On a Thursday in early June, under the hot bright lights of the famous Blue Note jazz club in Hollywood, the legendary trumpeter and composer Arturo Sandoval took center stage with a microphone in hand — and a hip wiggle for good measure. Rocking a silk shirt adorned with rhinestones, and backed by his incredibly nimble band, the Cuban-born virtuoso kicked off his four-night residency at the club with sizzling banter and panache.
“I had to watch what I said in Cuba,” he told the audience. “Now I live in the United States of America, man — I say whatever the hell I want. Do you like it? Well, if you don’t, I don’t care!”
Now 77, Sandoval feels he was liberated by the power of jazz. Released in May, his dynamic new album, “Sangú” — Spanglish for “sounds good!” — is bursting with the free-spirited energy he’s cultivated in the decades since he came to the United States from Cuba. Sandoval maintains a fiery pace throughout the album, commanding not only the trumpet, but the timbales and piano. (He even recorded his own scat singing for the appropriately-titled track, “Scat.”)
Once derided by the revolutionary government as “Yankee imperialism,” jazz music became a staple of Sandoval’s daily diet. As a young trumpet player in Cuba’s national band, he sought refuge in the sounds of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie by tuning into Voice of America: a radio program covertly broadcast from the States. Sandoval eventually served three-and-a-half months in jail in the 1970s when he was caught listening to the program — but with famed pianist and director Chucho Valdés, Sandoval would pioneer a distinctly Afro-Cuban jazz fusion with the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna, which was renamed Irakere and won a Grammy for best Latin recording in 1980.
“Jazz is synonymous with freedom,” he said. “And I’ve always said the most important word in any dictionary around the world is the word ‘freedom.’”
Inside his Tuscan-style home in the Valley, Sandoval’s shelves are lined with the myriad of awards he’s collected in the time since he arrived in the States: an Emmy award for scoring the 2000 movie based on his own life, “For Love or Country,” which starred Cuban American actor Andy García; 10 Grammy statuettes and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was presented to him by President Obama in 2013.
Just last month, Sandoval was also awarded knighthood by the King of Spain. “Does that make me Don Arturo Sandoval?” he audibly asked the ChatGPT application on his phone; indeed, it does. (“My wife gets a little jealous of ChatGPT,” he added with a laugh.)
Come July 4, Sandoval will perform at the America250 concert in Washington D.C., which is a bipartisan celebration of the United States’ 250th birthday. Co-chairs of the event include former President George W. Bush, former First Lady Laura Bush, former President Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama. Seated next to his Bösendorfer grand piano, Sandoval spoke with The Times while on break from his world tour to discuss the new album, his collaborations with Karol G and Ariana Grande, as well as his weakness for a good cigar.
This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.
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What keeps you playing the trumpet after all these years? I have no choice. The piano is not that complicated, but the trumpet is a pain in the butt. The trumpet is merciless. You have to practice every single day, otherwise it sends you a bill.
How do you smoke cigars and stay healthy enough to play the trumpet? I’ve been a big time cigar smoker since I was 14 years old. I never miss a day. I had a good one already. Every year they put me in the MRI to check my lungs. And the doctor always says, “Man, you have lungs like a person who never smoked.” A cigar is completely different from cigarettes. [With] a cigar you don’t inhale to the bottom of the lung, you know, it’s from here [taps his throat]. That’s the art.
You’ve been knighted by the king of Spain! How does that feel? Great! We’re having 30 people over tonight. My wife is cooking for everyone. The consul [from Spain] called me three or four days ago [and] said, “Arturo, I got a surprise for you. I just got a package from the king at my house, ready to give it to you.” And I said, “What kind of joke is that?” My four grandparents came from Spain to Cuba — from my mother’s side, they were from Tenerife, Isla Canaria. From my dad’s side, they were Gallegos from Galicia. Even if I weren’t related to my family in Spain, whatever — I love Spain!
Given how restricted music and expression were in Cuba, how did you get into the international jazz community? We put together a big band called Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna [later called Irakere]. I met a journalist who played the saxophone — he said, “Man, you ever hear any jazz music?” He played for me a compilation or recordings of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. That was in ’67 or ’68. Ten years later, I got a phone call from the guy — there was a jazz cruise going around the Caribbean and they [were in Havana] for 48 hours. I told him, “Pretend we never had this conversation!” But I went to the harbor. When the boat arrived, I saw Maestro Gillespie coming down the stairs. I didn’t know how to say one word in English. But God has always been good to me.
A guy behind him started talking to me in perfect Spanish. He was a percussionist playing with the great Stan Getz … a bunch of good musicians there. Dizzy started asking me questions through him. They said, “You have a car?” I had a Primo 1951, but it was falling apart. He said, “Ok, show me Havana.” He stayed for a jam session that night with Irakere. Gillespie went back to New York and told everybody about those musicians he heard in Cuba. Then one day a guy came to Irakere’s rehearsal and introduced himself with a translator — he was the president of CBS Records. A few months later, he put us on the plane [to New York] and drove us in a little bus straight to [perform at] Carnegie Hall. CBS made a recording of that, [which gave us] our first Grammy.
Many years later, in 2013, you were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. What’s something special you remember about that night? My granddaughter Lola was there, she was 6. It’s customary to take a photo with the president and the first lady. And we did, the whole family. When we got together for the photo, Lola started pulling at Obama’s jacket. He looked her and said, “May I help you?” She said, “Mr. President, I missed school today. I need a note from you.”
I said, “Oh Lord.” But Obama smiled and said, “Of course.” Then he got a paper with the White House [logo] on top and wrote, “Please excuse Lola from the school today … [Signed,] Barack Obama.”
Legendary jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, shown performing at Dorothy Chandler Pavillion in Los Angeles in 2016.
(Courtesy of Timothy Norris)
Your new album is so cinematic. What’s the story behind it? One day my son and his wife, who’s my manager, came over and said, “Papa, you’re getting old. You have to change your repertoire.” I said to my son, “I’ve been feeding you for 50 years and then you come and tell me what to do? Gimme a break!” But to be honest, when the pandemic happened, I was locked [inside] here. I used to travel a lot, and I was so frustrated and sad. So for two-and-a-half years, I started writing two or three new tunes a day and recorded a few hundred on my own. They picked 100 out of those; I said, “[Now] pick 12.”
When I got with the band, when somebody told me what to play — a little faster, a little slower — I said, “What the heck, man?” But I did it. And they were right. I’m so happy, blessed and grateful because they are amazing musicians. Nobody’s weird. No drugs, no alcohol, strictly into the music.
You joined Karol G’s band at Coachella this year — how did that happen? As an old man, it’s not every day you have the opportunity to play Coachella. She called me last year to play on a tune in her latest album, “Ivonny Bonita.” So when they invited her to Coachella, she said, “Arturo, we’d like to play with you there.” She’s got great charisma and knows how to put a show together. To play for [more than] 150,000 people each night? That’s not my daily gig. I was nervous, but grateful for the opportunity. And when I checked my followers on Instagram, I got like 5,000 people in a few days — that never happens to me!
Let’s talk about Instagram! Oh that’s a funny story. [In 2018] I did an album of duets with Stevie Wonder, Pharrell Williams, Ariana Grande … big time people. When Pharrell wrote a song for our duet, we were in the studio, cutting the track. He said, “Arturo, I’m producing for Ariana Grande in a studio across the hall. You would like me to call her?” I said, “Of course, man.” They sang together, Pharrell and Ariana. And by the end, I got my phone and said, “Ariana, can we take a photo with Pharrell?” She took my phone out of my hand to take [a selfie] and said to me, “Put it on Instagram.” I didn’t know what that was. She said, “You don’t know what Instagram is?” Sorry, I’m old! But I put it on Instagram, thanks to Ariana Grande. She’s so talented, man.
