YCLOAK

The United States returned two looted antiquities to China, the latest in a wave of repatriations of artifacts stolen from more than a dozen countries, New York authorities announced Tuesday.

The two 7th-century stone carvings, currently valued at $3.5 million, had been sawn off a tomb by thieves in the early 1990s and smuggled out of China, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.

The carvings were among 89 antiquities from 10 different countries purchased by Shelby White, a private art collector in New York.

From 1998, they were “loaned” to the Metropolitan Museum of Art until they were seized this year by the DA’s office following a criminal investigation.

“It is a shame that these two incredible antiquities were stolen and at least one remained largely hidden from the public view for nearly three decades,” Bragg said.

“While their total value is more than $3 million, the incredible detail and beauty of these pieces can never be truly captured by a price tag.”

Collectively valued at nearly $69 million, they were part of a criminal investigation by the city’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit that tracks and repatriates looted artifacts.

One of the funerary carvings was kept in the museum’s storage room and never displayed, according to the statement by Bragg’s office.

It was never cleaned and caked in dirt, another tell-tale sign of their illicit origin, the statement added.

The carvings were handed over during a repatriation ceremony at the Chinese consulate in New York.

“We regard the crackdown on crimes against cultural property a sacred mission,” Chinese Consul General Huang Ping was quoted as saying in the statement by the DA’s office.

Since January 2022, more than 950 antiquities worth over $165 million have been returned to 19 countries, including Cambodia, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Iraq, Greece, Turkey, and Italy.

In 2021, Michael Steinhardt, a private collector, returned around 180 stolen antiquities worth $70 million following an out-of-court agreement, in one of the most famous cases of art trafficking in New York.
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Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who was taken off the air by the network last month, said on Tuesday he would relaunch his show on Twitter “soon.”

Fox News Media and its top-rated host agreed to part ways last month, shortly after parent company Fox Corp. settled for $787.5 million a defamation lawsuit in which Carlson played a starring role.

The outspoken Carlson embraced conservative issues and delivered his views with a style that made his prime-time show, “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” the highest-rated cable news program in the key 25-to-54 age demographic on the most-watched U.S. cable news network.

Ratings slumped after his departure.

“Starting soon, we’ll be bringing a new version of the show we’ve been doing for the last six and a half years to Twitter,” Carlson said in a video posted on Twitter. “We bring some other things too, which we’ll tell you about. But for now, we’re just grateful to be here.”

Carlson’s announcement comes weeks after Twitter owner Elon Musk sat for a two-part interview with Carlson on Fox News.

Musk, who has referred to himself as a “free speech absolutist,” has said his goal is to make Twitter a digital town hall where users can share diverse viewpoints.

Even as Carlson announced plans to reboot his show on social media, Axios reported that his lawyers sent a letter to Fox accusing it of fraud and breach of contract.

Carlson’s attorney did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Fox Corp. declined to comment.

Fox’s lawyers have asked attorneys for Dominion Voting Systems to investigate whether they leaked controversial internal messages from Carlson that provided evidence in their recent defamation suit.

The request came after multiple news outlets published racist and sexist remarks by Carlson in the leaked communications and recordings.
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Iranian American Sanaz Toossi won the Pulitzer Prize in drama Monday for her play English. 

The play takes place in 2008 near Tehran, where four Iranian adults prepare for an English proficiency test.  It examines how family separation and travel restrictions push them to learn a new language and how that may change their identity. 

The Pulitzer board called the play “quietly powerful.” 

The award includes a $15,000 prize. 

Toossi is the daughter of Iranian immigrants to the United States and grew up in the western U.S. state of California. 
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Mezzo-soprano Grace Bumbry, a Black opera singer who blazed trails and broke barriers, has died, her son and publicist announced Monday. She was 86.

The artist died on May 7 at a hospital in Vienna, having suffered a stroke in October, according to her adopted son David Lee Brewer, who was speaking to the press agency APA.

The decorated singer made her operatic debut in Paris in 1960, playing Amneris in Aida, and became a favorite of U.S. first lady Jackie Kennedy.

Over a nearly four-decade career, Bumbry received great acclaim for her performances in roles that showcased her wide vocal range and singular star power.

Grace-Melzia Bumbry was born in St. Louis on January 4, 1937, to parents hailing from Mississippi.

A unique talent in the church choir, she grew up in an era of profound racial segregation and was barred from entering the local music conservatory.

But she went on to study at Boston University and Northwestern University on scholarships, later going with her instructor Lotte Lehmann to the Music Academy of the West in California to hone her operatic and stage skills.

Following fellow pioneering Black artists including Marian Anderson and Leontyne Price, Bumbry was a major figure in breaking down racial barriers entrenched in classical music.

She gained international attention in 1961 when she became the first African American to perform at Germany’s Bayreuth Festival, an institution dedicated to Richard Wagner, a figure acclaimed for his music but whose antisemitism and white supremacist views have complicated his artistic legacy.

Wagnerites voiced some protest that she would perform, but the composer’s grandson, Wieland Wagner, said, “I require no ideal Nordic specimens,” arguing that his grandfather’s music was “for vocal color, not skin color.”

Across her storied career, Bumbry gained a reputation for glamour and high living, wearing dramatic gowns and jewels. She also had a penchant for show dogs and luxury cars.

In 2009 she was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor, among the highest American arts awards, in the presence of then-President Barack Obama. 

She lived for years in Switzerland and later settled in Vienna, retiring from opera in 1997 after gracing the world’s most prestigious stages for decades.

Bumbry remained professionally active as a teacher and concert performer, also founding the Grace Bumbry Black Musical Heritage Ensemble.

Austria’s secretary of state, Andrea Mayer, hailed Bumbry as “a pioneer for generations of opera singers.”

“With her legendary debut at Bayreuth in the 1960s, she made a decisive contribution to equal rights in the world of opera,” Mayer said in a statement. 
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Authentic Ukrainian ethnic folk attire made a recent appearance on a runway at Metropolitan Fashion Week Seattle, held in the city’s suburb of Woodinville. Natasha Mozgovaya has more.
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As teqball continues its fast growth with its debut at the Southeast Asian Games, the young sport has drawn resentful glances from similar sports in the region that feel it is treading on their turf.

Invented in Hungary in 2012, teqball is a nonmedal exhibition sport at this year’s SEA Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, being played over three days with the finals on Monday. It is also on the schedule for the European Games in Poland in June and July.

Teqball already has more than 140 national federations, leading its backers to call it “the fastest-growing sport in the world.”

Top international football teams, including Spain and Portugal, bond over games of teqball during downtime, and stars such as Brazilian footballer Ronaldinho have become ambassadors for the game.

Played on a curved table, teqball melds elements of football, volleyball and ping-pong. Players — alone or in pairs — trade shots without using their arms. The catch is they cannot use the same body part twice consecutively.

“In Europe, North America, South America, it’s more developed than in Asia,” said Marton Keresztury, from governing body Fiteq. “So here, it’s just starting slowly.”

On Sunday, the much-fancied Thai men’s doubles team ruthlessly saw off their Cambodian opposition, the affront to their hosts compounded by Phakpong Dejaroen’s acrobatic winning shots repeatedly bouncing up and scudding into the home fans.

That set the Thais up for a final on Monday against another Cambodian duo.

In the women’s doubles, the Thai duo of Suphawadi Wongkhamchan and Jutatip Kuntatong also swatted away the opposition on their way to the final.

One reason Thailand excels at the sport is a pre-existing love for the game of sepak takraw, a similar sport popular around the region, played on something more resembling a volleyball court.

Fahrish Khan, of the Singapore men’s doubles team that beat Brunei in their last group game, but did not progress, noted the overlap.

“We play football. So, if you see a lot of them are sepak takraw players. It’s very different,” said the 27-year-old.

“The difference is they know how to kill,” he said, referring to the bouncing winners that the Thai team reeled off with elan.

