Alexander Kornyev (Aleksandr Kuznetsov) is a fresh-faced prosecutor who arrives at the Soviet prison in Bryansk in 1937. This is not, you might be thinking, where anyone new to the job should be in a rush to get to. Yet before even the news of his appointment has reached this penal outpost, Alexander turns up with a note, written in blood, from a prisoner he wishes to speak with.

That this note has reached Alexander is nearly as surprising to the prison warden as Alexander’s unexpected presence in his office. The first scenes of “Two Prosecutors,” where a pile of prisoner letters all attesting to brutality and injustice are burned, only hint at how the note has made its unlikely way to the prosecutor.

This is the height of Josef Stalin’s Great Purge, when suspected dissenters and Bolsheviks were rounded up by the NKVD, the secret police, and sent to prison, to the gulag or to death. It was not exactly an opportune time for a young lawyer hardly out of college to stroll into the belly of Stalin’s bureaucratic beast and start asking questions.

Where could such an intriguing idea for a story come from? A prisoner, himself. “Two Prosecutors” is based on a novella by Georgy Demidov, a physician imprisoned for 14 years in Soviet labor camps. He wrote the book in 1969, but it wasn’t published until 2009, posthumously.

Loznitsa, a leading Ukrainian filmmaker, is also not unfamiliar with Russian state violence. The director, who has lived in Berlin since 2001, is best known for stark documentaries about his native country (including 2024’s “The Invasion” and 2014’s “Maiden”) as well as films about Stalinist Russia (2021’s “State Funeral” and 2019’s “The Trial”). The cast also includes several Russian actors, including Kuznetsov, who left their country after speaking out against Vladimir Putin’s war with Ukraine.

“Two Prosecutors,” which debuted last year in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, is Loznitsa’s first fiction film in seven years. But the sober eye he brings to nonfiction is very much at work in “Two Prosecutors,” a starkly drawn period drama of bleak absurdism.

Beyond any direct lines of connection between past and present, “Two Prosecutors” has the neatness and timelessness of a parable, one that Gogol might have written, and one that could resonate in any era where the naively courageous challenge fascism.

It’s cunningly, even sinisterly structured. In the first half of the film, we follow Alexander’s prolonged entry into the prison. It takes countless series of doors and locks to get through, and each step is watched suspiciously by stone-faced guards. He’s made to wait for hours and urged to reconsider. “Do you know where your predecessor is now?” he’s asked. Every step forward for Alexander into the totalitarian maw is potentially one step further from his own freedom.

When he does finally, stubbornly reach the prisoner, the encounter is equally foreboding. I.S. Stepniak (a tremendous Aleksandr Filippenko) is himself a former prosecutor, a Bolshevik who vividly relates his story and details Stalin’s crackdown. He isn’t seeking personal justice; he wants the truth out. His bruised body is evidence.

Alexander, knowing local officials can’t be trusted, immediately sets out to Moscow to make a report to the chief prosecutor. In the capital, he encounters just as many hallways and barriers to entry as he did in the prison; “Two Prisoners” is composed like a sinister palindrome.

Alexander’s second passage through the layers of totalitarian bureaucracy goes similarly. He manages to get a meeting with the prosecutor, Andrey Vyshinsky (Anatoliy Beliy), but we long ago knew that Alexander’s whistle blow is sure to fall on deaf ears, and he is unwittingly sealing his own fate. The walls are closing in on him.

“Two Prosecutors,” a Janus Films release in theaters, is not rated by the Motion Picture Association. In Russian and Ukrainian, with subtitles. Running time: 118 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.

With a new haircut Malinin presented all that the spectators expected from the defending two-time world champion at O2 Arena.

He will go to Saturday’s free skate with a massive lead of more than nine points after a personal-best 111.29 score in the short program.

The performance showed the Olympic failure was behind him.

Known as the “Quad God,” Malinin opened with a quad flip and a combination of quad lutz and a triple toe loop. The only skater to have successfully landed a quad axel in competition performed only a triple version of his trademark jump.

