Author: business

Release date, time, cast, how to watch new series
Rich and privileged people struggling in life (re: “The White Lotus”) has become an audience-favorite genre, and Netflix’s India’s latest offering “The Royals” offers just that.
Featuring Ishaan Khatter of “The Perfect Couple,” who takes center-stage as the polo-playing, party prince of Morpur Aviraaj Singh and Bhumi Pednekar, as an uptight startup founder Sophia Shekhar, “The Royals” is described by Netflix as a “breezy rom-com served up with a side of dreamy palace life, under the blazing royal sun.”

As the two “reluctantly come together to save his royally dysfunctional family from financial ruin” and her “leading startup of luxury homestays in India from shark investment bankers,” sparks and insults fly between them, says Netflix about the series.

Khatter described “The Royals” as a “stacked show with dynamic characters, modern satire and heaps of drama – all with a classic rom-com at the center of it.”

The actor told USA TODAY the show, which “reveals a side of India that is largely untapped in film and culturally rich, all whilst being subversive and modern in its storytelling,” was specifically created for global audiences.

Pednekar, meanwhile, said the series is “a story about love, longing, and the complicated choices we make when our hearts and destinies collide.”

“While it’s set in an Indian milieu, its themes of identity, ambition, and romance are universally relatable,” Pednekar said. “I play a woman who redefines what it means to be strong in love — and that’s a journey that speaks to women everywhere, no matter where they’re from.”

“The Royals” creator and showrunner Rangita Pritish Nandy said the series, which marries Indian royalty with today’s contemporary times, “is not just a romantic comedy,” but a “rom-com set in a dysfunctional world of pretense where we often question who is powerful and who is a pretender.”

Watch “The Royals” for the “laughs, for the hidden corridors of Indian palace life, for the romance (and) for the characters,” Nandy said.

Here’s what to know about the “The Royals,” including the release date, cast and trailer.

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When does ‘The Royals’ come out?

“The Royals” will release on Friday, May at 3 a.m. ET / 12 a.m. PT on Netflix.

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How to watch ‘The Royals’

All eight episodes of “The Royals” will be available to stream on Netflix at 3 a.m. ET/12 a.m. PT on Thursday, April 24.

‘The Royals’ cast

Cast members for “The Royals” include:

Ishaan Khatter as Aviraj Singh

Bhumi Pednekar as Sophia Kanmani Shekhar

Zeenat Aman as Maji / Bhabisa

Jagdish Rajpurohit as Girdhari

Sakshi Tanwar as Padmaja

Kavya Trehan as Divyaranjini Singh

Vihaan Samat as Digvijay Singh

Nora Fatehi as Ayesha

Watch ‘The Royals’ trailer

Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.
May 8, 2025
Singer’s ex-girlfriend Cheryl named administrator

Seven months after the tragic death of One Direction star Liam Payne, the late singer’s multimillion-dollar estate is being finalized, according to reports.

Payne’s former girlfriend, British pop singer Cheryl, and attorney Richard Bray have been named the administrators of his estate, according to People magazine and Rolling Stone. The British pop star and former teen idol, who died at age 31 after falling off a hotel balcony, reportedly did not have a will.

Payne and Cheryl (born Cheryl Tweedy) dated from 2016-2018, and the former couple shared 8-year-old son Bear. Meanwhile, Bray is a British attorney who works for the entertainment law firm Bray & Krais. Bray has represented “many high-profile artists, performers, managers, record labels, publishers and senior executives” throughout his career, according to the Bray & Krais website.

USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for Payne, Cheryl and Bray for comment.

The gross, or total, value of Payne’s estate is approximately $38 million, People and Rolling Stone report, while the estate’s net value — the total after all charges have been deducted — is about $32 million.

Per the BBC, Cheryl and Bray will manage the estate’s money as administrators, but they “currently have limited authority and cannot distribute it.” The British outlet also noted that children of a deceased person in the U.K. typically inherit the estate if there is no living spouse or civil partner.

Payne died in October 2024 after the singer fell from his third-floor balcony of the Casa Sur hotel in Buenos Aires. Local police said Payne’s fall resulted in “extremely serious injuries,” and he was confirmed dead at the scene, according to The Associated Press.