Keresztury said teqball had more tournaments coming in Asia soon, in China, Thailand, “and maybe Indonesia.”

He noted that the sport risked butting heads with sepak takraw.

“The players who are here, they come from (sepak takraw). Sometimes you have clashes with sepak takraw federations because they don’t want to let their players play teqball. That’s why it’s developing slowly in Asia,” Keresztury said. “I think 80% of the players come from sepak takraw, from all nations.”

But, he added: “It’s easy to get some skills from sepak takraw, but if you want to have all the skills you have to play more teqball.”
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There is nothing like the promise of a chapter closing to draw people to the movie theater, especially when tied to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This weekend, ” Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” which says goodbye to this iteration of the space misfits and its driving creative voice, director James Gunn, earned $114 million in ticket sales from 4,450 locations in North America, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Internationally, where the film opened in 52 territories including China, “Vol. 3” earned $168 million, giving it a $282 million global debut.

Domestically, it’s both an impressive sum for any movie and slightly less than what we’ve come to expect from a Marvel opening. Last year on the same weekend, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” riding on the success of “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” raked in $187.4 million in its first three days in North America. And in November, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” also opened over $181.3 million.

But things have come back to earth this year, at least by high-flying superhero standards. “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” debuted just over $106 million on its way to $474 million worldwide. At rival studio DC/Warner Bros., “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” only made $133.4 million total. The question on some analysts’ minds this weekend is whether it’s because of the specific character or a bigger issue of “superhero fatigue.”

“Guardians Vol. 3″ bumped ” The Super Mario Bros. Movie ” out of first place after four weekends atop the charts and kicked off the summer movie season, a vital and usually profitable corridor for Hollywood that runs through Labor Day and often accounts for 40% of a year’s box office.

For Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian, it’s still a solid opening for the summer season, which he said is poised to deliver the most robust profits since 2019.

“Though ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s’ debut may reflect a bit of audience fatigue for the reliable superhero genre, this is just the beginning for what promises to be an irresistible movie marketplace with a killer combination of appealing films for every taste and every audience demographic,” Dergarabedian said.

The next major superhero movie on the schedule is DC’s “The Flash,” set for June 16, which has its own flurry of intrigue around it because of star Ezra Miller’s legal and personal troubles.

“Guardians Vol. 3” sees the return of actors Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel. Reviews have been mostly positive, but a little more divided than previous installments. And it remains difficult to compare a pre-pandemic opening such as Vol. 2’s $146 million debut (May 2017) with a post-pandemic one.

“Vol. 3” is Gunn’s last Guardians/Marvel movie as he turns his focus to leading DC Studios.

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” added $18.6 million in its fifth weekend to take second place, bringing its domestic total to $518.1 million. Globally, it has now surpassed $1.1 billion.

Third place went to “Evil Dead Rise” with $5.7 million, and in fourth place was “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” with $3.4 million — both were holdovers.

Studios left the weekend mostly clear for the superhero behemoth, but Screen Gems and Sony did debut their new Priyanka Chopra Jonas romantic comedy “Love Again” (featuring Celine Dion and some new songs) in 2703 locations. It made a modest $2.4 million to take the fifth place spot.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” $114 million.

2. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” $18.6 million.

3. “Evil Dead Rise,” $5.7 million.

4. “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” $3.4 million.

5. “Love Again,” $2.4 million.

6. “John Wick: Chapter 3,” $2.4 million.

7. “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” $1.5 million.

8. “Air,” $1.4 million.

9. “Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant,” $1.2 million.

10. “Sisu,” $1.1 million.
    …

Newton N. Minow, who as Federal Communications Commission chief in the early 1960s famously proclaimed that network television was a “vast wasteland,” died Saturday. He was 97.

Minow, who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, died Saturday at home, surrounded by loved ones, said his daughter, Nell Minow.

“He wanted to be at home,” she told The Associated Press. “He had a good life.”

Though Minow remained in the FCC post just two years, he left a permanent stamp on the broadcasting industry through government steps to foster satellite communications, the passage of a law mandating UHF reception on TV sets and his outspoken advocacy for quality in television.

“My faith is in the belief that this country needs and can support many voices of television — and that the more voices we hear, the better, the richer, the freer we shall be,” Minow once said. “After all, the airways belong to the people.”

Minow was appointed as FCC chief by President John F. Kennedy in early 1961. He had initially come to know the Kennedys in the 1950s as an aide to Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson, the Democrats’ presidential nominee in 1952 and 1956.

Minow laid down his famous challenge to TV executives on May 9, 1961, in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, urging them to sit down and watch their station for a full day, “without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit-and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you.”

“I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland,” he told them. “You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, Western bad men, Western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence and cartoons. And, endlessly, commercials — many screaming, cajoling and offending.”

As he spoke, the three networks were just about all most viewers had to choose from. Pay television was barely in the planning stage, PBS and Sesame Street were several years away, and HBO and niche channels such as Animal Planet were far in the future.

The speech caused a sensation. “Vast wasteland” became a catch phrase. Jimmy Durante opened an NBC special by saying, “Da next hour will be dedicated to upliftin’ da quality of television. … At least, Newt, we’re tryin’.”

Minow became the first government official to get a George Foster Peabody award for excellence in broadcasting. The New York Times critic Jack Gould (himself a Peabody winner) wrote, “At long last there is a man in Washington who proposes to champion the interests of the public in TV matters and is not timid about ruffling the industry’s most august feathers. Tonight some broadcasters were trying to find dark explanations for Mr. Minow’s attitude. In this matter the viewer possibly can be a little helpful; Mr. Minow has been watching television.”

CBS President Frank Stanton strongly disagreed, calling Minow’s comments a “sensationalized and oversimplified approach” that could lead to ill-advised reforms “on the ground that any change is a change for the better.”

For the criticism over his speech, Minow said he didn’t support censorship, preferring exhortation and measures to broaden public choices. But he also said a broadcasting license was “an enormous gift” from the government that brought with it a responsibility to the public.

His daughter, Nell Minow, told The Associated Press in 2011 that her father loved television and wished he would have been remembered for championing the public interest in television programming, rather than just a few words in his much broader speech.

“His No. 1 goal was to give people choice,” she said.

Among the new laws during his tenure were the All-Channel Receiver Act of 1962, that required that TV sets pick up UHF as well as VHF broadcasts, which opened up TV channels numbered above 13 for widespread viewing. Congress also passed a bill that provided funds for educational television, and measures to foster communications satellites.

In a September 2006 interview on National Public Radio, Minow recalled telling Kennedy that such satellites were “more important than sending a man into space. … Communications satellites will send ideas into space, and ideas live longer than people.” On July 10, 1962, Minow was one of the officials making statements on the first live trans-Atlantic television program, a demonstration of AT&T’s Telstar satellite.

Children’s programming was a particular interest of Minow, a father of three, who told broadcasters the few good children’s shows were “drowned out in the massive doses of cartoons, violence and more violence. … Search your consciences and see if you cannot offer more to your young beneficiaries whose future you guide so many hours each and every day.”

Minow resigned in May 1963 to become executive vice president and general counsel for Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. in Chicago.

Nell Minow said her father also was instrumental in getting presidential debates televised, starting with Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon, after watching Stevenson struggle to use the new medium during his 1956 presidential run.

“Minow was appalled by … the whole charade of having to image-make on television,” said Craig Allen, a mass communications professor at Arizona State University who wrote a 2001 book about Minow.

In 1965, Minow returned to his law practice in Chicago, and later served as board member at PBS, CBS Inc. and the advertising company Foote Cone & Belding Communications Inc. He was director of the Annenberg Washington Program in Communications Policy Studies of Northwestern University.

He also gave Barack Obama a summer job at the law firm, where the future president met his wife, Michelle Robinson. Minow also was one of Obama’s earliest supporters when the then-Illinois senator considered running for president, Nell Minow said.

