years

PARIS — Salim Toorabally’s mental scars from the Paris terror attacks 10 years ago have not healed with time and the images of that night at Stade de France remain indelible.

The November 2015 attacks began at France’s national stadium and spread across the city in assaults that killed 132 people and injured more than 400. One person died and least 14 were injured outside Stade de France that night, but casualties there could have been far heavier without Toorabally’s vigilance.

It was Toorabally who stopped Bilal Hadfi — one of the three terrorist bombers who targeted the national stadium when France’s soccer team played Germany — from getting inside.

Toorabally was praised for his actions, by then-President François Hollande, by the Interior Ministry and also by the general public. Yet his own suffering, unrelenting since that night, went unnoticed.

“I was seen more as a hero than as a victim,” Toorabally told the Associated Press in a recent interview. “But this part of being a victim is equally inside me.”

Later on Thursday, France played Ukraine in a World Cup qualifier at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, where a commemoration was planned and Toorabally was invited by the French Football Federation.

“I will be there but with a heavy heart,” he said. “Ten years have passed like it was yesterday we were attacked.”

Stopping the bomber

Toorabally was positioned at Gate L as a stadium security agent.

Hadfi tried to enter but was stopped by Toorabally when he spotted him trying to tailgate another fan through the turnstile.

“A young man showed up. He was sticking close behind someone, moving forward without showing his ticket. So I said to him, ‘Sir, where are you going? Show me your ticket.’ But he just kept going, he wasn’t listening to me,” Toorabally told the AP. “So I put my arm out, put my arm in front of him so he couldn’t go inside, and then he said to me, ‘I have to get in, I have to get in.’ It made me suspicious.”

Toorabally kept an eye on the 20-year-old Hadfi, who was now standing back a few yards away.

“He positioned himself right in front of me, he was watching me work and I alerted [fellow security agents] over the radio: ‘Be careful at every gate, there’s a young man dressed in black with a young face, very childlike, who is trying to get in. Do not let him in,’” Toorabally recalled. ”He stood in front of me for about 10 minutes, watching me work, and that’s when I got really scared. I was worried he’d go back in, that I wouldn’t see him. I watched him intently, he stared at me intently and suddenly he disappeared in the crowd, he slipped away.”

Toorabally’s warning worked. Hadfi was denied entry elsewhere, before later detonating his explosive vest.

The explosions

There were two explosions close together during the first half of the match; the first ones around 9:20 p.m. near Gate D, and a third explosion approaching 10 p.m. close to a fast food outlet.

Toorabally vividly remembers them.

“I could feel the floor shaking,” he said. “There was a burning smell rising into the air, different to the smell of [smoke] flares.”

He also tended to a wounded man that night.

“I took charge of him, I lay the individual down. He had like these bolts [pieces of metal] lodged in his thigh,” said Toorabally, who still speaks to the man today. “I looked at my hands, there was blood. I didn’t have gloves on, and there were pieces of flesh in my hands.”

Keeping fans in the dark

Toorabally said he and other security agents were told not to inform spectators of the attack, to prevent a potential situation where 80,000 people tried leaving at the same time.

“The supporters inside couldn’t know the Stade de France had been attacked otherwise it would have caused enormous panic,” Toorabally explained. “At halftime some fans came up to us and asked, ‘What happened? Was there a gas explosion at the restaurants in front of the stadium?’ We didn’t answer them so as not to cause panic.”

After the game the stadium announcer told spectators which exit gates to use and many went home by train, including Toorabally.

Traumatic images

Five days after the attack he was called to a police station to help identify Hadfi as one of the bombers. Toorabally was given no forewarning of what he was about to see.

“They showed me a photo, his [Hadfi’s] head was separated from his body. The forensic police [officer] was holding his head,” Toorabally said. “I formally recognized him. It was indeed the man who had been in front of me, who had stood there, who had been alive and was now lifeless.”

Hadfi’s face remains imprinted on Toorabally’s mind.

“The image is very violent, someone’s head separated from his body. Then there’s the explosion, the odor of burning and my hand filled with human flesh. These images have stayed in my mind for 10 years.”

Toorabally‘s wage that night was 40 euros ($46). “I suffer from post-traumatic stress, it is very severe, very violent.”

Horrific memories can appear at any moment.

“I could be with you and talking with you and then all of sudden my mind goes back there,” Toorabally said. “This is something very, very difficult to deal with. It handicaps you.”

Talking helps

Toorabally talks to a psychiatrist and says it helps to tell people about what happened. But at the time of the attacks and in the months afterward he received no psychological support.

“That’s how traumatism sets in,” Toorabally said. “The proof being it stayed 10 years.”

He dealt with his mental anguish alone, having potentially saved hundreds of lives.

“Every time I go back to the Stade de France, I can’t help thinking about it,” Hollande told L’Équipe newspaper. “I realize what could have happened if an attack had taken place inside the stadium, or if panic had gripped the crowd.”

Former France midfielder Blaise Matuidi called Toorabally “more than a hero” and added “if the terrorists had entered, what would have happened? Just talking about it gives me chills.”

Pugmire writes for the Associated Press.

WASHINGTON — Time was — not that long ago — that after a mass shooting, gun rights advocates would nod to the possibility of compromise before waiting for memories to fade and opposing any new legislation to regulate firearms.

This time, they skipped the preliminaries and jumped directly to opposition.

“The most effective tool for keeping kids safe is armed law enforcement on the campus,” Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said to MSNBC a few hours after a shooter killed at least 21 people in Uvalde, Texas. “Inevitably, when there’s a murder of this kind, you see politicians try to politicize it. You see Democrats and a lot of folks in the media whose immediate solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. That doesn’t work.”

The speed of that negative reaction provides the latest example of how, on one issue after another, the gap between blue America and red America has widened so much that even the idea of national agreement appears far-fetched. Many political figures no longer bother pretending to look for it.

Broad agreement on some steps

And yet, significant agreement does exist.

Poll after poll has shown for years that large majorities of the public agree on at least some, limited steps to further regulate firearms.

A survey last year by the Pew Research Center, for example, showed that by 87% to 12%, Americans supported “preventing people with mental illnesses from purchasing guns.” By 81% to 18% they backed “making private gun sales and sales at gun shows subject to background checks.” And by a smaller but still healthy 64% to 36% they favored “banning high-capacity ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.”

The gunman in Uvalde appears to have carried seven 30-round magazines, authorities in Texas have said.

So why, in the face of such large majorities, does Congress repeatedly do nothing?

One powerful factor is the belief among many Americans that nothing lawmakers do will help the problem.

Asked in that same Pew survey if mass shootings would decline if guns were harder to obtain, about half of Americans said they would go down, but 42% said it would make no difference. Other surveys have found much the same feeling among a large swath of Americans.

The argument about futility is one that opponents of change quickly turn to after a catastrophe. It’s a powerful rhetorical weapon against action.

Esmeralda Bravo, 63, holds a photo of her granddaughter, Nevaeh, one of the Robb Elementary School shooting victims, during a prayer vigil in Uvalde, Texas, on Wednesday.

(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

“It wouldn’t prevent these shootings,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said on CNN on Wednesday when asked about banning the sort of semiautomatic weapons used by the killer in Uvalde and by a gunman who killed 10 at a Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket 10 days earlier. “The truth of the matter is these people are going to commit these horrifying crimes — whether they have to use another weapon to do it, they’re going to figure out a way to do it.”

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott made a similar claim at his news conference on Wednesday: “People who think that, ‘well, maybe we can just implement tougher gun laws, it’s gonna solve it’ — Chicago and L.A. and New York disprove that thesis.”

The facts powerfully suggest that’s not true.

Go back roughly 15 years: In 2005, California had almost the same rate of deaths from guns as Florida or Texas. California had 9.5 firearms deaths per 100,000 people that year, Florida had 10 and Texas 11, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics.

Since then, California repeatedly has tightened its gun laws, while Florida and Texas have moved in the opposite direction.

