BOSTON — Adley Rutschman hit a three-run homer off the Pesky Pole in right field, Brayan Bello pitched five scoreless innings in his first start since early June and the Boston Red Sox beat the Angels 5-2 on Monday for their fifth straight victory.

Jarren Duran hit his 20th homer, a solo shot, to spark a four-run second inning for Boston, which improved to an MLB-best 34-17 since the All-Star break and closed to two games behind the Yankees for the American League’s top-wild card spot. New York owns the tiebreaker by winning the season series.

Moisés Ballesteros hit a solo homer for the AL West’s last-place Angels, who have lost 12 of 14 games.

Making his first start since giving up a career high-tying eight runs on June 4 before he was sent to triple A for nearly a month, Bello (6-7) worked around a high pitch count to keep the Angels (54-90) to four hits with seven strikeouts.

The 27-year-old Bello, who had a solid run out of the bullpen the past two months, started because interim manager Chad Tracy decided to move back every starter.

Garrett Whitlock, the third reliever, pitched the ninth for his third save.

Duran hit the first pitch from Grayson Rodriguez (4-7) deep into the right-field seats to open the big second inning. Rutschman hooked his down the line, smacking the pole to make it 4-0.

Eli White added an RBI single in the third.

Boston (80-65) swept a three-game series against the Angels in Anaheim in early July.

Rodriguez gave up three earned runs or fewer in six of his previous seven starts before surrendering five over four innings Monday.

Up next: LHP Reid Detmers (4-8, 3.44 ERA) is set to start for the Angels against LHP Patrick Sandoval (1-4, 4.41) on Tuesday night in the middle game of the series.

New fuel pricing targets consumption above 110 litres monthly, doubling costs to 100,000 riyals per litre.

Iran has raised petrol prices for motorists again as the government struggles to manage declining revenues and sustain a costly subsidy regime.

The price of petrol will remain the same for the first 60 litres (16 gallons), state media reported, but there will be a higher price bracket for the next 50 litres (13 gallons). Prices will double from 50,000 riyals to 100,000 riyals ($0.07) per litre (0.3 gallons) for motorists who consume more than 110 litres (29 gallons) a month.

Iran has some of the lowest petrol prices in the world, but due to ongoing economic difficulties amid the war with the US, including punishing sanctions and a siege on Iranian ports by US forces, Iranian officials have for months considered adjusting fuel subsidies to make up for lost revenues.

“If we consume it properly, we can manage with the amount of gasoline we produce in the country,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of the Iranian parliament, said in a TV address earlier this month. “What is clear is that we need to save gasoline in our consumption. Of course, part of the responsibility for this high consumption does not lie with our people; it lies with our industry.”

Iran depends on oil exports for about 90 per cent of its budget, but these have declined from about 4 million barrels per day (bpd) to about 2.2 million bpd in August. The country is also consuming more oil than it produces domestically.

In a sign of the energy crisis, videos circulating on social media reportedly show long queues at petrol stations in Tehran.

It is the second time petrol prices have increased since December, with concerns about further increases prompting unrest.

Huge antigovernment protests in 2019 started after anger over fuel price increases. Iranians are already feeling the impact of a downturn in economic activity, high inflation, and a drop in the value of the rial.

It’s never too late to go back to school. But after years of deferred admission, can a new generation of students at Hillman College score high at delivering a compelling, modern take on the groundbreaking sitcom “A Different World”?

The foundation for an updated version of the popular sitcom set at a historically Black college was set three decades ago. In the 1993 series finale, the show’s central couple — smart, bespeckled math whiz Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison) and high-maintenance Southern belle Whitley Gilbert-Wayne (Jasmine Guy) — were embarking on their next chapter as newlyweds, relocating to Japan and expecting their first child. Before their departure, a professor jokingly quips to Dwayne: “I can’t wait to have your child in my class in the year 2014.”

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But plans for a revival — the original series itself was a spinoff of “The Cosby Show,” centered on the Huxtables’ free-spirited daughter Denise (Lisa Bonet) — to suit that time frame were in limbo for years. Producer and director Debbie Allen, who joined the original series in its second season to help it better reflect the HBCU experience, actively pitched and tried to relaunch “A Different World” in the early 2010s, but those efforts were derailed by the highly publicized sexual assault allegations against the show’s creator, Bill Cosby.

“It’s very difficult,” Allen told The Times. “The biggest difficulty, just being totally transparent, was people’s hesitation to work with Mr. Cosby; to have anything to do with him. [But] we were so independent. He kind of put us on a boat and said, ‘Go.’ And that’s what we did. And he was happy to know that we were going on our way.”

In early 2023, another push began to revive the series while also distancing itself from Cosby. Now, its decades-long gap year finally complete, a new incarnation of “A Different World” is starting up classes this fall at Netflix. And it hopes to carry on the legacy of its predecessor, which was celebrated for its depiction of Black culture and life in a higher education setting during its six-season run on NBC, from 1987 to 1993, bringing HBCUs into the mainstream.

Rashida (Alijah Kai), left, Deborah (Maleah Joi Moon) and Hazel (Kennedi Reece) in Netflix’s “A Different World.” After years of trying to tell the story of a new class at fictional Hillman College, Debbie Allen, who returns as an executive producer and director, says the sequel arrives at the right moment: “If there’s any voice we need to hear from right now, it’s young people.”

(Daniel Delgado Jr. / Netflix)

Billed as a sequel series premiering Sept. 24, a Wayne offspring is our anchor for the freshman class at Hillman College, the show’s fictional historically Black college based in Virginia. Deborah Wayne (Maleah Joi Moon) is an aspiring artist forced to attend her parents’ alma mater on academic probation after her NYU acceptance is rescinded. As the youngest Wayne child, she continues the family’s legacy at the school: her older sister — the child Whitley was pregnant with at the end of the original series — and an older brother are both alums.

She’s joined by a mix of first-gen and legacy students: star quarterback Shaquille Johnson (Cornell Young IV), who is the only child of original character Ron Johnson (Darryl M. Bell); criminal justice major Rashida Duvall (Alijah Kai); psych major Amir Rodale (Jordan Aaron Hall); Ghanaian-Nigerian fashion merchandising student Kojo Achebe (Chibuikem Uche); and small-town pastor’s daughter Hazel Henry (Kennedi Reece).

Some of the show’s original creative team join Allen as executive producers, including Tom Werner, and original series writers Reggie Rock Bythewood and Gina Prince-Bythewood. (Mandy Summers of “That ’90s Show” is also an executive producer.) To shepherd this reimagined version of the sitcom, Allen enlisted her former “Grey’s Anatomy” colleague Felicia Pride, who was most recently part of the writing staff on “Bel-Air,” the dramatic reboot of ’90s comedy “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” It was a dream call for Pride, who as a kid living in Baltimore recorded and rewatched episodes — namely, the one involving a step competition that she obsessively watched after school to learn the routine. But she was reluctant.

“I love the show so much,” Pride said, seated next to Allen inside a Netflix conference room in Los Angeles on a recent day. “I was like, ‘I don’t want to be the one to mess it up.’ But she [Debbie] was so adamant that the time was now to hear from young Black America — and that, I could get with.”

Allen remembers it this way: “I don’t have an ego. I begged her. It’s the truth. To get this show back up, we’ve tried for years. But this is the time that’s right … We had inspired all these kids, not just Black kids, all young people to go to college. This was a peep into college that had never happened before, where you saw young people being responsible and living their lives and being crazy, but still dealing with what is happening in this world. If the young people in the country don’t have a voice, that country is dead. And if there’s any voice we need to hear from right now, it’s young people.”