Television is one of our century’s most important advances “and yet, as a nation, we pay no attention to it,” Minow said in a 1991 Associated Press interview.

He continued to push for reforms such as free airtime for political ads and more quality programming while also praising advances in diversity in U.S. television.

“In 1961, I worried that my children would not benefit much from television. But in 1991 I worry that my grandchildren will actually be harmed by it,” he said. 
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The commuter trains that take wearied workers out of Moscow every day can be difficult — a long and slow trip in close quarters with strangers, some of them drinking alcohol or sprawled sleeping across the seats.

But a few days a week, riders might get a lift when Oksana comes aboard to soothe them with her violin artistry. Classics, jazz, Russian folk music and children’s songs all flow as she glides her bow across the strings.

It’s not just her repertoire that raises the passengers’ spirits, but her instruments themselves. She makes her own violins from kits and decorates them with intricate, colorful paintings of flowers and winding vines.

The 49-year-old Oksana, who did not want her surname reported out of safety concerns, once worked at a cultural center in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don but moved to Moscow after she lost that job. There was a house loan to pay off along with support for her two children, who live with their father.

At first she worked as a dishwasher. One day she fell into conversation with a street musician after giving him some money and he encouraged her to follow his example, saying it would likely pay more than her scullery job.

She took his advice, except that she chose the trains known as elektrichki as her venue rather that the street. They have been her stage for the past four years.

It’s not lucrative. In a good month she can take in 80,000 rubles ($750), but that’s enough to pay for her room on the Moscow outskirts and to send some money to her kids.

She could make more, but standing for hours on the swaying trains while playing is hard on her legs and she plays only two or three times a week.
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King Charles III’s coronation is a chance to unite people with the history and pageantry of the monarchy, but those traditions are also full of potential controversies as he tries to show that the monarchy still has a role to play in modern Britain.

The new king has already recognized these challenges by adjusting the coronation festivities to the realities of today.

This coronation will be shorter and more inclusive than his mother’s in 1953. Faith leaders from outside the Church of England will take an active role in the ceremony for the first time. And people from all four nations of the United Kingdom, as well as the Commonwealth, will take part.

Here are five artifacts that will play a central role in Saturday’s events.

The Coronation Chair and Stone of Scone

King Charles III will sit atop more than 1,500 years of Irish, Scottish and English history when he is crowned Saturday at Westminster Abbey.

The crown will be placed on Charles’ head as he sits in the Coronation Chair suspended over the Stone of Scone (pronounced “scoon”) — the sacred slab of sandstone on which Scottish kings were crowned. The chair has been part of every coronation since 1308.

The 2.05-meter-tall chair is made of oak and was originally covered in gold leaf and colored glass. The gold has long since worn away and the chair is now pocked with graffiti, including one message that reads “P. Abbott slept in this chair 5-6 July 1800.”

Edward I had the chair built specifically to enclose the Stone of Scone, known by Scots as the Stone of Destiny, after he forcibly took the artifact from Scotland and moved it to the abbey in the late 13th century. The stone’s history goes back much further, however. Fergus Mor MacEirc, the founder of Scotland’s royal line, reputedly brought the stone with him when he moved his seat from Ireland to Scotland around 498, Westminster Abbey said. Before that time, it was used as the coronation stone for Irish kings.

In 1996, Prime Minister John Major returned the stone to Scotland, with the understanding that it would come back to England for use in future coronations. In recent days, the stone was temporarily removed from its current home at Edinburgh Castle in a ceremony overseen by Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf, then transported to the abbey, where a special service was held to mark its return.

Coronation spoon

The gold-plated silver coronation spoon is the only piece of the coronation regalia that survived the English Civil War. After King Charles I was executed in 1649, the rest of the collection was either melted down or sold off as Parliament sought to abolish the monarchy forever.

The spoon is central to the most sacred part of the coronation ceremony, when the Archbishop of Canterbury will pour holy oil from an eagle-shaped ampulla, or flask, into the spoon and then rub it on the king’s hands, breast and head.

The ceremony has roots in the biblical story of the anointing of King Solomon and was originally designed to confirm that the sovereign was appointed directly by God. While the monarch is no longer considered divine, the ceremony confirms his status as supreme governor of the Church of England.

The 26.7-centimeter spoon is believed to have been made during the 12th century for either King Henry II or King Richard I and may have originally been used for mixing water and wine, according to the Royal Collection Trust.

The Cullinan Diamond

Two stones cut from the Cullinan Diamond — the largest rough diamond ever found — will feature prominently in the coronation, fueling controversy the royal family would rather avoid.

For many in South Africa, where the original stone was found in 1905, the gems are a symbol of colonial oppression under British rule and they should be returned.

Cullinan I, a huge drop-shaped stone weighing 530.2 carats, is mounted in the Sovereign’s Scepter with Cross. On Saturday, the scepter will be handed to Charles as a symbol of his temporal power.

Cullinan II, a cushion-shaped gem of 317.4 carats, is mounted on the front of the Imperial State Crown that Charles will wear as he leaves Westminster Abbey.

Charles sidestepped a similar controversy when Buckingham Palace announced that his wife, Camilla, wouldn’t wear the crown of Queen Elizabeth, the queen mother, on coronation day.

That crown contains the famous Koh-i-noor diamond that India, Pakistan and Iran all claim. The gem became part of the Crown Jewels after 11-year-old Maharaja Duleep Singh was forced to surrender it after the conquest of the Punjab in 1849.

St. Edward’s Crown

The crowning moment of the coronation ceremony will occur, literally, when the Archbishop of Canterbury places St. Edward’s Crown on Charles’ head.

Because of its significance as the centerpiece of the coronation, this will be the only time during his reign that the monarch will wear the solid gold crown, which features a purple velvet cap, ermine band and criss-crossed arches topped by a cross.

After the ceremony, Charles will swap the 2.08-kilogram crown for the Imperial State Crown, which weighs about half as much, for the procession back to Buckingham Palace.

Queen Elizabeth II once said that even the lighter crown was tricky because it would fall off if she didn’t keep her head upright while reading the annual speech at the state opening of Parliament.

“There are some disadvantages to crowns, but otherwise they’re quite important things,” the late queen told Sky News in 2018, flashing a smile.

The current St. Edward’s Crown was made for the coronation of King Charles II in 1661 and has been used in every coronation since then. It is a replica of the original crown, which was created in the 11th century and melted down after the execution of Charles I in 1649.

The crown glitters with stones including tourmalines, white and yellow topazes, rubies, amethysts, sapphires, garnet, peridot, zircons, spinel and aquamarines.

Until the early 20th century, the crown was decorated with rented stones that were returned after the coronation, according to the Royal Collection Trust. It was permanently set with semi-precious stones ahead of the coronation of George V in 1911.

The Gold State Coach

King Charles III and Queen Camilla will travel back to Buckingham Palace from Westminster Abbey in the Gold State Coach, a 261-year-old relic that is renowned as much for its uncomfortable ride as its lavish decoration.

The coach was built in 1762 under the reign of King George III and it has been used in every coronation since 1831.

It is made of wood and plated with gold leaf, from the cherubs on the roof to the Greek sea gods over each wheel. About the only things that aren’t gilded are the side panels painted with Roman gods and goddesses and, of course, the interior, which is upholstered in satin and velvet.

But the coach is heavy — 4 tons — and old, meaning it only ever travels at walking speed.

And while it may look luxurious, the coach features a notoriously bumpy ride because it is slung from leather straps rather than modern metal springs.

The late queen wasn’t a fan.

“Horrible! It’s not meant for traveling in at all,” she said in 2018 in an interview with Sky News. “Not very comfortable.”

That’s one reason Charles and Camilla will ride to the coronation in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach, which is equipped with hydraulic shock absorbers, as well as heat and air conditioning. 
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The ceremony for King Charles’ coronation at Westminster Abbey in London on Saturday will involve historic regalia ranging from sceptres and maces to a ring and a spoon.