How do you stay dedicated to music after all this time? People talk a lot about the word “talent.” What’s that? A lot of people supposedly have big talent, but they don’t have the passion, the discipline, the commitment. See those roses in my yard? If somebody gave you a seed, you put it in a vase with fresh dirt. Add some vitamins and water, and if you’re lucky, you’re gonna have a rose. But if they gave somebody the exact same seed and they left it on a table somewhere, that rose is gonna die! I’m 77 years old and I still practice every day. Nothing goes to my head. All those awards would mean nothing if I didn’t take care of what I had.
I visited a seaside village where you have to pay just to get in(Image: Jonathan Buckmaster/Getty)
They may enjoy some of the country’s most stunning coastal views but for residents in the UK’s seaside towns and villages life by the sea comes with less visible challenges. While tourists might nip in for a day trip here and there, for people who spend their lives here factors such as over-tourism, anti-social behaviour and limited job opportunities can contribute to lower levels of happiness and wellbeing.
But when I visited this unique fishing village in north Devon I was greeted by nothing but warmth and happiness, with locals ready with a smile, a friendly greeting and a genuine sense of hospitality. After paying £10.90 just to get into Clovelly, I instantly felt at home. It is a truly unique village for a number of reasons. Perched on a 400ft cliff, the village is entirely owned by one man, John Rous.
The 75-year-old, who inherited the village from his mother, Countess Mary Rous, in 1983, is the sole landowner and operates every property in Clovelly. Everyone who lives or works in the village rents their home or shop directly from Mr Rous.
All prospective tenants are interviewed to ensure they fit the community, ensuring the harmonious atmosphere is maintained without any disturbance.
And unlike other villages and towns across the UK there is a fee to enter Clovelly. Visitors must pass through a visitor centre and pay £10.90 for adults and £6.25 for children aged seven to 16. You may think this strange, especially at a time where millions of Brits face soaring bills and increasing supermarket prices, but there is a very good reason: the money does not go to lining the pockets of the owner but is instead redistributed in the village, including on the upkeep and maintenance of homes.
The car-free village has around 250 residents living in 80 cottages. It also welcomes around 150,000 tourists every year — and everyone seems happy. As soon as I arrived and strolled down The Hobby Drive and onto the cobbled High Street, I felt welcome. There were no strange looks from locals, wondering who I was or how long I would be there.
Instead, people gave a passing smile and were happy to stop and chat. It was clear they revelled in the peaceful environment, with their lives centring around tradition and respect. It was the same in both The Red Lion Hotel, an 18th century four-star inn that stands on the quay alongside the stunning harbour, and the Bay Tree Cafe, which sits at the top of the village. Every member of staff I encountered had a smile on their face and couldn’t do enough for me.
The village’s strong sense of community became even more apparent when I spoke with residents. They were quick to ask whether I was enjoying my visit and were always eager to recommend other locals to meet or places to explore. As the village is set on steep, cobbled streets, all vehicles are prohibited which ensures the air remains clean and the atmosphere quiet. There is no such thing as rush hour traffic, car crashes or miles of congestion in Clovelly.
All of the homes in Clovelly are occupied by full-time residents who rent from Mr Rous. This means that, unlike some seaside resorts, there are no empty holiday rentals or abandoned hotels.
It’s easy to describe the views in any seaside town or village “amazing” but this truly is the case in Clovelly. The cobbled streets wind down to a serene ancient harbour which offers sweeping views over Bideford Bay. It’s fair to say that Clovelly is unlike any seaside village or town that I’ve ever visited. It is truly unique and one of the happiest places I have ever been.
MINNEAPOLIS — The man charged in the political assassinations of the top Democrat in the Minnesota House and her husband, as well as the nonfatal shootings of a state senator and his wife, pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday after prosecutors said they would not seek the death penalty.
Vance Boelter was charged with murdering Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, and with shooting state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman. Boelter came to their doors in the early hours of June 14, 2025, disguised as a police officer and driving a fake squad car.
The Hortmans’ golden retriever was so gravely injured that it had to be euthanized.
Boelter, 58, was captured near his home in rural Green Isle the day after the shootings following what prosecutors have called the largest search for a suspect in Minnesota history. He also faces state charges, which have been on hold pending the resolution of his federal case.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Minneapolis notified the court Wednesday that the Justice Department would not seek the death penalty against Boelter in accordance with a proposed plea agreement, and the court set the change-of-plea hearing for Thursday.
Minnesota abolished capital punishment in 1911 and has never had a federal death penalty case. Daniel Borgertpoepping, a spokesperson for the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, said the federal plea deal would not affect Boelter’s state charges.
While the Trump administration has pushed for greater use of capital punishment, there were questions about whether Boelter’s case would qualify for the death penalty under federal law.
Prosecutors have called the shootings political. When they announced the federal indictment in July, they released a rambling handwritten letter they say Boelter wrote to FBI Director Kash Patel in which he confessed to the attacks. However, the letter didn’t make clear why he targeted the Hortmans or the Hoffmans.
In some messages to media, Boelter referenced a vague and cryptic “investigation” he had been carrying out, sometimes suggesting it was about the COVID-19 vaccine.
John Hoffman said in a lawsuit filed against Boelter in April that his left arm and hand likely would never fully recover, and that he also had permanent injuries to his digestive and urinary systems.
Yvette Hoffman was left with permanent physical weakness, the lawsuit said, while their adult daughter, Hope Hoffman, who was there and called 911 but was not shot, suffered severe psychological trauma.
A woman has hit out at a “rude” holidaymaker who allegedly “attacked” a man with a broken leg over a sunbed dispute. She was so furious she started to “plot revenge”
09:14, 09 Jun 2026Updated 09:14, 09 Jun 2026
The tourist is claimed to have started a sunbed dispute (stock image)(Image: morrismedia via Getty Images)
Most people love going away, but something that can get tourists down is when sunbed wars break out at holiday resorts. Unfortunately, it’s a problem some travellers have to deal with when they jet off on holidays to enjoy some time the sun, but one woman was recently left furious after what she witnessed by the pool.
She told her unfortunate travel story on Reddit as she wanted advice on how to deal with such “rude” people. In the post, she even admitted she was hypothetically “plotting ways to get revenge”, even though she said she would never actually take matters into her own hands.
She wrote: “How do you deal with rude sunbed reservers? I’m on holiday and yesterday I watched a 60ish-year-old man shouting and getting aggressive at a woman and her husband with a broken leg for moving his towel in a prime sunbed location at the hotel.
“Towel man said broken leg man had ‘no d**k’ for needing to use crutches. Towel man shouted that he’d been up to put his towel out before 7am, and this altercation happened at 1.30pm, and he’d not been down all morning to use the sunbed.
“How do you deal with these sorts of people?”
Warning: Below post contains language some may find offensive
Naturally, the post got a lot of people talking. In fact dozens shared their thoughts on the matter that appeared to spiral a little out of control.
One said: “I don’t. I actively avoid hotels where I think the clientele will act like this.”
Another added: “Get a member of staff involved. Most hotels have a policy on it now.”
A third replied: “It’s blatant arrogance to reserve a lounger that isn’t used for half of the day. Selfishness at its peak.”
Meanwhile, a fourth commented: “I’d move the towel and go, ‘prove it?’ And turn over and ignore them. There’s not reservations on a sunlounger lol. The only reservation you got is if it is in your room.”
One more also stated: “Sadly, the only option is to pay more for resorts/villas that don’t cater for the kind of people who’ve never been taught emotional regulation.”
In an update, the woman noted she “loved” reading people’s replies. She also admitted she started to come up with a plan to “get revenge”, even though she wouldn’t actually go through with anything.
“We spent the afternoon drinking nearby and making up ways of revenge,” she added. “Which I’d never enact, of course. Our favourite was the idea to place small bits of the buffet meats under his towel when he left to attract a continuous supply of aggressive ants.”
Naturally, it’s not advised anyone do anything like this. She simply chuckled at some of the wild suggestions.
What was the moment from the season finale of “The Pitt” that finally broke you?