California’s rate of gun deaths has declined by 10% since 2005, even as the national rate has climbed in recent years. And Texas and Florida? Their rates of gun deaths have climbed 28% and 37% respectively. California now has one of the 10 lowest rates of gun deaths in the nation. Texas and Florida are headed in the wrong direction.

Obviously, factors beyond a state’s laws can affect the rate of firearms deaths. The national health statistics take into account differences in the age distribution of state populations, but they don’t control for every factor that might affect gun deaths.

Equally clearly, no law stops all shootings.

California’s strict laws didn’t stop the shooting at a Taiwanese church in Laguna Woods earlier this month, and there’s no question that Chicago suffers from a large number of gun-related homicides despite strict gun control laws in Illinois. A large percentage of the guns used in those crimes come across the border from neighboring states with loose gun laws, research has shown.

The overall pattern is clear, nonetheless, and it reinforces the lesson from other countries, including Canada, Britain and Australia, which have tightened gun laws after horrific mass shootings: The states with America’s lowest rates of gun-related deaths all have strict gun laws; in states that allow easy availability of guns, more people die from them.

Fear of futility isn’t the only barrier to passage of national gun legislation.

Hardcore opponents of gun regulation have become more entrenched in their positions over the last decade.

Mostly conservative and Republican and especially prevalent in rural parts of the U.S., staunch opponents of any new legislation restricting firearms generally don’t see gun violence as a major problem but do see the weapons as a major part of their identity. In the Pew survey last year, just 18% of Republicans rated gun violence as one of the top problems facing the country, compared with 73% of Democrats. Other surveys have found much the same.

Strong opponents of gun control turn out in large numbers in Republican primaries, and they make any vote in favor of new restrictions politically toxic for Republican officeholders. In American politics today, where most congressional districts are gerrymandered to be safe for one party and only a few states swing back and forth politically, primaries matter far more to most lawmakers than do general elections.

Even in general elections, gun issues aren’t the top priority for most voters. Background checks and similar measures have wide support, but not necessarily urgent support.

Finally, in an era defined by “negative partisanship” — suspicion and fear of the other side — it’s easy to convince voters that a modest gun control proposal is just an opening wedge designed to lead to something more dramatic.

That leads to a common pattern when gun measures appear on ballots: They do less well than polling would suggest.

The same thing happens to measures in Congress. Nine years ago, for example, supporters of gun control made their last big push for legislation, after the slayings of 26 people, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

Then, as now, polls showed strong support for requiring background checks for sales that currently evade them. But support for the legislation was sharply lower than support for the general idea, Pew found.

Almost 8 in 10 Republican gun owners favored background checks in general, they found, but when asked about the specific bill, only slightly more than 4 in 10 wanted it to pass. When asked why they backed the general idea but opposed the specific one, most of those polled cited concerns that the bill would set up a “slippery slope” to more regulation or contained provisions that would go further than advertised.

Faced with that sort of skepticism from voters, Republican senators who had flirted with supporting the bill mostly walked away, and it failed.

Then-Vice President Joe Biden led the unsuccessful effort to pass that bill. Nearly a decade later, the political factors impeding action have only grown more powerful.

Texas school shooting

The recent string of devastating shootings has renewed calls for tighter gun restrictions. But as Kevin Rector reported, a loosening of gun laws is almost certainly coming instead, largely because of an expected decision from the Supreme Court, which is likely to strike down a broad law in New York that doesn’t allow individuals to carry guns in public without first demonstrating a “special need” for self-defense.

For all the impassioned speeches and angry tweets, for all the memes and viral videos of gun control proponents quaking with rage, most of the energy and political intensity has been on the side of those who favor greater gun laxity, Mark Barabak wrote.

The shooting has generated a lot of questions from parents about what their own schools are doing for safety. Howard Blume looked at what California officials say about school security.

The latest from Washington

Biden marked the second anniversary of George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer by signing an executive order aimed at reforming policing at the federal level. As Eli Stokols reported, Wednesday’s order falls short of what Biden had hoped to achieve through legislation. It directs all federal agencies to revise their use-of-force policies, creates a national registry of officers fired for misconduct and provides grants to incentivize state and local police departments to strengthen restrictions on chokeholds and no-knock warrants.

Sluggish response and questionable decisions by the Food and Drug Administration worsened the nation’s infant formula shortage, agency officials told lawmakers at a congressional hearing. “You’re right to be concerned, and the public should be concerned,” said FDA Commissioner Robert Califf. The agency’s response “was too slow and there were decisions that were suboptimal along the way,” Anumita Kaur reported.

Only a couple of months ago, U.S. and European officials said a renewal of the Iran nuclear deal was “imminent.” But with little progress since then, and a shifting global geopolitical scene, the top U.S. envoy for the Iran negotiations testified Wednesday that prospects for reviving the Iran deal are “at best, tenuous,” Tracy Wilkinson reported. “We do not have a deal,” the Biden administration’s special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Cuba will not attend next month’s Summit of the Americas, a major conference to take place in Los Angeles, after the U.S. refused to extend a proper invitation, the country’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, announced Wednesday. As Wilkinson reported, the decision throws the summit, which is crucial to the U.S.’ ability to demonstrate its influence in the Western Hemisphere, into further disarray.

The latest from California

GOP Rep. Young Kim would seem to have a relatively easy path to reelection in November — the national mood favors her party, she has a lot of money and the newly drawn boundaries for her Orange County district give her more Republican constituents. But Kim is suddenly campaigning with a sense of urgency, Melanie Mason and Seema Mehta report. She’s unleashed $1.3 million in advertising, and outside allies are coming to her aid with more spending. Most of it is aimed at fending off Greg Raths, an underfunded GOP opponent who has been a staple on the political scene in Mission Viejo, the district’s largest city.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and top legislative Democrats pledged Wednesday to expedite gun legislation. Among the bills are measures that would require school officials to investigate credible threats of a mass shooting, allow private citizens to sue firearm manufacturers and distributors, and enact more than a dozen other policies intended to reduce gun violence in California, Taryn Luna and Hannah Wiley reported. “We’re going to control the controllable, the things we have control of,” Newsom said during an event at the state Capitol. “California leads this national conversation. When California moves, other states move in the same direction.”

The Los Angeles mayor’s race has seemingly devolved in recent days into a rhetorical brawl between two of the city’s richest men, Benjamin Oreskes wrote. Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, who supports Rep. Karen Bass, says Rick Caruso’s history of supporting Republican candidates and being registered as a Republican a decade ago disqualifies him from being mayor. That came after Variety published an interview with Caruso in which he attacked the former Walt Disney Studios chairman for “lying” about him in ads by a pro-Bass independent expenditure committee predominantly funded by Katzenberg.

The growing corruption scandal in Anaheim has cost the city’s mayor his job, endangered the city’s planned $320-million sale of Angel Stadium to the team and provided a rare, unvarnished look at how business is done behind closed doors in the city of 350,000. Read our full coverage of the FBI probe into how the city does business.

Sign up for our California Politics newsletter to get the best of The Times’ state politics reporting.

In September, Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself on the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago, depicted as Lt. Col. Kilgore, the gung-ho warmonger memorably played by Robert Duvall in Francis Ford Coppola’s messy masterpiece, “Apocalypse Now” — except the graphic bore the title “Chipocalypse Now.”

Trump sent out the message as his scorched-earth immigration enforcement campaign descended on the Windy City after doing its cruelty calisthenics in Southern California over the summer. Two months later, the campaign — nicknamed “Operation Midway Blitz” — shows no sign of slowing down.

La migra has been so out of control that a federal judge issued an injunction against their use of force, saying what they’ve done “shocks the conscience.” Among other outrages, agents shot and killed an immigrant trying to drive away from them, ran into a daycare facility and dragged out a teacher and tear-gassed a street that was about to host a Halloween kiddie parade.

I had a chance to witness the mayhem it has caused last week — and how Chicagoans have fought back.

The University of Chicago brought me to do talks with students and the community for a couple of days, including with members of the Maroon, the school’s newspaper. Earlier in the week, Fox News put them on blast because they had created a database of places around campus where la migra had been spotted.

Good job, young scribes!

