By Scottie Andrew, CNN

(CNN) — Almost every episode of the award-winning medical drama “The Pitt” goes like this: Intrepid emergency room doctors treat patients, banter and reveal pieces of their personal histories. With the story moving more or less in real time — 15 hour-long episodes for a single 15-hour shift — patients with gory injuries and tragic stories come and go more quickly than the health care workers can process. Mild cliffhanger. Repeat next week.

It’s about as straightforward as it gets, short of crime procedurals that introduce and resolve an entire case within one episode. “The Pitt” is old-fashioned, top-down television that doesn’t ask viewers to look for clues to solve season-long puzzles.

Yet in the absence of dramatic mystery or subtext, a small but vocal segment of its viewers has become notorious for seeking extra meaning — and, more importantly, conflict — in material outside the frame: casting decisions, interview responses, Instagram posts. And they’ve found a target for their complaints in the show’s foundational star, executive producer, sometime-writer and director Noah Wyle, whose grizzled attending physician Dr. Robby has spent much of this season spiraling deeper into a suicidal depression and lashing out at the women on his staff.

Onscreen, Robby is hardening into an antihero. Offscreen, some fans accuse Wyle of explaining away or downplaying his fictional character’s cruelty, and of a constellation of other sins, including envy of his fellow actors’ credentials.

The controversies and extrapolations are enough to make some viewers question whether they’re watching the same show. This has produced, in turn, scandal about the scandals: for every fan who’s decided Dr. Robby is a supervillain, there seem to be two other fans eager to denounce that fan for lacking the skills to comprehend a television program. (“The Pitt” streams on HBO Max, which shares parent company Warner Bros. Discovery with CNN.)

“Do I think ‘The Pitt’ is structurally designed to be consumed like ‘Lost’ or ‘Westworld’ or other ‘puzzle box’ shows? No,” said Suzanne Scott, associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin who studies fan culture. “Do many fans find it pleasurable to approach any text in this way and engage in collective interpretative practices with other fans? Yes.”

Many fans of “The Pitt” engage with the series on its own terms, as a grounded medical drama in the vein of early “ER,” with fatigued doctors as skilled with a quip as they are with a scalpel. For viewers who want broader themes, the patients arrive bearing storylines that showcase contemporary social issues — the burden of health care costs among the uninsured, the emergency department’s role as primary care for homeless people — but “The Pitt” presents these issues without much room for interpretation. A character like Orlando, a diabetic patient who works multiple jobs and can’t afford to remain in the hospital to recover from a medical emergency, is a tragic figure failed by the American health care system.

This season’s most watercooler-friendly scripted storyline so far came when two ICE agents arrived with a woman who was injured while being detained. Those agents later arrested a white nurse who got into a confrontation with them while trying to care for the detainee. But fans were more intent on litigating the news that Supriya Ganesh, who plays the careful and caring Dr. Mohan, won’t be returning Read more

Por Abeer Salman y Jeremy Diamond, CNN

Estados Unidos y Hamas mantuvieron sus primeras conversaciones directas desde el alto el fuego en Gaza como parte de los esfuerzos para avanzar el frágil acuerdo mediado por EE.UU., dijeron dos fuentes de Hamas.

Una delegación encabezada por el asesor principal de Estados Unidos, Aryeh Lightstone, se reunió con el jefe negociador de Hamas, Khalil al-Hayya, en El Cairo la noche del martes, según las fuentes. Lightstone estuvo acompañado por Nickolay Mladenov, el alto representante para Gaza de la Junta de Paz respaldada por EE.UU., dijeron funcionarios. CNN se ha puesto en contacto con el Departamento de Estado para solicitar comentarios.

Al-Hayya, quien sobrevivió a un intento de homicidio israelí en la capital qatarí, Doha, el pasado septiembre, presionó a Lightstone sobre la necesidad de que Israel implemente plenamente sus compromisos con la primera fase del acuerdo —incluidos el fin de los ataques y la entrada de más ayuda humanitaria— para poder pasar a la siguiente fase, dijeron las fuentes.

La tregua, mediada en octubre, puso fin a dos años de guerra en Gaza, aunque no logró responder preguntas sustantivas sobre el futuro del territorio devastado, incluido el papel de Hamas en cualquier futuro rol de seguridad o de gobierno. Hamas ha reafirmado su control sobre la parte de Gaza no ocupada por Israel y las fuerzas israelíes han continuado llevando a cabo ataques frecuentes en el territorio.

La reunión del martes se produjo días después de que Lightstone se reuniera con el primer ministro de Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, para asegurar el compromiso de Israel de implementar plenamente sus requisitos en virtud de la primera fase del alto el fuego, afirmó una fuente estadounidense y un diplomático familiarizado con la reunión. Una fuente dijo que Israel aceptó implementar esos requisitos si Hamas se comprometía al desarme.

