wall

TECATE, Mexico — White sage burning, Norma Meza Calles gathers guests at a Mexican wellness resort into a semicircle facing Kuuchamaa Mountain and asks everyone to close their eyes and feel its presence.

“This is sacred to us like a church for you all. The mountain is our healer, our psychologist,” said Meza Calles, a Kumeyaay Nation tribal leader who explains that in its creation story a shaman transformed into the mountain. “Here is where we gather strength to live in this difficult world.”

Then she calls for a moment of reflection. But the silence is pierced by the crushing of rock. U.S. federal contractors have been blasting and bulldozing Kuuchamaa, which straddles the U.S.-Mexico frontier, to make way for new sections of border wall.

Indigenous leaders say that in the Trump administration’s rush to build border wall segments, contractors are desecrating Native American sacred places and cultural sites at an unprecedented pace, more than 170 years after the international boundary split the territories of dozens of tribes.

Blasts on sacred mountain

Wall construction has ramped up along the 1,954-mile border even as illegal crossings have plummeted to historic lows. Much of it began this year after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security waived cultural and environmental laws.

In California, explosions on Kuuchamaa, also known as Tecate Peak, send rocks hurtling down its Mexico side.

“We feel that in our DNA,” said Emily Burgueno, a California member of the Kumeyaay Nation, noting that “body” and “land” are the same word in the Kumeyaay language. Some tribal leaders met with Homeland Security officials to urge them to protect Kuuchamaa and are looking into legal action.

“No one ever consented or supported the use of dynamite on the mountain,” Burgueno said.

The nation consists of more than a dozen tribes in California and Mexico’s Baja California. The Kumeyaay have been working to block construction of the border wall since Trump’s first term.

In Arizona, Homeland Security contractors last month carved through a massive, 1,000-year-old fish-shaped geoglyph called Las Playas Intaglio. The rare drawing, etched into the desert floor much like Peru’s Nazca Lines, was created on a lava field in what is now the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge.

Construction crews work April 24 on a new border wall segment near the end of a previously built section on Kuuchamaa Mountain, seen from Tecate, Mexico.

(Gregory Bull / Associated Press)

The Tohono O’odham Nation said it had pointed out the site on its ancestral land for contractors to avoid.

“This was a devastating and entirely avoidable loss,” Tohono O’odham Chairman Verlon Jose said in an April 30 statement. “There is nothing more important than our history, which is what makes us who we are as O’odham. The site was also an irreplaceable piece of the United States’ history, one none of us can ever get back.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that a contractor “inadvertently disturbed” the site west of Ajo, Ariz., on April 23, but it vowed to protect the remaining portion. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott is talking to tribal leaders to determine next steps.

Members of the Inter-Tribal Assn. of Arizona, which represents 21 tribes, traveled to Washington last month to lobby against a 20-foot secondary wall being built along that section of the border, as well as a primary 30-foot bollard wall planned on Tohono O’odham tribal lands.

They met with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, a Cherokee Nation member, who listened but made clear his intent is to build more border wall as fast as possible, the Tohono O’odham Nation said in a statement.

Hundreds of miles under contract

The Trump administration says the barriers are necessary to keep people and drugs from entering the U.S. illegally. It wants walls to cover at least 1,400 miles of the border.

Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year devoted more than $46 billion to the effort.

CBP has awarded contracts or begun construction on over 600 miles of new border wall, with companion surveillance technology. A double wall is planned or under construction along an additional 370 miles.

In Arizona, where the Patagonia Mountains descend to the border, heavy machinery crawls along freshly graded roads to extend a double wall that could block a wildlife corridor for endangered ocelots and jaguars. Jaguars have long coexisted with the Tohono O’odham, who consider the species “spiritual guardians,” Austin Nunez, a tribal leader, said in a 2025 lawsuit that unsuccessfully challenged the Homeland Security waivers.

In Sunland Park, on New Mexico’s border with Mexico, crews this year set off blasts on Mt. Cristo Rey, a pilgrimage site topped with a limestone crucifix.

CBP is seeking to seize a strip of the mountain owned by the Roman Catholic Church for wall construction. The Diocese of Las Cruces asked a judge this month to deny the land transfer as an affront to religious liberties and the “faithful who seek to commune with God on Mount Cristo Rey.”

In western Texas, the federal government in February notified ranchers on the Rio Grande east of Big Bend National Park of its interest in their land that contains canyonland pictographs and petroglyphs, said Raymond Skiles, a retired Big Bend National Park ranger.

“There are pictographs, paintings of shaman figures and various things that we don’t know how to interpret,” said Skiles, describing the drawings on his family’s ranchlands.

After community backlash, CBP’s online planning map showed the 30-foot-wall plans were scrapped for surveillance technology, patrols and some vehicle barriers. A segment in the national park and neighboring Big Bend Ranch State Park would rely on technology alone.

CBP says it recognizes the importance of natural and cultural resources and is working to minimize the construction’s impact, including leaving drainage gates open in wildlife corridors for animal passage. Illegal border crossings have littered, polluted and trampled sensitive habitat, the agency says.

CBP also says 535 miles of remote, rugged border terrain will solely rely on detection technology.

Many tribes would prefer that to walls.

Norma Meza Calles, a Kumeyaay Nation leader, leads a guided tour of traditional Kumeyaay uses for local plants at a wellness center in Tecate, Mexico.

