, as this column noted last month, there was no excuse for baseball’s wealthiest and smartest team not to grab him.

So the Dodgers grabbed him. Of course they did. They are rushing full bore toward that three-peat and, to the delight of the most appreciative fans in baseball, nothing is going to get in their way.

“Everything that we do is in mind with the partnership that we have with our fans, the 50,000 people that come out here every day,” said Andrew Friedman, Dodgers president of baseball operations, in a Sunday afternoon news conference, later adding, “And so for us, it’s about doing our part to try to back up our end as much as we can in partnership with them to hopefully have another parade.”

Friedman has won many trades in the dozen years he’s run the Dodgers, but this may be his greatest swindle yet. Think about it. He acquired the hottest pitcher on the market for three mostly unheralded prospects nearly two full days before the trade deadline.

Geez, Detroit, you think you could have taken more time to scour the market? And with the prospect-rich Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves in the mix, you think you could have done better than one good outfielder, one injury-prone 28-year-old pitcher and one anonymous dude going nowhere?

Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, can’t wait to see Tarik Skubal “in Dodger blue.”

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

The Dodger player reaction was shock, disbelief then joy.

“They were fired up, obviously,” said Friedman.

Nobody was more excited than Friedman, who showed rare emotion when talking about his latest triumph.

“Watching Tarik Skubal pitch in the playoffs last year was must-see TV,” he said. “I was in awe watching the energy, the dominance he exhibited there, and I can’t wait to see it in Dodger blue.”

The rest of baseball will hate them for this. They don’t care. Critics will say this is yet another example of how they are ruining the game. They could give a rip.

A move like this — the insanely rich getting insanely richer — could be cited this winter as a reason for the game shutting down over a labor dispute. Not their problem.

With a sore Shohei Ohtani looking increasingly doubtful for a meaningful October on the mound, with Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow still sidelined because of injuries, Skubal can slide into the No. 2 spot in a rotation that, if everyone gets healthy, could wind up being the best in baseball history.

Tarik Skubal was a two-time Cy Young winner for the Detroit Tigers.

(Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

Of course, in the immortal words of Kobe Bryant, the job is not finished.

There are still questions, even for a team that has all the answers.

Skubal is a tremendous postseason pitcher, with a 2.04 ERA in six starts, but will his surgically repaired left elbow survive through his third postseason?

After pushing 200 innings the last two seasons, he underwent a newfangled minimally invasive procedure on May 6 to remove a loose body from his elbow. Recovery time for a similar surgery performed the old-fashioned way is two to three months, but he was back on the mound in a game just a month later.

Will this new operation hold up? Time will tell, but the Dodgers will be holding their breath.

After Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Skubal, the Dodgers have another potentially big question. What do they do about Ohtani?

He’s got a balky knee, and now a painful biceps, and the Dodgers have kept him off the mound for a moment, but what happens in October?

By acquiring Skubal, the Dodgers can afford to pull Ohtani out of the rotation altogether and allow him to focus on hitting, which has taken a bit of a hit with the pitching issues. But would he accept such a move, which might feel like a demotion? Ohtani always has put winning first, but he also began the season openly acknowledging his quest for a Cy Young Award. So there’s that.

The Dodgers still will need some good fortune to round out the rotation.

Tarik Skubal returned to the mound in June after surgery to address an elbow issue.

(Jason Miller / Getty Images)

They say Snell and Glasnow are both on the verge of returning from what has essentially been season-long injuries. But, come October, they’ll both be 33, so believe only what you see.

Roki Sasaki has been tremendous since the All-Star break — that new glove has been a giant success — but he’s still never started a postseason game. And for all his surprise greatness this summer, Justin Wrobleski also has yet to start a postseason game.

It all could get interesting. But it shouldn’t be suspenseful.

Skubal solves all mysteries. Skubal ends all arguments. Skubal saves the summer.

The Dodgers are the most championship-driven and fan-devoted team in all of sports. They will do whatever it takes, however it takes, whenever it takes, to win.

Five words that unequivocally prove it.

Tarik Skubal is a Dodger.

CASTINE, Maine, July 30 (UPI) — The new State of Maine has arrived in historic Castine, where Revolutionary War history and maritime tradition converge on the shores of Penobscot Bay, bringing advanced technology to the Maine Maritime Academy as it trains the next generation of merchant mariners.

The $330 million, 525-foot ship is the third of five National Security Multi-Mission Vessels built for the U.S. Maritime Administration. to prepare the next generation of merchant mariners. The ship accommodates up to 600 cadets and features advanced navigation and engineering systems, classrooms and modern diesel propulsion.

Constructed at the Hanwha Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia by more than 2,000 American shipbuilders, engineers and apprentices, the vessel also reflects renewed investment in the U.S. shipbuilding industry. The shipyard was acquired by South Korea’s Hanwha Group in late 2024 for $100 million, bringing advanced automation and digital manufacturing technology there.

The South Korean shipbuilding conglomerate is betting $5 billion on a dramatic revival of American shipbuilding, planning to turn its Philadelphia yard into a high-volume production hub.

The investment would increase annual output from fewer than two vessels to as many as 20, pairing advanced Korean manufacturing technology with expanded U.S. capacity to build commercial ships and naval vessels.

For Maine Maritime Academy, the new ship represents a dramatic leap from the wooden schooners and comparatively simple navigation instruments that once defined maritime training along the Maine coast.

Its bridge features sophisticated navigation and communications systems, digital charts and advanced ship-control technology designed to prepare cadets for an increasingly automated global maritime industry.

Despite the technology, the fundamentals of seamanship have changed little. Cadets must still read weather and sea conditions, work as a crew and make decisions under pressure.

“We start with the basics,” said the academy’s Captain Gordon “Mac” McArthur, 56. “Rowing in an eight-person lifeboat is a large part of the fall semester freshman year. We build from tying knots and turning a wrench to the more complicated things. We are training problem-solvers and critical thinkers. The technology-based things don’t matter if you don’t have those fundamentals.”

The training ship’s arrival underscores the community’s enduring maritime identity, where centuries-old seafaring traditions meet the technology shaping the future of global shipping.

Nowhere is that contrast more evident than at Maine Maritime Academy, where the state-of-the-art ship shares the waterfront with Bowdoin, the academy’s 1921 National Historic Landmark schooner — a living symbol of the evolution from wind-powered seamanship to the digital age of navigation.

Yet, both are classrooms for learning many of the same fundamental lessons about life at sea.

The academy’s new flagship reflects Castine’s balance of maritime tradition and the future of seafaring. While Maine Maritime Academy trains the next generation of mariners for a high-tech global industry, the town is fighting to preserve the working-waterfront traditions that shaped its identity.

Just down the harbor, Eaton’s Boatyard — where wooden boats have been built and repaired since 1931 — remains a living workshop of Maine craftsmanship, proving that even in the digital age, some skills are still best learned by hand.

Eaton’s Boatyard preserves a cornerstone of Castine’s maritime heritage as the birthplace of the 18-foot wooden Castine Class sloop, designed by Mace Eaton in 1951. On July 18, 13 of the one-design racing sailboats, including two originals still owned by descendants of their first owners, competed in Castine Harbor, continuing a nearly 70-year racing tradition on Penobscot Bay.

David Biggs, honorary chairman of the 27th annual Castine-to-Camden Yacht Race, said the Downeast harbor’s maritime traditions continue to thrive as new generations embrace sailing.

“It’s still exciting to see these beautiful boats in our harbor, especially our own Castine Class Caroline B,” Biggs, 93, who has lived there with his wife, Marian, for more than 50 years, told UPI.

Though Castine has evolved from a working fishing and shipbuilding port into an upscale summer village, its identity remains firmly tied to the sea through Maine Maritime Academy, one of the nation’s leading schools for merchant mariners.

“It’s become a college town with a deep maritime soul,” Biggs said.

Kenny Eaton, 81, Mace Eaton’s grandson and the third generation of the boatbuilding family, has watched Castine’s waterfront change from a working harbor toward one increasingly shared with recreational boats and seasonal residents.

