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  • Search for the Brown University shooter resumes as police release 3 new videos

    Search for the Brown University shooter resumes as police release 3 new videos

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Authorities knocked on doors Monday searching for any video there might be of the Brown University gunman, who could be seen in grainy footage walking away from the weekend attack that killed two students and wounded nine others.

    During a Monday afternoon news conference that got testy at times, authorities released three new videos of the man they believe carried out the attack. In the videos, which were shot about two hours before the shooting, the man was wearing a mask and a dark two-tone jacket. Although his face wasn’t visible, the videos provided the clearest images yet of the suspect.

    The FBI said the man is about 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with a stocky build. The agency offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the identification, arrest, and conviction of the person responsible.

    “We’re asking for the public’s assistance,” Providence’s police chief, Col. Oscar Perez, said at a news conference, urging people who might recognize the suspect to call a tip line.

    Police renewed their search after releasing a person of interest Sunday once they determined the evidence pointed elsewhere. Meanwhile, details began to emerge about the students who were killed.

    The lockdown order for the Ivy League school was lifted Sunday after authorities said they’d detained a person of interest in the attack. But hopes for a quick resolution were dashed when they announced hours later that they had released the man.

    Mass shooting at Brown: When gun heartbreak comes home

    The abrupt change of direction marked a setback in the investigation as questions swirl about campus security, the apparent lack of school video evidence, and whether the focus on the person of interest gave the attacker more time to escape.

    Colin Moussette, who has friends at Brown and is considering enrolling next fall, said while visiting the campus Monday that he felt uneasy knowing the suspect hadn’t been caught.

    “How someone got away, like in the middle of the day is, to me, not only heartbreaking but very concerning,” he said. “How they got access to the building is concerning.”

    New video emerges

    Before Monday’s news conference, police released a second video showing someone dressed in all black walking along a city street minutes after the shooting. The video — like an earlier one released the day of the shooting — didn’t show the suspect’s face.

    In a neighborhood near the university, a line of officers scraped their feet through a snow-covered yard looking for evidence. Meanwhile, agents identifying themselves as U.S. marshals asked locals if they had security cameras.

    Neronha told reporters Sunday that there weren’t many cameras where the shooting happened.

    Law enforcement on Monday appeared to still be performing the most basic of investigative tasks: tracing the suspect’s movements in the minutes after the attack and searching for physical evidence near the crime scene.

    “I was really glad to see that they were doing something,” said Katherine Baima, who lives in the area. “This is the first time any of us in my building, as far as I know, had heard from anyone. We hadn’t gotten alerts and we were really surprised that there hadn’t been anyone searching, let alone knocking on doors, on the first night.”

    The Catholic Center at Brown University set up a memorial for Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore who was killed in Saturday’s shooting.

    One victim active in church, the other overcame health concerns

    The shooting happened in an auditorium-style classroom where students in a study group were preparing for an upcoming exam.

    Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore who was vice president of the Brown College Republicans and beloved in her church in Birmingham, Ala., was one of the students killed, according to her pastor at home.

    In announcing her death Sunday, the Rev. R. Craig Smalley described Cook as “an incredible grounded, faithful, bright light” who encouraged and “lifted up those around her.”

    “Ella was known for her bold, brave, and kind heart as she served her chapter and her fellow classmates,” Martin Bertao, the president of the club, said in a message posted on X.

    The other student who was killed was Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, an 18-year-old freshman majoring in biochemistry and neuroscience. He was helping a friend at a review session for an economics final when he was fatally shot, his sister said.

    As a child, Umurzokov suffered a neurological condition that required surgery, and he later wore a back brace because of scoliosis, said Samira Umurzokova, noting that the family immigrated to the U.S. from Uzbekistan when she, her brother, and sister were young.

    “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 told the AP by phone Monday.

    Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, a college freshman, was killed in the shooting at Brown University on Saturday.

    Shooting scene lacked cameras

    The release of the person of interest left law enforcement without a known suspect, with officials pledging to redouble their efforts by asking neighborhood residents and businesses for video surveillance that might help identify the attacker.

    “We have a murderer out there,” state Attorney General Peter Neronha said.

    Authorities said Sunday that one of the reasons they lacked video of the shooter was because Brown’s engineering building doesn’t have many cameras.

    The mayor said there have been no credible threats of further violence since the shooting, and the city’s schools were open Monday.

    Colleges and universities, including in Providence and some Ivy League schools, are increasing security in the wake of the shootings. Yale said extra security would also be in place for Hanukkah celebrations.

    On Sunday morning, officials took into custody a person of interest at a Hampton Inn outside of Providence. Two people familiar with the matter identified that individual as a 24-year-old man from Wisconsin, though authorities never released his name.

    Neronha said some evidence pointed to the man authorities detained, but further investigation pointed elsewhere.

    Questions raised about campus security

    The shooting occurred as final exams were underway at Brown, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious schools.

    The gunman opened fire inside a classroom in the engineering building, getting off more than 40 rounds from a 9 mm handgun, a law enforcement official told AP. Two handguns were recovered when the person of interest was taken into custody, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity.

    Investigators were not immediately sure how the shooter got inside the first-floor classroom.

    The attack set off hours of chaos on campus and in the surrounding neighborhoods, as hundreds of officers searched for the shooter. During the lockdown, which wasn’t lifted until Sunday, after the person of interest was taken into custody, many students barricaded their rooms and hid behind furniture and bookshelves.

    Li Ding, a Rhode Island School of Design student who is on a dance team at Brown, was upset that there wasn’t better security on campus.

    “The fact that we’re in such a surveillance state but that wasn’t used correctly at all is just so deeply frustrating,” Ding said.

    One of the nine wounded students has been released from the hospital, Brown President Christina Paxson said Sunday. Seven others were in critical but stable condition, and one was in critical condition.

    The mayor said he visited some wounded students and was inspired by their courage, hope, and gratitude. “The resilience that these survivors showed and shared with me, is frankly pretty overwhelming,” Smiley said.

