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A pair of astronauts stranded for more than nine months on the International Space Station were a step closer to returning home Sunday after a replacement crew docked with the orbital outpost.The astronauts were shown on live TV embracing and hugging their counterparts in zero gravity on the space station shortly after their SpaceX Crew Dragon arrived at 0545 GMT.Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been stuck aboard the ISS since June after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they were testing on its maiden crewed voyage suffered propulsion issues and was deemed unfit to fly them back to Earth.William said it was a “wonderful day” and “great to see our friends arrive,” speaking shortly after her colleges emerged onto the orbital lab.Footage posted online by NASA astronaut Don Pettit showed the Crew Dragon vehicle approaching the ISS as it orbited the Earth.The NASA duo’s Starliner had returned to Earth empty, without experiencing further major issues — leaving them stuck for nine months after what was meant to have been a days-long roundtrip.Their prolonged stay was significantly longer than the standard ISS rotation for astronauts of roughly six months. But it is much shorter than the US space record of 371 days set by NASA astronaut Frank Rubio aboard the ISS in 2023, or the world record held by Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov, who spent 437 continuous days aboard the Mir space station.Still, the unexpected nature of their stint away from their families — they had to receive additional clothing and personal care items because they hadn’t packed enough — garnered interest and sympathy around the world.Wilmore and Williams will now begin preparing for departure and their ocean splashdown off the Florida coast, no sooner than March 19.Along with the pair, NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will also be aboard the returning Dragon capsule.The replacement Crew-10 team had blasted off Friday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.The team consists of NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan’s Takuya Onishi, and Russia’s Kirill Peskov. During their mission, the new crew will conduct a range of scientific experiments, including flammability tests for future spacecraft designs and research into the effects of space on the human body.

The top US and Russian diplomats discussed Saturday the “next steps” to end the war in Ukraine, hours after Kyiv’s allies agreed to exert pressure on Moscow.Despite recent tensions between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, Kyiv has agreed in principle to a US-brokered 30-day unconditional ceasefire — if Moscow halts its attacks in eastern Ukraine.Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has not, however, agreed to any truce, instead setting conditions that were beyond what was called for in the US agreement with Ukraine.The ceasefire proposal by Trump’s team comes as Russia has momentum in many areas of the front in Ukraine.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in a call on Saturday, “discussed next steps”, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has stressed his desire to end the three-year-old conflict, and has made a spectacular rapprochement with Putin.The statement gave no details on when the next round of US-Russia talks hosted by Saudi Arabia would begin.But Rubio and Lavrov also “agreed to continue working towards restoring communication between the United States and Russia,” Bruce added.- ‘Moment of truth’ -The call came after a virtual summit hosted by London earlier on Saturday.At those talks, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told some 26 fellow leaders that they should focus on how to strengthen Ukraine, protect any ceasefire and keep up the pressure on Moscow.Starmer said Putin would eventually have to “come to the table”.”Putin is trying to delay — saying there must be a painstaking study before a ceasefire can take place,” he added.Military leaders from about 30 countries met in Paris on March 11 to discuss plans for a peacekeeping force in Ukraine, and will meet again Thursday in Britain.French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday called for unified action to ensure Russia accepts the proposed ceasefire.”This is a moment of truth because if Russia does not sincerely commit to peace, President Trump will toughen sanctions and retaliation, and so that will completely change the dynamic,” Macron told French regional papers in an interview posted late Saturday.”Russia must respond clearly and the pressure must be clear, in conjunction with the United States, to obtain this ceasefire,” he said in a statement to AFP.