“You can’t stop change,” Eaton said. “But you hope the next generation understands that Castine wasn’t built just because it had a beautiful view of the water. It was built because people worked on it.”

That maritime connection continues among a new generation at Maine Maritime Academy.

That sense of maritime tradition also runs through families. Marin Griffin, 18, of Bangor, Maine, recently completed her freshman year at the academy and is following a path already taken by two generations before her.

“I’m the third generation in my family to attend Maine Maritime,” Griffin told UPI.

A harbor shaped by history

Castine’s ties to the sea run deep. Once a strategic outpost and later a bustling center of fishing, shipbuilding and coastal trade on Penobscot Bay, the town has evolved into a quiet Downeast harbor, while Maine Maritime Academy has carried its seafaring legacy into the modern era, training generations of merchant mariners and maritime professionals.

The State of Maine’s Captain Craig ‘Mac’ McArthur said Castine’s centuries-old connection to the Atlantic world continues to define both the school and the town.

“I’ve run into Maine Maritime alumni in Korea, Malaysia, Brazil, Dubai and other places around the world. Most don’t talk about their time at Maine Maritime,” McArthur said. “They talk about their time ‘in Castine.’ There is something about the remoteness of this place that prepares you for world travel.”

The academy’s legacy endures in the careers of graduates who credit its seamanship training for their success. Jon Parsons, 59, spent 23 years with Polar Tankers, transporting oil from Valdez, Alaska, while Tip Macdonald, 70, served as a ship pilot at the Port of Baltimore.

“I was a successful ship pilot at the Port of Baltimore for thirty years,” Macdonald told UPI. Both men say the academy’s rigorous instruction remains as strong today as when they attended, and that Castine continues to preserve the maritime traditions that have shaped generations of mariners.

An industry under pressure

Across coastal Maine, maritime trades are being reshaped by rising costs, technological change and a changing marine environment. Fishing remains dependent on generations of accumulated knowledge, but boats, engines, electronics, fuel and regulatory uncertainty have made entering the industry increasingly expensive.

A warming, rapidly changing Gulf of Maine is reshaping life on the water. Veteran tuna fisherman Justin McCarthy said Atlantic bluefin catches have declined and prices have fallen sharply, squeezing a fishery that once yielded five-figure paydays.

Yet, he sees hope in the next generation: his son, Mac, graduated from Maine Maritime Academy and returned home aboard the State of Maine, extending the family’s seafaring tradition.

Today’s merchant marine cadets are entering a maritime industry transformed by satellite navigation, electronic charts, automation and digital communications. Built for that environment, the State of Maine provides hands-on training with modern shipboard technology, preparing future deck officers and engineers to operate increasingly sophisticated commercial vessels.

Retired Navy Capt. Justin Cooper II, Maine Maritime Academy’s commandant of midshipmen, brings decades of naval experience to Castine. A former fighter pilot, Cooper served aboard the aircraft carriers USS Enterprise, USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Nimitz.

“We are training these young men and women to take their place in the maritime community,” Cooper told UPI. “We want them to be good leaders and to prepare them to enter the global maritime industry.”

Founded during World War II, Maine Maritime Academy still instills the discipline and seamanship demanded by U.S. Coast Guard standards. While most graduates now head into the commercial maritime industry rather than military service, the academy’s mission remains the same: preparing mariners to lead when conditions at sea turn unforgiving.

That emphasis on fundamental seamanship is reinforced by another academy vessel.

The Bowdoin, a 1921 Arctic exploration schooner, comes from an era when sailors depended on wind, weather, charts and celestial observation. Berthed alongside the State of Maine, the two vessels bridge more than a century of maritime education, reflecting both the evolution of seafaring and the enduring maritime heritage that has defined this coastal community for generations.

TOURISTS are set to be given the chance to see Stonehenge up close and free of charge for the first time in over a century.

A select number of visitors will win the opportunity to get VIP access to the iconic UK tourist attraction.

A select few visitors to Stonehenge will be able to experience a once-in-a-lifetime private viewing of the epic spectacle.

The prehistoric site in Wiltshire sees around 1.4 million tourists every year – but the stones are usually viewed from afar and behind a barrier.

Now, English Heritage has confirmed that a lucky number of people will be able to win special access every day in August for nothing.

Since a fee to see Stonehenge was introduced back in 1901, free entry to the inner circle of stones is usually reserved for VIPs like high profile celebrities or political figures.

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As part of the special competition, one booking will be selected at random every day to be given private access free of charge.

The chosen groups will have the privilege of seeing the stones’ “delicate carvings” and coatings of rare algae and fungi coating known as “lichen”.

Georgia Butters, English Heritage’s head of operations for Stonehenge, said: “Stonehenge is one of the world’s most recognisable landmarks and a bucket-list destination for millions of people across the globe – but very few people have ever experienced the monument in complete peace and quiet.

“This is genuinely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stand within the ancient stones with no one else around, soaking up the atmosphere and spirituality of this remarkable place,” she added.

“There’s a certain stillness and tranquility about that space. It’s sort of mind-blowing and puts you right back in touch with our ancestors.”

To be in with a chance of nabbing the daily tour, visitors must make their booking on the official English Heritage website at least 72 hours in advance, so that winners can be contacted 24 hours before the visit.

The winning booking groups will be given the private half an hour tour at 9am, before any other tourists arrive.

They will then be treated to a breakfast roll and a hot drink, before being able to go off and enjoy the attraction in their own time.

July 28 (UPI) — Hurricane Genevieve remained a powerful Category 4 storm Monday night in the Pacific, according to forecasters who said it was bringing life-threatening surf and rip-current conditions to the Baja California Peninsula.

The storm was located about 505 miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja California, the National Hurricane Center said in its 8 p.m. MST update. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 145 mph and was moving northwest at 12 mph.

No coastal watches or warnings were in effect, though forecasters said swells generated by Genevieve were affecting portions of the southwestern coast of Mexico and the Baja California Peninsula.

“These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions,” the NHC said.

Although it remained a major hurricane, forecasters expected it to steadily weaken over the next several days, during which it is forecast to move northwest to west-northwest.

July 28 (UPI) — Fausto weakened from a hurricane to a tropical storm Monday, according to forecasters, who warned the Hawaiian Islands to expect “significant surf” over the next couple of days.

The storm was located about 415 miles east-northeast of Hilo, Hawaii, and had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, the National Hurricane Center said in its 5 p.m. HST update.

It was moving west-northwest at a blistering 16 mph, it said.

No coastal watches or warnings were in effect.

However, the NHC said surf generated by Fausto would continue to build westward across Hawaii along east-facing shores through Tuesday as the storm approached and began to pass north of the islands.

“On the forecast track, Fausto should pass north of the Hawaiian Islands during the next few days,” it said.

Anduril has revealed a new hybrid-electric-powered tiltrotor combat drone called Thunder, which it has developed in partnership with Archer Aviation. Thunder is envisioned as a highly autonomous pilotless wingman able to fly fast and low in formation with crewed helicopters and tiltrotors like the AH-64 Apache and MV-75 Cheyenne II. The drones could help hunt down targets, including fleeting ones, while allowing their human teammates to stay further away from threats. Thunder is also being designed to help provide an extra layer of close-in defense for friendly rotorcraft, including against the growing threat of air-to-air drone attacks. All of this is part of a detailed teaming concept Anduril has outlined to fill what it says are critical operational gaps in current and future conflicts.

Anduril and Archer rolled out Thunder today, around the biennial Farnborough International Airshow in the United Kingdom. A mockup, which Anduril says reflects a “mature” outer mold-line of the design, will be on display at the show.

“Thunder is very much an attack aircraft, so it is designed for very high performance, [and] low-level [flight],” Shane Arnott, Senior Vice President of Maneuver Dominance at Anduril, told TWZ and other outlets during a press call ahead of today’s announcement. “Very much in that Apache space, say, versus a high-flying surveillance aircraft.”

