reach

Hamas says it will release Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander as a part of efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

The 21-year-old soldier is the last living hostage with US nationality being held in the territory.

It comes after a senior Hamas official told the BBC that the Palestinian armed group was holding direct negotiations with a US administration official in Qatar.

According to the official, talks have been ongoing for several days and are focused on securing a truce and facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid.

A senior Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told the BBC that Hamas’s announcement was intended as a goodwill gesture before President Donald Trump arrives in the Middle East on Tuesday.

He said another meeting between Hamas and the mediators was scheduled for early Monday morning to finalise the process of Edan’s release, which would require a temporary halt to Israeli military activity and a suspension of aerial operations during the handover.

Born in Tel Aviv but raised in New Jersey, Alexander was serving in an elite infantry unit on the border with Gaza when he was captured by Hamas militants during the 7 October attack.

Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas’s 2023 attack, 59 remain in the enclave, up to 24 of whom are believed to be alive. Five of the hostages in Gaza are believed to be US citizens and Alexander was thought to be the only one still alive.

In its statement, Hamas said the release was part of efforts to achieve a ceasefire and allow food, medicine and other supplies into Gaza. The group said it wanted to reach a final agreement to end the war.

Israel is yet to comment on the latest developments.

Hamas has in the past said it will only agree to a deal that includes the end of the war, something that has been repeatedly rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

President Donald Trump arrives in the Middle East on Tuesday, and Israel has vowed to expand its military offensive against Hamas if no deal is reached by the end of his visit.

The talks between Hamas and the US are taking place amid multiple reports suggesting growing frustration in the Trump administration with Netanyahu’s position. The prime minister is also under pressure at home, with many accusing him of prolonging the war for political purposes.

Israeli officials have said the plans for their expanded offensive include seizing all of the territory indefinitely, forcibly displacing Palestinians to the south, and taking over aid distribution with private companies despite protests from the UN and its humanitarian partners.

Israel has already blocked the entry of all food, medication and other humanitarian supplies into Gaza for 70 days and renewed its aerial bombardment and other military operations there in mid-March, which have since killed 2,720 Palestinians according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Since the beginning of the year, according to the UN, about 10,000 cases of acute malnutrition among children have been identified. Food prices have rocketed by as much as 1,400%.

The war was triggered by the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which saw about 1,200 people killed and more than 250 taken hostage. Some 59 are still held captive, up to 24 of whom are believed to be alive.

Israel’s military campaign has killed 52,829 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Two years ago, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass laid out an ambitious and expensive goal for her first city budget: restore the size of the Los Angeles Police Department to 9,500 officers.

At the time, the LAPD was struggling with recruitment, and Bass — just four months into her job — openly worried the department would soon fall below 9,000.

Now, the mayor’s hiring goal looks even more out of reach. With the city battered by a budget crisis and homicides falling by double digits, some are wondering: just how low can, or should, LAPD staffing go?

On Thursday, the City Council’s budget committee provided a short-term answer, moving forward with a plan to cut the LAPD by another 300 officers — not through layoffs, but simply by slowing down recruitment. Such a move would leave the department with 8,400 officers by June 2026, down from about 8,700 this year and 10,000 five years ago.

The slowdown, if approved by the City Council later this month, would free up $9.5 million, helping the city save some of the civilian workers at the LAPD whose jobs are among the 1,600 targeted for elimination in the mayor’s proposed budget.

But that wasn’t the end of it. Faced with a nearly $1-billion shortfall and several years of financial turmoil ahead, the five-member committee obtained an analysis from the city’s policy experts showing how much could be saved if the LAPD ramps down hiring even more, and for a longer period of time.

The answer? $385 million over five years, if the LAPD cuts the mayor’s police hiring plan for 2025-26 by 75%. Under that scenario, the department would bring on just 120 recruits per year — far fewer than the number who resign or retire — leaving slightly more than 6,600 police officers by 2030.

Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, an outspoken opponent of police spending who sits on the budget committee, requested the analysis. She was one of three council members who voted against Bass’ budget last year, arguing that too much money went to the LAPD and not enough to departments that provide other critical city services.

The four-page analysis handed Hernandez and her allies, who have long called on the city to shift funds away from police, a road map for driving down police spending over the long term.

Hernandez, in an interview, called the committee’s decision to cut police hiring in half over the coming year — taking Bass’ proposal for 480 recruits down to 240 — a good start. She sounded intrigued by the numbers laid out in the analysis, saying it “lays out a very clear pathway” for future budget deliberations.

“This budget crisis is not going to be solved in one budget cycle,” said Hernandez, who represents part of the Eastside. “So I’m hoping we take this into consideration as we try to move this city out of this crisis.”

Others were more critical of the committee’s deliberations.

Sylvia Robledo, a former City Council aide who plans to run against Hernandez next year, warned that scaling back police hiring would increase attrition, result in officer burnout and force the LAPD to spend even more on overtime.

Real estate developer Rick Caruso, now mulling a second run for mayor, also blasted the committee’s approach, calling it “just more of the mismanagement we’ve come to expect from this City Hall.”

“Whether it’s a disastrous budget that will cut services while raising costs on working families, a downgraded bond rating, or fewer cops, Los Angeles is on the wrong track, and this budget will only make it worse,” Caruso, who called in 2022 for the LAPD to have 11,000 officers, said in a statement.

Bass spokesperson Clara Karger said in an email that her boss “has not abandoned her goal to grow the Los Angeles Police Department.” Karger argued that progress is still being made, with the LAPD receiving a record number of applicants and a larger number of officers staying in their jobs.

“Now, with new leadership in the Personnel Department and LAPD, we will eliminate barriers preventing applicants from becoming officers,” she said.

Karger would not say whether Bass would veto a budget that cuts the number of LAPD recruits in half, noting that the council is still “in the middle of the process” of reviewing the spending plan for 2025-26.

In recent years, a majority of council members have been willing to give Bass the money she needs to preserve sworn hiring at the LAPD, even as its ranks continued to shrink. But that equation changed once Bass proposed layoffs for more than 400 civilians working at the Police Department.

Budget committee members coalesced around the idea of slowing down police hiring on the condition that it save the jobs of some of the 133 specialists who carry out critical tasks at the LAPD, such as handling DNA rape kits or conducting fingerprinting analysis.

The committee didn’t bite on another Hernandez idea: halting the acquisition of new police helicopters. Hernandez, who pushed unsuccessfully for that idea last year, will almost certainly raise it again in coming weeks.

“I’m going to keep doing my best to try to move forward with fiscally responsible suggestions and decisions,” she said.

State of play

— CUTTING BACK: The council’s budget committee didn’t just go after police hiring. During its marathon 11-hour meeting on Thursday, the panel also took steps to zap Bass’ proposal for creating a new 67-person homelessness unit within the Los Angeles Fire Department and endorsed a reduction of up to $10 million for Inside Safe, the mayor’s initiative to move homeless Angelenos into interim and permanent housing. The committee is set to finalize its recommendations next week.

— OPEN FOR BUSINESS: Bass went to the 10th Select LA investment summit this week to offer foreign investors a clear message: L.A. remains very much open for business. “At a time of global uncertainty, Los Angeles stands out as a reliable, stable partner for international business and trade,” she said during her welcome remarks, while also releasing her office’s investors guide to L.A.

— WAGE WORRIES: Meanwhile, a coalition of business groups has been pleading with city leaders to delay passage of an ordinance requiring hotel owners and businesses at Los Angeles International Airport to pay a $30 per hour minimum wage, plus $8.35 per hour for healthcare. Those groups say the proposal will deal a potentially fatal blow to L.A.’s tourism industry. “L.A. has destroyed housing production. Now they’re coming for tourism,” said Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn.