Here are details of some of the Crown Jewels that will be used during the ceremony:

St. Edward’s Crown

Charles will be crowned with the historic St. Edward’s Crown that has been used since the coronation of King Charles II in 1661 after the monarchy was restored following the 10-year republic of Oliver Cromwell. It was removed from the Tower Of London in December for modifications.

The crown, which weighs about 2.2 kilograms, is made up of a solid gold frame set with rubies, amethysts, sapphires, garnet, topazes and tourmalines and has a velvet cap with an ermine band.

It replaced an original crown believed to date back to the 11th century Anglo-Saxon king of England, Edward the Confessor.

Charles will also wear the 1-kilogram Imperial State Crown at the end of the service, the headwear regularly used by British monarchs for official occasions such as the State Opening of Parliament.

Made for the coronation of Charles’ grandfather George VI in 1937, it is set with 2,868 diamonds in silver mounts including the 105-carat Cullinan II, the second biggest stone cut from the Cullinan Diamond, which was given by the government of the Transvaal in South Africa to Edward VII on his birthday in 1907.

The crown also features the large “Black Prince’s Ruby”, along with 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds and 269 pearls, including some of which are said to have been bought as earrings by Tudor monarch Queen Elizabeth I.

Sovereign’s scepter with cross

The Cullinan 1 diamond, also known as the Star of Africa, which weighs in at 530 carats and is the world’s largest colorless cut diamond, was set in the bejeweled golden scepter which has been used in every coronation since 1661.

The scepter, which has undergone a number of alterations over the centuries, represents the sovereign’s temporal power and is associated with good governance.

Sovereign’s scepter with dove

This is the second scepter used in the ceremony, representing the sovereign’s spiritual role. It also dates from 1661. It is made from a gold rod in three sections, mounted with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires and spinels. At the top is an enameled dove with outspread wings, which represents the Holy Ghost.

The Sovereign’s Orb

The Sovereign’s Orb, another item commissioned for Charles II’s coronation, is a globe of gold with a cross mounted on top, surrounded by a band of diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires and pearls with a large amethyst at the summit. It is a representation of Christian sovereignty.

Coronation ring

The coronation ring, known as “The Wedding Ring of England” and composed of a sapphire with a ruby cross set in diamonds, was made for the coronation of King William IV in 1831. Worn at every coronation since then, it symbolizes kingly dignity.

Swords and maces

A number of swords will feature in the coronation procession.

These include the Sword of State, which symbolizes royal authority and was made in about 1678, and was used at Charles’ investiture as Prince of Wales in 1969. Also to feature will be the Sword of Temporal Justice, the Sword of Spiritual Justice and the Sword of Mercy, which were first used in the coronation of Charles I in 1626.

The bejeweled Sword of Offering, made for the coronation of George IV in 1821, will be presented to Charles, with the message it is a symbol not of might or violence but for the protection of good.

Two maces, made of silver gilt over oak and date from between 1660 and 1695, will also feature. These are the ceremonial emblems of authority which are carried before the sovereign at events such as the State Opening of Parliament.

Ampulla

The golden ampulla, which dates from 1661, is a flask in the shape of an eagle that holds the holy oil, which was consecrated in Jerusalem in March and will be used to anoint the king.

Coronation spoon

The silver-gilt spoon is the oldest piece in the regalia, probably made for Henry II or Richard I in the 12th century. It was used to anoint King James 1 in 1603 and has featured at every coronation since.

Bracelets

Two armills, golden bracelets representing sincerity and wisdom, are placed on the sovereign’s wrists. They are thought to relate to ancient symbols of knighthood and military leadership.

They date back to 1661 and have been used at every coronation from King Charles II’s until King George VI’s in 1937, with new armills specially prepared for Queen Elizabeth in 1953.
…

The cast of characters for the 149th Kentucky Derby was rewritten in the days before the race. What didn’t change: Forte is the early 3-1 favorite on Saturday in a seemingly wide-open field of 19 horses.

Four horses were scratched — Practical Move, Lord Miles, Continuar and Skinner — and three horses waiting on the also-eligible list moved into the field. They are Cyclone Mischief, Mandarin Hero and King Russell.

Last year’s Derby was a stunner: 80-1 shot Rich Strike weaved his way through traffic and came rushing up the rail to win. NBC Sports’ overhead replay of the race was viewed more than 36 million times.

A crowd of about 150,000 is expected to jam Churchill Downs to wager and watch the 1 1/4-mile Derby. Post time is 6:57 p.m. EDT.

Forte breaks from the No. 15 post, which has produced six winners. The dark brown colt is trained by two-time Derby winner Todd Pletcher, who also has the second favorite in Tapit Trice, at 5-1.

The Todd Squad includes Kingsbarns, and it’s an impressive trio.

Forte was last year’s 2-year-old champion and has six wins in seven career starts, including five in a row. Tapit Trice is 4 for 5 and Kingsbarns is 3 for 3.

“You could say it’s the deepest squad we’ve brought so far,” Pletcher said.

Louisville-born Brad Cox won his first Derby belatedly when Mandaloun was elevated to first place after Medina Spirit’s disqualification nine months after the 2021 race.

“There’s no thrill of winning the Derby through a phone call,” he said. “There’s no celebration, there’s no winning picture.”

Cox has a leading four chances to make the winner’s circle in person this year: early 8-1 third choice Angel of Empire; Hit Show; Verifying; and Jace’s Road.

“I’m sure it would be a feeling like no other,” he said.

Gary and Mary West, who own Hit Show, are seeking retribution of their own.

Their horse, Maximum Security, crossed the Derby finish line first in 2019, but was disqualified for interference after a 22-minute delay while stewards reviewed video. Country House was awarded the garland of red roses. The Wests sued unsuccessfully to have the stewards’ decision reversed.

“They would like to cross the wire first and stay up,” Cox said. “They got a really live crack. This colt is really doing well.”

A couple of jockeys are looking for similar satisfaction.

Luis Saez rode Maximum Security in 2019 and received a 15-day suspension for interfering with others; he’s seeking his first Derby win aboard Tapit Trice. Florent Geroux, who was on Mandaloun, is on Jace’s Road.

For the second straight year, the Derby is without Bob Baffert. The Hall of Fame trainer with a record-tying six victories is soon to complete a two-year ban by Churchill Downs Inc. He was punished after Medina Spirit flunked a post-race drug test.

Baffert’s shadow still looms large over the Twin Spires. A colt previously trained by him, Reincarnate, will be in the starting gate.

Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. found himself on the sideline after being indefinitely suspended Thursday by Churchill Downs Inc. His Derby entry, Lord Miles, was scratched. Two of Joseph’s horses died after races at the track in the days leading up to the Derby. No cause of death has yet been found.

New antidoping and medication rules to be enforced by the sport’s new central governing body won’t take effect until May 22, after the Derby and the Preakness.

Japan is represented by Derma Sotogake and Mandarin Hero, giving the nation two chances to win the Derby for the first time.

Derma Sotogake and Two Phil’s are the most experienced runners in the field, having made eight career starts.

“He has a lot of experience and it has made him tougher and tougher,” said Christophe Lemaire, who will ride Derma Sotogake. “It is important to have that experience with 18 other horses in a high-level race.”

Confidence Game, a 20-1 shot, will try to win coming off an unheard of 10-week layoff.

Saturday’s forecast calls for partly sunny skies and a high of 25 Celsius.

 
…

U.S. director Damien Chazelle, best known for the Oscar-winning La La Land, will lead the jury of the upcoming Venice Film Festival, organizers announced Friday.

The 80th edition of the prestigious festival will take place from Aug. 30-Sept. 9 on the swanky, beach-lined Lido island.

