It was another bold statement from United States President Donald Trump: An edict in his usual inflated style, claiming that the US had almost sealed Iran off from the rest of the world.

“Very little gets into, or out of, Iran!” the US president posted on his Truth Social account on Sunday, a day after the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced its latest plan to choke Tehran’s military supply networks.

On Sunday, CENTCOM announced Task Force Iron Gate – a unit targeting land routes and the Caspian Sea, which will aim to prevent Iran from using ground routes to transport advanced weapons and other materials.

Trump’s message on Truth Social claimed that the task force was “in full force and effect” in Iran – and that between this and the US naval blockade of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the US had virtually cut off what enters and exits the country.

But analysts say a small intelligence-focused unit cannot seal Iran’s borders or stop its extensive procurement networks without regional cooperation.

They did warn, however, that attempts to disrupt these networks could draw neighbouring countries into the conflict and undermine ongoing diplomatic efforts in the US-Israel war on Iran.

“I see Task Force Iron Gate as a desperate attempt to extend the American naval blockade into Iran’s continental supply networks without deploying American troops along its borders,” Andreas Krieg, an associate professor of defence studies at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera.

An ‘intelligence fusion cell’

Task Force Iron Gate aims to find out where “weapons systems are coming in, how they could potentially be cut off” and how “Iran is transporting its energy”, Michael Mulroy, a former US deputy assistant defence secretary for the Middle East, has told Al Jazeera.

Based in Tampa, Florida, the unit will coordinate with other US government agencies “on preventing the movement of advanced weapons systems, dual-use technologies, sanctioned materials and illegal revenue streams across Iran’s land borders and the Caspian Sea”, CENTCOM has said.

Analysts said the task force could coordinate sanctions enforcement, pressure foreign suppliers, and work with partner countries to disrupt smuggling.

According to Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute, the US mission would rely on a combination of satellite imagery, drones, intercepted communications, financial intelligence and intelligence-sharing.

“Then, frankly, I would expect some use of force – strikes or discreet ground operations – to confiscate components, whether done by US forces or the Israelis,” the analyst told Al Jazeera.

“They would want to pass some intelligence on and bring legal and economic pressure to bear outside the Middle East if they think dual-use components are coming from the West … but if the target is supplies from Russia and China, that will be tougher.”

While CENTCOM’s announcement did not explicitly identify Iran’s weapons trade with Russia, analysts say the unit could be seen as an attempt to disrupt supply networks that include Russian connections.

US media have reported that Russia has sent drone components and explosives to Iran via the Caspian Sea. There are also claims that Russian technology could be helping Iran develop advanced supersonic cruise missiles.

Krieg agreed the task force would combine methods, but stated that it would operate largely as an “intelligence fusion cell”.

“Twenty people cannot police thousands of kilometres of frontiers,” he said.

“The objective is not necessarily to stop every shipment, but to make Iranian military procurement progressively more expensive, slower and riskier,” he added.

The obstacle the US mission will face, however, is political rather than technological, he argued. Iran’s neighbours will be largely unwilling to cooperate.

“Iraq offers Washington some leverage, but Iranian-aligned networks remain deeply embedded in its economy and security institutions,” he explained.

Azerbaijan could cooperate discreetly, while Turkmenistan would be “extremely reluctant” to jeopardise its neutrality or relationships with Russia and China, said the professor.

Pakistan is particularly unlikely to participate openly because it is currently mediating between Washington and Tehran, he added. Turkiye also has little interest in turning its border with Iran into another confrontation, said Krieg.

“Without these countries’ cooperation, Washington can disrupt individual networks but cannot effectively seal Iran’s borders,” he said.

Rami Khouri, a public policy fellow at the American University of Beirut and a non-resident senior fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC, has previously told Al Jazeera that Iran’s history as a trading nation for thousands of years makes the US mission near impossible.

“There’s an enormous web of contacts that Iran has had for thousands of years with traders and partners and allies all over the region, especially in Asia – it’s virtually impossible for the US to seal off every one,” he said.

“There are people all over the region who have links with Iran, some very close, some just commercial,” he said.

Mission creep or mission impossible?

Krieg expressed concern about the potential for mission creep — that the task force’s action could widen the war to new arenas.

“Intelligence gathering can quickly become pressure for seizures, border closures or military strikes against suspected logistical infrastructure,” he said.

“This would extend America’s economic war into the sovereign territory of neighbouring states.”

Iran’s response in turn would likely be asymmetrical, “intensifying maritime coercion in Hormuz and potentially using the Houthis to increase pressure around Bab al-Mandeb and Saudi Arabia”, Krieg added.

Joe Kent, a former top US counterterrorism official, has also argued that the new task force is an attempt by CENTCOM to subvert ongoing diplomatic efforts.

“This is CENTCOM inviting Iran to escalate while the vice president is attempting to negotiate with the Iranians,” Kent, who resigned in March in protest against the US’s war on Iran, said on X following the US military’s announcement.

“This is, as CENTCOM calls it, ‘policy by CONOP’, when the military finds a way to subvert the White House without blatantly disobeying the President, by taking actions that will ensure a war escalates or perpetuates.”

The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, has reported that CENTCOM chief Brad Cooper is among the many officials, alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, pressing Trump to renew attacks on Iran.

Some analysts, however, argue that without US access to the Caspian Sea, troops on the ground, or cooperation from neighbouring states, the task force will have limited practical impact.

Mahjoob Zweiri, a professor of contemporary history and politics at Qatar University, has told Al Jazeera that the new initiative may just be symbolic because of the lack of US military presence on the Caspian Sea.

“America has no access to the sea, unless some of the neighbouring countries like Azerbaijan or Armenia or others collaborate [with them] … And they’re not collaborating on this because they don’t want to upset Russia,” said Zweiri. “It will require … troops on the ground, and this is unlikely to happen.”

Moyale, Kenya – When Hawa Hassan fled her home in Ethiopia’s Moyale area, she left almost everything behind. Her house was burned during the violence, she said. But one memory has stayed with her: a 13-year-old girl shot while sitting near a wall.

Hassan said the girl had not touched a flag, a detail she raised while describing tensions over flag displays in the disputed border area. Her account of the killing could not be independently verified.

The journey into Kenya was brutal. Hassan told Al Jazeera that some women gave birth while fleeing, and that families arrived without food, cooking utensils or bedding. Newborn babies were sleeping on bare floors. Diarrhoea was spreading, while families feared malaria as mosquitoes multiplied.

For many, crossing the border has meant escaping gunfire only to face another struggle: finding food and shelter. The arrivals are also stretching Kenyan communities. Families that opened their homes are sharing scarce supplies, even as some worry the violence could reach their own neighbourhoods.

A crisis growing by the day

A government-led assessment conducted on October 29 and 30 estimated that 35,950 people had been displaced as of October 24. About 25,000 were staying with host families and nearly 11,000 in temporary displacement sites.

The number has since risen. During a meeting, Kenya Red Cross regional head Malik Adan said the number of people displaced by the conflict had increased from an estimated 36,000 to more than 50,000. The figure includes people living in temporary settlements as well as those staying with relatives and host families.

The overall number of displaced people has yet to be independently established, and no final figure has been confirmed.

The assessment covered 758 households and involved government authorities, United Nations agencies, the Kenya Red Cross and other humanitarian organisations. The figures reflect different reporting periods.

The fighting is rooted in a long-standing dispute over land and administrative control between Ethiopia’s Oromia and Somali regional administrations. Tensions escalated around October 18 over the raising of the Somali regional flag in the disputed Moyale area, reflecting competing claims over territory and authority.

For those arriving in Kenya, the politics are secondary to the immediate question of where they will sleep and what they will feed their children.

Aid stretched on both sides

Mwasaru Mercy, Kenya’s acting commissioner for refugee affairs, told Al Jazeera that a multi-agency government team had been deployed to Moyale. The Department of Refugee Services is coordinating with local authorities and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

But gunfire could still be heard, Mercy said, raising fears of further displacement. Many arrivals need food, shelter, bedding and mosquito nets.

“There are no contingency food stocks specifically for this incident because it happened abruptly,” Mercy said.

Authorities are trying to mobilise humanitarian organisations and donors. A refugee camp has not been established because the security situation must improve first. The government is working with UNHCR to register arrivals and assess their needs.

Those affected include Ethiopians fleeing violence, traders, and Kenyans forced from their homes by stray ammunition, Mercy said.

Fatima Mohammed Cole, UNHCR’s representative in Kenya, said many arrivals were women and children. Families are spread across several locations, including six sites hosting Ethiopians. They need shelter, food and healthcare, while crowded conditions raise concerns about the spread of disease.

Cole said gunfire was still being heard in Moyale and appealed for a ceasefire that would allow families to return home.

The response is also under way inside Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Red Cross Society said it had provided emergency shelter and household items worth about 30 million Ethiopian birr ($182,970) to 1,000 households displaced from Moyale town and surrounding areas.

The supplies included 2,000 tarpaulins, blankets and sleeping mats, as well as dignity kits, jerrycans, kitchen sets, soap and solar lamps. Distribution was under way, the organisation said. The operation is separate from assistance in Kenya.

Host communities under pressure

In Kenya, residents who initially opened their doors are finding it harder to keep going.

Abdi Maalim, a member of the Moyale Cross-Border Peace Committee, told Al Jazeera that some Kenyan families had moved further inland after bullets and heavy weapons landed close to their homes. He called for more border patrols to prevent armed groups from crossing into Kenya.

Families that once cooked for five or six people are now feeding 20 or 30.

Moyale’s role as a trading point between Kenya and Ethiopia has added to the strain. Maalim said trucks carrying goods between Mombasa and Addis Ababa had been stranded near the border for almost two weeks. Kenyan trucks were also stuck in Ethiopia, and businesses in Moyale had slowed sharply.

