World

Dec. 9 (UPI) — Australian youth under age 16 are losing access to their social media accounts amid a national law that takes effect on Wednesday and is the world’s first such ban.

The nation’s lawmakers in 2024 enacted the social media ban that blocks access to 10 internationally popular social media sites — Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, Reddit, YouTube, Twitch, Kick, Snapchat and Threads.

Others could be added if they add significantly more users or otherwise are deemed social media instead of gaming or peer-to-peer communication sites, such as Bluesky, Steam, YouTube Kids, WhatsApp and Steam.

The law punishes the respective social media companies with up to $32 million in fines instead of children who might access the sites or their parents, according to the BBC.

The social media companies are required to ensure users are of legal age before accessing the respective sites by subjecting them to facial age assurance tests.

Officials at Elon Musk-owned X discussed with Australian officials the measures they would take to abide by Australia’s new law but have not shared that information with X users, Australian eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant told The Guardian.

The owners and operators of the nine other affected social media sites likewise confirmed they will abide by the new Australian law.

Officials for at least one other, Bluesky, have said they proactively will block access for Australians under age 16 despite it being deemed a “low risk” for children by the country’s eSafety commission due to its total user base of about 50,000 in Australia.

Australia-based k-ID service co-founder Kieran Donovan told The Guardian that the company has conducted hundreds of thousands of age verifications in recent weeks for Snapchat users and others.

The parent of one child suggested the age verification system is flawed and told The Guardian that her 15-year-old daughter is upset because “all of her 14- to 15-year-old friends have been ageverified as 18 by Snapchat,” but she wasn’t.

Another parent said his child will use a virtual private network and other tactics to bypass the age restrictions on social media.

Many free speech advocates say they support the effort to protect children but warned that the law could cause unintended harm.

Such harm might include making it harder to restrict harmful content or behaviors, creating security risks and inhibiting free speech and restricting minors’ access to information while restricting their speech.

Many also accuse the Australian government of saying it is better equipped to determine what is best for children than their parents by making it impossible for parents to choose whether or not to allow their children to access the banned social media sites.

Some Australian teens have filed a legal challenge to the new law.

While the Australian law takes effect on Wednesday, Malaysian officials have enacted a similar ban there that is scheduled to take effect in 2026.

Tour operators are already saddling up, offering Three Lions fans the ‘ultimate match-day adventure’ with packages to watch England play in the World Cup 2026 in Texas

England fans heading to the 2026 World Cup are being tempted with special sporting packages which combine the first game with a trip to a Rodeo and a taste of the ‘Wild West’.

With the Three Lions playing their first match in Texas tour operators are already looking at laying on bespoke holidays to give supporters a ‘once in a lifetime’ adventure. Just a few miles down the road from the game against Croatia in Dallas on June 17 is the city of Fort Worth. There England fans can enjoy some incredible experiences and even become cowboys for the day on special ranches. Two tour operators in Cheshire are already trying to tempt some fans with the ‘ultimate match-day adventure’.

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England’s two super fans Neal Weekes and Fil Sollof have already they would be up for a bit of Wild West Texan fun. A spokesman for one firm said: “Calling All England Fans! The World Cup is coming to Dallas this June and your ultimate match-day adventure starts in the Wild West heart of Texas!

“Forget the usual city break – why not catch England’s group stage in the iconic Dallas (Arlington) stadium and stay in Fort Worth, just a quick ride away? This isn’t just football, it’s a real slice of American adventure…take it from me – Fort Worth is full of surprises and stories to tell!

“Picture this: Wandering the brick streets of Fort Worth’s famous Stockyards, where cowboy boots tap to live country music Sipping legendary Texan moonshine after the match Dining at incredible steakhouses and buzzing local restaurants Exploring unique museums, rodeos, and the welcoming square I’ve fallen in love with on my own visits.

“With rich history, welcoming southern charm, and that genuine cowboy feel, Fort Worth is the perfect home base for your World Cup adventure. I’ll make sure you get the best flights, hotels, and local tips for an experience you’ll never forget.

“Ready to join the Three Lions in Texas style? Drop me a message for match-day packages, handpicked Fort Worth stays, and all the insider info you need for cheering England on in true cowboy fashion!”

Tottenham fans Weekes, 60, and Sollof, 60, will be flying to the US to attend their seventh World Cup together. He laughed: “This sounds brilliant. We always try and do something a bit different around the England matches. It was camels in Qatar!

“A bit of ‘Wild West’ sounds great – it will be a bit different from going to west London to watch Spurs play Chelsea in the ‘80s. But certainly safer Think my bull riding days are over but some cowboy stuff sounds fun. This is going to be a great World Cup.”

Spain’s World Cup winner Andres Iniesta says owning his new World Tour cycling team is “meaningful on many levels”.