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Russia had to show “it is willing to support a ceasefire leading to a just and lasting peace.”But Zelensky warned that Russia wanted to achieve a “stronger position” militarily ahead of any ceasefire, more than three years since it invaded Ukraine. “They want to improve their situation on the battlefield,” Zelensky told journalists in Kyiv. – Troops -Starmer and Macron have said they are willing to put British and French troops on the ground in Ukraine, but it is not clear if other countries are keen on doing the same.Russia has rejected the idea of foreign soldiers acting as peacekeepers in Ukraine.But Macron said Saturday: “If Ukraine asks allied forces to be on its territory, it is not up to Russia to accept or not.”Starmer has said he welcomes any offer of support for the coalition, raising the prospect that some countries could contribute logistics or surveillance.Trump on Saturday appointed Keith Kellogg as special envoy to Ukraine. A former national security advisor during Trump’s first term, Kellogg had previously been described as a special envoy for both Ukraine and Russia.But he was excluded from recent talks in Saudi Arabia on ending the war, with NBC News in the United States citing a senior Russian official who said that Putin considered him too pro-Ukraine.Fighting continues, and Moscow has regained swathes of land this week in the Kursk border region.In Russia, three civilians were injured on Saturday night when Ukrainian drones struck in the town of Gubkin and the village of Dolgoe in the Belgorod region, officials said on Telegram.On the Ukrainian side, a residential building caught fire and a house was damaged Saturday evening in the northern region of Chernihiv, authorities said.burs-pjm/sco

Donald Trump tried Saturday to invoke a law last used during World War II against Japanese residents to target a Venezuelan gang — only to find his decision blocked by a judge.The US president had issued an order to deport alleged members of the Venezuelan drug gang Tren de Aragua, arguing he had a right to declare them “alien enemies” under a wartime act.But rights lawyers went to court and a federal judge ordered the administration not to deport anyone until he has more time to consider the legality of the order.The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is a wartime authority that allows a president to detain or deport citizens of an enemy nation, and has been invoked three times.It was used in the War of 1812, World War I and — most famously — between 1942 and 1946 during World War II to intern around 120,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans.Now, Trump, who has promised supporters an aggressive drive to deport thousands of undocumented migrants, is targeting Tren de Aragua.In a proclamation, the White House declared that the transnational criminal organization is closely linked to the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.”The result is a hybrid criminal state that is perpetrating an invasion of and predatory incursion into the United States,” the presidential statement said.- ‘Extreme measure’ -Trump said Tren de Aragua is “conducting irregular warfare against the territory of the United States both directly and at the direction, clandestine or otherwise, of the Maduro regime.”The statement gives Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi 60 days to enact the ruling making all Tren de Aragua gang members “subject to immediate apprehension, detention and removal.”The detention and expulsion order will apply to all Venezuelan Tren de Aragua members who are over 14 and not naturalized US citizens or lawful permanent residents.”The Trump administration’s intent to use a wartime authority for immigration enforcement is as unprecedented as it is lawless,” said Lee Gelernt, of the American Civil Liberties Union.”It may be the administration’s most extreme measure yet, and that is saying a lot,” said Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project and lead counsel.The ACLU and an allied group, Democracy Forward, asked the US District Court in Washington to bar the deportations — arguing that the 1798 act was not intended for use in peacetime.Judge James Boasberg has yet to rule on the substance of the case, but on Saturday he ordered a 14-day halt to any deportation under the new order at least until he has done so.Attorney General Bondi said in a statement that the ruling “disregards well-established authority regarding President Trump’s power, and it puts the public and law enforcement at risk.”The White House has until Monday to file a motion if they want to overturn the pause, and failing that the next hearing will be on March 21, the court order said.

