Category: News
Futures Rise After 4-Days Of Declines Ahead Of CPI, Central Bank Bonanza
Futures Rise After 4-Days Of Declines Ahead Of CPI, Central Bank Bonanza
Stocks rebounded from Wednesday’s tech-led rout after an upbeat forecast from Micron helped put the brakes on a tech-driven selloff on a busy day for data and central bank meetings. As of 7:15am ET, S&P and Nasdaq futures rose 0.6% following four down days. In premarket trading, Micron shares soared 11% after reporting blowout earnings. Europe’s Stoxx 600 index rose 0.2%, while Asian shares slid. The tech slide, combined with dovish comments from a Federal Reserve official, helped boost Treasuries. The yield on the 10-year was down two basis points at 4.13% even as the BBG dollar index recovered from an earlier loss to trade 0.05% higher. Oil rose modestly to trade +0.4% at $56.18/barrel. Among key events for financial markets Thursday are the release of US inflation data for November, along with monetary policy decisions from the European Central Bank and Bank of England.
In premarket trading Mag 7 stocks are mostly higher (Tesla +1.4%, Nvidia +1.4%, Alphabet +1.1%, Amazon +0.8%, Meta +0.7%, Microsoft +0.7%, Apple -0.2%).
Insmed (INSM) falls 20% after the biotech said its Phase 2b BiRCh study of brensocatib in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis without nasal polyps failed to meet primary or secondary efficacy goals, prompting immediate discontinuation of the CRSsNP program.
Instacart (CART) is down 6.6% after Reuters reported that the Federal Trade Commission has sent the grocery delivery company a civil investigative demand.
Lululemon (LULU) rises +6.2% after Elliott is said to build a $BN+ stake.
Micron (MU) jumps 11% after guiding current quarter earnings to be some 80% higher than consensus estimates, as the firm benefits from the relentless demand for memory chips used in data centers, and the sharp price increase that goes with it. Among memory peers, Sandisk (SNDK) 6.1%, Western Digital (WDC) +3.6% and Seagate (STX) +3.4%.
PayPal (PYPL) drops 1.7% as Morgan Stanley downgrades the digital payments company to underweight and sets its price target to a new Street-low, citing slow progress on key strategic imperatives.
Sable Offshore Corp. (SOC) jumps 41% after the company said the US Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration determined the pipeline connecting the Santa Ynez Unit to Pentland Station terminal in California constitutes an interstate pipeline.
Today’s Micron-driven bounce follows Nasdaq’s nearly 2% slide on Wednesday when investors again questioned whether companies at the vanguard of the AI boom can keep justifying their nosebleed valuations amid record spending.
“Investors still see limited disclosure of AI-driven revenues, profits or cash flows,” said Frank Thormann, a fund manager at Schroders Investment Management. “The result is a growing concern that AI may not be delivering returns commensurate with the enthusiasm.”
A mini-Santa rally to end the year likely hinges on whether inflation data confirms Powell’s expectation that core goods prices are nearly at a peak. Longer-term, inflation coming down while jobs remain subdued “should weaken FOMC hawks’ resistance to rate cuts,” according to Bloomberg Economics.
Still, investors remain nervous about AI. About 57% of participants in a Deutsche Bank survey said a potential plunge in AI valuations is the biggest risk to market stability in 2026. And there’s a long list of other things that could go wrong, suggesting drawdowns and volatility spikes are likely, especially given an investor base that is so determined to chase the market higher.
Traders are now waiting for Thursday’s US inflation reading for pointers on the path for interest rates, though the data run the risk of being less reliable than usual due to government-shutdown disruptions. The November CPI report will offer only a partial snapshot of inflation, without monthly changes for most of the price categories. Much of the October price information was unable to be collected and November data gathering was also delayed by the government closure.
Data aside, Trump said he plans to announce the new Fed chair soon, and that it will be “someone who believes in lower interest rates.” He also used his address to the nation to talk about housing reforms, which he said are coming in the new year.
European stocks edged upwards as investors awaited rate decisions from the European Central Bank and Bank of England. Retailers outperform, led by H&M, which is on track to close at more than a year-high, while automakers lag. Stoxx 600 rose 0.2% to 580.70 with 214 members down, 366 up, and 20 little changed. Here are some of the biggest movers on Thursday:
Rational shares gain as much as 4.9%, hitting a five-week high, after UBS analysts said the maker of food appliances and kitchen accessories is “back on the menu,” predicting a return to high single-digit organic growth in FY26 can support a re-rating in the shares.
Whitbread shares rise as much as 5.2% after stakeholder Corvex Management called for a strategic review of the company’s direction and capital allocation.
Rentokil Initial shares rise as much as 3.9% as BofA Global Research raises its recommendation to buy from neutral and names it one of the bank’s “25 stocks for 2026” on its US growth.
H&M shares rise as much as 2.6% to trade at their highest level since September 2024, after being upgraded by Oddo BHF, with analysts raising estimates and attaching a higher multiple on the fashion retailer.
Currys shares climb as much as 15%, the most since September, after the electronics retailer reported earnings ahead of analysts’ expectations, driven by stronger performance in the Nordics as the UK business grapples with increases in staffing costs.
Aeroports de Paris shares fall as much as 8.6% as the French Transport Regulatory Authority rejects the firm’s proposed airport charges, leading Oddo BHF to downgrade to underperform.
Hemnet shares slide as much as 8.7%, pulling back from a five-week high, after analysts at Nordea cut their price target on the Swedish property advertising platform to a Street-low.
Evolution shares drop as much as 3.1% following a double-downgrade to underweight from overweight at Barclays, which sees continued pressure on the Swedish gambling operator’s earnings.
Earlier in the session, Asian stocks dropped with momentum kamikaze-central, South Korea, leading a broad selloff on concerns over the artificial intelligence sector. Hang Seng nurses a modest loss after tech stocks fall, and ChiNext drops more than 1%. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.4%, tracking a US tech selloff and declining for a third time in four days. LG Chem and LG Energy were among the biggest drags. South Korea’s Kospi slumped 1.5%, while benchmarks in Tokyo and Taiwan were also in the red.
In FX, the dollar is mixed against FX majors. Kiwi dollar slips despite a small GDP beat. The yen hovers around 155.80/USD and offshore yuan is marginally stronger.
In rates, treasury 10-year yields drop 2bps to 4.13%. Australian 3-year yields drop 3 bps after the AOFM cuts bond issuance plans for fiscal year 2026. JGB futures grind modestly higher ahead of Friday’s widely expected BOJ rate hike
In commodities, WTI crude futures inch lower, trading around $55 a barrel. Spot gold falls roughly $12 to ~$4,327/oz, while Bitcoin is up 1.3% .