Iniesta, 41, co-owns the new NSN Cycling team, which took over the ill-fated Israel-Premier Tech team last month.

And the former Barcelona legend said: “This new step is meaningful on many levels. It’s not only about sport – it’s about everything that surrounds sport: the values, the excitement, the community.

“I’m very motivated, very excited, and eager to share this new chapter.”

Iniesta, who scored the winning goal in the 2010 World Cup and won two European Championships, before retiring last year, formed Never Say Never – a sports and entertainment management company – with businessman Joel Borras in 2018.

The cycling team is the latest addition to the stable after funding from Stoneweg – a Swiss investment firm.

As a statement of intent, NSN last week signed one of the hottest talents on road cycling’s UCI World Tour in Eritrea’s Biniam Girmay, who won the Tour de France’s prestigious green jersey in 2024.

“I’m excited to dive deeper into cycling, learn more, and appreciate the huge amount of work behind every rider,” added Iniesta.

“The goal for the team is simple: keep growing, enjoy the journey, and show what a united team can achieve – because, in the end, only one rider wins, but the collective effort is what will define us.”

NSN are expected to contest cycling’s biggest races – including the Tour de France – next year after acquiring a World Tour licence as part of the deal to take over Israel Premier Tech, who were set to return to the World Tour next season.

The team also has five British riders on its roster, including one-day specialists Stevie Williams, Jake Stewart and sprinter Ethan Vernon.

Britain’s Four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome was released last month.

Tickets for North Korea‘s 2026 Pyongyang International Marathon, set for April 5 in the country’s capital, have sold out just a few hours after sales opened, a Beijing-based tour agency said Tuesday.

Koryo Tours, which specializes in travel to North Korea, broke the news on its social media account, saying, “After less than 5 hours the Pyongyang Marathon trips sold out completely, 500 spots on the trips are now all taken.”

The agency said it is working to open additional spots for the trip and urged readers to join a waiting list.

The tour agency’s website earlier announced that next year’s Pyongyang International Marathon will be held on April 5, with departures for the trip available from Beijing, Shanghai and Shenyang.

The event offers four courses, from the full 42-kilometer run to the half marathon, 10 km and 5 km races, and is also open to runners with disabilities, including wheelchair users and those with visual impairments.

Holders of South Korean, U.S., Malaysian or Japanese passports, as well as members of the press, are prohibited, it said.

The international event, previously named the Mangyongdae Prize International Marathon, was inaugurated in 1981 to commemorate the April 15 birthday of late national founder Kim Il-sung.

Beginning in 2020, it was suspended for five consecutive years due to the COVID-19 pandemic before being resumed last year as a channel for the country to earn foreign currency.

Copyright (c) Yonhap News Agency prohibits its content from being redistributed or reprinted without consent, and forbids the content from being learned and used by artificial intelligence systems.

Dec. 9 (UPI) — Police investigating Sunday’s devastating Goa nightclub fire said the establishment’s owners have fled to Thailand, according to reports.

Twenty-five people were killed and six injured in the blaze at the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub in Arpora, located in India’s southwestern coastal state of Goa.

Authorities have arrested at least four people in connection with the fire and have issued arrest warrants for nightclub owners Gaurav and Saurabh Luthra, who are brothers.

A Monday statement from Goa Police said the brothers had fled to Phuket a few hours after the fire began, The Times of India and Financial Express reported.

The Luthra brothers had departed on a 5:30 a.m. local-time Sunday IndiGo flight, authorities said.

Goa Police said that after a formal complaint was recorded against them, officers raided their Delhi addresses. Lookout notices for the brothers have since been circulated by the Bureau of Immigration, Goa Police said.

Authorities are now coordinating with Interpol to arrest the two men.

The fire erupted shortly before midnight Saturday.

A magisterial inquiry into the fire found major procedural lapses by local authorities, All India Radio News reported.

Failing to seal off the premises, permitting it to operate illegally since March 2024, was named among the lapses.

Sport: Football Country: Egypt

Salah, the ‘Egyptian King’, scored 29 Premier League goals and broke a host of records as he helped Liverpool to a record-equalling 20th top-flight title in the 2024-25 season.

He became the first player to win the Golden Boot, the Playmaker award for most assists and the Premier League player of the season award in the same campaign. He was also named as the PFA men’s player of the year for a record third time and collected a third Football Writers’ footballer of the year award.

The 33-year-old became the highest-scoring overseas player in Premier League history, overtaking Sergio Aguero’s mark of 184.

Salah has scored five goals in 18 appearances for Liverpool so far this season, and on Saturday said he felt like he had been “thrown under the bus” by the club and that his relationship with head coach Arne Slot had broken down.

Dec. 9 (UPI) — Honduras’ attorney general on Monday night announced that he had issued an international arrest warrant for former President Juan Orlando Hernandez, days after he was released from a U.S. prison following a pardon from President Donald Trump.

