DENVER — The Kings haven’t won an NHL playoff series since the last time they won the Stanley Cup, which is to say it’s been a while.
They’re halfway to another early exit after a 2-1 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday, a result that gave the Avalanche a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. The winning goal came from Nicolas Roy 7:44 in the extra period.
The Kings’ lone goal came from Artemi Panarin while captain Gabriel Landeskog had the other Colorado goal.
“We did play really well,” interim coach D.J. Smith said. “We’ve got to find a way to win a game. Clearly, good isn’t enough. We’ve got to win a game and keep taking a piece of them and keep playing physical and give ourselves a chance to keep lengthening the series.”
Panarin gave the Kings a 1-0 lead on a wrister from the inside edge of the right circle with less than seven minutes left in regulation. It was his second power-play goal of the series and it came on the Kings’ fifth power play of the night.
It also came after the Kings got a fortunate break, with a Colorado clearing pass striking a linesman, leading to a faceoff in the Kings’ offensive end.
Landeskog evened things for Colorado 3 1/2 minutes later, escaping Kings forward Scott Laughton to skate to a Martin Necas pass through the crease before pushing the puck inside the left post to send the game to overtime.
For the Kings, it marked their 34th overtime in 84 games this season, an NHL record. They lost 21 of them but Tuesday’s was the most painful, with Roy scoring on a deflection in the crease.
“We had every opportunity,” Smith said. “You’ve got to be able to close it out.”
The teams now head to Crypto.com Arena for games Thursday and Sunday with the Kings needing at least one win to extend their season.
“I expect that we’ll be better at home,” Smith said.
To do that, the Kings are going to have to stop wasting the kind of opportunities they had in Denver, where they converted just two of nine power-play chances and failed to score on a penalty shot in the first two games.
The physical series turned chippy in late in Game 1 and that carried over to the start of Game 2 with a pair of scuffles, each involving more than a half-dozen players, breaking out 12 seconds apart midway through the first period. The teams combined for seven penalties in a fast-paced opening 20 minutes played with a lot of open ice.
Quinton Byfield had two chances to put the Kings on the board just more than three minutes into the second period but Colorado goalie Scott Wedgewood came up big both times.
Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg makes a save during overtime of Game 2.
(Jack Dempsey / Associated Press)
The first came when Byfield charged Wedgewood on a breakaway, only to have the goalie stop his wrister from in close. But Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar was called for hooking Byfield from behind on the play, setting up a penalty shot. Wedgewood stopped that too.
An over-excited group of fans celebrated the two saves by breaking a pane of glass behind the Kings bench, sending the coaches scurrying and pausing the game for several minutes as workmen repaired the damage. But 16 seconds after play resumed, the Avalanche took another penalty, their sixth of seven on the night.
The Colorado penalties left the Kings with a man advantage for nearly a quarter of the game’s first 25 minutes, but their power play couldn’t take advantage against a Colorado penalty kill that ranked No. 1 in the NHL during the regular season.
“Obviously, you just want the opportunities,” forward Trevor Moore said. “Now we’ve just got to make the most of them.”
Colorado’s best scoring chance in the first two periods came on a three-on-one rush less than five minutes before the second intermission, but Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson reached in to break up the play and keep the game scoreless.
Colorado celebrates its Game 2 victory over the Kings.
(Jack Dempsey / Associated Press)
Sam Malinski appeared to give the Avalanche the lead on a slap shot from above the left circle 10 seconds into the final period, but after the horn sounded and the goal was put in the scoreboard, the officials correctly ruled the puck had struck the outside of the net.
Five minutes later Byfield fanned on a loose puck in the crease, allowing Wedgewood to roll over and clear it from in front of the open net.
Now the Kings come home, where they won six of their final seven regular-season games, the only loss coming in a shootout. But they haven’t beaten the Avalanche anywhere this season and if they have to at least once in the next two games to avoid their seventh straight first-round playoff exit.
“Thought we played better tonight,” Moore said. “So we’ve to to try to just take the positives and get to L.A. and play a good game.”
“For Want of a Horse,” a play by Olivia Dufault receiving its world premiere in an Echo Theater Company production at Atwater Village Theatre, wants to have a rational conversation about a taboo topic that can provoke instant outrage.
The subject is zoophilia, not to be confused with bestiality, though for many of us it will be a distinction without much of a difference.
Calvin (Joey Stromberg), a good-looking, mild-mannered married accountant, has harbored a secret for much of his life. He has a thing for horses. His erotic interest began at an early age, and all his efforts to lead a normal life have left him depressed and contemplating suicide.
His wife, Bonnie (Jenny Soo), is a permissive kindergarten teacher who’s having difficulty restraining a girl in her class who has discovered the joys of masturbation. Worried about her husband, she discovers through his browsing history that he’s once again visiting strange animal sites.
She suggests he keep a horse, explaining that she doesn’t want to end up a widow or divorcée. Calvin is taken aback by her generosity but has come to recognize that his preference is more than a kink. It’s part of his identity — and maybe the only part that makes his life seem worth living.
Joey Stromberg and Jenny Soo in “For Want of a Horse” at the Echo Theater Company.
(Cooper Bates)
A horse named Q-Tip (Griffin Kelly) enters the couple’s lives. A stable is secured, and the mare, who senses that something strange is going on, is indulged with apples and caresses.
Kelly, a statuesque presence in a dress, harness and boots, brings the horse to life with wild, unpredictable movements. The sheer size of the animal poses a threat to humans. One kick, as Q-Tip herself explains in one of her thought-bubble monologues, is capable of penetrating a steel wall. But controlling an animal’s food supply is an effective way of winning over its trust.
Calvin has found support in the online zoophilia community. PJ (Steven Culp), a man whose current inamorata is a bichon frise, is considering moving to a country where zoophilia isn’t illegal. He’s tired of the shame and the secrecy. He’s proud of his attachment to pooch, even if his thing for dogs has cost him contact with his daughter and ex-wife.
Dufault doesn’t shy away from sexual details. For PJ, intimacy depends on peanut butter. Calvin describes the physical signals that reveal Q-Tip’s erotic satisfaction. The play occasionally descends into sitcom humor. (PJ says he’s considering creating a human-dog dating app called Rin Tin Tinder.) But mostly the subdued tone steers clear of sensationalism.
The production, directed by Elana Luo, is scrupulously well-acted by the four-person cast. Stromberg makes Calvin seem not only reasonable but surprisingly sensitive. Soo’s Bonnie sweetly embodies the excesses of a kind of progressive piety. As PJ, Culp gruffly embraces his role as the play’s polemical fire-starter. And Kelly’s Q-Tip, in the production’s most physically demanding performance, straddles the human-animal divide with theatrical aplomb.
Steven Culp, left, and Joey Stromberg in “For Want of a Horse” at the Echo Theater Company.
(Cooper Bates)
The open-mindedness that Dufault, a trans playwright, brings to the play creates some dramatic slack. Possibly the same fear of making value judgments that has inhibited Bonnie from imposing common-sense discipline in her classroom has robbed “For Want of a Horse” of a propulsive point of view.
The play moves monotonously between Calvin and Bonnie’s bedroom and the stable. Scenic designer Alex Mollo has worked out an efficient way of shifting between these realms by employing the same set of wooden trunks. But the argument of the play doesn’t so much build as elapse.