In Little Village, pocket Patton meets his match

After my speech at the University of Chicago’s Divinity School, I noticed someone had hung whistles around the neck of a bronze bust. Whistles have become the unlikely tool of resistance in the city, I wrote in a columna — something that I argued Latinos nationwide had also employed metaphorically with their election night clapback at Republicans.

When I woke up Thursday morning at my tony hotel, the Chicago Tribune’s front page screamed “Use of Force Under Fire” and focused on the actions of commander-at-large Gregory Bovino. You remember him, Angelenos: he’s the pocket Patton who oversaw the pointless invasion of MacArthur Park in July and seemed to spend as much time in front of cameras as doing his actual job.

Bovino has continued the buffoonery in Chicago, where he admitted under oath to lying about why he had tossed a tear gas canister at residents in Little Village, the city’s most famous Mexican American neighborhood, in October (Bovino originally said someone hit him with a rock).

I Ubered to Little Village to meet with community activist Baltazar Enriquez so we could eat at one of his neighborhood’s famous Mexican restaurants and talk about what has happened.

I instead walked right into a cacophony of whistles, honks and screams: Bovino and his goons were cruising around Little Village and surrounding neighborhoods that morning just for the hell of it.

From L.A. to the rest of the country, and back

“Every time Trump or la migra lose in something, they pull something like this,” a business owner told me as she looked out on 26th Street, Little Village’s main thoroughfare. Customers were hiding inside her store. Over four hours, I followed Enriquez as he and other activists drove through Little Village’s streets to warn their neighbors what was happening.

The scene played out again in Little Village on Saturday shortly after I filed my columna, with Bovino holding a tear gas canister in his hand and threatening to toss it at residents, openly mocking the federal judge’s injunction prohibiting him from such reckless terrorizing (Monday, the Department of Homeland Security claimed agents had weathered gun shots, bricks, paint cans and rammed vehicles). And to top it off, he had his officers pose in front of Chicago’s infamous stainless steel bean for a photo, just like they did in front of the Hollywood sign (Block Club Chicago reported the funboys shouted “Little Village” for giggles).

Given ICE just received billions of dollars in funds to hire more agents and construct detention camps across the country, expect more scenes like this to continue in Chicago, boomerang back to Southern California and cut through the heart of Latino USA in the weeks, months and years to come. But I nevertheless left Chicagoland with hope — and a whistle.

Time for us to start wearing them, Los Angeles.

Today’s top stories

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) currently faces the lowest approval ratings of any national leader in Washington.

(Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press)

The government shutdown

• Senators approved a deal that could end the shutdown on a 60-40 vote, a day after Senate Republicans reached a deal with eight senators who caucus with Democrats.
• Democrats in the House vowed to keep fighting for insurance subsidies.
• Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is facing pressure to step down as Senate Democratic leader after failing to prevent members of his caucus from breaking ranks.
• States are caught in Trump’s legal battle to revoke SNAP benefits after a federal judge ordered full funding.

A brief bout of summer weather

Courts protect LGBTQ+ rights

More big stories

Commentary and opinions

• California columnist Anita Chabria argues that Democrats crumbled like cookies in the shutdown fight.
• Gov. Gavin Newsom is still writing his path to the presidency. Columnist George Skelton points to Zohran Mamdani for inspiration.
• President Trump’s effort to rename Veterans Day flopped — and for good reason, argues guest contributor Joanna Davidson.

This morning’s must reads

Other great reads

For your downtime

(Andrew Rae / For The Times)

Going out

Staying in

Question of the day: What’s one special dish your family makes for Thanksgiving?

Judi Farkas said: “An old Russian recipe that has descended through 5 generations of our family, Carrot Tzimmis was traditionally served as part of the Passover meal. It’s perfect with a Thanksgiving turkey. Tzimmis is sweet, as are so many of the Thanksgiving dishes, so I pair it with a Jalapeño Cornbread dressing and a robust salad vinaigrette so that no one gets overwhelmed. It connects me to my family’s heritage, but repurposed for the holidays we celebrate now.”

Email us at [email protected], and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.

And finally … the photo of the day

A person surfs at Salt Creek Beach on Sunday in Dana Point.

(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times)

Today’s great photo is from Juliana Yamada of a surfer at Salt Creek Beach in Dana Point.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martin, assistant editor
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
June Hsu, editorial fellow
Andrew Campa, weekend reporter
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected].

DESPITE claims Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater had called it quits after two years, I can confirm they are very much still together.

But the speculation surrounding their relationship is taking its toll.

Insiders have told me the pair were aware of the talk around their romance and spent the night after the Wicked: For Good premiere in London holed up in her suite at the Mandarin Oriental hotel.

A source said: “Ariana and Ethan are still a couple but they’ve seen the chatter online and it’s not been easy.

“They were both at the ­Leicester Square premiere and the ­after-party at Brasserie Zedel but made sure they weren’t seen together.

“Obviously it fuels the ­speculation around them but they don’t want their relationship to play out in public.

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“When Ariana left the after-party, she went back to her hotel suite.

“Not long after, Ethan was taken there and went up to see Ariana to spend time with her.

“They are aware of what is being said and it’s not easy for them but they’re doing the best they can to snatch some quiet moments when no one is watching.”

Yesterday they rejoined the rest of the cast, including Cynthia Erivo, to fly to Singapore for the next leg of the promo run ahead of the second movie’s release next Friday.

It has been a couple of months since speculation about their relationship went into overdrive, with fans questioning why Ethan didn’t join Ariana at the MTV VMAs in New York in September.

The pair, who met on the set of Wicked in 2022, have also not been ­photographed together since before the summer, leading to an explosion of rumours on social media.

My insider added: “Once this next round of promo is completed for Wicked: For Good, Ariana and Ethan will be spending some time together out of the public eye.

“They’ve always preferred to be low-key and are happier just chilling at home together.

“No one is saying the past few months have been totally rosy but their relationship is still very much on.”

Hopefully this will shut down the TikTok trolls for a while.

Jacob Elordi – the star of ­Saltburn and Frankenstein – will next year star in a Wuthering Heights remake opposite Margot Robbie.

But the Australian actor admits his own film tastes are much simpler.

He told French website brut.media: “I watch a lot of Scooby Doo.

“I love the Scooby Doo movie Spooky Island so much.

“It’s a great film – a great whodunnit.”

Bonehead teases Oasis tour return

Oasis guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs is back with the band and raring to go.

I’m thrilled he is returning to the reunion tour after he dropped out of the global jaunt to undergo cancer treatment.

He will be on stage in Buenos Aires this Saturday, having missed the legs in Asia and ­Australia.

He had to step away from the gigs last month for prostate cancer treatment.

Bonehead was diagnosed with the disease before the tour kicked off in July and was “responding well” to treatment.

He then took a planned break for the next phase of his care.

Teasing his return, he tweeted an image of a flight path from London to Rio de Janeiro with the caption, “Incoming”, which was then reposted on Oasis’s official website.

The band have pulled off the seemingly impossible by making it through the tour without a mammoth bust-up between Liam and Noel Gallagher.

With that success, I’m sure these final five shows in Argentina, Chile and Brazil won’t be the last we hear from them.

You too can now look like Shakira – well, get locks like her anyway – as she has launched her award-winning haircare brand Isima in the UK.

It has been made available for the first time in Selfridges stores in London, Birmingham and Manchester after winning a string of awards in the States.

Kelly blasts boss’s boob

Kelly Clarkson has revealed she was once told to get a boob job by her manager.

Speaking on stage during her Las Vegas residency, the US singer said: “I had some d**k manager one time tell me to get a boob job. I was like, ‘Why don’t you get a d**k job?’

“Like, what? I’m fine with my itty-bitty t*tties. Get out of here. Who says that s**t? People say that s**t.

“They say it all the time to people in the industry. They say the craziest s**t.”

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On how many stars in the music business have had cosmetic surgery, Kelly continued: “I’m like, ‘This is not normal. You’ve normalised crazy’ . . . everybody’s out here looking like they’re in The Capitol in The Hunger Games.