(Gregory Bull / Associated Press)

Desecrating Native American sites is a felony

Tribes along the border “are all experiencing the same tragic desecration of our cultural and sacred sites,” said Burgueno, chair of the Kumeyaay Diegueño Land Conservancy, a nonprofit organization in California that works to protect Kumeyaay lands. “This is a great example of the federal government not following federal laws.”

Desecrating a sacred Native American site on U.S. federal or tribal land is a felony, punishable by imprisonment and fines. In 1992, the National Park Service listed Kuuchamaa Mountain in the National Register of Historic Places, giving it limited protection. It noted that “discarding or disturbing the mountain’s natural state would be sacrilegious.”

Rising 3,885 feet above sea level, Kuuchamaa has also captivated non-Native people.

Sarah Livia Brightwood Szekely said her father, Edmond Szekely, felt the mountain’s healing energy when he arrived in Tecate, Mexico, as a Hungarian Jewish refugee during World War II, and started the renowned wellness resort, Rancho La Puerta, which she now runs.

“There are all of these people that have a deep relationship with the mountain,” she said.

Meza Calles leads walks at Rancho La Puerta to teach guests about Kuuchamaa.

Traditionally, young men would spend 40 days at its base in a coming-of-age ceremony before becoming warriors or shamans, she said. Today’s rituals are shorter. People suffering from a death, debt, divorce or other difficulty seek Kuuchamaa’s healing, she said.

“It’s sad they are ruining the mountain,” she said. “We’ll see how far they go. Destiny is destiny. But the fight is not over.”

Watson and Lee write for the Associated Press and reported from Tecate and Santa Fe, N.M., respectively.

During his first year, U. S. President Donald Trump’s aggressive negotiating style led to some gains with other countries, but when it comes to Iran, this approach seems to be failing. Instead of softening his stance, Trump has shown increasing frustration over the ongoing crisis, which has lasted for 11 weeks, and his tough tactics might hinder efforts to end the conflict that is impacting the global economy.

Analysts believe that one key issue is the Iranian leaders’ need to maintain their image at home, complicating any negotiations. Despite the U. S. and Israeli strikes weakening Iran’s military, Iran still controls the important Strait of Hormuz, allowing it to exert significant influence. Trump’s strategy has been marked by extreme demands and mixed messages, which may not lead to a quick resolution. His desire to frame any outcome as a U. S. victory, while expecting total defeat for Iran, poses further challenges, as no government, including Iran’s, can afford to be seen as surrendering.

The deadlock with Iran happens as Trump faces domestic pressures, including rising gasoline prices and low approval ratings due to an unpopular war ahead of the midterm elections. White House spokesperson Olivia Wales defended Trump’s tactics, claiming that he is a skilled negotiator and suggesting that Iran is becoming more desperate for a resolution.

In a notable threat, Trump warned on social media of destroying Iran’s civilization if a deal is not reached. He later backed down but has repeated his threats to damaging Iranian infrastructure. Trump’s harsh language towards Iranian leaders has continued, and while he claims Iran is on the verge of collapse, the Iranian response has been to portray their endurance as a victory.

Inside the White House, there has been no effort to moderate Trump’s messaging. Polls show his core supporters remain behind him, but some former allies now criticize his extreme threats and the ongoing conflict.

Some of Trump’s strongest statements on his Truth Social platform have come at crucial moments, like when he announced a blockade of Iran’s ports, which led to Iranian retaliation and threatened a fragile ceasefire. He recently rejected a peace proposal from Iran, calling it a “piece of garbage. ” Analysts like Dennis Ross said Trump’s lack of consistency in messaging undermines his intentions. During a visit to Beijing, Trump avoided harsh comments on Iran, focusing instead on relations with China, an ally of Iran.

Some experts believe it would be beneficial for Trump to lower his rhetoric if he truly wants to resolve the conflict. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Saeed Khatibzadeh, criticized Trump for talking too much. Trump claims that his unpredictability is a negotiation tactic, which has sometimes worked in trade discussions. However, in situations like the military actions in Venezuela and the Gaza ceasefire talks, his pressure tactics had positive outcomes.

Despite his desire to seem dangerous in negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, analysts say this strategy is unlikely to succeed, given the entrenched nature of Iran’s leadership and their pride. Trump’s threats may have strengthened Iran’s current hardline rulers, who trust him even less after U. S. attacks during negotiations. Nate Swanson, a former State Department official, noted that the expectation of Iran capitulating under pressure is a misconception.

Barbara Leaf pointed out that Trump’s approach has been based on a misunderstanding of Iran’s resilience. Some experts warn that his tactics could backfire, making Iran more determined to develop nuclear capabilities for self-protection. There is a mismatch in timelines, as Trump prefers quick deals while Iran often prolongs negotiations. Academic Abdulkhaleq Abdullah suggested that Iran’s inflexibility is a bigger issue than Trump’s statements. Trita Parsi argued that Iranian leaders might see Trump’s unpredictable behavior as a sign of desperation, leading them to wait him out.

With information from Reuters

In the occupied West Bank, a marathon is a political statement. Palestinians ran alongside the separation wall today, a structure that cuts them off from their land, their families, and even the sea. Al Jazeera’s @leila.shw reports from Bethlehem.

Marcus Smart knows what it feels like to be on the other side. The last time the Lakers guard was in the playoffs, he was helping the Boston Celtics storm back from a three-game deficit in the Eastern Conference finals to force a near-historic Game 7.

Now he’s watched the Lakers’ seemingly insurmountable three-games-to-none series lead dwindle to 3-2 after a 99-93 loss to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday at Crypto.com Arena. Smart isn’t flinching.

