The News

The News

Wednesday, April 16, 2025

Amanda Bynes Steps Out With a Friend After Joining OnlyFans, Reveals What You Can Expect From Her

April 16, 2025 0

 Amanda Bynes was seen out and about in Los Angeles on Tuesday (April 15).





The 39-year-old former actress wore grey sweats for her outing, where she was joined by her friend Liam Paulson.

If you have kept with her Instagram page, Liam is featured in her last grid post on her account. The two are posing at an event she co-hosted back in December.

That same day, Amanda shared on her Instagram story that she is now on OnlyFans, but don’t expect any explicit

I’m on onlyfans now! Disclaimer: I’m doing onlyfans to chat with my fans through dm’s. I won’t be posting any sleazy content. Excited to join,” she said, along with a black heart emoji at the end.

Amanda‘s new OnlyFans page comes at a subscription cost of $50, and has the same user name as her Instagram.

If you missed it, there are a lot of other celebrities who have joined OnlyFans over the years!

Last November, Amanda opened up about her health and revealed she lost some weight.


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Tuesday, April 15, 2025

Warriors dispel play-in struggles, advance to face Rockets

April 15, 2025 0

 With 3.4 seconds left, Stephen Curry waved his arms to get the Chase Center crowd on its feet.



The Golden State Warriors superstar was finally getting out of the play-in tournament, and it was time to celebrate. Curry scored 37 points, and Jimmy Butler delivered his best game for Golden State with 38 points to lift the Warriors past the Memphis Grizzlies 121-116 on Tuesday night.

"Just a sense of relief that we have something to look forward to now," Curry said.

For Curry and the Warriors, the win was their first in four play-in games. After two-plus months of chasing a postseason berth, the Warriors secured the seventh seed and a first-round date against the second-seeded Houston Rockets.

"We desperately needed to win this game and get four days [off]," Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. "Our guys have basically been playing knockout games for about three weeks. One high-level game after another.

So to get this one, it took 83 games, but we are right where we want to be. Which is back in the playoffs and we got a chance."

Golden State will a familiar foe in Houston. This is the fifth time the franchises have faced each other in a playoff series. The Warriors won all four previous matchups, which took place between 2015 and 2019. Two of the series were in the Western Conference finals in 2015 and 2018, the latter which Golden State won in seven games.

"I was just telling Draymond [Green], 'It's wild,'" Curry said. "We've been in a playoff series in Houston for a decade. It's crazy to think about. I know this is a brand new version of the Rockets team, but we're excited for the challenge."

The Warriors went 3-2 against the Rockets in the regular season, with Houston winning their in-season NBA Cup matchup 91-90 on Dec. 11.

Houston's other win came at Chase Center on Apr. 6 when the Rockets came out aggressive and physical against a Warriors team that was finishing a four-game slate in six days after facing the Grizzlies, Lakers and Nuggets.

Butler has been playing on a different level since that loss to Houston. In two games that have basically been playoff-caliber contests against the LA Clippers on Sunday and the Grizzlies in the play-in game, Butler scored a combined total of 68 points while shooting an identical 12-of-20 from the field in each game.

He helped Golden State jump out to a 20-point lead midway through the second quarter Tuesday. Memphis came all the way back to take a 96-94 lead with 11 minutes remaining. Desmond Bane scored 30 points, and Ja Morant, who rolled his ankle in the third quarter but came back in the fourth, had 22 points for the Grizzlies.

But Curry scored 15 points in the final 7:02, including two 3-pointers in the span of 50 seconds with under two minutes left.

The Warriors were 0-3 in play-in games prior to Tuesday. They lost in their previous play-in game last season at Sacramento to see their season end.

"It's just a reminder that it's not guaranteed," Curry said of making the postseason. "I don't care how talented you are. You look around the league, you could argue more talented teams that we have that are on the outside looking in.

"So you appreciate the moments. That's why we have been talking for the last two months [about] how important it is to play meaningful games. And now we have a series that's going to be full of meaningful games."

And those will be with Butler, who is in "Playoff Jimmy" form with the true postseason beginning Sunday in Game 1 at Houston. This is why the Warriors traded for Butler, who has rejuvenated Curry, Green and Kerr and changed the trajectory of a team that was 25-26 on Feb. 6.

"Whenever I talk to Steph, Dray, Steve and Mike [Dunleavy Jr.] before I even got here, I was telling them I can help," Butler said. "Now, I don't know in what manner that I can help, but we're going to make the playoffs.

"I feel like I can give any team, for sure this one, a chance to win. And they believe it. I believe it."

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2025 WNBA Draft picks, grades: Paige Bueckers selected No. 1 by Dallas Wings

April 15, 2025 0

 Paige Bueckers led the UConn women’s basketball team to its 12th national title last week and has been on a worldwide tour ever since. Now the WNBA awaits.



Bueckers brought the NCAA championship trophy back home to Storrs, Connecticut, caught up with Savannah Guthrie and Willie Geist on the “Today” show and crashed Jimmy Fallon’s “The Tonight Show” in New York City.

Next was the 2025 WNBA draft, where Bueckers was taken with the No. 1 overall pick Monday night by the Dallas Wings.

