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A humanitarian flotilla prepares to depart for Gaza, from Barcelona

About 30 boats ‌planned to leave the Mediterranean port city laden with medical aid and other supplies on the ​Global Sumud Flotilla, and more vessels are expected to join along the route towards Palestine.

The Israeli military halted the roughly 40 boats assembled by the same organisation last October as they attempted to reachblockaded Gaza, arresting Swedish activist Greta Thunberg andmore than ‌450 other participants.

MISSION TO 'OPEN HUMANITARIAN ⁠CORRIDOR'

Israel, which controls all access to the Gaza Strip, denieswithholding supplies for its more than 2 million residents. Yet Palestinians and ⁠international aid bodies say supplies reaching the territory are still insufficient, despite a ceasefire reached in October which included guarantees of increased aid.

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Liam Cunningham, an actor who starred in ​the Game ​of Thrones television series who is supporting ​the flotilla but not taking ‌part, told Reuters: "Every kilogram of aid that is on these ships is a failure because all these people on these ships giving up their time to help their fellow human beings are doing what their governments are legally obliged to do."

The World Health Organization has said that even during armed conflicts, states are obligated ‌under international humanitarian law to ensure that people ​are able to reach medical care in safety.

“This ​is a mission that aims to ​open a humanitarian corridor so the aid delivery organisations can ‌arrive,” Saif Abukeshak, a Palestinian activist ​and member of the ​flotilla’s organising committee, told Reuters.

Swiss and Spanish activists on last year's flotilla said they were subjected to inhumane conditions during their detention by Israeli forces - ​an allegation that was ‌rejected by an Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson.

(Reporting by Graham Keeley; Additional reporting ​by Silvio Castellanos, Horaci Garcia, Nacho Doce, Albert Gea, Michele Spatari ​and Amy McConaghy; Editing by David Holmes )

The show's creator, Linwood Boomer, told USA TODAY that he wasn't able to reel Sullivan (seen here in 2007) back in despite his best efforts; the former actor is now working toward his master's degree at Harvard University. "Eric Sullivan hasn't been an actor for decades. I asked him to repeat [Dewey]. We still talk all the time. I love him, and he didn't want to be an actor anymore," Boomer says. "He didn't like [acting] 10 years ago, and he sure doesn't now. I had to respect that."

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'Malcolm in the Middle' cast then and now – 2000s show to reboot

Twenty years later, Malcolm is still in the "Middle."

What else can you say about the revival of the beloved sitcom, which ran on Fox from 2000-2006? Hulu's "Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair"reunites Frankie Muniz, Bryan Cranston and Jane Kaczmarekin a slapstick recreation of the iconic family and their equally iconic antics.

There are big box store flash mobs, horses, prat falls and, of course, lots and lots of screaming. The humor is broad and cozy, like a warm bowl of chicken and dumplings. Muniz's Malcolm talks to the camera, as does Leah (Keeley Karsten), Malcolm's equally gifted and perceptive teen daughter. It's one of the few instances in which the lack of character development in spite of the 20 years of aging and learning works: Sitcom tropes don't really work if your dysfunctional characters experience personal growth.

But is the reboot any good? It almost doesn't matter. "Middle" (all episodes streaming April 10 on Hulu, ★★½ out of four) does exactly what it's supposed to: Pull on our nostalgic heartstrings and remind us of own mispent youth. And when I talk about a "we," I'm speaking of us good ol' millennials for whom family sitcoms like this were so formative and comforting.

Hollywood was obsessed with bringing back the pop culture of the 1980s and '90s for years, appealing to the sensibilities of Generation X with the likes of Netflix's "Fuller House" and even "Stranger Things." But now the generation blamed for killing whole industries (everything fromnapkinstoAmerican cheese) is old enough and tired enough to see our favorites brought back to life.

And as long as those reboots are like "Middle," and don't ruin the memory of the original, it's all hunky dory. Heck, it's nice to feel seen.

The new "Middle" is both wildly different and exactly the same as the original. On the one hand, all the kids are grown up (even baby Kelly is a rebellious teen). Malcolm is professionally successful, as one would imagine, running a respected charity. He is a single father to Leah, but is trying to raise her in every way he wasn't. His siblings are in varying degrees of stagnation, although Francis (Christopher Masterson) is married.

