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The Ellison era of Paramount was barely a month old when another major potential Hollywood merger appeared on the horizon.

Last week the share prices of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery surged following reports that the former was preparing a bid to take over the latter with a mostly cash offer backed by the Larry Ellison family. This would come a remarkably short time after Skydance Media, the production company founded by Larry’s movie producer son David, combined with Paramount in an $8-billion deal.

A merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery would have profound ramifications for the media and entertainment industry.

It would consolidate two of Hollywood’s oldest studios, Paramount and Warner Bros., in the most significant movie business merger since Walt Disney Co. devoured the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox in 2019. The film industry has still not recovered from having the 20th Century Fox studio effectively taken off the board.

Additionally, a merger would put two mass-market streaming services, Paramount+ and HBO Max, under the same roof, probably leading to the eventual melding of the two. The Ellison clan’s move would also bring Warner Bros. Discovery’s linear TV networks, including CNN, HGTV, Food Network and TNT, together with Paramount’s Comedy Central, MTV and BET.

All of this would lead to substantial “synergies,” meaning cuts and layoffs, at a time when the job market in entertainment and corporate media is already fraught as the industry reconfigures itself. Paramount is currently bracing for thousands of layoffs as the new owners seek $2 billion in cost savings.

That’s not to mention the changes that would likely come if CNN came under the control of Ellison.

Larry Ellison, the Oracle Corp. billionaire who, depending on the day, is one of the world’s two wealthiest people alongside Elon Musk, is known to be Trump-friendly. The effects of the Ellison reign are already being felt at Paramount’s CBS News, where a former conservative think tank leader was recently appointed as ombudsman and where center-right and staunchly pro-Israel journalist Bari Weiss is expected to have an influential role after Ellison buys her digital media startup the Free Press.

So why is all this happening now, and why so quickly?

After all, the Wall Street Journal first reported Ellison’s interest in Warner Bros. Discovery on Sept. 11, just weeks after the Paramount-Skydance combo closed on Aug. 7.

In a sense, this scenario is unsurprising. Wall Street has been practically begging for another wave of consolidation in the media business, as the audience for theatrical movies shrinks, cord-cutting guts TV profits and more of viewers’ attention turns to YouTube, Netflix and TikTok. Most of the legacy entertainment companies don’t have the streaming firepower to compete. They need to combine to measure up.

But the timing is unexpected, and the unavoidable political considerations are particularly interesting.

With Trump in the White House, the political winds are clearly blowing in the Ellisons’ direction, after the Skydance and RedBird Capital team that bid for Paramount placated federal regulators with promises to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and to make CBS News more balanced, at least in eyes of Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.

Paramount paid $16 million to settle Trump’s lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” Kamala Harris interview. Ellison and his team want to make a Warner Bros. deal happen when a friendly administration is in power.

Paramount has lately upped its spending, acquiring the rights to UFC (run by Trump friend Dana White), locking down “South Park” for Paramount+ and announcing a deal with Activision to make a “Call of Duty” movie.

Also of note is that Ellison’s group is coming in with an offer for the whole company even as Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav prepares to split the media giant into two firms: one with the studios, HBO and streaming businesses, and the other with the TV networks. Putting in a bid now could dissuade other potential buyers that might be interested in just one part.

Apple and Amazon have long been seen as potential bidders for Warner Bros. (Amazon already owns MGM), but it’s unlikely they would want a bunch of TV channels that are on the brink of being orphaned. Analysts have speculated that one reason for the proposed split was to make the studio and streaming assets more attractive to buyers by uncoupling them from the challenged pay-TV business. That split is expected to take place sometime in mid-2026.

Paramount’s bid could also preempt those that may want to do a deal, but are firmly on the Trump administration’s bad side. NBCUniversal owner Comcast Corp.’s CEO Brian Roberts has been the subject of disparaging Trump missives. Comcast is liberal network MSNBC’s parent company (for now). A regulatory review involving a perceived Trump enemy would likely not go well.

Of course, competitive bids could emerge anyway, for example, if a private equity player such as Apollo Global decided to get into the mix after previously expressing interest in Paramount through an unsuccessful team-up with Sony.

Big mergers in media and entertainment often fail, and they’re always disruptive.

Warner Bros. itself was involved in some of the most disastrous deals ever: AT&T’s purchase of Time Warner, and before that, the media company’s ill-fated marriage with AOL. Warner Bros. is now on a box-office hot streak, but that has come after years of Zaslav taking heat for killing projects such as “Batgirl.”

Such deals result in mass layoffs. Movie theater owners will most likely see darker days ahead as they’ll be minus yet another big supplier of blockbusters. Journalist Richard Rushfield, of the Ankler newsletter, demanded that somebody do something to stop it. We’ll see.

An Oracle scion buying two studios one after the other probably wasn’t the tech takeover of Hollywood that many people envisioned. Analysts long assumed that Apple would be the one to buy an entertainment powerhouse — maybe even Disney — despite having not shown any particular inclination for doing so. But though it’s not the Silicon Valley roll-up people anticipated, it may be the one they’re going to get.

Stuff we wrote

Numbers of the week

An anime film slayed its Hollywood competition at the box office over the weekend.

“Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle,” already a big hit in Japan, was the highest-grossing movie domestically, beating new films “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale,” “The Long Walk” and “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.”

The film, distributed by Sony Pictures and Crunchyroll, opened with a better-than-expected $70 million in ticket sales from the U.S. and Canada, according to studio estimates, making it the biggest anime opening ever. It’s also the highest-grossing domestic debut of the year so far for an animated film.

Its global weekend for Sony, which owns the Crunchyroll anime brand and streaming service, totaled $132.1 million, which includes 49 international markets.

Including grosses from Japan, the movie’s worldwide tally has surpassed $450 million, according to Comscore.

The success of “Demon Slayer,” part of a long-running popular franchise and not to be confused with Netflix’s hit “KPop Demon Hunters,” is a relief to theater owners at a time when other genres are struggling, including superheroes, comedies and original animation. It’s the latest evidence of anime’s growing global clout.

Comedian Nate Bargatze didn’t shortchange the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, nor did he kill the Emmys telecast’s ratings on Sunday night.

The 77th Emmy Awards ceremony from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles delivered an average of 7.42 million viewers on CBS, up 8% from last year’s audience for ABC.

Once among the most-watched live awards shows on television, the Emmy Awards audience declined dramatically over the last decade as most of the series celebrated no longer have the broad reach they did when traditional TV still dominated the culture, reports Stephen Battaglio.

But the audience level appears to have stabilized. Nielsen data shows that ratings for the Emmy Awards grew for the second consecutive year. The figure is the highest since 2021, when the telecast also aired on CBS.

HBO Max’s “The Pitt,” Apple TV+’s “The Studio” and Netflix’s “Adolescence” were big winners.

Film shoots

Finally …

Listen: The music of Le Tigre, just because it rocks. I just started the audiobook of Le Tigre and Bikini Kill frontwoman Kathleen Hanna’s memoir, “Rebel Girl.” Essential for punk rock fans.

England score six tries on their way to an impressive 40-8 win over Scotland to set up a clash with France in the semi-finals of the Women’s Rugby World Cup.

MATCH REPORT: Women’s Rugby World Cup quarter-finals – England 40-8 Scotland

Available to UK users only.

Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists on Friday elected “The Lord of the Rings” actor Sean Astin to be its national president as one of Hollywood’s most powerful labor unions faces new challenges in a changing film and TV industry.

Astin, known for portraying Frodo’s loyal hobbit friend, Samwise Gamgee, in the Peter Jackson-directed fantasy trilogy, now finds himself headed to a different kind of stage.

