In my family, voting isn’t just a right — it’s a lifeline.

My parents were sharecroppers in Arkansas until 1951, when my dad dared stand up to his boss for not paying him a fair wage at the agricultural weigh station. Under threat from the KKK, he left town in a wagon, covered in hay so he wouldn’t be discovered. Three months later — after months of threats of violence from the Klan at our home — the rest of our family rode in that same wagon on our way to join him in California.

Only when we settled in Los Angeles were my parents able to register to vote, finally free from fear of the violent and deadly retribution that such a simple act would trigger across the Jim Crow South.

My family’s lived experience facing discrimination and the vigilantes of the South cannot be forgotten, especially now as Congress considers the SAVE Act. The House recently approved the SAVE Act under the guise that it will prevent illegal voting — an issue that is infinitesimally rare but buoyed by baseless narratives.

If passed by the Senate and signed into law, the act’s true effect would be to disenfranchise millions of voters across the country and in California.

Americans must not be fooled by fearmongering and misleading rhetoric. The SAVE Act has one true intent: to silence millions of eligible voters. This effort intentionally targets unserved and underserved populations, anyone who has changed their last name and those serving in our armed forces, to name a few groups who would be affected. This proposal is both undemocratic and unconstitutional.

It will not stop there. The bill will serve as a catalyst to unravel decades of hard-fought constitutional rights. You don’t have to be born in the Deep South to know this is Jim Crow 2.0.

Some of our federal lawmakers are trying to steal our right to vote under the guise of phony election claims. Let me be clear: Voter fraud is virtually nonexistent.

According to the Heritage Foundation, a conservative organization, only 12 voter fraud cases have been prosecuted in California since 2021 — an infinitesimal fraction of millions of ballots cast. National studies confirm voter impersonation is exceedingly rare, with most claims rooted in clerical errors rather than deceit. Even if you believed illegal voting to be a problem in need of a solution, the SAVE Act is like swatting at a mosquito with a sledgehammer — unlikely to be effective against the target, and likely to cause a lot of collateral damage.

No matter which state new voters are registering in, they must attest to their U.S. citizenship when they register. And every state conducts voter list maintenance to identify potentially ineligible voters on the rolls. States already ensure the vote is safe without disenfranchising vulnerable groups.

By adding unnecessary and burdensome documentation requirements, the SAVE Act would keep millions of Americans from participating in elections. That’s the point. Certain lawmakers want millions of citizens to decide voting is not worth the trouble. The fewer people who vote, the more some candidates will benefit.

This legislation would either directly affect you, somebody you know or both. Those most affected include:

• Newly married or divorced individuals and others navigating name changes.
• Military families stationed far from home.
• College students studying across state lines.
• Disaster survivors — including the tens of thousands of people displaced just this year by California wildfires — without vital documents.

The SAVE Act, by design, places incredible burdens on millions of people who are already eligible to vote. And if they decide to try to re-register for voting, they’ll face a Herculean task. State offices around the country will be flooded by millions of people seeking documentation of their citizenship.

Many older people might not be able to stand in line for hours. Citizens with disabilities may be effectively barred from acquiring documentation.

If you have a current passport, you might be in luck — but roughly 140 million Americans don’t have one. And your California driver’s license or RealID won’t work; neither qualifies as proof of citizenship.

Even before the SAVE Act landed in the Senate, California was fighting back against another push to take away constitutional rights. On March 25, President Trump issued an executive order that requires citizens to provide documentary proof of citizenship on the federal mail voter registration form. I have partnered with California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta to lead a lawsuit, along with Nevada, against the unconstitutional and unlawful executive order. Seventeen other state attorneys general have joined our fight.

Throughout our nation’s history, voting rights have been systematically curtailed to silence voices the powerful don’t want to hear from. From poll taxes abolished by the 24th Amendment in 1964 to barriers dismantled by the Voting Rights Act of 1965, every step forward has been a fight against deliberate disenfranchisement.

Nobody can make a serious argument that the SAVE Act actually encourages people to vote, or even ensures eligible people can exercise their right to participate in our democracy. It’s meant to keep people away from voting. It’s an old story. Just ask my family about living in the South.

Some lawmakers seem conveniently unconcerned about the constitutional rights of minorities, members of our military, women, and poor or rural citizens.

The Senate needs to stop this nonsense in its tracks. You can help. Contact your U.S. senators today and urge them to oppose the SAVE Act. Educate your friends, family and community about the true intentions of this bill. Participate in local voter registration drives and support organizations fighting voter suppression. Your voice matters. Use it to defend democracy.

Shirley N. Weber, the secretary of state of California, oversees all federal and state elections in the state.

“The timing’s right. I made the decision, got to 100% about a month ago. I wasn’t sure how the last few weeks would go, how I’d find things, but it’s actually been a good spell really. I’ve enjoyed it.”

The Swans host Oxford United in their final match of the Championship season, which will also be the last game of Allen’s career.

“I’ve had a chance to reflect and take it all in. I’m really looking forward to what’s going to be my last game on Saturday,” he added.

“I’m very proud. I didn’t think I’d be sat here playing as many games as I have for clubs I have done at that level and for Wales as well.

“I’ve been incredibly fortunate and as I’ve reflected over the last few weeks very grateful and thankful to everyone who has has helped me on my way to have these amazing experiences.”

Allen’s retirement is likely to come as a disappointment to Wales head coach Craig Bellamy, who brought the Pembrokeshire-born player out of international retirement after taking charge last year.

Allen had originally halted his Wales career in February 2023, in the wake of the 2022 World Cup.

Wales ended a 64-year wait to play at the World Cup in Qatar, but the tournament was a disappointment for Robert Page’s side as they went out at the group stage.

Allen started Wales’ final game in the competition, against England, having returned after a long-term injury lay-off in their second group match against Iran.

There were happier times at Euro 2020, when Wales reached the second round, and most memorably at the 2016 European Championship.

May 2 (UPI) — An exemption from tariffs on Chinese goods expired Friday, likely leading to higher prices for goods from low-cost Chinese sellers.

The so-called de minimis exemption allowed items that come from sites like Temu, AliExpress and Shein worth less that $800 to be shipped into the United States duty-free, and to mostly skip inspections and paperwork.

The rule expired at 12:01 a.m. EDT Friday, leaving arriers like DHL, UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service, to deal with the change with baseline levies as high as 145%, and prices for consumers that have more than doubled.

The Trump administration announced the tariffs on April 2, and said that the goal is to target “deceptive shipping practices by Chinese-based shippers” who allegedly hide illicit substances in items that arrived into the United States under the de minimis exemption.

More than 80% of e-commerce shipments to the United States in 2022 were de minimis purchases and came from China, and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reported it had processed around four million duty-free de minimis shipments daily. There were about 1.36 billion packages delivered to the United States over the past fiscal year that were covered by the exemption, and around 48% of de minimis items had been shipped to the poorest zip codes, while 22% went to the richest ones.

The new tariffs will also likely slow down the shipping process as importers of the cheaper products from China will now need to fill out information on each item, such as its point of origin and contents.

Purchases shipped from China via FedEx, DHL and UPS are subject to at least a 145% tariff, as well as any item-specific levies. USPS is only subject to a baseline 120% tariff, or a flat $100 per postal item, that is until June 1, when that flat fee with be doubled to $200.

Leader Nigel Farage, a Trump ally, hopes to position anti-immigration party as significant political force in UK.

