Usher

Self-described ‘Trumpist’ Andrej Babis has campaigned on pledges of welfare and halting military aid to Ukraine.

Czechs are casting their ballots in a two-day general election, in which the party of populist billionaire Andrej Babis is expected to garner the most votes but not secure a majority, raising concerns that Ukraine ally the Czech Republic may draw closer to pro-Russian European Union countries Hungary and Slovakia.

Polling stations opened at 12:00 GMT and will close at 20:00 GMT on Friday, before reopening from 06:00 to 12:00 GMT on Saturday, with the results expected on Saturday evening.

Even if Babis’s ANO (Yes) party tops the vote, it will almost certainly have to negotiate a coalition. Analysts say the likely contender is the far-right opposition SPD movement, which is backed by about 12 percent of voters.

Babis, 71, has campaigned in the EU and NATO member of about 11 million people on pledges of welfare and halting military aid to Ukraine.

The current centre-right coalition government of Prime Minister Petr Fiala, 61, has provided extensive humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine, but many voters blame it for ignoring problems at home.

“A change is necessary. The Czech Republic must be more autonomous, it must not be just a messenger boy for Brussels,” 68-year-old geographer Jaroslav Kolar told the AFP news agency.

But doctor Anna Stefanova, 41, told AFP she was afraid of a “sway towards Russia”.

Babis was critical of some EU policies while he was prime minister from 2017 to 2021, and is on good terms with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Slovakia’s Robert Fico, who have maintained strong ties with Moscow despite its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

However, Babis has rejected any steps towards exiting the EU or NATO, including calls for referendums, countering accusations by the current government that he would drag the country off its democratic pro-Western course.

ANO tops opinion polls, suggesting support exceeding 30 percent, ahead of Fiala’s Together grouping with about 20 percent.

Describing himself as a “peacemonger” calling for a truce in Ukraine, Babis has promised a “Czechs first” approach – echoing United States President Donald Trump – and pledged “a better life” for all Czechs.

In 2024, Babis cofounded the far-right Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament, which also includes France’s National Rally among other parties.

Fiala said on X that voters would decide “whether we will continue on the path of freedom, high-quality democracy, security and prosperity, or whether we will go east”.

Some concerns about Russian propaganda being spread online over the course of the election period have emerged, though analysts say they cannot see a big shift in voter sentiment so far.

A group of analysts said last week that Czech TikTok accounts reaching millions of viewers “systematically spread pro-Russian propaganda and support anti-system parties through manipulated engagement”.

Last week, Moldova’s pro-Western governing party decisively won a parliamentary election plagued by claims of Russian interference and was widely seen as a definitive choice between staying in Europe’s orbit or lurching into Moscow’s.

Both Babis and Fiala have also seen scandals tarnish their reputations.

Fiala’s government is under fire over the justice ministry’s decision to accept $44m in bitcoins from a convicted criminal.

Babis, Slovak-born and the seventh-wealthiest Czech according to Forbes magazine, is due to stand trial for EU subsidy fraud worth more than $2m.

He has rejected all allegations of wrongdoing as “a smear campaign”.

By day, he helps audience members find their seats. By night, he’s onstage, commanding them. For actor Tyrone Huntley, the hustle is part of the role in Los Angeles.

Less than 48 hours after raising his voice to the heavens as Simon in the Hollywood Bowl’s electric, weekend-only production of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” Huntley was back at the iconic amphitheater — not under the lights, but beneath them — wearing a white polo and usher’s badge, guiding concertgoers to their seats.

“It was surreal getting back to work and being on the other side of the stage,” Huntley said, overhearing people talk about the early August show days later. “They didn’t know who I was, so I was just listening and smiling and knowing that we certainly made an impression.” Even marketing staff at the Bowl noticed, posting him on TikTok in a clip seen by some 30,000 viewers so far.

Tyrone Huntley, center, performs as Simon in “Jesus Christ Superstar” at the Hollywood Bowl, alongside Cynthia Erivo as Jesus, left.

(Farah Sosa)

Huntley is one of many working actors caught between ambition and survival. As film and TV production in the region drops to historic lows, many industry workers have turned to service jobs or side gigs to stay in the entertainment capital. The region’s slowdown has been brutal: the twin strikes of 2023, studio belt-tightening, productions lured out of state and wildfires that shuttered work this year. The result is fewer auditions, shorter runs and a scramble for survival jobs — even for performers who’ve just taken center stage.

The U.K.-born actor knows both sides. Trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, Huntley leaped immediately into a U.K. tour of “Sister Act” — alongside his future co-star Erivo — spending more than a decade in London original casts such as “Memphis,” “Dreamgirls” and “The Book of Mormon.”