Time takes its toll, and Calvin eventually has to make a decision. But the character who interested me most was Bonnie, whose reality is only glimpsed. The play tacitly uses her husband’s threat of suicide as a trump card. Zoophilia isn’t merely a fetish for Calvin but a nonnegotiable part of his identity.
This questionable assumption can be psychologically scrutinized not only from Calvin’s point of view but also from his wife’s. The play wants to have an intelligent debate, but it doesn’t want to interrogate certain political positions too skeptically.
At one point, Bonnie objects when Calvin compares his situation to that of homosexuality, but the conversation ends there. The reality is that the right wing has been making a similar claim, arguing that same-sex marriage opens the door to bestiality, polygamy and incest. “For Want of a Horse” inadvertently lends legitimacy to this line of reasoning.
Griffin Kelly in “For Want of a Horse” at the Echo Theater Company.
(Cooper Bates)
Not that extremist positions should be off limits, but they ought to be more rigorously addressed. Similarly, Bonnie’s concern about the issue of consent — how can a horse say yes to intercourse with a human — is introduced only to be dismissed in a shrug of mild-mannered bothsidesism.
While watching “For Want of a Horse,” I recalled a program on PBS called “My Wild Affair” that wasn’t about zoophilia but about the problematic nature of human bonds with untamed animals. Relationships with a seal, an elephant and a rhino, for example — obsessive, protective, loving friendships — all seemed to end if not in outright tragedy, then in shattering heartbreak.
Q-Tip is rightfully given the play’s last word, and Kelly, an actor (HBO’s “The Book of Queer”), writer and comedian, is the production’s driving force. We can never know what’s inside this mare’s mind because Q-Tip’s brain has evolved so differently from our own. Kelly plays the anthropomorphic game while retaining some of the inscrutability of a four-legged creature.
It is through language that we, as humans, traverse the chasm separating us from one another. That’s not possible with animals, even with our closest domestic companions. (Try explaining a necessary medical procedure to a cat.)
“For Want of a Horse” sets out to speak about the unspeakable, but its construction may be too tame for such a wild subject.
Match of the Day pundit Danny Murphy analyses how Liverpool’s performance “got better” from a “creative” and “footballing aspect” as The Reds secured a 2-1 victory at Everton in the Merseyside Derby.
In each of the last four seasons, the Kings have opened the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Edmonton Oilers. They lost each time.
So on Sunday the Kings tried a different route, opening against the Colorado Avalanche.
They lost, 2-1.
The goals came from Artturi Lehkonen late in the second period and Logan O’Connor early in the third. The Kings made a game of it late, pulling goaltender Anton Fosberg with 2:57 to play and getting a power-play goal from Artemi Panarin 35 seconds later. But that was as close as they would get.
Maybe the Kings should have been careful what they wished for. Because while the Avalanche aren’t the Oilers, they’re better — much better — than any of the recent Edmonton teams.
This season they won the Presidents’ Trophy, the prize that goes to the team with the best regular-season record in the league, and they earned it by scoring the most goals and giving up the fewest in the NHL. They also had the best home record in the Western Conference and the best road record in the league.
And they started quickly Sunday, putting four shots on goal in the first four minutes. But Forsberg was spectacular, making 28 saves to keep the Kings in the game.
Colorado thought it had beaten him less than seven minutes into the second period when O’Connor found the back of the net from the right circle but the goal was waved off by a goalie interference call on Jack Drury, who tumbled into the crease as O’Connor was releasing his shot. The Avalanche questioned the call, claiming Kings defender Drew Doughty had pushed Drury from behind, but they lost the challenge.
There was no doubt about Colorado’s next goal, which came 4:31 before the second intermission when Lehkonen, defended tightly by Doughty, was able to reach out his stick and sweep in the rebound of Nathan MacKinnon‘s shot from the right boards.
The Avalanche doubled their advantage 5:50 into the third period when Joel Edmundson lost the puck in the Kings’ zone, allowing O’Connor to collect it and race defenseman Cody Ceci to the front of the net before beating Forsberg cleanly. Drury got an assist on the play.
The game, which had been physical all afternoon, turned chippy after that, giving the Kings a power play they took advantage to halve Colorado’s lead. But the Avalanche then closed out the game to a 1-0 lead in the series.
The best-of-seven playoff resumes Tuesday night in Denver before moving to the Crypto.com Arena on Thursday.
England’s Lionesses are no strangers to making history.
The past decade has been rich in landmark moments; a first tournament medal, a first major trophy, and a first title defence – on foreign soil to boot.
When Sarina Wiegman’s side play Iceland in Reykjavik on Saturday (17:30 BST) they will reach another milestone – the 500th fixture for England’s senior women’s team.
The game is important for securing qualification for next year’s World Cup in Brazil, with England keen to win more silverware in the famous white shirt.
But regardless of the result, the match will be etched in history as a reminder of how far the English women’s game has come.
Seven-time winner Ronnie O’Sullivan will begin his bid for a record-breaking eighth World Snooker Championship title with a match against China’s debutant He Guoqiang at the Crucible.
O’Sullivan, 50, will start his first-round tie at the Sheffield theatre on Tuesday and conclude the match on Wednesday.
Sixteen players came through qualifying this week at the English Institute of Sport and will join the world’s top 16 ranked players at the tournament.
He, ranked 47th in the world, qualified for the Crucible for the first time with a win over England’s Jack Lisowski on Wednesday.
Zhao Xintong became the first Chinese player to clinch the world title when he won the 2025 event and will be involved in the first session of the tournament on Saturday (10:00 BST).
He will face England’s Liam Highfield, who advanced through four qualifying rounds.
The draw was made on BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast on Thursday.
Elsewhere, world number one Judd Trump will take on Gary Wilson and Masters champion Kyren Wilson will be up against 19-year-old debutant Stan Moody.
Four-time champion John Higgins will take on two-time runner-up Ali Carter, while Mark Selby, also with four Crucible titles, faces 2024 runner-up Jak Jones.
O’Sullivan and Stephen Hendry both have the most world titles in the modern era with seven apiece, with O’Sullivan winning his first one 25 years ago, in 2001.
The 17-day competition begins on Saturday, with the final starting on Sunday, 3 May and concluding the next day – with full coverage of the tournament live on the BBC.
The Crucible has staged the World Championship yearly since 1977 and last month it was announced it would remain there until 2045, with the venue set to be redeveloped to add up to 500 additional seats.
NEW YORK — José Caballero laced a two-run double in the bottom of the ninth inning that gave the New York Yankees a 5-4 victory over the Angels, moments after the Angels botched an infield popup in a costly misplay Wednesday night.
Aaron Judge hit his third homer of the series and Trent Grisham had a two-run single for the Yankees, who won for only the second time in eight games after an 8-2 start.
Mike Trout hit his fourth homer in three games, putting the Angels ahead 4-3 with a two-run drive in the fifth.
That was still the score when Jazz Chisholm Jr. popped up to the left side with one out and nobody on in the ninth. But shortstop Zach Neto and ex-Yankees third baseman Oswald Peraza miscommunicated, and the ball dropped between them on the infield dirt for a gift single.
That came back to bite the Angels, who had played outstanding defense all night to that point.