The 54-year-old actor will become leader of the 160,000-person performers union as it prepares to enter negotiations next year for a new contract with the major studios at a time when the entertainment industry faces consolidation, productions moving overseas and artificial intelligence.

“I feel proud and I feel determined,” Astin said in an interview. “People keep saying to me, ‘I hope you have time to celebrate’ and celebrating feels like a foreign thought. This doesn’t feel like a moment for celebration. It feels like a moment to say thank you and get to work.”

Astin garnered 79% of the votes cast in the election, according to the actors guild’s data. Voting closed on Friday. Astin beat his opponent Chuck Slavin, a background actor and performer in independent movies.

Slavin on Friday said in a statement that “while the outcome is disappointing, my commitment to advocating for transparency and member rights remains unshaken.”

Astin succeeds outgoing president Fran Drescher, who led the union through a 118-day strike during the last contract negotiations in summer 2023. Under that contract, the union secured AI protections and streaming bonuses based on viewership numbers. Some actors felt the contract didn’t go far enough and hope for more gains during next year’s talks.

Astin told The Times in an interview earlier this month that he is hopeful about securing a fair deal with the studios.

“I have a very good feeling about going into this next negotiation, because it’s clear to me that it’s in both parties’ interest to achieve a good deal,” Astin said.

In general, “the truth is that no union and no management should ever want a strike — that is the tool of last resort,” Astin said.

Astin’s strategy for negotiations was more moderate than that of Slavin. Slavin said that, if elected, he would call a strike authorization vote before meeting with the studios as a way to help boost the union’s leverage during negotiations.

Astin’s running mate, Michelle Hurd, was elected as secretary-treasurer of the union, receiving around 65% of the vote. Hurd has acted in shows such as “Star Trek: Picard” and movies including the romantic comedy “Anyone But You.”

Astin said he would push for more AI protections in the next contract and work with government leaders to keep productions in the U.S.

Astin ran under a group called “The Coalition,” which featured candidates from Membership First and Unite For Strength, two political groups within SAG-AFTRA. Slavin ran as an independent.

Voter turnout for this year’s national election was lower than in 2023, when Drescher was re-elected president. In 2023, roughly 23% of the ballots were returned, compared to this year’s 17%, according to SAG-AFTRA data. In 2021, when Drescher was first elected national president, 26% of the ballots were returned, according to the union.

Astin received a key endorsement from outgoing president Drescher, who he says has been a “constant source of support and guidance” and said he was “eager to help protect her legacy.” Astin’s mother, Academy Award-winning supporting actor Patty Duke, was a past president of the actors’ union.

Astin said that he will begin his term poring over information, meeting with SAG-AFTRA staff and doing outreach to members, including visiting the various locals.

“Now is the time for the optimism,” Astin said on Friday. “When you elect a new president, it’s a new chapter and a new page is turned. There is no reason not to charge forward as a union with our members.”

The European Union will implement new measures against Israel and further raise support for Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said.

In her annual State of the Union address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday, von der Leyen condemned the situation in Gaza as “catastrophic”, announcing plans to cut support for Israel and implement sanctions.

She also noted plans to further raise support for Ukraine, urging EU members – some of which are likely to be unenthusiastic – to rally behind the measures on both issues.

“Man-made famine can never be a weapon of war. For the sake of the children, for the sake of humanity, this must stop,” the EU chief declared.

The proposed “package of measures” includes sanctions on “extremist Israeli ministers” and settlers, a suspension of bilateral support for Israel, and a suspension of the EU’s association agreement with Israel, which gives it preferential access to European markets.

“Europe needs to do more,” said von der Leyen, adding that while she would attempt to move the bloc in unison, EU member states also needed to take “our own responsibility” on the issue.

“Europe’s goal has always been the same. Real security for Israel and a safe, present future for all Palestinians,” she said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar was quick to slam the EU chief and claimed that she was offering support to Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas.

“The remarks made this morning by the President of the European Commission are regrettable. Some of them also echo the false propaganda of Hamas and its partners,” Saar wrote on social media. “Once again, Europe is sending the wrong message, which strengthens Hamas and the radical axis in the Middle East.”

Reparations and returns for Ukraine

Regarding Ukraine, von der Leyen said she was proposing a summit to coordinate international efforts to secure the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.

The use of frozen Russian assets to fund a “reparations loan” for Ukraine was also put forward in the speech, although von der Leyen said the bloc would not seize the assets itself.

The address came shortly after Polish and NATO forces shot down Russian drones that had violated Poland’s airspace. The EU chief branded Moscow’s actions “reckless and unprecedented”.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the EU has imposed 18 rounds of sanctions on it, targeting its economy, individuals and key sectors such as fuel, as well as nearly 140 billion euros ($164bn) in support to Ukraine, including financial, humanitarian, and military assistance.

Von der Leyen said as the EU prepares its 19th package of sanctions against Moscow, it will seek to accelerate efforts to phase out all purchases of Russian fossil fuels, as well as sanctioning the shadow oil shipping fleet used to circumvent such measures and any third countries involved.

Coalition of the unwilling?

However, Brussels is likely to encounter obstacles to such ambitions. Unanimous agreement is required to impose sanctions, and Hungary and Slovakia remain dependent on Russian energy and have blocked previous actions.

The 27-member bloc also remains divided over action regarding Israel’s war on Gaza, which started after Hamas led deadly attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

Sanctions and the suspension of the trade agreement would require the approval of all 27 states, and could meet resistance from the likes of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Germany.

Other member states, such as Spain or Ireland, have been calling for economic curbs and an arms embargo against Israel for some time.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said the “double standards” demonstrated by the West over the wars in Ukraine and Gaza threaten to undermine its global standing.

However, other member states have obstructed efforts to take action and continue to supply the Israeli military with arms and equipment.

Ranging into other topics, von der Leyen defended the much-criticised tariffs deal she agreed recently with Washington, saying it stabilised ties with the United States at a time of soaring global tensions and averted trade war “chaos”.

She also asserted that the EU needs a new sanctions system targeting people smugglers and traffickers, adding it should be part of measures allowing the bloc to manage migration “effectively”.

“The Conjuring: Last Rites” gave movie theaters a needed jolt over the weekend with a much better than expected domestic opening of $84 million and a global take of $194 million, a franchise best and the latest success for Warner Bros. and its New Line Cinema banner.

But it will take more than supernatural scares to ease Hollywood’s jitters after a weak summer movie season that exposed more challenges facing the traditional film industry.

Ticket sales fell slightly from last year’s summer season, which for the movie business spans from the first weekend of May through Labor Day. Movies grossed $3.67 billion in the U.S. and Canada this summer, down 0.2% from the same period in 2024, according to data from Comscore. More importantly, it’s still down from the pre-pandemic norm of about $4 billion, a disappointing result given that summer typically accounts for about 40% of annual grosses.

If you account for inflation, it’s even worse. Adjusting for today’s dollars, summer revenue was down 34% from 2019, meaning theater attendance was weaker than the topline revenue stats suggest. With actual attendance still impaired compared with the days before COVID-19, there’s a growing sense that the industry’s fears have come true: Audience habits have changed, and they’re not going back.

The problem wasn’t a lack of movies compared with last year. The effects of the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes have dissipated by now.

Rather, the issue was a shortage of big studio movies that audiences really wanted to see. The biggest release was Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” remake, which collected $424 million domestically. There was nothing like last summer’s “Inside Out 2” or “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which both generated more than $600 million in North America.

The problem of the shrinking overall audience could be due to multiple factors.

