Mérida, November 9, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The Venezuelan government publicly reinaugurated the George Washington Plaza in El Paraíso, southwestern Caracas, alongside the US embassy on Friday.

The ceremony commemorated the 250th anniversary of the US independence. The Caracas mayor’s office restored the 2,400-square-meter plaza, originally inaugurated in 1921, while also refurbishing Washington’s statue.

Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez led the state delegation, alongside ministers and municipal authorities.

“This year marks the 191st anniversary of diplomatic relations between Venezuela and the United States,” she highlighted to the press. “This reopening of the plaza is a tribute to Washington, an independence leader, a founding father. It serves as a heartfelt homage to his leadership and historical legacy.”

Rodríguez went on to claim that Washington was a source of inspiration for Venezuelan independence leader Simón Bolívar.

“For the children present here: it is important to know your country’s history, but also to recognize the heroes from other countries,” she concluded.

The commemorative gathering began with an official wreath-laying ceremony at the reopened public square. Local schoolchildren from the El Paraíso parish gathered at the venue, waving small US flags alongside Venezuelan ones.

As part of the official program, the Caribbean nation’s Simón Bolívar Youth and Children’s Symphonic Orchestra performed the US and Venezuelan national anthems, as well as classical pieces from its repertoire.

Heading the US embassy delegation, US Chargé d’Affairs John Barrett echoed Rodríguez in framing Washington as “a leader much like Bolívar.” 

“We should view that statue of George Washington with pride,” he said. “These two figures symbolize new friendship between the United States and Venezuela. And I want to thank all Venezuelans, as well as the president, for their support.”

The US embassy’s celebrations of the 250th anniversary of independence were originally postponed by the June 24 double earthquake.

On Thursday, Barrett hosted a formal diplomatic reception for international diplomats, business sector representatives, and high-ranking Venezuelan officials such as the President of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez.

“We accepted the invitation […] to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence,” he posted on his X account. “The close cooperation between our governments serves as a tool for the prosperity of all our people.”

Since the January 3 US military strikes and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores, Washington and Caracas fast-tracked a diplomatic rapprochement that included the reopening of their respective embassies after seven years of broken ties.

The Venezuelan leaders’ friendly overtures towards the US contrast with the stances of the Maduro and Hugo Chávez governments. Both former presidents were adamant in condemning the US’ past and present role in imposing its interests at the expense of Global South countries. They also had to contend with recurring US-backed destabilization efforts, including coup attempts and economic sanctions.

Caracas’ renewed rhetoric was likewise on display at the XXX Ibero-American Summit, held on November 4-5 in Madrid, Spain. The Venezuelan delegation was led by newly appointed Foreign Minister Oliver Blanco.

“We are convinced that a more stable, more democratic, and more prosperous Venezuela, fully integrated into international markets, will contribute to the development of all of Ibero-America,” Blanco stated.

The Venezuelan official went on to tout an ongoing US-backed dialogue process with a sector of the opposition that is focused on judicial and electoral reforms, stressing that the South American country is undergoing a “democratic transformation” under the acting Rodríguez presidency.

“One significant agreement from this process is the renewal of the Supreme Court. […] We have requested technical assistance from the European Union to strengthen the rule of law and modernize our justice system,” he added.

Blanco additionally highlighted cooperation prospects and a “shared history” between Latin America and Spain. 

To mark the country’s participation in the Ibero-American Summit, state broadcaster VTV published an AI-generated spot hailing Spain’s “heritage” in Venezuela as a “cultural matrimony” and a “meeting of two worlds.” The narrative was markedly different from the discourse under Chávez and Maduro, who fiercely condemned Spanish colonialism, the genocide of native peoples, and the slave trade.

Edited by Ricardo Vaz in Caracas.

MAYA Jama has spoken out about her return to the small screen after signing a huge deal with streaming giant Netflix.

The former Love Island host, who this week stepped down from the ITV dating show, revealed on Monday that she had signed an impressive seven-figure multi-project deal.

Now, Maya has hinted that her first role isn’t far away at all.

Taking to X, Maya re-shared a story about her Netflix deal and wrote: “won’t be off your screens for too long..@netflix”.

She also shared a selfie to Instagram from a dressing room which showed her holding a Netflix mug – proving she has already been filming for something.

Fans already know that Maya is set to appear in the third season of The Gentleman, which could be what she is referring to.

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Following the news of Maya’s new career path, a source told the The Sun: “Maya has signed a deal with Netflix, with a number of exciting new projects in the works.

“She’s become a huge pull for them on The Gentleman and she is excited to throw herself into something new with the leap.

“It’s a huge 7 figure global deal.

“Further details of the specific projects are being kept under wraps for now.”

Maya has also bagged herself a deal with one of the States’ biggest talent agencies, William Morris Endeavour.

She signed with the powerhouse of a management company which is best known for representing stars including Idris Elba, Olivia Rodrigo and the entire Kardashian family to name just a few.

Starc formed part of the bowling attack in the contentious 2018 Test alongside Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon.

In 2021, the quartet, who remain fixtures in the Australia Test side, issued a joint statement saying they “did not know a foreign substance was taken on to the field”.

Speaking at a season launch event in Sydney, Starc stated he hadn’t “really paid much attention” to the media coverage of Khawaja’s claims.

“Obviously, there’s differing opinions of eight years ago. We were heavily grilled through the process at the time, since,” said Starc.

“I guess I won’t speak on behalf of the bowlers – but, where I stand, my opinion hasn’t changed, my recollection hasn’t changed from what we said in 2021.

“We weren’t aware it [sandpaper] was taken on the field to be tampered with. We saw it on the big screen in Cape Town. As far as the book’s concerned, I haven’t read it and probably won’t read it, so that’s for Usman to elaborate on.

“It’s definitely disappointing that’s what we’re talking about heading into a really exciting [Australian] summer. Different people felt different ways about it at the time, throughout and certainly through the last eight years.

“I think Trav [Head] said it the other day, that the group has changed a lot. We certainly look forward to what’s coming up. We’re not in 2018 anymore, are we, so the group at the moment’s great.”

Khawaja has also said in his book that sandpaper was in use at the second Test at Port Elizabeth, but Starc said that claim was the “first I was aware of any of that taking place in PE”.

Warner, who was banned for a year after the incident, has backed Khawaja’s recollections, saying on Monday they were “100% accurate”.

Greenberg argued there was always likely to be a lack of consensus about what took place in the series.

“You end up at the same intersection where one person’s version of events contradict the others, and I’m not sure what outcome people are searching for,” he added.

“I think what people want is a single outcome that everyone is aligned up on, but I don’t think that’s possible on this occasion because we have such conflicting views from the same moment in time.”

The toy industry has a new favourite consumer and its grownups. Adults with no children have more disposable income to spend and are propping up the market through the nostalgia economy. Al Jazeera’s Yasmeen ElTahan explains.

At least two bases in England hosting U.S. Air Force aircraft are operating under beefed-up security protocols, a U.S. official told us Monday afternoon. The official was responding to our questions about what appeared to be unusual aircraft movements out of RAF Mildenhall. It is unclear what spurred these measures, how long they have been in place or whether they are connected to an ongoing investigation into whether Iran was behind a security incident at RAF Fairford in September that reportedly prompted the hasty departure of B-1 Lancer bombers.

“Enhanced force protection measures are in effect across RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall,” the official told us. “We constantly assess a variety of factors that determine what measures we institute or modify to protect our installations, our people and their families. We are working closely with our host nation counterparts to minimize impacts from enhanced force protection activities and ensure the safety of U.S. personnel, their families and the local community.”

The official declined to say what steps were taken.

“For operational security reasons, we do not discuss specific force protection measures,” the official added.

RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath are both major hubs for the U.S. Air Force. Mildenhall’s host unit is the 100th Air Refueling Wing, which operates KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling jets. The base is also home to Air Force RC-135V/W Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft, Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft and MC-130J Commando II special operations cargo planes. Lakenheath hosts Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle and F-35A Lightning II aircraft.

Both bases also see frequent flights transiting to other locations.

As we noted earlier in this piece, the official was responding to our questions about unusual aircraft movements out of Mildenhall. They were first noticed by the @DefenceGeek open-source flight tracker account.

“Over the course of today, a number of US Air Force assets at RAF Mildenhall (EGUN) have made unannounced/unexpected movements to other locations, with several of those movements in motion presently,” DefenceGeek wrote on X. “The initial few this morning I assumed were due to heavy fog in the area, but other information is now suggesting something else… – Several KC-135s have moved to Spangdahlem (ETAD) or Prestwick (EGPK) – CV-22Bs have moved from Mildenhall to Lakenheath It remains unclear if there is an ongoing exercise or information of a potential threat (following the incident at RAF Fairford)…”

DefenceGeek also noted that RAF Lakenheath posted a notice this morning on Facebook urging vigilance in spotting and reporting drones.