Was it the shot of the day-shift staff watching the Fourth of July fireworks from the hospital roof, the sound of “America the Beautiful” playing in the distance? Maybe it was Dr. Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi) crying in her car, realizing she can’t work around the seizure disorder that makes her a liability in the ER. Or perhaps it came when Noah Wyle’s Dr. Robinavitch (a.k.a. Dr. Robby) swaddled Baby Jane Doe, telling her that “everything’s gonna be just fine,” because she has “so many wonderful things to see and so many people to love.”
But what opened the floodgates for me, after the last half-hour of the episode left me completely dazed and dumbfounded, was Drs. Santos (Isa Briones) and King (Taylor Dearden) exorcising the day’s demons by belting out Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know” at a karaoke bar and demonstrating that primal scream therapy is alive and well three decades into the 21st century.
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Which is all to say: “The Pitt” is the only television show I’ve watched that gives me the same feeling I have when I read a great, immersive novel. When the end is near, I’m bereft. I’m Al-Hashimi in her car, wanting to pound the dashboard. I do not want to let these characters go. They’ve given me 15 hours and I still crave more. I would devour a series of short films about odd couple Santos and Whitaker (Gerran Howell) sharing an apartment or a summer spinoff showing Dr. Abbot (Shawn Hatosy) working off-hours as a SWAT medic. Anything to fill the long, “Pitt”-less weeks between seasons.
“The Pitt” won five Emmys from 13 nominations, including best drama series, for its celebrated first season, a 15-episode run that began with Dr. Robby up on the hospital roof talking down Dr. Abbot after an intense shift. The season ended with Dr. Abbot returning the favor after Robby and his staff ground their way through a day that included a mass shooting, a child drowning and a patient assaulting LaNasa’s no-nonsense charge nurse.
How do you follow that?
For a few episodes this new season, it looked like “The Pitt” wasn’t up to the task. We watched the ER staff dealing with a series of bloody, messy (the disimpaction!) medical maladies, an avert-your-eyes spectacle that felt like the writers were trying to one-up themselves and find the worst possible affliction to make viewers double over. Worse, the thrill of discovery that kept us invested throughout the first season, the slow drip of information about the characters, wasn’t quite there. Something was missing, and it wasn’t just Dr. Robby’s motorcycle helmet.
But the luxury of having 15 episodes is that the writers can take their time laying the groundwork for the story they want to tell.
And what a story it was.
Over the course of the season, we watched Dr. Robby disintegrate, his mental health more precarious than ever because he has done nothing to address his apparent PTSD. “You need help,” Dr. Langdon (Patrick Ball) tells Robby, confronting him in the finale. “Be honest with yourself.”
Robby isn’t the only one struggling, as Dr. Abbot puts it, to “dance through the darkness.” Langdon is back, managing his sobriety. Dr. Mohan (Supriya Ganesh) is having panic attacks. Santos is still dealing with self-harm. Dana remains haunted by that Season 1 patient assault and now carries a syringe containing a heavy sedative just in case somebody emerging from that overcrowded waiting room crosses the line again.
“I’ve seen so many people die that I feel like it’s leaching something from my soul,” Robby says. “I’m tired of feeling like I’m drowning every day.”
And there you have it, the subject of Season 2 of “The Pitt.” Medical professionals are gasping for air, and the American healthcare system, with its focus on profit above all else, is failing them and the patients they treat.
Remember Orlando, the patient with severe diabetic ketoacidosis who arrives at the ER after fainting? Orlando had to ration his insulin because he lacked insurance and felt he had to cut corners. He ends up leaving the hospital early, fearing the cost of treatment. Later he returns, having fallen (jumped) from a catwalk at his construction job, fracturing his skull. But good news: He now qualifies for Medicare and Medicaid due to long-term disability.
It’s a tragedy, one of many reasons the season finale shot of the ER staff holding back tears as they watched the Fourth of July fireworks felt like a body blow. “America the Beautiful”? How can that be true when the current administration is seeking $1.5 trillion for defense spending — nearly 50% more than this year — while cutting healthcare and social safety nets? How can that be true when an act known as the “Big, Beautiful Bill” removed funding from an already frayed healthcare system and exacerbated the shortage of care in rural areas of the country?
That one scene, the culmination of hours of careful, patient storytelling, said more about the disconnect between American ideals and America’s reality than anything else I’ve read or watched this year.
Give “The Pitt” all the Emmys. It has more than earned them.
PARIS — Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva was already a tennis phenom at age 15.
At 19, she’s a Grand Slam champion.
The eighth-ranked Andreeva ended the run of 114th-ranked Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska by 6-3, 6-2 in the French Open final on Saturday.
Andreeva became the youngest player to win the women’s singles title since Monica Seles, who was 18 when she landed her third straight French Open in 1992.
“You’re so young and talented. It’s so annoying,” Chwalinska told Andreeva during the awards ceremony.
When Andreeva executed a backhand cross-court winner on her first match point, she threw her racket into the air and dropped on her knees to the clay to celebrate.
Mirra Andreeva returns a shot against Maja Chwalinska during the French Open women’s final on Saturday.
(Thibault Camus / Associated Press)
During the trophy presentation, Andreeva took the unusual step of thanking herself “for believing in myself, always giving my 100%, even when it’s tough, trying every day to be better as a person and as a player, believing that I can do this, fighting so many demons inside of me.
“Only I know how tough it was for me,” Andreeva added. “How nervous I was throughout these two weeks.”
Chwalinska was attempting to become the first qualifier to capture the Roland Garros title.
Andreeva was born in Siberia and moved to Sochi and eventually France to develop her tennis career.
She drew loud applause from the crowd on Court Philippe-Chatrier when she spoke a few words of French during the trophy presentation.
“Thanks for your support today and over these past two marvelous weeks here in Paris,” Andreeva said. “It was very important for me.”
Alexander Zverev plays Flavio Cobolli in the men’s final on Sunday to conclude the wildest Grand Slam in recent memory.
Andreeva has been considered a Grand Slam contender since she burst onto the scene as a 15-year-old at the 2023 Madrid Open, where she became the third-youngest player to win a main draw match at a WTA 1000 tournament and made the quarterfinals.
Lately, Andreeva has had to contend with playing under neutral status and without her country’s flag due to the war with Ukraine.
When she beat Marta Kostyuk in the semifinals, Kostyuk refused to shake her hand, as has been the custom for Ukrainian players facing Russians ever since the war started in 2022.
Andreeva has gone a step further than her coach, Conchita Martinez, who lost the 2000 French Open final to Mary Pierce.
Pierce presented the winner’s trophy to Andreeva.
The final was played under mostly sunny skies but wind was a factor in the first Grand Slam final for both players.
Chwalinska double-faulted on the opening point of the match but she was the first player to hold serve in the fifth game for a 3-2 lead.
But then Andreeva won nine straight games to take control as she found a way to hit through the wind and answer Chwalinska’s array of spins and drop shots.
Andreeva produced 25 winners to Chwalinska’s 10 and also had fewer unforced errors: 26 to 29.
There was a strong Polish presence in the crowd.
When Chwalinska was introduced, fans held aloft red-and-white Polish flags and chanted her name: “Ma-ja, Ma-ja.”
Andreeva had little support from the crowd, although there was a shout of “Davai Mirra!” (“Go Mirra”) in Russian late in the match.
In men’s doubles, top-seeded Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos retained their title with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten.
Dampf writes for the Associated Press. Samuel Petrequin contributed to this report.
The man was fishing when he was bitten by a shark, police say.
Published On 6 Jun 20266 Jun 2026
A man has died after he was bitten by a shark off the south coast of Michaelmas Island in Western Australia.
The 35-year-old was attacked while spearfishing with his family close to the town of Albany, police said.
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The man was treated by paramedics but died of his wounds.
Police said a 4.5metre (15ft) shark of an unknown species was spotted by a witness near Michaelmas Island, which does not receive many visitors.
The state’s Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development urged people to take “additional caution” in the area and to stay abreast of shark sightings.