“For 10 days each year this city of the arts, of Tintoretto and Titian and Veronese, becomes a city of cinema, and I am humbled and delighted to be invited to lead this year’s jury,” said Chazelle, 38, whose most recent film is Babylon.

Chazelle’s musical about making it in Hollywood, La La Land, opened the Venice festival in 2016, and went on to win six Academy Awards, including for its director, the youngest ever to win the prize.

Heading the jury for Venice’s parallel competition, Orizzonti, will be Italy’s Jonas Carpignano, director of a trilogy (Mediterranea, A Ciambra, A Chiara) based in the Calabrian port city of Gioia Tauro.

Last year, the festival’s top Golden Lion prize went to U.S. director Laura Poitras for All the Beauty and the Bloodshed. The documentary traced the campaign by photographer and activist Nan Goldin to hold the rich Sackler family accountable for the U.S. opioid crisis.

U.S. actress Julianne Moore headed last year’s jury, with Spanish director Isabel Coixet at the helm of Orizzonti.
…

Hong Kong police seized an exhibit Friday in connection with what they said was an attempt to incite subversion, with media reporting it was a statue commemorating Beijing’s Tiananmen Square crackdown on democracy protesters in 1989.

Media reported the exhibit was the “Pillar of Shame,” an 8-meter-tall statue depicting dozens of torn and twisted bodies that commemorates protesters killed in the crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square more than three decades ago.

Police did not give details of the exhibit they said they had seized in the Yuen Long district of the former British colony.

“The National Security Department … conducted searches with a warrant this morning. An exhibit related to an ‘incitement to subversion’ case was seized,” police said in a statement.

They did not say who was suspected of wanting to use the statue, which was being kept in storage, to incite subversion.

Tiananmen anniversary looming

The seizure came weeks ahead of the June 4 anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Hong Kong had traditionally held the largest annual vigils in the world to commemorate the crackdown.

The crackdown is taboo in the rest of China, and Hong Kong’s vigil, traditionally in a city park, was banned beginning in 2020, ostensibly because of coronavirus restrictions.

Statue first exhibited in 1997

The two-ton copper “Pillar of Shame” was first exhibited at a Tiananmen Square commemoration in Hong Kong in 1997, the same year Britain handed the city back to China.

In 2021, the University of Hong Kong dismantled and removed the statue “based on external legal advice and risk assessment for the best interest of the university.” It has since been kept in a cargo container on university-owned land.

Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot, who created the work, said he had not been informed about its seizure by police.

“This is outrageous. This is my sculpture, and nobody has consulted or informed me about anything,” he said in email response to Reuters.

It is not clear if the Tiananmen Square vigil will take place this year.

The city government said this week that sections of Victoria Park, where the rally is usually held, would be closed for maintenance.

The vigil organizer, the Hong Kong Alliance, was disbanded in 2021 after its leaders were arrested and charged with inciting subversion under a national security law imposed by China in 2020 after anti-government protests.

Authorities have been using the law to clamp down on pro-democracy activity in Hong Kong, and about 250 people, including opposition politicians, lawyers and journalists, have been arrested for suspected national security offenses.

Authorities say they are maintaining order necessary for the financial hub’s prosperity.
…

When Greg Brockman, the president and co-founder of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, was recently extolling the capabilities of artificial intelligence, he turned to “Game of Thrones.”

Imagine, he said, if you could use AI to rewrite the ending of that not-so-popular finale. Maybe even put yourself into the show.

“That is what entertainment will look like,” said Brockman.

Not six months since the release of ChatGPT, generative artificial intelligence is already prompting widespread unease throughout Hollywood. Concern over chatbots writing or rewriting scripts is one of the leading reasons TV and film screenwriters took to picket lines earlier this week.

Though the Writers Guild of America is striking for better pay in an industry where streaming has upended many of the old rules, AI looms as rising anxiety.

“AI is terrifying,” said Danny Strong, the “Dopesick” and “Empire” creator. “Now, I’ve seen some of ChatGPT’s writing and as of now I’m not terrified because Chat is a terrible writer. But who knows? That could change.”

AI chatbots, screenwriters say, could potentially be used to spit out a rough first draft with a few simple prompts (“a heist movie set in Beijing”). Writers would then be hired, at a lower pay rate, to punch it up.

Screenplays could also be slyly generated in the style of known writers. What about a comedy in the voice of Nora Ephron? Or a gangster film that sounds like Mario Puzo? You won’t get anything close to “Casablanca” but the barest bones of a bad Liam Neeson thriller isn’t out of the question.

The WGA’s basic agreement defines a writer as a “person” and only a human’s work can be copyrighted. But even though no one’s about to see a “By AI” writers credit at the beginning a movie, there are myriad ways that regenerative AI could be used to craft outlines, fill in scenes and mockup drafts.

“We’re not totally against AI,” says Michael Winship, president of the WGA East and a news and documentary writer. “There are ways it can be useful. But too many people are using it against us and using it to create mediocrity. They’re also in violation of copyright. They’re also plagiarizing.”

The guild is seeking more safeguards on how AI can be applied to screenwriting. It says the studios are stonewalling on the issue. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which bargains on the behalf of production companies, has offered to annually meet with the guild to go over definitions around the fast-evolving technology.

“It’s something that requires a lot more discussion, which we’ve committed to doing,” the AMPTP said in an outline of its position released Thursday.

Experts say the struggle screenwriters are now facing with regenerative AI is just the beginning. The World Economic Forum this week released a report predicting that nearly a quarter of all jobs will be disrupted by AI over the next five years.

“It’s definitely a bellwether in the workers’ response to the potential impacts of artificial intelligence on their work,” says Sarah Myers West, managing director of the nonprofit AI Now Institute, which has lobbied the government to enact more regulation around AI. “It’s not lost on me that a lot of the most meaningful efforts in tech accountability have been a product of worker-led organizing.”

AI has already filtered into nearly every part of moviemaking. It’s been used to de-age actors, remove swear words from scenes in post-production, supply viewing recommendations on Netflix and posthumously bring back the voices of Anthony Bourdain and Andy Warhol.

The Screen Actors Guild, set to begin its own bargaining with the AMPTP this summer, has said it’s closely following the evolving legal landscape around AI.

“Human creators are the foundation of the creative industries, and we must ensure that they are respected and paid for their work,” the actors union said.

The implications for screenwriting are only just being explored. Actors Alan Alda and Mike Farrell recently reconvened to read through a new scene from “M(asterisk)A(asterisk)S(asterisk)H” written by ChatGPT. The results weren’t terrible, though they weren’t so funny, either.

“Why have a robot write a script and try to interpret human feelings when we already have studio executives who can do that?” deadpanned Alda.

Writers have long been among notoriously exploited talents in Hollywood. The films they write usually don’t get made. If they do, they’re often rewritten many times over. Raymond Chandler once wrote “the very nicest thing Hollywood can possibly think to say to a writer is that he is too good to be only a writer.”

Screenwriters are accustomed to being replaced. Now, they see a new, readily available and inexpensive competitor in AI — albeit one with a slightly less tenuous grasp of the human condition.

“Obviously, AI can’t do what writers and humans can do. But I don’t know that they believe that, necessarily,” says screenwriter Jonterri Gadson (“A Black Lady Sketchshow”). “There needs to be a human writer in charge and we’re not trying to be gig workers, just revising what AI does. We need to tell the stories.”

Dramatizing their plight as man vs. machine surely doesn’t hurt the WGA’s cause in public opinion. The writers are wrestling with the threat of AI just as concern widens over how hurriedly regenerative AI products have been thrust into society.

Geoffrey Hinton, an AI pioneer, recently left Google in order to speak freely about its potential dangers. “It’s hard to see how you can prevent the bad actors from using it for bad things,” Hinton told The New York Times.

“What’s especially scary about it is nobody, including a lot of the people who are involved with creating it, seem to be able to explain exactly what it’s capable of and how quickly it will be capable of more,” says actor-screenwriter Clark Gregg.

