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LONDON — British playwright Tom Stoppard, a giant of modern theater and Oscar-winning screenwriter known for erudition and wit, has died. He was 88.

In a statement Saturday, United Agents said Stoppard died “peacefully” at his home in Dorset in southern England, surrounded by his family.

“He will be remembered for his works, for their brilliance and humanity, and for his wit, his irreverence, his generosity of spirit and his profound love of the English language,” it said. ”It was an honor to work with Tom and to know him.”

The Czech-born Stoppard was often hailed as the greatest British playwright of his generation and was garlanded with honors, including a shelf full of theater gongs. Dizzyingly prolific, he also wrote radio plays, a novel, television series and many celebrated screenplays, including 1998’s “Shakespeare in Love,” which won an Academy Award.

His brain-teasing plays ranged across Shakespeare, science, philosophy and the historic tragedies of the 20th century. Five of them won Tony Awards for best play: “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” in 1968, “Travesties” in 1976, “The Real Thing” in 1984, “The Coast of Utopia” in 2007 and “Leopoldstadt” in 2023.

Stoppard biographer Hermione Lee said the secret of his plays was their “mixture of language, knowledge and feeling. … It’s those three things in gear together which make him so remarkable.”

The writer was born Tomás Sträussler in 1937 to a Jewish family in Zlín in what was then Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic. His father was a doctor for the Bata shoe company, and when Nazi Germany invaded in 1939 the family fled to Singapore, where Bata had a factory.

In late 1941, as Japanese forces closed in on the city, Tomás, his brother and their mother fled again, this time to India. His father stayed behind and later died when his ship was attacked as he tried to leave Singapore.

In 1946 his mother married an English officer, Kenneth Stoppard, and the family moved to threadbare postwar Britain. The 8-year-old Tom “put on Englishness like a coat,” he later said, growing up to be a quintessential Englishman who loved cricket and Shakespeare.

He did not go to a university but began his career, aged 17, as a journalist at newspapers in Bristol, southwest England, and then as a theater critic for Scene magazine in London.

He wrote plays for radio and television including “A Walk on the Water,” broadcast in 1963, and made his stage breakthrough with “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” which reimagined Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” from the viewpoint of two hapless minor characters. A mix of tragedy and absurdist humor, it premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1966 and was staged at Britain’s National Theatre, then run by Laurence Olivier, before moving to Broadway.

A stream of exuberant, innovative plays followed, including meta-whodunnit “The Real Inspector Hound” (first staged in 1968); “Jumpers” (1972), a blend of physical and philosophical gymnastics; and “Travesties” (1974), which set intellectuals including James Joyce and Vladimir Lenin colliding in Zurich during World War I.

The musical drama “Every Good Boy Deserves Favor” (1977) was a collaboration with composer Andre Previn about a Soviet dissident confined to a mental institution — part of Stoppard’s long involvement with groups advocating for human rights groups in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

He often played with time and structure. “The Real Thing” (1982) was a poignant romantic comedy about love and deception that featured plays within a play. “Arcadia” (1993) moved between the modern era and the early 19th century, in which characters at an English country house debated poetry, gardening and chaos theory as fate had its way with them.

“The Invention of Love” (1997) explored classical literature and the mysteries of the human heart through the life of the English poet A.E. Housman.

Stoppard began the 21st century with “The Coast of Utopia” (2002), an epic trilogy about pre-revolutionary Russian intellectuals, and drew on his own background for “Rock ’n’ Roll” (2006), which contrasted the fates of the 1960s counterculture in Britain and in communist Czechoslovakia.

“The Hard Problem” (2015) explored the mysteries of consciousness through the lenses of science and religion.

Stoppard was a devoted champion of free speech who worked with organizations including PEN and Index on Censorship. He claimed not to have strong political views otherwise, writing in 1968: “I burn with no causes. I cannot say that I write with any social objective. One writes because one loves writing, really.”

Some critics found his plays more clever than emotionally engaging. But biographer Lee said many of his plays contained a “sense of underlying grief.”