Dozens of rare posters from some of the 20th century’s most iconic films will go under the hammer this month as an American collector relinquishes some of his most precious possessions.The 500 posters and lobby cards from classic films such as “King Kong”, “Casablanca” and “2001: A Space Odyssey” have been exhibited in recent weeks in London, New York and Chicago.Collected over half a century by real estate agent Dwight Cleveland, they are to be auctioned by Heritage showrooms in Dallas on March 27 and 28.”I cherish every single one of them because every one of them was hand-picked,” Cleveland, 65, told AFP.”These are commercial art. They were intended to grab us by the lapels and yank us into a movie theatre and say, ‘See this film’.”But this was also “important art” that went beyond just advertising, he argued.The posters and cards, which would have been displayed in cinema foyers, span around 125 years of film history. Many of the images date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.But after 50 years “it’s getting harder and harder to find anything to add to the collection”, said Cleveland.”I don’t feel like there’s anything else I can do and give to this hobby,” he added.Some of the posters will do better at auction than others, he said, including the one for the 1933 version of “King Kong” showing actor Fay Wray in the grip of the beast.It has an estimated guide price of $40,000 to $80,000.- Passion -“The selection of Cleveland’s collection offered by Heritage in March represents the best of the best,” said Joe Maddalena, Heritage’s vice president.”What makes me different from most collectors is that I fell in love with the artwork first,” said Cleveland.”I do not come to this from a film background.”Cleveland’s interest in the subject began at school, where his art teacher displayed film posters and lobby cards in his room.”We walked by these every day, and we kind of made fun of him, to be honest with you, because he had quite a few of them, and it was a very esoteric collection,” Cleveland said.But one day in 1977, his last year at school, he was drawn to a lobby card from the 1929 movie “Wolf Song” starring Gary Cooper and Mexican actor Lupe Velez.He became hooked and it took him 18 months to gather enough movie items to trade for the card with his then former teacher — sparking a lifelong love of collecting.Cleveland’s extensive collection has already been exhibited in the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida in 2019.Other exhibitions have been held in San Diego, Los Angeles and New York.Other rare finds going under the hammer include a 1953 Italian poster for the 1942 film “Casablanca” starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.Most of the posters to be auctioned have estimates of between $1,000 to $2,000. Heritage has calculated that the whole auction could raise one million dollars.After the Dallas auction, Cleveland will still own about 10,000 lobby cards and around 500 posters, which he might one day either donate or put up for auction.”I’ll be sad to see some of them go, but I’ll be happy that they’re going to be in the hands of other collectors to whom they’ll mean a lot,” he said.

The creation of a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” in the United States is further proof of President Donald Trump’s support for the cryptocurrency sector.Trump earlier this month signed an executive order establishing the reserve, which White House crypto chief David Sacks has likened to “a digital Fort Knox”, comparing it to the stockpiling of gold bars at the US military base.Gold is held in reserves by countries worldwide as the metal is seen as a safe-haven asset, protecting against financial instability such as high inflation.The metal on Friday surpassed $3,000 per ounce for the first time, boosted by an uncertain economic outlook amid Trump’s tariffs.Gold reserves can help also stabilise a country’s currency, while bars are used as collateral for loans and transactions.- How will US bitcoin reserve work? -It is to be funded by about 200,000 bitcoins, worth around $17 billion in total, that have been seized in the United States as a result of civil and criminal cases.The reserve will be virtually secured for an indefinite time.Additional bitcoin can be added to the reserve as long as such action is “budget-neutral”, thus not costing the taxpayer. – Announcement fails to impress -The price of bitcoin initially slid after Trump signed the executive order but has since stabilised.Analysts have blamed the lack of support on a failure to immediately buy more bitcoin.Dessislava Aubert, an analyst at crypto data provider Kaiko, told AFP that “legally” the US government must return bitcoin to all victims identified as suffering from a hack.According to Aubert, “a big chunk” of the bitcoin held by the United States — estimated at around 198,000 tokens — would have to be returned to victims of a hack at crypto exchange Bitfinex in 2016.Sector watchers are also waiting to see if other digital tokens will be added to the reserve, which is possible according to the executive order.Trump has said that bitcoin’s nearest rival, ether, along with three other tokens — XRP, Solana and Cardano — could be added.