The radical-right Reform UK party has made gains in local and by-elections, seeking to establish itself as a significant political force.

The anti-immigration party won a fifth parliamentary seat, gained its first mayoralty, and took a number of seats on local councils, results on Friday showed. Reform hopes to ride growing support to unbalance the United Kingdom’s political system, which is traditionally dominated by the governing Labour Party and opposition Conservatives.

“It’s been a huge night for Reform,” said Reform leader Nigel Farage after the party was declared winner of the seat of Runcorn and Helsby.

The victory in northwest England, previously a Labour stronghold, came by just six votes.

Reform also prevailed in a mayoral race in Greater Lincolnshire and picked up dozens of council seats from Labour and the Conservatives in the first polls since general elections last year.

The results appear to underline the fracturing of the UK’s political landscape.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer led Labour to one of the largest parliamentary majorities in British history in last year’s election but has gone on to suffer the fastest decline in popularity of any newly elected government.

Brexit champion Farage, a populist who has allied himself in the past with United States President Donald Trump, noted that the win in Runcorn and Helsby, which Labour won in last year’s national election with a majority of almost 15,000 votes, showed that the ruling party’s vote had “collapsed”.

Labour has lost support as the government has raised taxes, cut benefits for the elderly and proposed sweeping welfare reforms, alienating the left-wing party’s traditional voter base and driving some into the arms of Reform.

‘Soft-touch Britain’

In Greater Lincolnshire, newly elected mayor Andrea Jenkyns, a former Conservative minister who defected to Reform after losing her seat last year, became the party’s most powerful elected politician yet, with responsibility for an area covering about a million people.

In her victory speech, Jenkyns pledged to bring an end to “soft-touch Britain” and said asylum seekers should be held in tents, not in hotels as they often are in the country.

“The rebuilding begins here … we’re going to have a Britain where we put British people first,” she said.

Reform UK is the latest in a series of parties led by Farage, a veteran hard-right politician who was crucial in taking the UK out of the European Union through a 2016 referendum. A divisive figure, he has said many migrants come to the UK from cultures “alien to ours”.

Reform, which has pledged to “stop the boats” of irregular migrants crossing the English Channel, is hoping that winning mayoralties and gaining councillors would help it build its grassroots activism before the next general election – likely in 2029.

The party hopes to scoop up hundreds of municipal seats in the elections that are deciding 1,641 seats on 23 local councils and six mayoralties, as well as the parliamentary seat.

Ballots in most of those contests are being counted on Friday and results should be announced in the afternoon.

Martin Clunes daughter once joined him in an episode of ITV sitcom Doc Martin, but she eventually pursued a different career

Martin Clunes, a familiar face on our television screens for years, is most recognised for his role as the lead character in ITV’s Doc Martin.

The 63-year-old actor featured in all 10 series of the popular comedy, which ran from 2004 to 2022. He’s also known for his roles in Men Behaving Badly and William and Mary, as well as hosting several documentaries.

His latest TV venture, Islands of the Atlantic, is set to premiere on ITV1 this Friday (2nd May), with Martin embarking on an adventure across the Atlantic.

Off-screen, Martin enjoys a blissful marriage with TV producer Philippa Braithwaite, and they are proud parents to their 25-year-old daughter Emily, who some might recognise.

Emily once appeared in Doc Martin alongside her famous father, playing a schoolgirl. She made her acting debut in the eighth episode of the fourth series, reports Gloucestershire Live.

In her scene, she attends to Tasha (portrayed by Sophie Thompson) after she becomes agitated during Harbour Day celebration rehearsals. In the unearthed scene, Emily can be seen wearing a white polo shirt with her hair pulled back.

Despite making her television debut at a young age, Emily has chosen a career path quite different from her renowned father.

She is a professional event rider and is currently studying equine vet nursing at Hartpury University.

Emily, who previously managed Chedington Equestrian, has participated in numerous showjumping competitions, such as BENovice and BS115.

Emily’s passion for horses runs in the family, shared by both her mum and dad. Together, they live in Beaminster, Dorset, where they have their own horses on the farm.

In 2011, Martin took on the role of president for the British Horse Society.

The actor has opened up about how Emily’s equestrian enthusiasm prompted their relocation to the countryside of Dorset.

Chatting on This Morning, Martin reflected: “We always wanted a field for a pony for our daughter Emily. And one never came up and suddenly, 130 acres came up which wasn’t quite what we were looking for but if you don’t do something you’ll have a grass problem. It will all go wild so we started with loads of sheep.”

Martin Clunes’ Islands of the Atlantic airs on ITV1 at 9pm on Friday, 2 May

ICRC says Israel has ‘obligation’ to meet the needs of Palestinians struggling to survive.

The humanitarian response in Gaza is on the verge of “total collapse”, with Palestinians facing a “daily struggle to survive” amid Israel’s war and blockade of the enclave, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The ICRC issued the warning on Friday, adding to the urgent pleas from international aid institutions for a deal that would see Israel agree to a ceasefire and the reopening of humanitarian corridors in exchange for the release of captives by Hamas.

Without an immediate resumption of aid deliveries, the Red Cross “will not have access to the food, medicines, and life-saving supplies needed to sustain many of its programmes in Gaza”, the ICRC said in a statement.

Israel strictly controls all inflows of international aid which is vital for the 2.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, amid bombardment that has displaced the majority, devastated the enclave and killed more than 52,000.

Israel closed access for aid deliveries to Gaza on March 2, two weeks before the collapse of the ceasefire that had started in January and ran for about six weeks.

The ICRC warned that if the blockade continues, its humanitarian operations in Gaza, particularly the distribution of food, “will only be able to operate for a few more weeks”.

Under international humanitarian law, it added, Israel has an “obligation to use all means available” to ensure that the needs of Palestinian civilians under its control are met.

“Civilians in Gaza are facing an overwhelming daily struggle to survive the dangers of hostilities, cope with relentless displacement, and endure the consequences of being deprived of urgent humanitarian assistance,” Pascal Hundt, ICRC deputy chief of operations, said.

“This situation must not – and cannot – be allowed to escalate further.”

The United Nations has repeatedly warned of humanitarian catastrophe, with famine looming as the blockade continues.

On Friday, Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for the Palestinian refugees (UNWRA), said the Israeli siege is collectively punishing children, women, older people and men in Gaza.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Amjad Shawwa of the Palestinian NGOs Network warned that the situation in Gaza is worsening quickly for the tens of thousands of children, and that many would likely die due to malnutrition.

On Friday, Israel continued its bombardment of the enclave. Medical sources told Al Jazeera that 22 Palestinians had been killed in Israeli air raids since dawn, with attacks on the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza and the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in the northwest of Gaza City.

A BRITISH-made stealth jet has broken the world record for the longest continuous flight, spending 67 days in the sky.

That’s the equivalent of 1,608 hours – enough time to watch every episode of Top Gear, Love Island and Strictly Come Dancing that has ever aired in the UK.

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In fact, it’s more than enough time, with Top Gear boasting 518 hours’ worth of content across 33 seasons, Love Island’s 390 hours and Strictly with a whopping 635 hours.

A total of 1,543 hours.

The unmanned plane, known as Aalto Zephyr, flew for more than two months from Kenya to Australia before being plunged into the Indian Ocean.

The flight beat a record held by two American pilots for over 50 years.

