MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said Friday that every American should be concerned about “chilling” suggestions from President Trump’s top border advisor that he could be arrested over guidance the Democrat issued to state employees about what to do if confronted by federal immigration agents.

“I’m not afraid,” Evers said in the extraordinary video posted on YouTube. “I’ve never once been discouraged from doing the right thing and I will not start today.”

At issue is guidance Evers’ administration issued last month in response to state workers who asked what they should do if agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement show up at their offices.

Evers’ guidance advised them to contact an attorney immediately and ask the officers to return if an attorney is unavailable. The memo also advises state workers not to turn over paper files or give ICE officers access to computers without first consulting the state agency’s attorney and not to answer questions from the agents.

The recommendations are similar to guidance that Connecticut’s Democratic governor issued in January. The guidelines also mirror what the National Immigration Law Center and other advocacy groups have said should be done when immigration officials show up at a workplace.

Republican critics argued that the guidance was an order from Evers not to cooperate with ICE agents, an accusation the governor vehemently denied in Friday’s video. The goal of the guidance was to give state employees “clear, consistent instructions” to ensure they have a lawyer present to help them comply with all applicable laws, Evers said.

He accused Republicans of lying about the guidance and spreading misinformation to fuel a “fake controversy of their own creation.”

“I haven’t broken the law,” Evers said. “I haven’t committed a crime and I’ve never encouraged or directed anyone to break any laws or commit any crimes.”

Tom Homan, Trump’s top border adviser, was asked about the Evers memo by reporters outside the White House on Thursday. Homan said, “Wait to see what’s coming,” when asked about the memo.

“You cannot support what we’re doing, and you can support sanctuary cities if that’s what you want to do, but if you cross that line to impediment or knowingly harboring and concealing an illegal alien, that’s a felony and we’re treating it as such,” Homan said.

Some Republicans embraced the possibility of Evers being arrested. Republican Wisconsin state Rep. Calvin Callahan posted a fake image on social media showing Trump in a police uniform behind a grim-faced Evers in handcuffs outside of the state Capitol.

The comments from Homan and Evers’ response come a week after Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested at the courthouse on two felony charges. She is accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities by escorting him and his attorney out of her courtroom through the jury door last week after learning that federal officers were seeking his arrest.

Bauer writes for the Associated Press.

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news.

From Broderick Turner: Tyronn Lue made sure to call every player, a move the Clippers coach said was necessary to check the “temperature” of his team before its biggest game of the season.

Lue refused to text his players in a group message because he wanted to “hear their voices” and encourage them before playing in a win-or-go-home Game 6 against the Denver Nuggets.

His players responded and delivered in a 111-105 win at the Intuit Dome on Thursday night.

“Got a great temperature,” Lue said. “Took a lot of temperatures in the last 36 hours.”

Lue’s two stars are reticent, but James Harden and Kawhi Leonard spoke volumes with their play in forcing a Game 7 in Denver on Saturday night.

Harden had 28 points, eight assists and six rebounds. He played 46 minutes 35 seconds after being criticized for his subpar play in Games 4 and 5.

Harden said he was “tired a little bit” but didn’t see the criticism “at all.”

“Tonight the game plan was more for me to be in attack mode and making sure our spacing was right,” Harden said. “And as a result, you know, I’ll be aggressive.”

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Clippers box score

LAKERS

From Bill Plaschke: Once again, excitement became embarrassment.

Once again, a promise was broken.

Once again, the Lakers weren’t fast enough or skilled enough or deep enough or strong enough.

Once again, blowing up in the first round of the playoffs for the third time in five years, the Lakers just weren’t good enough.

But it’s rarely felt this bad.

Rarely has Crypto.com Arena been as quiet during a playoff game as it was Wednesday in the final minute of a 103-96 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

With 39 seconds left, fans silently filled the aisles and literally turned their back on their beloved Lakers, who historically dropped this series four games to one.

Historically, because it was the first time the Lakers lost a first-round series as a No. 3 or higher seed.

No, they never folded this dramatically.

“Disappointment,” LeBron James said. “Unfulfillment.”

Continue reading here

Lakers moving forward: What we learned from the exit interviews

LeBron James’ future: What’s next for the Lakers star?

NBA PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE, RESULTS

All Times Pacific

First round
Western Conference

No. 3 Lakers vs. No. 6 Minnesota
Minnesota 117, at Lakers 95 (box score)
at Lakers 94, Minnesota 85 (box score)
at Minnesota 116, Lakers 104 (box score)
at Minnesota 116, Lakers 113 (box score)
Minnesota 103, at Lakers 96 (box score)

No. 4 Denver vs. No. 5 Clippers
at Denver 112, Clippers 110 (OT) (box score)
Clippers 105, at Denver 102 (box score)
at Clippers 117, Denver 83 (box score)
Denver 101, at Clippers 99 (box score)
at Denver 131, Clippers 115 (box score)
at Clippers 111, Denver 105 (box score)
Saturday at Denver, 4:30 p.m., TNT

No. 1 Oklahoma City vs. No. 8 Memphis
at Oklahoma City 131, Memphis 80 (box score)
at Oklahoma City 118, Memphis 99 (box score)
Oklahoma City 114, at Memphis 108 (box score)
Oklahoma City 117, at Memphis 115 (box score)

No. 2 Houston vs. No. 7 Golden State
Golden State 95, at Houston 85 (box score)
at Houston 109, Golden State 94 (box score)
at Golden State 104, Houston 93 (box score)
at Golden State 109, Houston 106 (box score)
at Houston 131, Golden State 116 (box score)
Friday at Golden State, 6 p.m., ESPN
Sunday at Houston, 5:30 p.m, TNT*

Eastern Conference
No. 1 Cleveland vs. No. 8 Miami
at Cleveland 121, Miami 100 (box score)
at Cleveland 121, Miami 112 (box score)
Cleveland 124, at Miami 87 (box score)
Cleveland 138, at Miami 83 (box score)

No. 2 Boston vs. No. 7 Orlando
at Boston 103, Orlando 86 (box score)
at Boston 109, Orlando 100 (box score)
at Orlando 95, Boston 93 (box score)
Boston 107, at Orlando 98 (box score)
at Boston 120, Orlando 89 (box score)

No. 3 New York vs. No. 6 Detroit
at New York 123, Detroit 112 (box score)
Detroit 100, at New York 94 (box score)
New York 118, at Detroit 116 (box score)
New York 94, at Detroit 93 (box score)
Detroit 106, at New York 103 (box score)
New York 116, at Detroit 113 (box score)

No. 4 Indiana vs. No. 5 Milwaukee
at Indiana 117, Milwaukee 98 (box score)
at Indiana 123, Milwaukee 115 (box score)
at Milwaukee 117, Indiana 101 (box score)
Indiana 129, at Milwaukee 103 (box score)
at Indiana 119, Milwaukee 118 (OT) (box score)

* if necessary

DODGERS

From Jack Harris: The celebration was simple. But the relief was immense.

In the bottom of the second inning Wednesday afternoon, on the last day of what had been a torturous opening month to the season,Max Muncy finally did the thing that had eluded him over an ice-cold start.

After 29 forgettable games and 90 infuriating at-bats, the 10th-year veteran finally hit his first home run.

With a lightning-quick swing on a down-and-away, 92-mph sinker from Miami Marlins right-hander Cal Quantrill, Muncy put a long-awaited end to his longest home run drought — and some much-needed life into his slumping start.

And though Muncy did little more than pound a closed fist into his open palm as he trotted around the bases for the first time, it allowed him to finally release the emotional tensions that had been building on the inside.

“Felt really good to have that happen,” Muncy told reporters from his clubhouse locker afterward, finally allowing himself to smile after a season-best game in which he also tripled and drew a walk.

“Just hope today is something to build on,” he added. “It’s been a rough month.”

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Proposed Dodger Stadium gondola project hits roadblock with California’s court of appeals

ANGELS

Mike Trout is headed to the injured list as the Angels stumbled to their sixth straight loss.

Dillon Dingler capped a five-run eighth inning with a three-run homer, Javier Báez and Gleyber Torres each hit a solo shot in the third, and the Detroit Tigers rallied for a 10-4 win Thursday night.

Spencer Torkelson added a two-run homer — his ninth of the season — in a three-run ninth as Detroit improved to an American League-best 20-12. Tigers starter Casey Mize (5-1) gave up four runs and seven hits in seven innings, including Logan O’Hoppe’s solo homer in the second and Jorge Soler’s two-run shot in the third.

Trout did not play after being pulled from Wednesday’s game in Seattle because of left knee soreness. Trout, who had two operations to repair a torn meniscus in the knee last season, was injured when his foot hit first base on a third-inning groundout. Washington later said Trout has a bone bruise in the knee and would go on the 10-day IL. Washington said the injury “is not serious” but that Trout “needs some rest.”

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Angels box score

MLB scores

MLB standings

KENTUCKY DERBY

From John Cherwa: Rodriguez, the Wood Memorial winner who was considered trainer Bob Baffert’s best horse in this year’s Kentucky Derby, scratched out of the race on Thursday after a sensitive foot bruise was discovered on the 3-year-old colt. He is expected to recover quickly and will be pointed to the Preakness States in two weeks.

