By Francesca Perry

Milan (CNN) — Held every springtime, Milan Design Week is the biggest moment of the year for the world of design – from the makers to the admirers of furniture and interior decor. Creatives converge from all over the globe, new designs are showcased, and trends are set for the forthcoming year. The Italian city, already a thriving metropolis of business and fashion becomes charged with a frenetic energy created by hundreds of exhibitions and happenings.

While Milan Design Week evolved from the Salone del Mobile furniture fair, launched in 1961 and still going strong, much of the most exciting design these days is found well beyond those trade halls. From the historic palazzi and stylish showrooms, to the villas, apartments, unexpected industrial hangars and abandoned buildings that open their doors; this is where thrilling gems can be discovered.

The emerging designers and cutting-edge brands are often more experimental than the long-running commercial producers – so it is the former that visitors look to for inspiration and a taste of what’s to come.

Here, then, are eight of the most surprising and enchanting objects from this year’s showcase that might just inspire your own home design.

A thorny vase (to go with your spiky chair)

One trend taking over the design world right now is spikes. Spiky furniture and home accessories introduce a punk sensibility into the home, and boldly eschew the assumption of comfort. Gast Studio’s Stem Vase, on show at group exhibition Deoron, features glossy oversized thorn shapes that give the object both a hostile presence and a pleasingly jagged profile, like a rose stem on steroids. Produced in 3D-printed resin and available in black or chrome, it’s certainly a statement for the dining table. Speaking of spikes, over at the megalith design exhibition Alcova, CJ Aslan – founder of fashion brand ASLAN WORLD – presents a chair and ottoman covered in a sea of sharp stainless steel ones, interspersed playfully with gemstones.

The sci-fi bed

The work of Astronauts, the Athens-based design studio of Danae Dasyra and Joe Bradford, has a kind of sci-fi, sculptural playfulness that perfectly aligns with the Gen Z fetishization of punky, Y2K style. The duo specializes in hydroforming, an industrial process where hydraulic fluid is used to shape ductile metals into new forms, which it applies to furniture and decor. Agnes, the studio’s new bed design, was presented as part of the “La Casa Magica” (“The Magic House”) exhibition at Milan’s Nilufar Gallery, and proposes a whole new meaning to adventurous bedrooms. Comprising irregular, curling and warped forms, the bed is crafted from stainless steel, powder coated in pink and black shades, with its design reportedly informed by female eroticism and intuition. Just beware the sharp edges.

The chair within a chair

Oh, to be held like a chair. This delightfully confusing creation from Slovenian designer Lara Bohinc features a shiny aluminum chair physically held within the arms of a reclining mahogany copy of the chair below. A skewed assemblage of interlocking shiny, bulbous forms, it’s almost as if a (sophisticated and design-conscious) clown has produced a balloon animal gone wrong. That sense of the zoomorphic is no accident, with Bohinc’s chair discovered as part of the “House of Creatures” show, presented by the Centre for Creativity in Slovenia at Alcova. A statement furniture piece to lounge on, to admire as an artwork, or to introduce what Bohinc describes as a “subtle misbehavior” into the home.

The provocative table

Interior decor has gone kinky. Emerging design studio Atelier Fomenta, based in Montreal, turned to black rubber to create its latest series of tables. “Rubber as a material carries many layers of connotation,” said Julia Arvelo, co-founder along with Flo

CNN, WAFB

By Cindy Von Quednow, Ashley Killough, Isabel Rosales, CNN

(CNN) — One person was killed and at least five others were injured after an apparent argument led to a shooting at the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge on Thursday, police said. Five people are in custody.

“Two groups of people got into an argument inside the food court and started shooting at each other,” said Baton Rouge Police Chief Thomas Morse Jr, citing surveillance footage. “Unfortunately, there were some innocent people that were in the area that might have also caught some rounds.”

The gunfire erupted just before 1:30 p.m. and sent frightened shoppers running and ducking for cover in stores and dressing rooms at Louisiana’s largest mall, as people warned others to “take cover” and “get down,” witnesses say.

One of the victims is in critical condition, while four suffered minor injuries, officials said. Police initially said there were 10 people injured in the shooting and later revised the number.

