April 2026 ~ ALPHA JRNL

Billie Eilish responds to rumors she and brother Finneas O'Connell 'had a falling-out': 'How do we move on?'

Billie Eilish addressed rumors that she and brother Finneas O'Connell, her collaborator, have had a falling-out.

Billie Eilish and brother Finneas O'Connell in 2024Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty

Key Points

The "Wildflower" singer says she and O'Connell are siblings, and they fight.
O'Connell was absent from his sister's most recent tour.

Billie Eilishknows there are rumors about why her brother and longtime collaborator, Finneas O'Connell, isn't with her as much these days.

"I heard somebody say, 'Did you guys hear Finneas and Billie had a falling-out?'" the singer recalls in an interview published Tuesday inElle.

The "What Was I Made For?" singer's response was clear: "Finneas and I have never and will never have a falling-out, ever in our lives. We'll get in the biggest f---ing fight you've ever heard of in your life…and five minutes later, we're back, laughing and making music. It's sibling s---. There's nothing else in the world like sibling relationships."

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In fact, Eilish said, much of her work depends on her brother.

"If I never saw Finneas at all, I might literally never make a song again," she said of her older brother. "But how do we move on and have separate lives?"

They gave that a go with Eilish's latest tour, in promotion of her 2024 albumHit Me Hard and Soft, which he contributed to as usual.

"It was a few years in the making," Eilish told the magazine. "We got so busy that we would only see each other right before going onstage. Finneas and Andrew [her touring drummer], who were the only band members I had back in the day, performed on some sort of platform that was hard to leave. Finneas was stuck in a tower—like Rapunzel! He never said it, but I was feeling like, 'You have more to be doing than being my band member in the back.'"

In the meantime, O'Connell was able to release solo music that he promoted with his own tour.

Like his sister, he's already quite accomplished, with 11 Grammys to his name, compared to her 10.

Finneas and Billie Eilish perform in 2025Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty

"I think that it's the closest I am with Billie to like total trust of anyone," he toldCBS Newsin January 2024. "And total vulnerability. I'm sure there's something that she would be embarrassed to say in front of me, but not much."

He acknowledged that he had missed her when she was gone, and he even popped up at a few dates.

"It's basically true that I don’t like touring, but I love the show part of it," he toldElle. "And I love being around Billie. This past year, when she would be on tour for months, I missed her a lot."

A scene from Eilish's new concert film,Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D), shows her reading a note that O'Connell sent her on the road. The James Cameron-directed film arrives in theaters May 8.

Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly

byAlpha World

in

April 30, 2026

Billie Eilish responds to rumors she and brother Finneas O'Connell 'had a falling-out': 'How do we move on?'

Billie Eilish addressed rumors that she and brother Finneas O'Connell, her collaborator, have had a falling-out. Key Points ...

Robot dogs with Musk and Zuckerberg heads roam around Berlin gallery in Beeple's new exhibit

BERLIN (AP) — Robot dogs with hyper-realistic silicone heads modeled after world-renowned figures — including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg,Jeff Bezos, Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso — can be seen roaming around a Berlin gallery, occasionally “pooing” printed images of their surroundings which they've previously captured with integrated cameras.

The animals are part of an interactive installation byAmerican artist Beeple(Mike Winkelmann) currently showing atBerlin's New National Gallery.

Each printed image shows a snippet of reality transformed by AI to resemble the personality of the dog or, in other words, the worldview of the human figure on its shoulders (i.e., the Picasso dog will produce images in Cubist style and Warhol's in pop art).

It's a commentary on how our perceptions are shaped by algorithms and technology platforms, the organizers of the exhibition write in the description of the event.

“In the past, our view of the world was shaped in part by how artists saw the world,” Beeple told the AP. “How Picasso painted changed how we saw the word, how Warhol talked about consumerism, pop culture, that changed how he saw those things.”

Now our view of the world is shaped by tech billionaires who own powerful algorithms that decide what we see and what we don’t see, the artist added.

