By Rebecca Cope, CNN

(CNN) — It has become a popular internet pastime for people to speculate about what work a female celebrity has had done. Wrinkle-free, taut and glowing visages are analyzed by experts and non-experts alike, often resulting in a diagnosis that includes a facelift, blepharoplasty, fillers, or Botox. Yet in recent months, it is not only famous women whose faces have been studied so intently – it’s the men too.

Case in point, the 51-year-old actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who made headlines at this year’s Academy Awards not for his work, but for his distinctly less-puffy complexion. “He picked the Gua Sha up,” wrote one fan on X. “Finally quit the sauce and discovered water. Also mustache is carrying 40% of this comeback,” said another, referring to DiCaprio’s new Tom Selleck-style mustache. Within hours, cosmetic surgeons were speculating over what he had or not had done, with the inevitable joke that the baseball cap and facemask he was recently seen wearing in public were to hide surgery.

While the reaction to DiCaprio’s “glow-up” has been largely positive, the response to fellow actor Jim Carrey’s changed appearance at the César Awards a few weeks prior was not so kind. The 64-year-old has made an entire career out of his rubbery facial expressions, so in fairness, it was shocking to see how immobile and tight his face now looks after several years out of the spotlight. Some online even started sharing conspiracy theories that Carrey had sent a body double to the ceremony instead of attending himself – a notion further fueled by celebrity impersonator and makeup artist Alexis Stone, who that week shared a photo of the actor on Instagram captioned: “Alexis Stone as Jim Carrey in Paris.” (Stone did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.)

They are hardly the first men in Hollywood to have been the focus of anti-aging cosmetic tweakment rumors. In January, Bradley Cooper denied he had undergone any plastic surgery on the SmartLess podcast, after people had approached him on the street asking what he’d had done. Meanwhile, Ryan Gosling was at the center of a photoshop hoax that professed to show that he’d had his cheeks filled – just months after he had been deemed “too old” by some online critics to play Ken in the Barbie movie. Elsewhere, Barry Keoghan’s seemingly plumper lips and cheeks have led many to speculate that he’s had filler. Speaking on the US broadcaster SiriusXM this week, Keoghan discussed how online abuse about his appearance was affecting his life, to the extent that he does “not want to go outside” anymore.

Some male celebrities have admitted to having “Brotox,” as the procedure, having become much more popular among men, is dubbed. Joe Jonas became the face of Xeomin, an FDA-approved cosmetic injectable viewed as an alternative to Botox, back in 2022, telling Allure at the time: “Looking your best comes from feeling your best. I make it a point to prioritize practices and routines that make me feel like the best version of myself.” Meanwhile, Robbie Williams, Gordon Ramsay, Gene Simmons, Tom Sandeval and Simon Cowell have all discuss

By Betsy Klein, CNN

(CNN) — When the historic East Wing of the White House was suddenly demolished last year to make way for President Donald Trump’s new ballroom construction, another piece of history was taken down with it.

The Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, dedicated in 1965 by first lady Lady Bird Johnson in honor of her predecessor’s stewardship of the White House, was dismantled — its iconic I.M. Pei-designed pergola put into storage; its trees sent to various nurseries for preservation.

Kennedy’s grandson would like a word with the president about that.

“President Trump has a deep obsession with my family — from the East Wing, to the Rose Garden, the Kennedy Garden, to the plane, the list goes on. But he is attacking all families each and every day with higher costs, careless war, and a deep corruption,” Jack Schlossberg told CNN.

Schlossberg, who is running for Congress as a Democrat, continued: “My grandmother believed in the people of this nation. Every single person. She wanted us to see gardens, and color, and the brightness of life. What we have now is darkness.”

More than six decades after Johnson commended the “unfailing taste of the gifted and gracious Jacqueline Kennedy,” plans for the landscaping around the new ballroom are coming into focus, unveiled in detail by landscape architect Rick Parisi during a presentation to the National Capital Planning Commission this month. And landscape architects and other historic preservation experts are taking issue with key aspects of the designs.

Ballroom-adjacent garden plans

According to the updated designs from the East Wing construction project, a new garden will sit atop the former site of the Kennedy Garden and expand south across the length of the sprawling new ballroom. It will feature a grand staircase, a round brick patio with “original Mount Vernon brick,” large granite paver pathways, and four topiary holly trees from the former garden. A fountain from the original garden will be relocated and incorporated into the space.