French skater Adam Siao Him Fa nailed a perfect quad toe loop in combination with a triple toe loop plus a quad salchow for 101.85 points.

Aleksandr Selevko of Estonia was a surprise third after a personal best 96.49.

Japanese Olympic bronze medalist Shun Sato was fourth. Countryman and favorite Yuma Kagiyama, a two-time Olympic silver medalist and three-time worlds silver medalist, fell in a lutz attempt.

Andrew Torgashev was seventh and fellow American Jacob Sanchez was 10th in his senior worlds debut.

Malinin in familiar position

Malinin helped the U.S. win the team gold in Milan and was heavily favored to win individual gold with an unrivaled program. His five-point lead over Kagiyama and Siao after the short program seemed insurmountable.

But in one of the biggest upsets in figure skating history, Malinin fell twice and made other glaring mistakes in a disastrous free skate, falling from first to eighth place.

Malinin said he succumbed to the pressure at his first Games.

Olympic champion Mikhail Shaidorov from Kazakhstan was skipping the worlds.

The pairs free skate was later Thursday.

Not only is the 5-foot-5 grad student now at another school, but playing an entirely different sport.

Shooting jumpers has been replaced by covering receivers and catching passes at Warner University in Florida. It’s opened up a whole new lane for her — one that could possibly end up with Gordon on the 2026 Team USA flag football squad for world championships this summer in Germany. Down the road, maybe even on the team when the sport makes its Olympic debut at the 2028 LA Games.

Same with Loryn Goodwin, a second-round pick by the Dallas Wings in the WNBA draft who pivoted and turned her talents toward the football field.

The sport is so new that USA Football is looking for players in all sorts of places. Gordon and Goodwin were among the athletes named to a pair of training camps this spring in Chula Vista, California. Their journeys could be just the start of a migration of players to the football field from the basketball floor or the soccer pitch or the volleyball court or the world of track.

“Friends that I have played basketball with are asking me, ‘How did you get into this? How did you start?’” said Goodwin, who played hoops at North Texas, Butler, UTSA and Oklahoma State, where she earned All-Big 12 honors. “Anybody can play. To be elite, you’ve just got to put the time in.”

The path from hoops to the field

The skill set from basketball to flag football is a natural crossover. Rebounding is akin to the timing of pass catching, while the ability to read a defense and hand-eye coordination remain paramount. Not to mention both are 5-on-5, featuring sudden stops and starts.

All those things came in handy for Team USA receiver/defensive back Isabella “Izzy” Geraci, who's developed into one of the top players in the world after a basketball career at Cleveland State and USC Upstate. She envisions players of all sorts and heights one day turning up on flag football fields.

“With the pace the sport’s going, there may be a lot of women who are interested in joining the game,” said Geraci, whose last season was 2022-23 with USC Upstate where she started all 31 games. “Some of those women may be 6-5, 6-6 — your freak athletes.”

A sneaker convention leads to flag football

Gordon was finished at Florida State last season after a career that saw her score more than 1,000 career points and earn All-ACC honors.

Finished, too, with college sports — or so she thought.

She attended a sneakers convention in Tampa, Florida, last summer when she ran into Warner coach Tim Mimbs. She dabbled in flag football in high school but not recently.

“He's like, ‘Want to give flag football a try again?'” Gordon recounted. “I took a chance on myself and here we are.”

In addition to being a receiver (six TD catches this season) and a safety (seven interceptions, two for scores), she's working toward her master's degree in business.

Last week, Gordon participated in the U.S. national team trials, where she stood out and earned an invitation — along with Goodwin — to the training camps in April and May. On the men's side, Heisman Trophy winner and NFL QB Robert Griffin III earned a spot, while 66-year-old Hall of Famer Darrell Green fell short in his comeback bid.

After the two camps, selected athletes will move to a third one in June. USA Football will then name the 2026 alternates and final 12-athlete rosters for both the men’s and women’s teams. It's another step in identifying talent before the Summer Games.

Following her brothers path

There's a clip on Instagram that shows Goodwin's pass-catching prowess. It was a backyard family football game a few years ago. Blanketed by little brother TJ, a quarterback in college, Loryn Goodwin sprang free and made a one-handed grab while falling to the grass.