“[Just] do you. Don’t make me do you. I like my itty-bitty t*tties. They’ve served me well.”

A MOVIE star from a hit 80s box office smash looks so different from his hunky role.

At 79 years of age, the actor headed out on a walk in Los Angeles last week while looking unrecognizable from his heyday when he wore his hair in brown curls.

Sporting a full head of white hair – which is a far cry from his curls when he took on his starring role – the acting sensation looked casual as he walked his dog in some laidback attire.

The actor, who starred in Flashdance back in the 1980s, rocked a navy blue fleece with some denim shorts, blue socks and a pair of loafers.

Concealing his identity with a pair of sunglasses, the movie star smiled as he walked his dog around LA.

He starred opposite Jennifer Beals in 1983 before taking on roles in The O.C., Yellowstone, and many more. 

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TV star unrecognizable 12 years after hit show’s shock ending… can you guess who?

Have you guessed who he is?

It’s Michael Nouri who played the iconic role of hunky Nick Hurley in Flashdance.

But despite his huge role in the box office smash hit, Michael has revealed his career stalled after his next movie Sea Trial was shelved indefinitely.

Speaking out on the Still Here podcast last year, Michael said: “After Flashdance, that was the time to strike while the iron was hot.”

He went on: “Billy Friedkin got in touch with me and told me he wanted me to be in his new movie with Barbara Hershey.

“It was called Sea Trial, and it was going to be done at 20th Century Fox, and Fox wanted to turn around and that movie was shelved, so the momentum from Flashdance was dissipated.”

After his career stalled, he landed a role in Bay City Blues alongside Basic Instinct star Sharon Stone. 

“But while I was in Tokyo promoting Flashdance I got a call from my agent who said that Steven Bochco was interested in having me be in a series of his called Bay City Blues, and Bay City Blues lasted for 13 episodes,” he explained. 

Michael went on: “It had an unknown, wonderful actors, including an unknown actor named Sharon Stone.

“So my point is that the momentum, the huge momentum, that Flashdance created, just you want to keep the momentum going.

“Hopefully, when you have one big hit, you want to follow it up with something else, something equally good or better, just to keep you out there.

“And that did not happen.

“So I went from Bay City Blues to a succession of TV shows, independent movies, and so on, but nothing of the magnitude of Flashdance.”

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Though he has had little success with finding another huge role like in Flashdance, he has still been successful.

He has starred in The Proposal, The Watcher and NCIS, as well as Kim Kardashian’s recent Hulu hit All’s Fair.

THE UK regional airline Eastern Airways has officially gone into administration.

Last week, the regional airline made 330 staff redundant after the airline filed a notice of intention to appoint an administrator on October 27.

Having launched in 1997, Eastern Airways was one of the UK’s remaining regional airlines, with services across England and Scotland and in the past, even offered flights to Europe.

Jamie Miller, partner at RSM UK and joint administrator, said: “It is extremely sad that such a long established and historically successful independent airline, one of the few remaining in the UK, has had to enter administration.

“The unexpected and sudden termination of Eastern’s KLM contract, along with other economic factors, unfortunately left the directors with no choice but to appoint administrators.”

RSM explained that Eastern Airways was operating four aircraft for KLM Cityhopper in Europe.

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However, when the contract was terminated it meant that Eastern experienced “high fixed overheads and a staff base that has ultimately proved too high to be sustainable”.

Miller added: “At its peak, Eastern was an award-winning airline providing 200 flights per day.

“Its passengers included Queen Elizabeth and other members of the Royal Family, as well as Prime Ministers, Premier League Football Clubs and Formula 1 Teams and management.

“They also provided valuable services on public service obligation (PSO) routes and supported energy critical services to the oil and gas sector.”

Regional routes across the UK included Wick and Aberdeen in Scotland, and then Humberside, Teesside International, London Gatwick and Newquay.

But the airline also used to fly to Gibraltar and Paris Orly in France.

Miller said: “We would welcome any interest from potential alternative operators, or those who may have an interest in the underlying assets.”

For the 12 months to March 2024, Eastern Airways reported a net loss of £19.7million, which was £4.8million higher than 2023.

This meant that the company’s total debt rose to £25.97million.

At the time of the announcement, Selina Chadha, consumer & markets director at the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said: “We urge passengers planning to fly with this airline not to go to the airport as all Eastern Airways flights are cancelled.

“Eastern Airways customers should visit the Civil Aviation Authority’s website for the latest information.”

Eastern Airways isn’t the only airline that went bust this year.

In September, Play Airlines announced that it would be ceasing operations with all flights cancelled.

The airline flew to a number of different European destinations including London Stansted, Amsterdam, Paris and Faro.

And last year, Spirit Airlines – a US low-cost carrier – also filed for bankruptcy.

back soon

The Traitors’ return date revealed as Celeb version ends & it’s not a long wait

CHEERS

27 free festive experiences across the UK from light trails to Santa’s grotto

In other air travel news, a major airline with bunk beds onboard reveals plans to relaunch UK flights for the first time in five years.

Plus, airlines are now banning Bluetooth earbuds from going in checked luggage.

England squad: AJ Brimson, Joe Burgess, Daryl Clark, Herbie Farnworth, Tom Johnstone, Mikey Lewis, Harry Newman, Mikolaj Oledzi, George Williams (capt), Harry Smith, Mike McMeeken, Jez Litten, Matty Lees, Kai Pearce-Paul, Kallum Watkins, Morgan Knowles, Owen Trout, Alex Walmsley, Morgan Smithies.

Australia XIII: Reece Walsh, Mark Nawaqanitawase, Kotoni Staggs, Gehamat Shibasaki, Josh Addo-Carr, Cameron Munster, Nathan Cleary, Patrick Carrigan, Harry Grant, Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, Angus Crichton, Hudson Young, Isaah Yeo (captain).

Interchanges: Tom Dearden, Lindsay Collins, Reuben Cotter, Keaon Koloamatangi.

Reserves: Bradman Best, Lindsay Smith, Mitchell Moses.

A HISTORIC Victorian bathhouse is getting a new lease of life after closing nearly 50 years ago.

Manor Place Baths in South London is a 19th century bathhouse that was once a huge swimming pool complex.

It later became a boxing venue before closing in the 1970s.

However, a new attraction is set to open inside the bathhouse, as part of a collaboration with Nike and Palace Skateboards.

Inside will be a thee ‘zones’ –  The Park and The Cage, The Front Room, and The Residency. 

A free to use skatepark is in the area where the men’s swimming pool use to be (having since been paved over).

ON TRACK

Victorian seaside train station next to top UK attraction unveils £3.6m makeover

TOP SPOT

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The ‘world-class’ skatepark will be made of concrete, with ramps, ledges and benches.

There will also be an underground football cage which can be used for three-a-side.

The Front Room will be an art venue with workshops and pop ups, as well as having Nike clothing on sale.

And The Residency will be creative studio spaces, which will be on rotation every nine months.

Events will include “skate jams,” women-only sessions and a number of others.

Opening from November 11, it will be free to visit and open six days a week.

Palace co-founder Lev Tanju said: “We had an idea of creating a large space for the community that would be about skateboarding and sport, and a space you could generally hang out in.”

Gareth Skewis, also co-founder of Palace, said: “I want Manor Place to be somewhere safe and friendly where people can skate, play football and discover new things.”

It has even been backed by English footballer Lenna Gunning-Williams.

She said: “Manor Place is important for the next generation because it’s so accessible.

“It’s going to be a place where people can connect — and it’s not just for footballers, it’s for skaters and creatives too.” 

Another Victorian bathhouse in the UK is being turned into a new attraction as well.

Kings Hall in Clapton, previously called Hackney Public Bath is undergoing a £71million upgrade.

With a new swimming pool and sauna, it hopes to reopen by 2028.

STRICTLY SECRET

The video of married celeb & pro dancer that threatens to detonate Strictly

SCHOOL’S OUT

I was a teacher earning £40k – now I run a £250k business & work 2 days a WEEK

In Manchester, there is a Victorian swimming pool that only opens to the public every few years.

Or you can stay in a converted bathhouse – here’s how.