Looking to the day ahead now, and the highlights will be the ECB and Bank of England policy decisions. Over in the US, we’ll also get the CPI report for November, and the weekly initial jobless claims. Speakers include ECB’s Lagarde & BoE’s Bailey, Supply from US, Earnings from Carnival, Nike & FedEx.
Market Snapshot
S&P 500 mini +0.6%
Nasdaq 100 mini +0.6%
Russell 2000 mini +0.3%
Stoxx Europe 600 +0.3%
DAX +0.1%
CAC 40 +0.3%
10-year Treasury yield -2 basis points at 4.13%
VIX -0.2 points at 17.38
Bloomberg Dollar Index little changed at 1208.22,
euro -0.2% at $1.1723
WTI crude +0.4% at $56.18/barrel
Top Overnight News
Trump Defends Handling of Economy, Announces Military Dividend: WSJ
How China reverse engineered chipbuilding giant ASML and built its ‘Manhattan Project’ to rival the West in AI chips: RTRS
White House official said Trump is expected to address marijuana rescheduling on Thursday.
Trump said he will soon announce the next Fed chair and that the new Fed chair will believe in lowering interest rates by a lot, while Trump also stated that he will announce aggressive housing reforms in the new year and said more than a million service members will get a special dividend of USD 1,776 before Christmas.
Trump Told by Alan Dershowitz Constitutionality of Third Term Is Unclear: WSJ
The House voted 216-211 to pass the Republican health care bill without an extension of the ACA subsidy, which now goes to the Senate. It was separately reported that the Senate voted 77-22 to pass the USD 901bln bill setting defence policy and spending for the 2026 fiscal year, which goes to President Trump for signing
US approves $11.1 billion arms package for Taiwan, largest ever: RTRS
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino Says He Will Leave in January
Elliott Said to Build a $1 Billion-Plus Stake in Lululemon: BBG
Warner Demands Larry Ellison’s Personal Guarantee in Paramount Bid: WSJ
ECB to Hold With Economy on Sturdier Footing: BBG
Sweden Holds Rate at 1.75% as Growth Builds, Inflation Cools: BBG
BP Appoints First Outsider as CEO After Ousting Auchincloss: BBG
All That Cheap Chinese Stuff Is Now Europe’s Problem: WSJ
Fed’s Bostic (2027 voter, retiring) said GDP growth is solid and expects that trend to continue into next year, while he added it is less clear what will happen on the employment side.
America’s Largest Landowner Bets It Can Replace Met Coal With Pine Trees: WSJ
Frustration Grows as Hunt for Brown Shooter Drags On: WSJ
Trade/Tariffs
French President Macron said numbers on Mercosur trade deal does not add up right now and talks are not yet over.
Chinese Commerce Ministry, on talks with the EU on EV tariffs, said they are still being negotiated.
Chinese Commerce Ministry, on EU rare earth export licenses, said some Chinese licence applications have been approved.
Chinese Commerce Ministry, on EU’s FRS (Foreign Subsidies Regulation) Investigation, said it has severely impacted Chinese firms business and investment operations in the EU.
China’s Commerce Ministry, on steel licences, said it involves some 300 products; designed to strengthen monitoring and tracking of exports.
US President Trump said they used to have the worst trade deals anywhere in the world and were laughed at, but they’re not laughing anymore. said:. Much of the success has been due to tariffs. One year ago, the country was dead and ready to fail, and now its the hottest anywhere in the world.
Japan government said consultation committee for the USD 550bln US-bound investment package held its meeting on Thursday.
A more detailed look at global markets courtesy of Newsquawk
European bourses are broadly in the green, in contrast to a mostly subdued APAC session as markets await policy decisions from the BoE an the ECB.
European sectors are trading mixed. Retail (+1.0%), Financial Services (+0.4%) and Real Estate (+0.4%) lead. Retail has been underpinned by gains in Curry’s (+8.6%) after Co. posted strong half year growth. At the other end of the spectrum, Autos (-0.6%), Banks (-0.5%) and Travel & Leisure (-0.3%) lag.
Top European News
Inditex PT to Street-High at Jefferies
M&A Watch Europe: BNP Paribas, Rheinmetall, BP, Nexi, Aena
APAC stocks were mostly lower following on from the tech-led selling stateside and ahead of US inflation data and a slew of upcoming central bank decisions.
ASX 200 was flat with the index constrained by weakness in energy, gold miners and industrials. Nikkei 225 briefly dipped beneath the 49,000 level amid tech woes and anticipation of a BoJ rate hike when the central bank concludes its 2-day policy meeting tomorrow. Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were mixed as tech-related headwinds dampened risk sentiment in Hong Kong, although the mainland kept afloat after the PBoC’s open market operations, in which it opted to utilise both 7- and 14-day reverse repos.
Top Asian News
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Kihara said watching market moves, including long-term rates closely.
South Korea’s Finance Minister said concerned of FX volatility widening, adds closely monitoring impacts from diverging monetary policies abroad on local markets.
South Korea Vice Finance Minister sees herd behaviour in markets, adds KRW declines seem more excessive compared to the economy’s fundamentals.
Central Banks
Norges Bank maintains its Key Policy Rate at 4.00% as expected; if the economy evolves broadly as currently projected, the policy rate will be reduced further in the course of the coming year. If the policy rate is lowered too quickly, inflation could remain above target for too long. With a gradual decline in wage growth ahead, inflation is projected to move down and be close to 2 percent in 2028. Sees 2026 Key Policy Rate at 3.9% (prev. forecast 3.9%). Sees 2027 Key Policy Rate at 3.4% (prev. forecast 3.5%).
Norges Bank’s Bache said NOK is weaker than previously assumed, raising inflation prospects slightly.
Riksbank maintains its rate at 1.75% as expected; reiterates rate is expected to remain at this level for some time to come. Although inflation has varied somewhat from month to month, it has overall developed in line with the Riksbank’s forecast in September and approached 2 per cent. Indicators continue to support the view of inflationary pressures in line with the target going forward.
Riksbank’s Thedeen said policy rate will stay at this level at some time going forward, with this view covering the horizon for the Bank’s rate path.
China Securities Times reported PBoC rate cut room shrinks amid shift of focus to policy mix, and noted aggressive RRR cuts are less needed.