Just eight days after the 2024-25 women’s college basketball season concluded with the Huskies defeating the South Carolina Gamecocks, the next generation of superstars are set to enter the league, and many of them were at The Shed at Hudson Yards in New York City to hear their name called during the draft. 

USA TODAY Sports chronicled every pick of the 2025 WNBA Draft and issued our grades for the first round. Scroll below for a recap.

2025 WNBA draft grades: Who aced the night?

WNBA teams across the country added new talent to their rosters Monday night at the 2025 WNBA draft ahead of regular-season openers on May 16. Spectacular names like UConn's Paige BueckersUSC's Kiki IriafenLSU's Aneesah Morrow and TCU star Hailey Van Lith were called, along with so many other phenomenal athletes. Meghan L. Hall of For The Win (part of the USA TODAY Network) graded each first-round pick as they were revealed. See here grades below, and click here for her full analysis:

1. Dallas Wings: Paige Bueckers — Grade A+

  • Bueckers is a slam-dunk pick. She's the most efficient player in the draft and the most pro-ready.

2. Seattle Storm: Dominique Malonga — Grade A

  • French center Dominique Malonga is one of the smoothest post-players in the entire 2025 draft class

3. Washington Mystics: Sonia Citron — Grade B+

  • Citron’s numbers aren’t flashy on the court, but what she does very well is score when asked (including from beyond the arc) and get after it defensively.

4. Washington Mystics: Kiki Iriafen — Grade B

  • Iriafen should provide immediate depth and rim protection to the Mystics frontcourt.

5. Golden State Valkyries: Justė Jocytė — Grade B+

  • Jocytė, 19, has a high basketball IQ that is far beyond most players her age.

6. Washington Mystics: Georgia Amoore — Grade C

  • While Amoore plays much larger than her 5-foot-6 size, it’s a cause for concern at the WNBA level.

7. Connecticut Sun: Aneesah Morrow — Grade B+

  • At 6-foot-1, Morrow is a board master, grabbing everything within her reach.

8. Connecticut Sun: Saniya Rivers — Grade A

  • Rivers' length and size give her a rare combination and make her a prime candidate to be a guard or a forward.

9. Los Angeles Sparks: Sarah Ashlee Barker — Grade B+

  • Barker’s March Madness performance against Maryland — when she finished with 45 points in double overtime — catapulted her to the top of draft boards.

10. Chicago Sky: Ajša Sivka — Grade C+

  • Chicago could stash Slovenian forward Ajša Sivka for later use, and she helps a roster that wants to be in win-now mode but is still somewhat rebuilding.
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Monday, April 14, 2025

El Salvador President Bukele says he won’t be releasing a Maryland man back to the US

April 14, 2025 0

  President Donald Trump’s top advisers and Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, said Monday that they have no basis for the small Central American nation to return a Maryland man who was wrongly deported there last month. Bukele called the idea “preposterous” even though the U.S. Supreme Court has called on the administration to “facilitate” Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return.



Trump administration officials emphasized that Abrego Garcia, who was sent to a notorious gang prison in El Salvador, was a citizen of that country and that the U.S. has no say in his future. And Bukele, who has been a vital partner for the Trump administration in its deportation efforts, said “of course” he would not release him back to U.S. soil.

“The question is preposterous. How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?” Bukele, seated alongside Trump, told reporters in the Oval Office Monday. “I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.”

In a court filing Monday evening, Joseph Mazzara, the acting general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, said it “does not have authority to forcibly extract” Abrego Garcia from El Salvador because he is “in the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation.”

Mazarra also argued that Abergo Garcia is “no longer eligible for withholding of removal” because the U.S. designated MS-13 as a foreign terror organization. Abergo Garcia’s attorneys say the government has provided no evidence that he was affiliated with MS-13 or any other gang.

The refusal of both countries to allow the return of Abrego Garcia, who had an immigration court order preventing his deportation over fears of gang persecution, is intensifying the battle over the Maryland resident’s future. It has also played out in contentious court filings, with repeated refusals from the government to tell a judge what it plans to do, if anything, to repatriate him.

The judge handling the case, Paula Xinis, is now considering whether to grant a request from the man’s legal team to compel the government to explain why it should not be held in contempt.

The fight over Abrego Garcia also underscores how critical El Salvador has been as a linchpin of the U.S. administration’s mass deportation operation.

How Bukele is helping with Trump’s immigration crackdown

Since March, El Salvador has accepted from the U.S. more than 200 Venezuelan immigrants — whom Trump administration officials have accused of gang activity and violent crimes — and placed them inside the country’s maximum-security gang prison just outside of the capital, San Salvador. That prison is part of Bukele’s broader effort to crack down on the country’s powerful street gangs, which has put 84,000 people behind bars and made Bukele extremely popular at home.

Trump wants to expand his deportation plans

The president has said openly that he would also favor El Salvador taking custody of American citizens who have committed violent crimes, a view he repeated Monday.

“We have bad ones too, and I’m all for it because we can do things with the president for less money and have great security,” Trump said during the meeting. “And we have a huge prison population.” It is unclear how lawful U.S. citizens could be deported elsewhere in the world.