“The horse is by all measures healthy and well,” Tom Ryan, who heads Rodriguez’s ownership group, said. “I guess we look on the bright side and know we can now target him for the Preakness.

“Of all the possible setbacks, this is the one we can live with.”

Ryan said the sensitivity was discovered a couple days ago and “out of an abundance of caution” the owners and Baffert thought a scratch was the right thing to do.

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KINGS

From Kevin Baxter: For the fourth time in as many years, the Kings’ season came to an end with a first-round playoff loss to the Edmonton Oilers. The coup de grace came Thursday in a 6-4 Oilers’ win at a raucous Rogers Place, which has become a house of horrors for the Kings.

Edmonton got goals from (take a deep breath) Adam Henrique, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman, Darnell Nurse, Trent Frederic and Connor Brown. For the Kings, Quinton Byfield, Brandt Clarke, Jordan Spence and Anze Kopitar scored.

The Kings haven’t beaten the Oilers in the postseason since 1989, but this year’s loss may be the most painful of the nine playoff series they’ve dropped to Edmonton. The Kings tied franchise bests for wins (48) and points (105) this season and won a team-record 31 times at home during the regular season, finishing ahead of the Oilers in the Pacific Division standings for the first time in seven years.

They seemed primed for a long run in the postseason but once again, they couldn’t get by Edmonton.

“Having the season that we had, the group of guys in this locker room, to come up short again, it sucks. It’s frustrating,” said Kopitar, the team captain. “This one, this one hurts a little more.

“Having home ice and getting off to a good start with the first two games, winning the first two games. And then just not able to close games out. It cost us ”

Continue reading here

NHL PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE, RESULTS

All times Pacific
First round

Western Conference
Pacific 3 Edmonton vs. Pacific 2 Kings
at Kings 6, Edmonton 5 (summary)
at Kings 6, Edmonton 2 (summary)
at Edmonton 7, Kings 4 (summary)
at Edmonton 4, Kings 3 (OT) (summary)
Edmonton 3, at Kings 1 (summary)
at Edmonton 6, Kings 4 (summary)

Wild-card 2 St. Louis vs. Central 1 Winnipeg
at Winnipeg 5, St. Louis 3 (summary)
Winnipeg 2, St. Louis 1 (summary)
at St. Louis 7, Winnipeg 2 (summary)
at St. Louis 5, Winnipeg 1 (summary)
at Winnipeg 5, St. Louis 3 (summary)
Friday at St. Louis, 5 p.m., TNT
Sunday at Winnipeg, TBD*

Central 3 Colorado vs. Central 2 Dallas
Colorado 5, at Dallas 1 (summary)
at Dallas 4, Colorado 3 (summary)
Dallas 2, at Colorado 1 (OT) (summary)
at Colorado 4, Dallas 0 (summary)
at Dallas 6, Colorado 2 (summary)
Thursday at Colorado (summary)
Saturday at Dallas, TBD*

Wild-card 1 Minnesota vs. Pacific 1 Vegas
at Vegas 4, Minnesota 2 (summary)
Minnesota 5, at Vegas 2 (summary)
at Minnesota 5, Vegas 2 (summary)
Vegas 4, at Minnesota 3 (OT) (summary)
at Vegas 3, Minnesota 2 (OT) (summary)
Vegas 3, at Minnesota 2 (summary)

Eastern Conference

Wild-card 2 Ottawa vs. Atlantic 1 Toronto
at Toronto 6, Ottawa 2 (summary)
at Toronto 3, Ottawa 2 (summary)
Toronto 3, at Ottawa 2 (OT) (summary)
at Ottawa 4, Toronto 3 (OT) (summary)
Ottawa 4, at Toronto 0 (summary)
Toronto 4, at Ottawa 2 (summary)

Atlantic 3 Florida vs. Atlantic 2 Tampa Bay
Florida 6, at Tampa Bay 2 (summary)
Florida 2, at Tampa Bay 0 (summary)
Tampa Bay 5, at Florida 1 (summary)
at Florida 4, Tampa Bay 2 (summary)
Florida 6, at Tampa Bay 3 (summary)

Wild-card 2 Montreal vs. Metropolitan 1 Washington
at Washington 3, Montreal 2 (OT) (summary)
at Washington 3, Montreal 1 (summary)
at Montreal 6, Washington 3 (summary)
Washington 5, at Montreal 2 (summary)
at Washington 4, Montreal 1 (summary)

Metropolitan 3 New Jersey vs. Metropolitan 2 Carolina
at Carolina 4, New Jersey 1 (summary)
at Carolina 3, New Jersey 1 (summary)
at New Jersey 3, Carolina 2 (2 OT) (summary)
Carolina 5, at New Jersey 2 (summary)
at Carolina 5, New Jersey 4 (2 OT) (summary)

* If necessary

THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1920 — Legendary slugger Babe Ruth hits his first HR for the New York Yankees.

1920 — Joe Oeschger of the Boston Braves and Leon Cadore of the Brooklyn Dodgers both pitch 26 innings in a 1-1 tie, the longest game in major league history.

1926 — Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Satchel Paige (19) debuts in the Negro Southern League.

1943 — Count Fleet, ridden by Johnny Longden, wins the Kentucky Derby by three lengths over Blue Swords.

1948 — Citation, ridden by Eddie Arcaro, wins the Kentucky Derby by 3½ lengths over Coaltown. It’s Citation’s toughest race in winning the Triple Crown.

1951 — Future Baseball Hall of Fame slugger Mickey Mantle hits first career home run.

1954 — 80th Kentucky Derby: Raymond York wins aboard Determine, his only Derby success.

1955 — American golfer Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins the Peach Blossom LPGA Tournament in Spartanburg, South Carolina, her final victory before her death the following year.

1959 — Floyd Patterson scores 11th round KO of Englishman Brian London in Indianapolis; his 4th World Heavyweight Boxing title defence.

1965 — The Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-0 in Game 7 to capture the Stanley Cup.

1965 — 91st Kentucky Derby: Bill Shoemaker wins aboard Lucky Debonair, the third of his 4 Derby victories.

1969 — Leonard Tose buys NFL Philadelphia Eagles for a pro sports record $16.15m.

1976 — 102nd Kentucky Derby: Puerto Rican jockey Ángel Cordero Jr. wins aboard Bold Forbes, the second of 3 Derby successes.

1981 — Tennis player Billie Jean King acknowledges a lesbian relationship with Marilyn Barnett, becoming first prominent sportswoman to come out.

1982 — Gato del Sol, ridden by Ed Delahoussaye, comes from last place in a field of 19 to win the Kentucky Derby. Gato del Sol, finishes 2 1/2 lengths ahead of Laser Light, who beat Reinvested by a neck for second. He finishes in 2:02 2/5 and returns $44.40 for a $2 bet. Air Forbes Won, the 5-2 favorite of the crow of 141,009, finishes seventh.

1984 — NFL Draft: Nebraska wide receiver Irving Fryar first pick by New England Patriots.

1988 — After scoring 50 points in Game 1, NBA Eastern Conference playoff series, Michael Jordan has 55 in Chicago Bulls 106-101 win vs Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2; first to score 50+ points in consecutive playoff games.

1991 — Nolan Ryan pitches his seventh no-hitter in a 3-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. Ryan faces 29 batters, striking out 16 and walking two.

1991 — Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics sets a major league record by stealing his 939th base, eclipsing Lou Brock’s career mark.

1992 — The Pittsburgh Penguins become the 11th NHL team to rebound from a 3-1 deficit and win a playoff series after beating the Washington Capitals 3-1.

1992 — Rickey Henderson, baseball’s career stolen base leader, steals his 1,000th base in the first inning of Oakland’s 7-6 win over Detroit.

1993 — Bruce Baumgartner wins his 11th straight national wrestling title by beating Joel Greenlee 6-0 in the 286-pound freestyle division at the U.S. championships in Las Vegas.

2002 — Padres closer Trevor Hoffman sets MLB record for saves for one team (321) in 4-3 win v Chicago Cubs in San Diego.

2003 — The three-time defending champion Lakers beat Minnesota 101-85 to win the series 4-2. It’s the 13th straight playoff series won under Phil Jackson, and Jackson-coached teams have an NBA-record 25 consecutive series wins.

2004 — Smarty Jones splashes his way past Lion Heart in the stretch to win the Kentucky Derby. Smarty Jones runs his record to 7 for 7 and becomes the first unbeaten Derby winner since Seattle Slew in 1977.

2005 — 17-year old Lionel Messi scores his 1st senior league goal for FC Barcelona in 2-0 win against Albacete Balompié, at the Spotify Camp Nou in Barcelona.

2006 — Detroit, winner of the President’s Trophy by leading the league in points (124) this season, is eliminated in the first round for the third time in five postseasons after a 4-3 loss to Edmonton in Game 6.

2010 — Jockey Calvin Borel steers Super Saver through the mud to win his third Kentucky Derby in four years, beating Lookin At Lucky by 2 1/2 lengths. The win ends trainer Todd Pletcher’s Derby drought. Pletcher, who had four horses in the race, came into the race 0 for 24 since 2000.

2019 — Argentine forward Lionel Messi scores twice for his 600th goal for FC Barcelona in a 3-0 home win over Liverpool in a Champions League semifinal.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Democrats have called for an investigation into whether the US president is pressuring the IRS to strip Harvard’s status.