Bank closures have disrupted the circulation of the Ethiopian birr. Traders reported price rises of about 20 percent as supplies became harder to move.

Fears of wider instability

Security analyst Dr Abdiwahab Sheikh Abdisamad told Al Jazeera that the clashes had grown beyond a local dispute over territory, exposing deeper ethnic divisions and political competition between Ethiopia’s regional administrations.

He said perceptions of Oromo expansionism and allegations of federal government support for Oromia’s regional leadership risked deepening mistrust. He warned that armed fighters crossing the border, stray bullets and further displacement made this a Kenyan security concern as well as a refugee emergency.

Kenya’s Inspector General of Police, Douglas Kanja, said additional officers would be deployed along the border to strengthen security. During a visit to Moyale on November 5, he said Kenya was engaging Ethiopia’s federal government to help end the conflict.

Kanja said about 10,000 people were staying in temporary shelters and public institutions, while others had been taken in by host families. He said one Kenyan had died after being hit by a stray bullet, while a police report indicated that an Ethiopian man had also died from gunshot wounds sustained in Kenya.

The 10,000 figure refers to people in temporary shelters and public institutions, not the total number displaced. It is not directly comparable with the Red Cross estimate of more than 50,000, which includes people staying with host families.

Hassan wants to return home, but only when it is safe. Until then, she and thousands of others depend on host communities and humanitarian agencies. The longer the fighting continues, the harder it will be for those communities to keep absorbing the cost.

Maalim said residents had already stretched their resources to accommodate the new arrivals.

“Previously, we were supplying this town alone. Now we are literally taking care of two towns together,” he told Al Jazeera.

A London judge on Monday sentenced British actor-turned-religious influencer Russell Brand to 10 and a half years in prison after he was convicted on rape and sexual assault charges in the U.K. last week.

Brand, the 51-year-old former bad boy star of comedies including “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Get Him to The Greek,” was convicted by a jury last week of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault involving four different women.

He was also acquitted of two rape counts and one count of attempted indecent assault. The criminal charges originated from his interactions with six different women in the U.K. spanning from the late 1990s to the late aughts. He pleaded not guilty to all charges leading up to the trial, which began Oct. 12 and lasted three weeks.

Brand was first publicly accused of sexual assault in 2023 when the Times of London and Britain’s Channel 4 published a joint investigation into allegations involving several women between 2006 and 2013. More women came forward with their accusations against Brand in wake of the investigation, including a woman who alleged in a civil suit in New York that Brand sexually assaulted her on the set of his 2011 film “Arthur.”

British police first pressed charges against Brand in April 2025, accusing him of single counts of rape, indecent assault, oral rape and two counts of sexual assault involving incidents from 1999 to 2005. Prosecutors accused Brand of raping a woman in the English seaside area of Bournemouth in 1999. Officials also accused Brand of indecently assaulting a second woman in 2001, orally raping and sexually assaulting a third woman in 2004, and sexually assaulting a fourth woman between 2004 to 2005, incidents that allegedly occurred in Westminster, according to U.K. officials. Prosecutors tacked on two additional charges — one count of rape and another count of sexual assault — against Brand in December 2025 for incidents involving two more women in 2009.

He was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman during a birthday party at a London bar in 2004, but acquitted of orally raping her in a restroom, the Associated Press reported. Jurors also found the actor guilty of kissing and groping another woman at a London radio station in 2004 or 2005 and of anally raping a fan at his home after meeting her backstage at one of his comedy shows in 2009. His final conviction was for sexually assaulting another woman who alleged the comedian demanded a massage and pressed his face into her groin while filming an advertisement in 2009.

Shortly after the jury handed down its verdict, police confirmed it provided prosecutors with investigations into two additional rape allegations against the actor.

Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones described the comedian as ruthless, “calculating,” “manipulative” and as a “sexual predator” during the trial while Brand, ex-husband of pop star Katy Perry, denied forcing any of his accusers into sexual encounters. “Consent is fundamental, essential, necessary, and indeed in may ways more important than sex itself,” he told jurors.

Brand also told jurors of the personal toll of the high-profile rape and sexual assault allegations, claiming friends and collaborators cut ties and that no one with relevant evidence wanted to testify on his behalf. Laura Gallacher, Brand’s wife since 2017 and mother of their three children, testified on the actor’s behalf, describing him as a devoted father.

Jurors also heard testimony from Brand’s ex-personal assistant and the actor’s former roommate, who spoke to Brand’s “insane sexual appetite” and ambitious sexual goals, respectively. The actor also acknowledged during cross-examination by Karmy-Jones, he spent part of his earlier life pursuing “beyond reckless philandering” and that he grew “comfortable” using his fame to “facilitate sexual access.” He said that “was wrong.”

“My entire life has been consumed by these events, these allegations, these accusations,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The economy was cited for the number of technology-related employment cuts in the report released by Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Technology job cuts fell to their lowest level of the year in October, with the sector announcing just 5,576 layoffs.

WE blindly trust pilots to get us from A to B – but how hard do they have to work to earn their seat at the front of the plane?

British Airways trains its pilots in a huge 1950s aircraft hangar at Heathrow Airport, which felt more like you’re on the set of Star Wars.

There’s no Luke Skywalker here, but it is impressively large, as one of the biggest dedicated airline training centres in Europe.

The huge building houses numerous giant pods on stilts, some moving around like an alien out of a sci-fi film.

These are the simulators – sims for short – where pilots spend hours taking off, flying and landing across different routes to gain experience.

Narrow bridges led to each white pod and inside, it looks just like a cockpit of the plane – replicated down to every single button.

Read more on travel inspo

GO ON

All the little-known websites for cheap or FREE tickets to gigs, theatre & festivals

SO FLY

Our fave beach hols under 5 hours from UK with Caribbean dupes & £2 bottles of wine

The only difference is there’s a third seat for an instructor, who controls the scenarios played out on a 200-degree screen that displays different airports, routes and weather conditions.

Every active BA pilot returns to the simulator hall twice a year to refresher training – and they invited me down to test how difficult it could possibly be.

Although faced with a million buttons, levers and switches, for takeoff I didn’t use nearly as many as I thought – I had to line up a circle with the centre line and adjust the control column with fractional movements.

Lifting off the pedal beneath my toes and nudging the throttles, I felt the seat rumble beneath me as eyes remained glued to the runway markings whizzing past, waiting for the magic words from the instructor, beside me.

“Rotate,” the instructor Chris Holden, Head of Flight Crew at British Airways and a Training Captain on the airline’s Boeing 787 and Boeing 777 fleets, yelled. That was my cue.

I gently pulled back on the control column and held it, and suddenly the plane was pulling up into the air, with the tarmac runway below quickly disappearing.

And we were in the air – complete with the grumble of tucking in the landing gear and the regular tremble of turbulence.

Once we levelled off above the clouds, I used the time cruising through the sky to grill the instructor and pilot about what really happens at 36,000 feet…

The truth about turbulence

First on my list was a thing all passengers hate – turbulence.

James Bushe, First Officer said: “A few bumps is completely normal – it’s no different to being in a boat on a slightly choppy sea – the boat rocks, but it’s safe.”

But what about dramatic mid-air storms? Especially ones we have seen in the news this year causing passengers to become injured during turbulence.

James added: “There isn’t any weather that scares us because we’re trained to avoid it, not react to it.”

Pilots will use real-time radar and live weather charts to see storms ahead of reaching them.

They will then adjust the course appropriately, sometimes even steering hundreds of miles around a storm.

What if an engine fails?

And when it comes to other nightmare scenarios, such as losing an engine over the ocean, there is an answer.

James explained: “Every commercial aircraft is certified to safely fly on one engine at all times.”

“They are designed to withstand huge forces, huge pressures that are beyond which anything, any beyond any level of turbulence that you would ever ordinarily encounter.”

There are also strict safety corridors across the Atlantic, which means planes are within safe gliding or diversion distance of an emergency runway.

He added: “From a passenger perspective, there’s absolutely nothing to worry about.

“We discuss our diversion plan on every single flight during cruise.”

Flying secrets

Perhaps naively, I thought pilots kick back once at altitude with a cuppa and the newspaper.

Wrong – instead they monitor everything from fuel burn to how hot or cold the cabin is.

James said: “Most of the physical flying is takeoff and landing.

“The work in between is constantly planning for what we would do if something went wrong.

“Even on a crystal-clear, sunny day, we are constantly working to ensure we have a safe plan of where to go.”

Now comfortably at 36,000 feet and set to cruise all the way to Melbourne, Australia – British Airways’ new route launching in January – I was starting to think, how do I remain comfortable during hours of flying?

James said: “I think for a passenger, you’ve got to do whatever makes you feel best and stick to your routine.

“So for passengers who are travelling through the night, have dinner and go to bed as normal.”

And there is even something you can do to avoid jet lag.

“I just drink a load of water. That’s the secret to feeling good when you get off the plane,” he shared.

Making the most of flying

Having travelled all over the globe, James knows a thing or two about making the most of your experience.

James revealed: “Always do a little search for whatever you want to buy to see if you can get a better deal in the local area.

“Because nine times out of ten you can’t in duty free.

“But if you do end up in duty free, always find something that is really specific to the local area and you can either sort of eat, drink or share with your friends.”

Just because your holiday is finished doesn’t mean you can’t have anymore fun.

James said: “Contrary to belief, you can still visit the flight deck.

“Make sure to come at the end of a flight after landing, as we usually have more time and ask the cabin crew first.

“Pilots love aeroplanes and love talking about aeroplanes – so ask us anything because there’s nothing that makes me feel more excited about the job than somebody else asking me about the job.

