NBA legend Charles Barkley branded the San Antonio Spurs “the dumbest basketball team in the history of civilisation” after the New York Knicks pulled off the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history.
The Spurs led by 29 points as they aimed to level the best-of-seven series in New York before hosting game five, but the Knicks fought back to win 107-106.
London-born OG Anunoby claimed a tip-in basket with 1.2 seconds left to clinch victory, much to the delight of a star-studded crowd at Madison Square Garden, which included Taylor Swift and Timothee Chalamet.
It gave the Knicks a 3-1 lead in the series and put them within one win of their first championship since 1973.
The previous biggest comeback in the NBA Finals was 24 points, by the Boston Celtics against the Los Angeles Lakers in 2008.
San Antonio went 29 points up in the second quarter and their 27-point lead at half-time (76-49) was the largest for a road team in Finals history, but they then scored just 30 points in the second half.
“That was some of the most mismanaged, stupid basketball,” said ESPN analyst and former NBA most valuable player Barkley.
“When you blow a 29-point lead, the other team has to help, and the San Antonio Spurs helped the New York Knicks win this game.”
Victor Wembanyama scored a team-high 24 points for San Antonio and claimed 13 rebounds.
“I can’t really explain it right now,” said the NBA’s defensive player of the year.
“I don’t know. I think it’s just execution, greediness of some sort. We clearly weren’t the most hungry in the second half.”
The Knicks still trailed 90-75 heading into the fourth quarter but Jalen Brunson put them in front for the first time at 105-104 with 82 seconds remaining.
Anunoby then made a block with 11.1 seconds left, to stop the Spurs leading 108-105, before tipping in the game-clinching score after Brunson’s three-point attempt struck the rim.
“One word that caps that all is just ‘belief’,” Brunson told ESPN. “It was chipping away, one possession at a time. It wasn’t going to be one play to get us back.”
Game five is in San Antonio on Saturday (01:30 BST, Sunday).
Jalen Brunson drilled the go-ahead free throw as the New York Knicks held off a furious San Antonio rally to beat the Spurs 105-104 and take a commanding 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals.
San Antonio player Victor Wembanyama had a crucial late turnover and missed a potential game-winner with two seconds remaining on Friday, leaving the Spurs in need of an unprecedented comeback when the best-of-seven series shifts to New York for games three and four.
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No team has lifted the trophy after dropping the first two games of the Finals at home.
Michael Jordan’s 1993 Chicago Bulls and the 1995 Houston Rockets are the only other teams to win the first two games of the championship series on the road, and both went on to win titles.
The Knicks won their 13th straight game of the playoffs – the second-longest streak in postseason history – and will have a chance to close out their first title since 1973 in front of home fans at Madison Square Garden. United States President Donald Trump is scheduled to attend on Monday.
They had to withstand a scintillating fourth-quarter surge from the Spurs, who erased a 14-point deficit with a 14-0 scoring run.
Wembanyama shook off a slow start to score 22 of his 29 points in the second half, his three-point play with 57.3 seconds remaining giving the Spurs their first lead since the second quarter at 104-102.
It was tied at 104-104 with 9.5 seconds left when Wembanyama grabbed the rebound of a Brunson miss but turned it over with a bad pass into the back of teammate Stephon Castle.
Brunson scooped up the ball and was fouled, then made the first of two free throws to put the Knicks back in front.
San Antonio had one last chance, coming out of a time-out with 7.5 seconds left. They got the ball to their superstar, but his jump shot clanged off the rim.
“I threw that one away,” 22-year-old Wembanyama said. “I messed up. We didn’t play great as a team. We needed to win that game.”
Karl-Anthony Towns, who led the Knicks with 21 points and 13 rebounds, admitted he was praying when Wembanyama put the Spurs’ final attempt.
“A great player got a great shot, and it just didn’t go in,” Towns said.
‘What a ballgame’
For the second straight game, Towns delivered a stellar defensive performance that pushed Wembanyama out of his comfort zone.
“He’s a once-in-a-generation player,” Towns said. “You got to make it difficult on him. So, just utilising my experience, utilising my size, my skill, and just trying to make it difficult for him.”
Brunson and Mikal Bridges scored 20 points each, OG Anunoby added 17, and Landry Shamet scored 13 off the bench for the Knicks.
Wembanyama added nine rebounds, four blocked shots and two steals, and De’Aaron Fox scored 20 points for the Spurs.
Desperate not to head back to New York in a 2-0 hole, the Spurs attacked the paint early.
Wembanyama thrilled Spurs fans at the Frost Bank Center – where Knicks supporters were a vocal presence – with his first basket of the night, a left-handed dunk that gave the Spurs a 15-10 lead.
Fox’s alley-oop layup off a feed from Devin Vassell pushed the lead to 10 with less than two minutes to go in the first.
The Spurs pushed their lead to 12 before the Knicks responded in a tense second quarter, taking the lead for the first time, 49-48, on Landry Shamet’s layup with 3:39 left in the first half.
San Antonio regained the lead, but Towns’s three-pointer over Wembanyama gave the Knicks a 56-52 halftime advantage that they pushed to as many as 12 before taking an 84-75 lead into the fourth quarter.
“What a ballgame,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “It’s a fantastic ballgame. They made a run. We made a run. They made a run. We made a run.
“We could have folded a few times, but our guys just kept fighting … No matter what run they went on, no matter what time of the game, our guys just kept uplifting one another.”
Victor Wembanyama bagged 22 points as San Antonio Spurs defeated defending champions the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-103 to reach the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014, where they will face the New York Knicks.
San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson had called on Wembanyama to score more than 20 points after a disappointing showing in game five.
An inspired 28-point haul by the 22-year-old Frenchman on Friday helped level the best-of-seven series at 3-3 and save his “childhood dream” – which is now within touching distance.
“Winning the Larry O’Brien [NBA championship trophy] is a childhood dream, and having a real shot at it, having a tangible chance at winning it – it’s a lifetime chance,” said Wembanyama after reaching the Finals for the first time.
“You never know when it’s gonna happen again. But the day we win it, speaking for myself, it’s going to be an amazing day – the realisation of a dream.
“It’s hard to put into words. It’s almost like the meaning of my life.”
Johnson’s side last won the NBA showpiece in 2014, while the Knicks will compete in the finals for the first time in 27 years.