“That's an immense amount of power that I don’t think we’ve fully understood, especially because when they want to make a change, they don’t need to lobby the U.N. They don’t need to get something through Congress or the EU, they just wake up and change these algorithms.”

The dogs also wear heads in Beeple’s own image.

Lisa Botti, the curator of the exhibition in Berlin, said thatartificial intelligencewas one of the phenomena most impacting our lives today and that “museums are the places where society can reflect” on such transformations, which is why she wanted to have Beeple’s work shown.

The work, entitled “Regular Animals,” was first first shown atArt Basel Miami Beach2025.

Beeple is a graphic designer from South Carolina who does a variety of digital artwork. He is one of the founders of the “everyday” movement in 3D graphics: For years, he has been creating a picture every day and posting it online without missing a single day.

According to Christie's, he is the third most expensive living artist to sell at auction, after David Hockney and Jeff Koons.

In the spring of 2021, Christie’s opened bidding for Beeple's digital collage entitled “Everydays: The First 5000 Days,” with the sale ultimately closing at over $69 million. The auction house described the artwork as “critiques of modern society, the government and social media” in the form of “grotesque, dystopian futures, often featuring celebrities like Donald Trump and Kanye West.”

Christie’s said the sale marked the first time a major auction house offered a digital-only artwork with a non-fungible token as a guarantee of its authenticity, as well as the first time cryptocurrency has been used to pay for an artwork at auction.

Non-fungible tokens, known as NFTs, are electronic identifiers confirming a digital collectible is real by recording the details on a digital ledger known as a blockchain. The tokens have swept the online collecting world recently, an offshoot of the boom in cryptocurrencies.

At the Art Basel 2025 event, Beeple gave away the photos pooed by his dogs to audience members, accompanied by a certificate that read “100% organic GMO-free dog shit.” Some prints had QR codes that gave access to free NFTs, which in practice meant Beeple was giving away his digital art for free for people (sometimes the subjects of the photos themselves) to potentially monetize.

Ciobanu reported from Warsaw, Poland.

byAlpha World

in

April 30, 2026

Robot dogs with Musk and Zuckerberg heads roam around Berlin gallery in Beeple's new exhibit

BERLIN (AP) — Robot dogs with hyper-realistic silicone heads modeled after world-renowned figures — including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerber...

Hilary Duff Shares Cute New Clips of Daughter Townes Ahead of Her 2nd Birthday: 'The Things We Do for These Giggles'

Hilary Duff shared some adorable Instagram clips of her daughter Townes laughing and playing ahead of her 2nd birthday

Hilary Duff; daughter TownesCredit: Taylor Hill/WireImage; Hilary Duff/Instagram

NEED TO KNOW

Another video showed Townes hilariously telling her mom, "No, no pictures"
Townes will turn 2 on Sunday, May 3

Hilary Duffwill do anything to make her kids laugh!

On Tuesday, April 28, the singer and actress, 38, posted a series of cute clips of her youngest daughter Townes, 23 months, as the mother-daughter duo had some sweet moments together.

The first clip showed Duff making cat and bird noises as Townes, who turns 2 on May 3, played with her hair and smiled at the camera.

The mom of four then started rolling around on a rug, in what appeared to be Townes’ bedroom, as Townes laughed repeatedly, before running and burying her face in a beanbag.

Hilary Duff and daughter TownesCredit: Hilary Duff/Instagram

Duff then followed her daughter and started tickling her while pretending to be a cat, as Townes continued to giggle.

“The things we do for these soul soothing giggles,” Duff wrote across the video on her Instagram Stories.

TheYoungerstar next shared a clip of her daughter playing with two dinosaur figurines and hilariously telling her mom she didn’t want to be on camera.

“No, no pictures,” Townes said as she threw her arms up in the air.

“No 📸 Also please note shirt,” wrote Duff, referencing Townes’ T-shirt, which appeared to feature lyrics from her 2003 track “What Dreams Are Made Of.”

The video was followed by a photo of Townes beaming at the camera in her cute blue cardigan with the caption, “But she’s so cute.”