“People in his plays … history comes at them,” Lee said at a British Library event in 2021. “They turn up, they don’t know why they’re there, they don’t know whether they can get home again. They’re often in exile, they can barely remember their own name. They may have been wrongfully incarcerated. They may have some terrible moral dilemma they don’t know how to solve. They may have lost someone. And over and over again I think you get that sense of loss and longing in these very funny, witty plays.”

That was especially true of his late play “Leopoldstadt,” which drew on his own family’s story for the tale of a Jewish Viennese family over the first half of the 20th century. Stoppard said he began thinking of his personal link to the Holocaust quite late in life, only discovering after his mother’s death in 1996 that many members of his family, including all four grandparents, had died in concentration camps.

“I wouldn’t have written about my heritage — that’s the word for it nowadays — while my mother was alive, because she’d always avoided getting into it herself,” Stoppard told the New Yorker in 2022.

“It would be misleading to see me as somebody who blithely and innocently, at the age of 40-something, thought, ‘Oh, my goodness, I had no idea I was a member of a Jewish family,’” he said. “Of course I knew, but I didn’t know who they were. And I didn’t feel I had to find out in order to live my own life. But that wasn’t really true.”

“Leopoldstadt” premiered in London at the start of 2020 to rave reviews; weeks later all theaters were shut by the COVID-19 pandemic. It eventually opened in Broadway in late 2022, going on to win four Tonys.

Stoppard’s catalog of screenplays included the Terry Gilliam dystopian comedy “Brazil” (1985), the Steven Spielberg-directed war drama “Empire of the Sun” (1987), Elizabethan rom com “Shakespeare in Love” (1998) — for which he and Marc Norman shared a best adapted screenplay Oscar — code-breaking thriller “Enigma” (2001) and Russian epic “Anna Karenina” (2012).

He also wrote and directed a 1990 film adaptation of “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” wrote the 2013 TV series “Parade’s End” and translated numerous works into English, including plays by dissident Czech writer Václav Havel, who became his country’s first post-communist president.

He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997 for his services to literature.

He was married three times: to Jose Ingle, Miriam Stern — better known as the health journalist Dr. Miriam Stoppard — and TV producer Sabrina Guinness. The first two marriages ended in divorce. He is survived by four children, including the actor Ed Stoppard, and several grandchildren.

As media executives wrestle with the use of artificial intelligence, radio giant iHeartMedia wants to stand out.

“We don’t use AI-generated personalities. We don’t play AI music that features synthetic vocalists pretending to be human,” Tom Poleman, the company’s programming chief, wrote in an email to employees.

“The podcasts we publish are also Guaranteed Human,” he wrote.

Radio station DJs now are expected to say “Guaranteed Human,” as part of their hourly on-air disclosures, which include announcing the station’s call letters, as required by the Federal Communications Commission. The new branding campaign has its roots in iHeartMedia’s research that listeners turn on the radio for more than just music and information.

“Consumers aren’t just looking for content, they’re looking for connection,” the company’s president of insights, Lainie Fertick, wrote in an October blog post. “In a world of tech overload, consumers are searching for something real.”

The move comes as Hollywood creators, agents and executives come to grips with rapid advances in artificial intelligence, which has assisted workers with routine tasks but also caused a stir with the release of realistic AI actors, such as Tilly Norwood, which has more than 66,000 followers on Instagram. Entertainment behemoths, including Walt Disney Co. and Comcast’s NBCUniversal, also have sued AI companies for copyright infringement.

To be sure, iHeartMedia uses “AI-powered productivity and distribution tools that help scale our business operations,” Poleman wrote in his note. Such AI tools are used for “scheduling, audience insights, data analysis, workflow automation, show prep, editing and organization,” he said.

iHeartMedia is the nation’s largest radio operator with more than 850 stations, including KFI-AM 640, KLAC-AM 570, KOST-FM 103.5 and KIIS-FM 102.7 in Los Angeles.

The company also has a growing podcast business, producing such shows as “Stuff You Should Know,” “Questlove Supreme” and “Drama Queens.” It also co-produces podcasts with the NFL, NBA and Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland Audio, which includes “The Laverne Cox Show.”

Previously known as Clear Channel Communications, the company has experienced the dark side of automation and programming centralization.