Whether defending a three-game lead or coming back from one, Smart knows the mindset is the same.

“We really got to literally go out there and be ready to die,” Smart said Wednesday after the Lakers failed to close out the Rockets for the second consecutive game. “… When I was on the other end, that was our motto: be willing to run through a wall and sacrifice your body for the betterment of the team. And that’s what we’re going to do now.”

Lakers guard Marcus Smart knocks the ball away from Rockets guard Amen Thompson during Game 5 at Crypto.Com Arena on Wednesday.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

NBA teams are 159-0 with a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven playoff series. Only four have even pushed it to the decisive Game 7. Smart’s 2023 Boston Celtics, when they clawed back against the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals, lost Game 7 at home after star Jayson Tatum turned his ankle on the first play of the game.

Hoping to avoid joining the historic list, the Lakers get a third try at vanquishing the Rockets for good in Game 6 on Friday at 6:30 p.m. PDT at Houston’s Toyota Center.

“Once we get on that plane and head down to Houston, we got to forget about it and understand what we are going for,” said LeBron James, who had 25 points and seven assists Friday. “It’s going to be even harder. Every game is hard. It’s so hard to close out a team in the postseason, to win a series, and this is our first time doing it as a unit.”

The Lakers built a three-game lead in the series despite playing without leading scorers Luka Doncic (hamstring) and Austin Reaves in the first four games. Reaves returned from a Grade 2 left oblique muscle strain Friday, scoring 22 points on four-of-16 shooting with six assists, but his presence couldn’t stop the gradual decline of the Lakers offense.

The Lakers have failed to reach 100 points in each of the last two games. From shooting 53.9% from the field and 51.7% from three in the first 10 quarters of the series, they have shot just 44.6% from the field and 29.2% from three in the last 10, excluding overtime of Game 3.

Luke Kennard, a flamethrower who scored 50 points in the first two games, has scored just eight in the last two. He was scoreless from the field Wednesday, including two missed three-pointers. A 91.2% free-throw shooter, Kennard even missed a free throw.

On the other hand, Houston has found its rhythm. The Rockets made 38.7% of their shots in the first 10 quarters — Games 1 and 2 and the first half of Game 3 — and have shot 46.3% in the 10 quarters since, excluding the Game 3 overtime period. Their three-point shooting has jumped from 30.9% to 34.1%.

“We just got to make shots,” Smart said of the offense’s struggles. “… And we’re not giving ourselves a chance by turning the ball over, which we can’t get a shot up on the rim because of that.”

The Lakers had 15 turnovers that resulted in 18 Rockets points Wednesday. The game started slipping away in the second quarter when they had five turnovers with the Rockets scoring nine points off the miscues. The Lakers let their 11-point first-quarter lead turn into a four-point halftime deficit.

Smart, who was asked to handle more ball-handling responsibilities while Doncic and Reaves were injured, had six turnovers and just two assists Friday. He called them “unacceptable.”

Rockets center Alperen Sengun yells out for the ball while Lakers guard Marcus Smart pressures the ball hander during Game 5 at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

“The turnovers come in all shapes and sizes, and it’s about limiting them,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “And you certainly have to give your guys freedom to make basketball plays. I would say in general though, turnovers of aggression are OK; turnovers of passivity are not.”

The Rockets only averaged 8.5 steals per game during the regular season, but had two players in the NBA’s top 10 in total steals with guards Reed Sheppard (sixth, 122 total steals) and Amen Thompson (eighth, 119). They had three and four steals, respectively, in Game 5.

A defensive play from Sheppard stifled the Lakers’ late comeback. The Lakers trimmed a 13-point lead to three in less than three minutes. The cheer from the sold-out crowd at Crypto.com Arena was deafening when James kissed a left handed layup off the glass to pull the Lakers to within one possession with 2:59 left.

Sheppard immediately responded with a midrange jumper then picked James’ pocket on the next Lakers possession, going coast-to-coast for a two-handed dunk that pushed the lead back to seven with 2:20 remaining.

The crowd went silent.

The Lakers had that same stunning effect on a road crowd already this series when they stormed back from a six-point deficit in less than 30 seconds in Game 3. The prospect of doing it again with even larger stakes brought an excited smirk to Smart’s face.

“We knew this was going to be a tough series,” Smart said. “I think everybody knew that, and it’s turning out to be exactly what we expected. And now the fun begins.”

Designers Jeanine Hattas Wilson and Julie Hattas Kennedy’s magical transformation of a 4-foot-by-4-foot storage closet at this year’s Pasadena Showcase House of Design almost feels like a metaphor for design showcases themselves: not quite real, but pure fantasy.

“It was inspired by our dad, who used to read to us in Woodstock, Ill.,” Wilson says of their immersive storybook escape, which features a delightful hand-painted mural on the walls and tiny lanterns that, when touched, offer a narrated fairy tale. “We wanted to create a special, intimate space for kids.”

Showhouses are always extravagant, and this year’s event takes place inside the 8,000-square-foot former home of Clara Baldwin Stocker, daughter of land investor and racehorse breeder Elias J. “Lucky” Baldwin. Like her father, Stocker was known for her colorful personality and love of lavish things, including parties that lasted for days. (Baldwin Stocker’s 1929 obituary noted that out of her $10-million estate, about $1.5 million was jewelry, “the collection and wearing of which was her hobby.”)

