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Columbia University's interim president, Katrina Armstrong, has stepped down, the college said, at a time when the New York-based institution is facing intense pressure from both the government and rights advocates over how it responds to last year's Gaza protests.Armstrong is returning to lead the university's Irving Medical Center, Columbia University said in a statement on Friday. It did not give a reason for the change."Board of Trustees Co-Chair Claire Shipman has been appointed Acting President, effective immediately, and will serve until the Board completes its presidential search," it said. The administration of President Donald Trump canceled $400 million in federal funding for Columbia, saying the university did not do enough to combat antisemitism and student safety amid last year's campus protests over Israel's war in Gaza.People rally against the detention by ICE agents of Hamas supporter and Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, in New York City, on March 20, 2025. Media analysts who spew incorrect details proclaim violations of freedom of speech and the right to assembly, the writer claims. (credit: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)Columbia last week agreed to make changes demanded by the Trump administration, sparking anger from rights advocates, who called it an assault on free speech.Armstrong's final statementIn a campus-wide email at the time, Armstrong wrote that the her priorities were "to advance our mission, ensure uninterrupted academic activities, and make every student, faculty, and staff member safe and welcome on our campus."Columbia was at the center of Gaza encampment protests in the summer of 2024 that spread around the United States. Protesters demanded an end to Israel's military assault on Gaza which followed Hamas's October 7 attacks and urged their colleges to divest from companies with ties to Israel.
Armstrong is returning to lead the university's Irving Medical Center, Columbia University said in a statement on Friday. It did not give a reason for the change."Board of Trustees Co-Chair Claire Shipman has been appointed Acting President, effective immediately, and will serve until the Board completes its presidential search," it said. The administration of President Donald Trump canceled $400 million in federal funding for Columbia, saying the university did not do enough to combat antisemitism and student safety amid last year's campus protests over Israel's war in Gaza.People rally against the detention by ICE agents of Hamas supporter and Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, in New York City, on March 20, 2025. Media analysts who spew incorrect details proclaim violations of freedom of speech and the right to assembly, the writer claims. (credit: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)Columbia last week agreed to make changes demanded by the Trump administration, sparking anger from rights advocates, who called it an assault on free speech.Armstrong's final statementIn a campus-wide email at the time, Armstrong wrote that the her priorities were "to advance our mission, ensure uninterrupted academic activities, and make every student, faculty, and staff member safe and welcome on our campus."Columbia was at the center of Gaza encampment protests in the summer of 2024 that spread around the United States. Protesters demanded an end to Israel's military assault on Gaza which followed Hamas's October 7 attacks and urged their colleges to divest from companies with ties to Israel.
"Board of Trustees Co-Chair Claire Shipman has been appointed Acting President, effective immediately, and will serve until the Board completes its presidential search," it said. The administration of President Donald Trump canceled $400 million in federal funding for Columbia, saying the university did not do enough to combat antisemitism and student safety amid last year's campus protests over Israel's war in Gaza.People rally against the detention by ICE agents of Hamas supporter and Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, in New York City, on March 20, 2025. Media analysts who spew incorrect details proclaim violations of freedom of speech and the right to assembly, the writer claims. (credit: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)Columbia last week agreed to make changes demanded by the Trump administration, sparking anger from rights advocates, who called it an assault on free speech.Armstrong's final statementIn a campus-wide email at the time, Armstrong wrote that the her priorities were "to advance our mission, ensure uninterrupted academic activities, and make every student, faculty, and staff member safe and welcome on our campus."Columbia was at the center of Gaza encampment protests in the summer of 2024 that spread around the United States. Protesters demanded an end to Israel's military assault on Gaza which followed Hamas's October 7 attacks and urged their colleges to divest from companies with ties to Israel.
The administration of President Donald Trump canceled $400 million in federal funding for Columbia, saying the university did not do enough to combat antisemitism and student safety amid last year's campus protests over Israel's war in Gaza.People rally against the detention by ICE agents of Hamas supporter and Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, in New York City, on March 20, 2025. Media analysts who spew incorrect details proclaim violations of freedom of speech and the right to assembly, the writer claims. (credit: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)Columbia last week agreed to make changes demanded by the Trump administration, sparking anger from rights advocates, who called it an assault on free speech.Armstrong's final statementIn a campus-wide email at the time, Armstrong wrote that the her priorities were "to advance our mission, ensure uninterrupted academic activities, and make every student, faculty, and staff member safe and welcome on our campus."Columbia was at the center of Gaza encampment protests in the summer of 2024 that spread around the United States. Protesters demanded an end to Israel's military assault on Gaza which followed Hamas's October 7 attacks and urged their colleges to divest from companies with ties to Israel.
Columbia last week agreed to make changes demanded by the Trump administration, sparking anger from rights advocates, who called it an assault on free speech.Armstrong's final statementIn a campus-wide email at the time, Armstrong wrote that the her priorities were "to advance our mission, ensure uninterrupted academic activities, and make every student, faculty, and staff member safe and welcome on our campus."Columbia was at the center of Gaza encampment protests in the summer of 2024 that spread around the United States. Protesters demanded an end to Israel's military assault on Gaza which followed Hamas's October 7 attacks and urged their colleges to divest from companies with ties to Israel.
In a campus-wide email at the time, Armstrong wrote that the her priorities were "to advance our mission, ensure uninterrupted academic activities, and make every student, faculty, and staff member safe and welcome on our campus."Columbia was at the center of Gaza encampment protests in the summer of 2024 that spread around the United States. Protesters demanded an end to Israel's military assault on Gaza which followed Hamas's October 7 attacks and urged their colleges to divest from companies with ties to Israel.
Columbia was at the center of Gaza encampment protests in the summer of 2024 that spread around the United States. Protesters demanded an end to Israel's military assault on Gaza which followed Hamas's October 7 attacks and urged their colleges to divest from companies with ties to Israel.
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The world's richest man and close aide of Donald Trump, Elon Musk, announced on Friday that his AI company, xAI, has acquired social media platform X, once known as Twitter, in an all-stock deal valued at $45 billion, including $12 billion in debt, placing xAI's valuation at $80 billion and X's at $33 billion.
With this move, Musk aims to integrate artificial intelligence and social media, merging xAI's cutting-edge technology with X's vast user base of over 600 million.
Musk said in a post on X that xAI and X's futures are “intertwined” and that the companies will combine data, models, computing power, distribution, and talent. He added that the merged entity would be valued at $80 billion.
“The combined company will deliver smarter, more meaningful experiences to billions of people while staying true to our core mission of seeking truth and advancing knowledge. This will allow us to build a platform that doesn't just reflect the world but actively accelerates human progress,” wrote Musk.
The combined company, he said, will not just reflect the world but actively accelerate human progress.
Musk, who heads the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and is Tesla's CEO, said, “I would like to recognize the hardcore dedication of everyone at xAI and X that has brought us to this point. This is just the beginning.”
Elon Musk's AI startup, xAI, founded in 2023, recently secured $6 billion in funding, bringing its valuation to $40 billion, sources told Reuters.
In February, Musk, along with a consortium, made a $97.4 billion bid to acquire ChatGPT maker OpenAI. However, OpenAI rejected the offer, stating that the company was not for sale.
Washington, DC's Jewish federation is allocating $180,000 to help laid-off federal workers, the latest way the Trump administration's slashing of the federal government is rippling out to Jewish organizations.The sum is a multiple of 18, which signifies life in Judaism, and will be split: $100,000 will be distributed via local synagogue rabbis, and $80,000 will go to social service agencies that partner with the federation. “Federation is stepping up to ensure that no one in our community has to navigate this hardship alone,” Jewish Federation of Greater Washington CEO Gil Preuss said in a press release. “In moments of uncertainty, we must depend on the strength of our Jewish community to provide the foundation we need to rebuild.”More than 100,000 federal workers have been laid off in the government downsizing of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's DOGE agency, according to a CNN analysis. Approximately 20% of the federal workforce lives in the DC area. AdvertisementPreuss said in an interview that local rabbis could provide financial assistance of up to $1,500 per family at their discretion to community members impacted by the layoffs and that the federation's fund would reimburse them. “We trust them to make the decision,” he said.The White House is pictured in Washington D.C (credit: REUTERS)The effectsTrump and Musk's funding cuts have already put the Jewish organizational world on alert, impacting several of their priorities: Jewish groups across the country were briefly thrown into crisis mode when the administration announced a short-lived, sweeping freeze on federal funding in January.Cuts to USAID have stopped the flow of government money to Israeli-Palestinian peace-building efforts. Stay updated with the latest news! Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter Subscribe Now Cuts to FEMA have frozen federal funding for synagogue security. AdvertisementTrump also suspended funding for refugee resettlement, though that decision was recently blocked by a judge in a lawsuit brought by several refugee aid groups, including the Jewish group HIAS.Other Jewish institutions in the DC area, including day schools, are feeling the effects of the layoff spree. Half of the parents of students at the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School in Washington, DC are employed in some capacity by the federal government, according to Jewish Insider.
The sum is a multiple of 18, which signifies life in Judaism, and will be split: $100,000 will be distributed via local synagogue rabbis, and $80,000 will go to social service agencies that partner with the federation. “Federation is stepping up to ensure that no one in our community has to navigate this hardship alone,” Jewish Federation of Greater Washington CEO Gil Preuss said in a press release. “In moments of uncertainty, we must depend on the strength of our Jewish community to provide the foundation we need to rebuild.”More than 100,000 federal workers have been laid off in the government downsizing of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's DOGE agency, according to a CNN analysis. Approximately 20% of the federal workforce lives in the DC area. AdvertisementPreuss said in an interview that local rabbis could provide financial assistance of up to $1,500 per family at their discretion to community members impacted by the layoffs and that the federation's fund would reimburse them. “We trust them to make the decision,” he said.The White House is pictured in Washington D.C (credit: REUTERS)The effectsTrump and Musk's funding cuts have already put the Jewish organizational world on alert, impacting several of their priorities: Jewish groups across the country were briefly thrown into crisis mode when the administration announced a short-lived, sweeping freeze on federal funding in January.Cuts to USAID have stopped the flow of government money to Israeli-Palestinian peace-building efforts. Stay updated with the latest news! Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter Subscribe Now Cuts to FEMA have frozen federal funding for synagogue security. AdvertisementTrump also suspended funding for refugee resettlement, though that decision was recently blocked by a judge in a lawsuit brought by several refugee aid groups, including the Jewish group HIAS.Other Jewish institutions in the DC area, including day schools, are feeling the effects of the layoff spree. Half of the parents of students at the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School in Washington, DC are employed in some capacity by the federal government, according to Jewish Insider.
“Federation is stepping up to ensure that no one in our community has to navigate this hardship alone,” Jewish Federation of Greater Washington CEO Gil Preuss said in a press release. “In moments of uncertainty, we must depend on the strength of our Jewish community to provide the foundation we need to rebuild.”More than 100,000 federal workers have been laid off in the government downsizing of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's DOGE agency, according to a CNN analysis. Approximately 20% of the federal workforce lives in the DC area. AdvertisementPreuss said in an interview that local rabbis could provide financial assistance of up to $1,500 per family at their discretion to community members impacted by the layoffs and that the federation's fund would reimburse them. “We trust them to make the decision,” he said.The White House is pictured in Washington D.C (credit: REUTERS)The effectsTrump and Musk's funding cuts have already put the Jewish organizational world on alert, impacting several of their priorities: Jewish groups across the country were briefly thrown into crisis mode when the administration announced a short-lived, sweeping freeze on federal funding in January.Cuts to USAID have stopped the flow of government money to Israeli-Palestinian peace-building efforts. Stay updated with the latest news! Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter Subscribe Now Cuts to FEMA have frozen federal funding for synagogue security. AdvertisementTrump also suspended funding for refugee resettlement, though that decision was recently blocked by a judge in a lawsuit brought by several refugee aid groups, including the Jewish group HIAS.Other Jewish institutions in the DC area, including day schools, are feeling the effects of the layoff spree. Half of the parents of students at the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School in Washington, DC are employed in some capacity by the federal government, according to Jewish Insider.
More than 100,000 federal workers have been laid off in the government downsizing of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's DOGE agency, according to a CNN analysis. Approximately 20% of the federal workforce lives in the DC area. AdvertisementPreuss said in an interview that local rabbis could provide financial assistance of up to $1,500 per family at their discretion to community members impacted by the layoffs and that the federation's fund would reimburse them. “We trust them to make the decision,” he said.The White House is pictured in Washington D.C (credit: REUTERS)The effectsTrump and Musk's funding cuts have already put the Jewish organizational world on alert, impacting several of their priorities: Jewish groups across the country were briefly thrown into crisis mode when the administration announced a short-lived, sweeping freeze on federal funding in January.Cuts to USAID have stopped the flow of government money to Israeli-Palestinian peace-building efforts. Stay updated with the latest news! Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter Subscribe Now Cuts to FEMA have frozen federal funding for synagogue security. AdvertisementTrump also suspended funding for refugee resettlement, though that decision was recently blocked by a judge in a lawsuit brought by several refugee aid groups, including the Jewish group HIAS.Other Jewish institutions in the DC area, including day schools, are feeling the effects of the layoff spree. Half of the parents of students at the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School in Washington, DC are employed in some capacity by the federal government, according to Jewish Insider.
Preuss said in an interview that local rabbis could provide financial assistance of up to $1,500 per family at their discretion to community members impacted by the layoffs and that the federation's fund would reimburse them. “We trust them to make the decision,” he said.The White House is pictured in Washington D.C (credit: REUTERS)The effectsTrump and Musk's funding cuts have already put the Jewish organizational world on alert, impacting several of their priorities: Jewish groups across the country were briefly thrown into crisis mode when the administration announced a short-lived, sweeping freeze on federal funding in January.Cuts to USAID have stopped the flow of government money to Israeli-Palestinian peace-building efforts. Stay updated with the latest news! Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter Subscribe Now Cuts to FEMA have frozen federal funding for synagogue security. AdvertisementTrump also suspended funding for refugee resettlement, though that decision was recently blocked by a judge in a lawsuit brought by several refugee aid groups, including the Jewish group HIAS.Other Jewish institutions in the DC area, including day schools, are feeling the effects of the layoff spree. Half of the parents of students at the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School in Washington, DC are employed in some capacity by the federal government, according to Jewish Insider.
Trump and Musk's funding cuts have already put the Jewish organizational world on alert, impacting several of their priorities: Jewish groups across the country were briefly thrown into crisis mode when the administration announced a short-lived, sweeping freeze on federal funding in January.Cuts to USAID have stopped the flow of government money to Israeli-Palestinian peace-building efforts. Stay updated with the latest news! Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter Subscribe Now Cuts to FEMA have frozen federal funding for synagogue security. AdvertisementTrump also suspended funding for refugee resettlement, though that decision was recently blocked by a judge in a lawsuit brought by several refugee aid groups, including the Jewish group HIAS.Other Jewish institutions in the DC area, including day schools, are feeling the effects of the layoff spree. Half of the parents of students at the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School in Washington, DC are employed in some capacity by the federal government, according to Jewish Insider.
Jewish groups across the country were briefly thrown into crisis mode when the administration announced a short-lived, sweeping freeze on federal funding in January.Cuts to USAID have stopped the flow of government money to Israeli-Palestinian peace-building efforts. Stay updated with the latest news! Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter Subscribe Now Cuts to FEMA have frozen federal funding for synagogue security. AdvertisementTrump also suspended funding for refugee resettlement, though that decision was recently blocked by a judge in a lawsuit brought by several refugee aid groups, including the Jewish group HIAS.Other Jewish institutions in the DC area, including day schools, are feeling the effects of the layoff spree. Half of the parents of students at the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School in Washington, DC are employed in some capacity by the federal government, according to Jewish Insider.
Cuts to USAID have stopped the flow of government money to Israeli-Palestinian peace-building efforts. Stay updated with the latest news! Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter Subscribe Now Cuts to FEMA have frozen federal funding for synagogue security. AdvertisementTrump also suspended funding for refugee resettlement, though that decision was recently blocked by a judge in a lawsuit brought by several refugee aid groups, including the Jewish group HIAS.Other Jewish institutions in the DC area, including day schools, are feeling the effects of the layoff spree. Half of the parents of students at the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School in Washington, DC are employed in some capacity by the federal government, according to Jewish Insider.
Stay updated with the latest news!
Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter
Cuts to FEMA have frozen federal funding for synagogue security. AdvertisementTrump also suspended funding for refugee resettlement, though that decision was recently blocked by a judge in a lawsuit brought by several refugee aid groups, including the Jewish group HIAS.Other Jewish institutions in the DC area, including day schools, are feeling the effects of the layoff spree. Half of the parents of students at the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School in Washington, DC are employed in some capacity by the federal government, according to Jewish Insider.
Trump also suspended funding for refugee resettlement, though that decision was recently blocked by a judge in a lawsuit brought by several refugee aid groups, including the Jewish group HIAS.Other Jewish institutions in the DC area, including day schools, are feeling the effects of the layoff spree. Half of the parents of students at the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School in Washington, DC are employed in some capacity by the federal government, according to Jewish Insider.
Other Jewish institutions in the DC area, including day schools, are feeling the effects of the layoff spree. Half of the parents of students at the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School in Washington, DC are employed in some capacity by the federal government, according to Jewish Insider.
At least 144 people were killed and more than 730 injured after a 7.7-magnitude quake struck near the city of Mandalay, according to the head of Myanmar's military government, who warned that casualties are likely to rise.
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Elon Musk said on Friday that his artificial intelligence startup xAI is buying his social networking platform X in a deal that valued the company, once known as Twitter, at $33 billion. "This combination will unlock immense potential by blending xAI's advanced AI capability and expertise with X's massive reach," Musk said in a post on his social network.
X has more than 600 million users, and its future is "intertwined" with that of xAI, launched two years ago, according to Musk.
"Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution, and talent," Musk said of combining the two companies. "This will allow us to build a platform that doesn't just reflect the world but actively accelerates human progress."
The companies are being combined in an all-stock deal that values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion, factoring in the social network's $12 billion debt.
Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in late 2022 in a transaction that included debt and launched xAI the following year, spending billions of dollars on high-end Nvidia chips for the venture.
xAI in February released the latest version of its chatbot, Grok 3, which the billionaire hopes will find traction in a highly competitive sector contested by the likes of ChatGPT and China's DeepSeek.
Musk has promoted Grok 3 as "scary smart," with 10 times the computational resources of its predecessor that was released in August last year. Grok 3 is also going up against OpenAI's chatbot, ChatGPT – pitting Musk against collaborator-turned-arch rival Sam Altman.
Musk and Altman were among the 11-person team that founded OpenAI in 2015. Created as a counterweight to Google's dominance in artificial intelligence, the project got initial funding from Musk.
Musk left three years later, and then in 2022, OpenAI's release of ChatGPT created a global technology sensation -- which made Altman a tech world star. Their relationship has become increasingly toxic and litigious ever since.
X's billionaire owner, the world's richest person, is a major financial backer of US President Donald Trump and heads a Department of Government Efficiency that has been slashing the ranks of government employees.
Industry analysts at Emarketer forecast that ad revenue at X will grow this year as brands fear retaliation by politically connected Musk if they don't spend on the platform.
"Many advertisers may view spending on X as a cost of doing business in order to mitigate potential legal or financial repercussions," said Emarketer principal analyst Jasmine Enberg.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
President Donald Trump said April 2nd will be “liberation day” as he's expected to impose what he calls “reciprocal” taxes that would match the tariffs, sales taxes charged by other nations.
President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, March 28, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Liberal Leader Mark Carney speaks at a campaign event at the Port of Montreal on Friday March 28, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, March 28, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Liberal Leader Mark Carney greets workers as he arrives at a campaign event at the Port of Montreal on Friday March 28, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
Liberal Leader Mark Carney speaks at a campaign event at the Port of Montreal on Friday March 28, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
Liberal Leader Mark Carney greets workers following a campaign event at the Port of Montreal on Friday March 28, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
Liberal Leader Mark Carney speaks at a campaign event at the Port of Montreal on Friday March 28, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
Liberal Leader Mark Carney greets workers as he arrives at a campaign event at the Port of Montreal on Friday March 28, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, March 28, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
TORONTO (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that his first call with new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was “extremely productive” and Carney said Trump respected Canada's sovereignty both in private and public but added that the relationship has changed.
The call came as Trump has declared a trade war on Canada and has threatened to use economic coercion to make Canada the 51st U.S. state, a position that has infuriated Canadians. Trump avoided any mention of that in his social media post and in public remarks later.
“We had a very good conversation. Mark called me,” Trump said. “We had a very very good talk. He's going through an election. We'll see what happens.”
Trump didn't refer to the prime minister as governor as he did with Carney's predecessor Justin Trudeau.
The U.S. president, in his social media post, said the two sides “agree on many things and will be meeting immediately after Canada's upcoming Election to work on elements of Politics, Business, and all other factors, that will end up being great for both the United States of America and Canada.”
But Trump said more tariffs are coming. And Carney said Trump didn't say he would pull back on tariffs on steel and aluminum, autos and other products.
“It is clear that the United States is no longer a reliable partner. It is probable now that by negotiating we will able to restore an element of trust but we cannot go back,” Carney said.
Carney previously said he would talk to Trump if he respected Canada's sovereignty.
“The president respected Canada's sovereignty today both in his private and public comments,” Carney said.
He described the call as positive, cordial and constructive.
“Exactly what we want,” Carney said.
Carney said he will begin comprehensive negotiations for a “new economic and security relationship” immediately after the Canadian election on April 28.
Carney, who replaced Trudeau as Canada's leader and the head of the Liberal Party, is at the start of a five-week campaign.
“What we need is a new agreement and a new partnership with the United States because there are too many changes, to many tariffs and too many threats coming at us,” Carney said. “There is too much uncertainty in that relationship. We made progress but we will see.”
The former central banker was sworn in as Canada's new prime minister on March 14. It's unusual for a U.S. president and Canadian prime minister to go so long without talking after a new leader takes office.
Trump ramped up his trade war this week by announcing a 25% tariff on automobile imports. Autos are Canada's second largest export.
Trump previously placed 25% tariffs on Canada's steel and aluminum and is threatening sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products — as well as on all of America's trading partners — on April 2.
Carney said the significant transformation that Trump is seeking in repatriating manufacturing in the U.S. could lead to inflation and slowing growth. But he said reaching a deal with America's most important trading partner will help Americans and Canadians.
“We are going to end up with a very good relationship with Canada,” Trump said.
Canada has previously said it would retaliate with counter tariffs, and Carney reiterated that in his call with Trump.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance took a harder line with Canada on Friday, noting the country is threatening retaliatory tariffs.
“As President Trump always says they just don't have the cards,” Vance said in Greenland. “There is no way that Canada can win a trade war with the United States.”
Vance claimed that for decades Canada has forced American farmers and manufacturers to play by an unfair set of rules.
Trump renegotiated the free trade agreement with Canada and Mexico in his first term. At the time Trump called it the “most modern, up-to-date, and balanced trade agreement in the history of our country, with the most advanced protections for workers ever developed.”
Trump and Carney agreed that Dominic LeBlanc, Canada's minister of international trade, and United States Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, will intensify talks to address the coming tariffs in the interim.
The governing Liberals had appeared poised for a historic election defeat this year until Trump declared a trade war and challenged Canada's sovereignty. The crisis has created a surge in patriotism among Canadians, with many in the country feeling that Carney is the best person to lead the country at the moment.
Trump previously acknowledged that he has upended Canadian politics.
Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim in Washington contributed to this report.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Brazil have sacked their head coach, Dorival Júnior, the country's football confederation (CBF) said on Friday, after the five-times world champions were thrashed 4-1 by fierce rivals Argentina in a humiliating World Cup qualifying loss in Buenos Aires on Wednesday.
The 62-year-old was appointed in January 2024 after the team spent a year under two caretaker coaches as the Brazilian FA were unable to tempt the Italian Carlo Ancelotti from Real Madrid.
“The Brazilian Football Confederation informs that coach Dorival Jr is no longer in charge of the Brazilian national team,” the confederation said in a statement. “The management thanks [Dorival] and wishes him success in continuing his career ... the CBF will work to find his replacement.”
Dorival was handed the job after his success in 2022 with Flamengo, where he won the Copa Libertadores and Brazilian Cup, a trophy he lifted again the next year with São Paulo. However, he never seemed to get to grips with the national-team job and failed to earn the trust of Brazil's demanding fans after winning only seven of his 16 games in charge.
After a lacklustre Copa América campaign when Brazil were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Uruguay last year, the CBF was willing to wait and see until the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay in June to reassess the situation following the end of the European season and the Club World Cup in the US in June and July.
However, after Brazil slumped to their heaviest ever loss in a qualifier when they were thrashed by Argentina, the CBF president, Ednaldo Rodrigues, decided to act.
Brazil have been in unfamiliar territory for over two years since crashing out of the 2022 World Cup against Croatia on penalties in the quarter-finals, an elimination that led to the exit of the long-time manager, Tite.
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Brazil are in the midst of their worst ever World Cup qualifying campaign. They are fourth in the South American standings with 21 points, a point above sixth-placed Colombia, who currently occupy the final direct qualifying berth. They have lost five of their 14 games and conceded 16 goals.
Brazil's 1-0 defeat by Argentina in the Maracanã late in 2023 was their first-ever qualifying loss on home soil. They also lost to Colombia for the first time, saw the end of their unbeaten run against Uruguay stretching back over two decades and were defeated by Morocco and Senegal, having never previously lost to an African nation.
Canada's relations with the United States will not be as “close” as under previous administrations, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney warned on Thursday following US President Donald Trump's comments hinting at Canada becoming a state and the imposition of new tariffs. Speaking to reporters in Ottowa, Carney said the country would enjoy a “fundamentally different relationship” - and that would mean relying on the US significantly less. “We have to look after ourselves,” he said, noting government efforts would be made to ensure that the flailing relations would not dramatically impact small businesses.LIVE: update on our tariff response · EN DIRECT : mise à jour sur notre réponse aux tarifs https://t.co/y8wcuIwijK— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) March 27, 2025 AdvertisementCanada, along with Mexico, is part of the United States-Mexico-Canada free trade deal that is scheduled to be reviewed next year. Trump said on Friday that he was open to carving out deals with countries on tariffs but those agreements would have to be negotiated after reciprocal tariffs are announced on April 2.The tariffs include a 25% import tax on cars and automotive parts not manufactured from within the US. Mark Carney, newly elected as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, delivers his victory address following the official announcement of the 2025 Liberal Leadership race results at Rogers Centre, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on March 9, 2025 (credit: Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images)“It's clear the US is no longer a reliable partner. It is possible that with comprehensive negotiations, we could reestablish an element of confidence but there will be no going backwards,” the Canadian leader said, adding he had visited allies France and the United Kingdom recently to cement alternative options.“We will need to dramatically reduce our reliance on the United States,” Carney continued. “We will need to pivot our trade relationships elsewhere, and we will need to do things previously thought impossible at speeds we haven't seen in generations.” Stay updated with the latest news! Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter Subscribe Now Despite the comments, Trump and Carney spoke via phone call on Friday in a discussion described as productive. Advertisement"It was an extremely productive call, we agree on many things, and will be meeting immediately after Canada's upcoming Election to work on elements of Politics, Business, and all other factors," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social."The president respected Canada's sovereignty today, both in his private and public comments," Carney told a press conference in Montreal.Tariffs on US productionIn addition to working on building upon relations with other international allies, former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau imposed 25% tariffs on C$30 billion ($20.92 billion) in goods imported from the US in early March. The C$30 billion was part of an overall retaliation plan to target C$155 billion worth of goods imports from the US, though the remaining C$125 billion was delayed when Trump put off broader tariffs. Carney, who replaced Trudeau on March 9, has said the list of goods subject to tariffs on April 2 remains in place depending on what the US announces.The first tranche of retaliation includes a list of 1,256 products such as orange juice, peanut butter, wine, spirits, beer, coffee, appliances, apparel, footwear, motorcycles, cosmetics, and pulp and paper.In terms of value of imports associated with some of the major products, cosmetics and body care are worth C$3.5 billion, appliances and other household items are worth C$3.4 billion, pulp and paper products are worth C$3 billion and plastic products are worth C$1.8 billion.
Speaking to reporters in Ottowa, Carney said the country would enjoy a “fundamentally different relationship” - and that would mean relying on the US significantly less. “We have to look after ourselves,” he said, noting government efforts would be made to ensure that the flailing relations would not dramatically impact small businesses.LIVE: update on our tariff response · EN DIRECT : mise à jour sur notre réponse aux tarifs https://t.co/y8wcuIwijK— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) March 27, 2025 AdvertisementCanada, along with Mexico, is part of the United States-Mexico-Canada free trade deal that is scheduled to be reviewed next year. Trump said on Friday that he was open to carving out deals with countries on tariffs but those agreements would have to be negotiated after reciprocal tariffs are announced on April 2.The tariffs include a 25% import tax on cars and automotive parts not manufactured from within the US. Mark Carney, newly elected as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, delivers his victory address following the official announcement of the 2025 Liberal Leadership race results at Rogers Centre, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on March 9, 2025 (credit: Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images)“It's clear the US is no longer a reliable partner. It is possible that with comprehensive negotiations, we could reestablish an element of confidence but there will be no going backwards,” the Canadian leader said, adding he had visited allies France and the United Kingdom recently to cement alternative options.“We will need to dramatically reduce our reliance on the United States,” Carney continued. “We will need to pivot our trade relationships elsewhere, and we will need to do things previously thought impossible at speeds we haven't seen in generations.” Stay updated with the latest news! Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter Subscribe Now Despite the comments, Trump and Carney spoke via phone call on Friday in a discussion described as productive. Advertisement"It was an extremely productive call, we agree on many things, and will be meeting immediately after Canada's upcoming Election to work on elements of Politics, Business, and all other factors," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social."The president respected Canada's sovereignty today, both in his private and public comments," Carney told a press conference in Montreal.Tariffs on US productionIn addition to working on building upon relations with other international allies, former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau imposed 25% tariffs on C$30 billion ($20.92 billion) in goods imported from the US in early March. The C$30 billion was part of an overall retaliation plan to target C$155 billion worth of goods imports from the US, though the remaining C$125 billion was delayed when Trump put off broader tariffs. Carney, who replaced Trudeau on March 9, has said the list of goods subject to tariffs on April 2 remains in place depending on what the US announces.The first tranche of retaliation includes a list of 1,256 products such as orange juice, peanut butter, wine, spirits, beer, coffee, appliances, apparel, footwear, motorcycles, cosmetics, and pulp and paper.In terms of value of imports associated with some of the major products, cosmetics and body care are worth C$3.5 billion, appliances and other household items are worth C$3.4 billion, pulp and paper products are worth C$3 billion and plastic products are worth C$1.8 billion.
“We have to look after ourselves,” he said, noting government efforts would be made to ensure that the flailing relations would not dramatically impact small businesses.LIVE: update on our tariff response · EN DIRECT : mise à jour sur notre réponse aux tarifs https://t.co/y8wcuIwijK— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) March 27, 2025 AdvertisementCanada, along with Mexico, is part of the United States-Mexico-Canada free trade deal that is scheduled to be reviewed next year. Trump said on Friday that he was open to carving out deals with countries on tariffs but those agreements would have to be negotiated after reciprocal tariffs are announced on April 2.The tariffs include a 25% import tax on cars and automotive parts not manufactured from within the US. Mark Carney, newly elected as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, delivers his victory address following the official announcement of the 2025 Liberal Leadership race results at Rogers Centre, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on March 9, 2025 (credit: Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images)“It's clear the US is no longer a reliable partner. It is possible that with comprehensive negotiations, we could reestablish an element of confidence but there will be no going backwards,” the Canadian leader said, adding he had visited allies France and the United Kingdom recently to cement alternative options.“We will need to dramatically reduce our reliance on the United States,” Carney continued. “We will need to pivot our trade relationships elsewhere, and we will need to do things previously thought impossible at speeds we haven't seen in generations.” Stay updated with the latest news! Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter Subscribe Now Despite the comments, Trump and Carney spoke via phone call on Friday in a discussion described as productive. Advertisement"It was an extremely productive call, we agree on many things, and will be meeting immediately after Canada's upcoming Election to work on elements of Politics, Business, and all other factors," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social."The president respected Canada's sovereignty today, both in his private and public comments," Carney told a press conference in Montreal.Tariffs on US productionIn addition to working on building upon relations with other international allies, former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau imposed 25% tariffs on C$30 billion ($20.92 billion) in goods imported from the US in early March. The C$30 billion was part of an overall retaliation plan to target C$155 billion worth of goods imports from the US, though the remaining C$125 billion was delayed when Trump put off broader tariffs. Carney, who replaced Trudeau on March 9, has said the list of goods subject to tariffs on April 2 remains in place depending on what the US announces.The first tranche of retaliation includes a list of 1,256 products such as orange juice, peanut butter, wine, spirits, beer, coffee, appliances, apparel, footwear, motorcycles, cosmetics, and pulp and paper.In terms of value of imports associated with some of the major products, cosmetics and body care are worth C$3.5 billion, appliances and other household items are worth C$3.4 billion, pulp and paper products are worth C$3 billion and plastic products are worth C$1.8 billion.