“Our strongest security asset is an observant community,” the RAF Lakenheath Facebook post read. “Staying vigilant and reporting suspicious activity, including unauthorized drone activity, helps protect our Airmen, families and mission. If you see something unusual on or around the Tri-Base area, report it to Security Forces.”

It is unclear what connection, if any, the Lakenheath post has to the enhanced force protection status. U.S. Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE) declined to discuss security measures. The command oversees U.S. Air Force operations in Europe and Africa.

“U.S. Air Force aircraft rotate between installations and operating locations for a variety of reasons including training and real world requirements,” USAFE told us. “U.S. military aircraft are hosted in accordance with access, basing, and overflight agreements with our Allies and partners. Due to operations security, we will not provide further information on movement of assets.”

The departures from Mildenhall took place amid an ongoing flow of refueling tankers and other aircraft to the Middle East as President Donald Trump continues to mull whether to resume strikes against Iran. This afternoon, Trump wrapped up his meeting with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to discuss a flagging effort to resolve the conflict with Iran through diplomacy.

It should also be noted that in late November 2024, Lakenheath, Mildenhall and two other RAF bases hosting U.S. forces experienced drone incursions, which we were the first to write about.

As we mentioned earlier in this piece, security concerns about bases in England hosting U.S. Air Force aircraft and personnel were raised following an incident at RAF Fairford.

Like Mildenhall and Lakenheath, RAF Fairford is a major hub for U.S. military aircraft in the United Kingdom. It is a regular host of strategic assets, including bombers and U-2 spy planes. It also acts as a pit stop for other aircraft, including fighters, that are being ferried to and from the United States. Bomber strikes launched from Fairford were a central aspect of major U.S. combat operations against Iran earlier this year.

In late September, five men were arrested on suspicion of driving bomb-laden vans toward it. They were soon released on bail after no explosives were found, but two men were later arrested, one of who was “charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service, which police earlier said they believed to be Iran,” according to the BBC.

A week after the security incident, U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer bombers that had been deployed to RAF Fairford in the U.K. since Operation Epic Fury returned to their home stations, a U.S. defense official confirmed to TWZ at the time. The hasty movement was reportedly sparked by new Iranian threats against the base. As we previously reported, Tehran directly threatened RAF Fairford in July over its use as a base to launch attacks against Iran.

We can’t say for sure what prompted the enhanced security at RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall or whether the aircraft movements at Mildenhall are precautionary or just normal shifting of resources. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates when warranted.

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

VILE Russell Brand is facing multiple fresh allegations in the wake of his 10 year jail sentence.

After the 51-year-old was found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault, it was revealed that more women had come forward.

Prosecutors are assessing whether to bring further charges.

The Metropolitan Police has confirmed that investigations are ongoing into two allegations of rape made against Brand.

At pre-trial court hearings, it was revealed that one of the complaints comes from a woman who dated Brand when he was 30 years old and she was a 16-year-old schoolgirl.

Brand’s ex Jemima Goldsmith has also accused him of “violence, coercive control and abuse”.

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The former couple forced a gagging order against massage therapist Szilvia Berki, who claimed she was assaulted by Brand.

Ms Berki was told she must pay Brand £50,000 after he was handed the injunction, which prevented her speaking out.

She was also barred from making “any allegation or insinuation” that either Brand or Jemima had “committed any criminal offence against her”.

Jemima has now spoken out on X to describe “painful and personal things in relation to Russell Brand“.

She said she had “no choice” but to do so “given the misleading reports and speculation around the facts of a harassment injunction that was taken out to protect me and my family”.

Jemima said she has “always been strongly and unequivocally on the side of all of Brand’s victims”.

She continued: “I am in awe of the courageous women who came forward at Brand’s trial, told their stories, testified and ensured justice was done.

“I have had my own personal experience of his violence, coercive control and abuse. I had to call the police to have him removed from my house in 2014 during a violent incident.

“I chose not to press charges at the time and not to go public with this, as I was worried about the impact of the press attention on my then teenage children. I have neither seen nor spoken to Brand since that period in 2014.

“Whilst my pain in relation to this, pales in comparison to what the women have testified in court have suffered, this was a difficult period in my life which has had a lasting impact.”

She added: “I am pleased and relieved that Russell Brand has finally received justice.”

A police spokesperson said: “The Met’s investigation into allegations of rape made by two women remains ongoing.

“The suspect has previously been interviewed under caution in connection with the allegations.

“Files have been submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service in relation to both complainants.

“Detectives remain in close contact with prosecutors as inquiries continue and further investigative work is carried out.”

The spate of further charges were first raised in court hearings in March and May, when Brand’s legal team sought assurances that the new charges would not be brought shortly before the trial took place.

It comes as an ex-con at the jail where rapist Russell Brand is being held has warned the fallen star needs to “keep his head down” as he is a “marked man”.

The former HMP Wandsworth inmate said Brand, 51, “needed to survive” until he moves to a new prison, following his sentencing.

It comes after the disgraced actor was jailed for 10 years and six months for rape and sexual assault on Monday.

An ex HMP Wandsworth lag, who was released last year, said Brand is now a “dead man walking” in Wandsworth.

Brand has received visits by a prison chaplain while behind bars.

The pair prayed with each other as the fiend started his years-long stretch in jail.

Terrified Brand met the minister at his cell door after he was held following his dramatic rape and sexual assault conviction on Thursday.

Brand – who was strip-searched and scanned on arrival at the violence-plagued jail – was yesterday being kept apart from other cons and assessed by officers.

We can reveal that prison bosses have carried out a Cell-Sharing Risk Assessment (CSRA) on Brand – and have opted to house him on his own amid safety fears.

They have also opened up a care in custody document on the former comic and TV star, meaning they have to check him regularly and keep records on his mood.

Officers are understood to have blocked Brand from mixing with other cons to keep him safe from violence and extortion at the prison which has been hit by scandals and the 2023 escape of inmate Daniel Khalife.

THERE ARE TIMES WHEN A PANTY GIRDLE can be a girl’s best friend. For Julie Williamson, the moment came one afternoon in 1969, not long after the smart, ambitious, 29-year-old legal secretary had gone to work for Bob Packwood in the freshman senator’s Portland office. She was alone talking on the telephone when her 36-year-old employer strode in and kissed her on the back of the neck.

The senator had given Williamson, married and the mother of two, a gratuitous smooch once before, at a bar, she says, while her husband was in the men’s room. She had passed it off as a drunken aberration, but this time she spoke up. “Don’t you ever do that again,” she said sternly.

Her words had no effect. Williamson says Packwood followed her into the back room, where he grabbed her by her ponytail, stood on her toes and tried to remove her clothing. The weirdest thing of all, she remembers, was that he didn’t say anything, not a word. The assault was passionless and oddly mechanical. When he couldn’t get her panty girdle off, Williamson says, Packwood abruptly gave up, saying, “Not today, but someday,” as he hurriedly departed. (The senator has repeatedly declined comment on Williamson’s charges, and he declined to be interviewed for this story.)

Williamson’s then-husband, Doug Myers, didn’t believe her. And two male colleagues, she remembers, told her she should be embarrassed about even mentioning the incident. “That’s just the way Bob is,” they said. About a week later, still angry and hurt, Williamson confronted Packwood on the way to a Girl Scout cookie drive. “What was supposed to happen next? Were we just going to lie down on the rug? Like animals in the zoo?”

“I suppose you’re one of the ones who want a motel room,” she says he replied.

Williamson resigned.

THERE WAS A TIME NOT SO LONG AGO WHEN BOB PACKWOOD appeared invincible. As ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, his championing of the use of tax incentives to achieve legislative goals had made him a darling of Wall Street. But Packwood’s appeal was not limited to this traditionally Republican stronghold. Over the years, his support for progressive causes had endeared him to abortion-rights and wilderness advocates, environmentalists, the pro-Israel lobby, the ACLU, the building trades and feminists–interest groups not always found in the campaign ledgers of Republicans.

Packwood’s war chests were so huge and his electoral support so widely distributed that few Oregon Democrats had the courage to challenge him. Longtime Congressman Les AuCoin, gambling on a Democratic sweep, mounted a $2-million effort in 1992, only to find himself outspent 4 to 1 and hammered relentlessly by negative TV ads. Packwood won by three percentage points. Off to Washington for a fifth term, he seemed secure in the title bestowed on him by a regional magazine 14 years ago: “Senator for Life.”

Politically, at least, he often used his power well. But there had long been rumors that Packwood had a “zipper problem.” Ken Rinke, a retired Oregon lobbyist now living in Riverside, remembers that when he was first introduced to Packwood in the late ‘50s, he was warned that the ambitious young lawyer was an inveterate womanizer. Rinke, then lobbying for the railroads, gave Packwood some advice in the form of a joke about a dog that gets its tail cut off by an engine in the switching yard. Angry, the dog turns around and snaps at the train, only to be beheaded by the caboose. The moral? “Don’t lose your head over a piece of tail,” Rinke said.