Attorney General Johel Antonio Zelaya Alvarez said in a statement that he had instructed ATIC, Honduras’ elite criminal investigative body housed within the Public Prosecutor’s Office, to pursue the international arrest warrant, while urging security agencies and international allies, including INTERPOL, to do the same.

“We have been lacerated by the tentacles of corruption and by criminal networks that have deeply marked the life of our country,” he said.

Hernandez is accused of money laundering and fraud in what is known as Pandora II, a corruption case in which prosecutors allege that between 2010 and 2013, a network siphoned nearly $12 million in public funds meant to alleviate extreme poverty in Honduras through abuse of authority, fraud and money laundering.

As part of the sprawling case investigating several government officials, including ministers, Honduras’ Public Prosecutor’s Office filed a criminal complaint against Hernandez in October 2023. Prosecutors accuse him of receiving at least $2.5 million of the siphoned funds through foundations, front men and fictitious contracts. The money was allegedly used to finance his political campaign.

In the United States, Hernandez was charged with drug trafficking and weapons offenses in late January 2022 during the Biden administration amid its crackdown on corruption in Central and South America.

Honduran authorities arrested him in February 2022 and extradited him to the United States, where he was convicted in March 2024 on all counts and sentenced in June of that year to 45 years in prison.

U.S. prison officials released Hernandez earlier this month after receiving a pardon from Trump, who said the disgraced Honduran president had been “treated very harshly and unfairly.”

Trump made the announcement while urging Hondurans to vote for conservative Nasry “Tito” Asfura for president ahead of the Nov. 30 elections, in which he is challenging left-leaning President Xiomara Castro, moves widely seen as opposition to her government.

The announcement of the pardon was met with criticism from both Democrats and Republicans, as well as critics of Trump’s administration, which has killed 86 people in 22 military strikes targeting alleged drug-trafficking boats in international waters.

“Hernandez once boasted at a meeting of narco-traffickers that ‘together they would shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos.’ What message does pardoning this criminal send to parents who have lost children to narcotics, to law enforcement officers risking everything to stop the flow of deadly drugs?” Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a Dec. 2 floor speech.

“This disgraceful pardon should be met with bipartisan condemnation as an affront to our values, our safety, our rule of law, our democracy.”

Hernandez served two terms as president, from 2014 to 2022.

The election between Asfura and Castro was still too close to call as of Monday night.

Dec. 8 (UPI) — Dr. Gabrielle Henry suffered an intracranial hemorrhage when she fell from the stage as Miss Jamaica during preliminary competition of the Miss Universe pageant last month.

The Miss Universe Organization gave an update Monday in a news release, saying she suffered loss of consciousness, a fracture, facial lacerations “and other significant injuries” on Nov. 19.

That day, Miss Universe Jamaica posted on Facebook she was “not suffering any life-threatening injuries; however they continue to conduct tests to ensure her full recovery.”

The 28-year-old physician was caught on video in the fall while wearing a long, flowing orange dress on Nov. 19. She was admitted in intensive care at a hospital Bangkok, according the the release.

“Certain media reports suggesting that Dr. Henry contributed in any way to the incident are entirely inaccurate,” the organization said. “The Miss Universe Organization has never attributed blame to Dr. Henry and confirms that those suggestions are unfounded and do not reflect the facts.”

Henry has remained in critical condition under neurological monitoring and requires 24-hour specialist supervision, the organization said.

“From the time the incident took place, the Miss Universe Organization has stood beside Gabrielle and her family as if she were their own, assuming full and immediate responsibility without hesitation,” the release read.

In a few days, Henry will return to Jamaica with a full medical escort team and transferred directly to a hospital in her home country for continued treatment and recovery, the organization said.

The organization has covered all hospital, medical and rehabilitation expenses in Thailand, as well as the accommodation and living costs for her mother and sister.

The organization also said it’s paying for Henry’s medically escorted flight home to Jamaica and has committed to covering all future medical expenses from this incident.

“The Henry family is deeply grateful to the Miss Universe Organization for their unwavering compassion, presence and love shown,” the release said. “Their response so far has gone beyond professional responsibility and reflected devotion and protection of the family.”

The release ended: “Dr. Henry and her family extend their heartfelt thanks to the people of Jamaica, the Miss Universe community, and supporters worldwide for the overwhelming outpouring of love, prayers, and encouragement.”

Miss Universe Jamaica posted an updated profile of her on Jan. 9, 10 days before her fall.

Miss Mexico Fatima Bosch was crowned Miss Universe on Nov. 21. It was broadcast live on Telemundo and streamed on Peacock.

In early November, Miss Universe Thailand director Nawat Itsaragrisil called her “stupid” during a livestreamed speech to contestants on Nov. 4. Several contestants walked out after the comments.

