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Category: Associated Press

  • Rob Reiner’s son Nick charged with 2 counts of murder in killing of his parents

    Rob Reiner’s son Nick charged with 2 counts of murder in killing of his parents

    LOS ANGELES — Rob Reiner’s son Nick Reiner was charged Tuesday with two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents, which stunned their communities in Hollywood and Democratic politics, where both were widely beloved.

    Nick Reiner, 32, is charged with killing Rob Reiner, the 78-year-old actor and director, and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced at a news conference with Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell.

    “Their loss is beyond tragic and we will commit ourselves to bringing their murderer to justice,” Hochman said.

    Along with the two counts of first-degree murder, prosecutors added special circumstances of multiple murders and a special allegation that the defendant used a dangerous weapon: a knife. The additions could mean a greater sentence.

    Hochman said his office had not decided whether to seek the death penalty.

    “This case is heartbreaking and deeply personal, not only for the Reiner family and their loved ones but for our entire city,” McDonnell said. “We will continue to support the Reiner family and ensure that every step forward is taken with care, dignity, and resolve.”

    The announcement came two days after the couple were found dead with apparent stab wounds in their home in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles. Nick Reiner did not resist when he was arrested hours later in the Exposition Park area near the University of Southern California, about 14 miles from the crime scene, police said.

    Nick Reiner had been expected to make an initial court appearance Tuesday, but his attorney Alan Jackson said he was not brought from the jail to the courthouse for medical reasons and the appearance would not come before Wednesday.

    An email sent to Jackson seeking comment on the charges was not immediately answered. Nick Reiner has not entered a plea.

    Rob Reiner was the Emmy-winning costar of the sitcom All in the Family who went on to direct films including When Harry Met Sally … and The Princess Bride. He was an outspoken liberal activist for decades. Michele Singer Reiner was a photographer, a movie producer, and an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. They had been married for 36 years.

    Representatives for the Reiner family did not respond to requests for comment. Police have not said anything about a motive for the killings.

    Nick Reiner is being held in jail without bail. He was arrested several hours after his parents were found dead on Sunday, police said.

    Jackson is a high-profile lawyer who represented Harvey Weinstein at his Los Angeles trial and Karen Read at her trial in Massachusetts. He was a central figure in the HBO documentary on the Read case.

    Investigators believe Rob and Michele Singer Reiner died from stab wounds, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press. The official, who was briefed on the investigation, could not publicly discuss the details and spoke on condition of anonymity.

    The killings were especially shocking given the warm comic legacy of the family. Rob Reiner was the son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, who died in 2020 at age 98.

    Kathy Bates, who won an Oscar as the star of Rob Reiner’s 1990 film Misery, was among those paying tribute to the couple.

    “I loved Rob,” Bates said in a statement. “He was brilliant and kind, a man who made films of every genre to challenge himself as an artist. He also fought courageously for his political beliefs. He changed the course of my life. Michele was a gifted photographer.”

    Former President Bill Clinton called the couple “good, generous people who made everyone who knew them better.”

    “Hillary and I are heartbroken by the tragic deaths of our friends Rob and Michele Reiner,” he said in a statement. “They inspired and uplifted millions through their work in film and television.”

    Three months ago, Nick Reiner was photographed with his parents and siblings at the premiere of his father’s film Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues.

    He had spoken publicly of his struggles with addiction, cycling in and out of treatment facilities with bouts of homelessness in between through his teen years. Rob and Nick Reiner explored — and seemed to improve — their relationship through the making of the 2016 film Being Charlie.

    Nick Reiner cowrote and Rob Reiner directed the film about the struggles of an addicted son and a famous father. It was not autobiographical but included several elements of their lives.

    “It forced us to understand ourselves better than we had,” Rob Reiner told the AP in 2016. “I told Nick while we were making it, I said, ‘You know, it doesn’t matter, whatever happens to this thing, we won already.’”

    Rob Reiner was long one of the most prolific directors in Hollywood, and his work included some of the most memorable and endlessly watchable movies of the 1980s and ’90s, including This is Spinal Tap and A Few Good Men.

    He met Michele Singer Reiner on the set of When Harry Met Sally …, and their meeting would inspire the film’s shift to a happy ending, with stars Billy Crystal — one of Reiner’s closest friends for decades — and Meg Ryan ending up together on New Year’s Eve.

    The Reiners were outspoken advocates for liberal causes and major Democratic donors.

    President Donald Trump on Monday blamed Rob Reiner’s outspoken opposition to the president for the actor-director’s killing, delivering the unsubstantiated claim in a social media post that seemed intent on decrying his opponents even in the face of a tragedy.

  • Investigators release video timeline of the Brown campus shooting suspect’s movements

    Investigators release video timeline of the Brown campus shooting suspect’s movements

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Authorities on Tuesday released a new video timeline and a slightly clearer image of the man suspected in the Brown University shooting, though investigators provided no indication that they were any closer to zeroing in on his identity.

    Investigators have been canvassing Providence homes, yards, and dumpsters in search of videos or other clues that might help them figure out who was behind Saturday’s campus shooting, which killed two students and wounded nine others.

    In all of the videos made public, the suspect’s face was masked or turned away, and authorities have been able to give only a vague description of him as being stocky and about 5 feet, 8 inches tall.