— SO LONG, NATE: Former L.A. City Councilmember Nate Holden, who served in the state Legislature and later spent 16 years on the council, died this week at 95. “He was a lion in the State Senate and a force to be reckoned with on the Los Angeles City Council,” said L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn.

— SOIL SAMPLES: New soil testing by the L.A. County Department of Public Health has found high levels of lead and other toxic metals at homes destroyed by January’s catastrophic wildfires and cleared by federal cleanup crews.

— MORE FIRE FALLOUT? Bass joined L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, Annenberg Foundation Executive Director Cinny Kennard and Snap CEO Evan Spiegel for a wildfire recovery panel moderated by Fox 11’s Elex Michaelson at the Milken Institute Global Conference.

The mayor was bullish on the city’s recovery and defended the performance of DWP head Janisse Quiñones. But she also hinted that more city officials might lose their jobs over the fires.

“I think that there are a number of people that should be held accountable, and we’re in the process of doing that,” she said, without providing specifics. Bass ousted her previous fire chief, Kristin Crowley, in February.

— JEERING FROM THE SIDELINES: One figure was notably absent from the Milken stage: Caruso, the former mayoral candidate and frequent Bass antagonist. Caruso, who recently published an op-ed criticizing the mayor’s leadership, was slated to participate in the recovery panel but dropped out after Bass joined the lineup.

“I’m not going to be part of a campaign stop,” he told a reporter shortly after the panel, while holding court in the bustling Beverly Hilton lobby bar. Caruso has been flirting with the idea of another mayoral run but said he won’t “focus on a decision until the end of summer.”

— SHOW YOUR RECEIPTS: Three top officers of United Firefighters of Los Angeles City Local 112 were suspended from their posts Monday after an investigation by the union’s parent organization found $800,000 in credit card purchases that were not properly documented. The International Assn. of Fire Fighters, which oversees UFLAC, suspended President Freddy Escobar and the others over financial improprieties, including “serious problems” with missing receipts. Escobar, who is now locked out of UFLAC’s office, said Friday that he has paperwork that would clear his name.

— BAD FOR BARNSDALL: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House, located in East Hollywood’s Barnsdall Art Park, could close to the public if the mayor’s budget is approved. The reductions also threaten the site’s designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

— HIRING A CHIEF: The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced the hiring of a new police chief: Bill Scott, an LAPD veteran who most recently was chief of the San Francisco Police Department. Scott will be responsible for building Metro’s new police force, a concept approved by the board last year.

— D IS FOR DORMANT: Speaking of transportation, the Metro D line, also known as the Purple Line, will soon be closed for 70 days as construction continues on a $3.7-billion extension of the subway west to La Cienega Boulevard. The extension is scheduled to open by the end of 2025.

— TRANSITIONS: Former Board of Public Works president Vahid Khorsand has moved across the 3rd floor to the mayor’s office, taking a new job last week as deputy mayor of community engagement. Steve Kang, a former member of the Central Area Planning Commission, is taking over as public works president. Khorsand, a super fan of The Killers, managed to work in lyrics from the band into his all-staff goodbye email and his final board remarks.

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature homelessness program went to two parts of Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky’s Westside district: Wilshire Boulevard at San Diego Way and Robertson Boulevard at Burton Way. Inside Safe workers also went to Warner Center in Councilmember Bob Blumenfield’s west San Fernando Valley district and made return visits to Chinatown and South L.A., per the mayor’s team.
• On the docket for next week: The City Council is scheduled to vote Wednesday on the plan for hiking the minimum wage of hotel workers and employees of private companies doing business at Los Angeles International Airport.

Stay in touch

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After decades in prison for the brutal murders of their parents, the waiting is nearly over for brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez in their bid for freedom.

Following disagreements between the current and former Los Angeles County district attorney and a series of legal fits and starts delayed the matter in recent months, L.A. County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic said Friday that the brothers’ resentencing hearing can go forward Tuesday. The hearing is expected to last two days at the Van Nuys Courthouse.