Austin Wells worked a full-count walk against closer Jordan Romano (0-2), and both runners were attempting to steal when Caballero lined a 1-and-2 slider into left-center.
Chisholm easily scored the tying run and third-base coach Luis Rojas aggressively waved Wells home. The catcher barely beat Neto’s relay throw to the plate with a feet-first slide, and the safe call was confirmed after a replay review.
Footballer Jimmy Bullard is set to stir things up on I’m A Celebrity All Stars as he joins the camp with Harry Redknapp, completing the full South Africa line-up
22:00, 12 Apr 2026Updated 22:02, 12 Apr 2026
Jimmy will be on the All Star Show going in late alongside Harry Redknapp(Image: ITV/Shutterstock)
Jimmy Bullard vowed to shake things up in the I’m A Celebrity All Star camp as a late entry with some pranks.
The former Premier League footballer, 47, will head into camp alongside Harry Redknapp, and both King Harry and King Jimmy are new monarchs who will pick their subjects from the celebrity campmates to form two teams: the Lions and the Rhinos.
On playing pranks, Jimmy said: “I’m A Celebrity is a very similar scenario to being in the changing room – and it brings the devil out in me! When I did the jungle in Australia, I loved having a laugh playing some pranks and messing around like kids.
“That’s what I loved most about it and I was always playing up! I’ve always done it in changing rooms too and so now this time around, I am sure it will naturally happen because I’m always going to look to have a laugh and wind people up!”
Jimmy hopes to do better than first appearance in Oz when he was first out in 2014 having gone onto the show as one of the favourites to win. He said: “My last time I was there I finished stone cold last because I came out first, so it’s flattering that I didn’t get forgotten. It’s nice to have another bash at it, but it was tough last time and I know the trials are going to be tough again!”
He added: “I was scared of lots of things and I still am fearful of snakes. Doing I’m A Celebrity… did not cure me of any of my phobias!” However his time in the Aussie jungle should at least help him a little bit for his return in South Africa. Speaking before he went onto the show, he added: “I feel a little bit more prepared because you understand what is coming but I have been watching it year after year, and the trials just seem to get tougher!
“I am still scared of snakes and spiders too and I am apprehensive about what is going to happen. You could be jumping out of a plane before you know it or getting chucked in a box full of snakes! But I signed up for this, so I am looking forward to getting started.”
According to reports in November after this series was filmed, viewers will see Jimmy clash with Adam Thomas during a row in camp. And Jimmy did admit it can be difficult living in camp with others,
Looking back on his Aussie experience, he explained: “I learnt that when you are in the camp, it can be difficult because you are with 11 other people you don’t really know.
“You don’t want to rub people up the wrong way. But I did have a lot of fun whilst I was there and it was amazing how bonds form. You get close to the other celebrities so quickly.”
And Jimmy is honest enough to admit that despite not being on the show for long first time around, it gave his career a boost. The show opened doors and gave him new opportunities after retiring from football.
He said: “It’s weird because ever since I did the programme, a lot of families have come up to tell me they watched it. In the past, it was always lads as I obviously used to play football. I don’t think I would have had some of the gigs I have had were it not for I’m A Celebrity… I co-presented Soccer AM for seven years and you do question yourself whether you would have had gigs like that if you hadn’t done the jungle.
“I’m always in front of the camera now with my golf YouTube programme. My life has definitely changed (for the better) post I’m A Celebrity…”
* I’m A Celebrity…South Africa airs weeknights at 9pm on ITV1.
Bennedict Mathurin had 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists off the bench, and the Clippers defeated the Golden State Warriors 115-110 on Sunday in a play-in tournament preview.
The Clippers settled for the No. 9 seed and will host the 10th-seeded Warriors on Wednesday after Portland beat Sacramento 122-110 to claim the eighth seed. The Clippers and Trail Blazers finished with identical 42-40 records, but Portland won the tiebreaker based on its better Western Conference record.
The Clippers began the season 6-21 and rallied to extend their franchise-record streak of 15 seasons with a winning record, the longest active run in the NBA and fourth-longest in league history.
Stephen Curry scored 24 points, going four for nine from three-point range, to lead the Warriors, who finished 37-45. Curry was limited to 29 minutes after playing in four of the last five games, having missed the previous 27 because of a right knee injury.
The Clippers’ bench outscored the Warriors’ reserves 71-56. Besides Mathurin, Bogdan Bogdanovic had 17 points, tying his season high with five three-pointers, including three in a row in the fourth quarter.
John Collins added 18 points and nine rebounds as one of six Clippers in double figures.
Kawhi Leonard sat out for the Clippers to rest ankle and wrist injuries, while Draymond Green was out for the Warriors because of a bad back.
The Clippers hit five threes in the fourth, when the Warriors had just one to end the game.
The Warriors tied it five times in the third quarter, but the Clippers took an 83-81 lead into the fourth.
War has a way of curtailing imagination. When the news breaks of faraway civilian casualties — an erroneous air strike on a school that relied on outdated intelligence, for example — the mind takes refuge in abstractions and statistics.
Grief isn’t an infinite resource. There’s only so much distant suffering anyone can take in. Yet our moral health as a society depends on the recognition of our common humanity. We share something with the inhabitants of those countries whose civilization our government has threatened to destroy.
This is an important moment to experience “English,” Sanaz Toossi’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, set in an English-language classroom outside of Tehran in 2008. The play, now having its L.A. premiere at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, reminds us of the lives — the hopes, the dreams, the sorrows — on the other side of the headlines. (As I write this, the New York Times homepage has a story that stopped me dead in my tracks: ”Iranian Schools and Hospitals Are in Ruins, Times Analysis Shows.”)
Babak Tafti, left, and Marjan Neshat in “English” at The Wallis.
(Kevin Parry)
“English” isn’t trying to win any political arguments. Its focus is on the characters, who are in a Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOFL) prep class. The exam will have an oversize effect on the future possibilities of this small, mishmash group of students.
Elham (Tala Ashe) needs a high score to pursue her medical education in Australia. Roya (Pooya Mohseni) wants to join her son in Canada to be part of her granddaughter’s life, but Persian is frowned upon in her son’s assimilated, English-language household. Omid (Babak Tafti), whose English is far beyond anyone else’s level in the class, has a U.S. green card interview coming up. And Goli (Ava Lalezarzadeh), the youngest of the students, wants at the very least to be fluent in the lingua franca of American pop culture.
Marjan (Marjan Neshat), the teacher whose love for the English language is infused with longing and regret, harks back nostalgically on her years in Manchester before she returned to Iran. She insists for pedagogic reasons that the students only speak English in the classroom. But Elham, a contentious and fiercely competitive student, suspects that Marjan’s zeal for anglophone culture, including Hollywood romantic comedies, masks a resentment for the Iranian life she is now stuck with. (Neshat and Ashe are gracefully reprising their Tony-nominated performances.)
Tala Ashe, left, and Pooya Mohseni in “English” at The Wallis.
(Kevin Parry)
Mastering English can open doors, but what if you wish you didn’t have to walk through them? Elham is angry that she has to leave to pursue her medical dreams. When she speaks English, she feels like a diminished version of herself. She calls her accent “a war crime,” and grows frustrated in class that she can’t easily explain what she’s thinking and feeling in her halting English.