For years, the rumors went largely unexamined, and stories such as Rinke’s were recounted for their amusement value. In the all-male Senate, such masculine “indulgences” were once deemed acceptable.

But perhaps no longer. Eighteen days after last November’s election, a startling story in the Washington Post accused Packwood of habitual sexual misconduct, citing 10 specific instances. Democratic Party activists and even some Republicans demanded Packwood’s resignation. The senator disappeared for 18 days, spending part of the time at the Hazelden Foundation, an alcohol treatment center in Minnesota. Finally, in a nationally televised press conference on Dec. 10, he issued a formal apology. Without going into detail, he said his past behavior was “just plain wrong” and that, perhaps because of the times he was raised in, he “just didn’t get it.”

“I do now,” he added.

Packwood loyalists expressed satisfaction with the apology, but his critics dismissed it as a ploy to stay in office. “He still doesn’t get it,” says Betty Roberts, a former Oregon Supreme Court justice who ran against Packwood in 1974 and who is a leading member of a newly constituted anti-Packwood coalition called Oregonians for Ethical Representation. Outraged by allegations in the press that Packwood had lied to the Oregon media about the Post investigation and had pressured Post editors not to run the story until after the election, citizens’ groups brought charges of election fraud before the Senate Rules Committee. Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred filed a formal complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee. In March, leaders from a half dozen feminists groups met in Washington to hammer out a uniform strategy on the Packwood issue.

Now Packwood and his opponents are girding for what promises to be a sensational refocusing of the national consciousness on the issue of sexual harassment, raised more than a year ago by Anita Hill. With a parade of witnesses and a Senate that is hungry to show it will give as much weight to the views of working women as to one of its own, Packwood can’t expect the protection of senatorial prerogative. “This is an unprecedented situation,” Allred says, “and it calls for an unprecedented remedy.”

Ironically, for years Packwood had been feminism’s good friend in the Senate. Long before it became fashionable, he was putting women in charge of his campaigns, appointing them to important positions on his staff and paying them well, and he had been a consistent and courageous advocate of reproductive rights. He championed women’s issues, says Gary McMurray, a Portland lawyer and Packwood’s former law partner, “because he believed women are the guardians of liberty, but they are never given any.”

Such was his importance to the women’s movement that Ms. editor Gloria Steinem personally contributed to his 1980 campaign and once wrote a fund-raising letter for him that brought in hundreds of thousands of feminist dollars. Steinem’s first reaction to the Post story was to suggest cutting Packwood some slack. “For some of us, our issue was more important than personal rights,” Allred says. “And about our friends, we discount negative messages. That’s human nature.” But as more stories surfaced, old attitudes changed. After hearing that one of Packwood’s accusers was inspired to work for him by her endorsement, Steinem sent a contribution to Oregonians for Ethical Representation. “I support the women, I believe the women–just as I believed Anita Hill,” she declared at a Portland press conference.

The sense of betrayal has been overwhelming. Packwood’s Washington office received so many nasty fax messages that he had the machine unplugged. On a late January swing through Oregon, demonstrators wearing “I Get It” buttons and shouting “Resign! Resign!” confronted him at every stop. In Portland, where he was greeted by a life-size dummy identified as “Senator Peckerwood,” aides fearing violence refused to disclose the location of his appearances.

Faced with the fact that his mea culpa stance had gotten him nowhere, Packwood abruptly changed course, declaring that his Dec. 10 apology was not an admission of guilt. He had a right to defend himself, he said, and he put his accusers on notice that they can expect a tough grilling.

Packwood’s bravado only served to fan the flames of feminist indignation. “He duped us, used us,” Diane Linn, executive director of the Oregon chapter of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), told a cheering anti-Packwood rally, “but we’re not going to take it anymore!” Meanwhile, Julie Williamson sought and obtained a promise from the Ethics Committee to follow the rape shield law in questioning witnesses. Evidence of past sexual activity not involving Sen. Packwood will not be admissible.

Follow-ups in the press have brought the tally of accusers to as many as 24. The Ethics Committee–Democrats Barbara A. Mikulski and Thomas A. Daschle, Republicans Mitch McConnell, Ted Stevens and Robert C. Smith–is chaired by Sen. Richard H. Bryan, a Democrat and a former Nevada prosecutor renowned for his toughness in rape cases; Bryan has announced that the committee is investigating not only sexual misconduct charges but Packwood’s alleged attempts to intimidate potential witnesses. Preliminary investigations are now well under way, with action by both committees possible anytime between now and the end of the year.

More is at stake than the political future of one incumbent senator, says Kate Michelman, NARAL’s national coordinator and a former Packwood ally. In Hawaii, 10 women recently accused Sen. Daniel K. Inouye of sexual harassment. Minnesota Republican Sen. Dave Durenberger is facing a rape-paternity suit. For feminists, Packwood is a symbol of an order that must go, a boozy, power-addicted, testosterone-poisoned environment in which mashing is mistaken for manliness. They see Packwood’s fall as just one step in a revolution to abolish the old boys’ club that Congress has been.

Thus the battle lines are drawn. An editorial in the Wall Street Journal, rising to Packwood’s defense, called the scandal a Democratic vendetta conceived and orchestrated by the senator’s enemies. Why should Packwood have to resign, loyalists ask, when Ted Kennedy was allowed to stay in office after his performances at Chappaquiddick and Palm Beach?

Is Packwood the victim of mass feminist hysteria, of what one supporter calls “McCarthyism in drag”? Or is he, as NARAL’s Diane Linn has charged, a “sexual predator” and an abuser of power, his behavior beyond the pale even for Capitol Hill? And if that’s the case, why has it taken so long–24 years, if you believe Julie Williamson–for the truth to come out?

AFTER 32 YEARS IN POLITICS, PACKWOOD’S DEEP, MEASURED VOICE IS PRACTICED; his grave, distant expression studied. Only his smile seems unrehearsed, a sudden grin that contorts the left side of his face while the right remains composed. He is moody and tense, a man whose pursuit of senatorial power has become his whole life. His 24-year marriage to Georgie Packwood, a tall, articulate brunette with whom he raised two adopted children–Shyla, now 22, and William, 26–ended in bitter divorce two years ago, and Packwood now lives alone in a two-room basement apartment. “His Senate office is now his real home,” Georgie Packwood says.

In 1968, when Packwood first won election to the Senate, Dan Rather was a dashing young White House correspondent, Packwood the political boy wonder who had cut incumbent liberal Wayne Morse down like an old Douglas fir. Rather liked Packwood’s intelligence, wit, and his willingness to listen to another point of view, but Packwood’s competitiveness was something else. Packwood drove himself and everyone around him unmercifully, barking commands into the Dictabelt he carried with him and constantly racing against time. He has always been, says Harry Boivin, a former Oregon state representative, “150% political. No one works as hard at it.”

Packwood’s decision to tough out the charges against him does not surprise those who know him well. He once had an office softball team and did the pitching, always playing to win. Associates describe him as hyper-competitive, and many refuse to play cards or games with him, says Mark Kirchmeier, University of Portland media director, who is writing a book about Packwood. “You see,” CBS anchor Rather told me when we discussed Packwood for an article I wrote in 1979, “Bob detests losing.”

Packwood has been breathing politics for a long time. His father, Fred, who died in 1965, was a lobbyist for Oregon industry (and later for organized labor), and it was not unusual for legislators to appear at the Packwoods’ Portland dinner table.

Brilliant and aloof, Fred Packwood “did not know how to make people laugh, but when he spoke, everyone else would stop talking and listen,” Georgie Packwood says. On long drives, Fred would pass the time grilling his son on politics, history and philosophy, testing him to the point that Bob would burst into tears. Shy and so nearsighted he had to wear Coke-bottle lenses, Packwood committed himself early on to hard work, often locking himself in his room to study.

It was a matter of survival, family friends say, in a home where the atmosphere became tumultuous after the adults had had a few drinks. Fred and Packwood’s mother, Gladys, fought frequently. In one indelible incident, Bob saw Gladys go to a kitchen drawer and pull out a butcher knife and attack Fred with it. It was not a defensive move, as Bob told the story. Gladys was definitely the aggressor.

Packwood’s parents were parsimonious with affection. At best, Fred would pat Bob on the head sometimes and comment on his physical dimensions (“Say, haven’t you lost weight?”). Gladys hardly ever had a kind word for her son. “He always was a bratty boy,” she once told a reporter. Bob eventually found an escape in the hectic pace of politics.

Though Fred had tried to push him into engineering, Packwood bolted from CalTech after one term, winding up at Willamette University in Salem, where he studied political science. Then came law school at New York University, a job in a Portland law firm and volunteer precinct work in the Republican Party. In no time, he was party chairman in Oregon’s most populous county, Multnomah, and in 1962, he won a seat in the Statehouse.

