Republicans propose bill to rename the Kennedy Center to the Donald J. Trump Center for the Performing Arts
The proposed legislation, titled the 'Make Entertainment Great Again Act,' cites President Trump as a significant cultural icon and patron of the arts.
This bill follows a separate amendment, introduced by Republican Representative Mike Simpson, to rename the Kennedy Center's Opera House after First Lady Melania Trump, which passed the House Appropriations Committee 33-25.
President Trump recently replaced members of the Kennedy Center's board and became its chairman, stating his intention to ensure the institution was 'not going to be woke.'
John F. Kennedy's grandson, Jack Schlossberg, has criticized these renaming efforts, suggesting President Trump is 'obsessed with being bigger than JFK.'
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The Independent
14 minutes ago
- The Independent
Inside Ukraine's effort to produce more of its own weapons to fight Putin as Trump's support flip-flops
On Tuesday, Donald Trump gave Vladimir Putin a new deadline – agree to a ceasefire in the Ukraine war or face fresh sanctions. It appeared the US president had finally run out of patience with the Russian leader, declaring he was 'no longer interested in talks' and cutting a previous deadline of 50 days dramatically short. But regardless of how encouraging this apparent renewed sense of urgency might be to Ukraine, Mr Trump's views on the war and support for Kyiv are anything but consistent. From the infamous Oval Office ambush of Volodymyr Zelensky to fluctuating financial commitments from the US, Kyiv has been wise to look elsewhere for reliable supplies – preferably Ukraine's own burgeoning weapons industry. Ukraine has made no secret that a key priority is to build its own missiles that match the destructive power and long reach of the Shahed killer drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles that Moscow has been launching in recent weeks. Russia has launched huge mass aerial attacks against the capital and cities across Ukraine including Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Ivano-Frankivsk and Pavlohrad. Pavlohrad, in Ukraine's southeastern region of Dnipropetrovsk, recently suffered its biggest aerial attack since the start of the full-scale invasion. When The Independent drove into the city two days later, a huge plume of smoke, visible from miles away, hung over it as fires continued to rage. It is common knowledge that Pavlohrad has been home to missile production facilities since Soviet times, and Russia's defence ministry claimed, after the attack, it had struck facilities producing components for missiles and drones. Dima, who works in the local coal miners' union communications department, lives in the industrial area of the city that took the brunt of the attack. 'We experience explosions from Russian rockets and drones frequently,' he said. 'But this attack was the biggest and seemed to go on forever. The Russians have increased their aerial attacks and the targets are civilian more often than military to try to cause terror.' With Russia ramping up attacks regardless of any deadline Mr Trump attempts to impose, Kyiv has been looking at new ways to hit back. Ukraine has shown its advanced drones can destroy targets deep inside Russian territory, more than 1,000km from the Ukrainian border. And it is already producing and using a family of missile systems named 'Neptune', 'Palyanytsia,' 'Peklo,' and 'Ruta'. According to Kyiv, production multiplied eight times between 2023 and 2024 with even more growth planned for this year. Mr Zelensky has said Ukraine intends to produce 3,000 cruise and drone missiles in 2025. The homegrown R-360 Neptune cruise missile, with a 150kg warhead has been modified, according to Mr Zelensky, to give it an improved range. However, Neptunes and Ukraine's other missiles have explosive payloads that are only a fraction – sometimes a tenth – of those carried by Russian rockets. Ukrainian engineers are focused on long-range missiles able to inflict on Russia the sort of pain it is daily inflicting on Ukrainians. One of those is called 'Bars' (Leopard), first publicly mentioned at a Ukrainian weapons exhibition last April by the minister for strategic industries, Herman Smetanin. The scant information that has emerged about it suggests it is a hybrid between long-range drones and cruise missiles powered by a turbojet engine, giving it great speed and with a range of 700-800km with a warhead of 50-100kg of explosives. But it is not certain that Bars are the game-changing missiles on which Ukraine is pinning its hopes. A payload of only 100kg gives it a far weaker punch than that of Russian rockets, which often pack one-ton warheads. Mr Zelensky alluded last year to the successful test of an engine for a homemade ballistic missile. Military experts have speculated it is an offspring of the Sapsan Operational-Tactical Missile System – also known as Hrim and Hrim2 – that was conceived