A 60-year-old man has admitted sending abusive social media messages to England footballer Jess Carter.
Nigel Dewale sent the posts to Carter’s TikTok account during the Uefa Women’s Euro 2025 tournament last summer, which defending champions the Lionesses went on to win.
The messages included a derogatory reference to Carter’s race and suggested people with brown skin were “murderers” and “groomers”.
Dewale, of Great Harwood in Lancashire, appeared at Blackburn Magistrates’ Court on Friday where he pleaded guilty to sending a malicious message via a public communications network between 19 and 23 June last year.
He also pleaded guilty to possession of an offensive weapon, namely an extendable baton, in a private place in February.
Magistrates adjourned the case until 25 March for pre-sentence reports and warned Dewale, of Prospect Street, that all sentencing options were open including prison.
Dewale was granted unconditional bail.
Central defender Carter plays her club football for American side Gotham FC in the National Women’s Soccer League, having previously represented Chelsea and Birmingham City in the UK.
Lancashire Police said the UK Football Policing Unit launched an investigation in July and traced the messages to Dewale, who was arrested in August.
Mark Roberts, Chief Constable for Cheshire Police and the national lead for football policing, said: “Dewale’s comments were totally abhorrent, they caused emotional distress for Miss Carter and her family and I welcome the guilty plea entered today.
“We have been clear that hate crime online or in person, is not acceptable and as we have shown in this case, you cannot hide behind a social media profile to post vile comments and spread hate.”
City had Josko Gvardiol, Ruben Dias and John Stones missing from the backline, with none of the trio expected to return to action until at least next month.
It had forced Guardiola to recall academy product Max Alleyne from his loan spell at Watford. The 20-year-old was given his first-team debut on a cold evening in the cauldron of the top flight.
Alleyne performed admirably on the big stage and it is not his fault he has been thrown into this in such circumstances, just as Nico O’Reilly was brought in to the set-up because of last season’s injury crisis.
In the end, Erling Haaland’s 150th goal for the club mattered little as they have conspired to drop six points in a week, giving a major boost to Arsenal.
With Aston Villa also drawing, Mikel Arteta’s men have a golden opportunity to go eight points clear – a scenario they could only have dreamed of just last week.
“If you don’t win games, we cannot think about these things,” Guardiola said of the title race. “We had an incredible result Nottingham Forest [in City’s final game of 2025] and after we played three games and we played really well.
“They have momentum, Brighton move really well, except the first five to 10 minutes we did really well in general and maybe the first half a little bit less – in the last 15-20 minutes we had incredible chances.
“Expected goals doesn’t give me anything. It’s how you play for goals and we could not do that today.”
Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville said on Sky Sports: “It feels like a big week. Manchester City drawing at home to Brighton, it feels like another punch in the ribs.
“Arsenal will be going to bed tonight, ahead of a big game tomorrow night against Liverpool, very confident of where they are at right now.”
Guardiola also appears to be showing the stress that goes with dropping more points in the title race, clashing with Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler on the touchline.
The German said “emotions are part of the football game”, while the City boss said it was “absolutely” fine between the pair.
City winger Jeremy Doku added: “I think a draw at home is never really a good point. We are not that happy and would’ve preferred three points.
“We don’t really look at the table. We try to be ourselves and score more goals.”
In Jafar Panahi’s acclaimed thriller “It Was Just an Accident,” it’s a distinct sound that alerts Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri), a mechanic, that the man who tortured him in prison might be dangerously close.
After hearing it, he embarks on a rage-fueled mission to kidnap and kill the interrogator. But Vahid is not certain he has the right man, so he enlists a group of other victims to help identify him. What ensues is a brilliantly taut ensemble piece.
The latest from the Iranian master earned the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and is now a major contender this awards season, representing France at the Oscars in the international feature category. Iran would not submit the politically charged film.
“Because the auditory sense of prisoners is usually strongest above all the other senses, I thought that I would begin the film with a sound,” a stoic Panahi says via an interpreter in a hotel room in Santa Monica. “In prison, you keep trying to guess if this voice that you hear belongs to an older person, a younger person, what he looks like and what he does in life.”
A scene from “It Was Just an Accident.”
(Neon)
Panahi is no stranger to being deprived of his freedom. Arrested in 2022 for his outspokenness against the regime’s practices, he spent seven months in prison. It wasn’t until he went on a hunger strike that his right to legal representation was granted.
Without an attorney present, Panahi explains, interrogators blindfold detainees and stand behind them, either asking questions directly or writing them on a piece of paper and handing it to the detained, who lifts their blindfold just enough to read it. An interrogation nearly identical to that description plays out in last year’s Oscar-nominated film “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” by Mohammad Rasoulof, one of Panahi’s longtime collaborators.
“I had not actually seen Rasoulof’s film because when we make films clandestinely, we don’t talk about them, even with our close friends,” he explains. “I didn’t even know what his film was about. Only when I got to France to mix [‘It Was Just an Accident’], and Rasoulof’s film was out in theaters there, that’s when I saw it.”
Making films on the outskirts of legality under an authoritarian regime entails high-stakes discretion. The script for “It Was Just an Accident” never left Panahi’s sight when casting.
“To all of the actors, I gave the script in my own apartment,” he recalls. “I told them, ‘Read it here, don’t take it with you. Go and think about it for 24 hours, and then tell me whether you want to be a part of it.’” Everyone in the stellar cast, composed of dissident artists with varying degrees of experience in front of the camera, was aware of the risks it entailed.
Jafar Panahi.
(Kate Dockeray / For The Times)
Mobasseri had appeared in Panahi’s previous effort, “No Bears,” while Majid Panahi, who plays a groom swept up in the scheme by his vengeful bride, is the director’s nephew. Mariam Afshari, as a photographer who also joins the plot, had minimal acting experience, but had been involved in other productions in below-the-line roles. Panahi says he casts actors based on how their physical traits resemble the character he has in mind.
That was the case with the tall and lean Ebrahim Azizi, who appears as Eghbal, the man the group believes was their ruthless captor. For a scene near the end where Eghbal breaks down, thinking he’s about to be killed, Panahi placed his trust in Azizi — who only acts in underground films, not state-approved projects — to convey the tempestuous humanity of a presumed villain.
“I felt a huge burden on my shoulders when I left prison that made me feel I owed something to my fellow prisoners who were left behind,” Panahi says. “I said this to Ebrahim Azizi, ‘Now the entire burden of this film is on your shoulders with your acting, and you have to put that burden down with utmost commitment.’”
The first time Panahi shot that searing scene, he sensed it wasn’t coming together. After all, his only experience with real-life interrogators was from the receiving end of their questioning. “I went to one of my friends, Mehdi Mahmoudian, who has spent one-fourth of his life in prison,” he says. “I told him, ‘Because you know these personality types very well, come and tell this actor what to do.’ He guided [Azizi] and we took two or three more takes and it was done.”