In an emotional Instagram post at the time, Cheryl, 41, called Payne’s death an “earth-shattering event,” writing, “Liam was not only a pop star and celebrity, he was a son, a brother, an uncle, a dear friend and a father” to their son.

‘Lasting damage’: Liam Payne’s family speaks out on ‘media attention’ of death investigation

How did Liam Payne die?

The day after Payne’s death, the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office No. 16 in Argentina announced in a press release that Payne died from “polytrauma” and “internal and external hemorrhage.”

Prosecutors said that minutes before the death, hotel workers “called the 911 emergency line to ask for help for a guest who was under the influence of drugs and alcohol and who had destroyed some objects in the room.”

Toxicology testing later found Payne had traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his system in the 72 hours before his death.

Liam Payne dies: Former One Direction member was 31

A February 2025 report from Argentina’s Public Prosecutor’s Office revealed the singer’s blood alcohol level at the time of his death was 2.7 grams per liter, or 0.27% BAC, which is considered dangerously high. In the majority of the United States, the legal limit is 0.08%.

The singer also had cocaine metabolites, methylecgonine, benzoylecgonine, cocaethylene and sertraline, an antidepressant medication, in his system, according to the report.

Contributing: Taijuan Moorman, KiMi Robinson and Jay Stahl, USA TODAY

May 8, 2025
Sydney Sweeney photos: Look back at the 'Euphoria' star's best looksCelebrities

Sydney Sweeney photos: Look back at the ‘Euphoria’ star’s best looksCelebrities

May 8, 2025
Siggy Flicker appointed to Holocaust museum board by Donald Trump

Reality-television personality Siggy Flicker, whose stepson was arrested for his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, has been appointed by President Donald Trump to oversee the nation’s Holocaust memorial.

Flicker, who previously starred on Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of New Jersey,” was handpicked by President Trump alongside 11 other individuals to serve on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s board of trustees, the museum announced on May 5.

“President Trump… Thank you for the privilege (and) honor to represent and NEVER FORGET,” Flicker wrote in a May 5 Instagram post following the announcement.

Recognized as the official U.S. memorial to the Holocaust, the Washington, D.C., museum aims to combat antisemitism through a series of exhibitions, leadership training programs, educational outreach and Holocaust commemorations, according to its official website.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Council, which consists of 55 members appointed by the president, was established by Congress in 1980 to raise private funds for the museum, per the organization’s website. In addition to the presidential appointees, five members from both the Senate and House of Representatives as well as three ex-officio members from the Departments of Education, Interior, and State serve.

According to the museum, council members appointed by the president serve for a five-year term, with 11 members’ terms expiring each year.

Trump shared his satisfaction with the new council members in a May 6 post on Truth Social, writing, “They are all strong supporters of Israel, and will ensure we, NEVER FORGET. Congratulations to all!”

Flicker, 57, was born in Israel to Jewish parents. Her father, Mordecai Paldiel, escaped Nazi-occupied Belgium when he was 3 years old. The TV personality has been vocal in her support of Israel on social media.

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Siggy Flicker’s son arrested following Jan. 6 Capitol riots

Flicker’s stepson Tyler Campanella, whom she shares with husband Michael Campanella, was arrested in April 2024 on five misdemeanor charges in connection to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to NBC News and News12 Long Island.

In a now-deleted social media post, Flicker shared photos that appeared to be taken from inside the Capitol along with the caption, “I love patriots so much. Stay safe Tyler. We love you,” per NBC. Additionally, court documents stated Tyler’s phone was traced to the Capitol’s interior the day of the attack.

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According to Law & Crime, Tyler pleaded not guilty to charges of trespassing, disorderly conduct and demonstrating in a Capitol building. As of July 2024, the man remained released on his personal recognizance.

Flicker is an ardent supporter of President Trump. In December 2024, the “Real Housewives” alum shared a photo of herself and Trump posing at an event on Instagram. “Happy new year from the greatest president in the history of America,” she wrote.

May 8, 2025
Jennifer Aniston’s alleged stalker charged for crashing into her gate

After allegedly crashing a car into the front gate of Jennifer Aniston’s Los Angeles home and “repeatedly harassing” her for more than two years, a 48-year-old man is facing felony charges.