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1. The original “A Different World”: Dwayne (Kadeem Hardison), left, and Ron (Darryl M. Bell). 2. Jaleesa (Dawnn Lewis), left, Freddie (Cree Summer) and Whitley (Jasmine Guy). With Netflix’s modern take, showrunner Felicia Pride wanted the series to be intergenerational: “That’s why I’m so glad that we were able to have the legacy cast in the show — I wanted it to have the heart.” (NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

The show has been credited with boosting enrollment at HBCUs. While overall HBCU enrollment rose by 26% between 1976 and 1994, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, much of that increase occurred during the stretch of the show’s run.

Pride said she rewatched the original series, paying particular attention to the shift that materialized in Season 2 when Allen was brought on to overhaul it, as a starting point. Allen had a document of ideas detailing the types of characters she wanted to see depicted, including a star athlete, the first out queer character in the show’s universe and an African student. One major detail was a nonnegotiable: Allen wanted the show to revolve around Dwayne and Whitley’s daughter. (How they arrived at the character’s name — Deborah (pronounced Deb-OR-ah), which also happens to be Allen’s first name — is fuzzy. Pride remembers the name already being set by Allen; Allen recalls being amused upon seeing it on the page, thinking Pride had chosen the name.)

And just as in college, legacy matters on TV.

“I wanted the show to feel of now,” Pride said. “I also wanted it to be intergenerational. That was important to me, and that’s why I’m so glad that we were able to have the legacy cast in the show — I wanted it to have the heart … These [characters] were like my friends. I felt comfort in them. I felt like I could be them. It was also culture in a way that I hadn’t seen before, represented by people who look like me.”

Several familiar faces from the original make their way into the sequel, some taking on the mentor role of the older characters from the original, others representing how one gives back to the community that shaped them. Hardison and Guy lead the cast from the original series who reprise their characters, along with Bell, Cree Summer as Freddie Brooks, Charnele Brown as Kimberly Reese Boyer, Ajai Sanders as Gina Deveaux, Karen Malina White as Charmaine Brown, Jada Pinkett Smith as Lena James, Jenifer Lewis as Dorothy Dandridge Davenport and Allen as Dr. Langhorne.

Several original “A Different World” cast members reprise their roles in the new version of the series, including Charnele Brown, left, Jasmine Guy, Kadeem Hardison, Darryl M. Bell and Cree Summer.

(Quantrell Colbert / Netflix)

“They were so happy to be back,” Allen said. “There was a day they were all together —”

“That was the day where I felt like, ‘Oh, this is history,’” Pride added.

“In between takes, it was just chaos,” Allen continued. “They just laughed and acted up. It was just wonderful.”

To make the new characters and their stories resonate in a deeper, more contemporary way required as large a commitment to reflecting HBCU life as the original had under Allen’s guidance. The creative team assembled two paid student councils from various HBCUs — one to advise the writers’ room on storylines and campus issues; the other worked on the show’s Atlanta set, with students hired as production assistants that had working schedules tailored to their classes. The background performers filling up scenes in the quads, classrooms and parties feature 59% HBCU students and grads. And some key characters are portrayed by HBCU alumni who bring their lived experience to the screen, including Reece, who went to Howard University.

The freshman season will explore issues that Gen Z is grappling with such as financial insecurity, learning struggles, activism in the age of social media and matters of mental health, as well as bigger systemic issues like uncertainty around funding for HBCUs and immigration enforcement. The series also doesn’t shy away from its real-world backdrop — while it doesn’t explicitly mention President Trump by name, there is reference to the state of affairs under his administration.

Actors Jordan Aaron Hall, left, Cornell Young IV, Chibuikem Uche and Dasan Frazier are part of the new class of students at Hillman College in “A Different World.”

(Eli Joshua Ade / Netflix)

But this version of “A Different World” departs from its source material in its narrative format and tone. The original series was a multi-camera sitcom taped in front of a studio audience — and Allen initially thought any sequel of it would follow that same blueprint. But when the new series found its home at Netflix, it became a 10-episode single-camera dramedy. (Allen directed three episodes in the season, including the premiere, which set the cinematic style of the series.) As if to signal this iteration hasn’t completely deviated from its roots, in the show’s opening moments, Deborah Wayne coolly flicks the iconic flip-up frames made famous by Hardison’s Dwayne. And its memorable theme song that had versions from Phoebe Snow, Aretha Franklin and Boyz II Men hasn’t gone anywhere: Brandy was tapped to give a fresh spin on it that helps straddle the line between generations.

Now, Allen and Pride are on the cusp of seeing how this long-gestating idea will fare in the streaming world.

“You play the cards you’re dealt,” Allen said. “It took a while, but it was right for it not to happen until now. Right now is when we need it. Young people are struggling to find hope and inspiration and guidance, connection …”

Allen’s hope is that the show will have enough seasons to let the characters evolve: “On Netflix, not too many shows go past three, maybe four [seasons],” Allen said. What’s the goal? “At least three.”

Pride isn’t thinking ahead to graduation just yet. She’s still thinking about surviving the first day of school with this different (but familiar) show made for a different world.

“I came to understand we can never re-create the original show, and … even trying to pursue that is just not the thing to do,” Pride said. “It was a different time. It was a different everything, and it should stand on its own. What I wanted to do, personally, was just [focus on]: How can we capture that spirit and hopefully have a show that young people today can see themselves in, and that people [who watched the original] can also enjoy and be proud of?”

AN airport that was closed for almost three days after a volcanic eruption has finally reopened.

But hundreds of thousands of passengers are scrambling to get home with flights still being delayed or cancelled.

On Monday, Indonesia’s Transport Ministry reported on Monday that as many as 270,000 travellers were stranded with their flights “cancelled, delayed, or diverted” – including those at Jakarta’s Soekarno Hatta International Airport which has since reopened.

Now it’s believed as many as 370,000 passengers are said to have been affected by the disruption across the last three days, with 3,000 flights cancelled.

It started on Friday when there was an eruption on Anak Krakatau.

An ash cloud drifted into the city of Jakarta and the Lampung province, halting flights at its airports with seven being forced to close.

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The biggest airport to close was Jakarta’s Soekarno Hatta International which grounded flights from Sunday until early this morning.

The current FCDO advice reads: “Soekarno Hatta Airport and Halim Airport in Jakarta were temporarily closed due to the volcanic ash clouds from Mount Anak Krakatau on 5 September.

“Both airports have reopened, but there are continued flight disruptions and many flights are cancelled or delayed.”

For anyone due to travel, it advises to check with your airline or travel provider for up to date information on your flight status.

On Flightradar24, Soekarno Hatta Airport has had 9 per cent of its flights cancelled today with 20 per cent delayed.

Lots of travellers were told they wouldn’t be able to fly for a few more days, including a newlywed couple on a honeymoon in Bali.

Talking to Bernama, they asked: “What are we going to do here for another five days? We only prepared enough money for our honeymoon and [were supposed] to go home yesterday.

They continued: “We thought we would just sleep at the airport for a few hours and then take the morning flight home [on Monday]. We never thought we would end up being stuck here for days.”

Yesterday, another passenger told AFP how they had not heard any updates from the airline and were seeking out hotels only to find most of them have been fully booked.