    The FBI’s video timeline includes new footage of the man that was recorded before the attack. It shows him running at times along quiet and empty residential streets near campus. Authorities believe he was casing the area, Col. Oscar Perez, the Providence police chief, said in a news conference Tuesday.

    Perez asked residents to look at their camera systems in the area to see if they have any footage that might help officials identify him.

    “We’re looking for a moment that is shorter than someone taking a breath,” Perez said.

    Perez said there was no clear video of the gunman from inside the engineering building where the shooting took place. Attorney General Peter Neronha said there were cameras in the newer part of the building but “fewer, if any, cameras” where the shooting happened “because it’s an older building.”

    The Brown University president said the campus is equipped with 1,200 cameras.

    Neronha said that from his perspective, the investigation was going “really well.” He pleaded for public patience in locating the suspected killer.

    Providence is understandably tense, and additional police were sent to city schools on Tuesday to reassure worried parents that their kids will be safe. Ten state troopers were assigned to support the local police sent to beef up security at schools, district Superintendent Javier Montañez said.

    “We recognize that the tragic incident at Brown University, occurring so close to where many of our students and families live and learn, is deeply unsettling and frightening,” he wrote in an email to parents.

    Alex Torres-Perez, a spokesperson for the Providence Public School District, said the district canceled all after-school activities and field trips for the week “as a precaution.”

    A city on edge

    Locals expressed fear as well as defiance as the investigation continued Tuesday.

    “Of course it feels scary. But at the same time, I think that if the person really wanted to scare us, we shouldn’t allow him or her to win,” said Tatjana Stojanovic, a Providence parent who lives next door to the Brown campus. ”Despite all of that, we should just go about our lives. I mean, obviously, you cannot forget this. But I think we shouldn’t cower and just sort of stop living despite what has happened.

    The attack and the shooter’s escape have raised questions about campus security, including a lack of security cameras, and led to calls for better locks on campus doors. Others pushed back, though, saying such efforts do little to address the real issue.

    “The issue isn’t the doors, it’s the guns,” said Zoe Kass, a senior who fled the engineering building as police stormed in Saturday. “And all of this, like, ‘Oh, the doors need to be locked.’ I get it, parents are scared. But any of us could have opened the door for the guy if the doors had been locked.”

    After spending of her life in schools where every door was locked and school shootings persisted, Kass said, such security measures only created “the illusion of safety.”

    FBI Boston special agent in charge Ted Docks said the bureau had 30 people in the city to support survivors, victims, and loved ones, noting that the toll a tragedy like this takes on them is “immeasurable.”

    A fuller picture of the victims emerges

    Meanwhile, details have emerged about the victims, who were in the first-floor classroom in the school’s engineering building studying for a final.

    Two of the wounded students had been released as of Tuesday, Brown spokesperson Amanda McGregor said. Of the seven people who remained hospitalized, Mayor Brett Smiley said, one remained in critical condition, five were in critical but stable condition, and one was in stable condition.

    One of the wounded students, 18-year-old freshman Spencer Yang of New York City, told the New York Times and the Brown Daily Herald that there was a mad scramble after the gunman entered the room. Many students ran toward the front, but Yang said he wound up on the ground between some seats and was shot in the leg. He expected to be discharged within days.

    Jacob Spears, 18, a freshman from Evans, Ga., was shot in the stomach, “but through sheer adrenaline and courage, he managed to run outside, where he was aided by others,” according to a GoFundMe site organized for him.

    Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore who was one of the two students killed, was vice president of the Brown College Republicans and was beloved in her church in Birmingham, Ala. In announcing her death Sunday, the Rev. R. Craig Smalley described her as “an incredible grounded, faithful, bright light” who encouraged and “lifted up those around her.”

    The other student killed was MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, an 18-year-old freshman from Brandermill, Va., who was majoring in biochemistry and neuroscience. His family immigrated to the U.S. from Uzbekistan when he was a kid.

    As a child, Umurzokov suffered a neurological condition that required surgery, and he later wore a back brace because of scoliosis, his sister Samira Umurzokova told the Associated Press by phone. He knew from an early age that he wanted to be a neurosurgeon to help others like him.

    “He had so many hardships in his life, and he got into this amazing school and tried so hard to follow through with the promise he made when was 7 years old,” she said.

  • Susie Wiles, White House chief of staff, criticizes Bondi and opines on Trump in Vanity Fair

    Susie Wiles, White House chief of staff, criticizes Bondi and opines on Trump in Vanity Fair

    WASHINGTON — Susie Wiles, President Donald Trump’s understated but influential chief of staff, criticized Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case and offered an unvarnished take on her boss and those in his orbit in interviews published Tuesday in Vanity Fair that sent the West Wing into damage control.

    The startlingly candid remarks from Wiles, the first woman ever to hold her current post, included describing the president as someone with “an alcoholic’s personality” and Vice President JD Vance as a calculating “conspiracy theorist.” The observations from Wiles, who rarely speaks publicly given the behind-the-scenes nature of her job running the White House, prompted questions about whether the chief of staff might be on her way out.

    Wiles pushed back after the piece’s publication, describing it as a “hit piece” that lacked context, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the “entire administration is grateful for her steady leadership and united fully behind her.”

    As for Trump, he told the New York Post that he had not read the piece and, when asked if he retained confidence in Wiles, said: “Oh, she’s fantastic.”