United States President Donald Trump has renewed his threat to strip Harvard University of its tax exempt status, a move that could cost the Ivy League institution billions of dollars if implemented.

“We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!” Trump wrote on Friday, in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.

The statement is the latest threat in a continuing feud between the Republican president and Harvard, the country’s oldest higher-education institution.

Since taking office for a second term on January 20, Trump has sought to increase his control over US universities and crack down on what he considers “illegal protests” on campus.

But Harvard has been a focal point for his public ire, particularly after school leaders refused a list of demands the Trump administration sent on April 11.

In a five-page letter (PDF), Trump officials called on Harvard to reform its student disciplinary system, investigate protesters involved in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, commission an external audit of programmes deemed anti-Semitic and eliminate its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes.

The letter also required Harvard to commit to “viewpoint diversity” in its hiring and admissions practices, something it was expected to accomplish through “structural and personnel changes”. Critics said this mandate was tantamount to Trump attempting to impose a political litmus test on the school.

By April 14, Harvard’s President Alan Garber had rejected the letter. In a statement published to Harvard’s website, he explained that Trump’s demands infringed upon Harvard’s academic freedom, among other rights.

“The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” Garber wrote. “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”

The Trump administration swiftly responded by suspending nearly $2.2bn in grants and contracts to the school.

It has since filed a lawsuit (PDF) challenging Trump’s attempts to withhold federal funding from the school, calling the move “leverage to gain control of academic decision-making at Harvard”.

Shortly after halting the grants and contracts, Trump turned his attention to Harvard’s tax exempt status, ratcheting up the pressure on the school.

Educational institutions, charities, nonprofits and institutions of scientific research are among the entities eligible to apply for tax exempt status under US law. That status offers those organisations relief from paying federal income and property taxes.

But on April 15, Trump mused on social media that Harvard should lose that exemption, on account of its handling of pro-Palestinian student protests.

“Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax-Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness?’” Trump wrote.

US media reports later indicated that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was having internal deliberations about whether to revoke the school’s IRS status, despite such action being relatively rare.

But under the US Code, it is illegal for the president, vice president or any of their employees to petition the IRS — even indirectly — to conduct an audit of any taxpayer.

Democrats have seized on that fact to push for an investigation into the Trump administration’s actions towards Harvard.

“The President is targeting the non-profit status of Harvard University for blatantly political purposes,” Democratic senators including Chuck Schumer, Ron Wyden and Elizabeth Warren wrote in a joint letter on Friday.

“The president’s call for Harvard to lose its tax-exempt status raises troubling constitutional questions, including whether the president is trying to squelch Harvard’s free speech rights and whether the revocation of its tax-exempt status will deprive the university of its due process rights.”

The United States has labelled the Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif gangs in Haiti “foreign terrorist organisations”, a move that follows a trend under President Donald Trump of issuing terrorist designations against criminal groups in Latin America.

As part of Friday’s announcement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained that the two gangs have spread violence and chaos in Haiti, where armed groups exert substantial control over much of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

“The age of impunity for those supporting violence in Haiti is over,” Rubio said in a news statement.

“Haitian gangs, including the Viv Ansanm coalition and Gran Grif, are the primary source of instability and violence in Haiti. They are a direct threat to US national security interests in our region.”

The Trump administration has projected a hard line against criminal groups in Latin America, often connecting those efforts to domestic priorities like stemming irregular migration and drug trafficking.

In February, the US also designated eight drug-trafficking and criminal groups as terrorist organisations, including gangs such as Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Tren de Aragua and several Mexican drug cartels.

While such groups carry out acts of violence and intimidation, experts have typically differentiated between them and traditional “terrorist” organisations that typically have explicit political goals.

The designation of “foreign terrorist organisation” makes any member of a given group inadmissible for entry into the US.

It also bars offering “material support or resources” to the group — an element of legal jeopardy that could inadvertently penalise individuals in areas where gangs are deeply embedded in the local economy and government.

But Trump and his allies have sought to up the ante against criminal organisations and cartels, blaming them for the flow of undocumented migration and illicit drug-trafficking into the US.

In the past, he and other Republican leaders have even suggested the US could carry out military strikes on countries such as Mexico to address the threat of gangs, causing alarm about possible violations of territorial sovereignty.

While US-Mexico relations remain strong, critics fear aggressive moves — including the use of the terrorism designation for Mexican cartels — could undermine cooperation as the two countries address organised crime.

In Haiti, the threat of gangs is widespread. For instance, the Viv Ansanm coalition, whose name translates to “Live Together”, is thought to control as much as 85 percent of Port-au-Prince, preventing commercial flights from arriving and restricting necessary supplies like food and medicine.

With many Haitian civilians facing hunger, displacement and violence, critics fear the new designation could make it even harder to send necessary supplies to the country, given the need to negotiate with the gangs.

“The first consequences will be on the humanitarian and international cooperation, which is basically the only thing preventing the people in Haiti from starving,” Romain Le Cour, an expert with Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, told The Associated Press.

Experts point out that the gangs often charge tolls for movement in and around their territory. The “terrorist” designation could make payment a criminal offence in the US.

“It could function as a de facto embargo,” said Jake Johnston, international research director at the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research.

“The gangs exercise tremendous control over the commerce of the country,” he added. “Doing any kind of business with Haiti or in Haiti is going to carry much greater risk.”

Gang control over Haiti has increased in recent years, particularly after the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise. His death led to a power vacuum, and no federal election has been held since, eroding public trust in state institutions.

The gangs have exploited that vacuum to exert control. More than one million people have been internally displaced by the resulting violence, and the United Nations estimates that 5.7 million residents — nearly half the country — do not have enough food to eat.

Kenya has led a UN-backed international security mission tasked with bolstering local police as they combat the gangs. But that mission has been heavily reliant on US support, some of which Trump has frozen since taking office.

That task force has struggled to make an impact thus far, and in February, one of the Kenyan police officers was shot and killed as part of the mission, its first known death.

Sceptics have also questioned the efficacy of the international group, given the long and disastrous history of foreign interventions in Haiti, including by the US.

Trump has also attempted to scrap programmes like Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and humanitarian parole that allow Haitians to live legally in the US. An estimated 520,694 Haitians are protected under TPS alone. But under Trump, the Department of Homeland Security plans to fold the TPS programme for Haitians by August.

Coronation Street’s Daisy Midgley actress Charlotte Jordan has said goodbye to her character after almost five years on the cobbles as she issued an emotional message

Coronation Street star Charlotte Jordan has shared an emotional message as she bid farewell to her character Daisy Midgley. The actress, 29, took to her social media as her final episode aired.

She has been on the cobbles for the past almost five years but has now said goodbye to the ITV soap. Daisy, who is Jenny Connor’s stepdaughter, made her Weatherfield entrance in 2020 and has been at the centre of many drama-filled storylines.

Coming from a strained relationship with her mother, Daisy moved into the pub and reconnected with Jenny after years apart. However, she soon stirred trouble by pushing for Jenny’s split from her then-husband, Johnny Connor.

It didn’t stop there as she was also instrumental in causing the breakup between Ryan Connor and Alya Nazir. Daisy then found herself at the heart of a blackmail scheme and endured a terrifying ordeal when she was targeted in an acid attack by stalker Justin Rutherford.

Now, as she leaves Corrie for good, Charlotte said in a video shared by Coronation Street: “Hello – I wanted to pop on and say thank you for all of the love you’ve shown Daisy over the last four and a half years.

“It’s been wonderful, it’s been an honour to be a little piece of the Corrie history and I will miss this place very, very much. Goodbye for now.”

She recently opened up on her Coronation Street exit, in which she was left dehydrated after sobbing. It was reported a number of her co-stars were also weeping all day as she bid farewell to the role.

Charlotte said: “I’m not a big crier. But let me tell you, I cried on and off for about four hours straight. My last scene was with the beautiful Rob Mallard, and we were meant to cry in the scene – but we were both dry as a bone.

“As soon as they yelled our final cut, we both burst into tears. Typical.” She revealed her colleagues and co-stars also went out of their way to “make it so special” for her too.

“The Corrie gang made it so special for me,” Charlotte shared. “The canteen made me my favourite lunch – which made me cry. The art department drew me a beautiful card – which made me cry.

“I would look over to Channique [Sterling-Brown] or Julia [Goulding] or Sal [Sally Ann Matthews] during our last lunch break and see them crying – which made me cry. I think I was medically dehydrated by the end of the day.”

Announcing her departure in January, the actress expressed: “My time at Coronation Street is something I’ll always cherish. After a brilliant four years for Daisy, it’s time for me to start a new chapter and explore other opportunities.

“It’s been a privilege to be part of a wonderful institution with even more wonderful colleagues who have taught me so much.”

At the time, a source told The Sun : “Charlotte has loved her time on the cobbles but is young, ambitious and hungry to see what else is out there for her.

“She told bosses last April that her next contract would be her last, giving them a year to craft an exciting exit storyline. She’s still filming now and her final scenes will play out in early summer. She’s adored by cast and crew and will be hugely missed.”