Airlines like Qantas are offering anyone who booked to go to or from Jakarta before September 5 the chance for a free refund on travel up to September 11.

But its services are resuming as scheduled from today.

Indonesia’s Geological Agency has warned however that “the probability of further eruptions in the coming periods remains high”.

Flight compensation rules

A look at your rights if a flight is delayed or cancelled, when your entitled to compensation and if your travel insurance can cover the costs.

What are my rights if my flight is cancelled or delayed?

Under UK law, airlines have to provide compensation if your flight arrives at its destination more than three hours late.

If you’re flying to or from the UK, your airline must let you choose a refund or an alternative flight.

You will be able to get your money back for the part of your ticket that you haven’t used yet.

So if you booked a return flight and the outbound leg is cancelled, you can get the full cost of the return ticket refunded.

But if travelling is essential, then your airline has to find you an alternative flight. This could even be with another airline.

When am I not entitled to compensation?

The airline doesn’t have to give you a refund if the flight was cancelled due to reasons beyond their control, such as extreme weather.

Disruptions caused by things like extreme weather, airport or air traffic control employee strikes or other ‘extraordinary circumstances’ are not eligible for compensation.

Some airlines may stretch the definition of “extraordinary circumstances” but you can challenge them through the aviation regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Will my insurance cover me if my flight is cancelled?

If you can’t claim compensation directly through the airline, your travel insurance may refund you.

Policies vary so you should check the small print, but a delay of eight to 12 hours will normally mean you qualify for some money from your insurer.

Remember to get written confirmation of your delay from the airport as your insurer will need proof.

If your flight is cancelled entirely, you’re unlikely to be covered by your insurance.

This article provides a historical and theological overview of the Nativity of Mary, a feast celebrated on September 8th. The author explains that while the Bible does not record Mary’s birth, the tradition stems from second-century apocryphal writings detailing her parents, Joachim and Anne. The celebration began in fifth-century Jerusalem at the Basilica of Saint Anne and eventually spread through the Byzantine Empire to Rome and Western Europe. Notably, Mary is one of only three figures in Christianity whose actual birth is honored with a feast day because she was born without original sin. Although historically significant, the event is now sometimes overshadowed by the Feast of the Assumption in August. Additionally, the source mentions various conte … 

Trade tensions soar as Canada matches US tariffs ‘dollar-for-dollar’, impacting 700 products and multiple industries.

Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on imports from the United States have taken effect, escalating the trade dispute between the two countries.

Tariffs ranging from 15 percent to 50 percent will apply to nearly $20bn worth of US imports from 12:01am ET (04:01 GMT) on Tuesday, matching US-imposed levies on Canadian goods including machinery, textiles and consumer products.

The new retaliatory tariffs apply to products including steel, household appliances, agricultural equipment and dairy.

“Canada will match Washington’s new tariffs dollar for dollar in order to protect Canadian workers, farmers, families, and businesses,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters in late August.

US President Donald Trump announced 50 percent tariffs against Canada in July, citing “discriminatory treatment” of US products. The announcement prompted the countries to enter trade talks in August, but a final deal failed to materialise before a deadline imposed by Trump.

“Canada wants the benefits of being a State, without being one!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social in response to Canada’s announcement in August.

The Canadian government said in a statement that the counter-tariffs will impact more than 700 products, adding that it would launch a $5.42bn support package for affected small and medium-sized businesses and workers.

On the eve of Ottawa imposing its tariffs, Trump threatened to block Canada-based aircraft manufacturer Bombardier from selling its planes in the US unless it began manufacturing them in the country.

The dispute has also extended beyond tariffs, with Trump signing an order last month renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America” for US federal use.

The retaliatory tariffs could place a financial burden on US automakers as Canada is the largest buyer of US-manufactured cars.

Americans could soon see increased prices on 550 consumer goods from Canada. According to a report from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, US importers and consumers absorb 96 percent of the tariff burden.

Zheng Qinwen beats Iga Swiatek, while Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina also reach the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Alexander Zverev advances in the men’s.

Home favourite Coco Gauff and world number two Elena Rybakina sailed into the US Open quarterfinals, while China’s Zheng Qinwen mounted another extraordinary fightback to upset six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek.

Top seed Alexander Zverev beat Italian ⁠Luciano Darderi 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(3) at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The German was surprised to finish before midnight after coming through a couple of five-setters earlier in the tournament.

“I think after 10 hours on court, I just maybe found my rhythm a little bit better, which is helpful because the first two matches ⁠were really not [at a] great level,” Zverev said after his win late on Monday.

“I think I’m going in the right direction, moving forward in the right direction.”

Zverev, who is bidding for a second Grand Slam title after winning the French Open in June, avenged his defeat by Darderi at the Italian Open in Rome earlier this year.

Fourth seed Gauff outclassed compatriot Iva Jovic 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash with French Open champion Mirra Andreeva for a place in the semis.

“Mirra is someone that I always have ‌tough matches with,” Gauff told reporters. “She’s obviously in a different mindset now at the top of the game coming off of a Grand Slam win … it’s going to be a really athletic, tough match.”

Gauff is the sixth American player into the quarters, joining Jessica Pegula, Emma Navarro, Frances Tiafoe, Alex Michelsen and Ben Shelton.

Rybakina continued her quest for a third major title with a 6-1, 6-4 win over former US Open champion Naomi Osaka, who was hampered by an Achilles tendon injury that had flared up in the previous round.

The victory leaves second seed Rybakina one win away from becoming world number one for the first time, with Olympic champion Zheng awaiting her in the quarters.

The win was another encouraging sign for ⁠Rybakina, who had arrived in New York with questions over her fitness after retiring from the Cincinnati Open in the ⁠build-up to the tournament.

“Preparation wasn’t that great,” she told reporters. “It’s an amazing progress. I’m really glad how everything worked out.”

Zheng has become something of an escape artist at Flushing Meadows.

After coming back from a 0-5 deficit in the deciding set against third-round foe Madison Keys, she let the first five games slip through her fingers in 20 minutes against 2022 ⁠champion Swiatek.

However, she clawed her way back into the match and collapsed to the court with her face in her hands after sealing the win on the fourth match point.

Zheng is the first qualifier since Emma Raducanu in 2021 ⁠to reach the quarterfinals of the women’s draw, as she battles back from a chronic elbow ⁠injury.

Andreeva’s entertaining match against Anastasia Potapova ended on a sour note as the Austrian went down injured in the final game.

Potapova valiantly retook the court but could not prevent the inevitable as Andreeva sealed the 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 win with a backhand strike before going across the net to hug her opponent.

The evening session in the men’s draw was not short on drama.

At ‌Louis Armstrong Stadium, Karen Khachanov fought back to claim a 7-5, 4-6, 6-7(6), 6-1, 6-4 win over 20-year-old American Learner Tien, while on the Grandstand court, Botic van de Zandschulp emerged victorious after a five-hour marathon against Arthur Gea.

The 21-year-old Gea had been one point away from becoming the first lucky loser ‌in ‌Grand Slam history to reach the quarterfinals, before his Dutch opponent engineered a 3-6, 6-7(0), 7-6(7), 7-6(3), 6-4 comeback win.