It will be a rematch of the 1999 NBA Finals, which San Antonio won in five games for their first of five NBA championships.
Having scored 41 points in game one and 33 points in game four, the number one pick in the 2023 draft showed in the deciding two matches why he was one of the most coveted picks since LeBron James in 2003.
“What I’ve learned is that I can go through hurdles that I didn’t know could get so high,” added Wembanyama.
“I found resources inside of me. Relentlessness. I already knew that, but doing it at this level, this is the best basketball being played on the planet right now. And the crazy thing is I want to do that 15 or 20 more times.”
The NBA Finals series will begin on 3 June, with a possible game seven finale on 19 June.
Victor Wembanyama produced an inspired performance as the San Antonio Spurs beat defending NBA champions the Oklahoma City Thunder 118-91 to set up a decisive game seven in the Western Conference Finals.
San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson had called on Wembanyama to score more than 20 points after a disappointing showing in game five, and the 22-year-old duly delivered.
Wembanyama finished with 28 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks as the Spurs dominated after taking an early lead to level the series at 3-3.
The Frenchman came out of the game with almost eight minutes remaining in the third quarter and midway through the Spurs scoring 20 consecutive points.
Johnson praised Wembanyama’s “passion and desire” and taking “responsibility” after his dominant display.
Stephon Castle finished with 17 points, nine assists and one turnover, while Dylan Harper added 18 points off the bench.
Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander could not replicate his 32-point outing in game five as he finished with 15 points and four assists after making only six of 18 shots.
It was Gilgeous-Alexander’s lowest scoring output since he scored 14 in game three of the 2025 Western Conference finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The two-time NBA MVP is shooting just 37.9% from the floor in the series after making 51.4% of his field-goal attempts during the first two rounds of this year’s post-season.
“I’m not sure, to be honest,” Gilgeous-Alexander said when asked why he is struggling.
“A lot of the shots that I’m shooting, I shot plenty of times before. They feel good, and it’s not good.
“They [San Antonio] were the aggressors from start to finish. They played harder than us, hit more shots, were more aggressive, were in attack mode. We were on our heels.”
Whoever wins game seven in Oklahoma City on Saturday, 30 May (Sunday 01:00 BST), will face the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals.
That sound of breaking glass? It’s Hong Kong-born conductor Elim Chan, 39, shattering a particularly stubborn ceiling after being named the first woman to lead the San Francisco Symphony in its 115-year history. Her title is currently Music Director Designate, and when she officially steps into the job of music director in September 2027, she will become the first woman to lead a major American orchestra.
Chan arrives as the orchestra’s 13th music director at a precarious moment for the organization, which in 2024 was rocked by the resignation of its last music director, Esa-Pekka Salonen, who declined to renew his contract after five years and said he didn’t share the same vision as the orchestra’s board of governors. Like many arts organizations, the symphony is still struggling with a pandemic-precipitated drop in attendance and a shrinking budget.
Fans will get their first chance to see Chan in action on June 5 and 6 when she’ll take the stage in a program including Richard Wagner’s Prelude from “Tristan und Isolde,” Hector Berlioz’s “Les Nuits d’été” wih mezzo-soprano soloist Sasha Cooke, and Claude Debussy’s “La Mer.”
“In Elim Chan, we have found a musician of unusual gifts and a leader of equal substance — a rare combination, and the one behind her remarkable international rise,” said San Francisco Symphony Chief Executive Matthew Spivey in a news release. “What sets her apart on the podium is the conviction she brings to the music itself. Works orchestras have played a hundred times sound newly made under her hand, lit by a feeling for structure, color, and emotional architecture that audiences hear before they can name.”
Chan studied piano and cello in Hong Kong before moving to the U.S. to attend Smith College. She went to graduate school at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she ultimately earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 2015. The year before that she became the first woman to win the prestigious Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition, and was named assistant conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.
Chan made her conducting debut with SF Symphony in January 2023 and has conducted the orchestra twice since. A rep for the the group said the feedback they’ve received from “our Orchestra, press, our audiences, and donors has been remarkable.” Chan is, indeed, a electrifying presence to behold onstage, a fact that no doubt played a major role in the search committee’s decision.
And now audiences get to delight in her fresh, invigorating approach to the conductor’s podium. Glass ceilings should be broken more often.
I’m Arts editor Jessica Gelt rooting for something new and different. This is your arts and culture news for the week.
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The week ahead: A curated calendar
FRIDAY
David E. Frank and Nicolet Anton in “Limonade Tous les Jours: A Paris Love Story” at City Garage.
(Paul Rubenstein)
Limonade Tous les Jours: A Paris Love Story Romance in the City of Lights from Obie Award-winning playwright Charles L. Mee, in which a young chanteuse and a reserved American in his 50s ponder amour amid classic French cabaret songs. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 4 p.m. Sundays, through June 28. City Garage, 2525 Michigan Ave., Building T1, Santa Monica. citygarage.org
Three Lives Written, directed by and starring Alex Xander Luu, this solo theater performance shares the dramatic, sometimes humorous, story of the Luu family’s escape from Saigon in 1975 through the perspectives of a father, son and grandson. 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 2 and 8 p.m. Sunday. Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. sierramadreplayhouse.org
David Call and Lena Dunham in the movie “Tiny Furniture.”
(Joe Anderson / IFC Films)
Tiny Furniture Multi-hyphenate Lena Dunham’s breakout 2010 indie feature about a new college graduate adrift in New York City screens with “Welcome to Bushwick a.k.a The Crackcident,” an episode from Dunham’s series “Girls.” 7:30 p.m. Friday; 6 p.m. Saturday. The Eastwood (Oxford Underground), 1089 N Oxford Ave. eastwoodpac.stagey.net
SATURDAY
Daisuke Ryu in Akira Kurosawa’s 1985 film “Ran,” screening Saturday at the Academy Museum.
(Winstar Cinema)
Darkness and Humanity: The Complete Akira Kurosawa The series continues with 35 mm screenings of “Ran,” the filmmaker’s 1985 adaptation of Shakespeare’s “King Lear” transported to 16th century Japan; and “Kagemusha,” a 1980 feudal epic executive produced by George Lucas that helped revive Kurosawa’s career and cement his legacy. “Ran,” 7:30 p.m. Saturday; “Kagemusha,” 6:30 p.m. Sunday. 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org
“Cut Piece,” 1964, performed in “New Works of Yoko Ono,” Carnegie Recital Hall, New York, filmed by David and Albert Maysles. Part of the exhibit “Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind” at the Broad.
Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind The first solo museum exhibition in Southern California of the singular artist, musician and activist, organized in collaboration with Tate Modern, London, includes work from her seven-decade career; direct participation by visitors will be invited in many of Ono’s transformational works. Through Oct. 11. The Broad, 221 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. thebroad.org
Artist Kyungmi Shin, whose solo exhibition “My Fantasy’s Burdens” is currently showing at Perrotin Los Angeles, talks with Aleesa Pitchamarn Alexander on Sunday.
(Todd Gray)
Kyungmi Shin The L.A.-based artist will discuss her work, including the current exhibition “My Fantasy’s Burdens,” with Aleesa Pitchamarn Alexander, curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Cantor Arts Center and co-director of the Asian American Art Initiative at Stanford University. “My Fantasy’s Burden” includes both paintings and ceramics by Shin, featuring the artist’s practice of interrogating the Asian American diasporic identity, focusing on the cultural, economic and scientific consequences of colonialism. 4 p.m. Saturday; the exhibition concludes May 30. Perrotin Los Angeles, 5036 W Pico Blvd. perrotin.com
SUNDAY Bob Dylan double feature It’s the music icon’s 85th birthday and what better way to celebrate than with screenings of his 2021 concert film “Shadow Kingdom,” directed by Alma Har’el, and the 1987 musical melodrama “Hearts Of Fire” — one of Dylan’s forays into acting — directed by Richard Marquand. 7:30 p.m. Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica. americancinematheque.com
Stephen Schwartz performs during the Songwriters Hall of Fame induction and awards gala in 2025.
(Charles Sykes /Invision / AP)
An Evening With Stephen Schwartz Katharine McPhee, Joey McIntyre, Loren Allred and other performers join the celebrated composer-lyricist for a benefit concert to help the Altadena Music Theatre recover from the Eaton fire. Schwartz has won three Oscars, three Grammys, four Drama Desk Awards, a Golden Globe and the Richard Rodgers Award for Excellence in Musical Theater, in addition to six Tony nominations for shows including “Wicked,” “Pippin” and “Godspell.” Preceded by a VIP cocktail hour. 7:30 p.m. Manoukian Cultural Performing Arts Center, 2495 E. Mountain St., Pasadena. altadenamusictheatre.com
Arts anywhere
New and recent releases of arts-related media.
An Evening with Nicole Scherzinger
The lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls crowned her triumphant, Olivier- and Tony-winning turn as Norma Desmond in the musical revival of “Sunset Boulevard” with a series of solo concerts at prestigious venues (including Walt Disney Concert Hall). The latest edition of “Great Performances” captured Scherzinger’s performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall in October 2025, when she sang showtunes, covers and songs from her own repertoire. 9 p.m. Friday on PBS and streaming on the PBS app
“Reading Pictures: A History of Illustration,” by D.B. Dowd.
(Princeton University Press)
Reading Pictures: A History of Illustration
In this visual chronicle, D.B. Dowd, a professor of design and American culture studies at Washington University in St. Louis, follows this unique art form from relief prints and woodcuts in ancient China and Japan, through the development of the printing press in 15th century Europe, and on to modern developments such as illustrated news, recreational reading and ad-driven consumer culture. Dowd reconsiders the traditional narrative to view illustration in the context of race, gender, literacy and cultural memory. The book examines the integration of reading and looking, the increasing prevalence of images in the digital age, and what it means to be literate in the 21st century. Princeton University Press: 400 pages, $60
— Kevin Crust
Culture news and the SoCal scene
Kylie Victoria Edwards and Daniel Yearwood in “Brigadoon” at Pasadena Playhouse.
(Jeff Lorch)
Theater lovers rejoice: “Brigadoon” at the Pasadena Playhouse may be the “best local staging of a musical” Times theater critic Charles McNulty has seen in 20 years covering the scene for The Times. The revival, directed by Katie Spelman with an updated book by playwright Alexandra Silber, is “the high-water mark so far of Pasadena Playhouse producing artistic director Danny Feldman’s ongoing reexamination of the American musical canon,” McNulty writes. In the same column, McNulty notes that another classic musical revival, “Flower Drum Song” at East West Players, does not hit its mark.
The Skirball Cultural Center‘s latest exhibit takes on the genesis of Punk rock in the 1970s, and traces its rise from the UK to New York and Los Angeles. The exhibit, “Outsiders, Outcasts, Rebels + Weirdos: Punk Culture 1976-86,” pegs punk’s year zero to 1976, “when the Ramones debuted their self-titled record. That same year, the Sex Pistols cursed on live TV, John Holmstrom and Legs McNeil co-founded Punk magazine, and the Damned released the first British punk single, ‘New Rose’.”
Erin Davis, son of Miles Davis, poses for a portrait during Musichead Gallery’s photography exhibition marking a centennial celebration of the jazz musician.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
As the world celebrates the centennial of jazz legend Miles Davis, a unique photo show is happening at Musichead Gallery on Sunset Boulevard. “The show celebrates the late jazz musician’s centennial through imagery captured over a career spanning nearly five decades,” writes staff writer Julius Miller, noting that some of those photos have not even been seen by members of the Davis family.
Times classical music critic Mark Swed sat down for an exclusive interview with Los Angeles Philharmonic Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel as he readied to play his final shows with the orchestra at Walt Disney Concert Hall before departing for the New York Philharmonic. “I’m living here and I’m not living here,” Dudamel told Swed. “The connection will always be here.”
Swed also weighed in on two performances marking composer Philip Glass’ 90th birthday (which arrives at the end of January): Paris Opera’s “shocking” new “noir” production of Glass’ “Satyagraha”; and a UC Santa Barbara Arts & Lectures-commissioned show called “Philip Glass and the Poets,” which premiered at Campbell Hall featuring readings by performance artist Taylor Mac and dancer/choreographer Lucinda Childs.
Lisa Waund’s work in the Joy Department at the Hospital of Emotions at St. Vincent Medical Center.