  • Rob Reiner, 78, son of a comedy giant who became one in turn

    Rob Reiner, 78, son of a comedy giant who became one in turn

    Rob Reiner, the son of a comedy giant who became one himself as one of the preeminent filmmakers of his generation with movies such as The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally …, and This Is Spinal Tap, has died. He was 78.

    Mr. Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, 68, were found fatally stabbed Sunday at their home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Police Department on Monday arrested the Reiners’ 32-year-old son, Nick Reiner, and booked him on suspicion of killing his parents.

    It was a tragic, shocking end to a life and career that began with a complicated father-son relationship. Mr. Reiner grew up thinking his father, the legendary funnyman Carl Reiner, didn’t understand him or find him funny. But the younger Mr. Reiner would in many ways follow in his father’s footsteps, working both in front of and behind the camera, in comedies that stretched from broad sketch work to accomplished dramedies.

    “My father thought, ‘Oh, my God, this poor kid is worried about being in the shadow of a famous father,’” Mr. Reiner told 60 Minutes in October, recalling the temptation to change his name. “And he says, ‘What do you want to change your name to?’ And I said, ‘Carl.’ I just wanted to be like him.”

    After starting out as a writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Mr. Reiner’s breakthrough came when he was, at age 23, cast in Norman Lear’s All in the Family as Archie Bunker’s liberal son-in-law, Michael “Meathead” Stivic. But by the 1980s, Mr. Reiner began working as a feature film director, producing some of the most beloved films of that, or any, era. His first film, the largely improvised 1984 cult classic This Is Spinal Tap, remains the quintessential mockumentary.

    After the 1985 John Cusack summer comedy, The Sure Thing, Reiner made Stand By Me (1986), The Princess Bride (1987) and When Harry Met Sally … (1989), a four-year stretch that resulted in a trio of American classics, all of them among the most quoted movies of the 20th century.

    A legacy on and off screen

    For the next four decades, Mr. Reiner, a warm and gregarious presence on screen and an outspoken liberal advocate off it, remained a constant fixture in Hollywood. The production company he co-founded, Castle Rock Entertainment, launched an enviable string of hits, including Seinfeld and The Shawshank Redemption. By the turn of the century, its success rate had fallen considerably, but Mr. Reiner revived it, and this fall released the long-in-coming sequel Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.

    All the while, Mr. Reiner was one of the film industry’s most passionate Democrat activists, regularly hosting fundraisers and campaigning for liberal issues. He was co-founder of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which challenged in court California’s ban on same-sex marriage, Proposition 8. He also chaired the campaign for Prop 10, a California initiative to fund early childhood development services with a tax on tobacco products. And Mr. Reiner was an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump.

    “Beneath all of the stories he produced was a deep belief in the goodness of people — and a lifelong commitment to putting that belief into action,” former President Barack Obama said in a statement.

    Political engagement ran in the family, too. Mr. Reiner’s father opposed the Communist hunt of McCarthyism in the 1950s and his mother, Estelle Reiner, a singer and actor, protested the Vietnam War.

    “If you’re a nepo baby, doors will open,” Mr. Reiner told the Guardian in 2024. “But you have to deliver. If you don’t deliver, the door will close just as fast as it opened.”

    “All in the Family” to “Stand By Me”

    Robert Reiner was born in the Bronx on March 6, 1947. As a young man, he quickly set out to follow his father into entertainment.

    Before he came to be a beloved actor on All in the Family, Mr. Reiner was just a teenager training in New Hope, Pa.

    The late filmmaker got his start at the Bucks County Playhouse.

    In a 2016 interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Mr. Reiner said his senior year at Beverly Hills High School sparked a career path in acting because drama class felt “familiar and comfortable.”

    After graduating at 17, he apprenticed at the Playhouse in 1964. As noted by Philadelphia Magazine, the Playhouse was one of a short list of regional theaters where Broadway plays would be workshopped. In turn, a lot of famous — or in Mr. Reiner’s case, soon to be famous — people came to New Hope, including Liza Minnelli and Robert Redford.

    Mr. Reiner’s time working on shows as a Playhouse Apprentice meant he rubbed elbows with Alan Alda, Merv Griffin, and Shelly Berman, a spokesperson said. It was the same year Minelli appeared at the Playhouse and Arthur Godfrey was in Our Town.

    “Reiner mentioned often his gratitude for the training he received on our stage, and his fondness for his time in New Hope,” Bucks County Playhouse producing director Alexander Fraser said. “He joins Grace Kelly, Jessica Walter, Robert Redford, Richard Kind, and many others in using their experience as an apprentice in launching remarkable careers.”

    Mr. Reiner then studied at the University of California, Los Angeles film school and, in the 1960s, began appearing in small parts in various television shows.

    But when Lear saw Mr. Reiner as a key cast member in All in the Family, it came as a surprise to the elder Reiner.

    “Norman says to my dad, ‘You know, this kid is really funny.’ And I think my dad said, ‘What? That kid? That kid? He’s sullen. He sits quiet. He doesn’t, you know, he’s not funny.’ He didn’t think I was anyway,” Mr. Reiner told 60 Minutes.

    On All in the Family, Mr. Reiner served as a pivotal foil to Carroll O’Connor’s bigoted, conservative Archie Bunker. Mr. Reiner was seven times nominated for an Emmy for his performance on the show, winning in 1974 and 1978. In Lear, Mr. Reiner also found a mentor. He called him “a second father.”

    “It wasn’t just that he hired me for All in the Family,” Mr. Reiner told American Masters in 2005. “It was that I saw, in how he conducted his life, that there was room to be an activist as well. That you could use your celebrity, your good fortune, to help make some change.”

    Lear also helped launch Mr. Reiner as a filmmaker. He put up $7.5 million of his own money to help finance Stand By Me, Mr. Reiner’s adaptation of the Stephen King novella The Body. The movie, about four boys who go looking for the dead body of a missing boy, became a coming-of-age classic, made breakthroughs of its young cast (particularly River Phoenix), and even earned the praise of King.

    “Rest in peace, Rob,” King said Monday on X. “You always stood by me.”