In 1959, Robert Timm and John Cook flew a Cessna Skyhawk continuously for 64 days and 22 hours in Nevada.

That record has now been bested by a British jet, built by Airbus at its facilities in Farnborough, Hampshire.

British defence company QinetiQ originally developed the project, before selling it off to Airbus in 2013.

The Zephyr is a drone-like aircraft with a wingspan of 85ft, and weighs just 75kg.

It has been hailed for its abilities for near ‘endless flight’, with it using solar power to charge its propellers during the day.

At night, the craft glides and loses altitude slightly as the batteries drain, until the morning sun recharges them.

The Zephyr can operate as a spy plane, carrying powerful cameras and sensors for Earth surveillance.

But it can also provide 4G and 5G communications, acting like a mobile mast in the sky. 

It is designed to fly above 60,000ft, making it well suited for delivering communications to remote areas.

The aircraft’s longest previous mission was a 64-day flight in 2022.

“With this new world-record flight, we have pushed the boundaries again for the burgeoning HAPS industry and aviation globally with a solar-powered, stratospheric aircraft,” Aalto CEO Hughes Boulnois said in a statement.

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Dr. Charles DeCarli, co-director of the UC Davis Alzheimer’s Research Center, got the news in a call from a colleague on March 24.

“Your study was terminated.”

DeCarli had been conducting a six-year examination, funded by the National Institutes of Health, of brain and vascular conditions that can be risk factors for dementia. The study, involving hundreds of medical staff, 14 research sites, and 1,700 patients at 19 clinical locations in the U.S., was building toward a goal of 2,250 patients.

Steve Lopez

Steve Lopez is a California native who has been a Los Angeles Times columnist since 2001. He has won more than a dozen national journalism awards and is a four-time Pulitzer finalist.

“This was the culmination of my career, the pinnacle of my research” over the last 38 years, DeCarli said.

The $53-million study, paid in annual allotments, was approved during President Trump’s first term. But in Term Two, the administration has taken a chain saw to universities, federal jobs and federal funding for scientific research, which has prompted talk of a brain drain, with scientists looking for work in other countries.

The termination letter from NIH informed DeCarli that his study, with its “artificial and non-scientific categories,” was on the chopping block because it “no longer effectuates agency priorities.” The UC Davis study was one of 14 such research projects notified in March that funding was being terminated.

About 7 million U.S. residents aged 65 and older have Alzheimer’s, the nation’s seventh-leading cause of death. Given the cresting age wave, the number is expected to roughly double in the next 35 years. So it doesn’t make sense that a deeper understanding of a complex set of unremittingly cruel brain diseases that decimate the lives of victims, and their loved ones, is no longer a priority.

Mannie Rezende, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s, walks with his wife Rose Shalom in June 2023. About 7 million U.S. residents age 65 and older have Alzheimer’s, the nation’s seventh-leading cause of death.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

DeCarli suspects he was targeted because of the name of his study:

“The Clinical Significance of Incidental White Matter Lesions on MRI Amongst a Diverse Population with Cognitive Complaints.”

DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion — programs are on the administration’s hit list. But in this case, “diverse” was a reference to a spectrum of health and age, and educational and racial backgrounds of patients.

With the help of UC Davis lawyers, DeCarli appealed the decision, but he also had to begin shutting down the study in anticipation of a second rejection or a long appeal process.

The appeal was successful, and funding was restored on April 11, but DeCarli is still playing catch-up.

“There were big-time disruptions,” he told me.

Clinical partners, who each had to contact as many as 100 patients with news of the termination, had to reach out again to tell them the green light was back on.

But for how long?

Nobody seems to know, said Russ Paulsen of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s, a nonprofit advocacy group. When I spoke to him on Wednesday, Paulsen had just watched a Senate hearing in which Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine), demanded that NIH cuts be restored.

Mannie Rezende and wife Rose Shalom with their dogs Clara, foreground, and Teddy in 2023.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

“I think there is broadly bipartisan support” for continued research into Alzheimer’s, Paulsen said. And the official word at Health and Human Services is that the administration remains committed to “robust biomedical research” and “maintaining our global leadership in science and technology.”

But that claim doesn’t square with the dismissal earlier this year of 1,000 NIH employees, or with news accounts of a plan to slash 30% of the Health and Human Services budget and 40% of the NIH budget.

“It’s hard to imagine somebody opposed to finding cures, and yet we have no explanation for why they’re proposing a 40% cut,” Paulsen said.

“We know that funds are flowing out the door far slower than they have in many years, and we know that researchers are submitting high-quality research and getting ‘answer pending’ or getting rejected,” he added. “And we know that existing multi-year grants are being canceled or payment is being delayed.”

In March, Rose Shalom of Sunland lost her husband, Mannie Rezende, who had slowly deteriorated from Alzheimer’s over several years. Shalom called the disruption of research egregious and immoral, and she said those who control the purse strings on research should “spend some time with someone with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers to understand the unique horror of this disease.”

I visited Rose and Mannie in 2023 at their home and at OPICA, the West L.A. adult day-care center where Mannie spent his days with a few dozen others on the same path.

“As we are living longer, more and more people will be diagnosed with this disease,” Shalom said. “The emotional and financial toll on the patients and their caregivers is beyond description.”

There is, unfortunately, no cure on the immediate horizon. But DeCarli said there have been some encouraging advances, including medication that can help slow the progression of cognitive decline, and improved diagnostics that can lead to earlier intervention.

The U.S. is both a world leader and a collaborator in medical research, DeCarli said. The process is integrated, “with people working on different parts … of the same question, and true discovery sometimes comes from interacting” with each other.

The Trump administration seems to have a different agenda.

It includes:

· Dismantling the U.S. role in solving medical mysteries.

· Dismissing hundreds of researchers studying the impact of global warming.

· Driving scientists to look for work in other countries.

Who knew there’d be so many backwater swamps, potholes and detours on the road to making America great again.

[email protected]

Get ready for a day of drama in Trinity League baseball as Santa Margarita (6-8), Servite (5-9) and JSerra (5-9) battle to finish in third place and claim the league’s final automatic playoff spot. St. John Bosco and Orange Lutheran clinched the first two spots.

Santa Margarita plays host to Servite in a 2:30 game Friday. The Eagles would finish third with a win. A Servite win would give the Friars two wins out of three games against Santa Margarita and the tiebreaker edge to claim third. But if JSerra upsets St. John Bosco and Servite beats Santa Margarita, there would be a three-way tie for third place, resulting in a possible play-in game next week.

Santa Margarita and Servite are in position to get an at-large playoff berth with a .500 or better overall record. JSerra is in jeopardy of not making the playoffs if it doesn’t get an automatic spot.

Playoff pairings will be announced May 12. …

The City Section Open Division baseball playoffs will have eight teams instead of 12 this season. The playoff games will be spread out with a Wednesday-Tuesday-Saturday schedule, giving an advantage to a school that relies on one top pitcher. Pairings will be announced May 10. The Open Division semifinals will be played at Cal State Northridge in a doubleheader.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

May 2 (UPI) — Despite concerns over an economic downturn, South Korea’s major financial groups — KB, Shinhan, and Hana — posted the highest-ever first-quarter profits.

KB Financial Group announced last week that it had netted $1.18 billion in profit during the January-March period, up 62.9% from a year earlier.