Amid the hard-hitting moral drama of “It Was Just an Accident,” moments that warrant a chuckle for their realistic absurdity might surprise some viewers. However, a touch of sardonic levity has always been part of Panahi’s storytelling.
“Humor just flows through life. You cannot stop it,” he says.
To make his point, Panahi recalls a morbid memory from when he was around 10 years old. One of his friends had lost his father. Disturbed, the boy threatened to take his own life. Panahi and his other friends followed him to try to stop him if he did in fact attempt to hurt himself.
Determined, the boy announced he would stand in the middle of the road and throw himself in front of a large vehicle. “We were lucky because we were in a very isolated part of town and there were no real big cars passing by,” he says. “Two hours later we were all sitting in a movie theater. Humor is always there. It’s not really in my hands.”
Monday Night Club’s Rory Smith and ex-Manchester United player Phil Jones discuss why Man United appoint former players as interim managers, as Darren Fletcher takes on the role.
CINCINNATI — A man who broke windows at Vice President JD Vance’s Ohio home and caused other property damage was detained early Monday, the U.S. Secret Service said.
The man was detained shortly after midnight by Secret Service agents assigned to Vance’s home, east of downtown Cincinnati, agency spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement emailed to the Associated Press. He has not been named.
The Secret Service heard a loud noise at the home around midnight and found a person who had broken a window with a hammer and was trying to get into the house, according to two law enforcement officials who were not publicly authorized to discuss the investigation into what happened and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The man had also vandalized a Secret Service vehicle on his way up the home’s driveway, one of the officials said.
The home, in the Walnut Hills neighborhood, on hills overlooking the city, was unoccupied at the time, and Vance and his family were not in Ohio, Guglielmi said.
The Secret Service is coordinating with the Cincinnati Police Department and the U.S. attorney’s office as charging decisions are reviewed, he said.
Vance, a Republican, was a U.S. senator representing Ohio before becoming vice president. His office said his family was already back in Washington and directed questions to the Secret Service.
Walnut Hills is one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods and is home to historic sites, including the Harriet Beecher Stowe House.
Richer and McCormack write for the Associated Press. AP writers Mike Balsamo and Sarah Brumfield contributed to this report.
Spirits. Cosmetics. Apparel. Fragrance. As the categories most closely associated with the rise of celebrity brands become increasingly saturated, A-list talent is venturing into new terrain — and taking on names like Clinique, L’Oreal, Kiehl’s and Harry’s in the process.
With the likes of Beau Domaine, Papatui and Loved01, male stars such as Brad Pitt, Dwayne Johnson and John Legend, respectively, have broken into the growing market for men’s skincare, which was estimated at $18 billion in 2025 and is projected to nearly double by 2034, according to Precedence Research.
“Beauty is almost becoming its own genre, like music and sports,” says Katie Martin, executive vice president and managing director of e-commerce and marketing agency Front Row. “It’s becoming more genderless, community-based and something people talk about and share.”
Even as men’s shaving products and fragrances aligned with celebrities — think Johnny Depp for Dior’s Sauvage — have long been accepted, there’s been a cultural shift when it comes to beauty. Quickly vanishing is the stigma of men buying and using their own skincare products. In many quarters, it’s desirable and even expected for men to care about their skin. And celebrity skin, often seen in revealing high-def and on the big screen, is certainly a model to emulate.
“Men’s personal care habits have shifted significantly in the past decade, and many more men are open to and interested in taking care of themselves, skin included,” says Allison Collins, co-founder and managing director of advisory firm the Consumer Collective. “This shift started with younger millennial and Gen Z men, but has stretched upwards — and now skincare is something many men are into.”
(Photos by Dana Richards / Golden Hours)
With Papatui, Johnson, whose long career as a wrestler and actor defines a certain brand of masculinity, hopes to change the perception that skincare for men is complicated. “That’s something we’re actively changing. Taking care of yourself on the outside is just as important as the inside,” he says. “Just like training, nutrition or recovery. Papatui removes the intimidation and makes it straightforward and focused on what men really need.”
Johnson founded the company after learning important tips from dermatologists over the years, which he says made a difference given his long work days, demanding training regimen and constant travel.
“I wanted products that feel good, are powered by high-performing formulas, and fit into a busy guy’s routine. I’m hands-on with everything along with our incredible team of experts,” Johnson says.
Another selling point is the line’s availability at Target and Walmart. “Dwayne Johnson’s line is super-approachably priced, which is good for today’s market when consumers are a bit more strapped for cash,” notes Collins.
Johnson is especially proud of the fact that he’s getting guys to use under-eye patches for hydration, brightening and smoothing fine lines. His own routine is pretty basic: cleanse, tone and moisturize along with using the line’s other products including facial scrub, antiperspirant and body washes.
(Photos by Tamera Darden and John Campos / Loved01)
After collaborating with other brands including Kiehl’s and SKII, Legend’s Loved01 launched in 2024 with a pop-up store at Westfield Century City and at CVS locations around the country. It is now sold mostly via QVC, on Amazon and on the company’s website. A TikTok shop launched in early December.
“We’re really trying to meet our customers where they are and adjust to the way they’re buying things,” Legend says. “We were getting much more traction through e-commerce and so we’ve really been focused on that along with television.”
The company just released its hydrating cream cleanser, joining other bestselling products like hand wash, face and body moisturizer, cleansing wipes and face and body oil.
“We believe that it shouldn’t cost luxury prices to get the kind of care that everybody deserves,” Legend says. ”That was one of the beats for the company from the very beginning, that everybody deserved great skincare with great ingredients and that are vegan and cruelty-free with wonderfully sourced ingredients from Mother Nature.”
“John Legend is famous for being a really good family guy and his brand is about increasing equity and how people buy into their family,” says Martin.
Pitt espouses a concept of simplicity in his men’s skincare routine — a three-step ritual starting with cleansing, serum to target signs of aging and then cream to lock in moisture.
Teaming with the Perrin family, winemakers in the South of France, Beau Domaine incorporates organic grape water, known for its soothing and moisturizing properties, into some of its products. The three-step regimen lists for $279 on the brand’s website, which also boasts enthusiastic reviews from users.
“Brad Pitt does have a higher price point, and you could say he’s leaning on ease, but it is probably much more about being premium. And of course Brad Pitt is premium,” says Martin. “He is obviously very well known for being very good-looking. They’ve been really smart there with the equity that Brad holds as a celebrity.”
Whatever the target demographic, all three companies are representative of the evolution of celebrity brands to include the full gamut of product categories and meet the needs of a changing marketplace. And with men’s skincare set for further growth, you can bet you’ll see more Hollywood names in the space before long.
The mood inside the Etihad at full-time felt like one of deflation rather than the expected elation, as City failed to win successive games for only the second time this season.
Guardiola’s side are unbeaten in their past 10 games in all competitions, but the draws in their past two could be significant come the end of the season.
Arsenal are aiming for a first top-flight triumph in more than two decades, while City are looking to reclaim the crown having failed to win silverware last season – the results in the first week of 2026 feel important when considering where the title could end up.