In 2002, its radio stations in Minot, N.D., aired canned music as a toxic cloud blanketed the community after a train transporting anhydrous ammonia for fertilizer derailed and exploded. One person died, and dozens of others were injured. Congress then drilled into alleged harms of media consolidation and the failure of broadcasters to alert the community during the disaster in Minot, where Clear Channel owned six of the eight commercial radio stations.

Clear Channel later said local police failed that night to activate the emergency alert system, which would have allowed the broadcast of special bulletins.

The company has since championed its responses to other disasters. An iHeart spokesperson pointed to its award-winning coverage of Hurricane Helene in Asheville, N.C., in 2024 as well as its efforts during the devastating Eaton and Pacific Palisades fires in January, “delivering crucial lifesaving information and working with local organizations to collect and distribute essential disaster relief supplies,” the spokesperson said, noting that Clear Channel was run by a different management team.

“At iHeart, we make service to our communities our number one priority,” the spokesperson said.

iHeartMedia, like other entertainment and news outlets, is dealing with advertising declines, and it has been looking for ways to keep listeners engaged amid media fragmentation. The company this fall cut several staff members at historic KFI, including Morris “Mo” O’Kelly, who had hosted the station’s evening talk show for nearly three years.

Radio host Chuck Dizzle also announced on Instagram that he’d been laid off from iHeart’s Los Angeles hip-hop station KRRL-FM, which brands itself as “Real 92.3.”

The company said its research shows that consumers crave interactions with real people, and they have deep concerns about the growing use of AI and its potential societal changes.

Poleman pointed to a recent survey that showed two-thirds of respondents were worried about losing their job to AI.

iHeartMedia employees should embrace “Guaranteed Human” as more than a marketing tagline, Poleman wrote.

“When listeners interact with us, they know they’re connecting with real voices, real stories, and real emotion,” Poleman wrote. “Sometimes you have to pick a side — we’re on the side of humans.”

In July, one of Brazil’s last coal plants in Candiota resumed operations after significant investment from Ambar, owned by billionaires Wesley and Joesley Batista. They believe that Brazil will continue to use coal despite having over 80% of its electricity from renewable sources. As Brazil prepares to host the UN climate summit COP30, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva expressed concern that the war in Ukraine has revived coal mining.

Coal plants, including Candiota, still supply 3% of Brazil’s electricity, highlighting the influence of special interest groups and the absence of a proper transition plan away from coal. Experts like Christine Shearer from Global Energy Monitor argue that Brazil has the resources to phase out coal, but the strong coal lobby in mining regions keeps these plants running.

The Candiota plant lost its government contract last year, leading to local economic downturns and outmigration. It now sells energy on the spot market during peak hours when solar and wind energy are less available. Nevertheless, Brazil’s Congress recently passed a bill allowing coal plants to operate until 2040, which Lula could potentially veto. The government also made coal eligible for a capacity auction aimed at improving energy security by using thermal plants during low renewable output.

Critics note that including coal in these plans contradicts the goal of energy flexibility, as coal plants cannot start quickly. They argue that poor long-term planning allows coal to persist, despite a surplus of clean energy that goes underutilized due to inadequate demand and transmission infrastructure. This situation makes the government susceptible to coal and natural gas lobbying, leading to higher financial and environmental costs.

Ambar asserts that coal from the Candiota plant is reliable and necessary for power supply, denying claims of relying on political influence. They also argue that critics prioritize the interests of large energy consumers over those of smaller entities and the broader public. Keeping coal operational aligns Brazil with countries like India and South Africa, where strong lobby groups impede efforts to transition away from coal, which is crucial to local economies.

Shutting down Candiota could result in around 10,000 job losses in the region. Local coal miner Jose Adolfo de Carvalho asserts that eliminating the plant won’t significantly impact global carbon issues. The future of the plant causes anxiety among residents, with former employee Graca dos Santos emphasizing the need for a just energy transition to avoid leaving the community jobless.

Lula’s administration lacks a transition plan for Candiota, and little progress has been made in strategizing for other coal facilities. Some suggest diversifying into sectors like beef, wine, and olive oil, which could provide new jobs for former coal workers. Local union leader Hermelindo Ferreira highlights the potential job losses from shutting down Candiota while recognizing that faith in the coal industry is wavering. Ferreira encourages workers to gain new skills, such as maintenance for wind energy, as a way to adapt to future opportunities.

