Month: April 2025

THE NHS’s top cancer doctor has revealed 18 cancer symptoms everyone should know, after a survey found that a worrying number of Brits wouldn’t be able to spot red flag signs of the killer disease.

A new NHS survey of 2,000 Brits tested people’s knowledge of common cancer symptoms.

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Most respondents had no idea that heartburn and indigestion lasting three weeks or more was something to be worried about, as just 21 per cent recognised it as a possible sign of cancer.

More than half (55 per cent) didn’t know that blood in your wee – even if it just happens once – could be a sign of disease.

Almost half (49 per cent) didn’t recognise unexplained weight loss as a symptom, and more than four in 10 people (42 per cent) didn’t flag an unexplained lump anywhere on the body as a potential sign of cancer.

The NHS advises people to regularly check for any new lumps or unexpected changes in the body to help identify any possible symptoms of cancer.

But the survey found that only four in 10 (39 per cent) Brits look for changes to their bodies at least once every three weeks.

In fact, respondents were more likely to check their bank balance, weather forecast or sports results than give their body a once over for worrying changes.

While most bodily changes are unlikely to be cancer, it’s important to get any new or worrying symptoms checked out by a GP as soon as possible so they can help rule cancer out.

Finding cancer early means it’s easier to treat.

More than 400,000 people are diagnosed with cancer each year in the UK, according to Macmillan Cancer Support.

Breast and prostate cancer tend to be the most common forms of the disease, followed by lung, bowel and melanoma skin cancer.

Cancer Research UK projects that the average number of cancer cases will rise from 420,000 in 2023-2025 to around 506,000 cases in 2038-2040.

The NHS shared 18 red flag cancer symptoms to look out for.

1. An unexplained lump anywhere on the body
2. A mole that changes colour or shape, or starts itching, crusting, flaking or bleeding
3. Blood in your poo – even if you notice it once
4. Blood in your pee – even once
5. Unexpected or unexplained bleeding e.g., blood when you cough, after sex, after the menopause or between periods.
6. A cough that lasts three weeks or more or a change in an existing cough
7. A sore or ulcer in the mouth that does not heal for three weeks or more
8. Tummy trouble, such as discomfort or diarrhoea lasting three weeks or more
9. Feeling tired and unwell and not sure why, for three weeks or more
10. Heartburn or indigestion, that lasts three weeks or more
11. Unusual, pale or greasy poo
12. Unexplained pain or discomfort that lasts three weeks or more
13. Being bloated most days, for three weeks or more
14. Breathlessness
15. Frequent infections
16. Unexplained night sweats
17. Unexplained weight loss
18. Unexpected or unexplained bruising

It advised you contact your GP practice if something in your body doesn’t feel right or you experience any of the above signs or symptoms.

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Professor Peter Johnson, national NHS cancer director said: “It is so important to know what is normal for you, although we all find a host of other things to think about rather than checking for any changes in our bodies.

“That’s why I want to encourage everyone to make it a part of your routine – finding a way that works for you might just save your life.

“If you do spot something worrying, get in touch with your GP surgery, who can investigate for you.

“It’s unlikely to be cancer, but if there is something wrong, the earlier it is found, the better the chance of treatment being successful.”

The NHS offers life-saving free screening for cancer to millions of Brits, especially those who may be at higher risk as a result of hereditary or lifestyle factors.

This includes the lung cancer screening programme and liver health programmes which see hi-tech mobile scanning trucks and vans go to shopping centres and supermarket car parks and offer checks to people at increased risk.

‘You know your body best’

Rob McPherson, an amateur football player from Manchester, experienced stomach pain, diarrhoea and nausea.

He was diagnosed with bowel cancer and underwent treatment in 2017.

Rob was able to return to playing football months later and urged people to get checked if they don’t feel right.

Rob said “As a bowel cancer survivor, I would encourage everyone to contact your GP if you notice any unusual changes to your body – for me, it was having persistent stomach troubles for well over three weeks.

“My story shows that cancer can affect anyone no matter how active you are, and you should never put off getting checked if you feel that something isn’t right.

“Remember, you know your body best, so pay attention to any warning signs and get checked as soon as possible if you’re concerned.

Sam Ritchie, an A&E operations manager and single mum of two, noticed a pink rash on her breast in the autumn of 2023.

Sensing that something wasn’t right, she went to see her GP who referred her to a one-stop-breast clinic.

Scans revealed a lump behind her nipple and she was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer in October that year.

The mum began chemotherapy within a matter of months and underwent surgery to remove the tumour in June.

By July, she got the ‘all clear’.

She said: “Being diagnosed with breast cancer came as a huge shock to me.

“However, I am so glad I listened to my body when I felt something wasn’t right and acted quickly.

“I’d urge everyone to not put off getting help if something in your body doesn’t feel right and to contact your GP practice as soon as possible.

“Don’t be afraid to come forward and get the help you need!”

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Celeste traveled from Peru to the U.S. two decades ago, then a young woman of 19, and overstayed her tourist visa. She had studied graphic design back home but, unable to work in her field without papers, instead found arduous work cleaning hotel rooms and offices in Los Angeles. She built a life here, making friends and taking courses at a local community college. She paid her taxes annually, hoping she could one day gain legal status.

But years passed without the dramatic reforms needed to reshape and unclog the legal pathways to U.S. citizenship. And in the months since President Trump started his second term, her American dream has imploded. She’s unnerved by the news images of undocumented immigrants being loaded onto planes, shackled like violent criminals, and returned to their native countries. The thought of being ripped from her home, without time to pack up her belongings or say goodbye to friends, shakes her to the core.

So, Celeste has made a tough decision: She will continue cleaning offices and saving money for just a few more months, and return to Peru by year’s end.

Even with a plan to leave, she feels vulnerable and exposed. She now avoids restaurants, her favorite dance spots, even trail hikes. She’s stopped enrolling in online classes, she said, because she’s apprehensive about registering her name or address.

“The fear that they could grab you is always there,” said Celeste, who asked that The Times not use her full name for fear of making her a target for immigration authorities.

Trump came into his second term promising the largest deportation effort in U.S. history. During the campaign, he focused his rhetoric on undocumented immigrants who had committed violent crimes. But shortly after he took office, his administration made clear that they considered anyone in the country without authorization to be a criminal.

In the months since, the new administration has used a variety of tactics — explicit and subtle — to urge immigrants to depart the country of their own accord.

The day he was inaugurated, Trump disabled the CBP One mobile app that the Biden administration had utilized since 2023 to create a more orderly process of applying for asylum from the U.S.-Mexico border. Thousands of migrants camped at the border had their asylum appointments abruptly canceled.

Instead, the Trump administration launched a replacement app, CBP Home, that allows immigrants to notify the government of their intent to leave the country. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to The Times’ request for data regarding the number of people who have used the app.

Last month, the agency launched an ad campaign urging people in the country without authorization to leave immediately. “If you don’t, we will find you and we will deport you,” agency Secretary Kristi Noem says in the ad. This week, Trump told Fox Noticias he’s formulating a plan to give a stipend and an airplane ticket to immigrants in the country illegally who opt to “self-deport.”

The administration isn’t just targeting undocumented immigrants. In recent weeks, Homeland Security has messaged migrants who entered the country using the Biden-era CBP One app, telling them their temporary legal status has been terminated and they should leave “immediately.”

And then there are the images of the migrants deported to a notorious El Salvador prison, shackled one behind the other in prison garb, their heads bowed and shaven. The administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to remove the Venezuelan nationals without due process, alleging they were all gang members.

“One of the impacts of the various Trump policy measures is to strike terror and fear in immigrant communities,” said Kevin Johnson, a professor of public interest law at UC Davis School of Law. “It’s designed to show immigrants, ‘We’re out to get you.’”

Three months in, it’s difficult to estimate how many people are making the grueling decision to leave the lives and families built here under more lenient enforcement policies to return to home countries that many have not seen for decades.

But even in liberal-leaning California, where undocumented immigrants enjoy greater access to social services than in many regions of the U.S., advocates say they are fielding more questions from people who fear being plucked up and deported and are considering leaving on their own terms.

Luz Gallegos, executive director of TODEC Legal Center in the Inland Empire, said her staff members talk “daily” with folks who are considering leaving. Pummeled by the “constant attacks” on immigrants, she said, people are posing logistical questions: Can they take their cars? What happens to their kids’ education?

“What comes up a lot in the sessions is, ‘Prefiero irme con algo, que irme sin nada,’” Gallegos said. “I’d rather leave with something than leave with nothing.”

To significantly reduce the country’s unauthorized immigrant population, currently estimated at about 11 million, the administration and Congress would need to make dramatic changes, experts say. Rounding up and packing off millions of people across the country would require a massive deployment of resources and far more detention capacity. The extensive backlog of immigration court cases — there were more than 3.6 million cases pending at the end of March, according to TRAC Reports — also stymies such efforts.

“Given the current level of resources and the current strategies, you can’t remove 11 million people from the country,” said Johnson. “They need some people to just leave.”

That’s where the notion of encouraging self-deportation comes in. Mitt Romney proposed the idea during the 2012 Republican primary, suggesting his administration would make it so hard for undocumented people to get jobs that they’d leave for a country where they could legally work.

At the time, his embrace of the concept was widely viewed as a reason he lost among Latino voters in the general election. But more than a decade later, the strategy has gained traction.

NumbersUSA, a grassroots organization focused on immigration reform, says on its website that encouraging people to return to their home countries is “key” to reducing the number of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. Requiring employers to use E-Verify to prove their employees can legally work is the “number one” way to give people an incentive to leave, said NumbersUSA director of research Eric Ruark.

Elena, an unauthorized Mexican immigrant who has lived in the Inland Empire for nearly two decades, said she and her husband are among those who have decided to self-deport. They will move back to their homeland in the southern state of Chiapas by Christmas.

She was out shopping recently when a store employee told her she had seen an immigration agent nosing around the neighborhood. Don’t go out if you don’t have papers, the employee warned. A few months before, she was traveling along Interstate 8 near the southern border and passed an immigration checkpoint where she saw people detained and handcuffed.

“My heart hurt so badly,” said Elena, who also asked to be identified only by her first name because she fears coming to the attention of immigration authorities. “I saw workers and people traveling with their families, people who had made their lives here, and suddenly this happens and their dreams are destroyed.”