Earlier on Monday, Belgium’s Alexander Blockx dispatched Argentine 24th seed Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

“Dang!,” an amiably chaotic new adult animated comedy premiering Tuesday on Netflix, tells the story of the Dangs, three Chinese American siblings living in New York City. Eunice (Poppy Liu, “Hacks”) and older brother Andrew (Andrew Law) share a walk-up apartment in Chinatown; at 26, she’s still determinedly the baby, with little practical knowledge and dependent on him for the tiniest things. He’s the anxious middle child. (Therapist to Andrew: “I’m getting the sense that you’re an anxious people pleaser.” Andrew: “I’m cool with that if you are. Oh my God, are you?”) Somehow Andrew, who is gay, has a lot of casual sex, and only casual sex, despite being incredibly (and comically, obviously) awkward.

Both Andrew and Eunice, who makes money from a live stream in which “horny men and a few women with eating disorders pay me to step on bread,” are relationship averse. When it’s suggested she might like someone she’s been seeing, Eunice panics, “Am I catching feelings? Can it be stopped? Is there a vaccine? Damn whoever the president is.” There is little romance in this comedy.

Where Andrew and Eunice are aspirational slackers who spend off hours watching reality TV and taking whatever drug comes to hand, their older sister, Ruthie (Stephanie Hsu, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”), is a high-powered lawyer, more than comfortable defending evil corporations from the common people; she recoils at a community garden or free library, which she regards as socialism. (“I don’t even like fire departments.”) Though she’s seemingly the successful one, her life has taken an unexpected turn; she’s left her husband, Warren, a weedy Briton overeager to please her, and is pregnant by a colleague, a creep she idealizes. Her fall from perfection delights her brother and sister, who chant, “One of us!” She moves to New York and into the series.

Co-created by Law, who wrote for “Hacks,” “The Good Place” and “Late Night With Seth Meyers” and has acted a little, and Matt Murray (a smorgasbord of 21st century smart comedies are on his resume), the show was originally conceived as live-action. If anything like the present product, it would have to have been a very particular kind of comedy — something like “30 Rock,” whose beats were borrowed from cartoons in the first place. In any case, animation is the place it ought to be. The grotesqueness of Eunice’s boss, Jane, a product-damaged monster who is all face and very little body, if not unachievable in live-action — Katherine Helmond in “Brazil” comes to mind — isn’t really sustainable. You could not have a dead old man’s head come loose from his body and roll across a conference table with quite the same air of insouciance, or melt a rat walking across an overheated microwave oven, if actual people and rats were involved. On the other hand, the fact that Warren is so annoying reminds us that unreal people can elicit genuine repulsion. I ground my teeth at his every appearance; for Ruthie’s sake, I wanted him gone, and she isn’t real, either. It’s the magic of animation.

The show is generally amusing, sometimes very funny and easy to watch as an evolving story of family. (A visit to the Dang parents in Episode 8 is especially productive.) One’s mileage will vary depending on generation and experience. (“I was born in 1999,” says Eunice, who has never heard of Facebook. “Anything before ‘Skibidi Toilet’ is just cave paintings to me.” Of course, I had to look up “Skibidi Toilet,” and I don’t feel bad about admitting that.) There are sex jokes, fart jokes and pop culture jokes; there are jokes I don’t even want to describe. But there is a satisfying specificity to the humor, especially as involves Asian American culture, gay life, New York City and New York City gay Asian American life, which is not overexplained. The city itself is rendered with some light-handed detail — its delis, drug stores, coffee shops (why did I especially like the paper sleeves on the to-go cups?), Central Park on “Freaquinox,” “the first day that everyone decides it’s spring” when citizens turn into sex-crazed zombies. (Eunice: “Last year, I woke up next to an Uber Eats delivery robot.”)

As a situation comedy, its characters will spend their days and nights getting in and out of scrapes, enduring self-inflicted humiliations, experiencing minor triumphs; they are all a little stupid, and a little smart. And as a cartoon, its job is not just to tell you a story, but to give you something fresh to look at, something to set itself apart while offering easy access to its world and people. The character design, which borrows from anime, is elegant and a little odd — hands and feet are drawn tiny, which has the paradoxical effect of drawing your attention, making them more expressive.

Beyond the three stars and Noël Wells (as Greta, Jane’s cowed assistant), neither the producers nor the publicists nor the onscreen credits nor the usual websites have identified who played whom. But I copied down these names down from the screen: Al Roberts, Sungwon Cho, Jared Goldstein, John Michael Higgins, Adam Pally, Jaboukie Young-White and Mary Holland.

BEIRUT: Since a ceasefire went into effect between Israel and Hezbollah more than two months ago, fighting has stopped in much of Lebanon, but not on a strategic hill overlooking parts of a main southern city.

In recent weeks, Ali Taher hill has been the scene of daily shelling and airstrikes by Israel’s military. Hezbollah, a militant group backed by Iran, has repeatedly attacked Israeli forces in the area with drones.

The United States, which is mediating talks between Lebanon and Israel, had wanted Hezbollah to hand over the hill to the Lebanese army as part of larger plan to disarm the militant group and dismantle its infrastructure. But Hezbollah has refused.

Lebanon and Israel reached a framework agreement in June stating Israel will withdraw from Lebanon as Hezbollah is disarmed. The militant group was not a party to the negotiations and has rejected calls to disarm in areas north of the Litani river, which is where Ali Taher is located.

A full-on battle over this hill near the city of Nabatiyeh could escalate fighting across the country, and unrest in Lebanon complicates efforts to resolve the war in Iran.

On Thursday night, Israel’s military announced it had taken “operational control” of Ali Taher and a network of tunnels beneath it that Hezbollah uses to shelter its fighters and weapons. It is unclear how far Israel’s control extends. Just before Israel’s announcement, its air force was still targeting the hill, according to Lebanese state media.

There has been no official statement from Hezbollah since Israel’s announcement.

US pushes Lebanon to pressure Hezbollah

Hezbollah firmly rejected a proposal from the Lebanese government to hand over Ali Taher to the country’s army. It fears Israel would then seize control of the hill from the Lebanese army and then demand the handover of more territory.

Israel had occupied Ali Taher for 18 years before it withdrew from Lebanon in 2000.

The hill has a strategic location overlooking several villages as well as main roads leading to Nabatiyeh. Losing full control of it would disrupt Hezbollah’s presence and supply lines in the area.

The Israeli military says the site is also important to Hezbollah because of tunnels it built there, with funding from Iran.

Israel said in its statement Thursday that the hill housed underground command centers, weapons storage rooms, generators, living quarters, showers and a kitchen. Israel said it cleared Ali Taher of Hezbollah fighters and was working to “neutralize underground infrastructure sites.”

Hezbollah legislator Ihab Hamadeh questioned why the Israeli military was still attacking the hill if it was really in control of the area, according to the Arabic-language version of Russia’s state-funded news outlet Sputnik. An Associated Press photographer who visited the nearby village of Kfar Rumman on Friday saw no sign of Israeli military presence on the hill.

The hill, topped with a shrine to a Muslim scholar, sits north of the Litani river, which has become the de facto boundary of the area captured by Israel since its latest war with Hezbollah began in early March.

Fighting in the area has heated up in recent weeks

Israel has been conducting military operations around Ali Taher since July, said Nasser Khdour, a Middle East researcher at the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, or ACLED, a US-based group that tracks conflicts around the world.

Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qamati told a Lebanese podcaster in late August that the group’s fighters were repelling attempts by Israeli troops to take Ali Taher. But he, and others, downplayed the significance of the site should Israel take it.

“Ali Taher is important, but if it is lost it does not mean the end of Hezbollah,” Qamati said.