Hilary Duff and Matthew Koma's daughter TownesCredit: Hilary Duff/Instagram

TheLizzie McGuirealumannounced Townes’ birthon May 7, 2024, sharing that she welcomed her little girl in ahome water birth.

Duff shares Townes, as well as older daughtersBanks, 7,Mae, 5, with her husbandMatthew Koma. She is also mom to sonLuca, 14, with her ex-husband, Mike Comrie.

Earlier this month, Duff told PEOPLE how Koma and herbroodwill bejoining her this summerwhen she embarks on herThe Lucky Me tour.

Hilary Duff with husband Matthew Koma and her four kidsCredit: Hilary Duff/Instagram

"I spent hours with my assistant [looking at] the tour schedule, being like, 'Okay, I want them here for this stretch. They can go home these days,' " Duff said. "It's been a lot of logistics that can seriously bend a brain, but it's going to be an adventure."

"All of these cities have so much to offer, and I feel like there would be no other time when my kids would see the U.S. like this, so we're just thinking of it as a big, long road trip," she continued to PEOPLE, adding with a laugh: "And hopefully, they don't get bored with seeing my show every night."

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Duff went on to share that her son Luca will be “bopping in and out” of the tour, joking, "[He's] a teenager, so he's not going to be giving me four weeks of his summer.”

"I think that the little ones are going to be there most of the time," she added.

Her tour is set to kick off on June 22 in West Palm Beach, Florida. As well as touring cities across the U.S., Duff is also due to perform in Canada, Mexico, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Read the original article onPeople

byAlpha World

in

April 29, 2026

Hilary Duff Shares Cute New Clips of Daughter Townes Ahead of Her 2nd Birthday: 'The Things We Do for These Giggles'

Hilary Duff shared some adorable Instagram clips of her daughter Townes laughing and playing ahead of her 2nd birthday NEED TO KN...

Purdue Pharma to be sentenced, paving way for opioid settlement

By Dietrich Knauth

NEW YORK, April 28 (Reuters) - Purdue Pharma will be sentenced on Tuesday in New Jersey federal court for deceiving government regulators and paying kickbacks to doctors to boost opioid sales, completing a plea deal ‌that clears the way for the company to dissolve in bankruptcy and use its assets to fund a $7.4 ‌billion settlement intended to compensate people harmed by the opioid epidemic.

The company agreed to $5.5 billion in criminal fines, most of which will go unpaid under a 2020 agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in which the agency will collect just $225 million. That deal allows Purdue to direct its remaining assets to repaying creditors, mostly state and local governments, which were left to deal with the cost and consequences of the opioid crisis in their communities.

Purdue had been scheduled to be sentenced last week, but U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo postponed the hearing ‌to allow greater public participation from people ⁠who wanted to speak up about the company's marketing of its painkiller OxyContin and its role in fueling the opioid epidemic in the United States.

"We recognize the importance of ensuring that victims can be ⁠heard, and we respect the court’s decision," Purdue said in a statement ahead of Tuesday's hearing.

Several victims of the opioid crisis sent letters to the court with personal stories of suffering, loss and addiction, some of them urging the judge to reject the plea deal and insist on prison time for the company's executives and its owners.

The sentencing comes as people harmed by opioids say the company’s long‑running ‌bankruptcy has left them frustrated. The $7.4 billion settlement, which includes an $865 million fund for individuals affected by the crisis, has been hailed by Purdue and plaintiffs’ lawyers as a victory for victims, but a recent Reuters examination shows how the process has created daunting hurdles for many people seeking compensation.

Arleo is expected to accept Purdue's plea deal at Tuesday's hearing in Newark, New Jersey, imposing a $3.5 billion criminal fine and $2 billion in criminal forfeiture.

Purdue's bankruptcy case is coming to a close after more than six years ‌in court, following a lengthy series of appeals which went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The sentencing is one of the final hurdles before the bankruptcy settlement can proceed. Purdue said it remains on track to emerge from bankruptcy on May 1, ceasing its previous operations and emerging ‌as a new nonprofit company that will make opioid addiction treatment and overdose reversal medicines.