The pageant has been marred by other controversies: Jakkaphong “Anne” Jakrajutatip of Thailandout as CEO, financial instability, accusations of rigged judging and resignations by two of them, and protests by several contestants.

The co-owners of the Miss Universe Organization are facing charges: Jakkaphong with failing to appear at a hearing involving fraud and Rocha Cantu of Mexico on accusations that include drug and fuel trafficking.

Thai police investigated allegations that event publicity included illegal promotion of online casinos.

Brigitta Schaback, who represented Estonia, announced that she was stepping down from her title.

The next day, Olivia Yace, who was the pageant’s fourth runner-up as Miss African and Oceania, also resigned. She added that she was also removing herself from “any future affiliation with the Miss Universe Committee.”

Days before the pageant began on Nov. 2, Mario Bucaro of Guatemala succeeded Jakrajutatip, who resigned from the position on June 20.

Donald Trump owned the pagent from 1996-2015 when he sold it to WME/IMG. In 2022, Thai media conglomerate JKN Global Group, led by Jakrajutatip, purchased the organization. In early 2024, JKN sold a 50% stake to Cantu’s Legacy Holding Group USA.

Dec. 8 (UPI) — After a water leak damaged hundreds of books this morning at the Louvre in Paris, labor unions voted to strike against the iconic art museum.

Rolling walk-outs are set to begin Dec. 15. If all 2,100 employees join, it could cause closures during a peak season.

The strike notice said the unions no longer want to negotiate with museum Director Laurence des Cars.

It said “every day, museum spaces are closed well beyond the provisions of the guaranteed opening plan, due to insufficient staffing, technical failures and the building’s aging condition.”

“Staff are struggling with ever-increasing workloads, an increasingly harsh approach to human resources and contradictory directives that prevent a calm public service,” the notice said. Le Monde reported that the number of visits to the occupational psychologist rose from 37 in 2022 to 146 in 2024.

The museum suffered a water leak in its libraries that damaged hundreds of books, it announced earlier Monday.

The leak was discovered in late November and announced Sunday by Francis Steinbock, deputy administrator of the Louvre. Steinbock said up to 400 documents were damaged by the leak from one of the three library rooms in the museum’s Egyptian antiquities department. But no works of art were damaged, he said.

The pieces that were damaged were archaeology journals, mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries, that researchers consulted. Steinbock said dehumidifiers are in the room and the items are being dried one page at a time.

“No ancient works were affected,” said Hélène Guichard, director of the Egyptian antiquities department. “And the Louvre’s rapid and efficient response to the incident greatly limited the damage.”

The French Democratic Confederation of Labor, a union that represents some of the museum’s workers, posted on LinkedIn: “This new incident confirms a situation that has been deteriorating for too long, as the trade unions have been constantly alerting, including the CFDT-CULTURE.”

“Fragile infrastructure, a lack of strategic visibility on the work being carried out, and poor working conditions mean that the protection of the collections and the safety of staff and visitors remain insufficiently guaranteed,” it said. Union leaders would meet Monday morning to “decide on the next steps to be taken,” it added.

An October report by France’s Cour des Comptes, a public audit agency, was critical of the museum’s excessive spending on art “to the detriment of the maintenance and renovation of buildings.”

The Louvre is in a former palace, originally built as a fortress in the 12th century. The building’s deterioration has become an ongoing issue. A show was canceled in 2023 because pipes in the walls burst. In November, weak beams caused a gallery to close.

A major renovation was announced in January by President Emmanuel Macron and the Louvre’s director Laurence des Cars. Its goal is to ease overcrowding with a new entrance and a new room specifically for the Mona Lisa. Included are infrastructure repair and the outdated security system, which recently contributed to the jewel heist.

Steinbock said in a TV interview that the ventilation and heating network, which operates with water pipes, is scheduled to be replaced in September 2026.

Dave and Tracey Mani paid a visit to a lesser-known Christmas market with “incredible” food and claimed it’s the best one on the continent that “you’ve never heard of”

A hidden gem of a Christmas market, reportedly the best in Europe that “you’ve never heard of,” could be within reach of Brits for as little as £21. The recommendation comes from Canadian travel vloggers Dave and Tracey Mani, whose YouTube channel chronicles their adventures across the globe, from Poland to Cambodia.

During their festive escapade, the adventurous duo explored the Bratislava Christmas Markets in Slovakia’s capital. As self-proclaimed “Christmas foodies”, Dave and Tracey wasted no time sampling the regional delicacies on offer.

Running from 27 November 2025 to 6 January 2026 (excluding Christmas Eve and Christmas Day), the markets are divided between two locations: Hlavné Square (Hlavné námestie) and Hviezdoslavov Square (Hviezdoslavovo námestie), conveniently just a five-minute stroll apart.