Despite going ahead City could not hold on against a stubborn Chelsea side led by interim manager Calum McFarlane, the under-21s coach who was taking charge of his first senior game and denied Guardiola all three points.
“It’s a brilliant result for Chelsea, with no manager,” former City goalkeeper Shay Given told BBC Sport. “And it is a brilliant result and week for Arsenal, who are now six points clear.
“City dropping four points in the last two games is huge at this time of the season. We always say Christmas and new year, with such a busy schedule, is so important and it’s not been a great festive period for Manchester City.”
Erling Haaland has had a prolific campaign scoring 38 goals for club and country this season, but he has now failed to net in his past three games, which has proved pivotal.
The Norwegian was shackled for long periods by the Chelsea backline and struck the post in the first half, while in the second he had little joy as the home side looked to double their lead.
But they were unable to be clinical enough in the final third and Fernandez’s late equaliser not only snatched a draw for Chelsea but ruined a clean sheet for City and handed the initiative to Arsenal.
“Manchester City will be kicking themselves,” ex-City defender Micah Richards said on Sky Sports. “They know they should’ve had three points today with the chances they created.
“They are normally more ruthless. You are looking at it thinking, ‘what has changed?’ Haaland’s not scored in a few games, Phil Foden had near misses, Rayan Cherki looking very tricky but not the final product. They’ve only got themselves to blame today.”
Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville added on Sky Sports: “Pep Guardiola could smell it. The City fans could smell it. I don’t think Chelsea could though. City needed to make it 2-0.
“It was a big goal for Chelsea – and a big goal for Arsenal.”
MANCHESTER United midfielder Mason Mount has found love.
I can reveal that the England international was seen with his arm around marketing executive Jordan Porter on a family trip to Lapland in Finland over the Christmas period.
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Mason Mount has gone public with his new girlfriend Jordan PorterThe Manchester United player was seen with his arm around Jordan on a family trip to LaplandCredit: supplied
It is understood that the couple met through Mason’s pal Ben Harris who is engaged to Jordan’s sister Jodie.
A source said: “Mason and Jordan have been friends for a long time after being introduced through Ben.
“Family is important to Mason so having Jordan on the Lapland trip meant a lot.
“Mason’s performance on the pitch has also improved so it looks like Jordan is a keeper.”
Mason shared a snap of himself with his arm around Jordan at Lapland with his 5.6million followers last month.
The footie ace also posted a glimpse of two red stockings under his Christmas tree, embroidered with an M for Mason and J for Jordan. His brother Lewis also shared a picture of their family to his 16,600 Instagram followers.
Mason was pictured next to Jordan and with his arm around his dad Tony.
The pair were first linked in February 2024 when they were both pictured with a group of friends at the v.
Mason and Jordan also joined Ben and Jodie on their trip to Ibiza in July.
Jordan is Head of Experiences for London-based event planning service, GP Management, and grew up in South East London.
Mason had previously stated that football was his number one priority over finding loveCredit: Getty
Asked about his relationship status, he said: “Football is my priority.”
It sounds like Jordan is his new No1.
Tim’s scored Ad
MOVIE star Timothee Chamalet is a huge football fan, supporting both Chelsea FC and French club AS Saint-Etienne – and now I can reveal he has been signed up by sports giant Adidas to film a huge World Cup ad.
The actor, who is dating Kylie Jenner, shot a top-secret campaign last month in Barcelona alongside Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, ex of Kylie’s sister Kendall, and British Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham.
A source tells me: “Adidas bosses were chuffed to bring Timothee on to the ad and paid a lucrative fee.
“It is believed the film will drop during the lead-up to the World Cup.”
Timothee has recently been on an epic press tour for his latest flick Marty Supreme, while mostly donning movie merch.
He’ll have to mix that up once the ad drops.
Jossa is strong for family
JACQUELINE JOSSA is determined to start 2026 in strong spirits, despite a probe into online death threats against her.
EastEnders actress Jacqueline Jossa had been sent menacing messages on social mediaCredit: BBC
But Jac who shares two daughters with husband Dan Osborne, is focusing her energy on her family and work.
A source said: “She trusts the police to investigate. She is not changing her routine and she is still fulfilling her commitments with family and work.
“She is very calm and content in the knowledge the police are dealing with it.”
Jacqueline posted Instagram snaps with the children and Dan in London’s Covent Garden last month.
She wrote: “I love this time of year so much. I love the age the kids are now. They are older but the magic is still here, it’s just different.”
It comes as the actress, who plays Lauren Branning in Albert Square, feared for her character when the soap’s top boss called her in for a meeting last year.
Of the flash-forward episode that aired on New Year’s Day, she said: “It’s always scary when you get called up to a meeting.
It’s either, ‘You’re going to be thrown off the roof of the Vic’ or it’s just a catch-up.”
Leo’s worry
LEONARDO DiCAPRIO says the film industry is “changing at lightning speed”.
The Hollywood star has bemoaned documentaries vanishing from cinemas and the fact viewers prefer to watch on streaming services.
In The Times’ Culture Mag, he added: “Do people still have the appetite?
“Or will cinemas become silos, like jazz bars?”
Tina will Corrie on
Tina O’Brien signed her new Coronation Street contract just before Christmas, it can be revealedCredit: Getty
CORRIE star Tina O’Brien has signed a new contract keeping her on the cobbles for another year.
The star, who began playing Sarah Platt in 1999, had a tough 2025, splitting from her husband Adam Crofts – father of her son Beau – after seven years of marriage.
Tina who also has daughter Scarlett with her former co-star Ryan Thomas, then revealed in November her beloved dad Steven had died.
A Corrie source said: “Tina had a very difficult 2025, so bosses wanted to reassure her there was nothing to worry about where her job was concerned. She put pen to paper just before the Christmas break.
“Obviously, there have been a lot of changes over the last few months and the last thing they wanted was for her to worry about her role on Corrie.
“She is very much adored on set and her character has got some big things coming up this year.”
Hopefully, 2026 is off to a better start . . .
Hannah Hope’s annual 2026 showbiz calendar
Cynthia Erivo and the Wicked: For Good cast will be hoping to triumph at the Golden Globe AwardsCredit: Getty
JAN: Dust off your sequins as 2026 season kicks off with the 83rd Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles on January 11.
Comedian Nikki Glaser will return as host, with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in the running for gongs for their roles in Wicked: For Good, while Kpop Demon Hunters are up for their catchy track, Golden.
Rock band All Time Low will begin the UK leg of their Everyone’s Talking Tour on January 20 in Glasgow.
FEB: For the first time in its history, The Brit Awards will be heading up north to Manchester on February 28.
Jack Whitehall is back as host with pop star Tate McRae rumoured to perform at the star-studded show at the city’s Co-op Live Arena.
Fresh from the Strictly final, West End star Amber Davies will return to the stage as Elle Woods in the Legally Blonde musical at Leicester’s Curve Theatre on February 7.
The 2026 Grammys will hit Los Angeles on February 1 at the Crypto.com Arena.