Shinhan Financial recorded $1.03 billion in net income, up 12.6% year-on-year. Hana Financial saw its profit jump 9.1% to reach $785 million.

Observers expect the three to sustain high profitability throughout 2025. KB Financial is projected to improve the most, thanks to its robust non-banking businesses.

“KB Financial’s profit exceeded market consensus by more than 5% and also unveiled its plan for a $210 million share buyback,” Hanwha Investment & Securities analyst Kim Do-ha said in a report.

He added that the measure demonstrated KB Financial’s confidence in its capital strength.

KB Financial’s share price went up 2.72% on the Seoul bourse Friday, while those of Shinhan and Hana increased 2.15% and 0.82%, respectively.

Globally, the three groups are also known as proactive sponsors of professional golfers, who play on the LPGA Tour.

KB backs Park In-bee, who topped the podium in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics, while Hana supports reigning Olympic champion Lydia Ko and Lee Min-jee, who won the U.S. Women’s Open in 2022.

Earlier this month, Shinhan signed a sponsorship deal with Lim Jin-hee, who ranked second in the LPGA Rookie of the Year standings in 2024.

In the meantime, the country’s No. 4 financial group Woori suffered a 25.29% decline in its first-quarter profit, which amounted to $428 million.

THE best and worst broadband providers for customer complaints have been revealed by the regulator.

NOW Broadband and TalkTalk, which have millions of customers between them, had the highest number of complaints.

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Both had 13 complaints per 100,000 customers for their broadband services between October and December 2024.

Regulator Ofcom said NOW Broadband saw an increase in complaints compared with the previous three months, when it had 12 complaints per 100,000 customers.

TalkTalk managed to bring down its levels of complaints from 14 per 100,000 customers.

Following close behind with the third-highest number of complaints was EE, with 12 issues raised per 100,000 customers.

Virgin Media and Vodafone both had 11 complaints per 100,000, while BT had 10.

The service providers with the lowest numbers of complaints were Plusnet and Sky.

Plusnet topped the list with just five complaints per 100,000 customers, while Sky had six.

A NOW Broadband spokesperson said: “We are actively working on improvements to ensure that NOW customers receive both the best possible broadband and customer service experience.

“Although this figure represents a small portion of our customer base, we take it seriously and will continue to listen to feedback to better serve our customers.”

A TalkTalk spokesperson said: “We are committed to delivering the best possible service for our customers. While this number represents a very small proportion of our total customer base, we are naturally disappointed, and working to improve it.

“We continue to invest on behalf of our customers, making it easier than ever to get in touch with us through a variety of contact methods, and expect to see this reflected in future reports.”

What about mobile, landline and pay-TV services?

Ofcom also published its rankings of the best and worst telecoms firms for complaints related to mobile, landline, and pay-TV services.

NOW Broadband topped the list of complaints for its landline services with 10 complaints per 100,000 customers.

EE was the next most complained-about with eight per 100,000.

BT and TalkTalk had seven per 100,000, while Virgin Media had six and Plusnet had four.

The providers with the least complaints were Vodafone, Sky and Utility Warehouse.

Vodafone had three complaints per 100,000 customers while Sky had two.

Utility Warehouse had an impressive one complaint per 100,000.

For pay-monthly mobile services, O2 was the most complained-about provider with four complaints per 100,000.

Next were Three and iD Mobile with three complaints per 100,000.

The least complained-about providers were Tesco Mobile and Sky Mobile with only one complaint per 100,000 customers.

For pay-TV, Virgin Media had the most complaints at seven per 100,000, while EE had six.

Sky and TalkTalk only had two complaints per 100,000 people.

How to complain about your service

If you’re unhappy with the service you’ve received, you’ll first need to contact your provider’s customer services department and explain the problem.

If this doesn’t resolve the issue, you can make a formal complaint to the company.

You can find details on how to do this on the back of your bill or on the company’s website.

Depending on your complaint type, you’ll be able to contact the customer service team by web chat, telephone or by post.

You’ll need to let the company know what has happened and what you want it to do to put things right.

If a formal complaint gets you nowhere, after eight weeks you can ask for a “deadlock letter” and take your dispute to the appropriate Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme.

These are free to use and will act as an independent middle man between yourself and the service provider when an initial complaint cannot be resolved.

There are two ADR schemes in the UK – the Communications Ombudsman and CISAS. 

Your provider is required to be a member of one of these and you can find out which one your provider is covered by visiting ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/service-quality/adr-schemes.

Before you can submit your complaint to it, you must have logged a formal complaint with your provider and worked with the firm to resolve it.

You must also have received a so-called deadlock letter, where the provider refers your complaint to the appropriate ADR.

You can also complain if you haven’t had a satisfactory solution to your problem within eight weeks.

To make a complaint fill in the ADR scheme claims form on its website – or write a letter if you’d prefer.

The ADR scheme then bases its decision on the evidence you and the company submit.

If you choose to accept its decision, your supplier will then have 28 days to comply.

But if an individual chooses not to accept the ADR’s final decision, they lose the right to the resolution offer.

The holiday hotspots have stated that their ‘”residents are the priority nowadays”, and have hinted at capping tourist numbers.

Palma de Majorca and Barcelona, two tourist hotspots in Spain, have confirmed their plans to cap visitor numbers due to overtourism and its impact on residents.

Addressing residents’ concerns at the Spain Talks conference on sustainability that was organised by the Spanish Tourist Office in London, the heads of tourism of Barcelona and Palma de Majorca said: “Let’s not be afraid to discuss limits.”

The managing director of Palma de Majorca Tourism, Pedro Homar, said: “Residents are our priority nowadays. We slashed marketing budgets in the last three to four years.” Addressing tour operators, he said: “I’m sorry for that. Limits are good. Let’s not be afraid to discuss limits.”

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Mateu Hernandez, the Barcelona Tourism director general agreed and said: “We’re 100% the same in Barcelona. The city began to do this – no more hotels, no more tourism flats, no more cruises, no more tour groups.”

Hernandez went on to note that there has been no increase in tourist numbers in 2024 — which stand at 15 million, the same as 2023 — and said: “This is not failure. This is what we’re looking for, Travel Weekly reports. We don’t want visitors to feel crowded.”

Hernandez further added: “Our challenge is to answer the question – can tourism save us from tourism? This is the key question.” He insisted that the residents of Barcelona “want this balance”.

Calling the protests against tourism “sad”, Hernandez insisted: “It’s a minority who don’t want tourism. We want to prioritise who is sleeping on beds [in the city]. Our key priorities are conferences and events – we’re investing €400 million in infrastructure for conferences – and culture.”

Homar said during the conference: “We have a cap of 12,000 beds in the city – 95% in four and five-star hotels. We hardly have two and three-star hotels. We are positioning ourselves as more upscale and cosmopolitan. We limit daily cruises. We want to manage the destination. We’re not in the business of marketing the destination.”

Jaime Martinez, the Mayor of Palma de Majorca, said: “We have to control the number of visitors. We want Palma to be a reference point in the travel market.”

Ian Corbett, Tui’s head of sustainability, said: “Tui wants to be part of the solution. Destinations have their limits and it’s for destinations to decide what tourism they want and how much. It’s important we put as little additional strain on destinations as we can. It’s about well-planned, well-executed, controlled tourism, not about exclusion.”

Mass protests against overtourism are all set to take place across popular holiday destinations in Europe this summer, with several demonstrations already held over the last couple of months, especially in Spain.