Open daily from 10am to 10pm, the markets promise a “warm and joyful atmosphere,” according to the official website, featuring craft stalls, local and international cuisine, and an array of tempting beverages including grog, mead, fruit wines, and beer.

For Dave and Tracey, though, it’s clearly the food that steals the show at such events. Kicking off their visit at Hlavné námestie, Tracey declared in the video that this is what Christmas markets “are all about.”

She went on to spotlight the festive music and the enticing aromas wafting through the air, while a beaming Dave noted it was “packed” and that he’d “never seen that many food kiosks” at any Christmas market they’d previously visited.

One regional speciality that Tracey deemed essential was a cabbage soup served with bread, which she said resembled goulash. After tasting it, she announced she wanted it “all day.”

Dave was equally impressed, describing the broth as “so good” and noting the dish priced at €7.90 (roughly £6.90), was “so full of flavour.” Their next discovery was Lokša, a traditional potato pancake that Dave called “insane.”

The pair also sampled other treats, including a potato pancake topped with cabbage and smoked meat, as well as a strudel.

Dave and Tracey then headed to the second area of the markets at Hviezdoslavovo námestie, where Dave tasted what he proclaimed to be “some of the best ham” he’d ever encountered.

Their overall verdict on the markets was glowing, with Dave suggesting they’d be “hard to beat” and Tracey branding the food “incredible.” They expanded on their enthusiasm further in the video description.

Beneath their clip, titled Europe’s Best Christmas Market You’ve Never Heard Of, they wrote: “As Christmas foodies, this is one of our favourite European Christmas markets of all time.

“Of course, they had arts and crafts and different items that make perfect Christmas gifts, but food was truly the star everywhere you looked.”

A quick search on Skyscanner.com for a one-way ticket from Manchester to Bratislava for an adult in December showed the cheapest option was Sunday, 14 December, at £21, with a return the next day increasing the price to £68.

However, it’s worth noting that prices can fluctuate considerably depending on travel dates in December, so it’s recommended to plan ahead to secure the best possible deal.

WHEN it comes to the world’s tallest Christmas tree, you might think it would be in one of the Nordic countries – but you’d be wrong.

In fact the world’s biggest living Christmas tree is right here in the UK.

In Northumberland on the National Trust Cragside Estate there is an enormous 147ft Christmas tree.

To put that into perspective, it’s around the size of a 14-storey building, or double the size of the Angel of the North.

It’s officially a Guinness World Record holder too, and this year it was awarded the title of being the ‘world’s tallest bedded Christmas tree’.

That means it’s still living rather than having been cut down.

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To be counted as a Christmas tree, the fir has to be decorated as such, so on it there are 800metres of lights, which is 1,320 multi-coloured bulbs.

And for further decoration, there are two huge purple bows measuring in at 6ft each.

With the tree being so high, these were all placed using a cherry picker.

If you’re a fan of baubles, sadly this tree doesn’t have any – but that was due to health and safety concerns if there was bad weather.

Posting the fact that its Christmas tree is now a Guinness World Record holder, the comments were flooded with support.

One wrote “Now that’s impressive! Congratulations” another added “Wow Beautiful! We love Cragside but this makes it even more special”.

The record for the tallest ever Christmas tree belongs to one put up in 1950 in Northgate Shopping Centre in Seattle in the United States.

Not bedded into the ground like the one in Cragside, the Douglas fir was a whopping 212ft tall.

The impressive Cragside tree sits on the National Trust Estate in Northumberland among the gardens.

Cragside is a pretty Victorian country estate and is famous for being the former home of inventor Lord William Armstrong.

Thanks to its owner, Cragside House is considered one of Britain’s ‘original smart homes‘.

It was the first house to be lit up by hydroelectricity – using man-made lakes to power generators for lights and phones.

Visitors can explore Cragside House and gardens during the Christmas period (November 29 to January 4, 2026) from £16.50 per adult, or £8.30 for children (ages 5-17).

Film fans will recognise Cragside after it appeared in a well-known movie franchise, Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom.

Cragside House served as the set location for Lockwood Manor, where heroes Owen (played by Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) attempt to stop a genetically engineered dinosaur from being sold at auction.

It wasn’t just the main house that appeared in the movie, Cragside Garden Cottage, found in the heart of the estate, was used as the backdrop for several scenes in the film.

The cosy cottage has three bedrooms and sleeps up to six.

It’s still available for a December booking – a three-night stay between December 8 and 11, 2025 starts from £909, which is £50.50pppn.

Next door is Cragside Park Cottage which has the same rates but a different style of decor inside.

A stay in either gets you free access to the Cragside gardens, house and woodlands.

For more on Christmas, one travel writer discovered a fairytale city that looks like it’s from a Disney movie with cosy Christmas markets and hot chocolate by the pint.