“Look at all the controls and all the displays and ask away – there is no such thing as a silly question.

“Oh and don’t leave without getting a picture in the pilot’s seat.”

Make sure to look at a pilot’s uniform as well – the captain will have four stripes and everything else varies by airline.

Don’t discredit UK airports either, instead explore them, James recommends.

He shared: “Having experienced airports all over the world now, I would say that the standard of Heathrow is one of the best in the world.

“From the air traffic control in the air, from the moment you reach the channel and get back into UK airspace to the second you reach the gates, it is like a well-oiled machine.

“And once you’re in the air always look out the window – you never know what you might see, such as the Northern Lights or the snowcapped Rockies.”

Goalkeeper: Hannah Hampton (Chelsea, England).

Defenders: Lucy Bronze (Chelsea, England), Alex Greenwood (Manchester City, England), Mapi Leon (Barcelona/London City Lionesses, Spain), Irene Paredes (Barcelona, Spain).

Midfielders: Aitana Bonmati (Barcelona, Spain), Alexia Putellas (Barcelona/London City Lionesses, Spain), Ella Toone (Manchester United, England)

Forwards: Barbra Banda (Orlando Pride, Zambia), Claudia Pina (Barcelona, Spain), Alessia Russo (Arsenal, England)

Tehran, Iran – The Iranian government has reported more strikes by the United States but insists this pressure will not impact its demands to end the war.

Ahmad Nafisi, deputy governor for Hormozgan, where the overnight US strikes hit, confirmed on Monday morning that the southern island of Qeshm was targeted but no residential and commercial areas or vital infrastructure were damaged.

The US did not directly acknowledge the air strikes, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated Washington’s characterisation of similar recent strikes on Qeshm as “defensive”. Previous attacks, the latest of which was acknowledged by President Donald Trump on Friday, have targeted Iranian air defences and radar installations.

Mediators are trying to prevent large-scale US attacks on Iran, which Trump has repeatedly threatened, with talks continuing. But Washington appears unwilling to accept Iran’s seven demands to end the war, which include the lifting of the US blockade on Iran’s southern ports and lifting sanctions on Tehran.

Seven demands

Esmail Baghaei, the spokesman of Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Monday rejected Rubio’s remarks that some of these seven demands were “ridiculous and really not realistic”.

“Iran’s plan is still the most logical plan on the table. I think it can lead to security returning to the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, and create the grounds for a process,” Baghaei said during a news conference in Tehran.

The terms mostly amount to a return to the Islamabad memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in June between Iran and the US. But Tehran now has additional stipulations regarding the future of the Strait of Hormuz.

Baghaei said the US announcement of a reward of up to $20m for information on Iran’s nuclear programme is a ploy by the Trump administration to “convey the sense that the Iranian nuclear issue is still a threat”, after the Republican Party’s heavy defeats in midterm elections.

Tehran says it will not part with its highly enriched uranium, which is believed to be buried under the rubble of facilities bombed by the US and Israel last year. But it is open to downblending the material, which would be needed to build a nuclear bomb.

International inspectors have no access to Iranian nuclear sites, except for the Bushehr nuclear power plant, where the Foreign Ministry said there was a recent visit.

Iran has accused the International Atomic Energy Agency and its director, Rafael Grossi, of stepping out of their technical mandate and creating the grounds for attacks on nuclear facilities during last year’s 12-day war and the current war.

There have been signs of a positive breakthrough in mediation efforts, with reports that Trump and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani will meet in the White House on Monday.

But Andreas Krieg, an associate professor at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera that Washington’s biggest objection to the ongoing mediated talks is that Iran is essentially demanding the rewards of an agreement before providing the concessions to justify one.

“Reopening Hormuz within two days sounds accommodating, but it changes the timetable rather than the substance of the bargain,” he told Al Jazeera about the Iranian proposal.

Both the US and Iran’s Arab neighbours would not accept long-term Iranian-approved shipping corridors in the Strait of Hormuz.

Rubio and other officials are also against Iran’s demand for an end to hostilities across the region, as it would restrict Israel’s military freedom of action.

“Iran is going beyond a ceasefire, trying to translate its wartime leverage into a new regional security arrangement on its own terms,” Krieg said.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Sunday that the country’s military mission in Iran remained unfinished, and threatened Lebanon’s Hezbollah with further territorial losses if it joined an Iranian attack.

Tankers and navigation systems targeted

Iranian authorities continue to warn ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz to refrain from taking “unauthorised” routes or face potential attacks.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) spokesman Hossein Mohebbi rejected the claim by the US that all naval mines have been cleared from the Strait of Hormuz.

“Nobody dares enter the Strait of Hormuz to remove the mines,” he said on Sunday.

Iranian state television reported on Monday that 11 tankers have been attacked over the past 10 days, with four unable to continue transit.

IRGC-affiliated media cited an unnamed IRGC Navy source as claiming on Monday that maritime navigation systems were targeted in the southern areas of the waterway overnight, preventing tankers from transiting as part of the US-coordinated oil shuttle system.

Trump played down the prospects of a return to all-out war with Iran on Sunday, but added that the US military had marked civilian infrastructure like 38 bridges as targets if the war restarts at scale.

Krieg said he expects Tehran to continue its strategy of “controlled escalation” rather than immediate all-out retaliation against the US strikes.

“The new American effort to disrupt Iran’s overland trade will reinforce this strategy. Tehran will increasingly seek to make the Gulf states bear the economic consequences of Washington’s decisions, hoping they will pressure Trump towards compromise,” Krieg said.

“Washington may believe it is conducting a limited campaign of coercion, while Tehran increasingly sees an unrestricted economic war against its survival. At some point, Iran may decide that the costs of continued restraint exceed the risks of escalation.”

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

A British court has sentenced comedian and actor Russell Brand to 10 years and six months in prison for rape and sexual assault.

London’s Southwark Crown Court handed down the sentence on Monday. Brand was convicted last week of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three more between 2004 and 2009.

The British media personality, known for outrageous stand-up routines and battles with drugs and alcohol, asserted that he was innocent and all his encounters were consensual.

However, a jury of eight men and four women on Thursday convicted him attacking four of six accusers. He was cleared of two counts of rape and one count of attempted indecent assault.

His victims delivered powerful statements during the sentencing hearing, describing the trauma his attacks had caused.

More to come…

BBC Children In Need is back with Owain Wyn Evans embarking on his mammoth fundraiser ahead of the 2026 live show

Children In Need is one of the biggest fundraisers of the year.

And now as Owain Wyn Evans kicks off his mammoth cycle challenge for 2026, the countdown is well and truly on for this year’s big show on BBC One.

People across the country will be taking part in their own fundraisers to help boost the coffers of the appeal, which believes every child and young person deserves the opportunity to thrive and be the best they can be.

BBC Children in Need’s 1,500 local charities and projects work tirelessly throughout the UK to help children and young people overcome the additional challenges they currently face.

Among those the appeal helps are those living in poverty, providing emergency support to families in crisis, providing comfort to children feeling sad, lost and alone, helping children overcome social injustice and supporting children to feel safe and secure again.

When can I watch Children In Need 2026?

Children In Need 2026 will be broadcast on BBC One on Friday, November 13 from 7pm. The show will run for three hours when there will famous faces, dazzling performances, exclusive sketches, big surprises and Pudsey Bear, live from MediaCityUK in Salford.

The One Show Challenge Squad tackle new challenges to make a difference to other young lives and Owain Wyn Evans is live in the studio after his 400-mile four nations cycle challenge. Plus, the Children in Need choir sing a medley live to help raise money for the charity.

Ensure our latest Match of the Day stories always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings

Who is presenting the BBC show?

Alex Jones, Mel Giedroyc, Rylan, Sara Cox and Tyler West will team up on the night. It comes 12 months after BBC Radio 2’s Breakfast Show presenter Sara took part in her own mega challenge for the appeal when she ran five marathons in five days, raising millions and becoming a national treasure in the process.

To mark the start of this year’s campaign, several of the stars visited St Andrew’s Club in Westminster, a BBC Children in Need-funded youth project supporting children and young people in the local community.

Mel said: “BBC Children in Need has an incredible ability to bring people together to make a difference for children and young people across the UK. This year’s Appeal is all about making sure every child has someone by their side when they need it most, and everyone can play a part in that.

“Whether you take on a challenge, donate or support a fundraiser in your community, every contribution helps provide vital support and opportunities for young people. Let’s get behind BBC Children in Need and help make this year’s Appeal the biggest yet!”

Children In Need is on BBC One on Friday, November 13 at 7pm

SACRAMENTO — Billions of words have been regurgitated analyzing how Democrats flipped so many Republican seats last week. But all that’s really needed are five: Americans flipped off the president.

My quick in-depth elaboration:

Sure, voters were fed up with a botched war that raised gas prices to an intolerable level. And they were stung financially by nonsense tariffs that jacked up costs for farming, food, manufacturing and household necessities, including Halloween candy. But there was much more.

Americans were disgusted by the bullying, vindictiveness, ICE thuggery, self-enrichment and the president’s vain focus on monuments to himself, including a silly medieval ballroom, a hideous arch and an algae-laden reflecting pool.

Beyond that, they’d lost respect for the Republican lemmings in Congress who were too cowardly to back away from President Trump and chart their own path instead of sheepishly trailing him to the fatal cliff.

OK, enough of that.

These are other observations from the election:

First, as it turns out, one additional proposition should have been placed on the California ballot: a referendum on the death penalty.

Gov. Gavin Newsom should have shown respect for voters and asked them whether they wanted to abolish capital punishment. Especially since he promised while initially running for governor to “be accountable to the will of the voters. … I would not [put] my personal opinions in the way of the public’s right to make a determination [on] the death penalty.”