In particular, theater owners blame the shrinking of the theatrical window — the period of time a new movie is held back from home video after its big screen debut — to roughly 45 days from the previously standard 90 days. Audiences know they don’t have to wait long before a new movie becomes available in their living room. That encourages them to save their money for only the biggest, Imax-worthy spectacles. The growing influence of Imax and premium large format screening may exacerbate that trend, as audiences choose between paying extra for a better “experience,” or just waiting to see “F1 The Movie” on their couch.

There were plenty of sequels and reboots, but those often performed worse than prior installments, indicating that audiences were less enthusiastic about seeing another Marvel movie or rampaging dino feature. “Jurassic World: Rebirth” made $861 million globally, which was big, but still the series’ smallest outing since 2001’s “Jurassic Park III.” Warner Bros.’ “Superman” collected a healthy $614 million, but that was still less than 2013’s “Man of Steel” ($670 million).

Superheroes didn’t come flying to the rescue. Marvel’s “Thunderbolts” put up a modest $382 million while “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” opened strong but collapsed in subsequent weeks for a total of $511 million worldwide, a middling outcome for the Disney-owned comic book universe. No wonder studios are increasingly looking at video games as a source of intellectual property for movie adaptations, as my colleague Sam Masunaga recently wrote. After all, Generation Alpha’s list of favorite franchises is dominated by video game-related titles, according to a recent National Research Group report.

Another threat emerged as international audiences appeared to sour on some U.S. blockbusters. “Superman” and “Fantastic Four” grossed less abroad than they did at home, which is an unusual result for big-budget action flicks.

It’s not clear why, but some explanations have been floated. China is no longer the reliable source of revenue that it once was, as audiences increasingly favor local-language productions. Some speculate that America’s diminished standing abroad has contributed to audience fatigue. The quintessential Americanness of the Superman brand is also widely believed to be a factor in that film’s underperformance outside the U.S.

Original animation struggled, as Pixar fielded its worst opening weekend ever with “Elio.” To add insult to injury, Sony Pictures Animation’s “KPop Demon Hunters” became a cultural phenomenon, but only after first launching on Netflix.

The rest of the year has some major releases, but they’re not expected to bring the business back to full strength. September is usually a slow month for moviegoing, “Last Rites” notwithstanding. Disney’s “Zootopia 2,” Universal’s “Wicked: For Good” and James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash” will probably do huge business. But while individual films can do well, the overall picture isn’t so rosy.

Stuff we wrote

Number of the week

Artificial intelligence company Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion to authors and publishers to settle a lawsuit that accused the company of illegally using written work to train its chatbot Claude.

The topline figure is the largest known settlement for a copyright case, equating to $3,000 per work for an estimated 500,000 books, The Times’ Queenie Wong reported.

But the case was not an outright win for authors worried about AI being trained on their published material. Far from it.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup of San Francisco ruled in June that Anthropic’s use of the books to train the AI models constituted “fair use,” meaning it wasn’t illegal. Fair use is a doctrine that allows for the limited use of copyrighted materials without permission in certain cases, such as teaching, criticism and news reporting. It’s an essential part of AI companies’ defense against copyright infringement claims.

The real problem for Anthropic was that the startup had illegally downloaded millions of books through online libraries. So the piracy was the true sin in this case, not the training of AI on books without permission.

Anthropic pirated at least 7 million books from Books3, Library Genesis and Pirate Library Mirror, online libraries containing unauthorized copies of copyrighted books, to train its software, according to the judge. However, it also bought millions of print copies in bulk and scanned them into digital and machine-readable forms, which Alsup found to be in the bounds of fair use.

Film shoots

Finally …

Listen: Zach Top’s “Ain’t in It for My Health,” for throwback country goodness.

Read: Amy Nicholson’s review of “The Wizard of Oz” at Sphere in Las Vegas.

Christian Wade will leave reigning Super League champions Wigan Warriors at the end of the rugby league season in order to return to rugby union with Newcastle Red Bulls from December.

The 34-year-old crossed codes to join Wigan on a short-term deal from Gloucester at the end of the 2024-25 Premiership season but could not make a lasting impact in the 13-a-side game.

Wade made two appearances for Wigan and scored tries in both, but committed persistent handling mistakes when fielding high kicks in their defeat by Hull FC in July, which was the last time he played for the Warriors.

The second-highest try-scorer in Prem history – just eight behind Chris Ashton’s record – Wade’s imminent arrival is one of the first key moves by Newcastle following their takeover by Red Bull.

“It’s been an absolute honour to be involved with a great club like Wigan Warriors, and they’ve been fantastic with me,” Wade said., external

“I’ve never been someone to shy away from a challenge, I’ve learnt a lot from the experience and it’s a special organisation.

“Their fans are incredible, more like a football crowd with how tribal they are, and I’ve been proud to represent them.”

Wigan head coach Matt Peet paid tribute to Wade’s professionalism and commitment during his time with the Warriors.

“We’ve really enjoyed having him in the group and we wish him and his family all the very best as he moves on to this exciting new chapter with Newcastle. It is clear to see why he has had such an outstanding career,” Peet said., external

SEOUL, Sept. 4 (UPI) — Just one day after President Lee Jae Myung’s cabinet approved the so-called “Yellow Envelope Law” on Tuesday, Hyundai Motors’ union launched its first partial strike in seven years, demanding the company notify labor in advance of new business ventures and overseas plant expansions, The Korea Economic Daily reported.

The law, passed by the National Assembly on Aug. 24 and set to take effect in early 2026, expands the scope of legal strikes to include management decisions such as mergers, restructuring and plant relocations.

It also limits corporate damage claims against unions. Analysts say the Hyundai union’s push reflects the law’s immediate influence on labor tactics.

Hyundai shut down assembly lines Wednesday in Ulsan, Jeonju and Asan for four hours, affecting an estimated 1,500 vehicles, Maeil Daily reported. GM Korea and HD Hyundai shipbuilding unions also staged partial walkouts to protest restructuring moves.

Observers warn the law, intended to protect workers from excessive corporate lawsuits, could embolden unions to intervene in management strategy, heightening labor unrest across Korea’s key industries, Maeil Business Newspaper reported.

In an early season showdown between two of the top girls volleyball teams in the state, Redondo Union took control over the last two sets to handle Marymount 25-23, 18-25, 25-21, 25-14 and prove it is a threat for its first Southern Section championship since 2019.

The squads entered their nonleague matchup with a 22-1 combined record this fall and could meet again down the road with the stakes even higher. The Sea Hawks’ triumph was all the more impressive given that it was accomplished without libero Rowan DeVore (sidelined with flu) and senior twins Avery and Addi Junk, who are skipping the indoor season to concentrate on beach volleyball, which both are committed to play at Florida State.

California commit Abby Zimmerman was almost unstoppable, pounding a match-high 26 kills, Leah Blair (committed to play beach at Washington) had 10 kills and UC Irvine-bound Taylor Boice added seven kills for the home side. Setter Marlo Libbey had 33 assists and served three aces.

Zimmerman led her school to the beach title in the spring.

“Indoor is my favorite and we’ve put in so much work, it would be great to go out on top my last year,” Zimmerman said. “This was a solid match for us and if we can bring the same energy and fight every game we have a good chance.”

Both programs were coming off successful trips to Hawaii. Redondo Union finished runner-up to national power Byron Nelson (Texas) for the second straight season at the Ann Kang Invitational, while Marymount did not drop a set on its way to the Hawaiian Island Labor Day Classic championship Saturday in Hilo.