At the time of writing, Anduril has only released relatively broad details about the expected performance and other specifications of the drone, which has been under development for around three years now. A first flight is currently targeted for some time next year, and full-scale production could be underway by the end of the decade, depending on demand. The company has also already been working on Thunder together with “government customers,” but has explicitly declined to name any of them.

It’s also worth noting that a version of Thunder configured for commercial applications is also in the works, with Archer Aviation set to release more details on that later this week.

What we know about the Thunder design

Thunder is a clean-sheet design with a relatively traditional tiltrotor layout featuring a high-mounted, straight main wing on top of the fuselage. The wing has a single tilting rotor pod at each tip. It also has a V-tail.

In terms of overall size and performance, Anduril describes Thunder as a Group 5 design. The U.S. government breaks uncrewed aerial systems into five categories. Group 5 is the highest tier, covering anything with a maximum takeoff weight of 1,320 pounds or more, and that can fly at altitudes of 18,000 feet or higher. 

“It will have the ability to work at that at [18,000 feet], but the intent is for it to be nap-of-the-earth for most of its life,” Anduril’s Arnott noted. “That’s where it’ll be spending its time. Think about the Apache kind of profile. So you’ll hit certain altitudes to get your ferry ranges, etc. But when you’re in the AO [area of operations] and in combat, you’re as close to the dirt as you can get.”

Arnott also described Thunder as having the same general top speed and range as the MV-75 Cheyenne II, which is now under development for the U.S. Army. The Army is reportedly expecting the MV-75 to boast a top speed of 320 miles per hour and have an unrefueled range of 920 miles. This is far above the range and speed offered by any current Army helicopter. Beyond teaming with Apaches and similar attack helicopters, being able to keep pace with the Cheyenne II could be an especially important feature for the Thunder, as we will touch on again later.

Anduril has also described Thunder as being smaller than the Apache and able to be broken down for transport inside a standard 40-foot shipping container. As an aside, it is unclear exactly how much time is necessary to get the tiltrotor drone out of a container and flying again. Getting it loaded in the first place does require separating the wing structure from the fuselage, at least in the design’s current form, according to the company. The drone will also have the speed and range necessary for self-deployment.

When it comes to propulsion, “a series hybrid-electric powertrain enables Thunder to achieve significant range and endurance, while still maintaining the necessary precision to closely optimize power through the full range of flight conditions,” according to a press release from Anduril. “Meanwhile, Optimum-Speed Tiltrotors (OSTR) vary rotor RPM [rotations per minute] to maintain efficiency across flight regimes, reducing power demand and fuel burn in cruise and minimizing acoustic signature to enhance survivability during low-altitude ingress.”

“From a survivability standpoint, one of the big tells for helicopters today, is just they’re very noisy, and the threat can hear when they’re coming,” Anduril’s Arnott also added when speaking to TWZ and other outlets. “We’re at orders of magnitude below the sound level with this particular system than the current systems that are out there today.”

The partnership with Archer Aviation, a company whose public profile is focused on crewed fully electric-powered vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, has been key here. Anduril also cited Archer’s motor technology as being a key feature of the hybrid-electric Omen tail-sitting vertical takeoff and landing drone, which was unveiled last year.

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During the press call ahead of today’s unveiling, Chris Brose, Anduril’s President and Chief Strategy Officer, said that he felt that leveraging the immense investment by companies like Archer in the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) development space had “made Thunder possible in a way today that it just wouldn’t have been possible five, 10, certainly 15 years ago.”

“So this is not electric, this is a hybrid-electric system,” Anduril’s Arnott also stressed. “But in doing so, it actually reduces the complexity of the drive trains, etc.”

Rotor technology for another firm, Karem, has also been leveraged in the development of Thunder. Karem has a long history in the tiltrotor design space, including work done for the U.S. Army and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

“Karem’s military-grade rotor systems are among the most advanced Army-validated technologies in the world,” Adam Goldstein, Archer Founder and CEO, said in a press release about a new collaboration between the two companies in December 2025. “Integrating them into our next-gen hybrid VTOL [vertical takeoff and landing] platform positions Archer to move faster and deliver capabilities that legacy systems simply can’t match.”

The unnamed “next-gen hybrid VTOL platform” at the center of Archer’s December announcement has now been confirmed to be Thunder.

Modular capabilities and advanced autonomy

Capability-wise, Thunder is a highly modular design with reconfigurable payload bays in the nose and the center of the fuselage.

The drone can carry up to 10 air-to-ground missiles, 16 ‘launched effects,’ four 19-shot pods holding a total of 76 70mm laser-guided Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) rockets, or a mix thereof, on launchers that extend to either side from the main bay, according to Anduril. Air-to-ground missiles here could include AGM-114 Hellfires, AGM-179 Joint Air-to-Ground Missiles (JAGM), or Anduril’s Barracuda-100M.

The term launched effects is used today to collectively refer to drones configured to perform a variety of missions, including serving as loitering munitions, which can be fired from air, ground, and/or maritime platforms. Anduril specifically mentioned its ALTIUS-600 design as one potential option for Thunder. ALTIUS-600 can be set up to perform surveillance and reconnaissance and electronic warfare tasks, act as a decoy, and launch kinetic attacks.

The company has also specifically highlighted the ability of the bay in the nose to hold launchers for kinetic interceptors to take down incoming drones, something we will come back to later on. It is worth noting that APKWS II is already a combat-proven, lower-cost counter-drone weapon, including in the air-to-air mode. However, it is employed in more traditional counter-air applications, like intercepting one-way attack munitions and cruise missiles, not for defending the shooting platform itself against incoming high-speed anti-aircraft drones.

Both the nose and main payload bays could accommodate other systems, such as electronic warfare suites, additional sensors, and/or communications packages. Each Thunder will also have its own built-in sensor suite to support surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as target acquisition tasks.

In addition, Thunder will have passive sensing capabilities to support general operation and navigation. This will be especially important for enabling high-speed nap-of-the-earth flight profiles. It will also be essential for providing situational awareness and flight safety margins while operating in relatively close proximity to crewed teammates, as well as other drones.

“We’ve spent the last couple of years working with technologies that are coming out of the self-driving car industry, plus some of that are coming out of the Anduril sensor/imaging kind of groups, in order for us to detect a terrain, [and] do that in a passive sense, so we’re not giving away our position,” according to Anduril’s Arnott. The sensors will also “be able to detect weapons coming at us, power lines, that type of thing, and have it such that you can have three to six of these things flying with a two-ship [group] of Apache, for instance, to provide that loyal wingman nature.”

“Thunder’s multi-modal machine perception stack and sensor suite combines passive and selective active sensors with onboard computer vision, map data, and edge compute, enabling Thunder to continuously detect, classify, and track terrain, obstacles, and threats,” Anduril has also explained in a blog post accompanying today’s announcement. “That sensor data provides the inputs necessary to facilitate the visual navigation, inertial positioning, and terrain feature mapping that enable Thunder to remain on course when GPS, visibility, and communications are degraded or denied.”

“With sophisticated onboard machine perception, vehicle autonomy, and flight-proven collaborative mission autonomy software, Thunder can maneuver with the formation, share data in real time, coordinate effects, and act on pilot intent, delivering a trusted autonomous wingman that can keep up with, defend, and empower the pilots flying the most congested airspace on the battlefield,” the blog post adds.

Anduril’s Lattice proprietary artificial intelligence-enabled software package will underpin Thunder’s overall autonomous capabilities. The company says other autonomous software could also be integrated to meet particular customer demands. Anduril has already conducted testing of some components of Thunder’s autonomy and sensing systems using unspecified surrogate aircraft.

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Just one part of a full concept of operations

What has been shared so far about Thunder’s capabilities brings us to the larger concept of operations Anduril envisions for the drone. The company says the war in Ukraine has had an especially heavy influence on its thinking around the design. This is very interesting, as this particular conflict has prompted serious questions about the future relevance of traditional helicopters on modern battlefields where the threat ecosystem continues to grow in scale and scope.