The other students might not be as truculent as Elham, but they are just as ambivalent about the necessity of learning English. Toossi doesn’t grapple explicitly with the fraught internal politics of the Iran of the period. The conversation in the classroom doesn’t turn to the repressive regime or the state requirement of headscarves or the geopolitical strategies that have alienated the Islamic Republic of Iran from the global community.
When I saw “English” in 2024 at the Old Globe in San Diego, I was acutely aware of what the playwright was not addressing. At the Wallis in 2026, in the wake of Operation Epic Fury and the blitzkrieg of unhinged rhetoric from President Trump, whose rationales and goals for the war seem to change with every public utterance, I was intensely appreciative of what Toossi was putting front and center — the variegated humanity of her characters.
Tala Ashe and Marjan Neshat in “English” at the Wallis.
(Kevin Parry)
This Atlantic Theater Company & Roundabout Theatre production, directed by Knud Adams, had a critically touted Broadway run, receiving four Tony nominations, including best play. The physical staging, featuring a rotating cube from set designer Martha Ginsberg, shows us the classroom from different vantages, bringing the play’s shifting perspective to three-dimensional life.
Toossi follows the interplay of the differing viewpoints and lived experiences. She’s not as concerned with settling differences as with understanding the thoughts and emotions animating the clashes of her divergent characters. The actors relish the pesky, droll, frequently adorable, sometimes incendiary individuality of their roles.
The play does something unique with language. When a character speaks English, an accent is employed and the manner is often a bit stumbling. When a character speaks Persian, the English that is heard is natural and relaxed, the sound of a native speaker.
The result is that these Iranian characters, when talking among themselves in their native tongue, sound awfully like Americans having a conversation in the mall or at a nearby table at a restaurant. We are no longer separated by language. The notion of the Iranian “other” falls by the wayside.
The cast of “English” at the Wallis.
(Kevin Parry)
It’s hard not to wonder if one of those missiles raining down on schools in recent weeks hit when Marjan was showing “Notting Hill” or another favorite rom-com to one of the students she was hoping might realize her dreams of living abroad. Omid, whose English surpasses Marjan’s own level, has excited such hopes, and the touchingly Chekhovian quasi-romance between them adds a gentle note of amorous wistfulness.
Adams’ production creates a cinematic penumbra through the projections of Ruey Horng Sun, a soundscape by Sinan Refik Zafar that lyrically underscores the actions and the emotionally attuned lighting of Reza Behjat. The effect heightens the romanticism of characters who are no longer lost to us in translation.
But the destination of the play is less about what these students sound like to an American audience than what they sound like to themselves. And that is a universal journey that transcends even the starkest barriers of language, culture and politics.
‘English’
Where: Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Bram Goldsmith Theater, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays to Fridays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays. (Check for exceptions.) Ends April 26
WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance departed Friday for Islamabad, Pakistan, to open the first direct negotiations aimed at ending the war between the United States and Iran.
Together with a delegation of deeply mistrusting negotiators from Tehran, Vance is tasked with striking a lasting peace between rival nations which have failed to keep promises made days ago in a delicate last-minute ceasefire. Ongoing military activity in the Middle East and disagreements over Iran’s control of key shipping routes have left the diplomatic effort vulnerable to collapse before the talks even begin.
“If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend the open hand,” Vance told reporters before boarding Air Force Two. “If they’re gonna try and play us, then they’re gonna find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.”
On Tuesday, President Trump called off his plans to unleash “hell” on Iran based on assurances that it lift its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, but traffic through the vital waterway was still at a trickle Friday, as more than 600 ships remained stranded in the Persian Gulf, according to marine tracking data. Trump accused Iran on Thursday of doing a “very poor job, dishonorable some would say,” of allowing oil through the strait.
“The Iranians don’t seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways. The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!” he wrote on Truth Social Friday.
Meanwhile, Lebanon has emerged as the central dispute threatening to derail the talks before they begin.
Hours after the ceasefire took effect, Israel launched what Lebanese officials described as its heaviest wave of strikes since the war began, killing at least 303 people, according to local health officials.
Jerusalem argues the Lebanese front is still on the table, but Iran and Pakistan disagree.
“The Iran–U.S. Ceasefire terms are clear and explicit: the U.S. must choose — ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said earlier this week. “The world sees the massacres in Lebanon. The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments.”
Vance has acknowledged a “legitimate misunderstanding” over whether Lebanon was included in the ceasefire terms, telling reporters Washington never made that promise.
Separate negotiations regarding Lebanon are expected next week in Washington, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun confirmed Friday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also OK’d the talks, but said a ceasefire is not possible.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and the Iranian delegation arrived early Saturday in Islamabad, Iranian state media reported. Hours earlier he said a ceasefire in Lebanon “must be fulfilled before negotiations begin.”
Bagher Qalibaf added a second condition — the release of frozen Iranian assets — which he suggested must be returned before Tehran takes its seat at the bargaining table. Little is known about the halted Iranian funds overseas, but such assets are typically held back as a result of U.S.-imposed sanctions.
The vice president’s role in peace talks has grown in recent weeks. Administration officials have cast Vance as one of the few leaders Tehran would be willing to engage with directly. With a global economy upended by Trump’s far-reaching military ambitions, a victory in Islamabad could spike Vance’s standing as a prospect to lead the GOP post-Trump.
That’s if he’s able to take pressure off American wallets with an agreement that liberates Iran’s grip over the strait, which has choked much of the world’s oil supply,
Americans have continued to feel the fallout at the gas pump and grocery stores, as U.S. inflation climbed to 3.3% in March, the highest annual rate in nearly two years, according to the data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Monthly prices rose 0.9%, a sharp increase from February’s 0.3% monthly rise, when annual inflation sat at 2.4%, the new data showed.
The White House characterized the rising inflation as a short-term disruption caused by the Iran war, while noting that the administration is “diligently working to mitigate” rising costs.
“As the Administration ensures the free flow of energy through the Strait of Hormuz, the American economy remains on a solid trajectory thanks to the Administration’s robust supply-side agenda of tax cuts, deregulation, and energy abundance,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai wrote on X.
Britain announced a meeting next week with dozens of countries to coordinate efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The summit will focus countering Iran’s proposal to charge transit tolls to allow ships through the waterway.
In a televised address to the nation, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke of a “devastating storm of inflation,” if peace talks don’t succeed in liberating the Middle East’s oil supply. He characterized the current stage as a “make-or-break moment.”
“We will make every possible effort to ensure the success of the peace process,” he said.
UCLA football practices simulate as many aspects of a game as possible, including TV timeouts. In a Bob Chesney practice, those simulated breaks become a chance for coaches to share information with the players.
“Instead of just taking a break … the coaches get together and then they break up and disseminate that information to the players, and then they come back together again and then we go out and play,” Chesney said.
Chesney wants his entire team to adapt, overcome and perform. These goals are often utilized in rest periods. They’re spread throughout practice to break the monotonous nature of it.
“I want the coaches to talk about the new plays they’re seeing from the offense and the new things they’re seeing from the defense,” he said. “I want them to practice coaching in-game, and they themselves want to practice coaching in-game.”
