PHOENIX — By Game 7 of last year’s World Series, the Dodgers’ faulty bullpen issues were apparent even in the midst of dramatic triumph.

Not only did the Dodgers use all four starters in their postseason rotation — Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto — they also tapped Justin Wrobleski and Emmet Sheehan, who combined to start 14 games in the regular season, to navigate the 5-4, 11-inning win that secured the team’s second consecutive championship.

The Dodgers shored up the bullpen over the winter, signing three-time all-star Edwin Díaz to a three-year, $69-million contract. With the closer role firmly defined for the first time since Kenley Jansen was on the team in 2021, how the rest of the bullpen falls into place remains a work in progress during spring training.

“Obviously, adding Díaz to the back end is huge for us and getting Alex Vesia [back] is going to be good, and also Blake [Treinen],” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Blake wasn’t right last year, clearly. He’s throwing the baseball really well. Having guys that you trust is everything for the pen. … You’ve got to count on those veteran guys for sure.”

Now included in that veteran group is left-hander Tanner Scott, who joined the Dodgers before last season on a four-year, $72-million deal. Scott struggled to find his footing, primarily as a closer, before a left elbow injury placed him on injured list in mid-July, causing him to miss a month of action. He returned the final week of August, and never looked quite right. Scott posted a 4.74 ERA across 61 appearances and 57.0 IP in his first year with the Dodgers.

On Saturday against the Chicago Cubs in a split-squad game at Camelback Ranch, Scott made his Cactus League debut and pitched a scoreless inning, recording a strikeout and giving up one hit on 17 pitches. With the ninth inning spoken for, Roberts believes this will allow for Scott to bounce back this season.

“I think being able to use Tanner in any inning of leverage, is going to be good for him,” Roberts said. “And it’s going to be good for us.”

Díaz, for his part, has settled in, making his second appearance of the spring on Saturday. He worked around two walks to pitch a scoreless inning, striking out one. Vesia, who missed the World Series due to the death of his newborn daughter, has pitched two scoreless innings while Treinen pitched a perfect inning on Thursday against the Chicago White Sox in his first Cactus League outing.

The 37-year-old Treinen, who’s been on all three of the Dodgers’ recent World Series teams and was a stalwart in the 2024 postseason, struggled last season, going 1-5 with a 9.64 ERA in September.

“You never know what the body throttles back,” Treinen said earlier in camp. “I had a UCL injury, so I don’t know if that’s part of the problem, but something was different. I mean, velocity was there, movements were there, execution wasn’t, and when pitches were in the zone, it was a harder-hit rate. So, that tells me something was different, how to handle hitters. So, just trying to go back and cleaning things up to where the ball does more of what it has done most of my career.”

On the flip side, right-hander Brusdar Graterol — who has not pitched since the 2024 World Series — remains in a holding pattern during spring training as he works his way back from right labrum surgery. And right-hander Evan Phillips is not expected back for several months after Tommy John surgery ended his season last June. But for the most part, the relievers who are healthy have shown glimpses of what it could look like this season.

“I don’t think that there’s one way to manage a pen,” Roberts said. “But when you have a guy like Edwin Díaz as your closer, I do think it frees up other guys. … I think that’s freeing for me and allows for getting the matchups we need in the prior innings.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is calling for “genuine dialogue and negotiations” after the US and Israel launched massive military strikes across Iran, calling the attacks a grave threat to “international peace and security.”

OLIVIA Attwood and pal Pete Wicks reunited for the Brit Awards on Saturday night.

The reality TV icons were seen arriving at their table together, having earlier left a Manchester hotel to head to the venue.

Olivia showed off her incredible figure after earlier “paying tax” at the gym with a sweaty workout to get red carpet ready.

She rocked an asymmetrical black dress with a dramatic fan cut out shape across the chest and back.

The stunning gown also had thigh high split and Olivia completed the look with sheer black gloves.

Once inside the venue, Olivia and Pete reunited with Pete’s podcast co-host Sam Thompson, where an onlooker said, “Pete was a gent and poured the drinks for the group before they settled down to their meal.”

SMASH BRITS

BRITs red carpet kicks off as Maya Jama and Olivia Attwood lead the glam

RED CARPET REGIME

Olivia Attwood leads stars showing pre-glam routines ahead of BRIT Awards

The pair, who host Kiss’ The Sunday Roast radio show, have long been friends, with Olivia even describing her former Towie co-str as her “twin flame.”

“We’re soul sisters. We’re twin flames. We’re the same person,” she said in September.

Olivia’s big night at the Brits comes after she admitted she’s working hard to keep herself busy to distract herself from her marriage breakup.

She recently admitted her marriage to footballer Bradley Dack “wasn’t healthy.”

It was revealed last month that the pair had separated after a “breach of trust” on his part.

The ITV star, 34, moved out of the marital home and into her own apartment and blocked her husband on Instagram.

While in conversation with TikTok sensation Tinx on the latest episode of her podcast, Olivia’s House, the Love Island icon made reference to her own relationships while discussing dating.

After Tinx said she’s happy in life but would like to meet someone, Olivia responded: “And that’s like the best place you could be in to meeting the right person. There’s not like a void to fill.

“If you’re going into relationships and there’s motivations of, you know, say you have a gap in your life or you need saving, it doesn’t start on a healthy trajectory.”

LAREDO, Texas — A month after ICE agents sent the young Ecuadoran mother and her 7-year-old daughter to a sprawling detention center 1,300 miles from their Minnesota home, they were finally free.

But when the bus pulled up to a migrant shelter in the Texas border city of Laredo, dropping off a half-dozen families lugging bags stuffed with belongings, the stress of recent weeks tracked mother and daughter like the long shadows on that mid-February afternoon.

Night after night inside south Texas’ Dilley Immigration Processing Center with hundreds of other families, the grade-schooler wept and pleaded to know why they were being held.

“She would tell me, ‘Mom, what crime did I commit to be a prisoner?’ I didn’t know what to tell her,” said the 29-year-old, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear being identified could negatively affect their immigration case. Her husband was deported to Ecuador soon after they were taken into custody.

Many Americans were alarmed last month when photos circulated showing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis detaining a 5-year-old boy wearing a bunny hat and carrying a Spider-Man backpack. The concern followed Liam Conejo Ramos and his father when they were sent to Dilley, surrounded by chain-link fences on a dusty plain about 75 miles south of San Antonio.

But Liam was hardly an outlier. ICE has been holding hundreds of children at Dilley — many for months.

“We are all Liam,” Christian Hinojosa, an immigrant from Mexico, said by phone from Dilley, where she and her 13-year-old son were held for more than four months. They were released this month and allowed to return home to San Antonio, where she works as a health aide.

She noted that Liam and his father were released from Dilley after 10 days, after members of Congress and a judge intervened.

“My son says, ‘That’s unfair, Mama. What’s the difference between him and us?’”

Ramping up family detentions

When the Obama administration opened Dilley in 2014, nearly all families detained there had recently crossed the border from Mexico. Detentions at the facility were scaled back by the Biden administration in 2021, before it was closed three years later.

Since being reopened by President Trump’s administration last spring, life inside Dilley — a compound of trailers and other prefabricated buildings — has been shaped by three decisive changes.

The number of detained families has risen sharply since last fall. The government is holding many children well beyond the 20-day limit set by long-standing court order. And many detainees have lived in the U.S. for several years, with roots in neighborhoods, workplaces and schools, according to lawyers and other observers.

“Just imagine that you’re a child and you’re taken out of your surroundings,” said Philip Schrag, a Georgetown University law professor and author of “Baby Jails: The Fight to End the Incarceration of Refugee Children in America.”

Suddenly you’re in “a completely strange environment with the doors locked and guards in uniform roaming around,” said Schrag, who counseled Dilley detainees as a volunteer lawyer during the Obama administration.

ICE booked more than 3,800 children into detention during the first nine months of the new Trump administration, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from UC Berkeley’s Deportation Data Project. On an average day, more than 220 children were held, with most of those detained longer than 24 hours sent to Dilley. More than half of Dilley detainees during that period were children.

Nearly two-thirds of children detained by ICE were eventually deported, and almost 1 in 10 left the country when their parents accepted voluntary departure, according to an AP analysis of the latest comprehensive data. About a quarter were released in the U.S., requiring their parents to check in regularly with ICE as their legal cases proceed.

The number of detainees at Dilley has risen sharply since the period covered by the data, nearly tripling between fall and late January to more than 1,300, according to Relevant Research, which analyzes immigration enforcement data.

“We’ve started to use 100 days as a benchmark for prioritizing cases because so many children are exceeding 20 days,” said Leecia Welch, the chief legal director at Children’s Rights, who visits Dilley regularly to ensure compliance. In a visit this month, Welch said she counted more than 30 children who had been held for over 100 days.

The increased detention of children comes as the Trump administration has gutted a Department of Homeland Security office responsible for oversight of conditions inside Dilley and other facilities.