Voters rejected death penalty repeals in 2012 and 2016. In fact, they voted to expedite executions in 2016.

But soon after taking office in 2019, Newsom declared a moratorium on capital punishment. And his successor-elect, Xavier Becerra, has promised to maintain the policy. OK.

But last week, Newsom took an unprecedented extra step by announcing he will commute the death sentences of all 548 convicted murderers awaiting execution, reducing their punishments to life in prison without parole.

“I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California values,” Newsom declared. That’s his opinion. But he should have asked Californians about their values.

Back to the actual election:

Trump’s and the GOP’s self-immolation was sparked in Texas and that’s where they ultimately perished so dramatically.

The president last year strong-armed Gov. Greg Abbott into gerrymandering Texas’ U.S. House seats so Republicans could pick up five. And that triggered a national gerrymandering war that the GOP lost spectacularly.

Newsom and California smartly countered Trump and Texas by gerrymandering our House districts. Voters agreed by approving Proposition 50. Last week, Democrats gained five redrawn seats in California, while Republicans were losing many in Texas and all over America. Abbott was ousted as governor, and Texas even elected its first Democratic U.S. senator since 1988.

Not even Sam Houston could have saved Texas Republicans on Nov. 3.

Another observation:

Look at the vote count in any California statewide race where a Democrat and Republican competed — whether it was Becerra versus Steve Hilton or some other partisan constitutional office. The voting percentages are the same: roughly 65% Democrat, 35% Republican — landslide numbers in all six races mimicking each other.

What does that tell us? The campaigns and the candidates didn’t matter. All that mattered was whether the candidate was a “D” or an “R.” This is how polarized we’ve become.

Most of us are voting a straight party ticket — a far cry from my parents’ proud boast in the 1950s that they voted “for the candidate, not the party.” That was healthy. This is not, although last week’s blowout in congressional elections was certainly justified.

The blue wave also swept over state elections like an El Niño storm washing away an entire beach front.

Democrats increased their supermajorities in both California legislative chambers, very likely leaving Republicans with their fewest Senate and Assembly seats since the 1880s, according to veteran political analyst Tony Quinn.

Another watershed, of course, was California’s first election of a Latino governor.

There wasn’t even one Latino legislator when I first began covering the state Capitol as a twirp reporter in 1961. Now, the governor-elect and the top leader of each legislative chamber are Latinos. And California’s senior U.S. senator is a Latino.

For decades, California was a purple state that alternately elected Democrats and Republicans to high office. That changed after 1994 when the GOP aggressively backed the infamous Proposition 187 to deny public services, including education, to undocumented immigrants. The measure was ruled unconstitutional. But 187 awakened Latinos politically in California. And the GOP slid into the abyss.

Proposition “187 is where it started. And the party really has never gotten out from under it,” says Quinn, a former Republican redistricting guru.

Trump failed to learn from the California GOP’s fatal attraction to immigration politics. Instead, he angered Latino voters everywhere by brutally corralling brown-skinned people for deportation without cause.

Mike Madrid, a former Republican strategist who wrote a book on Latino politics, says Trump’s “ICE raids terror” was “no question a big part” of what turned Latinos against the GOP after they moved toward the party in 2024.

And in California and Texas, Madrid notes, Latinos jumped at the chance to “elect one of their own” as governor.

“Let me make something crystal clear,” Becerra said in his election night victory speech, “I didn’t run to make history. I ran to make a difference. … California is exceptional, but it is far from perfect. We have a lot of work to do.”

He’ll have no excuse not to make a substantial difference with a record legislative supermajority to help, a friendly Congress and a weakened White House enemy.

In America, we rebel against tyrants. Reread the Declaration of Independence, whose 250th anniversary we’re fittingly celebrating this historic election year.

Across the country, voters chose to rebel against the despot president and Make America Great Again.

What else you should be reading

The must-read: With death sentence clemency, Newsom takes another big political risk
California vs. Trump: Feds move to dismiss case over 20,000 ballots after Supreme Court denied appeal
The L.A. Times Special: What Becerra’s historic win says about Latino political power in California

Until next week,
George Skelton

—
Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here to get it in your inbox.

The 2030 edition of the World Cup will be held in the US and the Pacific Islands.

The five host cities are yet to be confirmed, but the men’s and women’s tournaments will run concurrently, as they are with this year’s tournament, which is currently being held in Australia.

World governing body International Rugby League (IRL) said the aim was to expand the sport’s reach to new countries.

“This is a strategy to maximise the interest of broadcasters, government partners and fans in the current World Cup, which has regularly broken records for crowds and the number of television viewers,” IRL chairman Tony Grant said at the board’s annual general meeting (AGM) in Sydney.

“At the same time we want to take advantage of opportunities that are opening up in new frontiers where the Rugby League World Cup hasn’t previously been played.”

Grant said the men’s World Cup would expand from 10 teams to 12, while the women’s event would consist of 10 instead of eight.

The format of the 2026 World Cup has come under scrutiny for jumping from the group stage to the semi-finals.

However, that structure appears to have been retained for the 2030 tournament, which will be played over five weeks in five cities.

Three pool rounds have been designed to mimic a ‘Magic Round’ format before the semi-finals and finals take place in different locations.

The IRL has proposed that Samoa and Tonga be promoted to Tier One nations alongside Australia, England and New Zealand.

Samoa became the first Pacific country to play in a World Cup final in 2022, while they and Tonga both reached the semi-finals of this year’s tournament.

The 2030 Wheelchair World Cup will take place at the same time, but will be held in France, while the 2034 tournament will be hosted in Europe.

Eligibility rules have also been updated so that a player may represent their nation of heritage if they, a parent, a grandparent or a great grandparent were born there, following a detailed submission from the Cook Islands.

Both men’s and women’s finals of the 2026 tournament are being contested between Australia and New Zealand in Brisbane on Sunday.

Australia’s men have won the past three World Cups, while their women are playing in their fifth successive final.

Ali, who fled Somalia’s civil war and settled in London, won the controversial split-decision fight against American Kreps to claim IBO and WBF junior featherweight belts.

Ramla Ali, a British Somali boxer whose life story is the subject of a new film, has realised a long-held dream and won her first world title to claim two vacant junior featherweight belts in the United States.

The 36-year-old landed the biggest titles of her career by winning the IBO and WBF belts in a controversial split-decision victory over American fighter Mikiah Kreps in Arlington, Texas, on Sunday.

The nail-biting nature of the 10-round contest should not have come as too much of a surprise as the duo are former sparring partners and ended the night with an expression of mutual respect.

“Mikiah, I want to share this victory with you because you pushed me for 10 rounds,” an emotional Ali said while addressing her opponent, whom she stopped from exiting the ring after being declared winner.

“I kept saying I’m so tired because your work rate was next level. I don’t know how I kept up, so thank you for being such a great boxer.”

The 30-year-old Niagara Falls native reciprocated the emotion. “I respect you,” Kreps said as both fighters wrapped an arm around each other.

During the fight, Ali had Kreps on the canvas in round three, but she was behind her younger opponent in the overall punch count at the end of the fight.

The outcome of the fight caused controversy from the moment the referee lifted Ali’s arm when the decision was announced.

According to the official punch statistics from the fight, Kreps outlanded Ali by 115 blows to 78 and the American was also way ahead in the power shot count.

One judge scored the bout 98-91 for Kreps but the other judges saw the fight differently and gave Ali the decision win with scores of 97-92 and 96-93.

Veteran promoter Lou Di Bella wrote on social media, “Mikiah Kreps won that fight and it wasn’t even close. Stevie Wonder could see that.”

From Somalia’s civil war to world champion

The external noise would have mattered little to Ali who dropped to her knees when the scores were announced.

Ali and her family are no strangers to adversity, having settled in London in 1992 after fleeing Somalia during its civil war.

Years after picking up the sport as a teenager in East London, Ali became the first Somali boxer to compete at the Olympic Games when she represented the country of her birth at Tokyo 2020. She later became the first Muslim woman to win an English amateur boxing title.

Ali’s journey has provided the inspiration for the movie ‘In the Shadows’ starring Top Boy actor Jasmine Jobson.

The fighter lost her father earlier this year and said she stayed up all night prior to the fight, wishing he would have been around to see her in the ring.

“My father passed away in May so I was really emotional,” she said in a post-fight interview with All The Smoke Boxing.

“Every round, I kept going to my corner to tell my coach I couldn’t do it anymore because I was physically exhausted. I boxed through my skin and I’m glad I got the victory.”

Ali’s career has always been multi-dimensional. As a model and Unicef ambassador, she has projected her voice beyond sporting arenas.

“I can’t put into words what this means to me and what this means to all of Somalia,” she said, fighting back tears, while standing inside the ring.

“I’ve hopefully inspired so many young girls and boys out there to dream big and that’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”

Shortly after Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s visit to Riyadh last week, reports emerged that Damascus was aiding Saudi Arabia in its war against Yemen’s Houthis, an armed group also known as Ansar Allah (Arabic for Supporters of God) and backed by Iran.

Security and financial aid appeared to be the cornerstone of the meeting between al-Sharaa and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which concluded with Riyadh pledging $403m in loans to help Syria rebuild infrastructure damaged by 13 years of its civil war.

Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates noted that cooperation between the two countries’ defence ministries was the “most notable” of the deals, but it did not elaborate.

Days after the visit concluded, media reports suggested Syria was sending fighters to Saudi Arabia to help fight the Houthis. The Reuters news agency reported that Syria was providing Riyadh with military advice and training inside the kingdom after Saudi cities were targeted in hundreds of Houthi missile attacks.