FX
DXY traded little changed with price action contained ahead of US CPI data due later today and following comments from a couple of Fed speakers, including Waller who stated that the Fed is 50bps-100bps over neutral and there is no rush to cut rates given the outlook, but added that they can continue to bring the rate down. Furthermore, the attention overnight turned to US President Trump’s primetime address, where he announced more than a million service members will get a special dividend of USD 1,776 before Christmas and flagged aggressive housing reforms in the new year, but which had little impact on the currency.
EUR/USD traded sideways beneath the 1.1750 level with a lack of catalysts as participants awaited the ECB meeting.
GBP/USD struggled for direction after weakening yesterday on the softer-than-expected UK CPI data, which solidified the bets for a 25bps BoE rate cut later today.
USD/JPY remained afloat after reversing the declines seen earlier in the week, despite the expectations of a looming BoJ rate hike as the central bank begins its 2-day conclave.
Antipodeans marginally softened amid the lacklustre risk appetite and quiet overnight data calendar, while there was very little support seen following mixed New Zealand GDP data.
PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.0583 vs exp. 7.0403 (Prev. 7.0573)
Fixed Income
10yr UST futures kept afloat but with the upside limited following yesterday’s choppy performance amid commentary from Fed’s Waller and an average 20-year bond auction, while participants await the incoming US inflation data.
Bund futures rebounded off the prior day’s trough in rangebound trade with few catalysts ahead of the ECB meeting.
10yr JGB futures edged higher amid the downbeat mood in risk assets, although gains were capped as the BoJ kick-started its 2-day policy meeting.
Commodities
Crude futures were initially boosted amid the US blockade against Venezuela and recent reports of potential new US energy sanctions on Russia, although futures later pared much of the gains alongside US President Trump’s primetime address to the nation, given that there was no mention of the blockade or Russian sanctions.
Qatar lowered the February term price for Al Shaheen oil to USD 0.53/bbl above Dubai.
Dubai set official crude differential to GME Oman for March at USD 0.10/bbl discount.
Venezuela is running out of oil storage space amid tanker curbs, with its main oil storage and tankers sitting at terminals quickly filling up and may be at maximum capacity in about 10 days, which could force state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela SA, whose production is close to 1mln bpd a day, to shut-in wells, according to Bloomberg.
Israeli PM Netanyahu said he has approved the country’s largest ever gas deal with Egypt valued at USD 35bln.
Spot gold was lacklustre amid a steady dollar and with early weakness in other metal prices, including silver, which pulled back from record levels, before paring its losses.
Copper futures saw early pressure amid the subdued risk appetite but has since bounced off intraday lows.
Geopolitics
Ukrainian President Zelensky said Moscow clearly shows it is ready for war in 2026, and the US says Russia wants to end the war, but Moscow is sending opposite signals. Furthermore, he said the summit in Brussels should show there is no point for Russia to continue the war because Ukraine will have the financial means to defend itself.
US and Russia are to hold talks on the Ukraine war in Miami this weekend, according to Politico. US Envoy Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law Kushner are to represent the US, while the plans remain in flux, but if they go ahead this weekend, the administration will present the outcome of the most recent round of discussions to Russian officials, who have not shifted much on their demands.
Ukrainian attack damaged a ship in the southern Russian port of Rostov-on-Don, while there were deaths among the crew, according to the regional governor.
OTHER
US military said it conducted a strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific, which killed four men.
Venezuela requested a UN Security Council meeting to discuss ongoing US aggression. It was separately reported that Venezuela’s Navy were escorting vessels following the blockade threat, while Washington was aware of escorts and mulls course of action, according to NYT.
Taiwan’s Defence Ministry announced that the US government initiated a congressional notification procedure for arms sales to Taiwan totalling USD 11.1bln, while the Taiwan Presidential Office said they express sincere gratitude for the new US arms sale package and noted that Taiwan will continue to promote defence reforms, as well as demonstrate its determination to defend itself and safeguard peace through strength.
DB’s Jim Reid concludes the overnight wrap
Markets failed to see much Christmas cheer yesterday, with the S&P 500 (-1.16%) posting a fourth consecutive decline from its record high last week. The selloff had multiple drivers, but doubts about AI valuations were top of mind, with Oracle (-5.40%) falling to a six-month low after the FT reported that Blue Owl Capital wouldn’t back a $10bn deal for Oracle’s data centre in Michigan.Moreover, fixed income mostly struggled as inflation concerns crept back in, with 10yr Treasury yields (+0.8bps) inching higher, whilst 10yr bund yields (+1.9bps) reached their highest since the fiscal stimulus announcement in March, at 2.86%. So it was a rough day across the board, and the major equity indices in Asia have also lost ground overnight.
Interestingly, it had appeared yesterday as though markets might finally stabilise. But the first loss of momentum came after that FT report, which heightened concerns around a potential AI bubble, and meant that Oracle’s 5yr credit default swaps climbed to 156bps, their highest since the GFC. The other problem is the AI fears are interacting with growing concerns around the US outlook, particularly after we found out the unemployment rate hit a 4-year high in November. So tech stocks led yesterday’s declines, with the Mag 7 (-2.12%) having its worst day in over a month, led by a -3.81% slump for Nvidia, and other cyclical sectors also struggled. Defensive stocks fared relatively better, with energy (+2.21%) the best performing sector after Brent crude (+1.29%) recovered to $59.68/bbl following Trump’s blockade of sanctioned tankers for Venezuela.
Looking forward, the focus will be back on US data today, as the delayed CPI report for November is out at 13:30 London time, which will be important for whether the Fed have the space to keep cutting rates in 2026. This is going to be a slightly unusual report, as the government shutdown meant the October data wasn’t collected, so we won’t get the usual monthly change that we normally focus on with US inflation. That means the focus will instead be on the year-on-year rates, and how those compare to the previous print in September. In terms of what to expect, our US economists think that headline CPI had an average increase of +0.24% over October and November, which would keep the year-on-year rate at +3.0%. Then for core CPI, they expect a similar average increase of +0.26% over the last two months, which would also keep the year-on-year rate at +3.0%. See their preview here for more details.
In the meantime, investors are still looking at who might become the next Fed Chair, with Trump saying in his latest address that it would be announced in the new year and would be “someone who believes in lower interest rates”. Over the last 48 hours, speculation around Governor Chris Waller has rise significantly, with the initial catalyst being a WSJ report on Tuesday that Waller would be interviewed. Indeed, Waller even briefly moved into second place on Polymarket yesterday, overtaking former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh. However, that reversed later on and as we go to press this morning, NEC Director Kevin Hassett (52%) is still in the lead, followed by Warsh (25%) and then Waller (14%). We actually heard from Waller as well yesterday, who said that the US labour market was “very soft”, and that rates were probably 50-100bps from neutral. So those comments meant US Treasury yields pared back some of their initial increase, only closing up +0.8bps at 4.15%, having peaked at 4.18% shortly before the US open.