In mid-August, Israel carried out a series of airstrikes on southern Lebanon that it described as retaliation for a Hezbollah drone attack on Ali Taher that seriously wounded three soldiers. The Israeli strikes, which killed 11 people, including women and children, were the deadliest since the US-brokered ceasefire went into effect in late June.

On Aug. 27, Israel carried out a series of airstrikes, killing one person and wounding six, after the military said Hezbollah fired two explosive drones at Israeli troops in the area. Hezbollah did not claim responsibility for any of the attacks.

Lebanon says Israel is hindering its army

Lebanon’s Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri told an Arab TV station in late August that the Lebanese army was ready to take over Ali Taher.

He accused Israel of blocking the army due to its own political considerations ahead of Israeli national elections on Oct. 27.

“The problem is not in the Lebanese army’s readiness but in Israel’s stance,” he said.

Lebanese and Israeli officials are set to meet for negotiations in Rome later this month. Meanwhile, Hezbollah, which has always refused to speak directly to the US, appears to be changing its policy after the major setbacks it has suffered during its wars with Israel since 2024.

A Lebanese official told The Associated Press that indirect contacts are going on between the US and Hezbollah, but refused to give any details. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

The US ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, said recently that Washington is ready to speak with Hezbollah if the group agrees to disarm.

Still, Hezbollah is not likely to take any move forward regarding talks with the US without a green light from its main backer, Iran. While talks with the US over their war have stalled, Iran has sought guarantees that Israel will halt its attacks on Hezbollah as part of any permanent deal.

Capture of Ali Taher could lead Israel to other Hezbollah strongholds

The capture of Ali Taher would open the way to Nabatiyeh and also lead to the nearby Apple Province and Rihan Mountain, where Hezbollah has been building up its presence since the late 1990s.

Israeli leaders have repeatedly pledged to leave troops in Lebanon and threatened to escalate military pressure until Hezbollah disarms.

“Israeli control of the area is an operational and military setback for Hezbollah,” said Khdour of ACLED. He said clearing these sites helps Israel protect towns in the northern part of its country, and increases pressure on Hezbollah.

“This will strengthen Israel’s position in any future negotiations over its withdrawal,” said Khdour.

Far-right Israeli ministers began more forcefully advocating the wholesale removal of Palestinians in Gaza last week, offering timelines and government mechanisms to conduct illegal forced expulsions while displacement, demolitions and killings continued across Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz told a conference on Wednesday that removing Palestinians from Gaza is “the only solution”, saying Israel is prepared to do it “by sea, by air and by every way possible”, and that US President Donald Trump has merely “frozen” – not cancelled – his support for the idea.

Then, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir unveiled a seven-year plan, branded “Disengagement 710”, to remove Gaza’s roughly two million residents through what he called “voluntary emigration”.

Ben-Gvir added that, if re-elected, he would establish a Migration Ministry to expel Palestinians.

The US State Department said it “does not support any plan or proposal for the forced displacement, expulsion, or mandatory transfer of the population of Gaza” – but stopped short of directly condemning Katz or Ben-Gvir.

Gaza: Rising death toll amid airstrikes

Gaza’s death toll has continued climbing through near-daily strikes. An Israeli special forces raid near Gaza City’s American hospital on Tuesday killed at least four Palestinians, including two children and a woman, ending with the capture of Moin al-Arabeed, described by Israel as the head of Hamas’s internal security. A drone strike killed a child in Jabalia refugee camp on Wednesday, the same day an attack on a tent in Khan Younis killed one person.

On Thursday, two Palestinians, including a 13-year-old, were shot dead near Beit Lahia after Israel said they had crossed into an Israeli-controlled area, while a separate drone strike killed a man near a church compound in Gaza City’s Remal neighbourhood.

Strikes continued through the week’s end: On Sunday alone, Israel attacked near a school in Gaza City, wounding several, and a separate drone strike on a car near Gaza City’s Hamid intersection killed Youssef Akila and his young daughter, Wafaa.

Before dawn on Monday, at least five more Palestinians in Gaza were killed including three-year-old Saadi Ghalia, who was killed when an artillery shell struck a school in Deir el-Balah sheltering displaced people.

By Monday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that 73,658 people have been killed and 174,622 wounded since October 2023, after 160 additional deaths were certified and added to the casualty figures. Of those, more than 1,340 have been killed since the October 2025 Israeli-Hamas “ceasefire”.

The recovery of bodies has slowly continued alongside the killings.

Families in northern Gaza held funerals on Sunday for around 100 people, including 60 children, whose remains were pulled from the rubble of Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood, many of them members of the extended Malaka family.

Gaza civil defence chief Raed al-Dahshan told Al Jazeera his teams could recover an estimated 8,000 more bodies still under the rubble within 90 days if given proper heavy equipment, but warned that without it, “this work will continue for years”. Between 10,000 and 14,000 people remain missing under Gaza’s rubble.

In the strip, humanitarian conditions continue to deteriorate without sufficient aid getting in. The World Health Organization warned that water contamination in Gaza has nearly tripled since January. The Palestinian Water Authority reported all five of Gaza’s wastewater plants have shut down entirely, with roughly 55,000 cubic metres of untreated sewage discharged daily.

West Bank: Demolitions and villages under siege

Meanwhile, Israeli forces carried out demolitions this week in the West Bank. In the community of Khirbet al-Tabban in Masafer Yatta, those demolitions were absolute – demolishing all 12 homes left  70 people, including 30 children, homeless.

“It’s wiping the village off the face of the earth,” council head Nidal Younis said. Residents, he added, intend to rebuild.

Israeli forces also destroyed four water wells and several greenhouses in nearby Beit Ummar in Hebron in the occupied West Bank, causing an estimated $60,000 in losses, and demolished a home in Nahalin in Bethlehem governorate.

Around Jenin, the bulldozing of hundreds of farmers’ trees continued along the Arraba-Yabad and Jenin-Nablus roads, part of six military orders issued in August to clear vegetation from across four Jenin-area villages, according to to the Palestinian Wafa news agency.

In occupied East Jerusalem’s al-Bustan neighbourhood, community representative Fakhri Abu Diab said municipal bulldozers demolished a four-apartment building – the 60th demolition there since October 2023. On Monday morning another home was demolished in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Beit Hanina, according to Wafa, and authorities forced a Palestinian man in the city’s Jabal al-Mukaber area to demolish his home.

Despite all of the land and property destruction, last week’s most sustained violence centred on al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah. Settlers and soldiers raided the village on the evening of Wednesday after accusing residents of stealing livestock.

Snipers took rooftop positions and opened fire as residents tried to stop settlers stealing sheep, killing Khalil Abu Alia, 16, and Mohammad Nassan, 19.

The Israeli military told the Times of Israel that troops were “securing the retrieval of livestock belonging to Israeli civilians” when a “violent riot” broke out and soldiers “fired at key instigators”. Eyewitnesses said Nasan was shot in the back.

In the days after, mourners were beaten and pepper-sprayed and their vehicle stolen, with an ambulance also attacked.

Wafa also reported late on Sunday that Israeli settlers killed Omar Tubasi, 20, and injured three people when they raided and opened fire on the village of Hajja, east of Qalqilya governorate in the occupied West Bank.

Elsewhere, settlers stormed Umm al-Khair in the South Hebron Hills on Friday, injuring a child. Soldiers who arrived declared the area a closed military zone that was enforced for Palestinians, not the settlers who remained.