Anduril acknowledges the breadth of dangers that helicopters and tiltrotors already face. This is perhaps best evidenced by the touting of Thunder’s ability to defend against air-to-air drone attacks, something the ongoing fighting in Ukraine has shown to be a real threat, as seen in the video below. Anduril’s Arnott also explicitly mentioned the threat posed by shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, also known as man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS), while speaking to TWZ and other outlets.

At the same time, Anduril argues that there are critical missions rotorcraft perform today that cannot be fully transposed onto other kinds of platforms, and that drone wingmen like Thunder will therefore be an essential addition to the equation. The company has not yet shared a projected unit cost for the drone, but has also stressed that it fits in with a broader understanding of a need for platforms that are lower cost and more readily producible to create sufficient operational capacity, or ‘mass,’ for forces to succeed in future conflicts. Anduril’s Brose said that Thunder will be a “fraction” of the cost of something like an Apache or an MV-75, and operators will be able to “afford to lose it if you have to.”

“Many of the things that we’ve designed and engineered into Thunder are really based on the lessons that the United States and our European allies are learning in Ukraine, and this whole question of how do you bring mass to the battlefield in a tactical environment where you have to be able to engage in the deep fight,” Brose explained in more detail about Anduril’s overall thinking around Thunder. “We’re looking at the proliferation of robotic systems, and drones, and sensors, and that’s all very good and very important. But you also raise the question of, well, how are you going to get that stuff farther downrange into the environments where you need it to be able to conduct those more sophisticated and more challenging missions, again on behalf of U.S. and NATO militaries?”

To meet those operational needs, “you have to have the ability to launch and recover combat power without runways. You have to be able to do this in expeditionary environments,” he continued, underscoring the value of a VTOL platform. “When your runways get cratered, you have to have the ability to conduct the mission.”

Runway independence, or at least reducing dependence on traditional runways, has become an increasing mantra across the U.S. military, in particular, in recent years, as TWZ regularly highlights. The U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Air Force, as well as the special operations community, have put particular emphasis on this in new and still evolving concepts of operations in recent years.

So, “in terms of how you then get a greater quantity of sensors and weapons into the fight to support those manned systems, to support the ground force to be able to conduct those long-range missions from a maneuver warfare standpoint, and really make maneuver central to warfare again, we really see this system in Thunder being absolutely central to that,” Brose added.

Brose specifically took aim at the idea that lower-cost, long-range one-way attack drones could fill the same kinds of mission requirements. The U.S. military just recently began fielding this capability in the form of the Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drone, which made its official combat debut in Operation Epic Fury against Iran.

“A lot of those longer-range one-way attack missions, they’re going after fixed targets,” he said. “They’re slower flights out. It’s [the total duration of the strike mission] going to play out over a longer period of time. They’re hitting critical infrastructure, military installations, production capacity, et cetera. Basically, GPS points that aren’t moving.”

“What this is focused on is the ability to transit through the operational environment,” he continued. “To survive and then to persist once you get there, so that you can provide effects to attack aviation elements in the air that are conducting missions or ground forces that are conducting missions on the land. That immediately gets into a time-sensitive, dynamic targeting kind of mission space that a system like this has to be able to survive and persist and operate effectively in.”

It is important to note here that new targeting capabilities have already been emerging in the realm of longer-range one-way attack drones. LUCAS and many Ukrainian designs now have satellite communications-enabled man-in-the-loop functionality, allowing them to hit dynamic/moving targets. Driven by advances in artificial intelligence-driven technologies, drones are set to steadily gain greater ability to find and choose targets autonomously, something TWZ has previously explored in detail. This being said, they are still single-use weapons that offer very different capabilities from what Anduril is aiming for with Thunder.

Anduril’s Arnott also questioned the relevance of existing higher-flying armed drones to meet these kinds of operational needs. The MQ-9 Reaper has been very much in public consciousness recently due to its heavy use in the conflict with Iran, but also substantial combat losses. The U.S. Air Force has described the MQ-9 as a star player in operations against Iran, despite having lost dozens of them.

“As we got further and further up and higher and higher, [we] got comfortable because we own the air, but things have changed,” Arnott said. “We’re seeing that in [Operation] Epic Fury, the Iranians, etc. have got systems that are just knocking that type of CONOP off its feet, and it’s just not relevant anymore. So that’s why we’ve gone back to the surface. That’s where the survivability is for these types of systems, to fly low and fast.”

“Right now, we don’t see another solve [sic; solution] for that, and this is probably the ugliest of all the warfighting domains, where you still need a human … to do the sorting of the targets on friend and foe, etc,” he added. “The only way you can do that is to have a quarterback, say, with an Apache, and then these loyal wingmen, if you will, to enable their survivability, but also to project a lot more mass in the deep [fight].”

Despite all the talk of lessons learned from contemporary conflicts, Anduril has made clear that its view of future ‘deep fights’ goes well beyond Europe and the Middle East. He said that Thunder’s speed and range, and the basic choice of a tiltrotor conflict, were also intended to make it very relevant for a conflict in the broad expanses of the Pacific. The U.S. Army’s decision to acquire the MV-75 was notably driven by the same general factors.

“This is a gap. There is actually no way when you fast forward into full theater conflicts in the Pacific, even the Taiwanese, if you play through the war games and things get entrenched, there isn’t a way in other than these types of techniques,” Arnott told TWZ directly in a separate interview about Thunder ahead of today’s announcement. “If Russia does start their activity into the High North [in and around the Arctic region,] as well as China, you get to the same situations. You can’t do all your warfare from 30 or 15,000 feet. It just does not work, apart from the fixed targets.”

A more detailed notional Thunder vignette

Anduril’s Arnott also described more detailed notional operational scenarios involving Thunder to us during that interview:

“The concepts to date have been primarily driven around that you’ve got a two-ship [of] Apache, very traditional formation. You would then, depending on the mission, whether it’s a protective mission for the two ship, whether it’s a deep strike mission, or an ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] type mission, you’d have between three and six thunders for every two ship ARH [armed reconnaissance helicopter], and the intent there being that that’s a lot of metal in the air and a lot of things to manage.”

“So very much for it to be the command as opposed to control, where in effect, the way that the team presents to the Apache cockpit, whoever’s kind of got the leash, is it looks like another Apache. So it basically comes across [on] very similar data links to what the aircraft has. We call this concept ‘polite participant.’ So we don’t force any new software onto the host aircraft, or the mothership, or the quarterback, I should say. And in doing so, those teammates or wingmen are smart enough to be able to navigate and aviate in such a way that you don’t get in the way to be able to give them the similar level of command that you would to a wingman, wing person, if you will, and that they’re able to array themselves.”

“And whether it’s a chevron formation in front, whether it’s some sort of formation around the outside at cardinal points around the aircraft for a protective – a force protection mission, where you’re utilizing the counter-UAS systems that are on thunder and also electronic protection. But basically, you would put them into postures, and you command these postures that reflect themselves in formation, and then activation of various payloads that they have on board, and that may change also through the mission.”

“So you may have a setup where you’ve got the Apaches at the FOB [forward operating base]. You’ll have either at the FOB or somewhere nearby the Thunders. These guys come together and they form up. They move out. Initially, you’re just in [a] train, so you’re tracking into the AO [area of operations]. You come into … the forward line of troops. You then may move into a configuration where you’re at the cardinal points around the outside of the Apache, because part of the problem with the land domain is that the threats can come at any angle to you, and [you] have activated the counter-UAS systems and the electronic protect systems, for instance. So the Thunders would be either radiating or waiting for irradiation [sic] from an electronic attack standpoint, based on certain signals, or having their doors open as it relates to the counter-UAS, the kinetic kill payloads, that are on there, as you then transit through certain areas.”