In recent years, the couple’s ability to work has been limited by age and illness. Elena, 54, has fibromyalgia and arthritis, and her husband, 62, has had a heart attack. Still, he has found work fixing cars and trucks; together they cater birthday parties and baby showers, providing large buffets of meat, rice, beans and salsas. In Chiapas, they have nearly five acres of land, where they hope to build a ranch, raise animals and grow crops.

“Many people have said that maybe I will feel more free there,” she said from the kitchen of her tidy home, “because here you feel chained up. You want to do many things, but you can’t.”

She has three adult children — two born in the U.S. — and two grandchildren in California. She chokes at the thought of being thousands of miles away.

“I think about my grandchildren, and I cry, I suffer,” she said. “I love them so much. Who is going to care for them like their grandmother?”

About 100 miles southeast, Maria, also an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, said that after 30 years in the Coachella Valley, she, too, plans to return to her home country and try to forge a new life in the western state of Michoacán. Like the other women interviewed for this article, she asked to be identified only by a first name.

She lives with a paralyzing fear of being hunted down and deported without a chance to ensure her affairs are in order. She is hesitant to go to church, hasn’t visited a doctor in months, and can’t run errands with any peace of mind. The anxiety has, quite literally, sent her packing. Over the years, she has supported herself by selling enchiladas and tacos from a small food stand. She plans to bring her cooking equipment back with her to Mexico in hopes of making a living there.

She will be leaving behind three daughters and six grandchildren, but reuniting with two sons in Mexico.

“It’s as if I’m being divided into two parts,” she said. “I haven’t been happy here, and I won’t be happy there.”

This article is part of The Times’ equity reporting initiative, funded by the James Irvine Foundation, exploring the challenges facing low-income workers and the efforts being made to address California’s economic divide.

With the UK weather described by the Met Office as “changeable” over the weekend, we provide our definitive guide to the best traditional country and seaside pubs, city centre boozers and beer gardens to make the most of while you can

From the rolling hills of the Peak District and the wild coasts of Wales to the urban villages of London and Glasgow, you’ll find cracking pubs no matter what corner of the UK you choose to visit this Bank Holiday weekend. And as this map shows, you won’t need to travel far to find them.

Even if you choose to avoid travelling, and to stay at home instead, this list will provide you with some of the best pubs on your doorstep. Here’s our Easter roundup of the top UK pubs, bars and beer gardens to visit this long weekend.

Staffordshire

The Hollybush, Denford

Virtually on the towpath of the stunning Caldon Canal, The Hollybush Inn is a traditional, friendly pub in an idyllic and relaxing Staffordshire Moorlands setting. The pub claims it doesn’t only offer a “great reputation in award winning ales and fantastic food, but a large canal side beer garden overlooking majestic countryside and farm land and an outdoor play area that children will love.”

Address: The Hollybush, Denford Rd, Leek ST13 7JT

South Wales

Rose and Crown, Nottage

Enjoy the stunning views of Oxwich Bay as you sip your drink in the hotel’s beer garden, literally just a stone’s throw from the beach. here you’ll find the picture perfect spot to unwind for a refreshing pint or a crisp glass of wine, all while soaking up the beautiful Welsh beachside scenery.

Nestled within eight acres of private grounds at the western end of Oxwich Bay, this hotel and bar offers a great selection of drinks and a menu perfect for a casual lunch or a laid-back afternoon bite.

Address: Heol-Y-Capel, Nottage, Porthcawl CF36 3ST

North Wales

Ty Coch Inn, Morfa Nefyn

Probably one of the most famous beer gardens in the world, this treasure of a pub is on the beach with access to the pub, either via the National Trust car park or the Golf Club car park. The pub is about a 20 minute walk across the golf course, but it’s worth every step. After your stroll you can then reward yourself with a drink in the beer garden overlooking the sandy beach with views of the mountains. Just be careful walking back.

Address: Porthdinllaen, Morfa Nefyn, Gwynedd, LL53 6DB

Bristol

The White Lion Bar, Clifton

Is there a pub or restaurant in Bristol that offers a better view than The White Lion Bar? Part of the Avon Gorge Hotel in Clifton Village, visitors are treated to an unparalleled vista of the Avon Gorge and Clifton Suspension Bridge as they enjoy their food and drinks.

Open from mid-morning, the White Lion Bar serves modern cuisine as well as a wide variety of tap beers and other drinks.

Address: Avon Gorge Hotel, Sion Hill, Clifton, Bristol BS8 4LD

Devon

The Fisherman’s Cot, Bickleigh

This stunning country pub at Bickleigh near Tiverton which sits on the banks of the River Exe could be the UK’s most stunning. Enjoy a drink in the beer garden, under the weeping willows, looking towards the bridge that for many years was said to have inspired the Simon and Garfunkel hit Bridge Over Troubled Water. Why not ask the locals whether this legend is true or false?

Address: Bickleigh, Tiverton EX16 8RW

Plymouth

The Hyde Park Pub, Mutley Plain

Independent pub The Hyde Park on Mutley Plain serves huge portions of great food and top quality drinks.

In addition to the homely inside dining area, the pub also has two covered outdoor dining and drinking areas and visitors can choose bar or table service. Wonderful.

Address: 88 Mutley Plain, Mutley, Plymouth PL4 6LG

READ MORE: The 40 best fish and chips shops in the UK mapped

Cornwall

Pandora Inn, Restronguet Creek

Located on the beautiful banks of Restronguet Creek, this 13th-century thatched inn provides a rare setting where the beer garden is actually built upon a pontoon in the water. Visitors can arrive by boat, bike or on foot and enjoy stunning views in a peaceful waterside setting with fresh seafood and an extensive wine list to boot.

Address: Restronguet Hill, Creek, Falmouth TR11 5ST

Huddersfield

The Nags Head

This has long been a favourite of locals and visitors from afar, particularly on a gorgeous day. This chocolate box pub has eye-catching ivy curling around the front, low cosy ceilings, a good-sized beer garden with a well, a good selection of real ales, delicious cuisine and a large car park.

Well-behaved children are welcome.

Address: The Nags Head, New Hey Rd, Fixby, Elland, Huddersfield HD2 2EA

Leeds

Belgrave, city centre

The three-storey building hosts gigs, events and serves pizza, while in the summer months the spectacular roof terrace is hugely popular. With plenty of seating and views across the city, the Belgrave roof terrace soon fills on a sunny Saturday.

Address: 1-1A Cross Belgrave Street, Leeds LS2 8JP

Hull and East Yorkshire

Sun Inn, Beverley Minster

The inn, which dates from the 1500’s, is widely regarded as the oldest pub in the area, right in front of the famous Beverley Minster. Inside, traditional oak beams and cosy nooks celebrate the tradition of the premises.

Landlords, Paul and Del say they “welcome new visitors to the town as well as our very many regulars.” Hosting live performers from blues through to rock The Sun Inn is said to be the busiest live music pub in the town.

Flemingate, Beverley HU17 ONP

Newcastle

Bar Luga

A place that was very popular when we were in various stages of lockdown limbo during the Covid pandemic, Bar Luga’s terrace can get so warm you’ll feel like you’re abroad as you enjoy a bite to eat and a few drinks.

Address: 35 Grey St, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 6EE

Manchester

Ducie Street Warehouse

The bar is one of Manchester’s hottest spots, with a popular restaurant, buzzing cafe, a co-working space, and even a gym and a stylish outdoor terrace.

During the day, modern booths, comfy sofas, and lots of light make it a great place to work away the hours. By night you can enjoy a well-deserved cocktail or a simple pint at the outdoor terrace. This hideaway is also known to host DJs and BBQs.

Address: Ducie St, Manchester M1 2TP

Cambridgeshire

The Plough, Fen Ditton

This stylish pub, bar and restaurant offers fine dining, a well thought out drinks menu, and is a “perfect spot to enjoy drinks with friends, a meal for two, or a delicious family roast.”

Nestled in two acres, the expansive beer garden boasts spectacular views over the River Cam.

Address: Green End, Fen Ditton, Cambridge CB5 8SX

Essex

The Bricklayer’s Arms, Stondon Massey

EssexLive voted the Bricklayers Arms in Stondon Massey the best beer garden in the county. With more than 70 per cent of the vote, the Bricklayers Arms was particularly praised by readers for being family friendly.

The expansive dog-friendly beer garden benefits from a play area for the kids and lots of seating for adults. It also benefits from a lovely pizza stove, adding a unique touch to the food at the pub.

Address: Stondon Massey, Brentwood CM15 0EQ

Surrey

The Stag on the River, Godalming

This gem of a pub just outside Godalming is set in a picturesque backdrop with a menu highly praised by locals. Dating back to the 17th century it is just off the A3 in the gorgeous Surrey countryside.

Address: Lower Eashing, Eashing, Godalming GU7 2QG

Kent

The Old Neptune, Whitstable

One of the most Kent’s most famous pubs, this local treasure has seen high praise from regulars, tourists and celebrities. With a sprawling garden right on the shingles of Whitstable’s beautiful beach, pub gardens don’t get much better than this.

Address: Marine Terrace, Island Wall, Whitstable CT5 1EJ

London

The Black Lion, Hammersmith

An ‘iconic country pub’ in the heart of the capital, The Black Lion’s beer garden has a welcoming atmosphere, with a cosy fire pit in the garden. The pub is busting with history and quirkiness, including ghost stories and even being home to a world-famous skittle alley.

Known for its impressive wine list, this pub also serves a wide range of food options, inlcuding crispy katsu chicken burger and pan-seared salmon.

Address: 2 S Black Lion Ln, London W6 9TJ

Liverpool

The Elephant Pub and Bakehouse

The Elephant boasts the most impressive beer garden in the south Liverpool suburb of Woolton. Hosting an upcoming Easter Bunny Breakfast for children, this has to be one of the most community focussed of Liverpool locals.

Address: 1 Woolton Street, Woolton, L25 5NH

Nottinghamshire

The Lion in Mosley Street, Basford

Nottinghamshire drinkers voted the beer garden the best in the county in a Nottinghamshire Live poll, despite trams rumbling past and the Basford Garage next door. The main selling point is the attractive garden has a capacity of 250 with decking.

Address: 44 Mosley St, New Basford, Nottingham NG7 7FQ

Peak District

Packhorse Inn, Little Longstone

This gorgeous pub is nestled near the legendary Monsal Trail which takes hikers across the Peaks. The inn hosts real ales and boasts locally sourced food with a tiered beer garden. The enclosed outdoor seating offers privacy while still being able to enjoy views of the spectacular national park.