The brothers were convicted of murder with special circumstances in the 1989 shotgun slayings of their parents, Jose and Kitty, at the family’s Beverly Hills home.

Erik, then 18, confessed to the killings in a conversation with his therapist and the two brothers were later sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. While Erik and Lyle claimed Jose sexually abused them and was a threat to their lives, prosecutors contended they killed their parents to get early access to their multimillion-dollar inheritance.

The brothers have been hoping for their day in court since October, when then-Dist. Atty. George Gascón asked a judge to make them eligible for parole. Resentencing could trigger their eligibility for parole through the state’s youthful offender law since they were under 26 at the time of the murders.

Gascón cited the brothers’ work creating rehabilitation programs in prison, their low-risk assessments from corrections officials and potential new evidence about their father’s alleged abusive behavior as reasons they should be set free.

But after Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman trounced Gascón in November, he vowed to re-examine the case. In March, he said he would not support resentencing, contending the brothers had not taken proper “insight” into their crimes and were still lying about being afraid their parents might kill them to cover up Jose’s alleged abuse.

Hochman previously asked Jesic to disregard Gascón’s motion and only consider filings submitted under his administration in the case, but the judge rejected that bid last month, saying there “was nothing really new” in those filings.

Hochman, who appeared on the record in court alongside the line prosecutors assigned to the case, again asked Jesic to throw out Gascón’s petition Friday. This time, he insisted information contained in a risk-assessment report generated by the parole board under the direction of Gov. Gavin Newsom — who is separately considering a request for clemency from the brothers — would have been critical for Gascón to review.

The brothers’ risk level was raised from “low” to “moderate” in the report. Hochman said the report also said that Erik was caught with a cellphone, which is considered contraband in prison, in November. The phone demonstrated that Erik continues to show “elements of entitlement,” according to Hochman.

“He has continued to display narcissistic and antisocial traits,” Hochman said, reading from the report.

Hochman said Lyle, too, had used an illegal cellphone this year and admitted to aiding another inmate with tax fraud 15 years ago and purchasing narcotics in prison. The district attorney said those incidents proved the brothers showed a pattern of deceit behind bars.

Jesic again denied Hochman’s request, saying the report would need to contain something so shocking that Gascón would have reconsidered his position, such as proof the brothers joined a notorious prison gang, such as the Mexican Mafia.

A coalition of relatives supporting Erik and Lyle’s release has been in dispute with Hochman over the case in recent weeks, some of which served as the basis of a motion filed last month by defense attorney Mark Geragos seeking to disqualify Hochman and his prosecutors.

The family has accused Hochman of holding a bias against the brothers and acting “hostile, dismissive and patronizing” toward them during a meeting earlier this year. Geragos also contends Hochman created a conflict by hiring Kathy Cady — a former prosecutor and victims rights attorney who previously represented the lone Menendez relative opposed to their release — as the director of his bureau of victims services. Hochman has maintained Cady is “walled off” from the case.

The family has also questioned Hochman’s decision to transfer the two prosecutors who filed the initial motion to resentence the brothers. The attorneys, Nancy Theberge and Brock Lunsford, have sued Hochman for retaliation.

Hochman has denied allegations of bias and said he is simply following the law. Geragos withdrew his motion to disqualify on Friday because it would delay the re-sentencing hearing.

An attorney for relatives supporting the brothers, Bryan Freedman, continued to criticize the D.A. in court Friday.

Freedman accused Hochman of spending “hundreds of thousands of dollars” by hiring a communications consultant to disparage the Menendez family during his successful campaign for office last year.

While Hochman did make an issue of the Menendez case during the campaign — going so far as to accuse Gascón of seeking to re-sentence the brothers for political purposes — the issue was raised only in the final weeks of the race.

LAG Strategy, the public relations firm that handled communications for Hochman when he was a candidate, had been working on his campaign for nearly a year at that point.