Before the press entered the Oval Office, Trump said in a video posted on social media by Bukele that he wanted to send “homegrowns” to be incarcerated in El Salvador, and added that “you’ve got to build five more places,” suggesting Bukele doesn’t have enough prison capacity for all of the U.S. citizens that Trump would like to send there.

The high court weighs in, and the administration response

The Supreme Court has called for the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of Abrego Garcia.

Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia of Maryland, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, speaks during a news conference at CASA's Multicultural Center in Hyattsville, Md., April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, file)

Trump indicated over the weekend that he would return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. if the high court’s justices said to bring him back, saying “I have great respect for the Supreme Court.” But the tone from top administration officials was sharply different Monday,

“He’s a citizen of El Salvador,” said Stephen Miller, a White House deputy chief of staff. “So it’s very arrogant, even for American media, to suggest that we would even tell El Salvador how to handle their own citizens.”

Bondi asserted that two immigration court judges — who are under Justice Department purview — found that Abrego Garcia was a member of MS-13. The allegation is based on a confidential informant’s claim in 2019 that Abrego Garcia was a member of a chapter in New York, where he has never lived.

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Blue Origin's all-female flight launches to edge of space with Gayle King, Katy Perry and Lauren Sánchez on board

April 14, 2025 0

 Blue Origin completed its latest spaceflight Monday with a historic all-female crew. The mission, NS-31, was the 11th human flight for Jeff Bezos’s space tourism company and 31st overall.

It included six women: aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe; activist Amanda Nguyen; CBS Mornings host Gayle King; pop singer Katy Perry; film producer Kerianne Flynn; and Lauren Sánchez, an author, TV host turned philanthropist and Bezos’s fiancée.

The crew boarded their capsule atop the fully autonomous New Shepard rocket in Van Horn, Texas, early Monday for a suborbital flight that lasted just over 10 minutes.

The rocket took them past the Kármán line — 62 miles above Earth, which some international aviation and aerospace experts consider the threshold of space — allowing the crew to experience a few minutes of weightlessness before returning safely to Earth in a capsule that employed three parachutes as it touched down on the desert floor.


What the crew said after they landed

Upon their return, Bezos opened the capsule door and hugged Sánchez, who was in tears as she described what she saw.

"Earth looked so — it was so quiet. It was just quiet," Sánchez said.

"I will never be the same," Bowe said of her experience. "There's no boundaries, no border. There's just Earth."

Nguyen, a rape survivor, brought the hospital bracelet she wore after the assault as a “zero G” indicator — or an object intended to float in the cabin during weightlessness. She said she brought it as a reminder to "never, never give up."

Perry and King each kissed the ground after exiting the capsule.

Perry held up a daisy that she took on the flight in honor of her 4-year-old daughter Daisy.

"This experience is second to being a mom," Perry said.

The pop star sang "What a Wonderful World" on board before descending.



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‘Harry Potter’ HBO Series Confirms Casting for Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall, Hagrid and More Hogwarts Staffers

April 14, 2025 0

 

HBO Harry Potter cast
Jessica Howes; Andrew Crowley; Ruth Crafer; Lee Malone; Phil Sharp; Mike Marsland

HBO is officially confirming the first cast members for the “Harry Potter” TV series.

The cast now includes the following series regulars: John Lithgow (“Conclave,” “The Crown”) as Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer (“Tumbleweeds,” “The White Queen”) as Minerva McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu (“I May Destroy You,” “Gangs of London”) as Severus Snape, and Nick Frost (“Shaun of the Dead,” “Hot Fuzz”) as Rubeus Hagrid. It had previously been reported that all four actors were in talks for the show.

In addition, Luke Thallon (Tom Stoppard’s “Leopoldstadt,” Rupert Goold’s “Patriots”) has joined in the recurring role of Quirinus Quirrell. Paul Whitehouse (“The Fast Show,” “Harry & Paul”) will appear in the ee them bring these beloved characters to new life.”

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As mentioned, these are the first confirmed actors for the highly-anticipated series. When it comes to the main roles — Harry, Ron, and Hermione — HBO launched an open casting call in the fall, with over 30,000 submissions. The show is expected to begin filming this summer.

HBO is describing the show as a “faithful adaptation” of the globally recognized J.K. Rowling book series. “Exploring every corner of the wizarding world, each season will bring ‘Harry Potter’ and its incredible adventures to new and existing audiences,” per the official description.

The series is written and executive produced by Gardiner, who also serves as showrunner. Mylod will executive produce and direct multiple episodes of the series for HBO in association with Brontë Film and TV and Warner Bros. Television. The series is executive produced by Rowling, Neil Blair, and Ruth Kenley-Letts of Brontë Film and TV, and David Heyman of Heyday Films.

(Pictured, left to right and top to bottom: John Lithgow, Janet McTeer, Paapa Essiedu, Nick Frost, Luke Thallon, Paul Whitehouse)

Francesca Gardiner, showrunner and executive producer, and Mark Mylod, director of multiple episodes and executive producer. “We’re delighted to have such extraordinary talent onboard, and we can’t wait to s

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