In Turmus Ayya north of Ramallah, a settler wearing a T-shirt bearing the logo of the outlawed Kach movement was filmed atop a Palestinian home declaring “this land is Jewish” after US Ambassador Mike Huckabee visited the town and called settler violence “a form of terrorism”.

In Qusra, south of Nablus, a month-long siege of three homes continued, with the army initially blocking roughly 100 peace activists from delivering food and medicine. Settlers also stole water tanks and livestock in the Jordan Valley and sabotaged water lines serving a Bedouin encampment near Tayasir in the northern West Bank, according to reports and photos from local Palestinian activists.

In East Jerusalem’s Old City, Israeli police shot and killed Ibrahim al-Hendi, 33, from Beit Hanina, near Damascus Gate on Friday, claiming he had tried to stab an officer.

ACTRESS Michelle Keegan has shared a rare snap of her daughter Palma, 18 months, just days after she quit a new ITV drama.

The mum-of-one welcomed the tot with her partner DJ Mark Wright, 39, in March last year.

Stockport-born Michelle and Essex lad Mark have opted to keep Palma’s identity under wraps but have shared brief glimpses into their lives as parents.

And, Michelle couldn’t help but update fans as her little girl hit a huge milestone.

The soap favourite took to Instagram to reveal they’ve been celebrating Palma turning 18-months-old.

In the snap posted online, Palma can be seen facing away from the camera wearing a stylish denim dress.

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She’s holding a tiny wooden plaque, which says the words: “18 months.”

It’s engraved with flowers around the outside and has a little brown bow stuck to the top.

Michelle recently pulled out of a major new ITV drama just months before filming was due to start in November.

The 39-year-old left ITV bosses baffled by her decision to turn her back on the lead role in a big budget production, focusing on a working-class barrister.

Sources said it was “a huge blow” as she had committed to the drama a few months ago and a filming start date had been decided.

Michelle, who decided not to go ahead with the series written by Sherlock writer Steve Thompson, has said she wanted to focus on family life.

A source said: “Michelle was really keen to take on the meaty role, but the heavy filming schedule would take her away from daughter Palma for too long.

“The hours were quite intense and the project was starting straight after her Netflix drama The Woods and she just couldn’t commit.

“She is dedicated to her acting career, but like all working mums has to prioritise being there for her family, juggling work, parenting and being present for Palma.”

Mark and Michelle, who married in 2015, live in a £3.5million mansion near his family in Essex.

The family of three have enjoyed a string of lavish holidays together over the past year, while Michelle has had some time off.

She first made it big in 2008 as Coronation Street’s Tina McIntyre, and starred in BBC military drama Our Girl from 2016 to 2020.

Holidaymakers heading abroad are being urged to check an important easyJet rule before boarding the plane

For many travellers, there are a few items that automatically make it into a suitcase before a holiday begins. But one increasingly common gadget comes with restrictions that could catch passengers out if they arrive at the airport with too many.

The warning is particularly relevant to anyone who likes to carry several charging accessories when travelling. EasyJet has issued a reminder to customers that there is a maximum number they can take with them, alongside rules about where the items must be packed and how they can be used during a flight.

Power banks are the accessory in question, with easyJet allowing a maximum of two per passenger. The airline says they must be carried in cabin baggage only and should ideally be kept somewhere they can be easily monitored.

There is another important restriction once passengers are on board, as easyJet says power banks cannot be charged or used to charge other devices during the flight. Its guidance also says power banks must be individually protected, such as by keeping them in their original packaging or a plastic bag.

The rules are part of wider aviation safety measures around lithium batteries, which can pose a fire risk if they are damaged or develop a fault. The UK Civil Aviation Authority says power banks must be carried in carry-on baggage, individually protected when not in use and must not be recharged during a flight.

It also says power banks should not be used to charge other portable electronic devices while on board. Guidance confirms that a maximum of two power banks can be carried per person, although batteries with higher capacities can be subject to additional airline approval requirements.

For easyJet passengers, that means checking the number of chargers in your cabin bag before heading to the airport. Anyone carrying three power banks would be over the airline’s stated limit, even if each individual device would otherwise meet the relevant requirements.

Passengers should also avoid putting them into checked luggage, as easyJet specifically prohibits power banks from being carried in the hold. The airline recommends keeping them somewhere they can be monitored, which means they should remain accessible during the journey rather than being buried inside a suitcase.

The CAA’s advice is similarly clear that spare lithium batteries and power banks belong in the cabin rather than checked baggage.

The reason for keeping them close to passengers is that a battery problem can be identified and dealt with more quickly in the cabin.

Once upon a time, in the woods outside Pola de Somiedo, lived a family of Cantabrian brown bears. The villagers reported sightings of a mother bear who had lost a leg to a hunter’s trap, her two cubs and two adult males, either of which might have been the father. In those days, at the end of the 1980s, they seemed to be the last of their kind in this part of Asturias. Meanwhile, the wider population dropped to about 60 bears across the surrounding Cantabrian mountain range that gave the species its name.

They have since clawed their way back from the edge of extinction here in northern Spain, and nature guide Luis Frechilla believes their numbers may now be upwards of 500 again. “They’re still classed as endangered,” he tells me, until the official count hits 1,000. But relative abundance makes them much easier to see today in Somiedo natural park – one of Spain’s first such protected areas, established in 1988.

Setting his scope on a tripod in a steep-angled pasture, Frechilla spots a bear almost as soon as we start looking. A juvenile, apparently, which means the animal is old enough to be foraging alone, but it’s still too small, and too far away, for him to tell if it’s a male or female. Another bear-spotter standing near us seems more willing to take a guess.

“Ooh, look at his little ears,” she says delightedly, beaming behind binoculars. No expert myself, I watch that distant fuzzy shape move across the viewfinder and along the sharp ridges opposite, blinking in and out of sight like a cursor on the trend line of a graph. I’m not sure that we are close enough to call this an encounter, but it is an experience.

The sun drops behind the peaks; the birds sing a dusk chorus in the birches and oaks; cowbells ring through the valley from the dairy herds that help this region of so-called “Green Spain” look and sound like the Swiss Alps. It gets cold at night up here, and it’s been known to snow in summer, though my own visit in late spring sees the mountaintops looking whiter than anyone around here can remember so deep into May.

That weather, and the sheer calorific spend of living and working at a median altitude of 1,300 metres, has made the traditional cuisine much sturdier here than elsewhere in Spain.

Down at the village inn, Casa Miño, we share a bottle of regional cider and a cachopo (beef fillet topped with serrano ham, peppers and goat cheese, and pounded into a single solid unit the size of a solar panel). I want fabada, too, the famous Asturian stew of white beans, pork belly and blood sausage. Frechilla says it’s a winter dish, customarily eaten for lunch – too heavy for the body to process later in the day. But I would order fabada at midnight in a heatwave, and keep eating it even while they loaded me into the ambulance.

The bears, meanwhile, don’t have much to feed on at the moment. They only woke from hibernation a few weeks ago, explains Alicia Madrid the next day, on a forest trail above the century-old hydroelectric power station at La Malva. A biologist with the conservation group Fundación Oso Pardo, Madrid tells me that Cantabrian bears don’t hibernate as long or deeply as other brown bears and are generally smaller and lighter than American grizzlies.

“They’re adapted to this terrain, and they can’t be too heavy because they have to climb a lot,” she says. Their paw prints in the mud look big enough to me, and the bite marks where they chewed clumps of long grasses, and the hairs shed where they scratched their backs against trees. Madrid shows us, too, the hefty rocks they overturned looking for insects. Further into the summer, there’ll be plenty of berries, acorns, chestnuts and maybe some meaty carrion to fatten them up.