Jimmy Wayne Carwyle will be charged with one count each of felony stalking and felony vandalism, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman announced May 7. Carwyle, who hails from New Albany, Mississippi, is scheduled to be arraigned on the two charges on May 8.

The DA’s office will ask the judge to set his bail at $150,000.

The May 5 incident, which caused “substantial damage” to the “Friends” star’s home in Los Angeles’ affluent Bel Air neighborhood, was the culmination of years of sending Aniston “unwanted social media, voicemail, and email messages,” per the DA’s office. The harassment began in March 2023, prosecutors say.

USA TODAY has reached out to Aniston’s representatives for comment. A legal representative for Carwyle could not be reached.

LAPD previously told USA TODAY that a private security guard pulled Carwyle out of the car as it was stopped in Aniston’s driveway and held him until police arrived.

If convicted, Carwyle could be sentenced to up to three years in California state prison.

On May 5, at around 12:20 p.m., the alleged harassment culminated when he allegedly crashed his vehicle through her front gate, causing substantial damage, and stopped in her driveway. He was arrested by her security guard before law enforcement arrived.

If convicted as charged, Carwyle faces three years in state prison.

May 8, 2025
How to watch ‘Forever:’ Premiere date, time, cast, trailer
A Judy Blume classic has inspired a new and “epic love story.”
“Forever,” a reimagined version of the 1957 young adult novel, follows the story of two Black teens, Keisha and Justin, exploring and their identities through the awkward journey of being each other’s first.

The book, too, follows a young couple as they navigate relationships, sex and high school. Keisha and Justin’s love story, however, is set against the sun-drenched backdrop of 2018 Los Angeles.

“All the questions we have to sort through — the first time you have sex, your first kiss, the first time you say ‘I love you’ — it resonated then, and it resonates now,” executive producer and showrunner Mara Brock Akil told Netflix.

Blume, who was not completely confident the story would translate, gave Brock Akil her blessing after hearing her perspective.

“I’m thrilled that Mara has chosen to tell this story through her own lens,” Blume told Netflix. “It is gratifying to know that, 50 years after its release, the love story at the core of ‘Forever’ is still resonating with audiences.”

Here’s what to know about “Forever,” including the premiere date, cast and how to watch.

What is ‘Forever’ about?

“Forever” is an “epic love story of two Black teens exploring romance and their identities through the awkward journey of being each other’s firsts, set in Los Angeles, 2018,” according to the show’s official logline.

‘Forever’ cast

Though Keisha and Justin’s love story is front and center, viewers will also get to know those closest to the teens, including close friends and family.

The cast for “Forever” includes:

Lovie Simone as Keisha Clark

Michael Cooper Jr. as Justin Edwards

Ali Gallo as Keisha’s best friend Chloe

Niles Fitch as Justin’s best friend Darius

E’myri Crutchfield as Keisha’s rival Tammy

Karen Pittman as Justin’s mother Dawn

Wood Harris as Justin’s father Eric

Xosha Roquemore as Keisha’s mother Shelly

Marvin Lawrence Winans III as Justin’s younger brother Jason

Barry Shabaka Henley as Keisha’s grandfather George

Paigion Walker as Keisha’s older cousin Tiffany

How to watch ‘Forever’

“Forever” will premiere May 8 on Netflix.

Watch the ‘Forever’ trailer
May 8, 2025
The Manifesto House — 21 buildings that showed new ways to live

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Owen Hopkins’ book is chic and tactile and looks as if it were designed for coffee tables. It could be yet another objet for property enthusiasts to display, rather than anything meant to be read. But The Manifesto House is something else entirely. Despite the luxe-grade paper, extravagant photography and cover image of Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye in Poissy, as sleek and crisp as an ocean liner, Owens has written a radical book, an authoritative reflection on the private house as catalyst for progress and a meditation on the future of architecture. He questions whether the profession has a future at all.

The book is a directory of 21 canonical houses, which Hopkins chose because they “are not simply the reflection of prevailing ideas, methods or ideologies, but act as sites for innovation, for new ideas and new ways of doing things”. Each embodies a way of organising domestic life whose time had not yet come. Often they were built by architects for themselves, their families or for private clients willing to submit to uncompromising agendas.