    Trump also agreed that he does have the personality of an alcoholic, describing himself as having “a very possessive personality.”

    A senior White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal thinking, dismissed the notion that Wiles might leave because of the profile, saying if top staffers were rattled by negative news coverage, “none of us would work here.”

    Wiles’ candor was so unusual that Rahm Emanuel, who served as chief of staff to former President Barack Obama, said that when he first saw her comments, he thought he was reading a spoof. He said he could not recall a chief of staff giving such a candid interview — at least “not while you hold the title.”

    Emanuel said the role often involves public remarks that promote the president’s agenda, but not sharing personal views about “everything, everybody” in the White House.

    His advice to Wiles: “Next time there’s a meal, bring a food taster.”

    Candor from the ‘ice maiden’ who stays behind the scenes

    The interviews with Vanity Fair were themselves uncharacteristic for Wiles, who cut her reputation as someone who brought order to the president’s chaotic style and shunned the spotlight so much that at Trump’s 2024 election night victory party, she repeatedly shook her head and avoided the microphone as Trump tried to coax her to speak to the crowd.

    “Susie likes to stay sort of in the back,” said Trump, who has repeatedly referred to her as the “ice maiden.”

    Most members of his cabinet, along with former and current White House officials, posted statements praising Wiles and criticizing the media as dishonest.

    But neither Wiles nor the members of the administration who came to her defense on Tuesday disputed any details in the two-part profile, including areas where she conceded mistakes and seemed to contradict the administration’s official reasoning for its bombing of alleged drug boats in the waters off the coast of Venezuela.

    Though the Trump administration has said the campaign is about stopping drugs headed to the U.S., Wiles appeared to confirm that the campaign is part of a push to oust Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro, saying Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.”

    Wiles pushed back but without any denials

    After the comments were published, Wiles disparaged the Vanity Fair report as a “disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history.”

    “Significant context was disregarded and much of what I, and others, said about the team and the President was left out of the story,” she wrote in a social media post. “I assume, after reading it, that this was done to paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the President and our team.”

    Trump, in an interview with the New York Post, said he was not offended by Wiles’ remarks, including her description of him as someone with “an alcoholic’s personality,” which she said she recognizes from her father, the famous sports broadcaster Pat Summerall.

    The president, who is a teetotaler and had a brother who struggled with alcohol, said: “I’ve said that many times about myself. I’m fortunate I’m not a drinker. If I did, I could very well, because I’ve said that — what’s the word? Not possessive — possessive and addictive-type personality. Oh, I’ve said it many times, many times before.”

    Vance, speaking in Pennsylvania on Tuesday about the president’s economic agenda, said that he had not read the Vanity Fair piece. But he defended Wiles and joked that “I only believe in the conspiracy theories that are true.”

    “Susie Wiles, we have our disagreements. We agree on much more than we disagree, but I’ve never seen her be disloyal to the president of the United States, and that makes her the best White House chief of staff that I think the president could ask for,” Vance said.

    He said his takeaway was that the administration “should be giving fewer interviews to mainstream media outlets.”

    The chief of staff criticizes the attorney general

    Wiles, over the series of interviews, described the president behind the scenes very much as he presents himself in public: an intense figure who thinks in broad strokes yet is often not concerned with the details of process and policy. She added, though, that he has not been as angry or temperamental as is often suggested, even as she affirmed his ruthlessness and determination to achieve retribution against those he considers his political enemies.

    Wiles described much of her job as channeling Trump’s energy, whims, and desired policy outcomes — including managing his desire for vengeance against his political opponents, anyone he blames for his 2020 electoral defeat, and those who pursued criminal cases against him after his first term.

    On Epstein, Wiles told the magazine that she had underestimated the scandal involving the disgraced financier, but she sharply criticized how Bondi managed the case and the public’s expectations.

    Wiles faulted Bondi’s handling of the matter, going back to earlier in the year when she distributed binders to a group of social media influencers that included no new information about Epstein. That led to even more calls from Trump’s base for the files to be released.

    “I think she completely whiffed on appreciating that that was the very targeted group that cared about this,” Wiles said of Bondi. “First she gave them binders full of nothingness. And then she said that the witness list, or the client list, was on her desk. There is no client list, and it sure as hell wasn’t on her desk.”

    Bondi did not address the criticism when she released a statement supporting Wiles.

    Wiles also said at one point that Trump’s tariffs had been more painful than expected. She conceded some mistakes in Trump’s mass deportation program and suggested that the president’s retribution campaign against his perceived political enemies has gone beyond what she initially wanted.

  • Hegseth says he won’t publicly release video of boat that killed survivors in the Caribbean

    Hegseth says he won’t publicly release video of boat that killed survivors in the Caribbean

    WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday the Pentagon will not publicly release unedited video of a U.S. military strike that killed two survivors of an initial attack on a boat allegedly carrying cocaine in the Caribbean, as questions mounted in Congress about the incident and the overall buildup of U.S. military forces near Venezuela.

    Hegseth said members of the Armed Services Committee in the House and Senate would have an opportunity this week to review the video, but did not say whether all members of Congress would be allowed to see it as well.

    “Of course we’re not going to release a top secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public,” Hegseth told reporters as he exited a closed-door briefing with senators.