    With his stock rising, Mr. Reiner devoted himself to adapting William Goldman’s 1973’s The Princess Bride, a book Mr. Reiner had loved since his father gave him a copy as a gift. Everyone from François Truffaut to Robert Redford had considered adapting Goldman’s book. It ultimately fell to Mr. Reiner (from Goldman’s own script) to capture the unique comic tone of The Princess Bride. But only once he had Goldman’s blessing.

    “At the door he greeted me and he said, ‘This is my baby. I want this on my tombstone. This is my favorite thing I’ve ever written in my life. What are you going to do with it?’” Mr. Reiner recalled in a Television Academy interview. “And we sat down with him and started going through what I thought should be done with the film.”

    Though only a modest success in theaters, the movie — starring Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn, André the Giant, and Robin Wright — would grow in stature over the years, leading to countless impressions of Inigo Montoya’s vow of revenge and the risky nature of land wars in Asia.

    “When Harry Met Sally …”

    Mr. Reiner was married to Penny Marshall, the actor and filmmaker, for 10 years beginning in 1971. Like Mr. Reiner, Marshall experienced sitcom fame, with Laverne & Shirley, but found a more lasting legacy behind the camera.

    After their divorce, Mr. Reiner, at a lunch with Nora Ephron, suggested a comedy about dating. In writing what became When Harry Met Sally … Ephron and Mr. Reiner charted a relationship between a man and a woman (played in the film by Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan) over the course of 12 years.

    Along the way, the movie’s ending changed, as did some of the film’s indelible moments. The famous line “I’ll have what she’s having,” said after witnessing Ryan’s fake orgasm at Katz’s Delicatessen, was a suggestion by Crystal — delivered by none other than Mr. Reiner’s mother, Estelle.

    The movie’s happy ending also had some real-life basis. Mr. Reiner met Michele Singer, a photographer, on the set of When Harry Met Sally … .— In 1989, they were wed. They had three children together: Nick, Jake, and Romy.

    Mr. Reiner’s subsequent films included another King adaptation, Misery (1990), and a pair of Aaron Sorkin-penned dramas: the military courtroom tale A Few Good Men (1992) and 1995’s The American President.

    By the late ’90s, Mr. Reiner’s films (1996’s Ghosts of Mississippi, 2007’s The Bucket List) no longer had the same success rate. But he remained a frequent actor, often memorably enlivening films like Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). In 2023, he directed the documentary Albert Brooks: Defending My Life.

    In an interview earlier this year with Seth Rogen, Mr. Reiner suggested everything in his career boiled down to one thing.

    “All I’ve ever done is say, ‘Is this something that is an extension of me?’ For Stand by Me, I didn’t know if it was going to be successful or not. All I thought was, ‘I like this because I know what it feels like.’”

    Inquirer writer Emily Bloch contributed to this story.

  • Trump levels political attack on Rob Reiner in inflammatory post after his killing

    Trump levels political attack on Rob Reiner in inflammatory post after his killing

    WASHINGTON — 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 shocking post that seemed intent on decrying his opponents even in the face of a tragedy.

    The statement, even for Trump, was a shocking comment that came as police were still investigating the deaths of the beloved director and his wife as an apparent homicide. The couple were found dead at their home Sunday in Los Angeles. Investigators believe they suffered stab wounds and the couple’s son Nick Reiner, was in police custody early Monday.

    Trump has a long track record of inflammatory remarks, but his comments in a social media post were a drastic departure from the role presidents typically play in offering a message of consolation or tribute to the death of a public figure. His message drew criticism even from conservatives and his supporters and laid bare Trump’s unwillingness to rise above political grievance in moments of crisis.

    Trump, in a post on his social media network, said that Reiner and his wife were killed “reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”

    He said Reiner “was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness.”

    Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who has bucked much of his party’s lockstep agreement with the president, criticized Trump for the comment.

    “Regardless of how you felt about Rob Reiner, this is inappropriate and disrespectful discourse about a man who was just brutally murdered,” Massie wrote in a post on X. “I guess my elected GOP colleagues, the VP, and White House staff will just ignore it because they’re afraid? I challenge anyone to defend it.”

    Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican whom Trump branded a “traitor” for disagreeing with him, responded to Trump’s message by saying, “This is a family tragedy, not about politics or political enemies.”

    Reiner was one of the most active Democrats in the film industry, regularly campaigning on behalf of liberal causes and hosting fundraisers. He was a vocal critic of Trump, calling him in a 2017 interview with Variety “mentally unfit” to be president and “the single-most unqualified human being to ever assume the presidency of the United States.”

    The White House, which amplified the president’s post, did not respond to a message about the criticism it was receiving and calls for Trump to take it down.

    Speaking at the White House to reporters later Monday, Trump doubled down on his criticism of Reiner when he was asked if he stood by his post. Using the third person, Trump said Reiner “was a deranged person as far as Trump is concerned.”

    “I was not a fan of Rob Reiner at all, in any way, shape, or form,” Trump said. “I thought he was very bad for our country.”

    The unsympathetic message was the latest example of Trump’s unsparing prism through which he views those he perceives as enemies.

    He made retribution against political enemies a prime focus of his campaign for the White House last year. And he has in the past made light of violence when it’s befallen those on the other side of the political aisle.

    When Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, was attacked by an intruder looking for the former House speaker at the family’s San Francisco home in 2022 and beaten over the head with a hammer, Trump later mocked the attack.

    That’s despite his comments after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk earlier this year. Trump said Kirk’s killing was “the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagree.”

    His administration then sought consequences for people who were critical of Kirk or even celebrated his killing.

    Jenna Ellis, who was one of Trump’s lawyers and worked on his efforts in 2020 to overturn the results of the presidential election, pointed out Trump’s double standard and called his post “NOT the appropriate response.”

    “The Right uniformly condemned political and celebratory responses to Charlie Kirk’s death. This is a horrible example from Trump (and surprising considering the two attempts on his own life) and should be condemned by everyone with any decency,” Ellis said in a post on X.

    When Trump spoke at Kirk’s memorial service, he used his remarks to underline how he views his adversaries.

    “I hate my opponent,” the president said.