LIVE: update on our tariff response · EN DIRECT : mise à jour sur notre réponse aux tarifs https://t.co/y8wcuIwijK— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) March 27, 2025
LIVE: update on our tariff response · EN DIRECT : mise à jour sur notre réponse aux tarifs https://t.co/y8wcuIwijK
Canada, along with Mexico, is part of the United States-Mexico-Canada free trade deal that is scheduled to be reviewed next year. Trump said on Friday that he was open to carving out deals with countries on tariffs but those agreements would have to be negotiated after reciprocal tariffs are announced on April 2.The tariffs include a 25% import tax on cars and automotive parts not manufactured from within the US. Mark Carney, newly elected as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, delivers his victory address following the official announcement of the 2025 Liberal Leadership race results at Rogers Centre, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on March 9, 2025 (credit: Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images)“It's clear the US is no longer a reliable partner. It is possible that with comprehensive negotiations, we could reestablish an element of confidence but there will be no going backwards,” the Canadian leader said, adding he had visited allies France and the United Kingdom recently to cement alternative options.“We will need to dramatically reduce our reliance on the United States,” Carney continued. “We will need to pivot our trade relationships elsewhere, and we will need to do things previously thought impossible at speeds we haven't seen in generations.” Stay updated with the latest news! Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter Subscribe Now Despite the comments, Trump and Carney spoke via phone call on Friday in a discussion described as productive. Advertisement"It was an extremely productive call, we agree on many things, and will be meeting immediately after Canada's upcoming Election to work on elements of Politics, Business, and all other factors," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social."The president respected Canada's sovereignty today, both in his private and public comments," Carney told a press conference in Montreal.Tariffs on US productionIn addition to working on building upon relations with other international allies, former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau imposed 25% tariffs on C$30 billion ($20.92 billion) in goods imported from the US in early March. The C$30 billion was part of an overall retaliation plan to target C$155 billion worth of goods imports from the US, though the remaining C$125 billion was delayed when Trump put off broader tariffs. Carney, who replaced Trudeau on March 9, has said the list of goods subject to tariffs on April 2 remains in place depending on what the US announces.The first tranche of retaliation includes a list of 1,256 products such as orange juice, peanut butter, wine, spirits, beer, coffee, appliances, apparel, footwear, motorcycles, cosmetics, and pulp and paper.In terms of value of imports associated with some of the major products, cosmetics and body care are worth C$3.5 billion, appliances and other household items are worth C$3.4 billion, pulp and paper products are worth C$3 billion and plastic products are worth C$1.8 billion.
The tariffs include a 25% import tax on cars and automotive parts not manufactured from within the US. Mark Carney, newly elected as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, delivers his victory address following the official announcement of the 2025 Liberal Leadership race results at Rogers Centre, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on March 9, 2025 (credit: Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images)“It's clear the US is no longer a reliable partner. It is possible that with comprehensive negotiations, we could reestablish an element of confidence but there will be no going backwards,” the Canadian leader said, adding he had visited allies France and the United Kingdom recently to cement alternative options.“We will need to dramatically reduce our reliance on the United States,” Carney continued. “We will need to pivot our trade relationships elsewhere, and we will need to do things previously thought impossible at speeds we haven't seen in generations.” Stay updated with the latest news! Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter Subscribe Now Despite the comments, Trump and Carney spoke via phone call on Friday in a discussion described as productive. Advertisement"It was an extremely productive call, we agree on many things, and will be meeting immediately after Canada's upcoming Election to work on elements of Politics, Business, and all other factors," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social."The president respected Canada's sovereignty today, both in his private and public comments," Carney told a press conference in Montreal.Tariffs on US productionIn addition to working on building upon relations with other international allies, former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau imposed 25% tariffs on C$30 billion ($20.92 billion) in goods imported from the US in early March. The C$30 billion was part of an overall retaliation plan to target C$155 billion worth of goods imports from the US, though the remaining C$125 billion was delayed when Trump put off broader tariffs. Carney, who replaced Trudeau on March 9, has said the list of goods subject to tariffs on April 2 remains in place depending on what the US announces.The first tranche of retaliation includes a list of 1,256 products such as orange juice, peanut butter, wine, spirits, beer, coffee, appliances, apparel, footwear, motorcycles, cosmetics, and pulp and paper.In terms of value of imports associated with some of the major products, cosmetics and body care are worth C$3.5 billion, appliances and other household items are worth C$3.4 billion, pulp and paper products are worth C$3 billion and plastic products are worth C$1.8 billion.
“It's clear the US is no longer a reliable partner. It is possible that with comprehensive negotiations, we could reestablish an element of confidence but there will be no going backwards,” the Canadian leader said, adding he had visited allies France and the United Kingdom recently to cement alternative options.“We will need to dramatically reduce our reliance on the United States,” Carney continued. “We will need to pivot our trade relationships elsewhere, and we will need to do things previously thought impossible at speeds we haven't seen in generations.” Stay updated with the latest news! Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter Subscribe Now Despite the comments, Trump and Carney spoke via phone call on Friday in a discussion described as productive. Advertisement"It was an extremely productive call, we agree on many things, and will be meeting immediately after Canada's upcoming Election to work on elements of Politics, Business, and all other factors," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social."The president respected Canada's sovereignty today, both in his private and public comments," Carney told a press conference in Montreal.Tariffs on US productionIn addition to working on building upon relations with other international allies, former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau imposed 25% tariffs on C$30 billion ($20.92 billion) in goods imported from the US in early March. The C$30 billion was part of an overall retaliation plan to target C$155 billion worth of goods imports from the US, though the remaining C$125 billion was delayed when Trump put off broader tariffs. Carney, who replaced Trudeau on March 9, has said the list of goods subject to tariffs on April 2 remains in place depending on what the US announces.The first tranche of retaliation includes a list of 1,256 products such as orange juice, peanut butter, wine, spirits, beer, coffee, appliances, apparel, footwear, motorcycles, cosmetics, and pulp and paper.In terms of value of imports associated with some of the major products, cosmetics and body care are worth C$3.5 billion, appliances and other household items are worth C$3.4 billion, pulp and paper products are worth C$3 billion and plastic products are worth C$1.8 billion.
“We will need to dramatically reduce our reliance on the United States,” Carney continued. “We will need to pivot our trade relationships elsewhere, and we will need to do things previously thought impossible at speeds we haven't seen in generations.” Stay updated with the latest news! Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter Subscribe Now Despite the comments, Trump and Carney spoke via phone call on Friday in a discussion described as productive. Advertisement"It was an extremely productive call, we agree on many things, and will be meeting immediately after Canada's upcoming Election to work on elements of Politics, Business, and all other factors," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social."The president respected Canada's sovereignty today, both in his private and public comments," Carney told a press conference in Montreal.Tariffs on US productionIn addition to working on building upon relations with other international allies, former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau imposed 25% tariffs on C$30 billion ($20.92 billion) in goods imported from the US in early March. The C$30 billion was part of an overall retaliation plan to target C$155 billion worth of goods imports from the US, though the remaining C$125 billion was delayed when Trump put off broader tariffs. Carney, who replaced Trudeau on March 9, has said the list of goods subject to tariffs on April 2 remains in place depending on what the US announces.The first tranche of retaliation includes a list of 1,256 products such as orange juice, peanut butter, wine, spirits, beer, coffee, appliances, apparel, footwear, motorcycles, cosmetics, and pulp and paper.In terms of value of imports associated with some of the major products, cosmetics and body care are worth C$3.5 billion, appliances and other household items are worth C$3.4 billion, pulp and paper products are worth C$3 billion and plastic products are worth C$1.8 billion.
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Despite the comments, Trump and Carney spoke via phone call on Friday in a discussion described as productive. Advertisement"It was an extremely productive call, we agree on many things, and will be meeting immediately after Canada's upcoming Election to work on elements of Politics, Business, and all other factors," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social."The president respected Canada's sovereignty today, both in his private and public comments," Carney told a press conference in Montreal.Tariffs on US productionIn addition to working on building upon relations with other international allies, former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau imposed 25% tariffs on C$30 billion ($20.92 billion) in goods imported from the US in early March. The C$30 billion was part of an overall retaliation plan to target C$155 billion worth of goods imports from the US, though the remaining C$125 billion was delayed when Trump put off broader tariffs. Carney, who replaced Trudeau on March 9, has said the list of goods subject to tariffs on April 2 remains in place depending on what the US announces.The first tranche of retaliation includes a list of 1,256 products such as orange juice, peanut butter, wine, spirits, beer, coffee, appliances, apparel, footwear, motorcycles, cosmetics, and pulp and paper.In terms of value of imports associated with some of the major products, cosmetics and body care are worth C$3.5 billion, appliances and other household items are worth C$3.4 billion, pulp and paper products are worth C$3 billion and plastic products are worth C$1.8 billion.
"It was an extremely productive call, we agree on many things, and will be meeting immediately after Canada's upcoming Election to work on elements of Politics, Business, and all other factors," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social."The president respected Canada's sovereignty today, both in his private and public comments," Carney told a press conference in Montreal.Tariffs on US productionIn addition to working on building upon relations with other international allies, former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau imposed 25% tariffs on C$30 billion ($20.92 billion) in goods imported from the US in early March. The C$30 billion was part of an overall retaliation plan to target C$155 billion worth of goods imports from the US, though the remaining C$125 billion was delayed when Trump put off broader tariffs. Carney, who replaced Trudeau on March 9, has said the list of goods subject to tariffs on April 2 remains in place depending on what the US announces.The first tranche of retaliation includes a list of 1,256 products such as orange juice, peanut butter, wine, spirits, beer, coffee, appliances, apparel, footwear, motorcycles, cosmetics, and pulp and paper.In terms of value of imports associated with some of the major products, cosmetics and body care are worth C$3.5 billion, appliances and other household items are worth C$3.4 billion, pulp and paper products are worth C$3 billion and plastic products are worth C$1.8 billion.
"The president respected Canada's sovereignty today, both in his private and public comments," Carney told a press conference in Montreal.Tariffs on US productionIn addition to working on building upon relations with other international allies, former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau imposed 25% tariffs on C$30 billion ($20.92 billion) in goods imported from the US in early March. The C$30 billion was part of an overall retaliation plan to target C$155 billion worth of goods imports from the US, though the remaining C$125 billion was delayed when Trump put off broader tariffs. Carney, who replaced Trudeau on March 9, has said the list of goods subject to tariffs on April 2 remains in place depending on what the US announces.The first tranche of retaliation includes a list of 1,256 products such as orange juice, peanut butter, wine, spirits, beer, coffee, appliances, apparel, footwear, motorcycles, cosmetics, and pulp and paper.In terms of value of imports associated with some of the major products, cosmetics and body care are worth C$3.5 billion, appliances and other household items are worth C$3.4 billion, pulp and paper products are worth C$3 billion and plastic products are worth C$1.8 billion.
In addition to working on building upon relations with other international allies, former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau imposed 25% tariffs on C$30 billion ($20.92 billion) in goods imported from the US in early March. The C$30 billion was part of an overall retaliation plan to target C$155 billion worth of goods imports from the US, though the remaining C$125 billion was delayed when Trump put off broader tariffs. Carney, who replaced Trudeau on March 9, has said the list of goods subject to tariffs on April 2 remains in place depending on what the US announces.The first tranche of retaliation includes a list of 1,256 products such as orange juice, peanut butter, wine, spirits, beer, coffee, appliances, apparel, footwear, motorcycles, cosmetics, and pulp and paper.In terms of value of imports associated with some of the major products, cosmetics and body care are worth C$3.5 billion, appliances and other household items are worth C$3.4 billion, pulp and paper products are worth C$3 billion and plastic products are worth C$1.8 billion.
The C$30 billion was part of an overall retaliation plan to target C$155 billion worth of goods imports from the US, though the remaining C$125 billion was delayed when Trump put off broader tariffs. Carney, who replaced Trudeau on March 9, has said the list of goods subject to tariffs on April 2 remains in place depending on what the US announces.The first tranche of retaliation includes a list of 1,256 products such as orange juice, peanut butter, wine, spirits, beer, coffee, appliances, apparel, footwear, motorcycles, cosmetics, and pulp and paper.In terms of value of imports associated with some of the major products, cosmetics and body care are worth C$3.5 billion, appliances and other household items are worth C$3.4 billion, pulp and paper products are worth C$3 billion and plastic products are worth C$1.8 billion.
The first tranche of retaliation includes a list of 1,256 products such as orange juice, peanut butter, wine, spirits, beer, coffee, appliances, apparel, footwear, motorcycles, cosmetics, and pulp and paper.In terms of value of imports associated with some of the major products, cosmetics and body care are worth C$3.5 billion, appliances and other household items are worth C$3.4 billion, pulp and paper products are worth C$3 billion and plastic products are worth C$1.8 billion.
In terms of value of imports associated with some of the major products, cosmetics and body care are worth C$3.5 billion, appliances and other household items are worth C$3.4 billion, pulp and paper products are worth C$3 billion and plastic products are worth C$1.8 billion.
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Elon Musk on Friday announced that xAI has acquired X, platform formerly known as Twitter, in an all-stock transaction for $45 billion, including debt. The 53-year-old further added that the combined company would be valued at $80 billion.
"xAI and X's futures are intertwined. Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent," Musk said in a post on X.
Read More: Elon Musk stepping down as DOGE chief amid Tesla crisis? What we know
“The combined company will deliver smarter, more meaningful experiences to billions of people while staying true to our core mission of seeking truth and advancing knowledge," he further added.
Musk, the richest person in the world, acquired Twitter in October 2022. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO completed the deal at an offer price of $54.20 a share, which cost him roughly $44 billion. Within days, the billionaire fired top executives and laid off half of the company's staff.
Read More: Elon Musk mulls turning Trump government into an ‘Apple store-like experience'
xAI was founded by Elon Musk in 2023. The 53-year-old is the primary owner and driving force behind the company. It's a private company focused on building AI. Public details about additional ownership stakes are not known yet.
X Corp. is a private tech company wholly owned by X Holdings Corp., which is largely controlled by Elon Musk. It was established in March 2023 when Twitter, Inc. merged into it. Headquartered in Bastrop, Texas, X Corp. is led by CEO Linda Yaccarino, who took over in June 2023. Musk serves as Executive Chairman and CTO. Mahmoud Reza Banki joined as CFO in November 2024.
Federal Communications Commission says its DEI efforts may breach equal employment opportunity regulations
The US's top media regulator on Friday said it was opening an investigation into the diversity practices of Walt Disney and its ABC unit, saying they may violate equal employment opportunity regulations.
Brendan Carr, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair, wrote to the Disney CEO, Robert Iger, in a letter dated on Thursday that the company's diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts may not have complied with FCC regulations and that changes by the company may not go far enough.
“For decades, Disney focused on churning out box office and programming successes,” Carr wrote in the letter. “But then something changed. Disney has now been embroiled in rounds of controversy surrounding its DEI policies.
“I want to ensure that Disney ends any and all discriminatory initiatives in substance, not just name,” Carr wrote.
He has sent letters to Comcast and Verizon announcing similar investigations into diversity practices.
Disney has come into conflict with Republicans in recent years. In 2023 the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, clashed with Disney over its opposition to the state's so-called “don't say gay” law and rightwingers have attacked the company for being “woke” – most recently for the casting of Rachel Zegler, an American actor of Colombian descent, in the titular role of its Snow White reboot.
“We are reviewing the Federal Communications Commission's letter, and we look forward to engaging with the commission to answer its questions,” a Disney spokesperson said.
Disney recently revised its executive compensation policies to remove diversity and inclusion as a performance metric, adding a new standard called “talent strategy”, aimed at upholding the company's values.
Carr said the FCC's enforcement bureau would be engaging with Disney “to obtain an accounting of Disney and ABC's DEI programs, policies, and practices”.
Carr, who was designed chair by Donald Trump on 20 January, has been aggressively investigating media companies.
In December, ABC News agreed to give $15m to Trump's future presidential library to settle a lawsuit over comments that anchor George Stephanopoulos made on air involving the civil case brought against Trump by the writer E Jean Carroll.
Days after Carr took over as chair, the FCC reinstated complaints about the 60 Minutes interview with Harris, as well as complaints about how ABC News moderated the pre-election TV debate between then president Joe Biden and Trump.
It also reinstated complaints against Comcast's NBC for allowing Harris to appear on Saturday Night Live shortly before the election.
Trump has sued CBS for $20bn, claiming that 60 Minutes deceptively edited the interview in order to interfere in the November presidential election, which he won.
Reuters contributed reporting
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In Egypt's Red Sea, a crew on a sightseeing submarine tour managed to escape when the vessel began sinking — even though some of the tourists on board were not so lucky.
As the BBC reports, authorities are questioning the crew of the Sindbad submarine after it foundered during a coral reef tour near the beach town of Hurghada in southeastern Egypt.
Of the 45 passengers on board the vessel, six tourists — including two children — died during the sinking, and nine more were injured. When authorities came to rescue the sinking sub, 39 people and five crew members were saved, the report notes. Two of the tourists who died were a married couple of doctors, and their daughters, devastatingly, are in the hospital in critical condition.
According to statements from Red Sea governor Amr Hanafy, the Sindbad's crew were all Egyptian and its passengers hailed from India, Norway, Sweden, and Russia. Somehow, only Russians died during the incident, and it remains unclear what happened.
Unlike the Oceangate debacle from nearly two years ago, the Sindbad Submarines company seemingly had a strong reputation, and had been in operation in the Red Sea resort town for years. According to Hanafy, the sub was licensed and its head crew member had gotten all the right certificates to operate it — which makes the tragic incident all the stranger.
Tragically, this is not the first maritime tragedy to strike the Red Sea in recent months.
In late November, the BBC notes, the "Sea Story" tourist yacht capsized with more than 40 people on board while sailing near the resort town of Marsa Alam located about 200 miles up the coast from Hurghada. As Dive Magazine noted, it took 36 hours to rescue the yacht's surviving passengers, and four bodies were pulled from the wrecked yacht. Seven are still missing, and presumed dead.
Between the orca attacks and the headlines about ships and subs sinking, it's a wonder that anyone who doesn't have to is taking to the sea — but then again, flying's not much better lately, either.
More on seafaring: Dolphins Appear as Astronauts Splash Down in Ocean
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Wildfires continued to rage on in the Carolinas on Friday, burning through more than 17,000 acres this week.
The Table Rock Fire northwest of Greenville, South Carolina, grew significantly Thursday, according to an evening update from the South Carolina Forestry Commission. By Friday, the containment efforts on the eastern edge were holding strong, and they were moving efforts onto the northeastern part of the fire, Derrick Moore, an operations chief with a federal incident management team, said in a video update shared by the commission. The fire stretches up to the North Carolina state line.
South Carolina is also working to contain a smaller fire at Persimmon Ridge, just east of the Table Rock Fire.
In North Carolina, the Black Cove Fire burning southeast of Asheville was first reported Wednesday night and caused by a downed power line, according to the North Carolina Forest Service. It is "the highest priority fire in the U.S.," state officials said. As of Friday morning, it was 17% contained.
The Deep Woods Fire, nearby and slightly bigger than the Black Cove Fire, was 30% contained as of Friday morning, according to the N.C. Fire Service. Its cause remains under investigation.
North Carolina has also nearly completely contained the small Fish Hook Fire, officials said. The fire is just north of Lake Adger, also southeast of Asheville.
"Excessive storm debris and timber damage from Hurricane Helene has created many challenges for firefighting efforts," the Friday update said. "One factor is the loss (of) tree canopy. More ground cover is receiving direct sunlight, accelerating the rate in which fuels dry out."
Amid wildfires: Some states under flood advisory as central US braces for severe weekend weather
South Carolina officials said no new evacuations went into effect Thursday, but existing orders remained in place as humidity was expected to drop and wind could reach up to 30 mph.
North Carolina officials said higher temperatures, low humidity and wind are expected, making favorable conditions for the fires to spread. Chance of rain in the area could increase next week, according to the N.C. Forest Service.
Around the U.S. more than 100 million people are at risk of severe weather this weekend, including heavy rain, high winds and possible tornadoes, according to AccuWeather.
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Contributing: Christopher Cann
Kinsey Crowley is a trending news reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at kcrowley@gannett.com. Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @kinseycrowley.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: North Carolina and South Carolina wildfires: See map and updates
State department shares new standard for denials based on social media posts, financial donations and memberships
The United States has ordered consular offices to significantly expand their screening processes for student visa applicants, including through comprehensive social media investigations, to exclude people they deem to support terrorism.
Coming after several high-profile visa revocations and targeted arrests over pro-Palestinian campus activism, a state department cable from 25 March, obtained by the Guardian, describes a new standard for visa denials based on a broad definition of what constitutes support for “terrorist activity”. The directive states that “evidence that an applicant advocates for terrorist activity, or otherwise demonstrates a degree of public approval or public advocacy for terrorist activity or a terrorist organization” can be grounds for visa rejection.
It specifically targets new and renewing F, M and J student visa applications, providing explicit instructions for consular officers to conduct mandatory social media reviews digging into applicants' lives online. Officers are directed to examine the social media of all students applying to a visa for evidence of activities the administration defines as a threat to national security or terrorism.
The directive mandates that fraud prevention units, which receive flagged applications, take screenshots of “potentially derogatory” social media content, creating a permanent digital record that can be used to deny entry. Those officers are instructed to preserve screenshots “to the extent it is relevant to a visa ineligibility” and upload them to the applicant's case record – even if the posts are later altered or deleted.
“Evidence that an applicant advocates for terrorist activity or otherwise demonstrates a degree of public approval or public advocacy for terrorist activity or a terrorist organization may be indicative of ineligibility,” reads the memo, sent by the secretary of state, Marco Rubio. “This may be evident in conduct that bears a hostile attitude towards US citizens or US culture, including government institutions or founding principles.”
The memo says the vetting process should extend to students in the US as of 7 October 2023 whose visas are up for renewal, noting the day that Hamas led an attack on Israel, prompting Israel's subsequent barrage of airstrikes and ground invasion that have amounted to more than 50,000 people reported killed.
In recent weeks, the government has revoked the visas of a number of students it claims have expressed support for Hamas. The new procedures are certain to prompt concerns that social media posts supportive of the Palestinians, that contain critical commentary on US foreign policy, or that indicate attendance at a campus protest could trigger a comprehensive visa review.
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The cable does not require visa denials to be predicated on explicit support for any specific group, and goes beyond traditional security screening, allowing officers to investigate an applicant's relationships with organizations, including current membership, financial contributions or other forms of support.
The state department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The new order lands amid an already intensifying crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists nationwide. Rubio on Thursday said he had revoked more than 300 visas, targeting what he calls “lunatics” connected to campus protests. The latest example is the capture of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish Fulbright scholar at Tufts University, who was detained by plainclothes agents wearing masks in broad daylight.
The updated screening process references two of Trump's early term executive orders focused on foreign terrorists and combating antisemitism.
“Every visa decision is a national security decision,” the memo reads.
Now the 19-year-old Filipina's challenge is to handle the unavoidable pressure and build a successful career
In the early hours of Friday morning, after nearly two weeks spent slaying giants, Alexandra Eala slumped in her chair inside the vast Hard Rock Stadium, her unforgettable run in Miami finally at an end. Before she could even begin to reflect on her mixed emotions of pride and disappointment, however, she was hit by a wall of noise.
The audience, still filled with Filipino fans at 12.45am, had opted to celebrate Eala's achievements with a thunderous standing ovation. She responded immediately, raising both fists to the air and then blowing kisses to all corners of the stadium with a smile.
It was a moment she fully deserved. During her time in Miami, Eala compiled one of the most spectacular and surprising breakout runs of this century. A 19-year-old from the Philippines ranked No 140, she had entered the Miami Open with a wild card and few expectations. In her short career, she had won only two matches on the WTA tour and her form in 2025 had been unimpressive.
Simply winning her first-round match against the No 73 Katie Volynets marked this tournament as a success for Eala, but she just kept on going. She generated attention with her victory over Jelena Ostapenko, the mercurial 2017 French Open champion, then she forced the tennis world to take notice with her straight-sets win over Madison Keys, the reigning Australian Open champion and world No 5. With all eyes on Eala, she then engineered one of the great upsets in recent times, toppling the five-time grand slam champion Iga Swiatek to reach the semi-finals.
One week ago, no Filipina woman had ever defeated a grand slam champion. Eala scuppered three in succession. She then showed that those victories were no fluke by pushing Jessica Pegula, the world No 4, to the limit in an intense, bruising three-set battle.
While her run was a massive surprise, Eala's talents have been known for some time. A lefthander with a tidy, intelligent counterpunching game, she won the US Open girls' title in 2022. By 17, before she even broke into the top 100, she was a Vogue cover star. Eala has trained for years at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca, which made her win over Swiatek even more significant. Two years ago, Swiatek was the keynote speaker at her graduation and the pair posed for a photo alongside Nadal.
Before Eala, the highest ranked Filipina female tennis player, Maricris Gentz, reached No 284 in 1999. Alongside Eala's talent, joy and composure, it has been equally interesting to see the Philippines suddenly have a horse in the race. Across the country, fans staged watch parties for her semi-final match against Pegula and a YouTube live stream alone drew more than 170,000 viewers at 9am on a Friday.
She departs Miami having entered a new world. As a trailblazer in such a big country with a famously passionate fanbase, ample endorsements await her and every step she takes in her career will generate significant interest. This is only the beginning, which is an exciting prospect for a talented young player, but one great tournament does not mean that her continued success is guaranteed. Her next steps, as she tries to build even more momentum in her career and handle the unavoidable pressure that comes with success, will be intriguing.
With its shock run finally ended, the women's draw has culminated once again with a final that many predicted. Over the past year, the US Open, Cincinnati Open and now Miami Open – three of the five biggest outdoor hard-court events – have come down to finals between Aryna Sabalenka and Pegula. In the first two, Sabalenka overpowered Pegula with her more potent weaponry and greater weight of shot, winning each final in two tight sets.
While they have long established themselves as two of the best players in the world, the past few weeks have been significant for both. Sabalenka started the season by narrowly losing the Australian Open final to Keys, and she has rebounded brilliantly in the United States, also reaching the Indian Wells final, which she lost to Mirra Andreeva. In Miami, where she lives, the world No 1 has been in imperious form and she still has not dropped a set. As her disappointment after the Australian Open and Indian Wells showed, Sabalenka has reached a level of success where nothing but a title is acceptable.
After reaching her maiden grand slam final at the US Open before losing to Sabalenka, Pegula started this season slowly and failed to win three matches at any of the big events, the Australian Open and three WTA 1000 events this year. Although she has not faced a top 25 opponent en route to the final, Pegula has shown her mental toughness across her numerous tight three-set matches. Against the best player in the world, though, only her best level will do.
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The streets of Damascus are once again full of life, as people are preparing for the annual Eid celebrations.
The Syrian capital, Damascus, is regaining some of the spirit that was almost lost after years of war.
With the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime, the city is breathing again and this year's Eid al-Fitr preparations are fully underway.
Markets that were once stagnant and fearful are now bustling with people. Vendors loudly call out to their customers, as if to make up for the years of silence and repression they endured. Attempts to restore normal life are evident in every corner of the city.
"The markets are crowded with people, but security personnel are everywhere to provide protection, which provides a sense of security. It is true that the economic situation is very difficult these days, but we hope the situation will improve soon," a resident of Damascus told Euronews.
A vendor at the Al-Hamra Street market told Euronews he noticed the difference in the number of sales.
"The situation is much better than it has been in recent years," he said.
"There is a clear movement in the markets and people feel more comfortable going out to shop. Security stability is the main factor that has created this momentum; people are no longer afraid to go out at night or move between areas as before," he added.
However, this celebration of Eid does not hide the serious economic challengesthat continue to burden Syrians. The high prices of basic commodities and the difficulty of securing job opportunities remain major obstacles to attempts at rebuilding a normal life.
Following the fall of Bashar al-Assad, HTS rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa became the country's interim president. His appointment was announced after a meeting of the armed groups that joined the overthrow of al-Assad, who also agreed to repeal and replace the country's old constitution.
During Ramadan, al-Sharaa was seen participating in the morning prayers in several different mosques, fostering a new image of leadership that is connected to the people.
Since the ouster of former president al-Assad in December, about 1.2 million Syrians have gone home, according to UN statistics.
Among the returnees is Inas, a young woman who immigrated to Sweden in 2015 and returned to attend Eid with her family and friends.
She has fond memories of the old streets of Damascus and plans to visit the places where she used to meet her friends, as well as the Syrian coast, which holds a special place in her heart.
However, upon her return, Inas realised that Syria today is not the same as the one she left years ago. The effects of the war are still visible in the city's infrastructure, but regardless, the new spirit that pervades the country is undeniable.
"Damascus is different now. There is a freedom we never felt before, and people are talking confidently about their future. The markets are full of life, children play in the streets without fear, something that was not possible in the past," Inas remarked.
This Eid, the crescent moon will be visible from the top of Mount Qasioun.
Hundreds of citizens will gather on the mountain to witness this unique moment, which will serve as a symbol of hope, national unity and a return to normal life.
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US vice president JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance made an official visit to Greenland, where he criticised Denmark for not protecting the Arctic island from alleged Russian and Chinese incursions, reported Reuters.
"Denmark has not kept pace and devoted the resources necessary to keep this base, to keep our troops, and in my view, to keep the people of Greenland safe from a lot of very aggressive incursions from Russia, from China and other nations," Vance said without providing any details about the alleged incursions.
Also Read: ‘America stands with Greenland': Donald Trump proposes takeover | Video
Vance also urged the people of Denmark to partner with the United States. After his visit, in a post on X, he posted a video that had previously been shared by President Donald Trump regarding the US' bond with Greenland.
In his post, he said, “Usha and I are on our way home from an incredible journey to Greenland. We can't wait to come back again soon. America stands with Greenland!”
Also Read: JD Vance, wife Usha revise Greenland visit plan amid Donald Trump's takeover ambitions
The vice president stated that while the US did not have immediate plans to expand their military presence, they would be investing in additional naval ships and other resources in the region.
He said, “We hope that they choose to partner with the United States, because we're the only nation on earth that will respect their sovereignty and respect their security, because their security is very much our security.”
Also Read: Trump appears to forget Usha Vance's name while talking about her Greenland visit, ‘…wife of our great Vice President'
JD Vance also visited and delivered remarks at the US military base at Pituffik in the north of the Arctic island.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that the country needed Greenland for national security reasons.
"We need Greenland, very importantly, for international security. We have to have Greenland. It's not a question of, 'Do you think we can do without it?' We can't," Trump said.
He also doubled down on accusations that Chinese and Russian ships were invading the Greenland waterways, although no such evidence has been provided to support this claim.
Government reports largest outbreak is in Texas, and 70 people across US needing hospitalization
The federal government reported on Friday that there have been 483 confirmed cases of measles across 20 US jurisdictions so far this year, with the largest outbreak in Texas, and 70 people across the nation needing to be hospitalized.
That compares with 285 cases of measles in the US for the whole of 2024. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on its website that 97% of the confirmed cases this year so far involved people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccine status was unknown – and 75% of the cases this year have affected people under the age of 19.
The CDC said that there had been one death confirmed from measles this year and one under investigation as connected to the viral infection.
The main outbreak this year has been in Texas, with lethal consequences. The state health department has reported 400 measles cases in Texas as of 28 March.
Meanwhile the New Mexico health department on Friday reported that there were currently 44 cases of measles in the state, up from its previous count of 43 cases on 25 March.
Most of the cases were reported in Lea county, which is adjacent to Gaines county in Texas, which is considered the center of the current measles outbreak that began in late January across the two states.
In recent years, federal health officials have attributed some outbreaks to parents refusing to vaccinate children.
The CDC said in a health advisory to doctors on 7 March that the risk for widespread measles in the US remains low.
The US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, who for years has sown doubts about the safety and efficacy of immunization despite evidence about its safety and efficacy widely accepted by public authorities, said last month that he recognized the serious impact of the current measles outbreak in Texas.
He added that the government was providing resources, including vaccines.
But the New York Times reported earlier this week that some children are suffering complications including liver damage because they have been given huge doses of vitamin A at home, without medical supervision, a therapeutic idea promoted by vaccines skeptics, including Kennedy.
The 20 jurisdictions affected this year are Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York state, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Washington state.
The CDC said on its website that the agency was aware of probable measles cases being reported by jurisdictions but the data referred to on its website, such as the number of cases so far being 483, only includes confirmed cases.
Reuters contributed reporting
Vice-President JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance have visited the US Pituffik Space Base in Greenland as President Donald Trump continues to push for the US to take over the Danish semi-autonomous territory
Speaking to troops, Vance says military force is not necessary for the US to expand its presence in Greenland and that locals will want to choose to align with the US instead of Denmark
The vice-president says Denmark "has not done a good job" for the people of Greenland and the US needs to step in
He also says Russia and China are increasing their footprints in the area and the world cannot "bury our heads in the sand - or in this case in the snow"
Vance's trip was scaled down after a row with the governments of Greenland and Denmark over a lack of invitation
Greenland's new Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen tells reporters the trip "is not showing respect for an ally", while a resident of the capital Nuuk Karl-Peter tells the BBC he is "worried" about Trump "trying to control the country"
This video can not be played
Vance: Denmark has ‘not a done a good job' for Greenland
Edited by Brandon Livesay and Emily Atkinson, with Andrew Harding and Maryam Moshiri reporting from Nuuk
This video can not be played
Watch: JD Vance thanks troops on US military base in Greenland
As Vance spoke, he stood before dozens of military personnel who were gathered around long tables with plates of food in front of them.
After concluding his remarks, Vance quipped: "I thought I was serving food, but it looks like everyone's already got their food."
"What's the plan from here guys," he asks.
Vance and his wife Usha are then directed towards their seats where they sit wedged between service members.
A - hopefully warm - plate of food awaits.
Upon entering the base, Vance was overheard saying "it's cold as (expletive) in here".
We're now getting some more details from reporters travelling with the second couple to Greenland.
Air Force Two, the US government plane carrying the vice-president and second lady, touched
down at the Pituffik Space Base in Greenland at 12:52pm local time (11:52 ET, 15:51 GMT)
It's -18C (-1F) and there are clear, sunny skies in this remote, north-western
corner of Greenland that is 750 miles (1207km) north of the Arctic Circle.