The coaching staff tries to slow things down for players. They don’t want players to rush through learning the playbook, and there’s no concrete deadline for installing plays into practice, offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy said.
“It’s fluid,” he told reporters last week.
In previous seasons at James Madison, Kennedy and Chesney noticed there were times when they would focus on learning plays too early in spring practice, leading to execution mistakes during games. This convinced them to put a hold on finalizing certain plays so players had more time to process details and make necessary adjustments.
“There’s a million football plays, but if you just install stuff and you don’t actually get a rep of it, what’s the point, right? You can’t assess it on film,” Kennedy said. “You can’t teach it to them the proper way because realistically, just like us, there’s only so much they can learn, right?”
Competition is at the heart of Chesney’s efforts to revitalize the Bruins. From the weight room to sitting in meetings, to the way the lockers are kept — everything is a competition, Chesney said.
“Every single thing is going to be graded and judged and held to a high standard, and accountability will follow it,” he said. “That has got to be it, we have to be able to compete. We play a game where you keep score and everybody’s in a one-on-one matchup and [compete] as hard as possible for 80, 90, however many plays it might be in a game.”
For UCLA, it’s important to set a level of competition that mimics game-time energy during practice.
“I want Saturdays to feel as much like a Tuesday and Wednesday as humanly possible,” Chesney said.
That includes the pressure of trying to filter out thousands of screaming fans. In punt return drills involving receiver Mikey Mathews, UCLA players rushed him, screamed at him and sprayed him with water in an attempt to prevent him from catching the ball.
Chesney doesn’t want to wait until the season starts to see if his players crack under pressure.
“I’d rather find out right now in practice three and just continue to elevate it week in and week out,” he said. “I think that’s probably the focal point of this entire program is that you pay attention to no virtue that has not been tested in fire, and I want to make sure that we test everything that we can out here in fire.”
Injury update: Linebacker Ryan McCulloch, who transferred from Cal, could see some practice time near the “very end” of the spring practice period, Chesney said. McCulloch missed most of the 2025 season because of injury.
James was questionable as he manages a chronic left foot injury. The Lakers are fighting for playoff seeding with four games left before the postseason, but with two consecutive losses and major injuries mounting, they have slipped to fourth in the West, a half-game behind Denver. The lowest they can fall is into fifth place, ahead of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Doncic is out with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain and Reaves is sidelined with a Grade 2 left oblique strain. The Lakers (50-28) are also without starting guard Marcus Smart, who will miss his eighth consecutive game with because of a right ankle contusion. Now with James out, the Lakers will be down four of their five regular starters.
The 41-year-old James had played in 13 consecutive games with the Lakers going 10-3 during that span. Adjusting to a reduced ball-handling role to let Doncic and Reaves control the offense, James was shooting 54.4% from the field, averaging 17.6 points per game on only 12.3 shot attempts in the first 12 games before Doncic and Reaves were injured.
With both guards out in the Lakers’ last game against Dallas, James shot 12 for 22 from the field, scoring 30 points with 15 assists. It was the most shot attempts for James in a game since Dec. 20, 2025, when Reaves was out because of a calf strain and Doncic suffered a a leg contusion that limited him to just the first half.
The Thunder (62-16) have won five consecutive games. The defending NBA champions are 3-0 against the Lakers this season, including a 43-point drubbing last week. The Lakers finish the regular season at Golden State on Thursday, at home against Phoenix on Friday and against Utah on Sunday. The playoffs begin April 18.
As the US threatens to launch a ground invasion of Iran, many questions remain about its goals and geographical span. Some scenarios suggest a focus on some of the islands in the Gulf, others – joining forces with local insurgent groups.
Early on in the war, Washington seemed to toy with the idea of supporting opposition groups from Iran’s large Kurdish minority to launch a war by proxy.
According to reports in the Israeli media, initial efforts by Mossad to encourage attacks by Kurdish groups in Iran’s northwest failed due to “leaks, distrust”. Iran bolstered its defences in the area and put pressure on the authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan, where the Iranian Kurdish groups are based.
Last week, in an interview with Fox News, US President Donald Trump acknowledged that the US provided weapons to the Kurds.
Further action involving either Kurdish or other ethnic opposition groups may still be on the table as his administration seeks to put together an exit strategy from the war. Encouraging local insurgencies to weaken Tehran may seem like a good plan, but would it work?
Iran’s weak spots
Fomenting ethnic or religious tensions in the enemy camp is an old military tactic, which the US itself has used many times in the Middle East. Trump is likely looking for ways to gain leverage over the regime in Tehran and stretch its military capabilities. Iran’s internal fractures may seem to offer some opportunities for that.
In the past three decades, Tehran has failed to address the growing grievances of various minority populations in the country’s periphery. Sunni Arabs, Kurds and Balochis feel marginalised in the Shi’a majority state, while Arab and Kurdish Shia Muslims feel discriminated against by ethnic Persians.
This has led to various anti-government mobilisations, including armed ones over the past three decades.
Kurdish armed groups based in Iraq have operated for decades in northwestern Iran. Kurdish areas have also seen waves of mass protests, the most recent of which was in the autumn of 2022 following the death of a Kurdish woman at the hands of morality police in Tehran.
Other armed groups have also been active. In 2018, an attack on a military parade in the city of Ahvaz killed 29 people; an Arab separatist group claimed responsibility. In 2019, Baluchi rebels of the Jaish Al Adl group attacked a bus carrying members of the IRGC, killing at least 27. A raid by the same group on a police station in 2023 killed 11 security personnel. Then in 2024, the bombing of a mourner’s procession for the late General Qasem Sulaimani killed at least 90 people in the southeastern city of Kerman; ISIL claimed responsibility.
All of these incidents expose weaknesses in Iran’s periphery, which its enemies have long tried to exploit. If Trump decides to go down that path, he should take heed of the experiences of those who have tried to undermine the authorities in Tehran by fomenting ethno-religious insurgencies.
Past failures
Iraq’s president Saddam Hussein was one of them. When he decided to invade Iran in 1980, he saw an opportunity in the ethnic unrest among Kurds and Arabs the Islamic Republic had inherited from the monarchical regime. Saddam Hussein encouraged insurgencies among both minorities.
By the time Iraqi troops stormed onto Iranian territory, the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDP-I) had already launched a rebellion against the newly formed Islamic Republic in 1979. Iraq eventually provided arms and finances, enabling the KDP-I to take over some territory and hold it for months, but internal fighting and the brutal campaign Tehran launched through its Revolutionary Guards managed to suppress the rebellion by 1982-83.
Saddam also tried to get the Arabs in the south to revolt, some Iranian Arab separatist groups fought alongside Iraqi forces in the battle for the Iranian city of Khorramshahr in 1980. But the Sunni Arab community did not join in large numbers. Shi’a Arabs had no desire to participate in what they saw as a foreign invasion, launched by an Sunni-dominated Iraqi regime. As a result, Saddam never got the mass Arab uprising he wished for.
Twenty years later, US President George W Bush tried to use a similar playbook against Iran. He authorised the CIA and other intelligence outfits to carry out covert operations in Iran and funnel money and equipment to some opposition armed groups.