The houses are organised into three categories. The first group romanticises the past as much as the future. Philip Webb’s Red House (1860), built in Kent for William Morris, and Robert Venturi’s Vanna Venturi House in Philadelphia (1964), built for Venturi’s mother, were a century apart. But both blend retro-nostalgic design with what were once progressive ideas.

Hopkins’ second group faces the world outside: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater in Pennsylvania (1938), with its concrete-tray balconies suspended over rocks and waterfalls, is an obvious example. But Sou Fujimoto’s House NA in Tokyo (2012) is less well known outside Asia. With hardly any walls, this radically transparent house is so dematerialised it is almost not there.

The third group faces the technological future. Introducing this category, Hopkins describes Richard and Su Rogers’s unrealised “Zip-Up House” (1967-69) as more like an “oversized appliance” than a home. (The architects’ 58-year-old sketch of an electric car with a charging cable plugged into its walls is a lovely, retro-futurist detail.) Artist Krista Kim’s Mars House (2020), an NFT that sold for the crypto equivalent of more than $500,000, does not exist in any physical sense. To Hopkins it represents conventional architecture’s fracturing and the possibility of something new.

Farnsworth House in Illinois, designed by Mies van der Rohe (1945-51) © Library of Congress

Stairs and textured wall at Fallingwater © Library of Congress

Many of the houses Hopkins has selected were built in the US in the 20th century: modernism’s “fervent belief in the future” lent itself to manifestos. But there are recent examples from Africa and Asia, too. The Senegalese practice Worofila’s Keru Mbuubenne, a house completed in 2021 employing small-scale building techniques at risk in Senegal’s 21st-century construction boom, is one of the most elegant examples.

Casually interested readers will enjoy the book. Manifesto houses are usually expensive and elitist, but that brings tension to Hopkins’ thesis. He is a progressive voice in contemporary architecture as director of the Farrell Centre for architecture at Newcastle University, which has hosted some of the best exhibitions on cities and the built environment in recent years. He is also part of the curatorial team representing the UK and Kenya at this year’s architecture biennale in Venice with an installation that confronts uncomfortable themes, including the UK’s relationship with its former colony.

In the book’s epilogue, Hopkins resolves this tension between elitism and progress by calling for a new, “post-architectural” age, driven by climate change and a push for a fairer world, which partly involves repurposing existing buildings rather than constantly building new ones. In any case, he argues that “most building projects today proceed without the involvement of an architect at all”, and that architects’ agency and influence have never been lower.

In doing so, he suggests that manifesto houses, with their constant search for newness and the elevation of architect to visionary, belong in the past. He may have written the first revolutionary coffee-table book — an explosive manifesto in disguise.

The Manifesto House: Buildings That Changed the Future of Architecture by Owen Hopkins, Yale £30/$40, 240 pages

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May 8, 2025
Velasco and Silva won’t return next season

A few detectives will be clocking out after the upcoming “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” season finale.

Octavio Pisano and Juliana Aidén Martinez will not return for Season 27, a person with knowledge of the situation who was unauthorized to speak publicly confirmed to USA TODAY on May 7. The Season 26 finale for “SVU” (Thursdays at 8 p.m. on NBC) is due May 15.

Deadline was first to report the news.

Pisano has been with the show since his 2021 debut as undercover officer Detective Joe Velasco. Martinez’s Det. Kate Silva was a new addition this season.

Silva’s on-screen debut in 2024 saw her befriending Velasco, and the two went on to join forces with Capt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) to address a hostage situation involving ADA Dominick “Sonny” Carisi (Peter Scanavino).

Martinez also appeared in the “Law & Order” crossover episode alongside Hargitay, Scanavino, Kevin Kane (Det. Terry Bruno), and Reinaldo Faberlle (Lt. Paul Gomez) in April.

In his four seasons, Velasco has busted sex-trafficking rings, helped victims of sex crimes and gotten to the bottom of a revenge-for-hire enterprise on the dark web.

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TV’s longest-running primetime drama, which began with “Law & Order’s” premiere in 1990, has not yet been officially renewed for a 27th season.

Even after more than two decades as Olivia Benson, Hargitay said at the franchise’s 25th anniversary celebration in 2024 that she was still “sort of madly in love with the experience of playing this character.”

“There’s such intimacy in this group of people that only builds over a long period of time,” she told USA TODAY. “Such mad respect, but also such love, and everyone has an incredible sense of humor, and there’s so much trust and freedom, that it’s a magnificent experience.”