Address: Main St, Little Longstone, Bakewell DE45 1NN

Leicester

The Queen of Bradgate

This is one of the most beloved boozers in Leicester, according to locals. With a quirky beer garden and welcoming regulars, it’s easy to understand why this pub has a special place in the hearts of those who choose to visit.

Address: 97 High Street, Leicester, LE1 4JB

Lancashire

The Barn at Moor Hall, Aughton

This barn converted into a casual dining restaurant and bar boasts five acres of uplifting gardens with views over a nearby lake, believed to be the remains of a moat from the Middle Ages.

Prescot Rd, Aughton, Ormskirk L39 6RT

Glasgow

Backyard at BAaD, The Barras

Desked out with colourful street art amongst the shipping containers, towards the east end of the city centre you’ll find BAaD. This trendy city bar is a perfect venue to impress newcomers to Glasgow.

Address: 54 Calton Entry, Glasgow G40 2SB

Edinburgh

Bar 50, Cowgate

Many of the locals are unaware that a pub or even a beer garden is at the end of the Cowgate just off of the Royal Mile. Incredibly this hidden gem includes a beer garden and a terrace.

Address: 50 Blackfriars St, Edinburgh EH1 1NE

Aberdeen

Revolution, city centre

This is probably one of the busier bars located on Belmont Street, and the fact that it has a spacious terrace might have something to do with it. This lively little cocktail bar is offering a bank holiday weekend special of Ibiza sessions, ready to get you right in those summer feels.

Address: 25 Belmont St, Aberdeen AB10 1JS

Fit-again Cormac Izuchukwu and Jude Postlethwaite have been named to start for Ulster in Saturday’s United Rugby Championship game against Leinster in Dublin.

Ireland forward Izuchukwu has been out since February with an ankle injury while Postlethwaite has been sidelined since March.

Izuchukwu replaces Kieran Treadwell in the second row and Postlethwaite returns to partner Stuart McCloskey in midfield after James Hume was ruled out earlier this week because of a back injury.

The only other change from Ulster’s Investec Champions Cup last-16 loss to Bordeaux on 6 April sees Nathan Doak recalled at scrum-half, with John Cooney dropping to the bench.

As expected, Leinster have made a raft of changes after thrashing Glasgow Warriors 52-0 in last week’s Champions Cup quarter-finals, with only wing Tommy O’Brien, centre Garry Ringrose and lock Joe McCarthy retained.

Caelan Doris, James Lowe and Jamison Gibson-Park are among those rested by Leinster boss Leo Cullen.

However, Ireland internationals Dan Sheehan, Andrew Porter, Tadhg Furlong and Sam Prendergast, and South Africa’s RG Snyman, are all named on the bench.

A three-match winning run in March moved Ulster up to the play-off positions in sixth spot as they defeated Scarlets, Dragons and Stormers, with the latter 38-34 win coming after the Irish province trailed 17-0 early on.

However, it remains a congested table with 13th-placed Connacht only four points behind Ulster.

Leinster have an eight-point cushion over nearest challengers Glasgow Warriors at the top of the URC table going into the weekend’s action, having won 13 of their 14 fixtures to date.

April 18 (UPI) — Democrats in Congress are renewing a call for legislation to ban members from trading stocks and securities following a flurry of trades during the April market slump.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., disclosed 38 trades made between April 2 — when President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on most imports — and April 9 — when Trump paused many of the tariffs, according to Insider Finance’s Congress Stock Tracker. The tariff announcement sent the stock market into a tailspin, bringing down prices during this time period.

“This is a great time to buy!” Trump posted on social media on April 9.

Greene traded 10 stocks on April 9 and 10 on April 8. Most of her reported trades were purchases valued at between $1,001 and $15,000. She sold off a U.S. Treasury bill valued between $50,001 and $100,000 on April 8.

Rep. Rick Larson, D-Wash., disclosed two trades on April 9. Otherwise Greene is the only other member of Congress to have disclosed trades during that time. Members of Congress have up to 45 days to disclose their stock market activity in accordance with the 2012 STOCK Act, so more disclosures could come in the following weeks.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has joined the calls to ban members from trading stocks. In an appearance on MSNBC, Jeffries alleged that Greene acted on inside information to profit from the dip in the stock market.

Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., shared similar concerns during a congressional hearing on tariffs with U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer on April 9 as Trump pulled back many of the tariffs.

“Is this market manipulation?” Horsford asked of Trump’s use of tariffs.

“No,” Greer responded.

“Why not?” Horsford said. “If it was a plan, how is it not market manipulation?”

“It’s not market manipulation, sir,” Greer said.

Kedric Payne, vice president, general counsel and senior director of ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, told UPI that whether Congress members are actively engaged in corrupt activities by trading stocks or not, the appearance of corruption has the same effect on the public’s trust in the government.

“In the situation where you have members of Congress disclosing that they’re making trades in stocks, it can appear as though they’re not focused on what the public needs during these volatile times in the stock market,” Payne said. “But they’re more focused on their personal profit. And that diminishes public trust in government.”

Talk of a ban on congressional stock trading is not new, according to Payne. It has been discussed as long as members have traded stocks. The issue is raised because of the potential for lawmakers to have a direct influence on a stock’s value and having access to information that the general public doesn’t.

In a 2023 survey by the Program For Public Consultation, 86% of respondents said members of Congress and family members who live with them should be prohibited from trading stocks in individual companies. This includes 87% who identified as Republicans, 87% who identified as Democrats and 81% independents.

About 87% of respondents agreed that the president, vice president and Supreme Court justices should be prohibited from trading stocks.

Stock trading remains common in Congress. According to campaign financial disclosure reports in 2023 and 2024, 61% of new members of Congress owned stock. Forty-two of 71 new members owned both stocks and widely held investment funds, the Campaign Legal Center reported.

Members of Congress were only required to disclose their trade activities once a year until the STOCK Act was passed. This increased transparency and, for a time, deterred some members from engaging with the stock market, according to Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen.

Holman has drafted legislation for lawmakers to ban stock trading in Congress. It is an issue he said he has worked on for many years. After the STOCK Act was passed, he led a study into its impact, looking at congressional stock trading in the three years prior to its passage and the three years since.

Holman found that stock trading activity declined by two-thirds after the STOCK Act was passed.

“The STOCK Act was necessary legislation to get transparency in stock trading activity,” Holman said. “Quite frankly, I thought that would be enough to stop stock trading by members of Congress simply because of the pitfalls for scandal. But as we’ve seen during the pandemic and once again today, that many members of Congress just don’t seem to care. So we need to take this a step further and just ban stock trading activity altogether by members of Congress.”

Holman referenced the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when congressional disclosures revealed dozens of lawmakers — Republicans and Democrats — made hundreds of moves in the stock market, some related to stocks that would be directly affected by the pandemic.

“The problem with insider trading still exists. We saw it in full color during the pandemic,” Holman said. “And then we’re seeing it again today.”

Despite broad support from the public and some on both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill over the years, a congressional stock trading ban has not been adopted.

“Inevitably with any kind of major reform of Congress, it requires the public to actually embarrass Congress into doing the right thing,” Holman said. “Congress doesn’t want to impose these types of restrictions that deny them the means of cashing in. They eventually do impose these types of restrictions when it becomes a very public issue and the public basically pushes Congress into acting.”

Legislation to ban stock trading in Congress has seen a few iterations in recent years with some level of bipartisan support. In 2023, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., sponsored the Bipartisan Ban on Congressional Stock Ownership Act, seeking to force members to divest from stocks, bonds, commodities, futures or any other securities within 180 days of its enactment. This also applied to the spouses of members.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., introduced a bill to end trading and holdings for members of Congress in 2023. It passed the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee in July.

The proposal prohibits members of Congress, the president and the vice president from purchasing stocks and cryptocurrencies. The prohibition extends to these individuals’ spouses and any dependent children in 2027.

“The public doesn’t think we should profit from having information that they don’t have, and we shouldn’t,” Merkley said in a statement.

Jordan Libowitz, vice president of communications with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told UPI his organization supports a ban on congressional stock trading but would prefer Congress go a step further.

“Banning stock trading in Congress is helpful. Banning stock ownership, banning the ownership of individual company stock is what’s truly needed,” Libowitz said. “Because as long as members own stocks, even if they’re not looking to quickly profit by selling them, they can sit on a committee hearing and craft a bill that helps someone testifying from a company they own stock in.”

Libowitz adds that CREW supports a ban that would move all congressional stock holdings to a blind trust.

The Merkley legislation would ban lawmakers from holding stocks in a blind trust, marking a significant difference from previous versions of such legislation.

“The average member of Congress outperforms the market and outperforms hedge funds and professional investors with their assets,” Libowitz said. “Something seems off about that. When the general public hears these kinds of stories it’s an easy ask for them. It shouldn’t be a tough decision. Public service is a sacrifice.”

A man was left fuming after sitting in his seat on a plane and was immediately ‘moaned at’ by a fellow passenger, but people have said his actions were uncalled for and ‘rude’

There’s a lot of unspoken etiquette around plane seats, and people get very angry when you get it wrong. Most of us know that we shouldn’t sit in a seat that isn’t ours without first asking if we can swap, and there have been countless rows over whether it’s okay to even suggest switching.

But there are other seat rules that you should follow, even though they’re not talked about or written down anywhere. One of these rules is about reclined seats. Most plane seats can be reclined to make your journey more comfortable, but there’s one big drawback – reclined seats often get in the way of the person sitting behind you.

Because of this, many people don’t recline their chairs, no matter how much more comfortable it would be. But others don’t see a problem with it, and believe that if the chair can be reclined, then they’re within their right to do so.

The latter is the mindset one man had when he boarded a plane recently and instantly reclined his seat. The woman behind him called him “rude and impolite” for doing so without even asking, but he refused to move.

In a post on Reddit, he said: “I flew from Denver today, and a woman behind me said that I was rude and impolite for tilting my seat back. It wasn’t even a request; it was more of an accusation.”

Fuming at her reaction, the holidaymaker got revenge by keeping his seat tilted all flight. He added: “Given her tone, I decided that I would keep my seat tilted. She went on and on about how unfair this was, and I reminded her that almost every seat in the aeroplane could be tilted, and that’s what they were designed to do.

“She wouldn’t back down, and very loudly asked the guy next to her if she was right. He very calmly said that this had been an issue with aeroplane seats ever since aeroplane travel went commercial.

“She and her seatmate kept on talking about how unfair this was and what an inconvenience it was. She even pointed out that the man in front of me had not tilted his seat.