Even at that early date he was so determined to go to Washington that he undercut a rival Republican’s challenge of Sen. Morse by advising party money men not to invest in his campaign. He was, Portland journalist Mark Kirchmeier noted in a story, saving Morse’s seat for himself.

Packwood proved an indifferent legislator but was a genius at political organizing. “Bob was always into the process, the mechanics of politics, though I never detected any keen interest in substance,” says John Mosser, a former Oregon state senator who is now a Portland holding workshops on how to get elected, and engineering the 1964 GOP takeover of the Statehouse. Fifteen years later, he would do the same thing on the national level, taking charge of the Republican Senatorial Committee, introducing direct-mail fund raising and, thanks also to his ability to influence tax questions in the Finance Committee, increasing Republican campaign revenues twentyfold. As early as 1974, a columnist was touting him as presidential material.

When his party emerged from the 1980 election with its first Senate majority in two decades, Packwood was hailed as one of the brightest Republicans to come along in years.

But Packwood, who in 1970 had introduced the first bill in Congress to legalize abortion, was on a collision course with the Reagan Administration over that issue. In 1982, after other Senate liberals had demurred, he led a filibuster to thwart his Republican President’s attempt to make abortion the equivalent of murder. “You cannot write working women off, and the blacks off, and the Hispanics off, and the Jews off,” he told an Associated Press reporter, “and assume you’re going to build a party on white Anglo-Saxon males over 40. There aren’t enough of us left.”

It wasn’t the first time that Packwood, one of the first Republicans to demand President Richard M. Nixon’s resignation in ‘73, had broken party ranks, but this time he had more to lose. The filibuster was a grand gesture, but it cost him the chairmanship of the Republican Senatorial Committee.

When he was still living with Georgie in their suburban Washington home, Packwood often retreated to a basement study equipped with a sound system to listen to classical music through a headset. “He looked like Snoopy pretending to be the Red Baron,” she says. In his typical loner style, during the current scandal he came out for a freeze on Social Security benefits, staking out a leadership position on the Republican side of the budget debate.

But is there another Bob who forces kisses on women, chases them around his desk and lures them into motel rooms? Is Packwood, as Gloria Steinem suspects, equipped with “two sets of blood vessels”?

GEORGIE PACKWOOD SAYS THAT Bob was the first man she’d ever met who did not know how to flirt and didn’t even try. After many years of marriage, she still didn’t feel she knew him completely. It was difficult for him to shed his formal manners and his obsession with politics and talk about intimate things. For a time, Georgie thought he was mellowing–she had taught him that it was all right for a grown man to cry–but up to the end of the marriage, conversation at home tended to focus on the logistics of life.

Real closeness and communication were often clouded by a fog of alcohol: The son had come to resemble the father. “Bob does have a problem with alcohol,” Georgie says over a cup of coffee at a deli in Lake Oswego, the Portland suburb she moved to in December. “He is a binge drinker who honestly can’t remember what he does during his blackouts.” At Kelly’s Irish Times, his favorite Capitol Hill bar, he is reportedly known for his habit of ordering two drinks at a time and for his ability to consume quantities of alcohol without visible effect. At least some of the unwanted advances he is accused of allegedly took place when he was drinking. On one occasion, his verbal abuse of Georgie broke up a Washington dinner party. “Bob’s problem with alcohol was a major factor in our divorce,” Georgie says.

Packwood’s explanation of why he didn’t remain at Hazelden for the full 28-day program–that the program directors didn’t think he needed to–was revealing to Georgie. Like most alcohol-treatment centers that follow the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous, Hazelden demands that applicants admit they are alcoholics and acknowledge that there is a “higher power.” “Evidently, Bob had not reached the point in his life where he could do that,” Georgie says.

Although he says he is seeking counsel from friends in AA, Packwood insists that he is not an alcoholic, pointing out that he has always showed up for work on time. His father, Fred, liked to make the same claim–even though contemporaries remember that he sometimes had to be carried home from the drunk tank by fellow lobbyists.

As early as 1974, during Bob Packwood’s first Senate reelection campaign, Georgie tried to get him to deal with the problem, asking his lawyer, friend and adviser, Jack Faust of Portland, to persuade Packwood to get help. Faust (who at the senator’s request is refusing all comment on the scandal) assured her that he would take care of it.

Georgie renewed the effort in 1980 and 1986, to no avail. In 1984, Packwood had begun to think seriously about a run at the presidency, and he held a meeting on Maryland’s Eastern Shore to discuss the possibility with his supporters. Georgie belonged to a generation of women who sought professional fulfillment vicariously, through their husbands. She could see herself as First Lady, working in partnership with Bob on women’s rights and other causes that are important to her. And yet when asked what she thought of Bob running, she could scarcely disguise her displeasure. “I guess I can get used to the idea,” she said. In private, she firmly told her husband that it was out of the question unless he quit drinking first.

Packwood began to refer to her as his “albatross.” He spent more and more time away from home, speaking to the groups that funded his campaigns and ignoring his family. In the past, he had often taken Georgie along on his trips back to Oregon. Outgoing by nature, she enjoyed helping him work the crowds. But Georgie began to fade out of the picture. She had contracted “Potomac fever,” the gossips said, and didn’t care about her home state anymore. “The truth is,” Georgie says, “I was no longer invited.”

Georgie had noticed how Packwood’s new administrative assistant, Elaine Franklin, managed to find hot-tub time alone with Bob in her skimpy bikini during a campaign swing through Oregon. (“The senator is fond of hot tubs, and he does a lot of thinking in them,” Franklin says. “On many occasions he’d suggest that someone get their bathing suit on and meet him in the hot tub, me included.”) It came as no surprise to Georgie when, in the fall of 1986, Franklin’s husband, Andrew, a Portland engineering executive, had Elaine served with divorce papers at an Oregon motel.

Packwood was in a rage over it when he got back to Washington. Why couldn’t Andy Franklin have waited until after the election? he fumed.

When Georgie pressed him on the subject, Packwood swore that there was nothing to the rumors about him and Elaine. (Franklin calls such allegations “outrageous.”)

When his mother died in 1988, Packwood “went a little crazy,” Georgie says, and their home life completely fell apart. Georgie tried to be understanding. Fred had long since died, and Packwood’s sister, Pat, had perished in an auto accident some years earlier. “Bob was alone, confronting his own mortality,” she says, “and in his subconscious, he must have realized that he was now forever without that mothering he had missed as a child.” She asked him not to run again for the Senate, to spend more time with his children. “You’ll only be 60; you’ll have had 24 successful years. Why not quit while you’re ahead?” she said.

Packwood ignored her advice but did go to marriage counseling, where, Georgie says, he acted as if the problems were hers, not his. Trapped into agreeing to bring Elaine Franklin in on the discussions, he reneged at the last minute. A year later, Georgie filed for divorce.

The proceeding, which took place in 1990, lasted two days. Bob leafed through court documents making notes as though it were just another day at the office, and when it was over, he offered his ex-wife his hand as though concluding the successful mark-up of a bill. “I was so numb with grief that I couldn’t speak or think clearly,” Georgie says, “but a little voice in the back of my head was saying, ‘This is not the man I married. This man lost something on his way to the Senate.’ ”

JULIE WILLIAMSON REMAINED active in politics after leaving Packwood’s employ, serving as a volunteer to local causes and candidates and running Congressman AuCoin’s Oregon office in the early ‘80s. In that position, she heard rumors of continuing hanky-panky in the Packwood camp. Reportedly, those Packwood staffers who complained were told to shut up. “If you ever talk, you will have Bob for an enemy, and you will never get another job in Washington,” one woman allegedly was warned.

Early in March of 1992, the Seattle Times broke the story of former Washington Sen. Brock Adams, accused of harassing and even drugging women in order to have sex with them. Shortly after, Williamson spoke with Oregonian political columnist Steve Duin, who was seeking perspective on the Adams affair. Was Adams’ behavior typical in her experience? Williamson said no, she had had only one such problem over the years. She told him about the panty-girdle incident. Duin said he wanted to write it up.

Williamson hesitated. Anita Hill’s televised ordeal had given her an idea of the flak she could expect if she went public. She agreed to talk, but only on background.

Duin wrote a column about Williamson’s allegations, but since she did not want her identity disclosed, he did not name her–or Packwood. The paper ran no other stories on the subject; two months later, Packwood defeated his chief opponent. AuCoin won the Democratic primary, and a tough general election battle loomed ahead. “I wondered why the Oregonian was not following up on the story,” Williamson says. She thought no one cared about what happened years ago.

But the Oregonian was not ignoring her story. A police reporter, Holley Gilbert, who had recently completed a prizewinning series on rape, spent several weeks on the phone to some of the more than 800 people Packwood has employed over the years, but no one was willing to go public.