  • Rob Reiner’s son Nick arrested after director and his wife found dead at their Los Angeles home

    Rob Reiner’s son Nick arrested after director and his wife found dead at their Los Angeles home

    LOS ANGELES — Rob Reiner’s younger son, Nick Reiner, was in jail Monday after being booked for what investigators believe was the fatal stabbing of the director-actor and his wife at their Los Angeles home a day earlier, authorities said.

    It was not immediately clear what charges Nick Reiner, 32, would face. A police statement said he was being held without bail and the case will be presented to the district attorney’s office on Tuesday.

    Representatives for the Reiner family did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and it wasn’t immediately clear if Nick Reiner had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

    Nick Reiner has spoken publicly of his struggles with addiction. By 18, he had cycled in and out of treatment facilities with bouts of homelessness and relapses in between. Rob and Nick Reiner explored their difficult relationship and Nick Reiner’s struggles with drugs in a semi-autobiographical 2016 film, Being Charlie.

    Rob and Michele Singer Reiner were found dead Sunday afternoon at their home in Los Angeles, and investigators believe they were stabbed, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official, who was briefed on the investigation, could not publicly discuss the details and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

    Nick Reiner was arrested Sunday around 9:15 p.m., police said.

    The Los Angeles Fire Department said it responded to a medical aid request shortly after 3:30 p.m. Sunday and found a 78-year-old man and 68-year-old woman dead inside. Reiner turned 78 in March.

    Detectives with the Robbery Homicide Division were investigating an “apparent homicide” at Reiner’s home, police Capt. Mike Bland said Sunday.

    Reiner was long one of the most prolific directors in Hollywood, and his work included some of the most memorable movies of the 1980s and ’90s, including This Is Spinal Tap, A Few Good Men, When Harry Met Sally, and The Princess Bride.

    His role as Michael “Meathead” Stivic in Norman Lear’s 1970s TV classic All in the Family, as a liberal foil to O’Connor’s Archie Bunker, catapulted him to fame and won him two Emmy Awards.

    The son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner was married to photographer Michele Singer Reiner since 1989. The two met while he was directing When Harry Met Sally and had three children together: Nick, Jake, and Romy.

    Relatives of Lear, the legendary producer who died in 2023, said their deaths left them bereft.

    “Norman often referred to Rob as a son, and their close relationship was extraordinary, to us and the world,” said a Lear family statement. “Norman would have wanted to remind us that Rob and Michele spent every breath trying to make this country a better place, and they pursued that through their art, their activism, their philanthropy, and their love for family and friends.”

    Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called it a devastating loss for the city.

    “Rob Reiner’s contributions reverberate throughout American culture and society, and he has improved countless lives through his creative work and advocacy fighting for social and economic justice,” Bass said in a statement. “An acclaimed actor, director, producer, writer, and engaged political activist, he always used his gifts in service of others.”

    Reiner was previously married to actor-director Penny Marshall from 1971 to 1981. He adopted her daughter, Tracy Reiner. Carl Reiner died in 2020 at age 98 and Marshall died in 2018.

    Killings are rare in the Brentwood neighborhood. The scene is about a mile from the home where O.J. Simpson’s wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman were killed in 1994.

  • Former Hong Kong pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai convicted in landmark national security trial

    Former Hong Kong pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai convicted in landmark national security trial

    HONG KONG — Jimmy Lai, the pro-democracy former Hong Kong media mogul and outspoken critic of Beijing, was convicted in a landmark national security trial in the city’s court on Monday, which could send him to prison for the rest of his life.

    Three government-vetted judges found Lai, 78, guilty of conspiring with others to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security and conspiracy to publish seditious articles. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

    Lai was arrested in August 2020 under a Beijing-imposed national security law that was implemented following massive anti-government protests in 2019. Lai has spent five years in custody, much of it in solitary confinement, and his family said his health has declined rapidly. He has also been convicted of several lesser offenses related to fraud allegations and his actions in 2019.

    Lai’s trial, conducted without a jury, has been closely monitored by the U.S., Britain, the European Union, and political observers as a barometer of media freedom and judicial independence in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

    Sebastien Lai, one of his children, said the family was saddened but not surprised by the verdict.

    “In the 800-page verdict they have there is essentially nothing, nothing that incriminates him,” he told reporters in London. “This is a perfect example of how the national security law has been molded and weaponized against someone who essentially said stuff that they didn’t like.”

    “This verdict proves that the authorities still fear our father, even in his weakened state, for what he represents,” his daughter Claire said in a statement. “We stand by his innocence and condemn this miscarriage of justice.”

    Court said Lai spent years plotting against Beijing

    Reading from an 855-page verdict, Judge Esther Toh said that Lai had extended a “constant invitation” to the U.S. to help bring down the Chinese government with the excuse of helping Hong Kongers.

    Lai’s lawyers admitted during the trial that he had called for sanctions before the law took effect, but insisted he dropped these calls to comply with the law.

    But the judges ruled that Lai had never wavered in his intention to destabilize the ruling Chinese Communist Party, “continuing though in a less explicit way.”

    Toh said the court was satisfied that Lai was the mastermind of the conspiracies and that Lai’s evidence was at times contradictory and unreliable. The judges ruled that the only reasonable inference from the evidence was that Lai’s only intent, both before and after the security law, was to seek the downfall of the ruling Communist Party even at the sacrifice of the people of China and Hong Kong.

    “This was the ultimate aim of the conspiracies and secessionist publications,” they wrote.

    Among the attendees were Lai’s wife and one of his sons, and Hong Kong’s Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen. Lai nodded to his family before being escorted out of the courtroom.

    His verdict is also a test for Beijing’s diplomatic ties. U.S. President Donald Trump said he has raised the case with China, and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said his government has made it a priority to secure the release of Lai, who is a British citizen.

    Lai could face life in prison

    The founder of the now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily will be sentenced on a later day.

    The collusion charge carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Hearings were set to begin Jan. 12 for Lai and other defendants in the case to argue for a shorter sentence.