“That may then change, where the counter-UAS payloads are in the nose, for instance, they would close, and then you go into the direct attack, which would be the main payload bay that you’ve seen the doors that are coming out. They may be fitted with direct attack weapons like Hydras [70mm unguided rockets], APKWS, or Hellfires, for instance, and then be in fire support to the Apaches in a similar way that the Apaches work together to – one set of aircrew can designate and shoot off the other[‘s targeting data]. For instance, it’s a very similar workflow, so it’s not a new workflow for direct attack.”

“Or it could be, ‘hey, I need to go and find something out there.’ So today, they’ll use the M-TADS [Modernized Target Acquisition and Designation Sight] for the video. They’ll use the fire control radar to scan an area. It’s a similar kind of workflow where they’re like, “Hey, I need to find out about something out there. The Thunders could release launched effects, for instance, like the ALTIUS product that we have, but it could be [an AeroVironment] Switchblade, it could be something else, and they would then talk back to the Thunders. So we’d have that concept of tiering out in front. The ALTIUS are then out there, and they’re finding targets autonomously with their computer vision. They’re then providing back a track picture, so icons, if you will, that come back to the Thunder. The Thunder then talks back to the Apache via the Apache data link, and the symbols appear on their map display or their FCR [fire control radar], just like they would if they were self-identified or coming from one of their formation, as well.”

Apache Fire Control: Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor

Boeing AH-64D Longbow Apache

“So the intent is these workflows are exactly the same. How it presents to the warfighter is the same. It’s just more. You can see further. You can shoot more. But the workflow, in effect, is effectively the same. So that is the whole concept of this polite participant construct that we have.”

Arnott stressed that his use of Apache here was as a generic example and that this overall concept could work with other helicopters serving in the quarterback role. Anduril also envisions command and control of the Thunders being executed by helicopter crews through existing cockpit displays rather than a tertiary device, such as a tablet. There has been much debate over the years about the physical user interface that is most suitable for use on crewed aircraft of any kind to direct uncrewed teammates.

Competition in a growing market space

Anduril is certainly not alone in seeing a market space emerging for this kind of teaming with existing and future crewed helicopters and tiltrotors, at least in broad strokes. Boeing and Sikorsky (a subsidiary now of Lockheed Martin) both unveiled vertical takeoff and landing capable loyal wingman-type drone designs around the Association of the U.S. Army’s (AUSA) main annual conference last year. Boeing’s Collaborative Transformational Rotorcraft (CxR) is also a tiltrotor.

In addition, almost a decade ago now, Bell announced it was working on a Group 5 tiltrotor drone called the V-247 Vigilant. The V-247 was originally developed in response to a U.S. Marine Corps requirement, but Bell has since shown renderings depicting it operating together with versions of its crewed V-280 Valor tiltrotor design, on which the MV-75 was based.

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

The only difference between the Group 4 and Group 5 drone categories is operating altitude, with the designs in the former tier not being able to fly above 18,000 feet.

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

In the context of the U.S. Army, specifically, the concepts of operations Anduril has outlined for Thunder have also prompted comparisons to the previous pairing of Apaches with crewed OH-58D Kiowa Warrior armed scout helicopters. The Army retired the very last of its OH-58Ds in 2017 without a direct replacement. Several unsuccessful attempts were made before and after the Kiowa’s retirement to find a direct successor, the most recent of which was the Future Attack Recon Aircraft (FARA) program. The Army cancelled FARA in 2024 as part of a larger shakeup of aviation programs that put renewed emphasis on new uncrewed capabilities.

“We’re looking to recreate similar concepts to be able to enable deep strike missions, all the things that Apache was originally designed for with the Kiowa,” Anduril’s Arnott said.

Thunder, like the other designs emerging in space now, could also be of interest to the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. special operations forces, which are facing the same kinds of operational realities. The Army’s elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment is already in line to acquire a version of the MV-75, which could also benefit very much from a drone wingman able to keep pace in terms of range and speed. The 160th has already been working to expand crewed-uncrewed teaming concepts using its existing helicopters and the MQ-1C Gray Eagle drone.

This all goes beyond the U.S. military, too. Last year, the U.K. Ministry of Defense also picked Anduril and three other companies to develop drone demonstrators that could be paired with British Army Apaches. Anduril’s press release at the time mentioned a partnership on that effort, which is called Project NYX, with Archer Aviation and several other firms. Anduril has explicitly declined to confirm or deny whether Thunder is its offering for that program.

The Apache, in particular, has a substantial and still growing global operator base, opening the door to other potential customers for drones like Thunder. As already noted, uncrewed wingmen could be valuable for extending the operating reach and reducing the vulnerability of other helicopter types, too.

Anduril is clearly putting a major foot forward in this space with Thunder, and the detailed concepts of operations it already has in mind to go with it. At the same time, the company has never built a tiltrotor, let alone a full-size helicopter, at least that we know of, unlike some of the other companies already in this space. Pairing with Archer and Karem on this project does offer major benefits. Archer has yet to bring an aircraft to production, as well.

Still, these same issues were often highlighted when Anduril joined the competition for the extremely high-profile and critical first phase, or Increment 1, of the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program. Anduril had submitted a design called Fury, which TWZ previously explored the full history of in an extensively detailed feature you can find here. Widely considered an underdog in the competition, Anduril was subsequently chosen as one of two firms in the final Increment 1 down-select, with the other being General Atomics. The Air Force has now decided to order production examples of both Increment 1 designs.

Now we’ll have to see if a similar story repeats itself for Thunder, as competition in the market space for drone wingmen for crewed helicopters and tiltrotors continues heating up.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell first wrote the numbers for “Hadestown,” a folk musical based on Greek mythology, in 2006. Twenty years later, the Tony-winning smash musical comes to the big screen in a version filmed on the West End in 2025, directed by Brett Sullivan. The production reunites the original Broadway cast — André De Shields, Patrick Page, Reeve Carney, Eva Noblezada and Amber Gray — six years after the show debuted and swept the Tonys in 2019.

There is a timelessness to Mitchell’s work, thanks in large part to the ancient source material, the myths of Orpheus, Eurydice, Hades and Persephone. Developed in partnership with Rachel Chavkin, who directed the Broadway show, the action is set around the 1930s in the American Deep South. The story expresses evergreen themes of love, sacrifice, oppression, addiction and devotion, juxtaposing the tragedy of the way things are against a hope of the way they could be.

There are moments when Mitchell’s songs feel eerily prescient: The show’s villain, Hades (Page), rules the underworld of Hadestown as a fascistic industrialist; his Act I closing number is titled “Why We Build the Wall.” Factory workers sing back to him, “We build the wall to keep us free,” a chorus that foretells the Trumpian rhetoric of 2016 and a reminder that these patterns of division and otherization are the eternal tools of the oppressor.

“Hadestown” is a love story first and foremost, set in a joyous juke joint, the band ringing the stage. The camera follows our narrator, Hermes, played by American theater legend De Shields, as he takes the stage, kissing the heads of his company.

But the show doesn’t start until the 79-year-old De Shields nattily flips his jacket open, to the approving roar of the audience. He introduces doomed Orpheus (Carney), “touched by the Gods themselves,” a born yearner with a gift for song. When Eurydice (Noblezada), a scrappy, skeptical slip of a girl, rolls into town, Orpheus instantly falls head over heels. They have nothing except each other, their love symbolized by a red flower that Orpheus offers.

Party girl Persephone (Gray) brings the summer fun, but her jealous lover Hades wants to keep her all to himself in his domain, trapping the world in a long winter. Orpheus promises to write a song to summon spring again, but a struggling Eurydice is seduced by Hades’ promises of security in Hadestown, and she descends with him, signing her life away to work in his factory. Orpheus tries to rescue his love, but his faith in her is tested on their return to the top — if he turns back to see if she’s there, she’ll be banished to Hadestown forever.

Real-life couple Carney and Noblezada married several months after this production; they met at Noblezada’s audition. Their chemistry makes the emotional devastation of this tragedy that much more real: Every main actor sheds a real tear over the course of the show. Carney’s unique tenor ranges from Jeff Buckley to Freddie Mercury; his rock background and skill with the guitar is required for Orpheus’ lyre-playing and lends to the folk roots of Mitchell’s songs.