Gilbert had never heard the story of Roberta Ulrich, the paper’s 64-year-old Washington correspondent. In early March, 1992, when Ulrich had gone to Packwood’s office for a routine chat, Packwood offered her a drink from the box wine he kept in his office cooler, and as it was late in the day, she accepted. The senator drank two or three glasses himself, and when Ulrich got up to leave, he came around his desk and kissed her on the lips, she says. Ulrich considered the kiss improper, she says, and reported it to her editor, but word of the incident did not reach the paper’s top editors.

The search was taken up by Florence Graves, a former editor of Common Cause magazine, who was doing a story for Vanity Fair about sexual harassment in Congress. Graves interviewed Williamson in April and began to focus on Packwood and to look for a new publisher after Vanity Fair proved unwilling to indemnify her against possible legal costs. It wasn’t until late September, when Washington Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie teamed her with investigative reporter Charles Shepard, that she was given a green light. One reason the Post took Graves seriously was that one of its own reporters had told her editors about a similar experience with Packwood.

With the election little more than a month away, Graves and Shepard tracked down and interviewed nine more women who related personal incidents of sexual harassment or misconduct by Packwood. The women, all former Packwood employees, campaign volunteers or lobbyists, told of being grabbed, fondled and kissed by Packwood in his office, in Capitol corridors and in motel rooms to which he had invited them on false pretenses. All said they had resisted the advances and did not formally complain or report him because they were embarrassed and feared damage to their careers or causes.

“It’s very dismaying,” says abortion-rights activist Mary Heffernan, one of Packwood’s accusers. “You think you have one kind of relationship with a man, based on your work, and then you realize it’s about sex.”

Ten days before the election, Packwood got wind of the Post story and complained to publisher Katharine Graham, who passed on his concerns to Downie. Downie suggested that Packwood talk to the Post’s reporters.

Packwood put Graves and Shepard off for a week, finally meeting them five days before the election. Told that the Post was planning to run its story Nov. 1 (a bluff, Downie now says), Packwood denied the charges and demanded more time to respond.

On Oct. 30, he launched his counterattack, peppering the Post’s downtown office as well as Downie’s home with faxes suggesting that several of his accusers were either deranged, carrying grudges or had invited his advances. The Post postponed the story until after the election.

Meanwhile, the Oregon media were rife with rumors of the Post investigation, which both Packwood and Franklin denied knowing about. (Those successful attempts to forestall a breaking news story became the basis of several petitions to the Senate Rules Committee to have Packwood’s election victory thrown out.)

On Saturday, Oct. 31, after hearing that the Post story was delayed, Julie Williamson pondered how to get the issue before the voters in time for the Tuesday election. Charles Williamson, a Portland attorney she had married after her divorce from Doug Myers, impulsively wrote the copy for a full-page ad in the Sunday Oregonian on his computer. But when he called the newspaper, he was told it was too late–the advertising deadline had passed. And so, on Nov. 3, Oregon voters reelected a United States senator, unaware of the cloud of suspicion hanging over him.

GEORGIE PACKWOOD HAD been vacationing in Copenhagen and didn’t get back to Washington until after the election. Penny Durenberger, the estranged wife of Sen. Dave Durenberger, picked her up at the Baltimore airport. “While you’ve been gone, what have you heard?” Durenberger asked.

She’d heard everything. A reporter had contacted her and in the course of an interview had filled her in on the scandal that was about to break. Georgie was not surprised, she says. She was only sad that tragedy had engulfed the man she had loved–and overtaken her friend’s life, in the form of the rape-paternity suit against Dave Durenberger, as well. “Now how,” she asked ruefully, “did a couple of nice old ladies like us get involved in a mess like this?”

Georgie didn’t know how badly her husband was faring until January, when she saw him on TV. There was Bob on his first visit to Oregon since the election, surrounded by screaming demonstrators in Eugene. “I could see the fear in his eyes; he looked like a treed animal,” she says. She turned the set off.

The usually sure-footed senator is sliding in this new territory, and it’s clear he realizes the depth of his troubles. At Christmas, Packwood had told his son that he still hoped to run one more time. In late March, however, he quietly took steps to sell his only Oregon property, 20 acres with a trailer south of Portland. For Oregon politicians, lack of legal residence is often viewed as a fatal defect, even for the most powerful. “It’s a sure sign,” says a friend, “that Bob knows his political career is over.”

Another prominent longtime friend, though, isn’t so sure. “I would bet anything,” says the friend, “that he will not quit.”

Packwood now finds himself in the odd position of having to scramble for allies. Abandoned by the women’s movement, he recently reversed himself on a couple of issues important to Republicans, voting against a job-benefits extension and the “motor-voter” bill in an apparent attempt to strengthen his GOP ties. It is Republican support he must count on in the showdown that lies ahead. He has retained attorney James Fitzpatrick, an intelligent and engaging veteran of Capitol Hill battles, to represent him.

Only 15 senators have ever been expelled, all because of felony convictions or charges of treason; most were senators who sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War. Many observers of the Packwood battle consider expulsion unlikely. Nor does it seem likely that the Senate Rules Committee will unseat a senator because he misled reporters. Realistically, censure by the full Senate, with possible loss of seniority, is the harshest penalty Packwood faces. He might receive a reprimand, or, in the event the Ethics Committee chooses not to believe almost two dozen women, many of them Republicans, he might be found innocent.

In an odd way, Packwood is more important to the women’s movement now, in flagrante delicto, than he ever was in the past. If a senator can be made to toe the line, feminists believe, it will set a standard for the whole country.

Bracing for what may be the Capitol’s most dramatic witnessing since Anita Hill’s, Julie Williamson is feeling the stress. “I thought I was tough,” says the 53-year-old political consultant. “I had no idea how difficult it would be.” What keeps her in the fight is the belief that she is not alone, that others had their toes stepped on, that no one was immune.

It isn’t flirting or office romance that Williamson and company want to end, but abuse of power, the sexual harassment of subordinates that continues to plague the world of work. “This is bigger than Packwood,” Williamson says. “It’s an opportunity for the Senate to show the people of this country that they get it.”

ATLANTA — Austin Reaves took the baton from Luka Doncic when Doncic sat out Sunday, and when the roles were reversed Monday, Doncic passed it to his teammates.

Doncic had 32 points and 10 assists in a 124-114 win over the Atlanta Hawks as the Lakers relied on their depth to secure their sixth consecutive win and stay atop the Western Conference despite a short, tired bench.

One night after sitting out because of lower-back tightness, Doncic struggled with his shot but reached double-digit assists for the third time this season. He also had eight rebounds and five steals. Lakers center Walker Kessler had 21 points with 10 rebounds, his sixth double-double in seven games, and forward Sandro Mamukelashvili had what coach JJ Redick called “his best game as a Laker” with 23 points and eight rebounds off the bench to help overcome the absences of Reaves and Quentin Grimes.

Reaves, who scored 43 points in a thrilling win at Detroit on Sunday, didn’t play because of illness. Grimes suffered a sprained finger on his right hand against Detroit, although Redick doesn’t anticipate the injury keeping the guard sidelined for long. X-rays were negative, Redick said, and Grimes could return as soon as Wednesday in Milwaukee.

The Lakers (10-2) didn’t look like a team playing on consecutive nights. They blitzed the Hawks (7-5) with 13 unanswered points at the end of the first quarter and ran the lead to 20 midway in the second quarter. Kessler and guard Collin Sexton connected on back-to-back alley-oops during the quarter to inject life into a shorthanded second unit.

“It’s building resiliency,” Kessler said. “JJ talks about it, going through adversity and understanding that to be a championship team, you’ve got to respond to that kind of stuff.”

Reaves’ absence was compounded by Grimes’ injury, decimating the team’s ballhandling unit. Redick and general manager Rob Pelinka had worked to stock the roster with guards to ward off the possibility of leaving too much responsibility to Doncic. On Monday, it all fell to Doncic and Sexton.

Lakers star Luka Doncic drives between Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels, right, and Luguentz Dort in the first quarter Monday.

(Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)

Doncic, who came in averaging a league-high 40.1 points per game, leaned on teammates early with five assists in the first quarter. Sexton got going in the second quarter with eight points and three assists, all on lobs to Kessler, his former teammate with the Utah Jazz and fellow Atlanta native. Sexton finished with 18 points and six assists.

The 6-foot-1 guard signed during free agency when the Lakers wanted to stock the bench with play-making, shooting and defensive intensity. Sexton, playing on his fourth team in three seasons, has delivered on every one.

“He just checks a lot of boxes,” Redick said. “For us, it was easy. He expressed interest, and obviously we wanted him, and it’s worked out.”

Sexton went to high school 15 miles from State Farm Arena. He estimated he had 400 to 500 people in the stands rooting for him. He stayed on the court for more than an hour after the game taking photos with the hundreds who waited.

In front of his city, Sexton wanted to win, no matter what his role would be within the Lakers’ shorthanded rotation.

“Whenever those guys are in or out, I have to adjust,” Sexton said. “And I feel like adjusting is something I’ve been doing my entire career.”