The foundation has played a major role in the regrowth of bear populations, building bio-corridors with strategic placements of trees and bushes full of all the things they like to eat. Another key factor is the hunting ban, introduced in 1973. The trick now, says Madrid, is coaxing isolated cohorts to breed with other groups and boost genetic diversity.

Also: managing the tourists who come to see them, and balancing ecological imperatives against financial incentives. Later, after a long hike through the Valley of the Lake to reach the aptly named Lake of the Valley, I overhear Frechilla fielding the related concerns of two local women. Against a backdrop of blue sky, bright wildflowers and silver waters, the women seem to argue that conservation efforts amount to commercial exploitation. Frechilla gently insists that Somiedo natural park is a model of good practice in Spain. Much of the bears’ territory is closed to the public, and spotting expeditions are only permitted in the company of licensed guides. Nature tourism, he says, keeps villagers in jobs where farming culture cannot, and is proving vastly more sustainable than hunting bears for sport. As for protecting humans, there has been only one bear attack in recent memory, on an elderly lady whose evening stroll led her between a mother and cubs. She survived.

For now, at least, most residents seem willing to share the bears with outsiders. That evening, a small crowd gather by the side of a winding back road near Saliencia, some sitting comfortably on camping chairs with spotting scopes in their hands. Everyone is watching a large male bear – so big and so close that they don’t need the viewing equipment – as he lopes across a meadow to take a quick splash in the river. Another male is spotted in the treeline above, and the two circle each other at a distance for a while. There is some speculation that they might fight for this turf, and a man with two leashed greyhounds seems ready to take bets on it. Frechilla shakes his head.

“Maybe later in the season, when they’ve gained enough weight.”

These bears are doing better now, but it’s still a tough life. The reality of their ongoing baby boom is that only 30% of juveniles will survive on their own, after a year of maternal supervision. This is surely why I find it so moving when we follow reports of another sighting in the twilight: a mother and her two young cubs have been seen climbing a slope called El Diente, or “The Tooth”.

It’s getting dark and cold, but we can see them through the scopes, about a mile away from us across the high mountain pass at La Peral. I watch the mother bear waiting and cajoling as needed while the siblings struggle up the vertical planes of rock like toddlers trying to climb a baby gate. On the ridgeline, they turn to silhouettes, play-fighting against a white sky.

They disappear over the far side, but then a little one comes back, seeming to wave goodbye with both front paws in the air. I remember a story I read to my daughter once, which put a poignant time limit on the usual fairytale ending: “And they all lived happily together, for as long as they could.”

The trip was provided by the Spanish Tourist Office, Turismo Asturias and Casa Miño in Pola de Somiedo. Bear-spotting tours with nature guide Luis Frechilla can be organised through Wild Spain Travel. For more information on the Cantabrian brown bear and related conservation efforts, visit Fundación Oso Pardo

As Shohei Ohtani strode up to the plate Monday, Michael Bublé’s voice crooned over the Dodger Stadium speakers as always. But after four games out of the lineup, the song seemed to be asking fans to believe:

“I’m feeling … good.”

Ohtani at least looked more comfortable in the batter’s box than he did Wednesday, when pain in his biceps had him shaking his right arm. But his performance at the plate still remains in a slump — he went 0 for 3 with a walk in the Dodgers’ 6-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

“It’s hard to really feel 100% at any time in the season,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “So I wouldn’t say I’m there.”

Roberts will continue to closely monitor Ohtani, saying he’ll see how the superstar designated hitter feels Tuesday before finalizing any decisions about playing time.

The Dodgers and Ohtani have all but ruled out his return to the mound this season.

“Disappointing,” Ohtani said. “But I want to make sure that when I look back at this season, that I used this as an experience, a learning experience and make sure that I use that as something to improve upon for next season.”

Roberts said he hoped Ohtani could improve his offensive production by not pitching.

“That’s one part of the thought, to sort of take the pitching off of his plate and really try to let him lock in on being a hitter and get on track,” Roberts said. “Because the last couple of weeks he just hasn’t been himself in the box.”

In the six games before Roberts sat Ohtani because of health concerns, he only had two hits.

“I’m confident that my overall performance should be better moving forward,” Ohtani said. “I think the thing that I was more focused on was making sure that the pitching wouldn’t cause the worst scenario, which was for me to not be able to play at all.”

Teoscar Hernández is showered with sunflower seeds after hitting a three-run home run in the sixth inning Monday against the Reds.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Ohtani flew out in his first at-bat, and then struck out on a Chase Burns slider below the zone. He struck out again against Brandon Williamson to end the fifth before reaching base in the seventh on a walk.

“It was certainly good to get him back out there, but there was certainly nothing to kind of write home about,” Roberts said. “I think the main thing is that there was nothing alarming from the at-bats. To take four days off, to come out of it feeling good, I think that’s a win in itself.”

The Dodgers (87-57) caught a break with Burns — considered a top-five National League Cy Young candidate — since the Reds (69-75) had him on a pitch limit in an effort to manage his workload.

Burns held the Dodgers hitless through three innings, striking out Ohtani as his last act before handing duties to the bullpen.

Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan, recalled on Monday as the Dodgers optioned right-hander Bobby Miller, gave up a home run to Elly De La Cruz in the first before outdueling the Reds’ bullpen. He gave up three hits, one run and struck out 10 over 5⅔ innings.

Sheehan will remain in the rotation and is scheduled to start Sunday in Miami, Roberts said.

Against Williamson in the fifth inning, Teoscar Hernández lined a leadoff single into left field. After Alex Call was hit in the right foot with a pitch, Miguel Rojas chopped a grounder to Reds third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, whose errant throw allowed two runs to score as Rojas dashed to third.

The next inning, Hernández punctuated his recent hot streak by lining a three-run homer into the Dodgers’ bullpen — with the highest exit velocity (112.6 mph) of any ball he’s put in play since 2024, according to Statcast.

Dodgers pitcher Emmet Sheehan delivers during the third inning against the Reds on Monday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Though Dodgers relievers Seth Halvorsen and Jack Dreyer each gave up a run, the Dodgers tacked on insurance in the eighth inning with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly from pinch-hitting Will Smith. And the team extended its winning streak to five games.

Ohtani didn’t play a part in any of the Dodgers’ scoring, but at least he was back in the batter’s box.

“It felt like, ‘long time no see,’” he said.

TELLURIDE, Colo. — Standing ovations at film festivals are a rite: part appreciation, part obligation, part a need to stretch your legs after sitting for a couple of hours.

But for an audience to explode and roar their approval in the middle of a movie? That rarely, if ever, happens.

Except it did, midway through the Telluride Film Festival world premiere of Jesse Eisenberg‘s delightful comedy “The Debut.” The applause followed a scene between Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti that took its audience on such an exhilarating journey that there was almost no choice but to cheer in admiration, as if to say: What did we just see?

Sitting in the theater, Eisenberg, producer Emma Stone and Paul Giamatti looked at each other and asked themselves the same question but for a different reason.

“It was hard to process and, at the same time, just so affirming,” Eisenberg told me a couple of hours after the premiere.

The next day, sitting down to grab a quick bite with Moore and Giamatti, that giddy feeling had not dissipated, though, truth be told, they knew this scene was an all-timer from the moment they read it.