(Carlin Stiehl / For The Times)
The Times got an exclusive first look inside the soon-to-open Hospital of Emotions, which features 70 artists in a takeover of 80 rooms at the shuttered St. Vincent’s Medical Center on the outskirts of downtown L.A. The sprawling immersive art project is divided into various departments including joy, fear and sadness, and shines a spotlight on wellness and mental health.
Meow Wolf L.A. won’t open until later this year, but The Times got an early look at a new character that will be featured in the immersive art space. Its name is WoWoW and it’s the creation of the experimental video art collective Everything Is Terrible. Read all about the “20-foot-tall, 1,000-pound amoeba-like creature” here.
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Guests enjoy wine and friendship at the Barnsdall Art Park Foundation’s weekly wine tasting.
(Janna Ireland / Barnsdall Art Park Foundation)
Barnsdall Friday Wine Nights are returning for a 17th year. The event is set to begin May 29 and run through Sept. 11, every Friday evening from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. Located on the West Lawn of Frank Lloyd Wright’s magnificent Hollyhock House, the gathering occupies one of the city’s most magical outdoor spots. A $55 general admission ticket gets you four glasses of wine from Silverlake Wine, along with a rotating lineup of food trucks. DJs also regularly perform throughout the series. Best of all: Proceeds support arts programming and preservation at Barnsdall Art Park. A rep for the event notes that, “this year’s fundraiser is especially critical amid proposed budget and staffing cuts to the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.”
Break out your best picnic basket and blanket: Independent Shakespeare Co. has announced this summer’s Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival, which runs outdoors every year at the park’s Old Zoo. This year’s lineup includes the Bard’s “Coriolanus” and “The Comedy of Errors.” Performances are free, but registration is requested at www.IndieShakes.org.
Baltimore, United States – Muslim Americans are grieving after two gunmen last week opened fire at the Islamic Center of San Diego, killing three people.
But at the annual conference for the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) in Baltimore, community leaders stressed the urgency of turning the sorrow into action.
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Nearly 25,000 people turned out for the annual event, held on Saturday and Sunday. Speakers addressed the recent shooting, pointing to the courage of the three victims as examples for the broader community in a time of heightened Islamophobia.
“We owe them more than condolences. We owe them resolve,” said Lena Masri, a lawyer at the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
She explained how the victims — a security officer, a caretaker and a neighbour — sacrificed their lives to save others. The security officer, Amin Abdullah, exchanged fire with the shooters, while the other two victims, Mansour Kaziha and Nadir Awad, rushed to help and called for emergency services.
“They protected the physical space of our community: the masjid [mosque], the school, the children, the teachers, the worshippers,” Masri explained.
“Our responsibility is to protect the civic space of our community: the right to worship, the right to speak, the right to organise, the right to defend Palestine, the right to build institutions.”
That was the recurring theme of the conference: that the Muslim American community cannot afford to be passive and must draw on its strength to push back against bigotry and hate.
Speakers emphasised voting, organising and donating to community institutions and candidates who align with Muslim Americans. They also underscored the need to hold officials accountable and push for an end to Israel’s atrocities in Palestine.
“We owe Gaza more than grief. We owe Gaza advocacy that cannot be intimidated into silence,” Masri said.
Islamophobia and Palestinians’ dehumanisation
Symbols of Palestine could be seen everywhere at the conference, from bags emblazoned with watermelons and flags to keffiyeh-patterned scarves, shirts and water bottles.
At a bazaar featuring dozens of vendors, conference-goers left messages of solidarity on a tent that will be sent to Gaza by the charity Life for Relief and Development (LIFE).
In speeches and on panels, advocates drew a link between anti-Muslim bigotry in the United States and Israel’s abuses in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon.
Some of the loudest promoters of Islamophobia in the US are also staunch Israel supporters, among them right-wing commentator Laura Loomer and Congressman Randy Fine.
Both Loomer and Fine are allies of US President Donald Trump, whose administration has unleashed a crackdown to deport critics of Israel who live in the US but are not citizens.
Altaf Husain, a professor at the Howard University School of Social Work, said anti-Palestinian voices are trying to “scare” Muslims as a means of silencing criticism of Israel.
“They want to shut this down, so it’s a direct connection,” Husain told Al Jazeera.
He said the large turnout at the ICNA conference shows that the community is not intimidated and will not back down.
In the response to the shooting in San Diego, Husain pointed out that the community raised more than $3.5m for the victims’ families and moved to bolster security around Muslim institutions.
ICNA conference attendees on May 24 write messages of solidarity on a tent to be sent to Gaza [Ali Harb/Al Jazeera]
Layers of security
Saad Kazmi, the president of ICNA, said the organisation relied on three layers of protection to secure this weekend’s event: its own security guards, an outside firm and local law enforcement agencies in Baltimore.
While there is anxiety in the community over the rise of Islamophobia and Trump’s immigration crackdown, he said Muslim Americans must take matters into their own hands and work with “sensible” people across the political spectrum to defeat hate.
“We are very thankful that we live in a country that is ruled by the Constitution and law,” Kazmi told Al Jazeera.
Kazmi added that the shooting in San Diego only added to the community’s determination to assert and protect its rights. The Islamic centre in the city, he noted, did not shut down after the attack.
“If anything came out of this, it is that there are more attendees to the masjid, more people who believe that the way forward is to strengthen ourselves, strengthen our community and march on,” Kazmi said.
After the shooting, Loomer doubled down on her anti-Muslim rhetoric, calling on immigration authorities to target the Islamic Center of San Diego.
She also called for the deportation of all Muslims from the US, describing them as an “invasive species”. But few Republicans disavowed Loomer, who maintains close ties to the White House.
Rather, more than 60 Congress members have joined the Sharia-Free America Caucus since it was established in December. CAIR has designated the caucus a hate group.
At the state level, governors and local legislators have disparaged Islam while also pushing to penalise Palestinian rights activism.
Texas and Florida, for example, have labelled CAIR a “terrorist” group, while implementing measures against “Sharia law” that critics consider anti-Muslim dog whistles.
Rights under attack
In March, after CAIR sued Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over its “terrorist” designation, a federal court blocked the label from being imposed.
In his ruling, Judge Mark Walker wrote that DeSantis’s executive order (EO) targets the Muslim community as a whole.
“It should be lost on no one that Defendant’s EO targets one of America’s largest Muslim civil rights organizations for indirect suppression of speech. But, as we all know, it is easy for those in power to target minority groups with little pushback,” Walker wrote.