Britain’s brand new boyband December 10 will release their debut single. The band consists of Cruz 19, Danny, 17, Hendrick, 19, John, 17, Josh, 17, Nicolas, 16, and Sean, 19.
Wolf Alice will be performing at the Teenage Cancer Trust Gigs at London’s Royal Albert HallCredit: Alamy
MAR: After the success of her album West End Girl, Lily Allen is set to kick off her album tour in Glasgow on March 2.
Strictly Come Dancing: The Professionals returns in May for a nationwide tourCredit: BBC/Ray Burmiston
MAY: Strictly Come Dancing: The Professionals returns in dazzling style.
Fans can see 11 pros – including Vito Coppola and Nancy Xu – take to the dance floor for the ultimate night out.
The nationwide tour, which travels around the country throughout May, kicks off at the Globe Theatre in Stockton-on-Tees on April 29.
Meanwhile, the glamour of the South of France will come alive with the 79th edition of The Cannes Film Festival on May 12.
JUN: A Glastonbury-shaped hole will be filled with the Isle of Wight Festival.
Lewis Capaldi, Calvin Harris and The Cure form the incredible line-up for the four-day festival which starts on June 18.
Following the global success of Wicked, pop star Ariana Grande will return to the stage for The Eternal Sunshine Tour, which begins on June 6 at the Oakland Arena in California.
Lewis Capaldi will perform at the Isle of Wight Festival with Glastonbury taking a year outCredit: Getty
JUL: Michael Bublé proves he does not just defrost for the festive season – as he headlines Blenheim Palace Festival in Oxfordshire on July 4.
Rapper Pitbull – aka Mr Worldwide – returns to the UK with special guest Kesha on July 10 for BST Hyde Park in London.
Lewis Capaldi will also be performing at the festival on July 11 and 12.
AUG: All Points East in London’s Victoria Park will see our favourites Zara Larsson, PinkPantheress and Lorde headline the festival on August 22.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe runs for three weeks from August 7, filling the city with the best theatre, comedy and music.
Zara Larsson will be performing at All Points East in London’s Victoria ParkCredit: Getty
SEP: The 31st National Television Awards will see your fave soap stars battle it out to be crowned the winner on September 8 at London’s O2 Arena.
Meanwhile the 2026 Emmy Awards are set to take place on September 14 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The nominations will be revealed on July 8.
Watch it
The long awaited sequel to The Devil Wears Prada is one of the films to look forward to in 2026Credit: Getty
ANNE HATHAWAY and Meryl Streep return in The Devil Wears Prada 2 on May 1.
Valentine’s Day just got even more romantic as Margot Robbie stars alongside Jacob Elordi in a new adaptation of Wuthering Heights, which is out on February 13.
Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow starring Milly Alcock will hit cinemas on June 26.
Buzz, Woody, Jessie and the gang return in Toy Story 5 on June 19.
Cillian Murphy stars in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple which is out on January 14.
WASHINGTON — A federal magistrate judge on Friday refused to order the pretrial release of a man charged with planting two pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican national parties on the eve of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh ruled that Brian J. Cole Jr. must remain jailed before trial. The magistrate concluded there are no conditions of release that can reasonably protect the public from the danger that Cole allegedly poses.
Justice Department prosecutors say Cole confessed to placing pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee headquarters only hours before a mob of President Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol. According to prosecutors, Cole said he hoped the explosives would detonate and “hoped there would be news about it.”
“Mercifully, that did not happen,” Sharbaugh wrote. “But if the plan had succeeded, the results,” he said, could have been devastating, “creating a greater sense of terror on the eve of a high-security Congressional proceeding, causing serious property damage in the heart of Washington, D.C., grievously injuring DNC or RNC staff and other innocent bystanders, or worse.”
After his arrest last month, Cole told investigators that he believed someone needed to “speak up” for people who believed the 2020 election, which Democrat Joe Biden won, was stolen and that he wanted to target the country’s political parties because they were “in charge,” according to prosecutors.
If convicted of both charges against him, Cole faces up to 10 years of imprisonment on one charge and up to 20 years of imprisonment on a second charge that also carries a five-year mandatory minimum prison sentence.
Cole’s attorneys asked for him to be released on home detention with GPS monitoring. They said Cole doesn’t have a criminal record, has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and lives in a stable home that he shared with his parents in Woodbridge, Va.
“Mr. Cole simply does not pose a danger to the community,” defense attorneys wrote. “Whatever risk the government posits is theoretical and backward-looking, belied by the past four years where Mr. Cole lived at home with his family without incident.”
Cole continued to purchase bomb-making components for months after the Jan. 6 riot, according to prosecutors. They said Cole told the FBI that he planted the pipe bombs because “something just snapped.”
“The sudden and abrupt motivation behind Mr. Cole’s alleged actions presents concerns about how quickly the same abrupt and impulsive conduct might recur,” Sharbaugh wrote.
I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times, host of The Envelope newsletter and the guy wondering how many New Year’s resolutions you’ve broken so far this year.
Let’s take a look back — and a look forward — because that’s what we’re contractually obligated to do this time of year.
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Every year, some editor at The Times buzzes my inbox with a request to gather my hopes and dreams into a purely speculative list of movies I’m looking forward to seeing in the coming 12 months. That email serves as a marker that the Earth has orbited the sun once again and it’s time to buy a new planner — because I’ll be damned if I’m going to let Google Calendar know what I’m doing 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
I was asked to contribute two movies to the list last year, and I chose “One Battle After Another” and “Materialists.” So … one masterpiece that should go on to win the Oscar for best picture and the movie that seems to be the most hated film of 2025. Seriously, people will approach me at parties and say, unprompted, “You know what movie I despised? ‘Materialists.’” And then, after unloading on how much they loathed the characters in Celine Song’s romantic drama, they’ll shift gears and go on a diatribe about late-stage capitalism.
(My New Year’s resolution: find better parties.)
You could say, then, that I got one right and one wrong, though I was partly looking forward to “Materialists” because Song had regaled me with tales of her Manhattan matchmaking days over a couple glasses of wine one night and I wanted to see how she’d weave these stories into a movie. And it turned out that was the best part of the film. So there. No more emails about “Materialists,” please.
At least Song’s film saw the light of day. Looking back on our 2025 list, there are still movies that haven’t made it to theaters. The “Untitled Trey Parker/Matt Stone Film,” once scheduled for July 4, now has a title, “Whitney Springs,” but no new release date. Neither does Terrence Malick’s biblical drama, “The Way of the Wind,” which Malick has reportedly been editing for a good six years now. That movie didn’t make our 2026 list, but, fingers crossed, it might resurface sometime in the next decade when we throw together another of these.
So what movies am I looking forward to seeing when it stops raining (talk about biblical drama) and we start turning the calendar’s pages? I raised my hand for three, and I’m confident this trio will satisfy, mostly because of their directors’ track record. To see everyone else’s picks — including a few I would have chosen myself — read the full list here.