Recently, tourists aboard a sight-seeing bus in Barcelona were blocked and squirted with water by protesters. A protest was launched in the Northern Spanish city on Sunday by the organizers of many of the anti-tourism protests held in Majorca in 2024. The Catalan Police were called to intervene, when several of the campaigners blocked a bus that was ferrying tourists, close to the famous Sagrada Familia.

Brit holidaymakers have also been given a heads-up regarding their upcoming summer escapes, with local residents in top European destinations like Spain, Italy, France, and Portugal not dismissing the idea of targeting airport buildings to dissuade tourists.

The locals argue that unchecked tourism has driven up rental prices and stripped away affordable housing availability as properties are gobbled up for tourist accommodations and lands are bought out for resort development.

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This warning emerges just as loads of Brits line up their plans for some sun-soaked relaxation. At a demonstration in Barcelona, protestor Elena Boschi told the Mirror: “We want tourists to have some level of fear about the situation – without fear there is no change.”

Significant disruptions can also be expected over the summer; a leader of the Spanish protests informed The Mirror that militant groups might obstruct not just airports but beaches and other beloved tourist draws too, as anti-tourist fury intensifies in Spain.

A protest frontman, referred to here as Lucas due to his condition of anonymity, communicated his caution that demonstrators could escalate their tactics if they continue to be sidelined. He said: “The general mood is one of growing frustration, indignation, and despair. People feel that they are being expelled from their own land and that their fundamental rights are not being protected. People have had enough.

“There is a widespread feeling that the situation has reached a breaking point and that it is necessary to act urgently and decisively to reverse it. The patience of the citizenry is running out. We are not going to stand idly by while we see our homes and our lives threatened by speculation and an uncontrolled tourism model.”

After being sworn in as second-in-command of the Arcadia City Council, Eileen Wang addressed a controversy that has taken a back seat in the months since the Eaton fire devastated nearby Altadena.

“We broke up the fiance relationship,” Wang said of her former campaign manager, Yaoning “Mike” Sun. “We keep the friendship.”

Wang said their romantic relationship ended last spring, eight months before federal prosecutors charged Sun with conspiracy and acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government.

The April 15 statement from Wang, now mayor pro tem of the San Gabriel Valley city, was one of the few times she has publicly addressed the charges against Sun, who allegedly worked with China to cultivate Wang, in hopes that she would rise in politics and help promote pro-China policies, including opposition to Taiwan.

Facing calls for her resignation, Wang had vowed in January not to step away from the council, emphasizing that she was “not responsible for the action of others.”

Wang did not respond to several calls and emails from The Times. The other four council members also did not respond to emails.

“I have a lot of questions,” said former Councilmember Sheng Chang, who ran against Wang in 2022 and recalled being stunned by the fundraising prowess and plum endorsements of “the new kid on the block.”

Sheng Chang, who lost an Arcadia City Council race to Eileen Wang in 2022, at his office in San Gabriel.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Arcadia City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto released a short statement soon after Sun was charged in December, saying Wang was cooperating with the FBI and that Sun “had no involvement whatsoever with City of Arcadia business or decision-making.”

Wang, who immigrated to the U.S. from China three decades ago, was never charged, and it’s unclear whether she was aware of the alleged scheme. In a criminal complaint against Sun, prosecutors identified her only as “Individual 1.”

The complaint provides a rare glimpse into the covert influence the Chinese government allegedly seeks to have on politicians and organizations in the San Gabriel Valley, a landing spot for many Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants.

Campaign records examined by The Times indicate that Sun served as Wang’s campaign manager, lending money and helping bring in donations — some of which came from sources with ties to the Chinese government.

James Su, president of EDI Media in West Covina, donated $500 to Wang’s campaign on Oct. 10, 2022. Su’s media company, which includes several L.A.-based media groups, including the Chinese-language website iCity News, had to register as a foreign agent in May 2022 because it formerly printed the U.S. version of a newspaper considered a “foreign mission” of the Chinese government.

As the November 2022 election neared, iCity News published a slew of glowing articles on Wang, a political novice and owner of an after-school tutoring company.

“Remember! You must vote for Eileen!” concluded an article, one of roughly half a dozen the outlet published that year on Wang, who would receive an endorsement from Su as well as the $500 donation.

There were no stories on Chang, Wang’s opponent, a Taiwanese immigrant who ran a bare-bones campaign with $34,000 he lent himself.

Lina Li, an office manager for EDI who said she was responding on Su’s behalf, wrote in an email that the $500 donation was made from Su’s personal funds because he believed Wang was a “good candidate.” The company has not had to register as a foreign agent since 2022, she said.

The L.A. arm of Sing Tao US, a subsidiary of a Chinese-owned newspaper that is registered as a foreign agent, also donated to Wang’s campaign, giving $3,300 on Aug. 9, 2022, according to campaign finance records.

Wang paid the company the same amount for print ads, according to the records.

The Sing Tao Daily is one of the oldest newspapers in Hong Kong and has long been featured on newsstands in Chinatown and the San Gabriel Valley. Sing Tao US wrote in a government filing it is “editorially independent” from its Chinese parent company.

Robin Mui, chief executive of Sing Tao US, said Wang’s campaign made an error on its campaign finance forms. Sing Tao never contributed to Wang’s campaign and only received payment from it for ads, Mui said.

The “L.A. [branch] never made any political contribution — unless you prove to me otherwise,” Mui said.

The criminal complaint against Sun described extensive interactions between Sun and John Chen, who was sentenced to federal prison last year for acting as an illegal Chinese agent and plotting against Falun Gong, a spiritual practice banned in China.

Chen reportedly described a former L.A. County supervisor, identified only as M.A., as “friendly to China.” Chen’s Chinese handler told him that he would be given funds to “socialize with” the former supervisor in the hopes of getting an introduction to M.A.’s successor, identified as C.B.

Former Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who oversaw a district including parts of the San Gabriel Valley from 1980 to 2016, said he first met Chen at a dinner for a Chinese association and would occasionally run into him at community events. He never felt Chen was pushing a political agenda, he said.

Antonovich said the only time he felt pressure from the Chinese government was before Double Ten Day, a national holiday in Taiwan on Oct. 10. Every year, the Chinese consulate would reach out to each supervisor and ask them not to attend local celebrations, Antonovich said.

Antonovich said he didn’t heed the guidance and spoke at Double Ten celebrations twice.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who succeeded Antonovich, said she has never met with Chen or Sun and has no records of either man reaching out to her office, according to her spokesperson.

Much of the campaign Sun orchestrated for Wang would be considered standard fare for an up-and-coming San Gabriel Valley politician.

Wang, a longtime resident of Arcadia, hired Santa Maria Group, a prominent lobbying firm. She nabbed plum endorsements from big-name politicians: L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis, U.S. Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) and Chu’s husband, former state Assemblymember Michael Eng.

In total, Wang raised $119,000, mostly from donors with addresses in the San Gabriel Valley. Another top fundraiser, Councilmember Michael Cao, brought roughly $125,000 into his campaign that year.

Chang, who was seeking a third term on the City Council after winning a seat in 1994 and 2000, said that for the first time, his heritage became a talking point during an election, when a supporter asked him to remove her name from his list of endorsements because she had heard that he supported Taiwan independence.

Wang’s Instagram account from that time is full of videos of her on the campaign trail, set to zippy pop songs. She previously told The Times that she knocked on every door in her district multiple times to make sure she reached every resident.