As part of the plea agreement, Purdue admitted to paying kickbacks to doctors to fuel OxyContin sales and to deceiving federal regulators about its efforts to prevent illegal drug use. No company executive or owner was charged as part of the latest criminal case.

The company previously pleaded ‌guilty to misbranding and fraud charges related to its marketing of OxyContin in 2007, admitting it falsely marketed OxyContin as less addictive, less subject to abuse, and less likely to cause withdrawal symptoms than rival pain medications.

(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Lincoln Feast.)

byAlpha World

in

April 28, 2026

Purdue Pharma to be sentenced, paving way for opioid settlement

By Dietrich Knauth NEW YORK, April 28 (Reuters) - Purdue Pharma will be sentenced on Tuesday in New Jersey federal court for dece...

Vance and Trump allies invoke ‘just war theory’ to legitimize Iran action. Experts say it ‘fails every single criteria’

Top Republicans have invoked a centuries-old moral doctrine to defend theongoing war against Iran.

Last week, Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson — first and second in the presidential line of succession —explicitly cited “just war” theorywhile speaking about the Middle East conflict.

They wielded the theory as a cudgel to castigate Pope Leo, whose staunch opposition to the weekslong war has ignited a high-profileclash between the Vatican and the White House.

But, the Republican leaders’ application of the doctrine — which dates back over a thousand years — is fundamentally flawed, according to experts in theology, philosophy and military strategy.

“You can apply the Just War principles to this conflict — and the current U.S. operation fails against every single criteria,” David Whetham, a professor of ethics and the military profession at King’s College London, toldThe Independent.

Both JD Vance and Mike Johnson have invoked just war theory — a centuries-old moral doctrine — to legitimize the Iran war. But experts say it 'fails against every single criteria' (Getty Images)

‘Americans who liberated Holocaust camps’

During aTurning Point USA eventin Georgia last Tuesday, Vance took issue with the pope’s sweeping denunciation of armed conflict.

On April 10, Leo, the first U.S.-born pontiff, wrote on X: “God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”

Vance, a former atheist who converted to Catholicism in 2019, questioned how theBishop of Romecould take such a stance and urged him to “be careful” when opining on theological matters.

“There is more than a thousand-year tradition of just war theory,” the vice president said. “Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated France from the Nazis? Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated Holocaust camps?”

The next day, Johnson became the second GOP leader to cite the longstanding doctrine.

“I was taken a little bit aback just honestly, frankly, by something that was said. I think [the pope] said several days back that something about those who engage in war — you know that Jesus doesn’t hear their prayers or something,” Johnson, a Southern Baptist, told reporters.

“It is a very well settled matter of Christian theology,” he added. “There’s something called the just war doctrine. There’s a time to every purpose under heaven.”

Saint Augustine, also known as Augustine of Hippo, who lived during the 4th Century AD, became one of the first advocates of just war theory (Getty Images)

What is just war theory?

Just war theory is a framework of military ethics rooted in ancient civilizations — such as Egypt, Greece, and Rome — that has been refined over millennia by religious figures and scholars.

Though not enshrined in law, it is routinely invoked by Christian leaders and has deeply shaped wartime regulations, from the Geneva Conventions to U.S. military handbooks.

“It is not easy to state what the theory states ‘exactly,’ since it has evolved,” Lisa Sowle Cahill, a theology professor at Boston College, toldThe Independent. “Its two most influential expressions in the Christian tradition are Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.”

Certain foundational tenets, though, are widely accepted, such as jus ad bellum, which outlines conditions for initiating war. These include: a just cause, adherence to the last resort principle, a high probability of success and authorization by a competent authority.

Once conflict begins, jus in bello — or just conduct in war — governs combatants' actions, emphasizing distinction between fighters and civilians, proportionality and military necessity.

Does the Iran war pass the test?