“Sadly, history teaches that it is often minority religious groups who find themselves in the crosshairs.”
On Saturday, several panels praised the US legal system and the laws that protect freedom of religion and speech. But the panellists argued that human rights do not defend themselves; people must step up to protect them.
“You’ve got to imagine rights are a territory, and you have to occupy that territory. If you do not actively occupy that territory, that territory will be taken from you. And that is exactly what has been happening,” Tom Facchine, an imam from New Jersey, said.
Last year, Palestinian immigrant Leqaa Kordia found her rights in jeopardy when immigration agents knocked on her door and detained her over her activism against Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.
Kordia spent more than a year in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention before an immigration judge ordered her to be released in March.
But Kordia — who is still fighting deportation — told ICNA conference attendees on Saturday that she has no regrets, encouraging them to remain politically active and engaged.
“Speaking up, it comes with a cost … It cost me my health, my life, literally my freedom, and I’m living in uncertainty that tomorrow I’m going to be here, or I’m going to be deported,” she said.
“It comes with a cost, but it’s worth it. It’s worth it because silence, it costs even way more than speaking.”
SAN FRANCISCO — There are no immigrants waiting for rulings anymore at San Francisco’s main immigration court, no lawyers making arguments.
The court, which had 21 judges when President Trump was sworn in last year, had only two left when it closed May 1. The rest had been fired, retired or resigned amid a White House purge of federal immigration judges.
The closing is one more reflection of the turmoil that has upended the immigration court system as the administration looks for ways to churn through its massive backlog of 3.8 million asylum cases and deport as many people as possible.
Asylum denial rates have soared as the administration has fired almost 100 judges deemed to be too liberal, and approved using hundreds of military lawyers to replace them. Immigrants have been arrested when they arrive at courthouses or government offices for scheduled appearances.
But amid the nationwide upheaval, San Francisco is the first major city to be left without a primary immigration court, leaving chaos and dysfunction in a region long known for its friendliness to asylum seekers. The two remaining judges will work from another federal building in the city but will be part of an immigration court across the bay.
That reputation, court insiders say, might have led to its downfall.
“It was a vibrant legal scene and so I think if you were looking to target a court you would have to look at what San Francisco stands for,” said Jeremiah Johnson, an immigration judge in the city until he was fired in November. He is now executive vice president of the National Assn. of Immigration Judges.
Most of the court’s 117,000 immigration cases have been moved to a courthouse in Concord, a city about 30 miles away that opened two years ago to help with San Francisco’s backlog of cases. But turmoil has also reached that city. A courthouse that had 11 judges at the start of 2025 is down to five after a series of firings. It had a caseload of 60,000 cases even before the San Francisco cases were shifted over.
San Francisco’s immigration court, which had the third-highest number of asylum cases in the nation, was long considered one of the most favorable to people seeking asylum. From 2019 to 2024, almost 75% of petitioners received some form of relief, compared with 43% nationwide, according to data compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonprofit data research center based at Syracuse University.
That’s partly because San Francisco, with its vast network of pro-immigrant organizations and pro bono or low-cost legal services, had one of the country’s highest rates of legal representation for immigrants.
The Executive Office of Immigration Review, the Department of Justice branch that oversees immigration courts, announced in March that it would close the San Francisco courthouse in 2027 as a cost-saving measure and move its cases to Concord. But the end came early after nearly all the San Francisco judges left or were fired. The Executive Office provided no detailed explanation for the changes, saying in a statement only that it had decided not to renew its lease for the court, and doesn’t comment on personnel matters.
Tight security in Concord courts
Security is tight at the Concord courthouse, perhaps because of the new influx of cases. Armed security guards ask every person if they are carrying weapons or explosives, and they watch as each person turns off their cellphone. Even coffee is not allowed in. Only water is acceptable, and then only if it’s in a transparent bottle.
Judah Lakin, an immigration attorney based in Oakland who also teaches at UC Berkeley School of Law, said the closure of the San Francisco court has made cases more time-consuming since it’s harder for his clients, who often travel from hours away, to reach Concord on public transportation.
One recent 10-minute hearing in Concord took him more than two hours of travel, he said.
But beyond logistics, Lakin said the chaos in immigration courts under the Trump administration has created a fraught court atmosphere. Mass firings have led to last-minute hearing cancellations, cases have been reset with little notice, and clients are often left in prolonged legal limbo, leaving them vulnerable to deportation.
One of his clients, he said, was provisionally granted asylum by a judge, who was then fired before signing the decision. The case was transferred to a second judge, who was also fired. Now on their third judge, his client is still waiting.
“The ground is constantly shifting underneath your feet, whether it’s judges being fired and hearings getting canceled, whether it’s your clients getting arrested, whether it’s getting denials on things that used to be standard and routine,” Lakin said.
“I think that’s on purpose. That’s by design. It’s part of the strategy,” he added.
‘Heartbreaking’
San Francisco’s immigration court was one of the first in the nation to hire judges with non-prosecutorial backgrounds, with many having previous experience working with immigrants at nonprofits or defending them in court.
To see the court close is “heartbreaking,” said Dana Leigh Marks, a former San Francisco immigration judge who retired in 2021 after 35 years on the bench and who was among the first judges in the nation to be hired from private practice.
She sees the Trump administration’s decision to close the largest immigration court in Northern California as part of an effort to undermine due process and eventually dismantle the path to asylum.
“It’s all a part of big ways and little ways that the Trump administration is trying to get noncitizens out of the country,” she said.
Johnson, the fired San Francisco judge, was appointed during the first Trump administration. He believes he was targeted because he granted asylum in 89% of the cases he heard.
“You don’t fire judges if you disagree with the way they’re handling a case; that’s not how courts work. If you disagree, you appeal that decision,” he said.
Johnson, who is the executive vice president of the National Assn. of Immigration Judges, defended his judicial record, pointing out that over eight years, only about 10 of his cases were appealed by the Department of Homeland Security, and very few were sent back for further hearings by the Board of Immigration Appeals.
Unlike federal courts, where there are strict rules of procedure and judges have lifetime tenure, the Justice Department runs immigration courts, and the attorney general can fire the judges with fewer constraints.