On Sunday, Syrian officials told The Associated Press news agency that Damascus has already sent Syrian military advisers to Saudi Arabia and 600 special forces were due to arrive in the kingdom next week.

Despite denying the initial reports, a Syrian government official told the state’s news agency SANA that Syrian soldiers were sent to Saudi Arabia in a “training, expertise exchange and military consultations” capacity.

“The Syrian role would probably count for more in Riyadh than on Yemen’s front lines because it would show that the new Syria can share a partner’s security burden,” Nanar Hawach, a Syrian analyst, told Al Jazeera, adding that even a training and support role from the Syrian government rather than a direct combat role would satisfy Riyadh.

“The reports and the denials can both be partly right since Syrian officers training Yemeni forces inside the kingdom is different from Syrian troops fighting in Yemen. If Syrian forces are involved, Damascus has good reasons to avoid acknowledging it, from avoiding retaliation to reassuring Syrians that rebuilding at home comes first,” Hawach explained.

Houthi threat

Yemen has been a central concern for Saudi Arabia since Houthi fighters captured the capital, Sanaa, in September 2014. Saudi Arabia has led an Arab military coalition to support Yemen’s internationally recognised government since March 2015. It has provided material and air support to anti-Houthi forces.

Saudi Arabia has been eager to form a regional military alliance that would help counter the threats from the Houthis and their patron Iran.

Tehran’s attacks on its Gulf neighbours since the US-Israel war on Iran began on February 28 and recent Houthi missile strikes on Saudi cities have highlighted the need for a regional security umbrella.

The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, agreed by Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan in August, has been viewed as a mechanism for this collective defence by many in Riyadh.

Syria and its thousands of battle-hardened soldiers with some expertise in drone warfare would be considered a useful addition to this alliance. The Syrian official who spoke to SANA said the current military arrangement between Damascus and Riyadh could lead to Syria joining the Mecca Defence Alliance.

“Interest in the Mecca pact could reflect Syria’s wish to anchor its recovery in a regional security framework. Yemen is far enough away for Damascus to present any role as standing by an Arab partner while Lebanon is next door, and intervention would reopen its history there and risk destabilising Syria itself,” Hawach said.

“However, distance does not make it cost-free. Confronting Iran’s allies anywhere invites retaliation, and soldiers killed far from home would be hard to justify to a public that expects peace to bring recovery.”

Syrian expertise

Syria’s post-war government has already come under pressure to act militarily outside its borders. US President Donald Trump has spoken numerous times this year about trying to get Syria to intervene in Lebanon to help disarm Hezbollah, another Iran-backed group.

Syrian rebels have been deployed to other conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa during their attempts to overthrow Bashar al-Assad’s government from 2011 to 2024. Syrian fighters allegedly took part in Azerbaijan’s war against Armenia in 2020.

“Syrians are combat-experienced and -capable, and they’re cohesive, so there’s a potential tactical advantage there,” Rob Geist Pinfold, a lecturer on security studies at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera.

“Overall, this is very much a common Saudi approach to strategy and security issues, basically leaning on partners they courted through diplomatic links.”

Since the fall of al-Assad’s regime in December 2024, Saudi Arabia is believed to have been instrumental in helping the US remove Assad-era sanctions on Syria, which has been critical in legitimising the post-war government in Damascus.

With Saudi Arabia now fully embroiled in the Yemen war by backing its internationally recognised government and being targeted by regular Houthi air attacks, the deployment of Syrian troops would provide it with additional expertise and guidance on how to confront the Houthis.

The AFP news agency reported that Syrians in Yemen are now leading drone operations against the Houthis although the Syrian government has denied these claims.

Samy Akil, senior programme adviser with The Syria Report website, said Syria’s cooperation gives Riyadh another ally in the region and potential partner in the Mecca Defence Alliance.

“Syria has so far tried to navigate different competing regional interests across several regional capitals. It tried to not align itself with a specific camp, but I think as time goes on, it needs to kind of start settling on [a] hierarchy in terms of regional partners, and obviously, Saudi Arabia is one of the top contenders to do so,” he told Al Jazeera.

“It’s basically signalling that Syria is willing to support and help with the limited resources and capabilities it has, but it also inadvertently legitimises the Syrian government’s foreign policy approach of supporting regional countries and kind of showcase that it is not only a country that is asking for support, but it is also a country willing to provide support.”

With Israeli raids and attacks on southwestern Syria continuing, Damascus could also benefit from having a regional power such as Saudi Arabia as an ally.

“The fact is that Syria recognises that it has little policy options to deter a further entrenchment of Israeli forces into southern Syria in [the] hope that the potential of joining the [Mecca] agreement would act somewhat of a deterrence to, at the very least, stop further encroachment of Israeli troops in Quneitra and Daraa.”

A ‘magical’ Christmas advert could be taking the top spot this year, as fans have been left with ‘all the feels’.

The National Lottery might be set to take John Lewis’ Christmas advert crown.

With Halloween well and truly over, and the weather taking a colder turn, the countdown to the big day is on, with brands releasing their festive adverts. So far, James Norton and Amandaland’s Lucy Punch have starred in an M&S clip, while Roald Dahl’s BFG has reunited with Sainsbury’s.

And fans have now been left hailing The National Lottery’s clip as ‘magical’. Featuring a determined reindeer who believes he can fly after watching a robin take off, viewers have been left ‘emotional’. The star of the show focuses on The National Lottery’s simple idea that this festive season, ‘Amazing Things Happen When You Believe’.

Despite the obvious adversity, the four-hoofed creature works as hard as he can, making repeated attempts to get airborne. At first, with no success, fellow members of his herd are unimpressed with his efforts, before his belief gets him soaring across a wintry landscape, thanks to a touch of festive magic.

As well as his herd watching on, a hiker, gripping a warm drink nearby, is left gobsmacked as he catches sight of the airborne deer. He grasps his National Lottery ticket, now convinced that if a reindeer can fly, anything is possible.

“Magical,” one fan wrote, as the clip was revealed on social media this week. “It’s going to be a special Christmas,” someone else wrote. A third added: “Getting alllll the Christmas feels watching this.”

“Pure magic,” yet another added, as someone else echoed: “Love it.” Another person said: “Such a cutie – needs merch! We all need a magical reindeer – and to believe!!!” “Not me getting emotionally attached to a reindeer,” another person wrote.

Steve Parkinson, Marketing and Brand Director at Allwyn, the operator for The National Lottery, said: “With his determination and cheeky smile, the reindeer represents the belief we all have across the festive period. His drive to fly is the inspiration to remind players that amazing things can happen at Christmas.

“The National Lottery has always helped bring the magic at Christmas, and with the help of a flying reindeer, this year will be more magical than ever.

“Every National Lottery ticket played goes towards helping generate more than £33m for Good Causes each week, while also creating life-changing winners. This campaign celebrates those moments of possibility and reminds players that, this Christmas, it really could be you.”

Ensure our latest TV stories always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings

Ahead of Christmas, National Lottery players will also see inspiring Good Cause stories brought to life by ambassador Claudia Winkleman, as more than 20,000 projects each year make a difference to communities across the country.

Lotto is adding to the Christmas spirit with a Must Be Won jackpot on December 23rd, while EuroMillions will make ten guaranteed millionaires twice in December, with two special UK Millionaires Maker draws on the 25th and 29th.

WEST ORANGE, N.J.  — America’s film industry flickered to life in this state with a chip on its shoulder.

In 1888, inventor Thomas A. Edison began developing a motion picture camera at his West Orange laboratory. His crew built an odd-shaped soundstage — giving birth to moviemaking. But soon, New Jersey lost the action to flashier New York and, then, the industry famously moved west to sunny Los Angeles, where it prospered for a century.

But filmmakers are back in New Jersey, and production is booming again.

Film activity in Los Angeles has plummeted to historic lows, with devastating consequences for crews and vendors. This series examines how L.A. lost its dominant perch as a film and TV destination and what can be done to bring Hollywood back home.

At a time when filming in Los Angeles has plunged to historic lows, New Jersey has soared, becoming one of the nation’s hottest film destinations and squeezing into the limelight of its bigger neighbor across the Hudson River.

State leaders have rolled out the red carpet. They have adopted aggressive tax credits and awarded up to $387 million to Netflix to build a $1-billion studio complex at Ft. Monmouth, a former U.S. Army base near the Jersey Shore. More than 80 buildings have been bulldozed, and on a recent afternoon, towering yellow cranes dotted the loam as soundstages, mills and office space began to take shape.

Less than 10 years ago, total movie and TV production spending in New Jersey was a mere $67 million, according to the state’s Economic Development Authority. By 2025, industry spending in the Garden State had reached $1.2 billion, as reported by production data firm ProdPro, behind only California, New York and Georgia.

Lionsgate Studios is developing six soundstages on the site of a former housing complex in Newark, N.J.

(Aristide Economopoulos / For The Times)

Meanwhile, California’s film spending declined 37% to $5.2 billion from 2021 to 2025.

Nearly three dozen major films and TV projects were produced in New Jersey in 2025, double the count of five years ago, ProdPro said.

Adam Sandler and Chris Rock have been shooting a comedy sequel, “Grown Ups 3,” for Netflix. Actor-director Dan Levy and his crew turned a Metuchen video arcade into a yarn-and-crafts store for their Netflix series “Big Mistakes.” Last month, George Clooney and Annette Bening were spotted at Baron’s Drug Store in Westfield, filming scenes for an upcoming movie.

Fox’s “The Masked Singer” struck a chord this past summer when it left Los Angeles after 14 seasons and settled into an old sports complex, the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford.

Prolific TV showrunners Michelle and Robert King are making their new CBS drama, “Cupertino,” in a converted warehouse in Kearny, on the banks of the Hackensack River.