“It’s a particular concern that family detention is being increased,” said Dr. Pamela McPherson, a child and adolescent psychiatrist contracted by Homeland Security from 2014 until last year to inspect and investigate conditions at Dilley and other ICE facilities holding children. “Just who’s providing that check and balance now?”

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), who represents the congressional district where Dilley is located, said multiple visits have convinced him criticism of the center is unfair.

He said he’d been impressed by Dilley’s facilities and the professionalism and dedication of staff. “They’re not doing policy. They’re just fulfilling a duty,” Gonzales said.

The Homeland Security Department did not respond to detailed questions about Dilley submitted by the AP. But both Homeland Security and ICE objected to allegations of poor care and conditions there.

“The Dilley facility is a family residential center designed specifically to house family units in a safe, structured and appropriate environment,” ICE Director Todd M. Lyons said in a statement this week. Services include medical screenings, infant care packages and classrooms and recreational spaces, he noted.

But concerns about Dilley are personal for Kheilin Valero Marcano, a Venezuelan immigrant detained with her husband and 1-year-old daughter, Amalia, in December and held for nearly two months.

When the child got a high fever, Valero Marcano said Dilley staff told her it was just a virus. Two weeks later, Amalia started vomiting, then losing weight. Valero Marcano said she took her to the Dilley doctor’s office at least eight times, and was offered only Tylenol and ibuprofen.

The baby was eventually sent to two hospitals, where doctors diagnosed COVID-19, bronchitis, pneumonia and stomach virus, she said.

ICE disputed Valero Marcano’s account, saying in a statement the baby “immediately received proper medical care” at Dilley before being sent to the hospital. Back in Dilley, “she was in the medical unit and received proper treatment and prescribed medicines,” it said.

The family’s return to Dilley coincided with a measles outbreak there. They were released earlier this month after their lawyers petitioned the court.

“I’m so worried for all the families who are still inside,” Valero Marcano said.

A teen in distress

After more than two months in a cramped room at Dilley with three other families, the 13-year-old girl’s depression turned increasingly dark.

The eighth-grader stopped eating after finding a worm in her food, family members said. Staff sometimes withheld medications she’d long been prescribed to keep her anxiety in check and help her sleep.

When a total lockdown was imposed, a guard blocked the teen from leaving the crowded room to join her mother and sister in the bathroom. She spiraled into crisis, and used a plastic knife from the cafeteria to cut her wrist.

“She said she didn’t want to live anymore because she preferred to die rather than having to keep living in confinement,” her mother, Andrea Armero, told the AP in a video call from Colombia, where the family was deported this month. The AP generally avoids identifying people who attempt or die by suicide.

The girl’s struggles began before she arrived at Dilley. Soon after starting middle school in Colombia, she learned a family member had sexually abused her younger sister. Armero said she saw no option but to leave, and in early 2024 she and her daughters traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border and applied for asylum.

Living with family in Florida, the 13-year-old was doing well in school but sometimes experienced panic attacks about being sent back to Colombia. Under a psychiatrist’s care, she was prescribed anti-anxiety and anti-depression medications and regularly saw a therapist. Then, in December, ICE agents detained Armero and her daughters during a routine check-in.

At Dilley, the 13-year-old calmed herself by drawing, producing haunting pictures of a girl locked inside gates. But when she and other detainees took part in a protest after 5-year-old Liam and his father got to Dilley, guards took away drawing materials and ordered everyone to stay inside.

The teen’s mental health collapsed. She tried to harm herself with the plastic knife, Armero said, and repeatedly hit her head. The family was put into isolation without seeing a doctor, then deported to Colombia on Feb. 11 after a judge ordered them removed, she said.

Dilley discharge documents described “active problems,” including a “suicide attempt by cutting of wrist” and “self-harm,” in addition to a “history of post-traumatic stress disorder” and “history of anxiety.” AP also spoke with detainees and attorneys who independently described the girl’s suicide attempt.

Responding to questions from AP, a Department of Homeland Security official acknowledged there had been “a case of self-harm” inside the facility, but did not specify what had happened, or how staff handled the incident. When AP asked for details, the department did not respond to follow-up questions.

“No child at Dilley … has been denied medical treatment or experienced a delayed medical assessment,” said Ryan Gustin, a spokesman for CoreCivic, the for-profit prison company that operates the facility under contract with ICE. Gustin declined to answer specific questions about the 13-year-old girl, citing privacy rules.

Detention weighs on children

On a phone call from inside Dilley, 13-year-old Gustavo Santino-Josa introduced himself to a reporter by name and the nine-digit identification number ICE assigned him when he was taken into custody with his mother.

“Until today I don’t know what we did wrong to get detained,” Gustavo said. “I’ve seen my mom cry almost daily, and I ask God that we can go out and go home soon.”

He worried they might never be released.

“My mom says that as long as there is hope it is worth fighting for,” Gustavo said before handing the phone to his mother, Christian Hinojosa, the healthcare aide originally from Mexico.

“All his friends have left already,” his mother said. “Some were deported. Some got released recently. And it hurts. It hurts to see people leaving and you’re staying here.”

Dilley was built to hold 2,400 people, housed in clusters ICE calls “neighborhoods.” Bunk beds are arranged side-by-side for up to four families, frequently putting parents with young children in close quarters.

Once in full operation, Dilley is expected to generate about $180 million in annual revenue for CoreCivic, according to the company’s recent filing with securities regulators.

In a video on its website, CoreCivic says Dilley’s “open campus layout allows residents to move freely and unescorted throughout the day.”

It does not mention that parents and their children are locked inside.

In response to questions from the AP, CoreCivic’s Gustin said the staff at Dilley includes a pediatrician, pediatric nurse practitioner and other trained medical professionals and mental health services workers to “meet the needs of children and families in our care.”

In talks with parents of children held at Dilley, however, the same problems come up repeatedly, said Welch, the children’s rights lawyer.

Kids cry often and don’t get enough sleep, in part because lights are on around the clock, she said. The water tastes terrible and causes stomachaches and rashes, so some families stick to what they can buy in the commissary.

Their children don’t eat enough and have lost weight, Welch said. There are classrooms, but instruction is limited to an hour daily, mostly filling out worksheets.

A 14-year-old girl, identified in court papers by the initials NVSM, reported there were tensions with up to 12 people sharing their room. At night when she and her mother tried to sleep, others insisted on turning up the TV.

“I feel very sad and stressed to be here,” the teen said in an account filed with the court that oversees a binding settlement governing detention and release of children. “My nerves are so high. I don’t know what is happening. My muscles will twitch because I’m so nervous and on edge.”

Concerns about oversight

As the government’s detention of parents and their children came under scrutiny in 2014, an ICE official claimed that family detention centers, equipped with basketball courts and medical clinics, were “more like a summer camp.”

The characterization irritated McPherson, the child psychiatrist who, along with another physician, was retained in 2014 by Homeland Security to inspect family detention centers. Their contracts were not renewed by the Trump administration last year after Homeland Security announced sweeping staff reductions.

“Having a clean place to sleep, having food, that’s not the same thing as having family and community,” McPherson said.

The doctors’ investigations of family detention centers exposed consistently inadequate staffing and disregard by administrators for the trauma caused by detention, concerns they reported in 2018 to a Senate caucus set up to hear from whistleblowers.

At Dilley, the doctors noted a persistent shortage of pediatricians and the inability to hire a child psychiatrist from the time they began their inspections until they alerted senators.

Employees unsure how to deal with 2-year-olds biting and hitting one another placed the children and their parents in medical isolation for days, McPherson and her colleague told senators. Without supervision, a nurse at Dilley gave adult-strength hepatitis A shots to about 250 children in 2015, the American Immigration Lawyers Assn. reported.

Homeland Security responded to many of the findings by making changes before a special committee recommended in late 2016 that the government discontinue family detention except in rare cases. The first Trump administration increased family detention before the Biden administration began phasing it out in 2021.

That the Trump administration is again holding families at Dilley after so many warnings feels “dystopian,” McPherson said.

“The decision to knowingly traumatize children and subject them to chronic stress, I just have no words for it,” she said.

Worries even after release

Huddled around picnic tables at the Laredo migrant shelter, parents released from Dilley searched anxiously for flights back to the homes they left behind. They called relatives, friends, teachers, anyone who might help with money to get there.

The young Ecuadoran mom talked of returning to Minneapolis, where her 2-year-old daughter, born in the U.S., was staying with a friend. With her husband deported, parenting will be entirely her responsibility.

That means getting her 7-year-old back in school. Then the woman, who had a work permit and a job in a Minneapolis restaurant before being detained, needs to keep her children fed.

“Let’s go home, Mom, but don’t go back to work because ICE is going to pick you up again,” the little girl said. Her mother tried to reassure her.

That won’t happen, she said, because now they have a special paper telling ICE to leave them alone.

She hopes that’s a promise she can keep.

Burke, Geller and Gonzalez write for the Associated Press. AP data reporter Aaron Kessler in Washington contributed to this report.