With information from Reuters

As California voters went to the polls Tuesday to cast their ballot on a measure that could block President Trump’s national agenda, state officials ridiculed his unsubstantiated claims that voting in the largely Democratic state is “rigged.”

“The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED,” Trump said on Truth Social just minutes after polling stations opened Tuesday across California.

The president provided no evidence for his allegations.

“All ‘Mail-In’ Ballots, where the Republicans in that State are ‘Shut Out,’ is under very serious legal and criminal review,” the GOP president wrote. “STAY TUNED!”

Gov. Gavin Newsom dismissed the president’s claims on X as “the ramblings of an old man that knows he’s about to LOSE.”

His press office chimed in, too, calling Trump “a totally unserious person spreading false information in a desperate attempt to cope with his failures.”

At a White House briefing Tuesday afternoon, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed, without providing examples, that California was receiving ballots in the name of undocumented immigrants who could not legally vote.

“They have a universal mail-in voting system, which we know is ripe for fraud,” Leavitt told reporters. “Fraudulent ballots that are being mailed in in the names of other people, in the names of illegal aliens who shouldn’t be voting in American elections. There’s countless examples and we’d be happy to provide them.”

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for more details.

Political tension across the nation is high as California voters cast ballots on Proposition 50, a plan championed by Newsom to redraw the state’s congressional districts ahead of the 2026 election to favor the Democratic Party. The measure is intended to offset GOP gerrymandering in red states after Trump pressed Texas to rejigger maps to shore up the GOP’s narrow House majority.

California’s top elections official, Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, called Trump’s allegation “another baseless claim.”

“The bottom line is California elections have been validated by the courts,” Weber said in a statement. “California voters will not be deceived by someone who consistently makes desperate, unsubstantiated attempts to dissuade Americans from participating in our democracy.”

Weber noted that more than 7 million Californians have already voted and encouraged those who had yet to cast ballots to go to the polls.

“California voters will not be sidelined from exercising their constitutional right to vote and should not let anyone deter them from exercising that right,” Weber said.

Of the 7 million Californians who have voted, more than 4.6 million have done so by mail, according to the secretary of state’s office. Los Angeles residents alone have cast more than 788,000 mail-in ballots.

Leavitt told D.C. reporters Tuesday that the White House is working on an executive order to combat so-called “blatant” election fraud.

“The White House is working on an executive order to strengthen our election in this country,” Leavitt said, “and to ensure that there cannot be blatant fraud, as we’ve seen in California with their universal mail-in voting system.”

Trump has long criticized mail-in voting. As more Democrats opted to vote by mail in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the president repeatedly made unproven claims linking mail in voting with voter fraud. When Trump ultimately lost that election, he blamed expanded mail-in voting.

In March, Trump signed an executive order requiring that Attorney General Pam Bondi “take all necessary action” against states that count absentee or mail-in ballots received after Election Day. Most states count mail-in or absentee ballots as long as they are postmarked by Election Day.

Over the last month, the stakes in the California special election have ratcheted up as polls indicate Proposition 50 could pass. More than half of likely California voters said they planned to support the measure, which could allow Democrats to gain up to five House seats.

Last month, the Justice Department appeared to single out California for particular national scrutiny: It announced it would send federal monitors to polling locations in counties in California as well as New Jersey, another traditionally Democratic state that is conducting nationally significant off-year elections.

The monitors, it said, would be sent to five California counties: Los Angeles, Kern, Riverside, Fresno and Orange.

While Trump is often a flame-thrower on social media, he has largely been silent on Proposition 50, aside from a few Truth Social posts.

In late October, the president voiced skepticism with California’s mail-in ballots and early voting — directly contradicting efforts by the state’s GOP leaders to get people to vote.

“No mail-in or ‘Early’ Voting, Yes to Voter ID! Watch how totally dishonest the California Prop Vote is! Millions of Ballots being ‘shipped,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “GET SMART REPUBLICANS, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!!!”

Over the weekend, Trump posted a video purporting to show a member of the San Joaquin County’s Sheriff Dept. questioning election integrity in California.

Times Staff Writer Seema Mehta contributed to this report