Junior hitter Makenna Barnes had 16 kills, Washington commit Sammy Destler added 14, Olivia Penske had 36 assists and Declan Eastman recorded 11 digs for the Sailors, who were trying to avenge a five-set defeat in the first round of the CIF SoCal Open Division regionals last fall.

“I play on the same club team as Abby and Taylor… we’re best friends,” Destler said. “This was a much-needed wake-up call for us. We have practice at 5:45 a.m. tomorrow and I have to like it. Redondo’s a whole different level than the teams we saw in Hawaii.”

Tuesday’s nonleague match not only featured many of the Southland’s most talented players, but also two of its most successful coaches in Redondo Union’s Tommy Chaffins (who passed the 900 career wins milestone last year) and Marymount’s Cari Klein (who has led her Sailors to 30 or more victories in three of the last four seasons).

Klein said the trip back from Hawaii had a little drama as the plane had engine problems and had to divert to Oahu.

Marymount was off to its hottest start since 2021 when it finished 35-0 en route to its 10th section title and seventh state crown under Klein and the No. 1 national ranking.

The schedule only gets tougher for Redondo Union (14-1), which travels to reigning Division 1 champion Mater Dei on Thursday and hosts 2022 champion Sierra Canyon next Tuesday. Marymount (9-1) will try to shake off its first loss when it hosts the Sea Hawks’ Bay League rival, Mira Costa, on Thursday.

“We’re very close on and off the court and we bonded even more in Hawaii,” Boice said. “Tonight we simply wanted it more.”

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has approved sending up to 600 military lawyers to the Justice Department to serve as temporary immigration judges, according to a memo reviewed by the Associated Press.

The military will begin sending groups of 150 attorneys — both military and civilians — to the Justice Department “as soon as practicable,” and the armed services should have the first round of people identified by next week, according to the Aug. 27 memo.

The effort comes as the Trump administration is cracking down on illegal immigration by ramping up arrests and deportations. And immigration courts already are dealing with a massive backlog of roughly 3.5 million cases that has ballooned in recent years.

At the same time, more than 100 immigration judges have been fired or left voluntarily after taking deferred resignations offered by the Trump administration, their union says. In the most recent round of terminations, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers said in July that at least 17 immigration judges had been fired “without cause” in courts across the country.

That has left about 600 immigration judges, union figures show, meaning the Pentagon move would double their ranks.

The Justice Department, which oversees the immigration courts, requested the assistance from the Defense Department, according to the memo sent by the Pentagon’s executive secretary to his Justice Department counterpart. The military lawyers’ duties as immigration judges will initially last no more than 179 days but can be renewed, it said.

A Justice Department spokesperson referred questions about the plan to the Defense Department, where officials directed questions to the White House.

A White House official said Tuesday that the administration is looking at a variety of options to help resolve the significant backlog of immigration cases, including hiring additional immigration judges. The official said the matter should be “a priority that everyone — including those waiting for adjudication — can rally around.”

The memo stressed that sending the additional attorneys is contingent on availability and that mobilizing reserve officers may be necessary. Plus, the document said the Justice Department would be responsible for ensuring that anyone sent from the Pentagon does not violate the federal prohibition on using the military as domestic law enforcement, known as the Posse Comitatus Act.

The administration faced a setback on its efforts to use the military in unique ways to combat illegal immigration and crime, with a court ruling Tuesday that it “willfully” violated federal law by sending National Guard troops to Los Angeles in early June.

Cases in immigration court can take years to weave their way to a final determination, with judges and lawyers frequently scheduling final hearings on the merits of a case more than a year out.

Toropin writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Will Weissert, Rebecca Santana and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

Kami Miner, an All-American volleyball player at Redondo Union and Stanford, dropped by her alma mater’s match last week before heading to Italy to play pro volleyball.

Coach Tommy Chaffins knew what to do.

“Hey, you want to come into the team room?” he asked.

“‘I’d love to,” Miner said.

Redondo Union players got a good pep talk before a win over Long Beach Poly.

“She loves Redondo,” Chaffins said.

Redondo Union is 13-1 heading into a competitive home match on Tuesday against Marymount, followed by a showdown against Mater Dei on the road.

Abby Zimmerman, a four-year starter and captain headed to Cal, has been leading the Sea Hawks.

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

For two years, labor organizers tried to unionize employees at a trio of celebrated California national parks, but they couldn’t reach critical mass.

Then came mass firings of National Park Service employees in February under the Trump administration. Many employees were reinstated, but litigation concerning the legality of the firings winds on. The park service has lost about a quarter of its staff since Trump reclaimed the White House, and that’s on top of a proposed $1-billion budget cut to the agency.

This summer the scales tipped. More than 97% of employees at Yosemite and Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks who cast ballots voted to unionize, with results certified last week. More than 600 staffers — including interpretive park rangers, biologists, firefighters and fee collectors — are now represented by the National Federation of Federal Employees.

Steven Gutierrez, national business representative with the National Federation of Federal Employees, said it took mass firings to “wake people up.”

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

“Culture is hard to change,” said Steven Gutierrez, a national business representative for the union. “It takes something like this administration firing people to wake people up, to say, ‘Hey, I’m vulnerable here and I need to invest in my career.’”

The unionized employees work at some of California’s most celebrated and highly visited national parks. Yosemite is famous for its awe-inspiring valley, while Sequoia and Kings Canyon are known for their giant sequoia trees.

Amid that beauty is a workforce that is frustrated and fearful. Two employees at Yosemite National Park described rock-bottom morale amid recent turmoil — and a sense that the union could provide an avenue for change. Both are union representatives and requested anonymity for fear of retaliation.

“With this administration, I think there’s a lot more people who are scared, and I think the union definitely helps towards protections that we really want,” said one employee.

National Park Service Ranger Anna Nicks walks through a grove of sequoia trees in Sequoia National Park in May 2024.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Despite staff being depleted by buyouts and a hiring freeze, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has ordered parks to remain “open and accessible.” As a result, the employee said visitors may not notice something is off.

“There’s a lot of folks doing multiple jobs and just trying to hold up the park,” she said, adding that she believes that the union will help ensure people get paid properly for the work they do and that their duties don’t shift.

The employees stressed that many workplace problems they want to see fixed — including low pay and squalid living conditions — predate Trump’s second stint in the White House. But recent developments have exacerbated the situation.

Because pay hasn’t kept pace with inflation, one employee said he’s unable to pay rent and lives out of his car for most of the year. Meanwhile, he said, those in park housing face safety threats such as hantavirus-carrying rodents that invade living spaces, caving-in roofs and unstable decks. Understaffing has plagued Yosemite for years.

“People that you see working here, they’re really at their wit’s end,” he said. “Personally speaking, it’s just a lot of work to handle. Years ago, we had twice as many people doing this work.”

Staffers are “worried about their futures,” he added.

The National Park Service did not respond to a request for comment. But in a statement to a Senate appropriations subcommittee in May, Burgum said the Trump administration remains committed to supporting the parks, while looking for ways to cut costs.

A waterfall is reflected in water in the meadow in the Yosemite Valley as the snowpack melts in April 2023.

(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

“Since becoming Interior Secretary, I’ve traveled to National Parks, historic sites, and wildlife refuges to learn and hear from leadership on the ground,” Burgum said. “We’re instituting changes to get more people actually working in the parks and are looking forward to what Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly forecasted to be an ‘outstanding summer.’ ”

The unionization vote comes as the Trump administration seeks to strip federal employees of labor protections many have long enjoyed. On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order that directs certain federal agencies — including NASA, the National Weather Service and the Bureau of Reclamation — to end collective bargaining agreements with unions representing federal employees.