Munster secured a much-needed 21-7 win over Zebre in the United Rugby Championship, being made to work hard before pulling clear in the second half at a drenched Thomond Park on Saturday.

With three defeats in their last four URC outings – against Leinster, Ulster and Glasgow Warriors – and having made 10 changes from the side that lost to Glasgow Warriors last month, this result will steady the ship somewhat for the Irish province.

After going in level at half-time at seven points apiece, Munster edged ahead in the second period with a late brace of tries from Alex Kendellen and Lee Barron, those scores securing Clayton McMillan’s side their first win in Limerick since October.

Munster had the majority of early territory and pressure, with a beautifully judged kick from Tom Farrell handing the hosts a line-out just seven metres from the Zebre line.

That pressure intensified when Giulio Bertaccini was shown a yellow card two minutes in for a deliberate knock-on, as Munster threatened to score under the posts.

Despite being reduced to 14 men, Zebre initially stood firm, but winger Shane Daly demonstrated his explosive pace and stormed over in the left corner after six minutes, getting Munster off the mark, JJ Hanrahan adding the conversion.

A sudden downpour swept across Thomond Park, making handling increasingly treacherous, yet Munster continued to probe.

The hosts generated quick ruck ball and a clever grubber from Mike Haley almost put captain Jack O’Donoghue in under the posts, but the ball slipped forward at the crucial moment.

Munster controlled territory for much of the opening quarter, working patiently through phases as Zebre were forced into heavy defensive shifts.

Gradually the Italian visitors found a foothold and just after the half-hour mark, Samuele Locatelli broke Munster’s defensive line, with flanker Bautista Stavile scoring under the posts. Giacomo Da Re added the extras.

Munster had one final opportunity before the interval, but another spilt ball in the wet conditions allowed Zebre to clear.

Feb. 28 (UPI) — OpenAI announced it secured a deal to provide artificial intelligence services to the Defense Department hours after the Trump administration directed all federal agencies to stop using those provided by Anthropic.

OpenAI is the San Francisco-based tech research company founded by Sam Altman, Elon Musk and others behind applications including ChatGPT and DALL-E.

“Tonight, we reached an agreement with the Department of War to deploy our models in their classified work,” OpenAI CEO Altman said late Friday in a post on X.

The Pentagon had previously used Anthropic’s AI model Claude in much of its classified work, including its operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Contract negotiations between the tech company and the Defense Department soured after the Trump administration demanded it be allowed to use the AI system for “all lawful purposes.” Anthropic, though, wanted certain guardrails in place to prevent the government from using its AI system for surveilling Americans or to create autonomous weapons.

Friday evening, President Donald Trump directed all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic, accusing it of being a “radical left, woke company” attempting “to dictate how our great military fights and wins wars!”

“The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to STRONG-ARM the Department of War, and force them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution. Their selfishness is putting AMERICAN LIVES at risk, our Troops in danger, and our National Security in JEOPARDY,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

In his post on X, Altman said OpenAI’s agreement with the Defense Department includes similar protections against domestic surveillance and weapons sought by Anthropic.

“Two of our most important safety principles are prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems,” he said. “The DoW agrees with these principles, reflects them in law and policy, and we put them into our agreement.”

The New York Times reported that unlike Anthropic, OpenAI included in its contract with the Pentagon phrasing that allows the government to use its AI product for all lawful purposes.

Fortune reported that Altman told OpenAI employees that the government is allowing the company to build its own “safety stack” and that if the AI model refuses to allow the government to do a certain task, the government won’t force it to.

There is a school of thought among some fans that a good season is one where your team still has plenty to play for come April.

Liverpool will not be winning back-to-back Premier League titles, but they will head into March still in the FA Cup and the Champions League and now in a strong position to finish in the top five, which would effectively confirm Champions League football next season.

At the end of a week in which the club confirmed record revenues of over £700m for the last accounting year, with a profit after tax of £8m, the importance of that European spot cannot be underestimated.

Midfielder Alexis Mac Allister, who scored Liverpool’s third goal, told Match of the Day: “The last four or five months is when teams show what they can do.

“That’s what we want. We know how important it is to qualify for the Champions League for the club and us as a team. The goal is there and we are going to do everything to qualify and be closer to the teams on top.”

Team-mate Cody Gakpo took a similar view, telling Sky Sports: “It was a good afternoon. Step by step, we’re getting [to be] a better team.

“We had a difficult moment during the season, but hopefully these last few games are the start of something beautiful.”

With consecutive games against Wolves in the league and FA Cup next week, before a trip to Galatasaray in the Champions League, the next 10 days or so will go a long way to shaping how their season ultimately is remembered.

Get through that unscathed and, whisper it quietly, Liverpool fans may well start to genuinely believe that they can do something beautiful indeed.

As It Was singer and former One Direction star Harry Styles took to the stage to open the Brit Awards 2026 live from Manchester on Saturday, with fans admitting they were ‘shaking’

It’s safe to say Harry Styles impressed fans with his performance at the Brit Awards.

The As It Was and Sign of the Times singer, and former One Direction star, opened the live ceremony on ITV1 and ITVX on Saturday night. He performed his new track Aperture after recently announcing the release of his fourth album would be very soon.

Marking his return to music, the singer took to the stage to kick things off, the performance no doubt gave fans a peak of what to expect with his upcoming world tour. Amid a backlash from many viewers about the prices of his tour tickets, Harry won over viewers with his vocals and choreography.

In fact, fans claimed they were “shaking” and “going to be sick” after watching it live. Taking to social media, one fan said: “Wish I could be normal but unfortunately I’m literally shaking over Harry Styles performing at the Brits.” Another said: “I AM SHAKING,” as a third added: “I’M GONNA BE SICK.”

READ MORE: Ant and Dec vow never to host ‘nightmare’ Brit Awards again and hint at Chris Martin rowREAD MORE: NEED TO KNOW: Brit Awards how to watch, start time, what to expect and nominees

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A fourth fan said: “HE IS A PERFORMER,” as a fifth said: “HARRY IS SO BACK THAT WAS INSANE.” A further post read: “Harry sounds GOOD. Aperture live is such a vibe.”

Another fan commented: “OMG DID HE HAVE TEARS IN HIS EYES!?? HARRY STYLES IS SO BACK.” A final tweet read: “Ok Harry actually ate that choreo.”

It was revealed the awards would take place in a new home on Saturday night, at the Co-op Live in Manchester. Artists revealed to be performing included Olivia Dean, Wolf Alice, EJAE, Audrey Nuna and REI AMI, the singing voices of HUNTR/X (filmed in advance of The BRIT Awards).

Alex Warren, Mark Ronson, ROSALÍA, SOMBR and RAYE were also confirmed. Mark was also revealed to be receiving an award for his outstanding contribution to music, while Noel Gallagher was said to be receiving a songwriting award.

Speaking of honours, it had also been revealed that tributes would be made to some of the lost music acts who have recently passed away. Ozzy Osbourne is set to be honoured with Robbie Williams fronting a super group paying tribute to the star. It comes seven months after the Black Sabbath frontman died aged 76.

The performance will be a special arrangement of ‘No More Tears’ – the title track from Ozzy’s multi-million selling 1991 album of the same name. It was curated by Ozzy’s wife, Sharon Osbourne, and will boast a phenomenal line up of British and international musical talent.

It will feature musicians that played as part of Ozzy’s band over the years, including Adam Wakeman, Robert Trujillo , Tommy Clufetos and Zakk Wylde. The makeshift group will be fronted by Robbie, who was invited personally by Sharon to be part of this special moment.

BRIT Awards bosses are also set to honour Stone Roses bassist Mani at Saturday night’s show – led by Charlatans legend Tim Burgess. Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield died suddenly aged 63 last November, and close pal Tim will be on hand to deliver an emotional speech.

A source said: “Tim is set to present the In Memoriam section, but before he does so, he is primed to talk about Mani who was both a dear friend and mentor. The fact that Mani was from Manchester too – and the awards is being held there for the first time – means it will be a really special moment. Mani will then feature heavily in the section, as will other greats we have lost including Ozzy Osbourne.”

Ahead of the ceremony, three acts had received the most nominations. They were Olivia Dean and Lola Young with five nominations apiece, and Sam Fender trailing closely on four nominations following his Mercury Prize success.

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WASHINGTON — For a decade, President Trump promised to end what he calls forever wars, casting himself as a leader opposed to prolonged conflicts in the Middle East and who would rather pursue peace in the world.

Now, early in his second term, Trump is taking military action against Iran that could expand well beyond a limited effort to halt the country’s nuclear program.

In a video posted on Truth Social, the commander-in-chief said American forces also plan to “raze their missile industry to the ground” and “annihilate their navy.” He warned members of Iran’s military to surrender or “face certain death.” And urged the Iranian people to take the moment as an opportunity to rise up against their government.