Meanwhile in Europe, central banks are also in the spotlight as we have the ECB’s latest decision today. They’re widely expected to keep their deposit rate at 2%, where it’s been since June. However, last week saw growing speculation about a potential hike next year, as Isabel Schnabel of the Executive Board said that “I’m rather comfortable” with expectations that the next move would be a hike. So talk about a hike has risen up the agenda, and on Wednesday last week, pricing for a 2026 hike moved as high as 50% on an intraday basis. For now, however, our European economists interpret the recent data and ECB commentary as consistent with an extension of the current pause. Their view is it implies a lower chance of more cuts, rather than a greater chance of imminent hikes. For more info, see their full preview here, where they also discuss what would be needed to hike rates next year, and what could push the ECB into cutting again.
Staying on central banks, the Bank of England are also announcing their latest decision today, where a 25bp cut to 3.75% is widely expected. In fact, there was further momentum behind that yesterday after the UK CPI print was beneath every economist’s estimate on Bloomberg, at +3.2% in November (vs. +3.5% expected). Moreover, core CPI also fell back to +3.2% (vs. +3.4% expected). So investors dialled up the likelihood of a cut today to 98% by last night’s close, and there was a big rally in gilts too, with the 2yr yield (-6.0bps) falling to 3.69% , its lowest since August 2024. Meanwhile, the pound weakened by -0.35% against the US dollar, which supported the FTSE 100 (+0.92%) given the multinationals in the index benefit from the weaker pound. For more info on the BoE’s decision, see our UK economist’s preview here.
Despite the gains for UK equities, the mood was more downbeat across the rest of Europe, with the STOXX 600 (-0.002%) posting an incredibly small decline. Sentiment wasn’t helped by the latest German data, as the Ifo’s business climate indicator unexpectedly fell to a 7-month low of 87.6 in December (vs. 88.2 expected). In addition, yields moved higher across the continent, with 10yr bund yields (+1.9bps) rising to 2.86%, their highest level since March, right after plans to relax the debt brake were announced.
Overnight in Asia, the downbeat mood from the US session has mostly continued, with losses for the Nikkei (-0.86%), the KOSPI (-1.32%), the Hang Seng (-0.22%) and the CSI 300 (-0.24%). By contrast, the Shanghai Comp (+0.42%) is one of the few to be advancing this morning. Meanwhile, we have seen US equity futures begin to stabilise, with those on the S&P 500 (+0.13%) and the NASDAQ 100 (+0.35%) rising after chipmaker Micron gave an upbeat forecast for this quarter.
To the day ahead now, and the highlights will be the ECB and Bank of England policy decisions. Over in the US, we’ll also get the CPI report for November, and the weekly initial jobless claims.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/18/2025 – 06:58
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/futures-rise-ahead-cpi-report-central-bank-bonanza
Australian Counterterrorism Unit Rams Car, Arrests Five Men Suspected Of Planning Violence
Australian Counterterrorism Unit Rams Car, Arrests Five Men Suspected Of Planning Violence
Four days after the Bondi Beach terror attack in Australia, a counterterrorism unit stopped what appeared to be a vehicle carrying five Middle Eastern men in Liverpool, Sydney, who were allegedly heading toward the Bondi Beach area.
BREAKING:
Australian police ram a car with 5 Islamists travelling to Bondi Beach.
Seems like they had info that another attack might have been imminent. The West is full of dangerous Islamists. pic.twitter.com/jbUGtBaC53
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) December 18, 2025
Local media 7NEWS Sydney reported, “Counter terrorism police have deliberately rammed a car in Liverpool to arrest those inside, shocking onlookers on Campbell Street.”
Counter terrorism police have deliberately rammed a car in Liverpool to arrest those inside, shocking onlookers on Campbell Street. pic.twitter.com/9nexWyDwZp
— 7NEWS Sydney (@7NewsSydney) December 18, 2025
Sky News said NSW Police acted on intelligence given the heightened security environment following the Bondi Beach terror attack four days ago, which left 15 people dead and more than 40 injured at a Hanukkah celebration. The victims ranged in age from children to elderly adults, and the attack has been widely described as an antisemitic terrorist act by radical Islamists.
“Tactical Operations police responded to information received that a violent act was possibly being planned,” NSW Police wrote in a statement.
“It’s understood police took a cautious approach to the intelligence, given the climate in the wake of the Bondi terror attack on Sunday evening,” the outlet noted, adding, “It’s unclear what the intention of the men was in travelling to Bondi.”
UK tabloid Daily Star …
Is anyone going to tell the liberals that mass migration was perhaps a bad idea?
Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/18/2025 – 06:55
Reino Unido detiene a manifestantes propalestinos mientras endurece leyes contra discurso de odio
Por DANICA KIRKA
LONDRES (AP) — La policía en Londres arrestó a dos personas que pidieron una “intifada” durante una protesta pro-palestina, tras la decisión de las autoridades de endurecer la aplicación de las leyes contra el discurso de odio tras un ataque mortal en una celebración de Hanukka en Australia.
Los arrestos se produjeron el miércoles, horas después de que la policía en Londres y Manchester, Inglaterra, anunciara una campaña contra los manifestantes que utilizan consignas como “globalicemos la intifada”. La palabra árabe intifada se traduce generalmente como “alzamiento”.
Aunque los manifestantes propalestinos dicen que la consigna describe las protestas mundiales contra la guerra en Gaza, los líderes judíos dicen que inflama las tensiones y fomenta ataques contra judíos, como el ataque que mató a 15 personas el domingo en la playa Bondi de Sydney.
El comisionado de la Policía Metropolitana de Londres, Mark Rowley, y el jefe de la Policía de la Región de Manchester, Stephen Watson, dijeron que decidieron adoptar una postura más dura después del suceso de Bondi y un ataque el 2 de octubre a una sinagoga en Manchester que dejó dos muertos.
“Sabemos que las comunidades están preocupadas por pancartas y cánticos como ‘globalicemos la intifada’, y aquellos que lo usen en futuras protestas o de manera dirigida deben esperar que la Met y GMP tomen medidas”, dijeron en un comunicado conjunto publicado el miércoles. “Se han producido actos violentos, el contexto ha cambiado: las palabras tienen significado y consecuencia”.