The Department of Veterans Affairs previously moved to terminate protections for more than 400,000 of its workers. The president’s overall effort on this front is being fought in court, although federal judges have so far sided with the administration.

As labor unrest mounts, Americans and foreign tourists are visiting national parks like never before. In 2024, there were a record 332 million visits to national parks, including 4 million to Yosemite. Crowds continued to stream into national parks over Labor Day weekend.

Groups that advocate for public lands say that short staffing is quietly adding to long-standing problems.

Preventative Search and Rescue Program Coordinator Anna Marini gives the Lutter family children junior guide books after they finished a hike in August 2024 in Joshua Tree National Park.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

“It’s clear staffing shortages are directly impacting park operations across the system,” the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Assn. said in a statement Wednesday.

“Parks like Joshua Tree and Yosemite are struggling with search and rescue, law enforcement and even basic medical services, while some parks have no maintenance staff at all. Seasonal roads, trails and campgrounds like those at Sequoia and Kings Canyon remain closed due to unaddressed damage.”

The union voting took place July 22 to Aug. 19, and included permanent and seasonal employees. The National Federation of Federal Employees represents workers at several other national parks, including Yellowstone and, in Ohio, Cuyahoga Valley, as well as those in the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.

A union sign hailing federal workers is displayed at Sequoia National Park.

(Steven Gutierrez)

Federal employees don’t have the right to strike, Gutierrez said, meaning that much of employees’ advocacy has to happen in Washington, D.C. He said the union can bring workers face to face with congressional leaders to explain why their jobs matter — including the tourism dollars they help generate.

Next steps will include hammering out labor contracts for Yosemite and Sequoia and Kings Canyon, which can provide job protections.

Gutierrez said he’d like to see one drafted by December but acknowledged that it can be a long process.

“If Trump puts his fingers into it, it’s going to take longer,” he said.

WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Wednesday that his department is taking management of Union Station, the main transportation hub in Washington, away from Amtrak, in another example of how the federal government is exerting its power over the nation’s capital.

Duffy made the announcement in a statement before he joined Amtrak President Roger Harris at Union Station for the launch of the NextGen Acela, the rail service’s new high-speed train.

The secretary said Union Station, located within walking distance of the U.S. Capitol, had “fallen into disrepair” when it should be a “point of pride” for the city.

“By reclaiming station management, we will help make this city safe and beautiful at a fraction of the cost,” Duffy said.

At the event, Duffy said President Trump has been “pretty clear” about what he wants.

“He wants Union Station to be beautiful again. He wants transit to be safe again. And he wants our nation’s capital to be great again. And today is part of that,” Duffy said.

Duffy echoed the Republican president, who said last week he wants $2 billion from Congress to beautify Washington as part of his crackdown on the city. The Republican president has sent thousands of National Guard troops and federal law enforcement officials into Washington in a bid to fight violent crime he claimed had strangled the city.

Local police department statistics show violent crime in Washington has declined in recent years, but Trump has countered, without offering evidence, that the numbers were fudged.

National Guard troops have been on patrol inside and outside of Union Station after Trump launched the anti-crime effort earlier this month. Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were shouted down by opponents of the federal intervention when they visited with troops there last week.

During Wednesday’s train unveiling, Duffy will also talk about what the administration is doing to turn Union Station into a world class transit hub, according to a Transportation Department news advisory.

Duffy had pressed Amtrak about crime at Union Station in a March letter to its chief operating officer and requested an updated plan on how it intended to improve public safety there.

Superville writes for the Associated Press.

It was bound to happen sometime. This year, the most important Hollywood movie of the key summer season didn’t start its quest for world domination in movie theaters. It came out on Netflix.

“KPop Demon Hunters,” the cartoon musical about a girl group using catchy tunes to keep evil at bay, has become a viral phenomenon since it launched on the streamer June 20. With 210 million views globally so far, it’s the most watched animated movie ever on Netflix, and is expected to soon top “Red Notice” as the company’s most popular film.

That should be no surprise at this point. Unlike many previous widely watched Netflix movies, “KPop” — produced by Culver City-based Sony Pictures Animation — has penetrated the cultural zeitgeist, leading to gushing from millennial parents’ group chats including mine, chart-topping songs and, of course, memes galore.

To keep the momentum going, Netflix took the unusual step of putting the movie in theaters weeks after its streaming debut.

“KPop Demon Hunters” sing-along screenings played in more than 1,750 locations domestically to packed houses, with more than 1,150 sold-out showings, though it did not play in AMC cineplexes. It was the No. 1 movie in theaters, scoring in the ballpark of $18 million in ticket sales, according to industry sources, enough to top the third weekend of Zach Cregger’s horror hit “Weapons.” Netflix released the sing-along version of “KPop Demon Hunters” for streaming on Monday.

Netflix, as is its typical practice, did not report actual box office grosses, so the counts for its first No. 1 box office hit aren’t official. Nonetheless, theater operators were clearly relieved to have the movie, even if for only two days. The August box office doldrums are in full swing, with little to cheer about from the traditional studios.

The summer blockbuster season is expected to end with about $3.5 billion in total revenue from the first weekend of May through Labor Day, according to analysts, which would be either roughly flat or slightly down from last year’s thin slate. More than $4 billion is considered normal or healthy by pre-pandemic standards.

The biggest hit this summer was Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch,” a live-action remake that collected $422 million in the U.S. and Canada and more than $1 billion globally. Last summer, two movies topped $600 million: Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” and Marvel’s “Deadpool & Wolverine,” both of which were Disney titles.

Netflix has had a tense relationship with the theatrical business since it first got into making movies. The company puts movies in cinemas for limited runs as part of marketing efforts, awards campaigns and as a way to appease filmmakers who prefer the big-screen experience. Co-Chief Executive Ted Sarandos earlier this year called the theatrical business “outdated” for most people, citing weak box office numbers after the COVID-19 closures.

Indeed, theatrical attendance has shrunk even more than the top-line revenue figures suggest, with shortfalls partly papered over by increases in ticket prices over the years.

When Scott Stuber ran Netflix’s film business, he pushed the company to do more with theaters because auteur directors wanted it. The film side is now run by Dan Lin.

People who advocate for the multiplex keep hoping that some event will persuade Netflix that its theory is wrong — that something like the “KPop Demon Hunters” screenings or next year’s Imax rollout for Greta Gerwig’s upcoming “Narnia” project will prove that Sarandos is mistaken and theatrical windows will actually benefit Netflix beyond using them as promotional ploys.

Rivals say their movies do better on streaming services when they’re already theatrical hits, a theme repeated by the new owners of Paramount who are trying to grow their direct-to-consumer business.

But if anything, Netflix is digging in.

The company sees the success of “KPop,” along with the recent release of “Happy Gilmore 2,” as proof that movies can resonate culturally without theaters and the massive advertising budgets necessary to open a film on 4,000 domestic screens. The Adam Sandler-starring sequel scored 46.7 million views in its first three days on the service and set a Nielsen record for the most-watched streaming movie in a single week.

Netflix has long faced skepticism from Hollywood over its film business, which can put up big viewership with movies like “Red Notice” and “The Adam Project” that seem to vanish from audiences’ consciousness without a trace.

We kind of already knew that movies, particularly animated musicals aimed at kids, could find a big audience online without being a theatrical smash. “Encanto,” released in November 2021 during the pandemic and the Bob Chapek era, did paltry box office by modern Disney standards but became a phenomenon when its Lin-Manuel Miranda-penned songs took off on social media.

When kids latch onto something, they watch it repeatedly, and they don’t care if it’s been in theaters or not. If the movie is good and relevant to them, it can work regardless of the release strategy.