Many of the 30 revamped interior and exterior spaces in the 1907 shingle-style home include details Baldwin Stocker would have loved. The Midnight Garden Dining Room by the House of Pontovi, for example, has an Italian Murano glass chandelier, feminine Art Deco-style swivel chairs with flapper-style fringe and a gold-leaf ceiling that has replaced Calico Corners fabric. The Entertainment Room by Studio Joshua features statement lighting by Los Angeles designer Jason Koharik, an 11 Ravens custom billiards table and a Champagne cooler built into the marble bar.

And the Bloom Lounge by the Art of Room Design is so large that it can accommodate several different seating areas, a game table and a hidden liquor cabinet — another nod to Baldwin Stocker, who was also known as “the Diamond Princess.”

It’s hard to decide what stands out more at the Baldwin Oaks Estate in Arcadia: the layered interiors that look ready for a shelter magazine, or the smaller spaces, like the closets, mudroom and hidden powder rooms that have been transformed into something special.

Here are a few examples of what to expect at the event, which supports youth music programs throughout Los Angeles County.

The Enchanted Room by Hattas Studios

Identical twins Hattas Wilson and Hattas Kennedy of Hattas Studios transformed a small 4-by-4-foot storage closet into a magical forest with their hand-painted mural depicting characters from stories like “Cinderella,” “The Little Mermaid” and “The Frog Prince.” A young Clara Baldwin appears with her dog, Lucky. You can touch the tiny lanterns to hear a story in each scene or simply curl up in the soft green fuzzy chair, close the velvet curtains and let your imagination wander.

Laundry and Craft Room by Arterberry Cooke Architecture

Architect Barrett Cooke turned laundry into a pleasure in this beautiful room, which doubles as a craft room outfitted with new rose-colored cabinets, playful circular Fireclay Tile, quartzite countertops and stunning views of the San Gabriel Mountains. “I straddled making it utilitarian with how beautiful it can be,” Cooke said of the local artists represented, including ceramics by Jen King, stained glass by Molly Miller, oil paintings by Lareina Holsopple and a print by local artist and Jungalow designer Justina Blakeney. “The art ties it all together.”

The vault in the Family Parlor Room by Jamie Loren Home

The family room is the only space with a television, but with a mah-jongg table, the TV hardly seems necessary. “We wanted to create a room where the family can congregate,” said designer Jamie Loren, describing the cozy parlor painted in the color Viridian Odyssey by Dunn-Edwards Paints. She also turned what used to be a gun closet into a “vault” filled with family heirlooms, including a typewriter, perfume, photos, jewelry and a flask. “This is an ode to Clara,” she said.

Powder Room by Rebecca J. Hansen Design Studio

Details make all the difference in the small powder room by Rebecca J. Hansen, who explains that both the room and the nearby vestibule are focused on mixing patterns while keeping a consistent color palette. Hansen chose patterned terra-cotta tile from Foothill Tile & Stone Co. in Pasadena for the walls, and just outside, she used wallpaper from House of Hackney with mythical animals. Brass hardware from Corston Architectural Detail, chalk pastels and bold wood trim painted a marigold color brought everything together. “It feels like I’m in a castle in England,” she said.

The second floor landing by Blue Brick Design

Designer Lara Hovanessian has transformed the foyer walls of both the first and second floors into a striking display for local artists Blakeney, Susanna Speirs Ali and Lareina Holsopple. The spaces feature the newly released Huntington Collection wall covering by Morris & Co. in the iconic Strawberry Thief motif, pink ceilings and Alberto Giacometti-style lighting from Visual Comfort.

The Mudroom by Gex Designs

Inspired by the shingles of the 1907 home, Noelle Gex Djokovich, known for last year’s playful flower-cutting room, has reimagined this space with custom cabinets, patterned floors and charming details such as a dog bed, a Lewis & Wood fabric skirt and a rag rug from Nickey Kehoe. “Adding layers to a small room makes you feel good when you come home,” she said.

The Magnolia Room by Cordrey Collection

Designer Steven Cordrey says the Magnolia wallpaper reflects his Southern roots and the Phillip Jeffries grasscloth on the walls is practical (“It’s easy to clean,” Cordrey says). He also likes to bring the outdoors in, pointing to the views of the estate’s grand oaks and pool from the second-floor bedroom. There’s a hidden touch too: Rock Zehler’s stylish dressing room, inspired by Art Deco and the 1970s, has a secret closet tucked behind a pocket door.

It’s not only easy to get lost in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s new David Geffen Galleries, it’s inevitable, intentional — and one of the best things about the place.

The museum has deconstructed the traditional, boxy narrative of art history and rendered the story itself a matter of curves and continuities. Art in the collection is freed from its departmental silos and put into conversation across genre lines, place and time.

The museum has physically invalidated the binaries of center and periphery, major and minor arts. In a startling and largely gratifying way, LACMA has done what the poet Audre Lorde, alluding to a different but not unrelated aspect of patriarchal dominance, deemed impossible: used the master’s tools to dismantle the master’s house.

The change goes far beyond a remodel. It’s a reinvention, a recalibration, a revisionist fever dream.

The vision conceived by museum director and Chief Executive Michael Govan and architect Peter Zumthor is not perfect, and brings with it a modest set of frustrations, but as a whole, the installation registers as ravishing and bracingly fresh. It thrusts us midstream into the ageless, ceaseless flow of makers worldwide reckoning with life, earth and being.

It prompts us, as we bob about, to reflect on our own proclivities and preconceptions, our patterns of reception and perception.

It compels us to recognize that what matters is not just what we see in the museum but how we see, what pulls us close and why, what private histories we bring to the occasion, what expectations, what tools.