Plus, the UK Christmas market named one of Europe’s best – with over 100 stalls, live bands and a singing festive moose.

Frank Gehry, who died Friday at 96, challenged the notion that buildings needed to behave themselves — creating artful, strange, kinetic combinations of structure, material, form and light, and transforming cities in the process. Here are 10 of his most famous structures that pushed the boundaries of architecture, culture, taste and technology.

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain, 1997

Curves and angles mix in this section of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

(Javier Bauluz / Associated Press)

While only one piece of a much larger urban transformation, this uproarious structure, perched at the edge of the Basque city’s industrial waterfront, utterly transformed its image, giving birth to the overused phrase “Bilbao Effect.” Its curving, ever-changing titanium facade — with offset panels catching the light and wowing millions of visitors — became a symbol of a new era of baroque, digitally-driven architecture. (Gehry and his team worked with CATIA, a software formerly employed by aircraft designers.) Inside, a dizzying atrium ties together a fluid series of galleries, all sized for contemporary art’s expanding scale. “I didn’t mean to change the city, I just meant to be part of the city,” Gehry told the design magazine Dezeen in 2021. The project would achieve the former, and transform the field of architecture in the process.

Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, 2003

The Walt Disney Concert Hall is a visual anchor in downtown Los Angeles.

(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Dreamed up by Walt Disney’s widow, Lillian, in 1987, the project wouldn’t be completed until 2003. But it was worth the wait. Now the cultural and visual anchor of downtown Los Angeles, Disney’s riot of steel sails reflect rippling waves of music, Gehry’s love of sailing, fish scales and other nautical themes, and the frenetic city around it. Inside, the boat-like, wood-clad hall has an intimate, vineyard-style seating arrangement, with its superb acoustics shaped by Yasuhisa Toyota. Don’t forget the 6,134-pipe organ, which resembles a box of exploding French fries. Lillian Disney, a connoisseur of flowers, would die before the hall was finished, but its hidden rear garden is centered around the “Rose for Lilly” fountain, composed of thousands of broken blue and white Delft china pieces.

Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, 2014

The “Fondation Louis Vuitton” has 3,600 glass panels that form its 12 sails.

(Frederic Soltan / Corbis via Getty Images)

Commissioned by LVMH Chief Executive Bernard Arnault, the Fondation Louis Vuitton, set in Paris’ Bois de Boulogne, is wrapped in 12 massive, curved glass sails, hovering above a white concrete “iceberg.” The museum’s billowing forms, which help lighten its considerable scale, were realized via head-spinning structural complexity: None of its 3,600 glass panels are the same, while each timber and steel supporting beam is curved uniquely. Inside and out, Gehry orchestrates a meandering gallery of paths and multistory overlooks that frame both art and landscape. While marooned on Paris’ western edge, the spectacular building has nonetheless become a cultural icon in a city where that’s very hard to achieve.

Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany, 1989

Frank Gehry’s Vitra Design Museum helped inspire other inventive buildings on the campus.

(Education Images / Universal Images Group via Getty)

While tame in comparison to his later work, Vitra marked Gehry’s transition from rough-edged, industrial bricolage to sculptural spectacle. Its tumble of white plaster forms — cubes, cylinders, sweeping curves — seem to freeze mid-collision, as if the gallery had been torn apart by seismic forces. (Just a year before, Gehry had been included in MoMA’s “Deconstructivist Architecture” exhibition, but he always rejected that label.) The structure also helped launch a string of impressive experiments on the Vitra campus, including buildings by Zaha Hadid, Tadao Ando, Nicholas Grimshaw, Álvaro Siza, Herzog & de Meuron and more.

8 Spruce (formerly New York by Gehry), New York, 2011

8 Spruce in Manhattan has 76 stories.

(Don Emmert / AFP via Getty Images)

Gehry’s first skyscraper, 8 Spruce, reimagined the Manhattan high-rise as a kind of gleaming, pleated fabric, its shifted stainless steel panels rippling downward, catching daylight in a constantly shifting display. A buff brick base contains a public school and retail frontages, activating the street and helping establish the financial district as a legit residential neighborhood. Inside, apartments are far more rational, organized around generous windows that frame the city. Only 30 of the building’s 76 floors had been constructed when the Great Recession hit. For a time, the developer, Forest City Ratner, considered cutting the building’s height in half. But by 2010, the structure was back on.

Dancing House (Fred and Ginger), Prague, 1996

The Dancing House stands out amid Prague’s 19th century facades.