    The Apple Daily, a vocal critic of the Hong Kong government and Beijing, was forced to shut in 2021 after police raided its newsroom and arrested its senior journalists, with authorities freezing its assets.

    During Lai’s 156-day trial, prosecutors accused him of conspiring with senior executives of Apple Daily and others to request foreign forces to impose sanctions or blockades and engage in other hostile activities against Hong Kong or China.

    The prosecution also accused Lai of making such requests, highlighting his meetings with former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in July 2019 at the height of the protests.

    Lai testified for 52 days in his own defense, arguing that he had not called for foreign sanctions after the sweeping security law was imposed in June 2020. His legal team also argued for freedom of expression.

    Health concerns raised during marathon trial

    As the trial progressed, Lai’s health appeared to be deteriorating.

    Lai’s lawyers in August told the court that he suffered from heart palpitations.

    His children have said that he lost 22 pounds in the past year alone and lost some of his nails and teeth. They also said he suffered from infections for months, along with constant back pain, diabetes, heart issues, and high blood pressure.

    Hong Kong’s government said no abnormalities were found during a medical examination that followed Lai’s complaint of heart problems. It added this month that the medical services provided to him were adequate.

    Hong Kong leader John Lee said Lai harmed the fundamental interests of the country, calling his intentions malicious.

    Steve Li, chief superintendent of Hong Kong police’s National Security Department, disputed claims of Lai’s worsening health outside the court building.

    “Lai’s conviction is justice served,” he told reporters.

    U.K. and rights groups slam outcome as China defends it

    U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said on X that her country condemned the politically motivated prosecution that resulted in the guilty verdict, saying it would continue to call for his release. The EU also deplored the conviction.

    In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said China expressed firm opposition to the vilification of the city’s judiciary by “certain countries,” urging them to respect the city’s legal system.

    Rights groups, including global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International, condemned the verdict.

    “It is not an individual who has been on trial — it is press freedom itself, and with this verdict that has been shattered,” said Reporters Without Borders’ director general Thibaut Bruttin.

    But Hong Kong Secretary for Security Chris Tang said the verdict has nothing to do with press freedom.

    Before sunrise, dozens of residents queued outside the court building to secure a courtroom seat.

    Former Apple Daily employee Tammy Cheung arrived at 5 a.m., saying she wanted to know about Lai’s condition after reports of his health.

    She said she felt the process was being rushed since the verdict date was announced only last Friday, but added, “I’m relieved that this case can at least conclude soon.”

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

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

    SYDNEY — Australian leaders promised Monday to immediately overhaul already-tough gun control laws after a mass shooting targeted a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach. At least 15 people died in the attack, which has fueled criticism that authorities are not doing enough to combat a surge in antisemitic crimes.

    Among the new measures proposed would be a limit on the number of guns someone can own and a review of licenses held over time. Those and other actions would represent a significant update to the landmark national firearms agreement, which virtually banned rapid-fire rifles after a gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania in 1996, galvanizing the country into action.

    “The government is prepared to take whatever action is necessary. Included in that is the need for tougher gun laws,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

    The violence erupted at the end of a summer day when thousands had flocked to Bondi Beach, an icon of Australia’s cultural life. They included hundreds gathered for the Chanukah by the Sea event celebrating the start of the Jewish festival with food, face painting and a petting zoo. Albanese called the massacre an act of antisemitic terrorism that struck at the heart of the nation.

    Police shot the two suspected gunmen, a father and son. The 50-year-old father died at the scene. His 24-year-old son remained in a coma in hospital on Monday, Albanese said. Police won’t reveal their names.

    At least 38 other people are being treated in hospitals.

    Among those is a man who was captured on video appearing to tackle and disarm one apparent assailant, before pointing the man’s weapon at him, then setting the gun on the ground.

    The man was identified by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke as Ahmed al Ahmed. The 42-year-old fruit shop owner and father of two was shot in the shoulder.

    Al Ahmed, an Australian citizen who migrated from Syria in 2006, underwent surgery on Monday, his family said.

    Al Ahmed’s parents, who moved to Australia in recent months, said their son had a background in the Syrian security forces.

    “My son has always been brave. He helps people. He’s like that,” his mother, Malakeh Hasan al Ahmed, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. through an interpreter.

    Organizers of Philly area Hanukkah celebrations call for resilience after Australia attack

    Authorities had investigated one of the suspected gunman

    Albanese confirmed that Australia’s main domestic spy agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, had investigated the younger suspected gunman for six months in 2019.

    The ABC reported that the agency had examined the son’s ties to a Sydney-based Islamic State group cell. Albanese did not describe the associates, but said the agency was interested in them rather than the son.

    “He was examined on the basis of being associated with others and the assessment was made that there was no indication of any ongoing threat or threat of him engaging in violence,” Albanese said.

    Australia has gun laws meant to prevent mass attacks

    The horror at Australia’s most popular beach was the deadliest shooting in almost three decades since the 1996 Port Arthur massacre. The removal of rapid-fire rifles has markedly reduced the death tolls from such acts of violence since then.

    Albanese’s proposals to limit the number of guns someone can own and review licenses were announced after the authorities revealed that the older suspected gunman had held a gun license for a decade and amassed his six guns legally.

    Leaders of the federal and state governments on Monday also proposed restricting gun ownership to Australian citizens, a measure that would have excluded the older suspect, who came to Australia in 1998 on a student visa and became a permanent resident after marrying a local woman. Officials wouldn’t confirm what country he had migrated from.

    His son, who doesn’t have a gun license, is an Australian-born citizen.

    The government leaders also proposed the “additional use of criminal intelligence” in deciding who was eligible for a gun license. That could mean the son’s suspicious associates could disqualify the father from owning a gun.

    Chris Minns, premier of New South Wales where Sydney is the state capital, said his state’s gun laws would change, but he could not yet detail how.

    “If you’re not a farmer, you’re not involved in agriculture, why do you need these massive weapons that put the public in danger and make life dangerous and difficult for New South Wales Police?” Minns asked.

    Dozens being treated in hospitals

    Among those hospitalized are two police officers. Those killed included a 10-year-old girl, a rabbi and a Holocaust survivor.