“LAG Strategy is proud to have managed all communications for Nathan Hochman’s winning campaign for District Attorney. Our role ended when Mr. Hochman was sworn in as District Attorney on December 3, 2024,” Stuart Pfeifer, co-founder and managing partner of the firm, wrote in an email to The Times. “The Geragos team’s statement in court today shows they simply did not do their homework.”

Pfeifer is a former Times reporter.

In fiery remarks outside the courthouse, Hochman accused the Menendez camp of spreading misinformation and “hoping that that somehow will sell in the media.”

“Shame on them,” he said.

“If it’s so easy to get to a final, then why doesn’t everyone who finishes in the top three do it?”

In Norway, boss Ange Postecoglou took aim at Tottenham’s critics after they reached the Europa League final as he remained on course to continue his record of winning a trophy in his second season.

Spurs eased past Bodo/Glimt 2-0 in the second leg of their semi-final in the Arctic Circle to complete a 5-1 aggregate victory on Thursday.

Dominic Solanke and Pedro Porro sent Spurs to the final, where they will face Manchester United in Bilbao on 21 May.

Tottenham are 16th in the Premier League after a poor domestic season and are chasing their first major trophy since 2008.

Postecoglou has come under huge criticism for Tottenham’s form, despite losing a number of senior players to injury. They won in Norway without James Maddison and Lucas Bergvall – both out for the season – with Son Heung-min also missing.

At times he has been mocked after stating, accurately, he wins trophies during his second season at a club.

In the Aspmyra Stadion, minutes after seeing his team reach the final, he came out fighting again.

“It’s going to upset a lot of people isn’t it,” Postecoglou said. “The debate’s now raging. The latest one is that neither of us will be able to get a trophy if we win, they’re just going to take a team photo because we’re not worthy.

“I mean, who cares if we’re struggling in the league? It’s a separate thing. It’s got nothing to do with league form.

“I couldn’t care less who’s struggling and who’s not. I think both us and Manchester United have earned the right to be there.”

It is Tottenham’s sixth European final – their last was in 2019 when they lost to Liverpool in the Champions League.

Since winning the 2008 Carabao Cup Spurs have lost three finals and been beaten in three semi-finals. They have also reached four FA Cup semi finals without progressing.

The club has not lifted the Europa League in 41 years, since beating Anderlecht to win what was the Uefa Cup at the time.

“I’ve said all along that this is important,” Postecoglou continued. “What’s happening now is people are fearing that – that it actually might happen, and let’s see how we can tear it down somehow and diminish it somehow by saying it’s been a poor season and we don’t deserve this or we don’t deserve that, or somehow comparing us to Man United.

“Maybe if we had Man United’s success then maybe I’d have a different view. So, of course it’s massive. Of course it is, because you have to frame it against what this club has been through over the last 15 or 20 years and what the supporters have been through.

“We’ve given them some real hope and something to dream about that we can do something special this year.”

The 23-year-old – who will bid for a fifth title in six years at the French Open later this month – has reached at least the quarter-finals of her previous eight tournaments, but is yet to win a trophy this season.

Japan’s Naomi Osaka continued her fine run of form on clay with a 2-6 7-5 6-1 win over Swiss lucky loser Viktorija Golubic.

The 27-year-old has traditionally struggled on clay, failing to make it past the French Open third round, but has now won seven successive matches on the surface.

Her victory at last week’s L’Open 35 de Saint-Malo was her first clay-court title – and first WTA title on any surface since becoming a mother in July 2023.

Osaka had been due to play ninth seed Paula Badosa, but the Spaniard was replaced by Golubic because of injury.

The four-time Grand Slam champion will play Brazilian 18th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia or Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic next.

Italian Jasmine Paolini is also through to the third round after she defeated New Zealander Lulu Sun in straight sets 6-4 6-3.

Sixth seed Paolini will play Tunisian Ons Jabeur, who advanced via a walkover because Czech Petra Kvitova was forced to withdraw from their second-round tie through injury.

The French Open begins at Roland Garros on 25 May.