READ MORE: Lovehoney flash sale slashes prices of ‘must have’ summer items to under £20

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UNICEF says children face ‘growing risk of starvation, illness and death’ as Israel bars food and other aid deliveries.

Thousands of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip are facing an increased threat of starvation, the United Nations has warned, as Israel’s continued blockade of food, water and other critical supplies to the besieged and bombarded coastal territory enters its third month.

The UN’s child rights agency (UNICEF) said on Friday that more than 9,000 children had been admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition since the start of the year.

But the situation has worsened since Israel imposed a total blockade on the Palestinian enclave in early March.

“For two months, children in the Gaza Strip have faced relentless bombardments while being deprived of essential goods, services and lifesaving care,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement.

“With each passing day of the aid blockade, they face the growing risk of starvation, illness and death – nothing can justify this.”

Israel has blocked all humanitarian assistance from reaching Palestinians in Gaza since March 2, spurring international condemnation.

The UN’s World Food Programme said last week that its food supplies had been “depleted” amid the siege, warning that community kitchens upon which thousands of Palestinians rely would be forced to close.

“We don’t ask if food is nutritious or not, if it’s fresh or good; that’s a luxury, we just want to fill the stomachs of our children,” a displaced Palestinian parent recently told Amnesty International about the crisis. “I don’t want my child to die hungry.”

The Israeli government has said its blockade is intended to put pressure on Palestinian group Hamas to release captives held in Gaza. But it has not led to any more releases since the fleeting ceasefire earlier this year, which saw Palestinian prisoners exchanged for Israeli captives.

Meanwhile, Hamas official Abdel Rahman Shadid on Friday accused Israel of using starvation as a “deliberate weapon of war” against Palestinians.

“Children are dying from the lack of milk, not just from bombs,” Shadid said in a statement published on the group’s Telegram channel.

Legal experts and human rights groups have noted that, as an occupying power, Israel has an obligation under international law to provide food and other assistance to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

They have condemned the blockade as a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians of all ages are experiencing high levels of food insecurity in Gaza, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system, a global hunger watchdog.

Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGOs Network, told Al Jazeera that the situation is worsening quickly as health facilities lack the supplies needed to treat children grappling with malnutrition.

“We have no food supplies or supplementary materials or medications for these children,” Shawa told Al Jazeera from Gaza City. “There is high concern that we will witness more casualties in the coming few days,” he added.

At Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza, Dr Ahmed Abu Nasir said the situation has become worse than ever due to the blockade.

“Children are in their growing stage and badly need certain nutrients, including proteins and fats,” the paediatrician told Al Jazeera. “These are not available in the Gaza Strip, particularly in the north.”

More than 52,400 Palestinians have been killed since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023, according to figures from the Gaza Health Ministry.

KEVIN DE BRUYNE’S goal against Wolves saw Man City go third in the table.

The Citizens took a huge step towards the Champions League as they racked up their seventh win on the bounce.

2

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And De Bruyne made history as he became the first player after Lionel Messi to reach 250 goal involvements under Pep Guardiola.

THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY..

The Sun is your go to destination for the best football, boxing and MMA news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video.Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TheSunFootball and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSunFootball.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — President Trump offered some encouraging words and advice for graduating students at the University of Alabama on Thursday in a speech interspersed with impressions of transgender weightlifters, accusations that judges were interfering with his agenda and attacks on his predecessor, Joe Biden.

The Republican’s jolting speech was standard fare for Trump and well received by the crowd in deep-red Alabama, which backed him in all three of his presidential runs.

“You’re the first graduating class of the golden age of America,” the president told the graduates.

But he quickly launched into a campaign-style diatribe, saying that the U.S. was being “ripped off” before he took office and that the last four years, when he was out of power, “were not good for our country.”

“But don’t let that scare you,” he said. “It was an aberration.”

The president of the University of Alabama, Stuart Bell, told graduates before Trump took the stage that Thursday night’s event was all about them.

“This special ceremony offers a meaningful opportunity for you, for I, to reflect on the important connection between academic inquiry, civic leadership, and public service,” Bell said.

Trump mostly went in a different direction.

He did a grunting impression of a female weightlifter as he criticized the participation of transgender women in sports. He bragged about how tech moguls have warmed up to him, saying, “They all hated me in my first term, and now they’re kissing my ass.”

And he falsely claimed that the 2020 election, which he lost, was “rigged.”

But after talking up his tariff plans, sharing his successes from his first 100 days in office and bashing the media, Trump turned back to the graduates, offering 10 pieces of advice drawn from his life and career, such as “Think of yourself as a winner,” “Be an original” and “Never, ever give up.”

He told them they were never too young to be successful and described how he worked on his first hotel development deal in his 20s.

“Now is the time to work harder than you’ve ever worked before,” he said. “Find your limits and then smash through everything.”

Although Trump described the speech as a commencement address, it is actually a special event that was created before graduation ceremonies that begin Friday. Graduating students had the option of attending the event.

Former Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban also spoke, regaling the audience with a story about visiting the Oval Office in 2018 during Trump’s first term. Saban said Trump was a gracious host.

In his remarks Thursday, Trump noted that he was marking his 100th day in office and touted the plummeting levels of arrests at the southern U.S. border as evidence that his immigration policies were working. But he accused the courts of trying to stop him from fulfilling the promises he made on the campaign trail.

“Judges are interfering, supposedly based on due process,” he said. “But how can you give due process to people who came into our country illegally?”

Trump has a long history of injecting such rhetoric into his remarks at venues where traditional political talk was seen as unseemly.

On his first full day in office in 2017, he used a speech at a memorial for fallen CIA agents to complain about journalists and defend the size of his crowd at the inauguration. Later that year, he drew backlash for talking about politics at a Boy Scouts gathering. And earlier this year, he delivered a grievance-filled speech at the Justice Department where he threatened to “expose” his enemies.

Ahead of Trump’s arrival, Emily Appel, a 22-year-old advertising major from Norcross, Ga., called Trump’s appearance at her school “a cherry on top” of her college years.

She said she hoped he had a message to share that was “positive about us being able to work in the real world and for our future.”

Sophie Best, who is graduating with a communications degree, said, “I don’t think that we could have had a greater person come to speak.”

The 21-year-old from Cartersville, Ga., said she attended Trump’s first presidential inauguration in 2017 when she was a freshman in high school, along with her father, who she said loves Trump.

“I think that no matter what political party or whatever you believe in, I think that it’s super cool that we get to experience and make history and be a part of this,” she said.

At a park a mile away, hundreds of people gathered at a counter-rally hosted by College Democrats. One-time presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke of Texas and former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, the last Democrat to hold statewide office in Alabama, addressed the attendees at their event, called a “Tide Against Trump” — a play on the university’s nickname.

Aidan Meyers, a 21-year-old junior studying biology at the university, said he was upset by the decision to let Trump speak at a graduation-related event.

“I felt betrayed that the university was willing to put up with someone who has made it clear that they hate academia, essentially holding funding above universities’ heads as a bargaining chip, unless they bow down to what he wants, which is kind of a hallmark sign with fascist regime,” Meyers said.

O’Rourke told the rally that Trump was trying to make the students’ graduation “all about him, true to form.” He urged students and others gathered to go out and use their voices to “win America back.”

“The power of people works in this country, even against Donald Trump,” O’Rourke said.

Jones told the crowd they were there “not just as a protest, but as a movement.”

“You are here today because you’re concerned, you’re afraid. You understand that this country’s great democracy is teetering right now with what we’re seeing going on,” the former senator said.

Trump’s presence also drew criticism from the Alabama NAACP, which said his policies are hurting universities and students, particularly students of color.

After his stop in Alabama, Trump is scheduled to travel to Florida for a long weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

Later this month, he is scheduled to give the commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.

Price and Chandler write for the Associated Press. AP writers Bill Barrow in Atlanta and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

Jack Draper booked his spot in the Madrid Open final with a hard-fought 6-3 7-6 (7-4) victory against Lorenzo Musetti.

The British number one will contest his third ATP final of the year against Norway’s Casper Ruud on Sunday.

Draper, 23, was broken in the opening set but claimed a double break of his own to come through comfortably.

It is the first time the 2024 US Open semi-finalist has reached the final of a clay-court event.

He is the first Englishman to reach the final of the Madrid Open and the second Briton after Scotland’s Andy Murray, who appeared in three finals and won two titles.

Draper is aiming for his second ATP title of the year after beating Holger Rune at Indian Wells in March.

He has won all four meetings with Musetti as a professional and his perfect record even extends back to their days in the juniors.

That might have been playing on Musetti’s mind in the opening stages when he dropped his first service game.

The Italian struck back immediately but was unable to force his way into the first set after a second break as Draper’s forehand once again proved to be a key factor.

Musetti was much improved in the second set and it made for a more competitive spectacle.

The Madrid crowd were firmly behind Musetti and chanted his name in the fifth game after a perfectly placed drop shot left Draper scrambling.

Both players refused to budge on serve – each saving one break point – before heading to a tie-break.

Again, it proved to be a tense battle but Draper earned a break on the fifth point to steal control and went on to serve out for victory – finishing with an authoritative cross-court backhand.

May 2 (UPI) — Harvey Weinstein‘s former production assistant cried and cursed on the witness stand Friday during a re-trial in New York City about allegations of sexual assault by the producer 19 years ago.