- Reason to copy gold reserve? -Critics of the US bitcoin reserve point out that, unlike gold, cryptocurrencies are risky assets and have no intrinsic value.However, Sacks believes that by storing bitcoin over time, the government would protect itself from the cryptocurrency’s massive short-term volatility.Meanwhile, Stephane Ifrah, an investment director at crypto platform Coinhouse, said that bitcoin, like gold, can profit from its rarity thanks to a limited 21 million tokens.An advantage of the bitcoin reserve is its transparency, since the level of tokens will be known at all times — unlike the amount of gold placed in Fort Knox.Additionally, with the bitcoin reserve, “we’re dealing with a rare asset that’s much more suited to today’s world”, Ifrah told AFP.Prominent cryptocurrency critic, Molly White, believes the “true reason” for the reserve “is a way to drive interest in the crypto industry”, which could financially benefit investors.Trump has been accused by some of showing a conflict of interest, having vowed ahead of being elected to make the United States the “bitcoin and cryptocurrency capital of the world”. The Financial Times reported that Trump earned $350 million from launching a meme coin, $TRUMP, to coincide with his inauguration.The Wall Street Journal has reported that the Trump family discussed acquiring a possible stake in the Binance platform — a report denied by the crypto exchange’s founder.- Other country plans -Brazil is also considering the creation of a cryptocurrency reserve, an idea recently ruled out by the Swiss central bank.Governments around the world are partaking in cryptocurrency activity, notably by selling digital assets seized in court cases, as was the case in Germany last year with 50,000 bitcoins.El Salvador made bitcoin one of its official currencies, reversing the decision this year owing to a lack of take-up by citizens.Bhutan holds nearly $900 million worth of bitcoin, equivalent to nearly 30 percent of the kingdom’s gross domestic product.

The first US strikes against Yemen’s Huthis since President Donald Trump took office in January killed at least 21 people, the rebels said Sunday, as Washington warned Iran to stop backing the group.The Huthis, who have attacked Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, said children were among those killed by the intense barrage of strikes.An AFP photographer in the rebel-held capital Sanaa heard three explosions and saw plumes of smoke rising from a residential district, and strikes were also reported in Yemen’s northern Saada region, a Huthi stronghold.”Nine civilians were killed and nine others were injured, most of them seriously,” the Huthis’ health and environment ministry said in a statement on their Saba news agency, reporting the strikes on Sanaa.A strike in the Saada region killed at least 10 people and wounded others, according to the Huthi Ansarollah website, condemning what it called “US-British aggression” and Washington’s “criminal brutality”.A separate strike on a house in Saada’s Alshaaf district killed two people, Ansarollah said.The US Central Command (CENTCOM), which posted images of fighters taking off from an aircraft carrier and a bomb demolishing a building compound, said “precision strikes” were launched to “defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation”.There was no immediate comment from British authorities.Trump, in a post on social media, vowed to “use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective”, citing the Huthis’ threats against Red Sea shipping.- ‘Escalation with escalation’ -The Huthis vowed that the strikes “will not pass without response”.”Our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation,” the rebels’ political bureau said in a statement on the rebel Al-Masirah TV station.Trump also warned Iran that it must “immediately” cut support to the Huthis. The rebels, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, are part of the “axis of resistance” of pro-Iran groups staunchly opposed to Israel and the United States.They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks at ships passing Yemen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden during the Gaza war, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians.The campaign crippled the vital route, which normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, forcing many companies into a costly detour around southern Africa.The Palestinian group Hamas, grateful for the Huthi support, hit out Saturday at the US strikes, branding them “a stark violation of international law and an assault on the country’s sovereignty and stability”.- ‘Hell will rain down’ – The United States has launched several rounds of strikes on Huthi targets, some with British support. After halting their attacks when Gaza’s ceasefire took effect in January, the Huthis announced on Tuesday that they would resume them until Israel lifts its blockade of aid to the shattered Palestinian territory.Trump’s statement did not reference the dispute over Israel, but focused on previous Huthi attacks on merchant shipping.”To all Huthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” he said.”Do NOT threaten the American People, their President… or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”Earlier this month, the United States reclassified the Huthi movement as a “foreign terrorist organisation”, banning any US interaction with it.”Continued Huthi attacks on US military and commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea will not be tolerated,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, according to the State Department.Moscow is close to Tehran, which supports the Huthis.Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Huthis had “attacked US warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023”.The Huthis captured Sanaa in 2014 and were poised to overrun most of the rest of the country before a Saudi-led coalition intervened.The war has largely been on hold since a 2022 ceasefire, but the promised peace process has stalled in the face of Huthi attacks on Israel and Israel-linked shipping.burs-pjm/sco