    While none of the dead or wounded have been formally named by the authorities, the identities of those killed, who ranged in age from 10 to 87, began to emerge in news reports Monday.

    Among them was Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and an organizer of the family Hanukkah event that was targeted, according to Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish movement that runs outreach worldwide.

    Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the death of an Israeli citizen, but gave no further details. French President Emmanuel Macron said a French citizen, identified as Dan Elkayam, was among those killed.

    Larisa Kleytman told reporters outside St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney that her husband, Alexander Kleytman, was among the dead. The couple were both Holocaust survivors, according to The Australian newspaper.

    Jewish leaders criticize government’s response to antisemitism

    Over the past year, Australia has been rocked by antisemitic attacks in Sydney and Melbourne. Synagogues and cars were torched, businesses and homes graffitied and Jews attacked in those cities, where the vast majority of the nation’s Jewish population lives. Of Australia’s 28 million people, about 117,000 are Jewish, according to official figures.

    The massacre provoked questions about whether Albanese and his government had done enough to curb rising antisemitism. Jewish leaders and the massacre’s survivors expressed fear and fury as they questioned why the men hadn’t been detected before they opened fire.

    “There’s been a heap of inaction,” said Lawrence Stand, a Sydney man who raced to a bar mitzvah celebration in Bondi when the violence erupted to find his 12-year-old daughter.

    “I think the federal government has made a number of missteps on antisemitism,” Alex Ryvchin, spokesperson for the Australian Council of Executive Jewry, told reporters gathered on Monday near the site of the shooting. “I think when an attack such as what we saw yesterday takes place, the paramount and fundamental duty of government is the protection of its citizens, so there’s been an immense failure.”

    The Australian government has enacted various measures — including appointing a special envoy to combat antisemitism, toughening laws and investing in enhanced security for Jewish schools and synagogues — to counter a surge in antisemitism since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel responded with an offensive in Gaza.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he warned Australia’s leaders months ago about the dangers of failing to take action against antisemitism. He claimed Australia’s decision, in line with scores of other countries, to recognize a Palestinian state “pours fuel on the antisemitic fire.”

    Albanese in August blamed Iran for two of the previous attacks and cut diplomatic ties to Tehran. Authorities have not suggested Iran was linked to Sunday’s massacre.

  • Authorities say they will release a person of interest detained in the Brown University shooting

    Authorities say they will release a person of interest detained in the Brown University shooting

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A person of interest detained after a Brown University shooting that killed two students and injured nine will be released after law enforcement authorities determined there was no basis to keep the individual in custody, officials said Sunday night.

    The disclosure, made at a hastily convened late night news conference, represents a dramatic setback in an investigation into killings that set off hours of chaos on the Ivy League campus and unravels progress that authorities thought they had made earlier in the day when they detained a man at a Rhode Island hotel in connection with the attack.

    No current suspect in deadly shooting

    The release of the lone person of interest leaves law enforcement without any known suspect, with officials pledging to redouble efforts in the investigation by canvassing for video surveillance that could help pinpoint the killer’s identity.

    “We have a murderer out there,” said Attorney General Peter Neronha, while Providence Mayor Brett Smiley acknowledged that ”the news is likely to cause fresh anxiety for our community.”

    Despite an enhanced police presence at Brown, officials are not recommending another shelter-in-place order like the one that followed the Saturday afternoon shooting, when hundreds of officers searched for the shooter and urged students and staff to shelter in place. The lockdown, which stretched into the night, was lifted early Sunday, but authorities had not yet released information about a potential motive.

    Witness describes terror inside Brown University classroom after gunman entered

    On Sunday morning, officials took into custody a person of interest at a Hampton Inn hotel in Coventry, Rhode Island, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Providence. Two people familiar with the matter identified that individual as a 24-year-old man from Wisconsin, though authorities never released the individual’s name.

    “I’ve been around long enough to know that sometimes you head in one direction and then you have to regroup and go in another and that’s exactly what has happened over the last 24 hours or so,” Neronha said.

    He said that “certainly there was some degree of evidence that pointed to the individual” who’d been taken into custody but “that evidence needed to be corroborated and confirmed. And over the last 24 hours leading into just very, very recently, that evidence now points in a different direction.”

    Mass shooting at Brown U.: When gun heartbreak comes home | Will Bunch

    Shooting occurred during busy period on campus

    The shooting occurred during one of the busiest moments of the academic calendar, as final exams were underway. Brown canceled all remaining classes, exams, papers and projects for the semester and told students they could leave campus, underscoring the scale of the disruption and the gravity of the attack.

    As police scoured the area for the shooter, many students remained barricaded in rooms while others hid behind furniture and bookshelves. One video showed students in a library shaking and wincing as they heard loud bangs just before police entered the room to clear the building.

    University President Christina Paxson teared up while describing her conversations with students both on campus and in the hospital.

    “They are amazing and they’re supporting each other,” she said at a news conference. “There’s just a lot of gratitude.”

    The gunman opened fire inside a classroom in the engineering building, firing more than 40 rounds from a 9 mm handgun, a law enforcement official told AP. Two handguns were recovered when the person of interest was taken into custody and authorities also found two loaded 30-round magazines, the official said. One of the firearms was equipped with a laser sight that projects a dot to aid in targeting, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity.

    One student of the nine wounded students had been released from the hospital, said Paxson. Seven others were in critical but stable condition, and one was in critical condition.

    Durham Academy, a private K-12 school in Durham, North Carolina, confirmed that a recent graduate, Kendall Turner, was critically wounded. The school said her parents were with her.

    “Our school community is rallying around Kendall, her classmates, and her loved ones, and we will continue to offer our full support in the days ahead,” the school said.

    Community comes together to remember victims

    On Sunday evening, city leaders, residents and others gathered at a park to honor the victims. The event originally was scheduled as a Christmas tree and Hanukkah menorah lighting.

    “For those who know at least bit of the Hanukkah story, it is quite clear that if we can come together as a community to shine a little bit of light tonight, there’s nothing better that we can be doing,” Mayor Brett Smiley said at a news conference earlier in the day.