in the early 2000s but was dogged by funding problems and lack of political will. It was revived after Russia's 2014 invasion of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and eastern Donbas region. One person, who did not want to be named and works with his country's defence industry, told The Independent information about missile development is probably Ukraine's most closely guarded secret. He said: 'Everyone, even senior officials, are forbidden to talk about this subject. If you do, you'll probably be arrested. The only person allowed to reveal anything is President Zelensky.' Strategic Industries minister Mr Smetanin, spearheads the efforts to grow the country's weapons production capacity. Adviser to the ministry, Yuri Sak, said that Ukraine heard the warning bells after the US first cut off support for Ukraine over the autumn and winter of 2023 to 2024. 'We realised that we had to start moving towards becoming self-sufficient and as a result our ministry was tasked with pretty much resuscitating Ukraine's defence industry. We began to make contingency plans, which we have in place now. 'Despite the war, despite the missile attacks, despite the hundreds of Shahed drones that are launched against Ukraine pretty much every night, we were able to increase our defence industry output by 35 times during the last three years.' Russia's stocks of arms and ammunition and her high capacity to manufacture weapons of all kinds meant it massively outgunned Ukraine initially, but Western-supplied weapons helped dramatically even up the odds. Mr Sak said that, since Russia's initial invasion in 2014, the number of weapons-related companies in Ukraine has mushroomed to about 100 state-owned defence industry enterprises and almost 700 private companies. From producing one howitzer per month in 2022, Mr Sak said Ukraine is now delivering 15 each month. The conflict in Ukraine has changed the nature of warfare and seen a profound shift toward drones, with Ukraine planning to produce five million this year. 'We are also producing domestically the full spectrum of unmanned and robotic systems, land drones, naval drones, aerial drones, which include both reconnaissance drones and bombers, and drones with ranges of up to 2,000km,' Mr Sak said. 'These very successfully target Russian war machinery and their oil refineries and depots because all the profits from their oil trade go to finance their war and to prosecute war crimes.' But the Russians know Ukraine is ploughing huge resources into producing its own missiles and other weapons and are trying to destroy any locations they identify where those are being developed or manufactured. Mr Sak said: 'We try to be as quiet as possible about the locations of our defence industry. Where possible, we have relaunched existing facilities that have been idle for the last 20-plus years and, in other cases, we are building new facilities. All this is kept confidential because the Russians are targeting our defence industry enterprises.' Much of Ukraine's defence production has been split up, so that three or four smaller, concealed sites replicate the same weapons system and, if one is hit, overall production continues. The Independent visited one such facility in western Ukraine on condition that no details were published that would allow its location to be identified. Concealed within a sprawling, somewhat dilapidated, Soviet-era industrial zone, the facility produces BTR-4E 'Bucephalus' armoured personnel carriers. The eight-wheeled Ukrainian design went into production in 2012. Until 2022, it was produced at a large plant in the east Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, targeted by Russia early in the full-scale war. The owner of the plant, calling himself Andriy for this article, is a former soldier who has himself seen action against the invading Russian forces. His factory previously produced heavy precision machinery and engine parts and converted to weapons manufacture in early 2024 to become one of three concealed facilities scattered across Ukraine producing Bucephalus APCs. Speaking with the glow of the plant's foundry behind him, Andriy said: 'We cast and produce almost everything for the construction of the APC, hull, turret, wheels, axles. The engines are brought in from Germany and the weapons are fitted elsewhere. We produce four per month and plan to increase that number.' In addition to the 300 plant employees, inspectors working for the Ukrainian defence ministry, minutely scrutinise each component produced there. The concealed sites are protected by air defences to counter Russian missiles and drones. Such secret weapons production sites are keenly sought out by Russian spies and informers on the ground and by satellite surveillance, and Andriy has security guards and equipment watching the perimeter of the plant. 'But mostly we rely on trust,' he explained. 'That people who live in the same community and know each other will not betray each other or their country.'