This is the fourth shark killing this year in Australia.
Last month, a man died after being attacked by a great white off Rottnest Island near the city of Perth, and another man died in a shark attack off the coast of Queensland in northeast Australia.
In January, a 12-year-old boy was killed by a shark in Sydney Harbour.
Australian scientists believe increasingly crowded waters and rising ocean temperatures are shifting sharks’ migratory patterns, which may be contributing to a rise in attacks.
The majority of shark attacks occur along Australia’s east and southeast coasts, with an average of about 20 incidents recorded each year, according to the Institute of Health and Welfare.
Los Angeles police are investigating the fatal stabbing of actor James Handy, who officials said was killed by his girlfriend’s son Wednesday at a home in Tarzana. The suspect was apprehended after he made a bizarre 911 call.
On Thursday, authorities identified the 81-year-old stabbing victim as the actor, who appeared in the films “Logan,” “Jumanji,” “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Arachnophobia.”
Representatives for the actor confirmed the news to The Times.
On Wednesday morning around 9:30 a.m., West Valley area patrol officers responded to an emergency call in a residential neighborhood of Tarzana. The 911 caller stated, “I am the son of man. I just killed the man of sin.”
When police arrived, they found Handy in the front yard of the Erwin Street home, unconscious and suffering from a stab wound to his chest. According to law enforcement, Handy was taken to a local hospital by paramedics, where he was pronounced dead.
A news release said that Michael Gledhill, the man suspected of stabbing Handy, flagged down officers who were responding to the incident and told them he was the one they were looking for.
Gledhill, 44, lives at the Erwin Street home with his mother, who police said was in a relationship with Handy.
Detectives said they believed this was an isolated incident and there appeared to be no danger to the public at this time.
Gledhill was arrested and transported to Van Nuys Jail, where he was booked on suspicion of murder. His bail was set at $2 million.
Handy has more than 150 acting credits to his name and had acted across television and film since the 1970s. Most recently, he played a bartender alongside Jennifer Connelly in the 2022 sequel “Top Gun: Maverick.” In 2017, he played opposite Hugh Jackman in “Logan” as a doctor who pleads with Wolverine to heal up.
In 2021, he portrayed Father MacGuffin in the comedy “Senior Entourage.” The film’s director, Brian Connors, posted on Facebook last year that Handy was one of the “finest character actors I know.”
Handy also acted in numerous television crime dramas, including “Alias,” “Criminal Minds,” “NCIS: Los Angeles,” “Rizzoli & Isles,” “CSI: NY,” “Cold Case” and more.
The police are asking anyone with additional information about this incident to contact the Robbery-Homicide Division, Valley Section, Dets. Simonyan or Lopez, at (818) 374-9550.
Los Angeles police are investigating the fatal stabbing of actor James Handy, who officials said was killed by his girlfriend’s son Wednesday at a home in Tarzana. The suspect was apprehended after he made a bizarre 911 call.
On Thursday, authorities identified the 81-year-old stabbing victim as the actor, who appeared in films “Logan,” “Jumanji,” “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Arachnophobia.”
Representatives for the actor confirmed the news to The Times.
On Wednesday morning around 9:30 a.m., West Valley area patrol officers responded to an emergency call in a residential neighborhood of Tarzana. The 911 caller stated, “I am the son of man, I just killed the man of sin.”
When police arrived, they found Handy in the front yard of the Erwin Street home, unconscious and suffering from a stab wound to his chest. According to law enforcement, Handy was taken to a local hospital by paramedics, where he was pronounced dead.
A news release said that Michael Gledhill, the man suspected of stabbing Handy, flagged down officers who were responding to the incident and told them he was the the one they were looking for.
Gledhill, 44, lives at the Erwin Street home with his mother, who police said was in a relationship with Handy.
Detectives said they believed this was an isolated incident and there appeared to be no danger to the public at this time.
Gledhill was arrested and transported to Van Nuys Jail, where he was booked on murder charges. His bail was set at $2 million.
The police are asking anyone with additional information about this incident to contact the Robbery-Homicide Division, Valley Section, Dets. Simonyan or Lopez, at (818) 374-9550.
Enrique Riquelme held up a Real Madrid shirt bearing Erling Haaland’s name, while campaigning for club presidency.
Published On 4 Jun 20264 Jun 2026
Manchester City is considering legal action after Real Madrid presidential candidate Enrique Riquelme said he would sign the Premier League club’s Norwegian striker Erling Haaland if elected.
Riquelme, a renewable energy entrepreneur challenging incumbent Florentino Perez, made the pledge during an appearance on Spanish television on Wednesday, where he held up a Real Madrid shirt bearing Haaland’s name.
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“The stories which have emerged from Spain regarding the future of Erling Haaland are untrue,” a City spokesperson said on Thursday.
“There is no chance of this happening, and there is no contractual clause to enable it. We are considering legal action for the use of our player’s image in this context.”
Riquelme said Haaland, who scored 38 goals in all competitions last season, had a release clause and wanted to move to the Spanish club, adding that he would make the transfer a priority if he wins Sunday’s election.
A joint statement from the 25-year-old footballer’s father, Alfie Haaland, and his agent, Rafaela Pimenta, swiftly rejected the suggestion, describing it as “not true”.
Riquelme added he would try to sign City’s Spain midfielder Rodri, saying he had spoken to the player’s agent and would “do everything possible” to bring the Ballon d’Or winner to Madrid.
The remarks come against the backdrop of Real’s presidential election, the first in two decades in which Perez is not running unopposed, after the club’s two seasons without a major trophy.
Voting is scheduled for Sunday, with some 100,000 club members eligible to take part.
Haaland had the option to join Real in 2022, when he left Borussia Dortmund. But he chose City, where his father played.
While the striker, who won the Premier League Golden Boot for the third time in four seasons, said he would like to play for Real one day, there has been no suggestion he is unhappy at City. He signed a new nine-and-a-half-year contract in January 2025.
Perez announced on Wednesday that, should he be elected, he would bring Benfica manager Jose Mourinho back to Real Madrid for a second term at the helm of Los Blancos.
The Portuguese former manager of Manchester United, Chelsea and Inter Milan previously won the La Liga title during a three-year spell in Madrid.
Before last month’s FA Cup final victory over Chelsea, Guardiola was asked whether the visit to Wembley Stadium would be his last. He replied by saying “no way”, and that he had “one more year [on his contract]”.
But the playful way in which he delivered that line and his quick exit from the room raised a few eyebrows, adding to the mounting speculation.
Guardiola was asked after the draw at Bournemouth on 19 May whether he would still be in charge next season and he replied by saying he had to talk to Khaldoon. His decision was confirmed three days later.
“He’s more than just the manager of the club,” said Khaldoon. “To me, he’s a friend. Over these years we have become close friends and I don’t know if he will admit it, but I consider myself his psychiatrist.
“Inevitably we have had a lot of ups and some downs and in the downs, he must have quit 100 times over these 10 years.
“There is the story as you all know, The Boy that Cries Wolf. In the case of Pep, when he says I quit, it doesn’t mean he’s quitting. You don’t take it that seriously – you have to manage him.”
Guardiola joined the club in 2016 and signed contract extensions in May 2018, November 2020, November 2022 and November 2024.
Khaldoon said: “He never thought he would stay more than four years, then more than five years. So in his mind, even year four and five it was always ‘OK, how much more time? How much more time?’ And it always had to be done in the correct way.
“There was always going to be one moment where it was going to be real.”
Manchester City are contemplating taking legal action over a promise to sign striker Erling Haaland by a candidate in Real Madrid’s presidential election.
Enrique Riquelme – a renewable energy magnate who is challenging current president Florentino Perez for the position – unveiled a Real Madrid shirt bearing Haaland’s name while on television on Wednesday, saying: “He has a release clause and would like to join Real Madrid.”
A swift denial was issued in a joint statement by Haaland’s father and agent, before City rubbished the suggestion.