Over two visits to the new building, getting my physical bearings mattered less and less as I surrendered to the generative sensations of not knowing. The museum has produced a dense guidebook to the new galleries, whose title, “Wander,” doubles as invitation and imperative. Even at 430 pages, the book is only minimally useful as an orientation device. For help with that internal navigation, Rebecca Solnit’s moving 2005 book, “A Field Guide to Getting Lost,” proved a better compass.

LACMA’s guidebook to the David Geffen Galleries, called “Wander,” doubles as invitation and imperative.

(Museum Associates / LACMA)

Solnit, citing the cultural critic Walter Benjamin, writes, “to be lost is to be fully present, and to be fully present is to be capable of being in uncertainty and mystery.” She goes on to recall how roaming freely as a child was key to developing self-reliance, which feels apt to the LACMA strategy. We are put in charge of making our own way, through tapestries and tea sets, past ancient jug and contemporary sphinx, without heavy-handed authoritative direction.

The history of art reads here as one long, free verse poem-in-progress, gorgeous and absorbing. Even so, many of the most memorable moments come in the form of cogent micro-essays, smartly curated ensembles of work bearing a legible, lucid premise. Some of these are contained within four (rectilinear) walls; some occupy less demarcated spaces. “Tonal Variations: Photography and Music,” for instance, gathers images by Paul Caponigro, William Eggleston, Lisette Model and others. These artists were also serious pianists, attuned, no matter which instrument they were using, to the qualities of rhythm, pattern and progression.

Lisette Model, “Window at 5th Avenue,” 1940, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

(Museum Associates / LACMA)

In a section headed “The Global Appeal of Blue-and-White Ceramics,” a long display case houses a timeline articulated sculpturally. The sequence advances from a 9th century bowl made in Iraq to a 13th century vessel from China, a 14th century example from Thailand, another from 15th century Syria, up to work by a 20th century German artist who transformed a functional vessel into personal adornment by cutting a string of beads out of the planar surface of the bowl.

Dish, Turkey, Iznik, c. 1530-35, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

(Museum Associates / LACMA)

On the wall facing this display is a huge vitrine containing an 18th century Talavera jar from Mexico, paired with a 2025/26 color photograph by Brooklyn-based Stephanie H. Shih. In the still-life composition, a cheeky visual lesson on the collision and convergence of cultures, the jar holds flowers, cactus and edible Mexican treats influenced by Chinese and Filipino flavors.

Top, Stephanie H. Shih, 梅國 “(Still life with chamoy and Dirty T Tamarindo),” (2025- 26); bottom, Jar (c. 1700-50)

(Museum Associates / LACMA)

Shih is one of a handful of artists commissioned to create new work using the museum’s collection as muse. L.A.-based Lauren Halsey is another. Her formidable, untitled 2026 sphinx regally commands its space among ancient Egyptian and Roman sculpture, a marvel of the cross-temporal and cross-spatial, spiked with specific references to Black self-determination.

Setting recent works among older ones is an effective element of LACMA’s overall plan to shed outworn hierarchies. It recasts every piece of art by every artist throughout the single-story space as equally relevant. The seamless integration of old and new feels stealthy, and a touch subversive, a doubling-down on the museum’s approach to time as nonlinear, sinuous and delightfully slippery.

Lauren Halsey’s untitled 2026 sphinx.

(Museum Associates / LACMA)

That said, a few words readily available would help connect the dots without undermining the provocation. Text — where and how it appears, or doesn’t — is my only major complaint about the installation of the new galleries.

Text panels announce, in one or two paragraphs, the themes of each given section: “Images of the Divine in South Asia”; “The Evolution of Abstract Painting in Modern Korea”; “Textile Conversations: Africa and Black America.” Individual object labels are kept minimal, containing only basic identification about each work, no commentary. When asked about this decision during my first walkthrough, Govan replied that more time reading means less time looking — “and we have the internet.” Every thematic text panel has a QR code that links to the Bloomberg Connects app, an aggregate guide to museums and other cultural sites that offers selected, augmented entries.

Determining how much didactic information is insightful and sufficient, and how much constitutes excessive artsplaining, is a delicate, ongoing challenge for museums. Where LACMA landed on this contested plain strikes me as unfortunate and counterproductive.

A few lines of explanation or context on a wall label can add perspective for even the most informed visitor, and provides crucial support to those with less foundational exposure and access to art.

You can take or leave text on a wall without breaking your stride, but text accessed via QR code is another matter. (Never mind that connectivity is spotty inside a sprawling concrete shell, and several times when I tried to get information from the app, I couldn’t.) Encouraging us to shift our gaze from the wall to our devices — to assume that accursed downward tilt of the neck when splendors abound before our eyes — is simply detrimental. It breaks the spell of being fruitfully lost in the present, and retethers us to the digital distractions that dominate our days.

Wall text beside Francis Bacon’s “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” (1969), at Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

(Museum Associates / LACMA)

Shouldn’t the imaginative minds that created this space, this opportunity to revel in direct sensual experience, want us to keep our attention where our bodies are? Why this fallback to current convention, when the rest of the experience is about radical reinvention? This feels like a missed opportunity. I’m hoping a more experimental, exploratory approach to providing information, context and interpretation, in keeping with the rest of the enterprise, might yet come.

Does the new structure serve the art? Mostly, very well.