Miriam Haley, who worked on the TV show Project Runway, stormed out of the courtroom after grilling by Weinstein’s attorney Jennifer Bonjean, NBC News reported.

Haley, 48, was questioned by prosecutors on Wednesday about Weinstein, who is now 73.

During the fourth day of the new trial, Bonjean asked Haley what she was wearing the night she alleged Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her on July 10, 2006.

She said the incident occurred at the producer’s home in SoHo and weeks later Weinstein sexually assaulted her in a Tribeca hotel room.

“He took my clothes off … I didn’t take my clothes off,” Haley, 48, testified about what happened in the apartment. “He was the one who raped me, not the other way.”

Jonjean responded: “That’s for the jury to decide.”

As she cried, Haley said: “Don’t tell me I wasn’t raped by that (two expletives).”

Judge Curtis Farber then allowed a 10-minute recess.

Upon her return, she again was asked what he was wearing and how they were removed.

“I did not remove my clothes,” she responded. “I was on my period … I did not remove my clothes.”

During the first trial in 2020, Haley testified against Weinstein.

In an earlier incident, testimony indicated Weinstein showed up uninvited at her East Village home after she declined his offer to attend Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week. Haley said she later accepted his invitation to fly her to Los Angeles for the Clerks II film premiere, because she “felt it would’ve been weird not to go and at least say hi” at his apartment.

Haley is the first of three accusers expected to take the stand.

Weinstein was convicted but an appeals court last year overturned the conviction due to the court allowing testimony of alleged sexual assault by Weinstein against a woman not among his accusers.

The ex-movie producer also is appealing a 2022 rape conviction and 16-year prison sentence in Los Angeles.

Weinstein has denied allegations by her and others of sexual assault, and said they were “transactional” and “consensual.”

“He knew how addictive Hollywood dreams were,” Assistant District Attorney Shannon Lucey said during opening statements. “He knew how the promises of success worked.”

Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to one count of engaging in a criminal sex act in New York. He is also charged with one count of third-degree rape in connection with an alleged assault in 2013 on actress Jessica Mann, who is expected to testify.

Also, he is facing a charge in connection with the alleged 2006 assault of a Polish former model named Kaja Sokola. She also is expected to testify.

Weinstein remains under guard at Bellevue Hospital in New York after a recent transfer from Rikers Island, where his lawyers claim the harsh conditions are affecting his health.

The death of six-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi, a Palestinian American, has shone a light on instances of anti-Arab hate.

A United States man has been sentenced to 53 years in prison for the fatal stabbing of a six-year-old Palestinian American boy, after being found guilty of hate crime charges and murder.

Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak announced the sentence on Friday in the case of 73-year-old Illinois landlord Joseph Czuba.

On October 14, 2023, just days after the start of Israel’s war in Gaza, Czuba attacked two of his tenants, Hanan Shaheen and her young son Wadee Alfayoumi.

Police say Czuba arrived at their door angry about the war and proceeded to force his way inside, strangling Shaheen and holding her down before pulling out a military-style knife.

Shaheen suffered more than a dozen stab wounds before escaping to a bathroom to call 911 for help. Alfayoumi, meanwhile, was stabbed 26 times. He did not survive.

Czuba’s trial featured audio from Shaheen’s panicked 911 call, as well as testimony from the mother herself. Speaking from the witness stand in English and Arabic, she described Czuba becoming increasingly paranoid and Islamophobic as the war progressed.

For nearly two years before the attack, the family had rented a pair of bedrooms in Czuba’s house in Plainville, Illinois, just outside of Chicago.

But after the war began on October 7, Shaheen recalled Czuba telling her to move out of her lodgings because Muslims were not welcome.

Then, during the attack, she once again heard him citing her Muslim faith. “He told me ‘You, as a Muslim, must die,’” said Shaheen.

The incident was one of the highest-profile acts of anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim violence in the US after the war in Gaza broke out.

But advocates say it is part of a trend of anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic hate that has swept the country in recent months.

After the attack, police found Czuba sitting on the ground outside of the home, his hands and body bloody. Czuba pleaded not guilty, and his defence team has sought to vacate his conviction on the grounds that the prosecution played to the jury’s emotions.

Some of the images of the crime scene were so graphic that the judge ordered the court’s television screens to be turned away from the audience. Jury members heard Shaheen telling 911 operators in fear, “The landlord is killing me and my baby!”

During his opening statements, Michael Fitzgerald, the assistant state’s attorney for Will County, described Alfayoumi’s final moments as full of horror.

“He could not escape,” Fitzgerald said. “If it wasn’t enough that this defendant killed that little boy, he left the knife in the little boy’s body.”

In February, the jury took less than 90 minutes to return a guilty verdict.

On Friday, Judge Bertani-Tomczak rejected the defence’s bid to overturn the conviction. In announcing the sentence, she called Czuba’s actions “brutal” and “heinous”.

She said a 30-year prison sentence was given for Alfayoumi’s murder, plus another 20 years for the attack on his mother and three years for committing a hate crime.

Alfayoumi’s great-uncle, Mahmoud Yousef, was the only family member to speak at the sentencing hearing. He said no amount of prison time could ever make up for the loss his family has suffered.

He also explained that Alfayoumi had seen Czuba as a grandfather figure, and he questioned what “fake news” about the war in Gaza could have prompted such violence.

“Some people are bringing this war to this country,” Yousef said. “We cannot do that. We can’t bring the war here. We cannot bring hatred to this country.”

In March, the Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a report saying it had received 8,658 complaints of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab incidents in the last year alone, a 7.6 percent rise.

It was the highest tally the group had recorded since it began collecting data in 1996.

DEAR DEIDRE: SWINGING seemed like the ideal way to fix my relationship but now I’m having second thoughts.

My wife is planning to meet another man for sex, and though I’ve told her I’m OK with it, I’m worried that it’s a huge mistake.

We’ve been together for 15 years and are both aged in our forties.

When our sex life took a downward turn, I was worried.

From having regular, fulfilling sex, we were barely being intimate at all — and when we were, it was dull.

So, I suggested joining a swinging site. We set up a couple’s profile and had some video sex sessions with other couples.

It had the required effect — sex became exciting again and, from doing it only twice a month, we started having it three times a day like teenagers.

We couldn’t keep our hands off each other, even when we weren’t in bed.

We felt so connected. We talked about taking things a stage further than the video stuff, then my wife told me she’d given her number out to a man on the site and wanted to meet up with him.

The thought of turning our fantasies into reality was a thrill. Talking about it led to even more great sex and I realised I’d be happy with a threesome in real life.

But she informed me that she wanted to meet him alone. She told me she wasn’t into having a threesome in real life.

While I have no issue with her wanting sex with another man — in fact it is a huge turn-on — I assumed I’d be there.

She hasn’t arranged to meet him yet but I feel anxious about it. Part of me thinks I should let it play out and see where it goes.

Maybe they’ll invite me to join them next time.

But another part of me is afraid that if I agree to this, I’ll have set something in motion that might end up wrecking our marriage.

DEIDRE SAYS: You’ve said yes to your wife meeting this man for sex but you are clearly not happy about it.

When you suggested swinging, it was something you wanted to do as a couple, to bring you closer.

Now she’s shutting you out of the arrangement. Your fears are valid.

It’s OK to change your mind about this or anything to do with sex.

Now you need to be honest about how you feel.

My support pack, Swapping And Swinging, tells you more about the issues involved in this sort of arrangement.

Instead, why not suggest to your wife ways of reinvigorating your sex life without involving others.

My support packs, Saving Your Sex Life and 50 Ways To Add Fun to Sex, should help you do this.

THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME SHAKE HORRIBLE SLUR

DEAR DEIDRE: WHEN my next-door neighbour’s ­teenage son accused me of stealing money from her house, I was horrified and hurt.

I had offered to water her plants while she was on holiday, and thought I was doing a good deed.

Instead, I was painted as a common thief, even though I am completely innocent.

I’m 52, and my neighbour and I have lived in the same street for 20 years.

When her son accused me, she said she believed me, but he was adamant I was the only person who could have taken the cash.

Unable to sleep, and worried for my reputation, I wrote to you.

You told me it was almost impossible to prove innocence. All I could do was tell the truth and remind my neighbour how long we had known each other. She probably didn’t want to believe that her son could be mistaken – or was even lying.

You recommended that I read your support pack, Standing Up For Yourself, which would help me to be assertive without getting into a row.

I am so pleased to report that my neighbour told her son she was certain I hadn’t taken that money.

And as you’d hinted, it turned out he was actually the thief. She made him apologise to me.

Thank you for listening and giving your insight.

DEIDRE SAYS: I’m so glad that your neighbour trusted and believed you, and that her son has apologised. I hope your relationship can recover fully.

IS FIRST GAY LOVER A PLAYER?

DEAR DEIDRE: I’M in the first gay relationship of my life, but worried the guy I’ve fallen for is a player.

I can’t talk to anyone about this because nobody knows I’m bisexual.

At school, I got teased about being gay but until now – I’m 46 – I’ve only ever been attracted to women.

I had lots of girlfriends before I met my ex-wife.

But our sex life was never great. When she left, she told me I needed to be honest with myself about my sexuality.