Let’s set the stage for you in a way that won’t spoil this constantly surprising film when it arrives in theaters in December and starts piling up acclaim and awards for all concerned.

Moore plays Mona, a meek, thoroughly unseen wife and mother who impulsively decides to audition for a community theater production of a musical titled “Nosy Neighbors,” despite having no experience apart from singing in the church choir when she was 13. The director Jerry (Giamatti) cuts her tryout short, sending her home, only to relent when the woman he’d already cast (Bernadette Peters!) drops out and he has nowhere else to turn.

Mona is, as Moore puts it, a “nice lady.” But she’s not a natural performer. She can’t get into character playing Miss Danielle, the show’s tough, toolbelt-wearing building super. So Jerry takes Mona aside because that’s what he does. As her cast mates note, “He’s going to drag you through the s— and the mud and you have to be ready for the s— and the mud.”

It turns out, though, that Jerry is the one who isn’t ready for what’s about to happen. Sitting in a chair on the theater stage, Jerry holds an envelope containing cash, telling Mona that it’s her job to make him hand over the rent. It’s an acting-class exercise designed to make you listen, react and dig into your character’s truth. Moore begins with a whisper and builds to a roar as Mona improvises a manic rant that involves rats and the plague.

Suffice to say, Jerry hands over the rent.

“When I read that scene, I stood up, put my iPad down and started doing laps around my dining room table,” Moore remembers. “I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. I was just like, ‘Oh my God! Aaaaaaagh!‘”

“It was five pages long,” Giamatti marvels. “Jerry just needs Mona to be better. And then he sees that maybe she could actually be kind of great. He cracks her open and he’s like, ‘Oh wow, who is this lady? Who the hell is this?’ The funny thing about that scene is s— like that happens in classes.” He turns to Moore. “Did that ever happen to you?”

“I had an audition for a university, actually, where they threw chairs in front of me while I did the monologue and made me climb over the chairs,” Moore says, laughing. “I look back on that now. I was 18 years old and I was like, “What?’ Yeah. It was really strange. They’re trying to get you to react authentically and be alive.”

She smiles at Giamatti. “Hopefully when you get to be our age, you don’t need that.”

Though the scene has Mona improvising, it was performed as written, down to every last pause.

“Everyone keeps asking if we improvised and I’m like, ‘Hell, no,’” Moore says. “Jesse’s like the Coens. Everything’s there on the page.”

Adds Giamatti, “It’s incredibly specific. You follow his punctuation. The commas matter in his writing.”

“What’s so f—ing delightful about about working with Paul is that his sense of timing and rhythm is so tight,” Moore continues. “That scene is a set piece that requires you to work in tandem and you need somebody to hit it back with the same intensity and the same speed.”

When Eisenberg first met Moore, he told her flat-out, “I don’t want you to worry about this scene.” He knew it was a bear, with pages and pages of lines, so he told her he’d have a teleprompter on set.

“That section, all that crazy s— she goes off on, that would be really hard,” Giamatti says.

“And I was like, ‘Phew, that’s fantastic,’ because I knew all I would do would be to worry about all those lines and be so scared,” Moore says. “But because he said that to me, I never worried. And I didn’t need the teleprompter.”

They shot the scene in one morning, just Moore and Giamatti alone on the stage with the rest of the crew downstairs in the video village. There was an energy on set, spiked by an unusual number of visitors (“People knew,” Giamatti says) and then they went to work.

“I remember the first time you really hit that speech and they called cut, I just couldn’t stop grinning,” Giamatti tells Moore. “And I reached out and just kind of held you for a second because I was like, ‘That was amazing.’ I wanted to convey just how great it was, what you were doing.”

Moore beams. “I just love him. Just love him, love him, love him. I have so much gratitude for Paul.”

“To watch you be a bad actor was so hilarious and then you would you would modulate it and change it,” Giamatti continues. “Watching her was the experience that Jerry was having. It was such a joy.”

The scene is the beginning of a simpatico relationship between Jerry and Mona, mentor and protege, predicated on the power of imagination and how it can make outcasts feel seen and heard.

“Everyone wants to be known as who we are, even though it’s so scary for us to really reveal it,” Moore says. “There’s a real mind-altering power in just being yourself.”

BILBAO, Spain: Athletic Bilbao thumped Atletico Madrid 3-0 in La Liga on a miserable Saturday afternoon for Diego Simeone’s side.

Nico Williams, Robert Navarro and Oihan Sancet’s goals gave the Basque hosts a resounding victory at their San Mames stadium.

Elsewhere promoted side Deportivo La Coruna earned an exciting 3-2 win at Villarreal to climb provisionally fourth.

Athletic secured back-to-back wins under former Borussia Dortmund coach Edin Terzic, after losing their first two matches of the campaign.

Simeone’s Atletico fell to their first defeat of the season, putting up little fight in the second half after Athletic made the breakthrough with two quick strikes from Williams and Navarro.

“Their two goals, in the blink of an eye, did us a lot of damage,” Atletico’s Pablo Barrios told Movistar.

Atletico must pick themselves up for Wednesday’s visit to face Liverpool in the Champions League at Anfield.

“(We had) two minutes of inattention and poor decision-making in situations we should have handled better,” said Simeone. “Bilbao capitalised on that lapse.”

Striker Julian Alvarez, who tried to leave the club to join Barcelona this summer, returned as a substitute after illness in an ineffective second half appearance.

The visitors had the better of the opening period, although they failed to create many clear-cut chances after an early opportunity for Lee Kang-In.

The South Korean international struck a shot against the post in the third minute after the hosts were carved open.

Athletic goalkeeper Unai Simon saved from Alex Baena as Atletico threatened, while Sancet came close at the other end with a blast into the side-netting.

Pablo Barrios hit the post before the break for Atletico, who were sucker-punched early in the second half by Terzic’s side.

The Williams brothers combined for Athletic’s first, with Inaki’s deflected shot headed home by younger sibling Nico after 46 minutes.

Navarro doubled Athletic’s lead in the 48th minute, steering home after Inaki Williams played him in.

“We were good in the first half but the game got away from us in those (couple of) minutes,” said Simeone.

“We lacked in the second half everything that we had in the first.”

No impact for Alvarez

Simeone rang the changes, including sending on want-away striker Alvarez to little effect.

The Argentina international struggled to get involved in the game, and produced just one shot from the edge of the box, saved comfortably by Simon.

Sancet wrapped up Athletic’s victory in the 90th minute when he stroked home a loose ball after a blocked cross.

“It’s always good to win games, especially at home,” said Terzic.

“Today we are happy and we are going to be very satisfied when we go to bed tonight, and then from tomorrow onwards we’ll prepare everything to go for the next (game).

“We have six points from the last two games, but this won’t help us to reach all our targets by the end of the season.”

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored for the fourth match running and set up two more as the former Arsenal and Barcelona striker excelled in Depor’s surprise win at Villarreal.

Another ex-Arsenal attacker Nicolas Pepe put the hosts ahead but Luismi Cruz levelled for the Galicians before the interval.

Adama Traore’s own goal gave Villarreal the advantage once more but Zakaria Eddahchouri and Aubameyang, 37, struck to claim Depor a superb victory.

Sergio Camello netted twice for Rayo Vallecano in an entertaining 3-2 win over Racing Santander.

On Sunday, La Liga leaders Barcelona visit Valencia looking to move clear of Real Madrid, who lost 1-0 at Real Betis on Friday, among other fixtures.