“Disclosure Day”: I liked it better when this was simply known as “Untitled Steven Spielberg UFO movie.” What more do you need to know beyond that description and a prime summer release date? That’s enough to sell a few hundred million dollars in tickets and make me giddy with anticipation. We don’t know much at the moment, other than that Spielberg is working again with “Jurassic Park” and “War of the Worlds” screenwriter David Koepp. There’s an eye-catching billboard with an image that looks alien and kind of birdlike … unless you study it while standing on your head and then it looks … human? Who knows? ALL WILL BE DISCLOSED, the tagline promises, hence the title. So we’ll just have to wait. But from all appearances, we’re not in “E.T.” territory with this one.
“The Adventures of Cliff Booth”: Do we need a stand-alone Cliff Booth movie? Quentin Tarantino thinks so, though not enough to direct the sequel he wrote to his hit 2019 film “Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood.” That’s OK, as Brad Pitt, who won an Oscar for playing Booth, the ass-kicking stuntman, enlisted David Fincher to sub in. It’ll be their fourth collaboration, following “Se7en,” “Fight Club” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” a track record that offers some optimism that a film elevating Booth from Rick Dalton’s loyal sidekick to a leading character is an idea worth pursuing. (Leonardo DiCaprio apparently turned down an offer to reprise Dalton in a cameo.) If nothing else, the movie’s 1977 setting, eight years after the events in “Once Upon a Time,” will give us the chance to revel in another glorious L.A. time capsule.
“Werwulf”: Robert Eggers calls his upcoming medieval werewolf movie the “darkest thing I have ever written, by far.” Let that sink in for a moment. Eggers’ filmography includes the suffocating madness found in “The Witch” and “The Lighthouse” and the chilling terror of a malevolent, shape-shifting, lustful vampire in “Nosferatu.” These are not light movies. So what are we in store for here? Apparently a member of Eggers’ sound team said he needed a hug after reading the “Werwulf” script. I couldn’t verify this, but I want this to be true. There will be blood — and fog. One other thing we know is the setting, 13th century England, which means that the film’s dialogue will be in Middle English. How fareth thoue with that? I’m sure the cast, which includes Eggers regulars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Lily-Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe and Ralph Ineson, had fun, verraily.
There you have it: Spielberg, Fincher, Eggers. A sci-fi thriller, a sequel I still can’t believe exists and a monster movie. All three of these might miss the mark. And, honestly, any list missing the guaranteed pleasures of “Practical Magic 2” is immediately suspect.
But that’s the folly of blindly looking ahead. You never know.
Happy New Year! And, as always, thanks for reading.
She must have written that story before “Song Sung Blue” came out. Because Hugh Jackman passionately describing the greatness of Neil Diamond’s “Soolaimon” and then demonstrating that song’s grandeur by performing it in the new film “Song Sung Blue” is the definition of corny, feel-good comfort.
Which leads me to my question to you this day: Have you seen “Marty Supreme”? And what feelings — good, bad, uneasy, elated — did that movie arouse in you?
He summited the Sphere, exhorting us to “dream big.” He shot a rap music video to debunk the conspiracy theory that he is a popular British rapper. He has popped up at screenings flanked by bodyguards sporting giant orange ping-pong balls for heads.
Leading up to the Christmas Day premiere of his new movie, “Marty Supreme,” Timothée Chalamet was front and center in a promotional tour that was unhinged, delightful and, judging from the weekend’s box office, quite successful.
“Marty Supreme,” the wildly entertaining, over-caffeinated portrait of a single-minded ping-pong player, took in $27 million over the four-day Christmas weekend, the best opening in distributor A24’s history. The numbers surpassed the opening of “A Complete Unknown,” last year’s Chalamet Christmas release that featured the actor playing Bob Dylan in his formative years.
Not everyone was on board with “Marty.” Moviegoers gave the movie a B+ rating with market research company CinemaScore. That’s good, but not great. (“A Complete Unknown,” by comparison, earned an A.)
Podcaster Claira Curtis’ experience seeing the movie at the Grove feels like an accurate representation of the “Marty Supreme” adventure: “Packed ‘Marty Supreme theater had the full range of reactions. There were people walking out halfway through. There were people clapping. There was someone coming out of it saying, ‘Eh, it was fine’ & then their friend went, ‘Are you insane? It was peak!’”
The disparate responses reflect a couple of things.
One, not everyone embraces the Safdie brand of anxiety-inducing cinema. Josh Safdie directed “Marty.” His brother, Benny, made “The Smashing Machine,” released earlier this year. Together, they made “Uncut Gems” and “Good Time,” movies that, take your pick, were exhilarating or excruciating. Or both! (Exclamation point intended. These are exclamation-point films.)
And two, the title character in “Marty Supreme” is a lot — an undeniably talented, relentless self-promoter careening toward his goals of fame and fortune with little regard to the damage he is inflicting on others. He’s despicable, but also, as played by Chalamet, winningly charming. Unless you find Chalamet annoying. Then you’re probably best-served listening to Hugh Jackman sing Neil Diamond songs.
Chalamet has channeled Marty’s earnest energy in his promotional appearances for the film.
“This is a movie about sacrifice in pursuit of a dream,” he told Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show.” “And it’s something I can relate to deeply. And we live in a bleak time, especially for young people, so this film is an attempted antidote to that.”
Chalamet then pivoted to the camera, the better to look into viewers’ eyes.
“And to continue to believe in yourself and to continue to dream big and to follow your dreams and not take no for an answer. That’s the spirit of ‘Marty Supreme,’ out on Christmas Day.”
Judging from the box office, Chalamet has pushed across the message. Will it work on awards voters, giving Chalamet the first Oscar of his career? As we head into the new year, the next phase of the “Marty” tour promises to be the season’s most interesting storyline. Gas up the blimp!
Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris discusses his team’s high standards as they extend their unbeaten home record at the Stadium of Light after a 0-0 draw against Manchester City.
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As the new year begins, novelists send characters to great heights in Tibet and Wyoming, to the great depths of the 19th century Atlantic and back in time, to early 20th century Pakistan. Meanwhile, nonfiction authors contemplate a Spanish shipwreck, a racially motivated murder, the origins of great ideas and how laughter can change our lives. Happy reading!
Guo, whose 2017 memoir “Nine Continents” detailed her difficult road to personal and artistic freedom, pours that experience into Ishmaelle, a young woman from England’s coast who joins the crew of a whaling ship named the Nimrod. Yes, it’s a retelling of Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” and yes, it’s well worth your time. By adding in new characters while adhering to the original story, the author creates something new, strange and thrilling.
Set in 1869, when Europeans were forbidden to enter Tibet, this slow-paced yet tense novel follows the perspectives of Balram, an Indian surveyor, and Katharine, a woman of mixed English and Indian heritage, as they both attempt expeditions for different purposes. During their treks both characters meet a man named Chetak, whose eerie folkloric tales underscore the power structures they’ll each have to surmount before reaching their goals.