“I walked about 140 days … I never stopped,” she said over a dim sum lunch last November, before the criminal charges against Sun. “I walked my district five times.”

White House accuses outlets of using public money to spread ‘woke propaganda’ as alarm raised on media freedom.

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order slashing subsidies to two United States public broadcasters.

Trump issued the order to halt federal funding to PBS and NPR late on Thursday, accusing them of biased reporting and spreading “left-wing” propaganda.

The order is the US president’s latest bid to halt government funding of media he considers unfriendly to his administration. It comes as Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warned of an “alarming deterioration in press freedom”.

In a social media post, the White House accused the outlets of receiving millions from taxpayers “to spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news’”.

Trump directed the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which distributes government funding to media, to “cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed by law and … decline … future funding”.

He also demanded that it root out indirect sources of public financing for the news organisations, endangering their future existence.

According to reports, CPB provide PBS and NPR with roughly half a billion dollars in financing annually, but they also rely heavily on private donations.

It is not clear how much of an immediate effect the order will have on the outlets, which are typically funded two years in advance by Congress in order to protect them from political influence.

Last Month, Paula Kerger, PBS’s CEO and president, warned that cuts in funding would “disrupt the essential service” of the outlet.

It has also been reported that the White House has asked Congress to rescind funding for the CPB, a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967 that is responsible for administering the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting.

‘Alarming deterioration in press freedom’

As part of a broad campaign to cut federal spending, Trump has cut hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to artists, libraries, museums and theatres since taking office in January. He has also threatened to withhold federal research and education funds from universities.

Media has been a significant target. In March, Trump sought to dismantle the US Agency for Global Media, including Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

However, federal courts called out the administration, saying that in it was overstepping its authority in seeking to hold back funds appropriated by Congress.

Critics slammed the bid to shutter the outlets, which broadcast in many foreign states with authoritarian regimes that suppress media freedom, as a gift to US enemies.

However, concerns over media independence in the US are rising since Trump returned to the White House.

Media rights watchdog RSF warned in its annual report published on Friday of “an alarming deterioration in press freedom” in the US under Trump and “unprecedented” difficulties for independent journalists around the world.

Aside from physical attacks, the media rights watchdog noted that “economic pressure” has become a major and “insidious problem” threatening journalism.

When Boko Haram attacked a religious gathering in Nassarawo, Yola, the capital of Adamawa State, northeastern Nigeria, and killed 12 persons in January 2012, it ignited deep-seated anger, fear, and suspicion. The incident led to a series of reprisal attacks within Nassarawo, a community where Muslims and Christians once co-existed peacefully, and other parts of the state. 

Schools closed, businesses shuttered, and families fled, some never returning. 

“That evening changed everything,” Kauna Hamman, a resident of Yola, recounted. “We watched a quiet neighbourhood with a history of coexistence, switch to distrust and separation.” 

The event, which was one of several other ethno-religious crises in Nigeria that have claimed hundreds of lives, left Kauna wondering what could be a way out. “If violence can divide us so quickly, can peace not bring us back together?” she asked. 

Kauna eventually joined the North East Social Innovation Fellowship (NESIF), an initiative aimed at countering violent extremism in the region. During the fellowship, she met nine other young people—each, like her, from communities devastated by the Boko Haram insurgency. Together, they shared a deep conviction: that marginalised communities hold the power to drive their development and transformation.

They founded Strategy for Peace and Humanitarian Development Initiative (SPeHDI) in 2018.

Adamawa State is home to a rich blend of cultures, traditions, and religions. While the relationships between the various religions are often defined by peaceful interactions, moments of conflict, like the 2012 incident in Nassarawo, have periodically strained these ties.

SPeHDI’s mission centres on promoting communal peacebuilding and preventing violent extremism through approaches that integrate human capital development, social empowerment, and education. The organisation emphasises core values such as honesty, humanity, transparency, participation, and accountability, believing that these principles are essential in cultivating an environment where peaceful coexistence can flourish. 

“Through engaging communities in interfaith dialogues, sporting events, and ‘catch them young’ programmes, SPeHDI equips children, youths, and women with the necessary conflict resolution and negotiation skills to settle disputes amicably, while also providing them with a source of livelihood,” Kauna, who serves as the Executive Director of SPeHDI, told HumAngle. 

Moreover, SPeHDI actively counters extremist narratives by providing alternative perspectives through social media campaigns, pamphlets, and targeted sensitisation programmes. These efforts address underlying issues such as drug abuse, lack of education, and unemployment, factors that can drive vulnerable populations towards extremist ideologies. 

Operating at the state and local government levels, the organisation’s grassroots initiatives aim not only to enhance social cohesion but also to empower local communities to participate actively in their development.

In September 2021, the initiative hosted an inter-street football competition in Bekaji, a community in Yola, to mark the International Day of Peace.

“It was inspiring to see both Muslims and Christians coming together to play football,” said Yakubu Joel, a resident of Bekaji, who participated in the competition. “This event makes us reflect on our commonalities and shows that when we set aside our differences, we can all contribute to a stronger, more united community.” 

Nearly four years on, the impact of that tournament still resonates. Residents told HumAngle that sports have continued to serve as a unifying force in Bekaji.

“We are benefiting from the football jerseys the organisation gave us in 2021. The jerseys are the official sports wear for the Bekaji football team to date, and it is worn by everyone, regardless of their faith. It is a testament to the unity and harmony SPeHDI has instilled in us,” said Dyangapwa Heman, another resident.

HumAngle has previously reported on other community-led initiatives that use sports, especially football, to bridge divides in conflict-affected areas, such as Jos in North-central Nigeria. 

“For me, peace is not merely the absence of conflict—it’s a process of healing and rebuilding trust,” Kauna said. 

Between 2021 and 2023, SPeHDI organised three week-long annual sporting events across Yola North, Numan, and Girei local government areas. The events drew large youth participation from various religions, not just as players, but also as cheerleaders, spectators, and match officials. 

“Through the engagement of different faiths and involving women and youth in our peace initiatives, we work to dismantle cycles of violence and lay the groundwork for lasting justice and community healing,” she added. 

‘Catch them young’

Although children often bear the brunt of conflict and its aftermath, they are frequently overlooked in peacebuilding and conflict resolution efforts. 

Recognising this gap, Kauna and her team launched Catch Them Young, a programme designed to instil a culture of coexistence among children by equipping them with conflict resolution skills from an early age. As part of the initiative, SPeHDI has established peace clubs in 10 secondary schools across Adamawa State, with several students participating. 

At the Lutheran Junior Seminary School in Mbamba, Yola, Emmanuel Bapatu, a former principal, told HumAngle: “Students meet every Wednesday and Friday from 4 to 5 p.m., where they are equipped with essential conflict resolution and dialogue skills. It’s a vital step toward fostering a peaceful, drug-free environment.”

Tessy Mark is one of the students impacted by the programme. She was in Primary 5 when SPeHDI first introduced “Catch Them Young” to her school. Now in JSS 3 at Colonel Isa Memorial College, Yola, Tessy reflected on how the lessons have shaped her behaviour.

“Whenever I am angry or pissed at someone, I don’t just react immediately,” she said. “What I do is leave the place, calm down, and come back later to talk about the situation and settle it. I’ve applied this for a while now, and it has been working for me.”