The Lakers relied on their two youngest players for support. Second-year forward Adou Thiero, who made his season debut only two games ago after struggling with left knee swelling, had two points, two rebounds, an assist and a steal.

Rookie Cameron Carr earned his first rotation minutes and even started the fourth quarter. Carr, whose father, Chris, played in the NBA and famously lost the 1997 dunk contest to Kobe Bryant, scored his first NBA points, appropriately, on a dunk. Doncic snatched a pass from the Hawks and hit Carr on an outlet pass. The 21-year-old rookie gathered for an emphatic, two-handed slam.

The first-round pick had two points and three rebounds. After the game, Doncic made sure to grab the game ball as a memento for the rookie.

The decision comes after ​an OpenAI agent breached ​an Australian government website in June.

Australia will make it mandatory for artificial ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠intelligence companies to immediately report when their ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AI models go rogue and to open their models for evaluation, the government said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday the government had accepted all recommendations from a rapid review into the breach, which “include ⁠⁠mandatory AI company reporting when ⁠⁠it comes ⁠⁠to misaligned behaviour or cyber-incidents, and consideration of reforming criminal ‌‌law in cases of serious misconduct”.

“Australia is the first mover in this space, and we want to make sure that we continue to work so that we can reap the potential benefits from AI,” he said.

The decision comes after OpenAI-powered models hacked into an Australian government health data system in June, slipping past its digital defences and accessing files without authorisation.

Top AI firms have recently raised the alarm regarding the risk of humans losing control of their systems, calling for AI development to slow down to a pace that allows it to be safely regulated.

Earlier this year, Anthropic’s safety research scientist Evan Hubinger went so far as to say he believes there is a greater than 10 percent chance that AI could “kill all humans” within a decade.

Rapid incident notifications

The new Australian AI regulator will oversee security controls throughout the development and deployment of AI systems, identify and manage serious risks, and conduct independent ‌‌evaluations of AI models.

The AI standards would also mandate rapid notification to the government of incidents such as “misaligned behaviour” conflicting with developers’ intentions.

Australian government documents define frontier AI as the most sophisticated models at the cutting edge of current technological capability.

Albanese told OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman that the US company took too long to inform the government of the incident. OpenAI apologised for the breach and its slow response.

Inquiry recommends law changes

A government inquiry into the June breach made several recommendations, including that the government consider changing the law.

The proposed AI regulator would follow Australia’s appointment of an eSafety Commissioner in 2015. The office describes itself as the world’s first government agency dedicated to keeping people safer online.

Since December last year, the commissioner has been enforcing a world-first ban on Australian children younger than 16 holding accounts on popular social media platforms.

Age: 32 Country: Spain

Club: London City Lionesses Position: Midfielder

Putellas showed again this year why she is one of the most influential footballers in the world.

After 14 years with Barcelona, she delivered a spectacular final season with the club – helping them win four major trophies.

Her 14 goal contributions in 11 Champions League appearances helped her childhood club win the competition for the fourth time, and she remained a decisive figure bringing experience and leadership when it mattered most.

Putellas delayed announcing her move to London City Lionesses to avoid creating a distraction, but in July 2026 she completed that transfer, saying the club’s “women-only identity and ambition” were important factors.

Internationally, Putellas was instrumental in Spain retaining the Women’s Nations League in late 2025, scoring three goals against Sweden in the semi-finals before being named player of the finals as Spain defeated Germany 3–0.

Last month she was awarded a record-equalling third Ballon d’Or.

I’m walking beside the River Seine in the French city of Rouen when I realise that I’ve been speaking French – without pausing to find a word or struggle with grammar – for five whole minutes. Anna, my French “prof” for the week, nods encouragingly and so I continue. It’s a breakthrough moment, if only for my confidence.

This is the last day of a DIY language course that I devised when Rouen’s language schools told me they were full for the only week I could get away. When I then enquired about their private tutors, I was told no one was available. This turned out to save me a pretty penny: language school tutors cost €60 an hour while Anna – who I discovered on the website Apprentus – is a cost-effective €19 an hour.

For the last couple of winters I’ve tried to spend a week or so brushing up my “intermediate” French language skills, in situ. A spate of new research on the remarkable cognitive benefits of learning a second language have made me a keen user of apps and podcasts – and yet no amount of AI-generated tutoring can compete with talking to (and being corrected and helped by) a real person.

Learning in situ also comes with a chance to travel, to communicate with dozens of people, to experience the culture that accompanies the language one is trying so hard to learn. Last winter, I went to a language school in Montpellier. Three hours a day didn’t come cheap. The class was large: 12 pupils from across the world. I spent my mornings pinned to a plastic chair in a cramped, tatty classroom, listening to my peers struggle through various exercises.

This isn’t the best way to learn. A recent study published in Nature suggests that moving helps us concentrate, remember and generally learn more effectively. Little wonder that I left Montpellier feeling I hadn’t learned much.

So I was delighted when Anna suggested that we do our two-hour classes on foot round Rouen. “If it rains,” she said, “we can talk over goûter.” Le Goûter is the French tradition of taking a small snack between lunch and dinner – a bit like English teatime.

Having booked Anna (a political sciences student at the University of Rouen Normandy) for 10 hours of French conversation over five days, I reserved a studio apartment (bang in the historic heart of Rouen for less than £60 a night) and bought a ferry ticket from Newhaven to Dieppe. Rouen is a one-hour train journey from the port, and the combined ferry-train ticket (return) cost a thrifty £65.

Anna and I met outside the ornate Saint-Maclou church, clearly both a little nervous. After all, we were about to spend 10 hours alone together, with no prior knowledge of each other. It also turned out that I was Anna’s first pupil since she’d registered on Apprentus. Moreover, she had signed up expecting to help kids with their homework. Instead she got me – a woman old enough to be her mother.

We needn’t have worried. Anna had come straight from a (peaceful) protest march, and within minutes we were chatting away about the concerns of French students, as we strolled. Anna doubled as a tour guide, showing me all her favourite corners of Rouen – while simultaneously correcting my French. When it rained, she introduced me to Rouen’s best tea houses (the Dame Cakes salon de thé was a particular favourite), in effect doubling as my dining companion.

While Anna’s first language is French, she also speaks excellent English, meaning she could explain complex grammar to me. Her Senegal heritage meant that I also learned about the turbulent history of west Africa, as well as being brought up to speed on the ongoing student protests. We spent one fascinating lesson – which also involved riding Rouen’s buses – discussing Senegal’s matrilineal history of priestesses and queens, in French. Who knew? Not me!

Anna’s suggestions for lessons included an outing to Rouen’s Musée des Beaux-Arts (free, as are most of Rouen’s museums) which bills itself as France’s biggest impressionist collection outside Paris. We walked Rouen’s riverside pathways, which run for miles up and down the Seine, and ambled through the city’s beautiful, medieval quarters, stopping to explore areas such as the Place de Vieux-Marché, where Joan of Arc was burned alive. As these areas are largely car-free, we didn’t have to worry about dodging mopeds or shouting over the roar of traffic.

I could have hired Anna for longer, but two hours of one-to-one tuition each day felt optimal for my brain as it struggled to recall a very distant French A-level. I used the rest of my time to read a French novel, listen to French radio and TV, and wander Rouen with the self-challenge of talking to as many people as I could. Imagine my delight when, on my last day, a shop assistant asked me if I was local!

Anna and I finished our week with hugs and promises to keep in touch. My “prof” (the French abbreviation of professeur/e, commonly used to mean teacher) had proved to be informative, knowledgable, cost effective and great fun. And my six days, including food, transport, tutor and accommodation, had cost little more than £600.

On the ferry home, I couldn’t help wondering if human connections like this – an on-foot tutor, guide and new best friend rolled into one – might be the (fun) future of language learning.

Annabel Abbs (writing as Annabel Streets) is the author of The Walking Cure, published by Bloomsbury (£10.99). To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply

For many children living in remote towns across the Peruvian Andes, movies only exist in the form of bootleg DVDs — Hollywood films dubbed in Spanish or in English with Spanish subtitles.

Many of these kids, however, only fully understand Quechua, an Indigenous language spoken by around 10 million people across multiple South American countries.

Enter Fernando Valencia, a voice actor raised in the Andean town of Huanimpampa.

“I thought, ‘I’d love to give this group of kids a chance to watch at least a little bit of these movies in their own language.’ And I didn’t want to only do a literal translation but make the extra effort to provide a proper dub with lip-sync where the characters’ voices sound exactly the way they should,” Valencia said in Spanish, changing his voice to a cartoonish tone during a recent video interview from his home in Cusco.

And so Valencia, in a makeshift recording studio, started dubbing fragments of popular Hollywood films into Quechua. The end result — scenes from movies like “The Lion King,” “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back,” and “Ice Age” — became known as the Quechua Clips.

When the videos went viral online and received local news coverage, institutions started asking Valencia if he had dubbed any of those titles in full. He had not but wished to try. Thus began his ongoing quest to dub Disney’s animated classic “The Lion King” into Quechua in its entirety.