    Smiley said he visited some wounded students and was inspired by their courage, hope and gratitude. One told him that active shooting drills done in high school proved helpful.

    “The resilience that these survivors showed and shared with me, is frankly pretty overwhelming,” he said.

    Exams were underway when the shooting began

    Investigators were not immediately sure how the shooter got inside the first-floor classroom at the Barus & Holley building, a seven-story complex that houses the School of Engineering and physics department. The building includes more than 100 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and offices, according to the university’s website.

    Engineering design exams were underway. Outer doors of the building were unlocked but rooms being used for final exams required badge access, Smiley said.

    Emma Ferraro, a chemical engineering student, was in the lobby working on a final project when she heard loud pops. Once she realized they were gunshots, she darted for the door and into a nearby building where she waited for hours.

    Surveillance video released by police showed a suspect, dressed in black, walking from the scene.

    Former ‘Survivor’ contestant left the building just before shooting

    Eva Erickson, a doctoral candidate who was the runner-up earlier this year on the CBS reality competition show “Survivor,” said she left her lab in the engineering building 15 minutes before shots rang out.

    The engineering and thermal science student shared candid moments on “Survivor” as the show’s first openly autistic contestant. She was locked down in the campus gym following the shooting and shared on social media that the only other member of her lab who was present was safely evacuated.

    Brown senior biochemistry student Alex Bruce was working on a final research project in his dorm across the street from the building when he heard sirens outside.

    “I’m just in here shaking,” he said, watching through the window as officers surrounded his dorm.

    Brown, the seventh-oldest higher education institution in the U.S., is one of the nation’s most prestigious colleges, with roughly 7,300 undergraduates and more than 3,000 graduate students.

  • The stocks to watch when the Supreme Court rules on Trump’s tariffs

    An upcoming U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the legality of the sweeping tariffs that President Donald Trump rolled out in April — briefly sending markets worldwide into a tailspin — could be the next test for stocks that have been flying high.

    The S&P 500 Index has since rallied 39% from the lows hit that month. It closed at a record high Thursday, in part because tariffs have settled lower than Trump’s highest threats, while support has come from an artificial-intelligence investment boom and a U.S. economy that has kept expanding fast enough to throw off record corporate profits.

    If the nation’s top court says Trump exceeded his authority with the blanket tariffs on countries around the globe, there will still be significant uncertainty. The White House could use other laws to reimpose some new levies, for example. Bond traders could push up yields over worries about the deficit, and that concern could spread into the equity market.

    A ruling this year is increasingly unlikely. The court held its last scheduled public session of the year on Wednesday and isn’t scheduled to sit again until Jan. 9. The court’s standard practice is to issue decisions in argued cases from the bench, generally a day or more after making a public announcement that opinions are likely.

    But when a decision does come, market participants say the initial reaction, at least, would likely be positive for stocks should the court strike down the tariffs. A ruling upholding the tariffs would likely have the opposite effect.

    There are a few reasons why. Striking down the tariffs would eliminate a tax that many businesses haven’t completely passed along to customers, resulting in a drag on the bottom line. Refunds on what they’ve already paid could provide a windfall. And consumer spending may get a boost, too, given that Democrats in Congress estimate tariffs have cost the average American family some $1,200 over the past 10 months.

    Overall, a ruling against the tariffs would boost the earnings of companies in the S&P 500 Index, before interest and taxes, by 2.4% in 2026 compared to current-year levels, Wells Fargo & Co. chief equity strategist Ohsung Kwon estimated in October.

    “That’s good for the market generally, because they look at tariffs as a tax,” said James St. Aubin, chief investment officer at Ocean Park Asset Management. “This will be a catalyst for a little bit of a rally.”

    Some companies, and their stocks, stand to benefit more than others. The tariffs have been particularly painful for those that are heavily dependent on imported goods, such as apparel companies and toymakers. Financial firms, for their part, stand to benefit from a more confident or flush consumer.

    “On the flip side,” said Haris Khurshid, chief investment officer at Karobaar Capital, “materials, commodities, and domestic producers that benefited from protectionism might lag a bit.”

    Here’s a look at some of the sectors and companies with the most at stake when the decision does come.

    Consumer

    Clothing and toy companies — both heavily dependent on imports from China and other Asian countries targeted with some of the highest tariffs — are seen as clear winners, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Nike Inc. and Mattel Inc. are potential standouts.

    Others include Deckers Outdoor Corp., Under Armour Inc., Crocs Inc., and American Eagle Outfitters Inc., all of which have struggled with tariff-related uncertainty. Home furnishing stocks have been volatile too, including Wayfair Inc., Williams-Sonoma Inc., and RH.

    Texas Capital’s Eric Wold singled out some potential winners among the leisure-related companies he follows: boat-maker Brunswick Corp., toymaker Funko Inc., and Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp.

    Industrials

    Industrial manufacturing giants Caterpillar Inc. and Deere & Co. are among the firms set to benefit the most from tariff refunds, according to Wells Fargo’s Kwon. Stanley Black & Decker Inc., Fortive Corp., and Lennox International Inc. also make the list.

    Shares of automakers General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. advanced during the Supreme Court hearing last month, when the justices’ skepticism about the administration’s arguments increased market speculation that the tariffs would be struck down. While the case doesn’t affect the industry-specific tariff on automakers, they stand to gain from a stronger consumer.

    Investment firm Hedgeye also sees positive implications for transport stocks, expecting a boost if the tariffs are struck down and importers move to snap up inventory before any new ones are imposed. That could benefit United Parcel Service Inc., FedEx Corp., and trucking companies.

    Financials

    Major banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. faced volatility earlier this year, alongside private equity giants like Blackstone Inc., amid concerns that Trump’s trade war will slow economic activity. Financial-technology companies such as Affirm Holdings Inc. and Block Inc. are prone to big swings, as are stocks linked to cryptocurrencies.

    Lower tariffs may ease pressure on U.S. consumers and support the broader economy. If inflation expectations move lower, it’ll also support the case for more rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, Clear Street analyst Owen Lau said.