“This regime will soon learn that no one should challenge the strength and might of the United States armed forces,” Trump said.

Trump, who has been considering a strike on Iran for several weeks, acknowledged he reached the decision to attack while aware of the human toll that could come with it.

“The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties. That often happens in war,” he said. “But we are doing this, not for now, we are doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission.”

Trump’s military campaign in Iran is a sharp turn in tone for a president who has long been critical of open-ended conflicts in the Middle East, and marks a shift from an America-first agenda message that helped him return to the White House.

“I’m not going to start a war. I’m going to stop wars,” Trump said in his November 2024 victory speech as he promised to focus national resources on domestic priorities rather than foreign conflicts.

As Trump advocated to bring home American forces from deployments around the world and to withdraw from key defense treaties, his position resonated with a war-weary electorate in the lead up to the election.

Fewer than six in 10 Americans (56%) believed the United States should take an active role in world affairs ahead of the election — the second-lowest level recorded since the question was first asked in 1974, according to polling by the Council on Foreign Affairs.

Trump’s posture on war in the Middle East had been consistent before he ran for office.

In 2013, he criticized former President Obama’s negotiations with Tehran, predicting in a post on Twitter, that Obama would “attack Iran because of his inability to negotiate properly.” That same year, Trump warned that “our horrendous leadership could unknowingly lead us into World War III.”

And in a heated February 2016 debate, Trump attacked former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, stating that his brother George W. Bush lied about Iraq’s nuclear capabilities to get the U.S. into the Iraq War. Trump called the Iraq War a “big, fat mistake” that “destabilized the Middle East.”

“They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction. There were none, and they knew there were none,” he said.

Trump’s confrontation with Iran bears little resemblance to those early rebukes.

Trump has yet to present evidence of an imminent threat to the United States from Iran’s nuclear program — a capability he claimed to have “obliterated” just eight months ago — and has instead framed the military campaign as one to ensure Tehran never develops nuclear weapon at all.

“It is a very simple message,” he said. “They will never have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump’s shift has already drawn the attention of congressional Democrats, many of whom are calling the president out for backing out on his promise to end foreign wars — and are demanding that he involve Congress in any further military actions.

“Regardless of what the President may think or say, he does not enjoy a blank check to launch large-scale military operations without a clear strategy, without any transparency or public debate, and not without Congressional approval,” Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) said.

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) criticized Trump for “drawing the country into yet another foreign war that Americans don’t want and Congress has not authorized.”

The military involvement in Iran is not the first time that members of Congress have complained about the Trump administration’s willingness to sideline the legislative branch on decisions that could trigger broader conflicts this year.

In January, Trump ordered military forces to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and said the United States would run the sovereign nation until further notice. He threatened military action in Colombia, whose leftist President Gustavo Petro has been one of Trump’s most vocal critics.

Trump has alienated allied nations when he said he was willing to send American troops to seize Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark. And on Friday, he said U.S. is in talks with Havana and raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover of Cuba” without offering any details on what he meant.

His actions have coincided with his annoyance at not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to seek peace in the world. At one point, the president said he no longer felt an “obligation to think purely of Peace” because he didn’t get the recognition.

Trump’s shifting tone, and his use of violent war imagery in his pretaped remarks about Iran, have rattled even part of his base.

“I did not campaign for this. I did not donate money for this,” said former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a conservative who recently left Congress after a bitter fight with Trump. “This is not what we thought MAGA was supposed to be. Shame!”

Republican leaders, however, are largely standing behind the president.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said Iran “posed a clear and unacceptable threat” to the United States and has refused “the diplomatic off-ramps.” House Speaker Mike Johnson (D-La.) said Trump took the action after exhausting “every effort to pursue peaceful and diplomatic solutions.”

Other top Republican lawmakers rallied behind the president, too.

“The butcher’s bill has finally come due for the ayatollahs,” Sen. Tom Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote in a post on X. “May God bless and protect our troops on this vital mission of vengeance, and justice, and safety.”

Anthony Edwards scored 31 points, Donte DiVincenzo added 18 and the surging Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Clippers 94-88 on Thursday night at Intuit Dome.

Jaden McDaniels and Ayo Dosunmu each scored 12 points and Rudy Gobert had 13 rebounds to help the Timberwolves improve to 5-1 since Feb. 9 and 3-1 since the All-Star break.

Edwards, returning to the site of the All-Star Game, where he was the MVP, shot 12 for 24 from the floor and sealed the victory with a step-back three-pointer over two defenders for a 92-88 lead with 42.9 seconds left.

Minnesota improved to 2-0 on a three-game trip.

Derrick Jones Jr. scored 18 points and Bennedict Mathurin added 14 for the Clippers, who struggled from the outset with a season-low 38 points in the first half. Kris Dunn had 11 points for the Clippers (27-31), who have lost three consecutive games for the first time since December.

The Clippers struggled on offense without star Kawhi Leonard, out because of ankle soreness. The Clippers shot 40.5% from the floor, including 18.2% (four for 22) in the second quarter. Minnesota shot 43.4% in the game.

The Timberwolves (37-23) scored just 15 points in the second quarter and still topped the Clippers, who had 11. Minnesota led 44-38 at halftime behind 12 points from DiVincenzo and 11 from Edwards.

The Clippers led by six in the third quarter and were up 68-63 heading into the fourth. Edwards’ drive and reverse layup put the Timberwolves up for good at 76-74 with 7:40 remaining.

The Clippers pulled within one three times in the last 2½ minutes, but Edwards answered each time. He scored the Timberwolves’ last nine points.

Up next for Clippers: vs. New Orleans on Sunday night.

Feb. 28 (UPI) — While congressional reaction to the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran overnight was largely split along party lines, Democratic and some Republican lawmakers expressed concern that President Donald Trump ordered the strikes without first seeking congressional approval.

Lawmakers — who had already been pushing to limit Trump’s ability to carry out lethal strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean — said they would renew their efforts to pass a war powers resolution.

Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said he was “opposed to this war” in a post on X Saturday morning.

“When Congress reconvenes, I will work with [Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif.] to force a congressional vote on war with Iran,” he wrote.

“The Constitution requires a vote, and your representative needs to be on record as opposing or supporting this war.”

NBC News reported that Massie and Khanna together wrote a war powers resolution ahead of the Iran attack. Under Article 1 of the Constitution, Congress, not the executive branch, has the power to declare war on another country.

NPR reported that the White House notified the top eight leaders in Congress — known collectively as the Gang of Eight — shortly before the attack.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson showed his support for Trump’s actions to limit Iran’s nuclear program.

“Today, Iran is facing the severe consequences of its evil actions,” Johnson said in a statement posted on X. “President Trump and the administration have made every effort to pursue peaceful and diplomatic solutions in response to the Iranian regime’s sustained nuclear ambitions and development, terrorism and the murder of Americans — and even their own people.”

Johnson said the Gang of Eight received a briefing earlier in the week about the potential military action.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York, meanwhile, called on the Trump administration to brief the Senate on the threat. He said he had asked Secretary of State Mark Rubio to be transparent with Congress and the American people about the objectives of the strikes and the subsequent steps.

“The administration has not provided Congress and the American people with critical details about the scope and immediacy of the treat,” he said on X.

“Confronting Iran’s malign regional activities, nuclear ambitions and harsh oppression of the Iranian people demands American strength, resolve, regional coordination and strategic clarity.

“Unfortunately, President Trump’s fitful cycles of lashing out and risking wider conflict are not a viable strategy.”

Tehran, Iran – Iranians are being directly addressed by leaders inside and outside the country after the United States and Israel launched attacks across Iran, prompting Tehran to respond with a wave of ongoing missile and drone attacks across the region.

“In light of the continued joint operations by the US and the Zionist regime against Tehran and several other major cities, if possible while remaining calm, please travel to other centres and cities where it is feasible for you to do so,” read a text message sent to the 10 million residents of Tehran by the government on Saturday afternoon.

All outbound roads from the capital were heavily congested with traffic from the morning, shortly after the US and Israel began joint strikes that targeting more than 20 of Iran’s 32 provinces.

Inside Tehran, people also formed long queues in front of petrol stations, even as government authorities emphasised that they remain in control, saying that food and fuel supplies would not be a problem and that contingency plans were in motion.

Authorities also accommodated civilians trying to exit the city, including by setting up roadside refuelling stations. Many families were headed to three provinces to the north near the Caspian Sea, as they did during the 12-day war with Israel.

Last June, during the war, US President Donald Trump issued a direct warning telling all Tehran citizens to immediately evacuate.

But in a video message released shortly after the strikes began on Saturday, he urged the Iranian people to stay in their homes and wait for a suitable time to rise up and overthrow the theocratic establishment governing Iran since a 1979 Islamic revolution. He framed it as “probably your only chance for generations”.

Similar sentiments were echoed in separate video messages released by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the US-backed shah who was overthrown by clerics led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini during the revolution.