“I watched my movie and ignored her for the rest of the flight, but when we prepared for landing and tilted our seats up straight, she said really loud, ‘Finally, thank God’. I just chuckled.”

Commenters on the man’s post were split, however. Some believed he should be free to recline his seat if he wanted to, while others said it was “rude” of him to do so knowing how “uncomfortable” it would have been for the woman behind him.

Some said that neither the man nor the woman were at fault with the interaction, and airlines should instead be blamed for “cramming” people onto planes so that seats can’t be reclined without causing discomfort.

One person said: “I don’t mind if the person in front of me puts the seat back, I just wish they would give me a bit of a warning so I can move my things/hold my drink first so nothing is broken or spilt.”

Another added: “I never recline my seat because I know how uncomfortable it is for the person behind me.”

While a third stated: “This is one of those hot-button issues that gets everyone riled up. My steadfast opinion is that if it shouldn’t be tilted, then the seats shouldn’t be tiltable.”

The night they came, Cecilia Colman was preparing to rest for the night. Then a teacher at Government Christian Secondary School (GCSS) Shuwa in Madagali, Adamawa State, northeastern Nigeria, she lived in the staff quarters.

The crack of gunfire broke the quiet night. Boko Haram had arrived.

Cecilia dropped everything and fled into the dark with many others. In the chaos that followed, the school principal and several teachers were killed. Homes and staff quarters were destroyed. 

“They kept coming,” she recalled. “We lost loved ones.”

The year was 2014, and Boko Haram’s violent insurgency, rooted in its ideology against Western education, was reaching various levels of devastation. Schools became targets. Children were abducted. Classrooms were turned to ashes. The attack on the Chibok girls would become infamous, but it was only one of many. Thousands of schools shut down, leaving hundreds of thousands of children without learning, or hope.

GCSS Shuwa was among those shuttered. Cecilia fled to Yola, the Adamawa State capital, and did not return to Shuwa even after the situation calmed down in 2016. 

Four years later, she resumed teaching, this time at GSS Michika, a few towns away, but with its scars.

Michika’s own scars

Michika had also fallen. In 2014, Boko Haram swept through the town, torching schools and sending residents fleeing. The military retook it a year later, but the damage was done.

“Many students and teachers died,” said Lawan Halilu, principal of the junior section at GSS Michika. “Some are still missing. Our infrastructure was destroyed.”

Hamza Aminu, an Islamic Studies teacher at Cecilia’s new school, stayed away until 2016. Veronica John, another teacher, also returned, despite losing family members. Today, she is one of the few who continue to teach on the very soil where she once ran for her life.

“We’re doing our best,” she said. “Parents enrol children here from private schools. We’re standing stronger than many schools in northern Adamawa.”

Cecilia says she finds solace in Michika, but the memories of the day the gunfire echoed have not faded. “The fear lingers,” she said.

Children with scars, and dreams

At GSS Michika, the schoolyard hums with the sounds of resilience. Students in mismatched uniforms kick footballs across dusty fields, their laughter occasionally pierced by the silence of memory—of things lost, of people mourned.

Fifteen-year-old Friday Benjamin is one of them. Each morning, he walks 35 minutes from his village, Sangere, to reach school. He was only five when Boko Haram killed his grandfather and maimed his uncle, a trauma that still shapes his dreams.

“I want to be a police officer,” he said, head bent over his notes. For him, it’s more than a career; it’s a way to protect his community from the violence that tore through his childhood.

Sixteen-year-old Deborah Terry carries her burden. Her home was burnt down during the insurgency. Her father has since rebuilt what little he could. 

“We live in fear, but I won’t stop schooling,” she said.

Their courage reflects a broader truth: within GSS Michika’s walls, children aren’t just surviving—they are daring to dream, despite the weight of what they have endured.

A tale of two halves

In 2022, the Adamawa State government approved ₦2.297 billion to renovate ten secondary schools, including GSS Michika, according to the state’s Ministry of Finance and Budget. Renovations at GSS Michika took place between 2022 and 2023, focusing on the senior section, where the science laboratories were upgraded, the dining hall was refurbished, and the administrative block was renovated.

But the junior section remains visibly neglected. 

Classrooms are overcrowded. During one of the classes, we saw four students squeeze onto a bench. Some of Deborah’s classmates sit on the floor during exams. Instructional materials are scarce, and the poor-quality chalk has taken a toll on teachers’ eyesight.

“I need medicated glasses now,” Cecilia said. “Even the markers don’t last.”

The school once had a functioning lab with 50 computers. All were looted during the Boko Haram attacks. “Our students can’t prepare for UTME without practice,” she added.

Bare toilets, crumbling quarters

Sanitation is another crisis. With only three pit toilets serving over 800 students and no separate facilities for staff, many resort to open defecation.

“Let the government build us proper toilets,” Lawan pleaded.

The staff quarters also remain in a deplorable state. 

Lawan, while noting the government’s efforts to improve part of the school’s infrastructure, appealed for the inclusion of staff quarters in future school renovations.

“If you see where we live, it’s bad. In the rainy season, we hardly sleep at night due to fear of collapse, as the infrastructure is bad. We are living in terrible conditions,” he added.

Boarding facilities for junior students at the school have also been scrapped due to budget constraints. Many now crowd into senior hostels or live with relatives, often far from school.

Although the Adamawa State Commissioner for Education, Garba Umar Pella, could not be reached for comment, a source in the ministry’s finance unit confirmed that assessments for further repairs are underway, in partnership with development agencies.

“The process of estimating the costs for the required repairs is currently in progress,” the source said. 

Cecilia hopes that the boarding facilities for junior students will be restored.

“It’s not ideal for JSS1 students to live off-campus,” she added. “They’re too young.”

“We are still here”

Despite everything, the trauma, poor infrastructure, and lingering threats, GSS Michika endures. And every day, despite it all, the teachers teach, and the students show up.

“We are still here. I believe education is above everything,” Veronica added. 

Located just 470 metres from a military base, GSS Michika feels marginally safer than other parts of Adamawa, which is still under threat, according to Lawan. He believes the proximity to soldiers discourages further attacks. 

Lawan noted that everyone in the school is helping each other despite the difficulties: “We are supporting our students who have also been through so much.”

This report is a collaboration between Social Voices and HumAngle under the 2024 HumAngle North East Accountability Project and was first published by HumAngle.

AN Aussie mum was kidnapped in front of her two children by a gang of masked men before her body was found in a burnt-out car just an hour later.

The 45-year-old was dragged from her Sydney home late Thursday night by five men wearing balaclavas, one armed with a gun and another wielding a baseball bat.

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The chilling abduction unfolded in front of her sons, aged eight and 15.

The younger boy is now fighting for his life after being savagely beaten with a baseball bat during the home invasion.

He has been in an induced coma after undergoing emergency surgery.

His older brother was also taken to hospital for assessment.

Police were first called to the home in Bankstown at 10.30pm.

Within an hour, emergency services were battling a car blaze just 10 minutes away on Welfare Avenue in Beverly Hills.

A body, believed to be that of the kidnapped mum, was discovered in the back seat, Australian outlet 9News reports.

Superintendent Rodney Hart said: “Although identification at this case is impossible, we strongly believe and suspect unfortunately … the body is that of the 45-year-old woman.

He added the “horrendous” crime displayed an “unheard of” level of violence.

Superintendent Hart also said the dark-coloured SUV used in the kidnapping matched the car model found torched at the second crime scene.

Horrific CCTV footage has since emerged showing the moment the masked gang stormed the woman’s home and forcibly bundled her into the vehicle.

Police are combing through surveillance from Bankstown to Beverly Hills and across surrounding suburbs.

At least two cars were seen pulling up outside the home during the terrifying raid, including a white sedan.

A neighbour living in a granny flat behind the family’s home said she had no idea what had happened until police arrived on Friday.

“Sometimes I just say hi,” she said.

“They have two boys. Her kids are always inside. They do not play with my girls. I feel sad for her and for her children.”

The woman’s husband was interstate on business at the time of the attack and has since returned to be by his son’s hospital bedside.

Investigators have dusted the house for fingerprints, and crime scenes remain in place in both Bankstown and Beverly Hills.

Superintendent Hart assured the community the horror attack appeared to be targeted.

“We don’t know what the motive is, we don’t know too much about the family, they are not well known to police at all,” he said.

“We don’t know if it’s organised crime, we don’t know if it’s gang related.”

He added: “The two children are our main focus. Their welfare and their security is paramount to us. We will do everything we can with their support and their safety.”

A neighbour across the street from the burning car said he heard “a loud bang” and saw a vehicle “engulfed in flames”.

The man told Daily Mail Australia: “My son saw it also. He was the one who called Triple Zero.

“He was on the phone for quite some time telling them what happened.”

Police are still hunting the five masked suspects and urge anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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It might seem like everyone from venture capitalists to the news media to the U.S. secretary of Energy has been hyping small modular reactors as the key to unlocking a nuclear renaissance and solving both climate change and modern data centers’ ravenous need for power.

On Monday, the Natural Resources Committee of the California Assembly will consider a bill to repeal a longstanding moratorium on nuclear plants in the state, which was meant to be in place until there is a sustainable plan for what to do with radioactive waste. Defeated multiple times in the past, this bill would carve out an exception for small modular reactors, or SMRs, the current pipe dream of nuclear advocates.

SMRs are typically under 300 megawatts, compared with the combined 2.2 gigawatts from Diablo Canyon’s two operating reactors near San Luis Obispo. These smaller nukes have received so much attention in recent years mainly because modern reactors are so costly that the U.S. and Europe have all but stopped building any.

The sad truth is that small reactors make even less sense than big ones. And Trump’s tariffs only make the math more discouraging.

I’ve been analyzing nuclear power since 1993, when I started a five-year stint at the Department of Energy as a special assistant to the deputy secretary. I helped him oversee both the nuclear energy program and the energy efficiency and renewable energy program, which I ran in 1997.

So I know all too well that the hype is built on quicksand — specifically, a seven-decade history of failure. As a 2015 analysis put it, “Economics killed small nuclear power plants in the past — and probably will keep doing so.” A 2014 journal article concluded many of those “building support for small modular reactors” are putting forward “rhetorical visions imbued with elements of fantasy.”

But isn’t there a nuclear renaissance going on? Nope. Georgia’s Vogtle plant is the only new nuclear plant the U.S. has successfully built and started in recent decades. The total cost was $35 billion, or about $16 million per megawatt of generating capacity — far more than methane (natural gas) or solar and wind with battery storage.