En las horas previas a la manifestación del miércoles por la noche en apoyo de Palestine Action, un grupo propalestino que fue ilegalizado como organización terrorista a principios de este año, la policía de Londres advirtió a los manifestantes que estuvieran al tanto del anuncio anterior.
Dos manifestantes fueron arrestados por “delitos de orden público con agravante de racismo” después de que gritaran consignas pidiendo una intifada durante la protesta frente al Ministerio de Justicia el miércoles por la noche, dijo la Policía Metropolitana en las redes sociales. Una tercera persona fue arrestada por intentar interferir con los arrestos iniciales.
El término “intifada” se utiliza para describir dos grandes levantamientos palestinos contra la política israelí en Cisjordania y la Franja de Gaza, el primero comenzando en 1987 y el segundo en 2000. Durante el reciente conflicto en Gaza, la consigna “globalicemos la intifada” ha sido muy utilizada por manifestantes propalestinos en todo el mundo.
El debate sobre este tipo de lenguaje surge después de que los crímenes de odio antisemitas y el abuso en línea se dispararan en Reino Unido tras el ataque liderado por Hamás a Israel el 7 de octubre de 2023, y la campaña militar israelí en Gaza que siguió.
Alrededor de 1.200 personas fueron asesinadas y 251 tomadas como rehenes durante el ataque inicial a Israel. Más de 70.660 palestinos han sido asesinados durante la campaña israelí en Gaza, según el ministerio de salud del territorio.
___
Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
Chicagoan of the Year in Theater: Glenn Davis is helping lead Steppenwolf into a new era
Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre had its struggles emerging from the pandemic, especially with the added burden of a costly new campus that opened on Halsted at a less-than-ideal moment for a company that needed to scale back production for financial reasons. But 2025 saw not just a recovery but a banner year for Chicago’s most famous theater company, long an emissary for this city that bespeaks of intense acting, ensemble commitment and serious theatrical craft.
The original Steppenwolf productions of “Purpose,” a dazzlingly audacious play by Branden Jacobs Jenkins, and “Little Bear Ridge Road,” a moving showcase by playwright Samuel D. Hunter for the longtime Steppenwolf star Laurie Metcalf, both moved to Broadway. Tracy Letts’ “Bug,” one of the first Steppenwolf shows back after the pandemic with longtime ensemble member Carrie Coon as the star of her husband’s play, will open on Broadway in early January. No other non-profit theater outside Broadway can say anything close to the same. In 2025, Broadway basically looked to London and to Steppenwolf.
The man behind much of this success was this year’s Chicagoan of the Year in Theater.
Glenn Davis, 43, is a son of the Chatham neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, a DePaul University graduate and a longtime Chicago actor who has made it his business since becoming co-artistic director in 2021 to keep Steppenwolf very much in the national cultural conversation. All greatly to the benefit of the city he calls home.
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With his stellar co-artistic director Audrey Francis keeping the theater’s artistic and educational offices running smoothly and creatively in Lincoln Park, the gregarious Davis has been free to roam, all the way to the Tony Awards, where he was a 2025 nominee for his featured performance as Solomon “Junior” Jasper in the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “Purpose,” a character clearly based on former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., even if the name never was actually spoken from the stage.
Few Tony nominees have filled the dual role of negotiating the terms of a nonprofit-to-commercial transfer with themselves in the cast, but Davis, who has been intertwined with Steppenwolf since he joined the acting ensemble in 2017, self-evidently made it work. Meanwhile, Chicago audiences also enjoyed a mostly successful Steppenwolf season featuring such powerful dramas as “You Will Get Sick” (that title alone took some guts to produce) and K. Todd Freeman’s production of Rajiv Joseph’s moving drama “Mr. Wolf,” one of the best shows of the year in Chicago.
Glenn Davis is co-artistic director at the Steppenwolf Theatre and was a producer for the Tony and Pulitzer award wining play “Purpose,” Dec. 11, 2025. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Davis is an inveterate dealmaker and Chicago theater needs more of those. He’s acutely aware of the power of the Steppenwolf brand and committed to its protection. And as an actor himself, he understands how performers have long animated this unique and long-lived company.
“The success we saw this past year came as we approached our 50th anniversary season, and it came with a play that was written for our ensemble,” Davis said in a recent interview. “Even going into it, ‘Purpose’ felt like it had the makings of something special.”
No doubt. But it also took some nerve to stick with the project. On the first day of rehearsal for this commissioned work, the writer only had about 40 pages completed. Everything else, and it sure was good, came contemporaneously with the rehearsal process and actors were still being thrown new pages on days when they were performing that night. Lots of other artistic directors would have panicked or bailed. Davis doggedly stuck with the plan.
“Doing any new play there’s always a huge amount of risk for any theater, so there has to be a balance with familiar titles like ‘Amadeus,’” he says. “So, yes, ‘Purpose’ was a big swing for us. But the result was real artistic fulfillment on every level. Audiences loved it and came in droves. Its artistic merit was universally lauded. The play won the Pulitzer and the Tony. And we had a lot of Steppenwolf actors nominated, too. You never work for accolades but this still all felt to me like a monumental achievement, not just for our ensemble but for all of Chicago. The best part of accepting that Tony for the best production of a play was the texts that came in from so many Chicagoans saying, ‘You represented us very well.’”
Indeed Davis did, both in New York and Chicago. Throughout 2025.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
cjones5@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/18/chicagoan-year-theater-glenn-davis/
Chicagoan of the Year in Dance: Dancemaker Erin Kilmurray looks for what’s next after ‘Fly Honey’
For the first time in 15 years, Erin Kilmurray’s schedule doesn’t include “The Fly Honey Show.” The boundary-breaking, genre-defying, queer-affirming and femme-forward burlesque show won’t return in 2026.
“I feel comfortable with it,” said Kilmurray, the creative visionary of the long-running counterculture cabaret. “‘Fly Honey’ is a really good example of a production and, honestly, a cultural moment that was long lasting because it was asked to be.”
“The Fly Honey Show” was originally envisioned as a one-time fundraiser for the multi-arts collaborative The Inconvenience, of which Kilmurray was a founding member, and the Open Space Project, a dance festival she dreamed up with dancers and choreographers Anna Normann and Suzy Grant. It was a time of richly imaginative growth among Chicago’s 20-somethings, born out of necessity. Kilmurray graduated from college in 2008, at the height of the Great Recession and the dawn of pre-algorithm social media. That origin story has branded Kilmurray as a staunchly DIY artist, despite now having created for some of Chicago’s biggest stages.