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But Hal (Cranston) and Lois (Kaczmarek) are still in loopy love and still trying to manage one crisis after another. Malcolm still feels ostracized by his family, so much so that he's nearly cut off contact from them. And nobody seems able to keep their emotions in check.

Hal and Lois's upcoming 40th wedding anniversary, and a big blowout party, forces Malcolm to reconnect with his family, and not in the way he intended. They may (mostly) live apart, but they are all drawn into orbit with each other, with very amusing and catastrophic results.

The biggest joy of any show like this is those reunions, and the cast doesn't disappoint. It's a particular giddy joy to see Cranston − now most famous and celebrated for hisotherlong-running TV role, intense crime drama "Breaking Bad" − exercise his immensely strong funny bone. The actor's face is hilariously expressive, his range of anger and outrage is massive and his exasperation with his TV sons knows no bounds.

Muniz, who has been further removed from the spotlight in the intervening decades, slips easily back into the role that made him a child star. He's sardonic and witty, and a little bit desperate. Like so many of the 30- and 40- somethings who will be tuning in, he's reckoning with how to parent after he didn't love the way he was brought up.

His daughter, meanwhile, is reckoning with a changing social and technological world Malcolm never experienced in adolescence. (There is an unfortunate amount of "soft" and "woke" Gen Z/Gen Alpha stereotypes, which the show would be better off without.)

When the chaos starts in "Middle" it never stops (stay tuned for the big surprise ending to the first episode). And unlike the chaos in our real lives, it's fun and silly to enjoy this family falling to pieces. Of course, they pick themselves back up again. And there's something so deeply reassuring about that, nostalgic and cheesy or not.

So is this latest reboot any good? It's good enough for now.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:'Malcolm in the Middle' revival review − Millennials get nostalgia too

A limited number of hats shaped like the Pope's miter, with the team's sock logo in the middle, will be distributed. They will be available to fans in certain sections the White Sox referred to as “pews.” Tickets must be purchased from the team and not a third party in order to receive the hats.

Pope Leo XIV is a Chicago native and longtime White Sox fan. He attended the 2005 World Series opener against Houston in Chicago, watching from Section 140, Row 19, Seat 2 as his favorite team beat the Astros 5-3 on the way to a four-game sweep and its first title since 1917.

In May, the White Soxunveiled a graphic installationnear the seat paying tribute to Pope Leo and that moment. The pillar artwork features a waving Pope Leo XIV, along with a picture from the TV broadcast of the future pope sitting with good friend Ed Schmit and his grandson, Eddie.

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In June, Rate Field hosted an event honoring his election as the first American pope. A month later, at a pregame ceremony honoring the 2005 team, White Sox great Paul Konerko waspresented a jerseysigned by the pope, a gift from one No. 14 to another.

Pope Leo broke Vatican protocol by donning a White Sox cap last year. In October,he shouted “they lost”to someone who screamed “go Cubs.” And a few weeks ago, he gave a thumbs up to someone who yelled “God bless the White Sox!”

AP MLB:https://apnews.com/mlb

Russia Crackdown

Separately, police in Moscow raided the offices of the prominent independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, whose chief editor Dmitry Muratov was a Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 2021. The newspaper said its lawyers were not allowed inside the office.

The ruling against the human rights group followed a closed hearing on a petition from the Justice Ministry to designate what it called “the Memorial international civic movement” as extremist and ban its activities in Russia.

Memorial said in a statement issued earlier in the day that there is no such entity but that the ruling still “would allow the authorities to crack down on any Memorial projects, their participants and supporters.”

A long history of human rights activism

Memorial is one of the oldest and the most renowned Russian human rights organizations. It was awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, less than a year after President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, alongsideBelarusian activist Ales Bialiatski,who was imprisoned at the time, and the Ukrainian organization Center for Civil Liberties.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Norwegian Nobel Committee condemned the actions against the group, calling them “an affront to the fundamental values of human dignity and freedom of expression" and urged Russia to “cease all harassment of Memorial and its members.”

Amnesty International's Eastern Europe and Central Asia deputy regional director Denis Krivosheev said in a statement that the court ruling was targeting not just Memorial but “criminalizing human rights work itself.”