The flight was uneventful and nobody from the US delegation - including US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz - spoke to the reporters on the plane.
Broadcaster Fox News played on the televisions during the flight which flew over massive sheets of cracked ice and
snow-covered mountains as the plane passed through Canada and then over to
Greenland.
The Vances were greeted by Colonel Susan Myers and Chief Master Sargent Holly
Vaught on the tarmac and are now having lunch with members
of the military which will be followed by briefings.
After an early start departing on Air Force Two from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, the Vances have arrived in Greenland where they came off the plane and went straight for lunch with US troops stationed at Pituffik Space Base.
Vance concludes his remarks by thanking troops and again addresses the more contentious topic - American interests in Greenland.
"The president is really interested in Arctic security. As you all know, that's a big issue, and it's only gonna get bigger over the coming decades," Vance says.
"So thanks for doing what you do," he continues, acknowledging the "sacrifice" made by those gathered, who spend at least a year away from their families.
Vance continues by saying he will be discussing with military officials "what exactly the base does and all the important ways it contributes to national security".
He says they will also get a briefing about what the military personnel "do everyday".
Vance then adds subtly: "As you've heard, we have some interest in Greenland from the Trump administration, so we're gonna talk a little bit about that with our friends in the media."
JD Vance is now speaking before US troops at a military base in Greenland.
He is accompanied by his wife Usha.
"Thank you all for everything you do and thanks for having us," Vance says.
"I've never been to Greenland. Apparently I'm the first vice-president to ever visit Greenland," he continues.
"That's a pretty cool thing."
This video can not be played
Watch: US Vice-President JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance arrive in Greenland
As we mentioned in the post below, JD Vance has just arrived to Greenland and entered a US armoured vehicle briefly after exiting Air Force Two.
He descended the steps wearing a large camo-green jacket and waved to cameras before greeting those welcoming his arrival.
He did not speak or address cameras, as many had hoped.
Air Force Two, the US government plane carrying US Vice-President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance has landed at the Pituffik Space Base in north-west Greenland.
The Vances will now be shown around the US facility.
Stay with us, we'll bring you all the key lines from their visit as well as pictures of their arrival shortly.
On the flight tracking website FlightRadar, all eyeballs are on Air Force Two, the plane carrying Vice-President JD Vance and other officials thousands of miles from the US to Greenland.
The plane is headed to a US military base strategically located 'top of the world'.
Air Force Two was the northernmost plane in the world moments ago, according to FlightRadar, but it was short lived - eclipsed by flight from Dubai to San Francisco.
The original plan for this visit was for Second Lady Usha Vance to come go to Greenland "for a bit of fun," Maryam Moshi reports from Nuuk.
This was originally framed as a cultural tour, but the scale of the security preparations made it clear that this was something bigger. Greenlanders made clear they would protest Mrs Vance's presence.
Click below to watch how the Vances plans changed so dramatically, or you can read about the rescheduled itinerary from Laura Gozzi and Ali Abbas Ahmadi.
This video can not be played
Watch: How the Vance Greenland visit plan changed after protests
Brandon DrenonReporting from Washington DC
Usha Vance's original Greenland itinerary was supposed to include a trip to one of the world's most renowned dog sled races: the Avannaata Qimussersua, or The Great Race of the North.
It's basically Greenland's Super Bowl.
Thirty-seven dog sled drivers will race hundreds of dogs across icy treacherous arctic terrain, as fans crowd nearby, watching with binoculars and scopes.
If tradition holds, the winner takes home the glory and honour of victory and also free beer.
However, the news of the arrival of the US vice-president's wife amid growing US-Greenland tension was seen as more of a threat to the island's deeply cherished sporting event.
"We did not invite them," the race's organisers said in a statement, external on Sunday, referring to the Vances.
Days later, Usha Vance said she had received multiple invitations to the race.
The King of Denmark, Frederik X, acknowledged the changing geopolitical climate on Friday morning ahead of the imminent and somewhat unwelcome arrival of US President Donald Trump's Vice-President JD Vance and other officials.
"As I have said before, we live in a changed reality," he told a press pool. "But there should be no doubt that my love for Greenland and my connection to the Greenlandic people is intact."
The unusual comments on the eve of one of Greenland's biggest cultural celebrations - the annual dog sled race the Avannaata Qimussersua - mark the growing unease in Greenland over Trump's repeated remarks to own the island.
Adrienne MurrayReporting from Copenhagen
Greenland's new Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, has just spoken to a group of reporters following the formation of a new coalition between four of the country's political parties.
"The whole situation of coming to visit when there is no government in place, we insist, is not showing respect for an ally," the Danish broadcaster DR reports.
"It's a shame, but now we have a government that needs to put on its work clothes,” he continues.
DR also reports that Nielsen said the first thing the new government needs to fix is a "foreign policy situation which requires action, and that is the first thing we want to fix".
He says that Denmark is Greenland's closest ally, but follows up saying "that's where the problem lies".
"We need to engage in dialogue with all of them - without dialogue we won't solve anything.”
Andrew HardingReporting from Nuuk
Crowds gathered earlier as the new coalition government was announced
Watching Greenland politicians celebrate the formation of a new coalition government for the island, a local pensioner, who asked not to give his name, spoke of his alarm about America's ambition to annex Greenland.
“I've a great fear inside me. I think this must be like what Ukraine felt before Russia invaded. I have great grandchildren. I feel such intensity in myself,” he tells me.
The man then translates the words of a patriotic song that broke out among members of the public watching the coalition celebrations in Nuuk's cultural centre.
“We will prevail, because we can,” he says.
Adrienne MurrayReporting from Copenhagen
Greenland's new
government has just been revealed, with 33-year-old Jens-Frederik Nielsen becoming the country's new prime minister.
National elections took
place earlier this month, and his party the Democrats (Demokraatit), took home
a surprise victory, sweeping up 30% of the vote.
They've now entered a
coalition with three other parties: Siumut, Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) and
Atassut. Together they'll form a new ‘unity' government with 23 out of the
31 parliamentary seats.
At a signing event at in
the capital Nuuk, flanked by his new political partners, Nielsen said: “It is a
time when we as a population are under pressure. We must stick together. Together
we are strongest.”
The election was
overshadowed by President Donald Trump's interest in taking control of the
Arctic territory, and shortly after winning, Nielsen had said he wanted as a
broad a coalition as possible, given the mounting pressure from the US.
In a room packed with
party members and media, the event opened with a choir, and the four party
leaders then signed an agreement, to applause and cheers.
Though the parties
differ in some policy areas, all four favoured a slower, steadier path towards
indepedence. That leaves only Naleraq - a staunchly
pro-independence party which came second in the election, and had campaigned
for a swift divorce from Copenhagen and stronger defence dealings with
Washington - in opposition.
“Big congratulations to
Greenland with the new government," Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen posted
on Instagram, external. “I look forward to
close cooperation in an unnecessarily conflict-filled time.”
Tom BatemanUS State Department correspondent
Trump has said the US will "go
as far as we have to go" to get Greenland, while he has also declined
to rule out the use of force to seize it and other territories including the
Panama Canal.
It's clear foreign leaders in these places, along with Canada,
hoped for some time this was all part of Trump's characteristically brash
hyperbole - a kind of maximalist, if coercive, trade negotiating position.
But
Vance's trip along with the president's continuing comments have made it
increasingly clear to them Trump seems serious in his annexationist ambitions.
These threats upend 80 years of established international norms, previously led
by the US, that respect the territorial integrity of countries. The rule
prohibiting territorial conquest has been a pillar of the post-1945
international order as defined in the Charter of the United Nations to which
the US was a founding signatory.
Trump's claim to Greenland, as well as his
sights on other foreign territories, turn back the clock on at least eight
decades of American and internationally established policy.
It's an early start for the vice-president and second lady as they leave Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to visit the Pituffik Space Base in north west Greenland.
The couple arrived early at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland before their departure for Greenland
The Vances are flying to Greenland on board Air Force Two, a modified version of a Boeing 757 for the vice-president of the United States
Marianne BaisnéeReporting from Nuuk
At the presentation of the new government coalition in Nuuk Cultural Centre in Greenland's capital, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, whose Demokraatit party won the highest number of votes in the national general election earlier this year, tells the assembled reporters: "It is a time when we as a population are under pressure."
Greenland's Democrats and three other parties have announced a coalition, with Nielson urging them all to set aside their differences and form a coalition to show unity as US President Donald Trump campaign to annex the territory.
The Naleraq party is not involved in the coalition.
Andrew HardingReporting from Nuuk
In the Nuuk's busy harbour this morning, Karl-Peter, 40, was preparing to head out to sea in a small boat with three colleagues to fish for halibut. First they had to clear a path through a maze of giant blocks of floating ice, nudging them aside the boat's bow, or sometimes using a broom.
Like so many people here, the fishermen we met expressed anger and bewilderment at Donald Trump's declared ambition to annex Greenland.
“I don't feel safe. I'm worried. Trump is trying to control the country,” said Karl-Peter, who declined to give us his surname.
“I have no idea (what will happen). I want Greenland to control its own fate,” he continued.
Nearby, workers were busy moving giant crates of shrimps into warehouses.
The wind-chill meant it felt about minus 15 degrees centigrade. In the channel, icebergs were being tugged out to sea by the wind and current, while burst of sunshine caught the tops of the surrounding mountains as they emerged from the clouds.
The Pituffik Space Base in northern Greenland exists due to a mutual defence agreement between the United States and Denmark.
Pronounced bee-doo-feek, it's located on Greenland's north-west coast, 750 miles (1,207km) from the North Pole.
In 1946, the US and Denmark jointly established a radio and weather station near to where the base currently sits, and construction of the base - secret at the time - began in 1951.
Because of its location at the "top of the world," it supports missile warning, missile defence and space surveillance missions.
It was previously known at the Thule Air Base, but the US military changed its name in 2023 to "recognise Greenlandic cultural heritage and better reflect its role in the US Space Force".
The base is locked in by ice for nine months of the year, but its airfield operates all year round.
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A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand on Friday, destroying buildings, damaging roads and bridges, and leaving more than 150 people dead.
The 7.7 magnitude quake struck at midday about 10 miles from Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city with a population of about 1.5 million. Strong aftershocks followed, including one that was measured at 6.4 magnitude, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The head of Myanmar's military government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, said on state-run television that at least 144 people were killed and 730 others were injured in the war-torn country.
In Bangkok, Thailand's capital city, officials said that at least 10 people were killed, more than a dozen injured and about 100 others missing.
The death toll in both countries was expected to rise.
Stunning photos and videos captured just some of the destruction left by the quake.
In Bangkok, emergency crews and first responders raced to a high-rise under construction that collapsed. A video taken by a motorist on a highway showed the moment the 33-story building fell.
Other images showed people who flooded into the streets as buildings swayed. Traffic in the central part of the city came to a standstill Friday evening as aftershocks shut down the rail system.
Photos from Mandalay, Myanmar, showed multiple buildings that had collapsed and one tipped on its side. Images from Naypyitaw, Myanmar's capital, showed rescue crews pulling victims from the rubble.
More than 1,000 people have been killed in Myanmar and thousands more injured following a 7.7. magnitude earthquake that was also felt in neighbouring countries
The majority of the fatalities are in Myanmar's second largest city, Mandalay, the area closest to the earthquake's epicentre
In Bangkok, Thailand, operations are ongoing after an unfinished high-rise collapsed - with around 100 construction workers unaccounted for and six dead, according to local government officials
Rescue workers are scrambling to find survivors, a team in Mandalay tells the BBC: "We are digging out people with our bare hands"
Did you feel the effects of the quake? Details on how to get in touch with us are here
This video can not be played
Watch: Verified footage shows widespread damage following Myanmar earthquake
Edited by Yvette Tan, with the BBC Burmese Service team reporting from Yangon
Tessa WongReporting from Bangkok
Rescue workers are gathered at the base of the collapsed, unfinished tower, while several drones hover above, their lights blinking as they scan the scene.
One drone is tethered at the centre of the site, but others are sweeping over the huge pile of debris, occasionally flying in close or entering the empty, towering structures still standing around the collapse.
They seem to be checking how bad the damage is and searching for any signs of life.
A group of sniffer dogs has just been brought in. Further into the site, we can see large diggers, drilling machines and tents, all lit up by powerful floodlights.
Bui ThuBBC Bangkok
People in Bangkok rush home at a bus stop after the earthquake
Getting around Bangkok is becoming harder by the hour.
Most major public transport systems, including the popular SkyTrain and subway, have shut down.
Only buses are still running.
Traffic on the roads is badly congested, and many people are stuck in their offices with no way to get home.
Outside train stations, long queues have formed as people wait for services to start running again.
Booking a car or motorbike through a ride-sharing app is almost impossible. Prices have surged up to four times higher – if you can even find a ride.
A sign at Ari BTS SkyTrain station
Tessa WongReporting from Bangkok
It's just gone past midnight in Bangkok and the site of the unfinished skyscraper collapse is still buzzing with frantic activity.
Hundreds of rescue workers wearing hard hats are rushing around while the red and blue flashes of emergency vehicles light up the area.
Cranes and diggers have been brought in, but the mountain of debris is absolutely enormous and at least 10 storeys tall, dwarfing the rescue workers below.
The building - the new headquarters for the auditor general's office - is situated just across from one of Bangkok's most popular tourist attractions, Chatuchak market.
The area has been cordoned off but that hasn't stopped members of the public and tourists coming in to watch the rescue.
Cachella SmithLive reporter
A spokesperson for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, in Myanmar says the organisation is still trying to understand the full extent of the earthquake damage, but is ready to provide help – including shelter and household items – "as soon as safe routes to Mandalay are secured".
Diogo Alcantara, who is based in Yangon in the south of the country, tells me that around 1.6 million people displaced by ongoing conflict are living in central and north-western Myanmar, and today's disaster will "no doubt exacerbate [their] hardships".
"This disaster, combined with an intensified armed conflict in a country that is vulnerable to climate change, makes civilians pay an immense price."
"And this growing humanitarian assistance comes at a moment of shrinking funding, putting the humanitarian organisations, including UNHCR, in a hard-to-impossible exercise of prioritisation."
BBC Burmese Service, Bangkok
I was in my apartment in Bangkok when I felt the earthquake earlier. A lightbulb fell and there were cracks forming on the wall.
I ran down to the ground floor as fast as I could - it was only then that I heard a severe earthquake had hit my home in Myanmar, hundreds of miles away.
I tried frantically to call home but couldn't connect for a long while.
Soon I heard that the epicentre was near Mandalay, where I have family and friends. So I tried calling them, but it was tough getting through. After some time, I finally got a chance to talk to someone - a Mandalay resident.
"The city is a complete mess and completely destroyed," he told me. Several buildings had collapsed on the road, lamp posts had been uprooted, he said. Sounds of sirens and ambulances and fire trucks covered the city.
The military junta in control of Myanmar has announced a state of emergency in Mandalay, Sagaing, Magway, NorthEastern Shan, and Bago regions.
They're also continuing to ask for urgent blood donations.
Images showing damaged buildings have emerged from Mandalay throughout the day
Peter GillibrandBBC Newsbeat
Second-year student Myat Hsu Paing has been desperately trying to contact her friends and family in Myanmar since news of the earthquake broke.
"I reached out to my mum and she didn't pick up the first two calls," the UK's Aston University student tells BBC Newsbeat.
She's since confirmed her family in Taungdwingy, south of the epicentre near Sagaing, are safe – but she still hasn't heard from a friend who lives closer to where the 7.7 magnitude quake hit.
“Every minute I'm checking my phone in case I've got a message from her,” Myat says. “I feel really worried.”
She says military rule in Myanmar is making it even harder to get in touch.
“Sometimes there's no electricity, no internet, so I can't reach my friends, my family. It's frustrating you don't know what's going on their side – especially in serious situations.
“Just reaching out is everything I can do. I just want to know if they're safe.”
Fire services continue rescue operations after strong earthquake rocks Sagaing in central Myanmar
Kristina VolkBBC World Service
Earlier I spoke to a man who's part of a rescue team made up of ordinary people helping out in villages around the Mandalay area.
He's since sent me an update on the situation - they need machinery to reach people trapped under the rubble, he tells me.
"We are digging out people with our bare hands. It is not enough to get the bodies and people out who are trapped under the rubble," he says.
"People are screaming: 'Help me, help me.' I feel so hopeless."
It's around 23:30 in Mandalay, but we've just received more pictures from earlier today showing the extent of the damage in Myanmar's second-largest city.
They show some buildings have been reduced to rubble, while others are leaning dangerously over the streets below.
Thousands of people in Myanmar may need urgent shelter, food and medical help, according to the International Rescue Committee's Myanmar director, Mohamed Riyas.
He says it could be weeks before the full extent of the earthquake damage is known, as communication lines are down and transport is disrupted.
Riyas adds that rescue operations are under way.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, gained independence from Britain in 1948, but its history since then has been marked by unrest and conflict.
Power: The military seized power in 2021, ten years after agreeing to hand over control to a civilian government. Since then, the junta has cracked down hard on dissent, executing democracy activists and jailing journalists.
Capital: Naypyidaw is its capital, while the largest city is Yangon, a commercial hub and former capital.
Population: 57.2 million.
Media: The 2021 coup "shattered the media landscape" and the junta, which "tolerates no alternative to its narrative", quickly banned critical outlets, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Julia MacfarlaneBBC News
A humanitarian worker in Myanmar has told the BBC how tough
it is to operate under the country's ongoing political crisis, which began when
the military seized power in a 2021 coup.
“A lot of the way we operate is without seeking approvals,
and at the same time, Myanmar is a place where you cannot do anything if you
haven't gotten approval," she says. “So that means we are always trying to
not get noticed, and if you get noticed you risk arrest, detention and a lot of
behaviour similar to this.”
She says areas near the earthquake's epicentre are still
strongholds of the military, making it even harder to work there.
“The military's call for international aid is a positive
sign,” she adds.
She says the recent funding cuts from USAID have affected
them too – in fact, his team were meeting to discuss how the USAID cuts were
impacting them when the earthquake struck.
For his organisation, she says
they've been "lucky" because USAID funding has now been reinstated.
And it's not just aid from the US – "it's no secret the UK and Germany for
example are cutting their international aid, this does affect us too."
Kristina VolkBBC World Service
I've just spoken to a man helping to rescue people in the Mandalay area, near the epicentre.
He wants to stay anonymous because he fears the military.
As a reminder, since taking power, Myanmar's government has restricted access to many websites and social media platforms.
So far, the focus has been on Mandalay, but he says the worst damage he's seen is in small villages nearby.
“The situation there is even worse than in Mandalay, with more than 100 people dead in the village of Bone Oe alone,” he says.
He's also seen collapsed buildings in Amarapura and Tada-U.
The BBC has not been able to verify this claim.
“People there need medical teams, small earthquakes are still happening, everyone is on the field and the roads as they are afraid of the aftershocks,” he adds.
Here's a video showing how unstable buildings in the cities of Mandalay and Sagaing in Myanmar, near the epicentre of the earthquake, have collapsed to the ground.
Some structures are now left leaning against each other for support.
This video can not be played
Myanmar earthquake: Devastation in cities around epicentre
Here's what we know so far:
We'll keep bringing you all the latest updates over the next few hours.
Andree MassiahBBC News
Chris says his girlfriend was struck by falling debris
Chris McNair from West Sussex has been in Bangkok with his girlfriend and two cats for the past two months. Their condo was evacuated after tremors were felt in the building.
“We had to run away from the debris falling from our condo,” says Chris.
"My girlfriend got hit by a falling piece of stone. It was like a hailstorm of falling concrete and we wondered if the building would collapse."
But luckily, McNair says, it's still standing.
Rozina SiniBBC News
Kevin Riley from Essex in the UK tells the BBC he felt the earthquake while out for lunch in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
"I felt things moving and I thought they were moving the tables," he says. "I looked up and everything was moving."
He says the "lights were moving, things were swinging" and that "every time I thought it stopped there was another ripple of movement", adding it lasted for "about two-and-a-half minutes".
“When we got back to the hotel, some of the rendering had come off the front of the hotel," he says. From his room, he could see the hotel's swimming pool area was "in disarray".
"The news of [the earthquake in] Myanmar is a disaster but we are hundreds of miles away and felt its power."
We're now hearing reports from Thailand, which has also been badly affected by the Myanmar earthquake.
At least seven people have died at the site of an unfinished high-rise, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.
That's up from the three deaths we reported earlier.
One other person has been confirmed dead at a separate location, the administration says.
Elsewhere, we're seeing slightly higher numbers, but these haven't been verified yet.
In situations like this, the figures often change and can take time to settle in news reports.
A spokesperson for Myanmar's opposition National Unity Government (NUG) has urged the international community to send aid through "independent, local, and trusted channels".
Writing on Facebook, Sasa lists areas where help is "desperately" needed – including safe shelter, clean water and emergency medical care.
"We urge the international community; deliver support through independent, local networks to ensure real help reaches real people, fast," he said.
Ko Ko AungBBC World Service
A 2012 photo of Aung San Suu Kyi, whose government was ousted by the Burmese military in 2021
The National Unity Government (NUG) was formed in April 2021, by groups that oppose the military junta currently in control of Myanmar, shortly after the military coup in February that year.
The Burmese military, known as the Tatmadaw, ousted the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, just as it was about to begin a second five-year term.
She was later jailed for over 30 years after being found guilty of multiple corruption charges.
A harsh crackdown on pro-democracy protests pushed many young people to flee to ethnic areas, where they took up arms against the military.
Many joined the NUG's armed wing, the People's Defence Force (PDF). Working with ethnic armed groups, they've become a major force, now controlling much of the country outside the main cities.
Some smaller local groups in central Myanmar also call themselves PDF, though not all are under NUG command – even if they're fighting on the same side.
The NUG is still struggling to gain international recognition and says it's mainly funded by Myanmar's people at home and abroad.
Myanmar's opposition National Unity Government says the earthquake has damaged "numerous buildings", including heritage, religious and community sites.
It says landslides have also happened, and key roads and bridges have been "severely impacted".
In a statement posted online, it says an emergency meeting was held and authorities are now gathering reports on casualties and damage, while also searching for people.
The statement pays tribute to those who died in Myanmar and Thailand.
"The damage to religious structures is also a loss to the nation's heritage, making it especially heart-breaking," it says.
It also warns there's a risk of more building collapses and dam failures because of structural cracks.
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Tourists in Thailand's capital Bangkok were caught in chaos on Friday when a strong earthquake struck the region. On the streets and shopping malls, people screamed in panic before they were evacuated.
Fraser Morton, a tourist who was in one of Bangkok's many malls shopping for camera equipment, said when the building began to move there was panic and people were "running the wrong way down the escalators," news agency AP reported.
"I was in this building right behind me. It was a shopping mall and I was there to buy camera equipment. And all of a sudden the whole building just began to move. Immediately there was screaming, there was a lot of panic," Mr Morton said.
"I just started walking calmly at first, but then the building started really moving. And yeah, a lot of screaming, a lot of panic. People running the wrong way down the escalators, like lots of banging and crashing inside the mall. I got outside and then looked up at the building, that one there, and this whole building was just moving. Dust and debris - it was pretty intense," he said.
Paul Vincent, a tourist from England, saw water coming from the top of one tall building and other buildings swaying. "There was a lot of screaming and panicking," he said.
"I was sitting in a bar and restaurant... just talking to a stranger there, and the next thing, because it was a small bar, we just felt a movement... But the next thing, everybody came on the street. So there was a lot of screaming and panicking, which obviously made it a lot worse," Mr Vincent said.
The earthquake was followed by a strong 6.4 magnitude aftershock, and people in Bangkok evacuated from their buildings were cautioned to stay outside in case there were more.
A high-rise building under construction in Bangkok collapsed. The police told AP they were responding to the scene near Bangkok's popular Chatuchak Market, and had no immediate information on how many workers were on the site at the time of the collapse.
The magnitude 7.7 earthquake caused hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate from their homes and workplaces.
The US Geological Survey and Germany's GFZ centre for geosciences said the earthquake was a shallow 10 km, with an epicentre in Myanmar, according to preliminary reports.
The greater Bangkok area is home to more than 17 million people, many of whom live in high-rise apartments.
The quakes wrought widespread damage, particularly in Myanmar, where buildings fell onto their sides, roads cracked open, and the well-known Ava bridge collapsed near the epicentre.
In the capital Naypyidaw, news agency AFP reported the entrance of the emergency department at the city's main hospital pancaked onto a car. Wounded at the 1,000-bed facility were being treated outside, intravenous drips hanging from their gurneys. Some writhed in pain, others lay still as relatives sought to comfort them, AFP reported.
A hospital official ushered journalists away, saying: "this is a mass casualty area." Another official said hundreds of injured people had arrived at the facility.
With inputs from agencies
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Legal experts suggest the verdict against a local official from the French island of Mayotte could impact the outcome of the far-right leader's embezzlement trial.
A ruling issued by France's constitutional court on Friday has sparked speculation about whether Marine Le Pen will be allowed to stand in the 2027 French presidential elections.
The judgement relates to the dismissal of a former local representative from the French overseas territory of Mayotte.
Lawyers representing Rachadi Saindou, who was found guilty in 2024 of embezzling public funds, had argued that their client should not have been removed from office until his appeals process had been completed.
However, the French constitutional court dismissed this argument, saying an individual could be stripped of their office before they have exhausted this process.
Legal scholars say Saindou's case could have implications for Le Pen, who heads the far-right National Rally party in the National Assembly.
This is because Le Pen is currently being tried for her involvement in the alleged embezzlement of EU funds by her party, with a verdict expected on Monday.
In their judgement on Saindou's case, the court limited the scope of its ruling to local officials and steered away from broader legal conclusions, which could have impacted the outcome of the far-right politician's case.
Le Pen's case is also different from Saindou's because it concerns the possibility of running in future elections, rather than being removed from her current position.
Prosecutors in Le Pen's trial have asked judges to impose an immediate five-year ban regardless of an appeal.
Such a move would prevent Le Pen from standing in the France's next presidential election, which is set to take place in April 2027.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Milei celebrated Elon Musk's embrace of his chainsaw, calling it “an emblem of the new golden era of humanity.”
BUENOS AIRES — The wild-haired president of Argentina, known as the libertarian Trump of South America, stepped onto the stage carrying his trademark accessory — a chainsaw.
He beamed as he handed it to Elon Musk, who lifted it up triumphantly.
“This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy!” Musk shouted before a roaring crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month.
Milei's chosen symbol for his war on government spending was now in the hands of the man charged with cutting U.S. bureaucracy down to size.
After the spectacle, the two men met for more than an hour and a half, discussing Milei's cuts in detail, the Argentine president said in an interview with The Washington Post last week.
In less than a year and a half in office, Milei has reduced government ministries from 18 to eight, fired more than 40,000 federal employees, cut subsidies and halted most new government infrastructure projects. He has dramatically reduced inflation and achieved a yearly fiscal surplus for the first time since 2010.
“I find it fascinating that the chainsaw has become an emblem of the new golden era of humanity,” Milei said in a wide-ranging interview in Argentina's presidential palace, the Casa Rosada. He spoke at a long table in his office, his own chainsaw at the table's other end.
Milei is one of Trump's biggest supporters in the Western Hemisphere. Trump has called Milei his “favorite president,” and he invited him to his inauguration.
The Argentine president has relished the praise, and closely aligned himself with Trump's political vision: He has vowed to eradicate “woke” culture and has stripped certain rights from Argentina's transgender community. He has said he will drop out of the World Health Organization and is weighing an exit from the Paris climate accords.
“There are some who ask whether the guy is actually authentic and strong and does what he wants,” Argentine political analyst Ana Iparraguirre said of Milei, “or whether he's just following an instruction manual from Trump.”
There has been a constant feedback loop between the two governments, Milei said. He was in part inspired by Musk's guideline for efficiency in his businesses — eliminating so many costs that it may be necessary to replace some of what was cut.
“But when you're running the country, that dynamic is a little more complicated,” Milei said.
The inspiration appears to flow both ways, said Federico Sturzenegger, Milei's minister of deregulation.
“After conversations with Javier,” Sturzenegger said, Musk “realized that there was an opportunity for the state to do this kind of work.”
Milei and his team acknowledge key differences between the two countries. Argentina has struggled for decades through cycles of soaring inflation and staggering debt. It remains the biggest debtor to the International Monetary Fund, owing more than $40 billion. Last week, Argentina's Congress approved a decree issued by Milei to pursue a new program with the IMF.
“Argentina arrived at the chainsaw out of necessity, not by choice,” said Martín Redrado, the former president of Argentina's Central Bank.
So far, Milei has maintained approval ratings near 50 percent, though some recent polls have begun to show a dip in support.
Some of those hardest-hit by Milei's cuts have been retirees, who have faced reductions in public health insurance benefits and minimum pension levels. Every Wednesday, a large group gathers outside the Congress to protest.
Among the protesters is Norma Fernández, who said she should have retired seven years ago but continues to work as a housekeeper because her pension isn't enough to get by on. One of her family members has HIV, she said, and no longer receives treatment after the government stopped covering it, she said.
“Everyone is in bad shape,” she said. “It's a terrible misery, something I hadn't seen before.”
She was outside the Congress two weeks ago when the protests devolved into violent clashes with police after groups of soccer fans joined the march. Security forces sprayed the crowd with tear gas, jets of water and pellets. One photographer, Pablo Grillo, was hit in the head by a tear-gas canister and remains hospitalized in critical condition.
Milei said security forces did an “impeccable” job and accused the protesters of being “paid mercenaries” hired by the leftist political opposition.
Milei is also facing one of the biggest scandals of his administration so far — a corruption probe into a new cryptocurrency he promoted on his X account, a memecoin called $Libra. The coin promptly crashed after some early stakeholders pulled out of the project; losses totaled more than $250 million. Industry veterans believe the entire undertaking is a scam, and a case has been opened in the Argentine courts to investigate the president's role.
Milei said that he had no involvement and that as soon as the effort started to seem suspicious, he deleted his post on X and explained the situation to his followers.
Earlier this year, Trump promoted a similar cryptocurrency — called $Trump — which also skyrocketed before crashing.
In recent weeks, Milei has aligned with Trump on several foreign policy issues.
In late February, Argentina abstained from a United Nations vote to condemn Russia for its war in Ukraine, a drastic shift for a country that had long supported the government in Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attended Milei's inauguration in 2023.
Martín Lousteau, an opposition senator, criticized Milei for “childishly” following Trump and “validating Russia's invasion.” Milei said he spoke over the phone with Zelensky last week and suggested a possible pathway for peace, but declined to provide details.
“I think Milei is going to keep changing certain positions depending on the direction Trump is headed,” Lousteau said in an interview. Trump, he said, risks enmeshing the country “in a geopolitical conflict that Argentina does not need."
Milei's relationship with the U.S. president has generated interest at home and around the world, Redrado said. But so far, he added, the closeness has not benefited Argentina financially. Argentina was not immune to new Trump-imposed 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum.
While Milei says talks are “advancing” over a free-trade agreement with the United States, analysts say such a deal is unlikely.
The Argentine president has sought to project a tough image, even in his interviews and photo sessions with journalists. He insists on being photographed only from above, in his dark office, with all of its windows shuttered.
Still, he opened up about the challenges of adjusting his lifestyle to the presidency. Reflecting on the cryptocurrency scandal, he said he had learned “that I cannot continue living the way I was living before I became president.”
“What I realized is that now it is necessary to have more filters,” he said, “to put up walls.” He said he had made it harder for outside contacts to meet with him, and acknowledged, with a chuckle, that he is working on adjusting his posts on X.
And he has acknowledged that some of his views before entering the Casa Rosada were misguided. One example: Pope Francis. Milei once criticized the Argentine pope as the “representative of the evil left.” But he now says he has “changed his bond” with the pope, who was “generous” with Milei in a 70-minute meeting.
“Sometimes when you have less information, you make mistakes,” Milei said. “But today I am the president of the Argentine people, and I cannot afford to make those mistakes.”
Asked about his communication with the U.S. president, Milei said he does not have direct contact with Trump. While he occasionally messages Musk on X, he said he prefers to go through official State Department channels for the president.
“With this type of thing, from my point of view, it's better to handle it in an orderly way, because those channels work,” Milei said.
So sometimes bureaucracy works?
“I think so,” the president acknowledged.
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A 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit the heart of war-ravaged Myanmar of Friday, killing scores of people and prompting the country's military junta to make a rare plea for international assistance.
The earthquake cut through a vast and varied corner of Southeast Asia, sending terrifying tremors through rural villages caught in the middle of Myanmar's civil war all the way to the glitzy high-rises of the traffic-filled Thai capital Bangkok. Shaking was even felt across the border in China's southwestern remote and mountainous Yunnan province.
At least 144 people have been killed and more than 730 others were injured, the head of Myanmar's military government said late Friday evening. Deaths have also been reported in Thailand.
Having largely shut the country off from the world during its four years of civil war, Min Aung Hlaing – the leader of Myanmar's military government – declared a state of emergency and issued an “open invitation to any organizations and nations willing to come and help the people in need within our country,” adding the toll was likely to rise.
With electricity and internet down in parts of Myanmar, Hlaing's unexpected call for help is a measure of the devastation the quake has wrought in the country his junta has helped turn into a pariah state.
Rescue efforts are likely to vary hugely between the two countries. Myanmar, one of Asia's poorest nations, has a long and troubled track record of struggling to respond to major natural disasters. In contrast, neighboring Thailand is far more prosperous and a major tourist destination, with well-resourced and experienced rescue teams.
The quake was felt hundreds of miles away from the epicenter near the city of Mandalay in northern Myanmar. Erik Honan, a US citizen visiting a friend in the southern Thai city of Pattaya, said when he saw items begin to slide on a coffee table early Friday, he “knew immediately what it was.”