“Doing cheap stuff with your friends when you’re starting out in a garage somewhere is the tale as old as time,” said Kilmurray, who recently turned 40. “To sustain that into a professional career, into adulthood, in Chicago, is very hard to do.”
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As her career has evolved, Kilmurray hasn’t needed to be as scrappy as in the beginning, but she’s stayed firm to a set of values. Among the nonnegotiables is an ensemble of collaborators whom she gets to know as artists and human beings. She’s not a solo artist and never has been, she said. And working that way takes time.
“I’ve always been energized by the question and the wonder of what the group can do, and what we’re going to do together. I love facilitating that practice,” Kilmurray said. “I don’t set out with the goal of getting to that presentation place in mind, ever.”
But she does get to it, eventually, as any “Fly Honey” audience member picking glitter out of their hair days later can attest. The lights, the sound, the music, the vibe — the product — are as important to her as the journey it took to get there.
“The audience feels like a collaborator to me — maybe not in the studio, but in the live-ness of performing something and getting that exchange,” she said.
“Knockout,” a tour de force performed in January at Steppenwolf Theatre, could well be the perfect example of that duality between process and product. The project started as danced scribblings with co-choreographer Kara Brody during the pandemic, anathema to virtual hangouts and our collective ineptitude at navigating the messiness of meeting people. After several years and many, many iterations, which came to include critical contributions from sound designer Corey Smith and lighting designer Liz Gomez, it was, hands down, among the best dance this year.
Aesthetically, “Knockout” and “Fly Honey” are miles apart — not to mention other recent work choreographing “As You Like It” for Writers Theatre, or “Othello” at Court Theatre a few years ago. But for Kilmurray, it’s all inextricably linked. Paradoxes have been around her from the start.
Kilmurray grew up in two “polarizingly different places,” spending her childhood in northern New Jersey and her teen years in southern Connecticut. College brought her to Chicago, first to DePaul University, where she was an undeclared freshman on the basketball dance team.
“They gave me a skirt and poms, and I was like, what (expletive) is this?” she said. “I came from tear-away pants at halftime to Janet Jackson.”
It wasn’t time wasted. Kilmurray hung out in the theater school with her randomly assigned freshman roommate, Missi Davis, another founding member of The Inconvenience who would later become her “Fly Honey Show” co-producer. By transferring to Columbia College Chicago, Kilmurray committed to dance for the long haul.
Chicagoan of the Year in Dance is Erin Kilmurray, a choreographer and dancer and the creative force behind the popular “Fly Honey Show,” on Dec. 8, 2025. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
“I don’t know why I thought I could do anything else,” she said.
Peter Carpenter, Gesel Mason and Colleen Halloran were instructive mentors, providing physical and philosophical avenues to creatively transgress the lines between so-called “high art” and her interest in nightlife and club culture. But it was Kilmurray and her peers who pioneered subversive grassroots models and performance platforms like Beauty Bar. They converted warehouses and lofts, one of which — a literal open space in Wicker Park rented for the first time by the Open Space Project — is now The Den Theatre, where the “Fly Honey Show” performed for several years before moving to its final home at Thalia Hall.
And with “Fly Honey” now gone, Kilmurray can get back to basics, spending time in the studio, collecting her curio cabinet of ideas and collaborators. Making what? She’s not sure yet. That’s kind of her thing.
“’Fly Honey’ has never had any institutional support,” she said. “I’ve quite literally torpedoed every possible resource — energetically, financially, physically, culturally, socially — to all of this work. Yeah, we had a Viking funeral. We set out to do something, and we did it.”
Lauren Warnecke is a freelance critic.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/18/chicagoan-year-dance-erin-kilmurray/
Chicagoan of the Year for Pop Music: Rapper Roy Kinsey is founder of the Rapbrary
This year has been something of a blessing for Roy Kinsey.
For one, he turned 40, a monumental year for anyone. But Kinsey also checked off a number of artistic accomplishments this year. In April, there was the release of his latest album, “Dandelions: Gods Don’t Cry.” Kinsey often uses a rich storytelling structure in his songwriting and his latest album is perhaps one of his strongest examples of this creativity.
On the record, Kinsey explores the power of built community through art making and music making. With features from local artists like Mother Nature and Ifeanyi Elswith, among others, on nearly every track, “Dandelions: “Gods Don’t Cry” is a love letter to Chicago.
“It’s named dandelions just because it’s this very powerful, resilient flower and herb that is kind of overlooked in a lot of ways,” Kinsey said.
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Besides, it’s a familiar story. Everyone has a story of picking dandelions as a young child and someone else, perhaps a parent or older sibling, telling them that they are weeds. It is only now, in adulthood for many of us, that we have learned dandelions are a resilient flower with healing properties for the human and nutrients for the soil.
They allow everything else to grow after they bloom.
“Naming the record that was a kind of reclamation,” Kinsey said. “It was me kind of reclaiming my inner child. It was giving myself permission, and it was growing.”
In addition to his latest record, Kinsey expanded on the Rapbrary, a library he founded to preserve rap and hip hop as culturally important literary art forms. Kinsey originally imagined the Rapbrary as a permanent institution, but he soon realized that expanding the Rapbrary throughout the city could provide more ample opportunities for the community to utilize and learn from it. The first such locations were in the Austin Town Hall and Johnetta Art Center in Bronzeville. The Rapbrary also gave out its first Rapbrary Awards, where four people received $1,000 each.
“To empower them and know that the work they are doing is important in a time where our stories are being banned and challenged, or they’re literally telling us that our histories didn’t exist, I just kind of want Rapbrary and hip hop to be that space that continues to honor the legacy of music, of storytelling and of our literature,” Kinsey said.
For Kinsey, storytelling is truly at the heart of what he does. “What is more powerful than the story? What is older than the story?” said Kinsey. “I understand that just because you can say anything doesn’t mean that you should, right? And so I’m very careful about the stories that I tell.”
Influenced by creative powerhouses like Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Amiri Baraka and Octavia Butler, Kinsey says his identity as a Black male librarian, a queer rapper, an outsider in the music industry and as a storyteller fuels his mission and purpose moving forward. Stories are not just the means for discussing our lives. They also have the ability to change us for the better.
“More than ever, we need the skills that you develop when you are consuming a story,” Kinsey added. “We need to be able to develop empathy by understanding other people’s lived experiences, and that’s something that I take seriously as a storyteller.”