Of the four experts who spoke withThe Independent, all said that the Iran war fails to meet the criteria laid out by just war theory. The most cut-and-dry violation, they argued, was the absence of a well-defined just reason for initiating the conflict.

“No clear set of causes has been enunciated by the U.S. president and none of the array stated at different times justify the U.S./Israeli unprovoked attack,” Walter Dorn, a professor of Defense Studies at the Royal Military College of Canada, toldThe Independent.

Since the war began in late February, senior Trump officials have invoked a range of justifications, including that Iran posed an imminent threat to the U.S., a desire to enact regime change and a willingness to follow Israel’s lead.

The Iran war, which erupted in late February, has resulted in the deaths of thousands of people in the Middle East, including 13 US service members (AFP via Getty Images)

“Maybe the main argument, at this point, is about preventing nuclear weapons. On my reading of the just war tradition, however, ‘preventive wars’ are not justifiable,” Andrew Fiala, a philosophy professor at Fresno State University, toldThe Independent.

And claiming that Iran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon “requires a lot of evidence before it could be regarded as credible,” Whetham said.

Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, told Congress last month that “Iran’s nuclear enrichment program was obliterated” following U.S. strikes last year, appearing to contradict Trump’s earlier claim that Tehran was two weeks away from manufacturing a nuclear bomb. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, also said on March 3 that the watchdog group had "no evidence of Iran building a nuclear bomb.”

Other experts contended the war breached the last resort principle — citing previous indirect U.S.-Iran negotiations — and the competent authority requirement, as Congress had not authorized it.

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly responded: “President Trump initiated Operation Epic Fury to eliminate short- and long-term threats posed by the Iranian regime. Those efforts were overwhelmingly successful – Iran’s ballistic missiles are destroyed, their production facilities are demolished, their navy is sunk, and their proxies are weakened. There is nothing more just than protecting the safety and security of the American people and our troops abroad.”

The Independenthas contacted Johnson’s office for comment.

In recent weeks, thousands of Marines and sailors have been deployed to the Middle East aboard Navy ships, some of which are enforcing a US blockade in the Strait of Hormuz (US Centcom)

Beyond the war's origins, U.S. operations in Iran also violate just war theory's core principles of wartime conduct. Experts specifically cited breaches of proportionality and the distinction between combatants and civilians.

“Massive bombing has killed a disproportionate number of civilians and destroyed civilian infrastructure,” Cahill said.

HRANA, a U.S.-based human rights organization, reported in March that the Iran war has claimed 3,636 lives since it began, including 1,701 civilians. The same month, a preliminary investigation by the Pentagon showed the U.S. was at fault for a deadly strike on an Iranian elementary school, according toThe New York Times.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on March 10 that the U.S. has takenextensive measuresto avoid civilian casualties.

Dorn also highlighted Trump’s April 8 Truth Social post, in which he wrote: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” — along with his prior threats to destroy Iranian bridges and power plants if leaders rejected his demands.

“Trump's threat to end civilization is one of the most blatant violations of proportionality in the history of modern warfare,” Dorn said.

The Republican president defended his apocalyptic rhetoric by claiming it brought Iran to the negotiating table. Currently, a ceasefire is in place while peace talks continue.

What about past conflicts?

Putting Iran aside, numerous recent conflicts have repeatedly failed to satisfy the principles of just war theory, experts said.

“Contemporary wars rarely live up to the standards,” Fiala said. He did, however, cite the First Gulf War as potentially qualifying, given Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the coalition's success in expelling Iraq’s forces.

“World War 2 is a well-known case. But it was also mixed,” he said. “No doubt the Germans and Japanese were aggressive — so defensive war could be justified. But allied forces bombed cities including firebombing and atomic bombing. Those tactics would seem to violate restrictions known asjus in bello(since the deliberately targeted non-combatants).”

Popular imagination oversimplifies the intricate realities of the war, he added.