As such, Vogtle is “the most expensive power plant ever built on Earth,” with an “astoundingly high” estimated electricity cost, noted Power magazine. Georgia ratepayers each paid $1,000 to support this plant before they even got any power, and now their bills are rising more than $200 annually.

The high cost of construction and the resulting high energy bills explain why nuclear’s share of global power peaked at 17% in the mid-1990s but was down to 9.1% in 2024.

For decades, economies of scale drove reactors to grow beyond 1,000 megawatts. The idea that abandoning this logic would lead to a lower cost per megawatt is magical thinking, defying technical plausibility, historical reality and common sense.

Even a September report from the federal Department of Energy — which funds SMR development — modeled a cost per megawatt more than 50% higher than for large reactors. That’s why there are only three operating SMRs: one in China, with a 300% cost overrun, and two in Russia, with a 400% overrun. In March, a Financial Times analysis labeled such small reactors “the most expensive energy source.”

Indeed, the first SMR the U.S. tried to build — by NuScale — was canceled in 2023 after its cost soared past $20 million per megawatt, higher than Vogtle. In 2024, Bill Gates told CBS the full cost of his 375-megawatt Natrium reactor would be “close to $10 billion,” making its cost nearly $30 million per megawatt — almost twice Vogtle’s.

All of this has played out against a backdrop of historically cheap natural gas and a rapid expansion of renewable energy sources for electricity generation. All that competition against nuclear power matters: A 2023 Columbia University report concluded that “if the costs of new nuclear end up being much higher” than $6.2 million per megawatt, “new nuclear appears unlikely to play much of a role, if any, in the U.S. power sector.” R.I.P.

SMRs are just one of several wildly overhyped false promises on which the world is poised to spend hundreds of billions of dollars by 2040, including hydrogen energy and direct air carbon capture.

But nuclear power is the original overhyped energy technology. When he was chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Lewis Strauss — the Robert Downey Jr. character in “Oppenheimer” — predicted in 1954 that our children would enjoy nuclear power “too cheap to meter.”

Yet by the time I joined the Department of Energy in 1993, nuclear power costs had grown steadily for decades. Since then, prices for new reactors have kept rising, and they are now the most expensive power source. But solar, wind and battery prices have kept dropping, becoming the cheapest. Indeed, those three technologies constitute a remarkable 93% of planned U.S. utility-scale electric-generating capacity additions in 2025. The rest is natural gas.

China is the only country building many new nuclear plants over the next five years — about 35 gigawatts. Less than 1% of this projected capacity would be from small reactors — while more than 95% will be from reactors over 1,100 megawatts. Now compare all that to the 350 gigawatts of solar and wind China built — just in 2024.

For the U.S., President Trump’s erratic tariffs make small modular reactors an even riskier bet. If the U.S. economy shrinks, so does demand for new electric power plants. And the twin threats of inflation and higher interest rates increase the risk of even worse construction cost overruns.

Also, China, Canada and other trading partners provide critical supply chain elements needed to mass-produce SMRs — and mass production is key to the sales pitch claiming this technology could become affordable. That logic would apply only if virtually all of the current SMR ventures fail and only one or two end up pursuing mass production.

So, can we please stop talking about small modular reactors as a solution to our power needs and get back to building the real solutions — wind, solar and batteries? They’re cheaper and cleaner — and actually modular.

Joseph Romm is a former acting assistant secretary of Energy and the author of “The Hype About Hydrogen: False Promises and Real Solutions in the Race to Save the Climate.”

The Clippers enter the playoffs on an eight-game winning streak that helped them secure fifth place in the highly competitive Western Conference and a matchup with the Denver Nuggets, who won the 2023 NBA title behind three-time MVP Nikola Jokic.

The Clippers do have size with 7-foot Ivica Zubac to combat Denver’s all-world center as well as a healthy and once-again productive Kawhi Leonard, one of three players averaging 20-plus points along with James Harden and Norman Powell.

The Nuggets have recovered since a four-game losing streak cost Michael Malone, the franchise’s most successful coach, his job. Denver has recovered under interim coach Dave Adelman, winning three in a row to close the season and secure the fourth seed.

The two clubs last met in the postseason during the 2020 bubble playoffs when the Nuggets rallied from a 3-1 series deficit to eliminate the Clippers.

Here’s how two Western Conference scouts, speaking on condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to speak publicly about opponents, break down the series:

Scout 1

“I think it’s probably gonna be one of the best series out there. Like, I don’t know if a team is playing better than the Clippers are right now, and you’re going against the best player in the world.

“I think it’ll be it’ll be a chess match, and I’m curious to see how Adelman does against arguably the best Xs and O’s coach in the league [in Tyronn Lue]. I think they’re gonna throw a lot a lot of different looks at Joker. But I think I think if I’m the Nuggets, the Clippers are one of the teams that I would not want to be playing because I think they can play you a lot of different ways. Like, they have size to go against Joker to keep them from just bullying. If they want to kind of speed up the game, they can go small at five and match up to him as a shooter.

“Yeah, the Clippers have got pretty good wing defenders in Kris Dunn and obviously Kawai and Derrick Jones that they can kind of stay with the movement of Denver off the ball. So, I think it’s going to be a tough matchup for Denver. I think on paper Denver is the more talented team, but they’ve had so much turmoil this season. It’s hard to pick against the team playing as well as the Clippers are with Kawhi playing like he is.”

“I think with something like the Clippers’ defense, especially in the playoffs, it’s all about can you take away what they really want to do and what Joker wants to do is get everybody else involved because when Michael Porter is hitting open threes, and Jamal Murray is getting his scoring and Christian Braun is cutting back door and doing all that stuff, they just become really, really potent. If you can kind of take them out of that — I don’t know if it’s the stay home on everybody and make Jokic score 50 method. I don’t know if it’s still like play one on one with with Zu down there and if he beats you over the top out of the post you live with it. But to me, I think it’s both the initial look and you take away what they want to do and then what’s your adjustment and that’s where I think Ty is so good at like you know whether it’s bringing a double team or doing something different in like the Joker-Murray two-man game. Like, I think there’s just a lot a lot optional there because that group’s been together in that group kind of knows what to do. I think they’ve done some different things throughout the season to experiment with some different stuff. So I think it’s been a really good series.”

Scout 2

“The whole game plan is going to start with the Clippers dealing with Nikola Jokic. The one advantage the Clippers have that a lot of teams don’t is that they got the size with Zubac to matchup with Jokic. Like, Jokic can’t push him around or bully him under the basket because Zubac is just as big. So, I don’t think the Clippers will need to double team. I think they’ll be content with just playing him straight-up with Zubac. Because with Jokic, if you start double-teaming him, he picks you apart. So it’s almost like you want to play him one-on-one and have him score in the paint rather than getting everybody else involved. So, what I see with the Clippers is playing him straight up with Zubac and not really wanting to double-team him.

“Now when he steps out and shoots those threes, I think you come up and contest those threes. You don’t back all the way off him. You got to put a little bit of a contest, get your hand up. But you live with him making a couple a game.

“Now the Clippers have weapons with Kawhi, James, Norman and Zu. The Clippers have much more firepower than Denver, much more. They got four guys that can at any time score 20. They got two guys at any time could score 30. The Clippers create much more problems than Denver does for the Clippers on offense. The biggest concern is James has got to keep playing. He can’t revert back to 19 dribbles, one-on-one, all that stuff. There’s going to be spots in the game where he’s going to have to isolation, but he’s got to keep playing the way he’s been playing this last two or three months.

“It hurts Denver a little bit that Mike Malone got fired so late in the season. But the one thing that helps them is that the assistants have been there for a couple of years. The others guys have been there so they are real familiar with the players, they are familiar with the Clippers. So, it’s not as bad as some people think. Now, does it affect them a little bit? Sure, because Malone is a championship coach, like Ty Lue, who has been through it. But at least they have some continuity there with their assistants.

“So, when you look at Denver’s team, really the key is is Jamal Murray healthy and does Michael Porter make jump shots. Because if Porter is making jumpers, they are a whole different team. He’ll shoot from anywhere, anytime. The best play in the NBA, when Murray is healthy, is the Murray and Jokic two-man pick-and-roll game. It’s that tough to defend. When both guys are healthy and got it going, that two-man game with them, it’s a nightmare.

“The Clippers have the depth advantage. Denver does not have a good bench. They don’t have the bench that the Clippers have, not even close. That’s going to be a factor.

“So, even though the Clippers don’t have home court, I still think they are going to win the series.”

SEOUL, April 18 (UPI) — Lee Jae-myung, the polarizing former head of South Korea’s opposition Democratic Party, is maintaining a strong lead among potential candidates for a June snap election to replace impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, a new survey said Friday.

The poll, conducted by Gallup Korea, found Lee with 38% support — his highest rating among Gallup surveys this year. He remains well ahead of potential opponents from Yoon’s People Power Party, which will pick its candidate on May 3.

Former Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo and former Labor Minister Kim Moon-soo both received 7% in the poll, as did current acting President Han Duck-soo. Han has not announced his intention to run, but the 75-year-old prime minister is seen by some conservatives as the candidate with the broadest appeal.

A handful of other potential PPP candidates polled in the low single digits. Overall, the Democratic Party had an approval rating of 42%, compared to the PPP’s 34%.

The election will be held on June 3.

Lee, who lost to Yoon in the 2022 presidential election by a razor-thin margin, rose to national fame as a progressive firebrand. As the mayor of Seongnam, a satellite city of Seoul, and then governor of Gyeonggi Province, he built a reputation as a hard-charging populist who was able to implement some of the country’s most ambitious social welfare programs.

While he inspires fierce loyalty from his core base of supporters, Lee draws equally impassioned contempt from conservative opponents and has long been shadowed by legal troubles. Last month, a court overturned Lee’s earlier conviction on an election law violation, but he is still facing criminal trials on charges including bribery and corruption.

In the wake of the Yoon martial law and impeachment saga that embroiled the country for four months, the political atmosphere in South Korea has grown even more divisive, and experts are calling for the next president to focus on unity and reconciliation.

“Lee Jae-myung is a polarizing figure,” Kang Won-taek, professor of political science and international studies at Seoul National University, said during a meeting with international media this week. “Without inclusive politics, the next administration may face renewed political conflict.”

Kang said he thought Lee’s campaign would work to target the moderate voters who are “getting lost in the political landscape.”

“I believe he will focus more on policy platforms to solve the immediate problems in our society rather than focusing on ideologies,” Kang said.