Memorial was founded in the late 1980s to ensure that the victims of the Soviet Union's political repression would be remembered, and grew to a network of smaller organizations both in Russia and abroad.

The group had been declared a “foreign agent,” a designation that brought additional government scrutiny and carried strong pejorative connotations, and over the years was ordered to pay massive fines for alleged violations of the ”foreign agent” law. Russian courts ordered its two main entities — the human rights center and the International Memorial — to shut down in December 2021.

Undeterred, the group continued to operate. In 2023, its members founded an international Memorial association in Geneva. Earlier this year, that association was banned in Russia as “undesirable,” a label that exposes anyone involved with it to prosecution.

In February 2024, Memorial's co-chair Oleg Orlov was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for speaking out against the war in Ukraine. He was released in a massive East-West prisoner exchange in August 2024 along with other imprisoned dissidents.

Increasing pressure on Memorial

An extremist designation puts even more pressure on the group, as involvement with extremist activities is a criminal offense in Russia punishable by prison terms.

Jan Raczynski, chair of the International Memorial that was forced to shut down in 2021, told The Associated Press that he was surprised and bewildered to learn from the news about the Justice Ministry's petition.

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He said Memorial has been well-known for many years on par with “perestroika" and “glasnost” — Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s policies of political reform and openness. Raczynski noted that Soviet physicist and human rights advocate Andrei Sakharov, a 1975 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was its first chairman.

Raczynski likened the Supreme Court's closed hearing to the repressions studied by the group.

“This is very similar to what we’ve been doing for almost 40 years now, these closed trials of people, in absentia, usually without a defense," he said, adding that it was difficult to predict what would happen next.

"I just know that for many hundreds of thousands of people in Russia, this is a very anxious time, because Memorial has helped a lot of people, and now they don’t understand what is happening,” Razcynski said.

He denounced allegations that Memorial was extremist, saying the group has always stood against violence, and vowed that its work will continue “one way or another.”

The Russian state news agency Tass cited the Supreme Court’s press service as saying Memorial’s activities “are clearly anti-Russian in nature, aimed at destroying the fundamental foundations of Russian statehood, violating territorial integrity, and eroding historical, cultural, spiritual, and moral values.”

Memorial said the case against the group “is yet another attempt to intimidate all dissent in the country and silence civil society" that will not succeed.

“Memorial and other civil society organizations, which are being destroyed in Russia, will continue their work abroad,” it said. “Memorial will outlive the Putin regime and will be able to openly return to Russia.”

A criminal case reported against Novaya Gazeta

After news emerged about the police raid against Novaya Gazeta, the Russian news agency Interfax, citing law enforcement officials, reported that a criminal case has been launched against the renowned newspaper on charges of illegal collection and use of personal data.

Tass cited law enforcement as saying the raid was connected to a case against Novaya Gazeta journalist Oleg Roldugin, who also co-founded another independent Russian newspaper, Sobesednik. Novaya Gazeta on social media said it couldn't confirm or deny whether this is the case, but noted that Roldugin's home also was raided, he has been taken in for questioning, and a lawyer was later allowed to see him.

The newspaperhas faced growing pressuresince Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Its website has been blocked in Russia, its media license was revoked in 2022, and many of its journalists fled abroad and regrouped in a separate publication called Novaya Gazeta Europe. That publication has been banned in Russia as “undesirable.”

Muratov, Novaya Gazeta's longtime editor who still lives in Russia, shared the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize with Maria Ressa, a journalist from the Philippines. He was declared a “foreign agent” by Russian authorities.

The newspaper was itself born from the legacy of Gorbachev's Nobel Peace Prize in 1990. He used part of his prize money to fund what later became Novaya Gazeta, which launched in 1993.

The move comes as President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva steps up efforts on public security, ​a key issue in Latin America's largest economy, as he seeks a new term in October's general election.

Lula has seen his lead in opinion polls evaporate, with surveys now pointing to a run-off tie with his main rival, right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro.

Since last ‌year, Brazil’s tax authority has ⁠played a central role in major operations uncovering money laundering schemes linked to criminal organizations in the fuel sector, identifying multiple ⁠operations abroad.

Lula has publicly called on U.S. President Donald Trump to arrest the owner of Refit, one of the main companies involved in the scheme, who resides in the ​United States.