“The stories which have emerged from Spain regarding the future of Erling Haaland are untrue,” the statement read. “There is no chance of this happening and there is no contractual clause to enable it.
“We are considering legal action for the use of our player image in this context.”
Manchester United have agreed a £35m (40.5m euros) deal with Italian side Atalanta for Brazil midfielder Ederson.
The 26-year-old will sign a four-year deal at United, with the option to extend it by a further 12 months.
Ederson is still to have a medical, with sources saying the transfer should be completed in early July before United’s return to pre-season training begins.
He will become the club’s first signing since Michael Carrick was appointed permanent head coach last month.
The deal will also be subject to £3.9m (€4.5m) in additional payments.
It is the first of what could be up to three central midfield additions to Carrick’s squad this summer.
United are prioritising that area of the field, which has been weakened by the exit of Ederson’s compatriot Casemiro, 34, whose contract expires at the end of the month.
Ederson, who has three internaional caps, was named in Brazil’s 55-man expanded World Cup squad but missed out on manager Carlo Ancelotti’s final selection.
United are also keen on West Ham’s Mateus Fernandes, although the relegated London outfit are looking for a substantial profit on the Portugal midfeidler who cost them in excess of £40m when he joined from Southampton last summer.
United also covet England’s Elliot Anderson, although the Nottingham Forest player would prefer to join Manchester City.
In addition to strengthening their midfield, United are also looking to bring in a left-sided player, with Newcastle’s Lewis Hall among the players on their radar, and striking support for Benjamin Sesko.
They are also still to decide on the precise make-up of their goalkeeping team, which could include Radek Vitek, who enjoyed a superb campaign on loan at Bristol City, where he won all their player of the year prizes.
The 22-year-old Czech told BBC Sport in April he is open minded about the future but wants to play regularly, suggesting he will not return to Old Trafford as back-up to Senne Lammens.
It is understood former first-choice Andre Onana has been told he can find another club, although it is not clear how easily the Cameroon international’s wage demands will be met given he will benefit in an increase from United qualifying for next season’s Champions League.
Ederson, 26, has proved adaptable across a number of central midfield roles for Atalanta, scoring 16 goals in 180 games for the Serie A outfit in all competitions.
Driven by minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, United have revamped their data analysis operation under Michael Sansoni and the former high-ranking Mercedes Formula One has had significant involvement in identifying the right targets, working alongside director of football Jason Wilcox.
Carrick confirmed he had been involved in recruitment meetings from the point he was named as Ruben Amorim’s temporary successor in January.
Man swerves £75 extra charge on Ryanair flight with £15 purchase
A holidaymaker has explained how he saved himself £75 to £100 on a Ryanair flight thanks to a £15 neck pillow. Leon Docwra packed underwear, T-shirts, swimming shorts and even a beach towel into a £15 travel pillow before boarding a Ryanair flight.
The 50-year-old also wore two tracksuits, three pairs of pants and three pairs of socks. Leon, who flies once a month, says the trick helped him avoid paying additional luggage charges after previously being stung.
“We fly frequently and have been charged for having too much stuff in our bags and wanted to find a way to get extra on without paying fees,” said Leon, from Great Yarmouth.
“Neck pillows are allowed and they didn’t check it. If they had, I would have gone to the bathroom and worn everything to avoid paying a £75 fine. I was already wearing two layers of clothes, three pairs of pants and three pairs of socks and it did get hot but it was worth it.”
The scrap metal dealer said he had paid only for hand luggage on the flight from Norwich to Portugal, which cost around £400. Among the items hidden inside were four pairs of boxer shorts, four pairs of socks, four T-shirts, two pairs of swimming shorts and a beach towel.
Leon admitted it wasn’t the first time he had used the money-saving tactic. He said: “I’ll do it every time. Flights are expensive enough without having to pay for extra luggage and fines.
“I fly a lot so I’d spend a fortune on baggage. It’s money we can spend on our holiday.”
Leon shared a video of the stuffed pillow online, where viewers praised the inventive travel hack. He added: “People think it’s great. They said they’re going to start doing it themselves.
“Anything at the moment where you can save money is great to share with others.”
One person said: “I wore two trackies when I travelled last week to avoid the extra cost. Was sweating like a b*tch though.”
Someone else said: “Mate, I’d rather pay the 80 quid than have to iron that lot the other end.” A third person added: “Just like Joey from Friends.”
Another person said: “Can u block the airline lo?l They will start asking to check these items.” Someone else added: “That’s actually good idea. I got charged over £100 on my last trip.”
Maybe you can use a laugh this morning. Maybe you’re still deep in your feelings, thinking about the “Hacks” series finale and that shot of Hannah Einbinder looking at Jean Smart on the dance floor, grief seeping into her eyes. Maybe you’re lamenting the chaos at our treasured national parks. Hell … maybe you took out a loan to buy a tomato over the weekend.
If you’re feeling down, Gary Oldman would like a word. And that word is: Hufflepuff.
I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope newsletter, back in your inbox for the next few weeks as we navigate our way through Emmy season.
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Digital cover story: The world according to Gary
(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)
Gary Oldman is a Hufflepuff.
Never mind that the 68-year-old actor, who played the rebellious, impulsive wizard Sirius Black in the Harry Potter film franchise, couldn’t tell you the difference between a Hufflepuff and, say, a Gryffindor.
When journalist Josh Horowitz reads a list of core personality qualities — loyalty, hard work, patience, fairness, dedication — and asks Oldman if that describes him, he nods his head.
You’re a Hufflepuff.
“I’m a Hufflepuff?” Oldman says, trying the word on for size. He likes it. “I’m a Hufflepuff!”
This video clip is a favorite of mine, one I could watch on a loop for the sheer delight Oldman takes in pronouncing the word Hufflepuff.
It’s easy to see why Oldman takes such pleasure in being a granddad these days, one of the things we talked about at length not long ago for an Envelope digital cover story. He can access his silly side with ease.
I asked Oldman about the upcoming HBO “Harry Potter” television series, a decade-spanning endeavor that will spend a season adapting each of J.K. Rowling’s seven fantasy books.
“I’ve seen a trailer for it, and I think it’s a great idea,” Oldman says. “They’re doing the whole book, which I love, because there were a lot of wonderful things, fabric and character detail, we had to lose for the sake of telling the story in two hours.”
Would Oldman be keen to don a distressed velvet overcoat again and participate in the reboot?
“I don’t think they want any of us from the movies contaminating or muddying the waters,” Oldman says, pleasantly. “Besides, I’m too old.”
But with AI, is anyone too old now? Oldman could drop into “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” and look like he hasn’t aged a day since the movie was released 22 years ago.
“I don’t know where we’re going with it because it seems to advance every week,” Oldman says. He ponders the advances made since Martin Scorsese used digital deaging in his 2019 film “The Irishman.”
“I think that was the least successful thing about it,” Oldman says of the technology, “and I’ve been a huge Martin Scorsese fan forever. Ultimately, I don’t know why they wanted to make [Robert] De Niro’s eyes blue.” He pauses, considering the change and why it bothered him. “I guess it’s a blue-eyed Irishman. If I had one negative takeaway, it would be that.”
Oldman prefers directors like Christopher Nolan, whom he worked with on the “Dark Knight” movies and “Oppenheimer,” who think technology should be used sparingly to enhance the storytelling.
“Otherwise it leaves me a bit cold,” he says. “You’re just looking at ones and zeroes.”
“I don’t want to be replaced entirely,” Oldman continues, shaking his head. “I don’t think anyone does.”
Netflix’s latest worldwide wager is a menu of programming designed to feed the building fútbol frenzy that will explode in mid-June, when the FIFA World Cup begins. They might even win some Stateside converts ahead of the platform’s presentation of the CONCACAF Gold Cup and Nations League finals in 2027 and 2029.
“We say our goal is to entertain the world; in order to [do that], we need to entertain every single country” where Netflix has a presence, says Francisco Ramos, the streamer’s vice president of original content, Latin America. “Our superpower is that we’re so deeply rooted into local storytelling, then that becomes global.