Would “KPop Demon Hunters” have worked if it had been released in theaters exclusively? Who knows. If it had opened to modest box office results, as animated original movies tend to do lately, it would have immediately been written off as a disappointment. Instead, it stayed on the Netflix top 10 lists for weeks and climbed the Nielsen rankings because of word of mouth.

Part of its success is that the movie feels very “now,” whereas animated films sometimes aim for timelessness. It’s culturally specific, with universal themes (friendship and young people’s need to belong) that have powered Disney blockbusters for decades. A colleague of mine aptly described it as a sort of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” meets “Frozen.” Its music is current and rides the wave of everything influenced by South Korean pop culture.

Will it have the enduring influence of the “Frozen” franchise or “Moana,” movies that started primarily as properties for girls but became touchstones for a broader audience? Perhaps not, but it does give Netflix another data point to validate its streaming movie strategy.

Stuff we wrote

Number of the week

Even $3-trillion Apple isn’t immune to streaming inflation.

Apple TV+, home of series including “The Studio” and “Ted Lasso,” is raising its subscription price by $3 to $12.99 a month, following the lead of other streamers chasing better returns.

Finally …

Read: I’m listening to the audiobook of Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus’ “Fahrenheit-182.” A must for this San Diego native.

Caspar Veldkamp and other ministers step down after cabinet rejects sanctions against Israel, prompting broader political upheaval.

Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp has resigned after failing to secure cabinet support for additional sanctions against Israel over its military onslaught in Gaza.

Veldkamp, a member of the centre-right New Social Contract party, said on Friday that he could not achieve agreement on “meaningful measures” and had repeatedly faced resistance from colleagues over sanctions already in place.

His efforts included imposing entry bans on far-right Israeli ministers, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, citing their role in inciting settler violence against Palestinians.

Veldkamp also revoked three export permits for navy ship components, warning of “deteriorating conditions” in Gaza and the “risk of undesirable end use”.

“I also see what is happening on the ground in Gaza, the attack on Gaza City, and what is happening in the West Bank, the building decision for the disputed settlement E1, and East Jerusalem,” Veldkamp told reporters.

His departure leaves the Netherlands without a foreign minister as the European Union navigates security guarantees for Ukraine and continues talks with the United States over tariffs.

Following his resignation, all New Social Contract ministers and state secretaries confirmed their support for Veldkamp and resigned from the caretaker government in solidarity.

Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen, reporting from Berlin on developments in the Netherlands, said Veldkamp was “under increasing pressure from lawmakers in parliament, especially from the opposition who have been requesting stricter sanctions against Israel”.

While Veldkamp had announced travel bans for two Israeli ministers a few weeks ago, Vaessen said the foreign minister was facing growing demands after Israel’s attacks on Gaza City and the “increasing aggression” that the Dutch government “should be doing more”.

“Veldkamp has also been pushing for a suspension of the trade agreement that the EU has with Israel,” Vaessen added, noting that the Dutch foreign minister had “increasingly become frustrated because Germany was blocking that. So there was also this push from the Dutch parliament that the Netherlands shouldn’t wait anymore for any European sanctions but should put sanctions on Israel alone.”

Europe-Israel relations

Despite limited Dutch sanctions on Israel, the country continues to support the supply chain of Israel’s F-35 fighter jet.

Research from the Palestinian Youth Movement shared with Al Jazeera in June shows that ships carrying F-35 components frequently dock at the port of Rotterdam, operated by Danish shipping company Maersk.

The F-35 jets have been used by Israel in air strikes on Gaza, which have left much of the Strip in ruins and contributed to the deaths of more than 62,000 people since October 2023.

Earlier this week, the Netherlands joined 20 other nations in condemning Israel’s approval of a large West Bank settlement expansion, calling it “unacceptable and contrary to international law”.

Meanwhile, Israel’s military attacks on Gaza continue, forcing civilians from Gaza City southwards amid mounting famine. A global hunger monitor confirmed on Friday that residents of Gaza City and surrounding areas are officially facing famine conditions.

No successor to Veldkamp has been announced. The caretaker Dutch government, which has been in place since the collapse of the previous coalition on June 3, is expected to remain until a new coalition is formed following elections in October, a process that could take months.

Aug. 21 (UPI) — Former fast-food executive Andrew Puzder officially became the U.S. ambassador to the European Union during a swearing-in ceremony on Wednesday at the White House.

Puzder, 75, swore his oath of office in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump in attendance.

A 13-second clip of the ceremony, posted online by Margo Martin, special assistant to Trump, shows Puzder with his hand on the bible reciting an oath read to him by Secretary of state Marco Rubio.

“Congratulations to our Ambassador to the European Union, @AndyPuzder!” The White House said on X, posting a picture from the ceremony.

The Senate confirmed Puzder’s nomination to the ambassadorship on Aug. 2 with a 53-44 vote.

An April certificate of competency for the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations describes Puzder as a “globally renowned business leader, political commentator, author, attorney and a retired chief executive officer.”

He is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, senior fellow at the America First Policy Institute and Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy and a member of the Reagan Institute’s National Leadership Council.

“America just gained a superb EU Ambassador,” the right-wing think tank Heritage Foundation said on X.

Puzder also frequently delivers lectures on economic and policies at various associations and academic institutions.

He also has contributed expert commentary for The Wall Street Journal, National Review, RealClearPolitics and Fox News and has authored several books.

Puzder earned a bachelor’s from Cleveland State University and a juris doctorate from the Washington University School of Law.

“Mr. Puzder’s broad understanding of international economic development and decades of experience in a range of professional settings make him a well-qualified candidate to be the U.S. representative to the European Union,” according to the competency certificate.

It’s the second time that Trump nominated Puzder for an important position within his administration.

He initially was Trump’s Labor Department secretary nominee during the president’s first term in 2017, but he withdrew his consideration a day before his scheduled Senate confirmation hearing.

Puzder was subject to claims of alleged spousal abuse and employing a housekeeper who was not a legal “immigrant” when he withdrew his consideration.

His former wife denied the allegations against Puzder.

Puzder formerly was the chief executive officer of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s owner CKE Restaurants for 17 years and helped the fast food chain recover from its financial troubles.

Nearly 300 Los Angeles city employees were saved from being laid off after two major unions signed off on cost-cutting measures.

The Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents more than 8,700 rank-and-file officers, agreed to create a voluntary program in which its members can take days off in exchange for some of the overtime hours they previously worked.

The layoffs would have affected 222 civilian LAPD employees, such as clerks and administrative support workers. No sworn LAPD officers were slated to be laid off, but some would have had to do the work of the civilians who departed.

“We are continuing to do everything we can to bring layoff numbers down and I want everyone to know that we are still working and anticipate this number to get even lower,” Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement. “These numbers are not final.”

Meanwhile, the Engineers and Architects Assn. authorized a deal for its 6,000 members to take as many as five unpaid vacation days — in effect furloughs — between Jan. 1 and June 30, which could amount to about a 2% pay cut.

The deal saved the jobs of 63 members who do not work for the Los Angeles Police Department, in roles such as city planner, analyst and civilian investigator.

Some of the LAPD civilian employees who had been in danger of being laid off are represented by the Engineers and Architects Assn., and others are represented by other unions. The Police Protective League represents only sworn officers.

City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo, who oversees labor negotiations at City Hall, said the money freed up by the agreements whittled the number of remaining layoffs to 75. He sent a memorandum to the city’s personnel department on Wednesday to “immediately hold in abeyance the layoff process” for employees represented by the Engineers and Architects Assn., as well as all LAPD employees.