Like Saddam, Bush also failed to foment rebellions in Iran. This is not just because the Islamic Republic was able to handle security situations swifty and decisively, but also because efforts to incite uprisings never really got enough momentum. The reason for that is that parts of Iran’s minorities are well-integrated into the nation’s core and elite. Ethno-religious identities and socio-economic realities in Iran are too complex to feed into a simple black-and-white narrative about ethnic oppression by the Persian majority.
The likelihood of success today
More than a month into the war on Iran, it is by now clear that US and Israeli efforts to trigger a mass uprising in Iran by decapitating the regime have failed.
At this time, there is nothing to suggest that any efforts to foment ethnic insurgencies would be more successful. US-Israel support for separatist groups is unlikely to get anywhere further than localised acts of sabotage or small skirmishes.
This would not divert important military resources and attention away from the fight with the US and Israel, as Iran is fighting a techno-guerilla war, where its most valuable weapons are missiles and drones – not ground troops.
Furthermore, there is significant regional opposition to US support for separatist groups from major allies, including Pakistan and Turkiye. Islamabad has been dealing its own violent attacks carried out by Baluch separatists in the southwest of the country. Meanwhile, for Ankara, the issue of any support for Kurdish groups is highly sensitive given its own long history of unrest in the Kurdish regions of the country.
Iraq would also be reluctant to support such activities. The government in Baghdad, as well as the Kurdistan Regional Government, would not risk retaliation from Iran by allowing US-Israeli support for the Iranian Kurds to take place on Iraqi territory.
Inciting ethnic insurgencies may seem like a good strategy on paper, but in reality it would be another recipe for disaster for the Trump administration, which is already struggling with enough failures in its war on Iran.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
Is it possible to have a luxury staycation with the kids in tow? This hotel offers a range of features to make family holidays more fun, including complimentary childcare for kid-free time
Moonfleet Manor has child-friendly facilities such as a kids club(Image: Moonfleet Manor)
If you’re looking for a family staycation that’s close to the coast, yet also has plenty for the kids to do, and even gives you the chance for some child-free time, then read on.
A hotel in Dorset is offering luxury family-friendly accommodation overlooking spectacular Chesil Beach, with lots of thoughtful touches to make your time away easier. Moonfleet Manor is set in a beautiful Georgian property and is an excellent place to explore the Jurassic Coast.
While we all love spending time with our kids on holiday, one of the main services that’s bound to appeal to worn-out parents is the hotel’s Four Bears Den Kids Club.
This Ofsted-registered onsite club takes care of kids from three months to eight years, and all guests get a complimentary two-hour session per night’s stay, starting at either 9.30am or 2.30pm. This gives you kid-free time to enjoy a romantic stroll, have a spa treatment, or just read a book in peace.
In the evenings, you can also hire a video monitor for free, so while the kids nap in the room, you can enjoy a nightcap. The hotel also offers a babysitting service for an additional fee if you want to explore the local area.
During the school holidays and weekends, the kids club offers a program of activities designed for family fun, from toasting marshmallows to scavenger hunts, so all ages can enjoy quality time together.
Just a short walk from the hotel is an indoor pool available for guests to enjoy throughout their stay, plus there’s a sauna and the option to book spa treatments for the grown-ups, including facials and ocean-inspired rituals.
Kids can enjoy the colourful play barn, where you’ll find an under-5s play area, table tennis, arcade games, and even a hands-on Science Room for young Einsteins to play in.
The problem with some family hotels is that they tend to focus just on practicalities, and they can be quite dull for adults. But Moonfleet Manor has a luxury, design-led style, so rooms are inviting whether you are staying as a couple or with kids.
There are also two-bedroom family rooms available that offer a separate sleeping area for the kids. This means you can tuck them away in bed and enjoy your evening without worrying about keeping them awake.
The hotel overlooks the unspoiled shingle shores of Chesil Beach, an 18-mile stretch of seafront that’s full of incredible fossils and spectacular scenery. Between the beach and the hotel is the Fleet Lagoon, a marine-protected area full of wildlife and seabirds, so you can’t walk directly onto the shingle from Moonfleet. However, you can drive a short distance to Abbotsbury or Portland for a beach walk or fossil hunt.
Less than 20 minutes away is the seaside town of Weymouth, a family favorite for many generations. Here you’ll find a SEALIFE Center, Sandworld – an impressive collection of sand sculptures and castles, and the sandy Weymouth Beach, which is set in a cove, so kids can paddle and swim on sunny days.
Have a story you want to share? Email us at webtravel@reachplc.com
Leeds United will play Chelsea at Wembley after reaching the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 39 years.
Daniel Farke’s side beat Premier League relegation rivals West Ham 4-2 on penalties to progress after a thrilling 2-2 draw on Sunday.
Last year’s beaten finalists Manchester City will take on Championship side Southampton in the other semi-final.
The Saints, whose only FA Cup triumph was back in 1976, stunned Premier League leaders Arsenal on Saturday to set up the encounter with seven-time winners City.
Leeds last reached the FA Cup last four in 1987, when they were beaten 3-2 by eventual winners Coventry City at Hillsborough, and lifted the trophy for the only time in 1972.
Their meeting with eight-time winners Chelsea will also stir up memories of the 1970 showpiece between the sides, in which the Blues triumphed after a replay at Old Trafford – the first FA Cup final at that time to require one since 1912.
This year’s ties will be played at Wembley on the weekend of 25-26 April.
When the world is topsy-turvy, the theatergoing public seeks explanations. Arthur Miller provides something better: moral intelligence. He doesn’t tell his audience what to think but challenges them to think harder.
There’s clearly a hunger right now for Miller’s work. His plays are back in high demand in Los Angeles, New York and London.
A new revival of “Death of a Salesman,” starring Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf, is in previews on Broadway. And a less starry production of Miller’s masterpiece opened last weekend at Pasadena’s A Noise Within.
“All My Sons,” Miller’s breakthrough play about capitalism’s warped ethics in the guise of a domestic drama, just finished a successful run at Antaeus Theatre Company in Glendale. And National Theatre Live will screen the recent London production, starring Bryan Cranston and Marianne Jean-Baptiste, in April and May courtesy of Boston Court Pasadena and L.A. Theatre Works. (Late last year, I caught a screening at the Wallis of another London revival, the 2019 production starring Bill Pullman and Sally Field.)
Dana Dewes and Scott G. Jackson in “The Price” at Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice.
(Ian Cardamone)
“A View From the Bridge,” a play whose revenge plot hinges on a tip to immigration authorities, could hardly be more timely. The same could just as unnervingly be said about “The Crucible,” Miller’s parable about the McCarthy witch hunts. The play, always front of mind when power is being abused, has given rise to a modern feminist riposte, Kimberly Belflower’s thrilling “John Proctor Is the Villain,” which is coming to the Mark Taper Forum next year.
Not to be missed right now is a small, exquisitely acted production of “The Price” at Pacific Resident Theatre. Miller’s 1968 play, written during the agonizing days of the Vietnam War, concerns the disposition of the remains of a once-illustrious estate. As two estranged brothers working with an 89-year-old appraiser try to put a price on the antiques and personal effects their father — a casualty of the Great Depression — left behind, the family history they both tried to bury explodes.
Miller’s plays compel theatergoers to connect the dots not only between the past and the present but also between the political and the personal. His dramas set domestic conflicts against the backdrop of societal systems that insidiously warp the playing field for their characters.