It was the breadcrumbs left by his idols in their art, whether through music or through books, that helped Kinsey down his own path. And now, Kinsey hopes his work in the community and through song can do the same for younger folks coming up behind him.
Musician and librarian Roy Kinsey poses for a portrait at the Chicago Cultural Center. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Part of that was done through a chapbook, which he described as a legacy project and a collection of his most impactful songs. Part of that will also continue into the next year. In 2026, Kinsey will release “D’Angelo and the Dandelion,” his first children’s book about a young boy who is learning to accept himself and find strength and trust in who he is. He’ll also release his first documentary, a project directed by Aaron Turney in collaboration with OTV. Titled “Rapbrary: Reading Came First,” the documentary will provide viewers a glimpse of Kinsey’s journey of building the Rapbrary and as well as background information about his life. He also has special projects and installations planned for the end of January and through Black History Month at the Oak Park Public Library, as well as a performance of “Dandelions: Gods Don’t Cry” later on the books.
“It is kind of my mission to continue to turn the light on to people who have gotten us this far by being truth tellers and being dedicated to the written word as well as the spoken word,” Kinsey said. “I want people to develop the thing that we need most right now, which is compassion, which is empathy, which is strategy, which is resilience, overcoming obstacles. I want us to get back to being a society of readers and people that care about the soft skills that you develop when you are taking in so many more stories.”
Britt Julious is a freelance critic.
AfD Says It Was Target Of Infiltration After Eichwald Admits ‘Hitlerian’ Speech Aimed To ‘Warn’ Voters Off
AfD Says It Was Target Of Infiltration After Eichwald Admits ‘Hitlerian’ Speech Aimed To ‘Warn’ Voters Off
After a bizarre speech that mimicked much of the rhetorical style of Adolf Hitler at the founding congress of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) youth group, Alexander Eichwald has confessed that he joined the party as a form of provocation.
In an interview with Junge Frieheit, Jean-Pascal Hohm, who serves as the chairman of the youth group, said that: “He deliberately infiltrated the AfD and its youth organization to harm it. The incident shows once again that the political opponent does not shy away from any method, no matter how perfidious.”
🇩🇪🔴Many on the right are accusing this man of being an undercover agent.
After Alexander Eichwald went viral for his “Hitler-like” speech at the Alternative for Germany (AfD) Youth Congress, speculation is growing about who he actually is.
During his viral speech, he compared… pic.twitter.com/AtJMiz3Bzn
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) December 1, 2025
Eichwald’s speech, in which he used the term “party comrades” and referred to dog breeds when selecting who is allowed into Germany, drew comparisons to Hitler and his propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels.
While speaking with the Austrian newspaper Der Standard, he cited statements from Alice Weidel as the motivating factor, including Weidel’s statement in January 2025 that Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler were “brothers in spirit.”
“For me, as a German from Russia, this is a disgusting and blatant relativization of the war of annihilation against the Slavs, a deliberate disregard for the ‘Lebensraum’ in the East policy of the Nazis and the entire Eastern campaign against the Soviet Union and its peoples,” he said.
Eichwald said that Weidel should never become chancellor.
Stalin was also widely seen as being responsible for the deaths of millions through mass executions, forced labor, and engineered famines, including the forced displacement of various ethnic groups across the Soviet Union. Many historians and countries label his actions as genocide.
Eichwald himself appears to be an ethnic German who left Russia when he was 9 years old, as many Russians of German descent did after the fall of communism.
During the interview, he also said that he agrees with many of the AfD’s policy points.
“The AfD addresses the issues of border protection and domestic security more conscientiously than any other party,” he told Der Standard.
Eichwald also said that his speech did not differ in content from what the AfD promotes. He also said he does not understand why he is being expelled from the party.
“I did not differ in content from my previous or subsequent speaker,” he said.
He said another speaker, Kevin Dorow, used a slogan in the youth group, which he said was used by the Hitler Youth, which is: “Youth must be led by youth.”
Eichwald said regarding his speech’s style, that he wanted to attract attention to what the AfD believes.
He said that many of his statements are what “many say behind closed doors, at the regulars’ table and in the AfD.“
Eichwald’s original speech sparked frenzied speculation about whether he was a plant from Germany’s Office of the Protection of the Constitution (BfV).
Pascal Hohm also did not know who Eichwald was after his speech, telling dpa news agency:
“No matter whether you’re a left-wing provocateur, an undercover agent or simply crazy – anyone who acts like that has no place in the AfD and its youth organization.”
“Alexander Eichwald’s appearance once again showed how important it is to look closely at admission interviews to see who you accept into the party and who you don’t,” he added.
The party announced Eichwald would be expelled, and he was withdrawn from the Herford city council.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/18/2025 – 06:30
Review: ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ is a welcome return to James Cameron’s Pandora
At 71, James Cameron still makes movies like he’s got something to prove — despite his many accolades, awards and box office successes. But that fighting spirit is what makes Cameron’s films feel so alive and urgent, a spirit that he has infused into his epic sci-fi space Western saga, “Avatar.” For almost three decades, he has been ensconced on the planet Pandora, dedicating himself to this film series that expresses all of his obsessions: technology, the ocean, swaggering Marines, powerful women, guns, a deep skepticism for the military and corporations, and a streak of rebellion.
The 2022 installment, “Avatar: The Way of Water,” was a massive expansion of the world on Pandora, exploring the oceans of the planet, and his third film “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” is an extension of that already established world-building, just a whole lot more of it. “Fire and Ash” is only five minutes longer than “The Way of Water,” but clocking in at three hours and 17 minutes, it feels much heftier, but perhaps because there’s much more conflict this time around, less frolicking in the beautiful digital sea.
There is a function to the bloated running time — by the time the big climactic battle is crashing around us, we care about these characters: the blended Sully family made up of Marine-turned-Na’vi Jake (Sam Worthington), his wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), their band of kids, including Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), Tuk (Trinity Bliss), and adopted human kid, Spider (Jack Champion). You care about the Metkayina village where they live, on a beautiful reef, and the society of whales called the Tulkun, that communes with the Metkayina. Cameron builds our emotional connection to these characters, which pays off when he rains fire down upon them.
Cameron, who wrote the script with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, uses well-known genre storytelling and tropes that afford him the ability to populate the world with blue alien creatures and other fantastical animals. But his use of the Western genre goes deeper than that here, particularly when it comes to his critique of the human military’s rampant slaughter, borrowing the 1970s Western’s commentary on the violence of the Vietnam War to imbue his anti-colonialist action-adventure with sharper, more pointed indictments of its villains.