Daily Mail
15 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Caitlin Clark caught whispering with Sophie Cunningham about WNBA rival who 'hates' her in viral clip
Caitlin Clark appeared to gossip with Sophie Cunningham about a WNBA rival who 'hates' her during the Indiana Fever's win over the Dallas Wings on Friday night. Footage captured by ION shows Cunningham whispering into the ear of Clark, who has been out for the last three weeks with a groin injury, while sitting on the bench together in Dallas. It is unclear what the Fever guard initially said given to her superstar teammate she was covering her mouth with a towel. However, Clark seemingly responds to Cunningham by saying: 'Yep, I know... she hates me.' Fans quickly began to speculate about who the Indiana sensation could have been talking about if those comments were lip read accurately. One Dallas player she has feuded with in the past is DiJonai Carrington, who infamously poked her in the eye during the 2024 WNBA playoffs. 'Yup, I know. She hates me' Caitlin Clark after Sophie Cunningham whispered in her ear 😭 — BricksCenter (@BricksCenter) August 2, 2025 Clark was left with a black eye after the poke, which came while Carrington was playing for the Connecticut Sun. No foul was called despite the contact knocking her to the ground, before the Sun went on to claim victory in Game 1. In her postgame press conference, Clark was sporting a clear shiner on her right eye after the finger to the face. 'Obviously, she got me pretty good in the eye,' she told reporters about the poke. One month after the incident, Carrington mocked Clark by recreating the poke during an Instagram live stream with girlfriend and fellow WNBA player NaLyssa Smith. Smith looked to deliberately catch her eye before she said, 'You poked me in the eye' with a smile on her face. The pair then began laughing as Carrington asked, 'Did you do it on purpose?' - an apparent dig at USA TODAY columnist Christine Brennan for suggesting she poked Clark intentionally. Cunningham, who has become Clark's enforcer on the court since joining the Fever this year, recently leapt to her teammate's defense after claiming she is unfairly targeted by her WNBA rivals. 'You have seen players in our league try and toughen up Caitlin. Even when I wasn't on her team. I know the talks that Phoenix had in the locker room,' Sophie said on her new Show Me Something podcast. ''No, we're going to show her what the W really is'. I get it to a certain extent. Every rookie coming into the league, that's how you're going to treat them. 'But there's just more for her. Now, being on her team, I'm like: 'What are people doing?! It's just too much'.
Daily Mail
15 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
The ambitious sisters from 'new money' who rocked 1990s NYC high society... and bagged themselves royal husbands
It's no secret that there is a societal fascination with sisters. From the socialite Schuyler sisters in the 1700s, to the reality TV star Kardashians today. There's athletes Serena and Venus Williams, and models Gigi and Bella Hadid. In the 1990s, New York City was enamored with a trio of sisters who dominated the city's social scene, and eventually dazzled their way down the aisle with three of the world's most eligible bachelors. They were known as the Miller Sisters, and their pictures were plastered all over magazines – shots of them sitting front row at runway shows or photographs of them sipping champagne on luxury vacations. The trio are the daughters of Robert Warren Miller, an American–born British businessman who co–founded DFS Group, known colloquially as Duty Free. He married Ecuadorian–born María Clara 'Chantal' Pesantes Becerra, and together, they had the three stunningly beautiful girls. According to Kristen Richardson – high–society expert and author of The Season: A Social History of the Debutante, the 1990s were a very interesting time to observe high society. 'It [the 1990s] had a feeling of transition, because you had the traditional upper class, recognizable on both sides of the Atlantic, which was disintegrating, and you had the rise of new types of money – entertainment money, the beginning of tech money... and the scale of money became much bigger,' Richardson explained. 'What happened to the old money in the 90s was, not only did their fortunes become less significant, but the cultural value shifted and made them less relevant,' she continued. Speaking about the Miller sisters, Richardson noted that they were not old money, as their father was a duty–free billionaire. They were new money, and they had no problem flaunting their wealth – although they did so with taste and elegance. Richardson chalked the public fascination with them being mostly due to the fact that they were sisters with a massive amount of money, as well as their good manners and taste, which was more rare during that time. 