Valencia’s efforts over the course of several years are documented in filmmaker Augusto Zegarra’s first feature, “Runa Simi,” a heartfelt story of language activism in action that premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival and is currently playing in theaters in L.A.

The challenge, as depicted in the film, is twofold for Valencia.

In the documentary “Runa Simi,” filmmaker Augusto Zegarra (left) chronicles the Herculean journey of voice actor Fernando Valencia (center) to dub ‘The Lion King’ into Quechua. Valencia’s son, Dylan (right), voices Simba.

(Victor Idrogo)

First, he needed to cast a group of Quechua speakers to voice the characters. In the original clips, his young son Dylan voiced Simba, while Valencia took on Timon and Pumbaa.

Valencia entered a David versus Goliath dynamic by attempting to reach out to the Walt Disney Co. in order to obtain permission to legally create the Quechua dub of the film.

Zegarra first became aware of Valencia’s work when a documentarian friend showed him the Quechua clip of “Hakuna Matata.” Valencia found the perfect Quechua adaptation for the carefree song, naming it “Hakuchu Munayta,” which roughly means “let’s move forward with love.” The filmmaker says he was surprised to learn Valencia created the dubs all on his own with only his son as ally.

Zegarra initially proposed a short film, but given Valencia’s larger quest to connect with Disney, the project quickly evolved into a feature film.

“From the start, we knew it would be difficult, but the world has also been getting smaller thanks to social media,” said Zegarra. “I generally consider myself a positive person and a dreamer, but then I met Fernando and realized that the way he dreams is on another plane entirely.”

Valencia says he partnered with with Zegarra because he understood his intent better than most institutions. That kinship, he said, is a gift that made for a collaboration between two artists with equal agency.

“This is not a film where an outsider observes an Indigenous individual as an object of research with admiration, pity or any other emotion,” Valencia said. “Instead, Augusto has allowed me to take part in the decisions he made regarding the film.”

Though there are those who think Indigenous cultures must be kept in isolation so that they are not tainted or transformed by outside influences, Valencia believes in preservation through dissemination. The more a language like Quechua can find ways to exist in our globalized world, especially in pop culture, the stronger its foothold will be.

“If I keep my language and culture in a fragile little jar, someone will come along and trample it, and it will disappear forever,” he said. “But if I open this little jar and build bridges, it will be difficult to eliminate it because it will be integrated into the world.”

To that end, there are plenty of other creative people bringing the Quechua language into unexpected spaces. “There’s a young woman singing trap music in Quechua, a young man making “Q-pop,” which is a Quechua take on K-pop, and others producing poetry and literature,” said Zegarra. “Every drop helps to bring greater visibility to the language.”

But why “The Lion King”? Of all the movies Valencia could have chosen to dub in full, what made the “Hamlet”-inspired 1994 hit about a lion cub fighting for the throne the ideal vehicle for his pursuit?

It was the first movie Valencia watched in its entirety as a child. During the interview, he pointed to the outdated black-and-white television set where he watched the animated gem with commercials on a broadcast channel.

Valencia also finds a clear parallel between the narrative about a young lion being exiled and how the Quechua language has been neglected.

“We see a character who is banished, who lives on the margins, and who eventually must return to where he belongs,” he said.

At one point, Valencia considered focusing his efforts on dubbing a “Star Wars” film, but, aside from the complex mythology of that saga, he felt “The Lion King” would have a stronger connection with people who live in the countryside given how significant the intricacies of the cycle of life and the connection to nature are to the family-friendly tale.

Curiously, there are no words for “lion” or “king” in Quechua (neither existed in the reality of the ancient Quechua speakers). That’s why Valencia’s version uses the Spanish-language title and it’s called “El Rey León Runasimipi” (“The Lion King” in Quechua). As for the title of the documentary, “Runa Simi,” it’s the name of the Quechua language in Quechua and translates to ”language of the people.”

“It felt like a statement to have someone who has never heard of the Quechua language, maybe someone in Europe or the U.S., ask what runa simi is and then being able to tell them: ‘You’re already speaking it! By saying the words runa simi, you’re already using the language,’” said Zegarra.

“Runa Simi” is allowed to screen commercially in the U.S. thanks to the fair use doctrine, which grants the filmmakers permission to use images from “The Lion King,” a copyrighted work. Internationally, however, the documentary doesn’t have permission for using them. It’s why the film hasn’t been released in commercial theaters in Peru, even though Zegarra and Valencia have already dubbed the documentary into Quechua.

Zegarra remains hopeful that he and Valencia will eventually be able to directly approach someone at Disney both about the documentary and about Valencia’s Quechua-language version of “The Lion King.”

That their goal is not without precedent keeps their faith alive.

Zegarra points to how Tweedie Waititi, the sister of Oscar-winning director Taika Waititi, has partnered with Disney to dub multiple titles into te reo Māori, a language spoken by about 200,000 people. If a language with such a small number of speakers merits a dub, their hope is that Disney would consider the 10 million people who speak Quechua.

Zegarra is conscious that, as with most things in the entertainment business in the U.S., it’s often about who you know. Thankfully, his documentary has caught the attention of notable champions. Peter and Benjamin Bratt, whose mother Eldy Banda is an Indigenous activist of Quechua descent, signed on to support the project as executive producers.

“We were drawn to ‘Runa Simi’ because the film brings together so much of what matters to us: Indigenous voices, stories rooted in community, and the right of every culture to see itself represented with dignity,” the Bratt brothers said in a joint statement.

“There’s an irrepressible charm to this father and son, but what moved us most was the intimacy of Fernando and Dylan’s story. Their dream of bringing Quechua to the screen is an act of love for their language and their people, and for the generations who deserve to hear it,” the siblings added.

Valencia knows the odds aren’t in his favor. Getting a corporation like Disney to approve and legitimize his Quechua dub is a tall order. But the smiles of the children and even adults who had never watched a movie in their native language before he screened it for them in their communities is proof enough that what he’s doing responds to a higher calling.

Although Valencia’s first contact with voice work happened through cassette tapes of El cholo Cirilo, a stereotypical Indigenous character performed by comedian Ubaldo Huamán, he soon discovered there was power in what he could do with his voice. And while he describes himself as a “walking cliché” because what he watched on TV, especially U.S. productions, shaped his worldview, Valencia has taken those lessons and repurposed them.

“There’s a line of dialogue from ‘The Simpsons’ that my brother always reminds me of. Homer is talking to someone and they say, ‘To succeed in this world, you only need one good idea,’” Valencia recalls speaking in Homer’s voice, as the beloved jaundiced character sounds in the voice of actor Humberto Vélez in the Latin American Spanish dub.

That bright idea could be the key to not only preserve Quechua, but to further spread its seeds.

“Runa Simi” is currently showing at the Laemmle Monica Film Center.

California voters have rejected the controversial billionaire tax.

Proposition 40 sought to impose a one-time 5% tax on California billionaires’ assets to try to offset federal healthcare funding cuts.

Despite the blue wave in the midterm elections, the novel tax on the ultra-wealthy had trailed from the first day of vote counting and was officially rejected on Monday.

Roughly 53% of Californians voted against the measure, while 47% supported it, the Associated Press said when it declared that the proposition had failed.

Although the billionaire tax was rejected in the vast majority of counties, the late tally showed major pockets of support in Los Angeles and San Francisco — home to the lion’s share of the state’s 200 billionaires. Orange County, however, voted no by a wide margin.

The political battle over the ballot measure and two competing proposals divided the state and was among the most expensive in California history. More than $400 million had been spent on the three intertwined ballot measures, with more than 90% spent opposing the billionaire tax, according to fundraising disclosures filed with the secretary of state’s office.

Billionaires, notably Google co-founder Sergey Brin, poured hundreds of millions of dollars into groups that funded ads to kill the billionaire tax. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, the California Teachers Assn. and Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California are among the powerful Democrats and other Democrat-aligned groups that expressed fears that billionaires would flee the state. Some, including Brin and fellow Google co-founder Larry Page, moved out of California because of the proposal.

An onslaught of advertisements against the billionaire tax argued it could impact all Californians, not just the ultra-wealthy. Teachers, firefighters and other middle-class Californians became the face of their campaigns, fueling growing opposition ahead of election day.

Opponents of Proposition 40 said Californians made the “right decision,” calling Proposition 40 a “reckless experiment” that would hurt the state’s economy. The group included the California Medical Assn., California Primary Care Assn. and the California School Boards Assn.

“Proposition 40 risked California’s economic competitiveness and fiscal stability, as well as the revenue we rely on to fund our top priorities — from education and healthcare to public safety and infrastructure,” the group said.

Leaders of the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, which sponsored the proposition, vowed to put a billionaire tax proposal on the 2028 ballot if Sacramento leaders don’t find a way to better support the public health sector. Given California’s volatile budget, which is expected to be particularly problematic next year, it appears unlikely that state lawmakers will find a way to backfill an estimated $100 billion of federal healthcare funding cuts.