“We are welcome here. … The governor of New Jersey came to our set,” Robert King said in an interview. “They really want the talent coming in and all of the infrastructure that gets built up around it.”

Jon Crowley, former director of New Jersey’s Motion Picture & Television Commission, noted the irony of how the state was winning back a business that had shifted more than a century ago to Hollywood. Then, industry pioneers balked at paying the steep licensing fees to Edison’s Motion Picture Patents Co. for use of cameras, projectors and Kodak film stock.

“Taxes drove the filmmakers away and now, tax incentives are bringing them back again,” Crowley said.

How New Jersey became a Hollywood player

New Jersey’s Hollywood revival was years in the making.

There were early stumbling blocks. Former Gov. Chris Christie vetoed bills to reinstate tax credits and, in 2011, he blocked a $420,000 credit for MTV’s loud and boozy reality show “Jersey Shore,” saying taxpayers shouldn’t foot the bill for a “project which does nothing more than perpetuate misconceptions about the State and its citizens.”

Another problem was that New Jersey had been somewhat typecast as run-down. HBO audiences had come to view the state that produced Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, Jon Bon Jovi and Joe Pesci through a lens of a particular mob family.

“Most people, when they think of Jersey, they think of the rusty-bridge opening from ‘The Sopranos,’” Crowley said. “They don’t have a picture in their mind of our beaches, our snow-capped mountains, our small towns, our big cities — and the open farmland.”

Michael Imperioli, left, James Gandolfini and Tony Sirico star in Season 2 of “The Sopranos,” the popular HBO series set in New Jersey.

(HBO)

Former Gov. Phil Murphy, first elected in 2017, thought the state was leaving money on the table. At the time, TV and movie production was surging in New York, California’s biggest rival.

The Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” starring Timothée Chalamet, was one of New Jersey’s most significant projects for 2024, with 60 filming days in the state.

(Macall Polay / Searchlight Pictures)

“We felt, you know what, we’ve got as much talent as anybody,” Murphy told The Times. “We’ve got the best location that money could buy.”

New Jersey could pull New York’s Broadway, film and TV talent for union shoots within the city’s Thirty-Mile Zone, beyond which producers must pay extra costs for hotels and other travel expenses.

What’s more, an estimated 20% of New York-area film crews live in New Jersey.

“We’re a big pro-union state and … this is a big union industry,” Murphy said. “There was no reason why we couldn’t be claiming a big slice.”

His team got to work by prioritizing economic incentives that would attract private sector investment.

“Putting Jersey back on the map was a big part of our administration’s energies,” said Murphy, who left office in January after two terms. “Film, television and digital led the way.”

He and Tim Sullivan, then the state’s economic development chief, flew to Los Angeles, toured major studios and met with top executives to size up the needs of the fast-changing business. They wanted to duplicate a modern studio complex — Great Point Studios — that had just opened in Yonkers, N.Y.

Great Point Studios founder Robert Halmi, a New York movie producer — who worked alongside his late father to create hundreds of TV shows, movies and miniseries, including “Lonesome Dove,” “Gulliver’s Travels” and “Alice in Wonderland” — recalled his early interactions with Murphy.

“His pitch was: ‘What would it take to get you guys to come to New Jersey?’” Halmi said in a recent interview.

Halmi got to the point.

“Shows follow the money, and the money in this instance is tax incentives,” Halmi said.

Robert Halmi, founder and CEO of Great Point Studios, is leading the construction of six soundstages for Lionsgate Studios in Newark, N.J.

(Aristide Economopoulos / For The Times)

With Murphy’s backing, New Jersey in 2018 adopted transferable tax credits of up to 35% for companies that film in the state.

The state has since bolstered its program, allowing a portion of salaries of actors and other big wage earners to be included in the tax credit calculation unlike California, which excludes these above-the-line costs and also has per-project caps. And unlike with neighbor New York, producers do not need to shoot in a certified film stage to qualify.

The state became a canvas two years ago for the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” from Walt Disney’s Searchlight Pictures. The Oscar-nominated movie, starring Timothée Chalamet, filmed over 60 days in dozens of locations, including Jersey City, which stood in for 1960s Greenwich Village.

Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi thriller “Disclosure Day,” from Universal Pictures, also shot across New Jersey and New York last year. So did the just-released Sylvester Stallone underdog biopic, “I Play Rocky.”

To spur long-term growth, New Jersey also gave three major entertainment companies preferential status as “studio partners”: Netflix, Paramount and Lionsgate, the Santa Monica-based studio that Halmi has worked with for years.

Those companies get a 40% base tax credit for qualified expenses, in return for making a 10-year commitment in the state, and access to an additional tax incentive pool of $150 million annually.

“Putting Jersey back on the map was a big part of our administration’s energies,” former New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said. “Film, television and digital led the way.”

(Seth Wenig / Associated Press)

New Jersey last year extended its tax incentive program to 2049. The film commission also worked with dozens of municipalities to streamline on-location permitting.

Leaders set a goal of building a sustainable industry.

“It’s not just dump-trucking money to create something out of nothing and then, as soon as the incentives dry up, it’s bye-bye,” said Evan Weiss, who became chief executive of the state’s Economic Development Authority this year.

But New Jersey lacked the infrastructure — production campuses, soundstages and nearby businesses that feed the industry, such as camera equipment rentals, lumber mills and wardrobe suppliers.

“Everyone gets excited when Timothée Chalamet is in town, but the program is about job creation: below-the-line jobs in things like trucking, carpentry, set design, hair and makeup, and catering,” Sullivan said.

So the state incentivized companies to build studio complexes.

“For bricks-and-mortar [projects] to work, you really need three key ingredients: the local crew base … local government support … and the third thing is tax incentives,” Halmi said. “New Jersey brought all those things to us basically on a silver platter.”

Great Point Studios is building six soundstages for Lionsgate at the site of the former Seth Boyden housing complex in Newark, N.J.

(Aristide Economopoulos / For The Times)

Halmi’s company, Great Point Studios, is building a $200-million, 270,000-square-foot complex in south Newark with Lionsgate Films as its anchor tenant. The location is strategic — minutes from Newark’s airport and 12 miles from Manhattan.

The 12-acre site is designed to support six soundstages, a mill, storage and office space. Construction has been in high gear to complete the project’s first phase by June.

On a recent morning, a parade of tractors hauling precast 12-inch-thick concrete slabs rumbled onto the property. Workers welded trusses to support 10,000- to 30,000-square-foot stages.

Local officials hope the project breathes life into a decayed district.

The development replaced a Depression-era public housing project, a notorious cluster of brick high-rises that were condemned because of crime and safety concerns. The buildings sat hollow for a decade. A nearby Anheuser-Busch brewery shut down in January after 75 years, leaving a hodgepodge of storefronts — a Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen, McDonald’s, an auto parts store and Focus On Jesus Bible Church.

Leon Lee grew up in Newark. The construction foreman surveyed the transformation with pride — and relief.

“It will give this area a nice facelift,” Lee said. “Businesses and stores will follow.”

Netflix takes over Ft. Monmouth

The biggest bet is about 40 miles away in bucolic Monmouth County.

Netflix is creating a massive compound on 292 acres at Ft. Monmouth, with significant help — up to $387 million — from state taxpayers.

For 94 years, Ft. Monmouth was home to the Army’s communications branch, the Signal Corps. The base served as test grounds for radio-equipped weather balloons and radar technology. Army homing pigeons once roosted here.

The base closed as part of a nationwide realignment.

“Ft. Monmouth was left for dead,” Murphy said.

The fallow 1,100-acre tract became a signature project of Murphy’s revitalization campaign. In 2022, Netflix agreed to pay $55 million for nearly a third of the real estate that straddles two boroughs, Eatontown and Oceanport. The acquisition was finalized late last year, and Netflix brought in crews to raze dozens of old military buildings.

Ft. Monmouth was the Signal Corps’ home for 94 years.

(Aristide Economopoulos / For The Times)

The Netflix project was part of the state’s Aspire economic development program, which has also been used to build housing and renovate hospitals.

The streamer plans to spend about $850 million to create a leafy campus with 12 soundstages to bring 500,000-square feet of studio space into central Jersey for Netflix productions.

A few historic Army structures, including soldier memorials, will remain on the grounds, which is a few miles from the seaside city of Long Branch, where Netflix co-Chief Executive Ted Sarandos was born.

The construction, and eventual studios, will create thousands of jobs and anchor what some have dubbed “Hollywood East.” The ambition is to erect a more modern and more spacious version of a Burbank movie lot, right off the Garden State Parkway.

“We are leveraging state resources to attract private investment, create good-paying jobs, support small businesses, and generate economic activity in communities across the state,” Gov. Mikie Sherrill said in a statement. “This remarkable growth demonstrates what is possible when government serves as a strategic partner in economic development.”

More than 80 buildings have been bulldozed at the former Ft. Monmouth to make room for new studios.

(Aristide Economopoulos / For The Times)

The first phase should be complete by next fall, bringing more capacity for Netflix, which already is the state’s largest producer. Last year, the streamer said it filmed nearly 20 productions in the state. It has received enhanced New Jersey tax credits since 2024.

“Everyone wants us to succeed: the governor’s office, the mayor of the 6,000-person town of Eatontown and the labor unions,” said Will Castleberry, Netflix’s head of state regulatory and production policy. “We have gone into a place where we’re all working together to do something pretty cool.”

Netflix’s comedy series “Big Mistakes,” with Dan Levy, Boran Kuzum and Taylor Ortega, films in New Jersey.

(Spencer Pazer / Netflix)

Netflix is building 12 soundstages at the former Ft. Monmouth in Eatontown, N.J.