It is unclear how many people opened fire. The chief said investigators are reviewing surveillance video and collecting evidence to determine how many weapons were involved.

“This is still an ongoing investigation, and we’re still looking for more people that may be involved,” the chief said.

No arrests have been made. Detectives are interviewing the five people in custody “to unravel their exact involvement in this,” he added.

The shooting does not appear to be a random act of violence, “but a very targeted kind of disagreement between two groups of people,” Morse said, adding there is no known threat to the public.

“As we start developing suspects, we’re going to run down every single lead that we can to get these people in custody,” the chief said.

The FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said they responded to the scene.

Some of those affected include students from Ascension Episcopal School, a pre-Kindergarten-12 school in Lafayette, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said in a post on X.

“We are heartbroken by the news that some of our students were injured in a serious off-campus incident,” the school said in a statement. “We ask our community to join us in holding our school in prayer during this incredibly difficult time.”

The shootout happened just days after another mass shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana.

“Sometimes the devil lives everywhere,” Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sid Edwards said. “This is one of those situations – no matter how many law enforcement you’ve got or social programs or whatever, if someone gets in their mind that they’re going to do something like this, they’re going to do it and sometimes all we can do is respond.”

Shoppers run as ‘extremely rapid firing’ is heard

Signi Dreyer, a carousel operator at the mall, was cleaning when she heard loud bangs and thought it was fireworks, she told Read more

By Annie Grayer, CNN

(CNN) — Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are scrambling to meet the moment as a wave of resignations and misconduct scandals rock Capitol Hill, sparking calls for accountability.

But even those with the best intentions are realizing that the road to reforming how Congress polices itself will be much longer and more complicated than many had hoped, frustrating those who want to see swift change. The stakes for members are high, as many fear the public’s dismal view of Congress will only worsen if there aren’t clear improvements.

Making changes to how the House Ethics Committee does its work is where most members want to start, but the panel, which leads investigations into lawmakers, is often viewed as something of a black box by nature of its work.

After sexual misconduct allegations against former Reps. Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales came to light through media reports and both members resigned before the panel could finish its own investigations, a number of lawmakers who do not serve on the panel believe it now has a lot to prove.

After the ethics committee spent years investigating Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, the Florida Democrat resigned this week just before the panel was set to meet to recommend punishment after finding her guilty of multiple ethics violations. Some members felt frustrated her resignation allowed her to evade an expected expulsion vote on the House floor, and feel that members should still be able to be held accountable by the chamber even if they move to resign.

“At a time when public confidence in Congress is at an all-time low, it is vitally important that the ethics committee investigates abuses of the public trust in a prompt, thorough and fair manner,” independent Rep. Kevin Kiley of California told CNN.

GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida has argued that the ethics committee moves too slowly and is not effective. “The bottom line is that a process that delays accountability to that extent does not deter misconduct, it enables it. Serious reform is long overdue,” the congresswoman wrote this week in a piece for The Spectator.

House Ethics Chairman Michael Guest defended the panel’s work in an interview with CNN, arguing that his committee is holding lawmakers accountable, but laid out three concrete changes he wants House Speaker Mike Johnson to make to speed up and simplify the process. All of the proposed changes would require bipartisan buy in to reform the House rules.

First up, Guest wants to add additional investigators to his committee so the panel can move faster and take on more work. He also wants to bring the Office of Congressional Conduct under his jurisdiction, which he argued would eliminate duplicative efforts.

Currently, a staffer complaint first goes to the Office of Congressional Conduct, an independent, non-partisan entity, and if that complaint involves a member, it will then be referred to the ethics panel, which then starts the investigative process over again. And Guest wants to consider expanding the committee’s jurisdiction so it can continue investigations after a member resigns or leaves Congress.

“I think we could simplify it. We could streamline the process and by streamlining the process, hopefully see that cases are moved through qui

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) -

CIF-SS Division 1 First Round: San Marcos 3, Los Alamitos 2: The Royals got wins from #1 team Cora Loomer/Evyn Miller 21-11, 21-4; #4 team Lila Westmacott/Isla McClintock 21-11, 21-10; and #5 Rio Chesluk/Malia Hetrick 25-23, 21-10. Royals are 24-2 on the season and will host #1 Mira Costa in a semifinal match on Wednesday, April 29 at 3 p.m.