The writers find themselves in the awkward position of negotiating on a newborn technology with the potential for radical effect. Meanwhile, AI-crafted songs by “Fake Drake” or “Fake Eminem” continue to circulate online.

“They’re afraid that if the use of AI to do all this becomes normalized, then it becomes very hard to stop the train,” says James Grimmelmann, a professor of digital and information law at Cornell University. “The guild is in the position of trying to imagine lots of different possible futures.”

In the meantime, chanting demonstrators are hoisting signs with messages aimed at a digital foe. Seen on the picket lines: “ChatGPT doesn’t have childhood trauma”; “I heard AI refuses to take notes”; and “Wrote ChatGPT this.”
…

Adidas is set to update investors Friday about the unsold Yeezy shoes that have put the German sportswear giant in a predicament since it cut ties with Kanye West over his antisemitic comments late last year.

Executives are expected to tackle the issue when the company reports first-quarter results Friday which will likely show a 4% decline in net sales to $5.07 billion, according to a company-compiled consensus.

Investors have high hopes new CEO Bjorn Gulden can turn Adidas around: the stock has gained around 65% since Nov. 4 when the former Puma CEO was first floated as a successor to Kasper Rorsted, despite Adidas warning it could make a $700 million loss this year if it writes the Yeezy shoes off entirely.

Adidas has been in discussions over the footwear, including with people who “have been hurt” by West’s antisemitic comments, Gulden said in March, but there are no easy fixes.

The value of Yeezy shoes in the resale market has rocketed since Adidas stopped producing them, with some models more than doubling in price, but the company has yet to decide what to do with its unsold stock.

If Adidas decides to sell the shoes, any proceeds should go towards efforts to fight antisemitism, said Holly Huffnagle, U.S. Director for Combating Antisemitism at the American Jewish Committee, a non-governmental organization.

“The challenge is if these shoes are going to be out there and be worn by people, we must ensure that the antisemitic messaging of the shoes’ creator doesn’t spread,” she said.

Gulden in March said the company could donate the proceeds of the Yeezy sale to charities, but Adidas has given no updates since. “We continue to evaluate options for the use of the existing Yeezy inventory,” an Adidas spokesperson said, declining to comment on the possible timeline for a decision.

The market would welcome a resolution, but it may be too early given the complexities involved, said Geoff Lowery, analyst at Redburn in London, who sees a donation to charities as the most likely outcome.

The Anti-Defamation League, an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in New York, told Reuters it “stands ready and prepared to work with Adidas.”

Adidas in November donated more than $1 million to the organization.

The American Jewish Committee met with Adidas executives in December to discuss their commitment to reject antisemitism.

Adidas said it continues to “stand with the Jewish community in the fight against antisemitism and with all communities around the world facing injustice and discrimination.”

Shareholders want Adidas to draw a line under the Yeezy episode and develop ways to reboot the brand.

“Being successful with Yeezy probably made Adidas lazy on finding other growth drivers,” said Cedric Rossi, nextgen consumer analyst at Bryan Garnier in Paris.
…

The recording studios at Afghanistan national radio and television where generations of male and female musicians and singers produced songs and melodies have gone silent for nearly two years.

The country’s Islamist Taliban regime does not air music on the national broadcasting network because their extreme interpretation of Islam considers it forbidden. Instead, they run so-called singsongs, which sound like chants with no music.

Known as the Taliban songs and nasheeds, the singsongs, voiced only by men, are mostly tributes to Taliban leaders, Islamic jihad and Afghanistan as a graveyard of foreign interventionists.

Many Taliban listen to these singsongs on their phones, in their cars and elsewhere as a source of entertainment, attachment and inspiration.

“Since the Taliban are religious zealots, they use songs for entertainment as well. It’s a form of competition for young Taliban to show off their voices. Songs are also designed to add some pleasure to an otherwise puritanical way of life,” said Wahed Faqiri, an Afghan analyst.

“[The Taliban] play it on radios and so, if you are in your car at that time and it’s on the radio, you listen to it because it’s kind of a captive/trapped audience,” Ali Latifi, a Kabul-based independent journalist, told VOA by email. “When I see Taliban playing them it’s usually on their phones (even little Nokia ones) while they’re standing or walking down the street (less often).”

Since the Taliban’s ascent to power in Afghanistan, the group’s singsongs have increasingly found their way to digital platforms where they are accessible to global audiences. Social media companies often prohibit official Taliban accounts and groups, but the group’s sympathizers have maintained a presence under pseudonyms.

Given the group’s longstanding disapproval of television, pro-Taliban songs loaded to YouTube carry only still images of Taliban leaders and symbols. During their first reign in 1994-2001, the Taliban completely banned television and the group’s morality police broke down private TV sets and displayed them on poles to deter the public from watching television even in their homes.

As an insurgent group, the Taliban ran sophisticated digital propaganda campaigns including videos of violent attacks on Afghan and foreign soldiers.

‘Genocide of music’

The Taliban’s swift return to power in 2021 saw an exodus of artists, singers, musicians and journalists from Afghanistan.

Over the past 20 months, about 3,000 artists and singers have sought relocation outside Afghanistan, according to Artistic Freedom Initiative, an organization that offers free immigration and resettlement assistance for artists at risk.

The country’s National Institute of Music (ANIM) has been closed as all of its trainers, students and personnel were evacuated to Europe in 2021.

“We are witnessing a termination of the rich musical heritage of Afghanistan,” Ahmad Sarmast, ANIM director, told VOA while describing the many ways musicians and artists suffer under the Taliban rule.

While most popular Afghan musicians and singers reside abroad, those left in the country have reportedly quit music and have resorted to other jobs.

Sarmast said his ANIM staff and other artists are trying to keep the Afghan music alive in exile by organizing concerts and events in different parts of the world.

For many Afghans caught in recurring cycles of brutal wars, extreme and widespread poverty, and many social and cultural restrictions, music is a source of spiritual strength and a means to mental and psychological healing, experts say.

“The Taliban’s anti-music policies are turning Afghans into a mentally impaired nation,” warned Sarmast, who said the Taliban’s singsongs are praising and promoting violence.

A Taliban spokesperson received VOA’s request for comment on the regime’s policies about music but did not respond.
…

The fountain pen is a writing instrument declared obsolete numerous times by technological innovations — the ballpoint pen, the typewriter, the computer keyboard, and now by rendering our voices into text on mobile phones. But the 19th-century invention is still evolving, thanks in part to an American mechanical engineer. VOA’s chief national correspondent Steve Herman reports from Philadelphia.
…

Hollywood writers picketing to preserve pay and job security outside major studios and streamers braced for a long fight at the outbreak of a strike that immediately forced late-night shows into hiatus, put other productions on pause and had the entire industry slowing its roll.  

The first Hollywood strike in 15 years commenced Tuesday as the 11,500 members of the Writers Guild of America stopped working when their contract expired.  

The union is seeking higher minimum pay, more writers per show and less exclusivity on single projects, among other demands — all conditions it says have been diminished in the content boom of the streaming era.  

“Everything’s changed, but the money has changed in the wrong direction,” said Kelly Galuska, 39, a writer for “The Bear” on FX and “Big Mouth” on Netflix, who picketed at Fox Studios in Los Angeles with her 3-week-old daughter. “It’s a turning point in the industry right now. And if we don’t get back to even, we never will.” 

The last Hollywood strike, from the same union in 2007 and 2008, took three months to resolve. With no talks or even plans to talk pending between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios and productions companies, there is no telling how long writers will have to go without pay, or how many major productions will be delayed, shortened or scrapped.  

“We’ll stay out as long as it takes,” Josh Gad, a writer for shows including “Central Park” and an actor in films including “Frozen,” said from the Fox picket line.  