THE Love Actually reunion no one saw coming just happened – and it’s still 49 days until Christmas.

My insiders tell me that stars of the seasonal rom-com Martine McCutcheon and Thomas Brodie-Sangster have signed up for Google Pixel’s new festive ad.

They filmed the top-secret project in London yesterday afternoon — 22 years after appearing opposite each other in the 2003 hit film.

A source said: “Nothing says Christmas like Love Actually, and so Google Pixel are bringing a sprinkling of it back to insert some nostalgia into the festive period.

“It’s still such a firm favourite with millions of people, so they tapped up Martine and Thomas for the sweet reunion.

“The ad is going to be packed full of throwbacks — especially because Thomas was only 13 when he was in Love Actually.

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LEGEND LOST

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“A whole street in London was transformed into a winter wonderland and Martine and Thomas were in great spirits.

“They’re really happy with how the ad worked out. It’s going to be one people are talking about for a while.”

If you’ve lived under a rock and have never seen Love Actually, it’s one of Richard Curtis’s best films.

Martine plays hapless PA Natalie, swept off her feet by the Prime Minister, played by Hugh Grant.

And Thomas took on the role of sweet, love-stricken Sam, who went all out to impress his teen crush.

Google Pixel isn’t the only brand getting in on the Love Actually nostalgia for their Christmas ad.

Aldi revealed their famous Kevin the Carrot will propose to his sweetheart Katie in their festive offering this year using cue cards — inspired by the scene in the film where Andrew Lincoln’s character Mark professed his love for Juliet, played by Keira Knightley.

Without wanting to be too sentimental, it proves love really is still all around us.

And I’m definitely going to be renting it on Prime Video tonight.

KYLIE MINOGUE used a stocking from the filming of her CBeebies bedtime story last Christmas in the music video for her new festive single Xmas.

The Aussie pop star is celebrating the tenth anniversary of her Christmas album with a new version of the record, Kylie Christmas (Fully Wrapped), which features four new songs.

Speaking to Scott Mills on the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show about the video, Kylie said: “Because I was on the road we didn’t get to go so Christmassy.

“I think it was from a CBeebies Christmas story | did and they gave me a Christmas stocking.

“I thought, I have got to take something Christmassy and I think that’s it. That’s the one thing that you may see.

“We didn’t get to do fairy lights. We didn’t get to do paper chains. But in spirit we were very Christmassy.”

JOSH’S TOP DAY WITH SPINAL TAP

JOSH GROBAN was one of a few artists asked to perform with Spinal Tap for their next film, Stonehenge: The Final Finale.

I exclusively revealed the ­parody band had shot a concert alongside Eric Clapton and Shania Twain at the ­landmark in August, and now US star Josh has told me all about taking part.

He said: “Singing with Spinal Tap at Stonehenge – I don’t care how much you’ve done, that’s an experience for anybody. Eric Clapton felt it, Shania Twain felt it.

“Everybody was going, ‘I can’t believe we’re doing this’. I can’t tell you the song but it was ­ridiculous and amazing.”

Josh is returning to the UK on April 1 next year for a date at London’s O2 Arena, with tickets on sale tomorrow.

And on November 14 he will drop his next record, Hidden Gems.

The album is a collection of fans’ favourite tracks not available on streaming platforms.

Speaking after an intimate show in ­London at Union Chapel, Josh says: “These are all songs from my past.

“They’re B-sides and special-editions. I’ve also been working on new music.”

MUMMY’S THE WORD, BRENDAN

BRENDAN FRASER and Rachel Weiz are teaming up again for The Mummy 4, 17 years after the last film in the franchise.

They both starred in 1999’s The Mummy and 2001’s The Mummy Returns, below, but Rachel skipped 2008’s The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor.

Plans for a fourth film were ditched in 2012 before Tom Cruise tried to reboot the series in 2017 with another movie called The Mummy, but it lost millions at the box office.

The original followed treasure hunter Rick (Brendan), who wakes up an ancient Egyptian priest with special powers.

The latest news comes three years after Brendan’s career comeback in The Whale, which landed him a much-deserved Oscar for Best Actor.

YUNG HIT IN TRANS PIC SHOW

YUNGBLUD has provided the soundtrack for a new photography exhibition that tells the stories of 13 trans people from across the UK.

His song Hello Heaven, Hello will be used on screens at Outernet, right outside Tottenham Court Road Tube Station in central London, for the free exhibition called Trans Is Human from November 17.

Yungblud said: “I’m honoured that Hello Heaven, Hello will be a part of this exhibition.

“Trans Is Human is all about celebrating truth, identity and the beauty of being yourself.

“That’s something I’ve always tried to celebrate in everything I do.”

BABYSHAMBLES have returned with their first song in 12 years, Dandy Hooligan.

The band, fronted by Pete Doherty, dropped the track yesterday ahead of the launch of their comeback tour.

Pete said: “It’s a well turned-out, ­elegantly crafted reggae-ska-pop song . . . with a sweet melody to bowl along to with your sharpened walking cane.”

They were back on stage in Hastings last night for a warm-up gig ahead of their tour later this month.

ED’S PERFECT PITCH MEANS ALL KIDS CAN LEARN MUSIC

ED SHEERAN has once again proved he is a voice for good after a successful ­campaign to give all kids access to ­creative subjects at school.

Back in March, the Shape Of You singer wrote to No10 urging the government to look at the critical state of music education – and, incredibly, they’ve listened.

Keir Starmer yesterday heralded Ed’s letter, which was backed by stars including Harry Styles, Stormzy and Annie Lennox, as “powerful”, and told him: “I wanted you to know that your voice has been heard.”

In a letter to Ed which has been shared with me, the PM said: “The review ­places creative ­subjects firmly at the centre.

“We are revitalising arts ­education, strengthening music and drama, and launching a new National ­Centre for Arts And Music Education to support teachers and raise standards.

“We will make sure every child has access to those experiences – from arts and ­culture to nature and civic engagement – so that creativity isn’t a privilege, but a right.”

It is a huge victory for Ed and the Ed Sheeran Foundation, which has ­campaigned for accessible, meaningful education for all young people.

In a statement, Ed said: “I set up the Ed Sheeran Foundation because every child deserves to have access to a meaningful music education, and the chance to experience the joy and confidence that musical expression can bring.

“Shortly after ­setting up my foundation, I wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister about the critical state of music education in the UK and the fact it was slipping through the cracks.

“With the help of the letter and everyone who signed it, I’m happy to say that some of the key points we raised have been recognised by the government, marking the first change to the music ­curriculum in over ten years.”

All power to you, Ed. This is ­brilliant news.

COAT AND TAYLS

TAYLOR SWIFT has gone quiet since dropping her album The Life Of A Showgirl last month, but she re-emerged in New York for a night out with Gigi Hadid on Monday.

The singer wrapped up in a coat and knee-high boots alongside the model who is a long-time friend.

I’m sure they had plenty to catch up on, with a wedding to plan for Taylor, while Gigi’s romance with Bradley Cooper seems to be going from strength to strength after two years together.

Perhaps wedding bells will be ringing for her, too, before long.

JENNIFER LAWRENCE has let slip that she’s co-producing a movie with Emma Stone based on Miss Piggy, being written by US comedian Cole Escola.

Asked on the Las Culturistas podcast whether the actresses will also star in the film, she said: “I think so, we have to.”

On working with Emma for the first time, she added: “It’s f***ed up. It’s dark that we haven’t done a movie together.”

CYNTHIA’S IN GOOD MOOD FOR PREMIERE

CYNTHIA ERIVO was grinning from ear to ear at the premiere of Wicked: For Good, despite the fact her co-star Ariana Grande missed the big launch.

The British actress, who returns as Elphaba in the second flick, wore this quirky, tummy-baring outfit and was joined at the event in Sao Paulo by co-star Jonathan Bailey ahead of the London premiere on Monday.

Hopefully, Ariana will make it over here after a fault with a plane meant she couldn’t get to Brazil in time for Tuesday’s event.

She apologised on Instagram, but was then subjected to vile abuse.