The South Lawn driveway, part of a historic design incorporating ellipses, will be reconfigured, its circular shape disturbed and pinched in on one side to make way for the 89,000-square-foot ballroom.

That part of the plan is also the subject of much controversy.

Parisi told the NCPC the “most striking” thing about the plan is the “opportunity to really expand on one of the most beautiful things” of the old garden with ornamental, symmetrical patterned plant beds and extensive annual and perennial plantings.

“The goal we do have is to kind of re-create some of the splendor that you had in that east garden.”

Yet the new plans offer little visual reference to the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden — a grassy lawn surrounded by hedges and seasonal florals where Barron Trump once played soccer; Commander Biden, the previous president’s German shepherd, went off-leash; and presidents and their families have sought respite and fresh air.

There are no plans to move the Kennedy Garden to another location on the White House grounds, a White House official said, though some of the trees and shrubbery will be replanted. The I.M. Pei pergola, the official added, “is being preserved and will try to be incorporated in the new landscape design,” though it has not been included in any

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El precio de la gasolina no bajará en el corto plazo. El plan republicano para acabar con el cierre del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional enfrenta obstáculos. ¿Cómo es el USS Nimitz, el longevo portaviones de EE.UU. enviado a América Latina? Esto es lo que debes saber para comenzar el día. Primero la verdad.

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El funcionario iraní señalado como un posible interlocutor con el Gobierno de Trump llegó a jactarse de haber golpeado personalmente a manifestantes cuando era un joven comandante policial en la República Islámica. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, actual presidente del Parlamento iraní, nunca ha ocultado su papel en la represión de protestas contra el sistema de gobierno.

• Alistan despliegue de alrededor de 1.000 militares de EE.UU. en Medio Oriente por conflicto en Irán, dicen fuentes
• Fluctuación épica: cómo las palabras de Trump sobre Irán han oscilado a lo largo de tres semanas de guerra. Análisis

Donald Trump dio un giro radical en su posición con respecto a los ataques contra Irán la mañana del lunes y los precios del petróleo se desplomaron. Lamentablemente, los precios de la gasolina en EE.UU. no seguirán ese mismo camino de inmediato. Deben ocurrir muchas cosas para que los precios de la gasolina vuelvan a caer por debajo del rango de los US$ 3, tal como estaban antes de la guerra. Estas son las razones.

• Análisis: Por qué Trump podría no ser capaz de marcarse otro TACO en Irán, incluso si quisiera
• Chile anuncia una histórica alza de combustibles por la guerra en Irán y ya hay largas filas. Kast pide “responsabilidad”
• Medidas de austeridad energética en Asia mientras la escasez de combustible obliga a Filipinas a declarar emergencia nacional

El portaviones más antiguo de EE.UU., el USS Nimitz, visitará al menos cuatro países durante una extensa gira por América Latina que llega en el contexto de crecientes tensiones entre Washington y La Habana, y tras casi tres meses de la operación militar estadounidense que llevó a la captura del presidente de Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro.

• Cuba acusa a EE.UU. de ejercer “feroz presión y chantaje” para que más países corten lazos con su programa de médicos

Los principales republicanos del Senado están buscando desesperadamente terminar con el cierre parcial de casi 40 días del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional. Sin embargo, están teniendo dificultades para convencer de su plan a principales demócratas… e incluso el presidente Read more

By Tal Shalev, CNN

Tel Aviv (CNN) — The opening strikes of the war with Iran shouldn’t have been necessary if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to be taken at his word.

After the 12-day war with Iran in June, Netanyahu declared unequivocal victory. Israel had “removed two existential threats,” eliminating Iran’s ballistic missiles and its nuclear program.

“This victory,” he told Israelis last summer, “will stand for decades.”

Those decades ended eight months later. On February 28, the US and Israel launched the first strikes of a war that has now reached its 26th day, more than twice as long as the conflict in June. The US calls it Epic Fury. Israel has dubbed it Roaring Lion.

Whatever the name, it is a war with no clear end in sight even if US President Donald Trump hailed “productive” talks Monday aimed at ending hostilities

And yet, Netanyahu has already declared victory again.