She comes from a family of tackle football players. Another brother, Jayden, played defensive back at Air Force and her cousin, Marquise, was a receiver in the NFL.

A flag football player as a kid, she gravitated toward hoops, where she moved around in college — “before transferring was cool,” she laughed — due to coaches leaving, family situation and staff changes. She found the perfect fit at Oklahoma State and averaged 20.6 points in 2017-18 for a Cowboys team that made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Goodwin was taken by the Wings with the 18th pick. She spent time with the Wings and Los Angeles Sparks. She also played in Europe, where she broke her foot and led to the end of her pro hoops career.

Enter flag football.

A friend introduced the 32-year-old Goodwin to a team in Florida. Little did she know it was an all-star squad.

“I was playing at the very highest level right off the bat with zero experience,” Goodwin said. “That’s wild to think about.”

It prepared her for this — a chance to make the Team USA roster this season. Down the road, maybe the Olympics.

“I've put," Goodwin said, "everything into this.”

In January, he was released from federal prison to home confinement after serving just over half a six-year sentence for his role in a New York-based drug trafficking scheme. During that time, he thought about everything he missed: his family, his kids, the sound of a car engine as he drives, food — “I love to eat,” he told The Associated Press — and, of course, music. He wasted no time jumping right back into it: His next album, “Zavier,” arrives Friday.

He started working on it “as soon as I got released,” he said. “Jan. 7, 2026.”

And when did he finish? “Jan. 10, 2026,” he laughed. “I had a lot to say. It’s been a few years of holding things in there.”

He estimates that he and his collaborators made 123 songs in total; 17 make the final list.

Less than a week after the artist born Willie Maxwell II dropped “The Butterfly Effect,” in 2021, he was indicted and arrested. He released his last album — 2023's “King Zoo” — while incarcerated. Because of that, “Zavier” feels like both a reintroduction and new chapter for him — a real opportunity to make an album truly his own for the first time in half a decade.

“Before, being incarcerated, I had to call when I could call, 15-minute calls,” he recalls of working on “King Zoo.” “After a certain time, the phone was off. So, it was just, like, ‘I just hope it sounds good.’”

This time, he could be in the studio. He could be hands on. “That's my safe haven,” he said. “The studio is my safe haven.”

The road to ‘Zavier’

Those expecting a concept record about Fetty Wap's time behind bars would be wise to look elsewhere. “I didn’t want it to be an emotional album,” he says. “I didn’t want it be, like, ‘OK, we get it. You were away. You’re home now.’ Where’s the fun Fetty?”

Fun Fetty Wap abounds on “Zavier,” as does a serious Fetty Wap, a lustful Fetty Wap, a tender Fetty Wap. It's “a lot of different sounds up in there,” he says. “A lot of different areas to go to.”

The eclecticism works, largely because of Fetty Wap's unmistakable style.

“The whole ‘Zavier’ thing is just, like, bring back the same energy as the ‘Fetty Wap’ album,” he continued, referencing his 2015 breakthrough record — the one that brought the diamond-selling “Trap Queen” to the masses. “Just a more matured sound. … ‘Zavier' is just an upgraded Fetty Wap.”

As for that name? “I'm Zavier,” he said. “This is who I am. It's just a different side of me when I came home from prison.”

If there is a song that encapsulates that time in Fetty Wap's life, it's “I Remember” featuring Chicago rapper G Herbo. It's as diaristic as a songwriter can be: a list of recollections from each stage of his life atop a minimal beat and spare guitar. He describes it as “an ode to the past and the present.”

“I gave them a glimpse of what was going on with me. … Pre-Fetty, then being Fetty Wap, and after Fetty Wap,” he said. “Then prison, then coming home, you know what I mean? I put everything in that song.”

‘White Roses’ is his favorite track

But there is no shortage of what he calls “feel-good music.” That's found in the NSFW-and-then-some R&B banger with Tink, “Nasty” — “Gotta get a little freaky,” he says, smiling — and in all-star collaborations, including tracks with Wiz Khalifa, Honey Bxby and Max B, the last of whom was also released from prison recently.