FESTIVE FEELS

John Lewis reveals tear-jerker Xmas ad set to nostalgic 90s house track

TRAFFIC CARNAGE

Major motorway shut with TWO-HOUR delays after crash between lorry & van

Later on, she wrote online: “Please don’t wish danger on us.

“It’s a sad state of affairs when fans are so vicious over something so unimportant.”

Out of sheer darkness, the Batman logo was emblazoned across the 86-foot-wide screen and dazzled my young eyes.

From Hollywood, I was instantly whisked away to Gotham City. The iconic DC comic book came to life and the booming thuds of the Caped Crusader smashing a pair of common thieves was real.

These were my first vivid memories of watching a movie in the larger-than-life Cinerama Dome on Sunset Boulevard, and being amazed by the screen’s size and the sense of being transported into another galaxy.

But the dome is magical on the outside, as well as the inside. The concrete geodesic dome is made up of 316 individual hexagonal and pentagonal shapes in 16 sizes. Like Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, it’s a structure that has become a Hollywood landmark.

The Dome represented a special place for me, until it became just another of the dozens of businesses in L.A. that never returned after pandemic closures in 2020.

Ever since, there have been rumblings that the Dome would eventually reopen. Although nothing is definitive, my colleague Tracy Brown offered a bit of hope in a recent article.

What’s the latest

Dome Center LLC, the company that owns the property along Sunset Boulevard near Vine Street, filed an application Oct. 28 for a conditional-use permit to sell alcohol for on-site consumption at the Cinerama Dome Theater and adjoining multiplex. The application doesn’t mention an reopening date or any details about movie screenings returning to the dome but suggests that a reopening may be in the works.

Elizabeth Peterson-Gower of Place Weavers Inc., said Dome Center is seeking a new permit that would “allow for the continued sale and dispensing of a full line of alcoholic beverages for on-site consumption in conjunction with the existing Cinerama Dome Theater, 14 auditoriums within the Arclight Cinemas Theater Complex, and restaurant/cafe with two outdoor dining terraces from 7:00 am – 4:00 am, daily,” according to the application filed by the company’s representative.

This would would be a renewal of the current 10-year permit, which expires Nov. 5.

The findings document filed with the City Planning Department also mentions that “when the theater reopens, it will bring additional jobs to Hollywood and reactivate the adjacent streets, increasing safety and once again bringing vibrancy to the surrounding area.”

A representative for Dome Center LLC did not respond immediately Friday to a request for comment.

What happened to the Dome?

The Cinerama Dome opened in 1963 and had been closed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Since the closing, the news about the future of the theater has been ambiguous.

In April, 2021, the owner of Pacific Theatres and ArcLight Cinemas announced they would not reopen the beloved theater even after the pandemic ended. But then, in December, sources told The Times that plans were in the works to reopen the Cinerama Dome and the attached theater complex.

In 2022, news that the property owners obtained a liquor license for the renamed “Cinerama Hollywood” fueled hope among the L.A. film-loving community’s that the venue was still on track to return.

But the Cinerama Dome’s doors have remained closed.

Signs of life

At a public hearing regarding the adjacent Blue Note Jazz Club in June, Peterson-Gower reportedly indicated that although there were not yet any definitive plans, the property owners had reached out to her to next discuss the future of the Cinerama Dome.

Perhaps this new permit application is a sign plans are finally coming together.

After the kind of year Los Angeles has endured — with devastating fires and demoralizing immigration raids — it would certainly bolster the spirits of all Angelenos to have another local landmark reopen its doors to welcome movie-loving patrons like me.

Today’s top stories

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks as he stands with First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom during an election night news conference at a Democratic Party office in Sacramento on Nov. 4, 2025.

(Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press)

Voters approve Prop. 50

After World Series celebration, ICE and Border Patrol gather at Dodger Stadium once again

• Dozens of federal immigration agents were seen staging in a Dodger Stadium parking lot Tuesday morning, a day after the team returned home to celebrate its back-to-back championships with thousands of Angelenos.
• Videos shared with The Times and on TikTok show agents in unmarked vehicles, donning green vests and equipped with white zip ties in parking lot 13.
• Five months ago, protests erupted outside the stadium gates when federal immigration used the parking lot as a processing site for people who had been arrested in a nearby immigration raid.

Sen. Alex Padilla says he won’t run for California governor

• “It is with a full heart and even more commitment than ever that I am choosing to not run for governor of California next year,” Padilla told reporters outside his Senate office in Washington.
• Padilla instead said he will focus on countering President Trump’s agenda in Congress, where Democrats are currently in the minority in both the House and Senate, but hope to regain some political clout after the 2026 midterm elections.

What else is going on

Commentary and opinions

This morning’s must-read

For your downtime

A view of landscaping at the home of Susan Gottleib and her Gottleib Native Garden in Beverly Hills.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Going out

Staying in

A question for you: What’s the best hiking trail in SoCal?

Alexandra writes: “Sullivan Canyon, for sure.”

Rochelle writes: “Can’t ever go wrong in Griffith Park, but for overall exercise, killer views, artifacts, and entertainment without wearing yourself out, my hiking partner and I like the Solstice Canyon Loop in Malibu, 3.4 miles. The most popular hike in the canyon, for good reason!”

Email us at [email protected], and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.

And finally … your photo of the day

Joe Rinaudo hopes to host tours and educational opportunities at his home theater and museum through a nonprofit group dedicated to preserving photoplayers.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Today’s great photo is from Times photographer Jason Armond at the home of Joe Rinaudo, the foremost expert on photoplayers, who is preserving the soundtrack to a bygone movie era.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, Sunday writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected]. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.

A MAJOR airline has revealed plans to restart UK flights – and you might just get the best sleep onboard.

Air New Zealand last had flights between the UK and New Zealand back in 2020.

However the route – which went via Los Angeles – was axed during Covid.

The London-Auckland route first launched in 1982, and was the first commercial airline to welcome a royal when the Queen broke with tradition in 1995 to travel onboard.

And now the airline’s new CEO has revealed future plans to start up again, alongside a number of routes in India.

Nikhil Ravishankar told local outlet Stuff: “Places we would go tomorrow if we could, and we want to get there as quickly as we can, would be London [and India] – those are places that we know New Zealanders are interested in being connected to.

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“I think all three of those are equally important for us, but India and London are top of the list.

“There are a lot of reasons why New Zealand should be connected to the United Kingdom – it’s a very, very important, almost a cultural highway for us, and so we need to get that route up and running.”

It isn’t clear when this could restart, or where the airline will connect via.

Due to the long nature of the flight – often taking around 24 hours – connections are often in destinations such as Singapore or Hong Kong.

If it does restart, its good news for passengers as Air New Zealand is the only airline in the world set to have bunk beds onboard.

Launching in early 2026, the Skynest will include six bunk bed sleep pods that both economy and premium economy passengers will be able to book.

Each bed can be booked for a four hour slot, and will have new pillows, sheets and blankets per passengers, as well as earplugs, charging points and a personal light.

A curtain will be able to be closed to offer some extra privacy.

They were initially set to launch in 2024 on flights from New York to New Zealand but have since been delayed.

While prices are yet to be confirmed, it was previously suggested that the four hour sessions could be between NZ$400-$600 (£173-£260).

However, you can only book one slot per flight – so make the most of the four hours.

Otherwise there is also the Skycouch, where you can turn a row of three sets into a lie flat bed.

Rather than pay for three seats, passengers can buy two seats and then upgrade to the Skycouch, with then includes the third seat.

Passengers don’t need to buy three seats – instead, you pay for two seats and then upgrade to the Skycouch which automatically includes the third seat.

Prices start from £104 each way.

In the mean time, Brits can fly to New Zealand with other airlines such as Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways and Cathay Pacific.

Flights include stopovers in Dubai, Singapore, Doha and Hong Kong, respectively.

FESTIVE FEELS

John Lewis reveals tear-jerker Xmas ad set to nostalgic 90s house track

TRAFFIC CARNAGE

Major motorway shut with TWO-HOUR delays after crash between lorry & van

Another airline has revealed plans for non-stop 20-hour flights to London.