“It’s hard for a war to satisfy the criteria — as it should be,” Whetham said. “They are terrible things and should always be an exception.”

byAlpha World

in

April 28, 2026

Vance and Trump allies invoke ‘just war theory’ to legitimize Iran action. Experts say it ‘fails every single criteria’

Top Republicans have invoked a centuries-old moral doctrine to defend theongoing war against Iran. Last week, Vice President JD Va...

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma's criminal sentence could be the last step before company dissolves

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma could be dissolved and replaced by a company focused on the public good by the end of the week, as a massive legal settlement resolving thousands of lawsuits is set to take effect.

People rally outside a courthouse while a hearing for Purdue Pharma takes place inside in Newark, N.J., Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Tanny Austin cries while looking at tombstones with the names of victims of the opioid crisis, including her son Sean Austin, during a rally outside of a courthouse in Newark, N.J., Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Opioid Crisis Purdue Pharma

A federal judge on Tuesday is expected to deliver a criminal sentence to the company to resolve a U.S. Department of Justice probe — a last necessary step to clear the way for the settlement.

But some people who have beenaddicted to opioidsor lost loved ones to the drugs are expected to try to persuade the judge to reject the negotiated sentence, arguing it doesn't provide them with real justice.

Here's a look at the situation.

The sentence would call for money, but no individual punishment

Purdue reached a deal with the Justice Department in 2020 toresolve criminal and civil probesthe company was facing.

The Stamford, Connecticut-based company admitted it did not have an effective program to keep its powerful prescription painkillers from being diverted to the black market, even though it told the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that it did.

It also admitted it paid doctors through a speakers program to prescribe the drugs and paid an electronic medical records company to send doctors information on patients that encouraged more opioid prescriptions.

Only the company was charged — not individuals.

The guilty plea and civil settlement with the federal government included $8.3 billion in forfeitures, fines and penalties. But the federal government agreed in a negotiated settlement to collect just $225 million in exchange for the company reaching a separate settlement of the thousands of lawsuits it faced from state, local and Native American tribal governments, along with other groups.

Afteryears of legal twists and turns— and $1 billion and counting in legal and professional fees for the parties — the broader sentence wasapprovedby a bankruptcy judge in November.

It can't take effect until the criminal sentence is given. U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo is scheduled to consider it Tuesday in a Newark, New Jersey, courtroom.

The judge delayed the hearing to ensure victims had a voice

Arleo had previously scheduled the sentencing to be by video conference only last week.

Some victims of the opioid crisis, which has been linked to more than 900,000 deaths in the U.S. since 1999, were scheduled to give impact statements.

The judgedelayed the hearingafter a group of a few dozen people — some of whom have been addicted to opioids and others who lost loved ones — protested outside the courthouse. She said she wanted to give them a voice and that she would delay the sentencing by a week — and give people the option of attending in person.

More than 54,000 people with personal injury claims voted to accept the lawsuits settlement; around 200 said no.

The opponents have been vocal and persistent.

Michele Wagner, whose son died of an overdose, said outside the courthouse last week that she wanted to see members of the Sackler family who own Purdue criminally charged. “Justice to me looks like more than just money,” she said.

Kara Trainor, who is in recovery from an addiction that began with an OxyContin prescription in 2002 and served on a committee involved in the settlement talks, wants the sentence approved because she believes that it can lead to closure.

“For me to be the best version of myself in my own recovery, I had to start healing and gravitate away from the anger I felt,” she said. “The anger itself was poisonous to me. It was destroying my mental health.”

Sackler family members to pay up to $7 billion

Purdue says that if the judge issues the criminal sentence Tuesday, the settlement could take effect as soon as Friday.

The settlement calls formembers of the Sackler familywho own the company to contribute up to $7 billion over 15 years. Most of the money is to go to government entities to use to fight the opioid crisis.

It’s among the largest in a series of settlements by drugmakers, wholesalers and pharmacies in recent years — and the only major one that includes payments for some individual victims or their survivors.

Payments to individual victims are expected to range from about $8,000 to about $16,000.

Overall, the settlements are worth more than $50 billion, and most of the money is to be used toaddress the overdose epidemic.