Miller is often contrasted with Tennessee Williams. And while it’s true that Miller is more of a social realist and Williams is more of a dramatic poet, Miller’s carefully carpentered plays are emotionally supple and Williams’ lyrical dramas are acutely mindful of the power dynamics of our collective life.
The realism of “The Price” is as heavy as the old wooden furniture that the Franz brothers, Victor (Scott G. Jackson) and Walter (Jason Huber), are trying to profitably offload.
(Ian Cardamone)
Director Elia Kazan was drawn to both playwrights because he understood that they were as interested in the stories of individual Americans as they were in the larger tale of America itself. Kazan found in both writers more than enough poetry and grit to satisfy the new breed of realistic actor he was showcasing on stage and screen.
“Death of a Salesman” and “The Price” are vastly different plays. The former, which Miller once considered calling “The Inside of His Head,” is fluidly constructed, playing fast and loose with time as it tracks the disintegrating mental life of down-and-out salesman Willy Loman. “The Price,” by contrast, is set inside what looks at first glance to be a crowded antique shop but turns out to be the apartment once inhabited by the Franz family after the market crash changed everything.
The realism of “The Price” is as heavy as the old wooden furniture (stacked and sorted on Rich Rose’s eye-catching set) that the Franz brothers, Victor (Scott G. Jackson) and Walter (Jason Huber), are trying to profitably offload on a shrewd antique dealer named Gregory Solomon (Richard Fancy). “Salesman” is more limber in its dramaturgy, shifting locations and blurring chronologies. But it too depends on the ability of actors to embody the biographical weight of its finely detailed characters.
Arthur Miller’s 1968 play “The Price,” written during the Vietnam War, concerns the disposition of the remains of a once-illustrious estate.
(Ian Cardamone)
“The Price,” directed by Elina de Santos, thrives in the intimacy of Pacific Resident Theatre’s main stage. There’s not a moment in the play that isn’t deeply inhabited by a cast that understands the value of listening.
The drama builds toward a confrontation between Victor, a cop who dropped out of college to support his dad, and Walter, a wealthy doctor who made no such sacrifices and resents the guilt that he’s spent a lifetime trying to elude. Miller gives both characters some claim on the truth, making the twisting argument that breaks out between the brothers enthralling to follow.
But just as insightfully handled are the complicated emotional dynamics between Victor and his wife, Esther (Dana Dewes), who is frustrated by her husband’s resignation and blunted ambition but loyal to him and prepared to fight for his due. As for Solomon, the scene-stealing appraiser who dispenses old world wisdom while toting up an estimate for the furniture haul in between bites of a hard-boiled egg, is deliciously brought to life by Fancy, who has starred in both “All My Sons” and “Death of a Salesman” at PRT and enlivens this production with his veteran experience.
I saw “The Price” on Sunday after having been dismally disappointed at the Saturday night opening of “Death of a Salesman” at A Noise Within. That production, directed by Julia Rodriguez-Elliott, seems completely deracinated on a set by Frederica Nascimento that registers no Brooklyn ZIP Code or locatable address anywhere.
Deborah Strang, Ian Littleworth, David Nevell and Geoff Elliott in “Death of a Salesman” at A Noise Within.
(Craig Schwartz)
But the bigger problem is that the performances are ungrounded. Geoff Elliott, who shares the title of producing artistic director at A Noise Within with wife Rodriguez-Elliott, doesn’t so much play Willy Loman as try on various accents, none of them remotely convincing to this native Brooklynite. Are the Lomans meant to be Irish immigrants or is that a Boston dialect that is being affected when the cartoonish New Yorkese takes a breather?
The house needn’t be fleshed out to be made to seem real, but since it plays such an important role in the play, its presence onstage ought to at least be palpable to the characters. At one point near the play’s tragic climax, Willy is feverishly planting seeds in the backyard, but Elliott gives no credibility to any of his character’s actions. Willy might as well be delivering newspapers or mopping the kitchen floor, so disconnected are his gestures.
It’s true he’s not in his right mind, but it’s just another instance of the casual disregard of the character’s moment-to-moment reality. Willy’s world never comes into being onstage, and the rest of the cast seems to wander in the limbo that’s left behind.
“Death of a Salesman” is more limber in its dramaturgy, shifting locations and blurring chronologies.
(Craig Schwartz)
As Linda Loman, Deborah Strang, normally so reliable, tries to follow the lead of husband Willy, but that turns out to be a dead end. Ian Littleworth’s Happy, the dissolute son always looking for an easy way out, seems unsettled not only in his bearings but in his command of the script.
David Kepner’s Biff, the prodigal son who rediscovers the reasons he ran off in the first place, delivers the most centered performance. It’s at least possible to believe what his character is supposed to be feeling, but the placelessness of the production doesn’t give him enough to dig into. The emotional combustion of his climactic scenes with Willy fail to reach cathartic levels.
Still, I found myself listening attentively to the warning Miller was issuing about buying into the salesman ethos. Willy’s belief that good connections matter more than skill and that blarney and bluff can substitute for hard work explains a good deal about our current national disorder.
David Kepner, who delivers the most centered performance, and Ian Littleworth in “Death of a Salesman.”
(Craig Schwartz)
But Miller’s dramatic vision requires actors to relive the experiences of their characters, the way they do in De Santos’ production. “The Price” might not be an indisputable masterpiece like “Death of a Salesman,” but its solid construction reveals tremendous complexity when the human story is scrupulously observed and the societal forces shaping our lives are suddenly thrust into view.
Former US Open champion Michelle Wie West says she is coming out of retirement to play at the major later this year.
West is a five-time winner on the LGPA Tour with her sole major triumph coming at Pinehurst in 2014.
The 36-year-old last competed on the Tour at the US Open three years ago, but aims to play again at the major, which begins on 4 June in Pacific Palisades, California, to make use of her final year of eligibility.
Players who win the US Open are invited back to compete for the following 10 years, but Wie West’s stint was extended by two years to 2026 due to maternity leave.
“With one final year of eligibility from my victory in 2014 and the championship headed to an iconic venue that means so much to me, I am excited to announce that I’ll be teeing it up at the US.Women’s Open at Riviera in June,” she wrote on X.
Wie West rose to prominence at an early age and was once tipped to emulate men’s 15-time major-winner Tiger Woods’ sporting success.
She was the youngest to win an adult USGA championship at 13, and the youngest to make the cut at an LPGA major in the 2003 Kraft Nabisco, aged 14.
After more than 20 years in the spotlight, Wie West, who has two children, left the sport adding that her body was struggling to cope with the rigours of professional golf.
Wie West’s return to the Tour follows her announcement in February that she will be competing in the women’s version of the TGL at the end of the year.
A dream team has assembled to bring a scripted series based on the book “Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story” from the drawing board to the small screen.
Oscar-winning actor Laura Dern has signed on to portray Miami Herald investigative journalist Julie K. Brown, whose tireless reporting on the Epstein sex-trafficking case exposed how federal prosecutors approved what many have referred to as a “sweetheart” plea deal for Epstein in 2008.