“Mother Nature was having its way – like swatting a fly,” Honan told CNN.
Video posted online showed panicked residents across Myanmar and Thailand running from swaying residential towers as dust fills the air, and traffic comes to a sudden stop on busy city streets.
Thailand's prime minister also declared an “emergency zone” in Bangkok after the quake triggered the collapse of an under-construction high-rise building near the city's Chatuchak Park. The collapse killed at least eight people, according to Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, and rescuers are working to free at least 110 people still trapped under the rubble.
Sunan Kenkiat, a 31-year-old construction worker at the site, described his narrow escape from the building before it pancaked.
“It was shaking and I felt dizzy,” Kenkiat told CNN. “After that, debris like cement pieces started falling down, and the shaking got stronger, so I shouted for everyone to run.”
Myanmar is already reeling from four years of civil war sparked by a bloody and economically destructive military coup, which has seen junta forces battle rebel groups across the country. The coup and ensuing conflict has battered its health infrastructure, leaving it ill-equipped to deal with major natural disasters.
Swathes of the country lie outside the control of the junta and are a run by a patchwork of ethnic rebels and militias, making compiling reliable information extremely difficult.
The full extent of the damage is still emerging. Amnesty International has urged the ruling junta to allow aid groups to enter freely, saying the quake “could not come at a worse time” for the war-ravaged country.
Related live-story
Magnitude-7.7 earthquake hits Myanmar, with tremors felt across neighboring Thailand
Tom Andrew, the United Nations special rapporteur for Myanmar, said the quake would pile “a disaster on top of a disaster.” With more than 20 million people already in need of humanitarian aid and some 3.5 million internally displaced, “I shudder to think what will be happening in the next few days as rescue operations kick in,” Andrews told CNN.
A resident of Mandalay told CNN they weren't sure they would survive the quake.
“The quake was very powerful, we could not run out of the building immediately,” said Tun Kyaw, 26, asking to use a pseudonym.
“It was like the whole building was going to collapse. I was not sure I would get out alive.”
The quake hit around 12:50 p.m. local time close to Mandalay, the former royal capital that is home to about 1.5 million people and boasts a host of historic temple complexes and palaces. Several aftershocks have since struck nearby, including one of 6.4-magnitude, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The epicenter was recorded in Myanmar's central Sagaing region, which has been ravaged by the civil war, with the junta, pro-military militia and rebel groups battling for control and all running checkpoints, making travel by road or river extremely difficult.
Sagaing is largely rural with dwellings mostly built with wood and thatch. Communications in the area are typically patchy due to intermittent fighting between the junta and rebel groups.
In the town of Taungoo, 70 miles south of the capital Naypyidaw, three people were killed after a mosque partially collapsed, Reuters reported.
One resident in Yangon, Myanmar's commercial hub and around 380 miles away from the epicenter, told CNN: “We felt the quake for about one minute and then we ran out of the building.”
“We saw other people running out of the buildings too. It was very sudden and very strong.”
Another resident said phone networks in the city home to around 8 million people were briefly down following the quake, but were now working again.
A Yangon resident named Wang, who was on the 20th floor of a building when the quake hit, said “people next to me were all scared to death.”
“The quake felt so strong, and lasted really long,” said Wang, who did not want to give her first name.
Video obtained by CNN from Myanmar appeared to show a road bridge spanning the Irrawaddy River, which runs through Mandalay, collapsing into the river in a cloud of dust and water.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
CNN's Lex Harvey, Todd Symons, Edward Szekeres, Hassan Tayir, Manveena Suri, Chris Lau, Rob Picheta and Lauren Kent contributed reporting.
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Justice department looking into whether schools comply with 2023 supreme court ruling ending affirmative action
The Trump administration has opened investigations into the admissions policies at Stanford University and three campuses within the University of California system, including UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC Irvine, the Department of Justice said on Thursday.
US attorney general Pam Bondi has directed the department's civil rights division to investigate whether the schools' policies comply with the 2023 US supreme court ruling that ended affirmative action in college admissions, the department said in a statement.
Since taking office in January, Donald Trump has attempted to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs that his administration says exclude white and Asian American students. The administration has warned schools and colleges they could lose federal money over “race-based preferences” in admissions, hiring, scholarships and all aspects of campus life.
The latest action comes after the Department of Education said it was investigating 52 universities for alleged racial discrimination earlier this month. Most of those schools were told those investigations were due to a partnership with a non-profit organization that aimed to help students of color get doctoral degrees.
“President Trump and I are dedicated to ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity across the country,” Bondi said in the statement. “Every student in America deserves to be judged solely based on their hard work, intellect, and character, not the color of their skin.”
Stanford said in a statement on Thursday that after the supreme court ruling, it took immediate steps to ensure its admissions process complied with the law.
“We continue to be committed to fulfilling our obligations under the law,” the statement said.
The school added it had not been told specifically why it was being investigated. “We do not have details about today's announcement, but we look forward to learning more about their concerns and responding to the department's questions.”
The University of California did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Separately, the Department of Health and Human Services said it was investigating “a major medical school in California” for alleged racial discrimination in admissions. It said the action was in response to information the office for civil rights had received. The statement did not name the school or give specifics.
The Trump administration also launched an investigation on Thursday into the California department of education. At issue is a law that says districts can't force teachers and staff to notify parents if a student changes their gender identity at school.
South Korea's LG Electronics has confirmed it has carried out a test restart of its Russian plant, which has been idle since operations were suspended in 2022 due to Ukraine conflict-related Western sanctions.
LG halted all deliveries to Russia and suspended operations at its plant in Ruza, near Moscow, shortly after the escalation of the conflict.
On Friday, South Korean media reported a partial resumption of operations at the facility, which previously produced washing machines and refrigerators.
The move is aimed at “preventing equipment corrosion,” an LG official told RIA Novosti on Friday, adding that only existing on-site materials are currently being used.
LG CEO Cho Joo-wan, quoted by Korea Times on Friday, said the company remains “cautious, as the conflict is not yet over,” and is closely monitoring the situation. Full operation could resume once sanctions are lifted, he added.
Several major Korean firms, including LG, Hyundai Motor Group and Samsung, are reportedly evaluating a return to the Russian market amid ongoing Ukraine peace negotiations.
An LG representative noted the company's situation differs from Hyundai's, the carmaker announced plans in 2023 to sell its Russian plant, and completed its exit from the country under pressure from Western sanctions.
President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said sanctions had inadvertently strengthened Russia's economic and technological base and that any potential return of foreign companies must be carefully managed to protect domestic companies.
Russia “never closed its doors or expelled anyone,” Putin said recently, adding that confidential talks with some foreign businesses are already underway. However, he noted that future decisions will depend on market conditions, and no special incentives will be granted if sectors are already occupied.
According to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, a special government commission will assess each company's case individually.
This week, Italian appliance maker Ariston announced it would resume operations in Russia after Putin signed a decree removing its Russian unit from a list of companies under temporary state control.
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Firefighters in Yunnan responded to a magnitude 7.9 earthquake in Myanmar. Despite strong tremors, no casualties or major damage was reported.
Firefighters in China's southern Yunnan province have responded to tremors from a magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck neighbouring Myanmar on Friday.
The quake's impact was felt in countries bordering Myanmar, including Thailand.
Local authorities report that transportation, power supply, and communication services continue to function normally in Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, Lincang City, Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture and Baoshan City.
Despite the strong tremors, no casualties or major damage has been reported in Yunnan.
Traffic, power supply, and communication networks remain unaffected. Authorities continue monitoring the situation as further aftershocks are possible.
A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighbouring Thailand on Friday, killing more than 150 people and destroying buildings, a bridge and a dam.
At least 144 people were killed in Myanmar, where photos and video from two hard-hit cities showed extensive damage. At least eight died in the Thai capital, where a high-rise building was under construction collapsed.
The 7.7 magnitude earthquake, with an epicentre near Mandalay, Myanmar's second largest city, struck at midday and was followed by a strong 6.4 magnitude aftershock.
Thailand's defence minister Phumtham Wechayachai earlier said 90 people were missing at the site where a high-rise building under construction collapsed in the powerful earthquake.
Seven people were rescued earlier on Friday from the collapsed building near Bangkok's popular Chatuchak Market.
The epicentre of the earthquake was in neighbouring Myanmar which is embroiled in a brutal civil war that has already caused a widespread humanitarian crisis.
The full extent of the death, injury and destruction in Myanmar was not yet clear. Myanmar's government said blood was in high demand in the hardest-hit areas, and videos from the country showed multiple collapsed houses and buckled and cracked roads.
The multi-story structure in Bangkok collapsed after the 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck at midday local time on Friday, sending a crane on top toppling to the ground and a massive plume of dust into the air.
A dramatic video circulated on social media showed the collapse of the building, which was under construction, while onlookers screamed and ran.
Police told The Associated Press they were responding to the scene, and had no immediate information on how many workers were on the site at the time of the collapse.
One construction worker was killed when rubble from the collapsing building site hit his truck and another was crushed by the falling debris, rescue worker Songwut Wangpon told reporters.
Rescuers said the rubble is still too unstable for them to try to find people possibly trapped beneath.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra called an emergency meeting to assess the impact of the 7.7 magnitude earthquake.
“All of a sudden the whole building began to move, immediately there was screaming and a lot of panic,” said Fraser Morton, a tourist from Scotland, who was in one of Bangkok's many centres shopping for camera equipment.
“I just started walking calmly at first but then the building started really moving, yeah, a lot of screaming, a lot of panic, people running the wrong way down the escalators, lots of banging and crashing inside the mall.”
Like thousands of others in downtown Bangkok, Mr Morton sought refuge in Benjasiri Park, away from the tall buildings.
“I got outside and then looked up at the building and the whole building was moving, dust and debris, it was pretty intense,” he said. “Lots of chaos.”
Voranoot Thirawat, a lawyer working in central Bangkok, said her first indication that something was wrong came when she saw a light swinging back and forth. Then she heard the building creaking as it moved from the shockwaves.
She and her colleagues ran down 12 flights of stairs.
“In my lifetime, there was no earthquake like this in Bangkok,” she said.
Paul Vincent, a tourist visiting from England, was at a streetside bar when the quake struck.
“The next thing, everybody came on the street, so there was a lot of screaming and panicking, which obviously made it a lot worse,” he said.
As he came onto the street, he said he saw a high-rise building swaying and water falling from a rooftop pool.
“When I saw the building, oh my God, that's when … it hit me,” he said. “There was people crying in the streets and, you know, the panic was horrendous really.”
The US Geological Survey and Germany's GFZ centre for geosciences said the incident was at a shallow 6.2 miles, with an epicentre in Myanmar, according to preliminary reports.
A state of emergency was declared in six regions and states in Myanmar.
State-run MRTV television said the military-run government's proclamation includes the capital Naypyitaw and Mandalay.
A second quake, with a magnitude of 6.4, shook the area 12 minutes later.
The greater Bangkok area is home to more than 17 million people, many of whom live in high-rise apartments.
Alarms went off in buildings as the earthquake hit around 1.30pm local time, and startled residents were evacuated down staircases of high-rise buildings and hotels in densely populated central Bangkok.
They remained in the streets, seeking shade from the midday sun in the minutes after the quake.
The quake was forceful enough to send water sloshing out of pools, some high up in high-rises, as the tremor shook.
Thailand's Department of Disaster Prevention said the earthquake was felt in almost all regions of the country.
The epicentre of the earthquake was 30 miles east of the city of Monywa in Myanmar.
In the capital Naypyitaw, the earthquake damaged religious shrines, sending parts toppling to the ground, and some homes.
In Mandalay, the country's second-largest city and close to the epicentre, the earthquake damaged part of the former royal palace and buildings, according to videos and photos released on Facebook.
While the area is prone to earthquakes, it is generally sparsely populated, and most houses are low-rise structures.
In the Sagaing region just southwest of Mandalay, a 90-year-old bridge collapsed, and some sections of the road connecting Mandalay and Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, were also damaged.
Residents in Yangon rushed out of their homes when the quake struck.
The Red Cross said downed power lines are adding to challenges for their teams trying to reach Mandalay and Sagaing regions and southern Shan state.
“Initial reports from the ground suggest the earthquake has caused significant damage,” the Red Cross said. “Information on humanitarian needs is still being gathered.”
Christian Aid said its partners and colleagues on the ground reported that a dam burst in Mandalay, causing water levels to rise in the lowland areas in the area.
“This disaster will have left people devastated and in need of drinking water, food and shelter,” said Julie Mehigan, head of Asia, Middle East and Europe for Christian Aid.
“Myanmar is one of the least developed countries in the world. Even before this heartbreaking earthquake, we know conflict and displacement has left countless people in real need.”
To the northeast, the earthquake was felt in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces in China and caused damage to houses and injuries in the city of Ruili on the border with Myanmar, according to Chinese media reports.
Videos that one outlet said it had received from a person in Ruili showed building debris littering a street and a person being wheeled in a stretcher toward an ambulance.
The shaking in Mangshi, a Chinese city about 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Ruili, was so strong that people could not stand, one resident told The Paper, an online media outlet.
Pope Francis, who is convalescing after a five-week hospital stay for life-threatening double pneumonia, offered prayers to the victims of the earthquake.
“The pope has been informed of the disaster in Myanmar and is praying for the dramatic situation and for the many victims, also in Thailand,” the Vatican said in a statement.
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A catastrophic 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck Southeast Asia on March 28, 2025, leaving a trail of devastation in Myanmar and Thailand. Entire buildings crumbled, streets filled with rubble, and terrified residents fled in desperation as the ground shook violently beneath them. Authorities fear the death toll could climb to 10,000 or more, with rescue workers struggling to pull survivors from the wreckage.
The earthquake's epicenter was near Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city, where the destruction is unimaginable. Buildings collapsed like paper, crushing those inside. Homes, schools, and places of worship lie in ruins. In Taungoo, a mosque collapsed with worshippers inside, their prayers suddenly silenced. In Aung Ban, a once-bustling town, a hotel crumbled, trapping dozens of guests under its weight.
Across the country, terrified citizens are searching for missing loved ones. Entire families are buried beneath the rubble, their cries for help fading with each passing hour. Myanmar's junta, overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster, has declared a state of emergency in six regions, pleading for international aid.
In Thailand, the earthquake's impact was no less horrifying. The vibrant capital of Bangkok turned into a scene of nightmare as a 30-story skyscraper under construction collapsed into a cloud of dust and debris. Pedestrians screamed in terror as the massive structure buckled and crumbled before their eyes.
Emergency workers rushed to the scene, pulling survivors from the twisted metal and shattered concrete. At least two people have been confirmed dead in the city, but the true toll is expected to rise as search teams dig through the wreckage. Hospitals are overwhelmed with the injured, their corridors echoing with the sounds of pain and despair.
The scale of human suffering is incomprehensible. Entire families have vanished beneath the rubble, their homes reduced to dust. Parents frantically search for their children, their voices hoarse from calling names that will never be answered. Streets are filled with the wounded, their bodies covered in dust and blood, as medics struggle to save lives with limited resources.
Survivors describe the horrifying moment the earthquake struck. In Mandalay, a mother of three recalls holding her children close as the walls of her home collapsed around them. “I thought we were going to die,” she whispers, her voice trembling. “The ground wouldn't stop shaking. People were screaming, buildings were falling. It was hell.”
Rescue teams are racing against time, but their efforts are hampered by widespread destruction. Roads are torn apart, communication lines are down, and aftershocks continue to threaten already fragile structures. In some areas, heavy machinery cannot reach those trapped, forcing rescuers to dig with their bare hands.
One rescuer, his face streaked with sweat and dirt, describes the horror of pulling lifeless bodies from the wreckage. “We find people, but most of them aren't alive,” he says, his voice breaking. “We need more help. We need more hands. We need miracles.”
The United States Geological Survey has issued a red alert, warning that the final death toll could reach between 1,000 and 10,000. The true number of lives lost may not be known for weeks, if not months. With thousands still missing, the chances of survival diminish with each passing hour.
Hospitals are running out of medical supplies, and morgues are overflowing. Survivors gather in makeshift shelters, clutching photos of missing loved ones, hoping for news that may never come. The air is filled with grief, fear, and an overwhelming sense of loss.
As news of the tragedy spreads, world leaders are offering condolences and aid. Relief organizations are mobilizing, but reaching the hardest-hit areas remains a challenge. The international community is sending emergency teams, food, and medical supplies, but for those trapped under the rubble, help may come too late.
The coming days will reveal the true extent of this catastrophe. For now, the people of Myanmar and Thailand can do nothing but dig through the ruins, searching for signs of life in a land consumed by death and destruction.
The post Thousands Buried Alive: 7.7 Magnitude Earthquake Destroys Southeast Asia appeared first on Where Is The Buzz | Breaking News, Entertainment, Exclusive Interviews & More.
Rescue workers in Myanmar and Thailand are scrambling to find survivors, hours after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit the centre of Myanmar
"We are digging out people with our bare hands," a team tells the BBC in Mandalay, not far from the quake's epicentre
At least 144 people have been killed in Myanmar and hundreds more are injured, an army general says, with neighbouring countries also feeling the effects of the earthquake
In Thailand, an unfinished high-rise collapsed, leaving around 100 construction workers unaccounted for and six dead, according to local government officials
Drones, sniffer dogs and diggers are searching the site for signs of life, our reporter there says
Did you feel the effects of the quake? Details on how to get in touch with us are here
This video can not be played
Watch: Verified footage shows widespread damage following Myanmar earthquake
Edited by Rorey Bosotti and Alex Smith, with the BBC Burmese Service team reporting from Yangon
Rachel FlynnLive reporter
The scene in Mandalay, sent via email to our contact in Yangon - the only way they can communicate major telecom companies are down
I've been in touch with someone in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city and commercial hub - and around 600km (289 miles) from the epicentre near Mandalay.
Wishing to remain anonymous because of the country's military regime, he says he's "shaken" after feeling the earthquake last for more than a minute just after 12:50 local time (06:50 GMT).
After a three-hour country-wide power outage, he says power has now been restored in Yangon and there doesn't appear to be any major damage other than "minor cracks".
In Mandalay, he says power is still out and two major telecom companies appear to have been offline for a large chunk of the day.
Photos he has been sent from Mandalay show three or four-storey buildings collapsing, which he says "paints a very grim picture of what's to come".
"There's a lot of bad news that will come out of Mandalay once the telecoms are back up and running," he tells me, adding it's the "last thing Myanmar needs right now".
Kristina VolkBBC World Service
I've been hearing from an eyewitness in the Shan State, close to the city of Mandalay, who says: "When the earthquake hit we were out in the open. I just don't have the words to say."
She lives in a camp for internally displaced persons and tells the BBC: "We are so afraid of natural disasters now on top of our various traumas through man-made disasters.
"We are just hearing the sirens everywhere, we don't know how big the impact is."
By Matt Murphy
We're continuing to examine clips emerging from the city of Mandalay, in central Myanmar, just 20km (12 miles) from the epicentre of the earthquake.
We've verified a number of clips from the city - which once served as the country's royal capital - showing extensive damage to historic buildings.
One video we have authenticated shows heavily damaged parts of Mandalay Palace. The complex was built in the 1850s by Myanmar's royal family and was refurbished in the 1990s. Multiple verified images show extensive damage to the exterior walls, with some crumbling outwards towards the palace's moat, while at least one interior building has also collapsed.
Elsewhere, a video showed the Shwe Sar Yan Pagoda - a 40 minute drive south-east of Mandalay - collapsing (you can see that in our last post). Footage showed residents screaming as a tower snapped and fell away from the ancient temple, which is said to be over 1,000 years old.
Meanwhile, other clips showed a fire engulfing Mandalay University. Footage shared on social media - which we authenticated by cross referencing it with open source photos of the university campus - showed smoke billowing from the building. It is unclear how the blaze started.
Images verified by the BBC showed a collapsed tower in the historic Mandalay Palace
Various infrastructure has collapsed as a result of the 7.7 magnitude quake that hit central Myanmar earlier.
In the clip below, you can see the moment a pagoda topples, south-east of Mandalay, the country's second-largest city which sits close to where the epicentre of the quake has been identified.
Screams and audible distress can be heard from those watching.
This video can not be played
Moment pagoda collapses in Myanmar after earthquake
Caroline HawleyDiplomatic correspondent
Aid agencies are now scrambling to assess the humanitarian
needs in Myanmar, and work out how to respond.
The country - ruled by a military junta - is isolated from
the outside world. And it may take time to get aid workers
in.
But the French news agency, AFP, says the junta has made a
rare request for international help.
“We want the international community to give humanitarian
aid as soon as possible,” a spokesman for the junta, Zaw Min Tun, told AFP
reporters at a hospital in the capital, Naypyidaw.
Oliver SlowLive reporter
This earthquake could "not have come at a worst time for Myanmar", Joe Freeman,
Amnesty International's Myanmar researcher, tells me.
More than three million people are internally displaced in the country, while the UN estimates more
than a third of the population are in need of humanitarian assistance. It also
comes as the US has frozen most foreign aid, impacting human rights and humanitarian
relief in Myanmar.
The epicentre of the earthquake is in central Myanmar, which Freeman describes as the "heartland" of the ongoing conflict in the country.
"There are
so many issues already impacting civilians there - military airstrikes, clashes
between resistance groups and the military and different towns under different
control," he says when we speak - adding those, plus the quake, are "going to make delivery of aid all the more complicated".
Freeman says Myanmar's military has a "well-documented history of denying aid to areas
where groups who resist are active" - and calls for the military to "allow
unimpeded humanitarian access" to areas that are affected, prioritising "the needs of civilians".
Ben HattonLive reporter
An unfinished building has collapsed in Bangkok, Thailand, with rescue teams working to find missing workers
It's been around six hours now since a powerful earthquake struck Myanmar in South-East Asia.
It was measured as 7.7 magnitude by the US Geological Survey at around noon local time (06:00 GMT) - four smaller shocks ranging between 4.5 and 6.6 in magnitude have been measured in the area since.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is run by a military regime and it can be difficult to get information. We don't yet know the death toll, or the full extent of the damage.
But the BBC's Burmese Service has spoken to a rescue worker in Myanmar's second largest city, Mandalay, who says the damage there is "enormous" and that the number of casualties is "at least in the hundreds". The Red Cross also says there has been "significant damage”.
A state of emergency has been declared in six regions, and images show buildings and roads badly damaged - we've sourced a video showing a large bridge collapsing.
Exactly how far the damage has spread remains unclear - but we have mapped out how far away the earthquake could be felt.
In Thailand, which borders Myanmar to the east, three construction workers have been killed and dozens injured after an unfinished high-rise building collapsed in the capital, Bangkok. Our team in the city said they felt the buildings swaying.
There's still much we don't know, but we have teams on the ground and across the BBC working hard to bring you the latest information.
Three people are now confirmed to have died after the building they were working on in Bangkok collapsed, the Thailand National Institute for Emergency Medicine says.
In an update on Facebook, it adds that 68 others are injured and have been taken to hospital.
Five people are in critical condition, the organisation says.
As we reported a little earlier, 81 construction workers from the site are still trapped under the rubble of the building, according to the country's deputy prime minister.
Rachel FlynnLive reporter
I've been talking to an English teacher in Bangkok, who describes feeling dizzy and as though she was going to "pass out" when she felt the earthquake tremors in her school's corridors.
Amy Clayton, 26, says she was approaching a colleague when they asked her: "Can you feel that?"
Seconds later, she heard the fire alarms go off, and the school's principal telling everyone to evacuate through the speaker system.
Children were crying with some going on to have panic attacks, she tells me.
"We were completely unprepared. We do all sorts of drills - but never one for earthquakes," she says, with one colleague telling her it's the first quake she's experienced in decades.
Amy later saw evidence of the quake at her home in Bangkok - a 17th floor condo
We're hearing that Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has now arrived at the scene of a collapsed building in the country's capital, where 81 workers are currently trapped.
Earlier, she spoke to reporters and called for calm after an emergency meeting following the earthquake - which hit Myanmar but was felt in neighbouring countries, including Thailand.
Heavy machinery is also now reported to be arriving at the site of the incident, so rescue workers can begin searching for those trapped under the rubble.
The scene of the collapsed building continues to be chaotic - we'll bring you more images when we get them
BBC Thai journalist Panisa Aemocha has been speaking to people in Thailand outside the scene of a collapsed building (see our last post for more details), which she says is "horrific".
Panisa says there are "lots of very scared people" and that one of the workers she's spoken to - an 18-year-old - recalls the "split moment" in which the building seemed to fall.
Listen to what else she says here:
This video can not be played
BBC journalist in Bangkok recounts moments after building collapse
The number of workers missing at a collapsed construction site of a high-rise building in Thailand's capital Bangkok has now risen to 81, according to the Thai deputy PM.
Earlier, the figure was at 70.
The Thai government says it's coordinating an emergency response at the scene and in a statement online, it says they have ordered the mobilisation of search and rescue teams, and disaster centres have been ordered to prepare relief equipment and machinery.
According to Thailand's Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin, there were as many as 409 people working on the site when it collapsed.
Images show some of the rescue workers who are already there.
Chris Clayton & Erwan RivaultBBC Visual Journalism team
Details are continuing to emerge about the extent of the damage caused by the 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Myanmar, but its effects have been felt hundreds of miles away.
The map below shows how intense the shaking was across the
country and into Thailand, China and India.
It's based on the Moment Magnitude Scale, with
strong shaking causing serious damage while moderate shaking will be felt but
usually only causes minor damage.
By Matt Murphy
We at BBC Verify are busy searching for footage from the aftermath of this morning's earthquake in Myanmar.
Normally when we're gathering imagery from natural disaster zones, our team trawls through social media platforms. In this case we're looking at Facebook, which is especially popular in Myanmar.
But the country is in the midst of a major conflict between the ruling military regime - which took power in a coup in 2021 - and a patchwork rebel alliance.
Since it came to power, and especially since the war began, the government has restricted access to scores of websites and blocked social media outlets. In 2022, the UN condemned what it called the imposition of a "digital dictatorship" by the military.
Some locals use virtual private networks (VPNs) to bypass restrictions, but in January the military introduced a new law imposing harsh penalties on people using such services. As such, footage appearing on social media can be limited.
And once BBC Verify does identify clips from Myanmar, it can be hard to confirm they are authentic.
Usually, footage would be cross-referenced with photos from Google Street View, but this service is limited in many parts of the country. In these cases, our team uses older verified videos or satellite imagery which can highlight unique geographical features to authenticate clips.
Rebecca HenschkeBBC Eye reporter and former Asia editor
Even before this devastating earthquake hit, the
humanitarian situation in Myanmar was dire.
The Sagaing region, near the epicentre of the quake, is a
volatile key battleground in the civil war.
It's a stronghold of pro-democracy resistance groups who are fighting to
overthrow the military government that seized power in a coup on 1 February 2021.
The civil war has left more than an estimated 3.5 million
people displaced from their homes. And hunger has reached alarming levels. Before the quake, the United Nations was
warning that nearly 20 million people - a third of the population - would need
aid this year. Now the situation has got a whole lot worse.
A recent BBC data project reveals that there is now a
patchwork of groups in control of Sagaing and across Myanmar, and this will make relief and recover
efforts challenging.
The data investigation revealed that the military now only has full control of
less than a quarter of the country.
Since seizing power in the coup, the Myanmar Miliary have
also isolated the country from the outside world. Independent media is
effectively banned and international aid groups activities restricted. The cuts in American foreign aid have also
severely impacted Myanmar.
We've more images to bring you now - this time from Naypyidaw, Myanmar's capital, and one of the six areas that's been placed under a state of emergency.
These are from Myanmar's military regime, and show cracked roads and collapsed buildings.
BBC Burmese Service, Yangon
A member of a rescue team based in Mandalay tells the BBC "the damage is enormous".
"The number of deaths is also quite high. That's all we can say right now because the rescue efforts are ongoing," they say.
"The exact number of casualties is not yet known, but it is at least in the hundreds."
While the earthquake we're reporting on happened in Myanmar, it was felt in and has heavily affected Thailand, where we're also getting continuous updates.
In Thailand's capital Bangkok, 70 construction workers are now missing at the site of a collapsed building site, the National Institute for Emergency Medicine in Thailand says - having earlier reported there were 43 people feared missing.
In a post on Facebook, it adds there were around 320 workers on the site at the time of the collapse, and 20 are trapped in the lift shafts.
The number of deaths is unclear, and a field hospital has been set up at the scene as rescuers continue to look for survivors.
We'll bring you more on this when we have it.
BBC Burmese Service, Yangon
As the aftershocks continue, not all of Mandalay's residents have returned home. Some are still on the streets.
Fire engines and ambulances can be seen moving around the city.
Witnesses tell the BBC that the sound of emergency vehicles can be heard almost continuously throughout the city.
We reported earlier that there was video circulating online, appearing to show people screaming and crouching on the tarmac at an airport in Myanmar.
That footage - which shows people sat on a runway, before they're ushered away - has now been verified by our colleagues at BBC Verify.
They've done this by geolocating it to Mandalay International Airport.
Here's what you can see:
This video can not be played
People crouch on the tarmac at Mandalay airport
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From Abu Dhabi and Athens to London and Los Angeles, Jono Yates travels the world in search of amazing food.
As part of his Only Scrans YouTube channel, Jono visited Birmingham to test out the city's best food on a football matchday.
Whilst he enjoyed a balti pie and gyro at St Andrew's, it was one Birmingham restaurant which received the highest praise of all.
Read More: Legendary Birmingham family describes 'surreal' moment after Dubai success
"It's fantastic, it's absolutely fantastic," Jono said when he tucked into a balti at Shababs.
The legendary restaurant on Ladypool Road was the final destination on the day which involved mixed grills, kebabs and burgers.
He added: "Really good spice, it's made me realise I can cook a curry at home and it isn't going to take three hours.
"It's so good. As a bite, that's probably the best thing I've had today."
As well as eating the famous balti, Jono popped into the Shababs kitchen to make one himself.
He continued: "It's so simple but so effective. I'll be a balti master in no time."
A different meal Jono enjoyed was Bonehead's dragon burger which Jono described as 'amazing'.
After a delightful experience at at Bonehead, Jono visited the Merrymaid Bar & Grill for a 'phenomenal' mixed grill.
Shawarma Wala was another highlight on the food crawl, but the Small Heath restaurant is now listed as 'temporarily closed'.
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Canada will have to “dramatically reduce” its reliance on the United States as the two countries' relationship darkens, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney warned on Thursday, adding that the old bilateral relationship was “over.”
After holding a cabinet meeting to discuss Canada's response to US President Donald Trump's tariffs threats, Carney told reporters in Ottawa that he foresaw the coming of a “fundamentally different relationship” between the two countries.
“The old relationship we had with the United States based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation is over,” he said.
“It's clear the US is no longer a reliable partner. It is possible that with comprehensive negotiations, we could reestablish an element of confidence but there will be no going backwards,” the Canadian leader said, adding that future governments would have to grapple with the same changed dynamic.
“There's even more to do, and that's why I chose to go to France and the United Kingdom, two long-standing and reliable partners, friends and allies of Canada,” Carney said, referring to his first international trip as prime minister.
Hours before Carney spoke, Trump wrote on his Truth Social social media platform that Canada and the European Union would face “large scale Tariffs, far larger than currently planned,” if they work together to “do economic harm” to the US.
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Canadian Prime Minister: Trump wants to break us so America can own us
In Ottawa, Carney said that tariffs imposed by Washington, if permanent, would require “a broad renegotiation of our security and trade relationship with the United States.”
“We will need to dramatically reduce our reliance on the United States,” Carney continued. “We will need to pivot our trade relationships elsewhere, and we will need to do things previously thought impossible at speeds we haven't seen in generations.”
Trump and Carney are expected to speak by phone in the coming days, he also said, noting that the White House had reached out regarding a call on Wednesday night. Though he has no plans to visit Washington, Carney – who became prime minister less than two weeks ago – said it is “possible” members of his cabinet may make the trip.
Carney's latest comments follow Trump's declaration on Wednesday of a 25% tariff on all cars and car parts shipped to the US. The move drew global criticism; Carney deemed it a “direct attack” that violated the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.
Carney on Thursday promised a strategy of “retaliatory trade actions” to be unveiled after Trump makes an expected announcement on April 2 regarding the US's next steps.
“This is a negotiation,” Carney said, declining to go into specifics. “It doesn't make sense to tip your hand and say what you're going to do going forward.”
The prime minister noted that his government understands the US tariffs strategy to be focused on five key sectors — the automotive industry, lumber, steel and aluminum, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals.
Related article
Canada's election will be an ‘elbows up' battle, but not for the reasons you may think
“We have a number of measures that we can take in response to those initiatives,” Carney continued, adding that it “doesn't make sense” to respond individually to each measure from the US.
“We're going to know a lot more in a week and we will respond then,” he said.
Carney's wait-and-see approach aligns with that of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who told reporters on Thursday morning that Mexico would also announce its own tariff plans after April 2.
“We will respond forcefully. Nothing is off the table to defend our workers and our country,” Carney said, warning Canadians that “there is no silver bullet, there is no quick fix” in a trade war.
“I reject any attempts to weaken Canada, to wear us down, to break us so that America can own us,” Carney also said.
Carney also reiterated his government's ongoing domestic policies to cushion the blow of expected US tariffs for Canadian workers and businesses.
“We are masters in our own home,” Carney said, a line he often uses in public remarks, echoing an old slogan in Québec politics.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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Updated on: March 28, 2025 / 3:44 PM EDT
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Kansas health officials have confirmed 23 measles cases, marking an outbreak for the state as infections in at least 17 states have led to the most cases in the U.S. in a single year since 2019.
The Kansas outbreak is spread across 6 southwest counties, the state's Department of Health and Environment said Wednesday.