'They were ambitious,' she said. And their ambitions certainly paid off. Pia Christina Miller, now 58, is the eldest of the sisters. She was born in New York City, spent her childhood in Hong Kong and later attended Institut Le Rosey – a private boarding school in Switzerland. She briefly attended Barnard College in New York and later studied art history at Georgetown University. The eldest sister married Getty Oil heir, Christopher Getty, in 1992 in a lavish 300–guest Bali wedding. They said their vows on a mountaintop, while Indonesian children dropped rose petals on them. Pia's wedding, shockingly, was much more intimate and low–key than the weddings of her younger sisters. The middle sister Marie–Chantal, now 56, was born in London, and attended school in Hong Kong, Switzerland, Paris and New York. She began a degree in History of Art at NYU – having interned with Andy Warhol while still in high school – but her higher education efforts were cut short, naturally, when she was proposed to by the prince of Greece. Marie–Chantal met Pavlos of Greece (an exiled crown prince and of son of Greece's last king, King Constantine II) when one of her friends – New York investment banker Alecko Papamarkou – set them up on a blind date. 'We clicked,' the Princess told Vanity Fair in 2008. 'It was love at first sight. I knew that he was the person I would marry.' Pavlos – who is also of Danish royal blood through his mother, Queen Anne–Marie – proposed to Marie–Chantal on a skiing holiday in Gstaad, Switzerland, at Christmas. The pair's London wedding was the event of the social season, the New York Times reported that the occasion sent a global message, 'the display of class, social clout and uptown style are back in fashion'. Valentino scored the ultimate job of designing not only the bridal gown, but 61 other outfits – including dresses for Queen Sofia of Spain, the Infanta Cristina, Princess Rosario and Empress Farah Diba. 'I have never been to such a beautifully arranged wedding – the flowers, the tables, the tent,' Valentino said of the extravagant 1,200–person event. Nuptials took place at a mansion in the English countryside – where giant marquees recreated the Parthenon and 100,000 flowers were flown in from Ecuador. The youngest Miller sister also married into royal blood. Alexandra, now 52, was born in Hong Kong, and eventually attended Parsons School of Design and Brown University, where she studied costume design and art history. Despite being the youngest, Alexandra made her romantic catch before her older sisters. In 1987, 14–year–old Alexandra was walking home to The Carlyle Hotel on the Upper East Side when she encountered the dashing 17–year–old Prince Alexander von Fürstenberg in the elevator. Alexander is the son of the Austro–Italian aristocrat and Fiat heir, Prince Egon von Fürstenberg and fashion designer, Diane von Fürstenberg. They didn't officially start dating until Alexandra was 18. The pair got married in a glorious ceremony at St. Ignatius Loyola Church on New York's Park Avenue in front of 650 guests. Alexandra stunned in an off–the–shoulder white satin with a bouffant skirt and a long white tulle veil falling – the work of Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel. However, of the three marriages, only one survived. Marie–Chantal and Pavlos are still married with five children – four boys and one girl. Alexandra and Alexander Von Fürstenberg had two children together – a girl and a boy. Pia and Christopher Getty had four children – one girl and three boys – together, but their marriage also ended 13 years after saying 'I do'. While, in comparison to today's socialite–types, the Miller sisters appear to reflect the notion of quiet luxury, Richardson holds that in their heyday they were not understated. 'They were in every magazine, all day, every day, for years... at every party,' she explained. She continued, 'I think we see them now and compare them to like the Kardashians and they seem understated, but my definition of understated is invisible... and they were not invisible.' Luckily, we don't have to imagine what the Miller sisters' social media accounts might look like had they been young in today's generation, because each sister had a daughter of their own – and they're now best friends. If you look at Isabel Getty, 31, Princess Marie–Olympia of Greece, 29, or Talita Von Fürstenberg, 26, on Instagram then you will see a highlight reel of Mediterranean getaways, British music festivals, grandiose family Christmas celebrations and endless events. Talita is an annual attendee of the Met Gala and Isabel a regular at Royal Ascot. But despite the Miller sisters' former wild ways, they appear to be stricter with their own heiresses. 'Olympia says I was the strictest with her – the poor thing,' Marie–Chantal told Avenue in 2021. 'When she would go on sleepovers, I would say, "Prove it to me that you're at your friend's house" and she'd have to take a picture. 'When I was her age, I was in New York with Andy Warhol. She reminds me all the time. She'd say, "It's ironic that you're so strict with me when you were out and about, completely able to do whatever you wanted."' 'I guess that's the way it is — you learn from your experiences. I had a lot more independence young, and therefore I am stricter and more worried because the world is a different place,' she said. While these women's Wikipedia pages may describe them as 'socialites', Richardson isn't sure such a thing exists anymore. 'I don't even know if there are female socialites now,' she said. ' I think the expectation, historically, was that a female socialite would be very charitable... would essentially draw attention to causes. 'The party needed to have some degree of virtue at some level to justify its existence,' she continued. Now, with social media, socialite–types don't need to be out supporting causes to make themselves look good, because they can do damage control and sculpt their image from the comfort of their private luxury yacht.