(Insights / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Designed with Czech architect Vlado Milunić, the building — a major step forward for Gehry, who increasingly dabbled in digital design — pits a leaning glass tower against an upright, solid partner, creating a kinetic duet that instantly earned the nickname “Fred and Ginger.” The complex’s opaque tower is clad in cream-colored concrete panels, stepping rhythmically with protruding windows that drift off-center. Its frenetic steel-ribboned crown, which stands out amid 19th century facades along Prague’s Vltava River, is nicknamed “Medusa.” The glass tower — emerging from a cluster of angled columns — cinches inward at its waist, bulging outward again as it rises, like a figure leaning into a twirl. Traditionalists panned the project when it first opened, but it’s now core to the city’s identity.

Stata Center, Cambridge, Mass., 2004

The Ray and Maria Stata Center on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology stands out for its form — and the lawsuit the university filed over leaks and cracks, which was settled amicably.

(Steven Senne / AP)

The Stata Center tilts, twists and fractures, its brick towers — referencing traditional Cambridge architecture — leaning into planes of glass, mirrored steel, aluminum, titanium, corrugated metal and plywood. The village-like building’s spatial looseness was part of a concerted effort to encourage chance encounters and interdisciplinary exchange at the school. The fragmented forecourt echoes the building around it, with skewed paving patterns, angled retaining walls and unpredictable sight lines. In 2007, MIT filed suit against Gehry’s firm and the general contractor Skanska USA, alleging persistent leaks, cracking masonry, poor drainage and sections where ice and snow slid off the building. The lawsuit was “amicably resolved” in 2010, but it represented one of several instances in which Gehry’s ambition would butt up against practical realities.

Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, 1993

The Weisman Art Museum.

(Raymond Boyd / Getty Images)

Perched on a bluff above the Mississippi River at the University of Minnesota, the museum was a trial run for Bilbao and Disney, without the help of advanced digital tools. Its stainless steel facade unfurls toward the river in faceted, reflective forms that contrast with the building’s campus-facing facade, a series of various-sized cubes wrapped in earth-toned brick, matching the rest of campus. Inside, a series of flexible galleries support changing exhibitions. The museum is named for Frederick R. Weisman, a Minneapolis-born entrepreneur, art collector and philanthropist who broke sharply with conventional wisdom to support a Gehry-designed building that would loudly announce the arts and become an artwork in its own right.

Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Chicago, 2004

The Jay Pritzker Pavilion stands out in the center of Millennium Park. The main stage can accommodate a full orchestra and 150-person chorus.

(Andia / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

The centerpiece of Chicago’s wildly successful Millennium Park, the bandshell’s billowing 120-foot proscenium, supported by a web of aluminum arms, is fronted by dozens of torqued stainless steel ribbons, which exuberantly frame the stage. The ribbons connect to an overhead trellis of crossed still pipes that house lights and speakers, while the stage itself is sheathed in warm Douglas fir, and includes a colorful light projection system (first planned for Disney Hall, but scuttled for budget reasons) that transforms the pavilion’s face. Seating 4,000, the Pritzker envelops a “Great Lawn,” with room for another 7,000.

DZ Bank Building, Berlin, 2000

Curves abound in the DZ Bank Building.

(Henri-Alain Segalen/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

A stone’s throw from the Brandenburg Gate, DZ’s stone facade aligns seamlessly with its blocky neighbors on Pariser Platz, providing little hint of its shocking interior. A curved stainless steel conference hall, clad inside with a riot of warm wood panels, resembles an angry sea creature, its humpbacks, saddles, bulges, tucks and pinches creating one of the most kinetic building forms this author has ever seen. The piece dominates a soaring atrium, capped with a curved, crystalline glass roof. Locals nicknamed the split-personality building the “Whale at the Brandenburg Gate.” It remains one of the architect’s most underrated masterpieces.

SEOUL, Dec. 8 (UPI) — Adjusting U.S.-South Korea joint military drills could be considered under certain conditions, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said Monday, as the administration of President Lee Jae Myung seeks ways to reopen dialogue with North Korea.

“I believe these issues can be discussed in the future, as conditions and circumstances allow,” ministry spokesman Yoon Min-ho said at a press briefing when asked about scaling back the allies’ exercises, an idea that has been floated as a potential bargaining chip to restart talks with Pyongyang.

President Lee said last week that Seoul was prepared to help Washington create “strategic leverage” for new negotiations, including the possibility of downsizing joint drills, which North Korea routinely denounces as rehearsals for invasion.

“We will do our best to create objective conditions so that we can communicate and cooperate at any time,” Lee said during a press conference with foreign media. “The issue of the joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises is one of them.”

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young has also argued that reducing the drills could become “inevitable” if Washington and Pyongyang are to hold a summit in the first half of next year.

Seoul and Washington have taken similar steps before, scaling back or suspending major drills during a period of detente with the North in 2018-19 and shifting large field maneuvers to command-post exercises.

The current administration has sent mixed signals, however, as national security adviser Wi Sung-lac said Sunday that the option was not currently under active review.

“While there are many possible options, we are not directly considering using the Korea-U.S. joint exercises as a card,” Wi said at a press briefing.