“Netflix is uniquely qualified at building global audiences” for international sports content, he says. “We are very conscious and deliberate about it.”
Not that original sports content is anything new for the streamer; its first-ever original international series, “Club de Cuervos,” was a Mexican dramedy about a soccer club. But this salvo is precision-guided to hit as about 5 billion viewers get hyped for the global tournament.
“Four years ago, during the World Cup, we launched [an Argentine] documentary called ‘Sean eternos: Campeones de América’ [‘Captains of the World’], and it was massive, and then Argentina ended up winning a few months later,” says Ramos. “Right now, as the World Cup arrives, it’s very passionate.”
It’s not just Latin America that’s being targeted with new programming: There’s a trio of documentaries about Jamie Vardy, Liverpool’s 2005 Champions League-winning team and footballer-turned-actor Vinnie Jones under the “Untold UK” banner; “Poldi,” on German superstar Lukas Podolski; and “The Bus: A French Football Mutiny,” about the national team’s rocky 2010 World Cup journey.
A scene from “USA ’94: Brazil’s Return to Glory.”
(Netflix)
The World Cup-contending squad
For fans, the slate offers documentaries on landmark moments in Cup history (“USA ’94: Brazil’s Return to Glory”), superstar players (“Emi Martínez: The Kid Who Stops Time” and “James”) and even up-and-comers in a prestigious amateur tournament in Brazil (“The Root of the Game”).
But for the uninitiated, apart from the streamer’s FIFA soccer simulation game coming this summer, the gateway drug may be “Ronaldinho: The One and Only.” The doc spotlights one of the most improvisational and dynamic players ever, soccer’s Magic Johnson. The legendary attacking midfielder was a wizard on the pitch and a charisma machine off it.
“Ronaldinho retired from soccer [in 2018], and he’s still in the mainstream. He has 80 million followers on Instagram,” says Luis Ara, director of “Ronaldinho” and “USA ‘94.” “You have [superstars Lionel] Messi and Neymar [da Silva Santos Júnior] talking about him like he’s God.
“He was always so cool … for him, it was not only about winning a game; it was also about entertaining the people.”
Scripted offerings include the feature “Mexico ’86,” starring a wildly hustling Diego Luna. It’s a nasty comedy about the wheeling and dealing (and outright bribery) that landed Mexico the right to host its second World Cup. Non-soccer fans might enjoy the snarky dialogue and bare-knuckled machinations — it plays like a Spanish-language, soccer-themed “Succession” or “Marty Supreme.”
“Brazil ’70: The Third Star” is a miniseries about that country’s campaign to win a third World Cup, led by a name even non-fans know: Pelé. Rodrigo Santoro stars as Coach João Saldanha.
“Brazil was in the midst of the dictatorship; they had to somehow generate some sort of national pride,” says Ramos. “The only thing that unites Brazilians 100% is their team. It becomes this compelling thing about how society is so intertwined with sports, and how sports are so intertwined with politics in Latin America.”
Soccer superstar Ronaldinho Gaúcho is interviewed in the new Netflix documentary “Ronaldinho.”
(Netflix)
Is converting new American fans a realistic goal?
When soccer is the No. 1 sport in so many nations, why isn’t it bigger here?
It might have to do with the U.S. not having been a major player on the world stage, at least on the men’s side. The men’s team’s highest World Cup finish in the modern era is the quarterfinals in 2002, while U.S. women’s teams have won a record four World Cups. But the men have qualified for the tournament this year — which will be played partially in the States — and analysts say the team has improved, though they’re no one’s favorites to win it all.
Ramos says if American audiences stop seeing it as a competition between football and fútbol, they might come to appreciate soccer’s nuances.
“Take a look at the last 20 minutes of the World Cup four years ago, between France and Argentina. It’s the most extraordinary, beautiful art of people moving, and moving in extraordinary coordination. It’s like, the most-watched online thing ever.”
Beyond Netflix’s big bet on the World Cup slate, it’s not hard to get Ramos and Ara to make further wagers on this year’s tournament.
“Four teams have huge chances to win: Spain, France, Argentina and Brazil,” says Ara. “My heart is with Uruguay, but I don’t know if we’re gonna have a chance. Because of my bond with Brazil nowadays, I wish they could win again. A player once said to me, ‘Brazil is the second national team for any fútbol supporter.’ ”
“Oh my God, I will get in trouble,” says Ramos. “I’m Mexican, and it takes place in Mexico [and the U.S. and Canada], but … I’m gonna go with Argentina. My No. 2 would be Brazil.”
Brooke Mayo was just 4 when she started playing soccer. She was about 4½ when she started fantasizing about participating in the World Cup.
“I just fell in love with the game,” she said. “Like any soccer player, you dream about the World Cup, you know?”
That dream came true three years ago, though not quite in the way Mayo had imagined. Although she took part in four matches at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, she did so as an assistant referee, not a player, running up and down the field with a flag in her hand, not a ball at her feet.
Yet Mayo made history just the same, joining Tori Penso and Kathryn Nesbitt as the first American officials to work a World Cup final as a trio. More importantly, they performed so well they have been invited to officiate in the men’s World Cup this summer, where they will make more history as just the second all-female crew to work a game in the men’s tournament.
And while Mayo appreciates the barrier breaking, for the three women it’s just another day at the office.
“For us, it’s just business as usual,” she said. “I think there’s still a lot of places in the world that need to see this and that’s why it’s still important. But our colleagues are used to seeing women around.”
Mark Geiger, a two-time World Cup referee who is now general manager of the Professional Referee Organization (PRO), which manages officials for MLS, agrees. After decades of seeing U.S. and Canadian referees given little respect by FIFA — nor by international soccer in general — Geiger says the biggest takeaway from this summer’s tournament isn’t the gender of the domestic officials selected, but rather the number, 11, making it the largest contingent to work a World Cup.
In addition to Mayo, Penso and Nesbitt, the list includes Ismail Elfath, Armando Villarreal, Kyle Atkins, Corey Parker and Drew Fischer, who took part in the 2022 men’s tournament. Nesbitt, Elfath, Parker and Atkins all worked the final of that World Cup four years ago, Elfath as the fourth official, Nesbitt as the reserve assistant referee and Parker and Atkins as video assistant referees.
With Mayo’s team working the 2023 women’s final — alongside Villarreal, who was in the video booth — seven MLS officials have worked the last two World Cup finals and at least one PRO official has been assigned to 19 of the 32 knockout games in the most recent men’s and women’s tournaments.
No other league or country in the world is even close to that.
“Over the past few years I think we’ve shown that the quality of football and the quality of the officiating in the United States and Canada is at a really high level,” said Geiger, who made history of his own in 2014 when he became the first American center referee to work a Round-of-16 match in the men’s World Cup.
“We are in the normal conversation of knockout-stage games, we’re in the normal conversation for Tori to do the final. It’s not out of the realm of possibility.”
Another thing that makes this World Cup special for the PRO officials is that with the U.S., Mexico and Canada sharing host duties, the tournament will be played at home. The only other time the men’s World Cup was played in the U.S., in 1994, Arturo Angeles, a Mexican-born naturalized citizen, was the only American referee selected and he supervised just one group-play game.
“Any World Cup game anywhere is going to be special on some level,” said Fischer, a 45-year-old Canadian who has been a FIFA referee for 11 years. “It’s definitely a special feeling when you get to play host. It’s a little bit of welcoming the world into your backyard.
“There’s a certain hometown pride. So I’m definitely looking forward to that aspect of it.”
Joe Dickerson, U.S. Soccer’s reigning male referee of the year, received the FIFA international badge he needed to work major competitions just three years ago. Yet he will be a replay official in this World Cup, the first one he was eligible to work.