The AMPTP said in a statement that it presented an offer with “generous increases in compensation for writers as well as improvements in streaming residuals” and was prepared to improve its offer “but was unwilling to do so because of the magnitude of other proposals still on the table that the guild continues to insist upon.” 

The writers were well aware that a stoppage was likely. Yet the breakoff of contractual talks hours before a deadline that negotiations in previous years have sailed past for hours or even days, and the sudden reality of a strike, left some surprised, some worried, some determined.  

“When I saw the refusals to counter and the refusing to even negotiate by the AMPTP, I was like on fire to get out here and stand up for what we deserve,” Jonterri Gadson, a writer whose credits include “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” said on a picket line at Amazon Studios as she held a sign that read, “I hate it here.”  

All of the top late-night shows, which are staffed by writers that pen monologues and jokes for their hosts, immediately went dark. NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” Comedy Central’s “Daily Show,” ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live,” CBS’ “The Late Show” and NBC’s “Late Night” all made plans for reruns through the week. 

NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” which had been scheduled to air a new episode Saturday, will also go dark and air a rerun, and the two remaining episodes in the season are in jeopardy.  

The strike’s impact on scripted series and films will likely take longer to notice — though some shows, including Showtime’s “Yellowjackets,” have already paused production on forthcoming seasons.  

If a strike persisted through the summer, fall TV schedules could be upended. In the meantime, those with finished scripts are permitted to continue shooting.  

Union members also picketed in New York, where less known writers were joined by more prominent peers like playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner (“The Fabelmans”) and “Dopesick” creator Danny Strong. 

Some actors including Rob Lowe joined the picket lines in support in Los Angeles. Many striking writers, like Gad, are hybrids who combine writing with other roles.  

Speaking from his acting side, Gad said of his fellow writers, “We are nothing without their words. We have nothing without them. And so it’s imperative that we resolve this in a way that benefits the brilliance that comes out of each of these people.” 

The other side of his hyphenated role could be in the same space soon, with many of the same issues at the center of negotiations for both the actors union SAG-AFTRA and the Directors Guild of America. Contracts for both expire in June.  

Streaming has exploded the number of series and films that are annually made, meaning more jobs for writers. But writers say they’ve been made to make less under shifting and insecure conditions that the WGA called “a gig economy inside a union workforce.” 

The union is seeking more compensation for writers up front, because many of the payments writers have historically profited from on the back end — like syndication and international licensing — have been largely phased out by the onset of streaming. 

Galuska said she is among the writers who have never seen those kind of once common benefits.  

“I’ve had the opportunity to write on great shows that are very, very popular and not really seen the compensation for that, unfortunately,” she said.  

The AMPTP said sticking points to a deal revolved around so-called mini-rooms — the guild is seeking a minimum number of scribes per writer room — and the duration of employment contracts.  

Writers are also seeking more regulation around the use of artificial intelligence, which the WGA’s writers say could give producers a shortcut to finishing their work.  

“The fact that the companies have refused to deal with us on that fact means that I’m even more scared about it today than I was a week ago. They obviously have a plan. The things they say no to, are the things they’re planning to do tomorrow.”  
…

The union that represents U.S. film and television writers sent their members on strike Tuesday after failing to reach an agreement with studios and production companies over a new labor contract. 

The Writers Guild of America announced late Monday that their 11,500 members would put down their pens and turn off their computers at midnight Los Angeles time ((Tuesday 3:00 a.m. Washington time, 0700 GMT)) when their current contract expires.  

The union has been negotiating with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers for increased pay and stronger employment guarantees on episodic television shows as more and more scripted series are being shown on Internet-based or “streaming” platforms.   

In a statement announcing the strike, the WGA said major studios such as Walt Disney and Netflix have “created a gig economy inside a union workforce,” a reference to the growing trend of people taking on freelance jobs as opposed to permanent, full-time work.  

Streaming television platforms have transformed the entertainment industry in recent years, offering more opportunities for writers but for lesser pay on shows that run fewer episodes per season than traditional broadcast networks.  

Artificial intelligence is another issue for WGA members. The union wants to prevent studios from using AI to create scripts based on writers’ previous work. It also doesn’t want writers to be asked to work on scripts generated by AI. 

SEE ALSO: A related video by VOA’s Mike O’Sullivan

The AMPTP issued a statement saying it was prepared to offer higher pay and better royalty payments for writers for streaming shows, but that it was “unwilling to do so because of the magnitude of other proposals still on the table.” The alliance says a major point of contention is a union proposal for a show to maintain a certain number of staff writers “whether needed or not.” 

The strike is the first by the WGA in 15 years. The last walkout began in late 2007 and stretched 100 days into the next year, costing the California economy an estimated $2.1 billion. Late night talk and variety shows such as “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” and “Saturday Night Live” will go off the air immediately as their writing staffs are members of the WGA.  

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.  
…

Negotiators for Hollywood writers and film and television studios engaged in 11th-hour contract talks on Monday to try to avert a strike that would disrupt TV production across an industry grappling with seismic changes. 

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) could call a work stoppage as early as Tuesday if it cannot reach a deal with companies such as Walt Disney Co. and Netflix Inc. A strike would be the first by the WGA in 15 years. 

Writers say they have suffered financially during the streaming TV boom, in part due to shorter seasons and smaller residual payments. They are seeking pay increases and changes to industry practices that they say force them to work more for less money. 

Half of TV series writers now work at minimum salary levels, compared with one-third in the 2013-14 season, according to Guild statistics. Median pay for scribes at the higher writer/producer level has fallen 4% over the last decade. 

“The way that it’s looking now is that there won’t be a middle class in Hollywood,” said Caroline Renard, a Guild liaison and writer whose credits include the Disney Channel’s “Secrets of Sulphur Springs.”  

Artificial intelligence is another issue at the bargaining table. The WGA wants safeguards to prevent studios from using AI to generate new scripts from writers’ previous work. Writers also want to ensure they are not asked to rewrite draft scripts created by AI.  

SEE ALSO: A related video by VOA’s Mike O’Sullivan

The negotiations take place against a difficult economic backdrop for the industry. Entertainment conglomerates are under pressure from Wall Street to make their streaming services profitable, after investing billions of dollars in content to attract subscribers.  

They also are contending with declining television ad revenue, as traditional TV audiences shrink and advertisers go elsewhere. The threat of a recession also looms. 

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents Comcast Corp., Disney, Warner Bros Discovery, Netflix and hundreds of production companies, has said it is committed to reaching a fair agreement. 

“It’ll affect every part of the industry and people beyond the industry,” actor and director Olivia Wilde said on the red carpet at the star-studded Met Gala, just hours ahead of the midnight Pacific time expiration of the current Writers Guild contract. “But you know, we have to stand up for our rights.” Wilde added.  

“They’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what they deserve,” Wilde said. “I wish it didn’t have to come to this, but tonight at midnight, we’ll see.” 

Actor Penelope Cruz, also at the Met Gala, offered a similar sentiment: “It will affect the rhythm of things, but sometimes things have to be done to be heard.” 

Late night will take a hit  

If a strike is called, late-night shows such as “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” and “Saturday Night Live,” which use teams of writers to craft topical jokes, are expected to immediately stop production. 

That means new episodes will not be available during their traditional TV time slots or on the streaming services that make them available the next day. 

Soap operas and other daytime shows such as “The View” will likely be disrupted. News programs would not be interrupted because those writers are members of a different union. 

Further ahead, the strike could lead to a delay of the fall TV season. Writing for fall shows normally starts in May or June. If the work stoppage becomes protracted, the networks will increasingly fill their programming lineups with unscripted reality shows, news magazines and reruns.  

Netflix may be insulated from any immediate impact because of its global focus and access to production facilities outside of the U.S.  

The last WGA strike in 2007 and 2008 lasted 100 days. The action cost the California economy an estimated $2.1 billion as productions shut down and out-of-work writers, actors and producers cut back spending. 