“Be vigilant and prepared so that at an appropriate time, which I will inform you precisely, you return to the streets for the final effort,” Pahlavi said.

This was in reference to nationwide protests that gripped Iran in January, during which thousands of civilians were killed, many on the nights of January 8 and 9.

Iranian authorities claim that civilians were killed by “terrorists” and “rioters” armed, funded and trained by the US and Israel. But the United Nations and international human rights organisations have blamed state forces for an unprecedented crackdown against peaceful protesters, and say tens of thousands have been incarcerated and some face execution.

Student protests also took place last week in Tehran and major cities, including the holy Shia city of Mashhad to the northeast and Shiraz to the south of Iran. A number of students were suspended, while others were arrested or summoned by intelligence authorities.

Universities and schools were declared closed after the strikes on Saturday until further notice, according to a directive by the Supreme National Security Council. Most had already been moved online until the end of the Iranian calendar year on March 20 in response to the unrest at other universities.

But dozens of people, many of them children, were killed after two schools were hit in southern Iran’s Minab and in Tehran.

State media showed paramilitary Basij members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) patrolling the streets of downtown Tehran on Saturday afternoon on motorcycles and vehicles and waving flags.

A similar gathering was recorded in Palestine Square, where pro-state groups shouted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”.

Iranians forced into another internet blackout

The opening salvo in Tehran targeted the Pasteur neighbourhood in the downtown area, where government offices are located.

A satellite image and videos of the area showed that the compound housing the offices of the supreme leader was largely destroyed in the strikes. It was not immediately clear if Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was present at the time of the attack, but the foreign minister later told NBC News that Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian were alive “as far as I know”.

Minutes after the start of the war, Iranian authorities began shutting down internet connections and mobile phone connections across multiple areas of Tehran. Some mobile connectivity was restored, but the internet shutdown was expanded across the country, with almost all traffic blocked and leaving only few proxy connections working to access the global internet.

The Islamic Republic had imposed an unprecedented 20-day total internet shutdown in January, and heavy state filtering was in place prior to the shutdown on Saturday.

Iranian authorities urged citizens on Saturday to only follow official state media, to report any suspicious activity, and to refrain from collaborating with “enemies” on pain of heavy punishment.

As daylight waned, Tehran’s streets emptied, but the sounds of explosions continued to ring loud.

What sounded like a very cool L.A. Art Week party ended up getting a bit too rowdy. On Sunday night the Los Angeles Police Department was called to a former 99 Cents Only store on Wilshire Boulevard where an opening night party was underway for a week-long pop-up called “99CENT,” organized by former tagger and blue-chip artist Barry McGee and presented with the Hole gallery.

An LAPD public information officer confirmed that officers responded to a disturbance call at the location, which is just down the street from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Academy Museum, at 10:30 p.m. Sunday. Police arrived to find “a large group of about 20 or 30 people, drinking and playing loud music.” The crowd dispersed on its own after law enforcement arrived.

Neighbor Rebekka Mueller, who lives across the parking lot from the store, said that a concert at the event had attracted hundreds of people, a number of whom took to tagging four or five neighboring businesses, including the now-closed historic Googie-style Johnie’s Coffee Shop.

The event drew plenty of respectful art fans, Mueller said, “but attracted lots of other people, and they started tagging the whole building — but not in an art way. And then it spilled over to the businesses nearby, to an insurance company, and then two apartment buildings were completely tagged … and they had no security on site when this happened. So this was very alarming for the neighborhood.”

Cole Schiffer, whose family owns the 99 Cents building, said he was sorry that neighbors’ structures were tagged and that he has been working all week to paint over the tagging.

“We didn’t know that this would happen. I was pretty naive about the graphic art world,” he said. “We’re business owners, we spend a lot of time removing graffiti. My mom grew up in this neighborhood. My grandparents lived and died here, so honestly, it’s a little sad and crazy to see this graffiti all over the neighborhood.”

Schiffer said things had calmed down after Sunday night and that the Hole gallery was working to avoid problems for the rest of the week’s festivities.

In a brief story about the event, Times freelancer Mariella Rudi noted that the 99 Cents store had been transformed into, “a dense, joyous artist flea market” featuring, “more than 200 contributors and well over 4,000 works.” When Rudi was there on Sunday night she said she didn’t see any destructive behavior.

“Paintings are stacked against old shelving. Shopping carts hang from the ceiling. You can even check out your purchases at the register, complete with a sticker and a receipt,” Rudi wrote, adding, “Graffiti-heavy aisles will thrill fans of Beyond the Streets, but a handwritten sign near the entrance offers a final note: ‘Please, no tagging inside. Owners are cool.’ ”

The pop-up will feature puppets from Bob Baker Marionette Theatre this Sunday, as well as an Anti-Fascist Zine Fair. This whole scene is right up my alley, and I say, “Yes, please,” to more edgy arts programming featuring outsider artists and youthful rebellion.

But it seems a minority of guests decided to dishonor the spirit of the event by disrespecting the boundaries put into place by organizers.

Even neighbors who complained, like Mueller, said they were big supporters of the arts and that a lot of great art was on display inside the store — they wished the situation had played out differently, and they hope Sunday night’s grand finale proves more in control.

Mueller said that although organizers had painted over many of the tags, the situation at Johnie’s had not yet been remedied.

I’m Times Arts editor Jessica Gelt, and I’m here for all the colorful underground fun — and the angry dissent that often comes with it — but none of the destruction of property.

The week ahead: A curated calendar

FRIDAY
All My Sons
Oánh Nguyễn directs Antaeus Theatre Company’s production of Arthur Miller’s 1946 Tony-winning play about a Midwestern family facing a moral reckoning after World War II.
Through March 30. Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center, 110 E. Broadway, Glendale. antaeus.org

Detail of a photo by Lou Bopp, seen in the documentary “All the Empty Rooms.”

(Netflix)

All the Empty Rooms
Photos memorializing the bedrooms of children lost to school shootings captured by photographer Lou Bopp and reporter Steve Hartman and featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary short film directed by Joshua Seftel, are on display at an outdoor installation.
Through Monday, Sunset Triangle Plaza, 3700 Sunset Blvd.

And What of the Children?
Writer-director Ryan Lisman’s play blends drama, dark comedy and horror in a psychological thriller about a trio of siblings in the Witness Protection Program.
Through March 15. The Broadwater Black Box, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles. events.humanitix.com

Front and Center: Emerging Artists with the Colburn Orchestra
Salonen Fellows Mert Yalniz and Aleksandra Melaniuk will lead a varied program of concerto works spotlighting up-and-coming soloists. The performance will be live streamed.
7 p.m. Friday. Zipper Hall, 200 S. Grand. Ave., downtown L.A. colburnschool.edu

John Giorno in Andy Warhol’s “Sleep.”

(Andy Warhol/John Giorno Collection, John Giorno Archives. Studio Rondinone, New York, NY.)

Sleep
John Giorno, the subject of the exhibition “John Giorno: No Nostalgia,” stars in Andy Warhol’s 1964 five hours and 21-minute silent film. Free with a reservation.
5-10:30 p.m. Friday. Marciano Art Foundation, 4357 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. marcianoartfoundation.org

SATURDAY

John Holiday in the title role of LA Opera’s 2026 production of “Akhnaten.”

(Cory Weaver)

Akhnatan
John Holiday stars in L.A. Opera’s production of Philip Glass’ portrait of the Egyptian pharaoh, sung in in English, Ancient Egyptian, Biblical Hebrew and Akkadian. Directed by Phelim McDermott and conducted by Dalia Stasevska making her company debut.
Through March 21, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laopera.org

Attacca Quartet and Theo Bleckmann
The versatile Grammy-winning ensemble teams with vocalist Bleckmann on David Lang’s “note to a friend,” a chamber opera based on three reimagined texts by Japanese writer Ryunosuke Akutagawa.
8 p.m. UCLA Nimoy Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd. cap.ucla.edu

From Strand to Sculpture
A self-guided tour of the Japanese bamboo basketry exhibition will be followed by a lecture from bamboo art expert Robert Coffland, founder of TAI Gallery (now TAI Modern) in Santa Fe, N.M., and now president of the Santa Fe gallery Textile Arts Inc. The lecture is also available via Zoom.
4-7 p.m. Saturday. The Gamble House is located at 4 Westmoreland Place, Pasadena. gamblehouse.org

The Price
Richard Fancy, Dana Dewes, Jason Huber and Scott G. Jackson star in Arthur Miller’s late-period drama about two brother’s cleaning out their late father’s New York brownstone.
Through April 5. Pacific Resident Theatre, 703 Venice Blvd. pacificresidenttheatre.org

Pepe Romero Returns
The classical guitarist joins the Long Beach Symphony for a concert featuring ”Concierto de Aranjuez” by Joaquín Rodrigo, Gabriela Lena Frank’s “Elegia Andina” and movements from Handel’s “Water Music Suites.”
7:30 p.m. Saturday. Long Beach Terrace Theater, 300 E. Ocean Blvd. longbeachsymphony.org

Bud Cort in the 1971 movie “Harold and Maude,” screening March 15 at the Aero.