At least 27 people were killed and dozens more injured Saturday when tornadoes and violent storms raked across the central United States, officials said.Local news showed roofs torn off homes and large trucks overturned, as forecasters warned of more tornadoes to come this weekend.Eight people died in Kansas in a crash involving more than 50 vehicles, caused by low visibility during a “severe dust storm,” local police said.Missouri State Highway Patrol confirmed 12 storm-related fatalities and shared images of boats piled on top of one another at a marina destroyed by the weather. The state police reported downed trees and power lines, as well as damage to buildings, with some areas severely impacted by “tornadoes, thunderstorms and large hail.””It was the scariest thing I’ve ever been through, it was so fast, our ears were all about to burst,” Alicia Wilson, who was evacuated from her home in Missouri, told TV station KSDK.Six fatalities were reported in Missouri’s Wayne County, three in Ozark County — where multiple injuries were also reported — and one each in Butler, Jefferson and St Louis counties, police said.Further south in Texas, local authorities told AFP that four people had died in vehicle accidents linked to dust storms and fires that reduced visibility on the roads.In the neighboring state of Arkansas, officials said three people had died and 29 had been injured in the storm.Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency in response and said she had spoken with President Donald Trump.”He said to tell the people of Arkansas he loves them and he and his administration are here to help with whatever we need following last night’s tornadoes,” Sanders wrote on X.At least 200,000 homes and businesses across the central United States were without power by Saturday evening, according to tracking site poweroutage.us.More tornadoes were forecast Saturday in the central Gulf Coast states including Mississippi and Tennessee.”Numerous significant tornadoes, some of which may be long-track and potentially violent, should continue into this evening,” the National Weather Service said.Tornadoes are spinning columns of air that touch the ground from massive cumulonimbus thunderstorm clouds.The central and southern American states of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas get the most violent ones due to unique geographical and meteorological conditions.Dubbed “Tornado Alley,” this is where winds of widely varying temperatures meet in volatile, potent storm clouds, with most storms occurring from May to June.In 2024, 54 people died in tornado-related incidents in the United States, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The first US strikes against Yemen’s Huthis since President Donald Trump took office in January killed at least 20 people, the rebels said Sunday, as Washington warned Iran to stop backing the group.The Huthis, who have attacked Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, said children were among those killed by the intense barrage of strikes.An AFP photographer in the rebel-held capital Sanaa heard three explosions and saw plumes of smoke rising from a residential district, and strikes were also reported in Yemen’s northern Saada region, a Huthi stronghold.”Nine civilians were killed and nine others were injured, most of them seriously,” the Huthis’ health and environment ministry said in a statement on their Saba news agency, reporting the strikes on Sanaa.A strike in the Saada region killed at least 10 people and wounded others, according to the Huthi Ansarollah website, condemning what it called “US-British aggression” and Washington’s “criminal brutality”.The US Central Command (CENTCOM), which posted images of fighters taking off from an aircraft carrier and a bomb demolishing a building compound, said “precision strikes” were launched to “defend American interests, deter enemies, and restore freedom of navigation”.There was no immediate comment from British authorities.Trump, in a post on social media, vowed to “use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective”, citing the Huthis’ threats against Red Sea shipping.- ‘Escalation with escalation’ -The Huthis vowed that the strikes “will not pass without response”.”Our Yemeni armed forces are fully prepared to confront escalation with escalation,” the rebels’ political bureau said in a statement on the rebel Al-Masirah TV station.Trump also warned Iran that it must “immediately” cut support to the Huthis. The rebels, who have controlled much of Yemen for more than a decade, are part of the “axis of resistance” of pro-Iran groups staunchly opposed to Israel and the United States.They have launched scores of drone and missile attacks at ships passing Yemen in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden during the Gaza war, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians.The campaign crippled the vital route, which normally carries about 12 percent of world shipping traffic, forcing many companies into a costly detour around southern Africa.The Palestinian group Hamas, grateful for the Huthi support, hit out Saturday at the US strikes, branding them “a stark violation of international law and an assault on the country’s sovereignty and stability”.