And here is the regional UK airport that has revealed plans for long-haul flights.

Cecile Kohler, 41, and her partner, Jacques Paris, 72, had been jailed on charges of spying for France and Israel.

Iran has released two French nationals imprisoned for more than three years on spying charges their families rejected, French President Emmanuel Macron has said, though it remains uncertain when they would be allowed to return home.

Expressing “immense relief”, Macron said on X on Wednesday that Cecile Kohler, 41, and her partner Jacques Paris, 72 – the last French citizens officially known to be held in Iran – had been released from Evin prison in northern Tehran and were on their way to the French embassy.

He welcomed this “first step” and said talks were under way to ensure their return to France as “quickly as possible”.

The pair were arrested in May 2022 while visiting Iran. France had denounced their detention as “unjustified and unfounded”, while their families say the trip had been purely touristic in nature.

Both teachers, although Paris is retired, were among a number of Europeans caught up in what activists and some Western governments, including France, describe as a deliberate strategy of “hostage-taking” by Iran to extract concessions from the West.

Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said they had been granted “conditional release” on bail by the judge in charge of the case and “will be placed under surveillance until the next stage of the judicial proceedings”.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told France 2 TV they were in “good health” at the French ambassador’s residence but declined to give details on when they would be allowed to leave Iran.

Their Paris-based legal team told the AFP news agency in a statement that the release had “ended their arbitrary detention which lasted 1,277 days”.

The release comes at a time of acute sensitivity in dealings between Tehran and the West in the wake of the US-Israel 12-day war in June against Iran and the reimposition of United Nations sanctions in the standoff over the Iranian nuclear programme, which the country insists is purely for civilian purposes.

Some Iranians are concerned that Israel will use the sanctions, which are already causing further economic duress in the country, as an excuse to attack again, as it used the resolution issued by the global nuclear watchdog in June as a pretext for a war that was cheered by Israeli officials and the public alike.

The French pair’s sentences on charges of spying for France and Israel, issued last month after a closed-door trial, amounted to 17 years in prison for Paris and 20 years for Kohler.

Concern grew over their health after they were moved from Evin following an Israeli attack on the prison during the June war.

Kohler was shown in October 2022 on Iranian television in what activists described as a “forced confession”, a practice relatively common for detainees in Iran, which rights groups say is equivalent to torture.

Her parents, Pascal and Mireille, told AFP in a statement that they felt “immense relief” that the pair were now in a “little corner of France”, even if “all we know for now is that they are out of prison”.

France had filed a case with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over their detention, saying they were held under a policy that “targets French nationals travelling in or visiting Iran”.

But in September, the ICJ suddenly dropped the case at France’s request, prompting speculation that closed-door talks were under way between the two countries for their release.

Iran has said the duo could be freed as part of a swap deal with France, which would also see the release of Iranian Mahdieh Esfandiari.

Esfandiari was arrested in France in February on charges of promoting “terrorism” on social media, according to French authorities.

Scheduled to go on trial in Paris from January 13, she was released on bail last month in a move welcomed by Tehran.

Barrot declined to comment when asked by France 2 if there had been a deal with Tehran.

Among the Europeans still jailed by Iran is Swedish-Iranian academic Ahmadreza Djalali, who was sentenced to death in 2017 on espionage charges his family vehemently rejects.

This November marks 108 years since the Balfour Declaration, a promise written in London by men who had never walked the soil of Palestine. Authored by Arthur Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary at the time and signed on 2 November 1917, it became the seed of a new state and the undoing of another people. For the Jewish world, it offered recognition after centuries of exile. For Palestinians, it marked the beginning of erasure.

To fully grasp its significance and the controversies surrounding it, it is essential to understand three key concepts that underpin the narrative: Zionism, antisemitism, and Edward Said’s concept of Orientalism. These terms not only illuminate the motivations behind the declaration but also help to elucidate the subsequent century of strife in the region.

Zionism: A Response to Antisemitism in the Quest for a Jewish Homeland

The Balfour Declaration did not emerge from nowhere. It came from fear, exile, and the slow death of faith in Europe’s conscience. In 1882, Leon Pinsker, a Jewish physician, wrote Auto-Emancipation after watching mobs tear through Jewish towns in Russia. Houses burned. Families fled. The pogroms of 1881 ended any illusion that Jews could ever belong in Europe. Pinsker saw what others refused to see: no law, no revolution, no education could protect a people the world had already decided to keep apart.

Safety would come only through self-determination, through land rather than tolerance. A generation later, Theodor Herzl carried that truth into politics through the Dreyfus Affair, when a Jewish French officer was condemned for a crime he did not commit, stripping away Europe’s mask of enlightenment. Even in Paris, the supposed capital of reason, antisemitism ruled the crowd. Watching from Vienna, Herzl understood what Pinsker had already warned: emancipation without equality is another form of captivity. Herzl built what Pinsker imagined. He turned despair into movement, organisation, and speech. Through the Zionist Congresses, he tried to make safety tangible. He pleaded with ministers and kings, searched for land across the globe that could hold both memory and survival. He even wrote to the Ottoman Sultan, Abdul Hamid II, for a homeland in Palestine. He refused.

Still, Herzl kept going. For him, it was not about conquest but about the right to live without permission. By 1917, when Britain issued the Balfour Declaration, Europe’s so-called “Jewish question”, a term used in European discourse to discuss the integration, segregation, or expulsion of Jews, had already revealed the sickness at its core. To Jews, it was a plea for existence. To the imperial powers, it was a strategy, another chance to extend control into the Ottoman world. One side sought a home. The other saw an opportunity. Between them, a promise was made that would change the fate of a land neither side fully understood.

Orientalism and Imperial Hubris

The Balfour Declaration was not only a promise; it was an act of power. Edward Said’s idea of Orientalism helps us see it for what it was, a colonial document disguised as moral duty. Britain spoke of creating a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, yet never paused to ask what that meant for those already living there. In its language, Palestine became an empty space waiting to be claimed, not a land of families, farmers, and memory.

The indigenous Arab population was reduced to a single phrase, “non-Jewish communities,” stripped of name, voice, and history. They were spoken about, not spoken to. It turned people into categories, presence into absence. That is the logic of Orientalism: to see the East not as a living world, but as material to be moulded by Western power and imagination. It is a way of thinking that empties lands of their people and people of their history.

British Strategic Interests and French Complicity

The arrogance that engineered the Balfour Declaration was rooted in Britain’s hunger for power. Behind its moral language lay a simple aim: control. The declaration was issued in the chaos of the First World War, when the British imperial power was fighting not only for victory but for territory. Palestine, with its trade routes and proximity to the Suez Canal, became part of a larger chessboard. The British saw the region not as a motherland for its people but as a prize to be managed.

Diplomacy and Dispossession

The Sykes-Picot treaty had already shown the pattern. Britain and France distributed the Arab world in secret, drawing borders that cut through language and kinship. These lines were not meant to unite but to divide and rule. The Balfour Declaration followed the same logic. It decided the fate of a land without asking its people. In London, it was called diplomacy. In Palestine, it became dispossession. For European Jews, it brought a fragile hope after generations of fear. They saw it as recognition, a long-awaited right to safety and belonging. For Palestinians, the same words felt like a sentence. Their land was discussed in foreign rooms, their future sealed in other people’s languages. What gave one people deliverance took away another’s birthplace. From that moment came a century of struggle. Two people, bound to the same soil, were caught in a story written by the colonial power.

Empire’s Shadow

The promise made to the Zionists through the Balfour Declaration exposed a truth that the imperial power could never admit. Western powers spoke of liberty while deciding who was human enough to deserve it. Their idea of freedom had borders. Beyond Europe, it turned into permission: granted, withdrawn, and traded according to interest. In that imagination, Palestine was stripped of its reality. It ceased to be a land of people and became a metaphor, a stage on which Europe could perform its moral ambitions. The men who wrote the declaration did not see villages, harvests, or prayer calls at dawn. They saw space, something to be promised, parcelled, and redeemed through the colonial idea of moral duty. The Balfour Declaration was more than policy. It was philosophy turned into power, the belief that history could be rewritten without the consent of those who lived it.