While most of this stunning book takes place in Pakistan, an important section leads two brothers to college at Dartmouth in the United States, a place about as far in every respect from their Rawalpindi origins as possible. Mueenuddin, whose gift for satire shines whether he’s describing society matrons or gangsters, never loses sight of his theme: How do any of us ever manage to justify our treatment of the underserved?
Crux: A Novel By Gabriel Tallent Riverhead: 416 pp., $30 (Jan. 20)
A “crux” refers to the toughest point in a climb; it also means a decision point, as well as a place where two things cross. For Tallent’s sophomore novel, two characters who are climbers have reached an important moment in their teenage lives. Daniel and Tamma (he’s straight, she’s queer) have been close friends for years, scrabbling all over Joshua Tree peaks, but as their home lives and individual paths diverge, their bond wavers.
Vigil: A Novel By George Saunders Random House: 192 pp., $28 (Jan. 27)
It seems unfair that, after his spectacular “Lincoln in the Bardo,” Saunders returns with not just another novel featuring a ghost, but with a new novel even more spectacular than the last. “Who else could you have been but exactly who you are?” says the newly incarnated Jill “Doll” Blaine, sent to comfort nefarious oil tycoon K. J. Boone in his last hours alive — a statement that in no way diminishes the political urgency of this spare, lovely book.
We’ve all heard that laughter is the best medicine; funny stuff isn’t merely diversion, but essential to our health. Author Duffy, who hosts the TED Talks podcast “How to Be a Better Human,” believes that anyone, from age 10 to age 103 (he gives examples of each), can make you laugh, help you form community and even lead you to make better decisions. One of the latter? Learn to laugh at yourself; it can signal “general intelligence and verbal creativity.”
By Sylvester Allen Jr. and Belle Boggs University of North Carolina Press: 296 pp., $30 (Jan. 27)
The titular Outlaw was the first Black constable of Graham, N.C. In 1870, he was killed by lynching by members of the local Ku Klux Klan, no doubt in part due to his efforts to build coalition between members of different races and social classes. Allen, a native of Graham and a playwright who wrote a drama based on Outlaw’s legacy, and Boggs, a scholar, connect the terrorism and hatred behind this man’s murder to the present day.
By George Newman Simon & Schuster: 304 pp., $30 (Jan. 27)
So many cartoons depict great ideas using light bulbs that we’ve forgotten many of the greatest ideas come about from long deliberation and careful winnowing. Canadian professor Newman uses archaeological terms for the process: surveying, gridding, digging and sifting. Who knew that Jordan Peele rewrote “Get Out” 400 times, or that Paul Simon composed his “Graceland” album by combing through all of his previous work?
In 1708 the San José, a treasure-laden Spanish galleon, sunk off the coast of Colombia. In 2015 a man named Roger Dooley found the galleon’s wreck and brought back artifacts proving it. Unfortunately, with little education, few bona fides and a sketchy reputation, Dooley received no credit for the discovery. Sancton tracked down Dooley — now in his 80s and somewhat reclusive — and thus is able to provide a fascinating conclusion to the tale.
By Jennifer Breheny Wallace Portfolio: 288 pp., $30 (Jan. 27)
Loneliness pervades our society and to heal it, people need to feel that they actually matter to others — something author Wallace saw when she researched and wrote her 2023 bestseller “Never Enough,” which focused on adolescents and burnout. Now Wallace shares her findings from talking with people of all ages and hearing what a difference it makes when connections are made and individuals are recognized for even the smallest contributions.
Patrick is a freelance critic and author of the memoir “Life B.”
OUR team of intrepid showbiz reporters have brought you all the latest on the Brooklyn Beckham saga, blow by blow accounts of JoJo Siwa dumping her girlfriend for Chris Hughes and we broke the news about Danny Jones kissing Maura Higgins to name just a few astonishing showbiz scoops from 2025.
But while we’ve been filling the paper and gracing the internet with story after story, there’s actually been A LOT we haven’t told you… until now.
Chris Hughes and JoJo Siwa’s romance was one of the biggest surprises of 2025Credit: InstagramMaura Higgins’ close relationship with Danny Jones also hit the newsCredit: Splash
We may not be able to name names. but we CAN give you all the dirty secrets the stars definitely don’t want you to know… Prepare to be shocked.
A SCARY TYPE OF LOVE
We shook our heads in disbelief when we were told all a Love Islander had a violent criminal family member.
No wonder her boyfriend was scared to dump her despite seeming completely over her as their romance hit the rocks. Once he’d heard about the jailed man’s crimes, he’d be scared to upset her.
GUILTY GIFT
One huge reality star managed to keep the details of an explosive breakup with her ex under wraps.
It’s known that she cheated on her former flame before their split, but what remains secret is that the person she cheated with was married, and their affair sparked a very messy divorce. Worse still, the star was gifted a Rolex from her lover… which belonged to his wife.
2025 was full of celeb rows – some to risky to be mentioned
HOT AND STEAMY
One former I’m A Celebrity star has been using the sauna at a well known private members club for their illicit hookups.
Fellow members are thought to have been shocked when they spotted him, but have quickly got used to his steamy antics.
THEY’VE GOT THE SAME TYPE
These two TV stars appeared blissfully happy when they got wed but we were told they were both having it off with the same bloke before the big day.
Affairs are nothing new but it turns out these two had no idea they were copping off with the same person. When that gossip finally filters back, we expect divorce papers to be drawn up pretty fast.
MONEY TALKS
Tis the season to be jolly, but we can reveal a well known BBC star turned into a real life Grinch after attending an Uber Xmas party where guests were given one box containing an uber code.
After making full use of the free bar this person proceeded to nab the lot and hastily open them all in the lift…
NOT SURE PICTURE PERFECT
Our jaws hit the floor when we were told all about the well-loved female BBC star who showed an explicit and unwanted picture of a penis to a junior member of staff.
The woman, who ranked among the Corporation’s top 50 highest paid this year, asked the junior member of staff about her preferences and then showed her a nude image on her mobile phone.
But her actions were considered so offensive that the female talent was called in by execs and asked to apologise.
One celeb’s dad took it a bit too far at the wedding
PARTY POOPER
It’s not just celebs who haven’t been on their best behaviour this year. The father of one very well-known bride caused a scene at her wedding by getting smashed and being inappropriate with female guests.
He spent the rest of the next day hungover and phoning round everyone apologising.
REALITY BITES
One reality star was shouting from the roof tops when she got a new man this year.
But when the latest love of her life didn’t turn up for her birthday party, she wasted no time in hopping into bed with her ex – that very same night. And her new bloke is still none the wiser.
There were a few surprise hook ups along the way
TELLING TALES
Celebs will do anything to keep themselves out of the news – like the TV star who was caught getting up to no good in the toilet. Let’s just say she looked a little too familiar with a little bag of white stuff.
She begged for her secret to be kept hidden and offered up some scandal on another star, one of her pals, instead. No wonder they say keep your enemies closer.