The majority of cases, 20, are individuals who were not vaccinated against the infection. Fifteen cases are in school-aged children, between ages 5 and 17, six patients are 4 years old or younger and two are over 18, officials said.
Health officials in Ohio have also reported 10 cases this week.
"Given the measles activity in Texas, New Mexico, and other states around the country, we're disappointed but not surprised we now have several cases here in Ohio and known exposure in some counties," Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said in a news release Tuesday.
Measles, a highly contagious infectious disease, can in some cases cause severe infections in the lungs and brain that may lead to cognitive issues, deafness or death. A vaccine against the illness is safe and effective, doctors and health officials say.
While most people's symptoms improve, about 1 in 5 unvaccinated people who get measles will be hospitalized. About 1 out of every 1,000 children with measles will develop brain swelling that can lead to brain damage, and up to 3 of every 1,000 children who become infected will die, the CDC says.
So far, no cases in Kansas have led to hospitalization or death, according to the data from the state's health department.
The Kansas cases come as other states are facing rising infections too. The majority of the cases have been reported in an outbreak in Texas that has sickened more than 400 people since late January and has caused the death of a child. An adult with measles also died in New Mexico.
Earlier this month, a person with a confirmed measles infection may have exposed Amtrak passengers on a train to Washington, D.C., according to officials at the D.C. Department of Health.
Measles cases have also been reported in a number of other states, including New Jersey, Georgia, California, Rhode Island, Kentucky, Michigan, Alaska and Pennsylvania.
The measles vaccine is usually administered in childhood as part of the measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, shot. Two doses are about 97% effective at preventing measles, and a single dose is about 93% effective, the CDC says.
Similar to the Kansas cases, the Texas outbreak largely spread in a community with very low vaccination rates, and Texas health officials said the child who died in that outbreak was unvaccinated.
Sara Moniuszko is a health and lifestyle reporter at CBSNews.com. Previously, she wrote for USA Today, where she was selected to help launch the newspaper's wellness vertical. She now covers breaking and trending news for CBS News' HealthWatch.
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Updated on: March 28, 2025 / 3:09 PM EDT
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Stocks are taking a battering on Friday amid growing concerns on Wall Street about the impact of President Trump's tariff regime as well as hotter-than-expected price data, sparking worries that the Federal Reserve is far from declaring victory on inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 758 points, or 1.8%, to 41,541.09 in Friday afternoon trading, while the broad-based S&P 500 shed 2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index skidded 2.8%.
Friday's stock market rout comes after Wall Street has already suffered a pummeling this year, with the S&P 500 down 9% from its most recent February high.
Mr. Trump on Wednesday said he is imposing a 25% tariff on all vehicles and auto parts imported into the U.S., a move that is expected to add thousands of dollars to the cost of many vehicles. He also plans to announce more tariffs on April 2. Because tariffs are import taxes that companies largely pass onto consumers, many economists are forecasting an uptick in inflation later this year.
At the same time, new economic data released on Friday shows that core inflation heated up last month, posing a challenge to the Federal Reserve's goal of driving inflation down to a 2% annual rate.
"The recent U.S. stock market correction appears to have been partially triggered by investors realising that Trump may follow through with his tariff threats and that this will hurt the U.S. economy," said Oxford Economics lead economist Daniel Harenberg and senior economist Kiki Sondh in a Friday report. "Similarly, consumer sentiment has weakened due to tariff-induced inflation fears."
The economy has so far been holding up relatively well, but if it were to weaken while inflation stays high, it would produce a worst-case scenario called "stagflation," which policymakers in Washington have few good tools to fix.
A report on Friday morning showed that U.S. consumers, including Republicans, Independents and Democrats, getting more pessimistic about their future finances. Two out of three consumers surveyed by the University of Michigan expect unemployment to worsen in the year ahead. That's the the highest reading since 2009, and it raises worries about a job market that's been the linchpin keeping the U.S. economy solid.
At the same time, recent CBS News polling shows that Americans have become more dour in their economic outlooks, with relatively more consumers bracing for a slowdown or recession over the next year.
Shares of automakers tumbled on Friday, continuing a rout that began after Mr. Trump announced his new auto tariffs. Hyundai Motor fell 2.6% in Seoul, while Honda Motor fell 2.6%, and Toyota Motor sank 2.8% in Tokyo.
On Wall Street, Ford Motor fell 2.6%, and General Motors sank 1.7%. Even U.S. automakers selling vehicles in the country can feel the pain of such tariffs because their supply chains are spread throughout North America. Trump says he wants more manufacturing to take place within the United States.
The rout also hit shares outside the auto industry, with investors concerned that Mr. Trump's trade war may cause U.S. households and businesses to freeze their spending. Even if the tariffs end up being less painful than feared, all the uncertainty may filter into changed behaviors that hurt the economy.
Leading the market lower on Friday was Lululemon Athletica, which dropped 15%. Even though the seller of athletic apparel reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, it warned that its revenue growth may slow this upcoming year as consumers grow more cautious.
"Consumers are spending less due to increased concerns about inflation and the economy," said CEO Calvin McDonald.
Lululemon also said tariffs and shifting foreign-currency values may account for about half of its expected drop in a key measure of performance: how much profit it can squeeze out of each $1 of revenue.
Oxford Industries, the company behind the Tommy Bahama and Lilly Pulitzer brands, likewise reported stronger results for the latest quarter than expected but still saw its stock fall 3.1%. CEO Tom Chubb said it saw a "deterioration in consumer sentiment that also weighed on demand" beginning in January, which accelerated into February.
The Associated Press
contributed to this report.
Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.
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South Carolina Army National Guard helicopters conduct aerial, water-bucket operations on the Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge wildfires, in Pickens County, S.C. on Sunday March 23, 2025. (Sgt. 1st Class Roberto Di Giovine/U.S. Army National Guard via AP )
The Black Cove Fire is seen burning Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Saluda, N.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
A U.S. Army Soldier from the 1-111th General Support Aviation Battalion, 59th Aviation Troop Command views the landscape from a Black Hawk helicopter during a fire suppression mission over the Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge fires in South Carolina on March 26, 2025. (Sgt. Elizabeth Schneider/U.S. Army National Guard via AP)
Firefighters work to control the Black Cove Fire Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Saluda, N.C.. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
South Carolina Army National Guard helicopters conduct aerial, water-bucket operations on the Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge wildfires, Pickens County, S.C., on Sunday, March 23, 2025. (Sgt. 1st Class Roberto Di Giovine/U.S. Army National Guard via AP )
South Carolina Army National Guard helicopters conduct aerial, water-bucket operations on the Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge wildfires, Pickens County, S.C. on Sunday, March 23, 2025. (Sgt. 1st Class Roberto Di Giovine/U.S. Army National Guard via AP )
South Carolina National Guard responds to the Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge wildfires emergency in Pickens County, S.C., on Sunday, March 23, 2025. (Sgt. 1st Class Roberto Di Giovine/U.S. Army National Guard via AP )
Firefighters look at a map as the Black Cove Fire burns nearby Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Saluda, N.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
A helicopter does a water drop on the Black Cove Fire Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Saluda, N.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Smoldering remains of Hurricane Helene debris that caught fire are seen during the Black Cove Fire Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Saluda, N.C.. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
A large wildfire in the South Carolina mountains has doubled in size on each of the last three days. But fire crews have been able to keep the blaze away from structures.
Firefighters battling the Table Rock Mountain fire have concentrated on saving lives and property by digging fire breaks that push the blaze north through undeveloped land on the Pickens County ridges near the North Carolina state line, officials said Friday. No injuries have been reported.
Airplanes and helicopters have completed more than 550 water-dropping missions on the Table Rock fire and a second blaze on Persimmon Ridge about 8 miles (13 kilometers) away.
But for now it is mostly defense in the Blue Ridge Mountains until the weather cooperates with a soaking rain or lessening winds, South Carolina Forester Scott Phillips said at a news conference Friday at Table Rock State Park.
South Carolina officials warn that it's going to be a long wildfire season. AP correspondent Donna Warder reports.
“With these fires and the conditions we are facing in the state right now — the dryness of the fuel, the extremely low humidity, the high winds that we're having — containment is very, very difficult to achieve,” Phillips said.
The Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge fires have burned about 17 square miles (44 square kilometers). The Table Rock fire started a week ago and has been doubling in size since Tuesday as windy and dry conditions have spread through the mountains.
In North Carolina, at least eight fires were burning in the mountains. The largest — the Black Cove Fire and the Deep Woods Fire in Polk County — were becoming more contained. They have scorched about 10 square miles (26 square kilometers) combined but have barely grown late this week.
And while those fires have received the most attention, the wildfire season has already been busy thanks to a drought and Hurricane Helene six months ago knocking down millions of trees. The fallen trees act as fuel and block firefighters trying to get to blazes.
“It will be a continuing issue for the next several years. It's going to change the way we have to attack fires in the mountains of South Carolina,” Phillips said.
Firefighters helping the state Forestry Commission have fought 373 wildfires in South Carolina that have burned more than 28 square miles (73 squarer kilometers) just in March.
“That's orders of magnitude more than we typically do within a month –- even more than we do in some years as far as the number of acres burned,” Phillips said.
April is typically the worst month for wildfires and long-term forecasts don't show conditions changing much.
“This is going to be a long season for us,” Phillips said.
A ban an outdoor burning has been in place for more than a week in South Carolina. Officials have given no indication when they will lift it.
Gov. Henry McMaster reminded people that violating the burn ban can mean jail time, and starting a fire even through negligence could leave someone on the hook for everything damaged.
“You go out and start a fire and you burn your neighbor's house down –- you owe them a house,” McMaster said.
Weather forecasts for the weekend have encouraging news. Calm winds are predicted overnight, and rain should fall Sunday and Monday, although the National Weather Service is not predicting the kind of soaking firefighters want.
“We're going to get it out,” McMaster said of the fires. “We're hoping we are going to have some rain, have some help. Everybody put that in your prayers.”
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Everett, Mass. Mayor Carlo DeMaria smiles while visiting guests at a senior luncheon following a bingo game at the Connolly Center, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, in Everett. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
A selection of Everett Leader Herald News Gazette newspaper stories are displayed at the law firm representing Everett, Mass. Mayor Carlo DeMaria, Friday Dec. 20, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Attorney Jeffrey S. Robbins, who is with the firm representing Everett, Mass. Mayor Carlo DeMaria, flips through a folder containing stories by the Everett Leader Herald News Gazette newspaper, Friday Dec. 20, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Everett, Mass. Mayor Carlo DeMaria, listens to a reporter's question during an interview at his attorney's office, Friday Dec. 20, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Everett, Mass. Mayor Carlo DeMaria talks with guests while visiting a senior luncheon following a bingo game at the Connolly Center, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, in Everett. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Everett, Mass. Mayor Carlo DeMaria embraces resident Pamela Mavilio while visiting a senior luncheon following a bingo game at the Connolly Center, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, in Everett. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Two women walk past the Everett Leader Herald News Gazette newspaper, Friday Dec. 20, 2024, in Everett, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
EVERETT, Mass. (AP) — For years, the mayor of a Boston suburb dreaded Wednesdays. That was the day when a local weekly would publish shocking allegations that he was on the take, sexually harassing women or under investigation by the FBI.
Friends trashed Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria on Facebook over what the Everett Leader Herald printed. His father threatened to disown him — over stories the mayor knew were lies.
“They labeled me as a ‘Kickback Carlo.' Accusations that I was settling all kinds of sexual harassment lawsuits, that I put a knife to a girl's throat and asked for sexual favors,” DeMaria said. “It was awful. It was disgusting.”
Almost everything the paper wrote about DeMaria turned out to be fake, enabling him to win a $1.1 million settlement in December that finally shut down the nearly 140-year-old paper.
Such defamation victories are exceedingly rare under the Supreme Court's “actual malice” standard for public figures. That willing disregard for the truth became abundantly evident when the paper's editor swore in court to tell the truth, and admitted to fabricating story after story in an unrelenting smear campaign.
But DeMaria hardly had time to celebrate. Now preparing for his seventh mayoral campaign, he's been accused of padding his salary with bonus payments — an issue the paper covered four years ago — and this time, the state of Massachusetts is pressing the City Council to take action.
Favoring sharp suits and slicked-back hair, DeMaria was schooled in a style of politics based on personal connections with fellow residents in the working-class town of about 49,000 across the Mystic River from Boston. As mayor in 2007, he's been praised for his leadership in improving infrastructure. Out-of-towners can now look beyond the Monsanto and Exxon Mobil facilities as they come to a glitzy casino and soon, possibly, a professional soccer stadium.
Everett, Mass. Mayor Carlo DeMaria talks with guests while visiting a senior luncheon following a bingo game at the Connolly Center, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, in Everett. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Everett voters reelected DeMaria by landslides, and his annual compensation grew to $232,700, including a car allowance and a “longevity bonus,” approaching the $250,000 salary of Mayor Michelle Wu of Boston, a city nearly 14 times larger.
Then, after a brutal 2021 campaign, he held onto office by just over 200 votes.
Matthew Philbin had bought the Leader Herald in 2017 and hired a Boston-area reporter Joshua Resnek, to turn it into an attack machine, court records show. DeMaria believes Philbin was angry at him after he opposed his boarding house licenses as a councilman and then rejected giving him a city insurance contract after he became mayor.
Resnek invented a City Hall insider he called the “Blue Suit” and in article after article, made up conversations accusing “Kickback Carlo” of extorting the city clerk in a land deal, shaking down people for contributions and sexually assaulting women.
In an emotional press conference to announce his court victory, DeMaria stood with his wife and expressed vindication.
“The size and scope of this settlement — both in terms of the amount that the defendants have agreed to pay and in their agreement to shut down their newspaper — is a reflection of just how egregious their conduct was, and of the volume of their admissions of their misconduct,” DeMaria said.
Neither Philbin, Resnek nor their lawyers responded to repeated requests for comment, but the paper's final edition reported that “the settlement leaves all parties satisfied that an agreeable arrangement was reached, making the necessity of a trial a moot point.”
Some residents grumbled about the loss of local news coverage.
“We need all kinds of voices,” said Everett homeowner Peggy Serino, a regular at council meetings. “Just because the administration didn't agree with something doesn't mean you shut it down.”
Someone complained to the state Office of the Inspector General about the bonus payments in 2022, after the Leader Herald suggested they were illegal and quoted a mayoral challenger who called them “greedy.” DeMaria turned down his 2022 payment of $40,000, and the council limited his future payments to what other city workers get — about $1,700 a year.
After a lengthy investigation, the Inspector General concluded in February that DeMaria colluded with his finance officer and budget director to retroactively get $180,000 from 2016 to 2021, hiding the payments within other line-items. The IG also concluded that DeMaria may have violated state ethics law by participating in the drafting and approval of the ordinance that padded his pay.
The City Council has turned on him since the report came out. It can't fire him, but councilors demanded repayment and launched an audit into nearly a decade's worth of payments to him. They also requested details they could bring to the state ethics commission, which can fine an official up to $10,000 per violation and refer evidence of any crimes to prosecutors.
DeMaria insists he never “engaged in concealment” and that law enforcement has not contacted him. It's all just small-town politics, he said.
“Those who have falsely accused me over the years are the ones who are guilty of the real wrongdoing,” he said. “I will continue to fight to protect my family, but also to undo the harm that has been done to the reputation of Everett and its residents by these unnecessary and unfounded attacks.”
Everett, Mass. Mayor Carlo DeMaria, listens to a reporter's question during an interview at his attorney's office, Friday Dec. 20, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
DeMaria didn't attend a special meeting packed with city employees where his lawyer and his daughter came to defend him. Launching his reelection campaign weeks later, he asked supporters to withhold judgment until all the facts come out.
Not everyone is willing to wait. The City Council approved a no-confidence vote and ended future longevity payments for him.
“This is a sad day for our community,” City Councilor Peter Pietrantonio said. “These are serious facts against the mayor and his administration ... To me, it's appalling.”
Councilor at Large Guerline Alcy Jabouin asked the many city workers supporting DeMaria to look beyond their allegiances.
“Think about your property taxes. Think about the school that isn't getting enough money. Think about your grandmother, your grandfather that cannot afford to pay for their medication,” Jabouin said.
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Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, discusses the upcoming congressional hearings on national injunctions against the Trump administration on ‘America's Newsroom.'
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to review a restraining order that temporarily blocks its use of an 18th century wartime immigration law to immediately deport Venezuelan nationals, including alleged members of the gang Tren de Aragua, from U.S. soil.
In the filing, lawyers for the Trump administration said that the lower court's orders have "rebuffed" Trump's immigration agenda, including its ability "to protect the Nation against foreign terrorist organizations and risk debilitating effects for delicate foreign negotiations."
The request for Supreme Court intervention comes shortly after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled 2-1 on Wednesday to uphold a lower court's decision that temporarily blocked the administration's use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act law to immediately deport Venezuelan nationals. That decision paused the Trump administration's use of the law for a 14-day period to allow the judge time to review the merits of the case.
The Trump administration had vowed it would appeal the circuit court decision to the Supreme Court for further review.
APPEALS COURT BLOCKS TRUMP ADMIN'S DEPORTATION FLIGHTS IN ALIEN ENEMIES ACT IMMIGRATION SUIT
President Donald Trump attempted to use the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged members of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. (Getty Images)
In their Supreme Court filing, U.S. Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris said the lower court's "flawed" orders "threaten the government's sensitive negotiations with foreign powers," and risk "serious and perhaps irreparable harm if not immediately reviewed" by the nation's highest court.
At minimum, the Trump administration said, the Supreme Court should grant an administrative stay, which would allow them to continue using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan nationals while the court considers the government's orders.
They also sharply criticized the appeals court's decision handed down Wednesday.
Writing for the 2-1 majority in the appeals court decision, U.S. Circuit Court Judges Karen Henderson, a Bush appointee, and Patricia Millett, an Obama appointee, focused heavily on concerns of due process violations, as well as complaints of immediate and irreparable harm cited by the plaintiffs.
Allowing Trump to use the law in the near-term "risks exiling plaintiffs to a land that is not their country of origin," Henderson said in a concurring opinion siding with the lower court judge.
'WOEFULLY INSUFFICIENT': US JUDGE REAMS TRUMP ADMIN FOR DAYS-LATE DEPORTATION INFO
Judge James E. Boasberg, chief judge of the U.S. District Court in D.C., stands for a portrait at E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, D.C., on March 16, 2023. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
"The equities favor the plaintiffs," Henderson said. "And the district court entered the TROs for a quintessentially valid purpose: to protect its remedial authority long enough to consider the parties' arguments.
Millett, for her part, said that siding with the Trump administration would "moot the Plaintiffs' claims by immediately removing them beyond the reach of their lawyers or the court."
Lawyers for the Trump administration also used the Supreme Court filing to criticize the growing trend of temporary restraining orders and injunctions blocking key policies, calling the lower court's ruling part of a "rule-by-TRO" pattern. Harris argued this approach has become so common that "the Executive Branch's basic functions are in peril."
In the two months since Inauguration Day, district courts have issued more than 40 injunctions or TROs against the Executive Branch, they noted in the filing.
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The Trump administration continued to rail against the lower court decisions, which White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described to Fox News on Wednesday as an "unauthorized infringement" on the president's authority.
The administration "will act swiftly to seek Supreme Court review to vindicate the president's authority, defend the Constitution, and Make America Safe Again," Leavitt added.
This is a breaking news story. Check back shortly for updates.
Fox News Digital's Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this report.
Breanne Deppisch is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering the Trump administration, with a focus on the Justice Department, FBI, and other national news.
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Updated on: March 28, 2025 / 10:42 AM EDT
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Nikola founder Trevor Milton said in a social media post that he's received "a full and unconditional pardon" by President Trump, adding that the president called him personally to inform him.
"I just got a call from the president of the United States on my phone that he signed a full and unconditional pardon of innocence," Milton said in an Instagram video message posted Thursday. "I am free."
In December 2023, Milton was sentenced to four years in prison after he was convicted of exaggerating claims about his electric vehicle company's production of zero-emission 18-wheel trucks, which prosecutors claimed caused investors to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars. Milton's conviction came after a short seller called Hindenburg Research alleged in 2020 that the EV maker had misrepresented its technology.
In his video, Milton said, "The greatest comeback story in America is about to happen."
Nikola filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February, a move that came months after it warned it could likely run out of cash in early 2025. Once valued at around $30 billion, exceeding the market capitalization of Ford Motor Co., the EV maker was a rising Wall Street star before it became embroiled in scandal.
Last month, Nikola said it plans to to continue limited service and support operations for vehicles on the road, including fueling operations through the end of March, subject to court approval. The company said that it would need to raise more funding to support those types of activities after that time.
In the video, Milton didn't disclose whether he had plans for Nikola or his involvement in the EV industry.
"I get to be with my wife now, I get to be with my family," Milton said. "It is done, it is over."
Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.
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The core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure, ticked up last month, rising more than economists had forecast and signaling that price hikes remain stubbornly elevated.
Inflation yardsticks such as the PCE index and the Consumer Price Index measure the change in prices over time of a typical basket of goods and services.
The core PCE, which excludes volatile fuel and food prices, showed a 2.8% increase last month on an annual basis, versus a 2.6% annual increase in January, according to data released Friday by the Commerce Department.
Economists had forecast that the core PCE in February rose 2.7%, according to financial data firm FactSet. Including fuel and food prices, the PCE rose 2.5% on an annual basis, matching the prior month's increase.
While inflation has cooled considerably from its peak above 9% in June 2022, the Federal Reserve wants to drive the annual rate of price increases to 2%, a goal that remains elusive. The Trump administration's tariff barrage — including a new 25% tariff on auto and car part imports — could reignite inflation later this year, economists say.
The pickup in core inflation likely means the Federal Reserve will hold off on further rate cuts, said Ellen Zentner of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management in an email. Earlier this year, the Fed paused its series of rate cuts given sticky inflation data that pointed to a stall-out in its battle against price hikes.
"Today's higher-than-expected inflation reading wasn't exceptionally hot, but it isn't going to speed up the Fed's timeline for cutting interest rates, especially given the uncertainty surrounding tariffs," Zentner said.
The PCE report also included data on consumer finances, showing that consumers saw their incomes jump 0.8% in February although they increased spending at just 0.4%, noted Nationwide chief economist Kathy Bostjancic in an email.
U.S. consumers are putting that extra money aside in savings, pushing up the household savings rate to its highest level since June 2024, she noted. Americans' outlook for the economy has grown somewhat more pessimistic since last month, with relatively more expecting a slowdown or recession over the next year, recent CBS News polling has found.
"Heightened uncertainty around the economic outlook, fears of accelerating inflation and the declines in the equity market are depressing consumer confidence," Bostjancic said.
Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.
© 2025 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Donald Trump, Elon Musk, White House
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) launched its first-ever ad buy Friday targeting Elon Musk and the millions of dollars he has injected into the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, previewing what could be a broader strategy for the party going forward.
The DNC ad buys, which are slated to run through Tuesday in seven local newspapers across Wisconsin, take aim at the $19 million Musk and his affiliated PACs have spent on behalf of conservative candidate, Brad Schimel, in a high-stakes state Supreme Court election that will determine whether the court retains its current 4-3 liberal majority.
Musk "has threatened Medicare, gutted Social Security services, and now he thinks he can buy himself a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court," DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a statement Friday. "That's why, today, the DNC is out with our first paid media explicitly calling out Musk for his attempts to meddle in Wisconsin's elections."
JUDGES V TRUMP: HERE ARE THE KEY COURT BATTLES HALTING THE WHITE HOUSE AGENDA
A photo of the DNC's ad, taking aim at Elon Musk ahead of the Wisconsin state Supreme Court race. The ad will run in seven newspapers ahead of the April 1, 2025 election. (Democratic National Committee )
DNC officials told Fox News Digital that the ads will run in seven local newspapers across the state – the Chippewa Herald, the Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter, the Beloit Daily News, the Daily Jefferson County Union, the Janesville Gazette, the Watertown Daily Times and the Oshkosh Northwestern – and highlight the message, "Wisconsin is not for sale."
"Wisconsinites deserve a Supreme Court justice who looks out for them, not the ultra-wealthy," Martin said. "Now and forever, Wisconsin is not for sale."
The closely-watched state Supreme Court in Wisconsin is already the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history, reaching a total of more than $81 million in spending and far eclipsing the $56 million spent on the state Supreme Court race just two years earlier, according to figures compiled by the Brennan Center for Justice.
Musk's two super PACs spent more than $17 million on Schimel's behalf, while Musk personally donated $3 million to the Wisconsin Republican Party earlier this year – funds that in turn can be used for Schimel's campaign.
Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates Brad Schimel and Susan Crawford are seen before a televised debate on Wednesday, March 12, 2025 in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
President Donald Trump and Musk have thrown their weight behind conservative candidate Schimel, with Trump himself stumping for Schimel during a Thursday evening tele-town hall event and billing the race as one that could have an "outsized impact on the future of the country."
"I know you feel it's local, but it's not," Trump said, adding, "The whole country is watching."
Meanwhile, former President Barack Obama and other notable Democrats have thrown their weight behind liberal opponent Susan Crawford, the current Dane County circuit judge whose campaign has attracted more than $25 million in funding ahead of the race.
AFTER STINGING ELECTION DEFEATS, DNC EYES RURAL VOTERS AS KEY TO 2026 MIDTERM SUCCESS
Judge Susan Crawford, candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, greets supporters during a campaign stop at the Racine County Democratic Party headquarters on March 23, 2025 in Racine, Wisconsin. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Democrats, for their part, see the race as fertile proving grounds to test their attack against Musk as they look to retain a critical state Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin and gear up for the 2026 midterm elections.
The efficacy of the ad campaign in Wisconsin, a that narrowly elected Trump in both the 2016 and 2024 presidential contests, remains to be seen.
However, it comes as Democrats have struggled to coalesce around a unifying message in the aftermath of the 2024 elections, which could make Musk, and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), more attractive targets.
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Polling numbers in Wisconsin also bear this out. Fifty-three percent of Wisconsin voters said earlier this month that DOGE is disrupting programs required by law, according to a survey from Marquette University Law School, while a slightly lower 47% said the quasi-agency is carrying out Trump's agenda.
A larger 59% majority said Trump's freezing spending and his closing of federal agencies is beyond his governmental authority.
Breanne Deppisch is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering the Trump administration, with a focus on the Justice Department, FBI, and other national news.
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Israel on Friday conducted drone strikes on a southern Beirut suburb, according to Lebanese official media, shortly after the Israeli military issued an evacuation order. The strike occurred as Lebanese President Joseph Aoun met French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and is the first such attack since a November ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel.
Official media in Lebanon reported an air strike Friday on south Beirut following an Israeli military warning, the first such move since a November ceasefire that has been seriously disrupted over the past week.
"Israeli warplanes struck the Hadath neighbourhood in Beirut's southern suburbs," the National News Agency said, referring to a densely populated area home to residential buildings and schools, after unclaimed rocket fire from Lebanon towards Israel earlier in the day.
Shortly before the strike, Israel's army issued an evacuation order to residents of Hadath in Beirut's southern suburbs. The military told them to leave the area around "Hezbollah facilities" immediately.
"Anyone located in the building marked in red as shown on the map, and the surrounding buildings... are near Hezbollah facilities... you must immediately evacuate these buildings", military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X that included a map showing the building.
Read more on FRANCE 24 EnglishRead also:US, France are 'guarantors of ceasefire deal', Lebanese President Joseph Aoun saysNetanyahu orders strikes on ‘terror targets' in Lebanon
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Investors are betting on new Intel (INTC) CEO Lip-Bu Tan to turn around the troubled chipmaker.
While it's unclear whether Intel's financial problems can be fixed quickly, Wall Street analysts — and current and former employees — generally agree on what steps Tan needs to take, short of a breakup. Those steps include everything from cutting jobs to turbocharging Intel's young foundry business.
A semiconductor industry veteran, Tan was appointed to his new role on March 12. Investors applauded the news: Intel stock rose more than 15% the next day. Analysts liked Tan's experience as former CEO of Cadence Design Systems, a semiconductor design software company, and his experience on boards of some 14 semiconductor companies, including Intel.
Now the hard part.
Tan is inheriting a company whose financial losses have made it a takeover target in recent months. Many Wall Street analysts and investors believe Intel — which is the only American leading-edge chip manufacturer — would be better off splitting up and selling its struggling manufacturing business. Case in point: The stock has risen on various reports in recent months of potential deals, some of which were allegedly being worked on with the support of the Trump administration.
Reuters reported last week that Tan plans to keep Intel's manufacturing business running for now and is looking to bolster Intel's faltering AI chip efforts to catch up to Nvidia (NVDA). He said as much in a letter to employees on March 12: "Together, we will work hard to restore Intel's position as a world-class products company, establish ourselves as a world-class foundry and delight our customers like never before."
Read more about Intel's stock moves and today's market action.
Yahoo Finance interviewed four Wall Street analysts and ten current and former Intel employees — including high-level executives. The employees were granted anonymity due to nondisclosure agreements and fear of jeopardizing future employment opportunities. Some of those sources said Intel should be left in one piece, at least for now. That's because, if split up, Intel's foundry would immediately go bankrupt, Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon told Yahoo Finance.
And Intel's product business, which designs the chips, can't outsource to rival manufacturers so easily — Intel semiconductors are specifically made in accordance with its own internal manufacturing processes. Not to mention, Intel's billions in CHIPS Act funding requires it to retain majority ownership of its foundry.
Intel declined to make Lip-Bu Tan available for an interview but told Yahoo Finance: "Lip-Bu is spending a lot of time listening to customers and employees as he comes on board and works closely with our leadership team to position the business for future success."
Here's what company sources and Wall Street analysts said he has to do to to avoid a break up.
Intel is one of the few remaining chipmakers that both designs and makes its own chips.
On the design side, Intel has fallen behind rivals such as AMD (AMD) and, of course, Nvidia in an increasingly AI-dominated industry. On the manufacturing side, Intel has repeatedly faced delays.
Former CEO Pat Gelsinger attempted to grow Intel's revenue by opening its in-house manufacturing business — a "foundry" — to outside customers on a large scale. Foundries such as Taiwan's TSMC (TSM) produce chips for other companies. Intel historically produced chips for its internal product business before Gelsinger launched Intel Foundry Services (IFS) in 2021.
The foundry strategy had mixed results. Intel is set to achieve a big feat by launching a new advanced chip manufacturing process called 18A this year, and IFS has deals with Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT). But analysts debate whether Intel can sustain the foundry, which lost $13.4 billion on $17.5 billion in revenue in 2024.
Bottom line: Intel needs to attract more big outside customers. Analysts and former executives said Tan's industry connections should help, but his credibility alone won't guarantee success.
In order for Intel's manufacturing business to survive, the company must succeed in launching 18A. While Intel manufacturing employees had previously suggested that the new technology was having trouble, those same employees said this week that 18A is progressing — and Intel manufacturing staff is feeling "positive" about its success.
As Moor Insights & Strategy analyst Anshel Sag said: "[I]f the results are good and companies are happy, they'll increase their capacity at" the foundry.
Per Reuters, Tan is looking to boost Intel's AI chip efforts to rival Nvidia and others.
Intel fumbled multiple attempts to enter what would become the AI chip market. In 2009, Intel scrapped a multiyear project, Larrabee, to develop a standalone GPU like Nvidia's. In 2017, Intel began a second effort toward a homegrown GPU, which did not ultimately result in a product competitive with Nvidia's. And in January Intel effectively killed its most recent effort, a high-end AI GPU called Falcon Shores.
Former Intel exec Raja Koduri, who led the 2017 GPU effort, suggested in an X post in February that the issue isn't Intel's products themselves but the company reluctance to bring them to market: "The tragedy of Intel's treasures lies in their delayed or deferred deployment," he wrote. "They [Intel] optimize for minimizing quarterly losses while missing the bigger picture."
"Intel still has a ton of IP and technology. These are gems that many in the eco-system envy. Many innovations have been sitting on shelf," he continued.
Another former high-level executive who was granted anonymity echoed Koduri's sentiment.
"Intel has a very good finance organization, but the company does sometimes make these decisions that are overly led by the early years' financial outcome," the person said. "You only learn from deploying. If you intend to be in that market long term, you might as well have access to the market, even if it costs you through the first generation."
Former and current Intel employees describe the company, whose staffers refer to themselves as "Team Blue," as slow and bureaucratic. Past high-level executives said the chipmaker's new CEO will need to shake up company culture and cut middle management.
It's a tough balancing act. The two current employees said any layoffs could depress morale and risk slowing the progress of 18A. Tan already has said Intel has "hard decisions" ahead. One of the employees said their colleagues are bracing for a potentially "huge amount” of layoffs in the second or third quarter.
They said their teams are already understaffed, and cuts to middle management would result in those teams being moved around, creating chaos.
One of the high-level former executives said, "The depth of talent at Intel is immense, and the loyalty that people have is astounding," later adding, "The answer lies in inspiring the people you have."
Laura Bratton is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Bluesky @laurabratton.bsky.social. Email her at laura.bratton@yahooinc.com.
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Gold futures (GC=F) rose to a fresh record on Friday as tariff threats sparked fears of an escalating trade war.
Futures surpassed $3,110 ahead of the Trump administration's reciprocal tariffs, expected to be announced next week as 25% levies are put on foreign autos. A weaker US dollar (DX-Y.NYB) has also supported higher gold prices.
The yellow metal is up more than 17% over the past quarter, on pace for its best year-to-date performance in nearly four decades.
Wall Street analysts have been upping their price target on gold in recent days.
Bank of America predicts the precious metal will reach $3,500 per ounce over the coming 18 months under the assumption that investments will increase 10% through more buying from China and central banks, along with investors purchasing physically backed ETFs.