Yoon declined to respond directly to Wi’s comments Monday, but highlighted the broader geopolitical significance of the drills. “South Korea-U.S. joint exercises have important implications not only in military terms, but also in inter-Korean relations and the situation on the Korean Peninsula,” he said.

Seoul has rolled out several conciliatory steps since Lee took office in June, including dismantling border loudspeakers and tightening restrictions on activist balloon launches in an effort to lower tensions. North Korea has so far dismissed the overtures, continuing to advance its nuclear and missile programs while deepening military cooperation with Russia.

People with a migration background accounted for more than 5 percent of South Korea’s total population in 2024, marking a slight increase from the previous year, government data showed Monday.

As of Nov. 1, 2024, there were 2.72 million people with a migration background in Korea, taking up 5.2 percent of the country’s total population, according to the Ministry of Statistics and Data.

The figure marked a 0.3 percentage point increase from the corresponding tally for 2023.

This marks the first time the statistics ministry released a registration-based census survey on the population with a migration background.

South Korean nationals accounted for 24.8 percent, or 672,000, of the total population with a migration background in 2024, while foreigners took up the remaining 75.2 percent, or 2.04 million.

Of the Korean nationals with such background, 381,000 were second-generation immigrants, while 245,000 were naturalized or acknowledged citizens.

By gender, 52.5 percent of the migratory population were male, and 47.5 percent were female.

By age, those in their 30s accounted for 24.3 percent of the migratory population, followed by those in their 20s at 21 percent, those in their 40s at 15.4 percent and those in their 50s at 11.6 percent.

The working age population, aged between 15 and 64, accounted for 81.9 percent of the total, while those aged 14 or below took up 12.7 percent and the elderly population aged 65 or above stood at 5.5 percent.

Meanwhile, there were 738,000 children and adolescents aged 24 or below with a migration background last year, up 7.9 percent from 2023.

Of the 738,000 children and adolescents, 27.2 percent had Vietnamese parents, while 16.5 percent had Chinese parents and 12 percent had Chinese citizens of Korean descent as their parents.

Data also showed that nearly 57 percent of those who migrated to Korea resided in the greater Seoul area, comprising the capital city, Gyeonggi Province and the city of Incheon.

Some 10.6 percent lived in the central Chungcheong provinces, another 9.3 percent in the southeastern Gyeongsang provinces and 6.3 percent in the southeastern Jeolla provinces.

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Dec. 7 (UPI) — British police have arrested four protesters who threw a custard and apple crumble at the display case housing the crown jewels in the Tower of London.

Take Back Power said in a news release that members of the new nonviolent protest group, which appears to be an offshoot of the climate change group Just Stop Oil, had “smothered the dessert over the display case around 9:50 a.m. local time Saturday morning.

The protesters then held a sign reading “Democracy Has Crumbled — Tax The Rich” before they were “taken into custard-y” by police, the group said.

Take Back Power said police arrested the two members who actually threw the dessert as well as two others present at the time.

The particular display case targeted, the BBC noted, houses the Imperial State Crown worn by King Charles III during formal ceremonies.

Take Back Power identified the two protesters involved in the protest action itself as 21-year-old Miriam Cranch, a retail worker from Leeds, and Zahra Ali, a 19-year-old student from London.

Unlike the climate change protests that have swept through global cultural sites in recent years, Take Back Power instead called for a tax on Britain’s ultra-wealthy.

“Britain is broken because the super-rich are pocketing billions, whilst working people struggle to get by,” Cranch said in a statement.

“This wealth inequality is leading us towards civil unrest, and it doesn’t have to be this way. Billionaires should not pay a lower tax rate on wealth they generate doing nothing, than those of us working jobs. It’s time ordinary people get a say on how to tax wealth with a permanent House of the People.”

Directly remarking on the wealth amassed by the British monarchy, Ali said that homeless people have died “on the very streets that King Charles passed on his way to the coronation.”

Take Back Power has launched a fundraising campaign to aid its efforts, so far raising about $75,000 since Friday.

“The super-rich are not paying their fair share because the tax system is rigged,” the group said in the fundraiser. “Since 2008, the wealth of the super-rich has increased four times faster than average household wealth, while more than a third of us now earn less than needed to make ends meet. The scales need balancing. We need to tax the rich.”

The protest at the Tower of London has drawn a lot of interest, particularly in the wake of theft of France’s Napoleonic jewels from the Louvre Museum in October.

The creation of Take Back Power comes after three years of headline-making protest actions by climate change demonstrators.

However, the art news website Urgent Matter reported last month that climate change groups many of the world’s most visible climate change protest groups have coordinated an end to their direct-action campaigns in the past year.

Such climate change groups had cited a lack of effect of their protests, mounting legal costs and the “evolving landscape of climate activism.”