Under the Purdue deal, members of the Sackler family would be shielded from lawsuits over opioids from those who agree to the payments. Family members received payments from the company totaling about $10.7 billion from 2008 through 2018, but said nearly half that amount was used to pay taxes on behalf of the business.

As part of the settlement, Purdue itself would cease to exist and be replaced by a new company, Knoa Pharma, with a board appointed by the states and an aim of combating the opioid crisis. Millions of internal Purdue documents are to be made public.

Members of the Sackler family also have agreed not to object if their names aretaken off museumsand other institutions they've supported.

Associated Press video journalist Emily Wang contributed to this article.

byAlpha World

in

April 28, 2026

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma's criminal sentence could be the last step before company dissolves

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma could be dissolved and replaced by a company focused on the public good by the end of the week, as a mass...

Did Cassie and Nate Get Married on ‘Euphoria’? Wedding Episode Explained After Onscreen Drama

Euphoriahas been building up to Cassie and Nate's chaotic wedding — but did they actually get married?

Did Euphoria's Cassie, Nate Get Married? Wedding Episode Explained

The Sunday, April 26, episode of the hit HBO series showed Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) and Nate's (Jacob Elordi) big day. While the guests were curious about the event, Nate was busy throwing up and Cassiewas nearly pushedto the brink with pressure and stress.

Despite delivering their vows without a hitch, things took a turn when a man Nate owed money to approached him during dinner. Some people overheard that Nate was very in debut, which Cassie was learning about for the first time. They managed to mend their issues — after Cassie "accidentally" injured Nate in the eye with a cork from a champagne bottle — but they arrived home to the same man, Naz, waiting to threaten Nate.

Natedidn't just receivea warning this time. He got beat up before his pinky was cut off — as Cassie had to watch. This was a disastrous start to the rest of their lives, which made sense considering the origin of their love story.

Everything the ‘Euphoria’ Cast Has Said About the Show’s Onscreen Nudity: ‘It’s Always Weird’

Before the wedding episode, Cassie'sstory line received backlashdue to her OnlyFans arc. CreatorSam Levinson, meanwhile, hit back at the ongoing criticism.

“[Cassie] has got her dog house and her little dog ears and the nose, and that has its own humor,” Levinson explained toThe Hollywood Reporterin an interview published earlier this month. “But what makes the scene is the fact that her housekeeper is the one filming it.”

He continued: “What we wanted to always find is the other layer of absurdity that we’re able to tie into it so that we’re not too inside of her fantasy or illusion. The gag is to jump out, to break the wall.”

‘Euphoria’ Cast: See the HBO Show’s Stars Then and Now

Levinson also weighed in on how the serieshad to adapt for season 3.

“We have a motto of: Evolve or die,” he told THR. “We wanted to make sure we were changing things up.”

He added: “We’re seeing them out in the world, in the wider world, and allowing the actors to communicate emotionally through the performance as opposed to in the past, when we did it moreso through camera. We wanted to see them fending for themselves.”

Euphoriaairs on HBO Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.

byAlpha World

in

April 28, 2026

Did Cassie and Nate Get Married on ‘Euphoria’? Wedding Episode Explained After Onscreen Drama

Euphoriahas been building up to Cassie and Nate's chaotic wedding — but did they actually get married? The Sunday, April 26, ...

Anne Hathaway gets exorcised in 'Mother Mary.' What does it all mean?

Spoiler alert! We're discussing major details about the ending of “Mother Mary” (in theaters now). Stop reading if you haven't seen it yet and don't want to know.

Nothing mends a friendship quite like an exorcism.

In “Mother Mary,”Anne Hathawayplays a pop superstar who, after a near-fatal stage fall, is desperate to reconnect with her old self. She despondently shows up at the front door of her estranged pal, a fashion designer named Sam (Michaela Coel), and pleads for her to make a new dress for her next concert.

Through an evening of winding conversation, they discover that they’ve been haunted by the same ghost – a rippling, smoke-like spirit known as the Red Woman, which is the physical manifestation of the years-long rift between them. And so, they realize that the only way forward is by cutting each other open and letting it out.