(Aristide Economopoulos / For The Times)

New Jersey’s film industry was among the fastest growing in the country last year, gaining nearly 2,000 jobs. Officials expect another surge once the Lionsgate, Netflix and other studios open, easing a shortage of studio space that has prompted some projects to film in New York.

“We’re looking at new studio stage space right now to help fulfill that demand,” said Scott Levy, owner of Eastern Effects, which converted the warehouse in Kearny into a cavernous stage, which CBS leased for “Cupertino.”

“But you’re talking a very expensive real estate market, and a very costly conversion,” he said.

Scott Levy’s Eastern Effects converted a warehouse in Kearny, N.J., into a soundstage that is now home to CBS’ legal drama “Cupertino.”

(Aristide Economopoulos / For The Times)

Lenders have been rattled by the misfortunes of some independent studio owners, including Culver City-based Hackman Capital Partners, which defaulted on loans to purchase the former CBS-Radford lot in Studio City and Kaufman Astoria Studios in New York — Paramount Pictures’ original home — after a nationwide production contraction.

“Nobody wants to over-commit and then get stuck: doing the right thing for the industry, but then being left with a problem,” Levy said.

The most ambitious studio project remains a dream at the foot of the Bayonne Bridge.

This is where French hedge fund manager and investor Arpad “Arki” Busson plans to build 1888 Studios, a $1.2-billion film and TV complex on the site of a former Chevron oil field and refinery.

Busson drew inspiration from L.A.’s historic studio lots. Architecture giant Gensler designed the 58-acre project to feature 17 buildings with an Art Deco aesthetic, as well as a water tower, bungalows, commissaries and a public promenade along the waterfront.

“We want to really create a home for content makers, a place where they feel that creativity is bursting,” Busson said on a recent afternoon as he walked the perimeter of the vacant parcel as winds whipped in from Newark Bay.

His firm, New York-based Togus Urban Renewal, controls an additional 20 acres of water, where he plans to park barges to be used as floating back lots.

“We want to offer the best facility,” Busson said. “A place where crews feel that it is a welcoming place to work.”

A rendering of 1888 Studios’ New Jersey production facility, which is in development.

(Togus Urban Renewal)

It took more than two years to prepare the land, a brownfield site. More than 1 million cubic yards of fill was trucked in to elevate the property by 16 feet.

New Jersey has promised a 10-year Aspire Program tax credit of up to $400 million for the construction.

After an introduction by state officials, Paramount signed on to become 1888 Studios’ anchor tenant, committing to lease nearly 300,000 square feet.

The arrangement allows Paramount and CBS productions, now owned by David Ellison’s Skydance, to qualify for the enhanced 40% transferable tax credit.

December’s groundbreaking ceremony was a headline-making event, drawing Murphy and other luminaries, including model-businessperson Elle Macpherson, who shares two sons with Busson. One is a studios’ project manager.

The family is seeking financing to begin construction next spring and open in 2029.

The 1888 Studios project is located next to New Jersey’s Bayonne Bridge.

(Aristide Economopoulos / For The Times)

Busson plans to name structures after notable New Jersey residents, including rocker Bon Jovi.

The studios’ name is a nod to the year Edison applied for a patent for the first movie camera.

“This was the place of birth of the industry, and clearly, the idea is to bring it back to Jersey,” Busson said.

Kearny playing Cupertino

Robert and Michelle King, both California natives, didn’t consider filming “Cupertino” in their home state, even though the legal drama is ostensibly set in the heart of Silicon Valley.

They’ve long produced their shows in New York, including “The Good Wife” and “The Good Fight.” Their CBS crime solver, “Elsbeth,” is set in the city, and they’d envisioned producing their latest legal drama near the same complex.

But CBS executives suggested they check out New Jersey for “Cupertino.”

“We had a scout go out, going: ‘Oh, dear God, what are we going to find?’” Robert King said. “My memory of San José is [of] low-slung architecture — not skyscrapers.”

The CBS legal drama “Cupertino” is being filmed around New Jersey, including a converted warehouse in Kearny.

(Elizabeth Fisher / CBS)

But they quickly warmed to the new location.

“There were some distinctive buildings where we felt: ‘OK, that is a California look,’” King said. “We started shooting in March, so we had to scrape snow out from around an International House of Pancakes … but after that, it’s been pretty easygoing.”

Actors who live in Manhattan can travel to the 36,000-square-foot stage in Kearny in about 30 minutes. The Broadway performers whom the Kings like to cast as courtroom judges can make it to the city in time for their evening curtain calls.

“So far, so good,” Michelle King said. “It was a little bit easier to find some of the locations, weirdly, to match for Northern California in New Jersey than it might have been in New York.”

That’s a point of pride for officials in New Jersey.

“We are always happy to beat New York,” said Weiss, the Economic Development Authority chief. “We’re on our way to do that … but at the same time, we are very connected.”

Chelsea have warned staff to be careful about inadvertently revealing team news through Fantasy Premier League after Joao Pedro’s injury appeared to have been disclosed through team selections.

An email was sent to staff reminding them of the potential consequences of using inside information when playing Fantasy Premier League or other public gaming platforms, where team selection choices could reveal which players are unavailable or close to returning.

It followed leaks before the 2-0 home defeat by Tottenham, when Pedro was a surprise absentee because of what has since emerged to be a quad injury.

Several influential Fantasy Premier League content creators claimed to have seen evidence that forward Morgan Rogers, along with several members of Chelsea staff, had removed Pedro from their Fantasy Premier League teams before kick-off at Stamford Bridge, despite no club announcement having been made about his injury.

Asked about the matter by BBC Sport after the defeat, Xabi Alonso said he was unaware of the situation. He replied: “I am not into the fantasy team thing, so I didn’t know that.”

Since joining Chelsea in the summer, Alonso, 44, has generally been guarded when discussing injury issues in media conferences.

Chelsea have also previously experienced problems with leaks.

During former manager Liam Rosenior’s four-month spell in charge last season, team selections were leaked before both legs of the club’s Champions League defeat by Paris St-Germain.

It also later emerged former defender Marc Cucurella’s barber had revealed on social media that Pedro and Cole Palmer would miss a trip to Brighton last season after discussing the matter with his client.

With regard to Fantasy Premier League, no further restrictions are expected because Chelsea regard the incident as an isolated case that can be managed through greater awareness among players and staff.

There have been many further examples, claiming to suggest players from clubs like Arsenal, Liverpool, Leicester and Newcastle made revealing changes to their teams, while BBC Sport has identified accounts believed by Fantasy Premier League trackers to be linked to high-profile players and figures at clubs across the division.

The highest-profile example was arguably the revelation of then Aston Villa forward Jack Grealish’s omission from the squad before a match against Leicester City in February 2021.

Then Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers later said he had been aware of rumours surrounding Grealish’s injury absence before the match, which his side won.

More than 11 million people are said to play Fantasy Premier League, which has become an increasingly prominent part of the wider football ecosystem.

Although there are strict rules prohibiting gambling, the Premier League offers no specific guidance to clubs on how, or whether, those involved in the game should participate in Fantasy Premier League.

Instead, it is generally treated as a matter for individual clubs to manage themselves.

Prosecutor Ben Holt said the North West Essex MP and her husband were left “distressed” and “upset”, particularly by the “racist language and threats of violence used towards them”.

He added Cheryl Bacon, head of Badenoch’s parliamentary office, said the emails were “disgusting” and “distressing” to read.

Baiju Thittala, defending, told the court Kyle “did not know” who Badenoch was at the time of the offences, adding “he only realised later, once he had sent the emails”.

Asked by the judge how Kyle, a former secondary school teacher, could not know who Badenoch was, Thittala said: “He just ‘Googled’ it and it came up as the opposition leader.”

The judge said: “The first emails were sent to Mr Badenoch, so I don’t think he did not appreciate who Mrs Badenoch was.

“So he clearly knew who Mrs Badenoch was because he researched her husband’s details first.”

The Badenochs said in their victim impact statement: “Our primary concern arising from this offence is not the personal impact on us, but the wider consequences that malicious communications and targeted harassment have on our democratic life.

“When individuals choose to intimidate, threaten, or aggressively target elected representatives or public figures, the harm extends far beyond any single person. It undermines a healthy democracy.”

The continued: “Public service relies on people being willing to step forward, often at significant personal cost, to represent their communities and contribute to public life.

“Increasingly, however, those who do so face hostility, harassment, and attempts to silence or intimidate them.”

Follow BBC Kent on Facebook, external, on X, external, and on Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk, external or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.

TIRED of the cold weather already? Check out these 10 destinations that are the hottest resorts for summer holidays next year with cheap pints and waterparks.

Jet2 has revealed the most popular resorts for holidays in 2027 with plenty of bookings already – and leading the charge is a firm favourite for Brits.

In number one spot is Benidorm, the resort city in Alicante well-known for cheap food and drink, party strips and golden beaches.

With the price of a pint as high as £5.50 in the UK, it’s no wonder Brits flock to the boozy destination where it can be as little as €1.80 (£1.50) – and there’s plenty of deals to be had at happy hour.

One man even moved from the UK to Benidorm after one visit, claiming it’s like “paradise” with its “laid-back vibe”.

One-way flights in the summer to Alicante can be as little as £28 and take less than two and a half hours.

LIGHT IT UP

Copy the John Lewis Xmas ad with a Christmas lights tour & tickets are on sale

TOP TIER

Holiday resorts most-loved by Brits – from Greek 2* hotel to Turkish all inclusive

With loveholidays, breaks to Benidorm cost from £289pp – this is for a seven-night holiday in the Camposol Hotel which comes with its own pool and includes flights from London Luton.

Other Spanish resorts that made the list of being the most-booked include Salou and Benalmadena.

Salou which sits on the Costa Daurada coastline came in eighth position.