Cinematographer Clayton Jacobsen captures unexpected camera angles that a theatergoer wouldn’t get (even one with decent seats), both from down below in the circular pit and above it. He sends the camera soaring over the heads of the audience into intimate medium shots. Sullivan makes the animated and often rowdy crowd an integral part of the cinematic experience, including an extended curtain call with De Shields toasting the audience, sending them out with the warmth with which he brought them in.

There is such a temporal quality to theater, a shared moment in time and space. This production feels like a fleeting moment — a reunion of friends and collaborators retelling a myth that is recounted over and over again. “It’s a sad song, but we sing it anyway,” Hermes reminds us, and it’s a sentiment worth repeating. There may be tragedy, but the summer will inevitably return.

Waving a Mexican flag with a vaquero sombrero on, El Malilla made history at Coachella last year as the first reggaeton Mexa act on the lineup.

To keep the momentum going, the rising Mexican star had planned for his first U.S. tour to take place last summer. After the Trump administration ramped up the ongoing ICE raids around the same time, El Malilla decided to put the safety of his fans first and postpone the tour.

“With what was happening with Mexicans and immigrants — the big problem being ICE — I decided to pause the tour, because I didn’t feel comfortable exposing my fans to that kind of situation,” El Malilla says over Zoom from his home in Valle de Chalco. “For me, it was important to bring this tour to the U.S., but in a safe way without putting anyone in harm’s way.”

After wrapping up the Mexican leg of his “Tu Maliante Bebé” Tour, El Malilla, who was born Fernando Hernández Flores, is now preparing to bring his show to the states. The 19-show trek will kick off July 24 in Palm Springs, followed by a concert at The Novo in Los Angeles the next day.

Mexican artist El Malilla.

(Joss Andreu)

“The Novo is very important for me because it’s going to be my biggest venue for this U.S. tour,” he admits. “To see how Los Angeles has adopted me, embraced me, and shown me love, I’m going to feel like I’m home.”

Following his Coachella debut, El Malilla has pushed reggaeton from Mexico into the mainstream. He imbues the genre with Mexican swagger, slang and sex appeal in his explosive hits such as “B de Bellako,” “Mami Tú” and “Balenciaga” featuring corrido singer Luis R. Conriquez.

Since then, El Malilla has expanded the scope of reggaeton Mexa following collaborations with Puerto Rican pioneers such as Jowell y Randy and Colombian superstar J Balvin. The perreo heartthrob is also tapping into new genres for his upcoming sophomore album. In an interview with The Times, El Malilla opened up about leading the reggaeton Mexa movement and what to expect from his tour.

How do you feel about representing Mexican culture and reggaeton Mexa with this tour in the U.S.?
I feel very happy to bring a bit of our culture, our slang, our sound and our essence to the U.S. for my fans that haven’t had a chance to see a show of mine. Something that’s very crazy for me is when I performed in Chicago last year, there were people with signs that said they were from different places in Mexico like the State of Mexico. It made me very nostalgic to know that I’m also from the State of Mexico and we’re here. It’s important for me to represent our roots. Get ready, because I’m coming with perreo sucio. [Laughs.]

What do you think when you fans always ask for you to take off your shirt at your concerts?
It makes me laugh because when I sing “Rodillas,” people start screaming for me to take off my shirt. My show lasts like two hours and that’s barely the first song. I enjoy it, because I consider El Malilla to be a showman. I love to be onstage and have fun with my fans. Though some people might see me as a sex symbol, I don’t see myself that way, but to each their own.

What does it mean for you to be breaking down barriers for reggaeton Mexa?
It makes me very happy. I’ve been thinking about that recently. When would you think that an iconic pop star like Danna would collaborate with an iconic chacalón [Mexican slang for “bad boy”] like myself? That never crossed my mind before, but now in 2026, our reggaeton, our essence and our sound has become important in Mexico and even more so on a Latino level. Now everything is possible. There [are] no longer barriers for reggaeton Mexa, or for Mexican singers. Today, your biggest dream is possible.

Who else would you love to collaborate with in the future?
Lately, I’ve spent more time in the U.S. and I’ve been soaking up more English music. I discovered that I really like The Weeknd. A collaboration with him would be crazy! I returned to Coachella this year to sing with Cachirula & Loojan … and to be able to see Justin Bieber live was incredible. I would love to collaborate with him. On the Latin side, I would love to collaborate with Nsqk, De La Ghetto, Ñengo Flow or a reggaeton pioneer like DJ Blass.

What’s the process been like working on your next album?
I spent a year and a half working on this album. I enjoyed that process so much. Music has given me so much that this album is my way of repaying music for all the blessings it’s given me. You’ll be surprised at what I’m capable of. This is a Malilla that’s now 26 and a little more mature. It’s a more experimental and professional Malilla. I had never made a bolero song and I dared to do that this time. I did my research by listening to Luis Miguel, José José and singers and genres that I wasn’t used to listening to. I found love for those genres and singers. It was a very fun and cool way for me to explore different genres.

WASHINGTON — For Mary Fisher–mother, artist, philanthropist and HIV-positive woman–the moment is now.

She tries hard not to think about the future: her future, or the possibility that her children will face their future without her. When she feels the fear, it comes “in that reflective place you find yourself in at night, when you’re forced to find a quiet time,” she said.

“I allow my work and my children to fill my time, so I don’t have to think about those things on a daily or hourly basis,” she said. “I couldn’t get through the days if I did.”

Nor does Fisher dwell on her medical situation with her two young sons, who are now 6 and 4. Neither of them is infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS.

“The best thing I can do for them is be with them, look them straight in the eye, answer their questions as best I can and be here, be involved in their lives as best I can,” she said. “They know I have a disease. I don’t know if they’re relating it to what their dad had–and I don’t know if I want them to relate to it, because I’m not sick.

“I don’t want to instill my fears–if I have them–in my children,” she added.

It has been nearly two years since Fisher, 45, seared the public consciousness with her speech before the Republican National Convention.

Standing before her fellow Republicans, she spoke in calm, gentle tones–but delivered a personal story that shocked the hall into silence.

“I think she reaches people that activists like myself can never reach, which is people who respond to maternal warmth and not to yelling,” said playwright Larry Kramer, a close friend of Fisher’s who is a founding member of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power).

“That’s why she is as important as we are, maybe more so,” he said. “We’re a funny pair because she’s always saying to me: ‘Larry, I wish I had some of your anger.’ And I’m always saying to her: ‘Mary, I wish I had some of your compassion.’ I see her speeches on TV and say: ‘Mary, why don’t you get angrier?’ And she says: ‘Larry, I can’t.’ But I think she’s exceedingly effective being as she is, and I don’t want her to change a decibel.”

Fisher challenged the Republican Party to confront the AIDS epidemic with candor and compassion and to make the issue its own.

Since then, she has traveled the nation, speaking in churches, schools, prisons–wherever there is an audience that can learn from her message: If it can happen to me, it can happen to you.

In many quarters, “people perceive AIDS as a depressing subject and don’t want to take personal responsibility,” Fisher said from the home she now rents in a Maryland suburb outside Washington, where she moved her family from Boca Raton, Fla., last summer.

“They try to make me an exception,” she said. “I am not unusual. I am unusual only because I am speaking out. . . . The point is, there are a lot of me’s out there, women with small children who are (HIV) positive, women who are devastated, women who are scared to talk about it. I know, because they come to me when I am traveling. It’s truly amazing.”

In some ways, Fisher is wrong–she is unusual in the framework of the AIDS epidemic: She is wealthy — the daughter of longtime GOP fund-raiser and Detroit real estate mogul Max Fisher — and she works for herself at home (she creates art using handmade paper) so she has no “workplace problem” with AIDS.

And she has enough money to keep her children sheltered, although she has not isolated them.