A few weeks ago, I met a guy in my local pub. I found him very handsome, and noticed he was flirting with me. But when he asked if I was gay, I told him I was straight.

As he left, he slipped me his number across the bar. I didn’t call for several days, but I kept thinking about him.

We met up and ended up having amazing sex. It was the first time I’d ever seen another man naked.

He says he now wants us to be exclusive. But I know he’s got lots of men on the go – mainly married ones – and that worries me.

Can I trust him? I don’t want to get hurt.

DEIDRE SAYS: It’s great you’ve finally been able to accept your sexuality and enjoy a same-sex experience.

But all new relationships are a risk, whether straight or gay. I can’t promise he won’t break your heart.

If your gut is telling you he’s a player, then follow it. Please do be careful and make sure sex is safe.

My Gay Support and Bisexual Questions advice packs should help you.

They have details of people you can talk to in confidence.

Australians are heading to the polls shortly in parliamentary elections which will decide if Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s centre-left Labor government will return for a second term.

Labor’s main rival is the country’s conservative coalition, led by opposition leader Peter Dutton, which came into the election campaign polling strongly but is now lagging slightly behind Labor.

If Albanese does win, it could mean Australia is following in similar footsteps to Canada, where the Liberal party reversed its prospects in recent weeks, amid concerns about the effect of United States President Donald Trump’s policies on Canada’s economy.

Amy Remeikis, chief political analyst at the Australia Institute, an independent research centre, told Al Jazeera that polls indicate President Trump is “an increasing concern for Australian voters” and that “Labor’s gamble of holding a later election to allow some of Trump’s policies to start to impact has paid off.”

In comparison with Canada, where both major parties tried to distance themselves from Trump, Remeikis notes that Australia’s opposition leader Dutton has courted “favourable comparisons” to Trump for months.

But, he has been “badly damaged by the ‘Temu Trump’ label” – a reference to the Chinese online shopping website known for selling cheap copies of original brands.

War on Gaza and the price of eggs

Uncertainty around Trump’s tariffs on Australia has only compounded the concerns of many Australians around the cost of essential items, including housing, food, healthcare and childcare.

In the final televised leaders’ debate, a week before the election, both Dutton and Albanese stumbled when asked to guess how much a dozen eggs might cost at a supermarket.

Albanese was closer, guessing 7 Australian dollars, nearly two dollars less than the actual price of $8.80, while Dutton guessed $4.20, less than half the actual price.

Cost of living has “trumped everything” leading into the election, says Josie Hess, who comes from the Latrobe Valley, a coal-mining region in Victoria, and who also works for advocacy group Environment Victoria.

For a number of Australians, the most important issue on election day will be beyond Australia’s borders, says Nasser Mashni, the president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN).

Mashni told Al Jazeera that “the genocide that is occurring in Palestine” has seen a “new constituency” emerge in Australia that understands that Israel is “a settler colonialist movement doing exactly what occurred here [in Australia] 238 years ago”.

APAN has developed a scorecard of where the major parties stand on Palestine. Of those, only the Greens received a tick from APAN on every issue. The scorecard for Labor was mixed, while the conservative Liberal-National coalition did not meet a single criterion.

“We’ve asked for people to make Palestine their number one issue and to find a candidate that best reflects a just and humane position for Palestine,” Mashni said.

“Certainly, the easiest candidates to find will be in the Senate, but I am sure there’ll be somebody in every seat where they can vote a little bit better for Palestine, and in some cases, very well for Palestine,” he added.

Dozens of minor parties and independents from across the political spectrum are also vying for votes.

Remeikis said there is a “late surge to the nationalistic, far-right, One Nation party”, which has been aided by Dutton’s conservative coalition preferencing votes for One Nation, and vice versa, in outer suburban and inner regional seats. Next year marks 30 years since One Nation’s leader Pauline Hanson was first elected to federal office in Australia.

But Remeikis says the late surge is unlikely to affect the outcome of the election, with polls suggesting Labor will win with a minority government.

The Greens, along with some independents running on pro-climate action platforms, will also be hoping to repeat successes in Australia’s 2022 election, which followed many months of devastating fires and floods.

Going nuclear

With climate change remaining a key concern for many Australians, Dutton, whose party has long delayed taking action on climate, has chosen to focus on campaigning to build Australia’s first-ever nuclear power stations in areas where coal power stations are closing down, such as the Latrobe Valley, in Victoria.

This week, organisations representing more than 350,000 emergency and health services workers released a letter calling on Dutton to drop his plan to introduce nuclear energy to Australia, saying “Australia’s current emergency services do not have the support or resources to respond to nuclear disasters.”

Josie Hess, a Latrobe Valley local who works for Environment Victoria, told Al Jazeera that people there still have questions about the viability of Dutton’s proposal.

She says people in the valley “desperately need jobs” but the timeline to build nuclear means that it would do little to help workers now.

“We have some people who support nuclear but for the most part, the Latrobe Valley is not a monolith, and there is clear and demonstrable opposition to the proposal,” she said.

And while economic issues are a concern, she added, there is also an “intrinsic link between climate security and cost of living and housing”.

Melissa Sweet, who runs public health news site Croakey, told Al Jazeera that climate change remains a key issue for Australian health workers heading into the election.

“Heatwaves, floods, and bushfires are already driving up demand for emergency care, mental health services, and chronic disease management,” Sweet said.

The recent US cuts to “public health, global health and climate action and science generally” under Trump mean it’s “more important than ever” that the next Australian government invests in these areas, Sweet added.

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s 2026 budget plan would slash non-defense domestic spending by $163 billion while increasing expenditures on national security, according to White House statements Friday.

The plan shows a desire to crack down on diversity programs and initiatives to address climate change. But it doesn’t include details about what Trump wants on income taxes, tariffs, entitlement programs or the budget deficit — a sign of the challenge confronting the president when he’s promising to cut taxes and repay the federal debt without doing major damage to economic growth.

Budgets do not become law but serve as a touchstone for the upcoming fiscal year debates. Often considered a statement of values, this first budget since Trump’s return to the White House carries the added weight of defining the Republican president’s second-term pursuits, alongside his party in Congress.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said the plan showed fiscal discipline given the problems of persistently high budget deficits. The budget released on Friday did not, in fact, include a forecast on government borrowing.

“President Trump’s plan ensures every federal taxpayer dollar spent is used to serve the American people, not a bloated bureaucracy or partisan pet projects,” Johnson said.

Head Start appears to have been spared a major cut, at least for the time being. An earlier version of the budget proposal leaked last month called for a complete termination of the 60-year-old program, sending shock waves through California’s Head Start centers. The program provides child care, medical screenings and nutritious food to about 800,000 low-income children nationwide, including 80,000 in California.

The $12-billion program, which employs 26,000 workers in California, has been plagued with layoffs and funding problems since Trump took office.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said the cuts could ultimately be more extreme than what the administration has proposed, noting that the budget doesn’t provide funding levels for programs such as Head Start.

“President Trump has made his priorities clear as day: He wants to outright defund programs that help working Americans while he shovels massive tax breaks at billionaires like himself and raises taxes on middle-class Americans with his reckless tariffs,” Murray said.

The budget seeks to cut discretionary spending by a total of 7.6% next year, but includes a 13% increase in national security spending.

The State Department and international programs would lose 84% of their money and receive $9.6 billion, a cut that reflects the existing efforts by advisor Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

The Housing and Urban Development Department would get a $33.6-billion cut, while the Health and Human Services Department would receive $33.3 billion less and the Education Department’s spending would be reduced by $12 billion.

The Defense Department would get an additional $113.3 billion and Homeland Security would receive $42.3 billion more.

The IRS and FBI would lose money, while the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program would be ended. There would be $980 million less for college students in work-study programs, as well as similarly sized cuts for adult education and instruction for learning English.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would lose nearly $3.6 billion under the plan, while the National Institutes of Health would face a steep cut of almost $18 billion. The budget would eliminate more than $15 billion for infrastructure-related programs tied to climate change and $1.3 billion from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The White House budget plan arrives as Trump has unilaterally imposed what could be hundreds of billions of dollars in tax increases in the form of tariffs, setting off a trade war that has consumers, chief executives and foreign leaders worried about a possible economic downturn.

The White House’s Office of Management and Budget, headed by Russell Vought, a chief architect of Project 2025, provided contours of a so-called skinny version of top-line numbers only, regarding discretionary spending. Project 2025 was a sweeping blueprint from the 2024 campaign season from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, to slash the federal workforce and dismantle federal agencies.

Administration officials said a fuller budget will come soon with plans to address the drivers of the annual deficit.

The nation’s estimated $7-trillion-plus federal budget has been growing steadily, with annual deficits fast approaching $2 trillion and the annual interest payments on the debt almost $1 trillion. That’s thanks mostly to the spike in emergency COVID-19 pandemic spending, changes in the tax code that reduced revenues and the climbing costs of Medicare, Medicaid and other programs, largely to cover the nation’s health needs as people age. The nation’s debt load, at $36 trillion, is ballooning.

Democrats are prepared to assail Trump’s budget as further evidence that the Republican administration is intent on gutting government programs that Americans depend on.