“This kind of happened so fast in the last couple of years,” said Dickerson, who became a professional referee in 2013, then began targeting the World Cup when it was awarded to the U.S., Mexico and Canada in 2018. “To work the biggest sporting event in the world in front of friends and family is really cool. And being a part of the celebration of culture happening in your own country and, as much as we can, celebrate our own culture, is really cool.”
It also makes things much easier on family and friends. When Mayo officiated her first group-stage game in the 2023 tournament in New Zealand, her wife, Falon Catalano, flew in for the match.
Referee Brooke Mayo looks on during a CONCACAF Nations League third place match between Jamaica and Panama in March 2024.
(Julio Cortez / Associated Press)
“I told her like hey, it’s our first World Cup. So she came to that and then went home,” said Mayo, 37, who wasn’t sure she’d get another game.
When she was assigned the England-Australia semifinal in Sydney, she called Catalano back.
“I said ‘this might be the biggest appointment in my entire career, in Australia in front of 75,000 fans. You’ve got to come to this,’” she pleaded.
So Catalano came then went before Mayo found out she would be doing the final. That led to another call. “I said, ‘well, you’ve gotta come back.’”
An exhausted and broke Catalano said no to the expense and fatigue of another 38-hour round trip, but after a group of MLS officials passed the hat to buy the ticket, Catalano surprised Mayo by making the match after all.
Making it to the semifinals — much less the final — was far from guaranteed since the World Cup is a meritocracy for officials as well as for the players. In fact, it’s harder to make the final as an official: There will be 170 officials from 50 countries taking part in this summer’s tournament as opposed to 1,248 players — or one referee for every 13 players.
“A lot of people underestimate how difficult it is for us to get there,” said Dickerson.
Referees are graded after every game and those who don’t measure up in their first match don’t work another one. Those who excel, however, continue to advance — as Mayo did in 2023.
“Just like teams try to kind of hit their stride in a tournament setting, that was similar with us. We just went in there focused on only one game in front of us,” she Mayo, who got her FIFA badge in 2018. “Our goal was to earn another game after that, do everything we can to clean up our communication. We’re like micro-managing ‘how could we have done this better?’
“You are just operating in sync. You’re spending every minute together. You’re together at breakfast. You’re together at training. You’re together at lunch. You’re traveling together. By the end, if they even sigh on the field, I know what that means.”
Mayo, like most officials, came to the game as a player — one good enough to play four years at Tennessee Tech. As a teenager she was moonlighting as a referee, raising enough money to fund a trip to South Africa to watch the 2010 World Cup as a fan.
“But I didn’t take reffing seriously,” she said. “Once I finished playing, I missed that competitive edge. When I realized I could do it in reffing, I was like, ‘Oh, this scratches that itch that I miss.”
Taking part in a World Cup remained a dream, however, and she got to scratch that itch three years ago. Now she’s working the tournament at home, where her family, who live in Colorado, will be just a few hours away should there be any frantic last-minute flights to catch.
Having already worked one World Cup final, anything short of the final this summer could feel like a failure.
“It’s a lot of skill, but it’s also a lot of luck. You have to be in the right place at the right time,” Mayo said. “There’s not that much that separates people at the top.
“We’re up against amazing referees. We’re going to fight for every game, one game at a time, knock it out of the park and hope for the best.”
Weekly protests in Dublin are growing as people demand justice and accountability for Yves Sakila, a Congolese man who died after being restrained by security guards outside a shopping centre.
The charges stem from the January 14 shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent charged with shooting a Venezuelan man during a controversial immigration raid in Minnesota has been arrested in Texas, according to United States authorities.
Agent Christian Castro, 52, was taken into custody on Friday after investigators from Minnesota tracked him down in the southern state, where he was arrested with assistance from the Texas Rangers and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) inspector general’s office. He faces four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime.
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The charges stem from the non-fatal shooting on January 14 of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge, a large-scale immigration enforcement campaign that drew widespread criticism for its aggressive tactics.
Prosecutors allege Castro fired through the front door of a residence, striking Sosa-Celis in the leg.
“Mr Castro was charged earlier this month with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime for an incident on January 14, 2026, when he discharged his weapon through the front door of a home knowing there were people who had just run inside,” the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
“The bullet travelled through the door and struck one victim in the leg before making its final impact in the wall of a child’s room.”
Minnesota officials welcomed Castro’s arrest, saying federal agents should be held to the same legal standards as everyone else.
“In Minnesota, we believe in equal justice under the law. That means nobody is above the law, including agents of the federal government,” said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. “I am pleased to hear Christian Castro has been taken into custody and will stand trial for the crimes he allegedly committed in Minnesota.”
Operation Metro Surge faces increasing legal scrutiny
The case became a flashpoint after federal authorities initially claimed Sosa-Celis and another man had assaulted ICE officers.
Those allegations later unravelled when video and other evidence emerged that contradicted agents’ accounts, prompting prosecutors to drop charges against Sosa-Celis and his housemate, Alfredo Aljorna.
The DHS later acknowledged that officers involved in the incident had provided false information about the shooting.
The outgoing director of ICE, Todd Lyons, also indicated a federal investigation was under way. “Lying under oath is a serious federal offense,” he said.
But through a spokesperson, ICE rejected Minnesota’s effort to prosecute the agent involved, calling the case “unlawful” and “a political stunt”.
Castro is the second federal officer charged this year in connection with Operation Metro Surge, an unusual step that reflects growing scrutiny of federal agents’ conduct during the immigration crackdown.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty is also pursuing investigations into other incidents linked to the operation.
Operation Metro Surge began in Minnesota in December 2025. By the time Sosa-Celis was shot on January 14, hundreds of federal agents had been deployed across the Minneapolis-St Paul area in what officials described as the largest DHS operation in US history.
The crackdown ultimately prompted intense controversy, particularly after the fatal shootings of two US citizens: Renee Good on January 7 and Alex Pretti on January 24.
Against that backdrop, the investigation into the Sosa-Celis shooting further intensified scrutiny of federal agents’ tactics and conduct during the operation.
The success of D-day, a pivotal moment in World War II, partially hinged on the weather forecast. The Allied invasion of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944, was planned for months as the American and British forces held practice operations in England.
Enormous efforts were made to mislead the Germans about what was coming. The operation was originally scheduled for June 5 but the day before, James Stagg, a meteorologist and group captain in the Royal Air Force, advised the American commander, Dwight D. Eisenhower, to wait for better conditions.
This lesser-known decision is the premise of “Pressure,” a new movie from filmmaker Anthony Maras. It’s an adaptation of David Haig’s play of the same name, in which the playwright himself portrayed Stagg. Haig, who co-wrote the “Pressure” screenplay with Maras, compares it to “The Imitation Game.”
“Some of these heroes who affect history from the sidelines just stay in the sidelines until somebody does research, discovers them lurking and finds they are so quietly heroic that it’s irresistible as a story,” Haig says, speaking via Zoom from London.
Haig began writing a version of the script shortly after the play debuted at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh in May 2014. It moved to the West End in 2018, and opened in North America at Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theatre in 2023. Maras came onboard after making his 2018 film “Hotel Mumbai,” also based on a true story.
“When I first read the play and the script, I was bowled over by how, with this one decision, so many lives were changed,” Maras says, on a video call from Los Angeles. “Not just the lives of the men on the beach but throughout the Allied world. When you think of a war story, you think of men and now women on the field, but there is so much more to it behind the scenes.”
The film expands Haig’s play and includes additional characters and sequences, including the actual D-day invasion. It stars Andrew Scott as Stagg, Brendan Fraser as Eisenhower, Kerry Condon as Eisenhower’s secretary Kay Summersby, Chris Messina as U.S. Air Force meteorologist Irving P. Krick and Damian Lewis as senior British army officer Bernard Montgomery.
Both Haig and Maras strove to be as historically accurate as possible, even including archival footage from the war. “It is inevitably heightened, as any stage play or film is,” Haig says. “But it is very true.”
“It is absolutely as true as we could get it within the confines of a two-hour runtime,” Maras adds. “We took great lengths to try and be as accurate to the history but also to the deeper story as possible.”