Moreover, she is a longtime Republican with impeccable political credentials and connections.

Fisher includes former Presidents Gerald R. Ford and George Bush and their families among her closest friends. She once worked in the Ford White House, and photographs of Ford and her two sons, Max and Zachary, adorn her living room.

But AIDS is the great leveler, so she is also right–in many ways, she is no exception at all.

Fisher was infected by her former husband, Brian Campbell, who reportedly was at one time an intravenous drug user. He has since died of AIDS. Women infected through heterosexual contact have become a rapidly growing population.

Fisher said it took a long time for her to come to grips with her infection–and to speak about it.

“The discovery that we are HIV-positive tends to divide our lives into ‘before’ and ‘after,’ ” Fisher wrote in a newly published collection of her speeches, “Sleep with the Angels,” subtitled, “a mother challenges AIDS.”

The book, she says, “is not just about AIDS, it’s about children. It’s about religion. It’s about how we as a people deal with each other, and it’s about my life, my relationships with others and the unconditional love that’s out there.”

Kramer, who is quick to criticize others involved in AIDS activities, has only praise and affection for Fisher.

“It’s impossible not to like Mary because she is so caring and loving and motherly and interested, and because she puts her arms around you and gives you wonderful hugs,” he said.

Fisher learned in July, 1991, that she was infected, but she said it took six months before she was ready to tell her story publicly.

After she did, and after she spoke to the GOP convention, Bush appointed her to the now-defunct National Commission on AIDS, replacing Earvin (Magic) Johnson, the HIV-positive retired Los Angeles Lakers star who quit over what he said was an unresponsive Administration.

Fisher also founded the Family AIDS Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising AIDS awareness nationwide.

The network, she says, plans to give “care-giver” awards this spring because “they are the people who take care of us. They are the people who do not leave this epidemic.” She also said she hopes that the organization can raise enough money for small AIDS research grants.

Currently, Fisher has no symptoms and takes no AIDS medication. “I feel really healthy, and am doing fine,” she said. “As far as I know, everything is good.”

Fisher said she intends to keep doing everything she is doing for as long as she can, speaking quietly and forcefully about the epidemic to whoever will listen.

“If we can create a dialogue and keep it going, I believe it’s the only way we can make a difference,” she said.

Cadence Design Systems (CDNS) and Synopsys (SNPS) shares sank on Friday after Chinese artificial intelligence lab Moonshot released its Kimi K3 AI model, causing investors to fear risks about the electronic design automation business.

However, BNP Paribas said it believes the

SACHA Baron Cohen has brought back the iconic Ali G character at Wimbledon ahead of a new film.

Sacha, 54, first played faux-streetwise poseur from Staines in 1998 on The 11 O’Clock Show before landing his own series, Da Ali G Show.

Sacha last played Ali G in 2014 but at the men’s singles final at Wimbledon on Sunday, the star resurrected the character.

Sitting in Centre Court, Ali wore a Wimbledon-coloured tracksuit with the motif ‘Official Ganja Dealer’ on the back, hat, heavy gold chain and glasses, Sacha sported his alter ego‘s facial hair, and attitude.

Ali also joined Instagram to share videos from the tournament and said: “I iz BACK!

“And if u iz at dis borin wimbledore final lookin 2 get grand slammed, I iz here wif de hookup.  dm me, especially if u iz fit.”

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He also shared a shot of a DVD of his TV series and wrote: “dm me if u want to buy one of these DVD box sets.

“Me iz got like 10,000 of dem. Dey iz very rare. Free pickup in the northwest surrey area.”

Sacha’s appearance at Wimbledon as Ali G comes as he prepares a new film for his comic creation.

While few details are known at the moment, in July last year, The Sun exclusively revealed pictures of Sacha in character as Ali as he filmed in a Cotswolds zoo park.

A passer-by who saw the filming in ­Chipping Norton, said: “He was with a whole film crew and was in full character.

“He seemed very comfortable in the role. I was amazed, I thought to myself ‘that’s Ali G’.

“He clearly updated Ali G’s ­wardrobe. He’s replaced his tracksuit and skull cap, but he still had gold jewellery and tinted shades.”

As well as Da Ali G Show, which ran for three series until 2004, he also had a film, Ali G Indahouse, in 2002.

EastEnders have brought back two characters, whose return are set to shake things up for the rest of Walford as one threatens to kill his rival amid family troubles

EastEnders have welcomed back some iconic characters to the Square. Original character Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) and killer Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara) returned in Thursday’s episode – and both of them have bad news for their fellow Walford residents.

Sharon’s return was revealed early on in the episode, when her brother, Zack Hudson (James Farrar), came home to see her in the hallway.

Zack was delighted to see his sister, as was her ex Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden), who helped Sharon organise the surprise. But things soon turned sour between Sharon and Phil as she announced that she was selling her share of their boxing gym.

Shortly after, Ravi’s return was also aired. He was seen getting out of a car after almost running over his ex Priya Nandra-Hart (Sophie Levy). Ravi made it clear that he wanted to get back together with Priya and be a proper dad to their children again, but Priya wasn’t having it.

She stormed off and when he caught up to her, Priya berated him for leaving her. Ravi said that he was “ill”, having only recently left a mental health ward, but Priya fumed that she had stood by him and raged that he slept with her before breaking up with her when he left the hospital.

When Ravi insisted that Priya must care about him or she wouldn’t have sent him a picture with her new man in the background, she suggested that she’d moved on from him.

Unbeknownst to Ravi, his rival for Priya’s attention is Max Branning (Jake Wood). But that didn’t stop Ravi from issuing a threat. He told his stepmother, Suki Panesar-Unwin (Balvinder Sopal) that he wasn’t going to let anything get in between him and his family and if that man tried, he would kill him.

Following Ravi’s threats, some fans suggested that he might be the mysterious gunman who holds Max’s children hostage at New Year.

The gunman was first seen during the flashforward on 1 January 2026, holding Lauren (Jacqueline Jossa) and Oscar (Pierre Counihan-Moullier) at gunpoint before telling Max to choose one to save.

One fan wrote: “It’s either setting things up for NYD already (and my theory about Ravi being the gunman being correct) or the biggest red herring.”

A second said: “The nerve of wanting Priya back when he’s treated her like dirt! And issuing death threats… They are trying to sell him as the gunman.” A third asked: “So the gunman in the flash-forward is gonna be Ravi huh?”

The gunman’s identity is one of many mysteries ahead of New Year. Fans had also been wondering who Max would be marrying on that day, but that has since been confirmed as Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) who is not only engaged to Max, but who booked their wedding venue for New Year’s Day in Thursday’s episode.

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STACEY Solomon made it a real, er, family affair on Sunday as she headed to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix with her husband Joe Swash and her ex, Dean Cox.

The TV personality shares eldest son Zachary, 18, with Dean, whom she had a romance with as a teenager.

Before heading to the F1 event, Stacey told fans she was going on a ‘special date day’ with husband Joe.

And when they arrived to Silverstone, the star filmed herself walking in as she explained that the couple had also brought along her dad – a big racing fan – for the fun.

“It’s not a date day without bringing your dad,” laughed Stacey as she dubbed Joe a ‘third wheel’.

She then revealed that it wasn’t just her dad who was there, but her ex Dean, too.

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“Do you know who is really important to bring on a date day with your husband? Your last baby daddy and his wife,” said Stacey as she filmed herself with Dean.

Laughing, she panned the camera through the group and said: “Zach’s dad, Zach’s stepmum, my dad are all on this date with us.”

“Gooseberry,” said Joe as he interjected while laughing.

As well as Zach, Stacey is a mum to son Leighton from another previous relationship, and shares three children with Joe.

She has maintained a strong co-parenting relationship with Dean since they welcomed Zach as teenagers.

He even appeared on her TV show, Stacey & Joe, for a one-off as they discussed her teen pregnancy.

The racing reunion comes just days after Stacey revealed their son Zach has headed off to America for the summer.