(CBS via Getty Images)

Starring Bud Cort
The American Cinematheque salutes the singular character actor, who recently died at 77, with screenings of Robert Altman’s “Brewster McCloud” (1970), Wes Anderson’s “The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou” (2004) and Hal Ashby’s“Harold and Maude” (1971).
“Brewster McCloud”, 2 p.m. Saturday in 35mm. Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd.; “The Life Aquatic”, 3 p.m. March 14; “Harold and Maude,” 1 p.m. March 15 in 35 mm. Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica. americancinematheque.com

SUNDAY
Unassisted Residency
Every edition of erstwhile weatherman Fritz Coleman’s monthly comedy show features a special guest.
3 p.m. Sunday. El Portal Theatre, Monroe Forum, 5269 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. elportaltheatre.com

TUESDAY
Camerata Pacifica
The ensemble performs a program that includes Madeleine Dring’s “Trio for Flute, Oboe and Piano,” the world premiere of David Brice’s “Natural Light,” Cécile Chaminade’s “Thème varié for Piano, Op. 89” and Antonín Dvořák’s “Quintet in A major for Piano and Strings, Op. 81,” arranged by David Jolley.
3 p.m. Sunday. Bank of America Performing Arts Center, Janet and Ray Scherr Forum, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Huntington, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino; 8 p.m., Thursday. Zipper Hall, 200 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A.; 7 p.m. Friday. Music Academy of the West, 1070 Fairway Road, Santa Barbara. cameratapacifica.org

WEDNESDAY

Sara Porkalob, playwright and performer of “Dragon Mama.”

(Corey Olsen)

Dragon Mama
Writer-performer Sara Porkalob returns in Part II of her Filipina American “gangster” family’s intergenerational saga, “The Dragon Cycle,” this time centering her mother’s journey. Directed by Andrew Russell
Through April 12. Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Avenue, Westwood. geffenplayhouse.org

THURSDAY
The Adding Machine
The Actors’ Gang performs Elmer Rice’s 1923 satire that provides a prophetic warning from the past for our present.
Through April 18. The Actors; Gang, 9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City. theactorsgang.com

Dante and Beethoven’s Sixth
Gustavo Dudamel conducts the L.A. Phil in Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 – Pastoral” and Thomas Adès’ “Inferno – Part 1.”
8 p.m. Thursday; 11 a.m. Friday; and 2 p.m. Sunday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company
A remounting of the historic dance theater work “Still/Here,” created by Jones 30 years in the midst of the AIDS epidemic from interviews with terminally patients which he called “survival workshops.”
8 p.m. UCLA Royce Hall, 340 Royce Drive, Westwood. cap.ucla.edu

Arts anywhere

New releases of arts-related media.

Clockwise from top left, artists Candice Lin, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Tomás Saraceno and Ragnar Kjartansson from “Art in the Twenty-First Century.”

(Art21, Inc.)

Art in the Twenty-First Century
Museums are fantastic, but do you ever want to know what’s going on right now in the art world? Since it debuted in 2001, this video series has focused on contemporary art and artists and has been a mainstay of public broadcasting. The second episode of the 12th season (they’re released biannually) debuted Feb. 11 and profiles four international artists, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Ragnar Kjartansson, Candice Lin and Tomás Saraceno, who use ordinary materials to make extraordinary art. Of local note, Crosby and Lin both live and work in L.A., and the Huntington in San Marino makes an appearance as well. Watch at art21.org, YouTube and pbs.org.

(Princeton University Press)

Michelangelo & Titian
It may not have been a heated rivalry, but author William E. Wallace makes the case that the two great Renaissance artists drove each other to excel in a new dual biography subtitled “A Tale of Rivalry and Genius.” Princeton University Press: 248 pp., $35. press.princeton.edu

Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama competes in the figure skating men’s singles free skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics on February 13 in Milan, Italy.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Turandot: Christopher Tin Finale
The two-time Grammy-winning composer completed Giacomo Puccini’s famously unfinished final opera for this EP recorded at London’s Abbey Road Studios with an all-star cast. You may even have heard it during Japanese figure skater Yuma Kagiyama’s free skate program at the recent Winter Olympic Games in Milan (Kagiyama won silver for the second time). Not only was Milan Puccini’s hometown, but the Games coincided with the 100th-anniversary of the premiere of the opera at Teatro La Scala. Tin Works: $12-30. Available on vinyl, CD, digital download and streaming platforms. christophertin.com

— Kevin Crust

Culture news and the SoCal scene

Frieze Los Angeles returned to the Santa Monica Airport on Feb. 26.

(Casey Kelbaugh / Courtesy of Frieze and CKA)

Art Week is here, and L.A. is overflowing with guests, artists and dealers from around the world as the city stages a wide variety of fairs, exhibitions, dinners and other arts events. The Times put together a handy guide to all the fairs you need to see, including Frieze, Butter LA and the Other Art Fair.

Freelancer Jane Horowitz wrote an in-depth piece about Frieze’s “Body & Soul,” a public art program of eight installations designed to reach beyond traditional art fair audiences. The story gives information about site-specific installations and the artists behind them, including Patrick Martinez. Amanda Ross Ho and Kelly Wall.

Kara Walker, “Unmanned Drone,” 2024, bronze

(Ruben Diaz)

Earlier this week, MOCA announced it had acquired 158 works by 106 artists in 2025 and that it had acquired the centerpiece of its current blockbuster “Monuments” exhibit: “Unmanned Drone,” by artist Kara Walker. “Walker created the 13-foot-tall bronze sculpture out of a statue of the prominent Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson that was originally in Charlottesville, Va. The statue had been removed after serving as a significant gathering place for the infamous 2017 Unite the Right rally of white supremacists,” I wrote in a story about the acquisition.

Our major investigation into L.A. arts icon Judy Baca also published this week, featuring allegations by 10 former employees, including two managers, that Baca used her nonprofit arts center, SPARC, to benefit her private, for-profit art practice, Judy Baca Inc. They also alleged Baca personally benefited from a $5-million Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant to expand her most famous work, a community-driven effort known as “The Great Wall of Los Angeles.”

Alexander Hurt, left, Katie Holmes and Charlie Barnett in “Hedda Gabler.”

(Rich Soublet II)

Times theater critic Charles McNulty headed to San Diego’s Old Globe to catch Katie Holmes in a new take on Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler” written by Erin Cressida Wilson “that compresses the action and sharpens the language to a razor’s edge.”

McNulty also caught Guillermo Cienfuegos’ “enlivening, if at times unsteady,” production of Shakespeare’s “Richard III” at A Noise Within. “Cienfuegos is a font of directing ideas, but his work here could use more editing. He plays up the comedy, which is as much a part of the play as its violence. But sometimes the actors overdo it,” McNulty writes.

“Beethoven’s ‘Missa Solemnis’ is a grand mass for large orchestra, chorus and four vocal soloists that lasts around 80 minutes,” writes Times classical music critic Mark Swed in his review of Gustavo Dudamel and the L.A. Phil’s performance of the challenging piece. “It was written near the end of Beethoven’s life and is his most ambitious work musically and spiritually.” The concert at Disney Hall was part of Dudamel’s “month-long L.A. Phil focus on Beethoven.”

Urban Light at LACMA

(Deborah Vankin / Los Angeles Times)

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced that its partnership with Hyundai Motor Co. will continue until 2037. The union was first cemented in 2015, and the museum said in a news release that it “represents the largest programmatic commitment from a corporate partner in LACMA’s history.” The announcement included two initiatives “that will define the next chapter” of collaboration. “The first initiative is a new exhibition series under the title ‘Hyundai Project.’ Beginning in 2028, the museum will present a biennial survey of an artist with significant ties to Los Angeles and the Pan Pacific region. The featured artist will also develop a large-scale banner for the exhibition that will be installed on the exterior of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM). Secondly, with Hyundai Motor’s renewed support, LACMA will expand the scope, visibility, and impact of the Art + Technology Lab,” the release noted.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is celebrating its 40th anniversary season and has announced its 2026–27 Broadway season featuring 11 shows, six of which are Orange County premieres. The season kicks off with “Beauty and the Beast,” followed by “The Outsiders,” “Water for Elephants,” “Book of Mormon,” “Jersey Boys,” “The Who’s Tommy,” “Buena Vista Social Club,” “Waitress,” “The Great Gatsby,” “Maybe Happy Ending” and “Death Becomes Her.”

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

Olympic Gold-winning U.S. figure skater Alysa Liu is everybody’s favorite person these days. Now she has her own mural on Crenshaw Boulevard in Gardena.

Politicians going on entertainment shows is hardly new, but Vice President Al Gore’s appearance on “Late Show With David Letterman” Wednesday took the use of popular culture further than before.