So far, Lee appears to be steering clear of further inflaming tensions. During his presidential bid announcement last week, he focused on economic recovery, saying that his administration would prioritize investments in science and technology aimed at helping small businesses.

On Friday, Lee campaigned in the Yeongam region — a conservative stronghold in the southeastern part of the country — where he outlined a number of plans to boost local development, such as moving the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries to the port city of Busan.

The 61-year-old also vowed to revitalize the region’s traditional manufacturing industries, making the city of Ulsan a “hub of eco-friendly mobility” and transforming the surrounding areas into a “mecca of space, aviation, defense and smart shipbuilding industries.”

In a separate announcement Friday, Lee said he would increase government investment in South Korea’s culture industry, aiming to boost the value of hugely popular exports such as K-pop and K-dramas to $35 billion by 2030.

“We will give wings to the K-content boom created by those in the arts and culture industry,” he said.

A mass trial is set to resume in Tunisia of more than 40 people accused of various conspiracies against the Tunisian state and its president, Kais Saied.

The trial, originally scheduled to begin on March 4, was postponed to April 11, then delayed again for a week.

Among the defendants are some of the country’s most senior opposition politicians, diplomats and media personalities who say the charges, including liaising with “foreign powers” to undermine Saied’s rule, are trumped up and a symbol of Tunisia’s democratic backsliding.

Nearly all the defendants face either lengthy jail sentences or the death penalty.

Executions have been effectively suspended in Tunisia since 1991, despite judges handing down the sentence.

Would some of the defendants be sentenced to death in this case? And would such a sentence be implemented?

Let’s take a closer look.

Does the death penalty still exist as a punishment in Tunisia?

The death penalty remains a legal sentence available to judges, but it hasn’t been carried out since 1991, establishing a de facto moratorium.

The 2014 constitution does make specific allowances for legal executions, but Tunisia has consistently supported United Nations efforts to establish a global moratorium on the use of the death penalty since 2012.

However, it has not abolished the death penalty.

Have people been sentenced to death in Tunisia?

While the last person to be executed in Tunisia was the “Butcher of Nabeul”, serial killer Naceur Damergi, who was hanged in 1991, the penalty continues to feature in legislation and in sentences.

As recently as February of this year, eight individuals were sentenced to death for the 2013 murder of opposition politician, Mohammed Brahmi, while, in March 2024, four were given death sentences for the killing the same year of another politician, Chokri Belaid.

In 2022, 16 people accused of being members of ISIL (ISIS) were sentenced to death over their part in the 2016 attack on the southern desert city of Ben Guerdane, which killed seven civilians and 13 members of the security forces.

Similarly, in January 2020, a Tunisian court sentenced eight individuals to death for their involvement in the 2015 suicide bombing of a presidential guard bus in Tunis, which killed 12 presidential guards and injured 20.

Are some of the ‘conspiracy case’ defendants facing the death penalty?

Jaouhar Ben Mbarek, Khayam Turki, Issam Chebbi, Ghazi Chaouachi, Ridha Belhaj, and Abdelhamid Jelassi, who have been held in pretrial detention since February 2023, are charged, among other offences, with attempting to “change the nature of the state” under Article 72 of the Penal Code.

If found guilty, they would face the death penalty.

Another defendant charged with attempting to change the nature of the state is former Justice Minister Noureddine Bhiri, whose accusation rests on a series of social media posts he is alleged to have authored.

Other charges against defendants include plotting against state security and belonging to a “terrorist” group, both of which are capital crimes.

What is President Saied’s attitude towards the death penalty?

He supports it.

During the first presidential hustings of 2019, Kais Saied readily admitted to his support for the death penalty, as long as it was carried out following due process.

In 2020, responding to popular outrage following the brutal killing of 29-year-old Rahma Lahmar, Saied again returned to the issue, telling his security council, “murder deserves the death penalty”.

However, despite Saied’s past public support for the penalty, it is important to note that he has yet to oversee its implementation, despite the wide-ranging purges of his political opponents and critics.

Shooting stars will usher in Earth Day starting late Monday night as the Lyrid meteor shower reaches its peak — and Californians will have some of the best views in the country.

The annual meteor shower event will be most visible in April and is named after the constellation Lyra, the harp, located near the point in the sky where the Lyrids appear to originate. The shower is one of the oldest on record, with observations dating back more than 2,700 years.

The peak of the event will be Monday night into the early morning hours of Tuesday, Earth Day. Thanks to clear skies, almost all of California is forecast to have good viewing conditions, along with some regions of other western states, parts of the Southwest and a pocket of the Midwest, including areas west and south of Chicago, according to AccuWeather.

In Los Angeles and other major cities where light pollution is pervasive, stargazers will have some difficulty seeing the shower despite the ideal weather conditions due to the light pollution from homes, businesses, streetlights and cars.

“These events are notoriously invisible for the average person because we’re all drowning in artificial light, and so there’s really not a prayer for most people to get to see this at all,” said Ed Krupp, the director of Griffith Observatory.

To get a clearer view of the stars, Krupp suggests those in Southern California should head out to the mountains or desert. Once hopeful viewers are “far from urban encroachment,” their chance of catching more shooting stars is much better, he said.

Krupp, who’s been serving as the iconic L.A. observatory’s director since 1974, said it’s important for people to temper their expectations of what they could see from the meteor shower.

“The very name sort of suggests that there are meteors pouring down on you,” he said. “You’re not likely to see more than one meteor a minute, and the Lyrids are not that populous, so the average time between one and then the next might be three minutes or so. It’s a process that demands patience and attention.”

The name “meteor shower” might also incorrectly imply that what viewers are seeing are meteors themselves, or the leftover comet particles and bits from broken asteroids, instead of the trail left behind them. “You’re seeing a glowing tunnel of hot air that might be 10 miles in diameter produced by this very tiny little pebble that’s passing through the atmosphere and burns up,” Krupp said.

Still, Krupp said seeing just one shooting star is a special experience, and one that will often elicit cheers if you’re in the company of other stargazers. He described the celestial lights as “charmers,” saying there is an “emotional, uplifting” feeling you get when you witness one pass through the sky.

Krupp’s best tips for an optimal viewing experience include dressing warm and making yourself as comfortable as possible, given that dedicated viewers could be staring up at the sky for at least a few hours, going well past midnight. Shooting stars can be easy to miss, he added, so staying focused and being patient are key. He warns against cell phone use, both because of the light it emits and the distraction it causes.

With the peak of the shower coming during the first few hours of Earth Day, Krupp chuckled at the alignment of the galaxy’s display and our observance of the holiday.

“The cosmos is a cold, random and uncaring place, but somehow it manages to converge with our own emotional bonds,” he said.

On a Saturday night in Beverly Hills, nearly 150 stylish people filter into a grandiose ballroom for an exclusive event. Martinis are flowing and skinny French fries are arriving on small plates. Upbeat music booms over the speakers, and laughter fills the lively space, which is adorned with marble walls, a massive wine cellar and a nearly $2-million Swedish sports car on display.

But these guests aren’t just here to mingle and sip on fancy cocktails. They‘re here to play Rummikub.

Nearly 150 people attended RummiKlub’s game night in March at Gravitas in Beverly Hills.

(Alex Papke / For The Times)

Hosted by friends Marnie Wekselblatt and Laura Galvan, RummiKlub is the latest tabletop game club to pop up in Los Angeles at a time when people, particularly Gen Z and millennials, are seeking alternative ways to connect with others outside of bars and nightclubs. While some people have found community through physical activities such as run clubs, others are gravitating toward gatherings centered on nostalgic games and simpler times. Other popular game clubs include the Venice Backgammon Club; Love, Peace & Spades; Mahjong Mistress; and the L.A. Chess Club. Camber, a popular platform that highlights things to do and places to visit in L.A., occasionally hosts Rummikub events in L.A. as well.

About a year ago, after discovering and falling in love with Rummikub — a decades-old tile-based strategy game that’s a mix between the card game Rummy and Mahjong — Wekselblatt and Galvan started bringing the game with them to bars around L.A.

“People were always coming up to us like, ‘Can I get in? Can I get in?’ and we’d literally have crowds of people wanting to play,” says Wekselblatt, 29, an account director. “And we were like, ‘Wait, why don’t we build on this momentum and make something bigger?”

After falling in love with Rummikub one year ago, hosts Laura Galvan, left, and Marnie Wekselblatt launched their game club in L.A.

(Alex Papke / For The Times)

Wekselblatt and Galvan, who moved to L.A. from New York, hosted their first RummiKlub event in late February at a cozy coffee shop called Bravo Toast in West Hollywood. Fifty people showed up and 40 others were on the waitlist for the sold-out gathering that benefited the Madhappy Foundation’s fire-relief efforts. Rachel Friedman, an influencer and host of Sirius XM show “Dialed In” posted a raving review about RummiKlub on TikTok — saying a lot of “hot, normal, smart” people attend — which helped spark more interest in the game club.

Rummikub was created by Ephraim Hertzano in Romania in the 1940s, when card-playing was outlawed under the Communist regime. The goal of the game, which uses small, domino-like tiles instead of cards, is to be the first player to clear all your tiles from your rack by forming valid combinations of sets (either three or four tiles of the same number in different colors) and runs (three or more consecutive numbers all in the same color). While some people grew up playing this multigenerational game, some folks — particularly Gen Z and millennials like Wekselblatt and Galvan — are just now learning about it. RummiKlub’s core audience is a combination of the two age groups.

“Game culture is having a moment,” says Marnie Wekselblatt, co-founder of RummiKlub.

(Alex Papke / For The Times)

“Game culture is having a moment,” says Wekselblatt. “I think this game in particular is trending right now because you can play with multiple people. It’s like strategy, it’s fun [and] you can still be social while you play. So I think it’s unique from the other games and it’s easy to learn.”

Galvan, 31, says RummiKlub differs from other game clubs because it’s adjacent to nightlife but still maintains a nostalgic and wholesome vibe.

“I think people are just craving connection,” says Galvan, who is the director of social media for clothing brand Favorite Daughter. “People aren’t really looking to get wasted and go to a club all night. There needs to be other elements to going out and socializing, especially as you get past the 20-party stage. You can still get dressed up, wear a pointed heel, go out and meet a cute boy, but you’re playing a game.”

RummiKlub hosts Marnie Wekselblatt and Laura Galvan made custom RummiKlub kits, which they plan to sell in the near future.