There were 754 immigration judges across the country at the start of Trump’s second term. Now, there are about 600, including some temporary judges, according to data collected by the judges’ union. Widespread courthouse arrests of immigrants have caused hundreds of people not to even show up for hearings, leading to deportation orders in absentia.
Nidaa Pervaiz came to the Concord court on a recent day to represent a client from Nepal. She prefers the new courthouse in some ways, since it’s closer to her home.
But, she said, she and her clients are already feeling the impact of the changes. Fewer judges leads to fewer hearings. That means more delays for her clients, whose paperwork can expire even before they can appear before a judge.
“Their whole lives are at stake, and they are coming to make a plea for their future” she said.
Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a game-high 30 points to inspire his side to a 122-113 victory against the San Antonio Spurs as the reigning NBA champions levelled the Western Conference final at 1-1.
Gilgeous-Alexander – who has won the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award for a second year in a row – also provided nine assists in their second home game of the best-of-seven series.
Spurs star Victor Wembanyama scored 41 points in the opening game but was limited to 21 in the second match.
“The guys brought it tonight, knowing what it would have meant if we lost this one,” said Gilgeous-Alexander.
“We brought the energy from the jump.”
The game was level at 31 apiece after the first quarter before Thunder moved into an 11-point lead at half-time.
The Spurs did level the match midway through the third and got to within two points of their rivals in the fourth quarter but Thunder pulled away each time on the way to victory.
“We got a W, it’s all you can ask for. Now we got to go on the road against a really good team and go get one,” said Gilgeous-Alexander.
Games three and four will take place in San Antonio on Friday and Sunday.
The New York Knicks lead the Cleveland Cavaliers 1-0 in the Eastern Conference final with game two in New York on Thursday.
Two gunmen have killed three people at the Islamic Center of San Diego in what police are treating as a hate crime. Police say the attackers, aged 17 and 19, died from self-inflicted gunshots. A security guard was among those killed.
Authorities say they are deploying ‘significant resources’ to the scene of the incident at Islamic Center of San Diego.
Published On 18 May 202618 May 2026
Police in California have said they are responding to an active shooter at a mosque in San Diego.
Authorities called on residents in Monday to avoid the area of the incident at the Islamic Center of San Diego.
There have been no official reports of casualties, but the Associated Press news agency cited officer Anthony Carrasco as saying that he believes people have been shot.
The police department said later on Monday that the situation remains active but has been “contained” without providing further details. “We have significant resources on scene at this time,” the department said.
Aerial television footage shows a heavy police presence outside the mosque.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said he is continuing to receive reports about the incident. “Emergency personnel are on scene and actively working to protect the community and secure the area,” he wrote on X.
The office of California Governor Gavin Newsom said he is following the situation and coordinating with local law enforcement agencies. “We are grateful to the first responders on the scene working to protect the community and urge everyone to follow guidance from local authorities,” the office said in a statement.
The mosque is in a heavily residential neighbourhood about 9 miles (14 km) north of downtown San Diego. It is the largest mosque in San Diego County, according to its website.
Eddie Martinez can’t stand Donald Trump. So when Eric Swalwell entered the race for California governor, Martinez had his candidate.
“I liked the way he took Trump on, the impeachment thing in Congress,” Martinez said of the former Bay Area congressman, a Trump nemesis who served as one of the House prosecutors in 2021 when Democrats held the wayward president to account for the second time.
Martinez has been familiar with Becerra for decades, going back to when the former congressman, state attorney general and Biden Cabinet member was in the state Assembly. To his credit, said the 65-year-old retired public relations strategist, Becerra has largely kept clear of controversy and there’s never been a whiff of personal scandal — an important consideration after Swalwell’s spectacular self-destruction.
On top of all that, Martinez said as he prepared to drop his mail ballot at a post office in Alhambra, it would be nice for California to elect its first Latino governor in modern times. It’s been, Martinez observed, more than 150 years.
With the gubernatorial primary entering its final two weeks, a contest that had been stubbornly formless has finally gained coherence. Becerra, who’d been widely given up for dead as he foundered near the bottom of polls, has unexpectedly emerged as the Democrat to beat.
“He has the most experience,” said Ruben Avita, a 57-year-old actor who leans Democratic and is tilting toward Becerra over hedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer. “At this point,” Avita said as he waited to catch a double feature at a cineplex in Monterey Park, “I want someone with a proven track record.”
“He’s got a lot more common-sense approach than any of these other idiots,” said Wayne The Flame — yes, he explained, that’s his legal name —which, while not exactly a ringing endorsement, still counts as a vote.
The Claremont independent, retired at 73 after a career selling motorcycles and hot rods, described Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, the other major GOP contestant, as a racist and dismissed the entire Democratic field with a string of epithets. “Dumb—,” he said of the voters who keep putting the likes of them in power.
Peaches, a chihuahua/boxer rescue, stands alongside her owner, Wayne The Flame
If not terribly enthused, at least The Flame has made up his mind. Many voters remain undecided — or, at least, not entirely wed to a candidate.
Some are holding on to their ballots longer than usual, awaiting any last-minute developments and weighing the election odds as though wagering in a high-stakes game of poker.
A 40-year-old project manager at the Getty Research Institute, Dwyer held his 2-year-old daughter as his son, 6, romped on a pleasant afternoon in Sierra Madre’s Memorial Park. Across the street, the bells of Christ Church chimed the hour.
“None of the Democrats are putting forth anything that is making me excited,” said Dwyer, who’s ruled out Becerra (he doesn’t see much there) and is deciding between Steyer and former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter. He’s trying to cast his ballot strategically, the East Pasadena resident said, and “it’s the first time in a while I haven’t really had a clue who I’m going to vote for so close to election day.”
Democrat Priscilla Vega of Monrovia has yet to settle on her candidate for governor
This is a deeply unsettled season in California, with precious little hope the next governor — whoever he or she turns out to be — will make things better anytime soon. That mix of discouragement and discontent surfaced repeatedly, like a dull ache, in conversations with dozens of voters across the San Gabriel Valley.
The region’s ethnic and economic diversity — from the working-class neighborhoods of Pomona through the Asian-majority suburbs to the mountainside mansions of San Dimas and Pasadena — make the valley a prime battleground in the race for governor.
Alana H., who asked not to use her last name, said she wasn’t even bothering to vote.