Politicians, classically, have used popular culture programs two ways: First, to repair and humanize their image, as Richard Nixon did playing the piano on the Jack Paar show in 1960 or appearing on “Laugh-In” in 1968, or as Bob Dole recently did appearing with Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show” to tell self-deprecating jokes and demonstrate that he is more than just a mean guy.

Second, politicians have used popular culture to reach out to new audiences, as President Clinton did during the campaign last year, appearing on Arsenio Hall’s show and on MTV.

“The important thing about going on MTV was not what he said, but the fact that he was there, reaching out to young people on their channel, welcoming them into the process,” Clinton media adviser Mandy Grunwald explained.

Gore’s appearance on Letterman’s new CBS show was slightly different. He did crack jokes with Letterman about his stiff image and the job of being vice president–even reading his own Top 10 list of good things about the office, including “After they sign a bill, there’s a lot of free pens.” But the vice president actually wanted to build support for a substantive public policy, his plan for reinventing government.

He demonstrated the government’s method of safety-testing an ash tray, or “ash receiver, tobacco (desk type).” Gore and Letterman donned safety goggles and smashed the ash tray with a hammer on a U.S.-mandated maple plank.

“This is a step beyond the talk shows,” or playing the saxophone in dark sunglasses, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the dean of the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania.

And that made it risky too.

In effect, the Clinton Administration “has embraced popular culture as part of a general strategy, to use it to get their message out,” said Robert Lichter, director of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a research group in Washington that studies TV.

“The danger is you can be used up by popular culture,” since the entertainment world does not operate by the same rules as the world of politics and journalism.

Politicians cannot demand equal time. And a politician with real power can look foolish tangling with an entertainer.

Vice President Dan Quayle discovered the risks after he criticized the fictional TV character Murphy Brown for her decision to have a child out of wedlock.

Not only did “Murphy Brown’s” producers retaliate with a program that denounced Quayle’s ideas in a way that was unadorned and quite serious political rhetoric, but the 1992 Emmy Awards show was converted into a diatribe against Quayle and the Republican Party for its criticism of Hollywood’s values.

According to Lichter’s Center, which monitors political humor on late-night shows, Leno, Letterman et al. are more focused on politics than ever.

In his first six months in office, Clinton has been the brunt of nearly 400 late-night jokes. George Bush, after six months, had been the brunt of about 60.

Gore, meanwhile, has been the brunt of as many jokes as Quayle was in his first six months as the First Sidekick.

“Let me give you an idea of just how boring our new vice president is,” Letterman had said of Gore on an earlier night. “Al Gore’s Secret Service code name is Al Gore.”

Former Hearts player Ryan Stevenson was on punditry duty as part of BBC Radio Scotland’s Sportsound commentary and echoed Braga and McInnes’ sentiments.

“The atmosphere is unbelievable,” he said. “What you would give to be a player on that pitch just now,” he said.

And, afterwards, he proclaimed: “I think Hearts will win the league. I genuinely do.

“I cannot see Hearts buckling. I cannot see Hearts losing three or four games.

“I just can’t see Hearts losing the title now.”

Rangers are second, two points above Celtic, who have a game in hand. Those two teams meet at Ibrox on Sunday so, one way or another, Hearts’ seven-point advantage will be reduced by weekends’ end.

And Celtic travel to Aberdeen on Wednesday to play their game in hand.

Studio pundit, former Hearts player Michael Stewart, is similarly minded to Stevenson.

“I do think with every game that’s ticked off, there’s an extra level of pressure but equally I think there’s an extra level of belief. They almost counter each other.

“They’re the ones that are sitting there top of the table and deservedly so.”

Israel and the United States launched strikes on Iran on Saturday, hitting targets across the country. Iran urged its citizens to remain calm as it vowed a “crushing” response. Al Jazeera’s Ruby Zaman on what we know so far.

Across advanced and emerging economies, central bankers are confronting an increasingly assertive political class. Populist leaders and fiscally strained governments are pressing for lower interest rates, easier financing and, in some cases, greater influence over monetary authorities themselves.

The response from central banks has been firm but not without risk. In defending their independence, they risk appearing political, blurring the very boundary they are trying to protect.

The U.S.: Digging In at the Federal Reserve

In the United States, the confrontation has been direct. Jerome Powell has faced repeated criticism from President Donald Trump over interest rates, with Trump arguing that tighter policy undermines economic growth.

Rather than soften its stance, the Federal Reserve has emphasized its legal independence and data-driven approach. Powell has repeatedly stressed that decisions will be based on inflation and employment data, not political preference.

The stakes are high. With U.S. federal debt at $36 trillion and large refinancing needs ahead, pressure to keep borrowing costs low is intensifying. Any perception that the Fed is yielding to political demands could unsettle bond markets and erode confidence in its anti-inflation mandate.

Europe: Pre-Emptive Exits and Institutional Defense

In Europe, resistance has taken a subtler form. François Villeroy de Galhau is stepping down from the Bank of France months before elections that polls suggest could benefit the far right. Though officially described as a personal decision, the move is widely seen as an attempt to preserve institutional continuity before a potential political shift.

Similarly, Christine Lagarde has not ruled out the possibility of leaving the European Central Bank before completing her term, even while stating her baseline intention is to stay.

Such pre-emptive departures highlight a paradox: central banks are trying to shield themselves from politicization, yet early resignations can themselves be interpreted as political maneuvers. Critics argue this risks undermining the perception of neutrality.

European institutions are legally insulated by treaties, but they are not immune to democratic pressures particularly as high debt levels in countries such as France and Italy fuel debates over whether central banks should help finance public spending.

Japan: Market Discipline as a Shield

At the Bank of Japan, the dynamic is slightly different. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi appointed dovish economists to the board, a move seen by some as an effort to temper rate hikes.

Yet the BOJ has maintained its commitment to policy normalization. In Japan’s case, currency markets have provided reinforcement. A weakening yen during earlier periods of ultra-loose policy heightened political sensitivity to inflation risks. Market volatility effectively strengthened the central bank’s hand, illustrating how investor reactions can discipline governments as well as monetary authorities.

Why Independence Matters

The battle is about more than institutional pride. Central bank independence emerged in the late 20th century as a response to the inflationary spirals of the 1970s. Countries that subordinated monetary policy to political cycles often experienced runaway prices and capital flight.

More recent examples underscore the danger. In countries such as Turkey and Argentina, political interference in rate-setting has coincided with surging inflation and currency instability.

For advanced economies now grappling with record sovereign debt and rising defense spending, the temptation to lean on central banks is clear. Lower rates ease fiscal pressure. But if investors believe policy is being distorted for political convenience, borrowing costs may ultimately rise rather than fall.

The Blurred Line Between Mandate and Mission Creep

The past decade has complicated the picture. Massive bond-buying programs during the global financial crisis and the pandemic pulled central banks deeper into fiscal territory. In Europe and Britain, limited climate-related initiatives sparked accusations of overreach.

Critics argue that such expansions of mandate have made central banks more politically visible and therefore more vulnerable.

This creates a delicate trade-off. Remaining silent in the face of political pressure may preserve appearances but risk policy distortion. Publicly resisting may safeguard inflation credibility but invite accusations of entering the political arena.

Markets as Final Arbiter

Ultimately, financial markets may determine how much room politicians have to maneuver. Governments can pressure central banks, but they cannot easily compel investors to finance deficits at artificially low rates.

If markets sense that independence is eroding, they may demand higher yields, weaken currencies or pull capital outcomes that raise inflation and undermine growth. In that sense, investor discipline can reinforce central bank autonomy more effectively than legal protections alone.

A Costly Defense

Central bankers today face a more hostile and fragmented political landscape than their predecessors. The old assumption that technocrats could quietly manage inflation while politicians handled everything else no longer holds.

By fighting back, they defend hard-won credibility. But in doing so, they risk appearing as participants in political struggles rather than neutral arbiters of economic stability.

The challenge is no longer simply setting interest rates. It is preserving trust in institutions designed to stand above politics at a time when politics increasingly refuses to stand aside.

With information from Reuters.

President Trump’s decision to strike Iran creates new risks for a significant chunk of the world’s oil supply.

The Islamic Republic itself pumps about 3.3 million barrels a day, or 3% of global output, making it the fourth-largest producer in OPEC. But the nation wields far greater influence over the world’s energy supplies because of its strategic location.

Iran sits on one side of the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping lane for about a fifth of the world’s crude from key suppliers including Saudi Arabia and Iraq. While the waterway remains open, some oil tankers were avoiding sailing through following the attacks and ships were piling up on either side of the entrance, tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Oil markets are closed for the weekend, and there was no initial information on whether the attacks on Iran and the country’s retaliatory strikes across the region Saturday targeted any energy assets.

Here are the pressure points to watch in oil as events unfold.

Iran’s production

Iran produces about 3.3 million barrels of oil a day, up from less than 2 million barrels a day in 2020 despite continued international sanctions. The country has become more adept at skirting these restrictions, sending about 90% of its exports to China.