“We are winning, and Iran is decapitated,” he said at a press conference last Thursday.

Seventy-two hours later, two Iranian ballistic missiles slammed into cities in southern Israel, registering direct hits that pierced the country’s layered missile defense. One of the missiles hit the city of Dimona near Israel’s main nuclear research center.

When the joint campaign opened with surprise strikes that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top officials, Israel’s leadership was confident and optimistic, boasting about destroying Iran’s military capabilities and disrupting its command and control. By every metric, this war with Iran has surpassed the last one.

And yet Iran is still firing, maintaining daily ballistic missile, drone and rocket attacks on Israel and Gulf states. More than 350 Iranian ballistic missiles have been launched at Israel since February 28, sending millions of Israelis into shelters every day.

“It’s Russian roulette, and living in this country is Russian roulette,” Aviad, who chose not to use his last name, told CNN from Tel Aviv hours after a cluster munition hit several sites in central Israel on Sunday.

Fifteen civilians have been killed by Iranian missiles in Israel since the war began, and four more in the occupied West Bank, a tiny fraction of the number killed in Iran and Lebanon. The twin strikes on Saturday night wounded more than 150 Israelis, the largest single-day injury tally. Iranian salvos continued to strike the country on Monday and Tuesday, even after Trump declared that the US is engaging in diplomacy with Iran. One ballistic missile, containing 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of explosives, caused significant damage to properties in Tel Aviv, injuring four people, in another failed interception attempt.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the failure to intercept the missiles was not systemic, pointing to a 92% shoot-down rate.

The extensive use of Iranian cluster munitions, however, has inflicted damage all around the country, raising questions about the long-term sustainability of Israeli aerial defense systems. Although Israel’s Arrow 3 or David’s Sling interceptors can take out a ballistic missile with a single warhead, the cluster warheads break up into scores of bomblets. They are far less deadly – and far harder to intercept.

“If it fails and we are in a safe room, we are totally safe,” Jennifer Hassan Smith, 52, told CNN. “Nothing in this world is perfect, including the air defense system. It is expected there will be occasional casualties or imperfectio

By Karina Tsui, CNN

(CNN) — Stephen Colbert already has a new job lined up for when he ends his 11-year run as host of “The Late Show” in May – the comedian and well-known J.R.R. Tolkien superfan announced he will co-write and develop a new film in the blockbuster “Lord of the Rings” franchise.

Colbert joined “LOTR” director Peter Jackson to reveal the news in a video announcement.

“I’m pretty happy about it … you know what the books mean to me and what your films mean to me,” the late-night host told Jackson, who led the Oscar-winning team behind the nearly $6 billion original “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” trilogies.

It’ll be the second of two new upcoming films in the fantasy franchise in production at Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN, with New Line Cinema. Warner Bros. shared the video announcement on its social media.

The film is tentatively titled “Shadow of the Past,” according to Deadline.

Jackson also gave audiences an update on the next “LOTR” film, due to be released in 2027 – “The Hunt for Gollum” – directed by and starring franchise alum Andy Serkis.

Colbert said the next installment will be based on parts of Tolkien’s “The Fellowship of the Ring” book that didn’t make it into the original movies.

“The thing I found myself reading over and over again were the six chapters early on in (The Fellowship of the Ring) that y’all never developed into the first movie back in the day … and I thought, ‘Oh, wait, maybe that could be its own story that could fit into the larger story.’” he said.

Colbert said he discussed the idea with his son, screenwriter Peter McGee, to work out the framing of the story.

“It took me a few years to scrape my courage into a pile and give you a call, but about two years ago, I did. You liked it enough to talk to me about it,” Colbert told Jackson.

Colbert said he, McGee and Jackson have been working alongside screenwriter Philippa Boyens on the development of the story. “I could not be happier to say that they loved it, and so that’s what we’re going to be working on,” Colbert said.

Colbert announced in January the final episode of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” will air on May 21 after CBS decided last year to cancel the highly rated late-night program, citing financial pressure.

Colbert nodded to the show’s upcoming ending in his latest announcement, saying: “it turns out I’m going to be free starting this summer.”

It’s no secret that Colbert is a long-time fan of the fantasy series, often citing the books and films in his segments. The Tolkien expert also moderated a ‘Hobbit’ panel in full costume during Comic-Con in 2014.

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