Per Variety, the official description of the series reads: “An explosive account of an investigative reporter exposing the secret plea deal between Epstein and federal prosecutors. Drawing from Brown’s experience as a groundbreaking reporter for the Miami Herald, the book and the limited series follow her relentless years-long investigation that identified 80 victims, persuaded key survivors to go on the record, and led to Epstein[‘s] and Ghislaine Maxwell’s arrests.”
In 2008, the financier was charged with luring underage girls to his Palm Beach, Fla., mansion for sex. Under the plea agreement with then-U.S. Atty. for the Southern District of Florida Alexander Acosta, Epstein avoided a federal trial — where, if convicted, he could have faced a potential sentence of life in prison — and pleaded guilty instead to two state felony solicitation charges.
He served 13 months in a county jail but was allowed to go to his office six days a week on a work-release program.
Co-showrunners for the project are Eileen Myers, known for “American Hostage,” and Sharon Hoffman, best known for her work on “House of Cards” and who is adapting Brown’s book for television. Dern will also executive produce, along with Adam McKay and Kevin Messick, known for “The Big Short,” “Don’t Look Up” and “Succession.” Brown is also executive producing.
Although Sony Pictures Television is still pitching the series to networks and streamers, industry insiders predict that, with Dern and McKay on board, a green light is on the horizon.
Last week, Brown joined veteran journalist Katie Couric live on Substack to discuss her reporting on Epstein, and how the disgraced financier and his camp underestimated her. “I don’t think he worried about the little old reporter from the Miami Herald,” she said.
“When you have a sex predator of children who is — at the time I wrote this story, he was out there, you know, he was free — and he was still, as we now know, harming children,” Brown told Couric. “And so my goal at the time was to look at how this happened.
“Where was the breakdown? Was there someone who … was powerful who let him off the hook, and I just thought it was a good time to take a new look at it like a cold case detective would.
“By the time I decided to reopen the case, these women, these victims who were 13, 14, 15 years old, were now in their late 20s and early 30s, and Donald Trump became president right around this time. And ironically, as I was already looking at this story, he nominated Alexander Acosta to be his Labor secretary, and I knew at the time that he was the very person who had let [Epstein] off the hook. And so that’s where I started looking at this case.”
A video published by a Palestinian content creator shows a group of children carefully lifting their doll on a stretcher to reenact a funeral as they play together in a displacement camp in Gaza.
Abu Dhabi consolidates ADQ into L’Imad, creating $300 billion sovereign powerhouse under crown prince as emirate centralizes control over strategic investments.
L’Imad, Abu Dhabi’s newest sovereign wealth fund, took over the assets of rival state-owned fund ADQ, a development that sees a greater role in the emirate’s investment strategy by the emirate’s crown prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohammed bin Zayed, son of the UAE president Mohammed bin Zayed.
The consolidation signals Abu Dhabi’s intentions to leverage capital for adaptability and power projection. And placing L’Imad under the direct supervision of the Crown Prince is significant. According to Dubai brokerage firm Century Financial, “Abu Dhabi is treating its investment platform as a long-term project managed by top government leaders.”
Prior to the merger, ADQ held assets of $263 billion with major investments spanning airlines, energy, infrastructure, and healthcare. Following the transfer of ADQ’s assets, L’Imad will have around $300 billion in assets under management, according to data from Global SWF, a platform focusing on central banks, sovereign wealth funds and public pension funds.
ADQ was previously chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, the UAE’s influential national security adviser. He chairs the emirate’s principal wealth fund Adia (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority) that oversees $1.18 trillion in assets under management.
L’Imad’s rapid ascendancy—formed last year—looks set to become an important investment vehicle under the chairmanship of the 44-year-old crown prince. In January, the Abu Dhabi media office said the emirate’s Supreme Council for Financial and Economic Affairs had passed a resolution consolidating the assets of L’Imad and ADQ “to create a sovereign investment powerhouse with a diversified asset base.”
The new entity includes 25 investment companies and platforms and over 250 group subsidiaries. Jassem Al-Zaabi—who is also chairman the emirate’s department of finance and vice chairman of the UAE central bank—was appointed managing director and chief executive. Meanwhile Mohamed al Suwaidi, ADQ’s first chief executive, has left to become executive chair of Abu Dhabi investment manager, Lunate.
It’s clear that “Forbidden Fruits” director and co-writer Meredith Alloway has marinated in plenty of ’90s teen movies and the kitschy pop-culture ephemera of that era. Her directorial debut, written with Lily Houghton and based on Houghton’s play “Of the woman came the beginning of sin and through her we all die,” is essentially a synthesis of “The Craft,” “Mean Girls” and “Clueless,” about a coven of catty witches who work at a boutique in a Texas mall.
But in “Forbidden Fruits,” it’s hard to shake the feeling that Alloway’s movie knowledge is just that — easily identifiable iconography without much innovation or depth.
Our clique comes storming down the mall food court in that classic slow-motion strut, letting us know right away what we’re in for. They’re known as the Fruits because they all happen to be named after them. The leader, Apple (Lili Reinhart), operates in the controlling mode of Regina George or Cher Horowitz; her lackeys are alt queen Fig (Alexandra Shipp) and blond bimbo Cherry (Victoria Pedretti). When they realize that a cute pretzel purveyor is named Pumpkin (Lola Tung), they quickly bring her into their circle as a fourth, seemingly only because her name fits the theme.
Apple runs her high-femme coven out of their store Free Eden with an emphasis on iconic women: The girls confess to their martyr Marilyn Monroe in a dressing room and practice dark magic with their panties and a silver cowboy boot. In the interest of helping each other “shine,” Apple also takes a page from Ann Lee and the Shakers — sex and boys are banned and communication is highly controlled.
It’s only when Pumpkin starts uncovering some of the coven’s secrets, including the existence of a former member named Pickle (Emma Chamberlain), that their controversial personal histories involving hexes, poison, fires and hidden boyfriends come to light, and the situation spirals out of control (literally — the climax happens during a tornado).
Alloway and cinematographer Karim Hussain craft a distinctive and unique aesthetic, a gauzy, highly artificial look that underlines the winky referential tone, but one that also lends “Forbidden Fruits” a strangely dreamlike quality that doesn’t always work for the genre.
While the actors, particularly Reinhart and Pedretti, are locked in with the tone and Reinhart delivers the fierceness required of such a role, the pace of “Forbidden Fruits” is at odds with the performers. The film is weirdly slow and sleepy and at least 20 minutes too long. The convoluted story, peppered with various twists, lacks momentum.
A stronger hand in the edit could have resulted in something more dynamic and engaging, but the plotting is mushy and then rushed. For a witchy horror thriller, it’s heavier on psychological violence than actual scares, and a third-act bloodbath and big reveal can’t save it when we finally get there.
The film’s theatrical provenance reveals itself in long monologues in the Marilyn confessional room and Pedretti delivers one that reveals the depth beyond Cherry’s ditzy exterior. We can see Houghton’s play in these moments, but then Alloway’s cheeky pop sensibility intervenes, the arch artificiality and ironic tone draining the emotional impact.
“Forbidden Fruits” can’t reconcile all of its influences and just ends up as a collection of references and high style without much staying power — it’s essentially the fast fashion of girly pop horror.
Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.
‘Forbidden Fruits’
Rated: R, for strong violent content/gore, sexual content, nudity, language and brief drug use