The teenager has moved stateside to take part in Camp America, with his famous mum admitting it ‘hurt her heart’ to drop him off at the airport.

She said in an Instagram post: “It hurt my heart to drop you off this morning but I know you’re going to have the best time ever, and that camp is so lucky to have our Zachary in their lives for the summer.

“Good luck my darling boy. To the moon and stars and back again.

“Please tell me why I really wanted him to do this experience & I am so happy for him but also so my gut is in knots??”

The blush of first love inside the glow of new friendship is where “Girls Like Girls” works its easygoing charms, but also an affecting sadness. You’d never mistake multihyphenate pop star Hayley Kiyoko’s directorial debut for a groundbreaking queer romance, but sometimes the best summer vibes require only a breezy intoxicant, something made of all the funny feelings, a few of the deeper ones and a lot of heart.

That also describes Kiyoko’s shepherding of her hit 2015 track “Girls Like Girls,” a hooky LGBTQ+ anthem that went from viral music video (which she co-directed) to bestselling YA novel and finally this feature adaptation, written with Chloe Okuno and Stefanie Scott (the original video’s star). “Girls Like Girls” may be conventionally imagined, but there’s an admirable focus on unadorned warmth in Kiyoko’s storytelling: She likes her girls and cares enough to want us to like them, too.

We’re dropped in picturesque rural Oregon, where we find bike-riding new kid in town Coley (appealing newcomer Maya da Costa), who happens upon an energetic crowd of peers at a local diner, then gets asked to join them for a lake excursion (“We don’t bite”) by confident and friendly Sonya (Myra Molloy). When Coley, a shy, watchful sort, gets thrown in the water by obnoxious Trenton (Levon Hawke), she tries to leave, but not before Sonya softens the blow by insisting on a “proper hang” and the exchange of AOL usernames. (Because, oh, yeah, it’s 2006, giving us a refreshingly nostalgic break from the tyranny of smartphones.)

Anyway, SonyeahXOXO and RollieColey87 take quickly to their obvious spark, initially sublimating that deeper attraction through scenes of laughter, teasing, the rush from shoplifted alcohol, bed-sharing and lots of deep gazing. But they also lean into a connection marked by honesty and vulnerability, particularly Coley’s grief over losing her mom and not feeling connected to her widowed dad (Zach Braff). With Sonja Tyspin’s cinematography imbuing an innocent, sensual curiosity, Kiyoko sweetly conveys the awkward thrill of fledgling emotions. One scene in particular, in which Coley explores Sonya’s room, touching everything, hums with the strange excitement of being a specially invited new confidante.

But the day after the pair’s unspoken attraction becomes physical — a scene deftly stretched to “Kiss already!” limits — a confusing tension enters the chat, triggering a tailspin of self-doubt in Coley. A lesser film might have pivoted toward assuring us of a happy makeup, but “Girls Like Girls,” which stays centered in Coley’s POV, understands that at the crux of her pain is an untended self-acceptance that must be addressed first. Da Costa realizes that journey with unforced naturalism, as if the camera just happened to be there to capture it. (Molloy betrays a more studied star wattage, but she’s nevertheless a solid other half.)

Mostly, “Girls Like Girls” wins us over with a singular type of first-film assuredness: a familiar story presented as the most personal reveal ever. If you can’t remember what it was like to try to tiptoe while swooning, your heart barely able to stay in your chest, you were never a teenager.

The city witnessed Carl Lewis win four Olympic gold medals, cheered Valerie Brisco-Hooks’ historic golden double and watched Edwin Moses extend his 400-meter hurdles unbeaten streak. L.A. has history with track and field.

Now when Ato Boldon, a UCLA Hall of Famer and four-time Olympic medalist for Trinidad and Tobago, looks to this weekend’s L.A. Grand Prix and the city’s future with the sport, he wonders what it holds.

“I’ve always felt like L.A. needs a signature event,” Boldon said, “and with the Olympics coming up in two years, you look at the quality of this event this weekend, and you’re like, yeah, this is the kind of meet they should have all the time.”

At the halfway mark of the Olympic quadrennium, the USA Track & Field event serves as an important checkpoint for the sport’s hope to break out of the four-year popularity cycle.

The two-day event, which begins Saturday with the women’s hammer throw at the South Bay Athletic Club, features 18 Olympic or world champions competing primarily at USC’s Allyson Felix Field. Sunday’s marquee competition beginning at 1 p.m. will be televised on NBC.

With USA Track & Field building toward a home Olympics, L.A. has been a critical but stubborn market to conquer. Last year’s L.A. Grand Prix, which would have been the third edition of the meet, was canceled in April. The decision, USA Track & Field Chief Executive Max Siegel said, came down to another meet scheduled in the same venue within the same month.

But that competing event, part of Michael Johnson’s upstart Grand Slam Track league, was canceled only weeks before it was set to take place at UCLA’s Drake Stadium, leaving L.A. without a major track competition last summer.

“We knew last year when we canceled the meet that we had every intention leading up to the Olympics to be present in the L.A. market,” Siegel said.

The city knows great track. UCLA boasts legends such as Rafer Johnson, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Florence Griffith-Joyner. USC, which boasts more Olympians than any other U.S. university, had athletes win nine Olympic medals in track and field at the 2024 Games in Paris, including double gold medals for Rai Benjamin in the 400-meter hurdles and 4×400-meter relay and a 4×100-meter relay championship for TeeTee Terry.

After Terry ran the second leg of the relay, Sha’Carri Richardson’s stare down at the end of her anchor leg became one of the iconic shots of the Paris Games, where 70,000 people packed Stade de France and millions more tuned in for one of the most-watched Olympics.

But the sport is back in the shadows like it always seems to be outside of Olympic years, said Boldon, now NBC Sports’ track and field analyst. There have been several attempts to penetrate the U.S. sports consciousness since the successful Paris Games. Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian launched Athlos, a women’s track and field meet that began in New York City in 2024 and added a stop in London to its 2026 schedule. Grand Slam Track, founded by the Olympic legend Johnson and touting major names including Gabby Thomas and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, filed for bankruptcy last year, after completing only three of four planned events in its first season, and is only now emerging from it.

This year’s inaugural USATF Tour aims to organize the fragmented sport by streamlining the calendar and working with existing event coordinators to provide resources, including prize money and travel for top athletes, marketing and drug testing. The tour, which was in College Station, Texas, last week for the Lone Star Grand Prix, has 17 events in 10 states.

American Tara Davis-Woodhall after winning the women’s long jump at the 2025 world championships in Tokyo.

(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)

“I feel like LA28 gives the country something to organize around,” said Siegel, who hopes track and field can rise to be among the five most popular sports in the United States. “People are paying more attention to athlete stories in anticipation of what’s going to happen on U.S. soil.”

There is no shortage of stories at the L.A. Grand Prix. Almost everyone who matters in American track and field will be there, Boldon said. Kenny Bednarek, the silver medalist in the 200 meters in Paris, will line up in the 100 meters against Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo, who took gold in the 200 in 2024.

Tara Davis-Woodhall, the reigning Olympic long jump champion, will compete in her signature event and race in the 100-meter hurdles for just the second time in the last five years. Her husband, Hunter Woodhall, will race in the 400 meters on Saturday, when Para athletes will be among those competing in the L.A. Distance Classic at Allyson Felix Field.

Richardson will run her first 100-meter race of the season. The 2024 Olympic silver medalist could be in line to end a three-decade gold medal drought in 2028. No U.S. woman has stood atop an Olympic podium for the 100 since 1996, when Gail Devers won in Atlanta.

Such a stacked field outside of an Olympic year on U.S. soil could be a sign of a changing tide for track and field, Boldon said. The L.A. Grand Prix is a gold-level event on the World Athletics Continental Tour, the second-highest tier of single-day international competition. As athletes vie for world ranking points, the event could be a true Olympic preview two years before the Games begin at the Coliseum.

“This,” Boldon said, “is not a normal week in our sport.”