Still ​there are tensions between the U.S. and ​Brazilian governments regarding the best approach ‌to tackle organized crime.

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Last year, U.S. officials had asked Brazil to label major gangs terrorist organizations, but Brazilians refused to do so.

According to a government statement on Friday, the joint initiative aims to integrate intelligence efforts to intercept illicit shipments of weapons and narcotics.

Brazil’s tax revenue secretary, Robinson Barreirinhas, said more than 1,100 weapons arriving ‌from the United States had been seized over ​the past 12 months, adding that authorities confiscated ​more than 1.5 tons of ​drugs in the first quarter alone, mainly synthetic drugs and hashish.

Finance ‌Minister Dario Durigan said the agreement ​was made possible after ​talks between Lula and Trump gained momentum.

The Brazilian government had hoped the announcement would coincide with an in‑person meeting between Lula and Trump, originally expected ​in March. The meeting did ‌not materialize and now has no clear timeline following the outbreak ​of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.

(Reporting by Isabel Teles and Marcela Ayres; ​Editing by Toby Chopra and Andrea Ricci )

Indian Wells Tennis

Medvedev, who is currently ranked 10th, received a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct and will also likely be hit with a hefty fine for his actions early in the second set.

The 30-year-old Russian was already struggling when he landed a forehand in the net to drop his opening service game of the second set and fall behind 2-0 and he slammed his racket near the baseline. Then he picked the racket up and threw it toward a tarp at the end of the court.

Still not through, Medvedev then continually picked his frame up and kept on smashing it until it was destroyed enough to fit through an opening in a courtside trash can as the crowd sarcastically cheered him on.

Medvedev, whowon the U.S. Open in 2021, lost the match in 49 minutes. He had five double-faults to Berrettini’s none; put only 36% of his first serves in play to Berrettini’s 65%; and won only 17 of the 67 points.

It was quite a turnaround from the previous three meetings between the players — which were all won by Medvedev.

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According to statistics providerOpta, Berrettini became only the fifth player since the ATP Rankings started in 1973 to defeat a top-10 opponent 6-0, 6-0 — a score otherwise known as a double bagel — with the last time it happened being a decade ago when David Goffin routed Tomas Berdych at the Italian Open.

“I wouldn’t expect to win like that and it doesn’t happen that often,” Berrettini said.

Medvedev was playing his first match on clay this year, having recentlybeaten top-ranked Carlos Alcarazto reach a final on hard courts in Indian Wells, California.

Berrettini, a Wimbledon finalist in 2021 who has struggled with injuries in recent years, is ranked 90th. The Italian received a wild card invitation for Monte Carlo.

“It was definitely one of the best performances of my life,” Berrettini said. “I think I missed three shots in the whole match.”

AP tennis:https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

The Times newspaper said planned legislation underpinning the ​deal to cede the islands to Mauritius, which needs the backing of Washington, would not be included in the government's next parliamentary agenda.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office said London would try to persuade Washington to give its formal ‌approval.

Trump said in February that ⁠the deal was a "big mistake" nL1N3ZE0XS, having previously said it was the best that Starmer would get.

Under the deal, ⁠Britain would retain control of the strategically important military base on Diego Garcia on a 99-year lease that preserves U.S. operations there.

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A British government spokesperson said ​ensuring the ​long-term operational security of Diego Garcia ​would remain a priority.

"We continue ‌to believe the agreement is the best way to protect the long-term future of the base, but we have always said we would only proceed with the deal if it has U.S. support. We are continuing to engage with the U.S. and Mauritius," the spokesperson said.

The alliance between Washington and ‌London has come under strain in recent ​weeks over Starmer's reluctance to get involved ​in the U.S.-Israeli war on ​Iran https://www.reuters.com/world/iran/ and his refusal at the start of the ‌conflict to allow Trump to use ​British air bases ​to launch attacks.

U.S. forces have since been permitted to carry out what the prime minister calls defensive strikes.

Trump has also repeatedly criticised the ​British leader, saying he ‌was "not Winston Churchill L8N3ZR0JI" and had ruined what is often ​called a "special relationship" between Britain and the U.S.

(Writing by William Schomberg ​and Suban AbdullaEditing by Gareth Jones)