“I got the beat, and I’m like, ‘I’m about to sound like Max B. I’m going to sound Max B and then I’m gonna make Max B sound like the old Max B,’” he said about the song “BossDon.” But it worked.

He also looked toward his family for inspiration: Fetty Wap's sisters are featured on the throwback “White Roses.”

“‘White Roses’ is actually my favorite track,” says Fetty Wap. “I recorded everything exactly how I wanted it to sound. … And then after it was done, I’m like, ‘Something’s missing.’ I called my sisters. I was like, ‘Yo, come to the studio.’ They was like, ‘What’s up?’ (I said) ‘I need you to go in there.’”

They add doo-wop-style harmonies to the song, a romantic moment on “Zavier” and Fetty Wap's strongest vocal performance — melodic, with a controlled vibrato.

In whole, Fetty Wap hopes “Zavier” gives his audience a sense of “good energy, positivity,” he said.

“I’m not looking for any type of, like, sympathy,” he adds. “Just love the music, you know? And if you don't — let me know so I can make better music.”

“For nearly three decades, the Mark Twain Prize has celebrated some of the greatest minds in comedy,” Roma Daravi, the Kennedy Center's vice president of public relations, said in a statement. “For even longer, Bill has been influencing American discourse — one politically incorrect joke at a time.”

Maher said in a statement that he “just had the award explained to me, and apparently it’s like an Emmy, except I win.”

After The Atlantic reported last week that Maher would win the award, the White House pushed back hard. White House communications director Steven Cheung said on social media that the story was “literally FAKE NEWS.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also called the initial report “fake news” and said Maher “will NOT be getting this award.”

An administration official who refused to speak on the record about the award on Thursday said the situation changed after further conversations between the Kennedy Center and event organizers.

The Kennedy Center has presented the award since 1998 as a way to recognize those who have made significant contributions to humor and commentary in the United States. Previous winners include Conan O'Brien, Dave Chappelle, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Letterman, Carol Burnett and Tina Fey.

The award will be presented on June 28, just before Trump plans to close the Kennedy Center for renovations expected to last about two years. Since returning to office, the Republican president has wielded tremendous influence over the venue, ousting its previous leadership and replacing it with a handpicked board of trustees that named him chairman.

The board added Trump's name to the Kennedy Center and approved the closure, actions that have prompted legal proceedings that are ongoing.

Maher and the president have long had a fraught relationship.

Before he entered politics, Trump filed a $5 million lawsuit against Maher in 2013 for breach of contract. Appearing on Jay Leno’s “The Tonight Show,” Maher said he would give $5 million to the charity of Trump’s choice if he could prove he was not “the spawn of his mother having sex with an orangutan.”

Trump claimed that when he provided his birth certificate, Maher didn’t pay up, prompting the lawsuit. Trump ended up dropping it.

The Trump-Maher relationship exploded again earlier this year, when the president claimed on social media that he wasted time sitting down for a meal with the comedian last year.

“He came into the famed Oval Office much different than I thought he would be,” Trump wrote online. “He was extremely nervous, had ZERO confidence in himself.” Trump said the comedian admitted he was “scared.”

Maher described the dinner as a “good time” during his April 11 episode of “Real Time,” noting that Trump was “gracious and measured” and not like the “person who plays a crazy person on TV.” He said he wasn’t scared.

He took time in his “New Rules” segment to point out the various Trump policies he liked, including the “mass removal of stone cold criminals” and making NATO members pay “their fair share.”

“I may be the last person from the lunatic left that is still an honest broker when it comes to you,” he said. ”I always want the American president to succeed, and I do give credit when you have, but there’s lots of stuff you do that is not my idea of success, and I have every right to say so in a democracy.”

The Virgil is the setting for most of the ambitious but ultimately cramped horror-comedy “They Will Kill You,” a wonderful vehicle for its star, Zazie Beetz, while not exactly fulfilling in either the horror or comedy modes. You might want your security deposit back.