Congress is already deep into the slog of drafting Trump’s big bill of tax breaks, spending cuts and bolstered funds for the administration’s mass deportation effort — a package that, unlike the budget plan, would carry the force of law.

But deep differences remain among the Republicans, who are trying to pass that big bill over the objections of Democrats.

“We are awaiting some final calculations on a few of the tax components, and we expect to be able to complete that work on a very aggressive schedule,” Johnson said.

It’s Congress, under its constitutional powers, that decides the spending plans, approves the bills that authorize federal programs and funds them through the appropriations process. Often, that system breaks down, forcing lawmakers to pass stopgap spending bills to keep the government funded and avoid federal shutdowns.

Vought is also expected on Capitol Hill in the weeks ahead as the Trump administration presses its case to Congress for funds.

Among the more skilled conservative budget hands in Washington, Vought has charted a career toward this moment. He served during the first Trump administration in the same role and, for Project 2025, wrote an extensive chapter about the remaking of the federal government.

Vought has separately been preparing a $9-billion package that would gut current 2025 funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which involves the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio. Trump signed an executive order late Thursday that instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and federal agencies to cease funding for PBS and NPR.

Mascaro and Boak write for the Associated Press. Times staff writer Jenny Gold contributed to this report.

Something unexpected happened in the Clippers’ elimination game on Thursday night.

James Harden actually showed up.

In the Clippers’ 111-105 victory over the Denver Nuggets at Intuit Dome, Harden looked nothing like the player with a reputation for stinking up arenas at this stage of the season.

He was purposeful, he was sharp, and he scored 28 points in Game 6 to extend his team’s first-round playoff series to seven games.

“I know what needs to be done,” said Harden, who won his first elimination game since he played for the Houston Rockets in the NBA bubble in 2020.

Game 7 will be played on Saturday at Ball Arena in Denver.

The performance by Harden was a stark-contrast from his vanishing acts in the Clippers’ losses in Games 4 and 5.

He scored 15 points in Game 4 and just 11 in Game 5.

The Nuggets had the Joker. The Clippers had the Choker.

This looked like more of the same from Harden, who scored a combined 23 points and shot just 25% last year in Games 5 and 6 defeats by the Dallas Mavericks that resulted in the Clippers’ first-round exit.

However, coach Tyronn Lue said he was to blame for Harden’s lack of production, saying he was responsible for creating more space for Harden.

“I need to get you more involved,” Harden recalled being told by Lue on the team’s flight home after a Game 5 loss in Denver.

Lue’s solution: To designate more minutes to a smaller lineup that included Nicolas Batum. The Clippers started the second quarter with Harden, Batum, Kawhi Leonard, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Derrick Jones Jr.

“I wanted to get to the small lineup against their second unit,” Lue said. “I thought we were able to push the pace, get open shots, get to the paint, kind of spread ‘em out a little bit so they couldn’t just load up and try to take away driving lanes.

“Going to that and seeing how good it was just to kind of space the floor was really huge for us.”

Harden thrived in that second quarter, scoring 17 points.

“I thought he did a good job attacking one-on-one,” Lue said. “Our spacing was really good tonight. He was able to get to the paint, get to the basket.”

With the Nuggets mindful of Harden, openings were created for others. Norman Powell scored 11 points in the third quarter, during which they were ahead by as many as 15 points. Leonard scored nine of his 27 points in the same period.

Harden finished with a team-high eight assists.

“He’s been here before,” Leonard said of Harden. “Guys have games where they don’t play well during the season. It’s just another game, so I knew he was gonna be able to come back, or he was going to be aggressive and try to get to his spots.”

The Clippers now have a chance.

They have a chance to take down the Nuggets and advance. They have a chance to advance further than any team in franchise history.

That chance, however, is contingent on Harden continuing to play like this and not reverting to his customary postseason form.

Can his body hold up?

Harden played 47 minutes in Game 6, marking the third time in this series he played more than 40 minutes.

He is 35 years old.

“Tired,” Harden said. “Tired, a little bit.”

Does Harden have another 47 or 48 minutes in Denver?

“Have to, have to,” Harden said. “Whatever the team needs, 47, 48, overtime, whatever, I’ll be willing to do it.”

Lue didn’t think fatigue would be a problem for Harden.

“He wants to play every night,” Lue said. “He’s in great shape, trains for these moments. He wants to play.”

Harden averaged more than 35 minutes over 79 regular-season games, and he thinks the workload will prepare him for a Game 7 that will be played 5,280 feet above sea level.

“Prepares your body physically to be able to withstand and just being able to play both ends of the ball,” Harden said. “Your legs are tired, so you’ve been there before. For me, it’s just finding my spots.”

The simple objective could produce monumental changes in reputation — not only for Harden personally but for the Clippers as well.

May 2 (UPI) — Florida UFC fighter Sedriques Dumas was in jail Friday after being arrested earlier this week on multiple charges including home invasion for allegedly attacking and robbing his ex-girlfriend.

According to police, Dumas was later found hiding in a dog crate and was arrested April 28.

Dumas was charged with home invasion with a firearm/weapon; battery; possession of weapon by convicted felon; drug possession; and drug equipment possession.

According to police, Dumas went to his ex-girlfriend’s home, flung the back door open and grabbed a phone from her hand and tried to take a ring off her finger.

According to an arrest affidavit, “Dumas then threw her around the room and into a large wooden vase that was in the living room before grabbing a $400 necklace set with turtles on it off her neck.”

Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies said the victim had bruises and scratches on an arm and leg from the assault.

Dumas is jailed by the sheriff’s office on a $558,500 bond.

A pretrial hearing is set for May 6 and an arraignment is scheduled for May 23.

Dumas has been arrested four times since signing his UFC fighter deal.

According to jail records he was arrested in August 2023 for trespassing, in December of 2023 for marijuana possession and driving with a suspended/revoked license, and in February 2024 for domestic battery.

Gregg Popovich has stepped down from his position as head coach of the San Antonio Spurs after 29 seasons with the team.

On Friday the Spurs announced that Popovich, 76, will transition into the role of president of basketball operations at the organisation.

Over 29 seasons Popovich oversaw 1,422 regular-season victories – the most by a head coach in NBA history – and led the Spurs to five NBA championships, most recently in 2014.

“While my love and passion for the game remain, I’ve decided it’s time to step away as head coach,” said Popovich.

“I’m forever grateful to the wonderful players, coaches, staff and fans who allowed me to serve them as the Spurs head coach and I am excited for the opportunity to continue to support the organisation, community and city that are so meaningful to me.”

Popovich has not been on the sidelines since suffering a mild stroke in November before a home win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

In his absence the Spurs failed to reach the 2025 NBA play-offs – they have not played in the post-season since 2019 – after finishing the regular season with a 34-48 record.

Mitch Johnson, who served as acting head coach after Popovich took a leave of absence following his stroke, will take over as head coach.

Popovich arrived in San Antonio in 1988 as an assistant coach, and after a two-year spell with the Golden State Warriors, returned to the Spurs as head coach in 1996.

He was the longest-serving active coach in any major US sport.

The longest-serving NBA coach is now Erik Spoelstra, 54, who has led the Miami Heat since the 2008-09 season.

Popovich led the US men’s basketball team to gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach in 2023.

Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who is married, was married or has thought about getting married.

This week marks the arrival of “The Four Seasons” — we’re not talking equinoxes here. It’s Netflix’s new comedy that reimagines Alan Alda’s ’80s film, in which he co-starred with Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Sandy Dennis, Bess Armstrong, Len Cariou and Jack Weston — a veritable who’s who of the stage and screen (Evidently, it will be available to stream on Netflix May 5). The latest iteration features an ensemble cast as well that includes Will Forte and Tina Fey, who co-created and co-wrote. TV critic Robert Lloyd calls it “very watchable, breezy, bumpy,” making it the perfect weekend watch if your plans involve cuddling on the couch — perhaps with a significant other.

Also in Screen Gab No. 179, our experts recommend a TV show about food that makes you wish you could reach into the screen to taste it, and a comedy series about the Hollywood industry that highlights its accolades and its (many) pratfalls.

ICYMI

Must-read stories you might have missed

Leighton Meester stars in the CW show, “Good Cop/Bad Cop,” now streaming on Prime Video.

(Bexx Francois / For The Times)

Leighton Meester is more than the internet’s boyfriend’s wife: The actor’s collaborators say she deserves the sort of renaissance currently enjoyed by husband Adam Brody. But Meester prefers to focus on her good fortune.

Gabriel Luna on Tommy’s goodbye to Joel in ‘The Last of Us’ and its double meaning: The actor discusses the aftermath of Joel’s death in Episode 3 this season, how the opening scene evolved and why he avoids stereotypical roles.

They shot their movie in 7 days for $7,000. They’re bringing it to theaters themselves: Director Joe Burke and longtime collaborator Oliver Cooper make microbudget indies. Their new one, “Burt,” doesn’t have a distributor yet, just tons of heart.

Criterion takes its viral closet on the road. When that van shows up, so does a scene: Videos shot in the legendary Criterion Closet have captivated cinephiles for years. Now the elite label has made its concept mobile and the response is massive.

Turn on

Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times

José Andrés in “Chef’s Table: Legends” on Netflix.