Supporters said the proposed tax on more than 200 California billionaires aimed to raise that amount, with 90% funding healthcare, and the remainder going to schools and food assistance.

“Billionaire-funded propaganda may have influenced the outcome of this election, but as hospitals reduce services, emergency rooms close and families lose access to care, the truth will become increasingly difficult to hide,” said Suzanne Jimenez, chief of staff for the SEIU-UHW. “Californians will see for themselves what was at stake.”

This will not be the end of the debate about taxing the rich. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont), who both backed Proposition 40, are pushing for the passage of a federal 5% tax on American billionaires.

Earlier this year, they introduced the “Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act.” Despite Democrats winning control of the House and Senate last week, the legislation will probably face constitutional challenges if it passes.

Nov. 9, 2026 8:33 PM PT

MONDAY’S RESULTS

CITY SECTION

Semifinals

DIVISION I

#1 Granada Hills 17, #4 LACES 9

#2 Eagle Rock 9, #3 Birmingham 5

TUESDAY’S SCHEDULE

SOUTHERN SECTION

Semifinals

DIVISION 2

Murrieta Valley at Damien, 5 p.m.

Crescenta Valley at St. John Bosco, 5 p.m.

DIVISION 3

Norco at Troy, 5 p.m.

Elsinore at Los Altos, 5 p.m.

DIVISION 4

Buena Park at Liberty, 5 p.m.

El Toro at Foothill Tech, 5 p.m.

DIVISION 5

Montebello at Anaheim, 5 p.m.

Montclair vs. California at El Rancho, 6:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY’S SCHEDULE

SOUTHERN SECTION

Semifinals

DIVISION 1

Buena at Mira Costa, 5 p.m.

Laguna Beach at Dos Pueblos, 5 p.m.

THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE

CITY SECTION FINALS

At Palisades

OPEN DIVISION

#2 Cleveland at #1 Palisades, 7 p.m.

DIVISION I

#2 Eagle Rock at #1 Granada Hills, 5 p.m.

Note: Southern Section Finals (all divisions) Saturday, Nov. 14 at Mt. San Antonio College.

‘We’re comfortable with the outcome of the investigation,’ Cricket Australia chief says after David Warner and Usman Khawaja’s revelations.

The top cricket official in Australia has ruled out another investigation into the so-called “sandpapergate” scandal despite remarks by Usman Khawaja and David Warner that knowledge of the 2018 ball-tampering plot was widespread throughout the team.

Cricket Australia (CA) ⁠boss Todd Greenberg said on Tuesday he believed all players held “very different views” from Khawaja’s version of events of the 2018 tour of South Africa as described in his recently released autobiography.

“There are specific details in his ⁠book that contradict the versions that have been provided by others,” Greenberg told ⁠local radio station SEN.

“But we have said we’re comfortable with the outcome of the investigation based on the information we’ve received,” he added.

“That includes what we’ve seen from Usman, and our position hasn’t changed on that. We don’t see any compelling reason to open the investigation or revisit this again. I don’t think ‌there’s anything that can be gained from that.”

CA imposed bans and other penalties on Warner, former captain Steve Smith and former Test batter Cameron Bancroft four days after the incident came to light during the Cape Town Test.

Khawaja, in extracts from his autobiography published in Australian media, said “open, lighthearted discussions” were held during the South Africa series about ways to scuff up the ball, including by using sandpaper.

He said discussion of tampering was not confined to batters, bowlers or staff but extended throughout the team.

“It was all of us,” Khawaja said in the book, ⁠according to Australian media.

Warner, who retired from international cricket more than two years ago, ⁠broke his silence about the incident on Monday to throw his support behind Khawaja.

In a video posted on social media, Warner described his former teammate’s account as 100 percent accurate and the CA investigation as “botched” and “rushed”.

The four Australian bowlers who played in the Cape Town Test in 2018 and continue to represent the nation – Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon – issued a joint statement in 2021 denying any knowledge of the plot.

Captain Cummins said in South ‌Africa last month that he had spoken to Khawaja about his autobiography and was not concerned about any potential fallout.

“Answered every question a million times. So, yeah, it was dealt with then,” he said.

Some commentators have questioned why Khawaja ‌waited ‌eight years to speak out and accused him of trying to boost sales of his book Sabr.

Khawaja responded on social media on Tuesday, saying he had no commercial motives.

“I’m very fortunate, I don’t need the money,” he said.

Thousands of people joined a silent march through central Krakow on Monday night, in memory of those killed and injured when a gunman went on a violent rampage at the weekend.

The crowd were led by Poland’s president and prime minister, the bitter political rivals putting on a rare show of unity after the country’s deadliest attack in modern times.

As they reached the historic Market Square, a bugler played from the tower.

Many people were carrying flowers or candles to leave at the shrines that now dot the cobblestones, one marking each spot where someone died.

Fiercely proud of its reputation for safety, Poland has been profoundly shaken by this attack. It has left people struggling to make some kind of sense of what happened.

The alleged gunman has been named as 24-year-old Michal Oksinski by local media.

Critically injured in a shoot-out with police, he did not regain consciousness and died in hospital early on Monday.

Initially, the interior minister claimed that Oksinski was driven by far-right, extremist views. The national prosecutor’s office now says that it’s too soon to say he was “inspired” by any ideology.

“The minister wanted to win domestic political points. That’s not responsible behaviour,” Dr Pawel Musialek of the Jagiellonian University suggests, in a country where politics is highly – and often viciously – polarised.

“So far we’ve seen no clear message that this guy was strongly ideological, and that it’s not more like something from the darknet.”

There’s been no mention of any letter or manifesto that Oksinski left. One neighbour told Polish news site Onet that the 24-year-old was a “bit of a loner” but few who knew him well have spoken publicly.

Toukie Smith, a former runway model and actor best known for her role on the sitcom “227,” has died. She was 74.

Smith died Wednesday after a long battle with multiple sclerosis, according to a statement from her twins, Airyn and Julian De Niro, provided to the Hollywood Reporter.

“Toukie was a force of nature,” they said, per the outlet. “She left an indelible mark on our hearts and on everyone lucky enough to know her.”

Born Doris Smith on Sept. 25, 1952, in Philadelphia, the Fashion Institute of Technology alum began her modeling career in 1972 and worked with top brand designers including Hubert de Givenchy, Chanel, Issey Miyake and Thierry Mugler over the course of her career. She was named “Bloomingdale’s Favorite Model” in 1978.

Toukie “was a nickname my grandmother gave me that came from a children’s record about a little red fire engine with lots of energy,” Smith told The Times in 1990. “I’ve always had lots of energy.”

Smith got her start modeling for her brother, the late designer Willi Smith who, with his WilliWear Ltd., pioneered a whimsical yet accessible style he dubbed “street couture.”

“Willi always had fun with fashion,” Smith said of her brother, who died of complications from AIDS in 1987. “He had a special energy and a love of keeping clothes from being too serious. He also totally designed for the masses.”

Toukie Smith with Sean Penn, left, and Robert De Niro at a celebrity benefit in honor of her late brother Willi Smith on Feb. 26, 1989.

(Adam Stoltman / Associated Press)

In their statement, Airyn and Jordan said their mother “shared in a remarkable family legacy that helped shape American fashion and culture” and that “her beauty, grace and unmistakable presence helped pave the way for generations of Black models and designers in fashion.”

Smiths pivoted to acting in the 1980s and her first screen credits included a few episodes of “Miami Vice” in 1987 and the 1988 feature “Me and Him.”

She then landed the role of Eva Rawley on the Marla Gibbs-led NBC sitcom, “227.” The series, which aired from 1985 to 1990, was notable for the portrayal of its middle-class Black family, the Jenkinses. Eva was introduced during the fourth season as an artist who moves into the show’s central apartment building and becomes the building’s manager. She would eventually leave the job and find work at an art gallery.

Her credits also include the films “Talkin’ Dirty After Dark” (1991), “I Like It Like That” (1994), “Joe’s Apartment” (1996) and “The Preacher’s Wife” (1996).

Smith’s interests also extended to food. She briefly ran a catering business, Toukie’s Taste, which famously provided the food for Sean Penn and Madonna’s wedding anniversary. She also had a restaurant in New York called Toukie’s in the 1990s, which gave a part of its proceeds to the Smith Family Foundation.

She was in a relationship with actor Robert De Niro from 1988 to 1996. The couple welcomed their twins in 1995, who were born via surrogate.

“I’ll always love you, Mom,” Airyn wrote in her tribute shared Monday on Instagram.

Smith is survived by her children, brother Norman Smith-Harllee and nephew Eliazar Smith-Harllee.

Management is investing in local original content, AI-powered products, and IP development, including anime co-productions and the Marvel app. It expects these initiatives to support longer-term growth, while noting that IP-adaptation revenue can fluctuate with production and release schedules.