Writer-director Kirill Sokolov borrows elements of Blaxploitation and apes cinematic techniques from Quentin Tarantino's violent revenge fantasies to come up with a muddled movie that has a patina of satire, a smear of dread, a little camp and some surreal touches, like eyeballs that bounce around with agency.

Much of the underwhelming nature of “They Will Kill You” is its lack of ambition. It's said the filmmakers used Dante's “Inferno” as an inspiration for a building that would house on its floors each of the vices from the nine circles of hell — lust, gluttony, greed and so forth. They settled on two and so both initially widened the plot idea but then immediately stunted it.

Beetz's Asia Reaves shows up at The Virgil — named after Dante's guide — to locate her little sister, who we learn in a prologue got separated 10 years before. The sister may be inside as a maid for a group of satanists and she may have gotten in too deep.

Beetz is a revelation as a cleaver-wielding, close-combat boss lady who slices and dices her way through hordes of black-cloaked baddies, who we learn, unfortunately, don't stay dead. “I'm sick of you killing me!” one tells her.

Sokolov leans into a kind of gimmick in which the victim of a disemboweling suddenly grows still and silent for a beat until sprays of blood shoot out from their various wounds like a fire hydrant. He's also got slo-mos of assailants hanging in the air poised for murder, plenty of limbs cut off and shotgun booms. Costume designer Neil McClean fumbles the satanists' cloaks, making them fussy and vaguely shiny, like art smocks for kindergarteners.

The cast also includes a great Myha’la as the sister, Tom Felton and Heather Graham as vengeful, evil satanists — are there any other kind? — and Patricia Arquette as the prim building manager with a terribly uneven Irish accent that incorporates everything from Lucky Charms sing-song to Belfast hardman.

There are extended chase scenes in tunnels and an inspired fight scene with a flaming ax but Sokolov can't pull off the ending, a bizarre and deflating faceoff with Satan himself. The devil himself seems smaller than you'd expect.

“They Will Kill You” may remind you of the marriage between madcap, social satire and bloody mayhem from “Ready or Not” but it's a warning of how hard that combo is to get correctly. (Our hero here at one point just explains the gore-fest with two words — “rich people” — as if that's enough.) If you do decide to see it this weekend, come for the beatdowns but stay for the Beetz.

“They Will Kill You,” a Warner Bros. release in theaters Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for “strong bloody violence, gore, language and brief sexual content/nudity.” Running time: 94 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.

Josh Giddey scored 23 points to lead the Bulls.

Embiid missed 13 games with a strained right oblique but showed no signs of rust. The 2023 MVP made 6 of 9 shots in the first period, including all three of his 3-point tries. He had 23 points in the first half to help Philadelphia take a 71-52 halftime lead.

George was not as sharp early but settled in after halftime.

Playing for the first time since Jan. 29 due to a violation of the NBA's drug policy, he missed 8 of 10 field goals in the opening half and had five points, but scored 23 points in the second half.

George was cheered throughout the night, especially after converting on three consecutive possessions early in the fourth quarter. Philadelphia was 13-12 without George, who signed a four-year, $212 million deal with the 76ers before the 2024 season but has been sidelined frequently by injury and suspension. George finished 11 of 22 from the field and 6 of 13 from long range.

Philadelphia still was without All-Star Tyrese Maxey, who missed his 10th straight game due to a right finger tendon strain. Kelly Oubre Jr. (left elbow strain) also was sidelined for the eighth consecutive contest. Oubre has been cleared to return to on-court activities and participated in Wednesday morning's shootaround, a team spokesperson said before the game.

VJ Edgecome added 22 points for the 76ers.

Up next

Bulls: At Oklahoma City on Friday night.

76ers: At Charlotte on Saturday night.

Champion, who is openly gay and has been a prominent figure in broadcast meteorology for decades, documented his experience on Instagram, stating the procedure "saved my life." He described feeling a persistent shortness of breath—rather than chest pains—that prompted an urgent medical evaluation, leading to the discovery of a critical blockage on March 22 that required immediate intervention.