The largest oil deposits are Ahvaz and Marun and the West Karun cluster, all in Khuzestan province.

Iran’s main refinery, built at Abadan in 1912, can process more than 500,000 barrels a day. Other key plants include the Bandar Abbas and Persian Gulf Star refineries, which handle crude and condensate, a type of ultra-light oil that’s abundant in Iran. The capital, Tehran, has its own refinery.

For Iran’s overseas shipments, the Kharg Island terminal in the northern Persian Gulf is the main logistical hub. There was an explosion on the island Saturday, according to Iran’s semiofficial Mehr news agency, which didn’t provide details or make any reference to the oil terminal.

Kharg Island has numerous loading berths, jetties, remote mooring points and tens of millions of barrels of crude storage capacity. The facilities have handled export volumes exceeding 2 million barrels a day in recent years.

U.S. sanctions discourage most potential buyers of Iran’s crude, but private Chinese refiners have remained willing customers, provided they get steep discounts. For international shipments, Iran relies on a fleet of aging tankers that mostly sail with their transponders deactivated to avoid detection.

Earlier this month, Iran was rapidly filling tankers at Kharg Island, probably in an effort to get as much crude on the water and move vessels out of harm’s way in case the facility was attacked. It was a move similar to last June ahead of Israeli and U.S. attacks.

Any strike on Kharg Island would be a desperate blow for the country’s economy.

Iran’s main natural gas fields are farther to the south along the Persian Gulf coast. Facilities at Assaluyeh and Bandar Abbas process, transport and ship gas and condensate for domestic use in power generation, heating, petrochemicals and other industries.

The area is the main point for Iran’s condensate exports. During the June war, an attack on a local gas plant sparked jitters among traders, but didn’t cause a lasting spike in oil prices because it didn’t affect any export facilities.

Regional Dangers

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Feb. 1 of a “regional war” if his country was attacked by the U.S. Tehran has claimed that a full closure of the Strait of Hormuz is within its power.

It would be an extreme step that the country has never taken but remains a nightmare scenario for global markets.

Hormuz is the chokepoint for bulk of the Persian Gulf’s exports of crude and also refined fuels such as diesel and jet fuel. Qatar, one of world’s biggest liquefied natural gas exporters, also relies on the strait. At least three gas tankers going to or from Qatar had paused voyages following the latest attacks in the region, according to ship-tracking data.

A seized South Korean-flagged tanker is escorted by Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats in the Persian Gulf’s Strait of Hormuz in January 2021. If Iran were to close the strait after the U.S.-Israel strikes Saturday, it would likely cause a massive disruption to exports and cause crude prices to spike.

(Tasnim News Agency via AP)

While OPEC members Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have some ability to reroute their shipments via pipelines that avoid Hormuz, closing the strait would still cause a massive disruption to exports and cause crude prices to spike.

There were signs that other Gulf producers were also accelerating shipments in February. Saudi Arabia’s crude shipments averaged about 7.3 million barrels a day in the first 24 days of the month, the most in almost three years. Combined flows from Iraq, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates were set to climb almost 600,000 barrels a day from the same period in January, according to data from Vortexa Ltd.

In the past, Tehran has made retaliatory strikes on some of its neighbors’ energy assets. In 2019, Saudi Arabia blamed Tehran for a drone attack on its Abqaiq oil processing facility that halted production equivalent to about 7% of global crude supply.

Many observers say it’s improbable that Iran could keep Hormuz closed for long, making lower-impact actions like harassment of shipping more likely.

During last year’s war on Iran by Israel and the U.S., nearly 1,000 vessels a day were having their GPS signals jammed near Iran’s coast, contributing to one tanker collision. Sea mines are another long-threatened option for deterring shipping.

Market reactions

Oil surged the most in more than three years during the June war, with Brent crude rising above $80 a barrel in London. However, the gains quickly faded once it became clear that key regional oil infrastructure hadn’t been damaged.

Since then, concerns about an oversupply have dominated global markets, with crude in London ending 2025 about 18% lower than where it started.

Despite those fears of a glut, prices have surged 19% this year, partly due to fears of U.S. strikes on Iran.

With the main oil futures closed for the weekend, there’s limited insight into how traders are reacting to the latest attacks. However, a retail trading product, run by IG Group Ltd., was pricing West Texas Intermediate as high as $75.33, a gain of as much as 12% from Friday’s close.

Burkhardt and Di Paola write for Bloomberg. Bloomberg writer Julian Lee contributed to this report.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Much has been made of the Dodgers’ exorbitant spending, magnified by a pair of World Series titles for the franchise, as Major League Baseball enters the final year of the current collective bargaining agreement.

The Dodgers open 2026 with a record $381 million payroll, while having over $1 billion in deferrals. As if signing Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernández and Blake Snell, and extending Tyler Glasnow and Will Smith weren’t enough, the club once again opened up its wallet this winter, spending a combined $309 million on four-time All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker and three-time reliever of the year Edwin Díaz.

Relief pitcher Blake Treinen, one of the longest-tenured players on the Dodgers heading into his seventh season with the team, did not mince words when asked about how outsiders view the organization.

“Perception is built from the media and maybe owners that don’t like what the Dodgers are doing because they would have to do something similar,” Treinen said earlier this week. “And I say to that, ‘Maybe you’re in the wrong business.’”

Treinen thinks more teams should spend the way that the Dodgers do.

“Is it a bad thing that the people who pay our checks and our salaries want a winning product?” Treinen said. “If you’re going to complain about a team willing to do what it takes to win, then I think you’re in the wrong business. And, if you win, to say that you lose money by winning is a wild statement, so I think the perception is more or less if you don’t like what the Dodgers are doing, either take a look in the mirror or look at the people who aren’t putting a product on the field.”

Treinen went on to say that teams don’t necessarily need to be lavish spenders in order to compete, pointing to how the Milwaukee Brewers posted baseball’s best record a season ago, with the 22nd-highest payroll. The Brewers bested the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central by five games, despite having a payroll nearly $100 million lower than their rival, and reached the National League Championship Series.

“You don’t always have to spend money to be great, look at the Brewers,” Treinen said. “But to say that you can’t compete — like they did — is a wild thing, because [they had] the best record in baseball last year. Draft and development is a big deal, a lot of teams have leaned into it. So, if you either invest heavily in one or the other, and the Dodgers have done a great job of doing both and that’s why players sign here. If you don’t like it, then maybe find a new business model.”

How the Dodgers operate has garnered some praise — the Padres’ Manny Machado and the Phillies’ Bryce Harper weighed in on the subject early in spring training — but the front office wasn’t really seeking it out.

“We’re not looking externally for validation,” Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said earlier this month at Camelback Ranch. “The validation is winning championships and putting out as good a team as we can each and every year, and all we’re trying to do is get a little bit better each and every season, with the goal of winning championships. [Our] coaching staff, our players I think view it as that. Good, bad or indifferent, the external stuff is something we can’t worry about.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, speaking at Cactus League media day earlier this month, said the fixation on the money spent makes people miss the things they do well.

“It does get lost, the things that we do well,” Roberts said. “Scouting and player development, I think we do as well as anybody in baseball … to get superstars to play well every night, to put out a good product every single night, I think we do a good job at that.”

“That’s why the biggest conversation should be that instead of a payroll question,” Roberts added. “Why are we good for baseball? Because our players play the game the right way.”

Feb. 27 (UPI) — The Department of Defense reached an agreement with Scouting America to continue to support the organization after it committed to end its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said he had been considering an end to supporting the organization because of “significant cultural changes” it made in the early 2010s.

The 116-year-old organization changed its name from Boy Scouts of America to Scouting America, allowing girls to join and introducing programs that included various DEI themes.

“The Boy Scouts lost their way, and a once-great organization became gravely wounded,” Hegseth said in a statement.

“[DEI] crept in, the name was changed to ‘Scouting America,’ girls were accepted [and] the focus of God as the ruler of the universe was watered down to include openness to humanism and Earth-centered pagan religions,” he said in the statement.

Hegseth tied the move to an executive order President Donald Trump signed on his first day in office seeking to end “illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity,” including with the end of DEI programs among government agencies.

Scouting America said in a statement that it is making changes to align with DOD policies and goals as it has engaged in negotiations with the department for several months about its support for the organization.

The group said in a statement that it plans to waive registration fees for military families, launch a new merit badge focused on military service and veterans and reinforce its commitment to “scouting’s foundational ideas: leadership, character, duty to God, duty to country and service.”

As it has engaged the DOD about potential changes to its program, Scouting America said in the statement that it has “preserved our service to the more than 200,000 girls who participate in our programs.”

Noting that girls have participated in scouting since the 1960s, Scouting America said that its commitment to girls being part of the organization is “unwavering.”

Since 1910, more than 130 million people have participated in scouting programs and it is a well-known pipeline to the U.S. military based on its history showing that “scouts are significantly more likely to serve in uniform than the general population.”