The lighting is varied, treated as another texture in the space, palpable and rich. There’s a generous amount of natural sunlight, but some spots are noticeably dim. Some gallery walls are glazed in deep hues (reddish and eggplant), and the intensity of the color is jarring at first. But neutral, white-box viewing spaces (with even, predictable lighting) can be found elsewhere on LACMA’s campus and pretty much anywhere art is shown. Here, the very irregularity of the interior environment, including the concrete surfaces — richer and more textured than I expected — heightened my alertness. And keener senses tend to make for more consequential experiences.

In deciding how to organize roughly 2,000 works of art across 110,000 square feet of exhibition space, LACMA devised a conceptual schema that isn’t apparent in the galleries themselves. The “Wander” guide maps out the division of the space into four regions correlating to bodies of water: the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and the Mediterranean Sea. While the zones and their boundaries aren’t indicated by obvious signage, and I caught one laughable categorization (Ansel Adams’ photographs of the Pacific shoreline landing in the Atlantic section), this schema at least doesn’t get in the way.

And what does work about the propositional structure is its comprehensive realignment. It moves to retire art historical frameworks of the past, dependent on borders between places and times.

Throughout this installation, we are repeatedly reminded of the impact of trade and migration, the fluid movement of resources and belief systems. We’re reminded of porousness and simultaneity, and that all art histories are, in the end, propositional structures.

Here’s a new one, the Geffen Galleries say. Try it out. You might get lost. Indeed, you will get lost. And what wonders await you in the uncertainty and mystery.

“Gambrel roofed Barnhaus,” the listing read, “next door to the best burritos in town.”

Its photos revealed something unusual for Inglewood, which is famous for its mix of architectural styles, including Midcentury Modern homes by R.M. Schindler and Googie-style coffee shops: a brick-red barn-style house on a large corner lot, listed at $449,000.

When Meeshie Fahmy and her husband, Aaron Snyder, toured the house, they learned that the burrito claim was true. The photos, however, had clearly been touched up to make the house, located just a few miles from the Kia Forum and SoFi Stadium, look better than it actually was.

Outside, the former dirt lot is now a lush garden with towers of colorful black-eyed susans on arches, planters full of nasturtiums and vegetables, a firepit and pergola.

Inside, the house had “wall-to-wall carpets on both floors that were heavily stained and worn, dated wood paneling on the walls, holes in the walls,” Fahmy says.

Despite these flaws, the couple saw the home’s potential and decided to buy it, even though a leaning retaining wall nearly derailed their escrow. “It was a blank canvas for us to play and experiment,” she recalls a decade later.

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After they moved in, neighbors revealed the house was not original to the site. Years earlier, the original Craftsman had been torn down; the current house, a sweepstakes prize, arrived in two pieces by crane. “Our neighbors recalled it was quite a sight,” Fahmy says.

At the time, Fahmy, 44, worked as an event planner at the Getty Museum. As renovations started and she followed her passion for interior design, Snyder proudly introduced her to staff at the local Carniceria as “an interior designer.” She replied, “That’s not what I do.”

“I told her, ‘If you don’t start saying it, it’s not going to happen,’” says Snyder, 49, who pursued his own dream of becoming a professional skateboarder before moving into video editing. “Speak it to existence.”

Finishing the house took years, patience and a lot of DIY projects because of their budget. But Fahmy didn’t just dream — she made it happen. In 2018, she started working for interior designer Willa Ford, who mentored her at WFord Interiors. By 2020, Fahmy launched her own design firm, Haus of Meeshie. “It’s been a progressive layering of colors, furniture, reupholstering, adding art, wallpaper, lighting,” she says. “Low and slow; the flavor is richer.”

Meeshie Fahmy and Aaron Snyder’s family room is a colorful maximalist dream with thrifted furnishings, art and layered textures and patterns.

Ninety percent of the furnishings are thrifted. “Nothing is too precious,” Fahmy says.

Today, their home reflects Fahmy’s fearless approach — it’s a true “petri dish for experimentation.” The vibrant, layered four-bedroom house is a maximalist fever dream, packed with furniture, accessories and art sourced from Facebook Marketplace, vintage shops, flea markets (Long Beach flea is a favorite), estate sales and secondhand stores in L.A. and elsewhere.

She estimates about 90% of the furnishings and accessories in her home are thrifted, antiques or things she found on the side of the road, and nothing is too precious, reaffirming her playful approach to decor.

A Jonathan Adler dining table, found on sale, sits in front of a wall filled with art arranged salon-style. Among the pieces is Fahmy’s favorite: a wedding portrait her father, Walter Fahmy, painted of her.

The speakeasy features a vintage standing bar from Craigslist, barstools and a Geo pendant light by Los Angeles designer Jason Koharik and a mirror Fahmy found at a neighborhood estate sale.

She likes to refer to her decorating style as “creatively unhinged.”

“It all flows,” she says, curled up with her dogs on a CB2 couch she found on Craigslist. “There’s a rhythm. Every piece tells a story. Pick one — I’ll share it.” She recalls throwing herself on a vintage Baker sideboard at a Florida Goodwill without knowing how she’d get it back to Los Angeles and laughs when Snyder discovers a tiny Jack Black-as-Jesus portrait tucked into a gilded dining-room oil painting.

The sink and vanity in the guest bathroom? That used to be a dresser she found on Craigslist.

Although others have questioned their home purchase, Fahmy never doubted they could transform the space into something special.

Color ties the house together. The powder room is purple, the entry hall is red, the kitchen has blue cabinets and the hallway is painted pink.

“When I first saw the house, when they bought it, I thought she was crazy,” Meeshie’s friend and former colleague, Talene Kanian, says in an email. “Other than keeping the ‘barn’ shape, she completely transformed the interior. Now, when you step inside, you’re welcomed into a home full of color, pattern and playfulness.”