Studios do not want another disruption after the COVID-19 pandemic halted production worldwide for months. But budgets are tight, and a new era of fiscal austerity has dawned in Hollywood, with studios laying off thousands of employees and curtailing spending on content.  

“The writers have legitimate issues here,” said one talent agent close to the bargaining process. “But the studios and the producers have very legitimate issues also. Their stock prices are down. They’ve overspent on content. They need to show profits to their shareholders.” 
…

Gordon Lightfoot, Canada’s legendary folk singer-songwriter whose hits including “Early Morning Rain” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” told a tale of Canadian identity that was exported worldwide, died on Monday. He was 84. 

Representative Victoria Lord said the musician died at a Toronto hospital. His cause of death was not immediately available. 

Considered one of the most renowned voices to emerge from Toronto’s Yorkville folk club scene in the 1960s, Lightfoot went on to record 20 studio albums and pen hundreds of songs, including “Carefree Highway” and “Sundown.” 

Once called a “rare talent” by Bob Dylan, dozens of artists have covered his work, including Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Harry Belafonte, Johnny Cash, Anne Murray, Jane’s Addiction and Sarah McLachlan. 

Most of his songs are deeply autobiographical with lyrics that probe his own experiences in a frank manner and explore issues surrounding the Canadian national identity. 

His 1975 song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” chronicled the demise of a Great Lakes ore freighter, and 1966’s “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” depicted the construction of the railway. 

“I simply write the songs about where I am and where I’m from,” he once said. “I take situations and write poems about them.” 

Often described as a poetic storyteller, Lightfoot remained keenly aware of his cultural influence. It was a role he took very seriously. 

“I just like to stay there and be a part of the totem pole and look after the responsibilities I’ve acquired over the years,” he said in a 2001 interview. 

While Lightfoot’s parents recognized his musical talents early on, he didn’t set out to become a renowned balladeer. 

He began singing in his church choir and dreamed of becoming a jazz musician. At age 13, the soprano won a talent contest at the Kiwanis Music Festival, held at Toronto’s Massey Hall. 

“I remember the thrill of being in front of the crowd,” Lightfoot said in a 2018 interview. “It was a steppingstone for me…” 

The appeal of those early days stuck and in high school, his barbershop quartet, The Collegiate Four, won a CBC talent competition. He strummed his first guitar in 1956 and began to dabble in songwriting in the months that followed. Perhaps distracted by his taste for music, he flunked algebra the first time. After taking the class again, he graduated in 1957. 

By then, Lightfoot had already penned his first serious composition — “The Hula Hoop Song,” inspired by the popular kids’ toy that was sweeping the culture. Attempts to sell the song went nowhere so at 18, he headed to the U.S. to study music for a year. The trip was funded in part by money saved from a job delivering linens to resorts around his hometown. 

Life in Hollywood wasn’t a good fit, however, and it wasn’t long before Lightfoot returned to Canada. He pledged to move to Toronto to pursue his musical ambitions, taking any job available, including a position at a bank before landing a gig as a square dancer on CBC’s “Country Hoedown.” 

His first gig was at Fran’s Restaurant, a downtown family-owned diner that warmed to his folk sensibilities. It was there he met fellow musician Ronnie Hawkins. 

The singer was living with a few buddies in a condemned building in Yorkville, then a bohemian area where future stars including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell would learn their trade at smoke-filled clubs. 

Lightfoot made his popular radio debut with the single “(Remember Me) I’m the One” in 1962, which led to a number of hit songs and partnerships with other local musicians. When he started playing the Mariposa Folk Festival in his hometown of Orillia, Ontario that same year, Lightfoot forged a relationship that made him the festival’s most loyal returning performer. 

By 1964, he was garnering positive word-of-mouth around town and audiences were starting to gather in growing numbers. By the next year, Lightfoot’s song “I’m Not Sayin'” was a hit in Canada, which helped spread his name in the United States. 

A couple of covers by other artists didn’t hurt either. Marty Robbins’ 1965 recording of “Ribbon of Darkness” reached No. 1 on U.S. country charts, while Peter, Paul and Mary took Lightfoot’s composition, “For Lovin’ Me,” into the U.S. Top 30. The song, which Dylan once said he wished he’d recorded, has since been covered by hundreds of other musicians. 

That summer, Lightfoot performed at the Newport Folk Festival, the same year Dylan rattled audiences when he shed his folkie persona by playing an electric guitar. 

As the folk music boom came to an end in the late 1960s, Lightfoot was already making his transition to pop music with ease. 

In 1971, he made his first appearance on the Billboard chart with “If You Could Read My Mind.” It reached No. 5 and has since spawned scores of covers. 

Lightfoot’s popularity peaked in the mid-1970s when both his single and album, “Sundown,” topped the Billboard charts, his first and only time doing so. 

During his career, Lightfoot collected 12 Juno Awards, including one in 1970 when it was called the Gold Leaf. 

In 1986, he was inducted into the Canadian Recording Industry Hall of Fame, now the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. He received the Governor General’s award in 1997 and was ushered into the Canadian Country Music Hall Of Fame in 2001. 
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Aerosmith will be touring a city near you for the last time to celebrate the rock band’s 50-plus years together. 

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band announced Monday the dates for their farewell tour called “Peace Out” starting Sept. 2 in Philadelphia. The 40-date run of shows, which includes a stop in the band’s hometown of Boston on New Year’s Eve, will end Jan. 26 in Montreal. 

“I think it’s about time,” guitarist Joe Perry said in an interview with The Associated Press. 

Perry said the group, with frontman Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer and guitarist Brad Whitford, learned from the staging and production from their recent Las Vegas residency shows. 

Perry believes the time to say goodbye is now, especially with every founding band member over the age of 70. Tyler, 75, is the oldest in the group. 

“It’s kind of a chance to celebrate the 50 years we’ve been out here,” Perry said. “You never know how much longer everybody’s going to be healthy to do this. … It’s been a while since we’ve actually done a real tour. We did that run in Vegas, which was great. It was fun, but (we’re) kind of anxious to get back on the road.” 

Tyler and Perry said the band is looking forward to digging into their lengthy catalog of the group’s rock classics including “Crazy,” “Janie’s Got a Gun” and “Livin’ on the Edge.” 

Over the years, Aerosmith, which formed in 1970, has collected four Grammys. The band broke boundaries intersecting rock and hip-hop with their epic collaboration with Run-DMC for “Walk This Way.” 

Aerosmith performed the Super Bowl halftime show in 2001 and even had their own theme park attraction in 1999 at Disney World in Florida and later in Paris with the launch of the “Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith” ride. 

“We’re opening up Pandora’s Box one last time to present our fans with the Peace Out tour,” Tyler said in a statement to the AP. His “Pandora’s Box” reference calls out Aerosmith’s 1991 three-disc compilation album that covered the band’s output from the 1970s to the early 1980s. 

“Be there or beware as we bring all the toys out of the attic. Get ready,” Tyler added. 

The band said Kramer decided to not take part in the current dates on the upcoming tour. He’s still a part of the group, but the drummer has been on leave to “focus his attention on his family and health” since their Vegas residency last year. Drummer John Douglas will continue to play in his place. 

Perry called Kramer their brother. The band said his “legendary presence behind the drum kit will be sorely missed.” 

Before the 40-date tour wraps, Perry said other cities domestically and internationally could be added. 

“It’s the final farewell tour, but I have a feeling it will go on for a while,” he said. “But I don’t know how many times we’ll be coming back to the same cities. It could very possibly be the last time.” 
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Ten years ago, Native American photographer Matika Wilbur embarked on a road trip with an ambitious goal to document all 562 federally recognized Indigenous tribes. Her multiyear work culminated in a new book aiming to change the way people see Native Americans. She launched her book tour in her home state of Washington. VOA’s Natasha Mozgovaya has more from Seattle.
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