We couldn’t believe some of the stories we were told this year
There was no shortage of engrossing art with which to engage in Southern California museums during the past year, although the considerable majority of it had been made only within the past 50 years or so. Art’s global history before the Second World War continues to play a decided second fiddle to contemporary art in special exhibitions.
Our picks for this year’s best in arts and entertainment.
The chief exception: the Getty, where its Brentwood anchor and Pacific Palisades outpost accounted for three of the 10 most engrossing museum exhibitions in 2025, all 10 presented here in order of their opening dates. (Four are still on view.)
Art museums across the country continue to struggle in attendance and fundraising after the double-whammy of the lengthy COVID-19 pandemic shut-down followed by culture war attacks from the Trump administration. That may help explain the unusually lengthy, seven- to 14-month duration of half of these shows.
Gustave Caillebotte, “Floor Scrapers,” 1875, oil on canvas.
(Musée d’Orsay )
Gustave Caillebotte: Painting Men. Getty Center
An emphasis on men’s daily lives is very unusual in French Impressionist art. Women are more prominent as subject matter in scores of paintings by marquee names like Monet, Cassatt and Degas. But homosocial life in late-19th century Paris was the fascinating focus of this show, the first Los Angeles museum survey of Gustave Caillebotte’s paintings in 30 years.
A view into a dance gallery is framed by Guadalupe Rosales’ “Concourse/C3” installation.
(Christopher Knight / Los Angeles Times)
Guadalupe Rosales – Tzahualli: Mi Memoria en Tu Reflejo. Palm Springs Art Museum
Vibrant Chicano youth subcultures of 1990s Los Angeles, during the fraught era of Rodney King and the AIDS epidemic, are embedded in the art of one of its enthusiastic participants. Guadalupe Rosales layers her archival work onto pleasure and freedom today, as was seen in this vibrant exhibition, offering a welcome balm during another period of outsized social distress.
Don Bachardy, “Christopher Isherwood,” June 20, 1979; acrylic on paper.
(Don Bachardy Paper / Huntington Library)
Don Bachardy: A Life in Portraits. The Huntington
The nearly 70-year retrospective of portrait drawings in pencil and paint by Los Angeles artist Don Bachardy revealed the works to be like performances: Both artist and sitter participated in putting on a pictorial show. The extended visual encounter between two people, its intimacy inescapable, culminates in the two “actors” autographing their performed picture.
“Probably Shakyamuni, the Historical Buddha,” China, Tang Dynasty, circa 700-800; marble.
(Christopher Knight / Los Angeles Times)
Realms of the Dharma: Buddhist Art Across Asia. LACMA. Through July 12
“Realms of the Dharma” isn’t exactly an exhibition. Instead, it’s a temporary, 14-month installation of Buddhist sculptures, paintings and drawings from the museum’s impressive permanent collection, plus a few additions. It’s worth noting here, though, because almost all of its marvelous pieces were in storage (or traveling) for more than seven years, during the lengthy tear-down of a prior LACMA building and construction of a new one, and much of it will disappear again when the installation closes next summer.
Noah Davis, “40 Acres and a Unicorn,” 2007, acrylic and gouache on canvas.
(Anna Arca)
Noah Davis. UCLA Hammer Museum
A tight survey of 50 works, all made by Noah Davis in the brief span between 2007 and the L.A.-based artist’s untimely death in 2015 at just 32, told a poignant story of rapid artistic growth brutally interrupted. Davis was a painter’s painter, a deeply thoughtful and idiosyncratic Black voice heard by other artists and aficionados, even while still in invigorating development.
Weegee (Arthur Fellig), “The Gay Deceiver, 1939/1950, gelatin silver print. Getty Museum
(Getty Museum)
Queer Lens: A History of Photography. Getty Center
Assembling some 270 photographs from the 19th and 20th centuries, “Queer Lens” looked at work produced after the 1869 invention of the binaries of “heterosexual and homosexual,” just a short generation after the 1839 invention of the camera. Transformations in the expression of gender and sexuality by scores of artists as well-known as Berenice Abbott, Anthony Friedkin, Robert Mapplethorpe, Man Ray and Edmund Teske were tracked along with more than a dozen unknowns.
“Sealstone With a Battle Scene (The Pylos Combat Agate),” Minoan, 1630-1440 BC; banded agate, gold and bronze.
(Jeff Vanderpool)
The Kingdom of Pylos: Warrior-Princes of Ancient Greece. Getty Villa. Through Jan. 12
The star of this look into the ancient, not widely known Mycenaean kingdom of Pylos was a tiny agate, barely 1.3 inches wide, making its public debut outside Europe. The exquisitely carved stone, unearthed by archaeologists in 2017, shows two lean but muscled warriors going at it over the sprawled body of a dead comrade. Perhaps made in Crete, the idealized naturalism of a battle scene rendered in shallow three-dimensional space threw a stylistic monkey-wrench into our established understanding of Greek culture 3,500 years ago.
Ken Gonzales-Day digitally erased Illinois Black lynching victim Charlie Mitchell from an 1897 postcard to focus instead on the perpetrators.
(USC Fisher Museum of Art)
Ken Gonzales-Day: History’s “Nevermade.” USC Fisher Museum of Art. Through March 14
The ways in which identities of race, gender and class are erased in a society dominated by straight white patriarchy animates the first mid-career survey of Los Angeles–based artist Ken Gonzales-Day. The riveting centerpiece is his extensive meditation on the American mass-hysteria embodied by the horrific practice of lynching, in which Gonzales-Day employed digital techniques to erase the brutalized victims (and the ropes) in grisly photographs of the murders. Focus shifts the viewer’s gaze toward the perpetrators — an urgent and timely transference, given the shredding of civil society underway today.
Kara Walker deconstructed a monument to Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson for “Unmanned Drone,” as seen at the Brick gallery as part of “Monuments.”
(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)
Monuments. The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA and the Brick. Through May 3
The nearly two-year delay in opening “Monuments,” an exhibition of toppled Confederate and Jim Crow statues that pairs cautionary art history with thoughtful and poetic retorts by a variety of artists, turned out to give the much anticipated undertaking an especially potent punch. As the Trump Administration restores a white supremacist sheen to “Lost Cause” mythology by renaming military installations after Civil War traitors and returning sculptures and paintings of them to prior perches, from which they had been removed, this sober and incisive analysis of what’s at stake is nothing less than crucial.
Peak moment: As a metaphor of white supremacy, Kara Walker’s transformation of the ancient “man on a horse” motif into a monstrous headless horseman — a Euro-American corpse that tortures the living and refuses to die — resonates loudly.
Installation view of sculptures and a painting by Robert Therrien at the Broad.
(Joshua White / Broad museum)
Robert Therrien: This Is a Story. The Broad. Through April 5
The late Los Angeles-based artist Robert Therrien (1947-2019) had a distinctive, even quirky capacity for teasing out a conceptual space between ordinary domestic objects and their mysterious personal meanings. In 120 paintings, drawings, photographs and especially sculptures, this Therrien exhibition offers objects hovering somewhere between immediately recognizable and perplexingly alien, wryly funny and spiritually profound.