Las reuniones entre Hamas, representantes de la Junta de Paz y mediadores internacionales han tenido como objetivo alcanzar un acuerdo sobre la siguiente fase del acuerdo de alto el fuego: el desarme de Hamas, el despliegue de una fuerza internacional en Gaza y la retirada de las fuerzas israelíes del territorio devastado.

Sin embargo, múltiples fuentes dijeron que esas conversaciones se estancaron repetidamente por las exigencias de que Hamas acepte desarmarse antes de que Israel haya cumplido sus compromisos de la primera fase. Hamas y múltiples organizaciones internacionales que operan en Gaza han dicho que Israel no está cumpliendo su parte del acuerdo, algo que Israel ha negado mientras acusa a Hamas de sus propias violaciones.

Los ataques israelíes han matado a más de 765 personas en Gaza desde que el alto el fuego entró en vigor en octubre, de acuerdo con el Ministerio de Salud palestino.

Una fuente senior de Hamas dijo que el grupo militante considera la propuesta desequilibrada y que “reduce todo el proceso a una sola cláusula —el desarme— mientras que otras obligaciones de la primera fase se posponen o se marginan”.

“El documento propuesto refleja un gran desequilibrio en el orden de las prioridades: primero la seguridad de Israel, mientras que los derechos humanitarios, políticos y administrativos de los palestinos se posponen”, aseguró la fuente.

La fuente dijo que Mladenov se ha dedicado a transmitir las exigencias de Israel y advertir que Israel volverá a la guerra si Hamas no acepta desarmarse.

“Incluso llegó al punto de que Mladenov transmitió amenazas veladas: acepten el documento o enfréntense a un regreso a la guerra”, afirmó la fuente.

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By Sylvie Zhuang, CNN

Hong Kong (CNN) — As US and Israeli bombardments rained down on Iran, damaging some cherished cultural sites, scores of Persian artifacts were safe and sound, 5,000 kilometers away in northern China, under the watchful eye of Dong Bibing.

The museum curator is managing an exhibition of more than 150 Iranian antiques, from floral-patterned glassware to vivid, intricately designed carpets.

Since war broke out in late February, the show in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia province, had grown increasingly popular, as interest surges among Chinese people in a nearby nation and culture that rivals their own in its depth and ancientness.

Originally scheduled to end in March, it was extended into April and just wrapped up on Monday. The exhibits will soon go on display in another city, yet to be decided – a fifth stop on a nationwide tour.

Dong said he felt “very heartbroken” when he read about Iranian historical landmarks, including Tehran’s Golestan Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, being damaged by war.

“But now, right before my eyes, there is a collection of truly outstanding Iranian artifacts.”

Many visitors shared their experience of admiring those artifacts, encouraging others to visit as soon as possible.

Dong told CNN: “The war has led me to feel this urge – this protective instinct – to safeguard them and preserve them as best as I can.”

While both are currently ruled by revolutionary governments established within living memory, Iran and China both have roots going back millennia. Each traces its modern-day lineage back to an ancient civilization – something their people and governments are fiercely proud of.

The ancient city of Persepolis encapsulates advances in architecture, urban planning, construction and art under the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BC) that preceded modern Iran, according to UNESCO, and “ranks among the archaeological sites which have no equivalent and which bear unique witness to a most ancient civilization.”

More than 130 Iranian landmarks have been destroyed or damaged during the six-week bombing campaign by the US and Iran, according to the cultural heritage ministry. UNESCO has voiced its concern about damage to cultural sites in Iran and Lebanon.

The US and Israel both say they do not deliberately target cultural or historical sites. President Donald Trump has previously threatened to destroy Iran’s “whole civilization” if it does not cave to his demands.

Surging book sales

While the Chinese government has played a delicate diplomatic hand over the conflict between its biggest global rival and its closest friend in the Middle East, its people have displayed a wave of curiosity and admiration toward Iran.

Leading booksellers in Beijing confirmed the surging interest.

“Books on Iran used to get no buyers, but demand has picked up recently,” said a worker at Page One bookstore in Beijing, who asked not to be named.

Across Chinese university campuses, students are also checking out books on Iran to learn why the US wanted to go to war with a country that to them seems distant and mysterious.

“More students have come to check out books on Iran since l

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) - Sheriff Bill Brown spoke at the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisor’s second day of budget workshops on Wednesday.

He says the department is facing a $5 million deficit out of the county’s overall $70 million shortfall.

The department’s presentation showed the deficit will lead to the loss of 30 positions, 12 of them licensed officers of law enforcement, among several other civilian positions.

He predicts the effects of these losses will include delayed response times and an overall decrease in public safety.

To combat these losses as well as its continued overtime challenges, the department is considering other restructuring efforts including the relocation of certain offices like administration and computer systems.

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