CIF-SS Division 3 Second Round: #1 team Allie Ben-Yaacov/Char Welch win 22-20, 21-18; #2 team Ruby Dunlop/Gia Haas win 21-13, 21-18; #3 team Faith Harrison/Kyra Sample win 21-23, 21-19, 15-8; #5 team Athena Bardakos/Moana Martinez 21-9, 21-13. Chargers host quarterfinals Tuesday, April 28 at 3 p.m. against Long Beach Poly.

CIF-SS Division 4 Second Round: Bishop Diego 3, Pacifica Christian 2: Cardinals #1 team of Sophie Otte/Wynter Thorne Thomsen won 21-13, 21-14. Cards other two wins came from Elle McMahon/Addie Barat and Natalie Chan/Olivia Leflang. Bishop Diego hosts Oak Park in a quarterfinal match on Tuesday, April 28 at 3 p.m. versus Oak Park.

The post CIF-SS Beach Volleyball playoffs: San Marcos, Dos Pueblos and Bishop Diego all win appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

By John Liu, CNN

Hong Kong (CNN) — China’s DeepSeek unveiled a preview version of its much-anticipated new model on Friday, promising to rival models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google a year after the then little-known start up took the global AI industry by storm.

The Hangzhou-based company highlighted major upgrades in the new model V4’s reasoning and agentic abilities that could act autonomously on one’s behalf, like writing code. It also boasted new capabilities that enhance the model’s efficiency in processing larger numbers of tokens, the fundamental units of information which AI models use to comprehend instructions.

DeepSeek became the poster child for China’s AI boom after its groundbreaking 2025 release of the R1 model that delivered near industry-leading performance – for allegedly a fraction of the price.

The breakout success tumbled American AI stocks, raising questions about the ever-larger investments into data center buildouts. At the same time, it bolstered confidence in Chinese technology and heated up the tech race with the US.

But analysts said the new model is unlikely to send markets into the kind of frenzy the previous one did.

“R1 shocked US markets because no one expected a Chinese model to compete at that level. V4 is simply a follow-through on that same trend, and trends don’t make headlines the way shocks do,” said Ivan Su, senior equity analyst at financial services firm MorningStar.

The stock market has already priced in the reality that Chinese AI, like DeepSeek, is competitive and cheaper to use than US alternatives, so market reaction this time will be limited, Su added.

Like DeepSeek’s earlier models, V4 is open source, meaning it is available for anyone to use, unlike most American models. The “open” strategy has been one key channel through which China aims to compete with the US, by rapidly scaling up adoptions and rolling out real-life applications in various sectors from e-commerce to robotics.

That strategy also reflects the relative smaller pockets of Chinese AI firms and constraints in accessing cutting-edge chips under Washington’s export controls.

To overcome those restrictions, Chinese developers have been forced to work with domestic chipmakers as the most advanced AI processors from Nvidia and AMD remain out of reach. To fulfill V4’s computing needs, DeepSeek partnered with Chinese tech giant Huawei, which said in a statement Friday that it supports the AI startup with its “Supernode” technology by combining large clusters of its “Ascend 950” chips to provide more computing power.

Wei Sun, principal analyst at market analysis firm Counterpoint Research, highlighted the fact that V4 is run on domestic chips from Huawei and Cambricon, another Chinese AI chipmaker, in comparison to R1, which was trained on Nvidia hardware.

“It allows AI systems to be built and deployed without relying solely on Nvidia, which is why V4 could ultimately have an even bigger impact than R1 — accelerating adoption domestically and contributing to faster global AI development overall,” he said.

While American proprietary models like Anthropic’s Claude, OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini remain at the top of the industry ladder for now, Chinese firms are undeniably dominating open systems.

DeepSeek, via a statement on Friday, claimed the V4 has the best agentic coding capability among open-source models and achieves “world class” reasoning capabilities.

The company, in a research paper, also said the V4 outperformed other open models when it comes to b