    President Donald Trump’s cabinet members overseeing national security were on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to defend a campaign that has killed at least 95 people in 25 known strikes on vessels in international waters in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Overall, they defended the campaign as a success, saying it has prevented drugs from reaching American shores, and they pushed back on concerns that it is stretching the bounds of lawful warfare.

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters the campaign is a “counter-drug mission” that is “focused on dismantling the infrastructure of these terrorist organizations that are operating in our hemisphere, undermining the security of Americans, killing Americans, poisoning Americans.”

    Lawmakers have been focused on the Sept. 2 attack on two survivors as they sift through the rationale for a broader U.S. military buildup in the region. On the eve of the briefings, the U.S. military said it attacked three more boats believed to have been smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing eight people.

    Lawmakers left in the dark about Trump’s goal with Venezuela

    Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said Hegseth had come “empty-handed” to the briefing, without a pledge to more broadly release the video of the Sept. 2 strike.

    “If they can’t be transparent on this, how can you trust their transparency on all the other issues swirling about in the Caribbean?” Schumer said.

    Senators on both sides of the aisle said the officials left them in the dark about Trump’s goals when it comes to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro or sending U.S. forces directly to the South American nation.

    “I want to address the question: Is it the goal to take him out? If it’s not the goal to take him out, you’re making a mistake,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), who defended the legality of the campaign and said he wanted to see Maduro removed from power.

    The U.S. has deployed warships, flown fighter jets near Venezuelan airspace, and seized an oil tanker as part of its campaign against Maduro, who has insisted the real purpose of the U.S. military operations is to force him from office. Maduro said on a weekly state television show Monday that his government still does not know the whereabouts of the tanker’s crew. He criticized the United Nations for not speaking out against what he described as an “act of piracy” against “a private ship carrying Venezuelan oil.”

    In a social media post Tuesday night, Trump said he is ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” entering and leaving Venezuela. Trump alleged Venezuela was using oil to fund drug trafficking and other crimes and vowed to escalate the military buildup.

    Trump’s Republican administration has not sought any authorization from Congress for action against Venezuela. The go-it-alone approach has led to problematic military actions, experts say, none more so than the strike that killed two people who had climbed atop part of a boat that had been partially destroyed in an initial attack.

    “If it’s not a war against Venezuela, then we’re using armed force against civilians who are just committing crimes,” said John Yoo, a Berkeley Law professor who helped craft the George W. Bush administration’s legal arguments and justification for aggressive interrogation after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. “Then this question, this worry, becomes really pronounced. You know, you’re shooting civilians. There’s no military purpose for it.”

    Yet for the first several months, Congress received little more than a trickle of information about why or how the U.S. military was conducting the operations. At times, lawmakers have learned of strikes from social media after the Pentagon posted videos of boats bursting into flames.

    Hegseth now faces language included in an annual military policy bill that threatens to withhold a quarter of his travel budget if the Pentagon does not provide unedited video of the strikes to the House and Senate Committees on Armed Services.

    The demand for release of video footage

    For some, the controversy over the footage demonstrates the flawed rationale behind the entire campaign.

    “The American public ought to see it. I think shooting unarmed people floundering in the water, clinging to wreckage, is not who we are as a people,” said Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.), who has been an outspoken critic of the campaign.

    But senators were told the Trump administration will not release all of the Sept. 2 attack footage because it would reveal U.S. military practices on intelligence gathering, said Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. She said the reasoning ignores the fact that the military has already released footage of the initial attack.

    “They just don’t want to reveal the part that suggests war crimes,” she said.

    Some GOP lawmakers are determined to dig into the details of the Sept. 2 attack. Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, who ordered the second strike, was expected back on Capitol Hill on Wednesday for classified briefings with the Senate and House Armed Services Committees. The committees would also review video of the Sept. 2 strikes, Hegseth said.

    Still, many Republicans emerged from the briefings backing the campaign, defending their legality and praising the “exquisite intelligence” that is used to identify targets. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) called the strike in question “certainly appropriate” and “necessary to protect the United States and our interests.”

  • Zelensky says proposals to end the war in Ukraine could be presented to Russia within days

    Zelensky says proposals to end the war in Ukraine could be presented to Russia within days

    KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says proposals being negotiated with U.S. officials for a deal to end the fighting in Russia’s nearly four-year-old invasion of his country could be finalized within days, after which American envoys will present them to the Kremlin before possible further meetings in the U.S. next weekend.

    A draft peace plan discussed with the U.S. during talks in Berlin on Monday is “not perfect” but is “very workable,” Zelensky told reporters hours after the discussions. He cautioned, however, that some key issues — notably what happens to Ukrainian territory occupied by Russian forces — remain unresolved.

    U.S.-led peace efforts appear to be picking up momentum. But as the spotlight shifts to Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin may balk at some of the proposals thrashed out by officials from Washington, Kyiv, and Western Europe, including postwar security guarantees for Ukraine.

    Zelensky said that after the Berlin talks, “we are very close to [a deal on] strong security guarantees.”

    The security proposal will be based on Western help in keeping the Ukrainian army strong, an official from a NATO nation said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

    “Europeans will lead a multinational and multi-domain force to strengthen those troops and to secure Ukraine from the land, sea, and air, and the U.S. will lead a ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism, with international participation,” the official said.

    Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov repeated Tuesday that Russia wants a comprehensive peace deal, not a temporary truce.

    If Ukraine seeks “momentary, unsustainable solutions, we are unlikely to be ready to participate,” he said.

    “We want peace — we don’t want a truce that would give Ukraine a respite and prepare for the continuation of the war,” he told reporters. “We want to stop this war, achieve our goals, secure our interests, and guarantee peace in Europe for the future.”

    American officials said Monday there is consensus from Ukraine and Europe on about 90% of the U.S.-authored peace plan. President Donald Trump said: “I think we’re closer now than we have been, ever,” to a peace settlement.

    Plenty of potential pitfalls remain, notably the land issue.

    Zelensky reiterated that Kyiv rules out recognizing Moscow’s control over any part of the Donbas, an economically important region in eastern Ukraine made up of Luhansk and Donetsk. Russia’s army does not fully control either, but Trump has previously indicated that Ukraine will have to cede territory.

    “The Americans are trying to find a compromise,” Zelensky said before visiting the Netherlands on Tuesday. “They are proposing a ‘free economic zone’ [in the Donbas]. And I want to stress once again: A ‘free economic zone’ does not mean under the control of the Russian Federation.”

    Putin wants all the areas in four key regions that his forces have seized, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognized as Russian territory.

    Zelensky warned that if Putin rejects diplomatic efforts, Ukraine expects increased Western pressure on Moscow, including tougher sanctions and additional military support for defense, such as enhanced air defense systems and long-range weapons.

    Zelensky said that what is driving Kyiv officials in the negotiations is for Russia to be “held accountable for what it has done — for this war, for all the killings, for all the suffering.”

    Ukraine and the U.S. are preparing up to five documents related to the peace framework, several of them focused on security, Zelensky said.

    He was upbeat about the progress in the Berlin talks.

    “Overall, there was a demonstration of unity,” Zelensky said. “It was truly positive in the sense that it reflected the unity of the U.S., Europe, and Ukraine.”

  • FIFA slashes price of some World Cup tickets to $60 after fan backlash

    FIFA slashes price of some World Cup tickets to $60 after fan backlash

    MIAMI — FIFA slashed the price of some World Cup tickets for teams’ most loyal fans following a global backlash and some will get $60 seats for the final instead of being asked to pay $4,185.

    FIFA said Tuesday that $60 tickets will be made available for every game at the tournament in North America, going to the national federations whose teams are playing. Those federations decide how to distribute them to loyal fans who have attended previous games at home and on the road.

    Among the 72 World Cup group stage matches scheduled to be held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico this summer, five will take place at Lincoln Financial Field, with the Ivory Coast and Ecuador kicking off Philly’s slate of matches on June 14.

    Here’s what ticket prices are looking like for World Cup games in Philly following FIFA’s latest presale

    The number of $60 tickets for each game is likely to be in the hundreds, rather than thousands, in what FIFA is now calling a “Supporter Entry Tier” price category.

    FIFA did not specify exactly why it so dramatically changed strategy, but said the lower prices are “designed to further support traveling fans following their national teams across the tournament.”

    The World Cup in North America will be the first edition that features 48 teams — up from 32 — and is expected to earn FIFA at least $10 billion in revenue. But fans worldwide reacted with shock and anger last week on seeing FIFA’s ticketing plans that gave participating teams no tickets in the lowest-priced category.

    Dan Mayk, 27, of South Philadelphia, wearing a FIFA Philadelphia 2026 scarf at the FIFA World Cup drawing at Stateside Live! on Dec. 5.

    The cheapest prices ranged from $120 to $265 for group-stage games that did not involve the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

    FIFA had set those prices despite the co-hosts having pledged eight years ago — when they were bidding for the tournament — that hundreds of thousands of $21 tickets would be made available.

    Criticism from fans, especially in Europe, had been increasing for several months over plans for “dynamic pricing” plus extra fees on a FIFA-run resale platform — both features that are common in the U.S. entertainment industry but not to soccer fans worldwide.

    Fan anger intensified last week when it became clear loyal supporters would have no access to the cheapest category tickets and that fans who wanted to reserve a ticket for all of their team’s potential games — through the final — would not get refunded until after the tournament.

    In another change Tuesday, FIFA said it would waive its administrative fees when refunds are made after the July 19 final.

  • Joe Ely, a Texas songwriter whose legacy touched rock and punk, dies at 78

    Joe Ely, a Texas songwriter whose legacy touched rock and punk, dies at 78

    AUSTIN, Texas — Joe Ely, 78, the influential Texas-born singer-songwriter whose blend of honky-tonk, rock, and roadhouse blues made him a favorite among other musicians and led to collaborations with Bruce Springsteen and the Clash, has died.

    Mr. Ely died in Taos, N.M., of complications from Lewy body dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and pneumonia, with his wife and daughter by his side, according to a post on his Facebook account Monday night and later confirmed by his representatives.

    Mr. Ely was considered a key figure in the progressive country music movement as a founder of the influential country-rock band the Flatlanders with Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock, and later as a solo artist.

    “Joe Ely performed American roots music with the fervor of a true believer who knew music could transport souls,” said Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

    “But his true measure came through in the dynamic intensity of his powerhouse live performances, where he could stand his ground aside fellow zealots Bruce Springsteen, who recorded duets with Ely, and the [Rolling] Stones and the Clash, who took Ely on tour as an opening act,” Young said.