She ticked off some reasons: The soaring price of gas and rising cost of, essentially, everything else. The fear her college-age daughter will never be able to buy a home in California. Worse, is her loss of faith. She no longer believes in the promise, once taken for granted, that each generation will improve its lot over the last. And, Alana said, she’s not alone: “Anyone who’s an average person is in the same boat, we’re all just trying to stay afloat.” Standing in front of the post office in Alhambra, the 52-year-old paddled her arms as though to keep from sinking.
Jaunenito Pavon, in his Glendora wine and chocolate bar, would like California to elect a governor who could unify the state. He’s still deciding on a candidate
The politicians in both parties are “so out of touch,” she said, “all they’re doing is fighting over this and that, when everyone I know doesn’t care what party you’re in. They just want to put food on their table. They want their kids to have a better life.”
Shelby Moore has some of the same concerns. Forget about ever buying a home, said the 30-year-old California native, a Democratic-leaning independent. It’s no small feat scraping up money for rent. “I’ve lost almost every single friend that I went to high school or college with,” Moore said between waiting tables at a Mediterranean restaurant in Glendora. “They’ve all moved out of state.”
Shelby Moore, 30, a waitress in Glendora, said all her friends from high school and college have left California because it’s so expensive.
She’ll definitely vote, Moore said, though she doesn’t know for whom. One of the Democrats. Someone who’ll work to make California more affordable and keep people like her friends from being priced out.
In Claremont, Eric Hurley was another undecided Democrat. He attended last month’s gubernatorial debate at Pomona College, where the 56-year-old professor teaches psychological science and Africana studies. Otherwise, he’s been too busy to pay much attention to the race.
But it’s important, Hurley said, that whoever wins “keep fighting the good fight and standing by our liberal principles. I would hate to see someone in the governor’s office start capitulating to what the current administration is asking.”
Democrat Eric Hurley is undecided in the governor’s race. But he wants someone who’ll stand up to the Trump administration.
Jennifer Harris, 56, is a single mom in Monrovia who oversees payroll at a food manufacturing company. She has to stretch each of her dollars to make ends meet; soon she’ll be shelling out $30,000 a year for her daughter to go to college. Buying a home, Harris said, is out of the question.
She confessed to chuckling at the governor’s memes — an over-the-top oeuvre that includes Newsom as super hero, Newsom as religious beacon, Newsom as romance-novel hunk — and his other cheeky jabs at the president. “But that’s not an adult way to handle it,” Harris said between errands in Monrovia’s quaint shopping district. “It’s not solving any problems.”
Better, she said, for the next governor — she hasn’t decided whom she’ll support — to focus on practicalities: improving the economy, making housing and healthcare more affordable, dealing with homelessness and the underlying mental health issues.
Jennifer Harris said Gov. Newsom’s over-the-top social media presence is amusing. But she wants the next governor to focus on more practical things.
Britnee Foreman echoed that sentiment.
The 41-year-old, who lives in Azusa and works in the music business, was meeting a friend, Priscilla Vega, 43, for lunch in Monrovia. Along with a meal, the two Democrats shared their concerns about inflation and income inequality.
“Memes are great for publicity,” said Foreman, who’s deciding between Becerra and Porter, based on their policy experience. (Vega, a lifestyle marketer, has yet to narrow down her choice.)
Britnee Foreman says the next governor needs policies “with teeth,” not an active social media presence.
“But I prefer policy,” Foreman went on. “I don’t want them just to be the popular person out there on social media. It’s great if they’re tweeting and have a cute little Insta-story. But I need their policies to have teeth and actively move us forward. And not just look like it’s moving forward.”
After nearly eight years, amid widespread unease, California seems ready to put the Newsom era in the past. It’s just not clear what path voters will choose, or which candidate they’ll prefer to steer the state toward, hopefully, a better place.
Stephon Castle starred as the San Antonio Spurs sealed their spot in the Western Conference finals with a convincing 139-109 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Castle led the way with 32 points, while Victor Wembanyama added 19, as the Spurs clinched the series 4-2 to set up a heavyweight match-up against the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Spurs met the Thunder – the reigning NBA champions – five times during the regular season and finished with a 4-1 record against them.
Repeating that over the seven-game Western finals would earn the Spurs a spot in the NBA finals.
“We’re not even thinking about that right now,” Castle said after Friday’s victory over the Timberwolves.
“The games ahead are a totally different game. They are rolling right now. They’ve won eight straight.
“It’s going to be tough to knock them off, but we’re pretty confident we can do it.”
Elsewhere, the Detroit Pistons beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 115-94 to tie their series and set up a deciding game seven .
Cade Cunningham scored 21 points, while Paul Reed and Jalen Duren added 17 and 15 respectively, as the top-seeded Pistons forced a decider for the second play-off round in a row.
Detroit had trailed 3-1 to Orlando Magic in the previous round before reeling off three straight wins to take the series 4-3.
The Pistons host the Cavaliers in Detroit on Sunday to decide who will face the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals.
Dudinha had a goal and an assist to lead the San Diego Wave to a 2-1 victory over rival Angel City on Saturday at BMO Stadium.
Dudinha beat multiple Angel City defenders before firing a shot that was deflected off defender Sarah Gorden for the opening goal in the 49th minute.
Angel City’s Emily Sams scored in the 54th minute to even the score.
San Diego (6-0-3) took the lead for good when Dudinha’s cross found the head of rookie defender Mimi Van Zanten in the 81st minute. Dudinha’s fourth assist tied her for the league lead with Portland’s Olivia Moultrie.
Angel City (3-0-4) started the 2026 season with three straight wins but it has lost its last four games.
Former Angel City head coach and current Wave assistant Becki Tweed led the club with Jonas Eidevall suspended because of a red card in last week’s 1-0 home loss to Bay FC.
SAN DIEGO — Ryan Hollingshead scored his first goal this season in the 14th minute of stoppage time and Denis Bouanga added a goal for LAFC on Saturday night in a 2-2 tie with San Diego FC.
Mathieu Choiniere’s soft header off a corner kick played to the back post by David Martinez bounced in front of the goal and Hollingshead slammed home the finish to cap the scoring.
Marcus Ingvartsen scored two goals — his first career multi-goal game in MLS — for San Diego.
Anders Dreyer played a corner kick to the near post and Ingvartsen headed home the finish to open the scoring in the seventh minute.