In her proposed budget released in April, Bass called for about 1,600 layoffs as part of a strategy to eradicate a $1-billion shortfall. Weeks later, the City Council made a series of other cost-cutting moves, reducing the number of layoffs by half.

To close the budget shortfall, the council also decided to slow down police hiring — though the mayor and council president later announced that they are looking for money to avoid that outcome.

Since the budget was finalized, hundreds of workers have either left city employment or transferred to positions that are safe from the budget ax, leaving 360 positions targeted for layoff before this week’s agreements, according to a memorandum by Szabo on Aug. 15.

The Police Protective League’s Board of Directors called its agreement with the city a “win-win for all parties.”

“Officer safety is always top of mind for our union and the thought that any additional officers would be pulled away from enforcement duties and moved to non-enforcement duties compelled our union to act,” the board said in a statement. “We worked with the city to create a program that will save money to preserve civilian LAPD jobs while also providing a benefit to our members.”

Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, who chairs the city’s budget committee, said that
“even in a tough budget year, we’ve ensured there will not be a single LAPD civilian layoff.”

“That was always our goal, but it was never guaranteed,” she said. “It was only possible because the Engineers and Architects Assn., the Police Department and City leadership worked in partnership to keep officers on the street and protect public safety.”

Roy Samaan, president of the Engineers and Architects Assn., said his union’s members authorized the agreement with the city in an online vote Sunday.

“We don’t want anyone to lose their jobs,” he said.

The sackings come as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr pushes to significantly downsize department.

At least 600 employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States are receiving permanent termination notices in the wake of a recent court decision that protected some CDC employees from layoffs but not others.

The notices went out this week, and many people have not yet received them, according to the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents more than 2,000 dues-paying members at CDC.

The CDC played a crucial role in gathering data and setting health policy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The terminations come months after Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr announced efforts to let go of 20,000 employees, downsizing the department by more than 20 percent.

AFGE officials said they are aware of at least 600 employees being cut.

But “due to a staggering lack of transparency from HHS”, the union hasn’t received formal notices about who is being laid off, the federation said in a statement on Wednesday.

The permanent cuts include about 100 people who worked in violence prevention. Some employees noted that those cuts came less than two weeks after a man fired at least 180 bullets into the CDC’s campus and killed a police officer.

“The irony is devastating: The very experts trained to understand, interrupt and prevent this kind of violence were among those whose jobs were eliminated,” some of the affected employees wrote in a blog post last week.

The post called on Kennedy and other health officials to recognise the “shortsightedness of these reductions”.

“Protect the people who protect the public. The safety of our communities, our colleagues and our country depends on it,” it said.

On April 1, the HHS officials sent layoff notices to thousands of employees at the CDC and other federal health agencies, part of a sweeping overhaul designed to vastly shrink the agencies responsible for protecting and promoting Americans’ health.

Many have been on administrative leave since then — paid but not allowed to work — as lawsuits played out.

A federal judge in Rhode Island last week issued a preliminary ruling that protected employees in several parts of the CDC, including groups dealing with smoking, reproductive health, environmental health, workplace safety, birth defects and sexually transmitted diseases.

But the ruling did not protect other CDC employees, and layoffs are being finalized across other parts of the agency, including in the freedom of information office. The terminations were effective as of Monday, employees were told.

Affected projects included work to prevent rape, child abuse and teen dating violence. The laid-off staff included people who have helped other countries to track violence against children — an effort that helped give rise to an international conference in November at which countries talked about setting violence-reduction goals.

Tunisia’s General Labour Union (UGTT) is poised to take on President Kais Saied in a protest scheduled for August 21.

The union called for a protest against what it says are government attempts to undermine workers’ rights, and the use of intimidation to curb strikes, referring to a three-day UGTT transport strike at the end of July.

Since he seized power on July 25, 2021, Saied has radically undermined the role of parliament and political parties while granting himself vastly increased powers through a constitution revised according to his edicts.

Yet the UGTT’s ability to mobilise its hundreds of thousands of members stands as one of the few remaining counters to Saied, analysts say.

“The UGTT has always been more than just a trade union,” Hamza Meddeb of the Carnegie Institute, who has written extensively on the organisation, told Al Jazeera.

“It was established even before Tunisian independence, and played a significant role in achieving that,” he said of Tunisia’s liberation from France in 1956.

“Since then, it’s played both an economic role … as well as a political role, such as in 2015, when it was the principal force behind establishing the National Dialogue,” Meddeb continued, referring to a political crisis when the UGTT and three other civil society organisations helped prevent the collapse of Tunisia’s post-revolutionary democracy.

Inevitable confrontation

Matters reached a head between UGTT and Saied on August 7 when hundreds of Saied’s supporters rallied outside UGTT headquarters, accusing it of “corruption” and “squandering people’s money” after a three-day transport strike in late July paralysed much of the country.

The following night, Saied defended the anti-union protesters, repeating their calls for union “accountability” and stressing that, contrary to claims from both the UGTT and rights groups, his supporters had not intended violence.

“There are files that must be opened because the people are demanding accountability … so that their money can be returned to them,” Saied said in a video posted on the presidency’s official Facebook page.

Further confrontations between the president and the union were inevitable, but many analysts point to what they say is a union weakened by internal schisms and the threat to its decades-long monopoly on union power in Tunisia.

“For the past two years, the UGTT has been silent, certainly on the political side of things,” a political analyst who remained in Tunisia told Al Jazeera, on condition of anonymity.

“Saied even revised the labour code without consulting them,” they said of the May decision to change laws that affected many of UGTT’s members.

“Previously, making a decision on that scale without the UGTT would have been inconceivable,” he said.

A weakened union

Much of the UGTT’s relatively low profile lies in an internal rupture, prompted by its decision in 2021 to extend its board’s mandate from two to three terms, which is said to have splintered the union’s membership and undermined it.

“There are many in the UGTT who see the 2021 decision as a coup d’etat of the union’s own, which has really weakened the board’s decision to do anything,” Meddeb said.

“You also can’t avoid the fact that the financial situation across the country is getting much, much worse, which means that the core membership of the union – the state-dependent middle class – are also suffering, and are blaming a board they already have little faith in for that, too.

“So, when Saied calls it a ‘corrupt union’ … that makes sense to much of its membership,” Meddeb said.

“It’s also easy, [given its long history and close relationships with all of Tunisia’s past governments] for Saied to paint it as part of the country’s elite that has been holding its people back,” he concluded.

A rival union emerges

Moves to undermine the UGTT’s base are already under way.

On Monday, the government announced it would halt the longstanding practice of allowing union officials to receive their government salaries while on union business, with more such moves expected.

Saied is also said to be encouraging the rival Union of Tunisian Workers (UTT), which analysts such as author Hatem Nafti say could try to take advantage of any weakening of the bond between the UGTT and its membership, to boost its standing.

How successful that would be in light of the UTT leadership’s previous convictions on corruption charges, remained to be seen, he added.

That the UTT is ready to step into any breach left by the UGTT was clear last week, when it issued a statement accusing its rivals of what it said was the “defamation” of the president.

Nafti said that the government might also seek to halt the practice of deducting UGTT membership fees from state employees’ salaries at source before transferring the funds to the union, which would give UTT more hope of winning members away from UGTT.

“That Kais Saied would move against the UGTT was written from day one,” Nafti told Al Jazeera from Paris, where he now lives.

“Populism doesn’t allow any mediator between the leader and the people, so firstly, he got rid of rival political parties, then civil society and the media.

“Even the television networks that support him don’t show political programmes any more,” he said.