    Lower interest rates encourage “loan growth, refinancing, stronger equities markets, and even higher consumer spending,” Lau said, “which will fundamentally benefit financial stocks in general.”

  • Letters to the Editor | Dec. 15, 2025

    Letters to the Editor | Dec. 15, 2025

    The Gaza ceasefire

    Thank you for publishing Rabbi Linda Holtzman’s op-ed about why a ceasefire in Gaza isn’t enough, we must also stop arming Israel.

    Today, we got news of the first Gazan child — in this case, a baby — dying of hypothermia. She froze to death because there is no adequate shelter in Gaza, it’s winter, and it’s freezing at night. With its relentless bombing, shelling, and deliberate destruction of housing, hospitals, universities, and schools in Gaza, Israel reduced 90% of Gaza’s homes to rubble.

    The ceasefire agreement required Israel to send in desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza, 600 trucks a day of tents, tarps, bedding, blankets, food, infant formula, and potable water, medicines, and medical supplies. Israel has at most sent in 100 trucks a day. The tents Gazans have been living in for months are torn apart by winter storms; they need new tents, tarps, and blankets to keep them as warm as possible.

    Israeli troops occupy most of Gaza and have killed unarmed civilians, including children who are searching for wood to burn or looking for the remnants of their homes in the increasingly occupied eastern part of Gaza. Israeli army Chief Eyal Zamir said a few days ago that the “Yellow Line” in Gaza, which demarcates Gazan land occupied by Israel, is Israel’s new border, meaning Israel will almost certainly never give back the portion of Gaza it’s supposed to be only temporarily occupying.

    There is no ceasefire, no food or shelter or medicines for the Gazans. Given that Donald Trump gave birth to this “ceasefire” and so-called peace plan, he needs to hold Israel accountable. Palestinian children are just as precious and deserving of life as Israeli children.

    Genie Silver, Wynnewood

    …

    It is both astonishing and appalling that Rabbi Linda Holtzman fails to grasp the irony — and hypocrisy — of her invoking the holiday of Hanukkah to support her efforts to block certain defense aid to Israel. The Maccabees, the heroes of the Hanukkah story, not only successfully revolted against the oppressive Syrian Greek empire, but they zealously fought against the assimilation of the Jews of that time. And where did these historic events in the second century BCE take place? In the land of Israel!

    As an anti-Zionist, Holtzman does not believe the Jews have a right to live in a Jewish state in the land of Israel. Despite the attempts of so many of Holtzman’s allies to distort what Zionism is (with many even despicably comparing Zionists to Nazis), the definition of Zionism is actually quite simple: it is the movement for self-determination of the Jewish people in its ancestral homeland. And an overwhelming percentage of Jews identify as Zionists.

    On several occasions, Holtzman describes Israel’s response to the horrific slaughter of Oct. 7, 2023, as genocide, as if that’s a given. Never does she even mention Hamas, a terrorist organization which perpetrated brutal killings, burning of babies, and rapes and sexual mutilations (and glorified it all). No, Rabbi Holtzman, fighting back against an organization whose entire cynical strategy is based on hiding behind Gazan civilians in order to generate more casualties is not genocide. It’s a war against a truly genocidal enemy, a war that the Maccabees would have supported and led.

    Richard Lowe, Oreland

    Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.

  • Horoscopes: Monday, Dec. 15, 2025

    ARIES (March 21-April 19). Some questions are like Pandora’s box: Once opened, they release more truth and feeling than you expected. Ask only if you’re ready for the shift that follows. Choose your moment carefully. Nothing released from the box ever returns to it.

    TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Things calm down today, and you’ll get down to business. But remember, fulfillment doesn’t come from merely checking boxes. Your worth isn’t measured by output. What matters isn’t how much you do but how much you love.

    GEMINI (May 21-June 21). What seems like a very small distraction simply takes up too much of your time. You’ll be much more productive when it’s out of the picture. You may finally be in a place where it’s worth it to make the change.

    CANCER (June 22-July 22). Your feelings surge today. There’s a lot of energy running through you, but you can handle this charge. You can use your emotions instead of letting them use you. You’ll organize, compartmentalize and act on that which serves you.

    LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). While many of your relationships bring sweetness to life, some bring a good amount of stress. You still believe that in time you will be grateful for these relationships, and eventually, you’ll understand their purpose in your life.

    VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Remember when you predicted the future accidentally, without even trying to make a psychic statement? You’ll do it again today. Write down your thoughts because you’ll later enjoy today’s uncanny accuracy.

    LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). You have flexibility in some areas of life. You can rearrange habits, preferences, timing, environment, workflow, attitude, priorities. Then there are those that are the immovable fixtures. Don’t see them as blocks but as architecture you can design around.

    SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Everyone learns the rules of life from parents, teachers and leaders, but your inner guidance has always been the stronger force. Today it matters because something you feel is right for you isn’t reflected in the world around you, so you’ll trust yourself instead.

    SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). You don’t have to prove yourself to anyone, not even you, but you challenge yourself anyway because you want to see how far you can take this beautiful life. Keep the heart. Angels are around you, cheering you on.

    CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). The theme today swirls around issues of character. Of course, there’s a difference between having character and being a character. Somehow, you’ll do both. You find the funny angle in your circumstances and approach with integrity.

    AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). There’s no substitute for meeting in person. As inconvenient as it may seem, it will be better for building bonds, understanding dynamics and knowing the right thing to do next for the project at hand.

    PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). Big dreams lead to extraordinary outcomes. They are not always the outcomes that existed in the dream, but they are extraordinary because you dared to dream at all. So keep stretching your imagination around the grand scale.

    TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (Dec. 15). Welcome to your Year of the Golden Thread, which brings shimmering connections between seemingly unrelated parts of your life — the hobby that becomes a side hustle, the friend of a friend who changes everything, the random skill that pays off. Your timing is uncanny. More highlights: VIP access to something you’ve dreamed about, a luxury home upgrade and friendships that deepen into chosen family. Cancer and Capricorn adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 8, 4, 5, 31 and 47.