    After signing with MCA, Mr. Ely released his first solo album in 1977. He would release more than 20 albums over his career, including Love and Freedom earlier this year.

    Born in Amarillo, Texas, Mr. Ely stayed connected to his Texas roots through decades of recording and performing that lacked a mainstream breakthrough but made him a favorite of other artists.

    “Every time I start a new album I head up to West Texas and drive around, you know, drive on those old cotton roads and in the wide-open spaces, and every once in a while I’ll come across a place where I’ve spent some time,” Mr. Ely told Texas Monthly in 2011.

    It was a soundcheck for a show in London that led to the collaboration with British punk band the Clash. Mr. Ely would later open for the Clash at several shows and sang backup vocals for their hit song “Should I Stay or Should I Go?”

  • Britain’s BBC is both beloved and maligned. Now it faces a $10 billion Trump lawsuit

    Britain’s BBC is both beloved and maligned. Now it faces a $10 billion Trump lawsuit

    LONDON — President Donald Trump is suing the BBC for $10 billion over a television documentary he claims was “false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious.”

    Britain’s national broadcaster has apologized to Trump over the way it edited a speech in the program, but says it will defend itself against the defamation claim.

    The BBC is not the first media organization on the receiving end of a lawsuit from the president. But its position is complicated by its status as a taxpayer-funded public broadcaster and its stature as a closely scrutinized national institution.

    A pioneering broadcaster

    The BBC was founded in 1922 as a radio service to “inform, educate and entertain,” a mantra still central to its self-image.

    It launched the world’s first regularly scheduled television service in 1936, and helped make TV a mass medium when many Britons bought a TV set specifically to watch the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

    It operates 15 U.K. national and regional TV channels, several international channels, 10 national radio stations, dozens of local radio stations, the globe-spanning World Service radio and copious digital output including the iPlayer streaming service.

    As well as its news output it has a huge global viewership for entertainment shows including “Doctor Who,” “EastEnders,” “The Traitors” and “Strictly Come Dancing.”

    The BBC is funded from the public purse

    The broadcaster is funded by an annual license fee, currently set at 174.50 pounds ($230), paid by all U.K. households who watch live TV or any BBC content.

    The license fee has long had opponents, not least rival commercial broadcasters, and they have grown louder in an era of digital streaming when many people no longer have television sets or follow traditional TV schedules.

    The BBC’s governing charter, which sets the license fee, is reviewed once a decade, and the latest round of the process kicked off Tuesday. The center-left Labour government says it will ensure the BBC has “sustainable and fair” funding but has not ruled out replacing the license fee with another funding model.

    Managing the broadcaster has become a political football

    The broadcaster is bound by the terms of its charter to be impartial in its output. It is not a state broadcaster beholden to the U.K government, but is overseen by a board that includes both BBC staff and political appointees.

    It’s frequently a political football, with conservatives seeing a leftist slant in its news programs and some liberals accusing it of having a conservative bias.

    It has repeatedly battled British governments over editorial independence, from the 1926 general strike, when Cabinet minister Winston Churchill tried to seize control of the airwaves, to a battle with Tony Blair’s administration over the intelligence used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

    Recently it has been criticized for its coverage of trans issues and the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. In February, the BBC removed a documentary about Gaza from its streaming service after it emerged that the child narrator was the son of an official in the Hamas-led government.

    Documentary that riled Trump

    The lawsuit stems from an edition of the BBC’s “Panorama” current affairs series titled “Trump: A Second Chance?” that was broadcast days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election. The film, made by a third-party production company, spliced together two sections of a speech given by Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell.”

    By doing so, it made it look like Trump was giving the green light to his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol as Congress was poised to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election that Trump falsely alleged was stolen from him.

    The BBC apologized last month and two of its top executives resigned.

    Trump’s lawyers say the program falsely portrayed the president as a “violent insurrectionist,” caused “massive economic damage to his brand value” and was a “brazen attempt” to interfere in the U.S. election.

    The lawsuit, filed in a Florida court, seeks $5 billion in damages for defamation and $5 billion for unfair trade practices.

    Legal jeopardy

    The BBC said in a statement that “we will be defending this case. We are not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”

    Media attorney Mark Stephens said Trump and his lawyers face several hurdles. They must prove that the BBC program was shown in Florida and that people in that state thought less of him as a consequence. Trump’s lawyers argue that U.S. subscribers to BritBox and people using virtual private networks could have watched it, but they must prove it definitively, said Stephens, a consultant at the firm Howard Kennedy.

    “Allegations of libel are cheap, but proof is dear,’’ Stephens said.

    Stephens said Trump’s lawyers also have to deal with the fact that public figures have “to put up with the slings and arrows of incorrect reporting,’’ which are protected under the First Amendment.

    While many legal experts have dismissed the president’s claims against the media as having little merit, he has won some lucrative settlements against U.S. media companies and he could try to leverage the BBC mistake for a payout, potentially to a charity of his choice.

    The BBC’s position is complicated by the fact that any money it pays out in legal fees or a settlement comes from British taxpayers’ pocket.