Here’s what is true and what is dramatized in “Pressure.”
The importance of the weather
Brendan Fraser, left, and Andrew Scott in the movie “Pressure.”
(Alex Bailey / Focus Features / StudioCanal)
D-day, secretly known as Operation Overlord, was timed based on several factors, including the weather, the tides and the moonlight. Because the assault was multipronged, with Allied forces coming by sea, land and air, they required good visibility at night and a high tide to ensure less distances between the boats and the defending Germans.
“There were hundreds of meters between low tide and high tide,” Maras says. “So depending on where the boats landed, you either had 50 meters until you made it to the dunes and then the bunkers, or you had to make it 300 meters if it was low tide.”
A clear forecast with low winds and no rain was essential.
“The landing craft were antiquated and flat-bottomed,” Haig says, “and if they had gone on May 5 with the storms that Stagg anticipated coming in with the jet stream, those landing craft would have capsized. The war wouldn’t have been lost, although we do posit that it might have been in the film. In reality, failure would have elongated [the war] and caused countless extra deaths.”
To shoot “Pressure,” the filmmakers used real charts and meteorological instruments. The production design team re-created the famous D-day map from the Allied headquarters in Southwark House. The real one was made in two pieces by separate manufacturers to ensure secrecy.
“When you see that map, it’s a little bit mismatched and our team re-created that,” Maras says. “We got the paper they used to draw the maps from the same mill they used for those maps 80 years ago. A lot of effort was put into the minutiae that adds to the accuracy.”
Exercise Tiger
The film opens with a depiction of an Allied training operation called Exercise Tiger, which took place over several months on England’s Slapton Sands. Because many of the soldiers were young and untested, the Allied leaders wanted to prepare them for the sights and sounds of battle.
“They did a whole series of exercises to try and get together a full-scale dress rehearsal of what D-day would be,” Maras says.
These rehearsals, still widely unknown and spanning from late 1943 through April 1944, involved dangerous friendly fire and suffered from serious coordination errors, resulting in the real-life deaths of at least 700 American and British soldiers.
“That was an absolute disaster and yet we remember D-day as one of the great military triumphs in history,” Haig says.
Maras wanted the film to begin with this moment to emphasize the headspace of the Allied leaders.
“How do you establish what the true consequences of failure are for a story like this?” Maras says. “When we’re in the war room with all of those commanders and officers, they know what the implications of their words mean because they’ve seen it. They’ve lived it. The image of the blood in the water and the young men in that water was to tattoo in the audience’s brain that if these commanders mess up, this could happen again.”
Eisenhower, in particular, felt the magnitude of D-day. “He wrote two letters on the eve of D-day: what happens in success and what happens in failure,” Maras says. “He was sleeping two hours a night. He was a nervous wreck.”
Stagg vs. Krick
In the film, Scott’s Stagg arrives at Southwark House from Dunstable four days before D-day is planned. He is confronted by the American meteorologist Krick, who disagrees with him about the potentially disastrous forecast. Krick believes sun and calm seas are on the horizon thanks to historical analogue charts, but Stagg, using more comprehensive prediction methods, thinks a major storm is coming.
“In actuality, Stagg came onboard in about November 1943 and got to Southwark House a few months earlier,” Maras says. “His transfer came a few months earlier, not a few days earlier. The contours of the relationships between Stagg and Krick and the others are accurate, but they took place in a more compressed timeline.”
Both Stagg and Krick have recounted their version of events in various books, both claiming they were right about the weather. Although Haig and Maras imagine their dialogue and how these conflicts may have played out, the conflicts were real.
“They both adhered to their own meteorological vision,” Haig says, explaining the differences in prediction models from continent to continent. “In the United States, Krick’s system of weather forecasting was viable. If you come to the U.K., you can’t rely on the weather for more than five minutes, so that method doesn’t apply.”
Adds Maras, “They thought, ‘The weather is going to be good. We should hold our nerve and go.’ There was a rhetorically violent disagreement between him and the others.”
In the film, Krick claims that he has never inaccurately predicted the weather ahead of a battle, using his successes in North Africa as evidence. This was technically true.
“He was very good at his job within the context of certain geographical landscapes,” Haig says. “He didn’t make a mistake in North Africa. When Eisenhower challenges Stagg, he says, ‘This man never got it wrong.’ And he didn’t. In the whole of the North African campaign, Krick was spot on.”
After Stagg convinces the leaders to postpone D-day, he is vindicated by a deluge of rain that arrives while everyone is attending church at Southwark House on June 5. There was a church on site, although this moment in the film was dramatized.
“Whether it began raining precisely at that moment I have my doubts,” Haig says. “But it has the framework of truth.”
Ike and Kay
Andrew Scott and Kerry Condon in the movie “Pressure.”
(Alex Bailey / Focus Features / StudioCanal)
Kay Summersby had been an ambulance driver during the Blitz. The film hints at a less-than-professional relationship between Eisenhower and his personal secretary. She was certainly with Eisenhower at Southwark House, although there is less evidence that she had any kind of association with Stagg.
“The biggest fictional thing I did with both the play and the film was to join the third point of the triangle so you’ve got Stagg, Eisenhower and Kay,” Haig says. “The link between Stagg and Kay historically would be tenuous.”
There are differing opinions about Eisenhower and Kay’s relationship. “We know that they were extremely close and they shared a trustful bond,” Maras says. “There are many photos of them together. She was definitely a big force in Ike’s life at that time, and we wanted to pay respect to that.”
“Whatever one’s interpretation of the relationships that she inhabits within the story, her influence was substantial,” Haig adds.
After seeing Peter Jackson’s 2018 World War I documentary “They Shall Not Grow Old,” Maras had the idea to use colorized archival footage in “Pressure.”
“In the D-day sequence at the end, there are various real-life shots of the soldiers landing on the beaches,” Maras says. “We were able to cut between the archival [material] and our footage to increase the scope. And it wasn’t just to get the scale. Yes, we have shots of massive flotillas and ships and trucks, but sometimes it was just for a glance of a soldier where you can see death in his eyes.”
The team ultimately acquired more than 50 hours of archival footage. They hired research editors to go through it and, after a few days, Maras asked if any of the editors could recommend additional crew to help.
Then a man named James Stagg showed up to work. “Stagg’s grandson, 80 years later, walked into our offices and helped edit the archival movie footage that we put in his grandfather’s film,” Maras says.
Stagg’s wife
Andrew Scott in the movie “Pressure.”
(Alex Bailey / Focus Features / StudioCanal)
The play doesn’t include scenes with Stagg’s wife, Elizabeth, but Haig purposefully bookends the film with the couple together. “When he arrives at Southwark House as a terse, brusque, tricky man, you’ve already experienced his level of affection with his wife and that’s really important contextually,” Haig says. “You’re waiting for the end when he goes back to see her and the baby.”
At the time when Stagg went to Southwark House, his wife was pregnant. Stagg was not allowed to make phone calls to her because of the secrecy surrounding D-day. In reality, the hospital where she gave birth was not bombed, as it is in the movie.
“The bombing of the hospital was more reflective of the times that Stagg and his wife had gone through in the lead up to D-day,” Maras says. “That element is to encapsulate that Stagg was fearing for his wife. As he walks down this corridor, he is faced with: Is she alive? Is she dead?”
Truth to power
Ultimately, Stagg tells a room full of military leaders that they have to pause on D-day because of the weather — a truthful inclusion. It was important to Maras to emphasize how he stood up to power.
“Here’s a protagonist who’s not afraid to speak his mind and has the courage to get up in front of a room full of the most powerful military on Earth at that point and tell them something they don’t want to hear,” Maras says.
“When Eisenhower was passing on the baton of leadership at the inauguration for JFK, JFK asked, ‘What gave you the edge on D-day?’ Eisenhower said, ‘We had better meteorologists than the Germans.’ He had the wisdom to trust in the experts. It’s worth heeding that lesson from history.”