The Paradox of Liberation

The result was a century of grief, exile, and resistance that still shapes the region’s every breath. Theodor Herzl’s dream began in anguish. He wanted a shelter for Jews who had none, safety after centuries of persecution. His longing was human and urgent. But like many who lived under colonial rule, he saw the world through its gaze. In The Jewish State, Herzl wrote of building a homeland that would stand as a frontier of civilisation in what he saw as a backward East. This idea mirrored the Orientalist belief that the East was lesser, waiting to be corrected by the West. Herzl used that language to win Europe’s approval, presenting Zionism as a cause aligned with the imperial project. It revealed a deeper paradox: a movement born from the search for safety, adopting the very logic that had long denied it to others. The legacy of that choice lives on. Liberation cannot grow from someone else’s domination, and no people can find peace by inheriting the instruments of colonial power.

Revisiting Said’s Themes

Edward Said’s ideas on Orientalism help reveal what lay beneath the Balfour Declaration. He showed how the colonial system justified itself by turning the East into an object of control, stripping people of voice and history so that their land could be claimed in the name of development. The declaration was one such act. It spoke the language of promise but was written in the logic of empire. Palestine and its people disappeared behind the visions of those who believed they understood the region better than those who lived in it. Through that document, Britain set two peoples on a path of collision. What began as a political statement became a century of exile, fear, and mistrust. For Palestinians, the realisation of Balfour’s promise led to the Nakba of 1948, when hundreds of thousands were driven from their homes, their lives suspended between memory and survival. That wound never closed. Today’s war in Gaza is not separate from that history. It is its continuation.

Conclusion

The legacy of the Balfour Declaration shows how imperial power reshapes entire worlds. It reminds us how Western ambitions, guided by power and wrapped in Orientalist myths about “the East,” can alter the fate of nations for generations. To confront what followed, one must begin with understanding, not slogans. Real peace requires more than diplomacy; it needs a philosophical honesty about history itself. The prejudices that shaped a century of Western policy, the habit of deciding for others, of seeing one people’s freedom as another’s threat, must be broken

Peace will only come when we step out of Balfour’s shadow. Each home destroyed leaves its trace; each life taken leaves a silence that others now carry. The wound belongs to both. Peace is not a ceremony. It is a choice made in the smallest moments: to see, to stay, to listen. When that choice is shared, the land may grow still. Not with conquest, but with recognition.

David Robinson / Geograph

PA Media

‘Above bigotry’

Christian Concern

ONE of the UK’s prettiest seaside villages is losing one of it’s Christmas events for good.

Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire is holding its traditional Victorian Weekend event later this year – and it’s a very important one.

For over 30 years, locals and visitors have flocked to the seaside village in their period costumes to celebrate what’s known as Victorian Weekend.

Robin Hood’s Bay completely transforms to look as if it’s in the Victorian era – and it’s free to enter.

It’s a Christmas event too, so expect big festive trees, brass bands playing Christmas tunes, and stalls selling handmade gifts, mince pies and mulled wine.

There will also be games and plenty of mini-events will take place around the village.

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Everyone gets into the spirit of it and you’ll feel like you’re in a Dickens novel seeing people dressed up as Victorian noblemen and women, to chimney sweeps.

There’s a best-dressed competition, so looks do matter on this occasion.

If you’re interested, then you need to visit this year, as unfortunately, the event will not be held again.

Over December 6-7, Robin Hood’s Bay will hold the final ever Victorian Weekend due to current organisers stepping down and there being no one to replace them.

The news was announced in October 2025 with a lengthy Facebook post that read: “After more than 30 years of tradition, fundraising, and community spirit, Victorian Weekend 2025 will mark the end of an era for Robin Hood’s Bay.”

It continued to add: “We hope you will join us to make the last Victorian Weekend truly memorable. Expect all your favourite traditions, plus some exciting new additions.”

The news was a sad shock to locals and visitors. In the comments, one wrote: “We’ll be deeply saddened to see it go after visiting it for 10 years or so. It’s become its own little self-contained Christmas in its own way.”

Another added: “This is such sad news. My husband and I have stayed at the Bay Inn every year for the past few years and the first time, purely by chance, it was the Victorian weekend.

“Since then we have come every year. Such huge amount of work. We love it. See you in December for the last one.”

Robin Hood’s Bay is a well-known fishing village known for being very beautiful as it sits on the edge of the water.

It has cobbled streets, that are car-free, and little stone cottages and shops.

The village has an interesting history too as during the 18th century, it was home to the busiest smuggling community on the Yorkshire coast.

Ships would stop there in the night to pass tobacco, tea and rum through secret tunnels underneath the cottages – some of which still exist today.

If you want to carry on exploring, you can head up to Whitby which is just 13 minutes away by car – and according to a UK seaside expert, is even better in winter.

Madeleine Bunting, an award-winning author and travel writer who spent last two years visiting 40 seaside towns in England, said: “Whitby is [better in the winter] too because there are fewer crowds.

“There are lots of great restaurants and lovely warm cafes in Whitby, and there’s also lots to see when you’re not battling with the crowds around the harbour.

“From long bracing walks along the beach to warm cafes and indoor attractions, there’s plenty to do in Whitby even in the winter.”

Set in Yorkshire, Whitby is known for its beaches and historical sites – although they can be quite busy during the warmer months.

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For more exploration in the north, read more from one Sun Writer who grew up in the prettiest town in Yorkshire that most southerners have never heard of.

Plus, check out the English holiday park that looks more like a 5* hotel with wild pool and luxury spa.

EXCLUSIVE: Twinne-Lee Moore played Porsche McQueen in Hollyoaks over a decade ago and the actress turned singer has hinted at a potential return for a reunion with her on-screen family

Hollyoaks could set to welcome back a familar face to the fictional village.

Twinnie-Lee Moore played Porsche McQueen from Novemebr 2014 until December 2015.

The character highlighted the issues of sexual abuse in children and other storylines included a failed marriage when her husband had various affairs.

During her time on the Channel 4 soap, Twinnie-Lee was nominated for the British Soap Award for Best Newcomer and an Inside Soap Award in 2015 for her powerful portrayal.

Since leaving Hollyoaks, Twinnie-Lee has swapped Yorkshire for Nashville to embark a career as a country pop singer-songwriter.

However, the TV star has hinted that a return to Hollyoaks could be on the cards after catching up with her on-screen family at the soap’s 30th anniversary celebration last month.

Speaking to Reach PLC, Twinnie-Lee said: “It’s been a whole decade and it’s so lovely to see everybody.

“The McQueens are obviously my favourite family and I was very honoured to be part of it and it brings back a lot of memories.”

When asked about a potential Porsche McQueen comeback, she added: “You’ll have to ask the writers about that.

“I’m currently in Nashville doing my music. I did pitch to them if they did want to come and do a Nashville series. She [Porsche] did leave on a cruise so you never know.”

Porsche was last seen on screen on Christmas Eve 2015 and Twinnie-Lee revealed that fans still message her a decade later about her character.

She explained: “It’s so wild because people even now still message me about Porsche. I posted something and everyone was like ‘omg come back’, ‘when you coming back’.

“She was such a great character to play, made a real impact and very relatable.”

Last year, Twinnie-Lee returned to the small screen in Emmerdale as Jade Garrick, an illegal gambling and underground fighting manager who Ross Barton (Michael Parr) and Billy Fletcher (Jay Kontzle) worked for for a small number of episodes.

Speaking about her new role at the time, the soap star said: “My life has been a bit crazy recently juggling music and acting with lots of back and forth between Nashville and Yorkshire but I’ve been loving it!!

“I’ve loved being back on screen, especially as the show is shot in Yorkshire, being able to be home with family and go to work on such an iconic show has been nothing short of amazing! The whole team has been so welcoming and really supportive.”

Hollyoaks airs Monday to Wednesday on E4 at 7pm and first look episodes can be streamed Channel 4 from 7am