(Alex Papke / For The Times)

Inside the Beverly Hills RummiKlub event, which had a $50 entry fee, just about everything is branded with RummiKlub’s logo, from drink coasters to customized Rummikub sets, to complimentary matches and goodie bags, which are filled with sponsored items like skincare and perfume.

All skill levels are welcome to RummiKlub, and most veteran players are eager to teach newbies how to play. An instruction sheet for the game is placed on every table, and the founders walk around the room to help out and answer questions as well. But even if you’re not interested in playing Rummikub at all, you can still attend and hang out at the bar where there are RummiKlub-branded decks of cards and puzzles. Once the match is over, guests are invited upstairs to a lounge area, which is fully equipped with a stage and a live DJ, to continue hanging out.

Saad Nori and Amanda McCants were among the guests at RummiKlub’s game night at Gravitas in Beverly Hills.

(Alex Papke / For The Times)

Cailen Krasnoff, 29, of Santa Monica, attended the March event with her boyfriend, who’s obsessed with the game. “They are making Rummikub chic,” she says. “They’re making it cool. Rummikub is not a chic game, but they’re making it fun.”

Mark Adams of Long Beach, who was visiting Gravitas to inquire about becoming a member, stumbled upon RummiKlub’s event and decided to hop into the game.

“I grew up playing this game with my aunts,” says Adams. “It’s probably been 20 years since I’ve played it. We’d stay until 4 a.m. playing it.”

He was surprised by the crowd that RummiKlub attracted. “I’m impressed by how sophisticated the people are that are playing it. It was just a backyard kind of family thing,” he adds.

After playing Rummikub for one hour, attendees went upstairs to enjoy a live DJ and signature cocktails.

(Alex Papke / For The Times)

As the demand for their club continues to grow and more people discover or rediscover Rummikub, Wekselblatt and Galvan say they are looking forward to hosting monthly gatherings and collaborating with well-known brands. They also hope to expand RummiKlub to other major places like the Hamptons, New York City and Chicago, they say. The next L.A. event is April 24 at 7:30 p.m. at Gravitas in Beverly Hills. Tickets start at $35 for people who just want to hang and $50 for attendees who want to play Rummikub.

“We want people to leave [RummiKlub] and feel like they just experienced something that was elevated and cool,” says Galvan. “That they felt confident and got to get dressed up and have a fun night out.”

Making a comedy-music album based on secrets shared by internet strangers might not seem like an obvious step for Jordan Firstman, who stars in FX’s “English Teacher” and Rachel Sennott’s new HBO show that’s being called the “It” pilot of the season.

But there is nothing about Firstman’s career that feels textbook Hollywood — and that’s what makes him such a compelling figure. That, and all the jokes.

In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.

The actor-writer-director became “internet famous” (his words) during the COVID-19 pandemic when he started doing impressions on social media of unsuspecting subjects such as an iPhone charger not made by Apple, a man who is 5’11” and banana bread’s publicist (“They’re trying to get me to represent pumpkin pie right now. I’m like, b—, come back to me in four months”). Since then, he’s taken on projects that feel varied and fresh, including playing the lead role in the dark comedy “Rotting in the Sun,” which premiered at Sundance in 2023.

Firstman’s debut album, “Secrets,” released this month, was born out of the pandemic moments when he’d ask his followers to submit their secrets to him via Instagram Stories, and he’d share them anonymously. He eventually turned several of the confessions into hilarious and highly impressive songs (many of which have salacious titles that cannot be published here). “The coolest thing is making art out of life,” says Firstman of the genre-defying album. “This feels like the most direct way I can do that.”

Always gravitating toward good vibes and more jokes, Firstman packs his Sundays with things that bring him delight. His agenda for a perfect day in L.A. includes a boat party, an ice bath and the most glorious spicy shrimp in town.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Midnight: Sunday officially begins

Are we considering midnight the start of the day? If it’s midnight, we still have a couple hours starting the day, so we’re either at a house party or maybe Chateau [Marmont] till around 2 or 3. I think 3 is the perfect time to go home because it doesn’t feel like you’re lame and going home at 2 just because you’re in L.A. and everyone goes home at 2 in L.A. But you can still sleep till like 10 and have a good night. A lot of my friends push it a little too hard and go till 5 or 6. Not for me. I’m too old for that.

10:30 a.m.: Morning bagels

We’re immediately going to Courage Bagels. My biggest flex in L.A. is that I get to cut the line at Courage Bagels because they like me. I try to use it no more than twice a year because I don’t want to lose the privilege. I’m almost even hesitant saying it because I don’t want them to take it away from me. But I do think we have a good DM rapport. If I had my dream, someone would go pick up the bagels for me and bring them to my bed. But I don’t have a loved one like that right now. So we’ll go to Courage, cut the line, get a Burnt Everything with the salted butter.

Then I’ll pop over to Sqirl just for drinks. They have a good mocha there, and the lavender lemonade is really good.

11 a.m.: A strategic workout

I’ll go to Rodeo [Athletic Club], my gym in Silver Lake. Apparently, the secret formula to losing fat is — wait, hold on [pulls out his phone] — the 12-3-30 method. It’s 12% incline and 3% speed for 30 minutes on the treadmill. And I watch one episode of either “Sex and the City,” “Girls” or “Entourage,” and that’s 30 minutes. The time goes by because you’re not running. I hate running. So you’re walking, but you still get sweaty and you feel like you’re working out. And apparently it’s better than running. Like, that’s what TikTok tells me, and I believe everything TikTok tells me.

Then I’ll do a couple of minutes in the ice bath. In the past six months, I’ve gotten really into it. I did eight minutes one time. It makes you feel so much better emotionally. It’s really hard to be in a bad mood after you do it.

12:30 p.m.: Party on a boat

My friend John Sharp has a boat parked in Marina del Rey. I’d spend the day there with a bunch of these gay Venice boys. It’s a good, wholesome vibe. And, you know, we’ll do some mushrooms, drink some natural wine. Usually someone will bring some bread and cheese from Gjelina. Then some friends will have people over to their house after, and they’ll order some food. And they’ll make everyone Venmo before the food even comes. And sometimes I’m doing the math and I’m like, wait, I don’t think you guys are even paying [laughs]. That’s the vibe, but we love them for it. And they’re opening their house to us, so we can pay for their delivery. It’s fine. But that’s usually what ends up happening.

3:30 p.m.: Get scrubbed

On my way home, I would stop at Century Day & Night Spa. If this is the best day ever, I would do a body scrub. Because sometimes when you’re at the gym, you forget to shower. There’s some “bacne” happening, so you really gotta scrub it out. And so we’ll have one of those old, nice Korean men scrub it out.

6 p.m.: Assemble the ideal bite of Sichuan food

So we’re going all the way to San Gabriel Valley now. My favorite Sunday restaurant is Chengdu Taste, and I’m ordering a lot. Hopefully I can get some friends to come. All of my friends are, like, anorexic basically, or have some form of eating disorder, so it’s hard to get people to eat fattening food with me.

I’m getting the flavored shrimp, the crispy chicken with the chile peppers, the eggplant, the tomato and egg soup, the Chengdu fried rice and the green beans. The perfect bite is the Chengdu fried rice — it is so f— good and the best fried rice I’ve ever had in my life. That with a bite of the eggplant, which is really soft and almost souplike, and then with one of the shrimps. Oh, my gosh, I’m getting so excited. It’s like the most insane bite ever, and you’re sweating and it’s beautiful.

8 p.m.: Some quick fun

If this is my ideal Sunday, a f— buddy or a casual dalliance would come over, and we would have sex. That would be 8 to 8:40. OK, at most, really, 8 to 8:25. Let’s be real. And then he would leave, and then I would watch “The White Lotus.”

10 p.m.: Wind down with a skincare routine

I would do skincare after that. Get all my new peptides that I’m taking filled up. Get those syringes filled. A good mask would be nice, just to look fresh for the next day. In bed by 11.

Gay marriage was illegal when Ang Lee released 1993’s “The Wedding Banquet,” a New York-set romantic dramedy about a queer Taiwanese man, his white male partner and the female Chinese immigrant he marries to placate his conservative parents. But Lee, wise to how the heart stutters, didn’t pander to audiences with bromides like love is love. That small, assured masterpiece (only Lee’s second film) insisted that love is also selfish, hurtful, short-sighted and confusing, and that many of its wounds come from worrying about what outsiders think.

Today, the cultural battle lines have been redrawn, so the director Andrew Ahn (“Spa Night,” “Fire Island”) has rebooted “The Wedding Banquet” with more characters and higher stakes. Teaming up with Lee’s longtime co-writer James Schamus, he’s concocted an out-there plot that’s all complications and little soul.

Instead of one couple, we now have two: boyfriends Chris (Bowen Yang) and Min (Han Gi-chan), and girlfriends Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) and Lee (Lily Gladstone). The foursome lives at Lee’s home in Seattle, with the women in the main house and the lads in a barn-like bunker in the yard. Over the course of the film they’ll fight, kiss and crack jokes, and ultimately walk down the aisle with the wrong person.

Chris and Angela have been codependent chums since college. They hooked up briefly as teenagers, presumably as part of freshman (dis)orientation, although their sexual fluidity is blurry. What’s clear is they’re twin souls, two flip and emotionally risk-adverse forever-children afraid of adulting, as the dialogue’s millennial parlance might put it. Today, each one can legally marry their significant others. They just don’t want to. The blame has shifted from society to personal inertia.

Their respective partners, however, want to settle down. Min, a fabric arts student, already has an engagement ring in his pocket. The scion of a billionaire Korean fashion conglomerate, Min cashes checks from his grandmother, Ja-Young (Youn Yuh-Jung), while dodging her request to take over as its creative director. “You are not working for the company — you are the company,” she insists.

Meanwhile, Lee is an earthy bohemian goddess who spends much of her screen time gardening. (Gladstone’s flowery knitted outfits are a fun contrast to Tran’s Metallica roadie duds — great work across the board by costumer Matthew Simonelli.) An aid-worker for LGBTQ+ youth on a ticking-clock quest to bear children of her own, Lee has endured two wrenching rounds of in vitro fertilization and, just as painfully, her partner’s ambivalence about having kids at all. Angela’s strained relationship with her own mother, May (Joan Chen, diva-fabulous), a showy ally who is closer to her PFLAG buddies, has made her unrehearsed in maternal warmth. The most credibly-written character, Angela is terrified to play mom herself; it’s improv without a net. (One great comic beat comes when May consoles her daughter by cooing that Angela might not be as awful of a mom — she could be worse.)