May 8, 2025
Director Paul Haggis cleared in Italian rape case, lawyers reveal

MILAN — An Italian judge has dismissed a case against Oscar-winning screenwriter and director Paul Haggis for alleged rape, his lawyers said on May 7.

Haggis, 72, was detained in June 2022 and spent 14 days under house arrest after a British woman accused him of raping her over a two-day period in the southern Italian town of Ostuni in the Puglia region, where he was teaching at a film event.

The court judge in the nearby city of Brindisi ruled no sexual act took place without consent, Haggis’ lawyers said. Attorneys also shared that the filmmaker would hold a press conference on May 8 at their law firm’s offices in Bari, Puglia’s regional capital.

“For Mr. Haggis, it is the end of a nightmare that has unfairly shattered the career of a film genius and 2006 Oscar winner,” lawyers Michele Laforgia and Daniele Romeo said in a statement.

The lawyer of the woman who filed the complaint against the screenwriter was not immediately available for comment.

Haggis co-wrote and directed “Crash” a 2004 crime drama for which he won two Oscars, and also wrote “Million Dollar Baby,” a sports drama directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, which was released the same year.

‘She seemed conflicted in some way’: Paul Haggis testifies he never forced himself on publicist

In November 2022, a New York jury ordered Haggis to pay $10 million in damages for raping publicist Haleigh Breest in his Manhattan apartment nine years earlier. Haggis was ordered in March 2023 by New York Supreme Court Justice Sabrina Kraus to pay Breest an additional $2.8 million in attorneys fees and cost, bringing the total cost of damages to $12.8 million, according to New York Law Journal.

During the 2022 trial, Haggis described Breest as a “willing partner in their lone sexual interaction,” according to The Associated Press. Although the director maintained he had “no memory” of vaginally penetrating the woman, DNA evidence of seminal fluid found on Breest’s tights was shown to be a match.

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers free, confidential, 24/7 support to survivors and their loved ones in English and Spanish at: 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.

May 8, 2025
3 Doors Down singer reveals diagnosis

It’s not Brad Arnold’s time to throw in the towel.

The rock musician and 3 Doors Down lead vocalist, 46, opened up about his health struggles in a May 7 video shared on the band’s social media pages. Arnold revealed to fans he was diagnosed with advanced stage kidney cancer after a recent hospital visit.

“I’ve got some not-so-good news for you today,” Arnold said. “So, I’d been sick a couple of weeks ago and then went to the hospital and got checked out and had actually got the diagnosis that I had clear cell renal carcinoma that had metastasized into my lung. And it’s stage 4, and that’s not real good.”

According to the Cleveland Clinic, clear cell renal cell carcinoma is the most common form of kidney cancer. The disease occurs when the cells lining the small tubes that filter waste from the blood rapidly multiply, after which one or more tumors form. The cancer cells resemble clear bubbles when viewed through a microscope.

While there is no known cause for the cancer, per the Cleveland Clinic, factors such as tobacco use, obesity, high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease can increase a person’s risk. Treatments include surgery, ablative (injection-based) therapies, immunotherapy and targeted therapy.

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Arnold also shared that his health ordeal has forced 3 Doors Down to cancel its upcoming Summer of ’99 Tour. Despite the severe diagnosis, the singer shared an optimistic outlook on his recovery, citing his religious faith.

“You know what? We serve a mighty God, and he can overcome anything. So, I have no fear. I really, sincerely am not scared of it at all,” Arnold concluded.

“I’d love for you to lift me up in prayer every chance you get. And I think it’s time for me to maybe go listen to ‘It’s Not My Time’ a little bit. Thank you, guys, so much. God loves you. We love you. See ya.”

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Arnold has served as frontman for 3 Doors Down since the rock band’s 1996 formation. The group broke out in 2000 with the release of its debut album “The Better Life,” which featured the No. 1 post-grunge banger “Kryptonite.”

“It’s Not My Time,” taken from the band’s 2008 self-titled album, offers a sentiment of resilience amid adversity with the song’s emotional lyrics: “It’s not my time, I’m not going / There’s a fear in me, it’s not showing / This could be the end of me and everything I know / But it’s not my time.”

May 8, 2025