    “I think President Trump is banking on the fact that the British public will not want to spend the money to defend the claim, nor will they want to pay any money in damages to him,’’ Stephens said. “So it allows him to continue a narrative of fake news and all of those other things at fairly little cost in the global scheme of things.”

  • The U.S. gained 64,000 jobs in November but lost 105,000 in October as the unemployment rate rose to 4.6%

    The U.S. gained 64,000 jobs in November but lost 105,000 in October as the unemployment rate rose to 4.6%

    WASHINGTON — The United States gained a decent 64,000 jobs in November but lost 105,000 in October as federal workers departed after cutbacks by the Trump administration, the government said in delayed reports.

    The unemployment rate rose to 4.6%, highest since 2021.

    Both the October and November job creation numbers, released Tuesday by the Labor Department, came in late because of the 43-day federal government shutdown.

    The November job gains came in higher than the 40,000 economists had forecast. The October job losses were caused by a 162,000 drop in federal workers, many of whom resigned at the end of fiscal year 2025 on Sept. 30 under pressure from billionaire Elon Musk’s purge of U.S. government payrolls.

    Labor Department revisions also knocked 33,000 jobs off August and September payrolls.

    Workers’ average hourly earnings rose just 0.1% from October, the smallest gain since August 2023. Compared to a year earlier, pay was up 3.5%, the lowest since May 2021.

    From September: Pa. workers have lost leverage in Trump’s economy, report says

    Healthcare employers added more than 46,000 jobs in November, accounting for more than two-thirds of the 69,000 private sector jobs created last month. Construction companies added 28,000 jobs. Manufacturing shed jobs for the seventh straight month, losing 5,000 jobs in November.

    Hiring has clearly lost momentum, hobbled by uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the lingering effects of the high interest rates the Federal Reserve engineered in 2022 and 2023 to rein in an outburst of inflation.

    American companies are mostly holding onto the employees they have. But they’re reluctant to hire new ones as they struggle to assess how to use artificial intelligence and how to adjust to Trump’s unpredictable policies, especially his double-digit taxes on imports from around the world.

    The uncertainty leaves jobseekers struggling to find work or even land interviews. Federal Reserve policymakers are divided over whether the labor market needs more help from lower interest rates. Their deliberations are rendered more difficult because official reports on the economy’s health are coming in late and incomplete after a 43-day government shutdown.

    Labor Department revisions in September showed that the economy created 911,000 fewer jobs than originally reported in the year that ended in March. That meant that employers added an average of just 71,000 new jobs a month over that period, not the 147,000 first reported. Since March, job creation has fallen farther — to an average 35,000 a month.

    The unemployment rate, though still modest by historical standards, has risen since bottoming out at a 54-year low of 3.4% in April 2023.

    “The takeaway is that the labor market remains on a relatively soft footing, with employers showing little appetite to hire, but are also reluctant to fire,” Thomas Feltmate, senior economist at TD Economics, wrote in a commentary. “That said, labor demand has cooled more than supply in recent months, which is what’s behind the steady upward drift in the unemployment rate.’’

    Adding to the uncertainty is the growing use of artificial intelligence and other technologies that can reduce demand for workers.

    “We’ve seen a lot of the businesses that we support are stuck in that stagnant mode: ‘Are we going to hire or are we not? What can we automate? What do we need the human touch with?’’’ said Matt Hobbie, vice president of the staffing firm HealthSkil in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

    “We’re in Lehigh Valley, which is a big transportation hub in eastern Pennsylvania. We’ve seen some cooling in the logistics and transportation markets, specifically because we’ve seen automation in those sectors, robotics.’’

    Worries about the job market were enough to nudge the Fed into cutting its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point last week for the third time this year.

    But three Fed officials refused to go along with the move, the most dissents in six years. Some Fed officials are balking at further cuts while inflation remains above the central bank’s 2% target. Two voted to keep the rate unchanged. Stephen Miran, appointed by Trump to the Fed’s governing board in September, voted for a bigger cut – in line with what the president demands.

    Tuesday’s report shows that “the labor market remains weak, but the pace of deterioration probably is too slow to spur the (Fed) to ease again in January,’’ Samuel Tombs, chief U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconimics, wrote in a commentary. The Fed holds its next policy meeting Jan. 27-28.

    Because of the government shutdown, the Labor Department did not release its jobs reports for September, October and November on time.

    It finally put out the September jobs report on Nov. 20, seven weeks late. It published some of the October data – including a count of the jobs created that month by businesses, nonprofits and government agencies – along with the November report Tuesday. But it did not release an unemployment rate for October because it could not calculate the number during the shutdown.

  • Australian police say the Bondi Beach mass shooting was inspired by an Islamic State group

    Australian police say the Bondi Beach mass shooting was inspired by an Islamic State group

    MELBOURNE, Australia — A mass shooting in which 15 people were killed during a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach was “a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State,” Australia’s federal police commissioner, Krissy Barrett, said Tuesday.

    The suspects were a father and son, ages 50 and 24, authorities have said. The older man, whom state officials named as Sajid Akram, was shot dead. His son was being treated at a hospital.

    A news conference by political and law enforcement leaders on Tuesday was the first time officials confirmed their beliefs about the suspects’ ideologies. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the remarks were based on evidence obtained, including “the presence of Islamic State flags in the vehicle that has been seized.”