Match of the Day’s Alan Shearer analyses the half-time tactical tweak from Manchester City which released Tijani Reijnders into attacking areas and gave City a vital 2-1 win at Nottingham Forest.
Aston Villa’s latest comeback win has highlighted coach Unai Emery’s remarkable record of turning around games, which has put his side firmly in the Premier League title race.
After Saturday’s 2-1 win at Chelsea – their 12th in 13th league matches – Villa have claimed 18 points from losing positions so far this season, more than any other team.
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And it is not just this year that the Spaniard has been affecting games with his decision-making. Across the last three seasons, Villa have won more points from matches in which they were losing than any other Premier League team, according to data firm Opta.
In the 58th minute on Saturday, with Chelsea 1-0 up and looking in control, Emery gambled on a triple substitution, bringing on Ollie Watkins and more attacking firepower in the form of winger Jadon Sancho, along with midfielder Amadou Onana.
Five minutes later, Watkins pounced on a through ball by Morgan Rogers to beat Robert Sanchez in the Chelsea goal.
Buoyed by their equaliser and their change of personnel, Villa looked transformed from the side that was pinned back by their hosts for most of the first hour.
In the 84th minute, Watkins – hoping for a place in the England World Cup squad next summer – met a Youri Tielemans corner with an angled header that left Sanchez with no chance.
“He’s a tactical genius,” Watkins said when asked by Sky Sports about Emery’s ability to change the momentum of matches.
The coach himself tried to sound a bit less effusive. “It’s something, of course, that makes us proud of everything we are doing,” Emery said when asked about Villa’s ability to turn losing situations into victories.
He sought to play down his side’s chances of winning the title, despite their blistering form.
“I am not feeling it,” Emery said. “I am feeling we competing very well, and we are now the third in the league with two teams, Manchester City and Arsenal, wow.”
But with the season only halfway through, Villa, who struggled badly at the start of the campaign, need to show more consistency, he said.
Villa face league leaders Arsenal in London on Tuesday.
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca had to face questions about much less impressive statistics for his young side, who have dropped 11 points from winning positions in home Premier League matches this season – four more than any other side.
“We need to understand why when we concede a goal, we struggle a bit to manage the game,” the Italian told reporters.
He was left to rue Chelsea’s failure to build a bigger lead before Villa’s fightback.
“By the time they scored the goal, I think we should have scored two to three goals,” Maresca said.
Arsenal, Man City and Liverpool maintain form
Manchester City threw down the gauntlet for the second successive weekend, and Arsenal proved undaunted as they kicked off their festive fixtures with a narrow 2-1 defeat of Brighton & Hove Albion to stay as Premier League leaders on Saturday.
City won 2-1 at Nottingham Forest, with Rayan Cherki grabbing a goal and an assist to briefly move to the top of the pile.
But Arsenal, just as they had done last week by beating Everton after City’s earlier win over West Ham United, were unwavering as captain Martin Odegaard scored his first goal of the season for Mikel Arteta’s side.
Arsenal also needed an own goal and a spectacular save by keeper David Raya to preserve their lead, as the halfway point in the Premier League season looms.
The London side have 42 points from 18 games, with City on 40.
When Odegaard drilled in a 14th-minute opener for the Gunners, and Georginio Rutter’s own goal from a Declan Rice corner made it 2-0 shortly after the break, it should have been a routine three points for the hosts.
But Diego Gomez’s reply for Brighton changed the complexion of the contest, and there was relief at the final whistle as Arsenal cleared another obstacle in the title chase.
“The knock-on effect of winning is incredibly powerful,” Arteta said of a victory that should have been easier.
“It should never be 2-1, but that’s the Premier League. What I like is that we have a lot of issues [but] we’re dealing with it in an incredible way. Yesterday, we lost Jurrien [Timber]; today, we lost [Riccardo] Calafiori in the warm-up; Declan [Rice] has to play as a full-back, and you see the performance that he put in. So, that’s the spirit and that’s how much our players want it.”
Florian Wirtz scored his first Liverpool goal as they beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 on an emotional Anfield afternoon, when both sets of fans remembered the late Diogo Jota, who died in a car crash in July.
Wirtz doubled Liverpool’s lead shortly after Ryan Gravenberch had put them in front, although Wolves rallied in the second half and Santiago Bueno pulled a goal back.
Reigning champions Liverpool moved fourth on 32 points, while the misery for the bottom club Wolves continues.
They have now broken the Premier League record for winless starts to a season and have two points from 18 games, and are 16 points behind the fourth-from-bottom Nottingham Forest.
Dec. 26 (UPI) — A federal judge has blocked the deportation of a British man targeted by President Donald Trump.
Imran Ahmed, founder and CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, was one of five people placed on a visa ban after the government accused him of censorship.
Ahmed filed suit against Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Attorney General Pam Bondi to prevent “the imminent prospect of unconstitutional arrest.”
The suit said the case comes from “the federal government’s latest attempt to abuse the immigration system to punish and punitively detain noncitizens for protected speech and silence viewpoints with which it disagrees.”
Ahmed is a legal permanent resident of the United States, where he lives with his American wife and child. He praised the judge’s decision.
“I will not be bullied away from my life’s work of fighting to keep children safe from social media’s harm and stopping antisemitism online,” Ahmed said.
The speed of the judge’s decision was telling, said his lawyer Roberta Kaplan.
“The federal government can’t deport a green card holder like Imran Ahmed, with a wife and young child who are American, simply because it doesn’t like what he has to say,” the BBC reported she said.
Rubio said in a statement Tuesday that the five had “led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize and suppress” the views of Americans with whom they disagreed.
“These radical activists and weaponized NGOs have advanced censorship crackdowns by foreign states — in each case targeting American speakers and American companies,” Rubio said. He described the five as “agents of the global censorship-industrial complex.”
The others included in the ban are former European Union technology commissioner Thierry Breton; Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of Berlin-based non-profit HateAid; Clare Melford, co-founder of Global Disinformation Index.
Ahmed told The Guardian that it was another attempt to deflect accountability and transparency.
“This has never been about politics,” he said. “What it has been about is companies that simply do not want to be held accountable and, because of the influence of big money in Washington, are corrupting the system and trying to bend it to their will, and their will is to be unable to be held accountable. There is no other industry that acts with such arrogance, indifference and a lack of humility and sociopathic greed at the expense of people.”
Ahmed said he had not formally received any notification from the government.
“I’m very confident that our first amendment rights will be upheld by the court,” he told The Guardian.
He is expected to be in court Monday, when the protective order will be confirmed.
In 2023, Elon Musk‘s company X sued the CCDH after it reported on a rise in hate speech on the platform since Musk’s takeover. The case was dismissed but X appealed the decision.
Simon Cowell, the judge on the TV series “American Idol” strangles the show’s host Ryan Seacrest during the May 15, 2003 photo op for the 2003 Fox Upfront at New York’s Grand Central Station in New York City. Photo by Ezio Petersen/UPI | License Photo