In a note earlier this week, Goldman Sachs analysts said they expect gold to rise, "reflecting upside surprises in ETF inflows and in continued strong central bank gold demand." The firm has a year-end price target of $3,300 per troy ounce.
Gold inventories in New York skyrocketed this year as institutional investors shipped elevated amounts of physical bars to vaults in Manhattan. Gold inventories for the futures exchange Comex have spiked since November, reaching their highest level since the pandemic in 2021, according to Bloomberg data.
Follow all the action throughout the day on our live blog.
"What they [institutional investors] started doing in response is stockpiling. ... When you have conditions like that, and you throw in some safe-haven demands on top of it, you're going to see the price of gold start to creep up," Brett Elliott, director of marketing at American Precious Metals Exchange (APMEX), told Yahoo Finance earlier this month.
The same phenomenon has been happening with copper, which is up 30% year to date as elevated amounts of the metal have been shipped to the US amid fears that it will be hit with Trump's tariffs.
Earlier this week, copper (HG=F) futures accelerated to a new record in New York following a report that Trump is considering implementing levies on the commodity in a matter of weeks rather than months.
Futures on New York's Comex hovered around $5.13 per pound on Friday.
"Assuming tariffs are implemented in May, we think shipments to the US will likely be fast tracked," wrote Goldman Sachs' Eoin Dinsmore in a note to clients on Wednesday.
Demand from China is expected to keep prices high. Europe's moves to build up its defense infrastructure are also a tailwind for copper demand.
Meanwhile, silver was having its best week in three months as it hovered at a 13-year high.
Silver futures (SI=F) topped $35 per ounce, gaining 21% year to date.
Ines Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X at @ines_ferre.
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The Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge showed prices in February rose more than expected, re-intensifying the central bank's inflation battle at a time when it expects new tariffs from the Trump administration to push prices higher.
The new reading makes it more likely that officials hold rates at current levels for longer as policymakers look for signs of how President Trump's policies will affect the US economy in the months ahead.
"It looks like a 'wait-and-see' Fed still has more waiting to do," said Ellen Zentner, chief economic strategist for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.
"Today's higher-than-expected inflation reading wasn't exceptionally hot, but it isn't going to speed up the Fed's timeline for cutting interest rates, especially given the uncertainty surrounding tariffs."
Fed Chair Jerome Powell has said that his "base case" is that any extra inflation from Trump's slate of tariffs will be "transitory." But some of his colleagues worry the effects could be more persistent, adding to the uncertainties ahead for the central bank.
The Fed's goal is to get inflation down to its 2% target, but the key measure released Friday remains well above that marker. The "core" Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Index, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 2.8% year-over-year.
That reading was higher than economists' estimate of 2.7%, jumping from 2.6% in January. The month-over-month reading was also hotter, clocking in at 0.4%. That was higher than the 0.3% expected and up from that same level in the previous month.
Inflation now stands at the level the Fed predicted it would be at year's end — and that's before some of Trump's most aggressive tariff plans kick in. The president plans to announce a sweeping set of "reciprocal" country-by-country duties next week.
Fed officials raised their 2025 inflation forecast at a meeting last week, to 2.8% from 2.5% previously, due in large part to uncertainty surrounding the new tariffs. They also lowered their economic growth forecasts for the year.
But February's inflation report now shows that even the Fed's revised inflation forecast may prove to be too conservative.
Traders are still pricing in an interest rate cut in June with the potential for another cut in the fall. And the two-cut prediction from Wall Street still matches what Fed officials estimated at their meeting last week where they held rates unchanged.
Some Fed watchers, however, argue that these rate cut predictions could be challenged, too.
The new PCE reading "reinforces our view that the Fed is unlikely to cut interest rates this year," said Stephen Brown, deputy chief North America economist for Capital Economics.
The critical question ahead for Fed policymakers is how much of any additional inflation they expect to see is a one-off effect that will prove to be temporary.
While Powell has argued in favor of a potential "transitory" effect, some of his colleagues have offered more caution.
Boston Fed president Susan Collins said Thursday while speaking in Boston that she believes it's “inevitable that tariffs are going to increase inflation in the near term” and she expects the uptick in inflation could be short-lived.
But she added, “there are risks around that and depending on how that unfolds, it could be more persistent.”
Collins stressed that if there are additional rounds of tariffs, they are more broad-based, or if there are different levels of retaliation, then inflation could be more persistent than just a relatively fast adjustment to a higher level of prices.
In that context she said she would be looking more closely at inflation expectations because anchoring expectations is important for the Fed's credibility to bring inflation back down.
St. Louis Fed president Alberto Musalem also said this week that he could be "wary of assuming that the impact of tariff increases on inflation will be entirely temporary, or that a full 'look-through' strategy will necessarily be appropriate."
He noted that tariffs could create a one-time increase in price-levels, but that so-called "indirect effects" where domestic producers raise prices as importers raise prices could cause inflation to be more long lasting.
Musalem offered the example of beer from Canada. If it is subject to a 25% tariff, US consumers could shift from Canadian beer to American-made Budweiser, and then Budweiser could increase its prices as people look for locally produced goods.
"Distinguishing, especially in real-time, between direct, indirect, and second-round effects entails considerable uncertainty," he added.
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Car buyers should be ready for sticker shock when kicking the tires on a new ride in 2025, thanks to new tariffs from the Trump administration.
"A 25% tariff on imported cars could raise the price by $5K to $15K (assuming car values of $20K to $60K that are subject to tariffs for illustrative purposes, although we acknowledge some vehicles could fall outside this band)," Goldman Sachs autos analyst Mark Delaney warned on Friday.
Trump said Wednesday the US will impose 25% tariffs on imports of cars and car parts, to take effect on April 3. The measures will apply to both finished cars and trucks.
“This will continue to spur growth that you've never seen before," Trump said from the White House about the new tariffs.
According to estimates from Cox Automotive, the tariffs would directly impact half of the 50 bestselling models in the US.
Read more: What Trump's tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet
Investors and Wall Street don't appear to agree with Trump, given the response in markets.
The tariffs could increase production costs for automakers and dampen demand by raising prices for consumers. About half of all vehicles sold in the US are imported.
Shares of the Big Three US automakers, which build vehicles abroad, hit the skids on Thursday. General Motors (GM) and Ford (F) fell 7.4% and 3.9%, respectively, while Europe-focused Stellantis (STLA) dropped 2%.
Shares of all three continued to be under pressure in premarket trading on Friday.
The tariffs announcement caused JPMorgan (JPM) to slash ratings and estimates on the auto sector, citing "material" earnings risk.
One luxury carmaker noted it won't be immune either.
In a statement, Ferrari (RACE) said that it may raise prices by up to 10% to reflect the higher tariffs. Ferrari reaffirmed its financial outlook for 2025 but noted the risk that EBIT and EBITDA margins could face a 50 basis point reduction.
Goldman's Delaney said even locally made automobiles may see sharp sticker price increases, reflecting the higher cost of parts.
"Moreover, assuming about 50% of parts content in US made cars is foreign (per the White House fact sheet), a 25% tariff could raise the cost of locally made vehicles by roughly $3K-$8K prior to any offsets (assuming costs of $20K to $60K for a typical vehicle for illustrative purposes, although some vehicles would fall outside of this band), although we'd note that tariffs, at least for now, would only apply to certain auto parts and thus the actual tariff costs on auto parts may be somewhat lower than this," Delaney explained.
Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Tips on stories? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.
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Car buyers should be ready for sticker shock when kicking the tires on a new ride in 2025, thanks to new tariffs from the Trump administration.
"A 25% tariff on imported cars could raise the price by $5K to $15K (assuming car values of $20K to $60K that are subject to tariffs for illustrative purposes, although we acknowledge some vehicles could fall outside this band)," Goldman Sachs autos analyst Mark Delaney warned on Friday.
Trump said Wednesday the US will impose 25% tariffs on imports of cars and car parts, to take effect on April 3. The measures will apply to both finished cars and trucks.
“This will continue to spur growth that you've never seen before," Trump said from the White House about the new tariffs.
According to estimates from Cox Automotive, the tariffs would directly impact half of the 50 bestselling models in the US.
Read more: What Trump's tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet
Investors and Wall Street don't appear to agree with Trump, given the response in markets.
The tariffs could increase production costs for automakers and dampen demand by raising prices for consumers. About half of all vehicles sold in the US are imported.
Shares of the Big Three US automakers, which build vehicles abroad, hit the skids on Thursday. General Motors (GM) and Ford (F) fell 7.4% and 3.9%, respectively, while Europe-focused Stellantis (STLA) dropped 2%.
Shares of all three continued to be under pressure in premarket trading on Friday.
The tariffs announcement caused JPMorgan (JPM) to slash ratings and estimates on the auto sector, citing "material" earnings risk.
One luxury carmaker noted it won't be immune either.
In a statement, Ferrari (RACE) said that it may raise prices by up to 10% to reflect the higher tariffs. Ferrari reaffirmed its financial outlook for 2025 but noted the risk that EBIT and EBITDA margins could face a 50 basis point reduction.
Goldman's Delaney said even locally made automobiles may see sharp sticker price increases, reflecting the higher cost of parts.
"Moreover, assuming about 50% of parts content in US made cars is foreign (per the White House fact sheet), a 25% tariff could raise the cost of locally made vehicles by roughly $3K-$8K prior to any offsets (assuming costs of $20K to $60K for a typical vehicle for illustrative purposes, although some vehicles would fall outside of this band), although we'd note that tariffs, at least for now, would only apply to certain auto parts and thus the actual tariff costs on auto parts may be somewhat lower than this," Delaney explained.
Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Tips on stories? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.
Click here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including events that move stocks
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While Wall Street frets about potential volatility from President Trump's April 2 "Liberation Day" plans, another part of America is also bracing for more possible chaos: US ports.
If the president next week imposes sweeping new duties on America's top trading partners, that could place a significant new burden on ports of entry from coast to coast, which act as conduits for a wide variety of goods critical to the global economy.
One person trying to raise the alarm with policymakers this week is Cindy Allen, CEO of an international trade consulting company called Trade Force Multiplier.
There comes a point, she told Yahoo Finance in between meetings, when "you're stacking all of the duty rates together" to such an extent that "the custom system can't handle that."
At issue is what is known as the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States — also known as the tariff book. It's a 99-chapter-long guide with somewhere around 18,000 different numbers that serves as the go-to guide for duty collectors and importers about what tariffs to apply to what products.
Trump has already added multitudes to this complicated arrangement with actions that so far include new 20% tariffs on China, 25% tariffs on many imports from Canada and Mexico, and 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports since taking office.
But his reciprocal tariff plans could take things to another level and apply to a wider array of goods and trading partners. As the president told reporters this week, "friend has often been much worse than foe" and that next week's actions will apply to both.
A White House official added to Yahoo Finance that the administration has been listening to the business world feedback and "a lot of that has been taken into consideration." The White House official expected the still-being finalized plans for next week to focus on country-by-country tariffs with the overall view being "the status quo, as we see it, cannot stand."
Read more: The latest news and updates on Trump's tariffs
As Trump's reciprocal tariff plans began to take shape, the administration first signaled that reciprocal tariffs could be a sort of mirror on US trading partners, where the US would calibrate its actions to reflect the duties other countries currently have in place.
This week, Allen called that the "absolute nightmare scenario" in her view because of the complexity it would add.
More recently, the Trump administration has said that a somewhat more straightforward plan is now likely in part to reflect so-called non-tariff barriers that other countries impose such as value-added and digital taxes. That expected rollout would mean — as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently put it — "each country will receive a number that we believe ... represents their tariffs."
But even that will likely add a new and complex layer to the tariff book.
"That can also be really complicated," said Greta Peisch, who served as general counsel for the US Trade Representative's (USTR) office during the Biden administration.
Peisch noted this week that a plan where a range of countries have different duties means that even goods that in the past could largely move quickly across the border must now be more closely scrutinized to determine their country of origin.
"When you have different tariffs on products from different countries that vary widely, that just increases the logistical and compliance complexity," she added.
As Allen put it, perhaps more bluntly, about these two scenarios: "They're both nightmares."
That's because for importers, even in the latter scenario, many goods will be subject to a greater array of levies.
One example might be an aluminum baseball bat from Canada that could soon be subject to at least three new Trump 2.0 duties — one specific to the aluminum, one imposed on Canada over illegal drugs and migration, and then these incoming reciprocal tariffs.
Read more: What Trump's tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet
Imports from China are even more complex, with some imports facing a network of overlapping duties that, in some cases, are already near 100% tariff levels — even before Trump's additional reciprocal actions next week that are expected to include China.
Trump's country-by-country tariff plans could be even further complicated by new sector duties that could also come into force at the same time.
On Wednesday, Trump announced that new 25% tariffs on foreign-made automobiles and "certain auto parts" will begin coming into effect on April 2, with the first duties on cars felt on April 3.
As will a new plan for secondary tariffs on any country that buys oil from Venezuela. That also comes into force on April 2, when Trump will be able to levy new duties.
"Many processes today are automated, although far fewer than one might think. There's still a lot of paper involved in customs," noted Mary Lovely, a trade expert and senior fellow at the Peterson Institute, in a recent episode of Yahoo Finance's Capitol Gains podcast.
She added that Trump's auto tariff announced this week could add yet another layer as the Trump administration is promising to look for American content in the auto parts supply chain and exempt them from tariffs.
"That's definitely something we're not doing," Lovely added, saying, "It's going to cause an enormous headache for companies and then for customs."
The president also has issued a range of other sector-specific threats — from pharmaceuticals to semiconductors to lumber to dairy — with many likely to be formally unveiled in the coming days and in force soon thereafter.
Trump's plans have been the subject of intense lobbying in recent weeks. Some CEOs, like Ford's (F) Jim Farley, have gotten the president on the phone to express their worries. Trump's economic team has also been speaking to CEOs. Others have gone through the more formal process.
"There's been a lot of businesses that have been successful in meeting with USTR and with the different levels in the administration to communicate," Allen noted.
"They want to comply regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum, but they need the ability to do that," she added, noting that much of the challenge is in planning for tariffs when details are not yet announced but could be in place within days.
Overall, as Peisch noted of the worries, "I don't know that that will dissuade them from going down this path, which they have made a big part of the president's agenda during those first couple months."
Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
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Fossils of 444 million-year-old creatures whose bodies were preserved "inside-out" have been discovered in South Africa.
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Scientists have found two specimens of a 444 million-year-old "inside-out" fossil with well-preserved soft tissue, according to a new study. Unlike most fossils, the creature's muscles and guts — but not its more durable shell — are preserved in ancient sediment that turned to stone.
The fossil, found 250 miles (402 kilometers) north of Cape Town in South Africa, is a new species of multisegmented arthropod that may have lived in oxygen-poor waters, according to the study, published March 26 in the journal Papers in Palaeontology.
Researchers named the new species Keurbos susanae and nicknamed the fossil "Sue" after its discoverer's mom.
"Sue is an inside-out, legless, headless wonder," lead author Sarah Gabbott, a paleontologist at the University of Leicester in the U.K., said in a statement. "Remarkably, her insides are a mineralized time-capsule: muscles, sinews, tendons and even guts all preserved in unimaginable detail. And yet her durable carapace, legs and head are missing — lost to decay over 440 million years ago."
The researchers found the fossils in the Soom Shale, a site known for producing fossils with well-preserved soft tissues, more than 20 years ago. They had hoped to find additional specimens, but fossils of the species turned out to be quite rare. The silt, clay, and mud in which Sue was preserved were deposited on an ancient seafloor, beneath an ocean low in oxygen but high in dissolved, acidic hydrogen sulfide — suggesting that K. susanae may have been adapted for a low-oxygen environment.
Sue dates back to the Late Ordovician mass extinction (443 million years ago), when cold temperatures and glacier advancement eliminated nearly 85% of marine species.
Researchers are still working to understand how soft tissues in fossils like K. susanae are preserved in the Soom Shale. Clay minerals may have played a role, as could calcium phosphate, a compound commonly found in fossilized muscles. On the other hand, the shells and exoskeletons of species preserved in Soom Shale likely dissolved in the acidic ocean.
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Because the K. susanae specimen was fossilized inside out, scientists still aren't sure of the species' evolutionary history or how it compares to other fossils from the same time period.
"We are now sure she was a primitive marine arthropod, but her precise evolutionary relationships remain frustratingly elusive," Gabbott said in the statement. The fossil's segmented trunk suggests it had limbs of some kind — but comparing Sue to known fossil species would require a sample with part of the exoskeleton preserved.
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Recent quarrying activity has buried the site where Gabbott and her colleagues found Sue, so it's unlikely they'll find other examples of the same species with intact legs or a head, the team said.
"I'd always hoped to find new specimens, but it seems after 25 years of searching this fossil is vanishingly rare — so I can hang on no longer," Gabbott said. "Especially as recently my mum said to me, 'Sarah, if you are going to name this fossil after me, you'd better get on and do it before I am in the ground and fossilized myself'."
Gabbott joked that she named the fossil after her mom because she's a "well-preserved specimen." But the true reason, she said, is that "my mum always said I should follow a career that makes me happy — whatever that may be. For me that is digging rocks, finding fossils and then trying to figure out how they lived what they tell us about ancient life and evolution on Earth."
Skyler Ware is a freelance science journalist covering chemistry, biology, paleontology and Earth science. She was a 2023 AAAS Mass Media Science and Engineering Fellow at Science News. Her work has also appeared in Science News Explores, ZME Science and Chembites, among others. Skyler has a Ph.D. in chemistry from Caltech.
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Success with mice does not guarantee success with elephants
Cute, yes. But is this “woolly mouse” really a step toward bringing woolly mammoths back?
Colossal Bioscience
By Jason Bittel
5 hours ago
Scientists working to unlock the secrets of de-extinction recently announced what they say is a turning point for the movement: the creation of transgenic mice with long, luxurious golden locks of tufted fur inspired by the coats of woolly mammoths.
They're called Colossal woolly mice. And yes, they are cute to boot.
Transgenic mice — those that have had their genomes altered through genetic engineering — are not new. But what's novel is the ability to engineer eight edits across seven genes and to do so simultaneously in one animal. The researchers also note that across three experiments, each of which used different combinations of edits, the method worked with high efficiency, resulting in living animals that presented the traits they were bred for.
In other words, the scientists have shown not only that they can make woolly mice, but also that they can do so reliably and repeatedly — a necessity for the project's next steps.
“That's been overlooked [in the immediate aftermath of the announcement] as far as how actually big of a deal that is in genetic engineering,” says Beth Shapiro, chief science officer at Colossal Biosciences in Dallas. She and her colleagues described the team's findings in a paper posted March 4 at bioRxiv.org.
In all, the team created 32 woolly mice, each of which varied slightly in appearance, but reflected the traits the scientists predicted. Shapiro says there were no misfires or surprises in the lot. “Other than that they were so absurdly adorable,” she says.
But what do a few extra-furry mice have to do with bringing mammoths back from extinction? That part is a little more complicated and has led to misunderstandings since the findings were announced. For instance, the New York Post described the woolly mouse as a new species — it isn't — and one post on X with millions of views stated that the scientists “spliced woolly mammoth genes into mice,” which is also not true.
“We did not want to take elephant genes and shove them into a mouse,” Shapiro says, “because that wouldn't make any sense.”
To create the woolly mouse, scientists analyzed the genetic instructions, or genomes, of 121 mammoth and elephant samples to identify genes that may have given woolly mammoths some of their characteristic traits. These include longer, thicker, golden hair, as well as genes associated with lipid metabolism and fatty acid absorption for a life spent in the bitter cold.
“We can do a lot with the mammoth genomes we have. We can line them up on a computer and compare them to elephant genomes and ask where all the mammoths are the same as each other but different from their elephant cousins,” says Shapiro, who is also an evolutionary biologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Using these hints about what makes a mammoth a mammoth, the scientists searched for similar traits in mice, either naturally occurring or achievable through genetic engineering. Mice are much easier to work with than elephants, of course. The tiny rodents require little space, breed quickly and have already been extensively studied with regards to their genetics. For instance, scientists have known since 1994 that if you turn off the FGF5 gene, mice will grow much longer hair than usual. Similarly, a gene known as Mc1r makes mice blond, while Frzd6 makes that hair whorly and frizzled.
The final step was transforming edited embryos into living, breathing, gloriously furred mice.
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“Of course, mice are not elephants, which people have helpfully pointed out to us, as if we didn't know that,” says Shapiro, referring to some common critiques her team has received.
This is why, she says, the woolly mice are just one part of the de-extinction goal. Colossal Biosciences, founded in 2021, has also been experimenting directly with Asian elephant cells, because that species is most closely related to extinct woolly mammoths.
Another arm of research focuses on the artificial reproductive techniques necessary to implant a genetically modified elephant embryo into a living elephant and then bring that animal to term. Similarly, the scientists are also working on de-extinction projects for the dodo and a wolflike marsupial known as the thylacine.
“All of this work is happening simultaneously,” Shapiro says.
Jacquelyn Gill, an ice age ecologist at the University of Maine in Orono, does not hide her excitement about the idea of seeing a woolly mammoth in person one day.
“I understand why someone would be compelled to see a mammoth,” Gill says. “I've never seen my study system in person, right? It only exists in my mind's eye, because I study a past that is gone.”
Nor does she reject the idea of de-extinction outright. In fact, Gill says, “the science of de-extinction is exciting and has broad applications.”
However, she is skeptical that what Colossal Biosciences is pursuing will qualify as bringing a woolly mammoth back from the dead.
For starters, despite the discovery of many well-preserved mammoth remains in permafrost —some complete with fur, muscles and skin — thousands of years buried in ice have destroyed every cell. This degradation means researchers cannot clone a mammoth, as has already been achieved in sheep.
“That's a whole pathway to cloning that is cut off from us,” Gill says.
While gene editing may allow altering an Asian elephant in ways that superficially resemble a woolly mammoth, any attempt to do so will probably miss innumerable genetic flourishes that made woolly mammoths a unique species.
“A mammoth is not an elephant in a fur coat,” says Tori Herridge, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Sheffield in England.
While Herridge finds the candidate genes for mammoth fur types and cold adaptation “really exciting and interesting,” she cautions that we still don't know “what makes a mammoth a mammoth.”
“We all know that genes are complicated,” Herridge says. “One gene can affect many things, and many genes can act in concert.” Furthermore, she says, researchers don't yet know if the genes used to dictate hair length, texture or color in the woolly mice will produce the same effects in Asian elephants.
Some troubleshooting can be done in the lab, Shapiro says. For instance, the team is already growing elephant cells in cultures and then testing how those cells respond to things like changes in gene expression. This allows Colossal to learn more about which genes to target without having to grow or experiment on a whole elephant.
The team has also already created elephant pluripotent stem cells, which could potentially be used to create any kind of cell — a crucial step toward assisted reproduction and the ultimate goal of implanting a transgenic elephant embryo into a living host.
Complicating this step is the fact that Asian elephant gestation can last up to about 22 months, meaning the process to create just one transgenic elephant will take significantly longer than that of woolly mice, which are pregnant for just 18 to 21 days. Moreover, Asian elephants are classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which will probably restrict how this process unfolds.
Even assuming that all of this will one day be possible, and in numbers sufficient to create a viable woolly mammoth–like herd, other questions remain. For instance, scientists have shown that modern-day elephants are complex animals with established social and cultural knowledge that gets passed down through generations.
“You can't teach a transgenic elephant how to be a woolly mammoth,” Gill says.
And the habitat that mammoths once roamed has changed quite a bit since the Pleistocene epoch, which ended 11,700 years ago.
Back then, the tundra would have been covered in life, Gill says, much like today's Serengeti. Scientists call this biome, once the most widespread on earth, the mammoth steppe. But modern day ecosystems in those northerly regions are less productive and diverse, Gill says. Interestingly, this may have occurred because mammoths were keystone species that changed their environment. The mammoths made the mammoth steppe, in other words. And when mammoths disappeared, the ecosystem disappeared with them.
But if mammoths made an ecosystem once, perhaps they could do it again. De-extincted mammoths could, in theory, reengineer an ecosystem in ways beneficial to them, Gill says. And that theoretical capability is key to one of Colossal Bioscience's goals: Bring back herds of mammoths that will stamp down permafrost and help keep carbon stored in the ground, protecting against further climate change.
“The problem is we don't actually know if that's possible,” Gill says.
For her part, Shapiro acknowledges the legitimate criticisms of Colossal Biosciences' goals but remains optimistic about the future. In fact, one of the company's other projects might succeed first: Bringing back the dodo.
After all, while bird genetics present their own litany of challenges, there's a lot to be said for an animal that requires an egg rather than a surrogate mother, she quips.
And while Colossal Biosciences' founder, Ben Lamm, has stated that he wants to see woolly mammoth calves on the ground by 2028, Shapiro has always stressed that genetics is just one part of the equation.
“We will have elephant cells that are edited and ready to go in early '27, which is what we would need to have something on the ground in 2028,” Shapiro says. “But then there's a lot of hard biology that still hasn't been solved that needs to be solved.”
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R. Chen et al. Multiplex-edited mice recapitulate woolly mammoth hair phenotypes. bioRxiv.org. Posted online March 4, 2025. doi: 10.1101/2025.03.03.641227.
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Scientists have developed an impossibly thin telescope lens that addresses a key astronomical challenge in a new study funded by NASA and DARPA.
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A new type of flat, razor-thin telescope lens could transform deep-space stargazing by making it possible to mount lightweight but powerful telescopes onto aircraft and satellites, scientists say.
Refractor telescopes normally use curved lenses to magnify distant objects through a process called refraction. Similar to a magnifying glass, the curved lens of a telescope bends light and directs it to a focal point, making objects appear larger.
However, traditional lenses quickly become impractical for space telescopes studying stars or galaxies millions of light years away. This is because the further away an object is, the more magnification is required to bring it into focus, and therefore the thicker and heavier the lens needs to be.
That's why scientists have explored flat lenses, which should in theory be lighter and less bulky. The challenge with them, however, is that light interacts with them differently than with curved lenses.
Visible light is a type of electromagnetic radiation, which is transmitted in waves or particles at different wavelengths and frequencies. When light passes through a flat lens, it diffracts, scattering wavelengths in multiple directions and resulting in a blurry, unfocused image.
But a new "multilevel diffractive lens" (MDL) developed by scientists features a multi-level structure consisting of "microscopically small concentric rings." These effectively channel different wavelengths of light towards the same focal point to create a sharp, color-accurate image.
Related: Could we turn the sun into a gigantic telescope?
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The new 100-millimeter (3.9-inch) diameter lens, which has a 200 mm (7.8 in) focal length, is just 2.4 micrometers thick. Optimized for the 400 to 800 nm wavelength range for visible light, this lens is much lighter than a conventional curved lens and eliminates color distortions.
The scientists published their findings Feb. 3 in the journal Applied Physics Letters. The study was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), NASA and the Office of Naval Research.
"Our demonstration is a stepping stone towards creating very large aperture lightweight flat lenses with the capability of capturing full-color images for use in air- and space-based telescopes," lead study author Apratim Majumder, assistant professor in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Utah, said in a statement.
Scientists have designed flat lenses in the past, most notably the fresnel zone plate (FZP), which features concentric ridges etched across the surface. However, the ridges of FZPs break light into separate wavelengths and diffract them at different angles, resulting in color distortions.
The MDL is unique in that its concentric rings exist at varying depths within the lens itself. As light passes through, the microscopic indentations adjust how different wavelengths diffract, preventing them from spreading apart as they normally would. This controlled diffraction brings all wavelengths of light into focus at the same time, resulting in a sharper, color-accurate image.
As well as avoiding the color distortions of FZPs, the researchers said the new flat lens offered the same light-bending power as traditional curved lenses. In the study, they used the MDL to capture images of the sun and moon. Lunar images they took revealed key geological features, while they also used it in solar imaging to capture visible sunspots.
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"Simulating the performance of these lenses over a very large bandwidth, from visible to near-infrared, involved solving complex computational problems involving very large datasets," Majumder said in the statement. "Once we optimized the design of the lens' microstructures, the manufacturing process required very stringent process control and environmental stability."
The researchers said the technology had applications in astronomy, astrophotography and other "long-range imaging tasks" including "airborne and space-based imaging applications." What's more, production may not be far off.
"Our computational techniques suggested we could design multi-level diffractive flat lenses with large apertures that could focus light across the visible spectrum and we have the resources in the Utah Nanofab to actually make them," study co-author Rajesh Menon, professor of electrical and computer engineering at University of Utah, said in the statement.
Owen Hughes is a freelance writer and editor specializing in data and digital technologies. Previously a senior editor at ZDNET, Owen has been writing about tech for more than a decade, during which time he has covered everything from AI, cybersecurity and supercomputers to programming languages and public sector IT. Owen is particularly interested in the intersection of technology, life and work – in his previous roles at ZDNET and TechRepublic, he wrote extensively about business leadership, digital transformation and the evolving dynamics of remote work.
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Lake Salda: The only place on Earth similar to Jezero crater on Mars
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Engineers are exploring propulsion methods that could enable longer-distance travel
Perhaps someday spacecraft will be able to take humans beyond the solar system.
GLENN HARVEY
By Aaron Tremper
7 hours ago
Pilots in Star Wars enter a dimension, hyperspace, to travel between distant worlds. To merge onto this cosmic highway, ships are equipped with special engines called hyperdrives. With the push of a lever, the spacecraft zooms faster than the speed of light, traversing between star systems in just hours or days. Han Solo and his sidekick Chewbacca make the jump to hyperspace look easy (at least when the Millennium Falcon is in working order).
But Star Wars breaks the laws of physics to achieve such a feat. Off-screen, the technology to reach another star system doesn't yet exist. However, emerging propulsion methods could brighten the future of interstellar travel.
Due to the nature of light and energy, it's impossible to reach the speed of light, nearly 300,000 kilometers per second. It would take an infinite amount of energy. The fastest any human-made object has traveled is only about 0.06 percent of that speed. At that rate, it would take about 6,600 years to reach the nearest exoplanet, Proxima Centauri b, 4.24 light-years away.
A spacecraft traveling at one-tenth of the speed of light could shave the trip down to a quick 40 years. Future engineers could use nuclear power to achieve that, says Scott Bailey, an engineer at Virginia Tech. But developing that technology could take thousands of years.
Controlled fusion could help, says Cole Miller, an astronomer at the University of Maryland in College Park. Controlled fusion harnesses energy from combining atomic nuclei to create a steady supply of power. Researchers have been working on controlled fusion for about 70 years. But so far, these experiments have yet to produce more energy than they consume.
Not all vehicles in the Star Wars universe rely on hyperdrives; some“sun jammers” have huge sails thatcatch stellar winds — the constantstream of charged particles producedby stars — to move throughspace like a ship on the sea.
Recently, the nonprofit Planetary Society tested a similar concept. The crowdfunded LightSail 2 launched in 2019 and orbited Earth for about three years. Rather than relying on solar wind, though, the small craft's solar sails used pressure from sunlight itself. Although light doesn't have mass, it does have momentum. The solar sails intercepted sunlight with thin sheets made of reflective Mylar and other polymers. When speeding photons hit the sail, they bounced.
Using solar sails to propel a large spacecraft would be tough, Miller says. The thrust produced probably wouldn't be strong enough to carry ships ferrying humans. Upscaling solar sails would offer unique benefits, however. Using sunlight would allow a spaceship to accelerate without fuel. And unlike objects on Earth, spacecraft aren't slowed by air friction produced by an atmosphere. This would allow any spacecraft to continue gaining speed as long as it's exposed to sunlight.
For now, spacefarers aren't looking to travel to another star system. But even travel within the solar system, say, to Mars, could use a boost. To safely bring people to and from the Red Planet, some researchers are looking to ion engines. These thrusters create force by shooting charged atoms from the back of a spacecraft. Star Wars' TIE Fighters, like the one flown by Darth Vader, navigate through space battles with them.
But real ion engines work best with straight paths, says Jarred Young, an engineer at the University of Maryland. “It's essentially point-and-click propulsion.”
Ion engines aren't as powerful as the chemical propellants in rockets, which create thrust by combusting fuel and oxygen-releasing substances called oxidizers. But chemical rockets burn for only a short time. Ion engines can last months or even years, possibly helping fuel trips to Mars, if engineers can design strong enough thrusters.
For now, reaching distant new worlds is only possible in fictional galaxies far, far away.
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Aaron Tremper is the editorial assistant for Science News Explores. He has a B.A. in English (with minors in creative writing and film production) from SUNY New Paltz and an M.A. in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism's Science and Health Reporting program. A former intern at Audubon magazine and Atlanta's NPR station, WABE 90.1 FM, he has reported a wide range of science stories for radio, print, and digital media. His favorite reporting adventure? Tagging along with researchers studying bottlenose dolphins off of New York City and Long Island, NY.
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Lake Salda, in southwestern Turkey, bears a close resemblance to Mars' Jezero crater, which is currently being sampled by NASA's Perseverance rover.
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Name: Lake Salda
Location: Burdur province, southwestern Turkey
Coordinates: 37.54827653569846, 29.685860347540892
Why it's incredible: The lake is the only place on Earth that's similar to Jezero crater on Mars.
Lake Salda is a body of water in Turkey that bears a strong resemblance to Mars' Jezero crater. The stunning lake is the only place on Earth with geology and mineralogy comparable to those of the ancient impact structure on the Red Planet. This striking similarity meant scientists flocked to study its shores before the Perseverance rover landed on Mars in 2021.
Lake Salda is one of Turkey's deepest lakes, with a maximum depth of 643 feet (196 meters). Its shores are covered in powdered hydromagnesite, a carbonate mineral that's rich in magnesium and is found in caves and on the shores of certain lakes. Notably, this mineral holds clues about ancient microbial life.