‘It is a gradual process’

Building peace, especially in conflict-affected communities, is never without its hurdles. SPeHDI’s management acknowledged that their journey, though marked by hope and determination, has faced numerous challenges. Internally, the team continues to navigate the task of ensuring every member aligns with the organisation’s core values.

“Recruiting and retaining staff who genuinely reflect our community’s diversity is a constant challenge,” said Benjamin Nathaniel, the organisation’s Human Resource Manager. “We strive to ensure that our team embodies the trust and commitment our work demands, but it’s not always easy when expectations are high and there’s no external source of funding.”

SPeHDI is mostly self-funded, according to Meki Maksha, the initiative’s Head of Procurement. He pointed out the resource constraints the organisation regularly grapples with.

“Cost-effectively securing essential supplies often puts us in a tough spot,” he said. “We have to balance our limited resources with our goals carefully.”

These internal challenges not only strain the organisation’s capacity but also test its resolve to uphold the standards required for meaningful peacebuilding.

Externally, working with communities that have endured prolonged conflict presents its complexities.

“Many community members are understandably sceptical,” said Kauna. “They have seen promises broken before, and healing deep-seated wounds doesn’t happen overnight. Building trust in such an environment is a gradual process, and we sometimes face resistance simply because of past disappointments.”

This story is done in collaboration between HumAngle Media and Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund (ATJLF) as part of a project amplifying transitional justice efforts in North East Nigeria. 

North Somerset Council has been cracking down on the parking issues around the Bristol Airport that have been causing issues for the community and holiday makers

Holidaymakers using Bristol Airport have returned to find their cars damaged and with unexplained mileage after parking in unofficial ‘airport’ car parks.

The local council has now stepped up efforts to clamp down on this practice, which has been “blighting” the countryside and causing problems for locals. North Somerset Council’s intervention follows concerns that fields near Bristol Airport were being used as makeshift car parks for thousands of vehicles. This was not only causing issues for the local community but also impacting holidaymakers who were unaware their cars were being left at these “unauthorised” sites.

Some of these vehicles had even been abandoned in the open on local roads without any security measures in place. Bristol Airport funds a Planning and Parking Enforcement officer to address the parking issues around the airport. In June last year, the airport contributed £50,000 towards hiring an officer for 12 months, with an additional £50,000 set to follow to ensure the role.

READ MORE: Ryanair tells passengers to pack ‘last-minute’ item in their hand luggage

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Among the successful actions taken by the officers was the clearing of a plot near Hyatts Wood Road, which had been overrun with parked cars. Thanks to council intervention, this agricultural field, capable of accommodating 1,500 cars, has now been cleared.

Enforcement notices were issued at 10 different fields, meaning these sites have permitted development rights but can only be used for a maximum of 28 days per year. After this period, usage would become a criminal offence.

These include: A field near Newditch Farm, which can park up to 560 cars; Land south of Bridgwater Road, which can hold over 1,900 cars; Land west of Bridle Cottage, which can accommodate more than 900 cars.

Additional probes have been conducted at a number of alternative sites. Part of this included halting parking on a parcel of land, which has now been restored to its previous state and settling an agreement that demands the replanting of three protected trees that were felled pre-2014 to make room for parking.

Earlier this year, North Somerset Council’s Trading Standards bods urged passengers jetting off from Bristol Airport to keep their wits about them when securing airport parking online due to dodgy dealings by these unscrupulous car park operators.

This caution followed a series of gripes relating to local car parking services that had left holiday-goers high and dry and their motors in jeopardy. Fuming customers who availed themselves of such services came back to find the companies couldn’t locate their vehicles, be it temporarily or in some cases, permanently lost.

Council hotshot Matt Lenny, director of healthy and sustainable communities, stressed: “It’s all about making sure you’re confident that the provider is good before you start and it’s all about what you do before you book. Read the terms and conditions, make sure you’ve looked at some of the reviews. We would ask people to look for the Park Mark, the symbol of the British Parking Association.”

Bristol Airport and the Council are set to hold a meeting with parish councillors to discuss areas of concern, with a further parking meeting scheduled later this month for representatives from all local parishes to address major hotspots.

Onscreen, multihyphenate screenwriter-director-producer Paul Feig is best known for fun and funny films such as “Bridesmaids,” “Last Christmas” and “A Simple Favor.” And offscreen, he’s known for his impeccable sense of style, enthusiastic embrace of cocktail culture (his Artingstall’s gin brand makes frequent cameos in his movies) and, it turns out, a penchant for all things spicy.

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.

“I am so much about hot, hot heat,” he told The Times in a recent interview. “I just love [heat]. I can’t eat anything without putting some kind of a hot sauce on it. I think it’s because when I was a kid, all the food in Michigan at that time was so bland I thought I hated food. It turns out I hated bland.”

In advance of his latest work — the thriller “Another Simple Favor,” which started streaming on Amazon Prime Thursday — I buttonholed the dandy director about his ideal Sunday, which includes browsing for western wear, taking in a ball game, doubling down on Mexican fare and satisfying that spice tooth at every opportunity.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.

7 a.m: Water or a walk
I always try to sleep in, and it just never happens. So if I sleep until 7, that’s kind of a miracle for me. I like to get up and either do water aerobics for my exercise in our pool or I’ll do a one-hour, four-mile walk through my Toluca Lake neighborhood, which is really nice. And that always ends with me going to Patys coffee shop at the end of my walk.

8 a.m.: Pop into Patys
I’ve been going there for 30 years and eating breakfast there forever and ever. But Sunday is kind of fun because there are more people there, and it’s a great local hangout. I get there early — they open at 8 — because it gets crowded later on Sundays. My main order is to get this [dish] called the Power Lunch but for breakfast. It’s a grilled chicken breast, and I get it with a double side of steamed broccoli instead of rice. And I don’t get any bread, but I do order a side of salsa. That’s my healthy meal. And if I want to cheat a little bit, they have really good gluten-free pancakes there, so I’ll get that with sausage.

10 a.m.: Browse western wares
After that, I’ll walk home and maybe jump in the pool and then shower and head out to a few of the stores I like to visit all the time and I have this country [and] western wear circuit. I’m obsessed with this place in Van Nuys called Country General Store because I’m really into cowboy boots. And they’re one of the last places that carries a lot of Lucchese boots and they’re my favorite brand. They’re always getting new ones in, so I’ll go and check out the new selection. And they have good hats there too.

There’s also a place in Beverly Hills called West that’s got really cool boots and really cool men’s jewelry, so I like to go there. And a place on Sunset called Boot Star that always get lots of vintage western wear. That’s actually where I got the outfit that I wore to South by Southwest — the coat with the fringe on it is a [Mealey’s Pitic Leather Handcrafted] jacket from the ’70s. Doing the whole circuit is really fun. It takes a few hours, but most of that’s driving around. And then I’ll pop into each place for like five or 10 minutes.

Noon: Indulge a hankering for hot sauce
That takes me to about lunch, which would be one of two places. If I ended up in Beverly Hills — well, this wouldn’t count if it was Sunday because they’re closed, but [I’m mentioning it because] Brighton Coffee Shop has the best hot sauce. I get the breakfast quesadilla, which they serve with this hot sauce they make in-house that’s incredibly good and really hot. I just slather it on, and the [waiter is like,] “Sir, you know that’s hot.” And I’m like, “Don’t worry! I like it really hot!” It kind of burns the s— out of my mouth. But it’s really tasty.