Snyder adds: “Meeshie is able to visualize things 10 steps ahead of everyone else, even things that seem like a complete mess.“

Working together, the couple removed the shag carpeting and wood paneling from the first floor and the stairway, installing drywall in their place.

Next, they painted the walls — no beige here. The deep green living room sets a bold scene: a clock worthy of Dalí, leopard prints, pink Persian rugs, a snake ottoman and a thrifted tufted chair with Art Deco vibes from CB2.

“I did not venture into interior design formally,” Fahmy says. “I feel very lucky to have found this passion.”

The color story flows through the house: The powder room is purple, the entry hall red and the dining room walls pink, with one wall in a bold 1970s-style mushroom-pattern wallpaper from Londubh Studio. The speakeasy features a vintage standing bar from Craigslist that Snyder squeezed into his car, barstools and a Geo pendant light by Los Angeles designer Jason Koharik and a mirror Fahmy found at a nearby estate sale.

In the kitchen, they removed the 1970s-era wooden cabinets and Formica countertops, replacing them with more pink walls, Moroccan-style tile flooring and blue cupboard fronts from Semihandmade, which creates cabinet doors for IKEA cabinets.

Fahmy painted a Keith Haring-style black-and-white mural at the top of the stairs and continued onto the second-floor walls using a paintbrush taped to a broomstick. She finished by painting the handrail bright blue and wrapping each stair with a Persian-style runner.

Outside, the couple leveled the once-dirt backyard, added pea gravel, built a pergola with a handyman and installed a firepit where they enjoy entertaining their friends.

The main bedroom features burgundy walls, while the bathroom next to it has Persian rug-patterned wallpaper from House of Hackney.

Now the once-empty backyard is a lush garden: towers of colorful black-eyed susans on arches, planters of nasturtiums and homegrown vegetables. A trickling fountain greets visitors as they walk through the French doors. Snyder, an avid cook, can easily step out to cut fresh herbs mid-simmer, making the outdoors a true extension of the home.

The couple’s home is full of memories, and as you walk through, you can sense how much their stories matter to them. In the downstairs hallway, Snyder smiles as he points out photos of his family in Wisconsin. Similarly, Fahmy proudly shows a photo of her great-great-grandmother Theresa “Tessie” Cooke Haskins, a noted harpist whose daughter Maud Haskins was the first harpist to perform with the orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl.

Art is everywhere, from the Polaroids pinned to the walls in the powder room to the ceramics and masks hanging throughout the house. Yet Fahmy’s favorite possession is deeply personal: a portrait of her on her wedding day, painted by her father, Walter Fahmy, who studied art in Egypt before coming to America.

Upstairs, Fahmy created a black-and-white mural inspired by Keith Haring at the top of the stairs, then kept going along the second-floor walls using a paintbrush taped to a broomstick. She finished by painting the handrail a bright blue and wrapping each stair with a Persian-style runner.

French doors connect the house to the garden, so the backyard feels like a natural part of the home.

For Fahmy, these details matter. “I feel like our home is a love letter to my upbringing,” she says, referring to her parents, who were both pharmacists. “It’s an ode to them and the sacrifices they made for me.”

Visitors feel the same way. “Their house is a true labor of love, apparent the second you enter,” Kanian adds. “It radiates warmth and love.”

Snyder feels it too. “I feel an immense amount of pride when I walk into our house,” he says.

Like a barn raising that brings people together, their house has become a welcome part of the neighborhood with its blue siding, bright yellow front door and a playful mural by Venice artist and skateboarder Sebo Walker. “We’ve had neighbors knock on our door and tell us, ‘We love what you’re doing,’” says Snyder.

“I love color,” Fahmy says. “I love to experiment.”

With the main house finished for now, Fahmy hopes to turn the garage into an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, in the style of Mexican architect Luis Barragán: bold with color and texture. “I’m envisioning a mini boutique hotel,” she says. “Simple to execute, yet unique in L.A. I’d love a pink building.”

Like the possibility of a pink building — or not — Fahmy’s freewheeling style proves it’s OK to experiment and make mistakes. (She wants to demo the kitchen next for a fresh look.)

“You’re not tattooing your face. You’re painting your walls,” she says as a way to encourage others to experiment. “Your home should be a reflection of who you are. I hope our home inspires others to live how they want to live.”

The International Monetary Fund has downgraded its global growth forecast for 2026 from 3.3 to 3.1 percent, citing the impact of the United States-Israeli war on Iran and the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz on the world economy.

The war has damaged energy infrastructure across the Gulf, while critical exports like oil, gas, chemicals and fertiliser remain largely stranded by Iran’s shutdown of the strait and the subsequent US naval blockade of Iranian ports.

In the worst-case scenario of a prolonged war, the IMF said global growth could fall to 2.5 percent in 2026, with low-income and developing economies hit the hardest by soaring commodity and energy prices. The global shipping and logistics industry is facing a separate crisis.

But every economic crisis also has beneficiaries: despite the dire macroeconomic outlook, some corners of the global economy are thriving on the uncertainty.

Here’s a look at five industries that are doing well either despite – or because of – the darkening economic outlook.

Wall Street investment banks

Global investors have been on a rollercoaster since the start of US President Donald Trump’s second term last year. The president’s erratic decision-making, where he often issues an ultimatum one day and then changes it the next, has led traders to coin the term “TACO trade”, where TACO stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out”.