"Carbonates are important because they are really good at trapping anything that existed within that environment, such as microbes, organics, or certain textures that provide evidence of past microbial life," Brad Garczynski, a researcher in planetary geology at Western Washington University, told NASA's Earth Observatory.
Related: NASA Mars rover finds 'first compelling detection' of potential fossilized life on the Red Planet
The hydromagnesite on Lake Salda's shores likely eroded from microbialites, which are rock-like mounds that look similar to coral reefs but are made of microbes. The lake still hosts intact microbialites, but these will eventually be reworked and end up as sand on the shoreline, according to NASA's Earth Observatory.
Using data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, scientists detected similar minerals along Jezero's western edge in 2019, suggesting the crater once held a lake. These observations have since been confirmed by the Perseverance rover, which found mineral evidence of a lake that existed inside Jezero crater billions of years ago.
Lake Salda and Jezero crater have something else in common: depositional features known as deltas. Deltas are layers of sediment that accumulate in places where rivers flow into lakes and other bodies of water. The features offer tantalizing clues about how water came to fill Jezero, and studying them in Lake Salda has helped scientists narrow down their search to specific locations in the Martian crater.
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"One of the great things about visiting Lake Salda is it really gives you a sense of what it would have been like to stand on the shores of ancient Lake Jezero," Horgan said.
The area around Lake Salda is home to more than 300 plant species and 30 waterfowl species, making it a popular destination for nature enthusiasts and hikers, according to CNN. The lake is only a short drive from the Pamukkale travertines — stunning limestone formations with thermal pools.
Discover more incredible places, where we highlight the fantastic history and science behind some of the most dramatic landscapes on Earth.
Sascha is a U.K.-based staff writer at Live Science. She holds a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Southampton in England and a master's degree in science communication from Imperial College London. Her work has appeared in The Guardian and the health website Zoe. Besides writing, she enjoys playing tennis, bread-making and browsing second-hand shops for hidden gems.
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After spotting pawprints for two weeks, a gamekeeper and photographer in Pakistan caught a rare glimpse of a family of four snow leopards.
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Incredibly rare footage has captured a mother snow leopard and her three cubs trudging through thick snow in the mountains of northern Pakistan.
Sakhawat Ali, a gamekeeper at the Central Karakoram National Park in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, spotted the elusive animals on March 13 in a remote village called Hushe after two weeks of tracking their pugmarks [pawprints].
"Spotting four snow leopards is a great joy, as it indicates that the snow leopard population is increasing," Ali told Live Science.
Snow leopards (Panthera uncia) are an elusive species of big cat that can be found in mountainous areas across 12 countries in Central and Eastern Asia, and sightings are exceedingly rare. Their white coats render them almost invisible against the snowy mountains they call home, and more than 70% of their habitat remains unexplored, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Since late February, Ali said he had been noticing snow leopard pugmarks around the village. "While I was on the roof of my house, I used binoculars to observe the mountains and spotted a female snow leopard along with her four cubs," he said. "I quickly moved closer and filmed them from a distance of about 250 meters [820 feet]."
Related: 50 of the most endangered species on the planet
Snow leopards are usually solo travellers, so seeing four together is exceedingly rare.
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"In the village [of Hushe] we are used to seeing snow leopards, but nobody, not even the elders that I spoke to, have ever seen four snow leopards in one go," Ali told CNN.
Female snow leopards typically have between one and five cubs with each litter, according to WWF. At three months old, the cubs begin to follow their mother out of their dens to learn how to hunt in their environment. However, they stay with their mothers until they are almost 2-years-old, according to San Diego Zoo.
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The big cats are considered vulnerable to extinction, with only 4,000 to 6,000 individuals left worldwide, according to WWF estimates.
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Tim Winard knew he needed to buy health insurance when he left his management job in manufacturing to launch his own business.
It was the first time he had shopped around for coverage, searching for a plan that would cover him and his wife, who was also between jobs at the time.
"We were so nervous about not being on a company-provided plan," Winard said.
After speaking with an insurance agent, he decided against enrolling in an Affordable Care Act plan because he was concerned about the potential cost. Instead, he chose a short-term policy, good for six months.
Six months later, Winard was still working on starting his business, so he signed up for another short-term policy with a different insurer that cost about $500 a month.
When he needed a colonoscopy, Winard, 57, called his insurance company. He said a representative told him to go to any facility he wanted for the procedure.
Early last year, he had the colonoscopy at a hospital in Elmhurst, Illinois, not far from his home in Addison.
The procedure went well, and Winard went home right afterward.
Then the bill came.
Periodic colon cancer screening is recommended for people at average risk starting at age 45 and continuing until age 75, according to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. In addition to those for preventive purposes, doctors may order colonoscopies to diagnose existing concerns, as was the case for Winard.
There are several ways to screen, including noninvasive stool tests. A colonoscopy allows clinicians to examine and remove any polyps, which are then tested to see whether they are precancerous or malignant.
$10,723.19, including $1,436 for the anesthesia and $1,039 for the recovery room. After an insurance discount, his plan paid $817.47. Winard was left owing $7,226.71.
Short-term, limited-duration insurance policies do not have to follow rules established under the ACA because they are intended to be only temporary coverage.
As Winard experienced, benefits within the plans can vary, with some setting specific dollar caps on certain types of medical care — sometimes far below what it costs. What's covered can be hard to parse, and the insurer generally gets the last word on interpreting its rules.
While some short-term policies look like comprehensive major medical policies, all come with significant caveats. Most have limits that people accustomed to work-based or comprehensive ACA plans may find surprising.
All short-term insurance carriers, for example, screen applicants for health conditions and can reject them because of health problems or exclude those conditions. Many do not include drug coverage or maternity care.
The fact that short-term plans can cover fewer services, conditions, and patients is why they are generally less expensive than an unsubsidized ACA plan.
"The general trade-off is lower premiums versus what the plans actually cover," said Cynthia Cox, vice president and director of the program on the ACA at KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News. "But the reason short-term plans are priced lower than a more comprehensive ACA plan is that they can deny people with preexisting conditions and don't have to cover a lot of essential health benefits."
Stunned that he owed more than $7,000 for his colonoscopy, Winard contacted his insurance company, Companion Life Insurance of Columbia, South Carolina.
An insurance representative told him in an email that it classified the procedure and all its costs, including the anesthesia, under his policy's "outpatient surgery facility" benefit.
That benefit, the email said, capped insurance payment "within that facility" to a maximum of $1,000 per day.
That definition surprised Winard, who said he read his policy to mean that there was a cap on what could be charged for the facility itself — not for all the care he received there.
"I interpreted it to be a facility like a recovery room or surgery room," he said. "They defined it to include any services at an outpatient facility."
His plan says it covers colon cancer screening at 80% after patients meet their deductible. It also covers 80% of the cost of drugs provided in an outpatient setting.
Winard, who had met his deductible, said he expected he would pay only 20% toward the cost of his colonoscopy. But he also wondered why the screening, performed at Endeavor Health Elmhurst Hospital, was categorized by the insurer as a procedure at an "outpatient" facility.
According to the email Winard received from his insurer, his policy's $1,000-a-day limit applies to "treatment or services in a state-approved freestanding ambulatory surgery center that is not part of a hospital, or a hospital outpatient surgery facility."
Elmhurst Health spokesperson Allie Burke said that the hospital has an attached building where same-day outpatient procedures like colonoscopies are performed.
Short-term plans have been sold for decades. But in recent years, they've become a political football.
Out of concern that people would choose them over more comprehensive ACA insurance, President Barack Obama's administration limited short-term plans' terms to three months. Those rules were lifted in President Donald Trump's first term, allowing the plans to again be sold as 364-day policies.
President Joe Biden, calling such plans "junk insurance," restricted the policies to four months — a change that took effect one month after Winard's procedure. Trump is expected to reverse Biden's reversal and again make them available for longer durations.
In December, Winard hired an advocate, Linda Michelson, to help him parse his bill. They wrote to the hospital, offering to pay $4,000 if it would settle the entire bill — an amount Michelson said is about four times what Medicare would pay for a colonoscopy. Winard said the hospital declined the offer.
Spencer Walrath, another Elmhurst spokesperson, wrote in an email to KFF Health News that the hospital's prices "reflect the value of the services we deliver."
Companion Life did not respond to requests for comment. Scott Wood, who identified himself as a program manager and co-founder of Pivot Health, which markets Companion Life and other insurance plans, said in an interview that there was room for interpretation in the billing and that he had asked Companion Life to take another look.
Shortly after Wood's comment to KFF Health News, Winard said he was contacted by his insurer. A representative told him that, upon reconsideration, the bill had been adjusted — although he was given no specific explanation as to why.
His new bill showed he owed only $770.
Short-term plans can be appealing for some people because of the relatively low cost of their premiums, but consumers should read all the plan documents carefully before enrolling. Understand that the plans often won't cover a full range of benefits, and check to see which services are covered and which are excluded. Check whether a policy includes per-day or per-policy-period dollar caps on coverage or other payout limits.
The federal government offers subsidies based on household income for ACA plans, which can make them comparable in cost to cheaper, short-term plans — but with a wider range of benefits.
In hindsight, Winard said he had not understood the difference between ACA policies and short-term plans.
His advice? Don't rely solely on marketing materials, and always get a cost estimate, preferably in writing, before a nonemergency procedure like a colonoscopy.
This article was reprinted from khn.org, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF - the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.
KFF Health News
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Mari Villar was slammed by a car that jumped the curb, breaking her legs and collapsing a lung. Amy Paulo was in pain from a femur surgery that wasn't healing properly. Katie Kriegshauser suffered organ failure during pregnancy, weakening her so much that she couldn't lift her baby daughter.
All went to physical therapy, but their health insurers stopped paying before any could walk without assistance. Paulo spent nearly $1,500 out of her own pocket for more sessions.
Millions of Americans rely on physical and occupational therapists to regain strength and motor skills after operations, diseases, and injuries. But recoveries are routinely stymied by a widespread constraint in health insurance policies: rigid caps on therapy sessions.
Insurers frequently limit such sessions to as few as 20 a year, a KFF Health News examination finds, even for people with severe damage such as spinal cord injuries and strokes, who may need months of treatment, multiple times a week. Patients can face a bind: Without therapy, they can't return to work, but without working, they can't afford the therapy.
Paulo said she pressed her insurer for more sessions, to no avail. "I said, 'I'm in pain. I need the services. Is there anything I can do?'" she recalled. "They said, no, they can't override the hard limit for the plan."
A typical physical therapy session for a privately insured patient to improve daily functioning costs $192 on average, according to the Health Care Cost Institute. Most run from a half hour to an hour.
Insurers say annual visit limits help keep down costs, and therefore premiums, and are intended to prevent therapists from continuing treatment when patients are no longer improving. They say most injuries can be addressed in a dozen or fewer sessions and that people and employers who bought insurance could have purchased policies with better therapy benefits if it was a priority.
Atul Patel, a physiatrist in Overland Park, Kansas, and the treasurer of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, said insurers' desire to prevent gratuitous therapy is understandable but has "gone too far."
"Most patients get way less therapy than they would actually benefit from," he said.
Hard caps on rehab endure in part because of an omission in the Affordable Care Act. While that law required insurers to cover rehab and barred them from setting spending restrictions on a patient's medical care, it did not prohibit establishing a maximum number of therapy sessions a year.
More than 29,000 ACA health plans — nearly 4 in 5 — limit the annual number of physical therapy sessions, according to a KFF Health News analysis of plans sold last year to individuals and small businesses. Caps generally ranged from 20 to 60 visits; the most common was 20 a year.
Health plans provided by employers often have limits of 20 or 30 sessions as well, said Cori Uccello, senior health fellow at the American Academy of Actuaries.
"It's the gross reality in America right now," said Sam Porritt, chairman of the Falling Forward Foundation, a Kansas-based philanthropy that has paid for therapy for about 200 patients who exhausted their insurance over the past decade. "No one knows about this except people in the industry. You find out about it when tragedy hits."
Even in plans with no caps, patients are not guaranteed unlimited treatment. Therapists say insurers repeatedly require prior authorization, demanding a new request every two or three visits. Insurers frequently deny additional sessions if they believe there hasn't been improvement.
"We're seeing a lot of arbitrary denials just to see if you'll appeal," said Gwen Simons, a lawyer in Scarborough, Maine, who represents therapy practices. "That's the point where the therapist throws up their hands."
Katie Kriegshauser, a 37-year-old psychologist from Kansas City, Missouri, developed pregnancy complications that shut down her liver, pancreas, and kidneys in November 2023. After giving birth to her daughter, she spent more than three months in a hospital, undergoing multiple surgeries and losing more than 40 pounds so quickly that doctors suspected her nerves became damaged from compression. Her neurologist told her he doubted she would ever walk again.
Kriegshauser's UnitedHealthcare insurance plan allowed 30 visits at Ability KC, a rehabilitation clinic in Kansas City. She burned through them in six weeks in 2024 because she needed both physical therapy, to regain her mobility, and occupational therapy, for daily tasks such as getting dressed.
"At that point I was starting to use the walker from being completely in the wheelchair," Kriegshauser recalled. She said she wasn't strong enough to change her daughter's diaper. "I couldn't pick her up out of her crib or put her down to sleep," she said.
The Falling Forward Foundation paid for additional sessions that enabled her to walk independently and hold her daughter in her arms. "A huge amount of progress happened in that period after my insurance ran out," she said.
In an unsigned statement, UnitedHealthcare said it covered the services that were included in Kriegshauser's health plan. The company declined to permit an official to discuss its policies on the record because of security concerns.
Patients who need therapy near the start of a health plan's year are more likely to run out of visits. Mari Villar was 15 and had been walking with high school friends to get a bite to eat in May 2023 when a car leaped over a curb and smashed into her before the driver sped away.
The accident broke both her legs, lacerated her liver, damaged her colon, severed an artery in her right leg, and collapsed her lung. She has undergone 11 operations, including emergency exploratory surgery to stop internal bleeding, four angioplasties, and the installation of screws and plates to hold her leg bones together.
Villar spent nearly a month in Shirley Ryan AbilityLab's hospital in Chicago. She was discharged after her mother's insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, denied her physician's request for five more days, making her more reliant on outpatient therapy, according to records shared by her mother, Megan Bracamontes.
Villar began going to one of Shirley Ryan's outpatient clinics, but by the end of 2023, she had used up the 30 physical therapy and 30 occupational therapy visits the Blue Cross plan allowed. Because the plan ran from July to June, she had no sessions left for the first half of 2024.
"I couldn't do much," Villar said. "I made lots of progress there, but I was still on crutches."
Dave Van de Walle, a Blue Cross spokesperson, said in an email that the insurer does not comment on individual cases. Razia Hashmi, vice president for clinical affairs at the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, said in a written statement that patients who have run out of sessions should "explore alternative treatment plans" including home exercises.
Villar received some extra sessions from the Falling Forward Foundation. While her plan year has reset, Villar is postponing most therapy sessions until after her next surgery so she will be less likely to run out again. Bracamontes said her daughter still can't feel or move her right foot and needs three more operations: one to relieve nerve pain, and two to try to restore mobility in her foot by lengthening her Achilles tendon and transferring a tendon in her left leg into her right.
"Therapy caps are very unfair because everyone's situation is different," Villar said. "I really depend on my sessions to get me to a new normalcy. And not having that and going through all these procedures is scary to think about."
Most people who use all their sessions either stop going or pay out-of-pocket for extra therapy.
Amy Paulo, a 34-year-old Massachusetts woman recovering from two operations on her left leg, maxed out the 40 visits covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts in 2024, so she spent $1,445 out-of-pocket for 17 therapy sessions.
Paulo needed physical therapy to recover from several surgeries to shorten her left leg to the length of her right leg — the difference a consequence of juvenile arthritis. Her recovery was prolonged, she said, because her femur didn't heal properly after one of the operations, in which surgeons cut out the middle of her femur and put a rod in its place.
"I went ballistic on Blue Cross many, many times," said Paulo, who works with developmentally delayed children."
Amy McHugh, a Blue Cross spokesperson, declined to discuss Paulo's case. In an email, she said most employers who hire Blue Cross to administer their health benefits choose plans with "our standard" 60-visit limit, which she said is more generous than most insurers offer, but some employers "choose to allow for more or fewer visits per year."
Paulo said she expects to restrict her therapy sessions to once a week instead of the recommended twice a week because she'll need more help after an upcoming operation on her leg.
"We had to plan to save my visits for this surgery, as ridiculous as it sounds," she said.
People with commercial insurance plans face more hurdles than those on Medicare, which sets dollar thresholds on therapy each year but allows therapists to continue providing services if they document medical necessity. This year the limits are $2,410 for physical and speech therapy and $2,410 for occupational therapy.
Private Medicare Advantage plans don't have visit or dollar caps, but they often require prior authorization every few visits. The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations found last year that MA plans deny requests for physical and occupational therapy at hospitals and nursing homes at higher rates than they reject other medical services.
Therapists say many commercial plans require prior authorization and mete out approvals parsimoniously. Insurers often make therapists submit detailed notes, sometimes for each session, documenting patients' treatment plans, goals, and test results showing how well they perform each exercise.
"It's a battle of getting visits," said Jackee Ndwaru, an occupational therapist in Jacksonville, Florida. "If you can't show progress they're not going to approve."
Marjorie Haney's insurance plan covered 20 therapy sessions a year, but Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield approved only a few visits at a time for the rotator cuff she tore in a bike accident in Maine. After 13 visits in 2021, Anthem refused to approve more, writing that her medical records "do not show you made progress with specific daily tasks," according to the denial letter.
Haney, a physical therapist herself, said the decision made no sense because at that stage of her recovery, the therapy was focused on preventing her shoulder from freezing up and gradually expanding its range of motion.
"I went through those visits like they were water," Haney, now 57, said. "My range was getting better, but functionally I couldn't use my arm to lift things."
Haney appealed to Maine's insurance bureau for an independent review. In its report overturning Anthem's decision, the bureau's physician consultant, William Barreto, concluded that Haney had made "substantial improvement" — she no longer needed a shoulder sling and was able to return to work with restrictions. Barreto also noted that nothing in Anthem's policy required progress with specific daily tasks, which was the basis for Anthem's refusal.
"Given the member's substantial restriction in active range of motion and inability to begin strengthening exercises, there is remaining deficit that requires the skills and training of a qualified physical therapist," the report said.
Anthem said it requires repeated assessments before authorizing additional visits "to ensure the member is receiving the right care for the right period of time based on his or her care needs." In the statement provided by Stephanie DuBois, an Anthem spokesperson, the insurer said this process "also helps prevent members from using up all their covered treatment benefits too quickly, especially if they don't end up needing the maximum number of therapy visits."
In 2023, Maine passed a law banning prior authorization for the first 12 rehab visits, making it one of the few states to curb insurer limitations on physical therapy. The law doesn't protect residents with plans based in other states or plans from a Maine employer who self-insures.
Haney said after she won her appeal, she spaced out the sessions her plan permitted by going once weekly. "I got another month," she said, "and I stretched it out to six weeks."
This article was reprinted from khn.org, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF - the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.
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New research uncovers how pairing intermittent fasting or low-calorie diets with high-intensity interval training can boost metabolism, burn fat, and enhance physical performance in postmenopausal women.
Study: Influence of Intermittent Fasting on Body Composition, Physical Performance, and the Orexinergic System in Postmenopausal Women: A Pilot Study. Image Credit: pics five / Shutterstock.com
A recent study published in Nutrients determines how the combination of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) with either intermittent fasting (IF) or a low-calorie diet (LCD) improves metabolic health among postmenopausal women.
Menopause leads to numerous physiological changes, some of which include increased visceral fat and reduced muscle mass. These changes, most of which can be attributed to reduced estrogen levels, can lead to systemic inflammation, insulin resistance, and an increased risk of metabolic dysfunction.
Various strategies are recommended to postmenopausal women to manage these issues, including a combination of both nutritional and exercise interventions to support metabolic health. IF is a nutritional approach that involves alternating periods of eating with long fasting durations. The 16:8 diet, for example, recommends 16 hours of fasting and an eight- hour eating window during a 24-hour period.
IF also alters the levels of appetite-related hormones like orexin-A (OX-A), which is hypothalamic hormone that maintains energy balance and regulates eating behaviors. Fasting activates orexin neurons, thereby stimulating appetite-increasing hormones like neuropeptide Y (NPY) and agouti-related peptide (AgRP). Both NPY and AgRP exert sympathetic activity that leads to heat production and fat breakdown, which restores energy supplies to cells during fasting-induced stress.
Previous studies have reported that IF supports metabolic flexibility, during which cells throughout the body can transition between using glucose or fat as their primary source of energy. These responses promote the oxidation of fat, improve insulin sensitivity, and reduce inflammation through various biological mechanisms, some of which include increased adenosine monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activity and autophagy, supporting mitochondrial function, and antioxidant effects.
HIIT synergistically improves these metabolic and appetite-related responses by causing acute metabolic stress, even as it enhances cardiorespiratory fitness. Many of the biological mechanisms implicated in the health benefits of HIIT are shared with IF, with higher OX-A levels associated with the combination of both HIIT and IF than either alone. OX-A stimulates brain reward pathways, which provides motivation for more physical activity while improving metabolic flexibility and promoting fat oxidation.
The current study included 30 postmenopausal women with an average age of 57.5 years who were exposed to either the LCD or IF along with HIIT for eight weeks. At baseline, the LCD group had better endurance and flexibility as compared to the IF group. Baseline exercise tolerance and aerobic capacity were higher in the IF group.
Both LCD and IF combined with HIIT improved metabolism, physical performance, and neurohormonal signaling in postmenopausal women. Whereas LCD relied on caloric restriction to reduce fat mass, IF improved metabolic switching and promoted fat burning.
The IF-HIIT group experienced significant improvements in their physical performance parameters, of which included flexibility and maximum oxygen uptake (VO2), at the end of the eight-week study period. Study participants in the IF-HIIT group also exhibited greater mean heart rates and endurance as compared to the LCD-HIIT group.
OX-A levels changed significantly over the intervention period, favoring the IF group. The baseline average OX-A level for the IF group exceeded that of the LCD group.
At eight weeks, OX-A evels tripled in the IF-HIIT group, with an over two-fold increase as compared to LCD-HIIT levels. Nevertheless, LCD was associated with reduced fat mass and improved insulin sensitivity.
The combination of IF and HIIT offers a dual-action strategy, enhancing metabolic flexibility while stimulating the orexinergic system to mitigate the metabolic decline associated with menopause.”
Both IF and LCD provide metabolic benefits, particularly when combined with HIIT in postmenopausal women, which may be due to alterations in the appetite-regulating system. These changes were induced by acute metabolic stress due to HIIT, as well as repeated switching between fat and carbohydrate utilization for energy due to IF.
The study findings suggest that the combination of both IF and HIIT is a promising approach to weight management and metabolic regulation in postmenopausal women. Nevertheless, future research is needed to elucidate how these metabolic and exercise-related shifts occur, as well as the long-term effects of IF and HIIT.
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Dr. Liji Thomas is an OB-GYN, who graduated from the Government Medical College, University of Calicut, Kerala, in 2001. Liji practiced as a full-time consultant in obstetrics/gynecology in a private hospital for a few years following her graduation. She has counseled hundreds of patients facing issues from pregnancy-related problems and infertility, and has been in charge of over 2,000 deliveries, striving always to achieve a normal delivery rather than operative.
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Filipina teenager Alexandra Eala's fairytale run at this year's Miami Open has come to an end after the 19-year-old lost to US star Jessica Pegula in the semifinals on Thursday.
Eala had made history with a string of impressive results at the tournament, where she beat grand slam champions such as Iga Świątek, Jelena Ostapenko and Madison Keys.
The current world No. 140 had hopes of reaching her first WTA final but saw that dream dashed by world No. 4 Pegula, with the American winning in three tight sets – 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-3.
Despite losing, Eala wore a beaming smile on her face before walking off the court, with the crowd applauding her for a memorable run.
“To have a week like this, the stars need to align and they did this week, and hopefully I can keep that up, that is my goal now, to keep this up,” Eala said, per BBC Sport.
Eala has been one of tennis' most exciting prospects for some time, winning the US Open girls' singles title in 2022 and the girls' doubles titles at the 2021 French Open and 2020 Australian Open.
Her 2022 victory vaulted her to stardom back home and led to her gracing the cover of Vogue Philippines soon after.
Three years on and it seems Eala has finally found her feet on the senior tour.
Her dream run in Miami saw her became the first Filipina to reach a WTA semifinal and she will also become the first Filipina to break into the world's top 100 after reaching the final four.
“She's really good. She's a really good tennis player, goes for her shots, takes the ball early, competes really well, she's beaten a lot of top players this week,” Pegula said after winning the match.
“I don't think she needs me to tell her that she's a great player, that we're not going to see enough of her. We definitely are, and she proved that tonight.”
Pegula will now face world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the Miami Open final.
Sabalenka booked her ticket in straight sets – 6-2, 6-2 – against Jasmina Paolini in the other semifinal on Thursday.
Despite all the success in her career, Sabalenka has never reached the final of the Miami Open but was grateful for elements of her game clicking during an impressive semifinal performance.
“I definitely say that this was one of the best matches in the season so far,” Sabalenka said after a dominant display where she hit 31 winners.
“I don't know. I was just so focused on myself, on the things I had to do today.
“It felt like everything was just, like, going smoothly my way. Yeah, super happy with the performance. I felt like I was in the zone.”
The Miami Open final will take place on Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium.
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Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was a fan of Filipino tennis player Alex Eala long before she became the breakthrough star of the Miami Open this week.
Spoelstra, who is of Filipino descent, met Eala and her family two years ago. She was 17 years old at the time, ranked No. 219 in the world, and had just lost to Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania in the Miami Open Round of 128 at Hard Rock Stadium.
She, her family and her agent attended a Heat game against the New York Knicks and visited with Spoelstra. He urged her to keep chasing her dream. They also posed for a photo with the coach and Bam Adebayo.
Spoelstra continued to follow her career and on Wednesday attended her stirring upset of No. 2 Iga Swiatek, the third Grand Slam winner she took down during her remarkable run this tournament. Eala, 19, entered as a 140th ranked wild card and had won just two WTA matches during her career before last week.
“Great deal of pride,” Spoelstra said before the Heat's 122-112 win over the Atlanta Hawks Thursday, when asked what it was like to watch Eala's match.
“I mean, the country is exploding over her story. I think it's one of the most inspiring things ever that a world-ranked tennis player comes out of a small place in the Philippines. I had the fortune of meeting her here two years ago. She came to one of our games, nobody knew who she was. She was just a fan, and it was her first time in the Miami Open. And then right now what she's doing is just absolutely magical.”
Spoelstra was grateful that the Heat schedule this week allowed him to get away for an afternoon to see Eala play in person.
“We won that game when she came here two years ago, and I said, ‘OK, I owe her one.' I'll be at one of your matches,” he said. “Unfortunately, it's taken two years. But hey, I'm glad I waited because [Wednesday] was incredible. It was so inspiring. I was able to watch the match with her family, her agent, her coach and just seeing the pride of everybody in that circle. It's really inspiring. … It was a special day and she's still going. It's a magical ride.”
Eala's magical ride ended at 12:45 a.m. Friday after a nearly-three hour semifinal against No. 4 Jessica Pegula of the United States. Pegula prevailed 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 6-3 and will play top ranked Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday's final.
After the match, Filipino fans who stayed at Hard Rock Stadium for the late match waved flags and cheered for Eala. She broke into a huge smile, waved, and made a heart with her hands. Her amazing run had come to an end, but one gets the feeling there will be much more to come.
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A hotel owner from the same tourist region where 14-year-old Miller Gardner was found dead explained how her business has already been impacted in the tragic aftermath.
Lamia Funti, who owns Casa Lamia Restaurant & Lodge in Costa Rica's Manuel Antonio region, exclusively told Us Weekly how attitudes have shifted since Miller, the son of former Yankees player Brett Gardner, died at a nearby resort on Friday, March 21.
“That has affected us terribly,” Funti told Us on Friday, March 28. “Everyone is affected a lot, everyone knows about the situation. At the moment, I have had 12 cancellations, which is huge. Usually, we barely have cancellations.”
Funti said the cancellations started rolling in on Monday, the day after Miller's parents, Brett and Jessica, announced their son's death.
The hotel owner said reservations have been “super low” this week and cancellations greatly impact next week's outlook, as well.
“The concern would be if this drags on,” Funti said. “That could be terribly damaging, especially with the arrival of the low season and everything. It's already affecting us, everyone who owns hotels has said the same thing.”
Funti told the story of a friend in the United States who “organizes group travels to Costa Rica.”
After news of Miller's death, group members requested to “cancel everything in Manuel Antonio and they went to the Caribbean and other places.”
The Gardner family was staying at the Arenas Del Mar Beachfront & Rainforest Resort, roughly two miles from Casa Lamia.
In a Thursday, March 27, statement to Us Weekly, Costa Rica's National Chamber of Tourism attempted to calm potential travelers' nerves about Miller's death and insisted hotel business had not been impacted.
“We express our deepest sympathy to the family of the young man who passed away,” said Shirley Calvo, executive director of the Chamber of Tourism. “We are truly saddened by this situation.”
The statement continued, “So far, no cancellations or impacts on tourism activity have been reported as a result of this unfortunate event. While various speculations have circulated regarding the possible causes of death, we believe this is an isolated and uncommon case in our country.”
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Miller and all the members of his immediate family became severely ill after dining at a restaurant off the resort's premises on the evening of Thursday, March 20.
They were all administered medication by a doctor once back at the resort. Miller was found dead in his hotel room the next morning.
A cause of death for Miller has not been determined. Officials estimate results will take at least two or three months.
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Andy Cohen wasn't the only one a little taken aback by Craig Conover's PSA to America about the cast of Summer House on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen on Thursday, March 27.
“It is an incredible word salad,” Kyle Cooke told Us Weekly during an exclusive interview at the Milk-Bone x Jif Peanut Butter collaboration event in New York City on Friday, March 28. “I'm not quite sure what to make of it because there's a lot to still unfold on Summer House. So he, maybe, put the cart ahead of the horse.”
On Thursday, host Andy, 56, pointed out to Craig, 36, that there were signs that his now-ex-girlfriend Paige DeSorbo was unhappy in their relationship on season 9 of Summer House, which is currently airing. Craig maintained that he was shocked by Paige, 32, ending things and accused the cast of flipping the script.
“I, obviously, was surprised when she left me. I'm just kind of focused on moving forward. I've seen that they made up a couple stories, so it seems like after the breakup didn't go how — her side of things, I think, convinced her that the breakup was going to go a certain way and through choices that she made after the breakup, things turned on her,” Craig said “I haven't done anything but try to move on in my life and I'm really happy in the chapter that I'm in, but it seems like her and her band of friends have just decided — who were all friends of mine, I mean I was a great friend to all of them, Ciara [Miller], Amanda [Batula], Kyle — and now, the vitriol is nasty. I just want to encourage America to never act like that because I think it's disgusting.”
Kyle, for his part, feels like Craig is the one “really committed to this war.”
“I'm in touch with Shep [Rose]. I'm in touch with Austen [Kroll],” he said of Craig's Southern Charm costars.
The two Bravo casts have been filming with each other on and off for their respective shows and the spinoff Winter House for years, with the crossovers becoming consistent when Craig and Paige started dating in 2021. On the most recent episode of Summer House, which aired on Wednesday, March 26, fans saw the long-awaited sit down between Kyle and Craig over the latter's involvement in a rival canned cocktail company. (Kyle launched LoverBoy on Summer House in 2018, while Craig became an investor in Spritz Society in 2024.)
“Ultimately, I was so over it by then. I realized that there was really no talking sense or helping Craig see my side,” Kyle told Us on Friday. “I just wanted to try and prioritize the friendship, and a lot of that was because of Paige. I was kind of walking on eggshells [around Craig] much like the entire Southern Charm cast. In retrospect, I didn't have to because Craig and Paige are no longer together. But I thought it would've been the end of it.”
Kyle claims that Craig “hasn't talked to me since” that weekend in the Hamptons during summer 2024. (Craig and Paige split in late November 2024, going public with the breakup before the end of the year.)
“I actually texted him when they broke up, just checking in, saying, ‘Hey, I'm sorry. I know we had a rough year, but I was rooting for you guys and I'm here if you need me,'” Kyle said. “He not only did not respond, he just unfollowed me after the outreach. You only do what you can do.”
Kyle also noted that he learned new things about Craig's collab following the Charleston resident's visit to the summer house.
“I didn't realize that the collab he was working on was called Lemon Ice Tea. His whole lie was that he thought I only did teas. He didn't know my Spritz line — even though he was part of the launch and has been drinking them for four years. He didn't know I launched Espresso Martinis — even though I launched it in Winter House. [He said] he thought I only did teas,” Kyle said. “And I was like, ‘OK, that's a lie, but we're just gonna leave it there.' That was how he justified his Spritz collab. And then what did he do? He launched a Lemon Ice Tea. So I think people can start to understand why I was like, ‘Wtf?' I didn't decide to call him out on all the lies in that damn dingy 'cause I was just so over it and it's just not worth my time.”
As fans continue to debate the fallout over Craig and Paige's breakup (and Spritz wars), Kyle was joined by wife Amanda at Friday's event with their dogs, Ryder and Reece.
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“We're at the Milk-Bone, Jif collab in Union Square. Ryder, I don't think she's ever had this much stimulation. She's very food motivated. She's three and a half. We rescued two sisters, and if there's one thing that they can smell from the opposite end of our apartment, it's peanut butter,” Kyle explained. “So the Milk-Bone Jif collab is probably the collab that makes the most sense — and I've seen a lot of collabs and I've done some collabs. If you can eat Jif, your dog can eat Jif. This is a very convenient alternative to straight up giving your dog peanut butter.”