If I’m going back to the [San Fernando] Valley, I’ll go to Don Cuco [Mexican Restaurant] — the original one on Riverside Drive, not the one in downtown Burbank. It’s my favorite place for old-school L.A. Mexican food. It’s been there forever. The waiters are really nice, and some of them I’ve known since they were busboys, so it’s fun to see them. My favorite is the cochinita pibil. It’s a slow-roasted pork they make days in advance so it just falls apart, and they serve it with plantains. I get that with the standard black beans — not the creamy ones — and a side of tortillas. And the Don Cuco’s house salsa is great.

3 p.m.: Down for the Dodgers
If there’s a Dodgers game, I love to do that because I have season tickets and I just love going to a ballgame. I was at the game where they beat the [New York] Mets to get into the World Series. And I went to Game 2 of the actual World Series, but I wasn’t there the night that Freddie Freeman hit the walk-off grand slam. I was in New York that night watching in my apartment and made so much noise the doorman called and said, “I think the neighbors are worried about you.”

If there isn’t a game, we have this sort of covered indoor-outdoor patio space [at home] next to the pool, so I’ll sit under that and catch up on my showbiz reading — scripts that we’ve been sent, scripts that we’re developing, new drafts [of scripts]. Then, when the sun isn’t blasting down anymore, I’ll get back in the pool.

6 p.m.: Mix up a creative cocktail
This [part of the evening] could involve opening a nice, light rosé like a Château Minuty. And there’s always time for a cocktail. I’m usually a martini fanatic, but I’m trying not to get too blasted on a Sunday, so I’ll do a gin and soda. There’s a drink called Ranch Water that’s tequila, lime juice, a little bit of Cointreau and Topo Chico. I’ve created my own version of that called Palace Water. I like to use a little bit of Grand Marnier. It’s a little orangey and binds it all together.

7:30 p.m.: Head to the Gardens of Taxco for takeout
Now we get to dinner and I love Mexican food, so I have no problem doubling down on Mexican. Do you remember the Gardens of Taxco restaurant in West Hollywood? Well, it’s gone now. It closed a few years ago, which was gutting to me because I used to eat there two or three times a week. But they still cook the food [for pickup or delivery] right on Santa Monica Boulevard [in West Hollywood], and the food is just as good as it was. I get the [Salsa de Ajo Picante] garlic shrimp, and instead of rice and beans, they do sauteed vegetables for me. And they have a little quesadilla with guacamole and they always give you this little pudding[-like dessert] with bananas in it. So I’ll drive over and pick that up.

Or I might go to a friend’s house for dinner. For years and years, the every-Sunday thing for my wife, Laurie, and I was to have dinner with our friends Betsy Beers and Bruce Cormicle. She’s Shonda Rimes’ business partner, and he’s a lawyer who does legal consulting for some shows and is an amazing cook. He always cooks these big feasts at their house in Brentwood, and there’s always a theme: Sometimes it’s a Mexican theme, sometimes it’s a French theme, sometimes it’s seafood. And it’s fantastic. I mix martinis, and we have a great time.

9:30 p.m.: Wind down with true crime — and maybe a martini
We’re not late-nighters really, so we’re usually home by 9 or 9:30 p.m., and then it’s “What are we gonna watch?” It’ll either be a movie or TV, and there’s so much out there I try to avoid getting caught up in a TV show that has a million episodes because I’ll get hooked in. And then it becomes this whole thing, so I’d rather find a series where you’ve got three episodes, or a great movie or documentary. I really liked “Apple Cider Vinegar” and the true-crime story [“Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke”] about the Mormon YouTube mom. We’re in the age of the con man, and I’m just fascinated by human nature and what people think they can get away with.

But sometimes, if we get back early enough, I’ll go over to the Smoke House [Restaurant], which is right by our house, and have an end-of-the-night martini. Oh, and everyone talks about the garlic bread there, but they make great hot wings.

This story contains spoilers for “Thunderbolts*” and is meant to be read after seeing the film.

Marvel’s “Thunderbolts*” has been released into the world, which means it’s finally time for that other longstanding MCU tradition — discussing its post-credits scenes.

Directed by Jake Schreier, “Thunderbolts*” follows a group of villains-turned-antiheroes from disparate corners of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, led by Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), as they reluctantly join forces to help save the world.

The film is a return to familiar form for the ever-expanding superhero franchise. It’s a classic Marvel team-up featuring not-so-classic characters including John Walker (Wyatt Russell) from “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” Ava Starr a.k.a. Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) from “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) from “Black Widow,” Antonia Dreykov a.k.a. Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) from “Black Widow” and new character Bob (Lewis Pullman).

In another return to form, “Thunderbolts*” features two end credits scenes. The first, a mid-credits scene, offers a glimpse of how life has changed for the newly minted superhero squad now that they aren’t disgraced former heroes or mercenaries operating in the shadows. Alexei, also known as Red Guardian, stops a customer in the cereal aisle of a grocery store in order to call attention to a box featuring the New Avengers. Alexei’s American dream of being on a box of Wheaties has finally come true. Whether the team has been accepted by the world, though, is another question.

The second scene, which is shown after the full credits finish rolling, is the more significant of the two as it teases what’s to come for the superhero squad as well as the MCU.

Set 14 months after the events of the main story, the team formerly informally known as the Thunderbolts* has hit a bit of a roadblock with its branding. While they had been dubbed the New Avengers by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) by the end of the movie, Sam Wilson, the new Captain America, is not at all pleased that they have claimed the Avengers’ name.

Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), middle, and John Walker (Wyatt Russell), left, Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) have a misunderstanding in “Thunderbolts*.”

(Chuck Zlotnick / Marvel Studios)

In “Captain America: Brave New World,” Sam had been given the go-ahead to assemble his own new team of Avengers. According to Yelena, Sam is threatening legal action to keep her team from using the name. This potentially sets up a tension between the two Avengers squads that could come into play whenever audiences finally see them cross paths, likely in the upcoming “Avengers: Doomsday.” The cast of the movie, slated for 2026, includes Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Anthony Mackie (Captain America), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Simu Liu (Shang-Chi), Danny Ramirez (Joaquín Torres), Letitia Wright (Black Panther) and Tenoch Huerta (Namor). But it has not yet been revealed which of these characters are officially members of the Avengers.

This second “Thunderbolts*” post-credits scene concludes with the appearance of a mysterious extradimensional spaceship with the number “4” displayed on its hull. The logo on the ship is that of the Fantastic Four, who are set to be introduced in July’s “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.”

The upcoming “Fantastic Four” film, which will kick off Phase 6 of the MCU, stars Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm, respectively. Also known as Marvel’s First Family, the team in the comics gained superpowers while on a mission in space. “First Steps,” which will be set on an alternate 1960s-inspired retrofuturistic earth, will see the Fantastic Four take on a giant planet-eating cosmic entity called Galactus and his herald, the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). The movie will also presumably show just how and why the Fantastic Four end up in the Avengers’ corner of the multiverse.

The Fantastic Four are also set to appear in “Doomsday,” which will mark former “Iron Man” actor Robert Downey Jr.’s return to the MCU as Doctor Doom. While “Thunderbolts*” is the last film of the MCU’s current phase, Phase 5, which started with 2023’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” will officially wrap with the upcoming “Ironheart” series, premiering on Disney+ in June.