The destination is popular particularly with families as it’s near one of Europe’s largest theme parks, PortAventura World.

The theme park has record-breaking rollercoasters in Ferrari Land as well as lots of attractions and live shows.

Meanwhile, Benalmadena is a coastal town in Southern Spain and is another spot near a theme park, this time it’s Tivoli World.

It’s also known for its popular Puerto Marina which is lined with seaside restaurants, bars and clubs.

Two destinations in Tenerife are also amongst some of the most popular which isn’t too surprising considering its short flight time and high summer temperatures.

From the UK, the island can be reached in four and a half hours and temperatures sit at 30C during between July and September.

The coastal resort areas of Costa Adeje on the southwestern coast came in second place on the most-booked list.

Any waterpark fans will love it as Costa Adeje is home to Siam Park – a Thai-themed waterpark with huge racing slides, waterfalls and a wave pool.

If you head 12-minutes up the coast by car to Playa del Duque, you’ll be in a spot loved by celebrities thanks to its beautiful beach and upmarket shops.

It’s been reported that singers Shakira, Mariah Carey and Queen’s Brian May have all stayed in a nearby hotel.

One-way flights in the summer start from £44 and with loveholidays, breaks start from £329pp.

This is for a seven-night stay at the Duque Nest Hotel which has a private swimming pool and includes flights from London Stansted.

Also in Tenerife is Playa de las Americas which came in sixth spot.

The purpose- built holiday resort has bars, nightclubs, restaurants and beaches with either golden or black volcanic sand.

The third most-booked resort for summer next year is Alanya in Turkey.

The historic beach city on the coast can be as high as 34C in the summer and when its time to cool off, visitors can head to the biggest waterpark in the region.

Called Water Planet Aqua Park, it has 24 water slides, a wave pool, splash parks for younger children and even a man-made rafting course.

When it comes to beaches, Kleopatra Beach is considered one of the best in Turkey.

The 1.2 mile stretch of sand has clear blue waters – and it is named after the Queen of Egypt.

Other spots to make it onto the list include Marmaris along the Turkish Riviera and Cyprus which has around 320 days of sunshine per year.

Another is Palma Nova in Majorca which has three pretty beaches all connected by one long promenade lined with souvenir shops and hotels.

The 10 most-booked resorts for Summer 2027…

1. Benidorm, Spain
2. Costa Adeje, Tenerife
3. Alanya, Türkiye
4. Paphos, Cyprus
5. Marmaris, Türkiye
6. Playa de las Americas, Tenerife
7. Protaras, Cyprus
8. Salou, Spain
9. Palma Nova, Majorca
10. Benalmadena, Spain

A few weeks after the anniversary of her mother’s death, Ronni Minnis received an email invitation to Sweet Antelope, a storytelling-themed supper club. The evening’s theme was grief, a subject that felt especially poignant to Minnis as she continued to mourn her mother. After a meditation in an attic, she sat down to an elaborate candlelit dinner and shared stories of her grief with strangers. “It was extraordinary,” she says.

The experience left Minnis eager to return. Tonight, she’s back, this time with her husband, Michael Minnis, whose birthday she’s celebrating in an unusual way. She surprised him by bringing him to the supper club. “Surprise! You’re spending your birthday with strangers,” she jokes at the dinner table, where pink dahlias cut from the home garden fill the table.

A card of intention burns in the fire at the Sweet Antelope supper club hosted by Kristina Robbins.

A guest reads a dinner placard.

Tonight’s theme is “goodbye,” setting the stage for conversations that veer into the provocative and sentimental, moving beyond pleasantries and small talk.

Kristina Robbins created Sweet Antelope in 2023, hosting the storytelling-based supper club in her West Adams home. Each month, she invites mostly strangers to share personal stories over four-course meals prepared with ingredients from her garden and local farms. “All the herbs from last night were from my garden. All the flowers were from my garden,” she says.

Robbins has always loved throwing parties. When her children moved out, she began wondering where to direct her energy. Sweet Antelope became an outlet for her passion for hosting and an expression of her belief that people need deeper connections with one another through storytelling. The name originated from a nickname her husband gave her — an adorable little creature, yet one that still wields its horns.

Guests huddle by a fire in the backyard at the Sweet Antelope Supper Club.

“We’ve really forgotten that, as human beings, we are wired to ground ourselves through our connection to other people,” she says.

For Robbins, the dinners offer something beyond good food and conversation. At a time when she sees people becoming increasingly reluctant to talk to strangers, Sweet Antelope creates space for vulnerability that she believes many people’s lives lack.

“This was the most perfect expression of what I feel is missing from a lot of people’s lives, and I felt uniquely able to offer it,” she adds.

1

2

3

1. Guido Lois prepares dinner during the Sweet Antelope supper club. 2. Short ribs. 3. Seasonal soup.

Guests arrive beneath bougainvillea vines bursting with vivid pink blooms and are ushered through Robbins’ historic Craftsman-style home, built in 1908 and owned by her family since 2014. In the kitchen, chefs prepare an elaborate four-course meal. Outside, guests sip blackberry tequila spritzes and explore the garden before joining a ritual tied to the evening’s theme: Each receives a wooden totem and tosses it into the fire pit as a symbolic goodbye to something in their life.

Eleanor Bigelow and Tom Paper traveled from San Francisco to attend the supper club. They had met Kristina 30 years earlier through an improv troupe in San Francisco. “She was super talented and the kind of person who you remember after 30 years,” says Bigelow.

Cards of intention are available for guests as they arrive.

As performers who had toured a show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, they were intrigued when they heard about an event that married a culinary experience with storytelling. “We decided to come here because we both are really into organic food and the idea of learning to be better storytellers,” says Bigelow.

Tonight’s featured storyteller is Madeline Walter, who co-runs the popular storytelling show “Essays” with her brother, Evan Walters. Robbins reached out to the siblings and invited Madeline to read at tonight’s supper club.

“It felt very similar to ‘Essays’ in that she is interested in building a community and an exciting live event that is just not what you see every day,” says Walter.

Before introducing the storyteller, Robbins explains that after she announces the theme, every guest will have a chance to tell their own story at dinner. The dinner, she says, is a chance to “connect with people over something other than what we do for a living and where our kids go to school.”

1

2

1. Guests listen to Madeline Walters read an essay. (Lauren Justice/For The Times) 2. Madeline Walters shares a story at Sweet Antelope.

Madeline takes the stage and begins reading her essay about imagining her “Manhattan-feral” husband’s life in the event of her untimely death. She mainly envisions that her husband would not “know where we keep the majority of things in our home.” It elicits laughter from the dinner party guests. “I need to announce that I’m leaving to open myself up and remind myself that time is limited, and I can operate with a little more freedom,” she concludes.

After the reading, guests make their way to one of three candlelit tables inside the Craftsman home. Each person has an assigned seat and a number indicating when it’s their turn to share a story. A placard on the table offers prompts to start the conversation: “Tell us about a goodbye you’ll never forget.”

For Robbins, the moments that follow reveal something special about the gatherings. When strangers sit together and move beyond small talk, she says, unexpected connections can emerge. “We share experiences that become launching pads for conversation,” she says. “Some people go funny, some people go deep.”

No matter where guests sit, they’ll have a memorable conversation, Robbins explains. “At the end of the night, people will come up to me, and they’ll be like, ‘How did you know to seat me at that table?’ ” she says. “Everyone is convinced that they had the best table.”

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, chefs put the finishing touches on a melon, cucumber and tomato salad as guests prepare to share their own stories. What began as a small culinary operation has grown into a team of chefs who bring their own influences to the menu. “I hire on vibes — if they’re fun, have a great attitude and have a nurturing, calm presence, and are talented at what they do,” says Robbins.

Guests Nicole Montez, from left, Kerry Nicole and Terry Solomon have a good laugh.

Like the evening’s theme, the menu tells a story. From the melon salad to curried tomato soup and black garlic short rib (which one guest exclaims is “insane!”), each dish reflects a deliberate choice. “We are at the end of the melon season, so I definitely knew I wanted to do a melon dish before they disappeared,” says Robbins.

Her intimate dinners have garnered fans in the culinary world. Daphne Brogdon, who once co-owned the beloved Los Angeles restaurant Tar Pit and helped run operations at the legendary Campanile, is a longtime friend and one of tonight’s guests. “I think what she’s doing is even more important than ever,” says Brogdon, who believes that supper clubs can be an antidote to loneliness. “There’s a premium for being in real life.”

At the dinner tables, conversation flows freely, veering from cathartic discussions of women’s boundaries and dispatches from the psychic realm to memories of departed loved ones and a bizarre encounter with a disgraced rock star that elicits giggles and bewilderment. Fleetwood Mac plays softly in the background. Wine flows.

As the meal winds down, guest Katelyn Hindin says she doesn’t believe in goodbyes. “I think goodbyes are treated with reverence that they shouldn’t be,” she says before revealing a bittersweet story about a lost family member.

The supper club is hosted in a stunning L.A. Craftsman home built in 1908.

One of the dinner party guests, Mark Chervinsky, shares a story about receiving an organ transplant, which inspired him to start a nonprofit, Mark Here 4 Life, that advocates for organ donation after he connected with the mother of his donor.

Shortly afterward, Robbins floats through the room to invite guests into the garden for salted caramel pots de crème and lemon balm tea, “grown and dried here,” she adds.

Under the stars, guests swap numbers while sipping from toasty mugs. “The event was more profound than I ever expected, and a really wonderful way to get to know people very quickly,” says Jessica Hernández as she prepares to say her own reluctant goodbye.

Sweet Antelope’s next Storytelling Supper Club is Dec. 5, 5-9:30 p.m. Tickets are $185.