Friday's event also included a unique museum experience showcasing pretend Milk-Bone collaborations, including a Barking Bar, sneaker collab, the “Butt Bit” (a fitness band for your dog's tail), a human dog bed and a selfie stick made out of a real stick.
“I think one of the funniest things I've seen all day is the selfie stick. I tried to take it off the wall,” Kyle joked. “But then they had these hilarious names for canned flavored water. One of 'em is [called] tennis ball. They have a thirst trap, which is a camera at the bottom of the bowl. I think that is absolutely hilarious.”
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A restoration of a Lucio Fulci classic and a debut novel by Dr. Jonathan P. Higgins round out our picks for the weekend of March 28.
I can still vividly recall piling onto the couch with my roommates to watch the premiere of this new show called Grey's Anatomy. Hard to believe that was 20 years ago, as of yesterday — or that we weren't injured by the metal springs practically protruding out of that hideous yellow sofa. I digress. The point is, it's been two decades of Grey's and Shondaland — something EW celebrates this week with a package of exclusive features. From a series of couples interviews (including Katherine Heigl and Jeffrey Dean Morgan) to a preview of Bridgerton season 4, we've got all the Shondaland hits represented. Come dance it out with us! —Patrick Gomez, Editor-in-ChiefBridgerton season 4Bridgerton season 4
P.S. If you want to receive the Must List in your inbox, sign up for our "Entertainment Weekly and Awardist" newsletters. You'll receive all three each week — the trifecta of entertainment news.
Vanessa Clifton/Netflix
Michelle Buteau's Netflix sitcom is funnier than ever in season 2. Their love lives are hilariously messy, but the show's core trio remains #FriendshipGoals, navigating life obstacles together while constantly hyping each other up. Buteau's Mavis may have her flaws, but her curvaceousness is, refreshingly, never depicted as one for any of her sexual admirers. Standout episodes see the besties trip out with Anderson .Paak at Afropunk and shine a light on trans joy with Peppermint. The comedy is pro-Black, pro-fat, pro-queer, pro-sex, and pro-bad boss bitch, and we love it for that! —Jillian Sederholm, News Director
Apple TV+
This Apple TV+ cringe-com follows newly installed studio exec Matt Remick (Seth Rogen), who needs to make blockbusters (think Kool Aid: The Movie) but yearns to make art. Co-starring Catherine O'Hara, Ike Barinholtz, and Kathryn Hahn, and packed with A-list cameos, this is a ruthlessly funny satire by and for movie junkies. —Kristen Baldwin, TV Critic
Seth Rogen tells EW how David Zaslav inspired Bryan Cranston's executive in The Studio
Wiley
Black, Fat, Femme podcast host Dr. Jonathan P. Higgins takes readers to school in their honest and hilarious debut novel. In using their own journey through the gender spectrum, they not only uplift queer Black voices in media, but educate and inspire. —Yolanda Machado. Staff Editor
Jeremy Daniel
Joshua Harmon's splendid memory play is now appearing in the cozy confines of the New York City Center. Heart, humor, and hurt combine in the playwright's (played by Andrew Barth Feldman) real-life tale of growing up caught in the crossfire between his traumatized mother (Jeanine Serralles) and eccentric/alcoholic grandmother (a sublime Joanna Gleason). —Dalton Ross, Editorial Director
Arrow Video
Inveterate boutique label Arrow Video has added a sparkling new gem to its collection, a 4K restoration of Lucio Fulci's magnum opus, featuring new audio commentary, essays, interviews with giallo icons Barbara Bouchet and Florinda Bolkan, and more. —Ryan Coleman, News Writer
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Sandra Lee is sticking up for Meghan Markle.
The 43-year-old Duchess of Sussex has recently been facing a lot of criticism over her new Netflix lifestyle series With Love, Meghan.
In a new interview, the 58-year-old former Food Network star defended the show and praised Meghan.
Keep reading to find out more…“I was actually surprised about the backlash to the show. It didn't seem fair,” Sandra told Us Weekly. “[I've been] in the lifestyle space for years. We have mixed relatable and unrepeatable elements [too].”
“Megan's show is very well done [and] beautifully filmed,” Sandra raved. “[It has] calming, serene content — and she even used my trick of using a plastic bag as a piping bag for her cake! I'm happy for her. Her crew is doing a great job.”
Sandra, who hosted the the hit show Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee on Food Network for 15 seasons, then offered Meghan “good luck” following news that With Love is coming back for a second season.
“Keep on going, and inspire people to make beautiful things,” Sandra added.
If you missed it, Meghan and this star shot down feud rumors.
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It's not hard to make the connection between Ariana Grande's new song, “Hampstead,” and her relationship with boyfriend Ethan Slater.
Grande, 31, and Slater, 32, met while filming Wicked in London in 2022. The singer was living in the city's Hampstead neighborhood at the time. She's spoken publicly about that period, even calling out the “places and pubs” referenced in the song.
“I was in Hampstead when I was here, and I loved my walks on the Heath,” she told Radio 1 in a March 2025 interview. “I loved meandering around and visiting different shops and places and pubs.”
The song, a bonus track on Grande's Eternal Sunshine Deluxe: Brighter Days Ahead, begins with Grande referencing one of said pubs as she appears to sing about the misconceptions about her relationship with Slater. Both were married to other people when they met on set, with Grande later separating from husband Dalton Gomez after two years of marriage. Slater and his now ex-wife, Lilly Jay, who share a 2-year-old son, divorced in July 2023.
The next month, sources told Us Weekly that there was no overlap between the relationships.
“I left my heart at a pub in Hampstead / And I misplaced my mind in a good way,” the song begins. “Threw away my reputation but saved us more heartache / Yes, I know it seems f—ed up, and you're right / But quite frankly you're still wrong about everything / So far off, your seat's nowhere near the table / But I find something sweet in your peculiar behavior /'Cause I think to be so dumb must be nice.”
Grande has previously slammed the negativity she attributed to “disreputable tabloids” that has made it difficult for her to navigate her personal life.
“I went through a lot of life changes during the filming of this movie,” she told Vanity Fair in September 2024. “A lot of people that were working on it did. We were away for two years. So, of course, I understand why it was a field day for the tabloids to sort of create something that paid their bills.”
“That was definitely a tough ride,” she added.
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She went on to defend Slater after seeing “so many people believe the worst version” of their relationship timeline.
“No one on this earth tries harder or spreads themselves thinner to be there for the people that he loves and cares about,” she said. “There is no one on this earth with a better heart, and that is something that no bulls— tabloid can rewrite in real life.”
Eternal Sunshine Deluxe: Brighter Days Ahead released on Friday, March 28.
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Craig Conover is trying to move forward by saying goodbye to his past.
While appearing on the Thursday, March 27, episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, Conover, 36, revealed the fate of the engagement ring he purchased for Paige DeSorbo before they split.
“I just returned it this morning,” he told host Andy Cohen. “Diamonds are down right now so [the jeweler] was like, ‘Do you care if I hold it?' I just don't need custody of it anymore so I took it back to the guy.”
While close friend Austen Kroll was visibly shocked by the revelation, Shep Rose tried to crack a joke when he asked, “Can I borrow $100?”
In December 2024, DeSorbo, 32, announced on her “Giggly Squad” podcast that her romantic relationship with Conover was over after three years of dating.
Two months later, Southern Charm viewers learned that Conover had purchased an engagement ring before his breakup.
“I'm gonna propose,” he said in a preview of the Bravo reality show. “She asked me to buy her a ring and, like, I did.”
Since the split was confirmed, many cast members from both Southern Charm and DeSorbo's Summer House have weighed in on what went wrong.
Conover, however, is trying his best to move forward. Part of that process is dating someone new.
“I've been seeing someone,” he teased on WWHL. “I've been reminded that the universe works in crazy ways and everything happens for a reason.”
While a lot has transpired since DeSorbo first confirmed the breakup at the end of 2024, Conover remains grateful for the relationship and is choosing to focus on the positive memories.
“When Paige did her first breakup podcast, she said I was the best boyfriend she ever had, and I truly believe we had a wonderful relationship,” he said. “I think I was one of the most supportive people in her life.”
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When asked to comment on the speculation surrounding what went wrong, Conover explained that he didn't want to respond to what other Bravo stars were saying.
“I have my memories and we had a great relationship, and now I'm moving on in my life,” he shared. “I obviously was surprised when she left and I'm just kind of focused on moving forward. … I haven't done anything except try to move on with my life. I'm really happy in the chapter that I'm in.”
Southern Charm airs on Bravo Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET while Summer House airs on Bravo Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
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Jason Lee was ready to make an acting comeback after a “long hiatus” — and Netflix's The Residence was the perfect show for his return.
“It had been a long, long time since I had worked that much. I took a long break,” Lee, 54, who plays Tripp Morgan in the murder mystery series, exclusively told Us Weekly. “So it was just exciting to be back on a set. The trailers, the sound stages, all the actors and the cameras — it was just a fun and exciting energy to be a part of.”
Lee, best known for playing the titular character on My Name Is Earl, was thankful that the Netflix opportunity came up when it did, saying, “The character was great and it was a cool thing to do after having been on such a long hiatus.”
He added: “I had done some voiceover work and some cameo stuff with Kevin Smith, which I always do. But I took a pretty long break. So The Residence came at the right time and it felt like the right character and group of people and project to dive back in.”
After stepping back from on-camera work, Lee knew he wanted to play Tripp.
“[That] was the most sort of ‘on screen' I've been in a long time. It felt like the right thing to do at that time,” he continued. “I was totally nervous. They had already been shooting and then on My Name Is Earl, that was a much smaller cast. There we did 90-plus episodes so it becomes family and you're very familiar with everything.”
Lee found a large production like The Residence more intimidating, adding, “Here I am after a long hiatus as one piece of a huge ensemble cast and it is a massive Netflix and Shondaland production. Looking around at this monstrous production and I'm like, ‘I'd better step up because there's a lot of people and a lot of moving parts.'”
He continued: “To my absolute delight, everybody on set was so cool and friendly and welcoming. From the cast to the crew, it felt like a kind of very warm welcome return to being on a set to that extent.”
Lee became a household name after starring on My Name Is Earl from 2005 to 2009, a role which earned him Golden Globe nominations in 2006 and 2007. He also starred in Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Jersey Girl, Clerks II and more.
“That's the fun thing about acting is that there's so much variety and so many options. Ultimately, guest spots on TV shows are always fun. Indie films are cool and it's been a while since I've done a small movie outside of cameos, but I'm also writing a lot as well,” Lee told Us. “I've been developing some things for me to hopefully be in — as well as produce. I'm in the [acting] pool again. It was one foot at first with The Residence and then another and then I finally just dove into the deep end and I'm back in. It's been a lot of fun having that part of my brain click back on now.”
Inspired by The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House by Kate Andersen Brower, The Residence is an eight-part series that premiered earlier this month and kept Us on the edge of our seats as renowned detective Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba) was tasked with finding out who is responsible for the Chief Usher A.B. Wynter's (Giancarlo Esposito) death at the White House.
Lee's character, Tripp, was one of the suspects since he was the President's brother. Despite not being (fully) responsible for Wynter's death, Tripp was still very much involved, which was fun for Lee to explore.
“I didn't want to know [whether Tripp did it] because, personally, I didn't want to know who did it. Then also it's in Tripp's nature to be a little aloof,” he noted. “I definitely didn't want to know and I'm glad I didn't until literally much later.”
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Lee admitted that while he would have enjoyed playing the mystery murderer — he didn't see that being Tripp, saying, “He's too dumb to have been the killer. He's too much of an idiot. He's too much of a deadbeat. The way he has that sort of moment when he is talking to Detective Cupp about how he knows that she knows he didn't do it because he's too dumb to do something like that — that was funny and that was fulfilling enough for him to not have been the killer. That was interesting for me.”
He continued: “I just tried to assert him as being a breath of fresh air — albeit very rude and pushy. I also acknowledged that he was the guy that thinks he's entertaining people but he's actually the kind of guy that you move away from. That's kind of sad. It got layered too, which was great.”
The Residence is currently streaming on Netflix.
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A source is sharing some new insight into Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly's relationship.
If you forgot, the 38-year-old Transformers actress and the 34-year-old musician got engaged in January 2022. They called it quits in November 2024, just weeks after announcing they were expecting a baby together.
Following the baby's birth on March 27, a source is sharing an update on where Megan and MGK currently stand.
Keep reading to find out more...“Whatever issues they have, Megan and MGK both are on the same page when it comes to co-parenting," the source told People. “Right now they're amicable."
"No one would be surprised if they gave their relationship another try down the line,” the insider added. “But right now they're focused on what's best for their daughter.”
Hours before announcing the birth of their baby girl, MGK got publicly slammed by Megan's ex-husband Brian Austin Green.
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Kelly Clarkson famously won the first season of "American Idol" and has since become one of its most successful winners, but she did not initially know what she had signed up for.
During a recent interview on Kylie Kelce's podcast, "Not Gonna Lie," the 42-year-old singer shared she was not aware that what she was doing was going to be televised until later on in the audition process.
"For all of us in that first season, we literally didn't ... I didn't even know it was a TV show until my third audition," she explained. "Like, we were literally trying to pay our bills. We're like, 'Oh, this might work. I might meet someone or whatever.' Nobody knew it was gonna amount to anything."
She went on to explain that when she was competing as a 19-year-old, the only thing on her mind was to potentially make enough money "to pay my electric bill," or to be able to "afford the deductible on my car that was bashed in that I couldn't afford."
Kelly Clarkson Confesses She's ‘Lost' A Lot As She Returns To Talk Show After Mysterious Absence
Although there were other singing competition shows on television at the time, such as "Pop Stars," Clarkson explained the contestants on the first season of "American Idol" had no idea what could come from being on the show. She said "it was a different thing" from even the second season, because her first single "Miss Independent" had already come out, and the incoming contestants had seen the potential for success.
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Following her big win, Clarkson released her debut album, "Thankful," in 2003. Its success led her to release her second album, "Breakaway," which included some of her biggest hits, such as "Since U Been Gone," "Behind These Hazel Eyes" and "Because of You." She has since won three Grammy Awards and received 17 nominations.
Later in the interview, Kelce brought up the opening segment on her talk show, "The Kelly Clarkson Show," called "Kellyoke," during which Clarkson sings covers of other artists' popular songs. She then defended current artists against people who claim she sings their songs better than they do.
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"If I sang those songs right now that I sang on ‘Idol,' 20 some years ago, they would sound better now. I was all right, but it's just like you're a better singer because you have time and experience, and I've been given the time for that," she said. "They don't have that anymore for artists. I'm just saying, I sound different than I sounded then."
When Kelce told her, "You were outstanding then too," Clarkson responded, "I don't agree. I've seen it, and I was like, ‘How did I win?' It makes me sweat thinking about it."
The "Stronger" singer then explained how lonely it was to be the first winner, saying "I had no one…it was hard." While she didn't name any names, she shared that people in the industry "were really mean" and "hated talent shows."
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"They didn't like it," she told Kelce. "It took the industry kind of by storm, the talent shows. It was a very unlikable thing in the industry concerning the populous. Now there's so many."
Her experiences helped shape her judging style when she signed on to appear on "The Voice" as a coach during its 14th season in 2018, alongside Adam Levine, Blake Shelton and Alicia Keys.
"People like us who have been there in that audition process and just being so judged instantaneously, on maybe not your best performance, but you know you can do better … it's a grueling thing and it's unforgiving in a lot of ways," Clarkson said. "And a lot of pressure for these artists that I don't think a lot of artists that sell tons of records would be able to handle. It's a different thing."
Original article source: 'American Idol' winner Kelly Clarkson didn't know show was televised when she signed up
The Hollywood Reporter is set to debut a Spanish-language edition in partnership with Tasty Media.
As part of a multiyear licensing deal, The Hollywood Reporter en Español will offer original content highlighting the best in Ibero-American cinema and television for Spanish-speaking readers.
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“Expanding our best-in-class editorial to markets outside the United States has been a major priority for the THR brand,” said Shirley Halperin, co-editor-in-chief at The Hollywood Reporter. “We're excited to have The Hollywood Reporter en Español join us in the endeavor of delivering impactful entertainment news to Spanish-speaking readers throughout the Americas, Europe and beyond.”
“We are thrilled to expand The Hollywood Reporter‘s footprint across Latin America and Spain,” added Alison Smith-Pleiser, vice president international, THR. “This initiative allows us to celebrate and highlight the rich tapestry of Hispanic culture through original content while delivering culturally relevant journalism to Spanish speaking audiences. We are excited to extend THR's global reach through our online platform and new Spanish edition, connecting with new audiences in a meaningful way.”
This collaboration with Tasty Media — which aims to put a spotlight on Hispanic culture — furthers THR's mission to expand globally and expand awareness with influential audiences worldwide.
“For over a century, Spain and Latin America have enriched the world with their visual artistry, impactful film festivals and iconic cultural moments. Today, Spanish-speaking markets represent a significant segment of the industry and play a crucial role in global media and art. We are proud to uphold and continue the legacy of one of the greatest journalism institutions of all time,” said Diego Ortiz, CEO of Tasty Media.
“Spanish-language content is now consumed globally, and our mission is to amplify and showcase the richness of our culture. With editorial teams in various countries, we aim to deliver localized content and provide comprehensive coverage of all the news in Hispanic entertainment, film and television. Our goal is to create outstanding experiences for the well-established creative industries that embrace our language,” he added.
The launch of The Hollywood Reporter en Español follows THR's expansion into Italy, India and Japan. It also comes on the heels of a wealth of recognition for The Hollywood Reporter, including wins for best website at the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards and the SoCal Journalism Awards in 2024.
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Tyler Hilton was impressed with “nerdy” Taylor Swift's talent when they first met when she was a teenager — but didn't necessarily see her extreme stardom coming.
While on tour and promoting his new children's book, Hilton, 41, spoke to Us Weekly and his past with the now mega pop star came up.
“I was doing an interview with a country magazine and they were talking about this girl Taylor Swift that just came out who was, like, 15. I heard her song ‘Tim McGraw' and I was so into it. That first record was so good to me,” Hilton, who was in his early 20s at the time, recalled. “It sounds so dumb, but you have to be brave enough to write the lyrics like she did on that first record. They're just not something that a professional songwriter would think. ‘When you think Tim McGraw, I hope you think my favorite song.' I just would never use Tim McGraw on a song. It's so cool. I told [the magazine], ‘Oh, by the way, that little thing you did on that new girl Taylor Swift, I'm actually a huge fan of her song. She's such a good songwriter. … How many 15 year olds are actually good songwriters?'”
It turned out that Swift, now 35, was a “big fan” of Hilton, who was touring, guest-starring on One Tree Hill and had appeared as Elvis in 2006's Walk the Line.
“I didn't know this, but she had watched all my videos on YouTube, like, all these little skits I did. Her manager reached out and was like, ‘Wait, this girl Taylor Swift is actually a huge Tyler fan. She's freaking out that you mentioned her in this magazine.' And I was like,'Oh, that's so adorable,'” Hilton continued, explaining that Swift's manager invited him to her show at “a little country bar in Southern California.”
Hilton attended and Swift revealed that she had been performing his cover of “Missing You” on stage. She asked him to perform with her that night in 2007.
“[She was] a very forward 15-year-old,” he said. “She literally corners me on stage and goes, ‘I didn't want to ask you backstage 'cause I was afraid you'd say no, but would you be in my next music video?' … That's how I ended up in the ‘Teardrops On My Guitar' music video. And after that she was like, ‘Oh, I'm doing some shows, would you want to come open for me?' And she just kept getting bigger and bigger.”
Hilton and Swift stayed in touch as she found success with the release of her singles.
“I was just charmed by her and her family. We became close and then when I moved to Nashville, they let me live on their boat and live with them for a little while when I first moved to Nashville,” he recalled. “They were just, like, the Swifts — like, my buds — and their little teenage daughter was a fan. And I was like, ‘Aw, that's so sweet.' And now she's the biggest star in the world.”
Hilton was on the boat “for a few weeks” before he found an apartment.
“She was playing me songs in her bedroom out of her diary for her second record,” he told Us. “She was playing me ‘White Horse' and it was crazy because I'm in her bedroom and I'm like, ‘Whoa, this girl is actually, like, princess, fairy, unicorn girl.' It's not an act — she actually had her songs written in, like, a fluffy diary and she is that nerd, you know what I mean? That's what's so sweet about her and I think is responsible for her longevity — it's not an act. She's actually that much of a nerd and it's so endearing.”
Hilton admitted he “actually can't believe she became as famous” as she did.
“We all collectively thought she was so adorable. It is like when the nerdy girl in high school becomes famous, she is that earnest,” he said. “She's like, ‘Do you wanna hear another song outta my diary?' I'm like, ‘Oh, OK.' And they were all really good, but it was just like, ‘This is so funny.'”
As Swifties know, the Grammy winner has since released 11 studio albums. Hilton, for his part, has dropped five albums of his own and his first children's book, Daddy: Live in Concert, is out April 8. He got the idea for the book after performing for his daughter, Winnie, now 5, during the pandemic at home with his wife, director Megan Park.
“It didn't matter that I was a professional musician. Like, what if there was a book just about a dad whose daughter thought, ‘Oh, my God, my dad's the biggest rock star in the world,'” Hilton explained. “And my daughter has never seen me tour or anything like that until this last year. I could have just been any random guy to her. And she was still like, ‘Oh, my God.' I thought it was the greatest thing ever. I just thought it'd be so fun if there was this book from the little kid's perspective — it's a the version of like, ‘My dad could beat up your dad,' but it's like, ‘My dad is the biggest rock star in the whole world and he's playing a concert at my house tonight.'”
Hilton and Park also share son Benny, born in 2024.
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“[Writing a song and a book is] actually so similar. A song's a little harder because you have to do the music and stuff too, but I feel like I could write a thousand children's books,” Hilton added. “It was not easy, but it came very naturally to me. And don't get me wrong, I got a lot of help. … But even the editing process was so fun.”
While Hilton “loves” songwriting, he noted that a lot of that process comes from a “lovesick” or “yearning” place.
“They help me work through sadness or whatever, but children's books, it's like, ‘Wow, you're returning to the drawing board. You're back in kid world,'” he told Us. “It's such a fun, refreshing world.”
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Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez are heading to the altar – and some major Hollywood stars might be there to witness it.
Rumors have been swirling that the Amazon billionaire and his fiancée of two years will be tying the knot this summer in Venice. Reports have surfaced that wedding invitations have already been sent out.
"News: After a nearly two-year engagement, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez have sent out formal invitations for a wedding this summer in Venice, per sources familiar," Dylan Byers of Puck News reported on X last week.
Bezos and Sanchez have several celebrities as friends who will likely be attending their lavish wedding.
Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez Mail Out Invitations For Wedding: Report
Leonardo DiCaprio and Bezos have a long history of friendship and possibly will be one of the couple's elite wedding guests.
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DiCaprio and Bezos, along with Sanchez and DiCaprio's supermodel girlfriend, Vittoria Ceretti, were photographed on the billionaire's mega yacht in Italy last year.
According to Page Six, DiCaprio and Bezos have been pals for years and find "common ground in the fight against climate change and their work in environmental activism."
Bezos' yacht, known as Koru, is estimated to be worth $500 million and is 417 feet long. It homes an on-deck swimming pool, a movie theater, lounges and multiple business centers spread out between the three decks, per Luxuo.
W Magazine reported that a portion of Sanchez and Bezos' wedding could occur on his mega-yacht in Italy.
Also on the trip to Italy in 2024 were Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom.
This is not the first time Bloom and Perry have been spotted vacationing with Sanchez and Bezos. In 2023, the two couples were photographed in Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Kim Kardashian and her mom, Kris Jenner, are longtime friends of Bezos and Sanchez and could be expected to be on their wedding guest list.
In 2023, Sanchez shared a few photos from Kim's birthday celebration.
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"What an absolute blast it was celebrating you," Sanchez said, tagging the reality television star. "Your kind heart shines equally as bright as your beauty, and it's a constant reminder of the incredible person you are, both inside and out. Wishing you endless happiness in the year ahead! Happy Birthday!"
At the 2024 Vanity Fair Oscars party, Kardashian, Jenner, Sanchez and Bezos were photographed with Lenny Kravitz, Sofía Vergara and Demi Lovato.
Kim also mingled with the soon-to-be newlyweds at this year's Vanity Fair Oscars party.
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Jenner has a longer history with Sanchez. They were first photographed together at the opening of the Endless Youth & Life boutique in Beverly Hills in 2010. Jenner's ex, Caitlyn Jenner, was also in the photo.
Eva Longoria could also be attending the Bezos-Sanchez wedding.
Bezos, Sanchez and Longoria posed with television producer Cris Abrego at the 2024 Bezos Courage and Civility Awards.
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model Brooks Nader and Sanchez have been longtime friends, which may imply she will be attending the wedding. In July, Sanchez uploaded photos from a weekend in New York with Nader.
Sydney Sweeney liked the post back in 2024.
It appears Sweeney and Sanchez are friendly because at the 2025 Vanity Fair Oscars party, the duo and Bezos posed for a picture together.
Sofía Vergara, Jessica Alba and Kelly Sawyer Patricof were also in the shot.
Bezos and Sanchez reportedly met in the mid-2010s but didn't go public with their relationship until 2019 – once Sanchez separated from her then-husband, Hollywood agent Patrick Whitesell, and Bezos divorced Mackenzie Scott.
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W Magazine reported that Sanchez's 30-carat engagement ring is estimated to be anywhere between $3 million and $5 million. The outlet reported that Sanchez had two engagement parties – one in Beverly Hills and another in Positano, Italy.
Photos captured Robert Pattinson attending Bezos and Sanchez's Los Angeles engagement party with Suki Waterhouse in December 2023, according to Page Six.
It's unclear how close Bezos and Pattinson's friendship is, but if he was invited to the engagement party, it may be safe to predict his attendance overseas for the big day.
Original article source: Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez's star-studded wedding guest list is Who's Who of Hollywood
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Ariana Grande has been on an emotional journey over the years and she's singing about finding love again on her song “Warm” from the deluxe version of the Eternal Sunshine album.
On the new song, Ari sings about being in a blissful state of mind in her personal life and feeling ready to welcome love back into her safe place.
“It's so good, it's so close, I can taste it / On my lips, this is your invitation / If you dare, meet me up here / Meet me up here,” she sings in the bridge.
In the chorus, Ariana sings, “‘Cause I'm cool on my own / But it's warmer in your arms.”
Head inside to listen to the full song and read the lyrics…
Listen to the full song of “Warm” below.
Read the “Warm” lyrics below!
Gisele Bundchen is enjoying some downtime following the birth of her third child.
The 44-year-old supermodel had lots of leg on display in a dress with a high slit while spending the day on a boat on Thursday (March 27) in Miami, Fla.
Gisele was joined by her 37-year-old Jiu-Jitsu trainer boyfriend, Joaquim Valente, and some other friends.
It was confirmed in February 2025 that Gisele and Joaquim welcomed their first child as a couple. She was previously married to former football player Tom Brady and shares two children with him - 15-year-old son Benjamin and 12-year-old daughter Vivian.
While we know that Gisele and Joaquim welcomed a baby boy, we don't know any other details yet about the little one.
Browse through the gallery to see the photos of Gisele Bundchen and Joaquim Valente on a boat in Miami…
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Rashida Jones is looking back at her time on The Office.
The 49-year-old actress joined the NBC comedy in season three as Karen Filippelli, a love interest for John Krasinki‘s Jim. She had a heavily recurring role in that season, and returned a few more times in seasons four, five and seven.
During a recent appearance on the Good Hang podcast with her Parks and Rec co-star Amy Poehler, Rashida reflected on being let go from The Office.
Keep reading to find out more…
“I had done a year on The Office and they let me go, which made sense. It made sense,” she said.
Amy reacted, “You had such a tough job there, because everybody wanted Jim and Pam (Jenna Fischer), and then guess who shows up? A very likable, cool… and everyone was like, ‘Oh no, wait.'”
“It did not feel that way,” Rashida chimed in. “People did not like me. Like, fans were not about it.”
There is a new The Office spinoff in the works and an actor from the original is set to reprise his character!
If you missed it, Rashida will next be seen on the small screen in the upcoming seventh season of Black Mirror, which is premiering in just a couple weeks.
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Nicole Kidman is opening up about one special gift!
The 57-year-old Lioness actress dished in a new interview about a gift that she likes to get for people that are very special to her.
Keep reading to find out more…
“I love giving flowers, but I like growing them in the garden. I grow roses. My greatest gift to someone can be a bunch of my own wild roses,” she tells People while promoting her upcoming thriller movie Holland.
“So if you get that, it means you're super special. There's only a few of them though,” Nicole continued.
She also noted that her favorite flowers at the moment are tulips and daffodils, and some of her favorite fragrant varieties include night-blooming jasmine, honeysuckle, gardenias, hyacinths and lilacs.
In fact, she says, “I'd like to have a flower shop.”
Nicole and some of her co-stars premiered Holland earlier this month at the SXSW Festival.
The movie is currently available to stream on Prime Video. Watch the trailer here!
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Rejection is part of the game on reality dating shows — but Farmer Wants a Wife star John Sansone didn't expect to face it on his first 24-hour date.
Warning: Spoilers below from season 3, episode 2, of Farmer Wants a Wife.
During the Thursday, March 27, episode of the reality series, John, 26, romanced Samantha Riehl on what he thought was the perfect date. John described Samantha, 24, as a “little bit of a firecracker,” exclusively telling Us Weekly that his first impression of the California native (who resides in Dallas) was “a very good-looking girl.”
“Then when we were sitting there on our first speed date, she kind of, like, gave me a, I dunno, different perspective on who I was dating there,” John recalled. “Everybody else seemed very eager to impress me or was very shy. She seemed the opposite. It was definitely a unique situation there.”
He confessed he was “intrigued” which is why what transpired on their date was such a surprise.
When John and Samantha were on their date, she confessed to him, “I don't ever want to feel like I have competition. I don't ever want to feel threatened.”
The revelation threw John for a loop because Samantha had willingly signed up for a dating show in which he would be spending time with other women. When John asked Samantha, “Are you actually looking for a guy?” she said, “Yeah, of course.”
She described her ideal man as “one that is unlike anyone else I have ever met,” which led John to lean in for a kiss.
“I cannot kiss you on camera, there is a reason for that,” Samantha said after rejecting his advance. “I'm going to marry someone someday, it might be you, it might not be you and I do not want something of me kissing another man on television. If it's you, we don't have anything to worry about.”
John admitted he “thought this was going a different way,” but Samantha stood her ground. “Those are my values and that is what I believe and I don't want that of me on the internet anywhere because I want my husband to have more than that,” she added.
While John acknowledged that he respected her wishes and beliefs on the show, he told Us it definitely took him by surprise.
“Every signal under the sun said it was time to kiss her,” John exclusively told Us of that moment. “But some people — to each their own.”
He continued, “I obviously respect their decision in the sense that everybody has their own opinions and stuff.”
John played coy about how the lack of intimacy might affect Samantha's chances of being his final pick. “It is a reality dating show, so we'll see if that works out,” he teased.
Samantha, for her part, told the cameras on Thursday's episode, “I think romance and intimacy is something that you can't rush, it takes time. That's just a boundary that I have and I will not be crossing it.”
While John and Samantha's fate is up in the air, he has plenty of other women to focus on. One of the other ladies who caught his attention right from the start is Lily, who is 23 years old and hails from Houston.
“Lily was very sweet. She showed up, very soft-spoken and nice and that was my first impression,” John told Us. “I was just like, this girl's very, very kind. We had a connection pretty early.”
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John is one of four farmers looking for love on season 3 of Farmer Wants a Wife. Outside of Samantha and Lily, viewers will see him date Lindsey from Kailua, Hawaii, Kaylee from Houston, Chloe from Raleigh, North Carolina, Claire from Chicago, Taylor from Tampa, Florida, and Abby from Charleston, South Carolina.
Farmer Wants a Wife airs on Fox Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
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Tom Hardy poses for a photo with Pierce Brosnan and Guy Ritchie at the premiere of their new series MobLand held at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on Thursday (March 27) in London.
The 47-year-old actor leads the cast of the upcoming crime drama, while Guy, 56, is a director and executive producer.
Along with Tom and Pierce, they were joined by their co-stars Helen Mirren, Joanne Froggatt, Lara Pulver with husband Raza Jaffrey, Anson Boon, Mandeep Dhillo, Jasmine Jobson, Geoff Bell, Daniel Betts, Lisa Dwan, Emily Barber, Luke Mably, Annie Cooper, Bradley Turner and Emmett Scanlan.
Guy's wife Jacqui Ainsley and son Rocco Ritchie were also in attendance.
Keep reading to find out more...
Here's a synopsis: Power is up for grabs as the Harrigans and Stevensons, two warring London crime families, clash in a kill-or-be-killed battle that threatens to topple empires and ruin lives. Caught in the crossfire is Harry Da Souza, the street-smart ‘fixer' as dangerous as he is handsome, who knows too well where loyalties lie when opposing forces collide. As kingdom goes up against kingdom, lines will be crossed - and the only saving grace is a bet-your-life guarantee: family above everything.
MobLand is set to premiere on Sunday (March 30) on Paramount+ in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia, with more territories later this year.
If you missed it, Tom, Pierce and Helen were seen filming a funeral scene back in January!
Check out the trailer and some first look photos below...
Browse through the gallery to see more photos from the MobLand premiere...
Megan Fox Gives Birth to Fourth Child, Her First with Machine Gun Kelly
Jeff Bezos & Lauren Sanchez's Wedding Guest List: Every Celebrity Invited, So Far
Surprise! Elisabeth Moss Confirms She Gave Birth to Her First Child!
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