- ‘Hell will rain down’ – The US has launched several rounds of strikes on Huthi targets, some with British support. After halting their attacks when Gaza’s ceasefire took effect in January, the Huthis announced on Tuesday that they would resume them until Israel lifts its blockade of aid to the shattered Palestinian territory.Trump’s statement did not reference the dispute over Israel, but focused on previous Huthi attacks on merchant shipping.”To all Huthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” he said.”Do NOT threaten the American People, their President… or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”Earlier this month, the United States reclassified the Huthi movement as a “foreign terrorist organisation”, banning any US interaction with it.Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the Huthis had “attacked US warships 174 times and commercial vessels 145 times since 2023”.The Huthis captured Sanaa in 2014 and were poised to overrun most of the rest of the country before a Saudi-led coalition intervened.The war has largely been on hold since a 2022 ceasefire, but the promised peace process has stalled in the face of the Huthi attacks on Israel and Israel-linked shipping.burs-pjm/fox

Disney’s live-action remakes of animated classics are usually safe bets. But a new version of the oldest of them all, “Snow White,” has become mired in controversies, receiving an unusually low-key premiere in Hollywood on Saturday.The studio kept its outspoken stars Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot away from reporters at the afternoon event, with no red carpet interviews — and has avoided questions about the film’s divisive depictions of the Seven Dwarfs.It follows a similarly pared-down European premiere on Wednesday at a remote castle in Segovia, Spain, where few media outlets were invited.The negativity began way back in 2021, with the casting of Zegler, who is Latina, as Snow White — a character from a German fairy tale who was famously “the fairest of them all.” This was predictably slammed as “woke” by some fans and conservative commentators.”yes i am snow white no i am not bleaching my skin for the role” wrote Zegler, a US actress of Colombian and Polish descent, in a since-deleted tweet.But criticism spread more broadly across Disney’s loyal fan base when Zegler appeared to repeatedly denigrate the 1937 “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” Walt Disney’s first feature-length animation.Zegler described the beloved original as “weird” because Snow White’s love interest is “a guy who literally stalks her.”This time “she’s not going to be saved by the prince, and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love,” Zegler said in one interview that was blasted on Disney forums by fans longing for exactly those traditional tropes.Zegler is unusually outspoken by Hollywood standards. She publicly complained about not being invited to the 2022 Oscars gala, despite being the star of best picture nominee “West Side Story.” She eventually bagged an invitation — and some disapproving tuts. “Zegler isn’t necessarily the most decorous celebrity when it comes to the media or the internet,” Slate journalist Nadira Goffe wrote in a 2023 column.”She has a demeanor that can come across as charmingly awkward to some, and a tad glib and grating to others.”Compounding Disney’s headaches, Zegler has signed off social media posts with “Free Palestine,” while Gadot — who plays the Evil Queen — has expressed public support for her native Israel.Disney did not respond to AFP request for comment.- ‘Backward story’ -And then there is the issue of the Seven Dwarfs, who have been conspicuously dropped from the new film’s title, “Disney’s Snow White.”Peter Dinklage, perhaps Hollywood’s most famous actor with dwarfism, slammed Disney’s “hypocrisy” for making a new “Snow White” film at all.In a 2022 interview with podcaster Marc Maron, the “Game of Thrones” actor questioned how Disney could be “proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White,” and yet think a remake of a “backward story of seven dwarfs living in a cave” made sense.Disney quickly issued a statement promising to take “a different approach” that would “avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film.” In the new movie, the dwarfs are cartoonishly gnome-like magical creatures, created by computer-generated visual effects rather than human actors.This has itself provoked backlash. Some actors with dwarfism have blamed Dinklage.”There aren’t many roles for dwarfs in Hollywood so him saying that cancelled these roles… it hurt the dwarf acting community,” professional wrestler Dylan Mark Postl told the Guardian.- ‘Passion’ -Altogether, Disney’s latest live-action film has proven vastly more contentious than billion-dollar-grossing remakes like “The Lion King” and “Beauty and the Beast.”Requiring extensive reshoots, and hit by delays from the pandemic and Hollywood strikes, “Disney’s Snow White” cost well over $200 million to make, according to Forbes.Disney will be hoping that all publicity proves to be good publicity when it hits theaters next weekend.”I interpret people’s feelings about this film as a passion for it,” Zegler told Vogue Mexico.”What an honor to be part of something that people feel so passionate about.”