Min needs a green card. Lee needs cash for a third shot at IVF. Chris and Angela need more runway for their inertia. So Min and Lee brainstorm an unusual proposal: a partner swap that will solve one set of problems while creating a pile-up of others. For reasons too eye-rolling to explain, Min and Angela must marry and commit to the ruse when Ja-Young arrives to investigate whether her grandson’s fiancée is a gold-digger. The four leads are yanked not by their heart strings but by the machinations of a plot that steers them from one contrived scene to another, just so it can point to the skid marks and call them a sketch of the new American family.

Bowen Yang, front, and Han Gi-chan in the movie “The Wedding Banquet.”

(Luka Cyprian / Sundance Institute)

In 2025, unlike 1993, Ahn and Schamus don’t take it for granted that foreigners like Min want to live in America at all. “Your trains are so slow!” he groans. Rich, charming and pop star-pretty (his skincare regimen is a playful runner), Min only wants to stay in the states for Chris, which is too much pressure to put on Yang’s callow and underwritten role. Despite those limits, this is one of Yang’s best parts. Now that he’s established himself as larger than life on “Saturday Night Live,” he has the confidence to play a human being.

Han knows he must exaggerate Min’s daffy naivete to get us to buy into his zeal to live in a small shack with noncommittal Chris. He and Chen give the film’s least naturalistic and most delightful performances. (“My own daughter, marrying a man!” Chen’s preening progressive wails despondently.) They’re the only actors who’ve internalized that this is screwball stuff, despite the realistic cinematography that throws wet burlap on the nonsense.

The cast is strong enough to sell us on the movie’s idea of love, even when it bends conventionality into a balloon animal. But its conception of mega-wealth is truly phony. Min’s lack of ego would be unusual if he was merely upper-middle class, but as the sole heir of a lineage that makes headline news, it’s preposterous. I’m not saying that Min has to be a privileged twit. But if he can impulse-buy IVF as casually as a round of beers, then the film has to respect the viewer enough to answer the obvious follow-up questions: How unbalanced is this marriage-for-medical-treatment proposition? If Min is this desperate to escape his grandmother’s fashion business, why does he sew her an impressive jacket for her hanbok? And, at minimum, why can’t the guys rent their own house next door?

The overall tone feels like Ahn asking us to trust him to make this modern romance work. But he hardly includes any of the genuinely true stuff like tough conversations about mistakes and forgiveness. There are no bonding scenes between Min and Angela. These longterm friends suddenly act like the other has cooties. Odder still, Ahn has a too-clever tic of cutting away from big confrontations. It’s as though we’ve been invited into this home only to be ordered to butt out.

Lily Gladstone, left, and Kelly Marie Tran in the movie “The Wedding Banquet.”

(Luka Cyprian / Bleecker Street)

When the drama is at its most compelling, the camera instead chooses to focus on Youn’s grandmother staring at the youngsters from a window. The goings-on affect her Ja-Young least of all, but we’re stuck watching her and whatever thoughts she’s too reserved to express. I get that Youn, who won a supporting actress Oscar five years ago for “Minari,” is a lucky talisman. However, the way the film forces her into moments she doesn’t belong in makes her feel like an albatross — especially when it forgets that Gladstone’s Lee exists for an insultingly long stretch and never gives that more central character a chance to speak her peace.

There’s something about the homespun aesthetics, in the gravity of Gladstone and Youn’s expressions — trapped within scenes where the dead air is filled by the sound of birds — that make this good-hearted movie seem embarrassed that it’s a comedy. When the gags arrive, they’re clumsy and desperate: a discordant vomit explosion, some shenanigans at a court house. The humor comes off like a wallflower at a party who is racing with so many awkward thoughts that when it’s finally time to speak, they blurt out something rude.

How strange that everyone involved here loves the 1993 film so much that they’ve remade it — or in Schamus’s case, rewritten it — without much of its cultural and character-driven wit. Ahn gets a couple giggles in his depiction of a hasty, half-baked Korean marriage ceremony with Chris promenading around with a wooden duck and the unlucky couple getting pelted with chestnuts and dates, symbology that no one in attendance totally understands. It’s a neat way to make the point that traditions must be reexamined.

But I still prefer a punchline Ang Lee delivered personally in his original “The Wedding Banquet.” Playing a reception guest surrounded by drunken hijinks, he quips, “You’re witnessing 5,000 years of sexual repression.” Come to think of it, this redo doesn’t even have a banquet. There’s just leftovers.

Former Rochdale midfielder Joe Thompson has died at the age of 36.

He was diagnosed with cancer for a third time in April last year, five years after he retired from playing.

Thompson was found to have stage four lymphona – a type of blood cancer – which had spread to his lungs after twice recovering from the disease during his playing career.

The Bath-born player began and finished his career with Rochdale, and had three spells with the club.

Rochdale said they were “devastated” and that he had passed away peacefully at home on Thursday with his family by his side.

“We first knew Joe primarily as a talented footballer, but we would soon grow to adore his loving, infectious personality,” Rochdale said., external

“He faced every battle head-on, both on and off the pitch. His journey and indomitable spirit have been an inspiration for everyone who has been touched by his story.

“Above all of that, Joe was a loving husband to Chantelle and an incredible father to Thailula and Athena Rae.

“Our thoughts are with Joe’s family and friends at this incredibly sad time.”

Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen shares a photo with the man whose return was ordered by the top US court.

An opposition member of the United States Senate has met with the Salvadoran man wrongfully deported to his home country by the Trump administration, in a case that has prompted outrage in the US.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, was living in the eastern state of Maryland until he became one of more than 200 people sent to a prison in El Salvador last month as part of Trump’s crackdown on undocumented migrants.

Most of the deportees were suspected members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which the Trump administration has declared a “foreign terrorist organisation”.

But Justice Department lawyers later admitted that Garcia, who is married to a US citizen, was deported due to an “administrative error”.

Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen on Thursday posted on X a photo of his meeting with Garcia, in what appeared to be a dining area.

“I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return,” added Van Hollen, one of the two senators representing Maryland.

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s office also posted images of the meeting of Van Hollen and Garcia, saying mockingly, “Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody.”

The post ended with emojis of the US and El Salvador flags, with a handshake emoji between them.

Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi, reporting from Washington, DC, said Garcia’s deportation is attracting a lot of attention in the US because of what is perceived as “a lack of due process”, adding that a judge had specifically ordered to hold off on the deportation.

On Thursday, a US Appeals Court said it “should be shocking” that the US government is claiming it cannot do anything to free Garcia, after Washington resisted a Supreme Court order to bring him back to the US.

“The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order,” the court said.

In a meeting earlier this week at the White House, US President Donald Trump and his Salvadoran counterpart, Bukele, declared they have no basis to return Garcia to the US.

Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said in a statement released by an advocacy group that she had “so many questions, hopes, and fears”.

Partisan flashpoint

Van Hollen’s trip has become a partisan flashpoint in the US, with the opposition Democrats calling it a cruel consequence of Trump’s disregard for the courts.

Republicans have criticised Democrats for defending the prisoner and argued that his deportation is part of a larger effort to reduce crime.

White House officials have said Garcia has ties to the MS-13 gang, but his lawyers say the government has provided no evidence of that, and Garcia has never been charged with any crime related to such activity.

Asked by reporters on Thursday if he believed Garcia was entitled to due process, Trump said he would refer the questions to his lawyers, adding, “I have to do what they ask me to do.”

US bombing raids on Yemen’s Ras Isa fuel port have killed dozens of people, according to Houthi-affiliated media. The strikes are some of the deadliest since the US launched a bombing campaign on March 15.

Love Island star Chris Hughes stunned Celebrity Big Brother viewers during the latest episode as he made a ‘creepy’ comment to housemate JoJo Siwa amid their close bond

Chris Hughes shocked Celebrity Big Brother viewers with his latest flirty remark to housemate JoJo Siwa, as fans try to figure out their close bond. The Love Island star, 32, has become extremely close to JoJo, 21, since entering the ITV house.

They have set tongues wagging with their closeness, having cuddled in bed and Chris even branding JoJo his “girlfriend” despite her being loved up on the outside with partner Kath Ebbs. However, the latest episode left viewers fuming as they branded Chris’ comment a step too far.

The housemates decided to play a memory game to pass the time during the nominations, which resulted in Patsy Palmer and Daley Thompson being up for the next eviction. They decided to play ‘I went to the market’ as they added on items to the grocery list with each turn.

JoJo managed to recall a very long list of items that were said by her housemates, which clearly impressed Chris. However, it prompted him to make a very telling comment that was branded “creepy” by fans.

He turned to JoJo and said: “That was impressive, a big turn on that.” JoJo, who identifies as gay and has an 11-year age gap with Chris, misheard and asked him to repeat the comment to her.

Chris said once again that her memory skills were “a turn on”. Viewers rushed to X to share their reaction to Chris’ three-word comment as one said: “Did Chris just say Jojo remembering the list in the game they’re playing is a big turn on?”

Another added: “Chris is being too much now.” Someone else commented: “Nah chris is so weird with jojo on my lorddddddd.” A fourth wrote: “Ffs man Chris… feel like that just gave Jojo the ick.”

One shared: “Why is Chris slowing becoming the creepy uncle?” Another stated: “Chris is a 32 year old man constantly making creepy and flirty comments towards a 21 year old woman, who has made it clear she is a lesbian and in a happy relationship.”

Chris and JoJo’s close bond did come under pressure earlier this week as he snubbed her while also labelling her a “girlfriend”. In the confusing scenes, Chris had to pick someone to share his Chinese meal with.

While he said his heart was telling him to pick JoJo, he went with Coronation Street star Jack P Shepherd. But while Jack was thrilled with the decision, JoJo looked visibly annoyed.

Chris decided to pick Jack with it potentially being his last night in the house as he was up for eviction. When trying to explain his decision, he claimed it was like choosing between his girlfriend and mate to go to a football game.

Chris said to JoJo in the garden: “Do you know what that is like? That was like having a spare ticket to a football match and your girlfriend going ‘oh I wanna come’.

“But you know deep down if you take your girlfriend your mates are going to batter you.” JoJo hit back: “I’m not your girlfriend.” He continued: “No, but that’s what it felt like. Right? So, me trying to choose… you know what i’m trying to say? I can’t take you to the football when I should take one of the boys.

“Deep down, I left my heart aside and went with my head. Jack’s had a tough day and he needs a good feed.” JoJo smirked as she responded: “You know it means a lot that you care enough to came tell me. No hard feelings. But I’m gonna remember it.”

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