“Fire and Ash” continues the same conflict of the prior films, as the Na’vi fight to save Pandora from human invasion. But in this chapter, there are shifting alliances and surprising new foes. Jake Sully’s eternal antagonist is Col. Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), whose consciousness has been permanently placed in a Na’vi form. But while Jake adopted the ways of the Na’vi, Quaritch remains a hard-charging soldier, and in “Fire and Ash,” he gets his own female counterpart in Varang (Oona Chaplin), the witchy, wild queen of a warlike Na’vi tribe that wields fiery arrows and raids trader caravans for fun. When Quaritch places a flamethrower in Varang’s hands, the two are instantly locked in a lustful dance of destruction, becoming the dark doppelgängers of Jake and Neytiri.
Kiri, performed by Sigourney Weaver, in a scene from “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” (20th Century Studios via AP)
The object of Quaritch’s bloody quest is Spider. He has attained the ability to breathe on Pandora thanks to a mysterious mycelium that Kiri calls upon with her own strange powers. The RDA mining operation begins a frenzied chase to track him down to study him, so that humans might one day inhabit Pandora. Spider becomes the most valuable and most dangerous character in the film, and Jake fears that keeping him around will endanger the entire planet.
Cameron relies on these family ties and easily understood emotions to navigate through the complicated plot, the lore of the Na’vi and the vertiginous action sequences. The spectacle is absolutely mind-boggling — no surprise there, Cameron can still mount an action sequence that brings together military-grade weapons and fantastical flying creatures at the same time, and it somehow feels right. What also feels right? The extremely corny dialogue that we let him get away with, because it’s Cameron.
If “Way of Water” was Cameron’s nod to his own “Titanic,” with its watery environs and big sinking ship climax, “Fire and Ash” feels more like “Aliens” — and not just because Weaver delivers a riff on her iconic line from that movie’s climax. It’s in his skewering of extractive corporations, and his condemnation of amoral military violence (there’s also his thing for powerful female warriors). There’s also nods to “Star Wars” and other sci-fi classics.
Cameron wraps his environmental messages about preserving the Earth and maintaining a gentle relationship with it in gloriously rendered action bombast told with well-loved narrative formulas. His anti-colonialist, pro-Indigenous cri de coeur is inspiring, if a bit on the nose, but we can forgive that, because the visual spectacle is just so breathtakingly beautiful, the emotional stakes palpable, and the intention is so earnest. It’s good to be back on Pandora.
Katie Walsh is a critic for Tribune News Service.
“Avatar: Fire and Ash” — 3 stars (out of 4)
MPA rating: PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence and action, bloody images, some strong language, thematic elements and suggestive material)
Running time: 3:17
How to watch: In theaters Dec. 19
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/18/review-avatar-fire-ash/
Review: ‘The Housemaid’ is a trashy treat for holiday season
Director Paul Feig has proved himself to be the preeminent purveyor of the finest high-camp trash one can find at the movie theater these days — and that’s a compliment. If Feig is serving up the trash, then call me a raccoon, because I’m ready to dive in.
Feig’s special sauce when it comes to these soapy, female-driven thrillers like “A Simple Favor” and now “The Housemaid,” adapted by Rebecca Sonnenshine from a “BookTok” sensation by Freida McFadden, is clearly his comedy background. Feig understands exactly the tone and tropes to deploy here, and you can feel his knowing winks and nudges to the audience with every loaded glance, stray graze or wandering camera movement. It’s as if he’s saying, to us, and all the tipsy ladies in the audience, “check this out — LOL right?” LOL indeed, Mr. Feig, LOL.
“The Housemaid” is an erotic crime thriller that plays off silly sexual stereotypes and fantasies like the naughty maid, and then flips them on their head. In the opening scene, the drably dressed, bespectacled Millie (Sydney Sweeney) interviews for a live-in maid position with the warm and friendly wife and mother Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried) in her gorgeously appointed Long Island mansion designed by her wealthy husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar).
But all is not what it seems on the surface, for either applicant or employer. Both are hiding dark secrets, but Nina hires Millie nevertheless, and Millie, without any other options, gratefully accepts.
When Millie moves into the maid’s quarters in the attic, she discovers that the Winchester home isn’t as picture-perfect as it seemed. Little things are off: she can’t open her window, the groundskeeper Enzo (Michele Morrone) glowers at her constantly, items go missing, and CeCe (Indiana Elle), Nina’s daughter, is exceedingly cold.
Then there are the big things that are off, like Nina’s wild mood swings, requests that Nina then claims she never made, and the vicious gossip about her mental health among the other Stepford wives. Millie realizes she’s in over her head with Mrs. Winchester, but her saving grace is the warm and handsome Mr. Winchester. Is that where this is going?
Of course it is, we all happily groan together.
“The Housemaid” is like “Gaslight” meets “Jane Eyre,” with a dash of “Rebecca,” with all the various roles lightly scrambled, and a much sexier, nastier streak than any of those mannered mindbenders. Feig stylishly waltzes us through this steamy, twisty mystery with ease, but not necessarily sophistication — this is the kind of frothy entertainment that you can still enjoyably comprehend after a glass or two, which in fact might enhance the experience.
But it doesn’t work without an actor of Seyfried’s caliber, who can summon unpredictable mayhem from her fingertips, or without Sweeney, who works best in a register somewhere between ditzy blonde and tough little scrapper. Both actors exude an element of the unhinged that simmers right below the doe-eyed blond surface, and we know we need to be a little (or a lot) afraid of these women. The film also doesn’t work without a heartthrob like Sklenar, as we need to fall in lust with his gorgeous exterior and intoxicatingly cuddly aura for this all to make sense.
There’s not much more to divulge without giving it all away, but prepare to titter, gasp, scream and cheer for this juicy slice of indulgent women’s entertainment. Go on, you deserve a little treat this holiday season.
Katie Walsh is a critic for Tribune News Service.
“The Housemaid” — 3 stars (out of 4)
MPA rating: R (for strong/bloody violent content, sexual assault, sexual content, nudity and language)
Running time: 2:11
How to watch: In theaters Dec. 19
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/18/review-housemaid-movie/
El papa nombra al obispo Ronald Hicks, de Chicago, como arzobispo de Nueva York en su mayor nombramiento en EEUU
Associated Press
CIUDAD DEL VATICANO (AP) — El papa nombra al obispo Ronald Hicks, de Chicago, como arzobispo de Nueva York en su mayor nombramiento en EEUU.