The procedure, performed at a New York hospital, involved placing stents to restore blood flow, according to Champion's posts. He emphasized the rapid response of his healthcare providers, noting, "They got me in right away and fixed it. Grateful doesn't even begin to cover it."

Prior to this incident, Champion had been managing his health proactively, including a recent skin cancer surgery in October 2024, which he also shared publicly to raise awareness. This pattern of transparency aligns with his role as a visible gay man in media, where he has long advocated for health screenings without sensationalism.

Upon his return to the new ABC News studios in New York, Champion was greeted warmly by colleagues, including anchors Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, and Michael Strahan. Rather than a typical weather stint, he joined the desk for a dedicated health segment to discuss his recovery and the importance of heart screenings. ABC News spokespeople publicly praised his resilience and his commitment to using his personal experience to raise awareness for viewers.

Champion's health journey resonates within the LGBTQ+ community, where cardiovascular risks can be elevated due to factors like stress, access to care, and historical disparities in medical attention for gay and bisexual men. His willingness to share personal medical details mirrors efforts by other openly LGBTQ+ public figures to destigmatize health conversations, encouraging preventive care among transgender people, gay men, and others. Community responses on social media highlighted support, with fans and advocates noting his story as a reminder for routine check-ups.

The meteorologist, 65, has a storied career, having anchored weather for GMA from 2006 to 2013 before moving to The Weather Channel. He occasionally returns to ABC for specials, maintaining ties to the network. Champion married his husband, Rubem Robierb, in 2012, and the couple has been vocal about their life together amid his professional demands.

Medical experts not directly involved praised Champion's prompt action, underscoring that symptoms like his are common indicators of cardiac events treatable if addressed swiftly. His return marks a positive milestone, with Champion posting photos from the set captioned, "Back where I belong," signaling full recovery.

This event, occurring within the last week as of March 25, 2026, underscores the importance of health vigilance for media professionals who balance high-visibility roles with personal well-being. Champion's story continues to inspire, particularly among LGBTQ+ audiences who view him as a trailblazer in authentic representation.

Principal photography for The Devil Wears Prada 2 took place between June and October 2025 in New York City, featuring the return of Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly, Anne Hathaway as Andy Sachs, and Emily Blunt as Emily Charlton. Following the New York shoot, production shifted to Milan, Italy, where the cast was spotted filming on cobblestone streets and attending high-profile events during Milan Fashion Week. During this period, Streep was photographed in a red plissé blazer and bucket hat while leaving the restaurant Il Salumaio di Montenapoleone, as she navigated a significant media frenzy. The project officially wrapped in October 2025 and is currently in post-production for its scheduled theatrical release on May 1, 2026.

Directed by Aline Brosh McKenna, who wrote the 2006 original screenplay, the film features an original story rather than a direct adaptation of Lauren Weisberger’s sequel novel. Returning alongside Streep, Hathaway, and Blunt is Stanley Tucci as Nigel Kipling, with new additions including Simone Ashley, Lucy Liu, Justin Theroux, BJ Novak, and Pauline Chalamet. The project officially wrapped in October 2025 and is slated for a May 1, 2026, theatrical release.

Meryl Streep’s reflections on the "unnerving" media frenzy during the New York shoot highlight the heightened public scrutiny of the Devil Wears Pradafranchise 20 years later. While the original film remains deeply resonant with LGBTQ+ audiences, current reporting focuses on the production's logistical challenges rather than specific community advocacy. Additionally, while the sequel’s Milan backdrop reflects the global fashion industry, recent runway controversies at houses like Dolce & Gabbana underscore ongoing debates regarding diversity and inclusion that remain independent of the film's production.

This event, reported across entertainment outlets within the last few weeks as of March 2026, reflects ongoing interest in the franchise's return nearly 20 years after the original grossed over $326 million worldwide and became a cultural touchstone. Streep's candid revelation adds a personal layer to the buzz, emphasizing the human impact of celebrity amid production demands. Filming in iconic locations like New York and Milan not only advances the plot—following Miranda and Andy in the modern fashion landscape—but also draws real-world attention that Streep found overwhelming.