Coincidentally, his breakout role came in 2016 when he landed the co-lead as Judas in “Jesus Christ Superstar” at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. The performance earned him an Evening Standard Theatre Award and a Laurence Olivier Award nomination. “It gave me the confidence to think big,” Huntley said. He later reprised Judas on the North American tour in 2021 after the previous lead was arrested for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

Huntley moved to Los Angeles in 2022 with an eye on the silver screen but found himself arriving in a city still wobbling. “Artistically, it just feels like everyone is struggling,” he said. For the last three years, Huntley’s flown back and forth to London — most recently for an acclaimed “Hello, Dolly!” revival with Imelda Staunton — using steady West End paychecks to bankroll life in L.A. And being a member of Actors’ Equity Assn., the stage actors’ union in the U.S., helps cover health insurance costs here, not a consideration he may have in the U.K. where coverage is free.

Tyrone Huntley stands in his usher uniform in front of the stage where just a few weeks earlier he played Simon alongside Cynthia Erivo’s Jesus in “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

For actors like Huntley, the financial backdrop is hard to ignore. California nearly scrapped its new Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund, which subsidizes nonprofit programs, this year before lawmakers restored it. L.A. County trimmed back its arts grants, forcing small theaters to do more with less. And in Washington, the Trump administration has moved to roll back federal arts funding, leaving some local companies without crucial National Endowment for the Arts support.

Determined to stay in L.A., Huntley auditioned for the Bowl’s “Jesus Christ Superstar” 2025 production, this time as Simon Zealotes, the fiery apostle with one of the show’s most rousing anthems. The casting was headline-making: Erivo, fresh off “Wicked,” as Jesus, and Adam Lambert as Judas. The production was hailed as “the musical theater version of the Avengers,” with theater critic Charles McNulty praising the supernova of talent that lit up the Bowl like a rock concert.

A few months before opening night, Huntley picked up usher shifts at the same venue. The Bowl granted him three weeks off for rehearsals in July, where he also understudied as Erivo’s Jesus. He also got time off to fly back across the pond for a series regular spot on Channel 4’s upcoming “A Woman of Substance.” He described working at the Bowl as fair, easygoing work that keeps him close to live performance, with the added perk of watching Bob Dylan, Earth, Wind & Fire, and the L.A. Phil. “They know a lot of us are working actors, musicians, writers, so they’re very flexible in giving us time to pursue our careers,” he said.

One highlight of working as an usher is that Tyrone Huntley gets to see acts like Herbie Hancock perform at the Hollywood Bowl.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

At the Bowl, ushers perform the invisible choreography that keeps the night in motion — steering picnic baskets and seat cushions toward the right rows and soothing the occasional ticket snafus or crises. It’s common for the ushering job to be summer gigs — or even first jobs. There are anywhere from 300 to 400 ushers for the season, with more than 100 working per night.

Huntley sees his dual roles as emblematic of the life of an artist here. “I have to support myself, that’s the case for most of us, especially in L.A.,” he said. “Sometimes you can have a proper job and do the acting as well. It’s not all showbiz parties and award shows. Sometimes incredible opportunities come along, you do them, and then you get back to normal. You can do both — and the pressure isn’t always to be on the stage.”

SEOUL, Aug. 15 (UPI) — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung pledged to “respect” North Korea‘s political system and said Seoul would not seek unilateral reunification in a speech to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Korean Peninsula on Friday.

“We affirm our respect for the North’s current system, aver that we will not pursue any form of unification by absorption and assert that we have no intention of engaging in hostile acts,” Lee said in a ceremony at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul.

Liberation Day commemorates the end of Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of Korea. The holiday is also celebrated in North Korea.

Lee’s administration has made efforts to improve relations between the two Koreas since he took office in June. In his speech Friday, he drew a sharp contrast with his predecessor, ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol, who took a hardline approach in dealing with the North.

“Inter-Korean dialogue, which had been maintained through countless ups and downs, was completely halted during the previous administration,” Lee said. “Going forward, our government will take consistent measures to substantially reduce tensions and restore trust.”

Lee said he would take “proactive and gradual steps” to restore the 2018 inter-Korean military pact that was suspended amid tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang during the Yoon administration in 2024.

The pact established buffer zones along the border and included measures such as the removal of some guard posts in the DMZ and the banning of live-fire exercises in certain areas.

Seoul has already made conciliatory gestures such as removing its propaganda loudspeakers from border areas and calling on activists to stop floating balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets into the North.

The South’s military reported that North Korea began dismantling its own speakers, but Pyongyang denied the claim on Thursday.

Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, called the military’s assessment “unfounded” and rejected overtures from Seoul as a “pipedream.”

In his speech, Lee said the 80th anniversary was “an opportune time to end the era of confrontation and hostility and jointly usher in a new era of peaceful coexistence and shared growth on the Korean Peninsula.”

“I hope that North Korea will reciprocate our efforts to restore trust and revive dialogue,” he added.