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In "Mother Mary," Anne Hathaway plays a pop supernova on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

The metaphorical drama ends with a surreal sequence of the women pricking their fingers, before Mary plunges a pair of scissors into her own chest. As they both bleed out, Sam pulls the crimson ghost from Mary’s body and uses it as fabric for her gown. Mary, meanwhile, walks away with visible scars, although the real healing was all internal.

“It’s a movie that people instantly realize takes a bit of time to process, whether they love it right out of the gate or they aren’t quite sure what to make of it,” filmmaker David Lowery ("The Green Knight") says with a grin. “There’s no way to talk casually about it.”

What is the meaning of the Red Woman?

“Mother Mary” is, at its core, about the breakup of a friendship, although the intensity of their reunion suggests something even more intimate. While it’s not a full-on horror movie, Lowery wanted to use the language of the genre to express how it feels to be hurt by somebody you love. Even when Sam and Mary are no longer speaking, they are still tethered together by deep resentment and pain.

Mary and Sam were once-inseparable creative partners. But as Mary’s fame ballooned, she cast Sam aside and surrounded herself with the trendiest designers and collaborators. Devastated, Sam vowed to never listen to Mary’s music or think about her again.

“When someone else gives you their negative energy, it can really become a burden,” Lowery says. “One of the worst things you can do to somebody you care about is to transfer whatever negative energy you have onto their shoulders. I wanted to find a way to visually represent that. As such, turning that negative energy into a ghost made the most sense.”

Sam (Michaela Coel) casts out of the Red Woman, only for the phantom to hunt down and prey upon Mary.

In the script, the Red Woman was described as “vaguely humanoid,” almost like a scarlet mannequin sprung to life. But that ultimately felt too literal, and so, Lowery came up with something a bit more fluid through various sketches and clay models.

“One of the key reference points that I found wasthe T-1000 falling into the pit of molten lavaat the end of ‘Terminator 2,’ where it's just wildly cycling through all of the different versions of itself,” Lowery says. “It’s sad and beautiful, and made a huge impression on me. I never thought I’d have a ‘Terminator 2’ reference in this, but that’s the way my brain works.”

To create the billowing Red Woman puppet, Lowery worked with artist Daniel Wurtzel and costume designer Annell Brodeur, who helped configurethe spectral sheet that Casey Affleck wore in Lowery’s 2017 drama “A Ghost Story.”

“It wasn’t intentional, but I’ve definitely found myself in a very narrow niche of making ghosts out of fabric,” Lowery jokes. Making this movie, “we spent five days filming fabric blowing in the wind. It was like we were all cast into a trance, just watching this piece of fabric suddenly become something supernatural.”

How did Taylor Swift, Lorde inspire Anne Hathaway's new movie?

“Mother Mary” features original songs produced and co-written by Jack Antonoff, Charli XCX and FKA twigs, who also plays a medium in the film. The character's music has the religious iconography of Madonna mixed with the anthemic lilt of Taylor Swift earworms. (Hathaway and Lowery attended Swift's Eras tour, which partly inspired Mary's big-budget stage shows.) But Lowery was also inspired by one of his favorite artists, Lorde.

“Lorde’s ‘Melodrama’ albumis one of those rare instances where I feel as if someone has tapped into my own feelings,” Lowery says. “It was very important that these songs, while incredibly catchy and fun, are also coming from an emotional core that’s undeniable.”

In the writing process, Lowery mapped out an entire fictional discography for Mother Mary spanning nearly 15 years, with tours accompanying each release. (“She’s definitely got a No. 1 hit,” he says.) Hathaway went even further, outlining everything from Mary’s childhood to what church she might’ve attended.

“Anne created a very rich backstory that would have been worthy of its own movie,” Lowery says.

How does 'Mother Mary' end?

Anne Hathaway has another big-screen musical performance on the way in her new film "Mother Mary." See all the stars at the New York City screening on April 13, 2026.