President Donald Trump’s administration on Saturday put journalists at Voice of America and other US-funded broadcasters on leave, abruptly freezing decades-old outlets long seen as critical to countering Russian and Chinese information offensives. Hundreds of staffers at VOA, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe and other outlets received a weekend email saying they will be barred from their offices and should surrender press passes and office-issued equipment.Trump, who has already eviscerated the US global aid agency and the Education Department, on Friday issued an executive order listing the US Agency for Global Media as among “elements of the federal bureaucracy that the president has determined are unnecessary.”Kari Lake, a firebrand Trump supporter put in charge of the media agency after she lost a US Senate bid, said in an email to the outlets that federal grant money “no longer effectuates agency priorities.”The White House said the cuts would ensure “taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda,” marking a dramatic tone shift towards the networks established to extend US influence overseas.White House press official Harrison Fields wrote “goodbye” on X in 20 languages, a jab at the outlets’ multilingual coverage.VOA director Michael Abramowitz said he was among 1,300 staffers placed on leave Saturday.”VOA needs thoughtful reform, and we have made progress in that regard. But today’s action will leave Voice of America unable to carry out its vital mission,” he said on Facebook, noting that its coverage — in 48 languages — reaches 360 million people each week.The head of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which started broadcasting into the Soviet bloc during the Cold War, called the cancellation of funding “a massive gift to America’s enemies.””The Iranian ayatollahs, Chinese communist leaders, and autocrats in Moscow and Minsk would celebrate the demise of RFE/RL after 75 years,” its president, Stephen Capus, said in a statement.- Uncensored reporting -US-funded media have reoriented themselves since the end of the Cold War, dropping much of the programming geared toward newly democratic Central and Eastern European countries and focusing on Russia and China.Chinese state-funded media have expanded their reach sharply over the past decade, including by offering free services to outlets in the developing world that would otherwise pay for Western news agencies.Radio Free Asia, established in 1996, sees its mission as providing uncensored reporting into countries without free media including China, Myanmar, North Korea and Vietnam.The outlets have an editorial firewall, with a stated guarantee of independence despite government funding.The policy has angered some around Trump, who has long railed against media and suggested that government-funded outlets should promote his policies.The move to end US-funded media is likely to meet challenges, much like Trump’s other sweeping cuts. Congress, not the president, has the constitutional power of the purse and Radio Free Asia in particular has enjoyed bipartisan support in the past.- ‘Chaos’ -Advocacy group Reporters Without Borders condemned the decision, saying it “threatens press freedom worldwide and negates 80 years of American history in supporting the free flow of information.”Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and senior Democratic congresswoman Lois Frankel said in a joint statement that Trump’s move would “cause lasting damage to US efforts to counter propaganda around the world.”One VOA employee, who requested anonymity, described Saturday’s message as another “perfect example of the chaos and unprepared nature of the process,” with VOA staffers presuming that scheduled programming is off but not told so directly.A Radio Free Asia employee said: “It’s not just about losing your income. We have staff and contractors who fear for their safety. We have reporters who work under the radar in authoritarian countries in Asia. We have staff in the US who fear deportation if their work visa is no longer valid.””Wiping us out with the strike of a pen is just terrible.”