The recent volatility has made some investors anxious, but it’s been a boon to investment banks, which make millions in commissions and revenue from the surging volume of trade, according to Sean Dunlap, a director of equity research at Morningstar Research Services.

“Clients want to reposition, so they trade frequently,” he told Al Jazeera. “Spreads tend to increase, which increases the profitability for trade intermediaries like banks.”

First-quarter results for 2026 – released this week – showed that Morgan Stanley reported a profit of $5.57bn, up 29 percent year on year, while Goldman Sachs reported a profit of $5.63bn, up 19 percent year on year.

JP Morgan Chase also reported major gains, with first-quarter earnings of $16.49bn, up 13 percent year on year. The banks all cited high levels of trading, deal-making, and “robust client engagement” as the reasons behind surging profits.

The boomtime for banks could reverse course, however, if volatility persists for too long, Dunlap warned, because investors may become increasingly cautious and less willing to borrow money to make trades.

Prediction markets

As mainstream Wall Street banks reap profits, the crypto-based prediction platform Polymarket has been earning upwards of $1m a day since the start of the month by letting users make peer-to-peer bets on everything from sports tournaments to elections.

Polymarket has been doing well since the start of the war, but it revised its fee structure on March 30 to cash in even more on its popularity.

Rival platforms like Kalshi, Novig and Robinhood also follow the same business model, but Polymarket has been the standout winner of 2026 because it controversially allows users to bet on the outcome of conflicts like the Iran war.

Polymarket revised its fee structure on March 30 to cash in on its popularity. The change has already netted the platform more than $21m in fees since April 1, up from $11.6m for all of March and $6.23m for all of February, according to DefiLlama, a website that provides data analysis for decentralised finance platforms.

If the current trend continues, Polymarket could make $342m in fees this year alone, according to DefiLlama’s analysis.

Anonymous users have also made millions correctly predicting the dates of major events like the US-Iran ceasefire, but the outcomes for rank-and-file users are typically less impressive.

Researchers found that the top 1 percent of Polymarket users captured 84 percent of all trading gains, according to a new report released this month analysing 70 million trades from 2022 to 2025. The returns are so high that US federal regulators have pledged to crack down on insider trading in prediction markets following suspiciously well-timed bets on Iran war outcomes.

Aerospace and defence

Unsurprisingly, the aerospace and defence industries are booming this year due to major conflicts in Ukraine, Iran, Sudan, Gaza and Lebanon and a surge in global defence spending.

About half of the world’s countries have increased their military budgets over the past five years, according to an April report from the IMF, which means they are also buying everything from drones to missiles — more than ever before. Demand is growing particularly fast in Europe, where NATO countries have committed to raising defence spending to 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035.

The defence industry has, in turn, seen major gains on the stock market. The MSCI World Aerospace and Defence Index – which tracks aerospace and defence stocks across 23 global markets – reported net returns of 32 percent year on year at the end of March.

The defence index outpaced the MSCI World Index, which tracks 1,300 large and mid-cap companies across the same 23 markets. The index, which gives a broader overview of global stock markets, reported net returns of 18.9 percent over the same period.

Artificial intelligence

Last year, the United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) office predicted that the AI industry would grow from $189bn in 2023 to $4.8 trillion by 2033, and the Iran war does not seem to have dented the outlook.

“Despite the shocks from the Iran war, we’re still seeing resilience in a lot of sectors like artificial intelligence and renewable energy,” said Nick Marro, lead analyst for global trade at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

One metric for the AI boom has been the high volume of semiconductor chips still being exported out of East Asia, he said. At the top of the chart is chipmaking powerhouse Taiwan, which reported record-breaking merchandise exports of $80.2bn in March, up 61.8 percent year on year, according to EIU analysis.

The surge was led by exports to the US, which grew by 124 percent year on year, the EIU said.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s top chipmaker better known by its acronym “TSMC,” on Thursday posted a net income of 572.8 billion New Taiwan Dollars (NTD) ($18.1bn) for the first three months of 2026 – up 58 percent year on year in NTD.

Another metric, initial public offerings or “IPOs,” also shows that the industry is confident for the moment, with industry leaders Anthropic and OpenAI both planning to go public this year.

Renewable energy

The Iran war has highlighted the need to transition from fossil fuels not only for environmental reasons, but also for reasons of energy security. The war marks the third major energy shock this decade, following the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Iran war has “boosted” renewable energy “given the urgency to switch away from fossil fuels and diversify towards renewable sources,” Marro of the EIU said.

Even before the Iran war began, the International Energy Agency reported that global governments were already taking active measures to invest in renewable energy for geopolitical reasons.

According to an IEA report released this month, “150 countries have active policies to advance renewable and nuclear deployment, 130 have energy efficiency and electrification policies, and 32 have policies to incentivise supply chain resilience and diversification across critical minerals and clean energy technologies.”

The Iran war has triggered another flurry of policymaking in Asia, which typically buys 80 to 90 percent of the oil and gas that transits through the Strait of Hormuz. Since the shutdown, the region has been struggling to find alternative sources of energy, forcing governments to deploy emergency measures like fuel rationing and price caps.

South Korea, Thailand, India, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines have all announced a variety of measures from tax breaks for at-home solar panels to commissioning new renewable energy projects – and even restarting nuclear reactors.

The surge in policymaking has been good for the renewable industry. The S&P Global Clean Energy Transition Index, which tracks 100 companies that produce solar, wind, hydro, biomass and other renewable energy across emerging and developed markets, is up 70.92 percent year on year.