“The UGTT was the logical next step.”

New director of rugby Dave Reddin, chief executive Abi Tierney and chair Richard Collier-Keywood have been involved in the plan.

It remains unclear whether the two future sides being proposed will be new entities or existing teams.

The WRU has, though, proposed that there will be two organisations which will each have a men’s and women’s team.

There could be 50 players in each men’s squad with a budget of £7.8m each, while the women’s squads will have 40 players apiece.

The WRU says there will be significantly elevated funding for each men’s squad, which would facilitate a radically different profile of talent and support.

The Union says the two squads would feature predominantly Welsh-qualified players, while there would be a rethink on non-Welsh qualified players.

The WRU would fund the two men’s and two women’s teams, all of which would be operated under licences, with the governing body giving any owners or investors responsibility for all commercial operations.

Phase one would involve the move of the two sides, men’s and women’s, operating on two sites.

There will also be a transition to contracting of players and staff within central national academies.

Phase two would involve the clubs moving to training at one site which will be known as a national campus.

This will be home to 400 people, including men’s and women’s national staff, professional and clubs staff and national academies. The men’s and women’s academies will be centralised.

The proposals include improving the standard of the Super Rygbi Cymru competition, which is the current level below the men’s fully professional game.

There is also a pledge to establish a senior women’s domestic competition, with an acceptance there is a current lack of high-quality club rugby below the Celtic Challenge, where Gwalia Lightning and Brython Thunder compete.

Movies from India’s prolific film industry have found success on the world stage before.

“RRR,” an over-the-top Telugu-language action film, energized audiences in the U.S. and elsewhere a few years ago, even scoring a history-making Oscar for its original song “Naatu Naatu.” Hindi screenings have long drawn crowds to American multiplexes.

But the filmmakers behind “Ramayana” — an upcoming two-part epic based on one of the most important ancient texts in Hinduism — have something more ambitious in mind.

The massive productions — each estimated to cost $200 million to $250 million — are aimed not merely at an Indian audience, nor are they meant to appeal primarily to Hindus, who number an estimated 1.2 billion globally, according to Pew Research Center.

Rather, the goal is to turn “Ramayana,” with its grand-scale adventure story and high-tech computer-generated effects, into a full-blown international blockbuster, filmed specifically for Imax’s giant screens in what is intended to be the largest-ever rollout for an Indian film, according to its backers.

Executive Namit Malhotra — who is financing and producing the project through his firm Prime Focus — set the bar high in a recent interview with The Times, comparing his film to the likes of James Cameron’s “Avatar,” Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” and the movies of Christopher Nolan.

While Hollywood studio bosses talk about reaching all four demographic “quadrants” (men and women, young and old) with their tentpole movies, Malhotra wants to draw two additional categories: believer and nonbeliever. For such a so-called six-quadrant movie to work, to use Malhotra’s terminology, it would have to succeed in the U.S.

“In my mind, if people in the West don’t like it, I consider that as a failure,” Malhotra told The Times recently. “It is meant for the world. So if you don’t like it, shame on me. We should have done a better job.”

Poster art for the upcoming film ‘Ramayana.’

(DNEG)

It’s a major gamble for Malhotra, who founded Prime Focus in Mumbai in 1997. The firm expanded significantly when it acquired British effects house Double Negative, and rebranded as DNEG. Malhotra owns nearly 68% of the parent company, Prime Focus Ltd.

He’s going to great lengths to make sure his big bet pays off. DNEG, headquartered in London with offices in India, Los Angeles and elsewhere, is handling the visuals. The firm has produced special effects for global studio features for years, creating Oscar-winning work for such movies as Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two” and Nolan’s “Tenet.”

“Ramayana” is directed by Nitesh Tiwari, the man behind 2016’s “Dangal,” the highest-grossing Bollywood film ever, including huge sales in China. Hans Zimmer and prolific Indian musician-composer A.R. Rahman (“Slumdog Millionaire”) are collaborating on the score, while the visual effects and production design team includes veterans from “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Avengers: Endgame” and the “Lord of the Rings” franchise.

The success of “RRR,” which told the story of two Indian legends with larger-than-life abilities fighting British imperialism, is one reason Malhotra is confident that “Ramayana” might connect with Westerners more familiar with the Bible and “The Odyssey” (the subject of a much-hyped 2026 Nolan film) than with Hindu mythology. U.S. cinephiles have in the past embraced mythical Asia-set films such as Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Life of Pi.”

So why not “Ramayana?”

After all, family, good vs. evil and personal striving are all key themes that transcend national borders.

“Emotions are universal,” said Tiwari in a video call. “If the audience connects with you emotionally, I think they will connect with the whole story. Emotions have powers to travel across boundaries.”

Filmed entirely on soundstages, the first part of “Ramayana” is scheduled to hit theaters next year, with a significant push from Imax. “Part 2,” currently in production, is planned for 2027. Each part is timed for Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. The films do not yet have a U.S. distributor.

This comes as Imax has beefed up its clout as what is increasingly seen as a linchpin component for the release of big-screen movies, not just for Hollywood spectacles but also, lately, for local language films. Imax showcased just a handful of Indian movies on its screens in 2019, according to Chief Executive Richard Gelfond. Last year, the company played 15.

So far this year, international films made in their local language have accounted for more than 30% of Imax’s total global box office revenue, Gelfond said. Much of that tally came from “Ne Zha 2,” a Chinese-produced animated film that grossed roughly $2 billion worldwide, mostly from its home country.

As such, Gelfond has high hopes for “Ramayana.” “Judging from what we’ve seen, this has all the elements to be a global success,” Gelfond said.

At its core, “Ramayana,” based on the epic poem from thousands of years ago, tells the story of Hindu deity Rama, an incarnation of the god Vishnu, and his quest to rescue his love Sita from the demon king Ravana.

A three-minute teaser trailer introduced the concept, emphasizing the big names attached (including actors Ranbir Kapoor as Rama, Sai Pallavi as Sita and Yash as Ravana), displaying some “Game of Thrones” opening credits-style visuals and conveying the tale’s historical importance. “Our truth. Our history,” reads the onscreen text. The video has 9.4 million views on YouTube.

“Ramayana” is a quintessentially Indian story. It has been adapted for stage and screen before, perhaps most notably as a series for Indian TV in the late 1980s.

For the new version, Malhotra wants to eliminate any language barriers. DNEG is using syncing technology from its Brahma AI unit to seamlessly present the film in local languages for international audiences. In the U.S., for example, the movie will screen in English.

“It’s a global film from the day we start,” he said. “I’m not trying to make it to appease Indian people in India. … If you go and watch ‘Ramayana’ and your family watches it, and people in India watch it, what’s the difference? It should speak to you like any other film.”

Stuff we wrote

Number of the week

Airing election misinformation continues to be expensive for cable news networks.

Newsmax will pay $67 million to settle a defamation suit filed by Dominion Voting Systems over false claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election that aired on the right-wing news channel.

The network announced the settlement with the voting equipment maker Monday but did not apologize for its reporting.

Fox News settled a similar case with Dominion in 2023 for $787.5 million after it aired incorrect election claims. Newsmax is much smaller than Fox, which continues to battle a lawsuit from another voting machine company, Smartmatic.

Streaming is getting closer to another major milestone. According to Nielsen’s the Gauge report, streaming services accounted for 47.3% of U.S. TV usage in July, compared with 22% for cable and 18.4% for broadcast. That’s what happens when there’s new “Squid Game” on Netflix and there’s not much on regular TV.

Finally …

Listen: No Joy, “Bugland.” Excellent ’90s-style rock.