    Indian police said Tuesday that the older suspect was originally from the southern city of Hyderabad and held an Indian passport. They said he married a woman of European origin and migrated to Australia in 1998 in search of employment opportunities, maintaining little contact with his family in India.

    “The family members have expressed no knowledge of his radical mindset or activities, nor of the circumstances that led to his radicalization,” Telangana State Police Chief B. Shivadhar Reddy said in a statement.

    Twenty-five people are still being treated in hospitals after Sunday’s massacre, 10 of them in critical condition. Three are patients in a children’s hospital.

    Also among those being treated is Ahmed al Ahmed, who was captured on video tackling and disarming one assailant, before pointing the man’s weapon at him and then setting it on the ground.

    Those killed ranged in age from 10 to 87. They were attending a Hanukkah event at Australia’s most famous beach Sunday when the gunshots rang out.

    Calls for stricter gun laws

    Albanese and the leaders of some of Australia’s states have pledged to tighten the country’s already strict gun laws in what would be the most sweeping reforms since a shooter killed 35 people in Port Arthur, Tasmania, in 1996. Mass shootings in Australia have since been rare.

    Officials divulged more information as public questions and anger grew about how the attackers were able to plan and enact it and whether Australian Jews had been sufficiently protected from rising antisemitism.

    Australian leaders promise to tighten gun laws after Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre

    Albanese announced plans to further restrict access to guns, in part because it emerged the older suspect had amassed his cache of six weapons legally.

    “The suspected murderers, callous in how they allegedly coordinated their attack, appeared to have no regard for the age or ableness of their victims,” Barrett said. “It appears the alleged killers were interested only in a quest for a death tally.”

    Authorities probe suspects’ trip to Philippines

    The suspects traveled to the Philippines last month, said Mal Lanyon, the police commissioner for New South Wales state. Their reasons for the trip and where in the Philippines they went would be probed by investigators, Lanyon said.

    He also confirmed that a vehicle removed from the scene, registered to the younger suspect, contained improvised explosive devices.

    “I also confirm that it contained two homemade ISIS flags,” Lanyon said.

    The Philippines Bureau of Immigration confirmed Tuesday that Sajid Akram traveled to the country from Nov. 1 to Nov. 28 along with Naveed Akram, 24, giving the city of Davao as their final destination. Australian authorities have not named the younger suspect.

    Groups of Muslim separatist insurgents, including Abu Sayyaf in the southern Philippines, once expressed support for the Islamic State group and have hosted small numbers of foreign combatants from Asia, the Middle East, and Europe in the past.

    Decades of military offensives, however, have considerably weakened Abu Sayyaf and other such armed groups, and Philippine military and police officials say there has been no recent indication of any foreign militants in the country’s south.

    Albanese visits man who tackled shooter

    Earlier, Albanese visited Ahmed in a hospital. Albanese said the 42-year-old Syrian-born fruit shop owner had further surgery scheduled on Wednesday for shotgun wounds to his left shoulder and upper body.

    “It was a great honor to met Ahmed al Ahmed. He is a true Australian hero,” Albanese told reporters after a 30-minute meeting with him and his parents.

    “We are a brave country. Ahmed al Ahmed represents the best of our country. We will not allow this country to be divided. That is what the terrorists seek. We will unite. We will embrace each other, and we’ll get through this,” Albanese added.

    Lifeguards praised for actions during massacre

    The famous blue-shirted lifeguards of Bondi Beach attracted praise as more stories of their actions during the shooting emerged.

    One duty lifeguard, identified by the organization’s Instagram account as Rory Davey, performed an ocean rescue during the shooting after people fled, fully clothed, into the sea.

    Another lifeguard, Jackson Doolan, posted to his social media a photo taken as he sprinted, barefoot and clutching a first aid kit, from Tamarama beach a mile away toward Bondi as the massacre continued.

    “These guys are community members, and it’s not about the surf,” Anthony Caroll, one of the stars of a popular reality television show called Bondi Rescue, told Sky News on Tuesday. “They heard the gunshots and they left the beach and came right up the back here into the scene of the crime, into harm’s way while those bullets were being shot.”

    Record numbers sign up to donate blood as Australians mourn at scene of shooting

    Israeli Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon visited the scene of the carnage on Tuesday and was welcomed by Jewish leaders.

    “I’m not sure that my vocabulary is rich enough to express how I feel. My heart is torn apart because the Jewish community, the Australians of Jewish faith, the Jewish community is also my community,” Maimon said.

    Thousands have visited Bondi from all walks of life since the tragedy to pay their respects and lay flowers on a mounting pile at an impromptu memorial site.

    One of the visitors on Tuesday was former Prime Minister John Howard, who was responsible for the 1996 overhaul of gun laws and an associated buyback of newly outlawed weapons.

    In the aftermath of Sunday’s shooting, a record number of Australians signed up to donate blood. On Monday alone close to 50,000 appointments were booked, more than double the previous record, the national donation organization Lifeblood told the Associated Press.

    Almost 1,300 people signed up to donate for the first time. Such was the enthusiasm at Lifeblood’s Bondi location that appointments to give blood were unavailable before Dec. 31, according to the organization’s website.

    A total of 7,810 donations of blood, plasma, and platelets were made across the country on Monday, spokesperson Cath Stone said. Australian news outlets reported queues of up to four hours at some Sydney donation sites.