On the counter-attack, Dreyer played a cross from the right side to Ingvartsen, who knocked down the ball with his first touch and then blasted a shot from the center of the area inside the left post and into the side-net to make it 2-0 in the 71st minute.
Ingvartsen has seven goals and two assists this season. The 30-year-old had two goals and one assist in eight appearances, five starts, in 2025, his first season in MLS.
Denis Bouanga scored in the 82nd minute, LAFC’s first shot on goal. Bouanga, who has scored at least 20 goals in each of the last three seasons, has five goals this season.
LAFC (6-2-3) beat Minnesota 1-0 last time out to snap a three-game winless streak.
San Diego (3-5-3) snapped a five-game losing streak.
CJ Dos Santos made his season debut and had three saves for San Diego but left due to injury in stoppage time and was replaced by Duran Ferree. The 24-year-old Dos Santos, who had 10 shutouts last season, suffered a fractured cheekbone and orbital floor fracture in a playoff loss at Portland on Nov. 1.
Salesian High School held its 15th Salesian Gala on Saturday night, with defensive back Deommodore Lenoir from the San Francisco 49ers and a Salesian graduate being honored.
Deommodore Lenoir of Salesian in 2016. Now he’s NFL defensive back for 49ers.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
Lenoir used Salesian as a key path to playing college football at Oregon and then the NFL. He received a $92 million contract extension in 2024.
The military government in Myanmar announced former leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, seen here in 2019, has been moved from prison to house arrest. File Photo by How Hwee Young/EPA
May 1 (UPI) — The military government in Myanmar announced former leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who was ousted in 2021, has been moved from prison to house arrest.
Military leader Min Aung Hlaing released a statement to state media saying 80-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi, who was sentenced to 27 years in prison after the military coup, will serve the remainder of her sentence on house arrest at an undisclosed location.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s party came to power in 2015. She had previously spent decades as a pro-democracy activist, leading to her spending more than 15 years under house arrest. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in 1991.
Her whereabouts since being convicted on charges including corruption and election fraud in 2021 have not been confirmed, but it is believed that she was being held at a military prison in Nay Pyi Taw, the nation’s capital.
The former leader’s son, Kim Aris, said he is skeptical of the announcement. He said a photo of his mother recently released by the military is “meaningless” as it was taken in 2022.
“I hope this is true. I still haven’t seen any real evidence to show that she has been moved,” Kim Aris told the BBC. “So, until I’m allowed communication with her, or somebody can independently verify her condition and her whereabouts, then I won’t believe anything.”
The move comes as part of a larger prisoner pardon tied to a Buddhist religious holiday.
By Reuters and The Associated Press
Published On 30 Apr 202630 Apr 2026
Myanmar’s former leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved to house arrest, state media report, more than five years after the military toppled the civilian government that the Nobel laureate had led and jailed her.
President Min Aung Hlaing, who ordered the coup in 2021, said in a statement on Thursday that he “commuted the remaining sentence to be served at the designated residence”.
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State media broadcast a photograph of Suu Kyi seated on a wooden bench and flanked by two uniformed personnel – the first public image of the democracy campaigner in years.
Translation: Change the location where Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is serving her sentence (change her remaining sentences to continue serving at her designated residence).
Earlier on Thursday, authorities had announced her prison sentence was being reduced as part of a larger prisoner pardon tied to a Buddhist religious holiday. State media said in addition to the amnesty granted to 1,519 prisoners, including 11 foreigners, the sentences of remaining convicted prisoners were cut by a sixth.
Suu Kyi was originally sentenced to 33 years in prison in late 2022 for several offences that her supporters and rights groups described as attempts to discredit her and legitimise the army takeover that removed her from office and to prevent her return to politics.
Thursday’s amnesty, the second applied to her in recent weeks, would bring her sentence down to 18 years with more than 13 years left to serve, according to the calculation.
The decision to move the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner to house arrest was welcomed as a “meaningful step” towards a “credible political process”, a spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.
“We appreciate the commutation of Aung San Suu Kyi to a so-called house arrest in a designated residence. It is a meaningful step towards conditions conducive to a credible political process,” Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
He reiterated the UN’s call for the “swift release” of all political prisoners in Myanmar.
“It is good to hear that the house arrest has been confirmed, but we haven’t received any direct notification,” a member of Suu Kyi’s legal team told the Reuters news agency.
“We only found out about it from the news announcement.”
The amnesties come after Min Aung Hlaing was sworn into office as president on April 10 after an election that critics said was neither free nor fair and was orchestrated to maintain the military’s tight grip on power.
In his inauguration speech, he said his government would grant amnesties aimed at promoting social reconciliation, justice and peace.
Suu Kyi, who is now 80 years old, has been serving her prison term at an undisclosed location in the capital, Naypyitaw.
Information about her condition has remained tightly controlled. Reports in 2024 and 2025 indicated declining health, including low blood pressure, dizziness and heart problems, but these claims could not be independently verified. Her legal team has not been allowed to meet her in person since December 2022.
The 2021 army takeover triggered enormous public resistance that was brutally suppressed, triggering a bloody civil war that has killed thousands of people.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights monitoring organisation, 22,047 people have been in detention in Myanmar since the army takeover.
Suu Kyi spent almost 15 years as a political prisoner under house arrest between 1989 and 2010. Her tough stand against military rule in Myanmar turned her into a symbol of nonviolent struggle for democracy.
Five years ago, longtime baseball coach Joe Cascione left coaching the sport to start a women’s tennis team at Mission College.
On Wednesday, Mission College won the state women’s tennis championship armed with local players from Kennedy, Granada Hills, Sylmar and Birmingham high schools, among others.
It’s quite an achievement to win it all with local athletes.
Key contributors included Amy Nghiem, Priscilla Grinner and America Fragoso from Granada Hills; Jaelyn Rivera from Birmingham; Josilyn Rivera and Natalia Ponce from Kennedy; Alitzel Ortega Partida from Golden Valley; Genesis Nochez from West Ranch and Kristen Bonzon from Sylmar.
Cascione singled out his players for their passion and commitment.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
The 4,140-sq-km bay is the largest estuary on the west coast of the US. Before 2018, this species of whales wasn’t known to stop seasonally or consistently in the bay, bypassing it on their migration route down to Baja California and back up the Arctic, said Josephine Slaathaug, who led a recent study on gray whale mortality in the bay.