(Netflix)

‘Chef’s Table: Legends’ (Netflix)

The latest iteration of television’s prettiest and most contemplative food show profiles four celebrated but not mere celebrity chefs: Jamie Oliver, who grew up in a pub and whose “The Naked Chef” injected Britpop energy into England’s food scene (Tony Blair is one of his episode’s talking heads); Thomas Keller, of French Laundry and Per Se fame, with his multiple Michelin stars; Alice Waters, who introduced American fine diners to the joys of a perfect simple salad, and at Berkeley’s Chez Panisse, kicked off the farm to table movement; and José Andrés, feeding the people through his World Central Kitchen and a host of places where you have to make a reservation. Created by David Gelb (“Jiro Dreams of Sushi”), the series takes pains to be gorgeous — a feast for the eyes, as it were — but it’s most inspiring tracing the food journeys of its subjects and describing how they move through and act upon the world. (Waters, Oliver and Andrés all have activism and education in their CVs.) You may never eat in their restaurants, but you will want to, and there’s something delicious in that. — Robert Lloyd

Ike Barinholtz, left, Chase Sui Wonders, Seth Rogen and Kathryn Hahn in Episode 7 of “The Studio,” titled “Casting,” on Apple TV+.

(Apple)

‘The Studio’ (Apple TV+)

The state of the movie business is bleak enough these days that you’ve got to laugh to keep from crying. Audiences are shrinking, original ideas get steamrolled by brand extensions and the line between big-screen spectacle and streaming “content” gets blurrier by the week. Enter “The Studio,” Seth Rogen’s sly, self-aware comedy about a lifelong cinephile turned studio chief (played by Rogen) trying to steer a crumbling Hollywood institution through the chaos. Co-created with longtime collaborator Evan Goldberg, the series blends biting industry commentary with Rogen’s signature mix of stoner absurdism, pratfalls and extreme cringe. This week’s episode tackles the minefield of casting, as execs melt down over the racial politics of casting their absurd Kool-Aid tentpole. Next week, the target is the Golden Globes — a perennial industry punching bag. Real-life directors like Martin Scorsese, Olivia Wilde and Ron Howard deliver surprisingly self-effacing turns, but it’s the core ensemble — including Kathryn Hahn, Ike Barinholtz and Chase Sui Wonders — that gives the show its manic pulse. Rogen may be kicking the industry while it’s down (for a streamer, no less), but underneath it all, he still believes in movies — and the flawed, messy people behind them. — Josh Rottenberg

Guest spot

A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching

Marco Calvani, left, Colman Domingo, Tina Fey and Will Forte in Netflix’s “The Four Seasons.”

(Jon Pack / Netflix)

“The Four Seasons,” Netflix’s eight-episode adaptation of Alan Alda’s 1981 film of the same name, revolves around the longtime friendship of three couples — portrayed by Tina Fey, Will Forte, Steve Carell, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Colman Domingo and Marco Calvani — and tracks how their relationships shift each time they reconnect on vacation. In addition to starring, Fey co-created the series with fellow “30 Rock” writer-producers Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield. Fisher and Wigfield stopped by Screen Gab to discuss the key change they made to their adaptation, what they’re watching and more. —Yvonne Villarreal

You both have experience depicting teenagers and relationships — Lang with “Never Have I Ever” and Tracey with the “Saved by the Bell” reboot. What do you enjoy about depicting relationships in midlife?

Fisher: I obviously loved doing YA rom-com stuff. But this felt very much deeper. There’s something about celebrating these things that are not particularly glamorous. I don’t want to say it’s mundane, but lived-in relationships are sort of treated like it is when they’re actually the most thrilling, most precious, most important and meaningful part of your life. The people that you are standing with when you’re middle-aged, be it your spouse or your friends, that is the story of a life well-lived. There’s something romantic about that.

Wigfield: For me, it was more satisfying because it’s more personal to my life right now. I’ve been married for nine years. There are so many stories about falling in love. I can’t think of many couples — I’m sure there are ones — who have been married for 20 years on TV that I was like, “Ooh, that’s sexy! I love that relationship. I want that.” Maybe the coach and Connie Britton on “Friday Night Lights.”

The series departs from the source material in one major way — there’s a death. That’s the extent of the spoiler we’ll give for those who haven’t watched. But why did you make that change?

Fisher: We made that decision pretty early on. We want to place this show on planet Earth with real people, with real stakes. There’s no murders, there’s no aliens. Real-life stakes are high enough and they’re terrifying. We wanted to make sure to run the gamut of what you might experience in midlife, and losing a friend in your 50s is not that weird. We wanted to see how this group could come together in crisis and how much they really did love each other and how they lean on each other. Even though it doesn’t happen in the film, it felt right for us in terms of showing a complete arc for the season and for our characters, emotionally.

What have you watched recently that you’re recommending to everyone you know?

Fisher: I love “The Studio” [Apple TV+]. The scripts are so tight and so is the direction. And if you’re someone who actually works in Hollywood, it’s a nice treat to see a funny version of your job on screen.

Wigfield: “Severance” [Apple TV+] — my husband [Adam Countee] wrote on it, so I’m biased, but it was the most impressive thing I’ve seen on TV this year.

What’s your go-to comfort watch, the film or TV show you return to again and again?

Fisher: I’m pretty basic when it comes to comfort watch. I’ve seen “Bridget Jones’s Diary” [Max] 50 times. I think it’s a perfect movie.

Wigfield: Maybe it’s because I’m a comedy writer, but putting on an episode of an old show, even if it’s one I love like “The Office” [Peacock], isn’t relaxing to me. However there is a woman on YouTube who reviews food at Disneyland (@disneyfoodblog) and her videos make me feel like I am in a warm, safe embrace.

“This is a war crime.” A representative of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition accused “Israel or one of its allies” of conducting what the group says was a drone attack on its ship carrying aid to Gaza. The Israeli government has not responded to the allegations.

THE Haludovo Hotel is one of many abandoned buildings along the Croatia’s glittering Adriatic coast – but this one has a particularly scandalous past.

Amongst all the casinos and party hotels, the Haludovo was notorious for being the haven of hedonism.

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The opulent estate had 17 tennis courts, a mini football pitch and mini-golf, as well as waterski, paragliding and diving centres.

One of America’s most notorious porn barons, Bob Guccione, dreamt up and funded the hotel throughout its 1970s heyday – when it was known as the palace of “Peace and Porn”.

He brought in corset-clad hostesses, which he called “Penthouse Pets“, who would walk the halls and serve guests champagne.

Many rich and famous names indulged in the glamour, even including Sadam Hussein – Iraq’s violent dictator of 24 years.

Hussein enjoyed gold-standard service when he came walked through the doors of the Haludovo, and would always stay in the master suite.

The once-plush pad is now a graffiti-coated ruin, with crumbling walls and smashed windows.

Many curious tourists still visit the site on the island of Krk to photograph the deteriorating shell and wonder at the things that went on between the walls.

Guccione founded the Penthouse Magazine, which was the first American publication to feature full-frontal nudity.

He dreamed of building a lavish resort in Malinska, Krk, filled with luxury hotels and a grand casino, to attract a wealthy American pleasure-seekers.

He opened it up in 1972 in socialist Yugoslavia – which was largely ignored by the States.

This was a savvy business move, because casinos were untaxed.

Locals were banned from gambling in them, so they existed only to serve foreign tourists.

Guccione hoped that wealthy American tourists would flock to Krk to gamble away their money at his hotel.

He also planned to hire only locals so that he could avoid American employment regulations.

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In a 1972 interview with Radio Free Europe, Guccione vowed his resort would be the “real formula in the struggle against the cold war”.

He claimed it would help relations to have Americans visiting the socialist country and enjoying themselves.

The porn king invested a whopping $45million, £296m in today’s currency, into the development of the property and the casino.

One of Croatia‘s most celebrated architects, Boris Magaš, was drafted in to design the complex.

The building’s style was strikingly modern, and is now considered a classic example of brutalism.

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It took four years to build, and The Haludovo Palace Hotel and Penthouse Adriatic Club Casino opened in 1972 to great fanfare.

A 1972 ad for Haludovo in Penthouse magazine described the resort as a “mile-long Xanadu of glittering buildings [that] will become for international cognoscenti a premier playground for summer and winter seasons alike”.

Guests gobbled 100kg of lobster, 5kg of caviar and hundreds of bottles of champagne each day of its lively first year.

The resort bloomed into a hub for global dictators and politicians, American weekend gamblers, the Yugoslav music scene, and ordinary citizens.

Who was Bob Guccione?

BOB Guccione was one of America’s most famous porn publishers.

He founded Penthouse magazine, which was the first publication in the US to feature photographs of full-frontal nudity.

Guccione considered himself an artist and took many of the photos for Penthouse himself.

The trademark of his brand of soft porn was to picture the naked model looking away from the camera – which Guccione described as the “philosophy of voyeurism”.

Founded in Britain in 1965, Penthouse made headlines across the Atlantic two decades later when it published unauthorised nude photos of Vanessa Williams, the first black Miss America.

The controversy forced her to give up her crown, but the issue sold nearly six million copies and helped make Guccione one of America’s wealthiest men.

Guccione went on to squander a $400m fortune on unwise investments in the gambling and film industries.

He died in 2010 from cancer aged 79.